2010

What a year of fantastic games 2010 has been! From platformers to shooters to puzzle games, there were plenty of games to go around for all tastes and types of gamers. 2010 saw remakes of classics (Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver; Goldeneye, NBA Jam), fresh installments of long-ignored franchises (Starcraft 2, Sin & Punishment 2, Golden Sun), great new games from series that come around every year (Call of Duty), more of the great franchises that fans know and love (Super Mario Galaxy 2), and callbacks retro games with fantastic face lifts (Donkey Kong Country Returns, Cave Story).

Here's to a phenomenal 2010, and here's hoping to an equally fantastic 2011!

Starting Back up Again

Wes and I posted our latest Nintenshow last night, and I think it's our best yet. Due to the limited amount of games and new this month, I thought we may be in for a short show. To fill the remaining time, we figured we play a lot of music. But Pokemon dominated most of the show, and we filled our allotted time without issue. I kept the music there anyway, so you're in a for a really enjoyable hour and ten minutes.

In the show, we also reveal our next team for Gold and Silver. Take a listen to find out who it is or wait for a couple of days and I'll post the opening details. I'm starting to pay more attention to the natures of Pokemon. It's a feature of the series that I am not a fan of. A monster's nature gives it a 10% bonus in a particular stat and a 10% reduction in another. The problem is, Pokemon species grow differently, some with higher attack, defense, etc. A defensive Pokemon with a nature that reduces defense but raises special attack is ludicrous. The nature becomes detrimental to the monster's natural stat growth. The bonus in special attack with be so minute that it will not make a difference, and the defense stat will suffer. In order to obtain the most accurate stat growth for any particular Pokemon, I've bred this team with neutral natures.

We'll actually have games to review in January. Lost in Shadow for the Wii is out on the 4th and the DS port of Plants vs Zombies is out on the 18th. I'll be handling the review for Lost in Shadow and possibly Plants vs Zombies as well. Wes is working on his itouch review of Plants vs Zombies now, so a fresh opinion on the DS version may be necessary.

Change of Plans

I'll be blogging about the next Pokemon team starting soon. Tonight I'll be hatching some eggs to get them ready for trade. Instead of the team I mentioned in a previous post, we're postponing in favor of an Ash Ketchum team - Blubasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, Pikachu, Pidgey and Caterpie. I think this one will be a lot of fun and not feel like as much of a chore as our first two.

Wes got to use an all-Eevee team while I caught up on some other DS games. I've used that one before, so we can scratch it off our list now. There's a full article on the site, but long story short: it's awesome.

New Nintenshow in a couple of days. I'm having a hard time coming up with topics to discuss because of the dry month that December was. We'll come up with something fresh and interesting to ramble about. It may end up being a short show. Or we'll find a lot a great music to play.

Update Time

The posts have been few and far between this month, and I apologize for that. Wes is working his way through Soul Silver with an original Eevee team (plus Leafeon). I have never used a Leafeon myself, but I did some grinding with one in Pearl version last night to see how they grow. The short answer: pretty well. Like most Grass types, they only learn Grass moves, and like most Eevee's, their moveset isn't fantastic. But their awesome stats make up for their shortcomings.

The shiny Raikou, Suicune and Entei available next year have me pretty excited, especially since they unlock a pokemon in Black and White later in the year. I love shiny pokemon and am pretty stoked to increase my collection.

2011 seems to be a pretty dry year for the Wii, but the few remaining DS games and the 3DS will carry the year for Nintendo fans and will probably steal a lot of the spotlight from the PS3, which looks to have a great year as well. But there's always Zelda to look forward to. And who knows? Maybe Nintendo will wow us again at E3. Survive till June.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Red Sox pick up Gonzalez, sign Crawford and Cliff Lee is off Philly instead of New York. It's a Christmas Miracle.

Golden Sun continues to impress greatly. The psynergy puzzles have such fantastic variety. Every new town or mountain or forest has something new puzzles to solve, which gives every new area a uniqueness that is absent for many RPG's (Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest). I've collected a ton of Djinns and I believe I have all the playable characters in my party, but the game has had such incredibly depth so far that I don't think I'm close to the end yet. I don't want the game to end either.

Most of the 8 characters have unique skills that make them more than mere carbon copies of each other with different elemental magic. I guess if there is something to improve upon, it's the individual skills of each character. They got it right with Sveta. Her "beast mode" skill gives her a lot more personality than any other character. More unique skills in battle across the board would take this game from fantastic to unbelievable.

The level design of Golden Sun (yup, still going) is masterful. The puzzles are challenging, but rewarding. You'll want to search every path for hidden treasures and Djinns. No levels are obtusely lengthy, which gives the game superb pacing. It's easy to sink 2 or 3 hours into the game without even realizing it.

But I'm shelving Golden Sun until tomorrow. Today is a Donkey Kong Country Returns day. But first, I think I'll finish off Kirby's Epic Yarn. And I have 2 Feature Articles that I'm posting on the site tonight.

Triple Post

Back again to say that Wes is not playing Soul Silver with an all-Eevee team. I have used this team already, so we'll be discussing it on our next Nintenshow, as well as the team we just used. This will keep him occupied while I blaze a trail through Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Look for our final thoughts on the team we just used later today. I'm also working on a little feature about sidekicks in gaming, so that should be a fun read as well.

There are no games in December that I plan on buying, but we'll keep the content coming with some cool features, podcasts and a look back on DKC 2 and 3 and Golden Sun 2.

Golden Sun is great so far. I don't think I missed an Earth Djinn though. It's a little frustrating since it may be in a spot I cannot yet backtrack to. I may break down and look it up just to easy my troubled mind.

I'm surprised that they actually utilized a party system in this game, since the one "bench" character I have right now is almost a carbon copy of another character. Maybe his individual usefulness will reveal itself soon. It is nice that I can swap out members mid-battle.

More on Golden Sun within the next few days.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Elite 4

Double post!

The MVP for the Elite 4 was (by a wide margin) Stantler. I was shocked as well.

Electrode took out Will's first Xatu, and Stantler handled the rest of his team. I'm sure other pokemon could have helped out, but his Sp Atk was so high that riding him out and preserving the rest of the team became priority.

I did not use Stantler vs Koga. Fearow beat Ariados pretty convincingly. Dugtrio almost had Forretress, but he used Explosion at the last minute. (This was the only time I used Dugtrio.) Quagsire's newly found usefulness with Earthquake and Waterfall took out Muk and Venomoth. I knew he'd try to just raise his evasiveness with Crobat, so I beat him with Electrode's Shock Wave.

Fearow took the Player of the Match honors by eliminating Bruno's Hitmontop, Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. Meganium finally showed up by defeating Onix and Machamp.

Karen was a total bitch. He Umbreon was nearly unkillable, but thankfully she withdrew it when I baited her with Meganium. Her Houndoom was an easy target for Quagsire. Fearow killed Vileplume quickly. Gengar messed me up pretty badly, but Electrode finally got the better of him. Electrode also beat Murkrow. And then it came down to Meganium vs Umbreon. It took forever, but Meganium eventually got him.

Lance was an even bigger asshole than Karen. Electrode beat Gyarados. Child's play. I had to use Stantlers' Hypnosis/Calm Mind strategy and tons of hyper potions to best his 3 Dragonites. It also took several resets. Once I was through those 3, Quagsire eliminated Charizard and Aerodactyl.

I almost didn't think I would make it with this team, but once again strategy beat out brute force. Well, strategy and a little luck with Hypnosis.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 8

I've been slacking off quite a bit updating the blog, but this Spanish final has been kicking my ass. It's all over now, so regular updates will resume.

Just a few notes about the final stages with this team:

Stantler learned Zen Headbutt at lv 38. The battle vs Clair was arduous, but I did finally overcome. Electrode took out Gyarados, Quagsire managed to edge out a Dragonair, and Stantler took out both Kindra and her second Dragonair. His Hypnosis/Calm Mind combo has paid great dividends.

One quick side note about the Dragon's Den: using Dig to escape forfeits picking up the Dragon Breath TM from Clair. Not a huge loss with this team since on one can learn it, but it is a very good move. Be careful not to miss out on it if you are using a Dragon pokemon.

