Blog Archives

Final Fantasy XIII Goes 16-Bit For Lightning Returns Story Trailer

I’ll make an admission up-front before I run this trailer: I made it about an hour into Final Fantasy XIII before I was so bored to tears that I stopped. I saw my sister playing it too and that did nothing to pique my interest. Neither of us could be bothered to buy FFXIII-2 either. It’s a shame because I was a huge Final Fantasy fan in the PS1 and PS2 era (but who wasn’t).

So when I got the press release for the latest Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, I thought it was just another generic story trailer to fill you in on the last two games. Instead, Square Enix broke the mold and retold the first two Final Fantasy XIII games in 16-bit graphics and audio. It looks amazing and harkens back to the epic Final Fantasy VI (or FF3 in America).

I don’t like running trailers and doing everyone else’s PR work on the blog but the uniqueness of this trailer is worth a second look. By the way, the trailer contains many, many spoilers.

Posted on January 31, 2014 | Video

Ryu Attacks Taylor Swift at the Grammys, Fails to Silence Her

Street Fighter’s Ryu made a surprise appearance at the Grammys when he attacked Taylor Swift in the middle of her performance. Swift showed impeccable professionalism and continued her song unabated… Much to the world’s chagrin. And this is why I always picked Ken.

At least we got this cool video from Twisted Genre. He wins! Perfect!

Posted on January 30, 2014 | Video

Electro Lights Up the Latest Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer

Early returns from our et geekera content survey says that people want more movie trailers so let’s start with one that debuted on New Year’s Eve.

This May, Peter Parker is back and once again, he has to save New York. This time, he has to deal with Electro. It’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. As an added bonus, this trailer features an intro by your Generalissimo, the amazing Stan Lee.

Posted on January 2, 2014 | Video

Take on Who – The Definitive Doctor Who / A-Ha Mashup

The pencil drawn animation style of the music video for A-Ha’s Take on Me is iconic. Every knows it. So what would it look like if someone did a Take on Me video using eleven Doctors, some iconic moments in Doctor Who history and a lot of running? A little like that video below.

Posted on December 17, 2013 | Video

YouTube’s Content ID System is Also Hurting Your Favourite Channels

Not only are YouTube content creators having to deal with a massive change to the networking system that will affect their ability to make money, but YouTube made a massive sweep of videos in a content matching check that caused a lot of YouTubers to lose the monetization rights to many videos.

YouTube’s content ID system is fairly indiscriminate. If it finds content that matches copyrighted content in their data base, the monetization rights revert to the original creator. The problem is that it makes no provisions for fair use and the dispute system is often considered as non-existent.

But rather than rehash this week’s column about YouTube on monetization, this detailed explanation of YouTube content matching, monetization and the implications of the current system by Force of Force Strategy Gaming does a much better job than I ever could.

Posted on December 12, 2013 | Video

Here’s Super Hexagon on Commodore 64

Have you played Super Hexagon and thought that you’d enjoy it more if it was a little less bright, vibrant and high-res? Well, Paul Koller has answered your prayers with his de-make of Super Hexagon for the Commodore 64 called Micro Hexagon. You can download it for free from the Commodore 64 Scene Database.

Here’s a video of Micro Hexagon in action. Just like the real thing, this makes me dizzy and nauseous too. I guess I won’t be playing this either.

Posted on December 10, 2013 | Video

Captain Picard Sings Let it Snow

Since we’re less than three weeks from Christmas, I thought it was time to get into the spirit of the season. I’ve turned the fake snow on (though you’re probably seeing more than enough outside) and I have a Star Trek: The Next Generation Christmas carol for you. A Christmas classic sung by Patrick Stewart? Make it so!

Posted on December 6, 2013 | Video

Why Do You Get a Fever?

We don’t do sciency posts here very often but I figured that this is something that you need to see. With winter already here, chances are that you’re going to get a cold at some point and it’s likely to come with a fever. So why does that happen? Greg from Head Squeeze has the answer for you.

Posted on December 4, 2013 | Video

The History of Doctor Who Easter Eggs in Gaming

In last week’s Geek Links of the Week, we featured a link to all the Easter eggs in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special that called back to the show’s history. Today, we have a video of all the Doctor Who Easter eggs that have been hidden through the history of video games.

Posted on December 2, 2013 | Video

Assassin’s Creed IV Glitch Causes The Rapture

Given the religious undertones of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it probably wouldn’t surprise you if the game dealt with The Rapture. However, I didn’t expect it to happen accidentally.

A glitch in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag not only causes the parting of the sea but your ship’s crew to ascend into heaven. Mind you, I’m not sure if that’s a bug or a feature of this game.