10 Wii games that deserve a Wii U follow up...

Well the Wii U is out now and many have gotten a chance to at least see the potential of the gamepad, which offers a lot of new gaming possibilities. Obviously one way to really show this off would be to make sequels to Wii titles that could show off ways to improve them with gamepad and Wii U functionality. Here are 10 I think would make prime examples:

#10 Xenoblade Chronicles: Admittedly, I'd love to see a follow up to Xenoblade Chronicles period. I easily sunk about a hundred hours into it and it's one of the best rpgs of this generation. Howoever it wasn;t without it's flaws namely a fairly horrid quest management system. It's been repeatedly shown that the Wii U may be the most ideal console for rpgs to date, and quest & inventory management along with auto-mapping would be a snap on the pad along with having techniques and attacks right there on the pad to queue up since it does work a lot like an MMO. Also admittedly the game was beautiful in some aspects but downright ugly in others. Seeing that world in full HD would be a treat.

#9. The Last Story: This would be that other great rpg of this generation on the Wii. Aside from it's rather short length, it was a fairly impeccable product. Combat could get a bit messy and confusing, with a gamepad it would be much easier to manage your party and dole out commands. And much like Xenoblade Chronicles, while it was gorgeous, it clearly was taxing the system and suffered from massive slowdown at times. The significantly more powerful Wii U could do it justice.

#8: Boom Blox: Moreso because this is an extremely underrated party series that a lot of people didn't play, but I really think the possibilities of 5-player mayhem alone would add a lot of value to this, plus it could probably use the gamepad itself in some inventive ways.

#7: Red Steel: The first Red Steel was an unmitigated disaster to the point where it's become synonymous with a title that was supposed to show of the potential of a system and failed utterly. But Red Steel 2 managed to gloriously deliver on most of the promise the original failed to live up to, with great combined sword and gun action. It didn't sell nearly as well as it should have, probably mainly due to the bad memories of the first. Whether it used the gamepad much or just was another great example of motion plus, I think it deserves at least one more shot at being a great AAA franchise.

#6: No More Heroes: No More Heroes was easily the best third-party series on the Wii. Suda 51 has expressed a lot of interest in making a third entry on the Wii U, saying he's really excited about the gameplay possibilities the gamepad provides. Do I need to say much more? SOMEONE MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

#5: A Boy and His Blob: The cult NES title received a revival on the Wii with charming graphics and clever puzzles. The combination of platforming and puzzle-solving could really benefit from the touchpad and the dual screen capabilities of the Wii U and could also have some interesting co-op possibilities as well.

#4: Little King's Story: Granted, we've already got both Pikmin 3 and Worderful 101 on the horizon, which will offer similar gameplay, but they might lack the pure charm and certainly the kingdom-building aspects of Little King's Story that make it such a great title. The Gamepad would obviously  make managing your little army of followers a snap and like many titles on this list it was criminally ignored so I'd love to see it given another chance at being discovered.

#3: Zack & Wiki: One of the most brilliant and fun puzzle games of this generation, Zak & Wiki also featured many creative uses of the Wii remote integrated into it's puzzle solving. I'm sure a well-deserved sequel on the Wii U would make very creative use of the Gamepad with really clever puzzles, so let's hope that happens.

#2: Lost Winds: One of the earliest WiiWare titles remains one of the best, being an incredible platformer that made fantastic use of the Wii remote. Hell a good idea for a pretty basic follow-up is already there in Nintendoland with the minigame Ballon Trip Breeze, but that's just the most basic idea off the top of my head, I'm sure there a lot of exciting possiblities for this series with the Wii U and the gamepad and I'd love to see them.

#1. Trauma Team: This is pretty obvious. You can use the stylus like a scalpel. You can use the gamepad like a medical scanner. Hell you might even be able to implement co-op play. This is a series that has fir Nintendo systems in general very well. It was one of the best Wii titles and could easily be a great Wii U title so hepfully we'll see this really obvious and awesome idea on the Wii U before long.

Ok that's the list. Until next time, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK:  Admission

Devil Still Care?

Granted, Dante pretty kicked the over-the-top action genre into high gear with the original Devil May Cry way back in 2001. But since then, there have been many, many others who have stepped up to the plate. Most notably Bayonetta & Garcia Hotspur but Kratos & even Travis Touchdown could be considered on that company as well. So yes, a reboot was most likely needed in order to really get the franchise some notice. But the newly redesigned Dante isn't really winning people over, looking like a boy band reject desperately trying to go goth. But gameplay is ultimately key here, and Ninja Theory recently released a demo for 360 and PS3 owners to try out. No Wii U version as of yet, but based on the demo, they aren't missing much. The loud ridiculous death metal-esque soundtrack is distracting and the controls are kind of awkward and confusing. The fighting is competent but nothing special. Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise as Ninja Theory's games always seem decent but really lacking polish or something to make them stand out. Granted this isn't a hugely crowded field, but I can't imagine anyone passing up the next God of War or Bayonetta 2 (if they own a Wii U anyways) for this and in the meantime games like Darksiders 2 fill the void nicely.

