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Kurt Kalata

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Are there any neat game concepts you've had in your head that you would like to see realized one day?

I had an idea for a game called Apocalypse Forever, where every stereotypical apocalypse scenario was happening simultaneously (zombies, aliens, rapture, Shin Megami Tensei demons, etc) and you had 30 real time minutes to do whatever you wanted. Try to stop them, run off and hide, beat up your childhood bully, invent a time machine, join an orgy, just find a nice mountainside and chill with a picnic, whatever. The game would keep track of your actions and create a basic text file based on your narrative to compare it to others. Figured the game would be something like King of Dragon Pass, a sort of RPG / illustrated text adventure with randomized elements.
Also, an adventure game taking place on a frontier, after a civilization collapse, where the only currency is SNES carts. (This idea came from an inspiring tweet from someone who I unfortunately forget!) The ultimate goal is to find the undergroud ruins of a Best Buy containing hundreds of boxed, unsold copies of Earthbound. In the meantime, you could run a mine to dig for buried carts, flush copies of Shaq Fu down the toilet to increase their value, etc.
If anyone wants to fund my stupid ideas, please let me know.

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Hey Kurt, would an article on oddworld be ok? (if it hasn't been done)

lt would definitely be okay! Though I have no personal interest in the series.

Looking back at ganbare goemon, do you think the franchise will ever make a comeback?

Probably not. Goemon was not seen as having appeal outside of Japan so its Western market is niche. Maybe they'll appear in some casual Japan only mobile game or something. But the series has not been especially good since the N64 days anyway.

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Kurt Kalata, witch is more/most sexist, Dead or Alive series, Senran Kagura series, the many sexist Carls Jr commercials, and/or Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues and why?

Is this a contest? They're all pretty sexist, but at the same time, while it's kind of juvenile and embarassing, they're harmless. There's nothing wrong with enjoying some cheese. Fan service is really only a problem when it's at the expense of a decent game. The core Dead or Alive series are great fighting games, and even Senran Kagura is fairly decent as a beat-em-up. The less said about DoA Xtreme though...
As for Sports Illustrated, when I was younger we used to joke that it, along with Maxim, was basically just for teenagers who couldn't buy Playboy. This was back in the days when people actually paid for their porn.
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Liked by: SaintTweeter

What's your favorite cheesy video game commercial?

I honestly can't remember too many of the 8/16/32-bit commercials, but of anything remotely recent, I really enjoy the "Mad World" Gears of War commercial. Made the whole game seem like it would be much more poignant than it actually was. So knowing its dudebroness nowadays, it seems incredibly cheesy in retrospect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8hg_101’s Video 132280605896 ccWrbGEFgI8hg_101’s Video 132280605896 ccWrbGEFgI8

I dunno any of Micronics' other games, but the soundtrack is quite nice ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpy2yCODbLE ) but the rest of the game does seem to suck. I might try writing about it later (after the holidays); what is an appropriate way to contact for that?

Micronics was mostly a port house, they were responsible for Capcom's early janky NES ports like Ghosts n' Goblins. If you'd like to pitch just send an email to kurt@hardcoregaming101.net

Have you heard of Miracle Ropit's Adventure in 2100? It looks like it could be decent material for a Your Weekly Kusoge entry.

No but it looks like it would be quite appropriate. Did Micronics even do anything right?

Do you have any idea if you'll produce more of the The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers DVDs?

It's all up to John. Since it took a long time for the original run to sell through, I don't think there will be a second run.
I did look into finding a way to add it to a streaming or video download service, but due to a variety of factors, it can't be sold on Amazon or iTunes. But there might be other venues now that I think about it...maybe Youtube?

Is there a purpose having multiple accounts on HG101's forums (or am I wrong in assuming that you are both Discoalucard and Colonel Kurtz)?

Nope. I'm just Discoalucard, Colonel Kurtz is someone completely different.

Are there any streamers/let's players that you fancy?

Not really, I feel so old when I say I don't really follow that scene or really even understand it. I mostly just use Let's Plays to research and verify certain things...or recently, to help me remember where I left off in Axiom Verge.

Ever hear about Silent Bomber Kurt? It's part of my underrated faves on the PS1 alongside Rogue Trip, and Legend of Legaia (and Trap Gunner and Einhander which HG101 has covered). Would be cool if you could do an article on any of them!

Silent Bomber is rad, haven't played it in awhile though. Should definitely deserve a write up at some point.
Rogue Trip was like Twisted Metal, wasn't it? I haven't played that one. As for Legend of Legaia, I didn't play much of the first one but did play the second. Great Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto music, but wasn't that much of a fan of the game itaelf.

