Lately I’ve been watching a Japanese series Kotaku has been translating, called “Retro Game Master,” or “Game Center CX” in it’s native country of Japan. In it, a comedian named Shinya Arino plays classic video games. Many of these games are difficult games that he has never even seen before, let alone played. Each episode runs about 40-60 minutes long. Each Thursday at 8 p.m. EST Kotaku posts a new episode. Each episode has English subtitles and an English narrator.

While the English narrator can be a little over the top, the rest of the show is solid. The most entertaining part is of course seeing someone’s reaction to playing a classic game for the first time.

If you’re into retro gaming at all, check out a link below to the full series.

Retro Game Master

Tags: game center cx, retro, retro game master, retro games, shinya arino

Not to be outdone by the recent Spider-man: Edge of Time trailer, a new Batman Arkham City trailer has been released by Rocksteady, showcasing the Penguin.

The Penguin looks genuinely frightening, and his voice acting is well done. Gameplay wise it looks similar to Arkham Asylum, but if you liked the first one odds are you will like the game mechanics of this one as well. The Penguin shows off some interesting umbrella guns, and a special villain even makes an appearance near the end.

Due out October 21st, Arkham City is also writter by a veteran-Paul Dini, a regular D.C. writer. Arkham City will be available for the 360, PS3, and Windows PC.

Tags: 360, batman arkham city trailer, batman: arkham city, ps3, windows pc

At San Diego Comic Con, a new trailer for the Beenox (a company owned by Activision) game, Spider-man: Edge of Time. Judging from the trailer, Spider-man will fight through time, possibly in an alternate future. We see both a futuristic looking Black Cat villainess and the Spider-man 2099 incarnation Miguel O’Hara. Gameplay and graphics wise it looks fantastic.

Edge of Time will be penned by veteran writer Peter David, and is set for release on October 4th for the 360, PS3, DS, 3DS, Wii, and Windows PC.

Tags: 360, 3DS, activision, beenox, DS, edge of time, edge of time trailer, Peter David, ps3, spider-man 2099, spider-man edge of time, spider-man edge of time game, spider-man edge of time trailer, spiderman, Spiderman edge of time game, Wii

Sonic the hedgehog turns 20 this year, and as a result plenty of people are writing about him. Included in this is Technologizer, who posted 20 oddities about Sonic.

These include the fact that SEGA originally wanted their mascot to be a rabbit, that originally he was going to have a human love interest, and several interesting illegal Sonic clones.

You can read the original article in it’s entirety here.

Tags: SEGA, sega genesis, Sonic, sonic the hedgehog

Xbox Live has announced their 2011 Summer of Arcade Lineup for the XBL Marketplace.

Starting Wednesday, July 20th, a new game will be released each week for five weeks. These games will range from 800-1200 Microsoft Points.

Buy all 5 releases and you will get a free download of Crimson Alliance, a 1200 point value for free when it is released September 7th. Crimson Alliance seems like an interesting Diablo or Gauntlet type game, with 1-4 players available for online or local co-op.

Check out the list below for a quick reference:

Title:

1. Bastion
July 20th
1200 MSP

2. From Dust
July 27th
1200 MSP

3. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
August 3rd
1200 MSP

4. Fruit Ninja Kinect
August 10th
800 MSP

5. Toy Soldiers: Cold War
August 17th
1200 MSP

The most anticipated of these is also the only sequel-Toy Soldiers: Cold War. It looks to be parodying 80′s action movies as well, while still delivering the same tower defense and first-person gameplay of the original. Check out the trailer for it below.

Finally take a look at Crimson Alliance. If you plan on getting the other games then this looks like a good bonus.

Tags: Bastion, Crimson Alliance, Crimson Alliance trailer, From Dust, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, summer of arcade, summer of arcade 2011, Toy Soldiers Cold War, Toy Soldiers Cold War trailer, toy soldiers trailer, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live, xbox summer of arcade, xbox summer of arcade 2011

Mario Marathon 4 concluded last weekend, and the final numbers are staggering: Over $110,000 raised in 110 hours. The official website lists the final total as $112,442.12. Starting on Friday, June 24th at 11 a.m. EST and going well in Tuesday, the Mario Marathon crew raised money for Child’s Play, a charity for sick kids in hospitals.

I was able to catch as much of it as possible, and it was an awesome effort on their part. The humor was clean but hilarious, as they danced, sang, talked with the chat room members, and played tons of Mario consoles games. In addition, they held lots of contests where people could win homemade Mario crafts, t-shirts, and in the final hours even a 3DS.

Congrats to Mario Marathon for raising over $100,000 for Child’s Play. I expect next year to be just as fun.

Tags: childs play, childs play charity, game marathon, mario marathon, mario marathon 4, video game marathon

To all of our American visitors happy 4th of July! And for everyone who has served in our country’s forces, thanks for your sacrifice.

I pray you can remember what you have and grow in your gratitude this holiday weekend.

Tags: holiday, july 4