One Week with my Nintendo 3DS

Last Wednesday I took advantage of the early price drop (offered at Wal-mart and Target) on the Nintendo 3DS handheld system. It was most definitely a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ situation. By purchasing the 3DS on Wednesday at Wal-mart for $169.99, before the official Nintendo price drop that Friday, I get both the system and the twenty free games the “3DS Ambassadors” (who paid $249.99 for the system) will receive from Nintendo for their early adoption of the new handheld system. One week with the Nintendo 3DS these are my thoughts:

It hurts my eyes! No matter where I place the 3D slider (minus the off position), my eyes are screaming, “stop looking at that!” It feels like I’m going cross-eyed while playing.

I love the Nintendo eShop! On the Wii, I think Nintendo tries to bleed their fans dry with the cost of virtual console games. In the Nintendo eShop, 3rd party Gameboy titles are available for only $2.99 (first party titles are $3.99). Before this week, I had never heard of “Avenging Spirit”, but I plunked down the $2.99 to try it out (because it was so very inexpensive) and I’ve really enjoyed it. The Nintendo eShop also features 3D video of both downloadable games and upcoming retail releases. The 3D videos are mostly limited to 1st party titles at this point, but I assume the 3D format for game trailers will become the norm in the eShop.

Both AR Games and Face Raiders are fun pack-in titles, but neither is ideal for 3D gaming. If Nintendo’s goal was to show off the 3D capabilities with these two mini-game titles, the company failed. There’s a specific “sweet-spot” you must view the 3D screen from or the 3D effect doesn’t work. Both games required much too much movement for a player to effectively remain in the position where the 3D display works correctly.

The Nintendo Video Channel is a great idea, but it should really offer some Nintendo themed videos. There are four video slots in the channel, and every week new videos replace the old ones. Right now the four videos are a Jason Derulo music video, a College Humor short film, the Glee 3D trailer, and a Nintendo Video trailer explaining the channel. How about some old Nintendo cartoons converted to 3D? Maybe break down some old CAPTAIN N: THE GAME MASTER into 3 or 4 minutes segments? I would eagerly tune in weekly for some classic Captain N.

I’ve yet to Streetpass a single person!  Seriously, the Streetpass function is cool idea, but I’ve lugged this thing around with me for a week and no one else apparently has a 3DS! I work at a library, often in the children’s section, so I brought my 3DS to work everyday this past week: no Streetpassing occurring! I walked my local mall, stopping in Gamestop and Target (both of which even have 3DS systems on display to try out), no Streetpassing! I do know I took around 5000 steps walking said mall thanks to the handy 3DS pedometer!

I like the Mii Maker. I was very thankful I could import the Miis from my Wii. I also think the camera function is neat, though, it’s not always that accurate in interpreting a person’s features.

The battery life is a joke. Nintendo encourages the 3DS owner to keep the system in sleep mode whenever it’s not in use, but this leads to the system’s battery needing a recharge once a day or once every other day. I kept the screen brightness set at 2 (out of 5), turned “power saving mode” on, and kept the 3D turned off most of the time, yet I still drained the battery pretty quick. I haven’t even played a retail release yet, so I’m really concerned how quickly this battery will drain when I try to play Ocarina of Time in 3D for an extended period of time.

I’ll admit my initial assessment may seem a bit negative, but I really am enjoying the system. The faults, however, are quite glaring. I’m sure down the road Nintendo will release a stronger battery for the system (there are even instructions on battery removal/installation in the 3DS Owner’s Manual), but right now the battery life is definitely my biggest concern. I also think developer’s really need to think about how to effectively use the systems resources. There are gyroscopic controls, but if you use those controls, the 3D effect is lost because of all that movement.

If you’re a 3DS user, what are your thoughts on the system so far? Feel free to share your friend codes in the comments section.

Thoughts on Nintendo’s Successor to the Wii

Over the past week and a half, details about Nintendo’s next console have been trickling out. IGN has done an excellent job keeping track of all this information here. There’s lots of juicy tidbits to speculate on, like how the screen on the controller will work with the main console, but what I want to focus on is Nintendo’s overall strategy with Wii 2/Project Cafe/Stream: recapturing the hardcore gaming market.

