Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Meatwad Plame!

So, if there's one series that is known for being super cool, but also super hard, it's Metroid.

Since the NES days, there have been several Metroid games.  The first one was probably the hardest, since there was no map, no hints, and no way to finish it without being verifiably patient.  And of course by that, I mean insane.

Thankfully, Nintendo eased up a little for future titles.  Metroid 2 for Game Boy was a similar type of sci-fi action adventure, with the benefit of a little less pain-in-the-butt.

But the series really hit its stride on Metroid 3, also known as Super Metroid.  It's a beautiful, exciting, and just plain fun game.  There are plenty of great weapons, scary enemies, and gigantic bosses.  To this day, I believe it stands out as one of the best of the series.

In any case, the reason I'm writing this post is to remind you all about the newest Metroid, Other M, due August 31st.  It takes place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion (GBA).  From what little we know so far, it fleshes out the story of Samus and her origins.  Plus, it looks amazing.  The game is played by holding the Wii remote sideways, but if you want to look around, you simply point the remote at the screen and the game switches to first-person view.  Looks cool to me!

Ok, so I'm bored now, so I'ma go play a game or something.  Buh-bye!

Btw, Amazon (and to a lesser extent, Walmart) is offering a $20 gift card if you preorder the game.  There's no way to know how long this deal will last, so I would suggest buying it right now!  Plus, then you don't have to leave your house to buy the game!  The darn thing comes to you!  Holy crap, that awesome!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Up in da Club!

Attention, Nintendo lovers!  Wednesday is the last day to register your games and systems on Club Nintendo!  Remember, if you get 300 points, you get the Gold Prize, and if you get 600 or more, you can pick one of two Platinum Prizes.  There is no word yet on what the prizes will be, but they will likely be awesome!  Last year, platinum members had a choice between a real life Mario hat and a special downloadable version of Punch-Out where you can fight Doc Louis.  So get those games registerered!

Friday, June 18, 2010

More?!?!

Talking to some video game journalists, Nintendo said that some of the tech demos on the 3DS (including Mega Man 2, Yoshi's Island, Punch-Out, Castlevania and others) could all potentially be remade for the system in 3D. That's a lot of great games!

The Nintendo rep was quick to point out that these games would probably be more than remakes if they made it to retail.  Maybe another great new Punch-Out game is headed to 3DS?  More retro Mega Man? Yoshi?  The suspense is killing me!!

Speaking of Mega Man, this is even more proof that I definitely got the Mega Man block on my bingo card.  So there!

3DS Specs

And I don’t mean glasses!

This past week, Nintendo revealed the wondrous new system, the Nintendo 3DS.  It lets you play games in 3D without glasses, plus it includes some significant upgrades in terms of graphics.

3DSs Nintendo has not yet said what the price, date, or even final design of the system will be.  But if the three colors on their website are any indication, we should have some decent choices (they also had metallic orange and purple on the show floor, but these may not be available at launch).  As you can see, Nintendo is showing black, teal and red 3DSs.  The outer shell is a lot like the first run of DS Lites that had a clear plastic shell on top of the painted plastic.  The kept the system’s color from rubbing off, plus (for me, anyways), it looked cool and was really comfortable.  It looks as if the shiny shell may be making a return.  You can also see that the buttons are the softer, quiter type, rather than the DSi’s thinner, clicky buttons.

As for the screen itself, it uses a new type of screen that lets each eye see a different image, not unlike how holographic images (the kind with the rough plastic coating) let you see 3D-esque images.  It’s also larger than the bottom screen, which lets you see more of the great 3D awesomeness.

You’ll notice that the left side is home to the new Slide Pad, which is basically a joystick, just much shorter.  It’s significantly larger (and appears much more comfortable) than the PSPs microscopic “analog nub.”  This should make moving around in 3D spaces much, much easier.  And speaking of 3D space, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc) said that the 3D screen makes it much easier to navigate a character in 3D space, since you can see where everything is as if it were in real life.  Cool!

ds features You might be able to notice the small slider on the right side of the top screen.  This lets you reduce or even turn off the 3D effect.  It is likely that some people will experience some discomfort with the 3D graphics, so Nintendo smartly has given us the option to turn it off.  But not me.  I’ll make it as 3D as humanly possible!!

