Posted by Jim Avery in Nintendo DS, Reviews | Comments Off

Review: Moon

There’s a rather interesting paradox in the game development world that always boggles my mind when I see it in action; this would be the fact that smaller, independent teams so regularly seem to create games that are fantastic, while so many larger companies, with all their manpower and finances, can’t quite measure up most of the time. This is the case with Renegade Kid. Two years ago, they made the excellent Dementium: the Ward for the DS with three people on their main team; now, they return with only a couple more staff members (six in total, I believe) to give us Moon, which trumps its predecessor in almost every way.

The game, as you would probably expect, takes place on the moon; the year is 2058, and mankind has found a rather odd hatch on the surface of the planetary satellite. Playing as Major Edward Kane, you’ve got to go into this hatch and figure out what’s going on inside; you eventually do find out, and it’s anything but pretty. While the beginning of the game features nicely-done cutscenes with quality voice acting, these drop off rather quickly, and most cutscenes from then on are only meant to introduce bosses; the majority of the story is conveyed both through non-voiced, Codec-style radio transmissions and a number of information terminals you’ll come across in the game, offering journal entries or mission logs. The former describes the more obvious points of the story, while the latter offers some more subtle, atmospheric touches that make the story slightly more disturbing than it would be otherwise. The ending, like Dementium’s, is a bit minimalist: it doesn’t describe much of what happens when the game ends, it leaves at least one major question unanswered, and it seems to leave the game open for a sequel.

If you’ve played Dementium, you know how the game controls. You’ll move your character with the directional pad (or the other buttons if you’re left-handed), you fire with the shoulder button, and you use your stylus to aim and turn, which makes for some very quick and responsive controls. This time around, though, you’re less likely to accidentally hit another button while trying to move your character, except for the couple of times you’ll hit the weapon select button at the bottom. Besides those instances, you won’t be wrestling with these controls in any way. The Options and Map buttons have been moved to the out-of-the-way top corners of the touch screen, while touching and holding a button at the bottom of the screen brings up your weapon choices; drag the stylus to the weapon you want, then let go, and you’re good. The process is very quick and streamlined.

While the story was billed as dark and twisted when Moon was first announced, don’t pick up this game expecting some sort of horror title; Moon’s focus is undoubtedly the game’s combat, which it does quite well. As you explore the labyrinthian corridors that make up Moon’s world, you’ll come across enemies waiting for you at pretty much every turn, from security drones to alien attackers to spherical turrets to spider-like defense robots; actually, I think I’ve covered all of them in that last sentence. The enemies are one example of how Moon can unfortunately be repetitious at times; instead of coming across a variety of new enemies, you’ll mostly run into upgraded versions of previous enemies. As the game progresses, you’ll not only find more intense enemies, but they’ll start coming at you in larger numbers; by the last few chapters, you’ll practically be bombarded by them, and the game truly becomes a fight for your life, even on Normal difficulty. I didn’t bother to try Veteran.

This is one thing that Moon does well: the progression of difficulty is quite well-paced. As enemies become more powerful and numerous, you’ll have to start dodging more and taking out your more powerful weaponry. Naturally, you’ll receive more weaponry as you go along, and it’ll be rather nicely varied, from a powerful but slow pistol, to a sniper rifle (with scope!), to a cannon that generates some very large and powerful explosions. As you play through the game, you’ll figure out which weapon is best for which situation and you’ll end up swapping out quite often depending on what’s going on, which is thankfully very quick and easy. While I played through about half of the game with my starting gun, being the conservative ammunition hog that I am, I found the experience to be much more enjoyable once I started utilizing my entire arsenal.

The bosses in this game make up the other portion of combat. The main campaign of Moon is divided into seventeen episodes, and a portion of these episodes are dedicated entirely to a single, giant, challenging boss battle. These battles generally have you running around and dodging enemy attacks as you fire away at the boss’s weak spot, though as you move on they’ll be getting more complicated; for some battles, you’ll have to deactivate a force field while taking cover before you can attack the boss itself, which is more entertaining than it sounds. The bosses, unfortunately, can also be a little bit repetitive, though at least there’s an explanation for this in the game’s story. If a boss should ever repeat itself, incidentally, the experience is most certainly made more difficult; one boss in particular had me battling it over and over for about a half-hour until I finally developed a good strategy and found the right weapons to use. Additionally, there will be the occasional mini-boss inserted into an exploration episode, which does a good job of breaking monotony, but these bosses are generally nothing to write home about. The full-episode bosses, however, are invariably entertaining despite being occasionally repeated, and one of the best parts of the game.

When you aren’t shooting things (or sometimes when you ARE shooting things), you’re going to end up doing some level exploration. The levels of Moon are generally very straightforward, but occasionally you’ll run into force fields or branching paths to explore; this is where you’ll be pulling out your Remote Access Droid, or RAD. The RAD is a tiny, remote-controlled droid that you’ll be using to explore areas that Major Kane can’t enter; you’ll typically use this little guy to enter the tunnels that abound in this game, or else you’ll duck under some pipes so you can deactivate a force field and let Major Kane enter the next area. The catch is that the RAD can’t really defend itself, only having the capacity to stun enemies, so the game in these instances turns into a sort of stealth/speed endeavor instead of a combat-heavy one, which shakes the game up. You can use your RAD in a combat capacity if you want, though, stunning enemies with it, then quickly switching to Major Kane and finishing the enemy off. At one point in the game, there’s even a boss that’s entirely battled using the RAD, which I thought was extremely clever.

The one other thing you’ll be doing in this game, albeit not too often, is driving around the surface of the moon in your “LOLA” vehicle. The controls for this are a little strange, using both the touchpad and the directional pad to turn, but you’ll get used to them before too long. You’ll have to, too, because the surface of the moon is, for some reason, littered with mines, so you’ll have to drive carefully; you’ll also need to use the LOLA’s cannon to take out enemies, and occasionally you’ll have to do this all while racing against a ticking clock. I only wish we did this more often, as I don’t remember seeing the LOLA at any point in the second half of the game. I should note, though, that there is a bug in early versions of the game that will make it impossible to complete: at the end of the first driving section, you have the option to drive past your objective into a nearby garage and park your LOLA there. Do not do this; once you get back in the LOLA a couple episodes later, the episode will end just a tiny bit too early, and you’ll end up engaging in a time-based mission without the extremely necessary vehicle. Renegade Kid is aware of the problem and should correct it in later printings of the game.

Visually, the game is very impressive considering the system it’s on. The environments are all very science-fictiony (though a bit repetitive), the enemies are well designed, and the graphics themselves are highly polished; not only this, but the game runs at 60 FPS and the framerate never drops once. The only real complaint I have about the game is how destroying enemies always results in a rather lackluster explosion, even when attacking the organic ones. Sound-wise, the game is fairly adequate. The occasional voiced cutscene is done very well, but those drop off very quickly, and you’ll hear nothing but non-memorable sound effects and music, which is a bit unfortunate; it gets the job done, but is nothing to really write home about.

