Messages

1151

TalkBack / Re: Three's a Magic Number: The Wii Turns Three Talkback Thread

« on: November 05, 2009, 03:21:06 AM »

I concur with that sentiment, Zap. There's so much more to talk about with regard to trends than software lists, which is pure opinion trading.

Maybe the staff has already got the next segments all planned out, but I think this wouldn't be complete without a page dedicated to "The Rebirth of the Second Dimension", both on the disc-based and download frontiers. Very noticeable increase of 2D titles this year.

1152

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rabbids Go Home - New Rayman game w/o Rayman

« on: November 03, 2009, 08:29:28 AM »

Wait, when is launch day? It's already out? Are we witnessing yet another poorly marketed game for Wii that is doomed to die? Only time can tell.

For America, it was launched on the first of the month. It's the 6th of November over here. I find it hard to believe it won't be marketed, as all three of the previous games were on TV quite a lot around the time of release. The Raving Rabbids have made a fairly strong brand for themselves and this latest one would be easy to sell to people, so I'm expecting to see something on the small screen soon.

1153

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rabbids Go Home - New Rayman game w/o Rayman

« on: November 03, 2009, 02:42:38 AM »

Rabbids Go Home is on my radar. Having said that, no reviews out in time for release is a little strange. Regardless, the feature set looks broad and the trailer showing off a few glimpses of the later levels was very encouraging.

1154

TalkBack / Re: TALKBACK: NWR Round-Table 3: 500 Copies Sold

« on: November 03, 2009, 02:32:54 AM »

Agreed 100 per cent, BnM2k1. Developers who claim they cannot produce their artistic vision (read: realistic visuals) on the Wii are rotten liars. After seeing Monster Hunter Tri, all complaints about "restrictive hardware" and "limited capabilities" are out the window. There's no way to shift the blame any more, no way.
This is why I don't get arguments that Nintendo force developers to compromise. That clearly isn't true - it is a matter of laziness on the part of third parties, pure and simple. If a dev wanted to create these nice graphics, they could. When any company starts making excuses, from now on I can throw Monster Hunter 3 in their face. That's what the Wii is capable of, so don't spout rubbish and tell me it's not possible.

1155

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 168

« on: November 02, 2009, 06:33:55 PM »

Nice title.

I wish I had time to start something like what you're doing with the Legend Of Zelda franchise, Andy. Good luck with finishing Oracle of Seasons and have fun with the rest of the series.

Listener Mail this week was interesting, and there were a bunch of moments where I wish I could have altered time and jumped in with a comment about a response somebody had. I'll do that now:

1. I feel Pikmin and Pikmin 2 have enough differences that ranking them against each other is somewhat fruitless. As I recall during the Super Mario World retroactive, Jonny said we should not rank Mario games in a league table of best to worst and should celebrate them for the innovations they each made. In my opinion, that logic works here too. They both have many strengths and they both do certain things more successfully than its counterpart. Let's appreciate that.

2. People state that their excitement levels for New Super Mario Bros. Wii are merely moderate, but come 15th November (or 20th for us lot in Britain), I bet everyone will be head over heels for the game. I'm already predicting it will be my personal Game of the Year, and probably that will also be the case for the site's 2009 awards.

3. See NWR Round Table 3 thread for thoughts on the third letter. There's certainly no secretive and conspired loathing for Nintendo's success. Big name publishers are simply being stupid. TV advertisements are still the biggest awareness raisers and if they don't realise they need to tell the vast majority who aren't in the know that they have Wii games coming out imminently, they're asking for a financial failure.

4. Don't really know what to say. I missed the boat on Cho Aniki. I could download it sometime in the near future, but then again, I don't know if I want to. Sounds a bit too "out there" for my liking.

That's all. Good stuff. It is one of the main events of a Sunday for me when the latest episode is uploaded.

1156

TalkBack / Re: TALKBACK: NWR Round-Table 3: 500 Copies Sold

« on: November 02, 2009, 05:37:51 PM »

Luigi Dude is right. Games flop all the time across all systems. The reason people are making a big fuss over this is because the games in question are titles aimed at the core. If Spyborgs was a 360 or PS3 title and it bombed would there be so much discussion?

