Sure, GameFly seems a lot like NetFlix, the same business model and such, games through the mail vs. movies through the mail. But having the two services running side by side, including price, where there is less than a dollar difference between the two on my monthly statement, NetFlix shines and GameFly is a bit tarnished.

That is, of course, completely unfair. NetFlix is at least an order of magnitude bigger than GameFly, DVD rentals and game rentals track differently, and I happen to live in an area well served by NetFlix (I could drop off my movies on the way to work if they would put a box outside their corporate HQ) while GameFly is considerably further away.

So GameFly wasn't awful. If it was awful I would not have remained a subscriber for over a year. But there were the little things.

Delivery Times

As I said, I am completely spoiled by my proximity to NetFlix. I drop a movie in the mail on Monday and I have the next one in my queue at home and ready to watch Wednesday. They hit that 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time is mostly attributable to my either asking for odd-ball titles that have to be shipped from other NetFlix distribution centers or by my dropping the red NetFlix envelope in the mail box too late in the day.

GameFly has to live in that shadow. Their nearest distribution center is down in the Los Angeles area in the City of Industry (not to be confused with the movie of that title), which adds travel time back and forth.

Plus GameFly doesn't seem to be big on the "next title shipped the same day" thing that NetFlix does. So if I drop a GameFly envelope in the mail on Monday morning, I might see the next game on Saturday, but a good portion of the time it was there on Monday, so a week went by without a game. This is an issue because...

One Game at a Time

At the level of service I have with GameFly, I only get one game at a time. So if I get one new game a month, which is about par for our house, we spend a week out of that month sans game. Yes, for another $8.00 a month I could have had two games, but then we are starting to get close to the price of a new game every month. And I would still be spending a week waiting for replacements. Plus, as I noted, the NetFlix and GameFly monthly fees are very close, so there is a big psychological barrier, for me at least, to give more money to GameFly. Unfair, but that is the environment GameFly has to compete in at my house.

Drawing from the Bottom of the Queue

The biggest divergence from NetFlix in terms of service is how likely you are to get things that are in your queue. I began to think that my queue was somehow inverted, as I would have 8-12 games on my list, but would only ever get things from the bottom third. I understand that a new game is unlikely to get to me, but I had some old titles at the top. GameCube, Nintendo DS and even Game Boy Advance titles that showed high availability, but which we never saw.

So I was never sure what we would get next from GameFly. Compare this with NetFlix. I cannot recall the last time I did not get the movie at the top of my queue at NetFlix, and we put new releases on our queue now and again.

Very Limited Buy Options

I have come to the conclusion that you can tell if a game sucks with only two data points. First, you have never heard of it. Second, GameFly is willing to sell it to you. That is enough for me to wave it off. The test case was Mario and Sonic Shill for the Chinese Dictatorship, a game I detest on a few levels, which is readily available for purchase on most platforms supported by GameFly.

Anyway, GameFly has very few titles available for purchase, and they are usually titles I wouldn't purchase in any case. For the Wii, this was not such a big deal. We would rent a game, like it, go look if we could buy it, find ourselves thwarted there, and then go buy it at a local store instead. GameFly's loss is Fry's gain.

However, once my daughter got a Nintendo DS, things changed a bit. The Wii saves your game information on the console, so buying another disk does not change anything. In the DS world though, your game data is saved on the cartridge. So if you cannot buy the game you have in your possession, you have to throw away any game data you have saved.

This lead to the Pet Horsez 2 incident. My daughter had seen Wild Pet Tigerz and Wild Pet Dolphinz advertised on TV and wanted to try them out. I put them at the top of our queue which meant we did not get them. (Though when Tigerz ended up low in our queue, we got it, reaffirming my inverted queue theory!) As a back up I had put some similar games in the queue, and we ended up with Pet Horsez 2.

My daughter loves horses. She has asked us to buy a horse for her, offered to pay for it herself (if it costs $50 or less), and has suggested it could just live in the back yard and eat the grass. Of course, she became quite enamored with the game Pet Horsez 2. After a rough start, she actually got very good at the game, so much so that she wanted to keep it. She wanted to use her own, saved up money to buy it.

I went to GameFly to see if it was for sale. It was not. I said we could buy it at the store, but she would have to start from scratch again. This lead to a lot of tears, wrenching my own heart. Little girls become attached to even virtual horses it seems. Somebody suggested that I could just report the game lost and keep it, but I couldn't bring myself to do that or demonstrate to my daughter that such an action was the right behavior. So the it ended up going back to GameFly.

Since then we have approached DS rentals with a much lighter touch, trying to not get too attached, knowing that if we like a game, it will have to go back.

The End

And so, paying the bills and seeing GameFly again in comparison with NetFlix on my credit card statement, I decided to cancel.

The cancellation process is easy enough. They ask if you are sure. They offer you another month at a reduced rate. They warn you that all your coupons will go away, though since they are only useful for purchasing games, and since they don't have much for sale (literally just nine DS titles when I looked that night), that particular step encouraged me to continue the cancellation process. They give you one last chance. And then you are done, with a note about how you can reactivate, should you wish to in the future.