Besides all of the above, the game has a number of little touches going for and against it. One thing that surprised me was the fact that enemies do not respawn at any time, and dropped ammunition and health packs will stay where they are indefinitely, until you go to pick them up; if you need to, you can run back through previous rooms to get health or ammo, and there won’t be an enemy in sight (assuming you killed them all the first time). Save points are also used sensibly, placed before boss battles as well as at various points in the level; you won’t end up playing through overly large portions of the game twice, which is excellent. One thing that bothered me through a large portion of the adventure, though: I’m aware that it would be difficult to give Major Kane a way to jump, but Moon rubs this fact in your face when you find yourself unable to proceed because of a foot-high wall.

Once you end up completing Moon, you’ll have plenty of reason to go back. One major reason the game is divided into episodes is so that you can go back and replay individual parts of the game, either on a higher difficulty or aiming for a better time; your best times and completion percentages are tracked on each individual difficulty. Additionally, within some levels are Alien Artifacts to be collected; if you get all three, you’ll unlock a training mission that you can play in Quick Play mode.

Moon is Renegade Kid’s second example of what can be done on the DS, and consequently the second time they put most DS developers to shame. I give this game a Yay! for anybody looking for a fun FPS, because this is the best you’ll find on this system, and the gameplay could even stand up to some of the efforts found on more powerful consoles.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off

It’s Tea Time!

EA Games has released three new screenshots for Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure for Nintendo DS.  The shots showcase what Tea Time will look like in the game.

The company also described Tea Time and what it involves:

Tea Time
Nothing saves the day like a nice cup of tea. When you see the tea cup on your Touch Screen, it’s tea time! Touch the cup and Hatsworth dons his robot suit, making him invulnerable for a time and granting him special moves. So sip away and dispense with enemies cavalierly.

Tea Time Moves
The Robot suit allows Hatsworth to perform numerous special moves that he would normally not be able to perform. As his adventure progresses, Hatsworth gains access to more and more powerful attacks! Special attacks require a lot of energy, so use them sparingly and keep an eye on your super meter when you do.

March is only a month away I keep telling myself.  Seems a bit longer, especially after remembering the how awesome Tea Time was.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Evasive Release Date No Longer

Akinai Games, the downloadable games division of  YUKE’S Company of America, has announced Evasive Space will be made available on the Wii Shop Channel on February 16th.  It will cost players interested 1,000 Wii Points.

Three weeks seems quite the distance away.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Snowboarding Riot

Hudson Entertainment released more screenshots today of their upcoming game, Snowboard Riot. Ten new looks at the game can be seen in the media section

The game will allow players to use a number of controls including the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, but also the Wii Balance Board. No release date has been set for the game as of now.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Nintendo DS, Reviews | Comments Off

Review: Cradle of Rome (DS)

Bejeweled was a huge hit with casuals.  Many game companies are aware of this and have come out with clones of their own.  Cradle of Rome, though on the outside it looks to be a copy with a different facade, it adds a few elements that push it beyond.

To begin, player will make a profile in one of four slots provided.  Then you’ll be presented with five bubble icons that represent the era.  Each era will display what has been built on the top screen along with what will need to be built and the resources required on the bottom.  This is mostly the extent of the storyline, except when completing tasks, which then you are presented with a congratulatory screen with a bit of text.  Although there isn’t much story, the gameplay makes up for this.

When finally arriving at the game board to play there are many different icons on the board.  The goal is to remove all blue squares underneath any icon you see by matching three or more on top of them.  Time is of the essence due to a water hourglass that slowly dwindles down and spells doom if you do not complete the level before it runs out.

At first power-ups do not exist and you’ll rely on your own cunning to solve the puzzles. Slowly you’re introduced to your first item which is the hammer.  In order to use the hammer you must keep matching three or more hammer icons on the screen.  This is the same for all powers in the game.  To use it when it’s ready, one simply taps on it and taps on a block they wish to remove.  Other powers in the game are similar to this usage, but with more potency such as removing icons in a wide area.

Not every power up is useful though, the hourglass for instance doesn’t seem to add time to the overall time to play when used.  This becomes increasingly annoying in levels where time is critical and victory could be had with a useful item at your disposal.

When you’re finished with the game and have completed all 100 levels in the story mode, they’re available to play for relaxation.  This mode takes the levels and allows you to see them individually anytime you wish.  Unfortunately there was nothing added to this mode such as score, so there’s not much in playing it over the story mode unless one level caught your eye.

Visuals and audio in this game seem to be lackluster, but appropriate for the price point.  Nothing stands out, but then again nothing is stabbing your ears to the point of wanting to throw the DS across the room.  There’s not even any video before the game begins, during, or after, so it’s a bare bones experience when it comes to appearance.

Cradle of Rome although has flaws that won’t go unnoticed by many, I found to be a great experience for what it is.  The addictive nature of wanting to build your city, no matter how shallow it is, feels fulfilling.  This is a good title for those Bejeweled fans looking for more.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

Iwata To Deliver GDC Keynote

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be delivering the keynote speech at the Game Developer’s Conference 2009, in San Francisco. The keynote will be delivered at 9 am Pacific time on Wednesday, March 25; it is currently unknown what he will talk about. In 2005, Iwata discussed the Wii game system (which was then known as the Revolution), and in 2006 he talked about "disruptive development" and gaining new players.

At previous GDCs, apparently Nintendo has had a tendency to let one announcement slip out, such as Phantom Hourglass. I wonder what will be shown this year?

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

NASCAR Kart Racing Video

EA released another video of their upcoming NASCAR Kart Racing game for Wii. In this video, the "Outsiders," or original characters made for the game, are shown.

This will soon be on store shelves with the official release date being marked as February 10th.

Strangely this game looks appealing to me and I don’t care of NASCAR either.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off

Avalon Code, New English Images

New screenshots have been added to the media section that Marvelous/XSEED Games have released yesterday of Avalon Code for DS.

Ten in all were released for the game that will see a March release.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rock Band DLC Update: 1/27/09

Today, the fine folks at Harmonix made another six tracks from the DLC back catalog available to Wii owners:

Smashing Pumpkins "Siva"
The Cars "Just What I Needed"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Tell Me Baby"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Gimme Three Steps"
Oasis "Live Forever"
30 Seconds to Mars "Attack"

Starting in February, Wii owners will receive new tracks along with Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners.

If they release six songs a week like this, they’ll get through the whole back catalog in about two years.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous, Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Video Games Live

During my interview with Tommy Tallarico, he mentioned that Video Games Live is difficult to put into words because one needs to experience it.  When I attended the show last Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, I was shocked to find it was true.  It isn’t simply about an orchestra playing video game music, there was something else to it.

The time is 6:45 PM and the doors to the Paramount Theatre are still not open.  According to the mostly unhelpful clerk manning the box office, the doors will be open at 7:00PM and that’s all they knew.  Around me there’s excitement and anticipation, even with the temperature at around 35*F and wet snow falling.  The warmth of gaming fans huddled as close to the door as they can get keeps the chill away from most.  A few in costumes seem to have enthusiasm to warm those gathered around which helps them to ignore unpleasant temperatures.

