Messages

751

TalkBack / Re: Get Well Wishes for Zachary Miller

« on: May 23, 2011, 08:01:24 PM »

Thoughts and Prayers, from a fairly new but now devoted fan of this awesome site. 

752

TalkBack / Re: Best Buy to Offer Wireless 3DS Content in Stores

« on: May 17, 2011, 04:47:02 PM »

But the problem is that I just hate Best Buy.


Though, it looks like Best Buy is really getting on the 3DS bandwagon, with the launch in New York, Triforce Johnson, and everything.  I wonder if all that hoopla paid off in sales.  I don't know about everyone else, but I got my 3DS through Amazon, because the deals were a-freakin-mazing.


In fact, is Amazon making money from video game sales?  Because they're offering the best deals, hands down, for any system's games, and not just with their low prices (Portal 2 on PC for 30 bucks!).  I'm always getting these game credits they're offering, where they give you 10 bucks towards your next game purchase or something to that effect.  Sometimes I get it after the purchase, and they let you use that on pretty much anything game related that they themselves sell. 

753

TalkBack / Re: Horror Games are My Calling

« on: May 13, 2011, 05:50:58 PM »

But the reason this is a blog post and not a review is, sadly, this game isn't for everyone.

Loved this blog post Andrew!  I think you have a very good point here, and this may be cause for having more blog posts in the future.  I was listening to an old RFN (180 something) where the crew was talking about the problems of game reviews and the advantages of blog posts.


As for underappreciated games, I think Steel Diver on the 3DS might be a future candidate.  It seems to be getting a lot of hate, but personally I think it's absolutely brilliant.  Someone (not me, but yourself or another staff member who writes better and doesn't have 2 kids taking up all their time) should write a blog post about it, it's a very new kind of game experience based on some very old game experiences like R Type and Gradius.  A lot can be said about its presentation and its controls, and why they're important.

754

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo 3DS Developers Conference

« on: May 11, 2011, 01:44:33 AM »

Oh man, that's like around the corner from my daughter's pre-school.  I wonder if I'll get streetpasses if I just drive by after dropping her off....

755

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Beyond the Labyrinth (Tri-Ace & Konami)

« on: May 11, 2011, 01:42:34 AM »

Eh....the last Tri-Ace game I played (Star Ocean Til the End of Time) left me a horrible impression of that developer.  Oh god...I actually put 30 hours into that craphole of a game.  Why?

756

Nintendo Gaming / Re: I got a 3DS, what now?

« on: May 11, 2011, 01:40:11 AM »

Pilot Wings, even though the demo was boring

You mean the demo in the kiosk at Best Buy (or other stores), right?  Yup, it's boring as hell.  But once you start playing and get past the 3rd mission, or maybe the 2nd time you get 3 stars?  You'll be hooked, I swear.  According to my activity log, I've put 17 hours into it, and I'm not quite done yet.

Steel Diver is definitely not getting enough love around here, mainly because it's both different and ridiculously difficult (after mission 5).  But once you learn how to really control the subs, it becomes magnificent.

757

TalkBack / Re: ESRB Reveals Third-Party 3DS Virtual Console Games

« on: May 11, 2011, 01:35:59 AM »

Oh man, I knew that they wouldn't launch with any "big guns' but still...old Jaleco games?


Hopefully the rest of the lineup on launch fairs a little better.  Say it with me!  "Metroid 2.  Metroid 2.  Metroid 2!"

758

TalkBack / Re: Reduced-Price Wii Console Bundle and Nintendo Selects Officially Announced

« on: May 06, 2011, 06:15:55 PM »

removing the game that's synonymous with the system makes little sense to me.

Actually, it makes perfect sense.  A lot of casual gamers who picked up the Wii played Wii Sports and absolutely nothing else, so they never felt the need to actually go out and buy any other game.  I'm sure Nintendo was really frustrated at that, because on one hand they made a really great entertainment package that consumers saw a lot of value in, but on the other, it was a little too complete, because the casual gamers had all that they wanted.


