Confessions of a Pokemon Addict

Yesterday the latest iteration of the Pokemon series, Pokemon Platinum, was released. Even though I own Pokemon Pearl (Platinum is basically the same game as Pearl with a few minor (yet exciting) additions) I had to pick it up today. Ever since I bought Pokemon Pearl in April of 2007 I have become addicted to Pokemon. I have played Pokemon Pearl for over 220 hours and have put as many hours if not more playing the other Pokemon games I have (Platinum is my 9th Pokemon game).

Even though I love playing Pokemon games I am somewhat ashamed to admit it. I think it is safe to say that many people think that Pokemon games are for young children. Even my 11 year old nephew thinks he is too old for Pokemon games. Admittedly, on their face Pokemon are rather cute and childish looking. The games, unlike some other RPGs, are very simple to pick up and play.

Yet behind this simple and cute exterior lies a game that is very complex and difficult to master. My countless hours that I have spent playing the Pokemon games has gotten me very close to my initial goal of achieving the motto of Pokemon: Gotta Catch 'Em All. It has only been recently, as I neared what I initially envisioned would be the end of playing Pokemon, that I began to scratch the surface of a much deeper experience. I have begun to collect rare event Pokemon from other countries and raising Pokemon that can battle competitively. Understanding competitive battling requires and understanding of extremely complicated game mechanics that are largely hidden from view unless you seek them out. It also takes an extreme amount of patience and hard work to obtain a Pokemon with good stats and then to raise it the precise way to capitalize on those stats.

I think it is precisely this dichotomy of being easy to pick up and play while also be incredibly complicated if one chooses that makes Pokemon such a great game. Anyone from the casual player to the extremely competitive player can enjoy the same game. Pokemon is the quintessential Nintendo game for this very reason.

Pokemon News

Today is a big week for Pokemon. I moved one step closer to completing my Pokedex. I went to Toys 'R Us yesterday and downloaded Shaymin.

That leaves me just four Pokemon short of a complete Pokedex.

Nintendo also announced that a Giratina figuring will be given to those that pre-order Pokemon Platinum. This is way better than the stylus they gave for Pearl and Diamond.
Pokemon Platinum is being released on March 22nd.

The newest movie, Giratina and the Sky Warrior, will also be making its America debut on the Cartoon Network this weekend. It can be seen Friday the 13th and Sunday the 15th at 8:00 p.m. or Wednesday the 18th and 9:00 p.m. It will then be released on DVD on March 31st.
Luckily the movie isn't scheduled to air on Valentine's day. I'm sure my wife would have loved it if we had to watch that for Valentine's day.

Professor Layton 2?!

The game I am most anxiousely awaiting to be announced is Professor Layton and the Devil's [Demon's][Pandora's] Box, the sequel to Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Devil's Box was released in Japan on November 29, 2007 and has already sold over 860,000 copies. However, no release date has been announced for America.

Last week on IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, they speculated that this game would not be localized because of the high cost of translating the text and replacing puzzles that are specific to Japan. They stated that it would cost as much to localize the game as many games cost to make. They further cited the fact that Curious Village has only sold around 350,000 copies in America. This figure, they stated, would likely not justify the localization of the game.

However, they ignored the fact that the game has already sold over 620,000 in Europe and Australia (even though the game was released in November of 2008, nine months of the American release). Europe is sold out of the game, and this game may reach 1 million in sales in Europe alone. Thus, bringing the combined sales of America and the other regions above that of the Japanese release. This fact gives me great hope that we will see a release in America.
Recently in the Official Nintendo Magazine (a European magazine) the cover announced that it contained a preview of Devil's box.

This is pretty good evidence to me that the game is in the works. I assumed that the localization is not much different for the U.S. than it is for the U.K. versions. As such, I think this game will reach our shores before the end of 2009. This game was also on a number of year end lists as the hand-held game of the year. I think Nintendo would be foolish not to localize this game.

Scribblenauts

One of the most exciting games yet for the DS was recently announced: Scribblenauts. The premise behind the games is simple. Scribblenauts' theme is "Write Anything, Solve Everything!" The goal of each level is to collect a star. To do this players can write any word imaginable and that object will then appear on the screen. The player can then use these objects to collect the star. Check out the trailer below for an example of this on a simple level.