With a system more powerful than PS3 or XBox 360, a price point of $350-400 dollars, and a more traditional controller (even with the added screen), it’s clear Nintendo is going to try to appeal to the hardcore gamer. The key to Nintendo’s success in this area though won’t be the graphical capabilities of Project Cafe or the fact you won’t be “waggling” the controller, it will be Nintendo’s approach to online gaming.

Nintendo’s online approach with the Wii was a disaster. Rather than instituting some common sense parental controls, Nintendo went off the deep end by introducing a “Friend Code” system that killed Wii’s hardcore gamer appeal right out of the gate. Imagine if to find a friend on Facebook, you not only couldn’t search for their name, but you had to enter a 16-digit code that friend gave you, and that friend then had to enter in your 16-digit code as well. If Facebook had followed Nintendo’s model, we’d all still be on Myspace. Oh, and by the way, you also had to enter another Friend Code for every single game you wanted to play with that friend. Seriously.

Wii could have been a hardcore gamer’s dream, but Nintendo’s fear of, or apathy towards, online gaming killed any chance of that. Nintendo released a 4-player side-scrolling Mario game entitled “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” and refused to include an online mode. What other major publisher would release a top-notch 4-player game with no online mode? I certainly can’t think of one.

Rather than using a headset, Nintendo’s solution to online voice chat was to place a microphone directly in front of the television and to have your competing online gamers voices just come out of the television’s speakers. If online gaming was a car, Nintendo’s idea was to replace round wheels with square ones. Nintendo’s entire approach to online gaming on the Wii seemed to be to make it as unintuitive as possible.

If Nintendo is really going to aim for the hardcore gaming market, they need to support online gaming like they never have before. Nintendo’s approach with the Wii was to make online gaming as sanitized as possible for younger gamers and to tell older gamers to just deal with the restrictions. With Project Cafe, Nintendo will need to offer older gamers everything they expect from online gaming and just include some simple parental controls for those impressionable younger gamers. Friend Codes need to disappear, voice chat should use a headset, and every major multi-player release must have a comprehensive online mode. With these simple changes, Nintendo could find the success in the hardcore gamer market that they haven’t had since the Super Nintendo days.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 21

My Favorite Third Party Wii Exclusive Titles

Since the Nintendo 64′s release, it’s been claimed there are no good third party games for Nintendo consoles. Admittedly, during the N64 and Gamecube days, quality third party titles were few and far between. There were a multitude of reasons for this, the most notable being Nintendo owners notoriously did not purchase many third party titles because the Nintendo first party games were so good. Also while Nintendo always innovated from a control perspective (without Nintendo, God knows what Sony or Microsoft would’ve based their controllers on) and gameplay perspective (N64 games Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and Goldeneye all set the standard for 3-D games in their individual genres), they always seemed behind the times in the format those chose to release those game.While Sony was using CDs with their Playstation system, Nintendo was still using bulky, expensive, cartridges on the N64. Third party developers were scared away, but with the insane success of the Wii, many of those developers have come back into the Nintendo fold. Sadly, that same success led to so much craptastic shovelware being released for the system, sorting through the junk to find the truly entertaining third party titles for Wii has become very difficult. So here’s my list of my favorite 3rd party exclusive titles for the Wii:

FAMILY/ALL-AGES TITLES

EPIC MICKEY (Disney Interactive): Disney Interactive is cranking out a bunch of good licensed titles. Nothing groundbreaking, but very solid titles. The strength of Epic Mickey is the license and the paint/thinner mechanics. As Mickey, the player has to decide whether to be a good guy, and take what is often the more difficult route, by using paint to bring these dilapidated worlds back to life, or be the bad guy by using paint thinner to wreak havoc on these cartoon worlds and be a total jerk. The ending of the game is effected by what choices you make.

