Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Time Travel Board Games (Part 1)

Time travel is one of my favorite concepts in science fiction.  It has so many fascinating implications, mostly questioning if our actions in a past we were never part of affects the course of the timeline, drags you into an alternate parallel Earth, or if the timeline has already taken account of your actions and nothing can be changed.  This idea has been prevalent in books, TV, movies, video games, and role-playing games.  But what about board games?  Toying with the fabric of time and space sounds like a great idea for you and your friends to gather around the table for.  While board games that make use of time travel are few and far between, there are couple of good ones you should try, if you can find them.

Now, keep in mind that both of the games I'll feature (one today, one next week) were both released in 2001, which doesn't qualify them as old school games.  However, nostalgia is kind of a crude form of time travel, merely confined to your mind.  So this still fits with my style.
 

The first game we'll look at is Chrononauts, created by Looney Labs, who are best known for the chaotic card game Fluxx.  The premise of Chrononauts is that each player is a time traveler from a different alternate Earth.  Each player uses cards to collect historical artifacts, get new time travel technology, affect other players, or alter events in the timestream (which is this grid of reversible cards with each card signifying an important moment in history -- almost as if the fabric of time and space were a big quilt).  When someone alters these "Linchpin" moments in history, it affects other events in the timestream, called Ripplepoints.  Say, for instance, your time traveler goes back to 1936 to assassinate Hitler before his opening speech at the Berlin Olympic Games.  Of course, this prevents most of the events of World War II (though it does not prevent the entire conflict -- according to the game, Japan still wages war and the attack on Pearl Harbor still occurs).  Each event in the timestream that is affected due to the alteration of a Linchpin becomes a time paradox, as the timestream has ripped from the drastic change and is unable to rectify itself.

The Timestream (purple and red cards are Linchpins, blue are Ripplepoints,
and the ones with "black holes" are paradoxed Ripplepoints)

Of course, too many paradoxes at once is a bad thing, as it causes the integrity of the time-space continuum to fail and all of reality collapses upon itself.  This causes everyone to lose the game, unless you're a certain time traveler (from one of the expansions) who needs reality to collapse in order to win.  To prevent this, players use time patch cards, which depict alternate events in history, that superimpose themselves on the paradox and repair the tears in the continuum.  Let's use our previous example: since Hitler was assassinated in 1936, Germany won't invade Poland in 1939, which structurally damages reality in that point in time.  A player can place a patch on 1939 where, instead of invading Poland, Germany remains a proactive part of Europe and they participate in the 1939 World's Fair in New York, where they introduce German Black Forest Cake to the people and it becomes a big hit.  This blitzkrieg of the culinary world nullifies the paradox of Germany's blitzkrieg of the European world, thus righting the balance of events.  Of course, others can use cards to revert events back to the way they were, preventing Hitler's assassination and discarding the patch, since the paradox is undone.

There are three ways to win Chrononauts:  The first way is to change events in the timestream and patch alternate events to where the timestream conforms to the time traveler's reality and they can go home.  Each character card has three events, one that is part of our timestream, and two that are altered events that are made possible by patching time paradoxes, that determine their home reality.  You can also try to fulfill the requirements of your mission card.  Each player is given a mission card at the start of the game.  The mission is to collect three items (some cards allow you to collect three of four items), either by playing them or by playing a card to steal them from someone else who has them.  The third way to win is by getting ten cards in your hand at the end of your turn (all of the ways to win must be done at the end of your turn, so someone can still screw things up for you before your turn comes up).

Despite the complex premise of the game, it's actually very easy to pick up and learn.  The time travel concept is fun, and you don't have to move around any board.  As long as you have the right card, you can change any Linchpin in time.  There are some cards that you can play to change any Linchpin, regardless of where they are and whether they are our own history or an alternate one, but there are others that only allow you to change certain events, such as any disaster (Hindenberg, Titanic, etc.) as well as some cards that only allow you to take any altered Linchpin and revert it back to normal (keep in mind, you can only use these cards to change Linchpins in the timestream; you cannot directly affect Ripplepoints, you have to change the Linchpins they're attached to).  Don't let the easy learning curve fool you, though.  This game does require some tactical thinking, as you have to change events from a certain time to create a paradox in events down the way and fix them with the appropriate patch in order to "go home."

