Shauntu شان: Video Games

E3 2008: The Big Three’s Conferences

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:16:15 GMT

Microsoft: Well, they have some good games headed to the system, but not many that I am yet too excited about. Resident Evil 5, Banjo Kazooie, and Portal: Still Alive ended up being my highlights; Your in the Movies and Lips were the low points of the conference, sad to say. I will say the Avatars, Mii-Toos, do seem to be done fairly well and their use in-game has potential. The Netflix partnership is appealing as well. For the most part, MS seems to be making the case that PS3 is irrelevant, while also saying that they want to be where the Wii is.

Nintendo: While I enjoyed Nintendo’s conference, they still disappointed by basically staying away from the ‘hardcore/avid gamer’ market. Their new peripherals, Wii Speak (room based voice chat, as compared to headset based) and Wii MotionPlus (adding true 1:1 motion support to Wiimotes) are cool, and Wii Sports Resort was a huge surprise. Wii Music looks awesome to me, and Animal Crossing: City Folk could be huge. However, that appeared to be all they had to announce for the Wii… other than that, they just showed off 4 3rd party Wii games, of which I am most interested in Call of Duty: World at War. For the DS meanwhile, they again hardly announced anything, leaving me wondering what GTA Chinatown Wars will be like, but not much else.

Sony: As far as games go, Sony probably focused the most on the hardcore audience; though they did have the traditional charts section where they try to convince everyone they are on top of the world, using LittleBigPlanet to show the presentation was awesome. Resistance 2 looks pretty good, and so did the new Ratchet and Clank game. Sony does still seem to have the tendency of announcing big games long in advance, which they did now with God of War 3 (even as Killzone 2 still goes missing, after being first shown a few years ago as the reason to get a PS3). Their Home (which MS has co-opted with part of the Avatar functionality as well) still is in perpetual beta and still uninteresting. They also showed a 256 people online game, MAG. Sony does seem rather humbled right now though.

Game Blog June 2008

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:31:00 GMT

This month, I started a 2 month GameFly membership, thinking it would be handy in trying out some games that I otherwise would skip.

Mario Kart Wii (Wii): Played in the two tournaments (the Topmen boss battle and the reverse Mushroom Gorge stage). Finished the last cup on 100cc. Played online a bunch with Farah, often connecting with Kamran.

Wii Fit (Wii): Exercised a bit, unlocking more modes, including the rather fun penguin minigame. Tried the only 2 player mode, jogging, and didn’t think much of the idea of doing it 2 player.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS): Got to the first dungeon and completed it.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii): Played a few songs at Medium. Even with the 4th fret button added, I still manage to mostly get above 90% of the notes… Beating Morello in the boss battle was tougher though, took me a few tries. A friend once described Guitar Hero as an elaborate Simon Says – while I agreed with him then, at medium it’s definitely a pretty frenzied Simon Says. Have now done 17 songs in Medium…

Geometry Wars Galaxies (Wii): Tried out co-op, but Farah had difficulty following the action.

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (GC): Played couple of stages with Farah, who was excited for the upcoming LEGO Indiana Jones :).

(1st Timer) Worms 2 (DS): Picked up for $10 at sale after having tried and being intrigued by demo. I can see the game being particularly fun online, possibly… best part was naming my Squad – always fun to see messages like ‘Shauntu makes it personal’ and ‘Captain Lota sleeps with the fishies’ and ‘Fahadist is no more’. My fourth Worm is called Schizo Buddy.

(1st Timer) Toki Tori (WiiWare): My first WiiWare title, debated heavily with myself between this and LostWinds… finally picked this as it was developed by the developers of the quirky but fun Worms 2. Fun puzzle game that, while also quirky, is really highly polished. I love the point and click controls of moving the strange chicken character as it searches for eggs, though the game supports manual movement with Nunchuk or Classic controllers. A 2nd player can help by drawing hints on screen, and the game is sending a log of the chicken’s travels and adventures to the Wii Message Board, which is a rather neat surprise and add’s to Toki’s personality. I have now played more than 30 of the stages, and after some consideration (thinking mainly of Ninja Gaiden and Guitar Hero III), have decided that Toki Tori was my ‘Game of the Month’.

(1st Timer) Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS): Started. Played 4 chapters so far, pretty awesome controls and rather fun so far.

(1st Timer) LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Wii): Played first stage, part-way co-op, until Alisha bugged Farah to the point that she dropped out. From the first stage, it does seem more interesting than the LEGO Star Wars games, due to managing to integrate puzzles and traps that suit Indiana Jones into the gameplay.

(1st Timer) Sega Superstar Tennis (Wii): My first Gamefly rental. This game is boring. Where in Wii Sports Tennis, each swing takes fully into account how you swung (angle, speed, timing, all of it), in this one the swing is just a replacement for pressing a button, and in fact timing is irrelevant. Once the core game mechanic is broken, the rest just becomes boring.

(1st Timer) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii): Gamefly rental – while the core gameplay mechanic (controlling the flight path of a flying jester who always has forward momentum) is a little weird, the game has atmosphere and great music, and it is captivating Alisha, who is reacting worried to ghosts in a cutscene and pretending to fly herself while the NiGHTS character flies. Overall the game has great atmosphere and an intriguing story, and the music is awesome. But, the controls are not the greatest, and some of the objectives can get frustrating.

(Demo) Cake Mania 2 (DS): Dealing with customer orders for cakes, involving 4 shapes of cakes and 4 types of frostings. Overall, pretty simple.

(Demo) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (DS): Crappy action combat and boring level.

(Demo) Worms 2: Open Warfare (DS): Quirky ‘Gorilla’ style game (comparing with this old gwbasic game I had on the PC long time ago) with some powerful alternatives to bananas… got me interested enough to pick it up later in the day when I say it for cheap in a store.

