8/25/2005

How much is that doggy in the touch screen?

Out this week is the title that Nintendo's Reggie Fills-Aime has pushed as the second coming, Nintendogs for the Nintendo DS. I've never really gotten into these "virtual caretaker" games (i.e. Seaman, Tamagotchi, the Sims) where you basically substitute a real pet for a fake one. They aren't even really games, with no clear goal or end in sight. But despite that I'm sure this'll be a huge success based on the cuteness factor. And from the reviews I've read somebody finally realized that it' not fun to have to respond to a virtual pet's every whim and need, so most of that is eliminated. It'll be interesting to see if the public really picks up on this as it's meant to appeal to the non-gamer and really makes the DS take off. Personally, I'm far more interested in the new Lunar & Mario & Luigi rpgs coming out soon. If those are good, I may have to finally break down and get one.

But if the utter cuteness of Nintendogs makes you feel like unleashing some rage, also out this week is reportedly the first Hulk title that's actually good-Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Someone finally got the idea that it's probably best to just let the game be a "sandbox" type like GTA (or more appropriately, Spider-Man 2) where while there's a story and missions, you also can just run around causing massive destruction. I'm hopefully getting it in the mail next week so I'll let you know my verdict then.

And finally, the other big release this week is 187-Ride or Die. It sounds like another GTA-themed rip-off, but instead it's like a poorly done urban version of Twisted Metal with poor controls. I'm really getting sick of these urban games, there shuld be some kind of moratorium on them & any game based on a war in the last 100 years.

That's it for today, but I'll defnitely be back tommorow with my thoughts on this weekend's movies. Until then....

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