The 2009 Video Game Thread

[MJ4H]

lol @ "controls as promised"

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

And many of us were amazed at how many Sony users were willing to pay $200 just to get a Blu-Ray player added on to their console

Every manufacturer has their accessories and add-ons they want to sell. Don't make like Nintendo is somehow "special". The initial controller they released worked very well and took the industry by storm; any attempts to turn that into a failure are just flying in the face of the facts.

I think the point MBBF is trying to make is no console has ever been successful at getting customers to buy addons for their system. Even Nintendo tried before with the NES with disastrous results. For whatever reason, they've found the magical formula with the Wii and people are forking over money left and right to get addons.

The control system did pull people in, but even the best games on the system made the controls optional or they felt tacked on. The fact is there's been very few games on the Wii that actually built the game around the control system and succeeded. I don't see how anyone could really argue that the control system that shipped out of the box with the Wii was revolutionary when it wasn't much more than flicks of the wrist. Nintendo did a great job of covering its flaws and avoiding the bad PR that's plagued Sony and Microsoft at various points this generation.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

lol @ "controls as promised"

Sorry, I must have missed the point where they promised motion controls that couldn't tell the difference between a flick of the wrist and a full swing of the arm.

[EagleFan]

I'll chime in a bit on Wii Sports Resort. Picked it up Sunday to play with the family and it is a great extension to the original Wii Sports. The girls absolutely love it.

Sword play - very fun

Wakeboarding - My oldest loves this, I find it entertaining

Archery - VERY cool

Bowling - more of the same from the original, like the 100 pin game

Canoeing - actually kayaking with a canoe paddle, okay for a once in a while diversion but I can see it getting old if done too often

Biking - I can see this getting old really quickly, like the canoeing it may be nice once in a while

Jet Ski - this one can be annoying

Air sports - skydiving get be repetitive, dog fighting can be fun once in a while (once you find each other)

Table Tennis - very cool

Basketball - I like the 3 point shootout the best but the 3 on 3 is actually fun as well

Golf - haven't tried yet

Frisbie - Also very cool

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Nintendo underdesigned the original controller knowing they could release the WM+ later and get more money

Not sure how that works. I am sure they aren't making profit on the hardware - its dirt cheap.

To sell more new software? Wii Sports was a huge hit with the "inadequate" original controls, and Wii Sports 2 would have been a huge hit with or without WMP. This is flying off the shelves due to the software, not the hardware.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I think the point MBBF is trying to make is no console has ever been successful at getting customers to buy addons for their system. Even Nintendo tried before with the NES with disastrous results. For whatever reason, they've found the magical formula with the Wii and people are forking over money left and right to get addons.

The control system did pull people in, but even the best games on the system made the controls optional or they felt tacked on. The fact is there's been very few games on the Wii that actually built the game around the control system and succeeded. I don't see how anyone could really argue that the control system that shipped out of the box with the Wii was revolutionary when it wasn't much more than flicks of the wrist. Nintendo did a great job of covering its flaws and avoiding the bad PR that's plagued Sony and Microsoft at various points this generation.

Well, he was trying to spin it as "people are paying $20 to get what they should have got in the first place". The Wii has been successful at selling additional controllers because it's a huge hit as a party system. The control system has been wildly successful at getting the console into the hands of people who would never have ordinarily bought a console. Sure, most games are designed to take advantage of traditional control schemes, but there are plenty of good party games that take advantage of the control system to make it worthwhile (see BoomBlox for example).

To try and claim people have been ripped off on this control system is patently absurd. To try and claim that once it was a wild success work would not be done to improve it is patently absurd. It's been a couple of years folks.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Sorry, I must have missed the point where they promised motion controls that couldn't tell the difference between a flick of the wrist and a full swing of the arm.

The point is they didn't promise you jack.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I think the point MBBF is trying to make is no console has ever been successful at getting customers to buy addons for their system. Even Nintendo tried before with the NES with disastrous results. For whatever reason, they've found the magical formula with the Wii and people are forking over money left and right to get addons.

The control system did pull people in, but even the best games on the system made the controls optional or they felt tacked on. The fact is there's been very few games on the Wii that actually built the game around the control system and succeeded. I don't see how anyone could really argue that the control system that shipped out of the box with the Wii was revolutionary when it wasn't much more than flicks of the wrist. Nintendo did a great job of covering its flaws and avoiding the bad PR that's plagued Sony and Microsoft at various points this generation.

