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marcussour · 1 year

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music tag game

let’s do this, me gustan estos jueguitos musicales (sobre todo si este da la chance de hablar de música un rato)

tagged by @kamiporterbridges

RULES: You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, and then tag 10 people. No skipping!

1.- Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast: Absolute classic, quintessential Maiden, it fucking slaps

2.- David Wise - Dragon Forest (Diddy Kong Racing OST): David Wise is the representation of that meme of the dude playing a piano on fire in the beach after a simple request, in this case, “it’s just a mascot racer with funny animals”. But the dude excels at what he does, and that stint with Rare in the mid to late 90′s its iconic for a reason.

Also, Diddy Kong Racing was better than Mario Kart 64, and y’all know its true

3.- Koji Kondo - Goron City (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST): Dude’s a legend, music’s great, one of the best VGOST of all time

4.- Marillion - Lavender: I think Marillion’s one of the most underrated prog rock bands, especially of the 80′s. And that A Side of the Misplaced Childhood album it’s amazing (with Pseudo-Silk Kimono, Kayleigh, Lavender, Bittersweet Suite and Heart of Lothian). Also, Fish’s a cool dude and has an amazing voice (think a scottish Peter Gabriel if you’ve never heard him)

5.- Johnny Cash - The Mercy Seat: Originally by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, re-recorded by Johnny Cash for the American Recordings albums. I mean, the original its great, but like with all those covers, Johnny Cash just took the song and made it his own and something truly special, and it’s one hell of a performance. It speaks about a death row inmate and draw parallels with spirituality and christianity (the title makes reference to both the electric chair and the lid of the Ark of the Covenant), so it was a tailor made for Johnny Cash, who also used the song to raise awareness against capital punishment

6.- Los Jaivas - Corre que te Pillo: a kinda sorta instrumental, but technically not one ‘cause it does have some words, it’s just a great sample of musical talent and of the prog rock meets jazz meet traditional andean music and chilean folklore that Los Jaivas does

7.- Tristania - My Lost Lenore: I like gothic metal, it kinda soothes and relaxes me, and Vibeke Stene’s voice is just lovely

8.- Jorn - Make Your Engine Scream: Jorn Lande’s got a great voice and his music slaps, what more do you need

9.- Frederik Wiedmann - Hal vs Atrocitus (Green Lantern: The Animated Series soundtrack): Wiedmann its an underrated composer, he’s done a lot of animated stuff with superheroes, but his work in Green Lantern: TAS -like everything with that show- went under the radar of many people

10.- The OneUps - Bossa de Link: In that huge and great genre that its “jazz covers of VGM”, The OneUps are one of the greatests bands and one of the first I discovered over 15 years ago, and this bossa nova cover of the main theme of The Legend of Zelda its pretty good

Tagging whoever wants to do it, here’s your chance, talk about music for a while, have some fun!

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safer-02 · 7 months

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(More Doug rambling)

Nickelodeon All Star Brawl isn’t the only Nick game I wanted to have Doug representation. There’s also Nick Kart Racers series.

I have few ideas of Doug concepts for racers, courses and pit crew members.

Racers:

- Doug Funnie

- Roger Klotz

- QuailMan (dare I say… exclusive for Digital deluxe -_-)

Pit crew:

- Porkchop (Recover faster after being hit)

- Skeeter Valentine (pick up Tommy’s ball)

- Patti Mayonnaise (give the racer a boost)

- Mr. & Mrs.Dink or just Mr.Dink (use defensive weapons)

- Beebe Bluff (pick up 3 slime coins)

- Mr.Bluff (gather nearby coins)

Car parts: some of the random designs from the episode Doug’s Derby Dilemma.

Doug’s “The Greased Lightning”

Roger’s “Nosey racer”

Course:

Bluffington: The course starts at Jumbo street, then heading through Bluffington Elementary School, heading throughout Lucky Duck Lake and the head back to Jumbo Street.

Funky Town: Just a another Theme park course like Glove World or Retroland lol.

Doug’s daydream: 4 separate location based off Doug’s daydreams. White void or Jumbo Street that would later leads to portal to 3 separate world based off of Doug’s alteregos. QuailMan, Bluffington but with few villains cameo in the background. Smash Adams, inside of a evil lair maybe. Race Canyon, inside of a jungle. But ye.

And few lines, Doug and Roger say few previously lines they said from the first 4 season or even make new likes by foreshadowing Disney’s Doug.

Tune in next time when I gonna make concept idea about Doug in Nickelodeon All Star Brawl.

#nickelodeon #nickelodeon animation #nicktoons #90s cartoons #90s nicktoons #disney #Nickelodeon kart racers #nkr #rambling #fan concept

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game-boy-pocket · 8 months

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I also played Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway... despite some potential bad news about Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2, I am on a Nick kick, and wanted some games to play, and it was on sale.

I don't know if I feel regret or not yet... Mechanics take getting used to, but they're solid. Some casual Kart racers don't copy Mario Kart enough, I find. Well this one feels like Mario Kart 8.

The problem is...

1. some of the character models have very bad looking animations and facial expressions, which is so weird because I'm pretty sure this was released after Nick All Star Brawl 1, which did a very good job with the character faces, and both are handled by Game Mill....

2. The voice clips are a little annoying. Often times they're quoting lines from the show, but they don't make sense in the context, and the line read is just not as good in the show, I am pretty sure Arnold says lines that were originally from other characters even.

and 3... FUCKING FRAME RATE... I don't typically fuss about frame rates, 30fps is perfectly fine with me. I play retro games, I think absurdly high framerates actually look weird and unnatural in video games... But this game is like... 20 FPS or something. It's like Ocarina of Time framerates... which is fine for a 1998 action adventure game, but in 2022... it really isn't acceptable for a high speed racing game. I can't even imagine this being the Switch's fault, this game isn't exactly pushing boundaries...