(Demo) High School Musical: Makin’ the Cut (DS): A single, 30 second song in the demo, where the gameplay is like Elite Beat Agents, tapping on-screen icons as they show up with the beat of the music. Except the icons have no numbers and thus if there are many on screen, unless you remember the order they came in, you will be guessing. No sliding or spinning moves like Elite Beat Agents in the demo, instead there was an ‘interlude’ in the music where you have to drag basketballs to baskets. Overall, quite crappy.

(Demo) Arkanoid DS (DS): Pretty standard Arkanoid, complete with familiar music, with the novelty of stylus controls. Which, while they work pretty well, didn’t really feel that different though. What did feel different though is that the gap between screens is treated as part of the game, with the ball going missing there, and until the ball speeds up, it is disorienting when it spends time in the unseen gap…

(Demo) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (DS): A 3d action/adventure in the spirit of the Tomb Raider games, unfortunately the developers made a poor demo due to one reason: Bad level design. Basically, I get to an area where the traps kill in one hit, the shotgun (fired & aimed using stylus in an unintuitive manner, where the action is on the top screen but you still aim by pointing on the bottom screen in the proper direction…) has limited range to shoot the statues in the way, and thus I have to move the character using the D-Pad into the trap zone to get in range. Mess up, die, and freakin’ restart from the beginning.

(Demo) Spore Creature Creator (PC): A trial of the creator editor for Spore, downloadable from http://www.sporepedia.com/, where you can also upload, download, and view other’s creations. It’s an interesting approach to previewing one of the core aspects of the upcoming Spore game – certainly some bizarre creatures can be made.

(Demo) Crosswords DS (DS): This was a demo of the Word Search, with a easy and a normal Word Search puzzle. Pretty nicely implemented, and I did enjoy finding the words. I guess if you enjoy Word Search and Crosswords in the newspapers, then this title is better than the newspapers!

(Demo) Crosswords DS (DS): Another demo for this game showed up on the Nintendo Channel to show of the Anagrams portion of the game. Again, the interface is well done, and those who like these things in the newspapers would love it.

(Demo) Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (DS): This demo just had 1 of the many minigames in Raving Rabbids 2, and it wasn’t much fun, but at least it only lasted a minute.

(Demo) Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): Tried the store demo, played one Jet song on Medium. I did rather well, though it was uncomfortable holding the DS with the Guitar Hero add-on strap while the DS is still attached to the Demo Station.

(Demo) Contra 4 (DS): The demo was just the first stage of the new Contra 4, and it was tough! I died many times before managing to complete it, each time getting a little further. Even though it was so hard, that I was getting further each time and that the stage isn’t too long made it fun.

(Demo) Wall-E (DS): The demo was boring, as all I seemed to do was pick up garbage cubes and throw them at floor switches to create bridges I could then cross to get to the next section.

Just when I wondered how far they can take Rabbids funny videos…

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:04:00 GMT

Game Blog May 2008

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:37:28 GMT

Oh look, here I am, continuing with my crazy idea of keeping a monthly gaming log... I guess I really am crazy! BTW, though I don't mention them, I continue to make use of many of the Wii Channels, in particular Everybody Votes Channel (which Farah and I haven't missed a vote on since it came out -- and we both have higher than 74% accuracy rates with our predictions...) and the Internet Channel. The new Nintendo Channel is pretty cool too, what with weekly videos as well as DS Demos (though when will the recommendations/reviews we are submitting for games start getting tabulated and displayed for games?). Anyway, games I played during May include the following... with Boom Blox on the Wii being my Game of the Month!

Mario Kart Wii (Wii): Played through and won almost all of the 100CC cups, unlocking the use of Miis in the races. Also defeated some of the Staff Ghosts, unlocking 4 Fast Staff Ghosts, while trading ghost challenges back and forth with my brother, who in the end topped me on every course so far... Also participated in the first tournament a bunch, where Chain Chomps were added to the middle of a standard race, but only really tried the second tournament, a race through gates on an empty course, a couple of times.

Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA): Played part of Chapter 3. Getting rather repetitive.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii): Finished all songs on Easy, plus a couple on Medium. Alisha loves to rock out with the guitar.

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (DS): Unlocked Triangle Math, Clock Spin

Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (DS): Played a bit... Got myself a Brain Age of 20...

Elite Beat Agents (DS): Worked on the last remaining *** difficulty song, but it's pretty difficult!

Wii Play (Wii): Played a few hours or Tanks, Shooting Gallery, and the rest of the modes with a friend, Khurram, at his place -- and they remain fun as ever. I was surprised to see how good my friend played Tanks, my favorite mode, in which he beat me pretty continuously...

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS): Started this game from scratch, and reached the first dungeon.

(1st Timer) Wii Fit (Wii): The latest sensation to hit the gaming world, Wii Fit comes with a new weight & balance sensing 'Balance Board' controller, one that already has a bunch of games announced as supporting in the near future. Wii Fit, the game with comes with the Balance Board, meanwhile, is all about measuring your weight (in lbs or BMI), setting goals for adjusting your BMI, and performing exercise. 4 basic types of exercise are included: Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Minigames. The Balance Minigames, which include things like Skiing, are the most game-like and fun parts of the title, and are handy for taking a break between the heavier workouts. The Yoga is pretty neat, the Strength Training makes me sweat, and the Aerobics makes me sweat even more. Also, the game, quite rightly, labels me as Obese from my BMI. Both Farah and I are enjoying the concept of getting exercise from Wii Fit, and what makes it particularly neat is the immediate feedback, through measuring your movements and balance, that it gives during exercise. I do get the feeling that if I can get into a steady routine, it will be good for me. The hard part is how to use Wii Fit with Alisha wanting to join me on the balance board in the middle of exercise...

