Gaming Insider

A fan of the 2001 GameCube game Wave Race: Blue Storm found a long-buried Easter egg in the racing game this week.

The code, posted to the NeoGAF message board by user “Raoul Duke,” unlocks a sardonic commentary track that insults the player at every move. “You don’t have an inferiority complex,” the announcer quips. “You’re just inferior.”

The code seems “pretty elaborate,” says Chris Bieniek, editor of Tips & Tricks Codebook magazine. “It’s separate from the password entry system that they used for the rest of the codes in that game, so somebody must have wanted it buried deep.”

JADS, another NeoGAF user, posted gameplay video (above) that highlights the unlocked audio. Those with precariously low self-esteem, beware.

The process, as shared by RaoulDuke, is as follows:

Go to Options and Audio Settings.

There’s a waveform display at the bottom that changes if you press the Z Button—tap Z until the waveform looks like vertically rising fog.

On the D-Pad, press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, X, Z. You’ll hear an audio cue if you did it right.

Back out to the front end.

Start a race. Pick the first guy.

The pit crew voice will now be some dude who basically insults you the entire time. Also, the turbo becomes a little girl’s voice saying “meow meow”

Wave Race: Blue Storm was developed by NST, an in-house Nintendo studio headquartered in Redmond, Washington. It was one of the company’s two launch games for the GameCube console.

Screengrab: Gus Mastrapa

See Also:

• Virtual Consolation Prize: Wave Race And Obscure Goodies For July …
• 14 Pop Culture Easter Eggs in World of Warcraft

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is coming to XBLA as an all-new game in the beloved Treasure series. It’s being published by D3Publisher and will be released this Fall for $10 or 800 MSP (Microsoft Points).

The developers promise that Missile Fury, which is an all-new game in the multi-directional schmup (shoot ‘em up) series, will feature “a sensory overloard of thousands of missiles” to satisfy fans of the bullet-hell shooter series, where the size of your enemies dwarf that of your little puny mech (which can shoot in all directions). Thankfully, for the first time, the series will now be in glorious high-definition with little to no slowdown, thanks to the processing power of the Xbox 360. Huzzuh!

Even better than that, the game will include over 100 levels and will even include a level editor! Not only can you create your own levels, but you will be able to share them with friends over Xbox Live!

One of the major updates to this game is in the form of the EX Attack, which you pull off in all Bangai-o games by allowing yourself to get as close to the swarms of bullets as possible. The closer you are to being annihilated before activating the EX Attack, the stronger your attack (which reflects the bullets coming towards you back at their enemies!) will be. It’s no exception in Missile Fury, except now you can direct the aim of the attack.

The game will appear in playable form at the upcoming PAX Prime 10 expo which takes place tomorrow (September 3rd) and runs until September 5th. It will be held at the Washington State Convention Center.

The original Bangai-O was released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan with a limited run of only 10,000 units. However it was a cult hit and was eventually re-released in updated form for the Dreamcast, where it was also released internationally. In more recent times, a DS version of the series (an all-new game) called Bangai-O Spirits was released in August of 2008.

Here is an interview with the producer of Bangai-O: Spirits, talking about the series and the DS entry. Very interesting btw if you didn’t know, Bangai-O: Spirits also featured a level design mode with which you could share files. But instead of sharing them over wi-fi, you could transfer them by sound! That’s right. How so you ask? You’d record the “sound” that your created level outputted with a microphone. Someone else could then receive that level by playing back the sound file for your created level! Very interesting. While cool, that way of file transfer is a bit clunky. So luckily Bangai-O: Missile Fury lets you trade files the simple way. By simply exchanging them online via Xbox Live!

Final Fantasy XIV. Image courtesy Square Enix

Square Enix will commence open beta testing of Final Fantasy XIV at 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.

The beta test of the new MMO was meant to begin on Tuesday, but was postponed when the Japanese gamemaker discovered “critical” bugs in the code.

Final Fantasy XIV, due out September 30 on PC and in March 2011 for Playstation 3, is the company’s first foray into the MMO space since it launched Final Fantasy XI in 2002.

It will be interesting to see how Square Enix makes an MMO in the post-Warcraft world. FFXIV recently incurred the wrath of hardcore gamers when it came out that it would try discourage marathon game sessions by reducing the gains of players who stay online and grind for too long.

Remember that there was a similar outcry when folks learned of World of Warcraft’s rest system — a feature that gives people who take time off from the game twice the experience points. We learned to live with that.

The current beta test is for PC users only. Visit the official Final Fantasy XIV open beta website to sign up and start playing, and watch Game|Life for ongoing impressions of the game.

Image courtesy Square Enix

See Also:

• Hands On: Final Fantasy XIV's Combat Evolves
• Final Fantasy XIV Online Q&A Sheds Light on New MMORPG