STC25 - 25 Years of Sonic the Comic

On the 3rd of June 2018, Neil and Tom headed to Manchester to attend STC25, an event celebrating 25 years since the first issue of Sonic the Comic.

The British Sonic the Comic was quite different from others, often referred to as Fleetway Sonic, after the comic's publisher. It had it's own unique characters and stories built around the video games.

It's amassed a massive following since it was first published, a enthusiastic group of fans even created their own continuation of the Comic online, having recently released their 275 Issue to co-inside with the event.

You can check out more here:

stconline.co.uk

UK Games Expo 2018 Feature

Recently Mike and Neil headed to the Birmingham NEC to attend the UK Games Expo.

The UK Games Expo, (UKGE), is the UK's largest hobby games convention which takes place over three days during the Summer Half term.

This year's Expo took place from the 1st to 3rd June. UK Games Expo is open to all members of the public to come and try, play and buy hobby games from around the world.

It is suitable for all ages with a large Family Zone that caters especially for our younger audience.

With special celebrity guests, demonstrations, competitions, tournaments and even an huge board games library you can borrow from, you can be sure of a full visit.

This year Games Designer and Author Ian Livingstone CBE was in attendance and Neil was lucky enough to grab a quick interview with him.

Ian is one of the true greats of the gaming industry and an entrepreneur of great distinction, having brought Dungeons and Dragons to Europe and co-founding Games Workshop in 1975.

Another notable accolade Ian holds is creating the Fighting Fantasy series of Role-playing Gamebooks, his first book being published in 1982.

Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks - Official Website http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/

Neil and Mike also grabbed a quick moment with John from The Historic Games Shop and were given a showcase of a couple of John's dice based games, involving faeries, trolls and plenty of cheese!

Faerie Games https://faeriesgames.co.uk/faeries-ga...

The Historic Games Shop https://www.thehistoricgamesshop.co.uk/

We're no strangers to this particular board game that was also showcased at Game Expo, this Big Trouble in Little China game was also featured in an episode of Bruno's Boxes.

At the event Mike and Neil got a run down of how the game works from its creators.

http://bigtroublegame.com

Medusa Games were also in attendance at the event and talked us through some board games they've created, Magnificent Flying Machines, Nine Worlds and Great Fire: London 1666. 

http://www.medusagames.co.uk

Crooked Dice specialise in wargames rules and miniatures inspired by the many and varied iconic worlds of 60s-70s Cult TV.

Karl Perrotton - the man behind the studio, took some time to talk to us about the 7TV game he has developed, the different ways to play it and the fantastic miniatures the company has created especially for the game.

http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/

Finally, Artist and Cartographer, Gill Pearce and her husband, Games Designer Darren Pearce, took some time to talk to us about their experience working in the games industry.

Gill has been illustrating professionally for approximately 12 years and has numerous publishing credits in various fields ranging from book cover and interior illustration, card game artwork, role-playing game illustration and cartography.

http://www.hellionsart.com/

Darren has worked on Lone Wolf, the Doctor Who RPG. He's also the lead writer on the Judge Dredd RPG and Shaintar.

https://www.gamesxtreme.com/

To find out more out the UK Games Expo event, check out the website below:

http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

Testing Mario Odyssey amiibos - What do they do?

As a sort of follow up to our Easter Special, Tom and Neil decide to take a look what the Mario Cereal amiibo actually does as well as try out the range of other Mario Odyssey amiibos while they're at it!

EASTER SPECIAL - Mario Easter Eggs and Cereal Unboxing!

Happy Easter Blast Processors! To celebrate the season, we've created a little Easter video for you lovely folks! So join Neil and Mike as they unbox various Mario Easter Eggs, then watch them tuck into a box of Super Mario Cereal!

Night Trap Revamped Live Action MEGACD Review

Ahh Night Trap, the video game that created the need for age ratings. The game was originally released in 1992 and a Kickstarter project was setup for Night Trap Revamped an HD remake of the classic FMV game in 2014. Unfortunately the project didn't hit it's goal and the game was halted.

