Somewhere in the deepest darkest corner of the gaming behemoth we call Sega is a team of game developers devoted to producing games specifically for my 12 year old daughter:
I'm not sure what motivates them, as she doesn't have fabulous wealth, but clearly every meeting in development they ask the question: "Would Iman like this?"
Sure I already finished this multiple times on the GameCube, but I loved the controller setup on Metroid Prime 3 so much, I'd love to play this again in full HD, wide screen, with updated controls... I loves me some Metroid
Now that Za is on the TV/Game room TV much of the day, I've been DS and iPod Touch gaming a lot more. iPod Touch mostly for Cross Word Puzzles, and my DS has been destroying Castlevania, but I'm just about done with that so what's next? Looks like some DS PoP action, please.
UBI continues to deliver the love:
Not only does the game look stunning, but I could watch the demo to the official site a dozen times over. Now I know why I still have a PS3 (and, of course, replaying Ratchet & Clank since I had no backup of my game save...)
And I can't get enough of the "Graphic Novel" artwork style:
Activision and Blizzard parent merge in $18 billion deal - Joystiq: File this under "straight out of left field" -- Activision, the publishing powerhouse behind the Call of Duty and Tony Hawk series; and Vivendi Games, owner of Blizzard Entertainment, which you probably don't need us to tell you is behind the Warcraft and Starcraft series, are coming together to form "the world's most profitable games business," cleverly named Activision Blizzard.
So when is World of River Raid coming out?
Telltale tempts fate, names release date for Strong Bad - Nintendo Wii Fanboy: Assuming that Telltale has paid proper tribute to their feudal lords at Nintendo, Homestar Ruiner will be out next Monday in North America for 1,000 Wii Points. Future episodes should release every month after that. We hope it's true. We feel like we've been waiting since last month for this game, and we'd be pretty sad if Nintendo SBLOUNSKCHED the release.
This is apparently the month for games announcements made just for me. Not only is Ubi delivering the goods, but look what Konami has in store:
I do love portable Castlevania games
So you just read that Ubi is coming out with Beyond Good and Evil two and said to yourself, what is that? I'm guessing you are one of the many who never played the first game. If you like Zelda or Okami type games, you'll love this one.
Apparently the GameCube version is super rare, there isn't even a listing on Amazon for it. If you haven't played this one, do yourself a treat and pick up a copy of what could possibly be my favorite game of all time (or at least until the sequel arrives).
I'm not much for the music games. Usually they involve color, which I'm not good at, and a particular hand-eye coordination that doesn't seem to come naturally to me, but there is one music game that I'm excited about:
And if the chimp comes with it? Count me in!
Nintendo has launched "WiiWare", which is essentially XBox Live Arcade for the Wii. Sure the Wii had it's Virtual Console but WiiWare is all new content designed for the Wii to be purchased and downloaded. WiiWare currently runs from $5-$15 and requires "Points" to be purchased either from the store or using cards. The first WiiWare title I have purchased, and likely the only one in the initial line-up, is LostWinds.
First of all, keep in mind that this is a $10 title, therefore the fact it only took 3 1/2 hours to play isn't so bad. The game is super cute, though missing a map of any sort even though I thought we all realized how important a map can be. You befriend a "wind spirit" and then go on a quest to discover what happened to "the evil guy", along the way you learn new tricks which are required to go more and more places. Everything is very standard to a platformer, though the controls are new, in order to jump you need the help of the wind which is controlled by the Wiimote.
I won't give away the end, but as I expect will be common in WiiWare titles the fact that a sequel is coming is pretty evident by the "To be continued...", and since WiiWare lends itself to episodic content, if I pay $40 for 4 mini games at 3 1/2 hours each, that is about on-par with what is expected out of quality games these days.
I gave it two tries. I had tried to play this earlier on the PSP but I found the controls seriously got in the way of the game play. The controls work a bit better on the PS2 version, but since they are just mapping the PSP controls, there isn't really any correction for the lack of some controls. I was playing this on my PS3 and it clearly shows that the quality suffers. It's not wide screen, it's not super hi def, it doesn't even have very good audio. Sure I should cut it some slack since it is a port of a portable game, but even after cutting it some slack I just found that I wasn't enjoying the game. I'd almost like them to make an animated movie about the game so I can just sit and watch the story, which is the best part anyway. And this isn't giving me a lot of confidence about the forthcoming "Secret Agent Clank" either...
Or aren't on Kooshmoose's speed dial, or get all of your gaming news from my blog...
What is there to say about SSBB? If you owned a Nintendo 64, then I know you already have this game. If you owned a GameCube and enjoyed the previous Super Smash Bros. Melee, then you have at least checked this out and since purchased a copy. If the Wii is your first Nintendo console then do yourself a favor and at least rent this one (you'll end up buying it anyway).
Who won't like this? I guess if you have no friends or abhor violence then this isn't for you. Of course if you don't like violence then you don't play video games, and if you have no friends you either purchased a PS3 to keep it that way, or you bought a Wii hoping to get friends.
!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!
Perhaps you have a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee and figure it's the same game, just newer graphics? Essentially yes, except for:
- New playable characters:
- New stages to fall in line with the above
- 4 play styles
- Wiimote
- Wiimote + Nunchuck
- Classic Controller
- GameCube Controller (including my beloved WaveBird)
- Final Smashes - with an item each character has a unique "super attack"
- New Adventure Mode: Subspace Emissary (so much better than Melee's Adventure Mode)
- WiFi play!
- Stickers (OK, this one is a bit lame)
- Demo versions of the games the characters come from (so you'll buy the originals on Virtual Console)
- Challenges greatly improved to help you find all unlockable challenges in the game (like achievements on the XBox 360, but only for one game and not viewable by others on your gamer tag which Nintendo doesn't even have...)
- Assist Trophies (like pokeballs but they have non-Pokémon characters inside them)
That is a ton of new stuff, and except for the Stickers all well received. So what are you still doing here? Head to GameFly and add this puppy to your queue, or straight to EB Games so you can get a copy in your hot little hands. Go!
Crash? That old PS1 game? Yes, that crash. I never had a PS1, so this is actually the first Crash game I've ever played. Apparently Naughty Dog isn't involved anymore, but the series continues anyway. Why'd I pick this game up, of all games? My nephew Oni was playing the heck out of this thing during our last trip to Indonesia, and since there was a Wii version I figured I'd give it a spin.
Well, there is really nothing new here. The "jack" system allows Crash to use his mask friend Aku Aku to control large monsters, you can then use them to better attack and thereby jack even more and sometimes larger beasties, otherwise it's a basic platformer. Does this mean that there is anything wrong with it? Nope, I'm a platformer guy, so this suits me. Still playing through the first time, not sure if there will be much desire to destroy this game, but so far it's been entertaining.
There were complaints about Super Paper Mario and it's 2D/3D gimmick. You can only do it while playing Mario, and the other dimension was pretty boring. Kokoromi studio in Montreal has done it up right:
Not only does the flipping dimensions go a full 360° but each 2D view is interesting and playable. I hope this finds its way onto the Wii, DS, PSP, or PS3, I don't want to have to buy an XBox 360 just for this...
I generally avoid puzzle video games. Why? Because they generally suck. Usually plagued by few, simple, old, hackneyed, puzzles that I figured out when I was 8. This, however, is an exception. Clearly my many years of experience helped me solve these puzzles, but that doesn't mean that I did them all instantly, or that I didn't sloppily miss a few the first time. There are over 120 puzzles, and apparently a weekly puzzle available for download (for who knows how long, but still that's cool). So lack of puzzles won't be an issue. And the interface is perhaps the best part. Instead of just saying here's 120 puzzles go at them, there is a well written story with decent animation (for a DS) that even has good voice acting. All-in-all it took me about 9 1/2 hours to complete the game and save the day. I've now started to destroy the game by finding every last puzzle and completing them all, and who knows what great "super ending" they have in store for me. Basically if you like puzzles, this is a must buy.
I saw a Blu Ray demonstration while I was there as well and it was friggin' awesome. I'm half tempted to buy a PS3 just for the Blu Ray capabilities. And judging by the selection of Blu Ray discs versus HD DVDs, I can honestly say that I think Sony will win this battle. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
[ :: Dueling Analogs :: It's the Thought That Counts ]
I'm in agreement, but not sure I'd qualify it as a "win". At this point the Wii is already a win, the only way that will turn back is if Nintendo drops not just the ball, but 100s of balls, and no more quality games come out on the Wii. That would sink Nintendo like Atari in the 70's. Since the gaming population seems to have grown big time, I'm not sure if we can't have 2 or 3 or even 4 winners. XBox is very popular, especially with networked first person shooter gamers, though the PC is still popular in that category. The PC could sustain itself with World of Warcraft alone. And the PS3 will have the games, and has the Hi Def video, and will eventually return to Sony what they've put into it and more. So I'd recommend to pierski, go ahead and pick up a Ratchet & Clank PS3 machine, is a cheap BluRay player and can play Ratchet & Clank great games too.
Update: Duh. Win BluRay vs. HD DVD... Yeah, I hope Sony wins now, since I dropped a few bucks on a Ratchet & Clank machine PS3.
I've finally finished. It seems to take me much longer to finish DS titles, as I like to save them for when I'm traveling to ensure that I have a good game to play. Phantom Hourglass filled in a few travel spots on my recent trip to Indonesia, but I didn't finish it before returning home. Enter my Mother and her showing much that she was past me in the game, so I made a bit of effort and I'm done.
So, how was it? Contrary to what I've read on-line, I didn't find the game too short. The graphics, music, sound, and writing all seemed like a direct continuation of Wind Waker, but in a new side quest ala Majora's Mask. Oh, and that's a good thing. The Phantom Hourglass that gives the game it's name is a fun new dynamic, even though at first I dreaded it a bit (since I'm a "spend time and hunt and gather" kind of player - once you play you'll see what I mean). Of course if you are a Zelda fan boy like me, you've already got this, and probably already finished it, but I'm sure some people wouldn't mind a bit of a push to actually put the game in their DS (read: Nate).
Here's a gimmick for you, they've taken your light gun and turned it into a TV remote that you play games with, so this is a plastic TV remote holder that turns the controller back into a light gun. If you have been waiting for the return of Duck Hunt, then you probably already bought this. It was only $20 and I used my coupon from my recent Super Mario Galaxy purchase, so I'm not out much. Does it play like Duck Hunt? No it takes quite a bit more skill, you actually have to point it at the ducks stalfos, targets, etc. A much more varied game than Duck Hunt too, and with levels stolen straight out of Zelda: Twilight Princess, you pretty much know the engine is smooth and the sound is good. Is it a good buy? Depends on how much you like shooting. Perhaps a good *stocking stuffer for the Nintendo loving gamer in your life.
* Or Day 1 Hanukkah gift. Or for non-Jews and non-Christians a small gift on some holiday, or whenever. As if I had to explain all of that.
Comparisons to House of the Dead are expected, and well deserved, for this on-rails shooter title. Rented it from GameFly and just happen to have picked up the Wii Zapper today, so I gave it a whirl.
If you liked House of the Dead and wish you could play it at home but with a better story, and you loved Resident Evil or never had the chance to play the Resident Evil series than this is the game for you. If that doesn't apply, you still may enjoy this game anyway. The engine is smooth, the story is well known, and the action keeps you coming back for more. I only played through the first few levels before returning it for a few reasons: don't much like this genre of game, not enough thinking or choosing for my taste and they didn't plan on the Wii Zapper. There are a number of times you have to hit the A button, and with the Zapper that just isn't going to happen in time.
Bizarre. I generally like Capcom games. After Nintendo and Ubisoft they are probably my next favorite game studio. I generally agree with critics, when they all agree. But apparently in this case it's the sales that I agree with.
What's right about Zack and Wiki? The graphics are nice, the sound is top notch, the game engine even seems pretty decent. The puzzles aren't so easy that it's just a clicking game. What's wrong with Z&W? It's cutesy, cutesy, cutesy. Zack's sidekick Wiki makes seriously irritating noises and just won't shut up. The puzzles? Too easy for me, and the universe is too "childish" to not get irritating quick. So it's a great title for kids? I don't think so. I think the world will appeal to 5-7 year old, perhaps, and based on how difficult the puzzles were getting, they'll never get too far in the game without resorting to "try everything until something doesn't kill me" and back that up with "use the hint/cheat book" or they'll never finish it. This means that it's "wrappings" are targeted toward one age group, but the difficulty and fun is targeted toward a much older group. And for me that means, I'm glad I rented it, and I'm not playing this one past the first couple of levels.
The new 3D Mario Platformer is here. Each Nintendo console gets some sort of Mario Platformer game, and staring with the Nintendo 64 they've been 3D. Super Mario Galaxy plays very similar to Super Mario Sunshine, but everything is kicked up a notch. The worlds are also now wrapped around little planets making for some brain bending requirements when jumping around. Unlike Sunshine you aren't paired up with F.L.U.D.D. but with a Luma (that's the little star guy on the game cover) that allows you to fly through outer space and to spin around and break things.
So far? I've already found myself playing longer than I had allotted. It's hard to put this game down. Day 2 and I've already completed all the basic requirements in the first Galaxy (though I still have to go back for bonus items when the opportunity presents itself). And I've already been to a planet where Mario gets to wear a suit ala Super Mario 3's Tanooki Suit, though I won't tell you what the suit is (play the game to find out...).
There are also some special levels that really test your platforming skills. As is usual for a 3D Super Mario platforming title, you don't need to get all of the items to complete the game, but as is usual I will attempt to get every last item. I'm not yet ready to score this title, since I haven't completed the game, but unless you are Dari, and you own a Wii, you should be buying this one.
Update: Rating this one A. Haven't finished yet, but I have rescued the princess...
