Nokia Big Screen with Nokia N8 and Wii Remote

Nokia Beta Labs today announced the availability of Nokia Big Screen for Symbian^3 devices with HDMI-out (currently only the Nokia N8 supports this, with the E7 not due out for a couple of weeks).

Symbian^3 with HDMI-out ports already allow users to watch videos, pictures and play music on their HD telly, but the mobile orientated UI is far from suitable for media consumption. With Nokia Big Screen, the application presents the user with a UI that is designed from the ground up to take advantage of a large HD screen (up to 720p). The phone's screen will double as a remote, with a layout similar to a TV remote. But even then that isn't ideal.

In comes the Wii remote (and other Bluetooth enabled devices like keyboard). In the case of Nintendo's waggle device, just activate the Wiimote's Bluetooth pairing mode by pressing the red button at the back (or press the 1+2 buttons which I forgot...). The buttons works as they should: A for select, B for back and the Home key takes you right back to the front.

It isn't perfect though, but then this is merely a proof of concept app by their Beta Labs department. I would like to see bigger fonts, as well as support for folder/sorting support (what's with Nokia and their refusal to support folders with picture viewing apps?) and proper 720p support (images are still displayed at what I believe is VGA resolution).

Metroid: Other M gameplay

Dear Wii developers (including you Nintendo): more games like this please. My dusty Wii (currently in storage) demands so.

20% off consoles offer at Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's is having a 20% off consoles offer that is brilliant for people who prefer to get their consoles and games the a la carte way.

Amazon UK is selling the Nintendo DSi for £139.99, but Sainsbury's selling it for £119.97 - a saving of £20!

The PSP-3000, which normally costs £129.99, is being sold for £119.99 - a decent saving of about £10 even if it comes with some Hannah something game. Still you are better off getting the Dissidia: Final Fantasy bundle for £10 more if you are planning on getting that anyway (I do suggest so as it is a brilliant game).

The Wii console bundle with Wii Motion Plus, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort is priced at £135.99, a saving of about £30 compared to Amazon's price of £164.99.

And finally, the new 120GB PlayStation 3 Slim has a RRP of £249.99, but is a snip at only £199.99 at Sainsbury's, making this the best none-bundled PS3 deal you can find in the UK at this time. Also, don't forget that ever important cheap HDMI cable (sorry What Hi-Fi, your expensive HDMI cable is better is a load of bollocks).

Sony wins E3

Seriously, as a gamer I am only interested in one thing = games. Not silly lifestyle applications like Facebook and silly none-gaming stuff. And Sony delivered today. I mean sweet Jesus, just look at the shit they have in store for us:

PS3
The Last Guardian (Team ICO)
God of War III
Fat Princess
MAG
Uncharted 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIV
Metal Gear Solid: Rising
Agent
Heavy Rain
Mod Nation Racers
Gran Turismo 5 (with WRC Rally)



PSP
Gran Turismo
Final Fantasy: Dissidia
Fat Princess
Jak & Daxter
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (sequel to Snake Eater)
LittleBigPlanet
Final Fantasy Agito XIII
Motorstorm: Arctic Edge
Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday
Soulcalibur Broken Destiny
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Resident Evil
Tekken 6

Nintendo has some decent stuff, but their E3 conference is hampered by ridiculous amount of back patting and gloating. Give it up Nintendo and stop being a prat. Still Team Ninja's take on the Metroid franchise will be interesting. Can't wait to see what they do with Samus! And we still have Dragon Quest IX for the DS to look forward to.

Nintendo

So it has come to this. Nintendo's solutions to drying Wii titles is through remaking GameCube games. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition was a nice update, but that was a year ago when Capcom wanted to make a quick buck and test the market. But this autumn 2008, two years after the Wii was released. Pikmin was a great game and I may rent it again (but I'll not buy). While it does look like a couple of new I.P.s will be coming our way like that Kid Icarus-like game shown at the conference, I just hope that development of new titles isn't hindered by their new found wisdom of cashing-in on GameCube Wii-makes.

Update: Joining Pikmin as Nintendo's 'take advantage of gullible fan base who will buy anything' business model are Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Chibi Robo, Pikmin 2, Mario Tennis GC, Metroid Prime, and Metroid Prime 2 Dark Echoes. Sigh.

I've mixed feeling about the new DSi. Not sure about the camera and music player but the bigger screens may may handy, though without an increased in resolution may prove pixelated. Also glad to see it has reinforced hinges. The DSi is a bit like the Game Boy micro - a new model to milk the brand dry and prevent a price drop. Personally I'll hold out for the proper DS successor, but if you don't already own a DS Lite then I see nothing wrong with the DSi. Unless they start making DSi specific games that is... Hmm...

