Dragon Quest X's logo draws near!

I don't care if this is a rumour! Let's bang some tables and shout from some rooftops! Here's a tiny bit of Dragon Quest X's logo for the Wii finally showing itself. We've been waiting quite some time for this and I'm really glad to see it! It's expected that more will be revealed in some conference that's coming up very soon. It's all very exciting!

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Just thought I'd talk about this visual novel adventure game for Nintendo DS that recently got a limited release in America. It's incredibly stupid the way it doesn't have an Irish/European release date as it's a well known fact that adventure games sell very well over here.

I haven't played the game yet but over in America reviewers are talking about the game positively enough and they're especially lauding the fact that the game is M rated and has swearing and violent situations.

Showing the IT Crowd to someone of a more mainstream persuasion

I had a chance to show the IT Crowd to someone who isn't really into computers to test its supposed broad appeal.

They looked at the DVD cover and saw all the pixellated characters on the box. "Oh no is this a cartoon?" "I'm not sure if this is my kind of thing" was what they said. Then I put the DVD on and the menus came up with the pixellated characters moving around like they would in a video game. "Don't worry" I said, "this isn't a cartoon". "Oh I thought it was" they said. Must've been judging from the menus and DVD cover.

I showed the very first episode anyway and they laughed a few times and could see one or two jokes coming before they came up. Afterwards they said "its good! It's definitely more for your age group anyway!"

So there we go. You know, I don't often show most people I know movies or other things I like because it makes me very nervous. I have very different tastes to other people I know.

More Paper Mario!

Not much happening! Just playing Paper Mario still. Got further than I ever have before. The 3DS one might be interesting. Later! Sorry busy holidays!

Playing through Paper Mario for the first time

Lately I've been working through the first Paper Mario game. It's nowhere near as good as the Mario and Luigi RPGs but its still quite decent. I've rescued three of those seven star sprite things. Hopefully I can stay focused this time as I did give up on it before.

Christmas themed Mario hacks

http://www.zophar.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14710

Happy Christmas everyone! Someone in the romhacking community has made a list of Christmas themed Mario hacks. You can see the list of screenshots and patches in the link above. Try 'em out and enjoy!

Developer of Mother 4 fangame gives sentimental message, reveals a song from the game.

Mother 4 is getting a huge amount of support from everyone in the video game community. It even got featured in NGamer magazine where they interviewed the development team. It is a genuinely inspiring and exciting project. In a recent blogpost one of the developers talked about how much the project meant to them. They also released a track for the game you can listen to there. Check it out: http://mother4.andonuts.net

Annual top 10 lists are starting to come out...

It's that time of year again. We're starting to see awards being given to games and everyone is coming out with their top 10 lists of games for the year. Top 10 lists can be a lot of fun. They can be extremely annoying too. Other people's lists can be so annoying in fact that I think I might even make my own top 10 list of games of the year. There's a few things to think about though. One thing is that it always annoys me when a great game is released at the end of the year and that straight away it goes to number 1, as if the rest of the year wasn't memorable enough to have an entry there. I'd like to try and avoid that if I can. Another thing is the only brand new games I played this year were Wii and DS ones( I think, I'll have to have a thorough check).

So I'll ponder over the candidates and post my top 10 list sometime over the holidays! Stay tuned!

Shigeru Miyamoto originally thought about having Mario collect fruit instead of coins

Another interesting bit of trivia flowing from all the interviews during this 25th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros.

What I want to say though is this: did you know fruit are one of the best collectables in games? If I were to think about why that is I would say it's for the same reason that fruit and veg are always in the first aisle in the supermarket. The way they look, the different shapes they come in, their colour... it just makes them very appealing to the eye and makes you want to keep shopping (and playing!).

Lots of games have fruit in them as collectables, especially old arcade games like Bubble Bobble, Pac-Man and countless others. Bangai-O Spirits is probably one of the best examples - that game makes you desire fruit like no other!

Dragon Quest VI is getting an official English language release!

In an earlier post I talked about the general feeling of anxiety fans had for the western release of Dragon Quest VI for the Nintendo DS.

Well, anxiety begone! The game is coming out in America in a couple of months on Valentines Day! This is fantastic news but I can only sing and dance so much because an Irish/European release date hasn't been finalised yet. I'll be sure to do an extremely enthusiastic encore of this news when a date is eventually confirmed.

I wonder if they'll keep the "VI" in the title for us?

I want Snatcher on Wii! (Part 2)

Look, Snatcher would be perfect on Wii. There are sections in the Mega CD version of the game where you use a light gun to do some shooting. Thanks to the Wii's pointer you're already sorted there! No need for buying an extra peripheral! No other console is as well suited for this as the Wii.

Well, there's the DS' touchscreen but Snatcher is a more cinematic kind of game and I feel it would be better playing it through a TV.

Also, I know you don't actually need a light gun but its not as fun moving a cursor around with a d-pad.

Retro Gamer Issue 84

Here's the Christmasey issue of Retro Gamer with some lovely looking artwork. It's really nice that we can still get a games magazine that does really nice cover work. I like the way the editor is looking in the window and the founders of RARE in a picture above the fireplace.
This is being put away for me for Christmas so I can't really comment on its contents. My apologies!

Irish/European edition of Super Mario All Stars for the Wii plays in 50Hz

I really don't like being negative when I talk about video games. The more I hear about this title though the less I think of it. Just today I heard that the PAL version of the game plays in 50Hz only, meaning we get the slower version of the game even though it's commonplace that we get 60Hz games now. It makes me unhappy and discouraged. Now it's not the worst retro compilation as there are an awful lot of rereleases by other companies that are really really terrible but Nintendo should not do stuff like this that make them seem like they're doing the same bad things other companies are doing.

The Nintendo I know is the one who put NES games in Animal Crossing, The Lost Levels as an unlockable in Super Mario Bros Deluxe on Game Boy Colour and the one who gave me Metroid 1 as a free gift (on at least 3 seperate occasions!). This compilation is unbecoming of them and time should be spent instead making better games than they've already made years ago.

But hey it's not like we'll even think of dwelling on this in a few years! If you really want to feel less bad about buying this then look at all the really bad games that are out there today. Really hard.

Forgot to mention the new Golden Sun game

Golden Sun Dark Dawn was released for Nintendo DS here last week. I remembered it alright but somehow I forgot to blog about it. I guess I had Cave Story's release on my mind non-stop! The truth is I never played the first two Golden Sun games (but I will someday). Shops locally are selling the game for approximately 35-40 Euro depending on where you go of course. It says on the box as well that a free map is included. That brings back fond memories of getting a map with Mystic Quest for the Game Boy! It may not be as special now though as DS RPGs  have no problems with showing the map ingame. Maybe this map has some intriguing tidbits of information like Mystic Quest's one did.

