Today is the 4th of July, where America celebrates its independence. There are few things that symbolize America more than the defenders of the old west, the cowboy. Okay, there is apple pie, but to my knowledge, there haven’t been many video games made about apple pie. Anyway, in honor of America’s birthday, this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics will take a special look at some classic 8 and 16-bit games taking place in the wild wild west. So saddle on up, and mosey on down to your favorite game shop and seek out these games pardner!
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This fall will be a heavy time for Castlevania fanatics, as it’s been announced by Konami that both of the newest titles of the acclaimed series, “Order of Ecclesia” and “Judgement” will be released sometime later this year.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, reported upon earlier, is the Nintendo DS title following upon the footsteps of previous games such as Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow in terms of gameplay, as an action-adventure 2D platformer. It takes control of newcomer Shanoa as she searches for the lost Belmont family while battling the minions of Dracula.

Castlevania: Judgement, if you haven’t heard yet, will be a 3D fighting game; a first for the series. (for obvious reasons) Castlevania characters from all over the series continuum will be thrown together in a style leechingly-similar to Soul Calibur to fight one another in a (hopefully) non-canon battle royale. A even more shocking twist is the hiring of Death Note’s Takeshi Obata to do character designs, completely overhauling pre-existing designs mostly coming from series-usual Ayame Kojima.

This fall will surely prove to be an interesting turn of events for Castlevania fans. Many debates have already begun as to the fate of both games as numerous fans, while liking the usual-style Ecclesia is going with, denounce Judgement as straying too far from the Castlevania norm and claim it to be merely Konami’s cash-maker. Come this autumn, we’ll see what’s what when both games are launched to brave public scrutiny.

The latest in my series for TheDailyPage/Isthmus Newspapers profiling Madison, WI’s gaming scene.
This entry focuses on Jimmy Choi’s efforts to keep Soul Calibur and the spirit of the arcade alive.

Read on: Reclaiming Madison gaming camaraderie with Soul Calibur tournaments

See also: CaliburForum and Madison SC Community

With Metal Gear Solid 4 having hit stores earlier this month, we took a look at Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel, which was a Metal Gear game set outside of series continuity. This week’s lost classic will take a look back at another non-canon Metal Gear game. Snake’s Revenge, developed for the NES by Konami under its Ultra Games label, can be considered the red-haired stepchild of the Metal Gear franchise. It was developed without the involvement of series creator Hideo Kojima. After the original Metal Gear was successful in the U.S., Konami commissioned its developers to create a sequel. After meeting one of the developers and being told that Snake’s Revenge wasn’t meant to be a true Metal Gear game, Kojima was inspired to create the true sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Surprisingly, despite hating the NES Metal Gear game, Kojima has stated that he likes Snake’s Revenge, saying that it’s in the spirit of the Metal Gear series. If one gives this game a shot, then it’s easy to see why.

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This is mildly old news by now, but I haven’t seen this specific trailer appear online yet. glu Mobile was on hand at Botcon 2008 with a display that had this trailer on loop. I finally got some video issues worked out and got it uploaded so everyone could see. Enjoy! (Apologies for the screaming kids in the background. Its a toy convention.)

Fans of Blizzard’s Diablo series may now rejoice. After 8 years of anticipation since Diablo II’s release and wondrous results, the big boys at Blizzard finally broke the long silence about another sequel to the dark fantasy MMORPG – Diablo III.

Diablo first came out in 1997 for the PC, and after a fairly positive reception, Diablo 2 followed a few years after with resounding fan approval. It featured elements that would later be seen in Blizzard’s money-making giant, World of Warcraft. After the success for the first two games, word of a third Diablo game remained strictly amongst fans, as Blizzard seemed to keep a tight lip as to even remote possibilities of a game ever being produced, and truly the idea was overshadowed once World of Warcraft came out. However, with announcements last year of Starcraft finally getting a true sequel, whispers once again started to stir of Diablo’s resurrection. Thankfully, fruit has been borne of those desires.

The launched site features a surprising amount of eye-candy in terms of media and visual accounts of actual gameplay. Two classes have been released thus far on the site: the return of the Barbarian-class from Diablo 2, as well as a Witch Doctor-class that no doubt will be replacing the Necromancer from the previous game. New and old monster classes have been released in small doses as well, and no doubt additional character and monster classes will be revealed as time goes on.

Check out the site here – Official Diablo III Site

No announcements on a projected release date for the game have been given, though speculation suggests that it will be either before or after Starcraft 2, to give the respective giants their space.

We love SNK and Capcom for their contributions to the 2-d fighting genre, but right now, it’s Sammy’s Guilty Gear series that is the reigning champion. While SNK continues to make use of its aging Neo-Geo hardware and Capcom continues to remake versions of Street Fighter II, Sammy’s Guilty Gear sets itself apart from the pack with its cast of zany characters, beautiful graphics and animation, unique fighting system, complex backstory, and 80s Rock ‘n’ Roll inspired atmosphere. Guilty Gear XX, which is the third game in the series, is no different. However, Guilty Gear’s developers share one unfortunate aspect with Capcom and SNK; namely the tendency to re-release versions of their games which add just a few small tweaks. In fact, there are currently 5 iterations of Guilty Gear XX, and #Reload is only the second. #Reload adds several tweaks and alterations to character’s move lists in order to balance the gameplay. This entry is also notable for the fact that it’s the first appearance of the series on Xbox, and this version of the game is the first entry in the series to feature online play. Online play is also available on the PC version thanks to fan-created modifications.

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Good News: Nintendo Power has confirmed that Mega Man 9 is not only a reality, but coming to WiiWare as a retro-awesome throwback to the NES days. The BBPS has scans straight out of the magazine showing the series has abandoned all Zs and Xs and visual upgrades.
But lets dial back a bit: The original leak from the Austrailian ratings board a month or so ago said Mega Man 9 had been rated as a “multiplatform” title. Capcom’s comment? “NP only has part of the story. More to be learned later.” Capcom’s hearty support of Microsoft and Sony’s download services with Street Fight HD Remix, Wold Of The Battlefield, and Bionic Commando suggest they’re not above sharing this with all consoles.
I suppose you want to know who the new robot masters are and I’ll tell you: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man, and Splash Woman.
I just hope the music is up to par.