Nintendo broke away from competition with Sony and, new arrival, Microsoft with what some call the “Blue Ocean” business strategy. The Blue Ocean strategy is the metaphor of leaving a “red ocean” (one dyed by the blood of competition) for unclaimed waters filled with the potential for creating new demand. From a business stand point this brave (or stupid) move has paid off and now Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are competing for second place.

Nintendo managed to succeed because they did something more than incrementally improve and repurpose old features. Yes, Gentle Reader, I’m talking about the “I” word, innovation. It’s debatable if the Wii controller is a true innovation as some gamers will still belittle it and mock it, but from a business standpoint it’s a successful change that’s brought in tremendous profit. Nintendo is as guilty as everyone else of giving us sequels by the truck load, most games in each series offer something new every one or two games. In truth, sequels are not really a bad thing as long as they are different enough that it stands on its own or adds to the previous experience.

This is the potential folly faced by Microsoft and Sony. If both companies continue to try and outdo the other, this means they have to rely on the other to show them where it is they are going. As mentioned before, it’s a tradition in the game industry to play copy cat with your opponents and then sell what they made for a lower price or with something more appealing attached. The game Sony and Microsoft are playing is the equivalent of trying to race someone you’re following to an unknown finish line.

If the two titans do not exercise some real creative muscle and insight, they run the risk of choking their audiences’ current interest. History has shown that strokes of genius like Katamari Damacy are not that common and while they may be risky or appear too weird, it’s that their quirkiness that aid to its success. The first GTA games offered sandbox gameplay, but GTA 3 took the top down world and made it more accessible by giving the player more dimensions to see everything. This reinvention (or innovation) has made the name Grand Theft Auto globally known.

Rehashed games, or those that don’t provide much of a new gaming experience, can poison a series or genre. If the games they make for the “core” gamer are not more than uninventive sequels the interest will dissolve and the audience will vanish or develop new preferences. The market has become swamped with First Person Shooters and while some may feel that’s not bad, it clearly demonstrates that developers are vying for the attention of a certain niche while alienating possibilities. As mentioned before, even if Nintendo did not stir up this casual boom, the publishers seemed to become more focused on producing games they KNOW will sell then those that can expand the market.

When we consider that the Xbox 360 has introduced its Mii-like “Avatars” and has begun promoting its “family friendly games” and that the Playstation 3 has its “six axis” controller and demonstrated a recent swelling of fresh but casual Playstation Store games their actions foreshadow that the duo are once again trying to outdo the other as they look for the path Nintendo made. Sony and Microsoft could just stick with the audience that has carried them to their current success, but like I proposed in part 1, only a fool (or altruistic gamer) would turn down the easy money casual games bring in.

I’d expect the next Microsoft console to utilize some sort of Wii remote like peripheral and the Playstation 3 to get it’s own version of the Wii remote. If Microsoft wishes to make the most money possible, their Wii remote copy will be a peripheral rather than a brand new system.

You might think “The End is Nigh” if you’re a core gamer that detests those happy, care free casual gamers. In the event that Sony and Microsoft act like a business and chase the money, a core gamer’s won’t be lost in a changing industry if the new audience leans how to discern between crap games and software worth its price tag. If all else fails there’s always indie games.

So as of now, these are the ominous black clouds that loom over the game industry. Nintendo is getting flogged with junk casual games and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 run the risk of tiring their comparatively small (compared to the number of casuals) core audience with incremental improvements of current software.

During the Great Depression, American movie theaters saw steady business as the consumer hungered for an escape from the troubled economy. In today’s global economic recession, it seems that people still want that escape and video games are the medium that provide it even better than a mere 2 hour movie for 20 some dollars (if you get popcorn and a drink.) The road that lies before the game industry is not likely to disappear, no matter how cluttered it becomes with obstacles. That way ahead may be uncertain, but it is not lost when there are companies that will forge new paths and people that pine for the experience.

You see, I wouldn’t consider myself a sadist, and it’s not even that I don’t like replaying games– I love to, especially with a “New Game+” option. I just don’t like the idea that all the strategies and plans and skills I’ve devised and employed could soon become redundant just by replaying the game on harder. This is why FE shocked me so much.

