With each post in this series I will attempt to review a different web show, or internet personality. Many of these guys and gals are very responsive to their fans and really appreciate, when people appreciate what they do and the work they put into making their videos. Please go check them out, leave comments, like, share, and let them know you enjoy their work.
This week I am gonna talk about a series of videos I have watched since early in their career, and who i have mentioned a few times on this blog already that is The Game Chasers, Billy and Jay. I think I picked up on them about episode 3, when Pat the NES Punk posted a link to their youtube channel. They where not the first show based around retro game chasing that I had kept up with. The excellent show The Retro Hunters (next in line for a review maybe?? ) was already on my subscribed list on youtube and I still watch them.
Anyway I followed the link on Pats site and since it was a series I started on episode 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDYhMBSCODI I watched the next couple episodes one after the other. They were just normal guys, they had normal collections not the intimidating mega collections that most of us will never have. Most of all though, they were looking for a deal. Most of us can't afford to pay huge amounts for retro games and we have to truly survive by finding games in the wild. When your collection of games that you really want, (not just common games) increases by even a couple games its a big deal when you find them for a couple bucks at a yard sale or flea market. I hate paying retail, especially right now that the market is getting out of hand and prices way overblown. So its getting the deal, knowing that somebody is going to pay way to much but you, yourself waited and found it and saved it from the hands of a reseller. (not all resellers are bad a small percentage give many a bad name)
Billy and Jay are just out there pounding the pavement and breathing in the dust and mold from boxes that have been locked away in attics for years. They openly admit their affinity for American Pickers and it shows. But its a good thing. These guys are what American Pickers would be if it had balls. They cuss, fart, play jokes on each other and friends. Their film crew Melvor, and Dodongo play a big part in all the mayhem and are around almost every episode. They are also known to have lots of special guests Gamester81 a retro legend , Pat, 8BitEric, Roo from Clan of the Greywolf, and many others. They are just a couple of normal guys, who as the series progresses and their internet fame has risen, have started to enjoy the perks of their fame. They have done videos from different conventions the most recent being Magfest, where them and the www.retrowaretv.com crew where very visible and featured. I can not say enough about the entire retroware site check them out.
Unlike most people, who would let any degree of fame go straight to their head, The Game Chasers have been very open with their fans, they are both very active on facebook and have even started holding live video chats every couple weeks. They are some really down to earth funny as hell dudes who have a real passion for the nostalgia of their childhood. That comes threw in their videos. They are one of the few shows that I have watched the entire series on multiple occasions and I find myself laughing out loud each time, and everytime I have shown the first episode to a fellow retro game fan I end up watching every episode in order till the other person leaves or we watch the entire series. It really is that good.
And I have to mention one more thing THE PRODUCTION VALUE. Billy has a background in film making and it really REALLY shows. The quality is amazing for a youtube show, the editing even on the early episodes is spot on. There has been yellings for an actual TV show for quite awhile, and I could actually see it on a channel like SPIKE and it would actually work. A dream show, Give the Chasers 15 minutes and AVGN 15 minutes and make a 30 minute chunk of retro goodness. Although in a way I would love for them to stay web based because with tv it would hamper the language , which can be very very adult oriented (8bitEric you fuckin fuck).
Bottom line, check them out, look them up on youtube or just follow the link on the right to the captain8bit youtube channel. You will be entertained and when your done learning how game chasing go, go to facebook and look up Jay and Billy and let them know you enjoy their videos.
Final rating a solid 10 Phoenix Downs out of ten, right up there with shows like AVGN, and 16 Bit Gems. If you like your retro comedy with some education about collecting, this is your dream show. Just be glad they haven't made smell-o-vision yet! :P
Next time, Retro Hunters?? Gamester81??? 16bit Gems??? if you have a request put it in the comments section.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Import Games, Localization, And Emulation..My Opinion
This is a big topic that I could write a book on with just my personal opinions. And this is just that my own opinion and understanding of some laws . I do not want anyone taking what I say and using it as an excuse to use, or not use an emulator.
I guess it all has to start with import games. Starting in the late 70's early 80's games shifted from being for the most part made in the good ole US of A, to being produced in Japan. You always had companies like Nintendo (who has made everything from playing cards to pong clones) and a few others but when Taito hit with Space Invaders it blew up. Soon many of the best games came straight out of the land of the rising sun. This wasn't a very big deal in the early days, there was little text, and arcade machines where made to eat quarters not tell stories. The real problem comes later in the 80's as the monolith that is Nintendo really hit its stride with the NES in America and Famicom in Japan, they had to decide what games to release , where, and when.
