Another great episode, gang. For reasons unknown to me this one was especially enjoyable!
Responses ...
1. Last Window was greeeeeat! Import it! I can't believe it didn't come to the states but then again, didn't the company go belly up? But yea, HotelDusk and LastWindow are two of my favorite games of this gen. As I've said a few times, I'm a big fan of plot. So what I suppose is the "visual novel" genre appeals to me greatly. And I love a good mystery!
Fun fact: I am facebook friends with the model who was used for the Rachel character.
Less-fun Fact: The model for the Kyle Hyde character never accepted my friend request. *pathetic trombone sound*
2. I love hearing that Jonny dreams about E3. One of the great things about you guys compared to... oh ... nearly all other gaming media, is that you guys are passionate. So many gaming journalists think that being blasé and jaded somehow increases their street cred. Maybe it does? But that's sad.
3. Boohoo WiiWare never became a shining bastion to indy gaming.
Thank your lucky stars the Wii was "underpowered" enough to allow for off-beat, quirky, games that neeeever would have made it to market on more cost-prohibitive platforms. And yea, I enjoy the fact that because it was retail releases, these games were interesting, yet fully-formed. Not just something that reflects its $8 price tag.
I'm truly glad you got your steal of a deal with that $3 game, but it and Cave Story are the exceptions not the rule.
4a. Killer Instinct was definitely cool in its time. I remember riding the fighting game wave back then and hanging ten on KI a few times. I was a Jago guy but... only because I thought he looked cool. I also remember really enjoying how the announcer said
"Glaceous" (sp?)
4b.
Revising history with hindsight is terrible, Jonny! People should be smarter than that. I hate when now-a-days I hear people talk about Mario/Zelda/Metroid games (old and new) as "casual" experiences just because they aren't dude-bro-y.
Games like those were/are the CORE in hardcore!5. I liked Mortal Kombat 1. I loved Mortal Kombat 2.
Mortal Kombat 3 was so bat-sh*t stupid that the series lost me forever.Also, I know it makes me sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but the original MK games did gory in a funny/cool way.
The newest MK just looks to me like porn for sadists. .... which I'm sure is what old fuddy-duddys said about the original MK games, right?
6. MDK looks like a lot of fun! I wish the creators didn't castrate such a cool atmosphere with "comedy," but apparantly a lot of people love that about the franchise. The gameplay looks ideal for the Wii. It boggles my mind how the Wii isn't filled with 3rd-person shooters instead of rail-shooters. But I guess that's laziness for you.
7. Thanks for holding Sony's feet to the fire on the PSN thing. My only issue with the Wii online vs PSN comparison is that so many have spent years beating on Nintendo's weak but functional online, and yet the large response from this PSN debacle is glossed over like
"oh haha, silly hackers, sh*t happens - who wants to play some HD gamezz?!?"Though, I do completely agree with Lindy's point that there is no reason for people to take it to
the other extreme and laugh at the broken (eventually repaired) car while they churn the pedals of their bike.
8a. I really, really, really agree with that guy (Chris was it?) who talked about savoring games versus devouring games. Yes, there are time constraints now, money isn't the constraint it was, and there are many, many more platforms to find games on.
However,
I firmly believe that gamers and developers once treated "the big" games as filet mignon, but now even "the big" games are like McDonald's. Companies are pleased as punch to nickel and dime you with map packs and other DLC,
but they'll be damned if you haven't already pre-ordered the 8-month-later sequel. Tell me I'm wrong.
And though I don't have a ton of contact with adolescent/teen gamers, what I have seen from my nephew and cousins confirms the suspicion that they also "devour" games.
So, again, I'm really enjoying this oooohhHHHhh so terrible dry-spell in Wii games. Probably for the same reason Chris is enjoying the 3DS launch. I've had time to complete DKCR, I'm almost done with PLatUnwound Future, and I've been able to really enjoy crafting 3 different competitive teams for Pokemon White. Good times, people!
Now, I know, the counter-argument is a simple one:
"how can you prefer LESS of something? if new games come out you don't HAVE to buy them!" Right you are. But I think we all know that distraction and temptation are just that. You don't HAVE to listen to a dozen people screaming at you, but it's tough to ignore and it certainly makes listening to one voice a challenge.
Furthermore, and I feel this way about most all technology, we're moving too fast! (again, I know, I'm such a lame 29-year-old). But seriously, in an ideal world, companies would alllll look at each other and say "ya know what? let's chill a bit.
we don't need a new iPhone this month. we don't need to make our competitors release a new console next year. let's allll just chill - we'll make less, but we'll spend less, and we'll be a lot more stress-free for it!"
Then, everyone can savor their games, KEEP their games (instead of needing to trade them in for next month's Call of War 5), and maybe that'd be a pretty cool industry, yea? ...... no? .... well, I tried.
8b. Whooooaaaa there, Jonny. Hold up a sec. I see what you're saying that Street Fighter can have infinite replay value and that Zelda is more of a point A to point B experience, but "disposable" is just
NOT the correct choice of words!To provide yet another deliciously apropos food analogy, it would be like saying the infinite nom-nom-munch value of potato chips was more valuable than the sit-down qualities of a meat'n'potatos dinner.
9. I think the separate publishing (?) label for Nintendo's "m for mature" games would be amazingly smart. Let's be honest, no business in its right mind would want to fudge with the golden goose of being accepted as family friendly. But if they could somehow bypass that whole problem under the guise of another label?
Man, that'd be having cake and eating it too (... am I hungry tonight?)10.
I love the nunchuk. It's so bad. But seriously, wiimote+nunchuk is my preferred control scheme for nearly every game. I only use the GC controller for Brawl and I only use the CCPro for Virtual Console games and Cave Story. Everything else has been WM&NC all the way!