As 7:00PM eventually rolls around, the doors are opened and any resemblance of a line vanishes as many flock to the doors in search of heat.  Inside visitors are greeted by advertisements by Razer who were sponsoring the event.  Around a corner in the main lobby saw sales of video game merchandise which seemed to be made up of mostly t-shirts.  Farther down was a small booth where Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was setup for play.  It was quite obvious that the lobby was too small to properly house the pre-game festival Video Games Live traditionally.  Aside from the few booths setup, the floor had people scattered everywhere which made it difficult to navigate to the doors to the actual theater.  The main reason for the traffic jam I found was the fact that there was no outlet for attendees.  Last minute tests and setup were still being done inside the theater.

Upon receiving access to the theater itself, I was greeted by a stage that proudly displayed the Video Games Live logo on a giant screen in the back.  The stage was filled with instruments and equipment, but a lack of individuals.  A few were around, checking this and that including Tommy himself, but the absence of people was obvious.  Tests of all sorts were being performed such as a potency of the CO2 blowers that would be going off at the end of the show to create a great ending spectacle.  I settled into my seat and watched the process go on for awhile until the doors behind me were flung open and the crowd started filing into the room.

Looking over the crowd I found not only the typical 18-25 year old male gamer strewn about, but a sea of diversity both by age as well as gender.  Husband and wives with their children in tote, gamer females with DS in hand, and a few older looking individuals slowly making their way to their seats made up the audience.  Strangely, none of the costumed individuals seemed to be among the general crowd.  The reason for this would become apparent as the opening of the show drew near.

Ten minutes before 8:00PM a line off to the side headed in the direction of the stage was established.  Visible characters in the line included 8-Bit Link, Princess Peach, and Luigi.  Many others were there but weren’t as visible due to the poor lighting on the side.  Eventually they were led backstage, then onto the main stage where they proceeded to line up single file for the audience to observe. 

A costume contest was to take place and the judges were the audience.  One by one an announcer with a microphone went by each person, asked their costume name, then waited for a reaction from the crowd.  When he was through getting all the way down past a tall fellow in a Ness outfit, then another Luigi, he ended on Cloud from Final Fantasy VII.  At this time he picked out the persons who had received the most support for the final round of voting.  It was down to Princess Peach, a user avatar from World of Warcraft, and Cloud.  Eventually Cloud was the clear winner and took home a bag of goodies from Video Games Live.  With the contestants shuffling off the stage, it was time for the show to begin.  This was also obvious as Tom Dziekonski, the concertmaster entered with his violin and tuned the orchestra before Jack Wall, the conductor appeared on stage.

The lights dimmed in the theater and the screen displayed Pong, a fitting beginning.  The video ran, but what caught my attention more than the video itself were the lights on each side of the screen.  Depending on the position of the ball turned on or off to simulate the action on-screen.  Eventually the orchestra played along with the pinging of the ball on queue.  This was to be the beginning of the Classic Arcade Medley with tunes of Flight of the Valkyries to start and ending on a high note of Tetris.

Introductions were given briefly for the orchestra who were professionals made up of freelancers around Seattle along with the singers from the Seattle Choral Company.  Throughout the entire performance, both the orchestra and choir seemed to enjoy the evening.  Some would occasionally sneak a peek at the screen above them to see what was happening before their instrument or voice required them to get back to work.

Many notable medleys were played wonderfully throughout the evening that I had never heard before or didn’t think I’d care for.  Music from Civilization IV had me smiling from the sounds that came forth.  Though the tenor soloist Ben Derby seemed unfamiliar with the language he was singing in, by the end seemed to gain confidence and finish on a strong note.  A solo sung by Jocelyn Markey was also in the medley, though unfortunately I wasn’t able to hear her as clearly as Mr. Derby.

The Sonic medley caught me off guard and was a delight to hear.  My feet seemed to want to tap along on their own with my head bobbing.  With the timing and quickness of this section, I thought the orchestra would lag behind as I’ve heard in other performances not related to Video Games Live, but this was spot on.  They kept pace with how I remember the tunes in my head.  There were just too many segments to name that did the original songs justice.

Music in the show wasn’t performed by just the orchestra and choir.  Martin Leung, known as the Video Game Pianist came out on stage at various times during the concert to perform solo.  His acts were bright and chipper with a bit of pep for the most part.  During one trip out onto the stage, he was blindfolded as he sat down in front of the piano to prove what he had been doing on places such as YouTube, playing the Mario theme without referring to notes or looking at his hands.  Each time he would finish and exit the stage, the crowd gave him a standing ovation for his quality work.

Another unique section to the show was the performance of "On My Own" by Splitting Adam accompanied by the orchestra.  The two blended together well which made for great sounding music.  It seemed too short and left me wanting more however.

It isn’t just about the music, even if the name somewhat implies this.  On stage during select songs were costumed performers that added an element that the crowd seemed to feed from.  Sure, crowd reaction seemed to happen whenever they found something interesting on the screen in the back displayed for all to see.  Not to the level when live interaction was brought into the mix.  Tommy Tallarico himself even played a part by hiding in a box after moving on stage with it just as Snake has done in the Metal Gear Solid series.  Even when it was just video that the crowd found favorable, it charged the room with excitement when the cheers could be heard over what was playing.  At first I was annoyed by not being able to hear what was being played due to this, but after awhile I mixed the energy with my anticipation for the next melody and found it was the right combination for enjoyment.

If I were to say the experience was completely perfect, I’d be lying.  A few times when Mr. Tallarico would be playing along with the orchestra on his guitar, it was a bit loud and overpowering, so much you could barely make out the orchestra.  This is a minor complaint however, because the guitar was being played well.  Another complaint would be the crowd. Although there was diversity among the audience, the stereotype of the 18-25 year old male gamer could not be shaken off completely due to the smell.  Nothing much the organizers of the show could do about this, but those who wish to attend be warned.

As a piece of advice to the Video Games Live folks who put this whole show together, I would not book at the Paramount Theatre again.  Their facility takes away from your show and hurts you.  The small sized lobby with not much space to spread out and setup booths did not go unnoticed by the crowd.  Not only that, they were stopping individuals from taking video of the show.  It is their policy, but when the host says it’s OK to do so, something needs to give.

Overall Video Games Live is an experience worth shelling out the cash for.  It is great entertainment for not only gamers, but families not too familiar with gaming as well.  Come for the culture, stay for the music and enjoy the show.

Photos of the event are available for viewing here.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Wiikly Update: 1/26/09

WiiWare: Niki – Rock ’n’ Ball, 500 Wii Points

This game categorizes itself under "Jump ’n’ Roll" and "Platformer". Playing as the bouncing ball Niki, you’re tasked with defeating the monsters in every stage by transforming into Niki Rock, as well as finding all of the ZeiLei Pearls in order to save your village. Featuring realistic physics and precision timing, this game can be played with Retro or Wii controls.

Master System: Wonder Boy In Monster Land, 500 Wii Points

Wonder Land is under assault again, this time at the hands of a fire-breathing, apparently invincible dragon, who is using his armies to turn Wonder Land into Monster Land. As Wonder Boy, you’ll wander through overworlds and dungeons in this title, defeating enemies with Special Weapons and Spells. The press release classifies this game as an "action" title, and not a platformer.

Why only two games this week, I wonder? If there was no other WiiWare, surely they could have gotten another Virtual Console release ready to go. They’re got a huge catalog to go through.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

More Blob On The Way?