This game has a ton of potential. I love the end of the trailer where there is a policeman chasing a donut. If each object has real life characteristic (or stereotypes) this game will be amazing. If they can make it work it will truly be an entertaining game. The developer has been going through dictionaries just adding new items to the list. It is scheduled for release at the end of 2009. Hopefully this game will reach its potential.

November Sales Data

Nintendo had a huge month in November. They sold over 2 million Wiis in November alone and the DS sold more than 1.5 million in that month as well, four years after it came out.

On the software side of things things Nintendo didn't run away with sales. But this is what Nintendo had to say about the game sales:

Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 U.S. best-sellers for November, representing the diversity of people who play Nintendo games. These included Wii Play (for casual and lapsed players) at No. 3 with more than 796,000 sold, Wii Fit (for new gamers) at No. 4 with more than 697,000 sold, Mario Kart Wii (for both core and casual payers) at No. 5 with nearly 637,000 sold and Wii Music (for everyone) placed at No. 9 with more than 297,000 sold, following its long-tail trend.

I love Nintendo's descriptions for who the games are for. I guess lapsed players are all the people looking for a second wiimote for their system.

Shaymin

This ghostly image can be seen on Pokemon.com
It looks like a new Pokemon, Shaymin will be coming soon to the U.S. It will most likely coincide with the release of the 11th Pokemon movie: Giratina and the Sky Warrior. Although the release date has not been announced for this movie Pokemon.com says it will be coming to DVD soon.
This will bring the number of released Pokemon in the U.S. to 492, leaving just one unreleased Pokemon.

In anticipation of Black Friday

Black Friday is only a week away. To get you ready for the holliday shopping season Wii Bluelight presents its holliday shopping guide.

Wii:

Wii Points Card - A must buy so you can get some Wiiware games or a cool virtual console game to relive your childhood.

Speaking of WiiWare use your WiiPoints to get the amazing game World of Goo. I have been playing this a ton lately. The best thing about the game: it will appeal to anyone in the family.

Guitar Hero World Tour - If you want to start a band the only good option on the Wii.





Mario Kart Wii - In my opinion the best Mario Kart game ever. The Wii Wheel and online play provide countless hours of fun for everyone.

Shawn White Snowboarding and/or Skate It - Check out either one of these games to put your Wii Balance board to use.

Boom Blox - This innovative game was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Plus my sources say this game wil be on sale at Target for $20 on Black Friday.

Animal Crossing: City Folk - If you haven't played an Animal Crossing game, this is a must have. If you have played an Animal Crossing game before this is just like the others.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09: All-Play: A great golf game with excellent controls. Plus it has an excellent online component.


Nintendo DS -

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia - If you don't want the traditional Pokemon game try out this game where you save Pokemon. Plus it has downloadable missions to help you catch them all.


Guitar Hero On Tour Decades - A sequal to the DS game. I love the innovative guitar grip.

Chrono Trigger DS: Releasing on November 25th this game is essentially the Super NES classic brought to the DS the best game ever, now available with bonus content and in portable form.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: The third Castlevania game on the DS features an all new Glyph attack system.

Personal Trainer: Cooking - The latest from Nintendo's Touch Generations is a cookbook that walks you through the cooking process for over 200 dishes and even has a grocery list function if you are missing some of the needed ingredients.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village Review

We once again were able to score an exclusive interview review with Lugenstien! This time for Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Wii Bluelight: Lugenstien, thanks for coming back for another review.

Lugenstien: My pleasure. I just completed the last puzzle in Professor Layton and it was an incredible game. The game consists of 135 puzzles for the player to solve (plus more available through download). These puzzles run the gamut from word puzzles to chess puzzles to various story problems.

Wii Bluelight: Sounds like another brain age type game.

Lugenstien: It goes far beyond the standard brain age game. While the puzzles will work your brain what truly sets this game apart is an incredible story line, great art style, and incredible voice acting that connects all of the puzzles together. The diverse puzzles alone are enough to make the game great but it is the presentation of the game that makes this game truly incredible. You explore the village of St. Mystere talking to residents and clicking on items to find puzzles. Solving these puzzles progresses the story line until you are able to solve the overall mystery behind the village.

Wii Bluelight: How hard are the puzzles in the game?

