Author: BreakmanX

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BreakmanX (AKA Matthew Nyquist) founded BreakmanX.com in 2001 after having small video game websites since around 1996. Things really took off in September of 2002 when he started The Game Show with Richie. BreakmanX.com quickly developed a tight knit community of gamers as the crew covered major industry events and interviewed top industry talent. Break later went to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts to get his MFA in Film and TV Production. He worked in Hollywood for seven years with people like Fred Roos (The Godfather Trilogy, Star Wars) and Dane Davis (The Matrix). He's now gone full circle and returned to Kansas to write and direct a feature film (EyesOpenMovie.com), relaunch The Game Show (BreakmanX.com), and spend his day time hours as an tenured Associate Professor.

So… yeah. I know the lot of you are all nerds, so I’m thinking this won’t be lost on you. Remember the title to the last episode of Star Trek: TNG? All Good Things… And yes, people were upset, people were disappointed. The show ended not because ratings were low or because the lead actor had to go into rehab. It ended because the cast was successful, wanted to move on to other projects, and they felt the show was on a high note that could be ended on gracefully. No problems, no excuses, just good reasons. …

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In the beginning… there was Spacewar. If you want to get more technical than that, there were games even further back than that, but really, I’m not even talking about Spacewar, so let’s not nitpick. I’m talking about me, goddammit. In the beginning… for Q… there was Intellivision. Many people overlook the Intellivision in favor of more popular systems such as the Atari 2600, but my personal preference is for Mattel’s juggernaut. I’m well aware this could be because I owned that and not an Atari (as did half of of my extended family), but really, it was a…

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Sorry for the lateness of this post. For whatever reason I forgot to hit publish… One glance around the site and one fact become immediately apparent. I like Mega Man. I’ve liked Mega Man since I played Mega Man 2 in the summer of 1989. Since that glorious moment, Mega Man has been increasingly engrained into my being as a gamer. The first time I fired up the internet at home back in April of 1996, I can remember going to Nintendo.com and looking up all the wonderous things that would be coming out on the mysterious Nintendo 64. …

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Ok, so maybe not the MOST wonderful time of the year, but dammit, it’s gotta be in the top 5. I mean, it feels like fuckin’ Christmas in July here, what with all the announcements that are coming out of the woodwork. Usually we’d have all these announcements by now, thanks to E3, but since the 3 of Es no longer has the renown or stature that it once did, many publishers are simply content to realize that there’s a lot of things they haven’t even told people about yet, and just fix that problem. I know that if I…

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The first few days are a bit rough, after sending the 360 back again. It was the mainstay in the Richie household for new games, DVD playback, and Uno. I don’t love the infernal thing, but I do miss it. Hey, I could really go for some PGR…oh, yeah…never mind. Bad Company came out today! I’ll go pick it up…oh wait. Fuck. It’s like losing your wrist watch; you go to look at the time and end up reading the hair on your arm. But no matter – I am a gamer. And when the 360 predictably breaks itself, it’s…

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I know I touched on it during the show, but I wanted to emphasize just how much I am enjoying Metal Gear Solid 1. The more I play it the more I wish I could’ve gone on this adventure when it was new and fresh. All I can say is that I cannot recommend it enough, especially in the Collection edition. Moving on from that I will say that I’ve been playing an number of othe high quality games both old and new. One that has really been on my front burner is Street Fighter Alpha 2. My love for…

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Fanboys. The very word strikes fear into the heart of civilized peoples around the world. Every year these parasites travel their migratory patterns across the internet, searching for the things they need to survive and not caring who gets in their way. For food, they subsist off of their own self-satisfaction, which they generate through insults against a rival tribe, or by pointing out ‘facts’ that are usually either logical fallacies or outright mistruths. Fascinating creatures. For shelter, they take up residence whereever they can find those belonging to their tribe, and usually whereever there are as many rival…

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Woah! Say it ain’t so! This news is a heartbreaker. (Sorry, that was awful and I know it.) Following on the heel’s of our news from almost two weeks ago of the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki from Tecmo, the story delivers us another tremendous one-two punch combo to the gut. The first blow was struck by the Tecmo staff, the second by their corporate slave-masters. It seems that Tecmo as a company may be in a crap-load of trouble, and that can only mean bad news for us gamers who love their products. Two weeks ago, Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo,…

