hello, nintendo

Early Zelda Gnits

I have now had two reasonable sized portions of Twilight Princess gameplay.  This hasn't gotten me tremendously far into the game, only about four hours, but I am starting to form some initial impressions.

As with pretty much everyone else who has written anything on the Internet about this game, I am rather into it.  It is great and I am happy and all that glory being heaped upon it is accurate and well-deserved.

This morning, however, I am at work and not playing Zelda, and that does not make me happy.  That makes me petulant and cranky and so I will turn my irritation into rationalization and point out all the things I've encountered so far about this game that aren't great.

Please be aware that after this point there are some minor spoilers about the first 4-5 hours of the game.

The new ACWW, now with guns!

from Drew and Natalie's Married to the Sea

Hey Nintendo! *moon*

Reggie officially announces Twilight Princess delay.

Help me, Chibi Robo, you're my only hope

The GameCube has taken over a prominent role in my life again thanks to Chibi Robo. I've been dying to get my hands on this title since the original US release date last fall was delayed. It was finally released last week and my expectations for the game have been met over and over. Besides pretending to be a tiny robot dragging an electrical plug from my butt, the thing I like best about Chibi Robo is that, like Animal Crossing, there are no specific goals or levels to complete. I can take my time to explore my surroundings and do whatever I want. The sense of scale and crude renderings are charmingly reminiscent of Katamari Damacy. The excellent sound design makes the chores easier to do since the accompanying music and sound effects are such great fun to listen to.

Chores have never been so much fun! The downside of the game is my dog is now cursing me for leaving dirty socks and empty boxes all over the floor of my real house since all my time is being invested in yet another virtual home.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

You already know by now that The Two Thrones is far better than Warrior Within, but not as good as The Sands of Time, but do you know why it is that I think that?  No, you don't, because I haven't told you.  Yet.

(This post will contain spoilers)

Make Your Choice

Some of the best conversations I've seen about Nintendo have come up in the debate about best handheld gaming system. Nintendo's got three strong options with the new-generation GBA SP, the adorable Micro and the powerhouse DS. I love the way this Ask MetaFilter thread played out, especially since it led me to discover the discussion about the GBA SP2's d-pad. (Also, as a bonus, "GBA SP2 d-pad" would make a great password.)

To my mind, the real choice option is either Micro for the casual gamer or DS for someone who values great, unique games over ultimate portability/cuteness. That surprises me to say, because the GBA SP is still probably the best form factor ever for a Nintendo handheld. (In fact, it led me to buying my first game system ever back when the SP first came out and was plastered all over every bus stop in Manhattan.)

I can't wait for next Christmas, because the increase in sexiness from GBA to GBA SP was so dramatic that the clunky and homely DS is sure to be replaced by something astounding.

Let down

It's no news to anyone by this point that Nintendo has delayed Twilight Princess  (this link is to IGN, but the information is everywhere), and if it is I'm sorry for being the one to take the wind out of your sails.

As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo already has my money for it so really it's up to them when they want to collect, and as always I prefer delays over unfinished software, but man this is such a bummer.  I've been thinking about the games I've gotten this year and they're mostly gimmicks.  Jungle Beat is a lot of fun but I haven't played it since the week-long flurry of activity after opening it.  Donkey Konga was good but not good enough to get me to buy the sequel.  What else has there been this year?

I spent the first year of my GameCube's life waiting for titles, now, some 3 or 4 years later I'm spending the last year of its life... waiting for titles?  It's no real consolation that almost no other games are being released either, but at least it means there are lots of people to group with in Worlds of Warcraft.

updated: fixed an amusing (to me) typo of "sails" as "sails"

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

Continuing with my tradition of talking about games that are months old, I played some Donkey Kong Jungle Beat last night.  My wonderful wife bought it for me for my birthday, and between work and dinner with my family I decided to give it a try.

OMG!!1! LINK FIGHTS VEGETABLE WEREWOLVES!!

Press the Buttons , an excellent general video games commentary blog, has discovered that the next Zelda will super-definitely no questions asked 100% totally confirmed by Nintendo (and I it straight heard from Miyamoto's sister's brother's best friend's college roomate) that Link spend the entire game farming werewolf vegetables!!  OMGICANTWAIT

Nintendo #1 in 2004 Sales?

A few days ago, Nintendo Insider posted an editorial with a different way of looking at console sales, which happily-to-me puts Nintendo on top.

Now, I'm the first to admit that when it comes to specific numbers and industry conventions, I don't know squat.  I'm an aging gamer who sits at his desk and pontificates about toys and entertainment when he should be writing and testing corporate software, so I don't know how legit these numbers are, how much massaging has taken place or what, but Nintendo Insider claims that if you add up the numbers of consoles sold for all three major players (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) Nintendo continued to dominate the market due to Game Boy sales.

That's not too suprising really.  The handheld market is gigantic, and Nintendo's done a phenominal job of fending off competition thus far, and churns those bad boys out like crazy, and almost all other numbers that you see ignore the handheld market.

Like the Nintendo Insider article, I'm not really saying anything, just rambling about the numbers.  It's an interesting and possibly useful way to look at the market in a different light.