So, as I said above, GameFly wasn't awful. I am not going to go register gameflysucks.com or anything. (Somebody is already sitting on that domain... probably GameFly.) But the combination of small annoyances plus the obvious mental comparison with NetFlix every time I dealt with them just got me to the point where I could no longer justify paying for their services.

PS3

360

GC

Wii

i want to know which of these doesn't suck and why

This Week In WiiDs - Issue One - All Eyes On Wii

Hello and welcome to This Week In WiiDs, I’m Jack “The Jumpman” Smith and whether your at home, at work or trying to fill the gap while your favourite Nintendo Podcast takes a break, this is the best place for news, views and discussion direct on the forum.

Welcome to Issue One of This Week In WiiDs, published on July 25th 2008, your weekly roundup of all things Nintendo while the podcast is on Hiatus. I aim to bring you everything you love about the show, plus a little extra straight to the forums every week for your viewing pleasure.

Question Of The Week

This weeks Question of the Week is from Dark_Link:

"What would you like to see on Nintendos next hand held?I would like a special stylus that when you twist is it would twist what was on the screen.
Thanks!
Oliver Ronaldson"

Thanks for the question Dark_Link :) Personally I’m going to be quite boring and say Rumble. All the games that utilise rumble on the GBA and DS have all used it brilliantly and it’s added that little extra spark. Plus, being a handheld means that you will get a much more engaging feedback response. The only issue would be in interfering with the touch screen in terms of tapping accuracy, but if it used well rather than a vibrationfest it would be a great addition.

Thats my thoughts, but what about yours? Please reply to this weeks issue with what you would like to see in your next-gen handheld.

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If you have a question of the week for This Week In WiiDs, please send me a PM and i’ll be sure to use it. Any unused questions will be forwarded to be used on the podcast. If you want to get in touch with the team, you can email them at Wiidspodcast@googlemail.com and if you register this link on your Wii we will send you a message to your Wii as soon as we are back on air as well as when further episodes are released. You can also check out the WiiDs blog at http://www.wiids-podcast.com for more news, views and discussion as well as the latest updates. You can also find us snooping around the forums at http://www.wiidsforum.com, so feel free to leave us a message or PM and we will make sure you are the first to know when we are back on air.

News

This weeks headlines:

• Microsoft Wants Wii60 Motion Solution
• Pirates Play On Unmodded Wii’s
• Judge’s Ban Causes Controller Chaos
• Wii Takes Top Title

Microsoft Wants Wii60 Motion Solution

We’ve all heard the rumours about Microsofts attempt at motion controls, but interviews this week have revealed that Microsoft might be trying to take a different apporach to their motion solution. John Schappert (Vice President of Xbox Live) was recently quoted as saying that they were very interested in the idea of using the Wiimote in conjunction with the Xbox 360. While it is slim to none that this agreement would ever see the light of day, Reggie wouldn’t deny any possibility.

While this may not be big news on it’s own, this certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen Microsoft try and get close to Nintendo, with Rare having announced that they had managed to create DS-Xbox360 connectivity and pre-Xbox there was even talk of an attempt from Microsoft to buy out Nintendo. We’ve also seen Microsoft try and recreate Nintendo’s ideas and philosophy with many titles announced that will try and attract the expanded audience and their new Avatar system that bears more than a slight resemblance to Nintendo’s Mii’s. Such a deal would definately benefit Microsoft, as a partnership with Nintendo would pretty much spell the end for Sony as well as open up their markets to more casual gamers. However, in this generation, such a deal would seriously damage the Wii, so as I stated, it would be very unwise for Nintendo to think about such a proposal for this generation of gaming. Still, with Microsoft becoming ever more interested in Nintendo’s ways, perhaps a partnership may not be impossible in the far future.

Source

Pirates Play On Unmodded Wii’s

The battle between Piracy and Nintendo has always been a long one, but when Bushing, one of the Wii’s leading hackers, responsible for assisting in the Twilight Hack and Homebrew Channel, sent an open letter to Nintendo, it looked like Piracy may have won the war. The letter described read:

“Dear Nintendo

As part of our efforts to understanding how the Wii works, we believe we have found a security issue that could allow pirated Wii games to be played on an unmodified Wii console.”

If such a bug was released into the public domain it would definitely hurt Nintendo as it could be easily and cheaply (if not freely) implemented, However, they might be able to survive, despite the lack of sales and possibly support from third parties as they have done with the DS, which continues to sell impossibly well despite having one of the most thriving piracy scenes of this generation. Luckily, Bushing is not looking at releasing this into the public domain, instead trying to work with Nintendo to prevent the flaw from being exploited. However, the worry still remains as others may find this exploit now its existence has been confirmed, and as Bushing himself has admitted, we still have no idea how most of the Wii works. Therefore this may only be the tip of the iceburg in our magic white box’s secret buggy insides.

