It seems like every week I write something that totally bashes Nintendo and by the way thank you for all the emails wishing I was never born. This week I want to “kinda” give Nintendo it’s just desserts. I mean they did create the very popular avatar, Mii’s, and I have a love hate relationship with my Mii. For instance, I love my Mii when it’s being civil on the dashboard looking normal. Yet when I put in Wii Fit my avatar seems to balloon into an unhealthy, obese 2D version of myself. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so down on Nintendo. – Kidding.
Now the bully of this generations console, the Xbox 360, will have avatars with its fall updates and when I say fall updates I mean the much publicized “New Xbox Experience.” The Microsoft Game studios seemed to like the Mii’s so much they are creating Mii like avatars called… well… 360 avatars. It seems as though Rare Ltd 2D avatars were years in the making according to Xbox insiders. If Microsoft is willing to pretend it was their idea all the time then they must be doing something different with avatars, right? You be the judge.
It seems as though Microsoft’s avatar will look very similar to Nintendo Mii’s with the exception of being more customizable. Microsoft announced that the use of achievement points will give gamers the ability to change outfits and for the sublime who are willing to pay; Xbox will probably be selling digital clothes for its avatars. A headshot of your 360 avatar will be used on your Xbox gamercard which is pretty cool. Avatars are also rumored to mimic sounds like burping, taunting or anything else obnoxious. Unlike Nintendo, the 360 avatar will not be offered to gamers that have a E10+ rating or lower.
So why isn’t Nintendo trying to improve their Mii’s? I can’t begin to speculate why, I mean I can but it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Microsoft seems to update its LIVE product consistantly and Sony paces themselves with firmware updates and dashboard updates. I want to see Nintendo take gaming seriously at least update the Mii’s. Why let the folks at Microsoft have all he fun?
Tecmo has dropped a nice little exclusive gift on the PS3 in the form of Quantum Theory. I mean maybe they wanted to brush the dirt off their shoulders after the nasty split with lead video game designer Tomonobu Itagaki, hence the stunning new direction that Quantum Theory will be offering PS3 owners next year. Sony didn’t quite deliver on all of the 14 new games at TGS ‘08, but I’m sure that Quantum Theory will do enough to keep PS3 fans chest bumping all through the night. So check out the trailer, and this preview.
You know nothing says enjoyment like punching King Hippo in the gut at that precise moment to give you the victory in what use to be Mike Tyson’s Punchout. However due to a rape charge, time in jail, eating peoples ears, and rocking an tribal tattoo( no on knows if it’s tribal or some shit he just made up); the game never carried the Mike Tyson moniker again. And now it seems that in 2009 developer Next Level Games will be bringing Punch-Out back in style for the Wii console. This game is perfectly suited for the Wii console and if they drop some difficulty modes, some online component, and some dlc in the form of new boxers for Little Mac to face then Punch-Out could be the title Nintendo needs to bridge the gap between core and casual gamers. If not, then it’ll still be fun as hell to play and relive the glory of being Little Mac one more time.
Now on a similiar note The illmatic and myself was having a very interesting discussion of whether this game will bring in the gamer of now. I mean my experiences of Mike Tyson’s Punchout on the NES were great and I would love to take a trip down memory lane with the Wii Version. However the illmatic questions how many new gamers that have been introduce to the Wii will gravitate to the resurgence of Punch-Out? So we are asking all of you new and old:
That’s right the mysterious count down clock that was pulled before it counted down during E3, to later go back up and show a mysterious short trailer of some sort of destruction. Which lead to almost every type of breakdown imaginable from about every website that tried their hat at it.
Most of the breakdowns seemed to be grasping at some link between the teaser and Master Chief, most of the websites had a few general things about the trailer correct. Those were that it was going to be an expansion to Halo 3 of some kind, it would be squad based, and it would be sans Chief. Well Bungie confirmed all of that and then some when they released the full version of that teaser trailer at the Tokyo Game Show.
