Post by Marik on Jan 10, 2008 0:21:22 GMT -5
Sorry for the leave of absence for a long time. I really wanted to post something, but had no idea what to say. This also took a few days to write.
Haven't been too good as of late, can't really tell you why, cause I dunno why. Alongside being addicted to the surprisingly fun Naruto game on 360, while waiting for Xbox Live to get fixed in time for Phantasy Star Universe's Winter Event. I also have gotten Resistance: Fall of Man (finally) and Unreal Tournament 3 for PS3. This increases my PS3 collection by 100%. I also got Super Swing Golf 2 for Wii, which will be dethroned by newest game for Wii tomorrow when Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity releases. Also snagged a Valkyrie Profile for PSP. I almost forgot that Harvey Birdman comes out this week too for Wii..... Looks pretty good, wanna buy it so I can still say I have every Capcom game on Wii.
I'm also in the middle of fixing up my room for the new Surround system I got. I'm also moving my PC around. Soon my monitor will be attached to an arm on my wall instead of being on a table. Also threw out the GameCube kiosk I owned. That was messy, destroyed a hard wood floor and a tailgate.
See my sig and avatar? I added my gamecard with My Gamercard, click on it to do your own! The avatar is Akane Serizawa from Paniponi Dash!.
Remember the Predictions I made for 2007? Well it’s 2008 and it’s time to unearth them. I’ll rate them as True, Mostly, Kinda, Barely and False in that order.
1) Like the 360, the Christmas hype for the Wii and PS3 will slow down as little amount of games will hit the systems in the next few months. The PS3 will pick up more in Q2 2007 due to multi-platform games with the 360 like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. The Wii’s hype will continue as soon as more systems come in, just not nearly as much.
Kinda: Wii never stopped and never stood in stock. PS3 went dead flat in January. The PS3 has a library thanks to the 360.
2) The DS will have yet another stellar year with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl imitating what the New Super Mario Bros and Brain Age did and that is to be the killer apps this spring flowing to hot sellers in the summer and have Zelda: Phantom Hourglass hit early fall.
True: Pokemon D/P did dominate, Zelda came out early fall, but what was surprising was that Mario Kart, Mario 64 DS, New Mario Bros and Brain Age kept staying power.
3) Even though a lot of quality titles hit the PSP in 2006, the DS destroyed it in sales worldwide. The PSP will see a price drop to counteract the DS and to try to pick up speed with Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and some Sony-branded titles. Since UMD’s are basically gone now, Sony will focus the machine as a gaming handheld and not a universal media device.
Mostly: Crisis Core is coming in March. Sony did focus it as a gaming machine. It has also sold well, not DS awesome well, but solid all round. In Japan, it’s #3 behind DS and Wii. UMD is basically dead. Unfortuanlly with Skype and GPS, Sony is again making the PSP less of a gaming machine. What is surprising is that other than God of War and Crisis Core, not much coming to PSP this year. Very shoddy lineup for 08.
4) EA will have a predictable lineup for the PS3 and 360 this year and will try harder to fight the 2K series after the dreadful performance of NBA Live 07. Madden 08 will hit Wii and if Nintendo gets the Wii’s Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection out in time, it will also be online. EA will also not have all the sports games on Wii, instead like the Wii Sims game, have their own exclusive lineup games.
Ture: PS3/360 predictable is true. They did better this year, but 2K was still better in quality in NHL and NBA. Wii got Madden, NBA, Tiger Woods and FIFA. All but Tiger Woods was online and was decent online too! EA Playground, SSX Blur Smarty Pants and My Sims were exclusive.
5) Without E3, other game conventions like the Game Developers Conference, Tokyo Game Show or Penny Arcade Expo will try to become a bigger game convention. E3’s replacement, the GamePro Expo will still deliver in content, just without huge crowds.
False. The new E3 kept the E3 name, it was still the center of attention, and is returning to normal this year, with the setup like 2007. GamePro looks like a failure, Nintendo was the only big ones there with Smash Bros. Other than that, nothing.
