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First Wii Reviews Trickle In - Overall “Good” to “Impressive”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo, Party Games, SEGA, Wii,
Today some of the bigger gaming sites out there finally sat down with pencil and paper (or keyboard and mouse I guess), and started drafting out their reviews for the first batch of Wii games. Their overall thoughts? IGN has taken a look at three titles so far—the pack-in Wii Sports, Trauma Center, and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz—and their reviews range from “Good” for Wii Sports (7.5) to “Impressive” for Trauma Center and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (8.0 and 8.4, respectively).
In general, most of the reviews would play out like you would expect - generally somewhat lackluster / simple graphics, but cool/interesting control schemes that work flawlessly in most cases. IGN noted some control issues with the packed-in Wii Sports, stating that some of the sports seemed somewhat half-baked, but the other 2 titles faired very well in the control department. IGN even went so far with Monkey Ball as to state that “If you’ve been on the fence about the Wii controls, put those fears to rest. True, there is a different technique involved, but once you get the hang of it you will be flying through levels with precision and speed. Now that I’ve played through Banana Blitz, I would not want to go back to the older control configurations.”
We’ll keep our eyes peeled for further reviews - Red Steel and Zelda obviously being the two most interesting, and we’ll be posting our thoughts as well once we’re able to get our hands on the console!
Read More 
| IGN Wii
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Contra on Xbox Live is Really, Really Broken
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Mods/Hacks, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
First a laggy Street Fighter II, now a non-playable version of the nearly-20-year-old Konami classic Contra... What’s next Xbox Live, a Pong clone that runs at 5 frames per second while installing spyware on every computer in your house??!?
Wired’s Gamelife is among the first to note the ridiculous problems that the Xbox 360’s version of Contra has been seeing. According to their story (and the pictures above, to prove it!), online multiplayer for the title is completely, unequivocally broken. Granted, getting any game to work well online is hard, but if we’re expected to drop $4 for a 20 year old game that we could get free by *other means*, shouldn’t we at least expect some quality in the production??
Click the jump for the full transcript documenting Contra‘s woes.
Click to continue reading Contra on Xbox Live is Really, Really Broken
Twilight Princess Previews Hit The Web
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
Nintendo’s embargo on all things Zelda ended on Friday, and those people who were invited up to Nintendo HQ to preview The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess were finally able to talk about what they saw and experienced. Overall, the tone has been that Nintendo has released another masterpiece in the Zelda series. Some sites were more effusive than others, with some believing that this release is close to being the “greatest Zelda ever.” Some were a little more cautious about their praise, citing such issues as the quality of the graphics and the adjustment needed for the Wii-mote. Most everyone agreed that this should be one of the longest Zelda outings ever, clocking in with at least 50 hours of gameplay. Overall the previews have been very positive, and Twilight Princess looks to be the launch title to have this holiday season. Those gamers looking to avoid spoilers may wish to stay away from some of the previews; Wired’s Game|Life blog does a very good job in avoiding plot points and details over giving an overall impression of the game, and GameSpot contains the majority of their spoilers to a single page within the preview. Other previews, though, seem to sprinkle the plot points through their coverage, so those looking to go into the new Zelda fresh might want to stay away. Still, reading through all of the coverage for any new details of the game will be really hard to resist for fans of the series. The previews are (in alphabetical order):
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| 1up
Read More | GameDaily
Read More | Game|Life
Read More | GameSpot
Read More | GoNintendo
Read More | IGN
Read More | Kotaku
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Sam and Max Jumps Out of Gametap, Free Demo available
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Internet, LucasArts,
My Gametap-less friends, the long wait is over. Sam and Max Season I: Episode I: Culture Shock is now available for the low price of $8.95. The 72MB game, which appears to be clocking in at about 3 hours of playtime, can be downloaded from TellTale’s site by itself, or as part of a “season pass” for $34.95. You can also download a free demo of the game, although one has to wonder exactly how much play you’ll get out of a demo for a 3-hour long game.
Reviews so far appear to be quite favorable, with some of the requisite pining for the old 2D Lucasarts adventure game days of yore. Click below to check out the free demo at TelltaleGames.com!
