Power Button Presents Kombo Breaker - Episode 59: Mass Effect 2 Special with Alexander Sliwinski

• Power Button - Episode 47: A Combination Of Anger, Disappointment, And Disgust and Power Button - Episode 48: One Week Later (Brad Hilderbrand and I cope with the PlayStation Network hack attack of 2011)

• E3 2011: Sega Has A Sonic The Hedgehog Museum (Sega collected a bunch of memorabilia)

• Power Button at E3 2011 (I team up with the Games Are Evil team for a week of podcasts from Los Angeles)

  • Episode 1: Crazy Predictions Run Wild! (Excitement!)

  • Episode 2: Press Conference Cavalcade (Information!)

  • Episode 3: A Brief Tour Of West And South Halls (Impressions!)

  • Episode 4: So Very Tired (Exhaustion!)

  • Episode 5: Final Wrap-Up (Reflection!)

• Mega Man Games Hacked To Allow On-The-Go Weapon Changes (The classic Nintendo Entertainment System titles gain a new feature)

• These Games Suck (Let's visit the bargain bin of the damned)

• The Song Remains The Same With Operation Rainfall and The Song Remains The Same With Operation Rainfall (You can't always get what you want (unless, of course, you can))

• You Can't Go To Disney's Myst Island (Walt Disney World once planned on a theme park island experience based on the classic game)

• All Your Base Are Dramatically Overwritten (I really wanted to like this book)

• Power Button - Episode 58: Kombo Reunion (The old band gets back together for one night only)

• OverClocked Remix Battles The Robot Masters (Enjoy some sweet Mega Man remixes)

• Duke Nukem Loves Modern Warfare 3 (Still one of the more unusual repurposed promotional items I've seen)

• Let's Visit A Sad Arcade (Searching for the great American video game arcade led here)

• Secret Origins: Super Mario 64 (The waiting was the hardest part, as was the intense sickness)

• Mini-Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition (Glad to see this game back again)

• Mini-Review: NBA 2K12 and Mini-Review: NBA 2K12 Legends Showcase (Brad Hilderbrand steps in to review this sports title)

• Gone Mad From The Revelation (Actually starting a new game takes more work than ever these days)

• Power Button - Episode 69: Heated Discussions Regarding Uncharted 3 And Super Mario 3D Land (Loud, angry arguments!)

• PTB 2011 Video Gaming Holiday Gift Guide (Is it too late to start you holiday shopping for 2011?)

• Mini-Review: Dante's Inferno (One of my favorite reviews from the old days)

• Power Button - Episode 72: The Best That 2011 Had To Offer and Power Button - Episode 73: Big Games For 2012 (Last year brought us some great games, but this year looks great as well)

• Secret e-Reader Levels In Mario vs Donkey Kong Revealed (I still wish this lost content would have resurfaced for the 3DS re-release)

• Mini-Review: Just Cause 2 (Years later and I'm still trying to achieve 100% completion of this game) 

• Let's Get Dangerous: Darkwing Duck's Gaming Adventures (A look back at the masked mallard's video game career)

• Beyond Beeps: New Ghostbusters II (This old Nintendo Entertainment System title was hiding film soundtrack renditions in plain sight)

• Hello, Mr. Spencer!: In Defense of Bionic Commando and Mini-Review: Bionic Commando (A Bionic Commando blowout)

• Mini-Review: Sonic Classic Collection (A look at this DS compilation from a technical perspective)

Previous Milestone Celebrations

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Klei Entertainment and Electronic Arts recently released the sequel to 2010's slashing platformer, Shank, for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and PC.  I've been working my way through Shank 2 over the past few days and while I'm enjoying it so far, one of my criticisms is that I have no idea what is going on with the story.  The original Shank ended with the protagonist completing his roaring rampage of revenge against his former partners in crime, while the sequel opens with him becoming embroiled in some sort of rebellion.  How does it all fit together?  What happened between the two titles?  Thankfully, Klei has come to the rescue with answers in the form of a free downloadable Shank comic that bridges the gap between the two games.  In the span of just a few pages, Jeff Agala and Vangelis Christou explain what happened after Shank slaughtered his enemies and just how he wound up on a bus in the middle of nowhere.  It's a quick read and worth your time if you're a fan of the series, but be aware that like the Shank games, it is rather gory.  Head on over to the official Shank website to catch up on your Shank lore.

Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace website has some surprisingly impressive screenshots of Sega's upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II that are leaps and bounds above the comparatively simple visual style of 2009's Episode I.  Perhaps the creative team behind these downloadable releases has been paying attention to constructive criticism after all because some of what I see here looks like it's on par with last year's Sonic Generations in places.  Check out the the detailed character models!  Marvel at the lighting!  Swoon at the the textured objects!  This looks downright gorgeous and probably explains why a Nintendo Wii release isn't happening for this installment (every other current platform will see it though; it's coming to Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, and PC).  Episode II is expected later this year, but if the game plays as well as it looks, then its release can't come soon enough.

Nathan Drake has explored many mysterious places, but his latest destination is the most unknown: the Sony PlayStation Vita.  Guiding the Uncharted franchise into the handheld realm for the first time, Sony's own Bend Studio has taken the helm for Uncharted: Golden Abyss with franchise creator Naughty Dog assisting in a supervisory role.  Can Uncharted really be Uncharted without Naughty Dog calling the shots?  1UP has a fascinating look into the creation of Golden Abyss and just how Bend crafted this new adventure from the ground up starting way back in 2008. 

Over the course of 2008 and 2009, the Bend team chipped away at the then-officially-untitled Uncharted project -- which at different points they called Uncharted: Project X and Uncharted: Dark Secrets, the latter of which may have been a better fit for Nintendo given its initials -- building a new engine, consulting with Sony, and setting up the mechanics that would make it feel at home in the series.

"We had been given such advanced access to SCEI and the hardware and the development tools very early on, so we were pretty much ahead of everyone," says [co-director Christopher] Reese. And for better or worse, or probably both, being ahead of the curve meant being a guinea pig for Sony's tech group.  "They were using us to help them refine and build the hardware," says [co-director John] Garvin, noting that the team would get new versions of the development kits every three months as the hardware became more stable.

Golden Abyss is drawing mixed reviews from some publications, and it seems that its biggest sin is that it wasn't developed solely by Naughty Dog.  I think it's unfortunate that there'a a perception in the gaming community that the key Sony brands such as Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, God of War, and now Uncharted are passed to lesser studios when it comes to developing for handheld hardware.  That perception is not helped by the notion that Bend is seemingly at a disadvantage with Golden Abyss, as today's audience expects to see the Uncharted franchise grow from Among Thieves and Drake's Deception.  Golden Abyss started development following the first game in the series, Drake's Fortune, and the Uncharted franchise has come a long, long way since then.  It's hard for me to shake the notion that it's shape stems from that first game more than any of the better sequels.  Here's some of what Kirk Hamilton had to say about Golden Abyss in his review over at Kotaku:

But the specters of past, better Uncharted games loom over Golden Abyss from start to finish. This game mimics the Uncharted formula to a fault—we all know the banter, the pacing; when a handhold is going to crumble, when enemies will turn up at an inopportune time.

More specifically, Golden Abyss is more or less an inferior carbon copy of the first game in the series, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It takes place in and around a single jungle in Argentina, the cast is limited to four main characters, and there's even a bit where you pilot a boat down a river while blowing up guys with a grenade launcher. After spending Uncharted 2 and 3 going on globe-hoping adventures, it feels like a step backwards.

I need to play Golden Abyss for myself to form my own concrete opinion, but the impression that I'm getting ahead of actually doing that isn't a positive one.  It's difficult as a game player to see a studio create something new with a franchise originally created by a different studio.  Sometimes it works out in the end (Capcom did some interesting things with Nintendo's Legend of Zelda in the last decade for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, for instance).  Unfortunately, it also invites (and even demands) comparisons between the smaller developer and the flagship with the famous name.  Bend Studio has done good work in the past, but they're not just competing with past Uncharted games here.  Bend is competing with past Naughty Dog Uncharted games.  That's a high mark to reach.  What I've read so far on Golden Abyss is that it's a fine try at matching the Uncharted experience, but it falls short of what one would expect from a Naughty Dog Uncharted title.  There's a reason for that: Golden Abyss isn't a Naughty Dog Uncharted title.  It's a Bend Studio Uncharted title, and that's a completely different thing by definition.  I'd think it should be judged accordingly.

This article was originally published at Kombo.com on March 15, 2010.