(1st Timer) Portal (PC Windows): Finished, and it definitely took me more than 3 hours. Pretty neat game, though I regret knowing the 'plot' beforehand.

(1st Timer) Boom Blox (Wii): For a game that, when described (throw balls at blocks to make them fall, or conversely, pull blocks without the whole structure falling), sounds so simplistic, Boom Blox, designed of all people by Steven Spielberg, is a real gem of a game. Your ball throwing strength is determined by your moving the wiimote, the physics are amazingly realistic, the modes many and varied (many making use of creatures in the game, like clearing a path for a Gorilla to reach her babies), and the multiplayer (available in co-op and competitive) is guaranteed to make any party a blast. I can seriously say anyone can enjoy this game. Definitely, my 'Game of the Month'.

(1st Timer) Master of Illusion (DS): Not so much a game as it is a 'Magic Training' software, it has 3 modes. Solo mode is where the DS plays magic tricks on the user, often the type of tricks where you are asked to pick things on screen in such a way that the end result is predetermined through mathematical or otherwise certainty (though Finger Yoga, where the DS kept predicting how I was holding my fingers, took me for a loop for a while until the game decided to let me learn how the trick worked). The Magic tricks section teaches you various tricks, utilizing the DS as part of the trick, that you can perform on others -- certainly more entertaining to show off and make others wonder, even if most of them are performed by sneakily inputting information into the DS, whether through the shoulder buttons, the mic, or drawing something in a very specific manner; of course, being able to read the marked deck of cards that is included is part of the trick. Finally, there are some minigames that aren't anything special. The crappy part of the title, though, is that you have to unlock everything, and there is a limit to how much can be unlocked per day.

(1st Timer) Ninja Gaiden Demo (DS): Finished on easy, medium, but hard seems quite impossible for me. Still, pretty neat action game... That said, the demo didn't give any idea on whether there is anything other than fighting... Pretty neat to have an action game in book orientation though (where you hold the DS like a book, normally used by Puzzle titles).

(1st Timer) Crosswords Demo (DS): Finished the demo on all difficulties (though I gave up on hard some time after running out of all the hints), and have to say that for a Crosswords title, it's actually pretty neat.

(1st Timer) My Word Coach Demo (DS): This demo was of a Tetris style mode where letters fell from above, and you had to spell out words written out on the side screen. It was fine as a gaming mode, but not necessarily that fun, as the necessity of giving you letters for the words you can build made the letters falling rather predictable.

(1st Timer) Eco-Creatures Demo (DS): An RTS style game where you control a character and move him around the screen, and can then tap on your 'army' to send them to attack enemies. The environment friendly message is pushed down your throat, and the gameplay really too easy to be interesting.

Rock Band Demo (360): Played the same song in store first on Drums, then on the Guitar, on medium difficulty. Did well with both instruments, though I did better on the drums, even with my prior experience with Guitar Hero... I also have to say, I enjoy drumming more than the guitar... too bad Rock Band is so expensive.

(1st Timer) Flash Focus Demo (DS): The demo had an Eye Test of Focusing, as well as a minigame involving Hand-Eye coordination using Baseball... While simple, surprisingly decent.

(1st Timer) Iron Man Demo (DS): Touch Screen for shooting, using locking/homing missiles, and a charging beam, D-Pad to move, L to afterburn, and occasionally any other button for EMP... action game that plays like an original version of Desert Strike... while it was a bit fun in the short burst of the demo, the number of buttons mixed with stylus aimed shooting got tiring on the hand very quickly.

(1st Timer) The Spiderwick Chronicles Demo (DS): RPG with Mario RPG style stylus drawings during battles to increase damage, fully touch controlled motions and actions, nice interface. Played surprisingly well, though shaking each bush is worse than standard RPG barrel/pot busting... My overall impression is one of being impressed at the quality of a title that seems likely to be only picked up by kids.

(1st Timer) Apollo Justice Demo (DS): Standard Phoenix Wright style game, with new set of characters and new hero. Demo does good job though of trying to pull in existing fans by having you defend Phoenix Wright himself -- who seems nonchalant and mysterious even while accused of murder, with oddities like him being a piano player now who is also a poker champ in a potentially illegal gambling den where the murder took place... that said, having played 2 Phoenix Wright games previously, I feel like I have had enough.

Console Wars and Wii Would Like To Play

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:34:41 GMT

Lets start 2008's blogging with a Wii Bang! But first, I wanted to cover some history on how Wii has been accepted in the market...

Before Wii came out, everybody had counted Nintendo out of the console race. Nintendo's announcements of no HD support was met by the response that they were giving up. The announcement of the name Wii was met by mockery. The controller startled people, and generated unprecedented interest (remember the huge lines at E3 2006?), but Microsoft PR started mocking the controller as being 'too tiresome for peoples arms' -- and the video game industry journalists followed suit!

We all know how it turned out. Sony came out of the gates swinging with the PS3, and the cost drove everyone away. It didn't help that cross platform titles just looked better on the Xbox 360, or that key titles (Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII) still haven't come out. A quick retirement of a 20 G model, a shelf-clearing price cut on the soon retired 60 G model, and the reduction of features (PS2 backwards compatibility, USB ports, memory card slots) in the new 80 G and newer 40 G models, have shown the problems Sony has been having. A format war between HD-DVD and BluRay (for which the PS3 is the only decent and recommended player, btw -- another story) hasn't helped, though it could help in the future if HD-DVD does indeed lose...

