Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wii at Its best
Wii is just a general all around console. I know a lot of people think its pretty sweet but when it comes down to it and you play it after a while; its capable of playing several types of games but its not really great at doing one thing. Its not very good at driving games, shooting games, etc... Why? Because of the inaccuracy of its controllers. Wii can still play games just like any other console though that doesn't involve those things, you just have to hold the controller in 2 parts, but you have to include the interactive motion of the controllers at certain points in the game because of the few buttons on the controllers. Really when you are playing you just get tired of moving the controller up and down trying to get your guy on the screen to jump, the timing is off and its hard to judge your distance when your flailing your controller around. Its nearly impossible to play the Call of Duty 4 on Wii because its so hard to keep moving your whole arm to aim at the screen and it takes too long to line your sights up to kill someone. Its very disappointing in the long run and I seem to become more frustrated with playing than enjoy it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wii Console Sum-Up
Today I want to have a brief overview of Wii. In my humble opinion, Wii is fun, but it is only fun to play with other people. Games are simple and not very complex because its difficult to have an accurate controller that follows your every command. This shows in games because they are often simple and easy to play for experienced players. Games are typically not very long and can be beaten in a few hours to 2 days. Downloadable content is sparse even though they are working on making it better, in comparison to other consoles the downloadable games are everyone's favorite classics but there is only a few. Xbox and playstation have better online interaction and would be more favorable. Graphics are poor in every game I have played, they all seem to resemble Nintendo 64 back in 2000 a decade ago. Im not seeing the performance boost in graphics, the only real difference is the wireless play that is limited. Again, the games are only fun to play with other people and they are just small simple mini-games. The graphic quality is horrible, I have a HDTV and with the basic component cable that comes with the system its hard to read text because the picture is fuzzy on a 40" screen. I had to buy a HD component cable for the Wii for $30 and the picture is still not completely clear even though the picture is better. Also the wireless control is junk and it only improves with a purchase of a $40 part to connect into the wii controller. I must say that I perfer to play games on xbox than wii because of a better online setup and what is available. I would recommend this system for beginners and young children who would have a better time playing basic games.
Monday, April 5, 2010
New Super Mario Bros.Wii continued
Nothing has really changed in game play. The levels progressively get harder as you go, more often than not this involves moving platforms that you have to jump onto. In each world there are two castles that you have to beat in order to finish the work. In this game you have to fight the same boss twice with a different variation of the same one. To me its incredibly unoriginal and most of the time when playing I don't see anything new to the platform. Its highly dissapointing to me to buy a new-generation model console and the main game for the company is lame and copy paste of older games. So far im having a hard time wanting to play it because their is very little new to the mario genre that its not exciting and new to play. So far its not the MSRP of $49.99 I paid for it.
Monday, March 29, 2010
New Super Mario Bros.Wii
I bought this game for my fiancée over the weekend and played it with her. Basically its a spin off of all the mario brothers games for NES and Super NES in one, but the difference is that some things are in 3D and you can use the Wii Remote to interact on screen. I have not beaten the game and have only gotten to the second world but it closely resembles super mario world. It is extremely basic for levels for advanced players, but for beginners it proved challenging for my fiancée. Most of the beginning levels involve moving platforms, something that beginners have a hard time jumping to especially when they have such a hard time getting Mario to go where they want him to move to. I died once in the first world and my fiancée died a grand total of 55 times. For every 5 times you die you must use a continue, and in exchange you receive 5 additional lives. I think the greatest feature of the new super mario bros.wii game is you can play co-op with up to four players; Mario, Luigi, (Blue) Toad and (Yellow) Toad. However the players are "solid" and you can not walk through eachother, resulting in death when you are trying to jump from one tiny platform to another in a hurry. Its too difficult to coordinate the timing between four players especially when the screen is moving and there is little ground for the players to walk on. Not only that but if the leading player goes too far the screen moves with that player, and the player dragging along dies. You are constantly waiting on another player and if you do anything ahead of the other player you risk killing them. When you do die you fall off the screen and float back in a bubble and the other player must pop it for you to be able to play again.
So far it brings back memories but needs serious reconfiguring to make it playable for multi-player.
