Messages

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #9: Geist (Special Edition)

« on: October 07, 2009, 05:20:48 PM »

Fun interesting game that was held back by the sub-standard production values. 

It's a bit like Red Steel in that regard.

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: The Conduit

« on: July 07, 2009, 12:11:28 AM »

Frame rate sucks in Conduit especially in Multiplayer. 

The game feels chintzy. 

On the other hand there hasn't been an fps on the Wii since Medal of Honor if I remember right so Wii owners who want an fps on the system are starving.  And when you're starving folks will eat anything.

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TalkBack / Re: What Role Should the Games Media Play in Getting Games Made?

« on: January 24, 2009, 09:18:11 PM »

That's why they call it the enthusiast press.  You're there to promote as much as review. 

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TalkBack / Re: Play It On Wii Mario Power Tennis Controls Detailed

« on: December 04, 2008, 06:19:27 PM »

Options can be a bad thing.  I think options work on the same principle as "Jack of all trades, master of none."

I'm interested in this one. 

Not interested in Jungle Beat Wii though.   Certainly not for $20.  wiimote and nunchuk can't replace the Bongos. 

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Sonic Unleashed

« on: December 04, 2008, 03:10:17 PM »

I'm just poking fun at the scoring system. 

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TalkBack / Re: Wii Speak Is OK to Buy Used

« on: December 04, 2008, 02:56:31 PM »

Yeah this old news actually didn't clear up the issue if you read what they said carefully. 

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Sonic Unleashed

« on: December 03, 2008, 05:13:30 PM »

Nothing against the score except in relation to his other scores.  Shouldn't gameplay be a 4 too then?  It just seems the 4 makes scoring the other categories irrelevant.  Why bother then?

The gameplay is an even split of good and bad for me, even though that even split is altered in the final score.

Well that's the problem.  The scoring isn't consistently figured out the same way. 

And if the subscores don't have much to do with the final score then why bother with them? 

Do I need to know the graphics are a 9 if the game is a 4?   

It's a larger issue.  NOt just this review mind you.

Kind of like the Animal Crossing review.  It got a 10 for lastability, but the author scored it a 7.5 or something overall based on it mostly being the same game as on the DS.  That scoring seemed inconsistent too.    Hey it's the same game you played, but it will last you a long time?!???! 

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Sonic Unleashed

« on: December 02, 2008, 11:35:55 AM »

Nothing against the score except in relation to his other scores.  Shouldn't gameplay be a 4 too then?  It just seems the 4 makes scoring the other categories irrelevant.  Why bother then?

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Quantum of Solace

« on: November 28, 2008, 11:27:36 PM »

I rented this.  I was surprised too.  I thought the worst and it was better than that.  But that's about all the praise I will give it. 

6.0 is probably too generous.

Just kinda sad because they had some framework of a good game there, but had to release it before they could polish it up. 

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TalkBack / Re: IMPRESSIONS: Wii Music

« on: July 21, 2008, 03:53:56 PM »

Alot of critics were down on the WiiSports after playing it too.  And you see how WiiSports has ended up doing.

I think some folks are missing the point of Wii Music.  It seems like a big complaint is that it sounded horrible when a bunch of people got together and played, but I think that's a complement.   It's supposed to be a toy of sorts.  A toy instrument and not just a controller.  Hence you can play bad and good music.

I think the point of the demo was to show this, but it was lost on the entire core gamer crowd.   By controlling the tempo and the arrangement you can come up with your own versions of songs.  And like an instrument (and a game) you're bound to get better the more play.  And there's seems to be few limits to your creativity.

Plus I'm not sure why the core crowd wasn't wowed by the drums and the virtual drum machine this game will have.  The professional sounded great to me.  And, for me, there's quite a bit of appeal to the mode where you can learn to play some drums.  (I heard there's a 2-wk lesson mode or something.)

Combine that whatever else the game offers (I understood there were modes) and it looks like a winner.  I'm sure it will have the most appeal to families, but I don't see why it wouldn't be a fun party game either. 

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TalkBack / Re: EDITORIALS: What Mario Kart Does Right

« on: May 17, 2008, 04:11:17 PM »

YOu didn't mention that Nintendo has the power to change up the race tracks for tournament play. 

In the tournament ending May 9th they took Mario Circuit and "untied" the Chain Chomp.  Instead of being tied up in the same spot each lap, it was running around on the track in different spots each lap.  Minor stuff, but it added a little variety to the course.  And I can see some good potential for keeping courses fresh going forward. 
 

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Mario Kart Wii

« on: May 04, 2008, 12:31:36 AM »

Bah complain MK Wii is the same, but then you don't use the Wheel because it's too hard.  Absurd.

Wheel is great and much less sensitive than Excite Truck.  I get the sense some gamers are snobs and can't learn new tricks.  It's ok if you're not quite as good with the Wheel when you first use it as you are with the analog stick.  It's new and all.  Capeche?



 

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TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

« on: March 10, 2008, 11:46:53 PM »

What are all these persistent nagging issues?  You summed up the review with that, but I don't see alot of mention of persistent nagging issues during the review or in the cons.   Then you say in areas that matter Brawl only feels like a moderate upgrade, but you score it a 9.5.

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TalkBack / RE:The NWR Mailbag Talkback Thread

« on: January 21, 2008, 09:35:40 AM »

I don't think the DS has plateaued here in the US.  It has it's best year last year and it's best month last month.

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TalkBack / RE:Nyko Wireless Nunchuck Wins Consumer Award

« on: January 14, 2008, 03:45:13 AM »

This is needed for WiiSports Boxing.