6) With Jump Superstars and Naruto DS on sale in Best Buy and in the future, GameStop, the import market will increase and expand with the PSP and PS3, which are both region free with their Japanese exclusive games.
Kinda: Retail stores stopped selling imports, but with online, damn has it grown. I want the new Haruhi Suzumiya game for PSP. And I can play it. Along with the 3 Japanese DS games I have, me and thousands of other people have started importing now that the hurdle of buying an import console is gone.
7) Sony will not try to push Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4 as the big titles for the PS3, Sony will do what they always done, push every Sony-made PS3 title only while word of mouth spreads for the third party titles. MGS4 will be exclusive to the PS3 at launch, but will have their own
Substance/Subsistance remake on the PS3 and 360 (and/or PC) in 2008.
Mostly: Sony is hyping MGS4 a bit, but the problem…. Neither MGS or GTA came out. MGS is staying PS3 exclusive. At least they still hope. The Sony PS3 games dominated their charts in sales and quality. Sony did a great job this year with their games.
8) Nintendo will stay third in the console market race as the 360 and PS3 continue to release the same style games as the PS2 and Xbox did, just prettier. Nintendo though will do better than the GameCube did due to extreme exclusiveness though and stay on their tail in third. The 360 might surpass Sony as #1 in America and Europe’s market share, while the DS will continue to slaughter every console and handheld in Japan.
Barely: Wii destroyed them. 360 stood a good second place though. Add handhelds to the mix and DS outdid Wii. Nintendo just took off.
9) Solid Snake will not be the only third party character in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Brawl is also not 100% being an online title and that will be the serious clincher on Nintendo’s 2007 Fall lineup.
Mostly: Sonic’s in Brawl, it is online, but was delayed to 2008 and was not a part of the fall lineup(didn’t need it anyway)
10) Halo 3 will come out in 2007, but Halo Wars and Peter Jackson’s Halo-based game will not.
True: It did all that.
11) Ubisoft will continue their increased Wii support and will be more refined to the gameplay and have online functionality (If all goes to plans with the WFC), but the games will still be lackluster in some degree.
True: Though not much has come out, Ubisoft declared “Nintendo like quality” is in the works. Nitrobike due this month seems to start on that path with good controls and online. Rayman 2 sucked unfortunally. What is cool is Ubisoft got No More Heroes (coming out earlier than expected: Jan 22nd)
12) A Final Fantasy VII game will be announced, either remake, port or another spinoff. Either way, Sony won’t be happy.
False: I tried. Only thing is that Advent Children is hitting BluRay with better textures. They said the characters are gonna look dirtier for realism(Edge is a slummy, but in construction on the… edge of the destroyed, unlivable Midgar)
13) Like the DS did its second year, Nintendo will have a great 2007 year with Wii with more solid games tailored specifically for the Wii and third party games using it well also. For example, expect to see a game to use its controls well like Atlus did with Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Capcom did with Phoenix Wright or Konami did with Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow back in 2005 with the DS. Capcom will be one of those companies.
True!: Wii’s lineup was mostly crap, but the Wii did do better with the good games tailoring for Wii. What’s funny is that we have to look at Capcom’s (I said it!) Zack & Wiki.
14) With more cancelled shows just being bought out to be repeated on it, G4 will suffer, if not fold. Adam Sessler and/or Morgan Webb will quit this year.
False: They got their act together and are doing better. Code Monkey is a good example of that. New style X-Play starts next week too.
15) Microsoft will announce more hit titles for the 360 to keep as much light on it as possible. Gears of War 2 will be one of them. Other than Halo 3, Microsoft will focus on Banjo Kazooie 3, Fable 2 and Blue Dragon.
False: Microsoft announced little this year. Gears 2 wasn’t announced either. Fable is long off and Blue Dragon sucked.
16) Due to the massive success of Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 2007 (and/or 2008) will see a 360 version.
True: Unreal Tournament did come out as Unreal Tournament 3, came out in 2007 for PC and PS3, and a great PS3 version to boot. It is going on 360 soon.
