If I was to put as little effort into this review as developer JV Games did with its current WiiWare title, I’d merely print ‘DON’T BOTHER’ in capital letters, and slap a score onto the end. But I like to think I’m above that.
The biggest problem with Pong Toss isn’t the fact that it’s clearly based on the student ’sport’ of Beer Pong with the beer removed, nor that its gameplay is fairly simple. After all, Pop merely asks you to do one thing all the way through, and that’s not bad. No, it’s that it’s just hopelessly executed. The graphics are appalling, with terribly drawn, static character models, and backdrops which are either garish or incredibly dull. The controls, which require you to aim with the d-pad and throw by flicking the remote forward, don’t seem to work properly half the time, and the nature of the task in hand is so mind-numbingly tedious that after the first level you’ll immediately want your 800 points back.
Even at 500, there’s no way I could recommend this drivel. It positively reeks of a lazy cash-in, hoping to somehow rake in a few quid from unsuspecting punters who’ll try anything as long as its new. It’s probably the the most compelling reason yet for Nintendo to offer downloadable demos of WiiWare games. At least the title is fairly accurate - it pongs and it’s toss.
“Pony up-it’s Pong Toss time” sighs the can’t-be-bothered press release. I implore you all: Don’t.
…and into the realms of the truly obscure. According to GoNintendo, this rather risque character is one Crazy Tracy, who last made an appearance way back in GameBoy title Link’s Awakening. It certainly fits with the theme of the game - the island Captain Rainbow is one is inhabited by peripheral Nintendo characters, probably the most famous being Birdo. The object is to fulfil their dreams, which in turn will allow them to leave the island.
Helpfully, this vid has subtitles so you can understand what’s going on. Though the finished game may be a little impenetrable, it just looks so gloriously weird that I’ll be importing it as soon as it’s available.
It’s due for release on 28th August, for 6800 yen. Don’t get your hopes up for a western release, though.
While the DS isn’t renowned for its processing power, it’s still a surprise that the stat-heavy football management genre has yet to make its debut on the handheld. But all that is about to change in September when Sports Director Ltd releases Football Director DS.
Featuring an official Football League license for added authenticity and over 3800 players available for transfer, it’s been created by the man behind the original Championship Manager Roger Womack. You’ll have control over your first team, youth squad and backroom staff, and the game’s interface will use the stylus extensively to make all those menus easily navigable.
It’s certainly a hole in the DS software line-up which needs filling. Let’s hope Football Director DS can give Football Manager PSP a run for its money as the premium handheld management sim.
I’ve just spent the last hour or so playing Q Games’ latest downloadable title on the PS3, PixelJunk Eden. It’s a mere £4.99, and already I feel like I’ve had my money’s worth. It’s essentially the weirdest, artiest platformer you’ve ever played. You play a little creature called a grimp, who has to swing and jump from flowers in a set of colourful gardens, spinning and jumping into floating enemies to make them release pollen. This in turn helps your garden to grow, which allows you to collect the glowing Spectra which enable your hub garden to grow so you can access further, harder levels. It’s a real sensory experience, with some gloriously abstract visuals and a pulsing ambient soundtrack - but aside from the HD, it could easily be done on Wii.
Which leads me to wonder why it isn’t on Wii, particularly given Q Games previously cosy relationship with Nintendo (the developer was behind Starfox Command and Digidrive, a Japanese-only puzzler which formed part of the Bit Generations series of experimental GBA games). The Bit Generations games were exactly the sort of thing you’d expect to see on WiiWare - simple ideas turned into interesting games, which might not necessarily appeal to the casual crowd, but which gamers would love to see more of. With Q Games now creating titles for Sony’s service, it makes one query why Nintendo hasn’t snapped up an independent developer of its own, and set it to work on WiiWare titles, released exclusively on Nintendo’s download service alone.
Of course, this might all be moot if Nintendo already has such plans in places - but there’s no way of knowing thanks to its policy of keeping quiet about WiiWare games until the week of their release. But while it’s nice to be surprised by an unexpected gem, us Nintendoites could do with knowing that these sort of ideas are at least at the back of Nintendo’s mind, even if it’s reluctant to talk about them.
