Last year when Wii Fit Plus was originally announced it was going to include an "improved, updated balance board with better measurement metrics". This turned out not to be true, and of course I had already decided to sell my Wii Fit on Craigslist in preparation for the new game complete with new board. Fast-forward to Wii Fit Plus getting released and of course it has the same old board, AND they release it as a just-software option for like $30 if you've already got the board.
Thanks to GameFly we've gotten to play tons of games we never felt like spending money on, and the latest of these has been New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Those of us out there that try to defend the Wii as a valid gaming console have less hope for near-future advancements now that Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has denied any rumors of an HD Wii in development. In his mind, the addition of high definition graphics capability would not be enough to make a new Wii console stand out and sell successfully.
Now personally I am an anal retentive crazy person when it comes to my game discs (the boyfriend is even worse than me, he disapproves of a game ever being put in another game's case, even temporarily!) but for those of you out there prone to losing, scratching or otherwise effing up your expensive game discs, here's an alternative for you. I'm sure software like this has existed before, and I'm also pretty sure that most game companies would not approve, but if you want to back up your games, here's how to do it. I am as a rule very against piracy, especially when it comes to video games, so of course you should only be using this software to make backups of games you have already purchased. Again, not something *I* need with my immaculate game discs, but it might be of use if you make a habit of leaving game discs face down on the table or stepping on strewn-about cases. Or of course if you have an Xbox 360 that you plan on moving while turned on with a game disc in it...
We recently signed up for GameFly (we're a little pissed at the crappy copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum we received as one of our first games, but that's another story/Xbox360 rant..) and one of our first selections to be mailed to us was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Nintendo Wii. Made by (in my opinion) the always trustworthy Konami, I had heard that this game was a retelling of the original Silent Hill title but from the perspective of Cybil the cop. This is not really the case, although the game does deal with the original Silent Hill story. Lost and scared in what seems to be an abandoned town during a snowstorm, you are looking for your daughter and things are of course not what they seem. The controls are cool - you have a flashlight in one hand which serves as your camera control, and a cellphone that opens up menus for everything else. There is no real combat; there are sequences where everything goes dark (if you know Silent Hill you'll know what I mean) and bad things come out to get you and your only choice is to run run run! These parts are actually less enjoyable to me as the environments often start looking very monotone after running through four or five rooms like this, plus I personally play games like this one for the creepy plotline and story elements. Shattered Memories does provide a good deal of this in an eerie environment with great ambient scariness. There is an element of interview with a psychologist that is a weird but cool twist and can alter the progression your game takes apparently based on how you answer questions and respond to activities. Overall I'm really enjoying this new Silent Hill title and though I am ambiguous on how I feel about the removal of combat, I am glad to have more Silent Hill lore to whet my palate. Love it!
Video game characters come and go; some are universally loved, others hated, and other still manage to be remembered for cheesy lines, awesome weaponry and crazy special moves. Yet no video game character is (or really, will ever be) as pervasive as everyone's favorite Italian plumber Mario! Whether you grew up with Mario in the 80's, originally meeting him as "Jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game, or you met him as a youngster in Super Smash Bros. or any of the other more recent Mario franchises, one thing is for sure: the world cannot get enough of Mario. He is tenacious, cute, exciting and brave. He always manages to save Princess Peach, no matter what kind of crazy situation with Bowser she's got herself into now. This summer he and Luigi even ventured into Bowser a la Innerspace in Bowser's Inside Story, and now a whole new generation of gamers will get to experience classic side-scrolling fun in New Super Mario Bros., which dropped this past weekend. So whether Mario is a favorite of yours or you have minimal experience with the short, scrappy plumber, rest assured knowing that Mario is here to stay.
Many Wii gamers are eagerly anticipating the release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, coming out November 15th. Fans of the classic Mario series will be glad to know the upcoming Mario Bros. game will actually challenge your gaming skills. One of my favorite sources for upcoming game news and very detailed reviews, Game Trailers, has an awesome preview video of New Super Mario Bros. Wii showing the co-op gameplay and other exciting aspects of the highly anticipated game. Check out the video and get excited about playing Mario Bros. with a bunch of friends, all on the same TV screen (what a concept in these days of online multiplayer only, right?)!
