“Purest” Form of Gaming
A resounding “Bang” detonated across the scene followed by the words “Head Shot!” - shortly there after a small chime rings signaling achievement/trophy/medal unlocked. These aforementioned achievements cloud our vision and poison the enjoyment and purity of the games themselves.
1 commentLeak: Trioxide to Make Consoles Obsolete?
According to Kotaku, rumor has it that a new system is in the works to allow PC gamers to emulate console games on their computers.
The system, named “Trioxide,” may, as you may have well guessed, represent the three major consoles (360, PS3 and Wii) and the ability of the system to play all three consoles’ games. The only other tidbit of information that comes with this leak is the strange price range of $49 and $299, which nobody seems to be able to make anything of.
If this rumor rings true, which I highly doubt it will, it could put a major damper on console sales. Honestly, I don’t think Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo (or their respective lawyers) would ever let such a thing happen. Will this actually happen? Only time will tell.
2 commentsReview: Battle of the Bands (Wii)
After owning a Wii for a little over a year now, and playing a fair amount of the absolutely horrid titles available on the system, I initially had very low hopes for Battle of the Bands, Planet Moon Studios and THQ’s entry into the recent hit rhythm-music game genre. However, the track record for rhthym games on the Wii has been and looks to be very solid, what with Guitar Hero III already released and the upcoming Rock Band and Samba de Amigo to release on the system later in the year. How does Battle of the Bands fit into the equation? Quite messily, in fact.
4 comments‘Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles’ Hits 1 Million
Somone forgot to tell Capcom that third party titles aren’t selling well on the Wii. We just got word that Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles has shipped 1 million units worldwide in a little over three months time. This makes the second million seller for Capcom on the Wii, the first being the Wii version of Resident Evil 4, which is by far one of the best ports the Wii has recieved. Capcom also brought us the cult hit Zack and Wiki for the Wii so it looks like they’re doing pretty well on the Big N’s system. Guess it does pay off to actually think about the games you bring out for the Wii, even if they are simply ports.
It’s heartening to see a third party doing well on the Wii even if it’s with the same franchise. Hopefully, we’ll start getting more and more press releases like this from third party Wii developers. It would be especially awesome if they were about WiiWare games.
1 commentInsert Weekly VC Update Pun Here: 3/3/O8
Multiplayer Lightsaber Battles on Wii
Were you wondering, like I was, why in God’s name anyone would buy the Wii version of Star Wars: The Forced Unleashed unless they desperately wanted to swing an actual light saber? You probably weren’t because you’re up to date on all the hottest news, but I just found out about the mulitplayer battle mode included on the Wii, and since some new information has been released on it thanks to GDC I figured I’d bring everyone up to date. Since the Wii is so graphically underpowered compared to the PS3 and 360, some of the game’s levels have been removed or reworked for the Wii release. To make up for this the Wii version of the game will include a one-on-one light saber battle mode where two players will be able to duke it out in a myriad of different levels.
The multiplayer mode will feature 20 characters and multiple levels to play on. Players cross sabers of light in nine different settings while swinging their Wiimotes in one of the four cardinal directions in order to attack. Power-ups will litter the stages and enivironmental hazards will be involved some how. The one level that has been seen featured TIE fighters in the background which could be flung at an opponent when a “Force Unleashed” power-up was obtained. If your light sabers collide, as light sabers are wont to do, you’ll have a quick time event in which motion controls will determine the winner. It all sounds like it could be really awesome and force me to buy a Wii version and a 360 one if the multiplayer on the Wii turns out well.
That is a big “if” though as often things like this, especially on games ported to the Wii, are simply tacked on as “we’re sorry your system is underpowered” kind of thing. Hopefully LucasArts knows better than this and the multiplayer will stand up to the high level of innovation and design that the main game has. Heck, who am I kidding. LIGHT SABER WII CONTROLS! YUMMY DELICIOUS!
