Megadeth is a band that needs no introduction. David Mustaine and his various collaborators defined the sound of thrash metal, along with other acts of similar infamy like Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. The outfit’s 30-year career hit its latest milestone a few weeks back, with the release of Super Collider, their latest studio effort. Unfortunately, the album isn’t very good.

Luckily for us, that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

The average gamer may have first encountered Megadeth while playing the ridiculously popular Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Neversoft actually licensed a number of their songs for the game, but one track in particular stole the show. The piece called “Sudden Death” was written without any lyrics specifically for the rhythm game, where it functions as a boss fight of sorts. Vocals were added in when the song was included on the album Th1rt3en (above), which is a work that we will circle back to before this is all over. Until then, just absorb the fact that “Sudden Death” was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Metal Performance.”

Of course, Megadeth’s history with the video game industry goes back way further. Their singles have appeared in titles like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Brütal Legend, much like any successful mainstream act. However, their roots actually extend back to–and this is not a joke–the Super Mario Bros. movie. The song “Breakpoint” was actually composed for the notorious disaster, contrary to all human logic. The song was eventually released on the Hidden Treasures EP, but it will still be forever known as the Mario movie song.

A less obscure example would be “Gears of War.” As you can probably guess, the song was inspired by Epic Games’ series of third-persons shooters. An instrumental version of the tune plays in the first entry, although a full lyrical version does exist (above). Much like the situation with “Sudden Death,” what started as a video game exclusive eventually found its way onto an actual full album, as “Gears of War” was included on United Abominations. It was not nominated for a Grammy though.

Looking back at Megadeth’s gaming history, it is easy to assume that Mustaine has very good taste in interactive electronics. However, this streak ended in 2012, with the release of Rebellion’s NeverDead. I’ve already gone into excruciating detail on that disappointment, but it’s impossible to ignore the thing. Megadeth orchestrated the entire soundtrack for the painful failure, including its title track “Never Dead.” The music is probably the best thing about it though, so it wasn’t surprising to see the song show up on Th1rt3en with “Sudden Death.” That album was heavy on game soundtrack pieces.

If nothing else, Megadeth’s video game soundtrack contributions are an interesting footnote. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a strange relationship between a big-name rock band and the gaming scene. Unless we count Aerosmith’s Revolution X or the group-specific entries in the Guitar Hero franchise, it’s pretty unprecedented. It’s almost a shame that the practice didn’t catch on. I’d kill for a quirky puzzle/platformer with a Radiohead OST.

Music Mondays is a weekly column by Austin Yorski and Robert Heck dedicated to discussing the most interesting audio experiences in electronic interactive media. Tune in every week for more original game soundtracks that you need to hear. Feel free to disagree with, add to, or question everything. I welcome your feedback.

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Once again, another E3 has come and gone, leaving us to think about the many announcements that accompany the expo. In particular, with the last new console reveal from Sony and heavy emphasis on the next generation, it finally feels as though the current console generation is truly ending. As such, it’s only natural to look ahead and think how the new generation will turn out, alongside the new games coming for the systems. Specifically though, I’d like to take a look at the games that accompany consoles on their launch days. These are the games that help provide the initial incentive to buy the system and, naturally, should give a good example of what can be expected on the system. For this list, I’m not just looking at how good the game is on its own merits. I’m also considering how the games helped their accompanying consoles and the impact these games had on gaming as a whole. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

5.) TimeSplitters (Playstation 2)

Compared to the other games on this list, TimeSplitters is not nearly as well-known or celebrated today as it was when it was first released. However, that doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t deserve a significant amount of credit. TimeSplitters is a first-person shooter made in a very similar style to Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, although it still manages to keep its own distinct identity when compared to its “relatives.” To put it simply, the game just has a lot of fun with itself and, by extension, allows the player to have a lot of fun as well. The titular TimeSplitters create an intense experience whenever you have to get somewhere with them teleporting in constantly and it was a pretty good show of how the system could do what the previous gen could and more.