I’m sure if you’ve found this blog you’re aware Nintendo currently is wearing it’s casual gaming hat. Easy games aimed at your mother and your sister are being developed faster than Fanfiction can be written which is much to the chagrin of us more hardcore gamers. I’m sure you’re wondering whether I’ll get to the point by now, so here it is.

Do you see this on the left? This is the menu I was presented with. After choosing hard mode. That’s right kids, FIVE variations of Hard mode. Now, I want the full experience first time, so I chose Merciless (which will here-on out be referred to as h5). Little did I know, Nintendo are actually capable of making a difficult game. I begun playing it like Advance Wars. Moving the archer behind the meatshield etc ready for them to hit the meatshield so I could strike with him and the archer back. This was my first mistake.

This game, is not Advance Wars. This game, on h5 is the mother of all hardcore SRPGs. The first soldier came, and SWAM AROUND my meatshield, and double attacked my archer. He was dead. I was on a IRC network at the time, and I had asked if I just suck or this really is that hard, I was informed that I did not suck, and my archer would be dead. Permanently. After the battle, he was not going to be magically revived. He was dead forever because of a mistake I made. I was also informed that this happens even on NORMAL difficulty.

At first, I was shocked and confused that such a thing could take place. I was angry at myself for not knowing that Gordin had met his fate so soon. I pressed the suspend button and restarted the battle. Clearly, Nintendo knew that if you choose Hard, you’re going to lose. As a result, all cutscenes can be skipped by pressing start making the time from quitting the FIRST battle to restarting it about 5 seconds long. Over a period of 24 battles, I devised strategies, formations, tactics all of which after every loss only made me more formidable. Soon I knew exactly what the AI would do if I moved Shiida into a certain square and lured them into the southern sea. I knew exactly who to rotate onto the fort and when to minimise downtime and maximise healing potential. Just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, these strategies only cover the first 10 or so moves of the first battle. But I didn’t care. Onward I proceeded losing time and time again until it was me and the boss. Thankfully the Boss is incapable of movement (probably because if he did I could capture the throne and win the map.) and can only attack directly above, below and to the left and right. I set everyone who could hold a ranged weapon to hold one and after about 20 turns of misses and hits and regeneration, I got him to the point where Marth could run in and take the final slash, deciding the battle.

Marth ran in, sword in hand with the hopes of the entire company resting upon his caped shoulders. He swung and nay- it was not to be. The pirate leader evaded the attack and proceeded to kill Marth. Ending the mission. Six hours of effort and planning and failure, only to result in more failure. But I could feel the game overtaking me. It was a good pain. Eight battles later I had made it to the boss yet again, with only one loss (I’m sorry Shiida, I miss you and your winged horse but you were not strong enough for my army.) And finally..

Gazzak was slain, by no less than the brave warrior Cain.

The battle was over and I had felt a sense of accomplishment akin to that of finishing an entire game. When I realised that was the OPENING battle of the game. I smiled to myself, saved the game and went to bed.

Get it, and get it now.

To basically get the Pokémon all you have to do is:

1. Go to your local Toys R Us
2. Whip out your Nintendo DS around the video game section
3. Boot up Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
4. At the main menu there should be an option for “Mystery Gift”
5. Go into the Mystery Gift section and select “Receive Gift” via Wireless
6. At this point you should get a gift/card with Regigigas and choose to accept it. You might not be able to accept it if you already have too many cards so just throw one away as I’m sure already claimed that gift.
7. After all that, load up it up and go to any Pokémart and you’ll see a man next to the register who will give you your Regigigas and that’s it.

Don’t worry if you forgot all these hard instructions as there usually a poster in the video game section of the store that explains how to get it. Since it’s all wireless, you can avoid contact with all the kiddies, or you can beat them with your elite team of perfect EV trained Pokémon if you really want to.

So Pokémon fans venture out into the Sun to collect your Regigigas, after all, a little breath of fresh air never killed anyone.

