The Dark Knight: Trailer

So, rumors of a real trailer for The Dark Knight (not just a teaser) have been circulating the intertubes for a while now, but the wait is over. Thursday night, some enterprising fellow with a video camera and violently shaking hands captured the entire 2 minute trailer at the opening of I AM LEGEND.

The footage was on YouTube briefly before Warner Bros. shut it down, but now a much higher quality version of the trailer is on The Dark Knight viral marketing website, whysoserious.com.

Click the link to check it out, and it's also available for download! More thoughts to come soon...

ZAP! (per)

This past Saturday, I experienced something that normally only an elite few in the world of game blogs get to; I received a soon-to-be released hit title several days early!

That's right; I went over to my local Game Crazy (you know the one; I used to manage it!) to get a system selector for our 42" LCD TV, so I wouldn't have to keep switching cables just to use the Wii and/or XBOX 360 (the what?). The trip was a major brouhaha (more on that later), but while I was there, I thought I'd try to verify my pre-order for Link's Crossbow Training and Wii Zapper.

If you're not familiar with the Zapper by now, it's essentially a plastic casing that holds the Wiimote and Nunchuck in it, sort of approximating the feel of a tommy-gun when you hold it with both hands. So far it has met mostly negative reviews.

Link's Crossbow Training is included with the $19.99 accessory, and is an entertaining target-shooting game set in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess universe. You all know what a Zelda freak I am, so this was a must-have.


Much to my surprise, when I asked the clerk to check on the arrival date of the Zapper and pack-in game (due out 4 days later), he said, "Wait, I think it's already here!" and stepped in the back to check. He emerged a moment later, my prize in hand, exclaimed, "Yep, the only one we got!" Naturally I purchased it post-haste.

So, while many are just now getting their feet wet with Link and his trusty crossbow, I have had all weekend to enjoy the title and accessory (much better than people are giving it credit for, believe me), as well as to try it out with another game, Medal of Honor: Heroes 2.

I'll get reviews for both posted soon, but for now I must get busy ZAPPING!

Anticipate: Nanostray 2

I was a HUGE fan of the first Nanostray for DS, and I just read a brief post on aeropause about the sequel.

I have had a long love affair with top-down shooters (sh'mups for those of you in Rio Linda), going all the way back to Xevious. Even now, when I visit a pizza place or swing by the arcade at Disneyland, I cannot resist the siren song of Raiden, R-Type or the very rare Terra Presta. Ikaruga is one of the few third party titles for Gamecube I cannot part with, and I've already filled my virtual console on the Wii with the likes of Gradius and Star Solider.

Nanostray (and its sequel) are in good company with these fine titles, except that they can be played on the go. The writer at Aeropause points out that the visuals in Nanostray blew everyone away, and the second game looks to be no exception to that rule. Click on over to Aeropause to check out their thoughts and see some awesome video of the game, courtesy of Gamevideos.com

WORLD FAMOUS!

So, I went to 'E-for-All' a couple of weeks back, and it was great. Don't let anyone else (Mark Bozon of IGN) fool you, the event was a hit, and it is already in the planning stages for next August, so I'm pretty confident that more players will jump in this time...

That being said, it was actually pretty cool, being a Ninty fan and all, to walk in and experience Nintendo Sensory Overload (NSO). I had experienced NSO once before, at E3 2005, but not like this. I guess the real reason it had such high impact on me was that Nintendo had unfettered dominance of the show-floor, and as soon as you entered via the South entrance of the L.A. convention center, you could see nothing but Nintendo, Nintendo and more Nintendo (and also MGS4).

I, my brother and two friends roamed the show floor a bit, but as we had registered early and were in at 11:00 am (everyone else had to wait until 3:00 pm), the lines for game play were very short indeed. We got into some Smash Bros. Brawl (Camel, Brent!), Mario Galaxy, Battalion Wars II and more with very little effort, and we were able to go back for more when we were done!

I've no doubt that next year will not be so easy, so we relished this opportunity to the max. While I was in line for Link's Crossbow Training, I spotted Kevin Cassady, a.k.a. RawMeatCowboy of GoNintendo.com. I called out to him, introduced myself and asked how he liked the show. One of his associates, Nicky Hill, was with him, and when I mentioned that I had submitted a couple of weekend banners (they accept readers submissions for their site header) that had never been used, Nicky remembered some of my work!

Long story short, I e-mailed Kevin a new banner heralding the arrival of Battalion Wars II, and they used it later that week. The REALLY cool part is that shortly afterward, Kevin e-mailed me, mentioning that he had been briefly interviewed at E-for-All by Spike TV's Game Head, hosted by Geoff Keighley, and that the snapshot of the site used on the show featured my creation! What an honor!

I've posted a link to the video clip here, so check it out!

