Holiday Games Gift Guide – Multiplatform December 20, 2012

The Holidays are coming pretty soon and I know that many of you may very well be opening up brand new gifts including a wide range of consoles and handhelds for the first time.  However, with a new console or handheld comes the responsiblity to find some of the best games to get for it.  The hope is to bring you a list of currently in print brand new games which are either some of the best for the platform or the best deals on the platform that you can easily pick up at the store for a reasonable price, pop it into your new gaming system and enjoy every second of it!  So, in the time leading up to Christmas, I’m going to be posting a series of articles for each platform and handheld system currently on the market and tell you what are some of the must-have games for new console owners!

Now we’re going to talk about some great deals on multiplatform games.  Now, it would be really easy to just draw up a list of all the new games that are out on multiple platforms and include new games like Far Cry 3, Borderlands 2, and Assassin’s Creed 3, but those games are brand new and are still going for full retail price.  While buying games like those are a no-brainer, here’s some games that are already out at lower prices and offer something extra special.  Get them now while you can and hopefully they’ll be on your platform!

Dead Island Game of the Year Edition –  Probably one of the most controversal games at release you owe it to yourself to pick up one of the most unique zombie games I’ve seen in recent time.  No longer are you fighting through a postapocalyptic urban landscape, you’re fighting your way through an open world sunny tropical resort paradise.  The best part about this is that all of the game’s DLC is included with this edition of the game, making it a really worthwhile purchase for those of you hoping to save some money.  You can currently get this game for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for $29.99 US.

Zone of the Enders HD Collection –  Zone of the Enders is a franchise we haven’t seen in quite some time.  Released originally for the Playstation 2, the first game mostly saw sales as it included the first playable demo of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.  The ZOE HD Collection includes both the original game and sequel, The Second Runner, along with brand new HD support and animated intro cinematic.  It also includes the currently exclusive demo for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance on the disc, giving you a first playable look at that highly anticipated game two months before it sees a release.  You can get Zone of the Enders HD Collection for $39.99 US on the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.

Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition – When Batman: Arkham City came out in 2011 it was not only the best superhero game ever made, it was easily considered one of the best multiplatform hits of that year.  Over a year later, over thirty dollars worth of downloadable content has been released for Arkham City, including extra character costumes for Batman and Catwoman, extra challenge maps, and an entirely separate downloadable content expansion pack.  Since all the DLC is included with the GOTY edition, this makes it a much better deal.  You can get the Arkham City Game of the Year Edition for the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 for $49.99 US.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection – The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection includes Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.  The game’s original graphics remain intact, but the framerate is amazingly high.  For me though, the most important feature was finally you can play MGS2 and MGS3 in anamorphic widescreen, something I have wanted to do since I got my first HDTV back in 2005.  The game even allows you to transfer save games from either the Vita version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection to the PS3 or the PSP version of Peace Walker.  You can probably find this game for $29.99 US on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Playstation Vita.  Please note though, the Playstation Vita version does not include Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker.

Mass Effect Collection – This one is pretty much a no brainer.  The Mass Effect series has long been a staple of this generation.  It was a science-fiction universe presented in a realistic way.  It was a role-playing game but with a real-time battle system.  You could play it as an RPG or play it as a shooter.  The decisions you made impacted the entire universe and changed the story.  Originally released as an exclusive Xbox 360 game, their popularity grew and grew and each sequel saw a release on multiple platforms.  Now, Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 are being bundled together and released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.  In fact this will mark the first time the original Mass Effect game saw a release on the Playstation 3.  You can pick up the Mass Effect Collection for $59.99 US.

Silent Hill HD Collection – There has been a lot of controversy about this HD Collection’s release since it came out.  Featuring Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, which were considered by many to be the best two games of the series, it may not have the framerate or polish as the original versions of the games do, but unlike the original versions of the games you can actually buy this collection brand new for a reasonable price.  Silent Hill HD Collection is out for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and you can probably find it for $29.99 US.