And while MS capitalized with 360 gaining the market, the Wii surprised everyone by continuously outselling 360 in hardware every month. Turned out, people's arms didn't really get tired using the light controller -- on the contrary, the Nunchuk/Wiimote combo is actually more comfortable to hold than a standard controller! Meanwhile, Wii actually expanded the gaming market, inviting a whole new audience to play...

That is when the new 'meme' started... I first heard this from MS employees along with Epic Games (makers of Gears of Wars), claiming that Wii can't work for 3rd parties as only Nintendo sells on Nintendo systems (never mind the precedent set by the DS handheld). MS even pushed this point home at E3 2007. Soon, video game journalists everywhere were spouting this theory, and more recently, more developers (both Western and surprisingly Japanese developers) have been promoting this theory. Some idiot at CNet even made this his reasoning for why Wii will soon fail, with 360 and PS3 stomping it into the ground.

Which is where I get to the point. December, always the biggest time of the year for the gaming industry, has passed, and sales results have come in... and this is what they show:

US Sales

System	December Hardware	2007 Hardware	Lifetime Hardware	December Tie Ratio	December Software	Lifetime Tie Ratio	Lifetime Software
Wii	1.35 Mil	6.29 Mil	7.37 Mil	8.11	10.95 Mil	4.64	34.20 Mil
Xbox 360	1.26 Mil	4.62 Mil	9.15 Mil	7.76	9.78 Mil	7	64.05 Mil
PS3	0.80 Mil	2.56 Mil	3.24 Mil	5.04	4.03 Mil	4.26	13.81 Mil

Look at that chart, and tell me, seriously, that software and 3rd party software can't sell on the Wii! More importantly, tell me why anyone talking about Wii software doesn't mention PS3? Guitar Hero 3 and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (made by Sega) are 3rd party games that have crossed a million units in sales. Previously, Ubisoft has claimed that Rayman Raving Rabbids and Red Steel did the same. Many other 3rd party titles have also seen great sales, including M rated titles like Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Games aimed at a broader audience like Carnival Games have also done really well. Ohh, and the above chart doesn't count bundled games like Wii Sports (or Motorstorm on PS3 or Forza 2 & Marvel Alliance on 360). It also doesn't count Link's Crossbow Training, which is being counted by NPD (the sales tracking group) as an accessory due to the Wii Zapper (although Wii Play, which comes with a Wiimote, is counted as a game).

If the argument is that Nintendo's own titles sell even better than the 3rd parties, I would put forth that Nintendo's own titles also tend to be highly rated (Super Mario Galaxy is rated the 2nd best reviewed game out there at www.gamerankings.com, and the top 10 list there has 4 Nintendo titles!). I would also point out that most of the big sellers on 360 are MS published (Halo 3 anyone? Mass Effect? Gears of Wars?). In fact, other than Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3, and Assassin's Creed, the rest of the high sellers on 360 and PS3 are MS and Sony published games!

Anyways, my conclusion is this: It is not that Nintendo is the only company that can succeed on the Wii. If a company wants to succeed on Wii -- they need do nothing more than make games worth playing... for as the Wii mass audience is readily declaring: Wii Would Like To Play!

Other US HW sales for December:

System December 2007 Annual 2007
PlayStation 2 1.1 million 3.97 million
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million 3.82 million
Nintendo DS 2.47 million 8.50 million)

BONUS: Japan Sales from 12/31 - 1/6 (1 week period) for comparison:

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | YearToDate | LifeToDate
1. NDS - 266,568 | 218,894 | 266,568 | 21,439,619
2. PSP - 218,234 | 161,370 | 218,234 | 7,819,828
3. WII - 207,797 | 152,209 | 207,797 | 4,823,957
4. PS3 - 64,183 | 52,706 | 64,183 | 1,705,859
5. PS2 - 32,010 | 25,569 | 32,010 | 20,959,047
6. 360 - 9,763 | 8,304 | 9,763 | 517,104

Top 50 Software Summary (Top 10 was all Nintendo Console games):
NDS - 32 titles
WII - 9 titles
PS2 - 3 titles
PSP - 3 titles
PS3 - 3 titles

Ok, these people are serious

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:05:23 GMT

I have never seen people so serious about a video game before.

Ever.

Wow.

Read about it here. And definitely, watch the YouTube video on that page. It WILL surprise you.

If you explore the site just a bit, notice how this specific game shares categories with stuff like Football, Golf, and Softball for these people...

Top 5 Games: 2006

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:00:22 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2006. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo DS): One thing I have learned through my exploration of new game genres is that I love music based games. While games like Donkey Konga and Guitar Hero are fun though, original new concepts that utilize music in new ways are what video games are all about. Elite Beat Agents plays like nothing before it, totally original, and completely awesome.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii): Twilight Princess is the 4th Zelda game played fully in 3D, and also has the largest scope, with lots of awesome dungeons to explore. The wolf mechanics are a neat addition, and the new character of Midna, who bosses you around, is one of the fresher new characters in gaming. The Wii version also adapts the Wii Remote nicely, specially with using aiming weapons like the Bow & Arrows, and fishing feels great. I also loved the integration of the village kids through most of the games progression. However, I have to say -- I miss the cel-shaded style from Wind Waker.

Wii Sports (Wii): With Wii Sports, a new era of gaming has been started, as you actually have to physically get involved to play games like Tennis, Baseball, and Bowling. You create caricatures of yourself (Mii's) and then use them to play somewhat simplified versions of these sport titles -- for e.g., you only control the swing in tennis, not movement. The game is a blast with multiple people, and the movement based controls are easy to learn for just about anyone. Personally, I love Bowling the most, followed by Tennis and Boxing. My least liked of the package would be Golf.

