Metroid Prime

I beat my goal by quite a bit.  I finished this game off handily yesterday.  I put half of my time in the game in between Friday and Saturday.  I went ahead and got 100% of the items which was nice so that I could get the good ending.  The final battles were suitably epic and moderately difficult.  However, I did manage to finish them all on their first attempts which is more than I could say for the Omega Pirate.  Finishing got me very primed (eh? eh?) to play Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but I won’t yet.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

This game consumed the majority of my time (and my wife’s) this weekend.  Still loving the hell out of it.  It’s getting harder, but I’m also noticing that my wife is getting noticeably better as we play.  She continues to be shocked at how much she’s enjoying it and hw much she doubted it.  We’re on World 8 now having cleared the first castle.  I believe we got 100% Star Coins up through World 6.  I think we’re going to finish it off and then go back and get a few more coins (especially since the save system improves after you complete the game).  I figure we’ll finish it within the week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we came back to it occasionally.

On the Shelf

Although finishing Metroid Prime got me primed (eh? eh?) to play Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, I’m going to try to contain myself.  I’m also itching to play Muramasa: The Demon Blade, but as a musician the holidays are very demanding and I’ve got a lot of work to do.  Not having a primary current gen game to work on this week will probably be in my best interest.  I’m still going to try to finish up StarTropics soon.  I figure that may happen tomorrow.  That may also mark a hiatus for my retro-gaming for a bit, but I’m sorely tempted to play Metroid II: Return of Samus.

It seems that I’m re-reneging on my Xbox 360 thing.  We’re going to instead have my mother- the giver of gifts- exchange the PS3 she picked up for an Xbox 360 Elite.  Then we’re going to came outside of GameStop and hope to get their PS3 bundle with Little Big Planet: Game of the Year Edition and God of War Collection which are two games on our to buy list.  It’s essentially $100 bucks of free games so we’re still lucking out with two consoles and a bit of cash worth of games come Black Friday so long as everything pans out.  I’m just hoping that with all of the other stores offering incredible deals (notably on the PS3) as well, combined with the fact that there are three GameStops near us… we will be able to get our deal with a 3 hour wait in the cold.  Hundred bucks of free stuff for 3 hours?  That’s like being paid 33 bucks and hour just to sit on your ass and stay bundled up (and in our case, play PSP/DS games).

I’m still expecting Demon’s Souls to suck up a large portion of my life come weeks end.  The wife and I have both discussed how careful we have to be about playing soul-sucking games and we should avoid playing them concurrently.  We may even have to break up the “us” games and insert a few single-player games.  This is especially true for my wife’s schedule.  NSMBW has consumed almost all of our individual game time.

I also haven’t played Dissidia in a good week.  I’ve been sick and for a portable game to play in bed I sometimes just want something quick and Dissidia doesn’t quite offer that to my satisfaction.

Goals

-Finish StarTropics

-Do RL stuff

-Finish New Super Mario Bros. Wii

-Pick Dissidia back up

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Still having a good time, but the game sure is difficult compared to recent titles.  I definitely feel that the difficulty is more like Super Mario Bros. 3 than Super Mario World. We made it past world 3 with all coins collected and are now in World 5 with a few uncollected coins in World 4 we may go back for soon. At one point we lost our quicksave and I went back to recover what was lost and found the game actually more difficult solo.  Despite the difficult of trying to share platforms and accidentally bouncing off of one another, the safety net of the bubble makes progress a bit easier.  If one of us dies the other plays it safe for a moment.

This brings me to some gripes I have about the game so far.  One is the same that I had about the DS version.  Is there really any reason not to allow a full save anywhere?  The DS was just silly considering it’s supposed to be portable entertainment you can pick up and put down, but you’re required to do at least 4-5 levels so you can get to a castle to save?  At least NSMBW allows quicksaves, but why stop there?

Second gripe… I have no problems with the Wiimote.  I don’t have the hate for its gimmicky controls that many seem to have other than when it’s used in a stupid way (seriously de Blob… you make me jump with waggle when the A button is unused?).  However, I’m running into a particular problem with this that I’ve run into a bit with games before… except here it gets me killed.  I can’t set one end of the Wiimote down and scratch myself or do anything odd with my hands while playing because it’ll send me spin jumping to my death.  If I’ve got a propeller hat on it’s really bad news.  I find the waggle satisfying over use of something like the B button (which is available), but this can be an annoyance at times.

Retro

I finally picked StarTropics back up after a bit of hiatus.  I decided to go ahead and throw it onto my backloggery to help goad myself into finishing it.  It’s just really not that great.  It would’ve been quite punishing without savestates though not nearly as much as many of the games I’ve played recently.  Being so similar to The Legend of Zelda I try to remove the nostalgia glasses and make fair comparisons, but bosses in Zelda just didn’t have this level of stupid difficulty.  In Zelda my ability to react and control well worked to my benefit while I worked to kill a boss.  In StarTropics there is an obviously prescribed way to down any given boss and execution must be spot on.  This doesn’t allow for spontaneous reaction based on player skill to win the day.  Of course, that seems to fit well with the incredibly stiff controls which are more the enemy than the actual enemy.  I’ll finish it out, but I may take a break to play a less terrible game before trying out the sequel.

Metroid Prime

Once again I let the game gather dust across the week, though no more than it would on a week with NWMBW.  I picked it back up this afternoon and managed to kill that terrible Omega Pirate.  Apparently I’m at the end of the game.  It sneaked up on me.  I collected a few artifacts thinking they were the last but then noticed my error.  Now I’m trying to pick the rest of the up, but in the meantime decided to go ahead and use some online maps to help me pick up some other power-ups at while I’m at it.  The final battle seems to be renowned for its difficulty and I thought the Omega Pirate was pain enough.

On the Shelf

I’ll no doubt finish Metroid Prime in the very near future.  Though it might not happen this weekend, it will almost certainly happen by Monday.  I may not fire up the sequels immediately. By this time next week I should own a PS3 as an informal Christmas gift.  I hope to be playing some Demon’s Souls soon after.  As such, I probably shouldn’t immediately jump into another single-player Wii game (though I’m itching to start playing Muramasa: The Demon Blade).  Besides, that would require disc juggling, which I despise.  I’ll try to finish up NSMBW with the wife before doing anything else on Wii.  When we finish it (which I’ll estimate will be 1-2 weeks from now) we’ll have to decide on our next co-op experience.  We’re both pretty interested in Trine on PSN, but may also do Dead Space in spectator mode since I have Dead Space Extraction sitting on the shelf waiting for a pre-req.  There’s also Mirror’s Edge that she’s pretty interested in.  Probably once we’ve finished up NSMBW I’ll try to make plans about what else to play on the Wii.

Speaking of disc juggling, I’ve made a grave error with that on the PSP (which is the hardest to juggle discs on due to the case we keep it in).  Trying to balance  time between Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy is a problem right now.  I need to at least finish up the last little bit of Dissidia so I’ll have an idea of the scope of what is left for me to do (which could range from a ton to not-so-much).

Also, having missed the fantastic deal on the Xbox 360 Arcade at Wal-Mart by one spot in line, I’ve been frantically trying to find a good Black Friday deal on one.  Specifically I’d prefer and Elite because black looks nice and in a lot of ways it’s the better value (certainly better by a long shot at $300 versus and Arcade at $200).  Before the Wal-Mart deal got me jazzed about it I wasn’t really that excited about the 360 library, but after planning to get one I started looking into it and found that there are a good number of exclusives that I’d like to play.  It’s one of those things you can’t un-know.  So now between XBLA and the 360 library, there are quite a few reasons to own one.  Only problem is, the deals suck.  Best one is the Elite holiday bundle at Target with a $50 gift card.  The bundle games are crap and the deal isn’t that great.

