Don’t Lego, Jack!

Over the last few years, there have been several games based around various fictional universes, but with everything made from Legos. Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Harry Potter have all been released with good sales and seem to be well-received by fans. They still haven’t made a Lego Kung Pow, but I’m still hoping.

The Year of Luigi

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I love you!*

Earlier this morning, Nintendo broadcast another Nintendo Direct, showcasing upcoming games and content, some of which was unannounced.

Welcome to BlatantBias.com!

Greetings, faithful reader! Hope you’ve enjoyed the many, many articles posted over the last few months. It’s been grueling and challenging, but I think it was worth it.

What’s that? You haven’t seen any articles since June? Hmm… must be hackers. Either that, or you’re full of it. Psych!

Alright, so let’s cut to the chase. This blog is no longer tarnished by the fact that it did not reign over its own domain. It shared an ecosystem of never-to-be-updated-again family happenings and terrible fan fiction. But now, Blatant Bias has freed it self from the shackles of patheticness. BlatantBias.com now reigns supreme!

That being said, do not fear that the site has changed much in its content. In fact, it’s identical. You can ever get here from the old address. So you’ll still get the hilarious articles, the fascinating news, the lack of updates, and the insightful predictions and rumors.

Welcome to BlatantBias.com!

E3 2012 Tuesday Recap

Today, Nintendo unveiled some of their new games for this year, most of them for the Wii U. Some of high points include:

E3 2012 Live Broadcast

Greetings, Nintendorks! Ready to check out some sweet, sweet Nintendo news and announcements? Me too!

For this year's presentation, Nintendo will be broadcasting the event from here, their E3 Facebook page. As long as the server doesn't crash from so many people tuning in, that should work.

E3 Bingo 2012

It’s almost here! One of the best days of the year is fast approaching: Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference, where we wait anxiously for announcements about new systems, new features, and most importantly, new games.

As I have done in the past, I have created a fancy shmancy new bingo card for this year’s conference. Behold! (click for larger view, or open in a window/tab)

'Sonic the Hedgehog' creator charged with murder

Naoto Oshima

Naoto Oshima, creator of the popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, was charged with murder today in Osaka, Japan. Naoto allegedly ran down a former colleague in his car around 8am local time. The victim, Takashi Iizuka, was the head of Sonic Team, the company which makes the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.

Fulfilling Your Japaneeds

Nintendo is a Japanese company. I’m guessing that’s because it was founded in Japan. And, for whatever reason, many of the games created in Japan never make it to US shores. It’s a shame, really, since many of these games are excellent. Let’s have a look at a few Japanese games that never made it to the US of A.

Game Guessing Game

This year is a going to a great year to be a Nintendo fan. Granted, every year is a great year to be a Nintendo fan. In any case, this year, we have a lot of new games and a great new system being released.
President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata recently said that he expects the Wii U to launch before the Christmas season (likely mid-November-ish). That means we’ll get some great new games for the Wii U, in addition to some awesome 3DS games.

What the expansion slider?!

So, you may or may not have seen the recent news that Nintendo is releasing an expansion slide pad for the 3DS. This has led to a lot of speculation that Nintendo mishandled the 3DS launch and failed to add two slide pads.

To all those people who think Nintendo forgot to add a second analog and/or that Nintendo is now desperately trying to fix the 3DS with an add-on: you’re idiots.

Do you honestly believe that Nintendo, after years of developing a new system, suddenly think that they messed up, and are desperately trying to fix their “mistake” after only a few months after launch? If you do: you’re an idiot.

The 3DS is a perfectly capable and well-designed machine. The 3D effect is fantastic. After playing games like Pilotwings in 3D, you start to ‘crave’ the effect in other games. It makes it much easier to tell where you are in 3D worlds. The slide pad is the prefect way to add an analog stick to a portable system. It’s flat, effective, and comfortable.

Why then, is Nintendo releasing this add-on? Two words: Monster Hunter. This is what probably happened: Nintendo and Capcom were in talks to make a Monster Hunter game for the 3DS (in case you didn’t know, the Monster Hunter series is extremely popular in Japan). This alone would guarantee 3DS sales. Capcom probably said, ‘We’ll do it, but we need a second slide pad for optimum controls.’ Nintendo probably decided an add-on slide pad would be better than to screw over all the people who already owned a 3DS. And I absolutely agree.

Here’s the poop on the slide pad: It has its own battery, so it won’t reduce the 3DS’s battery life. It adds the slide pad, plus a couple of shoulder buttons. And of course, the best part: it’s completely optional. Several games have already been announced that use the new expansion slide pad, such as Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil. It’s entirely likely that the expansion slide pad will be available in a bundle with some or all of these games.

And the best part? It looks way better than people thought. It appears to make holding the system much more like holding a controller, as you can see here. So why the turdstorm over this new thing? Because people are idiots.

Case in point: many gaming bloggers are trolling idiots who stir up controversy to gets more hits on their sites (I’m lookin’ at you, Kotaku). Nintendo still know what they’re doing, and the 3DS will be just fine. In fact, at stores like Toys ‘R’ Us, the 3DS has been in the top 10 best selling items since the price drop. So suck on that, idiots!

As for us gamers, we can relax knowing that Nintendo is going to bring us some of the best gaming experiences available. By the end of this year, we’ll have two Mario games, a new Sonic, Cave Story, and more. By the end of next year, we’ll have a new Professor Layton, Mario Tennis, Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, and many others. So rejoice, Nintendo fans! All is well with the 3DS!