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Shovel Knight caught our attention from the first time we saw it on a Nintendo Treehouse at a big gaming event. The game has been popular enough on Nintendo consoles that Yacht Club Games decided to release retail versions of the game.
Now however they’ve just announced that not only will the retail edition coming to PlayStation 4, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC (in Europe only) be delayed until October 30th in Europe and November 3rd in North America; the retail copy for the Xbox One had been cancelled altogether.
Explaining the situation on their website Yacht Club Games wrote: “The final few steps of the Plague of Shadows content took a little longer than expected, but it was important to us that this update to be on the disc/cart right out of the box. Unfortunately that meant we had to push back the date just a little a bit.” They then explained that the Xbox retail edition had been cancelled for now owing to “publishing policies on that platform that are totally beyond our control.” The digital version is still available though.
The price of the physical copy has also been raised a little, but people who pre-ordered at the original price should have their retailers honouring that original price. The decision to bump up the price was down to limited space to display wares and down to the location of where certain priced merchandise was to be displayed meaning that Shovel Knight might not have been displayed where Yacht Club Games would have liked it to have been. “We didn’t want our ‘bargain priced’ game to go straight to the bargain bin.”
Each physical version will now come with a free soundtrack download to make up for the delay and price increases, and Yacht Club Games have said that updates on the retail Vita version and the Shovel Knight Amiibo are coming soon.
Mario is 30 years old! Can you believe it? His catalog of games is impressive. He’s arguably the most popular and recognizable video game character ever. To celebrate, we at Sanitarium.FM have gotten together and searched the dusty cobwebs of our addled little brains for our earliest or best Mario memories! Read on and marvel at how ancient some of us are!
Digmbot I first saw Mario in a Pizza Hut. It was one of those sit down machines that had Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong on it. I drove my mother absolutely crazy to get the quarter I needed to play it. I even called her to confirm her irritation level for this article. She was mad. Ever since then, I’ve loved the franchise. I’ve played every core game and Mario never ceases to make me smile. The sheer pleasure of the pitch perfect platforming controls, the music, the incredible ingenuity of the levels.
There’s a reason everyone holds up the plumber as the gold standard of platformers. He practically created the sidescrolling platformer. He damn sure DID show everyone else how to transition to 3D. And the Mario Galaxy games are a master’s course on how to evolve level design so that nothing ever feels stale. In short, to me playing a Mario game is an exercise in the most simple joy of gaming. Tight gameplay, wonderful levels and pure fun.
Never change Mario. Never change. Except for the movie and cartoon. Never do that again. PLEASE. *turns up bottle of whiskey*
Lonesamurai
Although I’ve known of Mario since the early years of gaming, especially seeing Mario in movies and other geek culture (including news reports of video games rotting kids brains and being too violent (yeah, fuck you Mortal Kombat!), my first experience of playing Mario was actually Super Mario 3 at a friends house. Before that I was relegated to my Atari until I could afford my own console.
I was actually well ensconced in the SEGA camp though, going from Master System and Mega drive (Genesis) upto the Saturn and Dreamcast, but I had friends and housemates with Nintendo’s through the years and played all the various incarnations.
One of my fondest Mario memories was working at GAME when the DS version of Mario 64 was released and we marvelled at the power in such a small handheld unit.
Of course, then there are the EPIC memories of drunken Mario Kart games at college… But sober memories of DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake 1 during my networking classes, so yeah, there are some good hazy memories of Mario too.
But I am still a Sonic fanboy, screw Mario!
Also, love the movie! RIP Bob Hoskins!
~ Lone
PredictedCyborg
I remember growing up in the 90s seeing ads for Mario games from my earliest days of watching children’s television. To me as a kid Nintendo = Mario and playing Mario was an excellent and cool way to show off to your friends. Never got to be one of those cool kids though. The Mario cartoon is one I grew up watching though as a very little cyborg although god knows I don’t remember any of it anymore.
First time I got to play any Mario game was when Sunshine was releasing, playing a demo of the first level in a shop. Shame I didn’t have a Gamecube then because I did enjoy it. I’ve played demos of various other Mario games over the years too, mostly the handheld console versions and I’ve never really shown a great level of skill at them… although with practice maybe I could be better.
Also I used to entertain a section of a lunch club I was a part of as one of the ‘responsible older kids running things’ in high school by joining them for the daily Mario Kart DS races. The local wi-fi signals were great and although I can’t claim to have been the best player of that game, I wasn’t half-bad at it.