I like pretty much everything else about the game though. It's a lot of Nick Fan Service, the tracks are neat, it has mechanics that remind me of Sonic Riders and Snowboard Kids, some other favorite games of mine, it copies just enough of Mario Kart while having it's own ideas, and there's lots of courses and unlockables, if it just ran a little better....

#pocket plays

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komajordan · 1 year

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Fan-Director’s Cut #1 Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2

Welcome here at PBM where I have a new series to help revitalize my activeness. Don’t worry my reviews aren’t going away this is just something new. Here at Fan-Director’s Cut I will try to either reworking pre-established titles in media or in this case making a sequel and figuring out how to expand upon it. Today we have Nickelodeon All Star Brawl a game which attempted to be another Smash-style platform fighter but once again I have to mention fell short with only a few pieces of post launch content.

Today this cut will be broken down to 2 categories since I’ve seen what other people said on the game and that’s pretty much the main problems people have.

1.Gameplay

2.Roster

Gameplay:

The mechanics being Smash-inspired should follow more into their footsteps. The most essential things we should add are a Side-Special and Final Specials. The Side Specials need to be added as those have been a Smash stable since Melee on the GameCube. And Final Specials are heavily associated with fighting games at this point that we need to add it for the sequel.

Cosmetics really need an overhaul. Every character only had one costume and an additional one post-launch. So I don’t care if it gets added later but at least 2 more costumes would at least make fighting dittos less confusing.

The modes would be Arcade Mode but the main difference I would have is that the beginning and end would have pictures and text of the character your playing as and what their purpose fighting is to show off the character’s backstories personalities a bit more.And speaking of that, can we have the dialogue exchanges actually make sense because pretty much every exchange involved an iconic quote that has nothing to do with the fight or the character their fighting and yeah we can do better.

Online Mode could honestly be the same not that much comes up in terms of problems besides glitches or mechanics that could be patched.

But I want to appeal more to the casual market more since hey this is a kids game we need some more casual content so I would add challenges centered around characters kinda like Smash 4 or Nick Kart Racers 3 with references or setups relating to the characters something as simple as defeat Shredder as Leonardo to something really obscure like Battle of the Dad’s between Nigel or Hugh something silly like that. That’s all I want to cover

Roster:

So this section is more inspired by Thorgi’s Arcade’s Build The Roster series and like with that series I want to be realistic with my options here. So the last game only had 22 characters and 3 post launch characters making that 25 so I think we should definitely go higher especially since other platform fighters like Multiversus are getting pretty close to reaching us. So I think the best solution to how many we should add is to look at GameMill’s other rosters in the Nick Kart Racers series. The first game had 12 characters, the second game had 30 characters, and the 3rd had 42 characters discounted the 2 DLC characters. So we increased by 18 and 12 which averages out to 15 so for this roster we will have 37 Characters. And there’s no need to cut anyone since everyone has a purpose being there like SpongeBob and Jenny where their fan favorites or characters like April or Oblina where they have their own fanbase to them or are liked by the competitive seen. So before we get into the actual roster I have to discuss what characters I couldn’t add due to copyright or whatever the case these characters can’t be added.

Honorable Mentions:

-Timmy Turner, Doug, and Henry & June(Kablam)- I get these characters are have a legacy with Nickelodeon and do have people who want them in but the problem these characters face is Disney. Yeah even Timmy being owned by Nirvana for seasons 1-5 of Fairly Odd Parents around the world so I’m sorry but they’re out and believe me none of this was biased.

Any of the Rugrats or Nick Jr. Characters- The main problem stems from how Nickelodeon probably won’t want to put preschool characters or toddler characters into a fighting game and someone might say for the Rugrats “Just use the All Grown Up versions” but if they did that you lost the iconic versions of those characters.

So anyways after seeing who will not be on the roster let’s go into the 12 new characters:

Expanding Franchises Already Used:

Squidward(SpongeBob SquarePants)

Jimmy Neutron

Arnold(Hey Arnold)

Zuko(Avatar:The Last Airbender)

Dib(Invader Zim)

Donatello(TMNT)

Raphael(TMNT)

New Franchises:

Rudy(Chalkzone)

Dagget and Norbert(Angry Beavers)

Very Obscure or Recent Franchises:

Miko(Glitch Techs)

Vendetta(Making Fiends)

Mikey Simon(Kappa Mikey)

#video games #nickelodeon #sponegbob squarepants #tmnt michelangelo #invader zim #fighting #rugrats

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megahorous · 1 year

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I was inspired by Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 to re-watch Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius !

-- We saw it long, long ago on a bus trip

-- At that age, I was afraid naming the dog “Goddard” might be sacrilegious

-- The part I most remember was Cindy encouraging Jimmy in the dungeon...and “build Goddard a female poodle” came back to me when he said it

-- I wish I could be as cool as Nick. He’s even sort of encouraging to NerdTron, rather than antagonistic

-- Libby should be on the cover

-- Oh, Carl kinda reminded me of Strong Sad

-- Hugh Neutron is still in love with his wife, even though they’re married !

-- Jimmy’s MILH is right...shrink rays, Piranha Plants...he’s going to seriously injure someone someday. Well, I guess that’s the point

-- Oh, he finds nothing suspicious re: everyone’s parents leaving at the same time. Stupid Genius

-- It’s like Home Alone, but on a city-wide scale

-- I wouldn’t think Amusement Park rides would be able to carry you into space but I’m sure Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius knows what he’s doing

-- I was almost afraid they were going to forget Nick since he ran away at the end

-- In fact, I almost forgot about the teacher until the end ! Now I remember “Sheen, this is the nth time you’ve shown this” was a meme, wasn’t it. Maybe Ultra Lord had a new hat !

