E3: My Nintendo Picks

Now that E3 is behind us, I guess I should say a bit about it. First, I’ll go through the Nintendo showing this year.

They had a very casual-centric showcase this year (and even apologized about the lack of “hardcore” software later on). For me, the highlights were Animal Crossing: City Folk, the Wii MotionPlus accessory, and well, that’s about it. I think I’ve talked enough about Animal Crossing in a previous post, but the Wii MotionPlus is very intriguing to me. Basically it adds more gyroscopes to the existing wiimote so you can get 1:1 motion detection. In the game Wii Sports: Resort, the showcase its use in different games, much like how the original Wii Sports showed what the basic wiimote and nunchuck could do. The obvious standout to all the press seemed to be the swordfighting game, which let you realistically slash, stab, and block with the wiimote and motionPlus attachment. Exciting. Hopefully that Star Wars Clone Wars game with lightsaber battles will be good enough to warrant another go/sequel when the MotionPlus comes out Spring next year.

Runescape “HD,” Once Again on my Radar

Ahh yes, Runescape. The guilty pleasure of many a gamer. I was once highly addicted to it. I don’t remember what it was about the game that made me love it so much, but I just did. Anyways, this week they released Runescape High Detail for free players, along with other game updates. I just finished watching a trailer comparing the regular graphics with the High Detail ones, and the difference is incredible. Seriously, if you ever needed a reason to go back to Runescape, this is a pretty good reason. Actually, tomorrow I’m planning on giving the game another try. It had some charm to it, and it did have a lot to do. I know I used to find myself look at the screen and wonder wtf I’m doing when I could be playing with something that doesn’t look like utter shit.

Anyways, read up more on the update here and watch the trailer at Jagex’s Youtube Page.

A History of Animal Crossing

Well, since most of my page views have been about Animal Crossing, i thought it’d be nice to do a quick history of this Nintendo Franchise.

Animal Crossing started it’s run on the Nintendo 64, with the Japan-only release in April of 2001, Dōbutsu no Mori, which literally means “Animal Forest.” The game was marketed as a Life Simulation game, and gained attention for its unique gameplay. December of that same year, Nintendo re-released the game in Japan for the Gamecube, and made use of the real-time internal clock to keep track of time in the game.

Animal Crossing made its debut in the US September 15th, 2002, and recieved great consumer and critical reception. X-Play dubbed the game the 7th best game on the Gamecube, and was given high ratings by most game reviewers.

The success of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube and the popularity of the Nintendo DS prompted the creation of an Animal Crossing port for the DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, which released worldwide in the fall of 2005. It was the first true sequel for the series, since all the versions before it were ports and remakes of the original game. The game added new features which expanded the current village layout, and made use of the NIntendo Wi-Fi Connection feature for the DS by allowing a player’s friends to visit their village.

Memorable characters such as Tom Nook and Resetti, slow-paced but rewarding gameplay, and a unique environment have all helped make Animal Crossing one of Nintendo’s best-selling franchises of this decade. According to the Nintendo site, a November release for Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii is planned for the US release.

Pikmin announced Post-Conference

Yep, Miyamoto disclosed that good ol’ Ninty is working on a new PIkmin game AFTER their Nintendo E3 Conference. For those that don’t know, Pikmin and Pikmin 2 were games that were released on the Gamecube where the player controls an astronaut who can order around these little alien things called Pikmin to do his bidding. There are different types of PIkmin that could do different sorts of tasks, so the gameplay was a mix of strategy and puzzle solving.

Pikmin 2 was a lot of fun and the gameplay interesting from what I remember, and the multiplayer (was that in 1 or 2? Or both? Iforgot) was surprisingly fun. So i’ve got some high hopes for this next Pikmin. No release dates or anything have been released so far, and I don’t even think there are screenshots anywhere. But we all know Nintendo, they don’t show anything of their games until it looks like a hit.

Dead Rising is rising on the Wii!

This literally just in within the last half hour or so! The original Dead Rising from XBOX 360 is going to be released on the Wii. Details on 1up say that Capcom is looking to stay as “faithful” to the original, which is totally fine by me. Only thing I’m worried about is how drastic the graphical decline will be. But the game already was kind of campy, so I’m not going to try to worry about it too much. But damn! Hot damn! Dead Rising on the Wii!

Seriously, i’m pretty excited with the possibilities. Obviously I’m expecting the obligatory tacked on wii motion actions. Imagine mimicing throwing plates, swinging those clothes models figures (the name escapes me at the moment), and, here’s the best one, cooking food! Sweet dog!

pic from 1up

Link to the news here

Animal Crossing: City Folk

So, I just finished reading the E3 Impressions of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii from 1up. You can find the preview here

Below are some of the points from the preview and a bit of my own thoughts.

So from what I read, here’s a list of the good things revealed so far:

• Take a bus to the city!
• Invite up to three other friends to your neighborhood online! WIth VOICE CHAT!
• An auction house?!?
• It’s Animal Crossing!

Ah, and of course, with a good list, there’s a bad list

• Auction house and friends only work by using friend codes
• The graphics aren’t amazing, but are cleaned up
• Not many drastic changes (but some might see this as a good thing if they’re fine and dandy with Animal Crossing as is)

Well, that’s what I’ve got so far. I’ve only played the Gamecube Animal Crossing, but the time I had it was very fun. Below are some pics I picked up from 1up, be sure to check their image gallery for more pics.