Netflix's Castlevania is in the vein of Game of Thrones

Without fanfare, Netflix has announced it's releasing a new series based on Konami's Castlevania videogame franchise.

The animated series, an adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, will be in the vein of HBO's Game of Thrones and is initially four 30-minute episodes centering around "the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself.”

"This is very much Castlevania done in the vein of Game of Thrones," co-producer Adi Shankar told IGN, adding: "[The series is] going to be R-rated as f***. [It’s going to be] America’s first animated series for adults."

Castlevania will join stablemates Trollhunters and Voltron: Legendary Defender as Netflix positions itself as an animation powerhouse.

Expect the Castlevania series to debut later in 2017.

Which classic videogame franchises would you like to see adapted as an animated or live-action series? The Legend of Zelda has a rich mythology and Link, along with Simon Belmont, appeared on television screens as part of Captain N: The Game Master in 1989. Let me know in the comments below.

Mean Machines

With Wii in short supply, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the titans of technology, are alluring premium-priced propositions!

Undecided on which next generation console to buy (if any)? CNET's Veronica Belmont (no relation of Simon Belmont from Castlevania) has produced a PlayStation 3 Vs Xbox 360 comparison video test that might assist in your purchasing decision.

Veronica makes many concise points, and Microsoft might consider that Xbox 360 Elite still falls short in terms of built-in Wi-Fi support. An Xbox 360 Wireless Bridge, at additional cost, is inexcusable at the Xbox 360 Elite's price point, and a missed opportunity! Major Nelson, what say you?

Saturn Wii

Excitement continues to surround the speculated appearance of Sega Saturn on Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console! Ironically this is generating, in some quarters, more interest than Friday's infamous release of Sony's PlayStation 3, which is still available for pre-order.

I'm interested to know what Virtual Console titles readers have bought (if any) and want? Here are my Wii Points purchases:

Golden Axe
Gunstar Heroes
Super Castlevania IV
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
R-Type

I'd like to see the following added to Virtual Console (in no particular order):

Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (Turbografx-16)
Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Sega Saturn)

Don't forget to equip yourself with both Wii Classic Controller and GameCube Wavebird Wireless Controller (my all-time favourite controller). And link your Wii with Nintendo VIP 24:7.

Almost overlooked to quote Sony boss Howard Stringer on the Wii:

"Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the video game field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer."

Wii Play

Wii arrived this afternoon. Looking forward to some retro-goodness (via Virtual Console) from this coming Friday.

UK Virtual Console releases, December 15:

Urban Champion (NES)
Solomon's Keys (NES)
Pinball (NES)
Columns (Mega Drive)
Gunstar Heroes (Mega Drive)
Ristar (Mega Drive)
Dr. Robotonik's Mean Bean Machine(Mega Drive)
Alien Crush (Turbografx)

UK Virtual Console releases, December 22:

Donkey Kong Jr. (NES)
Soccer (NES)
Tennis (NES)
Space Harrier II (Mega Drive)
Toe Jam & Earl (Mega Drive)
Military Madness (Turbografx)

UK Virtual Console releases, December 29:

Baseball (NES)
Ice Hockey (NES)
SimCity (SNES)
Super Probotector (SNES)
Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
R-TYPE (Turbografx)

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Readers with vision impairment and/or whom would like to 'listen' to RSS feeds can subscribe to text-to-speech recitals here. I'll add a permanent link soon.

My Nintendo DS arrived on Monday and, although it's a holiday gift, I had to charge the internal battery and play test Mario Kart DS! I mean, imagine if it wasn't working on Christmas day? The DS is a joy to use and the must-have list of games includes Castlevania DS and Resident Evil Deadly Silence (DS get it?). The second screen sports a couple of dead pixels, which Nintendo is happy to repair or replace the unit at their discretion.

The Toys R Us exclusive 12" R/C Assault Dalek (with Claw) was delivered to the door in a very large box. I'm going to need to put this into hire storage when not 'terrorizing' our beloved cat Leo (obviously joking). The Dalek looks and sounds fantastic and my packaging fetish is satisfied too.

