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Agent Triple X-Mas
Happy Happy Joy Joy, the big C is technically 50% past, all that's left now are the afternoons with family, incredibly large meals, laying around lethargically and waking up to engage in Boxing Day shopping madness.
I will admit that even though I have left behind most of the childhood trappings of Christmas, I still somewhat enjoy imagining this day as special in someway. For all the stress and consumer madness, at least some families get to enjoy some time together and perhaps tap into the often sought "true spirit" of the holiday seasons.
Catching up on the story of the fine Byzantine necklace I posted about a few days ago, the trade went down, so somehow, in the oddest set of circumstances, I managed to snag "the must have" x-mas present of 2007 for myself; the Nintendo Wii.
Which is actually quite hilarious, as I couldn't care less, in fact, if anything, being an early adopter of technology is actually quite taboo in my little universe. I mean, there's hardly any software available for the Wii, it hasn't been out long enough to know if there are any substantial problems, heck, I've even heard reports that there's going to be an upgraded model in 2007.
Yet, here I am with a chunk of very modern technology, I mean, the axis sensors in the Wiimote are micron-sized machines and while not loaded with the most modern processors, it sure is a nicely compact little bundle of gamin goodness.
Oddly enough, for having so little interest in actually using the technology, I've been paying very close attention to the so-called "Next Gen Console Wars" for a good 2 years. As I watched the pieces come together I slowly saw a pattern emerge, with Microsoft first onto the market last X-mas with the 360, with Sony taking several bad missteps with the PS3 and everyone laughing when Nintendo decided to rename the "Revolution" as the "Wii".
The key points here for each console is that the first system on to the market always has the hardest time, as the hardware ages rapidly in the face of new systems. Which leaves MS with an aging platform that they are still struggling to sell in Japan, and without the Japanese market and Japanese software support, they will never be in a position to dominate the market, despite the cool factor of the over-hyped "Gears of War".
MS is very clever though, sitting back to watch Sony flounder to produced an over-priced system that they are still losing money to produce. The other side of the coin in the console wars has been to do with movies, something that the Sony Pictures side of the business has a massive vested interest in. Unfortunately, pushing Blu-Ray has been massive mistake for Sony, it was all too easy for MS to release an inexpensive HD-DVD add-on for the 360 that also "just happens" to be PC compatible. And everybody wondered why they didn't bother with HD-DVD when the 360 launched? It was a trap, designed to thrust a sword right through the heart of Sony and Blu-Ray.
I haven't seen it talked about much, but Sony as a whole is in really deep trouble, the consumer electronics side of the business was already in financial ruin before the games division blew its load with the PS3. It will be fascinating to see if Sony can recover. My personal prediction is that bad hardware sales will eventually be the death blow for the entire Playstation line, as software developers turn their attention to more established systems, like the 360 and the Wii.
Now, regardless of the actual hardware and software, I think that the boys at Nintendo are absolute geniuses. Everybody scoffed when they decided to call their console the "Wii", but as is now totally apparent, the odd name was actually a perfectly calculated form of advertising designed to promote market penetration, which has worked pretty much flawlessly. Everything is Wiithis, Wiithat, Wii do this, Wii do that, Wii've been turned into brainwashed zombies, what company could ask for more that having their product name on everybody's lips precisely at holiday season?
There have been, of course, all kinds of negative reports about the Wiimote and the so called defective straps, which I put down to 2 factors. First, if people are having troubles, it's because they are just being way too vigorous with the controller, after having used it for myself, it's obvious that motion sensitivity was actually meant to be subtle. Second, the rest of the negativity is just sour grapes from MS zombies or Sony diehards that are ticked off because they are quickly realizing that the PS3 is teetering on the edge of becoming the next Dreamcast.
Nintendo also pulled off another brilliant move by releasing a free beta version of the Opera web browser for the Wii on the 22nd of this month. It didn't take long for the message boards to light up as all the techies had to try out different web browsing experiences. And what were the most reported finds? Free games and free TV shows, every geeks delight!
That, combined with virtual console features that will let Wii owners purchase and play old NES, Super Nintendo, N64, Sega Genesis and Turbografx 16 titles, the overall inexpensive nature of the Wii and the really cool software set for release in 2007, are why I am predicting that Nintendo will be the reborn king of the console hill. Simply, they decided to appeal to the 2 biggest software markets; kids and geeks my age, it's simply brilliant.
Ok, on to the software, I only actually have one Wii title, the only one I was interested in playing; The Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess. A title that I had read about here and there, but really didn't know much about, especially story wise, but that I wanted to try out just because the Zelda games have a history of excellence and because I couldn't see Nintendo messing up too badly with what had to be their flagship launch title. BTW, this is the first Zelda title (with the exception of GBA game "The Minish Cap" that I had played since "A Link to the Past" on the SNES).