Next week I will talk more about this game.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Wii Resort - Full List of Games
Each of the following are the games you can play in Wii Resort, the drop downs are games that can be unlocked by finishing the first game or by reaching a total point number or beat a certain time.
Sword Play
- Knock your opponent off the platform with your sword
Swordplay Speed Slice
-Slice object at the right angle as fast as you can! The judge decides who wins.
Swordplay Show Down
-Fight a horde of sword fighters! Take three hits, and its over. Defeat all enemies to win!
Wakeboarding
- Wake board behind the boat and catch air off the wake! Just be sure to land flat.
Frisbee
Frisbee Dog
- throw the frisbee at the target -- the dog will catch it!
Frisbee Golf
- Play golf with a frisbee! Throw the frisbee into the target on the green
Archery
-Use the wii remote and nunchuk to aim your bow and shoot your arrows right on target
- 3 levels of difficulty
Basket ball
3 Point Contest
- Sink as many 3 point shots as you can before time runs out! The bonus ball is worth double points!
Pickup Game
- Its a 3-on-3 pickup game. Dribble, pass, shoot, or dunk it!
Table Tennis
Match
- Score 6 points first to win. try angling your paddle to put spin on the ball.
Return Challenge
- Return as many serves as you can. Think fast and hit faster!
Golf
3-9-18 holes
Bowling
Standard Game
- Hit the lanes ans knock down as many pins as you can!
100 Pin Game
- Bowling with 100 pins! Knock down as many as you can for a max score of 3,000.
Spin control
- It takes skill to avoid the barriers in the lane. Put some spin on that ball!
Power-Crusing
Slalom Course
- Cruise through the gates as fast as you can. Bonus rings are worth double points!
VS
- Ride through the rings in order, and race to reach the finish line first!
Canoeing
Speed Challenge
- Paddle to the finish line! Maintain a steady pace to keep up your speed.
VS
- The first player to pass a checkpoint scores 1 point. The winner is the first to get 5 points!
Cycling
Road Race
- Use your hands to pedal with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The key to speed is good timing.
VS
- Reach the goal first to win. The trick is to save your energy and use it at the right moments.
Air Sports
Skydiving
- It's a long way down! Link up with other Mii characters as you free-fall, then smile for the camera!
Island flyover
- Take a flying tour of Wuhu Island! How many (i) points can you find?
Dog Fight
- Shoot your rival's balloons! Whoever has the most balloons left at the end wins.
Thats it for now Im not sure what Im going to post next week so we will both be surprised!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wii Resort
Wii Resort is basically an add-on to Wii Sports, the game that came with the Wii system. It includes the following games: Swordplay, Wake boarding, Archery, Frisbee, Basket Ball, Power Cruising, Cycling, Golf, Table Tennis, Bowling, Canoeing, and Air Sports. In each game the more you play the more games (up to 3) you unlock per category. While all the games have some level of fun each one is only really fun (in my humble opinion) when you play with someone else and they are competitive. Some of the games such as Cycling require so much energy to play that the user is less likely to play the game again, mainly out of sheer exhaustion. Over all the game is fun, users get to see their Mii in action against other players whereas inn other Wii games they do not get to see the character they created. This game is fairly fun and has several games sure to appeal to everyone's tastes; the wii motion sensor is awesome in unlocking even more potential with the Wii console. Because their is so much for each individual game I will go into short detail per category next time to reduce the amount of text to read.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Trama Center: New Blood
I picked up a cheap game from Game Stop called Trama Center: New Blood. This game is played through the view point of a surgeon and in my opinion is quite challenging. Corny scripts, and the plot has holes, but I want to primarily talk about user control during the game.
As mentioned above you perform surgery. Each surgery has a time limit, to progress through the game you must complete the surgery within the time allotted. Rankings are given for your performance conducted within each surgery. Each surgery has the same beginning and end. Sterilize the incision point, and use the scalpel to cut into the patient. For each process in the surgery you see on screen the grade given for how well you perform each step (Etc. a straight incision is given a "cool" compared to a zig-zag incision which would be given a "bad"). After playing this game for a while I noticed that the grading system is inaccurate. Often I would be given a 'cool' rating for a hasty stitch job and a fast incision, and vice versa. After a while it seems impossible to obtain an 'A' rating for every surgery as they progressively get harder.
