Hot Blooded Gaming » John

The Online Video Game Manual Archive

John — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:30:00 +0000

I used to love reading the game manuals I had as a kid, among them the manual for Chrono Trigger (pictured), which I recall getting for my birthday back in 1996 and reading the manual in the car on the way home.

The good old days. Of course, like almost every kid, I eventually lost the manual forever.

Never fear– a website called replacementdocs has undertaken the mission “to bring you only high quality scanned images of instruction manuals in their full, original format with all original artwork and other graphical elements intact.”

They’ve got tons of manuals for new and old games alike, and the site serves several purposes– not only are the manuals (occasionally) very helpful, but it’s a trip down nostalgia lane as well as an interesting view into the history of video games.

Take a look at some of the cool art, such as those in the Legend of Zelda manual (though, unfortunately, that’s in greyscale); check out the amazing writing about the history of the races in the Starcraft manual, or look up your favorite game.

Replacementdocs.com

Halo: Reach Beta Live-Action TV Spot

John — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:15:53 +0000

This excellent advertisement comes from the line of Halo 3 commercials that made us all crave to finish the fight: live-action (or semi-live action, as in Believe) TV spots resplendent with excellent atmosphere, a serious tone, and surprisingly good acting.

The TV spot follows a portion of the military career of one Carter 259, a SPARTAN III, as he undergoes some sort of surgery that is implied to be a portion of the modifications requisite to becoming a Spartan. The trailer features some cool cinematography and plays an interesting and dramatic story out in only one minute, one second. Check it out!

Nightmare Fuel Pokemon

John — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:30:35 +0000

Pokemon as Lovecraft would have envisioned them. Horrific nightmare monsters under the control of irresponsible children, mauling and nearly murdering each other in battle every day.

I thought teaching Hypno a move called “Dream Eater” was disturbing enough…

[via Reddit]

Study Shows Violent Video Games Make You Smarter!

John — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:00:30 +0000

The Sun reports on a study conducted by a team of researchers from the Netherlands at Leiden University involving the effects of violent video games on the human brain.

Dr. Lorenza Colzato, an assistant professor at the psychology department at Leiden University, had this to say about the results:

“Playing video games helps the natural reflexes, it makes players more responsive and able to switch between different tasks.”

“This type of thinking is very practical for the modern lifestyle where people are doing so many things at the one time.”

“They may be checking their email, then taking a phone call. They need to be flexible.”

“If someone likes violent video games it does not mean they will engage in anti-social behaviour. Parents should not be scared to let their children play video games.”

The study indicates that fast-paced action, like those found in games such as Call of Duty and Resident Evil, can help improve quick-thinking and foster natural reflexes and ability to switch between different tasks.

The researchers even recommended that video games take a more prominent role in nursing homes and amongst the elderly elsewhere. Professor Colzato dove further, into the implications the study may have had on staving off the mental signs of aging:

“If elderly people had a lot of problems with their thinking they could play video games to improve their minds.”"This could become a common nursing home activity, it would be a successful strategy.”

I’m confident that gaming has helped me foster a lot of aspects of my personality — competition, rational thinking, resource management, perseverance, and several other positive qualities. How about you? Has any game noticeably changed the way you thought about and acted towards the rest of the world, for better or worse?

Video Games ‘Good For Brain’ [The Sun]

Get A Starcraft II Beta Key When You Preorder

John — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:30:59 +0000

For those of you unlucky people (like myself) who haven’t been able to grab a beta key for Blizzard’s upcoming Starcraft II, Kotaku reports that you can get one for free with your pre-order at GameStop.

You can even get the beta key if you pre-order online; scammer beware, however, as you’ll be unable to cancel your pre-order once placed. They’ve wisened up, I guess. Freaking Gamestop. However, if you pre-order in a store, you’ll likely be able to cancel it if you so desire. Since Starcraft was one of the greatest PC games of all time in this writer’s humble opinion, I find it highly unlikely many of you will be interested in cancelling the pre-order anyway.

I guess I’ll have to make the forbidden trek out to GameStop soon in order to finally get my beta key. I’m sick of just watching replays on YouTube!

[via Kotaku]

Left 4 Dead 2 “The Passing” Promo Trailer!

John — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:30:38 +0000

The first downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2, “The Passing”, is available today! Valve put out a short (but enjoyable!) trailer for the campaign. Watch below!

