Big News from the Big N

The Big N recently told a major retailer to save shelf space for a big new title. They say at E3 they will announce a new game in one of their flagship franchises: Mario, Zelda, and Pikmin. Unfortunately for Zelda fans, it is unlikely to be a game featuring our favorite hero from Ordon because The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is set for release on New Year's Eve. Also rumored is the Wii HD console....

It'll be a Blast!

Boom Blox Blast Party, sequel to the popular physics puzzle game Boom Blox Directed by Steven Spielberg comes out soon. It looks like it'll be the same concept, but I am sure the game will still seem great even if it sticks to the formula.

Mrs. Martin, a feature writer for the Asbury Park Press talked with my class and I about the changing forms of news. I sit here right now and write the news, which is easily accesible to at any time. We discussed the decline of periodicals in favor of the possibilities the Internet offers. We can now deliver news as journalists faster than ever before. We also discussed how brief blog entries could be....hehheh

New Zelda Game!

The trailer for the new zelda game has been released. Here it is. The game is set for release Dec. 31.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWs0deZwWk

Note To Self

Note to self: when painful sores appear on hands, stop playing videogames.
PlayStation bumps, now a legitimate medical condition has seen an increase in cases, especially in Britain.
These bumps are still pretty rare, and can only be brought on by extreme amounts of play time.

God of War III

As a fan of mythology, I have always loved the God of War franchise. Not only does it have one of the best storylines in videogames, but it has phenomenal gameplay that will only improve.

GoW 3 will now have the Titans Kratos fights be vast levels, which was previously limited by the capcity of the PS2. As always, the developer has said they will vastly improve the already great combat system.

Hey I'm reporting other things for my Journalism class. Here's a recent interview with David Micai, Executive Diriector at Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. I'll include the best questions.

How many people come to TASK everyday?

600-1000

With the bad economy, has the number of people at the kitchen increased?

"Yes, it's gone up by about five percent."

How long have you lived in Trenton?

"All my life."

Other comments

"We have a mission of trying to help people become self-sufficent. It goes beyond just feeding folks."

As you can see from the logo above, MadWorld has shattered the family friendly environment Wii has maintained.

The game revolves around Jack, a participant in DeathWatch. Its objective is to kill people in the most interesting way possible.

Oh and Jack has a chainsaw attatched to his arm. Go ahead, get your own. You know you want to.

I Can Kill You Cooler.

Rebirth of Real-Time Strategy?

When I bought StarCraft for the PC, all of its expansion packs, and all of the guides for three bucks at a library sale, I had no idea the amount of amazing content I was getting. This was the game that made me a fan of strategy in video games.

The genre and its sub-genres are underappreciated due to the fact that many are released for the PC, and few people have a computer with gaming capbilities.

There have been some real time and turn based strategy games released for other systems, most notably Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (see a previous post), but few have made a big splash.

Hopefully now that Halo Wars has been released, set in the Halo universe, more people will buy the game because of their love of the Halo trilogy. Although I haven't tried it yet, it looks promising and I can't wait to get.

It is important to note that this game does NOT feature Master Chief and is NOT an FPS. In other words this is not a Halo game, it is just set in the same universe.

Super Monkey Ball Fans Rejoice!

Fans of the Super Monkey Ball Franchise should rush to a local video game retailer March 17 and buy Marble Saga: Kororinpa, sequel to Kororinpa: Marble Mania. It should be noted that this game will be no more innovative than its strangely familiar title. The gamelplay will revolve around guiding a marble through a course. This is a familiar concept, and hopefully it will be challenging enough to make players feel enjoyably nostalgic.
The gameplay may be nostalgic, but the graphics are not. The screens shots of MSK look beautiful. The courses are fine and polished, and the backgrounds are richly detailed.
Many games like N+ for the DS and the prequel to MSK do not include a story because the including one is not necessary or wouldn't make sense however, MSK will have a story including ants and a quest to get the Golden Sunflower...
Good story or not, we can all agree that a marble is not nearly as cool of a hero as Master Chief.

When Did Batman Start Earning Experience Points?

Heath Ledger won the Oscar, you have seen the Dark Knight a thousand times. How do you get your fill of Batman? Videogames! For those of you starving for new(er) material check out Lego Batman for most 7th generation systems. For those who have already played this, you'll just have to drool over the upcoming release of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Much like Spiderman: Web of Shadows, the game will follow the comic's storyline, not the movies and will feature Free Flow Combat and great graphics.
Check out screenshots @ http://http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/142/14273491/imgs_1.html

Why Is Nintendo So Lazy?

As many hardcore Wii owners know, there are a dozen terrible party games for every good game on Wii. Nintendo only released a handful of games that provide a truly deep experience for the fans of the company that have stuck with it since the days of the NES.

For some, the future relases of games in the New Play Control! series will be a great way to end their boredom, but for others there will not be anything new about them. Scheduled for release are New Play Control! Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, and Metroid Prime.

