Topics

[DS is number one, Wii is number two; top four games and six out of the top ten are on Nintendo systems. Updated with some factoids from Nintendo.]

201

TalkBack / Nintendo Tops June Sales Charts

« on: July 23, 2007, 12:14:25 PM »

DS is number one, Wii is number two; top four games and six out of the top ten are on Nintendo systems.  Updated with some factoids from Nintendo.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14083

 Here are the hardware sales for the reporting period of June, which was actually a five-week month for NPD's purposes:    

Nintendo DS - 561,000
 Wii - 381,800
 PlayStation 2 - 270,000*
 PlayStation Portable - 230,100
 Xbox 360 - 198,400
 Game Boy Advance - 113,000*
 PlayStation 3 - 98,500    

*PS2 and GBA figures were not included in the official NPD release.  However, IGN is reporting these figures for those systems, so we have included them here for ease of comparison.    

The software top ten looks awfully similar to the hardware ranking.    

Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 426,000
 Wii Play (Wii) - 291,200
 Pokémon Diamond (DS) - 288,400
 Pokémon Pearl (DS) - 214,700
 Forza Motorsport 2 (360) - 197,400
 Guitar Hero 2 w/Guitar (PS2) - 197,350
 Guitar Hero 2 w/Guitar (360) - 177,600
 Pokémon Battle Revolution (Wii) - 157,900
 Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii) - 150,000 (approx.)
 The Darkness (360) - N/A    

Overall, the video game industry is up 43% in total sales over the same month as last year, raking in $1.1 billion in sales this past June.  No doubt this is in part to the doubling of hardware sales from June 2006.    

UPDATE: Here is Nintendo's official word on the June sales figures, in a handy list of ten items:    

10 FAST FACTS FROM NINTENDO - FIRST HALF 2007    

- Through the first half of 2007, the total Wii™ hardware sell-through in the United States and Canada combined is more than 2.3 million units (2.1 million United States, 222,000 Canada).    

- For the first half of 2007, Nintendo represents nearly 70 percent of the industry growth in the United States and Canada combined.    

- In June alone, Wii was once again the top-selling home console with nearly 435,000 units sold in the United States and Canada combined (381,800 United States, 53,000 Canada).    

- In June alone, Nintendo DS™ was the top-selling video game system overall with nearly 608,000 units sold in the United States and Canada combined (562,000 United States, 46,000 Canada).    

- Nintendo remained the top video game publisher in the United States and Canada in June, as well as the top publisher for all of 2007.    

- In June alone, Nintendo has six of the top 10 best-selling games in the United States, including the top four: Mario Party® 8 and Wii Play™ for Wii, and Pokémon® Diamond and Pokémon® Pearl for Nintendo DS.    

- Of the top 30 best-selling games in the United States for all of 2007, half are for Nintendo systems.    

- The three best-selling games in the United States for all of 2007 are for Nintendo systems: Pokémon Diamond, Wii Play and Pokémon Pearl.    

- Wii already boasts more than 180 games, including 120 downloadable Virtual Console™ titles. By the end of the year, that total number will climb to about 330 games, including an additional 100 new games from every major third-party publisher, along with an additional 50 Virtual Console titles.    

- Approximately 300 games are already available for Nintendo DS, with another 140 titles expected by the end of the year from every major third-party publisher.

[14 Wii games and 2 DS games are included among a very competitive field of the best games of E3.]

202

TalkBack / Game Critics Awards Nominees Announced

« on: July 23, 2007, 11:16:19 AM »

14 Wii games and 2 DS games are included among a very competitive field of the best games of E3.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14081

 The Game Critics Awards has released its nominee list for the 2007.  The GCAs are held every year at the conclusion of E3 and voted on by the heads of major gaming publications across America.    

Nintendo-published games have been nominated eight times in seven different categories.  All told, 14 Wii (and multiplatform) and two Nintendo DS games have been nominated across all categories.  The top nominated game this year is EA's Rock Band, with five nominations.  Electronic Arts also picked up the most nominations as a publisher, with 14.    

Below are the categories in which Nintendo games have been nominated, as well as the Best in Show category that is devoid of a Wii or DS game.  The complete list can be found on the Game Critics Awards website.    

Best of Show
 - Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)
 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
 - Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Mass Effect (Bioware/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
 - Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)    

Best Original Game
 - Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)
 - de Blob (Blue Tongue/THQ for Wii)
 - Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/SCEE for PS3)
 - Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Wii Fit (Nintendo for Wii)    

Best Console Game
 - Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for Xbox 360)
 - Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward/Activision for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
 - Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)    

Best Handheld Game
 - Contra 4 (WayForward/Konami for Nintendo DS)
 - Dead Head Fred (Vicious Cycle/D3 for PSP)
 - God of War: Chains of Olympus (Ready at Dawn/SCEA for PSP)
 - Silent Hill: Origins (Climax/Konami for PSP)
 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)    

Best Hardware
 - PSP-2000 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
 - Rock Band Instruments (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Wii Balance Board (Nintendo for Wii)
 - Wii Zapper (Nintendo for Wii)    

Best Action Game
 - Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward/Activision for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Crysis (Crytek/EA for PC)
 - Halo 3 (Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Retro Studios/Nintendo for Wii)
 - Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic Games/Midway for PC, PlayStation 3)
   

Best Action/Adventure Game
 - Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
 - Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)
 - Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory/SCEE for PlayStation 3)
 - Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)
 - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)    

Best Fighting Game
 - Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for Xbox 360)
 - Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega for Xbox 360)
 - WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (Yuke’s/THQ for Nintendo Wii)    

Best Sports Game
 - Madden NFL 08 (Tiburon/EA for All Systems)
 - Skate (EA Black Box/EA for PS3, Xbox 360)
 - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Tiburon/EA Sports for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
 - Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Neversoft/Activision for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)    

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game
 - Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Neversoft/Red Octane/ATVI for PS2, PS3, 360, Wii)
 - Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/SCEE for PS3)
 - Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
 - Wii Fit (Nintendo for Wii)
 - Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom for Wii)

[Highlighting the advancement of technology, powering-up your character only takes 20 seconds in the Wii game instead of the usual six to eight weeks in the television show.]

203

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

« on: July 19, 2007, 01:15:30 PM »

Highlighting the advancement of technology, powering-up your character only takes 20 seconds in the Wii game instead of the usual six to eight weeks in the television show.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14067

 DBZ  Budokai Tenkaichi 3 will be one of the Wii's first true online games.  Although Atari wasn't willing to go into great detail when asked in what capacity it would go online, we do at least know that there will be head-to-head fights.  That's an exciting prospect even if you don't very much care for the anime, because it's a sign that third party Wii online games are coming.    

The nunchuk controls all aspects of character movement in this 3D fighting game.  The analog stick moves your character around, the C Button raises your altitude, and the Z Button lowers it.  Flicking the nunchuk will cause you to dash in whatever direction you're currently moving or towards your opponent if you are not moving.  Characters move fast—so fast the camera had a hard time keeping up with my motions—but this isn't too big of a deal because of how the over-the-shoulder camera angle always keeps your opponent in sight.  On top of that, once you get close enough to each other it's pretty easy to lock on to each other and engage in some hand-to-hand combat.    

The A and B Buttons handle the kicks, punches and other physical attacks.  Most combos can be performed by just mashing on the A Button, which takes the skill out of close-up battles.  However, if you manage to land a large enough combo and send your foe flying, the strategy game begins.  You can
(a) rush in and get some more free damage while your opponent is recovering,  
(b) unleash a special move to get a moderate amount of extra damage, or  
(c) charge up your chi meter as high as you dare to give yourself the chance to later unload a devastating super special move, which can take off a giant chunk of your opponent's health meter in the process.    

If you decide to perform the special attack, holding down any direction on the Wii remote D-Pad will prompt you to start the remote motion needed to pull it off.  A little icon in the bottom corner of the screen will show you how to hold and move the nunchuk and remote, so there's no confusion over what do to.  It was really easy for me to pull off a Kamehameha Wave or Spirit Bomb while playing as Goku without any additional instruction.    

Finding a safe spot to charge your meter also looks as if it will be a key to victory.  As already mentioned, you can safely do this after you score a knockdown on your opponent.   However, you also might be able to charge a few bars by hiding amongst the level's terrain.  The levels I saw had a lot of nooks and crannies to zip around and duck behind.  The arenas were pretty large as well, so if you got far away enough from someone you could charge your chi meter out in the open.  The desert locale in particular stuck out in my mind for using a terrific-looking focus blur effect as the background disappeared into the horizon.  The camera position also helps to make the game look pretty impressive.    

From what I played at the show,  Budokai Tenkaichi 3 looks as if it'll be a nice continuation of the franchise.  The addition of online features is sure to be something fans of the series will like, too.  And I suppose it doesn't hurt to have a selection of over 150 characters, complete with transformation variations.  That's a lot to look forward to!

[What happens when you take the best of the Naruto GameCube games and put it together with the engine in the Japanese Wii game?]

204

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution

« on: July 19, 2007, 01:10:58 PM »

What happens when you take the best of the Naruto GameCube games and put it together with the engine in the Japanese Wii game?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14066

 Right up front, you should know something about Clash of Ninja Revolution: It is not a port of Gekitou  Ninja Taisen 3 on the GameCube.  Nor is it quite Taisen EX; it's set in the future Naruto Shippuuden universe. The game engine is taken from EX, however, so if you've played that you should have an idea of what to expect.  By sticking with the standard Naruto universe, D3 and Eighting are making it something that will presumably bridge the gap between Taisen 2 and 3.    

The game will include at least 16 characters and six stages to duke it out in.  The stages have a hint of interactivity to them, described by D3 representatives as similar to those found in Tecmo's Dead or Alive series: Crates and other objects in the middle of arenas can be used for cover or to vaulted over to initiate attacks or used, and although I didn't see it in my demo time with the game there will also be multi-tiered arenas to knock each other through.    