I have two daughters, and hope to have more, but at some point they are no longer little girls, and head off for higher education. Every parent has aspirations for their children, whether it is to follow in their footsteps, or aspire to bigger and better things. Nate sent me a link today that helps me to know what direction to push my children. A comparison of universities around the world? Nope. A comprehensive breakdown of the best programs by subject? Nope. An article on the earning potential of the top universities? Nope. It was this:
the Cal marching band performed a slew of videogame related songs during the half-time show of this past weekend’s football game, starting with the Tetris theme.
[ Capcom US - The Blog » Blog Archive » Cal (Berkeley) Marching Band Plays Video Game Music ]
Too cool.
I'm four hours into the game and since I know that some of you are dying to find out, here's my impression so far: it's everything I hoped and possibly more.
The back story seems to have greatly expanded in this one, some of the hunters from the DS Hunters game are in this one as well, which makes Samus seem less like a lone champion for good and justice and more like a lonely champion who prefers to work alone. We've seen a bit of that in her GBA games, but in MP3:C we see her interact with more Federation troops and the other hunters who seem to know her reputation rather well.
Since I only finished about 98% of the last game, and was unable to successfully kill the next to last boss, I may be missing some important story elements because early in the game it would appear that Dark Samus (or Shadow Samus or whatever her name is) is still alive and quite active in the universe.
There are new worlds and new civilizations as well, and each is well thought out and fun to explore. Once again there is tremendous amounts of scanning to be done, which at times is frustrating. I know that they'll have something that unlocks once my knowledge reaches certain amounts, but constantly thinking of scanning things is bringing me out of the game and feels like a chore.
The new controls are nice. They ease you in so you can get used to them, which I'm still doing, but they work really well, and are giving the best 3rd person shooter interface I've yet to see on a console or a PC (I never could get that whole mouse+keyboard thing straight in my head). There are fun new weapons and gadgets as well, plus lots of old favorites.
It goes without saying that Metroid is a large part of Nintendo Fan Boy-ness and MP3:C does not disappoint. With a solid Zelda game, this outstanding Metroid, and the much heralded future Super Mario 3D platformer soon to arrive, I'm happy with my Wii even if they just stop making games at that point (though I'm not remotely suggesting that they should do that). If you've ever played a Metroid game and enjoyed it, you must pick up a copy of this one.
Update: Finished. This was the easiest of the 3 Metroid Prime games, and it seems to wrap up the trilogy. Hopefully Retro won't take too long a break before making another Metroid game, certainly the time and trouble they put into this game engine should be used, as it was a fully enjoyable first person shooter experience, especially since it was also heavy on platforming elements.
Still waiting for a PSP game worth putting up with the PSP to play. Dead Head Fred comes with a compelling story, a unique game play dynamic (you wear different heads that give you different powers), and even good voice over (courtesy of Dr. Cox from Scrubs). So why isn't this the PSP game that makes me thankful I bought a PSP? A load screen every 10-30 seconds. Why? Perhaps D3 just didn't have the time or money to finish their game engine? Perhaps the PSP just doesn't have the power required for a full game? Or perhaps the load screens miraculously disappear 10 min after I just gave up on the game, I'll never know. If load screens don't bug you (and I can't imagine why they wouldn't) you may like this game, but otherwise this is a good title to skip.
I have been on the verge of giving up on my PSP ever since starting Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. To say that the controls suck is a bit of an understatement. Kooshmoose, who is a total R&C fanboy, says it took about two thirds of the game for him to get used to it. In my book that equates to between sucks and unplayable.
Apparently, however, it is not my fault or the fault of my PSP. Otherwise how can you explain how the controls on Tomb Raider Anniversary took me about two thirds of a second to get used to. I didn't even play the mansion level, I just launched into the game, and it just works.
The game is, of course, a re-hash of the original, but since I never finished the original it will be "new to me". They've added some cinematics and a bit more level to make it a better playing experience, and bumped up the quality (though not too much on the PSP, since it is a PSP). I'm looking forward to playing more than the first few minutes, and may actually finish this one (unlike the aforementioned R&C:SM that I just couldn't take anymore).
I might as well make it a threesome and mention an old favorite. If you haven't played BG&E and enjoyed anything even remotely Zelda like, you may agree with me that this could possibly be the best game ever. Engaging story with twists and turns, unique system of providing you the money you need selling photos of fauna to a museum allowing you to earn the money you need without random violence and forcing you to keep your eye out for new critters while you expose the truth. Certainly the best action journalist game I've ever played, and certainly in dire need of a sequel. Until Ubi gets around to providing us with that, you should make sure you play the original. Need I say it again? If you haven't played this one, then get to it. Available for GameCube, PS2, XBox, and PC!
I can't remember where I read about this game, but I'm glad I did. It's no secret that I like the platformers and adventure games, and Brave is a nice example of a decent 3D platformer on the PS2 platform. The characters and story are all inspired by First Nation culture, though I wouldn't expect it's a good way to learn about their culture. The "learning" stage seems almost stupid, as they give you 1/2 a dozen items in real quick succession, and I wonder why they didn't just start you with the items and build into the story reasons why you'd need to use the skills, and thus learn about them, but shortly after that you are into the story and off becoming the warrior that you are destined to be. I'm not sure if South Peak made the money they wanted to on this, but I'm sure you can find a copy cheap. GameFly "keep it" price is about $15 right now, and I don't expect the EB Games/Game Spot price to be much more. Apparently it's budget priced at $24.99 retail, and probably well worth it.
What a pleasant surprise. I tried to play Resident Evil 4 on the Game cube, but somehow I never got too far. It's a tough game to play in a family house, since I can't play it around the kids, but it was pleasant. Capcom released it for the Wii with what appears to only be a retooling of the controls. I don't think it looks any different than the Game Cube version, or if it does it doesn't stand out as such, however the new controls make all the difference. The game, as pleasant as it was before, now shines on the Wii. I didn't use the knife much in the GameCube version because it is a bit of a pain, now you can use it all of the time and save your precious ammo for when you need it. Will I end up finishing the game on the Wii? I'm not sure there are still the limited hours that I can play it, and most of those are in the evening where I don't much feel like playing a creepy game, but if you never finished this on an older platform, or never got it in the first place, GameFly it and see if you don't just love this game as well.
I don't really do any PC gaming. I did once upon a time, but when you work on a PC all day, and are constantly checking email, or even just tinkering, it seems like you may be going overboard to play games on your PC as well. Not to mention owning a gaming PC and a work PC seems expensive, or trying to get an all-in-one can double the price of that machine. All very logical reasons for me to avoid PC gaming at all costs.
What could drag me back? Friggin' Blizzard:
[ StarCraft II ]
Well, maybe I can restrict my PC gaming to just one game, that shouldn't be too hard...
I'm a big fan of Warioware. The first game was super, mostly because it was so novel. Still a great reason to own a GBA. Then the series tried to move into a party game on the GameCube, a GBA game with tilt feature, and a DS game using it's unique interface. None came close to the first game, least of all Warioware: Twisted.
The Wiimote has quite a few new ways to interact, and the Warioware team has worked late nights to try and use it to it's fullness. Each mini-game requires you to hold the wiimote in a starting form and then play the quick, usually under 3 second, mini game. Each time a new form is learned, there is a cheesy little intro which reminds me of Jack Handey a bit, and that's a good thing.
Since each form results in its own gimmicks, this game has a ton of new gimmicks, and with a Warioware title, it's all about the gimmicks. Eventually after playing through the "story" you unlock multi-player and some games that use the nunchuck, which thankfully aren't mixed in requiring people to frantically plug and unplug the nunchuck attachment.
I have never owned a Sega console, and I don't get nostalgia over Sonic games. Perhaps that is why I never made it through the training levels on this one. The controls are just crazy, and would most likely have me throwing out my arm, or breaking up my living room. There seemed to be a descent story to this game, and maybe even one I could follow this time, but I'll never know because I just couldn't control the little Blue Hedgehog.
A truly wonderful gaming experience.
Certainly highlights the new gaming interface dubbed the Wiimote. Had plenty of great returns from many games of the past, plus has many new surprises. The final battle could have been a bit harder, but the story well made up for it. Though all things being judged equally, i.e. if Ocarina of Time had been relased on the Wii with updated graphics and the Wiimote, it would likely be better. Though I still think the most stunning level was Hyrule Castle in Wind Waker, it had such a great atmosphere.
Next up? Phantom Hourglass, due out any day now, and I'm rather eager to play.
GameFly is the leading online video game rental service. With a choice of more than 4,000 titles, GameFly delivers the widest selection and availability of games for the Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PSP, Xbox 360, Xbox, Wii, GameCube, Nintendo DS and GameBoy Advance without the hassle of due dates or late fees.
[ GameFly ]
If you haven't tried it out yet, please do. I think that they will give you a 14 day trial or some such, and then if you sign up (and some other folks) via my link, they'll send me a shiny new DS Lite.
'course I doubt that many people read this blog, but I'll plug GameFly for a song. Except for the rare exception (Zelda Twilight Princess - just to make sure, and Wario Ware Smooth Moves - 'cause it was next to the Wii) I buy all of my games from GameFly. The shipping is a bit slow from Cali, but I get to try every game before making the commitment, and if the game isn't too old, they'll always sell me a copy at a discount. Plus if I just went out buying games, I'd end up with games, still in the shrinkwrap, never played...
Thanks Wii @ Target page on Crayz dot org!
Earlier today I noticed that the Wii was "Available" or "Limited Availability" at Rockville, Wheaton, Germantown, etc. etc. However when called all said they were out. Wheaton was rude. Germantown confirmed 25 Wiis earlier today, all sold out. Gaithersburg? Still "Out of Stock", so I called. The official word "Don't have any, don't know when they will come in", and they didn't get any today. I figured that just meant their shipment or stock boy was slower, and that they'd pop up any time. So I refreshed and refreshed and refreshed and finally at 5pm (hours after the rest of the Targets) Gaithersburg (read: Washintonian Center AKA the Rio) had them! I jumped in the car, drove quickly, and voila! I am the proud owner of a Wii.
I'm not giving up on the Wii, and I'm still the Nintendo fan boy, but clearly there is a 360 in my future:
Kameo looked cool but short, Viva Pinata might even entertain for an afternoon, but Banjo Kazooie 3? That's the killer app that will get me to buy a 360, I'm sure. Of course I'll wait for the Zephyr, but I can see it in my future...
Anyhoo, Totilo talks about "beating" Black, inspiring a rant in which Alex Ward chastizes the use of the word "beat." He asks if when you listen to a new CD, do you say you "beat" it? Or when you go to the library do you say you "beat the first floor" and "beat the second floor." Or "beating" all the movies in the cineplex. He then talks about "beating" War and Peace, all three thousand pages.
[ Don't Say "Beat." Just Don't! - Kotaku ]
He certainly brings up a good point. Americans can be inconsistent. I plan on beating more things...
I'm a big geek:
It was time to upgrade, and Dell and the folks at SkinIt suckered me in. I'm not 100% sure how Samus got past their "copyright censors", 'cause I was fully expecting this to be denied, but it arrived, and looks just as great as I expected.
Still no Wii. Everyone is out of them. And I refuse to pay more than retail, or seek the assistance of the underbelly of society. So what to do while waiting?
My plan was to load up with a ton of great DS games:
And even a PSP or PS2 game:
But what I didn't expect was that I'd get in a Castlevania groove that I just didn't want to end. Then, I think it was Nate who mentioned, I find out that XBox 360 is getting Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in it's arcade section. Now which one was that, oh yeah the PlayStation one that I never played because I didn't have a PlayStation. What's this? Everyone says it could be the best ever? And it's selling for $50-$100 on eBay even 10 years later! Oh how I have to play this one.
Enter serendipity. Stopped at the GameStop and asked if they had it. They are all like "dude, we just stopped carrying PlayStation games" but then "wait, what title? I think I saw that in the back, dude" and "I'll go see if I can find it, hang out at Trader Joe's it may be a while" quickly followed by "dude, you got a dell game!". Only $25, not bad. And he didn't actually say dude once, I don't think.
So is it the best ever?
I'm partial to Aria of Sorrow and now Portrait of Ruin. But to be honest, I didn't realize that much of what I liked, that is so different than say Simon's Quest, was all introduced in Symphony of the Night. AoS has the cool soul stealing, and the new co-op play in PoR is cool, but otherwise SotN is totally it. The question should be, though, why didn't Sony push Konami to do a conversion to PSP? That is the sort of thing that is pushing DS out the door, and the only title that I even care about for PSP is Ratchet and Clank, otherwise most games have been mediocre (Untold Legends) to disappointing (Loco Roco, Me and My Katamari, Tokobot) with very few exceptions (Mega Man: Powered Up, Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins) and those all seem to be remakes anyway.
So I guess I have even more to keep me occupied before I can get my Wii, but it better not be too long, spoilers for Twilight Princess abound!
Just finished this:
Best game I've played in a long spell. Okami took me longer, and was very nice, but the new Castlevania is downright addictive. I've finished the game the first time, I'm doing a 2nd play through, and then I'll try some of the alternate ways to play (different characters and such). So enjoyable that it's keeping me from finishing this:
And keeping me from starting this:
Both of which I'm looking forward to. M&L PiT is not as complicated as I first thought, even with 4 characters playing at once. It's still not quite as good as Paper Mario IMHO, but I like it.
Yoshi is just good ol' fashioned platforming fun, and I never played the original so it's been enjoyable the few levels I did play.
So do I miss the Wii that I don't have yet? Not quite. Nintendo has truly delivered for the DS, and I assume will be taking over the world any day now.
U.S. game magazine (EGM, Games For Windows) and website (1UP.com) firm the Ziff Davis Game Group has announced that it will discontinue publication of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine after the January 2007 issue.