Crimsonshade
One of the things I will admire about Mario now that he celebrates the mature age of 30 is that, unlike some of the other popular video game mascots from time past that still remain around today, Mario has never really made a false step or been grossly mistreated by those who direct him now. (Crash! Sonic! Mega Man! WHYYYY?!?) Part of this is probably down to his versatility – an Italian plumber who also moonlighted as a carpenter in his earlier days, Mario has the skills to adapt to all kinds of different lines of work, and Nintendo’s various experiments over the years have cemented him as a man of many talents – yet, at the same time, his core series of games have remained steadfastly rigid and unmistakably “Mario” for his entire lifespan, while still managing to introduce enough subtle new tweaks that no two games ever feel the same. My personal favourite game is Super Mario Bros. 3 (which I have never actually completed, embarrassingly…); but the recent reboots – starting from the DS Era with New Super Mario Bros, all the way through to Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS – all reaffirm to me why I still maintain a fondness for Mario in my heart.
Still, I won’t forgive Nintendo for the movie; or for creating Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. That game’s a bastard. (He says after dying for the hundredth time playing the Wii Virtual Console port…)
Shelby
One of my earliest memories of Mario was snatching the controller out of Digm’s hands when he was trying to finish a difficult section of Super Mario 64. I thought it was the best game ever, because I could watch him fail in glorious 3D. Since then, Mario has given me countless ways to make him miserable. So thank you Mario. I’ll kill you last.
So evil… – Crimsonshade
RattlinMan
1996 or 1997 I think. My memory is extremely fuzzy but what I remember for sure is that on countless occasions before I reached double digits in my age, is that I would always endeavour to steal my sister’s Game Boy (one of the older, chunkier models that could knock someone out) and sneak back to my room and by lamplight try and fail ENDLESSLY to get even a third of the way through Super Mario Land 2. I seem to recall my favourite levels were the ones that included a lot of green jelly…at least I assumed it was green, yeah I’m gonna go with green, but that was only because they were so easy. But of course I would get found out and yelled at for borrowing the Game Boy without permission, even parental permission wouldn’t stop me from gaming back in those days. Oh what a maverick I was when I was a child. But yeah, Super Mario Land 2, Game Boy like a brick, theft and green jelly. I’m hungry now. For green jelly.
RattlinMan
Scarlet_Dragon
I wasn’t going to add to this sycophantic Mario-fest as I didn’t grow up with Mario. But needs must, and I’m not allowed to decline; so here goes.
I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog. My family had a Mega Drive and I loved that over-heating black box of arguments so much. It brought me closer to my brother and father, and then further away again, when I lost.
I was the kid on the playground who argued against Mario. I couldn’t stand that mushroom eating, high jumping, red bastard. I didn’t want to go to the other children’s houses to play the newest incarnation of racing game or princess saving simulator. But I still couldn’t escape him.
I was very young when the film came out and it still scares me to this day. I didn’t enjoy it, and even my Mum later admitted it was crap and she shouldn’t have exposed her children to that filth.
I finally gave into the Mario craze 3 years ago. It was a dark night, and much alcohol was consumed. As anyone who finds themselves in that situation, you trust your friends. So one who shall rename nameless (Chris!) pulls out an old-style GameCube. I loved that silver box. It had so much Zelda nostalgia, I could cry. But then, those bastards put Mario Kart on, thrust the controller in my hand and whispered “play”. A character was already loaded, so with palms sweating, and bile rising in my gullet, I tried my best. But alas! All my years of Sonic platforming could not prepare me for the severe game-shafting I was subjected to that night. I was the laughing stock of the group for weeks to come. So, my first game of Mario involved not only my closest friend’s betraying me, but also the beautiful GameCube forsaking me.
If you follow let’s players on Youtube or Twitch there’s a fair bet you’re familiar with the name of Elgato. Their capture devices are used by a lot of Youtubers with high subscriber counts because they perform well with a number of consoles. Now Elgato have just released their latest device – the HD60 Pro.
The main features of the HD60 Pro are that it is compatible with all the latest consoles, and is able to stream directly to Twitch or Youtube in 1080p at 60FPS with little latency. This on top of something called Flashback recording which allows you to go back in your latest gameplay and record something after the fact – brilliant for those times when you’re playing and something amazing or hilarious happens out of the blue. There’s also some very nice videos available on Elgato’s Youtube channel telling you how to install the device in case you need instructions; very useful.
Specs:
Interface – PCIe x1
Input – PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 & Wii U (unencrypted HDMI)
Who remember their first game of pokemon? Whether it was on the grainy black and white screen of the classic Gameboy, or in colourful 3D on the N64, pokemon is close to a lot of gamer’s hearts. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in a world inhabited by strange and wonderful creatures, that can be tamed and used to battle your friends? Well now you can!
A new phone app allows you to search out pokemon in your local areas, and with the use of a pokeball watch, capture and battle them with people around you.
