Look that way -->

Now I've got your wallet.

[/diversion]

Rez + Wii = Genius

So, now that Tetsuya Mizuguchi will be developing at least one game for the Wii, and it sounds as though it will be an original property, I feel a little closer to what we should be expecting from the Wii.

After all, a possible port, at the very least, of Rez would mean pure amazingness with the Wii Remote.  And frankly, I find the 480p of the Wii to be good enough for my gaming habits.  I love HD, don't get me wrong, but 480p is still pretty, and I still consider it "this-gen."  But games are more than graphics.  They have the level of interactivity (better with the Wii Remote in my opinion) and the possibility for a great auditory experience as well.  Not much can top what Rez has done in the regard of intertwining these elements well.

But other games are pushing us towards the edge of Wii gaming this generation, some of which are on the way, and others that are still in my brain.  I want to see a version of Portal on the Wii, somehow.  And The Conduit seems like a godsend to the Wii core gamers (they'll surface when the game does).

But what else do we need?  Lots of things.  We need more online games, and with Reggie saying that more community features are on the way, we can only hope we'll get that.  Ultimately, if Nintendo were the first out the door with the first console of the next generation, then we should expect these sorts of features then.

Which is exactly what I am anticipating.  I expect that these millions of dollars Nintendo has mysteriously been spending on research and development is going toward the next console in the Wii family (they just CAN'T drop that name), which I call "Super Wii," and will be HD, have an adequate storage solution, use nearly the exact same controls as the Wii (you will be able to use the Wii Remote and attachments in some games) and have a decent online setup, but not perfect.  And still no DVD player.  Who knows if they'll ever do that.  But they will have streaming movies online.

Those are my far-off predictions.  Wouldn't that be fun?

To big-shot game makers: giant WTF

Courtney Love was often criticized for, as she put it, sitting on the "Holy Grail" of music, being unreleased Nirvana tracks that were rumored after Kurt Cobain's death.  In her eyes, it was kind of cool to keep what could be insight into his death, personified into music.

Whether you like grunge or not, bear with the analogy.  This same kind of thought process seems to be pervading the games industry.  There are a few games that basically all of us agree are amongst the best games ever.  They provide experiences we can't get anywhere else.  For some, RPGs like Final Fantasy VII, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger are a "Holy Grail" of sorts.  Other gamers crave the excellence of Super Mario Bros. 3, or the amazing Super Metroid.  We all have our favorites, sure, but we can all agree on a few games that simply rock our world.

Now, we don't always need these games to turn into their own franchises, like Square Enix capitalizing on the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.  But at moments, it is easy to feel like some Publishers are cock-blocking gamers from the "what could be."

Right now, you could be playing an online, multiplayer classic F-Zero WiiWare racing game, complete with the awesome retro Mode 7 feel.  Or maybe Nintendo will get their act together and bring a new console Earthbound to North America, or anywhere for that matter.  But these games don't exist.  Why don't they, again?

I'm sure some will hold the belief that we don't want to beat a dead horse.  Digital reproduction of art seems to change the value of the original piece.  Is the Mona Lisa much of an important piece in art history anymore, now that you can get it as a mouse pad for your computer?  In the same way, would we be risking killing the original Final Fantasy VII and what we loved from it, by actually making a remake of the game for a next-gen console?

Personally, I think remakes are a bit unnecessary.  I find the extent of the Virtual Console, and XBLA services to be enough in getting your retro game on, well, legally at least.  But bringing an amazing game like Chrono Trigger to the DS as a remake... is it necessary?  Is there a point?

However, if we were to see more new digitally-distributed games that take inspiration from the days of blissful gaming simplicity, perhaps this could give us that same feeling we had when playing the originals.  And these original titles won't be affected by a new release.

It seems to be taking Publishers a long time to re-adjust their views on their established properties.  For some time, not all of our favorite games were growing up with us.  Mega Man, for instance, seemed to continue, for over 50 games, on his moderately successful (at most) run with the same age group.  The problem is that people are still growing, and it likely wasn't until one of the biggest downloadable game this year hit, Mega Man 9, that many of the original fans found themselves coming back to the REAL blue bomber.