However, the game sits at the bottom of my list because it simply didn’t mean as much to gaming on the whole or to the system itself as many other games did. The PlayStation 2 could have survived without TimeSplitters. Each of the other games on this list was absolutely essential to their system’s survival.

4.) Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)

I still remember when Microsoft first announced that they would be entering the next generation of console wars after the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation era. I wasn’t really sure what to think at the time. I had no idea if they would succeed or fail like many others had before them. However, Microsoft did have one thing that the others didn’t: Halo. Say what you will about the series these days or the perceived effect on gamers in general, it’s impossible to deny that Halo was a game that, more or less, sold the Xbox to consumers. It had a simple premise people could get into, a main character that people instantly identified as a badass, and gameplay that was undeniably solid. Even as someone who isn’t the fondest of the series on the whole, I have to say that the game was well designed and it’s not hard to see why it took off the way it did.

Of course, even without considering the quality of the game and the effect it had on the original Xbox, it could make a case for a spot on this list purely based on the effect it’s had on gaming as a whole. Halo, for better or for worse, inspired an entire generation of FPS games after it to “borrow” many of the hallmarks of the series that made it succeed in the first place. The series itself became the selling point of not only the Xbox, but the 360 as well with the One following suit if the small trailer that showed at E3 this year is any indication. Halo is, more or less, the textbook definition of what a good launch game should be: a good game in its own right, a game that helps to sell the system it appears on, and a game that has a significant effect on gaming as a whole.

3.) Wii Sports (Wii)

It may be surprising to see a game like Wii Sports on a list like this at first glance, considering what type of game it is. As the name would imply, Wii Sports is a collection of rather small sports mini-games that, shockingly enough, appeared on the Wii. Much like other notable mini-game collections, the game isn’t one of the best games on the system by any stretch of the imagination and hasn’t even had that big an effect on gaming as a whole. So, why is it even on this list in the first place? The answer is simple: it is the absolute best example of a launch game selling its system based on what the system can actually do differently than others.

Regardless of how well you feel the Wii’s motion control registered movements, few can deny that it was definitely an original idea at the time. In fact, it was different enough from the norm that many people didn’t seem to know what kind of games or control schemes could be made or used with the system respectively. Wii Sports fulfills the role of showcasing exactly what the Wii could do perfectly with five different examples of how it could be used. Most notably, the boxing mini-game that involved throwing punches past an opponent’s guard with each hand really left a good impression on me, even if it wasn’t as precise as it could be. It’s rare to see a game that provides exactly what it’s respective console needs, but Wii Sports does exactly that better than any other game I’ve ever seen.

2.) Tetris (Game Boy)

If you knew that Tetris was a launch game for the original Game Boy, I’m sure you were waiting for it to show up on this list and for good reason. Tetris is nothing less than a phenomenon that spread across the entire world and, even today, is looked back on as being the best puzzle game ever created. It’s honestly pretty amazing how a simple concept like dropping blocks into holes to make rows of blocks disappear became as popular as it has become, but Tetris is proof positive that simplicity can produce some of the most well-received games in existence.

With a game as popular as Tetris, it’s no surprise that the game has been ported to more video game systems and computers than I care to count. However, even considering all those systems, there were none that sold better and were remembered quite as much as the Game Boy version. Thanks to the game being bundled with the system, it sold around 33 million copies and perfectly encapsulated the idea behind the portable system it accompanied. The whole idea was being able to take games with you on the go, and while other handheld systems existed before the Game Boy, none came close to matching its success. Being the incredibly popular game it was, Tetris showed how portable games could be just as good as console games and I’d be willing to bet it also sold a good number of systems on its own. However, there is one game that has proven itself better than Tetris as a launch game.

1.) Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

When the Nintendo 64 was first released, the launch games were incredibly limited in that there were only two of them: Pilotwings 64 and Super Mario 64. While I’m sure there were many who were fond of Pilotwings, I’ve never known a person to own a N64 without also owning Super Mario 64 due to just how much the game meant for both the system and the new generation of gaming. When the game was first released, many believed that the numerous platformers like Mario and Sonic that proved so popular on earlier-generation systems wouldn’t work correctly in the third dimension. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the platformer genre at the time depended on the success of Super Mario 64 to show that such games could work with the added dimension. Thankfully, the game was a major success and had an effect on 3D gaming that can still be felt today.