New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS): After skipping the N64, the Gamecube, and the Game Boy Advance, we FINALLY have a new 2D sidescrolling Mario platform game, and it retains the spirit and challenge of the original classics. Every level feels fresh, fun, and simple to play, while still giving you a challenge. If there is anything to fault, it would be that minus the new Koopa Suit (which is particularly challenging to make use of) there isn't much that is really new in the gameplay, and yet it manages to feel fresh.

Clubhouse Games (Nintendo DS): This is my oddest pick in my personal Top 5 picks yet. It's basically a collection of 40+ card and board games, throwing in some miscellaneous oddities like Darts and Dominos. All are well made, even if the names of some card games have been changed from the original (e.g., BS is called 'I Doubt it'). What makes the game awesome is that you can play almost all of them online, either with friends or with randomly matched opponents, leading to unlimited playability. Plus, any game that includes Ludo (Farah's favorite board game ever), playable online? No contest.

Beyond the Sword

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:00:37 GMT

While most of my gaming nowadays happens on consoles (chiefly Wii and DS nowadays), there is one PC game that still deeply holds my interest: Civilization IV. Released 2 years ago, I have continued to occasionally play a game since then.

In July, Firaxis Games released an expansion pack for the game, Beyond the Sword, which my wife got me for my birthday. So over the last 3 weeks, I have been playing a game of it when I have had the time. My dad, visiting, has also gotten hooked and so we have spent a lot of time together while I show him all the nuances of play. My own game finally led to a full night session, where I played from 10pm to 7am last Saturday with my dad sitting with me. Fun!

Fun, and also, my first all night session playing games since when I used to study in college -- back then the game in question would tend to be Alpha Centauri (made by, coincidentally, Firaxis Games, with the design having evolved from Civilization II).

What makes the game so much fun to play that by 5am you can be thinking 'time to save the game and quit playing', save the game, and then actually continue playing? It's hard to say... the game has the ability to give you about 10 different things to think about at the same time, all while keeping a 'turn-based' design. You may end up planning to build some buildings in one city, settle a new city to grab some Iron at another spot, create some military troops to build up an army ready to assault your neighbor for his Copper, while negotiating with other civilizations to stop trading with your neighbor to deny him the Iron he will need to be able to mount a suitable defense. By the time the turns have reached the point where you are assaulting your neighbor, new decision points show up (do you agree with the Vikings that attacking your friends the Portuguese is a good idea, or risk a showdown with the Vikings instead?), leading to playing for 'just one more turn' so that you can put the finishing touches on your current strategy before moving on to the next.

Like in this game, I started playing with heavy and decent expansion, until the Vikings asked my to join the fun in defeating my friendly neighbors, the Portuguese. Normally, I would say no, but frankly the Portuguese were too weak, and I decided what the hell. After wiping them from the continent and accepting their vassalage, I concentrated on spreading religion as my empire just grew stronger. Eventually, a holy war was declared by the French against Spain (who had alone held out against the world's chosen religion: Hinduism), and I had no choice but to join in. Mid-fight, the French likely lost most of their army, and sought my protection through vassalage; I soon captured 3 Spanish cities and accepted their vassalage as well. That was the end of any wars; the Greeks, Ottomans, and Vikings would be stupid to attack the combined might of my Aztecs, the French, and the Spanish (I doubt anyone cared for the Portuguese' lone tundra island city anymore). I ended up winning the game through a 'Cultural Victory', my empire's culture far ahead of anyone else.

My secret weapon incidentally? Building Wall Street in my only city with a founded religion: Islam, which I spread throughout my empire (and the Ottomans and later the French) to generate tons of gold, while also spreading all other religions in all my cities to make them happy and cultured. Capturing the holy cities of Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity from the Spanish was just icing on the cake, and near the end, the Ottoman's holy city of Confucianism ended up joining my civilization cause they just liked my culture so much. Creating the HQ's for the corporations of Mining Inc and Sid's Sushi Co in my Islamic holy city and creating branch offices in multiple cities just made that city insanely rich.

Just an awesome game.

Top 5 Games: 2005

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 15:47:16 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2005. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube): One of the (if not the) best games to come out on the GC, RE4 is basically a 3rd Person Shooter, Survival Adventure game. You have to explore a Village (and later a Castle and an Island) to find and rescue Ashley, the US's President's daughter, who has been kidnapped by a town of people that have been taken over by a parasite that makes them rather zombie-like. Unlike past RE games, you have plenty of ammunition and a great control scheme that allows you to really take out the 'zombies', even if they come in droves and with surprises (e.g., shooting the head seems like a good idea until it starts revealing fully grown parasites within!). The variety of enemies is also awesome -- I love the Chainsaw guy, who can cut through doors you may be hiding behind and who can cut of your head for a brutal kill. Note: A Wii remake is coming out this year with the shooting controls modified for Wii pointing, and some extra side missions originally included in a PS2 version, that I would recommend due to how good the original was.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Gamecube): A 2D sidescrolling style platform game (even if everything is actually done in 3D), makes it a rare game on today's home consoles. To make it even more unique, though, the game controls with the Bongo drum controllers Nintendo released on the GC (you can buy the game with the controllers or without if you already have Bongos). You play by banging away on the bongos with your hands, with the combination of drumming and clapping (the Bongos have a mic to detect noise) allowing you to control Donkey Kong in one of the fastest, most original, and most satisfying game I have played! I doubt there will be anything released again that compares to the experience.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube): Ok I love the Fire Emblem game design and series, as the first US released Fire Emblem on the GBA is my favorite game ever. Fire Emblem for the GC was the 3rd game in the series to be released in the US, with a story and characters/land completely separate from the other Fire Emblem games. In this Turn-based Strategy RPG game, you lead a band of mercenaries who get caught up in a war between two lands, as you rescue the Princess of one land and try to take her to safety, finding help from the other neighboring lands, and eventually going ahead and going up against the King who started the war. New ideas introduced in this game for the series include optional objectives that give you bonus experience that you can distribute among your characters, even those who didn't participate on a missions, which allows you to build up characters you may have to end up using later -- very helpful since the game still has the (awesome) concept of 'if a character is killed, he is dead forever'. Another major introduction was beast characters, who can transform into beasts like Lions, Tigers, Ravens, and even Dragons. Note: An upcoming Wii Fire Emblem game will continue the story of this particular Fire Emblem, a first in the US. Eagerly anticipated!

