The Stupid Gamer

More Wii news today as Toys ‘R Us has named Nintendo’s upcoming videogame console as one of the holiday’s hot toys. The list is 15 items that are expected to be the most in-demand gifts for younger audiences. This is the first time a game console has ever made the list. To see the other 15 items, check the official source as reported by MSN’s Money Central.

Source

A couple of images have been floating around the Internet that show what is rumored to be Best Buy’s plans for advertising the PS3 and Wii this holiday season in their stores. These haven’t been confirmed yet, so take it with a grain of salt for now. However, if these are real, the PS3 kiosk is going to be an amazing sight to see. Here are the pics (drag and drop them to your address bar to enlarge):

The Opera browser will be free for Nintendo Wii owners from the console’s launch date up until June 2007. After June users will need to pay using Nintendo Wii points.

Source: Official Opera press release

DigitalBattle is reporting that Nintendo is planning to ship 1 million Nintendo Wii consoles to the North American region for its official launch date. That number is extremely large and would dwarf any launches in recent history. Compared to Sony’s PS3, which launches two days earlier with a planned 400,000 console shipment, Nintendo his hoping to get a big lead on their rival by the end of the holiday season.

Nintendo will also be shipping well before Sony in Europe. The Wii is scheduled for a December launch in Europe with the PS3 coming in March 2007. It should be interesting to see if Nintendo can build a big enough lead to carve out a more significant share in the console market.

When publishers send out advanced copies of games for either review or preview, they will sometimes arrive in the form of ROM cartridges. For those of you that might be interested in what they look like, here’s a couple of pictures of the Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll cartridge. If you’ll notice, that the ROM cart reads “Property of Sega of America.” When I finished reviewing this title, I had to send the cartridge back to Sega. I’ve never been allowed to keep a ROM cartridge. For a size comparison the second pic shows a standard DS cartridge next to the ROM cartridge.

It seems like Sega and Atlus are the companies that are most likely to send out these ROM cartridges. It’s not very common to receive a ROM cartridge from a publisher unless you are dealing with a pretty early review or preview. Normally the review copy of the game just comes on the standard retail version of the DS cartridge.

I’m debating whether or not I’ve used the word cartridge enough in this post…

With the release of the Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo Wii consoles, we’re seeing a rise in prices for games, accessories, services, and hardware. There isn’t any reason to think that the trend will be reversed any time in the future either. So, if you are an avid gamer, but also budget-minded, I’ll provide a few tips on how you can stretch your gaming dollars enough to afford the games you really want.

Buy Online
By shopping online you may not get the game the exact day it’s released, but you can usually find a site that will be offering the game for $5-$10 cheaper than in a store. Searching eBay really is a great place to find and buy from discount sellers as well. Many eBay sellers buy in bulk and sell their games for a cheaper price than the stores. In most cases, you can also avoid paying sales taxes by shopping online.

In addition to eBay, Amazon.com and Half.com are great places to find solid deals. A lot of sellers on Amazon are collectors and keep their stuff in very good condition, so don’t be afraid about the quality of the game discs, manuals, or boxes that you buy.

Sell Used Stuff Online - Don’t Trade Games In at Specialty Stores
Unless your local store is offering great trade-in deals, you will really make a lot more money unloading your older games if you sell them online. The best places to list your stuff are on half.com, eBay.com, or Amazon.com. Usually you can make 2-3 times the amount selling your games online than you can trading them in. Selling games in bundles helps to drive up the price as well. However, if you have rare games, sell those separately to get the max value out of each one.

Classifieds
Classifieds are great for saving money on gaming hardware and software. Often times people will be willing to sell their stuff cheaply because they need some quick cash. Certain classifieds will also have people looking to trade games straight across for other titles. I’ve swapped titles straight across with users from IGN, Advanced Media Network, and the NeoGAF forums. Trades allow you to break even when unloading one used game in favor for another one. Just make sure that you have some way to verify that you can trust whoever you are going to deal with in these instances.
Buy Used
Many people don’t like to buy used games simply for the fact that the case is covered in price tags and stickers from the used game dealer. However, these are easy to get off with the help of either Undu or Goo Gone. You can pick up these products at any local Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Once you’ve taken off the stickers, a used game is no different than if you bought it new and you’ve saved anywhere from $15-$25.