The IR pointer worked fine out of the box and a lot of good games have used that. For motion controls I'm with you in that I've only liked the way it was implemented in a few games (Wii Sports, No More Heroes, some of the earlier golf games were decent but not great, a couple of levels in Super Mario Galaxy) before Motion Plus. I'll get Wii Sports Resort soon but I'm already convinced of what MP adds from playing Tiger Woods 10 and Grand Slam Tennis.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

The point is they didn't promise you jack.

If you want to be picky, no they didn't openly say they promise something, but they mislead people starting with E3 '06.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

The IR pointer worked fine out of the box and a lot of good games have used that. For motion controls I'm with you in that I've only liked the way it was implemented in a few games (Wii Sports, No More Heroes, some of the earlier golf games were decent but not great, a couple of levels in Super Mario Galaxy) before Motion Plus. I'll get Wii Sports Resort soon but I'm already convinced of what MP adds from playing Tiger Woods 10 and Grand Slam Tennis.

I agree. The IR pointer was probably the best part of the Wii controls out of the box.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Atocep

If you want to be picky, no they didn't openly say they promise something, but they mislead people starting with E3 '06.

Big difference between imply and promise. I totally disagree that pointing that out is being picky.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Big difference between imply and promise. I totally disagree that pointing that out is being picky.

Yes, because there's a huge difference between being led to believe something about a product based on its demos and then find out it was wrong than have them promise it and it turns out to be wrong.

Nintendo should be above all criticism on this because they simply misled everyone.

[MJ4H]

No, I didn't say they are above all criticism. I have criticized them for this misleading in the past. I said it was not a PROMISE. THAT is seriously a ludicrous idea that anything was ever promised.

If they misled someone, you say they misled someone in your criticism. If they promised something and didn't deliver on it, that is a different matter entirely. For what it's worth, I agree that some of the stage demos were misleading, but not that much so. Anyone that thought it was a 1 to 1 controller had simply not looked into it. It was in Nintendo's best interest to show as much immersion as possible in the stage demos so they did it. Whatever people took from that is their own interpretations. Nintendo certainly never *promised* a 1 to 1 controller.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

No, I didn't say they are above all criticism. I have criticized them for this misleading in the past. I said it was not a PROMISE. THAT is seriously a ludicrous idea that anything was ever promised.

If they misled someone, you say they misled someone in your criticism. If they promised something and didn't deliver on it, that is a different matter entirely. For what it's worth, I agree that some of the stage demos were misleading, but not that much so. Anyone that thought it was a 1 to 1 controller had simply not looked into it. It was in Nintendo's best interest to show as much immersion as possible in the stage demos so they did it. Whatever people took from that is their own interpretations. Nintendo certainly never *promised* a 1 to 1 controller.

Misleading everyone with tech demo after tech demo starting with the Tokyo Game Show and E3 in '06 and continuing up until launch isn't all that different from promising it. To debate that is getting picky about it and arguing over semantics. WM+ is a patch that was necessary because the motion controls just didn't deliver the experience everyone was expecting based on what was shown.

[Cringer]

Eh, I kind of agree that Motion Plus is what the original controller should have been, and I thought it would be until we got one. Maybe I didn't research enough, but it does seem like a joke of an add-on to me. An example of how well it the original controller worked given above was Boom Blox, a very fun game which we own. The controls are far from great on it, good yes but could be much better IMO.

[gstelmack]

I suspect that of the people who bought a Wii, 0.0000001% were actually aware of all those specific tech demos (I heard about some of it but never saw the details), 1/3 bought it because it was Nintendo, and the remaining 2/3 or so bought it after playing at a friend's house, at some public venue (like our local WiiBounce), or after seeing all the news stories about its awesomeness.

So if we are to assume they broke promises and are finally delivering what they promised, it was to a tiny fraction of their customer base.

[Cringer]

I never saw "all those specific tech demos" and still expected more. At the same time, and I should have said this above, I don't feel like I was lied to. I just expected it to be a little better and was somewhat disappointed. My life has gone on. I don't use it anyways, my daughter does once in a while though.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Every manufacturer has their accessories and add-ons they want to sell. Don't make like Nintendo is somehow "special". The initial controller they released worked very well and took the industry by storm; any attempts to turn that into a failure are just flying in the face of the facts.

