By Ben Salter
The Wii is dead. Okay, that might be a little harsh, but the reality is the Wii looks dreadful in terms of software. As we approach the weeks prior to E3, when the gaming industry dies for a little bit and there are next to no releases, it’s time to go back and play the gems we may have missed over the past few months. But wait! The Wii has nothing. The start of 2010 for Nintendo’s console has been as bare as I can remember. There’s been little to persuade new gamers to finally join the waggle revolution (old school pun intended) even with $100 knocked off the price.
We’ve only reviewed six Wii games in 2010. That’s not because we’re slack, it’s because there’s little else to review. Monster Hunter Tri is the 7th title worth our time (review coming) but it’s almost too little, too late. It was released in Japan 6 months ago, which in this day and age just isn’t acceptable. Yes, I know translation has to be taken into account but 6 months? Really?
Each week we’re inundated with PS3, Xbox 360 and PC news that blows our socks off. All three platforms have some seriously cool stuff on the horizon and it seems we can’t go more than a week or two without something new being announced. What does the Wii have? The Vitality Sensor. Yay. As a result the Nintendo of old almost feels lost to me. I feel abandoned, like the classic Big N games I grew up with will never see the light of day again. But just when all hope is lost Ninty goes and releases a Super Mario Galaxy 2 teaser. Last week we got Transmission 8, a trailer showing Luigi in full flight, and it was freakin’ awesome!
Nintendo has found a way to pull me back in by releasing a new Super Mario Galaxy 2 video every other day (the transmission trailers are all great). When they’re not doing that they’re releasing screens, promo-art, information about new power-ups and various other tidbits. Our Wii news section at MMGN is full of it. And now, as if it wasn’t tantalizing enough, review scores are starting to appear. I think I saw a glimpse of a 10/10, but I can’t be sure and don’t want to know. I try to play every game with as little influence from other publications as possible, but never have I wanted to go into a game with a clean slate more so than with Super Mario Galaxy 2.
The original Super Mario Galaxy was one of the most hyped games on Wii. It’s also one of the few games in history to actually live up to its unprecedented level of anticipation. It’s simple yet engaging story, coupled with deeply engrossing gameplay made it the must own game on Wii in 2007. Depending on your personal preference, to this day it remains the best game on the system (competition only from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; although for God knows what reason some people are under the delusion SSBB and Mario Kart should be mentioned in the same breath of air).
Despite the Wii and even Mario’s ‘for kids’ stigma, even the most hardcore of gamers admits Super Mario Galaxy was a masterpiece. Many Nintendo fans consider it to be the true successor to Super Mario 64, after the somewhat disappointing Super Mario Sunshine; although, it was only disappointing by comparison and due to the Mario legacy. On its own merits it wasn’t half bad, but I digress. Back in ’07 we were also treated to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. At that point in time it looked as though Nintendo was going to give their loyal fans some support. While the GameCube was defeated by the PS2 and Xbox, 22 million sales isn’t a complete failure. It’s my favourite console due to its strong catalogue of quality games, most of which were aimed at the Nintendo faithful. Galaxy and Prime 3 left us with some hope that Nintendo would still cater for that market, even though they had new friends in casual gamers. Unfortunately it didn’t really happen. Three years down the track, and New Super Mario Bros. is perhaps the only game in the same league from Nintendo and we’ve only had the occasionally decent third party release.
That’s why Super Mario Galaxy 2 is so important. At first I was flabbergasted that Nintendo would release a direct sequel Mario title in the same generation, but it needs to happen. Loyal Nintendo fans, true gamers and even new Nintendo owners need this. They need a game that’ll remind them of the quality from the SNES, N64 and GameCube eras. Times when that very 80s retro “Nintendo seal of quality” actually meant something.
If you own a Wii and aren’t considering getting Super Mario Galaxy 2 on day one (WTF is wrong with you?) we’ll have stacks of content in the lead up to its US May 23 and rumoured Australian June 10 release that’ll hopefully convince you otherwise. The original Galaxy didn’t sell all that well with Nintendo’s new casual and non-loyal fans, but I hope that’s not the case with its sequel. If nothing else it’s a chance to experience something different on the Wii. While it probably won’t be as groundbreaking as the first game, if it’s half as good it’ll be a game you’ll cherish from start to finish. A game that could just win Nintendo game of the year and one I hope to see dominate the sales charts.
10/05/2010
My360 will be hosting an official XBOX Live Playdate at 8pm (AEST) on Friday, April 2nd. The game played will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
All you need is an XBOX Live Gold membership and a copy of Modern Warfare 2.
Four My360 volunteers will be hosting the event, which will fill up quick as it will be advertised on both the XBOX Live website and the XBOX Live Dashboard - only so many people can be in a party!
All you have to do is confirm your attendance and add the gamertags of the hosts listed here. This will give us a good idea of numbers ahead of the night. Please request a game invite on the night.
