Well, technically I think Donkey Kong is a gorilla, but…you know, whatever. Its a new Mario Vs. Donkey Kong game. Read the full story

Mario Mario is one of the most recognizable characters in video game history.  Of course, after 25 years of working the pipes, it would be terribly disappointing for him if he wasn’t at the top of the game.  Though he started off closer to 30 years ago by the name of “Jumpman” in the Donkey Kong arcade game, his real claim to fame started in 1985 when Super Mario Bros. was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Read the full story

They’re everywhere. Resident Evil 5, Saw 7, and Shock Value 2. When is enough, enough? When will the entertainment industry stop recycling the same things over and over again? As customers, we deserve better.

Read the full story

At some point in life, everybody considers getting a tattoo whether they want to admit it or not. Some go through with it, while others choose not to for various reasons. Read the full story

Last Tuesday, for my birthday, I whipped out my NES and played a beloved game from my childhood, Crystalis. At first I was pretty scared to pop it in, because what if I didn’t feel the same way about it anymore? What if the gameplay or story was too simplistic for my current gaming tastes? What if I don’t enjoy it, and those memories are ruined?

As a little girl, I slept in the same bed as my Grandmother, and would sneak out of it every midnight to go into the extra bedroom that housed my NES. Then, until I had to start getting ready for elementary school, I’d play Crystalis on very low volume so I wouldn’t wake anybody up. I did that for weeks until I eventually beat it. When I played Crystalis last week, it was as if those 20+ years inbetween never happened. I remembered where everything was, I remembered the names of characters and cities, and I even remembered what to do. The only thing that I found different was how short the game felt, but I’m a lot older now, my gaming skills have gotten better over time, and since I knew where everything was, I was able to move through the game faster than when I was a child. Some games are timeless like Contra, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Toe Jam & Earl, Super Mario series, and many more, but what about the titles that fail to stand the test of time?

Sure, gaming graphics have changed, but we all know that no matter how visually gorgeous something is, everything else about it can be complete shit. The same goes for the opposite too. Take Final Fantasy VII for example: its graphics at the time were below what the PlayStation console was able to handle, but to this day it’s constantly lauded as the best in the entire franchise. While I strongly disagree with that opinion, it’s a solid case of how, regardless of graphics, gamers can still find a game completely enjoyable well into the future. Gameplay and controls have changed too, but so have the controllers. Is this really a plus? With the original NES controller, you had a d-pad, start/select buttons, and the A/B buttons to perform actions. Nowadays, gamers have to factor in a d-pad, two analog joysticks, left and right triggers, left and right bumper buttons, start/select buttons, four action buttons, and sometimes there is even a home button. Compare the controls for Super Mario on NES, or even SNES, to what is required for Super Mario Galaxy, and it’s insane. Sometimes keeping it simple really pays off.

The music has changed drastically. In our youthful days, MIDI tracks were all the rage, but now we are given some really amazing soundtracks, and also the option of listening to our own music when gaming (Sidenote: Back in the day, I would sometimes pop in a cassette or listen to the radio when playing a game, so it’s nice to see how that has evolved. A prominent memory I have is playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 at a neighbors house and hearing Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine for the very first time). Gamers who owned a Sega Genesis should remember the funky soundtrack from Toe Jam & Earl, and NES owners can probably sing every single Super Mario track ever made. Right now I have the theme song to Legend of Zelda in my head, and that will forever be a classic tune.

What hasn’t changed much are the stories. We are still playing adventure games, still playing shooters, and still escaping into elaborate worlds where we are constantly saving the day. Granted, some stories are better than others, but it’s pretty much the same. As children we assumed the roles of Mario, and were tasked with rescuing the Princess from the evil Bowser. For some reason, and 20+ years later, Princess Peach keeps neglecting to hire herself a bodyguard, and Bowser still hasn’t learned his lesson. We have seen some big twists like how Samus Aran was really a female, Aeris getting killed by Sephiroth, and finding out that in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic you were actually Revan. Obviously there are so many more moments that could be listed, but those are the main ones that popped into my head right now.

With Crystalis, I really lucked out because it’s a game that I will always love, and will always find enjoyable. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for all games. So readers, I ask you this: are your fond gaming memories only because of your childhood nostalgia, or were we just given some really amazing games back then?

