FPS Controls on the Wii

Ok, there have been a few FPS's on the Wii, but none have been up to much. I think the Wii is perfect for FPS, because the pointer is even more accurate and intuitive than a mouse. However, if the rest of the controls aren't right, then it won't matter about the pointer. So here is a video of what I think the controls should be (and yes, that is me for those who haven't seen me before). Enjoy




Controls
B - Shoot
A - Jump
D-Pad - Choose weapons
Analogue Stick - Move
Point - Aim
Numchuq forward - Bring butt of gun forward
Wiimote forward - Normal melee attack
N/W together and forward - Massive attack, kills enemy but takes a few seconds to recover
Z - Grenade
W/ grenade - Pull Numchuq "out" of Wiimote like a pin.
W/ pin out - "lob" the Wiimote, faster you through, further it goes
Let go of Z to let go of grenade.
+/- - Zoom in and out of scope
1 - Bring map up
2 - Crouch
C - Command Mode
Wave Wiimote in different patterns to select different units
Point to tell them where to go, or issue other command like defend

So, what do you think, leave a remark with what you think should be the controls.

In other news, I think GS may have finally redone the union system, as their site is "down for maintenance"

Super Mario Bros [VC]

Super Mario Bros
Platform: Wii Virtual Console
Type: Platformer
Graphics: 6.5/10
Story: 4/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Multiplayer: 0/10 (There IS MP)
Sound: 10/10
Overall: 8/10

This game first came out in 1973 and now is available for download from the Wii shop for 500 points. This game is a direct port with no changes to gameplay whatsoever. The controls work well but the lack of continue button when you die is annoying. Loads of hidden extras add replayability.

The story in this game is very simple: You are Mario, you must rescue the princess, killing various baddies and collecting mushrooms along the way. It is odd that the story is disappointing, as story was one of the few things that shouldn't necessarily improve as time moves on, as it is not dependant on hardware but imagination. However, the story is not important and it hasn't pretended to have a story. It is just a straightforward platformer.

Ironically, the graphics actually stand up quite well. I mean, obviously they are pixelated and 2D but they have a very classy style. Clearly a lot of effort has gone in to everything. At the time of creation, they did not have programs that automatically calculated the shadows on items, so that has to be done by the artist. At no point do you cringe, as the graphics do not get in the way of the game. This is not true for some games were they have tried to over-complicate the graphics and it is difficult to work out what anything is.

The gameplay is simple and has surprisingly more layers than I thought it would. The controls are laid out well on the Wiimote and you never curse the scheme. The depth I mentioned includes combo moves you can perform. Not proper combo moves, but if you kill more than one enemy in one jump you get more points. You will spend time getting jumps just right and working out ways to kill more people from one jump. For example, if a turtle-thing comes towards you, you jump on it to disable it, and once again to kick it. If you time the kick, you can get 2 or 3 enemies in one smooth move as it knocks them over. Furthermore, there are many hidden items throughout the game. The levels are made of boxes. Most of the boxes don't do anything when you hit in to them, but some, with no distinguishing features, will contain coins, health and powerups. It is really rewarding finding one that all your friends missed and encourages you to explore the whole map. Also, even more obscurely, there are invisible boxes that you have to jump in to by chance! One negative thing is the lack of a re-try button when you die. Apparently, there is a way to continue after you die but I have never got it to work. This is annoying if you have got far in to the game, but the levels, thanks to that added depth, are re-playable.

Unfortunately, the multiplayer is useless. It is played hot seat, which is a bad start for a platformer. I was hoping that you would play simultaneously and you both had to keep on the camera. It would be a competition to see who got the most points. However, that was not to be. Second problem is that, despite it being hotseat, you need two controllers to play, wasting more batteries. Thirdly, The game does not swap the player over at the end of the stage, but swaps over when you lose a life. This may not sound bad, but it makes it pretty unplayable for both parties if you have one really good person and one not so good person. Or even two really good people, although less so. To top it off, it does not present the winner and their score at the end, it just returns to the main menu., which defeats the whole point of playing: why not just take it in turns?

Finally, the sound is fantastic. From the classic techno background tunes to the perfect jump sound and the increased tempo when you get invincibility, everything is just right. The music is fantastic and a lot of modern gaming music is inspired from it. You will find yourself humming the tunes all the time and in some respects you can almost play the game as a music game. One example of this is, in the first level, you get the well known mario tune and if you jump just at the end of the intro it sounds cool.

