There is still a lot of buzz flowing online as a result of yesterday’s sudden and unexpected breakthrough that boosted Xbox as a video game entity and as an entertainment brand. I am talking about Team Xbox acquiring the right to publishPhysint, an ambitious next-generation gaming project by the legendary game creator Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear, Policenauts, Death Stranding) and this is the result of PlayStation’s move to cancel that project internally.
To be clear, Physint started as a project of the PlayStation partnership with Kojima Productions a few years ago. Watch and learn from the official PlayStation video below.
Physint marks Hideo Kojima’s return to the action-espionage genre of gaming. As such, it is a loss on the part of PlayStation and now a significant gain for Xbox which itself has reset its gaming business with improvements in mind.
To put things in perspective about the expanded Xbox-Kojima partnership and Physint itself, posted below is an excerpt from the official Xbox announcement. Some parts in boldface…
Hideo Kojima has spent his career challenging conventions and expanding what games can be. Today, KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS announced the next chapter of its partnership with XBOX.
“Creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life. We’re honored that Kojima-san has chosen XBOX to work with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on PHYSINT. His ambition to challenge conventions reflects the kind of creativity we want to support at XBOX,” said Asha Sharma, XBOX CEO.
“This expands our relationship with XBOX beyond OD. As we move forward with the development of PHYSINT, we remain committed to redefining the action-espionage genre for players around the world,” said Hideo Kojima, Game Creator and Founder of KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.
In addition to OD and PHYSINT, this relationship will also extend beyond games, with XBOX and KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS collaborating across film and television to bring new stories to broader audiences.
Being a long-time Xbox fan myself and having played Kojima’s work in Metal Gear games long ago, I am very delighted and surprised by this sudden breakthrough. Kojima already has OD in its partnership with Team Xbox, and to see Physint added is both intriguing and exciting. Also notable is Xbox’s statement that it will collaborate with Kojima’s company across film and television in a serious attempt to entertain a wider audience.
Am I surprised to see PlayStation to step away from its collaboration with Kojima Productions on Physint? Not at all because PlayStation’s leadership has changed so dramatically, the Japanese perspective and interest on video gaming has faded away. There are PlayStation executives who want more live-service games instead of the single-player experiences that have long defined PlayStation’s gaming history and enduring success. PlayStation learned nothing from the multi-million Dollar failure of their exclusive game Concord. Worse, PlayStation itself has turned woke and that means it does not prioritize the interests of gamers anymore. Insomniac is the most blatant example of wokeness in PlayStation and their executives are fine with that. These are facts that many PlayStation fanboys and fangirls don’t want to acknowledge.
Let’s be very clear here…PlayStation betrayed Kojima over the Physint project and it paved the way for Team Xbox to save it and expand their strategic partnership even more. I can feel the PlayStation fanboys/fangirls expressing disappointment and embarrassment right now. I believe Physint will be in good hands under the Xbox leadership of Asha Sharma as she clearly values the partnership with Kojima.
This is truly the biggest video game surprise of the year and Xbox fans should get excited. Watch out for future updates about Physint and the growing Xbox-Kojima partnership!
As a long-time Xbox fan and owner of three Xbox game consoles, I can say that this current console generation has been disappointing and the current state of Xbox gaming is a huge letdown.
With the approval of Microsoft’s leadership, Team Xbox acquired a lot of game companies that include the giants Activision-Blizzard-King (ABK) and Bethesda, going right down to the smaller game studios. Those were acquired with the promise of new and exciting games that would make Xbox gaming really great in the form of exclusive games, new content for Game Pass subscribers and more.
Sadly, things turned out really disappointing and now the new Xbox head Asha Sharma has the tremendous challenge of making drastic reforms, downsizing and correcting the cases of mismanagement by the previous leadership. That said, she declared a hard reset of the Xbox business and the changes are being implemented already.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the Xbox announcement focused on Asha Sharma’s message to the entire team. Some parts in boldface…
We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.
I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.
Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.
First, we will reset our content portfolio.
Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.
Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.
We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.
In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.
Second, we will reset our platform.
We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.
We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.
Third, we are resetting how we operate.
As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.
For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.
Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX’s history. We wish him all the best.
These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we’ve seen before. This year, we’ll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.
I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect.
Indeed, the Xbox business model deteriorated financially and became much harder to manage. The billions of Dollars spent on Xbox gaming over the past several years did not result in the great gaming experiences for fans and gamers, nor did it compel the Xbox game studios to become productive and disciplined.
