Nintendo's E3 Press Conference Leaves Us Wanting More and Not In a Good Way

Nintendo is in a little bit of a pickle. Clearly from the Nintendo Direct Video and the E3 Press Conference there is many forms of entertainment the Wii U is going to offer. How all this fits together is the puzzling challenge for us to figure out. Consoles today need to do a lot more than just gaming in today's techy world. The Regginator Fils-Aime even stated that there is way more to Wii U than what they could fit into their one hour presentation. The conference was dedicated to games as it should be. This is where some of my concerns about Wii U rise from their grave.

E3 2012. Forever Alone.

Most people don’t bother to look at me. Some don’t even seem to notice my existence. Gamers have done this ritual thousands of times before. I’m old news to them. Years of playing video games has served them well with the muscle-memory equivalent to a trained athlete. To most I’m just an extension of their bodies. A conduit that delivers them full control and immersion into the video game world in front of them.

This is my life as a Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale demo unit Dualshock controller. Forever alone.

The Failing of PSN, XBL, and Wii Online

The year is 1990. My parents and I were living in the small rural mountain town of Coarsegold, CA. Its a friday night, and i was partaking in a rare treat. It had been a long week, and we had decided that it was a pizza night. It wasn't just any pizza night, though. While we usually had it delivered from one of the few local places in the area, tonight, we were taking the fight to the Pizza Parlor. The drive is short, but the anticipation makes it feel 10 times longer. Not anticipation for the pizza or the breadsticks or even the chance that i might run into a friend there.

This pizza parlor had arcade machines. Not just any arcade machines, they had Street Fighter 2.

The car had barely stopped before my seat belt was off, sprinting at full speed into this poor old building. The ambiance was incredible. Now you usually don't hear terms like “ambiance” thrown around to describe Pizza Parlors, but if you grew up in my generation, you can relate. The Smell of greasy frisbees made from pure cholesterol, the salad bar that kept everything at just a few degrees below room temperature, and the tables that were sticky from years of grease and soda spills.

It was heaven.

My parents had begun to order but i didn't care. My attention was focused in on the measly “arcade”. Like any sneaky mischievous 8 year old, i started to slink away, hopefully unnoticed by the benefactors of my habit. i get 3 steps away and i hear my name called. “ANDREW, Get BACK here. You can play games when you're done eating” My heart sinks. I know i’m going to love the pizza and the soda, but that's not why we're here. I was here to play.

Sure i had a Nintendo like any other kid of my generation, I even had a decent collection of games, but It was a poor substitute for this. I could play single player games until my eyes bled, but multiplayer was not the greatest on NES. The arcade had this cornered. packs of sweaty teenagers gathered around a nondescript wooden box just waiting for their chance to play; for their time to shine.

The pizza had arrived, i had scarfed it at warp speed and sat there with a longing look in my eyes. My mom looks at me, sighs and grabs her purse. Holy shit this is it! Her hand reaches in and pulls out her wallet. one by one she begins handing me quarters. I don't even see them as currency anymore, these are chances. Chances to play, Chances to Win, chances to impress. I say thanks, and begin my trek over to the machine.

It's a fairly busy friday night and one of the few pizza places in town. There are 6 or 7 kids (most of them older than me) all standing around this Street Fighter Cabinet. I look up and see the screen. Ryu is Pummeling Blanka. But that's not what i’m looking for. The object of my attention is right below them, on the bottom of the monitor. There lies the quarters. a row of quarters marking the play order of the gladiators in this arena. I sneak over to one side and place mine into the group. Now we wait.

The next few matches are exciting, with most people playing wither Ryu or Ken (pretty much the same as the tournament scene today). These kids are good. Really good. A perfect here, a hadouken or shoryuken there. I’m in way over my head. I don't care, i came to play, winning is a bonus. Finally my turn is up, i walk up to the machine, the glares of the gods on me, and assume my position. I reach up and grab my quarter. My hands are shaking. I’m sweating bullets. I slide the small metal coin into the slot and hear that beautiful sound.

Now, the real fun begins.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy. My impressions and/or review... whatever.

Update Dec 10 2011: The price for Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy has dropped to $29.99.

I've always been a sucker for air combat games. Ever since playing Top Gun on the NES, it's been a love affair for me. When Namco Bandai announced an Ace Combat game for the 3DS, I was on board faster than Maverick on a MIG-29. After six hours of crashing into mountains and shooting down bogeys here is my thoughts to help you decide if this is a game for you.

