Hello readers, I happened to sit down and flip through my usual RSS feeds of gaming related news to find an interesting article posted over at IGN. It touches on a phenomena that was tremendously common just a handful of years ago. The rush for bleeding edge graphics in games.

While I wont spoil the entire article for you, because it really is an interesting read, I will lay down a few things. Game console makers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo (AKA The Big Three) have pulled away from their past company practices of churning out bleeding edge hardware onto the market in favor of extending the current generation of consoles. An interesting idea, and dare I say a bit kinder to the pocket book.

The whole article explains that no longer is it necessary for a company to push out a game that has the absolute best graphics anymore to be successful. The market has changed, and makes way for innovation rather than flashy presentations. This is a good step for video games, my friends, and I do hope it continues to bring us little gems to enjoy.

Check the link for the article and share your thoughts.

[source: IGN]

Another day of trailers and announcements gone by. Nintendo and Sony were the two main heavy hitters to toss some words around for the audience to greedily soak up. While there is still the rest of today left before the “winner” of this year’s E3 will be decided upon by the collective masses of gamers, I shall step forward to declare who I believe has already won E3. More on that later, now for a quick round of highlights.

Nintendo stepped onto the stage to chat awhile, mostly about 3D. Then up out of the floor, accompanied by a smoke machine, rose the 3DS. Interesting little hand held, looks a lot like a DSi with a shinier finish and an extra camera. This little device is capable of delivering a 3D picture on the top screen, but you aren’t stuck with everything in 3D since Nintendo graciously included the option to turn it off. I like options so you get points for that, Nintendo. Soon after the unveiling of the 3DS was the first showing of the new Kid Icarus game. Needless to say there were several members of the audience a bit excited about this.

Epic Mickey had a demo shown of it along with the announcement of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, personally excited to get my hands on both. Of course, it would be a travesty to not mention the fact that Goldeneye will be making a triumphant return to the gaming arena as a remake featuring at least eight of the original characters playable. Goldeneye will be a Wii exclusive and also answers the question why an XBLA port of the game was refused earlier on. Interesting note, a new Kirby game is apparently in the works called Kirby’s Epic Yarn. The whole world looks like it is made of various cloth as you dash about through the side scrolling action. My one question for Nintendo: why the sudden interest in the word epic? Just now noticing its proliferation amongst the internet populace?

Several other trailers were shown, Donkey Kong game, Metroid: Other M, Dragon Quest IX. Honestly the one that really caught my eye out of all of this has to be The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. That’s right, a new LoZ game is in the works. Well, some un-confirmed rumors and leaks around the net hinted at this, but having solid proof of its development for the Wii is gratifying. Seems this new LoZ game will make heavy use of the Wii Motion Plus as you actually use the nunchuk to raise your shield and defend while slashing with the Wiimote.

Sony’s end of the E3 fun was rather interesting as well. A new Twisted Metal was announced, finally a continuation of the longest running series in PlayStation history will be coming to the PS3. Tons of fans are probably grinning like idiots, or it could have been the ice cream truck they drove out on stage that did that. Playstation Move was dated and priced officially, if you want to just grab the controller itself it will set you back $49.99. The Playstation Navigation controller is priced by itself as $29.99 but you can go out and buy a bundle pack including both controllers and a sports game for $99.99 if you planned to get both anyway.

Rumors had it that PSN was going to go subscription based and this E3 has semi-dispelled those rumors. PSN will still be free but there will also be a premium version where you can get access to content early and some content that isn’t available to free members of PSN. The service will run $49.99 for a year of service, and Sony is offering up a free three months so you can try it out before you lay down the cash.

In a shocking announcement, Steam will be coming to PS3 starting with Portal 2. It seems the bad blood between Sony and Valve has finally been laid to rest, and now Valve wants to bring the Steam platform to Sony’s console. Obviously this has Sony and PS3 owners fairly excited, for us with Xbox 360′s we will just have to keep waiting for that Team Fortress 2 update if you catch my drift.

Now, let’s get to the juicy stuff. I know it was weird for me leaving Tech Tuesday off yesterday without a video. That’s not my style. Today I promise to make it up to you by bringing you the recording of the winner of E3 in my book. Sony’s very own, Kevin Butler. This man is a gamer, and if this was all just acting. Well then he is a damn good actor. Regardless, best moment from today and has redeemed Sony for a few things in my book. Congrats Kevin Butler, you sir are the winner of E3.

Pokémon. This is a word that is synonymous with my childhood. Heck, I don’t remember how old I when I got Pokémon Blue Version for my birthday. But you know what? Thanks to that little blue square and the purple see-through rectangle I was supposed to stick it in, I became the gamer I am now.

Well, I’m sure that’s jumping the shark, but that’s simply how I feel. Pokémon means a lot to me. When I play it, it is one of those rare instances in my teenage life when I completely become a child again. I go on planned “adventures,” sleep at night with fond dreams of venturing across the Orre region (Pokémon Colosseum / Gale of Darkness), and have a good time during the day playing with my friends. When the remakes of the Silver/Gold/Crystal games were announced, I looked at one screen shot on Serebii (Possibly the best Pokéfan destination) and went “Hey, sweet!” My DS and I have a mixed relationship, but this game helped rekindle my fondness for it.

