61 Frames Per Second

Browse by Tags

• Whatcha Playing: Dungeon Maker II

  These days my launch PSP is held together by masking tape, spit, and prayer. But it does work (for now), and I’m trying to get to know it a little bit better before it inevitably decomposes into its constituent parts. The game of the hour is Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War, a title from last Christmas that was roundly ignored by all humans. To be fair, it’s a bit of a minor effort. It’s low budget, free of any and all flashiness, and doesn’t have a lick of polish. But it’s also curiously addictive, so it provides a nice contrast to the modern AAA titles that hide their mechanics deep under pixel shaders and mocap animation. Dungeon Maker II is a throwback: like the low-tech games of yore, its mechanics sit exposed and naked under the nose of the player, and so have to be compelling on their own. Read More... Posted Mar 18 2009, 11:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, psp, diablo, jrpg, joe keiser, dungeon maker, nethack

• Whatcha Playing: Tappable Rhythm Sequels

  I love a good rhythm game, but Guitar Hero and Rock Band have always felt forced to me. Holding a plastic representation of the object I'm simulating using just feels awkward to me (the same reason I've not enjoyed my few sessions with Mario Kart Wii so far). PaRappa The Rapper and Dance Dance Revolution really did it right, making a game out of the music rather than a simulation. My favorite, as I've mentioned before, is Rhythm Tengoku, the Japan-only Gameboy Advance cart from the WarioWare team that's all about keeping the beat in a series of wild and hilarious cartoon scenarios. It dawned on me the other day that Rhythm Tengoku's DS sequel is finally being released in the west next month as Rhythm Heaven and that it may very well be a deservedly huge hit for Nintendo. I brushed off my nearly year-old import copy last week for a refresher. Read More... Posted Mar 17 2009, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, ipod, iphone, rhythm tengoku, rhythm heaven, tap tap revenge

• NYCC 2009 - Comic Authors Love Video Games!

  Have you ever felt awkward going to a party-like event filled with people from your old job? Will they remember you? Will they harbor negative feelings for your leaving? Will you just cling to the wall drinking punch all night hoping nobody sees you? This is something I worried about going into New York Comic-Con, as I am no longer a member of "team comics" the way I had so actively advocated for years. I was there to look at video games, encircled by the comic book professionals I'd surrounded myself with for years. My fears were for naught, of course, as the majority of the professionals and press I ran into over the weekend both remembered and embraced me. I even asked six of my favorite comic creators, all of whom I knew to be avid gamers, to take part in the following video. They were asked three simple questions: What are you playing now? What are your favorite "classic" games? What is your all-time favorite power-up? The answers ranged from the expected to the somewhat hilarious. Please, watch and enjoy: Read More... Posted Feb 13 2009, 02:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, derrick sanskrit, comics, nycc

• Whatcha Playing: Cute Is The New Hardcore

  My DS Lite has been booked solid lately. Three new releases have been keeping me very busy: Konami's Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero, South Peak's Big Bang Mini, and Atari's The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity. All three are wildly different games, all three have beautiful graphics that will unfortunately be labelled as "cute" and therefore "for the kids", and all three are a lot deeper than they initially look, gameplay-wise. Elebits is a direct-sequel to the early Wii title, which served as a much more impressive tech demo than Wii Play ever did and maybe even paved the way for the currently anticipated Ghostbusters video game. Kai and Zero plays more like the handheld Zeldas, though, with a top-down view and a lot of environmental puzzle solving. Omega Elebits allow you to burn barriers, create ice bridges, dig holes, see invisible platforms and more. They're essentially Link's weapons in Zelda, only they look like Pokémon. Read More... Posted Feb 03 2009, 04:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, derrick sanskrit, ds, big bang mini, elebits, the chase: felix meets felicity

• Whatcha Playing?: Okami

  I finally got around to playing Okami on the Wii this week. I really wanted to enjoy the game, but it's difficult for me to get past all the collecting and endless NPC conversations that drag down the pace of the game. It seems that the only complaint most critics had with the Wii version is its poorly implemented Celestial Brush controls. Sure these are annoying, but I think that they are far from the game's cardinal sin. Read More... Posted Jan 15 2009, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, wii, cole stryker, okami, port, cave story

