It’s the biggest selling console in the world today and loved by gamers of all ages, but has the Wii really lived up to the expectations it set on its spectacular arrival?

When the Wii was first released back in 2006, it was a phenomenon. When compared to other contemporary consoles, the Xbox 360 and the PS3, the Wii was totally different and something new in a rather predictable market. Whereas Sony and Microsoft had continued their hardware battle, trying to outdo each other with better graphics, bigger hard drives and generally more power, Nintendo had gone down a different path, and created a console that was completely out on its own. The Wii was all about the fun, and together with the revolutionary motion detection technology, it was the perfect console for the casual gamer. But now that the Wii is approaching its third birthday, it’s worth reassessing its success, and asking whether or not, despite its huge sales, it has been the massive leap forward it was marketed as.

Let’s start with the famous launch at the 2006 E3, where the Nintendo Wii stole the show. The critics at E3 awarded the Wii with Best of Show and Best Hardware, along with a never-ending stream of accolades and praise from journalists and gamers. During the months before its release, and the release itself, the Wii was draped in awards from every major corner of the press, with most heralding the Wii’s arrival as the most important step in video gaming history. Late in 2006 the Wii console and the motion gaming it showcased was considered to be the future of gaming, and the Wii was expected to lead the way for this technology and gaming as a whole. But has this really happened? Today, is the Wii still viewed as the top console, or at least the most advanced?

Let’s look at the motion technology; that on its release was considered to be the biggest leap forward since the introduction of the 16bit cartridge. This motion software has gone on to become a regular feature on a whole host of electrical devices. The iPod, iPhone, the Sony Yari and countless others now use the motion technology the Wii first developed, and Microsoft are working on a similar system for the Xbox 360, albeit far more sophisticated. The Wii’s motion technology has been a great success, but has it changed gaming like it was supposed to? Apart for the Wii, no other console has truly embraced motion gaming yet, and it is still considered too underdeveloped and numb to be used as a serious replacement to the trusty control pad. What was expected to become the future of gaming has rather faded with time, although whether motion gaming will finally take off in the future is yet to be seen.

Games-wise, it’s fair to say that developers haven’t really got fully behind the Wii, and some have openly admitted to having rushed through releases to coincide with the hype the Wii generated. Where both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have rich catalogues of games, with very few bad releases to speak of, the Wii’s bag is more mixed. There are some superb games out there, with titles such as Super Mario Galaxy, Zack and Wiki, Boom Blox, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, de Blob and of course the obligatory Wii Sports all being worthy of anyone’s money. But sadly, these titles are suffocated under a smouldering heap of garbage games, that were only made to make a quick buck off the back of the Wii hype. Apart from Wii Sports, has the Wii really had that many big titles to get behind? Perhaps it has, much too often, been forced to suffer the type of games that honestly shouldn’t warrant a stand alone release.

Another problem is that major games rarely make their way to the Wii, and if they do, they are usually lazily modified from the original version. The top 3 games last year (in no particular order) were Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2. These titles were massive successes for the 360 and PS3, but not the Wii, as they were never available on this platform. This is partly due to the fact that, apart from the Wii having graphically inferior hardware to the minimum these games would require, Nintendo have always targeted their games at the family market, and let’s face it – your Granny won’t enjoy Fallout 3. But saying that, Madworld is one of the nastiest games you’ll ever see, and that’s only available on the Wii.

A lot of the Wii’s success and the way it is viewed are also due to the way it is marketed. As I’ve said, Nintendo have always aimed their products at the family market, and with the Wii they have pursued this avenue further than with previous consoles. The adverts for the Wii have always featured a wide span of age groups, from the pre-school child to the grandparents. At no point has the Wii been aimed at the hardcore gamer, the type of gamer that has a PS3 or 360 for example. As a result of this, the Wii has always had a stigma as a console for the casual gamer, and as such has never been taken seriously by the hardcore of gaming.

There are a number of reasons why the Wii, in today’s high tech world, is not consisted to be the console of the future. If anything, these days it is considered as a bit dated, and if anything more of a gadget than a games console. To be honest, the Wii isn’t really taken that seriously anymore. With a catalogue of inconsistent games, most of which are very poor, and a fan base that although large, is mainly made up of young children or older adults. Sadly the Wii is seen more as a party toy, or a gimmick, which is a shame because the Wii is a fantastic console (albeit majorly unsupported by software) that has sold extremely well (52.62 million consoles have been sold worldwide and it has outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360’s shared sales, with sales of 24.6million and 21million respectively). The Wii has produced some exceptional games and has reintroduced a large percentage of the public back to the joys of gaming. But overall, could you honestly put the Wii above the Xbox 360 or PS3 as the leading console? Sadly, I’m guessing your answer is no.

Scott Tierney

for more news and reviews get your free subscription of Phonica Magazine UK online here!

