G-pinions

Almost nine months later, I pick up a PSP. Not that I need one at the moment, of course, but I couldn't pass up a good deal. I'll summarize what you've already heard about it for the last six months or so: it's a fantastic piece of hardware with not a lot of games (especially interesting, exclusive ones). It still stuns me every time I turn it on though - every line of text is crisp, every color is vivid, every sound is resonant - it makes me feel like a caveman watching TV, wanting to look behind it to see where the action is coming from. I even hopped over to G-Pinions on the relatively new built-in browser, and we're lookin' mighty fine. It actually resembles the 360 quite a bit in system functionality, which is high praise indeed.

Despite not particularly needing another mouth to feed, I did bring myself home two treats tonight. Tokobot, which is completely charming, and Lumines, which has finally filled a hole in my soul. I also played some multiplayer GTA at work, but that's a different story for a different paragraph. A bit more about Tokobot first - it's got character, it's fun, and it's unique. It's what I want on the system, and considering I won't be buying too many games for it, I should be in no short supply of experiences such as this. It's a litttttle bit of Pikmin, a little bit of Megaman Legends, and a whole lot of platformer. You basically manipulate your squadron of Tokobots to do your (evil?) bidding, forming ladders to climb, bridges to cross, and through the magic of holding hands, various attack formations. The translation and very Japanese vibe of the game are a bit hard to absorb at first, but thankfully good gameplay is universal. I'll probably give a bit more insight once I've really gotten into the meat of it, but I'm pretty pleased so far.

GTA multiplayer is just a blast. We had quite a riot with two and three people, I can scarcely imagine how fantastic it would be with eight. I works exactly how you'd expect. It's GTA after all, and the engine and design lend itself to almost anything you can imagine. Chainsaw vs. Motorcycle fights become instant classics, as do grenade-lobbing face offs from various terrain heights. The game doesn't change particularly to accommodate the multiplayer, but again, it's not hard to have fun in such a flexible world. There are tons of modes, tons of skins, and an infinite number of ways to plot your kills. I suppose that the controls don't lend themselves to the system quite as handily as I'd like, but when everyone has a relative handicap you don't even notice.

It's weird to be writing about the PSP. I almost got one at launch, decided against it, and never really looked back. Now that I have one I'm fairly content with it, and it appears I didn't miss out on much in-between, as the best game is still a launch game. And it is SUCH a different system than the DS, I feel completely justified in owning both (well, outside of the fact that I don't really play them outside of the house too often). Don't expect the coverage to ramp up that drastically, as it's still my least important child until it proves itself otherwise, but know that now we can cover everything properly (except for that filthy PC drek of course).

Do you remember Acclaim? They were the company that made riding around on a bike while looking at titties fashionable again. They were the company that drew scorn from ten-year-olds, who cleverly altered their name to Ack-Lame. They were the company that somehow botched a game with dinosaurs (joining the developer of Trespasser as the only company ever to mess up such an easy concept). And now, all the memories, and the joy, that Acclaim brought you over the years can be yours for a relatively low price. Let the bidding wars begin, Acclaim is selling of their assets!

Now you can own the rights to such classics as Jupiter Strike and Trog. You remember Trog, right? Oh, come on, everyone knows Trog. You were a caveman, of course, and you had a club. I think you hunted mammoth or something. Your wife, the lovely and hairy Grot, was captured by the king of the Amazons (you heard me), who wanted her fur to create an uber-onion that could withstand the heat of their torrid tropical climate. What do you say we all pitch in a few smackers and purchase the rights to this amazing game? Or, if it turns out I just made up that entire premise, what do you say we shop this great idea around to a publisher who has yet to go bankrupt, but could use a little help?

Anyway, I'm posting about this because I've never seen anything like this before. Most titles don't even have a bid yet, with the occasional few getting a pity bid of $5,000 or so. What made me laugh is that Acclaim published seven Mary Kate and Ashley games, but only one of them has a bid. Someone must really love Mary Kate and Ashley Get a Clue. Either that or MKaAGaC is the naked Twisted sim we've heard so much about.

I'm also pretty sure Acclaim doesn't even own the rights to some of these games. For instance, the first two Mortal Kombat games are on this list. Wasn't that a Midway property? And since when did Acclaim have anything to do with Ecco the Dolphin? And how come there isn't a 208th game listed? Did they really think we would be more impressed that they have 218 games instead of 217? And where is The Red Star? Does its absence mean someone already owns the rights to it? Is BMX XXX already purchased as well? So many unanswered questions.

If you see anything that catches your eye, let me know. I'm sure a green picture of Abe Lincoln could entice Acclaim, and then I could stick something nice in your stocking (or leiderhosen, if you celebrate something different).

Try as I might, it's really impossible to be completely indifferent about graphics. Everyone knows that gameplay is far more important than anything on the screen. Heck, even a fantastic score can add more to a gaming experience that shiny graphics (Dawn of Souls anyone?). But even blind gamers have to admit that graphics do matter. My jaw was dropped so far for such a long period of time when Nick and I first fired up Kameo that I had a case of dry mouth for the next few days. And with that in mind, the first news of the technical specifications for Nintendo's still unnamed next generation console has hit the net. Granted, these are unconfirmed still, and only offer a glimpse of the raw horsepower behind the system, but I would venture a guess that these are not too far off from the real thing.

Here are the raw specs for people who care about numbers - 104 MBs of RAM with the number of gigahertz doubling the Gamecube's output. Doesn't mean much to me, but according to IGN and some unnamed developers, this means the Revolution is about twice as powerful as the Gamecube.

