Japanese "Trailers" - The Cultural Divide

There is something about Japanese game marketing that has been bothering me for a while, and by golly, I'm going to write an article about it and pretend that it will make a difference... Or my name isn't BitNick.

The "video game trailer" is a wonderful tradition with an illustrious history. I remember the first time that a game trailer caught my attention and swept me away. It was a cinematic trailer that was included on the disc for the original Starcraft, and it was for a little game you might have heard of called Diablo "Freaking" II! (I just added the "freaking" there. Although now that I think about it, I would play a game called Diablo Freaking...)

Christmas Eve at The 8-Bit Variety Show!

It's MegaMan... With Santa's powers. Take a moment and think
about the implications of that.
Yeah, that image of MegaMan standing over Santa's body is BitNick's Christmas gift to you.

Ho Ho Ho there, dear readers!

Because this is my website, and I can do whatever I want to do, I wanted to meet you all here, in Christmas cyberspace, to give you your gifts and say a few things that I've wanted to say all year.

First, for all of you good boys and girls, I present two pictures, one old (for those who remember the golden age of Rare and Nintendo), and one new (for everyone who knows ANYTHING about gaming):

First, the old:

May your holidays be haunted by images of toothless, leering monkey-mouths.

I actually remember the issue of Nintendo Power where this image first ran, which dates me terribly. Nonetheless, I was there for the golden age Rareware, and played all of the Donkey Kong Country games like crazy.

Now, for your second Christmas gift:

I found this, and it made me happy.

Now, with presents out of the way, there's some things I want to say.

The first is simple: THANK YOU!

Thank you for reading, for listening, for commenting, for sharing, for liking, mailing, caring, inquiring, and any other "ing" that you may have engaged in for the benefit of BitNick or The 8-Bit Variety Show (although we'd prefer if you kept any of the unsavory "ings" to yourself for the forseeable future)!

I started this site because I wanted to write, and I wanted to write about things that I cared about. I had hoped that there would be readers, but I didn't know if there would be. Now, a year, a podcast, and many articles later, I count most of you as great friends, and a very few others as much-needed enemies. I count myself lucky that there are vastly more of the former than the latter.

I also wanted to say a special thank you to our contributors this year! Although most of the articles this year were written by me (of which, 80% were apologies... at least, it felt that way sometimes) we had some INCREDIBLY solid articles, pieces of art, and podcast contributors who helped make The 8-Bit Variety Show! into something that I LOVED to do. Thank you Warza, Jobot, Kender, and Mrs. Bit for your part in 8BitVS, and here's to hoping for even more good times for all of us in 2012.

The people I've thanked here, comparably meager though your numbers may be, are the reason I love it here. As far as 2012 goes, LET'S DO THIS.

Yours in deepest thanks,

-St. (Bit)Nick

P.S. ....Still here? Alright, here's one last Christmas gift from me to you. I give you "Carol of The Bells" by Rush Coil, an 8-bit band.

The 8BitV-Cast! Episode FOUR!

Can you believe it?! Another week has come and gone, and with it's blood we have given life to another episode of The 8BitV-Cast!

I've attempted to integrate all the feedback that I've been given inasmuch as I have the power to control the particular item in question (for the last time, I don't know why your iPod is jealous of your girlfriend), but I'm always open to suggestions! If there's something you'd like to see, let me know and I'll see if it works.

That said, in this episode of The 8BitV-Cast!:

• We talk about 3DS updates and Xenoblade Chronicles
• We explore some lesser-known music from big franchises!
• We hear from Epic Games and the creator of Rayman
• ...and we do it all with our trademark wit and charm!

Have a listen, and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks so much for supporting The 8BitV-Cast! as it got off the ground, and if you like it, I hope you'll tell other people about it, too!


DOWNLOAD, for those who'd rather.


-BitNick

The 8BitV-Cast: Episode THREE! (Special Edition)

Hello, dear readers!

I take deep pride in announcing that Episode 3 of The 8BitV-Cast is ready to tickle your eardrums like a feather at a foot convention.

Unlike our last episodes, though, this is our SPECIAL EDITION 8BitV-Cast ROUNDTABLE!

