Super Mario Collection Announced For Japan

To celebrate Super Mario’s 25th anniversary in Japan, Nintendo is releasing Super Mario Collection, which includes a port of Super Mario All-Stars, a book about the history of Mario and a CD with classic and new Mario music. It’s set to come out on October 21 in Japan for the equivalent of $30 US.

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Impressions on Resident Evil 4 iPad Edition

Resident Evil 4 still stands as one of my favourite video games of all-time. When it came out on the GameCube, it featured hands-down the best graphics on any console game and basically gave birth to the third person shooter. I’ve played through this game at least three times and it will always hold a special spot in my heart.

The iPad edition of Resident Evil 4 is a weird product. It tries really hard to be just like the original version, but in some cases, to a fault. What you’re left with is a game that feels like a hollow shell of its former self.

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Super Street Fighter IV’s Absence On PC and the Bigger Discussion About Piracy

For all of those PC gamers anxiously awaiting the follow-up to the great PC Street Fighter IV port, you’re out of luck. A few days ago, Capcom Producer Yoshinori Ono during an interview with 4gamer revealed that there are no plans to bring Super Street Fighter IV to the PC due to piracy. Even though the original sold great, it also was a pirate favourite.

I know there are a lot of people who feel that video game piracy is a victimless crime because they feel like they’re only one person taking a product away from a faceless, multi-billion dollar corporation. However, there are consequences to pirating, and this is one of them. Not only does it hurt legitimate gamers that actually wanted to pay for it, but now pirates can’t even pirate it.

Don’t blame Capcom for this. They’re not here to just give away all of their work for us to enjoy. They run a business, and their purpose as a business is to make money. Releasing that type of game on the platform that is a pirate-haven such as the PC has proven time and time again to be bad business. I’m sure that the potential sales they lost due to piracy far outweighs the money they made on legitimate sales. To be honest, from a business perspective, I don’t know why any major companies would want to put out their big budget games in the traditional fashion on PC.

Where paying gamers can complain is the fact that Capcom doesn’t want to distribute this digitally through a protected system like Steam, which they feel is unfair to gamers who don’t have the service and limiting to gamers. Maybe someday they’ll change their mind on this decision.

Say what you will about much cheaper it is to pirate games rather than pay for them, but this is the end result of rampant piracy. The catalogue from which to pirate from will disappear and everyone loses. I sympathize for the PC only crowd that would have to buy new hardware to play Super Street Fighter IV in some form. As for the pirates that ruined everything…

Advance Wars: If Only Real War Was This Fun

A lot of people tend to gloss over the fact that Nintendo does more than just Mario, Zelda and Metroid. If you look far enough into their catalogue, you’ll find a number of different games and franchises that span almost every genre. Some of these games maintain cult followings and steady sales, such as Fire Emblem and Kirby, while others fall by the wayside with only a few people caring that it likely won’t come back (unfortunately, I’m looking at you, Elite Beat Agents).

Though Advance Wars made its North American debut in the early 2000s, the series originated in the late 80s in Japan. Why did it take so long to make it to North America? I don’t know. But I can tell you that when it did, it blew my mind.
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Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Review

After beating Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, I was overcome with two emotions. Those emotions are joy, and anger. I feel joy because Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was a great game from beginning to end. I feel anger because the game had just enough flaws to stop this great game from being mind-blowing. I’m not sure if a game that I enjoyed so much made me almost equally as angry.

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Games That Make Me Feel Dumb

Video game complexity has come a long way from the days of Pong. Graphics have improved, AI has gotten smarter, control methods have become increasingly complex and the games themselves are more complicated than anything you can find on an Atari 2600.

Due to the way the medium has evolved, there are games and game genres that I cannot wrap my head around, regardless of how hard I try. The following is a list of games and game genres that make me feel dumb after playing them because I can’t come to grips with how to play them. Knowing that there are thousands of other people that are playing the same games just fine only amplifies the stupidity I feel when I fail miserably. Check out my list and tell me if any of these games make you feel dumb, too.
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NBA Elite 11 and the Jesus Glitch

EA Sports has a tall mountain to climb when it comes to basketball. Over the past few years, the quality of NBA Live has waded in mediocrity and sales have tracked well behind the competition. Basketball gamers now swear by the 2K series and perceive NBA Live as a piece of junk.

In response, EA Sports has gone back to the drawing board by giving the series to a new developer and a new name. However, preview coverage has been sparse leading up to launch, and maybe this recent video of someone playing the NBA Elite 11 demo reveals why EA has been keeping the game in the dark.
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Game Design Talk: Uncharted’s Ending

(SPOILER ALERT: This post will analyze the final chapter of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune in detail. I know the game came out in 2007, but nonetheless, you’ve been warned)

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Pick Up Post: I Bought Super Street Fighter IV Again?

When it comes to owning multiple copies of the same game, I’ve set this precedent for myself before. I’ve owned Mario All-Stars when I had the original NES versions. I also own SNES and Virtual Console versions of Street Fighter II and Contra III because those games are awesome.

I love Super Street Fighter IV. It very well might be my favourite Street Fighter game of all-time. When it’s all said and done, this game might even be in my top 10 for favourite game of all-time. But do I need two copies of this game? Now? My wallet said yes, but I’m not so sure I really do.
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Mortal Kombat: HD Arcade Kollection Rumor Discussion

I have seen a number of rumors surrounding an HD compilation of the first three Mortal Kombat games. I first saw details on IPLAYWINNER, and those initial rumors are beginning to appear more valid as retailers have leaked and removed product pages for Mortal Kombat: HD Kollection.

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