Points of Interest – 6/7/07
- Today, the Untalkative Bunny and his friends try their hands at paintball.
But no armaments here, nosiree. They fight like MEN, chucking the paintballs with their bare hands!
- GameTrailers has a new… er, trailer from Japan featuring Mega Man ZX Advent, aka “the game that says you cannot just ignore post-X5 continuity.”
Looks good.
- Remember E3 2006, and the big Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer that debuted there?
Well, it’s been remastered, and is once more available to drool over again and again and again, all the while wondering if a 600 dollar investment is such a bad idea after all.
As much as I dig Metal Gear, though, I’m just not much good at the newer games. Well, I dunno. I never played past the first Solid on the PS1, so maybe they’re easier in the fields I have trouble with? In any case, much as I love the story and characters and such, it’s just not worth it if I can’t actually get to any of it.
Here’s hoping IDW continues their comic adaptations. At least I could follow it that way, though I can’t say much for Ashley Wood’s sequential art.
- GameSpot reviews Pac-Man Championship Edition for the 360.
Sure, it’s a good game… but how good is it remade nearly 30 years later?
- GameDaily celebrates Lara’s Anniversary by speaking with her creator, and discussing the creation of an icon and what the future holds for this raider of tombs.
- Is it better to reward gamers, or to punish them? That’s the question posed at GameDaily, and one I have mixed feelings about.
Of course, I don’t like being punished, but I suppose definitions vary. I consider a lot of Super Mario Sunshine to be punishing, but others clearly don’t feel that way. Conversely, I love me some Contra, even when I get obliterated, and then there are those who probably can’t stand the heat.
- It would seem that the DS’s capabilities as a learning device truly know no limits.
- The Escapist takes a look at Zelda, and how a game was inspired by Miyamoto’s exploration as a child, and also one which further inspired many children of our generation.
- RMC at Go Nintendo goes toe-to-toe with GameSpot’s Zelda II review in a little game of Point/Counterpoint.
I tend to side with RMC here.
- Games can dissuade food cravings?
Well, I’ll be damned.
- Wow, who knew that creating something like Pac-Man could be so unrewarding?
I mean, a job well done is its own reward, I guess, but damn. This thing was a phenom! I’d like to think it eventually lead to a promotion of some kind…
- Hmm, I guess few mascots could be considered a better golf caddy than Sonic the Hedgehog.
Still, who’d have seen that coming? First Alex Kidd in game retail, now this? Guess these are lean times…
- First Mega Man, now Pikachu, all paying their respects to Haruhi.
- Hmm, the Harvest Moon buffet? Sounds like the kind of eats I’ve been missing while staying in Canada…
–LBD “Nytetrayn”
June 11th, 2007 at 4:22 am
2) From my perspective, they are doing a very good job of making ZX Advent look good. Like something more relevant than a mere sequel to ZX. I’d look forward to reviewing the game either way. But Gameznflix.com does not rent DS games for some reason, even though they rented PSP games. (although they stopped with PSP because of new mail regulations) DS carts are even smaller than CD’s so I’m not sure what the deal is. I should take a stand. Anyway, maybe I’ll try Advent another way.
4) I don’t think I’d buy Pac Man CE for myself. Since I already played plenty of Pac Man in my life, I’m satisfied just by getting a taste of the game from the trial version. That said, I have to say that it is arguable better than Pac Man Arrangement, I’d even say it could be the single best rendition of Pac Man gameplay ever. It’s so faithful to the original, but faster, more balanced, more psychadelic, more mazes, and THE FRUIT ACTUALLY MATTERS. But it can be a hard sell since it’s just more Pac Man. That’s what they get for rehashing the brand so much. Now when are they going to make Mr. Driller XBLA?
6) This guy makes a good point about how puzzles are awful. Nintendo is one of the biggest offenders in terms of what this author calls “blockers” — parts of a game that impede you from progressing. In his words “blocker is a term that game designers use to call a part of the game that stops the player’s forward progression because of a complex puzzle, or arbitrary twist in the game.” In other words, almost always a puzzle. “But I was always left with one overarching fact–I wasn’t good enough to beat the game. I was slow. I was dumb. I didn’t “get it.” I’m impressed that the industry made it this far with our carnival-style punishment system.” I’m impressed that Nintendo has achieved such high brow status even with such a long and ever more prevalent history of arcane game design. Anyway, I myself have noticed this recent trend, I call it “new-school” of game design. The way most games nowadays let you save anywhere, anytime, which is in turn being countered or replaced by constant checkpoints. Also the new health meters in shooters nowadays which refill automatically, and the game Prey, in which you technically can’t even die. Although it seems that Japanese developers are much more behind in this, as most of these trends (including Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon, the author’s initial examples) are western-made, and are either PC games or derived from PC gaming conventions.
10) It’s so true, isn’t it? Gotta love gaming. Just don’t overdo it, or else you can hurt yoursself, or, if it’s not just an urban legend, DIE.
13) That Haruhi trash is lame. Why can’t people let the original Haruhi dance (which is pretty cool) live on in dignity.