[ Gamasutra - Ziff Davis To Discontinue U.S. Official PlayStation Magazine ]
You can blame me, I just emailed OPM and told them I didn't wish to auto-renew my subscription at the end of it's term. I don't plan on getting a PS3 until the PSThree comes out, so the demo discs seemed pointless. And I'm sure no one reads OPM for the articles...
I saw this before, and I guess I figured that it involved some degree of rough handling:
So to summarize, if your DS Lite has the hinge crack that we've all seen, then Nintendo will likely repair it free of charge. It also sounds like Nintendo may have figured out that the crack was caused by overtightening.
[ Nintendo Capitulates, Offers Free Repairs for Cracked DS Lites - Kotaku ]
Now I don't think so. I've treated my DS with the utmost care and respect, and I still got a broken hinge. In addition when I close the lid instead of auto-pausing it now seems to toggle auto pause on and off and on and off. However the warrantee is still good, and people are claiming that Ninty will fix this one, so the question remains will it be fixed in time to play the new Zelda DS game?
Granted I prefer platformers and whatever Zelda is categorized as these days, but I believe that if I hadn't purchased a PS2 already, Okami would be the reason to do so.
You possess the power of a god, but you face the world in the form of a wolf! You have the power to create and destroy. Faced with your greatest challenge, to restore order and beauty to a world laid barren by evil, you must overcome the odds against you.
[ CAPCOM | Okami ]
So far it has been a bit easy, but I'm at 40+ hours so it has at least been enjoyable good value for the money. If, however, you think Zelda type games are the worse ever, you may want to skip this one.
Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang's sales of PSP consoles unlawful.
[ Sony Bleeds Lik Sang Clean To Death - Kotaku ]
And if I didn't before, it's *blogies like this that would win me over:
You know, every time I have preordered a console in Ireland, I've just been absolutely amazed at how easy and reliable it is.
[ Wii Preorders Pretty Easy in Ireland - Kotaku ]
* short for Web Log Entries, no? Well this isn't really an article, or a story, just a blurb. Maybe blogurbs?
Price ($250) and date (November 19) have been announced (update: officially), and soon we'll all look like this:
Not girls, but wearing all white in a big white room! Or maybe just kinda hunched over waving a wiimote around...
Nintendo has posted a promo video showing the launch lineup:
Lots of great stuff in there, too much for me to mention without reviewing the video 100 times or so, so I'll just point out the return of Ridley:
Not Mecharidley, or Protoridley, or Whathaveyouridley, it looks like the real thing. 'course I don't know where this Metroid title fits in the timeline, or if it really is Ridley (could be his younger brother Budd, who knows?), but a new Metroid title? And a new Zelda title? On a new console? And I'm already poor?
Development studio System 3 has scored rights to the old Epyx library of games and is already planning to bring popular titles Impossible Mission and California Games to the DS and PSP. Impossible Mission is due to grace the handhelds in January, while California Games will release in May including unlockable content in the form of older titles Winter Games and Summer Games.
[ Epyx back on DS, Wii - Nintendo Wii Fanboy ]
Back in the olden days Epyx made quite a few memorable games, perhaps none as addicting as Impossible Mission. I think it has even been long enough that the surprises will surprise me again.
Damn, the Japanese are lucky! For the Nintendo DS Lite's Touch Generation line, they have something called the Cooking Navigator. Not a video game, but an instructional program. A chef inside barks instructions at you so that you can cook by hearing
[ Nintendo DS Lite could make you an Iron Chef - Slashfood ]
Seems like a great idea, but I wonder how tunable it is to experience, skill level, etc. Does it only do a set number of recipes? What about food aversions, allergies, and the like? Is it WiFi enabled?
 |
God of War
PlayStation2
Sony Computer Entertainment
Mature | The first time I played this I was very unimpressed. Critics everywhere were heralding it as the greatest game since the bread slicer, but I found it to be trite, gimmicky, and a big hard to stomach.
I gave it another chance. This time I played it a bit farther than last time and found that the "hack and slash" play that dominated the first part falls away quickly to a "hack and slash and solve puzzles" game dynamic. Sure there was still tons of blood and gore and a bit of gratuitous nudity, but once you look past that, this is a really good game. After having to put up with dozens of GTA rip offs, I'm actually looking forward to a slate of God of War ripoffs...
 Something comes out on June 11th, I wonder what it was. Oh yeah:
This Lite is heavy on features. The new Nintendo DS Lite shines in the U.S. on June 11, and with it costing as low as $129.99, picking one up is a no-brainer.
[ Nintendo.com News ]
Done.
And it is better in so many ways. Perfected everything that fell a tad bit short on the first one. And that means everyone in the house has one now! We can play against each other! Of course that is if we could ever finda game that all three of us enjoy playing...
Nintendo has unveiled the new name: Nintendo Wii, the latter standing for 'we.' "While the code-name "Revolution" expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer," said the company in a statement. "Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else."
[ Are Wii Ready? Nintendo's Revolution Renamed news from 1UP.com ]
AT&T believes that Wii is pronounced "wee-ee" by US English speakers, and "why-uh" by UK English speakers. I'm not sure how they determind that everyone will know how this is pronounced, though a quick round up of AT&T's peeps shows:
"Audry" UK English - Why-uh
"Anjali" Indian English - Why-uh
"Lauren" US English - Wee-ee
"Rosa" US Spanish - Wee
"Klara" German - Wee
"Juliette" French - Weee
Perhaps Nintendo knows more Europeans than Americans, and has never heard of England...
Props to N8 for seeing this first.
And who put that wall up in the first place? You can check out the video on Nintendo's revolution.nintendo.com website. It's better quality than the embedded one on 1UP's site. And, you'll note, wii.nintendo.com doesn't work. And, apparently, we can blame the Beatles for the name:
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
Wii all want to change the world...
Bring your Nintendo DS to your local participating game store and wirelessly download demos of the newest DS games! With the new DS Download Station, you can sample the latest and greatest games for your Nintendo DS and try before you buy.
[ DS Download Stations ]
Sure, it's DS only, and yes I love GameFly, but it seems that you can bring your DS to any DC area BestBuy or GameCrazy and try out a few games. Can't wait to see Sony follow suit.
Headed to Texas next week, and still have some birthday money left over, so that means buy some entertainment:
![[Me & My Katamari]](http://davidkearns.com/content/binary/MAMKatamari.jpg) ![[Domino]](http://davidkearns.com/content/binary/domino1.jpg) 
So even though I'm away from family and home, I should at least not be so bored...
![[Mega Man]](http://davidkearns.com/content/binary/MegaManPowerdUp.jpg) This may be it:
Mega Man is on a quest to restore peace in the world after Dr. Wily takes control of several robots in hopes to rule the planet. Completely re-designed for the PSP™ system with new bosses and puzzles to master, Mega Man Powered Up is the only action platformer that lets gamers create their own levels and share with friends.
[ Capcom: Mega Man Powered Up (PSP) ]
Although I had been playing quite a bit of Untold Legends, the other 2 games I picked up (Prince of Persia and Death Jr.) haven't held my interest. This, however, should. A great blast from the past, this cartridge includes the original game and what is essentially the same game but with an all new engine that plays 2-D but is totally 3-D. It now has extra in-engine cinematics that help the story, and with full voice overs. Well done, Capcom, I expect many eager developers to get their MCP because of you...
The all-new Official Nintendo Magazine is your one-stop shop for all things Nintendo. As the only magazine team to work directly with Nintendo we'll always be the first on the street with all the latest news, previews and events, as well as insider info and in-depth features that other magazines can only dream of.
[ myfavouritemagazines - Cross Stitcher ]
Not woth the $100 US that it would take for me to get it, but all my peeps in the UK might want to check this out. (It even seems a bit expensive in Ireland at €73 a year). Any-which-way it is good news for Euro-Ninty-Fan-Boys.
I've been loving my PSP browser (included in OS 2.x) but a DS browser? That means a stylus? Hot.
In Opera's agreement with Nintendo, Nintendo DS users will now be able to surf the full Internet from their systems using the Opera browser. The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as a DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi- Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens.
[ Giving gamers two windows to the Web: The Opera Browser for Nintendo DS™ ]
The question is, does Yaty need a 2nd DS to browse websites for Animal Crossing friend codes?
A number of videogames attempt to converge Hollywood style filmmaking within a videogame framework, Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series being a prime example of a game successfully applying impressive cinematography techniques within its storyline.
To God of War creator David Jaffe, though, that style of storytelling takes players out of the game too much, and he's approaching plot reveals in a different manner with the PSP game he's working on: there won't be a single cut scene in the entire game.
[ David Jaffe Hates Cut Scenes News Story From 1UP.com ]
I've always disliked the jarring cinematic sequence. From Final Fantasy VII with it's 3 styles that don't look at all alike, to Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Two Thrones where the game can handle wide-screen but the cinematics are just stretched, to any game that has that awkward pause while loading from disc. I just don't understand. So many Nintendo games (especially ones from Rare) do a great job seamlessly moving in and out of in-engine cut scenes.
I hope more developers take notice and follow in Mr. Jaffe's footsteps.
 Getting ready for a trip usually requires a trip to EB Games for a new GameBoy or DS game. Today it ended up being a new PSP.
I have to say that so far I'm impressed. Setting up the WiFi was painless, and then upgrading to the newest OS (2.6) over that connection was a breeze as well. I picked up a few games and some anime thing ('cause it was just $10) and I should have a pleasant enough journey.
 And at the rate they are going, they just might get some more.
The rumored DS redesign is a reality, and will launch in Japan in about 6 weeks. No word yet on the US launch date, but Lik-sang is already taking pre-orders for the Japanese version.
I was about to buy a second DS, since there always appears to be a line to use the current DS, but waiting for this should be well worth it. The current DS has always seemed just a little bit too big to me. The first questions I have are, is the stylus pictured the actual size of the DS lite stylus? It seems a bit big, which I hope is true. Second, does shrinking the size remove any functionality? Perhaps no GBA play? Any which way I like it, and will most likely be setting aside a portion of my tax rebate, in a super-special-secret-box to ensure I get one of these on its US launch date.
 Am I living in the wrong country? Sure I don't speak Japanese, but it couldn't be that difficult, right?
・最適な長さ・太さ・握り心地を追求した、ニンテンドーＤＳ専用のタッチペンです。
・快適な操作感でゲームをプレイする事が可能です。
・付属のキャップで、本体底面に装着が可能です。
・持ち運びも”ラク”なタッチペンです。
・ペン先は任天堂純正品と同材質を使用しています。
[ ラクなタッチペンＤＳ ]
OK, that looks tough, but Google says that the above means:
- Optimum length · thickness · grip feeling was pursued, it is the ニンテンドー DS private touch pen.
- Comfortable operation to play the game it is possible in the impression.
- With the cap of attachment, installing is possible in the substance base.
- Also conveyance " the ラク " is the touch pen.
- The nib has used the same material as the Nintendo Co. genuine products.
To get an idea of what " With the cap of attachment, installing is possible in the substance base" means, check out the pic:
Not only do I need one of these styli, but check out the other goods available to the Japanese public direct from Nintendo that I don't think I could ever find in the US.
Got it:
Traded in my GBA SP at the EBGames to get a few bucks off of it. I found that I just couldn't see on the GBA SP (original) screen anymore. The DS has such a bright screen that the GBA SP paled in comparison to the point at which I would never play it again. Since the DS is usually occupied, I figured I'd pick up one of these. Should help with my upcoming trip too.
I love it when you find a game that compels you to avoid eating and sleeping, and if you are a gamer you know what I mean. Ubi's back with PoP: The Two Thrones which they sum up as such:
The Prince of Persia makes his way home to Babylon, bearing with him Kaileena, the enigmatic Empress of Time, and unspeakable scars from the Island of Time. But instead of the peace he longs for, he finds his kingdom ravaged by war and Kaileena the target of a brutal plot. When she is kidnapped, the Prince tracks her to the Palace - only to see her murdered by a powerful enemy. Her death unleashes the Sands of Time, which strike the Prince and threaten to destroy everything he holds dear. Cast to the streets, hunted as a fugitive, the Prince soon discovers that the Sands have tainted him, too. They have given rise to a deadly Dark Prince, whose spirit gradually possesses him...
[ Ubisoft - Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones ]
I, however, sum it up this way: "We're sorry that we allowed a team of programmers to release a game that sucked and wasn't at all like the first one. We thought that it needed to be darker and more rock-n-roll, but we were wrong. We have 'fixed' that mistake by killing off the love interest of the second game right at the beginning of the third game, and bringing back all the characters from the first game. Please forgive. Merci Beaucoup." So if you liked the first of the modern Prince of Persia games, you will be pleasantly rewarded with this return to good gaming.
But the Best Buy guy made you buy some extra crap you didn't want? Seems that may be against their own policy:
Specifically, customers in some Best Buy stores were told that they were required to buy additional Xbox accessories or services if they wanted one of the sought-after Xbox 360 consoles, even though we advertised the Xbox 360 console alone. I want to be very clear that Best Buy does not condone pressuring customers to purchase items they may not want or that may not fit their lifestyle. In fact, these behaviors are in direct conflict with our desire to serve customers' needs better than anyone else, and our values of honesty and integrity.
[ Open Letter to Customers ]
And they're putting Gimbels catalog right in each store, so you can comparison shop without even leaving Macy's, uh Best Buy...
Some sort of talent show at some sort of highschool:
[ Google Video ]
And no one is getting beat up! And if you don't recognize the music, or appreciate the jokes, make a couple purchases [1 & 2], spend a few months playing, and you'll be part of the in crowd too... Props to Big G for the link.
I'm a fanboy, but now an online one:
This is your view into the pulse of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The games, the players, the scores, highlights… it's all here.
