jbanes

WiiNintendo.net, not .com. Going to WiiNintendo.com won't quite get you what you expected. FWIW, those guys are awesome. I've worked pretty closely with them in the past, and they're super on-top of things. I highly recommend checking them first for your Wii-related news.

I got it for $15 on an Amazon Gold Box sale. If you love light-gun games, then Ghost Squad is a MUST BUY. The action is fast-paced, the controls are tight, and the dialog is suitably corny. The downside is that there are only three levels. However, as you progress through the game, you unlock new areas of each level. This keeps the game interesting, even though you're playing through the same levels again and again. If you're not a fan of arcade, on-the-rails, light-gun games like Time Crisis, then this probably won't do much to change your mind.

Unfortunately, the hardware is garbage on all the platforms, not just the Wii. My coworkers who had to replace their guitars were replacing the XBox 360 version. The primary advantage of the PS2 and 360 is that you can use the Guitar Hero axes and skip over the cheap-o Rock Band stuff. Which isn't to say the game isn't fun. If Harmonix had put more of an effort into the Wii port, I would have gotten it - despite the known issues - and happily used my GHIII guitar as well as making an effort to work with the RB hardware.

They can't. Allow me to show you a sneaky photo I took of their new product:

Here's a page for instrument troubleshooting: http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22930 The most likely issue I see is that you need to plug in the hub. Remember that the instruments require a POWERED hub, so don't depend on the console to push enough power. Other than that, it's perfectly possible the guitar is broken. Unfortunately, Harmonix has had a high failure rate with their equipment. Edit: I should probably mention this (in case it wasn't clear), if your guitar IS broken, you can get it repaired or replaced from Harmonix at no cost. A few coworkers of mine have had their equipment replaced and Harmonix does get it done. Here's their contact page: http://www.rockband.com/contact

Seems I hit a nerve. Here's hoping it forces a bit of self-reflection on how you come across when discussing Wii topics. You say you've said positive things, but most of them come across as grudging admissions. I know you're a more thoughtful and intelligent person than that, so why not show it? To misquote Yoda: "Let go of your hate. Hate is the path to the dark side. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

Defend Your Castle and Toki Tori are awesome. BUY THESE NOW! Star Soldier R can also be rewarding if you can find someone to compete with on scoring. Pop seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it type of thing. I personally dislike it and wish I hadn't purchased it. Yet there are some who claim it's the greatest things since sliced bread. Lost Winds is a pretty cool platformer, though its pace is more of a puzzler than an action game. Gyrostarr has to be one of the dullest shooters I've ever played. There's practically no challenge, the enemies are generic and boring, the graphics look good but are inconsistent, the red/blue/green gate mechanic is automatic (way to miss out on strategy, guys!) and the tracks show so little variation in design that it's a wonder they even tried. Worst of all, the sense of speed is kind of so-so. You're not usually traveling that fast. You have to hit one of the boost gates to get more speed. (Did I mention that's automatic?) So what ends up happening is that you FINALLY get going at a good clip, then the level ends. On the bonus levels, the game whips you around in an attempt to disorient you. This feels more like a problem with the camera than a good game mechanic. That being said, there are quite a few people who think it's a great game. I don't know what they're smoking, but it's probably a stack of Rayman Rush CDs for the PS1. There ends the games I have played. Read on for opinions and/or second-hand reports on the rest. Protothea is a port of a PC game by the same name. I recommend downloading the demo first to see if you like it. It's mostly gotten negative reviews. Personally, I didn't like the strong focus on bombing, and the controls feel just wrong. Ground targets annoy me to no end. Cocoto Fishing Master is a straight-up port of a budget PS2 title. 'Nuff said. My Pokemon Ranch is not a game, but rather a glorified Pokedex. Even if you like Pokemon, you're unlikely to like MPR. Block Breaker Deluxe is a cool take on Arkanoid. Nothing spectacular, but it seems like it might be fun. If it catches your interest it might be worth purchasing. Otherwise don't bother. It's based on a cell phone game of the same name. Family Table Tennis is a rehash of Wii Sports Tennis, and not a particularly good one at that. It's not worth your money. Magnetica Twist (aka ActionLoop in Europe and Japan) is a port of the game Zuma was based on. If you like Zuma, you'll probably like MT. Just be aware that it uses the twist of the Wii Remote to aim. Which can be rather painful at times. Critter Roundup is a poor rendition of Qix with slow-moving characters, dull levels, bad music, and poor graphics. If you had any thoughts that it might be a good game, disabuse yourself of that notion right now. Final Fantasy: My Life as a King is sort of a SimCity meets Final Fantasy type of game. If that sounds like fun, then this is the game for you! Just keep in mind that Nintendo and Squenix have collaborated with their "Pay to Play" DLC system to extract extra money from you. Expect to get engrossed in the game, then find yourself paying for more and more content. VIP Blackjack is... blackjack. If you are hardcore about blackjack, you might like it. Otherwise it's probably not enough depth to keep you interested. TV Show King is a mixed bag. On one hand it pulls off the whole game-show thing decently well. It's no You Don't Know Jack, but it has its own charm. On the other hand it has a wide variety of oddities. e.g. Many of the questions are so simple as to be inane, or are based on very specific knowledge of hollywood stars. (Which is by definition: inane. ) It also fails to remember which questions have been asked before. This can result in regularly occurring questions, despite the large question database. Dr. Mario is Dr. Mario. Some new graphics, online play, the ability to send a demo to friends for online play, and that's about it. There is a new mode where you can drag pills down the screen with a cursor which a lot of people like, but it's limited to local play only. If you like Dr. Mario for the NES, you'll like this. And that's about it. Make sure you pick up Shante when it comes out. I have a feeling that will be a good game. You can do more investigation on WiiWare titles at the excellent website: http://www.wiiware-world.com