Source

Judges Ban Causes Controller Chaos

This week, a Judges ruling has banned the sale of Gamecube, Wavebird and Classic controllers in America as well as $21 million in damages. Nintendo was brought to court by the small Texas based company, Anascape, who claimed that Nintendo violated their patent on a control device utilising six degrees of freedom. They had initially lost their case in May, receiving a fine of $21 million, but their failure to overturn, or at least reduce, the damages has proven unsuccessful. Nintendo is currently trying to appeal to the U.S Court Of Appeals in the Federal Circuit and the ban will be put on hold, however, Nintendo will have to either post a bond, or place royalties in an escrow to avoid the halt.

Sony and Microsoft were also challenged, however Sony decided to licence the patent in 2004 while Microsoft decided to settle out of court.

While the ban has been put on hold during this appeal, if they loose their case once more, it will hurt Nintendo’s profits. Fortunately as they no longer manufacture Gamecube and Wavebird controllers, they will only be loosing money on Classic Controllers, however, without these three controllers, a large portion of Nintendo’s Virtual Console titles will be rendered unplayable. Therefore allowing the ban to continue will not be an option.

If Nintendo is successful they should be able to overturn the ban and reduce the damages to be paid, so will it be third time lucky for the gaming giants?

Source / Patent

Wii Takes Top Title

We knew it was coming, in fact it was inevitable and it’s a surprise it hasn’t happened sooner, but the Nintendo Wii has finally taken over the top spot of most consoles sold in the US from Microsofts Xbox 360. Despite a year head start, Microsoft has been unable to produce enough demand to keep their top place and the Wiis phenomenal sales show no sign of slowing down with 133,000 sales per week. So far the Wii has sold 3.5 million un its this year, with the PS3 following second with 1.6 million units, closely followed by the Xbox 360 with 1.34 million units sold.

The DS also continues to dominate the handheld scene, with 150,000 units sold per week. On top of this Nintendo also took six of the ten best selling games of June, with Guitar Hero: On Tour, Wii Fit, Lego Indiana Jones for Wii and DS and Wii Play, which remains in the top ten for it’s seventeenth month in a row, yet to fall from the charts with a total of six million units sold.

Source

New Announcements

This is the new announcements section, where each week we tell you what new titles have surfaced and are on their way to you soon.

While E3 may be over, the announcement of new games are still rolling in fast, with new games announced for the Wii and WiiWare.

First up is Sonic And The Black Knight, which sees Sonic enter the world of Authurian legends, as you dash and slash your way through a series of missions. The game will be using a similar level system to Sonic And The Secret Rings with multiple objectives given in each world, but replaces the tilty movement with nunchuck controls (presumably to leave the Wiimote open to waggle). You can read more here.

From Capcom we have had the announcement of Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, which is a port of the Xbox360 title of the same name. The game will be based on the Resident Evil 4 engine and see you pitted against a shopping mall full of zombies as you try and survive. Source

However, this isn’t the only Wii title that we will be seeing from Capcom as in a recent interview they hinted that we have only seen half of the titles currently in development for Wii. So while there are no details, expect something soon! Source

Natsume have also announced plans to make a sequel to their puzzle title Puzzle De Harvest Moon. The original was a very interesting concept, but ultimately a bit shallow in its offerings so a well made sequel could tick all the right boxes. They also announced interest in making a WiiWare title but where this is the title mentioned above, or a new title remains unclear. Source

Speaking of Wiiware, Konami have just announced a WiiWare version of their classic title Gradius. From what i’ve seen so far it looks like the game will deliver the side scrolling shooting fun of the original, only with vastly improved graphics and sound. Source

We’ve also had an announcement of a new rhythm dancing game for WiiWare known as Helix. It looks like the game will involve striking poses using two Wii Remotes to the beat. The title looks to have a good selection of tracks and should be available this Autumn. Source

We’ve also had two new ERSB rating for Virtual Console titles. These titles are Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System, which is for... you guessed it, the Master System and Splatterhouse 2 for the Mega Drive.

New This Week

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in Europe:

Wii:

• No Wii games this week I’m afraid

Ds:

• Mr Slime ( 25/07/2008 )
• Race Driver: GRID ( 25/07/2008 )

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in North America:

Wii:

• SNK Arcade Classics V1 ( 23/07/2008 )
• MLB Power Pros 2008 ( 28/07/2008 )
• King Of Clubs ( 29/07/2008 )
• Summer Athletics ( 29/07/208 )

Ds:

• Suzuki Superbikes ( 29/07/2008 )

WiiDs Online

Welcome to the Online section of the magazine, where we take a look at what’s new for download on the Wii, say hello to some new faces and take a look at the best forum topics this week.

