Nintendo Are You There?

Hello, Nintendo...where are you? Seriously this is how I feel right now. We are now in November 2013 and basicallly have not seen much from Nintendo in months. In the past two months the Wii U has had great games release like:
1. Pikmin 3
2. Wonderful 101
3. Rayman Legends
4. Deus Ex Human Revolution Directors Cut
5. The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker HD
6. Batman Arkham Origins
7. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag
8. Call of Duty Ghosts
9. Sonic The Lost World
10. Lego Marvel SuperHeros

I'm on Wii U, but nobody knows

That's the main games, but there others as well. So where the hell is Nintendo? The only commercials I've seen for any of these games was Sonic Lost World, and I'm sure Sega paid for those. All these third-party games are heavy hitters. I've seen both Sony and Microsoft have commercials for all of them. Yet Nintendo doesn't even make a commercial for its first-party games.

The average person has no idea that any of these games are on the Wii U. That's somewhat an over statement; most people don't even know that the Wii U exists. It's been out almost one year now and it's still practically unknown to the average consumer. It seems like Nintendo doesn't want the Wii U to sell. Iwata and Reggie keep trying to tell people the Wii U will be fine, but it's getting harder to believe.



The Wii U has an amazing line up of games right now. If Nintendo would just tell people about them the Wii U would be flying off the shelfes. I just beat Batman Arkham Origins (very fun game). Now I'm playing Wind Waker HD. Once I finish Wind Waker I'll get either Assassin's Creed 4 or COD Ghosts. This is what most every gamer would love to do, play the best first and third party titles back to back on one system. All Nintendo has to do is tell people that they can do that with the Wii U.

Batman Arkham Origins on Wii U

So hows the new Batman on the Wii U? It's pretty damn good. I wont go into detail about the game, since there are a lot of reviews that will tell you about the story. However I will say that if you enjoyed the previous two games you will also like Origins. Nothing was changed to the game formula, and to me that's a very good thing. The old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" comes to mind.

The real question is how does it look and play on the Wii U. Well the game looks awesome on the Wii U. It really is a good looking game. I did notice a few weird shadows, but in an open world game that's not abnormal. Also during some of the cut scenes there is a little slow down. Nothing major, but it is a little jarring. Other than that the game looks great. 

When I first started playing Batman Arkham Origins I used the gamepad. I actually used the gamepad until my battery died, then I switched to the pro controller. While the pro controller felt good and worked fine; I really missed the gamepad. When Using the gamepad you have access to the map at all times. You can not set a way point with the map, but it's still nice to have the map handy. This is especially handy when finding Enigma's stations. 

Also during the crime scene analysis you can use the gamepad to view the crime scene. I personally didn't care to do that, but it's a cool feature. When your in the batcave the gamepad will act as a finger print scanner. It's not important but still it's kinda fun to scan your finger and see it welcome Bruce Wayne. 

The Wii U version does not have the multi player that both the 360 and PS3 have, but from the reviews I've read that's probably a good thing. Plus it's $10 cheaper than those versions. If you like the Batman games then this one is no different. It looks great and it plays great. Don't be afraid to buy this. You will not be disappointed.

UPDATE
I felt like I needed to address some issues I found. On completing the game and going through the city I've experienced a lot of slow down. I also had one hard freeze. Neither of these make the game unplayable, but it does greatly detract from the overall experience.

Busted on OUYA

Busted by PIM Entertainment  is an endless arcade runner, except with a car. So instead of running like in Temple Run or Sonic Dash you are driving. I was pretty skeptical when I first loaded up Busted. I personally love to play Sonic Dash.I think it's the best endless runner on the App Store. My endless runner bar is set pretty high, so I didn't think I'd like Busted. However it's a pretty fun game and a good time killer.

Let's talk about how Busted looks. Is it an ugly game? No, it's not an ugly game. It is however a very plain looking game. When your car flips over (and it will flip over) you will see absolutely no details on the undercarriage. This isn't really a problem given the price of the game, but I would have liked to see a muffler or something under my car. Still the graphics in Busted are effective and they look pretty smooth overall.

The presentation of Busted is also good. I have played it for at least ten minutes everyday for the past week and not once have I experienced any slow down. Even when the nitro kicks in and your car is flying down the road it holds its frame rate. This is extremely important in a racer (or runner...racer runner?), and it performs great. I wont lie the audio track gets old extremely fast. There's nothing really wrong with it, but you will be tired of hearing it.