Liked:

• “It’s a whole new world” – That quote is from the anime cartoon’s theme song when the series went to the Johto region, and I find it fitting because the Johto region was almost completely forgotten by me. See, the Hoenn region from Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is fresh in my memory because I played that almost daily for years. The Sinnoh region in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum is memorable as well, being the last region I trekked across. Kanto, the setting of the first Game Boy Color games, was also in my memory because of its iconic nature, and the Fire Red and Leaf Green remakes for the GBA. Johto was exclusive to G/S/C and I felt like I was in a place I’d never been to, thanks in part to the complete graphical overhaul of the region to make it look nice on the DS.
• Touch It – The first DS Pokémon titles seemed to hardly use the feature outside of a few in-game gimmicks, most of which were simple touching on the lower screen or blowing into the mic. This disappointed me and kind of put me off in those games. But now, HeartGold and SoulSilver have been made very compatible with the DS. The controls are relatively the same, but the touch screen is a quick access menu and while still rather simplified, it was nice to see the game being designed specifically for the DS.
• Three Dimensions – The graphics are very nice throughout, and I actually thought some areas were nothing short of beautiful (The Autumn Forest that leads to the Bell Tower). They take a page from previous titles, not only having a more 3D look to the world, but also going a bit beyond that. Some areas have a more depth added in: going down stairs looks like you’re actually going lower and walking down into a pit or cave looks like you’re going through a small window, as opposed to regular two-dimensional graphics. With the recent announcement of the 3DS, I wonder if this implies more games will be compatible with it than previously thought.
• PokéWalker – Part of the gimmick behind these games is the in-box pedometer. Using this, you can transfer a Pokémon from your in game PC to the pedometer, and with every step you build up little points referred to as “Watts”. For every three watts, you can scan the area in a little mini-game for items. For ten watts, you can pit your Pokémon against a wild one and potentially catch it. This sounds tacky but is actually kind of fun, and I enjoyed the extra encouragement to bring the DS places – and in a way, I can see parents telling their own kids about how, if they walk around more and get more exercise, they can unlock new stuff (A flying Pikachu!? Thanks Nintendo!). Then again I am no parent, but it seems like a nice incentive.
• It’s Still Fun – Again, I’ve been with this series since I was maybe… four? These games are still fun to me, a sixteen year old high school student. They are easy to pick up and play, and are something fun to enjoy in between time on my consoles. I can still say I giggle with glee when I whoop one of my friends’ rear end with my old pal Totidile. I’m sure not everyone still even plays the games if they once did, and I’m sure a lot of “hardcore” gamers scoff at the concept of it, but this game is very enjoyable and is probably my favorite RPG series alongside Mass Effect, .//Hack and Knights of the Old Republic. There is also a lot for fans of the series to see and laugh at, from inside jokes to familiar faces.
• “Follow Me” – Having your Pokémon first in your party now means it will follow you around the game’s Overworld. I found this to be pretty fun. It doesn’t dramatically affect anything, except making your Pokémon like you more, but it does look pretty cool walking around a city with a giant bird flying behind you. Just sayin’.

Hated:

• Story – Yeah, I know… criticizing Pokémon for its story is like criticizing the sun for rising: it’s moronic. But hear me out here. In Pokémon Platinum, you were facing off against “Team Galactic,” a gang of thugs that wanted to literally destroy the entire universe and create a perfect one, without the “filthy” emotions we carry with us. In something of a dark twist, after hearing the Team’s leader, Cyrus, give a speech about this goal, you learn that he doesn’t even care about those fighting for his dream (“I seek an entirely new world solely for myself. If not, it could never a complete and perfect world. You’ve seen my minions of Team Galactic. You yourself must know that they are uniformly useless and incomplete.”). That sounds innocent enough, but think about it for a second – he pretty much wants to exterminate everything that exists, just so he can have some peace and quiet on his own world with absolutely no interference being possible. Sounds kind of badass, but then we come back to “Team Rocket” in Pokémon Soul Silver/Heart Gold. Team Rocket in this romp, are a bunch of annoying bullies who whine about their boss having left them after losing three years ago (See Fire Red/Leaf Green) and are trying to get him back. Anticlimactically, their plan almost succeeds but then they just vanish. Thanks to a special (Japanese only as of this writing) event, a time-traveling Pokémon takes the player around through time and you learn that the message that Rocket wanted to get out actually made it. Unfortunately, due to the intervention of “Future You,” their boss decided to pansy out of it. Thanks, Game Freak.
• Kanto – When you beat the Elite Four at “The End” and unlock the Kanto region, you are probably expecting, like me, for there to be a second sort of storyline. Not so much. No more Team Rocket (well, okay, one who missed the memo and his story ends almost as anticlimactically as the previous time) and only the Kanto Gym Leaders to take on. This adds some features and time to the game, and also, lets you unlock one last area that features a cameo of the main character from the “first” games. Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing to do beyond that. Exploring and nostalgically having some shenanigans is nice, but it’s just so . . . well, boring. It also makes the game feel kind of like a colorful rehashing which G/S/C kind of were when they first came out. But still, there’s little excuse for a lack of features.
• The “Pal Park” – Man, eff the effin’ pal park. I want to refrain from using the F-Bomb in my reviews, but my god… Okay, to transfer Pokémon from the Game Boy Advanced games, you need to plug it into a DS/DS Lite’s bottom loader and hit up the icon for transferring Pokémon on the main menu before you start your game. You choose six Pokémon in your box, and then save, and start up. Now, instead of them going into your PC, you have to go to Kanto’s Pal Park in Fuchsia City. Basically, you talk to some guy, and run around in some water and grass to re-catch your Pokémon. Don’t worry, you won’t have to battle them. You just throw a Pokeball and catch it. You have to nab all six you chose, leave and save your game. To add further insult to it all, you’re asked if you “would like to keep the Pokémon you caught.” Well no shiz I wanna keep the effin’ Pokémon! That’s why I’m here! And now I get to reset my DS and do this all again. Oh and by the way, if any of your Pokémon know a HM move, one that has to be removed by a Move Deleter, it can’t be transferred, meaning you have to hunt ‘em down in the GBA title you’re using. This is tedious and doesn’t even need to be here. I can understand the HM thing, and maybe the technical issues with the six Pokémon at a time limit, but running around for about ten minutes just to re-catch my Pokémon was excruciatingly annoying and repetitive.
• Voltorb Flip – Okay, so in past Pokémon games, “Game Corners” (little casino-like areas) were around in certain cities. You could play slots, get some coins, and go buy yourself some rare Pokémon or items. In Pokémon Platinum’s European release, the British (I believe) government had made some new laws about gambling. This lead to the Brits getting a modified Game Corner featuring a machine where you basically walked up once a day, poked it, and got coins. Whoop-de-effin’-doo. In the original G/S/C, there was some card game along with the slots. And now a reimaging is here: Voltorb Flip. It’s a mixture of Minesweeper and ripping out your hair. The Japanese copes if HG and SS keep the slots, but everyone else gets this annoying as hell card game that is nearly impossible to win without an online fan-made calculator. It’s hell and almost encouraged me and my friends to toss our DS’s against the wall.

In the end, most of my beefs with these new games are nitpicks. This series has always been mainly aimed at children, and children will love this game, especially if they loved previous titles. This is a good DS game, and a good game in general. While Pokémon White and Black were recently announced, this is a good way to help stem the boredom until their release. It’s just that as a fan of the series, I kind of liked Platinum, and even some of Emerald on the GBA better. And as a certain cartoon hedgehog that I watched along the same time as Pokémon once said, that’s no good.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were produced by Game Freak and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, and as of yet unreleased 3DS.

AMMIH Score: 3/5
Sick’s Motion Sickness Rating: 1/5

For the last year I’ve been trying to change my eating habits. I’ve been steadily losing weight though reluctant about exercising. I can blame asthma, my lack of decent sports equipment, or the blazing Florida sun. But deep down I know it’s just pure laziness on my part. I also realize I’d probably be losing double the weight, in addition to sleeping better, if I just started exercising. So why haven’t I? Probably because I haven’t found anything with a lasting fun factor… till now that is.

About a month ago I started listening to the “Give Me My Game!” podcasts on myspace. They announced a contest during one of their podcasts. It consisted of naming the movie a particular song was from. Surprisingly, I won. The prize was a limited edition Legend of Zelda cell art print and a green Wii Fit wristband. Wii fit? hurr? I must have been living under a hole (in a hole?) because up until winning that wristband I had no idea what Wii Fit was.

After a little googling and a few minutes later, I realized I had to have it. On a scale of 1-5 I give it a fun factor rating of 5. The hoola hoop game is one of my Aerobic favorites. I think I’d actually consider buying a hoola hoop at this point if I actually knew where to get one. Sadly though, I quickly discovered I can hoola to the left but not to the right. I was told for most people it’s the other way around. WTF?

My second favorite is the Soccer Ball Dodge. I mean where else can you have that much fun working out your love handles while dodging flying Panda heads?

One of the best features has to be the fact that the Wii Fit board can calculate your weight, BMI, training and weight loss progress. There are currently four different training categories; Aerobic, Yoga, Strength Training and Balance. Yoga is definitely much harder than I was expecting it to be. I haven’t ventured into the strength training so I can’t really say much about that.

As you play the mini games you earn time that is later deposited into your Fitness Piggy Bank. After earning a certain amount of time you begin unlocking more and more mini games. I’ve only had Wii Fit for a week but I’ve been pretty excited and consistent about playing. Hopefully that means I can still reach my weight loss goals by my birthday.

So if you’re a lazy fool like me, and have been looking for a good excuse to exercise, Wii Fit is IT!