Penfold

So am I right in thinking one year ago today the Wii launched? Man, it feels like a long year when I think back about it. Got some pretty awesome games these first 365 days with the system, with Zelda being the most memorable launch title for me. It's almost needless to say the system proved itself IMO. Can't wait to see all the great stuff we get in year 2 (let's go Mega Man games for virtual console!).

Indeed (10char).

Mario Galaxy now has a 98 on metacritic (as of right now at least). That's a really impressive score in general, but I think that's fitting in this case.

Personally, I disagree with the controls being gimmicky. I assume you're mainly referring to interacting with object and having to twist, thrust the wiimote forward/backward, etc...I thought these were rather cool additions and that they all worked well. While I agree the music wasn't as strong as especially the first Prime, I didn't find any of it particularly detracted from the experience (a little more generic perhaps). I think the level design was right in the middle of the trilogy, with Prime being the best and Prime 2 being the worst in this regard (and same here, I got pretty lost more than once thanks to the map in Skytown). For the most part I personally chalk up the ease of the game to the better, more action-oriented controls so I wouldn't be too quick to count that against it. Overall, the original Prime is still my favorite, but I was still quite impressed by Prime 3 and is a close second for me.

Oh man, played through the first two starts last night...all I can say is this game has thusfar lived up to the hype. Also thought the whole Mario calling thing was kinda cool.

Same here pretty much; as far as tv goes this won't be affecting me. What little tv I do watch is pretty much Discovery networks, sitcom reruns, and occassionally cartoons . I think the only current shows I watch anymore are Curb Your Enthusiasm and Avatar, even then the only one I really care about is Avatar and that's in no danger. As far as it affecting film, I haven't heard much about this so I don't really have anything to say in this regard. No offense to I-N-J-I-N, but I couldn't personally look forward to a Transformers 2. To me the first one was an assault on the cinematic language, and it leaves me to only anticipate that a second will be equally as bad with Bay as the director. I wanted it to be good, and it really could have been, but it just wasn't executed well IMO. I really don't care for what unions do anymore on a whole, but since I haven't researched much of what's being negotiated in this case I'll refrain from commenting. For the fans of the shows that will be affected at least, though, I hope these disputes become resolved.

Data transfer? What does it do to transfer the data from PoR to RD? Haven't heard of this yet.

I picked it up. I only got to sit down with it for like 20 min so far though. Seems like there were a few small improvements in presentation since Path of Radiance, but for the most part it's the exact same (and I'm happy about it overall). Would really like to get some quality time in on this game, but it looks like I won't be able to get the time in on it like I was hoping (between still needing to beat Zack and Wiki and Battalion Wars 2, and next week picking up Mario Galaxy I'm gonna be pretty well flooded for the time being ). Especially with getting a new position at work, my freetime is dwindling, so videogame time has cut down a lot as of late. As far as getting the classic controller just for FE, I'd say don't bother unless you were going to pick it up for something else too. That said, I still recommend the classic controller for Virtual Console games, it being the best traditional controller in my opinion. From the little FE I got to play, it wasn't noticably uncomfortable to play with the wiimote on its side, but the classic controller is more comfortable still.

Yeah, while some said in reviews that the Temple of the Ocean King was too repetetive, I thought it was one of the best elements to the game. Getting to go back with new items, trying to beat your time, and all that was really fun for me.

Yeah, that aspect of the controls seemed like a pretty big stumbling block. Anyway, like they were saying in the IGN review for the game, the Wii controls added relatively little this time around, which was pretty unfortunate since it had some really good possibilities. I didn't feel any problem with the nunchuk motion controls, though, which was a negative they pointed out in the IGN article. Beat the Solar Empire campaign the other day, and haven't had time to get back to it as of yet. Really looking forward to trying out the online component, since a lot of reviews said that was the big reason to get the game. To correct something I said when I previously posted about the game, there apparently is a way to change the size of the bounding box, but since reading that in the IGN review I haven't gone back to try to find it again. Anyway, to what Ray Falling said earlier, BWii is definitely still a good game, but I think everyone was looking for more out of the controls than was implemented. The style of the first BW is still intact, and enhanced in this rendition (that's a big part of the allure I think). Also for the kind of game it is (real-time action with strategic elements), I think the controls are more than servicable (though, I'll refer to what I said above). All in all, if you've played the first one you'll know more or less what to expect. First one was good and this one is at least marginally improved over that, but it just doesn't blow the older one out of the water like it should have IMO.