I got to play a few matches against a tough computer opponent at E3, and the game looks good and plays well.  It plays pretty much like the GameCube games did, but with the addition of some Wii motion controls for regular attacks and special moves.  Wii remote flicks perform the basic kicks and punches.  The A Button unleashes stronger attacks, and the D-Pad activates special jutsu moves.  Pulling these off requires you to follow the prompt that appears on-screen, and if you're timing is good you'll boost the power of the move.  The jutsu I tried out was Nartuo's Rasengan technique, which requires a rotation motion of the Wii remote.  If you're at all familiar with the jutsu from the TV show, you'll know how much the motion makes sense in the game.    

The rotation motion control worked quite well, as did the regular attacks.  Though there will be a lot of waggling during gameplay, just waving the Wii remote around like a madman isn't going to do much to help you win.  Just as in every other (respectable) fighting game, you'll need to make the most of your opportunities, get in your combos, and prevent your opponent from doing the same to you.  The Naruto games have gotten better and better since the first one was released in Japan four years ago, and now that Eighting has a Wii game under its belt it can apply its experience to this new game for the North American market.  Based on what I've seen it could very well be better than Clash of Ninja 2, but in case you're a stickler for traditional controllers, you can plug in a GameCube or Wii classic controller and play the game that way instead.  Sweet.

[Just days after leading Microsoft at E3, the former head of all things Xbox jumps over to lead EA Sports into the future.]

205

TalkBack / Peter Moore Moving to Electronic Arts

« on: July 17, 2007, 06:30:46 PM »

Just days after leading Microsoft at E3, the former head of all things Xbox jumps over to lead EA Sports into the future.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14054

 PETER MOORE NAMED PRESIDENT OF EA SPORTS LABEL    

Industry Veteran To Lead EA SPORTS -- The Strongest Brand in Interactive Entertainment    

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - July 17, 2007 - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Peter Moore has joined EA as President of the EA SPORTS™ Label. Moore joins EA from Microsoft Corporation where he served as corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division, leading both the Xbox® and Games for Windows businesses. Moore begins at EA in September and will report to EA CEO John Riccitiello.    

Mr. Moore's appointment rounds out the leadership of John Riccitiello's recent reorganization of EA into four autonomous Labels. Frank Gibeau serves as president of the EA Games Label; Kathy Vrabeck is president of EA Casual Entertainment; and Nancy Smith is president of The Sims™ Label.    

"Peter Moore's proven record of leadership in games and sports makes him a terrific fit for heading up EA SPORTS," said EA CEO John Riccitiello. "As a partner at Microsoft and earlier, as a competitor, we've learned to respect his vision and leadership."    

"The people at EA SPORTS have created one of the strongest brands in the entertainment industry and John Riccitiello is building an organization which will extend the company's leadership to new platforms and new audiences all over the world," said Peter Moore. "I couldn't be more excited about joining EA and moving my family back to the San Francisco Bay Area."    

The EA SPORTS Label is the strongest brand in the games business with blockbuster franchises such as Madden NFL, NBA LIVE, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, FIFA Soccer, NASCAR®, and others. With Peter Moore's leadership and the passion, creativity and dedication of its development teams, EA SPORTS is expected to become even stronger in the years to come. EA plans to expand the EA SPORTS experience with new content, new platforms, new services and deep online integration.    

At Microsoft, Mr. Moore was the president of the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses as well as game development at Microsoft Game Studios. Mr. Moore joined Microsoft in January 2003, originally as the head of marketing for the Xbox and Games division, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience and leadership in consumer businesses. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Moore was president and COO of SEGA of America, where he was responsible for overseeing SEGA's video game business in North America. Before that, Mr. Moore was senior vice president of marketing at Reebok International Ltd., and earlier in his career, he was president of Patrick USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the popular French sportswear company, managing all the company's marketing, sales, finance and distribution.

206

TalkBack / Secret Placeholder Thread!

« on: July 17, 2007, 04:07:00 PM »

This is the talkback thread for our massive Denis Dyack interview.  Feel free to leave your comments and feedback in this thread.

[What's more fun: Taunting your opponent by pressing a button, or taunting your opponent by turning to him and telling him to suck it?]

207

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008

« on: July 16, 2007, 08:53:11 PM »

What's more fun: Taunting your opponent by pressing a button, or taunting your opponent by turning to him and telling him to suck it?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14042

 THQ had the Wii version of its perennial wrestling title on display at its hotel suite, and I got a chance to get some quality hands-on time with the demo on offer.  While the 360 and PS3 versions of the title will be going all-out with full online play, HD graphics, and all the bells and whistles, the offline-only Wii version will focus on one thing, and one thing only: Pure arcade fun.    

The gameplay has been simplified from previous versions of the series.  Strike attacks are performed with a directional Wii remote flick.  Light grapples (A Button) and heavy grapples (B Trigger) in conjunction with a Wii remote motion are very easy to pull off.  There are no stamina meters to recharge after pulling off big moves, which keeps the flow of a match moving quickly.  Any attack performed from a distance will automatically turn into a running attack, as there is no run button in the Wii version. A lot of people may not like this, since running around is a common tactic, but when you consider all of the other cool stuff that has been added in because of the Wii remote and nunchuk's motion controls, it may be a trade-off worth tolerating.    

Most of the stronger moves in the game use the Wii remote in a way that makes perfect sense.  If you perform a strong grapple into a suplex, the game will wait for you to physically lift the Wii remote up to hoist your opponent into the air.  He'll stay up there until you slam the controller downwards, which will cause the corresponding action on-screen.  Or maybe you'd want to spin him around a few times to dizzy him instead.  Just point the remote upwards and start twirling it around and around.  If you manage to tackle and straddle your foe onto the mat, you can start punching him in the face by giving him a left with the nunchuk and a right with the Wii remote.    

Each grappler will have his or her own unique controller motions, too.  Once you use your wrestler's favorite move, that will set up your finisher, activated by hitting A and B at the same time.  I was playing as Shawn Michaels in one of my matches, and when it came time to do the foot-stomping "Strike Up the Band" finisher... nothing happened.  Confused, I turned to the THQ rep for a little help; it turns out that I had to trigger the foot stomps myself by slamming the Wii remote down a few times.  I could control the tempo to be as slow or as fast as I wanted, and it was awesome to be able to slam down the finishing blow myself.    

But it gets better.  Taunting is motion-sensitive too, and like the finishing moves, each wrestler in the final game will have one or two unique taunts that make use of the Wii remote.  HBK and Triple H have the classic DX “Suck it!" taunt that many a WWE fan has emulated over the years.  Well, guess what?  After you hold down the C Button, you can tell your buddy how you feel about him, in person.  The other taunt that THQ was willing to show off was John Cena's “You can't see me!" hand wave, which is performed with a gentle back-and-forth upwards waggle of the Wii remote.  You don't need to wave it in front of your face for it to work, but the motion and the action fit too well together for you not to play along.    

There is one taunt you'll definitely won't be seeing in the game; Chris Benoit's "cut throat" motion.  He won't be on the game's playable roster, in any console or handheld versions, for reasons known to just about every wrestling fan in the land.  This is understandable from the WWE's standpoint, but wouldn't it have been nice to play as him and remember him as he performed in the ring instead of how he ended his career?    

One last thing that should be said about the game is that it looks a lot better in motion than the first screens would indicate.  Though the E3 build still looked like there was a ways to go to polish it off, it was already looking like the PS2 version, which isn't that bad-looking of a version in its own right.    

THQ looks like it's really excited to bring its biggest franchise to the Wii.  It went as far as opening its E3 press conference with the Wii version of Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 over its high-def counterparts, bringing WWE  Divas Candice Michelle and Michelle McCool along for the ride.

[The newest old game yet hits Nintendo's classic game download service.]

208

TalkBack / Virtual Console Mondays: July 16, 2007

« on: July 16, 2007, 07:11:28 PM »

The newest old game yet hits Nintendo's classic game download service.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/vcArt.cfm?artid=14041

 I'll admit I was surprised when I looked at the game info for one of this week's North American Virtual Console releases, Paper Mario: February 5, 2001?  It's not even seven years old, yet here it is, available for download this week.  It's nice that Nintendo includes the release date (or in the case of a lot of TG16 and Genesis games, month or year of release) in the descriptions of titles, because it really drives home the point how old these games really are.  It also serves as a stark reminder that certain games don't age as gracefully as others.    

Here are our staff's recommendations for this week's trio.
   

   

Balloon Fight - NES

   

 Released 6/1986
  1-2 Players
  Cost: 500 Wii Points ($5)
  Controllers: Wii Remote, Wii Classic, GameCube
 Click here for a video preview  

   

 Balloon Fight is another one of those early NES titles that Nintendo continues to reference to this day, from the flipper item and trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, to the recent Japanese Club Nintendo release of Tingle's Balloon Fight.  It's a simple phase based game where players must float around popping the balloons of mosquito-like enemies, all the while keeping them from popping their own.  Like Ice Climber, it also features a 2-player co-op mode.  

   

 The controls are quite unique.  It has a basic, floaty physics model where the character flaps his arms when the A (2) button is pressed or the B (1) button is held down.  This causes him to rise up in the air.  Releasing the button causes him to slowly float down and pressing left and right on the d-pad steers.  There are three modes of play.  The first two are just one and two player variations of the main game which has the player progressing through multiple single screen phases of increasing difficulty.  Interspersed throughout are pop-the-balloons bonus stages which will also give the character one of their balloons back (if it was popped previously).  The 2-player mode can be quite entertaining in short spurts, as you can decide just how cooperative you want to be.  Do you want to keep your friend alive or get a few bonus points for popping his balloons?  It's up to you.  The third game mode is called Balloon Trip.  It is arguably a better single player experience than the main game, as you simply try and stay alive as long as possible while the game scrolls from left to right.  This part of the game was redone in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for Wii, but many fans still prefer the original version.  

