Month: April 2012

2012 – Electric Guest – Mondo

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I’m not going to go in to much detail about this week’s Music Monday post, because, frankly, I’ve only just heard the album myself. I’ve Electric Guest’s Mondo twice, and haven’t listened that closely – but my copy is in the mail on its way to me right now. I stumbled on to Electric Guest by chance in the last few weeks and heard the album once and immediately liked it. I listened to an MP3 download of it one more time and ordered my hard copy right away.

If absolutely nothing else, Mondo reminds me of the first MGMT album. It’s carefree, it’s fun, and it can be background noise at a party (the kind where you want to talk with your guests). It’s easy to relax to and doesn’t distract from anything else you may be doing. Maybe that doesn’t bode well for some artists, but that’s just the kind of music I’m in to these days. I’ll be completely honest – I haven’t concentrated much on the lyrics during either of my play throughs, but the vocals themselves are easy to listen to in a Dr. Dog or Mumford & Sons kind of way. The stand out signle looks like it’s going to be This Head I Hold, which may come across like Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, or a Cee Lo Green track, with a certain level of funk to it that I you can’t help but enjoy.

You had better strike while the iron is hot, though: Electric Guest really seems to know their audience. They don’t need to wait until their popular to target the crowd who knows what they want: Mondo just came out a week ago, is available in vinyl, and as of the time I’m writing this, there are only six vinyl copies left on Amazon.

The final backwards compatibility list for the Xbox 360

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Microsoft stopped updating this a while ago, but people have asked: what original Xbox games can I play on my Xbox 360? At the end of 2007, Microsoft released their final software update adding backward compatibility for more games, and has stated that they wouldn’t make any further efforts to make more games backward compatible or fix any stuttering, texture, or slowness bugs in the games on the list. The software updates on the Xbox 360 beginning in 2008 have only contained Dashboard updates and fixes related to the Xbox 360 itself, not backwards compatibility with the original Xbox. Additionally, games that don’t appear on the list might work, but were not officially tested or specifically targeted for playability.

Microsoft posted the finalized list on their support site, but we’ve copied it here so that it doesn’t disappear on you. Continue reading “The final backwards compatibility list for the Xbox 360”

Remember these Nintendo Commercials from the 1980's and 90's?

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I have a particularly fond memory for the one that starts at 1:06 – the Mario commercial featured in the still picture above. I remember wondering, as a child, how it was that I never heard of this North American “dress up and make Mario visible from outerspace” stunt when I was a kid. It never occured to me that there might be some editing trickery, and, as a Pennsylvanian, had never been so jealous of all of those states who make up the center of our nation – like those lucky people in colorado who got to be part of Mario’s face. I was so jealous. It’s great to look back at these and see just how vividly I remember these commercials.

Gaming famine – pre convention season…

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It’s that time of year. Were it not for gems and a few well placed downloadable releases, we would be drowning in boredom. Fez and Trials Evolution have saved the sanity of most people (though neither really tickles my fancy), Skullgirls has woken fighting gamers from their slumber, and World Gone Sour has at least put a smile on my face. But Everything else, for me, is just trying to catch up on old titles. Games I got tired of playing I’m giving another go (still having a hard time getting through Alice: Madness Returns, though…), and games that I got distracted from with too much other stuff going on I’m finally getting back to (Halo: CE Anniversary Edition).

But this is that time of year, and I hope you’ve noticed the pattern by now, where everyone bunkers down, gets tight lipped, and doesn’t discuss much. News stops breaking, games stop releasing, and we’re stuck playing mediocre-at-best titles for a few months while everybody out there tries to wait until PAX and E3 to “blow your mind” with their brand new game! Big and small studios alike, we’re stuck waiting for the next big thing.

Although, I must admit, this year is more promising than the last several. Fans of the first Prototype will have something to play again, soon. Max Payne is bringing bullet-time back in vogue (here’s hoping the film noir style pays a visit, as well). Minecraft will find a new home on the Xbox 360 and Starhawk will keep PS3 owners flying high. And every person who owned a PC during the 1990’s probably remembers playing some iteration of Diablo and may just be excited to hear that the third installment is finally about to arrive. Although it’s certainly not a drought of gaming, many of these titles do appeal to niche audiences. Here’s hoping that something is coming down the line for you.