Archive for the 'Games' Category
mario November 30th, 2007
I’ve been chatting about this off and on in the discussion thread for the previous entry, but I figured I’d give all y’all a more official update on my Dance Dance Revolution workout experiment. Since my initial post, I’ve transitioned over from Konamix to the GameCube’s Mario Mix. I seem to get a little extra kick out of dancing along to classic Mario tunes (though my favorite song in the game is the “Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka”-inspired “Always Smiling”), and the songs tend to skew a little easier than DDR games proper. It felt good to be able to ace the whole set of Hard mode songs and get a workout out of the deal too. I’ve reached a bit of a stopping point in terms of personal advancement; I got an ‘A’ in every song on Very Hard except for Bowser’s Castle (that green ‘B’ mocks me!), but the Super Hard songs seem to generally be beyond my ability to get above a ‘C’.
My initial goal was to burn at least 100 calories in a half-hour exercise session. I’m proud to say that I’ve improved well enough to obtain this goal well within the time frame (usually 7 or 8 songs can hit the mark, since I tend to stick to the World 4 songs, Very Hard, Mush Mode off), and often am not even breaking a sweat at the end! So today I decided to try and bump it up to 120 calories. If I can’t make it work in that timeframe, I’ll do my best to wake up a little earlier in the morning, but I’m very excited by what I see as a marked improvement in my workout times.
On top of that, I found out that I have access to a scale in my house! I don’t know how much of a good thing that is, but maybe it’ll give me a better indication of progress. We’ll see how that goes!
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mario November 30th, 2007
 Huh, can’t say I expected something like this (though I did kinda hope). According to IGN, the Japanese Virtual Console release of Pokémon Snap (a wonderful and underrated N64 game where you try to take the best possible photographs of Pokémon in the wild) will be updated to include the ability to send your photos to friends via the Wii Message Board! I absolutely loved this game back in the day, and would buy it up immediately, if the game ends up over here as well. I’m assuming it won’t offer some kind of magic Wii Remote pointer integration as well, but the analog stick worked just fine for its purpose. Even if you didn’t care for the original game, this is pretty exciting news! A Virtual Console game is getting a Wii overhaul! Dare I dream for eventual online multiplayer updates? I probably shouldn’t dare, but I do anyway. Just a little.
(courtesy of IGN)
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mario November 29th, 2007
 Charles Martinet, perhaps better known to most of you as the voice actor for Mario of Nintendo fame (I don’t think he provides my voice, I’ll have to look into that), has announced his intention to write an autobiography detailing his history working for Nintendo. I’m always intrigued to hear from various folks on their perspectives on the videogame industry, so there’s a good chance I’ll be picking this up when it’s available. Plus, come on. It’sa him, Mario!
I must say, however, that his perspective on the ever-present issue of violence in video games is…. well it’s not exactly troubling, but it’s not like he’s bringing anything new to the table:
Violence in videogames, if you can call it violence – you have to take it into perspective. I don’t think that people go out and steal cars because they play a car stealing game, any more than I think that someone is going to shoot somebody because they play a shooting game. You don’t do that because that a game.
I suppose if the only person he was arguing against was Jack Thompson, this might hold some water. But I don’t think any rational person decrying violence in video games (and yes, there are intelligent people making this argument intelligently and reasonably, as in people who aren’t Jack Thompson) is saying that performing X action in a game equates to X action in real life. I guess I’m getting a little off-base here, but I hope that the finished product ends up being a little more insightful and a little less “duuuuuuh, really?“. I’ve enjoyed the man’s work (even if he did do the voice of *shudder* Toadsworth), and I feel like his decade+ of experience in an industry I hold near and dear to my heart should make it an interesting read.
Now he’s just gotta write the thing.
Oh yeah, don’t watch the video on his seemingly-made-like-10-years-ago website. You’ll probably like him less.
(courtesy of ComputerAndVideoGames.com, by way of Nintendo Wii Fanboy)
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mario October 17th, 2007
In my efforts to maybe start to become a grown-up a little, I’ve decided to start a regular workout routine. I’d love to be a little more physically fit, and maybe shave off a few pounds while I’m at it.
Of course, in my efforts to work video games into my life as much as possible, I’ve decided to accomplish this workout routine with Dance Dance Revolution.
Has anyone else tried out the DDR workout? Got any advice to give? Would you recommend using the Workout Mode (this short eHow article that I wish I’d found before working out this morning seems to)? I like the thought of it tracking calorie burning, but the Game Mode breaks up the action into three-song groups, which makes for a good water break. Also, it keeps score, so that sets more clear goals in my mind (Get an ‘A’ or better! Stretch a combo through the whole song! And so on). Please comment away on the forum, I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter (I’m a little new to working out on a regular basis in general, so input from non-DDRers would also be appreciated).
For the curious, I’m playing DDR: Konamix, so suggestions on good workout routines on a song-by-song basis are also welcome.
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mario September 23rd, 2007
Some guys from Jackass and Viva La Bam (I don’t know what that is, but I’m guessing it’s a lot like Jackass) recreate the first level of Donkey Kong. Barrel-jumping action follows!
Guess all it took to make me tolerate Jackass was to tie in video games. And omit some of the more severe physical injuries.