All game companies have the same problem. What sells well in Japan, or the EU may not in America, and the same is true in reverse. This was especially true threw the 80's and 90's, now many companies have come back to America. Some games still have this issue especially my favorite genre RPGs, many of the companies and top titles are made and originate in Japan.
Back to the 80's, many many games that where tons better than 80% of the official released games in America are never making it here. If they where text heavy RPGs then your only option was to learn Japanese. But if they where fun action based games you could buy a Famicom and find a really overpriced import seller, you could play them in America. Jewario has a great web series called You Can Play This highlighting many of the games that we missed out on because Nintendo didn't translate them over. Some cases of games not brought to North America have become famous/infamous, Mother 1 was fully translated and ready to go when Nintendo of America said nope, the chips would cost to much, and North America just doesn't buy rpgs. Which is true North Americas love affair with the JRPG had not came to fruition yet. Mr. Gimmick was released in English overseas but never brought here. Its is known as own of the most fun, dynamic, and hard games ever produced for use on the Famicom hardware. PattheNESPunk has a great review of it over at his site. Terranigma, a highly praised rpg was released in english in the PAL territories but never made it here.
My point about all this is that we missed out on a lot of great games. When the SNES came out we had already had a few terrible Back to the Future based games in America. What do they release in the US another shitty BTTF game. What do they get in Japan, an AWESOME GAME. In Japan they had Fire Emblem, a series which while around since the 80's didn't make its North American debut until the early 00's on the GBA. Even games with good track records like Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest/Warrior, have had some of their sequels go unreleased for years in the US only to come out 10 or 15 years later on a handheld or virtual console. Some games never get their day in America, and that's when hackers, translators, and emulators come in, but more on that in a little bit.
When the model 2 NES came out your options where slightly expanded if you knew a secret. The secret being the converter hidden in some 5 screw old school NES games.
What am I talking about you ask. Well in the early days of the NES life cycle the games where made using 5 regular screwdriver, none of that "game bit" crap. Later they switched to three security screws and two plastic clips. Now inside some of these five screw games lies a little secret. Because of a chip shortage Nintendo took Famicom game chips, which are smaller than their NES brothers, and they slid them in a 72 pin converter piece . What does this have to do with playing import games you ask? Well by taking the 5 screw game apart (which is easy because it has normal screws) you can use the converter in a Model 2 NES or any of the popular retro systems that are top loaders to play imported Famicom games. Just plug them in the converter like you would a game genie slap it into your system and play some Japanese flavored goodness.
Beyond these what options did you have back then. Well none. Computers where so big, expensive, and complicated that most modern computer users would just stare in amazement and terror.
Things didn't change for a long time, the mid to late 90's to be exact. The SNES had run its course and cd based systems where all the rage. The companies all, except Nintendo, had switched to compact disks. Nintendo clung to their cartridges with all their might with the N64 but by the end even they had to accept the death of cartridge based gaming. The NES was long gone, as well as the Genesis, and TG16. Computers had finally progressed to the point that it was capable of writing a program which acted and read data exactly like an NES or SNES or any of the other earlier generation consoles. These programs where dubbed emulators. The first emulator I ever used was ZSNES, a DOS based emulator which was rather confusing and looking back on it cumbersome to use. But it had lots of different screen settings, you could set the controls to whatever you wanted, and most important of all in the world of emulation , IT WORKED!
Being a Genesis kid, I was excited to play all of the SNES games that i had missed out on. Back then I had a 28.8kb modem, and later a 56k, upgrade. What today takes a matter of seconds took minutes, and if the connection was bad hours to download. Luckily most SNES games where small, but to download a game such as Earthbound good easily take around an hour.
The next emulator I used was a gameboy color emulator small enough that I could fit it and a copy of the pokemon roms on a floppy disk and install them secretly on computers around the high school I attended.
I am not saying all these uses are right, or legal. They most certainly are not morally or legally. Especially at the time, since the companies where still making money off these games. Time changes the circumstances and morality of it now though. This is where it gets meaty and I will go into further detail on the next post.
Next time, emulation and fan translations, and why its fine to use emulation of old school games.
Please feel free to discuss in the comments section I would love to see the comments blow up with people.
MikefromKy
I guess it all has to start with import games. Starting in the late 70's early 80's games shifted from being for the most part made in the good ole US of A, to being produced in Japan. You always had companies like Nintendo (who has made everything from playing cards to pong clones) and a few others but when Taito hit with Space Invaders it blew up. Soon many of the best games came straight out of the land of the rising sun. This wasn't a very big deal in the early days, there was little text, and arcade machines where made to eat quarters not tell stories. The real problem comes later in the 80's as the monolith that is Nintendo really hit its stride with the NES in America and Famicom in Japan, they had to decide what games to release , where, and when.