Mario Hacks

There's a lot of Mario hacks and tributes out there. The problem with them is that they're often torturously difficult and save state reliant making them absolutely no fun to play and they're often designed with dark gloomy backgrounds which takes all the joy out of them. Actually they're not all like that but it's hard to find a hack that would make a great Mario game.

Earth Bound Zero's Easy Patch

I just found out about this today, a month or so after beating the original localised version. Oh well! I did have a hard time with it but the game isn't too unforgiving (with the exception of Mt. Itoi that is). I wonder how much easier the patch makes the game? I'll try it the next time I play Earth Bound Zero.

I learned about this from gamespite's recent article. I also learned that the space between "Earth" and "Bound" is what makes the game's title differ from the SNES sequel's title. It's not enough though to make things any less confusing so I'll continue to call the game by its "Zero" fan addition to the title.

Listening to Graham Linehan's commentary on the I.T. Crowd

I listened to one of the commentaries the other night while watching the DVD and he revealed that he loved computer games and recommended Shadow of the Colossus! So yeah he's definitely a lover of the classics when it comes to games.

Finally got the I.T. Crowd DVDs

For those who don't know The I.T. Crowd it's a hilarious sitcom we have over here that's written by one of the writers of one of our favourite sitcoms, Father Ted.

The show is set up quite nicely and although it has some references to video games and I.T. centric stuff it's not it's main focus at all. This post though is to celebrate the wonderful video game tributes the DVD menus feature.

There's a lot of them! Some too good to spoil. I will say though that the episode selection screen shows a scene that's reminiscent of classic isometric platform games like Head Over Heels, Monster Max and Solstice. It features the show's characters wandering around the maze playing out a scenario that lasts quite a few minutes! There's some other nice tributes like old computer style loading screens just for fun and a subtitle track that's done entirely in l33t speak. It's a DVD made amazing to fans of things like that to be sure.

I was getting it myself just for Graham Linehan's commentary but everybody else can still see the whole series for free online on Channel 4's On Demand streaming service. Try it out, it's a solid good old fashioned sitcom!

Playing RPGs when you're sick

I often hear stories of people who play RPGs when they're sick. One famous example is Shigesato Itoi who played Dragon Quest when he wasn't well and it helped inspired the creation of the Earthbound/Mother series.

Just what is up with people playing RPGs when they're sick? Well when I was sick recently I was playing Mother 3. I'm not sure what it is but it is kind of therapeutic playing RPGs when you're feeling under the weather. There's something comfortable about playing them. Another thing I can imagine is that they're good distraction therapy.

I suppose most people know about it already though. People who've done this always felt a special bond with the game they played too, even if they never really want to play it again.

It's just a very interesting concept to me, RPGs being like chicken soup.

Different versions of Super Mario All Stars for Wii

There seems to be two different versions of Super Mario All Stars for Wii - one is the normal one you see in shops that has Mario in a Top Hat. The other seems to come in a wider pure red cardboard box that comes with the soundtrack CD. I saw this one in a glass display in an Xtra Vision in Clonmel.

Maybe I'm just slightly misinformed. A lot of people seem to be.

Cave Story finally available for WiiWare in Ireland and the rest of Europe!

I bought this as soon as I could! I've been waiting for it for so long... I'm really glad it's finally available here. I'm going to play loads of this!

Satirical Review of Super Mario Bros.

http://kotaku.com/5710531/a-disappointing-console-debut-for-nintendos-plumber

This one's very interesting. A review written nowadays may miss the point of the game entirely. This review of Super Mario Bros. pokes fun at this thing that happens a lot when you come across popular game review sites.

Shigesato Itoi appreciates fans of MOTHER/Earthbound series

http://earthboundcentral.com/2010/12/a-message-from-shigesato-itoi/

I really like the Earthbound/MOTHER fan community as well. I even made my own contribution to it one time and they were very appreciative of it. Someday I'll buy a t-shirt from them or something! This past while as you may have noticed I've been playing the series from start to finish. I played the first two games and loved them and now I'm playing the third. I'm also looking forward to the unofficial fangame, Mother 4. I think everyone is. NGamer Magazine even interviewed the developers behind it in this month's issue.

The way I'm playing Donkey Kong Country Returns

So I've been playing a good bit of this game and I'm enjoying it quite a lot. There's a lot of extra stuff to do like collect jigsaw pieces, banana coins, KONG letters, uncover bonus stages, buying things in Cranky Kong's shop... etc.

I find I'm doing very few of these things. I'm buying the key from each world from Cranky's shop alright to get the extra level. When I'm playing the levels themselves I find I'm rushing through them or that I'm trying to bulldoze my way as much as possible. I really like the game so how come I'm doing this?

It seems the levels are made with speedrunners in mind! That'll add a nice bonus to the game. Another thing is that this is reminiscent of all those times I played through DKC3 as fast as I could and putting in cheats to make the game harder and get a better endgame score. This is one of the nice things that has carried over to this new game even though its quite different in many ways!

Donkey Kong Country Returns has controls hacked for use with Classic Controller

I'm not sure I'd play this game with a classic controller... I mean, it feels different enough from the other DKC games that I wouldn't really miss not having the chance to... but I'm glad it's there I suppose. It's a voice that should be heard if people feel that way.

Iwata Asks About Donkey Kong Country Returns

I haven't read this feature yet but I did read one part where a Japanese person was talking about their experience about being in England and what it was like going to Rare in Twycross. I find this especially interesting because usually when it comes to video games you read all kinds of accounts where people from the west are going to Japan and talking about their experiences there. I don't usually see it the other way round!

Cave Story for WiiWare finally gets a release date for Ireland and the rest of Europe!!

FINALLY! We've been waiting for this for well over two and a half years! There had better be nothing wrong with it. So, this coming Friday the 10th of December 2010, Cave Story will arrive and it will cost 1000 points according to this screencap of Nintendo of Europe's site. I am really excited about this!

Donkey Kong Country Returns is out today!

At long last! I got it today and braved really icy conditions to the shops and back. Anyway, I must go play some more.

Just so you know as well, it makes you install the same firmware Metroid Other M did(4.3) and it also installs Everybody Votes Channel, Today and Tomorrow Channel and the Mii Contest Channel(I think).

Mission in Snowdriftland Returns!