According to NPD sales data, from its initial September 22 release to the end of 2008, THQ’s Wii platformer de Blob managed to sell 230,000 copies in North America alone; while these numbers may not look impressive when compared to games like Mario Kart Wii, de Blob managed to beat out Nintendo’s own platformer released around the same time, Wario Land: Shake It! The NPD sales figures managed to please THQ, as well: when asked for comment by IGN, a THQ representative mentioned that worldwide sales were also quite satisfactory, and responded that we can "expect to see more of de Blob in the future" without giving any specifics.

Aside from this news, the DS version of de Blob is still in development, slated for a release sometime in 2009.

This news absolutely makes my day. NintendoGal readers will remember I loved de Blob, and I can’t wait to play more.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

New Klonoa Video

Namco Bandai released four new videos of Klonoa for Wii. The combined footage below has a run time of 4 minutes 42 seconds and is all gameplay from the game.

I’ve never played the others, but if this video is anything to go by it looks like I’ve missed some good platforming action in the past.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rune Factory: Frontier Screenshot Dump

Marvelous Entertainment & Xseed Games have released fourteen new screenshots and one piece of artwork the upcoming RPG Rune Factory: Frontier on Wii.

All the screenshots appear to be from the Japanese build of the game.  The rest of the media can be seen here.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News | Comments Off

Be A Spore Hero

Electronic Arts recently announced that two new Spore titles were going to be hitting Nintendo systems: Spore Hero for the Wii, and Spore Hero Arena for the DS. Spore Hero, while retaining the creation aspect of the original game, is slated to be an adventure title that will utilize the Wii’s motion control. Spore Hero Arena, as the name would suggest, is a game based around creature battles; create your fully-3D creature and then have him battle others from around the galaxy. Both games are Nintendo exclusive and are scheduled for release this fall.

I knew this would be happening sooner or later; it’s way too easy to tailor Spore to the audience that plays the Wii and DS. Let’s keep watching and see if these games turn out well.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Real Heroes: Firefighter Screenshots

Conspiracy Entertainment released a batch of new screenshots for Real Heroes: Firefighter coming to Wii.  The screenshots are from an in development build of the game.

More available here.

In the game players use the Wii Remote to put out fires using the fire hose and swings axes to clear debris.  Real Heroes: Firefighter will be out in the second quarter of 2009.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off

Mega Man Star Force 3 Officially Coming Stateside

Capcom yesterday announced Mega Man Star Force 3 will make an appearance here in the U.S.  Two versions of the game, Black Ace and Red Joker, will be available when the game hits stores in early summer.

Both versions will feature the ability to use Wi-Fi Connection to share items and powers.  Specifically new to this version is "Noise Changes,” which are random enhancements that change Mega Man’s form and unlock new abilities.

Screenshots and artwork were also released by Capcom and can be seen in the Media section

.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

Exclusive: Tommy Tallarico Interview Part 2

This is the continuation of NintendoGal.com’s interview with Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live.

For those that missed part one of the interview, you can check it out here.

NintendoGal.com: Do you have a favorite venue now?

Tommy Tallarico: When we play our shows in Brazil, it’s a whole different vibe.  It’s just unbelievable, there’s just so much passion down there and I don’t think they’re used to being paid attention to by the video game industry down there because it’s a mostly black market.  But everybody plays, there’s more gamers down in Brazil than anywhere else in the world because of the black market, because it’s so easily accessible and so cheap.  When we go down there and pay attention to the fans, audiences of games down there, they really freak out, they really lose their minds, screaming, cheering, clapping, chanting, and singing along with all the music. 

If you go to YouTube and put in Video Games Live 2008 plus Rio De Janeiro and you put in Mario, you’ll hear them, 3,000 people singing along with the orchestra and chanting and cheering.  It’s crazy and a different level, that kind of energy level is very exciting as a performer on stage together.  It’s great no matter where we go, but in certain places, I’d put Taiwan in that list as well.

When we played Taiwan, it’s just a whole different energy level.  They’re so appreciative and so excited to have something like this come to their country from so far away.  It goes a long way in audience reaction.

NG: What do you think of the competition, other video game music shows?

TT: I don’t think there’s really competition.  I mean no one out there is doing fifty shows a year and no one is really doing it to the level of production that we’re doing.  I don’t view any other concerts really as competition in the sense that I hope that as a composer there’s as many as these things like this out there as possible.  All of the other concerts that are out there they’re more about a classical experience and bringing a classical experience to the stage with video games and that’s cool.  I want there to be as many as these things out there and think it’s fantastic that there’s other ways that people are doing it.  No one is really doing it like we are so I’m not really concerned from a competition standpoint. 

It’s great that there’s other folks out there doing similar type of things, I mean it’s video game music being played with a symphony, that’s pretty much where it stops, where the differences end.  People have been doing video game concerts in Japan for over twenty years now.  Some of the early Dragon Quest stuff and the orchestral game music they did back in the late ’80s early ’90s, I mean they really get it over there in Japan clearly.  The way we’ve created and presented our show isn’t just for hardcore gamers, it’s really for the person who doesn’t know anything at all about video games, it’s really for everybody and I think that’s been the key to our success and growth that we’re not just catering to the hardcore fans, but we cater to the world, to the masses, to the mainstream.  I welcome others who want to promote video game music, it’s a great thing.

NG: Who do you think is one of the most talented video game music composers out there at the moment and do you see any rising stars?

TT: Well I have two favorite game composers, Nobuo Uematsu from the Final Fantasy series of course and I think the melodies that my good buddy Koji Kondo comes up with are second to none in terms of burning melodies into your brain and interactivity he does as well.  Michael Giacchino is a fantastic composer.  I’d say up and coming folks Gary Schyman, he did BioShock last year which had an amazing soundtrack, he did Destroy All Humans! and is working on some other things here and there.  For a guy who’s new on the scene in the last year or two, he’s one to look out for.

NG: In an interview a while back, Koji Kondo mentioned that he wanted to try something like MIDI in games so that music could be synthesized on the fly and adapt to the player’s actions in a game.  What is your opinion on that and is there any effort to pursue such a music format for games that you know of?

TT: That’s the way game music has always been done. From the early times, that’s all we had is MIDI and chip tunes as they call them, that was the root of all music back then was to try to make it interactive.  I think what Koji-san was referring to was that what’s been happening recently in the industry, especially over the last five or six years is that with live orchestras, with these big productions with people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of recording music, that people have gotten away from the MIDI and the interactivity and focusing more on the production.  I would agree with that statement, but my personal feelings are that both are great, both can exist, both together and separate.
 
It’s great when there’s interactive scores out there, but it really depends on the type of game.  If it’s a driving game or a fighting game, sometimes just hearing a three minute looping piece of music with a live orchestra is cool.  When you’re doing a first person shooter or a third person action adventure game, you want the music to morph and change on the fly depending on what’s happening on screen and how the player is controlling the character.  It really does depend on the game, but again I would agree with his comment that it’s sometimes good to remember our roots.  One of the differences and great advantages that we have over something like the film and TV industry is that our music isn’t linear, it doesn’t have to be.  [In the other industries] that’s post production, the piece of linear tape or film is finished and then they hand it over to the composer and he has to work within those constraints of exactly what’s been done.  For a game composer, we have so many other possibilities that we can do. Taking advantage of that sometimes makes the best interactive audio experiences.