Details of Bungie's first post-Halo project have surfaced.  While it doesn't sound like Halo but not Halo, it is still about the last remnants of humanity fighting an alien invasion. You'd think after claming they didn't want to do Halo anymore their next game have little to do with futuristic space wars with aliens. But I guess as long its a different futuristic space war with different aliens, that's ok.

Hey who wants an ugly-ass mini version of the Wii that not only lacks Gamecube support but internet features as well? Apparently Canada because for now that's the only place you can get the completely neutered Wii mini. I can see trying squeeze one last bit of cash out of the Wii but  can't imagine who this appeals to except maybe that crowd that just waits for consoles to hit under $100 before picking them up. Granted if for some reason you were just now buying a Wii, there's a ton of quality software to choose from and no long waits in-between, but of course there's virtually nothing else coming out for the system.

That's it for today, but I should have another post up Thursday or Friday. Until then, here's your trailer of the week: Warm Bodies

The Wii U after a week...

Sorry this post is way later than I intended, but due to not only a crazy holiday week but being massively ill (which I'm still somewhat getting over) I wasn't really able to post my thoughts until now.

The Wii U has been out a week. What are everyone's thoughts so far? I think it's one of the strongest launches ever, with something good for just about everybody. Not that it hasn't had some hiccups, but that's pretty normal with nearly every launch. So here are my thoughts on the games I've played so far and the hardware itself:

The Wii U: It's incredibly slick hardware, bottom line. The amount of updates is slightly annoying, but nothing new in this age of constant updating on all systems. The eshop is slick, getting friends is finally easy (though still a little more complex than it needs to be).
 The Miiverse may be one of the most entertaining things about the system, with constant user comments (and cool drawings) that make it far more socially integrated than the 360 or the PS3. Yes it's heavily moderated, but they aren't moderating criticism of games, just the racist swearing idiots you usually find online which is a good thing.
The gamepad itself is incredibly slick and works very well with pretty much every game I've played so far. The one downer is the extremely limited battery life of only a few hours means being tethered a lot to an outlet. In an age where controllers are expected to be wireless for hours of play, this is a big downside. Hopefully somebody comes up with something that extends the battery life soon.
Moving on to the games:

 Nintendoland: Haven't gotten much time on this one, but I've enjoyed what I've played so far. The unlocking of prizes is fairly addictive and seeing a constant stream of other people's miis is fairly cool. The only bad minigame is Takamaru's Ninja Castle, it's just very imprecise.

 New Super Mario Bros U: This is honestly the title I was most worried about after being thoroughly bored with NSMB 2. But from the very beginning this game absolutely shines with not only classic shades of Super Mario World but integrating new fun stuff as well. The level designs are much better as well and just more fun. This is not really a game that's innovative but it's easily the best 2D Mario in years and one of the better 2D side-scrollers in a long time as well.

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed: This was a nice little surprise. I mean sure, I put it on my top ten launch picks, but I was expecting it to be passable. It's right up there with the better Mario Kart titles, and is actually based more on skill than things like blue shells. I did have trouble finding online matches, I assume it's because this a new system and it's not exactly a big core title, but I think those looking for something different than your usual shooter fare would do well to pick this up.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II: If you want a game that really shows off the graphics on Wii U, this is probably your best bet as it looks stellar. It controls really well on the gamepad.I played a few online sessions, but being that the install base isn't nearly as big, it is understandably hard to get into the match type you want occasionally. I'm not a huge shooter fan and this isn't really something I would get into but it's certainly a great choice for shooter fans who will miss out on nothing by getting this version over other systems and it adds the option of co-op with two screens which is impressive.

 ZombiU: This has probably been the most divisive title at launch. Some praise it, some damned it. I think those that damned it didn't really understand what type of game it is. It's old school survival horror with real suspense that you just don't see in your modern horror games. I don't think it's something I would enjoy myself enough to buy, but anyone looking for an actual scary game that also has the crushing but rewarding difficulty of a game like Dark Souls should at least give this a try and there is supposed to be a demo up in the next few weeks.

Scribblenauts Unlimited: I saved this for last because this for me is the sleeper title of the launch. I've never been horribly impressed with the Scribblenauts series, as it seemed like a good concept that was never really executed well. Until now. This has dominated my Wii U and I've had tons of fun not only solving puzzles but just seeing what wacky stuff I can come up with. With dlc this could have virtually unlimited play value so I hope this entry that finally gets it right gets the attention it deserves.

That's all for today, I'll hopefully be able to get up another post tomorrow now that I'm finally feeling human again. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Now You See Me

Does the Wii U need GTA?

