Shirtless and alone In space with only a politically questionable arcade game to keep you occupied...

Sometimes you come across something that is so unexpected and unnecessary that you have trouble accepting the fact that it actually exists. "Bin Laden Basher"(from the Creative Engineering, Inc., the creators of Showbiz Pizza's Rock-A-Fire Explosion) is one of those things:

"We built one prototype of this unusual, politically motivated game in the tradition of "Wac-A-Mole". While we have no plans to go into production, we will sell the prototype to a collector of unique games."

I have so many questions.

How could the DS market possibly be in danger of an 'Atari Crash'?

"...actually, and again, and this is those whispering voices saying this, but you've started hearing the phrase "Atari crash" pretty frequently. People are talking about how the second "Atari crash" is around the corner. And Nintendo is the one that has to figure out a way to stop it."

"Nintendo put a lot of thought into the original, and ran some really cool commercials for it. But some of these companies just slap something together, put the word "brain" in the title, and release it. There are a ton of them, and barely any of them are interesting."

Is this really necessary?

Was anybody really asking for these?

Did someone do research about how a game would sell better if it just had more chicken-related content?

Is there a large enough subsection of the populous that feels the urge to hunt, attack, and shoot chickens that there has to be some sort of socially acceptable video equivalent for this deranged mindset to live out their sick poultry violence fantasies?

I think we all know the answer.

Mankind's Greatest Achievement?

Last Christmas, my 5-year-old daughter wanted nothing more than a 300 dollar robot pony. It crushed my heart to tell her that she would never get one and even wishing wouldn't help but I feel like she learned a valuable life lesson.

I wonder if this Taffy TV Video Game would be a suitable replacement:

It appears to be made by Senario who don't have an easily accessible website, but man I want buy one of these so bad.

How can I resist buying a product that proudly exclaims:

"Huge Inflatable Pony Controls the Game!"

I mean shit, what am I supposed to do? That's got to be the most persuasive advertising since I received a spam e-mail with the irresistible header "An All Monkey Jazz Band!!"

Thanks to Frank who found this miracle of modern technology on GameSniped.

Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition: Secrets

I picked up the PS2 version of Twisted Metal: Head On yesterday and had a bit of fun with it. It was nice to see all the extra production info, too bad the game isn't not online.

Before you play the section of the four never before seen Twisted Metal Black 2 levels, ther's a video describing that the sequel to Twisted Metal Black was halted because 6 of the production members died in an airplane accident on a celebratory ski trip. The story goes that two years later on the exact date of their death a note was sent to Sony pleading to release the completed levels...signed by the six dead game makers(dun Dun DUNNNNNN!!). After you beat the 4 levels on hard, you can see the note which reads:
We are disappointed to hear of your decision
To keep the world from seeing the last
Of our work
...We Beg of You...
Show them all what we have done...
Show them our last earthly deeds
...If you doubt our existence look to the
Dark past for proof that we are who we say
For in the dark past you will find proof
That we know what the future will bring...

And do not forget...
The truth lies in the greenery of Paris...
...To the left the truth is revealed...
This is why we have come back...
...To let you know what awaits...

The disc also has a half hour documentary entitled "Twisted Metal: The Dark Past" and right at a portion where they're speaking about the Paris level in TM1, numbers flash quickly throughout the rest of the film(I wasn't able to capture the first one):





Using a basic numbered alphabet code it spells out "Twisted Metal is Coming On PSThree". Jaffe has previously mentioned that the game would include clues to the next game that his new production company Eat Sleep Play was making, so that appears to be it. I'll bet those signatures contain additional clues/jokes.

Big thanks to the posters at GameFAQs and NeoGAF so the quick info. I'd seen the numbers while watching is last night and was planning to decode it today, but they beat me to it.

Games I Bought And Then Didn't Play That Were Released In 2007 - Now With Previously Unannounced Bonus Content

As promised, here are the games I picked up that were released in 2007 that I didn't actually play along with the reasons why. Special Bonus Content at the bottom!


Adventures of Darwin - A lot of these "bought but didn't play" titles were purchased to support the release of unique budget games. I love a lot of the ideas of the Simple 2000 series and so far Adventures of Darwin is the only one released in the US. Europe, the wonderland of budget PS2 games, has seen many of them released with full translation so maybe more will show up over here but with D3 having a serious presence in the US and releasing award winning games I'm not holding my breath.


Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - For 15 bucks, I had to pick up this one too see what all the fuss was about. 2d wrestling on the PS2, how could I pass it up?!


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - 20 bucks, another GTA game I'll probably never finish. I have the other four(!) for the PS2, I had to complete the set!


Th3 Plan - Reviews aren't great but the gameplay and presentation seem interesting. 3.33 well spent.


The Red Star - Still kicking myself for not having played this yet, especially since it was such a hassle to find a sealed copy at Gamestop. Someday...someday.


