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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Kairon's Boogie Hype thread of Irrational Exuberance(Original title: FIRST Boogie video!)

« on: August 07, 2007, 03:14:37 PM »

And the reviews arrive.

1Up - 3/10- http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3161802

GamePro - 4/5 - http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/wii/games/reviews/127849.shtml

Damn, I'm a bit disappointed. I mean, I knew it was a long shot that this game was going to be good (and I knew it was going to be one of those games that tried to do too much and therefore got nothing right), but the second I saw the playlist for this game I really WANTED it to be good. I love Karaoke games, and Boogie has a more compelling music catalog (of what I personally like to listen to) than any Karaoke game made thus far. I think I still might buy it for that reason, and both reviews do say the game is fun in some respects...just not very long.

I don't know how much stock I put into the GamePro review, though. I mean, they pretty much agree with everything bad 1Up (who gave the game an abysmal 3) had to say about the game, but then don't really support and explain why they felt the game deserved a 4/5.  4/5 is a score that, I feel, should be reserved for top of the line games that only have minor flaws that keep them from being 5s. They really don't explain how Boogie is THAT good...    

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 25, 2007, 04:43:32 AM »

Meh...I'm really underwhelmed by the stages we've seen thus far. None of them seeing to be doing anything we haven't seen in Melee. Melee had destructible/moving platforms, too. The only exception so far is the Animal Crossing stage, which looks like it's going to kick all sorts of ass as far as interactive stages go (and it'll be the only stage I use for games on Saturdays at 8PM).

I'm really disappointed with Pit's level. This is Pit's first major appearance in a game since the 80s, and that's supposed to be SKYWORLD, for crying out loud! It doesn't look bad, but for Pit's grand return to gaming they could have least given his stage a little more than random platforms against a generic Greco-Roman backdrop. I mean, come on...Pelunta's palace in the sky, people!

But, then again, we've only seen a handful of what I'm sure will be dozens of stages in the final game. So there's PLENTY of opportunities for Brawl to wow us.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 20, 2007, 12:15:01 PM »

Yeah, Giga Bowser...

I kinda like the idea of there being a battle of good versus evil in the story mode of the game. Yeah, the premise seems a little cheesy, but games like Kingdom Hearts showed it could work. Whatever this "force" is that's bringing them together (and I do think it's something bringing them together, considering those clouds) I definitely think it won't be "new" exactly, but something from Kirby's games, I don't think the emphasis on Meta Knight's ship is just for effect.

I'm going to make a prediction now: Dark Meta Knight and the Black Nebula. Ten bucks...

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 20, 2007, 09:57:25 AM »

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I guess that could work, too, but Metaknight isn't evil...  

Yeah, but the Dark Nebula is...

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 20, 2007, 09:44:16 AM »

I don't think it's a new outside force. If that were the case why would it need Meta Knight's ship, and why would the clouds be shaped like they are? I think they might be going for a good vs. evil plot in Brawl--with all the video game villains getting together to bring about some nefarious scheme and all the good guys rising against them. Notice that the characters fighting are Mario and Kirby, two of Nintendo's most "good" characters.

I'm getting a very weird Kingdom Hearts vibe from all of this. Maybe some big, new evil's in town and their rounding up all the classic baddies to help.

[PartyBear]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 20, 2007, 09:33:01 AM »

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Originally posted by: PartyBear
Well, since you originally said "from left," I spent a long time trying to figure out how you were seeing anything in those clouds that looked like Bowser and Ridley, or how you saw Ganondorf in that cloud on the right.  I eventually saw Ridley, but nowhere near where you're claiming to see him there.  That should demonstrate how subjective this is.

Sorry about that, it was late when I typed that up. Anyway, I don't think it's subjective really...when you actually do see them. For example, Ganondorf took my the longest to make out,  but once I did see him I realized that there was NO way that was coincidence...

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Bill's and Mine Dreams coming true? ToS sequel for Wii!?!?...

« on: July 20, 2007, 09:01:03 AM »

Meh...I wasn't a big fan of TOS.

But RPG loving could NEVER be a bad thing.

[Bill Aurion]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE:Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 20, 2007, 08:50:19 AM »

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Originally posted by: Bill Aurion

"Look at the clouds in that one screen...There's faces in them."