In other news Dragon Quest IX has been dated for a March 2009 release, in Japan. Well, at least the title has not been stuck in development hell. In the meantime do play Dragon Quest IV.

E3 presser round-up

So what did we learn from the big three's E3 press conference?

Nintendo
- Still focusing on none-gaming.
- Animal Crossing Wii looks like DS version with voice chat and waggle.
- Back patting themselves is all they do these days, very early 1990s of them.
- Video games? What video games?

Microsoft
- Is trying to get some of that casual gaming moolah, will likely to fail.
- Did a great job crashing GAF with news of Final Fantasy XIII on 360.
- Still using proprietary HDD interface. 60GB? Very meh.

Sony
- Team ICO, where art thou?
- 256 player MAG by the developer of SOCOM is exciting news indeed.
- GOW III has been re-confirmed, again. Nothing new we didn't already know about...
- Resistance PSP sounds exciting but the developer doesn't. Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror was shit.

To be honest I didn't bother to watch a single video of the conference, bar the last couple of minutes of Sony's. Just text updates on Twitter and GAF. A disappointing E3 so far. Boo!

Golden Joystick Awards

Obviously not all are true. For example I've never played Portal on the 360 - only on the PC, I've only played MGS4 for like 2 hours (best 2 hours of my life, this year), and Snails Reloaded isn't on the best mobile list (for shame Future, do you even play games???). But I am not going to pass off the opportunity to skew the votes now, am I?

www.goldenjoystick.com

Anyway, which of you nitwits nominated Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles and Sonic & Mario for best handheld game?

Tsk tsk Capcom

Apparently the Wii port of Ōkami had the credits cut from the version, and this has been confirmed by Capcom themselves. The reason? Some legal issues regarding the usage of the now dissolved Clover Studio logo. Which to me seems to be a none issue, other than the fact that Capcom is being lazy yet again. Ōkami's credit sequence is one of the most beautiful that I've ever had the honour to sit through and is integral to the experience of the game, so to found out that the credit film (and epilogue) has been cut out from an allegedly shoddy Wii port and not been replaced, saddens me. The very fact that Capcom did not bother to transcribe the names of the people who originally made Ōkami and put them into a new credit sequence is, as Ōkami's director Hideki Kamiya puts it, utterly deplorable. For shame Capcom, you can even get the list for free from MobyGames.

Here's the low quality YouTube video of the credit for you to enjoy, with Ayaka Hirahara's Reset. After watching it go buy and play the definitive PS2 version of Ōkami - one of the finest games ever created. I hope Capcom does the decent thing and include the credits with the Wii EU release.

Buy Okami (not an ad by Capcom, serious)

Now that the Wii port of Okami has been released in the US, there really is no more excuse not to play this especially if you are a hardcore Nintendo fanboy who's never owned a PS2. Obviously my suggestion is to get the original made by Clover Studio version (shakes fist at Capcom). Especially since impressions of the Ready at Dawn port indicates that waggle control does not suit the game much and that despite progressive and widescreen support, some of the special effects were absent (paper filter for example is almost missing). But hey, whatever rocks your boat. Just go play the game. Then buy Beyond Good & Evil (please Michel Ancel, no more ruined classic IPs by Peter Jackson) and Psychonauts and ICO.

Pre-order the Wii version here. And yes I will repost this again when the PAL version arrives. This is better than Twilight Princess, and therefore deserves more hype.

No More Heroes review

The Wii, as much as I loved it, so far has been exactly like the GameCube - in that its core audience disappoints me. Gamers demand more original games, but when something like Zack and Wiki comes they ignore them. I blame the none-gamers and hardcore Nintendo folks, but that would be too easy. So here we have No More Heroes, a unique Wii game that isn't a port that has bombed because nobody knows about it. I've yet to see a single promotion for this title on telly or in print, but I've already seen twenty commercials of a couple of models playing Mario Kart Wii - a game that is guaranteed to sell out anyway because the mass media thinks that bolting a controller to a plastic toy is innovative, and Ian fucking Wright.

No More Heroes is generally a pretty good game and has a similar style to Suda 51's previous title Killer7. Unfortunately it also doesn't provide you with a substantial amount of content. Here you play as Travis Touchdown, an otaku kid living in a fictional city of Santa Destroy, California. He is a stereotypical video game addict, therefore is blood thirsty for violence. And he moonlights as an assassin killing people with his light sabre rip-off which he won in an online auction, all part of his plan to buy more video games as well as gaining the number one position within the United Assassins Association, a trade body of sorts for all kinds of hitmans.