What of the blue blur?  Sonic continues on his path of forgetting what he used to do best.  Sonic Rush seemed pretty good, but in standard SEGA fashion, the game quickly became scrap.  Why can't we just have a new, fast-paced, 2D console platformer?  Is it because SEGA doesn't like us?

Koji Igarashi has been on my shit-list for some time with the mishandling of the Castlevania series.  With the success of the DS versions and their inability to truly improve on one another, I've been convinced for some time that the team over at Konami aren't thinking on all cylinders.  A fighting game for the Wii?  Here's a quick note, IGA: You don't need to have motion controls.  Is there any reason why we can't have a great 2D Castlevania adventure on WiiWare?

Although I love the Metroid Prime series with a burning passion, there are a million possiblities in another 2D Samus adventure, which hasn't been seen for years.  And if Retro Studios chooses to stick with the Prime series, why can't we have online multiplayer modes?  According to a representative some time ago, when asked about the third installment in the series, they said they did not include multiplayer as it went against the spirit of the series; even though the second game had a fun multiplayer mode, and Metroid Prime Hunters for DS is fairly good online multiplayer shooter.

Why can't we have Super Mario Bros. 4 for Wii?  Although there is no confirmation, I personally feel we will see a game of this nature in the future.  After all, New Super Mario Bros. for DS has been successful.  If you've played the multiplayer mode for that game, you'll know what I mean when I say that I want a deeper verion of that mode as a Wii title in the future.

After all this, it is fair to ask: Why can't they make these games?  So many of us devoted gamers want games like these, and more.  But are the creators of the games sitting on their Holy Grails?  Are they intentionally attempting to create hype prior to a release or announcement someday?  While we may never know, we can only continue to kick and scream for the games we love, but may never play.

Link back!

Dear Diary,

It's been seven (three) long years (months) since I last wrote in you.  The webpages are beginning to wrinkle and turn yellow.  I's so sorry!

To all of the me reading this, I'm writing over at The Wiire (www.thewiire.com) now.  Since it's the tits, go look at things that we do there.  The programming is top notch, the writing is excalibur, and the food is(n't) free!

So what has been going on?  I'm reviewing 4 games, and about 6 different accessories as the moment.  And since I'm not a paid writer yet (pay me!) then I'm only bringing home the bacon after I sell some goods.

So here's some of what I've been enjoying (sometimes painfully) for your (the reader) sake:

• Tomb Raider: Underworld - This is actually fun.  The Wii version is pretty, and the controls work fairly well.  But it comes with a few issues, too.  It glitches out occassionally, to the point that the game froze, blaring a single note.  I had to manually turn off the Wii and play the entire first level all over again.  And then it began glitching on a cut-scene, which I had to skip.  I found a few fake walls, and was able to pass through them, although they were'nt "essential" by any means.  Sometimes Lara has stubborn control, but it seems like that is the point of the game, in being precise.  Overall, a good game so far.  The DS version is pretty good as well, you just have to get used to the side-scrolling aspects.  The development team did a pretty good job of making it look good as a portable version.  The full Wii review will be posted at The Wiire soon enough.
• Sonic Unleashed - This is like two games in one: a good one, and a not-so-good one.  The daytime stages control pretty well, and are actually fairly fun to play.  In the nighttime stages, where Sonic becomes a Werehog (dumbest f'n name EVER), the game slows down, and becomes a platformer/beat em' up.  SEGA breaks beat em' up rule #1 here, nearly everything is motion control.  The nighttime controls are god-awful.  If possible, I would love to smack the team that decided this upside the head.  GAMERS DON'T LIKE THIS.  If you want to make a beat em' up, SEGA, here are some tips: A) Don't do waggle.  Just button presses.  They are more precise, and keeps the gameplay quick.  Plus, it better allows for combos.  Look at the combat system in No More Heroes for inspiration.  B) Create a new IP.  Quit spinning off of Sonic.  You are a smart group of people.  But all gamers want to see in Sonic are the classic, fast-paced platform action we saw on the Genesis.  And if you decide to spin-off him anyways, use Knuckles or something.  A new Chaotix game would be great.
• Line Rider 2: Unbound - Not much to say, but this is a good game.  The controls are excellent, and the in-game menus are fantastic.  The puzzles work well, but there isn't that much incentive to play through them all.  The online is trash, though.  You have to register at the Line Rider site, and are not allowed to use clipart from an SD card, or uploaded from your computer.  You have to create it within the game.  And that would be fine, but there isn't a dedicated clipart-maker within the game, you have to use your line tools to make it.  No wonder there is less than 10 cliparts available for download that users have created on their site.

