Indie games on Xbox Live, for the most part, suck a big left one. Most of them feel like an unfinished Flash game created by an autistic boy on meds. A few are decent, but not even worth the couple bucks. But then there are those very few indie games that rise above crap, past mediocrity, and ascend to the highest levels of greatness man can achieve.
First of all, sorry for the lack of posts. Although the site is still up and running, for the past week or so, I was unable to access the Wordpress portion of the site because of some odd errors. I finally figured out was was causing the problem, so all systems are a go.
You all know I love the guys over at Pineconeattack. They’ve not only been big supporters of the site, but I’ve also been given the honor to be a part of their epic podcast “Pinekast”. Best of all, I’ve gotten the chance to just talk and hang out online with the group of guys over there. I gotta say, they are a fine group of lads, well except Tenno (HA!). After awhile, I was kind of adopted into the crew. I’m not sure when it happened, it just did. That being said, I’m now a full fledged writer and contributor to the site and a member of PCA.
Don’t fret my little ones, I’ll still be posting plenty of stuff here in the site, I’m just spreading the love around. Plus it gives me a chance to write about other things that I don’t usually cover on the site because they are to new or just off the beaten path. Check out my first article covering the Lost Planet 2 demo.
Lost Planet 2 Demo Impressions
BTW: Look out for some news on the release date on of Substance TV 10. It’s closer then you think!
Many a year ago, Erik and I had a little tradition. We didn’t really have a name for it. It was just a night of gaming. Each week we would go over to my house or his and do some gaming till the wee hours of the morning. From these gaming nights came the inspiration for Substance TV.
Since he moved out of town, those days are in the past, but from time to time we’ve managed to take a trip to one or the other’s respective town of residence (I know, that was such a smancy fancy way of saying it). Interestingly enough, we’ve never recorded our gaming nights.
On the weekend of August 7th, I took the four hour drive from Wichita, KS to Springfield, MO to visit my good friend, and co-creator of Substance TV, Erik Neal. The whole weekend we played every video game from old to new. It came to our minds that we should record our killin’ for posterity’s sake. The following video is a collection of the best clips from our night of gaming. Footage is from Street Fighter Zero 3, Urban Reign, Mario Kart Double Dash, Soul Calibur IV, and Bionic Commando. Enjoy! Maybe someday, when and if Erik moves back into town, these gaming nights will be a bit more frequent.
It’s late, but I just had to post this. For you fans of the Neo Geo, you’ll all remember the Neo Geo Mini arcade cabs. For those not familiar, here’s a picture of the little thing:
Now as tiny and cool as that is, there’s a Neo Geo cabinet that’s even smaller still! Now this isn’t just some ROM box thrown into a system, it’s an actual one slot MVS! Add to that, it can hook up to your TV as well. So pretty much it’s a miniature consolized Neo Geo arcade machine. Here’s some of the stats on this beauty:
- It’s 17×33 cm
- Uses a PSOne 5″ LCD
- Taito Space Invaders Play TV stick
- Mini Sanwa buttons
- Neo Geo MVS mv-1b as board
It took 5 months to make. Yea, ummmmm this is not practical and completely over the top, but it’s so insanely cool I’d gladly get a Brazilian wax for the chance to touch it. Check it out!
Right now, the economy pretty much sucks a big left one. And we all know about the government’s stimulus packages and other various attempts to try and ease the pain of this recession blah blah blah. Here at Substance TV, we want to do our little part, but in a different way. Both Erik and I know video games are a luxury item. It’s not the cheapest hobby, but we’re suckers for those pretty pixels. When recession hits, the old video game budget shrinks considerably.
So starting this month, Substance TV is rolling out what we call “Free Play”. Free Play is a monthly contest. Each month we’ll pick out a game and give it away for free. Now we’re not talking about some crappy throw away title. As with our reviews, we only pick the best. The Free Play for the month of August is a new sealed copy of Viewtiful Joe 2 for the Nintendo Gamecube.
How do you enter it you ask? It’s quite simple. All you have to do is post a comment in response to this article. Tell us your favorite memory of the Viewtiful Joe series, or best level, or thing you liked best about the game, or if you haven’t played it, what you think about the series in general. Long story short, if it’s a comment pertaining to Viewtiful Joe, it’s fair game. At the end of the month, we’ll randomly select one winner (and don’t worry, we’ll handle shipping as well), and send you the game.
That’s it! So get to it and stay Viewtiful.
Yea, I know, these remade trailers have been done to death, but I have to say this one is pretty cool. It’s a mix of Evangelion with the Iron Man movie trailer. Add to that it actually looks like some thought was put into it by matching voice overs and onscreen action. Plus anytime you mix Evangelion with anything, it’s always better. Enjoy!
Just a couple of guys who like to play great video games. So now we tell everyone else about these good games through Substance TV.