#Jimmy Neutron #Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius #Cindy Vortex #Sheen #Carl Wheezer #Libby #Nick #school #Nickelodeon #Letterboxd #Goddard #aliens #Retroland

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Quick Thoughts: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reveal Trailer and Initial Roster

Whelp I didn’t expect to be doing another one of these so soon but welcome to quick thoughts where I give well quick thoughts on stuff instead of the longer form reviews I usually do.

So as longtime or even short time readers of this blog might know I love NIck. I don’t review shows from it as often as Disney or Cartoon Network, but it was still a beloved part of my childhood and still makes great shows today such as the Loud House, Harvey Beaks and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s horribly mismanaged, which is why two of those shows are no longer with us and the last of them is weirdly missing from this game, and have a long and storied history of screwing things over.. and i’m not exagerating when Mr. Enter, no matter your opinon of him now, did a whole marathon of every nicktoon almost every entry included the fact the show had been screwed over in some way.

But as anyone who knows my history with Disney will tell you just because I don’t sugarcoat a brand I like’s fuckups dosen’t mean they aren’t near and dear to me at the same time. I”m a grown up: I can have complex emotions towards a chlidren’s tv network. So I love it’s varied shows some of whom (Avatar, Harvey beaks again, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold) are among my all time faviorites.

Now something readers of my blog probably WOUDLN’T know is I love Nintendo, they have their own fuckups like weird release strageies and never doing a remotely decent discount like the competition, but their still a company I love and since I only play handhelds most of the time are my primary source of good shit. So naturally Smash Bros is my faviorite franchise of theres. I love the idea of fighting games but often struggle with the combo heavy nature. So Smash Bros, having a roster of some of my faviorite characters ever, a plaformer style control scheme, and a deceptivley simple style that’s easy to learn and fun to master with the right character, is my shit. Sure I won’t rush out to buy every dlc character, but you better belivie I played the hell out of Ultimate, will likely go back to it again some day, and did buy Banjo and Kazooie because fuck yeah.

So yeah I needed to talk about Nick making their own smash bros clone. When I heard the rumors I wasn’t sure, mostly because Rumors can be just that.. but nope this game is happening and i’m all on board for it. This isn’t Nick’s first crossover rodeo in recent memory either also making a pair of Kart Racing Games: one I KINDA wanted to play till I looked at the roster, had a good laugh and lost that i want, and the other I really want to play as it seems like the first game if it were you know an actual game with a decent track selection, a deep character roster and an actual love of it’s properties.

So making their own Smash Bros was a logical step and one i’m here for. We haven’t had any of the big cartoon networks make one since well.. Cartoon Network, and Nick has just a deep a bench to pull from, one that will hopefully get CN to get their cast to throw hands once more.

For now though the idea of the vast history of nick all throwing hands with each other is amazing. Look i’m honest with myself: this looks like a decent smash clone,functional but nothing specail, but with the expressive character animation and solid roster you need for a game like this. I know going in i’m not going ot get Smash Ultimate quality of brawler, but i’m probably going to have fun with it.

The only downside I see so far is , like the Kart Racers, theyd idn’t seem to get ANY voice actors for this which smacks of laziness, especially since most of the voice actors for these characters are still active, and in some cases like Spongebob or Loud House are still working with you. So you have no real excuse for this, shame on you.

But yeah the game looks good.. despite the trailer being pretty bad. It’s just some generic music set to “LOOK WHO WE GOT”. And granted look who they got is really spiffy and i’ll be diving into that in a second, but it dosen’t give any of these characters a reall chance to show off how they play or how awesome they are. It’s just a bland montage of whose in the roster in the same 2 or 3 stages. And when you have 15 stages overall to show off that’s not excusable. Again i’m not expecting Smash level quality revelas, this game dosen’t have the marketing budget, but you have a really great concept and roster here, you coudl’ve revealed it better and this game better. The Kart Racers 2 Trailer was also mildly bland but it did show off the game better, showing off several tracks and how VASTLY improved the roster was, so you CAN make a good trailer you just didn’t. It felt like they thought the poitn of all the smash reveals trailers was here’s a character and missed all the style and substance to them.

That being said while the trailer was weak.. it was boyed by the fact this roster is REALLY damn good. Let’s face it I woudln’t even be talking about this game if the roster wasn’t this minty but they clearly learned from Kart Racers not to half ass it and while they learned the long lessons from Smash in how to promote the fighters they have, they learned the right lessons in having a nice mix of crowd pleasing faviorites for kids and vetrans alike along with a few deep cuts for said longtime fans. And this is JUST the intitial reveal roster: Given the Box Art isn’t out yet, I feel there’s more to come, especially since despite being perfect for the game there’s no one from the Avatarverse yet, but I also feel that Nick is saving that for a second trailer to announce the release date. But I can and will go into who i’d LIKE on the roster in another one of these sometime soon. -

Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy (SpongeBob Squarepants): I’m getting these three out of the way as their essentially to this what Mario and Co were to smash: necessary and inevitible. As for who was chosen.. it was as obvious as putting spongebob himself int he game. Sponebob is Nick’s mascot, Patrick is nearly as iconic and Sandy is well loved as well as the spongebob character most associated with buttkicking. Being an expert martial artist is both part of her character and a cerntral part of her character and relationship with Spongebob. So yeah not a lot ot say here: it was ineivible but I don’t mind at all having grown up with them and with my niece and nibling being huge fans.

87 Leo and 87 Mikey (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): This one i’m mixed on. Not on the turtles being here: i’m a MASSIVE TMNT fan and i’td be stupid to leave them out since Nick Owns them, made the last two series, and they fit this kind of game like a glove, even having had their OWN smash clone to themselves once.