Για 360 και PS3 το επόμενο Boom Blox; | Game 2.0 blog

Σύμφωνα με μια αγγελία για εργασία στην ΕΑ, το επόμενο παιχνίδι Boom Blox αναπτύσσεται για τις κονσόλες «επόμενης γενιάς» (αλήθεια, μέχρι πότε θα τις λέμε έτσι;), δηλαδή για το Xbox 360 και το PS3.[next]

 

Rating: 7 Out of 10

Boom Blox is a different game compared to many other games out there on the Wii. This puzzle game has hundreds of puzzles with a strong competitive multiplayer and coop. This game also has a level creator that adds a ton of replay value. However, the game can feel repetitive and with the escort missions it loses it’s fun value. There is a story involved but the characters are so bad that you wish there wasn’t one. Overall though, this is a puzzle game for the Wii and there aren’t that many out there. Try it out.

Pros:

+ Hundreds of puzzles

+ Strong competitive and co-op multiplayer

+ Level creator adds a ton of replay value

Cons:

- Shooting gallery and escort-style levels dilute the fun

- Story and characters are embarrassingly bad

- Can be repetitive

Extras:

# Boom Blox Cheat Codes

Back in the day, I remember when “Pong,” that goofy game played on a television screen, featuring two paddles and a ball, would attract a large crowd at the department store. Years later, as video games became higher-tech, I would walk through the mall and dismiss these games as  “kid’s stuff.” Now there is an effort to determine if these games can boost brain power in older people.  

Anita Hamilton has a great story at Time.com that describes a study that will follow nearly 300 seniors as they play ”Boom Blox.”

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1909852,00.html

In the article, psychologists Anne McLaughlin and Jason Allaire, from North Carolina State University, want to find out how Boom Blox will affect cognitive functioning.

If there is a chance that playing video games will keep my mind sharp as I glide through my boomer years and enter senior citizen territory, I may just ask  Santa for a video game this holiday season.

English | Español

From May 19th till the end of that month, the sales of Bionic Commando (PS3/X360) have not been satisfactory at all. Capcom should not be happy about this outcome. Since the game came, it has only sold just over 27,000 copies . While other games succeeded (UFC 2009: Undisputed & Wii Fit), BC was not even in the top 10 list (sales-wise). There have been rumors around the net stating the layoff of a great number of employees at developer Grin in the last few weeks. Due to some mixed reviews, the new version of the game received a score of 70 at Metacritic, while BC: Rearmed received great reviews averaging 85 points. What is most surprising is the fact that Capcom has sold a lot more copies of Rearmed than the new BC. In its first week, Rearmed (PSN/XBLA) sold over 130, 000 copies.This outcome could not have been in the company’s agenda.

Capcom wasn’t the only affected due to the tough economy. As a whole, the gaming industry fell by 23% in May 2009 compared to the same month last year. This outcome was already expected by many analyst. There was no sequel for Grand Theft Auto (the last one was Chinatown Wars for the DS in March) or Smash Bros. Brawl , but Wii Fit still sells.

Bionic Commando is not the only game in that situation. The sequel to Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox had a similar outcome. The PC version of Bionic Commando comes next month. A sequel to Rearmed may be the next best thing for Capcom.

Español | English

Del 19 de mayo hasta el final de aquel mes, las ventas de Bionic Commando (PS3/X360) no han sido nada satisfactorias. Capcom no debe estar contento acerca de esteresultado. Desde que salió el juego, solo se han vendido más de 27.000 copias. Mientras que otros juegos tuvieron éxito (UFC 2009: Undisputed & Wii Fit), BC no estaba ni en la lista de los 10 mejores (a nivel de ventas). Hubo unos rumores en la red declarando el despido de un gran número de empleados en la empresa desarrolladora Grin en las últimas semanas. Debido a análisis mixtos, la nueva versión del juego recibió un puntaje de 70 en Metacritic, mientras que BC: Rearmed recibió altos puntajes con un promedio de 85 puntos. Lo que es más sorprendente es el hecho que Capcom ha vendido más copias de Rearmed que del nuevo BC. En su primera semana, se vendieron más de 130.000 copias de Rearmed (PSN/XBLA). Este resultado no podría haber estado en el orden del día de la empresa.

Capcom no fue la única afectada por la difícil economía. En su totalidad, la industria de los juegos cayó el 23% en mayo del 2009 en comparación con el mismo mes el año pasasdo. El resultado ya era esperado por varios analistas. No hubo continuaciones para Grand Theft Auto (el último fue Chinatown Wars para el DS  en marzo pero no obtuvo buenas ventas) o Smash Bros. Brawl, pero Wii Fit aún se vende.

Bionic Commando no es el único juego en esa situación. La continuación del juego Boom Blox de Steven Spielberg tuvo un resultado similar. La versión PC de Bionic Commando viene el próximo mes. Una continuación de Rearmed quizás sea la siguiente opción para Capcom.

