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Archive for the 'Pre/Reviews' Category

Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Posted on January 7th, 2010 in Pre/Reviews.
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Remember back in 2006 when the Nintendo Wii came out and everyone was all excited about it? From house parties to nursing homes, folks were peeing themselves with excitement as they anxiously waited their turn to create their Mii or pwn their friends at Wii Sports. It was an amazing phenomenon.

But within a year, our love affair ended.

We realized that flinging around remotes like a bunch of psychos having seizures while staring at simple graphics that never moved quite the way we wanted them to wasn’t really all that fun after all.

My Wii gathered dust and got moved to the bottom shelf. I stopped inviting people over to play. And I waited for something good to come out. And waited. And W-A-I-T-E-D.

Then the New Super Mario Bros. came along.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Mario. Out of all the video games I played growing up, the Mario series was the only one to which I had any major attachment. I remember staying friends with a girl who was racist against Mexicans (which a quarter of me happens to be) just so I could go over to her house and play the original Super Mario Bros. I remember giving my brother the second player controller, playing a single player game and telling him he was in charge of the jumping just so I didn’t have to really share. I remember sneaking into my best friend’s den and playing Super Mario Bros. 3 in the dark with the sound muted about an hour after her parents had seen us in bed pretending to be asleep. Those were the good ole days. The days of great games filled with challenging patterns and side-scrolling action. And they made quite an impact on me. Hell, I even have a Mario MacSlap on my laptop and a question mark box sticker on my phone.

I got the game for Christmas and, during my holiday, I played through the entire thing. If I were forced to summarize my review of this game in five words, I’d say, “Dayum. That shit was tight.” But I’m not, so I’ll keep going.
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DJ Hero Preview

Posted on October 26th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
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Who’s getting DJ Hero? Sadly, I don’t have the $200 to pop on the full Renegade Edition*, so it’s on my Christmas wish list. Are you listening, Mom? Dad? That creepy guy who always looks me over in the elevator?

I wonder which franchise will prevail when it comes down to sales for 2010 – DJ Hero or Rock Band.

Here’s the scoop on the game from the official site:

Access Unprecedented Music Variety: Mix and scratch over 102 individual songs, highlighted in over 93 exclusive new mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, electronica, R&B, Motown, pop, and rock. DJ Hero brings the hottest artists including: Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beastie Boys, N.E.R.D, and more.

Experience Music in a Revolutionary Way: The DJ Hero turntable controller immerses you into authentic DJ culture allowing you to scratch, cross-fade, and beat match. Customize your mix with a variety of effects and samples transforming a face in the crowd into the life of the party.

Rule the Hottest Parties: Where Guitar Hero brought gamers into the world of rock ‘n’ roll, DJ Hero brings you into the hottest scenes around. Party in venues reminiscent of real world locales from around the globe including an ultra plush and sexy Hollywood Hills style mansion to an open air beach club in Ibiza.

Party with Your Friends: Features online and offline multiplayer competitive and cooperative modes.

Genres: hip-hop, pop, dance, and rock

Game Modes: DJ vs. DJ, DJ + DJ, DJ + Guitar

Supports: DJ Turntable, Guitar

You can pre-order the game now or wait to pick it up later this week.

*Groupies who stand at your booth angling for your number and a personalized mixed CD not included.

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A Break From The Level-Update

Posted on October 26th, 2009 in Level-Update Podcasts, Pre/Reviews.
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Heya folks.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m taking a little break from the weekly Level-Update podcasts. I realized I was spending more time researching news stories and writing the script than I was spending actually playing video games and decided it was time to change that.

This past Sunday, for the first time in 37 episodes, I gamed until I just couldn’t game no more. I spent some quality time with Beatles: Rock Band and Dead Space. It was glorious.

Because the podcasts are so time-consuming, I haven’t even had time to post any reviews. That being said, I feel I should give a little shout out to WET – a game I played, loved, and didn’t post anything about. I wish I had time to write a full review, but as I do not, here is a haiku about WET:

You say, “It’s too short.”
I say, “Can it, Goldilocks.”
WET deserves a rent.

So yeah, the game play might be a little predictable, but I felt the patterns were comforting. I think of WET as a modern game that used some of the oldschool rules of: 1) there are baddies 2) they come out in the same place 3) as you level up, there are more of them and they’re harder to kill. I don’t have a problem with that. Combine this with some great voice talent (Eliza Dushku, Alan Cumming, Malcolm McDowell), an interesting story, a mix of animation styles and a promise of a sequel from the final boss battle and I think you’ve got something worth renting. The only thing I’ll say I hated was how infuriatingly easy the boss battle was. The cut scene pretty much does the work for you. You have been warned.

