For basketball enthusiasts, the NBA 2K series is THE place to be. I'm still partial to the earlier gems in the series – NBA 2K11 set the standard for greatness, and I've spent the most time with NBA 2K12 – but, at least the last few titles on the new generation have made efforts to advance the game as a whole.
It doesn't always work, as last year's "My Player" mode with Spike Lee's cinematic direction felt clunky and forced, and even the gameplay wasn't on par with previous years (wayyyy too many blocks and missed layups), but it is always beautiful.
NBA 2K17 is keeping that trend going, as this #FRICTION trailer released today shows. Players celebrate, rock their signature moves and looks, and, as always, the atmosphere looks fantastic. We'll see if it translates to the gameplay, but for now, this'll keep us bball fans plenty satisfied until the season starts.
Fresh off a Super Bowl MVP award and appearance on Dancing with the Stars, Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller is eager to show us his moves. It just so happens Madden '17 is about to come out, so Miller has a terrific platform in the form of a commercial for the game.
Miller takes it one step further, though: instead of just dancing for a bit, he does his best Justin Bieber impersonation, with a parody of the Beebs' "Sorry." This one's called "Start Me," and it features a heavily autotuned Miller suggesting you, the GM of your fictional roster, should make Miller your cornerstone, because, after all, he's got a 99 rating. That's the best you can do, so why not start him?
Once every four years, we're treated to arguably the most spectacular world event: the Summer Olympics. This year was filled with unease, as up until days beforehand (and even quite possibly currently), infrastructure had not been entirely built, the Olympic Village was not the paradise athletes expected, and things like mosquitoes and toxic water levels threatened to ensure that nobody would have a good time.
That may still turn out to be the case, but luckily, there's an alternative that's a lot safer and still plenty of fun: Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
I've never played any of the previous installments in the series, but Nintendo was nice enough to send me a complimentary version of this one to check out. It's jam-packed with 14 different events (17 if you count some of the "doubles" matches that...well, double up on an existing one), with characters all throughout the Mario and Sonic universes available at your disposal.
The game opens with a montage of different events, but once you can control your character you have the option to do a series of either solo or multiplayer events. You'll have to channel your inner T-Pain here: "All I Do Is Win," because you'll need to take home first place in five events before you can actually qualify for the Games themselves.
Image: Nintendo
Luckily, that's not difficult to do at all. The majority of the games against the computer allow a bit of leeway–for example, in the BMX race, I slipped on two consecutive oil slicks and fell far into last place, but still had plenty of time to come back and take home an easy victory.
Anytime you win an event in any capacity, you'll take home coins and rings. Earn enough and you can get new outfits for your character, which ups your abilities. You're also able to earn flags and tips by talking to other Miis running around on the main beach. While this collection goal can be a bit tedious, each Mii offers a fun fact about their country. Not everyone knows the Ivory Coast is the world leader in chocolate production, for instance, so it's a cool way to try and educate gamers of all ages that, hey, there's a great big world out there, let's try and enjoy it.
Once you qualify for the Olympics, a monument with some Toads pops up. Chatting with Toad allows you to compete in different tournaments against other players. Again, winning here earns you more coins and rings, and you can improve your Mii. That's important, because during the Olympic events, you can't use any characters from the Mario and Sonic franchises; you have to use your Mii. The difficulty ramps up a bit here–it's not nearly as easy to coast to gold after gold, though the challenge isn't going to make you throw your controller out the window.
Image: Nintendo
As for the games themselves, a screen appears the first time you do the event, providing instructions on how to emerge victorious. A few times I found myself not really understanding what to do as I began, but once things got rolling it's pretty intuitive. On-screen button commands also appear on the screen in case you've forgotten what you're supposed to be doing.
As with any kind of party game like this, certain events are a lot more fun than others. I'm a big fan of the longer events–the BMX and Equestrian ones give you some wiggle room to be creative–and the Archery event, which featured different targets popping up and moving around, was also very fun. Who knew a giant tie-sporting ape had such precision bow and arrow skills?
Overall, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games isn't going to revolutionize gaming, but it's not setting out to do that. For a good way to celebrate the Olympics and have some fun building up your Mii, it's worth checking out, especially if you have family or friends to participate with. The online capabilities are nice, but it's so much more satisfying defeating someone in the same room.