To be honest, I think you are looking too hard into things... =D

Or am I?




Ganondorf (though honestly a little hard to make out...until you realize that it's his side profile with him looking to his right...).

Master Hand (A little hard to make out, too, but I can definitely see it)

Then that's DEFINITELY Bowser

And that reptilian face could only belong to Ridley at the far end.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (nsf56k)

« on: July 19, 2007, 10:32:40 PM »

Hey guys...

Look at the clouds in that one screen...

There's faces in them.

from the left is Bowser, then Ridley, can't make out the other one, but to the far right is Ganondorf.

Hmmmmm...This is one sneaky update

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 09:34:45 AM »

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There is really nothing inaccurate about it, go talk to 10 mainstream gamers and see what their favorite games are. Madden, GTA and various other M rated violent crap. Trust me 95% of my friends are like that.

That's a really bad argument. I mean, Madden is a sports title, not blood and violence. And GTA is just one series that caters to mature gamers. Mature gamers like a slew of different genres, but that SHOULD go without saying, and it's sad that that even needs to be argued. Heck, this argument can be refuted with some of Nintendo's very own games!


And, I'm sorry, but Pictionary pwns.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 09:25:40 AM »

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opposed to the "mature" gamer that only likes games with copious amounts of blood and violence.

Does every argument really have to be slathered with this really, really inaccurate statement?

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Nintendo is a family friendly company, and becoming the company everyone here seems to want them to become is impossible because it doesn't and has never fit with their company values.

It did, right up to the Wii. Nintendo only busts out the "Family Friendly Company" distraction when it suits them. In truth, by the end of this generation, there will most like be a healthy dose of family friendly titles on every console. The opinion, though, is that Nintendo's constant harping and catering to that market is threatening their "gamer" market.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 09:03:23 AM »

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I would consider myself a "hardcore," "old-school" gamer and I think it looks interesting.

I don't think it has anything to do with what kind of "gamer" a person is. My argument is that very little of what Wii Fit is looks like a game. If you can tell me where the "fun gameplay" aspect is in the way Yoga, Push-Ups, and "stick out your leg" mini-"games" are presented in Wii Fit, and I may buy that. The aspects of Wii Fit that are games just don't seem that fleshed out to me. I mean, c'mon, Roll the Ball in the Hole? As you said, it may just be me...

But heck, even most dvds nowadays come with little interactive "games" on them.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 08:22:51 AM »

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Interesting that Pittbboi brought up DDR, because that is a hit series as well and I think it proves my point about the interest being there for a "fun" way of getting in shape.

I don't think DDR is a good comparison for why Wii Fit may be successful. As I said earlier, DDR is a game that presents exciting and addictive gameplay FIRST. The brilliance of DDR is that you don't realize how physically demanding it is until the song is over and you notice how heavy you're breathing and that your shirt is drenched with sweat. The exercise sneaks up on you.

Not the case with Wii Fit. It's exercise first, and MAYBE you'll have some fun. And I'm sorry, but the game just doesn't look fun. Hoola hoop? "Watch out for the sh!t people are kicking at your head" game? The "mini-games" in Wii Fit make even WiiPlay look like Mario Galaxy.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 08:05:01 AM »

Well, I wasn't wrong about Wii Sports. It was never my cup of tea, but I could easily see its potential to attract non-gamers in a "what is that?" sorta way. I could see how that game just looked like Insta-Fun and it highlighted a truly innovative and inviting piece of gaming technology: the wii remote. Scales are not new. and somehow I don't think "Wii Push Ups" is going to be as big a hit with the family come Thanksgiving.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 07:59:57 AM »

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Not sure if that is sarcasm or not! But I do think Wii fit will have a similar impact Wii sports had, and will probably cause shortages once again (if they even let up before it comes out).

Sarcasm...

And I honestly don't think Wii Fit will have near the same impact Wii Sports did for reasons I listed in another thread, I think. Wii Sports-like DDR-was physically demanding and a good workout as side-effects to its main purpose: being a fun game to play (if a little on the simplistic side, in my opinion). WiiFit, on the other hand, is just a glorified scale and exercise simulator bundle with "fun" and "gameplay" as after-thoughts. I think Nintendo got cocky with their whole "Wii will change the world!" thing, and Wii Fit just may be the result. Americans have never taken kindly to products that blatantly yell "EXERCISE!!" at them, and that looks to be exactly what Wii Fit is doing...just not as effective as actual workout equipment.