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Things started out great. Do you remember how we met? My mom brought you home from the store that day in 1986. I couldn’t have been happier. I know, I know. I was young and naïve. You were new and exciting, a whole new world of possibilities right in front of me. I didn’t know this, but you were already strangling the life out of the people that wanted to make games for you. You just squeezed and squeezed. Your sweetly cruel grip locked down third party developers. They were powerless to make games for other systems. You even made poor Konami open Ultra Games, just so they could deliver you Ninja Turtles and Metal Gear. It was wrong of them to trick you like that, but when you don’t allow game makers but 5 games a year, sometimes drastic steps have to be taken. Even with your veritable monopoly on my gaming experience, my love for you only grew. Late nights sharing you with friends, blowing into your spacious cavities, even your portable model I could take where I pleased only made my fervor for you stronger. I bought you accessories, despite your lack of software support for them. I loved every minute on my Power Pad, though I only had one of your five games for it. Asshole Dog didn’t giggle half as much as I did when shooting cans in Hogan’s Alley. Then, that raven shelled hussy called Genesis threatened to take me away forever.

Genesis was sleeker, more flashy, and did what, sadly, you Nintendidn’t. See, back in those days my affair with fighting games was raging. I needed Mortal Kombat and I needed it bad. You just couldn’t deliver what I needed. You had moved on from your dominatrix-like grip on the industry into something more akin to a soccer mom. Your new moral code railroaded me in a different direction. I didn’t want grey sweat, I wanted crimson blood and I wanted it by the gallon. You tried to entice me with vices I once loved, but again, your failure to support many of them did nothing to sway me. A friend of mine was seeing you at the time and showed me what you could do. You had some impressive offerings I will admit. Your mouse was downright sexy, but I can only slap flies so many times. Your bazooka… wow, what a marvel. Too bad you did almost nothing with it. You eventually wised up and let your hair back down, but I was already looking at other options out there.

I have to admit, you were strongly vying for my attention with your 64 bits of sex but in the end, I made the mistake and went with that Sony whore. I know, I know, I already said it was a mistake. You had Zelda and Mario but the novelty of a CD-Rom was just too much for me. Things went great for a while. Then loading times worsened. And I would see you at parties with friends, four of us sitting around you. I don’t know how many calloused palms you caused or the number of sleepless nights I spent trying to secure a briefcase with you, but I never had times like that with the grey disc spinner. I was trapped. I once tried to swap my Playstation for you, but to no avail, my friends all had death grips on your charms.

For a long time, you were absent in my life. After a while I went back to Sega. She was still fantastic after all these year, though she got ill and died very suddenly. Still mourning her loss I started see you in magazines, showing off that tight little cube and let me tell you, I was excited. When you hit stores, I eagerly scooped you into my arms. But something was different. I couldn’t lay my finger on it then but now I know. You started wanting more and more from me. You told me I needed link cables and broadband modems. You said I needed something to play your portable games on my TV. You told me Mario was fresh and new but that was a lie. You said Zelda was going to be epic, but those seas were lonely. You and I never really saw eye to eye again after that period of time. You hurt me, but you made it a slow burn. I didn’t realize until much later that I’d been taken advantage of. We drifted apart after that.

Some years later we were reunited by chance. I had heard you cleaned up your act. You had this new waggle about you. I was hooked like a child again. You promised me new and exciting ways to play with you. I imagined us fighting ninjas with a sword and dodging bullets in real-time. I saw us hitting golf balls into the sunset and driving go-carts around lush fields. Then you told me I could play all everything I’d loved as a child (for a nominal fee). I could enjoy all of those things and even experience things I’d missed while seeing Sony (all I needed was a new controller!). Then you took it all away. I still can’t play golf like real life. I can’t swordfight. You’ve really let yourself go too. I can’t look at your section in a store anymore and be excited at what I might find. All there is are dozens of titles of garbage. You’ll let anyone make shit for you now won’t you? And don’t even try and hide it anymore. I know you’re seeing other people. I know they love flailing around like a retard, but I don’t. I don’t like that Nintendo. Don’t keep promising me “new and exciting” around every turn. You keep saying “Just hang on a little longer, I still love you!” but you don’t. I know now. You don’t love me anymore. And as long as you keep letting these people take advantage of you for the sake of a quick buck, you’ll kill yourself, just like those other poor bastards did back in 1983. I wish I could say I didn’t want that to happen to you, but I just can’t care anymore Nintendo. Our on again off again relationship is over. I’ll look back and miss you, but you won’t even remember me in years to come. Good luck sweetheart.