Despite the similar visuals to Killer7, No More Heroes is an open-world free roaming sandbox game. You can get around the town by foot or through his motorcycle. In between assassinations, Travis can earn cash in numerous available part time jobs such as mowing lawns, collecting coconuts and picking the garbage. Yes, more mini-games for the Wii - we just can't get enough... Money earned can be used to buy weapons, clothes and more video tapes. You can watch videos or change clothings at Travis's apartment as well as saving the game when Travis takes a dump. Despite the seemingly sandbox style, No More Heroes is a very linear experience. Complete the odd job, kill some generic enemies, kill assassin to rise up the rank, rinse & repeat.


Combat is naturally via the use of the Wii remote and Nunchuk attachment. You control Travis movement via the Nunchuk controller, using the analog stick to move him and pressing the 'Z' button to block or lock-on the target. Travis's beam katana is controlled via pressing the 'A' button on the Wiimote. Here is where the disappointment comes in. You can't perform 1:1 sword movements with the Wii remote. The only concession to this is the ability to tilt the waggle slightly to adjust the beam katana attack to low or high. You can hold down the 'A' button to charge Travis's katana attack, of which the result will depend on which stance you are on. Travis can also perform melee attacks ('B' button) as well as displaying his wrestling moves on his stunned opponents. Overall I felt more could have been given to showcase the Wii's innovative potential as it seems to be a waste when many of the moves can easily be replicated on a traditional gamepad.

Ignoring the bland environment (with less than stellar frame rate) and some fairly annoying glitches (e.g. collision detection, ugh); No More Heroes oozes great overall style, wonderful production value and more importantly does not take itself too seriously. The voice acting is top notch and the soundtrack mixed with a variety of different modern genre. Media savvy gamers would be delighted with the plentiful of contemporary pop culture references that pokes fun at our hobbies, yet we play it because we connect with the central character. However there is a sense that despite all these, the title deserves just a bit more than a collection of mini-games - though I would not completely dismiss the title as a style over substance game. Despite that I highly recommend Wii owners to pick up No More Heroes. Don't you go disappointing yourself by picking up something like Sonic & Mario.

7/10

Agreeing with Daily Mail, oh no

They still write bollocks, but today I find myself sadly agreeing with them that the use of Wiis as a tool in school P.E. classes is a waste of good judgement. Screw Wii Fit and DDR, the only way to get proper exercise is doing physical outdoor activities. It is cheaper too and nobody is sad enough to steal footballs.

Shut up Daily Mail with your one-hit wisdom. Go back to writing shit so we normal people can resume hating you. Not that they were right anyway, "2% more energy than playing on traditional" pads is clearly made up.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles mini-review

The Umbrella Chronicles is a spin-off light-gun exclusive for the Wii. The title refers to a collection of stories that ties up the events behind the Umbrella Corporation by letting the player visit certain key events in Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. The gameplay revolves around the Wiimote and Nunchank extension and operates in a similar fashion to Resident Evil 4: Wii edition. However the game is an on-rail shooter, therefore the freedom of exploration is very limited.


To be honest I haven't played a light gun title in years since the exhausting a certain The House of Dead (can't remember which one) in the now defunct Trocadero SEGAworld, so it was a surprise that I found this title to be pretty entertaining. The concept of playing light gun games on home consoles isn't entirely new, and the familiar Resident Evil settings didn't offer anything new but the gameplay does provide a unique opportunity in making a franchise title fun. Unlike normal Resident Evil games, the entire premise of The Umbrella Chronicles isn't meant to provide a survival horror experience. It is still a requirement to reach check points, but doing so in an 'arcadey' fashion did give me more of a chuckle than even Resident Evil 4 ever did. The gameplay is pretty shallow, and there is nothing new to be gained storyline wised, but at least it did offer me one entertaining evening a month ago. Graphically the game is very similar to GameCube Resident Evil remakes. It isn't anything special and is something to be expected of a quick Wii cash-in title like this.

With a price tag of £35, The Umbrella Chronicles doesn't really provide a whole lot of value. It may be fun, but overall it does lack substance. My advice: rent it.

7/10

Video Games to look forward to

The year 2008 will be another great one for video gaming, especially with plenty of games finally arriving on the PS3 platform after years of hard development. Here are some that I will be watching out for this year, on hardwares I own. Sorry, no Dragon Quest IX here as I believe the title to be stuck in development hell after Level-5 were forced to revert the originally intended action RPG gameplay to turn-based. Expect it to be a 2009 title for English speaking nations.

