Having a read of Games Master magazine

I got a chance to read an older issue of Games Master magazine today. It's not that old, just from February of this year.

It's really boring. Everything's kind of dull and lifeless since they give the HD consoles so much coverage. There's stuff I just plain don't agree with either like the feature about why No More Heroes would be ideal for PS3. None of those reasons validate anything and I can't imagine why anyone at all would like to have it on PS3 except for the novelty factor.

If you're going to play No More Heroes just play it on Wii.

Playing the 3DS on a bus

Today I decided to try playing 3DS on a bus commute. The road was nice and smooth so it was the best possible condition for the experience. It was fine as long as I had the 3D slider turned all the way down. Since there are natural shakes and stirs while playing games on the bus you just can't keep it settled in that "sweet spot" where the 3D effect shows properly.

This hurts the portability aspect for me since I usually play DS on the bus. I'm so used to saving the DS for journeys but now with the 3DS I'll be playing it at home and other places that don't include buses!

Nintendo of Europe Nintendo 3DS price cut & ambassador programme

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/nintendo_3ds_ambassador_programme_44123.html

Wow, everybody should hear about this!

Firstly a price cut just after a few months of release and just after a Zelda game. I'll have to keep this in mind when I'm buying games in future. I did get a great deal when I bought it but taking this into account just makes it seem like a normal deal.

Next, the ambassador thing. That's really nice but I don't see any mention of it at all on the eshop. I guess it confirms NES and GBA support on the 3DS Virtual Console in any case and there's a couple of games on that list I have my eye on. I wonder if the NES support will be 50Hz or 60Hz?

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 14

There was some streaming stuttering while I was watching this. It never happened before and I'm sure it's only temporary. Didn't get a key for watching.

King Dedede is unhappy with the way NME are treating him as a customer so after complaining he gets a huge bunch of complimentary pillows that give people nightmares about Kirby. He then gives them out among the unwitting Cappytown residents. That night everyone starts to have nightmares about Kirby which are shown as clips from earlier in the series, making this episode serve partly as a recap episode.

The NME monster this time is Noddy, an infamous enemy character throughout the Kirby games that gives him the Sleep ability. Kirby doesn't need to eat him during this episode as he's already fast asleep throughout most of it!

I can't help but think a very subtle reference was made to the title of an Akira Kurosawa film "The Bad Sleep Well". There are a lot of puns about dreams and dreaming — and how appropriate! It is Dreamland after all!

EDIT: I actually did get a key from watching after all. It turns out unless you watch an episode the whole way through it doesn't count as a viewing. I was just watching it in bits when I got that error message (it works perfectly again now by the way). You know you've watched an episode the whole way through when you check the episode timetable and it's marked with a green tick. I wonder if something special happens when you get all the green ticks?

Kirby Mass Attack gets 36/40 from Famitsu

There are four Kirby games on the DS now and of all of them this has the highest rating from Famitsu!

I'm not surprised because you know that just by looking at the game it's going to be fun. Power Paintbrush fans would like it I'd say.

Even NGamer have a high anticipation rating for the game in their latest issue and called it the best Kirby game from this year's E3.

Testing a 3DS on someone who doesn't play games

I met a friend for lunch today and he doesn't play games at all but finds them interesting. I decided to show him Ocarina of Time 3D. Here's what he thought of the 3DS specific features:

The 3D effect itself:

"Hmm... it works alright. It's done with two screens on top of each other is it? Your eyes kind of have to adjust to it. Yeah it's good."

The gyro controls used to look around in first person (3D off):

"Oh Wow! This is amazing! You actually move it here to look over... woooow! hahaha!"

I should've shown him how to use the catapult!

The gyro impressed straight away whereas the 3D effect took getting used to with adjusting and focusing but was acknowleged as good, even though it's not exactly what delighted him. It satisfied his curiosity anyhow.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 13

Got a key this time!

New Year's Eve is approaching fast in Cappy Town and the residents are wondering what to do for it. King Dedede plans a fireworks show which everyone will perceive as spectacular but it'll actually be yet another elaborate plot attempting to get rid of Kirby.