Also you can play with a few different vehicles and change the color of your car. They are not fully customizable but it's nice to have the option. You can also buy power ups to help you increase your score. So make sure you grab as much cash off the street as you can...because you will need it. 

Busted controls pretty well. The left analog stick controls your movement. While the O face button works your brake. You really won't use the brake to often but it can save you if  it's used sparingly. There is one thing I'm not fond of in Busted. It's those damn ramps(like in the picture above)! They're awesome if you hit it just right.and your car goes flying through the air. However if you aren't lined up exactly right it's game over. Or if you fly off the ramp and land on a car it's game over. It's not a deal breaker, just a little annoying. 

Since all games on the OUYA are free to try, give this a download and see what you think. If you decide to purchase the full game it will set you back $2.99. If you enjoy endless runners then you will like Busted. It's another good game to play on OUYA.

CLARK for the OUYA Review

CLARK has released on the OUYA...and it is amazing! The OUYA really needs a lot more games like this. Here's the official description of the game.

CLARK is an action loaded puzzle adventure. It combines complex spatial puzzles with arcade style action elements and an epic storyline. As the story unfolds, the nerdy forklift robot Clark will encounter partying robots, attractive nuclear missiles, intoxicated supercomputers, save the facility from an intruding spaceship and kill M.O.T.H.E.R. CLARK features 25 levels with 100 puzzles and more than 12 hours of gaming. Our grid-based game play and tight controls will give you the retro feel of your first console.

CLARK is a beautiful game. It uses cell shaded graphics so it looks like a living cartoon. The initial menu worried me, because it looked rather cheap. However once you start playing the game you will be blown away. It is one of the better looking games that we've seen for the OUYA (so far). CLARK looks adorable and everything looks bright and crisp on my LED screen.

The game also controls very nicely. The left stick controls CLARK, and the right stick controls your camera. At first I wasn't a fan of the camera, but after playing for a few minutes it felt natural. You also will need you use the face buttons to move objects and etc. You can tell that this game was designed with a controller in mind. So it really does work very well.

Seriously go and buy this game. CLARK only costs $7.99 and that's a great deal for what your getting. It'd be hard to find a better game right now on the OUYA. If you like fun puzzle games with great graphics then this game is for you. If you don't like fun puzzle games with great graphics then it still may be for you. Give the demo a try, you will not be disappointed.

GameStick is Coming Soon

It seems like Android consoles are pretty popular right now. By "popular" I mean multiple companies are making them and shipping them out soon. Whether or not any of these will be successful is yet to be seen, but GameStick looks like it could be a contender.

 

 GameStick is being developed by PlayJam. It was funded by Kickstarter and it made $650,000, which surpassed it initial goal. It was originally going to release in April 2013, but after being so successful they had to delay it's release. Amazon.com has it listed for an August 26, 2013 release date.

 

 

 

Here are the Specs for the GameStick as listed by Amazon

• Includes: 1 GameStick HDMI Console + Bluetooth Controller
• Easy to navigate user interface with access to Android games at 1080p
• Under the hood: ARM Cortex A9 CPU / MALI 400 GPU
• Storage: 8GB internal flash storage (expandable to 32GB via SDMicro)
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi / Bluetooth 4.0

You get all of this for only $79.99 ($20 cheaper than an Ouya).

What really stands out about the GameStick is it's portability. All you do is plug in the HDMI dongle to your HDTV and you are ready to play.

GameStick is based on Android architecture, however it has it's own UI built specially for it. It looks nice and easy to use, but I'll have to play around with one to know how well it actually works.

One downside to the GameStick is that it wont use the GooglePlay App store. This means you will need to repurchase games you own. Also game selection could be limited since they must be approved by PlayJam. PlayJam has said that it has over a hundred developers who say they want to make games for it. So hopefully they will make good on their promise and keep the games coming.

We will have to wait and see if the GameStick is successful. It looks promising and hopefully it will deliver.

Lego City Undercover on 3DS

I finally bought Lego City Undercover : The Chase Begins. I know I said months ago that this was going to be a day one purchase...but I got busy and never bought it...until NOW! I'm not to far in the game yet, but I can tell you that it's pretty impressive so far. Only thing I wish was different so far is the lack of voice acting. There is voice acting in the cut scenes, but other than that it's all text. Not a deal breaker just a little disappointing. I will give a full review once I complete the game.

