One Duck's Opinion

Poll #96: "What do you think of Wii MotionPlus so far?" results, no new banner, additional textual screen-filler

2009-07-14T02:32:00.002-04:00

"It's amazing!" 2 votes (11%)
"I like it" 2 votes (11%)
"I don't like it" 0 votes (0%)
"It's terrible!" 1 votes (5%)
"I'm indifferent/don't know yet" 1 vote (5%)
"I haven't tried it yet" 11 votes (64%)

I'm surprised so many people haven't tried it out yet! Well, at least those who have tried it seem to enjoy it. Except for that one guy... What's his deal?

As for this week's banner... There isn't one! I figure almost nobody saw it last week anyways, so why replace it? Also, I'm tired.

Moving along to this week's poll, the question is "DS Lite or DSi: Which do you prefer?" Both systems have their advantages, but what's your preference? To be honest, I can't pick one. I hope most other voters are more decisive than me!

Now, about the utter lack of activity here... I'm feeling much better now, so things will certainly be picking up very soon. I will write something this week, no question about it. Just not now, because it's 2:32 AM. But soon!

Poll #95: "Do you prefer 2D or 3D platformers?" results, banner, a word on recent activity

2009-07-07T02:17:00.004-04:00

"2D" 7 votes (36%)
"3D" 5 votes (26%)
"I can't decide" 7 votes (36%)
"I'm not into platformers" 0 votes (0%)

It seems that those who aren't indifferent tend to lean in the direction of 2D. I guess you just don't forget those early days of Super Mario Bros.!

This week's banner is based on that funky-fresh Zelda concept art the internet has been chewing on for the last month. Is she the living version of the Master Sword? Or is she maybe the queen of the fairies? Hell if I know... Or care. I just want the damn game!

For this week's poll, the question is "What do you think of Wii MotionPlus so far?" It's been out for a little while now, so those who've picked it up probably have quite a bit of play time to base an opinion off of. Personally, I'm waiting until Wii Sports Resort, so I can't really say. Perhaps you have had a chance to give it a go, and if you have, let everyone know how you feel! And if you'd like to elaborate on your choice, you can always drop a comment!

Now, you've no doubt noticed that preceding this poll results post is another poll results post... Preceded by another (Not counting that little paragraph in between). To put it briefly (And to spare you all the details), I've been unwell lately. I've been unable to concentrate on much the last little while, including my love of gaming. And when I'm not gaming, I'm not coming up with article ideas. I'm feeling somewhat better as of today, but I've got a little ways to go before I'm back to normal. Don't worry, folks, I wasn't in some sort of crippling car accident and I don't have cancer or anything. It's just a... Well, I suppose you could say it's a condition I have. Nothing deadly, nothing like that, relax. Just something I'll have to deal with over the next little while.

As I said, I've been feeling a little better, so I would expect I'll have something written and posted soon. Don't expect anything big, but it'll be something. Hopefully I can keep things running smoothly from there. Now, though, I'd better be getting my sleep. See you all again soon... Sort of. I really don't actually see any of you ever. Awkwaaaaaaaard...

Poll #94: "What do you think of Chinatown Wars being ported to the PSP?" results, banner

2009-06-30T19:49:00.005-04:00

"This is terrible news!" 1 votes (4%)
"I'm kinda miffed" 4 votes (19%)
"I don't really care" 11 votes (52%)
"Sounds good to me!" 2 votes (9%)
"About damn time!" 0 votes (0%)
"Wait, what?!" 3 votes (14%)

It seems the majority of voters didn't really care, and now that I think about it a week after the announcement, I suppose I don't really care, either. Also, not to sound fanboyish, but I think the DS version will end up the superior game in the end. Those touch-controlled mini-events really added so much to the experience, a feature I doubt a wider screen can replace.

This week's banner is based on the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii for... Well, the Wii. I think the screenshot used in the banner perfectly shows what this game will be: Old-school platforming fun with three friends joining in on the action. And it looks glorious.

This week's poll is simple question of opinion: "Do you prefer 2D or 3D platformers?". I really can't decide, personally. I've had so much fun with both sides of the coin!

No idea when the next article will be up. I have a few ideas, I just don't know when I'll get the chance to write them. Thursday, perhaps?

New poll and banner tomorrow

2009-06-30T01:46:00.004-04:00

Way too tired to do it tonight. Garry's Mod is eating my life again. This post will probably be deleted in a matter of hours, so if you see it, well, hooray for you, I guess.

Poll #93: "Which of the three motion controllers seems best to you?" results, banner

2009-06-22T15:01:00.002-04:00

"Wii remote (With MotionPlus)" 7 votes (33%)
"Project Natal" 3 votes (14%)
"The PS3 motion controller" 4 votes (19%)
"They all seem great" 6 votes (28%)
"They all suck" 0 votes (0%)
"I don't know" 1 votes (4%)

Wii MotionPlus swept the competition, taking 33% of the votes. This win was no doubt partially helped by the MotionPlus being so much more "real" to us all, what with it already being in the market, and having tonnes of consumer and media reviews behind it. The competition's controllers look promising, of course, but they both still seem more like "proof of concept" than a real control style as of now. Like the flying car and man walking on Mars, it's something many will have to see before truly appreciating and believing. Or in this case, referring back to what Reggie Fils-Aime said in 2006, "Playing = Believing".

This week's banner is in celebration of The Conduit, High Voltage's Wii-exclusive shooter launching mere hours from now. With nearly every media outlet praising its name, it's hard not to get excited. I've already got tomorrow all planned out!

Finally, for this week's poll, the question concerns a recent bit of news. Apparently, Rockstar wasn't happy with how Chinatown Wars performed on the DS (Can't say I blame them), and decided to port it over to the PSP (Short for Playstation PORT-able, amirite?). While I can see why they decided to do this (GTA sells like mad on Playstation-brand systems), it still makes me a little mad. Just when I thought Rockstar was proving how much they cared about the Nintendo fanbase, they turn around not four months later and announce it's headed to the PSP. So much for the DS having its own little slice of the pie... I guess I'll write more about this later, but back to the poll, I now ask you: "What do you think of Chinatown Wars being ported to the PSP?", and don't be afraid to elaborate on your feelings in the comment section.

That's it for now, folks. I may get writing a bit more later tonight, so look out for that. Until then, keep on gamin'!

DSi firmware update ideas

2009-06-19T15:27:00.002-04:00

The DSi is a great handheld for those willing to make the investment (More details in my review), but there are a few minor shortcomings noticeable in the system's built-in software. It used to be that, when a console shipped with problems like this, it was stuck that way for good. That's no longer the case, though, as the DSi's firmware can be updated much like the Wii's, allowing features to be added and existing software to be tweaked. As of yet, Nintendo hasn't even hinted at an upcoming firmware update for the DSi, but that hasn't stopped me from brainstorming the possibilities. Following are a few ideas I've thought up that would make the DSi that much more great.

SD card compatibility similar to that of the Wii since Wii Menu 4.0

I was really getting annoyed earlier this year. I had to keep deleting games off of my Wii's internal memory, redownloading ones I wanted to play again, and performing the mind-numbingly long task of shuffling others to the SD card and back. Finally, Nintendo delivered with Wii Menu 4.0, allowing lightning-fast play of WiiWare and Virtual Console games stored on the SD card. Since then, all's been good...

...but a similar problem may soon be arising with the DSi. It was recently found out that, if you've downloaded all the DSiWare software available, your DSi is officially full. Of course, much of what's on DSiWare right now is, well, crap, but that could surely change in the near future. In the last few weeks alone, Mighty Flip Champs and Mario VS Donkey Kong: Minis March Again have appeared on the DSiStore, and many more titles are on their way. Eventually we're going to run out of space for it all. Sadly, unlike the Wii, the DSi lacks the ability to directly run software off of an SD card... for now. Surely Nintendo could do the same thing on the DSi as they did on the Wii? Since I see no reason why not, yes, they can do it... And don't call me Shirley*.

Pause gameplay and access the main menu

You're sitting on a park bench, playing a good round of Fire Emblem, when all of a sudden you look up and see a hawk perched on the tree nearby. But you left your camera at home, and your cell phone's recharging! Well, you could just tap the power button and return to the main menu... But that would mean losing your progress in that round of Fire Emblem (And you were doing pretty damn well, too!). Well, it's either that, or miss an awesome picture of a hawk. Decisions!

This wouldn't be a problem, though, if you could just pause the game and jump back to the main menu. Like minimizing a program on a computer, you could duck out, take a pic, and jump right back in. The way I see this working out (Mind you, I'm no tech-expert, so stop me if this isn't feasible) is the game just pausing as usual while the picture's being taken. In fact, this may even be what Nintendo was planning all along. The DSi 16MB of RAM, four times as much as any previous DS model. RAM dictates how much a computer can do at once, and it's sure to be the same with the DSi. With 4MB being taken up by the game, that leaves 12MB to do whatever we want. Surely that's enough to handle taking a simple picture? Theoretically, yes, it is enough... And stop calling me Shirley*.

Now, the next question is, how would this function be accessed? Every button on the DSi is already taken... So why not make it replace the one-tap-to-the-menu function of the Power Button? Instead of a single tap taking you directly to the menu, a window would pop up asking what you want to do: Pause the game and access the menu; shut down the game, lose all progress and access the menu; or simply cancel and return to the game.

A final problem arises with upcoming, unknown software... Nintendo can't have put all that extra RAM just for the sake of this function. Upcoming, more hardware-intensive games are coming, and they'll be using higher amounts of the DSi's RAM. When it comes to this, my system outlined above won't be possible (That is, if it wasn't already rendered impossible by my lack of tech knowledge. Experts, feel free to chime in!). When games like these come along, I propose a new function: A quick-save feature built in to all software... And really, that's all there is to it. Just a quick-save feature. Why don't all handheld games have this already, anyway? It's a portable console, for crying out loud, we should be able to save and quit whenever we need! Pick-up-and-play, people!