Dynablade and Wispy Woods make an appearance as they look at the fireworks show.

The NME monster this time is a little firework producing creature with a cone shaped hat from Kirby's Dreamland 3. Just like in the game Kirby swallows him up to become Parasol Kirby. Fire Kirby also makes an appearance.

Playing Zelda Outlands

This game's really hard! It's a hack of Zelda 1 and it's really handing my ass to me. So far I've gotten two of the fairies and there's a lot of skipping and revisiting previous dungeons. It's so thrilling and terrifying exploring everything and that makes it an awesome Zelda game.

I just got the bridge. In the original game I always kind of took it for granted but now I'm really glad to have it because it's opening up so many paths for me.

Came across Zebon in Kirby 64!

During one of the levels I played so far in Kirby 64 I came across Zebon, a character that recently appeared in Nintendo's broadcast of the Kirby cartoon. I don't know if he's in Kirby's Dreamland 3 but he's handy in Kirby 64. He works like a cannon.

Do you know what I miss from Kirby actually? The short warp star sequences! There's none of that in this game or Epic Yarn.

Playing Kirby 64

I got this on Virtual Console a long time ago but didn't play it until now. Kirby moves really slow and when he's dashing you don't know if he's dashing or not. It's nice to be able to use the D-Pad alright though. I never used the N64's D-Pad back then but now I wish more games did use it. It's a nice big size and it's very comfortable to hold the controller that way.

It's cool being able to combine abilities but again they take so long to perform. There's a lot in this game that is similar to Kirby's Dreamland 3 and that game was slower paced as well. They're still Kirby games and still good fun but they're not as exciting as other Kirby games. Kirby CAN be exciting — well at the very least Kirby can be fast paced.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 12

King Dedede is freaked out by a ghost that's haunting his castle. This episode focuses mainly on the residents of the castle — particularly Dedede and Escargoon — but it also features Tiff's family. (I'm starting to fancy her mother Lady Like a lot)

There's this funny bit where Escargoon is giving out to a Waddle Doo for not wearing his one contact lens!

Dedede wasn't able to order any NME monsters this time because of his overdue payments and Kirby is barely featured at all in this episode.

Trying out Disaster Day of Crisis

It's one of those 9.99 Euro games in the Gamestop range so I thought I'd try it out. It plays exactly like the kind of modern game that retro gamers would make fun of. So much so that it feels like a parody of the typical hardcore gamer game.

I'm with them; I think any flaws this game has isn't indicative of something Nintendo or Monolith Soft has done wrong — they've actually done something very right. This is how I see the typical xbox/playstation game and I bet I'm not the only one who thinks so.

I completed Kirby's Epic Yarn!

Actually 'complete' is too strong a word. I didn't get 100 %, I simply beat all the main levels. Collecting seriously gets old in that game if you take it seriously, especially with all those loading screens.

It's a nice game alright but it's not as responsive or as fast or as stimulating as my favourite Kirby games. It's very sedate in comparison to the other ones but it's a solid game in its own right.

Do not play if you're sleepy!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 11

No key earned this time...

Chef Kawasaki is featured in this episode in a big way. King Dedede gets a letter from a famous celebrity chef/food critic saying that he's coming to visit so Dedede makes Chef Kawasaki cook for him. Not only that but he sneaks a recipe to him that supposedly has Kirby as one of the ingredients!

I love hearing more of Kawasaki's voice and I feel a little sad for him in the end but hey, it might help him become a better cook!

The monster this time is Popon from Kirby's Dreamland 3 and Kirby's ability is Cook. Zebon from Kirby's Dremland 3 is also referenced.

Trying out Kororinpa 2 with the Wii Balance Board

This game has about three different names (which I think is really stupid) but most people refer to it as Kororinpa 2. (It's called "Marbles! Balance Challenge" over here)

It would be silly not to buy the game at this stage when it costs 9.99 Euro in my local Gamestop so I tried it out a bit with my Balance Board since it has loads of stages that cater especially for it.