BOOM BLOX: BASH PARTY (Electronic Arts): I often describe Boom Blox as reverse Jenga. Instead of trying to build the tower up, in Boom Blox you want to knock it down. More than possibly any other title on Wii, this is one where you want your friends wearing the Wiimote wrist straps. You throw with the Wiimote in a motion just like you would throw a ball in real life. Bash Party is a sequel to the original Boom Blox and adds a lot more options. It’s not just throwing things, there’s shooting, pulling, and sling-shooting among other things. You also can download new puzzles online.

DISNEY’S GUILTY PARTY (Disney Interactive): Guilty Party is like the board game CLUE meets MARIO PARTY. You play as a member of a mystery-solving family. The voice acting in this game is shockingly good. While the characters in the game aren’t quite Pixar level, they’re definitely better than what you’ve found in most Disney flicks of the last 20 years. When taking part in a multiplayer game there’s a clever lie detector mechanic that allows the player questioning a subject to try and fake out his competitors. If you run your pointer over the suspect’s testimony the lie detector will tell you whether the suspect is telling the truth or not. On the other hand, if you press down on the “1″ button while pointing at the testimony, the lie detector will give you the opposite result. So only the player who did the questioning knows for sure whether the suspect was telling the truth.

A BOY AND HIS BLOB (Majesco Entertainment): A remake of the NES classic, the Wii version of A Boy and his Blob will just make you smile. The cel-shaded graphics make you feel like you’re actually watching a cartoon. I’ll admit the controls aren’t perfect, but you can take your time to solve most of the puzzles, so precision controls are only necessary a few times in the game. The game’s got such heart though that you can forgive the occasional control issue.

TEEN/MATURE TITLES

MADWORLD(Sega): Imagine the Sin City graphic novels as a video game and you’ve got an idea of the visual style of Madworld. The entire game is essentially black, white, and red. I’m not sure how this game even survived the ratings board, it’s the most violent game I’ve ever played and the game rewards you for disposing of bad guys in the most creatively despicable ways you can think of. The game also has a great (sick) sense of humor and top notch voice acting from John DiMaggio (Bender on Futurama, Dr. Drakken on Kim Possible).

NO MORE HEROES/NO MORE HEROES 2: DESPERATE STRUGGLE (Ubisoft): The No More Heroes series is a love letter to old school gaming. You play as Travis Touchdown, an assassin trying to rise in the ranks. To rise in the ranks of assassins, you have to kill everyone above you. The assassins leaderboard looks like the high score list of an 8-bit arcade game. In the second game of the series, you actually play NES-style mini-games to level up various attributes. Both games have a brilliant sense of humor. The motion controls are spot on, as you swing your Wiimote to swing Travis’s beam katana (it’s totally a lightsaber). It’s basically the light-saber game that Nintendo fans had been clamoring for since the announcement of Wii’s motion capabilities. The second game is much more polished that the first, and you can certainly play the second one without having played the first. But I recommend searching them both out because they are my favorite games on the system outside of the SUPER MARIO GALAXY titles.

GOLDENEYE 007 (Activision): METROID PRIME CORRUPTION established the first really good first-person shooter controls for a Wii game. THE CONDUIT then came along and built on those controls by allowing an insane amount of customization. Now Goldeneye 007 has taken the Conduit controls and applied them to a game with much better level design and a better online multiplayer mode. If you’re looking for a top notch first-person shooter on Wii, Goldeneye 007 is it.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 7

Break on through to the Darkseid

I was late getting into DC’s New Gods. Sure, as a kid, I remember playing with the Darkseid (pronounced Dark-side, not Dark-seed) action figure, but I had no clue who he was. I just knew his red eyes lit up if you held him in the sunlight the right way. It wasn’t until Superman: The Animated Series that I learned he was part of Big Blue’s Rogues’ Gallery. And even then, I wasn’t too big of a fan.

Years later, in 2005 and 2006, the combination of Grant Morrison’s brilliant Seven Soldiers of Victory (specifically the Mister Miracle title) and Bruce Timm’s Justice League Unlimited animated series finally drew me into the worlds of Darkseid and the New Gods.

