Wii Burger

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WiiFeed 2009

WiiFeed.net (part of WiiNintendo.net) has revamped the entire section for 2009.
WiiFeed is a one stop resource for up to the minute news/videos/photos about the Wii, we compiled 26 resources updated every few seconds:
- WiiNintendo
- GoNintendo
- Nintendo Wii Fanboy
- IGN Wii
- Gamespot Wii
- Destructoid Wii
- YouTube – Broadcast Your Wii
- Kotaku Wii
- Wii Folder
- GameWeasel
- [...]

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Why did my SNES turn yellow?

I’ve always wondered this, my NES from 1985 looks great, but my 1991 SNES looks like the dogs used it to relieve themselves. Luckily for me (and anyone else who wonders such trivial matters) the internet helps solve the problem. The great follows over at Vintage Computing and Gaming wrote up a great [...]

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Steel Battalion coming to Wii

Well looks like it is rumor no more as Capcom has confirmed that Steel Battalion is indeed in development and will be priced at around $45 as opposed to the Xbox version costing around $200. The game will support the Wii Balance Board as well as the Wii Wheel (finally this can be more of [...]

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Biggest Disapointment of the Year

Gino D:

Biggest Disappointment: Nintendo

Runner’s Up: Too Human, Spore.

Comments: Well, I could easily give away a game as the biggest flop this year (Too Human, I’m looking at you!), but generally speaking, Nintendo not releasing more first-party titles this year is the biggest disappointment of all. Don’t get me wrong, Mario Kart Wii and Brawl are pretty much up there, but I was expecting Nintendo to roll out a bigger and more substantial library for the Wii and DS to compete with other first-party titles of the other major players.

Biggest Disappointment: PlayStation Home

Runner’s Up: Haze, Wii Music

Comments: Home isn’t a game, but it’s so disappointing that I’m putting it in here anyway. Boohoo for you, but it’s true. I’m sure it has a bright future ahead of it, but its launch is purely dismal.

Biggest Disappointment: Fallout 3

Runner Up: Sadness

Comments: Fallout 3 – It’s a good enough game if you judge it on its own merits, but I wanted a true Fallout 3 sequel dammit, not a glorified Oblivion mod. Sadness – STILL no gameplay footage. What the hell, Nibris?

Biggest Disappointment: Chrono Trigger DS

Comments: Chrono Trigger DS is hardly any different from the PS1 remake… seeing the 3D look in the trailers got me thinking that it might have a few scenes in 3D, but no..why go hyping it up when all we’re gonna get is the same game on a different platform? If it’s to have Chrono Trigger on mobile, emulators would’ve done the job a long time ago – and for free..

Biggest Disappointment: Resistance 2

Runner Up: Age of Conan

Comments: Understand that Resistance 2 is by no means a bad game, not even an average game, it’s just not what I was hoping for. The multiplayer and co-op aspects are brilliantly put together but the single player game just feels… bland, like an afterthought.  Explosions erupt all around you, chaos ensues, aliens, humans engaged in epic combat on a massive scale, it’s mad and it looks gorgeous… but it never really comes alive.

As far as Age of Conan goes, it’s actually a pretty damn good MMO now, but for months after launch it was a challenge just to play for any period of time without a crash to desktop. So much potential. Please Lord, let Star Trek Online be perfect.

What say you guyses?

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Words from Gino D: New IPs, are they a dying breed?

If you look at some of the upcoming games, most of them seem to be sequels, prequels, or spinoffs of already established franchises: Uncharted 2, God of War 3, Patapon 2, BioShock 2, Resident Evil 5… the list goes on. And I’ve heard too many complaints out there saying that devs seem to be getting less creative and are opting for the tried-and-tested approach.

