Grandpappy shows us how to limber up our most important gaming appendages. Avoid serious finger-sprain with these tried-and-true exercises for training your game!
Famicom Dojo is delivering one video per week for the rest of the summer! We’ve already launched the “On the Go” segment covering the AppBlaster, and will be releasing the first installment of another new segment “Train Your Game” and a new Denshimail before the month of August is out. Exciting, no?
Keep watching Powet.TV every Wednesday (or your money back) for new episodes of Famicom Dojo and other great Powet.TV series!
Catch up on Season 2 at FamicomDojo.TV, and don’t forget to subscribe to the weekly Famicom Dojo Podcast for news about games and behind-the-scenes commentary about the new upcoming episodes.
Continuing the 16-bit wars after the introduction of the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16, we turn to a “24-bit” system that was truly like the arcade machines that its competitors were trying to emulate.
Vinnk reveals his decade-long tryst with SNK’s Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System, the one console in the 16-bit generation that made good on its promise of arcade-quality graphics on a home console, and the hefty price tag to back it up.
Head over to our show notes to read more about the history of the Neo Geo and the making of this episode!
Do you watch video game videos to find out which game to play next? Or do you watch the videos so you don’t have to play those games? Or, GASP, do you not watch video game videos at all?
Sean and Vinnk answer more listener calls, launch the “Vinnk Was Wrong” segment, and announce their weekly video release schedule for the summer! Get an inside look at the newest episode, and find out why it took so long to make!
Things were very different before Game Fly, Netflix, and Red Box. Heck, even before the now-mostly-defunct Blockbuster, the best place to rent video games was from the local grocery store. Do you remember those weird plastic slip cases that VHS tapes would sometimes come in, or the clear plastic shells for NES carts with a badly xeroxed copy of the box cover inside? Of course you do. Sean and Vinnk wonder if game rental is a good way to distinguish between what is a video game console and what is just a computer. Or maybe there’s no distinction? Which consoles are really PCs in disguise… or vice versa? Maybe there just aren’t any answers, but at Famicom Dojo we’ll definitely try to find them! Also, more listener voicemails!
It’s not often that Mario’s brother gets the spotlight. The most notable times he was the primary playable character was Luigi’s Mansion, and it’s upcoming sequel. However, the Gamecube cult classic wasn’t the first time Luigi was the star of the show. Nope, that honor belongs to this clunkfest, although many would rather forget about it. Yeah, it has an educational value, but it’s repetitive action and boring gameplay will put kids to sleep. [Read the rest of this entry…]
In the waning years of the 20th century, secret codes were a common feature in games that would unlock secret content or make the challenge a bit less difficult. But now if you want those extras, you can “unlock” them for just a few dollars! Is that this a terrible shift in developer entitlement, or another example of how gamers feel like they shouldn’t have to pay more than a few dollars for a new game? Sean and Vinnk look at the things that developers do to get more money out of gamers, and what gamers do to make developers believe that they can’t get paid fairly for their work. Used games aren’t evil, but some developers want you to think they are. Developers aren’t evil, but there are gamers who… well, you know the rest. Is one side more entitled than the other?
Welcome to the Powet Top 5, where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond
Difficulty in a video game is a tough thing. Make it too easy, and there’s no challenge to it. Make it too hard, and if the player gives up on the game, it’s failed them. You pretty much want to make a game as hard as possible, so long as the player likes the game enough to push through and triumph, ultimately feeling satisfied for their win. This list is about games that, for better or for worse, are just too damned hard. There’s always a certain amount of shame associated with admitting that you find a game too hard, but I have no shame in saying that I am not able to beat any of the games on this list, and if you’ve been able to conquer any of them yourself I’d love to hear about it.
I’m sure you’ve all got your own games which make you so angry you could whip a gamepad at the wall, so feel free to leave a comment with your own list. With that, here are my 5 most difficult video games.
Could the console and PC wars have been snuffed out in the early ’80s if NES hadn’t been released? Or was Nintendo’s intervention in the market overblown? Vinnk and Sean ponder the rift between PC and console gamers, those who do both, and what kinds of games seem to be better suited to one over the other. Are the two devices on a collision course? Or is the idea of a Steam Box or other PC-based “console” nothing more than a fever dream?
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