In 2008, around the time that Morrison’s first issues of Final Crisis came out (also focused on Darkseid), I was reading the Jack Kirby biography Kirby: King of Comics. I’d always been a Kirby fan, anyone who loves comics is a fan of Kirby’s work (even if they don’t know it), but I’d never seen any of his pages un-inked before. His penciled pages were just out of this world. In the biography, the author included an unused penciled page of Darkseid. I fell in love with it. Before I returned the book to the library I work at, I scanned the Darkseid page and a Metron piece that was also pretty awesome. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with them, but I knew I’d use them for something, and then this happened:

Come over to the Darkseid

Another thing I was obsessed with in 2008, other than comics, were the video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The guitar that came with Guitar Hero 3 for Wii had this sleek white face just dying to be adorned with art. I had previously been afraid to draw or paint anything on the white surface because I wasn’t sure how or if it would take. But I’d gotten a second Guitar Hero guitar with the newest game that had been released, so I had no worries about making the old one look like crap.

I traced the shape of the plastic face, marking where the various holes for the buttons and Wii remote would be. I scanned my template into the computer then cropped the Darkseid pencils inside the shape of the guitar. I printed that out and added the text. I always thought The Anti-Life Equation would be a cool name for a really geeky band, so I mapped out the words “ANTI LIFE” around Darkseid, and placed circles and jagged lines (a common design element in the New Gods’ costumes) within the letters. For the non-comic book geeks out there, the Anti-Life Equation is Darkseid’s obsession.

From there, I took my design and put it in my projector and projected the image onto the guitar. The surface of the guitar was slick, so I couldn’t work in pencil first, I had to start with a permanent marker. Basically, using a black Sharpie marker, I inked Jack Kirby’s pencils onto the face of the guitar. I’m sure any comic book fans reading this fall on one of two sides: that’s awesome or that’s blasphemous. And those not familiar with comics will probably just accuse me of tracing. After I had finished all the inking, I shut the the projector off and started coloring the image again using Sharpie markers. Here’s a closer look at the final results:

"Anti-Life" is a reference to Darkseid's obsession the Anti-Life Equation

Given how great I think this one turned out, I’m kind of disappointed the newer guitars don’t have a blank white face on which to draw. I am, however, considering trying to gesso one of my other two guitars and paint a design on top of that.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 4

WWE All Stars: Filling Out the Roster

Years ago, as an obsessed wrestling fan, I played the Nintendo 64 video games WCW/nWo REVENGE, NO MERCY and WRESTLEMANIA 2000 non-stop. For my money, those titles were the height of console wrestling gaming. But as my interest in wrestling waned after the disastrous mishandling of WWF’s WCW/ECW invasion angle, my interest in wrestling video games similarly dissipated. The last wrestling game I purchased was DAY OF RECKONING 2 for the Gamecube. Since then I haven’t been motivated to pick up a single wrestling title from any company for any console. That, however, has been changed with the announcement of WWE ALL-STARS, THQ’s new, way over-the-top, journey into the squared circle.

The concept of WWE ALL-STARS involves current WWE Superstars competing against WWE Legends. Personally, I would’ve preferred to stick to just those wrestlers who would qualify for the All-Star title, but unfortunately the announced roster includes the likes of  Kofi Kingston and John Morrison. I don’t mean to demean these guys as wrestlers but when you can choose from The Rock, Hulk Hogan, the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior, who wants to play as Sheamus? These are currently announced rosters of current WWE Superstars and WWE Legends:

Current WWE Superstars:
John Cena
Triple H
John Morrison
Kofi Kingston
Rey Mysterio Jr.
The Big Show
Randy Orton
Ted Dibiase Jr. (Gamestop Exclusive)

WWE Legends:
Hulk Hogan
Ultimate Warrior
The Rock
“Macho Man” Randy Savage
Andre the Giant
Bret “The Hitman” Hart
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
The Million Dollar Man (Gamestop Exclusive)

So who else should be included? Approaching the roster logically, one has to realize the current Superstars and Legends rosters must be even, which is unfortunate, but is clearly dictated by the game’s overall concept. Secondly, given the over-the-top visual style of WWE ALL-STARS, the more colorful Superstars in the history of the WWE should arguably receive a slight leg up on some of the less gimmicky performers. Thirdly, the games class system (wrestlers are labeled with one of four titles: Brawler, Big Man, Grappler, or Acrobat) also must have an effect on who’s included in the game. You can’t, for instance, make a list of devoid of any one of those groups or a list overloaded with any one group. Previews of the game estimate the roster to contain roughly 30 wrestlers. Looking at the announced roster, minus the Gamestop exclusives, that leaves around 16 spots open. These are my choices:

