Club Nintendo October Rewards Update #3

Nintendo has updated their downloadable Club Nintendo rewards replacing Dr. Mario Online Rx with SNES flight classic Pilotwings for Wii Virtual Console. The expiration date for this offer is now October 28 and the price is 100 coins. Be sure to check back October 22 for the next reward, which will likely be on eShop or 3DS Virtual Console.

Pilotwings - Wii Virtual Console
100 Coins (Available Until October 28)

Capcom Shows Contempt For Its Fans With Mega Man Xover

Many classic game icons have celebrated their birthdays in recent years. Mario & Zelda turned 25 (Metroid did as well but this was ignored by Nintendo) and Kirby even celebrated his 20th birthday in a surprisingly robust anniversary collection for the Wii. This brings us to Capcom's little blue bomber who turns 25 this year and Capcom is taking the chance to spit in the face of the fans. Ever since series godfather Keiji Inafune left the company, Capcom has gone out of its way to cancel the Mega Man games he was working on, ignore the cries of fans and "design" a social iOS games that mocks even the fundamentals of video game design. Mega Man Xover is Capcom's one and only official game to celebrate the Blue Bomber's birthday. I use the term "game" very loosely because this thing is essentially a two button auto run app that has a Mega Man skin. Seriously, even the Tiger Electronics version of Mega Man 2 had more depth to its gameplay. Fans have fired back by releasing a flash version of the game built in 24 hours with software over five years old and released it for free to allow gamer's to sample this joke. While Mega Man had his fair share of bad games, his good/great games always made up for it and nothing was as truly awful as this turd and a series as prolific as Mega Man deserves better. What makes this sting more than anything is the fact that after Keiji Inafune left the company, he offered to complete Mega Man Legends 3 for the 3DS as an independent contractor and Capcom refused. This is even more puzzling when you consider that Capcom farms almost every one of their franchises out to other companies. Oh Capcom, what has happened to you?

Rockman Xover Flash [Newgrounds]

Fans Recreate Rockman Xover in Flash [Rockman Corner]

An End To The Dry Spell

It has been surprisingly dry lately on the gaming front and with the exception of things such as the Wii U, there doesn't look to many exciting things on the horizon. It seems like this would be a good time to introduce you to some of the better YouTube channels out there. There are over 20 channels I am personally subscribed to and with atrocious channels such as G4 pumping out garbage gaming shows like X-Play, YouTube provides some amazing video game shows with excellent content. For the next couple weeks, I will be introducing you to some of my personal top picks. If you like what you see, I urge you to subscribe and show your support. Please feel free to sound off and comment on your personal YouTube Channels of choice, I would love to hear about them.

PBS Mini Documentary Chronicles The Indie Game

The video game industry is in a strange state right now, traditional game development is in a battle with indie game development and the future of gaming has never been richer. Indie games are exploding right now and with the help of things such as Steam and Kickstarter, the barriers to making your own game have dropped and it scares the establishment to death. With the next console generation, you will see traditional games truly go head to head with the indie community. Nintendo has really become quite friendly with the indie community going as far as spotlighting multiple projects for their upcoming Wii U eShop and the OUYA could change the face of home console gaming as we know it. The effects of this are already apparent with major studios cutting back on budgets, teams and project sizes to compete. Documentaries such as Indie Game The Movie are expanding awareness of this corner of the game industry. PBS has put together their own mini documentary that offers an inspiring peak into the world of independent game design. Enjoy!

Club Nintendo October Rewards Update #2

Nintendo has updated their downloadable Club Nintendo rewards today replacing Bird & Beans for DSiWare with 3D Classics: Urban Champion for 3DS eShop.  The expiration date for this offer is now October 21 and the price is 150 coins.  Be sure to check back October 15 for the next reward, most likely for WiiWare or Wii Virtual Console.

3D Classics: Urban Champion - Nintendo 3DS
150 Coins (Available Until October 21)

Halftime Show Features A Stirring Video Game Tribute

At a recent college football game, the Ohio State University Marching Band put on an amazing halftime show that will tickle your inner game geek. The epic 9 minute show featured music and formation marching imagery from classic games such as Pokemon, Tetris, Super Mario Bros., Halo and Zelda. The standout piece was the Gerudo Valley theme from Ocarina of Time matched up to the band marching in the shape of a running Epona. Already clocking in at over 1 million views, the video shows just how big video games are in our culture. Enjoy!

A special thank you to my cousin who reminded me to link to this as I had originally planned to post this yesterday.