This is great news! I loved this game back in Christmas 2006! There's a lot of information about it here for those who don't know about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPIXO_In_Action:_Mission_in_Snowdriftland

Imagine that... A 2D Platforming advent calendar! What a brilliant way that was to advertise Nintendo games! Each day I got to play a new level and looked forward to completing it so I could get a wallpaper for great recent games at the time such as Zelda Twilight Princess or Super Princess Peach. The game itself was very nicely done and I remember it being quite challenging too.

Well, now it's back!

http://www.mission-in-snowdriftland.com/

Except this time the theme isn't first party Nintendo games but instead it seems to be about indie games available for WiiWare.

I say try it out! If you like it then look forward to playing it again everyday when a new level in the advent calendar opens. I can't decide which type of advent calender is better - this or the one with chocolates in the days!

Also, remember that the 2006 one vanished from the web shortly after Christmas that year so play as much as you can in case that happens again!

UK - Use a bunch of bananas to pay for Donkey Kong Country Returns!

Just heard about a promotion by GAME that if you're one of the first so many customers to bring in a bunch of bananas to the store that you can use that to pay for Donkey Kong Country Returns!

I have no idea if GAME stores in Ireland are doing this promotion too though...

But hey, what a fantastic and fun idea! Nintendo really promotes like no other. (more on that tomorrow by the way!)

Donkey Kong Country Returns out this week!!

My apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. I was feeling really sick and could only think about going to bed. I really hope I'll be well again by Friday though, as that's when DKCR is out here in Ireland! I can't wait!

Using the Wii's Internet Channel web browser

I'm currently without a computer to update but I can still use the Internet Channel on the Wii. It's not too bad, it's quite noisy when writing posts! - every key I type makes a noise on the screen.

Back when the Wii was brand new a lot of people made websites especially for the Wii. I bookmarked some of them and well, now when I try them out I see most of them are gone. The only one I still see online so far is Wiicade.

Some other sites made it handy for the Wii to browse on such as youtube and wikipedia. It's quite nice using those sites with this browser. I also have a USB keyboard so that makes typing in stuff alot easier! I'll have a better poke around and see what sites are still good for the Internet Channel. It's nice that it's free by the way.

Remember when the Dreamcast came out?? It was marketed heavily for browsing the Internet, although noone seems to remember that.

I learned something new about Super Mario Bros. 3 today

After you complete the game and you're back at the title screen, start a new game to have your inventory full to the brim with p-wings!

This may not be exciting to anyone who knows the game inside out but it was a cool discovery for me!

Late Late Toy Show 2010

This year the only Nintendo thing I saw on the Late Late Toy Show was a statue of Link. There might've been other Nintendo stuff but if there was I missed it.

Mysterious Last Window perforated instruction manual pages

I mentioned the perforated edge on a page in the Last Window instruction manual already in a previous post:

http://irishnintendofan.blogspot.com/2010/09/last-window-secret-of-cape-west-for.html

but I didn't reveal what was inside as I was waiting until I completed the game. However, now that I have completed it there is one thing about it I'll reveal about the perforated page if you would like to know:

There's a puzzle with an offer to win a wallpaper for your mobile phone. Nice little bonus there!

Game and Watch style game found in Last Window

A good ways into the game, Kyle Hyde obtains a handheld LCD game. This game is called "Pinkie Rabbit Land" and is fully playable. It's not necessary for the story at all but you can just play the LCD game to your heart's content. The gameplay consists of a rabbit going up ropes to catch carrots tied to balloons and climbing back down to put them in baskets whilst avoiding ninja projectiles. It looks and feels very closely to a Game and Watch game. The downside is you can't save your score.

There's also a billiards game where you slide on the touchscreen to hit the ball with the cue. It's a nice addition but for me the Game and Watch style game has more appeal!

So yeah, if you didn't want to play Last Window but like the idea of these maybe you can find a copy of the game that has an appropriate save point.

Just completed Hotel Dusk - I recommend it!

I guess I should've saved yesterday's post for something to write about today!

Oh well, might as well say a few words about it. If you like reading then it's definitely worth checking out. The game's really easy too. I was never too stuck to figure out anything and the use of the DS was pretty neat as well, even though people don't really praise that aspect of the DS anymore since it's what we've come to expect now. I never got a chance to use a rumble pak with the game but I would've if I had one. Also, when I say the game's easy I mean it's mostly about watching the way the characters talk with each other and then you already know where to go so you just go there to have another scene where the characters talk... as is the nature of adventure games. If you're a fan of them then it really is a slice of heaven. That "cosy" feeling I get when I'm playing a really good adventure game is definitely present here and the fact that it isn't too difficult serves well in terms of the game's pacing. In fact there's only one instance where I used a guide and that was when I was looking for a penny. I don't believe for a second that a penny would be a nuisance to find and I didn't want a game making it so!

The tone of the game has a grown up, dignified feel while at the same time not being too stuffy and boring so most people who like reading would enjoy it I'd say.

Another cool thing about this game is that it contains its own novelisation which unlocks chapter by chapter as you play through the game with features like its own bookmark and everything. It's a nice bonus!

There are a couple of other really cool things about this game but they deserve their own post! Stay tuned!

Still playing Last Window!

A game like Last Window wouldn't normally take me this long to complete after buying it about two months ago but I like it so much I'm actually savouring it.

It's an extremely easy going game and it's great to relax to. There is a looooooot of talking in it but hey it doesn't pretend to be anything else than what it's sold to be - an interactive novel. It's just a couple of puzzles that are tricky. I just completed one particularly cryptic puzzle by myself and I'm delighted with it. I normally just play it when I don't have podcasts to listen to, which has helped spread the game far and wide over these dark Winter days for me!

Even right now I'm looking forward to snuggling up with it when I've other stuff done.

Wii Remote Plus

I'm not sure how I missed this. Earlier on in the month official Wii Remotes with MotionPlus built in got released in the above colours. Must get one!

Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting some good reviews

The reviews are just coming out for this game and many of them have very high scores, which is great to see. It's coming out here in Ireland on the 3rd of December and I can't wait to play it!

Shantae coming to Ireland and the rest of Europe!!

Yes! Wayforward has come out and said that Shantae is on it's way to be approved for release on the DSiWare store in Europe! This is brilliant news! Yes!

NGamer Issue 56

This issue comes with reviews of Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii and Golden Sun for the DS. It also has a big feature about Donkey Kong Country Returns. It comes free with DKCR skins for Wii and Wii remotes as well as a big poster of the game's title.

A beanie with the Nintendo logo also comes free with it which sounds cool but the material seems a bit thin for these cold winter months.