Certainly it wasn't a failure nor was I trying to make it out as such. I just noticed that similar things were being said on this board that had been voiced in the community. Consumers have demonstrated a short memory when it comes to being burned with extra costs by hardware and software developers, so they're able to get away with it in general. I definitely agree with you that there's far too plastic being sold by all parties.

[Calis]

I'm in the same boat as Cringer. I don't feel like I was lied to by Nintendo, I just assumed the motion controller would function like motion plus does. That's what I pictured a motion controller doing.

I didn't see any tech demos, and I don't have a problem with them selling an upgrade now. Obviously wish that Motion Plus was the way it worked from the start, because now we're going to see a fractured base. Now Wii Sports Resort is going to sell like hotcakes as we've seen, but we're still looking at a large portion of the base not having the device. How much are devs going to focus on building for it? That's the biggest issue I have with it. We're now splitting dev time into creating two modes.

The Wii is what is though. I can actually say in the last 6 months I've played it exponentially more than my 360, but it also sat for a good 9 months without being turned on once before that.

I really want to try out Grand Slam Tennis as well, anyone here played it much? How complicated is it?

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Calis

I'm in the same boat as Cringer. I don't feel like I was lied to by Nintendo, I just assumed the motion controller would function like motion plus does. That's what I pictured a motion controller doing.

I didn't see any tech demos, and I don't have a problem with them selling an upgrade now. Obviously wish that Motion Plus was the way it worked from the start, because now we're going to see a fractured base. Now Wii Sports Resort is going to sell like hotcakes as we've seen, but we're still looking at a large portion of the base not having the device. How much are devs going to focus on building for it? That's the biggest issue I have with it. We're now splitting dev time into creating two modes.

The Wii is what is though. I can actually say in the last 6 months I've played it exponentially more than my 360, but it also sat for a good 9 months without being turned on once before that.

I really want to try out Grand Slam Tennis as well, anyone here played it much? How complicated is it?

Yeah, Nintendo will push Motion Plus with some key games like Wii Sports Resort and probably the next console Zelda game but I do worry that third parties will be slow to develop games with WMP in mind.

Grand Slam Tennis isn't much more complicated than tennis in the first Wii Sports, you swing to hit the ball, timing determines direction (early on a forehand goes to the left, late to the right, etc.) and you do a flat shot, top spin, or slice depending on how you angle your swing. Even with Motion Plus you press a button and swing to do drop shots and lobs which does work fine though I would rather everything were controlled by the swing.

You can choose to connect the nunchuck and control player movement with the analog stick or go Wiimote only and have the AI move your player around.

There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, you play tournaments and increase your stats and can win special abilities off the pros you beat. The career mode isn't as deep as the one in the Virtua Tennis series. I haven't played online but that is available. The main draws are the on court gameplay (if you use the Motion Plus) plus having all the Grand Slam venues was cool for me at least.

[MJ4H]

I strongly disagree that "expected more" and "was promised more" is a nit-picking semantic difference.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Street Fighter IV (PS3/360) for $20.

Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 or PS3 $23 - Slickdeals.net

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Street Fighter IV (PS3/360) for $20.

Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 or PS3 $23 - Slickdeals.net

Seems like false advertising to me.... Promising a game for $20 only to find out it is $23... LOL

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Little King's Story is great so far, I'm well on my way to world domination. I like the combination of RTS, adventuring, and some light RPG elements. The music and graphics are some of the best I've seen and heard on the system as well. Overall it's living up to the hype so far, give it a shot if you like strategy games.

I'd be curious to hear more of a fleshed out review or at least some more comments

SI

[sterlingice]

I was at the Nintendo World Store in NYC last week and would have pulled the trigger if Wii Sports Resort was out but, alas, it was not.

They had lots of people playing it in store, however- it just was not available for purchase. I also would have bought a DSi if they had a Nintendo World special edition but no luck there, either.