Exactly. Precisely the point. Issues that are consistent across all consoles always get more vocal coverage when discussing the Nintendo platforms rather than others. Shovelware, for example. That exists quite extensively on Xbox 360 and PS3 as well, but you don't hear about it ever. Why? People ignore those portions of the software libraries because there's no point in speaking about them. In relation to the Wii, it is brought up regularly when there is no need. Same goes with this low sales talk.

We have to bear in mind, with the costs of game development being lower, devs can be profitable with significantly lower sales on Wii and DS. On face value, some of these common five-digit sales numbers may appear to be relatively unimpressive, but there's a good chance the dev made all the expended money back and then some. Whereas on the HD systems, the same amount of sales would usually indicate a monetary loss. What I'm saying is that sometimes, these 'low' sales figures might not be as bad as it initially seems because the makers still frequently do well financially from it.

1157

TalkBack / Re: Demand for DJ Hero Below Expectations According to Analysts

« on: November 02, 2009, 02:24:32 PM »

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what could justify the price. Over here, it costs £89.99 (roughly $147!) even on Amazon, who are normally more lenient about pricing. This is compared to the £69.99 cost for Guitar Hero 5 with the guitar controller. I have my doubts that the components of the turntable hardware are anywhere near that much more expensive than what's in guitar peripherals. According to the ONM UK review of DJ Hero, which they would have played for under a month before reviewing, the paint had already peeled off the controller where the his thumb had been resting. Not exactly the signs of a really well made product.

Must be the Activision mantra of milking the money as best as they can. All the reviewers have been saying so far: the game itself is apparently great, but the package as a whole is overpriced by far though, so perhaps this time they've gone too far...

1158

TalkBack / Re: TALKBACK: NWR Round-Table 3: 500 Copies Sold

« on: November 02, 2009, 01:13:27 PM »

"But Nintendo does bear the brunt of the blame in creating a console that doesn't...let's say..."serve the interests" of most third-party developers."

I cannot fathom how you could have come to that conclusion. The Wii has the cheapest development costs (as well as being easiest to develop for, I might add), so the developer is more likely to make a net gain on a Nintendo system than any of the competition.

The obvious answer to low sales numbers is the lack of marketing - always has been. This isn't just singling out mature games, it applies to any software whatsoever. When all the information about any given game is fed directly into the internet publications, only forum users know, which as KDR said is such a minute proportion of the potential audience for the game. All the evidence you need is right there... the million sellers had TV adverts slotted in during prime viewing time; the examples given in the feature had no exposure outside of web outlets.
It's nothing to do with Nintendo making it difficult. They just seem to be one of the few companies out there smart enough to know how to create awareness. There's nothing stopping publishers from promoting their titles through television, but they don't. It's their own fault. Simple as.

Yes, I'm aware I am treading similar ground to what's already been mentioned. I just found some of the comments in this particular Round-Table odd, to say the least.

1159

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: October 27, 2009, 07:23:32 AM »

The ONM UK question & answer articles reveal that you will fight each Koopa Kid twice: one in a fortress and again in a castle. They also change their fighting styles for the second battle apparently, sort of like Punch-Out Title Defence, which is neat. There are four other bosses elsewhere according to them, though they won't say who. Sounds as though the boss fights could be the best in recent years for a Mario game.

1160

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 167

« on: October 26, 2009, 08:48:51 AM »

Just finished listening to episode 167. There was so much, I had to listen to it in two sittings, but I like the episodes with feature topics, because your opinions on these subjects has been uncovered territory up until this point. The discussion on difficulty was great, very extensive. All I will say is that if the Super Guide allows Nintendo to increase the challenge in future first-party software, I'm all for it, especially seeing as the feature itself totally optional. I have no intention of ever using it in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the later worlds in that game will test me (and in some cases the earlier worlds if friends are playing with me) now that they've supposedly ramped it up.