Can I Have It Like That

After reading a 4 star review of Rachel Stevens' new album, Come And Get It, in Friday's Guardian. I procured a copy and it's the most audacious, chic and eclectic collection of pop songs since Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby! The Sunday Times concurs! An amusing anecdote. A photo of Ms Stevens adorned my Windows NT desktop at Dow Jones Reuters (before brand hegemony infiltrated every pixel) and a member of staff wondered if Rachel was my wife? If only...

Watching the Girls Aloud videography in iTMS, I noticed how much Cheryl Tweedy looks like Neve Campbell!

Added additional Doctor Who titles to the DVD collection. Claws Of Axos and Revelation Of The Daleks. The former is a by the numbers Pertwee yarn and the latter is a macabre masterpiece. Aside from the digital restoration and edible extras, the new disc art is welcome.

Version 2.0 of the Atari 2600 emulator has been released for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. This new version of Stella contains a wealth of improvements. Some highlights are listed below:

*Fully-integrated UI
*New ROM Launcher
*Integrated Debugger
*New Sound Subsystem
*Added ZIP Support
*Added Cartridge "Frying"

With the advent of Halloween comes Castlevania! This year Akumajo Dracula - Chi No Rondo (for PC Engine/TG-16 Super CD-ROM² System) should provide the requisite console chills. Considered by many as the definitive entry in the long-lasting franchise.

Geometric Gaming

The GameCube has clocked up a few miles in its first week. An interesting fact for anyone who maybe mulling over a purchase and requires Digital A/V support. The following is an extract taken from Nintendo's support pages:

The Digital A/V Output port was removed from systems produced after May, 2004 (these systems will have a model number of DOL-101). If you have a Nintendo GameCube without this port, and you wish to play your games in progressive scan, you may be able to obtain a system that was made prior to the removal of the Digital A/V Output port. Please call our Consumer Service department at 1-800-255-3700 to discuss available options.

Additional Information:

Why have you removed the component video feature from the Nintendo GameCube?
On newer models of the Nintendo GameCube, we opted to remove the Digital A/V out port from the system because we found that less than one percent of all Nintendo GameCube players used this feature.

Will future Nintendo GameCube games continue to have the progressive scan feature?
About one-third of licensee-published titles and over 90% of Nintendo-published titles currently have the progressive scan feature. We expect that most Nintendo-published titles will continue to support progressive scan. Each licensee will continue to make the decision of whether or not to include this feature in their future games.

In order to reduce costs and increase profit margins it is not unusual for consumer electronics companies to simplify production. Sony made changes to the PlayStation and my model lacked S-Video connectivity. The good news is that I can confirm that the Limited Edition Resident Evil GameCube has a model number of DOL-001 and not DOL-101. Incidentally, DOL refers to the console's codename. Dolphin.

My fiendish friends at The Iconfactory, are unleashing seasonal GUI ghoulishness in time for the season of the witch. Grab those disgustingly delicious icons, dim the lights and play the Castlevania and Resident Evil franchises.

The ultimate browser-based feed reader is to be found in Google Labs. A Gmail account adds further razzle dazzle.

A glutton for punishment. I'm already preparing a DVD review of Battlestar Galactica (2004) Season 1! "It's the things I do for you..."

"One more thing..." There is much speculation regarding next weeks Apple event. I'm going to go out on a limb (as is my duty) and suggest that there maybe a new product line introduced. A PVR based on Intel?

Captain N: The Game Master

The title of this post, and its intrinsic camp value, refers to the live action/animated series, which ran for three seasons and was broadcast on ITV between 1989 - 1992. If memory serves correctly the show was a vehicle to blatantly promote the latest Nintendo video game releases and included appearances from popular properties Link (Zelda) and Simon Belmont (Castlevania).

In the '80s you could start your day by waking up in your Nintendo-themed sheets, wash your hair with Super Mario shampoo, eat Mario & Zelda cereal, and go to school with your Nintendo backpack. How times have changed. Did someone say Harry Potter?

Last Thursday I unpacked a shiny new platinum and black limited edition Nintendo GameCube. You know, the livery emotes sophistication and it's fun to posit whether or not Big "N" should have adopted this color scheme at the console's launch in 2002?

