The PlayStation 4 is Real

Aside from my raging disregard for freaking polygons, I'm kind of excited about the PlayStation 4.  Let me tell you why:

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I didn't know that I wanted to do this.  I didn't know myself to be a slightly vain person who wanted to instantly share their awesome(read: terrible) game play with the world, but I AM.  I can instantly stream my super awesome Mortal Kombat X: The Reckoning videos with everyone I know and then put it on Twitter?  I'm in, instantly(quite literally).

More exciting than the superficial "look what I can do" opportunities are what developers can do with this for  potential matchmaking opportunities.  Imagine a group of people watching a best of 3 fighting game or a 3 lap circuit waiting in the wings to take on the winner or top 3.  Granted, this is not so different from things available on PC, but the divide is getting narrower and I want to embrace it as it comes.

Download And Play?

Yes, yes, I know that this is a feature held by hundreds of PC games.  I understand that it isn't anything new, but it's such a great feature for a console generation that is guiding us slowly, but surely, to digital media.

Me: "Man, that game got great reviews and is right up my ally for style, I want to play it, NOW"

PS4: "Ok"

Me: "I'm not joking... NOW"

PS4: "Ok"

Simple, I know, but it's a world of difference for my time crunch.  Also: demos.  I hate waiting for Demos.  Now, I don't have to.

Getting Vita in the Game

I've had absolutely no reason to get a PS Vita.  None.  I don't regret not having one and I don't feel the need to get one... Until PlayStation 4 lets me play it's games on a Vita.  I've already sold my soul to Nintendo's Wii U(Also a decision I stand by), so why wouldn't I be excited for another system employing the same methodology and(for me) world changing control schemes.  Asymmetric game play is what I want all the time for now and forever.

What I Miss

PlayStation 2.  That's the last Sony game system I've owned and it was arguably the greatest game system I've owned.  I believe that Sony can deliver that again.  I believe that in their misguided search for poly-mega-flopagons, they create a sandbox for developers to make some of the most beautiful and rich games on the market.  I hope they do it again.

Am I upset that they don't have backwards compatibility right now? Yes.  Do I think that 90% of what was said during the announcement was graphical nonsense? Yes, but at the heart of the matter, this is a console on which some of my favorite medium's great games are going to be built.  I can't help but be excited for the prospect.  No matter my allegiance, I want great games.

There are other things to be excited about, but nothing rang true like these bullets did.  In the meantime, I have some Scribblenauts to play.  

Nintendo Land: What I Didn't Expect

When you pick up and play a Nintendo Mini-game compilation, you have certain expectations.  You think of playful versions of Nintendo's already playful franchises.  I imagine repetitive actions that must be performed at lightening speeds.  I remember always having four people in a room dying with laughter only to be screwed by some die roll or whim in the end.  These are the things that I expect.

This post is about what I didn't expect from Nintendo Land and why it impressed me.  We'll start from the top:

Single Player Experiences: If there is anything I don't expect to do with a Mini-game-fest is play alone. Historically the whole point is to encourage single couch multiplayer wrapped in a package of hilarity and fun.  Imagine playing Mario Party or Rayman Raving Rabbids by yourself.  You'd be competing with no one in a room with no one because the value is inherently tied to the multiplayer.  Nintendo Land on the other hand has 6 games, half of the games, that are single player only.  This strong emphasis is strange to see.  Did you ever sit around(or stand when appropriate) playing Wii Sports or Wii Play by yourself?  No, those games, once again, revolved around the multiplayer and barely offered the chance to play single player.

I think the part that really sold me though is that these single player offerings aren't bad.  In fact, some are even good!  While Takamaru's Ninja Castle and Captain Falcon's Twister Race bottom out my personal ratings, the rest of the options are not only worth checking out, but worth investing some time into.  Octopus Dance is a competent ape of Rhythm Heaven.  Yoshi's Cart is a puzzler that offers something I've never seen before in terms of translating from big to little screen.  Donkey Kong Crash Course is the kind of thing I can play for days, not unlike those labyrinth boxes or apps you can find on your phone.  Then Balloon Trip Breeze may be the best in the bunch in terms of replayability and fun.