• Whatcha Playing: FusionFall

  Yeah, uh, I'm only playing this for work-related purposes. I...I... I'm still cool. Actually, FusionFall has received a lot of hype, and there's quite a bit of charm to it. Worried parents wonder if Cartoon Network's MMORPG is merely another name for Billy's Gateway World of Warcraft Addiction, but there are some interesting speed bumps that are in place to keep kids from descending down the vortex in its entirety. Levelling up occurs through the completion of missions, not hours of grinding, and your rewards actually lessen if you log several consecutive hours of gameplay. These restrictions serve well as wake-ups for enraptured children who will hopefully realise that it's a good idea to go outside and play once the cow has been milked dry. It's probably not foolproof, though. Who wants to stop when they're with their friends, giving evil what for? It's still up to the parents to pull the game when their kids' eyes start turning into squares. Pity the poor hand-wringing adults: the thought of having to administer some means of discipline on their children will send many of them scrambling for their stationary so they can re-direct their energies into writing a blame piece for Scare Weekly. It's too bad, because I believe FusionFall might serve well as an introduction to MMORPGs. Read More... Posted Jan 14 2009, 11:53 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, world of warcraft, mmorpg, nadia oxford, wow, cartoon network, fusionfall

• Whatcha Playing: Feintly Familiar

  Way back in the summer, when the iTunes App Store officially launched, iPhone owners were inundated with hundreds of sloppy applications and poorly constructed games. It was understandable, very few platforms have quality applications so early in their lifespan. There were a few surprisingly solid apps, though, that found their supportive base. One of the first games to really endear itself to JesusPhone users was Aurora Feint: The Beginning. Here's the high-concept: the match-three puzzle play of Nintendo's Puzzle League plus the RPG character-building of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords with touch and tilt controls thrown in. If that sounds deliciously addictive to you, you're right. Read More... Posted Jan 13 2009, 03:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, derrick sanskrit, tetris attack, puzzle quest, ipod, iphone, puzzle league, aurora feint

• Whatcha Playing: Myst III: Exile

  So, I'm still home for the holidays and I found this 4-disc baby lying around. Since I never actually played it after picking it up for $3 at a used bookstore, and since it's the only thing around that will run on my mom's Compaq Presario, I've "linked" back into the world of D'ni. Read More... Posted Jan 06 2009, 08:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, adventure games, cole stryker, point and click adventure games, myst iii

• Whatcha Playing: Persona, Fallout, and the Trans-Pacific RPG Ideal

  Somewhere, probably not too far from Hawaii, the perfect role-playing game is waiting to be discovered. A volatile, volcanic outcropping boiling over with an expert blend of relatable, colorful characters, deep, directed narrative, and open, exploration-rich adventuring, alongside intimidatingly deep avatar customization. Its game world is both fantastic and hyper-real, vast yet structured enough to inexplicitly guide the player along scaling challenges. Alright, I’m kidding. I know this game isn’t real. Of course it isn’t. But after the past couple of weeks, I sincerely wish it was. Read More... Posted Jan 05 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, star wars, fallout 3, bioware, peter molyneux, mass effect, fable, jrpg, quest for glory ii, persona 4, wrpg, knights of the old republic, fable ii, quest for glory III

