Topic: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2006

[Stratos]

2006 was a lousy year for the Cube. It really felt like the GC had too short of a life. I kind of hope the Wii lasts longer than the typical five years.

I did wait all night outside a Circuit City (lulz) for my Wii, and it was worth it. Red Steel was my game of the year.

I've heard a lot of negativity about RS so I've avoided it, but I have been tempted to try it. If it was GOTY for you would you recommend me trying it now, especially since it is only $20 new or less? Or should I just stick to WaW and wait for the sequel?

[NWR_pap64]

2006 was a lousy year for the Cube. It really felt like the GC had too short of a life. I kind of hope the Wii lasts longer than the typical five years.

I did wait all night outside a Circuit City (lulz) for my Wii, and it was worth it. Red Steel was my game of the year.

I've heard a lot of negativity about RS so I've avoided it, but I have been tempted to try it. If it was GOTY for you would you recommend me trying it now, especially since it is only $20 new or less? Or should I just stick to WaW and wait for the sequel?

You should rent or buy it for cheap before the sequel is out, if only to see part of the story.

I played the game (still need to finish it) and while I wasn't that floored it wasn't as horrible as reviews made it out to be. Once you find a sweet spot when playing you will have no problem shooting down the Yakuza.

[ShyGuy]

The controls are problem number one with Red Steel. I adapted to them, but if you've played a good Wii FPS since then it may be impossible to go back.

[NWR_Lindy]

2006 was the year I swore off Gamestop forever.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=12513

Never again.

[Stratos]

2006 was the year I swore off Gamestop forever.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=12513

Never again.

That made me frustrated just reading it.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Wow. That Black Friday story is about the most spiteful thing I've ever heard of in the retail business.

[Nick DiMola]

Damn man, that story sucks, Gamestop sucks, and their opened new game policy sucks, too. Got an opened new game from them recently and I asked them what they would do if I were to return it in the same condition I was given it. They said they would not give me a refund, only exchange it for another product! So I get a shittier condition item, and I can't return the fucking thing!?!??! Thanks Gamestop, you fucking suck.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Let me share you my GameStop story.

One day I wanted to get one of those fancy Pelican PS2 to PS3 dongles(lets you use PS2 controllers as if they were for PS3), the guy rung me up, and because the store and the counter looked like a hurricane hit it I didn't see the little credit card swipe machine, so I handed my credit card to the guy so that he could charge my card for the dongle. When he took it, the guy acted like a total asshole and said,"OH what have we here your credit card? I'll just charge my full pre-order of the Halo 3 Collector's Edition, it's only 130 bucks!!"(Halo 3 wasn't out yet, and I recently bought a PS3 when the 60GB dropped to 499.99) At this point my face was flush red in anger and I really wanted to curse him out, even if it was a bad joke. I was really tempted to call the district manager and have a nice and friendly "chat" about my terrible experience unfortunately I was so mad that I forgot about it. I guess I really should of knocked over some of those magazine racks.

To this day I have never stepped into a GameStop after that experience, I worked in retail and I know how frustrating it could get sometimes but I could never imagine treating customers or other people like that. The only way I conduct business with GameStop is online, and only if I really want a preorder bonus, or if they have a really nice sale that's too good to pass up. But I will never ever walk into a GameStop  or a subsidiary store that's owned by GameStop.

[NWR_pap64]

Better chime in before this turns into a Gamestop hate fest...

Chibi-Robo was a title I completely disregarded when it was first released, but ended up falling in love with it when I finished the game.

I remember both S_B and NWR hyping the game like crazy. It was during the worst droughts the GC had ever seen, a clear sign that the GC was on its way out and the only thing Nintendo was releasing on it were B-projects. At first I played it at S_B's house and I just didn't see the appeal. But then I borrowed the game and played through it on my own and I was floored by the great characters and story. Its at this point that I realized that Skips would forever be an underrated developer.