Personally, I'm a bit annoyed that he's allowed to get away with these shenanigans while being a moderator for AtariAge. He gives the impression that the official (or at least semi-official) stance of AtariAge on the Wii is negative. Any other forum would have stripped him of his status by now for causing trouble rather than helping prevent it. The odd part is that he's a very reasonable person in the other forums. Easy to talk to, friendly, and helpful. But you mention the Wii and he turns into a foaming-at-the-mouth, knuckle-dragging buffoon who can only focus on how much Nintendo sucks; in his not-so-well-thought-out-but-very-vicious opinion.

Because that's the way the Nunchuk is normally held, and there is no analog stick on the Wii Remote. I know, it vexed me for a few minutes, but once I realized that it didn't detract from the game I was fine with it.

Where to start, where to start... - No Band World Tour - No Character Creator - No DLC - Lousy, highly compressed, pre-rendered graphics - No online support - No GHIII controller support - Poor quality audio Those are just the items off the top of my head. IGN's review pretty much sums it up: The only real saving grace is that IGN decided to withhold judgement for now based on the fact that Rock Band doesn't have any competitors: Honestly, that seems like a pretty sad endorsement to me. But maybe that's because I'm biased. Harmonix has been pissing me off with the Rock Band saga since they first announced it. Maybe if they'd grow a frickn' backbone and take responsibility for their failure rather than pointing fingers at Nintendo, Activision, and whoever else seems like a good target. Meanwhile, Activision and Neversoft are showing some real innovation with their port of Guitar Hero to the Nintendo DS. They could have done a really cruddy cash-in on the GH name like Harmonix and MTV. But they didn't. They created a quality product that really pushed the boundaries of what's possible on a hand-held game console.

Actually, it's already out. And IGN confirms that it sucks.

Man, now you tell me. I just got it at Best Buy for full price! (It was an anniversary gift, so I guess I'll survive. ) Great game, BTW. I don't have a sliver's chance in hell of ever placing high in the scoreboards, but the frantic gameplay just keeps you coming back again, and again, and again.

I think you missed the point... Lost Monkey: what did you expect, typical PS3/360 fanboyism, how dare you try to construct a logical argument about a game. [/end sarcasm] I wouldn't waste my time. Atari5200 is perfectly capable of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 4. It's just that he'd rather come up with 5 because it's more fun to troll that way. Flack and Buffy? LOL. I like that! I'll have to start using it. I wonder how many folks I could get to repeat the error?