Expect some exciting new video content at The Wiire.  And just maybe some exciting stuff in podcasts ahead.

Letters to Developers: Mario Paint Wii

Little known fact (or "unknown" fact, whichever you prefer); I work part-time at a daycare center. I found out that some of the two year-olds do something that beats the crap out of what I do for fun:

They roll balls of colorful paint around canvasses, look cute, then eat graham crackers.

Now aside from wishing I was a kid again, seeing these bright and beautiful pieces of work made me think of a fun game idea.

There hasn't been enough good "art" games in the history of video gaming. I'm a believer that video games can be art, but that is a different conversation. We're talking about using your virtual cursor to create. In fact, the most recent successful incarnations that I can think of in this limited genre are Colors! and Inchworm for the DS, both homebrew digital painting application.

And considering the touch-screen capabilities, it is surprising we aren't seeing more on the handheld market.

But the most memorable game in this area hands down is Mario Paint. Borrowing the immortal Mario name but scarcely having anything to do with it, Mario Paint rests in history as one of the only original IPs that Nintendo hasn't dug up.

Question... why not? Looking at the Wii's hardware, an update to one of the Super Nintendo's most beloved games is more than within reason. Let's start with the logistics of a Nintendo decision to bring the game back.

Infamously, Nintendo is working to ride the line between "casual" and "core" games. Looking at their first-party software library, they are doing a pretty good job. There's a good mix of games, and some do a good job to allow players to mix up their core gaming with their casual. But no game would appease both sides as well as a new Mario Paint. This is especially considering the original game still has a very strong showing online, with impressive tunes being made using Mario Paint's music maker, like the immortal "Still Alive" song from Portal.

It would appear on the Wii for about $10-15 (depending on the features involved), and using a Nunchuk could truly make virtual art fun! And the possible control schemes in multiple modes using the Remote and Nunchuk make this game petition-worthy. We could see modes like:

Simple, by-numbers painting - If you are one of the 9 people that have played around with the Photo Channel, you'll agree that the Wii Remote has potential for drawing mustaches on a picture of your friend. And even though the Photo Channel can be considered poorly executed, the idea of being able to use the wiimote to doodle, cut/copy/paste, and other basic MS Paint actions has got me thinking. If even more options and finer-tuned controls were added to this idea, couldn't this make an enjoyable Wii Ware game on its own?

Music Composer - This sold Mario Paint. Being able to create your favorite Nintendo tunes on your SNES was wicked-sweet. With Wii Music on the way, some would argue this feature useless. Since, as of now, Wii Music will feature a mode that is nothing like the music creator in Mario Paint, it would be a great addition to the bundle.

Gnat Attack - Clicking on the coffee mug let you play one of my favorite mini-games ever. If the magic of point-and-click wasp killing could be translated in a classic, fun way to the Wii, this game would be an instant hit.

Movie/animation studio - Mario Paint gave us the ability to create mini-movies on the Super Nintendo. They even provided Super Mario World characters to create the feeling that we are an animation studio director. Of course, it was very limited at the time. With much more power in the Wii's hardware, this is another mini-genre that would have a perfect fit with Nintendo. Could we make Link run up and kiss Peach as Mario shakes his fist in anger in our own Nintendo-themed soap opera?

Motion painting - That little ball painting story from before is what made me believe this could be a triple-A time waster. Imagine that each of your button presses and slight motions in the Nunchuk and Remote could create a beautiful array of colors. Or perhaps pointing the remote at the screen with a color selected while flicking the Nunchuk would allow you to splatter paint on the screen. You could choose your canvas, your shading and texture, and each slight motion and tilt would change the effect on the screen to create infinite possibilities in your virtual art.

This last idea isn't very far off from seeing birth. With the development of Wii Spray on the way, we could possibly see quality virtual graffiti in this console generation. But a Nintendo-developed one would not only use less hardware like a pc and projector screen, but would come with the quality precision that Nintendo is known for. Even using the IR sensor itself would open up enough possibilities that it could make a sufficient downloadable title. But having a free-paint mode that lets your hands truly do the work could reboot a genre long lost.

