Comments 377

Re: Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (3rd Sept)

calculon

That's not really a very good argument for Plattchen, WiiBoy. Firstly, a lot of people know what to expect from games like Wild West Guns, Gradius and Bomberman because they're based on proven franchises and familiar concepts. Plattchen is not.

Stating that the game is going to get very difficult only 1/3 of the way through is also quite off-putting. How many of those 30 hours will involve replay after replay of the latter levels of the first 1/3rd of the game? Are you really sure that the multiplayer gameplay mechanic will work in an environment where usually there will be maybe only one or two game players (and in the latter case, the second is not likely to be 'hardcore')

Forced failure (i.e. absolute failure by design, not difficulty that is surmountable through persistance) should never be the defining reason to encourage other people to play and quite frankly, expecting a multi-gamer (certainly in excess of two dedicated gamers) household is poor planning. It's very easy to test a game by having friends and family come around en-mass but in real life multiplayer gaming is usually limited to common, very received and well understood games and usually involves on average two people. In all honesty I can see many people's opinions turning from 'fascinating' to 'frustrating'.

Good luck anyway and I hope you make your money on the project. From what you've just said though, I won't be coming from me.

Re: First Impressions: Gradius ReBirth

calculon

I'm in two mind about this game (well, actually I'm not because I won't buy it)

Yes, it's short but it could be a good introduction to shooters for those who never really had a chance to play the genre - especially because it looks quite easy judging by the video footage.

Sadly, it'll sell rather than games like Air Zonk and Star Parodier which are longer, look better and all-in-all are nicer (and cheaper) introductions to the genre.

Re: Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (3rd Sept)

calculon

Lack of publicity means one of two things:
1) They're trying to make us think the game is 'Nintendo Good' or
2) They're not really sure that the game will sell that well and hence are hoping that people will buy it because WiiBoy's been spanking off about it for the past few weeks and people will just buy it through his obscure self-promotions.

Let's face it, WiiWare proves that people will buy something on a whim - no matter how dire the content - just because sites like WiiWare World will hype a game without having one clue about how they really play. It's not a criticism of the sites, just the fact that the way the games are released is fundamentally flawed.

Personally if I had to predict why there's a lack of promotion on Plattchen, I'd go for a bit of both options but expect the reasoning to be more towards the latter.

Re: Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (3rd Sept)

calculon

Hopefully a damned sight better than your top ten Then again, WiiWare is crap in the EU. Outside of FFCC, DYC and Magnetica Twist put me on record as saying "There's no accounting for quality on that list"

I've finally pinned WiiWare down as a one in five quality service. I don't think WiiWare World should publish these lists until WiiWare's at least a year old and hence will have had some sort of chance of getting 20 good titles. Until then, these lists will always be rather pointless and really quite uninspired.

Re: Review: MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade (WiiWare)

calculon

It's taken a long time, but WiiWare actually has a title to stand alongside FFCC, Toki Tori, Actionloop and Star Soldier R as being a worthy addition to the service. Definitely worth the 8/10 score - nice work Nintendo!

Guess I have no reason to buy Plattchen now considering I'll be playing this game on my Wii and DS for a long time.

Re: Review: Helix (WiiWare)

calculon

So, IGN got it wrong and WiiWare World, through rose-tinted glasses must have got the score wrong too.

I'm sorry, but I'd only want to look like a jerk once - on my own - playing this game and certainly wouldn't invite anyone else to play it unless they had some obnoxious desire to see an Amiga demo with motion controls tacked on.

Ugh, why the hell are you guys rating games like this so high? Please give it the score it deserves: 6, 7 maximum. No credible reviewer would sell their soul just to fob viewers off on these half-arsed games. Are you trying to make us think they're wonderful or are some of these scores simply typos?

Quite frankly I'm starting to find WiiWare World's reviews just as unbelievable as IGN. Being overly positive about games is just as bad as being unnecessarily critical.

Re: 2D Boy Interview - World Of Goo

calculon

It'll be interesting to see how many blocks the WiiWare WoG takes. If it's around 290 blocks I wouldn't bother getting the retail version seeing as all of levels would more than likely fit into the 43MB limit (344 blocks) and hence it all boils down to the fact that 2D Boy leapt before they looked and the PAL regions have to pay the price for it.

