Overview: I, like many of my generation, have fond memories of going to friends' birthday parties held at arcades. We would get a bunch of quarters, or go to a place with free play, and spend hours doing the ADD dance between cabinets. One of the absolutely best kinds of games to ram your quarters into were sidescrolling shooters, and Metal Slug was one of the best. The Metal Slug Anthology is another great compilation of a classic series that is currently available for basically every console (including PSP, which is pretty great). SNK sent out the Wii version, which features some Wii-specific control schemes. Metal Slug is a classic sidescrolling arcade game, with lush graphics and animation, a driving soundtrack and tons of explosions. The anthology features seven Metal Slug titles, which all are pretty much just the same as the rest. Does that mean they aren't a lot of fun? Read on to find out.
New Zealanders are going to get a sufficient dose of ovine rampaging come March 2007 with the release of Black Sheep, a new horror movie from WETA. You may know WETA as the effects house that created greats like Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles and The Lord of the Rings. If this trailer is any indication, we are certainly in for a treat. Zombie sheep ruling the countryside! Grandma getting a shotgun blast to the head! Blood everywhere! Guts! Carnage! Sheep!
Unfortunately it has to share the name of a Chris Farley pic, and is slated only for a NZ release at this point. Long live the DVD import. Click the link and check out the absolutely hilariously awesome trailer.
posted by Chris on December 28, 2006 3:47 PM in Games
File this under "holy crap that's awesome I am jealous". Japan has this little thing called Club Nintendo, where members can register games and get points for some really neat free stuff. In the past bonuses have included exclusive games, DS styluses (stylii?), shirts and other kitchy fun Nintendo greatness. Platinum members get some special gifts this year, choosing between custom Mii Wiimote battery covers, or a club-exclusive Tingle DS Game (which looks like a re-skinned version of Balloon Fight).
What do we get in the states for registering our games? Exclusive wallpapers, and back when Wind Waker was released we got a bonus Zelda collection disk. You know what would be nice? Bonus Wii Points for registering games. Even a small number like 100 would be really neat. I still register every Nintendo game I get just in case someday in the future NOA starts giving bonuses. Which they won't.
posted by Mike on December 28, 2006 12:11 AM in Music
Geeky CD Review: “Return to Cookie Mountain” by TV on the Radio
If it’s truly as singer Tunde Adebimpe croons and “love is a province of the brave,” then Return to Cookie Mountain is proof of that claim. TV on the Radio have created a masterpiece both ambient and rocking, beautiful and ugly, passionate and hollow. This record, unfortunately, didn’t get the tout it deserved in my Top 10 albums of the year, but it does take a certain amount of bravery to love it. Return to Cookie Mountain is jam packed with discordant layered sounds, avoiding melodic instrument phrasings at all costs, with drums constantly grooving hard beneath the calculated mess.
Beginning track “I Was a Lover” is a great snapshot of the 11 track deluge, with its sitar drones, reverse synth pads, and hard hitting drum machines, the focus is clearly on TV on the Radio’s octave vocal swells that permeate the album. Even guest vocalists Katrina Ford and David Bowie seem to chameleon themselves into the singing mesh on their respective cameo tracks.
Clear standouts in the fray here are Bowie spotlighted “Province”, punk-influenced single “Wolf Like Me”, voodoo-like reggae romp “Let the Devil In”, and brutally earnest “Blues From Down Here.” All of these songs carry the constant ambience and rhythmic attack, but never do they sacrifice the believability and accessibility of the vocal current.
With lyrical topics ranging from heroin binges to animalistic pleasure seeking, the dirty rock and African drum influences help to carry the messages and feeling of the songs they drive. The urban wasteland environment fashioned in their tunes make you feel at once in the gutter and at a penthouse champagne party. I’ll leave you with some lyrics from 2006’s most disturbingly enjoyable album:
“There's a purple pain strangling yesterday/ there’s a purple stain spattered on interstates/ it’s an awkward stage grasping at anything/ ‘cause it's lost the page/ can’t find a word to say/ there is hardly a method you know…”
posted by Chris on December 23, 2006 11:26 AM in Games
Gaygamer.net has put together a short list of some great sites to use with the Wii browser, putting together all the flash games and Wii-capable stuff you could shake a Wiimote at.
I really wish I had Wifi here at the in-laws. I have to wait until I get home to download all the new Wii goodness. You bastards can have fun without me. Jerks.
posted by Chris on December 20, 2006 1:30 PM in Podcast
Frodo and Caspian, the huge music nerds they are, have recorded a special holiday treat for you. We bring you the Weekly Geek Top Ten Albums of 2006 Podcast! In it, we discuss our picks, why we picked them, and play cuts from each. If you like the regular old vanilla Weekly Geek podcast, you'll love the double-fudge with sprinkles Weekly Geek Top Ten Albums of 2006 Podcast.