   

 Overall Balloon Fight is another one of those games that many original NES owners will have a lot of nostalgia for.  It's an entertaining romp that fans of retro games will probably enjoy, and it's another mini history lesson for those interested in the origin of things like the trophies in Melee. - Mike Gamin  

   

   

Silent Debuggers - TurboGrafx-16

   

 Released 1991
  1 Player
  Cost: 600 Wii Points ($6)
  Controllers: Wii Remote, Wii Classic, GameCube
 Click here for a video preview  

   

 Silent Debuggers is a "real-time" first-person shooter that challenges players to kill off alien invaders that have attacked a marooned space station called OHME, and it's up to you and your fellow "Debugger," Leon, to neutralize the threat.  You are given six weapons to choose from, all of which are basically the same, and two life bars which drain not only when you take damage from aliens, but also when you simply fire your weapon. What fun! Aside from the changes in color scheme, you will be staring at the exact same room hundreds of times. Given that there is no map (seriously--the game doesn't even draw in a map as you explore--it only tells you your compass heading and general location within a "block"), aimless wandering is unavoidable. When the inevitable death screen comes up, you can choose to live on and fight another day--endlessly, provided you've not run out of time. Yes, there is a time limit of 99 minutes, and I challenge any of our readers to go that long. Indeed, you might, by luck alone, beat this game.  

   

 It's a real shame that Silent Debuggers is such a waste of points. It may be significant in that it's a "real-time" first-person shooter released in 1991, but that's really no excuse for horrible gameplay. I've played plenty of incredibly fun sprite-based FPS games. Doom, Doom 64, Jurassic Park, and the grandaddy of the entire genre, Castle Wolfenstein, all come to mind. All were done so much better. So I can't possibly recommend, on any level, Silent Debuggers. - Zach Miller  

   

   

Paper Mario - Nintendo 64

   

 Released 2/5/2001
  1 Player
  Cost: 1000 Wii Points ($10)
  Controllers: Wii Classic, GameCube
 Click here for a video preview  

   

 Paper Mario is simply a classic. Released right at the end of the N64's lifespan and generally hard to find now, it served as the template for Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door and, eventually, Super Paper Mario. A sequel to Square's brilliant Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario was Nintendo's (or more specifically, Intelligent System's) spin on RPG gameplay with Mario characters. Though not as narratively subversive or traditionally structured as Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario is a successful RPG gap-filler for Nintendo systems.  

   

 The gameplay is just like Thousand Year Door, although slightly less refined. The game's charm is delivered via a simple and strategic turn-based battle system, funny dialog, and a long quest with many worlds. Though it hits many of the traditional RPG beats, it adds many elements that reorganize how an RPG works, like an action-oriented field and platforming puzzles. For RPG fans and newbies, Paper Mario is a safe bet. For Mario fans, it's a no brainer. Ten dollars is simply too cheap for such an ultra-rare cartridge. - Evan Burchfield  

   

   

Thanks, VG Museum!  Your screenshots of every game ever sure make it easy for us to tell our readers what the games look like!!

[If you liked Contra on the NES and SNES, you're going to love it on the DS.]

209

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Contra 4

« on: July 16, 2007, 06:25:04 PM »

If you liked Contra on the NES and SNES, you're going to love it on the DS.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14040

 The real Contra is back.  That should be obvious to many people given the name (the first true sequel to the series since Contra III came out 15 years ago) and the choice of platform, the very 2D-friendly Nintendo DS.  Konami was showing off a quick demo of the title in its Barker Hangar booth, and even after a few minutes with it, it's apparent that fans of classic side-scrolling action games will rejoice when this puppy hits the shelves.    

The demo began in the typical jungle setting that may look familiar to fans from the original game.  I was able to jump from platform to platform or dive down into the water below to aid in avoiding the streams of enemies and gunfire headed my way.  The action takes places on both screens of the DS, as if it were one tall display, and some parts of the level design take advantage of this.  When reaching a tall cliff face, I had to use the new grappling arm (Y Button) to yank myself from the bottom screen to the top, hand-over-hand across a metal grate, then drop back down to the bottom screen so I could get back to taking out everything in sight.  It was during this sequence that I noticed the amount of detail and wonderful animation in my larger-than-average character sprite.  Things move as fast as in previous Contra games, but I don't ever remember seeing them move so smoothly.    

While admiring the animation I caught a glimpse of a power-up blimp floating on the side of the top screen.  I didn't think to look up there while I was shooting, ducking, and dying down on the bottom screen—something I will want to get used to doing in the future to so that I don't miss something good to shoot with.  You start with the standard machine gun but now have the ability to carry two weapons at once.  The L and R Buttons toggle between them on-the-fly.  The nice thing about this is although you lose your active weapon when you die, you switch back to the other when you respawn and continue the push forward.    

The controls in this early build felt absolutely fantastic.  I was able to jump around and aim my shots exactly how I wanted every time I tried.  That didn't stop me from dying several times, of course.  Either I suck at Contra more than thought I did, or the game will be as tough as the originals.  It's probably a bit of both.    

Contra 4 is going to be a haven for fans of the classic Contra games.  Though no music was audible in the E3 build, all the sound effects from the original sure were: The power-up noise, the mechanical damage noise, the death noise and the pause sound.  And speaking of those last two, I made sure to try inputting the Konami code to see if it was in there.  It wasn't, or at least the classic version of the code entered on the pause screen wasn't.  If C4 is as challenging (read: impossible) as the NES original, we might need those thirty extra lives.

[You can dance if you want to, but don't leave your friends behind.]

210

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Boogie

« on: July 16, 2007, 06:24:24 PM »

You can dance if you want to, but don't leave your friends behind.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14039

 EA finally let the general media get some hands-on time with its much ballyhooed Wii music game, Boogie.  Those expecting a rhythm game along the lines of DDR or Ouendan are going to be slightly disappointed at its lack of a genuine challenge.  However, if taken for what it was designed to be, which is a party game for the casual sector, it looks like it'll be a load of fun.    

I got the chance to take a look at three different modes during my time with it at EA's hotel suite.  First up was the main dancing game.  The EA rep demoing the game first showed me how the game worked.  After picking a song and a difficulty level, the game began.  The selected character was plopped down into a Route 66 setting, complete with a gas station in the background.  When the music started playing, the character started moving with the beat a bit.  The premise of the game is to shake the Wii remote or move the analog stick in one of four directions, in beat with the music, to perform a different dance move.  The more on-beat the actions are performed and the more varied they are, the better the score values for each.  The A Button on the Wii remote can change the dance style on the fly, giving you a different set of moves with which to waggle.  Once the Boogie meter is filled, holding the B Trigger will begin a bonus string in which you need to flick the Wii remote in the indicated directions.  This will set off a super-cool dance move which is worth loads of points.    

This looked really fun—and really easy—so when it was my turn to Boogie, I cranked up the difficulty to the maximum to get a taste of what the game would be like for music game veterans like me.  I was disappointed to find out that the harder difficulty levels don't really affect the gameplay, since the motions the player can perform are not predetermined.  Except for the bonus moves, the entire game is freestyle, so performing the same moves at a harder setting doesn't really change the fact that you're not really being challenged.  From what I could gather, increasing the difficulty just makes it more difficult to fill your Boogie meter.  Someone playing can be horribly off-beat, but the game will still give you some points and see you through to the end of the song.  Just about every music game before this has been more absolute; you either passed the song or you failed it.  There is no pass or fail in Boogie; you just play the song and see how many points you got.    

For someone raised on the likes of Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania, Guitar Hero, Ouendan, et cetera, this is a crushing disappointment.  Working to improve and ultimately beat a new song is one of the driving forces behind the genre.  However, while this style of play might turn off music game pros, it's just what the casual crowd might be looking for.  The thing that delights veterans is usually the same thing the frustrates novices, but by taking out the penalties for doing poorly, EA has essentially created the first music game for the casual audience.    

Looking at the game in this light, the design makes perfect sense.  People can be as spastic as they want with the controller and still make their character dance around like a fool.  It's got a party game vibe to it, too, because you can watch as other people try to rack up high scores and out-do each other.  Going it alone may not be so satisfying, but if you've got someone else to play with it looks as if it'll be a blast.    

Karaoke mode helps this theory along.  Using the included USB microphone, one player can sing the words to a song while another dances in the background as if he or she were playing in single player.  Only the singer gets points; the dancer is just there to keep the action lively.  One of the neat features of karaoke is the ability to change the type of voice that gets outputted through the speakers.  If you're a terrible singer, you can set the slider to make the voice of the game's singer be loud.  Most people will be happy with a mix, but only the best voices should dare to turn off the original voice entirely.    

The coolest thing about Boogie is the music video editor.  You can take a dance performance from the main game and save the replay to your Wii.  Once that's done, you can head into the editor and apply a bunch of different camera angles and effects.  The mode supports four different camera angles with up to 100 different camera cuts over the course of a song.  Available effects include text overlay, funky lighting and a 3D mode that requires the red-blue glasses to make the picture pop out at you.  There were around 15 or so total effects, all of which can be applied in a simple-yet-powerful video editor.    

After getting some quality time with Boogie, I came to understand the direction EA was going in with the game.  It's kind of like the music/dancing off-shoot of Wii Sports instead of something that will be competing with Guitar Hero III or DDR Hottest Party.  Part of me is bummed out by this.  However, I still had a great time trying out Boogie, and it will probably succeed in bringing its own brand of fun to the Wii library.

[Imagine what would happen if Ouendan and DDR had a baby. A very strange-looking baby.]

