Nintendorks

Off the Top of my Head: METROOOIIIID

Travis — Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:29:47 -0400

Metroid: Other M is a good game. I like it. It's a lot of fun. But the entire time I'm playing it I keep thinking about Metroid Prime. I have never thought so much about a game before while playing something else. I smile and daydream about Metroid Prime like I'm in some romantic comedy where I was set up to date some girl but really I was thinking about the woman I just realized I've been in love with all along.

This is no surprise, but I'm still flabbergasted by how many Wii games don't seem to look as good as GameCube games. I wish to understand why this is.

My cat is staring at me.

I am so glad that a company like Buena Vista (owned by Disney) took over the Turok franchise from Acclaim so that they can proceed to not make any Turok games.

Alec Trevelyan (006) looks like a freaking hobo in the new GoldenEye game. Of course he's going to betray you, he'll kill you the second he realizes you have booze money.

There are a few things that really bother me about Metroid: Other M, but then I remember the dreadful Nintendo 64 Metroid gap and I shut up.

Kid Icarus: Uprising looks neat, but thinking about its stylus heavy controls for aiming arrows has my hand cramping already.

Sometimes there is great unity with a want in our industry. And sometimes Nintendo seems oblivious. Dear Nintendo, make a new 2D Metroid on the 3DS. Call it Metroid Dread if you want. Or call it Metroid: If the Shoe Fits for all I care.

Other M: I went from "ehhh" to "whoa awesome" in 1:57

Travis — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 00:06:23 -0400

This visor is making me cross-eyed.

I wrote a bunch of crap here about how Other M is going to be talked about for years and that people will write ridiculous essays about it because it's so different and yet so samey. But none of that really matters because Metroid: Other M is freaking fun. It's got a few rough spots, but the good outweighs the bad and there's a furry animal in it that reminds me of Gizmo. Only this Gizmo is a "man with no name" kind of Gizmo that can speak volumes at you with just a stare.

After spending a couple hours with the title I can say that environment navigation is going to take some getting used to when I'm not following the game's "go here" beacon. So far that's my only real quabble. Playing Metroid game that is sometimes 2D, sometimes over the shoulder, and sometimes first person really causes you to lose your bearings fast. The maps seem to flow very well together, though, so I haven't had much of a problem with running in circles. We'll see how the game progresses on that front.

Buy this game and have fun, you guys.

Nintendo sells games

Chris — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:47:51 -0400

Games by Nintendo sell, notes syndicated media outlet. Popular gaming site chimes in, "Boy, Nintendo sure is selling well!" Nintendo's sales are in tune with prior sales figures, and indicate a trend which would occur in the future, also involving sales.

Nintendo announces 3DS release date release date

Cory — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:49:29 -0400

Exciting photo courtesy garman.

Nintendo will be revealing the release date for the 3DS on September 29, according to Bloomberg Japan. This would seem to preclude a 2010 launch date. Nintendorks will be there* live to report on any release date release date announcements that might occur.

*on the Internet refreshing Google Reader

What? New article?

Chris — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:24:04 -0400

EA's Chief Operating Officer John Schappert has been absolutely cooing about the Nintendo 3DS. He told Business Insider, "The 3DS is just incredibly cool. The 3DS is magical. You put that in your hand, you look down, and all of a sudden it�s in 3D without glasses. That�s an amazing experience. I�m a huge fan." I feel like he's talking about my penis.

Schappert also glistened mightily when he added, "I think it�s going to do incredibly well, and in typical Nintendo fashion they have re-energized the industry, yet again."

What about Sony? "I think the PSP business has been challenged for a little while now," Schappert mused, perhaps with a hint of whimsy.

Video games are gay

Chris — Tue, 6 Jul 2010 23:14:34 -0400

I meant to post this last month, but I didn't want to distract from all the E3 posts. Now that both E3 and regular updates are a thing of the past, here's some video! Whoo!

Wii Party and Mario Sports Mix: A Comparison

Cory — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:55:28 -0400

Shocking news! Wii Party features 2d6 instead of 1d12! How will the competitive Mario Party scene react?

Nintendo's new Wii party games were not only announced at the same press conference � they were right next to each other on the E3 show floor. On one hand you have "Wii Party," the Mii-filled heir apparent to the now-dormant "Mario Party franchise. On the other, "Mario Sports Mix," the Square Enix-developed expansion of their "Mario Hoops" title on the DS, now with volleyball, hockey, and more.A common complaint levied against "Mario Party" is that player skill determined very little by the end of the game. Sure, you can choose your path occasionally, and do well at minigames, but so many random events are flying around that a player could go from first place to dead last in the last two turns of the game.