First-party games of Xbox in the generation of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have been lackluster in quality and enjoyment overall. I played Starfield a lot on my Xbox Series X via Xbox Game Pass and my enjoyment of it has been limited compared with other games of Bethesda. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was fun at first but it ended up being hollow. As the said Ninja Theory-developed game lacked depth with its gameplay and game design, I never bothered to replay it after finishing it. Obsidian Entertainment, a company that specialized in making role-playing games (RPGs), produced new RPGs under the Xbox umbrella but none of them were great. In fact, Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 ended up as commercial failures.
Going back to Asha Sharma’s message, I can say that letting go of Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions was the right move as the huge amount of money Team Xbox spent of them did not result in great games. Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight was a $100,000,000 production that ended up with sales of way below one million copies. More notably, Compulsion Games has a discriminating woke and hateful community manager who goes by the handle @PikaChulita. Look at the captured evidence below.
The community manager of Compulsion Games openly hates gamers.
Look at the details very closely.
Speaking of wokeness and discrimination, the controversial Matt Hansen has been laid off from Obsidian Entertainment. Hansen was heavily involved in the huge disappointment called Avowed. That being said, Team Xbox should really REMOVE all the untalented woke activists among its many game developers. Those activists – the feminists, the LGBTQ mob, the Islamists, the Black Lives Matter zealots and others –do not care about making great games at all and they have been misusing Microsoft’s money to turn new Xbox games into vehicles of Leftist/woke/socialist propaganda. Xbox should also cut off any ties with the super woke Sweet Baby Inc.
When it comes to the larger entities like Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King and Mojang, the layoffs are painful but it makes sense to shift investment to focus on higher priority projects. Activision should regain focus on ensuring quality and great fun with its continued productions of Call of Duty (COD) games. Bethesda has to deliver new Fallout and The Elder Scrolls games faster and with the highest quality possible.
With the way things are right now, I am not certain if I will pursue the next-generation Xbox console called “Project Helix”. Memory has gotten much more expensive in recent times due to extremely high demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and the memory manufacturers’ deals with AI companies. How much memory could the next-generation Xbox have and could its retail price exceed $1,000 at launch?
Indeed, the future of Xbox gaming is really clouded and I can only hope that the hard reset of the Xbox business under Asha Sharma will create positive changes and results. To say the least, the reforms have started and only time will tell what will happen next.
In ending this blog post, posted below are selected YouTube videos about the state of Xbox for your enlightenment.
Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.
Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?
I recommend you check out the following videos I found.
#1 Ashleigh Burton Reacts To Minority Report – If ever the science fiction concept of pre-crime becomes a reality, would you support it if ever it gets implemented by the national government to fight crime? Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report tackled that concept very well and Tom Cruise was almost perfect as the cinematic law enforcer who became a fugitive. Minority Report remains cerebral and entertaining by today’s standards and it is not surprising that it got featured in many YouTube reaction videos. As such, I urge you all to watch Ashleigh Burton’s reaction video of the 2002 movie.
#2 Close Encounter Of The Third Kind Retrospective Videos – If you are disappointed with Steven Spielberg’s latest science fiction film Disclosure Day, now is a good time to revisit his much older works with similar concepts. His 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind continues to impact viewers and YouTubers which only proves there is something very unique about it. In addition, the movie shows what kind of visionary and storyteller Spielberg was when he was much younger. That said, now is a good time to watch the following retrospective videos – including movie reactions – of the sci-fi film.
#3 Sega Dreamcast – PlayStation 2 “Rivalry” Revisited – When Sega launched the Dreamcast console in the late 1990s, the company went through years of financial losses as well as tarnished reputation with both gamers and their business partners. To be fair, Sega learned from their mistakes with the Saturn console and simplified their business model to avoid the confusion they caused by releasing many add-on devices. The Dreamcast was indeed a high-quality game console and had features that were ahead of its time, although the technologies used were nowhere as advanced as what Sony came up with in the PlayStation 2. To see the so-called rivalry between the two consoles, watch the video below.
#4 Japanese Businesses Growing Their Own Food – Economic challenges in Japan are compelling businesses their to grow their own food supplies. For some time now, Japan’s rice supply has been in a crisis and that alone affects a whole lot of food joints, stores and other enterprises involved. The supply chain of vegetables, fresh meat and fish and key ingredients is also getting strained. As such, many Japanese companies have gotten involved in agriculture and fisheries. Ultimately, the video of Nippon TV below will show you what has been happening and what is Japan doing to ensure food security.