Lugenstien: There is a large variety of difficulty in the puzzles. Some are very easy, others will test even the seasoned puzzle solver, some seem down right impossible at first. However, for the hard puzzles players are able to spend coins that they have found throughout the village to buy hints to assist them in solving the puzzles.

Wii Bluelight: Anything else the players should know about this game?

Lugenstien: This is actually the first game in a planned trilogy. The second one has already been released in Japan. However, there has been no release date yet given for America. Look for it sometime in 2009.

Wii Bluelight: What is your final score for the game?

Lugenstien: Presentation: 10, one of the highest quality presentation on a DS game
Graphics/Sound: 9, very good music, plenty of songs to keep it interesting, very high quality voice acting
Gameplay: 8, great use of the stylus to solve problems, if you miss a puzzle as you search the village it is often hard to find them later in the game, this becomes frustrating
Game Length/Replayability: 8, it will take you a while to finish all of the puzzles, about 26 puzzles available through downloads, once you've beat a puzzle though not much replay value
Overall: 9, the high production values and simple enjoyability of this game makes it a must own. Look for upcoming sequels.

Nintendo Conference Highlights

Late last night Nintendo was holding a conference in Japan to announce their upcoming hardware and software. The biggest announcement by far is a new iteration of the Nintendo DS.










The new DS-i with two cameras, one on the back and one on the front.

This DS should be coming to America in late 2009. Club Nintendo will also be coming to America this holiday season. This club rewards members for purchasing and registering Nintendo games as well as for filling out surveys. Points earned can be exchanged for exclusive Nintendo items.

Beyond these major announcements Nintendo announced a number of new games for next year including Punch-Out!!, Sin and Punishment 2, and Mario and Luigi RPG 3. These games are definitely something to look forward to in the comings months.

Lawyering Skills

Today I received my offer from Parr Waddoups Brown Gee & Loveless. To celebrate on this blog I am highlighting the one game series that actually helps me train to become a better lawyer: the Ace Attorney series from Capcom.
The Ace Attorney Series is a great addition to the Nintendo DS library. In each of the games you play as a defense attorney through a number of different cases. The game play proceeds in a point-and-click style. In each case you interview potential witnesses, find clues, and conduct your case in court. The major event of each case is the trial. You question witnesses and try and trip them up during their testimony. When they say something that is contradicted by the evidence before the court you yell "Objection!" into the DS microphone and the trial stops while you bring the contradiction to the court's attention.

In each case you are pitted against an overzelous prosecutor; they are willing to go to any length to obtain a conviction. The games also do not follow any standardized rules of procedure. The sense of justice and fairness is also warped; however, the games are still well written and entertaining.




I recently bought the third and final game in the Phoenix Wright series. However, Capcom has recently branched out the series with an all new attorney: Apollo Justice. With this new series I should be able to continue to live out my courtroom dreams for the next year before I start working at Parr Waddoups.

Making the Old School New

One of the most unique things that have happened during the current generation of consoles and handhelds for Nintendo is the resurgence of old school games. One of the earliest examples of this was the New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. I love how the first level starts out very similar to the original Super Mario Bros. and then you get a huge mushroom and it is nothing like the original. This trend only continued with the virtual console on the Wii. It gives you the opportunity to relive the classic games from seven different systems. This allows players to fall in fall in love again with games from their childhood or experience games that they missed out on the first time around. The DS has also seen a number of remakes: Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, and the recently announced Chrono Trigger highlight this trend. Finally, WiiWare will likely be host to a number of original versions of classic games. Mega Man 9 has already been announced for WiiWare and follows in the footsteps of the classic Mega Man games. WiiWare has also been used to rerelease Toki Tori, a GameBoy Color game.

These games reinforce Nintendo's philosophy that gameplay is more important than graphics. Hopefully these games will just be the beginning of more classic game designs being brought to old and new gamers alike.

Pokemon DS

I recently was able to talk Tammie into getting me a second DS. Nintendo just released a special edition Pokemon DS. The DS looks awesome and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get this DS. I am especially excited to be able to play games with Tammie now. Maybe I can use this to get her more into gaming.

Edit: Tammie called me out so I need to come clean. It was Tammie that bought this DS for me. I came home from the store, barely resisting the urge to buy it myself. She then went to the store later and came back with this. I was working on the computer and Tammie had Carter bring me the awesome shirt that went with it. I did the dishes and gave her a back rub that night to try and make up for her awesomeness.