When I was first told of “The Protomen”, I was skeptical. The band’s first album was described to me as a rock opera based on the classic Mega Man series. Though I am a huge Mega Man fan, I just couldn’t see something like this actually being executed well. To my surprise, I loved it. In fact, I was so fond of it that I feared their next album wouldn’t be able to live up to it.

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"Can YOU Find Him?"

On a very special episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse has gone camping, leaving this twenty-ninth installment in the hands of Wesley and Jonah.

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On a very special twenty-sixth episode of “Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast”, the Gregory clan takes on the touchy subject of in-game advertising when they “talk about stuff”.

In “What We’ve Been Playing”, Jesse has taken advantage of the recent Steam independent game sales so he has been playing through the entire CHRONOTORIOUS album in “AudioSurf”. He then goes on to discuss the album and why you should go pre-order it right now.

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"My Mom Helped Me"

On a very special twenty-third episode of Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast, we are joined by special guest Mustin from the amazing video game music related band, The OneUps.

As per usual, we have a discussion revolving around the games we have been playing. Jesse has now committed to “Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker”, and tells us his trials and tribulations revolving around his Brother Band. Mustin has gone back to “Final Fantasy VI Advance”, in a quest to unlock that version’s extra content, while Jonah has been busy bustin’ Ghosts.

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"This blue bomba' brings head trauma"

Let me preface this review by saying one thing: I am not normally a fan of adding lyrics to videogame remixes. That was before Random came along.

Half teacher, half musician, Random already had a much more serious rap album under his belt before deciding to share his love of Mega Man using his music. This is one of the things that I feel helps set him apart from the other artists labeled as “nerdcore”.

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"Please leave your dignity at the front counter"

I’m not normally the type to buy accessory kits, but there are few things I “geek out” about as much as Mega Man. Originally, I was trying to win this kit (among other things) in a contest the nice folks at The Mega Man Network were throwing, but I didn’t end up placing. After a short, internal debate, I decided to go ahead and buy the kit.

The kit comes in both DSi and DS Lite variations and retails for $19.99. I picked up the DSi version since that’s what I’m using these days. The price seems a bit steep, but the package contains some legitimately useful things aside from unleashing your inner ten-year-old’s desire to trick out your DS.

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"This Is the City..."

In popular entertainment, one aspect many look for is immersion. Feeling sucked in by a good book or movie makes you really feel like you are part of the action. They can transport you to another time and place, and whole new world (cue the song from Aladdin).

One style of game that excels at this for many gamers are “Open World”, or “Sandbox” games. While they do have an over-arcing plot, most of them allow you to play at your leisure. Often there are a lot of mini-games and side-quests to keep you occupied. If they are well designed, many players spend hours just exploring.

Here are a few good open world games with brief overviews.

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"It brings kings to their knees!"

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love videogame soundtracks. Over the years, there have been many influential and just plain incredible soundtracks. I would like to take a moment to recount some of my favorites in no particular order.

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"NES Era Boxart, Will You Ever Learn?"

In Power Blade, Taito took elements from several popular franchises of the era and smooshed them all together to get a game that is, surprisingly, pretty good.

You play as Nova, the Chief Security Officer of Master Computer. Aliens have caused the Master Control Program to malfunction in an attempt to wipe out New Earth. It is up to you to track down the missing data tapes to restore the MCP to it’s full functionality, and save the world in the process.

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"Watch me outrun this van!"

Every gamer seems to be familiar with Mega Man, especially since the original series was finally rekindled with the release of Mega Man 9. Fewer, however, are familiar with his transition into the third dimension, and even out of those who did play one, or both, of the games contained in the Legends series (known as Rock Man Dash in Japan), only a portion of them responded to the game positively, while the rest weren’t able to accept such a complete and total change to the established Mega Man formula.

Needless to say, the fan-base for these 2 gems is unfortunately small in comparison to all the other games featuring the beloved “Blue Bomber”. But most of those who do appreciate it do so to a very high degree; begging for a third entry. So what is the deal with Mega Man Legends, and why should you care?

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