There are plenty of games that developers should be rolling out with, that only gamers seem to have the vision for. Sure, it is not as if I am the only one to think of it, but googling "Mario Paint Wii" sure doesn't come up with many results, and they revolve around the time the Wii was first coming out. If there is a game that comes to your mind that should see the light of day, feel free to keep the roundtable going on it.

Ten things Nintendo should have said instead of "Sorry about E3"

Since E3 let out over a month ago, top Nintendo executives have come out of the woodwork to either somewhat or blatantly apologize for their part in the show.

Gamers that know about this also know that their excuses are pretty sub-par and typical. Sure, we can understand that some great games are on their way, but Nintendo did nothing more than destroy their credibility, or what was left of it, as a true gamer-serving company.

So really, they can say anything they want to try making up for it, even if it won't work for some of us. Here are some of the things they may as well say:

1. - We were pretty drunk, guys. Iwata passed out on the futon after a mighty long 500 rounds of cow racing (man we fucking LOVE cow racing). Did you know you guys get a free Wii Remote with that? Seriously, that’s fan-TASTIC.
2. - Look, last time we checked, lots of crazy booth babes that like casual games come to E3. And when we looked into the crowd, we realized that crowd-surfing with balance boards wouldn’t exactly work this time. Late the party pretty much sums it up.
   
3. - Seriously? And you guys aren’t irate about Microsoft just copying us left and right? Go ask them who pwns the console market now? That’s right, THESE guys (with thumbs pointing towards them).
4. - We just WEREN’T prepared. How can we fill time like that when we take so long to develop games? Don’t get us wrong, we’re making some kick-ass titles that you just have to wait for. Grumble all you fucking want. You know that when we shit, we shit GOLD. In the meantime, we will fill our time slot with better things than showing you our incomplete games. We’ll show you graphs and talk about our philosophies.
5. - Look we’re sorry, but it’s E3, not a fucking godsend to video games. It’s nothing like it used to be, and we’ll announce our games when we fucking want to. Don’t be tethered like the rest of the “your dumb”-asses out there.
6. - You guys weren't happy? We're working to make an affordable gyroscope add-on and you're taking the time to bitch about how we should have done that to begin with? Fuck it, we're SO over. I want my Starter jacket back, asshole.
7. - Hello? Hello? Can you hear us? Yeah, we're talking over Wii Speak and - - hey, shut up guys, they can't hear me if the rest of the room is talking! Hello? Yeah, sorry about that, Ted can be a bit - - dude, dude, SILENCE YOUR PHONE!
8. - We're sorry. Really. We're sorry for the Gamecube. We're sorry for not even announcing some fun Virtual Console games like an online Goldeneye. We're sorry that we rely too much on third-party support when we create hardware that supports shovelware. We're sorry that we take every second possible to show you, in powerpoint fashion, that we're number one. We're sorry that we haven't taken our innovative system and done enough truly innovative things with it. We're sorry that we don't value the things you do, like high definition graphics. We'll make it up to you. You know we're good for it, right?
9. - Gotcha! ...No, really, we fucked up.
10. - Yeah, yeah, you want changes, right? Send your wishlists to Reggie. If it makes you feel better, here's a clue at what you can look forward to: we're going to add waggle ability to the console itself. Then you dance with the remote AND the Wii in hand! Oh, and we're dropping the warranty. It prints money!
    

FPS games aren't dying, just doing a bit of repeating

Each year in gaming, a new First-Person Shooter steals the lives of gamers and many “game of the year” nominations. From a crude perspective, the game usually bears the same general formula as “last year’s” hit FPS while being carried by an attractively-named game engine and wearing the disguise of a vague-titled piece of entertainment that may-or-may-not have aliens and a government conspiracy in it.

Every once in a while, certain games spark life to this beaten genre, even when gaining inspiration from even older titles. Metroid Prime let us experience morph ball mode and the screw attack in a whole new way, Bioshock gave us a compelling narrative in comparison to other first-person experiences.