Dugtrio learned Slash at lv 40 and Earthquake at 45. Finally some moves for this guy. Electrode learned Magnet Rise at lv 40, which makes him immune to ground moves for a few turns. Meganium learned Body Slam at lv 46, which is his first non-Grass type move in a while.

Games, Games, Games

I just picked up Golden Sun from Gamestop, so I'll be diving into that pretty heavily today. I didn't get the chance to play Golden Sun 2 on the GBA, but I'll definitely grab it in December.

The overall lack of games for DS and Wii in December is pretty disappointing, but then again there are plenty of November games that will hold me over. The problem is, I don't know what they'll be holding me over for or for how long. Nintendo has been very quiet out 2011. Oh, well. My relationship with Nintendo has for many years been based upon faith. I'll survive on that until the 3DS comes out.

Speaking of which, there was a rumor that Gamestop was taking preorders on it, but mine is not. I would love to not have to wait outside all night to secure a preorder, but it may come to that again. It's a small price to pay.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 7

My bouts with Team Rocket are never very difficult because even lackluster teams (such as this one) are several levels higher than their mostly-poison type pokemon.

Just a few quick notes about this section:

Quagsire learned Yawn at lv 31
Electrode learned Swift at lv 35, which is a good move for him
Dugtrio learned Mud Bomb at lv 33, which is a solid move, but his low Sp Atk continues to be a problem for his moveset.

I didn't have many options in the way of type alignment against Bryce and his trainers. Electrode was a good option against Seels and Dewgongs, but the dual Ice and Ground types Swinub and Piloswine were a little problematic. The strategy I use with Stantler (Hypnosis, Calm Mind, Shadow Ball) ultimately proved the most useful against the leader himself.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 5 + 6

Gyms 5 and 6 are pretty much back to back and I didn't have to do much grinding this time around.

Before heading out, I taught Surf to Quagsire. On the way to Olivine, Diglett evolved into Dugtrio and learned Earth Power at lv 26. Stantler learned Calm Mind at lv 27. I dropped Confuse Ray for Calm Mind. It seemed silly to know both Confuse Ray and Hypnosis, and putting the enemy to sleep then increasing my Sp Atk and Sp Def with Calm Mind so that Shadow Ball dominates all opponents seems like a better strategy than relying on a confused pokemon to hurt itself.

After the Lighthouse, surfing down to Cinnawood, Bayleef evolved into Meganium and learned Petal Dance at lv 32. All his stats increased by 13 or 14 points, but the balance of his stats did not shift at all. Maganium is still a defensive pokemon, but not a heavily defensive pokemon. Voltorb also evolved into Electrode on the way to Cinnawood at lv 30. Its HP, Atk and Def increased by 12 points, Sp Atk and Sp defense by 15 points, and Speed by 24 points.

Fearow handedled Chuck's junior trainers and Chuck's Primape pretty easily, but Poliwarth's Hypnosis/Focus Punch combo took Fearow out. Electrode finished the job easily.

I was expecting Dugtrio to take out Jasmine pretty easily, but he failed to deliver against Steelix. Quagsire preformed better against Steelix and her last Magnemite.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 4

Bayleef learned Magic Leaf at lv 22, but his Def keeps growing faster this his other stats.

Fearow learned Mirror Move at lv 23, but has yet to be useful so far. Her high Atk and Speed have been very useful though and her secondary Normal Type paired with Pursuit were the only reasons I beat Morty's lv 25 Gengar.

Diglett learned Sucker Punch at lv 23, which was useful against Morty's Ghost types. His stats and HP are garbage except for his Speed.

Stantler learned Take Down at lv 21 and Confuse Ray at lv 23. Both are very useful moves. I taught him Shadow Ball as well after defeating Morty. His Sp Atk is slightly higher than his Atk, so it seemd like the right thing to do.

Voltorb's and Quagsire's stats are not growing by more that 1 or 2 points every point, sometimes +1 in each category, which is discouraging. I can give a pass to Voltorb since he'll evolve and gain more points then, but Quagsire needs to get his act together. He also needs to learn some physical Atk moves, since his Sp Atk is terrible.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 3

In the Ilex Forrest, I taught Headbutt to Stantler, and he also tried to pick up Sand Attack at lv 16. Diglett learned Mud Slap at lv 15 and Dig at 18.

On the road to Goldenrod, Wooper learned Mud Bomb at 19 and evolved at 20. Her lack of Sp Atk renders most of her attacks (except Slam) useless. Her stats got a nice boost (10+ points) when she evolved into Quagsire, but her Sp Atk/Def and Speed are still garbage.

Speaking for problematic pokemon, Diglett's HP is terrible. Less than 40 whereas everyone else's is in the high 50's or above. That added to his low Def and Sp Def is a serious issue.

I am pretty pleased with Spearow so far. She has good Atk and Speed, both of which improved 10+ points when she evolved into Fearow at lv 20.

Whitney's Miltank was a tough cookie as usual, but I eventually powered through.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 2

Chikorita learned Synthesis at lv 12 and evolved into Bayleaf at lv 16 on the way down to Union Cave. I found and taught Bullet Seed to him as well. His stats all grew by only 5 or 6 points and the balance of the stats remained intact: strong Def and Sp Def.

Wooper handed the cave itself fairly well. He learned Slam at lv 15, but his Sp Atk is really lagging, which makes his other moves uneffective on types other than Rock, Ground and Fire. It needs to pick up or I'll have to find some physical Water and Ground type moves.

Stanlter learned Stomp at lv 13, which is a descent move for him.

Spearow fought almost all the opponents in Bugsy's gym with little help. Scyther was a little problematic, but Spearow eventually downed him. She also learned Pursuit at lv 15.

Spearow's Pursuit was the only reason I got by my rival's Ghastly. Bayleaf took out his Crockinaw with little resistance. Stantler beat his Zubat.

Mini Land Mayhem

I beat Mario vs Donkey Kong yesterday, unlocking the second (and much more difficult) run-through. It's amazing how many levels they've packed in besides just the main missions. There's a lot to be played in this game. The final fight vs DK was a pain in the ass to meet the goal score on, but I got it and now I can rub it in his stupid monkey face forever.

I'm trying to pick Goldeneye back up before DKC Returns comes out in a few days, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time or focus for it. I'm incredibly close to 100% completion in Kirby's Epic Yarn so that will probably keep me occupied until Donkey Kong.

The lack of Wii and DS games in December will give me plenty of time to get back into Goldeneye and finish the Agent and 007 modes, but nevertheless, I want to try to get in a few more missions before then. December and January will be a good time to finish off my back catalog, including Muramasa Demon Blade, Punch Out!! and Silent Hill Shattered Memories. I can probably find them pretty cheap on Amazon and the 3 of those would make a great gift of me from my loving wife.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 2 - Gym 1

The new team is Chikorita, Wooper, Voltorb, Spearow, Diglett and Stantler.

I sent the whole team over at lv 1, except for Voltorb who cannot be bread. I sent him at lv 17.

Stantler picked up Astonish at lv 7 and Hypnosis at lv 10. His stats are (so far) well balanced, with very slight edge on his Atk and Sp Atk. Diglett has only learned Astonish to go along with Scratch, Sand Attack and Growl. He has very high Speed, nothing else special. Wooper has a good move set so far, knowing Water Gun out of the box and picking up Mud Shot at lv 9. His Atk and Def are his best stats, but they're not leaps and bounds over his other stats. Chikorita's stat growth is unexpected (and a little disappointing). His Def and Sp Def are growing the fastest, hopefully that changes when he evolves. He did learn Razor Leaf at lv 6 and Poisonpowder at lv 9, so his move set is strong so far. Spearow's Atk and Speed are her best stats, and as a result of breeding, she knows Aerial Ace.

Falkner wasn't easy with this team and, in the end, I had to rely on Voltorb, which I would have had to do if he was at lv 10 instead of 17. I taught Roost to Spearow after the battle.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Elite 4

A few hours ago, I Shuckled my way right by Lance, and my rag tag team have been registered as Hall of Fame Pokemon.

I'll spare you the grizzly details of how I blasted by all the members of the most powerful trainers in Johto, but I'll give you some of my final reflections on the team.