And Bada Bing, Bada Boom, Bungie annouces Halo 3 Recon. It will be a standalone expansion to be released fall 2009 and it will not be a squad-based shooter it will stay close to it’s fps roots according to 1up.com:
“The base concept for Recon is “a side-story campaign in the Halo universe starring a guy who’s not Master Chief.” Specifically, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (those fellows in black armor that pop up to fight alongside you on occasion in both Halo 2 and 3) who’s been inserted into hostile territory. For those of you who eat up the Halo lore, Bungie writer Luke Smith elaborated that the trailer takes place during the sequence in Halo 2 where Master Chief and the High Prophet of Regret are leaving Earth and going to Delta Halo. In fact, the drop pods are entering Earth’s orbit as Regret’s ship zips into the slipspace rift to Delta Halo. “
This video interview with writer Luke Smith and Community and PR Manager Brian Jarrard from Bungie pretty much says it all. There is a slight delay before the video starts. Enjoy:
So now lets look at the facts at hand. There’s going to be
4 player co-op campaign
No Master Cheif
Forge, and Video Sharing
An early Map Pack release named Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3 which you’ll be able to use for Recon
You’re not a super soldier but you fight the same way as you would in a Halo game.
There will be multiplayer, 1000 acheivements to gain and it’ll be here by fall 09
Verdict: Sign Me Up For Awesomeness!!!!!!
It looks like close to this time next year my Halo Fridays will take on a whole new meaning, but that don’t mean I’m going to stop blacklisting cowards who drop out of my game. If this game is as good as other Halo games then MS will kick themselves if they strain the relationship with Bungie to the point where they start multiplatform development. Me personally…while I love Halo and I like to see the continuation and further exploration into the depth of the universe; I would of like to seen something a bit different from Bungie. Perhaps I will as the studio continues to evolve.
I love RPG’s. It’s my favorite genre amongst them all. The more and more I hear about the PS3 exculsivie White Knight Chronicles the more it makes me want a PS3 just for this one game alone. I know this is a time of economic hardship and whatnot but White Knight Chronicles seems to be shaping up to be The Truth!! I have to give a special shout out to Kosmo Oches for the sick cinematic trailer.
Now with this game releasing in Japan in December it was only fitting for sony to show it off at TGS 08. Now I can’t tell you what some of the Level 5 presenters are saying but at least you can get a good glimpse and feel of the gameplay that is going to make White Knight Chronicles stand out from the pack.
I’m sure you’re saying to yourself that this is just your everyday run of the mill japanese rpg right?
“Oh all it is is a bunch of movies with emotion to make me cry and then when we’re fighting I have to wait forever while I summon some mythical dragon that’s in all every rpg and when thats done I have to stand perfectly still while I get attacked to damn death!”
Isn’t it kind of scary how well we know you. Well I’m here to tell you that’s is so far from the truth. White Knight Chronicles will be featuring a robust 4 player online co-op quest mode; while the single player campaign will not offer co-operative play the quest mode will link to the single player campaign in some form or fashion. According to the lastest Hands On by Joystiq from this years Tokyo Game Show:
“When online play was announced we assumed it would be a tacked-on extra, a back-of-the-box value add, but the rest of today’s presentation centered around this aspect of the game. Even though White Knight Chronicles‘ Japanese release date is December 25th 2008 – only two and a half months from now – Level-5 wasn’t keen on sharing many details of the online mode. Instead, we were given an overview of the feature, which was enough to illustrate that this is more than just an “extra.”
16-player in-game lobbies will allow you to team up with up to three other White Knight Chronicles players and participate in instanced quests. Level-5 would not say exactly what form these would take, but they did show a cooperative, arena-style battle against a large monster. Each player’s character will look unique, thanks to a deep “Avatar” character customization editor, used in the later parts of the single-player game in order to generate some of Leonard’s party members.”