Even considering the game on its own merits, Super Mario 64 was honestly the only game the N64 needed at launch. Considering the pedigree of the Mario series, everyone wanted to experience the new direction the series was taking at the time and I can personally vouch for the fact that it sold a good number of systems. The game itself is an incredibly well-designed experience from start to finish that manages to be fun even in this day and age. Despite my sacrilegious belief that it isn’t the best platformer on the system, it laid such a strong groundwork that future games only needed to look for improvements that could be made to an already winning formula.

Launch games often don’t seem to have the capability to fulfill their goal of selling the system at launch. More than once, I’ve seen the initial offerings be wholly unimpressive and while many of these systems have gone on to become wildly popular and successful, I can’t help but feel as though they should’ve started with their best foot forward. Super Mario 64 is the prime example of doing exactly that. The game showed exactly why the system was worth buying, and even if the sales didn’t match up to its opponents, the game has consistently been lauded as one of the best games ever made with a legacy that continues now.

Well, that was my list of the top 5 best launch day games ever. I’m sure many of you have different opinions on this particular topic, so please comment below with your own opinions. I’d love to hear from you and I hope you enjoyed.

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This child soldier subplot will not end well.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo may be over, but new videos are still hitting the web. This time we have some official interviews from Konami’s YouTube channel, in which Castlevania producer Dave Cox and Metal Gear Solid series Art Director Yoji Shinkawa talk about their projects.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2:

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will arrive on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 during “Winter 2013.” Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain should come to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in 2014.

The post Konami Interviews Lords of Shadow 2 Producer & Metal Gear Artist appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

The 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo has finally wrapped up. Microsoft and Sony may have dominated headlines with their new consoles, but next-generation hardware is only as good as the games it can play. With that in mind, let’s take a look the Blistered Thumbs staff’s personal picks for Game of the Show.

Robert H.’s pick: Super Smash Bros.

This year’s E3 conferences made a pretty good showing, to put it simply. Many awesome games were revealed and demonstrated over the course of the conferences, but I couldn’t help but appreciate one of the games I already knew would be getting its first appearance at the event. A new Super Smash Bros. title has been a long time coming since the release of Brawl back in 2008, but a new entry in the series was finally revealed during the E3 Nintendo Direct and made quite a good showing. Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, Mega Man was revealed. Yes, it was awesome to see him fighting against the series regulars with all the obvious improvements and tightening made to the fighting system. However, that’s only the tip of why the new Super Smash Bros. is impressive.

In addition to the much-lauded Mega Man, the Villager from Animal Crossing and Wii Fit Trainer were also announced as newcomers to the series. While definitely not obvious choices, they each seem to be bringing very unique styles, and subsequently dynamics, to the fighting that are much appreciated. Also of note is how the game will have interactions and differences between the 3DS and Wii U versions, the least of which is that stages on the systems will have some differences to correspond with the games actually available on the system. Interestingly, it was also said during the direct that the two versions would “have the same number of characters.” The way it was worded, I can’t help but think it might mean that the cast of characters for each version could be different, much the same way the stages will be. Even without considering that possibility, the game looks great in HD and looks as good as it can on the 3DS while still maintaining a speedy flow on both versions. There were a lot of strong showings at E3 this year, but, sometimes simply showing what fans want to see is all that is needed.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks that the Villager’s ability to catch all forms of projectile and throw them back, described in the Developer Direct, could make him one of the best? I swear, the entire character seems to be made for trolling… and I love it.

Robert G.’s pick: titanfall

E3 was a bedlam of old and new surprises that attempted to up the wow factor for consumers of all ages. Once the dust was settled though, one game stood out amongst the rest, a colossus in a room of small fish. That game is TitanFall. The concept is novel, the visuals are top notch, and considering Respawn Entertainment is being spearheaded by one of the men behind Infinity Ward, there is a certain pedigree that can be expected in terms of quality. It was the gameplay, however, that really captured my imagination.