According to my save file, I have been playing Twilight Princess for just over 9 hours now and here are my impressions:
Within the first 2 hours of game play, when adventuring is strictly limited to the first village, there is a really lousy puzzle that can be a complete game breaker. In order to progress, you have to catch a couple fish, once you find the fishing pole, you are off to the dock for a little fishing practice. The controls seem simple enough, a button to cast the line, tilt the remote up and down to control the pull, pull on the remote when the bobber goes down to catch a fist, simple enough.
The only trouble was that for me, it wasn't simple at all, after trying in vain to catch a fish for over an hour, after re-reading the manual several times for any hints on fishing, I finally decided to do some research on the 'net to see what was up.
At first all I was able to find was contrary instructions, some people said to pull the remote sharply, others gently, neither technique however worked for me.
Finally I found a very interesting message board with a huge thread about this particular sequence in the game, to which there were two exactly diametrically opposed opinions. The first was "This is the most frustrating thing I have ever done in a game, I'm ready to throw this Wiimote through the wall and the console out the window" and the second was "What the heck is wrong with you, I caught 3 fish in under a minute and went on with the adventure".
So, what was going on? Well, some people on the board were actually trying to offer helpful advice and I was finally able to determine what the issue was, it was all in the ambiguity of the phrase "pull back on the Wiimote". This motion was to be performed as the bobber began to be pulled under by a fish and pretty much ensured that one could catch as many fish as they wanted in relatively short order.
I went back to the Wiimote and tried every version of "pulling back" on the Wiimote as I could think of, but it still didn't result in catching a fish, so back to the boards I went to investigate further. Reading on, some posts mentioned that one had to hold the remote vertically in order to land a fish, once it had been hooked, and it was at that moment that the required motion "clicked", I went back to Twilight Princess and instantly caught the 2 required fish to pass the sequence.
And what was the final motion? Taking the Wiimote from a horizontal position and flicking the wrist to bring the Wiimote to a fully vertical position, that's what they meant by "pulling back", I think if they had said "flicking back" I would have got it instantly.
Anyhow, on to the rest of the game, which has actually been exceedingly cool, the story has been progressing at an excellent pace, with a healthy dose of Japanese 'shroom induced madness. The game play has actually been excellent, with many challenges; the control system that quickly becomes second nature, with wrist flicks to control sword motions and such.
The only odd thing to me is how many other game influences I can see in Twilight Princess, I mean, Zelda to me is a trend setter, not a follower, but here's a quick rundown of other games that have definitely influenced certain aspects of Twilight Princess:
Okami - An excellent game played from the perspective of a wolf that even seems to share an art style with Twilight Princess's wolf levels.
Shadow of the Colossus - An excellent, if highly unusual title can definitely be felt in the Twilight Princess's horse riding sequences.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time - Superb game that to me has certainly influenced some of the dungeon puzzle designs, as well as dungeon room camera fly-bys.
Metal Gear Solid - Solid (sorry) espionage game play interspersed with endless cut scenes, Twilight Princess inherited one of these traits and it wasn't espionage.
Dragon's Lair - A seminal game from the 80's featuring a very simple game play mechanic that involved moving a joystick and pushing a button in an exactly correct sequence to progress through the story. So far I have encountered at least 2 sequences in Twilight Princess that require this kind of mechanic to pass, including an excellent jousting sequence.
Add to this a race of bad guys that look like somebody was trying to create an Alien/Predator/TRON crossbreed, as well as the fact that the designer of the first dungeon must have been overdosing on a little too much Donkey Kong Country, Ape Escape and Super Monkey Ball and you get what is actually turning out to be a pretty cool game that we almost need to define a new game genera for: "Action Adventure Mishmash"!
So far, the negative I can think to express is that the speaker in the Wiimote tends to sound a bit like an old tin can, not sure why they would build such a fine device, but use such a low quality speaker, go figure!
Posted by Dylon on December 25, 2006 1:15 PM |
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Comments
Being somewhat new to the Island, is there much Boxing Day hype up here? Like where would one find sales?
Did you just say you've got the new Wii???? Lucky you! I feel badly now, as I just got Hubby a Playstation2! How totally uncool, eh!? LOL!
I love RPG. The more realistic, the better! I'm amazed to see how advanced graphics have gotten since I was a kid starting off on Atari and Coleco Vision! LOL! How old school!
You know, if it wasn’t for all the silliness with big city commercialism and sales, I probably would only know about Boxing Day because of old family friends that used to always have a Boxing Day open house. I used to look forward to it, a good excuse to eat lots of X-mas cookies and enjoy unusual treats like fondue. Unfortunately I don’t know of anybody that has that kind of get together these days and I’m pretty sure that most island retailers leave big sales to the silly city folk.