Check out some classic NES and Genesis games for old times sake. How many do you remember?:

- Me

The Nintendo E3 Press Conference may be over, but that doesn’t mean the excitement has waned. From the get go, Nintendo blew us away. Reggie Fils-Amie came out to debut a new Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and it got fans really excited.

We were originally led to believe that a man named Bill would be the one doing the live demo, since Shigeru Miyamoto, a mad genius, seemed like he was being video conferenced in. Turns out Miyamoto-san would be the one playing Skyward Sword, and also discussing how it works. Bill remained there, as translator, and the fun began.

The live demo consisted of us getting a tutorial on the controls, the new items, and how we can interact with the environment. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be a must-have game for the Wii console. Unfortunately it isn’t slated to launch until 2011, but more details will be leaked out in the months to come.

Following the excitement over Zelda, Reggie came back onto the stage to announce a new Wii Sports title: Mario Sports Mix. Like Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Mario Sports Mix won’t hit store shelves until 2011, but we saw Mario and friends competing in different arenas this time around. From what I was able to see, I caught volleyball, hockey, field hockey, basketball, and maybe water polo. Everything seemed to go by so quickly, it was difficult to catch it all. Obviously other sports titles like Madden and MLB are coming to the Wii, but a nice surprise was the classic NBA Jam. For E3 attendees, a live demo will be available on the floor.

For those out there who thought the Wii was losing it’s steam, Reggie presented us with some impressive stats. Last December, the Wii set record sales. He also informed us on how “more games have been sold for the Wii in the 43 months since launch in any other platform ever, in the same launch period.” Wii owners were also found to play their console more than other owners, and as for other game sales, Mario Kart on the Wii has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. The New Super Mario Bros. game has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. Those are some incredible numbers.

Fans of Mario Party will be interested in the new Wii Party game. In Wii Party, fans can have fun with their Mii’s, participating in multiplayer, and having the ability to choose from 13 different party modes. Board Game Island, which features over 70 different mini games, and Balance Boat were a couple modes presented to us. House Party mode is one the entire family can play together. Wii Party will be available for this holiday season.

On the subject of dancing games, Reggie announced the sequel to the popular Wii dance game, Just Dance by Ubisoft. In Just Dance 2, players will have 40 tracks to jam to. They can also engaged in dancing duets, get their cardio in with the Just Sweat mode, and have dance crew face offs with up to 8 players. Just Dance 2 is slated to launch Fall 2010.

RPG fans rejoiced when details and a trailer for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn were given. I’m a fan of the Golden Sun series, and played the GBA one for countless hours. From what I saw, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn on the DS will be incredible. My only wish is that they made a Golden Sun for the Wii, but who knows. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn will be out in time for the holiday season.

Now, what happened after the Golden Sun section was so incredible. In a trailer, they showed a panel of young gamers, and a man who was asking them about GoldenEye 007. You know, the awesomely popular N64 game? Well, good news my friends – in November of this year, we will be gifted a brand new GoldenEye 007 exclusive for the Nintendo Wii. It will feature split-screen gameplay, multiplayer (yes!), 8 classic characters like Oddjob and Jaws, and 16 special game modes like paintball and melee only. Unfortunately Rare won’t be the ones giving us this gem, but I think we can trust Activision to deliver.

On a nostalgia high, Warren Spector and Adam Creighton graced the stage to give us another Wii exclusive, Disney Epic Mickey. The game, which honors the past 80 years of Disney creativity, was given no release date, but a live demo was nice. In Venture Land you can talk with other characters and purchase items. You can also get quests there and visit memorable places like the Tiki Room and Swiss Family Robinson areas from Disney Land. The Waste Land is full of forgotten things, but they just talked to us about that.

In Disney Epic Mikey, the two ‘weapons’ you have are paint and thinner. With the thinner you can erase people, buildings, objects… just about anything. With the paint you can bring it all back or create new things in the world. How you use the two affects everything in the Epic Mickey world. It will affect how characters interact with you, what they talk to you about, how their stories will end, and more. In the game you can expect adventure, platform, and RPG elements throughout, and we even saw a place known as Travel Zone. In Travel Zone, we saw a black and white level, with Mickey in color, and everything was based off of the popular cartoon Steamboat Willie. In Travel Zone, other popular cartoons will be levels as well, so you get something new each time. Disney Epic Mickey was very impressive, on every level, and I feel confident in saying that children and adults will find the game irresistible.