Aside from the glaring omission of a 251 Slot Memory Card from the bundle. I'm delighted to be reunited with Mario, Pikmin and Zelda franchises once again. This time for keeps. Viva la Revolution!

Discovered Galaxy FM. Anyone with a passion for Dance/R&B should listen (digital receiver required). The first song played was Opposites Attract (Paula Abdul featuring MC Skat Cat). The College memories.

Touched by the Hand of God

The innovative Nintendo DS is garnering press acclaim and Konami's Castlevania DS (working title), the sequel to Aria of Sorrow, has closed the deal for me! My GBA was bought primarily to play Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance. The DS iteration promises a (stylus-driven) rich gameplay experience.



Further PSP musings. Japanese consumers are complaining of 'stuck button syndrome' and are returning machines. Could this be a quality control issue or inherent design flaw?

Silver Shamrock

Happy Halloween. Whatever you're doing to mark the occasion (or nothing at all) have fun! This evening I'll be watching seminal horror movies, getting down with ghouls n' ghosts, and playing Castlevania.

In keeping with the season, here's a photo of the bewitching Love Hewitt (I Know What You Did Last Summer, 1997). Alongside fellow Party of Five alumni Neve Campbell, Love capitalized on the slasher movie renaissance of the mid to late '90s.

Scream

With Halloween only a few weeks away, my pixel-pushing friends over at The Iconfactory have unleashed their ghoulish GUI goodness in the dark n' dank form of Web Attic!

Really looking forward to a late night screening of Michael Jackson's Ghosts and Thriller on the 31st.

In the meantime and in keeping with the Halloween theme. Whilst I'm still suffering post console sale withdrawal, here's the in-game logo taken from Super Castlevania IV (released on the Super NES, 1991).



Holiday season 1992 I hooked the newly unwrapped PAL Super NES to my home AV system (pre multi-channel) and was startled by the quality of the Castlevania IV soundtrack! Sonic detail was in abundance (a maximum of 8-channels were available to sound designers) with excellent 2-channel separation. A peerless platformer (it featured dancing specters Paula Abghoul and Fred Ascare), which still endures to this day. If you're so inclined, I'd recommend hunting down the original 'uncensored' Japanese Super Famicom cartridge entitled Akumajou Dracula (Demon Castle Dracula) - blood and nudity - all the trappings of the vampire genre.

Konami's Castlevania series, one of my favourite video game franchises, rarely disappoints and I've followed the Belmont family cross-platform (no pun intended) from MSX to Arcade and Genesis to GBA.

Elementary! My Dear Watson!

Hectic real world schedule aside. I've begun watching the bonus disc from the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. Empire Of Dreams has left me yearning for the halcyon days of A-Level Media Studies and an almost limitless creative ambition.

The intervening years have created controversy for George Lucas and it is far too easy to overlook the production innovations that the Star Wars 'factory' spawned. From THX to PIXAR (now a production powerhouse) and Edit Droid to Photoshop (arguably the de facto DTP standard). This afternoon I pre-ordered Photoshop Elements 3 and will post a review in the near future.

Now that all my console gear has been sold, I'm spending far too much time in MacMAME! No regrets? OK, I miss playing the detailed dramas of Final Fantasy Tactics and Castlevania franchise on Nintendo's GBA.



Listened to the first single, Lose My Breath, from DC's forthcoming Destiny Fulfilled (foreshadowing the groups end?).



Darkchild's production references Michael and Janet Jackson. The tune pumps!

The Edge

On Wednesday IMG posted my review for Worms 3D (ported by Zonic). This has received quite passionate feedback! I awarded the game a respectable rating of 8.0 out of 10! The review process is entirely subjective, but for a game to garner 10 out of 10 would necessitate a "landmark" release. Invariably, there are few titles that deserve such a prestigious accolade. However, for whatever it's worth (not much and not definitive) what follows is my top ten list:

*Super Castlevania IV
*Dark Forces
*Doom
*Halo
*Quake 3
*Resident Evil: Code Veronica
*Return To Castle Wolfenstein
*Soul Calibur
*Warcraft 3
*World of Warcraft (based on the breathtaking beta)

Mac Users with a curiosity in OS X development may find the following of interest!