I know it’s becoming an age old question at this point, but is there life after World of Warcraft (WoW)? In my opinion, WoW took some of the best ideas from all other online games, perfected them and put them in one package. Unfortunately, there still lies a few issues that even WoW hasn’t solved. I’ve dabbled in online role playing games ever since the days of MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons, yeah, that ages me doesn’t it). My next few blog posts will be on this subject. I have such a long history I had to break it up in parts.
My first graphical online game was the first one of it’s kind, Neverwinter Nights on America Online. Back then, the thrill of being online at all was exhilarating enough, let alone playing a role playing game with other people. America Online soon got to expensive for my part time job wages and I had to abandon Neverwinter Nights for good. Read the rest of this entry »
I was shocked when I first read the Wii would have built in 512 MB of hard drive space. Compared to the Xbox 360′s 20 gigabyte drive, this is hardly anything at all. However, I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I also read the Wii would support SD cards and include two usb ports. However, to my horror, I found that you can not use the SD cards as an active hard drive. Meaning, you can’t run any games or saved games directly off the card, nor can you use any usb hard drive for that purpose.
A few days ago Forbes has posted an article titled “America’s All-Time Favorite Videogames’. An article at Aeropause, Joe Fourhman brings up some good points that question the motives of Forbes. Ok even if you accept the skewed parameters and the blatant exclusion of any Nintendo titles, why absence of The World of Warcraft. Also, what about The Sims? Something is definitely fishy here.
For those that don’t bother looking at the free Nintendo Channel available for download via the Wii shop channel, this is a video that explains how the Wii Fit board works.
Valve has recently announced that its Steam service will soon utilize it’s new Steam Cloud Online Network. What does this mean? First of all, many people don’t even know what Steam is. Steam is a free downloadable game hub that offers features seen on Microsoft’s Xbox Live. You can purchase games online for download for anywhere from $3.99 – $49.99. Steam includes all sorts of genres as you would expect from PC games. There are tons of games for casual gamers who just want to play cards as well as tons of shooters for the more elite players.
Steam includes an instant messaging service as well as a voice chat service that runs over any game played through Steam. This service notifies you when your friends are online and what game they are currently playing. You can also point Steam to games you have previously purchased to include these features. Multi-player games can be hosted through Steam and made available to other Steam subscribers. Additionally, all your games purchased through Steam receive automatic updates. A really nice feature is once you purchase a game on one PC, you can access this game on a friends or one in a cyber cafe. As with Xbox live, game achievements can be gained through certain games. Also there is a free demo for practically every game available on steam. Read the rest of this entry »
I have been anticipating Too Human for over 7 years now. Originally in development for the PlayStation, then it moved to the GameCube only to land on the Xbox 360. One of the biggest reasons I purchased the Xbox 360 was for its online capabilities. I’m very excited that Too Human will feature online multiplayer co-op. I absolutely love games with Co-op online game play.
While some gamers tend to enjoy being competitive, many of us that simply enjoy experiencing a game rather than embedding it into part of our ego. Like most experiences, your enjoyment is multiplied when you are joined with someone else. It’s in the same sense of watching a movie alone versus watching it with a friend.
I really don’t understand how there are game review sites and blogs out there that are claiming that using Wii Fit cannot get you in shape. That’s almost impossible. If you bother putting the energy it takes to turn on the power put in the disc and start up Wii Fit, you’ll find that you’ll be doing real exercises. For instance, one has you lying on your back working your abdomen muscles by lifting your legs and arms to meet in the air. For those that know, this is a V-crunch. How can you make the claim that doing 15-30 reps of V-crunches a day will not eventually lead to a loss of fat if not tight abs? You dont need a gym to get a 6 pack, you only need a floor and the will power to do it. So does that mean game reviewers are going to say using the floor wont get you fit either?
Although Iwata stated that Wii Fit’s purpose was to make you more aware and not necessarily make you fit, the latter is a given if done intelligently. You can’t do crunches a day and NOT get a result. However, if you use Wii Fit and you are shoving Fried Chicken, Cheeseburgers and French fries with Ranch Dressing in your mouth, then yes, you are wasting your time. Nintendo did not include instructions on how to diet, so it’s pretty clear to me that if you want to get fit you have to learn how to do that part on your own. It’s not Nintendo’s Industry to tell you how to eat right. Given that, I imagine Iwata said that Wii Fit is not intened to make you Fit as a CYOA statement (‘Cover Your Own Ass’). However, Nintendo did create software that states “look if you do exercise daily, we will measure it for you and even make mini games out of it”. Unfortunately, neither Nintendo nor NASA has the technology that will make people do exercise on a daily basis. I’m sure there are millions of people that would prefer Wii Fit be nothing but an In-Home-Do-It-Yourself liposuction kit.
I mentioned in one of my previous postings how I liked the soundtrack to The World Ends With You. I know this genre isn’t for everyone, but I love the sounds of Japanese Pop and Electronica music. The music is available for purchase on iTunes but I thought I’d give you a listen. This genre matches the Anime look and feel of the game. Hard to believe this much music was made for a DS game. This kind of thing is expected for the PSP. It’s a first for the Nintendo DS to have a soundtrack like this one. ‘Calling’ is probably my favorite. When your fighting battles and hearing this music, it really gets you energized. You’ll need that since you’ll be controlling two characters at the same time; one on each screen.
These songs includes works from Takeharu Ishimoto, Makiko Noda, Leah, SAWA, WAKAKO, Ayuko Tanaka, Hanaeryca, and JYONGRI. The actual soundtrack contains about 36 tracks.
The folks at Penny Arcade have achieved what every video game blogger could dream of… which is get a video game based off of their creations. Today, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness arrives on Xbox Live Arcade. The characters are alter egos of Penny Arcade creators Mike ‘Gabe’ Krahulik and Jerry ‘Tycho’ Holkins. If your not familiar with the Penny Arcade characters, the web comics are located here. I am looking forward to playing this game.
It’s almost a no brainer that Wii Fit will be a hit. It was only a few years ago, Nintendo would have been ridiculed for coming up with such an idea. Now, it wouldn’t surprise me to see numerous knock offs of Wii Fit by the end of the year. There are many game review sites that believe Wii Fit will not do that well. I strongly disagree. The target audience was practically standing in line before the game was ever dreamed up.
People spend not hundreds but thousands of dollars on exercise equipment they will only use once. The biggest culprits are those who buy treadmills. For this reason, if your serious about getting a treadmill, buy one used; it’s virtually brand new. Forking out $250 for a Wii and an additional $90 for Wii Fit is a bargain. Spending $350 as opposed to $3500 along with a promise that exercise will be fun! Come on, this game is going to be in just about every Wii owners living room.
Personally, I plan to get Wii Fit as soon as I can. I have a feeling it may be a little hard to find so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