Retro Gamer Issue 83

This month as you can see Retro Gamer is doing a retrospective on the Donkey Kong Country series in order to celebrate the release of the new installment for the Wii being released in a few weeks time.

See where the hands come out? You can open those two flaps to reveal the cover art for DKC Returns and a tiny little timeline of the seven games spanning the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, the Donkey Kong Land trilogy and Donkey Kong 64.

Unfortunately they make the dumb mistake of calling DKC 3 the "weakest game in the core trilogy". None of the DKC games are the weakest anything!

Shigeru Miyamoto is 58 today!

Happy Birthday Shigeru Miyamoto! I hope he and his team continue to make really good games for many more years to come!

I want Dragon Quest VI to come to Ireland!

A good while ago Dragon Quest VI was announced for release in Ireland and Europe. But we haven't heard any news whatsoever about it for a long long time.

Recently, on Square-Enix's twitter account, people have been asking them about Dragon Quest VI and when it's going to be released over here. First they said it wasn't on the cards, the next thing they said they just had no news. No confirmation, no cancellation.

Naturally this makes me worried because I really want to get this. I have IV and V and VIII and IX, the only ones that got released here in Ireland and Europe so far and I've become a fan so I really want the chance to play VI. I know there's lots of excitement over the 3DS right now but I still really want DQVI. Please release it here Square-Enix!

Funny Dr Eggman PA announcements from Sonic Colours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zDlwgQN9pU

When you play Sonic Colours on the Wii you can hear Dr Eggman's voice faintly giving PA announcements during levels. Some of them are quite humourous! Here's a good compilation of them on their own without the ingame music playing over them. Don't worry they don't spoil anything, it's just for laughs. It'll also give you an impression of the quality of the game's dialogue. Enjoy!

Oodles of Donkey Kong Country Returns Trailers

Lately there have been a lot of DKCR trailers making the rounds on the net, including the Japanese one which still has the title "Donkey Kong Returns" along with some Kanji characters before it. Does it mean "Super"? I'm not sure since Japanese titles of games often have "Super" written as it is. I wonder what it translates as?

There's also some new features like the super guide that Super Mario Bros. Wii had and a shop where you buy stuff. Not sure what that's for yet.

Sonic Colours on the Wii has NO LOAD TIMES

I got this today and I'm going to immediately gush praise where its due. After selecting the "New Game" option and setting the tutorial to "off" on the title screen BAM! The first level hits me in the face straight away! Loading is amazing in this game, you just do not see it happen. More games should be done like this!

Sonic Colours out tomorrow for Wii and DS in Ireland

I'm looking forward to this! Haven't checked much out for the DS version but I'd like to play the Wii game. It's been getting significantly better reviews than other recent Sonic games so now I'm excited!

Special Shigeru Miyamoto video message for Mario's 25th Anniversary

http://www.twitvid.com/R8MVM

Nice promotional vid for video game fans who don't know about the cool Mario stuff that's coming out before Christmas!

Some thoughts on Gamespite.net's Dragon Warrior article

Gamespite.net recently published an article recently about the first Dragon Warrior on the NES. One quote in particular stood out for me:

"rather than a watered-down port of a complex PC game, it was built from the ground up to work with an interface consisting of a D-pad and two buttons."

This made me immediately think of the Mario and Luigi games on DS which could be described more or less the same way - built from the ground up to work with the DS' interface. In "Partners in Time" each of the four characters had a jump button mapped to one of the A, B, X and Y buttons. This made me realise how little I use the X button in games apart from opening up a menu or something secondary like that and that it was fully taken advantage of in this game. The game was made especially with the DS controls in mind, just like NES RPGs were for that system. This might be a good thing to consider when making an RPG for a specific format.

Ghost Trick set for release on January 14th in Ireland

Shu Takumi, the man who brought us the compelling Ace Attorney series has a new game coming out over here for the Nintendo DS. It'll be an adventure type of game which is always a nice thing to look forward to!

I recommend Earthbound Zero

I completed this RPG for the first time recently. It's probably best known as "the game that's not as good as Earthbound" which is true but it's still worth trying out, especially if you're a fan of the SNES sequel.

The best place to start though is with the story of its localisation and cancelled release posted on lostlevels.org. Do a quick google of that and read about some really cool stuff(such as the added dash feature which wasn't in the Japanese version) that'll help build some excitement for you to check the game out.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it does a wonderful thing which sets it apart from other RPGS - if you lose all HP then you will go back to the point you previously saved at with all your newly gained experience intact. You also don't lose any money(unless it's carried money) because your dad deposits any money you win from a battle into your bank account. This effectively makes grinding irrelevant and the game in general a lot less discouraging to play since you'll feel brave enough to explore the unknown as much as you can.

Try this game out if you can find it and try out its much improved sequels also!

It is a pity though that none of the Earthbound/Mother games have been released officially in Ireland. I'd love it if they were though. I'd gladly buy them. Oh well, at least I can spread my love for these games!

Some thoughts on the upcoming Sonic Colours

Sonic Colours will be released not too long from now here in Ireland for the Wii and DS. Some reviews are out already and they've been quite positive. There are still many though that are worried about it being bad. I liked the other three Sonic games for the Wii well enough, not that I'd call them classics or anything but they were okay.

I'd like to play the Wii version of Colours alright. I'm expecting it to be okay too and maybe even slightly better than okay but I'll definitely check it out. I believe in it.

I'm thinking whether or not to buy it first day since Sonic games tend to fall in price very quickly after they're released. I'll see. Watch this space!

Limited edition gold Classic Controller Pro released today!

It may cost a lot more than a normal Classic Controller Pro but it comes with a free remake of Goldeneye64!

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 96: Lester the Unlikely

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/706970

Woo! New Nerd video up! The tone of this episode was very unusual and I kept wondering what was up. I guess it kept me interested enough to watch it throughout and I even watched it a second time straight afterwards. It feels like it was made by someone who was exhausted! The effort is definitely there though and it is very entertaining.

There's something very odd about the whole thing though, including the ending. It makes me wonder what he's going to do next. I'm really curious about it.

Eating like Kyle Hyde

In my recent sessions of Last Window I've come across sections where Kyle Hyde sits down to eat in the café on the bottom floor of his apartment building. The first was a burger and I've just finished the scene where he eats pasta carbonara.

I've never eaten pasta carbonara before so I thought I'd try it out for myself. So I went to a restaurant that served it and had some there.

It's not bad but I prefer tomato based ones like napolitana or bolognese. It's a pity I couldn't have it like Kyle did with extra mushrooms. I bet it would've been a lot tastier! It wasn't cheap either... How could Kyle afford it? Earlier in the game I got the impression he was strapped for cash!

