Category Archives: Metal Jesus Likes

Pound Challenger SNES HD Clone Review

The Challenger is another SNES clone console that allows you to play your classic SNES games on both a classic/modern TV set with AV and HDMI hookups. Priced at $49.99, includes two wired controllers, 4:3/16:9 aspect ratio switch, as well as a PAL/NTSC region switch. In this video, I do an unboxing, test various games, and give my thoughts on this how the console functions.

Tragically Cancelled – Investigating StarCraft: Ghost

It had been four years since Blizzard released StarCraft, and its expansion, Brood War for the PC. The science fiction-themed real-time strategy game proved to be a critical and commercial smash upon its release in 1998, drawing in millions of players around the globe to battle for the fate of humanity – or rather, the “Terrans” – in the game’s riveting single-player campaign, and trade wits in its competitive multiplayer mode. It was a revelation for both casual and professional fans of the genre – and they wanted more.

Their wishes would be answered when Blizzard and Nihilistic Software would reveal StarCraft: Ghost, an action-stealth game set in the StarCraft universe, for home consoles. Centered on Nova, a powerful and deadly psionic warrior, Ghost quickly became a highly anticipated game due to its ambitious and varied combat system, and for offering a novel new way to experience a beloved universe.

However, despite a strong initial showing, Ghost would spend the next several years fighting for its life. Revisions, delays, and a change in development studio would push the game further and further into the periphery – before disappearing entirely. Ghost would become its very own namesake; always up in the air in the sea of possibility, but never tangible. And yet from its corpse, Nova would survive, slowly becoming one of the StarCraft universe’s biggest characters thanks to a litany of multimedia appearances.

This is the story of StarCraft: Ghost.

The Rise and Fall of SOCOM (PS2/PSP/PS3)

In the early days of the PlayStation 2, Zipper Interactive would debut a third-person shooter called SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs. Authentic, tactical, team-based, and online at a time where few other PlayStation titles were, SOCOM took the home console by storm. It gave Sony’s exclusives a more mature face, provided multiplayer-centric shooters a new standard to compete against, and helped single-handedly move the PlayStation 2’s network adapter and headset into gamers’ homes. The debut of SOCOM 2 the following year created an immediate classic, and confirmed SOCOM as a franchise that would be with PlayStation for years to come – even as unsavoury hackers attempted to ruin players’ enjoyment.

Yet try as SOCOM would, lightning never seemed to strike thrice in the eyes of the series faithful. SOCOM 3, Combined Assault, Confrontation, and many more would all proceed to be good, if not great games in their own right – but whether helmed by Zipper or Slant Six, SOCOM never found its third pillar on which it could rest. And just as it seemed as if the series finally might, SOCOM 4 would both trip over its design, and fall into a hole burrowed out of the PlayStation Network Outage of 2011.
SOCOM was shattered, Zipper was shuttered, and one by one, the entire series would go offline – though the hardcore would continue to find ways to keep the series’ flame alive.

This is the rise and fall of SOCOM.

What We Can Learn From RPG Design Guru Josh Sawyer – IGN Unfiltered #32

Josh Sawyer is a longtime veteran of renowned RPG studio Obsidian Entertainment, and he’s seen a lot in his career. From his history-based beginnings to Fallout, Pillars of Eternity, and much more, his story is a fascinating one!

Projects Josh worked on:
Icewind Dale (2000), designer
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001), designer
Icewind Dale II (2002), lead designer
Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006), lead designer
Alpha Protocol (2010), designer
Fallout: New Vegas (2010), director, lead designer
Pillars of Eternity (2015), director, lead designer, writer
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (2018), director, narrative designer