Saints Row the Third: The Full Package – I was a huge fan of the original Saints Row when it came out, and loved Saints Row 2 just as much.  With games like Grand Theft Auto leaving a high bar to climb when it came to open-world action games, the Saints Row series solved all the problems I felt Grand Theft Auto had, and added in a completely absurd tone which kept me playing.  Saints Row The Third continues this tradition with a completely zany story, an entirely new driving system, and weapons I can’t even repeat here for modesty’s sake.  Now, with The Full Package, you get ALL the DLC included with the game with no extra charge.  Given the fact that it is currently only a ten-dollar premium over the normal edition of the game, and the costs of all that DLC, that makes The Full Package a great deal.  With the recent bankruptcy filing by THQ, there’s no word just how long this game is going to be on the shelves for.  You can get Saints Row The Third: The Full Package for $49.99 US on the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

Wow, that’s a lot of games across a lot of platforms!  And don’t worry, we’re not even close to being done.  Even more games are coming!

Holiday Games Gift Guide – Playstation 3 December 20, 2012

The Holidays are coming pretty soon and I know that many of you may very well be opening up brand new gifts including a wide range of consoles and handhelds for the first time.  However, with a new console or handheld comes the responsiblity to find some of the best games to get for it.  The hope is to bring you a list of currently in print brand new games which are either some of the best for the platform or the best deals on the platform that you can easily pick up at the store for a reasonable price, pop it into your new gaming system and enjoy every second of it!  So, in the time leading up to Christmas, I’m going to be posting a series of articles for each platform and handheld system currently on the market and tell you what are some of the must-have games for new console owners!

First off, we’re going to take a look at the Playstation 3 exclusives!

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection – Since these games were originally developed and appeared on the Playstation 2, this collection is technically not a Playstation 3 exclusive, but trust me, you have never seen these staples of console gaming quite like this in glorious HD.  They were based on the improved PAL versions of the games, but still feature all the secrets of the original Playstation 2 versions.  Not only that but the HD Collection version includes enhanced graphical effects, higher resolution textures, and some exclusive behind the scenes documentaries about the making of the games,.  Without a doubt this is the definitive version of these games.  MSRP on the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection is currently around $19.99 US.

The inFamous Collection – When inFamous was released, it redefined what made for a superhero video game and allowed the player to make the decisions for themselves what they would do if they had super powers in a realistic urban setting.  Would they become a hero or would they become infamous?  The inFamous Collection contains both inFamous 1 and inFamous 2, as well as the entire expansion campaign for inFamous 2 which was released as downloadable content.  The fact that the downloadable content campaign is included with the collection is a fantastic deal, as it alone goes for ten dollars.  You can probably find The inFamous Collection in stores for $29.99 US.

The Resistance Collection – When the Playstation 3 launched, it had one must-have exclusive game on day 1, and that was the game Resistance: Fall of Man.  Since then, the game has spawned two sequels, an online social game, and two handheld spin offs.  The Resistance Collection includes all three Resistance games which were released for the Playstation 3 (Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 and Resistance 3) and bonus content for Resistance 2 and Resistance 3.  The Resistance Collection currently goes for $39.99 US.

The God of War Saga – There has probably been no bigger first-party exclusive franchise for Sony since the Playstation 2 era than the God of War series.  It redefined what made for an action platformer, and unapologetically brought the Greek mythology it was based on to light.  The God of War Saga is a compilation of all five, yeah I wrote that right, all five God of War games together, retooled and improved for the Playstation 3 along with access to the God of War Ascension Multiplayer Beta.  One little warning, don’t confuse this with the God of War Collection or God of War Origins Collection which only feature two of the five total games the Saga version does and doesn’t offer Ascension beta access.  The God of War Saga is $39.99 US.

Don’t worry, we’re not just stopping at the best games for the Playstation 3.  You can expect more Holiday Gift Guides to come!  Happy Holidays!

