When you think about the Wii, you immediately think crappy multiplayer party titles that everyone can only enjoy only if they’re A: ten years old; or B: drunk off their asses (except for the rare first-party and third party gem here and there, of course). Now it seems that Platinum Games, that blessed company made up of the imaginative people that brought God Hand screaming into the world, is looking to change that, with their upcoming title, the gory and noir-laced Madworld, featuring some multiplayer segments that should be pretty fun, seeing as the  game itself isn’t your usual sports-related title.

Of course, it’s not yet explicitly stated just how much of the game will be multiplayer, but it’s this bit in the official MadWorld website that got our attention:

Take control and compete in a variety of ultra-violent ‘Blood Bath Challenges’ which can be played offline multiplayer with your friends or enemies.

Hopefully it lets us play online multiplayer, too. Man Darts will probably be a nice way to vent all that rage from lost Mario Kart matches.

MadWorld Uncensored Trailer. Here’s what you really need to know: it’s super violent, it’s got the black-and-white cel-shaded noir thing going on about it, and it looks like it plays like God Hand. Yes, with the third-person perspective and everything. And yes, you do get to punch people with a juiced-up arm – but instead of having one with the power of a god,  you’ll be throwing down with a robotic arm that has a chainsaw attachment. And with it, you’ll be cutting up everything from random thugs to flipped-out ninjas.

Context-sensitive kills, God Hand-esque combat, and the freedom to use your chainsaw on anyone. Platinum Games, you’re doing something right.

You can view the awesome trailer here.

Bugs and glitches are part and parcel of every game that’s ever been printed for our digital enjoyment. Some are annoying, some look hilarious, but a special few manage to completely ruin the game altogether and stop the fun right in its tracks, making us wonder just HOW it ever got past Quality Control. Unfortunately, that same kind of bug had made its way into the Wii version of Lara Croft’s latest adventure, Tomb Raider: Underworld, causing many a fan to unload their frustrations on Eidos’ forums. The company has since then acknowledged the existence of the bug, and has released the following statement:

We are aware of a bug which is present in the Nintendo Wii version of Tomb Raider: Underworld. We would like to stress that this is an extremely infrequent bug, however on the rare occasion that it occurs; it affects the presence of a lever in the Thailand level of the game and prevents progress beyond this level. Eidos sincerely apologies to anyone who has experienced this frustrating problem. The quality of our games is paramount to us and the Nintendo Wii version of Tomb Raider: Underworld went through three separate QA testing departments prior to release.

Regrettably anomalies such as this do occur occasionally in videogames despite the best efforts by publishers to avoid them. The good news is that it is not an unsolvable bug, so if you encounter it and it persists please visit www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/support/worldmap.htm.

Note that following the actual URL gives you a page of support numbers, arranged by country and region. we’re not too sure how that would work – the obvious recourse for anyone encountering the bug would be to simply revert to an earlier save, or at least download a save file made past that crucial point. In any case, let’s hope that we see less of these game-crippling bugs.

Hardcore and casual games. Hardcore and casual gamers. I’ve spent to much time on the Internet to be surprised when I hear it, but almost once in every argument, it get’s dropped.

“It’s a CASUAL game”

A casual game. A game, that is casual in it’s design? In it’s use? In it’s plot or art? What does that mean? What do you THINK you’re saying?

Video games are NOT casual. Nor are they Hardcore. Video games are video games. There is no such thing as a hardcore game and a casual game. There are obscure games, there are popular games, there are simple games, there are complex games, there are pretty games and there are ugly games. But there is no hardcore game, and not a single casual game. They don’t exist. A game cannot be hardcore or casual. A video game can have a target audience, an art style, a plot, no plot, it can have complex controls, it could use a motion sensor, it might even require you to type words to progress, as opposed to ever controlling anything, but none of these choices will ever make it casual or hardcore.