It's Chase McCain!

Is Wii U Next Gen?

I've heard this so many times since Wii U has launched. If you search Wii U on Google you will find this question being asked and discussed over and over again. This is such an easy question to answer.

Question: Is the Wii U next gen?
Answer: Yes!

Here's the thing the term "next generation" has nothing to do with a systems power. The word Generation refers to a time span, usually associated to people. Here's an example, My father is from a previous generation than me. Since he was born before me he's from a different generation.

Since the Wii came out in 2006 (around the time of 360 and ps3) and Wii U was released in 2012 (around same time as ps4 and xbone will release) they are obviously from different generations. The internal pieces and specs of the machine have nothing to do with a game systems generation!

Yes you can say that the Wii U has closer specs to the PS3 and 360(even though that's not entirely true).  You can not argue if Nintendo's Wii U is next generation.

Wii U Sold 1 Million in Japan

After being on the market for 33 weeks in Japan Wii U has finally sold 1 million consoles. YAY for Nintendo. Actually this isn't all that impressive. However it did make it to a million 5 weeks faster than PS3 did when it launched in Japan. So that's something to think about.

New Nintendo Franchise

Shigeru Miyamoto confirms that he's developing a new franchise, and he says it's keeping him very busy. This is good to know since Nintendo doesn't make new franchises very often. Shigeru Miyamoto is responsible for so many loved characters, so expect greatness. Here's what he said in a recent interview with Famitsu.

“I think it’s about time we brought out a new franchise. I can’t give out details, but that’s the title that’s been keeping me pretty busy lately.”

Hopefully Nintendo is working on multiple new franchises. Nintendo is seriously lacking in mature games. Both Sony and Microsoft have action and first person shooter franchises. These two genres make up most of their revenue. So Nintendo would be wise to add a few to their line up. Maybe Nintendo will release some official information before the end of the year.

Does Ouya Matter

Ouya has finally been released. Ouya was a huge sucess on Kickstarter. It had a lot of people excited about the idea of an Android gaming console. So how is Ouya and does it matter in today's gaming market?

For starters Ouya is not a powerhouse. Ouya is designed with Indie developers in mind. This means that you wont see a lot of big budget titles releasing. However Sega has a few Sonic titles and Square Enix has Final Fantasy 3 on Ouya. So there are some exceptions, but overall it will have smaller unknown games. For the record I love Shadowgun on Ouya (just like I did on Xperia Play).

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I actually like a lot of indie games. As smart phones have proven there is a huge market for these games. So time will tell of people want to play these games on the big screen.

Okay so Ouya wont blow your mind with graphics but it is a really well built(and good looking system). The OS is also smooth and attractive. Every Ouya game is "free to try" so there's no upfront money to get playing. Overall the Ouya is a good, cheap console ($99).

Does the Ouya matter? I thought the Ouya concept was great when I first heard about it. However since then both Sony and Nintendo have been making huge efforts to get Indie games on their platforms. In theory the games releasing on Ouya will also be on Wii U, PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. Plus the fact most of these games are on IOS and other Android devices.

Ouya really is a cool device. At $99 it has huge potential to make waves in the gaming industry. I just wonder if it's a little to late. Either way if you can afford to buy one you might as well, it's fun.

GTA V Looks Epic

The new trailer for GTA V was released today. WOW! That pretty much describes it.This has to be the biggest, best looking game I've ever seen. I don't know if the story will be any good(though Rockstar has a good trackrecord) but the game play looks amazing.

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I'm assuming this is running on a PS3 or 360 since those are the only 2 platforms announced at this time. However it looks so good it could be running on a PC. I would wait for this on PC but GTA's usually take about a year to make it to PC. So I wont be waiting for this one. I'll be buying this day one on my PS3.

UPDATE

Rockstar has now said that all footage was taken from the PS3 build. That is one seriously good looking PS3 game! Do we even need next gen?

Third Party Developers on Wii U

So today Ubisoft came out and said that ZombiU was unprofitable for them. Therefore no plans for a sequel. One of the reasons I bought my Wii U was to play this game...and I've still yet to beat it. It's not a bad game, just not a polished or overly fun game. It's actually one of the ugliest games on the Wii U. Metacritic has ZombiU rated at 77%.

