Pipe-Mania DS Preview

Another retro-remake -- but do we really feel the tube obsession ?

Well, most of my fellow readers should start floating in nostalgic dreams and childhood memories when they hear the title Pipe Mania, a Commodore 64 classic. This puzzle game will be remade for the Nintendo DS. The gameplay is quite simple for our modern standards: You have to place several pipes in a certain manner. If you manage to connect the pipes to the drainage before you run out of time and lose, you can continue with the next level. Of course the game will have a new twist. Extra items and a few new events, many unlockables and new modes like "Puzzle", "Surival" will make this game a solid variety to other puzzle games.

Gamesfurks E3 2008: THE BUMMER SHOW?

Where was Mario? Where was Link? Disappointed faces after the Nintendo press conference. But: There is still hope for core-gamers.


What? It`s already over? As Cammie Dunaway, Vice President for Sales and Marketing at Nintendo of America, said farewell to the E3 conference participants, the fans in the international communities were completely broken ´: No Mario, no Zelda, no Star-Fox, no F-Zero. Only Pikmin 3. What the hell happened ?

It was kind of predicted that there will be no Hardcore-games. But hey: There is still hope. Hope that we core-gamers are going to be noticed. Hope, we can believe in......sorry. That catch-phrase was awful. But I`m still happy. Nintendo said that they will prefer to show casual games like Wii Play, Wii Fit, Mario Kart DS or Dr. Kawashima.The good thing: Nintendo didn`t forget us. Stuff like Wii MotionPlus is also interesting for the producers of core-games.

Imagine a Zelda game with 1:1 sword movements. How awesome would that be?! Do you still remember the times, were you thought Red Steel would transfer your movements 1:1? Technically, it wasn`t possible back then. Back then. Sounds like Red Steel is 3..4 years old. Back then is too harsh. To be exact, it wasn`t possible until now.

Somehow weird, but smart: The Wii MotionPlus thing was announced two hours before the start of the Xbox360-E3-conference. I think it was a strategy against the motion Controller of Microsoft, which was and hopefully is just a rumor. If not, Nintendo has a problem. MotionPlus is available with Wii Sports Resort, which will cost estimated 50$. Europeans will have a similar price.

One more question : Why didn`t the Wii offer that since the launch? A 1:1 movement would be awesome and Nintendo would be richer. But I think this is better like this, because they would have rushed it if it would available at the launch. Smart wise-cracks observed something: The accessory is too big for the safety jacket. I expect a new jacket included in Wii Sports Resort. Another negative aspect: The batteries will live shorter with this.

It`s nice to here that not every publisher forgot us hardcore-gamers. Interesting: The product portfolio of Electronic Arts. The giant continues successful and profitable game names like Need for Speed and creates new series like Boogie ( a second installment was already announced earlier this year). Example: The 2009 versions of FIFA, Madden NFL,Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NBA Live will have a addition in there titles: All-Play.

"WTF does that mean?", you might ask yourself. Well, let us say that Core-gamer get the used action-packed game, but casual-gamers can just play without pressing through oh so long menus and options. Will it effect the market ? I don`t know. But it is not a bad start.

Otherwise, games like MySims or Boogies now have their own games: Boogie SuperStar, and MySims Kingdom. Ubisoft does the same with Prince of Persia and Nintendo with Toon Link : They don`t experiment on new games and possible game series, but instead work on spin-offs of successful game and on the game itself. What is the meaning of this strategy ?The answer,my friend is MONEY

But there are also developers that hate casual-games just like us. For example, High Voltage Games. They`re busy with the programming of the shooter The Conduit-but because of exclusive deals, nobody can show the pictures before High Voltage Games finds a publisher. Even I can`t :(

The Conduit will be playable online with 16-players, will use the VoiceChat "WiiSpeak" (Available with the new Animal Crossing, probably also available by its self too) and have awesome graphics. The developers are really crazy with the details: They work fastidious, fussy, persnickety,squeamish and precise. But not every publisher likeser this: A publish (no name included in the news article) asked the High Voltage Games team: Who will buy this? Which audience likes this?