In each surgery the patient's vitals are displayed at the top of the screen. Each surgery has a twist and reduces the vital meter, also the vitals continually decline during the operation. To the vitals go back up you have to select your syringe and draw 'vital fluid' from a jar and inject it into the patient. In easy mode, the vitals drop at a very slow pace, medium difficulty at a medium pace, and hard at a ridiculous rate. On complex surgeries it became impossible to complete the surgery on the medium difficulty. Towards the end of the game I found that I would have to lower my difficulty just to move on. Not that I lack the skill, but that some hemorrhaging would occur so often that it is way to hard to put the patient back together and look after their vitals, while doing all this in a timely manner. I feel that the game (rated T for Teens) is beyond their ability to complete the game on a normal difficulty setting.
Overall I thought the control of the cursor is acceptable. The slower you are (to improve accuracy) the more sensitive the game is to your actions. If you move at a fast pace, like making circle to cut something out and not worrying about where exactly you are cutting, the game does not seem to care and your motion does not affect the patient. I found that even opening up the patient in a hurried manner was more effective then taking your time to make a straight line to cut into the patients chest. Often the hurried process would receive a 'cool' rating. I would recommend this game solely on the 'cool factor' of performing surgery, however the rating system is flawed, and the faster you move your cursor the game compensates because it cannot keep up with your movement. I purchased the Wii Motion Plus, which is an attachment placed on the bottom of the Wii Remote, and provides information to the Wii Console to make the remote in a X, Y, Z axis, instead of the standard X, Y axis. The additional information transmitted to the Wii console pin-points the location of the remote in a space relationship to the Wii Sensor Bar, this allows a more fine-tuned control and the Wii Console does not have to compensate for user control because it can not keep up. In the control of the game, to meet its like going from using a 10ft pole to touch object on a screen, to using a pencil.
However this additional attachment raises the cost of the 'controler' to more than $80.00.
$20 Nun-Chuck
$40 Wii Remote
$20 Wii Motion Plus
+ Tax.
As mentioned above you perform surgery. Each surgery has a time limit, to progress through the game you must complete the surgery within the time allotted. Rankings are given for your performance conducted within each surgery. Each surgery has the same beginning and end. Sterilize the incision point, and use the scalpel to cut into the patient. For each process in the surgery you see on screen the grade given for how well you perform each step (Etc. a straight incision is given a "cool" compared to a zig-zag incision which would be given a "bad"). After playing this game for a while I noticed that the grading system is inaccurate. Often I would be given a 'cool' rating for a hasty stitch job and a fast incision, and vice versa. After a while it seems impossible to obtain an 'A' rating for every surgery as they progressively get harder.
In each surgery the patient's vitals are displayed at the top of the screen. Each surgery has a twist and reduces the vital meter, also the vitals continually decline during the operation. To the vitals go back up you have to select your syringe and draw 'vital fluid' from a jar and inject it into the patient. In easy mode, the vitals drop at a very slow pace, medium difficulty at a medium pace, and hard at a ridiculous rate. On complex surgeries it became impossible to complete the surgery on the medium difficulty. Towards the end of the game I found that I would have to lower my difficulty just to move on. Not that I lack the skill, but that some hemorrhaging would occur so often that it is way to hard to put the patient back together and look after their vitals, while doing all this in a timely manner. I feel that the game (rated T for Teens) is beyond their ability to complete the game on a normal difficulty setting.
Overall I thought the control of the cursor is acceptable. The slower you are (to improve accuracy) the more sensitive the game is to your actions. If you move at a fast pace, like making circle to cut something out and not worrying about where exactly you are cutting, the game does not seem to care and your motion does not affect the patient. I found that even opening up the patient in a hurried manner was more effective then taking your time to make a straight line to cut into the patients chest. Often the hurried process would receive a 'cool' rating. I would recommend this game solely on the 'cool factor' of performing surgery, however the rating system is flawed, and the faster you move your cursor the game compensates because it cannot keep up with your movement. I purchased the Wii Motion Plus, which is an attachment placed on the bottom of the Wii Remote, and provides information to the Wii Console to make the remote in a X, Y, Z axis, instead of the standard X, Y axis. The additional information transmitted to the Wii console pin-points the location of the remote in a space relationship to the Wii Sensor Bar, this allows a more fine-tuned control and the Wii Console does not have to compensate for user control because it can not keep up. In the control of the game, to meet its like going from using a 10ft pole to touch object on a screen, to using a pencil.