NG: Japan has quite the market for game OSTs and remixes, do you think a market like that exists here on this side of the planet?  If so is it growing?

TT: Yeah, it already does exist and has been going on for about three or four years now.  There’s between fifty and seventy five game soundtracks that come out every year just in America alone.  One of the biggest selling soundtracks in the United States has been the Halo series for example.  Halo 2, Halo 3 have done 175,000 plus [sales].  

TT: Our first album last Summer, Video Games Live Volume One, we recorded it at Abbey Road in London, the famous studio where the Beatles [recorded in].  It debuted at number ten on the Billboard charts, so it’s absolutely happening.  Is it as big and popular as Japan, absolutely not! [laughs]

NG: Good luck! [laughs]

TT: But hopefully someday it will be.  The average movie [score/soundtrack] usually sells around five to seven thousand units.  For the video game scores, the average is between fifteen and twenty thousand.  You can see we’re tripling what the film industry is doing.  One of the differences of course is that we haven’t had our [Bodyguard] or Titanic, that sold thirty-forty million copies.  We haven’t had our big one yet, but the averages are better.  That’s an important thing.

I’m actually on the board of governors for NARAS which is the organization for the Grammy Awards.  Back in 1999, I was one of the guys who got video game soundtracks included into the Grammys.  I’ve been doing a lot of work to get our own category now within [them], so that’s going to be happening sometime soon over the next few years I’m sure.  Every year we come farther than the year before and that’s good because we’re still a young industry.  Pong came out in 1972 with a couple of white sticks and a ball.  That wasn’t that long ago when you consider the film industry has been around since the 1910-1920s.  They had a sixty-seventy year head start on us and here we are already competing and doing a fantastic job of earning that entertainment time.  It’s so diversified between television, books, movies and music and here we are already dominating the space.  You’re going to see that grow, it’s going to get bigger and better as we go.

NG: Ahh but video games to start had sound pretty much, like with Pong so we’re already ahead!  Unlike where films started out.

TT: And we have that in our show.  The very first thing we show on the screen at Video Games Live is Pong from 1972.  You hear the bleeps and bloops and then the orchestra starts to take over [which begins] our classic arcade medley and it’s over eight and a half minutes.  Over twenty five games in chronological order starting in 1972 with Pong and ending in 1986 with Tetris and everything in between with Dragon’s Lair to Donkey Kong to Duck Hunt and Outrun.  Punch-Out!! is also in there, anything that came out in the arcades so the classic arcade stuff.  Like what the hell is Duck Hunt doing in there?  Well it was actually an arcade game the same time it came out [for the NES].

NG: I’m looking forward to hearing that.

TT: Yeah!

NG: You touched on this earlier, but maybe you can go into more detail.  Are people beginning to recognize and appreciate video game music in the same way as film scores?

TT: Absolutely, more so in fact.  I get asked this question [quite a bit], where are you at?  [So here’s an example], are you familiar with the website OCRemix.org?

NG: Yes I am, I have many of those tracks on my computer.

Love it right?

NG: Yes.

TT: It’s unbelievable.  Here’s a website where literally tens of thousands of people from all over the world are remixing video game music and uploading it on the site.  Hundreds of thousands of people are going there and listening and downloading.  How amazing is that?  Now compare that to the film industry, show me the film industry one.  I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t.  There’s not tens of thousands of people around the world remixing movie music with all the new movie music that comes out and posting them up in different musical styles.  Just something like that alone proves how culturally significant video games have become and how cherrished, revered music is by a lot of people all around the world.

You also see all those cover bands like the Megas.  There’s so many of them and they’re a cover band for video games.  Where’s the Star Wars cover bands?  Where’s the Raiders of the Lost Ark cover bands?  I can tell you the band that just does Mega Man music or the cover band that just does Castlevania music or the one that just does Final Fantasy music.  Where’s the movie industry’s [equivalent]?

So I think we’ve already surpassed film music.  We did that a couple years ago and again it’s only going to get bigger as all the people who grew up in the 80’s who played the NES listened to Mario.  That’s the soundtrack of a whole generation, the Mario music.  More people can hum the Mario Bros. music or the Tetris theme from Nintendo than they can with [something like] the Matrix movie or the Spiderman movie[s].  Mario still remains the number one downloaded ring tone in the world.  It’s been consistently on the Billboard charts since the beginning and nothing has ever come close to it.  Bigger than Star Wars, bigger than Raiders or the theme from Rocky.  Nothing is bigger and better than the Mario music in regards to pop culture and that says a lot. 

As we all grow up and become adults we’re not going to stop loving Mario [and the theme].  Now that my generation is having children, it’s evolved into our culture.  Games have evolved into our culture.  Not to generalize but people forty five and over who didn’t grow up during the video game era [during the 70s] might not understand it or get it.  They had other things they were into when they grew up and video games didn’t exist and weren’t around.  That’s not to say people over forty five don’t play video games, of course that’s not true again thanks greatly in part to Nintendo, but to the folks who grew up on it, that’s only going to continue.  Just because I turned forty doesn’t mean I stopped playing video games.  I still play video games, I still read comic books, I still collect action figures.

It’s a generation thing and within the next ten to fifteen years there’s going to be a President of the United States who grew up playing video games.  There’s going to be grandparents who will be turning sixty in the next twenty years who grew up playing video games.The same thing happened with the film industry.  Back in the 1910s-1920s when films first came out, it wasn’t like everybody just decided, "Oh the film industry! Everybody go to the movies now."  All of the older people were like, "What is this? It’s stupid!  It’s black and white and flat.  There’s no audio at all.  Vaudeville’s where it’s at," because that’s what they grew up on.  So it was all about Vaudeville and not about movies.  It took films forty, fifty years to evolve into the culture and you’re [seeing] the same thing happening with games.  We’re about halfway there right now.

NG: The last two questions are from readers.  One would like to know how do you find time to be involved in so many major organizations in arts and video games?

TT: I’m a founder of the Game Audio Network Guild which is a non-profit organization for game audio. I’m also working on projects.  In fact right now I’m working in between shows on the next Sonic game [Sonic and the Black Knight] exclusively for the Wii.  I’m doing a couple of songs for that for SEGA Japan, they contacted me.  It was a great honor for me to be involved with that.  Then of course the TV shows whenever I get a chance I stil try to do the shows but those are few and far between.

For me it’s all about passion.  This is all I ever wanted to do.  My two greatest loves as I said earlier were video games and music.  I never thought growing up I’d ever put the two together because there was no such thing as a video game composer in the ’70s while I was growing up, didn’t exist.  I only sleep about four hours a night.  I’m not married or have children so I dedicate my whole life and existence to what I love and that’s the video game industry/music.  For me it’s not a job.  I’m up twenty hours a day, seven days a week and you can get a lot accomplished in that time when you don’t sleep much and the adrenaline is flowing and the passion is always there.  I don’t even think twice about it, [it’s just] what I love to do.

NG: Sounds a lot like some people I know!

TT: [laughs]

NG: Not that that’s a bad thing.  I’ve had the adrenaline rush especially at E3.

TT: Exactly right.

NG: For fun do you jam with your electric guitar?  Are you in any garage bands?

