» 2008 » April

• Classic Video Game Review: Super Mario Brothers (NES)

  

  Written by Zeromage 3 Comments
  Last Updated:: April 16, 2008

  Super Mario, a character more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. What can we possibly say about this classic game that hasn’t already been said a thousand times before? It was one of the first, and quite possibly still the best video game out there. It went places no one else had ever been to, and for the time period the graphics were spectacular. Let’s face it, before this game came out all we had was Atari. Nintendo managed to bring us a game with sound, graphics and goombas.

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• Top 10 Video Game Heroes of All Time

  

  Written by Zeromage 76 Comments
  Last Updated:: April 13, 2008

  Remember the first time you played Zelda 1 and realized that you wanted to be the green clad hero that was walking about the flat screen? Remember the first time you loved a game because you wanted to be the protagonist with all their abilities that you would never have in real life? Old-Wizard remembers all of these moments as we constantly reflect on what our favorite video games are, and in this case, who are favourite video game heroes are. If this list seems retro in its choices, its not without reason, as games within the newer market fail to focus on the personal qualities embodied by one figure trying to save the world. This sense of grandeur and intrepidness led to some of the most memorable characters in the video gamer’s life. Protagonists in novels that the video gamer would read at school would always pale in comparison to the 8-bit characters they always had full control over. The characters in a video game always had much more nobler tasks than modernity’s insistence for leveling out heroism to anyone who feels entitled to their pride. The heroes on our list were always on the most aggrandized of adventures battling only the most nefarious of antagonists. Nowhere was their repose when faced with doom on a universal level. To these dreams of large adventures and magnanimous characteristics we owe the protagonists on this list. The video game world would be nothing without them.

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• Video Game Review: Paper Mario

  

  Written by Zeromage No Comments
  Last Updated:: April 5, 2008

  Paper Mario for the N64 is one of the more colourful games that comes to mind when thinking of video games. It looked conspicuously different from most games in 2D and 3D format. Paper Mario was the successor to Mario RPG for the SNES which was a definite success in its own right. The game play and 3D style reminded you a lot of the original Mario 64. Let’s not forget the graphics though. This game was a site to be seen. The clarity and effulgent style went a long way for making the player excited to play this game. The dialogue between players was sophisticated and fun at the same time. Obviously, a Mario RPG is not going to have the seriousness and command of a “Squaresoft” RPG, but it had its own identity and entertainment value in a world where plumbers are heroes, and princesses like men with giant mustaches. The story line takes place as an actual book with its own chapters, expedient to its “dreamy”, effervescent quality. The game play was smooth and easy to learn, a palpable characteristic with all Mario games. Paper Mario serves as an incredible sequel to Mario RPG. It’s additions from the SNES predecessor to this N64 installment lose nothing in terms of creativity and enviability. This is not something that can be said about most sequels in a video game series.

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• Captain’s Log: 5 April 2008

  

  Written by Zeromage No Comments
  Last Updated:: April 5, 2008

  Drank a few beers last night. Not too many, but enough. I think one of them was skunked because my inner gyroscope is fucked up. I keep falling to the left. My gammy leg probably isn’t helping that situation. Dude, speaking of which, what’s up with people that have two legs that are different lengths? How does that happen? Sounds like a communication error between the left and right brains. My top and bottom brains are having a communication problem. We can’t decide to stand up or fall over. Must sign up for hope. Can’t forget that.

  So what about atrophied limbs on people? When someone has a bay arm and a man arm its fuckin scary. Probably all that McDonalds their parents ate. Nub limbs are creepy too. I’m not sure I could handle seeing a nub right now, let alone stroke one. They kind of remind me of alien tentacles, in a bizzaro way of course. I never said I was normal. I’m done with this. Time to do some work.

• Top 10 Bands of the New Century

  

  Written by Zeromage 23 Comments
  Last Updated:: April 4, 2008

  The passing into the new century was a landmark event for the popular arts. Critical reviews of their past forms became common place in their information mediums. Pop music specifically saw itself in need of a transformation into minimalized modes of execution. This insistence combined with the diminution of the major label as that which defined quality, led to more open ideas of what quality was. The two-edged sword of this phenomena created some great bands in the new century, along with bands who equated this new found freedom for an “anything-goes” attitude. This lack for a formal understanding of quality could lead bands into new sonic frontiers while at the same time leading these bands into below-average songwriting. As expression for the sake of itself became the only grounds for quality, anything and everything was fair game in being recognized as good. There were bands though who superseded this flexibility of quality by recognizing the power of songwriting, purely in itself. These bands who were able to combine the sonic territories of the new century with the invariable aspects of good songwriting are given a rank in this list. These next bands have the signature of the new century written all over them, although still imbued with the sense of traditional songwriting that leads to memorable melodies. With these next bands in mind, we will see that the sonic flow of history need not forget it’s invariable characteristics from the past.

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• Top 10 British Bands of All Time

  

  Written by Zeromage 117 Comments
  Last Updated:: April 3, 2008

  The British have given us much, from tea and crumpets, to Winston Churchill, to advanced naval technology, but their most conspicuous gratuity has been their pop music. Consistently, British music dominates pop music from other countries without ever seeming like they’re trying. Whether it comes to pure song craft, sonic innovation, or showmanship, the British always seem to know exactly about the modes of pop music. It’s not our intention to start a war of nations over who has the best music, and this is why our article is not a “Top 10 Music Countries”. Regardless of the caution in these preliminary remarks though, we do expect a certain amount of criticism from the most obvious omission. We asked ourselves what British music we listen to and enjoy the most and this became our list. If we were to base our list on more popular guidelines this omission would not be made, but as this article is focused on what we listen to the most, we could only answer honestly by what we listen to day to day. Here then are Old-Wizard’s top ten British bands of all time.

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• DK v. Mega Man

  

  Written by Zeromage 2 Comments
  Last Updated:: April 2, 2008

  Look what we found.
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