Welcome to Missing Information.

Less of a Point A to Point B mod, and more of a collection of unreleased tech demos, Missing Information is for the avid Half-Life fan only. Standard fare gamers and casual fans need not apply. If you’re just passing through the Half-Life universe and aren’t up to an arm’s deep romp into the bits that were cut from the final product: Move along, nothing to see here.

That said… even as an avid Half-Life Anonymous member, this mod was kind of a let down. It is cool to get to see enemies, weapons, and areas that didn’t make it into the final game, but at the end of the day, you realize that these things were taken out for a reason (Keep in mind, the build I was playing was a DEMO, not as the final release). Want to check out the scraps on the editing floor? This mod is for you.

ModDB – Half-Life 2: Missing Information

TONIGHT! We’re talking about the rise and fall of the American gaming industry. Tune in tonight (9PM EST) for your history lesson, kiddies! Also: Another great game from GoG.com! So tune in and get free stuff!

http://live.72pc.com

Tonight! We are discussing Japanese influences in gaming. From Mario 3 to Shadow of the Colossus to Katamari Damacy; we’re discussing the very best of Japanese gaming! Tune in tonight at 8:30PM-9:00PM EST for the show!

live.72pc.com

And yet another random chatter podcast! An impromptu look at the current gaming news! Download, listen, enjoy!

Seventy Two Pin Connector Podcast: Episode 035 – Jitterbug!

Konami – Silent Hill – Tears Of…

Before we begin… I know we’ve already got a small review up for Link’s Awakening. But I feel that the post was more Battletunes oriented and presented only a brief overview of the game. Not to discredit that review, but this is a more in depth look at the story and design aspects of the game.

Zelda games have always rang true with me. An overall amazing series, and most of the games are pure gold (most! Phantom Hourglass can suck a dick). It happens to be my favorite series in all of gaming. I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time in each version of Hyrule, battling skultullas and rescuing Zelda for the millionth time, it never truly got old. But the game I’ve put the most amount of time into has to be Link’s Awakening.

I was a huge fan of A Link to the Past when it came out, and this game helped me rekindle all of those warm feelings all over again. Link’s Awakening is a Zelda game through and through, you’ll find familiar puzzles, enemies, tunes, items, and scenarios. But what turns this Zelda game into something special is the story and presentation of the whole thing. Its difficult to make a Game Boy game seem epic… You’ve got 4 shades of grey, a small screen, and very limited sound capability to play around with, but somehow, they did it. Instead of taking place in the Land of Hyrule, Link’s Awakening takes place in Koholint Island, a completely new world, completely separated from Hyrule. This gave the designers enough of a push to make a truly unique story. (Yarr… there be spoilers ahead!!)

Here’s a video with one of my favorite video game tunes of all time: The Ballad of the Wind Fish

Thanks to omdac714 for the video!

Koholint Island doesn’t exist. Its all a dream world. The world exists in the dream of a sleeping creature called The Wind Fish. If the Wind Fish is awoken, Koholint Island, all the creatures, and all of the people contained within will disappear with the dream. This creates an interesting philosophical scenario. Is is morally right to wake the dreamer, escaping the dreamland, only to watch everyone you’ve met so far disappear right before your very eyes? Are the enemies really all that evil, trying to stop you from destroying the only world they’ve ever known? Are you even the hero of this story? Or do you merely server as a means to an end of the world? Though the game never directly brings up these questions, it does make for an amazing catalyst into moral and philosophical discussion. At one point, when you defeat a boss, the dying enemy begs you not to wake the Wind Fish, as his entire world will disappear. Its this writing, this kind of storytelling that separate this Zelda game from all the rest, and more importantly, this Game Boy game from all the rest. Give it a try, one of my favorite games of all time:

Game Boy – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

And tonight we are LIVE again with another podcast, this time, discussing snow levels and all of their wintery glory. You see, kids, last week, things were blustery, white, and snowy.. but since this is Ohio, this all changed in about 12 hours and its now rainy and grey… But we’re talking snow anyhoo (get off my lawn). Tune in tonight, we’ll be broadcasting at around 8:30PM-9PM EST. You can use the LIVE link at the top of the page, or click right here.

And we’re releasing another one! And most likely one tomorrow as well. Stay tuned! This week’s cast is about games that looked like shit but were actually really good. The underrated gems you most likely missed.

Seventy Two Pin Connector Podcast – Episode 028 – It LOOKED bad…

Seventy Two Pin Connector Podcast – Episode 027 – We’re Back (But Not As Dinosaurs)

Believe it or not, we’re not dead, we took a break there for the holidays, parties, and other things that mark the occasion of the winter season. But tomorrow night you can expect us in full glory, live on UStream, back at it with our roundup of 2008! Stay tuned!