A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME
Video Games, Victorian Style
Tag: Nintendo
-
I finished The Wonderful 101 at the weekend, and I’m still not sure whether I enjoyed it or not. The game has a nasty habit of being utterly opaque and confusing, yet it offers up moments of sheer delight along the way. For the first few hours of the game I was frankly lost. The…
-
Yesterday afternoon I had a chance to check out this year’s Eurogamer Expo at Earl’s Court, which proved to be a lot of fun. I have to say I’m paying for it now though – I had a cold coming on yesterday morning, and half a day of excitedly wandering around buzzing and flashing booths…
-
Just in case it’s escaped your attention, the Wii U isn’t doing very well. Not very well at all, in fact. It got off to an OK start, with around 3 million consoles sold worldwide between its November 2012 launch and the end of 2012. These sales weren’t quite as good as the Wii’s (3.19…
-
It’s fair to say the Wii U hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts. I met a gamer the other day and told him I owned a Wii U, and his look of surprise was palpable – he admitted that I was the first person he’d met who actually owned one. With just 10,000…
-
NBA 2K13 has single-handedly defined Nintendo’s newest console’s place in my life. Sitting there playing through a basketball season with the Celtics on the gamepad made me realise just how awesome of a proposition the Wii U is for a subset of people. Being someone who spends a majority of my game time buried deep…
-
I loved the original Luigi’s Mansion – I bought a GameCube at launch, and Luigi’s Mansion was one of the first games I got for it (along with Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, in case you’re interested). I can’t believe that was all the way back in 2002 – Nintendo sure took their sweet time in…
-
For me Lemmings is video games. Put a picture of a little man with flowing green hair and a blue body suit in front of anyone on the street that doesn’t remember the end of World War II and in all likelihood they’ll know what it is. That’s not just because it’s wonderful. It is,…
-
The 30c cone from McDonalds – high in sugar and low in taste – 30 cents OR Super Metroid – high in action, high in gameplay and high in awesome – 30 cents You decide.
-
I just forgot I owned a video game and the worst part was I was about one mouse click away from purchasing it again. That game was the Heroes of Mana, the Brownie Brown developed Real Time Strategy/Role-playing hybrid released in 2007 for Nintendo’s DS. It was one of the many games of its type…
-
I cringed when I spotted this – I mean a game about Wedding Planning? Those Germans do they ever rest in their quest to develop the PERFECT video game? But wait I hear you say, give it a chance. It may be a really great business simulator – the Football Manager that we can…
-
Good old Nintendo. You may remember that a while back I had my Nintendo 3DS stolen, meaning I lost all of the games I’d downloaded, including the almost-completed Link’s Awakening. Well, I’ve since received the insurance money (which came out at just £100 owing to some sneaky terms and conditions – read the small print,…
-
I actually remember the time when the house that Mario built was on top of the world. Nintendo was a hot commodity and it was hard to come across anyone who had not played a Mario game. It is a stretch to say that Nintendo’s success was solely built on the humble plumber, but it…
-
There is something personal about the hand-drawn art that permeated through every aspect of video game culture 20 years ago. From magazines to box art to awesome little drawings in instruction manuals, hand-drawn art was everywhere. Yesterday I wrote about Agro Soar, a Game Boy game based on a children’s television show in the 80’s…
-
I have always thought that Australia is a net importer of culture. We get what I feel like almost everything, from television to music to videogames, from our english-speaking allies. Sh!tty gangster rap? Most definitely. Garbage English royal tabloids? Need I ask. Terrible child-focused television show featuring anthropomorphic animals and some random young people that…
-
Zack and Wiki is a wonderful, funny, charming and compelling video game that’s hamstrung by a couple of flaws so enormous that eventually they ruin it completely. Seriously, I loved this game, but it really didn’t love me back. In fact, it took delight in slapping me round the face a couple of times before…
-
Satoru Iwata is just so… so lovable, isn’t he? I watched the latest Nintendo Direct presentation last weekend, and I just couldn’t get over what a brilliant marketing tool it is, mostly due to the cuddly persona of the Nintendo President, Mr Iwata. As he cheerfully whips his way through the presentation, you can’t help…