This video actually highlights perfectly why I think Wii Fit will be surrounded by initial buzz, but ultimately fail. And it's quite funny:
Wii Fit Parody

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 07:38:42 AM »

Yes, Golden, and Wii Fit is IT!

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 19, 2007, 05:48:53 AM »

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Guess how many copies of SSBM Nintendo sold? 6 million. Guess how many copies of Halo (1) sold on the XBox? 8 million. How the hell was Nintendo supposed to compete with Sony and Microsoft last generation on *their* terms? The N64 was definitely not less 'cool' or more 'k!ddy' than the PS1 (in fact, the PS1 looked positively dowdy compared to the N64). Never mind that Nintendo lost market share that generation and came in second (out of two consoles). What were they supposed to do?

Halo 1 was a popular NEW franchise that was hyped to the high heavens and to this day is considered THE game to revolutionize console FPS games since Goldeneye. SSBM is general fanservice wank. GREAT game, but definitely not marketed the same way the first Halo was and more specifically catering to people who had always been Nintendo fans. Not to mention the fact that, even though it didn't sell Halo 1 numbers, it was STILL a big selling game.

Gamers outside of Nintendo fans don't give a crap about Mario, Metroid, and Zelda because Nintendo had an image of being a rehash machine and they played into it. They milked the same franchises over and over with very LITTLE innovation (the BIG 3 haven't seen any sort of significant change until, well, this year) and that came back around to bite them in the ass. Nintendo is a quality developer, they make EXCELLENT games, but Nintendo in those days had a negative image and they did NOTHING to improve it but EVERYTHING to make it worse. Based alone on the quality of their products I can't say that Nintendo made an honest-to-god attempt at recapturing the market because they've ALWAYS had to potential to be the leader. But they kept doing what they had been doing with the N64 and then looked stupid and tried to blame the industry itself when it didn't work.

Can you imagine what kind of splash Nintendo would make if they announced a new gamer IP that was made with the same resources that Mario, Zelda and Metroid get? Can you imagine, for example, how A-freaking-Mazing a game like Project HAMMER could have been if it had been in the hands of EAD instead of Nintendo's afterthought team NST? That alone would have owned this year's E3, hands down.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 09:02:30 AM »

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So you can go on hating what is essentially a gamer drift AWAY FROM YOU, but I can't help but see the possibility that Nintendo might have unlocked a hidden treasure trove where gaming, in all its senses, explodes all of a sudden in every direction, exploding with newness and uniqueness and experimentation, exploding with radically new experiences that I've always searched for in the past, whether it be through Syndicate, or Mario Paint. This isn't a Nintendo that's betraying me. This is a Nintendo that's fulfilling me.

This is a very inspiring scene you've painted here, Kairon. But I really don't think a wiimote alone is going to bring about a gaming revolution like we were led to believe. At least, it hasn't yet.  In this attempt to explode in all directions, in all it's senses, Nintendo seems to be neglecting one important aspect of gaming--graphics (YES, it's important, or Miyamoto wouldn't be going out of his way to make Galaxy look as beautiful as it does), and a budding aspect of gaming--online. I think it's false to consider Nintendo on some higher plateau when it comes to the game industry. They're doing what everyone else is doing, trying to make money and doing what they can to make as much of it as they can. They're just doing this by reaching out to a different market. Nintendo's not some Mahatma Ghandi of gaming...

[games]

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 08:51:14 AM »

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Having Mario and Pikachu as mascots doesn't make them kidd!e, Sony, Sega and whoever else just spun it that way.

And I agree with that. I actually loved the Nintendo from the Gamecube years...well, the first 2 years or so of the Gamecube years. You know, the "F*ck DVDs! The Gamecube a no-nonsense machine for games." But they should have been more mindful of their overall image and how it would be perceived . That, more than anything the competition said, in my opinion, hurt the 'Cube.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 08:26:26 AM »

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Sony had the big name coming into the game, Microsoft also had a dominating household name through general computing and little old Nintendo had it's name marred by a negative stereotype (teh k!ddie) started by Sony fanboys during the N64 era.