I will claim the boycott of that anonymous publisher. What were they thinking ?! Hello ?! There are real gamers out there, that are sick of Barbies trying to catch wild ponies,rip-offs, quizzes, bad mini-games, music simulations and other crap that I can buy in supermarket discounters (not kidding) fpr 20-30$ !! OK, just because a game is cheap doesn`t mean it`s bad. For example Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition or Sam & Max: Season One (I will do a preview). Brain Age was interesting, I must admit, but every other casual game that even an elder can finish in 2 hours just is stupid.

"Yes, we`re making it!", said Shigeru Miyamoto. He meant the game Pikmin 3. To be true, I never played Pikmin 1 or 2...but it has a huge fan community. Let`s see if the new audience will like Captain Olimar. He did suck in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Another thing that Nintendo profits from: casual-gamers could like core-games and buy them. The Nintendo Wii would be a magnet of potential future gamers, because it brings the Wii closer to non-gamers. Enough said. That is only a speculation.

Well, I`m optimistic. Nintendo needs us hardcore fans because we will buy their games in good and weak times. This biz is wacky, but Nintendo did make it. There still good, and I am somehow proud of being a Nintendo fan.

Wii Salute !

Super Mario 64: 1.0 Review

Super Mario 64

1.0 Review
2.0 Secrets/Alternatives WARNING:THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS
3.0 DS Version Differences To N64 Version WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS

1.0 Review

"Mario always will be our favorite plumber."

The year 1996, the SNES is on its to extinction and Nintendo releases out their next-gen console called the "Nintendo 64". What game did they show with the system? Super Mario 64. This game alone single handedly took the industry and made everyone drop their jaw in awe of how amazing it looked and played. Mario's franchise had just made the biggest impact from 2D to 3D in gaming. Super Mario 64 is fully in 3D absolutely nothing about this game is done in a 2D way of viewing. You have full control of what you want to do and how you want to play. A completely non-linear Mario game that allows you to just jump around in this expansive world of the Mushroom Kingdom and have fun while doing it.

When you actually pick up the controller and play this game you are just in amazement at what this game features for you . Since you play as Mario you will obviously be able to jump to your hearts content whether it is through the trees or just running back and forth hopping blissfully. Mario also is given a wide array of jumping abilities in this game, for example, if you run forward and pull back on the control stick Mario will perform a side-jump. This is taller than your usual jump allowing you to access other areas that you might have not been able to before. When playing you'll notice the genre this game falls under really sticks out like a sore thumb, platformer. Like all Mario games most of the time you'll be jumping your way through lots of platforms and objects. One of the new abilities however is the ability to do a punch, punch, kick combination. Other than jumping this is one of your only ways to attack the enemies that scatter the levels.There is also a special triple jump,which I will explain further to you in the chapter 2.0.

The main point of Super Mario 64 is actually kind of different from prior games. Princess Peach has given Mario a letter and asked him to come to the castle because she has baked a cake for him. When he arrives he hears an eerie voice saying that Peach has been captured and the stars have been stolen! I actually think Mario tries to save the cake,not the princess !!!!

It pretty much setups for the theme of the game, which is to collect the stars and restore the power back to the Mushroom Kingdom along with rescuing Peach. Collecting stars is actually a very innovative idea when you look at previous Mario games. In order for you to reach a new level you have to obtain a certain amount of stars, these stars will unlock the door and painting that you need to enter. The amount you need isn't anything extravagant either since there are eight stars per level.

Within each level there is a "mission" so to speak that you have to complete. For example, the first level requires you to make your way to a summit of the mountain to take on King Bob-omb. You don't have to follow the guidelines or mission you are in but you will not be given any hint as to where other stars are until you've completed the objective before. This doesn't hinder the gameplay by any stretch of the imagination and since the worlds are so massive this is actually very helpful. This could be compared to their being a world and a sub-level in each world.

One thing that Super Mario 64 didn't have was bosses; strangely the only boss in the game was your old fiend Bowser. There were some "mini-boss" type people in some of the worlds but nothing that really gave you a blow away kind of experience. Although there was a lack of bosses that didn't interfere with the quality of SM64 at all. The "mini-bosses" complimented the loss quite nicely in each of the "sub-levels" of each world.

