30. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

If there is a blue light coming out of your Wii today its not because of it supporting Greece in Euro 2008. Well not yet anyway. It’s because the Nintendo Channel was launched today in Europe. This is the channel where you can watch video trailers of Wii and DS games and also play download demos on your DS. The channel allows people to also recommend games to other Wii owners.

I was not able to find any demos to download this morning though. Just a few videos. The ability to play demos is a step in the right direction for Nintendo and i have to admit that the Wii menu is starting to fill up with some useful channels.

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26. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Most people’s most anticipated title in the first 6 months of 2008 was propably GTA IV. The rest are waiting for MGS4. Not mine. Ever since it was announced, Civilization: Revolution has been my number one title for the first half of the year.

There was always a worry in my mind that the translation from PC to console could be disastrous. Revolution is not the first Civilization attempt on consoles (Civilization II was ported over to the PS2). However upon hearing that the man himself, Mr Sid Meier, would be taking a very hands on approach on this game i was appeased.

Until, i read Eurogamer’s impressions of the game.

“To this end, the game map is a smaller place you can cross in just a few turns, there are fewer unit types (it tops out at tanks and bomber planes), far fewer technologies (researching Bronze Working enables you to build archers, harvest fish and construct the Colossus of Rhodes. Erm) and diplomacy is a slim, relatively optional affair. Success doesn’t come from trading spice with Russia for wine, but simply from war and peace. In fact, it’s possible to go an entire game without engaging in any diplomacy at all….”

I knew that there would be compromises but the greatness of Civilization arose from the many ways one could rule his country and still have a fighting chance. Be it a cultural victory, an economic or a military victory. And the journey to reach that victory was also left up to the player. Great diplomatic battles to secure that vital supply of oil for your tanks, or to establish an alliance and fend off an invasion. Diplomacy, trade, economies were all equally important aspects in Civilization games. It appears that in Revolution, these elements of gameplay are now gone. Sacrificed in the name of accessibility and reducing sessions from days to just a few hours.

“Civilization is a leaner, brighter-eyed figure, with nice teeth and none of that musty PC smell, but its attention span seems a little diminished. Whenever I approached the part of what would, in an unrevolved Civ, be crunch-time, with a hundred different facets of war and expansion and uprising and construction and research and religious freedom and pollution to worry about at once, I’d suddenly find myself within spitting distance of conclusion. Half the globe was already either wiped out or absorbed into mine or another Civ, making it a straight race between me and those that remained. ”

In all the years i had been playing Civ i never once felt that i was rushing through it. In fact the pace totally suited my tastes. It rewarded patient gamers, taking their time with each turn and i always enjoyed the journey more than the actual ending. From what i am reading here Revolution is indeed just a board game version of the PC game i love.

“….after a dozen or so games I now worry the enormity of what’s been composited and removed may make it an unsatisfying single-player game to old hands. “

I now worry too.

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23. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

I must be getting old. The length of the game, according to video game sites, is between 2 to 4 hours. I finished the game in 4 hours and 2 mins. But i have two excuses for this. One of a more personal issue while the other an issue i had with the game.

Firstly, i hate bosses. I know, you know but once again there i found one in a game. It is an easy boss but initially i could not see the pattern and what was i supposed to do due to my frustration in seeing one. So, what should have been a five minute fight at the most turned into 30 mins of me asking myself “What is the point of bosses!?” and “I can’t see it. I can’t see the pattern”. But i admit it. It’s not the game it’s me.

But i am not guilty for the second issue leading to an extended play time. It is the developers’ fault. The game has no map and you can get lost easily trying to find the way to places you have not explored yet. I had a major issue with the memory chest in Wither Falls. I had completely forgotten where the location was and kept looking for it in all the wrong places (i.e. I thought it was the name of the village!). That had me wasting around an hour of trying to figure that out.

Now that these are out of the way let me say this again. The game is fantastic. A peaceful, charming and mechanically excellent 2d platform game. Well worth the 1000 points you will spend on it. As per eurogamer’s excellent review of the game,

“Frontier has created a mini-masterpiece at the first attempt. From here, we can fully expect to see a lot more of Toku and Enril, and hopefully a slew of similarly innovative and fresh new ideas on Nintendo’s proving ground from other like-minded developers ready to break free from the shackles of modern development cycles. “

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20. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Just a very quick post. I bought, downloaded and played an hour and a half of LostWinds on WiiWare. First of all let me just correct a mistake i made in my earlier post. Not all WiiWare games cost 500 points. Specifically, LostWinds costs 1000 points which is GBP7 or Euro8.79.