Download Station

This week in Europe we’ve been given three new Virtual console titles. First up is Neo Turf Masters for Neo Geo (900 Points). Neo Turf Masters is a rather nice looking golf title with four 18-hole courses to explore and expect the usual power bar timing you’ve come to expect from golf games. If your a fan on the genre this is definitely worth a look. Next up is International Karate Plus for the Commadore 64 (500 points). This is pretty similar to International Karate released at the Commadores VC launch, only slightly prettier and the ability to have three fighters at once (but only two players). It’s highly rated by fans, but may its repetitive nature and unforgiving combat may drive some people away. Lastly we have City Connection for the NES (500 points) which is a strange car based platformer where your aim is to pain all the roads white without getting caught by the police. It’s obscurity leads for an interesting, but ultimately boring experience making this game 499 or so points too much for its enjoyment.

This week the US has been given two Mega Drive games and one new WiiWare title. First up is Super Fantasy Zone (900 Points), which is a colourful side scrolling shooter, so expect the usual mass onslaughts of enemies and rapid fire fun. Also this week sees the release of Gley Lancer (900 Points) which is another side scrolling shooter, only with a more futuristic theme. One WiiWare title also made it’s way to the Wii Shop in the form of Pirates: The Key Of Dreams (1000 Points) which sees you battling various pirate ships over ten levels. While the gameplay mechanics are fun, it’s on the short side so if your looking for a single player game, your money might be better spent elsewhere.

Japan has received a new Wii channel this week called the "Print Mii Out" (made up name) channel. This allows you to send off photos stored on your SD cards to be made into prints, photo books or business cards. There seems to be a good range of customisation and the prices seem fair, you can even have your Mii put on your business card :) There’s no news on a Western release yet, but we will let you know as soon as more information is released.

If that wasn’t enough, Japan has also received a code redemption section in their Shop Channel. This will be used to redeem free software using codes that come packaged in retail games. No word on what will be offered through this service as of yet, but it reminds me of the Band Bros DX, Speaker Channel, which allows Wii compatibility with the said DS game. This came with a redemption code, so perhaps we will be seeing more WiiDs connectivity in the near future.

There’s also been a new Wii update released this week. This basically installs some of the code required for the new Album channel to work correctly, so it’s nothing to get excited about.

New Members

New to the forums this week are:

• Tush
• Zimboo
• Lukepuke93
• McLovin

Welcome to the community and we look forward to talking with you :)

Topic Of The Week

This section is for the best news and discussions started by you the listeners. Be sure to check the following topic and post.

This weeks Topic Of The Week is by Darkoopa who asks “What do you want to see on your own custom DS?” We’ve had some very interesting ideas so far, from simple colour designs to character art. Theres also some very snazzy pictures of some of the rarest DS designs, so it’s definitely worth a look. Check Out the thread here.

And Finally...

After Butternut posted up a song based on the tune to Rainbow Road I did a bit of surfing and found this masterpiece based on the theme tune to Super Mario World. Is there no end to peoples lyrical imagination?

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Thats it for another Week In WiiDs. Please let us know your thoughts and opinions on the following topics as well as any feedback.

Until next time, We’ve Sown The Seeds, Now You Grow The WiiDs!

My traumatic event has also woken me up to the fact that I really need to start backing things up. A job for my day off tomorrow methinks.

In other news, my brother got sick of waiting for me to buy Batman Begins and bought the DVD himself. He also bought Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the Wii, and it's awesome. Reminds me of Angel of Darkness, but in a non-crappy, "my arms feel stronger now" kind of way. I also bought a Gamecube (Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?) from work for the low, low price of £4.98. And that definitely isn't a typo, wait... is it?, nope - definitely not a typo. In truth, I only bought it to get the controller to use on my brothers Wii (for Brawl and Mario Kart), as it was cheaper than just buying a controller separately. Sometimes I love working where I work, but this feeling usually passes fairly quickly.

Other Stuff:

• I just checked Google again - it's still working.
• The built-in dictionary for Firefox would like me to change "Gamecube" to "Gamecock". To be fair, the latter is probably more accurate.

Hello all, both TripV and I have been avid Nintendo Power readers throughout our lives. TripV has a great collection of old school NP's running through to the N64 era. My collection on the other hand begins in the N64 era, I know call me a n00b and whatnot, but I really didn't own a Nintendo system until that point. Anyways Nintendo Power can be considered a big influence in both TripV's and my decision to write about video games. As can be seen in the 20th Anniversary issue, the editors at Nintendo Power made Top 20 countdowns for every Nintendo system, and since we here at Mediarahan are diehard Nintendo fans, we'll be applying our Top 9 method for each system NP covered. For the next four days we will roll out our Top 9 lists, starting today with the NES and Gameboy/Color.  In the meantime, you can watch this great episode of the Angry Video Game Nerd where he takes a look at Nintendo Power's past.

‘A co ma być?’ chce się rzec ;) - konsola bije wszelkie rekordy popularności, regularnie dostarczając Nintendo astronomicznych przelewów. Koszt produkcji gier jest strasznie przyjazny developerom i wydawcom, baza użytkowników największa z ‘nowych’ konsol. Japończycy ją kochają, dzieci ją kochają, kobiety ją kochają, nintendofile już ją dawno mają i regularnie spraszają do siebie znajomych zarażając ich Wiimanią. Owym gościom zabawka podoba się na tyle, że lecą do sklepu po swój egzemplarz, następnie spraszają swoich znajomych, chwaląc się zakupem itd. - ciągnąc ten łańcuszek szczęścia. Gdzie w tym słodkim kręgu miejsce dla graczy? (tych ‘true’) Czy dla nich ta platforma to równie dobry i oczywisty wybór? W ogóle czy warto sięgać po taki hardware? 