• Whatcha Playing: Holiday Blessings…and Curses

  A few days before we each make the traditional pilgrimage to our ancestral homes, my gaming friends and I take an evening to party and exchange an assortment of strange and geeky presents. It’s always a good time, but even more so because we all leave with bags full of eclectic goodies we wouldn’t have sought out ourselves. I left the event cradling many wonderful things in my arms, including a Penny Arcade print, an Aperture Science poster pack, and a quaffable bottle of golden rum. Of course, there were also some games in there. My friends know that I revel in the best and the worst of the medium, and so apparently colluded to give me a selection from each end of this vast spectrum. From the side cast in beauty and light I received Valkyria Chronicles, the critically acclaimed retail failure from Sega’s talented Overworks team. I really feel for these guys; the last time they got to flex their creative muscles they made Skies of Arcadia, my favorite non-taxi oriented Dreamcast game. Then the Dreamcast died, so they got to remake that cult classic—exclusively for the third place GameCube. And now, with Valkyria Chronicles, they’ve gotten to make another gorgeous, innovative, and apparently beloved game—exclusively for the third place PS3. For the holidays, the Sega home office should gift these guys an Xbox 360 development kit and a blank check. From the malignant, reprehensible side of the medium came Jumper: Griffin’s Story. Now, I was not given the current-gen version of the game, the one that trades your pain for achievement points. No, I got the Wii version, a completely different and even worse (at least, I think it’s even worse—the majority of the internet was too scared to find out for itself) game that takes your pound of flesh and gives you nothing in return. Keep in mind that this was the flagship product from Brash, the licensed game publisher that imploded when (among other reasons) it couldn’t even live up to the low bar of its chosen niche. This game should pair nicely with that bottle of rum. Now thanks to the aforementioned pilgrimage I won’t be able to actually play these games over the holiday hiatus—though when I do get to them you will be the first to know. After the jump is the holiday travel pack that will sustain me in the last days of 2008. Read More... Posted Dec 23 2008, 01:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, castelvania, joe keiser, holidays, dragon quest iv: chapters of the chosen, dungeon maker, jumper

• Indie Dev Moment: Hunted Forever

  Yesterday I wrote about Time magazine's Top 10 Video Games of 2008. One of the games they listed was a free flash game that I had never heard of called Hunted Forever. I spent a little time with the game last night, and found it occupies a nice little crevice between Metanet Software's N and Pixeljam's Dino Run.  In N, the player employs all manner of gymanstics to get from one point on the map to another, collecting bits and bobs along the way. In Dino Run, the player runs from left to right as quickly as possible, avoiding obstacles as your little velociraptor attempts to escape a wall of volcanic doom.  Read More... Posted Dec 09 2008, 09:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, cole stryker, lists, dino run, n, hunted forever

• Whatcha Playing: On the Road Again

  Wherein travelling inevitably leads to thinking about Zelda, the nature of game linearity and unskippable passive sequences in games. Five men in their late 20s are heading south on route 80 through New Jersey in a white Dodge Caravan. They listen to loud music and discuss plans for the weekend ahead of them. Before too long, they pass signs for a town called Hibernia. As they are a group raised on far, far too many videogames, the fanciful name of what is likely a small, simple town full of good, honest folk quickly transforms it into a land of adventure, intrigue and obnoxious obligation. “Ho stranger! You have stopped for gasoline in Hibernia? I would love to give you some, but first you must travel beyond the woods and acquire a ruffled dragoon feather. I need them to make gasoline!” “Hey! Hey! Have you tried pressing Z to look at signs? Press A to read signs! Hey!” “You must equip a sword and a shield before you can leave the car. Who would leave the car without a sword and a shield?” Yes, even something as an innocuous as a roadtrip leads to making fun of Zelda, and by proxy, every other videogame that makes you engage in a string of needless bullshit before letting you actually play. After we got the jokes out of our systems, we did start talking about how, when the itch arises, we all love going back and replaying past Zeldas, but have almost no desire to replay any of the 3D games any time soon. Everyone in the van has affection for Ocarina and Wind Waker – Opinions on Majora’s Mask vary. Personally, I find it to be a freaking chore to play, no matter how creative. Twilight Princess, we agreed, feels like actually doing chores when you play it. – but the prospect of wading through a never ending stream of unskippable conversations makes returning to these games unsavory. The constant handholding is bad enough, even without taking five minutes to listen to some owl made of triangles rant about a mountain, finally getting through the diatribe, and accidentally asking him to repeat himself. The conversation was oddly prescient. Read More... Posted Dec 08 2008, 08:15 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, the legend of zelda, final fantasy, ocarina of time, wind waker, twilight princess, hironobu sakaguchi, final fantasy iv, final fantasy iv ds, final fantasy III, final fantasy iii ds, majora’s mask

