Gamers Paradise

Nintendo and the Wii – A Crossroads

gg — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:55:35 +0000

Wii-fit. Ok, yeah, it’s gonna sell millions. But seriously, how’s this a future of gaming when it’s a decades old idea anyway? Why didn’t it become a gigantic best-seller and change gaming forever back then? And who really make-believes it’s gonna somehow change gaming forever this time around? Why is Nintendo just scraping the bottom of the pre-N64 days to find ideas like these and try to brainwash the masses into thinking it’s something new and cool?

The unfortunate thing is that millions of people wouldn’t ever know about these really old failed games and add-ons, and mistakenly give Nintendo more credit than what they’re due with this “revolution”. We all thought it was gonna be some forward-moving leap into Virtual Reality. Instead, it’s mindless mini-games and pseudo-exercise gadgets. That’s all they got in the think-tank! This Wii-Fit idea dates back to the Atari days, who had the exact same board that you stand on and wriggle about. It was called the “Joyboard”.

I’m angry with Nintendo because it’s all as shameless a grab for opportunistic dollars as Sony with their Bluray. I’m also angry because they’re helping to stagnate the video game industry. The more people who buy the Wii the more reason for 3rd party devs to support the Wii, the more ammunition for Nintendo to validate the whole direction of outdated hardware + old arcade games as a future-gen console.

In my opinion, this is the beginning of the end for Nintendo. The think-tank is running on empty. The cupboards are bare. There’s no revolution, just a recycling. Sure, standard power-console games are just releasing tweaked Madden and COD games, enhanced for Hi-Def 6th gen half-baked ports. But, there’s plenty of tech innovation coming soon with wondrous visions like Little Big Planet, or Killzone2′s push into cinemtic gameplay, destructible environments, and realistic physics. There’s far more replayability and sophistication and artistry involved in building COD4, for instance, versus what goes into building Wii-fit or the majority of Wii-mote centric games.

All they can develop around is finding different ways to use the Wii-mote, just like this video parodies…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e72sYdy2gWs

C’mon, seriously, how long is that kind of ‘think-tank’ strategy gonna hold people’s attentions? How long is that gonna last before all the ideas are done and everyone (gamers and developers) wake up like they got so drunk the night before that they cant remember what the hell they did…until they spot that unattractive stranger passed out next to them in bed, and they yell, “Arggghhhh, what the hell was I thinking!” as they quickly run out the door before the other person wakes up.

C’mon, you know I’m being harsh here, and deliberately trying to aggravate/provoke the Wii fans into lashing out. Ok, fair enough. But apart from the exaggerations, there’s some truth to what I’m writing. The real innovations like Little Big Planet, or the deep immersive enormous sandbox worlds of RPG’s with humanistic AI, or the blockbuster shoot’em-ups like Halo3 and Killzone2, with serious mayhemic online multiplayer replayability. That’s where it’s at.

Gamer’s Paradise Podcast Episode 13

zucas — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:17:01 +0000

Gamer’s Paradise Podcast Episode 12

zucas — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:57:57 +0000

Daledude and I talk PS3 Launch up to E3. We laugh we cry, and run out of ideas to talk about. Enjoy:

Gamers Paradise Podcast Episode 12

Lumines sales increase exponentially on Amazon… and we all know why.

zackletterman — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 23:02:50 +0000

As some of you have no doubt heard over the past week, Lumines has jumped from being the 796th in sales rankings to the 3rd. What the hell could warrant such a huge jump in sales? An exploit that allows 3.50 users to downgrade to 1.5, of course. Known as the illuminati exploit, it requires a copy of an unpatched original Lumines and software that they provide. While it doesn’t downgrade your PSP, it opens the gate for downgraders. How nice, then, that shortly after this exploit hit the net a downgrader has already appeared, which happens to be 100% real as its by the same people who brought us the exploit, Noobz. So if you’ve been itching to downgrade but you shot yourself in the foot by upgrading before you knew what the hell you were doing, then this is a godsend.