Assault Horizon Legacy may have a similar name to the console Assault Horizon game, but the 3DS version is a much more traditional Ace Combat game. Your going to get a large choice of fighter jets, weapons, customizable parts, replays, rocking soundtrack, and a lot of dog fighting. Assault Horizon Legacy doesn't skimp on content by any means and after a 6 hours campaign you will still have to unlock and purchase a ton stuff if you want to get everything in the game. So you're going to have to go back and replay missions for higher scores or check out the extra missions for fun. But even with all that the game still felt a little light and not quite a full experience. The games story about the USEA vs the Rebels pretty much boiled down to a us vs them argument with no real gut wrenching plot point to drive the action. When I blow up hundreds of fighter pilots, I like to feel like I'm taking out the bad guys. I won't spoil the games ending for you, but the first thought that popped in my mind was "Wow they phoned in this one". Overall the missions were pretty standard fair and the game is rather easy, so any sense of tension felt lost compared to other Ace Combat games.

Aliens Infestation releases for Nintendo DS today. We're excited and here's why you should be too.

Aliens Infestion for the Nintendo DS lands its way onto store shelves today. Sega may have had this game flying under the radar with little promotion and it may seem like releasing a DS title at this point in time makes little to no sense. But I'm here to tell you that there are some good reasons why you should at least give the game a look, we certainly are. To be honest I haven't played the game, so I'm going with my gut instinct on this one. So come join me and let me tell you why you should be excited for this game. Here, let this trailer whet your appetite.

Community Spotlight Dues Ex: Human Revloution PS3 Review

What's up nerds? Behold, our first community spotlight is here for your reading pleasure. What is the community spotlight you ask? Well it's a place to highlight the fantastic listeners and followers of Who Burned My Toast who wish to share their thoughts with the group. If it's interesting, we'll post it up, maybe make fun of you or possibly shower you with praise.

Our first member who stepped up to the plate is Eric Geer. He was gracious enough to send us his review of Dues Ex: Human Revolution for the PS3. We think it's awesome if you want to join in on the blog and take part in the conversation. So if you have something interesting or anything your passionate about, let us know by shooting us an email at whoburnedmytoast@gmail.com.  

Thanks again Eric.

Dues Ex: Human Revolution PS3 Review
Reviewer: EBGeer

“The game is set in 2027, 25 years before the first title, where corporations have extended their influence past the reach of global governments. The game follows Adam Jensen, the security chief for one of the world's most powerful human augmentation corporations, Sarif Industries. After a devastating attack on Sarif's headquarters, Adam is forced to undergo radical surgeries that fuse his body with mechanical augmentations, and he is embroiled in the search for those responsible for the attack.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Human_Revolution)

Disclaimer: As a lazy gamer, I ganked the above abstract from Wikipedia to save both time, and provide a plot description.

Prior to truly stepping into the game you get a taste of what’s going on with some synopsis and background of the story as well as a bit of training to learn out to maneuver your character Adam Jensen. I will first touch upon the things I enjoyed about the game because my negative viewpoint far outweighs the positive.

Nintendo makes it official, now let's really talk about Project Cafe.

We can now officially confirm that at least two things are true about Nintendo's new console. In a recent investor meeting, Satoru Iwata revealed that Nintendo will be releasing the successor to the Wii sometime after April 2012. We can also confirm that Project Cafe/Stream or whatever you want to call it, will be revealed and playable in June at this years E3. Combine this with the fact that more 3DS games coming down the pipeline, it's starting to look like Nintendo is going to have a pretty decent showing at E3. Sorry Zelda Skyward Sword, looks like you may get bumped as the main event after last years botched stage demo.

Other than that those few bits of information, we've got nothing but rumors and talk from "reliable" sources. So I don't feel like running down the list of things that could be true or not. But I do feel like there are some things that this new system is going to need to accomplish in order to be successful and I want to hear what you guys think about it.

I feel like Nintendo is in somewhat awkward position at this juncture and may have had to push out a new system earlier than they really wanted to. Between the large drop in sales (don't worry Nintendo is still filthy rich) for the Wii and the ever waning support/sales of big third party developers. It's become clear to me that Nintendo saw that it was losing too much support and interest in the Wii brand overall. Plus lets face it, most Wii owners other than the hardcore adopters just don't buy as many games as PS3/360 owners; unless it involves gyrating your pelvis or turning New Super Mario Bros. into a drinking game.