Invasive Shirts

The good folks at 4 Color Rebellion recently hosted a t-shirt design contest, and while I didn't have much time to come up with anything, I did enter! I basically tweaked my "Nintendo Invasion" image to look sharp on a black shirt, and sent it on in. You can see it here.

I didn't win, unfortunately, although I did get some kudos in the comments section, so I was thinking about actually making the shirt myself and selling it online... what do you think?

High in Iron (man), and 8 essential vitamins and minerals!

I am, as you all know, a big fan of comic books, and some comic book film adaptations. So, when I hear that a certain famous billionaire industrialist comic book guy turned superhero via the combination of a life-altering tragedy and cutting-edge technology, I get all excited, because I know that a new Bat-flick is on the way.

That, or I get kinda excited, because someone decided to make Iron Man.

In reality, I am very excited about this flick. Iron Man is one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters, and I have long wanted to see someone make this film. Add in the Oscar-nominated and real-life problems driven acting of Robert Downey Jr. and I think you have a winner! IGN posted the above picture of the first Iron Man suit that Tony Stark makes (this thing is very accurate; I have a reprint of the first issue of Iron Man), and USA Today added fuel to the fire by posting the below photo of Downey Jr. as Mr. Stark, forging the suit ala John Henry (that's a famous fictitious blacksmith, for you illiterate types).


So, you can probably see why I'm pretty amped about this movie now! The glowing round thingy on Tony's chest is a bit puzzling (not featured in the comics), but it could simply be for the transition between Stark's life-threatening injury and getting into the suit, the torso of which he never removes after that (or he'll die).

What about you? Are you looking forward to this one?

Game Store Employees

Hey gang, sorry I haven't updated in a while! March was a busy month for me, but I am back in the groove and hopefully can post more frequently for a while...

Having managed a Game Crazy for two plus years, I have a pretty good insight into the workings of game stores and employees. So naturally, I was delighted to find this article on UK site Games Radar, in which several game store employees are interviewed candidly about what it's like to work in the industry, how they feel about gaming, co-workers and customers. Let me tell you right now, everything these guys are saying is TRUE!

I found myself cracking up especially at the descriptions of customers, as they easily matched many of my own worst-nightmare customers at Game Crazy!

GDC Amazingness!

Not being a "professional" blogger has its downsides, to be sure. One of them is that I don't get invites to industry events such as this week's Game Developer's Conference. *sigh* On the upside, however, I, like any of you, can access most of the news that comes from such a conference, from the convenience of my desk at home, without the fuss, muss and expense of travel!

Yesterday and today have been fairly significant news days for Nintendo at GDC, with several key announcements being made and Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote speech this morning. A major highlight of the whole thing, to me, is the new video footage of Super Mario Galaxy that was shown during the keynote, and is now viewable at GameTrailers.com, among others. Here are a couple of stills:
This first shot, with Mario nearly dead-center, zooming through space as he seems to do a lot in the game, shows just how vastly, hugely, big and enormous the environments are! I also like the variety of objects Nintendo has put in the space, and the sweet franchise-themed items, such as the Dr. Mario pill and Yoshi egg...I put this second still up because as I was watching the trailer, there was just a momentary flicker in the background of the awesome airships you see here. They really grabbed my attention, even though we've seen them in some E3 footage, because in this shot you can see them in their entirety and from a distance. Also, is Mario running on a Martini Shaker? Is this a hint of a new non-game coming from Nintendo... Mario Bartender?Lastly, this shot, which doesn't really do the video justice. Mario is in the blue bubble, center screen (I forgot that he's always center-screen, which eliminates camera problems!) These are those crazy bubbles that you point at to make them grab Mario in a kind of force-field, and then carry him along. Here the mini-suns are spewing out fireballs and flares, which Mario has to navigate between without getting burned!

I guess I'm pretty jazzed about this, because I never post more than one screenshot with my entries! In any event, click on over to GameTrailers and check out the footage!

Spidey the Third

I am a big fan of NBC's Heroes, and my wife and I curl up every Monday to find out what events have transpired with Peter Petrelli and company. This week's episode was no disappointment, which is a darn good thing, since there won't be another new episode for over a month (poop).

But sweetening the pie even more is the fact that Sony saw fit to reveal some new Spiderman 3 footage during the show, and still more footage at NBC.com during this 24 hour period.

I don't want to ruin anything for you, so let's just say that the new footage is very character development-oriented, in addition to having just a touch of... venom. If you want to see more, you'll have to wait and see!

Blurring Definitions

I picked up SSX Blur yesterday, like many other people, and I am really hooked. What's interesting about this game is the huge disparity between different reviews. The game has scored everything from a 5 to an 8 out of 10, and reviewers (as is often the case with Wii games) seem to have wildly varying opinions concerning the controls in particular.