17) The PS2 will sell more than the PS3 with a price drop, as well as sell more in software. The PS2 will still see games coming out for it (Like EA’s stuff and games based on something), but very little exclusives.
Mostly: No price drop for PS2, everything else was right though.
18) 2007 will be the last year the original Xbox will be online. Microsoft will focus on the Multiplayer Map Pak 2 for Halo 2 to transfer as much over to the 360.
False: Sadly the old junker hasn’t died online yet and the second map pak was hell to get for 360 owners at first.
19) Square-Enix will continue to focus on the DS more than any other system, but will announce more for the consoles as well.
Kinda: They are for the most part, but a lot of PSP games too. Little was announced for consoles. Last Remnant was one of those few ones.
20) The next Zelda game for Wii will be announced in 2007. Releasing in 2008-9.
False: Expect it to get announced this year…. hopefully. Bad sales of Zelda, Mario and Metroid in Japan scares me. Hopefully the great sales in America will skew more of them.
21) The Wii’s Virtual Console will pick up more in 2007, continuing with the weekly updates, hopefully expanding to other systems as well. The first VC original game(s) will be announced and released this year.
True: Stood weekly, added Neo Geo and a shocker was that it added imports!
22) Wii and 360 will see a price drop this year. Nintendo can afford it and Microsoft will be using a cheaper CPU as well as other parts for a quieter, cooler and all-round efficient console. The DS might as well with more colors.
Kinda: Wii didn’t need it, 360 got one, PS3 got a few, DS got a red and black, gold and metallic pink, all discontinued now.
23) The PC market will try to keep itself from being neglected, but little exclusives games will not help. It’ll keep most of its current fanbase, but this year will be tough to convert people to PC.
Mostly: World of Warcraft and Hellgate London did well, but surprisingly Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 bombed.
I’ll do 2008’s soon.
Alright, I've decided on a game of the year, this one was really tough, toughest ever. For one of the biggest gaming years ever, I really had less final choices then I thought. But the battle in the end was a violent one.
First the runner up, this game gets credit for doing the rules differently while keeping everything flowing normally. That game is Super Mario Galaxy.
Mario Galaxy is a solid addition to my favorite gaming series. This game’s strengths are the awesome level design, immense fanservice, awesome physics design and overall excellent platforming making it arguably the best Wii game.
The reason why it didn’t win though is pretty deep for me. First, the Observatory is a lame place and doesn’t come close to Peach’s Castle. Even Isle Delfino from Sunshine was cooler. Also what hurts the lack of things that was in Super Mario 64, like punching. Ironically one thing it did have that kinda hurt was the long jump form Mario 64. Made things WAY too easy. Which leads me to one thing and that Nintendo’s mission to have casual gamers play everything, it hurt Twilight Princess with its ease, Metroid Prime with ease and simplicity and Mario Galaxy with its ease. Finally, the wonderment: Nothing will come close to the feeling of me playing Super Mario Bros, Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Bros Melee, Pokemon Red, Kirby Super Star, Sonic Adventure, Starfox 64, Tales of Symphonia, Resident Evil 4 and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Super Mario Galaxy rewrote some platforming rules but did not redefine the genre and completely breezed though it.
Therefore, I give you my game of the year of 2007: Picross DS.
Yea I’m serious. I decided on this game because it’s perfect. It’s the definition of a puzzle game and what a puzzle game should have and all that for $20. It’s been 6 months and I’m still completing puzzles. Huge puzzle collection. Not only that, I’m downloading more. They’re still adding puzzles on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It’s extremely fun, helps the mind. I play it before going to bed to wind down and I dream nearly every night from it. The touch screen is precise and accurate, while with a nice zoom feature. The interface is nice with nice music, while changing the theme with each group of puzzles, with a default theme if you don’t like it. The challenge is perfect and every puzzle does not require the hints, just talent. Finally it achieves everything a game like that is supposed to and is perfect for the “everbody” audience. Of course, my GotY has to be a game that I like the most, and yes, this little 20 dollar DS game is just plain perfect to pick up and play. Casual gaming has beat hardcore. No Bioshock, No Call of Duty, No Mario, no Pokemon, just Picross, little Picross.
