What Is Techno Again?

G-Man Rips off Pac-Man, Gives Us Dark Forest Pizza

I almost skipped my RadNerd post this week because of time constraints, but I managed to find something to write about. The topic calls for discussion, so I hope to see your comments there!

Video games and comics afford enough boundless entertainment for me to personally dub them American pastimes—even if they’re not exclusively americano. Sorry, baseball. So naturally, when I opened an email regarding Image Comics’ creator-owned G-Man comic and noticed the phrase “video games” had wormed its way in there somehow, I might have drooled a little on my keyboard. With Scott Pilgrim undergoing the intensive pixel treatment (and a movie … well, look at that), I was eager to glimpse what Mini Marvels inventor Chris Giarrusso could serve fans of both mediums.

Much to my surprise, the cartoonist had already been dipping into the flash-driven world of 8-bit mock-ups. The latest “Escape from Dark Forest,” a supplement to G-Man: Cape Crisis #4, emulates the classic Pac-Man arcade game, but others such as “Cape Crisis” follow the trend ofBreakout and Arkanoid.

Tags: Cape Crisis, Chris Giarrusso, Escape from Dark Forest, G-Man, Pac-Man
Posted in Comics/Manga, RadNerd, Writing | No Comments »

Bleepin’ Blips: Never-Ending Fantasy

Another Bleepin’ Blips article is on the front page of RadNerd—and this time it deals with none other than Final Fantasy. But what’s not to like about Final Fantasy, you ask? Just hop on over to RN and find out, and leave a comment under the tree! I want to know what you think!

Happy holidays! Drink lots of special eggnog!

Do you suffer from uncontrollable, bleepin’ rage at something in the gaming industry? Have you smashed TVs by flinging controllers, or made your thumbs bleed with all that unrewarded determination and mad skillz you’ve been dishing out? Here at RadNerd, we feel your pain. Literally. This new ongoing feature will channel our anger in a healthy way … we hope.

Fans of the runaway savior, Final Fantasy, know its golden past with fervor and pride. Given life by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original RPG was devised to save Square from what looked like inevitable bankruptcy and doom. But gamers loved the shining NES gem—with its Light Warriors and sleeping elf princes and time conundrums—and the rest is … well, history.

Over the years, Final Fantasy has earned a reputation for more than just stellar graphic innovations and remarkable storytelling: It’s also put on its weight in hours. Each installment seems to bring another clock bursting with minutes that shower down upon gamers in pretty little sparkles, dazzling them with expansive worlds, epic battles, and tear-jerking plotlines. But is it becoming too much? Has the scurrying of feisty Chocobos feet swept dust over that line that begs, “Enough is enough?” Should I make like a Cactuar and flee already?

Tags: PlayStation 3, Square Enix, Xbox 360
Posted in RadNerd, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »

RadInk: Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames

Need one last gift for the holidays? Or maybe you just want to splurge on a little something for yourself? Put your wallet away, because over at RadNerd we’re giving away a copy of Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames (3rd Edition)—currently but temporarily available in print until the fourth edition hits shelves. It’s a pretty sweet giveaway, endorsed by author Leonard Herman himself. Entering is easy, so head over, take a gander at the contest rules, and leave your witty comment by 12 midnight (PST) this Friday, December 18.

It would be great if you’d spread the word … just make sure your comment is better than your friends’, right?

Most books and comics never make it out of their papery, multi-colored form or burst out of their speech bubbles, and that’s okay—we nerds like ’em just the way they are. Here at RadNerd, we don’t always need fancy pants movie adaptations endorsed by big budget Hollywood mouths or plastered with Nicholas Cage’s face. A little less Nick is good for everyone. We love movies and TV just as much as the next joe, but sometimes going back to to the roots of what we adore just sounds better. You know … all those crazy words and stuff. Letters are like atoms for the literately-inclined.

In a world of high scores and coin-operated frenzy, there’s more than one way to save the history of video games. Our own records of Italian plumbers and barrel-throwing apes began with our first console or handheld, and for writer Leonard Herman, his passion for the pixelated was kindled by a local bowling alley’s Pong machine and an Atari VCS that he took home six years later in 1978. With a trove of cartridges and magazine articles under his belt, Herman can definitely bring the power of video games to the players—one year at a time.

Tags: Leonard Herman, Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames
Posted in Books, RadNerd, Reviews, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »

Last Minute Holiday Buy Guide

We all know them. Every time the holidays roll around, we have to face them: Friends and family who couldn’t make a candy cane work with their aura. They’re the ones on our lists we save for last, because when it comes to a fitting gift, we’re left clueless.

Over at RadNerd I’ve compiled a holiday guide that’ll satisfy a variety of tastes—from music to video games, comics to manga, gadgets to cooking, fashion to nostalgia, and movies to books and everywhere in between. You’re bound to find a gift for even the pickiest recipient.

Head over to the website to check it out—and don’t forget to pass it along if you see something you fancy, too. The holidays aren’t here quite yet!

Tags: Gadgets, Guides, Holidays, Retro
Posted in Books, Comics/Manga, Movies/TV, RadNerd, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »

Bleepin’ Blips: Nostalgia Goes Next-Gen

More rage than you can shake a stick at! That’s usually the tone of the ongoing Bleepin’ Blips feature over at RadNerd, but this time the rage really was sculpted in a positive way. In fact, you can barely tell it’s there at all … but it is, trust me. I mean, it’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Have you played that game?! It’s brutal—war in the disguise of little Italian plumbers and cute, apple-gulping dinosaurs.