Sam ostatnio zastanawiałem się nad tym. Ile przyjemności może przecież dać machanie kontrolerem przypominającym nunchaku, przed zaledwie ‘wporzo’ prezentującymi się grami... a tegoroczne, słabiutkie E3 tylko potwierdziło kwestię ‘dorosłości’ tytułów, które zmierzają na te platformę (ogólnie – są kierowane do młodszych użytkowników). Nie odchodząc jednak za daleko od głównego wątku, spisałem pięć powodów dla których konsola Maria, Luigiego i Księżniczki Brzoskwinki ( mniam ;) ) jest mimo wszystko warta większej uwagi:

Sterowanie: a no właśnie, kto zasmakował kiedykolwiek grania w gry dziwnymi kontrolerami (gitara, pistolet, mata etc.) czy też sam się powyginał naprzeciwko TV przy PSdwójkowym Eye Toy’u wie, że nietypowe sterowanie potrafi stanowić najmocniejszy punkt danej produkcji. Przy grach lekkich, na paro minutową sesyjkę takie rozwiązanie się idealnie sprawdza. A Wii oferuje ich najwięcej, oprócz nowych pozycji są też znane hity z odświeżoną mechaniką. Mimo wszystko przeszedłbym sobie jeszcze raz Resident Evil 4 czy Okami machając pilotem. Nie jestem na to jakoś nagrzany ale jakbym miał już swoją konsolę to z chęcią bym obadał wrażenia.

Świeże przeboje: o tak! Wii ma też swoje tytuły, których mogą jej zazdrościć PS3 i X360. Są to najczęściej gry specyficzne, nie będące szokiem dla całej branży, jednak ciągle warte sprawdzenia. To nie platforma dla Bioshocka, Gearsów i GTA... a jednak będzie miała, ot choćby, swoje Mad World, które już teraz zwraca uwagę całego grającego świata. Jest to też dom dla tytułów takich jak No More Heroes, Metroid Prime 3, Castlevania Judgment, Monster Hunter 3, Little Kings Story, Pikmin 3, Nights, Rune Factory, Shiren the Wanderer, Zack & Wiki, Tenchu 4 – wszystko only Wii! Co by nie mówić to ciekawy zbiór gier, może nie zmieniających oblicza rynku, ale solidnych i przynajmniej dobrych. Fajnie byłoby je wszystkie poznać. Byłoby przy czym machać.

Dwa w jednym: konkretnym argumentem za Wii jest jego pełna kompatybilność z GameCube’m. GCN co prawda okazał się średnim sukcesem (żeby nie napisać, że niewypałem), ale przecież też ma swoją bibliotekę produkcji, które warto sprawdzić. Jest Celda, Wave Race, 1080° Avalanche, F-Zero GX, Luigi's Mansion, Baten Kaitos, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes… i jeszcze troszkę. Takie dwie konsole w jednej (Wii również, bezproblemowo, obsługuje kontrolery z GCNa), które wciąż potrafią podrajcować swymi grami to niezła okazja. Tym bardziej, że większość graczy olała kubła na rzecz PS2 i Xboxa gdy te były rządzącymi platformami i oferowały o wiele więcej. Ci gracze przeoczyli ekskluzywne tytuły z konsoli Nintendo. Teraz, więc ta skromna kolekcja GamaCube’owych gier, powód jego klęski, stanowi ogromny plus dla Wii, taki paradoksik. Można ograć całą genialną trylogię Metroid Prime, wszystkie trójwymiarowe Zeldy a niedługo i Pikminową trójcę na jednym sprzęcie. Kuszące!

Przystępność: Wiecie jaki problem jest z X360? Gdy przychodzą do mnie znajomi, którym chce przyszpanować jak gry poszły do przodu to... nie wiem co im puścić. Dopóki sam gram jest spoko, ale gdy przekazuje im pada to wszędzie sterowanie jest za skomplikowane, a jak nie sterowanie to zasady a jak nie zasady to poziom trudności ich przerasta. To hardcore’owa platforma, nawet Viva Pinata na szybko im nie zapuszczę bo wymaga sporo czasu a jeżdżąc po Paradise City w ostatnim Burnoucie od razu się pogubią…
Ale dać komuś świeżemu Wii? Żaden problem od razu pomacha padem i się ucieszy ;) partyjki lecą sprawnie i szybko a takie dołączane do każdej konsoli Wii Sports nawet nasze matki, kobiety i córki opanowują w trymiga. Przystępność pilota i gruszki, połączonych kabelkiem jest zadziwiająca. Dochodzą do tego pojedynki multiplayer’owe ze znajomymi, dające mase funu. Bo przecież z ‘nowymi’ prawdziwy gracz w Tekkena, Forzę, Pro Evo czy Gearsy nie pogra, bo nie stanowią dla niego konkurencji. Za to na konsoli Nintendo świetnie bawią się wszyscy od pierwszego kontaktu - ciężko jej tego odmówić.

