My biggest complaint about the Wii U is the lack of demos on the eShop (and yeah, yeah, I do KNOW many developers hate making demos). Anyway, The Wonderful 101 demo is now live and ready to play, so if you’ve a Wii U at home, this one’s a MUST play. Um, that is all (as I’m in the middle of downloading it myself). I can very safely say that my Wii U is VERY happy right about now… maybe I’ll post some impressions over the weekend or later. As for that title above, while I know the game will do well at retail, I don’t think it’s going to sell systems to very many people unless it’s to a handful who were waiting until the game dropped to buy in. Platinum makes some VERY excellent niche titles, but not games you want to run over old ladies to pick up a console for. Just stating the truth, kids.
That said, Nintendo has always carved its own path out in this industry, so other than some woes they’ve noted about being surprised at how difficult and expensive making the move to creating HD content has been, they’re pretty much set in their ways as to what they want to see in the future.
While I’m happy as hell that Earthbound has FINALLY been deemed worthy of a re-release, I’m not at all pleased that Nintendo has given it the cheapest treatment possible, tossing it onto the eShop as a digital-only download and missing the cool strategy guide and scratch & sniff cards packed in with the original boxed Super Nintendo version. Actually, the major beef I have is how Nintendo passed up the opportunity to do this up right as a combination physical/digital product that would have made them MORE money at the end of the day had the company merely polled its rather large user base with the following idea for a premium-priced retail Earthbound collection:
A fully localized Mother (the first game in the series) updated for the Wii U Gamepad
Earthbound (Mother 2)
A fully localized Game Boy Advance version of Mother 3 also updated for the Wii U Gamepad
voucher codes for eShop versions of all three titles for the 3DS
An art gallery, soundtrack download and perhaps unlockable images and movies from the cancelled Nintendo 64 version Mother 3
Perhaps even an interview or three with staff members from the development team about the making of the games for good measure.
Hell, I’d pay fifty bucks for that and I’d bet YOU would too. I could also see Nintendo making all of the games available as separate digital download titles for the 3DS and/or Wii U at about $10 each and raking in a profit on those with no problem. By treating the SNES game as a disposable commodity instead of giving it the respect it’s earned over time from folks who’ve either held on to the original cart, paid rent money for a vintage or used copy or (yuck) even illegally downloaded a ROM (and yes, that includes you folks playing those fan translations of the first and third game who don’t own and never intend to own the original carts because you’re too lazy to learn Japanese).
Granted, it’s hard to say if this set of games on a disc as noted above would even drive stagnant Wii U sales at all, but I’d bet if Nintendo announced my stupid idea as a project and asked the fans if they’d buy in, they’d see a great deal more interest in that new console they’re having a very hard time getting more of you out there to buy.
Capcom shows off their upcoming revisit to the retro days reboot with this nice long look at the redesigned Himalayas stage. By the way, no stupidly cute cartoon bunnies were hurt in this video, the already angry goats got what they deserved and that big and annoying Yeti boss? Well, he was trying to make duck cutlets out of Uncle Scrooge, so he had to go down hard. MORAL: Don’t mess with a rich canard and his fancy cane bouncing skills, folks. All that swimming around in that huge money pool bank vault of his has given him some MEGA strength in that feathered old body. Tough bird, indeed…
OK, now I need to unearth my NES and that copy of DuckTales I have buried in a bin somewhere so I can do some comparing. I’d been meaning to do so for a while, but I keep putting it off for assorted reasons. This “duckumentary” did help me decide to finally get off my butt and sit back on my butt once I find everything, so that’s a good thing, right? Alright, I’m not THAT lazy, people! I walked over a mile today already!
Thank you, WB Games and TT Games! So, now you kids know exactly what to bug the parents about and you adults who know you’re buying this for yourselves (raises hand) have something to copy and stick to your wall and moon over while you’re waiting for the game to hit retail this fall. It’s going to be on every console (except the Wii) and handheld (except the Nintendo DS), so it’ll be really hard to avoid.
