Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about retro consoles, specifically anything older than PS4/PST and Xbox One/Xbox Series Letter. This is just my own ranking of these consoles, I don’t have a ton of history with really old consoles, about the oldest thing I’ve touched was a NES, so no Atari stuff. Also, no handheld stuff, since then it’d be about 6 Nintendo consoles, the Game Gear and the Turbo Express. So, let’s begin:
#8: Original Xbox I’ll always have a small bit of fondness for the original Xbox. It was too big, the controller was odd, and most games didn’t utilize the power of the system well, but it was still fun. The fact I have at least four of these things in my apartment should tell you that I’m a fan of it. I actually still remember when I got it with my dad, I got the system and one launch game, it being the best launch game for the system. That’s right, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2X! In the three-way
Graveyard: Jet Set Radio Future
Watch your step, for you’ve just entered the Graveyard. Inside, we’ll be digging up games that have long been without a pulse. You’ll see both good and bad souls unearthed every month as we search through the more… forgotten…parts of history.
Last month, we covered just what kind of impact Jet Set Radio had on the industry and how well it has held up in the 21 years since its release and subsequent HD re-release. Now, we’ll take a look at what remains the only sequel in the short-running, but iconic franchise, Jet Set Radio Future. The first game was one that defined the Sega Dreamcast and to this day delivers a lot of fun and has a sense of style that few games can lay claim to. The sequel hit the Xbox in 2002 and along with a series of other Sega game sequels like Crazy Taxi 3, Shenmue II, Panzer Dragoon Orta and Sega GT 2002 helped the original Xbox feel like a true successor to the Dreamcast. This feeling continued with latter-day
Welcome to The Week in Gaming, the place where we pause each week to take a look at the video game news beats both big and small that you might be missing while also taking a peek around the corner at what s ahead. Check in each Friday for news (and occasionally even views) on everything from sprawling RPGs to Metroidvania platformers to the latest in VR and free-to-play. We ll even throw in a good old-fashioned board game every now and then!
Today’s the day when the
Mass Effect faithful can finally fall down a deep rabbit hole of remastered goodness. After years of fan murmurs and months of official hype, BioWare unleashes
There’s nothing we like more than good tease or tickle. Sometimes anticipation is better than the real deal, you know? If you agree, than this week’s Shacknews Dump is full of hot topics you’ll want to strap in for. We’re ready to tease you till you turn blue in the face and leave you begging for more hot gaming news.
On this May 14 edition of the Shacknews Dump, Gabe Newell left
us begging for more after a recent appearance in which he promised that unexpected news regarding Valve games exclusive to Steam could be coming before the end of the year. That wasn’t all, Sega is also going back into its toy box of dead IPs to see if there isn’t life in there yet. Could we see the return of Crazy Taxi or Jet Set Radio? Fingers crossed.
Thursday, May 13, 2021
SEGA has historically released games in Japan and Asia before bringing them to Western regions at a later date, but this strategy looks set to change. In an interview with Famitsu, SEGA’s CSO of the Japan and Asia studios, Shuji Utsumi, stated they’re looking at simultaneous worldwide releases for many more of their titles. It was also confirmed in their latest financial report that they will be revisiting older IPs to see which are fit for a reboot or remake.
The desire for simultaneous releases comes from data.
Yakuza franchise. According to Utsumi, this is because the game was released on multiple platforms at the same time. While it didn’t get a synchronized worldwide release, this is an angle the publisher is looking to explore. They’re now looking to “globally expand” all games from ATLUS by releasing them worldwide simultaneously and potentially on multiple platforms.