I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2009 is over. Like, there will be no more 2009. Ever again. Well, until the year 12009, but I'm not sure we'll be able to get the whole GameCola crew to do another podcast then.

Right; podcast. That's what I'm writing about. Michael Ridgaway, Zach Rich, Justin Luschinski, Alex Jedraszczak, Colin Greenhalgh, and sometimes Vangie Rich and Michael Gray all got together for a podcast to ring out the old year and bring in the New Year, which you know is gonna be better 'cuz it's written with Capital Letters.

Mega Man 10. Muffins. Dragon Age. Talking to a woman like she's a dog. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. A cat attack. God of War III. Halo: Reach. Singing. This podcast has it all, and you listen to it while Michael Gray entertains you with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the GameCola YouTube channel. Or, you could just stick around a while and check it out here:

Remember that podcast that Michael and Paul kept to themselves? The totally off-topic one? Well, now you can listen to it while Michael plays Mega Man Zero 3 in the background. Check it oooouuuuutt:

I was gonna post this earlier, but I didn't want to steal Michael Gray's holiday thunder. Enjoy a super-short celebratory video to ring in the New Year, from us to you. But, because we're the only ones who read this blog, it's more like... from us to... us.

We rock.

Now that you've had your fill of holiday cheer, it's time to get back to the important things in life: whacking trees with frying pans and setting moles on fire. Paul Franzen resumes his run of the quirky SNES RPG EarthBound, complete with amusing audio commentary. If you were all caught up with his videos, jump right back in with the latest video. For everyone else, I'm in a jolly mood and have embedded the whole playlist below.



In case you're still stuffed from all those cookies and holiday feasts, you'll be pleased to learn that we are releasing Paul's videos at the easy-to-digest rate of 3 per day up until New Year's. Check back regularly to our GameCola YouTube channel for more!

If you need something to entertain you while you're waiting for the next set of videos to be released, try out my hilarious and ridiculous run of the point-and-click detective adventure game, Deja Vu. Hooray for shameless self-promotion!

To celebrate this festive season, Michael Gray has whipped up a little video something for all you good girls and boys:



For the rest of you, you all get coal.

After my hilarious (really!) run of the point-and-click detective adventure game Deja Vu (the mostly superior Windows version) became the proverbial camel that broke the straw's back, you are no doubt ready to watch us play a game other than Deja Vu. Fortunately for you, Michael Gray has played through Deja Vu II: This Time It's Not Deja Vu I, Or At Least Not Any Of The Fun Parts.

Watch Michael start a horrifically violent gang war so he doesn't have to pay his bar tab!* Laugh as Michael gets arrested because a blind man was offended that he wasn't wearing any pants! Marvel at the hideous typos!



*Alright, so that's not technically true. But it wouldn't surprise me if it were true.

You've seen Michael Gray elegantly puzzle his way through adventure games. You've seen Paul Franzen use Michael Gray's elegant walkthrough to puzzle his way through adventure games.

Now, watch Nathaniel Hoover make adventure gaming into a ridiculous farce.

Watch him try to lap up leaky toilet water, shout at inanimate objects, and jam wooden chairs into his pants. Watch the Windows version of Deja Vu as it was meant to be played: as though the player really is Ace Harding, a confused detective with possible brain damage.

Michael and Paul recorded a top-secret podcast. Normally, podcast topics are things that I know nothing about and can't relate to at all, such as the PS3 price cut, and what games I've been playing recently. This time, when the topics are things I'm actually knowledgable about, such as the adventure game Deja Vu and the first three cases of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and anime and former staff writers whose articles I've actually read, they decide to hold a clandestine podcast and not invite me.

Bitterness dictates that I should burn down the Internet in rage, but I am contractually obligated to share this fun podcast with you, the way podcasts were meant to be listened to: on video. To help hold your attention, or possibly to confuse you, Michael silently plays Nancy Drew: It's Really Freakishly Cold Outside during each video.

Watch it, and petition them to invent a time machine so I can join in:



Furthermore, if you have no idea what this "Deja Vu" game is that they keep talking about, take a look at Michael's walkthrough-quality run of the GBA version and/or Paul's run of the NES version, where he does everything wrong and still somehow manages to beat the game. We love both versions.






Also, I have ulterior motives for making you watch the Deja Vu videos... bwahaha! (You'll just need to wait and see! BwaHAha!)

It took seven whole months, but Michael Gray has achieved what no human being thought possible: he shot his DNA into spa--I mean, uh, he beat Final Fantasy VI Advance for the GBA. Wow, now that doesn't seem nearly as impressive.

Michael's now-complete run of FFVIA is easily the longest video series we have on the GameCola YouTube channel, clocking in at a staggering 111 videos. To put that into perspective, the time it will take you to watch all of these videos is rougly how long it would take you to watch all six Star Wars movies back-to-back, plus Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, plus Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, plus The Star Wars Holiday Special, with a bit of time between each movie to bang your head against the wall.

If you've already seen some of these videos, it would be a waste of time to click through an embedded playlist to get to a video you haven't seen. That's why I'm just going to embed all 111 videos here; now you can easily scroll down to whichever one you want to see.














...Aw, forget this. Just check out the entire playlist for Final Fantasy VI Advance, and be sure to check back each day for continuing installments. The Ewoks are watching you.

The title about sums things up, but I'm unnaturally verbose, so I've gotta talk about this at least a little bit. We've got a podcast of Paul Franzen, Matt Jonas, Nathaniel Hoo--erm, me, Michael Gray, and Lizo Medina-Gray talking about videogames, etc. whilst somebody plays the SNES game Krusty's Super Fun House in the background. 'Cuz, you know, it wouldn't be much of a video if you didn't have anything to look at.