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You give Star Wars a bad name. We’ve known an animated movie was in the works, and now we get our first taste: http://www.starwars.com/video/ My feelings in one word: Silly. Yeah, I said it. I think it’s cool that Lucas wants to take Star Wars in a new direction…just not this direction. I can’t place what exactly it is about this art style that doesn’t sit with me. It’s strange, since I enjoyed the animated series (2D), but don’t care for this style (3D). I’ll have you keep in mind, though, that from this movie will come a TV show,…

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So, Metal Gear launches this week and everyone is crawling around their house in excitement. Only a game of this prestige could make people sneaking around their houses in boxes seem normal. I have a pretty long-term history with the series as I’ve been playing them since the NES days. Despite that, I have had a pretty rocky relationship with the Solid series only because of reality biting my experience. I loved Metal Gear Solid 1. Absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, this was the first game I ever bought used and the game was scratched just right as to not allow…

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A-Kon. It’s the longest-running anime convention in the US. This year was #19, and it was… glorious. Even if you’re not an anime fan, the sheer amount of nerdocity in such a place is enough to make virtually any geek feel at home. At least, on Saturday. Friday is like a goddamn freakshow. This was my fifth year attending A-Kon, with my primary reason for attending being the fact that I write music for it. Yeah yeah, you heard me. I write music for it. Every year they have a banquet-brunch on Sunday and a string quartet at the banquet…

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And now, allow me to introduce you to the most adorable ball of fur you’ve ever seen. We call her Leloo Dallas Richardson. Yeah, from The Fifth Element, ’cause it’s a badass movie and a cool name. Alison pulled a surpise act on me last night, and I instantly fell in love. She’s already litter box trained, responds to her new name, and is absolutely fascinated by toilet paper rolls, laser pointers, TV…

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Above you see my darling Video Game Collection.  Tonight we packed up all my PlayStation and earlier games and systems for our trek to the city of Angels.  Looking at all my old cartridges of Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, Mega Man 2, Legend of Zelda, and others brought tears to my eyes.  These are the physical objects that I touched and built such a bond with that left such an emotional impression on me. It made me think of something people used to tell me all the time. ”Someday you’ll regret spending so much time playing Video Games.” The…

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Gather your ammunition and hide the children (if you have any)! Hell’s thermostat is broken and RurouniQ is actually following through on a promised article series by doing a second volume. Yes, that’s right, it’s time for another edition of Free Play [on]. Because while the best things in life may be free, sometimes the just-pretty-good stuff is, too. Kongregate – free flash game collection www.kongregate.com My love for achievements is probably well-known to anyone who has listened to the show. Even though this addiction has slowly been waning over the past months, there is one site which…

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I never beat Wind Waker. I’m going to have to admit that. I had some stuff go down just as I was on the cusp of beating it, I was just about to fight Ganon, that made it really hard for me to get through it. I really liked the game back then, and I have an even higher opinion now. Zelda has always been a game about a young boy that goes from being a weak person to finding himself on an amazing quest and acquiring all sorts of new abilities and weapons. Miyamoto has always said that was…

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There seem to be three major categories for video game articles: the past, the present, and the future. Articles that explore the past look back at forgotten releases of yore, often with a healthy dose of nostalgia, and longing for simpler times; or at least, seek a good chuckle at the famous missteps of our favorite publishers. Articles based in the present explore game reviews, the current generation of the console wars, and give forum to contradicting complaints of “ Industry is too sequel heavy!” and “ Why doesn’t this game have a sequel?” We’ve been swept away by the…

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Ok, stick with me here, folks, today’s post is not about video games. Hey hey hey, where you going? It’s still about games, dammit, get your ass back here. Those of you who know me know that I’m into gaming of all kinds, not just the video variety. Those of you who are subject to the kind of tunnel vision that video gaming’s bright lights, wild spectacle and immediate gratification generate may not even be aware of the existence of other types of games outside of Monopoly and Poker. I assure you, there is an entire world of gaming…