Engage the Living Room:  All the single player experiences lead me into my next point of interest.  Historically, Nintendo has always been about same couch multiplayer and getting people of all ages and skill level into the games.  With Nintendo Land, they also seem to be giving those not in the game something to watch.  They're putting on a show.  Most of the mini games have an option to see the camera's image streaming the player's face from the game pad.  Even the single player games offer something to watch when I'm not playing.  I enjoy planning out the route for Yoshi's Cart and watching as the player's trail plays out.  People not playing the game, have a reason to watch and, for me at least, it's pretty engaging.

Replayability:  Once you figure out exactly the broken, awkward bowling swing that get's you the best scores, Wii Bowling looses it's luster.  Once the new wears off, Mini Games get returned to the used game shop.  This is where Nintendo Land borrowed a couple ideas from other major blockbusters, namely, unlockables.  As you play through the multiplayer and single player games within Nintendo Land, you will stumble across, find, and reveal all kinds of secrets including new maps and attractions.  While the "tutor" computer-thing is annoying and unable to be skipped, it does point out some really neat stuff wrapped up in this collection.  Essentially, Nintendo Land set out to make people want to play their silly little games again and again.  With me, it worked.

Nintendo Land doesn't reveal motion gaming to the masses like Wii Sports did.  It doesn't create a competitive yelling fest like early Mario Party's did.  It does, however, introduce the strengths of the game pad, asymmetric multiplayer(I'll spend some time on this later) and engage a watching audience like few games have tried before.  It does all this while being a really entertaining game with a lot of options.

Pre Ordered

I pre ordered a Wii U.

This wasn't a surprise.  I meant to.  When I saw the tablet controller and HD graphics I wanted it sometime after launch. When they promised I could keep my Downloaded games from Wii Ware and Virtual Console, I was ready to line up.  When they said I could play New Super Mario Bros. U on the tablet by itself while other people do unimportant things on the television, I started saving my money.

Thanks Nintendo

Then Nintendo Direct happened.  I was already on Nintendo's side, what more could they offer to the guy who just wanted to give them my money already?

Well, I'll tell you... and what they gave me wasn't all directly from Nintendo...

I reach the counter, tell the owner that I want to pre order the Wii U.  He then hands me two lists: one, a list of hardware that can be pre ordered and then a list of games that can be pre ordered.  He looked down at them and he stops me: "Wait, I need to print the updated copies."

It was in this moment that I saw the entire, announced, launch game list.  There were some twenty five to thirty games here.  New Super Mario Bros. U, Scribblenauts, ZombieU, Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Wonderful 101 and on.  There were some third party cash grabs in there, but when isn't there?  There were some ports of Xbox and PlayStation games, but who cares?  I think back to the Wii's launch and I'm suddenly jealous in the past of my future self while I waited in line waiting for the Wii to get the console and my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; only Twilight Princess...  This time, when I wait in line for a Nintendo Console, I won't have to be getting one game... I can get several.

The third party support of Wii U is outstanding so far.  Granted, I haven't gotten my hands on any of these things, but it's there.  People are showing up with games for a system that a lot of people have written off.  Oh, and I get a Mario game at launch...

Besides launch titles, the online integration at Nintendo Direct, stunned me.  I expected Hulu and Netflix, but Amazon and TiVo?  IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes?  Interactive quizzes during shows?  Friend's shared playlists to look over for ideas on what to watch?  Sports score updates?  What is happening?  Suddenly the dream to have Nintendo's little white box as the center of living room entertainment isn't so crazy, but it's the Wii U... not the Wii.

Then, as if it was thrown in, Nintendo mentions briefly that pretty much all memory solutions are supported by the Wii U.  Not as a stylistic choice, but because memory is getting cheaper and they want to offer us an option.  Then they tease Bayonetta 2, exclusively.  Then they seal the deal: $300 for white, $350 for black and a hard drive.