TT: Don’t have time to be in a garage band.  I’m always playing guitar and piano.  Piano is actually my main instrument, but guitar is what I play on stage with the symphony.  I really don’t have much time to practice because I’m always on the road, but I’m always playing during the rehearsals and during the shows.  The only time I really pick up the guitar or piano these days is either if I’m composing something or performing.  My time has become such that it’s hard for me to just pick up and play for fun.  But, with that being said when I’m on stage with the amazing 150 person symphony and thousands of people in the audience and I’m playing guitar, that IS fun to me.  It doesn’t get much more fun than that.  The only time I’m messing around playing a guitar is when I’m playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, when I’m playing a plastic [instrument] and don’t have to think about it too much.

NG: Do you have any closing comments for the NintendoGal.com readers?

TT: Yeah.  I was on a TV show many years, we still do this, it was called Judgment Day in the US, Reviews on the Run in Canada.  Electric Playground was the other show which was the first video game TV show ever that highlighted developers, kind of a news magazine format.  It’s funny, when I would review Nintendo games, I was always harsh on them, so a lot of people were under the assumption that I didn’t like Nintendo because [of that].  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  In fact my favorite game of all time when people ask is Super Mario World [at number one], number two would probably be Golden Eye on the N64.  Nintendo games right?  Well people mistook my passion and my level of demand for quality.  I think they mistook that sometimes for hatred or that I didn’t like Nintendo.

I’m just a video game lover.  I don’t get into the whole console wars thing.  I think for someone to be a true gamer you have to love all the machines.  Whether it’s PC or games on the iPhone, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, I’m just a fan of games.  It just saddens me that the Xbox guys hate the Nintendo guys, then the Nintendo guys hate the Sony guys, it’s all immature crap if you ask me!  A true gamer is someone who can enjoy all sorts of games.  What I’ve found over the years in my experience is that the Nintendo fan base are the most passionate gamers out there.  That’s a cool thing.  People refer to them as Nintendo fanboys or fangirls and I think it’s cool. 

So although my overall sense is that I don’t like any console wars, I don’t like the fighting in between the consoles thing with people on the internet saying this or saying that about the other side, as much as I don’t like that, it’s also interesting to see how much passion people have for their hobby.  So much passion people have whether it’s for Halo or Nintendo in general.  Isn’t it interesting that people care so much about a product name or a product in general.  You don’t see that in other industries.  You don’t see two people fighting online over Nike and Addias.  Well maybe you do, maybe I’m wrong, it is the internet so I’m sure a forum exists.

NG: Maybe like washing machine companies? You don’t get people doing that. [laughs]

TT: Yeah! [laughs]  "GE IS TEH SUXXORS!!" You never see, "Westinghouse FTW!" It just doesn’t happen, so to see that, going on as much as I’d like for everyone to just love all games and all systems, it is interesting.  It’s an interesting study and entertainment.  Again, even movie companies!  We always compare [this] to movie companies.  Do you see people saying, "All the pictures from Sony/Columbia are awesome and your stuff SUCKS!" over at Universal or, "No way Disney is the bomb and you guys suck it!" You don’t see that.

NG: No you don’t and especially with the Netflix era you’ve got people wanting selections from this or that company.

TT: Yeah that’s right. "Where’s Warner Bros. in the mix?" Get your Blu-Ray going buddy.  Yeah it’s just so interesting though to see the passion in the gaming industry.  I think that shows how far the industry has come and how important this is for a lot of people.  And I don’t hate Nintendo! [laughs]  Let’s face it, Mario is a short Italian, that’s just like me, how can I not like Mario, he’s one of my own. [laughs]

NG: Thank you for taking the time out of your obviously busy schedule for this interview!

TT: No problem!

NintendoGal.com will be covering the Video Games Live show in Seattle tomorrow so be on the look out here.

Posted by Andrea Campton in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

Exclusive: Tommy Tallarico Interview Part 1

Recently I was able to talk with Tommy Tallarico, the co-creator, executive producer, and host of Video Games Live.  In the past he has written, co-hosted, and co-produced The Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run that were seen on G4.  He’s also done work on the Earthworm Jim series, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Disney’s Aladdin, Spider-Man and Metroid Prime.  To find out more about him, check out his website, Tallarico.com.

NintendoGal.com: So how many years has Video Games Live been going on?

Tommy Tallarico: Fifth year of touring and we traded [Trademarked] it back in 2002, but it took us about three years to just to create the show and get all the rights and licenses and get it all going.  The first show was at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Phil [Los Angeles Philharmonic] back in 2005, so we did three shows in 2005, eleven shows in 2006, twenty nine shows in 2007, last year we did forty seven shows all over the world.  So yeah this will be our fifth year going into 2009.

NG: What has the growth been like so far? Obviously you’ve put out more shows.

TT: Yeah it’s unbelievable.  Video Games Live it’s a tough show to explain on paper so it’s one of those word of mouth type of things.  It’s similar to a Cirque du Soleil or a Blue Man Group where you kind of need to see it and experience it for yourself to understand it.  It’s not just a symphony on stage playing video game music.  That’s just a part of what we do.  [There’s the] interactivity with the crowd and the stage show production and the synchronized video and rock and roll synchronized lighting and special effects and the whole pre-show festival and things like that.  That’s the stuff that makes Video Games Live different and unique from anything out there.  But that kind of stuff is something that’s hard to explain!

It’s one of those things you just need to experience, so for us our biggest challenge has always been to prove to the world that this is a show [where] you don’t need to know a darn thing about video games in order to come to this show and be entertained and blown away.  In fact some of our greatest e-mails and letters come from the non-gamers who are not expecting to see and hear what they saw.  That’s always cool.  The reason we created Video Games Live was to prove to the world how culturally significant and artistic video games have become.  It’s similar to Nintendo’s whole positioning of the Wii, to reach outside to the hardcore gamer market and to grab everyone.  So that’s really what [it’s] about as well.

NG: So you were going a bit Blue Ocean?

TT: Yeah we didn’t want to create a show just for hardcore gamers, I mean they get it. They know the music for Zelda and Final Fantasy and Halo is awesome.  That’s why it’s so important to use the visuals to create something for everybody.  For families, for non-gamers as well.

NG: How long does it take to arrange a section for VGL?

TT: We’ve created about fifty segments for the show so far over the years, but we’re only able to play about twenty of them a night so we’re always changing the show.  In fact we’ve never played the same show twice ever.  It normally takes probably about two weeks to complete one segment.  We’ll have the game creators, developers, designers, and the programmers and everything working together with us.  Again this makes the show very unique from anything else that’s ever been done or that’s out there.  So if we’re working on the Zelda segment or the Mario segment, we’re working with Shigeru Miyamoto and Koji Kondo  and some of the other producers to ensure that it’s the coolest and the best and the highest quality and something that they’re proud of as well as us.

Being involved in the industry, being a video game composer now for over eighteen years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people like Miyamoto on games like Metroid Prime.  We feel this is the industry, creating the show for everybody out there.  We’re not just concert promoters trying to make a buck off the industry, we have a vested interest in this, both myself and my partner Jack Wall who is also the conductor of all these shows.  He’s been a video game composer for over twelve years.  We feel it’s almost our duty to ensure the highest quality.  Video Games a lot of times in the mainstream press and media, they get a bad rep sometimes.  "The cause of violence!" The this and the that.  We want to show the exact opposite of that, we want a show with cultural significance and artistic merits of everything, not just the music but the visuals and the interactivity and the whole reason video games has become the entertainment of choice for the twenty first century, we want to celebrate that.