(Review copy provided by Golin)
Platform: Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS (this review is for the Wii U version)
Sometimes life throws a question at us, and it's our duty to do our best to answer it. The Late Show recently stumbled upon such a question: which of the following can be completed in the shortest amount of time? – beating Super Mario Bros. 3, running a 4x400 relay, or cooking and eating a hot pocket. Stephen Colbert aims to find that out, with a little guest help from Ian Eagle, competitive speed-runner Mitch Fowler, and the Columbia men's relay team. Enjoy.
Conan O'Brien's "Clueless Gamer" segment ran into a rough patch in the previous episode, with Seth Rogen and Zac Efron simply drawing genitals on Conan's face throughout the entire scene. It was juvenile and not entertaining, but fortunately, the series bounces back here.
Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey of Game of Thrones fame join Conan to play Overwatch. Who will emerge victorious? Team Lannister or Team Coco?
There are good ideas in life, and then there are great ideas. This one falls under the ladder.
Chubbies Shorts has recreated the popular Nintendo 64 video game GoldenEye, only this version features real life people, and takes place on Alcatraz. Apparently all you need is a couple of Nerf guns and some GoPros. Enjoy.
Jordan Spieth is one of the top golfers in the game today, so it's nice to see that even the superstars can have their bad moments. Earlier this month, Spieth blew a five-shot lead on the back nine to lose the Masters to Danny Willett. The biggest part of his meltdown happened on the 12th hole, in which he quadrupled-bogeyed after hitting the ball into the water twice.
The folks from The Kicker have done what they do best–turn the event into an old school video game. Channeling their inner Nintendo Golf, the team recreated Spieth's collapse, complete with wacky sound effects and delightful animations. Enjoy!
The latest episode of Conan O'Brien's "Clueless Gamer" has dropped, and Team Coco has once again brought in an outside guest. This time, it's UFC star trash talker Conor McGregor, taking his red-headed host on in a few rounds of EA Sports' UFC 2.
While I normally don't enjoy these nearly as much when a guest is involved instead of Conan's usual cohost Aaron Bleyaert, McGregor was a viable foe. Plus the polygonal Conan always cracks me up. Can he actually defeat the UFC featherweight champ? We'll just have to see.
Conan O'Brien's "Clueless Gamer" segments are usually entertaining romps, and this one is...well, it's kind of an exception. Mainly because PewDiePie, not being able to swear every four seconds, seems really out of his element. It's a good reminder that Conan is very quick on his feet and funny for just about every audience, while PewDiePie still certainly has a niche of loyal fans. It's admirable what he's been able to accomplish, but personally, I don't think the comedy is even in the same ballpark.
Super Smash Bros. is one of the most recognizable and popular franchises in Nintendo history. However, and this seems to be a lingering problem, the computer is very, very stupid. One gamer, realizing this, played through Smash 4 as Luigi, facing nine different downloadable content (DLC) characters. Luigi ends up victorious, but perhaps more spectacularly, he didn't move once. If only real fighting was this easy, we'd have a lot of great pay-per-view bouts.
Conan O'Brien's recurring "Clueless Gamer" segment is always a joy, mostly because he rarely knows how to play any of the video games he's reviewing. Today is no exception, but he's getting a little help from his friends: Carolina Panthers CB Josh Norman, and Denver Broncos LB Von Miller. The trio give the game Doom a try, featuring quite a bit of violence, as the Doom series tends to display.
Check out the video below, which features a surprise cameo from a special guest. You'll also see an ad for Miller's organic chicken farm, which sure is something else. But who will be crowned the ultimate gamer and receive an incredibly gory trophy? You'll have to tune in to find out.
Super Mario Bros. is a wonderful game, and cake is delightful. Pair the two together, and you can't go wrong. Check out the above video to see how a sibling duo designed a cake and created a stop motion video recreating the first level of Super Mario Bros.
Perhaps more interesting is the behind the scenes video, which shows how everything came together. Pretty fascinating stuff, and maybe it'll teach you how to make a stop motion video yourself!
A YouTuber with the wonderful name of Stabby McKniferson has created a Tool Assisted Speedplay (TAS) version of the popular game Super Smash Bros. Melee. Unlike other TAS efforts, though, this one follows a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style of play.
