Z-targeting was what helped the first 3D Zelda be a success

Innovation is a hard thing to come by. Are we really running out of ideas? Sure there are some original games out there, but how many Nazis do I have to kill, how many touchdowns do I have to score, and how many times do I have to rescue the princess? I’m not trying to say some of it isn’t not fun, I’ve just noticed it has become the same game each time. Whatever happened to good old innovation?

The transition from 2D to 3D on the Nintendo 64 in most cases was pure genius. You cannot deny how awesome it was to roam Princess Peach’s castle for the first time in all three dimensions, or Z-targetting your first enemy then striking him down with your sword. It was not just Nintendo who achieved this, Sony did it with their blockbuster Metal Gear Solid by breaking the fourth wall and laying the foundation for stealth games for years to come.

Newer attempts at innovation have been scarce (Portal), and some even failed (Lair, Wii Music). What happened? Are we really so money focused that developers have become lazy? This could possibly be to blame on the “casual” market, with games containing simple gameplay and user friendliness. A unique story can add to innovation, just look at Chrono Trigger. Unlike the million Final Fantasy spinoffs, the single Chrono Trigger game has been constantly praised for never aging, and that the story is what sets it apart.

I feel its time for developers to stop and think about what made gaming truly great: fun.

Since I was lucky enough to register 400 dollars worth of Nintendo games, I’ve decided to review this Club Nintendo reward because most of you probably do not have it. Let me tell you, it was worth it. Previously only available in Japan as part of their Club Nintendo, this game was hard to come by. However, with Nintendo debuting Club Nintendo here in the “Americas”, we now have a chance to play it. Ordering the game requires 800 points on the CN (as I will refer to it from now on) website. This turns out to be roughly 400 dollars, if you registered only Wii games.

The Game and Watch Collection contains three G&W games:

• Oil Panic
• Donkey Kong
• Green House

(continue reading…)

The following is a research paper I wrote for my final project in English.

Violent videogames have sparked controversy for the last 40 years, but do they really influence the people who play them? There has been an ongoing debate about this subject since the early 1990s. In this essay, I hope to shed some light on both sides of the argument as well as where I stand on the issue. First, let’s look at where this all started, and the history following that.

Violence in videogames has been an issue since 1976 with a video game called “Death Race”. The game was inspired by the 1975 film “Death Race 2000”, which had a cult following. The basic game play consisted of using a steering wheel and gas pedal to run over as many people as you can. When it was released, only about five hundred were made, and was banned just about everywhere. This was the first instance of violence in videogames being an issue.
(continue reading…)

Microsoft Sam loves video games, especially old ones. Join him each week as he reviews his favorite classic games. This week he reviews Wheel of Fortune for the NES.

Captain Skyhawk was an excellent game for the NES that was developed by Rare and released in 1990. Game play is somewhat simple. The player flies an F-14 in an isometric view to shoot down enemies, drop packages or pick up scientists. Music for this game was arranged by the famous David Wise, who worked on games such as Donkey Kong Country (which had fantastic music).

The player has four weapons available to them: Phoenix Air Intercept Missiles, Maverick air to ground missiles, a Cannon and Hawk bombs. The weapons need to be purchased in between missions, except for the cannon which has unlimited ammo. You earn credits by shooting down alien forces.

There are nine missions in the game, with each mission having a variation of another (i.e. different layout for a level to drop supplies). Each of the levels have different routes to take, which can make the game more difficult or easier depending on which you chose. At the end of each mission, you attempt to board a space station while flying in space, very much like that in Top Gun where you land on a carrier.

There really isn’t much else to say except to try the game yourself! It was unique for the NES in that i was not the traditional top view shooter.

You can play the game here.

Microsoft Sam loves video games, especially old ones. Join him each week as he reviews his favorite classic games. This week he reviews 3D World Runner for the NES.

For the first edition of Retro Thursday, I will be talking about one of my personal favorites for the Atari 2600: Kaboom.

The game was released in 1981 by Activision and designed by Larry Kaplan.  It used the special paddle controllers to control the game, which consisted of catching falling bombs dropped by the “Mad Bomber”. Moving the paddle’s knob moved the buckets from side to side, and pressing the button after a round starts a new one. Each round the bombs drop faster and faster, and if you miss you lose a bucket (you have three).

This gem featured a sort of two player mode where the each player takes turns to play the game. If you had the system’s game selection to a, the buckets are smaller, and the game becomes harder. Because of its simplicity and addictive like gameplay, Kaboom was a huge success, and sold over one million cartridges by 1983. It spawned a remake for the Atari 5200, as well as one planned for the SNES, but was never released. Kaboom even had a small electronic handheld keychain around 1998.

If you ever come across this and have never played it, please do so. It has aged a bit, but will never lose its charm.

Kaboom is free to play here