GoNintendo's Raw Meat Cowboy has a great write-up about this crazy gulf between reviews, and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with him; SSX, like many Wii titles, has a bit of a learning curve, but mastering the controls is very rewarding and makes the game that much more worthwhile. If you have a chance to pick it up, I highly recommend it!

So, that brings me to my review! That's right, I am going to start reviewing games myself, but since there is such a wealth of reviews out there already, I am going to try a different approach. Rather than a lengthy write-up, I thought I would simply put down a couple of impressions about the game, then why I think it's worth picking up or not! So, without further ado, here goes...

SSX Blur
- Control scheme: solid, steep learning curve, especially on Uber-tricks.
- Visuals: great! Some of the best thus far on the Wii, and looks good enough to eat!
- Gameplay: again, very solid, but with some challenging aspects.
- Design: very nice. I especially like the music and the menu interface.

Pick Up? Absolutely! I am not a past SSX fan, although I do enjoy the games somewhat. Blur takes a tried-and-true game genre and draws you into the game even more with the immersive controls. Heck, I like just carving snow to enjoy the sensation of tilting the nunchuck and watching my character lean into curves, trailing a wake of powder behind them.

The Turnaround

Wow. I never imagined a year ago that I'd be writing things like this, or discussing the amazing success of the Wii with friends. I did predict that the system would be out-selling the PS3, but my faith in Nintendo to come through was not nearly great enough to anticipate what we are witnessing these days.

Just in the past few weeks, we have seen an incredible surge of third-party support for the Shiny-White-Goodness, with a wide variety of both ports and original IP's showing up in the lists.

For the mature gamer, we have The Godfather: Blackhand Edition, Scarface, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and Manhunt 2. For just about anyone, there's DDR: Hottest Party, Guitar Hero, Godzilla Unleashed, Transformers: The Game, Dewey's Adventure, Zorro, Spiderman 3, SSX Blur, Alien Syndrome and Heatseeker, to name a few.

These titles are not all going to be triple-A, but that's beside the point; Nintendo is garnering WAY more third-party support, both here in the States and overseas, than the Cube ever had! There are even rumblings about certain key Square Enix franchises moving over to Wii (Kingdom Hearts, anyone?), which could be earth-shaking as far as long-term ramifications are concerned. And perhaps even more significant is the fact that the above list doesn't include many already-announced third party efforts, such as Resident Evil, or the amazing first party lineup Nintendo has in store for the coming years.

Yes, it's early. Yes, some analysts still foresee PS3 rising to the top in the future. Yes, there are some very sloppy ports and gimmicky games being made for Wii. In my mind, though, none of those things matter; what matters is, Wii is rocking the house, and I imagine it will for a good long time to come!

One day, while I was shooting Nazis...

I am a WWII FPS nut. I own each Medal Of Honor for GameCube, plan to buy each one for Wii, and I'm playing Call Of Duty 3 for Wii right now.

I must say that I am quite pleased with the game; the controls are solid, story compelling (of course, it's history!) and the visuals, while nothing to write home about, are a notch or two above the GameCube quality.

As I've played through the campaign over the last couple of weeks, a funny thing has happened, though. See, COD3 incorporates "Battle Actions", not only on Wii, but on PS3 and XBOX 360 as well. Battle Actions add some immersion to the game by requiring motions (or button presses) in a sequence at various times, such as installing a timed charge for demolition, fighting an enemy in close quarters for a weapon or rowing a boat across a river. I have been very pleased with some of these, as they must be considerably better on the Wii than on the other platforms, and disappointed in others, as they just don't work very well.

But there has been a side effect, I think, to these actions; I have completely adjusted to the FPS controls in the game. Whether it's because of the stark contrast to the unusual nature of the Battle Actions, or simply because FPS control in COD3 is very well done, I realized this afternoon that moving, pointing and shooting in the game have become totally second nature to me.

I can't say this yet for other FPS'es on the system; while I love Red Steel, the control is still somewhat wonky to me, and Far Cry's control, though improved over Red Steel, still doesn't quite make it.

So, there it is! I'm sure that FPS will only get better from here on out, but know this; COD3 has done it right. Now I only have to wait for Metroid Prime 3!

OH...MY...GODZILLA!

I have long been a fan of the Godzilla franchise - the films, toys and games! Naturally, none of this can compare to Batman, but it's still awesome. I was ecstatic, of course, when I read tonight at IGN that an entirely new Godzilla Melee-style fighting game is being released exclusively for the Wii!

The visuals look great, monster models are all new, details on destructible environments sound marvelous and best of all, the controls sound like what they should be; catered just for Wii. I was disappointed when Godzilla: Save The Earth wasn't released for Gamecube, but this more than makes up for it!