Another feature that I like is that the headphone jack in right in the middle.  My giant hands make it difficult to use a DS with the headphones in, so this looks awesome.  As for the volume, I can’t see the slider or buttons from these pictures.  I prefer buttons, because it’s easier to find the “sweet spot”, but I hope there are more “notches” between clicks than the DSi has.  The more, the merrier!

On the bottom there, you can see the two dots on the outside of the top screen.  Those are the two cameras.  Why two cameras?  So you can take pictures in 3D!  That’s right, you can take pictures of whatever you want and see them in glorious 3D!  I can’t wait!

As for battery life, Nintendo hasn’t announced the final battery life, because they are still refining it.  They have said that it’s not quite up to the DSi’s life yet.  If that’s where it ends up, it’ll be up to 14 hours, depending on the screen brightness and whether or not the wireless is on.
And speaking of wireless, it has been said that the 3DS will have a switch on the system itself to turn the wireless on and off, which will make it much easier to conserve battery life.  The system will also support WPA/WPA2 encryption, so you can keep your home wireless network more secure and still play online 3DS games.

The system also has a motion sensor and a gyroscope, which will obviously allow games to incorporate some level or motion control.  Also, according to Nintendo's site, it has a "charging cradle" terminal in addition to the AC adapter plug.  Will the 3DS have some kind of cool charging dealie?  Who knows!

Between all these different things, it’s clear the 3DS is an amazing machine.  It will probably break all kinds of sales records in hardware and software.  Once the price and date are known, I shall post it here!  I hope it’s soon!

Can’t go wrong with Donkey Kong!

One of the highlights of Nintendo’s E3 press conference (among many) was the familiar jungle playing in the background as it built up to the announcement of a brand-new Donkey Kong Country for Wii.

The game appears to have to the same classic side-scrolling gameplay as its ancestors, along some fantastic new artistic directions.  It will also have a 2-player co-op mode with Diddy Kong.  It’s being developed by Retro Studios, the amazing studio behind the Metroid Prime series.

But rather than tell you how it looks, just check it out yourself.  The game comes out sometime this holiday season.

More?!

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking when Nintendo revealed their list of titles in production for the 3DS.  A quick look at the list revealed that Pilotwings would be making a return for the first time since the N64 days.  Exciting!

And… that’s all we know for know, aside from the two screen shots below.  You can see that the game takes place on Wuhu Island, the same setting for Wii Sports Resort.  Oh, and it’s called Pilotwings Resort.  What a strange coincidence!

Speaking of Wii Sports, it looks as if you will be able to use your own Miis in 3DS games (like you can in a rare few DS games).  It makes me wonder if the 3DS will have a Mii Channel like the Wii does.  Only time will tell!

pw 1 pw 2

String Theory

One of my favorite highlights from Nintendo’s E3 conference on Tuesday was the trailer for Kirby’s first console game in about 10 years: Kirby’s epic yarn.  It’s a brand-new Kirby adventure with a special twist: everything is made of yarn or fabric.  It’s like an eccentric mix of Kirby and Paper Mario.

As you can see in the trailer, the standard Kirby is gimmick is a little different.  Rather than suck in enemies and take their powers, Kirby whips them with yarn and uses powers that way.  But rather than explain it, check out the trailer below and see just how awesome it looks.  It comes out for Wii this fall!

FINALLY!!!!

As many games as Nintendo announced this week, one of the most surprising and most exciting in a new Paper Mario.  For those who don’t know, Paper Mario is a Mario offshoot RPG series where everyone is made of paper.  This makes for some very interesting puzzles, requiring the player to turn into a paper airplane and fly around or roll up and move around in small spaces.  It’s a brilliant series that has been extremely fun every time.