So I randomly came across mention of this game called Sadness for the Wii recently and although it doesn't have a release date for the US that I could find, it does sound pretty cool and I would love to try it if I could. It looks to be a survival-horror style adventure game with a story centered on a Victorian-era woman and her blind son in turn-of-the-century Russia. Claiming to make you face your greatest fears, the game deals with themes of paranoia, schizophrenia and nyctophobia, a.k.a. fear of the dark. The game uses the Wii's nunchuk and wiimote controllers as the character's hands, giving the player a sense of immersion into the plot. The latest news on this game is from over a year ago so who knows if this title is languishing on some developer's desk somewhere. IGN has some pretty cool images that look like concept designs more than anything else, but they do look scary and cool. The game is in all black and white and would be a nice addition to the small but growing library of Wii games aimed at older gamers.
I got a chance to play through a bit of Cursed Mountain, a 2009 survival-horror Wii title by developer Deep Silver and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! The reviews that were out for this game were mostly of the "meh" variety, citing a cool story but shoddy motion controls and outdated gameplay. I love games with a good story and this one definitely has a cool one, supported by findable notes full of useful information about your goal and the setting around your character. The animation is also very cool to see on the Wii and shows that the Wii is a lot more flexible with realistic (but not ultra-realistic) graphics than some developers seem to think. I only played for a few hours but found the controls pretty intuitive, fairly tight and not annoying. The fighting system is kinda cool and involves a variety of strategies to beat the ghost enemies that haunt the mountain village where your journey begins, and of course the cursed mountain itself. If you're a fan of scary-supernatural plots in games then this may be one to try out.
Nintendo is probably my favorite of the Big Three game publishers but I'm a little pissed off this weekend after discovering two pretty annoying slights that they've pulled with regards to Wii Sports Resort and the MotionPlus Controller. First, don't get your additional MotionPlus at GameStop (as we did of course); turns out Nintendo is pricing the controller add-on at $25 at GameStop whereas every other freaking retailer is selling it at its MSRP of $19.99. Hella lame. Second (and more grievous in my opinion) offense: when we bought our copy of Wii Sports Resort, it came bundled with one MotionPlus and we bought one extra for the above ripoff of $24.99. Now, not even a month later, there is a "limited" Wii Sports Resort bundle for $60 with TWO MotionPlus controllers. As it should have been originally considering that WSR's true value definitely comes in multiplayer mode. So being the loyal Nintendo brand fans and Wii players that we are, we dropped an extra $20 overall on our purchase of WSR and the MotionPlus add-ons that supposedly will be an important feature of tons of new great Wii games. So anyway, like with many other annoying life-isn't-fair moments, lazy gamers who don't want to support new innovative products are getting rewarded for holding their money until the companies have a chance to respond to the dumbass decisions they made in the first place. Hella. Laaaaaame. Boo on you, Nintendo, I hope this isn't a trend you're adopting.
Not much to say about this one except: hilarious! A bunch of cops were caught playing Wii Bowling while raiding a drug dealers house in Florida. Those officers should probably just spring for a break room Wii especially once the rumored price drop happens. You have to figure that a drug dealer probably has a lot of disposable income and most likely an awesome video game collection and home entertainment system. People everywhere need to realize that between camera phones and the internet it is not safe to do anything you shouldn't be doing while on the clock. 
The rumor mill is grinding away as busily as usual and it's only going to get crazier with the impending 2009 holiday season looming ahead of us. One of the latest (and greatest!) claims on the internet these days is that the Nintendo Wii is going to follow the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in receiving a price drop before Christmas. Scanned images of circulars for several major retailers have leaked online (see Target's for the week of 9/27 at right), indicating that Nintendo's game console will most likely be dropping $50 off its pricetag and hitting shelves at $199 starting in October! I for one hope this is true and think it is a great move on Nintendo's part... the Wii's sales have slowed to a crawl and with the 360 Elite and the PS3 Slim priced only $50 more than the Wii, something for sure has gotta give. Personally I think Nintendo would be very smart to rebundle the Wii with a MotionPlus controller add-on and a copy of Wii Sports Resort for $250 - I mean, who really wants Wii Sports these days? Anyway, if you've never had a Wii before, consider investing in one at the reduced price as there are a lot of great games coming out, some of which should use the fantastic MotionPlus technology.
I haven't had all that much time lately to spend playing video games (horrors, I know!) but one that I really am anxious to try out for sure is Cursed Mountain, which came out on the Nintendo Wii this week. Cursed Mountain is a survival horror game that follows a mountaineer searching for his brother who disappeared on his way to a monastery in the mountains. The animation looks gorgeous for a Wii game and the M-for-mature rating makes me want to support it just to get more games like it into development. There are only a few reviews up so far and the game seems to be scoring around a 7 out of 10 for the most part. From what I have read it sounds like the game suffers from the typical Wii issues of wacky motion controls that sometimes feel tacked on, but otherwise the game seems like a really interesting adventure title. I love games with well-developed stories and plot progressions and it seems like Cursed Mountain is a winner there. Anyone out there tried this one yet?