A parceria entre Steven Spielberg e a gigante Eletronic Arts não poderia gerar outra coisa senão “brinquedinhos” do tipo Boom Blox. O jogo, desenvolvido para Nintendo Wii, envolve a solução de desafios no modelo puzzle. Além de diversas fases pré-definidas, em que blocos devem ser arrastados, lançados e organizados, há também a possibilidade de criação de níveis pessoais, combinando todos esses recursos em maior ou menor grau de dificuldade. De certa forma, amplia-se a experiência do jogo, permitindo aos jogadores, principalmente quando reunidos, criarem desafios para os demais participantes. Genial!

Então, confiram o site do Boom Blox.

Deixo também um vídeo com uma pequena demonstração.

.

Well, I am officially saddened, for Batman: Arkham Asylum is being pushed back until September (at the soonest), so I must find another game worthy of my time. I’d had June set aside as my Batman and Boom Blox month for a while, and now that has all been pushed out the window. Except for the Boom Blox of course. I know that I do not have many regular readers, but if anyone happens to stop by and could help me with a conundrum, I would appreciate it.

My conundrum of course being, what do I get?  It really only between three games, and each of them has its personal merits. At the top of the list is a game I’ve been following for quite some time because it reminds me of an open world super hero game, which is a genre I’ve enjoyed in both Spiderman 2 and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. I’m of course talking about Prototype.

Yeah, pretty cool I guess. I mean, I have opposable thumbs, but whatever.

Jumping around the city, causing all kinds of mayhem and destruction is something that can always hold my attention for longer than it should. This is a completely single player experience, which means that it’ll have to stay interesting throughout, and even after it’s finished if it’s to get a buy from me. Of course, I still play Spiderman 2 every now and then. With Alex Mercer’s (the protagonist) myriad of powers, and an ever evolving landscape, I don’t see this game getting boring for a long while. Add and interesting story and varied enemies, and this may replace Spiderman 2 as my go to open world game.

Second on my list would have to be Ghostbuster: The Videogame. I’m not someones who’s been holding my breath for a Ghostbusters game worth playing. I liked the movies, and I’ve had my doubts that a game could live up to them. After watching multiple videos and reading many previews, this could most definitely be a game worth playing. Ghostbusters has humor and a nostalgic flavor that Prototype has no chance of capturing. So that is, of course, what Ghostbusters has going for it. Plus, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Stay forever puffed marshmallow man. Forever puffed.

The last game has the key benefit of being one I’ve actually played. Red Faction: Guerrila released it’s demo, and I have to say that I’m a fan. The gun play is solid, and while I didn’t run into any truy outstanding weapons, I liked the destructible environments. The hammer was awesome to be sure, and I even found some vehicles to drive around in. I think it may be relegated to a rent though, just because (aside from the almost entirely destructible environments) there’s not much new here. I am interested to see what the mission structure is like though.

So, populace, what do you have to say? Prototype, Ghostbuster, or Red Faction. All opinions are appreciated, though not necessarily taken into account.

I received a message with some pretty good reasoning that Boom Blox and Metroid Prime 3 shouldn’t be part of the games that can be added as they have no multiplayer functionality. This hasn’t been the first time that I received these sort of hints so I’m thinking of removing them as well as any instances where any users have added either of these games to their library. Unless people provide evidence that overturns this, I will be removing these games by May 29.

Facebook discussion thread: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=8803&uid=2393808280

Edit: The games have been left in

Preview And Screens At Kotaku

Boom Blox was the surprise hit from EA, and it looks like the sequel is well into development. This interview talks about things like how searching levels work on the Wii’s limited internal memory (probably talking about RAM, not the flash memory) and how involved is Spielberg in this project.

Interview Here

From/De: BAFTA via GamesPress

GAME BRITISH ACADEMY VIDEO GAMES AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Spielberg wins his first BAFTA for a video game, Call of Duty 4 leads the way with two BAFTA’s and the ‘GAME Award of 2008′

Wednesday 11th March/…Tonight, Steven Spielberg claimed his third BAFTA mask, but this time it was not for a film but for his début as a games creator with his Boom Blox winning the BAFTA in the Casual category, outplaying Guitar Hero, LittleBigPlanet, Singstar Vol 2, Wii Fit and Buzz! Quiz TV.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare which plunges its players into the frenzied epicentre of a 21st century war zone won for Gameplay, Story & Character and also proved to be the public’s game of choice, winning the GAME Award of 2008 with a record 60,000 gamers casting their votes this year. The shortlist of titles in the public award category were derived from the top-selling games sold in GAME stores in 2008.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards which took place at the London Hilton on Park Lane, were hosted by games aficionado Dara O’Briain who described  these times as a ‘Golden Age’ for video games. Consoles like the Wii, and handheld devices like the PSP, DS and iPhone have revolutionised the gaming world and made games accessible to all ages, making what was once described as a rather solitary hobby for teenage boys into a very social and stimulating leisure pursuit for the whole family. This year’s winners certainly showcase the creative innovation taking place in the games sector.