To this date, 7 years ago we came up with the idea of recreating our very own version of Night Trap. Having had some great feedback from the creators of Night Trap;

You and your colleagues did a great job with this! It's always nice to see our fans give their own takes on the material, and there's a lot of fun stuff in here. I think Commander Sampson will stand alongside Commander Simms in the Hall of Fame of great video game drill-sergeant types.

The video became one of our classic videos here at Blast Process and 7 years later we have released the video once again, now in correct format and voices synced up!

Mike Davies

Founder/Video Mastermind

Mike is our main go-to-guy for videos. Former 4Kings member and one of the original founders of BlastProcess.com, Mike has been here since the beginning.

The main driving force of the website, Mike loves indie games and apps. So get in touch if you want your game/app featured here!

Villain of the week #3

Due to the exciting news about the potential film "Murder House", (our favourite horror stars resurrected and being studied for their murderous traits) I'm in the mood to delve into our very own favourite baddies of the video game world.

Saboteur Nazi Soldiers

Now, these are villains of the week for a very specific reason: how terrible they are.

Throughout the game Saboteur, you play as the main character who slowly releases France from Nazi occupation, destroying key weapons and killing any officers you see. The game is very clever in design, the world starting off as black and white, colour slowly returning as you rescue Paris and the surrounding villages from Nazi rule.

These are not the best villains, not by a long shot. They're almost the worst (almost!)

They are practically useless at their job and there are hundreds of them, spread out over Paris like parasites. They are convinced by the flimsiest of disguises (you play as a strong Irishman with a broad accent) and they just don't pay any attention to...to...to just about anything. You only have to run about 100 feet and they forget you ever existed, and no matter how much you blow up, or how many you kill, they just switch off. They can't even shoot straight, and when they do on the off chance manage to shoot you, it's barely a flesh wound. They're bullets, they're at least supposed to do some damage. Right?

They also have no sense. Zero. This is why I love them, I mean - Gun turrets facing trees, no space and no people in the middle of fields, miles from anywhere. Cannons with nowhere to shoot but the sky, surrounded by tall trees. Unguarded guns.  Watchtowers by more watchtowers with nowhere to look.

Seriously?

No surprise it's is an easy game to complete!

Villains Of The Week #1

​Due to the exciting news about the potential film "Murder House", (our favourite horror stars resurrected and being studied for their murderous traits) I'm in the mood to delve into our very own favourite baddies of the video game world.

 Robotnik

As Sonic has soared through the decades with regular game and TV reboots, one thing is for sure, he isn't going anywhere soon. And where Sonic treads, his arch nemesis Robotnik is never far behind (there are a few other Sonic villains but Robotnik is king here.) He has certainly changed with the times, most recently with extra long legs to match Sonic - I am still not a fan of that - but his top heavy wobbling form with his outrageous moustache is one of the most recognisable. He chooses sidekicks even worse than himself, I'm sure he may have caught Sonic at least once properly by now if he'd done the legwork himself, but what can I say? He is a very lazy, pompous villain.  Mad and most definitely bad, Robotnik has been villainous since the 80's, terrorising Sonic and the gang every step of the way. His attempts at humour fall flat, and I love him because of that, with his bumbling form looking ridiculous but bizarrely matching his warped sense of reality. An old school bad guy who always falls guilty of talking too much, resulting in Sonic escaping certain death more than once because of his need to explain himself. He may not be successful but you can't say he isn't stubborn (even if he is easy to beat) and game after he game he resurfaces to try all over again.Yes he loves a tantrum and yes he fails at almost every turn - but I can't help it, he's almost lovable.

He might be a villain - but his failures make us remember him fondly, and I can't see him dissapearing any time soon.

Dave says "Some villains simply don't stand the test of time. They may, for a while, prove to be worthwhile adversaries but eventually grow tiresome.bNot so with Sonic's main arch nemesis, the infamous Dr Robotnik! (Or Eggman as he is now being known as). Creator of the badniks, various traps and owner of a flying...egg shaped platform that gains various upgrades just in time to challenge Sonic to boss fights, his looks and personality makes him one of my all time love to hate villains! SEGA keep trying to broaden the Sonic titles by throwing him into various scenarios, but his classic battles against the Doctor prove that sometimes the original baddies are best.
He'll get you eventually, you spikey rodent!"

