Homeworld's apocalypse played out at arm's length, which only made it more agonising
The upcoming Wii U is hoping to change the way we think of controllers forever. Whether it does that or not is anybody’s guess, but if it does, it won’t be the first time Nintendo has pulled off that coup. While Nintendo’s franchises and consoles often get all the praise for the company’s success, let’s…
Time for another “before they were famous” here on Total Recall. Last time we looked at Bungie, creators of the Halo franchise. This time? We’re looking at id Software, the team behind Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake I’m going to preface this entire thing by saying that if you’re at all interested in the history of…
There are plenty of theories as to why the original Star Wars trilogy has been so successful. Analysis of its “hero’s journey”, its appeal to young and old alike, its timeless tale of good vs evil. I subscribe to a lesser-known theory. That it’s been such a big hit because the original three films were…
As amazing as it may seem for a company we associate with something as modern as computers, IBM was founded on this day, June 16, all the way back in 1911 It’s had some ups and downs since then – from helping the Nazis to helping put a man on the moon – but we’re…
There are few more storied franchises in adventure gaming than Sierra’s Police Quest series, which in the late 80’s and early 90’s was home to some of the grittiest, most realistic and yet most rewarding games around. Oh, I’m sorry, did I say gritty? Because that only applies to the Western version of the game.…
Iron Chef, a Japanese cooking show that began in 1992, has quite the cult following in certain Western countries thanks to years of dubbed episodes and re-runs. It wound up in 1999, however, leaving talismanic host Takeshi Kaga needing a new gig. And he found one in Pokémon If you’ve never seen it, Iron Chef…
Video games and TV just do not mix. Aside from a few brave attempts coming out of the UK, I’m yet to see a show about games that doesn’t come off as juvenile, stale and boring as hell. There will always, however, be a soft spot in my heart for Starcade Running from 1982 to…
In the latest Duke Nukem game, the titular star is an offensive asshole, much of his macho charm having given way over the past decade to dick jokes even young boys would struggle to find funny. It wasn’t always this way. Duke Nukem was once just your regular video game action hero. Before the over-use…
E3 is almost upon us! It’s a time of great excitement for video game fans the world over, but yet, it is also a time to be wary. Because not everything you’re about to see is going to be awesome. Some of it will suck. Worse, some of it will suck so bad it’ll be…
A common complaint levelled against big publishers like Activision and Electronic Arts is that they milk their franchises for all they’re worth. It’s an easy allegation to make, but in EA’s case, it (sadly!) doesn’t hold much water. Because if EA really wanted to milk its franchises for all they’re worth, we’d be drowning in…
The Warhammer 40K universe has been a happy hunting ground for game developers over the years, with over a dozen games having been released based on the storied sci-fi franchise. For all their technical and story-telling advances, though, one remains as many people’s favourite 40K game of all. And it was also one of the…
For the past few years, Nintendo has run a series of interviews on its website called “Iwata Asks”, giving us behind-the-scenes looks at some of the company’s most important games and pieces of hardware. This interview, though, does not involve Iwata. And was never on Nintendo’s website. Because it was conducted in 1991, and involved…
Capcom and Nintendo have always had a rather close relationship. In 2002, though, the pair became blood brothers. Or so people thought. That was the year the infamous “Capcom Five” were announced by the Osaka-based publisher, a range of titles seemingly designed to give Nintendo’s fledgling GameCube a shot in the arm, and which ended…
As the creator of Nintendo’s Pokémon series, Satoshi Tajiri is one of the most important (if not well-known) developers working in video games today. Like another Nintendo legend, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Tajiri’s most popular work has been directly inspired by his childhood experiences and hobbies. While Miyamoto’s Zelda was the product of boyhood explorations,…
Yesterday, we waded through a lot of painful memories talking about the awful (and mercifully forgotten) Wing Commander movie. So let’s make amends today, and cheer everybody up by talking about the awesome Wing Commander cartoon series instead. A few years before the movie, and right about the time the game franchise was coming off…
When people look back on films based on video games, they tend to skew towards the good (Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia) or the bad (Mario, Double Dragon). They don’t talk about the greats because there haven’t been any. And they don’t talk about Wing Commander because it’s just too damn painful. Wing Commander, if…
Today is the first in a new “Before They Were Famous” series here on Total Recall, where we look at the games some of the world’s biggest developers worked on before they became some of the world’s biggest developers. First up is Bungie, creators of the Halo series. While most got their introduction to Bungie…
Before its realm of Azeroth was brought to life in 2004’s World of Warcraft, Blizzard had tried once before to add a little depth to their fantasy franchise with a game that sadly never saw the light of day. That game was Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans In the late 1990’s, and seeking to…
Think games based on movies, action-oriented TV shows and classic works of literature are a bad idea? They’ve got nothing on games based on soap operas. This is Neighbours. It’s a game based on the mega-popular Australian soap of the same name, which has been shown in over 50 countries since its first episode in…
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