Grand Theft Auto, arguably the biggest franchise in gaming, makes it's long-awaited return next Spring. The Wii U, which will finally allow Nintendo to have most current third-party offerings on their console without any significant sacrifices and possibly even some improvements since the Wii U is slightly more powerful and of course has the unique Gamepad controller. We are already seeing early benefits of this with major third-party offerings coming out at launch like Black Ops II, Darksiders II and in the future with highly anticipated games like Injustice & Aliens: Colonial Marines. But Nintendo owners won't be getting all of the big titles. Bioshock Infinity for example, arguably the most anticipated multi-platform game of early 2013, is not currently slated for a Wii U release. Now it's heavily rumored that a Wii U version is in the works, but If it's 6 or more months down the line, that's not really offering an experience on par with the other consoles. Whether or not the Wii U will get ports of games that are on the Xbox 720/PS4 (or whatever those will be called) is in question. But since we probably won't even see those systems til 2014, the important thing for now is that owners aren't missing out on current third-party offerings, especially those must-have titles that have such a huge and loyal following. This is the first time it seems like there is a real shot at getting a GTA release on a Nintendo home console since Nintendo seems to be really making an effort at having third-parties on board this time. Granted, GTA V was just recently announced, but it's definitely coming out on PS3 and 360, with no announcement one way or the other for Wii U as of yet. If Nintendo really wants to prove viable to the core audience, they need to have releases like this on their system as well, and in a timely manner too. No one is going to be pleased to get a port when everyone has already moved on to the next big multi-platform release. Getting GTA on the system would speak volumes. They manged to get the two biggest holiday releases-Assassin's Creed III & Black Ops II for launch, which is a good start, but they need to keep it up as that will be the best way to get a good head start on whatever Sony & Microsoft are planning next. That's it for today, I will try and have a post up this weekend about the Wii U launch itself, possibly on Sunday so I can at least give impressions of the launch games I pick up (which as of right now are Nintendoland, New Super Mario Bros U, Darksiders II and probably one more, most likely Epic Mickey 2 based on the awesome demo). Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: The Water Knight Game

You can pick up your Wii U games today...

Well maybe not Nintendoland or New Super Mario Bros. U, but it being the Tuesday before the Wii U finally launches many 3rd party titles such as Assassin's Creed III, Black Ops II & Scribblenauts Unlimited are hitting stores tomorrow so if you wanted to pick any of those up prior to launch it would be a good opportunity.

I'm now several hours into Paper Mario Sticker Star, and I can tell you that if you were expecting some sort of rpg you'll be at least mildly dissapointed. It's more like a classic adventure title with turn-based battles thrown in to mix things up. The good news is the majority of times it works quite well, but there are a few times when the design fall on its face to a frustrating degree. Mainly because the designers, rather than letting you be creative in how you solve puzzles (and boss fights, which are puzzles all on their own) have a very specific solution even when other objects would clearly get the job done just as well. Also at least to this point, sticker management is a pain as space at the beginning is pretty limited. It would be nice if I could just stack multiple stickers of the same type in one slot, but I do also see how that could really limit the challenge since most stickers respawn once you have left an area and at least the basic attack types are really cheap. Despite these minor annoyances like I said for the most part it works pretty brilliantly and add in the incredibly clever writing and you've easily have the best 3DS game of the year.

The final big multi-platform release of 2012 hits stores today in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It changes up a lot of what I'd expect out of a shooter. Tons of MP content to be sure, but the single player, with it's jumping time periods and choices with consequences gameplay has me way more interested than I've been in recent history. The last shooter I probably seriously got into was the original Modern Warfare, which was probably the last major change-up to the COD series, so maybe Black Ops II offers a  drastic enough change that it'll get me invested in the series again. I would like to at least rent the Wii U version, so I'll certainly give my impressions if I get my hands on it.

-That's all for today, I will certainly do at least one more post before Sunday when the Wii U hits, but until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: World War Z

A tale of two (epic) Mickeys...

Yes I played Halo 4. My opinion? It's like 343 studios tried to get as close as they possibly could to a Bungie Halo rather than really put their own unique stamp on it. There are a couple differences-I think the Forerunners are some of the most challenging enemies in the series and ammo is a lot more scarce in general making you be a bit more tactical in your approach to enemies. And obviously there will be no lack of content with free Spartan Ops missions every week. And maybe for this entry it was the way to go, so 343 could point to this and say yes we can do a Halo game, now the next entry will be us really putting our own spin on it for the next entry. It does make me potentially excited for Halo 5, though at this point I can't see buying an Xbox 720 (or whatever it will be called) just for that if they are jumping to the next generation with the next entry.

