Gosh, it's been a while since I've written anything here. I just haven't had much time to play games recently. I've gotten lots of games, but what with the holidays and Aikido (I'm trying to train for my second rank test), not a lot of play has happened. I did get Phantom Hourglass, which is excellent; a review will follow shortly. I also received some Classic Controllers from my girlfriend, and after messing around with them for a while, thought I'd post my thoughts (albeit a year late for anyone who actually cares). To test out the controller for different systems, I downloaded Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA), Super Metroid, Sin & Punishment (Sad fact: I actually own a physical copy of Sin & Punishment, but had never played it).
To sum up: the controller seems OK for N64 games.
To elaborate: the controller is set up like the bastard child of a SNES and PS2 controller. It's too thick and too small; when playing SNES games, the ring fingers of both hands have nowhere to go, except get pushed awkwardly along the bottom rim of the controller. Hold a SNES controller and you'll see what I mean. The top two fingers go along the back of the controller, while the bottom two go along the bottom edge. The Classic Controller makes this position feel unnatural. Playing NES games evokes similar feelings. The buttons on the controller are set up in (YX)(BA) formation, exactly the same as the SNES controller. Remember in Super Mario World, though, how you ran with Y and jumped with B? The shape of the SNES controller made that feel more natural. The Classic Controller makes you use B and A in their original positions, which is ungainly for anyone who has actually played any of the old games the Virtual Console touts.
Annoyance: the shoulder buttons have way too much give. You have to depress them all the way for the button to register; they feel like the Gamecube's analog buttons. Strange, since you can't use the Classic Controller for Gamecube games. Makes shooting diagonally in Super Metroid harder to do.
Annoyance: the controller is made out of some weird matte plastic, which seems hard to grip. This problem is exacerbated by the small controller size.
For Nintendo 64 games, the controller seems OK, though. With your thumb on the left analog stick, your hands are in a less awkward position than with the D-pad. It's tough to compare with Sin & Punishment, though... I should have gotten Mario 64, a game that I've put way, way too much time into. Playing that would have been more of an indicator of how the Classic Controller functions with N64 games.
I really kinda wonder how the design process for this controller came about... it seems like some bad choices were made. Did they do any sort of focus group testing? Probably with Japanese gamers, which might explain a lot. Sadly, I would recommend using the Wiimote turned sideways for NES games, and say to give SNES Virtual Console games a miss.
So, Bit Blot's game, Aquaria, is going to be released today. I think I'm going to buy it. If I get a chance to play this weekend, I'll write up impressions. I'm a bit torn, because on the one hand, I like pure mouse control (Aquaria uses the mouse and/or keyboard). However, recently I've been loving me some USB gamepad action, which allows me to hook my laptop up to my housemate's 46" widescreen TV and play games on it. Cave Story at 46 inches! It's pretty great. Anyway, we'll see how Aquaria works. Check out the Bit Blot website for gameplay videos, et. al.
EDIT: Their site went down, as I kinda expected. I got the demo on Sunday; it's pretty good. I'm trying to decide what I think about the more exploration-based design, but I need to play more to do that...
Recently on my (near-) daily website reading routine, I've picked up a blog by the name of "Coding Horror." Old hat to those who frequent geeky news-aggregation sites like Digg or reddit; Coding Horror posts are routinely picked up and make it to the main page. And for good reason: the author, Jeff Atwood, is pretty darn smart, and writes well- thought out posts multiple times each week. Today he wrote a bit about how presentation can make loads of difference in a piece of software. He even uses games as an example: Guitar Hero 3 vs. Frets on Fire (an Open Source GH knockoff).
Interestingly enough, Jeff's observation really struck home when, later in the day, I visited the website for Aquaria, a soon-to-be independently published game developed by just two guys. Now, I have little doubt that this game will be successful... it's gotten tons of buzz, and was the winner of the grand prize at the Independent Games Festival. However, I was mildly shocked to see that the asking price of the game at its' release will be $30. That's a bit high for an independently published game. The interesting thing is that people probably will pay that $30. Why?
1. The game looks good. Even if the functional gameplay was the same, no one likes ugly art. From what I've seen of concept/promotional art and gameplay videos, Aquaria looks very well-polished – high production values and everything.
2. The website looks good. My opinions on websites might have to be taken with a grain of salt, since I have such a skewed view of the internet. However, when it comes to buying stuff online, a nice-looking website will get you more sales. I base this only on the anecdotal evidence of... myself. If a website has some work put into it, I pretty much assume that the product behind it is also worth something. A great example: Panic. Their website is pretty nice, it makes me want to buy their stuff. A contrary example: <a href="http://www.chroniclogic.com/" title=Chronic Logic">Chronic Logic</a>. Their game Gish won the 2005 IGF grand prize, but their website looks like crap. I bought their game... it's pretty good. But how many more people would have purchased it had the website looked a little better?
3. Well, this goes without saying, but Derek Yu (the illustrator behind Aquaria) is a pretty large presence in the independent gaming community, which means his game has a decent amount of publicity, even without all the IGF hoopla.