Listener Mail was a very enjoyable listen yet again; it may be overtaking New Business as my favourite segment of the podcast.
I think Phantom Hourglass gets a lot of undue flak for trying something different. The Temple of the Ocean King overstayed its welcome a bit, but was manageable if you were smart about the navigation - I found it better not to be stealthy and just ran past the Phantoms into the safe zones even if they were looking right at me. The other dungeons were fun though, as were the bosses and there were some inventive uses of the DS hardware at several points. Certainly isn't my favourite Zelda title, although it does compliment the sheer quality of the whole franchise when one of its instalments is considered a low-calibre entry into the series, yet still viewed more favourably than the majority of other games out there.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run rocks! And I spell Gamcube/GameCube differently all the time, depending on how meticulous I'm being as I type it. Who really cares?

1161

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive Poll: Genesis Edition

« on: October 23, 2009, 02:37:59 AM »

 When I redeem some more points, I'll download Shining Force II (which I voted for finally after changing my mind three times). I've next to nothing to go on but the positive critiques given in this thread, so this had better be good.

1162

Nintendo Gaming / Re: NWR Gamers Shopping Cart

« on: October 22, 2009, 02:08:17 PM »

Ones to buy:
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- A Boy And His Blob
- Metroid Prime Trilogy
- Little King's Story
- Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

Ones to watch and ones to consider:
- Rabbids Go Home
- Muramasa: The Demon Blade
- Dead Space: Extraction
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
- Scribblenauts

That's only the games released before the end of this year that are in my metaphorical shopping basket. This doesn't include the games scheduled for 2010, nor does it include some older games I haven't yet caught up with, nor does it include WiiWare.

I'm a poor student, though. My videogame budget has to be strict. Hopefully, I'll receive a few for Christmas.

1163

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive Poll: Genesis Edition

« on: October 21, 2009, 02:36:07 AM »

Thank heaves for the Remove Vote function. I keep voting and changing my mind. I really am clueless about which of these games I'd like to play. I may just have to sit this one out and join in on the Second Chance poll. Now there I could make an informed decision.

1164

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo May Cut Earnings Forecast

« on: October 21, 2009, 02:26:28 AM »

Funny. It really does show how well Nintendo are doing when their profits decline by 11% to a figure that is still monumental and still leagues above the profit margins of its competitors. Anti-Nintendo activists can say what they want, but this doesn't change anything.

1165

Nintendo Gaming / Re: LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

« on: October 20, 2009, 02:52:19 AM »

Anybody pick this up yesterday, then? The review space has been very kind to LostWinds 2 and I would recommend it for sure. I'd love to hear what other people think about it.

1166

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: October 19, 2009, 07:59:54 PM »

Right, three people wanted an elaboration of the first review, so here we go.

During the review, there was one small paragraph with gripes, of which there were 3 in total:
Firstly, they lamented that Yoshi apparently doesn't appear as frequently as they wanted him to.
Secondly, they thought a couple of extra characters instead of a second Toad "would have been nice".
Thirdly, they did indeed put in a comment about no online capabilities; I guess this one is not that trivial. Bear in mind that the reviewer himself claimed that "these were minor qualms and weren't a detriment to the game overall".

I suppose I've been prepared for no online mode since Nintendo dismissed the questions about it way back in June, so this didn't seem like that big of a deal. I can understand that it's more significant for people with nobody near them who would want to play a 2D Mario title. ONMUK assure us that it plays really well by yourself and everything can be achieved with one player's efforts, which is what was most important to me.

1167

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: October 19, 2009, 03:24:33 PM »

Latest issue of Official Nintendo Magazine UK (which I just got this morning) has the world's first review of New Super Mario Bros Wii. They awarded it with a 96% score, praising basically everything - fun in both single and multiplayer, fantastic level design, stellar presentation, the spot on difficulty curve - and the few complaints were fairly trivial.

I was always going to buy this anyway, but this is like Game of the Year talk. We will see soon if everybody else agrees, though I'm anticipating universal acclaim regardless. Only one month to go now...