Now I’m geeked and I don’t even own a PS3 so I know must of you who do must be dancing in the streets by know. Granted there’s no word on when this game will be hitting the states…at least not one I have found yet, but Sony would be foolish not to bring this to jrpg starved fans. According to the Break Down of the Newest Trailer, by IGN the game is looking quite gorgeous:
“The first trailer was a combination of pre-rendered cutscenes and in-game cutscenes. I must admit that the cutscenes looked absolutely fantastic. People generally think of Square-Enix and Blizzard when they think of high-quality cinematics, but the level of detail and the jaw-dropping realism of Level-5’s work was more than admirable. The trailer began with a beautiful acoustic guitar strumming away to a lilting Japanese tune. A cutscene shows some inspiring vistas, including a massive cliff face and sprawling cities.
Several “in-game engine” scenes are also shown. Most of them were shots of the characters superimposed onto background scenes, almost like a standard anime introduction. A few familiar characters were displayed, including the protagonist, the short-haired girl and the grizzled, bearded man. There were also a few stylish shots of a seductive character cut into the mix, as she performed what appears to be a flamenco dance. And, of course, plenty of transformations and massive armored warriors were shown as magic and lights streamed across the screen in what could only be described as an Otaku’s dreamscape. The trailer ends with a dragon-esque ship sailing into a sky full of swelling clouds. Pretty nice.”
This game will is going to be a superb example of what rpg’s can become. Now I know it’s a lot to say without any details from the king known as Final Fantasy, but for know it seems White Knight is set to keep the throne warm until FFXIII finally sees the light of day. If the new trailer hits the web I’ll drop up here, but for now enjoy these screens and cross your toes for a quick release to the states and europe.
“MTV Games has confirmed that the upcoming Nintendo Wii version of “Rock Band 2” will offer the same online functionality — i.e. song downloads and Internet multiplayer modes — as the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 versions.” The Wii was not designed with a built-in capacity hard drive and with what little storage the Nintendo Wii has, how can it handle the multitude of DLC that may be coming to the Wii.
Well Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says the company is working on a solution that’s even better than a hard drive. This is great news not only for Wii owners who want Rock Band 2, but also for developers who want to create games for Nintendo’s Wii Ware.
Wii Ware could never be fully utilized because DLC would eventually fill what little storage the Wii had to capacity. While memory cards have become a gamers luxury instead of a need storage method, Nintendo has become the only current generation console to utilize the memory card for serious storage. This lack of storage made Nintendo’s virtual console a weak feature while Wii Ware developers seemed to be wasting time on software that would never get pushed.
A storage facility marks a serious turnaround for Nintendo. Wii owners like myself who find more wrong with Nintendo than right finally have something to rejoice about. Many times I feel like I’m in the minority when I don’t get “wood” for superficial games like: Wario, Samba and Mushroom Men SW or any thrid party games I would rather play on my Xbox 360. Yet DLC has peaked my interest.
A USB external hard drive or something similar would allow me to explore more games on the Wii. DLC is huge in the gaming industry and Nintendo has been out of the loop for years. Not only will Nintendo make money from DLC, it will give Nintendo games much needed replay value. Not only will games like “Rock Band 2″ benefit but it also adds the possibility of adding new levels to game favorites like Metroid or Zelda.
Now all Nintendo needs to do is work on its games. The majority of Nintendo owners are very disappointed with the Wii games. There are a MANY Kool-Aid drinkers who will buy every first party game made by Nintendo and others who are easily pleased with mediocrity. I pride myself on recommending games that are AAA and I will continue to use my voice to push Nintendo to do better.
UPDATE
Nintendo “better” hard drive solution turns out to be an SD card. This WTF moment rivals the disgust I had when Sony removed it’s backwards compatibility in the PS3. Since when is a freakin SD card, a better solution than an external hard drive. I thought we were beyond buying memory cards for storage. Last generation the average PS2 or GC owner had 3 memory cards. Three! That’s right Nintendo, make the average Joe Gamer pay for storage several times over instead of in one sufficient purchase. The average SD card will probably be starting at $59.99. Instead of stepping into the twenty-first century Nintendo moves us toward Retro-gaming. Everytime I decide to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, I end up with egg on my face.
Loading ...
