7/26/2010

WII NEEDS WOMEN. And rpgs...

Actually the Wii arguably has a better track record than any console in history of attracting women (at least those that don't normally play video games), but attracting rpgs at anything even remotely resembling a regular fix seems next to impossible. I mean the last rpg that even came out for the system was Sakura Wars. And I really tried to like it, but several chapters of listening to inane sub-standard anime chatter with the rare occasional battle thrown in was just too much for me to bear. This was a similar issue on the Gamecube, but with it being a distant third, that wasn't surprising. The Wii is completely dominating the market, and with it being considerably less expensive to develop for, it should seem a haven for quirky rpg developers aiming at a niche crowd. Unfortunately, that hasn't really happened. So, an rpg fan with only a Wii to play desperately grabs at anything that comes out. That almost seems to be the hope behind Arc Rise Fantasia, out tomorrow, because according to nearly every review, it'd be extremely difficult to be more generic. Ironically rpg fans are far better off owning a 360, what with its wide variety of both American & Japanese flavored-rpgs. And the DS has a pretty healthy library as well. And what's the next rpg Wii owners even have to look forward to? The next Dragonquest game, due out whenever they feel like it at this point (likely 2012 at this rate). On the bright side, this console generation is seemingly having a much longer life-span than previous ones, with the next generation nowhere to be seen, so it's not too late to change this (but I doubt it will happen).

Batman 3 isn't coming out til 2012, but in the meantime you can help tide yourself with the latest DC direct-to-video release, Under the Red Hood, which is an animated re-telling of the return of the only Robin ever killed by popular vote. DC video releases are normally of tremendous quality (the Wonder Woman movie is one of the best animated films I've seen in a long time) so I definitely intend to rent it tomorrow and hopefully will have a review up next time I post.

How much will you pay for a 3DS? Is $250 too much? That's what often-quoted (and wrong 90% of the time) analyst Michael Pachter thinks it'll be. Granted, it's tough to say what a fair price for a portable 3D gaming system that can play 3D movies as well would be. But Nintendo has always stressed affordability for their products, including this newest one, so that price does seem like a slim possibility at best, or at least it would have a pretty solid bundle included to come out at that price. It would almost certainly be more than the DSi XL which is currently $189, but I think we'll simply see the DS disappear, the price of the DSi & DSi XL dropped and the 3DS at $199, as anyone who bought a DSi/XL might feel shafted at suddenly seeing a new fancy 3D system that can play their games and more and suddenly have to shell out another $250 for it.

Ok, that's really all I have for today, but I should be back tomorrow with something, in the mean time, check out the awesome new comic-con Tron Legacy trailer as the TRAILER OF THE WEEK:


1 comment:

KK said...

Was totally gonna pick up "Batman: Under the Red Hood" yesterday, but my usual spot was asking $18 for it, and this was the DVD. Looks like Amazon wins again.

Tron trailer = awesome.