In the end, though, this is cruelly ironic, as Lumines is likely to be the last game many PSP owners will ever buy again, as the main incentive attached to homebrew is isoloaders. Sad, but true… please, if you are planning to downgrade so that you can use isoloaders, do not bother. Buy using isos you are killing the PSP software industry. Developers don’t make games just for you to have fun! They make them to turn a profit, and if nobody buys their product than they’ll cease to develop for the PSP as their next game will probably suffer the same fate. So please buy all of your games, and if you do use an isoloader only use it for games you already own.

Beautiful Katamari Canned For PS3; Goes to Wii?

zucas — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:52:21 +0000

New rumor started by IGN is that the PS3 version of Beautiful Katamari has been canned by Namco Bandai. And now they are hard at work making the Wii version while also keeping the 360 version. The stated reason is the poor sales of the PS3. Could this be a trend for PS3 games to continue to follow by big Japanese developers?

Source

Zucas

The end of the PS3 game draught is finally in sight.

zackletterman — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:29:30 +0000

“I love my PS3, but… goddamit, where the **** are the games?”

This is probably the most asked question by PS3 owners around the globe, and it’s also the question that stops many a person from dropping money on the PS3. $600 is a steep entree fee, especially when the competition is priced much more affordably. The least the PS3 could do is provide its userbase with compensation for the money spent. Unfortunately, it appears to even be failing dismally at that… honestly, when’s the last time you’ve seen a good game come out for the PS3? Motorstorm? Virtua Fighter 5? Those came out months ago!

Well, fortunately for us PS3 owners, developers are embracing us gamers with open arms this fall & winter, as all of the high-profile games we PS3 owners have been drooling at – Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank Future, Lair, Warhawk – are all finally releasing in the consumer marketplace. As I dream of the possibility of finally having a collection that justifies my expensive purchase, I imagine that the other millions of bored PS3 owners are doing the same.

Well, might as well not waste time posting the release dates for the games in question. (Note: These release dates come directly from IGN, so technically any of the release dates I have posted can be subject to change, although I highly doubt it. Also note that if I put an asterix next to a game, it means that it is exclusive)

August

-John Woo Presents Stranglehold (6th)
-Lair (7th)*
-GRAW 2 (21st)
-Medal of Honor: Airbourne (28th)

September

-Blacksite: Area 51 (3rd)
-DiRT (3rd)
-Heavenly Sword (4th)*
-Warhawk (4th)*
-Turok (17th)
-Skate (18th)
-Clive Barker’s Jericho (25th)
-Sega Rally Revo (25th)

October

-The Club (no date)
-The Eye of Judgement* (no date)
-Fatal Inertia (no date)
-Folklore* (no date)
-Guitar Hero III (no date)
-Home (no date)
-Hot Shots Golf 5* (no date)
-Mercenaries 2: World In Flames (no date)
-The Orange Box (Half Life 2 deluxe box-set) (no date)
-Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction* (no date)
-Singstar* (no date)
-Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (no date)
-GTA IV (16th)

November

-Army of Two (no date)
-Assassin’s Creed (no date)
-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (no date)
-Haze (no date)
-Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (no date)
-Need For Speed ProStreet (no date)
-Rock Band (no date)
-SOCOM: Confrontation (no date)*
-Time Crisis 4 (no date)*
-Time Shift (no date)
-Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (no date)*

December

-Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (no date)

January

-Beautiful Katamari (no date)
-Burnout Paradise (no date)
-Dark Sector (no date)
-Frontlines: Fuel of War (no date)
-Hei$t (no date)
-Unreal Tournament 3 (no date)

February

-Condemned 2: Bloodshot (no date)
-Killzone 3 (no date)*
-Little Big Planet (no date)*
-Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (no date)
-Tom Clancy’s EndWar (no date)

And of course, in March we have MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. I don’t know about you all, but to me at least it looks like there are tons of quality games to look forward to this holiday season, and I can’t wait.

Paradise Special: Game of the Genre Nominations 2007

zackletterman — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:40:56 +0000

Paradise Presents: Potential 2007 Game of The Genre Nominations

Heh, it’s been a while since Paradise has done a special. Hell, it’s been a while since there has been a post (disregarding the recent posts by Zucas, of course. Not like I wouldn’t have done so anyways… ) Well, I’m here to tell ya… we’re back!