Katamari Damacy is obscure. It’s also colourful, and it’s simple. It’s kooky and straightforward in design. It’s intention is not to appeal any one demographic. It’s intention is to take a risk in game design. Would Katamari Damacy be a hardcore game or a casual game? Both, and neither. It qualifies for either. So how can we even begin to categorize it with a straight face, knowing full well that it would hypocritical and idiotic to do so?

The same goes for all video games. Another example? Grand Theft Auto. Difficult, traditional, risk taking, and immensely popular. How could this seemingly hardcore game still be hardcore if non-gamers play it casually everyday? GTAIV received endless criticism due to it’s popularity, calling it casual and mainstream when in fact it was ONLY mainstream. I am an avid gamer. I own a slew of consoles, I play them all. I own 2 copies of GTAIV, and will be getting the PC version in December. Now, I do not play it that often. I never play it for more then an hour. I play it, casually, you could say. BUT, it is not a casual game and I am not a casual gamer. It is also not a hardcore game. It is an action adventure open world sandbox game. I am a hardcore gamer, or as I like to say, “gaming enthusiast”. My brother is a casual gamer, he doesn’t spend long on a game, except for GTAIV. He plays the game hardcore, because he payed for it and read into it, and invested himself into it.

Catz and Dogz and Horsez are not casual, they are not hardcore, they are shovelware. Katamari is a puzzle game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a party game and Halo is a first person shooter. I own and play all these (with the exception of the shovelware). Famously, on the internet at least, Halo is casual, Katamari is hardcore and casual and Smash Bros. is the epitome of casual. But I’ve played SSBB for at least 100 hours now. How could that be casual playing?

It can’t be, and it’s not. I am a hardcore gamer. People who own Wii’s and play for 40 minutes at most in a day are casual gamers. My friend is a casual gamer, he owns an Xbox 360. My other friend is a hardcore gamer, he only owns a Wii. My brother is a casual gamer, he owns a $1200 gaming PC. How a game could be casual boggles me. Games are not designed like that. Games cannot be casual. It is the GAMER that is casual or hardcore. The gamer plays it their way, invests in it their way, spends as much time in it as they like. There has never been a casual or hardcore game. Only a casual and hardcore gamer. It’s really that simple.

This is what I deal with every day on the internet.

You see, butt-hurt console war crap come mostly from internal regret. From wasting a paycheck and waiting in the rain for a console, or underestimating your mother’s “you can only have one” rule, regret can be, and probably IS the biggest driving force behind console fanboys.

The Wii had the best launch by far, and is still beating the crap out of the competition, leaving old school Nintendo fanboys and once regretful 1st generation DS owners (who lucked out on the system’s initial lackluster success) laughing all the way to their mother’s basements. The problem is, after Brawl was released, Wii owners noticed not only that there are very few good exclusives, but there doesn’t seem to be many good games on the horizon. Slowly, many are realizing that the Wii may truly be a ‘Gamecube 1.5′.

The PlayStation’s fall from grace is by far the biggest story to come from this generation. The initial failure of the overpriced console left it’s purchases restrained only to Sony loyalists, optimists, graphics whores, and kids that got shafted come Christmas time. Things looked entirely grim, until the turning point at last year’s E3, along with the release of MGS4 and the so-called ‘Blue-Ray victory’ led to pessimists dropping their guards and embracing the console. It’s sudden upturn, in addition to a slew of new exclusives, has not only returned hope to Sony’s eyes, but has led fanboys to strike back at their opposite competition with a violent vengeance.

Which leaves the 360. With good sales and the highest number of quality exclusives, the 360 owners should be the happiest fanboys of the bunch. But lately, with the rise of the PS3’s sales and the Wii’s dominance, the possibility of the 360, once the shining star of the generation, ending up the least successful, has fanboys absolutely livid. Even worse, the constant comments from casual and non-fanboy PS3 owners raving about their new console for no reason other than the fact that they just like to play the games has led to hilariously horrible fanboy wars being ‘fought’ on every corner of the internet.

This combination of groupthink and regret felt on every side has led to the most blatant and annoying generation of video game fanboyism ever seen. Even worse, more and more aging children are being brought into this gloriously unhealthy fandom with this powerful fanboy mindset, which may mean that all future generations of video games inspire the same undeserved rage this one has.