Geo-caching is not a new phenomenon. It’s a simple premise where you are given map co-ordinates and go treasure-hunting. This sort of real-world application is always open to abuse; some people may remove the treasure, or you might not live in a place where a treasure hunt has been initiated.
Pokemon Go eliminates all these problems by making everything digital. Your pokemon are available in cyberspace, located over physical co-ordinates. Although details are scarce on release dates and game mechanics, I for one have never been more excited to wander round my town and collect ‘em all.
This August bank holiday weekend saw me away from my usual radio station and writing duties to attend and represent the Sanitarium.FM at the Insomnia gaming LAN event, the 55th one held since the event started years back.
Hosted by Multiplay, a company who also host game servers and have been acquired by GAME in the last year the event boasts massive halls for gamers to bring their computers and consoles to link up for a massive LAN party with friends and rivals alike; along with an expo hall filled with gaming and media related retailers, special guests, indie game demos and so much more. This is the fifth one I’ve been to. So how did I, an experienced attendee, find the event?
Well let’s get the niggles and annoyances out of the way first.
For context I attend Insomnia for the sake of going around the expo hall, seeing my friends in the flesh, checking out the new indie games and since taking this job also to make contacts and get some of the indie devs onto our Indie Game Show. Since I became press Insomnia have provided a press pass and a room designated for press to use, although the press pass was reduced from a weekend ticket to two day passes which would have seen me fork out more for the sake of being able to cover all 3 days and nothing in the evening. This time Insomnia had two camera crews on site, from the British Channels 4 and 5. They were given use of the usual press room for their filming of interviews with attendee volunteers but unfortunately this did come at the expense of the rest of the press no longer having a place to do their work in peace or leave coats and bags while they were patrolling the event talking to people for this event.
Another issue comes in the fact that some of the hosted content was placed in three large tents. This in itself was well done for the most part, just could have been signposted a tiny bit better. There’s also the fact that the indie game developers’ area was taken out of the expo area where it’d been for the last few events and placed at the end of one of the tents, beyond the rows of machines set up with bunches of retro games. This did lead to a few traffic jams in those aisles as people played the games, people built up behind those people to watch and then you had people going back and forth behind those people. There was an exit on that side of the tent but it led to the main stage of the main tent and the only time I tried to go through it I was told I wasn’t allowed to go that way. I did also hear there was a concern about the security of electronics being left in the tent overnight with at least two of the developers I know taking their demo desktops back to their hotel rooms with them each night because they were that uncertain.
However the event itself seemed to proceed without much of a hitch. The special guests weren’t too badly mobbed although I did once get caught up in the middle of a crowd of children travelling to one of the impromptu signings their heroes were doing and it was alarming to see how many people there were there for the signatures and the chance to catch a glimpse of their favourite video personalities. There were two main signing areas for the two big Youtuber groups attending and both seemed to be flowing quite quickly, even though I know that one of the groups were also taking time to have conversations with those fans and others that they recognised.
The LAN halls were packed at all hours, and the time I spent in one watching my friend play Hearthstone on the computer was a welcome break from my press work. Security on the doors there was tight as it should be with a room full of expensive custom build computers, with myself, with the ‘wrong’ wristband, only being allowed in with my friends who had the right wristband. It was also tight on both the north and south exits to the venue with wristbands being given upon registering your ticket for the event at the gate and being checked every time after to be sure you were allowed in. Stickers were given out for those bringing their own machines to stick to them to be sure that the right people were taking the right machines. The general security is always something that has impressed me about Insomnia and I’m glad to see that it was mostly up to the same high standard as always.
The expo hall was as showy and wonderful as always, despite the lack of the familiar little indie zone within it. The big computer customisers always show up and give out little freebies and leaflets. EBuyer was there this time and I got a nice big goody bag off them, along with several packets of mini Haribo bags which are always a bonus for me. This time the retailers were also set up in the corridor outside too, but it seemed that this wasn’t too big of an issue for anyone and no big crowds hindered the movement as people gathered at stalls to buy hats and bags. There was also a small stage at one end of the expo hall where panels such as indie game demos, Youtuber Q and As and other things were taking place throughout the day with a seating area set up.
All in all I did really enjoy Insomnia 55 and the events do get better each time, and if you’re going for a day or with your kids or to just hang out with your friends at a big LAN party – Insomnia is for you. Just this one was marred slightly for me by a number of small things that can all be explained by the fact that the venue is a football ground that the team has recently returned to. There were areas of the venue once open that Multiplay can no longer use and quite simply the event has now outgrown the venue.
Good thing from Insomnia 56 it’s moving to the NEC in Birmingham, England. I can’t wait to see how much better the change of venue could make this event.