I get an email within minutes of the conference ending: "Gamestop is now accepting pre orders for the Wii U"... yeah they are...

A Tale of Two Purposes: Skyward Sword and Skyrim

I’m playing through two game simultaneously right now, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  First a closer look at what those two titles are about, just so I don’t ramble on and lose those that have no idea what those games are.  

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I’ll refer to it as Skyrim from here on out, is a fantasy Western RPG.  All that means is that you assume the role of a character and play through the game as that character.(RPG =  Role Playing Game)  This genre was once a very narrow description of games, today, RPG’s cannot be defined in a thousand words because of their variety and evolution.  So I’ll just say that Skyrim is a game where anything within the game’s universe is possible.  

It is set in a world of knights, kings, assassination, magic, demons, dragons, elves, orcs and anything else Tolkien has ever written about.  It isn’t based off of Tolkien by any means, but is certainly derived from the basis of fantasy that he set years ago.  You enter the world as a supposed criminal crossing the border into the land of Skyrim.

The game is a sequel(the fifth in a line of games) that explore this world and lore created years ago.  The way you play is completely up to you.  You can be a sneak-thief, you can be a mage, you can be a knight, you can be a conjurer that raises the dead to your defense, you can be a blacksmith, you can be an assassin: literally anything you want to, as long as it fits into the universe at hand, you can do.  You don’t even have to play the story, the world itself is filled with content outside of the story that actually drives the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I’ll refer to as Skyward Sword, is also a fantasy RPG, but it is pretty obviously eastern.(you’d have to see the game to understand, but just accept that if you were to play it, you would see imagery and lines of dialogue that make no sense to a western population, but within the eastern canon, make perfect sense i.e. cats with giant ears that fly)

Skyward Sword lacks everything open and free that Skyrim embraces.  There are a few side stories, but they are all fluff to the main event.  Within Skyward Sword, you will play as Link and Link will be the same person no matter who plays him.  He has a destiny and must complete his destiny to save the world and, in this case, his girl, Zelda.  Instead of a fully realized world with options and choices, it is much more linear, more like reading a book.

These two games represent a very interesting crux in the world of gaming right now.  They are both single player games(as opposed to multiplayer games where you play with other people) and they are both RPG’s, but they are as different as Pac-Man and Street Fighter.  The crux is this: are games better when they allow for choice and freedom or are they better when they tell a linear story and limit the freedom of the player.  Most people I know, or more specifically, most of the people I talk to about games, prefer the freedom of Skyrim.  

I’ve put about 20 hours into Skyrim and I’ve spent, literally, as little time as possible on the story, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.  I’ve killed dragons, forged armor or all kinds of types and styles, I’ve destroyed necromancer dungeons that were threatening small towns, but I have no idea what is happening in the story, meaning, there is little to no weight on the quests I’m involved in.  Bad things happen when I fail, but the world moves on.  

There is weight in the story.  On the other hand, in Skyward Sword, I’ve played through just over half of the story and have enjoyed every minute of it.  Each part of the world is filled with puzzles and tasks for me to overcome in order to find my childhood friend and love of my life, Zelda.  She was kidnapped and I have to find her.  There are temples where I find tools to help me in my quest and Zelda is persistently kept out of reach as I move forward.  The character of Link has shifted.  I once was looked down upon as just a boy, but now, I’ve proved myself as the hero, chosen by the gods and I am on a mission.  There is a strong cinematic story that arcs through this game.

The most interesting thing that I find between these two experiences is that I kind of wish they were combined:  Skyward Sword employs awesome motion controls that mimic my sword strikes exactly, the combat and story are some of the best I’ve ever experienced in game, but the world is narrow and limited when I compare it to Skyrim.  Skyrim is wonderfully realized a world.  You can literally get lost in this sixteen digital square miles and just live as a hunter-scavenger in the woods and mountains, but the story is less compelling and less important because of the huge world it is in.  The button pushing combat is weak when compared to Skyward Sword.