Dead Space, the bone-chilling, deep space, horror survival game took the coveted BAFTA mask in both sound categories (Use of Audio and Original Score) evoking a genuinely scary atmosphere onboard the game’s deserted space ship.  One of the most fiercely contended awards, Artistic Achievement, went to the stitched and glued 3D world that is LittleBigPlanet while the Technical Achievement BAFTA went to Spore, which allows players to control the development of a species from its beginnings as a single cell organism, to an intelligent and social creature, a tribe, a civilisation and then once uploaded to the internet, interacting with other civilisations.

In the Strategy category, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, the latest iteration of a game which first appeared 15 years ago, proved that strategy games requiring clever thinking, tactical planning and logistical exploration are as compelling today as they were last century.

FIFA 09 and Football Manager took on Wii Fit, but it was Race Driver: GRID which outraced the monster trucks and rally cars of Motorstorm Pacific Rift and the off-road quad bikes of PURE to claim the BAFTA for Sport.

Left 4 Dead took the BAFTA in the Multiplayer category, Fable II won in Action and Adventure, while Professor Layton and the Curious Village was victorious in the Handheld category.  This year’s highly-prized Best Game went to Super Mario Galaxy which fought off very stiff competition from Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare, Fable II, Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV and Rock Band.

The Academy is keen to nurture and encourage the up-and-coming stars in games, as well as recognising those at the peak of their talent. This year’s ceremony also included The BAFTA Ones To Watch Award. Working with the University of Abertay and its Dare To be Digital competition, this award was contended by three groups of university graduates who had each designed a new game prototype. The winning game was Boro-Toro, designed by a team calling themselves DarkMatter Designs.

The climax of the evening saw Jonathan Ross present the Academy’s highest honour, the Fellowship, to one of the founding fathers of the video games industry, electrical engineer, entrepreneur and founder of Atari inc, Nolan Bushnell. Credited by many for kick-starting the video games revolution, his Pong was the first video game to achieve widespread popularity in both the arcade and home console markets.

In an exclusive Q&A at BAFTA on March 19, Nolan Bushnell will discuss the past, present and future of social gaming*.

Ends.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About BAFTA:
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is the UK’s leading organisation dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the fields of the moving image.

About the judging process:
Games were entered by developers and publishers into all the categories listed in this release and were initially voted on by BAFTA games members and approximately 200 additional industry experts via a secure website. The titles garnering the most votes went through to the category-specific juries who received the games approximately six weeks prior to making their nominations. Each juror signed confidentiality papers and cast their votes in writing. The results in each category are not known until the envelope is opened on the night.

* The Nolan Bushnell Q&A takes place at BAFTA from 6pm, Thursday 19 March (tickets £7.50, please book in advance. Price includes champagne reception. BAFTA members free). Go to www.bafta.org/whats-on/ or contact Dave Green on 07742 711026 or 0207 734 0022.

About GAME:
GAME is Europe’s leading specialist retailer of pc and video game products. Since the start of trading in 1991 with 11 stores in the UK, it has grown both organically and through acquisition to a chain of over 1,300 outlets in January 2009. It operates stores in ten countries, supported by eCommerce websites. Online retail is located at www.game.co.uk.
For further corporate information, log onto www.gamegroup.plc.uk.

About the GAME Award of 2008
Each panellist was sent a list in advance of the top selling games sold in GAME stores in 2008 and selected their top 10 plus up to three more suggestions of their own. These results were collated and a shortlist of 20 was drawn up. The panel then convened on January 22 2009 at BAFTA and after various stages of discussion, reached a shortlist of 10 for the public to vote upon. Voting took place at www.baftagameaward.com and was open to anyone to vote from around the world between February 10 – midday on March 7. More than 60,000 votes were cast.
The panel: Johnny Minkley – Eurogamer, Alex Wiltshire – Edge, Steve Boxer – The Guardian, Jason Bradbury – The Gadget Show, Jonathan Weinberg – News of the World, Adam Rosser – Radio Five Live, Michael French – MCV & Develop, Martin Stanford – Sky News, Ross Atherton – PC Gamer, Jon Hicks – Official X Box Magazine, Tom Clark – Official Playstation magazine, Neil Long – Official Nintendo magazine, Nick Cowen – The Daily Telegraph, Keith Chegwin – gamer, Rhianna Pratchett – writer and freelance Margaret Robertson.

EA nos trae el segundo de los 3 juegos que tiene planificado con Steven Spielberg, esta vez, la segunda parte de uno de los mejores party games en el Wii.

Boom Blox: Bash Party promete cerca de 400 niveles distintos, la posibilidad de subir tus etapas creadas a la red y descargar diariamente nuevo contenido, ¡para que la fiesta nuca termine!