We literally have zero details on how the game will work, but if the previous games are indication, it should be simply fantastic.  Can’t wait!

pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm 4 pm 5 pm 6 pm 7 pm 8

Thursday, June 17, 2010

E3 2010 Wrap-up, Day 4

Well, today was pretty much the last day of E3.  There was little new information, but I was able to procure a small bit of information.  Capcom was showing off a few upcoming games at the show, including Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  And who is one of the stars of the Capcom side?  Mega Man, of course!  Good enough for me!

So, it turns out I didn't do too bad on my bingo card.  If the blocks were in a different order, I might have had an extra line or two, but that's alright.  All things considered, I did alright.

Well, thanks for checking out the site these last couple of days and for enjoying E3.  It was a fantastic show!  Stay tuned during the next few days for more detailed information about the fantastic and new upcoming games!

Gnu

In case you didn't notice, the blog has a nice, new coat of paint!  I figured I should make it look cool since everyone in the world reads it every day.


In short, I love Nintendo.  Hoo-hah!

-benjamines

Mariokart 3D!!

I typically carry 9 DS games with me (1 in the DS and 8 in a little case I have).  One of them is always Mariokart, since it’s one of those game that’s fun almost any time.  It would take a great game to unseat Mariokart from its perpetual place in my pocket, and that game is… the sequel.

As would naturally be expected, Nintendo is readying another fantastic entry in its iconic kart racer.  We don’t know any specifics yet, but we can likely expect a buncha new tracks, and a buncha old tracks.  Also, there are rumors that Mariokart 3D (not its official title… yet) will have a built-in track editor, letting you create any track you can imagine (to a degree, of course).  Sounds like this could be one of the games that spends the next 5 years in my pocket!

mk 1 mk 2 mk 3 mk 4 mk 5 mk 6 mk 7

Animal Crossing: Tall Tikes

That’s my suggestion for the name of the new Animal Crossing game for the 3DS, because, as you can see, the humans are quite a bit taller than in previous entries.  It looks as if perhaps there are more changes to this game than any of the others.

Speaking of changes, I hope they remove the “feature” from the Wii version where you make trails wherever you walk, because the grass or snow never regenerated.  Also, we need some more new music!  After all, that’s one of the best parts of the game.

There are rumors that this will be one of the launch titles for the 3DS.  If so, I know I’ll have plenty to do.  Can’t wait!

ac 1 ac 2 ac 3 ac 4 ac 5 ac 6 ac 7

Ocarina in Due Time

Well, it’s more or less official: Nintendo has released a few screenshots of a (probably) upcoming remake of the classic N64 Adventure The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  As you can see, we have little more than some shots of Hyrule field, but man, do  they look great.

All in all, it looks to be pretty fun.  As long as that stupid fairy doesn’t say “HEY, LISTEN!” every 2 seconds, I’ll more than likely pick it up.  I suspect it’ll come out sometime next year.

oot3d 1 oot3d 2 oot3d 3 oot3d 4 oot3d 5 oot3d 6

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

E3 2010 Wrap-up, Day 3

Well, today at E3 there wasn't much more news, but it was still a good day, because the 3DS is still real and not a dream (although, I did dream about playing it, and it was awesome!).

As far as news, there are rumors that Nintendo is remaking the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS.  As for now, it's merely a tech demo, but there are murmurings of its existence as a full game.  I guess we'll see.

As for the Vitality Sensor, Nintendo said that they won't be showing it at this show, because it seemed to detract from all the other great news.  But they did talk about it a little, so that's good enough for my bingo.

Speaking of bingo, it looks likely that I won't be marking any more blocks, but then again, there's no way to know for sure, since last year, some announcements came on the last day (which is tomorrow, I believe).  So we'll see.  Personally, I'm hoping for Mega Man and a new Excite game.

In any case, it's been a great show!  Stay tuned tomorrow in case there is something new!


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

E3 2010 Wrap-up, Day 2

Today was witness to one of the best E3 Press Conferences ever!  Nintendo dropped the 3DS bomb on us, gave us 17 metric butte-tons of new games, and then, after the show, released a list of even more games to be released within the next year or two.  It was amazing!