It's much more different than using the board to control Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll. In that game you'll take off at the slightest change in balance compared to this game where you need to lean more in the direction you want to go to get the ball moving.

Both games are good but Kororinpa 2 is more considerate to someone who's never used the Balance Board before.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is AMAZING

After all this time it's only now I decide to give this series a go. I tried all the entries and they're all pretty ok except for this one on the Master System which in my opinion excels them all. With all the adventuring and animal transformations it feels like it was a huge influence on Shantae — though whether it was or not I'm not sure.

It grabbed hold of my attention right from the beginning and after stumbling around and finding where I'm supposed to go there was this point where I was in the second dungeon climbing up the walls and blocking projectiles. It was at that moment that I fell completely in love with the game.

Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll is really hard

Wow this game is hard with the balance board! I played world 5 the other day and it took every ounce of my concentration and focus and discipline to complete. Got many many game overs but I won!

There was this stage that had a series of half pipes you had to roll up. It was agonising trying to do it and there's the tendency to just roll out of it altogether so it's really hard to get a grip and control it.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 10

I got another key for watching this. I wonder if it's a regular thing from now on?

This episode is all about the policeman in Cappy Town up for losing his job after falling asleep while directing traffic. The kids try to help him keep his job but end up getting in trouble. It's the policeman's time to shine then.

No NME monsters or Kirby abilities this time.

I completed Shantae!

Wow that game was hard! It was satisfying to finally beat though. There's absolutely no hand holding with this game; you gotta go find everthing by yourself and fight through hellish hordes of baddies to get to wherever you need to go, just like the earlier Metroids or the Wonder Boy sequels or the earlier Zeldas.

Now I can go enjoy the sequel! I'd also like to read up on the development of the original game; there's lots of stuff online like interviews and old archived websites. There's no end to fan gushings about it either so that'll be fun to read up on too.

A sexy man on YouTube wants to give Nintendo money

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-_yZvmzLOQ

If my first name was Nintendo I'd be like "shucks ok" after watching this video.

These are all Project Rainfall games but I just wanted to share this man talking about them. I wanna be this guy. I envy his confidence.

It is sexy... even more so than, say — writing the words "Project Rainfall" on a boob.

I may be from Europe where these games are coming or have come but I feel inspired by this.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 9

After watching this episode I got a key for the Kirby Channel, which can be used to unlock an episode I've missed and be able to watch it for the following 24 hours. I can't think of a single way that this will be relevant to my personal interests. When I got the key a remix of the Green Greens theme played.

Today's episode focused on characters that got split up by a monster into male and female forms or who got split and spliced into other forms. It was amusing to see the different combinations and gender benders. Loads of puns flew around — some were cringy, some were funny, all of them clever.

Fololo & Falala (Lololo & Lalala from Kirby's Dreamland) were featured heavily in this episode since it deals with their origins.

The monster was this block thing carrying a moon rod for splitting people up and a sun rod for splicing them together (they look like Mr Shine and Mr Bright from Kirby's Adventure). It was Kirby's cutter ability this time.

One or two things I'm eyeing up on the 3DS eshop

There's one called Aura Aura Climber. It's by one of Nintendo's studios and it has a really nice logo. I love the theme of constantly climbing until you're reaching the heavens. It looks fun and arcadey too.

There's another one called Pic Dun where you're going through these really old RPG style first person maze dungeons and as you complete it the dungeon map makes up a solved Picross puzzle. I think that's how it works. I'm not entirely sure how you'd get fun out of it or if it's just a novelty kind of thing.

I've already bought Shantae :)

Angry Video Game Nerd episode 102: The making of The Angry Video Game Nerd

http://cinemassacre.com/2011/07/06/the-making-of-the-angry-video-game-nerd/

This was released a few days ago. I have to say I am really impressed with it. This is a guy doing what he loves and making something great with it and this shows how hard he works at it. It took him years of learning and practice to do this and it's kind of inspiring. I like to think of him as an ordinary guy and he'd make a good role model.