I’ve decided to wait until pre/post-Christmas sales to attempt buying one.  I’ll see what deals happen in that time.  I’ll probably be too busy playing other stuff in the meantime anyway… so no huge loss.

Segundo fontes oficiais a serie Metroid Prime pode ter continuação nas duas telas do Nintendo DS, Saiba mais:

A informação veio por meio de uma entrevista entre Kensuke Tanabe (supervisor sa série Metroid Prime) e a Official Nintendo Magazine, onde ele confirmou o interesse em continuar a saga:

“Sempre planejamos fazer novos jogos para a série Metroid Prime. Dependendo da época ou da situação, não podemos negar a possibilidade em lançar para o DS ou o DSi”, disse.

O mais novo capitulo da elogiada serie (acredite se quiser uma das unicas series da Nintendo que eu gosto mesmo), é Metroid Other M, seus eventos se passam entre Super Metroid e Metroid Fusion logo tem mais enfoque na história pessoal da caçadora de recompensas. Esse game será no estilo de Sonic Unleashed, com graficos muito bonitos e jogabilidade se modificando entre 2D e 3D, mas claro, sem as burradas da Sega.

Bom me empolguei vou falar mais um pouco do Other M; na historia teremos o personagem Adam, supervisor de Samus que costuma chamá-la pelo apelido de Dama. A aventura promete ser linear, mas fatores como upgrade da armadura deverão acrescentar elementos de exploração classicos da serie. Cada área apresenta uma gama de criaturas indesejadas.

O título “Other M” se refere a muitas coisas, surpresas que estão reservadas para quem for se aventurar no game. A produtora garante que a dificuldade não será das maiores,  o jogo será aberto a iniciantes também mas agradará a todos. Por fim, o lançamento está previsto para 2010!

Fiquem de olho para mais novidades aqui e não deixem de visitar a TV Lad: http://www.livestream.com/tvlad

Até mais!

Metroid Prime

I’ve not been playing consistently enough and I keep finding myself a tad disoriented upon my return.  Considering each power-up tends to lead somewhat directly to whatever is next, forgetting recent power-ups makes it difficult to know what to do.  Upon picking it up I finally realized I’d recently gotten the Grappling Beam, X-Ray Visor and Plasma Beam.  I eventually worked my way around in the Phazon Mines (of which I’m quite tired) until I ran into the Omega Pirate.  After a few attempts I gave up, but not really out of frustration.  I had other obligations and was already getting tired.  Hoping to pick it up and make some good progress soon.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

Huge strides have been made.  I finished up Shade Impulse 1 and 2 and am nearing completion of 3 (I may have actually finished it, but I think I was so sleepy when I did that I didn’t know what was going on).  I’m anxious to finally finish up with the main storyline and see what else is in store for me to approach true completion.

Final Fantasy

I couldn’t help myself and after all of the time spent watching my wife play and diddling gently with my own game, I’ve taken up the epic once again.  I’m currently only around the Marsh Caves, well behind my wife, but the game is beautiful and somehow the gameplay is still enjoyable in it’s very simple way  even over two decades later.  This also isn’t diminished by the fact that I’ve played through the game at least half a dozen times on nearly as many platforms.

On the Shelf

Due to happily unforeseen circumstances it seems that I will be able to get New Super Mario Bros. Wii on launch day.  I attempted to procure it tonight, but that ended in failure.  No doubt I’ll be able to find it on any number of shelves by the morning though.

I used to game a lot more than I do now, due to school projects, reports etcetera. A few days ago the shooter genre sparked my interest again, so I decided to browse my hard drive for shooter games, and found Unreal Tournament 2004.

I used to play it a lot, but only after I completed Metroid Prime: Hunters, on my Nintendo DS. And in that game I had a particular problem – I wasn’t able to aim well when standing still. And if you’re after some relaxing play, then not being able to aim well when standing still is a problem.

But I mustn’t complain, or at least not that much. The only real complaints I had, and have, are my problems with not being able to shoot well with any other kinds of weapons, and the lack of ammo. Sniper weapons are generally high powered, and thus they have low ammo. And of course, sniper ammo is usually found near sniper spawns, and sniper spawns are more often than not only found at sniper spots. And those, in turn, are at the top of levels, which equals a lot of walking to them.

So, when the game starts, I try to run to the sniper spots as soon as possible, collect the loot, and the strafe my way through the map, scouring for targets. And more targets. And more targets. Oh wait, out of ammo. So, then I switch to the next weapon, preferably some kind of beam-weapon or at least something which shoots straight, and then I strafe back to the spawn, hoping I have enough ammo left for the other weapons to be able to defend the spot long enough for the ammo to spawn again.

And, it works! It’s fun too, because I seem to head-shot about 90% of the targets in single player and 30% in multi player, which gives nice sound effects, bonus points, or just plain the rush of owning somebody. And again. And again. You just don’t want to have a lot of lag in online play, because then the accuracy drops down immensely, and hackers are immune anyway and kill everybody, so you can’t win then either.

I wonder if anyone else has these kind of problems with shooters, though. I seem to be the only one in my group of friends; it’s just a shame that we can’t play online more often. Good times.

Metroid Prime

I didn’t play that much of this due to distractions.  After my last little bit of frustration with wandering aimlessly I kinda hit some stride and was enjoying it a lot more.  I got a great chance to catch up today and nearly half the time I’ve put into he game was today alone.  After a little time off I was finding the game very enjoyable.  Due to quite a bit of redundant backtracking I’m getting to know the layout of the planet quite well.   I’m finding the outdated graphics less and less jarring all the time.  I’m quite looking forward to my next day off to put in some serious play time.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

I’ve gotta admit that due to my own personal crusade to milk all I could out of the game I was making it a bit stagnant.  I really don’t know the scope of the game still.  I did finally finish all of the Destiny Odysseys for the heroes to 100%.  It seems that so doing was a positive move for what is ahead.  I found Tidus’ story quite nice.  I really liked FFX overall and it’s not for lack of FF exposure (I’ve completed all in the numbered serious many times over).  I always enjoyed the interplay between Jecht and Tidus and especially Tidus’ confused feelings toward his father.  This made the obviously contrived mini-story in Dissidia very enjoyable for me.

I’m finally seeing what is beyond each character’s individual quest for their crystals.  The story seems to be getting a bit more flesh on it, but obviously it’s not the start of the game.  The levels I racked up getting 100% in the Destiny Odysseys sure seems to be nice in the Shade Impulse bits.  I’m currently playing Warrior of Light and have him up to 87% on Chapter 1.  I think for the sake of staying comfortable with a given character I will play through all of the chapters to 100% completion before running any alternate characters through.  I’m feeling a bit re-energized toward the game.

The Wife’s Office

So my wife inexplicably became interested in getting a backloggery after I started to fill mine out.  Upon doing so she had a strong urge to actually play some of the many games she’d never finished to completion.  She also is finding herself wanting to play more things in general.  We both seem to share the trait of wanting tick things off of a list and fill in accomplishments.  She declared that she wanted to finally finish Final Fantasy which she’s started several times before.  I decided it would be a good time to go ahead and pick it up for PSP as a gift to her.  After a little searching we found it at Target (nearly missed it as it was turned around backward and the last in stock; and what luck it was lower priced than even online).  She’s even more enamored that I’d expected and has spent a good deal of her time in her office using a guide.  She’s admittedly not good at mapping things out in her head so she’d rather go on-rails and just finish it out rather than getting frustrated by getting lost and wandering aimlessly.  She just finished up Lich in the Earth Cavern earlier tonight and only started a day or two ago.

