Wii U owners can now download an update for their consoles. This is a major update that allows you to switch between applications faster, have better stability, and better performance. It will also prepare for the launch of the Wii U virtual console. The Wii U Panorama View launches soon as well. Read the full story

Well, the final ten games for Nintendo’s 3DS Ambassador Program have arived, bringing the total up to 20; ten NES games and ten GBA games. But some of you may be asking the question, “Did I make a mistake by purchasing my 3DS early/late?” For those of you aren’t aware, Nintendo decided to drop the price of the 3DS from $250 to $170 earlier this summer. Most of the people who decided to drop $250 on a 3DS (or trade in 3/4ths of your game library, like me), then got pretty irritated once they heard of the price drop. Because of that, Nintendo then decided to treat those of us who purchased a 3DS and connected it to the internet by August 11th, 2011. This token of appreciation was the Ambassador Program, which gave early adopters 20 free games. But was it worth it? Read the full story

It is hard to imagine how a game based on a scantily-clad, half-vampire woman who battles Nazi’s could fail, but somehow, BloodRayne managed to be a fairly mediocre series. When the license was handed over to Uwe “I have a grudge against all gamers” Boll to be mangled and humiliated, it was all but certain that the proverbial wooden stake had been shoved through Rayne’s heart. However, BloodRayne has clawed its way back thanks to Way Forward Technologies. With a new veneer and focus on inventive combat, this 2D, side-scrolling BloodRayne manages to reinvigorate the series and give it a new lease on life. Read the full story

Last week I finally broke down and got myself an iPhone. There are myriad reasons for doing it, but mostly I was tired of hearing about the games on there and being unable to play them. I spent my first few hours buying games and apps, then the next few hours playing them.  After slogging through meaty games like Crysis 2 and Dragon Age 2 recently, it felt good to just pick up a game that was nothing but solid game play. While I was playing Cut the Rope the other night, I realized how games with great stories and grandiose setting have ruined gaming for me and taken most of the joy out of my favorite pastime.

Ahh the good ole days

When I was younger, I lost entire months of summer break to games like Shining Force and Final Fantasy. I still think back to the sheer joy and addiction of games from my NES and Genesis. While all of those games had stories, they were always secondary to the mechanics of the games themselves. Sonic, Mario, Metroid; all of them used simple plots, more concepts actually, to outline a context for what you were doing. Save a princess, save a forest or defeat a giant brain. Nothing complicated, nothing rich with continuity requiring 4 novels, a comic book series, various animated films and a 6 minute intro to explain.  You saw what you needed to in the first 30 seconds and then jumped into the world. Now, it seems, more and more games are becoming so story driven that they seem to forget that games are meant to provide interactive entertainment, not a medium for failed Hollywood screenplays or fantasy series.

This issue really started in earnest with the PS2. Many of the RPG’s started to become vehicles for showing how advanced the system had come. With graphical fidelity comes cut scenes, and with those comes the need for story. Instead of taking the route of games like Shadow of the Colossus, where   the game play is what makes the story, games took advantage of growing technology to start injecting movie-quality plots into games. Games like Final Fantasy XII, the hack// games, each installment of the Metal Gear series and even Kingdom Hearts started to put more emphasis on plot and graphics then on engaging game play. Final Fantasy XII was an absolutely incredible translation, and a story that I loved, but the game play itself was so poor that it became impossible to enjoy.

I'm so dark and broody.

This generation the attempt to make games more like the film industry has gone into hyperdrive. More and more games, like the recently released Homefront, are being written by professional screen writers. They are employing Hollywood actors and using new technology to gather more of the performance and more of the realism. Look at LA Noire’s new facial software, a perfect example of creepy realism. Yet, while the game LOOKS incredible, the game play seems to be ignored during the previews, and I’m not confident that the desire to show off their compelling story and animation won’t overshadow the actual game.