WRESTLER: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Brawler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 6x WWF Champion, 2x Intercontinental Champion, 2009 WWE Hall of Famer
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Other than The Rock and Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin is easily the most recognizable wrestler in WWE history. His feud with Vince McMahon was one of the main factors in WWF regaining its top spot in the industry during the Monday Night wars of the 1990s.

WRESTLER: The Undertaker
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Big Man
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 4x WWF/WWE Champion, 18-0 Record at Wrestlemania
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: The Undertaker is one of the few big men in the history of the industry who can put on a decent match. After Andre the Giant, he’s probably the most recognizable big man in history of the WWE and he has a gimmick that is ideal for this type of game. Also, the “big man” category will certainly be the hardest to fill, so that makes ‘Taker an easy lock.

WRESTLER: “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Acrobat
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 3x WWF Champion, 5x WWF/WWE Tag Team Champion, 3x Intercontinental Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Shawn Michaels is one of the most gifted in-ring performers in the history of the business. When he was on the Wrestlemania card, he was almost guaranteed to have the match of the night. He also might be the most well-rounded wrestler of all-time with mic skills almost as impressive as his in-ring ability.

WRESTLER: Chris Jericho
CLASSIFICATION: Current (?) WWE Superstar (Jericho’s contract expired a few months ago, but he’s already talking about possibly returning), Acrobat/Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 1st Undisputed WWF/WCW Champion, 9x Intercontinental Champion (all-time record)
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: My favorite wrestler of all-time, Chris Jericho, had easily the best debut in the history of the WWE. Every wrestling fan remembers when the Millenium Countdown reached zero and JERICHO flashed across the Jumbotron. Chris Jericho is one of the best talkers in the history of the business, and he’s an expert at how to build a great feud and a good match with anyone. It’s hard placing him in one of the defined groups, so I’ve listed him as an Acrobat/Grappler hybrid.

WRESTLER: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Brawler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2005 WWE Hall of Famer, Main Evented Wrestlemania I, had own interview segment “Piper’s Pit”
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: While Roddy Piper didn’t hold many titles in the WWF, he was one of the top heels, if not the top heel, in the golden age of the WWF. Piper was amazing on the mic and received his own interview segment, “Piper’s Pit”, because of that. Also, back when Hulk Hogan was making a bunch of cheesy family flicks, Piper had a legit acting career including a starring role in the brilliant sci-fi/horror flick THEY LIVE. His Scottish gimmick, which involved wearing a kilt, certainly would fit well with the cartoonish nature of the WWE ALL-STARS game.

WRESTLER: Edge
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Acrobat/Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 6x World Heavyweight Champion, 4x WWE Champion, 12x World Tag Team Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: In the beginning of Edge’s WWE career, he was part of one of the greatest tag team feuds of all-time between the Hardy Boyz and himself and Christian (a feud that led to even crazier matches when the Dudley Boyz joined the fray). As a single’s performer, Edge has held one of the WWE’s top two titles a total of ten times.

WRESTLER: Eddie Guerrero
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Acrobat
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 1x WWE Champion, 4x WWE Tag Team Champion, 2006 WWE Hall of Famer
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Eddie Guerrero could work a tremendous match and was brilliant on the mic. He may have only held the WWE title once, but if he hadn’t tragically passed away, he clearly would’ve remained a top guy in the company for a long time.

WRESTLER: Jerry “The King” Lawler
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Brawler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2007 WWE Hall of Famer, WWF/WWE Color Commentator
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: So some people might say calling Jerry Lawler a “Current WWE Superstar” is cheating, but to them I would point out he’s the current #1 contender on Monday Night Raw. Also, he’s unquestionably known more for his current role as commentator than for his time as a wrestler. Even if he only wrestles sporadically, Lawler gets a spot because he is a WWE All-Star and he’s one of only a few on the current roster.

