The Quixotic Engineer

There’s always been a minor niggle at the back of my mind when I played the Nintendo DS. “They’ve got it backwards,” I thought, “The A button should be on the left and B on the right. That’s how it’s always been… I think.” A speedy investigation showed that my memory was a little foggy, and that the answer was significantly more interesting than that. Therefore, I present to you a brief history of gamepad button mapping.

Nintendo: BA for Life

The NES was the first console to move away from the joysticks of the Atari generation, opting instead for what would become an iconic design in gamepads. Despite my previous complaint, note that A is indeed mapped to the right of B. D’oh!

→ Read more

Last fall featured one of the strongest holiday games lineup in recent memory. Games such as Bioshock, Super Mario Galaxy, Team Fortress 2 and Rock Band were all arriving within weeks of each other and life was good. However, it’s easy to overlook the fact that there were just as many major titles that fizzled in the last year. Consider the following sampling from Metacritic:

→ Read more

September certainly snuck up on us, didn’t it? Where the heck did summer go? To those of you starting classes again this week, here are a trio of debut albums (and one from a duo of veterans) to rock your commute / Labour Day / first day of Ramadan.

Straight out of Springfield, Missouri, Ha Ha Tonka‘s Buckle In The Bible Belt is full of foot-stompin’ roots rock about hardships in the Ozarks. While the rest of the album is great highway driving music, the track “Falling In” (embedded above) really stands out for its indie rock ballad sensibilities, strong vocal harmonies and overall catchiness. The bluegrass inspired “St. Nick on the Fourth in a Fervor” is also worth a listen.

→ Read more

While I’m a relative neophyte to the world of comics, I’ve become a rather big fan of two series: Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and Jeph Loeb’s Batman stories (such as The Long Halloween.) Both revolve around a stoic world-weary anti-hero, and they share a certain dark sensibility that I rather enjoy. If you were to combine the mystery, folklore and occult of Hellboy with the familiar faces of the Batman universe, the result would be the mini-series Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City.

The story begins in a cellar in 18th century Gotham, where a group of robed cultists (including a young Thomas Jefferson) prepares to sacrifice a young woman to gain control of a demon they have summoned. The ritual goes awry and the men flee the evil presence they have unleashed, locking the girl inside with it. Scarred by what they have seen, they decide to dissolve their group and forget the incident.

→ Read more

What do the Nintendo DS and Looney Tunes have in common? They both have a well-deserved reputation for shovelware. Since dozens of mediocre licensed titles come out every week, it’s no surprise that this one managed to skip the endless cycle of previews that plagues games journalism today. It didn’t feature any bold new mechanics, and garnered an unremarkable average review score of about 67. Heck, I wasn’t even aware of its existence until Skrud suggested I check it out. However, if you enjoy rhythm games, this is a game that is definitely worth your time.

Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor is a blatant Elite Beat Agents clone. Like EBA, there are notes on the bottom screen that must be pressed with the stylus in time with the music. It also splits up section of the song with a cartoon narrative, in this case featuring the familiar cast of Looney Tunes.

→ Read more