Dopełnienie dla konsol dla ‘prawdziwych’ graczy – X360 i PS3, oferujących wysoko budżetowe ‘poważne’ hity, Wii sprawdza się idealnie. Nie ma to jak odpocząć od takich hardcore’owych pozycji, przy kolorowych, lekkich i łatwych tytułach. Właśnie w nich tkwi i siła i słabość Wii. Równowaga musi być w naturze, a niestety ciężko na platformach Microsoftu i Sony znaleźć jakieś miłe ‘gierki’.

Wszystko to, teoretycznie, składa się na obraz szalenie atrakcyjnej konsoli. Takiej jaką należy czym szybciej kupić. I Byłoby tak gdyby nie... cena. Rozumiem, że Nintendo nigdy nie czaiło polityki polegającej na systematycznym obniżaniu cen (za to dojenie do ostatniego grosika swych fanów mają opanowane do perfekcji) ale teraz przeginają. Wii nie ma nawet odtwarzacza dvd, a kosztuje 900 złotych. Nie piszę nawet o możliwościach oferowanych przez jego procesor. To platforma okropnie przestarzała technicznie (a więc i taniutka w produkcji – przebitkę mają podłą), dla której nie możliwe jest otrzymanie portu choćby GTA4, bo co by go miało niby przerzucić? Te wątłe bebechy?
Gry, owszem, nie odrzucają od siebie oprawą ale stawiając obok siebie najładniejsze tytuły z Wii i te z Xboxa 360, szala przechyla momentalnie na korzyść MS. Wpływa to na gry – tu wiekopomnych hitów nigdy (obym się mylił) nie będzie. To takie granie w pozycje z poprzedniej generacji, które nie zdarzyły się na niej ukazać, tylko z nowym, kiwającym ciało sterowaniem. Za takie coś nie powinno się płacić więcej niż 500 złotych. Tym bardziej, że jako jedna-jedyna konsola nie ma prawa bytu, nie zaspokajając głodu gracza chcącego jakiś głębszych wrażeń i trzeba ją uzupełnić którąś z konkurencyjnych platform.
Innymi słowy, cudny gadżet aczkolwiek absolutnie nie wart swej ceny (dla polskiego gracza), czekajmy na zdrowe obniżki – wtedy nie będzie żadnego powodu dla którego by nie przygarnąć jej pod swój dach.
Sam na to czekam, coraz bardziej się niecierpliwiąc...

cascad

The ban was to begin tomorrow but as Nintendo is going to appeal and post bond, it will be put on hold. Since they no longer make the Wavebird or original GameCube controllers, the appeal will be made so they can continue manufacturing the Wii Classic Controller. The Nunchuck was also involved in the lawsuit but was ruled that it did not infringed upon the original patent. Microsoft was also to be sued but settled out of court before the trial began.

I don't know how this will effect the market, but I hope the Armstrong the best. Just because he's a little fish in a big pond doesn't mean his patents should go unheeded.

Source: Bloomberg.com

The ban was to begin tomorrow but as Nintendo is going to appeal and post bond, it will be put on hold. Since they no longer make the Wavebird or original GameCube controllers, the appeal will be made so they can continue manufacturing the Wii Classic Controller. The Nunchuck was also involved in the lawsuit but was ruled that it did not infringed upon the original patent. Microsoft was also to be sued but settled out of court before the trial began.

I don't know how this will effect the market, but I hope the Armstrong the best. Just because he's a little fish in a big pond doesn't mean his patents should go unheeded.

Source: Bloomberg.com

A recently popular theory pins the weak American dollar as the culprit for the Wii, Wii Fit, and Mario Kart Wii shortages.  It is through shipments and sales of the last two products mentioned that this economic theory has gained credit. 

Sources state that Nintendo recently shipped 2,000,000 Wii Fit bundles to Europe, while only 500,000 were sent to the U.S.  That's a fourth!  Is Nintendo simply being unfair?  No, they are just doing business.  Currently, the euro is worth $1.59 - that's more than 150%.  With such a strong euro compared to the weakening U.S. dollar, it has been said that Europe is the new market for the Wii.

With such a demand and lack of supply for Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii, titles that unlike the console itself will loose popularity as newer titles are released, the economic theory seems to clearly trump the warehouse conspiracy ones.

But whichever  theory you believe or disbelieve, one thing is for sure:  If you want an upcomming title (Star Wars: the Force Unleashed, The Conduit, Wii Sports: Resort, etc.) PRE-ORDER IT!

FACT

-Gamestop claims that they will be receiving shipments of Mario Kart Wii at the end of the month, Wii Fit ships with Wii console shipments when available.

-Most Gamestops get their Wii related shipments on certain days and times (not all employees will disclose this information to you, but if you keep calling you'll eventually be able to figure the pattern out).