No my issue is obviously in the version choseN: The 87 turtles. Again I have no beef with the guys themselves, I haven’t seen much of 87 but I want to and they look really gorgeous and nicely cartoony. It’s just a REALLY weird choice. The 87 turtles have never been on a nick network due to rights issues, have never been associated with nick, and aren’t the ones most kids of EITHER DEMO would be familiar with: Grown up fans of nicktoons from the 90′s like myself would be more familiar with 2003, and kids and teens from more recent eras would be more familiar with 2012 and rise, which REALLY should’ve been the rep. I mean their weird shame of rise bothers me enough on a good day but not using EITHER show you actually made bothers me, it bothers me a lot. I’ll still probably play Mikey, i’m not made of stone and as I said I have no beef with the 87 turtles, I just wish nick had used the others or hell just gone all lin and used one turtle from each cartoon. I mean if your going to use stuff you’ve barely aired why not give me some 2003 nostalgia too huh? Though it could just be that since, unlike the rise and 2012 turrtles the 87 turtles have the same body type and colors it was easier to just do all 4 and just give each unique facial expressions. Who knows... I knows it was probably that.

Lincoln and Lucy Loud (The Loud House, Duh): Another pretty obvious one as The Loud House is currrently nick’s co-flagship show with spongebob. Still waiting for my diffrent world spinoff with Bobby and Lori guys. So yeah Lincoln isn’t a suprise and Lucy is only minorly one as it was a matter of “which sister”... and Lucy is one of the most popular. Neither really fit a combat setting.. but given this is a fun crossover game, that really dosen’t matter and in fact is kind of the fun: taking just the most insane matcchups imaginable and mashing them together. I mean this is a game where Lincoln and Lucy can beat up Leo and Mikey, why wouldn’t I want that kind of crack on my nintendo switch? I am hoping for Luna to make her way to the stage next as she was absent from Kart Racer 2 and would be really fun to play. Plus having ANOTHER bi fighter in the mix if korra gets in there would be awesome, let alone letting the two beat up or punch each other’s face. But again I could and probably will mak ea whole article about other possible fighters i’d want.

The Plesant Suprises: Nigel Thornberry , Oblina and Powdered Toast Man (Wild Thronberries, Ahhh! Real MOnsters1 and Ren and Stimpy) : Yeah while only one of these cartoons was a faviorite as a kid (Wild Thornberries)... I have nothing but respect for these choices. One of the funnest things about Smash is while you can see some roster members coming sometimes you get utter curveballs like Mr. Game and Watch, Pirana Plant and MInecraft Guy. They also go for more cult franchises like SNK or Earthbound (the latter of which is fucking awesome localize mother 3 already dammit) too among the big heavies, making it feel like a true tapestry of Nintendo’s history.

Nigel is the only one of these three that’s really obvious. He’s a meme, he was the best part of his show.. but it’s still just uniquely batshit to put NIGEL THRONBERRY in a fighting game. You better belivie he’ll be one of my mains.

Oblina is more a suprise because I thought they’d go with Icket, but instead went wtih the character who was more popular and had a really unqiue and cool design, so i’m pleased as punch to have her. Finally while I don’t have any real attachment to ren and stimply apart from Log, and really it’s hard to gain any now knowing i’ts creator was a pedophile piece of shit, the franchise is still a cornerstone of nick history, the rest oc the crew didn’t abuse power or not make deadlines or be a com plete piece of shit, and powerded toast man is genuinely great. I”d love to see Really Big Man too, clash of the weird superheroes, I love me a weird as hell superhero. This also speaks promisingly that w’ell get some real weird curveballs to come and i’m here for it.

The Rest: Helga, Zim, Danny and Reptar. (Hey Arnold, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom and Rugrats! ): Note i’m not lumping these together because their bad: their all graet nostalgic picks from timeless shows and with the rugreboot currently running on Paramount+, it’d be weird not to represent them.

And since I brought it up reptar is a fun chocie, another oddball but one more understandable as no one wants to beat the shit out of a toddler. Or rather no one playing the game would care you could because it’s a silly fighting game and a 12 and 8 year old are also beat upable, but someone would probably throw a fit somewhere. Plus again it’s a game where you can have danny phantom fight reptar. Shut up and take my money.

The rest are all great choices if ones I’m not suprised by: Hey Arnold’s an all time classic and being tough is a lot of Helga’s character, and again I can have her throw hands with nigel thornberry, reptar and a ninja turtle in the same match. Zim is another fan faviorite and fits the game like a glove and Danny Phantom is the one out of Nick’s three suprehero classics it actually still cares about so my boy getting in there isn’t a shocker, though his attacks lookw eird. Hopefully they green them up before the final prduct.

So yeah overall it looks really promsing and really fun and i’ll probably check this game out if I get enough money when it comes out or more likely put it on my christmas list. But I will get it somehow this i swear.. speaking of which put manny in the roster dammit. If you liked this.. thing consider joining my patreon for a buck a month fo exclsuvie reviews and ot help me review tuca and bertie, amphibia and more as part of my memebership drive.

#nickelodeon #danny phantom #the wild thornberry's #spongebob squarepants #hey arnold #teenage mutant ninja turtles #ren and stimpy #the loud house #ahh! Real MOnsters #rugrats

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skipdrawz · 3 years

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Stream Plans everyone

I have some stream plan so here my list

Wednesday 4th- Nick Kart Racer 2

Friday 6th- TTR Part 3

Sunday 8th- Art Stream

Wednesday 11th- Disney Infinity

Friday 13th- NewCP Cardjitsu

Cake Week Streams

Sunday 15: Art Stream (The day before the stream I will ask for art request)

Wednesday 18: Nick Kart Racer 2

Friday 20: ??? (Look back on a kids game I love)

Saturday 21: TTR Part 5

Note: Anything may change from the original plans

#streaming

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years

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2018 Rolex 24 Preview: Superstars Invade Daytona

It’s an argument as old as motor racing itself: Who’s the best driver?

And it’s an argument that gets more difficult each season to answer, given the ever-increasing specialization in professional auto racing. Pitting top NASCAR drivers against top IndyCar drivers, or finding a way to have sports car drivers run against Formula 1 competitors—it’s simply too complicated.