Do We All Live in the Pokémon World? December 5, 2012

With the release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 to the Nintendo DS last month, the Pokémon ‘Bridged Series, the AWESOME regular review series by the dude formerly known as That Dude in the Suede (now known simply as Suede), or the Pokémon Rusty series on dorkly.com, everyone is talking about Pokémon again!

Since the original games were released, many new Pokémon games have shipped over the years to commercial success. While the platforms they have appeared on have been updated with Nintendo’s hardware, they are still some of the biggest selling games in Nintendo’s library. It has become clear that Pokémon, with its wide appeal across tons of different mediums ranging from animated movies, playing cards, books and a TV show is one of the most successful gaming properties in the world.

But what is it that has made this series so popular and helped it to endure for so long? That’s what we’re here to find out! Maniac is coming at you with a brand new essay exclusive to gamexcess.net, where he breaks down everything he knows about the Pokémon game world and tries to figure out why its been such an enduring franchise for over ten years.

However, this essay was just too big to fit here, we had to dedicate an entire webpage to it. So please enjoy our newest site essay:

Do We All Live in the Pokémon World?

How to Transfer all Your Data from the Nintendo Wii to the Wii U November 19, 2012

So, you want to put all the save data, purchased games, Miis, and purchase history from your original Wii Console into your new Wii U? Good news, you can! Here’s how you do it!

Things you’ll need:

• Your original Wii Console.
• Your new Wii U Console.
• One (1) SD or SDHC memory card with at least 512MB free space.
• At least one WiiMote. MotionPlus capability not needed.
• Wireless Network connected to the Internet.

I recommend:

• Have your Wii and Wii U properly installed on two different TVs in your house.
• Have at least two WiiMotes. One should be synced to the Wii and one synced to the Wii U.  Normal WiiMotes are fine.  MotionPlus is not required or needed.

Preparation:

1. Both the Wii and Wii U must be properly hooked up to televisions and connected to a Wireless Network with access to the Internet. If you don’t know how to hook up the Wii click this link and watch this video. If you don’t know how to install a Wii U please watch this.  Make sure that both consoles are properly connected to your WiFi network and have internet access.
2. Update the internal firmware in your Wii and Wii U. This is a requirement for the transfer process to work for the Wii and a requirement for backwards compatibility with the Wii U. New firmware was released the day of the Wii U launch, and it is highly likely even if you just picked up a Wii U you probably don’t have it yet.  If you don’t know if you have the latest firmware already the Wii U will install its latest firmware automatically the first time you start it.  The Wii will notify you to update its firmware if needed when logging in to the Wii Shop Channel.

Okay, now that we have everything ready let’s get started.

1. On your Wii, go to the Wii Shop Channel and download the Wii to Wii U Transfer Channel in the Wii Channel menu. Price is 0 Wii Points. The program takes up around 70 or so blocks of Wii memory.  Purchase and download it.
2. Sync a WiiMote to the Wii U and access the Wii Menu.  This will bring up a very similar interface to the Wii.  Use your WiiMote to navigate to the Wii to Wii U Transfer Channel and select Download.  This may take you automatically to the Wii Shop Channel to download the transfer tool, which is 0 Wii Points.  Purchase and download it to your Wii U.
3. Run the Wii to Wii U transfer program on your Wii U.  When prompted insert the SD or SDHC memory card into the Wii U.  The SD slot is behind the front panel of the Wii U.  There is a small door that can be pried open from the top on the Wii U’s front panel below the disc drive.  Open it and insert the memory card when prompted by the transfer tool.  Follow all the prompts and DO NOT remove the card until the Wii U tells you that it is okay.
4. When prompted, remove the SD or SDHC memory card from the Wii U.

Okay, we’re set with the Wii U for the moment, leave it running but take the memory card to where the Wii is.