Following Mickey, another familiar face was shown – Kirby. Can you believe it’s been 7 years since Kirby has had it’s own console game? Neither can I! In Kirby’s Epic Yarn (I know, something about Epic Mickey and Epic Yarn back to back in the presentation seemed odd to me as well) you really get to interact with the enviroment. The trailer, to me, felt like this awesome, new Paper Mario game but with Kirby as the main character. The art style was fresh, the gameplay looked really fun, and you won’t have to wait long to play it. Kirby’s Epic Yarn will be out this Fall.

Another thing that got RPG fans excited was the announcement that Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies would be released in North America, finally. For a long time it was only available in Japan, received great reviews, and from what we were told today, it sounds rather impressive. Players will get to go on 120 mini-quests, participate in several Wi-Fi exclusive mini-quests, slay over 300 monsters, obtain 900 items to customize your character, have fun with an infinite number of randomly generated treasure maps, and be able to link up to 3 additional friends so you can quest together. By putting your DS in ‘tag-mode’ the game will automatically seek out people to play with, and add new maps for your character all while you are away from your DS. In 26 days, July 11th, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies drops so start saving your hard earned cash now.

Metroid: Other M was shown, and that will be released on August 31st. Metroid: Other M looks very nice. You will get some classic Metroid game play mixed in with Metroid Prime-esque moments. Being able to switch from FPS to third person is a nice combination, and I’m sure fans of the franchise will dig the new features. Samus will still be able to roll up into a ball and do everything we’ve become familiar with. I’m a huge Metroid Prime fan so I’m glad they kept those elements in.

Bringing the nostalgia back, we were shown Donkey Kong Country Returns, for the Wii. Developed by Retro Studios, Donkey Kong Country Returns brings us back to the 2D days of when DK and Diddy Kong were side-scrolling, platforming maniacs. Donkey Kong Country Returns will be out for this holiday season, and I need to get a copy. No joke. It looks that epic.

After all that DK goodness, we were shown the new Nintendo 3DS. I have to admit, it looks rather impressive and boasts some nice features. Satoru Iwata, Global President of Nintendo, gave us the rundown on the newest addition to the handheld family. I won’t go into too many details because we have an actual post going fully into the 3DS, but just know that there will be an analog stick, in addition to the D-Pad, you won’t need to wear glasses for the 3D to work, and you will be capable of watching 3D movies on the Nintendo 3DS.

Some of you might remember the name Project Sora. It was announced back in like January of 2009. Kingdom Hearts fans might have thought it was a new game in the works, but holy Hell, what they showed today was so much more. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I got teary eyed. Kid. Fucking. Icarus. Yeah I said it. KID ICARUS! As a child I loved the Kid Icarus game, so when I saw him, I couldn’t help but get amazing flashbacks. A Nintendo 3DS exclusive, Kid Icarus: Uprising looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m so excited about this game, I can’t even compose a proper sentence. All I know is that I want it, and I hope I get it. It’s Kid Icarus!

Nintendo has partnered up with E3 to create an E3 network for those who were unable to attend. If you check out their page, you can gather information on the event, get behind the scene looks, screenshots, trailers, and more.

- Me

Over the past few days I’ve been looking for some new iPhone games to get, and when scrolling through the recent titles I saw one named Almighty Mr. Ice. When I read the description, it looked like a simple little side-scrolling platformer, and was similar to Mario. I started to become genuinely interested in downloading it until I looked at the screenshots.

In this shot right here, everything looks relatively normal. It almost looks like a scene from Super Mario World on SNES. Pretty appealing, right?

Another normal screenshot. It shows the features of the Ice Shoe, and it’s abilities. Still nothing out of the ordinary.

WHAT IS THIS?!?!? EASY MODE: FOR LADIES AND KIDS? WHY FOR?!? Honestly? Aren’t we past this whole “women can’t play video games” type of mentality? Apparently not!