As a person who reviews games (not professionally, but still), I tend to fall into that same trap. Often times the storyline weighs heavily into the way I judge a game. I love the original Mass Effect, but when I force myself to look at the actual game portion objectively, I can’t deny that it is a pretty huge mess. However, the events in Mass Effect are so compelling and incredible that it overcomes the flaws, which I think helped set a tone for future games. If you create a solid enough story, the game itself isn’t so important. Now we have an avenue for huge ideas without the constraints of Hollywood, where directors and writers can bring their ideas to life, provided they horseshoe in some game play between scenes. And when games fail to live up to its compatriots in the genre, we easily dismiss them. If we can’t enjoy the movie we’re being shown, we tend to dislike or ignore the actual game.

This is what a battle should look like

When I was a kid, the rush of mastering a level in Sonic, or the thrill of a well planned battle in Shining Force kept me riveted to my screen for hours. Now I get that same feeling from getting three stars in Angry Birds, or from a successful invasion in Zombie Farm. There are precious few big name games that can deliver the same effect. Bulletstorm proved to be an incredible shooter that played solely on the mechanics and let the story be over the top simply to provide new and better areas to play around in. Dragon Age 2 however, tried to be an emotionally driven story while literally repeating the same area over and over again with no real change in game play, leading to nothing but boredom. Sadly, too many games fall into the Dragon Age category.

Perhaps I’m simply waxing nostalgic, playing the “get off my lawn” card, but things really were better back in the old days. We may have breathtaking graphics and top-notch talent in our games, but the “game” portion is being more and more distilled and replaced with the bells and whistles. The skill that was needed to beat Mega Man and Mario, and the joy of getting that perfect run, has been removed in favor of the pontification of Malcolm McDowell. I don’t want great stories to disappear; I just hope that more studios realize that melding the game and the story yields better results than showing off your latest screenplay. We call them games for a reason.

Last month Square Enix announced that a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII would be coming out later this year. While that news was met with applause from some, it also produced a few winces.

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When you think of classic beat-em-up style games, Double Dragon has to be high on your list. Double Dragon was one of the early beat-em-up games that made going to the arcade with your friends worth your while. The NES port changed things up a bit, with only one person playing at a time and Jimmy, one half of the Double Dragons, serving as the main villain. As consoles advanced, the game inevitably advanced, allowing more enemies on the screen at once, and bringing co-operative play back. Now, the Double Dragons hit the iPhone. Read the full story

In which we discuss… oh who the hell cares IT’S A SNOW DAY!!! Read the full story

I have been playing my old Game Boy Advance (SP of course) quite the bit this month, catching up on the original Golden Sun titles, because I have to wait until Christmas to open Dark Dawn. 

<insert disapproval rant here> 

Since I still have my Gamecube, and the GBA Player, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it on my bigger TV.  The kids love seeing what I am doing, and I love that they aren’t practically laying on me just to look at it. 

I have been thinking a lot about this outdated middle ground, an odd in-between place amongst consoles and handhelds.  In the past, games were often regarded as a “social toy”,  as depicted in many early advertisements.  Children and parents alike, huddled around the television, poking buttons on a little box; it was the essence of family values; togetherness.

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Back in September, Mario celebrated his 25th anniversary and Nintendo is really excited about it. To commemorate this special occasion, they brought back Super Mario All-Stars on the Wii! Nintendo’s still partying, how about you?

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Ever since we have had gadgets, people have been finding alternate ways to use them, often unintended by the manufacturer.  Rooted Androids, jailbroken iPhones, custom Firmwares for the PSP; I have even seen homemade NES games and flash carts for playing them on the original Nintendo.  Most of these modifications are innocent, such as a rooted Android, thus giving a user full access to their device.  At first that seems reasonable enough - allowing you to make your device do what you want, why not?  But often people make mischief, and ruin a good thing with bad intentions.

Console modding may very well become a criminal offense in the near future. This last Tuesday, a trial began in Southern California that could begin the creation of a much larger definition as to what a person is legally allowed to do with the products they buy. Read the full story