I have to say the game looks astounding on PSP.  I remember drooling over it back when a PSP was a pipe dream for me and I’d just picked up Dawn of Souls: Final Fantasy I & II for the GBA.  I’m actually looking forward to playing through it again myself once she’s done.

Retro

After filling in my backloggery of games that I am currently in possession of (surprisingly nearly 140), I started to follow suit the trend of filling in games I’d previously owned.  Upon completion of that I decided to fill in even more.  I got an urge to just play through a lot of old games for the experience of it albeit with savestate help.  Some I have played and some I have not.  First up I felt like playing The Guardian Legend to completion.  I remember it being very difficult as a kid and my we almost always used the “TGL” password and the Game Genie.  Like pretty much every retro game I played over the past week, I’m convinced that this game is not possible to complete by a reasonable human being.  Even with a guide which led me to having all power-ups at all times… and even with the frequent abuse of  savestates, some of the bosses and stages are nearly impossible.  Even with 100s of runs through a particularly difficult stage I find it hard to believe that someone could anticipate everything well enough to nail it.  There’s far more randomness in some of the stages than there are in most shoot ‘em ups.  Either way, the game was fairly enjoyable if frustrating.

Next I played 1942, which was horrible and had the worst excuse for music I’ve ever heard in my life.  I followed that with 1943: The Battle of Midway which was far more playable than ‘42, but by the ending stages I was thinking I’d be amazed to watch a human finish the game considering the narrow margin for error and the almost certainty of being hit at some points while having a very minimal energy bar (even leveled to max with max defense).  Following that I played 3D World Runner.  It’s an interesting concept and I remember being interested in it as a kid.  By 6-1 I just felt the game was unrealistically hard though.  The gameplay overall was very lackluster.

On the Shelf

I’m starting think it’s unlikely that I will finish Metroid Prime before New Super Mario Bros. Wii hits the stores.  This shouldn’t be too much of an issue.  I’m planning NSMBW as a couple game with my wife, so there will be plenty of time I’m not playing it (especially with her so addicted to Final Fantasy right now).  I’m wondering if I’m just going to jump straight into Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or if I’m going to do something else first.  I have the feeling that I’ll plow more or less straight through the Trilogy rather than changing gears.

I’m finding the Retro gaming a fun thing to do during certain circumstance where I don’t feel like sitting on the couch and firing up a console and don’t necessarily want to bother with the PSP (which my wife may have at any moment these days.  Jumping in and out of an emulator while multi-tasking online is quite simple and I can really stop whenever not only because of the savestates, but more because the games just don’t do it for me like they used to and I tend to be more drawn in and prone to giving “just a minute”s when playing more modern games.  As you may have noticed (aside from The Guardian Legend) I’m basically going in alphabetical order through Nintendo games (though skipping a few) so that I can at least try out games I normally would never have given a shot.  Of course I’m not certain I’ll stick to that formula as I have particular urges to play certain games right this minute.  I guess we’ll just see what happens there.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

I finished up Squall and it was much easier than I had expected.  Nothing that interesting really going on except I’ve recently started Zidane’s scenario and got to about IX-4 before I felt like putting it down.  I think I’ll be able to finish up Zidane pretty fast.  His boards are pretty straightforward in layout compared to others like Squall and Onion Knight.  I also find that I like his attacks, which like Onion Knight’s are very fast and light.  On the first run I’m finding some battles a little longer than I would with big hitters like Squall, Cloud and Cecil, but I’m sure once I’ve leveled up a bit I will find the battles flying by with his great speed.  I’m also really annoyed with his voice acting.  It’s like all of the annoyingness of FFX’s Tidus cranked up to eleven.  At least Tidus grew on me after a while.  I got used to Zidane being silent, though I suppose they didn’t stray far from the mark… his personality is just more annoying when voiced.

Metroid Prime

I just acquired the Boost Ball and can’t find a decent use for it.  Before that I spent forever running around Magmoor Caverns aimlessly at the behest of some message I got.  I’m doing a lot of exploring but not making a lot of progress with it and I’m honestly agitated with it a bit.  I always have a ton of fun when I first sit down, but after about an hour of backtracking twelve directions I get  fed up with it.  The help messages seems arbitrarily laid out and I hate feeling like I’m missing something pointing me in a particular direction simply because I failed to explore a certain area.  Hopefully I’ll be able to make a bit more progress on my next attempt.

A Boy and His Blob

So I finished A Boy and His Blob yesterday.  Considering I was toward the end the following will contain intense spoilers.  I was unaware that the boss would show up at 4-8 rather than 4-10.  This led to an unreal amount of great things.  First of all, it was pleasant to be surprised.  Second, it left room for a playable epilogue which not enough games have and man was the epilogue ever moving.  First it starts off with you back in World 1, which by now was amazingly refreshing and you just end up thinking, “Wow, I missed this place more than I knew.”  That concept is such a running theme in ABAHB.  Blob is immediately snatched from you by an ominous hand that looks no doubt like that of the king you’d just defeated… but who is obviously now on Earth for revenge.  You do a bit of platforming and dodging without blob and you approach a spot where you can see something out of frame squeezing blob until he comes apart.

…

My wife and I literally had our mouths drop open.  Sure I knew they wouldn’t let him actually be dead, but I was struck dumb just the same.  The boy cries out and runs over to begin sobbing over blobs dismembered piles of goo.  It was incredibly heart-wrenching and I had to fight to hold back tears.  Of course the tears revive blob who now transforms into some sort of mech.  This moment was oddly reminiscent of Super Metroid’s finale to me.  With this form everything is a joke and the remainder of this level along with the next are literally a joke.  They are there to make the player feel vindicated and powerful.  Being all but unable to die really puts a bit of steam behind the story as it drives to its end.  The final boss, a mutated version of the king, is far easier than he was in 4-8.  He’s not ridiculously simple and you can die, but the fact that he’s not super difficult keeps you from losing the moment of the last two stages of retribution.

Once he is defeated, there is a cute scene with the boy and blob.  Blob jumps on the boy’s tummy and the boy laughs followed by a solemn and knowing nod.  Blob jumps away, the boy feeds him a root beer (rocket) jellybean and the blob blasts off… back to Blobolonia.  That is all.  The credits roll and that’s fine.  The ending was perfect and not overwrought.  Upon completion you have the option to go back and play any of the worlds you like to collect chests or whatever is left.  A very sad thing I noticed was that as you walk around your tree-house having finished the game… blob is not with you.  Something so simple shouldn’t feel so profound.  Of course you can travel to Blobolonia and see him there, but it’s simply amazing how a game with practically no narrative can be so deeply impactful.

Beside all of these sadnesses, the game only sold 12,000 in its first week and 6,000 the following week.  Sales probably aren’t going to be rising significantly and with November being full of AAA titles, A Boy and His Blob is likely going to be forgotten by the time the furor of other games dies down.  It will likely never see a sequel which makes me incredibly sad.  I want more because the game was brilliant and simple and polished.

For kicks I showed my wife the original, which is really terrible.  It was a great concept with horrid execution.  We finished it in probably less than an hour with save states, though in my youth I’d spent hours playing it never to even make it to the factory.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

I’m still working with Squall.  He’s going to be quite difficult to get 100% on (currently 87%) because of the way almost none of the enemy manikins are visible on the board at he start of each level.  I’ll have to look at maps online and plan ahead quite thoroughly.  The make it worse, the DP chances are very difficult on some stages just due to order.  I’ll be glad to be done with him.  I’m quite anxious in general to finish up all of my good guys.