MP3 support on DSi Sound, and a playlist feature for music

No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to get any AAC file loaded on an SD card to play on my DSi (Click here, hit Ctrl+F and punch in "Continuing along" for more). With so many hoops to jump through, there's probably somewhere along the way where I made a mistake. Why not just cut all the crap and put MP3 support in there? Post an updated DSi Sound Channel on the DSiStore, charge 200 points to cover the format licensing fee, and we're in business. That's all there is to it.

Sadly, I doubt this will happen. Nintendo seems to be running away from the MP3 format for no reason, straight into the land of AAC. Makes no sense. Whether or not this becomes a reality, though, I still want the following feature to be implemented: Playlists. As it is, audio files can only be played one by one, and in order to change to the next one, we have to fiddle about with the touchscreen. Doesn't exactly make for easy-playing of our music, does it? I know, DSi Sound is more meant for messing around with sounds and stuff than replacing a separate music player, but if the possibility for improvement is there, why not go for it? Toss in the MP3 format (Just do it, dammit), slap a 200 point price tag on it and label it "DSi Sound 2.0". Money in the bank!

Increased volume control sensitivity

I do a lot of my gaming at night when everyone else is asleep. When I was using my DS Lite, I usually had little trouble using the volume slider to find an appropriate volume level that was both loud enough for me to clearly hear yet quiet enough so as to not disturb my family. With the DSi, though, the slider is out, the buttons are in, and my ideal volume level is between two of the settings. The one below it is too quiet, the one above it is too loud, and I really don't like gaming with headphones (No idea why, I just don't). I've heard other people complain about the different volume levels, too, so I know I'm not alone on this. It can't be that hard to just make each press of the button adjust the volume less, so go on and do it, Nintendo!

Easier main-menu image viewing

I take a lot of pictures with my DSi, since I usually have it handy. When I want to go show off those pictures, though, it's a bit of a pain. After starting up the system, I then have to navigate to the DSi Camera channel, select the Album option, wait for the first image to load, then wait for the next image to load, and so on... When right on the main menu I can see one of my many photos. So why not just let me shuffle through them on the main menu?

I'm suggesting a button for the lower screen, maybe called "Random Image". Tap it, and the photo on the top screen would randomly switch to a different one. Of course, this would only select images you'd labeled to show on the upper screen, so that random picture you took of a door but forgot to delete won't be popping up. Surely this can't be very hard to implement (You should know where this is going by now)?

What do you think of my ideas? Are they great? Stupid? Technically impossible? All of the above (I don't doubt someone will find a way to make that possible)? Have your say in the comment section, or in this thread.

*You there. Watch Airplane. NOW.

Poll #92: "What did you think of E3 2009?" results, banner

2009-06-15T22:30:00.005-04:00

"It was amazing!" 10 votes (37%)
"I thought it was good" 16 votes (59%)
"It wasn't good or bad" 0 votes (0%)
"I didn't like it much" 0 votes (0%)
"It was awful!" 1 vote (3%)
"I don't know" 0 votes (0%)

Good to see that the reactions were generally positive. For the person who said it was awful... What exactly was so bad about it? Was a lack of Zelda and Pikmin 3 info really that big of a deal to you? Well, I guess you really just can't please everyone.

As I said in my last post here, I'd be spending a lot of time chilling out by screwing around in Team Fortress 2. While screwing around, I happened upon an interesting killcam image, and decided to incorporate it into this week's banner. So then, I present to you some incredibly angry BLU Heavy, in all his glowing glory*.

Next up comes this week's poll. Announced at E3 two weeks ago were motion-based alternatives to the 360 and PS3 controllers, no doubt attempting to tap into the expanded audience the Wii remote brought in. Also showcased at E3 (And released the week after) was the Wii MotionPlus, a little device that grants an incredible amount of precision to the Wii remote's motion capabilities. The question is, "Which of the three motion controllers seems best to you?". Personally I think the MotionPlus sounds best, mainly from reactions coming from those who have used it (I've yet to pick up one for myself). What's your take on the situation?

Those two matters aside, we turn to the main part of this blog: Articles. When will a new one finally surface? I'm not making any promises, but I think I can get something written and posted within the next few days. It may not be an epic-length essay or anything like that, but rest assured I'll do my best to get something on the front page in the next few days. For now, though, I'd better get to sleep. Here's hoping my plan holds out!

*For anyone unfamiliar with Team Fortress 2, when invulnerable, a Heavy will sometimes say "Now is coward killing time!". The text in the banner is based on this.

Well, so much for that.

2009-06-10T14:39:00.003-04:00

Back on this blog's second "birthday", I said the following:

May those droughts be a thing of the past, and the one thing to be left behind in this new year!

As you can tell by the fact I haven't written anything other than poll results in over a week, I've failed utterly at leaving that behind. Not for a lack of trying, though, as I have seven article fragments sitting in wait, but I just can't figure out how to finish them. In short, I have author's constipation, or rather, writer's block (Take your pick). I suppose it could be worse, though. Chris Livingston hasn't updated in four weeks. Let's just pray I get over my writer's block in a more timely manner!

I won't make any promises as to when the words will start flowing again, but rest assured I'll be doing my best to restore activity... As I frag people in Team Fortress 2. While some people take showers to clear their minds, I'm the guy who's decloaking behind them and pulling out my knife. "PEEK-A-BOO!"

Poll replacement, new banner

2009-06-05T13:06:00.004-04:00

Well, that poll was a bust, garnering only seven votes. It sure isn't easy making a poll referring to an event that will still work after said event. Instead of attempting to gauge overall thoughts based on seven votes this Monday, I'll just be replacing the poll with a new one, and letting it run straight through until the 15th. Now then, the question is "What did you think of E3 2009?" Simple, yes? Personally, I was pleased with what I saw. Nintendo fans got Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Metroid: Other M and the long-awaited Golden Sun DS. That's plenty enough for me to consider this a good week.

Now then, for this week's banner, the subject is Super Mario Galaxy 2, one of the games announced on Tuesday. The original Galaxy was an incredibly fun adventure that was downright beautiful to boot. If the image used in the banner is any indication, Galaxy 2 will be carrying on both traditions.

As with the poll, this banner will remain up until the 15th. Now then, with this taken care of, I'll get to work on a few article ideas I have floating about. Expect one (Or more!) to appear later today or over the weekend.

The Super Mario Galaxy 2 logo: Slapped together in a hurry?

2009-06-02T19:21:00.010-04:00

This is just a little something I had to toss out there. Make sure to check below for two other articles written today!

When randomly taking a look at the above logo (I do that sometimes), I noticed something strange. You can't really make it out in the above image due to Blogger having a size limit for uploaded pictures, so I've posted below a narrower scope of the image, allowing its full-quality to be uploaded.

Now, you're probably going to have to full-view this image to see what I see. Look at how clear and crisp the lines on the 2 are... Are how utterly blurry and low-res the letter above it is. It looks like someone just slapped a two on a slightly blown-up copy of the Galaxy logo.

Of course, I'm not suggesting any sort of conspiracy by this. It was on the stage, so it's real, no doubt. I'm just saying it seems that this was put together in a hurry. The only thing it could possibly indicate is that "Super Mario Galaxy 2" is merely a title-in-progress, and that the game will sport a name much more suiting of its pedigree in the end, because, let's face it, a "2" on the end of a game title is a pretty lame name for a sequel. Let's get some artistic flair in that bad boy! A game like this is deserving of so much more than a lame "2" to set it apart from its predecessor.

Discuss This Finding On The Forums

Nintendo's E3 2009 press conference: Recap, commentary and observations

2009-06-02T18:57:00.006-04:00

Don't forget to check the article below this for a rundown of how my predictions fared!

After last year's E3, people had lost much of their faith in Nintendo. The script was pretty crummy, the announcements were sparse, and what was announced (Animal Crossing: City Folk) wound up being somewhat underwhelming when it landed in stores that November. Surely this E3 would have to be better than last year's event... Right?

The first game shown (After a brief bit of sales talk) is one we saw coming thanks to that loose-lipped Japanese newspaper; New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the name of this new side-scrolling adventure for the Wii. Stylistically very similar to the New Super Mario Bros. game on the DS, players can play as Mario, Luigi, or different-coloured Toads. Nothing was said on the subject of other playable characters, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more join in on the fun.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is seamlessly integrated with the single player, with people free to come and go as they please. This new mode is both competitive and cooperative, much like what you'd see in the Four Swords games in terms of player interaction. Whenever someone dies, a bubble appears on screen containing them. If other, living players are inclined to do so, they can pop the bubble and free their allies/foes and continue along. Although they didn't say, I'd assume that if all four die without freeing a bubble-encased player, the level ends. The same probably occurs when all players exhaust their supply of free lives. An additional way players can work together is picking eachother up on their shoulders and carrying them around. This comes into play with the following power-up...

One new ability was shown off in the demonstration, and that was the Propeller Suit. From what I could see, players can save themselves when falling by activating the propeller and whisking themselves to safety. It can also be used mid-jump to add a bit more height to a leap. If a player without a Propeller Suit grabs another play who has one, they can be flown around as a passenger. A neat little touch, gently forcing players to work together if need be.

In the official trailer, another new power-up is shown off: The Penguin Suit (Not an official name, just what I've dubbed it). Acting sort of like an Antarctic Hammer Bros. Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3, the Penguin Suit gives the wearer the ability to toss about snowballs at his or her enemies. So far, this and the Propeller Suit are the only known power-ups, but seeing more wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Not much else is known about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but if the DS game was any indication, it's sure to be a classic side-scroller with enough content to keep people busy for a good while. New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be available worldwide this holiday season.

Directly following that was the announcement of the other game leaked by Nikkei: Wii Fit Plus. Despite its name, it doesn't seem to use the Wii MotionPlus at all. In fact, it still uses just the Balance Board and Wii remote, with no new peripheral or anything attached to it. Several new modes are the draw this time around, with different work outs designed to focus on different parts of the body.