How hard? Well, dear reader, if you wait until the release date and throw a boomerang with a cat hanging on for dear life into any game emporium, it’ll most likely come back with a copy of this game (and a very dizzy, pissed off cat). You DID remember to stick some money in the cat’s mouth or at least wrap your wallet around it, I hope. That game won’t be free, you know…
Still going strong after 30 years, Spelunker is one of those great games that gets a lot of love and hate for what it puts you through. On one hand, it’s a challenging game packed with treasures to grab and a satisfying sense of accomplishment each time you clear a level. On the other hand, it’s a REALLY and infuriatingly challenging game thanks to “the weakest action hero in the history of gaming”, and yes, that’s a selling point of this gem, folks. If you’re no fan of trial and error, the combination of this terminally frail dude, the need for pinpoint control and collecting air supplies scattered around the levels while avoiding death from everything from a VERY short fall to the small assortment of enemies will have you screaming at your TV within seconds… Continue reading →
And why would you need Velcro gloves, you ask? Well, I’m gathering you’ve never played Spelunker, the legendary game with “the weakest action hero in the history of video games” (and boy, is that ever true!). Since 1983, that fragile little miner guy has been a staple of gaming history who’s stood the test of time, inspiring many other games including Derek Yu’s rather spiffy homage Spelunky and probably helping to break a few too many controllers thrown at a wide range of televisions.
Anyway, after popping up in an HD version on the PlayStation Network, the original classic game is now (and finally) available for $4.99 on the Wii U and 3DS through Nintendo’s eShop (thank you, Tozai Games!), meaning you can see what all the fuss is about if you happen to own one of those consoles. The game certainly demands some fast reflexes as you scoot to nab treasure, avoiding death from above, below, left and right from bats, snakes, hot steam, electricity and falling from too-high spots (among other things). Not to mention that pesky ghost that pops up when you least expect it to get your heart racing.
Now, why would anyone subject themselves to such torture you ask? Well, because it’s actually a ton of FUN, folks. That and it’s hard not to root for that little guy with no particular talents who can die at the drop of a hat forging onward into certain doom to accomplish his goal. I’d say that describes the human condition in a way. Or perhaps I’m thinking too much (again). Hey, everyone needs a hobby right? Mine is stretching my poor brain into assorted shapes. And playing the occasional game that makes me want to jump up and down on a controller (which I won’t be doing as that Wii U GamePad is pretty expensive)…
Gee, who’da thunk Jimmy Fallon being so damn TERRIBLE at a game would make me think less of it? Well, whoopsie! I was totally wrong about Game & Wario being not so hot based on Fallon’s fumblings.
“Foo, foul fiend of flailing and failing! Fie on thee foolishness and folly, thy gutter-like gaming skills that deny greatness to games that deserveth it and a pox on all your houses you play games in!”
Or whatever. The man’s probably a demon off camera with a controller in hand and no audience screaming like a us full of schoolgirls sailing off a cliff. Still, I’ll buy a pair of white gloves just to go on his show and smack him a good one gently before challenging him to something fun he’s not going to get away clean from. Anyway, that video above is nuts, a few friends who got this last Sunday say it’s super and yeah, that’s ONE more game I need to play. And more Nintendo Coins to rake in once I register and do that survey deal…
It’s really too bad developer Iron Galaxy didn’t make its version of Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara compatible with Windows XP simply because I’d bet a dollar that people still using that older OS would get a hell of a lot more of a kick from this pair of classic Capcom arcade hit than a chunk of more current OS users filling up the Steam forums with all sorts of complaints about everything from the visuals not being worthy of the system requirements to the game not working properly on certain systems or supporting any other peripheral except an official Xbox 360 controller. Us non-picky oldsters who prefer XP because 90+ percent of the games we run ARE old news to you big-riggers out there (long live gog.com!) would be all over this game like white on rice (or brown on rice is you’re into that variety) and even though we only make up less than 8% of Steam users (according to Steam), that’s almost a potential 8% more people buying and possibly NOT bitching about the graphics and having to use one controller type that works perfectly as soon as it’s plugged in. But I digress…
Ha ha. OK, I had to do that horrid spelling job in the header as a little in-joke even I don’t get and yep, it’s another pre-show title to save time because I just KNOW Jimmy’s going to lose it and fail at another game live on TV. Anyway, saving the Wii U for his final post=E3 Game Week show meant this was either going to be a blowout for Nintendo because more people stayed home to watch OR… a bust because they were all out clubbing or whatever the crazy kids do on a Friday night (har har). Anyway, the 20-Ryu Hadouken/cartridge blowing/toothbrush circle bits was dumb and funny (and all those “World Records” they set WILL be broken over the weekend, I bet). That multiple video games “record” bit was stupidly awesome, though. Jimmy “played” six games all at once for twenty seconds and looked as if he was trying to escape from robbing a vintage game shop and ran into an arcade only to be trapped on a Dance Dance Revolution Supernova machine. Or something like that – just watch the video:
See? Now go break THAT record, Mr. or Ms. Guinness…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 