Know the old saying, “Time is money”? And how they say, “Time flies when you are having fun”? Well, put two and two together and money sure as hell flies when you’re having fun. And there’s no greater sink for your money than a classic arcade machine sitting right in your living room, complete with all the classics you grew up with. And if that doesn’t convey how filthy rich you are, there’s nothing like rubbing everyone’s faces into the fact that your arcade machine is plated in 24-Karat Gold.

That’s right. The Official Game Haven presents to you the Crystalcade - the “most versatile, advanced and exciting fantasy-fun-center on the planet” that comes complete with a translucent polymer chassis and a spectacular light show on the inside, a 5.1 350W Dolby THX surround sound system with an 8″ subwoofer, a 160GB hard drive with Jukebox software and a ton of retro games, a 21″ flat screen monitor and the best damn arcade controllers we’ve ever seen in our lifetime. And yeah, that gold/chrome/platinum plating thing too.

Now we don’t know how much this thing costs (make that we don’t want to know), but if you know someone who has this baby, just drop us a note with their address and we’ll take care of the rest.

The Crystalcade [via GameoftheBlog]

SAGE (Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo) is an online event held every year by the Sonic Fan Gaming community, where talented fans get motivated into showing off their latest creations that pay homage to our forever beloved speed addict. Whereas a lot of the Sonic seen today has veered tremendously away from its 16-bit heritage (for better or worse), SAGE rounds up like-minded nostalgics like moi and I can’t help but get all volatile and stuff! If you ever wondered what would’ve happened if the Sega Genesis continued churning out cartridges, take some of these examples for reference. Minus the cartridge, of course.

Be sure to check out Kain’s SAGE Review for all the info on what’s worth playing (and more importantly, if there’s a download available). My personal favorites? Too many to list! But here are some anyway: Retro Sonic, Sonic Nexus, Sonic XG, Emerald Ties: Crossing Fates, and Sonic 1 Megamix.

Since some of these games were made using ClickTeam tools, you’ll need to download the DDLs here so you won’t run into any problems.

To those that haven’t read Krishnan’s blog post next (or below) this one yet: what the hell are you standing around here for? Go read that first! For those of you that did, you already heard of the WiC Beta closure. It may have been a fun time for some, a frustrating time for others, but to me it was but the realization of a hidden Nuklear ambition. Having finished at a decent position overall (and at my peak touching 359 on the ladder board) towards the end, I can’t help but think that this’ll be an utterly great game to play and get hooked on almost immediately - but only in single player.

The negative reaction to the multiplayer aspects stems too much from it’s similarity to Battlefield 2 and 2142. Finding a good game that lasts more than 5-10 minutes thanks to horrible balance in terms of both Rank and Numbers is somewhat rare. Grinding against the same problems repetitively on only two maps made it even worst of a hassle, and eventually, after a full day of 6-10 minute games where our team couldn’t get it’s act together in time for being swamped by the other, stacked team of high-ranking players I quit for a few days out of sheer frustration. However, don’t let this little tale ruin the experience for you - while it can be hassle to generally play online on your own, if you can find and convince a few good friends to play with you online and in the same clan (and on Clan matches no less) then the Multiplayer aspect is an utter, utter blast. After all, its always more fun to play together with friends than random strangers (not to mention a whole lot more co-ordinated). Plus consider that this case was probably isolated, and if you DO get a good team and fairly even skill levels on both sides, like BF2 it can be a blast

That said, its probably best to stop beating a dead horse. Hopefully, the developers will get something planned by the time the game ships.

Now, to move onto more…darker things. For long-time System Shock fans, there’s a somewhat long (yet interesting) article on what is the Gaming History’s most unique villains: SHODAN. You can find it here, and is aptly titled “The Girl Who Wanted to be God”. Even if your not a System Shock fan, its really recommended reading the article anyway, as it describes a breed - nay, a species of awesome villains that’ll probably never be seen again in the future of gaming.

To finish off this less-than-spectacular blog post is a bit of news regarding Firaxis’ new expansion pack to Civilization IV, titled “Beyond the Sword“. The recently released expansion pack gives a vast number of units, civilizations, leaders and other upgrades to the Civ IV games. More awesome than that though, is the way their getting publicity for it: through web comics. Firaxis apparently invited many major web comics to make fan strips for the release in a special event known as “Civilization Daydreams”. Artists from popular web comics such as Player vs Player Online, Ctrl Alt Delete, 8-Bit Theater and quite a few others have given strips for the release. These special strips can be found here: http://www.civilization.com/daydreams/

Enjoy reading them. Until next time something interesting happens (and someone else doesn’t beat me to posting it here *glares at some people*) - this is Singh, signing off.

Having little to do in the way of activity, the events of the day resulted in much searching, reading and contemplation of various recent and past events in the gaming scene. Chief amongst these is Bioshock, and how strikingly it’s similar to System Shock 2. This is no trade secret by any length of the imagination. At E3 2006, Irrational’s General Manager Ken Levine gave a brief interview and overview of Bioshock; in his comments he noted that there were many similarities between the two games, especially in terms of Mechanics.

Everything, from the old abilities upgrade system to hacking security systems and even the way your lead through Rapture by the instructions of its creator, Andrew Ryan is very, very reminiscent of SS2. Not that it’s a bad thing, mind you – SS2’s formula was a successful one, and to not recycle it into something new yet still unique (despite its age) would be an utter shame. The heart still yearns for a true sequel to SS2 after all, but seeing its spirit live on in Bioshock is more than successful.