It's sometimes difficult to accept that there are young fans of Sonic the Hedgehog who have never actually played the character's original Sega Genesis adventures. For these children, Sonic sprang into existence with titles such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance, and Sonic Rush. Despite the fact that Sega has re-released their flagship character's early adventures in compilations such as Sonic Mega Collection, Sega Genesis Collection, and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, the holy quartet of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles (and the various lock-on technology combinations therein) have never turned up in a single collection for a handheld system until now with the Nintendo DS release of Sonic Classic Collection. Bundling the aforementioned games together on a single game card, Sega aims to introduce the blue blur to a new generation in preparation for the upcoming Genesis-imitating Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Assuming that most readers have played a classic Sonic game before, there's no need to recap Dr. Robotnik's scheme to gather the Chaos Emeralds to power his Death Egg, nor should the concepts of spin dashes and collecting rings need additional explanation. Instead, the technical side of the Collection needs a closer look. Worth noting right up front is the fact that the games found in the Collection are not ports of the original Genesis titles, but are actually emulated using a properly licensed, legitimate, and slightly updated version of the jEnesisDS emulator that homebrew aficionados have been using for a while now. Emulating the games avoids the embarrassing results of half-assed ports like the Game Boy Advance title Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, but introduces a few new quirks and changes that long-time Sonic fans will notice right away, while those who have never played the original games will likely remain unaware of any tinkering. Overall, this compilation presents a mostly faithful handheld version of the original classics perfect for new players and returning speedsters alike.

Despite early screenshots of the Collection teasing possible multiplayer options, not only are there no new ways to play with a friend (this official Sega-supplied screenshot is not actually playable in the game), but each game's existing multiplayer modes have been dummied out. The two-player races of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 are no longer accessible, nor are the Options screens for those two titles. Sonic 2's choice of playing as Sonic, Sonic & Tails, or just Tails is now a title screen choice. Additionally, the original announcement for the Collection mentioned a historical Sonic video and a few other goodies, but all that has made it into the final product is a small collection of promotional character artwork that has previously been seen in compilations such as Sonic Gems Collection. It's underwhelming and feels like a token inclusion just to beef up the bullet points on the back of the box.

Each game is accessible right away without the need to unlock anything. The action plays out on the DS's top screen, and as the resolution of the Genesis is greater than that of the DS, each game as been vertically squished ever so slightly so as to fill the entire screen. This is mostly noticeable in the first Sonic and its sequel. The touchscreen is reserved for a brief textual story summary that in olden days would be presented as a little paragraph in the instruction manual. Touchscreen buttons toggle between the plot recap and instructions on how to control Sonic (and, when available, Tails and Knuckles). Curiously, the DS's own Start button becomes disabled once a game starts, so Pause functionality is handled through a touchscreen Pause button that does not pause the game, but the emulator itself. Removing the in-game Start button means that most of the classic cheat codes such as level selects and debug modes are inaccessible here (although the original Sonic level select — Up, Down, Left, Right, A + Start at the title screen — still works). By pausing the emulator instead of the game itself, any cheats that require control pad input while paused (such as a few commands in the original Sonic's debug mode) also no longer work. Moreover, removing the Options screens takes away access to the Sound Test needed to unlock some of the other cheats as well. It would seem that Sega is insistent that players experience these games as honestly as possible considering how many ways it is no longer possible to cheat.

Despite these alterations, the games of Sonic Classic Collection perform remarkably well under most circumstances. A save ability has been added to the games in the series that did not previously support it, but this feature will only save one's collected Chaos Emeralds and current zone. Unlike most emulators, Collection does not create traditional savestates that record exact position in a level. Aside from a few skipped frames here and there during the Blue Sphere bonus rounds in Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, the old blast processing is alive and well. The way that the Collection handles music and sound effects is unusual in that they seem to play independently of the action at times. Collect Sonic's trademark speed shoes power-up and the audio for the entire game increases in pitch, not tempo. Sometimes music fails to play at all when an act or bonus round loads, while other times it restarts at odd times. As for sound effects, the familiar crash-*ting* that plays when Sonic takes a hit and drops his rings sounds degraded in the first two Sonic games, while the spin dash sound in Sonic 2 plays at the wrong pitch. There's definitely something dodgy happening here with the audio support, and while it may sound petty to focus on it, these little changes do affect the overall presentation. These are iconic sound effects being impacted here. It doesn't impact gameplay, but does hurt overall presentation. Imagine if Super Mario Bros. were re-released with Mario's trademark jump sound effect mangled, for example.