1168

Nintendo Gaming / Re: LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

« on: October 19, 2009, 02:43:22 AM »

My problem with the last game was the lack of a map system. It was still a great first WiiWare game that was easy to get into.

Does it rectify that problem I mentioned.

Yes. After going through the pseudo-tutorial segment and arriving at the new region, you can press the Minus button any time you want to open the map. Every new area you enter adds an icon to said map, and if you hold the cursor over the icon, it shows the name of that place, along with the number of collectibles there are located there and how many you have found. When you need to travel somewhere new, the map indicates its whereabouts with a question mark, or if you've already been there, its icon will change colour. The world is larger than in the first game and has a more complex layout, so it is incredibly useful for navigation.

1169

TalkBack / Re: NWR Round Table 2

« on: October 19, 2009, 02:25:49 AM »

The Wii has obviously expanded the market. You only need to look at hardware sales. A console doesn't sell with those sorts of astronomical numbers without enticing some new fish.

In terms of controls, Lukasz is spot on. The Wii Remote and Nunchuck set-up has helped numerous genres - to add to the examples he already gave, several kinds of sports games, namely football (soccer) and golf, have benefited strongly. I also feel that quirky concepts, particularly the ones from the imagination of indy developers, are much more at home on the Wii platform. WiiWare has been a stellar opportunity for those ideas; a lot of the good games both currently out and upcoming for Nintendo's new download front would only work with the motion and pointer functionality given by these controllers.

Pedro brings up a good point that there are still potential types of videogames to tap into on Wii successfully. What I immediately thought when I read that was real-time strategies. It has primarily been a PC genre since it began and whenever someone has attempted to replicate it on consoles, it wasn't really a worthwhile endeavour. The IR pointer on the Remote could change that. As highlighted before, it could provide the same speed and precision that a mouse offers, which is essential for the micro-management needed in a RTS that dual analogue has failed to do all that well. Unfortunately, nobody has bitten the bullet and tried it out on the Wii yet, except for Kuju with Battalion Wars II, which plays quite differently to your usual strategy title.

Another good feature, enjoyable to read. It must be tough to think up new ideas, organise everyone and then edit everyone's responses in a sensible order, so I appreciate what you're doing, James.

1170

Nintendo Gaming / LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

« on: October 18, 2009, 03:03:43 PM »

The long-awaited LostWinds sequel is getting released on WiiWare tomorrow in North America. I'm sure there's a bunch of members who are looking forward to this, and rightly so. I bought it last Friday when it came out in the PAL regions, but I only started playing last night thanks to a busy week. Here's my impressions.

I'll address what's on everyone's mind. My time log is just under three hours at this point. I haven't completed the game yet, though the profile card shows that I've obtained all of the new abilities, so I figure the end can't be too far off. Nintendo Life states four hours, plus a little more if you aim to collect all 48 Melodia figurines, which actually appears to unlock a Secrets section in the main menu. Basically, the 1000 Point price tag is more justified and reasonable this time.

It requires 307 blocks of your Wii System Memory, IIRC - I guess that shouldn't be a problem for anybody owning a functional SD card. Having said that, the space is put to good use, as the overall presentation is fabulous. The graphics retain the style of the original but have easily noticeable improvements, specifically the effects. Relatively early on, you navigate an ice cavern with transparent pillars situated in the foreground; when you walk behind one, the polygonal surface of the pillar displays a distorted refraction of Toku (the hero of the series), which is a stunning visual effect. There are other cool touches like vegetation rustling and snowflakes changing direction in the breeze when you just move the cursor over them, as well as characters moving around in the background independently. Music is beautifully arranged too, with different tracks for Summer and Winter, not to mention separate recordings to compliment each type of enemy. High quality instrumentation, I might add.