1. Run the Wii to Wii U transfer tool on the Wii. Follow the prompts exactly and when prompted, insert the SAME memory card you had just had in the Wii U into your Wii.  Like the Wii U, the Wii has its SD Card slot in its front panel just below the disc drive. Open the protective door from the top to expose the slot.
2. Once the card has been inserted, continue to follow the prompts until the transfer process begins.
3. Have a coke. Do not worry about your data, the Pikmin inside your Wii will move all of it into the memory card for you.  That’s no joke, watch the transfer progress screen.  It’s really entertaining.
4. When the final Pikmin have taken all of your data into their rocket ship (and picked up the last guy they forgot about) the Wii will prompt you to remove the SD card from the Wii. Remove the SD card. After you do so, the Wii should restart.

You can turn the Wii off now, we’re not going to need to use it again.  Take the memory card back to the Wii U.

1. Insert the same SD or SDHC card you just had in the Wii (the one with all the Pikmin in it) back into the Wii U. Follow the prompts.
2. Have another coke. The Pikmin will get out of their rocket shop and start unpacking all your data for you. Be aware it will take longer to unpack your data than it did to pack it up. That is because the Wii U is automatically redownloading all the compatible games and channels you had on your Wii at the time of transfer.
3. When the Pikmin have finished their work your Wii U will now have all the downloaded channels, Virtual Console games, save games and Wii Shop Channel balance your Wii did. Some channels such as the Internet Channel, Nintendo Channel, or Check Me Out Channel can’t be transferred, so don’t worry when you don’t see them.
4. The Wii U will empty the data it stored in your memory card. Eject it when prompted.

You’re done. Enjoy your Wii U!

If you’re having any problems during the process, here’s a troubleshooting tip.

If for any reason during the transfer the program is unable to connect to the Internet and you know there is nothing wrong with your Wii or Wii U Internet settings, simply hit retry. The issue could be Nintendo was simply overloaded with transfer requests.

Warning:

• This is ONE WAY. You cannot transfer your data back to your Wii.
• Once you transferred your original Wii data to the SD or SDHC card, do NOT lose it. Once the data is put on it, it is effectively your Wii. Take caution when bringing it from the Wii to the Wii U. Take a look at the kid gloves I used with mine.

Mario Weekend – Classic Mario Commercials November 17, 2012

From the late 90s to the early 00s, there was a very special phase that video game marketing was going through when it came to TV commercials.  Here was a fringe market being brought to a wide audience by a traditional media, and while they had no problem playing by the rules of traditional media, video games made sure to set themselves aside from everything else on the market.  In my opinion, NOBODY was better at this than Nintendo, and because of that there are a ton of great commercials out there that have been done for Nintendo games that as far as I’m concerned should be permanently archived.

Here are some of the best Mario related commercials that I could find from across the web.  Some of these have previously made my Top Ten Video Game Commercial video, but not all of them, and with it being Mario Weekend I felt now was a perfect opportunity to have all the game commercials I loved from Nintendo on display.  These are in chronological order.

Super Mario Land

I remember this commercial was one of the reasons that made me beg my parents for a Game Boy and this game for Christmas!  I just thought it was a great homage to classic B&W adventure serials, and given the B&W screen of the game boy it fit perfectly.  It was also nice to see a digital Mario interacting with the real world, which trust me looked extremely ground breaking at the time.

Super Mario RPG

Major points for originality here.  What other medium is going to have an awesome old man telling you what’s going on?

Paper Mario (N64)

I loved the sense of humor the marketing guys had with this one.  Since the characters are flat in the game, all the characters are depicted as paper cut outs interacting in the real world.  What is the most destructive thing you could imagine happening to paper?  Being stuck in a shredder of course!

Super Smash Bros

Do I really need to say anything about this one?  I think it just speaks for itself.

Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact, Downloadable Content Ten Years Early October 15, 2012

Back in Summer 2000 I was asked by GameSpy to be a part of a multiplayer beta test for a brand new game that was coming out later that year.  It was a third person 3D RPG for the PC which starred the famous rapper Ice T.  The game was called Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact and it was developed by Monolith Productions, which had previously worked on games like Shogo, and published by Fox Interactive, which was at the time branching out from simply publishing games that were based on 20th Century Fox properties.

