Mail Call: Huntdown PS4 Collector's Edition

 

I recently got a thing in the mail that I pre-ordered a while ago; the PS4 Collector's Edition of Huntdown, Easy Trigger Games' homage to arcade action games and 80s action flicks.Join me as I pop this package open and see what's inside.

 

 

Gaming On The Run (From Mother Nature)

 Sixteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As I was leaving for what I thought would be at most a week, I grabbed my PS2 and a few games. When it was clear that I wouldn't be going home anytime soon, I went to the Walmart in the town I evacuated to and got a small TV and on a whim I bought a new game, Killzone. The little tv had a headphone jack and I was able to quietly play video games and be grateful that my family was okay in the aftermath of that disaster. 

 

Fast forward sixteen years to the day and once again I was evacuating, this time it was Hurricane Ida. Just like in 2005, I brought a console (a PS4 this time) and a small selection of games, and just like last time I had a small tv so I could find a corner and game in peace. This may seem frivolous, but it gave me peace when home was surrounded in chaos. While there, I went to Target and picked up a few things, including the last copy of Hades in the store. That, plus the other games I brought with me, gave me normalcy.

For many, video games still aren't viewed as anything other than a kid's toy. Many gamers use what happens on their screen of choice to quiet the loudness that sometimes surrounds them and fills them with anxiety. Some may use something as mundane as Angry Birds or in my case at many points, a shmup like Giga Wing to help them escape the hamster wheel of their day to day life. While this may not feel okay to some, sitting on your couch with a video game in the same way many spend time with a book is not so different.

In terms of both storms, I was lucky. I know people who lost everything in those hurricanes. Little things like engaging in your hobby of choice can be the thing that keeps lots of people from flat out losing themselves in the fog of that uncertainty and grief. A game of Ikaruga or starting my first few runs of Hades kept me calm while I waited to hear from my family who had to escape the storm. Everyone is okay, and Hades has more than lived up to the hype and Game of the Year honors it received in 2020. It may seem childish to see a grown man bring a game console and games with him, but finding a way to be your own peace is absolutely priceless when nature is trying to reclaim it's space and you just want to get out of her way.

Post-Ikaruga Mail Call

 

 

Right after I got my PS4 copy of Ikaruga, I got FIVE more games in the mail. Two of them were titles I pre-ordered and waited a long time for. If you have any ideas for future content on 8bitanimal.com, drop them in the comments below. I'm always looking for new stories to tell and there's an infinite number of them in gaming.

 

A Quick And Dirty Ikaruga PS4 LE Unboxing

 

I'm always excited about a good shmup, and Ikaruga is easily one of the best ever made. Nicalis just released a physical limited edition of the legendary title for PS4 and Switch and when my copy hit my mailbox I had to show you wonderful folks what was inside.

Wild Guns Reloaded Has A Fat Female Protagonist And She's Awesome!!

 

Natsume, as a developer, has always been big on rewarding their small yet hardcore fan base throughout the years. While most know them as "The Harvest Moon people", they are so much more. Their legacy "pre-Harvest Moon" catalog includes some of the greats in the annals of retro action gaming history including "Shadow of the Ninja", "Shatterhand" (published by Jaleco but developed by Natsume), and perhaps one of the most obscure action games of the 16-Bit era, "Wild Guns". For the uninitiated, Wild Guns is a 1994 arcade style shooter in the same vein as "Cabal" or Konami's incredible "G.I. Joe" arcade game. "Wild Guns" quickly became a cult classic and in turn became very expensive in the resale market. Because of the price tag, I had given up hope of getting a physical copy of this game in any iteration, but suddenly, Natsume announced a remake of sorts of the title for PS4 and released a series of trailers for the game as well as the two new characters. While Bullet the dog is fun and cute but not shocking, the other new character, Doris is pretty surprising and actually pretty awesome in a world where some gamers take anything different from the norm as an affront. In reality though, Doris is pretty awesome and also quite important.

 

The reason Doris is important as a character is not because she's the "power" character of the four, or because she's a

female character. Both of those things have been tropes in gaming for a while, but it is a big deal that she's a visibly fat woman. She wears a crop top and throws grenades as her primary ranged weapon. If that isn't the definition of bad-ass, I'm not sure what is. In addition to being a pretty cool character design wise, her character also lacks the weird trope of being tied to a love interest that tends to bog down a lot of character backstories in games regardless of gender. She's a soldier first, and the mission is supreme above all. So, she has something in common with legendary male gaming protagonists like Sam Fisher and Solid Snake, also filed under bad-ass.

With the addition of Bullet and Doris, the playable roster of "Wild Guns Reloaded" is majority woman. That's a rarity in gaming nowadays. Having capable characters in those roles is a great thing in general but having a fat character in one of those slots can do a lot towards filling representation gaps in gaming for big groups of folks who have been long underrepresented in gaming. Now, if we could just get a small update with a playable person of color...

Strider: First Impressions

Today's video gives my first impressions of the latest game in Capcom's Strider series.

2014 Is Upon Us, And I Want To Be Excited.

So, 2014 is in full swing, and to be honest, I can't say there are a lot of things in gaming that truly have me excited. There isn't a glut of things coming for the Xbox One or the PS4 that are inspiring a great deal of excitement outside of Titanfall and the third proper game in Capcom's Strider series, and they both have Xbox 360 iterations on deck as well. As for the Wii U, there are a few titles, but I actually have to get the console first. Then there's the Steam Machine, which is in the same position as the Wii U. I don't think I've gone into a year with this level of apathy in regards to gaming in a long time, and that saddens and worries me.

All isn't lost though, as I felt a degree of apathy at the beginning of 2013, but it proved to be a great year in gaming outside of the titles that garnered all the hype. My concern though is that major game publishers are more interested in making blockbusters than games that will stand up to the test of time. However, there are games like Keiji Inafume's Mighty No. 9, a long awaited new entry in the cult classic Oddworld series, and several other great games that won't immediately catch the eye of the crowd that didn't get into gaming until Call of Duty went yearly, but they'll win any gamer over who appreciates fine game artistry over big budgets.

Here's to hoping that 2014 proves to have as many great experiences as 2013 gave gamers. I want to give my money to game publishers, so I hope they provide experiences that will give me a desire to part with my funds.

It's Official; Scammers, Trolls, And Fanboys Have Gone To A New Low

The fact the Sony and Microsoft have sparked a new console war when there is so little distinguishing one from the other is remarkable. What is troubling is the lengths some people have been going through to troll some gamers because of their allegiance, and the depths that some are going to in an effort to scam them.