If the creator of the game simply said that easy game was for casual gamers, or for children, that would be fine… but to single out women as a whole, and apply that to the easy mode is ridiculous. Because of that, I didn’t download the game, an even though there are tons of positive reviews for it in the App Store, I won’t download it. I refuse to support a game that singles out women, and basically saying that women who play video games are so inept that they must resort to gaming on easy modes.

While I am not a fan of exclusive female gaming communities, because I feel that they actually help encourage the division between male and female gamers, I am strongly against discrimination towards female gamers. Every gamer is different. Every gamer has a different skill level. Why can’t we just leave it at that? Why do we have to have these arguments about how women shouldn’t be playing video games, or if they do that they will automatically suck? Sure some female gamers are terrible, but there are some truly awful male gamers out there too. As long as the player is enjoying themselves and having a good time, there should be no problem (but I should clarify that if I am playing a game with a team and there is a weak link, I won’t be too pleased because that holds the rest of the team back).

Anyways, without getting on a crazy soap box, my point to all of this is that it’s sad that there are still biases out there, and it’s a shame because I really wanted to play Almighty Mr. Ice. Now I won’t simply out of principle, and save myself the $1.99.

- Me

Most people know who the Super Mario Bros. are.  Even if they don’t know who Luigi is (poor guy), they know who Mario is.  New Super Mario Bros. Wii fits in to that famous legacy perfectly.

Whoops…Wrong Mario.

I know I’ve got it around here somewhere….

*rummage*

Aha!

I’ve been playing Mario games since I was a kid; my first time playing Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System (the original, pre-Super Mario Bros. game) was well over two decades ago, and my love of the series has remained steadfast ever since.  When most people think of the Mario series (excluding the Kart and Smash spin-offs), they think “one player.”  New Super Mario Bros. Wii has brought the series into the multi-player co-op world for the first time since the original Mario Bros. with a great four-player experience that can be both exciting and excruciating at the same time.  The game is a partial port of the New Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo DS, with some new additions and, disappointingly, some deductions (I speak of the giant mushroom).  There are a few new power-ups available, such as the Ice Flower, which gives you the ability to shoot snowballs in much the same way the Fire Flower shoots fireballs, but with the added ability to encapsulate your enemies in a block of ice, the Penguin Suit, which gives you the abilities of the Ice Flower, as well as faster swimming, and an easier time on ice, and the Propeller Suit, which gives you the ability to fly for short, controlled bursts.  Certain levels also give the player access to Yoshis, which is something that I have sorely missed.

Level selection is done via a world map similar to Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.  Each level contains a save point, similar to the original Sonic the Hedgehog with the red/blue balloon in the middle of a course.  If all players die, and are booted to the world map screen, the level can be resumed at that save point.  Additionally, the Star Coins from New Super Mario Bros. DS return, with three in each level.  These can be used to purchase hint movies, but also have a much more important purpose.  There are initially 8 worlds available for play.  By collecting every single Star Coin in each of the 8 worlds, a new level in World 9 is unlocked.  World 9 can only be played at the completion of the game, and can only be played if all of the game’s Star Coins have been found.  I’m looking forward to gathering the rest of the Star Coins and giving it a try.

There have been a lot of…warnings…about playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii co-operatively with loved ones.  The game has been called a marriage killer and a family breaker.  This is both accurate and inaccurate.  Players who are well coordinated and have strong communication skills should experience few problems with co-operative play.  Players who ignore co-operative strategy and don’t communicate will become the target of the other player(s) ire.  It is easy to either accidentally or “accidentally” kill your co-operative playmates.  Something as simple as jumping from one ledge to another can become a heated argument about patience and consideration.  Take, for example, the experience Lindsey and I had while playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  Approximately 75% of my deaths in the game were caused by a certain someone’s impatience, lack of communication, lack of awareness, and lack of coordination when jumping or progressing through a level.  Granted, I caused some deaths for her as well, but not nearly to the extent of the great Mario Massacre of 2009 (in which I play the role of Mario, being continuously slaughtered).

Sorry, sweetie.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a fantastic game.  The replay value may not be too high, but there are some replay sections, such as finding the remaining Star Coins and completing World 9.  I’d say worth a purchase, especially if you’re a Mario fan.

