Amazing what one can do with a gourd.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

PAC-MAN

MARIO

MARIO / BOWSER

LINK

CASTLEVANIA

8-BIT MEGA MAN

and last but not least, 8-BIT MARIO!

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Direct Youtube Link

Pretty coo.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who worked on Guitar Hero: World Tour. Below is the fantastic interview I was able to do with my buddy Zach Parr.

Mike: So first of all thanks for doing the interview and giving us some insight on your work
Zach: No problem, I really like what you guys are doing with your site so I was happy to do my part.

M: Alright, let’s get into this. How did you get hired at Activision/Neversoft? What is your school background?
Z: I submitted a resume to Activision which got passed down the Neversoft. The two major qualifications which got me the job were a masters in computer science as well as a music background. Since it is the case that Neversoft is currently in the business of “rhythm games” my qualifications fit the profile of the type of person they were looking for.

M: What is your official title/ what do you do at work?
Z: My title is UI Programmer. I primarily work on game screens involving stats, menus, and HUD (heads up display) elements

M: What was it like having Guitar Hero 4 being your first project to work on and where you a fan of the series beforehand?
Z: Being assigned to GH: World Tour as my first industry job was truly amazing. It is a triple A title and most people don’t get the pleasure of working on such a popular game when they first enter the industry. I was a fan of the series before hand but only in the “party” since, I hadn’t really gotten into the game until shortly before i had my interview while doing research on the company’s current titles. I quickly became an addict. Guitar Hero aside I’ve always been a huge fan of the Tony Hawk series.

M: Experiences (best and worst) working on the project? At what phase did you come in on the production of the game?
Z: I started at Neversoft midway through development of GH:WT, this was quite daunting at first. I would in fact chalk this up to the worst experience so far. The learning curve is very steep when jumping into such a massive code base. At the beginning I wasn’t sure what i had gotten myself into, i was constantly breaking the game and having to reboot and reload into the portion i was working on just to have it crash again! These games are very fragile while in development and this can be quite frustrating. The best experiences for me come during the development of a new idea. Game elements are often reiterated over and over until all the producers/designers/directors are happy with that particular element. The best experience is when I put my own twist on some element I am working on which gets a consensual smile of approval among the leads.

M: Being a drummer, what are you thoughts on the drum set along with the new features on the guitar?
Z: The drum experience in the game is the most realistic out of all the instruments (excluding vocals) this is both a good and bad thing. In my opinion its very cool how realistic the experience is, but I’ve spent years behind an actual drum set developing the necessary coordination to play the instrument. So playing drums in the game feels very natural to me. On the other hand it is very difficult for me to imagine what it must be like playing the game without such a background. The general consensus is that it is very difficult; I guess you’ll have to start on easy folks. In my opinion difficult is good, people have already gotten 100% on through the fire and flames from GHIII, we have to cater to all skill levels and the challenge is part of what makes this game so addictive, the drums add a whole new dimension to the “challenge factor”.
At first I was not a particular fan of the new slide guitars, I really like the look and feel of the les paul, though after using the new slide guitar it wasn’t long before i preferred the smoother strum bar as well as the beefier size. (I still like the look of the les paul better though, I’m not a big fan of the sunburst)

M: What is your favorite thing about your job?
Z: There is a natural creative energy that emanates from the studio, this is created by the folks who work there. My favorite part of the job is how amazingly well the people interact, everybody has their own ideas and visions of what the finished product will be like. These ideas all differ in their own ways. Everybody must support the team and make decisions as a team. I am amazed on a daily basis at how well a team of over 100 people can fight it out and always come to a compromise leaving everybody in agreement

M: What are your thoughts on Rock Band and the other music games being released?
Z: Harmonix is a great company and have been making rhythm games for a few years longer than us. (you know they did develop the software for GH1 and GH2). I don’t really like the fact that you have to replay songs through the career progression of the game in order to get everything unlocked, but oh well, ill survive. You won’t catch me talking smack on them but there is a general level of competition between the two studios. I think this is quite healthy and keeps massive pressure on pushing the genera forward. We often compare what we are doing to what they are doing. We feed off their ideas as well as I’m sure they feed off of ours.