-
I’ve finally given up on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. I’m 11 hours in and just about to face the dreaded Water Temple, but I just can’t ever see myself finishing this otherwise excellent remake, and I’ll tell you for why. It’s impossible to play this game on the bus. More to…
-
…ported Vigilante 8 to the Gameboy Color That’s right. The rather excellent car combat game (that is secretly better than Twisted Metal) was ported from its native home on the Nintendo 64 and PS1, where it was incredibly accomplished technically, to the absolutely incapable Gameboy Color. Of course in the hands of the wonderful over-achievers at…
-
I was originally going to post something about my first impressions of the Wii U back on the day it came out (30th November), but in the end I decided I’d rather spend my free time playing on it than writing about it. Then suddenly the December party season hit, I became incredibly busy at…
-
Present Day I would love to give an impression, a glowing review, an unashamed love letter to the Wii U. Unfortunately that is not possible. For almost 48 hours I have owned Nintendo’s brand spanking new console. I have played it for around two of those. Not for lack of wanting of course but the fates…
-
Well, this is a bit of a turn-up for the books – I got home from work to discover that my Wii U has arrived A DAY EARLY. Thanks ShopTo.net! I’m not quite sure how this has happened, but I’m glad I didn’t bother queuing up at HMV on Oxford Street tonight… Sir Gaulian should…
-
It turns out that the Wii U is actually powered by tiny little Pikmin running around in the machine. This confirms my long-held theory that processors are a myth and that all computers actually work by a combination of magic and tiny little beings running back and forth. Here’s the charming animation you get when…
-
It fascinates me how gaming has gone from being a niche hobby to something that’s firmly ensconced in mainstream culture (even if there’s still some way to go before it gains widespread acceptance), and for evidence of this you need look no further than the burgeoning fan art community. The current generation of artists is…
-
My finger is hovering over the pre-order button for Wii U. For the first time since the GameCube, I’m actually considering buying a console on the day it comes out. I think what clinched it was the announcement of Bayonetta 2 as a Wii U exclusive: where Platinum Games goes I will follow. As you’re…
-
I am a big fan of Star Wars and despite all of the killing and talk of the ‘dark side’ I still find the original trilogy a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun that can be taken as seriously, or not seriously as you like. I am a few years too young to remember the original films…
-
I found myself a little apathetic towards Super Mario 3D Land when I first heard about it. Let’s face it, there have been PLENTY of Mario games down the years, and the central concept has changed little since the 1980s, leading me to start thinking the whole platform genre is getting a bit long in…
-
I just finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and I’m sad. I’m sad because it was brilliant and now it’s over, and, to cap it all off, this is the last game in the Metroid Prime series. Sure, I’ll probably enjoy Metroid: Other M when I eventually get round to playing it, but will it reach…
-
Back in January I got all excited at the thought of playing a version of Star Fox 64 in real 3D, and I have to say I haven’t been disappointed. Out of all of the 3DS games I’ve played so far, the 3D in Star Fox is by far the most impressive: giant starships fly…
-
I love portable gaming. The sheer audacity for Capcom to claim that the graphics are ‘So Real You’ll Forget It’s Only A Game‘ is nothing short of hilarious. Of course back in 1990, Gargoyle’s Quest probably was the best looking game to grace a handheld, and to put it in context, it was a fantastically…
-
“People, if you want to play this game and really enjoy it, expect your eyes to burn a little on Sundays, or when you’re driving by places of worship.” That’s the warning given by John DiMaggio, the voice behind Bender from Futurama and co-commentator on MadWorld (along with Greg Proops from Whose Line is it…
-
The original Warioware, Inc: Mega Microgame$! is unequivocally one of my favourite games of all time. Everything about it was new, unique and awesome when it was released back in 2003 for the Game boy Advance, and it was the foundation on which the amazing sequels that followed were built. At the time I was…
A MOST AGREEABLE PASTIME 