Also new are 15 minigames, from a platformer-like distraction to what Cammie Dunaway referred to as "Brain Age for your behind". Yup. It's Butt Age (See below).

Wii Fit Plus doesn't look to bring a whole lot to the table in terms of new content, instead serving as more of a, well, a Wii Fit Plus. Anyone who has yet to get into the craze (Such as myself) should probably just wait for this to hit shelves this fall, sold in two packages: With a Balance Board (For newcomers like myself), or without (For Wii Fit owners looking for a little more).

After this, Reggie appeared on stage to show off the Wii MotionPlus (I know, I was expecting more sales talk, too). After talking a bit about how revolutionary and accurate the device is, he handed the show over to Bill Trinen, who proceeded to demonstrate for us a few parts of Wii Sports: Resort.

To begin, Bill Trinen started off at the first part of the game players will experience: Skydiving to the resort island. By twisting and turning the Wii remote (With MotionPlus) in the air, players can make their Mii do all sorts of moves, and even grab a hold of other sky divers and create formations in the air. This little beginning level is a perfect way to introduce the player to the abilities of the Wii MotionPlus, but like this is merely the start of the game, this is also merely the start of the new peripheral's abilities.

In the archery game, the Wii remote is held pointing up, with its back facing away from the player. The Nunchuk takes the role of the player's other hand (Which one depends on the player's hand dominance). Aiming is achieved by moving the Wii remote around, and this is where it gets cool. Even though the IR sensor is pointed straight at the ceiling, the Wii MotionPlus can still determine where on the screen the back of the remote is "pointed" at. Bill moved it around in space in front of him, and the way it was matched so perfectly on screen almost made me forget there's no IR camera on the bottom of the controller.

After this, Bill called Reggie back on stage to demonstrate the basketball free-throw game. By holding their hands above their head as if holding a basketball, with the Wii remote in the "throwing" hand, the two of them managed to have a nice, fun and challenging round of free-throws, with Reggie barely edging out Bill by sinking a "money ball" worth extra points. I'm no fan of basketball (And as such probably just used horrible terminology), but I must admit I'm excited for this part of the game. It looks challenging, yet fulfilling, and truly shows off the scope of the MotionPlus' abilities.

Wii Sports: Resort looks like an excellent sequel to the Wii game that started it all, and I'm quite looking forward to getting my hands on it on July 26th.

After this, a string of trailers for already-known games began to play. Final Fantasy: Crystal Bearers (With some pretty crummy voice actors, sadly), Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Mario & Luigi 3: Bowser's Inside Story (Excellent title) all went by, followed up by a trailer for something no feasible reach of the imagination could have possibly foretold...

Oh, people dreamed about it and people hoped for it, but I don't think anyone ever truly believed it would ever happen. Now, I never played the first two games personally, so I don't know a whole lot about the significance of any people shown in the trailer, but I can say that it featured some truly beautiful graphics. Screenshots really don't do it justice, so be sure to check out the trailer on Youtube.

A string of less-significant announcements followed, with stuff like Style Savvy (Localization of Girl's Mode), James Patterson Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion (Sort of an interactive novel based on the book) and C.O.P. The Recruit (An actually somewhat cool, GTA-style cop game from Ubisoft). Following this was a bit of shilling in the DSi's direction, and the announcement of Flipnote Studio (The localized name for Moving Memo Pad). Following this was the announcement of an all new game: Mario VS Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!

The third title in the Mario VS Donkey Kong series, Minis March Again! looks to consist entirely of user-created content shared over the Nintendo WiFi Connection. Going along with this is a level editor said to be even more robust than that of the previous game, giving the player an insane amount of space to work in and many additional tools and traps.

Now, what's the coolest part of this? Mario VS Donkey: Minis March Again! is exclusively for DSiWare. That's right; Nintendo is finally throwing their weight behind the fledgling DSiShop, and Mario VS Donkey: Minis March Again! will be debuting their on June 8th. Once again, you're not misreading this; This game is coming out next week! Sometimes digital distribution can be an amazing thing, huh? No price point has yet to be announced, but I'm expecting it to fall in the "800+" price range, possibly becoming the first game to actually be of a "+" price.

Following this are three more less-notable presentations; WarioWare: Made in Ore is to be called Wario Ware: DIY in North America, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is once again shown off (No new information), and they announce that we'll soon be able to upload our DSi pictures directly to Facebook.

After the above, Iwata appears on stage and begins to say how many people on Earth are playing games these days and how Nintendo has enlightened millions to the wonders of gaming. Basically sales talk in disguise. Iwata then turns to something new...

...another peripheral? But... I thought we were through with such things! Oh well, maybe it'll be something coo-What? It's a glorified heartrate monitor?

...I'm honestly speechless here. Apparently, so was Iwata, as he basically told us that it monitors our blood pressure as we play to gauge how we're reacting to it... Or something. He was being incredibly vague. My guess is this is still waaaaaay in the experimental stages, making it a mystery as to why they chose to show it off today.

At this point I'm pretty blown away by all the announcements (Excluding the previous one). Although I wasn't thinking it at the time, I'd probably have been alright with it if they decided that was enough for today and ended the conference. But they still had at least one more ace up their sleeve, and that was...

Super Mario Galaxy 2, a sequel to what is probably the Wii's greatest game yet. This was just crazy to me. After hearing of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I was sure that the major Mario-related news had wrapped up for the day. I was gladly shown otherwise. Although no story details explaining why have surfaced yet, Mario is once again taking off into space, but this time he's got a friend in the cold depths of nothingness: Yoshi, mashing together dinosaurs and intergalactic adventure in a way I never imagined could qualify as not cheesy. Dinosaurs in space: Only Nintendo could make that work.

Yoshi seems far-improved from his last 3D platforming appearance in Super Mario Sunshine, though, gaining a Super Mario World-style ability to eat fruit and take on new powers and colour schemes. When turned orange, Yoshi gains Sonic-like super-speed, and turning blue causes him to blow up like a balloon then deflate, floating into the air and taking Mario to new heights.

Many other enhancements seem to have been made to the formula from Mario's first space adventure, with actual planet-sized planets and a new drill item showing up in the trailer. Also appearing in the trailer was a Super Mario Bros. 3-style "giant" galaxy, featuring humongous Goombas and blimp-sized blocks. Now who says you can't build on perfection?

Nintendo is expanding upon a winning formula here, and I have every reason to believe that this will be an amazing addition to the Super Mario Galaxy universe (No pun intended). Super Mario Galaxy 2 is currently slated for a vague "2010" release.

Bringing us back to Earth after the previous announcement (Okay, pun intended that time), Nintendo turns to showcasing a few mature third-party Wii efforts; The Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space: Extraction all get their time on the big screen. I'm glad to see Nintendo pushing third-party Wii software. It's a lesson they've done well to learn after the N64 and Gamecube days!

After this, I thought, the show's bound to be over. A goodbye from Reggie, a final wave, and the lights go off. That's what I thought. That's not what happened. Instead, Nintendo announces that their partnership with Team Ninja has begun to pay off, and that the two have been working together on an established Nintendo franchise. First thought: Zelda. The trailer starts, and I see waves. Okay, so it's Wind Waker... Wait, that was just the Team Ninja signature. Whoops. So now we're in deep space, floating through a debris field. Oh my god, it's got to be Star Fox! Wait, who's this? Some woman in a space station? That's not Star Fox at all... Some commander-like guy asks her a question and OH MY GOD IT'S A NEW METROID.

Samus is back, but this isn't a first-person shooter. It's more of an action platformer, similar to Ninja Gaiden (A Team Ninja product). But in space, and with an arm cannon, so by default it's infinitely superior (Nerd alert). Freed from the restraints of first-person shooters, Samus now takes matters into her own hands... Literally. I mean, look below.

She has a freaking space lizard in a headlock. That's just plain badass. Samus is now able to punch the crap out of things, as well as shoot them. If that alone doesn't make this game awesome enough for you, watch this trailer and try not to smile. Go ahead, I'll wait...

...finished? Did you smile? Damn straight you smiled. And did you hear that at the end? She spoke. Samus talks now. She's probably the only silent protagonist I ever wanted to see go vocal (Except maybe Gordon Freeman, he's gotta have tonnes to say), and here it is. I really have to get my hands on that Metroid Prime Trilogy when it comes out and get back into the universe of Metroid. I've got to be ready for when it lands next year!

After this, Reggie takes the stage once more. What, he's announcing more? Stop, you're going to kill me! Well, I'm alive, so I guess that tells you no more announcements were made. And now, after all these surprises and revelations, the conference finally comes to a close. Looking back on it as a whole, I'd have to say this was definitely in the same league as the 2007 presentation, and nearly up there with the 2006 showing. If you honestly came away from this conference disappointed, I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll ever be satisfied. Nintendo delivered today, and they've shown that us gamers that have been with them for all these years still fit in with their plan. Thank you, Nintendo.

To summarize: Yes, it is better than last year's event. And don't call me Shirley.

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Nintendo's E3 2009 press conference: Prediction accuracy

2009-06-02T13:22:00.008-04:00

There's much to say after today's conference, but let's start with seeing how well my predictions fared. A green "YES" for whatever happened, and a red "NO" for whatever didn't. First off, my "highly likely" predictions:

Mario Wii 2 and Wii Fit Plus: Mario Wii 2 turned out to actually be two games: New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Wii Fit Plus also made the scene, sporting that exact name, no less. "YES"

Sales talk, sales talk, sales talk...: Sales talk was actually spread out through the whole conference, and not just spewed out in a big chunk at the beginning like last year. A nice change, in my eyes. "YES"

Pikmin 3: Sadly, the long-awaited Pikmin 3 never did show up. Here's hoping that it appears in some form at some time in the remainder of E3... "NO"

Wii MotionPlus showcase: Wii Sports: Resort was surprisingly the only game they showed off with the MotionPlus, but I was no less impressed with its abilities because of it. "YES"

A new Zelda Wii: Like my Pikmin 3 prediction, this, too, didn't turn out right. I think after all we got, though, I'll forgive them for this one. "NO"

Some third party game will be shown off: Correct, except it was not just one game, but many! The Conduit, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Dead Space: Extraction, C.O.P. The Recruit*, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Final Fantasy: Crystal Bearers, and a game based on a book I've never heard of and a fashion-based game. Besides the last two, it all sounds good to me! "YES"

Not bad. Four out of six! Now then, moving on to the "50/50 chance" part of the list:

A new "expanded audience" title: Surprisingly, no. Well, not from Nintendo, at least. That fashion game and the one based on the book are pretty "expanded audience". Good to see Nintendo pushing third-party efforts, though, despite what I may think of them personally. "NO"

A new Star Fox or F-Zero: That's a big no on both sides, sadly. One of these days, though, it just has to happen... One of these days... "NO"

Yipes, a big no to both of them... Quite sad about the last one not coming true. Finally, then we move onto the "not gonna happen" category.