In conclusion this game is still fun after all those years. I got it for half price (see previous post) and it is definitely good value for money. The lack of a continue is annoying but the levels, thanks to the extra depth, are fairly re-playable. The multiplayer may be terrible, but the game was never cut out for MP and can be safely ignored. For the full price a little more thinking is required. It is fun, however, it is very old. If you only have a Wiimote then it is probably the best game on the market, if you love platformers then you will want to get this. In general, I would get it, but don't buy points just for it as it is quite repetitive.

28 Weeks Later

28 Days Later is one of my favourite films, it has everything a good film needs and has inspired me to make a survival game based on it. When I was looking through IGN for the new Metroid video (which is very cool) I stumbled on this trailer. Basically, a film, called 28 weeks later, is about when everyone moves back to England. Unfortunately, the disease starts again, the government decide to kill everyone (to be on the safe side) which causes panic. Looks good, but I won't be old enough so I will have to see it when it comes out on DVD. Check out the trailer here (not suitable for younger audiences)

Also, I have basically written my review for Super Mario Bros for the Virtual Console but I am hoping to do a video review. Stay tuned.

BBC planning MMOG

Just logged on to my Google homepage which has GS news syndicated to it. The number one story was : "BBC planning MMOG" My heart practically missed a beat, BBC making games! Awesome. I clicked more:

Executive says the UK public broadcaster is working on a number of game projects--including a massively multiplayer title.

Wow, I followed the link, I was taken to a page, and then quickly forwarded back to the GS homepage. This is interesting enough for me to find out whats going on. I search GS for the same title revealing only one result which was a Warhammer MMOG, not developed by BBC. Checked the XML feed on GS, no sign. Writing down the address and taking a screen grab for safe measures, I refreshed the page. It is still there after refresh... I type the URL in manually. I get re-forwarded back to the home page. Annoyed, I check with IE.While I am waiting for IE to load up, I go to BBC. IE no luck, time to search BBC. Some results, for example BBC are planning a online festival on Project Entrophia (I have been watching that game!) but no hint of BBC developing one. I try something else, "BBC make games". Nothing...

Weird... Well, time to ask forums...

Co-Op AI

Now, I was reading OPM (Official PS Magazine) today (I bought it for its preview in to Mercs 2) and saw an article about a game called Army of Two. Basically, the whole game is played co-opertativly. The preview went in to great depth about how the AI that was on your team was clever. They gave examples of how, when you send them in to a dangerous situation they might not go, or at the very least, they would start complaining. This article got me thinking.

What AoT have done is definitely a step in the right direction. I think the next step will be, instead of them complaining when you send them to their death, instead you won't order them because you feel so attached to them you don't want them to die. To build this up they would not only have to be smart, they have have a personality. Also, they need to act consistently to make them believable and you need to have spent a lot of time with them, maybe in training they would help you out, and you would help them out. The new Fable is taking steps in this direction with the dog that you get. Apparently, the player will become attached to this dog and the dog you to you. You will have to care for it and it will help you in battle. The dog is persistent so if you leave it, some days later it will show up again. The problem with the becoming attached concept is firstly, some people wouldn't be effected by this (because they have no heart) and would send their man to die. This could potentially upset the rest of the game balance as the character couldn't come back to life or the connection would be lost on the people who are effected. Also, people might be too effected by it and not want to play it. The balance would need to be just right for it to work. Obviously, the superior hardware will help, but it will rely on humans making human characters with human personalities and human fear.

On a side note, I managed to get 2000 Wii Points half price with this magazine and I have already downloaded Super Mario Bros. I will review this and the other titles I will get soon. I am hoping to do my first video review with it as well. Can you contain your excitement?

Counter Strike: Source

My trial is all but over for Counter Strike: Source. For those who do not know, Counter Strike is a extensive Mod for Half Life that was so successful you can now download it as a separate game through Steam. The game only has multi-player. This game is one of the most enjoyed PC games, it has a huge fan base and has hundreds of severs running 24/7. Does it deserve this appreciation? Before I start this review, remember, I have only played for 3 days.

