Losing a Head, Having a Heavy Barrel and WIIIIIIIIII! – Welcome to the old wooden roller coaster with a missing set of tracks known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. May you never experience what it is like to have your house half full and your heart empty. Anyhow, just fixing up the old house; painted my back door and it actually looks decent; just needs another coat. Replacing all my light bulbs with those CFL’s but slowly a… my wallet can handle it. I do notice the difference but it is nowhere near distracting. I need to get some weather stripping next as I’ve noticed a few gaps here and there on my doors. I guess I was just blind to them before.
Ode To Morgan Webb
I want to serve notice here and now. Morgan is a fine work of art; language about Morgan’s unmentionables or description of her body in a derogatory manner will not be tolerated. That being said, please enjoy the picture I have enclosed this week. Pay particular attention to her eyes and bouncy…set of hair. Thank you.
Quick news stories of interest
The publisher plans to keep the next-generation status quo when it comes to pricing its games.
Speaking at the recent Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference, Activision CEO Robert Kotick revealed his company’s plans to set its PlayStation 3 games at the same $60 price point its Xbox 360 titles have used.
“We have not seen a lot of consumer resistance at the higher price points, and we expect that all of our next-generation products will be launched at $60 price points,” Kotick said.
Activision’s Call of Duty 2 for the 360 recently passed the million-sold mark in North America alone at $60 a pop.
Price Points, yeahie. I’m not sure I like the $60 price point to be honest. But then again you are talking to somebody who almost refuses to pay more than $20 for a game unless it is a fantastic rpg or a wrestling game. But when I was a kid, I remember the $70 pricing of SNES games like Street Fighter 2 and NBA Showdown among others. At that time, I could see my parents feeling really weary about buying the games and it wasn’t until I became an adult that I understood why. Also, it makes the point about Call of Duty 2 selling a million plus copies. Well, that’s what happens when you make the game of the year. For every Call of Duty out there, there are a million movie crap games that Activision likes to put out such as Shark Tale, Shrek 2 and Judge F’ing Dredd. Don’t ever see the sales figures of those do ya?
Wii Virtual Console Partners
Who’s making games for Nintendo’s retro service.
It seems as if everyone is making games for Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. Well, everyone that counts, at least.
At the Japanese version of its Wii press conference, held yesterday in Tokyo, Nintendo announced 24 partner companies from whom we can expect games to appear on the retro games service.
The list of companies looks a little something like this:
# D4E
# Atlus
# Bandai Namco Games
# Banpresto
# Capcom
# Chun Soft
# Enterbrain
# HAL Laboratory Inc.
# Hudson
# Irem
# Jaleco
# Kemco
# Koei
# Konami
# Masaya
# Net Farm
# PAON
# Rocket company
# Sega
# Taito
# Takara Tomy
# Tecmo
# Sunsoft
# Square Enix
As noted in our earlier story, Nintendo has set up the following pricing scheme for Virtual Console titles in Japan. Famicom games will cost in the 500 yen range. Super Famicom games will go for around 800 yen. Nintendo 64 games will cost around 1000 yen. These are just approximate values, so it’s possible that you’ll be paying more for some titles.
Virtual Console games are purchased via Wii Points that are stored on your Wii system. Wii Points themselves can be purchased using prepaid cards or credit card.
Prepaid cards will be available in 1,000 yen, 3,000 yen and 5,000 yen varieties, but the 5,000 yen version is sure to get the most attention. Nintendo Japan will be included the Classic Controller with a limited number of 5,000 yen cards. This is normally a 1,800 yen device.
Of course the big news of the week was related to the WII. Release Date: November 19th, Price tag $249. That’s all you really need to know to begin with. I’m pretty close to pulling the trigger. My main interest is this article. The Virtual Console. I love the fact that 20+ companies are on board with more to come. I have no intention of buying any Nintendo 64 games, but there would be NES, SNES, Genesis and Turbo Graphix titles that would catch my eye for sure. (Dracula X – TG16 SCD anybody, come on Konami…you don’t even have to translate it). The pricing isn’t bad either, $4.25 for a NES game, $8.50 for a SNES title etc. Hopefully the cards use the method of more points per dollar system ala 1,000 yen gets you 1000 wii points but 3,000 yen would get you 3,500 wii points and so forth (I’m making guesses here). My only other question has to do with if your system fries or the memory goes bloop..do you lose your virtual console titles or is your purchase history stored on some Nintendo WII Mainframe in anywhere USA/Japan. Just thinking outside the box. I would hate to buy Secret of Mana for SNES VC’ed and then lose it. Anybody want to sell me the cart? 🙂
Reasons the Sega Genesis was better than the SNES
Decap Attack
Genesis had more than its assortment of side scrolling adventure game madness. One such classic is Decap Attack where you played the role of Chuck D. Head (get it?), a walking mummy whose face was in his stomach and he could extend his face to attack the enemy. There would be of course potions and items to collect as you took on the quest to defeat the evil Max D. Cap. This game was an update of titles such as Psycho Fox for SMS (a forgotten classic on its own) and others. It was a pretty easy game for the most part, but just very cute and well put out. Look for it to be included in the Sega Genesis collection for this fall.
Retro Game of the Week
Heavy Barrel – Arcade, PC, NES
This run and shoot classic with heavily borrowed concepts from Ikari Warriors and Contra was a great game, especially to play with a buddy. Heavy Barrel referred to the gun that you collected pieces of throughout the game and once you got it….oh babie! The gun ripped through any enemy but you only had it for about 30 seconds. There were also other weapons including a spreader type gun and blue triple shooter. I still remember this game from a kid and how hard it was for me to get through the 2nd stage boss (mr. grappling crane), until I figured out that you just had to have the red grenades and you could storm through. I eventually finished the game, but just remembered the joy when I finally figured out how to really play it. I prefer the NES version to some extent as the Heavy Barrel arcade had the Ikari Warriors setup with the joystick you had to spin around (still gets me to this day). Great fun game all around.
PS2
Cabela’s Alaskan Adeventure
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing
King of Fighting 2006
NRA Gun Club
Okami
Open Season
Samurai Warriors 2
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
Zatchbell: Mamodo Fury
PSP
Open Season
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
XBox 360
Cabela’s Alaskan Adventure
Open Season
Samurai Warriors 2
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
XBox
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing
Open Season
Gamecube
Open Season
DS
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Open Season
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
GBA
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team
Capcom Classics Mini Mix
Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle
Fasion Dogz
Open Season
Princess Natasha: Student Secret Agent
Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Dreams
Well the big releases this week have to be Dawn of Sorrow, Dragon Quest Heroes for the DS. And to a smaller extent, the next couple of Pokemon games for the DS & GBA. Okami and King of Fighters might also be of the interest for the PS2. Anybody find it slightly ironic (or perhaps slightly planned) that the week all of the Open Season games (the new animated movie w/ cute woodland animals) are out is the same week Cabela’s Alaskan Adventure and NRA Gun Club are thrust upon us. Two big hunting games, one cute and furry set of games on every system. I personally can’t stand hunting games nor movie games that have to be regurgitated upon every console.
Some Final Thoughts and Mutterings
In video games this week, I only did two things of video gameness outside of the usual playing schedule of poker, football (ESPN 2k5 w/ 2k7 rosters!), and the occasional rpg. One, I put my $20 for pre-order on Sega Genesis Collection (this is going to rock the house), and two Target had X-Men Legends 2 Strategy Guide for a measly $4. Amazing how two Targets within less than 10 miles from each other (on the same stretch of road) have different pricing structures…including different clearance pricing. Pays sometimes to shop around. Take care folks and happy gaming.
As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)