Ailive, co-creator of Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory, has posted a YouTube video showing off how well it works. Oh, and advertising its own LiveMove 2 product, which is intended to help developers get to grips with the new motion-sensing hardware.
Though it’s only a very basic demo, it certainly shows what a difference MotionPlus makes to remote movement. You can skip through the early parts - the good stuff starts at around 1:48. Is it just a coincidence that the ’sword’ looks exactly like a lightsaber. It’s almost as if it’s saying “Lucasarts - phone us”.
Definitely worth a watch. As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments thread.
As one of the few people outside Japan who owns this, I’m particularly intrigued to hear about a potential new rival peripheral which will be shipping with a DS title from Sega this November.
Play-Asia has just listed a product named Project Beauty (with DS Scan). Now, this could be me putting two and two together and coming up with five, but does this suggest that Sega might be producing some kind of facial recognition peripheral of its own?
Nintendo’s Face Training featured a remarkable mini camera, which traced the movement of your facial muscles while you attempted to exercise them in order to keep your fizog looking fresh. It’s a shame that it didn’t really take off, as I’m sure Nintendo could think of some innovative gaming ideas which used the technology, even if only as an optional extra in other DS games.
Expect more news on Project Beauty as it becomes available. Hopefully I’ll discover what the mysterious ‘DS Scan’ is soon.ÂÂ
We all know Nintendo is rolling in money at the moment, but just how much?
Well, today the Japanese giant revealed a net profit of one billion dollars (to be read in your best Dr. Evil voice) for the first quarter of this fiscal year, while Wii hardware rose to 5.17 million units shifted, and DS hardware fell slightly from the same period last year, with 6.94 million handhelds sold.
Software stats are interesting - some might say people aren’t buying many games for their Wii, but software sales were up a whopping 24.42 million to 40.41 million. DS software reached 36.59 million, which is an increase of 2.33 million from last year.
Nintendo’s biggest software titles were Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit - the former shifting an amazing 6.42 million copies, with the more expensive Wii Fit selling 3.42 million units.ÂÂ
Here’s hoping they can spend some of that cash on a Pikmin sequel, or Super Mario Universe, perhaps.
Two Nintendo titles have scored well in this week’s edition of Japanese gaming bible Famitsu.
Fire Emblem DS (out next week) received 34/40, as did Project Zero on Wii - both titles getting 8/10 from two reviewers and 9/10 from others.
The only other scores of note were Trauma Center 2 (already out in the US) which received a decent 32/40, and Survival Kids Wii (otherwise known as Lost In Blue) which gained an unpromising 25.
Fire Emblem DS might not be the most import-friendly title around, but a positive score like this suggest Intelligent Systems has another hit on its hands - so it’ll be well worth waiting for the western release later this year. I’ll be getting Project Zero tomorrow and should be posting impressions early next week.
If you’re a fan of killer7 or No More Heroes, then you’ll undoubtedly be thrilled to hear that Goichi Suda’s previously Japanese-only PS2 adventure Flower, Sun and Rain will be hitting European DSes this October.
You play a detective who has to locate and defuse a bomb by solving a series of bizarre puzzles. There’s an element of Groundhog Day about the story, and you’ll be able to find out more when a trailer is released this Friday.
As Suda himself puts it “All of my creative work involves a touch of the bizarre and unexpected and this game is no different!â€Â
Prepare to have your brain frazzled once again in a couple of months’ time, Suda fans.
High Voltage’s superb-looking shooter has been picking up awards left, right and centre after its showing at E3. IGN.com said it was the Best Wii Game of E3 and also the Best Wii Shooter of E3. It also received awards for Best Graphics Technology on Wii as well as an Honorable Mention for Real-Time Control on Wii.
Meanwhile, Gametrailers.com also said it was the Best Wii Game of E3, while Edge-online.com said it was among the Top 20 Games on any format at E3. All this and it still doesn’t have a publisher (though no doubt plenty of people will be banging on High Voltage’s door sometime soon.
The game is due for release in the first-quarter of 2009, and will reportedly benefit from Wii MotionPlus controls. I’m hoping I’ll see this at Leipzig, and I’ll report back with my impressions around the end of August.
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