[Disclaimer: I don't think I really need to do a disclaimer, because it somehow insinuates that I have something in my article that I'm afraid will be contested. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there is personally. I'm only putting this here to say that I know not everybody has had the same experience as me in the review department. I grew up with the internet and have been effectively spoiled by never having to take a guess on what game to buy, as most people of the past two console generations or so have. I'm not saying that scores for reviews are bad, just that I believe they're often put on an undeserving pedestal, even by myself previously, and getting rid of them could help solve this problem.]

The Anecdote

A few months ago, my dad purchased Mario Party for the Wii. When we were younger, we all used to play Mario Party as a family on the Nintendo 64, which I suppose is what spurred the purchase. He isn’t one to look at reviews before he buys a game either. For those who don’t know, Mario Party 8 was met with lackluster review scores for the most part. So needless to say, I wasn’t very thrilled to play it. He popped it in the ole’ Wii and off we were to Mario Land. Everything was familiar and, for the most part, solid. I had a good deal of fun that I otherwise would have avoided. The next night he wanted to play again. “Why not?” I said to myself, and once again we engaged in some minigames madness. And then we played it again. And again. And again. He continued to find entertainment in Mario Party, where I grew tired of it after about the third “again”.

Fun…?

Next up, it was my turn to choose. I went for the better rated Wii game that is Zach & Wiki:  Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. A linear, one time through, game that I was sure we would both enjoy. We played it over the next couple of days, finding the answers to the various riddles and using our logic to head onward. He liked it, but he didn’t love it. I was fairly dumbfounded. I was gonna have to agree with the reviews on this one. Mario Party got old after a while, while Zach and Wiki was fun all the way through. I just wasn’t interested in Mario Party anymore. I immediately dismissed him as having poor taste in games. What other explanation could there be?

Next, we rented Boom Blox. THIS was a game that we both enjoyed. HERE was a game that I completely agreed with my dad on. It was fun, it stayed fun. It wasn’t a casual game either. I could no longer immediately write my dad off as having bad taste in games. He agreed with me, he agreed with the reviews, all was good in the world.

FUN!!!

It was then that it hit me. Why was I placing so much stock in review scores? If my dad disagreed with the common consensus, he was wrong in my eyes. I went back into my personal game library for the Xbox 360 and found that only one of my games had scored below an %82 on Metacritic. Thinking back on all of my game buying decisions, none of them was made without consulting a review first. Well, none but one.

The Reasoning

The one game that scored below an %82 is the one that I didn’t consult reviews on. That game scored a %66. That game was Shadowrun. For this particular article, I was forced to go back and look at my various games and I was honestly surprised, and humbled, to see the Shadowrun review scores. Shadowrun is an entertaining, Counter Strike with Magic game that I still pop in to this day. I used to be one who would trade in games (I’ve gotten over that terrible habit now), and the fact that I still have Shadowrun is a testament to the fact that it’s fun. I’ve owned it since May 29th, 2007. The day of it’s release, and haven’t looked back since.

Enjoy the Awesomness

I’ve heard people say that they don’t listen to reviews anymore. I usually write them off as people who no longer like a site because they’ve given their favorite game less than an 8, but I’m beginning to see the merit in their actions. My dad has followed this method to a tee all of his life without even realizing it, and is happy with his gaming life. A year ago I would have called him a casual gamer, but now he plays games like Portal and Grand Theft Auto 4. Yet, despite the fact that he has played these fantastic games, he still enjoys playing Mario Party 8. One could say Different Strokes for Different Folks, but my friends feel the same way about Mario Party, or at least some of them do. And like my dad, they play the big name games like Gears of War and Left 4 Dead.

I believe that I’ve allowed reviews to actually hold too much sway over what I play. I’ve liked most of the highly rated games I’ve played, so like Pavlov’s dog I jump at the chance to play any game with an 8 or higher rating. Yet when a game gets 7 or below, I immediately pass because of a few rotten games from the 7 or lower group. I can’t afford to buy or rent every game out there, nobody can, so the lower rated ones will slip through the cracks most of the time. This is where Shadowrun comes in, in that I would be greatly upset now if I had never picked it up.

It’s hard for me not to wonder what other games have slipped through the cracks. Potential favorites that were written off by people who can play every game out there as mere “toys” or  temporary distractions. Would Full Auto have been a new favorite racing game? I don’t know, I never played it. How all of this information comes together is one simple question. Do reviews affect people too much? Through all of this self realization, I came to realize that my dad was enjoying himself regardless of low review scores.

Hidden Gem?

Now I ask, who among you can remember buying a game last year without first consulting a review? A spur of the moment kind of thing. I don’t doubt that it happens, but can you remember doing it more than once in the past year? With reviews showing up farther and farther out from the actual release of the games their speaking of, it’s almost impossible to not get a whiff of a review score. I mean, it was still over a month out when Resident Evil 5’s first review showed up in OPM, and tell me you that didn’t affect you in some way. Just a little bitsy review score (unless you found some review scans of course… or received the magazine…) . Some were happy (such as myself I’ll admit), some were confused, and some didn’t give a crap. Oddly enough, I now wish I could count myself in the last group, but probably for different reasons.