Over and out! 

Mel

Amiibo Collections

It's no secret that toy based gaming is big business at the moment. Back in October 2011 Activision released Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. As well as owning the game, consumers also got a Portal and 3 small figures, which when placed on the portal allowed gamers to play as that particular critter in game. The game was a method of getting former platform hero Spyro back on the scene too, but it soon became apparent that the gaming market had space for toy-based peripherals.

Nearly 4 years on and you can now buy around 317 Skylanders (including a number of limited editions and such) with the latest game, Super Chargers, bringing vehicle based gaming to the series.

Disney have entered the scene with a number of Disney, Marvel and (as of end of the month) Star Wars characters. Where Skylanders are more about platforming/mission based gamplay, Disney have tried to encourage a more imaginative approach, encouraging gamers to use their own inspiration to create levels and mini-games.

Did I mention LEGO are getting involved too with LEGO Dimensions? We'll cover that incoming title in more detail in a future post.

The reason for this post though was to talk about another line of toy based gaming, one of which, on face value, doesn't really have as much value in each figure. So why on earth do I keep getting tempted to buy more?!

I am, of course, talking about Nintendo's Amiibos. Where as until now the figures you buy usually unlock that specific character for use in a particular game, Amiibos are usable in multiple games but only for relatively minor content, for example additional costumes. They are though very detailed figures, more so than Skylanders/Disney Infinity figures in my personal opinion. More importantly though, is the power of Nintendo.

Nintendo have had to rely on first-party characters for years to keep gamers buying their hardware due to lack of 3rd party support, which is fine because no company has a back catalogue of popular characters than Nintendo. I planned pre-release to only pick up a couple, but as you are just about to see I've got a few more than a 'couple':

What is really frustrating, in the manner of which Nintendo have mastered, a number of particular Amiibos have been quite difficult to get hold of which has in turn helped drive some of my purchases. But you know what, I just can't stop picking them up!

Our very own Mike also has built up a collection, as you can see below:

So what I'd like to see, are your collections of Amiibos. Do you keep them boxed? Why have you bought into them? Who is your favorite?

Send us your images via Twitter (@BlastProcess), post the pictures on Facebook.com/BlastProcess or email them to contact@blastprocess.com and we'll post them in a future post.

Can't wait to see your collections!

Lets Play Kerbal: Season Two Underway!

You may remember a little while back on our YouTube channel that Processor Chris had been busy playing lots of Kerbal Space Program. Well, Chris has decided that now is the time to return to space with Season Two of his Lets Play Kerbal videos. In fact, he's well underway so why not check out what he has been up too? The latest video, which was uploaded today can be viewed below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYU-90RisCs&w=560&h=315]

Want to watch all of Season Two so far? We have a playlist for that!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLrWFCXFx8tw3lR34hjvpqeYO0dcJIkYUI&w=560&h=315]

And finally, if you'd like to catch up with the previous batch of Kerbal videos you'll be needing this playlist:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries?list=PLrWFCXFx8tw1Q4Zt7AtJgvMacLFbFHHhu&w=560&h=315]

Enjoy!

FRIDAY THE 13TH SPECIAL: Advert for Freddy Krueger in Mortal Kombat

To continue our Horror theme on Blast Process, we take a look back at our very own Freddy Krueger advert for the release of the playable character in Mortal Kombat!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OYlonE_rXg&w=560&h=315]

MagNets by Total Monkery out now!

Those of you who remember our Gadget Show coverage last year may recall one of our favorite games of the event was MagNets by Total Monkery!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCUMzDfldcA[/embed]

After a busy year of shows and events, and a successful Greenlight campaign on Steam the game is finally available to buy! Our review will be coming over the next few days, but needless to say if you like old school arcade action then you need to check it out!

Check out the trailer below and don't forget to visit the developers over at Total Monkery!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umCbt2c3NA[/embed]

MagNets is available to buy here - currently on offer at £7.19

Stoke'd for Comiccon!

