Finding a Wii to take home, PSP Homebrew no longer brave, & Rainbow Six Vegas DLC free – Welcome to the column that believes that cherry pie is more american than apple will ever be (and tastier too) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. It’s the 4th of July, yours truly gets to host a patriotic U.S. edition of Dare to Play the Game. What makes it patriotic you say? Do I wave a flag and sing patriotic songs? Or do I just …ake silly puns about the US and twirl my finger in appropriate fashion? Yeah probably the later (that and I’m on a canadian site, so no flying that flag around, eh?). So anyhow, I am here and you are there enjoying ribs, chicken and probably more meat than Paris Hilton did once she got out of prison. *rim shot*…she’s American, like apple pie…pie…Paris, write the jokes yourself because I can’t even make one that easy.
Ode To Morgan Webb
Well it’s not exactly Morgan in red white or blue or anything. But it does have Morgan with guns and in camo, can’t get much more patriotic than that. I saw the usual E3 stuff flash up for G4TV in July and saw a nice picture of Morgan goodness. So it looks like she’ll be courtside for the biggest yearly event in electronics. Though seriously I think most gamers would boycott the proceedings if she wasn’t a part of it in some form or fashion.
News of All Types
Want a Wii, Get in Line (from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-06-29-wii-demand_N.htm
By 9 a.m., the line outside Manhattan’s Nintendo World store was snaking down the block.
More than 100 hopeful Wii owners came from as far as New Jersey — some as early as 6 a.m. with kids and grandparents in tow — to get their hands on the gaming console best known for its wireless, motion-sensitive controller.
It’s been more than seven months since Nintendo launched the Wii, but the consoles are selling so well that supply still hasn’t caught up with demand. You can get one, sure, but be prepared to call around and arrive promptly when the shipments do.
“I had to get permission from work,” said Regina Iannuzzi, 23, in line since 6:20 a.m. on a recent morning. She’d been looking for a Wii, a 25th birthday present for her brother, for two weeks. Every place was sold out.
Like sleeping in? Wiis are also available online, but at a hefty premium to the console’s $250 retail price. A slightly used one from an Amazon.com seller called “Hard-To-Find-Stuff” recently listed for $595 plus $3.99 shipping. Another cost $398 from a different seller.
Seven months and finding a Wii is like finding sense in a Michael Moore documentary. It might be there somewhere, but there is too much bs to sift through to make it worthwhile. Everybody wants a Wii (there is a joke waiting to be made here, but I’ll let you amuse yourself). As soon as X store gets 2 or 3, they go like little crazy hotcakes. Nintendo has created such a demand that I think only half of the people realize what kind of system they are buying. “Game console with cool games and there is so much interactivity with the Wii mote and I can play baseball and bowl…blah blah blah” The fact is that you are buying into a gimmick. Hear me out before you grab the pitchforks.
I’m not saying the Wii isn’t fun. Grandmas and middle aged businessmen who never picked up a controller in their life are having a blast. Great. Talk to them in about a year and see if they still even play the system. While I’m sure some will, the majority I care to differ. The fact remains that once you get past the gimmick, you come back to one central fact. Where are the games? Most people aren’t touching the Virtual Console because people have barely got to the point where they realize their computer is always hooked up to the internet. Nevermind on a console. So while a good selling point, a lot of people will never download anything besides maybe Zelda and one of the Mario Bros games if anything at all.
Okay you say, well we got Super Paper Mario and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Okay, fantastic games. There’s two and oh Metriod Prime 3 which comes out soon, that makes 3. All made by Nintendo. Third party support, doesn’t exist unless it is in the form of A)a casual game or B)a stripped down port of a 360/PS3 game (See Transformers) or even worse a PS2/XBOX game (See Mortal Kombat Armageddon or Resident Evil 4). Then they slap on Wii-Mote functionality and call it a day. Maybe it will take a while for people to see through the smoke and mirrors, maybe they won’t notice at all.
However the reason I chose the 360 as my console of choice for this generation (provided I don’t get any free ones in the foreseeable future) was because it had old and new. I get the old games I miss in XBOX Live Arcade and I get the new games that will hopefully turn the gaming community on its ear like Rainbow Six Vegas and the soon to be released Mass Effect. Sure the PS3 has some great ideas too but they are a couple of price decreases from making things realistic. Not that the Wii isn’t a decent machine; however you are paying for a machine that doesn’t live much beyond its gimmick. Fair warning to all those involved. Feel free to flame me.
PSP
PSP Homebrew’s father decides to give it up (from http://dark-alex.org/)
Bye, scene.
I’ve decided to cease OE development, and leave PSP scene.The reasons are various.
One of them is the time it consumes, which i’m losing from other things.
The other is related to my security. I didn’t like Sony menaces to PS3 hackers.
I think it is better to leave now rather than end paying the consequences.
Kinda sad really. As one could guess Sony probably threatened him with a huge lawsuit. For those who don’t know Dark Alex was the father to PSP homebrew software which is now one would guess open source. But that software opened the gateway to new games, emulation and a whole source of goodies which actually made the PSP kinda unique. It made it worth the $169 price tag and a good alternative to the DS. Because honestly, most people who bought the PSP wanted the ability to play NES games on their PSP or to have something resembling a miniature PC in their hip pocket. It wasn’t to play Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories or Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (no matter what they tell you). However, the software will always exist and hopefully somebody will pick up the cause.