The Beatles: Rock Band has been getting crazy press all over the place and I noticed in the newest Game Informer that they gave it an 8.75 - not too shabby! With limited edition replica instruments in a special edition bundle and fans worldwide getting psyched to rock out to Beatles songs, the launch of Harmonix's latest blockbuster is nearly here (It launches on September 9). While this game is sure to sell well and everyone behind it will be rolling around on piles of money by the end of the holiday season, apparently it wasn't the easiest process to get such a monumental game made and approved by everyone whose opinion counted. Not the least of which was Yoko Ono dictating her artistic vision on the poor game designers:"She gave the designers hell," DeGooyer says. "She's an artist," Rigopulos adds, "so she was very concerned with the look of the game. She really held our feet to the fire." Ono made specific suggestions, like proposing that the game's final scene—the Beatles' infamous rooftop concert on the Apple Corps building in Knightsbridge—look windier.How the Beatles Became a Video Game
One of the next big music games due out this year is Guitar Hero 5, which launches in just a few weeks on September 1st, and this latest installment of the Guitar Hero series will feature Johnny Cash an a playable celebrity character! The game will also include Cash's song Ring of Fire as well as Man In Black, which will be an unlockable track to play. There are so many new music games coming out this year that it is tough to keep track of them all.
The long-anticipated follow-up to Wii Sports arrived over the weekend and predictably sold well thanks to many advance online orders as well as reservations in-store. Wii Sports Resort includes many new sports including swordplay, table tennis and frisbee! I haven't picked this one up yet as it does require the Wii MotionPlus controller add-on (one is included but of course who wants to play Wii Sports one player?). Eventually we will surely add this one to our collection as it looks like a great new game for social occasions or just kicking back with some beers. IGN gave Wii Sports Resort a 7.7 "Good" which is pretty fabulous for a Wii game these days.
As with many other retail industries, video game sales often slump in the summer while people are out, well, doing more important things like lying on a beach, getting drunk at barbecues and skipping out of work to enjoy the weather. Luckily for gamers this means time for big sales going on and GameStop's July Sale has some good offerings this month. In addition to knocking $100 off Guitar Hero band kits, the retailer is listing tons of games for under $20. Some of the big scores (in my opinion anyway) are Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii for just $17.99, Spore down to $19.99, and Shaun White Snowboarding on the 360 and PS3 for $19.99 as well.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 has been out for almost a month now and reviews have generally been very positive. I am not a huge sports fan but I do think it's cool when athletes decide to take a positive attitude towards the growth of video game interest and their own digitized counterparts appearing in games. Tiger Woods apparently is a huge fan of video games in general (he makes not one but two Atari model shoutouts) and also of his own game, which he posits is getting closer and closer to true-life realism with the latest title. With more accurate swings, exact-replica courses (Woods claims that he actually familiarizes himself with courses using the game) and a new dynamic weather system, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 is one of the better experience-simulation sports games available out there.Woods wants his digital golf game to be fun, of course, but what drives him is a desire to make it as true as possible to the experience of being "inside the ropes"--the ropes separating fans and players in a tournament. "In terms of innovation, our specific area is realism," he says. "Having spectators moving and talking, the roar of the gallery from another green, the changing leader board. They're all distractions, which we see and hear, and you have to focus quickly and try and execute. We've incorporated these things into the game."Tiger Woods on Video Game Realism and Knowing Your Customers
As an avid fan of the Harry Potter books going back to their original late 1990's releases, I have always wanted to love the video game counterparts that have gotten more and more realistic and high-tech over the years. I played Order of the Phoenix on the Wii and like it alright but never felt sucked into it and was thoroughly confused by some of the motion controls for casting spells. Now, two years later, we've nearly reached the release date for the sixth movie Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (can't wait, the trailers are amazing) and the video game of course came out this week. Preliminary reviews don't pan it or anything but it sounds like it was tough to top the innovative and engaging open-world gameplay introduced in the previous title. As Harry fans know, Quidditch was banned in the 5th book but makes a comeback in the 6th and apparently the game pays homage to this with occasional Quidditch minigame-style levels. It sounds like superfans of the series will probably enjoy The Half-Blood Prince as much as they enjoyed Order of the Phoenix, but that other than a few new characters and of course an advanced plot, the game's mechanics haven't come that far.
Posts
All Comments
