Lots has happened in the gaming world since the last time I posted. Where do I even begin?
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| I preferred Martinet's portrayal of Wario, myself. He's-a nuts! (image from Nintenderos) |
* Charles Martinet has been demoted from Mario's principal voice actor to a Mario "ambassador," whatever that means. He'd been playing the role for thirty years, starting with the Super Mario Bros. pinball table from Gottlieb, and his absence will surely be felt by fans of the series. Who will be Martinet's replacement? Either Nintendo isn't willing to divulge that information right now, or doesn't know itself.
* The Xbox 360, Microsoft's most successful and arguably best game system, is on borrowed time. Its digital storefront will be closed in just eleven months, and from that point forward, you won't be able to purchase games for the system online. However, Xbox 360 games purchased before July 29th 2024 can be re-downloaded from Microsoft's servers, and of course, Xbox 360 games compatible with the Xbox One and Series can be purchased for those systems after that date.
* Atari is releasing yet another game system, the 2600 Plus. This machine plays both 2600 and 7800 games, and outputs them in glorious HDMI... but there's a catch. Some games aren't compatible, and the whole shebang will set you back $130. This is eighty dollars more than an Atari 2600 Jr. cost in 1988, and kind of hard to justify when there's already a jillion ways to play Atari 2600 games at home. Some of them are even legal!
* Sorry I've been neglecting this blog. I'm doing most of my video game posting on Kbin these days. Check out my magazine OldGames4OldGamers for more frequently updated content.