Here’s a pic of Undu for an example:

Focus on Your Backlog
Before getting every new game that releases, try to get through your backlog of games. By the time you are finishing up the games you already own, those new releases usually have dropped in price $5-$10. It’s not always easy waiting to pick up a new game, but you’ll get used to it after a little while. Obviously there are certain titles you just can’t wait to pick up…

Jump in Late
If you wait for 6 months to get into the next-generation of consoles, you’ll be able to get most of what you want used or discounted. By waiting just a little while, you can find used consoles; usually with the same warranty as a new one. Also, the launch titles are half the price that they were when the system launched. This makes for a pretty tough waiting period, but the patience pays off. If you absolutely must buy your consoles/handhelds new, you might be lucky enough to catch a price drop by the six month mark.

CAG (Cheap Ass Gamer)
Most gamers that buy stuff online know about CAG. This site is constantly being updated with online coupons and information on hot deals for videogames. Use this site as a resource when you are looking to pick up some new games, hardware, or accessories.

Here’s the link: CAG

Patience
The last tip is pretty simple: be patient. Don’t be afraid of waiting a couple of days to pick something up. Shop around and find the best deal or wait for price drops. With the rising costs of gaming, it’s important to save a few bucks wherever you can.

Good luck, and happy deal hunting.

The Metal Slug Anthology, coming for the Sony PSP and Nintendo Wii, is adding another game to its already impressive package. Metal Slug 6 will be included in the anthology. Previous reports were omitting Metal Slug 6 from the lineup, but SNK-Playmore confirmed today that it would indeed be a part of the package for both the PSP and Wii versions.

The Metal Slug Anthology includes 7 titles that have been hailed some some of the most intense and enjoyable side-scrolling action games ever created. The games are titled as follows:

• Metal Slug
• Metal Slug 2
• Metal Slug X (a remixed version of Metal Slug 2)
• Metal Slug 3
• Metal Slug 4
• Metal Slug 5
• Metal Slug 6

This is definitely a must-own package for both PSP and Wii owners. Look for it to release at or very near the Wii launch.

N-Sider has created and posted a calculator that will estimate the cost of your purchases on the Wii’s launch day (including tax). Make sure to check it out, it’s pretty fun (and possibly shocking).

Click here to try it out.

After adding up my purchases it looks like I’m in for about $830.00 on launch day (including tax). I’m probably going to have to trim that down, but the excitement of launch always gets me to spend more than I think I will. It should be interesting.

Note: This is a topic I addressed in one of my weekly podcasts that I host for Advanced Media Network, but I figured the issue was interesting enough for another look. It’s pretty long-winded and it wanders around a bit, but I feel that I get my point across well enough.

I grew up with gaming. I started out on an Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 and have been heavily involved in gaming up until this day. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry, the games themselves, and how the information regarding the hobby is delivered to its fans. There was a time when the only way to get information was through word of mouth or advertisements. Often you’d find yourself buying a game simply because the screenshots on the back of the box made the game look fun. This was a highly hit and miss way to purchase games, but it was all we really had. Basically you had to buy a game on blind faith and just hope for the best.

Eventually the industry expanded and print publications that were devoted to gaming began to show up. There were some niche publications that appeared as early as 1974, but it really wasn’t until Nintendo Power released in 1988 that any gaming magazines enjoyed a large circulation. Coming a year later, GamePro and EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) offered gamers a monthly look at what was going on from a multiconsole perspective. These magazines became wildly successful and gamers were happy to know that they had an unbiased source they could look forward to each month for gaming information.

Every Last Word
Since these magazines only came around once a month, fans were forced to endure periods of time when no new information was available. Typically a gamer would read every single preview, review, editorial, and news item found within the magazine; regardless of what systems they owned. Even after reading the magazine a few times, we often found ourselves going back to the pages to look over the screenshots again or re-read some parts that we found particularly enjoyable or interesting. Instead of having to rely on television advertisements or back-of-the-box screenshots to base our buying choices on, we the gamers could find professional reviews that discussed in detail the positive and negative aspects of a game before its release. Since we heard from the same people month to month, it felt like someone was looking out for us; and we trusted those journalists.