I've been fairly vocal about my massive disappointment in the virtually unplayable mess that was Epic Mickey. It was ugly, even for a Wii game, the controls were a little wonky but the killer was the terrible camera that literally made it impossible to even see much of the time. When I heard they were making a sequel, I wanted to be optimistic that Warren Spector and his team would see the obvious problems and really work to fix them, but I was understandably not expecting a huge turnaround. I was interested in the fact that they were releasing 2 decidedly different Epic Mickey titles for home console and the 3DS, the latter being an homage to the old 8 & 16-bit classic Mickey games while the former was more in line withe original, giving people good reasons to buy both. That's assuming they are any good of course. Well, demos have been released for both titles, and I've turned from skeptic to very excited.

 For the console version, I know Warren Spector talked about this being a "video game musical" but I wasn't horribly impressed with the opening number by the Mad Doctor, so we'll see how that theme actually works out(but the addition of voice acting is a nice and much needed touch). The good news is the game plays very well. The camera is pretty much fixed, the controls respond well (though I think some potential was missed since this title fits motion control well and they decided to go with the traditional controller format) and it looks great. I might very well actually grab this for the Wii U come launch day as it should be roughly the same on all consoles.

The portable version is a pretty nice surprise as well. 2d platformers aren't exactly rare on portables so a title would have to do something special to stand out and Power of Ilusion manages to look great in its old school style and is jam packed with characters and general fan service for the discerning Disney fan. Granted if you are still playing plenty of New Super Mario Bros. 2 or Paper Mario (which I'll talk more about in my next post) I doubt this will replace those but it's also probably the last worthwhile 3DS title coming out this year (damn you Nintendo for pushing Luigi's Mansion 2 back) so it's probably worth the pickup at some point.

So in essence these two demos have for now turned me into a hopeful fan of the Epic Mickey franchise. Let's hope the full release lives up to the potential. My next post will almost certainly be on Sunday with thoughts if not first impressions (depending on how much time I get in) on the big 3DS holiday release-Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Medieval Shark

The Medium Entertainment Review: Wreck-It Ralph

There's an important distinction to make about Wreck-It Ralph versus other video-game inspired movies. This is a movie that definitely makes the story take precedence over the video game world it's set in. It has some references to well known video games, but most of those are done within the first 20 or so minutes (almost all within the bad guys anonymous meeting we've seen so much of in all the trailers). So admittedly those expecting a movie completely jam-packed with nods and inside jokes about gaming might be dissapointed as the large majority of the movie takes place in the candy coated world of the Sugar Rush racing game. But the story while pretty predictable, is cleverly told and the characters are all very entertaining and peppered with great performances from the entire cast. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Toy Story, which it so clearly borrows a lot of its inspiration from, but it gets pretty close. In fact those who have grown up more on video games than traditional toys may feel more of a connection to this, as it certainly works as Toy Story for the gamer generation. This is not just the best video-game movie ever made (because let's face it, that's not exactly a high-bar), it's one of the better animated films I've seen in the last few years, especially compared to the recent disappointing efforts of Pixar lately like Cars 2 & Brave (and frankly I don't have much hope for Monsters University while we're at it). Hopefully this will get at least one sequel because I'd be very excited to see it's take on more video game worlds.

That's it for today, but I certainly plan on renting the much anticipated Halo 4 so look for my impressions on my next post, most likely on Wednesday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Epic

Disney probably could've picked a better title...

I am beyond excited about Wreck-It Ralph, which is doubly amazing given the general history of movies based around video games (with the exception of the eternally awesome Last Starfighter) and the fact that it is a non-Pixar Disney animated film, which generally isn't all that good. I'm going to see it tomorrow and put my review up this weekend. I am completely sure it will be amazing. That being said, all the title makes me think of this:

The early reviews of Halo 4 are in. I'll be honest, I have had very little excitement about this game. It looked like 343 studios was very complacent in just keeping things status quo as to not rile the legions of Halo fans out there. The reviews, though overwhelmingly positive, seem to confirm this. I'm sure it will be reliably solid, but these days I think any shooter franchise, even one as revered as Halo really needs to do something original to separate itself from the huge glut of shooters out there. I do plan on renting it next week and will give impressions, but it's been a long time since a shooter has really gotten me excited, I doubt Halo 4 is going to rekindle that fire.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least talk about the surprise announcement of Disney buying Lucasfilm and more specifically and importantly, Star Wars. I think the biggest surprise at this point is people claiming it will ruin the franchise.  I would've expected the worst response to be more like "well it can't get any worse". Because seriously, all Lucas has tried to do in the last 15 or so years is pretty much ruin the franchise between messing with the original trilogy and unleashing the prequel trilogy on us. And just look at Marvel. It's films have hardly suffered since being under the Disney flag. Arguably the best news to come out of this is that Lucas will only be in a advisory role on the newly planned trilogy, really giving the Star Wars franchise a decent shot at redemption.

That's really all for today. I should certainly have a review up by Sunday of Wreck-it-Ralph, along with maybe some other things to talk about. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Hero's Duty

Can Cliffy B. fix Resident Evil?

