Nintendo Demos Ineptitude (Q4 Release)

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While perusing the shelves of a local retailer that shall remain unnamed I finally broke down and bought a classic controller for my Wii. I’ve been meaning to since launch day and have just never seemed to get around to it. However, with my purchase of Super Smash Bros. Brawl I’ve become increasingly curious as to the merits of using the classic controler in place of my beloved wavebird. So I get home, fire up SSMBB and play around with the new controller for a bit, during this brief session I unlocked one of the “Masterpiece” games. I vaugely remembered hearing about these virtual console demos that came bundled inside of the game but had never tried any of them out. I decide to try out Star Fox (just for a nostalgia trip), underneath the link to the demo in the Masterpieces menu there’s the numerals “1:30″. “Wow, I get a whole hour and a half with the game, that’s awesome!” I exclaim and joyfully begin a sojourn back into the heady days of my childhood, fond memories of the many hours I’ve spent on this very game coming back as I navigate the intro screen. Then… approximately one minute and thirty seconds into the first level a jolly little messages pops up informing me that my demo is over and promptly boots me back to the masterpiece selection screen… I really wanted this generation to be one where I would proudly stand up for Nintendo but that just hasn’t happened and Nintendo’s apparent inability to grasp the concept of a demo is just another reason for this once devoted fanboy to buy a 360.

A light of sanity, Study results back video games

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In this world of figures such as the infamous Jack Thomson and a myriad of Politicians ready at a moment’s notice to tar and feather any part of the gaming industry they can get their hands on, the incessant mewling of “concerned parents” and certain companies (cough-taketwo-cough) gleefully drawing scandal and controversy into their bosoms the video game industry is under a near constant public scrutiny. With a plethora of pseudo-studies claiming that video games cause mass homicidal psychosis in everyone exposed to them there is no shortage of ammunition that these political mudslingers and ambulance chasers can lob in the direction of anything connected to a joystick.

Thankfully amidst the sludgy haze of the dozens of studies claiming video games are shaped by the devil in the very bowls of hell and shipped directly from central 7th circle onto retailer shelves throughout the world there is some hope. A recent examination of the effects of video games on by Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson (co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media) entitled Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do dispels many of the unreasonable fears about that have been fostered by the likes of Jack Thompson and makes some pretty surprising revelations about the effects of games on young children along the way. The following is an interview by Adam Sessler with the two authors who give a brief synopsis of the prevailing message of the book.

Lostwinds — Creativity on the Wii at last

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Now that Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart have been released on the ravening masses of Nintendo fanboys we’re (yes I include myself in that frothing mass) facing something of a drought for the rest of 2008. Unless Nintendo breaks out something spectacular at E3 ‘08 the outlook is a bleak one of cheap ports and shovelware.

There is, however, some ray of hope… while Nintendo has been perfectly content to give us the dubious “privilege” of downloading old games that we’ve already played countless times before we’re finally getting some original downloadable content via WiiWare and one game in particular has caught the public eye — Lostwinds.

Reminiscent of the Wind Waker in style and somewhat in theme Lostwinds follows the characters Toku, a young boy with an exceptionally large head, and Enril, a wind spirit. In a sort of single player co-op you use Enril’s control over the wind (controlled by pointing the Wiimote) to aid Toku in traversing the cursed land with strategic gusts.The game looks great on the system which can be partially attributed to the art style. Games with a more stylized look definitely work better on the relatively underpowered Wii hardware (just take a look Okami).

The game is scheduled for a tentative co-release with the launch of Nintendo’s WiiWare service on May 12th but suffice to say whenever it comes out I’ll be there gleefully downloading what looks to be one of the better titles for the Wii this year (note: hype subject to change pending possible announcement of a new Zelda game by Shigeru Miyamoto at E3 08. In such a case all endorsement of upcoming Wii games will be forgotten as the fanboy masses collectively squeal like so many Japanese schoolgirls).

[The history of the Lostwinds world]

Audiosurf Song of the Week on Game-Vector

The first edition of Audiosurf Song of the Week was just posted over on Game-Vector. Come check it out! (Yes friends, this is what a shameless plug for my other blog looks like) [Link]

Britain Gets Royally Screwed

Yes it looks like our friends across the pond are finally getting rock band, albeit in not quite the way they were hoping. Instead of getting a nice full package of game/guitar/mic/drums for the not insignificant price of $169.99 they get to buy them separately… for twice the price… Yes my friends you thought beating you in the American revolution and throwing you unceremoniously back onto your little island would be enough for the founding fathers but no — in the year 1789 they began a secret government project, one that would spend over 200 years in development (nearly as long as Duke Nukum Forever) and culminate in what we now know as rock band. A weapon that would bring the once great empire to it’s knees. And now we see it’s fruition.

Priced at a staggering £49.99 (around $100) for the game disk and £129.99 (nearly $300) for an “instrument pack” (aka the mic/drums/guitar included in the american version) the Rock Band experience will run them the price of a brand new console.

The Brits have had to deal with this kind of thing for a long time; delays that run into the months (or years), gimped prices, the lot and they’ve done it with admireable aplomb — but this might just drive them over the edge. Twice the price for a game that we’ve had for nearly six months? You have my deepest condolances Britton.

My advice is revolt — it worked for us.

[Via Eurogamer]