Civilization IV (PC - Windows): These lists so far have been sparse of PC games, as I didn't have the hardware to play much, but I finally got a new computer, and good thing, since Civilization 4 (a Turn-based Strategy Simulation game) needs all the horsepower it can get. You basically start a new civilization on a randomly generated map, in 4000 BC; you explore the land, create cities, build improvements like Granaries in the cities, expand your culture and borders, defend against barbarians, and eventually meet other civilizations. You then set up trade with them, get into alliances, and compete for resources on the land like Iron and Copper, as well as spread the religions founded in your lands; if relations sour or you really want something they have, you can even go to war, creating armies with the technology available to you. Eventually, as technology advances and the years proceed, you will end up with tanks for warfare, nukes for the ultimate threat, the UN to try and elect yourself world leader, a space war to see who can reach Alpha Centauri first, and the possibility of your cultural influence taking over the world -- or you could devolve into all out war, with the winner being whoever is left standing. Awesome, awesome game! Note: A later expansion pack (Warlords) added more civs, more leaders, more buildings and units, and the awesome option of vassal states, but was otherwise pretty minor. An upcoming expansion (Beyond the Sword) meanwhile looks awesome, adding more civs and leaders, many more units, more espionage options, religious diplomacy options, a better space race, random events like earthquakes, and more -- I can hardly wait!

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance): The second Fire Emblem game in the US, again with a separate story/characters/land from the other games. This one adds in the cool feature of having each character class have multiple upgrade paths -- so you could have your Thief upgrade to a Rogue (retaining thief abilities without the need for lockpicks) or to an Assassin (becoming a stealthy killing machine). The game also splits up in between by having you choose which character you will follow the story of, leading to 2 paths through the game that changes the story (and gives you additional insight into the main bad guy's motivation). The game also adds in monsters for you to fight, including for the first time in Fire Emblem, random battles you can choose to fight in against them, as well as a Tower and Ruins you can fight in as many times as you want. I do feel this weakens the game though, as due to the ability to fight as much as you want, you can level up all your characters as much as you want (including those you don't normally take to missions) -- which makes the concept of characters dying permanently if you mess up not impact quite as much as you can easily train up the others through these repeatable missions. Others see it as a way to recover from having their best characters killed though.

Top 5 Games: 2004

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:00:43 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2004. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Pikmin 2 (Gamecube): A sequel to Pikmin, which I really loved, Pikmin 2 was overall a huge improvement: a much bigger game, with more areas to explore, more weird enemies to battle, and more types of Pikmin to control, as well as a 2nd character that you can control for even more multi-tasking. This time, you lose the time limit from the first game, and instead are looking for a variety of junk (ranging from bottlecaps to batteries) to make money from. Instead, the challenge comes from the randomized dungeons you can explore, where you cannot normally replenish your Pikmin army, and have to thus get through all randomized floors of without losing all the Pikmin or both your main characters.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure (Gamecube): This is a top-down, 2D Zelda game, without the normal Zelda game structure. Instead of a full adventure, it is level based, and your character doesn't grow stronger as the game goes on. Instead, you control 4 Links at once. The core of the game is to be played with others, although the requirements to do that are high: every player needs to use a GBA, giving themselves their own private view of the action. While this isn't practical, it sure is a heck of a lot of fun! The combination of cooperation (to complete the levels) and competition (to grab the best weapons, most money) and the tendency to start slicing and bombing each other up is The good news is, even played single player, the game remains fun.

Mario Power Tennis (Gamecube): While normally not a heavy sports game fan, I do like arcade sports games that don't necessarily play like the real sport. Mario Power Tennis is simply awesome, with very tight controls, super shots (offensive and defensive), and courts that add new obstacles like mud on courts that slow you down, conveyor belts that move you around, and gaping holes that you can fall through. It's wild, and its fun both in single player and even more in multiplayer (up to 4 people in doubles mode).

Burnout 3: Takedown (XBox): I wrote earlier that I like racing games when they are fast and arcade like -- the Burnout series has thus done me well. Burnout 3 on the Xbox however is awesome, with a fitting soundtrack, a great sense of progression through the various types of races in the various courses, and a superb crash mode that is great for multiplayer fun. The best part is racing through the streets smashing your opponents all over the place, while driving as crazily as possible and avoiding all the traffic. Note: Since then, Burnout: Revenge continues the series, but I didn't like the new 'smash traffic cars into the sky' that makes the traffic all but irrelevant. I haven't played Burnout: Dominator, that just released on the PS2 only.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Gamecube): A sequel to the awesome Metroid Prime, Echoes continues the gameplay style and Phazon storyline from the first game, while adding a new light world / dark world setup, where at various points you can enter a 'dark' version of the world for further (but more dangerous) exploration. The game also enhanced the morph ball based exploration, even adding bosses that you defeat using the morph ball. Again an awesome FPA (First Person Adventure) with more difficult enemies than in the first game, although the music remains superior in the original.