Electronics Arts has said that their 4 games have sold poorly on Wii U as well. However every game EA brought to Wii U were ports of games that were already released on all other major consoles. Not good ports either, watered down ports. Fifa and Madden both were missing some features from the PS3 and 360. Mass Effect 3 Special Edition had all the additional content at that time. However it had some technical issues and no other DLC was released. On top of that EA released a collection that had all 3 Mass Effect games in 1 case slightly before this version released. Then they charged $60 for this version as well as the Complete Collection. Which made the Wii U version look like a bad deal (and it was). The only good EA game was Need For Speed Most Wanted U. This game also released months after the other console and pc versions. Also this game got no other DLC. However this game did look better and run smoother than the PS3 or 360 versions.

I could keep listing companies that just did quick ports when the Wii U was released. When you release a game after it's been out on other consoles and pc can you really expect it to sell well? Most people have multiple game systems and they don't want to wait months for a game. Or if you make a mediocre game do companies think that will sell well?

This is the problem the Wii U has with most 3rd party developers. They were to lazy to make new games so they just ported over old games. Or they just made a mediocre game and hoped it would sell. It's no wonder your damn games don't sell! Make better games! People need to tell these developers this. People will buy games if they are new and worth buying.

A Bloodbath is coming to Wii U

Another new game is announced for Wii U. It's called Bloodbath and it's made by Freedom Factory. There isn't a whole lot of information out yet. However it does look like a gory arena style fighting game. I welcome every and all games to Wii U, so yay a new game. Also no release date is known so who knows when it will come out. Either way it's nice to have another mature game on a Nintendo platform. Check out the link below to watch the trailer.
http://youtu.be/KpjWyCAMDpE

Injustice DLC on Wii U

This has been out for a few days, but just a reminder to those who may want it. Injustice Gods Among Us on Wii U finally has dlc. This brings it mostly up to par with the PS3 and 360 versions. Hopefully all new dlc will also release on Wii U(and on the same day).

Wii U's Best Feature

Sometimes I forget why I bought my Wii U. There was one main reason I bought it, for that awesome tablet controller. Most games really haven't used the Wii U's tablet in any original way. Most companies just throw a map and inventory screen on it. Actually both of these come in handy while playing a lot more than you'd think. It's nice to be able to look down at the screen and see how much ammo you have, or where you are on a bigger map. Plus having these on the map free's up the screen of clutter.

However the main reason I like the tablet controller is for the off screen play. In case you don't know what this is I'll explain. If the game supports off screen play (and most do) you can send the picture from the TV to the gamepad and play the full game on the tablet. The screen is a good size so most games this works fine on. This works with two player games as well. Player one can play on the tv, while player 2 can use the gamepad screen. This way both players have their own screen. To be honest I really like playing on the tablet.

So you may ask "why do I need to play on the pad while I have a TV"? Well I'll give you an example. Last night I was playing Injustice on my Wii U. I had the game on my monitor and the moves list on the tablet screen. My wife wanted to use my PC (it's faster than her laptop and I have a 26 inch monitor). So I just sent the the game to the gamepad and kept playing. I've done this plenty of times to share the TV(monitor) or just so I can lay in bed(or couch) and keep playing.

This alone is a great reason to own a Wii U. It really is a great feature. It's hard to tell you why the gamepad is so great. If you haven't played a Wii U go the store and demo it. After a few minutes of playing you will really like the controller tablet.

Can Wii U survive?

Well we are past E3 2013 and where is the Wii U? Honestly I think it's in the exact same place it was before E3. It's still on the shelves waiting for consumers. People still don't have to much of a reason to purchase a Wii U. The only main stream game released recently was Game and Wario, and that got average reviews at best.

Even the games shown for the future were not very exciting. We got a Mario game that no one wants, and another Donkey Kong game. Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros were shown but are still going to be next year before a release. The other games shown were titles we already knew about.

As far as third party support went...well there wasn't any. No one talked about Wii U any except Sega with Sonic Lost World. The only time I remember seeing a Wii U anything was during the Ubisoft convention. It briefly showed a Gamepad in a dance game. Square Enix talked about it's Wii U Exclusive of Deus Ex. Then it told the world it was no longer an exclusive.