211

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Ontamarama

« on: July 16, 2007, 06:22:21 PM »

Imagine what would happen if Ouendan and DDR had a baby.  A very strange-looking baby.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14038

 Leave it to Atlus to bring a quirky Japanese rhythm game to America.  Already released in Japan as Ontama: Onpu-tou Hen, Ontamarama is a music game that requires multitasking of the Nintendo DS touch screen and D-Pad to play along with the beat of a Japanese soundtrack.  A series of colored panels scroll across the top of the touch screen, indicating which direction to press on the D-Pad.  The rest of the touch screen fills up with colored slime-looking objects which cause the similarly-colored scrolling panels to fill with a solid color when tapped, increasing their score value.  Some panels are larger and require multiple slimes to be cleared from the touch screen to become filled.  As a shortcut, you can draw a circle around a slime group that's all the same color to clear multiple slimes at once.    

Coordinating the D-Pad dancing and the touch screen tapping was quite easy to do in the first level I tried, so much so that I asked for a tougher level right away.  As if to show me who was the boss, I got one of the harder songs in the game, at which time I was promptly whooped.  Hitting the correct buttons on the D-Pad to the beat of the music was easy enough, but I also had to make sure the slimes were being cleared.  Coordinating this was really hard, especially since the tapping and circling wasn't fixed to any particular beat of the music.  I could clear the screen any time I wanted, which made juggling the rhythm of the D-Pad and the disarray of the touch screen very intimidating.    

I cried Ouendan on that stage and went to something that was medium in difficulty.  Though it was hard to hear the music (despite a pair of big headphones and a quieter E3 show floor), I think that the music and the touch screen patterns may line up in a certain way, but that way must be discovered by the player to make the best run at a high score.  Looking back, I don't know if such a thing was possible in the nightmarishly hard song that I tried out, but if Ontamarama is indeed designed in such a way, it may knock the socks off of Ouendan in terms of difficulty.  Otherwise, the game is an uncoordinated mess.    

I'm definitely interested in Ontamarama, though I would have liked more time with it to be sure about some details.  Despite that, there's always room in my game library for a new music game, and based on what I've played so far, I wouldn't mind including Ontamarama in it.

[A solid gas of a game.]

212

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Dewy's Adventure

« on: July 15, 2007, 08:40:47 PM »

A solid gas of a game.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14025

 Konami may have high hopes for Dewy's Adventure on Wii.  During its press conference it went as far as mentioning it and Metal Gear Solid 4 in the same breath.  (Then again, people didn't show up because they wanted to see the newest Dewy's Adventure trailer.)  I got the opportunity to get some hands-on time with Dewy at Konami's booth on the show floor, and while it may not draw the anticipation of Snake's next big game (no, not that one) it should still turn some heads.    

Dewy is a water droplet.  You can slide him around using the Wii remote's tilt controls to tilt the play field, or make him jump with the 2 Button.  He also has the power to change the temperature of his surroundings, which can be done on the fly with the up and down buttons on the D-Pad (as held in the horizontal position).  Lowering the temperature will make Dewy freeze; raising the temperature will turn Dewy into a cloud of steam.  These temperature changes are only temporary, as the gauge that shows the current state of Dewy will slowly move back to the middle, returning Dewy to his liquid form.  This puts a time limit on certain things you can only do in one form or the other, such freezing a lake to slide across it in his solid ice form.  However, if you can find a safe spot (such as an island on the lake) you can manually reset forms without penalty.  If you try doing this while on the lake, however, Dewy and the lake will unfreeze and you'll be lost to the water.    

Each of his different forms also brings with it different attacks, performed with the 1 Button.  In the regular water droplet mode, Dewy can perform a basic jump attack which will take out most enemies well enough.  In ice form, he'll be able to turn into a spinning ice top to take out multiple enemies at once.  In his cloud form, Dewy can float high above the level and charge up a wide-spraying lightning attack that will stun or take out any enemy in his cloud shadow.  Although powerful, the lightning attack comes at a price.  In cloud form, Dewy moves around very slowly, leaving him more vulnerable.  There are, however, special environmental attacks that can stun enemies and do other things: Shaking the Wii remote up and down will cause an earthquake, and shaking it left and right will induce a gust of wind.  These two abilities weren't really used in the demo, but they will no doubt be an important part of the final game's puzzle-filled levels.    

The E3 demo was quite short, but it was still fun to play through.  Although the only real puzzle of the level was the freezing of the lake, the manipulation of level temperature and the states of water bring with it the potential for something wonderful.  The time I spent with the game proves that the basics of the game are sound, so the success of the final product will come down to level design.  We'll see if Konami can come through with that when the game releases later this year.

[I, for one, welcome our new Ink Corp. masters.]

213

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: de Blob

« on: July 15, 2007, 06:24:09 PM »

I, for one, welcome our new Ink Corp. masters.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14024

 One of the games I was interested in playing at E3 was de Blob from THQ.  The concept sounded interesting, and playing the game a little confirmed that.  Although what I played at the show was a bit on the shallow side, I do like the direction the company is taking with the game.    

The story of the game is that de Blob is put into a world where the police force of the world wants things to be black and white, sucking the color out of everything.  Playing as the titular character, you need to go about restoring color to the world.  de Blob does this by first coming in contact with color capsules that will change his color and make him grow in size.  After that, it's as simple as touching a building, tree, citizen or other object to make it colorful.  Movement is done with the analog stick and jumping is done with a Wii remote flick.  That's pretty much all there is to moving de Blob around.    

One of the first things that was immediately apparent to me when playing the game was the very plain black and white city.  It looked really good for something so barren.  There was a subtle softness to the scenery that screenshots do a good job of showing.  Seeing it in motion, however, is very impressive, especially once you can see a lot of buildings in the background of the large level in the demo.  As you spruce the place up with color it starts looking happy.  The music will also begin to change as you do this, as each time you slap a building with paint the soundtrack becomes more vibrant.  Each of the six colors emits its own unique sound, so you can make the sound of the city anything you want it to be.  That's pretty cool.    

The primary goal of a level is to reach a target score within a time limit.  Points are made from colorizing buildings, and you can make combos to increase your score multiplier by jumping from building to building without hitting the ground.  Levels also have challenges that can be activated by talking to characters in the level, which will require you to paint certain buildings certain colors or perform jumping tests of skill that will give you more points.  In the demo level, I found a few corridors where I could perform nine consecutive jumps, which was a pretty good addition to my points total.  I can imagine that later levels in the game might have more complex building patterns that will challenge your jumping skills.    

de Blob won't have a free ride to just streak around the city, however.  Black figures from the evil Ink Corp. will be out on patrol and looking to blacken the hero.  If this happens, you'll need to head for a water source to purge the stuff before you shrink in size and die.  To prevent that from happening you'll want to lock-on to an enemy target, jump into the air, and flick the Wii remote downwards to slam down and blot out the baddie.  Combat wasn't emphasized very much during the demo, but it was an early level.  Perhaps in later levels we'll see more enemies to deal with while painting the town.    

I was impressed with how good the game looked and at how THQ is willing to take a novel concept and make a game out of it.  Just by playing the demo level, which was one of the earlier areas in the game, I wonder if de Blob will be a deep enough experience to hold the attention of people long enough to go from level to level.  On the other hand, there will be at least a dozen levels in the final game, and I imagine each one will be a little more complex than the first.  Regardless, I'm glad to see the Wii getting a game like this.  It'll add a splash of color to the system's library, and you can't say anything bad about that.

[The first game in the series to rock out on the Wii will bring with it improvements over Guitar Hero II.]

214

TalkBack / PREVIEWS: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

« on: July 15, 2007, 08:17:16 AM »

The first game in the series to rock out on the Wii will bring with it improvements over Guitar Hero II.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=14010

 We only got a chance to play the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III at E3.  However, Activision has confirmed that the basics of all the versions will be exactly the same, so we can tell you what to expect for the Wii version.    

The biggest change over the original games is the brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar controller.  The Wii remote will snap into the guitar body, which is what will make it wireless.  This will finally give us all the freedom to do some crazy guitar moves without worrying about a cord being too short or it yanking a game system off its perch.  The new guitar design has also got some features you haven't probably heard of, like swappable faceplates for customization options and the ability to take off the guitar neck for ease of transport and storage.    

Equally as important as the guitar is the list of music that will be included in the game.  The E3 version had a healthy list of a dozen songs, but the final game will have over 70 to choose from.  Importantly, a lot of the final music will be straight from the master tracks of actual bands.  Pearl Jam, Weezer, Tenacious D, Muse, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins and The Rolling Stones are just some of the bands that will be contributing their original music to the game.  And going another step farther, Slash, of Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver fame, will be writing an original song for the game and including his likeness as a boss battle character.    

The boss battles work similar to the face-off multiplayer mode, where you'll need to keep your rock meter and score higher than your opponent's to win.  This part of multiplayer is just a slice of the big expansion to the two-player modes in Guitar Hero III.  In addition to the standard face-off, pro face-off and co-op modes that were in the previous game, the new battle mode throws in distraction items to mix up the action.  By completing a denoted phrase of notes, you'll earn a random power-up that can be activated by wailing the guitar up into the air, much like you would normally activate star power.  You can do things like break strings (disable a fret), increase the opponent's difficulty level for a few bars, flip note charts, overload amps to make it hard to see what notes are coming up, make every note a double note, and more.  Another addition to the multiplayer is the new co-op career mode.  Similar to regular career, it brings you and a friend along through the entire campaign.    

Online modes are coming to GH III, too.  Leaderboards will keep track of high scores for every song in every mode so you can compare your rock ability to others around the world.  All the multiplayer games are online-enabled, too, so if you can't find someone to rock against in battle mode—or rock with in co-op mode—if you've got an Internet connection you can join in.    