As a card game about time travel, this game was inspired by science fiction shows and stories that explored the concepts of time travel and features quite a few references to them.  If you want to find out more about his inspirations and the hows and whys of the alternate histories he created for the game, then check out his article, Mysteries of the Timeline, on the Looney Labs website.

Even though it may not be the cheapest card game out there (the core game cost $20), it's still a game that is worth the money.  There's even an Early American Chrononauts, which is kind of a sequel (or is it a prequel, since it takes place in an earlier point in the timestream?) that can be combined with Chrononauts to create one big game.  You can also find expansions that add new time travellers or expand the timeline to 2008.  There's also a Back to the Future version of the card game (see, there's a reference to a classic movie trilogy from the '80s).

Powered by 1.21 gigawatts of family fun.

While the basic gameplay is similar to Chrononauts, Back to the Future does add some extra rules to the game.  Once your character has changed events in the timestream to where they can return to their reality, you also have to go back in time to when Doc Brown conceived of the Flux Capacitor and stop him from doing so, thus making it so the time machine was never invented (which is a bit of a paradox, itself).

If you like fun card games, or are an avid fan of time travel fiction, then I recommend picking this up.  It's easy, fun, and a good way to waste an hour.  Next Wednesday, I'll take a look at time travel on the cheap.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Forgotten Worlds: The Kong Off 2011 and Pinburgh 2011

Yes, I used to eat this cereal, as a kid.

Ever since the release of the documentary The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, there's been a renewed interest in the competition for the highest score in classic arcade games, especially Donkey Kong.  Such websites as Twin Galaxies, the official archive of video game high scores, remain busy with every new world record that is broken (they also serve as the only resource for high scores for the Guinness Book of World Records).  For the past few years, the competition for the top score in the classic Nintendo game has been characterized by two men: Billy Mitchell, veteran arcade record holder, and Steve Wiebe, who beat Mitchell's record during the filming of The King of Kong.  Two years ago, a new challenger arose and made a name for himself in record time.  Newcomer Dr. Hank Chien came from out of nowhere and claimed the top score in Donkey Kong -- an accomplishment that remains his to this day.

It is this newly revived environment of competition that sets the stage for the first ever Kong Off.  This past weekend, sixteen arcade enthusiasts headed to Richie Knucklez Arcade Games in Flemington, NJ to compete for the top score in Donkey Kong.  Many others attended the event, some to watch and cheer on their favorite players, while others came to break their own records in other arcade classics.  After the smoke cleared, Hank Chien, also known as Dr. Kong, after the new documentary about his quest for the top, came in first place with 994,400 points -- not high enough to beat his world record score, but enough to cement him at the pinnacle, for now.  Steve Wiebe came in a close second place with 986,900 points while another arcade youngblood, Eric Howard, claimed third with 941,800 points.  Billy Mitchell placed in 7th with 821,200 points, but I'm sure that we'll see him push for the top spot again very soon.

Merchandise available for the event included this actual
arcade marquee, which, of course, is already sold out.

Apparently, the Kong Off was a great success.  It's not very often you have the stars of these Donkey Kong documentaries together under one roof to compete, so it must have been a blast (I wish I was there).  Hopefully, this won't be the last Kong Off and we'll see the tournament become an annual event (they may not be able to get Billy, Steve, and Hank to come back every year, but you never know).


But New Jersey wasn't the only place getting some tournament arcade action this weekend.  The Professional Amateur Pinball Association held the Pinburgh 2011 tournament in Pennsylvania, which, from the videos I've seen, was huge.

 Pinball, pterodactyls, and sexy Valkyrie women -- this poster has it all

The tournament was held in a huge facility with a metric buttload of pinball tables -- too many to mention here.  Getting into the tournament cost $100, but I heard that proceeds went to charity.  Hell, if you bought a $10 roll of tokens, $20 went to the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society (which they collected a grand total of $12,550).  Not only that, but each roll of tokens had a special custom made token for the event that you can't find anywhere else.

