SideQuesting

The maps that came along with the initial game guides in Nintendo Power back in the 80s for games like Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) and Final Fantasy were always a sort of interesting phenomenon to me: someone out there had to plan the world that characters would walk across, and the terrain they would walk over or interact with. This would start with highly-detailed and beautiful maps… which would be turned into grainy blocks that represent grass or swamps and placed on a grid. Even though the visuals weren’t exciting, their placement was perfect and pivotal to the experience. That one block representing a town? I couldn’t wait to make it across the swamp to get to there.

Artist Brett Camper takes his love of games and media to new levels when it comes to the classic 8-Bit map. His creation, 8-Bit NYC, is a scalable map of New York that is entirely done with classic graphics. Complete with locations for New York schools, landmarks, and parks, the map is just begging to be placed into game itself. The labor of love has become so popular that Camper is looking to make similar maps of other cities, if there is enough interest.

Now, anyone good with RPG Maker want to help me out? I have an idea for Brooklyn Quest that’s floating around in my head.

[Image courtesy 8-Bit NYC]

Contributed by: Toby Davis

Wine.  Many of us enjoy and drink it on a regular basis.  However, it hasn’t quite been a “gamer’s” drink (Mountain Dew tends to take that crown on late Friday nights).  Michael James, the founder of 8-Bit Vintners, believes otherwise.  Wine, according to James, is meant to be a fun, enjoyable experience.  Growing up a gamer himself, James’ wine selection offers that fun experience, especially those of our gaming youth.

Mike took some time away from tasting the latest batch of wine to speak to us about his company and his love of video games.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “How do I get into games journalism?”

Now, we at SideQuesting don’t necessarily consider ourselves journalists; we’re more of the “active enthusiast” type.  We play games as much as we can, but don’t make a living writing about them.  We write for the fun of it, whenever we can, to whomever will read it.  We have many friends on the video game journalism side of things who make a living (sometimes barely) from reporting and writing about the industry.

We’ve always wondered, as have many others, just how they got into the field professionally.

So, it was a great surprise to us that The Freelancers Podcast recently launched.  The Freelancers — comprised of Xav de Matos and Kyle Horner — deal with answering just that question, giving hints and tips and reminiscing of both good and bad experiences in the industry.  Each episode the duo are also joined by a special guest sharing their experiences, allowing the listeners to hear from several writers and their points of view on the topic.

We dissect the show on this week’s OPP: Other People’s Podcasts.

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A  few months ago, I decided I wanted to start making electronic music. On an impulse, I went online and ordered a Theremin, an electronic instrument that creates sounds based on the manipulation of radio waves. The instrument ran me about $500. Flash forward three months later, and I’ve barely touched the thing (hidden pun there… you get it?). For all that, I could have just ordered a much cheaper instrument, like a $4.95 used classic Nintendo GameBoy.

Wait a minute… a GameBoy? As a musical instrument? That’s crazy talk… or is it? Not according to Bit Shifter and Nullsleep, two New York musicians who coined the GameBoy music movement and dubbed it “chiptune.” These artists and many other like-minded individuals use antiquated video game technology to create futuristic sounds and effects. Beginning tonight at 8pm at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York, Blip Festival will celebrate chiptune music and art, and the night will ultimately culminate in a dance party explosion. Now in its fourth year, the event promises to be larger than ever.

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Or:  How I lost an entire night to RPG’s.

You’ve all had this experience: You sit down for a small spot of game play. It’s 5 pm. You think, “I’ll just play for an hour or two.” Then, next thing you know, it’s 2 am and the entire night is gone. What happened? How did you waste an entire night playing a game? Well, this has happened to my this past year with two games. Both vastly different games. But they had one thing in common: They stole my time!

Last year I got a game for Christmas. I had heard about it prior to its release and thought it looked cool. But, when I heard it was an RPG, I thought…no. I don’t like RPG’s. The only RPG I’ve ever played was Final Fantasy 2 and I hated it. Yes, I said Final Fantasy 2. It was on Super Nintendo and I still have it. I couldn’t get past the first “boss”, or whatever it was. It was a dinosaur, or something, and I kept dying because I had no idea what to do. That put me off RPG’s for a good 10-15 years. I thought, “Only nerds play RPG’s. They play World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 3 Billion”. Then I realized, with my vast obsession of sci-fi and Battlestar Galactica, that I AM a nerd.

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If you’re sick of the local soft rock radio station playing Xmas music ever since Halloween, don’t fret.  While its clear, Christmas season seems starts earlier and earlier each year, that doesn’t mean you need be bombarded with the commercialization of Xmas with advertisements in November and non-stop “holiday” music till February, check out this  free 8-bit bit treat from the folks over at the “Something Awful” forums….

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Late this Spring saw the first few 2009-year game delays begin to role in.  By mid-Summer the delay trend had become a sift, with games being pushed back into “Spring 2010″ on an increasingly regular basis.  We even dedicated an entire #gamechat to it.  Blame Modern Warfare, blame the economy, blame quality concerns; whatever the reason the dwindling Autumn line-up brought a tear to our eye, until we glanced over at that now-goliath “Spring 2010″ list.

After E3 we knew of a few of the games that were already planned for 2010, and as conferences continued throughout the year we heard of special editions, re-makes, and more.  While the industry has been focusing on the first quarter of next year, there is plenty of incredible gaming to be had for the remainder.  Barring any delays from 2010 to 2011… yes, dare we say that it may very well be the best year ever for gaming?

Read our list below to see just how many AAA-level titles will be soaking up your time (and money).

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Contributed by: Whitney Meers

Yesterday marked the international debut of Tony Hawk: Ride. I had the opportunity to play the game at E3 this year, and accordingly, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why Ride, which includes a motion-sensory board that you “skate” on in the comfort of your carpeted living room, is better than real-life skateboarding.

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We’re fans of video games based on rapper’s alter-egos named after small sums of American currency, just like everyone else. Despite that, we didn’t find 50 Cent’s first true game effort, Bulletproof, to be a groundbreaking endeavor, or even a very enjoyable one.

A rap artist’s first video game is always a little rough around the edges. The proof of that can be found in Eminem’s first gaming foray Manufactured Anger, and of course we all remember Snoop Dogg’s less-than-stellar Sperm Count Homicide, but we expected more from “fiddy” (we can call him that because we’re tight, yo).

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand rectified the errors of its predecessor and hemorrhaged bonus points until we were all grinning like idiots. Given that, shouldn’t the grandaddy of 50’s games be treated with a little more respect than Amazon’s new trade-in service is offering?

I mean sure, it’s hilarious that 50 Cent’s game is worth 50 cents, but we expected a tad larger show of gratitude to the game that paved the way for the number one attacker-chopper-boss-killing simulator on the market. Shape up Amazon, or imma’ ice ya!

From time-to-time we like to cover non-gaming topics that might appeal to our readers.  One topic we can all enjoy is movies.  Hence, the (Not Gaming) Movie Reviews we regularly post.

Every year around the month of October, fright flicks pop up in theaters. While we’re used to the Saw series, Halloween remakes, and the myriad of monster closet movies that seem to clog up the film pipes we usually get that one indie gem that serves up plenty of goose bumps to viewers.

This year that film is Paranormal Activity– a bare-bones, low budget movie that utilizes old-fashioned “bumps in the night” to incite fear. Based on some rave reviews and smart viral marketing, I decided to spend a rainy Tuesday evening at my local AMC to check out the flick.
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