When the motion sensing control schemes of the Nintendo Wii were first announced, my immediate thought was "they could make a great tennis game with this" and then they did.
Great that is - if you didnt really care much for tennis and just wanted to swing a remote around and have a giggle, which is fine! If its fun its fun. (Unless you're one of the millions of plasma/LCD TV's lost in the great Wii invasion)
The down-side to Wii-Sports Tennis was that it was lackluster in depth. Sure, its family friendly, its got pick up and play appeal, but i couldnt help but feel that it could have been so much more. Was it really responding to my strokes, or was it just swinging when i twitched?
It is this same lack of depth, this casual appeal, which has deterred me from buying a Wii for so long, but now, just over the horizon, there is a game which might just convert me. EA recently announced Grand Slam Tennis on Wii, boasting an all-star lineup of pro players, but more importantly... in EA's words:
"Call Your Shots Topspin, backspin - superior racket responsiveness and control makes it possible."
Something this trivial WILL sway my wallet, its time they started putting the motion sensor to the test, and drawing out its real potential. (if indeed it has any)
With the release of image-shattering titles like Madworld on the horizon, the Wii can finally shed its family friendly, casual gamer appeal and become a more venerable gaming console.
Or it can keep being a Wii.
Read more!
And so I enter into the second month of a Pro Evo free zone. It wasn’t long ago that I was thinking of new formations in my head, on the way to, from, and in school.
Even as I lay in bed I was thinking "4-3-3 with Rosicky on the wing, but could he be a WB?!" In fact it was only last year that I reached the year 2012 on my Master League, players like Pirlo and Gerrard were beginning to retire as Walcott, Benzema and Aguero ruled the world. And Lee Chun Soo, bizarrely. It was a massive part of my life.
And yet, despite not playing for so long, I don’t miss it. Six months ago, this would have been unthinkable, if you’d even mentioned it to me a year ago I would have surely kicked you in the shins before unleashing an uppercut to your fragile chin, but this is the stark truth. And why? Because Pro Evolution 2009 is shit. The kind of shit that smells so bad your brain automatically ignores it, for your own safety. The computer makes horrid decisions for you, the passing is crap, the AI runs lack absolutely any intelligence whatsoever, the transfers are behind, the training mode is awful... it’s appalling. That’s not including the compete disregard for presentation and licensing.
And why else? Because FIFA 2009 (which my flat mate owns) pisses all over it. He also manages to piss all over me, but let’s not get into that. The attention to detail is impeccable. The extra modes, levels and variations on the same concept are untouched by Pro. But most importantly, they’ve finally got the game right. FIFA 2009 feels like proper football. No more 10-9 results, where five bicycle kicks are scored by the same player (thanks for that FIFA 2001 – incidentally, the last FIFA I bought). It’s not perfect, god no, but it is the best football game out there.
There’s about six months until these two giants go to war again. I hope Pro Evolution sorts it shit out, otherwise myself, and many others, will all be moving over to the FIFA bandwagon.
Read more!
Guardian games writer Alex Gambotto-Burke touches on a subject close to my mechanical heart today - Difficulty, or lack thereof, in recent video games.
"Peter Molyneux, has been unapologetic in his aims. In his view, it was inconceivable that someone should pay for a game but be unable to complete it, as not only are they denied their money's worth, but they can "feel stupid and unskilled".
Is this true? Think back to the first game you were hooked on in your gaming youth, for me, it was Final Fantasy 7 (cliché i know) but when i got stuck on the roof of Shinra tower fighting Rufus and his Cat, aged what must have been 11 or 12 at the time, i did'nt wuss out and cry over the difficulty. (whats a Materia?) Call me old fashioned but i thought the idea of a game was to overcome a percieved challenge? Come to think of it, I'm almost positive the only game i ever clocked on the Sega Megadrive (my platform of choice for almost a decade prior to the PSX) was Streets of Rage 2, and even that limited success was fleeting.
I must point out that i adored Fable 2, but contrary to what Molyneux suggests, i felt short-changed by the ease with which i completed it. Being punished for sloppy skills is as essential as being rewarded for our accomplisments. His sentiments contradict everything that video games, in my eyes, represent.
People buy games to be challenged, to work for advancement, not to have it handed to us on a plate with a pat on the back and a happy ending. Bring on more ultra-hard games like Ninja Gaiden, there's more reward in overcoming something genuinely difficult than there is in trudging through something that could be so much more.
Guardian: Everyone's a winner in games' open world.
Read more!
What the f**k is Joikuspot i hear you cry?
Well, Joikuspot is an application i installed on my Nokia N95 which allows me to create a wireless access point that any wi-fi device can connect to (assuming they have the password), linking that device to the Internet via my phone, pretty nifty!
Now, the problem with Joikuspot and the PSP is that Joikuspot runs the wi-fi in ad hoc mode (Simular to a PC sharing Internet connection) rather than infrastructure (dedicated router/access point).
Now, why is this a problem for the PSP? For some reason Sony only allow the PSP to connect to the internet using an infrastructure connection, ad hoc seems to be reserved for connecting PSP's together in close proximity.
Annoying! DAMN YOU SONY!
Although Joikuspot does not work with the PSP, it is excellent if you have a laptop you wish to connect to the internet when away from home, though do note this will use whatever access plan you have with your provider, not recommended if you do not have unlimited internet.
Check it out here.
Read more!
When the motion sensing control schemes of the Nintendo Wii were first announced, my immediate thought was "they could make a great tennis game with this" and then they did.
Posts