These are all picayune picks at a handful of some of what the Sega Genesis era had to offer. Despite a bad sound effect here and a dropped frame there, this is still Sonic the Hedgehog at his old fashioned finest. All of the single-player levels, playable characters, reliable physics, and bonus games are joyfully intact. Young players who have never been to Green Hill Zone nor explored Sandopolis Zone should not hesitate to dig into these adventures, while those who remember and still enjoy these games from years ago will still find fun here even if the experience isn't 100% faithful to the original Genesis rendition. It seems like a cheap shot to tear apart little inconsequential glitches in such detail, but when a classic game like Sonic the Hedgehog that is so deeply ingrained into gamer DNA is presented with even minor defects, one's gaming "Spidey sense" can't help but tingle that something is just not right. Still, it's perfectly enjoyable and probably as good as it gets from the modern incarnation of Sega.

Speaking of new and uncertain things, Sony is sending its PlayStation Vita out into North America and the European/Australian regions in the days ahead.  Will you buy a Vita at launch?  Have you had a preorder in place for months?  Are you just going to walk up to a store counter and ask for one on a whim? Are you waiting to see how the system performs in the weeks and months ahead before making a commitment?  Or are you totally disinterested in it altogether?  Let's hear your thoughts.

Power Button Presents Kombo Breaker - Episode 25: Controlled Response

In early 1994, the Sonic the Hedehog series was a worldwide phenomenon, especially with its recently released third game. Even before then, pretty much every major game company was making their own Sonic rip-off for every console at the time, some with more success than others. But the one system that never had its own Sonic-style game was the PC. Sure, there were a lot of great side-scrollers at the time, such as Duke Nukem, but nothing that could match up to the speed of Sega's series.

That was when Epic Megagames, who had previously created DOS hits like Epic Pinball and Jill of the Jungle, started work on the first attempt to make a high-speed platformer for the PC. Their attempt was Jazz Jackrabbit, and while it couldn't really stand up to the games it was inspired by, it ended up becoming a pretty big hit on the PC, and for good reason.

The evil turtle terrorist Devan Shell has kidnapped the princess of the planet Carrotus, and starts trying to conquer the rest of the galaxy, as well. It's up to the rabbit mercenary Jazz Jackrabbit to travel the galaxy, destroy Devan's forces, and eventually rescue the princess. Not really the most creative plot, but it sure beats an environmental message. The manual includes a small comic explaining the plot, where it admits that yes, it is completely and utterly ripping off Sonic the Hedgehog. At least they're honest.

I always enjoyed the shareware episodes of Jazz back in the old days and while I did want to buy the full game, I could never find it for sale anywhere.  Such a shame.  Jazz's opening theme song is just as catchy as anything that Nintendo or Sega were creating at the time, and while many of the Jazz titles did copy/imitate wholesale from Epic's console competition, the series still managed to find its own path.  A planned Jazz Jackrabbit 3 (a 3D platformer) wasn't meant to be, and now that Epic has found massive success with Gears of War, I don't see a Jazz revival waiting in the wings.  That's a lost opportunity if I've ever seen one.

Before Rockstar North was known primarily for the Grand Theft Auto series, it went by another name: DMA Design. It was already making awesome games, though. Uniracers, for example, is by far the best side-scrolling racing and stunt game featuring unicycles ever to be released for the Super Nintendo.  The game already feels pretty fast, but doing tricks in midair gives you a speed boost if you land them, so you’re constantly encouraged to flip like a madman (or madunicycle). This can get really tricky when the tracks are throwing you crazy loops and constantly changing which direction you’re supposed to be going. You could play split-screen with a second player or even set up an eight-player tournament, making it a fast and fun party game.

So why aren’t we still playing Uniracers every day? Because back in 1987, Pixar released a four-minute-long short film called Red’s Dream, which starred an autonomous, computer-generated unicycle. Apparently this gave Pixar the idea that any later appearance of a rider-less CG unicycle was stealing its concept, and it sued DMA Design shortly after Uniracers was released. Unfortunately, the court sided with Pixar, forcing Nintendo to stop production on copies of the game and ensuring we’ll never see it again. So next time you’re thanking John Lasseter for directing Toy Story, take a moment to curse him for indirectly taking Uniracers out of the world.