You take control of Fox McCloud, and the game slows down at various points while you select an action via annotated links that send you to another video. Some of them will cause you to lose, and others will bring sweet glory. It's a pretty terrific spin on an already solid game. Go ahead, see how many tries it takes to successfully navigate Fox to victory lane.
Apparently the game Just Cause 3 can simply play itself. Watch as a guy runs through the game without pressing a single button. Within two minutes, the world turns into a mess of car collisions, explosions, fainting, and anything other negative thing you can think of. It's pretty spectacular to witness, so enjoy!
YouTuber Rydou beat the game Fallout 3 in 14 minutes and 54 seconds, which is some kind of record. I always enjoy watching a speed run, though it's less spectacular in my book if I've never played the game. I've never played Fallout 3, but I'm sure this will blow someone's mind, so enjoy.
Nick Luciano has a modest YouTube channel; the pride and joy of said channel are the videos where his dad acts out various poses and stances of video game characters. Super Smash Bros.? Check and mate. But now it's time for Street Fighter, and once again, Mr. Luciano nails it. Well done all around.
Smosh Games is back with another wonderful edition of Honest Game Trailers. I enjoy these so much more when I've actually played the game, and this is no exception. Halo was a revolutionary title for the XBox (and subsequent generations); I have no shortage of memories playing system link with friends till the wee hours of the morning. But the game is not without its flaws, and they're detailed here, in this trailer rated "H" for Honest.
Remember the days when you'd bring your friends over to check out the latest video game, and everyone would gather around the TV and watch you play? You felt like royalty--their eyes glued to your every move, asking you questions, reacting with oohs and ahhs when you did something amazing. Well, that feeling hasn't gone away, but instead, it's manifested itself in another medium: Let's Plays.
My favorite Let's Play is this one of Super Mario 64by Durden77, just because he's such a goofball and very relatable--this is how I felt playing arguably the greatest game of all time (certainly my personal favorite). In fact, the footage even helped me round out my "Some Flights" video. Shameless plugs for the win!
That sense of gaming community is going to be strong at the Let's Play Gaming Expo in Plano, TX on August 1 and 2.
"There's something for everyone here," says Jadd Garcia, the organizer for the Let's Play Gaming Expo. "We'll have classic games like Centipede and Defender. You'll be able to buy vintage collections. We'll have a Smash Bros. tournament and Tetris tournament. You can actually win money playing video games."
New and old gamers alike will meet at the first of what Garcia hopes is many events.
"It's the first one we've ever done, but it's going to be the best," Garcia says. "It's just going to be a joy because it's all people who love games. You're talking to a guy here who has 5,000 games."
If you can play that many games during the weekend, I will personally high five you. In total, the Let's Play Gaming Expo has a ton of stuff to check out, provided here in handy list form:
·TETRIS World Championship Southern Regional Qualifying Tournament
·Smash Bros Tournament
·Mortal Kombat X Tournament
·75+ Free-play arcade cabinets
·Gaming Panels and Discussions
·Artists, Developers & Special Gaming Guests
·Retro Gaming Stations
·Live Streaming on Twitch
·Video Game Auctions
·Vendor tables to buy, sell, and trade video games
Want to attend? Here's everything you need to know:
Let’s Play Gaming Expo
Aug. 1-2 (9 a.m. – 6 p.m.)
Plano Centre
2000 E. Spring Creek Parkway
Plano, Texas 75074
Single day passes are $15 and weekend passes are $25. Let's play!
Silicon Valley is a pretty underrated show on HBO about a group of dudes who invent this cool (and actually functioning, if it were to be developed in real life) way of compressing music to make it even sound better. So naturally, they'd be a good fit for some Halo 5: Guardians video game action against Conan O'Brien. Team Coco (Conan, Andy Richter and web developer Aaron Bleyaert) take on Team Silicon Valley (Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller and Zach Woods). There are some excellent quotes in here, though I think my favorite has to be when Miller warns Conan, "You can turn the tables, but your feet will still be under it." Terrific.
Nintendo fans that are already tired of Mario Kart 8--or have already beaten it all--get ready to celebrate. The video game company released a trailer for a 200cc version of the game. That's faster than ever before, and should spruce up the Wii U's kart offering. Now if I could just stop getting hit by those blue shells...