I want Snatcher on Wii!

Snatcher is pretty much the best thing ever released on a SEGA system. The Mega CD version really ought to come to the Wii in some shape or form since it's the perfect console for it. I'm of the opinion that it's the best thing Hideo Kojima ever worked on making it better in my eyes than Metal Gear anything.

Creepy Majora's Mask Story

http://www.zeldainformer.com/2010/09/haunted-majoras-mask-cartridge.html

Following on from the Pokémon one I posted about yesterday is this story of a haunted Majora's Mask cartridge. It's still fun but the better story in my opinion has to be the former!

Creepy Pokemon Story

Here's something nice for Halloween! Not so long ago tinycartridge.com posted a creepy pokemon story on their blog which you can read in its entirety here:

http://tinycartridge.com/post/866743831/super-creepy-pokemon-hack

This story inspired some Nintendo DS programmers to make a visual novel out of it. Tinycartridge.com also posted about it here:

http://tinycartridge.com/post/988304533/super-creepy-pokemon-hack-turned-into-a-homebrew-visual

If you have a chance to play this on a Nintendo DS I recommend you do. It's a very nice Halloween treat! Enjoy!

Donkey Kong Country Returns promises challenge

The general impression from those who have played DKCR at press events and such have found that it provides a good challenge. This is in stark contrast to the other new game that has people excited, Kirby's Epic Yarn.

The DKC games were certainly challenging in a decent way so this sounds like it could be on par with them. This is something else that is making fans happy and excited!

Brand new Donkey Kong Country Returns trailer released!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjwPYj-HQHY

Enjoy!

Map of Earthbound Zero's Duncan's Factory

Duncan's Factory is without doubt one of the horriblest dungeons I've ever come across in an RPG. It's very easy to get lost in and trying to draw my own map of the area proved disastrous. Finding this map on rpgclassics.com was a godsend! If you ever intend of playing Earthbound Zero, please use this map!

Other stuff about that Kirby's Epic Yarn Iwata Asks feature

I mentioned before on how someone from Good Feel helped make Kirby's Epic Yarn turn out the way it did and now I just read the HAL Lab staff's side of it and about their collaboration. They were really happy to work on the game and glad to see Kirby in a different style. There's even a little clip of one of them playing the new rendition of the classic Green Greens level theme from Kirby's Dream Land on a weird little air piano thing.

Today I completed Dragon Quest IX

Just a few moments ago I finished DQIX's main story. There's a lot to do in the game with the list of sidequests and everything but I just concentrated on the following the plot to the end. My playthrough took up to 35 hours. I'm curious about the extra scene that appears after the credits so I'll go check that out. I can concentrate on sidequests now if I like even though I have the main story completed.

This game is marketed and promoted for a lot of things including multiplayer, sidequests, the downloadable stuff and the tag mode but it's still just as solid and straightforward a DQ adventure for a single player as the previous ones in the series are and just as satisfying as a regular DQ game.

It's true you can play this game as deeply as you like and I'm glad I don't have to connect online a single time or go travel overseas to the UK to a promotional event(like the one I posted about yesterday) to experience the game in a different way if I don't want to!

Dragon Quest IX events in the UK

I got an email from Nintendo recently talking about Dragon Quest IX events that are taking place in the UK. I like the game myself but this event is of no interest to me really since I live in Ireland. But hey, you guys have a look.

They're also giving away a special figurine if you show up with three friends. I wonder if there are many fans of this game over here who personally know three other people who are also fans?

Kirby's Epic Yarn Metacritic update

Since my last post about the new Kirby game's review scores we have seen some small but nice changes. The average metascore went up 1% with 5 new rave critic reviews and 3 positive user reviews.

Things are looking quite nice. Hopefully reception will be just as positive when the game comes out over here!

Kirby's Epic Yarn was tested on a female

In the Iwata Asks feature we learn that a lady who wasn't that adept at action games had her opinion sought as development was going on. The developers made changes according to how fun she felt the game was as she was playing it.

This is good news. This could prove that the game could be lots of fun and even quite popular when it comes out over here.

Iwata Asks about Kirby's Epic Yarn

http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/kirbysepicyarn/vol1_page1.jsp

Haven't checked this out yet but it should make for another very interesting one. I'd like to hear some stuff being asked of the Good Feel staff who are known to be one of the relatively few developers who care about 2D platform games nowadays. I'll set some time aside over the weekend to have a read.

NGamer issue 55

 

This is kind of weird because the writing is a deeper orange than is shown here. Ah well. They gave Sonic Colours an 86. I'm looking forward to trying it out myself when it comes out! 

Professor Layton and Ace Attorney are getting a crossover game

This news raised a few eyebrows I'd say!

But yes it's actually happening. Phoenix Wright somehow gets warped to Professor Layton's universe and I suppose they'll team up to right wrongs together. It's one of those unlikely pairings that actually sound like they go quite well together.

Needless to say, fans are very excited about all this!

Kirby's Epic Yarn is getting some good reviews

Have a look at some of the reviews coming out for the new Kirby game. They're pretty nice! I just thought I'd take a printscreen of the metacritic page as it is so far. I don't often watch video reviews but I am for this title. Everyone sounds so happy to talk about it!

I can't think of any other Kirby game that people looked this much forward to and at the same time was also so well received. I can think of fewer franchises more deserving of this warm reception than Kirby and even fewer developers who deserved so much kudos as Good Feel is getting right now. Their previous effort, Wario Land The Shake Dimension is quite underrated.

My favourite line from a review of this game so far is the one where in their pros and cons section they only listed one con and it reads: "it ends".

Issue 82 of Retro Gamer

Here's the latest issue of Retro Gamer with a Mario 25th anniversary special.

See the numbers all over the cover? They're actually 25 openable flaps each revealing a Mario game behind them. It's a pretty fun idea!

The whole issue is one big Mariofest. It's great and even the anti-Mario grumblers are ok with it since its a special occasion and all!

Episode 1 of Sonic 4 may be out on WiiWare BUT!...

...I will not even entertain the thought of buying it until Cave Story gets released on WiiWare over here. No rush, just saying!

The American version of Cave Story is being updated with things like Gamecube controller support. That's good news. It ought to be out here soon then right?

As for Sonic 4 it's been getting mixed opinions which is to be expected. Some complain about the physics of the game. They do seem kind of funny alright.

On Edge magazine's review of Last Window

This article gave me food for thought. I already knew that Last Window's developer Cing filed for bankruptcy but I never thought to observe the parallel with the main event that is taking place in the game - the owner of the apartment building where Kyle Hyde lives suddenly decides to close it down and sell it. This is what Edge magazine does in its review.