Undoubtedly, NPC Mario Power Tennis will provide a greatly improved experience. The game is expected to use the same control scheme as tennis on Wii Sports, which will provide a much more interactive experience.

NPC Pikmin and Metroid Prime are a different story. Pikmin had a very simple concept. You take control of Captain Olimar and his merry band of Pikmin as they search for the missing pieces of Olimar's ship. There does not seem to be a way to drastically change the controls, other than using the nunchuk or Wii remote to guide your pikmin where you want.

NPC Metroid Prime will definitely have better controls. It will include use of the IR pointer to aim Samus Aran's gun and more. This game, if it were released before Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, would probably have done much better than it will. The game's suggested retail will be $29.99, around the same price as a used but much more fresh copy of MP3.

Where do Gamers Fit in a Recession?

We all know that video game systems are expensive, especially in today's economy. How can a gamer satisfy his/her needs and still balance a budget? The solution is finding bargains and selling your old games.
GameStop has long been a place where gamers who are bored or finished with a game can trade their games for new ones, or accept 20 percent less in cash. It is also a place where used games can be bought cheaper.
The bad news? Gamers are getting less and less for their money and used game prices are rising. A new copy of Super Mario Galaxy, a Wii title, is $49.99. A used copy is $44.99, a difference of only five dollars.
The good news? There are websites that do business differently and arguably better than GameStop.
The first is a site known as cheapassgamer.com, which is a blog that regularly posts deals at businesses like GameStop and Best Buy. Founded by an avid gamer, the poster constantly searches everywhere possible to give viewers a heads up on the hottest deals.
Another website, switchgames.com allows gamers to trade games with each other. Users make a free account and compile a list of games they have and games they want. The site then matches two people who both want what the other has, and they then mail the games to each other.
www.cheapassgamer.com
www.switchgames.com

Fire Up Your DS

Enter a world where you command a band of mercenaries that have only one life to live. Dragon riders, pegasus knights, spellcasters, warriors, thieves, paladins, and more stand ready to attack at your order.

This is the intense tactical RPG gameplay that made this game popular in Japan. Fire Emblem's immense Japanese popularity led Marth to be an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and later in its sequel, SSB Brawl.

Americans are only truly familiar with the spiky-haired protagonist Ike (also an SSB character), who was featured in the first Fire Emblem game released in America for a home console system with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Ike was also featured in a Wii sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Two more games, not featuring Ike, were earlier released for the Gameboy Advance: Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. None of these featured Prince Marth.

Today, a DS remake of the original Fire Emblem game will be released for the Nintendo DS entitled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. The remake will include the addition of the weapons triangle, a system of weapon hierarchy that states lances beat sword, swords beat axes, and axes beat lances. This was not included in the original. The remake will also have greatly improved graphics.

Fire Emblem games tend to be very familiar because little comes in the way of radical new gameplay. However, the basic formula has held all of these years, and Shadow Dragon will be no exception.

Punch-Out!! (Wii) Announced!!

Originally known as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, it was a popular arcade game that featured boxing gloves as controllers. A Wii version will be realeased with a control scheme similar to Wii Boxing.
See screenshots @ http://media.wii.ign.com/media/142/14266716/imgs_1.html

The Legend of.....Sonic

With the upcoming March arrival of Sonic and the Black Night, sequel to Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic Unleashed, gamers will take a gamble.

For many franchises, the transition from 2-D to 3-D has been difficult. A developer has to decide what to change and what not to change in order to maintain a game's core concept.

When the popular fighting series Mortal Kombat arrived in the dimension in which us humans live, problems were encountered with projectiles. Once but a mass of pixels, these iceballs, fireballs, and more could only be blocked, or if you were a skilled kombatant, jumped over. Now any novice can dodge by pressing up on the joystick to sidestep.

When Sonic arrived in our dimension, it seemed he might lose the hard earned nickname "The Blue Blur". Players were constantly running into walls, crates, spikes, etc. Granted, these were all present on the Dreamcast, but they never caused nearly as much of a problem.

In an effort to expand Sonic's horizons, Sonic Team released Sonic Unleashed with the slogan, "The Difference is Day and Night." Gameplay featured two distinct environments. Daytime was the almost classic Sonic game, complete with loop de loops and corkscrews. However, night was a totally different game. No longer was the main character a hedgehog but a werehog. This werehog whose name was actually Sonic gained a few pounds. He could no longer run through these loop de loops and corkscrews without falling on his head. Instead, the game became a Gauntlet style, button mashing third person action brawler. Sonic the Werehog used his claws to beat bad guys in way similar to a certain X-men character.

Sonic and the Black Knight, set in the realm of King Arthur, will return to the storybook theme of its predecessor Sonic and the Secret Rings, set in the world of the Arabian Nights. SEGA has promised much fanfare, including Shadow as Lancelot and Amy as the Lady of the Lake.

Hopefully, Sonic Team will fix the issues it has been presented with and deliver a Sonic game that stays true to its high-speed roots.