On Evacuation and Endorsement

If you missed the news, this past week was host to the Nintendo Media Summit. Among the news stories crashing RSS feeds were some release dates for upcoming Nintendo titles including Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Now it is certainly possible that the decision makers at Nintendo realized there are twelve months in a year and 52 weeks worth of release dates instead of the ones between Thanksgiving and New Years. It’s possible that these games were always scheduled to come out in the Spring to capitalize on a typically slow release schedule. Ironically it would seem that Sony and Microsoft had a similar thought process. God of War, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and a handful of other high profile games have highlighted the beginning of 2010. With Super Mario Galaxy 2 coming out May 23 and Metroid: Other M in June, Nintendo is positioning these first party favorites well in advance of the holiday season potentially as an attempt to capitalize on the market before store shelves become over saturated with offerings. Or, if you have a tin foil hat handy, maybe they are ensuring these games are released before the fall season because they are afraid something else is much more likely to capture their audience and they do not want to lose potential sales. But that can’t be true, cant it? Is it possible that Nintendo is afraid of Project Natal?

I know it sounds crazy, but the voices in my head think it’s possible. Let me explain.

Continue reading

On Funerals and Maturity

We gather here today to pay our final respects to maturity on the Nintendo Wii. Mature gaming wasn’t with us for very long on the little white waggle-fest, but it had a lot of heart. Sure, it wasn’t very popular and was often ignored for plastic add-ons, fitness games or rehashed relics of gaming’s past, but I am proud to say that I lived long enough to experience the life and death of a potential gaming experience on one of the most successful gaming consoles in the history of video games. Maturity, you left us too soon. Continue reading

Gathering TWiGs – June

Another month in the books. Of course this month was fun because I’ve been upgraded from Video Game Editorial Writer to Video Game Podcaster. I think I’m going to need a smaller font on my business card at this rate. Be sure to check out the latest episodes of the Post Game Report over at Talking About Games, and if you missed any of this month’s editorials fear not, for I have a quick recap and link to get you to less than 1000 words of video game awesome per click. Enjoy. Continue reading

On Construction and Entitlement

OK, full disclosure here: I was never a big LEGO person growing up. K’nex? I built that roller coaster in 2 days. I know they aren’t in the same category, but I was all about 3D Puzzles too, I built the so-called “most difficult puzzle” of New York City in 5 days. But LEGO and I never really had a longstanding relationship. That being said, I have a fascination with these LEGO video games. All of them. And I think they offer a promising future to the video game industry. Continue reading

On Waggle and Prognostication

Naturally, the only thing on the collective hive mind of gamers this week is E3. The Electronics Entertainment Expo is the prized jewel of the gaming industry. Publishers lay out the groundwork for the next fiscal year, developers show off what their blood, sweat and tears have produced. And twitter crashes from the surprise announcements revealed at the major press conferences. Fanboys and blind zealots will claim that their Company (console) of choice “won” the press war and bank accounts around the world cringe at the number of quality games planned for release in the next fiscal year. Continue reading

Gathering TWiGs – May

May was an interesting month. The dates were mapped out such that there were five (5) TWiGs for the month, not the typical four (4). I passed 100 posts on the blog. Oh, and I was offered an Editorial position at Talking About Games. They are now featuring my gaming posts on a weekly basis. It feels great to be recognized for something that started out so inconsequential. Who knows what June will bring. Anywho, here’s a recap of the past month of gaming posts. Enjoy. Continue reading

On Innovation and Hypocrisy

So I’m sure you’ve seen the footage for the new Punch-Out game coming out in a couple weeks. If you’ve done any digging you’ve likely noticed that nearly all of the roster from the old school NES game is returning with a few additional stereotyped characters. And yes, the pink jumpsuit appears to be coming back too. After seeing all the screen shots and reading the hands-on articles, I think I’ve reached a tipping point. All of these remakes are starting to make me sick. And the worst part of all of this is that we are to blame. You (my eager reader) and I, as serious gamers are responsible for the lack of innovation on the White Waggle Machine of Might. Ok, I’ll admit that was a blanket statement. But I’ll do my best to support that assertion. Continue reading