[ Nintendo WiFi ]
Headed out the door on vacation, so you don't see my scores posted yet, but soon. I'm not sure if it lists it under my DS name "Kearns" or my Nintendo profile name "NADKDC" but if you are playing worldwide Mario Cart DS, keep checking your rear view mirror, 'cause I'm already there...
Nintendo finally adds RSS to their site.
I guess there is a whole redesign that they did along with this
addition of RSS feed, but since they didn't have RSS I didn't go there
so often.
the official motivation behind shelving Ghost for the GameCube. "In
order to provide the game envisioned by the console team, a set and
readily available online solution was needed," said the moderator.
"Unfortunately the GameCube has no online service and since so much
work is going in to the online portion, it would be additional work to
release only part of the intended game."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Playstation has no online service
either, just the ability to connect online, which the GameCube also
has. If the connectivity for the PS2 is via battle.net, and so is the GameCube, where's the issue? Or,
perhaps, Blizzard will eventually drop support for XBox and PS2 as
well, and let the game disappear into the world of Duke Nuke'm...
Sure, I knew it was going to be a short game, but under 5 hours? It actually took about 7 because my battery died and I had to replay the end of chapter 5, all of chapter 6, and a little bit past that.
Perhaps I'm putting too much stock in one game
[ david kearns dot com - My DS Killer App: daily opinions & trivia ]
However, this totally reminded me of the old Apple ][ days, and the quasi-graphic adventures. Which, is to say, a wonderful walk down nostagia way.
However, the plot is confusing and lame, and the ending lacks in a big way. The graphics are far better than those old Apple // games, and it's nice that most of the game can be played with the stylus or without.
All-in-all, not the reason to buy the DS. My next great white hope is Castlevania DS.
Perhaps I'm putting too much stock in one game, but I think that Trace Memory promises to be the first game for my DS that has made the purchase worthwhile:
[ Trace Memory ]
It seems like the interface is well thought out, the story seems to be engaging, and there is tons to explore. I'm hoping that many of this type of adventure game finds its way onto the DS, as most action and platform type games aren't cutting it on the DS (as far as I am concerned).
And, if this doesn't live up to my hype, then Animal Crossing: Wild World had better.
The wisdom of fools is usually to be avoided, but the Motley Fools tend to know what they speak of. In this case not even a gamer, but suprisingly upbeat about Nintendo's future.
I'm not much of a video gamer, but I'm a huge fan of companies that succeed through creativity, and I'm glad to see Nintendo winning praise for trying something different. Its bizarre brainstorms might just be the company's ticket back to the heights of video-game royalty. True, the Revolution will need a solid lineup of games to match the promise of its nifty new controller and lure third-party game developers back to its system. But this is a company that made a plumber, an ape, and a little elf guy into worldwide superstars. I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt on this.
[ Nintendo's Revolutionary Controller - Yahoo! News ]
I think his assumptions about what must compliement Nintendo's Revolution are true, and quite evident to Nintendo. And I think this is a very good sign. And, I hope, one more step to a future where children may say, "Sony used to make video games?".
Me want just one big button, and me want to play game like TV with no use dumb brain.
Nintendo breaks with more than 20 years of video game history by abandoning the traditional controller held with two hands and introducing an all-new freehand-style unit held with one hand.
[ News : Article ]
Seriously, once you get past the fact that this no longer looks like a game, and just looks like a Swedish TV remote, or the controller for your toilet, I think it has some merit. I'm assuming that if Nintendo is banking the company on this, they've done quite a bit of play testing and know what fun feels like. I remember before using my beloved Microsoft Natural Keyboard, I thought it was stupid too.
Nate points out that the design of the "thumb stick dongle" seems a bit weak, and I'd have to agree. My assumption is that if that was wireless as well (perhaps bluetooth) you'd never know who's is which unless your controllers were all different colors (like in the above photo). Plus that extra bit has to be solely for backward compatibility, and won't be used on the majority of games.
Update: Hot, hot, hot. No doubt, this is a must by.
Cosplay just grows and grows:
Cosplay Lab features tens of thousands of anime, manga, video game, J-Rock, sci-fi and fantasy costumes created by people just like you from all over the world. It's your one-stop shop for maintaining your entire costume collection, organize cosplay skits and photoshoots, meet other cosplayers, get info on upcoming anime conventions, and way more! Join for FREE and elevate your cosplay.
[ Cosplay Lab ]
What surprises me is the unique set of skills and interests that would seem to be required for a hobby like this. I guess 2 or 3 folks might have those, but enough to make a slick community website like this? Next thing you know people will be paying $5 for a cup of coffee just to experience a certain life style...
I hope this one lives up to the hype in my head:
YOU ARE JOHN RAIMI, a disease-control agent with the federal government,
temporarily assigned to an elite counterterrorism unit. The mission: Infiltrate the Volks
Corporation in southern France and extract a sample of a mysterious biological agent.
But as you creep through Volks's labyrinthine corridors,
unraveling the secrets of the bioweapons program, the
mission takes a horrific turn. Captured by Volks security
and subjected to the corporation's gruesome experiments,
your soul is wrenched from your body...
[ Geist for Nintendo GameCube ]
I haven't been playing much lately, I guess that most of my list just isn't very compelling. Zelda will be out soon, but man cannot live on Zelda alone.
Or something like that. I'm still not completely sure what is being said, but I do know that the game is addictive:
Control the stone frog idol of the ancient Zuma in this thrilling action puzzler. Fire balls to make sets of three, but don't let them reach the golden skull or you're history!
[ PopCap Games - Zuma ]
 Not just addictive, but addictive everywhere you go. There are versions for:
-
Windows
-
Web (via flash)
-
Pocket PC
-
Palm OS
-
Cell Phones
And, as with all of these color matching and shape sorting type of games, you don't realize how addictive it can be until you find yourself thinking that you are a giant marble spitting stone frog in real life...
...and therefore insufficient time to pull off hacks like this:
This page is a list of mirrors to the various DS games Nintendo was broadcasting at E3 2005 to anyone who came by their booth with a DS. These games are distributed in .nds format, and can be multibooted to a DS via Firefly's wireless multiboot program if you have a compatible wifi card.
[ akkit.org/DS/E3 - DS at E3 2005 - and others! ]
Of course, maybe some of these folks hack for a living, but I can't determine how they'd make any money at this. Not only have they captured the DS demos that Nintendo had at E3 but they've linked up to "WiFiMe", which is a server and set of drivers to make your compatible WiFi card into a broadcast station for your DS.
And looking for a cheap easy WiFi card that is supported by this, I found the cute Buffalo USB "Key Fob" 802.11b/g [WLI-U2-KG54-AI] which is rather cheap, and tiny, and WiFilicious.
Update: My bad, props to Nick at 4 Color Rebellion.
Update: ChiefValue has a compatible card for just over $20.
Which is why this puzzles me:
"We would like to strongly support Nintendo's next-generation networking plans," said Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix. "The Revolution may embody a new platform beyond a portable or console, which makes possible a new structure in the network gaming system, changing the ways communities are built and supported. This is the kind of direction we've envisioned, and we will challenge ourselves to provide immersive interactive content in response to what Nintendo offers."
[ Wire: Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ]
Both XBox 360 and PS3 support networking and will have an XBox Live like system to dial into. What about the Revolution is so different that Square Enix is jumping on the Revolution bandwagon so early? What is so special about their WiFi? Certainly Nintendo is putting a lot of time and thought into their next platform, and they've been hyping it big time, but what do they really have up their sleeve?
Yet you continue to read my page...
Here's what you'll be missing if you don't pick one up:
[ Zelda Universe ]
I'm so excited.
Welcome to E3Insider for 2005. This site is for you, the gamer that wants to know everything about E3. Our production staff is here getting ready for the exhausting week ahead. While we're ramping up, let's talk about all of the exciting plans we have for the week ahead. First, the new site - we've kept many of your favorite features and added a bunch of new ones.
[ E3 Insider | Blog ]
Other sites to follow the fun include:
I am rather excited about all of the new consoles. Can't wait to hear more about the new Zelda game. Eager to see what Ubisoft has to announce. I'd like to know more about upcoming NDS titles too. What are you waiting to hear?
Microsoft has always been good at marketing.
Microsoft intended to preview its new gaming console, dubbed Xbox 360, to the world on Thursday via an MTV special. The Redmond, Wash.-based company invited 200 people to attend the Los Angeles taping and asked them not to reveal what they saw until the show's broadcast
[ Details on New Xbox 360 Slip Out Via Pics - Yahoo! News ]
But recently, and especially with their XBox and Halo, they've done a great job with viral marketing. I think, however, that the real genius is inviting 200 people to see this thing, and *wink* *wink* asking them to not tell anyone.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, those few were also armed with digital cameras, which they used to snap pictures of the Xbox 360 console. The photo--which first surfaced over the weekend on Engadget.com--of the console confirmed the authenticity of earlier pictures, showing a silver, slightly concave-shaped console that looks almost as though it's designed to sit atop the slightly convex current-generation Xbox. It also confirmed the so-called "ring of light" theory, which had said the device would sport an oversized power button surrounded by a ring of LEDs, as well as that it would sport two slots for 64MB memory cards and one for a 40GB hard drive on the console's side.
[ Xbox 360 pictures leaked, peripherals and customization revealed - News at GameSpot ]
I bet that none had to sign an NDA. I certainly wouldn't put it past them to have staged a time that taking photos would be convenient with no one watching. I wouldn't be surprised if they put a shill in the crowd to initiate the photo taking. And, even more so, I would easily believe that not one of the invitees actually took a photo of anything, but Microsoft released some photos into the "wild" that appeared to be taken at this event.
When all is said and done, how much did this hurt Microsoft? How much did it help? You do the math...
George Ou is outraged by Sony's gumption:
It’s bad enough for a company to neglect patching older products, but it’s absolutely inexcusable that the new 2005 Sony PSP will be unleashed upon the masses with defective Wi-Fi equipment. Since WEP was found to be completely broken five years ago, the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2003 mandated that all Wi-Fi products comply with the new WPA standard and use the new TKIP encryption algorithm yet Sony somehow feels exempt from this responsibility.
[ ZDNet.com ]
Which begs the question, how about the Nintendo DS? Does anyone have experience with the Nintendo DS and have enough info about WPA and TKIP to have an informed opinion on Nintendo's first foray into the wireless world?
Microsoft is going to attempt to trump E3, but my hope is that will somehow only negatively affect Sony, but not Nintendo. Previously there were rumors that Nintendo wouldn't mention anything about their upcoming platform for fear of the competition "stealing" their great ideas, but apparently that rumor isn't true:
Our coverage begins on Tuesday, May 17, when we'll break early news about Nintendo's key products right after the press event concludes. Check back here for the latest announcements on the Legend of Zelda for Nintendo GameCube; news about Nintendo handhelds -- Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance -- and the first word about Nintendo's upcoming home console: Nintendo Revolution.
[ Nintendo : News ]
As always I'm looking forward to great announcements all around. For all of my favorite platforms of today, and my possible favorite platforms of tomorrow.
Am I such a sucker that I'd feel the need to buy another GameCube just because it looked like the concept piece that someone mocked up on Engadget?
...supposed portable GameCube are more likely a concept design than anything based in physical reality...
[ Portable Nintendo GameCube? - Gaming - gaming.engadget.com / ]
Unfortunatly yes I think so...
Great article on 1UP.com about the upcoming Zelda title:
This is Nintendo. Little pikachus all around, some pikmin in the back, and a friendly guard who will take us on a whirlwind, song-filled tour of this wonderland of imagination!
[ Zelda Exposed from 1UP.COM ]
Koji Kondo is mentioned, and I'm sure you've heard his music. The entire interview isn't here, they saved the best parts for EGM. Zelda will be huge this year, and could drive a ton of last minute sales for the GameCube and possibly even assist with Revolution as it is said to sport backward compatibility.
Any-which-way, you know you want Zelda, and if you don't you're only kidding yourself...
I like to check out websites for upcoming games, and games I'm playing. Mostly I go looking for wallpapers to rotate across my desktop (I have dozens of dozens). What I don't understand is when such a good looking game has such a crappy website. If they can't hire a company to build a website to their standards, perhaps they have no standards and their game sucks...
Witness the crap that is:
Dive In
[ Psychonauts ]
Enter
[ Resident Evil 4]
Should I let the sites influence my opinion of the games? Sure I know that the website was probably built by some other company, and I know all the reasons that crappy websites get made, but I still can't stop these sites from making me think twice.
I love Manhattan, but now I have yet another reason to love it:
Nintendo of America has announced the Nintendo World store, located in the heart of New York City’s Rockefeller Center, will open on May 14, 2005. Nintendo World will celebrate with a grand opening block party outside the store in Rockefeller Plaza.
[ News : Article ]
So, Nate, what are you doing the weekend of May 14th, hmmmm?
The Nintendo World store will feature exclusive Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo GameCube and Pokémon merchandise not found at any other store in the world.
So I will have to go to New York? No on line sales? No expansion stores to Tyson's Corner? If not, I hope Yaty doesn't mind a short trip to Manhattan on each trip we take to anywhere in the tri-state area.
Live at the Hollywood Bowl:
A live concert event featuring full orchestra and choir performing music from the greatest video games, plus laser and light sequences, video clips, live characters, and a special segment dedicated to retro arcade classics!
[ Hollywood Bowl - Program Details ]
Think the LA Philharmonic will take this on the road? Or at least release a box set on CD?
Props to /., a site with some good news for geeks (according to Nar).