Golduck - became my favorite member of the group; high Sp Atk; solid stats all around
Magcargo - great Def and Sp Atk; a bit on the slow side, abysmal Atk; double weak to water
Jumpluff - started out great, but lost usefulness over time; only good against water/ground/rock
types; high Speed, Def and Sp Def
Hypno - pretty much all Sp Def; other stats lacked quite a bit; still OK as a Psychic type
Arbok - poison type made him tough to use against a lot of trainers; best Atk of any team
member; did not learn much to exploit high Atk; teach it Earthquake
Shuckle - the man. Def and Sp Def well over 250 at lv 45; Toxic and Swagger to wear out the
target, Withdraw to compensate for raising opponent's Atk, Bug Bite to steal berry

There it is. Looking back, I'd definitely use Golduck, Magcargo and Shuckle again, given the ability to teach Shuckle Toxic.

For our next team, Wes and I will use Chikorita, Wooper, Voltorb, Spearow, Stantler and Diglet. Should be fun. Watch for that in December. There's too many games coming out for us to keep this going this month.

Speaking for which, I'm picking up Mario vs Donkey Kong tomorrow. Watch for the review.

Still Training

The newest Nickel Film Podcast is now on iTunes and the site. I decided to stop posting them here now that I have a better idea about what I want this blog to be and a more clear distinction between the blog and the site.

My team in Pokemon is nearly ready to take on the Elite 4. It's going to take a little more grinding than with some of my previous (and more capable) teams, but I actually like the way most of these guys turned out. Wes will disagree with me. He's ready to move on to the next team and he's barely past the 4th gym. We won't move on till next month, so he'll have some time to kill. I may assign him the all-Eevee team while I plow through Mario vs Donkey Kong and Golden Sun to keep him busy.

Wes is also working on his review for Call of Duty on Wii. I already expect him to give it a negative review, but he's just mad that he sucks at it. I've played a couple of levels and I like certain aspects of it more than Goldeneye. It controls really well but lacks the stealth options of 007. Expect his review by the weekend as well as my final thoughts on the Pokemon team. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to post review for Due Date and Megamind. The latter wasn't half bad. The former was.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 8

GOLDENROD RADIO TOWER - GYM 8

The major section after beating Bryce is taking out Team Rocket for good. They occupy a couple of buildings in Goldenrod, and they're weren't too tough since Hypno can take out many of their Poison types in a single hit.

After beating the Team Rocket Boss, I took Route 44 to the Ice Path. None of the trainers or wild Pokemon put up much of a fight here.

Clair was a bit of a bitch though. Shuckle slowly killed off Gyarados and took a chunk out of Kingdra. I burned though quite a few super and hyper potions since Gyarados insisted on using Dragon Rage over and over. Shuckle only died because Kingdra landed a critical hit with Hydro Pump. I grinded out the last 2 matches vs her Dragonairs and the 8th badge was mine (well, sort of).

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 7

ROUTE 39 - GYM 7

The road to Mahogony was pretty simple. Magcargo was several levels higher than the rest of the team, so I had to shelve him for a while.

I decided to not explore too much of Mt Mortar just yet. I think I'll dive more into that cave after picking up the 7th badge.

The path to the Lake of Rage was easy enough. At this point, it's no problem using type alignments or just powering my way through. Shuckle took care of the red Gyarados for me.

Team Rocket didn't put up too much trouble. They mostly use Poison and Psychic types, so Hypno and Arbok cleaned up.

Fighting Bryce and his Junior Trainers were taken out by the Skiploom and Shuckle show. Bryce, mostly Shuckle. That make him MVP of 6 out of 7 gym leader matches so far.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 6

So, for the 6th Gym Badge, I pretty much just had to surf back to Olivine and deliver the medicine to the Lighthouse. Jasmine beat the shit out of my lv 30 Slugma though, and my Shuckle strategy won't work on Steel types.

For the first time, I had to grind. I got Slugma to lv 38 and he evolved into Magcargo and learned Lava Plume. Then Jasmine didn't stand a chance. 3 Pokemon up, 3 down in one hit each. Magcargo's stats all shot up about 15 points, except for his Def, which increased by 60+. Psyduck also evolved into a Golduck while I was grinding. All his stats grew by about 20 points.

Jon and Carlos Show Episode 10

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Our latest episode is the all NES show, in honor of the 25h Anniversary of the NES. And there's plenty of great games to talk about and we make our staple gay and jizz jokes.

I have in my possession a copy of Goldeneye for Wii. My wife and I have babysitting duty today, but that should be over in about an hour, so after we drop them off I should be able to really dive in. I may be in for an all-nighter. I'll post some thoughts up here when I get some play time in. Full review tomorrow.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 5

ROUTE 38 - GYM 5

Another pretty uneventful trek to Olivine, but on the way Slugma learned Recover at lv 24 and Ancient Power at 26. Ancient Power is a good move for him since he is heavy on Sp Atk. But its PP is only 5. God willing, he'll learn Power Gem. Skiploom learned Leech Seed at lv 24, which replaced Poisonpowder and evolved into Jumpluff at 27. Drowzee learned Psybeam at 26 and then immediately evolved into Hypno.

The Olivine Lighthouse was a breeze. Jumpluff got a chance to strut his stuff while surfing (I taught Surf to Psyduck) down Route 40 and 41. He grew to lv 30 by the time I reached Cianwood City. Quick note: using moves that drain HP from Tentacool is inadvisable. He sometimes has the ability of Clear Jelly, which hurts your Pokemon instead of healing it.

Hypno handled most of the junior trainers in Chuck's Fighting type gym. Shuckle finished off Poliwrath when Hypno was not up to the task.

Nickel Film 8

Ryan and I are back for our full review of Jackass 3D. We also discuss Red, Splice, Leaves of Grass and Winter's Bone and list our Top 5 Monster Movies.

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Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 4

ROUTE 34 - GYM 4

The trek to Ecruteak City via Routes 34, the National Park, 35 and 37 were pretty uneventful. I just played the type alignments to win battles. No particular type has given this team a tough time yet except for Flying. The lack of an effective Electric type means that birds take a couple of moves to beat. Slugma does know Rock Throw, but his increasingly unimpressive Atk stat makes that move less useful on Flying types than Ember.

Sudowoodo didn't put up much of a fight against Psyduck, who learned Water Pulse at lv 22. A few other worthwhile notes: Shuckle learned Wrap at lv 22 (not a very good move, but another way to slowly drain an opponent's health) and Ekans evolved into Arbok at lv 22, learning Crunch right after. His stats got a 10 or 15 point boost, and he is definitely my most effective physical Atk Pokemon.

I battled my rival again in the Burned Tower. He added a Mangemite to his team. Slugma easily beat him.

I planned on using Arbok's Dark type Bite and Crunch to power my way past Morty, but some success. He took out a Ghastly and Haunter in a single hit. His lv 25 Gengar got the better of Arbok. I made an error in judgment and tossed out Drowzee next, and Gengar killed him in one Shadow Ball. Psyduck finally killed him off, but with only 8 HP remaining. Morty had one Haunter still to use, and Psyduck's low Speed ensured his death. So I switched to Slugma, hoping he could power through the final opponent. In a stroke of luck, Slugma burned Haunter on the first move. I thought then that Shuckle could just take a bunch of hits and wait for the burn to finish it off. However, this Haunter knew Night Shade, which did 23 damage to Shuckle every turn. I changed once again to Skiploom, and the combination of Bullet Seed and well timed Synthesis won the battle.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 3

ILEX FOREST - GYM 3

Before entering the Ilex Forest, I had a rival battle; but I was aware this would happen and I threw Drowzee out first knowing he'd most likely start with a Ghastly. Indeed he did, and Drowzee made quick work of it and the following Zubat. My rival also had a Quilava, whom Psyduck took care of easily, growing to lv 18 and learning Confusion with the victory.

In the Ilex Forest itself are only wild Pokemon. I used mainly Drowzee and Slugma to play the type alignments here.