This is actually quite surprising to me. Nintendo said at E3 last year that the Revolution would only be two or three times as powerful as the Gamecube, but I thought they were only bluffing. Whenever technical specs are revealed Nintendo has always had a tendency to downplay them. While Sony and Microsoft were talking about how their current systems could push hundreds of millions of polygons, Nintendo had a much lower number that accounted for things like textures, sound and artificial intelligence (why won't it end!?). I figured their rough estimate of system power just meant that, to the average person, Rev games would look twice as good as Gamecube titles.

I have to admit I am disappointed by this news, but I'm not sure why. Right now, the idea of graphics twice as pretty as Resident Evil 4 actually sounds pretty nice. The Xbox 360 looks amazing, but nothing is twice as good as current gen systems. But those are just launch titles. Look at Gears of War. There's a chance nothing on the Rev will look as good as GoW, and that's still a first wave title. And then there is the all powerful PS3. Sure, graphics don't matter, but can you imagine the difference between Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Revolution and Final Fantasy XIII?



There are a few good things that, if these specs are true, could actually help the Rev. First, the system may only cost $99, and it will certainly be less than $200. That's not too shabby. I can't imagine the Xbox 360 will be cheaper than $300 a year from now and the PS3 will probably be even higher than that, so for gamers who simply want to play games the Rev will be enticing.

Also, less power means less development costs. To max out the PS3 and Xbox 360 - which developers will have to do if they want to sell to the casual gamer - they will need a huge development team. With the Revolution they will be able to use a similar size to what they are already using for current generation games. I imagine most games won't even try to be too graphically intense since Nintendo clearly isn't trying to beat their competition with graphics. Right now, Xbox Live Arcade is the perfect place for small developers. Titles like Hexic and Geometry Wars can be made with a handful of people and are still fantastic. However, the Revolution could be the perfect platform for larger development teams. If the Rev is truly as underpowerd as it appears, a team roughly the same size as one making games on current systems could easily develop something worthwhile for it. If it all comes down to money, which it invariably will, only the richest developers will be able to make great games for the 360 and PS3 - everyone else will have to find another way.

Of course, I'm trying to make this sound better because I am disappointed. I know the Revolution is all about changing the way people play games. I know the NDS is my favorite system right now even though it is severely underpowered compared to the PSP. But I still wish the Revolution was a little more powerful. Sure, it's not directly trying to compete with Sony and MS, but it could be dead on arrival if the ignorant mainstream is turned off by average graphics.

I'm damn near sick of mentioning how great XBL Arcade is. And with another half dozen+ games coming out by the end of the month, I will be in full hibernation mode come New Years. I may just watch the countdown on the system's internal clock, and make some fireworks of my own in Geometry Wars to celebrate. Anyhow, the point of this post is to draw attention to one particularly fantastic-sounding Arcade title, Hoopworld. It uses the Unreal Goddamn 3 Engine, and looks, well, like this...



And while this interview reads like a press release, it's sounds positively fun. The only thing mising from the current stable of Arcade games in multiplayer in the non-retro ones, so this is just what the doctor ordered. It's also something I won't mind paying $20 for if necessary. Huzzah for XBLA!

I have been neglecting my duties of late. A couple weeks ago, Nick and I received a reviewable copy of Snowboard Kids DS. As I am the one who was so enamored with the N64 originals, it was clearly my job to give this new version a run through and see how it stood up. And I did do that. In fact, in two days of gaming, I played through the entire World Tour mode. That was about a week ago. Since that time, while avoiding my school work, I tried to write about this game, but I just had nothing to say. SBK: DS certainly isn't a bad game - if it was I would have plenty to say - but it isn't all that good either. It just... is.

I briefly toyed with the idea of writing about the original titles, and why I loved them so, but I can't even remember what made them so special anymore. There's an unfortunate side effect in the new game that causes all memory of the originals to be erased from memory. Considering I spent many weekends playing both versions with my friends, it's kind of sad that entire portion of my life is now wiped clean from my memory. All I remember is desperately fearing the pie plates, which squashed all other racers, and trying to reach the chair lift before anyone else. Oh! That is one thing I can mention, the chair lift. Snowboard Kids is a battle/racing snowboarding title with laps. Just a fantastic idea. You would have to ride the chair lift back to the top and go down the mountain a few times to finish a race. When more than one person got to the lift at the same time, one would be screwed out of a seat and have to wait for the new ride to come by. Just a fantastic idea. Have I said that already? Well, I stand by it.

The new game has no moments like that. But that's not to say it's a complete loss either. For instance, there is actually a skillful way to dodge attacks in this. If you jump and perform a turn trick (not what you're thinking...) you can deflect shots. Doesn't add a ton to the game, but makes battling not as cheap as other games of its ilk seem to revel in. Also, the touch screen is actually put to good use. If you power up your Sno Bo Meter (no, I don't remember the real name) you can unleash a super trick off of jumps. You just tap the touch screen in the appropriate places and, viola, uber-trick.

Other than that though, it was a rather blah experience. I would have loved to play some real multiplayer, but it seems the single cart options are slim (one course...) so I can't issue an honest statement on that. I just wish there was more to this game. The World Tour is only a few hours long and after that there simply isn't anything to do. I would have liked a few more courses with some actual variety and a better single cart multiplayer. But, it seems like this game was doomed from the start. Coming out in the same month as Mario Kart DS is just a recipe for disaster. When the biggest fan of the originals - me - doesn't even care about you, maybe the drawing board is where you should have stayed.

If you've gone through all the great NDS titles, you should just go through them again before buying this. If snowboard action is what you crave, I'm sure you can find the originals with enough cash left over to buy a breastplate and a new bow.