Rise of the Internet Gaming Media
In the mid-90’s the Internet began to grow and expand rapidly in the homes of the general public and within a few years there were websites popping up that were devoted to videogame coverage. Early on these webistes were notorious for regurgitating information that already available in the print magazines, but eventually some of the more popular sites began to score their own exclusive scoops and media. Sites like IGN and Gamespot recruited industry professionals that had previously been a part of other publications and really focused on giving readers a place to go for trusted and original content. These websites became massively popular and inspired literally hundreds of thousands of people to create their own gaming-related websites; and they continue to do so even now.

With the rapid increase in the number of videogame information outlets and message boards, the overall quality of information began to degrade. Videogame websites weren’t held to the same sort of journalistic integrity standards as the print media, and false information was commonly invented to increase traffic on many websites. For a time it was hard to trust anything that you found online unless it came one of the major gaming websites that could cite an official source. Over time, however, it became clear what kind of site could be trusted and gamers began to rely more fully on websites for gaming information as opposed to any other source. New and fresh information was being delivered on a daily basis as opposed to a monthly one and there were several authorities instead of a small handful. Today, gamers congregate on a constant basis in message boards and forums to discuss daily releases of gaming-related news, announcements, and media. So has this constant and easier to access flow of information helped or hurt gaming?

More Information Leads to Ignorance?
With publishers and developers realizing that gaming websites were an effective and powerful medium for delivering information quickly to their fans, information began to flow daily to major and minor websites. The deluge of information, screenshots, and videos come from both Eastern and Western developers and now we’re to a point where you expect to see new screens or videos of some game daily; or even several times a day. There really isn’t anybody out there with a 9-5 job, school, sports, or other obligations that can keep up with this news, so we learn to be picky and selective with what he read over or spend the time checking out. Unfortunately, this practice has led to many of us gamers choosing to do nothing more than to skim any and all articles, including game reviews. Instead of carefully looking over each article, we tend to find tidbits of info in message boards or read summaries of reviews and focus almost entirely on the score a game receives rather than the reasons for the score. In the end we’re left with gamers that feel like they know what’s going on around the industry, but they’re actually less informed than when information was released between long intervals.

The constant barrage of information forces us to receive, digest momentarily, and to move on. Not everybody falls under this generalization, but it’s pretty shocking how uninformed the gaming audience has become in spite of all the information that’s available to them 24/7. This is an issue in itself that most likely deserves a deeper investigation, but that’s best left to a separate editorial.

56k Warning (time to upgrade LOL)
With the speed of data transfer increasing all the time, a culture of impatience has been cultivated in the gaming community. We’re less willing to wait for things to load, for information to come out, for media to be posted, and for games and hardware to be released. Despite not being able to possibly read all that there is out there, we still want more; and we want it faster. This impatience has crossed over into our enjoyment of the hobby itself and seems to have forced a certain level of cynicism and a jaded attitude into our gaming tastes. Instead of focusing on what a game does well, we far too often notice only where the game falters.

A game that is fun, but flawed to any degree, will receive more criticism for its shortcomings than praise for its merits. Common examples of this include games like Super Mario Sunshine where a game that sported wonderful gameplay, beautiful graphics, and admirable level design gets blasted because Mario spends the majority of the game in areas that share a similar environmental theme. The game wasn’t perfect by any means, but it’s much better than it’s made out to be in just about any gaming forum. The magnification power of the internet is ruthless when it’s aimed at a flaw.

It Can Get Better
The internet hasn’t ruined gaming, it has just caused us to change the way we look at it. In the end it’s not the internet’s fault, it’s our own for taking things too seriously and by being overly demanding. I know that the passionate nature of gamers will always fuel strong reactions, both positive and negative, so I’ve found that it’s easier to enjoy gaming more when I distance myself a bit from sensationalist message boards and summarized reviews. I try to go into each gaming experience free from web-born biased feelings and give every game a fair shot to impress or disappoint me. When I find that I dislike a game, at least it’s because I found it out for myself. It’s too bad that even though I know spending more time online in message boards has a direct effect on my enjoyment of games that I end up crawling back to them despite my best intentions.