On Route 34, I battled trainers using type alignments to win. Hoppip evolved into Skiploom at lv 18. He did not get much of a stat boost from evolving. Drowzee tried to learn Poison Gas at lv 18, but I declined because Skiploom and Shuckle already could poison opponents and I think I want to try a different strategy with Drowzee.

In the Underground Tunnel in Goldenrod, I again used type alignments to win. Also in Goldenrod, I played in the Game Corner until I had enough coins to buy the 6th member of the team: Ekans. I'm hoping that his Atk stat will be a standout among the other team members.

The junior trainers and Whitney herself did not put up much of a fight against Shuckle. Miltank was a bit of a pain, but not so much that I had to switch strategies. A couple of Super Potions solved that problem.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 2

ROUTE 32 - GYM 2

With the first gym badge hot in hand, I headed South to Azalea. Already pleased as punch with how my first 3 active team members had performed, I was ready to let Hoppip and Drowzee shine.

On Route 32, you can find TM9 (Bullet Seed). Hoppip's descent Sp Atk and lack of any other worthwhile attack moves make this one a descent move for it. Furthermore, it learned Poisonpowder at lv 12. There's a few fisherman trainers on the east bridge of the route, who are easy picking for Hoppip with these couple of moves.

Slugma picked up Rock Throw at lv 11, but his low Atk stat render it not quite as useful at Ember. Still, the variety in the move type is nothing to scoff at. His and Psyduck's stat growth continued to be solid, alternating between a balanced boost and large gains in Sp Atk.

Psyduck was the clear MVP of Union Cave. He quickly dispatched hikers and wild geodudes, gaining several level on the way. Shuckle continues to surprise me with how quickly he gains levels, which is good because it takes him forever to win battles.

I did not get a chance to give Drowzee a shot until Slowpoke Well, but he was the only Pokemon I needed to clean house. His strong Def and Sp Def as well as his solid Sp Atk and Confusion made quick work of any wild Zubats, and the Team Rocket leader there had a Zubat and Koffing. Child's play.

The junior trainers in Bugsy's gym didn't put up much of a fight against Slugma; and once again Shuckle was the standout monster against the gym leader. This time, he took Scyther's U-Turn like a champ, poisoned Metapod and Kakuna before swapping out to Slugma to mop up, and used his poison to slowly whittle away Scyther.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 1 - Gym 1

For this new section, Wes and I are going through Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver as many times as it take to use every single Pokemon from the original 250 Pokedex. This is an effort to use the monsters we never would have considered using before. We'll both use the same 6 Pokemon and then compare what strategies we used and how they developed after we beat the Elite 4.

In our inaugural run, we're using Psyduck, Slugma, Shuckle, Drowzee, Hoppip and Ekans. We'll have a full written feature after we both finish the game, but you can read all out my run step-by-step exclusively here at the blog.

As a disclaimer, we are allowing ourselves to trade the Pokemon over from another version and allowing TM's to be taught to 3 Pokemon, 1 move each.

BEGINNING - GYM 1

I sent over a lv 1 Psyduck, lv 1 Slugma, lv 1 Shuckle (taught it Toxic), lv 9 Hoppip, lv 12 Drowzee. I'll pick up and Ekans later. I used the Hoppip and Drowzee to help grind the other 3 to lv 5. Shuckle's def and sp def grew +5 or +6 every level. His HP also grew by +2, but all other stat either did not grow at all or by just +1) Slugma and Psyduck grew very similarly, both gaining large boosts to Sp Atk (+2 or +3) every other level (or so), while in between gaining even stats (+1) all around. The toughest part to winning battles once they got strong enough to fight on their own was that they only knew weak moves: Psyduck only knew Scratch and did now have an impressive At stat, Slugma only knew the weak and inaccurate move Smog, but also knew Fire Blast as a result of breeding. That move helped out quite a bit in the Bellsprout Tower.

Slugma carried the party (of which I was only using Slugma, Shuckle and Psyduck because Hoppip and Drowsee were above lv 11 and unruly) through the Bellsprout Tower, learning Ember at lv 8. Psyduck helped out a bit with Hoothoots, learning Water Gun at lv 9. But the time I got to the top of the Tower, Slugma was nearly at lv 10. So to fight the Sage on top, I had to switch between Shuckle and Slugma to divide the experience to that Slugma would be obedient. Shuckle grew to lv 7.

My "Toxic" strategy with Shuckle paid off big when fighting the first gym. By badly poisoning his opponents and just sitting back raising my already impressive defense. I had to use Psyduck for a fight or two just to make sure Shuckle didn't get unruly. Using the "Toxic" strategy, Falkner was no problem.

New Show

I was a little concerned about not getting any content posted today. We had a hot streak going. Ryan and I had to delay the next Nickel Film Podcast again, so I decided to try something new: The Nintenshow.

Wes and I talk Nintendo news, give our take on Nintendo games released this month, and talk about what Nintendo games in November we're excited about. It's all-Nintendo all the time.

We did something similar to this in the latest Jon and Carlos Show, but I think that show works better when we pick a theme and run with it, so we probably won't be reviewing or previewing games any more in that show.

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Kirby's Epic Yarn

Des was kind enough to pick up Kirby's Epic Yarn for me while I was at work. She's a peach.

I've breezed through the first few levels, and it's really enjoyable so far. I'm digging the art style and the simple music and the overall feel of the game. The controls are tight and responsive. It's not like other Kirby games where he devours enemies to gain their powers. Instead, he uses his yarn-arm as a whip to unravel enemies and pull switches and zippers and such. He can also carry enemies to toss as projectiles into other enemies. At first, I thought they'd make it like Klonoa: using enemies to toss downward when you're mid-air to gain more altitude, as a sort of double-jump. But alas, they did not.

I can't wait to try out the co-op. I know Wes will be down, but he's not here and I could not convince Des to join me. I'm sure she will at some point, but she's working on her Halloween costume. She's using brown shoe polish to distress he angel costume in order to make it into a fallen angel costume. I asked her to save me some of the shoe polish so I could go as a black person. She smacked me for being racist and laughed. That's why I love her.

After I post this, I'll be working on editing Wes's Super Scribblenauts review. That'll be up on the site late tonight.

UPDATE:

The Super Scribblenauts review is now on the site.

Nickel Film 7

4 Heroes of Light is starting to get on my nerves. It's a cool games, and I like the job system they use (although I usually don't like job systems), but they keep on splitting my party. At the start of the game, all 4 characters are together, but then they split into pairs, and then all go their own ways. They meet up with each other every now and then, but walking around as 1 solo character does not make for fun gameplay in an RPG.

At least they don't taunt you with other characters in battles that you don't control, like Final Fantasy 12 and 13. Battles are the gameplay in RPG's. You don't play RPG's because you like to roam around towns talking to NPC's. Taking in the scenery and local color is a nice break from battles, but when you're going back into gameplay, that's what it's all about. The most important element to an RPG is a fun battle system.

Ryan returns for this week's episode. He and I give our Top 5 Vampire Characters in movies, chat about horror and slasher genres, and review The Social Network.

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Something Really Cool

I posted my reviews for NBA Jam and Let Me In on the site. Both are very good. Both the movie and the game, that is. Both reviews are good too, but I was trying to praise the game and movie, not my own writing.

I just wanted to bring some attention to this, for all you pokemon fans out there.

Jon and Carlos Show Episode 9

Carlos could not join us for this week's episode, but new member of the show, Miguel makes his debut to talk about upcoming game for the HD consoles. Wes and I are of course present. We talk a little 3DS, Metroid Other M, Professor Layton, and talk about tons of games coming out in October and November.

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Nickel Film 6

Sadly, Ryan could not make it to this podcast, but instead, Des makes her podcast debut as we chat about the new TV season, and I give my take on Centurion and The Town.

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Brand New Month

October is here, and before the deluge of games and movies in this month and the next, I've got some pretty good content up on the site today. My review of The Town is now up, and in a few minutes, my take on who is missing from the rosters in the new NBA Jam will be on the site as well.

Ryan will not be able to make it to the podcast tomorrow as planned, but hopefully I'll be getting Des to make her podcast debut with me. She's not a myth, she's real and I hope to prove it tomorrow. Carlos is a bit elusive right now, but I'm trying to drag him to our scheduled podcast on Sunday. If he won't come, we'll press on without him.