It has been tried before, of course. The International Race of Champions attempted to do just that when the series debuted in 1974, with Mark Donohue taking the first IROC championship, followed by Bobby Unser and A.J. Foyt. But assembling the proper roster of drivers for four races a year proved more and more difficult, and IROC was done by 2006.

So is there any way to get some of the top drivers in multiple series to face off at a real speedway, battling it out in comparable cars?

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ford GTs look to claim a second consecutive Rolex 24 win.

In fact there is, and it will happen this week on January 27. We are, of course, talking about the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. Because the twice-around-the-clock endurance race does not conflict with any other major auto race in the world, it allows drivers from many series to make a guest appearance.

Which, it is worth noting, they have done every year since the Daytona endurance race debuted in 1962 as a three-hour event. That race was won by Dan Gurney, the incredibly versatile driver who scored wins in sports car racing, IndyCar racing, NASCAR, and F1. Gurney died January 14. He always counted that Daytona race as one of his favorite wins—his Lotus 19 built up a big lead when, just before the end of the race, his engine failed. Gurney managed to coast to just shy of the finish line and then, at the three-hour mark, he let off the brakes and rolled down the banking to take the checkered flag, at approximately 5 mph.

For 2018, Gurney’s legacy of versatility will be saluted by multiple drivers with solid experience outside the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which sanctions the Rolex 24.

Porsche’s 911 RSRs boast top-notch driving talent.

“Star-studded” is on overused term, but it’s pretty much the only one that applies here.

At the top of the list: Two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, the Spanish McLaren driver who will make his first appearance at Daytona as part of the United Autosports Ligier LMP2 team. The fact that it is Alonso’s first real sports car race should not discount his potential. He made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 2017 and was immediately on pace, leading for 27 laps and contending for the win when he was sidelined with mechanical issues.

While he hasn’t yet complied statistics comparable to Alonso, another active F1 driver is on sports car duty at the Rolex 24: Canadian Lance Stroll, who has been confirmed for a second season with the Williams F1 team this year. Stroll will be contesting his second Rolex 24, this time with Jackie Chan DC Racing, an LMP2 team that almost won the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans outright.

Other drivers with an F1 connection: Lando Norris, a McLaren junior driver and FIA European Formula 3 champion, is teaming with Alonso in the United Autosports entry. And 2017 Williams test and reserve driver Paul Di Resta, who raced in F1 with Force India for two years, will be part of a sister team to Alonso’s in another United Autosports Ligier.

Sports-car racing legend Scott Pruett says this year’s Rolex 24 will be his last top-tier professional start.

Of course, another racer with very strong F1 and U.S. ties returns to IMSA competition this season as—for the first time in his career—a full-time sports car driver. Juan Pablo Montoya not only has F1, NASCAR, IndyCar, and IMSA wins on his resume, but this year he will be going for the championship as part of the new Team Penske Acura ARX-05 two-car Prototype team. He is partnering with Dane Cameron, the 2016 IMSA Prototype champion, for the entire season, with Team Penske IndyCar star Simon Pagenaud joining them for the longer sports car races.

The other Team Penske Acura is just as star-studded, as ex-IndyCar racer Helio Castroneves moves to IMSA for the full season, joined by Ricky Taylor, the 2017 IMSA champ. They will partner with still another IndyCar full-timer and race winner, Graham Rahal, for the four longest races of the year.

In fact, the Verizon IndyCar Series is rather well-represented this year. Past series champ and Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will be part of the Wayne Taylor Racing Konica-Minolta Cadillac Prototype team, which won the 2017 series championship. Hunter-Reay is the team’s third driver for the long races, joining Jordan Taylor and the new full-time driver, Renger van der Zande, who replaces the Penske-bound Ricky Taylor.

The two-car Action Express Cadillac Prototype team gets some new members: With Dane Cameron departing the No. 31 car for a Penske Acura, holdover Eric Curran’s new teammate is Felipe Nasr, and they will be joined by Mike Conway and Stuart Middleton for the longer races.

BMW Team RLL’s new M8 race cars mark the beginning of a new era for the manufacturer in sports-car competition.

The other Action Express car has regular driver Christian Fittipaldi stepping back to the role of the third driver for endurance races, as well as some team administrative duties. His longtime teammate Joao Barbosa gets Filipe Albuquerque as a sidekick; Albuquerque, you will recall, was leading last year when, in the closing stages, he was spun by eventual winner Ricky Taylor. Albuquerque recovered to take second place.

Besides Roger Penske’s new Acuras, there’s another two-car team that is familiar to IMSA fans but returns for 2018 with major changes. Last year, the winless Mazda Prototype team quit early in the season to regroup, and it has made some significant changes. The new name, Mazda Team Joest, is a tipoff—Mazda has partnered with European race team Joest, which fielded Audis to multiple victories, to re-work both the car and the driver lineup. Nos. 55 and 77 will be driven at Daytona by Jon Bomarito, Harry Ticknell, and Spencer Pigot in the 55, and Oliver Jarvis, Rene Rast, and Tristan Nunez in the 77. This will be a very important year for Mazda.

F1 driver Lance Stroll and company will pilot this ORECA LMP2 entry.

There’s another active IndyCar driver on the Rolex 24 entry list, and he must not be overlooked: Scott Dixon is the winningest driver in IndyCar, with 40 wins to go along with two overall victories in the Rolex 24. He also won the 2008 Indianapolis 500, one of four Indy 500 winners in this Rolex 24 field. This year he is back with the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, with Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook. They’ll be competing in the GT Le Mans class.

And still another open-wheel ace is in the field as Dixon’s teammate in the second Ganassi Ford GT: Sebastien Bourdais, IndyCar winner and former F1 driver, again partners with Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller.

Those Fords will square off against the two-car Corvette Racing team, which has won the last two WeatherTech Championship GTLM titles. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, teamed with Mike Rockenfeller, will be in the No. 3 Corvette, while No. 4 has Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with co-driver Marcel Fassler.