But even when facing these few diamonds in the rough, the future is bleak for the FPS genre. Are we seeing too many games from our own perspective? With a formula as simple and specific as “you see things you shoot, along with the gun you’re using and the arm that holds it,” isn’t it easy to retread old ground?

The video game industry will always repeat itself, and it apparently doesn’t take long to do so. If you like FPS games like I do, you’ll be eager to see some changes (aside from shiny new engines) that take the genre in a new direction. And here are some ways to do it:

• Give us a breath of fresh air - - make up some reason that the character can smoothly move from first-person to third-person perspective.

• Add some mystery ingredients to the game. If we know we are person A fighting battle B for reason C, it can get boring. By making use of the fact that we CAN’T see who we are, why not leave our own identities secret for a good portion of the game? We don’t see that enough.

• The point of a first-person perspective is to experience a game as if you truly ARE the character. What can be more realistic than actual first-person tasks? Doing dishes, scratching graffiti into bathroom stalls, shoving food into your face, watching a bacon double-cheeseburger disappear JUST under the camera. Sounds like a better Wii game than most other third-party offerings.

• Why stick to one character? Games like Call of Duty 4 put you in the shoes of a number of people. What’s exciting about controlling other people, though? In fact, here's an on-the-spot idea for a game that could stand being made based on multiple-character control:

Imagine that you take the role of a parasite that is slowly taking over the Earth (take notes, hungry developers). You can invade the human brain and work your way to another by forcing your host to (brace yourself for the awesomeness) ram their body into the next host. Then, your parasite makes the jump to a different host that has different roles and abilities, which then lets you further the game by finding hosts with specific abilities and access to different areas. And this would be the first FPS that you would run into another person for a (good) reason. I suppose you would either leave the last host's corpse behind, or it would be controlled by one of your spawn. I know, gross.



Oh, and the host you control would walk around like a drunk person, a little more tough, and fun, to control.

See? We can keep this genre alive, and maybe even unique. Unless you want your grandchildren to be playing Halo 18, I suggest we do something, folks.

New DS Castlevania: Order of Ecclesias, all graphically

Look a little bit to your left. That's the game you're going to play on your DS in the near future.

The newest title worth playing in the Castlevania series is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesias. In terms of story and specs of the game, we don't know much.

What we can deduce is that the main playable character with the hefty sword and mighty big HP bar is the heroine named Shanoa. A female heroine in the series is nothing new, but with all those wimpy-emo-vampire slayers taking the job in past games, to see a new leading lady seems... refreshing.

Does Alucard have a sister, possibly? Who the hell does Dracula procreate with anyways? Can someone fill me in here?

Forget it, just gawk at the new screenshots!

Rumor: Edgeworth to take the stand in new 'Ace Prosecutor' game

Courtesy of Joystiq, a rumor sprang up a few days ago regarding the newest game in the Ace Attorney series, starring our favorite prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth.

The spin-off includes features never seen in the series. The point-and-click series will be modified to fit the DS specs better than Apollo Justice did, with enhanced graphics and... movement?

Yes, it appears that Edgeworth can actually walk around the scenes, bringing a "3D-ness" to some of the beloved characters.

According to Weekly Game Journal, the game will be called Gyakuten Saiban: Perfect Prosecutor, at least in Japan. I can only imagine how Americans would pronounce that.

I won't strain your eyes, here are some zoom-ups of the Famitsu issue:

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 launch site, release date, blood

This month's issue of Nintendo Power split the stitches on the next Trauma Center title, making its rounds back to the DS for more touch screen surgery. Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is the first true sequel in the series, and utilizes the "upgraded" features of the tools as seen in the Wii games with the familiarity of the original portable version.

The sequel begins with the struggles of the aftermath of GUILT. Being the fourth game in the series now, it can be assumed that Atlus has learned its lesson in barraging stay-at-home doctors with "save the world from an epidemic" archetypes, but the launch site of the game seems to say otherwise:

"A legendary doctor has come to Zakara, one of the many refugee camps. In these harsh lands that are ill equipped for providing medical care, he will find hope in new allies. However, a deadly disease thought to have been eradicated once again looms on the horizon..."