After the jump is a list of issues I think Nintendo needs to address in order help get this console streaming onto your faces... I mean living rooms around the world.

Our 3DS Impressions - Dual Strike Article

What’s up everyone? We’re back with an exciting second installment of our Dual Strike Article series that feature our real time discussions on a particular subject. If you couldn't tell by the Miis riding the hype train, we’re discussion the Nintendo 3DS. Amado and I both rode this train all the way to Nintendotown and bought the system on day one. Now that we’ve had some time to play around and ponder the amount of money we spent on the device. We discuss what we like, what we hate, and where Nintendo should improve our 3D snuggle bunny.

Nintendo 3DS Demo Tour in San Francisco with video reactions from "Real" people.

 

On Friday night I got a chance to check out the Nintendo 3DS at Pier 39 in San Francisco during Nintendos hands on Demo Pod Event. Nintendo brought its guns out blazing with dozens of demo units with marketing materials and plopped it right in the middle of one of San Francisco's biggest tourist hang outs. They had all the launch games ready to try out for as long as you wanted. Go and check Nintendo's website to see if there is a demo event near you. We captured some video of the event with real people reacting and giving their thoughts while playing the device for the first time.

If you would like to see more of the event, I've posted more images at the jump and for my in-depth thoughts on the 3DS, listen up for the next episode of the podcast. Episode 42 coming Monday.

Your thoughts on how to best play Monster Hunteron the 3DS.

Come to me MH 3DS.

Three or four weeks ago (I can't freakin' remember, I'm old dammit) I put out a call for the community to give me some feedback on their thoughts about how they would like to play Monster Hunter on the 3DS. If and when the game screeches it way onto the system, there are some interesting ways Capcom could change up the controls for the dimensionally aware handheld. I yelled, I did unmentionable things in an alley, and I begged on the blog for feedback as well as made my way to the Capcom Unity forums to get some thoughts from the hardest of the hardcore. Here is what I got back from the Monster Hunter fanbo... errr I mean community. Tee hee.

Sony's 'S1' PlayStation tablet is coming to join the party.

My photoshop skillz are supreme

Sony is proving to be a very busy company indeed over the last few months. With the announcement of the NGP(PSP2), the new Sony Ericcson phone, and Sony Playstation Suite. It looks like the companies future is bright. Engaget reports that Sony is now poised to release a new tablet device codenamed the "S1" and it has some very interesting features. For more detailed specs on the device hop on over to the article. What I want to focus on is two key features for the device after the jump.

Microsoft enters the handheld fray (kind of).

Hi friends. It's me Amado, which can mean only a couple of things. Either Monster Hunter Portable 3rd has been given a date or there is some other portable gaming news that I'd like to share with you. See what I got in store for you after the jump.

Killzone 3 Open Beta Impressions

On Thursday morning PS3 owners received access to the Killzone 3 Mulitplayer Beta. Luckily I was at home sick and for hours dived right into what Guerrilla games has to offer for its next installment to its PS3 exclusive. I'm a pretty big fan of the series and really enjoy the Killzone world, design and single player campaign. I still however have had mixed feeling about Killzone 2's multiplayer.

So lets see if things have changed a bit shall we?

Playing Monster Hunter on 3DS may present some touchy issues

Without dual analog control
what will we do?

You may or may not have heard the rumor that Monster Hunter could be making its way onto the 3DS sometime in the future. Between Capcom's CEO Haruhiro Tsujimoto statement and the current slew of games Capcom is releasing on the handheld, I'm guessing it's highly likely we'll be seeing Monsters and Felynes in 3D as soon as Capcom pulls it together.

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Monster Hunter is godly huge in Japan and the Nintendo DS brand is no slouch either. Now with Nintendo poised to make a splash with a technically capable piece of hardware and its market brand popularity, It would seem that branching out the series beyond the PSP will bring in not only more money but more players to Capcom's monster franchise. Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii even managed to sell over 1 millions copies in the land where PSP is the preferred monster hunting ground.