Ended up getting a mug, tho

SI

[TargetPractice6]

Count me as one immensely disappointed with Wii controllers. Sure the console itself was cheap, but the controllers are $40 each. They are basically useless without a nunchuk so we're up to $60. Now I gotta pay $20 more for something it should have done out of the box? And then if we want to play with friends (and really that's all I even care to use the Wii for) I have to pay this four times over. Yeah I'd say I'm disappointed in having to pay $320+ just on the controllers for the system (plus an extra $40 since one of them already stopped detecting motion).

[stevew]

I need to get into wii sports resort. Traded in a bunch of stuff for it the other day, and haven't opened it yet.

I think I got like 32 bucks out of Punch Out, due to some 20%+ promo they were running. That plus a bunch of old DS games made me feel like maybe the first time in forever I didn't get raped by the GameStop trade in process.

I mean, yeah, you can get more by selling them on Ebay, but this is just the easier way to do it.

[SnowMan]

I'm jonesin for a good baseball game for the 360. Since The Show is ps only, any suggestions? I tried the demo for mlb2k9 and wasn't all that impressed with the pitching/batting interface. The Bigs seems a bit too arcadey for my taste. Any others out there?

[rowech]

Originally Posted by SnowMan

I'm jonesin for a good baseball game for the 360. Since The Show is ps only, any suggestions? I tried the demo for mlb2k9 and wasn't all that impressed with the pitching/batting interface. The Bigs seems a bit too arcadey for my taste. Any others out there?

Nope....baseball on 360 sucks.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Ended up getting a mug, tho

SI

How much did charge you for the add-on handle?

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by stevew

I need to get into wii sports resort. Traded in a bunch of stuff for it the other day, and haven't opened it yet.

I think I got like 32 bucks out of Punch Out, due to some 20%+ promo they were running. That plus a bunch of old DS games made me feel like maybe the first time in forever I didn't get raped by the GameStop trade in process.

I mean, yeah, you can get more by selling them on Ebay, but this is just the easier way to do it.

Try Goozex.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

We need more parents in the U.S. like this.......

'Guitar Hero' whiz aiming higher - D Arts & Living - News & Observer

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Samdari

Try Goozex.

Yeah, I'm sure that's better. I am just super very lazy.

[SnowMan]

Originally Posted by rowech

Nope....baseball on 360 sucks.

Thanks, that's kinda what I thought. Someone needs to remedy this.

[Epi_862]

Guess this is as good a thread to ask as any...

Regarding Colin McCrae DIRT. Is it really so that you cannot play local multiplayer in any shape or form? Im not even talking about splitscreen stuff, just hot seat stuff. Thats the meat & bones of old Colin games for me, and i bought Dirt on sale just for that, but so far i cannot find any indication that local multiplayer is supported...

Please tell me if you know better.

[vex]

Goozex is awesome btw.

And Tropico 3 is coming out for the 360, can't wait!

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by SnowMan

Thanks, that's kinda what I thought. Someone needs to remedy this.

They can't, unless Microsoft decides to publish it.

2K Sports is the exclusive third-party publisher of MLB products at this point in time, so...

[whomario]

First substantial Information on NBA 2K10 released and it sounds extremely promising :

NBA 2K10: Exclusive First Look - GameSpot Sports Beat - Gaming News and Videos For Sports Video Games - Football Video Games - Baseball Video Games


summer league - check
d league - check
training camp - check
draft class creation - check
career mode - check
player spacing - (alleged check)
new double team engine - check
82 games tendencies - check


seriously this sounds as promising as any gamepreview i´ve read in recent memory. Seems like they are making a huge jump with this one, assuming this doesn´t turn out to be a bug-fest.



also, they are going to release a DLC game in early september called NBA 2K10 Draft Combine ( NBA 2K10 Draft Combine: 2K's DLC Gamble - GameSpot Sports Beat - Gaming News and Videos For Sports Video Games - Football Video Games - Baseball Video Games ) which is also going to be full game later. Going to cost about 5 $ and lets you create a player and guide him through the draft workout process including drills as well as games with other rookies, basically just like the real draft combine.
You can determine your position and player style (f.e. Pass First PG, defensive SG or Face-Up PF) and you are going to have to reach objectives relative to that to move up in the mock draft and boost your overall rating. You can later use that player in the full version (you can actually create as many players as you want but only register one at a time i think)
Definitely an interesting idea, basically an enhanced demo for little money.