So, now that we’ve gotten condolensces out of the way, here’s how this thing’s gonna work. We (Paradise members) are going to take the big game genres – FPS, TPS, puzzle, platformer, RPG, strategy- and argue over which games tower above the rest in each genre. Once we feel that we have the stand-outs for each genre, we’re going to argue some more about which one beats the others by the slimmest of margins. Once that is done, we will decide the game of the year; which game towers above the rest, period.

Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Seeing as we’re only half-way through the year, there’s still a lot of time for potential contenders to come down the pipe. This is why we will be implementing a “round” system. Every two weeks or so, we will update our contender list with potential contenders (games that are shaping up very well) contenders (games that have scored very well) and our thoughts on which games are serious contenders and which ones are not.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten the explanatory crap out of the way, expect to see the first round results for all genres in a week or two (or maybe even sooner if we ever agree on something)! Oh, and one last thing: Feel free to put in your own imput on potential nominations, as we may not be able to think of all of the contenders. So… see ya in a bit!

Edit: One last thing: Expect to see some of our debates translate into new posts on Gamers Paradise. So, again… see ya in a bit!

Real Heroes: Firefighters Announced for Wii

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:28:00 +0000

Epicenter has announced a Wii exclusive title about the wonderful world of fighting fires. Here’s the briefing:

“Combining our unique fire tech with the specific strengths of the Wii was a natural choice for us as we designed Real Heroes. The Wii-mote makes spraying down fires with your hose, hacking down doors with your axe and prying victims loose from wrecked cars with the Jaws of Life an absolutely visceral game experience.” – Epicenter CCO Bryan Jury

Well when I saw the wiimote the last thing that I was thinking about was using it to put down those vicious fires. But maybe they’ve got a hold of a good concept. In essence the game would work perfectly for the Wii but as we’ve learned it’s more than just having a good concept but you need to have a strong work ethic and passion to make these games good.

Source

Zucas

Super Paper Mario Coming to Europe After All

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:24:58 +0000

Man Europeans were starting to get worried that Super Paper Mario would never come to Europe. Well your in the clear as the game is going to hit the European countries on September 14. Don’t worry Nintendo hasn’t forgotten about you.

Source

Zucas

Manhunt 2 Officially Delayed

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:22:25 +0000

After all the controversy of the games getting delayed in UK and then an inital ESRB rating of AO Take Two has officially stated the game will be delayed for indefinetly. More on this game as it arises as all Wii and PS2 fans are crying right now hoping the project doesn’t get canned.

Source

Zucas

Bioware creating Sonic RPG for DS

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:20:10 +0000

Been a definite good day for DS fans as the king of RPG’s is making an RPG out of one of the industry’s most beloved mascots: Sonic. A Sonic RPG is being made Bioware and Sonic cans couldn’t be happier seeing that Sonic has been a series on quite a downhill slope. Hopefully this can help bring the series back to it’s glory.

Source

Zucas

Contra IV Announced for DS

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:17:07 +0000

Been awhile since a Contra game but the fans of the series will be glad to know it’s coming back in all it’s glory to the hottest system since the PS2, the DS.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – June 20, 2007 – Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced Contra 4 (working title) for the Nintendo DS™. Marking the 20th anniversary of the quintessential action franchise, the game pushes 2D side-scrolling action in an all-new direction with gunplay that spans two full screens, original gameplay mechanics that grant players deadlier abilities than ever before, and frantic multiplayer functionality.

Contra 4 takes place two years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars. After saving earth from invasion by Red Falcon, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are confronted with a new extraterrestrial menace: the terrifying Black Viper. Joined by hard-boiled mercenaries Mad Dog and Scorpion, the warriors must once again wage war against an entire army of invaders.

Refining the 2D side-scrolling genre the series established 20 years ago, Contra 4 delivers pure action at a fever pitch as players jump, shoot, and dodge oncoming hazards. Utilizing a new dual screen presentation, the action spans both screens of the Nintendo DS, giving players the opportunity to battle across expansive environments in which death can come from any direction. The use of both screens for the game’s core action also allows for massive boss battles as players try to seek and destroy the weak points of sky-high enemies. A first for the series, Contra 4 introduces a grappling hook accessory that lets players grab onto elements of the environment directly above them. Whether using it to avoid oncoming dangers or attack from a strategic vantage point, the grappling hook allows for new combat situations and dramatic set pieces that underscore the game’s adrenaline-soaked pedigree.

