After a week of plodding through Opoona, my review has finally gone live on MyWiiNews. It's a bit of a monster, but I feel like I could have written well over 2000 words without much repetition. I also saw some ways I could have cut it almost in half, but considering the extreme dearth of information about the game currently on the 'net, I felt a pinch of verbosity was required. Opoona is a rather niche title, and I've had at least 3 or 4 people keep in constant contact with me about the game, trying to get a feel for it because so little information was really out there. I don't know how people will feel about it, but I'm hoping it will be useful for at least a few prospective gamers.
On another exciting note, I've recently been promoted to "Editor" of MyWiiNews. Up until now, there was one person who edited and published everything ("Bucky"). Since I've initiated a few cool changes and been generally reliable for my time there, he asked me to help out and work alongside him. I must say that it will be nice to get more experience editing for the future, even though I don't know where I'll be working 3 months from now. I will be in the Bay Area, though, so if you need a staff writer, I'd love to know.
Blabbering aside, the review is worth a peek.
Read: Opoona Review
Friday, April 4, 2008
Daily Nexus - Exploring the Uncanny Valley
This was something a little different. I actually wrote this almost a month ago, but due to finals week and spring break, my piece was postponed until Monday of this week. It's nice to see it finally go up, as I tried to put a little extra into it, discussing important questions about the future of videogame graphics and presentation.
I don't think we'll have to worry about being scared to death by the uncanny valley in all our videogames anytime soon, but it's a reasonable thought in the next 5-10 years. It's crazy to think how much of our lives has changed in just ten years, and how much it possibly could in ten more. Just look at this crazy mock-up of what ComputerWorld thinks our computers will be like in 15 years, and think about what people thought life would be like now, 70 years ago. Technology is some crazy stuff, and really hard to pinpoint what will be reasonably coming next. A terabyte of storage? I had 4 GB ten years ago when I got my first computer. Crazy how things change.
Anywhoo, onto the reading.
Read: Daily Nexus - Exploring the Uncanny Valley
I don't think we'll have to worry about being scared to death by the uncanny valley in all our videogames anytime soon, but it's a reasonable thought in the next 5-10 years. It's crazy to think how much of our lives has changed in just ten years, and how much it possibly could in ten more. Just look at this crazy mock-up of what ComputerWorld thinks our computers will be like in 15 years, and think about what people thought life would be like now, 70 years ago. Technology is some crazy stuff, and really hard to pinpoint what will be reasonably coming next. A terabyte of storage? I had 4 GB ten years ago when I got my first computer. Crazy how things change.
Anywhoo, onto the reading.
Read: Daily Nexus - Exploring the Uncanny Valley
MyWiiNews – More Updates on the Zelda Homebrew Hack
It's amazing to see chipless modifications do so much in so little time. After a little more than a few months, we've already got homebrew programs and applications running on the Wii. I don't see small-scale emulation far off, which will be monumental (and possibly catastrophic) for homebrewers everywhere. Obviously Nintendo doesn't want Wii owners having a free solution for emulation when they would prefer for consumers to buy games on the VC, so this may turn into quite the storm if things get out of hand. After all, if a down-grader or workaround is released a la the PSP, Nintendo could have a monster on their hands.
Times, they are a changin'.
Read: MyWiiNews – More Info on the Zelda Homebrew Hack
Times, they are a changin'.
Read: MyWiiNews – More Info on the Zelda Homebrew Hack
Monday, March 24, 2008
MyWiiNews - Opoona Impression
It's a busy week, and it's only going to get busier!
Knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to finish Opoona by the time the game was released (I got it this past Friday evening), I wanted to put up a little something to spark interest for the game, as well as for my future review. I chose to do a working "impression" of my six hours with the game to share my initial thoughts of the quirky intergalactic adventure.
The impresion is rather charitable to Opoona, as I only had a few hours with it and didn't feel it would be right for me to rip into it for whatever shortcomings it had. MyWiiNews has a different fanbase than say, RPGamer, so I had to alter my RPG writing style a little bit. I'll be a bit more critical of the game come review time, but the impression definitely lets people know what the game is about, and how the copy they might pick up should treat them in the first few hours. Take a peek, if you like.