Picked up Battalion Wars II yesterday...as expected, it's pretty much more of the same. I only got to play the prologue mission so far, but I think it gives a pretty good impression of what to expect from it. Controls are significantly slower than I thought they would be when it comes to looking around and whatnot, plus the bounding box is huge so you pretty much have to move the cursor to the edge of the screen before the camera starts to pan. While it would have been more enjoyable I think if the at least either made the bounding box smaller or sped up how fast you could look (or gave you options in these regards), it still feels marginally better than the old controls. Overall, not bad: maybe not something to jump up and purchase right away, but if you liked the original it's pretty much guaranteed you'll like this.

Nice. Man, that didn't even occur to me to try the bell on the goblins lol. On the last lvl of the 3rd area, and this game just keeps getting better. The boss fight levels have been really interesting so far...can't wait to see what's next!

So IGN posted more images of FF:CC WiiWare and is (as before) looking really nice, especially compared to pretty much all the other WiiWare titles we've been shown so far, but I'll be interested to hear details about the gameplay and whatnot. Anyway, Battalion Wars 2 comes out tomorrow. Really enjoyed the original, short as it was, and anticipating this to be more of the same. I think I'll be picking this up tomorrow, even though it'll be dicey if I'll much any time to sink into it before Fire Emblem arrives next week. Who else plans on picking this up?

Got to play Portal for the first time this weekend, and I've gotta say it's brilliant. I was expecting it to be good, but it turned out to be better than I imagined.

Got my hands on this game tonight...played through 3 levels so far, and am just now starting a 4th. So far, it's been a lot of fun...a little different than I had anticipated, but I really like it (for some reason, I had though it was going to be a little more open than confined to stages, but it's definitely not bad the way it is). I never played the oldschool adventure games like Monkey Island, so I can't comment on how it measures up to others in the genre. The controls are reasonable, and the only time I got particularly annoyed with the controls was when doing that bell ringing rhythm minigame thing (I know I was on beat, but it didn't register each time). The music is pretty fun so far, though some of the sound effects and whatnot can get a little grating. Graphics are pretty nice and colorful; good presentation overall. All in all, it's been a good time so far, now back to the game!

Oh ok. So in fact I have heard them before (which makes me want to go back and give a listen to their ReMixes, which I haven't heard for a while). Thanks for pointing this out!

I'm not sure what "distros" means...distributors? Anyway, I don't think it'll sell all that poorly either, just given that I can't find it anywhere around here. Could have just been poor distribution (or maybe that's at least partially responsible), but it still seems to me that it selling out as it did is indicative of the interest it has generated. At any rate, I'm very excited to get ahold of this game for myself hopefully this weekend. In other news, presumably soon you will be able to purchase Wii games for people in your friends list. I think that's rather interesting news...might be kind of a cool way to buy a gift for a friend.

Great stuff! Haven't heard Kunal or Tim Sheehy before, but I was left with quite a good impression from this. Thanks for this!

Was looking forward to this game but didn't think to reserve it and apparently all of Seattle is sold out of it . Hoping to get it when it gets restocked within the next several days.

***Round 20*** The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Especially for its time, this was an epic game and it brought the series into 3-D for the first time (and that was a big deal). How awesome was that when you first went into the overworld, walked around, then it changed from day to night and back again? Great story and characterization, emotion-evoking atmosphere, and a score that was an instant classic. The gameplay introduced things into the genre that became convention. Great game on all counts. YES Resident Evil At the time, I remember how especially scary this game was. It was an atmospheric experience, and the camera angles chosen when entering a room really added to it. The thing I didn't care for, however, were the controls, and for me that's pretty much a deal breaker. NO

I think it must be selling pretty well, since I couldn't find it anywhere around here. Maybe I'll have some luck finding it this weekend.

I'm really hoping I can find it today...I was thinking about going to preorder it yesterday or the day before, but I figured it was going to be still readily available today. Here's hoping...

Good advice, thanks! I think in this case I'll pick up Advent in the meantime, and get Phoenix Wright 3 as soon as I finally complete the 2nd one (I recently started up again and am half-way through the circus case, great stuff).

So after seeing the only so-so reviews of Front Mission DS, I'm a little iffy about it and considering picking up Mega Man ZX Advent or Phoenix Wright 3 instead (even though I still haven't finished the 2nd one yet ). Any thoughts?

Yeah, pretty much; particularly this Mario game. Given the praise this game has been receiving by at least the demos living up to everyone's very high expectations, I doubt "nostalgia and fanboy service" played much of a role in the Famitsu score. If this is true, it'll be the first MMO I'll have ever wanted to play (already decided I'll be getting AC for Wii since they look like a fun series which I haven't gotten to try yet). Anyway. looking forward to playing some Zack and Wiki today .