By Ben Salter
Gaming gets bad press in mainstream media. Take gaming media out of the equation, and you’ll be hard pressed to find something good written or broadcast about games anywhere.
Advertising for the likes of Wii Fit helps to remove the couch potato stigma, but overall the non-gaming community is being overloaded with bad press about videogames. Think about it: If you were a parent, with a very limited knowledge about games, what would you think about them? We hear that games, TV and Facebook are to blame for our kids getting fat. Fact of the matter is it’s much easier to blame these things than to admit you’re a bad parent. Then Michael Atkinson comes along, says something about games being the devil’s work, and all of a sudden the non-gaming community truly believes videogames should be outlawed.
Last month I said I was going to try and stop complaining about Mr. Atkinson. I think over 30 days without a word is pretty good, especially seeing how he made such an ass of himself ahead of the South Australian State election. If you didn’t read about it, next month South Aussies will be voting for the new and improved State Government. Mr. Atkinson thought it would be a good idea to ban anonymity ahead of that. He believed one gentlemen posting comments on news.com.au was an alias created by his enemies and decided everyone needed to post their full name and postcode when commenting or blogging on anything to do with the election. As it turned out the man did exist, and lived just 500 meters from Atkinson’s office. The public also didn’t take too kindly to him prohibiting free speech, in a sense, as it’s our right to post on the Internet using an avatar. Long story short he was forced to retract his laws, or at least ensure us they would not be enforced, and yet seems to have as many followers as ever. He continues to tell us that an R18+ rating for games is not required; this is the man the non-gaming community actually listens to and, even worse, trusts.
Australian pirate James Burt has contributed to the bad press this week by costing Nintendo millions when he pirated New Super Mario Bros. Wii in November last year. He’s since reached an out of court settlement to the tune of $1.5 million and given Australian gaming a bad name internationally. Not only does it look bad to the non-gamers here, it makes us look bad to the gaming communities overseas. Sure, this type of thing happens all the time, but New Super Mario Bros. Wii was one of the few games Australia received before any other region (at least on the Wii). Doesn’t look like that’ll happen again.
”VIDEO games could be influencing teenagers to drive recklessly, one of the country's top police officers has said.” That’s the sub-headline parents are reading with breakfast each morning. Apparently the youth of today are unable to distinguish between the real and the reset button on their PlayStation. Seeing how that’s the case, may as well start car jacking and throwing frag grenades at old ladies. It’s all the same, right officer?
Those are three major stories in the mainstream media in the past fortnight. Every one of them paints gaming in the worst possible light. I would love to see some good news, but chances are we’ll continue to hear about one kid playing too much COD and going on a rampage in the US, and then all of a sudden all first person shooters will be frowned upon once again.
13/02/2010
Get your Wii on this festive season.
By Ben Salter
It’s Christmas day. The one day you’re compelled to spend making small, yet deep, talk with extended family. The beauty of the Wii is its social ability. It brings together generations. Grandparents with children, cousins, and even that really creepy uncle that may not actually be related to you,- at least you hope. The Media, we here at MyMedia, and a large majority of gamers, spend a great deal of time bagging the Wii for its many flaws, but credit where it’s due. The Wii is possibly the greatest social gaming device ever created, and Christmas is the prefect time to put it to the test.
Perhaps this is what makes the Wii almost the perfect Christmas gift. Anyone can use it. Older family members have a tendency to feel the need to test out the dang fangled ‘machines’ that they youngins get from Santa. With a Wii not only can they test it out, they can get involved, actually enjoy themselves and do it with their younger relatives. Last Christmas everyone had a go using my Wii, whether it be at Christmas lunch or during the surrounding days of the chaotic disaster that is the festive season. My step-uncle and aunty really got into it, despite being almost 70. Even with a severe knee injury my step-aunty pulled off a nice jig in celebration of beating her Scottish husband in Wii bowling. He was none too happy. Next up she versed my 8-year-cousin, whom she had never met or spoken to. He dominated the match, suggesting he’d been training hard on his newly acquired console that morning. It closed the generation gap perfectly. Without it at most they would have had an awkward greeting, as you do with young children, and conversed little throughout the remainder of the long day, perhaps in part due to her confusing accent that leaves you staring blank, nodding and replying ‘yes’. However, now they had something to talk about. They had a purpose, a rivalry, and by the end of the day were ready for the highly anticipated rematch!