NG: How are you and Jack Wall involved in the entire process?

TT: Every single step of the way, we create the show, we produce the show, I host the show, I play guitar in the show.  Jack conducts the show.  So we’re at every single show, every note of music and every single frame of video is done by us.  Lighting design, I’ll sit there for three hours with my lighting designer getting just the right color of salmon red to match the girders in Donkey Kong!  We literally get that detailed with the lights and timing.

NG: Wow sounds like quite a process, especially with the lighting scheme!

TT: It’s really fun.  All my life my two greatest passions and loves were video games and music.  I remember when I was ten years old I used to go to the arcades , I turned forty last year, so it was the late seventies and I was [apart of] the first generation to grow up on video games, weened on Pac-Man and Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.  I used to go to the arcades and take my portable cassette player with me.  I’d record all the music in the arcade machines and I’d come home and I’d record my Apple II, Commodore 64, Intellivision, Atari 2600, and I’d splice a cassette tape together.  Then I would invite my neighborhood friends over and charge them a nickel and I’d play back the cassette tape and I’d drive a broom and do air guitar in front of the television, putting my favorite video games on the TV while my favorite music was playing.  So I was pretending to put on a little show and that was thirty years ago so who would have known thirty years later I’m doing it for real in front of other people, kind of crazy!

NG: During this concert [on Saturday Jan 24th], Video Games Live will be premiering music from the upcoming Halo 3: ODST, will there be any other new material during the show or on the horizon?

TT: Yeah for that particular show.  What we try to do is each show and each region we go into, we really try to specialize and customize it.  We’ve been back sometimes three, four years in a row to some places and like I said we’ve never played the same show twice.  Even when we come back, we’ll change the set list by 50-60%.  For example, the last time we were in Seattle was actually in 2005, so we haven’t been there in a long time.  For people who went to that show, this show is going to have about 70% new material that they’ve never seen before.  Of course we always update the videos and the special effects.  To regards to the actual set list itself there’s a ton of new stuff.  So we’re doing the world premiere of Halo 3: ODST first time ever being performed live.  We’re also doing something for the second time ever, new game Need For Speed: Undercover, the band Splitting Adam who are [based] in Vancouver and they had one of their singles released in the game first and now it’s on the radio.  So we put together with EA and Splitting Adam a special segment for that where they do their song with the symphony.  So we’ll be doing that in Seattle so the whole band will be coming down, that’ll be the first time in the U.S. that that’s ever happened.

For 2009 we’re currently working on a bunch of new segments like Mega Man, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Earthworm Jim, Shadow of the Colossus, Super Smash Bros.  No matter how many times you’ve seen it you’ll see something different with a new show.  I guess it’s like any band though really.  Everytime Led Zepplin went out on tour they never played the exact same songs everytime.  For us everyone wants the most popular stuff like Mario, Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy and Warcraft. What would a video game concert be without those?  So even from year to year we try to incorporate those into the show.  We’ve never played a concert without playing Mario or Zelda.  The way we incorporate those can change from year to year as well.  So much great Mario music for example, how do you pick and choose?  It’s impossible.  Same thing for Final Fantasy and some of the others.  Each year we’re always trying to improve and switch it up.

NG: Is it hard to branch out with the favorites like you mentioned always being requested?

TT: No, we play twenty segments a show and again I think there are certain things that are always going to be assumed.  Again you could compare it to Led Zepplin, it’d be like going to a concert and they don’t play Stair Way To Heaven.  You know they’re going to play [it].  Mario and Zelda are like that.  [They are the] Stair Way To Heaven of the video game music industry.

NG: So play them at the concert, but don’t play them at the music shop while you’re getting a guitar?

TT: Yeah exactly! Don’t go to the music store and bang out Mario on the piano, you’ll get choked!

But yeah I think that’s part of the fun of it.  I wouldn’t want to play a show and not have the Mario theme somehow, someway.  Wouldn’t want to play a show and not see Link up there on the screen and have people freak out.  It’s part of the fun.  Audiences come to expect it.  God forbid we didn’t play Zelda, they’d lynch us!  No matter how many times they’ve heard it.

NG: Especially with Nintendo fans, but we won’t go into that! [laughs]

TT: Ahh we won’t go into that, OK. [laughs]

NG: Is there anything you’d hope to see in future shows?

TT: Yeah, each year we grow bigger, we go to more countries.  Within the last year or so we’ve gone to Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, all over Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, England, Scotland, and of course North America.  That’s just the beginning, that was just last year.  This year we’re going to crazy places, we’re going to hit China, the first video game concerts in China.  We’re really expanding all over Europe.  This last past weekend we just played Burlington, Vermont.  Vermont has about 300,000 in the entire state and the town of Burlington has about 60,000 people in the city.  Normally a big production like this will only play in the big cities that have one million plus people.  When you can play the Burlington Vermonts and sell out, I think it says a lot about video games and how they’re revered all over the world.

When we can go to a place like Taiwan and play in front of six, seven thousand people for the first time ever, they had never heard of Video Games Live ever, I mean they watch us on YouTube, but it’s not like we’re a big popular band like U2 that has a music video and a number one single on the radio.  So to be able to go to these places and sell out with again the word of mouth, we’re going back to Taiwan three times this year with different shows.  I see the future, we’re trying to do sixty to seventy shows this year, ninety to a hundred the following year and who knows we could branch out.  Wouldn’t it be great to someday do a Nintendo only show?  If there ever was a company and a franchise, I mean the [Square Enix] folks do it with Final Fantasy, which is great, Final Fantasy music is some of the best stuff ever written in the industry, but I could see there being a Nintendo show as well someday.

NG: Especially with the vast library [Nintendo] has.

TT: Absolutely and we’d be the ones to bring it to the folks!  So you never know what’s going to happen, but we see the future as just getting bigger and more people coming to the shows with more word of mouth and in more countries.  The chart is definitely on the rise.  Even with the suffering economy, video games and Video Games Live are breaking all sorts of records and doing great.  I think that says a lot about where the video game industry is and where it’s going.  It’s only the beginning.

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for part two of the interview!

Part two is now available to read.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Rock Band DLC Update: 1/20/09

Music Store updates have begun for Rock Band 2 on the Wii, and six new songs are available for download at 200 Wii Points apiece:

Nine Inch Nails "March of the Pigs"
Nine Inch Nails "The Collector"
Ramones "Rockaway Beach"
The Clash "I Fought the Law"
Jimmy Buffett "Margaritaville" (re-recorded for Rock Band)
Jimmy Buffett "Volcano" (re-recorded for Rock Band)

While the songs will be purchased in-game, points must be added through the Wii Shop Channel. Harmonix reminded everyone in their press release that starting in February, Wii users will start receiving the same brand-new DLC as 360 and PS3 owners, in addition to the back catalog currently being rolled out.

Harmonix is really following through on the Wii content this time around, perhaps feeling bad for the bare-bones package delivered last summer. Additionally, everyone could use more Nine Inch Nails in their Rock Band.