Continuing the multiplayer tradition of previous games in the series, Contra 4 lets two players battle together against Black Viper’s army of vile alien forces and reclaim Earth for mankind.

Developed by WayForward Technologies, Contra 4 is planned for release on the Nintendo DS in 2007. For more information on the game and the Contra franchise, please visit: www.konami.com .

Good news for DS and Contra fans.

Source

Zucas

Japanese Hardware Sales- June 11-17

zucas — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:14:37 +0000

Last week’s hardware sales are in:

DSL 118,684
Wii 65,521
PSP 33,359
PS2 11,974
PS3 9,481
Xbox360 7,583
GBASP 472
GBM 371
GC 223
GBA 24
DS 0

DS and Wii continue to triump in the land of the rising sun. PSP stays at it’s norm while PS2 continues to outsell PS3 even with Ninja Gaiden Sigma releasing last week. 360 though gets Trust Bell and almost outsells PS2. GB and GC show us what dead is. Software coming soon.

Source

Zucas

Gamer’s Paradise Podcast Episode 11: Revitalized

zucas — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:19:02 +0000

Alright alright I know this site is dead. But I still love doing podcasts. So I’m going to talk with my fellow staff members and the top and elite gamer posters at MvC, the unofficial forums of GP, and we’ll see if we can put one on. Wait for another post to see where this is going from now but I’m hopeful I’ll still have some staff that wants to cover all the missed topic. Covering from Wii and PS3 launches all the way to what to expect at E3 2007. Should be big if I can work this out. More coming in next post.

Zucas

When was the last time the wind said “hostiles” to you?

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:41:55 +0000

Epic Games has announced that a title update is coming soon as it is going through the certification process. A post in the official Gears of War forums revealed that the update will include a brand new multiplayer gametype:

The next title update for Gears of War is currently going through the certification process. We’ll have more detail about the update next week but I can tell you that in addition to fixing a whole bunch of glitches, and providing 720p for VGA users running at 1280×1024, it will contain a brand new multiplayer gametype called Annex.

Some folks who got to play it a few weeks ago said they think it is our best multiplayer gametype yet but I’ll leave it for you fans to decide what you think for yourself when it shows up soon on Xbox Live. More details next week.

As to what to expect from this new multiplayer game type, its name suggests it could be a territory based game mode.

Epic clarified it will be free.

-Journey

PGR4 Update

supraman84 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 13:37:38 +0000

Little has been shown about PGR4 since it was announced at E3 last year. All we knew was that Peugot had a design contest and the winner will have their car featured in the game. But finally more has been revealed, and to be honest it looks like they are pushing the bar very high for racers. Probably the coolest announced feature so far is the weather engine, which looks extremely impressive. There will be snow, ice, rain, and other weather conditions which will affect the way you drive, how your car looks, and the gameplay overall.

As you can tell just by looking at the picture, this is going to really work nicely and make the game tons of fun(snow + Ferrari= tons of fun). PGR4 will also feature a new enhanced fan qualities, like a tv crew, announcers, more responding fans, and more to come. Probably a sigh of relief is that the car selection for PGR4 is going to be much more broad and populous than PGR3. There are going to be more old cars, not so exotic cars, and naturally more of the extremely expensive cars you will never drive in your whole life. The in-car view is back for PGR4, and this time it will be even more detailed, more functional(driver moves more, windshield wipers, reactions from your driver, etc), and more intense. The graphics are obviously up in the air right now, but those fellows at Bizarre sure know how to push the hardware, and we saw what they accomplished with a launch game(best looking of the bunch, never drops a frame) so I’m sure that they will continue that legacy with PGR4. The final feature is online, and apparently Bizarre is working on a new matchmaking system. Not sure what that means, but I hope for the best. Look for more on this game as soon as I can possibly get my hands on the information.

Game With Fame

Chris — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 18:43:06 +0000

xJOURNEYx will be playing gears of war all day today. Catch me there to chill with some of Gamer’s Paradise own crew. Anybody else (Supraman, Daledude, or Malvolio) that want’s join feel free to join my party.

