Monday's Virtual Console Update

It's Monday, which means another update to Wii's Virtual Console. What do we have today?

Castlevania - NES, 500 Points - This game ROCKS. The original classic is what spawned the great series we know today. If you've played through Symphony of the Night, Dawn of Sorrow, or even just recently downloaded Super Castlevania, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Classic music, great gameplay and awesome weapon upgrades make it worth 500 points. (And further fuels my resolve to include Simon Belmont in Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Legend of the Mystical Ninja - SNES, 800 Points - One of the more obscure titles out there, for sure. However, it's a really enjoyable game. It bases itself entirely on humor and satire, and is in no way meant to be taken seriously. You play as Kid Ying or Dr. Yang, and you defeat enemies with your mighty... smoke pipe. An upgradeable smoke pipe. The game itself has two player cooperative play, 3D and 2D stages, and from what I remember, a whole lot of difficulty. Play this one if you're a fan.

Shockman - TG-16, 600 Points - I never played this game. It's a two-player side-scrolling shooter, a la Gradius. Those kinds of games are always cool, so I don't see how this one would be different. Or you could just download Gradius. What sets this game apart is the simultaneous two player play. Check it out.

We Can Dance If We Want To, We Can Leave World War 2 Behind

After several months of speculation, Activision just recently announced that its flagship FPS Call Of Duty is leaving World War II, and is coming right back to modern day. Although no new details were given, this is a huge step for the series, and first person shooters in general. There are countless shooters out there that all have you killing Nazis. Any series out there that can step into something new should go for it. It could be all out huge success (World of Warcraft) or a down-right piece of crap (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon). But really, when you get down to it, how many times can you storm the beach of Normandy? You know developers have just about milked all of WWII when one of the most recent games gives you the grand option of playing as a Canadian soldier.

Problem is with modern day warfare is that involves people who are still alive in modern day. It's hard to be accurate without somebody out there calling you out about it. You could develop on the current mess of war we have in Iraq, but everyone knows what kind of negative media it'd draw from it. So, they'll most likely take the easy route: make it up.

Not only it'd be easiest, it'd provide the freshest material. Nothing like making up battles about a conflict that never actually happen to have it all be new. The trick is just having it seem like it could happen, like the Splinter Cell series. That being said, it's plainly obvious the new game's setting is going to be.

Prepare for war in modren day Germany against modern day Neo-Nazis.

The Alpha

You just brought home yourself that shining LCD monitor for your quad-core PC. Packing tape sliced, cardboard removed and styrofoam on the floor, you set that bad boy up. It's plugged into the tower, it's plugged into the outlet, and it's time to turn it on. The very instant that screen flickers, your eyes widen to the point that they can be mistaken for a cue ball in a game billiards. Down in that corner, that little speck there, in the vast sea of your display that one dot stands out; the Dead Pixel.

Welcome to the beginning. In the same sea that is the internet that is filled with blogs from every self-righteous nerd proclaiming his love and endless knowledge of video games, The Dead Pixel will stand out from the rest. That's what I've set out to do. You can expect articles based on current events, in-depth features about the industry, previews, reviews, side stories, and video content.

This whole thing could be purely informative, purely humorous, a mix of both, or just as dull as the rest of the plankton out there. My hope is that I just leave an impression on you, permanently burned into your memory. Something here will strike you, and make you want to return. This won't go away, either.

Welcome to The Dead Pixel.