Peter Rojas seems to lament this break with tradition:
It sounds like your worst Gen Y marketing nightmare: rather than wait until E3 to launch the Xbox 2/Xbox 360, Microsoft is going to break with game industry tradition (at least as much as the industry even has a tradition) and take the wraps off their next-gen console via a half-hour MTV special airing on May 12th that’ll be hosted by Elijah Woods and feature a performance by the Killers as well as plenty of cameos by the usual round of athletes and celebs. Hardcore gamers might not like it (no one likes to feel like they’re falling trap to some lame teen marketing machine), but Microsoft obviously believes that this next console is too big to be launched at a trade show event—they want to start building buzz on a global level from day one.
[ Microsoft unveiling the Xbox 360 on May 12th…on MTV - Gaming - gaming.engadget.com. ]
I think Sony and Nintendo should take note. Microsoft clearly sees that the consumer, and not the industry, is king, and will make the difference in which console rules the next generation release. And I tend to agree.
Of course Microsoft better bring more games, I still haven't had the need to pick one up (though Jade Empire may change that...)
As the market grows, it provides room for more "winners":
Nintendo has updated their net profit figures. ‘Net income was about 82 billion yen ($760 million) for the year ended March 31, compared with 33.2 billion yen’ last year. Their original forcast [sic] for this year was 70 billion yen, so it looks like they did even better than they were expecting.
[ 4 color rebellion Nintendo Doomed! ]
When people ask me how much longer Nintendo will be able to compete, I am stumped. No one asks how much longer RC Cola will be around, or Burger King. Isn't there room for 3 consoles? And if not, lets get rid of that crappy Sony console, The only thing that anyone seems to like about it is the controllers, and they have stolen technology in them...
Those who read me regularly are likely aware that I GameFly. I find it is a great way to try out crap games without ever having to buy them. You know the titles, curious looking, you know they probably suck, but want to confirm it.
 Today we confirm one real stinker, and another that just doesn't suit my taste. The first is Retro Atari Classics: 10 or so old Atari games that I don't remember liking much the first time around. They've had some "artists" spruce up the graphics, since computers are a bit better than they were back in the day. Centipede comes out psychedelic, but rather unplayable due to the odd stylus system where you don't touch where your guy goes, but close to where he goes. Missile command's new look is nice, but the touch screen is too sensitive so you run out of missiles rather quickly, leaving your cities defenseless. Gravitar, Sprint, and Lunar Lander always sucked, so who cares... Breakout and Pong get old so quickly, and Asteroids has never been my favorite (plus it's already on my sidekick). Warlords is OK, but it's just 4 player Pong mixed with Breakout, which still gets old quickly. And Tempest just looks and plays crappy on the DS.
 The second is Zookeeper, a fancied up version of Bejeweled. I found it much more enjoyable than Bejeweled, but I find Bejeweled barely more fun than popping bubble plastic. (Though that is a mini-game in Warioware Touched, which I did love). If you like Bejeweled you will love Zookeeper, as it is a bit more challenging, and there are some nifty new rules to it. Perhaps there are super cool unlockables as well, I'm not patient enough to find them.
What I'm really looking forward to is the 3rd game sent my way, which somehow didn't make it with the other two, God of War. It looks to be a contender for PS2 Game of the Year, perhaps even Game of the Year, even if Resident Evil 4 should be a shoe in for that one.
It's tax time. Taxes confuse me. I think my taxes should be very very simple, but the software (TaxCut this year) always asks me so many friggin' questions. Though planning for next year, I noted this:
Hobby Expenses
Enter the amount of any expenses you incurred in 2004 in the course of your not-for-profit activities, but only to the extent you reported income from those activities.
In counting "total expenses" for this purpose, you must include items such as interest that would be deductible in any event.
If you have expenses in excess of income from an activity, your tax benefit would be greater if you could deduct them. To deduct expenses in excess of income, you must prove that you had a profit motive in engaging in the activity.
You will be presumed to have the needed profit motive if the activity actually showed a profit in 3 of the past 5 years (including 2004). (If the activity consists of breeding, training, showing or racing of horses, the reference is 2 of the last 7 years.)
If you can show the needed profit motive, either using this presumption or otherwise, you should report all of your income and expenses for that activity on Schedule C, not here.
So I simply need to win a few video gaming events, enough to profit for 3 years, and then keep it up to an average of 3 out of each 5 years, and all video game purchases could be deductible?!?!?! Sounds good to me. (If near impossible with my schedule.) Though I expect anyone who blogs, and pulls in enough ad revenue to cover expenses with a bit left over, has some healthy deductions here.
Ever since Nintendo dropped Silicon Knights as a secondary developer, I've been worried that I wouldn't see any more games from them:
SEGA has announced an agreement "to acquire and publish next-generation game content" from Silicon Knights - perhaps putting to bed persistent rumours surrounding the Canadian developer's future work.
The companies will collaborate on a new franchise for next-generation consoles, they said this afternoon, although details have not been discussed. "Next-generation consoles" could include any of Xbox 2, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution.
[ Eurogamer.net - SEGA signs Silicon Knights for next-gen ]
I still mean to go back and try to finish Eternal Darkness. The controls are a bit clunky, but since it was close to launch that's understandable. The sheer originality of the game makes it so enticing.
This is Reggie Fils-Aime's response to an interviewers question about the upcoming E3:
We want them to leave feeling that “Wow, Zelda is going to be as huge hit and I want it now. And I’m going to go to my local retailer and put a deposit for the super premium edition of the game,” which we’ll make available. We want the fans to walk away saying, “Wow, look at all this great GBA product and I’m going to be a two-handheld consumer, having both my old-time GBA as well as my brand new DS.” I want the consumer walking away just totally blown away with all the great product coming out for DS, especially Mario Kart, Metroid Prime Hunters, and Animal Crossing. So, in total, I want our fan walking away saying, “Yes, I need to be a three-system household, SP, DS, and GCN.”
[ 4 color rebellion Gamespot Interviews Reggie ]
But who isn't like this already? Just let me know when reservations are taking place, I'm ready to plunk down a deposit on the new Zelda. And who doesn't already own a GameCube, GBA, and DS? Could I be in the minority there?
(As the fan boys already know, Reggie is Nintendo's Vice President of Sales and Marketing)
My family has a mailing list. I believe it just may be my primary means of communication with most of my family. Is that wrong? Please don't judge, at least not yet:
Iwata announced that the Wi-Fi protocol for Nintendo DS will provide users with a link to other players across the country or around the world. Once the service begins later this year, Nintendo DS users will be able to connect to the service wirelessly at Wi-Fi hot spots, whether they’re at home, in a hotel or at a coffee shop. As one of several Wi-Fi games, Nintendo’s in-house development team is creating a new Animal Crossing game for global Wi-Fi play.
[ News : Article ]
Once Animal Crossing DS over WiFi becomes my primary means of communication with the entire world, then you can pity me. That is if you have Animal Crossing DS and can mail me your ridicule, or a fossil...
And I can't wait to tell the first client, instead of using a conference call, let's all just meet in my Animal Crossing DS town, mind the weeds!
At least that's my guess. She was recently in Japan promoting her hand bags or something, and I think she convinced Nintendo to write this game for her to promote:
![main101[1].jpg](http://davidkearns.com/content/binary/main101[1].jpg)
[ nintendogs ]
I'm sure she's just waiting for the new pink DS before using it in public.
Do something stupid:
...the Guy Who Was So Into Super Monkey Ball Deluxe That He Decided To Live in a Ball.
[ The True Adventures of Chad... ]
I'm still not sure if this is stupid funny or stupid stupid, but if he ends up dating the ponytail girl, it could lean more toward funny.
Does anyone else think this is a good idea?
Ubisoft and U.S. giant Electronic Arts are holding talks two months after Ubisoft dismissed EA's acquisition of a near-20 percent stake in the French video game maker as "hostile," the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.
[ Yahoo! News - Ubisoft, EA Hold Preliminary Talks -Paper ]
Does anyone else care? Stop the madness!
This is the stuff that Fan Boy's like me live for:
According to various Japanese publications, the new Resident Evil 4 team is encountering a few problems porting Resident Evil 4 to the PS2. Why do you ask? Hardware, Hardware, Hardware.
[ GAF - News - Resident Evil 4 Porting Issues? ]
Now how to get this info into a time capsule and send it back to the year 2000...
I concur with Tony:
I'm not totally enamored with the DS yet. I toyed around with the Metroid game, which was pretty cool, but I still haven't been "WOW"ed by anything DS-related yet. Well that was until I saw this.
[ ButtonMashing.com ]
Feel the Magic: XY/XX was intreaging, but not enough to buy it. I did get a copy of Mario 64 DS, but it still feels like more of the same. I have a feeling that the PSP forced Nintendo's hand and they had to release the platform without sufficient launch titles. I think the DS will really shine when some of the multi-player and online capabilities are revealed, and more titles like the one here. I can now imagine a dead sexy Resident Evil title on the DS, as well as a cell-shaded Zelda title.
At what point does Nintendo's "kiddie" rep fuel itself?
Nintendo has definitely embraced the kid-friendly image but maybe the embrace has turned into a bear hug and Nintendo can't let it go.
[ ButtonMashing.com: Some light reading. ]
Sure, my license plates announce to the world that I'm a total fan boy, but I still think that I can be objective. The fact of the matter is that this is how I see the current three consoles:
-
X BoxPros:Games all have at least a T rating, if not M. Anything that even begins to smack of less than T gets a dose of blood or guts or sex to boost the rating, thus no games for kids. Most appealing due to on-line play excellence, thus best liked for death matches and Madden (and other sports too, I guess). Most choices in controllers. I like seeing some of the crazy controllers that people come up with for the XBox. There are all types of gamers and they appreciate all types of controls. I would like to see the NextBox have mice available for it without having to hack it, that would silence a large number of FPS PC gamers. Best FPS experience due to Halo & Halo 2. What can I say, picking up Bungie was a great move for Microsoft, and one that has gone the farthest to making them a contender. Cons:
New to games, still trying to figure out what everyone wants. Not able to be all things to all people. Too concerned about their image to release games like Katamari Damacy or Pikmin. Likely to have culture conflicts with Microsoft proper. Microsoft truly wants to build the one ring to rule them all, and could be forcing things on the NextBox that will make it unpalatable to the gaming community at large.
-
PS2
Pros:Biggest library. Again a vicious cycle. If you want to maximize your sales you write your games for a minimum of the console that most people have (unless you're a 2nd party developer). Thus the Playstation gets the most games because it has the most games. Most appealing due to breadth of games. Best platform for RPGs due to exclusive on Final Fantasy series. More best fighting games. Cons:Crappy hardware. Higher failure rate than any other console. Crappy support for getting things fixed too. Only 2 friggin' ports. Why not just put in 4 ports and fore go the stupid multi-tap?!?!? Most expensive console (especially with above crappy multi-tap) Super crappy website. Sure that has little to do with the purchase of a console, but I really think Sony can do better.
-
GameCubePros:
Great first party games, great second party games. Best designed hardware giving great value for the money. Tight controls over hardware and software reducing the chance of buying crappy 2nd or 3rd party software or peripherals. Tons of innovation means you never know what to expect. If something is hot in games there is a good chance that Nintendo tried it first (except on-line, but I agree with Nintendo). Cons:"Kiddie" rep keeps "mature" gamers from considering the platform. This one drives me crazy, there are adult oriented titles out for the Cube, and for the most part these titles are only when necessary. I think that the blood and gore and extreme violence are great in Resident Evil 4 and Eternal Darkness, but somewhat unnecessary in PS2's Mark of Kri. This means that I can't play these games with my impressionable young daughter around, and cuts into my gaming time. Rep also seems to make people think that the Cube is less powerful than other platforms. I'm not sure where this comes from. The base specs for the Cube put it squarely between the PS2 and XBox in terms of power. I'm amazed by some things on the PS2 that would seem commonplace on the Cube. So many reviews of RE4 expressed surprise in the quality of the game on the Cube, but I think it's par for the course. Of course XBox has the most power here, but the Cube still is heads above the PS2 across the board.
I currently own a GameCube (duh) and a PS2. The PS2 came down to a price that I was willing to give it a chance, and I'm glad that I have. There are enough gems for the PS2 that it was well worth picking up: Ico, Ratchet & Clank, Kingdom Hearts. Due to my current experience I'll be doing everything to ensure that I have a Nintendo Revolution and PS3 around their launch dates.
As for XBox, I'm starting to see the appeal. I still don't understand why I'd want to go on-line and get my butt whipped by an anonymous 12 year old at every game that I buy, but there are a few XBox titles that I'd love to play: Halo, Halo 2, and Fable for example. If the NextBox will be backward compatible, I'll likely wait for it's price to sink a bit, if not I'll likely pick up a 2nd hand XBox.
Where has Nintendo gone wrong? Lost too much in the 2nd party arena. I don't pretend to know everything about the inter-workings of the gaming business, but they let slip Rare, Silicon Knights, and an exclusive on Resident Evil 4. Surely one of those at a minimum was worth a few bucks on Nintendo's part. Rare hasn't come up with much for the XBox, and I'm not sure what happened to Silicon Knights, but Resident Evil 4 rocks. If Nintendo would just pony up the cash to turn the Resident Evil series into a Nintendo exclusive, and bundle RE4 with cubes, I think they'd sell a ton. Perhaps they are already giving up on the GameCube and have something certain with the Revolution, we'll have to wait for the gunfight at E3 to tell for sure.
![[game box]](http://davidkearns.com/content/binary/111655p[1].jpg) I picked up the EyeToy for Iman because she always wants to play around with it at the store. I should have picked it up earlier, by the time I got around to getting it the Best Buy only had EyeToy:Antigrav and no more copies of EyeToy:Groove or EyeToy:Play, but I know she'd at least like the hover-boarding game. I then GameFlyed all of the EyeToy games that they have (except Groove, 'cause I found out that Iman says she wouldn't like it). The first to arrive is Nicktoons Movin'.