 I love my Wii U. I see so much potential in this little system. It's just hard for us early adopters to have faith in Nintendo when all you hear is bad press. I'm hopeing that once Pikmin 3 and Zelda release later this year that Wii U will start selling consoles. I can't imagine how much of a drought next year will be if doesn't start selling and selling soon.

Resident Evil Revelations HD

Resident Evil Revelations originally released on the Nintendo 3DS. Honestly this was the reason I bought my 3DS. I preordered and picked it up at mid launch on launch. Anyway it's a  great game. I think it's the best Resident Evil.

So with the HD version coming out tomorrow on Wii U, PC, PS3, and 360 am I going to buy it? Yes I am, because it's that good. I downloaded the demo off Steam and it looks and plays great.  However I will buy Resident Evil Revelations HD on Wii U. Since it was made for 3DS it makes sense to buy the dual screen version. Plus I like supporting the Wii U.

If you missed Resident Evil Revelations on the 3DS them buy it now. You wont be disappointed.

Nintendo and Sega Partnership

In case you missed it Nintendo and Sega have a new partnership. They have agreed to make the next 3 Sonic titles exclusive to Nintendo platforms. So far 2 games have been announced, Sonic Dark World and a new Mario and Sonic winter Olympics game. The 3rd hasn't been announced yet.

This is huge news for Nintendo. Lately all we hear are what games are skipping the Wii U. So having a few exclusives is a big deal. Sega announced earlier in the week that it has 7 games in development for Wii U this year. I personally think Sega is one of the best game companies around, so I'm excited for the year.

Sega also announced Yakuza 1-2 HD for the Wii U. Right now this is only announced for Japan. Hopefully they will bring it to the US and Europe as well. This may not sound like a huge announcement, but until now Yakuza was exclusive to Playstation.

Anywho here's a little good news for all you Wii U owners. There will be a lot more news soon leading up to the week of E3. Check back for more info.

PS4 and next Xbox Struggles

Both the PS4 and the nw Xbox will be out by the years end. I believe that both of these new systems could suffer from "slow sales" just as the Wii U. Before the Wii U was launched everyone was very excited. Gamestop was saying that the Wii U had "huge interest" and pre orders were through the roof. Now that its been out 6 months it seems as if no one is in a hurry to buy one.

Most people that I talk to don't seem all that interested in buying a new console. The average gamer is perfectly happy with what they already own. Plus a lot of people have gone to PC gaming. Gaming on a PC is a better investment than buying a console. Let's not forget that IOS and Android phones and tablets are everywhere. Android gaming gaming is on the rise with both Ouya and the Gamestick releasing in the next 2 months.

When you consider all of this its no wonder that Wii U is struggling. So it's not  far fetched to think the PS4 and next Xbox will also struggle.

Lego City City Undercover: The Chase Begins

Just a heads up to all you Lego fans. Lego City City Undercover: The Chase Begins comes out on April 21, 2013 doe Nintendo 3DS. Gamestop has it now listed for $31.99. That's a good deal for a brand new 3DS game.

I played Lego City Undercover on the Wii U and I loved it. Just like the Wii U version this is an open world game. Think GTA only with Lego's.

 As far as I'm concerned this is a day one purchase

Where's Nintendo?

It's been about 2 months since PS4 was announced. Since that time we haven't heard a peep from Nintendo about the Wii U. I thought after the conference they would have a Nintendo Direct and show off what they've been working on. Or at the very least give consumers a solid release date on previously announced games.

Nintendo has had multiple 3DS Nintendo Directs. They announced some big games and even gave them firm release dates. However when it comes to the Wii U it's been complete silence. Sure we learned that Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed 4, and Dues Ex were coming out on Wii U. We just didn't hear it from Nintendo.

What happened to all the 1st party games? Where is Pikmin 3? When will Bayonette 2 be released? Why is Nintendo remaking Wind Waker?  Not to mention that every magazine and website keep talking about how the Wii U is already dead.

I'm hoping that before E3 we will get some news on something...anything! I love my Wii U. I want to keep loving my Wii U. I'm not one of these people who complain about it having "No Games". Of course it doesn't have tons of games, it's only been out 6 months! However I would like to know that there are some games coming out soon. Nintendo needs to stop playing the silent game. This isn't the Gamecube days. Gamers expect to hear news and hear it often.