Advertising is something that we are all familiar with. One cannot live in the society we exist in today without being able to recognize the GEICO Gecko's cute Cockney accent or know that the reason Bud Light is superior to other beers is it's "Drinkability." Advertising touches all forms of media from the $3 million dollar commercial slots during the Super Bowl down to the raggedy band stickers stuck to the liquid soap dispensers in public restrooms. It therefore makes sense then that advertising would work it's way into video games in some degree. Since the booming growth of the video game industry in the past decade (especially online gaming) advertising agencies have begun to understand that the digital world is a highly lucrative medium to display the messages that they want gamers to see.

The archives of VGRC are vast, filled with articles dating back to 2003. One of the things I've been doing lately is cleaning up old articles and silently adding them back to the site for posterity. However, some of them deserve to be featured on our home page once more. So that aside, for those who missed it the first time around, check out our inaugural "Grudge Match." Sega CD versus PlayStation 3 after the jump.

Last year, EA made a huge 180, and not just with the parkour running lead character of Mirror's Edge, but they managed to pump out seemingly decent titles along with risky new IP's during a harsh season filled with blockbuster sequels and other new rival games. Instead of being the EA of old - hashing out half-assed sequels with professionals on the front with a fake smile, EA  decided to put out the EA DICE developed, Unreal Engine 3 powered, free-running centered first person action-adventure game Mirror's Edge to much attention of the gaming press and public.

Last September I had a look at the NeoGeo classic, Garou: Mark of the Wolves - SNK's answer to the technically astounding Street Fighter III. Marking the end of the Garou series, a staple of the NeoGeo console, SNK Playmore have re-released it on Xbox Live Arcade complete with online play, achievements and a little bit of Engrish. The game is known for pushing the boundaries of the Neo Geo and setting the framework for both future SNK fighting games and technically advancing the gameplay aspects of the genre as well as showing future games how important a fully balanced roster of characters is to a fighting game.

Today we dust off an old VGRC feature, and what better way to (re)start things off than with one of my personal favorite game soundtracks: Plok for the SNES.

While at its release (and, really, ever since) Plok has been continually overlooked by the majority of the gaming community and press, those who stumbled upon and took the time to play this gem were immediately struck by one of the most original, and dare I say, complex, soundtracks in a game on the Super Nintendo. Composed by none other than the legendary Tim Follin, individual tracks would oftentimes stretch out to 4 minutes before looping, leaving lots of room for Follin to play. The end result was a series of complex multi-layered tracks with constantly shifting and changing sounds. In 1993, this was some very impressive stuff.

I'm sure a good deal of you are spending the day partying, eating and/or relaxing. For those of you spending it on the internets, why not spend it with the guys from Retsupurae? They've put up a handful of new videos this week, which you can catch after the jump.

Two new Retsupurae videos this morning. Today, they check out a very odd little kid attempting to work his way through Mario Bros. 3, as well as paying our old friend MuscleBomber a visit. Videos after the jump.

I know it has been quite awhile since Retsupurae updated with some new videos, but I woke up this morning to find this pleasant surprise. I'm still not quite sure what the original video was supposed to be about, but it has something to do with economics, and possibly Bratz. Check the video after the jump.

Today we have video proof that Japan is still pissed at us for dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While it has been common knowledge among some of us that Japan was using their exports to corrupt our youth, never before has it been more obvious than seeing people on YouTube striking poses for fighting games with replica swords. Oh yes, it's Retsupurae time.

While some of us may have fond memories of the 90s era of video games, video game journalism was still majorly lacking. (Still is, actually, but that's a rant for another day.) Regardless, retsupurae is kind enough to remind us of the low points of that decade, by providing us with a flashback to a series of 90's video reviews, entitled "Gaming in the Clinton Years." Check them out after the jump.