Metroid Prime

I started this on a whim today.  I’ve had to move my couch to resolve sensor bar problems, but the game is pretty enjoyable now that the sensor bar isn’t being screwy.  I’m using Wii controls regardless of any advice I may get to the contrary simply because they will presumably be used in Metroid Prime: Corruption and I may as well acclimatize myself to a single control scheme.  I feels like a console shooter.  Not being able to look around independently of where I’m aiming is bothersome, but I’m adjusting.  The game looks quite good for its age and is less jarring than I had expected.  Something about the unfocusedness of the graphics and relatively blandness of locations added to the claustrophobic feeling of being behind the helm’s HUD made me feel disoriented at first.  I feared I would have trouble remembering locations by visual cues, but I’m able to do so much more than I’d expected.  Thus far I’ve acquired the missiles, morph ball, and morph bomb.  Looking forward to putting in some more play time, though likely in very short bursts.

On the Shelf

I had planned to finish up de Blob followed by Mad World but obviously got sidetracked by Metroid Prime. I need to finish whatever I’m playing quickly as it’s only two weeks until New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  Mad World would’ve been the smarter choice as it’s single and, I’ve heard, short.  Oh well, I feel like I can’t turn back now.  It just seems like I’m hearing about Metroid Prime constantly these days.  I’m feeling extra obligated to catch up on series franchises that have taken off without my having played a single game in them.  Granted I’ve at least played Metroid and Super Metroid, but I’ve yet to touch a Silent Hill, Resident Evil, or Metal Gear Solid game.  Of course, as busy as things are I’ll probably have to just let some of them wait.

Ya que hablamos de la saga de Metroid, veamos un par de cosplays donde obviamente se nota la diferencia de ingenios . . . por una lado recordemos que Samus es mujer, asi que un hombre nada que ver, por el otro lado creo que si vas a una convención lo minimo es dar el gatazo . . . es decir, que se parezca tu disfraz. Todos a favor, nos que damos con el cosplay de la derecha.

Momo

A few weeks ago, IGN editor Michael Tomsen committed one of the worst sins a game journalist can commit: he reminded the world that video games still are just games for kids. Invited by ABC news to come forth with a name for “our” <<Citizen Kane>>, he chose “Metroid Prime” as the most eligible candidate for that honor. I won’t bother you with the justifications he used to back up his choice, as Anthony Burch, in his somewhat truculent style, already addressed them with the necessary criticism in this interesting read. Suffice to say, IGN’s editor might’ve been better off not saying anything, instead of spewing such ridiculous statements, that serve only to show the lack of culture most game journalists possess.

The formulation of this question is not new. Where is the <<Citizen Kane>> of video games? This problem is very ambiguous, and the way in which it was phrased can lead to a host of misinterpretations on what is being discussed. The most important disclaimer in this regard is – I am not, in any way, about to compare cinema with video games, they are different mediums with different expressions, and we would do well to accept the differences. The truly relevant question which lies hidden in the “Citizen Kane” conundrum is this: what video game can you show the world that will convince it of the medium’s legitimacy and maturity as a means of expression?

Whether someone chose “Citizen Kane” or “Metropolis” or “Nosferatu” or “Birth of a Nation” or any other film for the comparison is irrelevant. The reason why someone thought of “Citizen Kane” probably derives from its relative closeness to present day, and to the profuse knowledge most of us possess regarding film and its history (as opposed to the illiteracy we show towards older art forms). It is easy for us to track the relevance of film as an art form as a consequence of the study of certain works, in which “Citizen Kane” plays a major role. Also, film, being a product of the XXth century, emerged in a somewhat similar social and economic climate to that of video games, making its process of maturing from a purely commercial business to a wider, more encompassing artistic medium, seem replicable in our means. This is why we should crave a “Citizen Kane” – we want video games to achieve the same status as cinema did, and so we await eagerly the prophetic light of a piece of art so profound, that it can turn the blindest of skeptics into an illuminate, devote follower of video games. But what  features made “Citizen Kane” relevant enough as to establish film as more than a form of entertainment? The answers are many and highly subjective. What follows are my own answers, and anyone is free to give theirs to help the debate.

The most important of “Citizen Kane’s” qualities is, without a shadow of a doubt, it being a true film. It isn’t a piece of theatrical performance set in an intangible stage, it isn’t a novel with its text hammered into spoken words by both narrator and actors, no! It was pure image and sound in narrative form. The cinematic language employed in Welles’ masterpiece was so powerful and visionary, that it would take more than a quarter of a century for someone to even consider updating it. Welles took all the potential of cinema and attempted fulfilling it, by virtuously condensing a story into an expressive piece of celluloid, captured thanks to a beautiful (and revolutionary) cinematography, exquisite soundtrack,  and an outstanding work in terms of actor performance. Every framing, mise-en-scéne and camera movement serves as a vessel of metaphor for the telling of Kane’s life – these are the only true words of the language used by this audiovisual book. This is what eventually lent artistic legitimacy to cinema – “Citizen Kane” was a work that could not be replicated in other formats without losing its greatest strengths as a work of art.

The second, sometimes forgotten, quality of “Citizen Kane”, stems from its universal, perpetual appeal. “Kane” may bear a special figure as a man, being a magnate like we have seen so few, but his story was personal, human… familiar. We can all relate to his life in some way, to his desperate attempts at happiness through all the wrong ways, his wild spiral of triumph and decay, his moral and emotional contradictions as a human being, his ever frustrated obsessions with money, power, love and immortality. Forget the outstanding nature of the characters, this film addresses life, period. These are the challenges that all our lives hold in storage for us, our own existentialist anxieties and psychological dramas. And “Kane” doesn’t touch these subjects with superficiality or carelessness, it is pondered, ambiguous, profound and life-like. As Roger Ebert put it: “Its surface is as much fun as any movie ever made. Its depths surpass understanding. I have analyzed it a shot at a time with more than 30 groups, and together we have seen, I believe, pretty much everything that is there on the screen. The more clearly I can see its physical manifestation, the more I am stirred by its mystery.”

Last, but not least, there is the matter of it being a work that is unique, personal, authorial, unbound by genre conventions or pre-determined notions of what films should be, and, of course, not oriented in any way with a commercial logic. It was not only ahead of its time, as it was honest and true to its authors’ visions. This is their tale, their ideas, their craftsmanship, their art. This is a movie about their message, and it’s that notion which governs everything in it, from the seemingly meaningless stage prop to each earth-shattering dialogue. This is probably why it wasn’t a commercial success and why it was shunned by the producers of the time (despite marginal profit!), eventually leading to a troublesome dispute with Welles throughout the remainder of his career, with several unauthorized edits to his works that, still today, rob them of their artistic value. “Citizen Kane” is a work of art, something which in the world of money… is usually misunderstood. Despite all this, “Citizen Kane” lives on still today, thanks to the continuous recognition by many critics and scholars (heck, even the Academy recognized it with several Oscar nominations!), and by a growing interest of the public in the work throughout the 1950’s and beyond. It became a symbol – a popular one at that, I might add – that film can be art. Many haven’t seen it (and if you’re one of those, stop right now, and go watch it), but everyone knows that “Citizen Kane” is considered the greatest film ever made.

Now returning to what lead us to this film. Where is our <<Citizen Kane>>?  What video game has become a symbol of our medium’s maturity and legitimacy as art? So far, I’d say none. No one sees, and rightfully so, video games as artistic objects. Perhaps the question then is, does a game with the qualities I’ve mentioned before even exist? Namely, a game that fulfills the medium’s potentials, that has an adult and universal discourse, and is an authorial work? And if it does, how can we make that game a symbol? Is that even possible? How and where can we find our own Rosebud?

“Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything… I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a… piece in a jigsaw puzzle… a missing piece.”

[More unanswered questions in the next article concerning our <<Citizen Kane>>.]