Considering it is a sequel, the devastated country is in Africa, I would venture a guess that this deadly disease is called something like, let's say, GUILT? Or at least the possibility exists that this disease is associated with GUILT, like a "degenerate son" of sorts. With a mohawk. This game is just getting better and better!


Included in the launch site are character profiles, with only two (Derek and Angie) currently available. Since the pictures are only lightly shaded, it is pretty easy to spot quite a few familiar faces alongside some fresh ones.

Below is the trailer for the game. Note that there is another 'broken bone' operation included in the flashing montage, which makes me curious about the controls during certain operations. Without multitouch capabilities (which could be well used here,) will we see the d-pad used to rotate bone fragments, or a "click to move, click to rotate" type of control scheme here?




The game is currently slated for release stateside on July 1, 2008.

Rock Band and real drumming?

Kotaku - Video "Proof" That Rock Band Learns You Some Drummin'

First off, if it isn't Second Stage Turbine Blade, don't show me Coheed.

From experience, if you have a complete lack of rhythm in your bones, games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band help train that rhythm.

After all they're *gasp* rhythm-based games!

I'm getting the feeling we'll see more of these stories pouring out just like the Wii/Rehab connections. To summarize the responses to these types of stories to the non-gaming crowds/media:

Yeah, we know there's merit to this medium. You're just discovering this NOW?

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Not many DS games give you the opportunity to stick it to the man and turn your handheld on its side, looking like you're reading some Trekkie-style interactive book.

And of these few games, not all live up to the hype of sacrificing buttons for the look of a small book with extremely familiar feel.

As indicated by my build-up, Team Ninja came through brilliantly with Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. Controlling Ryu purely with the stylus (minus guarding) feels intuitive and fairly well-tuned. There have been a few instances where my pen-sliding skills have led my little ninja to perform different attacks than I anticipate, but these rare occurrences are understandable when looked at from a distance. After all, it is rare to find an adequate action game that is primarily touch-screen based. In fact, Phantom Hourglass is the only other game that truly comes to mind, and it is noteworthy that Ninja Gaiden is *gasp* a third party title.

There are times that it can feel a bit "light." Bosses weren't amazingly difficult, and though there are tougher difficulties to unlock, I can't find the replay value to be very high. At least not yet.

Back on the plus side, however, the game's attention to detail and artfulness reminds me of the fun I've had with Hotel Dusk, albeit a different genre all together.

Not the longest of adventures with our favorite ninja, but being able to take a fun action title with complimentary graphics on the go makes this game a must-get for DS gamers. 9/10.

Rock Band to debut on Wii - June 22

Kotaku - Rock Band hits Wii on June 22

Kotaku editor Brian Crecente reported today the announcement of fan-favorite Rock Band for the Wii. It will be in our hands June 22 this year. Notably, previous announcements indicated that we wouldn't see this game for the Wii until nearly a year after the new release date. Let's hope it turns out as good as the Sony/Microsoft counterparts.

Factoids:

Price: $169.99
Included in bundle: Game, wireless guitar, drum kit, microphone; with stand-alone instruments immediately available on June 22
Content: 63 songs + 5 bonus songs

More details to come.

UPDATE: In a response back to Crecente about the potential of DLC (downloadable content) for the Wii version of Rock Band, Harmonix representatives had this to say:

"...because the Wii's online capabilities and potential have yet to be fully realized, we wanted to wait before we explored online functionality for Rock Band to ensure that players get the high-quality of online performance they've come to expect."

Hopefully this means, "Yeah, someday." With the rise of online gaming for Nintendo with new hit Super Smash Bros. Brawl, we can only hope that Nintendo will see the err of their friend code-y ways, and offer more support in a Xbox Live fashion.

The ignorant vs. the informed, round 47

Kotaku - Cop called out on blaming violent games

Kotaku intern Tori Floyd posted an interesting article today about the shoe walking its way to the other foot. Typically, stories float to the top of gaming news sites about destructive and irresponsible kids blaming video games for their misdeeds. Or we see stories of lawyers, politicians, and governing authorities linking the long chain of loose connection between troubled children and the games they do (or typically don't) play.

Though this change of pace is far from new to the gaming journalism community, it is also fresh to see a standard journalist doing her job to be as objective as possible. In this instance, Daily News reporter Victoria Macchi took it upon herself to find and report studies that show a lack of correlation between real violence and violent games. Bravo, Macchi! This is something you wouldn't find on, let's say, Fox News.