Legends of Rock and the Gibson Les Paul guitar that will come with it will be available this fall.  Pricing has not been announced at this point, but let's hope that the Wii version will at least be cheaper than the other two versions, especially since we already own the guts of the Wii guitar controller, the Wii remote.

[Unexpectedly, it's yet another game which includes "Smoke on the Water" as a playable song.]

215

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

« on: July 14, 2007, 08:23:11 PM »

Unexpectedly, it's yet another game which includes "Smoke on the Water" as a playable song.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=14008

 The original Raving Rabbids centered around playing as Rayman, competing against the evil hoard of bunnies in a variety of multiplayer challenges.  In the sequel, you can play as the bunnies themselves (or Rayman) in a variety of mini-games not unlike the first game.  Playing as the critters directly makes the game a lot of fun, even more so than the first.    

There were five multiplayer mini-games available to try out on the E3 show floor.  The one I got the biggest kick out of was the music mini-game, where the four players could choose among playing the drums, guitar, keyboard, or vocals.  There wasn't any singing required, however; the rabbits took care of that on their own, using the most high-pitched, ridiculous voice I've ever heard… especially since it was singing "Smoke on the Water".  Each instrument uses the same control method, which is to drum the Wii remote or nunchuk in time with the corresponding icon that scrolls down the screen.  I picked the drums, so the sounds I was producing were right on line with the motions of the controls.  For the player on the vocals, slamming down the Wii remote on cue made the singing rabbit singing blurt out each syllable of the song  (“Smooooooooooooke-on-the-waaaah-ter") quite hilariously.    

There are also special controller movements in the music mini-game that will add to your score.  One had you raise the Wii remote and rotate it around at a certain rhythm to fill a bar.  Another had you do the rapid controller drumming that made the original so infamous. Most of the other games I played used the controller drumming technique, such as the swimming event or the laundry challenge.  Swimming was different in that you had to hold the controllers in different position (flat vs. upright) or drum them in different ways (alternating vs. simultaneously), but it was still a workout.  Laundry has you perform a "scrubbing" action with the controllers, and when you think the pair of underwear you're washing is clean, you must lift the controllers up to pull it out of the river and check it.  If you scrub too much, though, it'll tear up and you won't get points for it.  Your character will let you know how disappointed he is to have lost his favorite pair of boxers.    

One of the goofier mini-games also used the drumming control style.  Entitled "9-to-5", four rabbits are situated at their desks at work while their boss is on the prowl.  While he's not looking, drumming the controllers will make your character dance around on top of your desk.  Seeing the rabbits doing this is hilarious, and it's even funnier when the boss pops out of a soda machine or a ceiling vent to try and catch you.  To avoid being caught, you must keep the controller perfectly still whenever the boss is looking.  Toward the end of the game I was playing with a few Ubisoft reps, I was just about to win when someone "accidentally" bumped my controller while the boss was looking, which cost me some points and ultimately the game.  I was bitter about this, and promptly destroyed the competition in the keep-away football mini-game, where no one could flick the Wii remote to tackle me and steal the ball often enough for me to use the analog stick to run around the mud-slicked field and avoid everyone else.  That'll show them for messing me up!    

One of the newer modes of the Raving Rabbids 2 that we didn't get a chance to see is the character customization mode, wherein you can adorn a custom rabbit with different hats, outfits, and skin appearances.  I was told that all of the characters featured in the multiplayer demo could be made with the character creator (except for Rayman, who is also playable).  There are 25 choices for each type of item, however, so that brings the total number of bunnies you could make to over 15,000.  That's pretty good.    

Ubisoft wasn't willing to say anything about the game's single-player mode at the show.  Hopefully it'll be better than the awful forced implementation found in the original.  And hopefully, most, if not all, of the mini-games available in Raving Rabbids 2 will be available from the start.  One thing is for sure, though: the sequel will be even more hilarious and over-the-top than the first game.

[If you think it's ridiculous that Sonic can get beat by Mario in the 100m Dash, wait until you see him get smoked by Bowser.]

216

TalkBack / PREVIEWS: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

« on: July 14, 2007, 06:51:52 PM »

If you think it's ridiculous that Sonic can get beat by Mario in the 100m Dash, wait until you see him get smoked by Bowser.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=14007

 The first appearance of Mario and Sonic together in the same video game (and with luck, not the last one we'll see this year) is one that will carry the official 2008 Summer Olympic Games license with it, though not exclusively.  Developed by one of Sega's Japanese sports groups in close conjunction with Nintendo, it'll finally answer that age-old question of who is the better mascot character: Mario, or Sonic?    

Those two aren't the only characters in the game, of course.  The E3 demo version we got to take a look at featured eight, but according to Sega reps demoing the game there will be “significantly more" in the final version.  Each character has a specialty in one of three areas: speed, power or technique.  Obviously, Sonic is one of the speed characters.  Bowser and Knuckles were labeled as power characters, with Tails and Luigi being some of the technique characters.  In addition to a field of specialty, each Olympian also has individual stats in one of four areas: speed, acceleration, dash and technique.  Mario was also classified as a speed character, but his stats are much more balanced than those of Sonic, who has the highest top speed but very poor acceleration.    

The different technique types and stats are meant to balance the characters in a way where any character has a chance to win at any event, but still give an advantage to the characters who excel in an event specialty.  Bowser would naturally do better in the hammer throw than Peach; and Tails or Luigi would be better suited for the technique-heavy triple jump.  The final game will have multiplayer challenges that span multiple events, so things will even out over time.  However, Sega said that if you wanted to break an Olympic or world record in an individual event, you'll have to select a character that specializes in it.    

The Wii remote and nunchuk will be used in different ways during the various events.  In the 100m Dash, it's all about drumming the controller halves as fast as possible.  During the first half of a race, however, you can only run at about 80% capacity.  A blue meter tells you your speed, but if you drum too fast and go into the red, you'll stumble a bit and lose time.  After the halfway point this restriction is lifted and it's just a full-on sprint to the finish.  The potental to screw up in the opening means it's possible for slower characters (like Bowser) to outrun faster characters (like Sonic) if the person controlling ol' blue messes up a bit.  But all player skill levels being equal, speed characters will win every time.    

In the triple jump, a technique event, the drumming of the controller will get you up to speed during the run-up.  You won't need to do this all the way to the jump plate, however, as the game will lock in your speed a few moments before you need to flick the Wii remote upwards to start a jump.  The second jump is done with a similar nunchuk flick and the final jump is the Wii remote again.  Each jump has an angle meter that tells you the trajectory of each jump, but it wasn't clear what determined the jump angle from Sega's demonstration.  It appeared to me that it was the force of the flick, but it could also have to do with the controller angle when flicking.  Either way, the goal is to get a 45-degree leap each time.    

The last event on display at E3 was the hammer throw.  For this power event you must hold the remote upwards and twirl it around in a circular motion to get the speed up, then hit the A Button with good timing to fling it out of the cage.  It didn't look like the remote motions required to build speed were very vigorous in this event, but since Sega wasn't allowing anyone to try it hands-on we do not know if giving the remote a violent shake will provide more power.    

There will be some neat extras you can do with the Wii remote strewn about the events.  Before starting a run in the triple jump, you can clap your hands a few times by doing the same motion with the two halves of the remote to pump up the crowd and give you a little power boost.  In the 100m Dash, thrusting the controllers forward at the finish will make your character perform one final thrust toward the tape.  There will be more of these in the final game.    

And finally, the combination of the Mario and Sonic universes won't stop at the character select screen.  Footage has already revealed a few cameo appearances from minor characters from both camps.  In the triple jump, Toad watches for jumping fouls and Lakitu measures the final jump distance.  In the hammer throw, Cream the Rabbit raises the red and white flags to signal a fair or foul throw.  This is an indication that even if a recognizable character doesn't make the final roster, it'll probably still show up in the game somewhere.    

Sega was pretty much mum on other key details during E3, such as the number of events or specifics on extra game modes.  It did, however, say the game will be out this November, a good nine months before the real Olympic Games get under way in China next year.

[No Jenga chanting required ... but you'll probably want to do it anyway.]

217

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Jenga

« on: July 14, 2007, 12:56:13 PM »

No Jenga chanting required ... but you'll probably want to do it anyway.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13978

 Atari's take on the classic block building game was shown off at E3, and although it was an early build there's definitely some potential for it to be more than a cheap one-trick pony.    

The rules of Jenga are simple, and the Wii game follows them well.  You start with a stack of blocks, and you need to pull out a block and place it on the top of the stack without dropping it or making the tower fall over.  The 3D pointer controls of the Wii remote determine how far in, out, up, or down a block you've grabbed with the A Button will travel.  To pull a block out from the stack, for instance, you start with the remote close to the screen and then pull it back.  The game's physics are pretty good, so if you yank it out too quickly or nudge a block too much to the side the tower will fall down.  By pressing the 2 Button on the Wii remote, you can see which blocks have the most and least pressure on them to help determine which block you want to pull out next.  There's a certain touch that's required, and although there's no tactile feedback as to when something is about to fall, the visual clues will let you know when you're about to make a fatal mistake.  The analog stick and nunchuk buttons adjust the camera pivoted on the stack when pulling a block out, but it was not possible to rotate the camera to a top-down view of the stack when placing a block down in the demo build.    

The developers wanted to bring something more than just the basic Jenga experience, so they've added a few options on how the blocks and the environment affect the stack.  It's possible to change the material the blocks in the tower are made of, which will change their friction with other blocks.  Ice blocks slip out easily. Steel blocks don't.  Volcano blocks come out like normal blocks, but you've got to pull them out quickly or you'll drop them because of how hot they are.  Different levels will also bring different gravities, like underwater or outer space, which will affect how quickly the blocks in the pile shift around.  Also, environmental disturbances will shift the Jenga stack around.  In the Medieval level, for instance, catapult hits might knock the tower around and alter the weight distribution, making it a little harder to pull out a block.      