Bangai-O Spirits (Treasure, DS)
Little is known about this title except that it is a multi-directional shooter made by portable king developer Treasure, and is a sequel to a N64/Dreamcast game. With four player multiplayer and level editor, the game will feature some puzzle based level designs. Make sure to check out these fantastic screenshots here.

echochrome (Sony Japan Studios, PSP)
echochrome is a puzzle game that I have been looking forward to since Sony unveiled it during last year's E3 press briefing. The PlayStation Network game is based on a rotating world taking cues from Oscar Reutersvard's impossible construction and involves the player creating the path of a mannequin by manipulating the camera's perspective. Confused? Watch the trailer here. echochrome is also set to debut on the PS3 as a PSN game.

Final Fantasy IV (Matrix Software/Square-Enix, DS)
After a positive impression with the Japanese version, I really couldn't wait for the localised version to hit Western shores. One of the best Japanese role playing games is about to get better, I can promise you that.

God of War: Chains of Olympus (Ready at Dawn, PSP)
If having a portable God of War isn't exciting enough, how about it being developed a studio founded by former developers of Naughty Dog (Uncharted) and Blizzard Entertainment (Warcraft)? That alone should be enough to pluck down for a PSP alone. Chains of Olympus is a prequel to the series and will chart everyone's favourite Spartan killer in visuals that are said to be on par with its PS2 cousins.

Nanostray 2 (Shin'en, DS)
The first Nanostray game was a masterpiece of old school gameplay design. Hampered only by the forced use of touchscreen to select weapons, Nanostray was a must for vertical shooter fans. Nanostray 2 looks set to arrive with improved visuals, as well as introducing horizontal side scrolling gameplay and shunning the dreadful touchscreen implementations. Fans of Gradius and Treasure's Ikaruga will do well in ordering this in advance, considering the long delays we may have to suffer due to Majesco's policy of limited print runs.

No More Heroes (Grasshopper Manufacture, Wii)
"Censored" or otherwise, no one should be put off from playing No More Heroes. The heavily stylised visuals combined with a sandbox style gameplay and open world is a huge departure from Suda 51's amazing but physically constrained killer7.

Odin Sphere (Vanillaware, PS2)
Like GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere features beautifully hand drawn sprites and art work. Reviewers in other countries has praised its storyline as well as its action RPG combat system. Let us hope that we will also be getting bilingual Japanese/English voice acting as our North American cousins do.

Patapon (Sony Japan Studios, PSP)
Developed by the people behind LocoRoco, Patapon features a two-dimensional gameplay that requires the player to press the button to create a rhythm in order to control an army of minituare cutesy and adorable creature. The concept is similar to war drums used by past historical military.

Secret Agent Clank (High Impact Games, PSP)
Yay, another Ratchet & Clank platformer - this time by the former Insomniacs employers who also brought us Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. As the title indicates, this is a spin-off title featuring Ratchet's sidekick Clank as an espionage agent (with tuxedo suit to and all) and will feature classic R&C style platforming and gun blazing, as well as Metal Gear Solid inspired sneaking gameplay.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Atlus, PS2)
This Megaten game has received much critical acclaim in Japan and North America, where it even caught the attention of mainstream media. While at heart still a typical Megaten RPG, the game also involves the player to involve themselves in day to day school activities such as dating and video gaming(!). One surely not to be missed. Hopefully us PAL chums will also get the FES version.

Naturally PS3 and 360 owners will have plenty more to look forward to compared to cheap gamers like meself. The lucky bastards. Anyway not all I will get to play due to the fact that there is still a huge back catalogue from 2007 I've yet to touch (particularly on the PSP platform).

So what are you looking forward to playing this year? Metal Gear Solid 4? GTA IV? Little Big Planet? Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Do tell.

Wii Remote Jacket

So this was dropped by the postman today. I originally derided Nintendo's decision to spend millions of dollars making this when they can probably spend much less translating MOTHER 3. Well after an incident last month when a over enthusiastic (none-gamer) guest almost broke our Wii remote by slamming it onto the ceiling, I decided to place an order for two of these silicon Wii remote jacket. Honestly my impression on this product is that these are still useless and fugly. It is fat and makes the perfectly weighted Wii remote heavy, making gaming a chore. And to further prove my point on how much money Nintendo is wasting on these, included in the package is a four page user's manual on how to use the jacket!

Anyway people with common sense need not use this, but we will still force newbs and guests to use them.

