I've loved the Virtual Console since the service launched. Partly because I could move some of the clutter of my classic systems out of the living room, partly because some of the money I was spending was actually going to the developer and, finally, because I could get my hands on some games that were either hard-to-find or on hard-to-find systems. With the launch of WiiWare, I find myself even more in love with digital distribution. The discussion on Podtiod got me thinking about the pros and cons of this new distribution method, so I decided to put my thoughts down here.
Pros
1. WiiWare games tend to be smaller and, sometimes, more adventurous. As gaming becomes bigger and bigger business, gamers need indie games to push the boundaries because the large companies generally will not. This is sad, but understandable. If I invest $20 million in a game, I damn sure want some serious profits. By removing this constraint, creativity can thrive and, most likely, trickle into the mainstream releases.
2. My wife and I just bought a condo. It's just under 1,000 square feet. We're working hard to keep it clutter-free. Digital distribution makes this very easy.
3. No more searching at stores for a game. I am sick and tired of having to pre-order any game I want. Also, games are never in-store on the release date. There was a time when a game's release date was its street date, but this is no longer true. I like knowing exactly when a game will be available and that it will be there when I'm ready even without putting up a $5 guarantee. To me, that's heaven. Related to this is a lack of shipping charges and waiting. Since I can never find the games I want without pre-ordering, I mail order frequently. Also, I am very impatient; when I pay for something, I want it now. (When will Castle of Shikigami 3 arrive, damn it?)
4. Restraint inspires creativity. As a graphic designer, I have always found that being creative is easier when I have a specified area to play in. I think this explains why so many 16-bit games are so unique. The creators had ideas but not all of the ideas could fit on a 32 MB cart so they had to work within this structure, and in the process of culling ideas, they are likely to reevaluate all aspects of the design and lose the weaker ones. I also love that smaller space means less pre-rendered cut-scenes. I like playing games, not watching them.
5. Other people, specifically some game store employees. I don't really want someone to tell me that I need GTA IV and Halo and that I should not buy Guilty Gear because it's 2D or Shikigami no Shiro III because it looks boring. Also, there's nothing I want to pre-order, I don't have anything to trade-in, I don't want a game warantee and I don't want your fucking pathetic excuse for a game magazine.
Cons
1. On the Wii, space is a problem. I pray Nintendo presents a solution soon. The system has USB 2.0 ports on the back, which presents myriad solutions - hard drives, card readers and pen drives could all work well.
2. If my system dies, I lose everything. This is probably my biggest concern. Luckily, Nintendo has great customer service and, once you've bought a game you can download it multiple times. Sony also allows multiple downloads. MS, I'm not sure about. As long as this is handled properly, it's not a real problem.
3. Lack of instruction manual and packaging. There was a time that I loved looking through instruction manuals and checking out the design of the packaging. Lately, manuals are really lame; mostly black and white with minimal design effort put into it. Box art is nice, but it clutters the place up.
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The line in the sand has been drawn by LostWinds, a WiiWare title that was created by a small group of people and is about 40 megabytes. This game trumps many retail Wii games in design, graphics, presentation and, most importantly, gameplay. I've been a very serious gamer since 1992 and this is one of those games that reminds me of what drew me to this hobby in the first place.
The sheer imagination in this game is baffling. The graphics are simple but the art design is beautiful. The decision to use flutes and wind instruments as the soundtrack is nothing short of brilliant. The use of the Wiimote is perfect. The gameplay, which basically blends platforming with environmental puzzles, is, no pun intended, a breath of fresh air. I love that the cut scenes are short, to the point and use in-game graphics. The only change in appearance during cut scenes is that the background blurs into a collection of soft, vibrant colors.
All of this for $10; hell, I didn't even have to leave my home or mail order it either. So, the next time you ask me to spend money on your game, it had damn well be up to snuff. This little gem has exposed your laziness and/or ineptitude. It's time to step up.
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I live very close to the office I work in. There are great advantages to this, specifically anime and/or video games during my lunch hour. Today, I decided to download LostWinds and see if my excitement for this game was founded or silly hopefulness.
Upon loading the game, I first noticed the very soothing and somewhat Asian background music. In some odd way, it reminded me of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon score - sweeping yet subtle and soothing. The music was played over a scene of the protagonist of the game sleeping in a forest. The forest was filled with lush colors and had an overall softened effect that made the entire image appear welcoming and cartoony. I would love to say more about the beginning of the game but I feel it would ruin some part of the experience.
The boy is controlled by the analog stick and the wind is conducted by holding down the A button and moving the Wiimote in the desired direction. The wind mechanic is both accurate and forgiving at the same time. It just feels right. The use of the analog stick is good but it functions more like a D-pad than an analog. Moving the stick all the way in one direction does not result in the protagonist running. The Z button is the contextual button and is used for many activities such as talking with NPCs, picking up items or eating fruit and vegetables.
I've only played the game for about 25 minutes but I was overjoyed for the whole experience. The game has a very nice art style and looks better than most disc-based games on the Wii. The gameplay style is familiar yet fresh and the music is great. All-in-all, this is one of the most charming games I've played. I look forward to experiencing more of the title. This game is another example of the importance of Indie games.