The revolutionary aspect of Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact was that each of the powers and abilities that you used in the game was represented by playing cards that you would find in the game’s world.  This was just as the world was becoming accustomed to customizable card games like Magic: The Gathering, and it was integrated perfectly with the game’s style.  Pick up a card (which in the game were called talents), and all of a sudden you would be able to use that card’s abilities for real in the game.  The interface was similar to Diablo 2’s and it worked really well in a 3D game engine.  You could just simply drag your best cards into the lower menu and select which one you wanted to attack with in real-time.  You could also bring your card collection into multiplayer, and use them to battle online.

What was so revolutionary about the game was that the game wasn’t designed to just be limited to the 80 cards that was included in the retail package.  You could add more.  Monolith and Fox promised that a ton more cards would be coming, and they started by offering two different sets of unique cards which you could purchase in a bundle from Real.com (no that is not a typo, it was really being sold on the RealPlayer site) and would be fully compatible with the game’s official demo or the full retail version of the game.  The concept of downloadable content, free or paid, would not even be talked about until years later, and this game was doing it in the year 2000.  When the game released, a special mini CD-ROM was included with copies that were preordered online from EBgames, which included several more unique cards, and an issue of PC Gamer had a few more.  Only one card was ever released online for free, on their official website some time after release.

The problem was that the game somehow just didn’t stand out.  It had review scores ranging in the mid to high 80s, which was fantastic, but none of the reviewers really talked about the new features that the downloadable card system brought to the table.  In the end the game was quickly forgotten soon after its release.  Monolith and Fox Interactive had found a huge hit with their No One Lives Forever series, the first of which was released shortly after Sanity, and once that game was on track for release at the end of that year, they devoted most of their resources and advertizing focus to NOLF and away from Sanity. That meant that the extra cards that were promised never got released.

Unfortunately, Monolith never revisited the series.  After No One Lives Forever’s release, Monolith started working on Aliens Vs Predator 2 and its expansion, and when the next generation came about, they found hits with F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins.  Nowadays, no one even remembers the game, so its hard to find archived information about it.  It’s sad that we never got to learn just what Monolith or Fox had in mind for the Sanity series, or just what extra cards may have been coming.  I haven’t found a single site online which collected the game’s extra cards, however I did think ahead to store all the cards that I did obtain (which I think were all of them) on a floppy disk.  I haven’t had a floppy drive installed in my PC since Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Vista.

Nowadays a game is pretty much expected to see post-release content in some form, be it patches, maps, levels, or new skins.  People like to say that paid downloadable content came to the mainstream with games like Halo 2 for the Xbox or Oblivion for the Xbox 360, but I would argue that it all started with a little game made for the PC where you could control a super powered Ice T and collect cards.  It really was a fun game, and I wish more people had played it.

The Top Five Kingdom Hearts Introduction Cinematics September 12, 2012

With the release of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the Nintendo 3DS I realized that there are now a bunch of Kingdom Hearts games across multiple platforms.  In classic Square style, each game opens with its own introduction movie, using a song by UTADA, and serves to set the scene for the game. With all the games out now I wanted to do a list of what were the top introduction movies in the Kingdom Hearts series.

5. Kingdom Hearts: 365/2

As UTADA’s “Sanctuary” played, we were treated to a nostalgic trip of clips of the greatest moments from each member of the infamous Organization XIII from all of the previous Kingdom Hearts games.  I have to admit it was great seeing a role call for all of the members of Organization XIII, along with their profiles on the DS second screen.  By choosing to use clips of them from the cinematics they appeared in from previous games like Kingdom Hearts 2 or Chain of Memories, it played into our nostalgic memories from the previous games. The problem was it came off a bit as needed exposition, which is not usually what the introduction is used for.

4. Kingdom Hearts

As this is the first introduction from the very first game, this one should be considered the benchmark for all the others.  For many this was the first time they heard UTADA’s “Simple and Clean” before, and it would become a mainstay of the series.  They chose to use the techno remix for the opening here, but I think it was a great decision as it matched up great with the visuals.