Well, now you've got something to look at.



This podcast was recorded individually by each participant and then edited together; things we discuss include the PlayStation 3 price cut, what makes licensed games good/bad, and what games we're playing now. Things we do NOT discuss include why the audio quality of one of my segments suddenly turns to junk.

If you're familiar with the SNES game EarthBound, and if you've heard of "Thanksgiving," then you must watch the following video right this very instant. It is GameCola's gift to you on this Thanksgiving Day.

On February 16, 2009, something incredible will happen. At last, the world will know exactly what the heck the official title of the new Miles Edgeworth game is. For now, we're calling it Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney: Investigations, which is probably wrong, and we've got a demo of the game (called the "Trial Edition"--hur hur hur) on the GameCola YouTube channel, courtesy of Michael Gray.

No longer is it true that we only make videos about old games. Bask in the radience of a videogame so modern it hasn't even been released yet:



Can't get enough of those ruffles? Be sure to watch Michael's helpful, interesting, and funny walkthroughs for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney; the videos for all five cases have been completed, so you can see the whole game from start to finish. Take a look! Or else!

Episode 1: The First Turnabout (Murdered by a clock! Meet an improbably busty woman!)

Episode 2: Turnabout Sisters (An improbably busty woman, murdered by a clock! Meet another improbably busty woman!)

Episode 3: Turnabout Samurai (Murdered on the clock! Meet unattractive men who are improbably bustier than the women!)

Episode 4: Turnabout Goodbyes (Murdered near the dock! Meet a man with an improbably ruffly bust!)

Episode 5: Rise from the Ashes (Murdered in the--okay, I haven't watched this one yet.)


...Or else!

Willy Beamish might not be a household name, but it's easy enough to kill him in his own house. If you're a fan of Space Quest, Quest for Glory, Beneath a Steel Sky, or any other adventure game where it's possible to die in colorful, creative ways if you do something brilliantly stupid, then these new Adventures of Willy Beamish videos might just be for you.

We've got two collections of death/game over sequences from the cartoony adventure game about a pluckly child who, from what I can tell, needs to win a frog jumping contest to score a date with the attractive new school nurse, who is being extorted by these two soap opera rejects who control the local bullies and gangs. Willy's dad is in cahoots with the soap opera rejects, but after accidentally letting loose a crazy pet bat, the soap opera rejects decided to drop him into a pool of acid for his incompetence. From the look of it, Willy's mom, the CEO of a sugar factory, would have done it herself if she'd had the chance.

Anybubbles, you can piece together exactly what's going on for yourself as you watch poor little Willy Beamish get processed into a bag of sugar, drowned in a treasure chest at the bottom of the ocean, fall into an alternate dimension, and other wonderful things. Also, there's a strange video of a Duke Nukem wannabe stumbling around on a stage because he's been drinking "cola." Have fun with all that, but remember that you really came here to watch Willy get dissolved in a vat of acid.





And on the subject of watching a little boy die over and over again, be sure to check out Paul's run of the delightfully unusual SNES RPG EarthBound, which is both funny and well-paced because he cuts out all the extraneous battle footage (I.e. half the game):

The GameCola YouTube page is positively overflowing with new videos, and now is a perfect chance to get on board with some of the video series you may have missed! (Now is always a perfect chance to get on board, by the way.)

The newest release is The GameCola Podcast #16: Ratchet & Clank (and Michael), which involves Michael Ridgaway playing through Ratchet & Clank: A Wrinkle in Time. You can listen to this podcast with your eyes:



If Ratchet & Clank: Take a Bite Out of Crime isn't up your shady alley, try out either of our continuing video series: EarthBound, the quirky SNES RPG, or the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Episode 5: Rise from the Ashes. New videos from each set are posted three-at-a-clip on alternating days, so you have plenty of excuses to slack off.

Now, go. Slack off.

LOTS of news about the GameCola YouTube page. Also, sentence fragment. If you've been clamoring for variety, this news oughta make ya happy.

First, I've released two more videos of me playing through a game I covered once upon a time in my Flash Flood column. This time it's for the Flash game Dodge, where the instructions are simple: Avoid ball for high score. Also, you blow things up. See for yourself:




I'm not the only one to return from video hiatus; once Paul realized how popular his Plan 9 from Outer Space videos were, he vowed to start making videos that people would watch. Thus, we now have the beginnings of a runthrough of EarthBound, the quirky SNES RPG:




Incidentally, if you need your RPG video fix and EarthBound isn't enough for you, try out Michael's lengthy but as-of-yet incomplete run of Final Fantasy VI Advance for the GBA, which has now been consolidated into a single playlist for easier access.

And if you need your Michael fix and FFVIA isn't enough for you, please limit your creepy stalking to just commenting on every single one of his Phoenix Wright videos, of which there are now several more. Episode 5: Rise from the Ashes is nearing its conclusion, and you can get caught up right now:




Just to make things interesting, the remaining EarthBound and Phoenix Wright videos will be posted three at a time on alternating days, which should last about a week or so. With any luck we'll have more videos by then, so your daily routine of flocking to our magnificent channel should continue uninterrupted.

Finally, because we've been doing a lot of posting on this 'ere blogaroo, take a peek at what you may have missed from the past few days:

The 2010 Nintendo Fanservice Calendar

New Game Releases for the Week of November 2nd, 2009

Carbonated News: October 2009

Best New Peripheral of 2009: A Baby?

When is the New GameCola Coming Out?