Ask 411 Games 02.22.10: TNA Impact 2, Flying Dragon, Multi-Disc Games, AO Games A Plenty, More
Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 02.22.2010
Where's TNA Impact 2? Did Flying Dragon get a sequel? What was the first game ever banned in the USA? How common are multi-disc games? Get the answers to these questions and more in the latest edition of Ask 411 Games!
Hello, and welcome to the only column on 411mania that needs help killing a Hydra on Facebook, Ask 411 Games!
I'm Mathew Sforcina, and I do not see women as objects. I see them as far more intelligent beings such as myself, hence why I like to control them in video games since it's the only way I'll be able to.
Don't worry if you don't understand that bit, it just means you didn't read this week's Top 5 list. And for that, you should feel ashamed.
Remember, if you don't sign up to 411's many and varied Twitters, you can't unlock the alternate James Bonds in Perfect Dark on XBLA. I find it better to look at Twitters after playing an appropriate Twitter Theme.
Anyway, onto the questions. But remember, this column depends on you. Got a question? Ask it! Either in the comments section or sent to ask411games@gmail.com, it's all good.
R0bot ro starts us off this week.
1. Whatever happen to the develop of the TNA Impact 2 game.I know the first wasn't all that great, but had some things I liked, but anyways I heard a part two was coming out.Any news on that or any other new wrestling game cause the Smackdown series have been stale since SVR 06 and just like WWE, THQ doesn't have competition so they put out the same kind of games.
Well, the development of Impact 2 is at the moment dead, or at least in deep freeze.
When Midway went under, they, naturally, stopped development on all games, awaiting someone to come along and buy up the properties. So, conceivably, TNA Impact 2 is one small purchase away.
However, the lawsuit currently blocking the purchase of the Mortal Kombat franchise by Warner Bros. is something that complicates matters, in that while it has no real bearing on the Impact game, if Threshold manages to get some sort of win (which would surprise me, given that I think their stance is somewhat tenuous), then that will make other game makers a little less likely to bite.
Although if TNA makes inroads in the New Monday Night War (The Monday Night Police Action?), then that will help their chances of getting an interested party.
And finally, please don't confuse Impact 2 with ‘Impact: Cross The Line" which is sort of a Impact 1.5, for the PSP (which was in development when Midway died) and DS (which is a reboot of the game). SouthPeak just bought the rights to port the game across, no-one has of yet bought the rights to make Impact 2.
Next up, Armando asks about a somewhat obscure game.
I have a question for you. Natsume released a little fighting game/RPG hybrid called Flying Dragon for the Nintendo 64....did they ever released a sequel or have any intention of releasing one?
Well, similar to the above, there wasn't a true sequel, but there was a 1.5 sort of version, called SD Hiryū no Ken Densetsu, which was released in Japan only in 1999 for the N64, as our Wikipedia quoting friend said last week.
Here's a sample of the game in question.
However, the game was not a one off, and was in fact part of a series in Japan, called the "Hiryū no Ken" series. The series of fighting games began back in 1985, on the NES, with a game called "Hokuha Syourin Hiryu no Ken". The game eventually came to America with the title Shanghi Kid. This proved popular, and a ‘sequal' was made, Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll, released in Japan in 87, 89 in the US.
3 more sequels came out in Japan across the early 90's, but only in Japan. However, the first two were merged together into one game that WAS released in America, called ‘Flying Warriors'. The game series finally returned to the English Speaking world properly with the Game Boy version in 92, under the name ‘2 in 1: Flying Dragon/Fighting Simulator'. The next game would also make it to the US under a new name, ‘Ultimate Fighter' for the SNES.
2 years after that, a Special Edition was produced for the SNES game, but only in Japan, and a couple years after that, the Game Boy game got one too.
Then, finally, came the game that would be known in the US as Flying Dragon. One more game was made in the series for the Playstation, called Virtual Hiryu No Ken, which took after Tekken.
However, even if another is made (Culture Brain is still in business), Culture Brain USA was the offshoot that brought all the games over, heavily redesigning them for the US market. CBUSA is now closed, so the odds are unlikely for them to be ported across. Besides, they now focus on their successful Baseball series, as well as the Oshare Princess series, based on fashion and dressing up for the handheld market, which they now specialise in.
Maffew spends some time to ask me a question. Time he could be using to, oh I dunno, making more Botchamanias!
Is it essential for every VG columnist to sounds like lonely virgins whenever games with HOT CGI WOMENZZ are mentioned?
Yes, it's in the contract.