WRESTLER: Gorgeous George
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2010 WWE Hall of Famer, Charter Member of Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (inducted 2002)
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: At least one wrestler from before the WWF’s 1980s golden age should make the cut and Gorgeous George had more of an influence on the history of professional wrestling than perhaps any other performer. Gorgeous George was the first cowardly heel. He was the first wrestler to really have entrance music. Without Gorgeous George, there’s no telling where the wrestling business would be today.

WRESTLER: Christian
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Acrobat
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2x ECW Champion, 9x WWE/World Tag Team Champion, 3x Intercontinental Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: As mentioned above in my argument to include Edge, Christian was part of that same brilliant tag team feud. While it’s taken Christian a longer time than Edge to really cement himself as a legit single’s performer, he’s certainly one now.

WRESTLER: Mick Foley
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Brawler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 3x WWF Champion, 8x WWF Tag Team Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Mick Foley might’ve been the most unlikely champion in the history of the WWE. He looked like he belonged in the stands rather than in the ring, but his willingness to put his body at extreme risk and his stellar promo work led him to the top of the company. He’s also ideal for a wrestling video game because of the multiple gimmicks he had over his career that can be used as alternate costumes.

WRESTLER: Kane
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Big Man
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 1x WWF Champion, 9x World Tag Team Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: The only reason Kane makes it in this game is because he’s a big man and there’s a general shortage of them. That’s it. The only other big man available would be the Great Khali and including him would just be a complete embarrassment.

WRESTLER: Mr. Perfect
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2x Intercontinental Champion, 2007 WWE Hall of Famer
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Mr. Perfect makes the list because of his ability to always swat away the gum he spits out on the way to the ring, for bowling a 300, for catching his own hail mary pass in football, and for just generally being perfect.  He’s also a pretty good worker and has one of my favorite finishing moves of all-time: the Perfect-Plex.

WRESTLER: CM Punk
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 3x World Heavyweight Champion, 1x ECW Champion
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: If the ECW relaunch failed in all other respects, at least it brought CM Punk to the WWE. Watching a CM Punk match often makes me nostalgic for the good old days of the original ECW, where he would’ve fit in perfectly. Out of the newer guys on the WWE roster, Punk is definitely one of the company’s best in-ring performers.

WRESTLER: Ric Flair
CLASSIFICATION: WWE Legend, Grappler
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2x WWF Champion, 3x World Tag Team Champion, 2008 WWE Hall of Famer
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Woooooooooooo! This was actually a really tough choice. Ric Flair is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats, but I associate him so much with WCW, I had a hard time listing him as a WWE Legend. But, frankly, his run as a WWE Superstar was so much more impressive than the other wrestlers I was considering, Flair had to make the list.  (Sorry Junkyard Dog, Jake Roberts and Jimmy Snuka!)

WRESTLER: Evan Bourne
CLASSIFICATION: Current WWE Superstar, Acrobat
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: none really…
WHY HE SHOULD BE INCLUDED: Bourne makes the list solely because of his high flying offense. His repertoire of moves is so ideal for this video game, he has to be in there. Plus, unlike the Legends half of the roster, there’s not an overwhelming wealth of talent to choose from among current Superstars.

So who am I missing? Who’s on my list but doesn’t deserve to be there? Feel free to rip my selections apart in the comments section.

Sunday at New York Comic Con

Before I dive into my Sunday coverage there are a few things I forgot to mention about Saturday. During the Torchwood panel, when asked what her favorite American sci-fi/fantasy show was, Eve Myles answered “BUFFY” almost before the questioner completed the question. This received resounding applause from the audience. And it’s another reason I now love Eve Myles.

I also wanted to tell everyone I have officially mastered the art of line cutting. For years people have said to me, “Oh I didn’t see you there, Erik” or “Erik, why’d you sneak up on me like that?” As far as I can tell I just fade into the background well (like a thinner, less-muscly Batman). These powers served me greatly during Comic Con, as I was able to jump ahead in line for multiple panels. I wouldn’t have gotten into the Watchmen panel if I didn’t and I wouldn’t have had such a good seat at the Torchwood panel if I hadn’t. If you want to attempt to cut in line, here are some rules to follow: 

1. Look for a group of people chatting that aren’t paying attention to who’s ahead of them in line. Work your way in front of them. This is especially easy if the line hasn’t become anything resembling single file yet.