3. Kingdom Hearts 2

This introduction did more than just set the scene for the game it also established the game’s past. As you hear UTADA’s single “Sanctuary”, a departure from the more often used “Simple and Clean” you’re treated to brief flashes of scenes that happened in the original Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. If you had played these games you were treated to an amazing moment of nostalgia, if you hadn’t you could just sit back and absorb all the tidbits that made up the history of Kingdom Hearts as you spent the game discovering what you were seeing and what they meant to the game’s story.

2. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

This introduction just blew me away. They made the choice to use a techno remix version of “Simple and Clean” for this introduction and I think it worked really well. The song sounded great mixed with the stylistic visuals which fed us tidbits about just what we were in for in this game and that no amount of gameplay would be held back from us just because the game was on a handheld.

1. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Ed: Apologies for the video quality on this one.

I don’t know if I should just come out and say that this made number one just because it used 3D or it’s use of the 3DS second screen to do the credits. I don’t know if it made number one because of the choice to use the orchestral version of “Simple and Clean” to set the scene for the game, but with all the flashes of what was to come with the game, the allusions to Fantasia this came off as the ultimate culmination of all the experience Square Enix had made with these introduction movies over the past ten years and that is why it’s number 1.

The Games That May Never See Sequels (And Need To) Part 2 September 10, 2012

With the games that I’ve been replaying this summer, I’ve been reliving a lot of classic memories over the years, and also been forced to play them with the full knowledge that in many cases the development houses that made them no longer exist, and that a chance for seeing any more games in the series is very slim.

I thought it would be a good opporutnity to talk about some games that really need sequels, but for several reasons probably will never get one. This is the second part of this series and you’re welcome to read the first part here.

Indigo Prophecy (Faherenheit)

In the heart of New York City during one of the coldest winters in the city’s history, a man brutally murders another man in an almost ritualistic fashion in a diner bathroom. He didn’t mean to do it, it was almost as if he was possessed. After recovering from the experience he discovers he’s stronger and faster than he should be, and he keeps getting visions of the future. Now, with the police on his trail he must figure out who or what made him commit that murder, and why.

The game has three possible endings, but even with all the options left to the player, the characters and the story stays pretty consistant througout the game. It wouldn’t be that difficult for the developers to build the game around one of the game’s possible endings or to create a new story in the game’s universe.

Why We Won’t See a Sequel

With Quantic Dream, sequels are always a very slim chance. Game Director David Cage felt that the game’s story was complete by the end of the game and focus shifted to an entirely new project. All their attention went to completing Heavy Rain after the release of Indigo Prophecy, and now after that game was completed focus has shifted to the current game they’re developing, a whole new title called Beyond.

Heavenly Sword

An ancient clan kept control of a mystical sword that they believed fell from heaven for generations. It had been prophecized that the dark times would end with the birth of a male child on a certain day. On the day the child was to be born, a female was born instead, and it was considered to be a prophecy of doom for their entire clan. In the end it’s that girl who grows up to become a powerful warrior and with the use of the forbidden sword she saves her people at the cost of her own life.

The game ended on a pretty powerful cliffhanger. The world is saved but the heroine is dead. However she had been dead before, in fact most of the game was simply her telling her story to plead to go back to life and fight.  It would be interesting to see if she would come back and what kind of world would she find herself in.

Why We Won’t See a Sequel

Heavenly Sword was a commercial disappointment since pretty much it’s launch.  Ninja Theory had done a lot to hype out the game as the PS3 gamer’s placeholder game until God of War would get released on the system.  However, players were devastated at the game’s simplistic gameplay and short length, and Uncharted (released at the same time) became the definitive third-party PS3 exclusive property. To this day trophy support was never even added and Ninja Theory shifted focus to two different games with no mention of any revival of the series.  The most likely possibility is a sequel could get released as a CGI or animated movie.  There were some musings about that shortly after the game released since they already had the motion capture facility and access to actors but there hasn’t been any news on that in years.