All game companies have the same problem. What sells well in Japan, or the EU may not in America, and the same is true in reverse. This was especially true threw the 80's and 90's, now many companies have come back to America. Some games still have this issue especially my favorite genre RPGs, many of the companies and top titles are made and originate in Japan.
Back to the 80's, many many games that where tons better than 80% of the official released games in America are never making it here. If they where text heavy RPGs then your only option was to learn Japanese. But if they where fun action based games you could buy a Famicom and find a really overpriced import seller, you could play them in America. Jewario has a great web series called You Can Play This highlighting many of the games that we missed out on because Nintendo didn't translate them over. Some cases of games not brought to North America have become famous/infamous, Mother 1 was fully translated and ready to go when Nintendo of America said nope, the chips would cost to much, and North America just doesn't buy rpgs. Which is true North Americas love affair with the JRPG had not came to fruition yet. Mr. Gimmick was released in English overseas but never brought here. Its is known as own of the most fun, dynamic, and hard games ever produced for use on the Famicom hardware. PattheNESPunk has a great review of it over at his site. Terranigma, a highly praised rpg was released in english in the PAL territories but never made it here.
My point about all this is that we missed out on a lot of great games. When the SNES came out we had already had a few terrible Back to the Future based games in America. What do they release in the US another shitty BTTF game. What do they get in Japan, an AWESOME GAME. In Japan they had Fire Emblem, a series which while around since the 80's didn't make its North American debut until the early 00's on the GBA. Even games with good track records like Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest/Warrior, have had some of their sequels go unreleased for years in the US only to come out 10 or 15 years later on a handheld or virtual console. Some games never get their day in America, and that's when hackers, translators, and emulators come in, but more on that in a little bit.
When the model 2 NES came out your options where slightly expanded if you knew a secret. The secret being the converter hidden in some 5 screw old school NES games.
What am I talking about you ask. Well in the early days of the NES life cycle the games where made using 5 regular screwdriver, none of that "game bit" crap. Later they switched to three security screws and two plastic clips. Now inside some of these five screw games lies a little secret. Because of a chip shortage Nintendo took Famicom game chips, which are smaller than their NES brothers, and they slid them in a 72 pin converter piece . What does this have to do with playing import games you ask? Well by taking the 5 screw game apart (which is easy because it has normal screws) you can use the converter in a Model 2 NES or any of the popular retro systems that are top loaders to play imported Famicom games. Just plug them in the converter like you would a game genie slap it into your system and play some Japanese flavored goodness.
Beyond these what options did you have back then. Well none. Computers where so big, expensive, and complicated that most modern computer users would just stare in amazement and terror.
Things didn't change for a long time, the mid to late 90's to be exact. The SNES had run its course and cd based systems where all the rage. The companies all, except Nintendo, had switched to compact disks. Nintendo clung to their cartridges with all their might with the N64 but by the end even they had to accept the death of cartridge based gaming. The NES was long gone, as well as the Genesis, and TG16. Computers had finally progressed to the point that it was capable of writing a program which acted and read data exactly like an NES or SNES or any of the other earlier generation consoles. These programs where dubbed emulators. The first emulator I ever used was ZSNES, a DOS based emulator which was rather confusing and looking back on it cumbersome to use. But it had lots of different screen settings, you could set the controls to whatever you wanted, and most important of all in the world of emulation , IT WORKED!
Being a Genesis kid, I was excited to play all of the SNES games that i had missed out on. Back then I had a 28.8kb modem, and later a 56k, upgrade. What today takes a matter of seconds took minutes, and if the connection was bad hours to download. Luckily most SNES games where small, but to download a game such as Earthbound good easily take around an hour.
The next emulator I used was a gameboy color emulator small enough that I could fit it and a copy of the pokemon roms on a floppy disk and install them secretly on computers around the high school I attended.
I am not saying all these uses are right, or legal. They most certainly are not morally or legally. Especially at the time, since the companies where still making money off these games. Time changes the circumstances and morality of it now though. This is where it gets meaty and I will go into further detail on the next post.
Next time, emulation and fan translations, and why its fine to use emulation of old school games.
Please feel free to discuss in the comments section I would love to see the comments blow up with people.
MikefromKy
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sorry Its Been Awhile
I'm sorry its been awhile, life gets hectic sometimes. I will have a real post up this week sometime. Untill then go check out The Game Chasers new trio of episodes which kicks off their official season 2. Those guys are great I have chatted a little with Jay on fb and they are just completely down to earth great bunch of guys who just love video games and fart jokes............
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