The revealing of the Wii 2: This basically should have gone without saying. It's far too soon as of now to pull out the next one. "NO"

A new peripheral: Like I said, they're not gonna bring out a new peri-...what. What is that thing? The Wii Vitality Sensor? It's like those heart rate monitors they slip on your finger at a hospital! Since when was medical equipment part of gaming? Sorry, Nintendo, I'm not into reliving my hospital visits while I game. "YES" (Sadly)

That last one really threw me off. I was looking at it and almost expecting Iwata to go "Just kidding, here's a new Zelda". I was so sure there'd never be another peripheral, but there it was...

I suppose my predictions didn't turn out too badly today. Would've loved to see something about a new Zelda, or even just see Miyamoto take the stage for a minute. Oh well, there's always the rest of E3. And if it doesn't happen then, there's always the Fall conference!

More E3-related articles coming up soon.

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*A new GTA-style game from Ubisoft taking place on the other side of the law. Finally!

Nintendo's E3 2009 press conference: Predictions

2009-06-01T22:10:00.006-04:00

The time has finally arrived; Time for some predictions! I honestly found it hard to wait so long.

It's that time once again... Time for rampant speculation and oodles of predictions! Yes sir, it's round three of my annual list of Nintendo E3 predictions, and here are this year's group, starting with the most-likely. Read on, and hope that some of the better ones wind up becoming reality!

Mario Wii 2 and Wii Fit Plus: On the weekend, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei let slip word of a new Mario game for Wii, and an enhanced version of Wii Fit they called "Wii Fit Plus", both due to hit this year. These games are going to come out, and they're going to come out soon. Thus, they'll also have to be announced soon. Waiting until Nintendo's Fall conference will be too late, so I'm betting they'll pull back the curtains on both of these tomorrow.

Sales talk, sales talk, sales talk...: Nintendo's currently this generation's #1 company, so of course they're going to brag about this after being last place the previous two generations. This may be the third E3 since overtaking the competition, but I wouldn't put it past them to shove Reggie on stage with a teleprompter full of numbers.

Pikmin 3: After Shigeru Miyamoto said last year that Pikmin 3 is in production, I'm all but certain we'll be seeing it in some form tomorrow. Whether it be a teaser trailer or even just a logo once more confirming its existance, Pikmin 3 will almost certainly be showing up tomorrow, or at least behind doors during the rest of E3 (Hey, it worked for Brawl!).

Wii MotionPlus showcase: Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports: Resort are going to be huge titles, and undoubtedly will be the two biggest MotionPlus-enabled games. It would be foolish for Nintendo not to show them off tomorrow, especially considering the imminence of the peripheral's release. Also, don't be surprised to see a few other games join in on the presentation. I'm sure EA will have something to contribute in their tennis game, and perhaps even more on top of that!

A new Zelda Wii: When Nintendo decided to port Twilight Princess to Wii, they were already planning the next Zelda. This was in 2006. Now we're in 2009, and the memories of Link's last console adventure are beginning to fade, and fans are clamoring for more. Miyamoto even said last year that the Zelda team was hard at work on the next Wii title. If we don't see it tomorrow, we'll almost definitely be seeing it at the Fall conference.

Some third party game will be shown off: Nintendo's been doing their best to help push third-party titles lately, so seeing them show off a game from one of the many developers working on the Wii is pretty much a sure-thing. What the game will be is a mystery, but Red Steel 2, The Conduit and Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage are all likely candidates. Maybe we'll even get to see Bethesda's secret Wii project? Only time will tell...

Next we have two predictions that are equally as likely to come true as they are likely not to. This is basically the "50/50" part of the list. If the announcements in this category happens tomorrow, I won't be any more surprised than I would be if it didn't occur at all.

A new "expanded audience" title: Nintendo just loves their expanded audience; The virtually-untapped market of soccer moms, businessmen, and all other types of people that just don't have gaming as apart of their life. Wii Sports was the first to rope them in, and the "Wii" game label has continued to do so ever since. While I'm not exactly expecting a new installment in the "Wii" series (Besides Sports: Resort, but that's already announced), something may show up. I'd probably consider this more likely, but there's also the above "basically for-sure" announcements; I'm doubting Nintendo will cram so much into their conference. But hey, you never know...

A new Star Fox or F-Zero: Star Fox and F-Zero are pretty much the only two established Nintendo franchises to not have appeared on the Wii so far. It's going to happen sometime for sure. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon ~~and for the rest of your life~~. Both of these titles are just begging to take advantage of the MotionPlus, and Nintendo would be crazy to deny them the opportunity.

And now for two announcements that I consider incredibly unlikely. If either of the following wind up being announced, I'm going to be incredibly surprised.

The revealing of the Wii 2: The Wii's selling like crazy in almost every major market, over 50 million are in homes worldwide, and developers are beginning to churn out some truly amazing things for the little white box. I somehow doubt that the Wii 2 will be pulled out of any coat pockets tomorrow. Heck, Nintendo's still yet to release the Wii MotionPlus. They're not about to cannibalize sales of it by announcing a new console with the functionality built-in. It ain't happening tomorrow, folks. As for a new DS... I think I'll let my less-than-two-months-old DSi answer that question for you.

A new peripheral: Every year since the Wii launched, Nintendo has released at least one new peripheral for the console. First it was the Zapper, then the Wii Wheel and Balance Board, and this year it will be the MotionPlus. And no more. There will not be a new Wii peripheral announced tomorrow, or ever. Wii MotionPlus is the end of the plastic-paved road here, and Nintendo themselves has been quoted saying this (I can't find the link myself, but it's out there). If you're thinking we'll be seeing a new chunk of plastic to stick a Wii remote in, think again.

Am I being optimistic with all those "most-likely" predictions? Or am I actually expecting too little of tomorrow? The only ones who can answer these questions are Nintendo themselves, and that answer is... Wait a little longer.

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PS: Just to clarify, I'm not expecting ALL of the first few to predictions to come true. Just stating the likelihood. I've learned better than to keep my hopes too high...

Poll #91: "Who do you expect will have the best conference at E3?" results, banner

2009-06-01T15:25:00.004-04:00

"Nintendo" 10 votes (43%)
"Sony" 2 votes (8%)
"Microsoft" 0 votes (0%)
"They'll all suck" 1 vote (4%)
"They'll all rock" 2 votes (8%)
"I have no idea, but I can't wait!" 8 votes (34%)
"I have no idea, and I really don't care" 0 votes (0%)

I suppose these results are expected of a blog focused primarily on Nintendo, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. The total lack of votes for Microsoft was a bit of a surprise. I just finished watching the second half of the conference, and I'd say it was decent, but not mind-blowing. Of course, their "Natal" controller thingamabobber is pretty interesting. I may talk more about that later...

This week's banner is... Well, it's E3 week, so what would you expect it to be? An E3 banner, right? That's what I expected, too, except the one I made seems to have disappeared. I think I'll whip up a new one later in the week, possibly using some new assets and stuff from whatever's shown off tomorrow. Sorry about that. I apologize for my computer's anomalies.

And now for this week's poll: "How does your excitement for E3 2009 compare to E3 2008?" It wasn't easy figuring out a poll that'll work both before and after the event, but here it is! I'd say my excitement is greater this year, as the probability of sequels to some of the biggest games grows with each passing day since the release of the last game in the series. Of course, Valve decided to completely kill my patterning with Left 4 Dead 2, but I'll forgive them due to it being, well, Left 4 Dead 2.

I'll be whipping up a nice serving of E3 goodness shortly, so hold on!

PSP Go "announced": I am not shaken, nor am I stirred

2009-05-30T16:08:00.012-04:00

Consider this a bonus article, as the "announcement" came out halfway through me writing PokéOddities

The next in the line of Sony's Playstation Portable was unexpectedly (For both us and Sony, I'm sure) "announced" today, and it's called the PSP Go. Kind of an awkward name, but I'm currently playing Wii everyday, so I suppose I shouldn't be talking.

Looking at the design of the system, the sliding "control panel" is pretty nice. Helps keep those buttons out of the way, and allows for a nice, compact shape when watching movies. The downside to this, though, is that the screen is out there all the time, just begging to be scratched. If this doesn't ship with some sort of system sleeve of even the flimsiest quality, you can bet there'll be no screen unscratched within a few months of this handheld's release, no matter how carefully it's cared for.

One of the most important parts of a handheld system is how well it fits in the hand. If it's a rough-edged, sharp-cornered brick, it's not going to be staying in a gamer's grip for very long. Of course, the PSP Go is far from this, sporting rounded edges and smooth lines. It's kind of hard to tell from the few images so-far released, but I'd say it won't be uncomfortable, nor incredibly comfortable. Somewhere right in the middle looks to be how the PSP Go will feel.

Speaking of comfort, I see one thing in the above picture I really hoped I wouldn't be seeing in a new PSP; That cursed thumbstick. Not only is it back and not-at-all changed from the original models (As far as I can tell, at least), there's still only one of them. Some argue that this is the case so as to avoid and sort of divide among PSP and PSP Go owners. Without second-analog support, all games will be compatible with all iterations of the handheld. Which makes sense, I guess, except for an important fact about the PSP Go I'll be bringing up in a moment...

