Sadly, I have run out of eps to cover. I did not get to see all of the eps of either Cinematech show. So to close out this liveblog, I will do a list of my fav eps and list a bundle of links for further reading/viewing, but not before I talk a bit more about why Cinematech was special to me. Alas, we can't do that without talking about why its channel, G4, was special. Well, a stopped clock is right twice a day.
I only got to watch G4 programming because G4 bought out TechTV ,a channel with a few shows that I really liked, in early 2004. The shows were a mixed bag, ranging from things that I was disinterested in, like the sports-centric Sweat, to shows that had a cool concept but a questionable execution, like Arena, which covered competitive gaming between teams each ep, but mainly for games with which I was unfamiliar; and Players, which was about celebrities that played games. Then there were shows like Filter, a themed countdown show starring that cute hostess, Diane Mizota, and yes, Cinematech. Basically, G4 was a window into games that I had never seen before, either due to obscurity or due to the fact that they hadn't come out yet.
I once posted a question on a gaming forum as to whether or not the rise of Let's Plays had killed off the concept of a show like Cinematech, which, in hindsight, was a very stupid question because only G4 could have killed itself off the way that it did with Executive Meddling and network-screwing, and I knew that, but I guess I needed more explanation. Nonetheless, a poster responded to my question, saying that LPs did not exactly fill the niche that Cinematech did. I was impressed because their response proved that I was not the only one who missed the show.
My Favorite Episodes of Cinematech
- Episode 116: “It's a Very Special Cinematech Halloween” - The one with all of those survival horror games.
- Episode 192: “Banned Games” - An educational ep that shows why certain games were banned in various countries around the world.
- Episode 193: “Bad Games” - The worst games, like, ever. At least up until early 2005. Steam wasn't around back then, you see...
- Episode 222: “Little Windows That Provide Trivial information Episode” - Because trivia is always fun.
- Episode 251: “How to Be a Player” - The most humorous of the four Gamespot crossover eps, and my favorite of them.
- Episode 267: “Saladron's Revenge” - Just for the overblown way the Saladron from Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom is presented.
- Episode 307: “Kingdom Hearts II Spoilers” - So it doesn't have much besides the ending of KHII, but it doesn't need anything else.
Linkdump
Blogs:
- Ask Lars Alexandersson
: I'll admit that I'm a sucker for a good “character receives asks and answers them” blog when the art and answers are good, and when the authors update regularly. Thankfully, ALA is one such blog. This one is all about Lars Alexandersson from Tekken and his wacky (and frequently shippy) misadventures with other Tekken characters.
- Chris' Survival Horror Quest: One man's quest to review all console horror games, with the occasional sidequest to publish some special features and even walkthroughs.
- Silent Hill Confessions: An anonymous confessions blog for the SH fandom. Also features some more general fan blog content like GIFs and images from SH and other horror games.
- VG Junk: “Videogames classic and obscure,” promises the banner to this blog, and it doesn't disappoint. VG Junk is written with a wry sense of humor, whether the writer is analyzing a game that he loves, hates, or finds to be in-between. This blog features a ton of games to read about, so you are sure to find something to catch your interest.
Forums:
- Broken Forum: A forum with many LPs.
- DDS Net: A forum for fans of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and its spinoffs.
- The Silent Hill Forum
Galleries:
- Creative Uncut: A gallery of video game concept art and design work from hundreds of games.
- VG Museum: A resource for older game pictures, screengrabs of endings, music, packaging, ads, reviews, art and sprites. Phew!
Other:
- Audio Atrocities: You kids nowadays are so spoiled with your professional dubs by experienced anime and western animation voice actors, and your Norman Reeduses in your Silent Hills! Do you want to see what the voice acting was like in the first Silent Hill game? DO you? It was like THIS! Audio Atrocities collects samples of bad and awkward voice acting and dialog from dozens of games. Unfortunately, it has not updated in a while. On the bright side, you can take that as a sign that video game dubbing has gotten much better in recent years.
- A page featuring all of Richard Cobbet's PC Gamer Saturday Crapshoots
- Fantasy Anime: A site with shrines devoted to many RPG games.
- Hardcore Gaming 101: This site is probably the single greatest resource on this page. It covers hundreds of games across all genres and dozens of themes. Each article for a game has links to other games that share its themes and genre, so it can easily become a Browser Narcotic. The site has recently become revitalized a bit due to donations from their Patreon account, which is pretty cool. They even published a book about the entire Castlevania series, and the “Your Weekly Kusoge” feature finally became weekly because of it. Side note: This site helped me discover TV Tropes itself, because it linked to its article on the wiki at the time that I checked HG101 out.
- Kingdom Hearts Insider: This site has news all about Kingdom Hearts, but the real reason why I include it here is because of its absolutely incredible collection of video game music ripped directly from the original CDs or the games themselves. It also features anime music.
- The Let's Play Archive: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Consistently updated with archived LPs from the Something Awful forums. The LPs themselves range from text to video-based and span all genres, systems, and levels of popularity from well-known games to “What the heck is this?!”
- RPGamer: A site that covers hundreds of RPGs with news, reviews, editorials, and a podcast. Could be good for looking up new RPGs to buy.
- RPG Site: Another site that specializes in RPG previews and reviews.
: A database for emulation, codes, reviews, and even scans of game manuals.
Webcomics:
- Awkward Zombie: Quite possibly my favorite gaming webcomic running today, with its only competition being Final Fantasy VII: The Sevening. I give the slight edge to AZ because the very funny lady that does this strip does comics on a variety of games (particularly those by Nintendo), thus giving it broader appeal.
- Final Fantasy VII: The Sevening: One of my favorite webcomics, I discovered it through the webcomic hosting site Drunk Duck at first, and then followed it when the author, ObstinateMelon, continued to update it on his Deviantart. There are many reasons to love The Sevening, like the genuinely good and funny manga-style art or the numerous pop culture references, but I shall simply sum up its success as: it's funny.
Wikis:
- The Cutting Room Floor: A wonderful wiki that collects Dummied Out data in games. My favs are the bits of content that prove that certain things were meant to be implemented into the game, but were not fully developed, and the odd obscene rant from a crazed and/or overworked developer.
- The Final Fantasy Wiki
- The Resident Evil Wiki
- The Silent Hill Wiki
- The Tekkenpedia Wiki
- I heard that this thingy called TV Tropes has all sorts of pages on tropes relating to all media, including video games, and even other media related to them.
Youtube Tasting Menu:
- Angry Joe Show
- Caddicarus
- GameSack: Two Vitriolic Best Buds and mismatched fanboys review games according to a the theme of the episode and occasionally bust each others' balls. Of all the channels listed here, this one may be closest to Cinematech in terms of how each ep covers multiple games in accordance with the theme.
- GameXplain: Specializes in guides to unlockables in games, as well as trailer analysis for upcoming games.
- Honest Trailers: Specifically for their Honest Trailers for video games, uploaded onto the Smosh Games channel. I recommend the ones for Pokemon Red and Blue and Pokemon Gold and Silver. Funny stuff.
- The Jwittz: Specializes in reviewing Nintendo games, especially Pokémon.
- JonTron
- Kim Justice: Specializes in retro game reviews, especially Genesis games.
- PeanutButterGamer
- ProJared
- Retsupurae
- SupraDarky: Usually uploads a new video game song per day.