• Whatcha Playing: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

  I've probably blathered about this before on 61FPS, but the original Tales of Symphonia marks the most time I spent with a game during the last generation of consoles. I spent over 100 hours milking that game for all it was worth, and I don't regret it at all--though, to be fair, at the time I was living at home and only marginally employed.  So when a semi-sequel to one of my favorite games snuck up on me, I had to check it out; and while common sense told me the my disappointment in Tales of Legendia and The Abyss may indicate Dawn of the New World's quality, I decided to pick it up anyway.  (I'm a weak, weak man.) As a sequel to Symphonia, Dawn of the New World is a pretty shameless cash-in full of recycled assets with a decidedly last-gen look. But, in coping with its shamelessness, New World has some interesting qualities; namely, its status as a direct successor to a previous RPG. Outside of stuff like FFX-2, you don't find games like this too often--most RPG sequels usually end up taking place 100 or 1000 years before/after their previously-released games.  Not so with New World; the events of Symphonia are in the not-too-distant past, which actually explains the state of the in-game world.  Turns out that 100-hour quest from Symphonia actually made things worse, and managed to turn Symphonia-protagonist Lloyd into a ruthless killer. Go fig. Read More... Posted Nov 20 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, tales of, tales of symponia: dawn of the new world

• GWI: Gaming While Intoxicated

  Like any sensible young man, I am a fan of good beer. And obviously, a fan of video games as well. For certain reasons, these two interests don't usually intertwine.  I usually unwind with an adult-style beverage (or two) along with some quality gaming at the end of the day, but I get hopelessly distracted when operating on anything more than a solid buzz.  However, a recent purchase of mine proved to me that some games actually get better as your BAC rises. Folks, Rock Band 2 has driven me to drink.  More. Of course, this really should have come as no surprise; I've done karaoke before, and I can say that if you aren't sick the following morning (and not from shame), you're doing it wrong.  So I decided to test out the Karaoke Principle by inviting a few friends over who had never played Rock Band before.  Here's some dialogue that was exchanged as we were sober and holding plastic instruments: Friend 1: I'm not gonna lie. I feel like a pretty big nerd right now. Me: Don't worry; this is the first step of our suicide pact. Read More... Posted Nov 17 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: whatcha playing, guitar hero, bob mackey, rock band 2, drinking, alcohol

• Watcha Playing: The Palette Cleanser

  The past six weeks have been teeming with meaty, action games. I’ve been working through them slowly but surely, like an elegant seven course meal. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was thick, hot comfort fare, a brief appetizer of sloppy design coated in delicious Stormtrooper and rancor killing action. The game’s a buggy mess, really, the gaming equivalent of empty calories, but definitely satisfying. Then there was the dynamic horror duo of Dead Space and Silent Hill: Homecoming, a soup and salad combo built to terrify. They didn’t really scare, but instead delivered visceral body simulations. Both games succeeded by making you constantly aware of your avatar’s physical presence and the heft of their actions, and they achieved this through a careful synergy between atmosphere and play. Yakuza 2 was truly the main course, a game I had no expectations for whatsoever that turned into an all time favorite. Its broad adventure, pulp tale of cops and crooks, and simple but ceaselessly engaging fisticuffs were nourishing, more substantial than anything released on current gen consoles. For dessert, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Another bonafide surprise, Ecclesia turned out to not be another retread through Igarashi’s decade-old formula, but a challenging successor to Castlevania 2 with fierce action whose variety and elegance was exceeded only by the game’s environments. Yes, it’s been a great month of big games, but it’s been the small things I’ve played in between them, games I’ve played for no more than a handful of minutes here and there, that have given the most *ahem* food for thought. Read More... Posted Oct 29 2008, 05:45 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, playstation 3, nintendo, star wars, nintendo ds, microsoft, xbox 360, wii, silent hill, silent hill homecoming, castlevania, sony, playstation 2, mega man, katamari damacy, fable 2, mega man 9, dead space, castle crashers, star wars the force unleashed, castlevania order of ecclesia, yakuza 2, wipeout hd