The solid mix between swift ground combat and the more lumbering mech combat gives TitanFall a new dynamic to what many would consider a stagnant genre. The action was fast and loose in terms of what we saw, but it was clear that the asynchronous design made any number of strategies available to the player. Do we jump in a Titan or jump on the back of one? Do we blow up oncoming enemies or hold a position for as long as possible? Couple this with the interesting relationship between cloud gaming and the seamless multiplayer experience and TitanFall is swiftly transforming into one of the more important flagship titles for the next generation.

Johnny M.’s pick: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

You pretty much knew what was up when you saw it was my turn. Of course I would come out of hiding to take up the keyboard again and tell you why I’m so excited about The Witcher 3, and why you should be too.

The Western RPG has had a far too forgiving audience of late. Fans have “come to accept” that the idea of an open-world game is irreconcilable with a deep plot, driven by character and strong writing. We’ve been forced to choose between unpleasant linearity, thrilling set-pieces, and excellent characters or open mayhem, the world at our fingertips, and a plot that lacks any degree of sophistication whatsoever. I happen to think that CD Projekt Red is about to change all of this.

Don’t mind the fact that the Witcher games so far have indeed let you play your own way, or the fact that they’re some of the best written role playing experiences around; in fact, you should even never mind that this is a promised conclusion to an epic story in an age dominated by self-propagating sequels. What you ought to mind is how they’re promising all of this within an open world–an ambitious goal to be sure, but I don’t lack confidence that they can do it. An open-world game that has the guts to punish the player in situations with limited information, that encourages exploration but also wariness lest you stumble upon some terrific beast without the proper tools to fight it, one as gorgeous and detailed as the Witcher games have become famous for; this is the kind of game that tips balances and announces new demands that gamers will have from a *true* next generation title.

Shaun K.’s Pick: Final Fantasy XV

I know I have a reputation for being a Square Enix defender/fanboy among BT readers, but funnily enough I had zero interest in Final Fantasy Versus XIII going into E3 this year. So negative were my feelings towards the game that for months now I have been actively rooting for it to simply be canceled in favor of forward movement on Kingdom Hearts III instead. And yet, here we are. I am giving the renamed Final Fantasy XV my E3 2013 Game of Show pick. What a difference two trailers can make. I am still looking forward to Kingdom Hearts III more, but I cannot in good conscience give game of show to a title with so little actual footage available. Besides, with how long Nomura takes, I will likely have numerous opportunities in the future to name KHIII Game of Show.

No doubt the long development cycle helps to account for the difference in quality between the underwhelming gameplay footage of Versus from a few years back and the combat trailer for XV released earlier this week. That being said, I find myself wondering what role the transition to next gen has played as well. Director Tetsuya Nomura has always aimed for cinematic flair in his productions (both in and out of the gaming medium, as his sole non-gaming director’s credit for Final Fantasy VII Advent Children can attest) and perhaps he needed the extra power of the newer console generation to fully bring his vision to life. Or maybe he really did just need seven plus years of development time after all.

Whatever the case, Final Fantasy XV cut an impressive enough stride in its official debut to silence many of its harshest critics (like myself) and those of the company producing it. I continue to look forward a great deal to such upcoming Square Enix titles as Bravely Default and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (#DealWithIt). However, I would be lying if I did not admit that my anticipation level for Final Fantasy XV is now even higher, as much because I am a fan of Nomura’s abilities as a director/producer as anything. A new console generation brings with it new opportunities for the medium to continue to grow and evolve and for the moment at least Square Enix seems well poised to take full advantage of this with Final Fantasy XV.

Gabe B.’s Pick: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

While it might not be the most epic game out of E3, and I might have been treating it like a joke the day before it premiered, I have to admit that Plants vs. Zombie: Garden Warfare won my attention and vote for Game of Show. There were several titles I saw that loudly voiced my approval for (seeing Crimson Dragon after so many years without a new Panzer Dragoon title and hearing the Killer Instinct theme after so long brought a smile to my face) but here’s what PvZ:GW had going for it during E3: a lot of fun and some GENUINE enthusiasm.

