"In 1977 the video game market was flooded with clones of the game 'Pong.' 'Pong' released in 1972 had been such a huge hit that many other game companies had tried to produce there own versions of the game."

To celebrate today's retro Tuesday I decided to share a video about the history of Space Invaders. Space Invaders is a classic game I mostly played on the Atari 2600. It was re-imagined by the people that made it in 2006 as Space Raiders which was a pretty fun take on the formula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Raiders_(video_game)

Hey everyone.

I recently contacted Romino Games to interview them about Awesomenauts and all manner of awesomery and they agreed to do it. If you have any questions you want to submit for the interview toss em' into this post. I am going to close submissions the evening of August 14th to ship them to Romino, so ensure you get them in before then.

Happy 'nauting!

"Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario just to perform three songs behind the desk of NPR Music's Bob Boilen. Watch them perform some of the wistful and infectious highlights from Guthrie's new album, Takes Time."

Its a great 3 song set featuring "A Difference a Day Makes," "Before and After" & "Like a Lake."

Jim Guthrie is the composer behind the music of Sword & Sworcery, Indie Game: The Movie and the upcoming game Below. He also recently released his entire catalog on the Humble Weekly sale and his new album "Takes Time" was part of that.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/210523884/jim-guthrie-tiny-desk-concert

With the recent news of Phil Fish closing down development of Fez 2 and quitting gaming we focus our Roundtable on "The Internet Hate Factory." Is it ok for people to actively act against others online or should cooler heads prevail? Do people need to develop a thicker skin or should be all be more nice?

We discuss that and the games we are playing as well as a few fun bits, like Travis building an Internet Hate Site focused directly at me, jdodson.

show notes:

Phil Fish closes down Fez 2 Development:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1498

Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow talk about Japanese Video Games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD9P2uyx6fQ

Jon Carmack Responds to a question about Indie Games (start at 28.37m):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcnsJMMsRYk

GeoCities, an old portal for making website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities

Doom as a "murder simulator" (search for murder simulator on the page):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(video_game)

Very pretty biome showcase video. Can't wait for this to drop.

Wolfenstein The New Order has been delayed till 2014. A few reasons they cite are porting it to the PS4 and XBox One and making sure everything is well polished.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/01/wolfenstein-the-new-order-delayed-until-2014/

BioShock Infinite sales pass 4 million. The name was seemingly revenue prophetic.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/30/bioshock-infinite-sales-pass-4-million/

Cliff Bleszinski, game designer extrodonaire recently posted on his blog to Phil Fish about cancelling Fez 2. Good to see rational arguments surface in this debate.

http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/56805389679/dynamite-fishing-an-open-letter-to-phil-fish

PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate will come to Steam August 26th. Now if we could get all console exclusives ported to PC!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/243780/

I know this has nothing to do with gaming so this will be in the back channel.

I have heard VERY mixed reviews about the new Superman reboot: The Man of Steel. I want to watch it when it comes out on video but before that wanted to revisit the old Christopher Reeve Superman films. This write up isn't about the new Man of Steel film, its about the ol' Superman films and specifically the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.

I love the old Superman films. That said, some things I once loved as a wee lad don't hold up well over time. My fear was a bit displaced as, for me, the Superman I and II held up well. The original 1978 Superman film is just as good as I remember and I think I appreciate it more now. Marlon Brando as Jor-El is superb and he really creates an emotional core to the film. Christopher Reeve as Superman is a great choice as he can both pull off the nerdy Clark Kent and don the Superman outfit with ease. Reeves Superman stands on the dorky edge of Superman while retaining the dignity the character holds. Superman has awesome power but is never intimidating or threatening, he is just an unstoppable force for good and Reeve really embodies that.

I could go into detail about all the other characters, but I want to focus more on Superman II and especially a version of the film I was only recently aware of: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Originally, Superman and Superman II were filmed back to back by Richard Donner. Donner stopped filming about 75% of the way through Superman II to finish up Superman and get it into theaters. The original 1978 Superman was a critical success but due to Marlon Brando securing a hefty amount of the box office gross due to his contract, the studio wanted to cut him out of Superman II to save money. Richard Donner, the director of Superman was upset about this and due to this and other differences with the studio didn't return to finish Superman II. Richard Lester was brought on to finish Superman II, but due to Hollywood rules for directors, he had to shoot 51% of Superman II to be considered the films director. So Lester reshot much of the movie and what we all saw was Lesters Superman II with some Donner footage inserted. That said, the Lester Superman II was very different from what Donner originally intended.