Iron Chef Wii!!!

Kotaku - Iron Chef host says Kotaku, announces game

After seeing many disappointing Cooking Mama titles, I have high expectations for Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine, coming this summer to both DS and Wii (as expected).

What they can do to make the controls awesome: Take note from Atlus' work on the Trauma Center series, and what they've done to simulate surgery.

What they can do to make the controls suck: Follow the piece-by-piece formula of creating food that the Cooking Mama series has created.

If the controls aren't too "tacked-on" we should see an excellent game. There NEEDS to be a well-crafted multiplayer, perhaps with various skill-based modes (like Cooking Mama,) random secret ingredients, and maybe even a campaign where you can attain Iron Chef status. Take note, Destineer!

GH3 Wii guitars hit Red Octane's site

RedOctane.com finally has spare Les Paul guitars for the Wii available and ready for you to order. At $69.99, you will finally be rocking with a friend, and have to give up the guitar less. No word on when these will travel to retailers, however.

Smash Bros. Brawl kicks your, my ass

Today was a long day. I felt up a bit of the Milwaukee Japanese Anime Convention on campus, and met up with my old roommate who informed me of something quite intriguing.

At the convention, there was a room full of Wii, Gamecube, and a few other systems. Most were on regular TV sets, but at the far end of the room was a full on table, with a projector set up to display the Wii screen, the system surrounded by nunchuks, remotes, and Gamecube pads. It all meant nothing to me until it was noted that this system was *ahem* a modded system, and the disc was none other than Brawl.

So we threw down a few rounds, and I can't say I was impressed. It goes beyond that.

Brawl has a very familiar interface, yet manages to be more than "Melee 2" in its look. The character selection, even if you follow the dojo online as if you pray to it incessantly, is still surprising and very pleasing. I'm still left wanting more, if only just for a few Capcom characters (give me Phoenix Wright and X or Zero and I'd be content) but it still satisfies. I didn't get a chance to explore all of the characters, so I only played three: Link (my old standby from the N64 days,) Pit, and Cartoon Link, who plays much like Link, if not exactly the same.

The Links play how you would expect, swords flailing and tight jumping. Pit, however, felt very loose, and was able to use his wings to fly short distances. This started to feel a little unwieldy, and would only be recommended to more experienced players. His specials were alright, but I wouldn't go naming him my favorite. Cartoon Link, likely because I used him last and was the most used to the controls at this point, felt a little more precise than adult Link. I would go as far to say that he too felt a little more loose than adult Link, but I doubt it is a significant difference, if any.

Now, I've never been a huge Melee player, so playing with a gamecube pad seemed a little foreign at first, especially when trying to look at it as a complete newb to get a feel for the learning curve. I must say, it is impressive. By the second minute of play I was able to keep up with the other, experienced players.

We started out on the "old school" Mario Bros. stage, which demonstrates how interactive these stages are. Jumping and hitting the koopas walking along the level brought you back to the 8 bit days of old, giving that rustic touch to every koopa shell you utilize in pushing your opponent off screen. We also threw down on the Pictochat stage, which changes as you play, also very impressive. The amount of stages available in the game, in addition to the character selection, is impressive. I can't imagine being bored of this game.

Back to controls, the change from Melee allowing you to use a dedicated jump button was smart by the developers. It allows the beginners to easily understand the simple jump-move-hit buttons without being bombarded with special moves, grapples and throws and blocks. Though I didn't get to try it, I'm sure that the other options to play the game would suit any new players as well, including the sideways-remote style (which I'm sure my girlfriend will make great use of).

I got to see the makings of a few Final Smashes (and actually got to execute one) and it seemed to all happen before I really understood what was going on. Most beginning players won't even realize that they are flashing and should hit "B" since the action can be THAT engrossing. In fact, I didn't even realize it at first, and by that point, the Final Smash ball was sort of "knocked" out of my because I took too many hits. Needless to say, Final Smashes seem very epic, and come especially near the end of battles to further layer the chaos. At first glance, they almost seem like overkill, guaranteeing victory for the smash-ee. However, it really didn't seem to be the case in the end, as I found it well balanced and still very chaotic.