M: Now for some rapid fire questions, lets see what you got.

M: Favorite Smash Bros character?
Z: Fox on melee, Mario on brawl (lame I know)
M: Favorite Song in GH4?
Z: Rebel Yell
M: System preference and why.
Z: Xbox 360, its got the most games and largest online community. And you can have multiple people signed in online at the same time, Sony really screwed up not allowing that on ps3, I heard a rumor that they are changing that with the new sdk : )
M: What games are you playing right now?
Z: Metal Gear Solid 4, Dead Space, Rockband 2, COD 5 beta, Warcraft III (ill never give that one up), god of war on PSP (what ever the name of that one is) *Editor Note: it is called Chains of Olympus* and Spore.

M: What games are you looking forward to?
Z: Little big planet, StarCraft II and Diablo III.

M: What games should people check out that they have probably missed?
Z: Braid and Castle Crashers both xbox live arcade titles, Odin Sphere (ps2), Warcraft III (PC)

M: And finally, what are you working on next?
Z: Sorry, can’t tell ya.

Well there you have it kids, I hoped you enjoyed yourself. And remember Guitar Hero: World Tour comes out this Sunday (10/26) for PS3, Wii and the Xbox 360.

I stumbled across this here today and to my surprise saw some pretty cool pictures.  It’s interesting to see 8-bit and 16-bit pixels tossed into real settings.

Well, I really don’t find Family Guy that funny anymore but occasionally it will make me laugh but this video made me chuckle.  I guess Seth McFarlane is doing short web cartoons, brought to us by BK, and this one relates to video games so I thought I’d post it.  It truely shows how big of a bitch Peach really is.

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Well I’m back from Chicago, which would explain my lack of posts due to being internet less. I will say though it was great meeting the Nerd City crew whom I wasn’t familiar with, especially CJ. Anyway there was some great news over the Labor Day weekend regarding Nintendo’s virtual console. And that is for the 250th game for download is Super Mario and the Seven Stars. This is a fantastic game released for the SNES and developed by Square Enix, the makers of the Final Fantasy series. A very non traditional, but containing the traditional Mario feel, Seven Stars bring Mario into an decently long RPG game based in the Mushroom kingdom. The standard story of rescuing Peach is there but this time you are introduced to a slew of new characters including Mallow and Geno. This game is also the first time that Mario and Bowser worked together. Anyway it is now available for download for 800 points and will definitely keep you entertained.

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Please click on the images for more details on each piece. For your further viewing pleasure, here are a couple of video compilations of customized Mighty Muggs:

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Direct Youtube Link

With the release of Mario Super Sluggers yesterday (I recommend picking it up by the way). 2pstart has created an interesting cartoon for the game. If you check out their archives HERE you will find some other funny cartoons based off of other video games. Enjoy.

Mario Kart is a fantastic game for all ages. But as this video proves, things can be more frustrating as an adult. It’s funny because it is true. There is lots of cursing so probably don’t want to listen to this at work.

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Once again, Nintendo dissapoints this week by not giving up Mega Man.  Instead we get Break In (a billiards game), Star Parodier (old school shooter) and Strong Bad Episode 1 on the Wiiware.  So instead of going into detail on these “great” games we got, I’m just going to list the games that I think you should download instead.  There are also plenty of other good games that are not listed below, I just think you will enjoy the below better than what Nintendo has been giving us lately.  Ohh and don’t forget about Madden launching tonight at midnite.

1. Kid Icarus

2. Gunstar Heroes.

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Tecmo Bowl

5. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

6. Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels (Extremely difficult)

7. River City Ransom

8. Super Metroid

9. Super R-Type

10. Streets of Rage 2

11. Baseball Stars 2

12. Super Castlevania IV

13. Star Fox 64

14. City Connection

15. Blades of Steel.

Check out Mario Kart written in javascript for your browser.

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I have no words for the magic contained in this video.

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