Mirror’s Edge

It looks absolutely beautiful on the outside but this is a future where the government monitors all communication between people. In this world the only free exchange of information that isn’t monitored is by personal courier. However, in this world these couriers need to be fast, agile, and smart, able to run across rooftops and take full advantage of the archetecture the government has provided them. The couriers able to do this are called the runners. Now, the best runner is framed for a murder she did not commit, and all signs point to a traitor in their organization helping the police to shut them down for good. How long can they keep running?

The game had a fantastic emotional ending when the lead is able to save the life of her sister, but as the bad guy said at the end of the game, this is just the beginning and an all out war was unstoppable. Since the first rule of any war is to disrupt your enemy’s communications, if the next step is war what would an all out war look like in such a clean and sterile looking world?

Why We Won’t See a Sequel

This was a game that suffered greatly from the fact that it was released in Fall 2008. It was a new IP releasing at a time when some of the biggest console exclusives were getting their first sequels, and it had to compete directly with them. It launched at the same time that games like Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 were launching, with premium limited collector’s edition releases to boot, to say nothing of the expensive releases for Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. The game just got no traction to it until it got a price drop several months after release.

About all we’ve seen from the property since was a mobile game, which was a launch title for the iPad. However, the iPad took a while to establish itself after launch and the positive reviews of that game faded from memory over time as it took an unreasonably long wait to see an iPhone release, which had a much bigger install base.

Since then the internet has been waiting on pins and needles to report on any news from EA or DICE about Mirrors Edge 2, but no game has been officially confirmed yet. The latest rumor was the developers had created a short prototype to convince the publisher to work on the sequel but it was rejected. No idea how truthful that rumor was though and there hasn’t been any word about the game in months.

Heavy Rain

A man’s son is abducted from him while he is still reeling over the accidental death of his other son. Over the course of the game, he tries to recover his son safely from whoever kidnapped him by any means necessary. Meanwhile, three others are also trying to find the man’s son and the kidnapper who has killed so many other children in the same manner. Time is running out and can the man’s son be saved before he meets the same fate as the kidnapper’s other victims?

Why We Won’t See a Sequel

This game was really a product of its own design. At any point in the game, any of the main characters or secondary characters could be killed, and success or failure was completely dependant on several factors. The game had over a dozen possible endings. How can you make a sequel to a game where the story can end in so many different ways?

Enslaved

The world is bleak. Machines scavenge the destroyed world and everyone living in it must remain in hiding in order to prevent being killed or enslaved by the machines. You play as a wild man who was captured alongside many others. One of the others, a resourceful computer expert named Trip is able to free herself at the same time you are and while you’re unconscious affixes a headband she modified in order to force you to protect her until you can get her to safety.

At the end of the game many have perished but you finally learn the machine’s true intent just before shutting them down for good. But what is going to happen to all the characters now and are the machines really gone?

Why We Won’t See a Sequel

This game was sadly yet another disappointment. It met with decent reviews at one of the worst possible times imaginable and without a major marketing blitz the game simply collected dust on retail shelves until it saw an almost immediate price drop by most retailers. After releasing the DLC campaign which only served as a side story and didn’t answer any questions about what happened after the end of the game, Ninja Theory has now shifted focus to producing the new Devil May Cry game.

Games That Need to Come to the Nintendo eShop August 21, 2012

Nintendo’s hardware as of late has been offering a lot of new retail options to their customers. Part of the reason why I bought a Nintendo Wii was not because of its exclusive retail game catalog, but because it offered me access to the Wii Virtual Console, a downloadable service where I could buy a ton of Nintendo’s back catalog across a wide spectrum of the platforms they had released over the years. Never having owned a SNES or N64, and having given away my original NES under duress years prior, this was a great opportunity for players like me to replay all of the classic games of my childhood, and gave me a whole new chance to play the games I had missed out on so many years prior.