I really enjoyed my experience with CS. There were many applaudable things in the game, the lag was rarely noticeable and the graphics stood up surprisingly well. One of the best things about the game is the level design. Due to its Mod roots, there are a large variety of different maps available for play. However, because I wanted to test the core game, I filtered the maps to CS only maps. Each map was well contstructed, with multiple entrance/exit points, levels and well positioned cover. It was truly a pleasure to play through these maps. And play through them again. Sometimes, because people spend all their lives on this game, when you are playing though it the first time, you feel one step behind everyone else, but this adds to the tension in some places.

Which brings me on to my next point. Because in this game you do not respawn, you check round corners before running round. The combination of decent graphics with bullet holes appearing in time with gun shots near your head can make quite a tense experience. Once, when I was guarding the back door, I was hiding behind some crates as on the other side of the map there was a sniper who kept reminding me that if I took one step out of line he would put a bullet in me. If that wasn't enough, above me, the enemy was storming through the upper door and someone on my team was machine gunning them down. As he did, I could here the chink of his empty cartridges land around me. Then the door I was guarding swung open and a flash bang bounced through. I tried to shield my eyes but it was to late, I blind fired and scored a headshot. When my vision returned they had gone. I ran, stupidly, past the door to catch them up and was shot for my stupidity. Cursing, as I would no longer have my snazzy gun I had just bought.

When you die, unlike most FPS, you do not respawn. Instead you must sit out till the end of the round. Although this can be frustrating if you get an unlucky death, it does teach you to be more careful. Also, the game does its best to keep you entertained. Once you are dead, you can choose to follow someone around or, what I think is more fun, going in free cam mode where you can drive anywhere and watch the combat from any angle. Amazingly, no one relays information to their team once they are dead.

Which brings me on nicely to the fantastic community in CS. The community needs to be good in a game where you can't practice offline, and it is. Although people may laugh when you ask how do you plant the bomb, they do tell you. Obviously, everyone is really good at the game but, at least in the games I played, they didn't start mocking you continuously.

Finally, the graphics in this game are really quite good. Considering the huge number of potential players and the decent frame rate it maintains this game is very technically impressive. Blood effects and explosions looks good and the physics are fantastic. Both of those features are inherited from Half Life 2.

OK, that's a lot of positives. But like every game, it does have some flaws. Firstly, because of the huge number of servers, it can be difficult to find a decent one. The game helps towards this goal by allowing you to filter the visible servers and add them to you favourites, but it can still be difficult when you first log in. This is not helped by the quite often un-helpful names servers are given.

Also, connecting to a game can take quite a long time because when you are setting up a server, you have the option to have custom sound files. Which are cool, however, you must download them before playing. This is fairly frustrating normally, but it doesn't save them so you will find yourself downloading the same files again and again.

The final, and most obvious flaw, is the lack of single player. Apart from meaning you can't go on it if your internet is down, it means you can not practice. Now, although the community is supportive, it is still not nice being mown down time after time. Adding in the fact you don't respawn, getting good at this game can take time.

There are also a couple of less notable problems like, a server will say it has 16 players in and turn out to only have one. In conclusion however, this game is very good and the problems are relatively minute compared to the positives. Am I going to get it? No, but only because I do not want a FPS at the moment.

One can not review Counter Strike without at least mentioning Steam. Steam is a free piece of software developed by the makers of Half life. It allows you to buy games, have them attached to your account, download them and play them on any PC. Also, it has a huge library and you can (supposedly) communicate with a common set of friends through all your games. Xbox Live anyone? However, the problem is you have to buy the games through Steam which is fine if it is the first thing you get, but if you actually have the games already you can not use them through Steam. I believe that along stops it from competing with Xbox Live.

Links:

Steam Site

Got Counter Strike? Use Steam? Got an opinion, post a comment!

Blog Update

Good day.

Have you seen the weather, I don't know what it is like else where, but here it is fantastic. Can't wait for my local out door pool to reopen. Unfortunately I haven't been enjoying the weather as much as I should have as I have a 3 day trail of Counter Strike: Source. Full(ish) review at the end of the trial. I think Steam could have been the computer Xbox Live if you didn't have to buy the game through it to use it.