With all these tournaments and arcade game shows going on in the US, I need to get out of state more often.

Until next time, keep your scores high and the quarters flowing.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Kaiju Rampage: The Eras of Tokusatsu


(I wish to dedicate this post to the recent victims of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan.   This disaster dealt a mighty blow to the nation and I hope they are able to make a swift recovery.  If you are interested in donating to any relief efforts for Japan, please do so.  You can search on Google for any charities that are sending aid.  Make sure you do your homework, though, and know where your donations are going.)

For over half a century, giant monsters, aliens, and multicolored superheroes have entertained Japanese audiences in television and movies.  With such a storied history, the tokusatsu genre has gone through changes.  There have been times when a franchise, such as Toho's Godzilla, went on hiatus, only to resurface again.  This caused a general consensus amongst tokusatsu creators and fans to categorize the whole of the genre into eras.  While each franchise has their own specific timeline for these eras, they do tend to coincide with each other.

When tokusatsu films and TV were first created, it ushered in what would be called the Showa era, named after the historical era in Japan that occurred at the time.  Showa jidai (meaning "period of enlightened peace") corresponded with the reign of Emperor Hirohito, who ascended to the throne in 1926.  In daikaiju terms, Showa referred to the time between the mid-1950s to about 1980.  For Toho, their last Showa film was Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975 while Daiei, the creators of Gamera, ended the period with Super Monster Gamera in 1980.

When Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, the Showa era ended with him.  His son, Akihito, assumed the throne the next day and ushered in a new era with a new name: Heisei (a word that was taken from Chinese historical and philosophical texts and has come to mean "peace everywhere").  However, the daikaiju Heisei era began before the death of Hirohito.  Toho brought daikaiju back with The Return of Godzilla, also known as Godzilla 1985 in the US five years before the Showa era ended (its Japanese release was in 1984).  Daiei, however, waited six years after Hirohito's death before they resurrected Gamera in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe in 1995.

For these two franchises, the Heisei era characterized the 1980s and '90s.  Despite not being as long as the Showa era, the Heisei era gave us great movies from both franchises.  Gamera, whose movies got stale toward the end of the Showa era, found a new lease on life during the '90s.  Granted, they only made three Gamera movies, but the general consensus is that each of them were of superior quality to many of Gamera's Showa era movies.

While there have been great Godzilla movies from all three eras,
the Heisei era did give us some of the best movie poster art ever.

These two eras did not just pertain to daikaiju eiga, though.  Many tokusatsu TV shows, such as Ultraman and Kamen Rider, had their own Showa and Heisei eras.  For Ultraman, the Showa era began with Ultra Q, a predecessor to Ultraman, and ended with Ultraman 80.  For a few years after that, Tsuburaya Productions allowed Ultraman to be made by foreign countries, such as Australia and the US.  When that didn't pan out, they ushered in their Heisei era with Ultraman Tiga and continued the series ever since.  Kamen Rider had a similar run, but the hiatus between eras was divided by a time when the franchise only did stage shows.  The enduring Super Sentai series, however, seemed to have been going on since its inception, making it a bit harder to determine where Showa ends and Heisei begins.

The only good thing about this movie is that
it inspired Toho to make more Godzilla movies

One era that you will only find amongst daikaiju eiga is the Millenium era, which was heralded, of course, by the new millennium.  When Toho bid farewell to the Heisei era with Godzilla's sad death in Godzilla vs. Destroyah, Tri Star Pictures decided to try and "Americanize" the franchise with their own take on Godzilla.  Needless to say, the movie sucked so much ass, that Toho decided they needed to make more Godzilla movies just to get the bad taste out of everyone's mouths.  They kicked off the Millennium era with Godzilla 2000 Millennium, which, while not as good as some of the Heisei era movies, did herald the return of a proper daikaiju eiga.  The remainder of the Millennium era movies were mostly better, though.  While Daiei did, officially, bring Gamera into the Millennium era, there has only been one movie to show for it: Gamera the Brave, before the franchise slipped back into hiatus.

The Millenium era Gamera the Brave
has the most adorable design of Gamera, so far.

