Topic: SPECIAL: NWR Awards 2008

[KDR_11k]

I agree with most of those, but thought I would point out disagreements:

World of Goo is good, but over-rated and far from the best WiiWare game

It may be overrated but I still can't think of a better WiiWare game even with that in mind. Suggestions?

The issue with SSBB is the fact we can't play every game that had online, and we vote based on what we saw ourselves.  The number of people on staff who played SSBB dwarfs those other games, and some of them did manage to have a good experience.

IOW, victory by default?

[UltimatePartyBear]

I support the choice of Brawl for every award it won.  It was a triumph.

It's easy to nitpick.  I could go on for pages complaining about stuff, but only because I like the game enough to care that much.

[MegaByte]

SSB: B broken online over AC: CF, Endless Ocean, MoH 2, Castlevania Judgement, Madden 09 and about any other Wii game with online components is really strange.

That is really odd...  A joke perhaps?

A mistake.  There was no runner up for online and SSBB shouldn't have appeared there.

[NWR_Lindy]

Let's just say that Brawl appearing there is a LONG story.  I think, feature-wise, its online was damn good.  Its stability was weak, but it was very full-featured.

I'll take the suggested categories under consideration for next year.  We're going to streamline things so that we're a bit more organized.

[BeautifulShy]

Thanks Lindy for considering the catagories.
This is somewhat unrelated to the awards but when the Wii has run its course.I'm sure there will be a retrospective on it,right?

[KDR_11k]

BTW, how can Cho Aniki beat Lords of Thunder in Best Non-Nintnedo Console Game when LoT got Best Shoot'em Up?

[Yoshidious]

BTW, how can Cho Aniki beat Lords of Thunder in Best Non-Nintnedo Console Game when LoT got Best Shoot'em Up?

I can only imagine that Cho Aniki's other merits that reach far beyond its shooting action carried it over the top in the non-genre-specific award.

[D_Average]

Did Space Invaders Extreme come close to best DS Port or Remake?  That was my game of the year for DS.

[Mop it up]

You know, I'm kind of surprised that Wii Music wasn't even a runner-up for Best Sound. It is a music game, after all, and it has so many instruments too.

[NWR_pap64]

You know, I'm kind of surprised that Wii Music wasn't even a runner-up for Best Sound. It is a music game, after all, and it has so many instruments too.

Because MIDI is the root of all evil.

About 2008 being a great year, it definitely was a great year because of how many core entries and releases we received in just a year. But in comparison to the excitement of the Wii's launch and the magic of Galaxy in 2007 2008 did feel a bit meh.

2009 does, however, look to be a better year thanks to recent third party efforts and announcements.

[Mop it up]

Because MIDI is the root of all evil.

Who cares? There's a lot of variety there.
If it's just a quality thing, SSBBrawl doesn't have the best sound quality either. It sounds like the music tracks were heavily compressed, like they are MP3 files or something. There are also spurts of static whenever there are too many sound effects going on.

[Luigi Dude]

2009 does, however, look to be a better year thanks to recent third party efforts and announcements.

Not to mention that the Nintendo studio's that released games in 2007 but didn't have anything in 2008, will probably be ready to release something in 2009, since the average Nintendo studio take around 2 years to develop games.

[GoldenPhoenix]

2009 does, however, look to be a better year thanks to recent third party efforts and announcements.

Not to mention that the Nintendo studio's that released games in 2007 but didn't have anything in 2008, will probably be ready to release something in 2009, since the average Nintendo studio take around 2 years to develop games.

Mario Party 9, here we come!

[NWR_pap64]

Because MIDI is the root of all evil.

Who cares? There's a lot of variety there.
If it's just a quality thing, SSBBrawl doesn't have the best sound quality either. It sounds like the music tracks were heavily compressed, like they are MP3 files or something. There are also spurts of static whenever there are too many sound effects going on.

I was being sarcastic when I said that. But in most reviews they complain about the music sounding bad because of the MIDI. I disagree since I've been able to create pleasant sounding tunes despite the media used.

And Golden, the Mario Party series is developed by Hudson. Nintendo only publishes the game and licenses the characters out to them.

But I wouldn't be surprised if a motion plus version of Mario Party 9 is announced this year. I know that as soon as the Wii was released a new MP was announced, so I think that as soon as Wii Sports Resorts invades homes everywhere there will be a new MP.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I know that Pap, just being sarcastic.

[Mop it up]

I wouldn't be surprised if a motion plus version of Mario Party 9 is announced this year.

Good mop I hope not. That would be a good way to make the lowest-selling Mario Party game ever. Multiplayer games shouldn't require the use of the Wii Motion Plus accessory, as I can't imagine anything more than an infinitesimal niche are going to have four of the eccentric accessory. Wii Motion Plus should just be used for some single-player games, and maybe a few two-player games later on if the device is successful enough.

[D_Average]

Because MIDI is the root of all evil.

Who cares? There's a lot of variety there.