Resident Evil 6 is completely terrible. Between this and Operation Raccoon City, there's a lot of discussion that the series is in need of something drastic to fix it. It's certainly a valid argument that the franchise could use a fresh set of eyes on it, but is Cliffy B., The man behind Unreal & Gears of War the guy to do it? He certainly thinks so. I certainly think Cliffy could put his own spin on the Resident Evil formula and it could be interesting and successful. But what he could not do is basically make Gears of War with zombies. Cliffy certainly knows how to do grim shooters really well and maybe RE could use some of that, but at it's heart it's never been about putting lots and lots of bullets in undead things. The best examples of the series (namely Resident Evil 4 & also Code Veronica in my opinion). It's a game about survival with at least somewhat limited resources. You've never really felt like a badass in a good Resident Evil game, you feel like you barely get through most encounters. That's pretty much the opposite of Unreal & Gears of War. Sure in Gears you fight against an oppressively invading alien horde, but you still feel like a badass while doing so. If Cliffy B. can bring something new to the table while maintaining that essential RE feeling, I hope Capcom takes him up on it.

Today may be the biggest single release day of the year gamewise, as the sheer number of titles are mind-boggling. But easily the most noteworthy is the latest entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. It may say III, but hell this is the 5th main game and actually the 8th if you count the portable entries. People at first bemoaned the drastic change in setting to Colonial America (no gigantic buildings to dive off of!) but after all the previous games looking extremely similar, maybe a drastic change was needed to keep it fresh. We even have a new protoganist in Connor, who is half Native American. It also features naval battles, which seems like an odd turn just because you think one assassin wouldn't be much use when boats are firing cannonballs at each other. I've honestly never been able to get into this series, but I certainly at least intend on giving the Wii U version a shot so I'll see if this is new direction is what finally has me invested in it.

A couple years ago, I said a LOTR lego game would be at the top of my list for the next Lego title. Maybe if little to nothing of Lego games had come out in the interim, today's release would be a welcome occasion. But we've had several in that time and now frankly I feel bored with them. I now Lego games aren't necessarily aimed at guys my age. They are dependable family entertainment. I'm sure kids will love it. But this series could've been a lot more and it's a shame that Traveler's Tales has settled for the lazy cash in route when it could've been something special.

Ok that's it for today, until next time, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Evil Dead

From the makers of Kickpuncher: Puncher who kicks....

Ok, video game titles don't need to be subtle or clever. Some don't even make a whole lot of sense. But it's hard to take a title seriously when it's as ridiculously generic and redundant as the latest MOH franchise, especially when it's a huge underdog in a market dominated by the Call of Duties and Gears of Wars & Battlefields. Hell even Halo's return is imminent. It's class & buddy system at least seems like a semi-unique hook but I seriously doubt it will stand out even in this season of few really big titles since most of the big titles are shooters.

Ok as much as I wasn't impressed by New Super Mario Bros. 2, The Wii U game really seems to be fixing that more and more with each video I see or preview gets me more hyped as it shows much more variety and depth than in it's rather paltry E3 showing.  Though with only 24 days to go Nintendo really needs to ramp up the press on this thing. I have heard starting later this week that's exactly what they intend to do, so hopefully we'll get all the info we've been waiting on for over a month since the launch date and price was announced.

That's really all I have for today. I should be able to get at least one more post in this week. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: IRON MAN 3

Ok yeah, Kratos beating up Parappa just feels weird...

Admittedly not much in the realm of big releases this week unless you are actually excited about yet another craptacular Bond game or a re-release of the oh so fun Doom 3 where even though it was the future no one knew how to use a gun and a flashlight at the same time...

However, if you are a Playstation plus member, you can try out the beta for their upcoming Smash Bros. knockoff, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. I am one such member and have played a few hours. The online itself is pretty seamless, I didn't notice any lag and the matches I played all went smoothly. The selection of characters is rather limited, but it is a beta so that's fairly forgiveable. The characters present represent a pretty good variety of styles, the surprise of the group is probably Colonel Radec from Killzone, easily holds up against Sweet Tooth and Kratos. It's certainly a competent title, but unless the full release shows off a lot variety, it still smacks of a very corporate, focus-group tested release with little of the creativity and straight out fun of the title it so clearly is inspired by. And while Nintendo has lots of weird characters they stuff in their series, they make it all fit. Sony hasn't really managed to do that. Maybe because none of its titles are serious in the way games like Killzone and God of War are. Beyond that, The two stages I was able to experience were pretty droll without a lot of creativity to them.

Again at the end of the day, anyone who wants a competent Smash Bros. wannabe probably won't be too disappointing with this, it manages to check off the essential points and all. But it doesn't really take any big risks or depatures from that formula either, which is a dissapointment.


