Hey everyone, and welcome back to another term, whether that is on campus or on co-op. I hope your holidays went well, and you were able to get some gaming time in there. This article, I’m going to be focusing on a couple of things; the holiday season for the Nintendo Wii U, the evolution of the LEGO games into the most recent Lord of the Rings entry, and the most amazing thing – Nintendo has actually done something new with Pokemon. I know, it is kind of scary but I checked and I don’t think the world has ended, at least there wasn’t a zombie apocalypse or something.
To start things off, this holiday season saw a huge growth in sales for the Nintendo Wii U, with the console flying off the shelves as the hottest Christmas gift this year. Oh wait, it didn’t? Oops, my mistake. This season was a real red flag in my appraisal of the Nintendo Wii U, as I don’t think there should ever be a question of what is going to be the ‘must-have’ gift in a year when a console launched. When the original Wii was released stores couldn’t keep them in stock and people were driving across the continent in order to find that last forgotten Wii in a Radio Shack in Punkeydoodles Corners that no one thought to search (I’m just kidding, there is no Radio Shack there, though the hamlet does have to deal with people stealing their sign frequently).
The advertisements for the Wii U really only started picking up in frequency after the holidays, which seems like a really weird marketing move, and these ads don’t even do a very good job of selling the system. Showing how you can play your part of a game on a little screen while your friends are all having a great time staring at your TV really doesn’t sell the system to me as a good party system. When I did get a chance to play around with the system a bit, I found it really awkward and disjointed. Of course some of this will be due to lacking familiarity with the GamePad controller, but I found it really weird to stare at a TV screen and have a really bulky controller, I would much rather use the standard kind of controller. Then comes the really weird points of some games where you are suddenly stuck in an area and have no way to proceed, before you finally look down from the TV to the GamePad and realise that you need to take your hands off the controls to make a gesture on the touch pad, then go back to looking at the screen. Overall I don’t think it is a very compelling console, especially when it is only marginally better than the Xbox 360 and PS3, both of which will be replaced soon anyways.
Another interesting thing happened a week after my last article where I mentioned that Nintendo had not released a mini version of the Wii – Nintendo released the Wii mini. The new model features a smaller form factor in a matte black and red case. Interestingly the system is exclusive to Canada – which seems like a really weird choice. Also the size and cost ($99) are kept at a minimum by removing all internet capabilities from the console (meaning you can’t go online at all or play multiplayer), dropping support for GameCube games, and removing memory card support. So basically the system can only play disc based Wii games, all alone, and it is only $50 less than the full system (which includes two games in most retail bundles). How is this a deal?
So, away from Nintendo for a bit, and over to the newest installment in the LEGO franchise, LEGO Lord of the Rings. I have now finished the story missions for The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, and am only at about 30% completion. The really interesting thing about this LEGO game is the complete departure from a ‘menu world’ structure, where you were located in a lobby style world and selected which story mission you wanted to play from a set of posters or a hallway of doors. Instead, the entire world of Middle Earth is one giant map, and each story mission is located around the world to correspond with its starting location – want to play as the Ents and tear down Isengard? Then you can walk to Isengard and start the mission. The world is a kind of condensed version, so don’t worry about walking anywhere taking very long. Another interesting component is the full voice acting, which does a great job of supplementing the physical comedy. While I have liked the silent character in the past games, there is just something great about hearing John Rhys-Davies call out “That still only counts as one” after you take down an Olliphant as Legolas (I think they made this game just to be able to make the LEGOlas pun). The LEGO games have evolved a lot over the years and I can definitely say that LEGO Lord of the Rings is my favourite so far.
Guess what? Back to Nintendo! The company has recently released some huge news about the Pokemon franchise, which has definitely been stagnant for many years. After the release of Pokemon Black and White 2, as the first numbered sequels in the series, many people were wondering when the next real Pokemon adventure would be announced. Well Nintendo has announced the release of Pokemon X and Y – apparently they have run out of colours or gem stones – for October of this year. The release trailer caught many people off guard when it revealed that the game will actually be 3D, with fully polygonal rendering rather than the traditional 2D top down view we have been used to since Pokemon Red and Blue debuted in North America in 1998. The trailer seems to show platforming type elements to the game, and full animation of Pokemon battles. The game is also being released for the Nintendo 3DS, so it looks like it really will be a whole new experience from the games that have come before. I think this is definitely going to push sales of the 3DS, especially the 3DS XL, as you are not only going to get the kids market but the nostalgic young adults as well.
While I am sure that the game will follow the same standard plot that all the games have followed since Red and Blue, there is no denying that this is a fundamental change to the Pokemon genre. So I guess the biggest question is – if the game is now a full polygonal world, are you still going to get stuck at those stupid little ledges?
So there is my rant for now, with Nintendo showing up on both the good and bad sides of the discussion, for a product that is forgettable and boring, and a game that is a total redesign of one of their most famous franchises. Check out LEGO Lord of the Rings if you want a fun adventure/collectible finding game – and seriously consider the PC version, as it retails for $30 instead of $60 on consoles and portables. See you next issue, and Keep on Gaming.
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