Deciding that I want eye cancer and to become obese at the same time, I played Jack Bros. by Atlus for the Virtual Boy. Jack Bros. is a very simple dungeon crawler for the Virtual Boy using original icons from Atlus, such as Jack Frost and Pyro Jack.

The story is very simplistic but it gets the job done. On Halloween all the faeries come out play with the small children to have fun and cause mischief. You play as a one of the Jack brothers, either Jack Frost, Pyro Jack (Jack Lantern in this game) or Jack Skelton (aka Jack the Ripper). Having so much fun playing with the children, you forgot you’re suppose to go home by the end of the day or else you will die because faeries don’t belong in the realm of humans. So off you go on your adventure to get back home with the aid of a small pixie that nags you at every single floor giving you the most obvious hints.

The game play itself is just as simple as the story. You go through many floors of a dungeon collecting keys and eventually get back to the faerie world. Each character plays pretty much same, the only difference is the sprites. So I decide to play through the game as Jack Frost, who in my opinion is the most lovable one of the three. The gameplay consists of running around collecting keys and shooting ice/fire/knives at enemies, and if you’re feeling feisty you can use a bomb too, which kills everything on the screen. The dungeons are small and narrow, so there’s not much room for you or the enemies. The floors are designed to be maze-like but can easily be solved by any grade school child; so it becomes hard to lose yourself on the map. There is also a radar that tells you where the keys are and where the exit is. There is no life bar, but rather a timer. The timer goes down every time you are damaged and once the time runs out its game over.

Overall the game play is just basic and repetitive. There’s nothing really much else to it besides the dungeon crawling aspect of the game. The monotony does break up when you reach the end of a dungeon to fight a boss, which changes things around as you now have an arena to fight in and it suddenly feels like I’m playing Smash TV. Each boss is unique in their own way and all of them are very fun fights. Even though the boss fights can be very exhilarating, everything in between gets a bit boring after mere minutes of playtime.

Nothing really much to say about the graphics in the game, besides staring at them for too long can cause eye problems. Shades of red aren’t really a beautiful sight to see, but it gets the job done, sort of. I would say besides the eyestrain, everything else about the graphics is just fine; everything is identifiable and you really can’t get confused between one sprite or the next. The music seems to remind me of every DOS game there is, even the NES and Gameboy had some catchy bits in their music library but the music in this really reminds me of the days of DOS music which can be either good or bad depending how you like it. Even though the music was a step backward in synthesis, it was for the most part adequate, I’ll say just above mediocre but that’s it.

The game is simple and fun for those who enjoy the dungeon crawling. If you like to kill thirty minutes, give the game a try; if you want to kill over thirty minutes, give the game a try – just go see optometrist afterwards.

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

• Oil Panic
• Donkey Kong
• Green House

Oil Panic

In Oil Panic, oil drops from the pipes on the top screen, and you must catch them in a bucket. After the bucket is full (you can only have three drops) you go to the sides of the building and spill the drops to the man with the other bucket below. One drop equals one point, two drops equals two points, and three equals bonus points.

If you miss a drop on the top screen you earn a miss. The same goes for the bottom screen except if you spill the bucket while the other man is not below you earn a miss.

Oil Panic isn’t the best game in this collection, but it still is very fun.

Donkey Kong

This one plays a lot like the original Donkey Kong except the gameplay is changed in that you are limited in your movement, and the objective is different. With that said this is one addicting LCD game. Donkey Kong requires strategic moves and a watchful eye. The player must navigate through the construction site while dodging barrels thrown by Donkey Kong, much like the original. However the main objective is to activate the crane by throwing a switch, then hopping up onto the hook of the crane and collect a key at the top. Once all four keys are collected the platform drops and Donkey Kong is defeated. The game restarts after that, and it gets faster which makes it harder.

