Category Archives: Video Games

Time for Nintendo to Step It Up?

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Was just reading a great article at DamnLag.com which suggests it’s time for Nintendo to make a move to its next generation console. I couldn’t agree more.

The Wii was and is an alright console but I like it for all the wrong reasons judging by Nintendo’s efforts. For me, the Wii is all about the the Virtual Console. Nintendo has virtually abandoned the Virtual Console at this point.

This has caused me to pretty much stop using my Wii now except for Netflix and the occasional time I want to go back and play some of the games in my Virtual Console collection. Were it not for the current economic circumstances I would have long ago purchased a PS3 as its library is starting to fill up with more and more titles that interest me.

This is the big point for me in the article:

3) Give us an actual online experience.

After five years of friend codes and tossing controllers through walls, I am not giving Nintendo any room for mistakes on this one. I want it all: social networking, friends lists, usernames, browsers, real marketplaces, clean interfaces, movies, music, external software storage, downloadable content and whatever else they can think of. The Wii 2 needs to put the days of Nintendo being more internet-retarded than my grandmother to an end. I am sick of hearing “Well, who really wants to play a Nintendo game online?” Over here, Nintendo: I do.

Oh, and give us a Pokemon MMO.

Anyway, don’t take my word for it, go check out the article for yourself at: http://www.damnlag.com/times-up-nintendo-needs-to-release-a-wii-2/

Torchlight 2 in Spring 2011!

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Great news for Torchlight fans today as Runic Games announces Torchlight 2. Some of the highlights include: Multi-player, customizable characters, moddability, new UI, overworld areas, random dungeons, retirement system, pets and fishing.

Some of the great features will be returning, like pets and fishing. The overworld and random dungeon areas should add a lot of extra and unique content to the game.

If you’re a RPG fan or fan of Diablo you should definitely check out Torchlight if you have not already done so. It is a fantastic single-player game.

Read on for the full announcement from Runic Games:

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The State of the Nintendo Virtual Console

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I’m a huge fan of Nintendo’s Virtual Console. In fact, it is the ONLY reason I ever wanted a Nintendo Wii in the first place. For the longest time, Nintendo had a huge, great and enthusiastic Virtual Console community but in recent months they have been trying to kill that community off. Not in an active sense but in a passive sense. They just rarely release any ‘new’ content for the VC and that has done enough damage.

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Nintendo Downloads 2010-04-05

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This week Nintendo celebrates the 1 year anniversary of DSiWare. I hope no one was expecting big things for this anniversary. While one title sounds promising (Mr. DRILLER: Drill Till You Drop), I doubt it’s really fantastic. Nevertheless in the press release for this anniversary, Nintendo lets us know about a few upcoming titles: Earthworm Jim, Tetris Party Live, Surviving Highschool and Frogger Returns. At least DSi owners have that to look forward to!

The Virtual console pick this week is a side-scrolling shooter from the NEOGEO. I’m not familiar with it but it’s probably a safe pick if you are in the mood for a shooter.

This weeks lineup:”

WiiWare: FISHIE FISHIE, Learning with the PooYoos: Episode 2

Virtual Console: IRONCLAD

DSiWare: Game & Watch: Manhole, Game & Watch: Helmet, Game & Watch Vermin, Mr. DRILLER: Drill Till You Drop

Read on for the full press release:

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Nintendo Download 2010-03-29

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Another Monday means new downloads from Nintendo! This time Nintendo is actually helping us fight the Monday blues rather then contributing to them as the Virtual Console gets a little more love. There’s lots to love about this weeks Virtual Console release. Not only is it a rare N64 release, its a Strategy Role-playing Game (usually referred to as SRPG)! Of course there will be those who complain because it’s not a title they are familiar with or because it’s not some other title they’ve been hoping for. Nevertheless if you’re looking for a new game to play, this is probably worth a try!

WiiWare this week brings a couple titles. WarioWare looks to basically be a port of the DS versions for WiiWare. Not familiar with the WarioWare series myself, but if you’re a fan it’s probably worth a go. Diner Dash is another puzzler game… no comment.

DSiWare includes a Disney title. Looks like you’re paying for the name on this one. This is something you’d expect to pay no more than $2 for on the iPhone… and probably less even. Yet it will set you back about $8 (800 points) on DSiWare (ouch)! Nintendo has it figured out though with a couple of music apps priced around $2 (200 points) each. There’s also a title called Save the Turtles for 500 points that shows promise. And another puzzle game in there too!

