Rejected Wii Games

http://www.break.com/index/rejected-wii-games.html
btw, I am bagsying Fi. It will have to be a Fi(lm) club tho as I dont have any posh hardware!!

TITWTWB - 4 November

Or... This Is The Week That Will Be, starting 4 November.

In a new excuse to waste time and further delay fixing that pesky Domino server s u d 0 is going to cast his beady eyes over next week's UK releases, picking a few notables for each platform, the Game Of The Week and the Turd Of The Week.

Here are next week's hopeful candidates.

For the 360 we have Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, NASCAR 08, WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008, Beowulf and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Beowulf looks good but as it is a movie tie-in it thus wavers on the knife edge of mediocrity depending entirely on how the box-office goes for the film.

For the Wii this week's selection includes Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. This is the first time Lego has come to the Wii and I can't see that it will take the old-timer's favourite tennis-sim console into new heights of originality. Endless Ocean (the diving sim) looks like one of those non-games that's fun for about 10 minutes but ends up gathering dust on top of the DVD player within days. With the WWE game and My Word Coach also on the roster, it's hardly the most exciting week for Wii owners.

PSP owners see the ubiquitous WWE Smackdown and The Simpsons Game featuring the actual voice talents from the series, but probably no plot, and no funnies. Much like the movie then.

And what do the lucky DS gamers get next week? Strawberry Shortcake: The Four Seasons Cake, Deal or no Deal, and WWE Smackdown. Back to the 'homebrew' there then.

PS3, PC and PS2. Do we care about these enough to write about them? If you do, let me know and I'll include them next week.

All in all a fairly humdrum week I think. Ignoring Munchk's penchant for role-playing oiled-up beefcake actors aka pro wrestlers (never forget) I think I'm going to have to roll with Simplicitly's in-depth Beta-test preview and favour CoD4 for the 360 this week. Despite that fact that a) It's another CoD game and 2) it's still too close to Halo 3 for another multiplayer online battle sim, I'm naming Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as my Game of the Week.

My Turd of the Week is going to Deal or no Deal. Even granted that it doesn't feature the diminutive, jumper-wearing, minge-faced Edmunds I can't imagine playing what is essentially a random number generator for any length of time. Most modern calculators or a simple batch script will give you just as many minutes of psuedo-random fun. Plus you can play it free online now anyway.

Glad to see that Metacritic backs me up here. Nice scores, lads.

Do A Barrel Roll

Another flukey kill / death in Halo 3. I have just one question...

Is it all that hard to find decent music?

Return of the Munchk

you all knew it was coming. my place this coming f(r)iday, the 26th October. Be there, or remote in like the big girl i have been on the last few fridays :)

Prior to FiClub... Halo 3 mini-tactics

Prior to this weeks' Fi, for which I should be up for some remoting, if you aren't all playing something 4UP exclusively, thought I'd post my H3 thoughts and findings from a total-n00b point of view, as Halolll is the first time I've gotten involved in any online shenanigins in earnest, and I thought I'd try and maybe just encapsulate my top tips.

Don't mind what sort of games we play, Ranked is all well and good, but it is limited to 4UP teams, and if we want to play maybe with anotherdad, or some of the other groovesters from our friends lists, social will allow us to do this, whilst still allowing us to hone our shooting and teamwork skills. If there are a few things that I have come to learn really help with H3 they are the following:

1. In team games, stay close together. Always. *sometimes* on some maps it helps to have one player roaming to outflank or surprise the enemy, but more likely this just leaves them isolated and prone to getting killed by being outnumbered. Certainly in games where kill-count is how you win, it is at least as important to stay alive as it is to shoot enemies... acting in concert with your teamies helps with this, because you can alternately peek out from cover and shoot... allowing shields to recharge, enemy bullets to be distracted from focusing on one target, and a team mate to maybe finish kills that you have started in the event that you die.

2. Practice playing other real people - mostly practicing shooting. Using fancy weapons is all well and good, but there are few skills as valuable as being able to hold the crosshair over your target whilst weilding the Assault Rifle. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and it is a skill that transfers to many of the other weapons.

3. Knowing where the weapons are on the maps is something you can learn gradually by playing them through, and understanding which weapons are more effective.

4. Take Cover. Not always effective, but having somewhere to run to or drop into or hide behind can prevent you being killed, meaning no score for the enemy, and they might even chase you in, where your teamies can put them under fire... knowing which way they are coming.

5. Laugh. Taking it seriously just makes losing annoying and winning not so joyful. It isn't a job - there are always going to be better teams, and certainly while we are still learning teamwork, weapons and maps, it is best to take it wieh a pinch of salt, or you'll be put off playing forever.

tha'sit.

GT Mobile not dead?

Take this with a massive pinch o'salt, but Polyphony Digital's Kazunori Yamauchi reckons that after GT5 hits the PS3, PD will go on to release GTM. Suuuure they will.

"We're just talking ideals here – but it would be nice if we were able to allow people to compete whether they're on the road or in their living room on the PS3, compete in the same race. Even though the visual qualities will be different depending on which hardware they're on it would be nice if we could allow for that. Technically, we think we should be able to."

I know what would be ideal, how about you just release the fucking game instead of talking about it?

Previously on 'Fi Club:
04/05/2006
30/08/2006

DS TV Tuner

Akihabara News is carrying a story about the new Official Nintendo TV Tuner finally being released on November 8th in Japan.

The tuner is digital and receives the 1seg broadcasting service which is designed for mobile devices. The tuner fits into slot 1 and displays video on the upper screen, with the touch screen used as a remote control.