That's all for today. Until next time here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Carrie

My Million Coin Journey...

So I reached 1 Million coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 a few days ago, and promptly felt completely done with the game. It had taken about 2 months of somewhat inconsistent play that admittedly really ramped up with the release of the first wave of DLC level packs(especially the Gold Rush Pack). At times it really felt like a slog, mainly because there just wasn't that much to do. At it's core there's nothing wrong with the gameplay itself. It's classic 2d Maro. I could easily play hundreds of levels. But NSMB doesn't even have 60 and they are all incredibly short and seem to lack imagination. This shouldn't be hard, Super Mario 3D Land had  tons of levels along with multiple objectives for levels to keep things fresh long after the initial playthrough. What was NSMB 2's singular objective? Get more coins.

Along with more levels, a variety of way to collect coins would've helped tremendously. The previous NSMB game featured a large variety of entertaining minigames to enjoy long after the fun of playing through the main game ended. Simply including these and making them add to your coin count woud've helped tremendously. In fact, with that kind of formula, I don't think we'd feel a need to stop at one million coins. The counter doesn't stop at one million, you can keep going, but I can't imagine many who would want to. I really hope New Super Mario Bros. U offers a meatier experience, because it will be a very disappointing launch day otherwise.

That's really all for today, I should have another post up this weekend. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Worldbox

The X-Files....

I absolutely love turn-based strategy titles, which are pretty rare on consoles. I can probably count on one hand the number that came out this generation, and out of those only a couple were any good (namely Disgaea 4 & Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars). Admittedly, grabbing some classic revered franchise like XCOM and trying to update it for modern times can be a risky proposition. But according to pretty much every early review, this is a fantastic modern update. The whole idea that you can't please/save everyone and have to prioritize your resources and attention is a nice touch that adds a ton of replay value. The one thing that may be a deal-breaker for me is that death is permanent for your squad. I get the idea for the sake of challenge and realism, but there are few things that would annoy me more then having to replace a highly experienced squad member with a rookie I have to start all over with again. I certainly plan to at least give this a rent, and will hopefully give my impressions when I do.

On from revitalized older franchises to something we aren't seeing a whole lot of at this point-a wholly new IP. Dishonored is a stealth-action title that offers lots of choice is how you take out targets. Supposedly, you can even get through the game without even actually killing anybody. Though we've seen games promise that and while it's usually technically possible, it makes the games ridiculously hard to where it's not worth the payoff. Also, stealth-action games tend to handle the stealth fine, but fall apart at the action bits. Usually because your supposedly highly trained Assassin has trouble taking on anyone even though that should've been part of their training. There seem to be some complaints along those same lines but the reviews overall are really solid, hopefully making this a new franchise we can see future entries in.

Those looking for something new on the 3DS (especially to kill time until Paper Mario comes out) have something to look forward this week as well with Code of Princess. This game hasn't gotten much publicity, but it's from a lot of the same team that brought us the completely awesome Guardian Heroes. It's also an actual online 2D brawler, which is a rarity in and of itself. I hoping to get my hands on it sometime soon, I will give impressions if I do.

That's it for now, until next time here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: A Good Day to Die Hard

Nintendoes what Sony don't...

In a recent interview, a vp of Sony's American branch, essentially claimed that Vita can already do what the gamepad does. Frankly, not only does that feel like desperate jumping on the bandwagon, it also feels like a disservice to the Vita as well. The Vita is it's own portable device that you can take anywhere, and while the cross-play feature is nice, it's only on a few select titles. Nintendo's Gamepad screen is supposed to be used on pretty much every game. In addition to that, it's not the primary feature Nintendo is touting. The primary feature is asymmetrical gaming. You know, that whole thing where one-player is playing one type of gameplay, and another player is doing something else entirely. This is not adding to the fact that a so-called similar setup of simply buying a PS3 and a Vita would be far more expensive than simply buying a Wii U. Finally, by the mere nature of how games are developed, you don't get the exact same experience. The Wii U is setup for this right out of the box. You get the same experience on the gamepad because it's actually the same game. The Vita isn't a portable PS3, there is bound to be a difference.

But primarily as I said the main thing here seems to be Sony's extremely desperate attempt to grab on to some of the Wii U's thunder possibly to help the flagging sales of the Vita. Sony is in that oh so unenviable position of third this generation and while that could certainly change this next round, it might take something pretty drastic with Nintendo getting out the gate first with what's virtually guaranteed to be the least expensive option. Then Microsoft pretty much has the hardcore gamer market in a stranglehold despite a big lack of exclusive titles so they'd have to work pretty hard to lose that edge. That added with Sony's massive financial issues that may even mean they may not even be a presence in gaming in a few years just makes them seem like a once great contender desperately trying to hang on to its glory days.

That's all for today, I should have another post up tomorrow on this week's game releases. In the meantime, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Demon Shift

8 reasons the next Pokemon game MUST be on the Wii U...