Stop the press! No more hours on the road to find the comiccon of your dreams, gazing out the window at miles of the motorway and squashed packed lunches- Comiccon is coming to you!'Stoke Con Trent' has crashed into the North West like an explosion of Comic book and movie joy to please the masses. This is only it's first year but is sporting legends such as Colin Baker (Doctor Who), Chris Rankin (Harry Potter) and James Cosmo (Game Of Thrones). Hosted at Stafforshire University, get ready for Cosplay competitions, exhibitions and a mountain of comic and memorabilia stalls to sink your teeth into. As a seasoned comiccon goer, I honestly cannot wait! I've traveled all over the UK to visit my favourite stars, squeal with excitement at the Q&A sessions and have the best time any comiccon veteran can go. The 28th September cannot come soon enough - get your tickets from the website here: http://stokecontrent.co.uk/about/ Don't miss out!

Over and out! Mel

Tom's Game Room Update 2014

The latest from Tom's Game Room. Seeing as the original Game Room video was nearly 3 years old, Tom has created an update to show the room in its current fit to burst state, enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Nomb7VPjM&feature=youtu.be]

Tom's Game Room

Game Room videos. If there's anything a self respecting video game website should have then it's videos of the site's bloggers showing their wares. So here we are, my Games Room circa 2012...I think.

As you may have guessed there's a little story as to why this video's taken so long to appear on the site. Firstly, it was technically never finished as part 3 was never fully edited and secondly the screen ratio of the video got squashed somehow.

Regardless of these problems I felt what we did manage to film was worth salvaging, so here it is, a lost relic from the  Blast Process archives...

Part 1: SATURN, MEGA DRIVE, NES, GAMECUBE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niEYSnQMc-A

Part 2: MASTER SYSTEM, N64, XBOX, MASTER SYSTEM, WII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQdDFyhwQ8c

Nintendo's Recent Fortunes

Friday marked the release of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U! Hurrah!! A very exciting time for Nintendo fans worldwide. Unfortunately the Wii U hasn’t done very well since its release in November of 2012. The console had everything going for it pre release, but has failed to live up to the hype. Already in the Wii Us short life, it is evident that it won’t be able to keep pace with the 2 new powerhouses, the PS4 and the Xbox One. Unfortunately 2 major issues let it down and Nintendo is still feeling the effects of them financially. These reasons are:

Games

The software library of the Wii U is slowly gaining pace. At launch the notable available titles were, New Super Mario Bros U and Zombi U. More games were available, but weren’t great. Both games were ok, but lacked that special something.

With a new console it can take a while for the truly great games to become available, (I’m looking at you 3DS) but it seems like the Wii U is struggling to find many at all almost 2 years into its life. We have Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. 3 great titles in 2 years isn’t good enough when the console itself set you back £300 at launch

Marketing

The marketing team for Nintendo really dropped the ball on this. I still talk to people today who do not have a clue what the Wii U is! For a console that has been on the shelf for 18 months, that’s not good at all. Especially when everyone and his rabbit knows what the PS4 is. Lack of advertising and awareness meant that the Wii U was going to have a tough time before it even started.

Nintendo is far from financial ruin, they have had consoles fail in the past and have only come back stronger. For example, the DS family is now over 200M sales. But from the point of view of the Wii U, things need to improve.Now trying to focus on some positives. The Wii U is an amazing console, with truly unique features and experiences to be had. I have mentioned 3 games on this post, but there is an absolute slew of downloadable games that are fantastic. Runner 2, Mighty Switch Force and Mutant Mudd’s Deluxe to name just a few.

Hopefully the release of Mario kart 8 will make people want to buy Nintendo’s little black box and experience the uniqueness that it offers. The review scores are all very positive and as we all know, these games are excellent when being played with friends. As mentioned, there are other reasons why you should own a Wii U. Its feature list is huge. With NFC connectivity, Video calls and Miiverse (A Nintendo exclusive social network) built into the console, there is a plethora of things to explore on Nintendo’s overlooked hardware. Nintendoland is amongst a few games that you need to play to fully understand what Nintendo are trying to achieve.

Future releases offer hope to Nintendo also. Super Smash Bros, a new Zelda game and Bayonetta 2 will all sell consoles. How much though, is anyone’s guess. I’m sure Nintendo has more up their sleeve though, and with E3 round the corner, I’m sure we will see what Nintendo’s plans are.