But no one picked up on the mistake. They continued to call it "Jack and Wiki". Which means that no one has had enough exposure to the title for the mistake to stand out. Ergo, Capcom did a lousy job of marketing the title. Think of it this way: Auto Thief IV Machinations of War Combat Duty IV Super Mario Universe Mario Cars Wii Halved Lives 2 Guitar Player III Those stick out as obviously wrong. No one would make a big deal out of mistakenly using them once, but a replier would most certainly use the correct name when they speak. (Though it's perhaps as telling that they're nearly all sequels. Hmmm...) The point is that Capcom didn't do a very good job marketing if the Creme de la Creme of gaming can't even remember the correct name.

I think the fact that every person in this thread has called "Zack & Wiki" by the name "JACK & Wiki" is telling. Capcom did zero marketing on Zack and Wiki. Had they hyped it better, it would easily have gone on to become a Wii best seller.

Toki Tori is well worth the money. It's sort of a Amiga-esqe puzzle platformer with 70 levels, great graphics, and some real mind-benders. The interface it smooth, the characters cute and funny, and the adventure Wii-mails are a cute touch. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a brain-tease. Protothea is a bit of a weird one. It's a multi-directional shooter that was originally released for the PC back in 2005. The WiiWare revision is supposed to have a few upgrades, but it's hard to say if it's worth it. I downloaded the PC Demo, myself. While I thought it was a decent shooter, two things turned me off: 1. The controls. When I'm flying a ship, I expect my controls to be relative to the ship ala Asteroids. Not relative to the screen like Crossfire. 2. There's a huge focus on ground targets. I hate ground targets. I don't even like Xevious that much. Other than that, the demo wasn't bad. YMMV depending on personal tastes. Demo Download: http://www.download.com/Protothea-demo/300...4-10371504.html

Shadow460, thanks for the great read! Like Rockman, I'm just a computer programmer. But I *do* know enough to be glad that no one was seriously injured in those events you described. I don't think that people tend to realize that a megawatt of electrical power is effectively the same thing as a megawatt of kinetic energy. If something goes seriously wrong, there's a good chance that highly energized equipment will blow up and people will end up dead. (Especially if you lose a turbine!) That story about how you guys brought the plant down is particularly scary! To have 6 MW coming through your board off a turbine that running 4x its maximum rated output... well... I'm just glad the engineers designed those things well! Though the story about the power being 90 degrees out of phase is just plain funny. How to shut down a plant in one easy step! I'd hate to see the braking power THAT applied to the generators!

Welcome back! I had a feeling you guys used The Planet when I heard of the damage to the the data center. I'm just glad that everything is okay now and that repairs are underway. Lesson learned: Even the best planning isn't always good enough for dealing with the consumption of many megawatts of power.

Get a lot of Turbo Boosts on landing, do you? The controller needs to be in the fully horizontal position when you land your Truck if you want to get a Turbo Boost after a jump. The Wii Wheel is not designed to be used this way. The intent is to hold the Wheel vertically at all times, just like a real steering wheel. Which means that your control in Excite Truck will be severely lessened.

I've heard a few people who have liked it, but the vast majority of opinions has been that the game is terrible and overpriced. The controls are apparently sluggish, the music is grating, and the backgrounds get worse as you go along. Unless you're a die-hard Qix fan, you should probably avoid it.

For the same reason why the push-ups were so brutal. Without balance, you're not working the right muscles. You're shifting the load between different muscles and your skeletal frame. Which is fine if all you want to do is stand or lift. But if you actually want stronger muscles, you have to work those muscles. Unless you're severely overweight (e.g. 50-100 pounds over ideal), you might want to consider a more reasonable goal. At that rate, the system is going to have to near kill you to make it happen!

Well then, you should have told Curt that before he went and produced that failure of a product: Atari Flashback 2. You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't think you really understand the market all that well. Of course, part of that is that you're obviously not the target audience. Which is just fine. Such a console could never be targeted at hardcore folks like yourself. That's just a fact of life. The Cybiko wasn't even a game console. If you wanted to go that direction, I could say that the Palm Pilot absolutely creamed the Game.com! Apples to apples comparisons, my good sir. They'll get you a lot farther than comparing pineapples and grenades.

