The Stupid Gamer

Ready at Dawn’s port of the critically acclaimed Okami was announced some time ago, but now we finally have a date for when the Zelda-esque action/adventure title will be releasing on the Wii. Okami is set to release on March 25, and will give Nintendo fans a chance to experience one of the finest titles to hit the PlayStation 2.

March is shaping up to be a big month for Wii owners with Okami and the recent delay of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It looks like just as our holiday backlogs begin to clear out that we’ll be getting a few more quality titles to keep us busy into the summer.

Typically Harmonix/EA announces the week’s DLC for the week each Monday, but Xbox.com accidentally leaked the release list for the rest of the month. Songs with an asterisk are cover songs. Here are the upcoming songs:

1.22.2008: Oasis Pack (440 MS points/ $5.50)

Don’t Look Back in Anger - (160 points)
Live Forever - (160 points)
Wonderwall - (160 Points)

1.29.2008: Progressive Pack (440 MS points/ $5.50)

Siva - Smashing Pumpkins (160 points)
*Working Man - Rush (160 points)
*Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood and Burial) - Coheed and Cambria (160 Points)

I’ve gone kinda cold on Oasis over time, but the songs could be pretty fun in Rock Band. I’ll most likely pick up all three Oasis songs, the Rush song, and the Smashing Pumpkins Song. It looks like the rest of the month is looking pretty good. So Activision, where’s the support for Guitar Hero III? What’s that I hear? Crickets? For shame.

Here you go. Anything with is an asterisk is a cover track.

• *Action - Sweet (160 points)
• *Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees (160 points)
• All The Small Things - Blink 182 (160 points)

I’ll probably pass on all three tracks this week.

Not much this week, but Nitrobike sounds interesting for its online play and reported amount of depth.

Wii:

• Nitrobike
• Furu Furu Park
• Kidz Sports: Ice Hockey
• Samurai Warriors: Katana
• CSI: Hard Evidence

PSP:

• FlatOut: Head On

Nintendo DS:

• Miami Nights: Singles in the City

Virutal Console:

• Riot Zone (TG-16)
• Pac-Attack (SNES)

IGN’s game of the year award came later to most, but IGN claims it’s so that everybody who voted would have a chance to fully experience the nominees. The five games nominated were BioShock, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Orange Box, and Super Mario Galaxy. Announced just moments ago, Super Mario Galaxy was their overall winner.

Congrats, to Nintendo and anybody on the Super Mario Galaxy team. Galaxy was my personal favorite game for 2007, so I don’t have much to say except for that I agree with the pick.

Update: The pricing has been changed back to regular MSRP. No word yet on whether or not Wal-Mart will honor the orders already placed.
This might be a pricing error, but many preorders at Wal-Mart.com are worth checking out. The most notable games are:

Wii - Super Smash Bros.: Brawl - $20:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ…30411815755716

Xbox 360 - Devil May Cry 4 - $40:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ…14903098620702

PlayStation 3 - Haze - $30:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ…uct_id=6527031

Xbox 360 - Burnout Paradise - $40:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ…uct_id=7080024

Xbox 360 - Turok - $30
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5651618

Xbox 360 - Condemned 2: Bloodshot - $20
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8217142

There are more games that are priced way below normal retail price. If it’s a mistake, there’s a chance that Wal-Mart will honor all orders that are placed before it gets corrected, and you could always cancel your order if they don’t honor the price. Who knows how long the prices will be active if it is an error…so be quick!

This one is just a reassurance that were not dead. Miguel is back from the US and ready to roll next time, and Stephen is still recovering from his heart operation. I just babble for a bit here, but at least it’s something, right?

Just like always, you can download it with the link below or stream it with our player. Enjoy, and we’ll be back with a full show soon!

 

 The Stupid Gamer Podcast - Episode 15: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve pretty much stopped posting posting Japanese sales numbers because they were more redundant than, gee, I can’t come up with a good analogy here, but they were really redundant all the same. So anyway, I stopped posting them, but what’s the harm in taking a peek now and then, especially when the numbers are as crazy as they were for the past week? Check this out (thanks to Cheesemeister over at NeoGAF for the image, which you can click to enlarge to full resolution):

Looking at the charts, Nintendo has the entire top 10, 14 of the top 15, and 23 out of the top 30 overall. That’s pretty crazy, especially given that Sony’s big hitter, Grand Turismo 5: Prologue was released on the PS3 during this time frame.

Some things worth noting is that Super Mario Galaxy is over 800,000 in Japan and should hit 1 million soon. By next week Mario Party DS will surpass 1.5 million, Wii Sports is over 2.6 million, Wii Fit is over 1 million, Wii Play is over 2 million, Mario Party 8 is over 1 million, and Mario and Sonic are just a shade under 500,000.

After whining a bit on my Xbox Live League Page, I decided I’d snap some pics of the old and new versions of the Xbox 360 headset. I can’t say I like the changes much, but for a full explanation of why, check out the link and read up there.

Here’s a picture of the old controller volume/mute controls, right at the part that plugs into the 360 controller:

Pretty simple, huh?

Now, here’s the new volume/mute control…right in the middle of the cord:

Kinda inconvenient, if you ask me.

Now, here’s a pic showing how easy it once was to adjust the volume and toggle the mute switch on the old controller during gameplay:

Perfect…yet they still changed it anyway.

I haven’t heard any talk of the change, so I suspect that many people that are buying 360s now aren’t aware that it used to be different (and unquestionably better). For other people like myself that have used both types of headsets, what do you think? Are you with me on this one?

Not much going on this week, but Phoenix Wright fans might want to give Harvey Birdman a look. Other than that, I don’t have any interest in what’s going on this week.

Xbox 360:

• Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
• NFL Tour

PS3:

• NFL Tour

Nintendo Wii:

• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
• Luxor: Pharoah’s Challenge
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law

Virtual Console:

• Star Tropics (NES)
• King of Fighters ‘94 (NeoGeo)

PS2:

• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
• Harvey Birdman
• World Champion Paintball
• Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Bundle
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Beginning of Destiny

PSP:

• Harvey Birdman

Nintendo DS:

• Jackass: The Game
• Brain Challenge