However is a nigh-120 year old entertainment behemoth like Nintendo going to keep its lineup fresh?

From what we’ve seen lately, they’re still hesitant to delve too deeply into the nebulous realm of new intellectual property.  While third-party developers are steadily increasing the number of new stories told on Nintendo systems (High Voltage Software, I’m looking at you), the big N’s biggest announcements always come in the form of tales told in realms already explored time and time again (Super Mario Galaxy 2, I’m looking at YOU).

At least with the Mario Bros., Nintendo has provided variety by molding its characters to the needs of different genres (most hilariously in the edutainment genre; Mario is Missing, I’m looking at you).  But there are at least two other franchises within Nintendo’s lineup that could benefit from branching out in this manner.

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Title: inFamous

Platform: PS3

Developer: Sucker Punch

Publisher: Sony

Type: 3^rd person action.

inFamous, a highly anticipated Playstation 3 exclusive, was released just a few weeks ago. While being a decent game, it fails to live up to its potential. The core gameplay is definitely fun, but the game ultimately falls victim to a boring overworld, a poor karma system, and repetition. The concept behind the game is entertaining enough; players assume the role of Cole, a man who has been given electrical powers in the detonation of a device that has destroyed most of the games fictional setting, Empire City. Now that you have these powers the game sets you loose on the city where you can choose to be its guardian angel, or its destroyer.

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According to EA Active, this video may just be the pinnacle of exercise. READ ON TO SEE WHY!

Last week, I gave my background story on why I picked up EA Sports Active, and gave some initial measurements of my fatness. So, how did I fare this week with Active? Did I lose any weight? Did I decide to just hop on a treadmill? Did I realize being fat is awesome in this day and age of triple-bypass surgeries and just binge on doughnuts and whole milk?

…now I want a doughnut… Read more

“Morality” and storylines driven by players’ choices have seemingly become all the rage in videogames these days. A convention that used to be limited to, traditionally, the realm of western RPGs (Bioware’s Baldur’s Gate series were my first exposure to the idea of being “good or evil” in my young gaming career), with the continual bleeding together of genres you will probably find yourself confronted with moral choices in Unreal Tournament 2k10. However, the novelty of “moral choices” is quickly wearing off, as, with most innovations, the industry’s trend for “me-too” has lead to a lot of cut-and-dry, simplistic renditions of morality. So, for the first edition of a new series of posts called “Thinking About Games,” I’d like to explore the problem of morality in games. What’s being done right, what’s being done wrong, and what could lead to innovations for its usage in games?

Two warnings before the jump: First of all, since I’ll be talking about specific instances of games, there will be spoilers (sometimes major) within this post. I’ll be sure to introduce the game I’m speaking of before throwing out plot points, but be aware that even recent games (such as inFAMOUS) are fair game here. Last, but not least: tl;dr. Read more

So, I’ve been a fat dude for awhile, and, for the past three years or so, I was fairly comfortable with it. I had a girlfriend, I was in a small, close-knit community where everyone knew me, and I generally didn’t feel it really was holding me back. However, in the past two months, a lot has changed. I’ve graduated and moved back home to a city full of strangers, my girlfriend and I broke up, and now some of my favorite shirts are gettin a bit tight. I decided it was time to do something about my jiggly bits, but I was too nervous to go a gym (OMG, a gamer with social malfunctions? NO WAI), don’t have the money for a personal trainer, and, honestly, I HATE working out. So, I looked into EA Active, the latest in the long line of fitness products for the Wii. I still had some graduation money to burn, so I figured, why the hell not? Read more

Perhaps lost in the hooplah of E3 and the long-anticipated re-release of Final Fantasy 7 is the fact that the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves went live this evening. If you bought inFAMOUS, you, too, can join in, using the code that came with the copy of your game. There’s two halves to the beta: a competitive mode which includes Team Deathmatch and Plunder (basically one-flag CTF) modes and two maps to play them on, as well as a co-operative mode. Since I don’t have a mic, I haven’t yet tried out the co-op mode. Hit the jump for my impressions! Read more

Hello MEGATONik readers (and writers)! This is just a quick announcement that MEGATONik may be unavailable this Saturday June 6th from 9 PM to 12 AM EST. The site will be down in order to conduct a few housekeeping tasks and upgrades to prepare for added MEGATONik services (forums, finally…) and another project of mine (not video game related). Take care, and enjoy the sexy E3 footage we’ve been blessed with this week!

Pardon me while I commit the sin of posting something NOT E3 related during E3. This was actually forwarded to me by a friend and I found this too entertaining not to share. The video features Jeff Bukovinsky and Brian Roller of the No Pants Players, a comedy troupe based in Charleston, West Virginia. Jeff and Brian discuss Brian’s obsession with Felicia Day’s twits.

Now please pardon me while I go enjoy Nathan Gamer’s man twits.