When I specced it out, I was looking for a ballpark retail figure of $25-$50. At the time, there didn't appear to be any major barriers preventing the manufacture of a unit in that price range. The key issue affecting price was how much of the hardware could be crammed into the FPGA or ASIC (I was going back and forth on which to ship) and how much needed to be off-the-shelf chips. Obviously every chip external to the CPU was going to add cost. I have. Sorry, we were talking about the idea I was previously working on and why a Java-based platform could work. So when I was working on it, there was definitely a console to aim for. The JavaGaming community is otherwise focused on commercial PC gaming. There have been a number of shrink wrapped titles as well as Indies that were based on Java. You'd just never know it because "based on Java!" is not a marketing point for a video game. My favorite Java-based game is probably the indie title Titan Attacks. Best upgrade to the Space invaders genre ever. Indie game companies are already working hard to make inroads. The problem at the end of the day is, PC Gaming sucks. It requires you to ride the upgrade train outside your own schedule, you have to deal with the concept of software "installation", system configuration problems abound, and they are really not a family or party activity. That's part of the reason for the success of the PnP handhelds. Two or three plugs and you're hooked up to the television, you just turn it on to play, and you can compete with friends and family members for who scores the highest. (I had a great time at my parents house competing with my brother-in-law on Pole Position. The regular defeating of scores kept things competitive and interesting for the entire family. ) You don't have to be "taken seriously" to make the cut. Pokemon has sold some ungodly number of games for the various Gameboy systems, and yet I don't see anyone taking them all that seriously. (According to VGChartz, just under 50 million units for the original GB, about 30 million plus spinoffs for the GBC, over 30 million plus spinoffs for the GBA, about 15 million plus spinoffs for the DS, and just shy of a million for the fancy new Wii system.) The problem is that you're thinking in terms of a fancy game console like the XBox, Playstation, or Wii. That's completely the wrong mode of thinking if you want to be successful with a low-end "toy" console. You don't need to sell one million units if the cost to create software is low enough. A system that has sold 250,000 units is still an appealing target for a one or two man development shop. That's the EA way of doing things. It could help drive the brand, or it could help drive it into the ground. Tiger tried that stunt with Game.com and many of their other portables. Invariably it did more harm than good since the properties owned by those companies were not easy to represent well on the Tiger systems. I personally believe that it's a better idea for a company to produce their own properties, then attract the third parties as they go along. That way the proper usage of the system gets to be demonstrated so that third parties won't come in with odd preconceptions. (Case in point: All the early classics on the NES system were made by Nintendo. The third parties then followed Nintendo's lead rather than producing the same old arcade games they were used to making for the Atari systems.) When you're creating games that are $5-$15 impulse buys, why the heck would you need gaming magazines? At least initially, said magazines would do more hard than good. Bzzt! Wrong answer. You're never in a million years going to make a $25-$50 system that appeals to the hardcore gamer crowd. That crowd is already well entertained by their XBoxes and Playstations, so what exactly is the point? Targeting casual gamers (especially younger children!) is a more effective solution. As market analyses and Nintendo's wild success with the Wii have demonstrated, the casual market is worth a heck of a lot more than the hardcore market. It's just a matter of finding a method to monetize that crowd.

Um, that was exactly what I was talking about doing?

If that was true, ARM processors wouldn't have Java cores in them. (Not to mention all the games for cell phones!) The Java platform I was developing for the JGC project was a custom set of APIs based on an open processor architecture called JOP (Java Optimized Processor). JOP is an implementation of the Java platform on a chip, intended to support embedded environments. My plan was to build game-related APIs on top of that. Many people don't know this, but Java was originally developed for embedded platforms. In fact, before being loosed on the web for Applets, James Gosling and his team were working on a game console. The project never panned out (wonder if the failure of the Pippin had something to do with that? ) but the idea was sound. The need to run in constrained environments like a game console is one of the key reasons why Java uses 8-bit byte code rather than a 32 or 64 bit instruction set. As for the stack machine aspect of it, it was a simple abstraction that made the bytecode language easy to design. (One of the key reasons for instruction proliferation is the need to address more and more registers. Great for RISC design, not so good for really tight code.) (Want to see something really cool? If you have Java installed, click here to run my video game Xero. It fits in only FOUR KILOBYTES! That's the size of a standard 2600 cartridge, but with modern graphics and gameplay.) In any case, my thought was NOT to run existing web games. It was to give Java Game Developers a console platform to target. With the success of the Java 4K competition, there was a ripe base of developers from which to pull from.