Home, sweet Home

zackletterman — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 06:31:06 +0000

At GDC, Sony, now synonymous with bad PR, unveiled one of its big guns and hopefully one of its first steps in turning the PS3 around: Home. Similar to the Mii at first glance but structurally different, Home is at heart a glorified online lounge, but with a [b]lot[/b] of bells and whistles. Like any online MMO, Home grants you a lot of cosmetic customization. You are free to change your avatar’s looks at (apparently) any time, so if you suddenly feel like changing your positively goth avatar into a positively average schmuck, you are free to do so. However, the bread and butter of Home lies in the scope of your available interactions with the Home world and Home users. In Home, you can do anything from watching a movie to playing an arcade game to making your Home space (house) look snazzy, Sims-style. You can upload your own purchased Blu-ray movies, home-made video clips or any other video which you happen to have and watch it with anybody you want to. At the Home arcade, you can play and try actual downloadable games from the PS3 network such as FlOw. In your Home space, you can outfit it with anything from a bed to a TV which is similar to the movie theater in function; you can upload films to it and invite anybody you want to to watch them with you.

For more information, go to: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/770/770998p2.html

Forza 2 Update

supraman84 — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:59:33 +0000

Little information has slipped out about Forza 2 since the TGS and X06, but recently the entire Forza Website has undergone a complete transformation in preparation for some of the games new online features. And these features are really, really cool. The first announced feature that comes as no surprise is photo mode, with useds being able to take photos of their cars in the game and then being able to upload 5 photos at a time to view on their computer or download and do whatever else they could possibly want to do with them. More new online options include tournaments, similar to PGR3 you will first have to qualify to get in a tournament and then fight to the death to win the glorious trophy. And naturally there will be online scoreboards of every kind that you can also view on your computer. But I’m just getting warmed up.

Shown above is probably one of the coolest ideas ever in Forza 2. With online auctions for cars, you can buy, sell, and trade your cars not only from your 360, but also from your PC. Sellers can create custom paintjobs(the artists in the original Forza were mothing short of amazing) and lock them to the cars to make them truly unique offerings. All cars coome with a detailed history of when the car was bought, what modifications were made, even how many miles were on it(luckily for us high miles does not mean ANYTHING here), and so much more. When you buy a car, not only do you get all the add-ons that come with it, but any parts ever bought for the car will be included.

The picture above is a nice look at what you might expect from Forza 2 in visual terms. The team is testing the game in 1080p(among all the other resolutions) to make sure your eyes have a visual feast. Forza 2 will run at 60 frames a second, and from what I can tell, be absolutely gorgeous.

Turn 10 has also updated the car list which can be found here. Other new information about the game is it will have full compatability with the Wireless Racing Wheel and will(from previews done by IGN) be pretty friggin sweet. The game will come with over 300 cars but will also have downloadable content. The new physics engine is a beast and will include full damage models and many more complicated things that you the normal human being would not understand at all. The game will ship in May. Happy Racing!

IGN-Suda 51 Interview on No More Heroes

zucas — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 18:39:43 +0000

Here’s one of the most interesting reads in awhile. Suda 51 talks about his upcoming title on the Wii and lets out some pretty interesting things like this:

“No More Heroes is violent as well, but it is different from Killer 7…We prepared some missions besides the regular levels. For example, there are missions where players volunteer to pick up trash, a real boring part time job as a stamper, and an incomprehensible job like human bowling…(game will support 480p and Widescreen)…(regarding Wii hardware) I think that it is probably best to forget and abandon the existing game design know-how once you develop for Wii. I feel that Wii enables developers to create new types and styles of games.”

“We are tuning up No More Heroes to be simple and comfortable, but exciting and refreshing as a game. The game has a unique sense of humor and I hope fans will be excited about and look forward to it. ? I’ll also try my best to make No More Heroes as violent, or even more violent than Manhunt 2! “

Wow to be more violent than Manhunt 2. That’s saying a damn lot. Man I can’t wait for this game now. Both those games haha. Here’s the full interview with lots of other juicy details on Suda 51′s upcoming Wii exlusive.

No More Heroes Interview

Zucas