Also, Halo 3 has been reconfirmed for release this year. It will come out this October. There isn't a great deal happening in the gaming world at the moment. E3 is looming but what with its downsize, it isn't so impressive. I should be able to get a Wii retro game this weekend as I think I have enough money.

Finally, if I get round to it I am going to re-run the podcast as if you listened to it, you will know it is terrible and you can hear the sum total of 4 words. If I do I will post times tomorrow.

Got something on your mind, leave a comment on this post!

Stunning Nintendo News?

I just went to the Nintendo website for research for my new preview for Super Smash Bros Brawl when I discoverd their site was down due to too much traffic. This could be nothing, but their site is probably quite stable, being a multi-national company.
Would upload image but uploader not working

Preview: Super Smash Bros BRAWL

Super Smash Bros is one of Nintedos most esteemed games. It features mental button mashing so perform moves. What differentiates this game from every other combo fighting game is one very important difference. To kill someone you must push them off the edge. Attacking them makes them weaker and thus easier to push of the edge, but you must ultimately kick them. The skill becomes timing your jump to get back on the map. The latest instalment, SSB Mellee featured the majority of Nintendos much loved characters from Kirby to Samus and Mario to Zelda and some truly crazy maps that distract you from what is already confusing game play. So, what can we expect from the new title in the series, Super Smash Bros Brawl?

This game is for the Wii, and is due out later this year. Among other things it will have a collection of new characters including Wario, Zero Suit Samus and, as a true surprise for most, Snake from Metal Gear Solid. However, one of the most obvious question about any Wii game is how will it use the motion sensing features? It won't. They are not planning to include any motion sensing. This to me is a disappointment as I was looking for a level playing feild against my friends but it isn't particularly surprising given the nature of the game. To counter this, the main selling point is on-line play. This will be crazy as the off-line play is pretty intense when you get 4 players who are quite good. I belive that if they can get decent lobby support and maybe a headset this could turn around the internet side of the Wii which has had a slightly weak start, see Wiiview.

As with every Nintendo game, all the details are quite shady and will remain so until the launch. However, no one can stop everything from being leaked so here is a summary of what everyone combined knows:

Characters:

• Fox McCloud from StarFox
• Kirby from, yup, Kirby
• Link from Legend of Zelda
• Mario from any Mario
  
• Meta Knight from Kirby
• Pikachu from Pokemon
• Pit [NEW] from Kid Icarus
• Samus Aran from Metroid Prime
• Solid Snake [NEW] from Metal Gear Solid
• Wario [NEW] from WarioWare
• Zero Suit Samus [NEW] from Metroid Prime 3

There will be a new stage for every new character. There is also speculation based on the two videos released for this game that there will be some others although that is unconfirmed.

The game will feature on-line play through the built in wi-fi. Also each character has a "Brawl" special move. Most are un-announced but some have been revealed. Links will be a special tri-force thing that traps people. Mario seems to be able to charge at people on fire. Kirby seems to put on a chefs hat and cooks people, it is rumoured that Samus will have a huge laser gun, however I am sceptical of this as the trailer it just looks like they are blowing it out of proportion, and finally, Warios is a huge, nuclear sized fart!

One final note to the character list, Nintendo have stated that there are many more things to come, possibly more characters. Most notably Sonic. Particaully with the Mario and Sonic new Olympics game it is possible that Sonic could be joining the ranks.

Updates are bound to follow E3 which is fast approaching.

Halo 3

This game has had huge hype, ridiculous anticipation and now, they may have just justified it. I watched this documentary on the MP for Halo 3. This is obviously going to be this games biggest selling point and, to say it looked awesome would be quite a considerable understatement. This is not pre-rendered, this is now an advert, this is Halo 3.


It looks incredible, to playing is so intense, Halo 3 is looking to bring the Halo franchise back on track, which is incredible giving the incredible MP before. In other Halo 3 news, the release date is set for October this year, making it the biggest game for 2007.

In other news, a new Peep Show series is starting tonight, 10:30pm. This is the funniest thing ever.

Wii Internet Channel

The full version of the internet channel has been released, was it worth the wait?

The new channel still has most of the glitches I found in the original version with a nice skin. Still good, but not perfect.