One thing that can kill a game presentation for me is when the presenter talks about the game like he or she is reading off the annual financial report. This wasn’t the case for PopCap and EA’s new title: John Vechey, PopCap’s founcer, showed up in a zombie mask and was borderline ecstatic for his company’s new game and why not? The trailer was rollicking good time that showed off everyone’s favorite plants from the original game running havoc on a pack of zombies. The gameplay was nothing but fun as well, with the fast-paced shooting action being chaotic and brutal, the classes being clever takes on the roles games like Team Fortress 2 have taught us to expect, while also keeping true to the plants’ original roles. That’s to say nothing of the huge grin I had when I saw Disco Zombie and Gargantuar make an appearance. I can’t wait to play this game when it comes to PC.

The post BT’s Top Games of E3 2013 appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

Can we make our own ridiculous bosses?

In an E3 interview with Computer and Video Games, Metal Gear Solid director Hideo Kojima explained some surprising features of the next entry in the stealth series. “Multiplayer right now is being created at our LA studio as well as us,” Kojima said. “We’re working closely to create a vast multiplayer for all the fans.”

That’s not it though. He went on to detail how the game’s open-world structure will change the flow of missions, likening the new structure to Grand Theft Auto. In addition, the freedom afforded by sandbox gameplay will apparently allow for user-created content to be added to the experience. As Kojima put it, “I wanted to create a world that had a lot of freedom and allowed users to create their own gameplay.” It is possible that he was merely referring to play-style, but it’s impossible to be sure when gaming’s greatest troll is involved.

Finally, Kojima managed to once again dodge questions about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the big game and within that the first prologue to it is Ground Zeroes,” he told CVG. “We can’t talk about how we’re going to release it because we still haven’t decided yet.”

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain should come to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in 2014.

Source: CVG

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Falcon knee!

The world premiere of Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max wrapped up Sony’s E3 press conference, but it gave us few (if any) concrete details. That changes now, as the PlayStation team got some answers for us. Check out the video below to listen as Frank Rooke explains the premise, tone, and some features of the open-world apocalypse.

Mad Max is coming to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Mad Max is Inspired by the Films, but Stands Alone appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

I want a horror game with only one bullet.

The latter half of E3 is usually reserved for interviews and impressions of the things that got announced on the first day, but occasionally we get some fresh insight into something that stayed out of the press conference spotlight. Such is the case with Tango Gameworks’ The Evil Within. You probably know it as the title designed by Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, Devil May Cry), so let’s find out how his team plans on reinventing horror for the next generation.

The Evil Within is coming to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Can The Evil Within Bring Back Horror? appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

Who won E3? We all did.

We don’t talk about butts. I apologize.

Things discussed this week include E3, E3, E3, E3, and E3.

Click right here to download the MP3!

The post BT Podcast 58: A Bag of Pulsating Ladywood appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

Are you a roadblock or a speedbump?

Need for Speed: Rivals is a purely open-world racing experience, where one can enter matches and chase down racers instantly at the press of a button. The concept behind the game is that the single-player experience can quickly become a multiplayer one, where a quick ride down the boulevard can turn into a race, which in turn can get the cops involved in a high speed pursuit. While EA ghost studios is still touted as the lead developer for Rivals, Criterion is still involved with the title.

NFS: Rivals will arrive on November 19th, 2013 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, as well as a TBD date for the Xbone and the PS4.

The post In November 2013, Become a Rival in Need for Speed appeared first on Blistered Thumbs.

I will never stop calling it the Xbone. Never ever.

The rat race for the 2013 holiday season has begun, as Geoff Keighley, Journalist and host of Spike TV’s GTTV, has confirmed a release date on the Xbox One console earlier this morning. As stated above, the next generation Microsoft console is set to terrorize the human population in November of 2013. As this information was given from a Rare employee to Keighley before the Xbox E3 Conference and no official statement yet from MS as the conference, no precise date or price point has been given.

Source: Twitter

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