Wii Sports started it all, and was followed up nicely by Wii Sports Resort earlier this year. We recommend that you start the gaming festivities there. Getting in early, well before you stuff your face with Christmas pudding, would be the strategic way to play it, but hey each to their own. If you’re a serious gamer you probably have your Wii, and other consoles, hooked up to a totally pimped out home entertainment system located away from the living room. If this is the case we recommended moving it, especially if you’re young and it normally resides in your bedroom, as the under 21-year-old smell can be fatal to the elderly.
You’ll want to ensure that all controllers, 4 if possible, are charged and ready to go and that all games on the agenda are in plain view. Wii Sports is the perfect way to start, and if the whole family joins in it’ll be more than enough for an afternoon’s fun. However, if the kids hog it for hours on end they’ll be after some variety. We recommend Mario Kart for a bit of easy fun, and Super Smash Bros Brawl for any aggressive kids. The latter is a little too confusing for non-gamers, so we suggest only pulling that one out when the veterans arrive, and we mean gaming veterans, just to be clear.
We don't suggest Wii Fit for this reason.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii should be the new addition that you smack into your console when 4 people of a similar skill level come together. While it’s been designed to cater for a range of different players, NSMBW really needs to be played by players that are all at the same level. Go find the biggest ‘noob’ on Christmas day and ask them to play and you’ll see what I mean; by the end of it you’ll rather slice your own nipples off than play again.
After a few drinks this will all start sounding a little complicated to the technological challenged, and for some reason all they’ll want to do is sing really out of pitch, and play charades (you’re on your own there). That’s where Guitar Hero comes in. Try and pass off the microphone to the most talented out of the lot, and then proceed to assign instruments based on the levels of awareness. If someone’s not quite with it best not give them the drums, for example, or you’ll have an interesting time trying to explain that Aunty Nora’s broken nose is not a result of domestic abuse.
That covers basic play, racing, fighting, platforming and music simulation. There’s heaps of puzzle games, like Rabbids Go Home, which may be worth a look, but if you have an audience that seriously wants to play and/or watch them Wii Play will probably suffice. If you’re after an FPS we suggest looking into an Xbox 360 as the centre of your gaming festivities. It too has some great family and social titles, but it doesn’t quite have the same draw appeal that comes with the Wii; perhaps that’ll all change with Natal.
Now, once you’ve got everyone playing Wii, and having a jolly old time, you’ll have to work on subtly getting them to leave. After all, you want your Wii back for the great new games Santa brought with him. If all else fails you can try yelling “GTFO” but expect some confused and confusing looks in return, then an awkward silence. The batteries going flat is a god send at this point in time, but only if you have spares that nobody else knows about. We also suggest recruiting people to help with various tasks, such as washing up or entertaining children. If everything’s taking too long you can drug the spouses of those stealing your Wii and pass it off as falling asleep after eating too much turkey, but that may carry some minor consequences.
Once you’ve finally got your Wii back to yourself prepare for a night of solid post-Christmas gaming! While it may have been used as a social aid throughout the day, Christmas night is all about the solo gaming experience. Grab some red bull, the quality left overs, and a Wii Remote, then prepare to spend all boxing day sleeping in. Unless you have to be up to do it all again for the cricket, of course!
Merry Christmas shopping! (I figured it was too early)
14/12/2009
By Ben Salter
Let me start off by saying New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks awesome, and is close to the top of my most wanted list. However, I’m still not sold on the super guide feature. I’m worried that Nintendo are trying to cater too much for casual players and, even worse, they are not trying to develop them into more skilled gamers. Essentially they are breeding an army of gaming noobs.
The super guide feature is a fancy name for auto play. If you fail a level 8 times a green box will appear when you respawn. You can chose to ignore it or smash the portly plumber’s head into it to active super guide for that level. If you do so the main character will switch to Luigi and play through the level for you in real time. At anytime you can chose to take over, but the game will still display being in help mode.
I have a whole list of problems with this. Sure I could just ignore it, but what are Nintendo doing to other, less frequent, gamers? Surely the Wii Sport type of player isn't going to improve their gaming skills if the computer takes over during all the hard bits. Isn’t that why we have easy, medium and hard settings? Developers realise gamers have different skill levels, but none of them have ever told the player to give up so it can do it for them; it’s almost insulting.