XBox 360
360 Rainbow Six Vegas DLC Supposed to be Free (from kotaku.com)
Let’s just say reaction to Ubisoft’s pricing for the Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack was…negative. And leave it at that. Seems Ubisoft were listening, though, as a post has appeared over at Gamerscore claiming the decision to charge for the pack was “an error”. Anyone who actually paid for it will have their money refunded, and the Red Pack will also now be made available free of charge.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack Downloadable Content for Xbox 360 Live was originally intended to be free content for the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas. We apologize for the error. All players who purchased the Black Pack will be reimbursed automatically within 8 to 10 weeks. The Black Pack will be posted Saturday June 30 and will be free of charge. Also, as a token of our appreciation for the Rainbow Six community, we are making the Red Pack free as of Friday July 6th as well. Thanks for playing and we hope you enjoy this free content.
PS3 got it for free, why shouldn’t we? I found this little nugget of info from my good friend Patrick who called me while I was standing in Kroger deciding whether I wanted Cage Free eggs or eggs that were produced next to toxic waste factories. (I opted with the former). “Dude, free maps for Rainbow Six are on Live”. Really now. As many on here know, I stopped playing Rainbow Six Vegas even though I liked it a great deal because my connection started sucking (which it continues to do so). I can download things off of live and surf the web but XBOX Live multiplayer short of card and board games is a nightmare. So I downloaded the Black pack last Saturday and will download the Red pack on the 6th or 7th. At the very least, I’ll go and try single player terrorist hunts with the new maps and see if I can get through any of them. I might even try a live connection and see if I can perform some magic like I used too. Kudos to Ubisoft for rewarding all of us. Have fun, shoot a buddy.
Releases for the week of July 3rd, 2007
XBOX Live Arcade
Missile Command (400 MS Points)
I was wishing for Bomberman and got Missile Command. Somehow I think I got shafted in the deal. Anyhow, Atari releases this classic adaption of the very ancient arcade hit. However, the team @ Atari & Stainless Games have done the trendy thing and evolved Missile Command into a new one with enhanced graphics, sounds and special effects. It even supports up to 1080p with full screen anti-aliasing and really cool digital surround sound. Well I’m guessing the last part (sure it’s really cool). 400 points will get you the enhanced and classic versions. The achievements center mostly on the enhanced version (only one is off the classic portion). I would suggest saving your points unless you really want everything that is Atari. Based on their last quarter, Atari does need all of the cash it can get…so I guess you should support them :).
Wii Virtual Console
Super Mario Bros 2 (NES – 500 Wii Points), Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis – 800 Wii Points), & Dragon Spirit (TG-16 – 600 Wii Points)
An interesting Virtual Console trio for this week. I might be in the minority but Super Mario Bros 2 is probably my favorite Mario Bros game. It was just different. First you could play as 4 different characters, all with different attributes. Luigi could dig well, Princess could jump like nobody’s business and throwing turnips was just fun. Magic jars would change the gaming world into something from an alternate reality. (basically by just making it really dark and changing the items). Ecco Tides of Time, the second game featuring everybody’s favorite gaming dolphin (only cause he didn’t have much in the lines of competition). Enough people got gimmicked into buying the first one that somebody at Sega thought hey we should have a sequel. And here we go. Dragon Spirit is another good vertical shooter that was on Turbo Graphix machine. This reminds me a little bit of Legendary Wings except that you would take the form of a Blue Dragon and fight your way through more monsters than I care to think about. Any shooting game is cool that actually enables your Dragon to grow multiple heads to fight off enemy bosses. Skip Ecco, take a good look at Dragon Spirit and be sure to consider SMB2 for a trippy time.
PSP
Hot Wheels Ultimate Racing
Steel Horizon
PS3
Ninja Gaiden Sigma
Xbox 360
Vampire Rain
Wii
Chicken Shoot
Wii Blaster
GBA
Horsez
DS
Platinum Sudoku
Vegas Casino: High 5
Somebody mark this down, this is the first that I can remember in a long long time that there is not some Playstation 2 release. To be honest, there isn’t much in the way of releases at all this week considering the holiday. The new consoles get one major release a piece. Release of the week goes to PS3 for once where Ninja Gaiden Sigma should appease action fans (or at least those who have not played Ninja Gaiden Black on the old XBOX). Vampire Rain might be somewhat interesting but basically all you are doing is shooting a bunch of vampires (because they are all raining down, ha ha ha *sigh*). I’m not even going to comment on Chicken Shoot. Wii, casual, see rant up above. Okay already, geezus.
Some Final Thoughts and Mutterings
Been sitting here this week, enjoying Velvet Revolver’s new cd. It’s pretty groovy though Scott’s voice does sound different from the previous one. Not ridiculously different as some people are claiming but there is a change. It will make for fine rotation until Puddle of Mudd’s third effort comes along (7/24). Gaming this week has been mostly a good smattering of Doom (XBOX Live) and this and that. I got through the second episode and I’m currently I’m sitting at Episode 3, Mission 6. Should be named Lava, your friend and mine. Good thing I make use of frequent saving. I’ll make a concerted effort to finish up that episode by next week. Episode 4 is a mother or so I’m told. I only played through the first 3 in college. (and I remember 3 was pretty bad, but I believe I completed it). I would imagine the rest of my time might be messing with the R6V Red and Black Packs and just hoping that my connection cooperates for a little bit. That would be nice. Have fun kiddoes.
As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)
07/06/2007 @ 9:14 am
TOAD was the digger. Luigi had crazy jumping abilities.Otherwise, fantastic as always, Mike! And I’m starting to agree with your opinions on Wii. It’s mostly a Virtual Console machine for me right now…
07/09/2007 @ 10:56 am
So there was a point to the Toad character :). Thanks for the clarification. Though if I remember, Luigi was a real good digger too. Just not the best I guess. I miss the way SMB2 used the whole warp zone thing. It was near trippy.