Not bad - after three days. My brain was rotting old when I first started 'training my brain' three days ago when Professor Kawashima's disembodied head announced that my brain age was 65. 37 isn't that good but is a substantial improvement. Maths can be fun.
Bloody hell. What a fun night. Eurovision as usual sucked, with the exception of a few.
We went to Lewes to meet up with some German mates. Being Germans, they drowned us with alcholic drinks. Four or five pints of Heinekeins(?) and a shot of proper Cuban rum later, with Lordi of Finland declared the winner, I could hardly walk to the train station.
There is hope after all for Eurovision (Image source: BBC News)
Lordi of Finland of course deserved to win. The hard rock band who played Hard Rock Lallelujah and dressed up in Kiss inspired monster costume, were positively wonderful for breaking the stale that was Eurovision's shit pop songs of yore. Russia got second due to tactical and political voting by its many neighbouring and former nations, despite being represented by a shit arse of an idiot.
If I bothered to vote, it would have been:
1. Finland 2. Lithuania 3. UK
There are many crap singers out there today. France as usual fielded a French singer singing in French, and decided to announce the results in French. Typical. Israel's gospel group deservedly came in close to the last. Malta came in with only a point and Armenia's S&M show was mindblowingly idiotic that it only an idiot could not see through the political voting, that they even managed to get more than a hundred points. East Europeans and former Balkan nations, or as Mr. Bush puts it - 'new Europe', as usual ganged up against 'old Europe', by voting for their neighbours.
Terry Wogan is either getting old, or the BBC is restraining him. No idea. He was as sarcastic as ever but he was also reserved, only a couple of time interupting the live broadcast during the performances. Still funny though and the only reason to watch Eurovision. The two hosts were however terrible.
Okay time for me to sleep. I will update the post when I have the chance.
Update: I see that Orthodox Christians has been coming out condemning Lordi as 'Satanic'. When have I heard this before? Technorati tags: Eurovision
Anybody who has ever played iNiS's utterly fantastic Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan would have known how unique a title it is, both from a technical perspective (graphical and musical) and its bizarre storyline. The game evolves around a troupe of male cheerleaders, all dressed in black, who dances around trying to lift tragic people out of depression - all in glorious Japanese manga style comic panels and J-pop covers (check out the trailer). Neat eh? The literal translation means Go! Fight! Cheer Squad.
Anyway, thanks to a tipster at Eurogamer I Googled Image seach the word 'Ouendan' today and look at what I found. A galore of pictures of real life male Ouendans from Japan. Talk about shocking. In the US we have underaged female cheerleaders, in the UK we have none and in Japan we have adult male cheerleaders (see video).
But you have to thank Japan for the wackiness. Without them we wouldn't be enjoying great titles like Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Of course the news that it would be remade for the Western market as Elite Beat Agents has raised the profile of the rare title even more, so better get them before the price skyrockets.
Firstly, to certain people out there. IT IS ONLY A FUCKING MOVIE! The rest of the world do not want to hear your whining. Don't like it - fine, don't watch it. Don't read the horrible book. It is bad enough that in the past month I have been stopped by three people, no less, who were trying to sell me your beliefs (They always begin with "Excuse me, do you speak Chinese?" - more on that in the future). So the least you can do is spare the rest of us the misery of reading about your actions in the morning dailies. Jeeez...get a room, or something...
Last night just before bed I played Super Mario Advance 4 for GBA (a remake of the ultra popular NES Super Mario Bros. 3). It was sort of to put a stop to the mad craving due to the North American release of New Super Mario Bros. yesterday. As usual Europe gets shafted. Again (why do you hate us?). Jennifer has had her copy dispatched from the US already, so hopefully I can enjoy some giant Mario action soon (no I didn't order my own copy - tightening the belt!).
Oh, and under no circumstances should any of you switch your telly on this Thursday evening. I have already planned my escape via a preplanned trip to the pub but do what you can to escape the madness of summer reality TV. Technorati tags: Da Vinci CodeNintendo DSNew Super Mario Bros.Big Brother
Last weekend was the Streets of Brighton show (part of the annual Brighton Festival) where hundreds of performers from around the world thronged to Brighton. It is a little bit like Notting Hill, but without the parades (and large crowds). Chaotic can be best described of Streets of Brighton as there aren't really any proper planning. Anyone who wished to perfom did so just about anywhere in the city.
There is also a free Oxfam photography exhibition of the Asian Tsunami title 'After the Wave' just outside the new Jubilee Library.
