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Matt’s Lite Impressions: Wii Edition

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Apparently the Gaming Gods have smiled upon me once again, because I got to take the Nintendo Wii out for a spin today at the Nintendo World Store in NYC.

The first floor contained 3 Wii Sports kiosks. After a very short wait, I was given the go-ahead to try out the almighty Wii. I was about to play Tennis, but remembered they had Baseball as well, so I opted to go for the all-American pastime instead. The attendee helped me get setup with the game, and strapped the Wii-mote on me with it’s sleek little hand strap.

It’s been almost a year since I first saw it, but I finally got a chance to hold the Wii-mote. First thing I noticed was that it is completely encased, both the remote and the nun-chuck, in that shiny clear plastic that is becoming a staple of Nintendo hardware these days. I love that Nintendo chose to do this because it makes the entire system package extremely sexy. →  Readout 3: Takedown

Launch Game Revelations

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In less than three weeks, the Wii and the Playstation 3 will be let out of their respective cages. And let me tell you, they’re definitely not a nice bunch, those two. They’re always making you feel bad for playing with those traditional, non-motion-sensing controllers like that of the Xbox 360. They’re just a couple of jerks. Best thing to do is to not pay them any attention. And what better way to do that than remember the launches of old systems?

If we take a look at previous launches, you will notice one interesting thing: many consoles launch with at least one game that goes on to be one of the greatest games of all time. I’ve listed them below.

Best Launch Titles

For those of you who haven never heard of it, this is what Super Mario Bros. looks like.

NES/Super Mario Bros.
The one game that saved them all, the NES’s launch title spawned the rebirth of video games in America and is part of every 20-something’s childhood memories. →  Tony Hawk’s Posting Ground

Matt’s Lite PS3 Impressions

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On Friday night, I took the trip to the Toys R Us in New York City’s Times Square, and put in a few minutes with the soon-to-be-released Sony Playstation 3. Here are my thoughts on the beast that is the PS3.

Once I got there, I saw that a line had already formed with about 10 people. The kiosk had four PS3’s setup, but only one was working. I’m not sure why the others weren’t in use, but I’ll stop myself from coming up with something that sparks hysteria on the Internets.

The game on display was Motorstorm. Although nowhere near the level of graphical power that was shown at E3 2005, it still looked great. The level of detail on the riders and the vehicles themselves was a sight to behold. The level itself was also very detailed, with high-res textures and effects.

It was pretty interesting to hear the reactions from the crowd. One person in particular was all hot-to-trot about the graphics. →  Game. James Game.

As long as we’ve got each other

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Kirk Cameron was once a normal B actor. Then he found Jesus. Not in the standard “knowing you’re not alone in the universe, finding comfort through God when faced with tragedy, realizing men should help each other and love thy neighbor” way, though.

No. He is now a complete nutjob who roams LA in a sports car (What Would Jesus Drive?) looking for people to call liars and thieves. When he isn’t busy accosting strangers with the good news (which is that the stranger never has to see him again), he is flexing his intellectual muscle for the camera. So far on his TV show he has proven, with the help of Ray Comfort (based only on his name, he must be an ex-pornstar), that atheists have nightmares about bananas, that the Church of Satan PR guy is much more polite than he, and that orangutans are much, much stupider than people.

So what does this all have to do with video games? →  Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 5: Golden Post

Geek Call to Arms!

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This is a test of the emergency geek system. Were there an actual emergency, this post would have instructions, such as:

A) A list of senator and/or congressmen to kill in order to prove that video games are not violent, and do not require legislation to control.

B) The location of a truck full of PS3’s, ripe for hijacking.

C) An announcement of a pocky shortage.

Ok, in all seriousness, I need some help. A friend of mine who is a casual PC gamer with an older computer was looking for a fun “builder style” game that would actually run on his computer. He’s not very picky, he just likes building stuff and it needs to be a year or two old so he can run it. Wandering Best Buy with him, I came up empty.

Do any of you have suggestions of games that meet this criteria?