The beauty is that both are phenomenal, but they address different drives within my mind: open freedom vs concise storytelling.

Let's Take Another Look: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is often lauded as one of the greatest games of all time.  In fact, arguments can be made for it being THE greatest game of all time as long as you're in the right group of people.    Personally, I have bought 3 copies of the game all on different systems and had the pleasure of playing the newest release of the game on Nintendo's 3DS.  Say what you will about remakes, cashing in on established titles and Nintendo being stuck in the past, but the most recent remake of Ocarina of Time is by far the best version of the game.

I'll address the minor issues first: the 3D effect is excellent, but doesn't add anything to the experience.  Also, having to play through the main quest(a 5th time for me) to unlock the Master Quest(which would have been only a 2nd time) is unnecessary in my opinion, but I can understand the thought for first time players.  Those are, literally, my only issues with the game.  To be fair, I had very few issues with the original release of the game.(curse you Water Temple)

I don't feel like taking the time to write a hyper detailed review on a game I first played in 1998.  Instead, I want to look at the improvements to the award winning formula.  First the graphics: with several updated textures and new character models, the game is quite a bit easier on the eyes.  Pair that with the 3D effect and it becomes a whole new visual experience.

Now game play: while the game play didn't see the same overhaul that the graphics received, the few key components made the experience far better.  The display was overhauled and moved to the lower screen on the 3DS.  This move in addition to an extra slot to which items can be assigned and a designated ocarina button make for a beautiful decluttering of the main screen and a more flexible item inventory.  You wouldn't think that having a single additional item to assign would make that much of a difference, but any veteran to the game will be elated to know that bouncing between iron boots, bow, bombs, ocarina, and the hookshot in the Water Temple no longer causes any pause menu frustration.  The whole experience benefits from this new scheme.

Gyroscopic aiming and looking is perfectly functional and can be used in conjunction with circle pad aiming to make for very dexterous accuracy.  I wouldn't call the gyroscope a great addition, but it works and doesn't detract.  You can always turn it off if you want.

I can say without question that this is the definitive version of this classic experience.  The improved visuals, tweaking, but not overhauling, the controls, decluttering the main screen, inclusion of the Master Quest and a  boss battle mode just make the package sweeter and extend the game play.  I actually found myself quite surprised that a boss battle mode hadn't been included in a previous release, it's quite satisfying to go back and fight some of the bosses.

Console Wars: The Next Generation

There's been a lot of talk about the next-next generation of consoles. The PS4, the XBox 720, Wii 2, all of these concepts and ideas have been floating out there for the better part of 2 years. The irony being, of course, that the Wii and PS3 are only a little over three years old and the XBox 360 is closer to six.

When I look around, however, I don't know that I need a next generation of console. I have a Wii, and while it isn't the most powerful system out there by any stretch, There haven't been any games that have pushed it to its limits. Super Mario Galaxy came close as for visuals and unique gameplay experiencs. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the best local and online multiplayer experience on Wii. World of Goo is one of the pinnacles of story telling in modern gaming and one of the best puzzle games ever. Even the controls on the Wii are continuing to be perfected. I know that the Wii can do more.

XBox 360, even having been out for nearly six years hasn't been eclipsed in its abilities. Every year it seems that there are new games coming out that push the graphical boundaries on the 360. With Natal coming out in the next two years, a whole new collection of ideas and gameplay options will be attempted. If you don't know what Natal is, do some quick research. It's an interesting idea that could really do some neat things in the world of gaming, particularly in the advent of 3-D gaming.

It's hard for me to even talk about the PS3. I almost want to chalk up the first year and a half of the PS3's lifespan as a mistake and maybe that it didn't happen at all. It hasn't been until this second half of this past year and now into this year that there are games that even play on the same field as the abilities as the PS3. The PS3 was designed to last about ten years on the market because of the way the hard drive and processing cores were built. To this day, no one has even pushed the PS3 even a little bit. Not that there haven't been great, even excellent, games for the PS3, only that there haven't been any games worth the initial $600 price tag. The hardware was worth that much, however it is software that sells hardware.