Me, along with my intrepid buddies Jobot and Kender, explore a variety of topics in the gaming world with The 8-Bit Variety Show's trademark wit and sarcasm!

As always, Best O' The Bleeps is here with two new songs of considerable pulchritude:

Gerudo Valley, by Koji Kondo from "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" - Performed by the Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony and Choir

Drake's Elegy, by Greg Edmonson from "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" (Reader Recommendation from our pal Frankie!)

A huge thanks to all of you for listening, and let me know what you think! Do you like the group-style discussion better, or is it too busy? Do you want more open talk, or should we stick with a more structured feel?

Also, if you have any song recommendations for Best O' The Bleeps, please send them my way! We'd love to feature them, and share gaming music with the world!


DOWNLOAD HERE for those who'd rather.

-BitNick

The 8BitV-Cast - Episode TWO!

It's that time of week again, and The 8BitV-Cast is lean, rested, and better than ever!

With your invaluable feedback from last week, I've made a few minor changes to the quality and the format that I think have made the show a little easier to listen to.

Fair warning, though... I was feeling a little bit looser, and therefore chattier, so hopefully you like my "broadcast" voice. I'm willing to read ANYTHING that way for a small fee, so please send all invitations for me to read books, cards, and blogs to the comments below (or my e-mail address, if the subject matter is more intimate).



DOWNLOAD, for those who'd rather.

As before, I would love your input on the show! Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc. so I can continue refining The 8BitV-Cast!

Yours in gaming,

-BitNick

8BitVS Presents: The 8BitV-Cast - Episode One!

Well everyone, the grand moment is here: Welcome to Episode One (you know... like the "Star War") of The 8BitV-Cast!

It's a little longer than it will be normally (coming in at just over 24 minutes) because I'm explaining each of the segments this time around. Don't worry; I'll refrain from bending any ears or blathering more than is needful in the next episode, and with that, I should be able to trim the flabby, out of shape, pants-splitting Episode One, into a taut, sexy, "underwear-optional" Episode Two!

Also, I'm working on a much more elegant hosting solution (which includes hand-coding my own XML for an RSS 2.0 and Atom feed) for this podcast than the one I'm being forced to use now, but while I am working on that, I wanted to get this up and get YOUR FEEDBACK!

For your convenience, you can either listen on the embedded player below, or you can download the episode for your media player of choice HERE.

Now, without further ado...

-BitNick

Here We Go Again: An apology to, and an announcement for, our awesome readers

My Dear, Glorious, Patient Readers:

I realize how I have hurt you over the past month with the utter dearth of posts here on The 8-Bit Variety Show. School has ramped up for my last semester, and I have taken on a few extracirricular activities to strengthen up the ol' resume in anticipation of beginning a painful job search come graduation. As of this semester, I am the assistant editor of my university's entertainment magazine, I am doing an internship with the illustration department which is both game-related and OBJECTIVELY AWESOME (more on that later), and I'm balancing that with the other class responsibilities that I have (which include a law class, a lecture series, and a development for digital devices course).

Still, I come bearing good news! I BADLY want to be on here writing and enjoying your company; I have, in all honesty, missed it. Many of you have become my friends, and being the shameless attention-whore that I am, I like writing new things so people will look at me.

All those reasons considered, I have been trying to find a way to still take care of everything I need to (school, work, extracirriculars, that needy baby of mine), but make sure that there is new content here, at The 8-Bit Variety Show, and I think I found it.

Pass It On: The Ever-Improving StreetPass Situation

All right. It's time that those of us who are holding out just admit it.

The Nintendo 3DS has had a pretty rough launch.

Not quite this rough, but still...

This is not to say that the 3DS's launch has been bad by all measures. On the contrary, the 3DS had sold about 4.5 million units worldwide by the end of June 2011, a number quite comparable to the first quarter sales of the original DS when it launched. In case you need a reminder, the little Nintendo DS, with some careful prodding, strategic redesigns, and some quality titles has risen to become the best-selling video game system in HISTORY.

Still, adoption rates have been lower than Nintendo expected, and the great games that we all wanted for Nintendo's little multi-dimensional system are only now just beginning to fill out the library. Thanks to one particular fact to which I have been recently acquainted, I think that the 3DS has a long, happy life ahead of it. Let me, as your friend and mentor, share it with you.