Jumping to Conclusions

I review games myself, so I feel a bit odd saying this, but I think that game reviews have too big a hold on the industry. I’m not the first to say it, and I won’t be last. Reviews are one man’s opinion, and this fact is easy to forget. People always refer to the review scores as “IGN gave “x” a 9 out of 10″, as though the larger entity that is IGN’s combined employees have decided upon the review score.

Not a “Collective Conscious”

There’s no way to “fix” the way reviews are done, but one remedy would be to read what the reviewer says, and not just jump straight to the score. In fact, perhaps it would be best to get rid of numbers altogether, because %90 of the time that’s all people look at outside of the ending “mini-scores” for graphics, sound, ect. Things should be simpler. I want a review to tell me about a game, without having the constraints of fitting it into an arbitrary review number.

When was the last time you read a review just to find out what kind of TV it will run best on? If a game looks beautiful, tell me that, don’t run on about 1080i or 720p. If a game sounds wonderful, don’t tell me that I need a fantastical audio system just to get out of it what you did. I’ll be able to enjoy it regardless. I want to know what’s in the game. Is it in any way broken? What’s the story? How does it play? Oh, and of course, is it fun? Leaving numbers out of the equation altogether. I’m not saying that recommendations shouldn’t be made, but perhaps that’s all it should be, a recommendation.

Agree? Disagree? Please, do tell.

(This article, and my reivew for Bioshock can both be found at TerrorTube.  Check it out, and vote it up, please!)

Boom Blox

BOOM BLOX – Nintendo Wii – Developer/Producer: Electronic Arts – ESRB Rating:”E”

Let’s face it, the world is changing. Everywhere around us new technology abounds, people are doing new and interesting things, and yes, even gaming is hitting the mainstream thanks to the runaway success of Nintendo’s Wii console.

While as a reviewer and a longtime lover of video games, I tend to have tastes that trend towards the hardcore market, it’s worth noting that as a father of two and as a fan of games of all sorts, I am interested in what’s out there for the casual market.

This is what led me to Boom Blox. Boom Blox was created by Steven Spielberg (yes, that Spielberg), and developed by Electronic Arts for the Wii. Spielberg originally wanted to create a game that his kids could play with him, and one that really leaned on basic fun elements. Thus, a game where one throws balls at towers of blocks was created! Yes, in its essence, Boom Blox is about usnig the Wii Remote to throw a ball at the right point in a tower, to knock it over in the most destructive way possible with as few throws as possible. It’s a simple concept and one any child can grasp (especially boys). However, what bogs Boom Blox down, and keeps it from staying within that box of “simple fun”, is its need to expand the gameplay using all sorts of extra elements like special blocks (a bomb block explodes, chemical blocks need to be combined to, erm, explode, and disappearing blocks, well…they disappear.) And throughout the game, you’re introduced to other mechanics as well. There’s a ray gun that lets you zap blocks (or blocky animal enemies) for quick effect. There’s a sticky hand that works like one of those gummy hands you’d buy from a machine in a store for a quarter, inside an acorn of plastic…you simply place it on a block, and then use the “string” to pull it out.

Spielberg really really likes farm animals, apparently.

There’s a couple other things, but really, they’re simply variations on a theme. My point is not to say that these things don’t work…Actually, they work pretty well. But instead of adding nuance and strategy, these simply seem like padding to make the game longer and worth more for your buck. What seems to be lacking is the ability to take the core mechanic of throwing a ball at a bunch of blocks to take them down in as few throws as possible, and make that increasingly complex and difficult through level design. However, instead of taking that path, they opted for “varied gameplay.”

Now, this may be the difference between the casual market and the core market. Instead of finding this variety refreshing, I found it dulling. Another thing to note, is that the game is rated E for Everyone, meaning that a 30-something (me) is probably not the demographic the game was intended for. So perhaps I’m being overly harsh. Stranger things have happened. And it is definitely worth mentioning that the likely intended audience for this game (6-12 year olds, from what I can gather) would really get a kick out of the game’s simple controls, and colorful graphics and innovative gameplay. But for someone who’s been around this block and others a bit…there wasn’t much meat after the initial perhaps two hours of gameplay, to keep me hooked.

If you’ve got kids of this middling age (again, 6-12 year olds), be prepared to assist at the beginning, and then watch as they get it quickly. However, as a gamer all of my life, I couldn’t for the life of me, complete the last two levels of the Adventure mode. After such simple tasks throughout the game, these last two levels are immensely difficult and out of left field, in respect to the rest of the game. Kids of the assumed intended demographic will likely be extremely frustrated by this difficulty jump (assuming they hadn’t moved on to another game yet) as the game offers little to reward you for completing these missions.

