I didn’t wind up buying the Game Gear. It was missing one of the battery covers, and the other battery compartment had honest to God cobwebs in it. It was a real shame, too. I love “rescuing” old hardware.

I was at the mall today for GameStop’s Pokémon event (don’t worry, I didn’t buy anything) and I stopped in the comic shop we frequent. They have some used games, all older titles, since they only want to carry what GameStop doesn’t. There’s been some cool stuff in there, but today I found a Sega Game Gear for $15. I love collecting old games and systems, and I am a huge Sega fan, so I’m going back tomorrow to get it. The only reason I didn’t buy it today was because we were in kind of  a rush and the comic store had one guy working and he was running around doing a million things already. Anyway, I was immediately reminded of this commercial, which I am now aware stars Ethan Suplee:

I was a Sega Kid. I had an NES, but when the 16-bit wars kicked into high gear, my best friend already had a Super NES, so I got a Genesis so we could play everything. Then he turned into a jerk and we stopped being friends, so it was just me and my Genesis. Of course, you had to talk a lot of smack back then so I loved the Sega commercials and ads that ripped on Nintendo.

My, the times, how they change.

Here it is ladies and gents, the long-awaited (but not really) first episode of PK Podcast! In this episode, Christina and I discuss the Wii’s reputation as a shovelware machine.

The game we referenced and hilariously forgot the name of is We Wish You A Merry Christmas by Destineer.

Let us know what you think, and we’ll have another steaming helping of our sexy voices for you next Friday night.

PK Podcast! Episode 1 – 01/29/10

[ Apologies for some technical difficulties, we're having issues getting the media player to embed, so for temporarily you'll need to either open that in a new window and listen to it there, or Right-Click » Save As... and listen to it on your computer's media player. Sorry! We're working the kinks out of things still. Please bear with us, thanks! -Christina ]

 

 PK Podcast! Episode 1 - 01-29-10 [13:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So Christina and I are huge fans of Nintendo Week. Most people get psyched for a new episode of Lost or Heroes, and we’re always super stoked to see the antics of Alison, Gary and Dark Gary every Monday on the Nintendo Channel. But that’s not what this post is about.

I’m probably reading way too much into this and coming off as very creepy, but it was something we thought was interesting. Has anyone else noticed this?

This is what our living room looks like at the moment. It’s really dirty! The walls used to have wallpaper, now they’re bare and coated with ugly plaster. This is not an ideal spot to play video games, especially since there’s no furniture in there!

I’m writing this post from our computer desk, which is currently in the kitchen next to the dinner table. I’m also next to a bookcase blocking our back door, a CD rack full of PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast games, another rack of PC games, and an end table with random junk on it. Christina is behind me at the sink cleaning up after dinner.

(more…)

I’m going to tell you a little story about a game that’s just magical.

Chex Quest is a total conversion of Ultimate Doom created by Digital Café that was packed into boxes of Chex cereal in 1996. It’s a first-person shooter based on a breakfast cereal. There’s no joke there, it’s real. I’ve played it.

I remember having a pretty good time with it when I got in in 1996, and really I just made my mom buy the cereal because it had a video game in it. I mean, Doom was fun, so this had to be fun too, even without the hell demons and chainsaws.

(more…)

Since you all liked my GameStop article, and I like all of you (especially you, handsome ;D), I’ve decided to share some of my more memorable experiences as a Senior Game Advisor for the Preowned Empire.

A big part of the job was explaining the ESRB ratings to parents. Despite how mainstream video games have become, there are still a lot of parents out there who are under the impression that all video games are for kids. Whenever a customer purchased a game that was rated Mature, we had to card them if they looked underage, or explain what the M rating meant if they had kids with them. A lot of parents were really grateful for the information, and some didn’t care.

I LOVED when a kid would try to slip one past his parents and try to tell them that an M rated game wasn’t bad, and then I’d tell them the truth and they’d make him pick out something else. I’m not really a jerk in real life, despite how I portray myself in my writing, but I did enjoy shutting those punks down. I had a parent ask me once about God of War because her 10 year old son wanted it. “I know it says it has nudity on the back,” his mom asked me, “but he says it’s only in one part of the game and you don’t even have to go there.” I had quite a laugh, and the kid left empty handed for lying to his mom. Score.

Anyway, this particular story begins on a Friday afternoon. It was starting to get busy, and it was me and the store’s assistant manager Jeff working the counter. An older man, probably in his late 60s, came to the counter with his grandson and his friend, who were both no older than 10 years old. He plopped the display box for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2 on the counter. “My grandson wants this for his birthday.”

(more…)

Christina and I have a lot to say. So much, in fact, that sometimes the written word isn’t enough. To remedy this, we will be doing a weekly podcast, starting next Friday. Every Friday night you can look forward to a sexy audio file of two sexy people talking about sexy video games. Well, sometimes the video games aren’t sexy. But we can pretend.

Join us Friday, January 29th for Episode One. It’ll be better than that OTHER Episode One, I promise.

EarthBound, released for the Super NES in 1995, is the very definition of a cult classic. Plenty of games have a strong fan following, but I can’t think of any other game that has a group of fans that are as passionate and dedicated as EarthBound does. Their love for the game, and the series as a whole, is so genuine and so deep, it’s a spectacular testament to creator Shigesato Itoi’s ability to strike a very personal chord with every player with his masterful storytelling.

Many of today’s EarthBound fans are in their mid to late 20s, having played the game for the first time when they were young. I’ve seen a few people on message boards talk about how playing through EarthBound once a year has been a tradition for them since the first time they booted it up.

I love EarthBound, as you can probably gather from the name and layout of the blog. It’s in my top 10 games of all time. Unlike many other fans, though, I don’t have fond memories of buying the game in 1995 and marveling at its giant box. I didn’t get to smell the scratch and sniff cards that came with the strategy guide. I don’t have the Mach Pizza Air Freshener. I didn’t play EarthBound when I was a kid. I didn’t get to play it until I was 24.

(more…)