Apologies for the blurry pictures (these were taken with mobile phone cam), I will publish more pictures later when I extract the rest of the pictures from our digital camera. Technorati tags: BrightonBrighton FestivalOxfamAsian Tsunami
I can already hear the collective sigh of "there he goes again with his game reviews". Ah, but this isn't a review of a game. Just because it is only playable on a portable game console does not make it a game. Plus this isn't just any review. It's a 'Mega Review', complete with videos too.
Electroplankton was created by fame Japanese media artist Toshio Iwai* (who also created SimTunes for the PC). While the gaming community found it hard to describe the 'game' and pigeon'ed holed it into the sub-genre 'mini-games', Electroplankton is best described as an interactive musical media and should be reviewed with the clear knowledge that it isn't a game. There are no goals to complete and no game overs to frown upon. The perfect title to rub it into your anti-games mates. * See his precursor to Electroplankton here
It can also be considered a work of art, at least in my opinion. This title was part of the first wave of 'touch-generation' non-games that Nintendo released last year (along with Brain Training*, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Nintendogs - such touch-generation non-game games opened a previously untapped market and helped Nintendo conquer the Japanese console market).
Electroplankton is made up of ten tracks (or mini-games as gaming presses call them) where you are to manipulate the planktons with your stylus, which in return will create music for your pleasure. It is a musical instrument of art. And like all musical instruments your ability to manipulate the instruments will either reward or dishearten you. However, unlike any old musical instruments, Electroplankton automatically rewards you with the sight of up most beauty of post-modernism abstract art.
Upon starting Electroplankton you will be presented with two modes of play - Performance Mode and Audience Mode. The boot screen also allows you to optimise the sound through the DS's already good stereo speakers or through a headphone.
Audience Mode is a demo version of the game where the CPU controls the planktons. Each tracks plays for a few minutes in cycles just like an audio CD. You can override the CPU and take control (although it won't override the time). It is a nice mode to see what each tracks has to offer or when you just want to relax and watch/listen rather than compose your own music. Hook it up via to a Hi-Fi via line-in and enjoy. Unfortunately you can't close the DS lid and leave the music on like a walkman though I do wish I could hook the DS to a telly and watch the planktons swim around on a 30" screen. That would have beaten any iteration of WinAMP visualisation plug-ins.
Performance Mode is where the composing comes into play. With ten different kind of planktons/tracks/music composition tools/mini-games/whatever to play with you will be hard pressed to find something you will like. The following are the English title to each program and a short description on what each does:
01 Tracy
The first of the ten tracks, Tracy features six different coloured planktons where you drag each of her, creating a path for them to follow. Each planktons will make its own unique sound of each plankton sounds and their tempo changes depending on the speed and direction of the path you created.
02 Hanebow
A leaf shoots out planktons (that looks like tadpoles) towards a plant (selectable) where they will bounce off each of the leaves until it falls back into the water. You can change the trajectory of the cannon as well as the frequency in which it spurts out planktons. Each bounce creates a tune. By altering the angles of each leaves you can create a nice rhythm of bounding planktons. This is the only 'game' where you can assign a goal (e.g. to keep as many planktons out of water, getting the leaves to turn red, getting the flower to pop up) if you wish.
03 Luminaria
There are four planktons on each corner. Surrounding them are pre-determined paths set by arrows. Tapping on each plankton will move them, each having different speed - therefore producing different pitches and sound. The red one for example sounds like a piano. Each one of the arrows will emit a different note as the planktons crosses them. By changing the direction of each one of the arrows you can compose a nice little chill-out song. If you are lazy you can use the d-pad to reset the arrows. It's easy and surprisingly engrossing to the point that you won't have to keep those Café Del Mar CDs anymore. This is my favourite 'track' of Electroplankton.
04 Sun-Animalcule
This is a very unique musical composition tool. You use the stylus to seed as many or as little planktons as you want. As the title indicates, the plankton(s) relates to the sun. It also changes depending on its size and time (night or day). The position of where the planktons were laid also determines the kind of sound each plankton produces.
05 Rec-Rec
You don't get much control on any of these fishes in this track. There are four fish that swims from left to right and the music is very upbeat. Tapping on each of the planktons will allow you to record from the microphone your voice (or the house dog). With each recorded sound then being played back by each of the planktons, you will find yourself with a nice little track of upbeat tempo.
06 Nanocarp
Ripples, produced by the tapping of the screen, when arrives at each plankton will cause them to produce a unique sound. I think there are around 20 swimming around. You can line them up by blowing at the screen (or clapping) but they won't stay put. Depending on the sound you make the Nanocarps will line up differently on the screen. The whole point is to create ripples passing through layers of plankton, producing sounds based on chain reaction. You can also create ripples using the d-pad. It's like a calming version of wind chimes and could easily be one of your favourite.