Sheep and Gems and Breakin' Stuff. Yeah!

Boom Blox does have a lot crammed onto the disc, though. There are basic tutorial stages which explain the mechanics of the game (repeatedly, and sometimes while you’re trying to make your shot. This was frustrating…), Adventure mode, (which takes you through a silly story involving many of the blocky animals,) Explore mode, (where you simply play levels using the different game styles and mechanics used throughout the game,) Create mode, (where enterprising young minds can create their own Boom Blox levels using content unlocked from playing other modes in the game,) and finally Party mode, where multiplayer action comes in.

The adventure mode, as I described earlier, is a bit lacking in level design. It’s got a lot of potential, but seems to favor repetition and “cheap” difficulty increases rather than interesting level design. Explore mode tends to be a bit more rewarding for me, as I’m doing what I choose to do, rather than whatever the game decides to throw at me at the moment. Your mileage may vary, of course, but what I think has the most potential is the party mode. Sure, it’s not THAT entertaining right now, but there is a Boom Blox 2 coming down the pike shortly, and you can be certain, with the Wii’s ability to get everyone and their mother (literally) to play party games on the console, that this mode will be expanded greatly. In fact, that’s my biggest complaint about the game. It’s a great first effort, and puts forward a lot of cool ideas for interesting gameplay. However, instead of going full-out and really executing, they simply put it out there as-is. Which is not to say it’s bad, just uninspired. One hopes that the moderate success of the first title will prompt them to boldly go further in an effort to lure more gamers into the fold. There are interesting mechanics at the core of this game, and I certainly hope they expand their level designs and really add more naturally-staged difficulty rather than simply add more blocks types to break, and more levels of the same-old, same-old found in the original.

Overall, Boom Blox has a great core concept, a decent control scheme (although it would be nice if future iterations used the forthcoming Wii Motion Plus attachment for 1:1 grabbing and throwing), and a lot of gameplay potential. For its intended audience of young boys and girls, the game will likely be a great purchase or rental. However, anyone over the age of 16 will likely find that the novelty wears thin quickly. Despite my minor issues with the current game, I will be anticipating the sequel, and would recommend that people try the game. If anything, the rental is worth it for the simple visceral pleasures of breaking things for a couple minutes, without consequences. (However, if there was ever a game with which to use the strap on your Wii-mote, it’s Boom Blox! Use it, or lose your TV!)

ESRB Rating…Is it appropriate?: Absolutely!

Gameplay: 6/10

Visuals: 8/10

Effect on Christian Walk:  Neutral

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

The folks at VGNerd have posted a rebuttal, where amongst other valid arguments they make a point of the somewhat unfocused natural of my original article. A point which I am willing to conceed without reservation, sometimes I can lose myself let alone those who are attempting to keep up with my ramblings.

Nintendo don’t care about the future of games, they have made millions by being as inherently self serving as any other corporation. Nintendo don’t care what happens to the games industry as long as they remain profitable. That’s not to say that everybody at Nintendo has stopped caring about games. To claim that  Miyamoto-san doesn’t care about games or gamers would be foolish to the point of being outright laughable. But as influential as he is he alone does not define the corporate direction of Nintendo. If video games as a whole stopped making money Nintendo would find something else to do, maybe they’d open up another love hotel? Of course it’s not as if Microsoft or Sony are much better but when they are still losing money on their hardware they have to support their games in order to make any money.

Sometimes I wonder if they ever really cared about the potential of games. With the DS they have managed to get people in their fifties, sixties and older to play word games and logic puzzles. That’s an achievement I haven’t witnessed since I saw those shelves of puzzle and crossword books on sale at the news stand; this morning.

With the Wii they have managed to bring gaming back to the family, to get everybody gathered together to play games and make fools of themselves. Nintendo have created a new social lubricant, though I wonder if those rushing to praise Nintendo for the communal nature of the Wii have ever spent an evening played Trivial Pursuit or Charades. It’s fascinating to consider that it’s taken nearly thirty years to bring video games to the same socially and culturally acceptable level traditional games have been at for over a century. I honestly can’t tell if this is a reason to praise Nintendo or berate everyone else?

People are not afraid of games or gaming, Poker, Chess, Monopoly, if you mention any of these, or dozens more, to anyone in the western world they will, regardless of age or gender, understand what you are talking about. People play games, they always have in some form, they always will. Nintendo didn’t get new people playing games, they got people who’ve always played games to realise what a lot of use knew already, video games are good games too.

In hindsight it should be no surprise that the Wii sold and continues to sell at the level it does. It has the twin benefits of providing a gaming experience that almost everyone is familiar with and being a fashionable consumer device.