This weekend, we have yet another Pokemon title, on the DS, marking the latest of many, many portable entries. I'm sure like every single one before it, it will sell incredibly well, but there's no doubting that as a whole the series has gotten pretty stagnant. I'm sure there's a world of difference between Pokemon Black/White 2 and say, Pokemon Gold/Silver, which came out 12 years ago that's obvious to the long time player, but for anyone else, it doesn't look or feel all the different. It needs a shake-up, and a full blown console release, especially on the Wii U would breather some much needed life into the series and here's 8 reasons why.

#8. It's never been done: Just for pure novelty's sake it would be worth it to have a proper console release. Sure there have been some Pokemon games released for home consoles, but never the full-blown gym-battling gotta catch-em all experience you get on the portable games. It's hardly unusual for Nintendo's main franchises to release both console and portable titles, and some franchises shift back and forth every few years, but we've never seen this mega-selling franchise on a Nintendo home console in proper form, and it's long over-due.

#7: Expansion: One of the many valid complaints against Pokemon as a series is that it's a cash grab, as nearly every edition comes with two versions where you can't really get access to all the pokemon in each release without owning both versions. Nintendo has an opportunity here to make that a more valid strategy with just releasing one big title and then expanding it through downloadable packs which I think would actually get much better sales then the current strategy of releasing two titles that are virtually the same except for a few select Pokemon.

#6. More Dynamic Battles: I don't think much has to be changed in the actual way Pokemon matches go, they are really solid strategic systems and the recent addition of multi-pokemon battles helps keep that fresh. But the presentation has been sorely lacking throughout the series. The actual battles are unimpressive and stagnant with just the minimal amount of animation. I'm not saying these need to be at some kind of FF level, but seeing the Pokemon actually move and re-act along with improved animation would go a long way towards keeping the battles exciting.

#5.  Better Online: Yeah, Pokemon multi-player is kind of a mess. That's not really a surprise, as to date Nintendo's whole online system has been kind of a mess. This would be a chance to prove how serious Nintendo is about online and it wouldn't even be that difficult. Just throw in some competent multi-player battles, leaderboards and probably some monthly tournaments and you are pretty much set.

#4. Cross-Play: Sony is pushing it hard now, but Nintendo has repeatedly tried this whole cross-play thing over the years and this would be a good way to make it work well. Simply being able to train your Pokemon on your 3DS on the go and use them when you get home would be a huge step for both the concept of cross-play and the Poekmon series itself.

#3. It's a big world after all: There are a number of different regions featured in the Pokemon series. Which are big for portable entries, but obviously a little small for a console game. A massive game world encompassing most of those regions would be pretty awesome as it would allow some favorite Pokemon from past games to battle newer ones. This leads to my next point:

#2. Becoming a true Pokemon Master:  There are well over 600 Pokemon throughout the entire series. No portable entry has all of them, but a console version arguably could. Sure there would probably be some balance issues and redundancies but I think any Pokemon fan would think all Pokemon in one game would just be incredibly awesome. As long as they could be managed properly, which leads to my main point:

#1. Easy Management: The gamepad is pretty-much tailor-made for this type of game. It would make managing your pokedex a breeze, leave all the usual command options on there saving the TV screen for action without any clutter, and just in general make the interface smoother, making Pokemon itself a smoother series.

So that's the list. And I can honestly say as someone who has very little interest in the series currently that I'd be very excited to hear about a version coming to the Wii U sporting most of these obvious improvements that would come pretty much automatically with a big home console release. It would also be another big gun in Nintendo's arsenal against the looming next-gen offerings from Sony & Microsoft.

That's it for today, I should have another post up this weekend. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Croods

Lacking in Star Power..

So the "final" initial roster for Sony's Smash Bros. wannabe, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, has been released, and while more might be offered later as DLC, the roster is pretty terrible. Only 20 fighters? Good & Evil Cole? Random dude from Killzone? Fat Princess? Just for reference, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii had nearly 40. Sure, some are palette-swaps but it also has those oh so iconic characters that have way more personality than 99% of Sony's roster. I love Nathan Drake & Ratchet & Clank, but pretty much everyone else on the list is devoid of anything resembling a compelling personality, including super angry all the time Kratos.

Also it's October, which pretty much starts the slate of big holiday releases. And while this year may no be ridiculously jam packed like previous ones, there are still a fairly solid number of big releases coming out this month alone. The first being the latest desperate attempt to breathe some life into the Resident Evil franchise with Resident Evil 6. The demo released a little while ago shows off several different styles of gameplay, all executed extremely poorly. Laugh at your useless A.I. companions. Or Leon karate kicking heads off zombies. The horrible Gears of War style levels don't fair much better, with it being nearly impossible to get behind cover AND shoot. I wouldn't be surprised if after this flops it's awhile before we see a Resident Evil title again, which might be a good idea seeing as there has been like 4 in the last year.