Sony's press conference was dumb and boring.  It consisted of Sony telling everyone else how awesome they are (despite sales numbers that indicate the contrary), and montage videos.  Lame.

In short, Nintendo has ruled E3 this year, no question.  It's a great day to be a Nintendo gamer.  (Technically, it's always a great day to be a Nintendo gamer, but you catch my drift.)

As far as Bingo goes, I'm really close on several lines.  In fact, I have three lines that only need one more block to be completed.  And although the major press conferences are over, there are still media briefings through Thursday.  So we'll see.  Heck, maybe they'll hold one of those secret meetings like last year! (Forsooth!)

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the New Mario Platformer or Pikmin blocks, there were subtle hints on the show floor and in tech demos about those games.  Nothing specific.  But it still counts.  Dangit.

So have a look.  And when you're done looking, join me in dreaming about finally getting to own a Virtual Boy-red 3DS (hopefully later this year!).

Nintendo Wins!

That's all I have to say.  Nintendo Wins!  Today at E3, they unveiled a huge lineup of awesome games for this year and next, including:

Paper Mario
Donkey Kong Country
Mario Sports Mix
Zelda: Skyward Sword
Animal Crossing
Professor Layton
Goldeneye
Kirby
Kid Icarus (serious!)
Metroid
Starfox
Street Fighter
Pilotwings
Nintendogs

And that's not even close to the full list.  Many of these are for the new 3DS, which is, simply, freakin' amazing.  They didn't announce a release date or price yet, but I'm sure that will come in the next few weeks or months.  In any case, Nintendo has simply reassured me how awesome they are with all of their great new hardware and software.

For more info on the 3DS, including screenshots of some of the aforementioned games, go here.

Nintendo Press Conference Live Stream!

I'm not sure if this will work, but in case you can't see the Nintendo Press Conference elsewhere, here you go.  Remember, it starts at 10am!

Video clips at Ustream

Monday, June 14, 2010

E3 2010 Wrap-up, Day 1

Well, I must say that today was filled with First Person Shooters, boring press conferences, and blatant rip-offs.

At Microsoft's presser, they talked about the motion-sensing Kinect, but they never mentioned how they're basically ripping off the Wii.  To prove that, they showed off their totally original Wii Kinect Sports and Wii Kinect Fitness games.

At EA's press conference, they showed people killing each other, and then they presented their totally original Vitality Sensor Heart Monitor.

At Ubisoft's conference, they showed more people killing each other, and then revealed their own completely original Vitality Sensor Heart Monitor.

In short, everyone is copying the Wii (aside from FPSs, of course).  I guess I'm not surprised, considering the top-six selling games of all time were released by Nintendo in the past five years.

Speaking of FPSs, there's a rumor that Goldeneye (yes, that Goldeneye) is being re-released exclusively for Wii, complete with updated graphics and what not.  Man, I love when the Wii gets exclusives.

As for the bingo, you can see below that I did get one square so far.  Not much of an achievement, though.  Since it was the free space.  And stuff.

But fear not!  Tomorrow morning (at 10am MST, don't forget!) is Nintendo's show, where they will likely show off the fabled 3DS and the original Vitality Sensor, along with several awesome games, I'm sure.  Be there or be stupid!

Kinect Four

Yup, Microsoft's new motion controller is called Kinect.

This morning at Microsoft's E3 Press Conference, they showed off their new motion-sensing technology.  Let's check out the pros and cons:

Pros:
  • The motion sensing actually works better than I expected.  They demoed it live on stage and it never had any issues recognizing people or movements. (Although it remains to be seen how well it would work in low light situations, or if your shirt is the same color as the wall, etc.)
  • XBox 360 now has a cool deal with ESPN where you can watch thousands of sporting events free (if you're a gold member).
  • The unit itself is quite small, about the same width as an XBox 360 controller.
Cons:
  • Based on what they showed on stage, Microsoft has issues with originality.  They basically announced Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Nintendogs for XBox.  And while the motion-sensing technology is more advanced, I'm not convinced it's better for the games.  For example, to run in the hurdles mini-games, you actually have to run.  Likewise to jump.  And that could be fun, but not for very long.
  • Microsoft stressed how there's no learning curve with Kinect, but I don't think that's true.  You have to learn how to use it just like you would have to learn a remote control for a TV.  For example, to open a program, you have to move your hand over it, and hold it there for a few seconds.  No point and click.  I fail to see how that's easier than pressing "right" and then "A".
  • The issue with many motion-controlled games is putting motion where it's not needed.  The new Forza Motorsports racing game lets you walk around the car and look at it before you get in, but you have to stand and hold your arms out to steer.  Oh, and there's no gas or brake pedals.  How... fun?
  • Most importantly, they didn't announce the price.  This likely means it's way too high.  If it was only $50, they probably would have announced it to great applause.  Rumors have said it could be as high as $200, and now that's looking more and more likely.
In short, it may not be worth the money.  I mean honestly, if all they have to offer are titles that were done years ago on other consoles, how do they expect to turn a profit?  We won't know for sure until it's released, but I can say now that I don't want or need it.

Take it from me: take the $200 and buy a Wii instead.  It's a much better deal.

-benjamines

Saturday, June 12, 2010

E3 Update!

Ok, so as it turns out, Nintendo's press conference in actually on Tuesday morning, which means I'll have to wake up before noon.  Hmph.  In any case, the show starts at 9am PST, so you can bet I'll be online at 10am MST, wetting myself with excitement.

There will be all sorts of news and announcements between Monday and Wednesday, so make sure you check it out!

Btw, you can go here to watch Nintendo press conference live on Tuesday morning. [via 1up]

E3 Bingo 2010

That's right, it's time for E3 Bingo 2010!

I've made up the bingo cards for this year.  I honestly do not know about any of these.  I've made my guesses based on consumer demand, series popularity, and hunches.  That's it.

So, for every line I get right, Nintendo* will reward me with 1,000 Nintendo points.  Last year I completed one line.  This year, I think I might be able to pull off two or three.  We'll see.

So, print it off and stay tuned for Nintendo's press conference on Monday.  Plus, E3 lasts through Wednesday, so there could be announcements on any of those days.  Good luck!**










































* My awesome wife
** to me!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Rock Indeed

It's official!  Rock Band 3 will indeed have a (somewhat miniature) keyboard to use!  That's so great!  And even better, they will be introducing a "Pro" mode that lets you play notes on a standard staff instead of the regular colorful mode.

All I can say is there better be Billy Joel songs.  Otherwise, good luck movin' up, 'cause I'm movin' out.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Colors for Crullers, pt. 2

This is part two of the feature about Nintendo's portable systems and their colors.  You can read part one here.

Ok, it's tomorrow (or shortly thereafter)!  Let's finish this bad boy!

So, in the summer of 2001, Nintendo came out with the next revision of the Game Boy (and quite frankly, the first major revision to the series): the Game Boy Advance.  It had a 32-bit graphics processor (upgraded from 8-bits), a large, wide, color screen, shoulder buttons, and the buttons were on the side, rather than underneath (which made it easier to hold for long-fingered freaks like myself).  The graphics chip was designed to easily add nice effects to games, such as resizing and rotating sprites.  It could also play all previous Gameboy games, essentially giving it a launch library of several hundred games.  Oh, and here's a fun fact: the GBA was actually created before the Game Boy color.  But Nintendo released the GBC first because it had better battery life and the technology was significantly cheaper at the time.

The system's first standard color was indigo with gray trim.  There were other colors as well, such as black and frosted white.  It looked really cool (most of the colors would match the upcoming Gamecube colors), and more importantly, it had some incredible games.  The high-profile launch title was Super Mario Advance, which is Super Mario Bros. 2 with enhanced graphics and some cool bonus features, like single-cart multiplayer of the original Mario Bros. game.  It also launched with F-Zero Maximum Velocity, which looked like the SNES F-Zero, but with a bunch of sweet new tracks (and really cool music, like any other F-Zero game).