With that said I may be putting the cart before the horse on this one, but playing Monster Hunter on the 3DS is going to require some changes to the way the game plays. If your a fan of Monster Hunter you know full well that playing on a handheld like the PSP is a tricky beast of its own. The game has a rather unique and often cumbersome play style. Many of you have submitted yourself to the claw technique in order to work with the games integral camera control just so you can keep the rest of your fingers on the analog nub and face buttons. The game ideally requires a second analog/D-pad for the camera in order to make it easy for you to focus on all the other things you need to do to survive a round with a giant thirty story monster. With the 3DS were not getting a second analog stick and with the current position of the D-pad, the claw technique is out the window. It may look dire for the hardcore fans, but what the 3DS does offer is a touch screen and motion sensors that may prove to be a more simplified user experience.

Show us how you would like to play Monster Hunter on 3DS
I have some ideas on how we could be playing Monster Hunter on the 3DS, but I've gone a step farther. I want to give you all a chance to show us what you think the best way to play the game on a 3DS. I've created a PDF template for everyone to download and give it their best shot. When your done, send it back to us via email at whoburnedmytoast@gmail.com and we'll post them on the blog and Facebook. Since Monster Hunter has a complicated control scheme you can limit your template to only show buttons options for when your hunter has their weapon unsheathed as I did or if your ambitious you can go nuts.

I've completed my play control template for Monster Hunter for 3DS after the page break if you want to see what I think would work and my reasoning behind my choices.

Thought controlled gaming may be closer than you think.

They told us there would be cookies after the experiment.

Canadian based company Interaxon is working on a interesting technology they are dubbing "Thought Control Computing". At its basic level what Interaxon is offering is an opportunity to control things with your mind by converting your brainwaves into digital signals that once fed into a computer can control whatever you program it to do. Over the last few years the company has been experimenting with fun ideas such as controlling toy race cars on tracks to levitating a chair with your mind. But what peaked my interest is their presence at this years CES.

With the recent release of the the Microsoft Kinect we've entered yet another transition in the gaming industry with controller free gaming. It only natural to assume that at some point we were going to want to control games with our minds. It may be very primitive in execution, but Interaxon teamed up with SecretExit to add their brainwave technology to their game ZenBound 2. As you can see from the video below the man is controlling some of that shit with his mind!



Granted this technology is only reading the strength of your brainwaves when your concentrating and doesn't read your thoughts or know what your thinking. But, they liken the idea to tuning into a frequency. Maybe in the future they will be able to pick up the subtle differences in what your thinking. It's an interesting premise and may not lead to any exciting Hardcore games anytime soon, but I always like to speculate and think about what technology may lead to.

What do you think? Mind blowing technology or just another crazy peripheral?

Donkey Kong Country Returns impressions

The developer Retro studios has once again cradled one of Nintendo's biggest franchises in its bosom and raised a fantastic game. The last year has been a banner year for platformers on the Wii and the 2D platformer genre in general. Games like New Super Mario Bros, Super Meat Boy and Donkey Kong help prove that its still one the best game designs around and with the right team, can compete with anything 3D games have to offer. I wanted to give you guys a quick roundup of my thoughts so far about the game and what you can expect if this game is on your radar.

It's just a 2D platformer why should you care?
Retro Studios seems to be Nintendo's ace in the hole and boy they don't disappoint. Granted this game doesn't have the same 3D rendered graphics like the originals, but it does have beautifully animated colorful characters and environments. Donkey Kong Country Returns level design is fantastic and offers tons of secrets to find, challenging platforming, and creative uses of the levels environments to effect gameplay. Each level in the game seems to be always asking you to do something a little different and each level feels fresh. Your also going to be in for a challenge; in the first world alone I died at least 10 times and didn't even come close to finding all the KONG letters and puzzle pieces in each level. Oh yeah, did I mention that each level also has a time attack mode as well? In case you looking for more of a challenge. The game can be difficult at times, but the game does offer you lots of ways to make it easier on yourself by adding checkpoints and banana coins. With the banana coins you go to old Kranky Kongs shack and purchase extra balloons, a puzzle revealing parrot, and invincibility juice. Much like Mario Bros 3, you access them on the main map and use them before you enter levels.

Sequelitis

I love you! But not that much.

Is the gaming industry relying too heavily on sequels?