]]> http://preacherman80.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/revelation/ Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:16:40 +0000 preacherman80 http://preacherman80.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/revelation/ http://thegamesmen.com/2009/10/11/the-gamesmen-episode-15-live/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:36:53 +0000 jsslifelike http://thegamesmen.com/2009/10/11/the-gamesmen-episode-15-live/

>> CLICK HERE TO WATCH EPISODE 15 RECORDING <<

Are you prepared for the wackiness that is The Gamesmen LIVE? Join Lyfeliek, Xcalybr, Rabid Scotsman, Zeiram Wing, AcidBee, and a call-in cast of many for game talk, live RPG, and more! There were several giveaways, including one sponsored by Good Old Games at gog.com! Also, visit thegamesmen.com to find out how YOU can assist in the Extra Life gaming marathon. Topics discussed are too numerous to mention…

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Earlier this week the ABC World News Posted a segment I recorded with them in which I described Metroid Prime’s achievements in game design as a breakthrough, equivalent in importance to Citizen Kane’s coalescence of cinematic techniques. While the piece is predictably terse and mostly confined to broad assertion, I think it presents my case pretty well. If you’re interested I’ve published a longer, more detailed version of those arguments in  an editorial for IGN.

It’s been interesting to follow the reaction to this piece, which has broken down along the familiar lines of sarcasm, big media cynicism, disagreement, and personal derision. Another response has been to reject the very idea of cross-media comparison. I wanted to address this particular reaction a little more openly since I think the application of that criticism is misguided and a bit dishonest.

There is an undeniable relationship between narrative video games and film. To refute this is to ignore a huge chunk of the medium’s development over the last twenty years. Final Fantasy VII contains hours of pure non-interactive cinema, as does Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted, Ocarina of Time, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo, and almost any other major “core” game you could cite. There’s gameplay, then there’s the cutscene, which is cinema. There is no equivocating on this point, cutscenes are movies. Full stop.

It follows that we use cinematic references all the time when we talk about games. Have you read a review of Uncharted 2 that doesn’t reference Indiana Jones (itself a riff on a genre borrowed from another medium)? Have you read anyone who cited Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan in reference to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? How long does it take for someone to bring out Kelly’s Heroes when describing Battlefield: Bad Company? Grindhouse and House of the Dead: Overkill? Goichi Suda is happy to talk about how No More Heroes is a direct riff on El Topo. Shawn Elliott began his review of Half-Life 2 Episode 2 with a description of cinematic gameplay, ”videogames learn lots from other media, and by imitating the everyday function of film techniques instead of their exact form, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 becomes movielike, but isn’t a game that wants to be what it’s not.”

And this is to say nothing of the throngs of games literally derived from movies, everything from Fern Gully to Reservoir Dogs. Neither medium requires the other for validation, but they have a great deal in common, and we are generally quite comfortable dealing in these areas of creative cross-over. Shakespeare uses Holisnhed’s histories as the springboard for many of his tragedies, the influence of painting on cinematography is obvious, the connection between theater and film, novel and film, novel to game—there has not yet been a medium of creative expression that hasn’t borrowed significantly from somewhere else. This has been, and should be, reason enough for comparison. Harvard expects its students to do comparative analysis as part of normal undergraduate curriculum. Note their first quoted example, contrasting the assertions of Camus, a novelist and philosopher, against that of Fallon, a psychiatrist and attempted revolutionary. I don’t think many people were scandalized by Hitchock’s assertion, in his collected conversations with Truffaut, “you have to design your film just as Shakespeare did his plays–for an audience.”

Games do not require comparison to anything else to legitimize them, and I don’t think there’s a case to be made that I say anything of the sort. But I am arguing that games exist on a continuum of creative human expression.

Metroid Prime is not great because of Citizen Kane, it’s great alongside it. I think the parallels between the two are strong. There are huge differences. You don’t earn your spurs in pointing them out, and I don’t suggest they share similar aesthetics, characterizations, or plots. But I do suggest that they both sit at a similar point in the growth curve of their respective forms. Neither deserves to be treated as a sacred cow (I prefer Marcel Carne, Lang, Kurosawa, and Bergman to anything Orson Welles accomplished), but both are historical works, and boilerplates for the most powerful uses of film and games, respectively.

And this is a point worth emphasizing, because in the years since Prime came out, games have largely ignored its boilerplate. Kojima still can’t tell ween himself from cinema. Uncharted 2 is filled with hours of movie-watching in between its clumsy interactive sequences. So too Batman Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect, and Grand Theft Auto IV. BioShock skipped film entirely and went all the way back to the antique traditions of radio play to convey its narrative, while its gameplay mechanics weren’t conceptually more refined than that of Contra. Even Half-Life 2 is filled with cinema, though it allows the interactive relief of bunny hopping in a corner if you’d rather not listen to an NPC monologue.

When we praise all of these games, how much time is spent praising their cinematic (or non-game) qualities? How much ink was spilled on objectivism in BioShock, a game that contained no such references in its actual gameplay? How many game writers praised Metal Gear Solid games for their characterizations and sense of spectacle, which only have a tangential impact on the games’ rule sets?

When we think about games in this way, we subconsciously apologize for them, as developers, writers, and fans. If you spend millions of dollars on lavish cutscenes in your game, you implicitly support the notion that games need cinema to be legitimatized, they cannot do it through gameplay alone.

I jumped on the chance to compare Metroid Prime to Kane, and stand by the validity of the comparison, because it is one of the most consistently game-like narrative works I’ve ever played. It doesn’t need cutscenes, all it needs is its art, animations, control scheme, and level design. You get story snippets in computer panels as a supplement, but they’re not essential to the gameplay itself. I compare how Metroid Prime speaks through its gameplay, to what Welles did with Kane, filling camera lens, lighting, and editing with something that couldn’t have been said in any other medium.

There are other games that you could argue for in this comparison (Portal immediately springs to mind), but the existence of alternates strengthens the case for a comparison in the first place. Film, prose, poetry, theater, and music have all given us great works that speak directly to something ineffable and universal in human experience. So do games. They can be placed in that canon, that evolution of people trying to describe something overwhelming in a new and abstract language. I think it’s a great privilege to be part of that growth, and I think this conversation is the beginning of a step forward, out of the swamp of fun, awesome, badassedness that we’ve been wallowing in while everyone else was getting on with their lives.

Charles Gibson and some dude from IGN compare Metroid Prime to Citizen Kane on the fucking ABC news. Its very painful for me to even watch that video, because I love Metroid Prime to bits and am overjoyed it’s getting mainstream play, but it is tremendously obvious how wrong they are. It’s good to see Prime getting the attention it deserves. Maybe less hyperbole next time.

Metroid is Citizen Kane?

Michael Thomsen, author of IGN’s Contrarian Corner, proposes that The Metroid Prime Trilogy is video gaming’s Citizen Kane. What’s even more impressive, it was a piece for ABC News complete with a Charlie Gibson intro.

In Thomsen’s Contrarian Corner he generally takes a very critical look at a game that becomes a darling of reviewers. Often he provides a unique perspective on a game drowning in praise and sometimes it seems like he’s reaching a bit to make a point. It’s a shame he’s locked behind IGN Insider’s closed doors because whether you agree or not, his reviews are more thought provoking than most.

Watch the video and see if he throws a strike or if he’s just a bit outside. And if you have a game or series that you would nominate for gaming’s Citizen Kane, please share.

I think Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever made, and it’s not because it’s so much fun to play. The game is an amazing experience in total immersion and direct empathy. Orson Welles harnassed a still unformed medium and applied some technical innovation to communicate something surprisingly personal. Charles Foster Kane is not someone you’d expect to empathize with. He’s an arrogant, unchallenged, and callused character who was based on a famously hated figure. Welles catalyzed all of the gathering tools of cinema to make this man’s life empathetic.