There are also some non-Jenga mini games that take advantage of the Wii remote.  Each themed level has a challenge mode game.  The volcano level on display had an Araknoid-style paddle board that can be positioned around the screen with the Wii remote pointer in an attempt to keep as many lava balls in the air as possible.  This particular game was a little hard for me to control because it wasn't always clear where you were pointing the remote when the paddle wasn't moving.  However, the rep showing off the game was eager to hear feedback for improvements and kept a notepad handy for just such a suggestion.    

It's nice to see developers looking for ways to improve their game, especially for something that's as simple as a Jenga video game.  Interestingly, the guy I talked to hadn't heard of EA's own Jenga-style game, the project currently code-named PQRS. It and Jenga will be in direct competition with each other after they both release, so it'll be interesting to see how the two titles stack up.  Jenga and Atari have the brand recognition, and EA has Spielberg to promote its game.  It'll be fun to see how both games evolve as they near release.

[The action-puzzle genre gets a showcase console game.]

218

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

« on: July 14, 2007, 12:37:47 PM »

The action-puzzle genre gets a showcase console game.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13977

 Zack & Wiki was a good surprise to me, since I really didn't know what to expect coming in to E3.  Screenshots make it look like a generic platforming or adventure game, which are a dime a dozen.  But after playing a good deal of it at Capcom's hotel suite I discovered that the game's primary goal is that of puzzle-solving and discovery.    

The goal of a level is to get Zack, the main character, to somehow reach a treasure chest that is located in plain sight of the player.  There isn't really much platforming or adventuring to accomplish this, since the levels I've seen at the show were very compact.  Instead, you must find a way to “solve" the level by clearing its obstacles by figuring out what to do, where to do it, and in what order to do it in. Eventually you'll get to the treasure chest and the booty inside.    

One of the levels I tried my hands at was in a volcanic setting.  Right next to the starting point was the treasure chest, but it was behind bars.  A nearby bucket had to be filled with enough water to hit the switch underneath it and open the chest.  There was a water source across a bridge to the right, but it can only be crossed four times before collapsing.  The lower part of the level had levers, fires, gaps, and other obstacles that somehow needed to be cleared to get the water down and around to the elevator so you can bring the water back up to the starting point and complete the level.  I had to restart the level the first time I tried it because I realized the purpose of the bridge was for four one-way trips instead of the two round-trips I tried initially.  This was only after I had already figured out how to put out the fires blocking the lower path, finding out what I needed to do to plug a gap in another bridge, and realizing what the connection was between a hard hat and the switch that lowered and raised the lava-powered elevator.    

While the entirety of a level is a great big puzzle, you'll also come across smaller puzzles.  The Wii remote's motion functions come into play during most of these tasks, which usually require you to use an object you've picked up in the level with something else.  For instance, you'll need to pick up a bottle in the volcanic level I was talking about earlier to hold the water needed to extinguish the fires and fill up the bucket.  When walking up to a fountain and interacting with it, the bottle won't fill up automatically.  Instead, you've got to figure out how to use the Wii remote to fill up the bottle.  In this case, it's a simple matter of using the pointer function to aim the bottle under the falling stream of water and hold it there until it's full.  I also had to figure out the correct action when putting out the fire; in that case, I needed to pour out the bottle's contents by doing a similar movement with the Wii remote.  There were a few places where the game prompts you on how to hold the remote, but outside of that it's all up to the player to discover the items' functions.    

The game is played exclusively with the Wii remote.  To move around the level you point and click where you'd like Zach to move.  Clicking on objects will make you interact with them, too.  You can also hold the remote vertically, which cues your simian companion Wiki to turn into a bell. Moving the remote around will sound the bell, which dispels ghosts that might block your path, or more importantly, transform creatures into objects (and back again) that are necessary to complete some puzzles in a level.  One example is turning a snake into a grabber arm, which is necessary to reach an object too high up for Zach to grab on his own.    

The potential complexity of the puzzles in Quest for Barbaros' Treasure should not be underestimated.  Apparently, every level will have a chart showing the percentage of game testers that were able to complete the level on their first try without any help.  This feature wouldn't be in the game if there weren't some low percentages.  And the levels I got to check out were apparently lightweight in difficulty compared to some of the others I've heard people mention.  From the looks of it, Zack & Wiki may be a hardcore puzzle-action game that none of us saw coming.  The cute look will draw in the casual crowd, but the gameplay could keep the gaming veterans busy for a while.

[Maybe the Wii Zapper isn't so poorly designed after all.]

219

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Ghost Squad

« on: July 14, 2007, 10:20:36 AM »

Maybe the Wii Zapper isn't so poorly designed after all.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13976

 Unlike Capcom's Umbrella Chronicles, which is a brand new game built for the Wii, Ghost Squad is an already-existing arcade shooter that is being ported to and enhanced for the Wii.  Because Ghost Squad is essentially a complete game, it plays like it.  There's also a key difference in how the Wii Zapper works in conjunction with the game that makes it play a lot better, too.    

Ghost Squad plays much more like a traditional light-gun arcade shooter.  That's because it is one, of course.  The name of the game is a misnomer, as you don't really shoot ghosts.  Instead, you're a part of an elite combat team that goes in and does the usual hostage rescue and counter-terrorism stuff not unlike the settings seen in the Tom Clancy games.  The settings aren't as serious, though, since it is a fast-paced arcade game.    

Like other games of the genre, Ghost Squad is an on-rails shooter in which you need to clear a room of enemies before moving to the next.  Unlike similar games, however, you are occasionally given a choice of branching paths.  You may want to go down a route that asks you to disarm a bomb, or perhaps you'll go a different route and give cover fire to your squadmates that go after the explosive.  During gameplay your automatically-controlled character will duck behind cover, peek around doorways and look under tables and chairs.  All of these actions are scripted, but it does make it look like you're playing as an actual person because of the motions your character goes through.    

Aiming at things is as simple as pointing at where you want to shoot with the remote.  Instead of using the main Zapper trigger to fire weapons, however, Ghost Squad uses the Z Button on the nunchuk.  This small change in button layout makes it much, much easier to grip and fire the thing, so much so that you can just as easily hold the device one-handed like an actual gun.  The front grip, then, makes the Zapper feel more like a two-pronged sub-machine gun.  It's about as good of a layout as the oddly-shaped Zapper will provide.    

The B Trigger on the front grip acts as the action button for the game.  This button's context will change depending on what you're doing, but generally, it's used to skip cut-scenes and perform non-shooting actions.  When I needed to disarm a bomb, for example, the action button was used to cut the wires and disable the explosive.  The order in which to cut the wires comes in over a radio transmission from your base commander a few moments before you need to do the job, so there is a little bit of recall necessary to do it correctly.    

The function of the analog stick is to change weapons.  You really only have two of them: a rifle and a machine gun.  The rifle can be used in single-shot (for better accuracy) and three-shot burst mode.  The machine gun can level an entire room, but the ammo is limited.  More ammo, health. and other items can be found by shooting at random objects around the level, such as bottles, dinner plates, crates. and just about anything else that doesn't look nailed down.  Hitting these objects will also increase your score, but if you're too trigger happy. you might accidentally shoot an innocent bystander, which will cost you a life.  If you're hit four times you're a goner, but it's easy enough to just continue and get back into the fight.    

There are some special areas where you get a different weapon to clear certain situation.  Once, I used a sniper rifle to take down a dozen enemies, but I had to do so within a time limit.  A small point showed me where I was aiming, and I nailed everyone with a head shot very easily.  Toward the end of the demo, I had to take down a helicopter using a rocket launcher.  The rockets would home in to the target, provided I kept the targeting cursor hovering over the helicopter long enough for it lock-on.  It took a long time to reload such a large weapon, but with the accuracy of the pointer, I didn't miss any of my shots.    

Ghost Squad was definitely a fun game to play at the show.  Wii enhancements like expanded multiplayer, a training mode, and online ranking will make it even better than it was in the arcades.  Of course, chances are you've never played it in the arcades, so Sega's giving Wii owners a chance to try it out now.

[A zombie zappin' good time.]

220

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles

« on: July 14, 2007, 10:19:45 AM »

A zombie zappin' good time.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13975

 One of the two Wii Zapper games shown off during E3 was Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.  The demo level Capcom had was short and, admittedly, very early in development, but I got to see enough of it to understand its light gun arcade-style take on the series.    

The demo dropped me into the cozy confines of Raccoon City, which has already been zombified.  It was the typical post-apocalyptic setting, with fires and wrecked cars.  While playing the level and shooting the zombies, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies that charged at me, there was conversation between who I believe were Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield.  I don't know which character I was playing as (not that it matters, really), but since the story will takes players inside the evil corporation, it makes sense for in-game dialogue to keep its story moving along.    

It plays pretty much like the trailers have shown.  Stuff comes at you, and you need to shoot it all dead before it gets too close.  Unlike in a more traditional arcade shooter like Time Crisis, this is not a one-shot-one-kill situation.  Just like Resident Evil games before it, it'll take a few shots to fell a zombie.  Perhaps taking a cue from Resident Evil 4, a pin-point shot on the very top of a zombie head will pop it off in a bloody mess.  You can also shoot at their legs to trip them up and give you more time to blast away at their heads.  There as a noticeable lack of effects when bullets made contact with objects, especially zombies, but given that this was an early playable build (and that trailers have shown better effects), I'll go ahead and assume these issues will be dealt with by the time the game is finished.    