However this additional attachment raises the cost of the 'controler' to more than $80.00.
$20 Nun-Chuck
$40 Wii Remote
$20 Wii Motion Plus
+ Tax.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wii Sports
Wii sports comes with some fun but basic games: Golf, bowling, tennis, boxing, and baseball.
Golf is quite fun, and has the basic principles of the game. It has different clubs, different grass types, wind, and a power meter for your swing. The play must stand in a golf swing stance and hit the ball in the direction of the hole. Its fun and challenging, however moving your wrist for a swing is sufficient and that is the only player interaction. Up to four people can play using 1 remote.
Tennis is more interactive, swinging your wii remote is the same as your racket. Over hand and under hand matters on how you hit the tennis ball. The user plays both the forward and rear positions unless more people play (up to four) and they can play all the positions. While this game is my personal favorite it is limited to only 2 courts. While golf has several courses.
Bowling is a great game, its fun, easy to play for anyone, and mostly realistic. The down side to this game is the spin on the ball. Its almost impossible to make the ball spin, and the user has exaggerate twisting your arm to put spin on the ball. Up to 4 people can play on one remote.
Boxing is extremely fun and by far the most interactive. The user must connect the nun-chuck and the wii remote together and punch just like a real boxer would. This includes blocking, and leaning with the controllers to dodge punches. The rules are the same for real boxing but each player has a health pie chart. This game can be played by up to 2 people, but 2 wii remotes are needed and nun-chucks.
Baseball is very limited. 4 players can play, but it is limited to a hitter and the pitcher. The hitter swings the wii remote as a batter, and the pitcher acts like they are throwing the ball but hold down one of the buttons on the remote. This changes the thrown ball type; fastball, curve ball, and splitter. Its fun but so limited as a game its not very entertaining, this game only requires the wii remote.
Overall the games are fun, and best played with someone else. In each game the more its played, you can unlock extra games in that category. I think Wii Sports is a good foundation as to what to expect in games, although I am hopeful that it improves. I feel like although this game is good for kids, it is overall too limited for adults to continuously play over and over again.
Next week I am going to play a Wii game other than the game that came and I will report back on the controls and interactivity of it. I would like to see if Nintendo has made better games than Wii Sports and increased interactivity.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Wii Console Features
The wii has many features that really enhance the system, and it is setup for a fun and adaptive user friendly style. The homepage of the wii is setup with a series of boxes called "channels," that look like tv screens. Some of these screens are:
*Mii channel
A menu that lets the user create a profile of themselves, including a mii (avatar)
*Weather channel
A menu to look up the current and up coming weather
*Internet channel
Lets a user browse the internet using Opera as a browser
*Photo channel
The user can upload photos via SD card slot on the wii, a user could also store games/game data to the SD card for increased system memory
*Shopping channel
This channel lets the user download games for the wii, older games for Nintendo systems (Virtual console) as well as game data.
These channels are preset on the wii, however in the wii shopping channel other channels can be downloaded via the internet through the wireless adapter built into the console! Along with these channels are also wii console systems setting and a mailbox. The mailbox show user history for the day as well as playtime and total history playtime. In the system settings, users can do typical things such as setting the date/time, birthday info, screen adjustment, and wii remote calibration. A typical settings menu with expected settings.
