Schmidlak Plays! - CMI

I've just completely revamped my YouTube channel. My inspiration - watching episodes of GameInformer's new Super Replay for Blue Stinger, and SeaNanners Minecraft vids. These videos are so polished, and well edited it really sucks the viewer in. That is precisely what my previous attempts at game videos have lacked.

Well, I took the time today to try and fix that. Outside of just organizing and cleaning up my YouTube profile, I also learned how to produce videos in 720p and 1080p, and how to annotate YouTube videos to make them more user friendly.

I was also fortunate in my choice of game, The Curse of Monkey Island (PC), which is filled with awesome music and wonderfully written and spoken dialogue. In short, I don't have to do much talking at all, which is great because talking to one's self (in an entertaining fashion) and playing a puzzle game is extremely difficult. Guybrush Threepwood does all the work, and I reap the benefits!

So without further ado, here are the first two episodes for this series, which I hope to continuously update in the following months.

(Episode 1)

(Episode 2)

Also, if by some stroke of luck you've read this far, watched the videos, and enjoyed them; I'd sure be extra thankful if you did me one last favor by subscribing to my YouTube channel. It really makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to know there are folks whom actually like this stuff and want to see more. Also, if you hated it, feel free to comment in a productively critical manner (read: no trolling please). All the feedback I can get is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, and enjoy!

P.S. A big shout-out to the folks who worked on ScummVM; without you I'd not be able to enjoy this amazing game. For those curious what ScummVM is, and what games it works with, check it out here: http://scummvm.org/

Back from hiatus

I've finally returned.

First, apologies to anyone who is seeing this now wondering: "Why the hell did the blog just kind of stop in the middle of October?" It turns out that I'm incapable of simultaneously running a blog and also fulfilling my duties as a full time college student. As a result, I cast the blog aside, and turned my full attention to school.

However, those days are finally behind me (at least for the next three and a half weeks). I can finally return to updating! 

A bit has happened since I last posted. Last week we had the Spike TV Video Game Awards. 'The Walking Dead' won game of the year, and the PS3 downloadable 'Journey' did quite well winning in multiple categories. Also of significance was the release of a compelling trailer for a game called 'Phantom Pain'. After some Internet sleuthing by the public at large, it appears this game is connected to the Metal Gear series... perhaps even Metal Gear Solid 5. I have my own take, but more on that to come...

Personally, a long time friend of mine and I began our first play through of the SNES classic Chrono Trigger just about a month ago. We've just gotten to the 'Future' area with all the domed towns. In fact  I plan on going back over to his place tomorrow in order to put in a few more hours.

For my birthday I received a few older PS3 games that have been on my 'to-play' list, including Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, God of War III, and the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD combo. I've started NFS and Battlefield, and from first glance they look pretty good; I'm hoping to beat them both by the end of Winter Break.

As for our friends at GameInformer, there have been several Replay! episodes we've missed out on; some better than others. I will not be posting and reviewing the ones I've missed, but I will pick up on the new ones starting this Saturday (December 13, 2012). However, if you want to check them out you can head to the Replay! Hub, here: http://www.gameinformer.com/p/replay.aspx

Also, congrats to GI Editor Andrew Reiner on the birth of his first child last October!

So there it is folks, a recap, and a primer; let's get back to work!

Some Housework

Just a little update for the blog.

As of today I have finally added a feature that I've been meaning to put in for a long time: a "Label" list.

This list, located on the right side of the webpage, underneath the "About Me" section, will give you access to every post I've published pertaining to a particular topic or game. Want to see every "Art of the Week" or "Replay" post I've ever made? How about posts only pertaining to Metal Gear Solid? Finally, you can. And with ease, I might add.

I hope you find this addition useful, and are finally able to sleep at night knowing now that this blog sucks just a little less.

New Metal Gear Title!

And here's the trailer which debuted to the general public at PAX, in my home city of Seattle!

It looks like this game will be a Prologue to a new numbered entry in the series, which will likely becoming out on next generation consoles. In the mean time, MGS: Ground Zeroes will keep us chomping at the bit on our PS3s and 360s until that day comes.

Mark me down as entirely too excited.

Wise fum yo gwave!

For those completely confused by the title, I direct you to this nugget of awesomeness:

"Rise from your grave," Zeus commanded... and so a generation of gaming was born.

A little back story: Altered Beast was released in 1988 as a stand-up cabinet game. Across all of Japan, Altered Beast ruled supreme in the local arcades, munching away at coins, leaving millions of small Japanese children bento-less. But then something special happened. Altered Beast was soon ported (i.e. re-released) on a little black box called the Sega Mega Drive. This little toy would come to be known in the US as the Sega Genesis.

With the success of Altered Beast on the new console, Sega was given the start it needed to forge ahead and ultimately release 914 more games for the console. In total, Sega sold some 40 million Mega Drives/Genesis' (Genesi? Genesises?). I was lucky enough to have received one of them.

It was Christmas. December 25th, 1995. I only vaguely remember that day. I was, after all, only five years old. But what I do remember was unwrapping a big box only to lay my eyes upon a strange contraption that at first I could not fully comprehend. Indeed, it was a Sega Genesis; a gift from my Aunt and Uncle in California. With it came two games:

  

The rest, as they say, was history.

Over the last 18 years of my life, I have played hundreds of games. Of those hundreds of games, I've completed about a hundred. I've probably spent thousands of hours playing games (I cried a little on the inside when I wrote that). And yet, still, somehow, I've managed to miss so many of the classics.

The Zelda series, the Metroid series, the early Final Fantasy games, and all of the 3D Mario platformers, just to name a few.

This blog is a record of my attempt to finally bring clarity to my video gaming blind spot, and keep track of my gaming exploits as I attempt to conquer these leviathans of the digital sea. One pixel at a time.

It's also a place to exchange memories, news, and other awesome gaming related things. So pull up a tweed couch, a 2-liter of Surge, a can of Pringles, and LETS DO THIS.