So anyway, I’m not abandoning the podcasts completely, but I was long due for a little breather and thought I’d let everyone know. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a little more now.

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Rock Band iPhone App

Posted on October 8th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
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Mashable.com reported that EA Mobile announced the official Rock Band iPhone app today. The screen shots look pretty cool. According to the post:

The app comes with 15 songs – familiar tracks from past and present – with 5 additional songs that you can unlock as you complete the World Tour, as well as options to buy more. The game supports single-player game play, multi-player mode over Bluetooth, and Facebook Connect integration for inviting friends to play.

The Facebook Connect thing is pretty genius. No price or release date have been announced yet, but it seems like this app will be worth whatever it is they decide to charge for it whenever it is that it actually comes out. Just be careful with star power. You don’t want to throw your phone at that creepy dude sitting across from you on the train.

Get the full story and more screen grabs on Mashable.com»

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Dragon Age: Origins to Feature Tim Curry and Kate Mulgrew

Posted on September 6th, 2009 in Console/Platform-Related, Pre/Reviews.
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I hadn’t heard anything about “Dragon Age” until I saw this video on VG247 but it is now officially part of my Christmas wish list. The title is due out on November 3rd on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

From the official site:

Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy set in a unique world. As the spiritual successor of BioWare’s popular Baldur’s Gate series of games, it uses a pause-and-play tactical combat system. Play in over-the-shoulder mode, or the more tactical top-down view. Dragon Age: Origins features a stunning amount of cinematic dialog. Players will be able to acquire unique party members. These party members will have their own motivations for accompanying the player.

BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka describes “Dragon Age: Origins” as a ’spiritual successor’ to the “Baldur’s Gate” series, though it is not based on “Dungeons & Dragons.”

Whatever it’s based on, I’m stoked. I’ve been waiting for a game to come out featuring voice over artists that can rival those in “Heavenly Sword.”

Visit the official Dragon Age: Origins site»

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Hello, my name is Kate and I’m Addicted to Fallout 3.

Posted on August 18th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
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Some radical chick named Peggy made her own Nuka-Cola Machine.
She also posted the AI files and reveals the secret to making
Nuka-Cola Quantum here because she’s cool like that.

As a gaming journalist, I try to stay on top of all the games out there but it ain’t easy. Some series just pass me by and I don’t discover them until their third or fourth iterations. I didn’t get into The Elder Scrolls ~~the Oblivion series~~ until I hit Oblivion IV [EDITORS NOTE: Check out the comments] and I didn’t get into Fallout until my friend Matt let me borrow his copy of Fallout 3 – a copy which, nearly four months later, I’m sure he’d really like to have back. (Sorry, dude.)

Games like Fallout 3 remind me why I can never, ever log in to any MMORPG game. With single player RPGs, you can eventually finish. Even when new expansions are available for download, those only offer a certain number of hours of game play. But when other people are involved, things get complicated. You form relationships and even when you level up completely, there’s an opportunity to keep going and lead others. That’s not a healthy thing for me. If there’s no end in sight, I’ll keep going. And I kind of want to continue receiving a steady income and avoid becoming the subject of a story about game addicts who die at their computers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cursed Mountain for the Wii

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 in Pre/Reviews, Videos.
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While I definitely still enjoy the occasional round of Mario Kart, my Nintendo Wii spends more time looking cute next to my Xbox 360 than it does actually getting played. A big part of the problem has to do with the fact that most of the new Wii games that come out just seem so happy McSunshine adorable. (And I’m talking about unique, never before created for another console type games. Not stuff like Manhunt or the Resident Evil series which I am well aware were not cute or sunshiney at all.) Well, there’s a new game due out later this year that looks like a good reason to sit back and spend some quality time with my Wii again. It’s called Cursed Mountain – a survival horror game from Deep Silver – and so far, my interest is piqued. Here’s one of my favorite clips of some poor bastards who probably thought they were just volunteering to test out a sweet, friendly Wii game and instead appear to have peed themselves a little bit:

I think the best part is at the end. It happens really quickly, but pay close attention to the dude’s last reaction right as the voiceover guy says “Mountain.” I think the camera caught the precise moment when the guy decided he was going to beat the shit out of whoever recommended he take this game testing gig.

Check out the official Cursed Mountain site»

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How Distracted Are You?

Posted on July 21st, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
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If you’re the kind of person who has actually taken the time to include a signature line on phone-based text messages that says something along the lines of “Please excuse any misspellings. This was sent from my (insert phone model here) phone.” First of all, please know that even though you are apologizing, receiving misspelled text messages is fucking annoying. If you’re going to take the time to message me, don’t half-ass it. It’s bad enough you’re responding via text and not an actual phone call.