As far as the next week's worth of content, look out for movie reviews of Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Social Network, and Let Me In. I'll also have game reviews for NBA Jam on Wii and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light on DS. I'll put in a couple of features to fill in some gaps as well.

3DS

As anyone could easily notice, we do not report the news at Gamers Unanimous. There are just too many sites with way more resources for us to compete with. Also, it’s boring. We’d rather give our own incredibly biased opinions on major news and games, droll though they are as well.

With that in mind, Nintendo announced a slew of 3DS information, including a price and release date (in Japan). I would be shocked if anyone reading did not know that it will be out (in Japan) in February 2011 for roughly the Yen equivalent of $300. It hits other territories in March 2011, most likely at a similar price point.

Clearly, not everyone has $300 just lying around for a handheld system. It’s a lot of money. Honestly, I did not think that they would break the $250 mark. $300 may be a tough pill to swallow for their “blue ocean” audience, but I’m sure a price cut will not be far behind their initial market penetration. So, should you buy it right away? Of course. If you can find it. The Nintendo fanboys (like myself) will eat this thing alive at any price on day one. But the price aside, the 3DS has some really fantastic features.

One of the biggest features on my own wish list is the “Virtual Handheld”. The 3DS will have a downloadable service similar to the Virtual Console on the Wii for GameBoy and GBA games, as well as “Classic” games, although it is not exactly clear what that means just yet. But, if you’d like to take a look at our suggestions for what games should be on the Virtual Handheld, check out our Top 20 feature.

The 3DS hardware will have a little bit of internal memory for downloading games, and will also come with a 2GB SD card for expanded libraries. Hopefully (and most likely) the system will be able to load games directly from the card so we can all avoid the Wii scenario debacle.

3DSware was confirmed for the system as well (downloadable original software) AND Nintendo claims that you’ll be able to transfer your DSiWare games onto the 3DS-futher proof that they’re starting to get it when it comes to downloadable content.

One of the really cool, and unexpected, features is the ability to create Mii’s on the 3DS, using the camera to help you create a more accurate likeness. It would be really cool if you could migrate the Mii’s to the Wii, but we’ll have to wait and see how integrated these two Mii creation tools are.

We’ll also have to wait for a more solid release date in the US as well as a definite price point. I’m personally most excited for all the downloadable content the 3DS is sure to see. Having tons of games on the go without having to carry around tons of DS cartridges will be awesome. And R4’s down count. Fucking pirates. And I also don’t mean to knock the DSiWare service. There’s some cool content there, but there’s a ton of DSlite owners who don’t even have the option of trying out DSiWare. That is a problem that the 3DS will not have. Since all 3DS owners will have access to 3DSware, hopefully many more developers will jump on board to bring more content to the service.

But I digress. I can’t wait for more information about the US release. March can’t come soon enough. There’s a couple of last hurrahs for the DS, but come March, the king will be dead. And when it is, I’ll be the first to say “Long live the king”.

Getting Things Back Up and Running

I've got a whole full week of content to get primed for the busy months of October and November. We've slacked off a bit since September started, but Carlos got a promotion at his other job, which meant he quit the store and I've had to pick up the slack there. That's been taking up the majority of my time, along with school. But we should have some new people starting up soon, so I'll be able to put that on cruise control and focus more on the site.

This week I'll be posting some more complete thoughts on the characterization of Samus in Other M (Monday), reviewing The Town (Tuesday), giving my thoughts on Nintendo's September 29 3DS announcement, as well as having several features in between. And the next episode of the Nickel Film podcast will be recorded on Thursday, The Jon and Carlos Show on Sunday.

A Bit of a Snafoo

So, Ryan and I just recorded a new podcast, only to find that when we played it back, our voices were much too deep and too slow. Having found absolutely no help on the internet, we decided to adjourn and try to fix it another time. However, when I tried to open the file again, I got a message that said the audio file was in 8-bit (no joke) and that it could not be opened. I finally managed to get it open, but the audio was lost.

So tune in next week for a brand new episode of the Nickel Film Podcast. Until then, I think I'll post an older episode of the Jon and Carlos Show as well as a written review for Centurion.

Because we haven't posted a show in a while, I'm re-posting the All-Pokemon show from March for your listening pleasure. Hopefully new content will be up next week.

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Apologies for the Silence

Sorry for the lack of updates and features this past week, but we should be getting this running again today. I'll be posting a review for Centurion today and Ryan and I are recording a new episode of Nickel Film tomorrow. Centurion was pretty cool, it's a fun action/chase movie. Neil Marshall is putting together a nice little filmography with this one and The Descent. Doomsday looked nice, if nothing else.

I've spent the past week playing Golden Sun on the GBA. I first played it many years ago, but could not get through the first half hour (or so) of it. There's a lot of talking and running around one little village, but once you push past the backstory, the game blossoms into something incredible. I won't give a full review for a game almost a decade old, but if you've never given this one a shot, you should. And you can find it for a few bucks on eBay or Amazon. It's the best $5 I've spent in a long time.

This TV spot may be a bit too epic for the little GBA game that could, but it's a cool watch anyhow.

On The Importance of Story

Maybe it's just me that's indifferent. There seems to be a lot of hullabaloo about the storytelling in Metroid Other M, specifically on the characterization of Samus, and the voice acting as well. I think the main complaint has been that Samus is not the tough, emotionally cold character that many people (including myself) had envisioned her before Other M. Instead, she is portrayed as eager to please a former superior, who she has a bit of a daddy-crush on. She's vulnerable, not closed-off or robotic. Some people found that displeasing.

Although I can understand why, I'm finding it difficult to care. I mean, you can grab Space Pirates by the neck and blast their fucking heads off. Whether or not she is able to resolve her complex is inconsequential. The God-like powers of the Screw Attack and Power Bomb make an whining tolerable, if not totally ignorable.

I would pose this question though: if Samus were male, would her emotional vulnerability be considered such a detriment to Other M? It seems like everywhere you look there's movies and games about the super spy or hitman who is a little neurotic, and perhaps even a big softie. We may be dealing with a double standard here.

Is it sexist to disdain Samus as a vulnerable character, when it is an interesting trait from a male who is supposed to be a badass? It's a common twist on the male "tough guy". But the notion of how women are supposed to behave is different. Women are supposed to be more openly emotional and complex. Samus lives up to that stereotype. Thinking that behaving more feminine that we originally perceived her is somehow a detriment to her character is very sexist.

If Samus's emotions crippled her in any way from acting in the game, I may be able to jump on the bandwagon that it was a poor character trait. But she is still incredibly capable, and still an ass-kicker. There were one or two moment where she was unable to act, but he had lost her suit as well, her emotions were not to blame.

The funny thing is, when Other M cuts back to when Samus was a recruit, she was more akin to what most of us thought of Samus to begin with: headstrong, independent, defiant. But she evolved as a character into someone more secure in herself, confident, emotionally complex, and able to depend on other people around her, to work in a team. She does not smolder with the generic adolescent defiance that she did in her youth. She grew up.

Clearly, as gamers we have not. I can still understand why someone would not like who Samus has become, but it's getting more difficult to agree. We need to accept that fact that real people, complex people, have complex emotions and problems. Samus is not just a space marine out to kick some alien ass. She has emotional ties to people around her as a result of her growing as a person through her experiences. We have not seen this growth manifested in a narrative before, but the more I think about it, the more I like who Samus is. She's a real person.

Nintendo and Team Ninja shocked the gaming community once again with the same twist: Samus is indeed a woman.

Few Games, Many Updates

My review (and our only review this month) for Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is up on the site, as is a feature about Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

Best of all, we've got another episode of Nickel Film hot and ready. I'm putting the finishing touches on the editing now, so it will be on iTunes and Podbean tonight, as well as here and on the site.

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The Calm Before the Storm

This is pretty fucking cool. It's a pretty basic programs they're using, and some of the faces don't paste onto the bodies very well, but it's awesome still. With a little refinement, it could be a great way to kill an hour on the internet without even noticing the time. It would be amazing if Nintendo took notice and took the highest rated hybrid and made it an event Pokemon.