The GTLM field also includes a pair of Porsche 911 RSRs, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, and a pair of brand new BMW M8 GTLM race cars fielded by BMW Team RLL. Aside from the two BMWs, the GTLM cars have only minor changes from 2017.

Former F1 champion Fernando Alonso will continue his quest for success outside of Grand Prix racing.

That said, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy, two of the most popular Porsche factory drivers IMSA has ever hosted, are back in the factory 911 RSRs. Bamber and Tandy, of course, won overall in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Bamber picked up another Le Mans win in 2017.

If you are looking for changes, there are plenty in the GT Daytona field, stating right at the top: The WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 that won the series championship the last two years gets a new driver: Cooper MacNeil moves in, and Christina Nielsen moves out, to the Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3 R with veteran Patrick Long. MacNeil teams with Alessandro Balzan for the whole season, and Gunnar Jeannette and Jeff Segal for the longer races.

For this year’s Rolex 24, Scuderia Corsa will field a second entry for 2014 Rolex 24 GTD winners Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, who will be joined Frank Montecalvo and Sam Bird, the Formula E specialist who has already scored seven wins in that young series.

Corvette Racing is always in the hunt for wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

You might also keep an eye on the No. 99 JDC-Miller Oreca LMP2, where California driver Gustavo Menzes is helping out for the long races. He was the only American-born racer running full time in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2017, and he has an LMP2 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016. That year, his team, Signatech Alpine, won the overall championship.

Ex-IndyCar driver Bruno Junqueira, who will help out the No. 14 3T Racing Lexus RCF GT3 on longer races, has eight IndyCar wins (actually in Champ Car), and finished second in the points three times.

We certainly can’t forget Scott Pruett, who is making his last racing start in the Rolex 24 after 50 years of competition, starting, of course, as an eight-year-old kid with a go-kart. For the Rolex 24, Pruett will drive with Junqueira’s sister team in the No. 15 Lexus, with regular drivers Jack Hawksworth, Dominik Farnbacher, and David Heinemeier Hansson.

Will Mazda’s new association with Team Joest bring it to the front of the field?

Pruett is a five-time champion in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with 60 sports car series wins, and he also won in the aforementioned International Race of Champions series. He competed in both NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series and in the IndyCar Series, where he won twice. He has five overall wins in the Rolex 24, equaled only by Hurley Haywood.

If you count the handful of starts Romain Dumas has in the World Rally Championship—not to mention his three wins at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb—that’s another series represented here by a remarkably versatile driver, who has three overall wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year, he and fellow Frenchman Loic Duval will join regular drivers Colin Braun and Jon Bennett in the CORE Oreca LMP2.

NASCAR isn’t quite as well-represented as it has been in past Rolex 24s—last year, Jeff Gordon stepped out of retirement to join the Wayne Taylor Racing team for its overall victory—but don’t forget that NASCAR’s A.J. Allmendinger also has an overall win in the Rolex 24. This year he is helping out the two-car Acura NSX GT3 Daytona lineup from Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian. He will share the No. 86 car with former IndyCar racer Katherine Legge, Alvaro Parente, and Trent Hindman.

Team Penske has a stellar driver lineup for each of its two new prototypes.

If you’re looking for some additional NASCAR talent on Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course, come a day earlier than the Rolex 24 for the season opener of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge. Young guns Cole Custer, 19, Austin Cindric, 19, Chase Briscoe, 23, and Ty Majeski, 23, will race Ford Mustang GT4s for the Multimatic team. All four will compete this season for Ford in the NASCAR Xfinity series.

By IMSA’s count, drivers from 25 countries and six continents—it seems that, once again, Antarctica’s racers are laying down on the job—will compete in the 2018 Rolex 24. It’s a singular lineup, and we have to think Dan Gurney would be proud.

ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Thursday, Jan. 25:

Qualifying, 3:45 p.m EST, imsa.tv

Friday, Jan. 26:

BMW Endurance Challenge, 12:50 p.m. EST, imsa.tv

Saturday, Jan. 27:

Rolex 24, 2 p.m.-5 p.m. EST, Fox

2:30 p.m.-11:55 p.m. EST, imsa.tv

5 p.m.-10 p.m. EST, Fox Sports 2

10 p.m.-11 p.m EST, Fox Sports Go

11 p.m.-1 a.m. EST, Fox Sports 1

Sunday, Jan. 28:

12:05 a.m.-2:40 p.m. EST, imsa.tv

1 a.m.-8 a.m. EST, Fox Sports Go

8 a.m.-10:30 a.m. EST, Fox Sports 2

10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. EST, Fox Sports Go

10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. EST, Fox Sports 1

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How the Iconic Wipeout Series Was Born

From Playstation Blog USA

“It’s only really many years later when you have the benefit of hindsight that you look at the idea, the art direction, the soundtrack, the platform… and it’s all just perfect timing. Those moments don’t come along very often.” – Nick Burcombe, co-creator, WipEout (1995)

WipEout hit 1995 with the force of an earthquake. Its sci-fi vision of armed anti-grav craft battling it out at 1,2000kph for gold and glory on twisting, vertigo-inducing race tracks couldn’t have been further removed from the quintessentially English pub in which it was conceived. Yet it felt perfectly in sync with the world it roared into like a supercharged sci-fi colossus.

Birthed in Liverpool, England and deployed on PS One’s bleeding edge tech, WipEout dropped into the eye of a raging cultural storm that was gripping the United Kingdom. Yet while it embodied the zeitgeist of ‘Cool Britannia’ – a celebration of the country’s beautiful collision of movies, music, art, club culture – its impact wasn’t restricted by geography. Cool Britannia’s epicentre was the British Isles. WipEout’s was anywhere a PlayStation was hooked up to a TV.