Download it here (41mb), and hit the jump for the list and links to where you can grab our picks on iTunes.
Digg.com updated earlier this week with some spiffy new changes, including video hosting and a podcast listing! I have of course added The Weekly Geek to the listing, so if you enjoy the podcast and would like to share it with others, please digg it! We need your support here at The Weekly Geek and rely on word of mouth in order to promote the podcast. Get to it!
posted by Chris on December 19, 2006 11:40 AM in Games
That's right my friends, the wait is finally over. On December 22nd, Nintendo is unleashing the raw power of the Opera web browser on unsuspecting Wii owners. The press release I recieved today stated that it is just a beta, and that the full version will be released in March... but it's free for now. The best part? It's flash-enabled so you will be able to view YouTube movies on your Wii. I will never leave my couch, now.
Also in the release, Nintendo officially dated the Forecast Channel, which is going to be available on the 20th of December. (Edit: Looks like it's already up!)
The Internet Channel provides an optimal Web browsing experience on people's home television. The Adobe Flash-enabled beta version of the Opera browser puts the Internet right onto owners' television screens and lets them browse with ease, enabling them to check sports scores, plot maps or visit their favorite Web sites. Multiple family members can gather around the television to plan a vacation or make online purchases. The pointing abilities of the Wii Remote(TM) allow users to click on links they want to see or to zoom into any part of the screen through the motion of the controller. In addition, the Wii Remote can be used with an on-screen keyboard to make text entry as easy as point and click.
Interestingly, from the press release it sounds like multiple people can use the internet channel together using all four Wii remotes. If this is true, it will make for a truly interesting web surfing experience.
posted by Chris on December 17, 2006 3:49 PM in Podcast
The last show of 2006, The Geek and Frodo talk about a new Wii Zelda in the works, the VGAs, South Park and intellectual property, The Geek calls out Ain't it Cool News (because, no, in fact it isn't cool), Rachael Ray is yelled at, and Frodo talks Photoshop CS3 beta. Nerdy fun! We'll be back in two weeks for our top 5 games of 2006 show.
Overview: Excite Truck is most likely one of the more overlooked Wii launch titles, what with the blinding star that is Twilight Princess sitting next to it on the shelf. Being one of the few racing titles that utilize the Wii's unique motion-sensing controls, Excite Truck fills a needed gap between now and the release of Mario Kart fot the Wii. Building on a brand new franchise based on the original ExciteBike for the NES, Excite Truck offers interesting tracks, a multitude of trucks to choose from, unlockables out the ass and a custom soundtrack feature. And yes, finally you can move the controller around and act like an imbecile in your living room and have it translate into actual gameplay on the screen. But is it worth your money? Hit the jump to find out. (GET IT?!)
posted by Chris on December 16, 2006 1:24 PM in Games
I was playing Excite Truck on the Wii this morning, happily being excited by trucks, and all of a sudden it froze on me! To prove it, here is a video. Has this happened to anyone else? I wasn't specifically doing anything besides racing, though I was using the custom soundtrack feature from an SD card... maybe The Go! Team was a little too rockin' for little ol' Excite Truck? The sound you hear in the video is not feedback from the microphone, it was a horrible long beep that the Wii was making. Took a couple of seconds holding on the power button to restart it.
posted by Chris on December 14, 2006 1:05 PM in Rant
The ever-eloquent folks over at Game Lemons posted a great rant today about how much they hate the Spike TV VGAs. Of course they hate the VGAs, because they suck. From the article:
The truth is, most gamers hold successful careers, are married (or have a girlfriend), maybe even have a kid or two, and actually have other hobbies besides playing video games (like ranting about video game award shows on their blogs). Yet, the entire show - from Sam Jackson blurting out the F word every chance he got, to the emo punk bands, to the onslaught of b-list celebrities acting "hip" all combined to form one of the most contrived, boring, watered-down award shows the world has ever witnessed. The only shows to top this one in terms of idiocy are the three former VGA award shows.
Spike TV does cater to a very strange kind of gamer. But I believe the author of the article has it wrong. Spike TV is not catering to the wrong demographic. They are catering to the retards who watch Ultimate Fighting Championship and enjoy it completely without irony. The fools who you hear throwing racist slurs and homophobic tirades about on Xbox Live. The complete idiots who live to play the sleekest, most graphic intensive, bloodiest games around. These are the people who pay the big bucks, who bring in the ad revenue. They have co-opted the idea of the sweaty basement-dwelling gamer as their own, in the same self-deprecating style that makes The Daily Show so effective.