[RainMaker]

Damn, going to have to preorder NBA 2K10.

[Big Fo]

I haven't bought a basketball game since NBA2k6 on PS2, maybe this will be the year.

[Big Fo]

There is a competition to see who can do the best job programming an AI to make it through randomly generated levels of Super Mario World. Here is one entry:





The wall jump in the first video (ala 3D Mario and NSMB) is apparently something that has been coded into this Java program (called Infinite Mario Bros.) in case you were wondering. The video goes too fast for me to see what is going on when Mario takes out the piranha plants, whether it's a fireball or some other new move added into the game like walljumping.

Pretty awesome.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

There is a competition to see who can do the best job programming an AI to make it through randomly generated levels of Super Mario World. Here is one entry:





The wall jump in the first video (ala 3D Mario and NSMB) is apparently something that has been coded into this Java program (called Infinite Mario Bros.) in case you were wondering. The video goes too fast for me to see what is going on when Mario takes out the piranha plants, whether it's a fireball or some other new move added into the game like walljumping.

Pretty awesome.

I was wondering about the wall jump, and the piranha plants after watching the first one! Is Mario hitting the bottom of the plants or something? Pretty cool AI.

[sterlingice]

Great?!? So, now we don't just have to compete with people who play XBox Live 24 hours a day and people in other countries who farm loot for a living, now we have to compete against computers, too

SI

[Neon_Chaos]

Anyone else with a PSP download Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! What did I do to deserve this? ?

Very fun game.

[Ironhead]

The new Batman: Arkham Asylum game was nowhere on my radar because games based on things like this are usually pretty terrible. I saw it got a really great review so I downloaded the demo. Wow, this game just jumped to the top of my list after playing the demo.

Doubt I would buy it because it sounds short. Seems like a perfect game to rent though.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

The new Batman: Arkham Asylum game was nowhere on my radar because games based on things like this are usually pretty terrible. I saw it got a really great review so I downloaded the demo. Wow, this game just jumped to the top of my list after playing the demo.

Doubt I would buy it because it sounds short. Seems like a perfect game to rent though.

I've been trying to download the PS3 demo for this all day. I guess everybody else is, too. Do you use Gamefly to rent? I heard that it's tough to get good games from them, that they usually send games from lower in your queue. Have you found this to be the case?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by samifan24

I've been trying to download the PS3 demo for this all day. I guess everybody else is, too. Do you use Gamefly to rent? I heard that it's tough to get good games from them, that they usually send games from lower in your queue. Have you found this to be the case?

I used Gamefly for about two months and that's my experience. Wasn't able to get any newer games.

[MrDNA]

Agree with gamefly sending stuff that was around 5th or 6th on my queue continually. Very aggravating and the reason that they're not getting my money anymore.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I used Gamefly for about two months and that's my experience. Wasn't able to get any newer games.

Originally Posted by MrDNA

Agree with gamefly sending stuff that was around 5th or 6th on my queue continually. Very aggravating and the reason that they're not getting my money anymore.

Good to know. Thanks.

[Calis]

Originally Posted by Ironhead

The new Batman: Arkham Asylum game was nowhere on my radar because games based on things like this are usually pretty terrible. I saw it got a really great review so I downloaded the demo. Wow, this game just jumped to the top of my list after playing the demo.

Doubt I would buy it because it sounds short. Seems like a perfect game to rent though.

Same here on everything. I really let this one fall off my radar because it seemed like one that was destined to be an absolute mess. It's gone through several iterations and push backs. I don't try demos often either but got bored this morning and fired it up. I had a blast with it. Seems extremely well done.

They did a great job of capturing the feel of being Batman. You're an absolute wrecking crew hand to hand, and it is very satisfying sneaking around for stealth kills. A guy with a gun can end your day very quickly though. Great voice acting, and seemed like a decent focus on story, and I'm curious to see how the full game builds up. I kept thinking about Bioshock while playing it also. Something about the look of things reminded me of it.

Probably wait and rent it as well, because I don't see it having legs but I'm really looking forward to a play through.

As for the Gamefly talk, from what I've read the trick is people remove stuff from their queue. If you have a bigger list they have no problem sending you one further down, and they prioritize sending out games to the people who only want the new one. Not sure if that's true, and a weird way to do things but I've heard it several times.