Guest Article : Steven Harbor
E3 has come and gone, and if there is one thing people will surely remember most about 2011’s expo, it will be the revealing of the Wii U. Leading up to its announcement, rumors and speculation about the “Wii HD” was getting weirder and weirder. It turns out that the actual announcement was just as weird, if not more so. In fact, it was so weird that Nintendo’s stock fell significantly just after the revealing of their new system. This is no doubt due to the fact that people are still largely confused about what the hell this thing is. So what is it about the Wii U that’s so hard to grasp?
It’s just a new peripheral right?
I’ve seen this kind of confusion in person, coming from people who I would normally expect to have done their research. It seems Nintendo forgot one of the most important things you’re supposed to do when revealing a new system; namely to actually show the new system. Instead, Nintendo focused entirely on the new controller and kept the console itself in the blurred out background in most of the pictures. It doesn’t help either that the console basically looks just like a Wii.
Can I use multiple controller pads or not?
Nintendo says it’s still not entirely sure. I think that with the system being released a year and a half from now, Nintendo ought to make up its mind about this. The best consensus I can gather from this whole mess is that Nintendo wants to focus on most games only being able to use one controller pad with every additional player using a wii remote because they don’t want to pressure customers into buying more than one. This tells me that the controllers will be expensive, and why wouldn’t they be? They’ve each got a big vibrant 6-inch display that can stream video and audio from the system wirelessly.
You will now be thinking of this every time you hear its name.
How exactly does the new controller improve video games?
I still remember when the Wii was first revealed, and everyone was speculating about the awesome ways that motion controls could be used to improve games. I remember hearing about how it would be amazing for first-person shooters (not hearing much of that anymore are we), amazing for tennis games (turns out not so much), amazing for lightsaber games (moving on…), and yet I can’t really tell what direction Nintendo is trying to push the industry with this new controller, and honestly neither can anyone else as far as I can tell. It will still have the motion control capabilities of a wii remote, but the added bonus is a screen that can stream information from the system so that games can be played while other people are watching TV. The controller has often been compared to an ipad with buttons, though that isn’t entirely accurate as the touch screen will be more like a larger version of the DS’s touch screen than the capacitive multi-touch screen of an iPad.
Who’s going to buy this thing?
The Wii U tries to cater to every audience at once. The question core gamers such as the ones who run this blog have to ask is whether or not a new controller is reason enough to buy another Hd console with technology comparable to systems they already have. The question soccer moms and families have to ask is whether the Wii U offers a new experience on par with the novelty of motion controls that the Wii had going for it. However, the only question the hardcore Nintendo follower has to ask himself is whether or not “It can has Zelda HD?!” So it’s pretty safe to say that the new system caters most to Nintendo’s core followers. For everyone else, everything rests on the system’s price. I would have to guess that if it’s around the 200-300 range, it should have at least moderate success, but any more than that and this system may have a lot of trouble coming out of the gate.
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
Beyond: Two Souls is a paranormal action thriller starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a Hollywood film based on that description, but it is in fact the latest game from Quantic Dream, the studio behind the equally cinematic Heavy Rain. It’s tempting to compare the two, but Beyond is a different experience, opting to tell a linear story with fewer choices and consequences. As a big fan of Heavy Rain’s dynamic storytelling approach, I expected to be disappointed but as soon as I started playing I realised what writer and director David Cage was trying to achieve and felt satisfied to go along for the ride. Because what a ride it is…
Format: PS3
Release date: 2010
Heavy Rain is more like an interactive movie than a game, and it is mostly excellent. It’s a game about choices and living with the consequences. I played it through twice myself, just to see how different decisions affect the story and its ultimate conclusion, but to say that my first try was emotional would be the understatement of the century. This game almost broke me. I’ll tell you how soon, but first I want to recount the story of one of my friend’s choices… Like I said, watching Heavy Rain is just like watching a movie, but watching your friend play Heavy Rain gives you an amusing bit of insight into their psychology. The results can be hilarious.
Format: Sega Mega Drive
Year: 1992
Another rare game in my long list of memories that include my brother, Sam, is Streets of Rage 2. It was the best in a trilogy of side scrolling beat-em-ups on the Sega Mega Drive. (Genesis in America). We would always play as the same 2 characters: I was Axel, and my brother would be Skate. He loved the agility and bombastic acrobatics that the tiny skater dude could pull off. Many of the boss fights would end with Sam leaping onto their necks and pummelling them in the back of the head. I liked Axel’s swinging flaming punch, and his multi-hit special combo. It’s a simple but satisfying game built around stylised hand to hand violence.
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