Haven't been too good as of late, can't really tell you why, cause I dunno why. Alongside being addicted to the surprisingly fun Naruto game on 360, while waiting for Xbox Live to get fixed in time for Phantasy Star Universe's Winter Event. I also have gotten Resistance: Fall of Man (finally) and Unreal Tournament 3 for PS3. This increases my PS3 collection by 100%. I also got Super Swing Golf 2 for Wii, which will be dethroned by newest game for Wii tomorrow when Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity releases. Also snagged a Valkyrie Profile for PSP. I almost forgot that Harvey Birdman comes out this week too for Wii..... Looks pretty good, wanna buy it so I can still say I have every Capcom game on Wii.
I'm also in the middle of fixing up my room for the new Surround system I got. I'm also moving my PC around. Soon my monitor will be attached to an arm on my wall instead of being on a table. Also threw out the GameCube kiosk I owned. That was messy, destroyed a hard wood floor and a tailgate.
See my sig and avatar? I added my gamecard with My Gamercard, click on it to do your own! The avatar is Akane Serizawa from Paniponi Dash!.
Remember the Predictions I made for 2007? Well it’s 2008 and it’s time to unearth them. I’ll rate them as True, Mostly, Kinda, Barely and False in that order.
1) Like the 360, the Christmas hype for the Wii and PS3 will slow down as little amount of games will hit the systems in the next few months. The PS3 will pick up more in Q2 2007 due to multi-platform games with the 360 like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. The Wii’s hype will continue as soon as more systems come in, just not nearly as much.
Kinda: Wii never stopped and never stood in stock. PS3 went dead flat in January. The PS3 has a library thanks to the 360.
2) The DS will have yet another stellar year with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl imitating what the New Super Mario Bros and Brain Age did and that is to be the killer apps this spring flowing to hot sellers in the summer and have Zelda: Phantom Hourglass hit early fall.
True: Pokemon D/P did dominate, Zelda came out early fall, but what was surprising was that Mario Kart, Mario 64 DS, New Mario Bros and Brain Age kept staying power.
3) Even though a lot of quality titles hit the PSP in 2006, the DS destroyed it in sales worldwide. The PSP will see a price drop to counteract the DS and to try to pick up speed with Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and some Sony-branded titles. Since UMD’s are basically gone now, Sony will focus the machine as a gaming handheld and not a universal media device.
Mostly: Crisis Core is coming in March. Sony did focus it as a gaming machine. It has also sold well, not DS awesome well, but solid all round. In Japan, it’s #3 behind DS and Wii. UMD is basically dead. Unfortuanlly with Skype and GPS, Sony is again making the PSP less of a gaming machine. What is surprising is that other than God of War and Crisis Core, not much coming to PSP this year. Very shoddy lineup for 08.
4) EA will have a predictable lineup for the PS3 and 360 this year and will try harder to fight the 2K series after the dreadful performance of NBA Live 07. Madden 08 will hit Wii and if Nintendo gets the Wii’s Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection out in time, it will also be online. EA will also not have all the sports games on Wii, instead like the Wii Sims game, have their own exclusive lineup games.
Ture: PS3/360 predictable is true. They did better this year, but 2K was still better in quality in NHL and NBA. Wii got Madden, NBA, Tiger Woods and FIFA. All but Tiger Woods was online and was decent online too! EA Playground, SSX Blur Smarty Pants and My Sims were exclusive.
5) Without E3, other game conventions like the Game Developers Conference, Tokyo Game Show or Penny Arcade Expo will try to become a bigger game convention. E3’s replacement, the GamePro Expo will still deliver in content, just without huge crowds.
False. The new E3 kept the E3 name, it was still the center of attention, and is returning to normal this year, with the setup like 2007. GamePro looks like a failure, Nintendo was the only big ones there with Smash Bros. Other than that, nothing.
6) With Jump Superstars and Naruto DS on sale in Best Buy and in the future, GameStop, the import market will increase and expand with the PSP and PS3, which are both region free with their Japanese exclusive games.
