The Stupid Gamer

This info is from an EA event attendee. Here’s the summary of what he had to share.

• The game was shown running on the 360 hardware–will be multiplatform
• Game will use original voice actors for the game (over 8000 spoken lines)
• The game features nearly an hour of animated cutscenes
• The story is packed full of references to the show
• Depending on the level, you’ll need to switch between characters to complete certain goals
• Characters have specific powers and abilities (Bart becoming Bartman)
• Tons of stuff to collect
• Drop in and drop out co-op style of play…very cool
• The game’s graphical style is very close to the quality of animation in the show
• The story is written by actual writers from The Simpsons TV show
• The Wii version will feature exclusive minigame content and features
• The game is packed full of cameos

All in all it’s sounding like a fan’s dream. Hopefully the gameplay will hold up and we can have the first good Simpsons game since the arcade glory days. More info should be coming soon, including screens and media.

Sorry for anybody that’s been trying to post comments and having them blocked by Wordpress. I’m looking into it now. This post is actually part of a test. Hopefully you’ll all be back commenting soon.

Update: Well that didn’t take long to figure out. There was a bug in one of the commenting files and I somehow lucked into fixing it despite not knowing a lick of PHP. Feel free to resume with any and all commenting.

This would be quite the eyesore in anybody’s home theater setup, but it’s pretty cool for a collector. Until Microsoft starts putting the 65nm processors in the 360, however, you won’t see me all that excited.

The newest sales charts have come out, and somehow, they look even better than last week’s numbers for Nintendo. Let’s just rename Japan to something more fitting. I suggest Nintendostan. It’s crazy. I can’t ever remember a company holding such a lockdown on the gaming market since the days of the NES.

Hardware

Hardware -    This Week |  Last Week |       Year Total |     Lifetime Total
1. NDS   -        285,192 |     256,063 |        2,888,392 |    16,894,071
2. WII   -         101,320 |     102,522 |        1,452,172 |      2,371,815
3. PSP   -          35,172 |       33,860 |           839,395 |      5,371,524
4. PS2   -          14,815 |       12,584 |           324,604 |    20,479,463
5. PS3   -          12,974 |       12,791 |           417,056 |        874,614
6. 360   -            3,205 |         3,162 |             93,550 |        358,252
7. GBA   -              653 |         1,125 |             35,307 |    15,333,386
8. GCN   -              394 |            167 |              6,763 |      4,176,231

Software Top 30

01. [NDS] Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
02. [WII] Super Paper Mario
03. [WII] Wii Sports
04. [NDS] Yoshi’s Island DS
05. [WII] Wii Play
06. [NDS] Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
07. [WII] Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
08. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros.
09. [NDS] Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan
10. [NDS] More Brain Age

11. [NDS] Phoenix Wright 4
12. [NDS] Mario Kart DS
13. [NDS] More English Training
14. [NDS] Panel de Pon DS
15. [NDS] Brain Age
16. [NDS] Animal Crossing Wild World
17. [NDS] Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village
18. [NDS] Common Knowledge Training
19. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters Joker
20. [NDS] English Training
21. [NDS] Word Puzzle Mojipittan DS
22. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd
23. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond
24. [NDS] Pokémon Pearl
25. [PSP] Final Fantasy
26. [PS2] Pro Baseball Spirits 4
27. [PS2] Persona 3: Fes
28. [NDS] Tamagotchi’s Splendid Rainbow-venture
29. [WII] One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
30. [NDS] Kanji Test

NDS - 21
WII - 5
PS2 - 2
PSP - 2

I’ll edit in hardware numbers as they become available later today.

According to next-gen.biz’s Colin Campbell, rumors are floating around that a PSP redesign is coming. The new PSP would be lighter, brighter, have a stronger battery life, and would most likely still use the UMD format.