I just learned about the HG101 site, which looks like a great resource and source of nostalgia. I recently wrote a novel that's heavy on references to and parody of older computer role-playing games. Is there a way to submit my novel for a possible book review? Thanks.

Ross Patty
Sure, email me at kurt@hardcoregaming101.net. We generally don't cover fiction (though I meant to do a review of Lucky Wander Boy years ago) but if one of us is able, we'll check it out!
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How is the revenue for HG101's books split? Between the authors or are they used for something else like funding the site? The question/context is a bit long and I hope you wouldn't mind reading about it at http://pastebin.com/extdYTdd

For the books, authors are paid up front for their work but no royalties are distributed. The profits go towards, well, funding more books!
Since the CRPG Addict has their own site, it may be more beneficial for them to publish their own book rather than directly contributing to HG101, but if they're interested I can either help them out or work out some kind of partnership. I always love seeing more computer/video games published!

Kurt Kalata, would HG101 articles work for both Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series?

They'd both work, but I have no interest in doing them myself. The Jak series isn't that big but the Crash series is pretty expansive, I think, and it's my impression that fan base doesn't really like much beyond the PS1 games.

[1]Kurt, you seem like a big anti-GG activist, but your own tokimemo article is pretty sexist: "She's the kind of girl you'd want to show a porno to just to see her bug and start crying","kind of girl whom you can "win" their "love with a $10 bill", "she busy sampling the sperm of the football team"

ahaha, the Tokimemo article is pretty old. Like, 12 years old. it doesn't remotely fit into the tone with the rest of the site, and could probably stand to be trashed. But then I'd be accused of censorship in this climate, so who really knows what's right!
In short, I've grown a lot as a writer and as a person since that article was written.
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Liked by: SaintTweeter

Hypothetically speaking, suppose I have an article on a franchise you don't have any articles on, and I'm interested in pitching it to your site, how would Hypothetical AU Me do that?

Send me an email at kurt@hardcoregaming101.net . Submissions are technically closed for a little while longer but if you've got the right topic I'd be willing go for it! (especially PC RPGs or strategy games, both fields which I think need better coverage)

Kurt Kalata, I find it ironic that Dead or Alive 1, 2, 3 and Dimensions are all rated T, even though the rest of the series is rated M, even though the content is similar throughout the series with little to no differences?

It's been awhile since I played them, but I think the costumes in the earlier games weren't too risque? Like the series has always been really bouncy, but if there were any super skimpy costumes, they were hidden or unlockables. That perception changed with Beach Volleyball (which was also rated M) which I think caused the ESRB to look a little more closely at it.
Even then it's silly, except for those really ridiculous Volleyball costumes like the Venus, you see more skin on the cover of the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated than in the games, and they stock those at any old pharmacy where anyone can see them. The Soul Calibur games are rated T too and some of the costumes were pretty crazy there too.

Do you have any interest in covering the Infinity Engine RPGs on HG101? They seem notably absent among the WRPG articles.

Absolutely, it's a topic I would love to cover more. But it's also one of those areas where I need to find someone who has the expertise to write about them. AS for me, I finally installed Planescape Torment and played it for the first time like last month. But yeah, I really want to to feature them, especially since Pillars of Destiny is out.

Hi I recently found your site and liked some of the articles I read. My question is why does your site not have a comment section? Have you tried one in the past? And would you be willing to start one?

The site's built on old technology, i.e. all HTML and CSS, so there's not an easy way to implement a standard comment function. We do link each article to a dedicated topic on the site's forum though, which can be used in a similar manner.

Do you think it was Stupid/Hypocritical for SOA to not include the SOR trilogy in Sonic Gems Collection because of ESRB reasons? I ask, because originally Shadow the Hedgehog was going to be rated T, but edited down to an E10 rating at the last minute because a T rated Sonic game would not sell?

From a consumer standpoint it was disappointing, but I don't think it was stupid or hypocritical. It all boils down to marketing.
In Japan, the Sonic Gems collection (and Sega collections in general) are marketed to more general Sega fans. In North America, they are marketed primarily towards kids, or casual Genesis fans, who are familiar with Sonic. You can see this with how they put Sonic front and center in that PS3/Xbox 360 Genesis compilation. If they view the Sonic Gems collection as being marketed towards kids, then it doesn't make much sense to increase the ESRB rating for games that are, technically, just hidden bonuses. On the other hand, Shadow the Hedgehog was specifically aiming for a (very) slightly older audience, so the increase in an ESRB rating was acceptable.

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