Other games of interest on the list include perennial fan favorites such as Mega Man Legends and EarthBound.  The stunning thing about all of this is that most of the games in the spotlight here have been rereleased in Japan where apparently copyright laws are weaker, lawyers are smarter, or sales expectations are more realistic.  Mega Man Legends and EarthBound have both been brought back there in recent years (for the Sony PlayStation Portable and Game Boy Advance respectively), as has NiGHTS: Into Dreams (as a PlayStation 2 port).  None of those saw the light of day elsewhere.  If that's not a shameable offense, then it really should be.

Big games cost big money. Even something as "simple" as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title can cost upwards of two or three million dollars. For disc-based games, it can be over ten times that amount. To finance the production, promotion, and distribution of these massive undertakings, companies like Double Fine have to rely on external sources like publishers, investment firms, or loans. And while they fulfill an important role in the process, their involvement also comes with significant strings attached that can pull the game in the wrong directions or even cancel its production altogether. Thankfully, viable alternatives have emerged and gained momentum in recent years.

Crowd-sourced fundraising sites like Kickstarter have been an incredible boon to the independent development community. They democratize the process by allowing consumers to support the games they want to see developed and give the developers the freedom to experiment, take risks, and design without anyone else compromising their vision. It's the kind of creative luxury that most major, established studios simply can't afford. At least, not until now.

There are tiers of rewards for different donations ($15 gets you a copy of the game on Steam when it releases in October, for instance).  Double Fine needs to raise $400,000 over the next thirty-three days in order for the game to start development, so you'd better hurry if you want to... oh, wait, sorry; after less than a day of collecting donations, the goal has already been met.  From here on, any additional donations will go towards making the game even better and porting it to other platforms.  I think this is a fascinating project and I'd love to see other developers follow with this model.  Fans have offered to kick in money to fund highly demanded sequels before (the sad tale of Mega Man Legends 3 comes to mind), but I can understand why the old guard of development and publishing may shy away from pursuing the Kickstarter model.  Allowing fans to preorder a game early enough in the process to actively fund development changes so much about the traditional way today's games are made.  Hopefully we see more of this in the future.  I know I'd kick in money to see Aero the Acro-Bat 3, Mega Man X9, or Plok 2 happen if the development teams' hearts were in the project.

Through a locked gate, down a winding path and by a still pond a few miles outside of the leafy village of Twycross, England, a bonsai tree stands. It was a gift given to Rare by Shigeru Miyamoto, the most famous game designer in the world, as a thank-you for the game developer's critical and commercial success in creating games for Nintendo, the most famous game maker in the world.

For Rare's staff arriving to work at 8:30 sharp each morning, it has served as a reminder of the company's heritage, of who they are, of how lucky they are to be a part of something so admired, so rare. An unassuming trophy of past glories, it's also an inspiration for future goals, a symbol carefully cultivated to weather trends, transcend fashions; rooted, a gnarly resolution.

On 20th of September 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million for this bonsai tree and all that it symbolised: creative excellence, technical mastery, innovation, originality, soul and the precious fingerprints of Nintendo. The fledgling Microsoft Game Studios, desperate to acquire world-class talent that could help establish its game console, saw in that tree everything it desired to become.

10 years later and Bill Gates is yet to plant a bonsai tree in Rare's once-fertile grounds.

In that time Rare's critical and commercial success has tumbled, the studio's games struggling to live up to their creator's name. Two years after the acquisition, Chris and Tim Stamper, the brothers who founded the company in 1982, departed into "exploring new opportunities" obscurity. Faithful fans became disillusioned while, apart form a couple of notable exceptions, the developer's new, scattershot directions have failed to inspire loyalty or passion in the next generation of players and the next again.

What went wrong? And who - or perhaps what - is to blame?

When I read about the sale a decade ago, I immediately had a sinking feeling that a clash of corporate cultures and the lack of Nintendo's guiding hand would leave Microsoft holding the bag, as it were.  The developer that once brought us imaginative characters like Diddy Kong, Joanna Dark, and Banjo as well as innovative uses of technology has instead been reduced to cranking out lackluster Kinect titles and other material that the core Xbox 360 audience hasn't really seemed to have requested.  Ten years ago I had assumed that Microsoft would gut Rare, take the aspects of the company that it wanted for its other enterprises, and then sell or outright close what was the left.  Considering that the video game industry is one that loves to swallow up studios and dismantle them, I am genuinely impressed that Microsoft has kept Rare around even if it is a shell of its former self.