There are alternatives to shooting everything in sight.  Shooting one of the red barrels strategically placed in the area will make it explode, taking out anything near it.  There are also places where you can trigger environmental kills.  Toward the end of the demo there was a stack of I-beams against a wall, with only a strap holding the beams up.  Shooting the strap caused them all to tumble down, crushing the half-dozen or so zombies that were coming at me.  There was a glowing pulse around the strap to convey it was interactive, so players will not need to randomly shoot all around the screen to find such less conventional methods of attack.    

The weapons available in the demo were a handgun, a sub-machine gun, and a shotgun.  The handgun has unlimited ammunition, so you needn't worry about conserving its ammo.  The more powerful weapons have a finite amount of shots, however, so you'll have to find more ammo as you play.  The amount of ammo available in your current clip is displayed around your cursor, and you'll be prompted on-screen when you should reload.  If you don't have the time to wait for that, you can pull out your knife at any time and slash up threats. For more extreme cases, you can lob a grenade to clear a bunch of enemies all at once.    

The front trigger (B Trigger) on the Wii Zapper is the primary fire button.  Reloading weapons only requires a quick little shake of the whole controller housing, which is easy to pull off.  If you'd prefer, quickly aiming the pointer off-screen and then back on again will also reload, since the motion required to do this will shake the remote enough for it to register the action.  The C Button on the nunchuk switches weapons.  Holding down the Z Button switches to your knife.  To swipe with it you'll need to move the Wii remote around (as in RE4 Wii).  Hitting Z and B together throws a grenade wherever the cursor is aimed, and the Z Button also picks up any items that you're aiming at, such as a grenade, new weapon or healing herb.  And for those times when there's a zombie gnawing away at your ankles, you can look around and get a better viewing angle using the analog stick.  This is also handy when being attacked by crows, which I am reluctant to report are just as annoying as the crows from previous games.    

Using the Wii Zapper with this control configuration was somewhat awkward.  It was difficult to get a stable hold on the controller because of all the trigger finger movement.  I couldn't really decide whether to hold it left-handed or right-handed because I had to choose between shooting with my right (dominant) hand on the front grip, or better stabilizing the entire controller with it on the rear grip (nunchuk).  Though I really didn't have a problem aiming where I wanted, the moment I started shooting I lost my precision.  After playing the other Zapper game at E3, Sega's Ghost Squad, I can see that this is more of a control configuration problem than poor peripheral design.  (To see why, check out my Ghost Squad impressions.)  Hopefully Capcom will take feedback from the show and fix the control scheme.    

Overall, Capcom showed off was a very rough demo of The Umbrella Chronicles. There is certainly the potential for a good, fun game; however, the developer has a lot of work to do if it wants to release a complete game this year.  I'm hoping Capcom comes through.

[Brain Age 2: Brain Harder.]

221

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day

« on: July 13, 2007, 07:37:06 PM »

Brain Age 2: Brain Harder.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13953

 I got a chance to play through three different brain training games at Nintendo's display at the Barker Hangar.  I must admit, I feel really dumb right now.  That is because the games in Brain Age 2 are much more difficult than in the original.    

The most challenging one I tried out is the word wheel, where letters to some random word are scrambled on a rotating circle.  You need to spell out the word one letter at a time using the game's excellent handwriting recognition to clear it and go to the next word.  This is easy enough to do with four- or five-letter words, but when the game throws you more than six, you'll be at a loss.  The rotation of the letters makes it very hard to concentrate on them and determine the word, and it took me a minute or more  for some of the medium-sized words before I had any clue about what it might be.  I just gave up completely when I saw the 8-letter word.  It was quite intimidating, but it was also quite challenging, which is ultimately the point of the sequel.    

Next up was the rock-paper-scissors voice challenge.  The game shows you a hand doing a rock, paper, or scissors throw, and you need to say either what beats it or what loses to it.  This is a little tricky because you need to say something other that's what displayed on screen, but it's pretty similar to the color words test in the original Brain Age.    

Finally I got to try out the new math training game.  Unlike in the original, where you just write in the answer to the math problems, this new version throws a curveball by sometimes scribbling out one or both of the numbers in the equation as the problem scrolls onto the touch screen.  You'll need to remember what the number was beforehand, because if you didn't pay attention you'll need to scribble on the touch screen and surrender that question.  This new mechanic makes you look ahead a bit more than the first game did, which requires more brain power.    

Brain Age 2 is more of the same, only more challenging.  If you liked the first you'll like the second.  If you thought the first was too easy, you'll appreciate the added challenge.  If you didn't care much for the original, you probably won't care about the sequel.  But as a daily time waster, it'll be a good thing to have around.

[Touch screen Zelda controls work great. Crazy, ain't it?]

222

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

« on: July 13, 2007, 07:22:58 PM »

Touch screen Zelda controls work great.  Crazy, ain't it?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13952

 We're all used to moving Link around with a D-Pad or analog stick and attacking with buttons, but the DS game throws that out the window.  Everything is controlled on the touch screen via stylus controls: movement, attacks, items, picking up and throwing objects, talking to people, etc.  From the looks of it, you don't need to press a single button to beat the game.  This is something Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has wanted to do for quite some time, and by-George-he's-done-it with  Phantom Hourglass.    

The context sensitive controls make it simple to do anything you want.  To move, touch the screen in the direction you want Link to go.  The further away from Link you touch, the faster he runs, so if you want to do a little sneaking you simply touch the area directly in front of Link.  You can forward roll by “wiggling" the stylus back and forth at the edge of the screen.  Sword attacks are carried out by simply tapping what it is you want to go after.  If that initial jump attack doesn't finish the baddie off, swiping the stylus across the enemy will perform a horizontal attack or swiping it through the enemy (relative to Link's position) will do vertical or stab attacks.  Drawing a circle around Link performs a spin attack.    

If this seems too complicated, don't worry, because it certainly is not.  It only took me a few moments to completely understand how things worked and why they worked.  It wasn't long before I completely forgot that I was using the touch screen.  I just zoned out and played the game as if it were any other Zelda title.  In doing so, I noticed that because of how well the controls flow with the overhead perspective, the game is very fast-paced.  Cel-shaded Link has always been a speedy little runt, but now that you can jump and attack any target on the screen with a mere tap you can clear a room of weaker enemies without wasting time chasing them down or missing attacks.  The game takes care of most of the dirty work for you.    

Due to a built-in time limit on the demo, I didn't get to play very far into the game to see if combat would be more robust.  However, during a roundtable discussion with Aonuma Nintendo demonstrated an area called the Temple of the Ocean King, a dungeon that is deep into the game.  We're not going to spoil the game for you, but don't assume you can just tap-tap-tap your way through some of the game's tougher enemies.  Link's full arsenal of moves will be included, and you're going to need them all at one point or another to beat some tough guys.  And don't forget, all of those moves will be performed with the touch screen.  What's more, the dungeon will have a time limit—a first for the Zelda series.    

Touch screen controls also come into play when using items and solving puzzles.  The boomerang, of course, is controlled by drawing the path you want it to take on the screen.  Nintendo showed off the hookshot during the press conference and the roundtable presentation, which is controlled by dragging the stylus toward what you want to hook.  Although I didn't get to try this myself, anyone can see that it was much, much simpler to pull off than in recent console games yet could be executed far more quickly.  Besides quickly pulling in multiple enemies, one after the other, the hookshot can now hook around multiple objects at once to create tightrope platforms.  Again, you just draw where you want the rope to go, and boom, it's there.  This looks to be a good way of mixing up the dungeon design, since Link can traverse chasms without the need for a bridge, walkway or other platform.  This could very well give the dungeons in Phantom Hourglass a fresh look.    

But what will really make Zelda DS a serious contender for the “best Zelda game" prize (besides the fact that Aonuma and the Phantom Hourglass team are stating that it is their favorite Zelda game ever) will be the puzzle possibilities the touch screen—and only the touch screen—can bring to the series.  While we didn't see any specific examples of some tougher puzzles, given the wide range of things you can do with Link's tools and their new, drawing-based controls, I expect some clever stuff.    

The touch screen also makes the game map more important than ever.  It's normally displayed on the top screen, showing you the current area or dungeon floor.  Any time you want you can flip it to the bottom screen (either via the touch screen menu or B Button shortcut) and draw on it.  There are all sorts of practical reasons to draw on the map, like to note a secret location pointed out to you by the townsfolk or to help remember the correct order of levers you need to pull to unlock a door.      

As mentioned by Aonuma in the roundtable, when you're scribbling on the touch screen you can see Link's little hand writing on the map on the top screen.  That's just one example of the little details adding to the impressiveness of the game's graphics.  The Wind Waker cel-shaded style fits perfectly on the handheld.  There are a few rough spots around Link's hands and arms when he moves them around during cut scenes, but there was nothing else I've seen that would prevent me from saying that the game looks wonderful.  The action is fast and fluid.  I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the frame rate speed, but it's definitely faster and smoother than most DS games on the market.  But that's to be expected, coming from a top-tier internal Nintendo development team.    

Like many people, I was skeptical of playing a Zelda game with only touch screen controls, but it did not take long for me to see why Aonuma and Co. were so excited about Phantom Hourglass.  Apparently the Japanese agree; it's selling like crazy over there.  There's a good chance this is the Zelda title that pulls the casual market into the series we Nintendo fans love and cherish so dearly.  And you know what?  It looks like it will be another fantastic Zelda game for the hardcore, too.

[After an hour of Prime Time, is the game is the real deal? Read on to find out.]

223

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

« on: July 13, 2007, 06:30:30 PM »

After an hour of Prime Time, is the game is the real deal?  Read on to find out.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13951

 When E3 closed down for day two, Nintendo opened up its hotel suite and invited me to sit down and play an extended session of Metroid Prime 3.  For that hour of bliss, it was just me, the game, and a widescreen display running at 480p.    