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TalkBack / RE:EDITORIALS: Top Five Hits & Misses of Wii's First Year

« on: November 22, 2007, 05:14:21 PM »

Yeah good list.  I agree with all of it actually.  

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TalkBack / RE: REVIEWS: FIFA 08

« on: October 14, 2007, 08:00:43 PM »

Where's Fight Night on the Wii?   Hopefully its absence means EA is actually putting some effort into that one.  l

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TalkBack / RE: REVIEWS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: October 07, 2007, 09:00:03 PM »

well i'm enjoying the game so far.  The boomerang mechanic works very well and I don't agree that Zelda vets will have a hard time with the controls.  They are pretty easy to get into.   Yes the stylus has disadvantages, but it also has advantages.  

So far a few nitpicks.  I really like WindWaker too and I miss steering the ship.  Also I miss swimming in the water and walking up onto the islands.   I guess I imagined I'd be able to do some more of that.  

I've got quite a ways to go, but so far I'd give it an 8.5 or so.  I'm starting to tire of the ZElda formula a bit so not sure it would get a 9 from me at this point.  

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TalkBack / RE: PREVIEWS: Link's Crossbow Training

« on: September 23, 2007, 05:32:51 PM »

This and the 3rd party Zapper games are my sleeper Wii hit(s) of the fall.    

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TalkBack / RE: REVIEWS: Madden NFL 08

« on: August 25, 2007, 10:54:06 AM »

The reviewer is spot on.  I agree with "Specifically, much of the game takes place in a zoomed out, or semi-zoomed out, perspective where all the elaborate gesture controls ultimately account for a tiny change in animation for the players on-screen. "

Dead on.  I thought that with Madden '07.  

WE really need a Madden designed for the Wii controls.  Alas I doubt we'll ever get it  (because we're talking EA.)  I guess the game would be more alot more arcadey and first-person-ish.  Alot more in your face at least.  There would be options, but not 30 billion like Madden has.  The options would be more like Madden had 10 years ago had on the Genesis.  Enough to give you variety, but not so much you don't use 90% of them and they all start blending together.  I"m not even sure I'd put 11 players on a side.  Maybe I would do less.  

What they really need to do is get the essence of the football experience down on paper and then transfer that to the screen.

That essence can divided up into smaller games within the game.  

They need to get the QB experience of scanning the field and avoid tackles and hitting the open guy down.  

They need to replicate the RB dodging and weaving.

They need to do the same with the kicking game.

And then on defense you need to have a game within a game too.

For the QB game you could point at the screen and the wiimote would be used to scan left and right on the field.  LIke the reviewer was mentioning, the perspective needs to be zoomed in alot.  The speed may also have to be slowed to fit in with the controls.   So when I hike the ball, and drop back then I"m looking at a much narrower view of the field than in Madden.  I'm not talking first person football, but a zoomed 3rd person view.    Now I can scan the field left and right with the wiimote (pointing or left/right twisting to do it) and then when I see a guy open I line up my throw and hold down 'A' and throw the ball to him.  The game measures the speed  of your throw to judge how far you threw it.  

That's one of the games within a game.  It's dependent on your skill to scan the field, lineup/time your throw and put the right amount of touch on your pass.  

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TalkBack / RE: Wii Remote To Be Supported By XNA

« on: August 09, 2007, 08:19:06 PM »

360 doesn't have Bluetooth.  And who's going to use it on the pc?   Also no sensor bar and who's going to use a makeshift one?  

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TalkBack / RE: REVIEWS: Mario Strikers Charged

« on: August 08, 2007, 04:59:46 AM »

Yeah this is a great game.  My first thought was meh because I had played the previous game.  And at first it seems like the way to play is just go down and do a MegaStrike which is too easy in the beginning.

But then you start to learn the moves of the sidekicks and the STars and the dekes and there's just lots of options there.

Online is fun and pretty smooth, but go back to playing AI and you see how much smoother it is.  This is true of all internet games tho.

ONe Nintendo dropped ball tho is No Comms.  No voice.  No text chat.  etc....   We need something when playing against friends.  I don't care about strangers.

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TalkBack / RE: Wii Firmware Upgraded to Version 3.0

« on: August 08, 2007, 04:46:40 AM »

Nintendo needs to use the news interface for the Shop Channel.  Man that interface is way nicer all around.  Plus they could something graphically with the globe and game systems and games.

Why is the weather not updating to be current?  KInda worthless.

Why isn't the news channel updated more often?  They also could use another source for articles besides AP.  Otherwise the news channel interface rocks.

I used my Apple usb keyboard with no problem in the memo/addressbook section.  Of course there should be an option to get rid of the onscreen keyboard when using a real keyboard so you have more real estate for the text.


Anyway nice little update.

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TalkBack / RE: Opera Publishes Wii Remote API

« on: August 06, 2007, 03:02:29 PM »

Kool, but OPera should have used the interface for the News Channel for their browser.  MUch better.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: WOW, Super Mario Strikers Charged is shaping up quite well

« on: August 05, 2007, 09:42:26 AM »

Yeah you just need to play the game some more there NeoThunder.  Hammers aren't as unbalanced as they seem at first glance.  It's just one of the more obvious ways to score in the game.  And so rookies will gravitate towards it.

If you play others and the cpu on harder levels you see that the key is to stay away and hit them just after they do their deke or start to charge up.  

I think the bigger worry is that players find some kind of glitch and abuse it to hell making the game alot less fun online.