#5 Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage Comics Revisited – What is there to say about the Maximum Carnage comic book storyline Marvel Comics published in 1993? It was a 14-part storyline that was published temporarily in the four monthly Spider-Man series and in two issues of the quarterly Spider-Man Unlimited series. It was released at a time when Venom and Carnage were wildly popular and it was also an opportunity for Marvel to get the Spider-Man fans and collectors engaged when Image Comics and Valiant Comics was challenging them. For a comedic look back at Maximum Carnage, watch the video below.
#6 Ranting For Vengeance Talks About Resident Evil Veronica And Slams Woke Nuts Online – There definitely is something wrong with people who have turned woke. For some reason, they want to claim the Resident Evil game franchise as their own and they have been posting their distorted opinions about it for some time now. As Capcom formally announced Resident Evil Veronica (the remake of 2000’s Resident Evil – Code Veronica), the woke (including the gay pride zealots) are once again attaching themselves to anything Resident Evil. In his recent video, Ranting for Vengeance shared his impression about Resident Evil Veronica before slamming the woke. Watch the video below and pay attention to the details.
#7 Obscure JRPGs Revisited – Have you ever enjoyed a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) that many gamers other there did not play? As seen over the past few decades, there are lots of JRPGs released on consoles and computers that did not sell massively and had been forgotten. Many of them were only released in Japan. Those are the obscure JRPGs and in recent times, retro gamers and RPG enthusiasts had to literally search hard and dig deep to play them. Last December, Gaming Broductions posted a video focused on obscure JRPGs, and there are a lot featured and explained in detail. That said, go watch their video below.
#9 You, Me And The Movies React To Resident Evil: Damnation – Can’t get enough of Resident Evil? While live-action Resident Evil movies featured Milla Jovovich and had stories that were not faithful to the games, Capcom in Japan proceeded to produce their very own computer-generated RE movies to delight the fans while conveniently expanding the lore. Following the release of Resident Evil: Degeneration, the Japanese came up with Resident Evil: Damnation which featured again Leon Kennedy and had the popular Ada Wong included in the cast. That said, you have to see You, Me and the Movies’ reaction video of RE: Damnation and see how it impacted them.
Welcome back Xbox fans, anime fans and fellow geeks!
The recent Xbox Games Showcase generated a lot of buzz and already Xbox enthusiasts are delighted to see Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as confirmed Xbox console-exclusives, the other first-party games with release dates (or release windows) and other upcoming video games from different publishers.
Under the new Team Xbox leadership, the return to exclusive games has been received positively and it is expected to intensify as the next-generation of consoles approaches. At this stage, the current generation of Xbox Series X|S is ending and the new Xbox leadership made it clear they are in for the long-term of gaming.
Going back to the upcoming games announced by different publishers, the game Vivarium (developed by Studio Meadowflower and published by Serenity Forge) caught my attention. For your curiosity, watch the official reveal trailer below.
Scheduled for release on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox on PC, Steam, the Epic Games store and Xbox Game Pass (XGP) sometime in 2027, Vivarium is a life-sim adventure inspired by classic hand-drawn anime TV shows and films. As seen in the above trailer, it features a cozy slice-of-life game design, has a dynamic system and there are local residents (non-playable characters) players can interact with as they explore the world. In terms of visuals and art style, Vivarium looks like a Studio Ghibli production.
Gamers will play as Jenny, an 11-year-old girl who has a lot to discover and learn in Vivarium’s world. The local neighborhood has lots of characters that each has branching and dynamic storylines. Days in the game are synced to the player’s real-world calendar, allowing for daily new discoveries while unraveling its mysterious narrative. Confirmed in-game activities include cooking, tending to the garden, collecting items, crafting items, repairing equipment and decorating the home to name some.
Jenny (right) with her friend. This game offers gamers opportunities to make friends.
Taking care of the plants.
Does this look like a game or an anime sequence to you?
At of this writing, Vivarium looks like it has something fresh to offer to Xbox gamers, especially those who like animation, the cozy in-game settings, life simulations and in-depth interactions with NPCs. Hopefully a final release date in 2027 will be announced.
Welcome back Xbox fans, Resident Evil fans and fellow geeks!
This past weekend, Capcom unveiled Resident Evil Veronica which is a modern remake of Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. Already a lot of gamers and Resident Evil fans are talking about the remake which will be released on the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X/S some time in 2027.
For your excitement and curiosity, watch the official reveal trailer below.
Given Capcom’s record of making ambitious remakes of past Resident Evil games, Resident Evil Veronica has long been rumored to have been in development. Among the RE fans, Resident Evil – Code Veronica was memorable and yet it had certain elements that made it divisive (example: the annoying voice acting for Steve Burnside). As such, many viewed Code Veronica as the one game that really has to be remade and Capcom has only one chance to make a better and more definitive Code Veronica.