As time moved on fans took to the internet to ask for a Donner cut of Superman II. The cut was eventually made and is a very different take on Superman II. All the campy slapstic that Lester added was removed and many scenes that Lester removed that Donner shot were added back in. After watching both films side by side I can tell you the Donner cut of Superman II is a superior film in nearly every way that matters to me.

Donner worked with Marlon Brando and intended for him to be present in both Superman films. His character was meant to help Superman along a character arc in both films and since the studio removed Brando out of Lesters Superman II, this finishing arc is missing entirely. All scenes in Lesters Superman feature other Kryptonians or Supermans Mother in place of Brando. As a child I never really thought much about it, but having Brando back in Donner's cut really solidifies both films. In fact, Brando and Reeve have a scene in Donner's Superman II that is so amazing and emotional its a shame it wasn't in the theatrical release. I don't want to spoil it, but it changes how Superman gets his powers back and is a very awesome explanation of something Lester does nothing with in his version of the film.

Donner's cut changes the entire opening to Superman II and overall the film is more foreboding and dark. A few scenes in the Donner cut were screen tests and whereas they are somewhat noticeable I prefer them to the Lester scenes. In the end Donner gave the original Superman films a sense of weight and emotion that Lester trades for humor or camp. Donner's Cut of Superman II is an entirely different film and if you are a fan of the original Reeve Superman you need to check it out.

Plus, its awesome to discover new things about movies you love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II:_The_Richard_Donner_Cut

"However, because of the way the game was announced & discussed in the press, there was naturally a little bit of confusion after the dust settled. And that confusion stuck around. So, to clear things up, we wanted to take a quick second and answer your number one question:

Like many games on stage at E3, Below will be available on the Xbox One first. Then, after a period of time, CAPY can bring it elsewhere. It’s always been this way."

I am happy to see Capy make this clarification about how they publish games. You never know what publishers plan on doing with a game, so its great to hear that Capy will follow the same plan for Below and Super Time Force they did with Sword & Sworcery.

Oh and check out that new trailer, just watching the character smoke a pipe over the game visuals and Jim Guthrie's track makes me want to play it. I wonder if hanging out in fields smoking pipes is a big aspect of Below? Kind of hope Below becomes the new go to game for pipe smoking.

http://www.capybaragames.com/2013/08/pause/

"Back in the 90's when you bought a new system,
It was basically ready to go!
But those days are gone by, so buddy, don't be that guy
You wanna be the first in line, but I say no, no, no, no, no!
They won't have near enough games, no matter how great they seem,
It takes at least a year or two before they're runnin' full steam,
Yes it's a dirty little trick, so you gotta be staunch, kid:
Don't ever buy a console at launch,
I'm bein' serious!"

Heed the warning of this song and don't buy a console at launch! I waited to pick up my Wii and PS3 and by the time I got them most of the bugs had been ironed out and they had lots of games. I actually picked up a PS3 earlier, but they had few games and I returned it because it just didn't make sense then.

That said, even the consoles in the 90's didn't have the largest lineup at launch either. According to Wikipedia the US Super Nintendo launch lineup had Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Gradius III and SimCity.

Regardless, its a very fun video and I totally agree, holding off a bit on the newest consoles nets you much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games#Super_Famicom.2FSNES

"In anticipation of next week’s release of DuckTales: Remastered on PSN, Nintendo eShop, and Steam, and next month’s release on XBLA, Capcom sent a special package out to remind some of us of those great childhood memories we might’ve had playing the game.

Upon opening it, to our joyful surprise, we found the contents of the box were possibly as valuable as the whole of Scrooge’s moneybin. The lunchbox had been holding a limited edition golden NES cartridge for DuckTales (ours was numbered 107 of 150). Now, we don’t know if the cartridge is actually a legitimate, playable cartridge, but it has contacts and is well put together enough that we at least vow to bring an NES into the office tomorrow to try it out."

So it seems Capcom has released 150 numbered limited edition DuckTales NES Carts. First off, this is amazing, second off I am kind of upset I won't get one. I wonder how much these will eventually sell for on EBay? Oh well, maybe i'll see one at a future retro gaming expo or something.

http://gamester81.com/new-limited-edition-gold-ducktales-nes-cart/