Read: Opoona - Impression
Knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to finish Opoona by the time the game was released (I got it this past Friday evening), I wanted to put up a little something to spark interest for the game, as well as for my future review. I chose to do a working "impression" of my six hours with the game to share my initial thoughts of the quirky intergalactic adventure.
The impresion is rather charitable to Opoona, as I only had a few hours with it and didn't feel it would be right for me to rip into it for whatever shortcomings it had. MyWiiNews has a different fanbase than say, RPGamer, so I had to alter my RPG writing style a little bit. I'll be a bit more critical of the game come review time, but the impression definitely lets people know what the game is about, and how the copy they might pick up should treat them in the first few hours. Take a peek, if you like.
Read: Opoona - Impression
Sunday, March 23, 2008
MyWiiNews - Okami Preview
At last this thing goes up! I've been working on this preview for Okami between classes and papers for almost two weeks now, and finally had the extra time yesterday to put the finishing touches on it. Since I slept on Okami the first time around (I was PS2-less until late last year), I'm extra excited for the Wii adaptation.
In the preview I did my best to explain the game's mechanics and style without giving up too much information for gamers (like myself) who are completely new to the experience. I really wanted to emphasize the fact that Okami was missed by far too many people the first time around, especially for how good of a game it was/is, and I think it came through pretty well.
Another fun fact: I created the image for the title with a few images, filters, and Photoshop magic. I wanted something a little different, and I think it didn't turn out too bad.
With that out of the way, onto the long-awaited preview!
Read: Okami - Preview
In the preview I did my best to explain the game's mechanics and style without giving up too much information for gamers (like myself) who are completely new to the experience. I really wanted to emphasize the fact that Okami was missed by far too many people the first time around, especially for how good of a game it was/is, and I think it came through pretty well.
Another fun fact: I created the image for the title with a few images, filters, and Photoshop magic. I wanted something a little different, and I think it didn't turn out too bad.
With that out of the way, onto the long-awaited preview!
Read: Okami - Preview
Friday, March 21, 2008
MyWiiNews - Wiikly Wii Releases: 3/9 - 3/15 & 3/16 - 3/22
Sorry for the gaps in publishing these updates! I've been crazy busy with presentations and finals for the past two weeks, so my avocational stuff had to take a backseat to matters involving my degree. It usually only happens about once or twice a quarter, which is great for the other 8 weeks, but it seriously cramps my style when it happens.
Regardless, here are some (hopefully) informative little blurbs about the upcoming Wii titles. Many of the games (especially ones that are simply casual "shovelware") have really funky and flexible release dates that seem to come and go, so trying to figure out the exact release date of classic titles like Indoor Games and Space Station Tycoon prove to be more difficult than they should be. That comes with the territory, I suppose.
Read:
Regardless, here are some (hopefully) informative little blurbs about the upcoming Wii titles. Many of the games (especially ones that are simply casual "shovelware") have really funky and flexible release dates that seem to come and go, so trying to figure out the exact release date of classic titles like Indoor Games and Space Station Tycoon prove to be more difficult than they should be. That comes with the territory, I suppose.
Read:
Monday, March 10, 2008
MyWiiNews - No More Heroes Review
Well here is something completely unexpected, but ultimately great. I've been playing No More Heroes since I got it a few weeks ago and wanted to write a little something about it. Feeling absurdly inspired for 2am, I hurried over to my 1up blog and pounded out a little over 1100 words in about 2 hours. It was wonderful.
From this I realized that I already did most of the dirty work, and with a little work and time, I could turn it into a completely viable Review. So after a few days of editing, MyWiiNews now has its first official review. And it's my first real "buy it or not after you read my opinions" kind of review, so that's a huge step for me.
Take a few minutes and give it a read. I took some time getting the formatting all set and making it as interesting as I could, so let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Read: No More Heroes - Review
From this I realized that I already did most of the dirty work, and with a little work and time, I could turn it into a completely viable Review. So after a few days of editing, MyWiiNews now has its first official review. And it's my first real "buy it or not after you read my opinions" kind of review, so that's a huge step for me.
Take a few minutes and give it a read. I took some time getting the formatting all set and making it as interesting as I could, so let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Read: No More Heroes - Review
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