I’m not saying that news sites, forums, message boards, and online reviews are all bad, we need them to make good buying decisions; but in the end only you can tell yourself whether or not a game is worth your time. When reading a review, it’s almost best to just read the text and skip the score. That way you can compare the description of the gameplay, music, graphics, and presentation and decide if it’s in line with what you want in a game. Remember, the score attached to the end of a review is the most meaningless thing that the reviewer writes in the entire article.

I’m not all Sour on the Internet
I’m not ungrateful for the huge resource that the internet has become; I just loathe the growing culture of impatience in the gaming community. I love seeing videos and screenshots of games; it’s just that a large part of me longs for the days when I had the time to digest it all properly. If I’m going to be totally honest, I can’t even say that I don’t actively participate in the very same culture I disdain; I just love the hobby too much to distance myself fully from it wherever it’s accessible. I wish we could go back to the days of not knowing what an NDA was or when a Megaton announcement wasn’t expected every week. With all that said, it’s time to end this so I can go check out the latest media, news, and message board ranting…

LocoRoco is one of those titles that you expect to see doing quite well in Japan but fail to see a release in other regions. The game relies heavily on charm, presentation, and sick amounts of cuteness to compliment its rather simple gameplay to provide an experience for its audience. So does Loco Roco live up to the excitement that has surrounded its release? Read on and we’ll jump right in.

With sales of the PSP lagging behind the DS heavily in Japan, many pointed at LocoRoco to be the PSP’s “savior.” They argued that this would open the Japanese gamer’s eyes to the fact that the PSP offered quirky and original titles in addition to its lineup of PS2 and PSOne ports and remakes. In the end Loco Roco didn’t fare to well and many blamed it’s lack of success on a stingy buying audience; but after spending a lot of time with the game, I can see why it didn’t fare as well as many people were expecting.

LocoRoco is a fun game, it’s just not exceptionally noteworthy on any fronts. Sure, the game looks pretty and has some interesting level designs, but the gameplay is pretty shallow and repetitive. Well, simple might be a better word than shallow; but the point remains that there’s not a lot of depth to be found here. Charm can only carry the game for so long before you begin asking yourself, “is this all?” Even with the repetitive play, however, the title is interesting enough to urge you on and hold your attention long enough to keep you playing to the finish. There are tons of hidden objects to find, but the majority of gamers out there are likely to toss the game aside soon after its initial completion. One very appreciable aspect about the gameplay, however, is the fact that the game is extremely accessible. Loco Roco might not provide the deepest experience, but it can provide a good time for anybody of any age or level of gaming experience.

The audio and visual package in LocoRoco are really its greatest stregnth. The game is colorful and animates extremely well while maintaining a silky smooth framerate. The music is catchy, and the sound effects are snappy and bright. Anybody that has many complaints about either the sound or graphics in LocoRoco might need to check their hearing and eyesight because something is definitely not right with them.

The replay factor of LocoRoco really depends on how quickly you tire of the repetitive nature of the game. Some will find that they simply must find all of the hidden items and secret paths scattered in the levels; while others will feel satisfied with just the initial playthrough. For those that choose to go back for more, there’s plenty to find. To be fair to the title, there really is a lot packed into each level. It’s also nice that the game tracks your time in each level. This can further extend the game by urging you to go back and perform speed runs on each of the levels. Hopefully you find yourself compelled to return to the game after your first run; the game is pretty short compared to most other handheld titles.

In the end I guess I did find myself enjoying LocoRoco, just not to the extent I expected myself to. As mentioned earlier, the game is fun, it’s just lacking a bit of variety in the gameplay department. I like the foundation that has been laid down here and I’d be interested in seeing a sequel. More varied moves, multiplayer modes, and longer levels could have made what is a good game into a great one.

Overall Score: 7 out of 10

Other Reviews:
Advanced Media Network
IGN
1UP