Here’s the quick list:

Virtual Console: Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibre

WiiWare: WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase, Diner Dash

DSiWare: Disney Fireworks, Save the Turtles, Nintendo DSi Metronome, Nintendo DSi Instrument Tuner, Super Yum Yum Puzzle Adventures

Read on for the full press release from Nintendo:

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Nintendo Weekly Downloads (2010-03-22)

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Nintendo continued to extend their middle finger towards Virtual Console fans this week with another week with no titles for the Virtual Console and another list of yawners and shovel-ware (okay as you’ll see below that was somewhat of an exaggeration but my annoyance with Nintendo dumping on the VC fans continues).

No doubt the WiiWare and DSiWare will be of interest to someone… maybe. Apparently Cave Story was a popular PC game. I missed that one.  Once again the DSiWare is somewhat surprising to me. Drift Street International has promise as a multi-player racing game. I think it has a tough job to compete with Mario Kart DS though, which is a fantastic game and apparently so much in demand that it’s still one of the most expensive DS games out there.

Libera Wing is a strategy tower defense game. Given the huge amount of fans of these types of games it should also do well if it’s executed half decently. I’ve never heard of or at least paid attention to Game & Watch titles before. Apparently they’re popular. At least they don’t look to be straight puzzle games?

So here’s the short-list of this weeks titles.

WiiWare: Cave Story

DSiWare: Drift Street International, Libera Wing, Games & Watch: Mario’s Cement Factory, Game & Watch: Chef, Game & Watch: Judge

For the full press release from Nintendo, read on below:

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Nintendo Weekly Downloads (2010-03-08)

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It has been forever since I’ve bothered posting here, maybe I’ll try and post a little more now. Good day to restart today as Final Fantasy II (Actually its more commonly known as Final Fantasy IV these days but Nintendo prefers to keep to the original name as they were released back in the day.)

Since I last wrote, DSiWare has come quite a long way. At first it was all puzzle games and useless clock skins and while the majority of titles may still fit those descriptions, there is a lot more variety available today.

Another cool thing about today’s releases, although I don’t know the quality of the game itself, nice to see Dracula – Undead Awakening released on both DSiWare and WiiWare at the same time.

see below for the full release from: http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=22673

Today’s Summary:

Virtual Console: Final Fantasy II

WiiWare: Max & the Magic Marker, Dracula – Undead Awakening

DSiWare: Elemental Masters, 4 TRAVELLERS – Play Spanish, Dracula – Undead Awakening, Flips: The Bubonic Builders

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Nintendo Weekly Downloads (2009-09-14)

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Another week of Nintendo downloads has arrived (I know I skipped the last 2 but it doesn’t matter no one reads this anyway). Although there weren’t any releases that I’d consider earth-shattering it still appears to be a decent week overall.

The biggest surprise for me was DSiWare. For the first time, something was released that I’m actually interested in and I’d probably buy it if I had a DSi. Oscar in Toyland looks interesting to me and amazingly enough it doesn’t look to be just another puzzle game! Read below to get the full description of the game from Nintendo’s official press release.

WiiWare brings us Texas Hold’Em Poker, Spaceball: Revolution and Mart Racer. Poker might interest me if I didn’t have a PC and a Steam account with which I could just buy the game. I’d rather play a game like Poker on my PC. Spaceball: Revolution and Mart Racer also interest me but I always worry with motion control games (Mart Racer at least appears to use motion controls)… I’ll let some other people try it and see their reviews before I actually purchase either of them.

And surprisingly enough, even with three WiiWare titles, Nintendo still gives a nod to the Virtual Console lovers out there! Honestly, I had never even heard of the NES game Crash ‘N The Boys Street Challenge. From the description it appears to be some sort of street track and field game? Doesn’t sound overly appealing to me but hey, a VC game is a VC game!

Read on for the full announcement

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Steam Weekend Deal: Braid

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Steam decided to start the weekend deals early this week and announced Braid will sell for $4.99 down $10 from $14.99!

I haven’t played this game myself but I’m certainly tempted to purchase it!

Steam’s page for the game can be found here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/

“Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time’s strangeness that creates the puzzles. The time behaviors include: the ability to rewind, objects that are immune to being rewound, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, time dilation, and perhaps more.”

The game is only single-player but you can collect Steam Achievements which always adds to the fun of the game for me.