Overall I think the console itself is fairly well balance, not too much, not too little. In comparison to other gaming consoles it holds its ground in system entertainment. I have not play online via wii yet, and look forward to it. For my next post I will play the Wii Sports game that game with the console and give feedback about player experience, as well as general comments about the controllers and their control for game play.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Upon opening the Wii console box, it includes:
Wii console
Nun-chuck
Wii Remote
Sensor Bar
Power adapter and cord
Sensor bar stand
Audio Video Cables
Will sports
Wii manual warranty, and safety manual
Promotion to Nintendo Magazine
After setting up the console to my HDTV I started looking at the design of the whole setup. The console is small, it does not take up much space and is a little larger than a standard DVD case. Thats a huge plus because the other consoles (Play Station 3 and Xbox 360) are fairly large and bigger than a standard DVD player. It has a SD slot, and 4 slots on the top (for the classic controller sold separately to play older games that are down-loadable for a fee). So far so good, the console is white, looks sharp, seems solid, and small. After a brief read of the will manual, the sensor bar can be placed on top or bottom of the TV to pick up the signal of the wireless controller, or Wii remote. The sensor bar has two sticker pads that can be placed on the top of the tv so it doesn't fall off, to me that is a well thought out design, and if you want to put the sensor bar on the sensor bar stand, it also includes two sticky pads as well.
Next, the wii remote and nun-chuck. The wii remote fits well and the buttons are easily accessed by the layout of our hand. The remote has a long rectangular shape with a trigger on the bottom for your index finger, and a main round button for your thump. At the base of the remote it has round buttons labeled '1' and '2' in a vertical order. Above those buttons are three buttons in a horizontal format labeled '-', then a button with a picture of a home or house, followed by a '+' button. The remote comes with a clear silicone jacket with a denser top end, and the remote has a strap on the bottom so you don't accidentally throw the remote. There is a slot on the bottom of the remote where the nun-chuck connects, at the connection point on the nun-chuck it has a clear locking mechanism in which you take the rope from the strap and lock it into the nun-chuck. This insures that the two remotes stay together and connected. The nun-chuck is made to fit into your hand almost in the same style a gun would, however there in a joy-stick on the top, and one button for your trigger finger. Because of the layout of both controllers, it does not matter if you are right of left handed.
Next week I will discuss actually turning on the console and discussing its features without play a game!
Wii console
Nun-chuck
Wii Remote
Sensor Bar
Power adapter and cord
Sensor bar stand
Audio Video Cables
Will sports
Wii manual warranty, and safety manual
Promotion to Nintendo Magazine
After setting up the console to my HDTV I started looking at the design of the whole setup. The console is small, it does not take up much space and is a little larger than a standard DVD case. Thats a huge plus because the other consoles (Play Station 3 and Xbox 360) are fairly large and bigger than a standard DVD player. It has a SD slot, and 4 slots on the top (for the classic controller sold separately to play older games that are down-loadable for a fee). So far so good, the console is white, looks sharp, seems solid, and small. After a brief read of the will manual, the sensor bar can be placed on top or bottom of the TV to pick up the signal of the wireless controller, or Wii remote. The sensor bar has two sticker pads that can be placed on the top of the tv so it doesn't fall off, to me that is a well thought out design, and if you want to put the sensor bar on the sensor bar stand, it also includes two sticky pads as well.
Next, the wii remote and nun-chuck. The wii remote fits well and the buttons are easily accessed by the layout of our hand. The remote has a long rectangular shape with a trigger on the bottom for your index finger, and a main round button for your thump. At the base of the remote it has round buttons labeled '1' and '2' in a vertical order. Above those buttons are three buttons in a horizontal format labeled '-', then a button with a picture of a home or house, followed by a '+' button. The remote comes with a clear silicone jacket with a denser top end, and the remote has a strap on the bottom so you don't accidentally throw the remote. There is a slot on the bottom of the remote where the nun-chuck connects, at the connection point on the nun-chuck it has a clear locking mechanism in which you take the rope from the strap and lock it into the nun-chuck. This insures that the two remotes stay together and connected. The nun-chuck is made to fit into your hand almost in the same style a gun would, however there in a joy-stick on the top, and one button for your trigger finger. Because of the layout of both controllers, it does not matter if you are right of left handed.
Next week I will discuss actually turning on the console and discussing its features without play a game!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Wii Review
Wii Review is a blog I am starting to review in an in depth style of the wii console's hardware and software (i.e. games). I just purchased the console and I look forward to what other people think about the systems in a whole.
I try to post at least once a week on something that I have learned; from owning the console myself, to something I have researched. Enjoy!
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