Hey, the PS2 rocks! I’d have to say that until the “next gen” systems actually start showing something decent software wise that the PS2 is still the best console on the block. In fact, there have been some totally excellent new releases for the PS2 that look pretty damn hot, like “Final Fantasy XII”, or even last years “God of War”. In fact, if you take a look, you’ll note that all the games I compare “Twilight Princess” to are PS2 titles.
Oh ya! In case it hasn’t been obvious in the past, I will step up on Murray’s soap box here and now to declare myself a life member of the “old school gamers club”.
Let’s see, in the past two and half decades I have owned the following systems:
Atari 2600
Commodore Vic 20 - (any remember that these puppies had cart slots?)
Commodore C64
Apple IIe
Apple IIGS
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Sega Master System
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo
Playstation (PSX)
Playstation 2 (PS2)
Nintendo DS
Nintendo Wii
and about 8 separate full PC upgrades to support the latest and greatest in gaming!
I think that’s it, and, of course, I’ve played games on a lot of other systems, like the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube or even the old Commodore PETs that we had in public school, heck, I even went to summer classes one year to learn BASIC programming on PETs.
Never did get to play a ColecoVision or an Intellivision, but I sure remember the titles both imported to the Atari 2600 and I got jealous a couple of years back when I found out that some young chap picked up a working Vectrex (and a whack of games) at an auction for twenty smackers!
I used to keep a list of all the games I had finished over the years, but I stopped back in the late 90’s when it topped 200. (LOL)
But you know, you are completely correct, I still remember the Atari 2600 with a certain fondness for those old, clunky graphics when I’m playing one of today’s modern fully rendered 3d games, it really is amazing how far we have come! The next stop is a STNG-style holodeck!
I remember my very first video game. It was the Smurfs adventure game for ColecoVision. The graphics were so horrible, but back then, they were the coolest ever! I was also fond of Zaxxon and Donkey Kong Jr. I've also owned Sega Genesis, NES and Super Nintendo.
I'm a closet gamer wannabe. My brothers are complete addicts (I grew up with 2 brothers and 10 male cousins, so that made for a lot of video game playing!).
Maybe we should set up a video game marathon! LOL! I', sure my husband would be all for it too! He just bought himself a few games when we were in Sudbury.
BTW, where would one get games for PS2 around here? Would we have to order online or go to Sudbury? Is there anywhere on the Island that sells PS2 games (new or used)?
Oh Gads! I remember renting the 2600 version of the “Smurfs” game from Schwanker’s (hmmm, haven’t spelled that right, been too long!) Electronics in Gore Bay and going just about insane attempting to figure out how to make long jumps over the river, which I eventually figured out, but man, what an awful game! I’ve heard rumours of a trilogy of Smurfs movies coming out in 2008, Eris help us all!
Zaxxon was the bomb, had to love those wicked “3D” graphics!
My best friend growing up had Donkey Kong Jr. for the 2600, I recall being so excited when he got it, as I had played the arcade version and then being blown away by how awful the graphics on the 2600 where, I mean, you couldn’t even see the little alligator jaws properly! Of course, looking back, everything on the 2600 pretty much looked like crap!
Oh ya, I’m always up for a video game marathon! Before I owned a PS2 I was always going to visit my best friend in Sudbury, we’d head over to Game Xperts and rent a stack of titles to take back to his place and play all night. I have a fair stack of PS2 titles to choose from myself, including some excellent multiplayer games, like Burnout: Revenge and Gran Turismo 4, any excuse to get out and game!
I don’t know of a single place on the island that has a proper selection of titles, The Source in Gore Bay or Little Current can order things for you, but at that point it’s probably easier to daytrip to Sudbury, where I can name at least 5 good spots to check out new and used PS2 titles. I also grab a lot of titles off of Ebay, as long as you are aware of the relative value of a used title. Actually, I had to laugh, before X-mas I went looking for a used copy of Zelda: Wind Waker for the Gamecube to play on my Wii, I asked at Electronics Boutique at the New Sudbury Centre and the lady gave me a look like I had just asked her to pull a PS3 out of a top hat. So I came home, found a buy-it-now on Ebay for $14.99 with $5.00 shipping to Canada, I decided to give it a go as an auction and actually got it for less that $12.00, so it couldn’t have been all that rare or special!
Ebay is also quite narfy for PC games, which tend to be darn expensive and very hard to find used (unless it’s a crappy). I’ve found a lot of brand new titles for sale from Thailand, which means you don’t get the box and have to read the instruction as a PDF from the CD/DVD, but they are totally legitimate copies and usually sell for half the going price (including shipping) that you’d pay from EB or Walrusmart.
Sorry, Dylon! It's me again, with more video game questions. Actually, this is an accessory related problem. My little brother got my a set of mics for PS2 (uhh..for the karaoke revolution game). Yes, I'm a karaoke nerd! LOL! Anyway, I have read the instruction manual for hook-up, but can't get the darn thing to work? Hubby can't figure it out either. Any ideas?
April 2008