I have to disagree with that. Granted, Sony and Microsoft jabbing at Nintendo with "teh kidddie" didn't help, but they wouldn't have had anything to shoot at Nintendo if Nintendo didn't give them the ammunition. Nintendo is the one who decided to market a purple lunchbox that made tinker-toy noises when it booted up its mini-discs as their console, and featured Mario and Pikachu as their main mascots. Nintendo, at the beginning of the 'Cube's life, WANTED the Cube to be seen as appealing and approachable as a toy, and as noble as that thinking was it most assuredly backfired. If anything, Nintendo still had a fair chance of getting their market share back at the beginning of last gen. They only had one "failed" console (That was still a success) behind them, and most people still remembered the SNES and considered Nintendo to be gaming, with the Playstation name only recently having creeped up on them. Nintendo, had they made a few more good decisions could have definitely had a chance against Sony. It was MS, arguably, that started off in the worst position. They hadn't a chance in hell of winning over the key Japanese market (and still kinda don't), and the rest of the world was weary that MS was, as usualy, just entering another industry in an attempt to absorb and erode it like the money-hungry monopoly it is..


And Requiem: Whatever. To me it looked like Ian was simply responding to the idea that Nintendo COULDN'T have competed with Sony and MS with his belief (that a lot of people share) that they didn't put their best foot forward in their attempt. And, last time I checked, his was as valid an opinion as anyone else's here, so why he should be the one to "deal with it" doesn't seem fair.    

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 07:52:49 AM »

Wow...you didn't even read his post...like at all, huh? Great comeback...

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 01:05:10 AM »

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Regardless, 2 projects (that we already knew about) for Q1 2008 doesn't mean Nintendo showed off next year's goods, that stuff is just spill over from this year.

I didn't say they showed off next year's good (actually, my argument this whole time is a lot closer to the opposite). I was responding to Kairon saying that this E3 is difference because nobody announced 2008 projects. That just isn't true. That was the only point I was making.

And really, Nintendo was the only company who kept major things under wraps. Sony pretty much bared all because they HAD to, and though Microsoft stuck to a "this year" philosophy, they showed EVERYTHING they had coming this year--unlike Nintendo. For example, there's NO logical reason for Brawl not having a presence at this E3 when the game is set to be released on December 3rd. Metroid Prime 3 could have had a much bigger presence as well. And, unless Disaster was pushed back again (which is highly likely), there was no reason to not have info present on that game, either.Nintendo was the ONLY company that was so mum on stuff that's being released in less than 6 months time.  

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 18, 2007, 12:21:46 AM »

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That's the astounding thing though. If Sony and MS had announced heavy 2008 projects at E3, then it'd be easy to criticize Nintendo. But because ALL of E3 was a "this year" event, it's no longer the gauge of long-term development commitment that we're accustomed to using it as. Our sources for information about the games industry are changing and in many ways becoming less reliable, or at least less centralized.

But that's just inaccurate--Sony announced a lot of software they have planned for 2008. Even Nintendo announced 2008 projects (Wii Fit and Mario Kart). Only Microsoft went the "Strictly 2007" route, really.

And, come on, E3 is NOT a completely different event. Outside of a change of venue and a more exclusive list of attendees, E3 is pretty much exactly the same, with all the same features of all the past E3s, just smaller. And really, Nintendo is the only company that treated it any differently. Sony and Microsoft (outside of not showing software for 2008) and pretty much every 3rd party developer that was there used this E3 to showcase their major projects. So, really, enough with this "E3 is sooo different, man" thing. Sure, it's changed, but in most areas that COUNT, it's still the same event.

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 17, 2007, 10:03:11 PM »

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More waiting? Ah gee wiz.

Yep, and WE ALL know what'll come next if Nintendo still doesn't show anything at TGS. "Wait until next year's GDC! GAWD! YOUR PROBLEM IS YOU JUST WANT EVERYTHING NOW! GEEZ TROLL!"

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Nintendo Gaming / RE: Was anyone else disappointed by E3 this year?

« on: July 17, 2007, 09:55:23 PM »

Wow...we can say we're not disappointed in this year's lineup 'till we're blue in the face, and it just won't sink in...