The review for Other M is finally up on the site. My apologies for the delay. I just kept on wanting to get just a little bit further before passing judgement. Long story short: it's really good. It's a little short, but there's a nice 8 or 10 hour adventure to be enjoyed here. Just remember to find every upgrade. You need to.

It is highly likely that the only game we'll cover for the month of September is Professor Layton; not for a lack of content across all platforms, but for a lack of time. Besides, there's going to be way too many games to talk about once September ends. The few of us at GamersU are going to need a few weeks to vamp up for the busy holiday season. Carlos will pretty much be handling the DS side of things, post-Layton. I'll be tackling the Wii review, with some help from Wes here and there.

We're still looking for a reliable source to cover the content on the HD consoles.

The Jon and Carlos Show

Our latest episode is now up on iTunes for all the subscribers out there. Carlos and I talk all things Metroid, and there's a new installment of Heart & Soul as well. Thanks for listening.

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Nickel Film 3

The new podcast is up on iTunes. I'll embed it here and on the site as well. In this installment, Ryan and I review Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Valhalla Rising. We also break down some trailers for the busy fall season. Seriously. There's a lot. Ryan suggested trying to put in some music for a smoother intro and outro for the show. He thought music that fit the movies we review would be appropriate. We used some Sex Bob-ombs for this week's show. Let us know what you think.

Carlos will be coming by tonight for August's Jon and Carlos show. It'll be the all-Metroid show, so keep an eye out for that.

The written review for both Scott Pilgrim and Other M will on the site tomorrow.

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More Content Soon

I've spent the last week or so trying to organize and delegate retrospective features for all the Metroid games. I think Carlos, Wes, and I have finally gotten it all together, and you can expect to see them up on the site today. As of this moment, Prime and Echoes are already posted for your reading pleasure.

In addition to getting these features up, I'll also be picking up Other M this morning, but will have to resist it's allure until all the other features are posted, so don't expect a review until tomorrow, or perhaps Thursday if I think I need more time to play through it. There are already plenty of reviews out there, so I'll try to approach my review in a different way. Not quite sure what that will be right now, but I'll figure it out.

I still plan on writing a review for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which I liked very much. As a student and critic of film, I have to acknowledge that there are a lot of major shortcomings with the movie; but as a lover of movies and games, I'd say fuck it, it's an incredibly enjoyable experience.

Ryan and I will be recording a new episode of Nickel Film tomorrow, so check that out on iTunes tomorrow night. And Carlos and I will be doing another Jon and Carlos Show on Thursday. It's the all-Metroid show, so tune in.

A Trip to Mars

I was shocked to learn that the Mars 500 project is now on Day 78, or that it even existed. But then again, I don't keep up much with current events outside the video game sphere. Check out what they're all about here. The short story: a few dudes in a capsule for 520 days to simulate the stress of an extended space voyage (i.e. to Mars).

If science fiction films have taught us anything, it's that long, isolated journeys through space can only end in disaster. Tragedy awaits mankind in the void. With that in mind, the Russians are giving a trek to Mars a trial run. And they're bringing a Wii.

However, instead of playing the incredibly appropriate Super Mario Galaxy (1 or 2), apparently they only have a version of Rock Band or Band Hero or some music game of the same type. Dude... who the fuck can play the same 20 songs or so for 52o days straight? Whoever is in charge of this science-mandated, government approved, 17-month torture session is just asking for a psychotic break from one (if not all) of these cosmonauts. For fuck's sake, these men are going to be buried under layers of psychosis perpetrated by 1000-too-many amateur performances of Free Bird.

I give it 240 days before someone is sodomized with a plastic guitar and strangled.

Anyway, I put up a feature about the 5 games they should be playing up on the site. Check it out.

Metroid: Other Games

I'm getting pretty excited about Other M coming out within the next 2 weeks. So much so that I've been playing through my Metroid collection to get myself pumped. I played a bit of Metroid Fusion (GBA), but I can't seem to get into it. There's just too much blasting away at walls for my taste. I also prefer the 3D Prime games over the 2D side scrollers. That's not to say I don't like the 2D games. I like them a lot. But I'm also playing through Prime 1, and I don't even think it's fair to Fusion to compare the two. Prime is a masterpiece. Fusion is a good time, with a few issues. Prime is Citizen Kane. Fusion is Baseketball.

Don't get me wrong, I love Baseketball.

So, what I've decided to do is write up some little articles about each game as I'm playing through them. I'd like to finish up Prime before moving on to Echoes and Corruption. I think I may have to hand over half of the duties to Carlos, if he's game. I'll tackle those 3 and give him responsibility for Super Metroid, Fusion and Prime Hunters. Since he's never home but always on his DS, I'm sure he can handle it. The question is, can he still type?

We'll find out. But for now, you can check out Looking Back Part 1: Metroid Prime on the site.

Nickel Film 2

The new episode of Nickel Film should be on iTunes soon, but you can listen to it here if you want.

In this episode, Ryan and I review Salt and The Other Guys, as well as talk about new release DVD's and Blurays, trailers and a bit of film theory.

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Halfway There

I'm giving the latest episode of The Jon and Carlos Show one last listen before posting, but it will be up on iTunes tonight. Ryan was here as well, but we did not get a chance to record a Nickel Film episode, because Carlos and Wes were playing Smash Bros. Brawl and they get really fucking loud. They fight like an old married couple too. Getting them in a room is like watching a really homoerotic version of Everybody Loves Raymond. An unfunny, homoerotic episode.

But not to fret, Ryan will be back tomorrow and we'll record the show then. I'm actually hoping that he'll want to do another show next week as well for The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. We'll see, then we'll know.

I'll also be posting a feature on the site tomorrow for the 20 most wanted Virtual Handheld games (if the Virtual Handheld ever happens, that is).

UPDATE: the show is up and you can listen to it here as well as on the site.

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Double Your Pleasure

Both podcasts are long delayed, but new episodes of both WILL be recorded and up on iTunes on Wednesday, come hell or high water. The plan is to keep The Jon and Carlos Show to 1 episode a month (preferablely at the beginning of month) and an episode of Nickel Film at least once every couple of weeks. I'm actually hoping to record our 3rd episode next Wednesday after seeing The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. I'm excited to see what Edgar Wright has come up with in his latest film.

I did pick up a copy of Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box the other day before seeing The Other Guys. It's more of what you expect from a Layton game, and if you have not played one before, they are a treat. They're slow-paced and challenging, games that you can take your time with. I'm trying to finish it up before Metroid: Other M comes out while simultaneously returning to the call of Starcraft 2.

The Other Guys was pretty good, by the way. You can check out the full review on the site later tonight. I'll don't think I'd be going out on a limb to say it's Will Ferrell's funniest comedy since Talladega Nights. He is always at his funniest when teaming up with director Adam McKay. The duo also worked together on Anchorman as well as Step Brothers. I will go out on a limb and say that it's the funniest movie so far this year. Although, given the quality of this year's comedies, perhaps it's not much of a limb.

Wings of Liberty

I finally got a chance to pop in Starcraft 2, and it is nothing short of a pitch-perfect RTS. I used to play these games religiously, but had fallen out of the scene for a long time. Games like Starcraft 2 are the reason I loved the genre back in the day, and the reason why I still love it now. Hat's off to the guys over at Blizzard. Superb job.

And I've only had a chance to play the single player campaign! I think the game will really shine in multiplayer. Since I have not been able to check it out, I'm not sure if you can select other races besides Terran. The campaign is purely Terran in this installment.

Some people are complaining about only having a Terran campaign. Since I've always been a Terran kind of guy, I'm thrilled about having so many missions as the humans. And not to worry, the Protoss and Zerg will get their day in the sun soon enough.

One thing I will say is that installing it is a bitch. It never crossed my mind that a processor with a several GHz processor and 4 gig of RAM would have a tuff (that's right: T-U-double "fuh") time installing a game. However, it was no picnic. But was it worth the wait: fuck yeah. What seemed like forever to install vs. 6 straight hours of Starcraft? I'll take that trade.

I may not get a chance to play more until next week, but expect a full review before the end of the month. I'll give you a hint: It's awesome.

