Game Night

One of my favorite things growing up was to have game nights with my friends. We would play video games late into the night. Some of my favorite video games are my favorites not because of how incredible the game was but rather because of the fond memories I have staying up and playing them with friends.


As I have moved away from friends these game nights have ceased (except for bachelor parties). However, with more video games going online (and with more of my friends buying Wiis) video game night is making a triumphant return. Most often we will be playing Mario Kart, other times it will be Smash Bros. Brawl. If you are up for a game let me or Adibobea9 know what evening works best and we will try to accomodate.

Nintendo World Cup

This week again I am going back to one of my favorite games as a kid. Nintendo's World Cup.


This was a simplistic soccer game, but it had many great features. First, was the graphic style of the game. Nintendo's World Cup borrowed sprites from River City Ransom. When you tackle a player or hit them hard with a soccer ball their eyes bulge out.

Second, was the simple game play. You just tackle, pass, shoot, or do super shots (which consist of either a bicycle kick or a header). If you tackle someone enough they will pass out until a goal is scored or the ball goes out of bounds. Because of this you will often have times when all of the opposing team is passed out. Few things in gaming are as enjoyable as knocking out a soccer player by tackling them over and over.
It was really enjoyable to play through the game. The difficulty ramed up nicely. Cameroon, the first nation you play, is easy to beat. Their team spends most of the game laying on the ground. Germany, on the other hand, is a very difficult team to beat.

One-to-one

One of the biggest announcements from Nintendo at E3 is their new Wiimote attachement Wii MotionPlus. Wii MotionPlus, in conjunction with the sensor bar and the accelerameter already in the Wiimote, will provide enhanced motion sensing. "Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play." Despite the promise of the new controls, I think that one-to-one motion controls will end up being a mixed blessing for video games. The Wii MotionPlus will make some games possible that are not possible with just the Wiimote. One game I am especially excited for is the potential for a frisbee golf game. However, the danger that must be avoided is making the controls too realistic. One of the main reasons I play video games is to do things that I am incapable of in real life. It is an escape. For example I love golf games because of my awesome golf skills in video games. Tiger Woods PGA Tour would lose a lot of its appeal to me if I was only as good in the video game as I was in real life. It wouldn't be fun to shoot a 120 golf round in a video game. For games to be enjoyable with Wii MotionPlus developers must be able to obtain the proper balance between realism and keeping the games accessible.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

The Mario sports series has been somewhat of a mixed bag. Some of the games have been truly outstanding, others have been a disappointment. However, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is truly one of the series' high points. The game is very simple to pick up, but some of the modes and courses take a large amount of skill to play.
I still consider beating the "one-on,one-putt" mode of the game as one of my greatest gaming achievements. In this mode you play through an 18-hole executive course. You have to hit your drive on to the green in one shot and then sink the putt in one stroke. One mistake and you are starting over. The amount of different modes in this game is amazing. You could spend days (which I did) just trying to beat all of the modes in this game.
This game was developed by Camelot, which also developed the soon to be released We Love Golf! for the Wii. Despite my love for Mario Golf I will be looking past We Love Golf! to Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09 All-Play. Tiger Woods is scheduled to feature one-to-one swing mechanics for a more realistic and intuitive golf game. This year's Tiger Woods will also feature online play for the first time on the Wii. Tiger Woods is currently scheduled to be released on August 26.

The Nintendo Kiddy Image: Part 1…

I grew up on video games and so it is only natural for me to have a place in my heart for all things Nintendo. In recent years as video games have evolved Nintendo has picked up the stereotype as a kiddy company catered to families and those who have yet to reach the years of puberty. With the release of the DS and Wii they have garnered more stereotypes as a company only interested in the affairs of a casual market. Through my fanboy eyes I am still able to accept that Nintendo isn't perfect, but they are however very much a hardcore company and take the business very seriously.

These stereotypes probably wouldn't bother me so much, if it wasn't for the fact that the other 2 players (Sony and Microsoft) respectably garner the praise they seek for. To the media and publishers, the PS3 and Xbox360 are currently hardcore systems and games are developed with respect to that. Sure the Wii is underpowered compared to its HD counterparts, but Wii is still capable of beautiful looking games whether approached at an artistic view (Super Mario Galaxy and MadWorld) or taken with a more realistic view (The Conduit and Disaster Day of Crisis).

Third parties on the Wii, as a whole, however continue to release casual titles with little development time and production values and yet is has been the market leader for almost a year. Their excuse: "Only 1st party titles sell well on the Wii" or "The Wii is catered to the casual." Lately their have been some rumblings of some quality 3rd party games being released later this year and early 2009, but as of right now they are few and far between. Miyamoto (The God of Video Games) recently made a statment regarding this issue:

"If there's only one piece of advice that I could give to the managers of third party companies, it would be that a lot of times it seems that when they're putting games out on Nintendo hardware, those games are being developed by their third-string team or their fourth-string team. Maybe that's because they see those products as being unique projects or somewhat smaller-scale projects. But when Nintendo puts out a title that is designed to really support and sell its hardware, that title is always developed by one of our number one teams. And so I think that when it comes to the question of trying to compete with our software, I would really like to see the parties try to do that with their number one teams rather than with the third- or fourth-string teams."

Nintendo fans want quality titles. The reason we continue to support Nintendo is because we want to continue playing games that we fell in love with and are fun and engaging. Their new titles continue to innovate and I look forward to each new announcement in the future…

The Next Level of Wii Blue Light.

Wii Blue Light is happy to announce the addition of Adibobea9 as a website editor. He will now be posting and updating the site regularly. Expect some exciting new additions in the future with Adibobea9 on board.

Showdown

Adibobea9 is back in the country and is playing Mario Kart Wii again. I have mixed feelings about his return. I loved having all of the records, but I was no longer interested in the game. The competition is why Mario Kart Wii has been my favorite Wii game so far. I have a feeling that we will be swapping records back and forth for a long time to come.

Monkeys in Balls

This weeks game of the week is Super Monkey Ball 2. The Super Monkey Ball game series is a really weird idea for a game, but it works. Instead of just having a marble roll around on a platform maze you make the marble a clear ball and put a monkey in it. Pure genius. The game play was great, and the puzzles were super challenging. However, I beat all of the game levels except for the very last one, where you manuver around on a Gamecube.
I really need to put this game back into my Gamecube and finish off this last level. The minigames on this game were also a lot of fun. My favorite was monkey target where you tried to drop your flying monkey into the middle of a target.
I recently just purchased the wii sequal Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. This game has a shorter main game than previous games, but it has 50 mini-games. Though I have heard most of them are throwaways. I'll have a review of Banana Blitz at a later time.

The Sounds of Science

We recently got a new surround sound system since our previous one was broke. This one has a large receiver so I am able to hook the Wii up to the surround sound. It has really changed my appreciation for the games that I have. Having great sound can definitely enhance the gaming experience. Of course, the first game I tried was Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was awesome to crank the sound up (to 11) and hear myself rock. It was also nice to hear some of the subtle sounds in Wii Fit and other games that I hadn't even noticed before. It was definitely worth the investment.