Price is said to be about 41 Euros. I think that if Nintendo released a DVB-M version in the UK, I'd pay about 50 quid for the pleasure of watching TV on the move. Sure, I'm not as out and about as I used to be, but imagine how nice it would be for IckleRuut and the other 2nd Gen 'Fi Clubbers if you could hand them a DS Lite, R4 and a TV Tuner on a long car journey or camping / caravanning trip?

We'd like them to 'enjoy the view' but I remember from experience that the view won't hold your attention for hours on end. Personally, if you so much as show me a picture or page in a moving vehicle I'll decorate the inside of the windscreen with lunch, but IckleRuut can already happily look at picture books on the move.

Test DrivingThe 2008 Warthog

Amazing New Halo 3 Jumps 'Discovered'

Wuttafuh? Not sure I believe some of this, but then how would you fake it?

HALOLCATS

It had to happen eventually, I just didn't figure there'd be a whole website for it. Ladies and Gentlemen I present Halolcats.

Halo Lego

Wow.. we kinda drifted away from Halo for a while there. It's time to get this Halo 3 blog back on track with an AHHHHHSUMMMM Halo Lego photoset.

Guitar Hero 3 Demo

There's a GH3 demo on the Tony Hawks Proving Ground disk. It's not available on marketplace (yet), but you can play it nevertheless, by burning the demo from here to a normal DVD. It then appears in your demo list with all your others.

Demo song list:

Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Pat Benatar

Lay Down
Priestess

Even Flow
Pearl Jam

Rock You Like A Hurricane
Scorpions

The Metal
Tenacious D

Apparently it works fine on an unmodded 360.

Cwned! Killed By A Traffic Cone

To Do Lists

Talking of to-do lists (see Number Twos below), what's on yours? Let's keep future releases to 2007 only.

To Finish:
Halo 3 Single Player (Heroic)
Metroid Prime 3
Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Test Drive Unlimited (Harvest some more achievements)
Crackdown (Harvest achievements)

Released Games:
Halo 1 & 2
Halo 3 Co-Op (Legendary)
Bioshock
Oblivion
Gears of War (Hardcore and Insane co-op)
skate

Upcoming Games:
Orange Box
Jericho
Mass Effect
Super Mario Galaxy

Number twos

It looks like Valve's The Orange Box has edged Halo 3 and Bioshock off the top of the Metacritic charts. Whilst this is probably due to the perceived value of five games in one box (Halflife2 plus HL2 Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2) I think the hype has been markedly lower for TOB than either of the other two.

TOB has a Metascore of 97, whilst Bioshock nestles in just below at 96. Halo 3 brings up the rear with a comfortable 94 (remaining equal with Gears and Oblivion.)

This goes on my ever growing to-do list.

If anyone's wondering what the Portal thing is about, there's a nifty 2-D flash primer here.

"Those gay ninja helmets"

I'll admit it 's jealousy, but I still hate being killed by those guys.

Here's a chart of all the armour types for John Spartan:


EVA looks cool.

++Edit++
EOD reminds me of Hammerstein from the ABC Warriors.



"Programmed to believe the humans' God is on his side...
...some would say this makes him the worst of all."

I want one of those. And a hammer for a hand.

Wedding Thriller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmYbP0F4Zw
As mentioned at last nights meeting of the Fi's

"Is There Anybody Out There.......?"

Hi all.

Well if no one else wants it (hint hint), I'll bagsie this FiDay 12th October.

Usual time and place. Bring your bits and pieces and DS's and etc.

But I'm calling a cease-fire on snacks, just bring some dips.

See you then.


Also, I've noticed that my local Blockbusters have recently had posters up advertising Bioshock and Halo 3 for £34.99 each.

This is the cheapest price I've seen, including online.

If they keep putting big new releases at this price, they might be worth checking out for fourth coming games.

Holding Out For A Hero!

I was having a quick look at Drawn To Life on the DS. One of the first things you need to do is create a hero to save a village...

So I thought, who better than...



I'm playing this because I'm stuck on Zelda until the Post Office pull their finger out and deliver my headset/mic for my DS. My built-in mic is broken and I'm stuck in a cave where I have to shout for help.

Anyway, Drawn To Life is a fairly simple, but enjoyable and engaging platformer-cum-RPG. The gimmick is that you get to draw a lot of the assets... your 'hero' for starters - you can eventually have three different characters and you can edit them endlessly anyway - we're now running around as one of our cats in a red shirt and yellow shorts. You also get to paint your vehicles and draw springs, platforms etc.

The best thing is that I am playing this co-operatively with Little s u d 0 jr. She's mostly doing the stylus work - colouring in (I can draw and lock a template for her to fill or scribble over), or using it to clean up the evil black goo that's tainting the world. It's working really very well and she really understands what she's doing. She's happy to watch me do the jumping and shooting (snowballs, don't worry!)

This is the first videogame we've really played properly together and I'm really stoked that she's pestering me to pick up and play. I'm also pleased that this seems to be a game that will engage both of us. It's simple enough for her to understand and for me not to get frustrated with repeating sections (and her bored), yet complex enough to keep me interested. A very well balanced little game.

Best Frag Ever

Check out this 'nade frag on The Pit. Luckiest kill ever? You decide.

Mario Galaxy control vids

Destructoid.com have put together a bunch of videos showing how the various controls for Mario Galaxy are going to work, including running, jumping and hitting things. They also demonstrate the bee suit and the phantom suit.

Here's yesterday's 'Prologue' video...


click through for the rest.

How to Enjoy Games

A wonderfully Zen document translated from Russian describing how to enjoy your gaming, from gamerswithjobs.com

Obviously Oleg's tongue is at least partly in his cheek but there are some real pearls of wisdom within.