If you've watched the news today, you saw Congress reject the $700 billion bailout plan... which I am opposed to, but that doesn't matter here. You saw the economy turn to shit in recent weeks and stocks tank and people on Wall Street are near their windows waiting for Armageddon to come.
Now they say that the gaming industry is recession-proof and we can see that in rising sales overall. It seems that people are willing to spend $60 for a game that they can keep them entertained for months instead of a movie which can only keep you entertained for a few hours. Sounds like a bargain when you put it that way.
So I've got a question. The gaming industry might be recession-proof, but is it depression-proof? Will you change your gaming habits if you suddenly see a cut in your income or inflated prices or will you give up other luxuries first?
We all know about Mega Man 9's retro awesomeness, but something doesn't feel quite right. Sure it's as close to a throwback as we've seen in video games, but there's one missing feature that would be highly unpopular if implemented, but in a way would be really awesome.
Passwords!
Yes, passwords... old-school Mega Man passwords with the grid, the red dots, the whole deal. Really, Dalai? Is it really necessary? Not really, really. Frankly, the current save situation is sufficient for a game from 2008, but what if Capcom went back to the archaic password system? Would you be pissed off or would you just laugh it off and break out your notebook of old NES passwords you kept for 20 years and start jotting them down?
I'm considering making a series of walkthroughs for the Strong Bad episodes, but I'm not entirely sure if it's really necessary. I've never actually made a guide before so I'm still up in the air.
It's Strong Bad Man!So I finally got around to playing Strong Badia The Free this weekend... and it was better than I expected. Now I really enjoyed the first episode a lot, but there were some areas that could've used some tweaking. Well, they certainly did some tweaking in Episode 2 with improved results. The Strong Badia episode was just plain funnier and even a bit more diverse from a gameplay standpoint. I loved it, plain and simple.
Next is Mega Man 9, an old-school gamer's wet dream... 8-bit and hard as balls! It's a game that is as retro as retro can be and I couldn't be happier. I was 8 years old all over again. What makes it even better is the difficulty, which is somewhere between damn tricky and motherfucking impossible... and after only 56 minutes, my thumbs started to quake and I simply gave up. I did manage to beat Galaxy Man and Splash Woman in the process, but I haven't even figured out the correct order... although my expertise in boss order theory might come in handy.
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C'mon Nintendo, we know they're coming.I made that offhand remark at the fair on Saturday, apropos of nothing in particular, just because nearly 24 months after the Wii's launch it is actually still rather difficult to find the damn thing at retail. They did have several of them left, I said, but there they sat unclaimed, waiting for someone to give them a happy home. I bet they'll last pretty long.
And that's where the plagiarism ends, folks.
On Saturday, I spent the majority of the day at the Bloomsburg Fair... if you live in the eastern potion of Pennsylvania, you've probably heard of it. Anyway, there were your usual games with your typical prizes like stuffed animals, candy, dolls, and tacky neon signs. However, there were at least 2 stands I saw that were giving away Wiis as their big prize. I guess I'm not that surprised since the Nintendo DS was a hot item at the fair last year, but this is the first year I can remember seeing Wiis. I also spotted a crane machine chock full of Wii goodies like Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Party 8, and... Wild Earth: African Safari? Whatever, fair.
Now if they can make a deep-fried Oreo pizza.But... no Carnival Games? That's like having the fair in your home all year round... minus the fun and the awesome food. I mean, how often do you get to enjoy a deep-fried Oreo, deep-fried Snickers, and a deep-fried ice cream sandwich on the same day?
There were also tiny Wii blocks to grab if you're lucky... but you would probably end up spending up to $250 trying to grab the damn thing. I had a better shot with the fake iPods in the machine to the right.
So if you live an hour or two away from Bloomsburg, break out Mapquest, get the directions, and drive down to the fair for your chance for a Wii! Or you can just go to any major fair in the country and chances are some carny will be handing them out.
2008 has not been a great year for the VIrtual Console. Sure, there have been a few strong titles to make the cut, but there was a severe drought for a while during the spring and early summer. January started off well with Startropics, one of the unsung heroes of the NES lineup... and a game I have yet to download. 1080° Snowboarding also made an appearance that month, another game high on the wishlist. After that? Well, there were a few solid titles like Double Dragon, Harvest Moon, Kirby 64, Ninja Gaiden III, Phantasy Star II, River City Ransom, and Super Turrican. Unfortunately, we Nintendo fans are picky little fuckers and we're looking for the big Nintendo games, the cream of the crop remaining. To put it lightly, we want Earthboud and Majora's Mask now.
However, look at what August brought us... we got Mega Man a month ago. That's a popular one, although it's not considered the best in the series. The week after was Samurai Shodown II and Ys: Book I & II, two quality games. However, it was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars that totally made up for a shitty year of releases. And then this past Monday, Mega Man 2... a game that everyone should have played by now. Remember the awesome summer of Xbox Live? Well, the Wii is having a similar late summer run of classics that make me want to punch Iwata and Reggie in the face for not fixing the storage problem.
So I don't think there's a reason to complain about the lack of big Virtual Console games this year because... we're getting them.
Some dude at Destructoid wrote this yesterday. It's a comprehensive plan for Nintendo to win back the hearts of hardcore gamers throughout the world. Read it for yourself and see if the plan can help.
However, I've got a bigger plan to appease the core gamers who have abandoned Nintendo and are contemplating selling their waggle machines for the big, beefy HD consoles. I'm not going to go into details, but I'll put it in list form.
Fix the damn storage problem for good.
Officially announce the next Zelda game and show off a new trailer.
Heavily advertise upcoming hardcore games like Disaster: Day of Crisis and Fatal Frame 4.
Release the Mother trilogy via Virtual Console.
Buy Silicon Knights and get working on an Eternal Darkness sequel.
Buy Rare back from Microsoft.
Make a move to publish The Conduit.
Revive the F-Zero and Star Fox franchises.
Announce WiiWare remakes of popular Nintendo classics featuring updated graphics and controls.
Seriously, nothing today. I've taken a break from gaming in recent days. I haven't touched Spore myself since last weekend, Super Mario RPG is downloaded and ready to go, but I've only played a few minutes of it so far, and I haven't bought the new Strong Bad episode yet.
Boy, I've got some catching up to do before Mega Man 9 comes out, huh?
Many Nintendo fans have been waiting for a new Kirby game for quite some time and Nintendo is ready to announce it to the world. Thursday will be an interesting day in some specific locations, one of them just happens to be within driving distance from my home.
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