With Mario Kart, they're going to get a lot of people who buy that, play Mario Kart, and then say "Well, what about that sports thing everyone was going on about?" 


The danger, of course, is the possibility that because Wii Sports isn't included, people won't buy the system.   Once again, this is casual gamers we're talking about.  When my 2nd daughter was being born, we had to send our oldest to my parents for 3 or 4 days.  So they wouldn't get bored, I also took over my Wii and about 10 games, all the casual games I had (Just Dance, Wii Party, etc..).  The only games that were played were Just Dance Kids (my daughter) and Wii Sports (my parents and my kid).  My parents even asked to keep the Wii for another week so they could play more Wii Sports.

759

TalkBack / Re: Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion Delayed to June

« on: May 06, 2011, 06:06:19 PM »

Nintendo Power already reviewed this game, and it did not get a great score. 


Before you go saying "Well, of course, Nintendo Power, they just piss love over anything Nintendo..." I would remind that it gave SMG2 a 9.0, where many others gave it a 10.  In fact, it tends to review games on the low side.


BTW, Dimensions got a 9. 

760

TalkBack / Re: Saints Row: Drive By No Longer Being Developed

« on: May 06, 2011, 06:02:13 PM »

Maybe THQ realized that since proper GTA's don't sell well on portables, the chances of a GTA ripoff doing well was even lower.

761

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Bit.Trip.Saga

« on: May 02, 2011, 12:39:32 AM »

Amazon (not the most reliable source, i know) has it listed for July 27th.

If you never bought any of the Bit Trip games and want them now in one package, this is an alright deal.

762

TalkBack / Re: Voice Actor's Website Says Xenoblade is Coming to USA

« on: May 02, 2011, 12:28:23 AM »

So for this fall's lineup:

Last Story
Xenoblade

Which still leaves Pandora's tower as a possibility, as well as that new Kirby Game, Wii Play Motion, and Skyward Sword?  Hmm...not a horrible pre-holiday lineup.   There have been worse.  Could be that they couldn't convince anyone to develop and release during Skyward Sword's window.  They'd get crushed.

763

TalkBack / Re: Cave Story 3D Hitting Stores in August

« on: April 29, 2011, 09:36:40 AM »

There is no officially known reason for the delay.

Other than the fact that Ocarina of time was going to come out the week before, and RE Mercenaries was coming out on the same day!  I'm glad they pushed it back, it would've been murdered.  I've got high hopes for this, but even if it has good reviews, I wouldn't have picked it up until about August, after I've finished pummeling Ocarina again.

764

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Zelda 25th Anniversary

« on: April 27, 2011, 01:51:09 AM »

Here's a crazy idea:

Technically, this is the 25th anniversary of the 1st Zelda game, back  on NES, right? 

What if they repackaged that?  And that's it?

[Okay, take out your torches and pitchforks now!]

I would love it if they did something more substantial, like remaking the 1st Zelda with higher quality sprites or [gasp!] overhead polygons like Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks.  But I think they've got everyone who can in any capacity contribute to making games working on 3DS or CAFE stuff, so I'd imagine they can't spare the manpower for something that won't be a system seller.  They even had to farm out the Ocarina 3D-make.

765

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Nintendo vs Apple: FIGHT!!!

« on: April 27, 2011, 01:43:46 AM »

Also, the people bashing the iPhone as a gaming device need to actually play what's there or shut up. There is a lot of really good stuff there; it can be really hard to find among all the crap, but it's there.

I own Nintendo Handhelds and have owned Ipod products from the 2G to the current Touch, so I think I can speak up here.

My favorites are Tiny Wing and...okay, just Tiny Wing.  It's pretty much a mistake to buy anything that has been ported from elsewhere (Dead Space, SSF4, Mirror's Edge, etc.) because of the crappy controls.  They look pretty.