07 Lumiloop
You spin five planktons (which are shaped like records) around using the stylus, each creating a ray of sound (and colour). Depending on the direction, the rotation speed etc. the sound created with the five planktons can be quite engrossing.
08 Marine-Snow
As the title indicated, the planktons are in the shape of snow flakes (hence the title). Tapping each of the planktons will create a unique sound. No matter where each plankton is located (they move around in a chaotic Bejeweled-like manner), they will always produce a unique sound, so it can get confusing if you attempt to use them as composing tool. But this is the composition tool you will have most control of - if you can remember which snow plankton produces which sound!
09 Beatnes
This could be the favourite of Nintendo retro fans. These five dancing planktons plays a collection of classic and retro Nintendo tracks, each with unique and well-loved 8-bit Nintendo beeps (e.g. Mario collecting coins) which you can hear by tapping on each of the different planktons. Tapping the keys on their body will produce notes, like a piano.
10 Volvoice
The final track also happens to be my least favourite. You record your voice (say maybe speaking your name) and each Planktons alters your voice. It is fun, but is very limited.
Below is a five minutes video compilation of few of the tracks (Luminaria, Hanenbow, Beatnes, Lumiloop, Sun-Animalcule and Tracy). It should give you an overall idea to what Electroplankton is. Note that the graphical and audio quality of Electroplankton is much better than the video capture below.
The sounds created are beautiful, even over the DS's small stereo speakers. However to enjoy the music fully you will need a good set of earphones. The sounds are detailed and rich to the point of you can hear the Planktons swimming around and bubbles forming. I myself like to experiment with the sounds created just before I go to bed, especially after a stressful day.
The graphics, while simple and not earth shattering, is nice and calming. Everything is brightly coloured and the saturation is over the top, all in a happy way. Even the planktons seem loveable.
The only problem with the game is you are unable to save the music that you created, although you may argue that no musical instrument comes with a save button. Does your guitar or piano come with one? Nope. Like those you need to hook up Electroplankton to a recording deck that has a line-in socket. Most portable DAPs has line-in sockets anyway so composing your next Grammy has never been easier if you are savvy at figuring out which wires goes where.
The Japanese version is quite unique as it is the only DS game not to feature the massive white DS logo on the case. It also comes in a nice blue card box (like some special edition music CDs) and a free blue earphone. The earphone is a cheapo version though but it is still a nice bonus.
Because the Electroplankton requires no literacy level, the Japanese version is import friendly. The only thing you will miss out is the descriptions of each plankton. The manual is also in Japanese and is thick. It is filled with useful tid-bits (that I couldn't read), drawings (presumably by Toshio Iwai himself) and handwritten notes. This basically puts all game manuals AND CD inserts to shame. It is unlikely such detailed manual would be reproduced for the EU version. On a slight note, you can also import the North American version if English is VERY important to you.
Electroplankton was slated for a UK release of April 2006 but has since been pushed back to June (I believe). That was what GAME told me anyway, but I believe you can purchase it from Nintendo's online store. I don't blame them as I doubt UK gamers, many who traditionally scoff at unique titles, will get this. Hell, even Guitar Hero bombed here. NoE shouldn't be blamed for not bothering to market this an effectively sceptic market as even NoA didn't bother to ship this title to brick and morter stores.
But don't let that dishearten you. You may or may not like Electroplankton. In fact some of you may hate it. If all you want is mind blowing 'realistic' graphics and gunning down call girls then this is the wrong game for you (and I pity you). Myself I find it an utterly wonderful experience. And no, this won't be the last non-game game that would be released on the DS platform. Already we are seeing more and more music based games like the mind blowing Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!and Daigasso! Band Brothers.
Personally this is one of my favourite 'game' to play at night just before bed whenever I want to kick down and forget the day.
7/10
Note: This review was written during Easter and I have only now decided to publish it (after forgetting about it). Sorry.
* Tokoku Daigaku Mirai Kagaku Gijutsu Kyoudou Kenkyu Senta Kawashima Rutu-kyouju Kanshuu: nou wo Kitaeru Otona no DS Toreningu (Professor Ryutu Kawashima of Tokoko University's Centre for Collaborative Research on Future Technology Presents: Train Your Brain - DS Training for Adults)
Edit (11/05): You can download Nintendo's press pack from their E3 press site. Username: media Password: E32006
Looking through Nintendo's E3 press pack, you will find galores of info on new DS releases for 2006, as well as the US release of DS Lite. Omitted from this blogger's list are crappy and generic titles published by the likes of Disney and THQ - you know games based on IPs like SpongeBob, Chicken Little etc. all of which are only bought by parents who doesn't like their own children).