I didn't expect much from this game, but the whole reason to have GameFly is to try games that only Nate would buy, sight unseen. And this one is all the stinker you would expect it to be, or so says Iman. She lost interest in this before even trying all of the games. It appeared that the same gimmicky ideas were hashed and rehashed through a series of games highlighting characters from a dozen or so Nicktoons. Some silly cartoons introduced each barely thought out game. Granted many of the games were no more creative than a WarioWare or Feel The Magic XY/XX game, but (at least in the case of Wario) there are hundreds of those, not dozens.
Even if you do have an EyeToy, I'd recommend skipping this one. Unfortunately that doesn't leave a ton of games left to try, as the EyeToy games aren't coming out too quickly, and in respect for my downstairs neighbor, I refuse to get DDR Extreme.
On one hand it's cool when a company realizes that their fans want to build fan sites, and work with them to make sure it's acceptable to their lawyers, and the fans can still have fun with it. On the other hand it's not cool when some marketing guy just doesn't get it. Case in point: "Resident Evil 4" by Capcom.
I went looking for wallpapers, as I always do, to add to my collection (which gets rotated on my PC at work and home about every 15 minutes) because I'm a big geek. The Resident Evil 4 site had no such downloadables, but did have a "build a fansite" contest, which I figured might have something close. Instead I found a wizard that build this. It's not a fan site, it's a wizard to build mini-marketing sites. What fun is that? And if it appeals to anyone, it would be young kids, who shouldn't be playing this game anyway.
 Speaking of games that I'm eagerly awaiting, not one but two Wario Ware games are headed our way. I truly enjoyed Wario Ware Inc.:Mega Microgame$, and somewhat enjoyed WarioWare Inc: Mega Party Game$. The party game had much repeated from the GBA game, and it's not so much fun to play the party game when I'm totally familliar with the mini games but the unsuspecting victims who agree to play the party game are not.
Not content to sit on innovation, Wario has two more games headed our way: “Wario Ware: Touched!” and “Wario Ware: Twisted!” Touched is coming out for the DS and involves dozens of new games that use the stylus or microphone. I'm expecting super innovation here. Twisted is for the GBA and contains some sort of mini-gyro or something that can tell what direction the GBA is facing, and thus if you are twisting it. It uses this innovation to drive many of it's dozens of new mini-games. Certainly good things can be expected from both titles.
 
 GameFly has Starcraft: Ghost listed in “upcoming titles” including box art and a rating of M.
Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft franchise comes to next gen consoles with the innovative StarCraft: Ghost. But instead of managing tactical units, in Starcraft: Ghost, you will control a futuristic, "Ghost" super-warrior.
[ Gamefly ]
I'm not getting my hopes up, Blizzard has been dragging their feet on this one. I think the entire gaming community is hoping that Blizzard is doing this to get the game “right”. Blizzard has a lot of story behind the Starcraft universe, and the ghost unit is one of the more exciting human military units from the strategy game, there is no reason that this game shouldn't be perfect. I'm still willing to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt, but actual box art and a rating is a good sign.
Update: on a closer look it appears that the “M” rating is only on the box, and their database says “rating pending” (RP). Plus the GameCube version has different box art, different box rating, is listed as RP and releases TBD, and is being published directly by Blizzard instead of Vivendi like the PS2 version. All adding up to more waiting...
 
If you have been on the fence about the GameCube, this should make you jump the fence:
In Resident Evil 4 players are reacquainted with Leon S. Kennedy, Raccoon City Police Department's idealistic rookie cop from Resident Evil 2. It has been six years since the destruction of Raccoon City and in that time, the U.S. government has been able to destroy the nefarious Umbrella Corporation. Fast forward to 2004 and players rejoin Leon, who is now a U.S. agent with a top-secret mission. He has been tasked to look into the abduction of the President's daughter and his investigation has led him to a mysterious location in Europe. As Leon encounters unimaginable horrors, he must find out who or what is behind everything.
[ Amazon.com: Computer & Video Games: Resident Evil 4 ]
The reviews are in, and this one is a hit. I've just finished chapter one, and I must say I'm quite pleased. My only complaints so far is that Leon can't seem to run, perhaps I just haven't found the run button, but I think they've done that on purpose; and some time switching in and out of cinematic mode is a bit clunky. Otherwise I feel they've kept everything that has made the Resident Evil series a hit in this version, and threw away all of the crap that drove me crazy. If you want to get into the series, but you're worried about not following the events of the past, this is a great place to jump in. Very little in this game relies on knowledge of the past games (as far as I can tell) and they bring you up to speed on the important parts.
Capcom's site for the game is crap, and the have no wallpapers to download, which is stupid. This game is M for mature, and rightfully so. So what are you waiting for, go buy a GameCube if you don't have one and a copy of ResidentEvil 4 and get to playing a masterpiece. And, Dari, I've already acquired the rifle with sniper scope.
It would seem so. At first I was quite disoriented. The layout of the game has changed a bit since version one, and now there is an “over world” of sorts. Instead of just picking up races like you would in NfSU1, you drive around town looking for races. Sometimes you happen upon an underground racer, a quick SMS back and forth and it's off to see who's fastest. Other times you happen across actual events and you enter a slide race or some such. In between all of this you use your earning to “pimp your ride”.
Need for Speed Underground 2 dares you to go faster and deeper into racing culture! Immerse yourself in the tuner culture, exploring an expansive, free-roaming city divided into five distinct neighborhoods.
[ GameCube Games : Gamefly ]
Once I got used to the interface, and realized that each event on the map had uploaded coordinates into my navi-computer (courtesy of Brooke Burke), and my car came equipped with a GPS system to guide me, I think I really like this one. I'm not so much of a racing freak that I'll be buying this one, but the game certainly seems decent enough. Career mode, however, takes a racing game type to get through. Tricking out your car just takes too long in career mode to suit my taste. I'm not sure if there is an option to make the damage model more realistic either. No matter how bad your crash is, the worst effect it seems to have is slowing you down. All in all a great show, I give it 4 thumbs out of 5 stars, or something like that.
Hopefully they won't screw this one up.
It is the year 2071 and humanity is living in an interplanetary society. A new breed of “cowboy” bounty hunters pursue outlaws across the lawless solar system in the hope of receiving high rewards for the hackers, drug-dealers and terrorists they capture. Shipping Fall 2005, Cowboy Bebop has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
[ BandaiGames.com - Games - Cowboy Bebop™ ]
It says you can play as different characters: Spike, Jet or Faye, why not Ed?
Props to Mikah.
Electronic Arts is to buy 20 percent of French publisher Ubisoft, the Wall Street Journal has confirmed this morning, at a reported cost of between $85 million and $100 million.
[ GamesIndustry.biz - EA to buy 20 per cent share in Ubisoft ]
I'm not a real big fan of Electronic Arts. Even ignoring their dubious employment policies, they don't promote the type of games that I like, and put tons into their sports titles. They have had, over the years, a few games that I've liked, but many seem to fade never to return.
I am a big fan of Ubi, especially their Montreal office, and I'm even willing to forgive them for rushing Pop:Warrior Within knowing that they have more goodies coming, hopefully some of which are a complete surprise to everyone.
I just don't see EA and Ubi working, and it scares me to think of EA destroying such a great studio as Ubisoft.
Nintendo DS games are already available on GameFly! I'm not sure what type of installed base is required before GameFly makes a decision like that, but that's a great sign...
It's a brave new world for advertisers. As movies and games and in the future all sorts of products start to rethink how they generate press, and create exciting new ways of getting their name out, I can see that we're all in for a treat. Why pay for crappy TV spots with weak jingles, when you can create entire on-line games, or spoof sites, or both?
Most in the gaming community are quite familiar with Halo2's I Love Bees website. An interactive fiction/game based on the Halo/Halo2 story that helps to link the two. It unfolded over the summer of 2004 up until the launch date. Pretty cool I think, though I didn't have the time to get into it fully, especially since I haven't played Halo and wouldn't catch most of the references.
Here's my issue. What's the point of making this sort of experience and then not getting the word out to those who might enjoy it? Nintendo (apparently) tried the same thing with Metroid Prime 2: Echos, but I didn't hear about it until the entire thing was completed. Apparently something's going on at Channel 51 (with follow up changes to site), even channel 51's sponsors Orbis Labs and Athena Astronautics seem to be in on the joke. Though I think AA is up to something as detailed on the Blogger journal “Athena Astronautics Journal”. Since I've only discovered it now, it loses a bit of it's play-acting finesse, but it still seems to be quality. Next time Nintendo, be sneakier, OK?
And the quick-and-dirty I Love Knees website is quite funny too.
I've now GameFlyed Prince of Persia: Warrior Within on 2 platforms (PS2 and GameCube) and I don't understand how this happened:
“Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is already one of the most critically acclaimed games this year,” said Ubisoft vice president of marketing Tony Kee, referring to the game’s outstanding review scores from PSM Magazine (10 out of 10) and Official Xbox Magazine (9.6 out of 10).
[ Ubisoft - Prince of Persia: Warrior Within™ Available In Stores Today ]
PoP: Sands of Time was very unique, we hadn't seen much like it since Ico which hadn't sold nearly as well as it should have. PoP: Warrior Within might have been fine if it had offered more of the same, but somehow Ubi seems to have made it worse. Worse you say? But this is the “most critically acclaimed blah blah blah”. That's where I'm lost.
PoP: WW has issues, but first lets go over what's better. The new fighting system is much more flexible than in the first game. This is where Warrior Within really shines. It makes the combat a lot more enjoyable. However who is playing this game for the combat anyway? The puzzles seem to have been kicked up a notch, but in many cases I was halfway through solving a puzzle when I realized that I was in a puzzle that needed solving. There are new characters, which is fun, and the cinematic sequences are nice, perhaps not as nice as PoP:SoT.
Yes, those were the better points, not so impressive eh? Now what's gotten worse? The story so far (I say so far because I'm only a couple hours into the game) has been beaten into our heads. I hazard a guess that the story isn't going to be all that complex, so it's best to repeat things over and over and over. The video on the PS2 version had some issues where glitches would show up, especially when the CPU seemed a bit taxed. I've already run into 2 rendering issues on the GameCube version, one where a bird somehow became invisible (they aren't supposed to do that) and another where I was impaled on my enemy's sword, yet she had performed a completely different move. And, worst of all, on the GameCube one sequence where I was learning all about some nonsense the voice audio dropped out completely (and I swear right before that it was rather poorly synced).
Plus, I should mention the save system sucks. It requires far too many “OK” confirmations, and takes too long. Many other games these days have nice auto-save features, or at least quick enough save times. Not only are the saves slow, and require too many confirmations, but the music and video are stopped abruptly during this process yanking you clean out of the game experience, not something I expected from the group that gave us the first PoP on modern consoles. And yes, I have one more complaint, you don't get the ability to rewind time at first, this meant I had to replay some learning screens over and over as, in my haste, I accidentally launched myself off of cliff after cliff after cliff. Each time forcing me to repeat a section, each time making my play sloppier since I was tired of replaying that section. And, when you do regain the power, there is no plot element (that I can sense) that explains why you've regained this power.
I do have one more complaint, but I can't be sure that it is one, and it is a bit of a game spoiler, so I won't mention it here, but suffice to say the Prince claims to have saved someone twice, and I can only count once...
10 out of 10? Doubtful. My copy is turning right around to GameFly. If I make it through the games I have now, I might rent it again. In the meantime I'll wait for the game I really wanted out of Ubi, Beyond Good and Evil II
More unexplainable ratings:
X-Play 5 out of 5
IGN 8.6
GameSpot 8.8
And one that I can get behind:
GameSpy 3 out of 5
I'm glad to see my Nintendo selling some product:
Shoppers eager to find the new Nintendo DS can rejoice at least for the time being. Nintendo today announced it will increase total shipments of Nintendo DS to North America by 40 percent, to 1.4 million systems before the end of the year. Due to the systems popularity, many retail stores across the country are reporting shortages, and the initial batch of 500,000 units all but sold out a week after Nintendo DS launched on Nov. 21.
[ Nintendo ]
Of course even this volume doesn't guarantee a success. Better keep the good games coming, big N.
I don't think this is a “Nokia” at all, and Nintendo is really only counting sold NDS systems:
Shoppers spent Thanksgiving week stuffing their shopping bags with Nintendo hardware, setting the stage for 2004 to be the year of the hand-held holidays. Shoppers snapped up more than 500,000 Nintendo DS systems during Thanksgiving week, representing more than 90 percent of all units available in stores across the United States.
[ News : Article ]
So odd that I picked mine up on a whim. I've now noticed that many of the games that I'm interested in aren't out until later this month or even February in some cases. If you do know where the extra 10% of the units are, post here, N8 and Scot would sure appreciate it.
It's the two great tastes that taste great together:
Tap into your own light and dark side and create a Samus Haiku, capture the spirit of Metroid Prime 2: Echos for a chance to win ... great prizes
[ Metroid Prime 2 Echoes - Haiku Poetry Contest ]
Of course if these prizes look cool, wouldn't you have them already? Are there dirt poor haiku poets out there who dream of playing Metroid on a brand-new GameCube?
 Retro Studios deserves an ice cream party. There newest foray into the Metroid universe, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, may not seem to different from Metroid Prime, but what it lacks in new isn't necessarily a bad thing. MP2:E plays every bit as good as the first, but with a great new story line, great new baddies, great new levels, and some unique trans-universe puzzles. The splitting of the planet makes for interesting game play that hearkens back to some Zelda or Banjo-Kazooie games (of which I can't quite put my finger on), but in a 3D spooky way. If you liked Metroid Prime, you must get a copy of Metroid Prime 2: Echos.