The night will probably either consist of two parties with two hosts each, or four different parties with four different hosts. This will depend on the number of participants.
Head on over to the Official Discussion to talk to other participants ahead of the event.
So make sure you're part of the action. It looks set to be an awesome night of gaming!
Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions/requests.
11/03/2010
Compiled by Ben Salter
No, I’m not talking about games that were so bad you exploded in a fit of murderous rage (see Superman 64). I’m talking about games that were actually scary; games nobody in their right mind would want to play alone on a dark stormy night.
I’m sure there are heaps of others out there. Unfortunately, I don’t get to play as many PC games as I do console, so no doubt this is a relatively untapped medium for me. As such, post any of your scariest games below!
5. Dead Space
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release: 2008
Dead Space is the most recent game on my freak out list. It takes the best of the survival horror genre, throws you aboard a giant spaceship infested with a bunch of monsters that have a thing eating your face, and creates an extremely tense atmosphere.
I expect some people to yell (or type loudly) “weak”, but play through Dead Space on a lonely winter’s night and you’ll see what I mean. Its relentless scare tactics have you on the edge of your seat until the very end, making it one of the scariest games released this generation.
4. F.E.A.R.
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Original Release: 2005
At first glance, name aside, F.E.A.R. doesn’t appear to be all that frighten. It seems to be a stock standard FPS, and you can’t be scared in a game where you can let the bullets fly, right? Wrong! Apart from the fact enemies are near impossible to defeat on the hardest difficulty, you’ll soon discover that F.E.A.R. is an FPS if with an extreme horror twist.
The game designers have said F.E.A.R. was inspired by Japanese horror, and that they wanted the atmosphere to get under the player’s skin. The central scare tactics are focused around a little dead girl, who’s far too lively to be dead for my liking. The whole thing has a “The Ring” feel to it, and I for one will take a giant fire breathing monster over a freaky undead girl any day of the week.
3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Platforms: GameCube
Original Release: 2002
Any game that tries to trick you into believing you’ve deleted your own save file means trouble. Eternal Darkness is another one of those games that tries to scare the living daylights out of you by getting into your head. In fact, it came complete with a sanity meter that measured the mental state of the protagonists onscreen. You could actually watch, almost helplessly, as your onscreen avatars took another step towards insanity.
The sanity effect had you (or your characters) hearing things that weren’t really there; they saw things like the walls bleeding and all of a sudden the volume would drop and a fake television volume indicator suggested everything was fine. Then, of course, the game pretended to delete your save file. Nintendo liked the idea so much that they actually went out and patented videogame insanity, and have recently renewed their patent for Eternal Darkness.
2. Resident Evil
Platforms: PlayStation, GameCube, Wii, PC, DS
Original Release: 1996
In a top 5 list of the scariest games of all time at least one Resident Evil game had to be here. Compared to some more recent titles perhaps it isn’t as pants soilingly scary as it once was, (perhaps it’s because I’m an RE fanboy) but it’s the series that started the horror craze, and deserves a spot in the list.
When I reviewed the Wii port of the GameCube remake I criticized the game’s poor controls and terrible camera angles. Today we expect survival horror games to scare us in a range of diverse and interesting ways that don’t impact too heavily on the gameplay experience. However, back when Resident Evil was released these things are what made the game so intensely frightening. You often had no idea what you were walking into, and when you finally released the clumsy controls often made it impossible to escape. Furthermore, Resident Evil gave everyone a temporary phobia of jumping dogs. The second you heard the sound of a zombie dog preparing to pounce you knew it was all over.
1. Silent Hill 2
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
Original Release: 2001
I can’t quite put my finger on one specific aspect, but Silent Hill 2 is the scariest game I can remember playing. Its relentless psychological scare tactics have you almost crying for mercy. Like Resident Evil the Silent Hill series is largely responsible for the success of the survival horror genre today.
Silent Hill 2 had an extremely engaging plot for a horror game. You wanted to find out what would happen next, but most of the time you were too fixated on surviving to pay it the attention it deserved. Horror games are all about atmosphere, and Silent Hill 2 had a great one. Like most of the other games I’ve mentioned, it’s mostly psychological; there’s nothing scary about about 100 enemies on screen, it’s all about the unknown.
Notable Mentions
- Silent Hill (1999 / PS1)
- System Shock 2 (1999 / PC)
- Doom 3 (2004 /PC/Xbox)
08/03/2010
By Ben Salter
In a few short hours it’ll be 2010, and we’ll be waving goodbye to the decade that was the 2000s or the Naughties as it came to be known. Technology has changed a great deal in that time. Videogames developed a long way, texting, social networking and the iPod all came along and changed how we interact with each other and experience entertainment.