From what I've gathered, it is a game WELL put together. It is obvious that a lot of time was spent on it, and it has been packed with features. But what hits me the most, is that tonight I played at least 5 other games, drank, and feasted with friends, but all I've wanted to do was play more Brawl.

And that's my impression. Brawl doesn't just become your favorite game. It kicks other games out on the curb, and makes them find their own job to support themselves.

Full, concise review to come after the game's U.S. release. If you haven't preordered it already, do it now.

Mario Kart Wii - Good, familiar controls, and bad new ones

Mario Kart Wii - Kotaku

According to Bulent Yusuf from the blog WiiWii, the new officially licensed Wii Wheel is crap, noted by Kotaku staff today.

Even more noteworthy is the pull quote I nabbed later via Kotaku:

Fortunately, you can play using the standard Wiimote and Nunchuk, or you can bust out the GameCube pad and be proper old school.

What? I know it was confirmed for Smash Bros. Brawl, but you can use Gamecube controllers on Mario Kart Wii? And the crowds rejoice.

Wii at Oscars, pushes buttons

Wii Shows Up At Oscars, Goes Berserk, Devours Audience, Etc

Here's my comment on the matter:

I consider the Oscars the most reputable of all the award shows. There's still a great deal of regard and respect for the art of film and the medium itself, and the ceremony has a high tendency to highlight that.

What seems to shit on it all are the entertainment outlets like E! that care about a) who wins, b) who gets "snubbed," and especially c) what people are wearing on the red carpet. But the ceremony deals a lot with the medium as an art, and there are plenty of films and artists in the industry that they honor for their work that I know I haven't heard of, because they represent the medium at its finest. And obviously popular media outlets would rather talk about Miley Cyrus.

The Grammy's are a whole other story, though...

Anyways, I really didn't care for Wii Sports being highlighted at the Oscars. Here are my issues with it:

1) Jon Stewart was playing tennis against the 11 year-old that sang earlier in the show. This only furthers the stereotype that games are for kids and are only toys.

2) They played Wii Sports. Though old, the game is shown to represent the gaming industry as a whole. All Jon needed to say was "Am I supposed to be tired," to also further the idea of games as a novelty.

3) It was played at the Oscars. As I talked about earlier, many feel as well the Oscars are actually more reputable of an awards ceremony. It represents an art that we can all relate to and appreciate. Now we're shown a snippet of a game to represent it as a child's toy, or a novelty for adults, and this juxtaposes a misrepresented art medium with the much loved and beheld Oscars.

It actually could easily offend those that hold, justly, Video Games as an art medium itself, though young. In many ways, this only furthered these unjust stereotypes of the medium we cherish, and I can't help but feel it was done intentionally. After all, aren't movie producers nervous that Xbox Live will ruin their box office profits?

Initial opinions: Cobalt Blue DS is sexy

I won't lie, I'm writing this on my new cobalt blue DS Lite. In bed.

See, this is the kind of handheld you *want* to take to bed with you. It can cradle you in it's soft glow while you fall asleep to the loop you made on Electroplankton.

But you won't sleep. You can't keep your hands off the silky black matte finish on the backside. You'll find yourself putting the game in standby when you constantly close the cover to admire this blue beauty.

Is it worth it? If you don't already own a functioning DS Lite, then yes. I'm selling my polar white Lite to a friend, and traded in the big-silver-brick DS to nab one of these, and I couldn't be happier.

One Second Reviews, go!

Here marks the start of my one second reviews. It is a chance for me to give input on the games that rub their ass on our minds every day.

Metroid Prime Hunters (DS) - A messy headache of natural colors makes you feel like you're chasing a golden pot of dreams through a murky swamp of hangovers in this relatively fun and controllable fps. 7/5/10

Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Wii) - You'll puke blood on the tougher modes when trying to flail and stomp to some of the world's worst techno remixes and corny commentary. But, it's fun, maybe. 5.5/10

Clubhouse Games (DS) - Do you have to go to the bathroom? Bring your DS with you if it'll be awhile. 8/10

Endless Ocean (Wii) - "Fun," relaxing, but the lack of playlist customization with your music and ability to change songs mid-dive sinks this hopeful game. 6.5/10