(courtesy of 4 color rebellion)
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mario September 19th, 2007
I bought Resident Evil 4 as soon as it came out (on GameCube, a-duh), and loved the hell out of it. The game did a wonderful job at retaining the spooky atmosphere of the previous entries in the series proper while fixing some of the more glaring technical shortcomings (not even the diehard RE fans actually liked the fixed camera angles and inability to see where you were shooting half the time). The overall proliferation of ammunition and weaponry did nothing to reduce the sheer terror that comes when you’re down to your last shotgun shell in a crowded room of zombies Spanish-speaking Eastern European peasants and you have to decide whether to run or whip out the knife. I watched the story unravel, the enemies grow tougher, and the plot twists, uh, twist. I was having a blast.
 But then I got stuck.
I (as Leon) walked into a nondescript room at the end of a long dining hall. A treasure chest stood in the center, but as I approached it, a cage lowered from the ceiling, trapping me with a Garrador. Of all the scary sights in this game, the creepy Chainsaw Man, the freakishly fast and deadly Colmillos, even the oppressive El Gigante, nothing scares me more than the Garrador. I don’t know what it is about them, but unless I’ve got a wide berth, I tend to panic and forget that they’re not actually terribly difficult to fight. The cage gives you no space to make a break for it, forcing you to deal with your immediate surroundings in the few seconds before the Garrador hears you and slices your head clean off. For whatever reason, I kept panicking and focusing on the wrong targets, trying to pick off the annoying zealots firing crossbows at me from outside the cage. The doors outside are secured with padlocks, and I was consistently being picked off by that God-damned Garrador.
I can’t believe I didn’t think to shoot the padlock.
I feel so silly admitting that here. I keep telling myself, There were padlocks to shoot earlier in the game! Why wouldn’t you retain that knowledge, fool? But my irrational panic in the presence of the Garrador made me completely ignore this glaring oversight on my part. Paul had mentioned this little strategy to me in passing recently, and I begrudgingly spun up the game disk for the first time in months and found that, yes, this solved the problem perfectly. Now I was free to pick off the zealots while the Garrador blindly ran around inside the cage, and could take him out from the outside without worrying about him charging at me. Finally I moved on! Go me!
Then I ran out of ammo in a fight with two Los Gigantes and died trying to cut their shins up with my knife. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.
I can just hear that blind bastard taunting me in my dreams. Fuck you, Garrador.
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mario September 13th, 2007
I don’t remember the exact path I took to get to Sexy Videogameland (I’m sure we’ve all played the blog click-through game once or twice), but it sure as hell paid off. Michel Gagné (awesome animator, worked on some classic Don Bluth flicks) is making a sweet-looking shooter game. A video would probably explain its awesomeness best:
Purdy, ain’t it? Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet doesn’t have a publisher yet, but keep an eye on the official site, hopefully something will be announced soon. I wants. I know it’s probably too soon to speculate, but the fluid motions of the ship in this teaser video sure do look like they’d work well with a Wiimote.
Or a mouse. I guess.
(courtesy of Sexy Videogameland)
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mario July 13th, 2007
 … Smashville may be my favorite Smash Bros. stage ever!
When I choose an arena in which to do battle with friend and foe alike in the Smash Bros. series, I will generally lean toward a large flat stage without any random events. It bugs me when I’m going toe-to-toe with someone, and suddenly an Arwing blasts at us from behind and upsets the balance of the match, or the stage scrolls upward too fast for one of the players to jump to the next platform (like that even makes sense logistically; how would the battlers know where the camera was looking at any given moment? Only assholes think Icicle Mountain is a fun stage). Final Destination is of course the best option when available.
But the new Smashville level announced on the Smash Bros. Dojo like an hour ago combines my love of non-obtrusive flat level design with my possibly even bigger love of Animal Crossing. This is totally awesome! Townsfolk drink coffee in the background while watching the battle! Totakeke jams with some tunes Saturday nights at 8! Gracie’s standing around with her fancy car, and is a total bitch! I hate you Gracie, I hate you so much.
Gracie taunts me in my dreams.
Uh, yeah, Smashville rocks hard. Play there all day every day.
(courtesy of the Smash Bros. Dojo)
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mario July 11th, 2007
I’ve got good Marathon news, and I’ve got bad Marathon news:
The good news is that Marathon: Durandal is being updated for the next-generation, with support for HD graphics, new online multiplayer modes and leaderboards. Long-time Mac game developer Freeverse (formally Freeverse Software) is heading the project.
The bad news is that it’s only coming to Xbox Live Arcade.
I suppose those of you that love your Xbox 360s will get a big kick out of this, and have worlds of fun kicking Pfhor ass through the night. It’s bad enough that Microsoft took Bungie away from the Mac platform, but to take away our classic Mac games is just cruel.
(Freeverse, you’re still awesome)
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mario July 11th, 2007
Stef and I like to play video games communally. By that I mean that if one of us is playing a single-player game, the other likes to sit and watch. On console games, this works like a charm: we’ve got a (decently-sized) TV that both of us can view unobstructed. But when we want to play some Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, it’s a difficult affair to say the least. The DS screens don’t have very good horizontal viewing angles, so we had to keep tilting the system back and forth to be on the same page. Sometimes I read the dialogue aloud.
Not all that fun.
So now I’m reading through GamesAreFun’s liveblog of Sony’s E3 2007 keynote, and I see that a new version of the PSP is coming along with the ability to output video to a television. This is just what I want! … on the DS (I don’t really care much one way or the other what the loser PSP can do, except for TV-out of course). Nintendo, if you’re reading this blog (which is totally likely), please release an also-ran DS with TV-out support! I didn’t buy the DS Lite, but I’d buy this in a heartbeat!
(thanks GAF)
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