But Tiny Wing is awesome, mainly because it takes a fairly simple mechanic, and only 1 single control input (touch the screen to make your bird go down) and makes an exhilirating experience out of it.

With that said, I've probably put a grand total of 50 minutes into this game, and I'm almost tired of it.  It has the life expectancy of the spinning-top dungeon in Twilight Princess, or the bird gliding level in Galaxy.  The only reason I play it is because I can do so with one hand, while I am rocking my newborn daughter to sleep.  If you have never played a 1st party Nintendo game, pretty much ever, then you would probably think Tiny Wing is the sh*t, because its controls are very tight, possibly the tightest and most accurate on IOS.

But I also think Tiny Wing, and other games like it, are the reason why the 3DS will never sell as much as the DS, not even close.  The casual gamers are gone.  You can't even call them gamers, because while they played Nintendogs and Brain Age, they never bought Phantom Hourglass.  Or maybe they bought New Super Mario Bros, but they probably didn't finish it, much less get to the bonus levels.  They're all playing on the IOS, because they were never that into games in the first place.  There's a complex language, an intuitive lexicon that's a part of gaming, and even more so in Nintendo games, that represents a ridiculously high barrier of entry for these casual consumers.  You see a boss in Zelda at the end of a dungeon, and you know how to use visual clues to figure out how to kill it.  You know that you have to hit the boss 3 times.  You know that you have to use the item you discovered in the dungeon.  You know that there will be some trick which is not immediately obvious.

With Tiny Wing, this isn't the case.  You just touch the screen to make the bird go down, gravity and inertia do the rest.  That's it.  So not only is this game simple and incredibly accessible, it costs just 99 cents.  And while you're only going to get an hour worth of enjoyment out of it, if that, a casual consumer would have gotten to the 1st temple in Phantom Hourglass, said "WTF am I suppose to do?" and given up.

For better or worse, the casuals have gone to Apple and will probably never come back.

766

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Pilotwings Resort Free Flight Mode Location Guides?

« on: April 27, 2011, 01:15:22 AM »

Okay, I've 3 starred the Turbo Jet Diamond mission, 2 starred the Super Jet Pack Diamond Mission, and am too much of a wimp to try the Pedal Glider Diamond Mission.  But I'm getting there.

With that said, is it me, or is this a seriously underrated game?  I really don't think a lot of reviewers finished (aka 3 starred or perfected) this game.  And there's a lot of things people wrote about that seem just plain wrong, like what people said about the music being "jazzy."   I don't know if you could peg it down so easily.  The music really complements the game well, from the very beginning of missions to the sound effects at the end.  The music really seems to inspire this sense of wonder and freedom--- it seems like the musical equivalent of a Miyazaki film, specifically Porco Rosso or Kiki's Delivery Service.  And there are so many subtle but complete touches, from the menu design, the way free flight opens up, the way the aircraft all control.  In a very non-splashy, very subdued way, this is a really excellently crafted game.  And the way this game really sinks its teeth into you and gets you addicted.  Everyone I've talked to has agreed that by about the 3rd or 4th mission, it was pretty much it.   You get hooked.

If I hadn't known better, I would've assumed this was an EAD or First-Party game (instead of being from Monster Games, ala ExciteTruck and Bots).

767

Nintendo Gaming / Re: 3DS and Your Eyes

« on: April 27, 2011, 01:02:12 AM »

I find myself moving more when playing pilot wings

Yeah, that is a weird psychological effect, isn't it?  I do that too, and on really hard missions where I do that a lot, I will also turn off 3D.

I know some more mentally disciplined people who can resist the urge to twist their shoulders or move left or right when trying to make a tight turn in Pilotwings, but it's really hard for me. 

Once again, crazy, because unlike Starfox 3D, this is not a gyroscope game!  At all! 

768

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Releases End of Year Financial Report

« on: April 25, 2011, 07:38:56 PM »

In the short time the 3DS was available during this period Nintendo sold 3.61 million units of the new handheld.