"Wii Party" seems a bit more simplistic and less decision-based than "Mario Party," but this isn't really a bad thing. The board available on the show floor was basically a straight line, and minigames earned you an extra six-sided dice as long as you weren't dead last. The board game mode basically seemed to be watching things happen to you on the game board while occasionally playing a fun minigame. It's so upfront about random chance being inherent in the game structure that it's impossible to be upset when something bad happens to you. I got randomly teleported into a volcano and was still amused at the end.

Lakitu would seem to have an unfair advantage at Mario Sports Mix basketball.

"Mario Sports Mix" is almost the opposite. In a game of basketball, a single two-point shot was transformed into a 30-pointer thanks to a 15x multiplier appearing below the player taking the shot. He didn't plan for it, but it was there, and that was basically the end of the game. A similar problem plagued volleyball. The game was set to end at 11 points, and my team was at 10, up by four. We just needed one more shot to win, but a 5x multiplier appeared for the other team, enabling them to come from way behind and win on one shot. This is certainly not a Camelot-developed Mario sports game.

"Wii Party" embraces its random sillyness, while "Mario Sports Mix" moves the needle toward that same randomness while pretending player skill has something to do with victory. I know which one I'd rather play.

E3 Odds & Ends: Some closing thoughts from Garret

Travis — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:26:34 -0400

Garret:

3D TVs - Upon meandering into the Sony booth, working my way through myriad screens showing Playstation Movers and shakers, waggling away at casual games with a visual edge, I found a section dedicated to the ever growing and expanding 3D television craze. Sony, being a company that makes all kinds of electronic marvels, of course would be touting their new line of TVs and glasses that support the technology. As you might already know, the Playstation 3 is now able to display 3D games so long as you have all the necessary equipment. So why wouldn�t Sony be showing this all off? There�s games here, guys. Games in THREEE DEEEE!

I waited a moment or two for a strapping young gentlemen to put down the glasses that were tethered to a glowing white table. Once he moved, I pushed my way in and girded myself for the onslaught of this 3D phenomenon. On the screen in front of me was a demo of a racing game that will end up on the PS3 that will also be in 3D. I put on the glasses. Before me the screen went from two fuzzy images to one slightly better, depth filled image.

The demo began and the car raced down a busy city area, complete with explosions and fire for some reason. I could tell it was very mature and extreme because the car hit a few people and no one cared. Also, there was some rock music or something.

It�s hard for me to find the good in having to wear glasses to experience 3D after having played and salivated over the 3DS. With the glasses, even though the lenses are not necessarily tinted, I always had an ever-present knowledge that they were there, even outside of simply physically feeling them. The added depth somehow made things darker for me. I don�t know if that was just my viewing angle (I was slightly askew because there were three people watching at the same time), or if I just have poor eyesight. I should probably throw in the disclaimer that I�ve had eye surgery before so my eyes are probably broken or something. Maybe I�m just not seeing things like everyone else; who knows?

Outside of those unanswerable questions, I feel like you would end up forgetting that you�re wearing the glasses, just like in the theater. At first you really know you have those glasses on, but after a few minutes they�re an afterthought. With a three to four minute demo, you always know they�re on your face.

Speaking of the theater, it�s basically what you can expect from this technology at this point. You remember watching Avatar in 3D and it looking pretty good? Well, that�s about how this is. It working like they advertise isn�t necessarily the problem for me, it�s the cost of admission coupled with the fact that I actively avoid 3D movies like the plague. I don�t enjoy them at the theater and I have a pretty good inclination that I won�t at home, with or without the steep costs associated with it.

After a couple of minutes the demo locked up (the game was in alpha, I don�t fault anyone for that), and I left wondering if I could get back into the 3DS booth.

Socom 4 - Hey you guys remember MAG? It�s a game of massive action that you can play on the internet with a ton of people who have a difficult time commanding others but will whole heartedly yell at you for also being equally incompetent at it. Well, Zipper, the makers of MAG (honestly MAG is pretty fun, but what I just said still applies), is back with Socom 4. It�s the game people probably wanted MAG to be.

I waited in line for someone to leave their station. A gruff looking person from the �Dev Team� pointed me to the open console and I was ready to bomb some dodongos be a Navy Seal. I sat and the demo commenced.

This particular demo was only single player, although I do know that there will be a coop component (yay!) and multiplayer (yay...? I totally blow at Socom multiplayer so that�s not wholly appealing to me). Anyhow, the demo begins in the downtown area of a city. I unfortunately didn�t catch which, but it was very urban. A rogue ground to air missile shoots up from the streets, catching a Space-Needle-esque building right in the breadbasket, causing it to crumble and fall. Holy shit, guys! You are a no helmeted squad leader who doesn�t take kindly to those who don�t take kindly, and with that the demo begins.