Update: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance had the 2 castles with some interaction. However MP2:E has much more interaction than C:HoD did, which I always felt was underused in that title.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is very similar to Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 and a whole lot more. The graphics have easily been kicked up a notch, if not two. The story is unique, imaginative, and works in elements from the most recent Sunshine Mario. Mario now has extra moves based on the fact that he is made out of paper. And the battle has some very ingenious additions including a live audience that can help or hinder you. If you liked Paper Mario, this one is a no-brainer.
I do like it when I support a company and they repay me for that loyalty. And yes, that means Nintendo. I've dutifully purchased the Nintendo DS, although I must admit that I wasn't really sold on the idea. I picked up Super Mario 64 DS, since Mario is a good intro to any Nintendo platform. I thought I was just buying a copy of Super Mario 64 slightly reworked for the DS platform, but I believe I've got a whole lot more. There are something like 30 new stars in the game. There are new ways of getting those stars including “crystal stars” (like the 8 red coins, but now there are 5 stars hidden) and new “secret castle stars”. I knew that there was going to be new playable characters: Luigi, Wario, and Yoshi. I didn't know that there was a whole story behind where 3 of those characters went, and I'd have to rescue them. And I had no idea that there were new mini games, many of which support networked multi-player modes. All-in-all there is a great game with easily $30 more fun packed into it.
The Nintendo DS with it's unique controls allows you to create the highest forms of entertainment:
Sprung puts you in control of the conversation. Choose your line and get ready to react when your opponent responds.
- Work all the angles
- Flaunt your assets
- Play it cool
[ Ubisoft - Sprung™ ]
Oh, and cheesey dating-like sims too (and three)...
Perhaps this is just media hype or Nintendo spin:
In the entertainment Mecca of the world, people waited in line for up to 15 hours on Nov. 20 to be the first to touch America's newest, hottest celebrity: The Nintendo DS. The paparazzi were out in full force to catch a glimpse of the dual-screen device and its devoted followers.
[ News : Article ]
Or perhaps I stumbled in at the right time. I wandered into the Best Buy right when they opened, sauntered up to a table covered in DS merchandise, and picked up one. I think it was meant to be, eh? I'm not so impressed with the one game I picked up, however, the controls are a bit sketchy, but I can certainly see the potential that the DS has. If they get some of the better N64 titles and rework them to be more DS-friendly, I think we'll have plenty of great games for years to come. (Too bad Conker won't likely be one of them...). Some titles I'd like to see snazzed up and ported include:
-
That truck crashing game that N8 has
-
Any Rare FPS
-
Jet Force Gemini (but what was promised, not what Rare delivered)
-
Any other Rare game
-
Seriously did anyone else makes games for the N64?
Oh, and if LA is the “entertainment Mecca” then was is Mecca?
Sure it's marketing hype, but so far I am inclined to agree:
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is one of those rare games that exceeds its predecessor in quality. The game expertly weaves themes of light and darkness in every element, from plot, to characters, weapons, power-ups, even the music. The action is engaging and intense (you'll love to hate the Ing Horde), the levels brilliantly designed, and the puzzles intelligent but approachable. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is a fantastic installment in one of the Nintendo GameCube's most exciting franchises.
[ Metroid Prime 2 Echoes ]
I haven't gotten so far, but already it feels better than the original. The engine is a bit more polished, the world seems more complex and thought out, and everything is a bit darker and more sinister. Once again, if you don't have a game cube, you are missing out big time.
They kidnapped his father. They destroyed his village. Now, he's the world's only hope against an evil sorcerer - and not even time can stand in his way. Meet Tork - cave kid, shape shifter, and time-traveling bone buster. With a fiery heart and flinty determination, Tork vows to steamroll through time and put history itself back on track.
[ Ubisoft - Tork™: Prehistoric Punk™ ]
Usually the Japanese don't send us the odd ones. Sometimes, however, they figure it will sell enough to translate some text and the packaging, when this happens we end up with a weird, but addictive, trip like Katamari Damacy. Sure we've all been through it, our father the King of the Cosmos, out on a trippy weekend bender, destroys all starts in the sky. Then, because he's too irresponsible to fix the problem himself, strongly suggests that I, his son, the prince, fix it. To add insult to injury his solution is to have me roll up everything I can into a ball, and when big enough he'll make a star out of it. Why is that injurious? He send me to Earth to do it. Not only does each level have trippy music, but when my ball o' junk is big enough he uses a trippy rainbow bridge to bring me back home.
In an interesting side note, you can tell that much of the Internet is committed to reviewing video games by googling Katamari, which doesn't seem to mean anything outside of this game. At the time of publishing this article roughly 215,000 pages are “hit” by that search, *all seemingly mentioning this game.
* All meaning 99%, there were a few others that seemed unrelated, but quickly forgotten in the onslaught of Katamari Damacy reviews.
Update: Roughly it means “Clump of Souls”
Update: The game retails for $19.95, the CD (an import) costs $29.95 most places.
If only for the fact that the map is always there, and yet doesn't obscure any part of the game, I think I will like the DS a lot.
Super Mario 64 DS is much more than just a port of the Nintendo 64 version of the game. New worlds, new characters, new moves and the addition of action-packed minigames make this title bigger and better than ever before!
[ Games : Super Mario 64 DS ]
I guess I should plan a trip to Game Crazy...
Retailers participating in the Metroid Prime 2 Echoes T-shirt pre-sell offer include Circuit City, Game Crazy, GameStop and Electronics Boutique. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is Rated T for Teen (Animated Blood, Violence). The hip T-shirt features a Samus name tag on the front and a bounty hunter logo on the back.
[ Nintendo ]
I wonder if there is animated blood and violence on the T-Shirt...
Nintendo has officially confirmed that the Nintendo DS will be region-free, allowing it to play games purchased anywhere in the world. Although this news may not specifically cater to American and Japanese folks, it certainly gives us Europeans the benefit of importing our DS systems from abroad, with the help of import specialist sites such as Lik-Sang.com.
[ Gaming headlines ]
This reminds me of my trip to Akihabara recently. There were so many game stores with so many cool games. But, once I get past the fact that they're in Japanese, I have no guarantee that any could work on my systems back home. I know the GameCube doesn't allow swapping of the US/Japanese games, and I think the PS2 is the same.
And since the device is displaying the games, the whole PAL/NTSC debate is unnecessary. I'm guessing that with the world shrinking the way it is, this is a statement of how the economics of regional protection don't hold up anymore, and the ability to manufacture one system for the world pays off much better in the end. Sounds like a real good move to me.
All of this time I figured that my “killer app” for the PS2 was Kingdom Hearts. I like Kingdom Hearts, don't get me wrong, but I also could have as easily done without it. GameFly has just provided me with the reason why I needed a PS2 but didn't even know it: Sly Cooper and the Thevius Racoonus. Sure it's cheesy; the title is cheesy, the premice is cheesy, and the story is a bit cheesy; but it's pure gold.
GameSpy gives it 4 1/2 stars, IGN an 8.5, and GameSpot a 7.8. The biggest complaint seems to be the shortness of the game, but I will always prefer quality over quantity (and never would have put the “gummi” levels in Kingdom Hearts).
The Sequel is already out but I have enough games to hold me while I wait for it's price to come down. Hopefully Sucker Punch is already working on the 3rd Sly Cooper title, cause I feel a dynasty coming on.
Survival horror hits the high school – the first action adventure in the style of American teen slasher movies. Tortured screams echo through the high school’s deserted corridors. Faceless creatures lurk in the shadows. Five teenagers set out to bring light into the darkness – and experience a night that will scar their souls forever.
[ Ubisoft - Obscure ]
I hadn't caught wind of this earlier. It seems as if more and more publishers are getting into the horror genre. This one looks good, but a planned horror title from Namco looks rather boring.
Here's the original Japanese:
「東京ゲームショウ２００４」開催初日の９月２４日（金）の９時３０分より、開会式を行います。ご取材のほどよろしくお願い申し上げます。
[ Tokyo Game Show ]
Nintendo, and Sony to some degree, always try to save a few surprise announcements for the TGS. Unfortunately the press is almost all in Japanese, and my Japanese is non-existent. (Though, on my recent trip, I learned my first Kanji: 茶)
So far the fun new totally confirmed announcements seem to be:
-
-
PStwo is coming, smaller and more network enabled than it's big brother.
Turn a desktop or tabletop into a mini carnival arcade with a Bulls-Eye Ball™ game of skill and chance!
Action packed desktop game is fun for both kids and grownups alike. Toss and "boink" marble-sized silver balls onto the mini built-in trampoline — and into the bulls-eye!
Competition is accompanied by music, flashing lights, sound effects and the amusing voice of a score-keeping barker.
Choose among three automatically scored games: 30-Second Blitz; 25-Point Rush; and the Bulls-Eye Ace.
Recommended for ages 7 and older.
[ Fun Office Game ]
Oh, and seriously impede office productivity...
Playstation distractions aside, my Metroid P2E bonus disc arrived:
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes won't hit stores until November 15, 2004, but novice and veteran bounty hunters can pick up an official bonus disc with a playable demo in the new Metroid Prime Bonus Bundle! If you already own a Nintendo GameCube, you can receive a bonus disc by registering your GCN and five games, or you can get it with a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine.
[ Metroid Prime 2 Echoes - Bonus Disc ]
Better than Metroid Prime 2 for sure. The HUD has been reworked a bit, giving it a more subtle “lock on”. Much design work has been done on the pirates, and the newer 2 types the demo shows are reminiscent of Scizor, but still cool. The demo starts off with Samus having the “light” and “dark” guns, which doesn't make sense, so I'm hoping it's just the fact it's a demo. Game feel was very similar to Metroid Prime, and I'm sure there are some great surprises too.
The bonus disc comes with a preview (including Halo rip-off opening movie), a trailer (snippets of game-play), a demo (not a lot, basically what was displayed at E3), a gallery (including a nifty shot of an updated chozo), and a time line of where the games fit chronologically (including story synopsis).
If you have a GameCube and 5 registrable games (mostly anything published by Nintendo directly since Mario Sunshine) I highly recommend ordering this great freebie. If you don't have a GameCube, go buy one and get Metroid Prime and this bonus disc for free.
GameFly has been kind enough to send me a copy of Jak and Daxter, which I heard was decent, and so far appears to be so. It looks like I can pick up a used copy for about $8 off of Amazon and just might do that.
The game-play is OK so far, a basic collection platformer. Daxter, the sidekick, is a bit irritating, but most reviews point this out so I was prepared. One nice thing about the game is all load waiting seems to have been eliminated. PS2 games don't, apparently, require those heinous waiting times while a level loads, as long as the game programmers know what they're doing. So far I've been getting used to the controls, looking around the world a bit, and trying in vain to get the “love interest” in the game to care about something besides her little experiment.
If I had paid $40 for this game, I think I may have been disappointed, but at the price you can get a used copy for, this is certainly enough bang for the buck.
Kingdom Hearts is turning out to be as good a game as I suspected. I was off to a bit of a false start, making assumptions that I shouldn't have we're helping, but a quick trip to GameFAQs straightened out my assumption that the levels were purely linear. My aggravation with the crappy menuing system for using items has been fixed when I learned a spell to heal myself, and (since I didn't read the manual) now I understand that “abilities” need to be activated to be used, they are working out better for me as well.
Mark of Kri still irks me with the control of Rau, who stops short and pauses at everything. Truthfully I'm not too far along in the game, and there are clearly additional weapons and skills for me to learn, so I'm still unsure what my feelings will be when I'm done. I have gotten far enough that I understand where the M rating came from. Once you start stealthing around, the “killing” animations can be quite gruesome. And, since I truly don't even know the point of the game yet, I can't really judge the overall story. However the “stealth” level gives me promise that many unique game play features are waiting for me, so I anticipate a great overall game experience.
The big question is, will I remember anything about these games when I return from Indonesia in mid-September?
I love wireless controllers. My Nintendo WaveBird (of “Is that a WaveBird?” fame) is indispensable, and having purchased a PS2 I didn't want to go back to dealing with cords. I asked around and most said that the New Logitech 2.4 GHz wireless was the way to go.
Experience the freedom to play anywhere you want and eliminate cable clutter in your living room. The second generation Logitech Cordless Action™ Controller delivers the performance, convenience, and comfort you've been looking for. It's engineered to be small and light, yet it still uses Logitech's highly reliable 2.4 GHz radio frequency technology to deliver precise control with no lag.
[ Logitech ]
Since I just had to buy a new phone because my old phone didn't play nice with my WiFi I was a bit nervous, after checking out the options it seemed that all PS2 wireless controllers that looked even 1/2 way decent utilized 2.4 GHz technology. I figured that worst case scenario I'd have to try and return it from whence it came.
I am happy to report that there are seemingly no interference issues with the Logitech and my WiFi network. In addition the Logitech uses hi-grade parts all the way through, giving the controller a very solid feel, and feels like it will last quite a while. I think it is also a bit bigger than the standard PS2 controller, which suits me fine. Unlike the WaveBird, the Logitech has rumble built in, and oddly no on/off switch or channel selector, I haven't spent much time trying to figure either one of those out, as I am so sucked in to Ico.
I give this controller 5 thumbs up, and I would recommend buying it.
Each console has exclusive content, my preference tends to be toward Zelda, so I get anything with "Nintendo" emblazoned on it. I had thought that my “killer app” was surely to be Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts has both Square and Disney behind it, it's sure to be a winner (and may turn out to be so, once I get used to the crappy controls).
However, what I am finding is that another gem is truly reason enough to get the PS2 (at least for the price I paid), and that is Ico from SCEA:
Ico weaves the tale of a young boy trying to escape his imprisonment in a large, vacant castle. Along the way, he discovers another captive — a beautiful princess named Yorda. Players control Ico with the goal of escaping the castle with the princess safely in hand.