There's also the Barbie review for NES. oog, it does seem truly terrible. One thing I like to do sometimes is play licensed games like Hello Kitty or Hamtaro to see if there's a good game underneath what would initially scare one away. It works sometimes but I don't think it would here!

Xenoblade being released a little sooner than planned in Ireland

According to Nintendo of Europe's schedule and recent press release, Xenoblade (Super Landscape Running Adventure I like to call it)  is being released in Ireland on 19th of August. There's a bundle available with a red classic controller pro, which I'd get if I didn't have two of them already. Is it time for me to start getting excited about the game? Perhaps... I'll have to start reading the Iwata Asks feature about it.

Americans are still getting excited with the Project Rainfall and everything. Now if I was American I'd be getting excited about releasing Another Code R and Last Window.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 8

King Dedede goes out of his way to prove that his family always ruled Cappy Town so all these relics that get dug up seem to prove it.

I loved Mr Curio's sad mustachioed face. It's really heartbreaking to see it quiver and shake while he stammers unhappily. He's not usually like this but he is in this episode and it is heartrending to behold. You know he's got something big bothering him and you just want him to share it.

I don't know if the monster is from NME but it's a big moving statue of King Dedede. I have to say that the CG looks really good! I'd say that's because stone textures look appealing no matter what the quality is of the effect. It's a very good fit.

It's the Stone Kirby ability this time.

Oodles more 3DS trailers on eshop

Today I checked out more of the trailers that were released. My favourite was Kid Icarus — it had the nicest 3D effect out of all of them; Paper Mario's 3D effects weren't that apparent but the game looks nice anyway; Metal Gear Solid 3D's effects were good but the graphics aren't very appealing — it was a PS2 game after all. I bet it'll be fun using the gyroscope and the camera though. I didn't notice anything that particularly stood out during Luigi's Mansion 2 trailer but I am interested in the game.

Retro Gamer Issue 91

Released on Sonic's exact 20th birthday and he's featured heavily throughout the issue. It's plain to see of course that they love Sonic more than Zelda but I'm very glad they featured Zelda the way they did last month. It took real effort and it came out well.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! - Episode 7

Dynablade from Kirby's Fun Pak appears here and she looks so weird in CG. Her SNES sprites would've been so much better.

She goes on a rampage when her egg goes missing and Dedede uses his old tricks to get Kirby in trouble again.

No NME monsters or abilities this time.

I laughed out loud though when Kine said "Run Kirby, run!" I'm not sure why!

NGamer Issue 64

That's a magic number! This is the first issue to cover the Wii U since it was announced at this year's E3. Two free gifts came with it: A giant poster sized AR card of the Pokémon Oshawott and one of those space devouring tips books that contains a walkthrough of the Ocarina of Time as well as the coverage and review the original N64 magazine gave the game.

So yeah mainly the magazine is full of impressions of the team's trip to E3 and the Nintendo games they saw there. There's also the second half of the Ocarina of Time 3D review and other reviews like Solatorobo.

Kororinpa for sale in Smyths(Maylor Street, Cork) for 5 Euro New

Yes it's like one of the first Wii games ever but it's arcadey, it loads super fast, it's a brilliant Super Monkey Ball alternative and it's a classic. This is a great deal though, especially since they're new copies.

First video clip I've seen of Rocket Slime 3DS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGYEdg3s2p8

Here in the video we can see some footage of Rocket out in the field gathering things to put on his head. I imagine that wall he blew up will pop out to the front layer of the screen as it crumbles.

There's also a tiny bit of footage of a ship battle. I'm left wondering about this; what happens when you shoot yourself out of your cannon and bump into enemy fire? Do you just fall into the water? What happens when you fall into the water? In the previous game you'd just land on the ground and could move anywhere between the tanks. Now that there's deep water involved I'm wondering how this'll affect the game. Maybe it's a restriction that will prove to be a big disadvantage; maybe it'll change the atmosphere into something that will make the game very enjoyable. Who knows?

Pity there's no sound but it's nice to see the game in motion. I'm gonna pounce on any trickle of information I find that'll be released about this game from now on. I really hope they'll bring it to Ireland, especially since the 3DS is region locked.