Here’s a preview, but you can catch the full article over at RadNerd.

Do you suffer from uncontrollable, bleepin’ rage at something in the gaming industry? Have you smashed TVs by flinging controllers, or made your thumbs bleed with all that unrewarded determination and mad skillz you’ve been dishing out? Here at RadNerd, we feel your pain. Literally. This new ongoing feature will channel our anger in a healthy way … we hope.

New Super Mario Bros. for the motion-sensitive Wii stomped into living rooms, basements, and dorms this past month, inciting enough fun and backstabbiness to make Bowser take a willing dip in steaming lava just to avoid the quips. The game ropes in players by offering them a slice of the co-op pie and then chucking it in a Goomba’s direction at the last moment. Friends can work together to overcome the latest of Bowser’s princess-capturing antics, but more often than not gamers find themselves kicking their allies in the ye ol’ plumbing. The gameplay physics actually encourage such vicious cartoon behavior by causing an instant bounce reaction when one character collides with another and by allowing players to toss their fellow adventurers into an unassuming Koopa.

Tags: 3D Dot Game Heroes, New Super Mario Bros., PlayStation 3, Wii
Posted in RadNerd, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »

Holiday Gaming

The holidays are almost upon us, which means sooner or later we procrastinators really need to start, you know, shopping and stuff. December is always a wonderful time of year for gamers—sure, November starts the race … especially on Black Friday … but the real joy comes in the first real snow-flying month (unless you live in California … jerk).

In celebration of our favorite time of year, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at December sales and landmark events in the past seven years—that’s the entire 21st-century thus far according to the good ol’ Gregorian calendar. So sit back and read on, and I hope you enjoy. The full feature is up at RadNerd, but here’s a brief preview:

Developers, publishers, and gamers put down their controllers and join hands for that special time of the year when they break fingers and rush out in a mad stampede to buy the latest and greatest of the tie-breaking holiday season. The winter holidays are as big and influential for the gaming industry as summer is for popcorn movies, and this season will fall in line just like a pixel-decorated, shining … okay, insert your own politically correct object here. Let’s just say Charlie Brown would weep with joy and throw that stick figure excuse for an ornament-hanger in the trash with all the annually recycled wrapping paper. Here are the top December games of the last seven years—because 2000 doesn’t technically count (and no one loves it).

2001

One year in and the holiday season has a bundle of soon-to-be favorites to offer gamers in exchange for their merry good cheer. Of course, it was also a year of new tidings: the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox entered the popularly dubbed console war.

PS: I hope you like the banner.

Tags: Holidays, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox
Posted in RadNerd, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »

RadInk: Peter and Max

As you can probably tell from the Books section of this blog, I enjoy spotlighting a few books from time to time. It’s definitely an area of my writing that has gone somewhat unfulfilled—comics, video games, and movies receive the bulk of my love and attention writing-wise, but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost heart for a good book. Quite the opposite, actually.

So I’ve decided to try something new. Keep an eye out for Rad Ink, a new ongoing feature over at RadNerd that promises nerdy book reviews. I’m kicking it off with Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham. Head over to the website to scope out the full review, but here’s a preview:

Most books and comics never make it out of their papery, multi-colored form or burst out of their speech bubbles, and that’s okay—we nerds like ‘em just the way they are. Here at RadNerd, we don’t always need fancy pants movie adaptations endorsed by big budget Hollywood mouths or plastered with Nicholas Cage’s face. A little less Nick is good for everyone. We love movies and TV just as much as the next joe, but sometimes going back to to the roots of what we adore just sounds better. You know … all those crazy words and stuff. Letters are like atoms for the literately-inclined.

Bill Willingham broke that single medium rule by breaking his popular Fables series out of its panel-defined shell, giving the world Peter and Max: A Fables Novel. Yeah, you heard me. Novel. Got it? Good. Screw comic blockbuster, Willingham and his right-hand, illustrating man Steve Leialoha decided to appeal to the bookworm in all of us … or at least try to coax its shriveled body out into daylight again.

Tags: Bill Willingham, Fables, Peter and Max, Steve Leialoha
Posted in Books, Comics/Manga, RadNerd, Reviews, Writing | No Comments »

Bleepin’ Blips: When Games Change Developers

We all know it happens. Sometimes a games series changes developers, and our hopes and dreams come crashing down as a result. Crash Bandicoot 2 was my first game on the PlayStation; although I had a NES before that, on which I played my sisters’ games by the binful and added a few of my own to the collection, it’s quite possible that Crash was my first true step toward my passion as a gamer.

Spyro the Dragon followed soon after that. Both series have gone down the drain, and I’ve been mourning them ever since. In a way, my article on this problem was inevitable. Head over to RadNerd to read the full scoop, but here’s a preview.

Do you suffer from uncontrollable, bleepin’ rage at something in the gaming industry? Have you smashed TVs by flinging controllers, or made your thumbs bleed with all that unrewarded determination and mad skillz you’ve been dishing out? Here at RadNerd, we feel your pain. Literally. This new ongoing feature will channel our anger in a healthy way … we hope.

There’s something eating away at the gaming industry, infecting our beloved series and turning them into warped versions of their original selves that we no longer recognize. This plague is more common than we’d like to think—a silent killer that we only detect once it strikes a game close to our hearts. “Never my favorite,” we tell ourselves. But it happens, sometimes inevitably: One games developer hangs up its hat, and another tries it on for size and thinks it looks too pimpin’ not to wear.

Tags: Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, Spyro the Dragon
Posted in RadNerd, Video Games, Writing | No Comments »