Even if the WiiWare version's 5 scenarios do fill the limit, an added set of levels would only add an extra 8.6MB (69 blocks) in my reckoning so the cost of the retail version still sucks considering it's being put on media with DVD capacity - will the disc even look like it's been burnt?

Really, this approach to multi-regional distribution is just a joke. Nice work 2D Boy.

Re: What's New In The World Of Goo?

calculon

So, basically no clue about what to expect with the retail game - yet again. So I'm holding on to my comment above - sarcasm about extra features included.

Whilst 50+ levels sounds good, what really impresses me is the themes - fanboyism? marketing? err... ok. I also like the way they're trying to break down the Wiimote features like they're something special. Sounds more like a marketing cry to the retail crowd of "This is what you'll get too, but we're trying to make it look like you're getting value for money - honest!"

The £30+ price tag sucks too - I think I'll stick with buying de Blob for my ultimate indie based retail gaming experience.

Re: What's New In The World Of Goo?

calculon

The hope is a (potentially crippled) version of the game WiiWare for the US and a full retail version for the EU (and most likely also the US) complete with 'bonus content' (read: even more crappy cut-scenes, better image quality and a couple of extra levels / challenges)

Basically, the US get screwed over in (possibly) having to buy the game twice (I can guarantee WiiWare will appear considerably earlier than retail in the US) and EU sales will be a total failure because no-one wants to spend £30+ on a game that fits into 344 blocks (43MB) of memory - unless it's FFCC:MLaaK

Re: Hockey Allstar Shootout is coming to WiiWare

calculon

@ x.SuperMario.x - I'm always happy, but apologise - I was out of line for being so abrupt with that last comment. Way the Wii's been going lately I should just rename my user Grumpy.

Have a good weekend (that is when it comes - we've got a 3 day weekend. Bank holidays are awesome)

Re: Hockey Allstar Shootout is coming to WiiWare

calculon

I've downloaded Eternity's Child demo on Steam. Trust me, it's ok but nothing to write home about.

Unforunately, as most people on WiiWare World will testify I'm not a bit Mega Man fan and other than a couple of modes on Tetris Party, no. As a pinball game, I'd rather just download the original Alien Crush and Devil's Crush (which I've already got) rather than waste the effort of spending money on dubious episodic downloadable content.

Re: Hockey Allstar Shootout is coming to WiiWare

calculon

Expensive and limited and absolutely as far away from NHL as you could possibly get other than in referencing some goalies

But yes, it will sell because most people will buy anything when there's bugger all else to play and of course the casual crowd will buy anything because they just don't know any better. Poor buggers.

Re: Hockey Allstar Shootout is coming to WiiWare

calculon

Challenge the greatest hockey goalies in the world and break some lights whilst swinging your wiimote like a pillock? Err ... sounds about good enough for the usual five minute WiiWare fodder.

With games like Megastore Madness and I Spy Fun House under their belt, 'quality' surely is the word to look out for. All hail the king of crap - WiiWare!

Re: Review: Midnight Pool (WiiWare)

calculon

@Terranigma

Yeah, a must have game - especially if you have no friends and no desire to go out and play the game properly. Virtual pool/snooker games suck ass no matter how good they play. Yet another cash-cow that'll last at most 1 week on most people's Wii menu.

Re: EU WiiWare Update: Strong Bad Episode 1 and My Aquarium

calculon

Uh, well I was tempted into buying this seeing as everyone was raving about it. Now I wish I hadn't - it's boring. Whilst I appreciate the humor, I'm afraid the old Monkey Island/ Sam and Max/ Day of the Tentacle games wipe the floor with this game. The whole premise is just meh and once again, the developer has tried to modernise the point and click genre with junk that really doesn't matter (photos and sending emails) Personally, I'd have preferred the series to stick to just the animations rather than try and make something that really doesn't have the material to work that well as a game.

6/10 tops.

Re: A Look Inside The Mega Man Boutique

calculon

Uh-huh, that's what people thought about SSBB but look how that turned out. Melee with a crapload of useless junk thrown in - mind you at least MM9 isn't trying to be a jack of a trades and a master of none.