With all that said, I'm pretty sure that Nintendo will be the first to upgrade. It will be a similar style to the Wii, but it will have quite a bit more processing power. They would be foolish to change the controls, I think that the Wii-mote with the Wii Motion + and the accompanied nunchuck is perfect for most gaming, if not all. They will adopt a new button layout, but only to make buttons more accessible. Next will be the XBox 720, but only after Microsoft can't keep up with the abilities of the PS3. All I'm saying is that it may be a while.

The Metroid Prime Trilogy: A First Person Shooter... Kind of...

So I'm playing through the Metroid Prime Trilogy. The first two of the set were released on GameCube a few years ago and the final was released on Wii about a year and a half maybe 2 years ago. They then updated the graphics from the first two games, implemented Wii controls and released the whole trilogy, all three games, for $50... I then found it on sale at Target for $30 and had to have it... seriously? Three games from one of my favorite titles(Metroid) for $30? All I'm saying is that it's an awesome deal.

So I don't know how much you know about Metroid Prime. Metroid started as a Side Scrolling puzzle platformer on NES. The defining game in the series was a similar style game on SNES: "Super Metroid". Then after the N64 on the GameCube, Metroid was changed from a 2-D platformer into a 3-D First person shooter: "Metroid Prime".

There's the brief history for you. I've played the first and the third games and I'm really looking forward to playing the second one. But I'm troubled by a few things: while it is a FPS, it isn't like any other FPS I've ever played. The game is all about solidarity, being alone. The soundtrack, the level designs, the details, everything identifies you as this person who is very, very alone. Other FPS(i.e. Halo, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor) are all about the giant battles, the combat, being a one man army. Not this game; it finds success in forcing the player to be alone and to solve these puzzles not knowing when a flood of enemies will jump out at you(and they do jump out at you... very creepy)

The funny thing to me is that even though FPS, First Person Shooter, is really only a description of the camera angle and what kind of weapons you have, still that label: FPS, means a lot more than that. I hear about a game being a First Person Shooter and instantly I imagine a war game. I imagine the big explosions and fighting along side other people. When I hear FPS, I don't think about anything that describes Metroid Prime except for the fact that I see through the character's eyes and use a gun.

Anyway, I'm loving the games, it's actually got a pretty cool local multiplayer if we ever get a chance.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Is It Really That New?

Rachel and I just played through New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Awesome game. No doubt in my mind that it is the best 2-D Mario game to come out... maybe ever. Ultimately it is the same game that I've been playing since I was 4 years old, but... bigger, more forgiving, multiplayer, and implements some really cool platforming puzzles.

So coolest thing about this game is that up to four people can play at the same time, it gets a little hectic, but it so much fun. The best thing about four people being able to play is that just about everyone who's ever played a video game knows how to play this game, it's just like the old game. Objective: save princess. How do we save her? Find Bowser and beat him. Where is Bowser? I don't know, just keep running to the right and we'll find him eventually. Simple, difficult, but so much fun.

I really have few complaints about the game. Some people were upset that it didn't really reinvent 2-D platforming. They said it was too much like the old games. To me, that is this game's greatest strength. I love that Dean and Debra(in laws) played this with me. I love that even Gwendolyn(sister-in-law) played; even Isaiah(4 year old) was able to pick it up and play along. It was kind of funny, they all started by asking: "How do I play? What do I do?" until they realized that this was no different than the game they had played before.

Now, this isn't all to say that all these people can play the game so it is too easy. Don't get me wrong, there are some platforming challenges in this game that make me nervous. I died a bunch, I had to practice and try new things. Then after the main levels just trying to survive, there are three giant star coins per level that you have to find to unlock the final 9th world and that's after there are around 6-8 levels in the first 8 worlds. All that to say, it's a long, moderately difficult game.

So to answer the first question: Is it really that new? No, but that's it's best quality to me.