Musically this game was an absolute masterpiece; featuring the work of Koji Kondo this had a very, very atmospheric type of score. There was the bouncy like, happy music of the snow level, the more Arabic sound of the desert world, and the eerie sound of the Haunted Ghost House. Most of the tracks in the game rarely repeated themselves and changed every time you enter a new portion of a level. To compliment the music is the sound of Mario finally speaking words; Mario has plenty to say in this adventure. He has grunts and "Yippees!", "Yahoo!", "Wha ha ha!" when he jumps into the air. It is a perfect representation of Mario's personality as an optimistic, fun loving kind of guy....

Something that was truly unique to the Mario series was the addition of a life bar. Instead of you getting a mushroom and being able to be hit twice, Mario had a small pie of life. Blue indicated Mario was fully healthy, green meant he had been damaged, yellow meant he was approaching danger, and red meant he was about to die. The only way to recover your health was to get coins, one coin would recover one little slot of your life. This inclusion was most likely due to the lack of power-ups in the game. I will give you further tips in the chapter 2.0.

Nintendo had strayed away from such items as the mushroom and fire flower instead giving Mario three different kinds of caps: Wing, Invisible, and Metal. Aside from those Mario couldn't obtain any sort of upgrade from his normal self. With the Wing Cap he would be able to grow wings out of his hat and fly, with the Invisible Cap he could walk through walls and enemies, and with the Metal Cap he became encase in metal plating.

Quite possibly the best thing about Super Mario 64 was the massive and extremely varied level design. You had a grass level, buildings, haunted houses, deserts, snowy areas, oceans, lava, etc. Nintendo captured every possible type of level format and put them into SM64. What really just sent this over the edge was the amount of depth that every single one of them had. There was just so much you could do in every level and they were so big that you could really go into one and spend hours upon hours trying to find stuff. They could be vibrant and full of color or dark and dreary to give you a tense way to approach things. All of them were scattered with platforming obstacles, enemies, large pillars, even tornadoes. Nintendo had managed to take the old 2D worlds of Mario and transform them into 3D.

With all the things to do in Super Mario 64 you may wonder just how long a game like this is. There is just so much you can do between collecting a total of 120 stars, exploring the vast levels, finding many secrets scattered across the levels, and even just jumping around. The games length runs you through a whomping 20+ hours of total gameplay. Unlike Mario games of the past, this one pumps up the length, for a comparison Super Mario World was around 10 hours for completion. This game more than doubles that in the time you spend playing, making this truly one of the best Mario experiences out there. To further add to the length is the upped difficulty and replay value. Attempting to comeback to the game and give it a whirl at collecting all 120 stars or trying to find well-hidden secrets by Nintendo. It makes you comeback time and time again.

So in closing what Nintendo had managed to do was create more than just another Mario game, but a totally unique gaming experience as a whole. The game that revolutionized the industry, set a standard for 3D gaming, and pushed us in the right direction was Super Mario 64. It truly is one of the best games ever created and because of such it scores no worse than a 10. It doesn't matter what you are a fan of whether it be RPGs, FPS, platformers, etc. you absolutely cannot miss out on playing Super Mario 64.His brother Sunshine just was a tick crapier,but I still recommend Super Mario 64,Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy

Final Score: 10.0

Graphics:10.0

Sound: 10.0 for Marios legendary Yiippiii,Wa-ha-hu !,and Yaaahhhooo !

Gameplay: 10.0

Other: 10.0

Lots of games just sucked after the change to 3D,but Mario broke the trend,and will live on for EVER

to be continued with chapter 2.0.....

Pros talking I:A new Nintendo DS?

The analyst Evan Wilson from Pacific Crest Securities speculates that Nintendo is working on a new Nintendo-DS model. Allegendly the new DS will be thinner, have no GameBoy-Advance Slot and will have a bigger screen, Wilson says. Additionaly the handheld console will have Internal-Memory, so it will be able to save music and photos. Wilson also says it will not be released, if the DS sells like last year.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

^[[{/?<:Now It Is Time For The Gamers To Talk About This Topic:>?\}]]^

A new version of the Nintendo DS makes pretty much sense. Nintendo wants to release DS-demos on the Wii-Shop channel...then a internal-mermory is needed. Nintendo also wants older adults to buy the Nintendo DS,so it is smart to make a bigger screen.Someday the sales will stop and Nintendo will have to bring a new device on the market.Then the new updates will help Nintendo.It did by GBA SP and DS Lite,so it will probally work here to.