• Whatcha Playing: de Blob

  Just a few short days ago, I was "Whatcha Playing" Secret of Evermore. That is, until de Blob arrived in my mailbox. It's a delightful romp through an increasingly complex and challenging environment, where just a few basic skills are utilized in clever ways. In short, this game is everything that Super Mario Galaxy should have been, but wasn't. Read More... Posted Oct 08 2008, 06:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, wii, cole stryker, super mario galaxy, de blob, platforming

• Whatcha Playing: Weight of the Stone

  Videogames are rich with memorable moments. Born of both play and story, there are those images, those brief passages of achievement, that are emblazoned in your memory: the first time you clear 100,000 points in Tetris, the dogs bursting through the window in Resident Evil, the booming march that begins to play after the baby metroid’s sacrifice during Super Metroid’s climactic battle with Mother Brain. We are tied to these events thanks not only to those games’ mechanical and artistic design but because of our agency in them. We facilitate these conclusions and, since the game is well-made, we feel them. Another classic: Solid Snake’s first fight with the cyborg ninja, Grey Fox. Like so much of the Metal Gear Solid series, this sequence is ludicrous: simplistic to play, overdramatic, over-everything. But when Grey Fox begins screaming, “Make me feel!” and your controller begins to shake in time with his uncontrollable gesticulations, the scene becomes something else. In 1998, rumble technology was still relatively new in home gaming, so having this drama reflected in the physical world made that much more of an impression. Every time Snake was kicked in the gut or when you landed a hit amidst this half-man’s yowling was tangible. I feel a lot like Grey Fox when I play videogames these days, particularly action fare. I want an action game to make me feel. Not necessarily a profound emotional reaction – though that’s always a plus – so much as a physical one. Read More... Posted Sep 29 2008, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, metroid, star wars, resident evil, metal gear solid, sega, lucasarts, tetris, yakuza, die hard arcade

• Whatcha Playing: Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles!!!

  It's always a curious thing when games are sold exclusively at one chain of stores. I can understand if, hypothetically, Big Box Store shells out big bucks to have the exclusive sales of Frat House FPS Sequel. The built-in fanbase will want the game and rush to the nearest Big Box Store, that store makes enough money to profit from their initial investment, and the publisher still got their game out there to the masses and made some extra cash while they were doing it. What bothers me is when smaller, somewhat unknown or niche games are exclusive to one store, making it harder to find and less likely that curious gamers unfamiliar with the property will give it a chance. I was worried when this happened last year with the long-awaited Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol which found its way exclusively to Wal-Mart shelves, but thankfully that game turned out wonderfully. And so now, some three months after its release exclusively to Toys R Us, I have finally gotten my hands on a copy of Soul Bubbles for the Nintendo DS. I can't say whether it was worth added trouble of having to go find it, but I can say that so far it is one of the most enjoyable DS titles I've played in months. Read More... Posted Sep 23 2008, 03:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, boom blox, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, lost winds, eden, eidos, soul bubbles, locoroco, mekensleep

• Whatcha Playing: The Thirst For Adventure, Pointing At Things, and Not Knowing What to Say