This one is personally my second favorite in this collection, because it is semi frantic and requires a bit of skill. This leads me to the final and my personal favorite game:

Green House

Green House is frantic, exciting and just plain fun. The objective for this one is to exterminate all the bugs before they get to your plants. For example, the inchworms at the top are after the flowers, and the spiders are after the flowers at the bottom screen. You earn a miss when a bug gets to a flower. With that said, this game can go on for quite a while if you keep an eye out. Miss icons are cleared when you reach the 300, 1300, 2300 and 3300 point marks. A fever mode is induced when you go for a while without making any mistakes.

My personal high score on Green House is about 800 points, and that’s after playing for ten minutes. Needless to say, I was addicted.

Overall

This game is probably the best obscure game for DS out right now. Probably the best part about it is the sounds. It has the retro beeps and boops that the G&W handhelds had, and they surprisingly do not get annoying. The only problem is it is such a hassle to get, requiring roughly 400 dollars of Nintendo games. If you are able to do this, please do yourself and get this game. You will not be disappointed.

There were so many ways that the DS could have evolved. Nintendo could’ve made the top screen touch-sensitive. The whole thing could have been compacted to fold up into a convenient Gameboy SP-sized package, like one of those shoop’ed ads circulating the interwebs from long, long ago. But no, they had to come up with the Nintendo DSi, which is basically a re-designed DS without the GBA port and dual 0.3 megapixel cameras. Well at least the screens themselves are bigger, and there’s some potential with homebrew ( the DSi also offers SD card support and internal storage as new features ). We’ll take what we can get.

Anyway, IGN seems to be on the vine with the latest regarding the latest model of the Nintendo DS, citing numerous but unnamed sources in their report that the redesign would cost around US$ 179.99, and will be launching in the Americas on April 4. That’s a bit of a hefty price, but it’s a good thing, considering that the Nintendo DS lite is still selling like hotcakes (selling 1.5 million units in November), making the DSi more of an optional upgrade than anything else. I’m sure I won’t be plunking money down on it.

It’s no surprise that Nintendo has won this gaming generation in terms of sales. Yes, we know about the shovelware and yes, we know that the Wii and the DS do have gimmicks, but even the most hardcore fanboy can’t deny the fact that Nintendo is literally making a killing, even with the recent economic crunch. Sony’s laying off people, Microsoft is planning to lay off people, Nintendo is in fact hiring more people to cart the ridiculous scads of money they’ve been making from the bank to their secret underground vaults, where they also store the world’s only supply of Nintendium. They’ve dominated each and every NPD chart since the history of forever, and it looks like they’re not stopping.

Take this latest NPD Group update, which tackles the sales of all videogame consoles last December (i.e. December of 2008). Here’s the actual list, first:

* Nintendo DS – 3,040,000
* Wii – 2,150,000
* Xbox 360 – 1,440,000
* PSP – 1,020,000
* PlayStation 3 – 726,000
* PlayStation 2 – 410,000

Oh, look, Nintendo’s at the top. No surprise there. What’s surprising is that for the entire month of December, Nintendo has sold over 5 million consoles. That’s both the Wii and the DS hardware sales combined. According to NPD, that makes a new record high – breaking the PlayStation 2’s record of 2.7 million sales for a month alone. And that’s just for the US. Nintendo is making so much money, it should be a crime.

Of course, now with all your money, Nintendo, isn’t it time to do something about your software? Come on. We’re literally eating right out of your hand. Take some risks! Be creative with your IPs! Super Mario Galaxy was great, Twilight Princess was pretty cool, but it’s always been more or the same. Ask Rockstar to help direct the next Zelda. Have Suda 51 develop the next Mario game, anything. Break the mold. PLEASE.

Gameplay: 9/10
You are basically a kid on balloons flapping around to stay alive using a somewhat realistic physics engine. To make this section easier, I’ll split it to game A, B, and C.