However, the Wii Shop Channel only carries games that were released to consoles. They don’t offer games that were originally intended for handheld devices like the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance or even *gasp* the Virtual Boy. However, Nintendo’s strong sense of legacy was evident, as if you had these original Game Boy cartridges, you could still play them as newer handhelds were released, as the Game Boy Advance slot was backwards compatible with original Game Boy or Game Boy Color games, and the original model Nintendo DS even carried a legacy slot for these old games, as well as its own slot for games that were exclusive to the handheld.

The Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL lacks the legacy cartridge slot many of the early model DS handhelds had. Without the legacy slot, if you own these classic games, you’ll have to play them on their original devices, or an older device with a compatible legacy slot.

Nintendo makes up for this by offering 3DS owners access to the Nintendo eShop, similar to the Wii’s Wii Shop Channel. It allows users to purchase and download classic and new games to their 3DS and 3DS XL’s memory. There are some great games that are offered through the service that are not on the Wii Shop Channel including Super Mario Land, Metroid 2, and Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. The service, unfortunately, does not offer a lot of content right now, but it looks like Nintendo is planning to grow it. In fact, Nintendo is now offering their first retail game for purchase and download, New Super Mario Bros 2 and has mentioned they intend to continue to support that game with their first ever downloadable content.

So I got to thinking that they couldn’t just stop where they were at. There were still tons of games that they have released over the past twenty years over all the different handhelds that should be released to this service which aren’t out at the time of writing. I understand that the service is still in its infancy and it takes Nintendo some time for them to go through their back catalog and re-release games for the new handheld, so I decided to come up with some of the games from their wide back catalog which should come to the Nintendo eShop.

Without further ado, lets get started. These are in no particular order.

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow: This should be a complete no-brainer. These were the games that started the Pokemon fever across the world and encouraged all of us to be the very best like no one ever was. The game was really charming in its simplicity and is a great launching point for new players who may want to get into Pokemon but don’t know where to start. If there must be a priority, I recommend putting it on Yellow, as it was released some time after Red and Blue, and features scenes and options that aren’t in the Red and Blue games like Pikachu being your starting Pokemon and special appearances by Team Rocket. Some special tweaks may have to be done to port the Game Boy’s Link Cable features to be compatible with something like a Nintendo 3DS WiFi connection, but if worse came to worse, Nintendo could always choose to cut out the two-player feature, or bring it in later on.

Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Anniversary: This was actually already released to the Nintendo eShop for free, but it was taken off the store several months ago, as it was a limited-time free game offer. I say it should come back. The Four Swords series is part of the classic Legend of Zelda property, and brought cooperative multiplayer to the franchise.  I know the game has already been out for the 3DS and was since delisted because it was a limited time free release, but Nintendo doesn’t have to make it free if they bring it back.  New 3DS owners should be offered the chance to play it.

Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: This is the game that explained just how Link got his hat, and before Skyward Sword (and the official timeline release) was considered to be the first game in the Legend of Zelda series, or at least the start of the Four Sword Saga.

Okay, at this point I’m going to just stop before I list every single Legend of Zelda handheld exclusive game, but really every single one of them should be released to the service.

Mother 3 (Earthbound 3): This one is really a no brainer. This was probably the most requested game that Nintendo has never released in North America. The heavily anticipated sequel to Earthbound (Mother 2) on the Super Nintendo, Mother 3 was originally designed for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive. The game project was killed and then later revised for the Game Boy Advance years later. It only saw a release in Japan and was never released in North America, despite the massive campaign by Earthbound fans to bring it here. Nintendo never saw an opportunity to bring it here because it would have required a full translation just around the time Nintendo planned to release the DS in North America. Well, fans have already done a full Japanese to English translation of the game, and I’m sure they would be happy to send Nintendo their code if they asked for it free of charge, so the game text could be understood by English speakers.

So there’s just a few games that I can think of which should come to the Nintendo eShop but I’m sure there are plenty more that you would want as well. What games would you like to see? Post a comment and tell us about it!