Brave: The Search For the Spirit Dancer - I actually played through this in the last month and it's a great character-based 3d platformer that only Dave Halverson and I can truly appreciate. From what I can piece together, it was originally developed by Vis Entertainment(who then went out of business) and later picked up by Evolved and ultimately published by SouthPeak. Looks great, plays well, and the level design is stunning. The only problem I have apart from some difficulty spikes is that the camera control should have been a bit more dramatic to show you more of the impressive landscape. Southpeak is releasing a remake just entitled Brave for DS, Wii, and PSP. Hopefully they'll market it a bit better this time because it's worth experiencing.

BONUS FOOTAGE - Here's a few I played from 2007 that I forgot about until Just. Right. Now.


Crazy Frog Arcade Racer - Actually just the Euro-only Crazy Frog Racer 2 renamed for our delicate American minds. I guess this rules out getting the original over here. Sigh. It's pretty awful gameplay-wise but it looks somewhat nice, and there's a bad rhythm game thrown in for now reason. The novelty is very much worth the 3.33 I paid for it.


Lumines Plus - I was excited to play this and tried to, but I just didn't get the gameplay. I tried though. Oh, how I tried.


Mountain Bike Adrenaline - Another from the three "3 for 9.99" PS2 game packs I bought on Black Friday. The weird shimmery tesselation(or whatever) effect on everything is disconcerting and takes a bit to get used to. All in all, a terrible game in everyway, but a good game based on this sport should still be made.

Games I Played That Were Released In 2007 - Part II

As promised, here are the rest of the Games I Played That Were Released In 2007. Looking over it, there's only two PS2 exclusive titles, how sad.


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - From what I've been able to gather, the PS2 version is exactly the same as the 360 and ps3 version, only with lesser graphics. This in itself is pretty amazing, considering the console's age. Or maybe they held back so that all four major console versions would be the same. Already the increasing complexity of the next round of console is widening the gap between multiplatform titles, with most losing content or features(Rock Band and The Simpsons Game) or just making a completely different game(the upcoming Ghostbusters). Anyways, this is a great game, they borrowed a lot of ideas from Bully, lots to do, wonderful use of the maurader's map as a guide to the next task, up there with best looking PS2 games.


Jackass: The Game - Looks and plays better than you'd expect. If you're not a fan, don't expect it to convert you, but if you are, it's very very fun.


Meet the Robinsons - The only non-PS2 version game I played on this list and one of the last Gamecube game released. It ties very well into the movie's story and emulates the (highly underrated)film's look well. Nothing too special, but very well done.

Game Of The Blog's 2007 Game Of The Year

Raw Danger - Yet another game I obsessed about... but I actually played through this one! Not graphically impressive in any obvious way but contains an engaging multi-faceted story that is probably the closest form of urban exploration you'll get in a videogame. The empty crumbled city is effectively creepy yet peaceful and the brief action sequences are exciting, harrowing and well placed. It does get a bit too Japanesey, design-wise, with the strict save system and level progression. I would have preferred an easier way to repeat levels to see more of the branching storyline. Also, the caucasianation process was entirely unneeded. Here's to hoping that Downfall: San Francisco actually exists because it sounds similarly awesome.


Rock Band - I was lucky to have a friend who has the 360 version and got to first play the game as it was designed, live with four people. He later hooked it up on the screen at a movie theatre and it feels almost as good as actually playing live. The drums are awesome, the vocals are super fun, but yet again, the PS2 version is sorely lacking. The world tour game is strangely absent and just like Dancing With The Stars, the on-screen action is just video footage. This FMV band info is strangely absent from most major reviews with Gamespot going as far as to say "the character modeling and animation still look great, and a lot of the visual filters the other versions had are on display here. Granted, it almost seems like the game is just running full-motion video of characters from the PS3 or 360 versions playing because the game uses a lot of the same band members over and over again". I assume they didn't spend much time replaying the songs. IGN doesn't even mention the graphics. Luckily, my old original Guitar Hero SG works with it and it also recognizes the Logitech mic from Karaoke Hero. I look forward to picking up the drums when they're released separately.


Shrek the Third - It's better than the other Shrek games if that's saying anything. The film was aggressively terrible, the game is just the normal afterthought. Some interesting spots here and there(the mechanical version of frogger was interesting) but unmemorable as a whole. The cut scenes are amazing though, someone needs to put all of those online. They're done in a cut out puppet style, the intro one can be seen in this video starting at 1:30.


The Simpsons Game - Probably more fun for big Simpsons fans, especially a nerdy gamer ones. Due to the cel-shaded graphics, the PS2 version looks almost exactly like it's next gen brothers, but the entire town of Springfield that can be accessed between levels in those versions is reduced to just the Simpsons house in this one.

Next up: Games I Bought And Then Didn't Play That Were Released In 2007!