Right now, neither company seems to be working on any new movies.  However, as I write this, there is talk that Legendary Pictures, the guys who make the DC Comics movies (as well as that horrible Clash of the Titans remake - why would you ruin a cult classic like that?!), are working on a new reimagining of Godzilla.  My opinion?  It's probably gonna suck, because Hollywood can't seem to understand the soul of daikaiju eiga.  That's why the 1998 Godzilla movie is garbage, it wasn't about an unstoppable force of nature, but a dumb, giant lizard.  My only hope is that Toho will be offended by this new Godzilla and be inspired to make new movies and give us another era to enjoy.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Cart Classics - Episode 1: The Retron 3

Here it is -- a first in many aspects.  It's the first video for me, Geek Streak, and my new segment, Cart Classics, where I look at video games for old school home consoles.  Though the title does denote that most of the games will be cartridge based, I'll also delve into the early days of CD-Rom games.

Today, let's take a look at some new hardware I got.  Clone consoles have been a fairly recent option for classic gamers with consoles that have seen better days.  While they started out being a bit sketchy, when it comes to working properly, these clones seem to have taken major leaps.  Case in point: the Retron 3 is only one of two clone consoles that can play NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, with ports for all your original controllers.  But is this console good enough for you to warrant a purchase?  Click play and find out.



One thing I will elaborate on -- the sound on the SNES can range from tolerable at low volume to downright horrible, depending on the game.  The volume level for the emulation is so high that it can distort the music to the point of ear-bleeding bad.  The worst case scenario doesn't happen often, but it does happen.  For instance, the soundtrack in Darius Twin is pure audio torture (though, I'll admit, it wasn't all that great, to begin with).  You practically have to turn it down until it's almost inaudible, and that's annoying.  Despite that, the games run great on the Retron 3, so it's a perfectly viable option if you don't have the money to purchase all three systems.

Check out the list of all the games I own for the three systems after the jump.  Yes, they all work with the Retron 3.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Games You Should Know About... Beyond Good & Evil HD

I was, originally, going to make this a surprise post after I put up my video review for the Retron 3, but that video is taking longer than anticipated to upload, so... surprise!

Anyway, I consider this to be one of the most important GYSKA I will ever write, for it's about one of my favorite games of all time.  I knew that, one day, I would do a post about Beyond Good & Evil.  I just didn't know when.  Fortunately, Ubisoft made a smart move that would do more than just give me a chance to talk about this game.  It would also give many of you a real opportunity to play this game and show support for a sequel.


Beyond Good & Evil, or BG&E, as I will refer to it from here on, came out in 2003.  It was the brainchild of Michel Ancel, creator of the Rayman series.  Gameplay is very similar to the 3D Legend of Zelda games, but it's fleshed out by extra features, like hovercraft races, stealth missions, and liberal use of Jade's camera, whether it's for taking pictures of wildlife for a scientist or gathering evidence of a government conspiracy to invade your homeworld.

Like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the game garnered high acclaim by the press, but was ignored by the mainstream gaming populace and it was a commercial failure.  Word of mouth and great reviews were the only advertising the game got.  Nonetheless, BG&E became a cult hit with fans through the virtue of its story, gameplay, and lovable characters.

Due to the cliffhanger ending, fans wondered if a sequel would ever see the light of day.  In 2008, footage was revealed that teased that the second chapter of the saga would be coming to the current-gen systems.  Since then, there has been very little mention of it and some have been talking about the project being scrapped.  According to Ubisoft, the sequel has been in production for years, but is being done by a small team led by Ancel, to ensure that it retains the integrity of the original.


While we wait an undisclosed amount of time for the next chapter, Ubisoft re-released the original game in HD.  It's available now for the XBOX 360 with a future release for the Playstaion 3. If there is one game from GYSKA that you really need to play, it's BG&E.  Ubisoft needs to know that this franchise is still highly anticipated by us gamers.  Download this game for $10 and find out what the big deal is about - you'll thank me later.



Well, it seems I can't upload my Retron 3 video, for some stupid-ass reason. I guess it'll have to wait for next week.