Facebook
Believe it or not but the three major social networking sites have all played a different role in our lives during the 2000s. Facebook may well and truly be the most popular now, but it was not always that way. Once upon a time it was for Harvard students to keep in contact, and now is used by over 300 million people. Facebook is great for keeping in contact with old school and work mates, but it’s also used as a day-to-day communication tool and for its events system. Gone are the days of hand mailing invites, simply make it on Facebook!
iPod
We’re really talking MP3 players in general here, but the iPod has run away with the title. In fact I’m sure there’re thousands of users out there that aren’t even aware that there are competing devices. The iPod launched in 2001 with 5GB of memory capable of storing 1000 songs. It is now in its 6th generation and holds up to 160GB of music and video.
Twitter
Launching in 2006 Twitter is the fun-sized social networking site. Each “tweet” allows only 140 characters. Users can follow anybody and re-tweet status, as a result it has become popular with fans to follow celebrity movements and for websites to promote their content.
MySpace
Launching in 2003 MySpace is largely credited as the social networking site that started the mass appeal. Nowadays it’s often considered to be dead by many Facebook adopters. However, it’s still largely popular with independent bands getting their music out there.
Texting & language
SMS has been around in concept since the mid-80s but didn’t break out into the mainstream until the late 90s. Even then it was considered an extra and nobody could predict the dominance it would have in the mobile phone market. It broke out further in the Naughties with the development of MMS and became the most used form of data communication on the planet. It’s also been apart of many scandals in the 2000s. It’s too damn easy to accidentally send a text to the wrong person!
The txt talk language was developed in the 2000s, and is the reason most of our youth can no longer write a coherent sentence. Im g8 kkthnxbai!
The Wii
Say what you want about the Wii, but it’s done more for the expansion of gaming than almost anything before it. After its release in 2006 nobody saw Nintendo’s dominance coming. They’ve managed to get millions of people playing games who may have loathed the concept before at the expense of their loyal fans in some regards. While there has still be some great games for us it’s fair to say there hasn’t been as many. Was it worth it?
The Xbox 360
While online gaming was around on consoles last generation Microsoft changed the way we play online with Xbox Live. Sure it costs money, but it set the path that PSN has tried to follow and continues to rival PC gaming for the best quality online.
The PlayStation 3 & Blu-Ray
Blu-Ray probably won because of the PS3. It ended up with a commanding lead over HD-DVD, but the PS3’s ability to play the next generation movie format went along way to helping it win the format war. It’s also considerably slowed piracy on the platform while Nintendo and Microsoft struggle.
Wikipedia
Until it was outlawed by schools it was the number one location for assignment research. A user-contributed encyclopaedia was a stroke of genius and Web.20 at its finest. It’s a fantastic source when you want to know random information, and don’t need it to have the accuracy of a scholarly article, like when you want to know how old Matt Damon is. He’s 39 for those of you playing at home.
YouTube
YouTube was created in 2005 and sold off to Google for a record USD 1.6 Billion in 2006. Not bad for a year’s work. It’s gone on to be a Web 2.0 sensation as web users around the world have been sharing their videos. It’s been great for fun, serious short films and sending messages back to the media and the government.
Digital Distribution
While it’s still coming for Australia in a lot of ways, it’s far more successful overseas. The CD is a dying breed and you’ll struggle to find a single on sale in a store, due to the success of iTunes and other online music stores. Movies on demand are slowly making their way into Aussie homes, but it feels a few years off before it’ll catch up to the same level as music.
Reality TV
As we leave the 2000s reality TV is thankfully dying off, but it has been in full force during the past ten years. While we may loathe them now Australians used to love the likes of Big Brother and Australian Idol.
The let me Google that for you culture
Google has been around since 1998, but the idea of “let me google that for you” has come about in the Naughties. Whenever you or a friend is unsure about something we head straight to Google.
Apps
The iPhone has had a lot to do with the idea of apps (applications). The idea is that mini-programs can be uploaded to an existing device, such as an iPhone, for a very small cost or often free. The inspirations are endless and there’s almost an iPhone app for everything these days.
Digital Cameras
Remember the days of taking your film to be developed, and even storing them in the fridge to prolong their life if you didn’t have time? These days everyone has a digital camera, or at the very least a camera on their phone. Facebook and sites like Photobucket come into the mix as digital photo albums. The physical album may be long gone, but now hundreds of your friends can see your pictures online instantly. Kids, here a hot tip: Don’t add add your parents on Facebook if you don’t want them to know what you get up to on the weekends.
That’s just a handful of ways that technicality has changed us in the past decade. Social networking and texting has changed how we communicate while advances in the Internet has made life so much faster that it was last decade.