-When pre-ordering, use CircuitCity.com , they don't charge extra for pre-orders and don't charge for standard shipping on video games.

8.7/10

written by: Nick

Linux on your iPod, anyone?

We've been anxious to try our hand at Resident Evil 5 since we first got a look at the promising game earlier this year. The long-running series clearly found a cool new groove with the last entry for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2005, and hopes have skyrocketed for this highly anticipated sequel. We got a chance to play a couple of levels of this survival horror game and lived to tell the tale.

The first level that we tried was a short, tutorial-style run called "Assembly Place." Main characters Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar are in the back alleys of a shantytown when it starts. The first order of business is guiding the pair down a short path, at the end of which they drop down and enter a house. There were a few items to collect--ammo and health--on a dumpster by the door. The game's new co-op angle was front and center; the minute the option to collect the items came up, it was possible to direct Sheva to pick them up.

Once we guided Chris into the house, a lengthy cutscene kicked off. From the look of it, a fair chunk of the in-game cinematic has been shown in the previous trailers for the game. The action revolves around a dictator type speaking to a mob before an execution courtesy of a massive, hooded behemoth wielding a big axe. Shortly after the execution, the dictator spots Chris and Sheva; in retrospect, it probably wasn't the smartest thing for the pair to be watching everything go on while standing in the window. As you'd expect, the dictator and the mob aren't thrilled about the intruders, and the cutscene closes with him directing the mob to house.

We took control of Chris as the house came under siege by the masses, who could be seen through the windows. We had a few options as they started rushing, which were pretty interesting. We were able to push bookcases in front of the main door and one of the windows. We liked that; much like having the option to direct Sheva to collect items, we were able to get her to assist with the bookcase. Before we started pushing on our own bookshelf, we set her on the other, which was handy because time is of the essence when you're being set on by an angry mob. In the few seconds that we had left, we also collected loot from around the small house. As with previous games, the loot was laying in plain sight, and also hidden in drawers or left behind when smashing crates.

The level's pacing started with a slow burn, much like the first big rush of enemies in RE4, with the mob getting more and more aggressive in their attempts to enter. As we were getting our bearings, Sheva helpfully started shooting at anyone who showed their face in windows. We were actually able to take out quite a few by shooting them through the windows, but eventually the mob kicked in the main door and started streaming in. As if that wasn't bad enough, another highly motivated group started dropping down from a hole that they had made in the roof. The final kicker was when a massive, axe-wielding hulk smashed his way through the main wall...clearly a sign that it was time to get out.

We snaked past Mr. Axe and the enemies streaming into the house and took to the streets. Besides affording us more room to maneuver, the streets were littered with a number of useful items. There were crates to break that yielded assorted ammo, grenades, health canisters, and gold. More importantly, there were a few houses that we could loot, one of which contained an AK-47. Flammable barrels were the other useful element in the outdoors. Although they didn't explode, the fire that they kicked up took out most enemies, with the exception of the axe wielder who, we discovered, could kill us with just two hits.

Thankfully, one of the best perks of having Sheva around was that, when Chris' health was low or when he was about to get killed by a second axe blow, she could restore some of his health. This doesn't mean that you won't die, because we did; Sheva needs to be near you when you're on the brink of death. Regardless, it's certainly a handy mechanic. Once we survived long enough, we triggered another cutscene that featured a military helicopter coming in and tearing things up with an aerial salvo that cleared out most of the enemies in the town center.

We explored the cleared town a bit and made our way farther up, coming across a few more enemies, including some Molotov cocktail-pitching ones. We were able to shoot the bottles out of their hands as they were getting ready to throw, which had the added bonus of setting the enemy on fire. This short segment also introduced a new flying enemy that was all about clinging to our face and murdering us. Thankfully, they didn't stand up to a volley of bullets. The level ended when we reached a large gate.

The second level that we tried offered an even greater challenge but showed off more of the possibilities of co-op. The level, called "Shanty Town", started in the claustrophobic streets of a city. The initial run was simple enough, in that we guided Chris and Sheva through some gates and side streets, which had an assortment of ammo and health pickups. When we finally met with some enemies, they were fairly easy to deal with. However, things got complicated when our path through a building was blocked by a padlocked set of doors. We wound up heading to the top of the building and performing an assisted leap with Sheva to send her to a building across the way. Upon landing, she was beset by enemies and we were forced to cover for her, using a pistol or a sniper rifle, as she made her way down the building and onto the streets to the door blocking our way, which she helpfully opened.

Once the team was reunited, we started making our way up the streets, dealing with enemies and collecting loot. As we reached the end of the street we triggered a cutscene that introduced us to what is the front-runner on our most-hated enemy list in this game: a skinny, burlap-sack-and-hood-wearing, chainsaw-wielding fiend committed to gutting you. The skinny foe was agile and quick, which is a bad combination when mixed with the aggro-slash-crazy vibe he had going. The level ended when he was defeated, which took equal parts bullets, grenades, explosive barrels, and lucky dodging.

