Phil Fogg Reviews R.C. PRO-AM

Inspired by the recent interest in Rocket League, I've decided to run a few reviews of Rare's R.C. PRO-AM game series. The first of which is available today. Thanks for reading.

For whatever reason I always thought R.C. PRO-AM was a NAMCO game.

For whatever reason I always thought R.C. PRO-AM was a NAMCO game.

Game Under Podcast Episode 85

This week, it's a bit of a different show, but we cover Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Ape Escape, the state of gaming podcasts, the Wii U, Xbox One, the paralympics and so much more.

Thanks for listening.

This car crash, at which I attended, had nothing on this trainwreck of a show.

This car crash, at which I attended, had nothing on this trainwreck of a show.

Game Under Podcast Episode 84

This week we'll award our first-ever site GOTY awards, The Gundies.

Game-wise we'll be talking The Witness, American truck Simulator, Undertale, and more (and possibly less).

Thanks for Listening. 

A screenshot from American Truck Simulator. I knew exactly where I was when driving into Nevada. On the left is Whiskey Pete's casino, where I once won $38 on blackajck.

A screenshot from American Truck Simulator. I knew exactly where I was when driving into Nevada. On the left is Whiskey Pete's casino, where I once won $38 on blackajck.

Game Under Podcast Episode 83

Tom Towers and Phil Fogg have played Jonathon Blow's new game, The Witness and the games that many say influenced it (Myst and The Talos Principle) and give their analysis to open the show.

Phil Fogg gives out his surprising personal Game Under Game of the Year Awards (The Foggies) and the two also talk about ACE Team's body of work including the new Deadly Tower of Monsters.

More Trademark Banter as well.

Thanks for Listening.


Tom Towers Reviews The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Tom Towers breaks out from his slump to publish a review of The Deadly Tower of Monsters from ACE Team.

After his A Virus Named Tom obsession, and now this game, I am thinking that he is limiting the scope of his writing endeavours to games that contain either his first or last name.

Is this a metaphor for the decline of society at the hands of technology? Probably not.

Is this a metaphor for the decline of society at the hands of technology? Probably not.

What's next? A deconstruction of SimTower? Possibly a review of the PlayStation "classic" Tomba!? [exclamation their's].

Anyway, review is here.

 

 

Game Under Podcast Episode 82

This week Tom Towers and Phil Fogg talk about Oculus pricing, games they picked up over the break and give some final thoughts on games played in, and released in 2015 in anticipation of our Annual Awards Show (the Gundies).

We give scores and final impressions of Yakuza 5, Grow Home and The Order: 1886.

Thanks for listening.

Oh and, there have been three "easter eggs" in the last four co-hosted shows.  If you find them let me know.

This is my Yakuza 2 Bundle (Bought all this stuff on the same day back before Yakuza 2 was available in the West.

This is my Yakuza 2 Bundle (Bought all this stuff on the same day back before Yakuza 2 was available in the West.

DS Styles Might Change

So a couple of years ago I attended what our US audience would know as a "county fair" and what our Australian audiences would know as a "Show".  I don't know what our Belgian or UK audiences know these things as, but basically is an economic opportunity for travelling "carnies" or carnival workers who construct amusement rides to collide with local aspiring artisans and children forced to produce arts and crafts by their state-sponsored day-care workers/ educators.

In any case, I came across this "mural" depicting what may occur in fifty years time.

Which I found to be equal parts profoundly stupid and chuckle worthy.  The key point of interest to me, of course was that this child's concept that in fifty years "DS styles might (I emphasise MIGHT) change.  Which I found to be enduringly charming.  But, on reflection the comment, "The movie Garfield 2 might not be a popular movie anymore" clearly indicated a parent who may have been doing said child's homework.  No child could have come up with that on their own, and if they did, they can guest host on the next Game Under Podcast.

Total Win. 2016 Is Looking Good

So rarely these days I get to write about collecting games or game related items, which for many years was a constant refrain of my video gaming communiques.

On vacation over the last couple of days in a moment of random happenstance, (is there any other form of happenstance?), I strolled into a boutique used-game store, even though I knew that everything they have is ridiculously over-priced as in, $70 AUD for loose, non-rare NES games. So as I dodged recently pregnant siblings, who decided the best place to hold new babies upside down by the heel and measure them was in an over-priced retronomics store, I came across the below:

Yes. You see where this is going.

Yes. You see where this is going.

That's right, I saw a SEGA Mega Drive Master System Converter. For the ill-informed and millennially-impaired, I will briefly explain that SEGA once made hardware that played games.  Their first foray into the home market was the SEGA Master System, which while superior in everyway to the Nintendo Entertainment System, was a commercial failure.  As a concession to their stillborn system, they made an adapter that allowed their next hardware, the Genesis (or Mega Drive as it was known outside of North America), to play games from the now-dead Master System.

This relic was not particularly valuable in the game collecting world, as Master Systems could easily be picked up for $12-$20 for many years, and so I never bought one, since it was easier to actually accumulate four fully functional Master Systems without even particularly trying.

Enter the Retron 5.  Now that this incredible contraption makes playing old games easy on HDMI televisions, the converter has become greatly valued, usually anywhere from $120 to $250 on Ebay.

So in this store, I see one. For $60.  I wave over the owner.  He says, "Ah yes, you don't see many of them, I've sold and re-bought that unit twice."

I said something like, "Okay, yep, I'll take it."  I paused to ask, "Um, all my games are NTSC (US) carts, will this work?"  He motioned to put the adapter back in the glass case and said, "NO!. This won't work with NTSC, won't work, needs to be Australian games..." and then in a moment of apologetic anti-patriotism added, "...PAL, PAL games, will only work with PAL games sold in Australia".

I looked at it again, with the $60 price tag, and now with my significant other walking into the store, said, "I'll take it, it will work with the Retron 5."  Not wanting to admit his ignorance he paused momentarily and said, "Uh, yeah, okay, well, it won't work with American games".

So cutting short my vacation I took it home, plugged it into the Retron 5 with a copy of Outrun and found that it did indeed work. It worked with that, R-Type, Alex Kidd and everything else. And while that is likely the last time I will use it, I felt like I had won.