Published at 21 May, 2007
in Games.
What can I say about Ice Age 2, I love it. I’ve played a few games on the Wii, and they’ve been too complicated for me. Let me explain - I have a fairly intense job, and between being a my hobby time is fairly limited. I need some mindless stimulation every now and then - that’s why I love Wii Sports boxing.
Today I played Ice Age 2 for the first time, and it was a joy - none of this hold a button down on the nunchuck while waving the controller madly side to side, no, that is not side to side, it is up and down because the $%^&* is tilted, aargh, dead again BS. You run around, and if you want to jump, press A. If you want to wriggle into a hole, or dive, press C. If you want to hit something, shake the heck out of the controller. Sweet.
I still maintain that Nintendo should embrace the chaos, and accept that a lot of people who haven’t played games since DooM was new are now turning on to the wireless splendour of Wii.
I was looking at something for Facibus Reviews just now and used the Google blogsearch server to see what was out there on this particular topic (MyGADS). Being human I thought I would check blogsearch on the word “facibus” to see what was indexed. Wierd - some traffic from this blog is indexed under the getfreewii.com domain. They aren’t poaching the content, but have set up an autoblog based on an RSS feed from Google blogsearch.
The cool thing, in a very post-modern self-referential way, is that my posting on autoblogging will probably end up being autoblogged itself. Wierd 
I was hunting around for game tips just now and came across WiiReign. It is the wierdest blog - just news stories referenced on other sites, no human intervention at all. It seems like they’ve set up an RSS feed from google news or somewhere similar and are using this to build traffic. I am not sure that many people will go see it - it is coldly impersonal, and kind of sad in a way. I suppose that they will get some traffic through, but probably not many repeat views.
From a technical perspective, it is interesting - I have a similar thing (a partially newsfeed-generated page) over at MonsterWatch, but it is only part of the experience - the rest of it is human-crafted. I might add a similar page here but make it clear that it is “Wii in the news” rather than any sort of mainstream blog.
Published at 10 May, 2007
in Games.
Chris Leigh from PalGN writes in Wii Resi Evil 4 aimed at more casual gamers:
They’re making it “more accessible.”
Good news if you struggled to finish the GameCube’s Resident Evil 4: the Wii version of Capcom’s landmark survival horror title is to be made a tad easier. Bad news: you’re not terribly good at games, are you?
Admittedly, awesome as it is, we’re struggling to understand why people would find the 10-out-of-10 gem especially taxing, but Capcom reckons it’s all about targeting the new gamers that the Wii has attracted. “Our concept is ‘easier’,” explained Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition producer Masachika Kawata to Famitsu. “The number of hardcore gamers [who own a Wii] is relatively small. A lower difficulty can attract Wii gamers but excessive easiness can reduce excitement. Our goal is to make it easier and exciting.”
Righto. But exactly how will this be achieved? Well, there’ll be Easy and Amateur modes with specially designed player aids, such as a gun laser sight which allows infinite range, as well as a more straightforward enemy lock-on feature. And stabbing mad villagers will also be made far less fiddly, with knifework carried out simply by airily waving the Wii Remote towards your foes - on the GameCube, players would have to aim the knife using the analogue stick.
Did I miss something? Are Wii games meant to be hard work? If I wanted to solve complex problems and perform harsh physically challenging activity then I’d be doing more work work during my Wii time.
The last Resident Evil experience I had was the Playstation 1 version of RE2 on a Playstation 2, and as an experience it lacked a lot - waiting for several minutes for the thing to load, only to die within thirty seconds seemed unbelievably tedious.
If Nintendo is to keep the casual gamers and convert them into longterm valuable customers then they need to keep this in mind - that there is this trust relationship there (”I as relative newcomer to gaming trust you as provider of fun platform to keep it fun”), and people react badly to a perceived loss of that trust. I know that there has to be a balance there, and perhaps Resident Evil 4 will have it in the easy mode.
The following was originally posted on Facibus Reviews.
Today, I bought a Nintendo Wii. It is all Matt’s fault.
I have played with it for an hour. All I can say is that the Wii is:
- the games console I wish that I had when I was young,
- the console I wish I’d had to play with my children when they were young,
- the console I want to play when I do play games,
- graphically, good enough,
- responsively, excellent,
- fun, amongst the best I’ve ever had playing solo games.
Helen is working late tonight - when she gets home, I’ll introduce her to the Wii.
Every other game simulates the reality of gameplay - moving a mouse to move then clicking to shoot or wield a sword has not appealed to me for several years now. I used to be a fair hand at first person shooters (DooM, Hexen, Quake, Quake ][) but they grew past me by asking for too many simultaneous control movements. The Wii has given me the fun back.
The natural way to wield a tennis racquet or a weapon is in the hands - and the Wii gives us this natural interface. It is not the same as the real thing - I am no golfer, but I have studied classical Japanese swordsmanship, and it is definately not the same… but it is closer than anything I have seen before.
I can’t say if you would enjoy the Wii experience as I do (and it is definitely early days for me), but it is worth having a play with at a game shop.
UPDATE: My Wii has its own blog now over at Wiild Life (original blogspot Wii blog - transitioned to here). More about my blog diversification plans at Facibus On Blogging. And I still love my Wii over a week later. And it’s still Matt’s fault
This is my Mii (Wii character/persona) andrew:
My partner Helen, the first time she saw it, said “Wow, how did you get it to look so much like you?”. I am not sure if this is a good thing
Published at 7 May, 2007
in About.
The Nintendo Wii. Cool fun, welcome distraction, joy to behold, wonderful experiment in broadscale experiential gameplay. Love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion. If you’ve just parted with a cool AUD1000+ for a Playstation 3, chances are you feel superior. Enjoy that feeling, it is the only part of the experience that you have over Wii owners
Welcome to WiiForMii!