I’m sure we’ve all used a walkthrough for a game at some point or another, and to an extent it’s quite shameful for a proud gamer. It’s easy to jump onto the net and find a tip for that frustrating level you just can’t beat, but actually having that in the game is going too far. At least with a walkthrough you have to go through the shame of looking it up, and then following instructions to get past the level. At the end of the day you’re still playing the game yourself, with a little assistance. Super guide in New Super Mario Bros. Wii makes you redundant by doing everything itself. It’s like having the answers right next to a test. Actually no, it’s worse than that. It’s like having a teacher sitting next to you with a pen willing to do anything you give up on.
I’m worried about the future generations of gamers if they come to expect games to auto play when they get stuck. Sticking with Nintendo, how are they going to play through Metroid or Zelda if not only are they getting stuck in a Mario platformer, but the game is finishing off levels for them? What if they move over to one of the more adult friendly platforms? Fallout 3 isn’t going to hold their hand the entire way.
At first I didn’t think it would affect more seasoned gamers, but I’m beginning to think otherwise. With the rise of the casual gamer there are more and more titles for them and their skill level. If super guide is an overwhelming success will more games adopt the auto play feature to help out the “noobs” (as the Internet has labelled them)? Will it become standard for the game to cheat for us? You don’t even have to cheat yourself anymore!
On the other hand this could actually be good news for Nintendo fans. Maybe, just maybe, this will allow them to make harder games. We won’t know if that’s the case until we’ve finished NSMBW, but auto play could give Nintendo a license to make hard games that less skilled gamers will still buy and be able to complete.
I realise it’s a bit different doing this to a platformer, than say an FPS or action/adventure. But if it’s successful who’s to say it won’t make it into Super Mario Galaxy 2, or even Metroid: Other M? It would be an absolute disgrace if these games had anything close to a built-in walkthrough, let alone auto play. They’re meant to be challenging, you’re not meant to figure out every puzzle straight away; I just hope Nintendo know where to draw the line and don’t get too carried away.
What do you think? Are Nintendo training us to be “gaming noobs”, are they putting themselves in a position to make harder games that everyone will be able to play (computer included) or do you like the auto playing super guide feature?
21/10/2009
It's been a rather slow week in the gaming world, giving you all a chance to catch up on those games you haven't finished before the end of year season is upon us.
Many of you have already finished this title, but Batman: Arkham Asylum has kept me rather busy the past week. I've really enjoyed my time on Arkham, and this is a surprise hit title for me! Still sitting on the fence after playing the demo? Why not read our feature review? Batman: Arkham Asylum.
I was one of the many lucky folks who snagged a Uncharted 2 beta code last week from EB Games Twitter give-away so I'll be waiting to get into that this Tuesday! Those who pre-order the game from EB also get access to the beta so if you can't wait to get online with this game, head down to your local EB today.
This weekend I got the chance to go through the paces of the DLC pack for F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. Reborn runs a story parallel to that of the main game, and while it doesn't do anything to expand the story or the universe, it's a decent addition to the already great game. If you already own F.E.A.R 2 and want to extend it another 2-4 hours, then check out our review here.
So now I'm just counting down the days till Scribblenauts, Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2!
What are you guys and girls looking forward to playing?
14/09/2009
Nintendo was disappointing at E3 last year to say the least. However, a year later Nintendo has promised bigger and better things at the number one gaming conference on the calendar. After ‘downsizing’ in the past two years, the real E3 is back this year. Back to being the specular event it should be, and more importantly what we all want it to be. But will it deliver on the announcement front?
Over the course of the week we’ll be looking at what Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have in store for us this year. What we expect to see, what has been teased, predicted and what we’d like to see surprise us this year.
What’s Expected
"From Nintendo's perspective, we always go into E3 with a very high bar wanting to satisfy not only the core fans but also ourselves” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. After a disappointing show last year, fans have a right to be skeptical. However, with the recent release of the DSi, and a lack of big name titles from Nintendo themselves on the Wii, this time around the Big N need to pull out something special. If they don’t I fear many loyal fans may begin to jump ship.
Kid Icarus Wii
Where is it? It should have been announced ages ago! Nintendo need to pull out their big guns this year, making E3 the perfect time to revive Kid Icarus.
We want Kid Icarus on Wii!Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil & Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles
One is a remake and the other is an on-rails shooter, but one thing is for sure, Resident Evil sells well on Wii. It may not be Resident Evil 5, but if sales of past games are anything to go by Wii fans love the RE series. Both of these Capcom titles will be on show at E3 and can be penciled in to sell over a million copies to the mature Wii audience.
Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
Originally released only in Japan, a western release for Tatsunoko Vs Capcom was recently announced and the game has been confirmed to be on show at E3.
Red Steel 2
The first Red Steel had a great concept; the execution just didn’t match it. Red Steel 2 will be set in a desert-bound, high-tech metropolis. The title will also take full advantage of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral. We expect to see Red Steel 2 on show at E3 and hopefully, with the help of 1:1 motion, it’ll play as it should have the first time around.
Wii MotionPlus
MotionPlus will be released a few days after E3 wraps up. Expect Nintendo to give it one last pre-launch promotion at E3. Wii Sports Resort, Ninty’s first and currently only title to use the device, was announced last year and will launch worldwide in 6 weeks. Expect Nintendo to really push MotionPlus as it is essentially transforming the Wii into the motion controlled beast we all thought it would be 2 years ago. No doubt they’ll have a few big name games in development that make use of the device.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Announced at GDC’09, Reggie hinted that we would get a confirmed release date at E3. In fact besides that the Nintendo of America President has been tight lipped regarding what we can expect from E3 (besides an improvement on last year).
Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver
It wouldn’t be Nintendo without Pokemon. The remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver for the DS were recently announced, and we expect Nintendo to show off some more footage at E3.
Wii to DS Connectivity
The DSi has expanded Nintendo’s audience who own both the Wii and DS, making E3 the perfect time to start pushing DS to Wii Connectivity. Perhaps a new Wii Zelda could connect to Spirit Tracks or Mii’s could become transferable to the DSi menu.
Metroid Prime Trilogy
The three Metroid Prime games all on one disc with remastered Wii controls is something to get excited about. Seeing how the game itself has already been announced don’t expect it to be a big feature, but some more info would be nice.
What's been Teased
Two new games from High Voltage Software
The developer of The Conduit teased us by confirming they will announce two new Wii games at E3.The first will be a FPS which they hope to make technically stronger than the very impressive The Conduit. The second is “a different kind of a thing.”
Sadness
The survival horror title was one of the first announced for the Wii; however, we are yet to get a single in-game screenshot or trailer. Developer Nibris has teased that we may finally get a glimpse of the title running at E3.
Coloured Wiis/Wii Remotes
Rumours of coloured Wiis and Wii Remotes have been around since the console launched. There’s nothing more concrete this year to suggest that we’ll see them than in the past, besides the fact that the console has now been out for a few years, and that’s generally when Nintendo decide to get colourful.
Is it time for Nintendo to get colourful?Zelda & Mario Wii
Nintendo have hinted that these are in development, and now is the time to announce at least one of them. Zelda seems like the obvious choice seeing how Zelda: Twilight Princess was released back in 2006, and it was a GameCube port. In saying that, don’t be surprised if Nintendo go big and announce both of them to make up for the lack of software last year.
Capcom Mystery Title
We know that Capcom’s ‘mystery title’ is an action game and will be developed by Capcom Japan. What we don’t know is anything else. At this point in time we don't even know what console it'll be on.
Surprise us! The things we want to see
Pikmin 3
Where is Pikmin 3? I’ve been playing the New Play Control version of Pikmin 2 this week and it seems almost criminal that the Wii hasn’t had an instalment in the franchise. While we’re on the topic a DS version wouldn’t go astray either.
Pikmin and the Wii and/or DS go together so well. Where's Pikmin 3?Donkey Kong
I’d love to see a real Donkey Kong game for either the Wii or DS. We haven’t had one since DK64 (Jungle Beat and what not really don’t count). While it wasn’t the same as the Donkey Kong Country games I thought it was a solid transition from 2D masterpiece into the 3D arena.
Mario Tennis Wii
I wasn’t a fan of the controls in New Play Control Mario Power Tennis, but I’d like to see Nintendo give it another crack. Wii MotionPlus should help with the lack of accuracy which plagued the GCN remake.
GTA Wii
It’s not likely, but that’s what people said last year and seemingly out of nowhere GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS was announced. It received critical acclaim from game publications and fans despite not selling as well as Rockstar may have liked. It’s really a matter of if they think the market is there on the Wii after what may have been a mature audience experiment on DS.
Super Smash Bros. DS
This almost definitely won’t happen, but we can dream. After doing so well on consoles it seems blatantly obvious to us that the franchise should go portable. Yet Nintendo, who must have their reasons, chose to keep it exclusive to their home console. Maybe one day, but we hope at this year's E3!