Originally released on the Sega Dreamcast way back in 2000, Resident Evil – Code Veronica was not just a follow-up to the popular Resident Evil 2…it was also a technological marvel as it had fully polygonal environments, more detailed polygonal characters and more immersive cinematic cutscenes. It was truly a next-generation RE experience for many gamers and I myself wanted a Dreamcast just to play it. The game also had Claire Redfield and her brother Chris as the playable major characters and both of them are still fan-favorites.
Going back to the trailer above, it is clear Capcom is making Resident Evil Veronica a darker, grittier and more horrific tale than the original game. The shots of Rockfort Island look very creepy, even nightmarish. While Claire Redfield has been revealed, Chris Redfield, Alfred Ashford, Steve Burnside and Alexa Ashford have not. Still, fans already pointed out that the masked man who grabbed Claire is Hunk (often identified with Resident Evil 2). Zombies were shown in a glimpse but the other monsters from the original game have yet to be shown.
Claire Redfield is back and she has gone to Europe to search for her brother Cris.
This facility on Rockfort Island looks terrifying and very difficult to escape from.
Remember the guns that Steve Burnside used in a key part of the story in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica?
A key location remade to be creepy and claustrophobic. Are you ready to discover more about the Ashford family?
Capcom describes Resident Evil Veronica as follows:
Resident Evil Veronica is a remake of 2000’s Resident Evil Code: Veronica. This new title preserves the essence of the original game, while introducing modernized gameplay, a reimagined storyline, and vividly detailed graphics.
In 2027, madness and intrigue, love and hate all combine to create a chilling new entry in survival horror.
3 months have passed since the biological disaster in Raccoon City. Claire Redfield, having survived along with Leon S. Kennedy and Sherry Birkin, travels to France in search of her brother, Chris Redfield.
However, what awaits her is not a reunion with her brother, but the Umbrella special forces unit responsible for the incident. They capture Claire and transport her to a mysterious island.
Now Claire must make a desperate attempt to escape the remote Rockfort Island, which due to another biological disaster, has transformed into a living hellscape of survival horror.
Resident Evil Veronica is set for release on game consoles and PC in 2027. Capcom has yet to show actual gameplay.
If you are a newcomer here who wants to discover what Resident Evil – Code Veronica was all about, I encourage you to watch the two retrospective videos below.
Are you gamers feeling excited for Resident Evil Veronica? Do you feel confident that Capcom will deliver a great remake like 2019’s Resident Evil 2? Have you ever played Resident Evil – Code: Veronica?
Welcome back Xbox fans, Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) enthusiasts, Final Fantasy fans and fellow geeks!
Over a week ago, Square Enix officially releasedFinal Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S plus Windows PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming. For Xbox gamers who love JRPGs and the Final Fantasy games franchise, this development marked the end of a years-long wait for the big budget remake of Final Fantasy VII to be released on their consoles.
This is Aerith Gainsborough in the big-budget remake?
There are multiple reasons why FF7 Remake will have sold well on Xbox, even beyond the fact that it’s one of the most requested Xbox releases of the past few years. For one, it’s available at the pretty low launch price of just £39.99 / $39.99, and as a “limited early” bonus, it even comes with the original version of Final Fantasy 7 as well. Don’t forget it’s an Xbox Play Anywhere title too, which means you get a free PC version when buying it on console.
Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade co-director Naoki Hamaguchi expressed his happiness that Xbox gamers are enjoying the game and he already confirmed that the remaining chapters of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy will be released on Xbox. Read his Twitter post below.
Final Fantasy VII Legacy and Cultural Significance
Historically, the original Final Fantasy VII was released on PlayStation in 1997 and it became a massive commercial juggernaut which arguably made the JRPG more popular among Western gamers. Characters like Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, and Yuffie Kisaragi became wildly popular not only among Final Fantasy fans but with JRPG enthusiasts. Sephiroth meanwhile became one of the most defining villains of video gaming.
Battles in the game are often fast, intense and filled with visual spectacle.
The road to the big budget remake was a long one and it eventually Final Fantasy VII Remake was released as an exclusive game on PlayStation 4 in 2020. A year later, the upgraded version called Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade was released on PlayStation 5.
Xbox gamers who purchase Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade can expect the following: Quests, mini-games, and missions set in expanded areas of Midgar. There are also some new characters and content that adds even more depth to the story.
The main cast in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.
Welcome back Xbox fans, retro gaming enthusiasts and fellow geeks!