I love sequels, I really do. I think overall video games fare well when it comes to the business of creating sequels to beloved franchises, which is much more than what I can say for your average movie sequel (Mortal Kombat II, you’ve failed me). Once a good game concept is implemented those foundations can be easily replicated and improved upon and refined to perfection, creating a massive fan base who cling to every nuance of their favorite characters and demand to see more. Which is understandable, why wouldn’t you want more of the games you love?

But over the years, I’ve been noticing a trend in the industry. Publishers are giving us more of what we want and they are doing it at a pretty fast pace. Sequels are now coming more frequently and what I would argue, less innovation. Some publishers, such as Activision have even gotten to the point of releasing a new version of their games on a yearly cycle. Choosing to develop one franchise with multiple studios in order to hit their yearly sales numbers. This isn’t a new phenomenon by any means and even today we still see sequels to some of gaming's biggest franchises of the last 20 years still being reworked and played by millions of fans worldwide. But I feel like over the last eight years or so the world has been filled with more Marios, Zeldas, Master Chiefs, and games with the number 4 in their titles then I feel comfortable with. Often these games are great in their own right, but often they feel a lot like there predecessors. It may be nostalgia creeping into my mind, but I remember sequels to games really feeling like a whole new upgrade to me when I was a younger gamer. Nowadays I feel like I’m just getting slightly modified upgrades to my favorite games. Pretty graphics and a few new mechanics mixed in.

Metroid Other M has 2 hours worth of cutscenes. Hooray?

I'm alone... so... alone. OMG shut up!

From the very first trailer shown of Metroid Other M. It was obvious that Nintendo was once again trying something new with the series by including team Ninja into the mix. When Retro Studios turned the Metroid series into an FPS with the Prime series, many fans died of a brain aneurysm. But overall I think most people enjoyed the series new direction.

So here we are again at a crossroad with a new take on the series about to be released. News has slowly trickled about the game, but this bit of info caused my video game nerd type of spidey sense to get all tingly and sense danger coming.

Metroid Other M is going to feature a whole lot of back story about our heroin Samus Aran. So much in fact that the creators added a "Theater Mode" so you can watch all 2 hours of the story like a movie. This is explained in the quote below from Famitsu.

"The storytelling aspect of Other M continues to play a major role even after you beat the game, the way [Nintendo designer Yoshio] Sakamoto puts it. "There's a 'theater mode' that lets you view all of the cutscenes linked together seamlessly as a single movie," he explained. "We placed just as much weight on enjoying the story as we did on the action aspects of this game, but it's hard to fully communicate a storyline in a video game with just one playthrough. At the same time, though, it's asking a lot of players to beat the game twice to get it all, so that's where the idea for that mode came from. It lets you make a lot of discoveries, things you missed or dialogue that makes more sense in retrospect. I hope it helps people understand the story better."

So some of you may be asking yourselves. Why Butcher? Why would this incredible news be getting your spidey sense all in a bunch? I have one thing to say. Metal Gear Solid 4. If you've played MGS4 then you know of the ridiculously long cut scenes and story in the game. I felt like you were spending almost the same amount of time watching cut scenes as playing the game. Now, did any of you really know what in the hell was going on in that game? Be honest.

For me this could go either way in terms of really great, to totally horrible. I honestly don't recall Team Ninja being masters of storytelling. If the production values are bad and your forced to watch it, I'm going to have bad flashbacks from MGS4. I'm not saying it's going to be horrible, but it does have me a little concerned with Team Ninja at the helm. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we'll see Samus in a bikini on a beach somewhere, holding a volley ball.

Would you sit down and watch all of the cut scenes in Metroid Other M's theater mode?

Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Fail

I've spent over 2 weeks with the PS3 version of Operation Flashpoint 2 trying to really get into the game. By the end of that 2 weeks I was toasted. The game developer Codemasters is offering a different take on the completely flooded market of First Person Shooters that have come to dominate the industry. Seriously, next time you go to GameStop take a look at the XBOX 360 or PS3 game racks and count how many dudes with guns you see. Honestly there hasn't been a whole lot to get excited about lately. OPF2 is intended to be a combat simulator and this fact alone is what gained my attention as soon as I heard about it. Finally, somebody is trying to do something a little different with an FPS. It sounded too good to be true. No longer shall you be a hero taking countless bullets, wading through ridiculous plot lines and playing yet another stereotypical bad ass character. This was my chance to experience the real deal of combat. Move over Private Ryan and you suck Matt Damon.