2. Look for tables covered with stickers or fliers next to the line into the panel. Walk over to the table, pretend you’re looking at the fliers. Soon enough you’ve magically become part of the line.

Not once did anyone call me on my line-cutting. Granted I’m 5’8″, weigh 135 lbs, and was dressed like a normal person. If you’re 6’4″, tip the scales at 3 bills, and are dressed like Optimus Prime, my line-cutting strategy probably won’t work as well for you.

Onto Sunday at Comic Con! I walked the show floor a bit when we got there. I picked up some posters (a Buffy one from Dark Horse included) and some free comics. Still no bookmarks (my inner librarian was frowning). I was very impressed by SEGA’s presence at event, they were showcasing all of their upcoming mature-rated Wii games. The Conduit, House of the Dead Overkill, and MadWorld we’re all there and playable. Sadly, I never got a chance to play any of them. Graphically, the Conduit looked AMAZING for a Wii game.  You can tell the guys who made Viewtiful Joe crafted MadWorld as the cel-shaded look is very similar (just devoid of color). Deadly Creatures was playable at the event too, but I really didn’t get a look at it. Overall, it gave you a great impression on how 3rd parties are ready to step up this year on Wii (finally!!!).

Dollhouse
The first panel I attended for the day was for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. I was not going to put my line cutting ability to the ultimate test, so I got in line fairly early this time. The panel was just Joss and Tahmoh Penikett. The moderator was Matt Roush from TV Guide. I have to say it was a weird panel. It was a theater full of people who love Joss Whedon but none of them had seen a full episode yet. Ten minutes of footage from the first episode was shown. It didn’t blow me away. I’m still not sold on Eliza Dushku as a strong lead character the way Joss is. Rewatching Buffy recently, I found Eliza’s performance to be brilliant, but I’m not seeing the same thing in the few Dollhouse clips scattered around the internet or in the 10 minutes I saw on Sunday. You can tell Tahmoh’s definitely going to fit in in the Whedonverse, he has that ability to jump from drama to humor. It was fairly evident at the panel. The program of events said we’d all get Dollhouse posters. That did not occur, but perhaps they gave them out at the door upon exiting. I, however, stuck around for the next panel in that theater.

FRINGE
Basically, the entire cast of Fringe was there. I think the observer was the only one not present. The moderator for this panel was AWFUL. He asked questions that were moronic compared to the normal audience queries. And he let the audience start asking questions way too late in the panel. I learned the guy who plays Walter Bishop is just about as crazy as his character. Joshua Jackson is great with the one-liners. Lance Reddick is apparently much more laid back than any of the characters he’s played on television recently.  At one point Josh Jackson recounted his trip to an NFC playoff game where he was in nosebleed seats, freezing his butt off, and he looked at the jumbo-tron and saw the observer (from Fringe) down on the sidelines. And asked himself, “What the hell, Fox!?” Jackson was visually dismayed (hanging his head) when the producer at the panel mentioned they had actually tried to work a deal to get the observer a seat close to the President during the Inauguration.

That was the last panel of the convention for me. I took one final trip around the convention floor and then headed home. I had a good time this year. It’s going to be a long wait until 2010′s NYCC, given it’s been moved to October.

My Favorite Wii Games of 2008

2008 was not the strongest year for Wii. The second half of the year was practically a barren wasteland when it came to first party games (that means games developed by Nintendo, for those who aren’t huge video game geeks). But there were still some very good games and I was able to put together a list of nine games (sadly, not ten) that I really enjoyed.

1. Guitar Hero: World Tour: Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Never having played Rock Band, I don’t see the flaws in GH:WT that others seem to. While I do have issues with some of the song selections ( acoustic “About a Girl” from Nirvana doesn’t scream Guitar Hero like “Heart-Shaped Box” or “Rape Me” would’ve), but, overall, I find the game incredibly addictive. Plus it’s the first game that allows you to save downloadable content to an SD card. With the Wii’s severely limited storage capacity, that’s a huge deal. Since the game was released in November, I’ve already downloaded at least ten songs, including ones from Blind Melon, the Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., and Nirvana.