I think their goal (I can't remember if this was their sales goal or their production goal) was 4 million units. 


Still, not bad, especially considering I saw fewer commercials for the 3DS than the Kinect (or even some games...the Marketing for Homefront and Black Ops was crazy).  I doubt if NOA's marketing budget was even half of...what was it, $500 million for the Kinect at launch?

769

TalkBack / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Pay Demo Releasing at eShop Launch

« on: April 22, 2011, 03:02:58 AM »

Mega Man 3: Prototype Version will launch on the Japanese eShop for 300¥ ($2.45).

I'm calling it now:  this will be either

A)  Free in western markets.  Because Japanese game consumers get ripped off all the time. 

B)  Like Photodojo, free for the first month or two, and no more than 1$ after that.  Once again, Japanese consumers get gipped, but slightly less gipped.

770

TalkBack / Re: Miyamoto Comments on Nintendo's Next Console

« on: April 22, 2011, 02:55:21 AM »

Is Miyamoto kind of a Francophile?

Yeah, seriously, he must be in France right now or something, because he's been doing a lot of talking to French publications in the past few weeks.

771

TalkBack / Re: Sega Announces Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

« on: April 21, 2011, 04:51:46 PM »

In this series' defense, it's me and my daughter's favorite game to play together, or at least, it was until Epic Yarn.  The last one (Winter Olympics) was the first game to have a take on figure skating that didn't make you want to kill yourself.  In fact, name any other game that has made video game versions of sports like bobsledding, speedskating, or CURLING that didn't make you fall asleep.


Though the 3DS release mystifies me.  While it is a fantastic local multi/family/party game, who in their right mind would want to play this on a handheld by themselves? 

772

TalkBack / Re: Miyamoto Hopes to See Super Mario 3DS Released in 2011

« on: April 21, 2011, 12:18:32 AM »

Shigeru Miyamoto recently spoke to French gaming website Gameblog.fr, stating, "I promise to do all I can to deliver the new Mario game this year."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....

[Catch breath]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .....

I'm going to call it now.  2014!  Mark my words!

If it consoles anyone, it will probably be mindblowingly awesome.

773

TalkBack / Re: The Best 30 DS Games

« on: April 19, 2011, 03:44:32 PM »

Before anyone has a conniption fit....

Okay, I'm going to take back what I said in my post earlier, cuz I'm about to have a conniption fit.


Phantom Hourglass got ranked lower than Tetris DS?  I understand what Neal said:

[/size]We had, IIRC, 18 staffers submit Top 10 lists. #1 games received 10 points, #2 9 points, #3 8 points, etc.

But that still means that PH was either ranked towards the bottom of staffer's top ten lists, or it wasn't included in everyone's top 10 lists. 


*grumble grumble*


Still, I love reading this list and the little write-ups.  This is one of the best features on the site in a while, and it'll definitely get people riled up.  This is why I don't read IGN anymore.

774

TalkBack / Re: Sonic Generations Skips Wii

« on: April 18, 2011, 06:51:20 PM »

The other consoles can have Sonic. 


If Sega is thinking about what to do for the Wii, how about a Jet Grind Radio game?  The "tagging" mini-game in that game would be perfect for motion control.  Or for touchscreen/stylus action, for that matter.

775

TalkBack / Re: The Best 30 DS Games

« on: April 18, 2011, 06:47:35 PM »

Before anyone has a conniption fit, I'm going to halfway agree with this ranking:


Brain Age is an innovative game that makes good use of the DS hardware, introducing "book mode," and generally exposing a lot of people to a new kind of gaming.  That's why I agree that, in the very least agree that it should be in the top 30, and that this place is a pretty good one.


However, Meteos and Phantom Hourglass in the high 20's?  I have to take issue with that.  Are there at least 20 other DS games that are better than Phantom Hourglass?  Hmm....we'll have to see.