Believe me when i say that it is worth every point or euro cent. It’s supposed to be around 4 hours long. LostWinds is the first Wii game that has made me smile and have that warm feeling inside when playing (disclaimer: have failed to play Super Mario Galaxy). You move your character, Toku left and right using the nunchuk while he automatically jumps when running off the edge of a platform. All other actions are on the Wii’s motion sensing controller. Every motion is easily performed and recognised even while leisurely lying on your couch. I love the art and LOVE the chillout music (except in the presence of enemies) and the sound effects.

What can i say. A gem. A real gem.

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20. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Yeap, it is being launched today and we have the following games to choose from for 500 Wii points each. I have my eye on Lost Winds but here is the full list of WiiWare titles released:

• 1. Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo)
• 2. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix)
• 3. Lost Winds (Frontier)
• 4. Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive)
• 5. Pop from Australian (Nnooo)
• 6. Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft)
• 7. Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V.)
• 8. TV Show King (Gameloft)

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8. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Nintendo fans, and in particular Super Smash Bros Brawl fans, have been making war on Yahtzee after his review of the game. This is his response to all the “constructive” criticism he has been receiving.

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5. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

After a couple of months of non-gaming activities (i.e. working hard to meet deadline after deadline at the office) I finally managed to clock a few hours of gaming in the past 5 days or so.  

Last Wednesday I played an hour or so of GTA IV on a friend’s console and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Although an hour is not enough to make a judgement on a game like GTA IV I have to day that what I loved most about the game was the convenience of it all. The use of GPS to always direct you to your target, even when missing a turn, the use of the mobile phone to call contacts, get ambulances and also arrange missions and finally the ease of how one can replay missions. Rockstar have greatly reduced the choreload of previous GTAs and instead allow the player to just enjoy game. So it’s a positive start to the game and I hope I play some more this week.

I also made a return to Settlers of Catan on XBLA combined with finally playing the actual board game with friends twice over the weekend. This game is truly exceptional. Probably the finest board game I have ever played. There are many kinds of strategy you can use, one game is almost always different than the others and it allows great comebacks. Superb board game and I really recommend both the excellent XBLA version and of course the physical board game. One thing I should stress about the XBLA game is that I always managed to find people to play against online. It seems that there is a dedicated fanbase for this game.

Last but not least I continued playing Panzer Tactics on the DS. It’s an obscure turn based strategy game during WWII. It is a shame that while Advance Wars is getting all the fame and sales this is a little gem just waiting for DS strategy fans to discover it. I have been playing the single player campaign which has three levels. In the first level, the easiest, you take control of the Axis and start invading Poland, Norway, Belgium and France and so on. Then these are followed by more difficult stages with you leading the Soviets and Allies against the Axis. There is only a US release so anyone interested will have to look in stores on ebay or something. A highly recommended turn based strategy game.

Although I am swamped at work I hope I will able to keep gaming a bit as well. I would be interested in playing cops n crooks with some of you guys on GTA IV.

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2. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Have you ever watched people unfamiliar to videogames trying to play games? At first I usually laugh at the awkwardness when trying to get a grip with the controller’s buttons and the games controls. Sometimes I even think to myself “Is this guy dumb or what?”

Take or example a simple action like reloading your weapon and the thought process involved in executing that.

Gamer’s thought process:
Just Reload or at most press left face button

Now a Non Gamer’s thought process:
Which button is for reloading
Oh yes
It’s X
Look down at the controller to find out where it is
Press X
Look up to see what happens.

But that’s the way it is to people who are not into games. We, as gamers on the other hand, take too many things for granted.

Gamasutra has a very interesting article about an “experiment” they did with a family trying to play games together. It is not just about controls but the entire experience from start to finish and how they view it. It’s a great read which gives you an idea how foreign our hobby is to them and how big the barriers to entry are in spite of the success of the Nintendo DS and Wii.

Click here to read.

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