August Games

Because our work schedules had to get shifted around, the next episode of the Jon and Carlos Show is going to have to be delayed till next week. However, look for a new Nickel Film podcast within the next couple of days. Ryan and I will be talking about Salt and Dinner for Schmucks.

And Yet It Moves has received an official release date for WiiWare: August 23. It's been quite a long time since I've done any downloading for any platform. I'm pretty excited for this one, since I've always been a fan of unconventional (as well as conventional) platformers. The multiplayer aspects of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair makes it all the more intriguing than it already was just from having the Castlevania title. It mashes a lot of recognizable characters together from different games, so I don't think that this one will be fitting into canon.

I've long suspected that NBA Jam would be jumping platforms, and EA has finally confirmed this. However, only a basic version (with online play) will be available via download when you purchase NBA Elite 11. The question is: will people be willing to pay $60 for a EA NBA title, which have long ago lost their luster? The short answer: yes. The long answer: maybe.

One last thought: Sega claims that it is nearly impossible to please Sonic fans. Noted. But could you try pleasing someone? Anyone?

Resolutions

I've resolved to trade in Arc Rise Fantasia. I have not gone back to it in a couple of days, and the longer the game stews in my mind, the more disappointed I am in it. I don't feel fooled or cheated. I know that my expectations were way too lofty for the little guy. Maybe I just don't like RPG's as much as I thought I did. Maybe I'm just a crotchety old man living in the past.

I could take advantage of GameStop's 7-day return policy. I am unlikely to, just because I think that just getting some trade credit (as opposed to a full refund) is a proper penance for my poor discretion.

Games are once again scarce in August, but there's always Metroid: Other M to look forward to. I've never been into Madden, or any sports games for that matter. But with Professor Layton coming out next month, I'll also be picking up The Diabolical Box as well. Good times.

What's Old is New Again

I just put together a little chip episode of the Jon and Carlos Show for anyone who had missed our previous shows. Because we switched servers, those older episodes are no longer available, but I cut out all the crappy parts and ended up with about 3o minutes worth of worthwhile material to cut together. I'll get it onto PodBean and iTunes later tonight, as well as some embedded players here and on the site.

I've played about 2 hours of Arc Rise Fantasia so far, and it's a worthwhile purchase if you're hungry for a very traditional JRPG. But since very traditional JRPG's are somewhat of a rarity, I guess labeling it "traditional" is somewhat of a misnomer. I want to progress a bit further before putting up a full review, but I'm satisfied with it so far.

When I was purchasing Arc Rise Fantasia, I could not resist Starcraft II. I have not played as computer game in years (aside from the Braid demo) nor a good RTS (Pikmin and Little King's Story excluded, but those are more hybrids than real RTS's), and it's allure was impossible to ignore. However, I neglected to upgrade my RAM last summer and forgot that I... forgot. So, it'll make a good birthday gift for my brother. I'm a little disappointed that I won't get to try it myself, but I will in time.

Pricing of the 3DS scares me a bit. I think it's expanded-audience suicide to release a handheld at $200+. I'm hopeful that it will come out at $199. $150 would be phenomenal but at little too much to ask. Most people are saying $250. I can't imagine that being a good strategy. The hardcore Nintendo fans will buy it up right away (myself included), but they'd need a price drop pretty quick to reach DS levels of sales.

I'm putting together a feature article about what other features would be cool to have on the 3DS. Look for that tonight.

Look for the Arc Rise Fantasia review tomorrow, and as well as a feature about the 5 most necessary games for a virtual handheld for the 3DS.



UPDATE: Here it is.

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Counter Productive

So, Capcom thinks that they can drive sales by diluting the market. Not buying Capcom games, well they're going to make more. To me, this seems backwards. If you sell apples, but no one is buying apples, then the last thing you want to do is to pick more apples to sell. And I know this from a high school level understanding of economics. Someone really should clue Capcom in.

I personally don't mind more content from them, as long as they maintain high quality. I was one of the 20 people who actually bought Darkside Chronicles as well and Zack and Wiki. I like even their B-list of content is what I'm saying. If Capcom is making a game, I'm immediately interested. However, they do have to make money. And my particular niche is probably not the most profitable market.

My local Gamestop has had Arc Rise Fantasia in stock since Friday, but as my summer classes are winding down, I need to focus on them all the more. I could not have gotten sucked into an RPG over the weekend. But now I can. I'll be picking it up tonight and have some thoughts on it (possibly even a full review) tomorrow.

First Movie Podcast

Ryan and I recorded our first ever movie podcast, which you can hear on the site, on PodBean, and right here.

In this episode, we discuss Inception, Predators as well as Repo Men, The Runaways and break down some trailers of Due Date and The Town. Enjoy!

Update: the Podcast is now available on iTunes.

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Fighting Through

Times are tough in the world of gaming. Though some Gamestop locations are selling Arc Rise Fantasia a week early, mine is not. The Starcraft Beta is gone. No Metroid for another month. And there's 4 or 5 green stars that are just fucking sadistic. But this was not all unexpected. I still have Sin & Punishment.

The drought of games may eventually lead to me falling back into the Dragon Quest trap. Nintendo and Square Enix really want my money on this one, and they're not going to stop until they get it. They even cleared the gaming forecast for weeks to try to coax me into buying. I will be resolute. You won't fool me again.

I usually hate replace gaming with physical fitness, but Rebounderz looks just to awesome to pass up. It's a room full of trampolines. Don't believe me? It's on the internet, so it must be true. I think I may check it out this week. I'll either have the best time of my life, or I'll die. Perhaps both.

The Summer Slump

Ryan's still a bit under the weather, so we're going to start up our film podcast next week with Inception. I can't think of a Chris Nolan film that I haven't loved (ok, maybe Insomnia), so I have high hopes for this one. He knows how to manipulate the structure of film and story resulting in the altered perceptions of the audience. Memento is a great example of this, but even The Prestige and The Dark Knight do it as well. It's a masterful technique of the art of film.

The summer slump is fully upon us, with only a few scattered games to amuse us along the way. September cannot come soon enough, but we'll manage. I've even tossed around the idea of picking up DQIX to break the tedium. I've made that mistake before and learned a valuable lesson. In a week and a half, I'll have a review up for Arc Rise Fantasia.

Without many games to talk about, Carlos and I are planning a retro podcast for the end of the month, focusing primarily on the Sega Genesis and Sega Dreamcast. The both of us truly thought of ourselves as Nintendo fanboys. However, in retrospect, our love of the Sega consoles was pretty vast as well. That's not to say that I would ever take a Genesis and it's entire library over a SNES and it's entire library. It's not a very difficult choice, but it is a win-win situation. Both offer a fantastic lineup of games.

Oh, and by the way, anyone who compares Wii graphics to N64 is a moron. Kotaku has the evidence here.

Wes and I are also working on a few articles to fill the void of content left by the summer. Keep your eyes open.

Heads Up

Ryan and I will most likely be going to see Predator tonight. We're going to try to start up a new movie podcast, so keep an eye out for it. If we get a chance to head out, we'll probably end up recording it late tonight/early tomorrow morning. I'm pretty stoked for this one, hopefully it lives up to its predecessors.

Aaaaaaaaw Yeaaaaaaaah

So, after our previous server went kaput, we had no place to post our show. But thanks to the services of PodBean, we now have a home again. They even provide an embedded player, so you can listen to the E3 show directly on the site!

If you have no idea how to publish a podcast but want to, PodBean makes it really easy. I highly recommend using them. I had on idea how to do any of this myself, and I was able to figure out how to post very large files (using Fetch for the FTP), submit the podcast to iTunes, and set up an embedded player on a Facebook page or website. If a lot of this sounds foreign to you, don't worry. It did to me too.

We're back, and we'll hopefully be bringing out more content soon. Oh, and you can now listen to the podcast here too.

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Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest is a series that maybe I just don't understand. Nintendo and SquareEnix are making the big push to finally get North American gamers to latch onto the teat that Japanese gamers have been suckling for so long. I think that putting the game on the DS is a huge part of that push: get the game out to the largest possible audience. I wish them all the success in the world, but I won't be buying Dragon Quest IX.