Now the original channel I got as soon as I got the shop working again (change router to channel 1/11 if you are having the same problem). Initial impressions were very good. The ability to watch Youtube videos on your TV was instantly very class and then playing flash games with the remote only made impressions better. However, things started to slide from here on. The first thing you are likely to notice are some browsing issues. Every so often the browser will jump back to a page you were visiting earlier and then go back to where you were a second later. This seemed to occur more if you clicked on a link before the whole page is loaded. Less frequent was when the browser just jumped straight back to the start page. You would also start to notice that things like Real Player and Windows media player didn't work, and that you can't download the plug-ins. If you frequent sites such as Newgrounds a lot you would have also noticed some flash files didn't load properly. One of my favourite games, Neon, doesn't load the menu, inhibiting any play. The problem seems to lie in flash 8. However, it will play flash 8 movies, but not properly. It isn't playing seemingly random elements. For example, in one of my flash 8 movies, it loads the flash 8 components (introduced in flash 8 [they're V2 anyone who is in to technical stuff]) and they load, but a simple drawing didn't. It seems completely illogical. Now that seems like a lot of bad, but then when you might be getting a bit frustrated, you discover some sites are already making special allowances for you. If you go to Minclip, you will be redirected to a special Wii game page, Virgin Radio can now be listen through your Wii and some games on NG, like INDESTRUCTOTANK!, have special Wii controls listed in the instructions. Overall, the original was very strong and so I had high hopes for the upgrade, I envisioned that all the bugs would be gone, I wasn't so hopeful about a real player, but I knew that was low on my list of worries.

So was the upgraded version I could have dreamed of. Well, the first thing you will notice is the preview button is now greatly improved, bringing it in to line with News/Weather channels. Other positives include, options, better zooming, built in search and it never skipped back to previous pages. Unfortunately, not much else has been fixed. Some flash files still do not render properly, there is still no Real player and no tabbed (or even window) browsing. I was hopping for more from this update, but seeming as it is free it dosen't matter. Youtube will still be my number one destination as it is actually better than on PC.

Apple offically on my hate list

Since downloading iTunes 7 I have had nothing but problems. The songs skip at the start because of a high processor requiring special effect, which I don't want! There is no way to return to an earlier version. Now, my iPod needs reformatting, but it comes up with an error. After I did some research I quickly discovered that this is widespread, and the solution is using an older version of iTunes. That is unacceptable. So mich for Apple being "quality" This isn't the first time I have had to install an old version of iTunes (can't remember why I had to before.)

GRRRRRRRRR

PS3 Price Drop

Well, Sony may still be arrogant enough to not drop the price, but local retailers aren't so sure. Yesterday, walking back from the cinema (saw the new Bean film, review soon), I was a PS3 ad (hand drawn) for advertising PS3's for £400. It is still to expensive, but it shows that shops are desperate to sell them. Only one shop has done this at current, but I am sure that if it works, then all the other shops will follow suit. I say it is a local thing because, a) the other shops haven't changed and b)Sony have not made an announcement.

I think the price will drop again, this time to £350 and then they will start selling. As a result, the other shops will report to their respective HQs that if they lower the price to £350 the consoles start to sell. As a result there will be a nation-wide price drop. The only thing stopping this is if Sony are selling them to shops at £350 as shops will not want to loose money on sails (although having said that, people would then buy PS3 games and better something than nothing). The shop that initiated this was Blockbuster, their reason is they have put a lot of backing behind the PS3. Now renting blu-ray DVDs and they stock mainly PS3 games.

Show 03

Sorry this is a little late. But tonight at 8:30pm BST Show 03 will be live and on air and Blog Talk Radio. You can listen live here or listen to the archive at the same location, or if that is too much hassle, in the side player on the right. In tonight's show there will be:

• Wii review - A summary of my Wii review
• PS3 Advert Campaign - More PS3 bashing on their shoddy advert campaign
• What you can expect this easter - Basically a blog update but in audio, and more interesting
  
• 2007 Out look - Things to watch out for this 2007
  
• Much more

If at any time you want to contact the show, you can email me at the kileyenator at googlemail.com (all one word, anti spamming device). Or you can phone the show up LIVE. The number you need to call is: (646) 915-9573 Remember, if you live inside the USA it is free to phone in with Skype. If you live outside America you need to add a double 00 to the front. Calls are international so I recommend using Skype. Finally, you can IM me during the show on Skype, my name is thk123-cheap_web_design. All this information will be read out in the show, and will be in the show notes. This show has not had enough planning to go smoothly, so it will be very enjoyable!