-[insert revolutionary thinking here]

Lindsey and I both love comic books and nerd culture.  We were both born nerds, grew up as nerds, and will pass our nerdish traditions down to any little nerdlings we may have in the future as best we can.  As nerds, we also love little collectibles like statues, bobbleheads, figures, busts, etc.

This is a shelf on our center DVD bookshelf.  It contains most (but not all) of our comic and movie related items.  There are more at my mom’s house, and some in storage, but this is a good sampling of what we have:
From the left, in the front row we see a Spartan helmet from the movie 300, a Mighty Muggs version of Starscream, an Iron Man bust, a Superman bust from Superman Returns, a little R2D2, a barely visible Mario, and a Darth Vader.  In the back row, from the right, we can see a Galactus, Sentinel, Apocalypse, and finally one of a set of six statues from the Dark Phoenix Saga series, Storm.

But wait, there’s more!

Mario and Yoshi on the very top of the DVD bookshelf…

Bowser on top of the TV…

And the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything on top of the DVD bookshelf!

We have much more (such as a 16″ tall resin statue of Bruce Campbell as Ash from the Evil Dead movies), but not anywhere it can be seen.

Huh.  I just noticed that the “42″ picture has a picture of my grandmother holding me as a baby in the background.

-Because I said so

I can’t remember if we’ve made a blog discussing Mario Party 8 for the Wii, but if we have… great. It’s a little after 8 in the morning and frankly I can’t be bothered to search through the archives

Chris and I have owned Mario Party 8 since February, and last night was the 2nd time we’ve played it. It’s a great game with a lot of mini-games so our lack of playing it has nothing to do with the game itself. One huge downside is that in order to play a 15 round game, you better be ready to sit there for a couple of hours. It’s seriously that long.

First time Chris and I played it we were on a team versus two other random characters. We played on Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk which was a lot of fun. If you are new to the Mario Party series, I would suggest starting with either that board or the DK’s Treetop Temple board. Both are beginner friendly and a lot of fun.

Last night we were joined by Lianne, Chris’ cousins wife, and we all played against each other. This time we picked a new board, King Boo’s Haunted Hideaway. Unlike the other boards we were familiar with, you couldn’t view the entire map and the location of King Boo would change after you found him. With the DK and Goomba levels, you could scroll throughout the board and see where you’d want to go and where the star location was. King Boo’s board was totally different.

There wasn’t only one way you could go. Sometimes the board would be a simple shape that would branch off in a couple of areas, and sometimes the board would have many turns to choose from. Out of all the possible end points on the board, only one lead to King Boo. All others took you straight to a pitfall. If you were lucky enough to activate the DK spot, Donkey Kong would be waiting for you in the pitfall with a star. The downside to that is that the remaining DK spots on the board were then changed to Bowser.

If you land on the Bowser spot DK is replaced by Bowser. With Bowser, there is no consistency. Sometimes he can take a star or coins away from you, sometimes he will make you duel another player, sometimes he will give coins to all of the other players, and sometimes he will give you coins. There is honestly no way in telling what he will do. I will say that if you are the leader, you better watch out for Bowser.

The mini games last night were all new to us. We surprisingly got a lot of 3 vs 1 mini games, with Chris mostly being the 1. There was one where Chris was in a hovercraft and the rest of us were on a board that was just a regular square, but there were parts that were cut out. Chris in his hovercraft was able to go over those spots without any problems. We couldn’t. His goal was to bump us all off in a certain amount of time so that he could be the winner and get 10 extra coins. He did win that one, and I will be honest…. I really sucked at that mini game. The Princess failed me.

We didn’t finish all 15 rounds last night since it was getting late, but we had a lot of fun. Whenever I play that game, I am always blown away at how much thought went into the game. I also love how they take full advantage of the Wii-mote and all of it’s capabilities.

If you own a Wii and want a fun party game for up to 4 players and are a fan of the Mario series, I highly suggest picking up a copy of Mario Party 8. You won’t be disappointed…. and if you are, **jedi mind trick** this is not the blog you are looking for **/end jedi mind trick**

- She Who Has The Last Word