I’ve been playing Atari 50 on my Xbox Series X for more than a year now and I can say it is a blast of retro gaming fun. In addition, the DLCs added even more fun, more variety and gave me insight about the production history of the games.
In recent times, I purchased the Namco Legendary Pack for Atari 50 and it came with 3 Atari Pac-Man games (for Atari 2600, Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit), the American arcade versions of Dig Dug and Xevious, and the home console versions of Galaga, Xevious, Galaxian and Dig Dug.
Among those games, I chose to play the arcade version of Dig Dug which I never previously played. Indeed, I visited the video arcades a lot when I was younger and I do remember passing by a few machines of Dig Dug. I simply never took the opportunity to play Namco’s arcade classic back then. By the late 1990s, Dig Dug was simply no longer offered by local arcade operators.
The Dig Dug arcade cabinet.
The North American arcade flyer of Dig Dug by Atari.
After installing the Namco Legendary Pack, I started playing the arcade version of Dig Dug on my Xbox Series X using the Xbox controller. Even though I rushed in viewing the Xbox control scheme, Dig Dug still turned out to be simple and very playable at the same time.
In the game, you play the character Dig Dug (Taizo Hori) who has to dig tunnels in an underground maze. You have to eliminate the enemies/monsters deep within which are the Pookas (red and spherical beings that wear large goggles) and the Fygars (fire-breathing dragons). To eliminate an enemy, you have to use an air pump to physically connect with it and then inflate it until it explodes. Another way of eliminating an enemy is by crushing them with falling rocks which requires a bit of strategy as you are always chased.
Even without new tunnels made, there are times when enemies are able to penetrate through the soil to emerge near you. If you are in a tunnel with an enemy present, you will often get chased. Be mindful that for every level you progress into, enemies move faster and their numbers gradually increase.
The first level of Dig Dug.
Inflating a Pooka.
The Fygars are dragons and they are dangerous as they have fire as breath weapons.
Inflating a Fygar above ground.
Here, I managed to have a huge rock fall down and hit the Fyger and Pooka that chased me earlier. Pulling off this move requires strategy.
As you inflate an enemy and there are still more enemies near you, you have to be mindful that a Pooka can penetrate through the soil and emerge in a tunnel near you.
Having played Dig Dug a number of times already with my Xbox copy of Atari 50, I can say that I am really enjoying the classic arcade game from Namco. Historically, Dig Dug as planned and designed by Masahisa Ikegami who was assisted by Shigeru Yokoyama (Galaga). The game’s programmers were Shouichi Fukatani and Toshio Sakai, while the art was done by Hiroshi Ono, and the music was composed by Yuriko Keino.
At the 11th round, the game has turned much more challenging as the monsters moved faster and they can be overwhelming.
You might be wondering why was Dig Dug (in arcade and console ports) and those other Namco classic games released in a DLC package for the Atari 50 collection recently? This is because Atari and Namco formed a business partnership in Japan when the American company established its presence there with Atari Japan. In fact, Namco started shifting into video gaming because of Atari. As for Dig Dug, it debuted in Japanese arcades in March 1982 and was brought to American arcades with Atari as the distributor (note: a licensing deal with Namco was signed).
As already recorded in history, Dig Dug became a huge critical and commercial success in both Japan and the United States. While the game emerged as the 2nd highest grossing arcade game in Japan for 1982, Atari sold more than 22,000 Dig Dug arcade cabinets and generated over $46 million in sales that same year. With big success achieved, it was not surprising to see Atari release ports of Dig Dug on the Atari 2600, Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.
Welcome back readers, fellow geeks and electronic gaming fans!
In this edition of the Retro Gaming Ads Blast (RGAB) series, we will take a look at another batch of retro gaming print ads – including arcade flyers – from the 1980s to the 1990s.
For the newcomers reading this, Retro Gaming Ads Blast (RGAB) looks back at the many print ads of games (console, arcade, computer and handheld) that were published in comic books, magazines, flyers, posters and newspapers long before smartphones, social media, the worldwide web and streaming became popular. To put things in perspective, people back in the 1980s to the 1990s were more trusting of print media for information and images about electronic games and related products.
With those details laid down, here is the newest batch of retro gaming print ads for you to see and enjoy…
1. Starflight Sega Genesis Print Ad
Sometimes the very detailed artwork made gamers imagine Starflight as a sci-fi movie waiting to happen.