Top 5 Games: 2003

Thu, 31 May 2007 14:00:22 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2003. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance): If I am ever asked which is my favorite game of all time, I answer Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem is basically a Turn-Based Strategy RPG game. You control a bunch of characters in medievil type times, and in each mission, you control them in turns that alternate between your turn and the enemy's turn. On your turn, you can move any of your characters and have them attack, heal, perform magic, visit towns, go shopping in stores, talk with each other, rescue each other, and so on. Each character's abilities are determined by their class -- for e.g., only Thief characters can steal items from enemy characters. What makes the game so awesome is that the enemy AI is ruthless, and if any of your characters is killed, they are killed FOR THE REST OF THE GAME! The game does allow you to recruit up to 50 characters through the full game, following a deep and awesome storyline, and each time I play up to 10-12 characters tend to get killed -- leading to me using different strategies every time. Note: There have been a couple of new Fire Emblem games since, one on GBA and one on GC -- while I highly recommend both, the original is still the best (although the 2nd GBA one adds in character class paths and the GC one is an awesome home console game).

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Gamecube): I love the Zelda series, and Wind Waker is no exception. However, Wind Waker stands out due to it's graphical style, which makes it look like fully controllable, fully playable, cartoon. The art and style of this game is likely to stand the test of time unlike pretty much any other 3D game. On top of that, Wind Waker had my favorite incarnation of the villain, Gannondorf -- reflective, and wanting to restore Hyrule (sunk under the ocean) to it's former glory (instead of just taking over Hyrule like he typically does, although once restored, I suppose he would want to rule it). Of course, doing so would destroy the new life that has adapted to live in the ocean, and so you end up conflicted yourself about what is best. Note: A later Zelda 3D game, Twilight Princess, goes back to a past with Hyrule and without the cel-shaded graphics; I still recommend Wind Waker over it, though Twilight Princess is a wonderful game as well.

F-Zero GX (Gamecube): I like my racing games fast and arcadey, and you can't get faster than F-Zero GX. A futuristic racer, where you race against 29 other racers in extremely fast races on tracks that are beautiful at the high speeds the game offers. The game is also brutally hard, specially as you play in the higher difficulty levels -- and yet has the most fair circuit mode I have played, as unlike most other racing games, there aren't 1-2 CPU opponents hogging the top positions -- any of them can win (plus they knock each other out permanently), so you can win the circuit as long as you survive each race and come in respectable positions! Really hard, though, is the Story Mode -- 9 story missions, and I could only get up till 7.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Game Boy Advance): At this point, this was the 3rd Castlevania game on the GBA (the 2nd one, Harmony of Dissonance, I never played), but this one really perfected the formula and controls. You still control a guy in a mazelike castle in an action RPG, defeating monsters and bosses and getting stronger until you can come up against Dracula -- except Dracula is already dead! Instead, there are some people also exploring the castle, some to stop Dracula's rebirth (including a Belmont, typically heroes of this series are from the Belmont family), a mystery man named Alucard (Dracula in reverse), and a man who believes he will gain Dracula's powers (instead of Dracula really being reborn). The gameplay mechanics are much improved as well, with the hero being able to gain the souls of all the monsters you defeat, thus gaining their abilities -- to the point that the game really becomes fun when you can pretty much destroy minor enemies just by being in their presence. Of course, all this leads to the big plot twist: You are Dracula reborn! Although depending on which powers you rely on, you can keep Dracula from taking over your soul, or instead you can accept your fate and defeat Belmont instead. Awesome game. Note: A sequel following the direct storyline from this game, Dawn of Sorrow on the DS, is just as good, except with the benefit of having the map always displayed. The latest game on the DS, Portrait of Ruin, I haven't played yet, but it follows another story and portions take place out of the castle for once. All are recommended...

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Gamecube): This was a very successful attempt to bring the old 2D Prince of Persia games to 3D, as the platforming aspects, the traps, and the level design were perfect. The new Sands of Time mechanic, where you can reverse time to recover from traps and falls, works wonderfully as well. The best part was the character of the Prince, who continuesly talks allowed to himself, about the dangers he unleashed, the woman (Farah) he is intrigued by, and so on -- the story is being told by him. The main negative in the game is the combat with the enemies, which gets pretty repetitive and feels disjointed with the rest of the game, as the combat feels totally separate from the platforming and trap portions of the game. Note: 2 more sequels since then worked to improve the combat as well as improve the flow between combat and platforming, but also made the games more violent and the character of the Prince less likable.

Top 5 Games: 2002

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:32:21 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2002. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (Game Boy Advance): While this is a remake/port of an older Super NES title, I never experienced it until I played it on the GBA -- and I have to say, it is probably to-date the best 2d sidescrolling platform title I have played. The game oozes fun, always throwing original challenges and ideas to the player. Also, for anyone who did play the Super NES original, the GBA port has new unlockable stages as well. Note: Recently, Yoshi's Island DS was released, which plays exactly like the original with all new stages, and 5 playable characters, but honestly the new setup of switching characters actually works against it; the original/GBA one is still better.

Metroid Prime (Gamecube): While I do like FPS games, I like First Person Adventure games more (like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex, for e.g.). Metroid Prime is an original FPA, which makes you feel like you are controlling the powerful suit Samus wears with the controls that include switching viewing modes (scanning, x-ray, thermal), locking on to enemies when firing, and converting to the morph ball for fitting into tight spaces. The game is classic Nintendo too, with your character getting more powerful abilities all the time which enable you to overcome obstacles and reach places you previously couldn't. Also, this game is on the top 10 list of Gamerankings as one of the best reviewed games ever (3rd as of this writing). Note: Metroid Prime 2 is a great sequel that continues the Phazon storyline.

Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube): This game, in my opinion, is the best 3d platformer title that I have played to-date. I have played may others before and since, and it still controls the best. While I loved the waterpack used in the game to help with the platforming, the best parts truly were the stages where you were denied access to the waterpack and had to be perfect with your jumping ability.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Four Swords (Game Boy Advance): This is basically 2 games in one: A port of the Super NES classic A Link to the Past and the multiplayer only Four Swords. A Link to the Past (aka Zelda 3) is basically the best 2d top-down style Zelda game ever, perfecting what was started in Zelda 1, and being built upon ever since (as well as being copied, both in game design structure and story by the first 3d Zelda, Ocarina of Time). Four Swords is an original idea for multiplayer, although it does require each player bring their own GBA and game cartridge -- and it is NOT playable alone; beating it though unlocks new moves and a new dungeon for the single player game. Note: While the single player 2d Zelda's released since then have their own stories and reasons to play, this one remains highly recommended; as for multiplayer, Four Swords Adventures, released on the Gamecube later, is much better and highly recommended, and even plays well single player.

Animal Crossing (Gamecube): One of the quirkeist games I have ever played, if you can call it that. Basically, you control a character in a village of animals, and you have no goals. You can do anything you want, whether it is communicating with the other residents, writing them letters, giving them gifts, and running errands for them; or fishing, hunting bugs, digging up fossils, and donating everything you find to the museum. You can expand your house, fill it without furniture and other junk you find or buy from the ever expanding shop, or plant trees and clean up weeds to keep the town looking nice. The main draw of the game is how creative it is: you can visit an island by connecting a GBA, in which case you can play with your character on the island on the go, swap items with others doing the same, and then reconnect back to the game with whatever you find; you can visit other's Villages by taking your memory card to your friend's Gamecubes, thus sending them letters and gifts -- which causes animals to swap places and your animals to start talking about your friends! You can also send your friends items through a passcode system, as well as add new items to the game through collectible e-Reader cards. The game allows you to be creative too, designing clothes and wallpapers, which get used by the other animals and can spread to your friend's villages if you visit them as well... Finally, the biggest feature though, is that you can find old NES games and play them! Note: The recently released Animal Crossing: Wild World on the Nintendo DS does everything mentioned (minus the NES games) and much more, with a lot more ability to be creative... and best of all allows you to visit friend's villages through the Nintendo Wifi Connection, which allows you to actually meet your friend's character and interact with your friends...

Top 5 Games: 2001

Tue, 29 May 2007 22:34:45 GMT

These, to me, were the Top 5 games from 2001. This is completely my opinion, and is based only on the games I actually played. If you have other games to suggest, feel free to comment! Note: I am adding some comments regarding the game series since then up till now, giving suggestions in case someone does want to play the original games as to which of the sequels may be the better experience!

Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube): Up to 4 players can select from their favorite Nintendo characters and duke it out. The character roster has 25 characters, from various Nintendo game series from the Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, Metroid, and Kirby series to the Pokemon games to lesser known games like Fire Emblem. There is even a hidden Mr. Game and Watch character to fight as! Everything else is drenched in Nintendo history as well, from the stages and weapons being based on various game series to the Trophies you can collect which detail Nintendo history. The game is addictively good, easily accessible by anyone, and superb fun specially in multiplayer (or against multiple computer opponents).

Advance Wars (Game Boy Advance): This turn-based strategy war game is one of the deepest strategy game series I have played. You capture cities with infantry, use tanks and bombers to strike enemy units, transport units around the seas avoiding hidden subs, and build more units from the money you make from the captured cities -- even as the enemy continues to build more units themselves and attempts to capture your cities and HQ. In the end, you have to stragetically use the units you build to win -- for e.g., you may use long distance Rockets to wipe out enemy tanks from a distance, but if you don't resupply the slow moving Rocket Launcher with your APC Supply units, you will soon be out of ammo and those Rocket units will be nothing more than expensive, sitting ducks! Note: Since then, Advance Wars 2 and Advance Wars: Duel Strike have released, with Duel Strike being far superior.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Gamecube): This was the game that introduced me to the genre of extreme sports games. You basically skateboard around levels with a time limit, completing challenges and racking up high scores by linking together tricks. It's surprisingly thrilling once you get used to the controls, at which point grinding and tricking to the music is one of the best gaming experiences I have had. Note: For today though, the formula has been recycled so many times that one could play pretty much any Tony Hawk game and get mostly the same experience as 3 (in the end, I believe 4 is my favorite).

Pikmin (Gamecube): This is an original game, a Real Time Strategy Adventure. Basically, you have 30 days to explore the world with 3 types of Pikmin under your command. You can use them to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and carry enemies bodies and ship parts to your ship, where the enemy carcass is converted to more Pikmin for your army. You can order a group of Pikmin to do carry a ship part, walk away, and control another group, for multi-tasking, as long as you don't leave any Pikmin alone when the sun sets (in which case those Pikmin are lost). The goal, to have enough Pikmin to be able to successfully overcome obstacles and enemies in the way as you explore the land and find all 30 ship parts before 30 days are up. I found it to be a truly original game for its time. Note: Pikmin 2, released later, is an even more amazing game, though without the time limits that make the original still remain unique.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance): The first Castlevania game on the GBA, it is basically an action RPG game, and was one of the first deep gameplay experiences available on the GBA. You have to explore a large, mazelike castle (complete with an auto-drawing map), finding better weapons and cards (for magic spells), and defeating monsters and bosses, until you can have the final showdown with Dracula. The game had great music, but was very dark, specially on the original GBA screen. On the later GBA SP or Nintendo DS or GBA Player though, it becomes much better. Note: For today though, this series has seen multiple entries on the GBA and now the Nintendo DS, and generally, the newer games are better.