I really hope that the Wii remake really brings Chibi-Robo to the spotlight because its a wonderful title that doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

2006 also saw the release of Yoshi's Island DS, which was a really good platformer. I still haven't beaten it because my niece pretty much made it hers, but I liked the multiple baby concept and Baby DK is so adorable!

[Kairon]

I've said it before I'll say it again: I don't consider Twilight Princess anywhere near the best Zelda game ever.

[BeautifulShy]

Well here is how I got my Wii.

My story of getting the Wii is full of excitement,disappointment, and euphoria.

It was about a month before the Wii came out and I remember getting excited!I didn't have enough money for the Wii at launch.So I picked up my preorder of Red Steel at launch.Black Friday rolled around I had enough.So I walked down to Target at 5:00am and looked for one.No luck there. I took the bus and went to Walmart and it was the same story as Target.Gamestop was close so I went there.They sold their last Wii about 30 min before. Undeterred I went to Best Buy.By this time it was about 11:30 am so it was getting late for BF shopping.I had no luck there or at Circuit City. On my way back I looked in another Target.No Luck.I got home and I was disappointed. Nearby I found out that someone was selling a Wii.They wanted $325 for it so I had some money to make. Finally when I made the money one of my friends handled it and I was under the impression that I would have a Wii soon. After about a week or so I wanted to find out where my Wii was.So I got to talking with my friend and it turns out this guy had gotten arrested for drug charges after my money went to this guy that had my Wii.Needless to say I was mad.I would have to continue my search for a Wii.So  I called up all of the stores I went to on Black Friday in the days and weeks after.I tried everyday till I found out that Gamestop was getting shipments at 1:00 on December 1st.He told me that Fed Ex would bring some in the next shipment So I was excited!As I was reaching the mall where Gamestop was located I saw a Fed Ex truck and a UPS truck.I was in the backseat so I squeezed my self out and ran towards Gamestop. When I arrived I told the associate about the trucks that I seen. It turns out that FedEx was for the PS3 and UPS was Wii. I was waiting intently for my Wii.I got one Finally! As I looked at my receipt I saw the name Nick. I first thought about St.Nick.It was a Christmas miracle.

[NWR_pap64]

I've said it before I'll say it again: I don't consider Twilight Princess anywhere near the best Zelda game ever.

I have to be honest with everyone here...

I will agree that the game is far from perfect,  the story is not as good as in other titles, it was too easy (especially the boss battles) and the gameplay is extremely familiar to OoT.

But to me the game truly shines because of the characters. Simply put TP has some of the most realized characters in the whole series, and perhaps the most memorable yet.

Link is far more expressive in this game than in any other game, rivaling Wind Waker. The characters are also expressive and very creative. Yeto, Yeta, Midna, Malo, Talo, Wolf Link, the Sages, the Gorons, the Bomb Shop keep in the end a lot of great characters.

It also has so many memorable moments. The howling moments were really awesome, same with the scenes in which Link trained with the deceased warrior.

The only thing I was annoyed with was the ending, simply because its the tired "And Link rode off into the sunset, adding yet another confusing element to the Zelda timeline" ending.

In fact, I would say the last half of the game is where it truly suffers. It has a great beginning and middle, but the end was somewhat weak and not as satisfying. Zant turned out to be a disappointing villain, especially since the first half of the game he is shown as this terrifying guy out to screw you.

In those aspects, I can agree why TP isn't the best. But to me, it has many enjoyable moments that keep it from being the worst.

Now if Zelda Wii is able to tighten up the story, add even more memorable moments, re-define the gameplay and work on the Zelda formula we could end up with Mario Galaxy equivalent of Zelda...

[NWR_Neal]

The majority of 2006 was 10+ months of buildup for the Wii followed by two months of fun.
If I remember correctly, I had an Xbox 360, but I basically only played Uno and Geometry Wars. That first year of 360 sucked.
I did get a lot of older NES and SNES games, especially since I discovered Digital Press (http://www.digitpress.com/) near my college.

And then I waited outside a Target with about six other people for 12 hours and it was awesome. I remember playing Wii Sports with friends and then setting up another TV and my friend and I each started Zelda.