Posts Tagged ‘Nintendo Wii’
February 15th, 2009
Nintendo recently showed off their Spring 2009 release list. Most of the titles are no surprise, but there are three that I know people have been waiting for for a long time. Chances are that you probably should be as well.
Though these games are listed is in no particularly importance, the first one I’d like to mention is House of the Dead: Overkill, for the Wii. Overkill has seen significant hype from fans of on-rails shooters. The story is taking place as a prequel to the main House of the Dead games, and has been described as a reboot of the entire zombie-infested series.
As with any on-rails shooter, gameplay moves in a mostly linear fashion. The viewpoint moves along a fixed route while you point and shoot enemies you see with your Wii remote. One addition to this aspect Overkill provides is that you can actually turn the camera to the left or right, where you will often see areas containing health upgrades, ammo, and the like. The trick is to do this at an ideal moment, when you know you won’t get attacked from the side by vicious zombies while you are obtaining the bonuses.
Overkill will be the first official, original release in the series for years on home consoles. There are a lot of people who don’t want to miss it.
This next game is also for Wii, called Rune Factory: Frontier. Rune Factory is a spinoff of the widely acclaimed farming life simulation Harvest Moon. What seperates them is that Rune Factory is based in a fantasy world.
There’s really many possibilities for this franchise. Not only will players be farming and cultivating their own land, but also building and obtaining weapons whilst defeating monsters that threaton your territory. Some might say it’s everything Harvest Moon was and more.
Though details are somewhat scarce, but both Rune Factory 1 and 2 have been very well recieved, so we know that at least the core principles work. Besides, it’s being developed by renowned RPG maker XSEED Games, so the project is in good hands.
The last game I wanted to mention is a DS game: Pokemon Platinum. The Pokemon series is probably one of the most wellknown of RPG series’ almost worldwide, second only to Final Fantasy and probably DragonQuest.
The concept is simple: you capture and train Pokemon to defeat other Pokemon trainers, until you’ve reached the top. Players travel to all kinds of locatons in their journey, meeting and capturing all kinds of Pokemon. In addition to becoming the ultimate trainer, another objective the player is usually assigned near the beginning of the game is to log every single Pokemon in existance using PokeDex. Your PokeDex automatically records every Pokemon you meet in battle. As you can imagine, traveling the country in search of every last Pokemon can be an addictive pastime. Some people even take things to the extreme and decide to capture every single Pokemon as well as log them.
Not only will Pokemon Platinum introduce an entirely new and story driven adventure, but it will also take the online capabilities of Pokemon to a whole new level. Platinum introduce the Wi-Fi Plaza, an online room where up to 20 players can meet and engage in mini-games and other activities. Also, using the game’s “Vs. Battle Recorder”, you can posting videos of your battles in the Global Terminal. In addition, Nintendo’s official report mentioned this: “Pokémon Platinum features a new Battle Frontier, where the toughest Trainers can test their skills in new ways.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounds like a great way to keep playing and leveling up Pokemon, even after you’ve beat the game.
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October 28th, 2008
October 25th, 2008
Wii Sports is a game that initially shipped with the Nintendo Wii Console. Its popularity is partially due to realistic gameplay – not with the game graphics but due to how the games are played. They mimic real-world sports games.
For example, to hit the ball in the tennis game, one merely swings the controller to the left or right. One does not have to fiddle with a small controller pad to play the game. To hit a baseball, one holds the controller similar to how one would hold a baseball bat. This is the most realistic game play we have ever seen for sports video games.
The games included are tennis, baseball, boxing, bowling, and golf. The boxing game requires a separate “nunchuck” which plugs into the controller.
All games include training, standard play, several multiplayer choices, and the ability to create your own characters.
The Popular Wii Sports
The training allows one to hone in on one of three different actions for each sport. Just as in real life, training or practice helps to improve your performance. In tennis, one can focus on returning the ball or placing the ball within a specific area. In baseball, one can practice pitching or batting. Boxing training is useful for learning how to duck and weave and throw your punches at just the right moment.
The standard gameplay involves one player playing against the computer. In some modes, defeating a computer opponent will often result in the gaining of “experience”. With enough experience, your rank increases. One’s rank is cause for bragging rights among his or her fellow gamers.
The multiplayer option allows two, three, or four players to compete against one another. This is Wii Sports at its most immersive and rewarding. Its one thing to pit your skill against a challenging computer player, another to play with living, breathing people whose real-life movements (as well as yours) directly correspond with onscreen gameplay. Of course, each player must have his or her own controller.
With Wii Sports, you can create your own characters and save them for later use. To create your own character, one simply starts with a character from the “Mii channel”. The character can then be customized to one’s own liking. Some of these characters can be used in games other than Wii Sports.
Many gamers enjoy saving their Wii Sports characters to the Wii remote controller, and will take them to a friend’s house, and insert the character into the game at the friend’s house. This adds greater personality to the gaming experience.
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October 20th, 2008
The Nintendo Wii is a radical departure not only for Nintendo, but for video gaming across the board. Nintendo took a gamble but it obviously paid off, since it is now the number one selling video console.
What makes the Wii different? We can highlight two areas: how the games are played and who the target market is.
Wii gameplay is nothing short of a gaming revolution. For over twenty-five years, gamers were forced to hold a small gamepad or joystick. Both types of the traditional controller were prone to create hand and fingers cramps. Certain kinds of controllers with fairly sharp corners, most notably the Nintendo NES, were proned to drill gouged-out areas on the inside of gamers’ hands. Apparently the games were so intriguing that they ignored the pain and kept playing!
A common feature of the traditional controller is they require quick movement of the players’ thumbs and in some cases, fingers. While the Wii controllers also contain a few buttons that are controlled by thumbs and fingers, the primary movements are enacted by hand movement. This is a much more natural type of play that is very satisfying to many people.
This new style of controller lends itself very well to certain types of gameplay, most notably sports such as baseball or tennis. Nintendo has constructed their system so the controller is held and operated in a fashion very similar to the method in which the actual sport is played. So when you are a batter in a baseball game, you must hold the controller in a position as you would a baseball bat. When hitting a tennis ball, you merely flick your wrist just like you would with a tennis racquet.
This leads to the next area which makes the Wii stand out. With this product, Nintendo is targetting people who have not traditionally played video games while at the same time, creating a system that current gamers can appreciate and enjoy. Not everyone can get the hang of grasping a controller with both hands, and for both those types of people, the Wii is a perfect choice.
Nintendo’s newest console and it’s Wii Remote technology remain unrivaled, and for the most part, unchallenged. The exceptions are that of Sony’s PS3 “Sixaxis” controller, and that was a last-minute deal, just months before the PlayStation 3 was released and not long after the Wii’s motion-sensing technology was announced. The Sixasis controller incorporates some of the motion-sensing aspects of the Wii but retains the old familiar controller style.
Also, Microsoft recently announced the development of an Xbox 360 “Remote” that is reported to showcase the same technology as the Wii remote. What this next Xbox “Remote” will deliver in terms of gaming experience remains to be seen.
Nintendo is not sitting on its heels and continues to blaze new trails. For example, a reported new technological enhancement will plug into the Wii remote and provide more accurate sensing. This will lead to a better gaming playfield for everyone as Sony and Microsoft try to catch up.
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