Hmm. I don't want to bring in Chandler… What's a video game character known for sarcasm?
Anyway, yes, it is easy to go for the cheap "She's got nice pixels" joke, and I probably should avoid them. Even if I do enjoy looking at the pixels in question. But that's no excuse, I shouldn't always have to go the cheap laugh route. I'll try to make more highbrow jokes in future.
Cactus returns with a prickly question.
See, that's highbrow, isn't it? Isn't it?
All right, onto the damm question.
Two-part question this week: How common are multidisc games, and what was the earliest popular multidisc game? I remember getting RIVEN as a kid and being scared of how many discs there were, but now games like Lost Odyssey seem more like a bargain and more fun.
Well, I could REALLY be cheap and discuss how back in the old days, when I was a young'un, back before the fancy-shamcy ‘interwebs' and ‘ATM machines', games often came on several 3 and a half or even worse, 5 and a quarter inch discs. I remember many a hour I spent swapping discs around as I played Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego and such. (I played more games that that, but that's the only one that I have one of the discs stuck on my wall, so it gets in). But if you do care, I believe Zork might fit the bill as the first multi-disc game. But I welcome correction on that topic.
However, clearly Cactus means the first game to come across multiple CDs, so let's go with that. The first game to come out on multiple discs is… A bugger to find. But certainly one of the first games that used multiple discs was Wing Commander III, which came on four CDs, given that it had full motion video and a cast including Mark Hammil, John Rhys-Davies, Tim Curry, Malcolm McDowell AND Tom Wilson.
Well I'm impressed.
Is that the first ever mutli-disc game? Probably not, but it's certainly one of the first, and the first well known game that was also known AS a multi-disc game, if that makes any sense.
As for how common they are, nowadays not very. You can normally fit everything you need onto one DVD, so multiple disc games for DVD and current video game consoles is small. For example, for the 360, multi disc games are:
Star Ocean The Last Hope
The Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Lost Odyssey
Blue Dragon
Forza 3
Mass Effect 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Which is 8 (although I'm sure I'm missing at least one, which the comments section will point out to me quickly). The total number of Xbox 360 games right now is 736. So one in every 92 games is multi-disc on the 360, and I'd wager the ratio is pretty similar for the PS3 and Wii. The Multi Disc game is making a comeback (although it's not that big a deal on the 360 or PS3 with hard drives), but it's still in the vast minority.
From the people who brought you the awesome Mega Man 2 rap… I give you, The Legend Of Zelda!
Very much NSFW, for the record.
Last up is Mark, who wants to talk about games getting banned.
What was the first game banned in USA?
Well, technically none. Is it not possible to ban a game in the USA, thanks to that pesky little thing called the First Amendment. It is not legal to ban the sale of a video game based on it's violence or sexual content. But games can be de facto banned, or at least strangled to death. Although there is one exception, which I'll get to in a moment
After people started to notice that some games were violent (Mortal Kombat) and were told that other games were even worse (Night Trap), the ESRB, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, was established to monitor and rate video games based on their content. Which I think most people agree is a great idea, provided people like parents actually bother to read and study the ratings.
Regardless, if you want to sell a game in the US, you have to get it rated, it's not legal to sell an unrated game. The ratings go from eC for Early Childhood up to AO, Adults Only 18+.
The AO rating is the important one, in that if a game is ultra violent, or overly sexual, it gets that rating. And that rating, like the NC-17 rating in movies, is the kiss of death. Major retails will not sell that game, and console makers refuse to allow such games onto their consoles. Now, that doesn't stop the games being sold online or indepedantly, and since by default they tend to be PC games that's acceptable, it still means that you have to seek the games out online, you gotta work for them.
The first game to officially get the AO rating wasn't really a game, as such. It was ‘The Joy Of Sex' for the CD-i. It's the first interactive item to get the AO rating, thanks to it's graphic dealing with sex. But the same as the book it's another version of, the idea was to teach, not to titillate.
Now, despite all that, there is one game that even more technically than the above, has been banned. The Guy Game for the PC/PS2/Xbox. The concept itself, answer trivia questions, see video of ladies flashing you, was enough for a M rating. But, after it came out, one of the women in the game was only 17 when she got her breasts out, and thus was underage. Hence, a restraining order was put out preventing the sale of the game. Despite this, you could still find copies about, and, oddly enough, in one of the 360 Backwards Compatibility updates, the Guy Game got included.
What other games have been banned?