Video Game Quarter-Life Crisis

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I may be talking out of my ass (hell, I am), but I read something on Penny Arcade the other day about FFXII that got me thinking. The quote, from Gabe, was in reference to the new battle system in FFXII. I haven’t bought FFXII yet–my only experience was messing around with it at the past two E3’s. So I can’t really weigh in. Anyway, his quote was:

“Kara and I started playing FF XII last night. Only got a few hours in but my initial impressions are actually positive. It’s interesting, Kara is the one playing it and she actually really likes the move away from random battles and turn based combat. Apparently those are not the things she likes about the FF series. She’s a WOW player and FFXII is essentially an MMO without the second M or the O. Last night we were taking quests and grinding mobs. It’s a beautiful game and I really enjoy watching it, I’m not sure how much I’d like playing it though. →  I’d rather die than not read this article!

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 11.3.06

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Halo movie indefinitely stalled
That a Peter Jackson backed Halo movie probably won’t get made despite the fact that Uwe Boll continually releases game based movies is beyond hilarious. Clearly, if there is a god he is evil, or maybe he just has a great sense of humor.

A scene from the upcoming Castlevania movie.

Castlevania movie coming
Odds are, this movie will be slightly better than Van Helsing. The problem is that Van Helsing is solidly on “so bad it’s good” ground, and so Castlevania, by being better, will be worse. Castlevania’s only hope is to be crappier than Van Helsing (or actually good, but let’s not get crazy) and therefore better. This all makes sense, right?

PS3 launching in Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17
As an American, it is my god given right to believe I am more important than any damn foreigner. Ergo, screw these stupid countries. We should be receiving their batches of PS3s. As a gamer, it’s good to see these markets opening up. →  Final Fantasy Mystic Post

No more whining about PSP homebrew, please

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It’s been brought to people’s attention before, but I want to express my own thoughts on the subject of PSP homebrew. I don’t mean the idea of having them on there to begin with. I’m going to talk about the problem with Sony not giving homebrew designers a chance to flourish more.

Many people have stated before that, if Sony started a program where homebrew was accepted, that the PSP would flourish as a hand-held system. I would also think this to be true, but there’s one problem with this scenario, and it’s inherent within the homebrew scene to begin with.

Once Sony legalizes it, then you are going to see a flood of UMD-rippers and burners turning up, which has, in fact, happened. It’s not as prevalent due to the firmware versions that are needed to run homebrew, but it’s still there. It’s just unbelievable that people are continually lambasting Sony for not endorsing homebrew. Sorry guys, but the almighty dollar reigns supreme once again. →  Garou: Mark of the Posts

Garbled nonsense that tangentially relates to adventure games

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My interest in Adventure games has waxed and waned over my gaming years. I started when I was about twelve, and while I do not remember the specific game I played first, I suspect it was something in the Kings Quest series. Something by Sierra, in any event. I eventually made my way over to the LucasArts games, and I remember especially liking Sam and Max Hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle.

In my more mature years (the past two weeks) my interest in Adventures has again waxed, and I am currently determining a plan of attack for playing some of the seminal titles in the genre. While figuring out the particulars I have played most of Grim Fandango (and plan to finish it tonight in honor of Día de los Muertos, during which all of the action takes place). I remembered the game being highly regarded (it was, it won Best Graphics, best Adventure and Game of the Year from Gamespot) and I have always regretted not having played it. →  Garou: Mark of the Posts

The beginnings of a Culdcept addiction

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I first saw Culdcept a while back, when it was just released. The back of the box made it seem pretty interesting, but the price just wasn’t right for the game – I’d seen maybe one review and it was lukewarm at best.

The other day, though, I saw it for $10 and thought, “Perfect.” I snatched it up and I think I’ve found a new addiction.

What makes this game most interesting is, naturally, the gameplay. It’s perfectly suited to the card-collecting aspects of Magic: The Gathering (or pick your favorite new CCG), while it retains some of the feel of classic board games like Monopoly. The artwork on the cards reinforces the former, while the cartoony feel on the game board complements the latter.

If you’ve played Monopoly and Magic: The Gathering, this is somewhat of a combination. You obtain territory by summoning creatures, and upgrade the territory to increase its “toll” for any enemies who land there and cannot kill your guardian. →  What can change the nature of a post?