Blog Update

You know when somethings up when I do a blog update. Firstly, I would like to apologize for my recent post that was littered with spelling and grammatical errors. I forgot to do a spell check and re-read it. I have since corrected the errors and I will make sure it doesn't happen again.

Also, I have just launched a new blog of me and my friends new wacky idea. We are going to make our own ecosphere. If you don't know what that is, or would like to find out how that goes (I am actually going to do this,unlike most of my mad capped schemes, it is advancing at a very rapid rate) then check out the official blog here.

I am (hopefully) going to do a podcast tomorrow, at the URL in the sidebar. Be sure to listen to it, I haven't done one in ages. Show details will be released 5PM BST tomorrow and the show will be t 7PM. Make sure you listen and phone in. If you miss it, you will be able to listen to it here on this blog, you will find the player updated around half an hour after the show finished, so about 8 o'clock. Once again, this player is on the right.

Bad news now, Metroid Prime 3 is not going to be released until, at the earliest, the end of 2007, which will mean mid 2008. This game is looking like Halo 2. There is a huge amount of anticipation, so naturally they need to make it good. Ergo, it gets delayed again and again. At least there is Super Smash Bros Brawl and BWii (Battalion Wars 2) to look forward to. Full previews of those games coming soon.

Metal Gear Solids designer, Hideo Kojima, talked about the future of video games as well as dropping some subtle hints about the much anticipated MGS game. However, the discussion that ensued was more of a console war than anything else. Some ridiculous points were made, not least this one:

For me, I don't play for just "fun"

Pixelsword commenting on the problems of the Wii, or there was lines said by people who talk about stuff they don't have a clue about.

agree,20 gbs suck btw,i love my 60 gb know why?space=faster load times.

Umm...no, bigger hard drive means more space, RAM and processor effect the speed. You can read the full debate here, oh and hear what Mr. Kojima had to say, but why would you go to a news story about that, to read about that?!

Seriously, the console war has gone too far, makes good commentary though!

PS3 Ad

Now, long term readers of this blog (or the mysterious person who did the mysterious search, see previous post) will remember a photo I posted of a 360 poster. At the time I was commenting on what the poster said, however, now I am commenting on the poster itself. Here is the original image:
Its not amazing but it does the job just fine. Now take a look at this photo of the PS3 poster. It is basically saying the same thing, but isn't quite as good...
Now can anyone spot the difference. Now I know most of you are all sighing complaining that I am going PS3 bashing again but really, for a company that knows its console isn't doing well, shouldn't they at least try to invest some money in to advertising. What is more, this isn't my first post about a disappointing advertising campaign. Once again, Sony shoot themselves in the foot.

Its Easter [Blog Update]

It is easter. The weather is good, I've broken up for school, my friends are coming round tommorow for a Wiiathon and who searched "webcam "Guildford High Street""?!?! I have Google Analytics and that is the most common search term than ended searchers here. If you searched that please leave a comment explaining!

Now because I have broken up you should see more posts, so what have you got too look forward to this easter other than lots of chocolate.

• In-depth Wii previews of: Battalion Wars 2, Super Smash Bros Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I will actually do some research and everything
• Console Wars Summary - I'll bring you up to speed with what has to be the wackiest console war ever.
• Reviews of Super Monkey Ball Banna Blitz and...
• The long awaited (nearly 1 and a half years!) Civ 4 review
• A podcast
• Plus the latest gaming news, reviews previews and analysis.

Stay tuned. To those who are wondering what a Wiiathon is, or how it goes, I will post about it tomorrow evening. Finally, tonight, once I have got the images collated, I will be comparing the PS3 ad I saw in town today with the 360 ad I saw in town last year.

Super monkey balls and internet channel

I just got Super Monkey Balls Banna Blitz. full review coming soon but it is very good if a little unpolished. I also got the Wii shop to work (anyone who is having problems change router to channel 11) and downloaded the internet channel. Although there are a couple of annoying bugs, on the whole it is very good.us Watching youtube is a dream! This posted through it aswell. Lastly Dr. Who was fantastic.