25 games in total have been rated as AO in the USA. 24 have actually gone on sale (we'll discuss the somewhat famous 25th one in the list). They are, in alphabetical order… (Not that it isn't obvious, but if you don't want to hear about sex (and bits of violence), just skip ahead to the Katamari.
All Nude Cyber: Not really a game, more an interactive movie, in which a bunch of women are, shockingly, all nude. All Nude Glamour: Another MacDaddy game, as above, with interactive women in the nude. But glamorously. All Nude Nikki: That would be Nikki Nova, for the record. Body Language: Some more naked ladies, telling of their ‘deepest desires' in this ‘interactive' DVD. It even has some nude tai chi! Critical Point: This is the first Japanese Game, or H-Game on our list, H standing for Hentai. Set on a moon base on which the entire crew is female, your character, a male, arrives to sort some things out in this Choose Your Own Adventure style game. Much sex follows, although there's also some violence. Not that I've played it or anything… Crystal Fantasy: A photoshoot game, where several women wanted to be photographed by you, without the need for those pesky clothes. Cyber Photographer and Printshop: Given the title and the fact that it's another MacDaddy game, you can probably take a stab at what you'll be taking photos of and then printing them. (Hint: Ladies, and lots of them.) Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Director's Cut: Arguably the first ‘proper' game on the list (depending on your opinion on Hentai games), the European game was released, edited, in the US as Indigo Prophecy, as an M game. In Europe, the game was called Fahrenheit, and was unedited (some brief nudity and a sex scene). Thus, when they decided to sell the unedited version in the US via direct download, you get this. If it's called Fahrenheit anywhere in the title, it's unedited. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Two words: Hot Coffee. But, in the event you're only just now beginning to take notice of the gaming world: GTA: San Andreas got released, and despite lots of violence and drugs and stuff, it got an M rating. But then, thanks to Action Replay devices, people found out that you could unlock sex scenes that had been put in but then hidden, almost certainly due to the ratings issue. Instead of just a shot of the house and the sounds of lovemaking, you got to play a mini-game of the sex. Cue mass outrage. Those copies of the game put out got this rating, before they released ‘Caffeine Free' versions that stuck to the M rating. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored: Similar to Fahrenheit, the game was set to get an AO rating before it got edited to get an M. Europe got an unedited version with a lot more nudity and sex, and now you can buy this via direct download. Lula 3D: A puzzle solving adventure game that features lots of nudity and sex, but sadly not much in terms of gameplay or anything like that. Well, not any good gameplay… Manhunt 2: Well, only one version, the PC port got the full monty, the rest got edited in production down to M. Peak Entertainment Casinos: This is a weird one, in that Peak is an online casino company. One of the big ones. And so far, they are the only one to apply for ESRB rating. And, naturally, it gets an AO rating, given that the ESRB doesn't want underage kids gambling. Peak expected this, and use this as part of their marketing, showing how they care and want to prevent underage gambling and such. Hey, more power to them. Playboy the Mansion: Private Party: This expansion to the Playboy: The Mansion sim game goes further than it's original game in terms of nudity. In it's M rated original, girls got frisky, but kept their clothes on. In this expansion, which adds in famous Playboy parties, when girls get frisky, they lose their clothes. It's blurred out, but still, it's more explicit. Playboy Screensaver: The Women Of Playboy: It's just a screensaver. But the girls are nude! Shock, horror. Unavailable now, although you don't really need it, just put some nudes into your picture folder and… Yeah. Riana Rouge: This is kinda like Wing Commander III actually. If Wing Commander III was about a woman transported to an alternate dimension, and if it featured lots of R-rated sex, and slightly more explicit death scenes. So not at all like WCIII really. Singles: Flirt Up Your Life: A pretty shameless Sims clone, where the goal was to get the two people living in the house into bed together. The retail version was M and had no nudity, the direct download was AO and had nudity. And balloons for then the characters got it on, oddly. Snow Drop: Another Japanese game, this is similar in style to Critical Point (same publisher and everything), just with a traditional Japanese Fairy Tale instead of a moon base as the origins. The Joy Of Sex: Covered above. Thrill Kill: The only game listed here that wasn't actually sold. Thrill Kill was originally made by Virgin, before it got bought by EA, who then proceeded to can the game due to the outrage and pressure that was being brought about by the game's mere existence. Somehow a game based around killing in Hell and getting points for murder didn't sit well with them. If you want an in-depth look at the game (somewhat NSFW, in a way), this video sums up the whole sordid tale quite nicely. It's an interesting story.