Source: New PSP rumors

We get these rumors every month or so, but this time it might seem more credible than in the past. I have to wonder, however. Can a redesign really reinvigorate PSP sales that much? I think the PSP’s biggest problems aren’t going to be resolved so easily. The PSP has a software issue that needs to be addressed. The DS had a very strong software lineup that drove demand for the DS Lite, not the other way around.

Here are latest hardware and software charts from Japan. It was a big week for Nintendo. For everybody else…not so much.

Hardware:

This Week | Last Week | Year Total | Lifetime Total
1. NDS   -   256,063 |   172,440 |  2,603,200 |  16,608,879
2. WII   -    102,522 |     77,913 |  1,350,852 |   2,270,495
3. PSP   -     33,860 |     29,459 |     804,223 |   5,336,352
4. PS3   -     12,791 |     11,000 |   4  04,082 |      861,640
5. PS2   -     12,584 |     11,398 |     309,789 |  20,464,648
6. 360   -       3,162 |       2,307 |      90,345 |       355,047
7. GBA   -       1,125 |       1,364 |      34,654 |  15,332,733
8. GCN   -         167 |          266 |        6,369 |    4,175,837

Software:

1. [NDS] Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
2. [NDS] Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan
3. [WII] Super Paper Mario
4. [WII] Wii Sports
5. [WII] Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
6. [WII] Wii Play
7. [WII] One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
8. [NDS] Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
9. [NDS] Phoenix Wright 4
10. [NDS] Panel de Pon DS

11. [NDS] Daito Giken Official Pachislo Simulator DS: Ledendary Treasure; Osu! Banchou; Yoshimune
12. [NDS] Yoshi’s Island DS
13. [NDS] More Brain Age
14. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros.
15. [NDS] More English Training
16. [NDS] Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village
17. [PSP] Final Fantasy
18. [PS2] Persona 3: Fes
19. [NDS] Brain Age
20. [NDS] Mario Kart DS

Out of the top 20, 13 belong to the Nintendo DS, 5 to the Nintendo Wii, and 1 each to the PSP and PS2. No PS3 titles made it into the top 30, but the 360 managed to chart two (Test Drive Unlimited, Rainbow Six 3: Vegas).

According to the quiz I’m most like Mario.

http://www.quizilla.com/users/grumpyian/quizzes/

Take it. Chuckle. Move on with your life.

For anybody that got their start gaming when the Commodore 64 was in its prime, you definitely know about the Epyx developed classic, Impossible Mission. The gameplay is a bit difficult to describe, but it was one of the first games to use randomly generated item placement (as far as key items needed to progress in the game). If this comes to the Wii Virtual Console, I’ll be one happy camper. My Commodore 64 kicked the bucket just a few short years ago, and this is a title I dearly miss.

Check out the best opening sound clip ever here: Dr. Elvin Atombender’s famous intro voice

Joystiq has posted their review of The King of Kong, a documentary that releases August 17th. The documentary follows gaming legend Billy Mitchell as he attempts to fend off a challenge from a small-town school teacher to his Donkey Kong supremacy.

Check out the review here: Joystiq’s The King of Kong review.

A trailer of the film can be seen here: The King of Kong trailer.

I’ve already shipped two Xbox 360s to Microsoft for repair (which actually were replaced with refurbished models), and now my third system is starting to show signs that it’s going to fail. Last night, in less than an hour of play time, my Xbox 360 froze up four times. Lately the 360 has been freezing on me and it’s been pretty annoying. I haven’t seen any red rings yet, but I get the feeling that they can’t be more than a few weeks away.

So what’s the deal here? Is Microsoft going to keep denying that there are serious quality control issues with Xbox 360 production? How long before the class-action suits start appearing?

I love my Xbox 360, and I play it more than any other console right now, but Microsoft needs to address these issues soon or I’ll be hard pressed to support them in the next generation early on. Until last generation, I had never had a console fail on me (which coincidentally was an Xbox), and now I’m looking at a third console death in less than two years.

Fix your faulty console, Microsoft. And quit charging us each time one of your faulty boxes breaks down.