Basically, it was a freakin' cool new portable game system with some insanely cool new games (many more of which would follow in the next few years).  I was working at an insanely busy Albertson's deli at the time, and the day the GBA came out, I went to the local Kmart and bought the Indigo GBA with Super Mario Advance and F-Zero.  I was literally in heaven.  I even tried to play F-Zero while I was driving home, which was probably the stupidest I have ever done in my entire life.  But I'm still alive, so it was worth it.  Besides, now I can say I drove two vehicles at once (the crappy red Taurus and the Blue Falcon).  Then, later that night, I convinced my little brother that it was a remote control for the microwave I won at my Senior All-Nighter party.  Awesome.

A year or two after that, Nintendo released a really cool revision to its new GBA lineup: The GBA SP.  It was a foldable, vertical-style GBA with a backlit screen and internal rechargeable battery.  As such, it was an amazing system, and was insanely popular.

The GBA SP also had one of the coolest special edition designs ever seen on any game system ever.  One year for the holiday season, they released a special NES edition (pictured) that was colored like an NES controller.  As you can see, the nostalgia combined with the GBA library makes it a very desirable machine.  It's probably the only Nintendo system ever released that I don't have, but wish I did.  I attempted to buy one used once, but when the kid replied to my e-mail, he said "one of my friends ruined it", which we all know translates to "I decided I wanted to keep it" and/or "my friend wanted it more, so I let him have it instead."  But no worries.  I take comfort in the fact that he will spend eternity roasting alongside the Game Boy Pocket thief. (Game Boy pick-Pocket?)

In any case, when the DS was revealed, it basically spelled out the end of the GBA's life.  But before it gave up the ghost, Nintendo gave it one final and super-sexy revision: the Game Boy Micro.  It's a tiny, super-sleek system with an ultra-bright screen.  It has (almost) everything the regular GBA has, plus it's ultra-tiny, as you can see.  And get this: Wal-Mart had these for Black Friday one year for $25.  That's right: just 4 hours of work at a minimum wage job earned me the hot, shiny GB Micro.  Awesome.  There were a few different colors (silver, black, and a cool Famicom-colored one [think gold and red]), but that's not the best part: each Micro came with 2 interchangeable faceplates, so you can change the style whenever you want.  Now that's awesome.

Even though, sadly, the GBA is no longer being made, Nintendo has more than made up for it.  The Nintendo DS is absolute proof that Nintendo is the de facto champion of portable gaming.  Obviously, Nintendo decided to keep up their tradition of making cool colored systems.  Originally, the dual screen wonder came in a silver/black combination.  As the years went on, new colors were released (black, red, blue, etc).  I remember one particular time when the Nintendo DS Blue/Mario 64 DS bundle had just come out for $150. Now that's a great deal!  Anyways, I was working as a furniture delivery person and the lady that owned the furniture store gave me $150 as a tip.  Perfect timing!  But stupid me, I stupidly decided to pay off the college books I had recently bought instead.  So stupid!  But it all worked out in the end.  You see, at the time, I was dating this crazy girl.  And for my birthday (a few months later), she bought me a DS.  Awesome!  Then I broke up with her.  Free DS!

So, a year or two later, Nintendo decided the DS needed a more modern look, so they came out with the DS Lite, which was smaller, brighter, and pretty much better all around.  And it could still play GBA games, so that's cool.  It was a very well-designed system.  It had a clear plastic shell around the colored plastic, which kept your from getting scuffs on the color, which was awesome.  I bought the sweet white one, but they also had black, pink, and eventually green, blue, rose, and few special editions.

Unfortunately, at some point, I overplayed the system so bad, the touch screen got ruined.  :(  I don't know if it was from trying to beat Trauma Center or get first on some of the insane events on Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, but it didn't matter.  The screen wouldn't register touches correctly, so it was basically impossible to play anything that used the touch screen.  Fortunately for me, having the sweetest wife in the world has its advantages!  That next birthday, I received the sweet cobalt/black DS Lite, which I still use to this day.  Hooray!