31/12/2009
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare didn't receive anywhere near as much hype leading up to its release as its sequel has. That's a given considering it was the first in the Modern Warfare franchise and the first Call of Duty game to move onto the modern battlefield. We all knew it was going to be great, taking the series to all new heights with more advanced weapons and a great online experience. But it blew up. It went crazy. Halo 2 may have defined online gaming for consoles, helping make XBOX Live the great online service it is today, but COD4 seemed to redefined it. It was able to attract an all-new market of gamers to not only the genre, but also to online multiplayer gaming.
That's why to this day COD4 is still one of the most played games online, two years after its release. That's pretty amazing considering it's had to go up against the likes of Killzone 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2 and Halo 3: ODST in that time-frame, all of which have strong online communities.
What's even more amazing is that even after the release of the next Call of Duty sequel (prequel?) in World at War, COD4 still stayed in the top few games with online activity. As great as WaW has been online, it always seemed to be that little step behind COD4, no matter how much content Activision threw its way.
That's not without saying that WaW has its following, and, especially on XBOX Live, you'll find that many COD4 fanatics often switch between the two because they each offer an outstanding online experience.
But why will Modern Warfare 2 stand out? Why is it so special? If COD4 was so great, why didn't WaW receive as much hype? The obvious answer is because WaW took a "step back" to World War 2, an act many gamers and COD faithful deemed to be an actual step back in quality for the franchise.
It definitely didn't lose any quality and the final product was great, but it's the brilliance of COD4 that ultimately shifts the attention to its direct sequel. Modern Warfare 2's predecessor seemed to bring gamers of all walks together, creating one unified market that has grown substantially over the past two years. The closest thing we've seen to MW2 hype this generation was Grand Theft Auto IV hype, and even that title didn't seem to generate a united front from every specific type of gaming culture.
Reports are coming in that Modern Warfare 2 is breaking pre-order records all around the world. It might be some genius PR spin, something the unified gaming heavyweights in EB Games and GameStop have conjured up to increase product awareness. But that's doubtful. If that's not obvious from the attention this game has gotten on gaming forums around the world, then it's from the fact that pretty much every person you know that owns either a XBOX 360 or Playstation probably has a pre-order for the game somewhere. If you don't believe it, go and ask. Now. We'll wait.
So now the question is put forth to you: Have you pre-ordered Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? Why? And is this game your most anticipated game ever? Why/Why not?
05/11/2009
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
So I've decided to retire the Heller's Desk segment, mainly due to the fact I was getting hard pressed to find good desk pics! So welcome to Heller's Den, a chance for me to throw out what I've been researching, playing and looking forward to.
As many of you will know, Batman Arkham Asylum is the hot topic right now, and rightly so! It's a fantastic game and I'm only a few hours into it!. Tano is busy working on the featured review, but until then, why not check out Batman's Greatest Gaming Moments.
While I wait patiently for Uncharted 2 to be released for the PS3 I've started to play Killzone 2 online quite a bit recently. It's a little harder than your average shooter, but it is so in-depth and is a great change of pace!
On the Wii front I've been getting into a lot of Wii Sports Resort, The Conduit, Punch Out!! and I've been getting back into some Grand Slam Tennis which is great fun for local multiplayer!
So we have a huge few months coming up, with such games as Modern Warfare 2, Scribblenaughts, Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band Beatles the list is growing every day!
What are you guys and girls looking forward to playing?
04/09/2009
To be in the running, all you have to do is visit the official Sacred 2: Fallen Angel website and answer the questions on My360 and MyPS3. You can answer as many of the four questions as you like.
Don't forget to check out our review either.
The character customization is a real treat, and with 500 quests, plenty of great boss battles and a cool and nicely executed story, Scared 2: Fallen Angel is a great action-RPG. The hack-and-slash gameplay might get repetitive, but if you're a diehard fan of the genre, you're probably used to that. It's essentially what makes an action-RPG an actual action-RPG.
We have three copies on XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 to give-away. You have till 5pm on Monday, August 31st to enter.
So what are you waiting for? Head on over to My360 and MyPS3 now to enter!
20/08/2009
We visited a special Halo 3: ODST event on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour yesterday, where we got to check out a real-life Halo Warthog, as well as check out the highly anticipated Halo 3: ODST.
The Halo warthog was made by the guys over at WETA Workshop, who worked on the upcoming District 9 movie and were planning to help make sets for the Halo movie before it fell through.
We've got a preview of Halo 3: ODST, as well as a video of one of the main men from WETA Workshop talking about the Halo Warthog.
Be sure to head on over to My360 to check it out.
07/08/2009
We have three copies of Wolfenstein to give away on XBOX 360 and Playstation 3.
All you have to do is visit the official Wolfenstein page and then answer the questions on the competition pages. You can answer as many questions as you like (maximum of four per member).
Competition ends at 5pm on Friday, August 21st. Winners will be announced at 5pm on Monday, 24th of August.
Every member that enters will also get a Wolfenstein medal for their profile!
03/08/2009