Posted by Jim Avery in Miscellaneous | Comments Off

The eagle has landed.

I’ve started playing through Moon today, and the major question on my mind is how it’s going to compare to Dementium: the Ward, Renegade Kid’s first effort. The main thing I can see is that there doesn’t seem to be much "horror" aspect to this game whatsoever. It feels more exploration-oriented overall; enemies are a bit sparse, and there’s a bit of a focus on getting places and solving puzzles. Everything controls just fine, I just hope they don’t end up skimping on the action, as that’s the part I’ve been looking forward to. More reports as I continue on.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off

Big Bang Mini Demo Available

SouthPeak Games has made a demo of Big Bang Mini available for download via the Nintendo Channel on Wii for free.  The demo contains three levels, Hong Kong, Aurora and Luxor to give players a taste of the full game.

I suggest if you’re able you go and download this from your Wii.  I haven’t been able to do so yet, but my time with this game at E3 last year made me enjoy it.

Posted by Andrea Campton in General News, Nintendo DS | Comments Off

New Retro Game Challenge Trailer

XSEED Games has released a new trailer for Retro Game Challenge.

The trailer show portions of the games inside the game such as Cosmic Gate, Rally King, Star Prince and Haggleman.

Retro Game Challenge will be out on February 10th.

Posted by Jim Avery in Nintendo Wii, Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Mega Man 9

When I was first playing Mega Man 9 at E3 ’08, I asked a nearby Capcom rep if they were considering the casual audience’s reaction when making this game; his response was simply "no". This attitude is clearly the guiding force behind Mega Man 9. This game is designed from the ground up to be fanservice for fans of the classic Mega Man games, with the original graphics, sound, and difficulty intact; as such, more casual players may find this one a bit hard to swallow.

The premise of this game is almost as simple as it gets: several of Dr. Light’s robots are going haywire, and Dr. Wily is trying to raise money to build his own robots to combat them. Somehow the world buys this, and thus it is up to Mega Man to stop Dr. Light’s robots and expose the real criminal. As with many games, this story is just an excuse to send the Blue Bomber up against eight more troublesome robotic creations, and I doubt anybody is going to care about that.

This newest installment is done by Inti Creates, the team responsible for the excellent Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series found on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, respectively. The level design is superb; the team incorporates some new elements, such as revolving magnetic platforms (jump off when Mega Man is facing down and he plummets to his doom), or gigantic swings that move left or right when you provide momentum by moving Mega Man. Still, nothing feels overly "modern" or out of place; the platforming is, in spirit, old-school. The game handles just like the old NES incarnations, as well, right down to Mega Man’s jumps and falls, his buster speed, everything. Turn the Wii Remote sideways, and you might as well be playing the NES.

The bosses are also decidedly old-school, for better or worse. Naturally, almost all the really good boss ideas had vanished by Mega Man 4, so some of the character design themselves are a bit puzzling, such as Plug Man or Concrete Man. Once you get to battling them, though, the actual battles allow you to ignore such design deficiencies, as all of them are pretty entertaining in the end. Every battle, more or less, has the 8-bit boss jumping about and following a general pattern of attack that varies in rigidity; while some masters have simple patterns that they never stray from, others will change things up and make things more difficult for you. As a consequence, you have one group of bosses that you can defeat with a minimal amount of trial and error, while others, like Magma Man, are controller-chuckingly frustrating if you don’t have the weapon they’re weak to (and no, I’m not telling you what).

This brings me to the main point of this review: Mega Man 9 is an intensely difficult game, especially in comparison to most games currently on the market. Some gamers, like myself, will enjoy the challenge; you’ll end up playing through most levels at least twice in your attempt to complete them, and you’ll probably end up studying the appearances of enemies, or the timing of Robot Master attacks, so as to complete the level in the number of lives alotted, which is a highly satisfying feeling. More casual players, however, may not appreciate it. This game is unforgiving in its difficulty, requiring some very precise timing, quick reflexes and some memorization of the levels; I don’t think many casual gamers will appreciate the game repeatedly throwing enemies at them in mid-jump to knock them down a pit, which is a common occurrence.

The presentation, as everyone has probably seen by now, is decidedly reminiscent of the NES days. The main characters look the same as they always have, as do the Mettools and all that. The new levels and enemies also have that 8-bit look to them, but thankfully Inti Creates didn’t skimp on detail; instead of the single-color blue skies of the original Mega Man, you’ll run amongst forest, highly detailed walls, what have you. Mega Man 9 proves that even low-resolution games can look excellent, though some cynics are sure to complain either way. As previously stated, Capcom didn’t care much for them when making this game. The game also sounds excellent, evoking memories of the original titles with its level themes. While not many songs may stick themselves in your mind (except possibly Tornado Man), they’re all simple fun, high-energy and ear-catching as they’re playing.

While the Mega Man series has always had a replay value of its own, the ninth installment has added some extras to keep people coming back. For those with a few spare Wii Points, Mega Man 9 features a sampling of downloadable content for between $2 and $3; there are some extra difficulty levels, an endless stage that challenges how far you can get without dying, and an option to let you play the game through as Proto Man. If you’re broke, you can always take a look at Mega Man 9’s version of achievements; hitting the – button will bring up a list of accomplishments for you to attempt to carry out, of varying difficulty and quirkyness. If you’re aiming to complete all of them, you’ll be playing this game for a long time.

Mega Man 9 is fanservice incarnate. If you’re a fan of classic platforming, and don’t mind getting your rear end handed to you on a silver platter, you’re going to have a lot of fun playing this game. I give this game a Yay! for said people, as well as anyone else who may be looking for a challenge. If you’re looking for a more relaxing kind of fun, though, Mega Man 9 is not a game that takes it easy; you may want to look elsewhere.

Posted by Jim Avery in General News, Nintendo Wii | Comments Off

Wiikly Update: 1/19/09

WiiWare: High Voltage Hot Rod Show, 1,000 Wii Points

This racing title, developed by the creators of the upcoming shooter The Conduit, has you outracing the competition by building Boost. You’ll fill your Boost Meter by hitting ramps, performing tricks, or power sliding, and then using it to take off ahead of the pack. In addition to four-player multiplayer (or eight, if computers are involved), this title lets you upload your best times to an online leaderboard.

WiiWare: Family Glide Hockey, 500 Wii Points

Off the heels of Family Table Tennis, Aksys continues on with Family Glide Hockey. As expected, you’ll be playing glide hockey (or table hockey, as it is also known) in a variety of environments in either single-player or versus mode, which supports up to four players. There is also a small collection of mini-games included, those being Brawl, Drill and Tracer.

Genesis: MUSHA, 800 Wii Points

Dire 51, a futuristic Intellicomputer, has gone HAL on humanity with an impressive offensive force, and it’s up to Terri to stop it, piloting her MUSHA combat armor. The press release boasts "six types of formation fire" along with some special weapons with larger destructive power, which you’ll need as you fight through the game’s seven levels.

MUSHA looks like a pretty fun and difficult schmup, though Family Glide Hockey could easily be rather lackluster. Hot Rod Show, however, is a High Voltage title, which is extremely intriguing and should be looked into. Still waiting for Darius Twin…