2007: The Rise of Video Games

With EDGE, AP et. al. publishing their games award, this tiny blogger reminisce on his personal experience with video games in the year 2007, starting with what he thinks should be game of the year. Minimal next-gen games here as he doesn't own a PS3 because it is too expensive and 360 because he fears 3ROD (and the box is ugly). PC games are rare too as the gaming desktop is now badly ageing (single core FTL) barely capable of running many new games - at all. Also because he resides in a PAL region he gets to play 2006 titles can rate them as 2007 titles. A list resides here if you are keen to skip ahead of this sorry excuse of an essay, whose mindless rambling might numb you.


The first couple of 2007 has been what I termed the 'Final Fantasy' months as I slaved through replays of Final Fantasy IV, V and VI in their Gameboy Advance iterations. Then came the time when Square-Enix unleashed the PAL version of Final Fantasy XII on us, which after a second play through I can honestly say without a doubt that this is my favourite Final Fantasy game of all time. It had everything that the six feet under (?) Matsuna could have given us - a sense of grand scale plot, freedom and no teeny whiny melodramatic characters. After this going back to playing Final Fantasy X made it look archaic and highlights the obvious problems with the game for what it was - on-rails RPG, forgettable characters, horrible voice acting, and a cheesy storyline.


After completing Final Fantasy XII I immediately thought that as far as PAL regions are concern, XII has technically sealed my book as game of the year. But then Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria dropped into my lap. I am a huge fan of the first Valkyrie Profile game (which I had the chance to replay on the PSP), but this tri-Ace sequel simply outdoes it. Like Final Fantasy XII, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria eschews old school gameplay mechanics for a real time battle system. However unlike XII, it isn't revolutionary as these things has been done before in the PS1 title. But rather than reinventing the wheel, tri-Ace simply polish the gameplay to perfection. Silmeria is like Lenneth but in shiny new clothes, new storyline and a much more polished battle system.


On other fronts, The Console That Just Refuses To Die continues to impress throughout the year. We had God of War II, the excellent follow up to one of the most finest action games of all time. Euro gamers were lucky to receive two Shin Megami Tensei games, the closure to the Digital Devil Saga series and action RPG Devil Summoner. Rogue Galaxy, Level-5's spiritual successor to Dark Cloud 2 was pretty good despite the mediocre storyline and generic dungeon designs. And we had two games by the studio that crafted Viewtiful Joe and the producer who created Resident Evil - Okami and God Hand, both of which sold terribly but received wide critical praise.


In a year where hype meant more than anything and games like Halo 3 courting mainstream press attention that they do not deserve; Okami despite the numerous awards and positive buzz by the gaming press, was simply ignored by the mass majority of gamers. It is the sort of game that does not deserved to be ported to the Wii to succeed. Capcom eventually drop the axe on the studio (Clover) behind these classics, diverting their development cash to such mediocre titles like Lost Planet and cancelling projects.


On the portable side I only played one PSP game which was the previously mentioned Valkyrie Profile port. Sadly the port was just as awesome that the PSP Slim & Lite is now on my list of to get console. The DS on the other hand remained my second most played console after the PlayStation 2. Unfortunately it has been an average year for the DS compared to 2006. Hotel Dusk is currently receiving a huge push on UK telly by Fern and Philip, but back in January the arrogant protagonist and linear gameplay proved annoying enough that despite finishing the game the story was so forgettable I swore I was reading one of Dan Brown's book. I even blame it for destroying my import Enamel Navy DS Lite. The situation did not improve as Rare's port of a N64 game Diddy Kong Racing arrived in its DS form. It was pure and utter shit and easily the worst investment a gamer can ever invest in.


The quality of DS games eventually improved. The new Pokemon arrived and succeeds, proving that you do not need to shoehorn 'features' into a game to sell it well. Even a port of a GBA game Gyakuten Saiban 3 arrives intact with no crazy departures from the core gameplay. Coupled with an amazing storyline and a cast of likeable characters, Phoenix Wright's last outing was the best in the trilogy and a prove that if anything the point and touch genre didn't die with when Guybrush Threepwood went AWOL.


That was unlike the new Zelda game that despite being developed by an internal Nintendo EAD studio, disappoints greatly with its lack of puzzles, forced functions and repetitive gameplay, stamped with a huge 'Made for Touch Generations' on Link's forehead. December was a great month for DS games as Final Fantasy XII's sequel Revenant Wings impress with its unique RPG take on the RTS genre. Meanwhile Kuju's Geometry Wars: Galaxies became my second most addictive game on the platform just after Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (which is criminally still missing from PAL regions).