Ah, Francis. So I guess that he’s not the one of the original survivors who dies. I’ll get to find out who it is in just a few hours (when I actually get a chance to play the DLC.) “The Passing” includes new game modes called “Mutations” which seem to be special variations on the original gameplay (such as Realism Versus or Chainsaw Massacre, where everyone gets a chainsaw with unlimited fuel,) as well as a new campaign with a new Scavenge level as well, plus apparently a new cooperative multiplayer mode that I haven’t heard much about.

Anyone else excited? Who is going to be getting the DLC? If not — why not?!

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Confirmed! [Video]

John — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:30:47 +0000

At CAPTIVATE 2010, basically a Capcom festival, a new video was shown showcasing several characters and scenes from Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the long-awaited sequel to fan favorite Marvel vs. Capcom 2 which was recently released on Xbox Live Arcade and the PSN.

Check out the video:

It looks like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will use an engine similar to Street Fighter IV‘s, with 3d models in a 2d playing field. This has disappointed a few of the die-hard 2d fans. Still, I think it looks sick! What do you think? Does Chris Redfield really stand a chance against the Hulk?

Pokemon Black & White Game Footage

John — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:30:41 +0000

These Japanese people are really excited that the camera turns as you move around the city. And why not? That’s pretty slick. Okay, so it’s not much, but if you’re a Pokemon fanatic you should be excited for every little bit of information that comes out.

Titling the games Pokemon Black & White makes them seem a lot more serious than they ever did before, doesn’t it? I don’t see where they can go with the franchise since the last installments introduced Arceus, who was basically the God Pokemon. There’s always a way to milk a cash cow, however.

A Look At Pokemon Black & White Walking Gameplay [Kotaku via Siliconera]

Mega Man Roundup!

John — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:30:32 +0000

Mega Man is one of my favorite series– Mega Man 2 was probably the NES game I played second most out of all of the carts I owned as a kid, and I still love playing it to this day. There has been a lot of cool Mega Man stuff going up recently, and here I figured I’d list a whole bunch of Mega Man media and news that might interest you.

Here’s some amazing Mega Man CG art of a few of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2, by David Espinoza, a professional digital artist. This stuff looks amazing. As I said, Mega Man 2 is my favorite Mega Man game, so seeing Metal Man and the others in such a cool way makes me totally geek out.

Impressive CG Mega Man Fan Art [Protodude's Rockman Corner]

Speaking of Mega Man art, here’s an amazing Post-It Note Mega Man! Charis Erin was bored one day and decided to make this. Naturally, the first thing to do when you’re bored is create a giant Post-It Note version of your favorite video game character.

Mega Man In Post-It Notes [POWRDUP]

Those of you who are GIGANTIC Mega Man nerds like myself may have heard of The Megas, a cover band that only does Mega Man music. Their first release, Get Equipped, is an album spanning the entirety of Mega Man 2‘s soundtrack and was released in January 2008. In February they released Get Acoustic, an acoustic version of Get Equipped, and it’s fantastic. Those of you who haven’t heard any of their songs would do well to listen to one of my favorite tracks from Get Equipped, “The Annihilation of Monsteropolis”, a cover of Airman’s theme.

If you like it, check out the album! The Megas are currently recording the followup album to Get Equipped, which will cover the soundtrack of Mega Man 3.

The Megas Website

Another awesome Mega Man cover/remix is “Mega Man 2″ by the Adventures of Duane and Brand-O, a band which does rap remixes of NES games. “Mega Man 2″ is their crowning achievement in my opinion. This song is badass and totally conveys the feeling I had as a kid with Mega Man destroying all of Wily’s robot masters, one by one. The rap battles are an amazing analogy to the actual battle. Note: NSFW lyrics!

If you like that, check out the rest of their albums. Apparently, their next song will be based on Mega Man 9!

Duane and BrandO’s Official Database

And if that’s not enough, feel free to lend me your support in my conquering Wily! I’m currently trying to climb up the leaderboards in the Xbox 360 version of Mega Man 9‘s Endless Mode. My record currently? 285 screens, number 183 on the leaderboards. World record? That bastard MegaDestructor9 with 6598 screens. Alright, alright… maybe I’m not going to be number one. However, my goal is to break into the top 10, which is doable: number 10 is Antagonist XC (rumored to have cheated his way to number 1 in the All Clear leaderboard!) with 1319 screens. Can I do it?! Time will tell.