Unless the guy in the picture above has incredibly huge hands, the PSP Go is smaller than the PSP by a slight amount. Not in a terribly-significant way, but people do seem to go nuts over the new, smallest version of, well, everything. Oh, us easily won-over consumers...

Despite being smaller, the PSP Go has actually has on-board memory, as opposed to the original models requiring memory sticks for storage. Now users can store all their music, movies and PSP Go games right on the system itself. No, you're not hallucinating; I said "PSP Go games". This brings us to the above-mentioned "important fact" that...

The PSP Go has no UMD slot. At all. There is no way for the games from the original PSP to be playable on the Go ("On the Go": Slogan, anyone?). All PSP Go games will only be available as downloads from the system's branch of the Playstation Store. Planning on upgrading from your old PSP to this new model? Might want to keep the old one on hand, unless you plan on re-buying all your games digitally.

That point there, to me, is the PSP Go's biggest flaw. I don't believe the world is ready for a game system that's entirely digital in the way of purchasing software. Some may mention the iPhone as an argument, but really, that's the iPhone. No iPhone game can compare to PSP software in complexity and depth, not to mention price. What does this say about PSP Go software? One of three things (With 1 being the most probable, and 3 being the least):

PSP Go software will be every bit as complex and deep as that of the original PSP, and will cost the full, store shelf price of $50 apiece, or...
PSP Go software will be far more basic than that of the original PSP, and generally cost less than $30 apiece, or...
PSP Go Software will be every bit as complex and deep as that of the original PSP, but will be cheaper, rarely costing more than $30 apiece.

Now then, why did I arrange them in that order of probability? Simple: Sony loves their cash. I can honestly see them releasing only crummy little WiiWare-level games more easily than I can imagine them charging less than premium for their software. While I may think that downloaded games should cost less than retail, I'm not the cash-monster that is Sony. Then again, they're not against taking losses (See: PS3 launch price as opposed to PS3 production cost as of launch), but still, I'm not exactly seeing it happening.

Looking at all the PSP Go has to offer... I think I'd more gladly buy an original PSP than jump on this bandwagon, which means a lot considering how unimpressed I am with the handheld line as it is. Sorry, Sony, but when it comes to my handheld entertainment, I think I'll continue to "Go" elsewhere.

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PokéOddities

2009-05-30T15:57:00.002-04:00

I know I said that I was through with Pokémon, but... Apparently Pokémon wasn't through with me. Curse you, Game Freak!

Pokémon has made a few appearances in my "Gaming Oddities" series of articles, but after picking up Diamond again, I realize that it deserves a list all its own. There's just too much about this series that doesn't make sense. First off...

Pokémon: A proud supporter of interspecies relationships

-Trainer Jim sent out Smoochum!
-"Go, Charmander!"
-The foe's Smoochum used Attract!
-Charmander became infatuated!
-"...what."

Apparently Poltergeist isn't standard viewing at Game Freak HQ

Normal-type attacks do no damage to Ghost-type Pokémon. Okay, fine, that makes perfect sense. But Ghost-type attacks do no damage to Normal-type Pokémon? Take a seat, please, Mr. Tajiri. See, common stories involving ghosts not only include them scaring the crap out of humans (Sometimes literally), they also sometimes involve the ghosts making physical contact with their victims. Hence, Ghost-types can effect Normal-type Pokémon... Unless Earth is entirely populated by psychics, body-builders, goths, dragons, fire-eaters, swimmers... You get the idea.

Just got your butt kicked by that wild Skarmory? Don't worry, he's also a licensed air ambulance!

Having all your Pokémon knocked-out in battle causes you yourself to pass out and reappear at the last-visited PokéCenter. If that's not odd enough, how about the never-explained mode of transportation that miraculously teleports you to safety? It seems even the most wild of Pokémon has it in them to take you to that safe haven known as a PokéCenter while you're dozing off.

Perhaps even stranger is the fact that losing to a member of the local crime syndicate yields the same results. You'd think the group would rather jail you up to keep you quiet rather than push you out the front door and let you tell the whole world what they're up to. No wonder they're always so incompetent.

Alakazam has an IQ of over 5000 and a perfect memory, but does he know why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Alakazam is, by far, the most intelligent of all Pokémon. With an IQ of over 5000 and brain cells that multiply up until the day he dies (According to Pokédex entries throughout history), this Pokémon's intelligence and memory are unmatched by anything else. Alakazam has been referred to as "a living supercomputer" many times throughout the series. So if Alakazam is so smart and has such an incredibly memory... Why can he only learn four moves? Whenever a new attack is to be learned, Alakazam must "forget" a previous one. So much for that perfect memory.

The Pokédex: Simultaneously empty and all-knowing

At the beginning of Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow, Professor Oak gives the player a blank Pokédex. A Pokédex which he says is blank. Yet capturing any Pokémon suddenly fills it with the extent of the world's knowledge on the species. Doesn't make much sense, does it? So let's say that the Pokédex isn't blank, and instead contains all information relating to every known Pokémon. Why must we "unlock" said information by viewing the relevant Pokémon? It would be so much more helpful to know the types of all the Pokémon we're facing before we get into a fight with them.

So then, either Professor Oak is lying to us about the Pokédex being blank, or it's an amazingly perceptive and ground-breakingly intelligent device. Either way doesn't make much sense, does it?

Shoot first, then maybe breathe fire and bite later

The second generation of Pokémon brought with it many significant additions to the series. Genders, breeding, different Pokémon types, and perhaps most notably, a day/night cycle based on the real-world clock. This one feature introduced Pokémon that would only appear at certain times of day and a police force that becomes incredibly irritable when the sun sets. So much as walk in front of these "officers of the law" and you'll be forced into a Pokémon battle with them. Apparently the cops of Johto are of the "guilty until proven innocent" mindset.

Maybe things just materialize as needed?

The mountainous terrain, patches of tall grass and many rocks along the routes of the Pokémon world make for an interesting adventure... But spell disaster for any sort of vehicular transportation. Despite this, though, people miraculously have access to all sorts of technology and resources, no matter how incredibly difficult it may be to get there. Just look at the below image. East of Lavaridge are impassable cliffs and a path through a rocky and craggy mountain side. I'll never know why anyone ever settled in Lavaridge...

How the people of Lavaridge get anything at all boggles the mind

Land vehicles are certainly out of the question when it comes to shipping goods about (Yeah, right, tell that to the player's moving truck in the beginning of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald...), so what about air? Nothing can stop the helicopters and planes of the world from flying overhead... Although plenty stops them from ever landing. All four regions in the main series are completely devoid of airstrips and helipads, so unless the entire shipping world is dominated by bush pilots, air is out of the question, too.

Heck, I think the only time there's ever been any sort of feasible means of shipment was via sea in Hoenn, and even then it was limited to the Eastern half of the territory. So... Maybe they rigged something up with the Pokéball teleporters to transport goods? Until I see proof, I'm gonna label that a theory and stick with the idea of people just randomly getting everything they need from thin air.

All Pokémon come with complimentary off-screen interpreter

"Go, Pikachu!"
"اخترت لكم ، Pikachu!"
"私は、ピカチュウを選ぶ！"
"Elegir usted, Pikachu!"
"Je vous choisissez, Pikachu!"
"Ζήτω για το Google μεταφραστή, Pikachu!"

No matter how you say it, they understand it. So not only can Pokémon understand the words of all other Pokémon, they can understand every single language known to man as well. It seems Alakazam isn't the only one that qualifies as a "living supercomputer"...

"Hi, I'm Dory"

Beating the Pokémon League for the first time is a great, fulfilling achievement. You've managed to take out what are (Often) the five toughest opponents in the game, in a row, with no breaks. Such an upset is sure to send ripples through the land, and those once-elite four are sure to have some choice words for you upon your return to the League, right?

Well, no, not really. It seems everyone at the Pokémon League suffers from a severe case of short term memory loss, since they never seem to recall you having beaten them before. An amazing feat, really, since the Hall of Fame records accessible at any PC in the world can say you've defeated them. So not only do the Elite Four have no memory whatsoever, they don't even have an internet connection. Also, why do we have to take out the "champion" each additional time we challenge the League? Shouldn't the title belong to the player at this point? Maybe Gary just gets his Alakazam to brainwash everyone so he can keep his position as number one...

And now for something completely different...

If that doesn't look like a man lying down yet "standing up", I'm a monkey's desk lamp. I think the ESRB was asleep that day.

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Another year, another sappy "thank you" post

2009-05-28T21:19:00.002-04:00

May 28th, 2007: The day this blog began. The first ever article appeared on One Duck's Opinion, a review for Pokémon Diamond. Two years later, and Pokémon Diamond is just one of 462 posts here. Much has happened to One Duck's Opinion these last two years...

One Duck's Opinion gained a deal with THQ to review their games (A deal which has sadly just about dried up). The site also widened its focus from just Nintendo to PC games, and eventually (And somewhat silently) opened up to the entire industry (Although still focusing mainly on Nintendo). Post frequency shifted dramatically downwards from daily to a once or twice a week, but quality has certainly gone up. Over the last two years, this blog has certainly carved out its own nice little niche, garnering an average of some 200 unique hits a day (Double that of this time last year). Like I said in the first anniversary post, triple digit numbers may not seem like much, but to a mere opinion blogger like me, it's quite stunning. Sure, a bunch of these may be bots and Google Image results (In fact, I have proof pointing to both), but it's still a great milestone to have reached.

While many of those hits may be bots, Google Image search results and spiders and such, the few that are actual human beings coming here to see what I have to say mean a lot to me. The fact that you folks stick with me through the constant periods of no updates at all and the rampant delays is pretty awesome. So yeah, this is the "sappy 'thank you'" part of the post.

Next week brings us E3, and you can count on plenty of posting for the next little while (Even tomorrow and Saturday maybe?). May those droughts be a thing of the past, and the one thing to be left behind in this new year!