That next April (or so), Nintendo released the DSi, which, as you all know, is a DS without the GBA slot, and two cameras.  Plus, you can download original games a la Wii.  At the time, Gamestop had a really good deal, where if you traded in an old DS, you could get $70 off the DSi.  So, I found a cheap replacement touch screen on eBay, installed it in the broken White DS Lite, and boom!  DSi for cheap!  It launched in Black and Sky Blue.

Since its launch, the DSi has seen several cool colors, such as white and metallic navy, which even came with 5 free games built-in.  Now, you can get the DSi XL, which is significantly larger, plus has designer colors such as Wine Red and Leather Brown (or something like that).  And, if the Japanese colors get here (which they probably will eventually), we'll soon have everything from pink to yellow to green, among others.

So there you go.  Nintendo's history of colored portable systems.  Pretty awesome, I do declare.  And surely, we haven't seen the last of it.  In fact, let's take some guesses on 3DS colors while we're at it.  Here's my guess for launch color: brushed metal.  Or even better, since they'll probably call it the Nintendo Egg, it'll be white with green spots.  How cool would that be?  Or hey, here's a really cool idea: it's clear, with colored LEDs built-in, so you can change to color to whatever you want.  Yeah, baby!  I'm awesome!

Alright, well, I'm tired, so I'ma go pick a colored system and play some games on it.  Hoo-hah!

-benjamines

Monday, June 7, 2010

Hi-res 3DS?

There are rumors going around that the 3DS is packing some serious graphical firepower.  Some top-level video game media personnel have reported that the graphics are close to Xbox or PS3-level graphics, which, frankly, is blowing everyone's minds right about now.

There are some things to keep in mind, however.  A portable screen may only have a resolution of say, 640x480, while an HDTV would have something more like 1920x1080.  On the other hand, the DS has two screens, so it takes twice the processing power to run.  Either way, if this is true, it could make for some seriously amazing gameplay.

I guess we won't know for sure until E3.  Until then, I'll be dreaming of revisiting Delfino Isle as FLUDD shoots water past my head in Super Mario Sunshine 3D...

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Metal-Optic?

In the last few days, several rumors have been popping up regarding a Goldeneye game for the Wii and DS.  If the rumors are to be believed, it's a remade version of the classic N64 game, with Daniel Craig as Bond instead of Pierce Brosnan.

If this is true, and if they do a good job, then it's a first-person shooter I'm actually interested in.  We'll probably find out for sure at E3.  Although, it's weird they would take Pierce Brosnan out.  I can understand it (licensing issues, probably), but it's still a little disappointing.

If this is true, they need the following things:

Regenerating Health (have you played this game since newer FPSs have come out?)
All the classic levels and weapons (although that might not work either, since Rare made them originally)
A cheat to let you keep people from picking that stinking midget Oddjob.

Either way, I'm excited to see if this is true, and how the game is.  Should be interesting.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Colors for Crullers

Seeing those new DSi XL colors from the other day reminded me of some of the cool hues Nintendo has painted their systems with in the past, including their premiere portable, the Game Boy.

Of course, we all remember the good ol' Gameboy (or at least, we've seen one before, right?).  Since the Christmas of '87 (when I became helplessly addicted to Nintendo), I've always wanted every cool thing Nintendo released, which is pretty much everything they released.  It had really cool games, like Super Mario Land, Picross, and Tetris (which, btw, sold a ridiculous 30 million copies).

Sure, the GB had some issues, like the screen.  You pretty much had to be playing in direct sunlight to even see everything, and even then, the screen could be a bit blurry at times.  But that didn't matter.  Nintendo's forte has always been to make exceptional games with less expensive technology.  Having games like Mario, Metroid, and the best Zelda ever made helped keep this system on top of the charts, even when higher-powered, color-screened competitors entered the market.