By the time it was released on the Sega Genesis in 1991, Starflight was already popular as it was released on varied computer systems and entertained a lot of gamers several years prior. To promote the Sega Genesis version, a 2-page print ad of Starflight was made with a grand-looking artwork of space, spaceships and planets dominating the space. The ad makers managed to utilize the remaining space below the artwork to show selected images, the descriptive text and the game’s box cover to make it clear to gamers that Starflight on Genesis is real and made to be playable. The artwork itself remains a powerful grabber of attention even to this day.
2. Defender Japanese Arcade Flyer
The front.
The rear.
Defender is one of my favorites among the many games of Midway. In recent times, I’ve been playing the arcade version of Defender on my Xbox Series X using the Midway Arcade Origins digital copy I purchased online. As Defender became a massive hit in America, it was released in Japanese arcades with Taito handling the distribution. The arcade flyer Taito came up with used hand-drawn art for the background on the front along with pictures of the arcade cabinet and the arcade cocktail table versions of the game. While the rear of the flyer looks very simplistic, the front remains attractive to look at.
3. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse Print Ad
Some people found the artwork looking creepy or even terrifying.
By the year 1990, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was present in several millions of households all over America and there were lots of great games available. Among the NES gamers were fans of the Castlevania game series and Konami went on to release Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse in America. As part of the company’s aggressive promotion, a single-page ad featuring a detailed looking artwork of a gamer getting immersed with the game’s fantasy elements (look at the creepy looking characters, monsters and the game’s hero present) was done. While the artwork was a strong attention grabber, what stood out was the sweepstakes form for gamers to cut out, fill it with their information and mail it for the chance to win a trip to the hometown of Dracula. Do you personally know anyone who won in the sweepstakes?
4. Double Dragon Games Print Ad
Print ad made with Double Dragon fans in mind.
When it comes to the console and handheld presence of the Double Dragon games franchise, it was on Nintendo hardware – specifically the NES and the Game Boy – where gamers and the fans could find them. Acclaim Entertainment knew how popular Double Dragon games were with Nintendo gamers and they aggressively marketed Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones and Double Dragon II with a single-page print ad that had great looking painted artwork. Very clearly, this early 1990s ad was made to connect strongly with Double Dragon fans and its presentation still looks very solid even with today’s standards.
5. Konami 3-in-1 Game Boy Games Print Ad
The excitement of sports is clearly shown in this old ad.
From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Konami published a lot of games on Nintendo’s wildly popular platform the NES and among them were classics like Contra, Castlevania and Metal Gear. Konami’s support also made it to Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld device (first released in 1989) which itself sold strongly and became the leading platform for portable gaming. As such, Konami made a 2-page print ad promoting NFL Football, Blades of Steel and Double Dribble: 5 on 5 for Game Boy. Cleverly, the ad makers used fancy artworks on the left (reflecting the different sports) side while using the space on the right side for descriptive text, screenshots and game box covers. This fine looking ad has a strong appeal towards Game Boy users and sports enthusiasts.
6. Tengen 6-in-1 Print Ad
This old print ad is a delight for those who owned a Sega Genesis.
Back in the 1980s, Atari formed the company Tengen to not only develop games but also publish game for computers and game consoles. During that decade, Tengen published games on the NES but they had trouble working within the strict licensing terms of Nintendo. The two companies would later get into court battles over a series of events within the gaming business. Eventually, Tengen started doing business with Sega and published games on the Genesis console. As part of their aggressive publishing of games on Sega’s console, Tengen came up with this 2-page print ad promoting six different games emphasizing that the fun arcade experiences are coming to gamers’ homes.
7. Dig Dug Print Ad
Are you aware of the business relationship and trust between Atari and Namco?
When Atari opened its branch in Japan – called Atari Japan – in the 1970s, they established a partnership with Namco to distribute arcade games there. As they experienced trouble penetrating the Japanese market, Atari eventually sold Atari Japan to Namco which paved the way for their Japanese partner to get into video games. Just a few years later, Namco developed its own original arcade game Dig Dug which became a massive hit in Japan. As a licensing deal was already in effect, Atari distributed Dig Dug in American arcades which the above magazine print ad clearly shows.
8. Sega Genesis Over SNES Print Ad
Sega directly attacked Nintendo by emphasizing the larger quantity of games andvaried game experiences that can only be found on the Genesis back then.
By the time Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991, the Sega Genesis console has been in the video game market for a few years already. In America, Tom Kalinske led Sega and his approach to marketing and resonating with gamers was essentially aggressive. The aggressive approach includes naming their competition and showing why Sega is superior. Given the lead time they had on the North American market, Sega came up with this print ad showing their Genesis consoles having a lot more games than the SNES. Competitive console gaming was very different back then.