The game controlled like your standard FPS. You are not running into any new territory here in that regard. Along with your four person squad, as leader guy you have control over blue squad and gold squad. Similarly to how you�d control your dudes in Mass Effect, you can point your reticule towards an area and with the D-pad send either team in that direction. If you�re a lazybones like I am, that means everyone else walks into firefights first. Some new things added to the Socomverse is the ability to take cover behind cars and obstacles. I really enjoy when games do that depth of field effect, and during cover the game focuses really tight on your character who is crouched behind whatever-the-hell. If you begin to aim the focus is drawn to things in the distance. Uncharted 2 did this a lot and it�s a great effect. Here it seems a little more dramatic and it really draws your eyes to what is in focus.

Speaking of graphics, there was a trailer that was released a few weeks ago that made it seem the game was not really that visually great. I can tell you that they were good, but not as awesome as we�ve seen in other upcoming big budget titles.

The demo basically had your running around on a bombed out freeway as you go from cover to cover, Gears style. I don�t say that as a bad thing, but it you�ll use the now-standard cover system quite a bit. Prepare for it. I unfortunately didn�t get to finish the demo because I had to go film Travis being REALLY bored in the Kirby line, but from what I played I was excited to get back into some Socom. One of the best memories of the PS2 era was playing coop Socom 3 throughout the entire game. It was a blast.

I look forward to doing more shoostings in Socom 4.

Travis: While copy/pasting this I was eating Cocoa Puffs. Is there anyone in the world that doesn't like Cocoa Puffs?

Metroid: That Other Game

Travis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:04:30 -0400

Garret: As the only one of us who actually had a chance to play Metroid: Other M, I figured I'd write up a little something something about it.

The demo that I played involved some backstory, so just know they didn't take any of that business out of anything they showed. If you've been dreading the day when you actually have to learn something about Samus via something other than context clues or scanning environments, in a couple of months you'll have to endure a new type of storytelling for a Metroid. Get yourself into the mindset of getting over it. That's the new direction.

The demo was basically the one you may have read of before, the one they've been showing press for the last couple of months. Samus is sent to a scary derelict space station. As she enters, she is shot at by some crazy space marines. As Samus ninja-dodges out of the way, a cutscene enters. You learn a few things via the cutscene that we might not have known before. And how do you know that this information is something you might not know? Well, Samus says, "This is something that you might not know about me�" So there you go.

After a short cutscene that also teaches you how to use the charge beam, you blast open a door, your new found old friends run ahead, and you are left to follow. Unluckily for you, after walking through the door you are surrounded by flying evil purple space bats, and they knock you off a bridge to fall into the heart of the space ship. You then have to fight your way back to your space buddies and ultimately to a boss.

So how does it play? Well, awesomely. I can't say that it's not odd to switch between holding the controller sideways and then turning it to point and shoot, but after a few times it's not a huge issue; you get used to it. With that said, though, it's still kind of an odd decision. The game right next to Metroid was Donkey Kong Country Returns, and IT uses the nunchuck. Why? Not really sure, actually, but wholly-side-scrolling Donkey Kong has analogue control and Samus doesn't. Go figure.

Moving on, Samus runs and shoots at things, and she flips and jumps with aplomb. It's very fast and fun, with enemies jumping in from all directions. Similarly to Shadow Complex, Samus can shoot in all directions. Not similarly to Shadow Complex, you don't actively choose what to shoot. If you're pointing towards the right, she generally aims at the closest thing and goes to town. What you need to do is look and see in which direction (left, right, front, back) to point her to make sure you don't get hit. And that brings me to my next point.

While the game is basically a side scroller, the hallways have depth. Everything is rendered in 3D (because you can go into first person at any time), so you can actually move Samus back and forth in each hallway. You can run around some ground enemies, for example. On occasion the hallways turn and you have to run forward or back. IT'S CRAZY! Just know that it's not a strictly 2D affair when moving around.

And then you fight a boss! The room has you friends you met earlier in it, and they help you freeze parts of the giant purple blob monster. The main boss "authorizes" the use of missiles, so for the fight you get to blast the purple bastard with arm powered rockets. Using crazy freezing guns, your impromptu comrades freeze sections of the boss and you blast him with missiles, effectively exploding the blog into oblivion. After that, the little booth lady rips the controller out of your hand and pushes you along.

I will leave these impressions with simply saying that it feels like a very solid game and I will be buying it. So there, take that.

Travis: I wish I got to play this game. I m sad now.

[radio] E3 Pizzacast 2010

Travis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:46:58 -0400

Once a year we sit around the campfire and share tales of adventure and woe. At the same time we eat pizza. We call this the pizzacast. You can get your episode now on iTunes (search for Nintendorks Radio in the iTunes store) or right here.

Pizzacast 2010
Our official E3 festivities for 2010. A retelling forged with one microphone. We discuss 3DS, Kinect, Move, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby: Epic Yarn, Metroid: Other M, NAMBOJAM, and more!

Nambo Jam is so good, you guys.

We hope you enjoyed the E3 coverage. It's been more work than you think! Write us at radio@nintendorks.com.