That;s really all for today, should have another post up in the next couple of days. Until then here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Snake Squad

The way too early mostly unfounded 10 best bets for the Wii U Launch

Well, the official release list of what will be available launch day with the Wii U has been released by Nintendo, and maybe breaking new graphics ground isn't all it's cracked up to be because rarely in terms of AAA titles has a launch lineup been this strong or varied with pretty much at least a couple titles out there for everybody. Now I'm not including any downloadable titles because while several already guaranteed to be awesome games like Trine 2 Director's Cut & Mighty Switch Force HD are set for November, they aren't for sure day one titles. This may seem early, but with only 51 days til launch, it's probably time to start saving for a rather expensive day if you're looking to get more than just Nintendoland. Here's 10 out of the lineup that should be good solid bets for most gamers:

#10: Call of Duty: Black Ops II-While the Wii had some strong original online offerings such as Smash Bros. or Monster Hunter 3, it didn't have any particularly compelling online FPS games. Black Ops II is arguably the riskiest COD title in some time, ditching modern or historical settings in lieu of a near future deal. It also gives an opportunity for Nintendo to show that they really are serious about at least having a competitive online presence so look for this to be one of the big titles for their online push.  Beyond that, it's most likely to be an incredibly solid shooter for couch play as well, especially with the exclusive gamepad option.

#9. Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition: Yeah there is no Smash Bros. But Until then, the latest release in the Tekken Series is hardly filler. It's pretty wacky all on it's own, and with some crazy Wii U exclusives like "Mushroom Mode" it's bound to be some crazy fun.

#8: Epic Mickey 2: To say I was massively dissapointed with the original Epic Mickey would be one hell of an understatement. The god-awful camera made the game pretty much impossible to play. But the sequel looks to have improved on that and other aspects quite a bit as well. It has a strong co-op component that no other Wii U title can really boast, and I'm very interested to see if this "video game musical" can really deliver and odds are it will.

#7: Rabbids Land: Yeah the Rabbids got a little over-exposed on the Wii (though Rabbids Go Home is a wonderfully underrated gem). But that makes it all the easier to forget that the original Raving Rabbids was one of the best games in the Wii launch line-up, making great original use of the Wii remote. Ubisoft is clearly making a big investment on Wii U as they are providing a lot of the initial original content, so look for Rabbids Land to make as good use of the Wii U gamepad as Nintendoland if not better with its unique mini-game collection.

#6. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: It's extremely rare that any Sonic title would make any positive top-ten list these days. But the last Sonic Racing game got really solid reviews, essentially being called a very solid Mario Kart clone, and there's really nothing wrong with that, especially for those looking for a fun racing game to play with their friends.

#5: Skylanders Giants: The Wii U has no rpgs at launch you say? Ok it doesn't really, but this follow-up to the surprisingly good addictive Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure does provide some decent almost Diablo-style roleplaying elements along with solid gameplay. Granted, the whole collect 'em all aspect can get expensive, but it also provides much longer legs than many games in the Wii U's launch line-up.

#4: ZombiU: This has been one of the most hyped and interesting titles for the Wii U launch, with very interesting ideas such as using the gamepad as a scanner and when you die you come back as a different survivor and need to kill your old zombie self to recover your items. It's an original mature title specifically meant to shake the image of Nintendo consoles something with only kid-friendly titles so it's likely to be a rather stellar launch title.

#3: Darksiders II: Darksiders II of course is already out on the PS3 & the 360, but those planning on getting a Wii U and wanting a really solid deep Zelda-esque adventure may want to wait for the Wii U version as that's exactly what this will provide. It's already gotten incredibly strong reviews, so unless they massively screw up the port this is easily one of the best bets on the Wii U if you don't own it already.

#2: Nintendoland: Sure it's a pack-in with the "deluxe" (i.e. real) version of the Wii U, but it's also what Nintendo is essentially hedging all it's bets on to really sell the concept for the Wii U, so look for it to have an incredibly high level of polish and just be an incredibly fun time.

#1. Super Mario Bros U: Unoriginal? Probably. A little too much of the same thing (especially if you've also played the DS & 3DS games)? Quite possibly. But that classic Mario formula is always fun, then add in the co-op, social networking aspect and the fact that while there have been a couple of 2D Mario games in the last few years, the number of 2D platform games is few and far between for this whole generation of consoles. The Wii was actually quite a good home for 2D platformers in general and hopefully the Wii U will do the same. And frankly for sure bets at launch, it's hard to go wrong with anything with the name Mario in it.

Ok that's the list. Some of these titles admittedly may not pan out all that well, but there's still plenty of content for virtually any gamer of any type so you should have no shortage of choices come launch day. I should have another post up Friday or Saturday. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Promised Land