2. No More Heroes: No game is more fun for the first two hours than No More Heroes. NMH oozes style with it’s hilariously cheesy cut-scenes, over-the-top violence, pixelated blood, and retro-gaming menus. It does get repetitive after a while, but all beat-’em-ups do.

3. Wii Fit: I had a tough time placing Wii Fit on my list here. It was always going to make the list, but where to put it? It’s not really much of a game. It’s more of a workout tool. That being said, for someone who rarely exercised before Wii Fit, this game made exercising fun. At least, for a few months anyway. And even when you get bored with the exercises, it’s still useful to check your weight and see how much you’ve lost or gained.

4. de Blob: If you eliminate the controls from the equation, de Blob might be my favorite game of the year. It’s graphical style is perfectly suited for Wii. The presentation is top-notch. The concept and gameplay is quite original. And the game has a great sense of humor. In de Blob, you control a blob of color who’s tasked with painting the town red, blue, green, or any other color really. You jump from building to building bringing color back to a currently black and white world. You have to transform landmarks like the “Church of Inktology” back to their original designs (often art galleries, radio stations, etc.). The problem with all of this is the developer decided to map the most crucial control in the game to a waggle. That’s right, to JUMP you shake the Wii remote. It’s idiotic, completely unintuitive, and for some players, it will be a deal breaker. It’s such a shame. But if you can get past that one moronic control choice, the game is a ton of fun.

5. Okami: Released on PS2 a couple years ago, Okami made perfect sense as a Wii port. The gameplay involves painting attacks with a brush. Controlling the brush with the Wii remote feels very intuitive (much more so than controlling it with an analog stick). The game borrows heavily from the Legend of Zelda franchise, but brings enough original ideas to check it out. Plus, if you’re going to be a clone of any game, being a Zelda clone ain’t a bad thing. The game does have a few false endings which will make you scream, “Wait! There’s more?!” Graphically, the cel-shading is beautiful and ideal for Wii.

6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Nintendo’s first venture into the online arena, SSBB was almost everything you’d want in a sequel: more characters, more stages, more modes, more items, more of everything really. The biggest problem with the game is the online mode. SSBB is a game that requires some precision and it’s online mode is a lagfest. Nintendo tried to minimize this issue by allowing gamers to see the connection speed of their competitors and let the gamer decide if they wanted to join a match with someone with a questionable connection speed. But even when you had 4 players with perfect connections, there was still a lag of a half-second of so. This being said, there are very few games with more fun local multiplayer modes. So invite your friends over to play, but don’t fight your battles online.

7. Lego Batman: If you like Legos and you like Batman, you will like this game. If you don’t, I don’t want to know you. Lego Batman is not revolutionary in any way. The developers really haven’t improved the formula much from the Lego Star Wars games. And it’s ludicrous there’s no online co-op mode. But it’s still Lego Batman. And that just makes it inherently awesome.

8. Mario Kart Wii: While Smash Bros. was Nintendo first online game for Wii, Mario Kart was Nintendo’s first successful one. Mario Kart Wii does nothing to try and reinvent the franchise and the battle mode is a little weak. But its online mode is very well done. The interface is nice, the way the players are introduced with the spinning globe is very cool, and the gameplay never lags. The reason the game isn’t higher on my list is simple: the blue shell. Those who’ve played any Mario Kart know what I’m talking about. In Mario Kart, blue shells are the cheapest of cheap items and in Mario Kart Wii they come up way too much. So much so, you almost don’t want to even try for first place until the final lap (blue shells hit the racer in first place and cannot be blocked or avoided). And the inclusion of blue shells in coin battles was just an insanely stupid idea.

9. Boom Blox: Created by EA and Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox is like a game of reverse Jenga. Instead of trying to build the tower up, you try and knock as many blocks off as you can. If you’ve finally tired of Wii Sports and you’re looking for a good casual game, this is it.