  Amidst the cavalcade of blockbusters, handheld eccentricities, and Rock Band I’ve been indulging in over the summer, a grand season now a mere two weeks from being officially dead, I’ve been getting a crash course in one of gaming’s most respected and forbidding forms: the adventure game. Though I started playing games during the genre’s heyday, I’ve always been somewhat less than literate when it comes to the many point-and-click and text-commanded classics crafted by Sierra and Lucasarts. My only real experiences came from visiting my aunt Donna. At the ripe age of seven years-old, she introduced me to the wonders of Kings Quest and, er, Leisure Suit Larry. Yeah. It’s not that I didn’t have fun with these eye-openers – they certainly expanded my vocabulary – I was just more interested in walking from left to right, jumping, and shooting when it came to videogames. I always knew that I was missing out on something, listening to friends chortle over playing Space Quest and even later, as a teenager, looking at lush screens of Grim Fandango. I’ve only gotten around to them recently thanks to three conditions working in concert. One is that there are new, easy to access (read: on Wii) point-and-clickers being released with regularity by folks like Telltale Games. Two and three regard vintage software: Hooksexup is equipped with numerous PCs capable of running things machines in my home twenty years ago could not, but also (and most importantly) I have a guide. It’s easy to approach Telltale’s Strong Bad games because they move at a brisk pace and they work on a very simplified version of classic point-and-click language: see something, point at it to interact with it. Got an item? Point at it, click, then point the item at what you want to use it on. Repeat playings of King’s Quest V left me acclimated to both the process and the occasionally obtuse logic at work in these sorts of games, so it’s been a painless process and a reminder of the genre’s charms. Playing through the first two episodes of Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People (more on Episode 2 when I’m allowed to talk about it) has, however, made it abundantly clear that adventure games are not inherently relaxing in comparison to more action oriented fare. Read More... Posted Sep 08 2008, 07:49 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, PC, quest for glory, lucasarts, wiiware, sierra, adventure, strong bad, telltale games, conquests of Camelot, grim fandango, kings quest

• Whatcha Playing: Cleaning House, Finding Roots

  It has been well over a month since my last Whatcha Playing here at 61 Frames Per Second. The vicious truth of the matter is that I haven’t been playing that much since the beginning of July. The summer will do that to you. When the weather is as nice as its been here in the northeastern United States (mild, sunny as hell, great thunderstorms), its hard to devote eight hours of a Saturday to grinding RPG characters, engaging in manic shoot-outs, or even just taking in some classics (especially if your apartment isn’t air conditioned.) Last Thursday, though, I finally downloaded Bionic Commando Rearmed, a game I may have mentioned anticipating. Those first delicious minutes I spent grappling around the vibrant world GRIN created signaled one undeniable fact: come the weekend, it was time to play some freaking videogames. But first I had to clean house. Read More... Posted Aug 19 2008, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, playstation 3, metroid, nintendo ds, xbox 360, capcom, bionic commando, grin, gamecube, too human, pixeljunk, pixeljunk eden, braid, lair, ninja five-0

• Whatcha' (Wish You Were) Playing: How Does Your Garden Grow?

  Last night, PS3 owners got a special treat in the weekly Playstation Store update, and no, I'm not talking about the Street Fighter IV system theme – a downloadable demo of the newest game in the PixelJunk series, Eden. While I am enthused by the PixelJunk concept of innovative idea-based reasonably priced games, Racers and Monsters just didn't grab my attention. With my first playthrough of Eden last night, however, I was instantly smitten. In this garden-building action-puzzler, the player controls a small "Grimp" character, swinging on silk threads and jumping from calligraphic leaf to calligraphic leaf of thoroughly modern stylized garden. Crashing into pods releases clouds of pollen, which is gathered in seeds which can then be activated to sprout new plants, which allow you to travel farther, to even more seeds, pollen, and techno-organic bliss. It sounds complicated, and at first it feels like it too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I failed the first garden miserably (twice!), but the environment and surprisingly compelling physics were just so captivating that I couldn't stop. Read More... Posted Jul 25 2008, 03:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, derrick sanskrit, ps3, eden, pixeljunk

• Whatcha Playing: The New Adventures of the Nintendo DS

  A strange thing happened ‘round about last October. For the first time since its release in April 2005, I was regularly playing games on PSP. I had been carrying a grudge against Sony for promising the world with their first handheld and not delivering even a fraction of the compelling software that they had on the first two home Playstations. But then, all of a sudden, there were all these fantastic games to sink my teeth into. Strategy RPGs like Jeanne D’Arc, old-school action like Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, and true genre benders like Crush had finally brought me into the PSP fold. The drawback? My DS went on the shelf and wasn’t touched for months. Oh, I brought it down when Contra 4 came out and on that rare Saturday morning that I felt like going back to my Animal Crossing village to do some weeding, stomp some roaches, and writing some letters. But I wasn’t playing anything new and I started wondering if the brief reign of the DS — not as a force of business but as a fount of compelling design — was over. Man, was that stupid. Read More... Posted Jul 07 2008, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, nintendo ds, psp, castlevania, pokemon, phoenix wright, contra, ninja gaiden, jeanne d'arc, shiren the wanderer, crush