For the past two years they have been intelligently marketing the Wii as the “must have  “product of the year by re-branding it for a subtly different purpose. The Wii itself arrived at a time when questions were being raised about the potentially damaging role video games might played in discouraging direct social interaction. Wii Sports was a device everybody could latch onto to show the “good side” of gaming. Nintendo brand recognition and history as the family friendly company made it an easy sell to parents and lapsed gamers the world over.

Wii Fit tapped into the ever present social anxiety concerning health and body image. Wii Music was an attempt to position the Wii at the heart of the resurgent interest in music and music creation. I fully expect to see Wii Garden and Wii Paint at some point over the next few years, as these seem to be two  hobbies with mass appeal that Nintendo has yet to directly exploit.

The problem with any product that relies on supplying a popular demand is that the Vox populi, is notoriously fickle. Consider the boom in the sales of exercise bikes and other fitness equipment in the late eighties. For a few years it was impossible to go anywhere without being bombarded with adverts for various pieces of exercise equipment and the videos and guidebooks to go with them. Though that peak has yet to be reached again, we can still see echos of it every Christmas with the influx of celebrity diet guides and slimming DVDs.

What happened to all those exercise bikes and associated gadgets in the years that followed? What happens any “must have” consumer product in the years after their peak? Without a reason to keep using it that once vital gadget will be exiled to the attic to be replaced my the next must have item. If that does happen to the Wii will Nintendo care? They are already making a profit on each unit sold so I doubt it. What of the third parties? If the Wii disappears to the attic (Or whatever such items go to die) then it doesn’t matter how good their games might become they will never reach anybody.

The way to keep ensure that Wii games keep selling is to remaining on the edge of that wave of interest; Nintendo have shown that they understand this need and have the ability to stay relevant but nobody is in a position to match Nintendo at their own game on their own platform, let alone beat them. And really how long can Nintendo keep it up? After Wii Music the cracks are already starting to show.

If you can’t beat Nintendo at their own game it’s time for third parties to change the rules. I’ve already presented a possible solution to ensure that the Wii stays relevant by making it the console of innovation and forward thinking. Boutique games, sold them together. Collections of half a dozen intelligent, creative, innovative titles sold for the price of a full game.

The Wii offers potential unfulfillable by any other home console platform. Potential that Nintendo feels little need to exploit and that third party developers seem singularly incapable of exploiting. The Wii Mote is the ultimate liminal device, it can be virtual anything you want it to be. There’s much more to it than waggle and mouse replacement, the imminent arrival of Wii MotionPlus opens up the possibilities even more, even if it does provide functionality that really should have been present to begin with. The Wii deserves intelligent innovate titles and it’s and though it’s clearly getting them, it’s not getting enough of them, not nearly enough, and those it does get are not doing as well as they deserve to.

The problem is two fold.

Firstly developers and publishers aren’t willing to really push the boundaries of Wii development instead happy to rely on “me too” mini-game collections and cut down ports of titles from other platforms. The solution isn’t to target the Wii as the lead platform as N’Gai Croal believes, the solution is to treat each platform with the respect it deserves, and in the case of the Wii recognising it as a significantly different type platform.

Secondly, Nintendo are making money off each Wii sold the old logic of encouraging software sales in order to recoup losses is no longer valid. Nintendo don’t care what anybody else does on the Wii, and really why should they? They have no interest in marketing the Wii as anything other than a product for the latest Wii X title and associated peripheral. The Wii arguable has just the sales channel for intelligent innovative titles, WiiWare, but it’s becoming clear that Nintendo couldn’t care less if that is successful or not. What percentage of the Wii audience actually know WiiWare exists? What have Nintendo done to promote it outside the core gamer community? Nothing . In order to function as a platform for downloadable games the Wii needs a dedicated storage device, the possible Wii Cloud is Wii Vapour at this point so the only remaining feasible outlet is retail.

Marketing an untested product is a risky and expensive proposition, anything that can mitigate that risk is a sensible idea. As innovative and well developed as a game might be people don’t know about it and don’t buy it then it’s a failure. As good as Portal is how many people would have looked twice at it as a standalone product? Packaged as part of The Orange Box it was purchased by hundreds of people who had little idea of what it was, but few who played it failed to enjoy it. One interesting looking and original game for fifty or sixty (Or even forty) dollars is a possible but risky purchase, put several different original titles together for fifty dollars and the likelihood of purchase increases dramatically. Everybody likes to think they are getting something for free and with the standard price for a retail game topping sixty dollars compilations appeal to that notion of getting something for nothing. If a consumer enjoys one of their purchases they have spent as much as they normally would on a single game, if they like any more then they’ll feel like they’ve got something for nothing.

Nintendo don’t really care what happens to games on the Wii, they are happy to toy with the power that’s hidden within, power that has the potential to transform games. Nintendo stopped caring the moment the first Wii made them a profit so it’s time somebody else started caring. Only then will we see what the Wii is really capable of. Only then will we unleash that potential and if we don’t, if we are comfortable with “me too” products and shovelware then we have nobody to blame but ourselves