Like Kane, Metroid Prime coalesces all of the core strengths of video games and places them in a structure that is built around empathy. It’s not cinematic empathy, nor is it story-driven. Instead, it’s driven by direct experience, which is the first and most immediate language of any game. Games are not about winning, fun, or empowerment. They are about feeling what it is like to move and interact in a world that someone else has made for you. Prime subverts the baggage of its genre (tawdry sci-fi) and the expectations of its audience (achievement-driven combat) and creates an experience where you actually feel for the character you’re playing. I don’t care about her backstory or the invented lore of Space Pirates and Phazon. I care because the game’s systems all point towards sensory experience, and sensual exploration (which fits brilliantly and primaly with the central mechanic of looking).

I was on the ABC World News Webcast to talk about it. Click on the image below to watch the segment.

Buenas. Otra ves por aquí para quitarles algo de su tiempo. En esta ocasión les hablare sobre una consola ya un poco pasada en años, bastante impopular y que quizás a muchos de los lectores les resulte por completo indiferente, pero aun así, y apelando a la reivindicación histórica que se merece, en los siguientes párrafos intentare contarles un poco sobre lo que el Game Cube tenía –y aun tiene- que ofrecer.

¿A que viene todo este rollo? Muy fácil ¿Les suena el Dolphin? Pues es El emulador del Cubo, en cuyas últimas versiones ha logrado establecer una emulación relativamente decente, y que sin duda dará mucho que hablar durante los próximos años, cuando comience el redescubrimiento en la Web de los JUEGAZOS exclusivos que el Game Cube de Nintendo ostentaba en su un tanto limitado (pero aun así notable) repertorio.

Haciendo algo de historia, por si alguien no lo sabía, el Game Cube fue la consola hogareña de Nintendo que secundo al popular N64, con no tan buenos resultados como sus predecesores. Son varias las razones que propiciaron esto, pero  es mas que nada por la dura competencia que ofrecieron las consolas de la competencia, principalmente el dúo PSX-PS2 de Sony y la XBOX (posteriormente XBOX 360) de Microsoft, además del ya mencionado cuestionamiento a la plantilla de títulos disponibles para la misma, que no pasa de la centena (de juegos dignos). Otro GRAN inconveniente que precipitó la caída del Cubo fue la explosión del famoso debate “¿Los videojuegos son sólo para niños o para todas las edades?”, dilema que cualquiera con un mínimo de contacto en el área sin duda a oído hablar, y que se ha mantenido constante desde los albores del género, pero fue en esta época donde la burbuja estalló, con perjudiciales resultados para la gran N. Aunque no nos precipitemos con las conclusiones.

¿Es realmente la Game Cube una consola para niños?, en lo absoluto, aunque si es muy cierto que el marcado tono familiar de la mayoría de los juegos disponibles para la misma es inconfundible, pese a que esto tampoco tiene que ser necesariamente algo malo. Profundizare un poco más al respecto. En aquellos tiempos, las consolas de la competencia comenzaron a apuntar mas que nada a los adultos-jóvenes, personas ya veteranas en el sector, principalmente a los herederos disconformes del Famicom y del Genesis que, a medida que van envejeciendo, comienzan a inclinarse hacia juegos más “maduros”, de contenidos profundos y mucho más explícitos, es decir, no tan infantiloides ni argumentalmente primitivos como eran los juegos que antes levantaban sus pasiones. Los tiempos cambian y las prioridades de las personas también. Así lo entiende el mercado, la competencia, pero aun con toda la evidencia empírica en su contra Nintendo se rehúsa ha abandonar su inclinación ancestral, el tono familiar, que con el tiempo se convertirá en la marca de casa de la compañía.

Pese a intentos aislados –y muy interesantes, de paso- por atraer a un público mayor, el fuerte de la consola siempre estará dado en este tipo en particular de videojuegos. Dentro de este lote destacan todos los Marios y compañía (se cuentan por decenas) que sin exagerar acaparan aproximadamente el 50% de los títulos dignos para el Cubo. El resto lo ocupan las dos entregas exclusivas de Zelda para esta consola y los remakes de las versiones de Nintendo 64  (Zelda Master Quest y otro más); Los Pokemon`s Colosseum uno y dos, el Soul Calibur 2 (con la gloriosa incorporación de Link en la plantilla de personajes), el Resident Evil Zero y RE 4 en conjunto con el remake de la primera, segunda y tercera entrega de la saga. Otro título exclusivo interesante es el remake del Metal Gear Solid de PSX (sobresaliente en todos los sentidos posibles), y salvo algunas menciones honrosas aparte (Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, Ikaruga, Baten Kaitos, el remake del Skyes of Arcadia de Dreamcast, Rogue Leader, entre otros), eso sería todo. El resto vendrían a ser los sucedáneos de Mario, es decir, los innumerables Marios Party, Tennis, Soccer, Golf, Double Dash, Sunshine, Paper 2, DDR Mix, Smash Brothers Melee, Luigi`s Mansion, etc., etc.

Como quizás habrán apreciado ya,  el Cubo también tiene la particularidad de ser la consola de la nostalgia, al recopilar una buena cantidad de remakes muy amplia y singular. Un enorme porcentaje de los títulos dignos corresponden a reediciones de juegos viejos, originalmente aparecidos en otras consolas.

Como sea, démosle un veloz repaso a lo realmente importante de este asunto, es decir, los juegos, para ver si nos sacudimos de encima un par de mitos que no han hecho mas que servir como sustento a los prejuicios tan sombríos y desprovistos de toda racionalidad que no hacen mas que ofuscar la verdad detrás de esta especie de niebla formada por preconcepciones.

Fuera de meros enunciados, comenzare describiendo brevemente lo que a mi gusto, absolutamente subjetivo y parcial, son los mejores y mas interesantes juegos de la consola:

-Resident Evil Zero; 4 & Remakes: El RE Zero es un título muy atractivo por varias razones. Primero que nada porque argumentalmente se sitúa antes que la primera entrega de la saga, propiciando variadas y sensuales referencias a sus predecesores (¿o antecesores? No estoy seguro), además de complementar ciertos vacíos en la historia y en el correcto desarrollo de los acontecimientos generales. Segundo, ya que de alguna manera modifica, a la vez que mantiene el clásico Gameplay y engine gráfico de la saga. Me explico. Digo que altera el Gameplay ya que innova en ciertos aspectos especialmente relevantes, como por ejemplo el hecho de utilizar simultáneamente a dos personajes a la vez, no existir los útiles baúles teletransportadores que ignoraban las reglas del espacio-tiempo, la posibilidad de dejar en el suelo los ítems, entre otras cosas más. Se mantiene fiel el engine gráfico según es tradición en la saga, incorporando bellísimos gráficos render, al contrario de lo que ocurre por ejemplo con el Code Verónica X y sus sucesores, enfocados más en el aspecto poligonal (lo cual de paso no me desagrada en lo absoluto).

La tercera razón vendría a ser en lo polémico de su lanzamiento. Atravesando varias consolas, retrazando indefinidamente una y otra vez su salida al mercado, entre otros cotilleos jugones que no vienen al caso.

El RE 4 es el juegazo, y no hay mucho más que decir sobre ello, más que mencionar que la versión de GC es bastante reducida en comparación con la de PS2.

Sobre los remakes, destaca el de la primera entrega de la saga. De nombre “Resident Evil” a secas,  revive los acontecimientos acaecidos hace ya tantos años en nuestras viejas y olvidadas PSX`s de antaño. Tanto a nivel gráfico como sonoro está a la altura de una obra maestra. El grado de fidelidad con la versión original es monstruoso, aunque eso si el juego ha sabido adaptarse a los nuevos tiempos y muchas localizaciones, eventos y demases son originales de esta adaptación. Recordemos que este es el único Resident donde los zombies solo pueden ser asesinados mediante incineración o haciendo estallar su cabeza, por lo que el grado de dificultad puede resultar bastante alto para los novatos, al igual como ocurría con la primera entrega de la saga en sus tiempos.