02/06/2009
The Voice
The fourth episode of The Voice is now here!
In this weeks podcast, Tano and Heller discuss the release of GTA IV: The Lost and Damned, the latest Dead to Rights and the upcoming release of the DSi. They go through some of the latest reviews, covering Street Fighter IV, The Lost and Damned and F.E.A.R. 2, and discuss the importance of a game console being an "entertainment" system.
For the next podcast, we will be giving you the opportunity to have your reviews read out and discussed on the show. All you have to do is submit a review to one of our sites. Five will be chosen from across MyMedia to be included.
Don't forget to email us your suggestions, opinions and topics you'd like to discuss to podcast@mymedia.net.au.
Download the MP3
http://resource.mymedia.net.au/podcasts/TheVoice4.mp3
Listen to it online
Subscribe to it via iTunes
26/02/2009
Another week flies by with no release and more catching up to do. While I'm actually enjoying this time off from spending my hard earned cash and catching up on some rather great gaming, I can see some big releases on the horizon that excite me.
Skate 2 is my first big anticipated title of the year. For those of you who missed out on EA's first adventure in the Skating world, Skate offers the player a realistic approach to skating, one that is more free roam and has a focus on learning the moves rather then button mashing. Skate is due out the end of Jan and I'm jumping for joy at the thought of grazing my virtual knees yet again!
Left 4 Dead has been playing through my Xbox in between my RROD problem. I have attempted to host games over at My360.com.au the last few nights but after some problem, my Elite finally died. I picked up a new console today though, so if you want to catch some online Left 4 Dead action you can add my Gamertag x Hellerphant x. I will be hosting a different game every week, so make sure you head over to My360 to see what we will be playing.
Work has begun on the MyMedia PC site which is going to be totally awesome! Can't wait to unleash this bad boy, and it's a reminder to just how exciting the time is right now over at the Mysites. MyPS3 just saw the launch of their new interface and it's totally sexy! The updates for the other sites are coming guys, don't you worry! But while My360, MyPS3 and MyWii are always busy, please don't forget to hang out at Mybluray and Mytelly. Both are great sites, and a great place to chat about movies and TV shows and the like!
Many people have praised our Retro-Grade segement and have been asking when the next podcast will be released. Tano and I will start work on the next episode of The Voice in the next few weeks, we have to wait until there is some notable things to talk about before we dump another podcast on your doorstep. The next Retro-Grade segment will follow the week after, and hopefully we can get a flow going with 2 episodes of The Voice a month plus one Retro-Grade segment. Thanks to all your support, and make sure you email us your ideas and comments to podcast@mymedia.net.au
PC is still getting a workout for me right now, Team Fortress 2 is constantly keeping me awake at night, and I still jump on the old Call of Duty 4 every now and then to throw down a few kills. Does anyone around the MySites play Day of Defeat Source at all? I'm looking to get back into that game!
So enjoy this exciting times over at the MySites! I've just got a copy of Super Smash Bros Brawl and Animal Crossing so if you are keen to meet online just hit me up over at MyWii. Happy new Year and tell me, what are you keen to play in 2009?
07/01/2009
kotaku.com/
Here is a conversation I had with a Microsoft rep a few weeks ago when i first found out about this. (NOTE: This conversation did not actually happen)
ME: So, the 360 still fails in Japan?
MS REP: Nah man. We have a new game coming out.
ME: Reals?
MS REP: Totals!
ME: Would I be dumb to say it's a Japanese-focused FPS?
MS REP: You don't need to say that. You're already dumb.
ME: hehe truth.
MS REP: It's a new "Tales" game.
ME: ZOMG! SONIC AND TAILS!?!?!?
MS REP: No. Tales of Vesperia.
ME: Exclusive?
MS REP: Yes.
ME: Expensive?
MS REP: Noooo!
ME: tehehehehe
MS REP: tehehehehe
ME: So is it going to sell?
MS REP: They're already out of stock!
ME: Really? Selling that well?
MS REP: No. We're going in the direction of the Wii at the time of its launch. Supplying stores with minimal consoles so that it sells out and people get the impression it's in high demand.
ME: You know that doesn't work, don't you?
MS REP: Yes it does.
ME: No, it doesn't. If I want something but I know it's sold out, I'm not going to want it anymore because I know I can't have it.
MS REP: But it's human nature to want things you can't have. This is ALREADY sold out.
ME: Hmmm.....So how much is it going for? Know where I can import it from?
12/08/2008