Nick Falkner
Bio
I like to write about music, video games, and anything else that pops up. Based out of Utah.
Stories (12/0)
Saturday Morning Arcade
Video games have been around longer than we realize! Computer Space was created in the early 70’s, with Pong, a more popular game on its heels. It wouldn’t be till 1980 where we got a proper mascot character in video games, which would be Pac-Man. Other characters soon followed, with the need to cash in on them all. These endeavors included board games, stuffed toys, figurines, and eventually, animated cartoons. Now, a lot of these strayed a little far from the source material, because let’s be honest, how do you make a cartoon about a character that runs around in a maze eating dots all day? Let’s take a look at these early attempts to cash in on these properties, though I warn you, some of this is cringe as hell.
By Nick Falkner3 years ago in Geeks
My Arcade Archives Wishlist
Hamster is a wonderful company! They are in the business of bringing games to the Switch, and other systems, games that I not only saw in the arcades, but also in the corner of any gas station or some grocery stores. I have such fond memories of a lot of games, and not only is it Hamster, but Johnny Turbo and, to a small degree, Sega, are bringing back the classics at a reasonable price. But here is a list of games I'd love to see.
By Nick Falkner5 years ago in Gamers
10 Games Worse Than 'E.T.'
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was a big deal in theaters when it came out in 1982. The story about a boy on earth befriending an alien touched our hearts, so naturally, there had to be a video game. Atari commissioned Howard Scott Warshaw, who created Yars' Revenge and the Raiders Of The Lost Ark Atari game, to make the E.T. game. The result was a glitchy, buggy mess, put together in a month. E.T. was widely regarded as the worst video game ever created, even getting blamed for the Great Video Game Crash of the 1980s, and even drove Warshaw from the video game business entirely.
By Nick Falkner5 years ago in Gamers
Hidden Rants Inside Video Game Code
First off, credit where credit is due. This article could not be possible, or inspired, without the videos of "Guru Larry" Bundy Jr. His "Fact Hunt" series chronicled a lot of things in video games you'd never suspect. This trilogy of hidden programmer rants has more information on the subject than I can put in, and I'm choosing my absolute favorites that have become legend.
By Nick Falkner5 years ago in Gamers
The King and I
It was 1996. I was 19. I was overwhelmed by curiosity. In my hand was the Mercyful Fate album, Into The Unknown. Previously, I had bought a Judas Priest tribute album, which had Mercyful Fate covering "The Ripper," which was a great effort, and it was the first time I'd heard King Diamond's falsetto vocal. Knowing I needed something new as far as music was concerned, at my local Camelot Music (remember that place?), I bought the album. When I brought it home, I was blown away by the music, but a little scared of the lyrics. I was a good little Mormon boy, living in Lakewood, Washington at the time, and was real into heavy metal. All these years, I'd been hearing that metal was the devil's music, and the opening track was called "Lucifer." I was conflicted, torn between the music I loved, and the scary lyrics. I then embraced the music, and adapted.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Beat
Video Game Movies
When I was growing up, the first movie that used video games as a major plot device was The Wizard. You might remember that movie starring Fred Savage, where a major secret was given away in Super Mario 3. As much as it was about video games, the story was actually about two brothers who go on a trip by themselves. The first movie based on a video game wouldn't come until years later, and would start a new trend that continues today! I only mention a handful of them, and these are the games that had a huge impact on me. I'm not listing all of them, because we'd be here all day. So sit back and enjoy.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Gamers
NES Memories
Atari had it all. Nolan Bushnell's company that put gaming on the map was on top of the world. The Atari VCS, otherwise known as the Atari 2600, was the most popular system for its time. There was nothing Atari could do wrong...until they did two things. The first thing was to create a game based on E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, and licensed Pac-Man for play on the 2600, disappointing players who were waiting for this legendary title, and only got the prototype that was made instead. All of this, and other events, led to the great video game crash of the 1980s. Now, I never knew about the crash until I read about it some years back. There were still arcades, there were still arcade games tucked in gas station and grocery store corners, and video games were still being made and sold. But unknown to me at the time, video games were almost gone in America. Until Nintendo stepped in to revive the North American video game industry. Nintendo, a Japanese company with established hits like Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and Punch Out, wanted to make their presence known in America, but they had an uphill climb.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Gamers
- Top Story - April 2018
'Rampage' MemoriesTop Story - April 2018
I happened upon this crazy game in an arcade during my youth. I studied this game for a bit, and saw that this game was way different than anything else in the arcade, or on any system for that matter. For one thing, you weren't the hero, but rather, a giant monster. It looked like a King Kong or Godzilla movie, with soldiers shooting at the monsters from the building that were just begging to be leveled. Rampage was definitely a diamond in the rough.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Gamers
Movie Review: 'Corpse Party'
In making a movie out of a video game, there is a lot of risk involved. In one, you risk alienating the loyal fanbase that game has, or simply making a mockery of it. The Super Mario Bros. movie had a few good things going for it, a few nods to the game series, otherwise, it was a title about and otherworldly dystopian world with little to do with the source material, and sadly, the bad outweighed the good. Then came Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, I could go on. In fact, these days, you see more movies based on games than the other way around, especially when Acclaim was still in business during the 16-bit era. Another thing to consider is most of these game franchises were created in Japan, with American and Canadian film studios making the movies.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Horror
Let’s Talk About 'Corpse Party'
On the PlayStation Store, on my PSP, a game that popped out at me had the most unusual name of Corpse Party. I had guessed that it would be a horror title. It was also a year before I would download this game... not out of fear, but more like I couldn’t afford the game at the time. But when I finally did download and play it, I lost a little bit of sleep.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Gamers
A Tale of Two Queensryches
Queensrÿche was a great band, and in many ways, still is. In fact, the first CD I ever owned was Queensrÿche’s 'Empire.' I loved the music video, and fully enjoyed the harmonies, the vocals, the overall feel of the song. It was a great song, a great album, and it made me a fan.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Beat
Deconstructing the House Of God
I bought the King Diamond album, House Of God, the day it was released in 2000. I was the first one in the piddly town I lived in to buy it. It had a wild story, excellent guitar work, some wild album artwork painted by Thomas Holm (who painted classic Mercyful Fate and King Diamond album covers in the 80’s) and a few new King voices that were never heard before, or ever heard since. I’ve listened to the album a lot, but never really paid attention to hidden meanings the songs might hold. It wasn’t until recently that I was listening to it on Spotify that I realized at least three of the songs reflect how I felt during certain times in my life.
By Nick Falkner6 years ago in Beat