Highlighted are the games that I really really want. I am happy to see Gyakuten Saiban 4 in the press pack in its supposed English title (Phoenix Wright 2). This means Capcom will be porting the game to English. Huzzah! And of course the breaking news of Hideo Kojima's first DS title, Lunar Knights (Boktai) makes things a wii bit more interesting.
Update: Apparently Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All will be the official title and will be a port of Gyakuten Saiban 2 GBA (not the new Gyakuten Saiban 4) with a projected US release in Q1 2007. Confusing and weird of course, but I guess this is to keep the storyline intact for the Western market. Jumping from Gyakuten Saiban 1 to Gyakuten Saiban 4 wouldn't make much sense to the storyline. In any case I hope they will finally release/port the rest of Gyakuten Saiban series as Phoenix Wright games.
Update 2: Yes, the screenshots above pretty much confirms that Phoenix Wright 2 will be a port of Gyakuten Saiban 2 GBA.
Big Brain Academy (Nintendo Software Technology, USA) 5 June 2006 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Konami, Japan) Fall 2006 Chibi Robo Park Petrol (Skip, Japan) TBA Children of Mana (Square Enix, Japan) Q4 2006 Clubhouse Games (Agenda) Q4 2006 Contact (Atlus, Japan) July 2006 Cooking Mama (Majesco, Japan) Q4 2006 Custom Robo Arena (Noise) Q4 2006 Deep Labyrinth (Atlus, Japan) Q4 2006 Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo, Japan) Q4 2006 Dino Master (Majesco) May 2006 DK King of Swing (Paon) TBA Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (Square Enix, Japan) Sept 2006 DS Air (Nintendo, Japan) Q4 2006 Elite Beat Agent (iNiS, Japan) Q4 2006 Final Fantasy III (Square Enix, Japan) Sept 2006 Freedom Wings (Natsume, Japan) July 2006 Harvest Moon DS (Natsume, Japan) June 2006 Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (Cing, Japan) Q4 2006 Kirby - temporary title (HAL, Japan) TBA Lunar Knights: Vampire Hunters (Kojima Productions, Japan) Nov 2006 Magical Vacation (Brownie Brown) Q4 2006 Magnetica (Mitchell Corp) 5 June 2006 Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (Square Enix, Japan) 11 Sept 2006 Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (Nintendo Software Technology, USA) 25 Sept 2006 Mech Assault: Phantom War (Majesco) TBA 2006 Mega Man ZX (Capcom, Japan) Sept 2006 New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, Japan) 15 May 2006 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All (Capcom, Japan) Oct 2006 Q1 2007 Point Blank (Namco, Japan) June 2006 Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (Chun Soft) 18 Sept 2006 Star Fox DS (Q-Games/Nintendo, Japan) 28 Aug 2006 Steel Horizon (Konami, Japan) Fall 2006 Sudoku Gridmaster (Hudson, Japan) 26 June 2006 Rayman (Ubisoft) Nov 2006 Tenchu: Dark Secret (FromSoftware) 21 Aug 2006 Tomb Raider: Legend (Eidos) Sept 2006 Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Vicarious, USA) Q4 2006 Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer (Konami, Japan) Fall 2006 Xiaolin Showdown (Konami, Japan) November 2006 Yoshi Island 2 (Nintendo, Japan) Q4 2006 The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo EAD, Japan) Q4 2006
Phew. Nintendo isn't kidding when they said that the DS would be getting plenty of softwares by year's end.
Also in the press pack are a bunch of screenshots of the DS Opera Browser in action. Here is one I thought was quite interesting.
Not sure which handwriting technology Nintendo has licensed (may be Decuma's), but hopefully all future DS games uses some kind of handwriting interface. I am so sick of tapping the QWERTY keyboard in Animal Crossing: Wild World.
Well that's it. One of the final secrets revealed today is the WiiMote will contain a speaker. For example if you shoot an arrow in Zelda, you can hear the 'twwiiing' and the 'swiiiissh' through the WiiMote's speaker as it travels from your arm to the telly (where you hear the 'thud'). Pretty neat huh?
The other secret being the nunchaku attachment also contains a 3D motion sensor. This means you can use the nunchaku attachment as a secondary sword or even as a shield. Wonderful.
The difference between yesterday's Sony E3 press conference is Nintendo was heavily touting the fun side of the Wii, whereas Sony continued its number battle with Microsoft ("1080p, 1080p, 1080p"). The Ninty press was sure fun. You didn't even see SCE's Ken Kutaragi handling any of the games in Sony's press conference, but here, the big guns of Nintendo were clearly enjoying themselves.