How the Future of Racing Started in an English Pub

WipEout was the child of a concept pitch and a vivid memory. The two met in a pub just outside Liverpool in the early ’90s, introduced by a pair of Psygnosis developers – designer Nick Burcombe and artist Jim Bowers. The drinking establishment was a regular haunt for studio staff of which Bowers and Burcombe were two. They’d regularly meet and bounce ideas of each other.

Years earlier, Bowers had created a concept movie of two wedged ships dogfighting along a race track, firing missiles at one another before soaring round a huge loop.

He’d showed it to Burcombe, who recalled the footage when regaling Bowers with a story of how he’d overcome a particularly difficult race in Super Mario Kart by turning the TV’s volume off and cranking up a trance track (‘Age of Love’ by Age of Love) on his hi-fi.

“I had a zen moment were everything flowed perfectly,” remembers Burcombe. That sense of exhilaration as the music reached its peak as he crossed the finish line “was the moment I knew I wanted to make a game that did that to you.”

He envisioned doing the same to Bowers’ concept, setting the piece to a Liam Howlett cover of surf track ‘Wipe Out’ that broke out into the Prodigy’s ‘No Good’.

“I think that was the moment we could both see immediately what the game could be,” Nick says. “Even if it was in our slightly sozzled minds’ eye.”

The concept was gold. But there were two other key elements that helped turn the concept into reality.

How the CD-ROM and the Movie Hackers Made WipEout a Reality

In the early ’90s Psygnosis was making inroads in two key areas. Alongside researching CD-ROM technology on the belief it’d soon be the next big shift in the industry, its Advanced Technology Group art team were getting to grips with 3D modelling. The result was a pair of arcade shooters, Microcosm and Novastorm (the latter, designed from scratch by Burcombe, offered a heavier emphasis on sci-fi).

Unbeknownst to Psygnosis, Sony’s PlayStation console would also use the technology. Impressed by the studio’s output, Sony would soon buy the studio outright and put it to work creating a game for its debut games machine.

At the same time, Sony Pictures approached the studio to create a gameplay sequence for a scene in its movie Hackers. Bowers and Burcombe saw their chance to solidify the idea born from their recent pub conversation. A tight deadline meant there couldn’t be any fat, and the pair raced to refine their initial idea. Burcombe focused on vertigo-inducing track design while Bowers added pop-up walls that could be shot to access new sections of the level.

Their work paid off. So impressed by the concept, when the studio took delivery of its first PSone development kits, Burcombe was put in charge of creating its debut title. “I think [my boss John White] and Jimmy knew I had something in my head that I wanted to get out,” Nick theorises.

Tracks, Setting, and the Feel of Anti-grav

Initial focus was on perfecting track design. Trackside details, the game’s overall tone and theme were secondary.

“I was much more concerned with the length of straight, steepness of elevation, frequency of undulations and the tightness or camber of chicanes and corners,” says Burcombe.

The designer also had a clear idea about the weapons pilots could use during the races, stating that everything initially designed made it into the final game.

The 2052 setting was picked because of its relative proximity to the modern day. Close enough to relate to (“it should still be recognisable. An arbitrary date – like 3231AD – would mean nothing to me”) but still offer a tantalising glimpse into future tech such as anti-gravity, which would be the cornerstone of WipEout’s feel.

“For some bizarre reason, I’d use vocal sound effects to really emphasise the weight of something or the inertia and drift,” recalls Burcombe of trying to convey the feeling of anti-grav to the rest of the team. “So I’d have to say it is a testament to the programming team who actually understood what I was trying to achieve.”

How the Iconic Soundtrack Emerged

You can’t talk WipEout without discussing its soundtrack. At a time when licenced music was a rarity in the industry, it was a combination of Sony’s extra marketing heft – specifically tapping into Sony’s music label – and an early demo of the game that secured the title’s first artist. Burcombe headed to London to meet Phil and Paul Hartnol – better known as dance outfit Orbital.

“We got talking about [the demo we showed them] and they were really enthused.They took us down to the studio to play me a track they had called P.ET.R.O.L. After some remixing and reworking – this track actually ended up on the disc. I think once that contact had been made, it was easier to get some others.”

Leftfield and The Chemical Brothers soon followed, and the game’s success greenlit further collaborations in sequels with the likes of FSOL, Fluke, Underworld, Prodigy, Photek and more. “It was a who’s who of the ’90s dance scene,” Nick says as he runs down the artist list.

Restarting the Project and Finishing the Game

Yet despite discussing the initial concept at length and fine-tuning it before full production began, creating a fully textured, real-time 3D game proved challenging, to the point that at one stage, the team had to restart the entire project, rethinking its approach to its production and programming pipeline.

“There was a moment when Ken Kutaragi came to the Liverpool studio and left believing we couldn’t make our launch dates,” Nick reveals. “But that was like a red rag to a bull for a team that had already worked very hard on it. The final few months of WipEout’s development was extraordinary, and I think being there for the European launch was a monumental achievement.”

“Looking back on it now, if it was just reverse psychology – it worked,” Burcombe admits.

Even when discussion shifts to the game’s launch, and acknowledgment of the fact that WipEout was on every early adopters’ wishlist come the PS One launch night at the studio’s local HMV, in typical developer fashion Burcombe mainly remembers the less enthusiastic critical responses.

“We were reading the 7s more than the 9s and nodding about the things that could be improved. It really focused our attention on what we needed to achieve for a sequel.”

After celebrating its success the team rolled up its sleeves and immediately started work on the next entry: WipEout 2097.

The Price of WipEout 2097

In the original game, weapons were deployed only to slow the competition down, give you time to overtake. In 1997 follow-up WipEout 2097, the studio introduced ship energy bars, meaning competitor – and player – ships could be destroyed if you didn’t recharge via trackside pit lanes. It added a new layer of strategy to races; WipEout’s version of F1 tyre changes mid-race.