Re: Could Elite 4 Be Headed To WiiWare?

calculon

Considering you were a Commodore fan Corbie and the fact that both Elite and it's sequel appeared on your system, you must have been sleeping under a rock fella

Quite simply, Elite was a 'revolutionary' 3D space trading game. Revolutionary in the fact that the whole game would sit in around 22K of the available system memory of a BBC B (and maybe also in the fact that it used wireframe 3D) As a game it was yawn-tastic and frustrating to say the least but like certain games to us console fanboys, the game just seems to have this reputation that makes people think it's some sort of god of games to home computer owners.

The sequels fell by the wayside (I played Elite, Elite II and Arc Elite) simply because most people realised the gameplay mechanics were quite frankly really boring and limited and although there were some 'adjustments', overall I'd rate the whole experience as one that only a select few would appreciate. Particularly to those who have the patience of a saint and the find watching paint dry exciting.

If you really want to know what it's about, you could always download an emulator or buy a BBC B and about 500 game for £5 (or something like that) from ebay.

Re: Luc Bernard's Pitch For The Star Thief

calculon

I'm sorry, but this game sounds about as vague and uninteresting as you can get.

There's no consistency and no real reason to want to play it other to to 'experience' the real-time change feature that's been done before and more often than not ends up being more of a encumbrance that a viable feature. It's immediately obvious really when the team are already painting over the system by making use of merchants when shops are shut so what's the point in having both? Why not just use merchants?

The robot upgrade and weapon system sounds underwhelming and the enemies uninspired and again inconsistent (one minute talking about fish creatures, the next no mention in the list of enemies) What enemies are aligned with the thief and for that matter, why is the thief wanting to steal the stars? Does she like water or is it because she wants to see more stars reflecting in her patch of the sea?

Why not go the whole hog and have upgrades that allow your robot to run on water to get to unseen areas. Why not make it so that your robot only has a certain amount of energy for movement which can only be recharged in daylight or by going it alone and finding supplementary energy packs, adding to the danger of being defenceless without your rusty buddy?

Oh, and the side quests ideas? Stalk a cheating husband? Really? At least it's for money, which I guess you have to pay out should you get caught. I do like the bit about everyone being at the bar at the end of the night - sounds quite integral to that quest.

I'm all for good games and Eternity's Child might have looked good but I've seen so many examples of games that look awesome but are sadly average. It's not a direct criticism of Luc, but having a good art team does not make a good game.

I wish you the best in whatever you do Luc, only time will tell how well Eternity's Child is received - that said Destructoid are a bunch of idiots and you shouldn't let them get you down fella.

Re: Mega Man 9 - Flicker Included!

calculon

The retro flood needs to be on VC, not WiiWare. In all honesty, there's probably err ... 3 games that might warrant a purchase listed in the WiiWare World 'coming soon' line up: Bomberman (I'll buy the disc version), Alien Crush (which needs to be cheap) and LostWinds 2.

Shantae is almost as much vapourware as it ever has been, World of Goo will end up being disc based only for all regions because I can't see any other possibility that will work, I've lost all faith in Eternity's Child and I doubt we'll see Animales de la Muerte until 2009. I'm not in the least bit interested in Strong Bad and the rest of the games look like the sort of product designed to suck up money for about 1/2 hour's worth of entertainment.

Oh, and I hate Tetris. Not because the game is bad, but because it's been done to death.

Re: Mega Man 9 - Flicker Included!

calculon

Neither impresses me atm. Outside of the launch titles, WiiWare has been a total waste of space and money and there's nothing upcoming to make me change my mind otherwise.

Re: Mega Man 9 - Flicker Included!

calculon

What's funny is that Capcom actually think it's worth paying people to
a) Write a retro game style game
b) Pay them even more to put in pointless 'features'
c) Actually think that those features will make the game cool.

Wrong, wrong and SO wrong to the point that this game will open the floodgate to a whole load of retro garbage the likes of which only XBLA has seen.

Re: Penny Arcade Adventures Too Big For WiiWare

calculon

It's not a problem for me seeing as I've abandoned Nintendo and it's online services but I feel for you all. Really I do. Somehow, I think you'll be waiting a long time for a hard drive, and a firmware upgrade to make games playable from SD card just won't cut it considering how painfully slow the whole experience of swapping is already.

