wii

Pick Up Post: You Say You Want A Revolution

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Over the weekend, I just so happened to be at an HMV when I stumbled across one of the most ill-conceived games of the last decade (if not of all-time). I have made fun of this game incessantly since it was announced in May of 2008 and have watched it fall into the absolute bottom of the bargain bin. I have seen stores have difficulty selling the full kit for $10 and the disc alone for $5.  At the price of $2 (which was the price I got it for), even I had to stand there and think about whether or not this would be a good investment. It probably wasn’t, but at least I can now speak first hand on why this game sucks.

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Pick Up Post: This Treasure Better Be Worth It

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On Saturday, I took a visit to one of my favourite independent video game retailers with my girlfriend because we just happened to be in the area. After circling around the store and trying out Blazblue on the PSP, a game in the bargain bin caught my eye, which I immediately picked up.

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Game Case Nightmares

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I get the feeling I’m in the minority here, but I know I’m not alone on this one. I like to take care of my games. I take pride in keeping everything intact and in top shape. This includes the cases that my games come in. Back in the days of Nintendo boxes, I would go as far as storing all of the cardboard boxes in a safe place. Nowadays, it’s a lot easier to keep everything in top shape, as game cases are well built to withstand average wear and tear.

However, having bought a number of used game stores and more recently, having bought a number of used games, I’ve seen so many games with messed up packaging. Everything from broken cases, to missing box art, to stickers all over the box. The majority of these cases makes me wonder: what are you people doing with your games?

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Reemployed Gamer

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These last two months have been difficult for me. At the end of January, I lost my job due to circumstances beyond my control. It was the first time I’ve been unemployed since I first began working in 2001. The good news is I just got a new job. I start as of Monday and I’m really excited to begin anew.

On my first day of unemployment, I wrote a blog post outlining a few gaming resolutions of sorts to tide me over during this tough time. I can say right now that I failed horribly at not purchasing games, having bought a total of 16 games during these last two months, but how did I fare at the rest of my resolutions?

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I Play Just Dance and See Why It’s So Divisive

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Hope you had a great Easter weekend. For me, it was a great opportunity to spend some time with my family as well as my girlfriend’s family. As far as gaming goes, most of it went down at my girlfriend’s house, where my girlfriend, her sister, her sister’s boyfriend and I played a bunch of Wii games. We played a bunch of games, including the Beatles: Rock Band, Rock Band Track Pack Volume 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (which was really fun) and we beat New Super Mario Bros. Wii (which was epic, because we stayed up till 3am on Sunday night to beat it).

The one game I wanted to talk about today though was Just Dance. My girlfriend and her sister had been extremely excited to buy this game and finally picked it up over the weekend. Just Dance is the hottest new game on Wii, having sold over 2 million copies worldwide and garnering rave reviews from customers. However, the gaming press and core gamers have slammed Just Dance hard, claiming that it’s a half-baked product that doesn’t even work.

Now that I’ve played it, I see where both sides are coming from.

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Make It A Blockbuster Night

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Blockbuster has had it rough over the last few years. With multiple threats coming from piracy, DVD mailing services like Netflix and direct download options from sources such as iTunes, Things have been so bad, that I’ve seen a number of Blockbuster stores go out of business in and around my area.

I’m not one to rent stuff, but I have been raiding as many Blockbuster stores as I can of late, because they’ve been a great place to buy cheap games. A combination of closing sales as well as clearance deals have helped me flesh out my catalogue. I jumped in on most of these sales fairly late, so I wasn’t able to score games like Modern Warfare 1 for $10 (which I heard a bunch of people did get), but I did get some good stuff (and some not-so-great freebies).

Hit the break to find out what I’ve gotten so far.

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Some New Mario Game

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As an adult, Mario games make me feel kind of weird. A game about a fat plumber and his brother romping around a magical world trying to save a princess from a giant turtle is not exactly adult fare. However, Mario games are also universally fun, regardless of age. In particular, I grew up in the early heyday of Super Mario 1, so 2D Mario games strike a very specific chord in my heart – sort of like how many adults still love watching Disney movies.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom – Time to Get Pringles?

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I don’t think I’ve ever been torn about a game like I have been for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. With this game, I can put together a fairly solid case for why I don’t want it. I’m not a “Versus” series style of fighting game player. My only experience with this style of fighting game was with the XBOX Live release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. After years of wanting to test my chops in one of the most popular fighting games of all-time, I finally came to the conclusion that I’m awful at that style of game. I end up mindlessly mashing buttons and randomly doing traditional Street Fighter special move command inputs and hoping for the best. It’s cool to see all the flashy action on screen, but I didn’t find the fighting satisfying enough for me to commit to getting better. My only experience online with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was an absolute disaster, where I didn’t win a match and at times, didn’t connect a single hit on my opponent.

The Party is Over

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Last week, Gamasutra posted an article about how at least two major retailers have begun refusing to stock Wii mini-game collections. According to Gamasutra’s Paul Hyman, he says, “Stores like Target and Best Buy have reportedly told game publishers not to even bother approaching them with collections of mini games, which they will no longer pick up.” Not to be spiteful, as I recognize that I’m not a fan of the genre and that the target audience for most mini-game collections isn’t me, but good riddance.

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According to Game Informer, 54.2% of XBOX 360 Consoles Break

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The big console news to hit the Internet yesterday involved the results of a recent Game Informer survey. One of the questions they asked 5,000 of their readers was if they’ve had their systems break on them. Well, a startling 54.2% of respondents said their XBOX 360 has broken, which is in stark contrast to the Playstation 3 failure rate of 10.3% and the Wii failure rate of 6.8%.

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