Now, Last Window was being developed last year whereas Cing filed for bankruptcy sometime this year. I wonder if Cing developed this game knowing what was going to happen to them and if they intended to express themselves through the events that take place in this game? I'll continue to play it with this in mind.

But hey, it could very well be a coincidence. Then again, thinking about this kind of thing can be fun.

A Shadow's Tale aka Lost in Shadow is out on Wii today in Ireland

Today A Shadow's Tale, which is known as Lost in Shadow in America, has been released in Ireland and the rest of Europe. I couldn't find it in any of my local shops so it must be another one of those limited releases.

You may have seen clips of the game before, it's a 2D platformer with puzzle solving but what's unique about this is that you're a shadow and you're jumping on shadows of platforms. Might be worth a look!

New DSiXL colours

Some new DSiXL colours came out In Ireland last week or so including a blue one which is the colour I was always waiting for.

I will not get a DSi anything until the new Shantae game is made available here though!

No rush or anything Nintendo, just saying!

Famitsu article of Donkey Kong Country Returns shows a difference in the game's title.

In this page of Famitsu, the Japanese games magazine, Donkey Kong Country Returns' title is shown here to be without the "Country". Is the title just going to be "Donkey Kong Returns"?

The Donkey Kong Country games are known in Japan as "Super Donkey Kong". On top of that the sequels are also numbered so it's "Super Donkey Kong 2" and "Super Donkey Kong 3". Maybe this will be "Super Donkey Kong Returns"?

Gonintendo podcast #269

This week RMC talks at length about Shantae Risky's Revenge and encourages one of the others to buy it, constantly trying to reason with him. That was pretty interesting! He also didn't like that there were people trying to get the game without paying. I promise you I will pay good money and points to get that game if it comes out here in Ireland!

Retro Gamer editor replays Donkey Kong Country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrnAcwyUjoI


Retro Gamer is one of my favourite magazines besides NGamer. Here's the editor Darran Jones refamiliarising himself with Donkey Kong Country.

He says he's preparing for a special feature in the magazine that ties in with the release of the new DKC on the Wii. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

At one point during the video he skips Cranky's Cabin, saying he's going to go straight to the boss. The thing is, it was only the end of the first part of the first area's map. Is he less familiar than he thought he was with the game? No matter, as long as he gets more so (and has a bit of fun in the process of course) so he can produce that article with his team.

Here's some interesting DKC trivia for free:
-Like Darran mentioned, Cranky Kong is the original Donkey Kong and the current Donkey Kong we play as in the game is his son who used to be Donkey Kong Junior.
-Diddy is the current Donkey's nephew.
-Dixie is Diddy's girlfriend.
-Kiddy is Dixie's cousin.

My favourite in the trilogy is DKC3 as that's the one I grew up with. I really hope they don't treat it like it was the "worst" one. None of those games are the worst anything!

Angry Video Game Nerd revisits Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/705627

In case you didn't know, The Nerd is doing a revisit to one of the first games he ever talked about, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I think my favourite part of this video is the build up to him turning the game on. He often said it was his most hated game and he really hesitates! Enjoy!

Tesco still lists Official Nintendo Magazine by its old name

 

Has anyone else noticed this? Tesco still lists Official Nintendo Magazine(which is Nintendo's official magazine for UK and Ireland) by its old name, "Nintendo Magazine System". It was the original name for the magazine which changed around the time the N64 was released. 

Super Mario 25th Anniversary disc has the SNES Mario All Stars versions of the Mario games.

Just saw a Japanese tv spot that showed footage of the Mario games on the new upcoming Wii compilation. It has the SNES All Stars versions of the games that appeared on the NES so if they're what you prefer, this is the collection for you!

Remember, it's currently scheduled to come out in Ireland and the rest of Europe on the 3rd of December! I wonder if America will get a release date for it soon? You guys must be anxious about it...

Mario 25th Anniversary Collection coming to Europe

Today it was announced that this special Wii disc release is coming to Ireland and Europe as well as Japan and it'll be coming out on the 3rd of December, the same day Donkey Kong Country Returns comes out here.

That's quite weird isn't it? It's kind of like that time "Little King's Story" and "New Play Control! Pikmin 2" came out here on the same day. I don't know if sales of one will disrupt the other's. I sure hope not.

It says "All Stars" on the box, the same as the SNES compilation. I wonder if it'll be the SNES remakes of the games that'll be on it? I must say I prefer the original NES versions (not that these aren't nice too).

It would be great if Super Mario World was on it too like it was when the SNES got a revised version that got bundled with consoles. That cartridge was without doubt the greatest retro game compilation ever!

An audio CD will come with it that has tunes from various Mario games.

Kirby's Epic Yarn gets 36/40 from Famitsu

There seems to be people online who are more excited about the new Kirby than the new Donkey Kong Country. Nevertheless both games are very important in the important role of bringing us back to playing games in glorious 2D. Kirby's Epic Yarn won't be out here in Ireland until early next year but over the next week or so it'll be released in America and Japan so I hope you guys abroad are ready to buy it when it gets released!

Famitsu gave it 36/40 (breakdown 9/8/9/10 between the four reviewers) talking about the difficulty level which is quite low. This is somewhat reminiscent of Kirby games in general and it'll be interesting to see how the game sells as there is a healthy bit of buzz about it. There's going to be a lot of it over the next couple of weeks so let's all enjoy it together and hope it's the good kind!

The Angry Videogame Nerd Movie, my thoughts

I've been a big fan of the Angry Videogame Nerd ever since I first saw his video where he was reviewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. That part where he talks about the hole you can just walk over resonated with me so much that I ended up watching nearly every single thing he's done since. I first saw it in 2006 and since then I've always checked out his website for future updates.

Recently he uploaded a video where he talks about the AVGN movie which you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZw6YHR2EBM

I know I'm slow to blog this but he mentioned that he's spreading the word so that's what I'll do too with this post. I'm looking forward to this and I'm trying to imagine what the movie would be like! For now I hope he and his film crew work really hard at it and that it turns out well for them.

Gonintendo podcast episode 268

In this episode one of the guys (I think it's Kirby) was saying he tried out Last Window for the DS. He liked it though he did note that it was like a novel and was marketed as so( he's not wrong but it's still great). RMC is still mad that Another Code R didn't make it over there... kind of like how mad as I'll be if Shantae Risky's Revenge doesn't come over to Ireland and the rest of Europe!

Some cool music was played too. I'm surprised they didn't recognise Clash at Demonhead!