Game A: You have 3 lives to take down an endless legion of bird-masked kids. You must “stomp” on their single balloon to pop them, then hit them while they’re coming down to their death. They can infinitely re-spawn if you don’t touch them after their balloon is popped. There are 3 types of bird kids. Pink-Easy Green-Medium Yellow-Hard. This game is entirely point-based, 13 levels can be played, then they just loop. 3 of them are bonuses, playing every one’s favorite tune while popping 20 bonus stray balloons. This game is epic, but repetitive, and you only have 3 lives, no 1ups, no continues. This does play like an arcade game however. 8/10 Game A.

Game B: Same as Game A, but with a friend. You can co-op or bash each other. Co-op makes it way more fun to be honest. By the way, you and your friend’s score aren’t combined, only the higher player’s. Game B 10/10.

Game C: This is called Balloon Trip. You basically fly around popping stray green balloons while avoiding electric stars. The Balloon Fight theme plays while you are playing this. The top 50 player’s high scores (yep high score based) are ranked, so your goal is to survive and be #1! You can pop bubbles to stop the side-scrolling screen, but usually, you’ll die from this. This is great, but kinda repetitive. Game C 9/10.

Story: N/A
This game has no story.

Music: 10/10
Yes, this game has no music in Game A or B, but A &B’s bonus round music & C’s music totally make up for it. It’s the Balloon Trip theme, found in SSBM & SSBB. This is like the coolest track, EVER! I play the single player, just for this track at the bonus rounds! This track is soo epic, 10/10! (BTW there is a musical game over & when you pop a guy’s balloon while he’s spiraling down)

Control: 10/10
The realistic physics engine takes place here. I forgot to mention above, but your fighter has 2 balloons, meaning he may get popped twice before losing a life. The physics engine really takes place, because when you have 1 balloon, controlling your fighter is tougher. Also you have to flap a little before lift, and stay afloat by flapping. Awesome physics. 10/10.

Graphics: 8/10
Your fighter is blue and red with red balloons. The background is always black with white specs, but everything else is colorful. 8/10.

Replay Value: 10/10
This is where Balloon Fight shines. You can play it for 5 minutes, or 2 hours. It’s an addicting little simplistic game. 10/10

Overall: 10/10
Yes, I gave it 10 stars. This game is so great and captivating, it’s utterly a masterpiece. If you have 500 pts, DOWNLOAD IT! I’d recommend this to anyone. It has great gameplay and physics. 10/10 overall.

Remember Bob’s Game? That DS RPG that the creator, someone supposedly named ‘Bob’ himself put in a staggering 15,000 hours of hard work on? That indie game that Nintendo apparently doesn’t want to be completed, blocking it by way of denying its creator an SDK purchase? If so, then you might remember that ‘Bob’ himself bit the bullet by staging a 100-day protest inside a room, barricaded from the outside world, only to come out when Nintendo finally relents and gives him the SDK he sorely needs to make Bob’s Game ready for retail. Well, it seems that it will be a while before Bob’s Game actually makes it to the store shelves, as it seems that Bob himself has given up the good fight, letting himself out after only 30 days of being cooped up in his own room. Bear in mind that it’s quite the furnished room, and has all the amenities and luxuries of any room, and he even has a way to communicate with the outside (as well as a shower and food) – which is why him giving up even before the halfway mark a bit puzzling, and a bit sad.

His explanation for his surrender (as well as a few other things) below, taken verbatim from his own website:

It was foolish of me to think Nintendo would hear my pleas. They’re just another heartless corporation, only interested in the biggest profits. The core gamers don’t matter anymore. It’s not about the games or the fans, it’s about spreading out and getting casual gamers to buy Wii Fit. The golden days of video games are long gone. A game like mine has no place on the shelf along with games like “Crossword Puzzles” and “Sudoku.”

My head hurts, so I’m ending this post. Sorry, everybody. Whatever. Why does this HURT so much?

While I can’t presume to understand the pains of being a creator spurned by the same company you want to benefit from your hard work, I do have to say that quitting at 30 days – i.e. less than half of your promised protest day length – is a bit weak, Bob. No one was asking you to up the ante, you could have given yourself something to entertain yourself with. We would have symphatized. We would have cared. But quitting at that point? I’m sorry to say this, but that only makes your scathing remarks about Nintendo that much more painful to read.

You can read more about the protest in bobsgame.com.