Kinda: Retail stores stopped selling imports, but with online, damn has it grown. I want the new Haruhi Suzumiya game for PSP. And I can play it. Along with the 3 Japanese DS games I have, me and thousands of other people have started importing now that the hurdle of buying an import console is gone.
7) Sony will not try to push Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4 as the big titles for the PS3, Sony will do what they always done, push every Sony-made PS3 title only while word of mouth spreads for the third party titles. MGS4 will be exclusive to the PS3 at launch, but will have their own
Substance/Subsistance remake on the PS3 and 360 (and/or PC) in 2008.
Mostly: Sony is hyping MGS4 a bit, but the problem…. Neither MGS or GTA came out. MGS is staying PS3 exclusive. At least they still hope. The Sony PS3 games dominated their charts in sales and quality. Sony did a great job this year with their games.
8) Nintendo will stay third in the console market race as the 360 and PS3 continue to release the same style games as the PS2 and Xbox did, just prettier. Nintendo though will do better than the GameCube did due to extreme exclusiveness though and stay on their tail in third. The 360 might surpass Sony as #1 in America and Europe’s market share, while the DS will continue to slaughter every console and handheld in Japan.
Barely: Wii destroyed them. 360 stood a good second place though. Add handhelds to the mix and DS outdid Wii. Nintendo just took off.
9) Solid Snake will not be the only third party character in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Brawl is also not 100% being an online title and that will be the serious clincher on Nintendo’s 2007 Fall lineup.
Mostly: Sonic’s in Brawl, it is online, but was delayed to 2008 and was not a part of the fall lineup(didn’t need it anyway)
10) Halo 3 will come out in 2007, but Halo Wars and Peter Jackson’s Halo-based game will not.
True: It did all that.
11) Ubisoft will continue their increased Wii support and will be more refined to the gameplay and have online functionality (If all goes to plans with the WFC), but the games will still be lackluster in some degree.
True: Though not much has come out, Ubisoft declared “Nintendo like quality” is in the works. Nitrobike due this month seems to start on that path with good controls and online. Rayman 2 sucked unfortunally. What is cool is Ubisoft got No More Heroes (coming out earlier than expected: Jan 22nd)
12) A Final Fantasy VII game will be announced, either remake, port or another spinoff. Either way, Sony won’t be happy.
False: I tried. Only thing is that Advent Children is hitting BluRay with better textures. They said the characters are gonna look dirtier for realism(Edge is a slummy, but in construction on the… edge of the destroyed, unlivable Midgar)
13) Like the DS did its second year, Nintendo will have a great 2007 year with Wii with more solid games tailored specifically for the Wii and third party games using it well also. For example, expect to see a game to use its controls well like Atlus did with Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Capcom did with Phoenix Wright or Konami did with Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow back in 2005 with the DS. Capcom will be one of those companies.
True!: Wii’s lineup was mostly crap, but the Wii did do better with the good games tailoring for Wii. What’s funny is that we have to look at Capcom’s (I said it!) Zack & Wiki.
14) With more cancelled shows just being bought out to be repeated on it, G4 will suffer, if not fold. Adam Sessler and/or Morgan Webb will quit this year.
False: They got their act together and are doing better. Code Monkey is a good example of that. New style X-Play starts next week too.
15) Microsoft will announce more hit titles for the 360 to keep as much light on it as possible. Gears of War 2 will be one of them. Other than Halo 3, Microsoft will focus on Banjo Kazooie 3, Fable 2 and Blue Dragon.
False: Microsoft announced little this year. Gears 2 wasn’t announced either. Fable is long off and Blue Dragon sucked.
16) Due to the massive success of Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 2007 (and/or 2008) will see a 360 version.
True: Unreal Tournament did come out as Unreal Tournament 3, came out in 2007 for PC and PS3, and a great PS3 version to boot. It is going on 360 soon.
17) The PS2 will sell more than the PS3 with a price drop, as well as sell more in software. The PS2 will still see games coming out for it (Like EA’s stuff and games based on something), but very little exclusives.