What the author doesn't mention is that video games are big business these days, and award shows aren't there to give you the warm fuzzies. The Spike TV VGAs are there to sell ads, that's it. They are hitting their demographic right on the mark. The bigger issue is the horrible culture of hardcore gamers that has developed since the advent of Halo. They have stolen our hobby and turned it into this faux-punk rock silicone implanted Sam Jackson-fest that we so despise. Unfortunately, since it makes companies so much money, we are going to have to suffer through crap like the VGAs for quite a long time. Sit back and enjoy the fact that you aren't one of them.
Overview:
Well, this one is gonna be pretty short and sweet, folks. I had the opportunity to check out a couple of games from Crave Entertainment for the GBA. Camp Lazlo Leaky Lake Games and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Now we all know that little games licensed from popular tv shows or movies are, statistically speaking, 99% crap. As a fan of cartoons, particularly Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, I was hoping at least one of these might defy the odds.
Did my wish come true? Click the jump to find out, gentle reader!
posted by Mike on December 14, 2006 12:01 AM in Music
My biggest regret about 2006’s year in music is that one of the most talked about records came out right around when I was finalizing my Top 10 Albums of the Year. Afraid that it would ruin my well-established mental processes about which albums made the grade, I decided to forgo listening to Joanna’s disc and give it separate attention. In that way, I could address the buzz that’s been surrounding this unique piece of art, and it wouldn’t tamper with my brain too much on the year’s most important list. So, I spent tonight dedicating myself to take in five tracks by a classically-trained harpist turned folk song writer.
posted by Chris on December 10, 2006 6:10 PM in Podcast
Running Time: 55:00 This week, The Geek and Frodo discuss virtual console releases for the Wii, Excite Truck's custom soundtrack mode, Call of Duty 3, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, the Firefly MMO, Sony releasing the PS4 in 2010, Water on Mars and MATH! Math is great.
Update: The titles being released for Virtual Console this week are Alien Crush, Ice Hockey, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and GUNSTAR HEROES. That's right, GUNSTAR FREAKIN HEROS. You may go about your business now.
posted by SecksCab on December 9, 2006 4:48 PM in Games
SexualCabinetry doesn't like to leave his house very much, but when he does, it's usually to some godforsaken place where the dollar still means a damn. He wrote this article after beating himself mercilessly in the head with a bat. Not a baseball bat, but a very real, very alive, bat.
posted by Mike on December 7, 2006 6:45 PM in Music
Electronic music, without an interesting theme or purpose, might as well be elevator music. That's where the U.K.'s Grand National add that certain rock spice to the mix where you can groove without falling asleep. They sound a bit like if the BeeGees got warped 35 years into the future, had their vocals pitch-shifted down a couple octaves, and were introduced to a drum machine.
Their latest record Kicking The National Habit has quite a few lovely rocktronic gems and "Drink to Moving On" is certainly one of them. Add in a video that has a not-so-subtle game reference and you get some great geeky chillaxin' tunes. The idea of block people losing their "heads" and being discriminated against doesn't really make any of us that ruthlessly clipped lines and got to level 10 on Tetris very emotional though. Still, it's a fun concept video!
We seem to discuss bandages a lot on The Weekly Geek. Maybe it's because geeks tend to be accident prone, perhaps it's just because everyone as a kid would fake getting an "owie" just so that they could sport that new cartoon character band-aid their parents picked up from the store.
As adults with our own incomes, we can now recreate that child-like feeling with Urban Outfitters' bandages. For six bucks you can pick up a tin of 25 bandages in flavors like Jesus, Bacon & Eggs, Pirate and Beef. Thus proving that yes, everything is better with bacon. These will go very well with my bacon wallet, and the bacon car air freshener my wife got me for my birthday.
posted by Chris on December 5, 2006 4:38 PM in Rant
Look, Nintendo. I know you want to benefit from being able to stagger the release of your Virtual Console titles for the Wii. I know that being able to advertise the week that you finally release the icy death grip you have on Super Mario RPG is going to be a big boon to your sales. But what's wrong with filling the gaps a little? The Virtual Console is free (or close to free) money. What do you have to do, have a developer look at it a little, maybe kick the tires to make sure it runs and then throw it up on your server? It's not that hard. I want to be able to purchase tons of games from your back catalog, across every system you have listed. I am very willing to spend literally hundreds of dollars on your virtual magical digital goods. Just look at my iTunes purchases, I have over 500 in that playlist alone. That's $500+ I have spent on intangible items. Just give me a hit of that sweet sweet Donkey Kong Country already, will ya?