Este juego tiene un montón de extras, entre los que destacan el modo “prototipo” donde los baúles no están vinculados entre si y la mira no es automática, aumentando la dificultad del juego en un 900%, y el modo fantasma donde los enemigos son invisibles, transformando el juego en un suplicio interminable.

Los restantes remakes (RE 2 y 3) son clavaditos en todos los sentidos a las versiones originales de los mismos, por lo que no vale la pena referirse a ellos.

-The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker;  Twilight Princess & Remakes: Wind Waker es famoso por sus singulares gráficos –Cell-Shaded- que a muchos gustan, a otros no tanto, en fin. Esta entrega en apariencia es bastante menos “oscura” y dramática que sus antecesores (a los cuales me referiré enseguida), pero lo que parece ser un juego sencillo, nada pretencioso e infantil, en realidad es un videojuego de una dificultad considerable, sumamente extenso, con una línea argumental profunda e intrigante, entre múltiples virtudes más que hacen de esta entrega una de las mas queridas por los fans de la saga.

De Twilight Princess no puedo decir nada ya que solo he jugado la introducción, pero a nivel grafico es bastante sobresaliente. El protagonista esta vez tiene un “look” mucho más adulto y maduro, y los análisis que se le hacen no son nada malos. Es considerado casi unánimemente por la crítica especializada con “el mejor Zelda de todos los tiempos”. Record histórico en evaluación en diversas revistas especializadas del sector lo confirman.

Además de estas dos versiones originales del GC, también podemos encontrar los Remakes del “Zelda: Ocarina Of Time” y su secuela directa, “Majora´s Mask”. Sobre el primero se encuentra contenido en el juego “Master Quest”, disco que acompañaba al Wind Waker, y que además de la adaptación  del juego -absolutamente igual a la versión de 64- se encontraba una adaptación del mismo, pero con dificultad aumentada y uno que otro extra. El Majora´s MaskZelda: Collectors Edition” pero los rumores dicen que  las conversión presentaba problemas de diversa índole (tales como inconvenientes para salvar, entre otros), pero a falta de confirmación oficial no puedo pronunciarme objetivamente al respecto.

-“Metal Gear Solid – Twin Snakes” REMAKE: Uno de los mejores juegos de la historia, adaptado a los nuevos tiempos. El MGS de GameCube es uno de esos videojuegos que simplemente no pueden ser pasados por alto. Tanto a nivel argumental como de Gameplay es idéntico a la versión original de PSX, pero los gráficos han sido concebidos de una manera exquisita. El nivel de dificultad también permanece intacto. Gran juego, nada más que decir.

-Pokemon Colosseum 1 & 2: Estas son versiones de Pokemon bastante fuera de lo convencional. Si esperabas algo similar al “Pokemon Stadium” de 64 te llevaras una gran sorpresa. Estos juegos, al igual que en las en las entregas de Game Boy, poseen modo historia, con la salvedad de que en vez de atrapar pokemons salvajes en la hierba debes robarlos a entrenadores (solo puedes apoderarte de Pokemons Shadows, es decir, de pokemons que han sido infectados por una “sustancia” que detiene su crecimiento y los vuelve super-agresivos) purificar sus corazones y utilizarlos para vencer a las fuerzas del mal. Que más podríamos pedir.

-Super Smash Brothers Melee: De todos los juegos que he mencionado hasta ahora, este es el primero que realmente saca partido del modo multijugador. Uno de los videojuegos de pelea considerados por la crítica con personajes “mas equilibrados”. Sencillo de aprender pero duro de pelar, son las mejores palabras para describir este juego. La verdad no soy muy experto en SSBM, por lo que limitaré a mencionar que la plantilla de luchadores, pese a aparentar ser muy numerosa, en realidad consiste en nada mas que en una limitada cantidad de personajes “principales” (por ejemplo Pikachu) y en igual cantidad de personajes “secundarios” (por ejemplo Pichu) que no son mas que adaptaciones de los mismos personajes bases, con las mismas técnicas y todos, con la única diferencia de poseer mayor o menor velocidad de reacción que el personaje original, mayor o menor daño, entre otros detalles.

Por lo demás es un juego genial, la mar de divertido y que puede generar por si solo horas interminables de entretención con amigos.

-Mario Party 4, 5, 6 y 7: Estas son las versiones de la popular saga “Party” del carismático Mario. En ciertos Estados de EE.UU es considerada como una forma de blasfemia el no conocerlos, por lo que si nunca los han probado les recomiendo que no pierdan mas tiempo y le den una probada a lo que son probablemente uno de los juegos mas adictivos jamás creados por el ser humano.

De todas estas entregas la que mas me agrada es la séptima (me parece la mas equilibrada e imparcial de todas), pero en gustos no hay nada escrito.

-Ikaruga: Este es un shooter de naves bestial con un nivel de dificultad absurdo. Su duración completa no excede la hora de juego y la nave espacial que manejas solo tiene tres comandos, disparar rayos negros, blancos y un láser cargado, pero pese a lo simple de su planteamiento, este es sin duda uno de los juegos más interesantes para la consola. Originalmente lanzado en Dreamcast (ojo, este no es un remake de la consola de Sega, sino que solo una adaptación), Ikaruga vio la luz el 2003 con modestos resultados, sin embargo alberga un lugar especial en el corazón de los fans, principalmente debido a que hay pocas experiencias mas frustrantes y dignas de elogio que superar el verdadero reto que este juego significa. Incluso en el nivel mas bajo de dificultad requerirás de extensas horas de práctica para pasar del tercer nivel, y es aquí donde la cosa alcanza tintes épicos. Puedes considerarte un jugador experto si atraviesas con vida la cuarta etapa, y superar el quinto nivel es algo digno de ser enmarcado en el vestíbulo de tu hogar.

Haciendo cuento corto antes de pasar a las conclusiones, haré un breve repaso de algunos muy buenos títulos que razones temporales se quedaron fuera de este recuento: Tanto el Mario Sunshine como el Paper Mario 2 son secuelas directas de juegos originales del N64 (Mario 64 y Paper Mario, respectivamente). Ambos son muy similares a sus predecesores en casi todos los sentidos posibles, por lo que si disfrutaste de estos juegos en su tiempo, no dudes ni un instante en que estos dos serán de tu agrado.

Dentro de los títulos deportivos encontramos al Mario Tennis y Mario Soccer (también conocido como Smash Football o Strike), excelentes para disfrutarlos entre cuatro personas, de manejo sencillo e intuitivo.

Conclusiones

Tras analizar los juegos más llamativos para la consola, podemos concluir con certeza tres cosas:

1-Pese a que el grueso de los juegos dignos son prioritariamente multiplayer y el marcado tono familiar no se los quita nadie, un enorme porcentaje de los mismos (mas o menos el 50%) lo abarcan juegos de un solo jugador. Ya sea aventuras extensas como los Zelda, el Metroid Prime y los Pokemon Colosseum, como también los múltiples Survival Horror, categoría en donde encontramos a todos los Residents y al Eternal Darkness (que de paso es un juego muy interesante, pero no lo he probado en profundidad).

2-Es innegable que el fuerte de la consola siempre estará dado por su contenido “apto para todos los públicos” enfocado en el sector infantil, sin embargo un buen trozo de la torta se lo reparten varios juegos más “adultos” como son los RE, el Zelda TP, el mismo Metroid Prime, el remake del MGS, entre otros excelentes títulos.