I given Dragon Quest so many chances, and I actually really liked Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest 1) on the NES way back in the day. But I've played DQ4 and DQ5 on the DS, and I just cannot connect with the game. Just a few days ago, I GameFly'd Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2, just to give the series one more chance to ensnare me and convince me of DQIX's merit. I was off to a pretty solid start: navigated my way through a little town, and was sent on a quest to a cave. I ran into a few random battles along the way, no problem dispatching the slimes and shit. Then I went inside the cave... and got my ass kicked.

And that's the major problem I have with Dragon Quest: the endless grinding. It was basically the first level in the game, and my party of 2 wasn't up to the task. Imagine if on World 1-1, Mario couldn't jump high enough to squash the first goomba until he stood and jumped a couple dozen times. Look, I don't mind grinding as games go on, in fact I often do it voluntarily. But having to grind from the very start: no no no. Sorry, SquareEnix, you may have lost me for good this time.

Oh well. My thirst for an RPG will hopefully be quenched by Arc Rise Fantasia later this month.

One last thing: the podcast will be up on PodBean tomorrow. We've had to switch servers, and I'm still getting the lay of the land on PodBean, but I'll get it worked out.

Quick Thoughts on Star Successor

So I've played through a good chunk of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, and it's awesome. It controls smoothly, graphics are sharp (although the characters look a bit like muppets), and the action is intense.

This is the kind of shooter that I love. Too bad the co-op is minimal. Otherwise, I'd have no complaints about the game. Look for a full review on the site later tonight. I wanna put in a couple of more levels before posting it.

A Rare Treasure

Through the grace of the virtual console, North American gamers got to experience Sin & Punishment for the first time on the Nintendo Wii. Before the next game comes out in a couple of days, I’ll give you a crash course in the original, formerly available only in Japan.

For those of you uninitiated, Sin & Punishment is an on-rails shooter in the vein of Starfox or Ikaruga. What sets it apart from other shooters (among other things) is the melee attacks that you can perform when enemies get too close. They are more powerful attacks, but take greater skill to execute.

The aspect of the game that stands out the most is the control scheme. For the purposes of this feature, I’ll assume you’re playing with a classic controller. If you’re not, stop living in the past. It’s a little difficult to learn the scheme, but works will once you get the hang of it. The D-Pad strafes Saki (the main character) back and forth along a horizontal axis. Either of the analog sticks movies the target reticule. As in any other on-rails shooter, Saki moves on his own. The R shoulder button jumps (or double jumps). The L shoulder button shoots when held, or slashes with Saki’s sword when tapped. Pressing A switches between free targeting on an auto lock-on. So, only 1 face button is used. It’s a little confusing at first, and the game is incredibly well-suited to use the Wii’s IR sensory for aiming.

Sin and Punishment is an N64 game through and through, from the polygonal graphics to the midi sound track and cheesy voice acting. The game’s graphics function well enough for what it is, but like all 64 games, it has not aged well. The resolution is quite low, and because some of the levels use a lot of the same colors, it is sometimes difficult to understand what is going on and decipher what is an enemy or obstacle. Oh, well. That’s the price of 3-D gaming. At some point, it will always look aged.

Behind a 64-bit mask is a pulse-pounding shooter. The action is intense and non-stop. It’s a pretty difficult game until you figure out the attack patterns of the bosses and minions, and it’s really rewarding to finally beat the really difficult bosses and then dispatching them with relative ease the next time around. It’s kinda like finding a magnum in Resident Evil: now you know the boss doesn’t stand a chance.

This one’s definitely worth a download if you’re into retro shooters. There’s quite a bit of depth to the game’s scoring and chain systems, so high scores are fun to try to beat. The only down side to buying it is it’s 1100 Wii points, since it’s a Japanese import (however, the original version had English voice acting). It’s an odd amount to drop on a game, but you’ll eventually find use for the odd number of Wii points left.

New Feature

I just finished playing a bit of Sin & Punishment (64). I'll put up some quick thoughts on it tomorrow, in anticipation for Star Successor.

I'm trying out a new feature possibly a monthly thing: Forgotten Heroes. I'll feature a character (major or minor) from a game that deserves more attention that he/she got. First up is Ralph from Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, which you can read here.

If you have any suggestions about who should be next, post a comment or shoot me an email at jon@gamersunanimous.com.

May Podcast

I've finally completed (just about) the editing for The Jon and Carlos Show for May. It's really not that great of a show, but not much can compare to the brilliance of the All-Pokemon show. Carlos wasn't able to make it for this one, but Mitch fills in for him. We talk about about all things Mario.

And there's the second episode of Heart and Soul on it, so that's something to look forward to. We wanna put these things on YouTube, but we're still working on a visual appeal to go along with it. This episode was on April's podcast, but since April's show was lost to a void of pornography and vice that is Carlos's hard drive, I put Episode 2 of Heart and Soul in this podcast as well.

We'll (hopefully) record June's show on the 30th. It'll be our E3 episode. It's one to look forward to, it's gonna be good.

Day 1 Thoughts

I think the 3DS stole the show this year. Amid the hype of motion controls and despite the announcement of some great software, Nintendo showed off some superb handheld technology and has the games to back it up. And everyone is going to get in on the action, taking a lesson for the DS: Nintendo's handhelds are money printing machines.

Of course, the company that will make the most out of the system is Nintendo. They already have a plethora of great software on the way. Pit is finally making a return, after a lot of hype and then deflation about a console version. However, his 3DS adventure looks amazing. New 3D versions of Starfox 64 and Ocarina of Time looks awesome too. Can't wait to see what they have planned for Mario next (please no Mario Sunshine).

Sony's press conference was pretty cool as well (software-wise). I really can't stand Sony's smug and self-satisfied attitude, and I especially can't stand that chubby guy from the commercials. He's a douche. They seem super happy with themselves for a company that has fallen from 1st to 3rd. But that's neither here nor there.

I like Twisted Metal and can't wait to try the new one It's great that PS3 is getting Dead Space 2 (with Dead Space Extraction) and Portal 2. I love me some Little Big Planet. I don't really care about FF14, but I can understand why someone would, so good for you guys. I have a similar feeling about Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 3. I'm just not very good at shooters and racers (especially simulators). Plus, to take advantage of the 3D technology, it will cost a pretty penny. What do they think most gamers are? Executives and lawyers? Most of us live in our parent's basements and work part-time at comic book shops. Crank it down a notch, powerhouse.

Move seems to work really well, but I was skeptical they'd have the software to back it up. I'm never one to just jump on new technology, there has to be a game I want to play for me to get interested in it. I'm willing to take Nintendo on faith in this philosophy, because I know there will eventually be a Mario or Zelda game, but Sony has something to prove to me first. Give me a killer app that forces me to get Move. Something I can't stay away from. Something like The Last Guardian.

Ah, Nintendo. I posted some brief thoughts late last night, but I just can't stay away. They slake my thirst for some old-school gaming. With all the hype around the most cutting-edge technology and HD/3D graphics on your home TV, leave it to Nintendo to bring along a couple of 2D sidescrollers and blow everyone away. I'm talking about you, Kirby and DK. I was pretty impressed with the knit and pastel style graphics and neat gameplay of Kirby, until I saw him transform into a UFO and then a giant take. Awesome. There's another character in there that makes me hope (possibly in vain) for some co-op. Although, co-op will be in the new Donkey Kong Country. Thanks, Retro.

Despite some controller issues on stage, Skyward Sword is said to control perfectly. I don't really care about Epic Mickey. Disney has a lot more convincing to do to get me hooked. Goldeneye remake looks cool, but (as I've said before) I'm no good at shooters. Wii Party may just be the thing to get my wife to play games with me again. She hasn't spent serious time with a game since Dokapon Kingdom (yes, we're one of the 10,000 people who bought it; even the clerk at Gamestop was confused when I said I preordered it). She does get in on some RE: Darkside Chronicles and Mario Kart every now and then. Metroid: Other M will be the perfect way to end the summer and bring in the fall rush. Though, I would like to see some killer stuff from 3rd parties this holiday on Wii and DS. Let's see what Day 2 brings.

Oh, and I don't give a fuck about what Microsoft is doing.