Ships would now scrape up against walls, sparks flying, rather than coming to abrupt halt. While the original’s difficulty had its fans – including XDev’s John McLaughlin (“This is also why it is loved so much,” he says. “Once mastered you become one with the handling model, zipping through tracks, bounding over boost pads”) – the team wanted to make a more rewarding experience.

But the development turnaround proved creatively tough. Coming directly off finishing the original, the studio now had just less than eight months to develop and release the sequel. Despite 2097 bettering the original in every way, some of the original staff needed a break. As a third game went into production, Burcombe became a bystander to the franchise’s future. Nick eventually left Psygnosis – or Studio Liverpool as it was rebranded – to form his own independent label, PlayRise, and work on mobile turned console racer, Table Top Racing.

“I was able to stand back and watch as WipEout 3 launched, then Fusion on PS2 and then the PSP, PS3 and PS Vita versions.” But he remains upbeat about seeing the series continue without him. “Watching it evolve from afar has been great and I know so many of the people who have worked on all these different versions – improving and building on it each time.”

“I think it’s one of those games that actually conveys something of the team in it. It is a game with a soul and I think people get that,” Burcombe concludes. “The ideas, the graphic design, the music and the PlayStation all combined to make it perfect for that moment in time.”

The Origin of WipEout Omega Collection

“It’s a unique game; there’s nothing else like it. It defined a generation.” – John McLaughlin, XDev, Omega Collection

December 2016, Anaheim, California. A packed auditorium’s roars are only emboldened as the tease of a bass-heavy electronica track kicking in merges with stunning HD visuals to confirm WipEout is returning. The Omega Collection couples PS3’s fan favorite tag-team of WipEout HD and Fury to PS Vita’s WipEout 2048 for an upgraded, remastered package on PlayStation 4.

It’s a welcome surprise for fans. For John XDev’s McLaughlin – one of those lifelong franchise fans and brainchild behind WipEout’s rebirth – “it seemed a simple and obvious choice” to bring the series back.

Though he admits it couldn’t be his decision alone, he made sure he was in the best possible position when pitching the idea.

“I managed to pry [WipEout HD’s] codebase from IT and got it over to Hustle Kings developer EPOS”. Together with CEO and programmer Staffan, McLaughlin worked out how they could conceivably make a PS4 remaster happen and worked up a timeline for development. To achieve it, they’d have to reach out to Clever Beans studio (When Vikings Attack) to partner with. The pitch worked. WipEout was on its way back.

The original plan, according to McLaughlin, was just to work on the HD/Fury package. “But very early on in development we looked at the 2048 code,” he explains. The PS Vita launch title is the most recent entry into the franchise, but its fiction provided a glimpse into an earlier era of the Anti-Grav Racing League. “We thought it would be great to bring all of the tracks and ships from that game too.”

Artwork was reworked, details added. SFX was totally remastered. Split-screen was coded in – a first for the previously handheld only 2048 – and a couple of nods to the classic era added (“we set about bringing back a couple of defunct teams from yesteryear and brought back Tigron and Van Uber teams.”).

And today, some months short of WipEout’s 21st anniversary, the futuristic racing franchise is reborn on PS4.

Back in 1995 there wasn’t anything like WipEout. In 2017, there still isn’t.

Your favorite race track from the franchise…

While Burcombe has the very first WipEout track, Altima VII, as a highlight (“I purposely put it first so you get that “wow” moment from the rollercoaster style downhill section”), it’s pipped by the game’s later course Arridos.

“It has a brilliant flow to it,” he remembers. “There’s some insane airborne shortcutting and great air-brake drift corners too. I also love that it looks carved into the landscape; the location seems plausible.”

For McLaughlin, it’s a pair of Sols – Sol2 from HD and Sol from 2048 – that are closest to his heart. “I love being thousands of feet in the air, zipping along at 1200KPH knowing I can fall off the edge at any moment. Real seat of your pants stuff!”

Your favorite WipEout team…

Maybe because it’s the default team come the ship selection menu of every WipEout, but both Burcombe and McLaughlin favour the Federal European Institute of Science and Research, better known under their acronym, FEISAR.

Though McLaughlin “has some affection” for Triakis, Burcombe points out the story behind FEISAR’s naming may be why it’s his only choice.

“It was a bit of a political joke. The UK had just signed the Maastricht Treaty in ’92 and it was a sort of prediction on where the UK and EU might be heading.”

Your favorite music track…

Despite not making its WipEout debut until 1997 sequel 2097, Prodigy and dance classic Firestarter is what immediately comes to mind for both men.

“It’s embedded in everyone’s brain,” Burcombe sums up simply. “Even though the version in [WipEout 2097] is the instrumental, it’s so engrained in the UK psyche, your mind just fills in Liam’s incredible vocal without even thinking about it.”

Your favorite piece of fan appreciation…

Much as WipEout is a unique melting pot of near-future techand killer tracks, so too is fan love spread across mediums, styles and disciplines. Burcombe points to seeing WipEout tattoos (“it blows my mind that its influence is strong, they felt the need to etch it into their skin forever”) but also that he “still gets regular emails” from fans thanking him for getting them into PlayStation, dance music or becoming DJs themselves. For McLaughlin though, a homage to the in-fiction ships wins out. “I simply love this model.”

Celebrate WipEout Omega Collection’s launch with its iconic art and music

Listen to WipEout Omega Collection’s soundtrack on Spotify here, and crank up the volume for a curated tracklist of the franchise’s best track from previous entries in our new The Best of WipEout playlist here.

Check out 25 stunning pieces of unseen WipEout artwork from across the franchise’s history here.

Celebrate the franchise’s stunning artwork with a collection of WipEout League t-shirts and hoodies, available from tomorrow exclusively on PlayStation Gear. The tops which were debuted on stage at PSX last year, feature a variant of the iconic Anti-Gravity Racing League logo – which dates back to the original game. Check them out below..

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