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• What Do You Want from the "Wii HD?"

  And do you think Nintendo will listen to you, or keep wading around in their vast, vast swimming pool full of money? John Davison, the King of Games Writing (and Prime Minister of Cookies--maybe I made that one up) posted a spot of news on What They Play regarding a new Wii. Sources say Nintendo's new console will hit in 2011, one year before Aztec gods lift themselves from their slumber and eat us all. But I'm sure we'll be able to get in a few good games of Wii Sports II before then. Oh, and there will be HD support for this mysterious Wii. Time to get off my ass and into the television store, I suppose. From the article: "Apparently set to hit the market “by 2011” the new device is said to be the true “next generation” Nintendo console, and far more than a simple refresh of the current hardware. Unlike previous console transitions from Nintendo, the new system will be presented as a true successor to the Wii, and is being dubbed by those that have seen the presentation as “Wii HD.” There is no indication if this will be its eventual name, but the nature of the transition has been characterized as similar to “the shift from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance,” where familiar, key elements were left intact while the core hardware was made more powerful. It is expected by all those that we have spoken to on the subject that the new device will retain the Wii name in part." Read More... Posted Oct 01 2008, 07:47 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, what they play, nadia oxford, wii hd, gimmicks, new wii, new consoles

• Penn And Teller Will Talk About Game Violence and I'm Not Sure How I Feel About It

  I dread telling non-gamers what I do for a living. Actually, I dread telling gamers what I do for a living, but that's a gay ol' rant for another day. I will admit that gamers meet me with boundless enthusiasm when I discuss my work. Non-gamers meet me with something else. "OOOH MY GOOOOD VIDEO GAMES ARE SOOOO VIOLENT. I SAW A SCARY DOCUMENTAREEEEE." ("But you just let your three-year-old watch The Dark Knight--") "DOCUMENTAREEEE." Or, "KIDS ARE SOOOOO FAT TODAY 'COS OF VIDEO GAAAAAMES." ("But my generation played video games without obesity being a notable problem. Maybe we should look at the increasing number of artificial ingredients going into food--") "FAAAAT." And so on. Then comes word that Penn and Teller will be doing a piece on video game violence for Showtime's Bullshit! Some game writers are meeting the news with relief, like maidens who've been rescued from the dragon's dinner table by two white knights. I'm less enthused. I'll be honest: I'm not a fan of Penn and Teller or Bullshit!. Matthew Green, the reviews editor at Kombo, sums up my feelings: "The duo have a knack for interviewing people from both sides of a hot button issue (past episodes have explored things such as global warming, Wal-Mart, exorcisms, and expensive trendy bottled water) with the catch that "wrong" side is usually represented by kooks whose incendiary methods override their messages. The show also uses excessive profanity in place of claims and statements that could be considered libelous." I even found their attack on PETA disjointed, directionless and one-sided, and let me tell you something: I despise PETA with every fibre of my carnivore heart. Read More... Posted Sep 17 2008, 06:57 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: what they play, nadia oxford, penn and teller, parents and games, bullshit!, young gamers, video game violence

• Games and Motion Sickness: The Struggle To Not Toss Your Cookies

  With the rise of 3D games came a rise in gamers who suddenly felt the need to keep a bucket close at hand while playing Halo. Despite being a mild emetophobic, I'm always open to conversation about game-induced motion sickness. Or to use the more correct term: simulator sickness. I wrote a feature about simulator sickness for What They Play, a great site directed towards parents whose kids play those mysterious vidya-game things. I realised parents might understandably become worried if seemingly harmless games suddenly caused their kids to spew. With nightmarish tales about seizures and other flashy-screen afflictions, who wouldn't become worried? People not familiar with video games might not realise that simulator sickness falls in with motion sickness, even though the afflicted individuals are on a stationary couch and not the moving deck of a ship or in a car. It all comes down to our brain being screwy and betraying us at inopportune times, no matter where we happen to be. Stupid brain. What makes simulator sickness hard to treat is the triggers; they vary wildly from individual to individual. Wolfenstein 3D made me terribly sick, but Doom didn't touch me. I never had a problem with Super Mario Galaxy or any of the 3D Zeldas, but guess which game totally floored me? Read More... Posted Jul 15 2008, 09:55 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: what they play, feature, harvest moon, motion sickness, 3d games, simulator sickness

• Raised on the Stuff

  As I listened to this past Friday’s 1up Yours podcast, lazily typing away and sipping coffee, I perked up when the crew got on the topic of how they planned to introduce their children to videogames. While What They Play’s John Davison is already raising two very young gamers of his own, the other three gents still aren’t fathers but they all mentioned that they definitely want to see their kids weaned on classics from a young age. This is interesting to me because I’ve given the subject quite a lot of thought. My plan? Bed time stories. Read More... Posted May 13 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, 1up Yours, john davison, garnett lee, mega man 2, 1up, legend of zelda, shane bettenhausen, what they play, shawn elliot