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Project Memory Status: Complete

2009-05-26T15:27:00.008-04:00

So then, it's finally here. The Video Formerly Known as Project Memory, AKA: I Remember Larry, primarily based on the Weird Al Yankovic song of the same name, is complete, and uploaded to Youtube. Now then, instead of blabbing endlessly about the video, here it is. Enjoy.

Direct Link

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Poll #90: "Did you buy Excitebots: Trick Racing?" results, no banner

2009-05-26T01:14:00.003-04:00

"Yes, at full price" 4 votes (26%)
"Yes, at a discount" 1 vote (6%)
"Yes, but I sold it" 0 votes (0%)
"No, but I did rent it" 0 votes (0%)
"No, but I played it" 1 vote (6%)
"No." 9 votes (60%)

A real shame... Excite Bots is a fantastic, off-the-wall racer that I really hate myself for not reviewing. One of these days I will, and it shall be awesome, and you will all buy it in response to it. I hope.

As for this week's banner... There isn't a new one! Two major reasons for this. First, Punch-Out! is awesome and deserves the exposure. Second, cramming on Project Memory has sapped all my creativity. Good news involving the latter shall be coming tomorrow, though, so I suppose that's some consolation.

For this week's banner, the question is "Who do you expect will have the best conference at E3?" It's that time of the year again, and with it comes the speculation that's almost as fun as playing the games themselves. My rampant speculation shall be coming closer to the big event, but now the question is for you. Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft; Who will have the greatest showing this year? With Nintendo completely dying in the water last year, and the latter two performing respectably in their own conferences, last year was interesting, but not exactly mind-blowing. Could this year be different, and could the prize of best-conference change hands? Hey, I don't know. But get votin', and we'll see what the majority think!

More stuff coming tomorrow, so hang on...

Regarding the review system

2009-05-21T13:38:00.003-04:00

I've gotten a few questions about my Left 4 Dead review, and the complete lack of a rating at the end of it. Why is this? Well, quite simply, I've decided to ditch any sort of rating system altogether. While the new system worked for a while, it still didn't feel quite right to me. It resulted in me grouping together fantastic titles with games that were just simple fun. For example, take a look through "Review-a-palooza 2009: 55 DS games reviewed" and compare a few of the games that recieved "YAY" ratings. I've got amazing, epic-length games like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Final Fantasy III grouped in with more basic games like Brain Age and Feel the Magic: XY/XX. They're all good games, yes, but it just doesn't seem right to group them together like that.

It also basically amounted to "YAY" equaling a game rating of 7.5-10, so while it was broader than numerical scores, it still fell back upon that primitive system I'd rather see the industry leave behind. Also, being a broader score, every game I've given a full review to since then has received a "YAY" rating. While I do think they all deserved the ratings they received, I'd rather the review board not turn into a massive field of green.

I actually started doing this back in the DSi review, but I suppose it went unnoticed due to the difference in subject matter. It wasn't until last night that things became completely clear. In hindsight, to avoid confusion, I probably should have made a post beforehand. I didn't expect people to react as if I'd made an error in my review. My apologies for that.

I used to think abandoning the conventional rating system and creating one of my own was the way to go. Now, though, I think I'm done with rating systems altogether (All: "I think I'm done with rating systems"*). A simple summary paragraph at the end is all any review really needs, and that's what I'll be sticking with.

And that's how it will be from now on.

*To any who didn't get this joke, watch AIRPLANE!, now.

Left 4 Dead review

2009-05-20T22:25:00.024-04:00

Here it is, as promised (Although slightly later than expected): The first full-fledged video game review since September. Also, for any who may be wondering, the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game are nearly identical, so you'll get the same experience either way.

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
Developers: Valve (PC), Certain Affinity (360)
Publisher: Valve
Release Date: November 18th, 2008
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
ESRB Notes: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language

Ever since the first zombie film was unleashed upon the world back in 1932 (Yes, it's been that long), the living dead have infected every form of media imaginable, from books, comics and TV shows, and all the way up the technological ladder to video games. With most zombie games, there's one player, on their own, against hundreds of thousands of generic zombies. Leave it to Valve to shake it all up and drop Left 4 Dead in our laps.

In Left 4 Dead, it's still you against the horde of the undead, but this time you're not alone. After the mass-infection that lead to the zombie onslaught, four average folks grouped together and began to fight their way out. The four survivors are Zoey, an angsty teenager; Louis, a store manager; Francis, a biker; and Bill, a Vietnam veteran. All equal in capabilities, nothing sets these four apart in terms of gameplay. It's more a matter of choosing the one that suits you best. Personally, I usually go with Francis or Louis; for the former, it's the pessimistic comments; for the latter, it's the extreme air of nerdiness.

Zoey, Louis, Francis and Bill in the "poster" for the game's third campaign

The zombies have been changed up a bit, too. First off, as I suggested above with the word "infection", these aren't technically zombies. These are humans afflicted with a terrible new virus strain (This game's release timing is either great or awful, I can't tell). Instead of rising from the dead to eat flesh and brains for no apparent reason, these humans are suffering from Rabies-like symptoms, basically leading them to go absolutely freaking mad and undergo a few physical changes (Claws, pale skin and glowing eyes are the major changes). Based on the fact that the "zombies" never seem to attack each other, one could assume that the virus targets the healthy in order to propagate its species. I'm probably looking a little too far into it at this point, but hey, speculation is fun.

Aside from your generic, Land of the Dead-like infected (The commonly accepted name for the "zombies" in Left 4 Dead), there's five "special" infected, another welcome change to the generic hordes of days gone by. Oh, Valve and their class-based multiplayer games... The "special" infected are as follows:

Boomer: Bloated and swollen to the point where it no longer resembles the human it once was, the Boomer is chock full of a disgusting concoction known simply as "bile". This is no ordinary vomit, though. Get this stuff on you, and not only will you be temporarily blinded, but dozens of infected will basically spring out of thin air and go for you. Boomers can "spread the love" either by projectile vomiting (And when I say projectile, I mean it) or via the gigantic explosion that always accompanies their deaths. Contents under pressure? An understatement.

Hunter: Next up in this horrific menagerie, and sporting a fashionable grey hoodie, is the Hunter. Leaping into the fray (Sometimes seemingly from outer space), the Hunter has the ability to pin a survivor and savagely tear away at it with his claws. Accompanied by low growling and piercing shrieks, the Hunter's often-sudden appearances are definitely one of the scariest parts of the game. As a threat, though, I don't personally consider him too notable. On the mid to lower difficulty levels, a few short bursts from an automatic weapons is enough to at least knock him off, if not kill him. Can be devastating on a survivor that's strayed from the pack, though, emphasizing the team-based play of the game.

Smoker: Identified by his coughs, swollen face and incredibly long tongue, the Smoker is the third stop on this infected bus ride of a lineup. Limping about and coughing up a lung, the Smoker doesn't sound like much of a threat, mainly because, up close, he isn't. Once he puts a bit of distance between him and his target, though, things get dangerous. That long tongue isn't just for looks; The Smoker can fire it at long distances, chameleon-style, to grab a hold of its prey. Once captured, he reels in his tongue and tears away at it with his claws. At this point, the survivor can do nothing to escape, and must be saved by an ally, once again highlighting how important teamwork is to survival.

Tank: Behold the Tank, who makes the Boomer look downright normally-proportioned by comparison. Absolutely bursting with muscles (Almost literally, in fact) and devoid of even a shred of clothing (Save the mercifully-intact jeans), the Tank is by far the strongest and hardest to defeat of all infected. It's going to take everything the survivors have to tear down this brick wall. Unlike normal brick walls, though, the Tank has fists and can move. Even brick walls tremble in fear of the Tank. Strong enough to bat around cars like toys, rip up and throw huge chunks of concrete and send survivors on unexpected long-haul flights, the Tank is the one true "boss" infected.

Those are the four infected that pop up most often, but there is a fifth one. Elusive, deadly, and entirely immobile until you piss it off. As if Paris Hilton didn't give us enough to fear about rail-thin blondes, Left 4 Dead brings us...

...the Witch. She's not magical, nor does she ride anything even remotely resembling a broom, but Witch is still definitely the best possible name for her. She sits perfectly still, weeping, and will do nothing to hurt anyone... So long as you don't set her off. One stray bullet, one wayward step, one errant twitch, and kablooie! Startle this witch, and she'll cast one heck of a painful spell on you with her insanely-huge claws. One hit is generally enough to knock a person down to the ground, and a few more can easily finish someone off. If she does manage to kill someone, though, she'll just run off and not be a problem anymore. Every cloud has its silver lining! She has twice as much health as either a Smoker or a Hunter (Even more in harder difficulty settings), making her the second most difficult to kill of the infected (Second only to the Tank, of course). Usually, when a Witch is spotted, it's best to just keep walking and leave it alone. An enemy you're encouraged not to attack... I never thought such a thing would work, but here it is.

The objective of any level is to either get to the next safe house to continue the campaign, or, in the last level of the campaign, be rescued. Many obstacles are thrown at the survivors through the course of each level, each of which must be overcome to reach the ultimate goal of safety. Almost every level has some sort of button-triggered event that will clear the path, but not without alarming every infected in the country to your location. The infected are attracted to loud noises, two words that basically define every single obstacle in the game. From lowering a forklift's arm to bring down a makeshift walkway to using a runaway train to take out a bridge, the survivor's trip through the land of the infected isn't exactly a quiet one. Triggering car alarms also causes the game to hurl the infected at you, as does walking through an airport metal detector (Hint: Guns aren't made of wood). Thankfully, the infected can't set off either on their own, lightly throwing a bone to the survivors.