Listening to Podcasts: Screwattack's sidescrollers

Screwattack.com isn't a bad site. After all they're affiliated with the Angry Video Game Nerd so they musn't be all that bad right? I like their weekly podcast and Stuttering Craig has a really good radio host/sports commentator type of voice. This week he was talking about his trip to Japan and the amazing multi storey arcades they have there. Also with they way they're so polite to each other and the way a lot of adult stuff is right in your face. I'd like to visit there someday myself and maybe learn the language so I could enjoy more entertaining media that comes from there.

Celebrating Super Mario Bros.' 25th Anniversary

Super Mario Bros. is now 25 years old. I thought of doing something special to celebrate the occasion so I thought I'd learn to do that famous 1up trick on world 3-1.

It involves the flight of steps near the end of the level and a Koopa Troopa. As it descends you jump on it and as you bounce off it it rebounds off the step and you can bounce on it again and again until you start getting 1ups for each bounce.

I tried and tried again but kept failing to actually do it. Then I realised that I was playing the PAL version and that made the difference. Did you know the PAL version of the original NES Super Mario Bros runs faster than the NTSC versions? It's really unusual as PAL versions of games are usually noticeably slower than their NTSC counterparts. That means effort must've been taken to make sure the PAL version was actually faster than it was destined to be.

So then I tried the NTSC version of the game and was able to do it straight away! I was really pleased with myself! That was a good way to celebrate the birthday of this game. Those extra lives really come in handy too when you're trying to do a non-warp playthrough of the entire game.

But I still prefer the PAL version released here!

Looking forward to Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii

Another nice surprise that was revealed at E3 this year was Kirby's Epic Yarn, a game being developed by Good Feel, the same guys who made Wario Land: The Shake Dimension which has some of the most flawless looking graphics ever and Kirby's Epic Yarn looks similar in style.

Really looking forward to this. I'm a big Kirby fan and I have all his DS games! I'm more looking forward to DKC Returns but should be great too.

Looking forward to Shantae: Risky's Revenge, Promotional e-mails from Wayforward

Some time ago I joined this mailing list from Wayforward Technologies that promised to give details about their upcoming Shantae: Risky's Revenge for DSiWare. Over the past week or two I've gotten three of them.

 Here's the first one with an American release date of 4th of October 2010 (which of course to us Irish looks like the 10th of April but isn't!). It got RMC at Gonintendo.com really excited. I want it to be released on the European DSiWare too! Make it happen Wayforward!

 Here's the second one. It offers a free prize to people who have purchased Wayforward's previous game Mighty Flip Champs on DSiWare. Wonder what it is? Well Wayforward, bring Shantae to Europe and let us find out! You've already released Mighty Flip Champs here so there you go! Half the battle won!

 Here's the third one. It's a fun thing done for free out of love which is a twitter account set up with each little entry covering bit by bit of Shantae's first adventure for the Game Boy Colour. Well... by love I mean good PR but done in a way that seems like it's done out of love and doesn't hurt or inconvenience anybody.

Please bring the game to Europe guys!!!

Gonintendo podcast episode 267

I really enjoyed this episode. This time more of the crew were back. The lady's name is Momma Brain and there's another guy named Deux alongside the regular guys. The guess the music feature is back which is always brilliant and RMC is very very excited about the new Shantae game that's coming to DSiWare. I hope he won't be disappointed! Speaking of which I must play the first Shantae on the Game Boy Colour for myself!

Looking forward to Donkey Kong Country Returns, watching new trailer with Rambi

Nintendo's show at E3 this year was REALLY entertaining! There were many things announced but nothing got me more excited than the reveal of Donkey Kong Country Returns! I absolutely adore the SNES trilogy, the third being my favourite, but I love all three of them like no other. Naturally I'm following the hype up to its release in Ireland, which is currently for the 3rd of December this year.

One of the latest bits of hype is the trailer showing Rambi the Rhino. Never doubted that he'd be coming back! I wonder if the other animal buddies will come back too? I always thought it was really clever naming the swordfish "Enguarde"!

Anyway, check out the Rambi trailer and let's all get excited for the game's release together!

Email: Free Ticket from Nintendo to Chessington World of Adventures

Club Nintendo of Europe e-mailed me, thanking me for being a fan of the Wii(something I always appreciate!) and offered me the chance to register for a free ticket to Chessington World of Adventures. The occasion is to celebrate the launch of a new game called Wii Party.

It's a wonderful offer but I'm afraid it doesn't really apply to me!(I preferred the time when I was given a download ticket for NES Metroid for being one of the first of so many to register Metroid Prime Trilogy) So anyone else who's a member of Club Nintendo in Europe, check your e-mail if you haven't done so already.

Where to find Fragile Dreams in Cork

Some people I know have been having trouble finding Fragile Dreams in Cork. If you're having the same trouble I'll tell you what I tell everyone else: HMV has it for EUR17.99. At the time of writing there's only like 2 copies there now so hurry. They keep the games upstairs nowadays too.

Cave Story still not out in Ireland for Wiiware yet but now announced for DSiWare also

I loved Cave Story when I played it. It's a freeware PC game that everyone loved so much and admired its creator so much they actually wanted to pay for it, so the creator got together with Nicalis to make it available to buy on the American Wiiware, which is kind of like an example of shareware working really well.


The thing is though that its still not out on WiiWare yet over here and we've been waiting well over a year for it. I'm not against buying it on DSiWare but I demand the chance to buy it on WiiWare! At least when they announced this the creators reconfirmed it was definitely coming to the European WiiWare. It even has a PEGI rating so we're still holding strong, waiting patiently and watching those weekly shop channel updates.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie

What an amazing film. It's just packed with references to video game conventions and I enjoyed it so much I went to see it twice. It's coming to the end of its cinema run here in Ireland and it's gotten a good response from many people I know who've seen it. Even the film critic Mark Kermode liked it, comparing it to George Lucas' Howard the Duck, which he also liked, outlining what both films have in common.

Many local bookshops to me now have shelves near the front of their stores with the graphic novels the movie is based on for sale. I've seen some people buying a few volumes of them at a time. That shows the whole thing is doing well enough over here. I heard it wasn't that well received by audiences in America, which is a shame because it really is a fun movie to watch. If you haven't seen it yet check it out!

Is the SNES Wii classic controller worth it? Regional SNES controller differences.

In a previous post I talked about how Nintendo of Europe made a SNES controller available that connects to the Wii remote like a classic controller. I'd quite like one myself and I think it's cool how it's made to look like the European SNES controller. What's the difference between a SNES controller sold in Ireland from one sold in America you might ask? Well I'll talk about some of the differences here for those not in the know:

Firstly here's the controller from the Japanese release of the SNES, the Super Famicom. Now when you compare it to....