P.S.: Venom is from Spider-Man.

A lot of people who own a Nintendo Wii know the problem. When you first get your Wii, you’re excited. You play the games, you think everything is awesome. You’ll never need another console. The controls are so good, the gameplay is so much fun, you’ll enjoy your Wii forever. Fast-forward to the present, and it’ll probably be collecting dust. Maybe you used it for a couple of hours to play a recent release, like Disaster: Day of Crisis, but then you went back to doing other things. Why is it so hard to keep enjoying your Wii?

The answer is that there are no games on the Wii that you can put a lot of time in. As an example, let us take a look at Metacritic.com’s top 20 list for Wii games. There are 8 games that are strictly single-player, and all of them are quite short. 6 of them are Wiiware (which is quite shaming for big developers, honestly), and the remaining games include Guitar hero, Brawl and Wario ware.

Wario ware? Yes, it’s a fun game if you’ve got some friends over. But will you ever play it for more than an hour? No, you won’t. The same goes for Guitar hero. The only game in the 20 best games that you can put a lot of time in is Brawl. And one game does not make a console.

So what does the Wii need? It needs three things:

Long single-player games

It needs those games that you can just play on your own for hours. Things like long RPGs that take over 80 hours to complete. Things like strategic games that you can just play over and over again. Most games on the Wii take less than 10 hours to complete, and have very little replay value. Games like Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy take a bit longer to complete, but they still aren’t fantastic: And you’re basically done once you’ve collected everything, which shouldn’t take too long either.

Multiplayer

One of the most confusing things is how there are hardly any good multi player games on the Wii. Sure, there’s Wii sports and Wario ware, but I’m talking about those games where you can sit down with your friend and play a co-op campaign, or spend a long time playing against each other. The only game I can even think of that has co-op campaign is Brawl, and the Subspace Emissary is not one of its best modes.

On-line multi player

The way to spend most of your time is, of course, on-line multi player. For some reason, there are only two games with decent on-line play: Again, Brawl, and Pokemon Battle Revolution. However, Brawl is hurt by lag issues, and the settings for random battles are far from optimal. Battle revolution is a lot of fun, but it’s not very addictive.

Luckily, there are some games coming out that will help remedy this. For example, Monster Hunter Tri will have extensive on-line (without friend-codes), and Animal Crossing: City Folk will give you a lot of fun while chopping down trees in your friend’s town.

I think that as long as these wishes are fulfilled, the Wii will stop collecting dust and will instead become a great console. While it’s currently lacking in the games department, it has great potential. Especially if you look at the amazing lineup the Wii has for the next year, it will definitely get better.

Hey, Blizzard? I have a suggestion. Port Starcraft (and Brood War) to the Wii. Make sure to include some decent online multiplayer support while you’re at it.

Don’t give me that look. You ported it to the N64 way back in 2000. You and I both know that was a mistake. Why? Well, to start with, the controls were clunky and awkward. Starcraft worked well on the PC because it had an input device that allowed for quick pointing and clicking. The N64 had an analog stick with a few buttons, making for slow and mediocre controls. Now, can you think of a current-gen console has an input device built for quick pointing and clicking?

That’s right, the Wii. The Wiimote can easily take the place of a mouse, and between it and the nunchuck, you have enough button combinations to make the whole thing work. You could even throw in support for the Gamecube/Classic controller for the N64 loyalists (assuming there are any out there).

You know what else the Wii is capable of? Online multiplayer. It was nice of you to give us multiplayer in the N64 version, but I mean, come on. Split screen? Letting your opponent see everything you’re doing destroys the element of surprise, not to mention cramping the available screen real estate.

Look Blizz, you and I both know that Starcraft on the Wii would be more popular than food. Regardless of the fact that Starcraft 2 is on its way, Starcraft Wii would sell millions. I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t want to sit in front of a 60 inch screen, gesturing your forces to victory? It would be awesome.

C’mon Blizzard, throw your fans a bone.