Sometime around 1995, Nintendo decided to start making colored Game Boys.  And I don't mean the Game Boy Color.  I mean regular Game Boys with colored shells.  They called it the "Play It Loud" series.  And while they were basically the same thing, I wanted one that much more.  They had yellow, red, green, blue, and the ultra-awesome clear shell.  I remember this period of my life very vividly: my older brother had a job, so he pre-ordered the clear one (so awesome!) with Donkey Kong Land from JC Penney.  I remember playing Kirby's Dreamland 2 for hours while he was at work.  In fact, I would sit by the window and wait for him to come home so I could put it back before he beat me up.  Then, one day (1996-ish), my family was at Wal-Mart, and they had the colored Game Boys on sale for - I kid you not - $55.  My parents owed me that much money (for what, I don't remember), and I begged them to buy me the green one, but to no avail.  I was not a happy camper.  But it wasn't all bad news.  A better system was released shortly thereafter.  More on that later.

A year or so after the Play It Loud series was released, Nintendo revised the Game Boy design dramatically, giving it a much sleeker profile, and more importantly, a much sharper screen.  It was called the Game Boy Pocket, and it was a beautiful thing to behold.  My younger brother actually got one that Christmas with Kirby's Block Ball.  Yeah, I kinda got shafted back then when it came to video games.  But that's not to say I didn't play his all the time, 'cause I did.  Sadly, some time after it was handed down to my sister, it was lost forever.  Oh, and to the little brat who stole it out of my parent's crappy brown minivan with my copy of Super Mario Land 2, I hope you burn in hell.

But moving on, a year or so after that revision to the Game Boy, Nintendo blew our minds: a colored screen.  In fact, this is how it went: my older brother always bought video game magazines (EGM, etc), and my younger brother and I would steal them and read them.  Well, one day, we're out in the crappy brown minivan while our parents are shopping at Waremart (cheap food store, which later turned into Winco) reading one of these magazines.  Our conversation went exactly like this, I kid you not:

Me: "Hey, do you know what'll be cool?"

Him: "What?"

Me: "When they make a Game Boy with a colored screen."

Him: "Yeah, that'd be so cool."

*turns page*

Both: "WHOOOOOOAAAAHH!!!!"

That's right, the next page was a huge article on the newly announced Game Boy Color, with the flagship clear "Atomic Purple" color in all its glory.  I couldn't have been happier.  In the summer of 1999, I got a job at Wendy's and my very first paycheck of my whole life bought me the clear purple GBC, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, and Conker's Pocket Tales.  It was a glorious day.  And from then on, I bought a new game almost every week while I was working.  I still hold very fondly the memories of that clear purple wonder that helped me through countless lunch rushes, class lectures, and bus rides.  Essentially, it was like this: all through high school, I played it almost every day on the bus ride to school, on the way home (30 minutes each way), during class, at home, and on speech trips (which were nearly every weekend from like November to March).  Yeah, I tended to play it a lot.  I logged over 100 hours on Mario Golf (the counter stops at 99:99), I beat Zelda 3 or 4 times all the way through, and I played that co-op mode on Mario Deluxe thousands of times.  My good ol' GBC got more play time than perhaps any system since.  Eventually, it was handed down to my brother, and later on, sadly, it died.  It was probably the only Nintendo system I've ever owned that simply stopped working.  Poor thing.  (I have the teal colored one now).

The Game Boy Color was cool because it could play the new Color games (which had clear cartridges), plus it could play older games in color (you could even choose the colors somewhat, although with a very limited palette).  They also made special black "in-between" cartridges that worked on the GBC and the regular GB.  Plus, it lasted forever with just 2 batteries.  I bought 4 rechargeable AA batteries for it (swapping sets back and forth) and the batteries wore out long before the system did.  Awesome.

The next iteration of the Game Boy came out in 2001, but I'll save that one for tomorrow.  Until then, I think I'll go play a round of Mario Golf on my teal GBC.  Or maybe I'll play some Pokemon Pinball.  Duke Nukem maybe?  Perfect Dark?  Motocross Maniacs 2?  Wario Land 3?...

-benjamines