...the American SNES controller you'll notice a couple of tiny differences. The name of course is different and the buttons are two different shades of purple. The X and Y buttons also have little grooves on them which is pretty interesting. Now for the one sold in Ireland and the rest of Europe:

Which is almost exactly like the Japanese one apart from the name of course. What's worthy of note is that the SNES classic controller for Wii that's available from Nintendo of Europe's site looks exactly like this. So although the difference is mostly cosmetic this might help influence your decision of what version of this special classic controller for the Wii to get.

NGamer issue 54

I love getting NGamer magazine. They can be pretty funny and they're very good for import reviews as well, sometimes being the first to review games at all. I also love the way the cover doesn't have any obnoxious taglines(although the disposable bag it always comes in always has plenty, as if they understand that those lines are worthless in the long run and should be treated as rubbish). This month's cover features Professor Layton and has a review for the game inside. It scored 88 and it has a release date of 22nd of October. There's also a gigantic Professor Layton poster with it. I've never played the series before. I wonder if I ought to get into it.

Another thing that came free with this month's issue is this:

An accessory for the Wii remote that gives it handles. To be honest it's a good idea to give the classic controller handles but not the Wii remote, which doesn't even fit properly into it. It's definitely not worth 7 pounds that's for sure.

This issue also has a review of Last Window! Thankfully Matthew Castle wrote a normal one this time(His Hotel Dusk review was a bit crazy) and he scored it 84. It's a good read!

Listening to podcasts: Gonintendo Podcast Webisode 266

I've been trying to get into listening to the gonintendo.com podcasts lately as it's one of my favourite blogs to visit. There's a great liveliness to it and they really get into reading out press releases and such which can be entertaining.

I enjoy it but am getting to know who's who in the show very slowly as there's usually a lot of them on the show and I'm trying my best to tell them apart. This time there was just RMC(Rawmeatcowboy) and Kirby so now I now know those guys a little better. They weren't used to having such a small number at once but they got through it well I thought.

I missed the guess the game music feature they usually seem to have. I'm going to try my best to listen to it regularly from now on and comment on the goings on here.

SNES controller attachment for the Wii remote now available from Club Nintendo Europe

A European SNES controller you can plug into the Wii remote! How nice! If you really wanted to get this it's been made available recently via Nintendo of Europe's Club Nintendo site and costs 7000 stars which you can acquire by registering enough European Nintendo products. It's been available in Japan for a long while but now is our chance in Ireland to officially get one.

Metroid: Other M The Movie

This is actually what you first see when you decide to just watch the game being played in theatre mode.

The whole thing is just like a modern day action movie - lots of shaky camera, quick cuts and loads of zoom in shots. There's a lot of deadpan voice acting with standard sci-fi dialogue. I'm not really the biggest fan of sci-fi so I didn't really enjoy it.

It may be a little too sci-fi actually. Metroid was always more about weird alien jungle-like labyrinths than it was about serious sci-fi stuff. Then again, sci-fi is the closest thing one could probably come to describe the whole Metroid series even though it doesn't really fit the description that well. It's a bit of a dilemma, especially if you were trying to realise it cinematically.

Should Nintendo produce something like this again? I'd like to see if they could improve upon it. I can imagine Metroid having some cinematic potential but I'm thinking of something more along the lines of that movie WALL-E. A producer of "cinematic Metroid" could definitely learn a few things from that film.

Watching video games as movies

A couple of weeks ago Metroid: Other M was released over here in Ireland. I heard somewhere that if you complete the game you unlock a theatre mode where you can watch all the game's cut scenes together like a movie.

From what I've played of the game so far I'm definitely more interested in the cut scenes rather than the game itself so what I'm going to do is download a save that has theatre mode unlocked and watch the whole thing from start to finish. I'll blog about it in a future entry.

This isn't the first time a game has done this. The European version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has a third disc where you can watch the whole game as a three and a half hour movie(Metroid: Other M's movie is said to be about two hours). In the instruction manual Hideo Kojima had a special message talking about watching the game as a movie:

Metal Gear Solid has become something you can experience more than just one way. I'm not sure how selling games as something you can "watch" instead of play would work but quite a lot of video game fans do it already with the likes of watching "Let's Play" video walkthroughs on Youtube.

So why are we watching games being played instead of actually playing them? Well, one thing for sure is that watching gameplay footage helps give us an impression of what a game is mainly like before buying it, installing it, loading it and sitting through its lengthy prologue. Modern game releases take a lot of effort to get into.

I suppose the best way I can sum this up for now is that although the final impressions always come from playing the game itself, watching the game being played can really help you to assess if a game is worth going to all that trouble.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West for Nintendo DS out today in Ireland.

Well here it is at last, Kyle Hyde's new adventure. I bought it earlier today. Haven't started playing it yet but I'm looking forward to it.

I like to look inside a game's manual and read a message of thanks for buying it :) Nintendo's usually good for doing this. This game is compatible with the Rumble Pak as well so I'll see if I can get one of those so I can try it out.

Here's something interesting. One of the instruction manual pages is stuck to another by a perforated edge. Remove it and you can look at some hints for the game. It all feels very top secret!

Last Window Buzz

Tomorrow Last Window for the DS will be released here in Ireland and the rest of Europe. I'm really looking forward to it. It's the sequel to Hotel Dusk, a game I thoroughly enjoyed on long journeys. It was less of a game and more of a really good read - kind of like those Ace Attorney games where you're reading text most of the time and getting clues to advance the plot and having interesting exchanges with other characters. This will be more of the same but with some little changes probably. It'll be good to play as the gruff but likeable Kyle Hyde again!

Pity though it hasn't been announced for release in America. The same thing happened with Another Code R on the Wii. I guess it really is true what they say though that adventure games of this type are much more popular in Europe. Since it isn't happening over there for now there will be relatively little buzz online about it.

Having said that let's look at what buzz is there for the game: Nintendo has a tv advert and an official gamesite for it and cubed3.com has a review for it too where they rated it 9/10. I haven't seen any adverts or display cases for it in shops.

About this blog

Hello there and welcome. Call me Lucas - a name I chose from the character of the same name from Nintendo's Mother series. This blog is done my by me, an Irish Nintendo Fan for every other video game fan that may have an interest in what goes on in such a person's video game playing hobby. I live in Cork, Ireland and I focus on Nintendo related matters that affect me and possibly other fans in this region. I will try the best I can to post new entries daily for the next couple of weeks to see if I can pull something like this off.