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What the hell happened to my Wii? Better yet, what the hell happened to Nintendo?! I’m beginning to believe that Nintendo is recovering from that severe head-up-the-ass injury that took place between 1996 and 2005. First they release Zelda, Twilight Princess… and the people rejoice at its beauty and depth. Then comes Super Paper Mario… and the people rejoice that the 2-D platformer is genuine, and has a lot of creative heart. After that comes Super Mario Galaxy… and the people rejoiced as Nintendo breathed life into a STALE genre, and single-handedly saved the platformer from certain doom… Then came…

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The showdown has begun. Mario Kart Wii vs. Grand Theft Auto 4. Personally, I’m thinking GTA4 will edge out the Kart, but with the sheer number of Wii systems that have been sold, Mario Kart has the potential to outdo the competition just from playing the potential numbers. My mom has already mentioned buying it for my youngest cousin, so I know the word has certainly spread amongst the Wii’s significant casual player base. While only time will tell who will win in terms of sales, what I can tell you is the ups and downs of Mario…

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Growing up, I’ve always had the desire to do something creative.  It started out with various things.  I’d always try to find new and different ways of doing things, whether it be in Video Games, school, or anything else in my life.  As I grew older I knew that I had to have some sort of job that utilized this or I would simply lose my mind.  I never really thought of it much as choice, more of a calling. The more I thought about this, the more it came down to film.  There is nothing else that combines everything…

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Some of you may recognize the title of this post. For those of you who are not Trekkies, you’ll still probably know it as the first half of a well-known proverb, but so you know, it’s the title of the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which probably had the highest popularity-while-airing of any of the many Treks. Don’t worry, the title is not alluding to anything you’re probably not already aware of as a listener of the show, but I felt it necessary to talk about it here. This weekend is the big BreakmanX LAN Party,…

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***I fixed it*** Thank God. No, this is not my original post. My original post was lost in the sea of NOT FOUND errors that you have seen strewn all over the site. It is weird to go to bed seeing a pretty site and wake up to the horrors you see before you. We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but only sure that it wasn’t us that did it. With all the moving around of our current host, I think it is some sort of corrupted file issue. At any case, they are working to resolve it and…

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No, this is not my original post. My original post was lost in the sea of NOT FOUND errors that you seen strewn all over the site. It is weird to go to bed seeing a pretty site and wake up to the horrors you see before you. We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but only sure that it wasn’t us that did it. With all the moving around of our current host, I think it is some sort of corrupted file issue. At any case, they are working to resolve it and said they would have it resolved…

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His name was Jump-man, and he was a construction worker. One day while at work he’s witness to a giant ape (recently escaped from the zoo) that grabs a woman passing by. This ape proceeds to climb up several flights of scaffolding, woman thrown over his shoulder, and at the top mocks the construction worker. The construction worker, pissed off at his horrible early 80’s union dues, decides to take his anger out on the ape and maybe even save this damsel in distress, hoping to get a date. As he approaches the first girder, the ape proceeds to jump up and down, the sheer…

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So PlayStation 3 is predicted to outsell the Xbox 360 – again – in the month of March, and I didn’t have anything to do with it. Didn’t catch that? I lost. Failed, really, when the 14th of April rolled around and I was still PS3-less. Hindsight is 20/20, but Helen Keller could’ve told me that this was a stupid fucking bet, yet another product of my overactive medulla badidea. Break tried to tell me as much on the Show – good advice apparently passes through me like Casper the Friendly Ghost – while I still had time to back…

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I’ve long been a fan of the Fantasy genre, with its swords and magic, strange creatures attacking scantily clad damsels, and thinly veiled erotic allusions hosted by aged wizards in pointy hats. Video games, especially RPGs, have long been home to the newest and most stunning incarnations of this imaginative realm of fiction. One might even say that there’s an over-abundance of fantasy games in existence. I would never complain, there’s precious little I love more than picking up a sword, hacking down an evil Necromancer and saving the day (except maybe BEING an evil Necromancer). Despite that, my first…

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