Secondly, if your signature line also includes something about “And I’m probably driving!” Then please allow me to introduce you to a wake up call. The New York Times just published a simple but powerful browser-based game that shows you how much damage you can do by texting and driving. You’re given a very simple task that you’re supposed to complete between reading and responding to text messages. About two seconds after receiving the first text and crashing through three gates (and according to my results a “Gray Lady”) I humbly admit that I cannot be trusted to drive a car and simultaneously text message. Check it out and see how well you do. Here were my results (click to enlarge):

Play the game»

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And The Best Support Team Award Goes To:

Posted on July 20th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews, Techie Tidbits.
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For years I have refused to play any MMO because I knew I would instantly become completely, ridiculously addicted. But I wore down. When I got an invite to play the beta version of Faunasphere and found out that it was actually Mac compatible, I couldn’t resist any longer. And I was kind of banking on the hope that I wasn’t going to like it. Well, that was dumb. This game is awesome. And while you might think it’s typical for a girl to enjoy a game where you create, nurture, and breed creatures with different powers in order to take care of the environment, I have two words for you: Viva Piñata. That game may have been a bit “girly”, but there were plenty of dudes who sheepishly admitted loving it. There’s something to be said for a well-designed game that lets you do whatever the hell you want at your own pace sprinkled with the ability to breed all sorts of totally insane creatures.

I’ll be delving into a little more detail about the game after I’ve spent more time playing it, but I felt compelled to reveal a little behind-the-scenes action. As a beta tester, it’s my job to find any bugs and report them so that the tech team can get them all fixed before the game is officially released. The second weekend I played, I ran into some problems loading the game. The following is my email correspondence with the Faunasphere technical support team:

Customer 07/05/2009 08:44 PM

Heya – I’ve been playing around with the game tonight (fun stuff) and ran into a loading issue. I’m on Mac OS 10.4.11 using Firefox 3.0.11. When I logged in the first time, I got the loading message, but the estimated time to complete kept increasing (this was around 9:40 PM). I refreshed the page and it loaded just fine the second time. Once I was in the game, however, I couldn’t get my fauna to move. I could see my cursor on the screen and could click links within other pages just fine, but not on the playing field. When I refreshed/reloaded a 3rd time, everything worked. (Around 9:43 pm.)

Response (Angela, Seattle) 07/06/2009 04:18 PM

Hello Kate,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am very sorry for the trouble you experienced. On July 3rd, there was a fire in the basement of the building where all of our major servers are located, as well as flooding due to the emergency sprinkler system that was set off. This immediately terminated all services, and forced our IT department to immediately transfer the servers to a new location and restore all of our data. This is a very time consuming process that took a few days.

We are currently up and running again for the most part, but services are still sketchy at this time and may not be fully restored in some areas such as the Forums. This area of the site may be down as late as Wednesday as there have been some complications with restoring some of the data.

Again, I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. At this time, our wonderful IT department continues to restore all services. They worked very diligently over the holiday weekend, and will continue to do so until everything is running as normal. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

If you have any other questions please reply directly to this email. I am more than happy to help in any way that I can. Have a wonderful day!

JEEZ! That is some serious customer support! You guys can rest assured that – even if there is a freaking fire and a flood – the Faunasphere tech team will drop whatever they’re doing (EVEN ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND) and put your game first. There’s got to be some sort of IT department award these guys can be given, but for now, the least I can do is give them a shout out on my site.

Visit the Faunasphere site»

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Real Life Oregon Trail

Posted on July 5th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews, Videos.
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A few weeks ago I downloaded Oregon Trail for my mobile phone thinking that it was going to be identical to the original game I played in elementary school. I was sorely disappointed and a little pissed that The Learning Company failed to mention in their description that the graphics had been upgraded and new sounds had been added. They didn’t say it was the NEW Oregon Trail. Just “Oregon Trail Game!” with the description “An American cultural icon game available on your cell phone.” So I’m thinking it’ll be the original. You know. MS-DOS style:

BUT IT WASN’T. They’d upgraded graphics and shit. Not cool. I only paid $4.99 because I WANTED the old crappy version. I knew I wouldn’t really enjoy the game except for the nostalgia value and they took that away. LAME.

Whatever. At least I have the Mega64 video to make up for the disappointment.

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Archive for the 'Pre/Reviews' Category

Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

DJ Hero Preview

A Break From The Level-Update

Rock Band iPhone App

Dragon Age: Origins to Feature Tim Curry and Kate Mulgrew

Hello, my name is Kate and I’m Addicted to Fallout 3.

Cursed Mountain for the Wii

How Distracted Are You?

And The Best Support Team Award Goes To:

Real Life Oregon Trail

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