The final level of a campaign is referred to as a finale, and rightly so. Like the quickened pace of the flying fireworks at the end of a 4th of July celebration, infected pour in from every direction to make your life a living Hell. So considerate, those infected. It's not just the generic horde that will be bombarding you, though. Rest assured that plenty of Tanks, Boomers, Hunters and Smokers will be dropping by to say hello as well. Huddling together in a nice little safe haven is nice, but it's not going to do you any good once rescue arrives. Once they show up, it's a mad dash through walls of infected to your once chance at salvation. Of course, after surviving the long wait for rescue to arrive, the game's not about to let you just waltz up to freedom. Infected of all kinds pour in from all directions in absurd numbers, because your day just isn't complete without seeing another thousand zombie chunks flying around. Manage to make it out, though, and that's the end of it all... Until you decide to start up the next, alternate-timeline campaign that sees the survivors right back where they started.

In most games, after a few playthroughs, you begin to remember where all the weapons are and where the bosses lie. However, this isn't "most games". Left 4 Dead contains what Valve likes to call the "AI Director", a system that distributes weapons and the infected differently each time according to the condition of the survivors. While significant obstacles will always be in the same place, no round of Left 4 Dead is every truly the same. Tanks may appear in different places, or not appear at all. Instead of one Witch to deal with, two might appear right next to each other. The AI Director makes sure that players never know just what to expect, keeping even the most seasoned of veterans on their toes.

Of course, while the AI director makes each run different, eventually the same old levels do become stale. Thankfully, Valve seems to be keeping up the same stream of free additional content for Left 4 Dead they've been providing for Team Fortress 2, adding the Survival mode detailed below just last month. While little has been announced so far, rest assured that more will be on the way, perhaps even going so far as to add entire new campaigns to the mix. It just wouldn't be a Valve game without this sort of support.

To fight their way out of this Hell on Earth, the survivors have more than their fair share of weaponry. At the beginning of any campaign, each survivor is outfitted with one pistol (Unlimited ammo), and can pick up their choice of a submachine gun (Uzi) or a pump-action shotgun. Later on in a campaign (Sometimes hidden in a side room or some other place where it may be easily missed), improved weaponry can be found in the form of assault rifles, automatic shotguns, a second pistol (For dual-wielding) and a scoped hunting rifle. Again emphasizing the teamwork aspect of the game, teams generally benefit from a variety of weaponry among the group. Nobody's going to be getting very far with everyone toting a hunting rifle.

Two types of health items are also available to the player: Health kits and pain pills. Health kits, of which there's always four available at the beginning of a campaign, restore a major chunk of a survivor's health when used. The major downside, though, is finding a good place to use it. It takes about five seconds to heal with a heath kit, during which you're completely vulnerable to attacking infected (And friendly fire. Francis, check your fire!). If interrupted in the middle of healing, one must start all over again. No healing halfway, running, and finishing up. It's all at once or not at all. It should go without saying that, if you're about to patch yourself up, you're going to need to rely on your allies for cover. Survivors can also use health kits at each other, but this is even more risky than using their own; Both are rooted in place until the healing is complete. On the bright side, the one being healed can provide covering fire during the process, meaning one isn't completely helpless during an attack. They sure do make great Boomer targets, though...

Pain pills can also restore a fair-sized chunk of a player's health, but it's a temporary effect. The health it restores constantly depletes until the recovered stamina is completely gone, leaving players right back where they started. This descent is sped up when receiving damage. Also, pain pills are never found in the beginning of a level, and must be picked up throughout the trek to the next safe house. Pain pills do have their benefits over health kits, though. Popping some pills is practically instant, leaving you prone for a far smaller amount of time than patching yourself up. Also, unlike health kits, pain pills can be handed over to allies, giving them the ability to heal up whenever they want.

Both pills and health kits are available only in incredibly limited supply, so they must be used wisely. Quite often, the health kits available at the beginning of the levels are the only ones in the whole map (The AI director likes shuffling things around, you see).

Guns and health items aren't all the survivor's have at their disposal. Also available are pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails, although in a far more limited supply. Pipe bombs, as illustrated in the game's opening cinematic, will attract all common infected in the area up to the moment it explodes, turning them all into a glorious red mist*. Molotov cocktails don't explode, but they do cover the ground in flames over a fairly generous area. A great defense considering how vulnerable the infected are to fire. In addition, scattered about the levels are propane tanks, jerrycans and oxygen tanks. Propane and oxygen tanks explode much like the pipe bomb, and jerrycans spread a field of fire similar to that of the Molotov cocktail. All items can be carried around and thrown or dropped when wanted for strategic placement.

A final environmental weapon available to players is a mounted minigun, of which there are only a handful. Firing out 40 incredibly-powerful rounds a second with a limitless supply of ammunition, the minigun is definitely a good weapon to have access to. Holding it back is an incredibly limited radius in which it can turn, and the cloud of smoke that pops up after a few seconds of firing sure doesn't help, either. These facts aside, the minigun is still a magnificent asset for holding off the infected for a short while... As long as they stay in view.

Something that must be monitored closely when in the field is ammunition stock. Each player can only hold so much, and once it's gone, you're not going to be finding much more of it until you reach the next safe house (Why the game doesn't allow sharing ammo among survivors is a mystery to me). While the trusty pistol never runs out of ammo, it's not exactly a powerhouse of destruction. Rome wasn't built in a day, and that Tank wasn't felled by a piddly little pistol.

Of course, ammunition conservation means little to the game's AI. Whereas, ideally, a team should fire equal amounts to help prevent ammo from running out too quickly, the AI always relies on the player to take point. This can lead to some big problems, one of which is illustrated in the below screenshot. To scout ahead, I hopped up on an air vent and onto the top of the roof access room of this building, when a Hunter came out of nowhere (Like always) and pinned me. So did the AI jump up the air vent like I did and come to my rescue? Nope. They just milled about, mere meters away, jumping around like a bunch of morons, seemingly awaiting the sound of my death rattle. AI units are not credit to team.

"Oh, don't mind me. You guys enjoy your tea party while I have my throat ripped out, okay?"

The letdown of the sometimes moronic AI is taken care of by Left 4 Dead's greatest asset: Online multiplayer. Screwing around offline can be fun, sure, but the game doesn't really get going until you take the plunge into the game's online component. As of this writing, there are three different modes available to be played online: Campaign, Versus and Survival. Campaign is the same as offline play (With all four survivors being player-controlled), so that begs no explanation. Versus and Survival, though, are where things get interesting.

Versus, as the name suggests, can only be played online. As far as the survivors are concerned, Versus is exactly the same as Campaign; Run to the safe house, and ultimately to rescue. The twist, however, is that the infected are not AI-controlled. And thus is the main reason Versus is my favourite mode in the game: We can play as the special infected.

As most would hopefully assume, the infected play very little like the survivors. Last I checked, Bill couldn't projectile vomit on a target 20 feet away. You never know with those army vets, though... Anyways, taking advantage of all the abilities available to the infected is the highlight of the game for me. Binding together with three other survivors is great fun, too, but nothing compares to a coordinated attack with Boomers booming and Hunters hunting while I stand on top of a building and grab stragglers with the Smoker's tongue and pull them away from their allies.

One additional ability the infected have over the survivor's is the ability to climb up what some refer to as "zombie ladders". Marked by the image of hands climbing, zombie ladders are commonly placed on map features such as fences, rock walls and drain pipes. Allowing access to tactically superior angles, the zombie ladders help balance out the infecteds' greatest weakness: Their incredibly low health. Like I said way back near the beginning of the review, it takes only a few shotgun blasts to tear a Hunter away from its pray, with Smoker's having similar amounts of health. Boomers have even less health, with one blast usually being enough to set off the bloated time bomb (Making the Boomer an excellent suicide runner, but incredibly weak in any other situation). No amount of strategy at street level is going to keep any of the three infected alive and killing for long. Spawn high, and spawn sneakily!

Left 4 Dead multiplayer: Turkey nipple frequency may vary

Helping to keep things fair, the special infected never outnumber the survivors, as it's never more than four on four; Four survivors Versus four special infected. If there's less than four players on the survivor's side, the remaining will be controlled by the computer. If the same thing happens with the infected side, AI won't take the helm, but respawn times will be greatly shortened. Yes, unlike the survivors, the special infected don't stay dead when killed, and just respawn about 20 seconds later. When you die as a survivor, though (An incredibly ironic sentence fragment, no?), you're dead, and you stay dead until the end of the round. Pretty good incentive not to die, huh? Generally the game's practically over once even a single survivor dies, putting teamwork on the front burner yet again. Even then, I've seen the remaining three survive despite my best efforts at tearing them to shreds. It's like the old saying goes: It ain't over until the Boomer projectile vomits. Or something like that.

After hearing this, you're probably pretty excited to play as the Tank and the Witch, huh? Well, I've got good news and bad news: The Tank only spawns in certain places (Like in Campaign mode), and the Witch can't be played at all (Quick refresher on the Witch: She's sliiiiiightly overpowered).

Playing as the Tank is a somewhat unique experience. In order to help with balance and keep the game from absolutely sucking if a player pointlessly abandons their computer mid-game (A phenomenon known as "AFK", or "Away From Keyboard". A phenomenon which I hate.), players will lose control of the Tank if they don't constantly attack and knock survivors around like deflated soccer balls. If this happens, control shifts to the next player on the team, letting them have a go at Left 4 Dead's take on extreme sports.

A round ends when one of two things happen: When all survivors (Minus any that may have died) make it into the safe house, or when all survivors fall to the infected. After a round ends, teams switch (Infected players become survivors, and vice versa), and the level is played again. After both teams have their go at the level as both sides, the next level in the campaign is selected, and it continues from there. Basically, Versus mode is Campaign mode, but both sides are player controlled, and it's even better.

The other mode, Survival, may seem a little redundant in name. After all, isn't the object of the entire game (Excluding half of Versus) to make it out alive? Actually, that's where Survival differs from the rest; the object isn't to make it out alive. In fact, nobody ever will make it out alive. The object is to just survive as long as you possibly can against unending hordes of the infected. Except for Witches, infected of all kinds are constantly bombarding the survivors, and all the quartet can do is delay their inevitable demise. Stages are pulled from various levels in Campaign mode, as well as one exclusive to Survival mode: The Last Stand (The level's "poster" can be found next to this paragraph). This campaign's tagline perfectly describes Survival mode as a whole: "It doesn't end well".