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I love me some Speed Racer. I grew up on it and it was the first anime that I was a fan of, despite not knowing it was anime at the time. That said, I have little-to-no desire to see the movie. Anyway, after reading some reviews of the DS game which stated that it was the love child of F-Zero and Burnout, I decided to give it a go. It is as described. The graphics are beautiful, the races are fast and furious and the anime feel is there. The "car-fu" is very cool and the tracks are basically roller coaster rides. The cars control rather well and the jumps and stunts are breath taking.
The game has a few basic modes: WRL (Grand Prix), Arcade and multi-card multi-player. Of course, Grand Prix is the main mode. Each GP is 3 races and the player is awarded points based on the ranking in each race. Executing stunts and beating down other racers gains fans which, in turn, unlocks new racers, cars, paint jobs and challenges. Arcade is the same as WRL except it's a single, drop-in race; this mode is perfect for handhelds.
Great job, Virtuos. This is a great racer and easily the best on the DS. It's also the best movie game I've ever played.
Tonight, my wife and I finally watched Brokeback Mountain. It was heart-wrenchingly sad and rivals 5 cm/s as the saddest movie I've ever seen. Ang Lee is a master film maker.
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Games, as a whole, are too long. it seems that the length of a game is now a selling point just as the size of the game cartridge used to be. The problem is that most games should be a certain length but developers throw in a bunch of stupid side quests and pointless missions to pump up the time required to finish a game. The early Final fantasy games were about 40 hours of pure gameplay. There was no "go see him to get something to give to her to get something to bring to them to get a key to open a door to get to the next area" bullshit. Besides, 40 hours is a serious time commitment to a game; it's equivalent to a work week, for fuck's sake.
I prefer games that are 40 hours or shorter. Think about this: Chrono Trigger was about 25 hours. It's a brilliant game that offers an epic quest, but the experience is streamlined and that's the key. I loved Baten Kaitos until I reached the point that the story should have ended but the developer decided to add in enough filler content to warrant a second disc. Had the story ended at what was the natural ending point, I would still be singing the praises of BK; instead, I damn it and point to it as a perfect example of one of the main problems I see in the industry. What's next? A 90 hour platformer? No thanks. If a game is 30 hours or less, I'll probably play it more than once. If it's over 40, no dice. I have neither the time nor inclination to revisit, regardless of the quality.
now we get to the reason for this rant: Okami. I like the game, but its overabundance of convoluted side quests is making it hard to love. The art style is great and the first 14 hours are so were absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I'm now at a point in the game where everything feels like a side quest and I'm starting to lose interest. While the early parts of the game were extremely compelling, these later parts are feeling like a collection of all the worst parts of 3D Zelda games - find this, dig over there, bring this to him, use the item he gives you to go over there where another ridiculous side quest awaits. This makes me respect the design decisions of Shadow of the Colossus even more.
There's a lot to be said about streamlined experiences and narrative that ends at a specific, natural point. So,please, let's focus more on quality and less on quantity.
/rant
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THQ has fallen short of their financial projections. In all of their infinite wisdom, they've decided to play the blame game. THQ is blaming Nintendo and music games for their shortfall. I find this very annoying. Maybe, just maybe, if THQ put as much effort into making games as they do in naming scapegoats, then their games would be better and more successful.
What really frustrates me about THQ is that they have the license to what should be one of the greatest videogames of all time - Avatar, the Last Airbender.
The creators of Avatar have created a beautiful, vibrant world filled with heroes and villains who control the elements and are who feel like real people. Furthermore, the series has a brilliant story, incredibly choreographed fight scenes, large-scale battles and beautiful music. (breath) It's incredibly frustrating that THQ is given all of the elements of a great game and cannot even produce a decent one.
Okay, THQ, here's some advice. Ax the plain 3D models and replace with cel-shaded graphics; the game will then be visually linked to the show. Play Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Okami, Beyond Good and Evil and Shinobi(PS2). Think about it.
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Avatar Season 3 volume 3 and Mario Kart Wii. Life is very sweet sometimes. I even played Mario kart online and it was a blast. After constantly being snaked upon in Mario Kart DS, it was nice to have serious competition with other gamers. Twelve players made for a crowded field and a lot of lulz and swearing. Good times.
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I just placed an order at buy.com, an order that is the epitome of my gaming interests. I ordered Shikigami no Shiro III (Wii) and Let's Yoga (DS). It was somewhat strange seeing these games side-by-side, a shmup and an exergame, both being ordered for the same gamer.
Luckily, dsfanboy.com is running a week-long series on Let's Yoga that shows the more intense side of Let's Yoga and reveals one of the few cash-ins that Capcom missed.
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My wife and I went to see Iron Man yesterday. It's a good comic book movie and probably in my top 5 comic book movies, but it's not the best as many people are claiming. On our way out, we always swing by the tiny arcade area for a few games of Time Crisis. This time we spotted something different:
Mario Kart GP was there. The arcade in the nearby mall has had several of these cabinets in their staging area but I've never seen them operational there. I was pretty excited. The only downside was that it was a single player cabinet. Still, I hopped in, dropped a few quarters, selected Yoshi and was able to experience the prototype foe the Wii wheel. The game is a blast and the controls were well implemented, though I did miss being able to throw items behind me. Drifting around turns was great and the sense of speed was pretty good. The six speakers on either side of the screen drowned out any other sound in the vicinity. Overall, I was pleased and the game was a great experience.
Public Service Announcement: Circuit City has The World Ends With You on sale for $29.99 this week. I'm heading there today.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
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