Gameplay wise, Winter of the Melodias is yet more refinements across the board. It entails platforming and ability-based puzzles again, which are thoughtfully put together as expected. Obviously, the season switching is the big hook that has received exposure since the game's announcement. In the overworld exploration, it is prominently featured in order to reach inaccessible areas. In cavernous locales, it is scarce, although a new wind ability shines in those areas: the Cyclone. This is controlled by holding A+B together and spinning the Wii Remote to create a Cyclone, which can then be used in multiple ways like boosting Toku, forming rain clouds and drilling through weak patches of earth. One particular puzzle that stuck in my mind was somewhere near 2 hours in, when I had to transfer a pool of water elsewhere by collecting it in a cyclone and shifting the cloud, allowing me to access a switch, then I pressed a Sonté statue to change it to Winter so I could produce a snowball and weigh down the switch while I passed under the gate. There's tonnes of stuff like that, where the goal is clear immediately after examining the location you are in, but you need to carry out a handful of tasks before that goal is met.

I am having a lot of fun with LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. Everything the first game did well is kept, and everything it didn't has been tweaked to make it superior. The brand new mechanics are great, as are inclusions such as a fleshed-out story and a very helpful map. I'm looking forward to seeing what else this title has in store for me when I play it tonight.

1171

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Official Rhythm Heaven Thread

« on: October 18, 2009, 02:20:48 AM »

Is there no way to achieve a Perfect rank unless the game highlights one of the minigames with the message 'Go for a Perfect'? I only have a couple of Perfects, but several Superbs, a few of which I hit every beat in. Kind of annoying if it is, because those chances are rare.

My most favourite game at the point I'm at is Munchy Monk. Very fast-paced and keeps you on your toes with three potential inputs. Ironically, despite being my favourite, it keeps messing me up on Remix 4.

1172

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

« on: October 17, 2009, 03:23:08 PM »

Fight against Lemmy Koopa

We saw Iggy and Morton Jr in the E3 demo footage, so here's the third Koopa Kid in action. The boss battles look more interesting in this game, although probably still easy, but I'm glad they're making efforts to prevent players from spamming fireballs to win. It seems like it would be more difficult with multiple players simply because of a lack of space on the arena.
Dig the remix of the Super Mario Bros 3 Boom-Boom theme though!

1173

Podcast Discussion / Re: NWR Newscast: Episode 3

« on: October 17, 2009, 02:19:21 PM »

It's good that Newscast is being revived - always nice to hear informal reactions to news that you can't really get in an official article.

One observation I had, and this may be due to relatively little podcast experience for you three, is that the conversation didn't sound as fluid as it does on Radio Free Nintendo and Radio Trivia. There were a lot of awkward pauses and hesitations as if you guys weren't sure what to say. Plus, I also thought that Lukasz sounded like he was very bored. I wouldn't worry too much; I assume it's just anxiety or something, so this will likely improve as you all do more episodes and become more comfortable & familiar with the format.

Nevertheless, the content of the show was solid, and I enjoyed Zach's anecdotes and his amusing commentary on the terrible state of the British pound.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive Poll: Genesis Edition

« on: October 14, 2009, 03:24:02 PM »

Now you read the IGN reviews I provided in this post and make an informed decision.  Or you can check out NWR's VC reviews--they don't have all of them but they have some.  Or you can quit being a baby and just for for Shining Force II. 

Yep, I read the IGN reviews. Not the most informative and even if they were, it would still be difficult to make an informed decision. The previous poll on SNES games was so much easier to vote for, because I knew all six well. With this one, it's more like making a guess based on vague, limited knowledge and if I'm to spend 800 Wii Points, I would like to be sure of what I'm doing. I could look them up on YouTube, although that would somewhat defeat the point of this.

Damn you, Sega MegaDrive. If your games weren't so obscure, I wouldn't be in this predicament.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive Poll: Genesis Edition

« on: October 14, 2009, 12:52:51 PM »

I fully understand why you chose these lesser known MegaDrive games for the poll (fresh discussion is always appreciated) but now I have no idea what to vote for as I don't know squat about any of the nominations. I was a Super Nintendo child, so apart from the famous ones, most MegaDrive software shoots straight over my head. What now?