Sunday, March 30, 2008

Wii Shortage Caused by Weak Dollar?



Dallas News writer Victor Godinez thinks he may have stumbled onto the golden reason behind the Wii Shortage.

"With a weak dollar, foreign companies that sell their goods in the U.S. for dollars and then convert those dollars to their native currencies get a smaller profit than if they sell their products in countries with strong currencies of their own (such as Europe with the euro). In other words, Nintendo makes a bigger profit on Wiis sold in Europe than on Wiis sold in the U.S."

We think this could possibly be the most insightful piece of finance-game related news in years....except who knew Europe had an excess of Wii?

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Cheaters Caught With Their Pants Down


The ban hammer is mighty and swift. If you've been keeping up with the internet today, you may have heard Microsoft has reset the gamerscore of detected cheaters in what is possibly the most effective method of cheat crackdown, EVER. Besides having their precious gamerscore removed, they are NOT allowed to re-earn previous achievements, and their gamertag is permanently marked as a cheater. The solution? Play fair and earn square going forward. Microsoft wants you to reform.

This is one of the BEST methods ever of preventing cheaters. No one likes to be publically ridiculed and marked and often people will go to great lengths to avoid such a reputation. And it's completely fair. Social justice to the rescue! Microsoft has done something perfect, for once, and gained a lot of positive reputation as a trade. Like G4 says, if your ego is so tied up in your gamerscore, you need to get a life but the public shamings are hillarious!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Review Postponed


I've been working my through the Subspace Emissary mode of the game for quite a while now, and I've come to realize there is a LOT more to this game than I've ever seen compared to most other games. Because of the sheer amount of content in the game I'm being forced to delay my review so I can accurately review all the content instead of partially review some content.

My impression of Subspace Emissary? WOW. Just WOW. And long!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

No Smash Day

I've been playing Brawl so much I feel like I'm rushing the game. With that in mind today I am taking the day off the game. I will be back full force tomorrow.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Brawl Impressions: Day 2 (Spoiler Alert!)



Actually, it's still techincally impressions from day 1 but the day changes when I go to bed, so I feel like I've had Brawl for two days.

The game is coming along now, I've accessed some newer content (Luigi, Snake) and gotten some serious multiplayer in, which has greatly alleviated my initial concerns about the game. I'm currently avoiding playing in WiFi in order to avoid spoilers, but it's tempting. So far I haven't accessed any unknown characters, but I'm sure they're there.

What is with the super hammer in the game? Does anyone know? It's bizarre!

The game's killing me with it's sleep absorbing powers but I'm having a kick-ass time! And the soundtrack is simply murderous!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

SSBB: Early Initial Impressions (Spoiler Alert!)



The following is a sum of my thoughts on the game so far.

Playtime: 90:00 min or so
Unlocks: Some pieces of music. Ness, Captain Nipples.
Curses: Messed up unlocking Marth.
Current Favorite Fighter: Pit. So fast! So quick! But no clearing move....
Current Favorite Stage: Either PictoChat or WarioWare
Current Wonders: Where's Sonic? Where's Snake? I'll get them....(please don't post how)
Neat-o! Moment: Multiple taunts! WOO! I loves me a taunt. And they used Ash's voice from the TV series? Awesome.

Overall I've got to say my intial taste of the game was pretty good. One of my first observations was how much more "realistic" and speedy the game was. SSB Melee certainly rocked, but in comparison to Brawl it now feels like Melee was in perpetual so-mo. It took some getting used to and after some play I believe my first played brawler (Pokemon Trainer) was likely a poor choice to adjust with. The realistic part occurs with gravity being a bit more constant than before and a slight toning down of the toony theme. It's not bad, it's just a change. Also, I've found the A attacks are near equally if not more effective than a signature B-attack (this is on the GameCube controller). It's like A is main course and B is spice.

Overall initial selection is good, but somewhat paltry. It's painfully obvious some serious unlocking lies ahead, but given the amount of content I keep hearing is in the game, Nintendo could have thrown out a bigger bone to start with. The game modes are also not explained very well and certainly are not explained in game. I have not explored many yet, but the few I've played are in the good ol' formula or fit right in with the rest.

The current bottom line: The game is very, very good. The initial lack of newer content and starting out with mostly updated older content is a bit dissapointing. So far I'm still interested in the game, but I'm not as critically drawn in as I would have hoped. I hope I can start to get to some meat and potatoes new content soon.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Super Smash Bros Brawl Week



Who is ready to play Smash? "After one soul crushing delay" and months of waiting, tonight (or tomorrow, if you like) at 12:01am, Super Smash Bros Brawl will be officially unleashed on the North American public.

Personally, I'm stoked like crazy and somewhat upset at the same time. I have a syndrome that periodically pops up - it doesn't have a name, but it is where I go spin crazy with anticipation of a release I've waited multiple years for. In recent years this has included Super Smash Bros Melee, Kingdom Hearts II (and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+), New Super Mario Bros, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. These are games that I get incredibly excited for - and with Brawl, I'm going to be taking some time off work (a first). Tonight one more title can be checked off the list. So why am I upset? I work tomorrow at good ol' 0800 - and it's time to kick the clock forward an hour to celebrate daylight savings time. The vacation kicks in half way into my day. But this is Brawl - so screw sleep - I have some asses to kick.

To help celebrate the release of Brawl I will be posting daily this week with small random thoughts, impressions, and tidbits that strike my fancy, culminating with a special full review of the game on Friday. If you want to get in on the action, feel free to comment on any posts (including this one) letting me know what your take is, or what you want to see through the week. The only rule: Do NOT discuss spoilers. So let everyone know - how excited are you? Are you having any parties to celebrate? Taking time off? Do you just not care at all? Are you buying a Wii for this game? Get excited!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Guess What I'm not Doing?

Oh Nintendo, why did you eschew marketing practices today and refuse us the original Super Smash Bros on the Virtual Console? Yup, yours truly is NOT playing it, despite wide expectations.

Turning to Smash Bros Brawl matters - anyone preordered it? Are you going to a midnight launch party? Excited?

Feel free to comment here on the DiS blog (RSS and LJers, please jump over to DiS proper) with your thoughts - but remember - no spoilers!