There's also a lot of variety on The View, but it still doesn't make it right.

[NWR_pap64]

I wouldn't be surprised if a motion plus version of Mario Party 9 is announced this year.

Good mop I hope not. That would be a good way to make the lowest-selling Mario Party game ever. Multiplayer games shouldn't require the use of the Wii Motion Plus accessory, as I can't imagine anything more than an infinitesimal niche are going to have four of the eccentric accessory. Wii Motion Plus should just be used for some single-player games, and maybe a few two-player games later on if the device is successful enough.

I doubt Hudson would make ALL of the mini games compatible with motion plus, in the same way that not every game in MP 7 needed the microphone and not every game in Rayman TV Party uses the balance board (and those that do can be played with the wiimote).

Its obvious that both Nintendo and Hudson will try to implement motions plus into the next MP game. They have experimented with different control methods, from microphones to motion control.   With motion plus out they WILL try to implement it. If not MP 9 maybe 10.

With all the possibilities motion plus has to offer I doubt Hudson will not try to experiment with it.

[MegaByte]

Did Space Invaders Extreme come close to best DS Port or Remake?  That was my game of the year for DS.

I think it was too much of a change (like a sequel) for it to be considered port/remake.

Who cares? There's a lot of variety there.
If it's just a quality thing, SSBBrawl doesn't have the best sound quality either. It sounds like the music tracks were heavily compressed, like they are MP3 files or something. There are also spurts of static whenever there are too many sound effects going on.

It's not a quality thing.  You're right, SSBB tracks are quite compressed.  But the fact is that SSBB had an unmatched number of big-name composers creating outstanding arrangements, and there were a ton of tracks covering all sorts of Nintendo classics.

Personally, I'm sad that Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia didn't make the DS sound category (it was third).  The compositions are awesome, blending original ideas with shades of nostalgia that really stick in your head like the NES games... and there was even voice acting.   Unfortunately, Konami really botched the instrument quality.

[Crimm]

BTW, how can Cho Aniki beat Lords of Thunder in Best Non-Nintnedo Console Game when LoT got Best Shoot'em Up?

I can only imagine that Cho Aniki's other merits that reach far beyond its shooting action carried it over the top in the non-genre-specific award.

Indeed.  You'll also see that FFIV is DS Game of the Year but did not win best RPG.  Chrono Trigger was a better RPG for its RPG merrits.  As a shooter Cho Aniki was not the best, but it was the most enjoyabe package.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Who cares? There's a lot of variety there.
If it's just a quality thing, SSBBrawl doesn't have the best sound quality either. It sounds like the music tracks were heavily compressed, like they are MP3 files or something. There are also spurts of static whenever there are too many sound effects going on.

It's not a quality thing.  You're right, SSBB tracks are quite compressed.  But the fact is that SSBB had an unmatched number of big-name composers creating outstanding arrangements, and there were a ton of tracks covering all sorts of Nintendo classics.

This is why I like to distinguish between quality and fidelity when talking about audio. Brawl had an awesome quality soundtrack. I didn't really notice the fidelity issues, since I never played it on an expensive audio system, but some compression is pretty much expected given how many songs and FMVs were squeezed onto the disc--even if it *was* dual layer.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"If it's just a quality thing, SSBBrawl doesn't have the best sound quality either. It sounds like the music tracks were heavily compressed,"

Nearly all Wii game music is compressed in closely similar formats that are comparable in fidelity to MP3.  99% of this music is compressed and stored at 32KHz, the same for GameCube games like Super Smash Bros. Melee and killer7.

[Mop it up]

I doubt Hudson would make ALL of the mini games compatible with motion plus, in the same way that not every game in MP 7 needed the microphone and not every game in Rayman TV Party uses the balance board (and those that do can be played with the wiimote).

In that case, I hope any minigames which use the Wii Motion Plus have it as optional, otherwise its potential for sales will be hindered.

Nearly all Wii game music is compressed in closely similar formats that are comparable in fidelity to MP3.  99% of this music is compressed and stored at 32KHz, the same for GameCube games like Super Smash Bros. Melee and killer7.

Then how come the music from Melee that was included in Brawl sounds worse than it does in Melee?

Brawl's soundtrack has other problems as well. Too many of the music tracks are either ripped straight from the original source, or original music created for the game that seems like it was ripped straight from a generic RPG and doesn't fit at all. Many of the new remixes are pretty uninspired as well.

All of that is personal opinion of course.

[MegaByte]

Then how come the music from Melee that was included in Brawl sounds worse than it does in Melee?

For some reason, they redid the instruments rather than copy the original renditions directly, and in many cases actually made the sound worse.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Bah, MB beat me to the re-instrumentation comment. I really don't know why they did that--I agree the Melee versions sound better most of the time.

You are entitled to your opinions on the remixes, of course--I think you are correct for a few of the songs (Motoi Sakuraba kinda phoned it in on a few songs). But yeah....I still gotta go with Brawl.