Mostly: No price drop for PS2, everything else was right though.
18) 2007 will be the last year the original Xbox will be online. Microsoft will focus on the Multiplayer Map Pak 2 for Halo 2 to transfer as much over to the 360.
False: Sadly the old junker hasn’t died online yet and the second map pak was hell to get for 360 owners at first.
19) Square-Enix will continue to focus on the DS more than any other system, but will announce more for the consoles as well.
Kinda: They are for the most part, but a lot of PSP games too. Little was announced for consoles. Last Remnant was one of those few ones.
20) The next Zelda game for Wii will be announced in 2007. Releasing in 2008-9.
False: Expect it to get announced this year…. hopefully. Bad sales of Zelda, Mario and Metroid in Japan scares me. Hopefully the great sales in America will skew more of them.
21) The Wii’s Virtual Console will pick up more in 2007, continuing with the weekly updates, hopefully expanding to other systems as well. The first VC original game(s) will be announced and released this year.
True: Stood weekly, added Neo Geo and a shocker was that it added imports!
22) Wii and 360 will see a price drop this year. Nintendo can afford it and Microsoft will be using a cheaper CPU as well as other parts for a quieter, cooler and all-round efficient console. The DS might as well with more colors.
Kinda: Wii didn’t need it, 360 got one, PS3 got a few, DS got a red and black, gold and metallic pink, all discontinued now.
23) The PC market will try to keep itself from being neglected, but little exclusives games will not help. It’ll keep most of its current fanbase, but this year will be tough to convert people to PC.
Mostly: World of Warcraft and Hellgate London did well, but surprisingly Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 bombed.
I’ll do 2008’s soon.
Game of the Year 2007
Alright, I've decided on a game of the year, this one was really tough, toughest ever. For one of the biggest gaming years ever, I really had less final choices then I thought. But the battle in the end was a violent one.
First the runner up, this game gets credit for doing the rules differently while keeping everything flowing normally. That game is Super Mario Galaxy.
Mario Galaxy is a solid addition to my favorite gaming series. This game’s strengths are the awesome level design, immense fanservice, awesome physics design and overall excellent platforming making it arguably the best Wii game.
The reason why it didn’t win though is pretty deep for me. First, the Observatory is a lame place and doesn’t come close to Peach’s Castle. Even Isle Delfino from Sunshine was cooler. Also what hurts the lack of things that was in Super Mario 64, like punching. Ironically one thing it did have that kinda hurt was the long jump form Mario 64. Made things WAY too easy. Which leads me to one thing and that Nintendo’s mission to have casual gamers play everything, it hurt Twilight Princess with its ease, Metroid Prime with ease and simplicity and Mario Galaxy with its ease. Finally, the wonderment: Nothing will come close to the feeling of me playing Super Mario Bros, Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Smash Bros Melee, Pokemon Red, Kirby Super Star, Sonic Adventure, Starfox 64, Tales of Symphonia, Resident Evil 4 and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Super Mario Galaxy rewrote some platforming rules but did not redefine the genre and completely breezed though it.
Therefore, I give you my game of the year of 2007: Picross DS.
Yea I’m serious. I decided on this game because it’s perfect. It’s the definition of a puzzle game and what a puzzle game should have and all that for $20. It’s been 6 months and I’m still completing puzzles. Huge puzzle collection. Not only that, I’m downloading more. They’re still adding puzzles on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It’s extremely fun, helps the mind. I play it before going to bed to wind down and I dream nearly every night from it. The touch screen is precise and accurate, while with a nice zoom feature. The interface is nice with nice music, while changing the theme with each group of puzzles, with a default theme if you don’t like it. The challenge is perfect and every puzzle does not require the hints, just talent. Finally it achieves everything a game like that is supposed to and is perfect for the “everbody” audience. Of course, my GotY has to be a game that I like the most, and yes, this little 20 dollar DS game is just plain perfect to pick up and play. Casual gaming has beat hardcore. No Bioshock, No Call of Duty, No Mario, no Pokemon, just Picross, little Picross.