• Whatcha Playing: Fallout (Metaphorically Speaking)

  Truth to tell, I’ve never played a Fallout game. The vast majority of my gaming career has been spent in front of a television, not a monitor, my hands clutching a controller instead of hovering over a keyboard. It’s not a point of pride, let me tell you. Not gaming on a PC throughout the ‘90s meant you were perpetually on the outside of the cutting edge, waiting for advancements to come to Nintendo, Sony, or whoever else’s systems sometimes years later. Deus Ex, Half-Life, Diablo, even Sierra’s King’s Quest V, all games I’ve gotten to try my hand at, eventually, when they were ported to a console, shadows of their former selves. It’s even kept me from really experiencing whole genres; I’ve never played a real-time strategy game for more than a few minutes and my aging laptop could barely run World of Warcraft when I tried it out in 2005. Since that year, though, consoles have started gaining on PCs as the place where developers make their greatest strides. It’s not too surprising. Consoles have turned into high-end computers themselves. Read More... Posted Jun 26 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, the world ends with you, whatcha playing, wii fit, rock band, mega man, grand theft auto, final fantast vii, metal gear, diablo, deus ex

• Watcha Playing: Loving/Hating Mario Kart Wii

  Mama Mia! Every weekend I try to get together with a group of friends and play Mario Kart Wii online. We have a blast battling it out for first place and lobbing weapons of happy destruction at each other. I really love this game and it is, hands down, my favorite console iteration in the series to date. I'm definitely a fan of the bikes and the stunts and I quite enjoy the “Whiil” (sorry). Alas, it has no voice chat so communicating with my fellow racers involves a little racing of my own; from my living room where the Wii is ensconced to my studio where my computer sits. But, I know why there is no voice chat. It's because of me. Read More... Posted Jun 06 2008, 02:00 PM by Amber Ahlborn with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, wii, mario kart, amber ahlborn

• Whatcha Playing: How Many Buttons Do I Gotta Push?

  Last week, while watching video of Final Fantasy VI, I commented to my colleague Pete that old Final Fantasy is not fun to watch. He laughed and replied, “No comment.” The inherent absurdity of what I’d just said wasn’t lost on me either. There’s a constant disconnect between you and the activity in role-playing games. You select an action from a menu and then watch your avatar on the screen carry out the command after the fact; more often than not, you only watch the game. The basic design of an RPG necessitates strategy behind each selected action, but most RPGs are so simple that you can win by just pressing a single button to do one thing over and over again. I love role-playing games and, if I’m completely honest, I can admit that I get immense satisfaction of pressing that one button repeatedly and watching numbers (a character’s attributes or any other arbitrary statistic) rise as a result. Sometimes, just pressing a button is enough for a game to engage me. Read More... Posted Jun 02 2008, 12:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, nintendo ds, final fantasy, animal crossing, ace attorney, phoenix wright

• Whatcha Playing: Fire Emblem is Pretty Hard

  Introducing 61 Frames Per Second's latest blogger: Amber Ahlborn I think I can hear the strategy role-playing veterans laughing at me, but cut me a little slack, I'm pretty new to the genre. Fire Emblem is a series with deep roots. I didn't become personally acquainted with the series until Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance hit the GameCube. The game absolutely captivated me. Convinced that Fire Emblem is awesome, I snapped up Radiant Dawn the day it released for Wii. Read More... Posted May 30 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo, nintendo ds, wii, gamecube, fire emblem, amber ahlborn

