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• Lowering the Standard: Why Nintendo’s Hardcore vs. Casual Commitments Aren’t the Problem

  I tend to sound overly pessimistic when talking about the Wii. I happen to love the system. I think the funky little box has quite a lot going for it and it’s given me a handful of unforgettable gaming experiences, with Wii Sports and No More Heroes chief among them. No, I’m not overly pessimistic about the Wii. I’m overly pessimistic about Nintendo. As much as I want to be excited about a new Punch-Out!, I can’t help but look at the facts: Nintendo has released more traditional, hardcore games in the Wii’s first two years than they did in the Gamecube’s first four and all of them, with the exceptions of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, have been below the gold standard of Nintendo’s internally developed software from generations past. Read More... Posted Oct 02 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, metroid, nintendo, wii, madworld, zelda, gamecube, fire emblem, super mario bros, punch out, klonoa, fragile, smash bros, house of the dead, oboro muramasa

• The Erotic Adventure of Little Mac

  I grew up sharing my Nintendo with my older brother. It probably won't surprise you all to learn that this meant enduring a lot of hockey games. I far preferred games of the Legend of Zelda and Dragon Warrior variety; long rambling adventures full of swords and monsters that frothed blood yet still came out looking far less violent than Blades of Steel. Ah, but I did have a crush on a sports game or two, especially Punch Out!!. We actually owned Mike Tyson's unholy version of the game, which Nintendo now tries to pass off as a bad fever dream the retro community had during a bout of the flu. Regardless, I remember what I remember, and I remember being very good at Punch Out!! and its gorgeous successor, Super Punch Out!! for the Super Nintendo. Little Mac kind of faded away after that, but it looks like he'll be back on the Wii. Yes sir, we hated Nintendo at the end of E3 2008, but it looks like we have a big fat reason to get on our knees and kiss ass again. Little Mac never left us; he was only training for the new generation. He's back, and he hasn't grown an inch. That is the right thing according to the order of the universe. Read More... Posted Oct 02 2008, 04:00 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: wii, punch out, nadia oxford, little mac, hockey, valiant comics, blades of steel, sports

• Christmas in Nintendoland: The Tokyo Conference

  If you were a bit disappointed by Nintendo's poor showing at E3, the company's recent Tokyo press conference should make you very, very happy.  While their announcements were nothing mindblowing--though that's to be debated--it was nice to see that, despite the rumors, Nintendo hasn't forgotten about their fans.  Here's a brief trailer of some future Wii software that should leave you drooling for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. It also has footage of the Klonoa remake I wrote about yesterday: Nintendo 'New Games Montage' video So what exactly do we have here? In total, it looks like we're going to see new versions of Sin and Punishment, Tales of, Trace Memory, and most importantly, Punch-Out. I'm personally excited by the last announcement because, with the instant recognition and appeal of Punch-Out, it's strange that Nintendo really hasn't done anything with the franchise since the SNES sequel, Super Punch-Out.  And I may get beaten mercilessly for this, but Super Punch-Out was a much better game than the original; the same basic gameplay was intact, but in a bigger, prettier, and slightly more complex form.  Obviously, there're some interesting things you can do with the Wii-mote in a boxing game--and I assume they'll try a little harder than the slightly-lousy boxing offered in Wii Sports. Read More... Posted Oct 02 2008, 10:45 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, punch out, bob mackey, tales of, trace memory, sin and punishment

• Chiptune Friday: A Test of Island Courage!

  As a lifelong coast-dweller, I am well aware of the fact that hurricane season is upon us. With this in mind, I feel that it's the right time to bring out my favorite island-hopping adventure game, StarTropics from Nintendo. Here's the happy little ditty that plays in Chapter 6: Reunion when your young adventurer finally finds his missing archeologist uncle, Dr. J: Read More... Posted Jul 25 2008, 01:15 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, derrick sanskrit, nes, chiptune friday, twilight princess, punch out, startropics

• The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 3

  Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! We cite Punch-Out!! here not for starring Mike Tyson (a controversial figure, even before his rape conviction), but for the degree to which it epitomizes a trend that would dominate gaming in the late-'80s and early-'90s: the "beat up stereotypes from around the world" gameplay model. Granted, most of Punch-Out!!'s characters are too ludicrous to really offend; it's hard to imagine Pacific Islanders getting all up in arms about King Hippo being kind of a jackass. That said, the sight of cross-eyed Piston Honda babbling "Sushi, Kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nipponichi!" as a mid-match battle cry is a little unsettling. — PS Read More... Posted Jun 20 2008, 01:13 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, metroid, nintendo, derrick sanskrit, xbox 360, final fantasy, top ten, call of duty, pokemon, Playstation, tomb raider, punch out, mcdonalds, heavenly sword, fable, mike Tyson, narc, dead or alive, persona

• The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 2

  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 4 is a game obsessed with realism, its depiction of combat situations and the tools of war meticulous to an almost terrifying degree. Early in the game, you are placed in the gunner’s seat of an AC-130 Spectre over a Ukrainian field, the night vision view of an aerial assault looking no different than an Iraq war newscast, the radio confirmation of kills unsettlingly casual; a game so realistic that it mimics a soldier’s detachment from killing. It’s strange then that the game, for all its incessant specificity, sends the player to kill Arab soldiers in “the Middle East”, and not an actual nation. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over seven million copies in a war-weary United States in under a year. Am I the only one who finds this sort of depersonalization unsettling? — JC Read More... Posted Jun 20 2008, 01:12 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, metroid, nintendo, derrick sanskrit, xbox 360, final fantasy, top ten, call of duty, pokemon, Playstation, tomb raider, punch out, mcdonalds, heavenly sword, fable, mike Tyson, narc, dead or alive, persona

• The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial, Part 1

  Games have been raising hackles since their inception. Howell Ivy kick-started gaming and controversy’s relationship when he designed Death Race in 1976, a simple black and white game that was, well, about running people over for points. That was enough to get America riled up, prompting 60 Minutes to run the first of many, many televised news stories about the psychological effects of gaming. But public outrage is unpredictable. Politicians and parent groups have been shocked by d-list titles like Manhunt and Night Trap while more popular, widely played games with far more inflammatory content have passed by unnoted. Today, 61 Frames Per Second presents The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial. A number of these are games that we are surprised did not cause uproar in a number of communities. The rest are games that we ourselves find seriously questionable in content. How do you feel about these videogames? Indifferent? Appalled? Leave a comment and let us know. — John Constantine NARC I don't know about you, but I have at least a couple of friends who have occasionally sold drugs. They're pretty lucky they grew up in the relatively permissive '90s, and not in the merciless, Reaganite '80s presented in NARC. Sure, NARC gives you bonus points for arresting dealers instead of killing them, but that's because it's almost impossible to do. Far easier is just perforating them on the spot. As my fellow blogger Cole notes, "I guess dismembering hundreds is okay if they're pushin'." In fact, there was some parental outrage over NARC's unprecedented level of gore, but its moral assumptions went pretty much unchallenged. — Peter Smith Read More... Posted Jun 20 2008, 01:11 PM by John Constantine with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, metroid, nintendo, derrick sanskrit, xbox 360, final fantasy, top ten, call of duty, pokemon, Playstation, tomb raider, punch out, mcdonalds, heavenly sword, fable, mike Tyson, narc, dead or alive, persona