Tokimeki Checkin! Another H-Game, set in a hotel. You make choices, you get sex. Although rape is an option, as is looking on at rape happening elsewhere, so it's not exactly nice, even for a H-Game. Water Closet: The Forbidden Chamber: Ugh. Water Closet is a very polite, old fashioned term for toilet. So you might take a guess as to what this H-Game mixes in with it's sex. Yeah. Wet: The Sexy Empire: This was actually the first game in the Lula series, a series of games from Germany. This one is a management sim, where the copuious amounts of sex are mixed in with staff management, location management, and other business owning sims. X-Change: The last in the list, this is another H-Game, in which the player is rewarded with sex for making the right choices. The premise of the game sees the male main character turn into a female, and what goes on from that. Again, rape makes an appearance, expect this time the person being raped (the player) ends up liking it.
So yeah, that's the full list. And if that doesn't bump up my hits…
Is there any games that were banned everywhere?
No. To take one country at 'random', France has never banned a game. Ergo, no game is banned everywhere.
What was the last game banned in the US?
Manhunt 2, the PC port, was the last game chronologically to get the boot.
And that'll do for this week, so join me next week here in Ask 411 Games, with your questions either in the comments section or to ask411games@gmail.com. Goodnight everyone!
OMG i cant believe thrill kill was never sold on the US, i mean, i play the game for the PS1 when i was 14 and is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome!!!:)
Posted By: mike (Guest) on February 21, 2010 at 11:35 PM
I'm amazed I'm admitting this, but I PLAYED X-Change, and its sequels and reboot. But they're not really games so much as interactive novels with the occasional gif thrown in. And I have to say, also ... um, the Japanese are bit off from us. That is all.
Posted By: MadmanJack (Registered) on February 22, 2010 at 01:37 AM
"Cactus returns with a prickly question."
DOH HO HO HO
And yeah I realized there were multiple floppy disk type games.
This week, my question involves the land of the flaming barbed-wire circus net death match, Japan:
-So a lot of people were clamoring for Tatsunoko vs Capcom to come over to the states, and Capcom finally caved and now we're playing a better game than SFIV (imo). I was just wondering why America didn't end up getting Captain Rainbow in the same way? I know I want to play a game with Little Mac and tranny Birdo on the same island! Especially from Nintendo.
Posted By: Cactus (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 01:40 AM
Sarcasm? What you mean like Squall Leonhart?
Posted By: Guest#4513 (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 09:58 AM
The real question is-- is there an obligation on the part of fans to outright hate on it when there's HOT CHICKS in video games? Do they think that it makes them cooler if they hate it? If you were REALLY cool your attitude would be indifference... instead hating on it just makes people look like they're trying NOT to be those "lonely video game people" which makes them look even more like that stereotype than I think they realize.
Posted By: Madcapunlimited (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Why do you hate the PSP so much?
Is it because of the potnetial it has that it doesnt live up to (ala TNA)? Or perhaps that they made the first DD only system rather than a straight up PSP 2?
Your hate makes me sad :-(
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 11:11 AM
This is more a "Your Damn Opinion" question, but if the Wii did not have the critical success it has had, would Nintendo be a dead system at this point?
As for a real question, did Carmageddon ever have any major success? I loved playing the game growing up, but the last I heard of it was an N64 game.
Posted By: Beki (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 11:41 AM
Ah, Game Den! Perhaps a Channel Awesome fan?
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 12:07 PM
Great work so far Mat, here's a few of questions to keep you busy:
1. Why is Half Life 2 Episode 3 taking so bloody long?
2. I remember the original Ape Escape being the first PS1 game to require a Dual Shock controller to play. Did this ever become a common thing on the PS1?
Posted By: dAVE. (Registered) on February 22, 2010 at 01:36 PM
Nice! I was already to post my smarky comment about you not mentioning Thrill Kill & then you did. I remember playing it too on our old modded ps1. What's funny is when they used that exact same engine & made it into a Wu-Tang Clan game instead.
Thrill Kill was pretty sweet for it's time & I'm sure couldve been released in this day & age. Someone should port that to XBLA/PSN. Good times
Posted By: Byzdalmyt (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 03:18 PM
My question wasn't intended as a question, you silly sod.
Sorry for any offence intended.
Posted By: Maffew (Guest) on February 22, 2010 at 05:49 PM
Mortal Kombat only sparked outrage because it was using digitized actors as playable characters with fatalities and excessive blood.
Very little attention was given to 'Chiller', an arcade shooting game 6 years earlier that involved shooting live people, torture devices, and nudity.
I could only imagine the outrage what would follow if Mean Hamster Software were to create and release an updated version of the same game.
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