3-La cantidad de remakes, reediciones de juegos viejos, adaptaciones y lavados de caras varios es notable. Tener la posibilidad de jugar el primer RE o el MGS de PSX con gráficas de la tercera generación es un lujo que sin duda los jugones de antaño sabrán apreciar. Sumado a los compilados que incluyen a los Zeldas, se encuentran el “Megaman Collection” (título multi-consolas) y un juegazo creado por fans que agrupa a cientos y cientos de títulos de SNES con una emulación perfecta, infaltable para cualquier coleccionista que se precie de serlo.

Sobre el Dolphin y la actual emulación de Game Cube

Seamos sinceros sobre esto. Ahora mismo la emulación de Game Cube está en pañales. Para poder emular decentemente un juego se exigen requisitos prohibidos para la gran mayoría de los PCs convencionales. Incluso he escuchado de personas que les corre fluido el “Silent Hill 5” y no son capaces de emular “Mario Kart: Double Dash!” para que se hagan una idea del nivel de exigencia al que me refiero. Pese a esto, en el último año la emulación de GC ha dado pasos gigantescos en la materia. Si nos ponemos a pensarlo con calma, hace solo dos años atrás nadie hubiera apostado un peso por emular Nintendo DS en un ordenador hogareño. Ahora cualquier equipo decente es capaz de correr el Nocash y hacer volar, literalmente, el frameado de esta consola portátil. Esta tecnología es relativamente reciente, pero que no les quepa duda que en un par de años mas jugar Game Cube va a ser tan normal como en su tiempo fue emular SNES y N64. Les doy mi palabra.

PS: El Dolphin también emula Wii, por lo que apostando por el estaríamos matando dos pájaros de un tiro. Dos generaciones de video-consolas con una sola piedra…que bellos son los tiempos en que vivimos.

Agradecimientos a ExorcistaX por su inestimable ayuda durante la redacción de este artículo.

Well, it’s Sunday night. As you can likely tell from the title I’ve been off for the last couple days (Saturday and Sunday to be specific). And let me tell you! I cherish everytime this happens. It pretty rare, which I’m okay with (I value them more that way). They make for a long week beforehand, but it’s always worth it.

Sat:
Got up pretty early (for a day off, that is) and went shopping with Amiee in Anderson. Always great to spend time with my lovely wife, no matter what we’re doing together. Of course, I got a little Metroid Prime Trilogy in before we left. She bought a dress, I found a pair of pants, which is good if you’re trying to avoid going outside with out pants (people threw garbage at me when I tried that). After we got home from that we laid around for a few minutes, then to Kayla and Mike’s wedding (congrats to you both again!). I love weddings, people occasionally have cool new takes on old traditions. Not always, big things but unique. In this wedding had Kayla wearing cowboy boots at the reception and instead of a normal frame they had pictures in a window frame, I thought that was pretty cool. From there we went home using directions we got from the GPS on my phone, well earlier since we were in a cellular void for T-Mobile And AT&T. Unfortunately, we were EXHAUSTED and didn’t realize when the Clemson game was and and we got stuck for a few minutes in game traffic……… gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Clemson. Not too long though 20-30 minutes. But still, when you’re tried it seem much longer. Got home, took Boo out and finally passed-out in bed.

Sun:
Sunday has been nice! Slept in a little longer than normal since we had Ainley’s dedication at Calvary COG and their service starts a little later than Amiee and my church. It was fun, I got to film it for Chris And Megan (my siblings-in-law). I think I did well, but what do I know? We went to Applebee’s after (2 for $20, gotta love it!). Then home. Haven’t done much today other than a little cleaning a beat Metroid Prime 2: Echos (I’d swear they made it easier for the trilogy), it made for a nice relaxing day and a nice conclusion to the weekend.

That’s about all I got for this update. Back to work tomorrow…….. ah, such is life.

If you haven’t checked out the last few posts, you won’t know that there has been a lot of toku talk around here. It’s kinda hard to come up with interesting stuff to talk about when you work on a boring loading dock for 8 hours or suffer through class for the same. I’m still working on all my music projects too, with nothing really ready to post just yet. Regardless, I’m trying to use TT as a way to keep me posting something each week.

Last week, I posted two such features, highlighting the amazing Kamen Rider franchise. This week, we shall take a break from our regularly scheduled TT, and, instead, I shall leave this little link to Kotaku that made my day a little. I happen to be fan of the Metroid series, and in particular, the Prime series holds a warm place in my heart, as Prime was the first Metriod title I had ever played to completion (the original’s lack of a map and open-endedness intimidated me for years). The Metroid Prime Trilogy compilation has just recently hit store shelves, and while I don’t plan on buying it – I still own my copies of Prime and Echoes – I would like to take the time to reflect on the fond memories of the last 10 years of Metroid.

Thankfully, Kotaku had similar ideas, and they managed to email interview the parties responsible for the Prime games. There may also be some hope for a fourth Prime title, but I won’t try to turn any rumor mills. I just thought it was neat to get some incite on the thought process behind three of the best titles on the Gamecube/Wii, however vague and limited. If I get the downtime, I may just pop the discs in for old-times sake… I don’t know, the new Arkhum Asylum challenge map is very addictive XD.

So, why is this a Toku Tuesday Special Edition?

Well, while not generally thought of as tokusatsu, the Metroid series is essentially an interactive henshin hero drama. We see Samus henshin in SSBB and she “de-henshins” at the end of each Metroid game and as a result of her Final Smash in Brawl. Her origins and much of the main story is filled with genre cliche and, ultimately, shares similarities with the fundamental Kamen Rider formula. In fact, if you substitute Samus’s Hunter Ship with a Rider’s Ridermachine, she would be a Kamen Rider.

Kamen Rider Hunter, as the Space Pirates would call her.

Metroid Prime Team Discusses Their Decade Of Samus, Ponders Series’ Future (via Kotaku)

Chegou hoje de manha

Metroid Prime Trilogy é a compilação de 3 magníficos jogos, numa edição especial de coleccionador :

Metroid Prime (Game Cube);

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Game Cube);

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii);

Além desta triologia, este pack vem acompanhado por um pequeno book com algumas artworks. A capa do jogo vem revistada por uma contracapa em cartão com umas letras prateadas brutais =D

Trailer:

Metroid Prime é uma das mais fantásticas séries de videojogos produzida pela Retro Studios. O jogo não se trata propriamente um FPS, mas sim um FPA (first person adventure) devido á sua grande componente de exploração que o jogo apresenta. No jogo encarnamos na primeira pessoa bela louraça Samus, e partimos numa fantástica viagem pelo universo com belo ambiente sci-fi.

Esta manha já tive a dar uns toques naquilo, e nos primeiros minutos estive completamente a anhar. O jogo possui uma componente técnica bastante complexa e não é fácil habituar. Só ao fim de maia hora é que comecei a perceber da cena e a entrar no ambiente de jogo. Agora sim posso dizer que estou a adorar o jogo =D

Está mesmo excelente. O jogo é praticamente em 1º pessoa, mas ás vezes para nos deslocarmos mais rápido ou resolver alguns puzzles, podemos transformar-nos numa esfera. LOL tá brutal O interface do jogo é muito interessante, pois está cheio de pormenores que me fazem lembrar aqueles monóculo que os personagens do dragon ball usavam (que detalhavam as informações dos seres vivos, a sua probabilidade de agressão, etc.).

Com a nossa arma é possível matar os aliens, e jogar com elementos naturais. Como por exemplo congelar agua para passar, etc… Metroid Prime 2 tem um modo multiplayer, que penso que seja um modo combate 1 para 1, Mas ainda não lá cheguei, vejo isso depois

Gameplay:

BTW…

Já perdi muito tempo, vou voltar ao vicio… Ainda não acabei o 1º :p