Maybe you ought to write to Nintendo and tell them that you think that their console is a cheap piece of junk with over-priced games (all around) cheap over-priced peripherals and that they have no clue about online services and their customer support sucks. That's what I did yesterday - still didn't make me back any of the £600+ I wasted on our next gen Gamecube though

Re: Review: Pirates - The Key of Dreams (WiiWare)

calculon

Meh. It looked crap when the preview was out. Looks kiddy and annoying like one of those little mutiplayer games in the first two Banjo games - except not as good.

Another dissapointing week for WiiWare topped off with a god-awful week for the VC (and whilst I understand that IK+ WAS a classic, I hate the C64 emulation on the VC)

Re: WiiWare Preview - Eternity's Child

calculon

SPOGS actually hit the US in July and there's bound to be some degree of luck in which games Nintendo decide to put out each month. Pop was due for release in June in Europe but didn't appear until July. It might only be a month, or even a couple of weeks but that's money in the bank to these guys.

Re: WiiWare Preview - Eternity's Child

calculon

Example? As far as I can see, Nintendo of Europe have such a complete lack of grasp over the idea of a concrete release date that they can't even decide internally when a game is to be released when it's available. From what I read, Defend Your Castle was supposed to be on sale in Europe according to the Nintendo Channel.

Re: WiiWare Preview - Eternity's Child

calculon

Concrete release date? WiiWare? That's like trying to mix oil and water isn't it? I think the only games that will ever be given a concrete release date were the launch titles. Maybe a couple of Christmas specials (based on Nintendo related franchises) but other than that never utter those two concepts in the same sentence again

Re: WiiWare Preview - Eternity's Child

calculon

It's looking good Luc Bernard. It's looking very good.

Eternity's Child will be one of the few purchases I make on WiiWare - I won't give a timescale to that statement because Europe's release scheduling is wonkier than a SPOGs racer wheel (wait that's no good - they don't tilt very well as far as I'm aware - oh well, just imagine they do, ok?). I just hope they get it out quick when you've done working on it.

Re: Alien Crush Returns - New Screenshots and Video

calculon

Finally, a WiiWare game that looks like it's had a bit of effort put into it. That'll make 8 in my roster (LostWinds, Tori Tori, FFCC:MLaaK, Star Solider R and the upcoming Gyrostarr, Animales de la Muertes, Bomberman and Alien Crush)

How long I'll have to wait for the other four is anyone's guess but I won't mind seeing as they all look like quality products and not some half-arsed flash puzzle port / 8-bit classic remade with new levels.

Re: Mega Man 9 Will Cost 1000 Wii Points

calculon

I'd have guess 800 points, but then 1,000 doesn't sound too bad considering the new levels,etc

Shame it looks like an 8-bit game though - I know people want nostalgic platforming but tthat's no reason to make it look like crap. Hope they're addressing the crappy collision detection routines of the originals NES games too.

Re: Wild West Guns

calculon

Could be a worthwhile purchase considering it's only 1000 points. Then again, considering I could pick up a copy of Ghost Squad for around a tenner (£10 equivalent of 1,500 Wii points) on Ebay - maybe not.

As for zapper support, unless there's some sort of calibration, I don't really give a rats. Any game can make use of the zapper - whether its practical or not - it's just a plastic shell.

Re: Review: SPOGS Racing

calculon

This game was going to be crap from the beginning - everyone knew it, they just didn't want to hear it. At least you've saved most of us from buying it. By the way, the sample screenshots looked bloody awful too.

I'm still going with my ultimate prediction that WiiWare is going to be a load of pants.

Re: Will You Be Bursting Bubbles Today With Pop?

calculon

Whilst I do see the appeal of Pop, it's already been done in a similar and simpler fashion in a game that most of us already own - Wii Play. There are several games in Wii Play that offer varying but similar approaches and although there's not the power-ups, nor the online leader boards, I'd say the single and multiplayer experience is just as fun.

If you've got Wii Play, I'd suggest saving the points for the sake of saying you've got another, rather half-arsed casual game with the usual shovelled in attempt at offering online on Wii.