All of the hype and anticipation for Corruption will be met.  That's a safe claim to make after playing the game for as long as I did.  It looks absolutely fantastic in motion.  The action moves at the speed and fluidity of F-Zero GX on the GameCube.  That's not saying it looks like a GameCube game, however; although the models in the game have a "GameCube Turbo" look to them (not a bad thing), the scope of the environments and the level of detail is astounding.  Lighting and particle effects in particular look great, as do the heat effects that warp and distort the area around where Samus fires her arm cannon, which look a lot better than they did on GameCube.  In one of the early areas you'll be in a space station while a battle underway outside.  In the background big ships fill the view and smaller ships fly all over the place, shooting laser canons that streak the landscape.  The speed and scope combined really give off the impression that Retro has the first real Wii game on its hands, at least graphically.    

The Wii controls are fantastic, too.  The three different pointer sensitivities are designed with different people in mind, and the game will not play that much differently as you switch among them.  The two slower settings allow for easier free targeting for newer players, and the lock-on feature (the Z button) makes up for the slower cursor speed, making the game play similar to previous Metroid Prime games.  By default, shooting is done with the A Button and jumping with the B Trigger.  These two functions can be switched in the options menu, but after trying to shoot rapidly with the trigger I found that I can't pull a trigger faster than I can press a button.  I switched back to the default, but kudos to Retro for making the option available.    

Flipping the sensitivity to expert is what puts Corruption in a league of its own.  The cursor is fast and responsive, yet you can still perform precise aiming without the cursor jittering all over the place.  The expert setting also turns on the "lock-on free look" option by default, which allows you to shoot anywhere on the screen while still locked onto an enemy.  This makes it possible to strafe around one target and shoot something else that may be threatening, like airborne creatures making a dive for you.  This control option is a perfect fit for Wii remote pros, because the aiming controls are so tight that you'll want to shoot at stuff without locking on to anything.  The Wii remote setup makes Metroid Prime 3 feel like a true first-person shooter.  The only other game on Wii that you could compare it to is Red Steel, which absolutely pales in comparison to the fluidity of Corruption's controls.    

You're also going to experience a "wow" moment when you first activate your scan visor and have a look around, but I won't spoil exactly why here.  With no second analog stick to switch visors, this time you hold down the Minus(-) Button to bring up the on-screen visor select menu.  To choose a new visor you move the aiming cursor into one of three wedges in the circular display.  Scan is in the top zone, and the new command visor is in the bottom right.  The command visor lets you control your ship from afar, provided you're looking at the proper terminal by a landing site.  After playing through the first two Metroid games on GameCube, hitting a button to change visors is a little strange, but I'm sure I will get used to it.    

In last year's E3 demo, the grappling beam's controls were strange.  Flicking the nunchuk forward still shoots it out, but in the old version you were required to pull back on the analog stick to yank whatever it was you grabbed on to.  That has been changed in the final game to a much more natural movement: you must simply pull the nunchuk back to clear debris or de-shield enemies.  This really reduces confusion since you don't need to worry about mixing up motion controls with traditional inputs.    

The coolest addition to the game is the ability to actually go into Samus' gunship.  Being inside the ship is a first for the series, and fanboys will no doubt be drooling over the prospect.  It's not just for show, either; Samus can interact with switches and controls inside with the Wii remote by placing her hand on a panel or press buttons with her finger.  Pressing the A button while moving her hand around with the remote pointer will make her poke at whatever you're aiming at.  It is possible to whiff a simple button press if you aren't paying attention—I did on the ship's numeric keypad—so don't take this activity lightly.  It may be especially important later in the game if Samus encouters passcode locks. I just hope that doesn't happen as you need to escape a collapsing structure, because dying because of an errant finger poke would sure suck.    

The gameplay is pretty tight. The only thing I am concerned about, perhaps unfoundedly, is the game's voice dialog.  Since I've only seen about 15 minutes of opening cinematic, I am in no position to comment on the script or plotline of the game.  So I won't.  But I will say that I think having characters speak to Samus, knowing that she will never speak back, really bothers me.  Mario has never been a vocal character, and all of his games have had limited voice because of it.  Samus is much the same way, yet the conversations taking place between her and the people she interacts with, including other bounty hunters, made it feel as though the story were being force-fed down my throat.  I must admit that this is really more a nit-pick than a serious issue, especially since I was playing through the story-heavy opening of the game.  However, I do hope that there aren't very many one-way discussions as the adventure really pick up.  And hey, who knows; we might hear Samus speak.  Her face was the original mystery, so maybe her voice will be the next?    

Personal annoyances aside, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is only a month away and it's time to get excited about it.  I sure as hell am.  Corruption is going to set the bar really high for first-person shooters that follow, which is a good thing for the genre moving forward on Wii.  I can't imagine what future Wii FPS games will look like, especially ones out of the Nintendo camp, after Corruption.  All I know is that I'm getting this game when it comes out.  Will you?

[Those Spielberg-Miyamoto comparisons are more accurate than any of us ever knew.]

224

TalkBack / PREVIEWS: PQRS (Tentative Title)

« on: July 12, 2007, 03:43:57 AM »

Those Spielberg-Miyamoto comparisons are more accurate than any of us ever knew.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=13912

 During Electronic Arts' E3 press conference, EA LA's Louis Castle demonstrated a very early version of a game code-named PQRS, designed specifically with Wii in mind by famed film director Steven Spielberg.  Early in the demonstration, the game looked like nothing more than a Jenga-style block game in which you can knock down a town structure by either yanking out a block with the Wii remote, or aiming and firing a ball at a block, causing the others to fall via a realistic physics model.    

The demo then introduced special blocks that behave differently when fired upon.  Ghost blocks disappear when startled.  Bomb blocks explode and send nearby pieces flying.  Chemical blocks explode only when contacted with another chemical block, which can happen when one falls or is pushed onto another.  These different blocks immediately made it apparent that Spielberg wasn't working on a simple block building game. He was creating an open-ended puzzle experience.    

The goal of a level, or at least one of the goals, is to obliterate the structure presented in front of you using as few moves as possible.  A one-shot kill is the main objective to clearing a level, which will work via a combination of block-tumbling physics and placement of the special blocks.  The combinations are seemingly infinite, as evidenced by the next part of the demonstration.  Soon after displaying the initial examples, Castle began flipping through a wide variety of levels ranging from the very tall to the very wide to the very simple to the extremely complex.  The final level demoed in the presentation was something with the complexity of a Rube Goldberg machine, with catapults, sliding blocks, and a physics-induced explosion that rained down a giant stack of small cubes and then a giant chemical explosion leveled a herd of cows for the grand finale.    

All of the designs were made inside the game's level editor, which appears  as if it will be just as big a part of the final game as the block-busting.  The game will rely heavily on user-created puzzles which EA announced can be shared with other people.  It didn't say specifically if this means the sharing can be taken online, but knowing EA's track record and the high profile of the game, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that's it's going to happen.    

The game will have 20 different characters and will be set in four different worlds, each with a different theme.  The cows came from a western theme set, which you can use to spruce up the scenery and give levels a little more character.  It's not known what purpose the characters serve, or if the scenery will affect the block physics.  Being a Spielberg creation though, we've got to assume he's cooking up some story to tie everything together.    

We'll try to have more information on the still-codenamed PQRS soon.

[It looks funny, but how does it feel when holding it?]

225

TalkBack / IMPRESSIONS: Wii Zapper

« on: July 11, 2007, 08:29:13 PM »

It looks funny, but how does it feel when holding it?
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13911

 During our hotel appointment with Nintendo, I got the chance to try out the newly-redesigned Wii Zapper with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.  We'll have coverage of the zombie shooter later this week, but first I wanted to tell you how the new-gen gun handled.    

When it was first shown, it looked a little strange.  Holding it in my hands confirmed that initial impression.  The front prong is the primary grip that includes an extended trigger that presses up against the B Trigger on the Wii remote when it is snapped into place.  That trigger isn't quite as tight as the trigger on the remote, and it's not optimally placed like a real gun trigger would be.  The nunchuk mount on the back side is where the second hand goes, and it lets you move and shoot at the same time, something most other light guns make impossible.  Part of what makes holding the Wii Zapper strange is that you've essentially got two triggers: The main trigger in the front, and the Z Button on the nunchuk, on which your other finger naturally resides.  And it feels more like a gun trigger than does the main trigger.    

On top of that, the grips of the Zapper are closer to each other than I would like them to be.  The point of holding a gun in two places is to support and stabilize it.  The compactness of the design makes it feel like you've got a shotgun with both hands in the middle instead of how you'd normally hold it.  If the design was a one-handed one like seen in the prototype, this would have been fine.  If the design were more like a shotgun, with hands placed further apart, this would have also been fine.  But what I held at E3 was something between a pistol and a shotgun.  It's not the best of both worlds, but it's not the worst of both, either.    

The way it is designed, however, lets you do perform all the regular functions that you would need to do with the remote.  The two-grip layout makes it easy to roll the entire structure about the Z-axis (the axis that goes through the remote and the TV screen) or quickly yaw the controller pointer off the screen to the side if a game requires a reload in such a fashion.  (RE:UC only requires a simple shake to reload a gun.)  It feels natural to move the analog stick around.  The A Button is a bit of a stretch from the natural front grip position, but you can get to it if you need to.  I don't think it would be easy to hit A and B at the same time rapidly, however.    

I personally hope that Nintendo reconsiders the design of this thing before releasing it to the public with its mysterious $20 pack-in game.  It's great that Nintendo is dedicating a housing to highlight the gun-like properties of the Wiimote, but based on the brief time I've used it, I would rather use the remote by itself.    

Capcom's Umbrella Chronicles and Sega's Ghost Squad are Zapper-compatible games that will be on the show floor.  We'll have impressions of them later in the week.