It would not be a video game year without some controversial shit storm. First was anti gaming rag The Daily Mail (the very same paper that described the Ipswich murder victims as "disgusting, drug-addled street whores" and their deaths as "no great loss") whose sister publication the Mail on Sunday printed a picture of a God of War II launch party where a decapitated goat was on hands to entertain the gaming press. The uproar caused Future Press to recall OPM where the uncensored picture was originally printed. Not all book stores heeded the request as a visit to Borders a week later made me a proud owner of what could eventually be a collector's item - as well as a 'This is Living' t-shirt which immediately found usefulness as a bathroom rag.


But this was nothing compared to the BBC's handling into the Manchester Cathedral versus Sony case in regards to Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man PS3 title. I still remember the day the 'news' broke out as it was the leading news on BBC News website for much of the day. To this day the many factually incorrect details regarding the game remains, a disappointment to the credibility of the BBC who are usually well known to be pretty thorough when it comes to accuracy. For example the fact that the architecture design belongs to the public domain was not reported. Then we have the banning of Manhunt 2. Readers will know that I came out against the ban but a part of me right now believes that it was right decision for the BBFC to ban it. You see while I am still against censorship, I find Rockstar's lack of talent in producing good games mind boggling. Instead it courts controversial by making abysmal games that revolves around violence just for the sake of it, and hopes it sells to minors who masturbates to blood. Not cool.


Recently a very minor uproar hit the gaming community when a Gamespot editor was allegedly fired because his review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men did not conform with a publisher's wishes. The editor in question is Jeff Gerstmann, most famously flogged by Nintendo fanboys for giving The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess a positive review! The fact that the same video game fans are now supporting him is not without irony. Fact is nothing has been proven that links his 'firing' with Eidos, just dubious claims by various hypocritical gaming blogs, whose lack of editorial transparency and journalistic ethics are probably not that much better than CNet's. Even if such allegations are true there is no doubt that such a practice would continue. There is nothing a duffel bag with goodies worth $800 can't do to sway opinion.


But the year 2007 should be remembered as the acceptance of our beloved hobby by the mainstream, no thanks to Nintendo's Wii and the strong sales of the DS as well as Sony and Microsoft's effort to market their consoles as living room entertainment hubs. The Wii has been a hot commodity this year with everyone from kiddie gamers to OAPs clamouring for one at GAME. Lapsed gamers and people with no previous gaming background are finally buying a gaming console. The bad news here is that success tends to attract the unattractive and it isn't any different to the Wii with plenty of games released on it being *shit*.


The Wii has attracted shovelware like never before with PS2/PSP ports and games with graphics worse than its predecessors the GameCube and sometimes the ten year old N64. There are occasional gems like Super Mario Galaxy, who returns the king of platforming title to Kyoto's most famous plumber; as well as the brilliant but short on-rails shooter Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. What pisses me off is instead of buying these, these supposed new gamers are instead investing in mediocre titles like Sega's Sonic and Mario at the Olympics, Boogie or High School Musical.


So what will 2008 bring us? Honestly, plenty. On The Console That Just Refuses To Die, KOEI/Atlus will be bringing us dating simulator/RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, which if the die hards on GAF and Associated Press (!!) is to be believed - is a rock solid RPG. Then Square-Enix will be publishing Vanillaware's Odin Sphere, whose excellent RTS Grim Grimoire PS2 title was a gem find. On the DS we will have such titles as Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Final Fantasy IV, Gyakuten Saiban 4 and hopefully Dragon Quest IV. Not a solid line-up unless Level-5 gets Dragon Quest IX out, in which case it would be the end of the world.


There is only one title on the Wii that so far interest me and that is Suda 51's No More Heroes while the deluge of quick development titles like Wii Fit and Wii Chess (!) should keep the none-gamers happy with their toy. The PS3 seems to be the console that has the most titles that currently ticks my skin but the price is still a barrier of entry into this fine dining club where such fine games like Disgaea 3, Knight White Story, Little Big Planet, Echochrome and Final Fantasy XIII would be served next year. If Sony would just cut the price to below £250 then 2008 may be the year I will be playing Metal Gear Solid 4.