• Whatcha Playing: Keeping the Beat, Drum Master Style

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit This hip urban lifestyle is killing me. Even though I walk a couple miles each day going to and from various places, I spend at least three hours a day sitting in place on trains as they scuttle my person between points A and R. Three hours! I'd probably go crazy or fall asleep and get mugged if it weren't for portable games. The problem is carrying games that can hold my interest for an extended period of time. Almost all of the most compelling DS games have little to no replay value (the Ace Attorney series, Hotel Dusk: Room 215) and many of the other better games require such precise stylus control that a simple jostle of the train car can ruin the entire experience (Elite Beat Agents, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass). What am I supposed to play? Thanks to importers and the region-free DS, I have found my answer: Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Touch de Dokodon!, aka "Taiko Drum Master DS". It keeps all the familiar elements of the popular arcade and home console Taiko Drum Master games (J-pop and classical songs play, cute cartoon characters dance, you beat the shit out of a big-ass drum) and makes it portable. Is there a story? Damned if I know, I just know that I get a more visceral thrill out of pounding a cartoon drum than I do shooting an AK-47 at Nazis. Read More... Posted May 28 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, elite beat agents, taiko drum master, zelda

• Whatcha Playing: A Little Singin’, a Little Dancin’

  Last Saturday, I woke up, put on the coffee, and sat down on the couch with the full intention of finishing off the remaining story missions in Grand Theft Auto 4. As the day wore on, though, I found myself continuing to ignore the controller, unable to muster the enthusiasm to play at being a hardened criminal. A whole Saturday was passing me by, gameless. It wasn’t until around nine o’clock that my roommate and I decided to bust out Rock Band that I got to gaming. I’ve been fairly indifferent to the music game revolution of the passed two years for one very specific reason: I suck at Guitar Hero. My finger dexterity simply doesn’t match my thumb dexterity. But, since a friend loaned his copy of Rock Band to my apartment full of twenty-something ne’er-do-wells, I’ve come to see the light, and it’s all thanks to singing. Karaoke videogames are too laden with pop and karaoke bars are simply too expensive for a man of my meager means. Rock Band lets me be Ozzy, Kurt, Shirley Manson, and Ad-Rock and the experience has been eye opening. Even more so than the Wii, Rock Band has proven to me the opportunity offered by alternative forms of control in games. And rest assured, Rock Band is a game, a clearly defined set of rules adhered to in order to achieve a specific goal. I just never thought my drunken rendition of “Say It Ain’t So” would ever be the route to the highest score or the next level. Read More... Posted May 23 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, Grand theft auto 4, wii fit, rock band

• Whatcha Playing: Another Slice of Cake

  Having never been much of a PC or Mac gamer, I’ve come into Valve’s games far later than most. I experienced the original Half-Life second hand through my college roommate and only played through it myself last summer, on the PS2 of all things, in anticipation of the Orange Box’s fall release on consoles. When I finally did play through Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episodes, I was more than impressed. Valve’s reputation as peerless storytellers is more than deserved and despite being four years-old at this point, Half-Life 2 remains a high-water mark for game making free of the language and tools of film narrative. Writer Eric Wolpaw’s most impressive work in the Orange Box, however, is the widely lauded Portal, a perfect mix of Half-Life’s menace with the humor of his work on Psychonauts. Up until last Sunday, I’d been waiting for a chance to race through Portal a second time for months. This wasn’t possible since my copy of the Orange Box had ended up in Korea. Damn roommates. Portal is a strange experience when you return to it. Read More... Posted May 16 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, valve, portal, PC, fallout 3, orange box, half-life, mac, still alive

• Whatcha Playing: BS Zelda

  Let's say, hypothetically, it's Monday evening and you wake up at midnight after passing out on the couch for a couple hours. You're too restless, headachy, drunk and sexually frustrated to go back to sleep. Hypothetically. And you've beaten The Legend of Zelda so many times in the past month, in an attempt to push your completion time under fifty minutes (final score: 49:58.13) that it doesn't have much to offer in the way of comforting distraction. For a cosy mix of the familiar and new, do what I did. . . Read More... Posted May 14 2008, 03:00 PM by Peter Smith with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, bs zelda no densetsu, snes, darknuts, satellaview, the legend of zelda, zelda