[Via MyWiiNews]
2 commentsInsert Weekly VC Update Pun Here: 2/18/08
Holy crap! Remember last week when I was pretty excited that Nintendo had released two good games at once and that this was proof that it actually wasn’t Nintendo at all but some sort of not-Nintendo? Well, I was joking then. But with this week’s releases I am now 100 percent convinced that Nintendo has been usurped by not-Nintendo. Who is this not-Nintendo (nN), you ask? They’re a shadow company working behind the scenes to impersonate Nintendo and finally release epic VC games on a regular basis and even at the same time. Epic games like Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points) and Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Animated Violence, 800 Wii Points). The not-revolution has begun, free the games!
Through hard work and determination it seems that the big nN has managed to actually pump out two completely fantastic games in just one week. First they must have used the l33t ninja skills from Ninja Gaiden III to sneak into the real Nintendo’s home. Then using the skills they learned from one of the best games in the series (and my favorite of the original trilogy) they dispatched with the real Nintendo and sat down to release the glory that is Phantasy Star II upon us all. All I can say is, thank you benevolent, new Nintendo, may you not lose your way next week.
Evidently not-Nintendo runs on the same schedule as regular Nintendo and all games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Hit the jump to read the press release.
2 commentsInsert Weekly VC Update Pun Here: 2/11/08
OK, who are you and what have you done with Nintendo? We get two good games in one week? We can drop the charade, I know the real Nintendo would never release both Harvest Moon (Super NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points) and Lords of Thunder (TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points) within the same week. That’s just too much cult classic (as the press release put it) goodness in one week. So I’m stuck wondering where you put the real Nintendo.
I suppose I’ll cover this Faux-Nintendo press release since it’s the only one I’ve got, but just know I’m on to you, Nintendo imposter. Harvest Moon is one of the greatest sims ever. Every time I plug one of these games in, determined to hate it for its farm managing antics, I find myself instantly caring about how my cabbages are doing and whether or not my cows are comfortable or not…Curse your fun! Making me play games that I’m supposed to hate!
I am informed by the gods of the internet (read: Google search) that Lords of Thunder is actually a completely badass game too. How could it not be really? Not only is it a side scrolling shooter with heavy metal music, but every description of the game also mentions knights/badasses. Not just knights, who are already badasses, but knights who are badasses on top of already being badass. That’s so much badass. This is one of the coolest things about the VC, a game like this that few got the chance to play (since it was only released on the TurboGrafx-CD and Sega CD), is now totally accesible to the masses.
Farming goodness and flying knight badasses go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Enjoy one of the better press releases not-Nintendo has not put out after the jump.
3 commentsReview: No More Heroes
One day a highly influential piece of gaming writing will come out titled “No More Heroes: Attacking Norms in a Male Dominated Culture” or something to that effect, something that sounds really smart. This is because No More Heroes is really smart, smarter than its cheesy dialogue and punk-esque art style make it look. In fact at its core No More Heroes is a game about gaming, a critique on gaming’s culture and one of the most intelligent video games out there. But this isn’t that aforementioned paper, so let’s ditch the philosophical discussion and get to the review … because even a bad game can have smart ideas.
So what is No More Heroes? Smart and bad or smart and good? Find out after the jump.
8 commentsInsert Weekly VC Update Pun Here: 1/30/08
This will be a short and sweet installment of IWVCUPH as Nintendo has taken their promise of three new VC games each week and thrown it out the window by releasing only two games for the past few weeks and now this week only releasing one game. That’s the short part of it, the sweet part is that the one game is 1080 SNOWBOARDING (N64, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points), one of the best snowboarding games ever made and still a blast to play despite it’s, shall we say, dated graphics.
I suppose I should make fun of some cheesy line in the press release but I’m too upset from Nintendo’s broken promises shattering my fragile heart. This single solitary game goes live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Hit the jump for the press release involving only one game.
5 comments