9. Atari Jaguar Print Ad
Did you spend $159.99 on an Atari Jaguar console back in the 1990s?
In the 1990s, Atari attempted a comeback in console gaming with the Atari Jaguar console. Early on, their marketing emphasized the so-called 64-bit capabilities of the Jaguar to convince gamers theirs is the most powerful console on the market. Sadly, the console failed to achieve strong sales and a huge price cut was executed. To attract customers, Atari came up with this 2-page print ad to inform them of the cheaper $159.99 price while reminding them of the “most mind-blowing, head-exploding games” they can have with the Jaguar. Obviously this ad campaign failed as the Atari Jaguar never achieved commercial success.
10. Side Pocket Print Ad
The Side Pocket print ad with a subtle touch of sexiness.
After its original release in the arcades in 1986, Side Pocket was ported by Data East to many consoles and handheld devices in the 1990s. When it comes to promoting the Sega Genesis version, Data East came up with this print ad showing a lady in a sexy dress in the background (head hidden) which instantly created a sexy aesthetic. The large text displayed emphasized the game of billiards supported by the screenshots shown. The screenshot at the upper-left corner shows artwork of a pretty lady smiling at the viewer which added to the sexy aesthetic of the ad.
Long before the birth of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and his incredible 2016 US Presidential Election victory, Donald Trump made his presence felt in video games.
I am talking about Trump’s participation in a short video that was presented during the Xbox conference of the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The video was a parody of Trump’s popular show The Apprentice in which he appeared in a business meeting with the executives of Team Xbox (the real-life Robbie Bach, J Allard and Peter Moore) and Team PlayStation (with actors playing the PlayStation executives).
Back in 2004, as I was anticipating online media coverage of that year’s E3, I visited one particular Xbox website which streamed the said Trump-Xbox-PlayStation video and even offered a downloadable version for Windows media. I downloaded the video, watched it and was delighted ultimately. For your viewing pleasure, posted is a direct-feed video of from the This Week In Gaming YouTube channel.
Next, I posted below for you all another video that is slightly longer, was recorded off-screen at the Xbox conference, and has the live audience reactions that you should listen to. Watch the video below.
Is the 2004 video (titled “The Novice”) entertaining? For me it still is fun to watch again and it is one of the more memorable moves Xbox executed at the E3 (which today no longer exists). It is intriguing and entertaining to see Trump at the center of the video about the console war between Microsoft and Sony at the time.
As an entertainment piece of history, The Novice video is a reminder about how exciting console gaming was back in 2004 (note: intense competition between console makers was the standard of the time) when compared to what happened in recent times. Xbox gaming this year has been disappointing considering the following developments that happened: 50% price hike on the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription service, Xbox Series consoles price hikes, thousands of game developers laid off, the sudden cancellation of unreleased Xbox games, and Team Xbox directed by Microsoft to go full multiplatform with their own games (examples: Gears of War: Reloaded and Forza Horizon 5 got released on PlayStation 5).
Over at the side of PlayStation, Sony itself was embarrassed with its over-budgeted and poorly made game Concord. Concord is easily one of the most expensive flops in the history of video games.
Indeed, a lot has changed since 2004. Trump is now on his 2nd term as President of the United States solving the nation’s many problems while tackling several matters happening overseas. Sony and Microsoft are still active in the video games industry in different ways and they are still having their respective consoles manufactured outside of America. Console gaming nowadays is getting too expensive.
Let me end this piece by asking you readers: Do you find Donald Trump’s participation in the 2004 video with Xbox and PlayStation entertaining to watch? Were you a constant viewer of The Apprentice? Do you own a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console?
Welcome back Xbox fans, geeks, retro gaming fans and other gamers!
As a long-time Xbox fan, I am disappointed with the way this current console generation turned out. Xbox gaming as a whole has changed for the worse this year and millions of Xbox fans got angered over the cancellation of Xbox projects (including Perfect Dark and Contraband), Xbox console price hikes and most recently the declared drastic changes on Xbox Game Pass – including the 50% price hike on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service (watch Team Xbox’s pathetic and tone deaf announcement by clicking here).
But the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike of 50% ruined my plan to play The Outer Worlds 2 at launch entirely! I also noticed that none of the Team Xbox executives appeared in the pathetic October 1, 2025, video announcement of the drastic XGP changes.
Imagine the crashing ship as Team Xbox falling down hard because Microsoft forced them to make decisions and implement changes that made lots of Xbox fans and other gamers frustrated this year.