2007: Video Games "The List"

"GOTY"

1. Final Fantasy XII (review)
2. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (review)
3. Okami (review)
4. God of War II
5. Super Mario Galaxy (review)
6. Half-Life 2: Portal
7. Sam & Max: season one
8. Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (impressions)
9. God Hand (review)
10. The Witcher
11. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (review)
    
12. Final Fantasy XII: The Revenant Wings (review)
    
13. Gyakuten Saiban 3 (review)
14. Geometry Wars: Galaxies (review)
15. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2
16. Final Fantasy VI Advance (review)
    
17. Pokemon Diamond & Pearl (review)
18. Rogue Galaxy (review)
19. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (review)
20. Grim Grimoire (review)
21. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (review)
22. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

PlayStation 2: Final Fantasy XII
PSP: Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (review)
Nintendo Wii: Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo DS: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
GameCube: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (released in 2006, but played in 07)
GBA: Final Fantasy VI Advance
PC: Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

Action: God of War II
FPS: Half-Life 2: The Orange Box
Adventure: Gyakuten Saiban 3
JRPG: Final Fantasy XII
Old School RPG: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2
Western RPG: The Witcher
Tactical RPG: Luminous Arc
RTS: Supreme Commander
Multiplayer: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Rhythm: Osu Tatakae Ouendan 2
Platformer: Super Mario Galaxy
Party: SingStar series
Sports: Wii Sports

Still don't get it: Guitar Hero series
Disappointing game of the year: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Worse game of the year: Diddy Kong Racing
Disappointment of the year: Nintendo Wii

Best game we keep rebuying: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl
Best game no one played: Okami
Best game no one played part two: God Hand
Most addictive game of the year: Geometry Wars: Galaxies
Best game I haven't played (yet): Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Best ad: 'The Entertainment' for Sony
Best console control scheme: Resident Evil: Wii edition
Worst ad(s): Nintendo's celebrity (i.e. none-gamers) endorsements particularly Ian Wright and Fern & Philip

Heartbreak: Capcom axing Clover Studios
Meltdown: Gamespot/Eidos

Villain of the year: Millions of space aliens
Hero of the year: Phoenix Wright from Gyakuten Saiban

Graphics: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Visual style: Everyday Shooter
Architecture style: Final Fantasy XII
Character art design: Kazuma Kaneko for Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless
Music: Hitoshi Sakimoto for Final Fantasy XII

More GOTY lists around the web (to be updated daily here until I grow bored):

Richard gives Crackdown and Super Mario Galaxy the thumbs up as well as giving conclusive evidence that the media's adoration for Halo 3 was half-baked.

Associated Press just created some enemies within the Nintendo fanboy community by awarding Ratchet & Clank Future a higher spot to Super Mario Galaxy. Which although I never played I see can where they are getting at. The R&C series always had that one thing that Mario lacked - riot fun. The fact that they even awarded a niche Shin Megami Tensei game into the top 10 gives meant that AP just gained massive kudos point from me when compared to specialised gaming press. And they didn't buy into the hype that was Halo 3. :)

The Guardian Gamesblog awards Warhawk the title of PS3 GOTY, which to be honest sounds about fine. I have witness the multiplayer awesomeness that it does bring to the living room, especially one equipped with a 37" LCD, so I have qualms about it. On the other hand they believe that GTA IV is the most promising game of 2008...

The New York Times gives Super Mario Galaxy a shaft and Ninty fanboys everywhere flips. To be fair the NYT's reasoning is quite reasonable. SMG without the gloss and waggle, is the same game we played ten years ago, like most Nintendo games. There are improvements no doubt, to graphics and gameplay but sometimes people just want something different.

GameSpy believes that God of War II deserves the title of GOTY for the PS2 and so does their readers. Honestly, if you remove all the 2006 late PAL arrivals you will also notice that God of War II would have been top of my GOTY list too. Their overall GOTY will be announced later.

There is no official Slashdot GOTY list but names like Portal (Half-Life 2: Orange Box), Super Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect gets the nod by some of the contributors.

Pocket Gamer lists Lifesigns as one of the worst DS games this year. While I won't argue that it is a magnificent game, the fact that they claimed that it is a rip-off of Trauma Center immediately invalidates the list. Shoddy journalism.

Eurogamer's official top 50 list is available now. Their top 10 list is very predictable. Phantom Hourglass at five. LMAO. Good decision not giving Mario Galaxy and Halo 3 top spot though.

No More Heroes

No More Heroes is my most anticipated, nay, my only anticipated Wii game for 2008. News that Europe/PAL region will be receiving a so-called "censored" version doesn't really bother me much, unlike the many prepubescent 12-year old gamers whose knee jerk reactions embarrass me. It is already a heavily stylized game anyway, so who is going to be bothered about some red blood or some headless corpse? Certainly not me. I don't need morbid curiosity to stir me up to actually play a game, watch a film or read a book. As long as it plays better than the turd that was Manhunt, then stop whining and play the damn game. People who rejects this game purely because it does not feature decapitation or blood are demented and needs professional help.

Here is a wallpaper (via GAF) for you to enjoy. Do it Travis style.

Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was one of the new IPs announced by Nintendo during the E3 announcement of the Wii last year. It has since been stuck in development hell with Nintendo Japan possibly diverting development priorities to non-games projects. New screenshots of an early built has since emerged on neoGAF and honestly I think it looks good, in a fun sort of way. Which should not be surprising as it was being developed by NST, the Redmond based Nintendo first party developers behind the fun but flawed Metroid Prime Hunters DS game. The environments are lovely and well designed (for a Wii game anyway),

Please Nintendo. More fun games and less 'Training' shite. A new IP or two would be nice too.

More here.

Club Nintendo Europe

Finally Nintendo of Europe did something right.

No, I am not talking about the pathetic 4:1 Nintendo VIP:24 star points exchange rate for Wii points, which is worse than the American exchange rate. With SNES games costing 800 Wii points, what this means is to get a free SNES game worth £5.60 it would cost the customer roughly £520 in purchases. That is about 1% back! Which is pathetic. As far as customer loyalty schemes go this is even worse than the dreadful Nectar card. Even Boots offers at least 4p back for every one quid spent, not to mention the numerous triple points offers on weekends.

But I digress. The right thing that NoE did do which I was referring to is the fact that NoE finally decides to offer us some Club Nintendo goodies which were previously only available for members of Club Nintendo Japan. So after trying to access the site for much of the yesterday I finally decided to trade in 4500 star points (the equivalent of registering two systems and 14 games) for a Mario Game Rack. Still a huge rip-off, but at least it is something physical, rare and can't be bought in any shops. Fingers crossed that NoE does not screw up and really does ship this in four weeks time.


I still have 5700+ star points with more being added soon (as long as I can find some misplaced VIP scratch cards). So what should I get next? The NES Classic Notebook looks nice and the Mushroom Kingdom Bracelet is perfect as a gift, if not useless. Or should I order another rack and auction it off? There are loads of Mario Kart replicas but these are easily obtainable at GAME or Gamestation, so no thanks. Maybe I should wait for something uber rare like the Game & Watch DS game. One thing that is definite is no way will I trade in my star points for Wii points.

Wii round-up

If there is one thing that Super Mario Galaxy proved is that somewhere in Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters there are still people who loves playing video games. And thank god for that. SMG is one of the best platforming video games, ever. It easily surpass Super Mario 64 (which to be honest I never really got into it) and is easily the only game that comes close to demonstrating the full potential of the Wii platform with its gravity gameplay and spherical platforms (planets).


It isn't a perfect game (camera for one can get annoying) and like New Super Mario Bros., can be pretty easy for the seasoned players. The lack of cohesive plot may put off some but then again since when did anybody played a Mario game for its storyline? The visual design while brilliant isn't helped by the lack of the Wii's lack of graphical power, but at least it is very very pretty. Worth dusting off your Wii for.

If platforming isn't your cup of tea, then you may want to pass this as well. The third game in the Metroid Prime sub-series is more of a technology showcase for the Wiimote's FPS capability. Do not get me wrong. Like Metroid Prime: Hunters, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was fun and if anything goes it only cements the truth that the gameplay future of console first person shooter genre lies not with clunky dual analogue controllers, but with 3D mouse waggles.

Let me be honest again, I was never a fan of, as Nintendo puts it, the first person adventuring genre (FPS + platforming). To me FPS is about brain-less fragging, something the Nintendo DS game provided via its flawed online multiplayer system. Unfortunately no such online set-up exists here and that is a shame. The Wii is crying for a Quake III: Arena style game and Retro had the perfect opportunity to provide it here but bailed out for some reason. Fortunately Corruption is, as a single player game, fun and engaging despite its GameCube traits. I recommend it as a rental title.

For European Wii owners the Virtual Console has just been recently updated with a quality SNK title. The King of Fighters '94 is the first in the series that combined the best of SNK other series like Fatal Fury and Ikari Warriors. It also introduces some gameplay elements that has since been adopted by future KOF titles. Here you are forced to select a pre-defined (grouped under countries) three-person team then determine the order in which each fighter goes out to fight. It has since become a staple to the series. Not that I recommend the purchase of this on Virtual Console as this is the same game you've played at arcades, MVS kits and emulators before.

I still debate the usefulness of Virtual Console but if you have to play a retro game you can't go wrong with any King of Fighters series, even if it would be a modestly priced lesson in the history of mid-90s 2D fighter genre. But heed my advice first: do not purchase this until NoE confirms that what you will be getting are 60Hz (don't count on it), none-censored and Mai's jiggly boobs.

SMG: 9/10
MP3: 7/10
KOF: 6/10
Super Mario Galaxy: Amazon UK Play-asia
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: Amazon UK Play-asia