Read More | Telltale Games
Saturday was a school work day, with two group meetings early in the day. Once I got home, however, I found a copy of Rockstar’s latest, Bully, waiting for me.
I stayed up until 2AM playing it.
The game is very accessible, but they way they’ve structured the game in several places serves to keep the tension up. You’re basically in perpetual trouble, late to class, out past curfew, etc. When you’re trouble meter is on the rise, you have to avoid the prefects or you’ll be busted on the spot (though you learn ways out of that). The more trouble you’re in, the more likely you are to get a one-way ticket to “The Head’s” office.
Click to continue reading Bully For Me
Sam & Max Episode 1 Now On GameTap
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Adventure, Internet, PC,
Telltale Games today announced that their much anticipated Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock is now available on the GameTap subscription service. Gamers with access to the service can now download the game, with new episodes promised in the future. In addition, Sam & Max cartoons from the animated series will be made available as well. The GameTap service typically costs $9.95 US per month to subscribe, and is available right now for US and Canadian citizens. Currently, gamers can get 50% off the subscription price by pre-paying for a year of service. Those who are not members of GameTap will be able to download the game directly from Telltale Games on November 1, for $8.95.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Sam & Max Episode 1 Now On GameTap
Read More | GameTap
Playstation 3 Could See Exclusive GTA IV Content
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Adventure, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
According to Eurogamer, Rockstar North is working on exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV content for the Playstation 3 on top of the already announced downloadable episodes for the Xbox 360. Speaking with a source “close to Rockstar North,” Eurogamer reports that the new content should be “much the same deal” as the Xbox 360, “except unique to the platform.” While far from being confirmed, exclusive content would certainly help Rockstar maintain a good relationship with Sony. And, of course, this would force true Grand Theft Auto fans to lay out more money to have all the content available to them.
Read More | Eurogamer
Zelda.com Updated With Twilight Princess Info
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Adventure, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Screenshots, Wii,
Nintendo of America recently updated their Zelda.com site with new information about The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Much of the information has been previously released elsewhere, but the company has also added a bunch of new screenshots of the game, showing off more of the action. The Wii version of the game is scheduled to launch with the console, while the Gamecube version will be released on December 12th in the United States.
Read More | Zelda.com via GoNintendo
Best Xbox 360 Deal Yet - Platinum 360 + 3 games: $370
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Driving, Hot Deals, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
Fry’s has possibly the best deal yet on an Xbox 360 system, for all of you out there mulling over your next-gen console choices. For $370 (shipping included!), you can get the Xbox 360 Platinum console with 3 free games. But these aren’t just any 3 games - the games you’ll find packed-in with your system are three of the best and most well-reviewed 360 titles out there: Dead Rising, Saint’s Row, and Test Drive: Unlimited.
This deal can only be found online at Fry’s Outpost and doesn’t appear to be available in their brick-n-mortar stores yet, so be prepared for this one to go fast. We’re betting that this is part of a broader strategy by Microsoft to find a competitive new price point / package for their year-old console, so we may be seeing this deal or something like it again in the future. Still, if you’ve been thinking about getting a 360, don’t take the chance of missing out on this one!
Special thanks to SlickDeals.net for finding this one!
Read More | Outpost.com via SlickDeals.net
Assassin’s Creed’s PS3, Xbox 360 Differences
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Adventure, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
Ubisoft Montreal recently previewed the Xbox 360 version of Assassin’s Creed for IGN recently, and while the games are “virtually identical” on the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360, there are a couple of differences that have the Internet buzzing. In almost a throw-away line after discussing the control schemes and detailed animations of the game, Jade Raymond, when detailing some of the changes gamers will see in the Xbox 360 version, claimed that the focus was on achievements, plus “the hardware also allows for improved threading, which will improve even further the crowd AI.” Without further details, it is hard to make a real conclusion about what this means, even within the context of the game. Having better crowd AI would certainly seem to improve a gamer’s interaction with the game world, but doesn’t seem like something that would be a deal breaker in terms of platform support. But it does seem to highlight that there will be differences in the game experiences gamers will get on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 above and beyond the look and the sounds of the game. It will be interesting to see how the base architectures of the machines will change gameplay for each console.
Read More | IGN
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