Check the article out here.

Taking the world by storm

So, even though I'm on a gaming fast, I have followed the industry pretty vigilantly, and I'm pleased to observe our favorite game company doing very well indeed.

Of the three major console producers, only Nintendo posted an increased earnings forecast for 2007, only Nintendo's stock has risen to record heights, only Nintendo's system continues to be sold out everywhere and only Nintendo has succeeded in setting new records for systems sold since launch. It seems like the Big N is on its way to once again become the juggernaut of gaming that it once was, ironically, by becoming a kind of gaming company that it forgot how to be for a long time!

To celebrate the onslaught of Nintendo dominance that we are seeing, I have crafted a graphic and some fun desktops for your pleasure! Download here or follow the link at the right!

I think, therefore iPhone

Each January, Apple holds their annual "One more thing..." keynote in San Francisco at the MacWorld expo, and today was the day. I actually forgot about this (I've become so Wii-ified lately, my perusal of Mac news is all but dead), so I was shocked and thrilled to see two awesome new products when I went to Apple.com this afternoon!

iPhone

Rumored for years now, the iPhone is finally here. Or at least, it will be. In June. DANG! I can hardly wait for this widescreen iPod, 2 Megapixel camera, PDA cell phone! I'm really glad that I'm a Cingular customer, and I will be saving my pennies between now and June to become an early adopter...

Apple TV

This is the death knell for DVD. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are doomed to remain storage options for pc's and video games, as a result of this move by Apple. We all know that iTunes is the most popular place to download music and television shows for use on our iPods, and now Apple has announced movie downloads, starting with Paramount Studio's entire back-catalog! All I need now is a way to watch this stuff on my television - cue Apple TV. The device, for less than a Blu-Ray player or HD-DVD player, streams all your iTunes content to your televsion!

Pretty sweet stuff! Now, if only I could play video games by moving my body around...

Metroid Prime 3 Preview

Computer And Video Games has posted an awesome preview of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption here. If you don't already know, I am a crazy-go-nuts Metroid fan, and the two Prime games are among my favorites of all time. Prime 3 already sounded incredibly promising, but this preview ups the ante quite a bit! Woohoo!

Blocks Are Fun!

I know I have mentioned my passion for Legos before, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up...

I received a couple more Batman Lego sets for Christmas, including Arkham Asylum and a second Batman/Two-Face set. Since I already owned one of the latter, I decided to try something I had been considering; building my own mini-scale model of the Tumbler, the awesome vehicle featured in Batman Begins.

Considering the limited supply of pieces I had to work with, and the goal to make it as accurate as I could, I am rather proud of the results! More pictures of it can be seen here:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=batmyke

Hiatus

Hey gang, just fyi, I will be taking a *gasp* gaming hiatus for the month of January. I know this sounds INSANE, considering the recent arrival of Wii in my home as well as the wealth of awesome DS games out right now, but nonetheless, I will not be playing for one month.

I am doing this because I feel the need to focus more heavily on other things right now (see my other blog, Solus Invictus), but rest assured that I will probably still post to some extent during this month!

A Word About Reviews

Just a couple of thoughts here...

I've noted, as have many others, a disparity among many reviews for Wii titles. Where games like Zelda have come out with solid and consistent numbers in the 9's, other very good games have received everything from 3's to 8's, depending on who reviewed them. This is pretty strange, in my view, and also unprecedented as far as I know.

So, what's causing this? I have read terribly negative opinions of things like Wii Sports Boxing, only to later read blog posts that state that the game is really quite good, but you have to spend some time learning it and working on it. I've read everything about Red Steel from "It SUCKS!" to, "Must Have". Even Excite Truck, which I can't really find much fault with, has had it's share of stinker reviews. What's going on? Have the critics lost their minds? Do these titles change dramatically in quality as they get out there more?

Neither. The reality is, this disparity between poor and good reviews of Wii games reflects something that many of us already know; Wii is changing things, often times dramatically.

When a critic picks up the Wiimote and Nunchuck to try a new title out, right now it doesn't matter how seasoned a gamer they might be, or what other platforms they have played the game on. It doesn't even matter how much they have played Wii titles at this point; the fact is, they cannot really be prepared for what new things the game may ask of them. Will they be waggling the Wiimote around a lot? Will they be comfortable aiming a gun with the pointer while moving with the nunchuck? Will they quickly and easily adapt to new styles of play? There are so many more factors at work here than with games on the competing systems, it's really ludicrous to go into a review with any kind of expectations, except to ask, "Am I having fun?".

So, forgive me if I sound like a raving fanboy (which I am) when I give higher marks to many of these titles (see Rampage) than some do, but I really believe that one must try to be devoid of preconceptions when reviewing these games.