Guess what though? It’s not so much as going the safe route, but to a developer, it’s about making the most of your assets and changing the playing field among their competitors. The best explanation I could find of this “why are there so many sequels all of a sudden?” phenomenon comes from Insomniac Games‘ Ted Price:

“Developers can hit the ground running with sequels. The game’s story and art style have a solid base, the tech and tools are stable and the basic gameplay mechanics have gone through plenty of tuning in the first game. It’s certainly a liberating experience when you’re no longer arguing over the main character’s name, or waiting for basic systems to be implemented. The end result is usually a game that’s bigger, more polished and has more innovative features than the original game.” [Full Article]

And sequels aren’t a bad thing either. If you look at how sequels have been for the past year (MGS4, GTA4, CoD4, Gears of War 2, etc.), they’ve more than proven that not all sequels suck donkey balls – given that the devs deliver in their promise to bring a game that’s “bigger, more polished, and has more innovative features than the original game,” to quote Price again. So… if this trend of actually upping the ante with a sequel continues into 2009 and beyond, then by gods!, can you imagine how so much cooler something like God of War 3 would be?

Now if sequels aren’t your thing, there are still a handful of new IPs to look out for too: Heavy Rain and Hydrophobia are just two games that I personally want to keep close tabs on. But in short, to answer my own question: no, I don’t think new IPs are a dying breed. It just seems like it because most of the popular games this year have been sequels, with some of the new IPs (I’m not saying all) having to follow in the shadow of the bigger sequels: MGS4, GTA4, Fallout 3, and a handful of others on the GotY lists.

Here’s a thought I want to leave you with though: isn’t it strange that most of the good new IPs out there are coming from small studios and independent devs? Look at de Blob and Braid. And then there’s LittleBigPlanet – their team in Media Molecule started out so small, it’s quite surprising how they managed to pull off the entire LBP phenomenon.

Seemingly, this is where the playing field now lies: if you want good sequels, look to the established devs and major players in the publishing biz: Konami, EA, Capcom, Square Enix, Sony, Microsoft, OK fine, maybe even Nintendo despite their skimpy first-party library in 2008. But for new IPs that will make an impact? Look to the indie devs and small studios for those diamonds in the rough.

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WiiBlog Gaming Awards 2008

At this point of the year most sites have already conducted their “Top Games Of The Year” lists. I figured that creating another list of ‘Top 5 Games Of The Year’ that would undoubtedly feature Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and World of Goo would just be white noise. So, instead we’re going to have an [...]

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Big In 2009: Grand Theft Auto – Chinatown Wars

 
The DS does have a few biggies coming next year, but not too many titles you’d really consider triple-A, must-own, magazine cover-worthy games. Unless you’re a regular buyer of Japanese Role-Playing Gamer Monthly, that is. GTA: Chinatown Wars is arguably the biggest third-party title on DS to date, will almost certainly create tabloid controversy around [...]

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Will Wright and Peter Molyneux praise Wii and its accessibility

 
An interesting piece up on the BBC (courtesy of GoNintendo) wherein various gaming luminaries briefly discuss their thoughts on gaming in 2008.
Peter Molyneux, creator of my personal game of the year – the majestic Fable II – seems impressed with Nintendo’s success: “2008 was the year that the Nintendo Wii got even better, more than anyone [...]

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Big in 2009: Punch-Out!!

 
Given that Punch-Out!! was never about mad fist-flailing, instead relying on precision dodging and counter-punches, it might not necessarily be as good a fit for Wii as everyone seemingly thinks. Yet it’s equally inconceivable that Nintendo would release a boxing game that didn’t rely on motion controls. Which makes this new take on the much-loved pugilistic punch-fest something of [...]

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WiiWare World – Best of ?08

One of my favorite sites dedicated to WiiWare games lists their top five WiiWare titles of 2008:
5. Art Style: Orbient (Nintendo)
4. Toki Tori (Two Tribes)
3. Lost Winds (Frontier)
2. Mega Man 9 (Capcom)
1. World of Goo (2D Boy)
Read More over at WiiWare World