"So, what can I take out of this?" I hear you saying. Well, first, if you're looking to make any money off your independent game, for God's sake hire (or somehow otherwise shanghai) a decent artist. Tough noogies for those programming types, but unless you're very good at pretty geometric graphics, the game just isn't going to be as appealing as it could be. Second, take your promotional venues seriously. If that means a website, take some time to ensure that it's more than just a bare bones hunk 'o junk.
So, I guess the "Minna no Nintendo Channeru" launched in Japan today. It looks interesting, and I can't wait for it here, but really the only compelling feature is the DS downloads. I figured I might as well translate the page for the heck of it.
Everyone's Nintendo Channel
"Everyone's Nintendo Channel" is a channel that delivers Wii- and Nintendo DS-related news to everybody. You can check out screenshots of new games and download game demos to your DS. Also, it will collect information from players, and help you search for games in your collection. You might also be able to try out new games! * You can download the "Everyone's Nintendo Channel" free from the Wii Shopping Channel.
Check out screenshots
Take a look at promotional screenshots, TV commercials, and other promo material for new and unreleased DS and Wii games.
Search for your games
You can search for your games in various ways, including by platform, developer, genre, and title.
Review games that you've played
You can send us your thoughts on games that you've played. Afterwards, everyone's responses will be shown in a "Player's Choice" section. * Reviews will be collected for a 12-month period.
Play DS game demos
You can download game demos onto your DS.
Super Mario Galaxy had a lot to live up to. For one, it had to be good enough
not to sully the illustrious name of Mario with which it had been entrusted. For
another, it had to utilize the Wii’s unique control system in such a way as to
not be boring or derivative. Finally, in an age when a lot of high-profile, big
budget games get crammed with so much stuff as to make them pointless
to play, Mario Galaxy had to be, well, fun.
As an ironic bonus, Galaxy’s predecessor, Super Mario Sunshine, was rather
sub-par, being in effect a glorified rehash of the genre-busting Mario 64. This
meant that, basically, Galaxy just had to be better than Sunshine for it to be
well received. Fortunately, I can tell you now that yes, Galaxy not only is
better than Sunshine, but is also at the very least the best game I’ve played
this year.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll assume familiarity with most of the ideas behind
modern Mario games, and plunge straight into the use of the Wii remote and
nunchuk to control our portly protagonist. As may be expected, a nunchuk is
required to play, and the analog stick on same is what controls Mario’s
direction. The new elements in control revolve, of course, around the Wii
remote. Shaking the remote makes Mario do a spin attack, while pointing it at
the screen allows the player to collect and shoot “star bits.” If these were the
only ways that the Wii remote was featured in the game, I would have been
disappointed — but fortunately, there are many more interesting uses for
it. For instance, some levels have Mario surfing on a stingray, where he is
moved left and right by twists of the remote. Other areas place Mario in a
bubble, where the remote is used to push him around. Still others make him
balance on top of a giant ball, and the remote is used like a joystick to move
Mario around. In a nutshell, there are many instances where it is used, and
surprisingly, none of them feel particularly forced. The designers had to
stretch their minds a bit in order to bring these Wii-specific concepts to the
game, but I think they all work well.
The major concern of mine regarding Galaxy was the camera. Mario Sunshine’s
camera was notoriously bad: often re-positioning itself after you had patiently
aligned it just the way you wanted for a certain jump. Camera control in Galaxy
is almost a non-issue. Levels in Galaxy are much more linear than the more
open-ended levels in Mario 64 and Mario Sunshine, which means that the
programmers could place the camera in positions optimal for each situation. Of
course, the player also has control of the camera, using the ‘C’ button on the
‘chuck to center the view behind Mario (almost like Z-targeting in the Zelda
series) or using the D-pad on the remote to offset the view to the left or
right. However, I rarely found myself even wanting to move the camera, which is
obviously a good thing. The player should never have to worry about positioning
their view – it detracts in a negative way from the gameplay. The only
time I felt mild frustration with the camera was in some underwater areas.
The fact that the camera works so well is even more amazing considering the
theme that the level designers explore throughout the game: gravity. Mario runs
on small planets from which he can literally jump out of orbit. He sticks to
walls, turns upside down, and goes through so many different twists and turns
that his guts are probably tied in knots by now.
If you were turned off by the small number of levels in Mario Sunshine, be
prepared to get blown away by the massive number of them in Galaxy. Even after
beating the game, there were some levels that I had not played at all. These
were not hidden levels, either, but those unlocked during the normal course of
gameplay. Basically, even though levels are more linear, the length and variety
of the game does not suffer because of it. Certain basic level themes return,
such as a lava world and ice world, but there are many other new, interesting
themes, mostly based around a space motif.
Tributes to old Mario games abound, yet are not heavy handed. Some old enemies return, but alongside a host of new. Galaxy is all that a gamer could ask for in a next-generation sequel: it takes inspiration from, but is not totally derivative of, it’s predecessors. If you own a Wii, this is a must-buy. My purchase of a Wii for this game was completely justified.