The State of Gaming: Nintendo
E3 went down a few weeks ago and while there were no real earth shattering announcements (thanks to the ever persistance subculture of everything getting leaked), all in all it was a pretty good show. The rest of the year is looking pretty good indeed, with some of the smaller titles like Child Of Eden
First up: Nintendo.
Nintendo Isn’t Just Ignoring Gamers; It’s Humiliating Us With Nostalgia
I'm a lifelong Nintendo fanboy. I grew up with the NES and SNES. During the first 3D console war in the mid-90's, I sided with the Nintendo 64 despite missing out on many, many great games until years later. I was optimistic for the Wii, and the DS completely won me over. That said, I've realized something about Nintendo that I think always floated around in the back of my mind, but that I didn't really accept until the WiiU was announced.
Nintendo doesn't care about wooing hardcore gamers. Yes, jaded gamers think this is self-evident, but it's actually worse than it seems. Nintendo doesn't care about wooing hardcore gamers because we'll come back to them anyway. That is the truly terrible thing about Nintendo's current strategy. It doesn't matter how disappointing their hardware is, how inept their handling of online services is, or how much they bother to build a platform that third party developers actually feel like using to make a decent game and not just a half-assed semi-port.
Let me be crude but concise. Nintendo is our cheating ex-girlfriend who, every six months or so, calls us up at 2:00 a.m. looking for action. And, because we are idiots and she does that one thing we like, we come over. Maybe it's a one-night stand, maybe it's a short rekindling of the relationship, but it always ends with her completely ignoring us and sleeping with our little brother.
Radiant Historia: A Classically Trained RPG
Do you remember games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6? Did you love the hell out of them? Have you been wondering for the last 15 years why RPGs went hardcore next-gen and have been unable to really capture the simple magic of sprite-based storytelling and turn-based combat? Then Radiant Historia
Atlus has really sealed itself in as the king of JRPGs, after Square-Enix abdicated the throne a year or two ago. Radiant Historia on the DS is a great RPG filled with classic aesthetics and mechanics, that manage to stand the nostalgia test that all "retro" games must take and that few pass.
Pokemon Black and White Review: Still Going Strong
Same game sequels take the series three steps forward. Some sequels take the series one step forward and two steps back. Pokemon is the only series that manages to take the series an inch forward and five steps sideways. Pokemon Black
Presidents and Pokemon at the Black and White Launch Event at Nintendo World
Nintendo held a big Pokemon Black
Presidents Playing for Pokemon at Nintendo World Store Tomorrow
Well, this is random. Nintendo is holding a Pokemon Black and White launch event tomorrow at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center. The Presidents of the United States will be there. No, it's not 1996.
Seriously, what else do you need? Great (and strange) band. Pokemon. There should be t-shirts there. GO to Rockefeller Center at 3:00 tomorrow to catch the Prezzes with a new song and get your hands on some Pokemon.
Going to the country, gonna catch a lotta Pikas...
15 Greatest New Pokemon in Pokemon Black and White
Pokemon Black
Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded trailers – Gameplay Montage and Story
KH13 (via Heartstation) has posted a couple of videos of the next title in American shores. Kingdom Hearts: RE:coded is a remake of previous Japan exclusive game Kingdom Hearts: coded. This title is the first title to move the timeline in the series forward since Kingdom Hearts II; PSP title Birth by Sleep takes place 10 years before the first game, and the DS title 358/2 days mainly takes place in the year gap between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The above trailer is a plot while a gameplay trailer is embedded after the break. Coded is thus far the only game in the series I've not played, not having a Japanese cell phone to play it on, so as the superfan we all know I am, this has me super excited. Kingdom Hearts: RE:coded comes out January 11, next year.
Nintendo: It’s On Like Donkey Kong(tm)
Nintendo just trademarked the phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." Usually I'd consider this a cynical and skeevy example of being overprotective of intellectual property, but... I really can't complain about this. Nintendo owns Donkey Kong. If things are on in a manner similar to Donkey Kong, to the point that direct parallels can be drawn, it's understandable that Big N might want a piece of that action.
Just remember, if you preorder Donkey Kong Country returns at Gamestop, you get a free banana pouch. I'm pointing this out because the phrase "banana pouch" always makes me giggle. Nintendo and Gamestop are giving you a banana pouch. You stick your Wii in it. You stick your Wii in the banana pouch. Just saying. And if Nintendo doesn't like me using their promotions for dick jokes, well... I guess it's on like Donkey Kong(tm).
Welcome To The Museum Of Mario!
Club Nintendo is Nintendo's big fan club/rewards program, giving dedicated gamers copious swag in return for video game registrations and surveys. The majority of said swag is in my apartment, and as part of the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., we're going to take a look at it. Many of these items can be obtained through Club Nintendo if you rack up enough coins, but two of them are special "Elite Status" awards given out every year when you reach a high enough coin level. Take a tour through the Mario museum after the break.
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