Nintendos new green policy: recycling content

Just a small jive at Nintendo, then back to normal anti-PS3 stuff. Some of you may be aware that a recent survey conducted by Greenpeace, to rate all companies on how environmentally friendly companies are, gave Nintendo a 0/10, the first company ever to do this. But don't worry everyone, they are now recycling content!

Also, some of you will follow the Brawl updates (RSS feed on right>>) Today, they announced that they would be including some melee maps in Brawl. Now you could argue that these are in addition to the ones in Brawl so it is good. However, they, presumably, require some transformation to run with the new engine. I would prefer it if they could work on a new maps or even better some more online functionality. To be honest, I am not too bothered, but I thought the title was too good to not use.

Guitaur Hero and Medal of Honor Heroes

OK, so I got the chance to play on the new Guitar Hero last Monday. I have never been a fan of GH, despite never having played on it, I thought the concept lame and that people who played on it should just learn real guitar. Since Monday, I have made a U-Turn. The game is very different from playing a guitar, and in some ways much harder. It started off with me just watching the Shop Assistant playing it, then he asked me if I wanted a go. Now, I don't want to be arrogant, but when it comes to new games, I am usually quite quick at picking it up and not being rubbish. I may never master a game, but I usually reach an acceptable level. To say it was embarrassing would be the understatement of the year. I was playing on the easiest difficulty and I barley hit any notes. After 3 songs, I couldn't bear the embarrassment and thanked the assistant and walked away, to a easy section. However, as I walked home, I wanted to play GH. I wanted to beat it. That feeling hasn't stopped growing. I am eagerly awaiting my next opportunity to play this. However, despite wanting it loads, its price is just too big for me to take the leap just yet. On a side note, I don't like making excuses, but I may have been rubbish because there was no sound, which is quite important in a rhythm game I think. Another side note is the graphics were deeply uninspiring. While the game might not need any graphical flare, I was playing the 360 version and there were some serious aliasing issues (jagged edges)

The bad news is quite unexpected. The UK release date of Medal of Honor 2: Heroes for the Wii has been pushed back to the end of January. This literally doesn't make any sense as the game is out in the US. Still there isn't much I can do. I do intend to email them, so they can at least explain, in the mean time, it may mean I can get Galaxy.

You can see the banner at the top in full size here...

Blog Update

Had my final science core exam today. It was fine, but very strange. Full of satire and politics. Like there was one question that asked about a spy who had been poisoned by radioactive stuff. That Russian-spy-whose-name-I-can't-spell anyone? Another was "What do you think the real reason super market chains support green" and the answer was "To draw in more customers" What was also weird was some of the questions, which were multiple choice on a science paper, were a matter of opinion and had more than one technically correct answer. Well, its all sent of now, so it doesn't matter. I am coming up to my mocks, so posts may remain a bit sparse.

I managed to get a game on Assassins Creed at my great friends house. The tutorial is so long that I don't feel I have had enough time with the game to post a proper first impressions post, but here are my really initial impressions. The game, isn't the new Oblivion. Lets just get that out of the way. Once you clear that, the game is actually very good. It feels like a much improved version of Crackdown in that its technically stunning and you can jump miles. There are little bits of Oblivion, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia too. The controls feel a little complicated and take some time getting used to, or at least I found that they did. However, the parkour feels great once you can do it. The animations are particularly fluid, which adds to the effect. Finally, the first time you turn up at Damascus, it literally takes your breath away. It is huge. More coming soon...

Read a surprisingly positive review for Links Crossbow Training, the game bundled with the Wii Zapper. Unfortunately, it will not be joining my list of things to get. This is mainly due to the fact I am hoping to get a 360 some time early next year! The bundle is £269 and comes with Halo 3 and Assassins Creed (although I am going to try and change it for Oblivion) To afford this, I am applying for a number of Christmas jobs, but fingers crossed, I should be able to get it. Also, you may be interested to know that the VG website (in progress) has gone under a complete make over. This time, the colour is white. . I have started the header, which you can see here (it looks better on my computer as I haven't properly optimized it yet) :

In the final banner, it will have Super Egg (in current header) holding a Wii Remote and 360 controller. On either side, it will have a number of well known video game characters, including Link, Samus, Mario, Master Chief and Solid Snake (Ed: Will this be delayed, bud um TISH) Also, at the start of all Media content (yes that's right, media content) there will be a small indent in which Super Egg takes out one of those video game characters in their style. For example, Master Chief will be standing there, a grenade will be chucked and the Egg will slice him with a power sword. Mario will be jumped on and will turn in to a shell. Obviously, they will look better in my head than they ever will in real life, but I intend to make them the best I can possibly do.

Christmas Shopping Guide Coming Soon...

