For a moment, imagine playing a fantasy game where you are an adventurer. You regularly visit the King or townsfolk to get your daily quest. Then you head out to battle through the caves and foreign lands, level up a few times, gain gold to purchase new equipment only to finally return a victor in search of a hefty reward. In My Life as a King, this all happens but you are not the adventurer; you are the King who sits back waiting for the adventurers to return safely with that prized item you requested.
LostWinds is a very beautiful, yet short title for the Nintendo Wii Ware The game implies that there will be Chapters or Episodes released regularly in the same way Sam and Max games have been (where you buy each episode individullly). This game has some of the best uses of the Wiimote. For instance, your character automatically jumps and climbs up small ledges. You…or better yet the Wiimote is the wind. If you even slightly move the Wiimote, wind wind begins to blow in the local area affecting the background and foreground objects. The harder you shake the Wiimote the stronger the wind blows. You can guide slipstreams by pushing a button and drawing out the current direction. You can create a vortex by drawing a circle with the Wiimote or you can just give your character a jumping boost by creating an updraft by pushing a button and swiping upwards. Using these abilities, you must uncover the forgot story of LostWinds. Read the rest of this entry »
Finally, Wii Ware made it’s debut yesterday. What is Wii Ware? Wii Ware is a service that allows you to purchase and download games and applications immediately in the comfort of your own home. Many Wii owners probably aren’t aware that their new white box can even venture into the online world. The games available right now are:
From what I’ve seen so far, these games are far superior than anything on the Wii’s current Virtual Console store. Which really isn’t surprising since Virtual Console games are older generation games.
Big things definitely come in small packages. I’ve never had so much to say about a little DS cartridge.
When Nintendo first announced the DS, their intentions were to give developers the tools to go beyond current video game ideas. Although many gamers like myself love the idea of porting over, real-time strategy (RTS) games, puzzle games, and other traditional uses of a stylus-based interface, Nintendo was more interested in ideas that had nothing to do with any game currently in the market. In my opinion, The World Ends With You (WEWY) is exactly one of those games. Calling this it a role playing game (RPG) is quite misleading. When I first began to play it I almost hated it cause I was so confused on what’s going on. The truth is, it’s it’s own genre. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally to be released the same time Wii Ware came to the US, the Nintendo Channel arrived earlier. From this channel you’ll be able to watch game videos, view newly and upcoming released games, and best of all Nintendo DS Demo Downloads. So far you can download demos wirelessly to your DS for Brain Age 2, Flash Focus, Crosswords DS, Jam Sessions, Disney Friends, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Cooking Mama 2 and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.
Another nice feature is a game recommendation system. You’ll be able to rate games and it applies your answers to the demographics you provide in a short survey. This data is used to provide recommendations made by people that play the games. The system only uses data that shows that you have played the game for at least an hour. Finally, game ranking scores made my millions of gamers (not just one single person such as, me deciding that GTA IV should be a 9, oops I mean 10, *snickers). Nintendo put together a very nice video about the channel here.
Finally, the following games may not have suffered completely from poor sales, but I believe they could have received more love if they were also released on the Xbox 360.
Lost Kingdoms
Sadly, many people don’t even know this series existed. This GameCube exclusive is what you’d call a card-based action game. Unlike most card battle video games, you are still required to fight in real time. So if you have a sword card, you press a to swing the sword. You can only swing your sword as many times as sword cards in your deck. As with traditional card battle games, your deck is face down and you are dealt them as they come. So if you want good weaponry, include good weapons. This game is a full adventure with maps and puzzles to discover as opposed to what you’d think a card battle game would be. So why would this be better on Xbox? Xbox Live of course. This, not only opens up multiplayer battles and coop adventures, but the ability to trade, sell, or buy new cards online. You could go as far as build an in-game auction house where you could buy or sell your rare cards. As with Guitar Hero’s music downloads, I’m sure Activision would be more than happy to allow you to purchase ‘Booster Packs’ or other specialty cards from the Xbox Live Market Place. Read the rest of this entry »
Glenn Beck of CNN thinks video game bloggers are all losers. As a working professional and a video game blogger, I do take direct offense of such a statement. What exactly is his definition of ‘loser’ first of all? I could care less about CNN or him but I have no interest in attacking news industry. Aside from his blatant immaturity, the co-author of Grand Theft Childhood, Cheryl K. Olson, makes some very interesting points. Her statements make me really want to check out her book. In this video, Glenn Beck comes across what we gamers call a 12 year old. You know, those people in games (especially online) that are immature for no reason at all other than to attempt to gain attention with what they think is humorous.
Once again, many games just don’t get the attention they deserve. Although these games may not have suffered completely from poor sales, I believe they could have received more love if they were only released on a different console.
Flow If you have played the Flash version of the Flow, you’ll know where I’m coming from. This game screams Wii controller. You can also add newer features to the game by adding extra motion gestures. Additionally, you could elaborate and create a four person multi-player feature.
Viva Piñata
Isn’t it obvious? The majority of the XBox community shunned this poor title based on it’s bright colors and happy-go-lucky feel. The idea of Viva Pinata is to raise and attract many new pinatas in your garden. You spend time feeding them, breeding them and watching them fight. Sound familiar? Putting this game on a Nintendo system would have been a natural choice if it weren’t for the disputes between Rare and Nintendo. There are already millions of people familiar with this kind of game, who just “gotta catch ‘em all!” Lastly, Nintendo fans aren’t afraid of bright colors, rainbows, and fluffy things that just don’t make any sense whatsoever. Read the rest of this entry »
Many games just don’t get the attention they deserve. Although these games may not have suffered completely from poor sales, I believe they could have received more love if they were only released on a different console.
Manhunt 2
Manhunt 2 wasn’t accepted to well for the Wii. The Wii version was edited by far more than the PS2 version. The media has such a tight eye on Nintendo maintaining a clean image, it’s hard for any Nintendo game to get away with even saying the word ‘Damn’ in it. Manhunt originally received a Rated A and was banned for a short time. Manhunt 2 was no worse than Manhunt one on the PSone. The media didn’t seem to lift a finger to complain about its gruesome nature back then. If this game were on the PS3 and had high quality life-like graphics, I still don’t think it would have been banned. Nintendo gets the “you should know better” attitude.
Crysis
If any console right now could handle the technical requirements for this game, it would be the PS3. There are barely any PC’s that can run this game well. Putting Crysis on the PS3 could give Crysis more exposure simply because people can actually run it. That is, if it could even run on the PS3 in the first place! At least on a console you wont have to run out and upgrade any parts. Read the rest of this entry »
According the the June issue of Nintendo Power, Sonic Unleashed will find Sonic returning to his roots. Unlike the more recent 3-D Sonic games, Sonic Unleashed will focus primarily on 2-D game-play. The camera angle will occasionally pan behind Sonic but most of the game-play will be a from a side view similar the original Sega Genesis games. Sonic Unleashed will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. Sega of America implies that the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 versions may be the same, but the Wii version will be significantly different. Naturally, the Wii version will have unique control scheme.