The two levels gave us a good sampling of the action that Capcom is packing into the promising game and also served as a good introduction to the co-op mechanic with Sheva. The demo's AI control of her was surprisingly helpful, which isn't always the case in games that pair you with an artificial buddy. She was handy and pretty aggressive when the action heated up. She got a little greedy with the loot at times, and she wound up Hoovering some much-needed ammo, but it's hard to hate considering how often she saved our life.

It's possible to share or request loot and weapons from Sheva, which helped make up for her acquisitive tendencies, although we wish that we could have split ammo to ensure that she wasn't left dry. The assisted jumping and climbing moves in the demo were similar to those in Army of Two, albeit a bit more straightforward; the moves simply involved a button press that triggered a short cinematic of the move executing. The life-saving bit was a nice touch that was actually dynamic and resulted in Sheva using a healing item if she had one, which would heal you both, or simply using an adrenaline shot that restored a small amount of life to you. You could return the favor during gameplay, given that she calls out for help when cornered. In the rare circumstances when she either wandered off during battle, or in which we were lost in a desperate rush to avoid trouble, we could call her back our way or locate her position by hitting a bumper and making our way to her.

The control scheme basically follows the RE4 model and adds new features, such as calling your partner and the new context-sensitive actions with Sheva, although so far we saw only a jump and a leap. Like before, you'll be able to aim and shoot with ease as well as use your knife when ammo is spare. You'll also be doing much shaking of the analog stick to get enemies off of you. The game handled well, and the new features fit in pretty seamlessly once you adjust to them.

The visuals in the game are looking fantastic, even in the work-in-progress version that we played. The game is sticking close to the gritty, realistic art style of RE4, which works well with its African setting and the tone. The color palette is a bit washed-out but the gray hue adds to the grim feel of the proceedings. Likewise, the character models look great and feature a ton of detail. We especially like how your enemies occasionally have their faces burst into tentacles when you're getting attacked, which raises some questions about what the heck is going on. The new destructible elements in the environment are a cool albeit unsettling touch. There's an added sense of danger now because nowhere is 100 percent secure or safe. As far as performance goes, the game purred along nicely, although there were some obvious work-in-progress loads for the cinematics.

At the moment, Resident Evil 5 is looking like a wickedly good debut for the series on the current generation of consoles. The game appears to be building smartly on RE4's winning revamp of the series. The addition of Sheva is interesting and the promise of online co-op play has us really excited. Though the gameplay may be pretty similar to that in the previous game, that's hardly a fault. Resident Evil 5 is slated to ship on March 13, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

k. Enough daily updates about Tales XD

The NPD numbers were released yesterday and Nintendo is back on top. It is the number 1 company in the US, as well as Japan, and probably Europe. The world basically. As a Nintendo fan I should be happy, but I'm not. There are no future games that I care about. Not even Animal Crossing: City Folk. Why don't I care about that? Because I have no time to devote to a game that requires my attention every single day. I don't think I could play it again like I did the GCN version, after all, I'm in college now, not high school. But you know what is truly sad about all this. I'm more excited about non-Nintendo Wii games. Games like MadWorld, The Conduit, and the recently announced port of Dead Rising.

And so, I took the decision to buy a HD console. I chose the Xbox 360. Why? Frankly, because of the exclusives. There are only 3 that matter to me from Sony's camp. Resistance and Killzone are FPSs and well, that's why there is Gears of War, and Halo. And there is God of War 3. I'm sure it will kick ass but frankly, it is not enough, not now they lost FFXIII. No, LittleBigPlanet is not something that interests me.

So, I'm going with the Xbox 360. Hopefully I'll be able to get it for 300 dollars. With it I'm getting Gears of War, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Mass Effect. And the new Banjo game is too good to pass up because I loved the old N64 ones, I think that influenced my decision a lot as well. Anyway, I'll be looking for my new console soon.

Animal Crossing started it's run on the Nintendo 64, with the Japan-only release in April of 2001, Dōbutsu no Mori, which literally means "Animal Forest." The game was marketed as a Life Simulation game, and gained attention for its unique gameplay. December of that same year, Nintendo re-released the game in Japan for the Gamecube, and made use of the real-time internal clock to keep track of time in the game.

Animal Crossing made its debut in the US September 15th, 2002, and recieved great consumer and critical reception. X-Play dubbed the game the 7th best game on the Gamecube, and was given high ratings by most game reviewers.

The success of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube and the popularity of the Nintendo DS prompted the creation of an Animal Crossing port for the DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, which released worldwide in the fall of 2005. It was the first true sequel for the series, since all the versions before it were ports and remakes of the original game. The game added new features which expanded the current village layout, and made use of the NIntendo Wi-Fi Connection feature for the DS by allowing a player's friends to visit their village.

Memorable characters such as Tom Nook and Resetti, slow-paced but rewarding gameplay, and a unique environment have all helped make Animal Crossing one of Nintendo's best-selling franchises of this decade. According to the Nintendo site, a November release for Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii is planned for the US release.