By looking at the collective feedback – both critics and gamers – about the newest sci-fi role-playing game from Obsidian, the bugs reported and the current prices, I have decided to pursue The Outer Worlds 2 later. It should be noted that the new game has two upcoming DLC episodes (story expansions) and there is no certainty as to when those will be released. As such, pursuing The Outer Worlds 2 later is the right thing for me to do because rushing for it now does not make sense at all.
What I did recently was I downloaded again my purchased digital copy of The Outer Worlds as well as the two DLC episodes on my Xbox Series X. Previously I played The Outer Worlds and the story expansions on my Xbox One, and replayed them on my Xbox Series X (enjoying the faster load times and improved frame rates) a few years ago.
So this year, I started from scratch again on a new single player campaign. I created a new character – her name is Vanilee – and customized the abilities with intelligence, science, engineering, lockpicking, persuasion, hacking and medicine in mind.
Meet my new character Vanilee.
Having played The Outer Worlds a few times already since late 2019, I decided to try other scenarios, find new dialog options (in relation to how I customized my character) and explored the maps in and out again. I had no trouble adjusting myself into the controls and overall feel of the game when it comes to response and precision. Take note that The Outer Worlds was developed by Obsidian at a time when it was not yet acquired by Microsoft/Xbox and Private Division was their publisher.
After going through the quests and side-quests in Edgewater – I diverted power to Edgewater helping Reed Tobson, the locals and convincing the deserters to return home – I entered the Unreliable with Parvati and Vicar Max as my teammates and proceeded to the Groundbreaker in space for further quests, scenarios and more options to build up my team.
Teammates Parvati and Nyoka in action against a monster in Monarch.
Vicar Max attacks an enemy with his shotgun.
So I kept on replaying the game rediscovering places, interacting with more characters and making decisions. Along the way, I spotted new dialog options emerging in connection with how I customized Vanilee from the start and built up with additional points accumulated for each level achieved. I ultimately reached the maximum of level 36.
Since I first played The Outer Worlds, it was clear to me that Obsidian did not have a massive budget as the creative and technical limitations were visible (examples: some repetitive interior designs, structures that cannot be accessed at all, lack of polish on stealth gameplay, my teammates getting in my line of fire, sluggish reloading, etc.). Instead of massive open-world environments, Obsidian came up with large maps but they ensured that each new location had something new for players to discover. I also admired the effort the developers invested on the art direction as well as making each map look distinct from each other while maintaining an artistic connection with the planet.
This is from the Murder on Eridanos DLC episode.
While the gameplay remains good for an RPG and first-person shooter enthusiast like me, what I admired best about The Outer Worlds was how Obsidian came up with connections between scenarios, the characters, the dialog options, and the consequences caused by decisions I made. That being said, I enjoyed watching the visual presentation and narration executed right after concluding the game. The presentation shows the endings of not just the main game but also those of the side quests completed and even the main quests of the two DLC episodes. How my decisions impacted the different factions and scenarios were clearly emphasized. In fact, the endings of the side quests and the two DLC episodes are seamlessly connected with the main game’s conclusion. As such, Obsidian succeeded in making The Outer Worlds worth replaying again.
Having played Starfield already, I realized that replaying The Outer Worlds was somehow a more satisfying experience. In my view, Bethesda tried too hard to make Starfield grand with a more galactic scope only to fail when it comes to exploration and long-term engagement. The Outer Worlds had a much smaller scope but it delivered the depth of fun, exploration, interaction and decision-making that strongly impacted the game’s conclusion.
Ellie in action in Gorgon!
At the same time, I find my character’s companions in Obsidian’s 2019 RPG more interesting and more engaging than those in Bethesda’s 2023 sci-fi juggernaut because of the following factors – better personalities, more clever writing and better voice acting. I believe it is time for Bethesda to start learning from Obsidian on how to make engaging dialogue and characters.
Right now, I am having a lot satisfaction replaying The Outer Worlds even though it has some flaws as well as creative and technical limitations as Obsidian did not have a very big budget. I wish the game had space battles as well as opportunities for the Unreliable to chase and dock enemy space ships which will allow me and my team to infiltrate. The game lacked mini-games which could have added more variety and fun when exploring the different locations on-foot (examples: the tossball facility in Monarch could have used a sports betting mini-game while the bars could have used card-based mini-games).
My crew inside the Unreliable.
On its own, the 2019 game is still a lot of fun to play and the role-playing element remains strong. The Outer World characters are memorable and the developers’ writers added humor to the dialog which prevented the game from becoming too dramatic or depressing. Indeed, The Outer Worlds is worth replayingand those who never played it should go for it!
Author Carlo Carrasco 