Nintendo Wii E306 WiiMote trailer:
Nintendo Wii E306 game trailer:
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5:20pm BST: Only ten minutes to go. The wait is awfully painful. Hurry up already! Grr...
Check out the live feed from GameSpot and live blogging from Eurogamer.
5:40pm BST: Miyamoto-san just left the stage after demostrating the WiiMote controller in an orchestra. Two other guys demostrated the WiiMote for a driving game and another in a sword fight (Red Steel I presume - it is). Amazing!
5:45pm BST: A long trailer showing off footage of the games and the WiiMote in function. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess to use WiiMote! The trailer is similar in format to the TGS trailer, but longer (and with gameplay footages)
5:48pm BST: Reggie is on the stage yapping away on Nintendo's strategy. So far a damn fine presentation one should have expected from Nintendo.
5:55pm BST: Twilight Princess is a launch title! :) :) There will also be a GCN version.
6pm BST: WiiMote has built-in speakers and the nunchaku attachment has built-in 3D sensor, independent of the WiiMote.
6.12pm BST: Ubisoft Paris's Red Steel looks and plays fantastic. I will be getting this for sure. Graphic style is similar to Kingpin/Max Payne.
6:20pm BST: Free VoiP on DS via Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. Star Fox for DS! Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! to be localised as Elite Beat Agents. WiFi Diddy Kong Racing looks similar to Mario Kart DS. Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and Final Fantasy III both developed by Square-Enix looks fantastic with its 3D graphics also on the DS. Killer line-up! No DS Lite European info though (as usual we here get shafted - even Aussies already have a date).
6:27pm BST: Satoru Iwata is poking fun at Sony's patented and industrial standard load time. :P
6:30pm BST: Wii Connect 24 will always be working/connected even in standbys. I am sure die-hard environmentalists will be furiously mad with this news on electricity wastage, especially in this day and age when we are being told that electrical equipments on standbys uses almost the same amount of power as when it is fully turned on.
6:31pm BST: Apparently Animal Crossing for the Wii will always be connected online even if you are not playing. I can already imagine visiting my mates towns at night while they are asleep and stealing their fruits and cutting their trees. LOL!
Shiggy again, this time demostrating the WiiMote in a Tennis game.
6:39pm BST: The Tennis game looks fun with Reggie, Miyamoto-san and Iwata-san and the AOL winner playing doubles. The AOL guy with no previous experience with the WiiMote just picks up the controller and started playing. This is what Nintendo meant by making games accessable to all ages. I believe Nintendo just owned Sony. ;)
6:43pm BST: Bummer. No price or date announced. But very excited.
Labels:
NDS
Electroplankton was created by fame Japanese media artist Toshio Iwai* (who also created SimTunes for the PC). While the gaming community found it hard to describe the 'game' and pigeon'ed holed it into the sub-genre 'mini-games', Electroplankton is best described as an interactive musical media and should be reviewed with the clear knowledge that it isn't a game. There are no goals to complete and no game overs to frown upon. The perfect title to rub it into your anti-games mates.
Electroplankton is made up of ten tracks (or mini-games as gaming presses call them) where you are to manipulate the planktons with your stylus, which in return will create music for your pleasure. It is a musical instrument of art. And like all musical instruments your ability to manipulate the instruments will either reward or dishearten you. However, unlike any old musical instruments, Electroplankton automatically rewards you with the sight of up most beauty of post-modernism abstract art.
The Japanese version is quite unique as it is the only DS game not to feature the massive white DS logo on the case. It also comes in a nice blue card box (like some special edition music CDs) and a free blue earphone. The earphone is a cheapo version though but it is still a nice bonus.
Electroplankton was slated for a UK release of April 2006 but has since been pushed back to June (I believe). That was what GAME told me anyway, but I believe you can purchase it from Nintendo's online store. I don't blame them as I doubt UK gamers, many who traditionally scoff at unique titles, will get this. Hell, even Guitar Hero bombed here. NoE shouldn't be blamed for not bothering to market this an effectively sceptic market as even NoA didn't bother to ship this title to brick and morter stores.
But don't let that dishearten you. You may or may not like Electroplankton. In fact some of you may hate it. If all you want is mind blowing 'realistic' graphics and gunning down call girls then this is the wrong game for you (and I pity you). Myself I find it an utterly wonderful experience. And no, this won't be the last non-game game that would be released on the DS platform. Already we are seeing more and more music based games like the mind blowing Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! and Daigasso! Band Brothers.
