General gaming

General gaming

The Most Daring Moments in Video Games

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 05:41 PM PDT

If you've been following the site this week, you're aware that we've been covering all manner of daring and audacious games and designers. We've got to admit that we love it when a creator genuinely surprises us with a scenario that was completely unprecedented. To celebrate the unbridled creativity of these artists, the 1UP staff got together to highlight what they feel is the single bravest moment in gaming. Agree? Disagree? Sound off!

A Conversation With Hip Tanaka

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:14 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF AUGUST 6 | DARING GAMES AND DESIGNERS

A Conversation With Hip Tanaka

Cover Story: We talk about game history with Creatures president and former Nintendo composer Tanaka.

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irokazu Tanaka is the first game developer whose name I ever knew. That's because he composed the soundtrack for the first game I ever finished to include a credit scroll -- Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System -- and his memorable nom de plume "Hip Tanaka" made an impression. How cool was it that the guy who wrote all that great music had such a cool name, right?

Tanaka has had considerable influence on the direction and evolution of video games. A sort of renaissance man, he worked with Nintendo's R&D1 division as an engineer, programmer, artist, and composer on a number of classic games over the years -- everything from Balloon Fight to EarthBound. Later, he played a key role in a number of key Game Boy projects, including the Link Cable, Pocket Camera, and (to a lesser degree) Pokémon. In fact, Tanaka left Nintendo -- a rare turn of events in a company that seems to instill such loyal long-term tenure in its personnel -- in order to work with the Pokémon franchise, composing music for the anime and ultimate becoming president of Creatures, Inc., where he continues to work closely with Nintendo on its evergreen RPG franchise.

Challenging the Old Wisdom: The Keiji Inafune Story

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 01:53 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF AUGUST 6 | DARING GAMES AND DESIGNERS

Challenging the Old Wisdom: The Keiji Inafune Story

Cover Story: How Mega Man's creator dared the Japanese industry to get better, and then left to do it himself.

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ost of us wouldn't spend more than twenty years with a company, slowly rising the ranks and building clout, only to up and leave. Most of us wouldn't publically criticize the shortcomings of our own country, much less our own company. Most of us wouldn't have the courage or audacity to uproot and restart our lives with a clean slate at age 45. But then, most of us aren't Keiji Inafune.

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Hopping Mad: The Inspired Oddness of Grasshopper's Early Games

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT

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Hopping Mad: The Inspired Oddness of Grasshopper's Early Games

Cover Story: How Suda 51's studio made a name for itself with a decidedly different direction.

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hen Grasshopper Manufacture's Killer 7 launched in the States back in 2005, critics and players alike had no idea what to make of it. Part of the infamous "Capcom 5" -- a quintet of GameCube exclusives overseen by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami -- Killer 7 openly defied video game conventions by giving us an altogether idiosyncratic experience. While most of the industry struggled to squeeze the most realistic graphics out of aging hardware, Killer 7 depicted its characters and world in an evocative, flat-shaded style bursting with bright, contrasting colors. As countless others copied the insane success of Grand Theft Auto III by offering huge, immersive game worlds full of things to see and do, Killer 7 placed players on rails and led them through a completely predetermined path. These choices might have gone over like a lead balloon, but oh what a memorable balloon it was.

Despite Killer 7's lackluster sales and generally poor critical reception, Grasshopper still thrives, and continues developing games to this day. And though some of their signature style still shines through (even in less inspired works like Lollipop Chainsaw) , in recent years, they've taken a much safer approach to game development, delivering their strange ideas in formats much more familiar to the average gamer. Following the large-scale failure of Killer 7, Grasshopper has since revised their typically experimental approach, adulterating the rough, alienating charms that made the company's earlier games so distinct and wonderful -- even if so few of them actually received a full English release. Killer 7 stands as the culmination of Grasshopper Manufacture weirdness, one that took a full 7 years to achieve; and the steps along the way each provide their own distinct experiences, tempered by the fevered mind of the studio's most prolific director, Goichi Suda (Suda 51).

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The Deep End: Pokemon Black & White 2 and Competitive Play

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:57 AM PDT

These past couple weeks have been a little terrifying. It's taken me all the way back to 2007, which was the last time that I was completely immersed in competitive Pokémon (it was the year that I did this crazy thing). I thought I would dip a toe in the competitive waters to see what Black and White 2 has to offer, and now I'm back in the deep end.

Over in Competitive Pokémon Land, Pokémon Black and White 2 is basically already out. All of the new moves and new Pokémon were pulled directly from the Japanese version and dropped directly into Pokémon Online--a popular third-party battle simulator dominated by singles six-versus-six play. So with all the new moves and forms running around, what is it that has the competitive community buzzing? A mushroom.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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