I am all for your set release schedule, I think it's cool you want to bring us 5 (or so) new games for the Virtual Console every week. Just give us a starter kit of sorts, 50 or so titles that we can choose from to tide us over until you decide to push Super Mario Bros. 3 on us for the millionth time. I'll buy it, just as I know thousands of others will. Again. And again. And again.
posted by Chris on December 3, 2006 7:34 PM in Podcast
Running time: (1:04:41) We had a ton of comments and suggestions about our top five list this week, and in this podcast your geeky heroes, The Geek and Frodo, tackle last week's Top 5 list, the Top Five Games as Art. Wii secrets are discussed, along with muppet news, how to annoy retailers and survival training by a man named Bear.
posted by Chris on December 1, 2006 9:54 AM in Music
Frodo: This past week, Caspian and I saw the Blue Scholars perform at the Showbox in Seattle. Being nerdy white kids, we entered the hip hop show with slight trepidation, only to be greeted by herds of indie kids, high schoolers and even a couple blindingly ivory-hued under 10s. Lucky for us the Showbox features a nifty bar area, and we were able to tucker in for the long march. I mean that literally, of course, as the doors opened at 8pm, the headliners weren't set to go on stage until 11:30. Not only did we have to sit for a while to see who we really came to see, but we had to suffer through four (four!) opening acts. We had some great luck with the last show we went to (Sufjan Stevens at the Paramount), the opening act was My Brightest Diamond and ended up being a new favorite.
Caspian: With the exception of the final opening act One Self, from Brooklyn, there really wasn't anything worth sitting through either. They were tolerable for a while, but the female rapper's high-pitched rhymes were grating over the course of a whole set. Being that chintzy R&B act Choklat was the only opening act listed on the ticket billing as an opener, we couldn't help but feel duped. But I have to say when Geologic and Sabzi took the stage, the show instantly became worth it.
Frodo: Yeah, when the Blue Scholars finally came out (on time, thank [insert deity here]) it completely washed away the unironic squeakiness of One Self (it was like mc chris but completely lacking the funny). Blue Scholars are an up and coming hip hop act out of Seattle, and tend to have lyrics focused around the Emerald City. They opened for Kanye West at Bumbershoot, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the subdued attitudes and stage setup of the duo. Your inner stereotype-o-meter would probably be set off as well by the fact that Sabzi and Geologic are white and blasian, respectively.
Caspian: Blue Scholars' set was incredibly strong. With favorites from their album like "The Ave" and "Long March," it's easy to see why they're arguably the hottest hip hop group on the Indie scene right now. The pinnacle of the show for me was hearing every white boy in the house (myself included) flip out when they weaved the drum heavy Modest Mouse instrumental from "Float On" into the already amazing song "Inkwell." Honestly, I'd be surprised after this show if Blue Scholars aren't picked up by a major label and being touted by mainstream critics around the nation within the next year. The greatest thing about them though, is they wouldn't want that. Their indie label Mass Line is blowing up with great underground talent by the minute. They have no reason to abandon their homegrown success. Cheers to Geo and Sabz for keeping hope alive for the Rap genre, and proving that talented MCs and DJs can be intelligent.
Frodo: Word, thug. Word. Check out the Blue Scholars' library on iTunes. It's freaking brilliant.
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Gaygamer.net has put together a short list of some great sites to use with the Wii browser, putting together all the flash games and Wii-capable stuff you could shake a Wiimote at. 
Overview: Excite Truck is most likely one of the more overlooked Wii launch titles, what with the blinding star that is Twilight Princess sitting next to it on the shelf. Being one of the few racing titles that utilize the Wii's unique motion-sensing controls, Excite Truck fills a needed gap between now and the release of Mario Kart fot the Wii. Building on a brand new franchise based on the original ExciteBike for the NES, Excite Truck offers interesting tracks, a multitude of trucks to choose from, unlockables out the ass and a custom soundtrack feature. And yes, finally you can move the controller around and act like an imbecile in your living room and have it translate into actual gameplay on the screen. But is it worth your money? Hit the jump to find out. (GET IT?!)
Overview:
We seem to discuss bandages a lot on The Weekly Geek. Maybe it's because geeks tend to be accident prone, perhaps it's just because everyone as a kid would fake getting an "owie" just so that they could sport that new cartoon character band-aid their parents picked up from the store. 
Look, Nintendo. I know you want to benefit from being able to stagger the release of your Virtual Console titles for the Wii. I know that being able to advertise the week that you finally release the icy death grip you have on Super Mario RPG is going to be a big boon to your sales. But what's wrong with filling the gaps a little? The Virtual Console is free (or close to free) money. What do you have to do, have a developer look at it a little, maybe kick the tires to make sure it runs and then throw it up on your server? It's not that hard. I want to be able to purchase tons of games from your back catalog, across every system you have listed. I am very willing to spend literally hundreds of dollars on your virtual magical digital goods. Just look at my iTunes purchases, I have over 500 in that playlist alone. That's $500+ I have spent on intangible items. Just give me a hit of that sweet sweet Donkey Kong Country already, will ya?