However, mechanics aside, the observant fan of SS2 will be able to pick up on the clear -and somewhat terrifying – echoes to SS2’s story. Although mechanically, the resource Adam has replaced nanites; its nature echoes a more sinister villain from SS2: The Many.

The influence of Adam on the citizens of Rapture is extremely similar and reminiscent of the The Many’s influence upon the crew of the Von Braun in SS2. Both objects drew in their victims with the promise of Glory, Improvement and most of all; the Glory of the flesh. Each was created by a being that desired something akin to Godhood, playing with the very nature of life itself - albeit, in different ways. Still, despite their different methods of creations, their end results are eerily similar: Zombies and Mutants, taken over by their desires for glory, but reduced to nothing. However, as similar as they may be, The Many were a sentient organism, while Adam is but a substance. Still, despite this other echoes do exist.

One example of such is the settings of the two games. Comparing the city of Rapture to the Von Braun is creepy in its own right. The VB and Rapture share similarities in their origins and fates that are undeniable. Each one acts as a prime example of humanity’s greatest achievements, and desires to expand – yet at the same time, a horrifying warning of the consequences of going too far, and attempting to play God. Where the VB was destroyed by The Many, Rapture has fallen to Adam. The conditions we see in the videos of Rapture are striking; with the sea leaking in, corpses lying everywhere, the entire area in disrepair – it all smacks of a location plunging deeper and deeper into chaos, much like the VB was till we arrived. However, unlike the VB, the fate of Rapture at the protagonist’s hands is unsure, so more parallels from that angle cannot be drawn at this point of time.

But still, there are more echoes – this time in philosophy. Andrew Ryan’s opening statements in the cut scenes bear a striking resemblance to one of SHODAN’s desires: the desire for perfection. Although by no means an uncommon desire, the coincidence between the two is too much to discard – especially when you consider what happens later on. In what one could call a ‘traditional’ battle, like in SS1/SS2, in Bioshock too there is a clash between between creator and creation: this time namely between Andrew Ryan, and the founder of Adam, Tenebaum. Ryan eventually won out over Andrew, much like how SHODAN won out over The Many, and humanity over her even before that. More than that; much like SS1 and 2, Bioshock looked ready to bring back the old issues of the ‘petty morality’ of playing God, especially with human life and genetics.

Still, despite these similarities, there are differences. Where The Many had been eliminated, Tenebaum still exists, alongside Adam, which is in turn where the Protagonist appears. There is no SHODAN, nor is there a single opponent in all of this. Unlike SS2, which had a straight-forward plot, the protagonist of Bioshock appears to have the choice of morality in what he can do.

Irrational has, in essence, borrowed heavily from System Shock 2 – but it is not a bad thing that they did. They have taken the best elements from SS2 and combined it with new elements, stories and choices to make something incredibly unique and interesting. We may never have another SHODAN taunting us along our cybernetic paths, nor will we have The Many enticing us to join in the Glory of the flesh; but their spirit lives on in the conflicts between Rapture and Adam, and our choices within it.

Where would I be without the Indy Gaming Community? One lost, sad puppy with way too much free time on my hands if I had to guess. They’re conveniently small enough to download from anywhere and make for great time-pass on those long weekends away from work (sick/rainy days notwithstanding). Props to the well-informed blogwriters of Independent Gaming for giving upto date info on the latest happenings.

Anyway! Last week I got to check out Poke53280’s Hurrican. To be brief: it’s a really well-done retro remake, in the spirit of the Turrican series (more about those here). The core gameplay is mainly composed of 2D shooting mixed in with some platformer elements. Levels are littered with power-ups, like that green energy ball thingy that breaks up into smaller pieces on impact (I’m sure it has a name; I just can’t arsed to check it). Oh, it’s also one of those games that begs to be played with a joypad. My dinky Rs. 300 PS1-ripoff one made all the difference. Kinda wish the game would at least allow me to shoot downwards in mid-air, but that’s like asking Megaman if he can go on one knee and duck an enemy pellet for a fucking change. I kid though, honestly! There’s even 2-player support, though I can guarantee you’ll run into some serious slowdown issues if your system doesn’t meet the recommended requirements. Best you’d turn down the level of detail in the preference menu, hmm.

Done reading? Download here!

Retro Rockstars Jeremy Parish and Mike Nelson decide to form up and use the Force. That is to say, so that they may get down and dirty with a franchise we all know too well, that’s been milked left and right to the gaming masses like nobody’s business. From appearances on the Atari all the way up to your favorite current-gen consoles (They still sell the PS2, right?), the boys got their bases covered in this ultimate 1up article on the Good, the Bad and the Jar-Jar Binx of Star Wars games. Fanboys need not apply.

Source: 1up.com

I know this one has been around on the internet for a LONG time! But it’s just so amazing that I consider it an HONOR to have this video tagged to www.theangrypixel.com. Someone please tell Jack Thompson and his bitches that when people enact video games - it’s seriously funny!
As a kid, my brother and I would do this kind of stuff simply because our parents couldn’t afford the NES and we didn’t get pocket money to blow up in video game parlors. (I tried doing that once. ONCE.) So I can totally dig this and relate to it. Gosh! It was unbelievable when we “played” Contra or Spartan or even Double Dragon! Watch this and laugh your ass off. I know I did!