In Survival mode, players can only play as survivors (Which should go without saying, but I'm tossing it out there just in case). They have an infinite time to set up before hand, as a round doesn't start until the players trigger it. Once begun, though... It never ends until you do. Rounds commonly end in less than four minutes, with few players ever making it past ten (Even Valve employees often fail to reach this lofty goal). Survival is certainly the most brutal mode of all, and only the utmost of skill, planning and teamwork will see the players survive for any significant amount of time.

Something that always amazes me about Valve games is how they look. Whether taking a more unique art style like in Team Fortress 2 or going for the realistic look in the Half-Life series, they always manage to hit the nail of quality right on the head without pounding it too deep into the plank of high-end computing**. Left 4 Dead is no exception to this trend, with the game looking simply amazing without putting a major drain on my mid-range PC. Outdated graphics card, processor, CPU... You name it, I've got a primitive version of it in this computer. Grand Theft Auto 4 skips more than a CD after sliding across pavement, Fallout 3 looks like a nuke hit my monitor as well, and Mirror's Edge's sparkling in-game world sure looks a lot less "sparkling" than it should. With Left 4 Dead, though, I can crank all settings up to full, run it at my native 1024x768 resolution (My monitor's not too great, either) and experience a game that looks far better than the aforementioned trio of resource vampires, yet runs like a dream. I don't know how you do it, Valve, but keep it up!

The sparse and faint lighting in Left 4 Dead provides just enough to see where you need to go, without blinding you with its "next gen" bloom and crap. Cinematic filters dramatize shadows and fade colours to give a movie-like effect similar to what you'd see in a film like The Watchmen. On the left is a comparison of the game with (Above) and without (Below) cinematic effects. The difference is drastic, yet takes up far fewer computer resources than you'd expect. An additional graphical option is film grain, to add that one last final cinematic touch. Not quite my cup of tea (As you can tell by the two screenshots I posted above), but the option is great. It really goes to show how much Valve wanted to make a tribute to the realm of zombie cinema.

Of course, a bunch of fancy filters won't do crap for a game if it looks terrible without them. Thankfully, Left 4 Dead provides great material for the filter to improve upon, with excellent character models, environmental props and textures. Animations are also great, with injured players limping (And moving slightly slower), realistic flames stretching across the ground from a gas tank bursting, and incredibly expressive characters. There are a few rough spots texture-wise in the far-off places the special infected can go via zombie ladders, but besides that, Left 4 Dead is an all-round great-looking game.

Audio plays a major part in Left 4 Dead. Growling, screaming, gurgling, crying and more all faintly come into earshot when the infected approach; musical scores build up to a crescendo in tense situations and finales; and the back and forth commentary between the survivors is worthy of the cheesiest of zombie film scripts. Perhaps the most tense moments come when nothing can be heard. Dead silence, except for the whirring of machinery or whistling of the wind. Left 4 Dead expertly uses both presence and absence of sound to create a engrossing and sometimes scary experience.

Valve has very few franchises in their name. Team Fortress, Half-Life, Portal and Counter-Strike are the only four they can fully claim as theirs. I like to think they do so because they only take on projects that they truly feel can turn out great. If that's the case, their feelings were right on the money when they went forward with Left 4 Dead. A worthy addition to Valve's small but excellent portfolio, Left 4 Dead is a fantastic, zombie-filled adventure that manages to provide a satisfying gameplay experience without having to become overly complicated. Looking back at all the games I've played that were released in the last twelve months, Left 4 Dead is definitely within the top three. If you like hordes of zombies, strategic shooters and team-based gaming, you're going to love Left 4 Dead.

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*In fact, just about every game mechanic can be explained by watching that video, but I figured I'd write it all out and be, you know, a reviewer.

**Dang. I'm like a graphics poet or something.

Well... Crap.

2009-05-20T02:45:00.003-04:00

I really really really really really hate breaking a promise, but getting that review today (Or rather, yesterday, as it now is) just wasn't possible in the end. The reason for it not being possible, though, is actually a piece of good news: This is a really freaking long review. If I had to take a guess as to what it will be like when finished, I'd put it at just about the same length as the DSi review, if not a little longer. So... Good news, yes? Silver lining and whatnot?

Alright, I've got to get to sleep now. Tomorrow I will bust my ass yet again to get this done, but this time, I'll succeed.

...I've gotta stop busting my ass. You only get one, after all.

Poll #89: "Will you be getting Punch-Out! on day one?" results, banner

2009-05-18T23:56:00.007-04:00

"Yes, I have a pre-order" 0 votes (0%)
"Yes, but I don't have a pre-order" 4 votes (21%)
"No, I'll get it later" 9 votes (47%)
"No, I don't want it at all" 3 votes (15%)
"I'm not sure" 3 votes (15%)

I'm surprised more people aren't getting it at launch. Waiting for a price drop, maybe? On a related note, I probably won't be getting Punch-Out! until Thursday at the earliest. Darned "not having money when I need it". That guy really gets on my nerves.

For this week's banner, the subject is... Duh. I mean, what else would it be? Anyways, enjoy.

As for this week's poll, it's somewhat of the opposite of last week intent-to-buy sort of poll: "Did you buy Excitebots: Trick Racing?" It was recently said that this incredibly fun game only sold through 13,000 copies, which is a real shame. Were you one of the few that bought it?

And yeah, about last week... It was complete bullcrap, something I admit freely, so... Tomorrow. For sure, tomorrow. A review. I will bust my ass to do it, but you're getting a review tomorrow. And not something small like a DSiWare game. You're getting a review of a full-size, retail game, no matter what. I swear it.

Now then, to get some sleep, and then get cracking on the above ASAP!

Poll #88: "How did you react when you first heard the Wii name?" results, banner

2009-05-12T01:22:00.004-04:00

"I hated it!" 6 votes (21%)
"I wasn't too keen on it" 6 votes (21%)
"I didn't care either way" 8 votes (28%)
"I thought it was interesting" 4 votes (14%)
"I loved it right away!" 2 votes (7%)
"I don't remember/I don't know" 2 votes (7%)

Wow, a lot less people hated it at first than I thought. Not that it really would have mattered today. After all, the games are what make a console, not the name!

As for this week's banner... I have no idea what is going on here. This is what happens when you use Photoshop at 1:20 in the morning. I suppose at least the message is true, though.

Now then, for this week's poll: "Will you be getting Punch-Out! on day one?" I know I will be. Only problem is, "day one" in Canada is Wednesday, not Monday. Stupid national holiday messing with my game releases.

Well, I suppose I'll be heading to bed, then. I don't think I'll have an article up tomorrow, mostly because of a lack of solid ideas. On the bright side, I finished the script for Project: Memory today. I'll get it printed out tomorrow, and then I'll really get cracking on the filming. Early estimate for completion date: The weekend of May 23rd, if all goes well. It'd be sooner, but I prefer to give myself plenty of time, rather than rush. Hey, it might even be done before then, so who knows? Also, for a little bonus, here's one more little sneak-peek:

Anyways, goodnight, everyone! Sleep well, and make sure not to end up like poor Jill up there.

Now announcing... Project: Memory

2009-05-10T23:49:00.007-04:00

What is Project Memory? It's a video I'm making, entirely in Garry's Mod. It's a music video based on one of the most whacked-out songs out there. Just made sure to get that out of the way ASAP, so you don't go expecting some sort of feature-length, Godfather-level epic with million dollar production costs. Now then, as far as Project Memory goes as of this moment, 9.77 seconds of it have been filmed, and only 3.40 seconds of that is likely to be making the final cut. Other scenes will have to be redone or changed entirely. Yes, that's right, I said "scenes" when referring to ten seconds of video. This is no slow-dance song, my friends.

The script is roughly 1/8th complete. Yes, script. I am scripting each scene of this video, because I'm a freaking maniac. The current script makes it to the 31 second mark of the song, which in entirety will be nearly four minutes in length. For that first 31 seconds of video I have so far written out 13 mini-scenes. If I keep it up like this, there will probably be around 104 different scenes in the video, some of which will actually be rapid-fire images appearing to the beat of the song.

From reading the above, you're probably getting the impression that I won't just be slapping this together overnight. I'm not about to toss this onto Youtube without it being the best I believe I can make it. This won't be one of those slideshow videos or anything like that. There will be full-motion action in this video. Ragdolls will fly, camera angles will pan, and several things will explode. This is my first REAL Garry's Mod video I will ever make. A Combine Soldier Gets Down was made in Garry's Mod, yes, but it was more of a... Wait, what the hell was that video again? Anyways, all those errors you see in that video (Camera angle changing, life bar visible, etc.) will be absent in Project Memory. This video will be of the best quality I can possibly create.

Alright, after all this talk, you're probably wanting some sort of preview or teaser or something. Well... I don't really have anything to show just yet. I have one screenshot, ONE, that I'd be willing to show at this point. Keep in mind that the scene this screenshot is from will be re-filmed, and the health indicator at the bottom of the screen will not be visible in the final product.

So there you go, one crummy little shred of proof that I'm actually making this video and not baiting you all along. There's actually one part of the video that I'm quite proud of, but it's in motion, and of course, that's kind of hard to show off in a screenshot. When Project Memory is a little further along, a teaser video will be made. For now, though, the above is all I have to show. And yes, that is Frohman. It's somewhat justified in the context of the video, though, but I dare not say anymore for fear of spoiling the surprise.

Lastly, you're probably wondering about the title I've given it: "Project Memory". Sounds pretty serious for a video that's supposed to be so insane, yes? Don't worry, readers, it shall all become clear in the end... Now then, I bid you all goodnight. Be sure to sleep well, because I sure won't! Do it for me!

Rampant speculation on the video goes in the comment section, or this forum thread. Don't expect any hints from me, though!