Re: Will You Be Bursting Bubbles Today With Pop?

calculon

Was interested, then lost interest, then Demon's YouTube review got me interested again but ultimately I realised it's just too little too late. It's not Nooo's fault, they've just missed the boat. WiiWare is just not good enough to encourage me to want to spend money on products from the service anymore. Too many casual games and puzzlers, too much waiting and quite frankly not a damned thing that inspires me in the upcoming catalogue.

Pop has a good price tag and it looks like it'll be fun for about three/four days of 30 minute play (much like Actionloop) but at the end of the day I'm interested in games with long-term non-repetitive gameplay and for some unknown reason, most developers just don't seem to realise that it is possible despite the storage limitation, go down the puzzler route and implement stupidly huge amounts of repetitive levels or create an over-dependance on multiplayer to make a game fun. Whilst it might have been fresh on WiiWare about six weeks ago, I now find the approach cheap and uninspiring.

So, to answer your question more directly. No, I won't ever be bursting bubbles with Pop

Re: Plättchen Will Be Twisting And Turning In July

calculon

You USA/Canadian guys get all the fun. Glad you're getting some good games - your line up is turning into a real kick in the nuts for the Europeans.

Then again, OUR VC KICKS YOUR VC's ASS!

In case I forget, happy Independence day for tomorrow!

Re: My Pokémon Ranch Due This Friday For Europe

calculon

For some unbeknown reason, I am not disappointed by this announcement - rather I'm.LAUGHING MY ASS OFF at the constant ineptitude of NoE to provide any reasonable input into the WiiWare service. Like I've said before, the Wii is THE console for the eternally hopeful and I hope you guys get to see at least some good games on the service outside of the famous four (Star Solider R, FFCC:MLaaK, LostWinds and Toki Tori) Me? I've decided to forgo the whole service and write to Nintendo asking for weekly VC releases again.

NoE really ought to rename the service to WeepWare or WeakWare or even Why?Ware. Then again, WiiWare seems more appropriate than ever considering that outside of launch day the service has really taken the piss in Europe.

Re: World Of Goo Will Not Be Released On WiiWare In Europe!

calculon

Ahhh.... I've just been on the 2D Boy's World of Goo webpage. The PC retail cost is $20 (if pre-ordered) which I reckon would make the Wii version $30.

The expansion will probably be the Profanity Pack which allows you to "replace voices in the game with ambiguous naughty words. F**k!" Should be right up the street for Wii's target audience.

The UK has good TV... it's just that I like looking at the cool off spot when I press the standby button on my remote

Re: World Of Goo Will Not Be Released On WiiWare In Europe!

calculon

I don't think the argument is to do with quality, which I agree looks good, if not earth shattering (but then again - what Wii games are?)

Honestly, I don't see how they can justify asking for full price in the EU and then provide a crippled WiiWare version to other regions. The whole thing stinks - either they're trying to force Nintendo to publish the game immediately as WiiWare or they're pushing around the idea of making the game retail for all.

At the end of the day, the whole experience only compunds my fears about the proceedures surrounding WiiWare and has sadly made me feel bitter towards the (possible) decisions 2dboy have made.

Re: World Of Goo Will Not Be Released On WiiWare In Europe!

calculon

@StarWolf_UK. NIce, let's all insult WiiWare developers. I can see you're going to get a lot out of the service.

Oh, and yes. I would expect NIntendo who are indeed publishers to pick the the mantle and market the service and its associated games and to provide anciallary services like operations manual translation. That's part of what being a publisher does - it doesn't matter what media the game is distributed on.

Oh yeah, and judging by the release date of Ygdra Union (which was around November 2006 in the USA) I'd say the reason why the game was never released here was because the GBA's days were numbered - no other reason. I'd say the same would apply for Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation.

Re: World Of Goo Will Not Be Released On WiiWare In Europe!

calculon

From what I gather then, Europe gets screwed again and we have to pay more for it too. What I want to know is how they can justify sticking a 43MB game on a DVD? What extras will there be? 2 new levels and a couple of hidden soft-core porn movies?

Maybe they should pack in 4,000 Wii Points to get people interested again. Actually, make that 5,000 Wii Points (£35 worth of points should just about justify a £40 price tag)