Corruption Complete

I have finished Metroid Prime 3 for the Wii. It took about the same time as Metroid Prime 1, but no where near as challenging. Although I will be posting a full review some time before the end of the month, here are my thoughts upon completing the game. The game, overall, is very good. The controls are fantastic, the graphics are great, the worlds are varied and there are some interesting dynamics. However, there is a lot of unharnessed potential in this game. I will go in to more details in the review, but things like the space ship, the different planets and the controls feel like they could have been used a lot more before they would start to feel "used"

I am yet to find everything, however I am already on 85% (much higher than in MP1) and apparently there is this thing that shows where all the power ups are. So, I think this game is coming to an end. The new difficulty is said to be much harder, but a multiplayer mode feels strongly missing. Like I said, full review coming soon.

A few Wii games that I have been following have come out and the reviews released. Although I haven't had the opportunity to play on them yet, the reviews are very positive. The most notable of them is Super Mario Galaxy. I was always slightly sceptical about a 3D Mario game, having never played on M64 or Sunshine, however, with a GS score of 9.5, there has to be something good in it. Plus, there are 2D galaxies too! Am I going to get this? My brain says yes, however, I am currently planning to get a 360 soon after Christmas, so I am only going to be able to get one game.

So what is the other game that is in the contest. Medal of Honour 2: Heroes. What, a Medal of Honour game is competing with Mario?! Let me explain, I thought the controls in MP3 where amazing. Both IGN and GS say they are better in Heroes, due to the fact one can customise them indefinitely. On top of this, it has a, apparently, rock steady 32 player online mode. Something which is rare enough on the Wii.

Other games that sound amazing are Assassins Creed and Call of Duty 4. I admit I wasn't really sure what to expect from Assassins creed, but from what I have read, it sounds amazing. Parkour galore and apparently on a similar scale to Oblivion. Yet another game I need to get for my 360...

Call of Duty 4 I noticed at E3 and it literally blew my mind. I was on the edge of my seat, and I was watching a poorly streamed video of it, not even playing it. The campaign is said to be short, which is a shame as everything I have heard about it is a "woah" a minute. Still, the multiplayer is also meant to hold up to just a high quality.

I should be able to play on both of those games hopefully. I finally got the chance to play on a PS3 yesterday. Well, I say play, it hung, twice. I hope it was just the way the console was set up in the store, but it didn't exactly reflect great on the PS3. On the plus side, the controller does feel amazing. Either because it was wired or because it didn't have rumble it was very light. I love the new R2/L2 buttons and I still stand by my statement that the dual shock will always beat the Xbox controller. Shame the console isn't quite as good. Or the range of games. Or the price. You get the picture.

Check Mii Out

Check Mii out finally came out today, waking me up with the blue glow. Unfortunately, I was too tired and so waited for this morning before trying it out. I downloaded it and started it up. First, you have to choose a Mii to be your "Mii Artasian" Basically, people can see your nickname and Mii when ever the click on a Mii you have created. No Wii Codes required for that!

Next you are presented with two options. The main submission plaza and the competition area.

In the main plaza, you will find 50 Miis parading about. By default, it presents the top 50, however, you can change it to present, top 50 of that day, all time, 50 random ones and your favourites. Also, you can choose if you just want national Miis or worldwide. Finally, you can choose to have the Miis standing in line, A La Mii Channel, or get them to walk by, 3 at a time, cat walk style, doing little poses (very amusing) Once you have done this, you can click on any Mii you see. From here you can choose to import the Mii to your Wii Console, favourite the Mii (this increases their score and adds them to your favourites) or see friends. This last option I am not entirely sure about, it definitely shows Miis that have similar characteristics and also definitely shows Miis made by the same person. It doesn't show who has favourited it though. You can see who made this Mii and his other creations and see its ratings. Overall, I think this to be surprisingly good as there are many people with either loads of talent or loads of time (or probably both) and you can get yourself some really cool looking Miis. You can search either by giving an entry number of by choosing gender and speciality. If you want to see my submissions, they have the entry codes: "7582-1768-0682" and "8672-0969-5924"

The other element is more competitive. Every week, Nintendo will put up a new person and we, the people, must make a Mii to look as similar as possible. The opening one was "Mario without his cap" After a week, it opens up for voting. I am not aware of any prize other than fame, which is pretty useless on the Wii thanks to friend codes... None the less, should be a bit of fun, and once again you will be able to take the Mii, so if you want a capless Mario but can't make one yourself, this is your opportunity.

Overall, recommend downloading this, is a bit of fun and should get you some very cool Miis. If you are artistic, this looks like a very good portal. This channel does call for two things though. Firstly, the only way this community can take off is if Nintendo needs to relax about sharing Wii Codes. Also, because there are so many people who own a Wii, the amount of different Mii combinations is going to seem very small soon. I think Nintendo needs to bring out more options if they want to keep this channel alive. You can download this channel from the Wii Shop in the Wiiware section, please bare in mind, if you have not performed a Wii Systems Update since the 10th of October, you will need to do so to install this channel.