Guest post by Johnathan Foxley.

If you'd like to have any articles or videos posted on Blast Process please do get in touch via contact@blastprocess.com, tweet to us @BlastProcess or post a comment on facebook.com/blastprocess.

Crusader Kings 2: Multiplayer

Watch Chris and Adam in an epic new video adventure as they attempt to survive the cutthroat world of politics in the 11th century Holy Roman Empire.

The first episode sees a war with France, Chris pondering over why Lower Lorraine is further north than Upper and Adam trying to stop people voting for him.

Crusader Kings 2 is avaliable to purchase via Steam for PC.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qrzHlRce2c&w=560&h=315]

Outlast: Whistleblower – “It’s as scary as HELL!!”

After the spine tingling chills I was left with after completing Outlast, I couldn’t wait to experience the next episode of TERROR from Red Barrels. Out today on PS4 and PC, Whistleblower continues the story begun in Outlast by showing us the events that happened in the lead up to the original game.

The game is set in the same Mount Massive Asylum. You play as a software engineer, Waylon Park, who is out to expose the sinister goings on of the Murkoff Corporation. The game begins with an email being composed to send to the journalist you play in the original game. However, things quickly spiral out of control and the player is once again left fighting for their life in a mission to escape in one piece!

All the controls are the same so that made it easy to play and navigate my way round the game. It doesn't hold you by the hand like the first game did. This game assumes you know what you are doing. If you've not played Outlast for a while then maybe it would be an idea to re-familiarise yourself with these before you jump into the expansion. The atmosphere is still so tense you could cut it with a discarded rusty scalpel. With a sinister sound track and nerve-wracking sound effects, the sections of the game where there is pure silence are even more un-nerving.

I survived for 14 minutes before my first death after meeting a stark-bollock naked man carrying what can only be described as a rotary buzz-saw. It's more of the same as Outlast, however, that is not necessarily a bad thing (possibly what the deranged psychiatric doctor ordered)! As I reloaded for take two it went straight to the scene with the aforementioned naked saw man saying "Feed me". I didn't last long. The inmates are much cleverer than last time. When they see you they don't give up. Hiding in the lockers will work, but you have to make sure they don’t see you hide. Many a panicked moment will be spent trembling in a locker unsure of what is happening outside the safety of a closed door.

As in the original game you have no weapons whatsoever and you are only armed with the trusty night-vision camcorder. This allows you to see in the pitch black environment, however, it guzzles batteries quicker than a Sega GameGear! You will spend most of your time frantically scrambling around the decrepit asylum searching obsessively for batteries. As the battery light flickers to alert you to its impending death, you are left wondering whether it safer see where you are moving to in the pitch black environment, or save those precious few seconds of illumination for when you might really need them.

There are areas of relative brightness in the game which do break up the oppressive darkness and give you a moment to gather yourself before you next venture into the unknown. Like the first game there are puzzle elements, such as finding the keys to open a set of handcuffs. These must be completed in order to continue further and usually involve a face off with a particularly nasty enemy. These quests are not too challenging but ensure you fully appreciate the game to its potential. These sections are mixed up with some frantic time-based antics too. Don’t want to give anything away, however, these will get your pulse racing!

As in the original game there are some epic set pieces which have you literally jumping off the chair and screaming like a girl! There are moments in the game which are clearly up there with the legendary dog scene from Resident Evil. Whilst not pushing the PS4 to the level of games such as Infamous, the game still looks great. There are some awesome lighting effects and great atmospheric environments. The night vision in particular really draws you into the game. I can only imagine how terrifying this thing would look on Oculus Rift or Project Morpheus! Hopefully, this is the kind of game that will end up on them when they are finally released.

If you want to see a taste of the original game, don’t forget you can still check out Mike and I scaring the crap out of ourselves in out Let’s Play Outlast Video Series!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lMVDPdxn0c

Whistleblower is available now on the PS4 Store at £7.69. It is also available for PC on Steam at £5.99, with the original game being on offer at £5.09.

Commander Sampson Returns!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8kBY0_bSc&w=560&h=315]