[ Buy Ico from Amazon ]
I encourage you to check out the homepage for Ico, which will give you a feel for the game. As disorienting as the site is, since all navigation needs to be discovered and unlocked, the game is more-so. It plays a bit like Prince of Persia, and is as beautiful a game as well, but a bit more spooky and more confusing.
The Amazon.com description lists one of the “cons” of the game is the short play time, but I for one would much rather have an A+ gaming experience in the 10-20 hour range than an average gaming experience in the 50-100 hour range, quality over quantity. And if you have an aversion to Japanese culture, this one is dripping with Japanese style, and (although subtitled) all speech is in the original Japanese.
Step into the 128-bit universe brought to you by PlayStation 2. You’ll enjoy the look, sound, and feel of unbelievable, near-cinematic realism as you play. PlayStation 2 offers the most advanced games across every genre, DVD video playback as a standard feature, Dolby Digital 5.1 theater-quality sound, and the ability to play the immense catalog of PlayStation games. So, what are you waiting for?
[ PlayStation 2 System ]
I'm not sure why this copy hasn't been rewritten since the launch of the PlayStation, as most of it is quite laughable, but apparently what I was waiting for was a price reduction, and a lull in games for my beloved GameCube. So, with a tip from N8 and the lack of inventory of a brand-new PS2 at the new $149 price tag, I ordered a refirb from eCost and it's on it's way.
The question I pose to you is, what PS2 games need to be on my GameFly list?
Nintendo must be hardcore, they have mild explitives on their website!
Starting Aug. 15, Nintendo's Metroid Prime Bonus Bundle gives consumers a Nintendo GameCube system and not one but two free discs. The first disc contains a complete version of the award-winning Metroid Prime game, while the bonus disc contains a playable demo version of the highly anticipated sequel, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes.
[ Nintendo News ]
Basically if you don't have a GameCube, and you've ever enjoyed playing any video game, and you don't buy one now, you are a hopeless Nintendo-bigot. This deal is sweet, too sweet to pass up. And, yes, my bonus disc is on the way, courtesy of my registration of multiple systems and games in my “My Nintendo” profile.
At least that's my assumption. And he's finally realized that Nintendo is hot. Can anyone say X-Cube? GameBoy X? XBox VR? Ok, not that last one.
Microsoft Corp's founder Bill Gates has expressed his interest in acquiring computer games company Nintendo Co from the Japanese billionaire Hiroshi Yamauchi.
[ Forbes.com ]
After this, Nintendo could reveal the secret labratory of Square Enix, and Gates could “aquire” them as well. Shortly after Naugty Dog and Insomniac would ditch Sony, and the One World Order would be in place.
Of course if Bill wants Nintendo that bad, Amazon sells GCNs...
Props: G$
It seems that I'm not the only one impressed with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. G4(tech)TV's G-Phoria has it nominated for Best Handheld Game. On their promo show, it seemed like everyone agreed that Aria of Sorrow brought back the old school look and feel, more so than the other two Castlevania games for GBA, and much more than the attempts to bring Castlevania into the 3rd dimension.
I also see that Konami has announced that Castlevania will be making an appearance on the DS as well. Hopefully in 2D, hopefully with the map on screen at all times. I find that Castlevania games, more-so than any other game I play, require flipping back and forth from the map screen.
Now officially the "Nintendo DS", the style has been tweaked a bit, based on feedback from E3, I expect:
 The retooled Nintendo DS features a thinner, black base and an angular platinum flip-top cover. The face buttons and shoulder buttons are larger, and some have been reconfigured for optimum use. The unit includes a new storage slot for the touch screens stylus, and the speakers now broadcast in stereo sound, with or without headphones.
[ News : Article ]
Honestly, I expected it to change a bit more, but the encouraging news is that 120 games are in development for it. If only 1/5th of those are available at launch time (and since it plays GBA games), it could be rather successful. Now the big question is: how much?
I don't know what original story they refer to here, but this looks like the next good platformer/adventure out for the GBA.
Control Yoh in an all-new adventure and use his powers as a Shaman to fight nefarious foes and train to become the Shaman King! Friends Anna and Morty and rivals Len and Rio make appearances along with the rest of the cast from the animated TV series and comic book. Master awesome abilities and attacks like Yoh's Celestial Slash and perfect Spirit Unity on your path to becoming the new Shaman King!
[ Konami Digital Entertainment ]
Perhaps not in time for my trip, so I may need to get Mario v Donkey Kong and Mario Golf Advance, for the long, long plane ride. And then, of course, I might pick up something strange in Akiba...
I had forgotten about Gradius. I played so much back in the NES/SNES days...
In playing through the levels, we were surprised at how completely faithful the gameplay was. The changes are almost entirely cosmetic and the main difference is that the 3D opens up a few new possibilities in enemy movement, but that's the main extent of it.
[ PlayStation 2: E3 2004: Gradius V - Hands-On ]
Another reason the PS2 is now calling my name. And check out this sexy video of the game play. Of course if it was Life Force for PS2, I'd already own one...
I've got a couple Zelda re-releases and a “collection” disk. I've got the Sonic re-release “collection” disk. I tried the Mega Man one, but it's too hard for someone who doesn't have the same free time that he did as a child. I've checked out a bunch of the Mario re-releases, but I've never been the biggest Mario fan. What's missing? (Besides a re-release of Kid Icarus). Castlevania!
Through the incantations and ceremonies of evil souls who wished to bring upon the end of the world, Dracula had arisen, and his army of the undead began to terrorize once again. Simon Belmont, the great-grandson of Soleiyu, took his mighty whip and set out for Dracula's castle. He fought his way through the beckoning countryside and through six torturous sections of the Count's castle before confronting him.
[ Game FAQs: Castlevania Series Story FAQ ]
Konami has done some good with the contra series, trying to reinvent it, and I applaud their effort. Now can the do a collection disk with all the old Castlevania games? It's about the only series left that begs me to buy vintage systems and hunt out these games.
And, I'm currently replaying Castlevania: AoS, and it's just as good as the first time (almost, since I didn't wipe my memory). Come on Konami, please! I'd even buy a PS2 if that's the only platform it was on...
Link letters and create words to feed the hungry, hungry Bookworm! But watch out for fiery red letters... they’ll burn your library down! It’s vocabulariffic!
[ PopCap Games - Bookworm ]
Steve passed this gem along to me, and I promptly installed their Pocket PC collections on my Dell Axim. The Bookworm game in particular is rather addictive. Looks like they have Palm versions as well, but I can't vouch for them.
Now if only they could post high scores when I sync in my cradle.
Today, possibly tomorrow. And I'm sure Nate has it reserved, so I'm thinking... Truck problems? (Ouch, was that uncalled for?) But I'm sure he'll be reviewing it soon anyway.
Two worlds exist, unaware of each other. Mana, or life force, is shared by both worlds and while one world thrives, the other suffers.
Lloyd Irving lives on Sylvarant, a dying world where nothing is as it seems - a fact he hasn't yet realized. With a strong set of justice, incredible bravery, and a particular loyalty to his friends, he joins them in a very important quest: a journey to save their world.
Lloyd's close friend, Colette Brunel, is the Chosen One, destined to save the dying world as a descendant of the Mana bloodline. At the age of 16, the weight of the world hangs on her shoulders.
Genis Sage, the village intellectual, is a talented magician with a personality to die - or kill - for. Most likely, you'll grow to love him.
Together, they set on this dangerous journey together - to unlock the seals of the world and bring the balance back to their dying town on Sylvarant.
[ Tales of Symphonia ]
I've got it in my $gf(GameFly) Queue, to try before I buy.
So based on an off comment by N8, I went browsing on Amazon.com to see how many games are available for PS2 now, that will never be out for GameCube, that I would consider buying.
For Xbox this came up with about 2 or 3 games, and all but Halo are also out on PS2.
For PS2 this comes out to 14 games, and that's just a casual browsing on Amazon.com, and also doesn't include any upcoming games that I might like.
14 games is hard to shake a stick at, and hard to ignore. Why must I be tormented? Perhaps there is someone who owns a PS2 and has had such a bad experience that they wish to warn others away, and such comments might stop me before I buy again...
Unfortunately not. Spork rarely appears on camera. But I think they could make this medley their own. (Warning: This is a direct link to a WMV file...)
[ Mario Medley ]
I think I may have found the game that will force my hand, and make me decide if Xbox or PS2 is my next console purchase.
On a cold, distant planet, the war against extinction is on and your command skills will determine its outcome. For the first time ever on PlayStation®2 and XboxTM, control an Alien hive, direct a Predator clan, or lead an elite squad of Colonial Marines and fight for the survival of your race.
[ Alien vs. Predator: Extinction ]
Check out this preview trailer. So sexy. And if I had to choose today, it'd totally be Xbox.
Originally scheduled for release in late 2003, this latest delay will likely push the release of Starcraft: Ghost into 2005, although Blizzard has yet to confirm an updated release date.
[ News: Starcraft: Ghost Delayed ]
I'm only saying that if this isn't the most kick-butt game that Blizzard has ever worked on, I will be rather disappointed. However if I have to wait for XBox2 or Nintendo Revolution to play this, perhaps it would make an uber-sexy launch title...
       
[ Classic NES ]
OK, these are cute and all, but are any of these games worth it? Did anyone really get into Bomber Man? The Donkey Kong is still the old NES version with no pie factory... Excite Bike, maybe. Ice Climbers? Must have been a bigger hit in Japan, I never played it. Plus the E-Reader version is only $8. Pac Man? Might was well get the Namco TV Game version for the same price. Super Mario Bros? Perhaps, I don't remember this being a freebie anywhere else. Xevious? Now that might be doable, but I'm sure I remember it being more fun than it actually is. Zelda? Got that one for free a couple times over, I'm sure. Though portable, all by itself.
I think what I'd like to see is a Metroid: Zero Mission style makeover of a few of these. Update the graphics, sound, add a few surprises, extend the game. Now that'd be sweet. 16 levels of “I'm sorry, the princess is in the next next castle...”
Up to four players can link their GBAs to the Nintendo GameCube to join a fun and frantic competition for Force Gems and special items while cooperating to move massive blocks, trigger switches, and slay mighty bosses.
Explore eight massive worlds in the Hyrulean Adventure mode, or fight your friends in Shadow Battle mode until only one Link remains!
A rich single-player mode allows you to assume control of all four Links and command their every move by seamlessly switching among battle formations.
A high-resolution, top-down play perspective features dazzling visual effects like vivid colored lighting, silky-smooth water ripples, swirling smoke and stylized weather effects.
[ Games : Legend of Zelda, The: Four Swords Adventures ]
First off this is really two games in one. There is an adventure mode and a battle mode. The battle mode is barely related to the adventure mode, but as a “party game” goes, it's OK.
The adventure mode can be played with 1-4 players. In one player mode you can use the standard controller or a GBA. If you don't have a GBA the screen shows some sort of light GBA emulator for you. Basically when you go into buildings or caves and stuff, the action moves to your GBA. This allows for people to head off in all sorts of directions.
The audio and video are very reminiscent of SNES Zelda, but with the ability to zoom in and out as needed, when the 4 links get too far apart (or if you want the full view). All video and animation is smooth, and I've yet to experience any slow down. The audio is all familiar, but sounds real nice. I'm only on Level 3 of 8, but it seems that this game won't be taking too long to complete. It does have a good bit of replay value, but mostly if you have a 7 year old in the house who likes to play games with you.
What else could the multi-player add to the fun? A bit of competition to see who gets the most stuff at each level. It makes a dynamic of team play with adversity, but no so much since the team aspect is very important. In addition it complicates some things by having to coordinate with your fellow players, but since each person (not link, but person playing) can have a different item, some stuff could get easier, or even possible at all (I've run across some stuff that seems almost impossible without having different links with different items).
All in all this is not a “must have” game, but for a Zelda freak like me, it's enough to tide me until Minish Cap comes out, which is the last thing I expect before 2005's “realistic” Zelda title.
Long ago, a valiant hero defeated an evil wind demon known as Vaati and imprisoned him with a magical seal. Over the ages, the seal weakened. Now, Vaati has escaped and abducted Princess Zelda and the six Shrine Maidens. To thwart Vaati's vile forces, legendary hero Link turns to the mystical power of the Four Sword to split himself into four colored copies of himself. The four Links embark on a quest to collect Force Gems and save Princess Zelda. Their journey will take them through enemy-infested lands and puzzle-plagued dungeons.
[ Games : Legend of Zelda, The: Four Swords Adventures ]
Check out the Flash encrusted website for even more details. I don't think I need to point out that one particular Zelda game or another have been the Killer App for most every device sold by Nintendo. I enjoy a Mario game, but I buy Nintendo for Zelda. (And more recently Metroid too). So start checking the stores, they've had this one under development long enough, it's bound to be excellent.
It's a PDA, it's a GBA, it's a something else, what is it? Will it replace my Axim? Will it replace my phone? Will it talk to me? What will it do. So much power, so many questions, so what are you waiting for, check out the site...
[ GBA SSP PDA And then some... ]
The Nintendo DS will play GBA games for backwards compatibility, but that's all, no GameBoy or GameBoy Color support. I don't think that's a bad thing, though. I'm sure that will help keep the price down, and I have so few GBC games and no GB games, and 4 GameBoys (2 GBA SP, 1 GBA, and 1 GBPlayer), so finding a console to play the couple of pre-GBA games shouldn't be hard.
As for interactivity, they already have more good ideas about what to do with the DS than all the ideas they've come up with for GBA to GCN connectivity, so I think the DS is going to be a winner.
Update: Can't tell the form factor from the pix? Check this out:
|