Year: 2006

The Wii-Hunt Is Over

by

I’ve just spent since the UK launch (8th Dec) searching for a Wii. I’ve traipsed all the websites, and clenched my fists at the mocking “out of stock” signs. I even let it drop when I walked into another game shop yesterday to find out that yes, they do have stock, but no, they aren’t going to give me one because they’re for the people who have pre-ordered. And not turned up four days later.

Then I got a hot tip. Virgin Megastores at a shopping mall a fair bit away from me (an hour on a train) would have them in some time early this week. £30, 15 wasted hours and way too much time spent on public transport, I finally have one. →  I’m readin’ here!

Possible Megaton – Dragon Quest IX Exclusive to Nintendo DS

by

In a surprising move, Square-Enix has announced that the next installment to the uber-popular RPG series, Dragon Quest IX, will be made exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Most people assumed that it was destined for either PS2 or PS3, but with the Nintendo DS’s soaring popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun, Squenix saw gold in them thar dual-screened hills.

Level 5, which developed last year’s enjoyable Dragon Quest VIII, will be reprising their role as developer for the Nintendo DS outing, with close supervision from Squenix. The full name is Dragon Quest IX: Defender of the Starry Sky, and is looking at a mid-2007 release date.

Even though the DS has been immensely successful without the help of the Dragon Quest series, this move will easily make the DS the system of choice in Japan for years to come. →  You do not simply walk into reading more.

How to write a Holiday Shopping Guide

by

If you are running any sort of successful games website, you should already have your Holiday Shopping Guide up and collecting income. These guides are essential for grabbing a nice chunk of holiday web traffic and advertising money from online retailers. If by some chance you still haven’t made yours, videolamer is here to help with this easy to follow step by step guide.

1) Start Early:
In the last decade, we marketing folk succeeded in eliminating Thanksgiving from the collective minds of everyone but grocery stores and the NFL. And, if our research is correct, people are glad that the stress and frustration of holiday shopping can now go on for an even longer stretch of time. This means that you can publish your guide at any point in November. →  But the future refused to change.

Wii: The Lazy Gamer’s Console

by

The Wii is like the full spectrum of gaming. You can play like a non-true-gamer and make minimal movements. You can also play quirky little games like the upcoming Cooking Momma: Cook Off, as well as the big hitters, like the Legend of Zelda. Whatever you want, Wii’s got it. It’s like the Wal-Mart of gaming. Just less evil.

One thing that is also really cool, even though it’s just a side-effect of Nintendo’s ultimate aim of getting non-gamers into the gaming fold, is the fact that you can hold the controller in a really comfortable position. Because the two essential pieces of the controller are separate and tethered with a fairly long wire, you get to move your arms farther away from each other than you would with traditional controllers. →  Please sir, can I have some more?

Review – Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Wii)

by

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is a great game … just not for the Wii. I originally played it about a month ago on an XBox 360 and was quite impressed, and then I noticed that it was launching with the Wii. Something told me to lay off the knee-jerk purchase and use good ol’ Game Fly once again to test the waters with minimal cost. I sent the game back in four days.

The X-Men: Legends series is fantastic. Four-player (later over XBox Live) superhero, beat-em-up RPG. You just can’t go wrong. I played both versions through about three times trying to level up the thirty-some-odd unlockable characters, loving every minute of it. So when I heard that Marvel was teaming up with the same developer to make a game with over 150 playable superheroes spanning the entire Marvel universe I could barely wait. →  Drakenread 2

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 12.8.06

by

Analyst predicts doom for blu-ray
A study has found that HD DVD has more positive buzz than the Blu-ray, at least partially because Sony is backing the Blu-ray format. I will now do my part to add to the negative Blu-ray buzz — Boo Blu-ray!

Maybe real issues would be taken seriously if there were violent video games about them.

Democrats focused on what really matters – videogames
“We all share in the responsibility of making sure our children play age-appropriate video games, and I’m pleased that the ESRB and retailers are working together to educate parents about the video game ratings and make sure they are enforced. As we enter the holiday shopping season, it is important that parents have the information they need to make informed choices that are right for their families,” said Senator Clinton. →  I’ll read you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

Review – Red Steel

by

If you’ve paid attention to some of the reviews Red Steel has gotten, you probably have no idea what the game is really like. The scores are all over the place, and reviewers just can’t seem to agree on what is good or bad about the game. Some love the sword fighting, some don’t. Some hate the gun controls so much that they barely touch upon the rest of game. The best advice for you is to just forget about those losers and their reviews. This is the only one you need to worry about.

Let’s hit each one of the major problems first, just to cleanse you of all the garbage you may still have in your head. First, the controls are a little hard to grasp, at least initially. →  What is a post? A miserable little pile of secrets.

Fear the Mystic Balloons

by

I find most freeware games to be temporary distractions, but every once in a while I get hooked on one longer than usual. Such is the case with Mystic Balloon. Originally a cooperation between two Japanese developers, this puzzle game was translated a few days ago by Derrick Sobodash.

Mystic Balloon’s plot is simple, as are both music and graphics. But the puzzles are rightfully the heart of the game, and there are a lot of them.

Our forecast for tomorrow is mostly cloudy with a chance of ice and springs.

In this puzzle game, you make your way through individual 2-dimensional puzzle map-areas – similar to Lolo – but in Mystic Ballon, gravity has an effect and there aren’t enemies – the game is pure puzzle, and controls are tight so mistakes are the player’s fault. →  The King of Articles 2002: Unlimited Match

Thoughts on immersion and graphics

by

Is immersion really dependant upon graphics? In a recent piece, Craig theorized that this rationally follows from the assertion that attention to detail creates immersion. I think his premise is correct, but ultimately graphics and immersion are not as tied together as we would assume. Expectations are hugely important and cannot be left out of the equation.

A gamer raised on Xbox games may find it difficult to get into an SNES RPG.

Expectations can exist internally and externally. Those internal to a game have already been discussed on this site and are important, but so are external expectations. A new gamer playing a particularly detailed Atari game may not be immersed now, but had they played it first in 1984, they may have been. →  God of War: Readnarok

Untranslated Games on Gametap

by

So I was cruising through Gametap the other day, looking for new additions I might have missed out on. During this time I came across an interesting little game called Battle Golfer Yui. What makes it surprising is that the game was never released in America, but instead was a Japanese only release on the Sega Mega Drive. I’m not sure how or why Gametap included it, but they do acknowledge that its quite impossible to play through all the modes without understanding Japanese, and even tell you how to navigate to the quick play mode.

Anime Babes and Golf.

Upon further investigation, I discovered that it isn’t alone. There’s also at least one Wonder Boy release from Japan as well, and this time they warn that it might not even be possible to play without knowing Kanji. →  Theme Postital