The Weekend of Gaming

Somewhat full weekend coming up.

Got The World Ends With You to finish at some point, I think I’m about halfway… expect a review sometime next week if your lucky. On Friday night I’m going over to my friend’s place to play some GTA4 and see just what all this hype is about… I’ll post my thoughts on the game upon my return on Monday.

And probably the biggest (gets its own paragraph) is I’m probably going to see Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s conference at GAME ON on Sunday afternoon about “What Makes A Good Video Game” so that’s probably going to be awesome. Let’s see if this opinionated critic has as many good ideas as he enjoys shooting them down. Haha.

But seriously, good weekend lined up.

Although I have to fit my Traditional Cosmologies homework in there somewhere… that won’t be fun.

The World Ends With LMX

There’s caving, and then there’s temptation. Today I experienced both. And the latter led to the earlier.

I bought World Ends With You, the apparently unique and amazing effort of SquareEnix and Jupiter. I’m only just into the 2nd day, and I must say so far I’m impressed. The game is good, I avoided coming into this thing with unbelievable hype because it would have killed the game. I’m still trying to get into the combat system but its definitely a new style.

Overall its a decent effort for a new title, and from what I’ve played so far… I’d love to see a Wii installment, would be pure awesome. But that’s just me, that opinion could change by the end of the game.

Whilst I am enjoying it, I still enjoyed the newness of Kingdom Hearts much more when I first played it… pure magic. But that’s because I heart Square AND Disney… so it was like some sort of strange dream come true.

But World Ends With You gets my stamp of approval so far, I’ll do a full review once I’ve completed it.

Happy 2nd Birthday, WiiLoaded!!

So we’re here again. WiiLoaded has hit its 2nd birthday (as has the Auto-Mailer) so what better way to celebrate than a bitching party!

*sigh*

If only. Haha. But seriously, happy birthday to WiiLoaded and a big thank you to all the fellow staff and members who have made it such an awesome place to be.

And many hopes for further great years.

But wait…

The mystery begins…

If I May…

So yeah, its May now. Woo. A non-video game related event (my 21st) is drawing nearer rather rapidly… should probably look into organising something.

So you may be wondering why I’m blogging today. Well having overcome severe frustration I finally unlocked the last two characters on Mario Kart Wii! Huzzah!! However, that doesn’t mean I’m done, there are star rankings to get on cups and more expert staff times to unlock if I want all the karts and bikes. But does that really concern me at the moment? No… not really. But truth be told, I’ve found myself bored of Mario Kart, even of its online. So for the first time in a week, Brawl graced my Wii once again and its found its home there.

Sorry Mario Kart, having better online doesn’t beat out a game that is just plain more fun (plus it can actually be fair) in the long run.

Seriously, it is almost like Nintendo were setting out to eliminate skill needed in video gaming with this installment. Items have been bad in previous games but in this one they are just plain shocking!

Coming first on the final lap, about to cross the finish line. Brace yourself as you are likely to be hit by several blue/red shells or some other annoying item that will knock you down. Its even worse if its a close race as you can easily fall from 1st way back to 8th. A such example was I’d just been hit by a blue shell, knocked me down a couple of ranks. Then as I was recovering I was hit by a Red Shell, knocked me down another couple. And then to top it off someone with a Star drove straight through me.

To Hell with items!

Yahtzee hated Brawl. Well I’d hate to see what he’d say about this game. My God, about twenty times worse in lack of skill needed AND in annoyance of obtaining unlockables.

But still, a fun game to have out when a party is happening.

Brawl is better though.

Wii Fit is nearing release down under, ads are popping up everywhere and its getting a lot of marketing time over here. I’m actually interested to see what will sell better down under. GTA4 or Wii Fit. Both have different audiences, both are guaranteed big sales.

It’s going to be an interesting race. I like neither games, but in the end I’m supporting GTA4. Real games are too good to resist, however I do not detest Wii Fit’s target crowd. I just think it’d be better in the long term to just get a gym membership.

Adios.

3,000 Hits And Counting

Thank you viewers for knocking up to the 3,000 hits mark. I certainly am not worthy as this blog really isn’t anything special. But regardless I am thankful.

Mario Kart is still dominating me, although I finally unlocked the Mirror 150cc class. Is it just me or does it feel easier? I easily 2-starred the first two Retro cups. I found it strange after remembering how hard I struggled to get over the challenge of ANNOYING ITEMS that the CPU players always got in the regular 150cc.

Also, Expert Staff times can go to Hell! They are incredibly annoying to unlock, and thus placing unlockables there for getting certain amounts of them is cruel and unfair.

The WiiLoaded Open is now underway over at WiiLoaded, so here’s hoping that whole damn thing runs smoothly. Haha… seriously… HOPE!

I’ll post the results when its over, I’m in the process of organising my match with the mighty NinjaRooster.

A Cause To Celebrate

Well, WiiLoaded’s next birthday is fast approaching and celebrations will be in order as we welcome in our 2nd birthday. Good work to everyone over at WL, its been great being a part of your staff team and I look forward to many more years to come (hey, can’t hurt to be wishful)

Do we have something in store? Allow me to channel some Nintendo here *ahem* “LMX does not respond to rumours and/or speculation.”

Anyway, more to the point of this blog. I sadly missed both Ranbat 2.2 AND RAMBO. And am very depressed about it, sadly money wasn’t really being my friend this week so it played hard to get.

I am getting further into Mario Kart and enjoying it more, FINALLY the Americans have got their grubby hands on it so I can hopefully start playing them soon. Its rather fun, but nothing serious. But then again that is what Kart has always been.

Also: STUPID FLIPPING EXPERT GHOST TIMES! Nintendo’s Expert Staff times can go to Hell!

PS. Enjoy the new theme! The Digg 3-column was getting old.

Brawl Fights On, Mario Kart Starts The Engine.

So, it has been nearly a month since I got Brawl.

Am I still playing? Yes. Do I enjoy it more than Melee? No. In that area I’m still unsure, but at the same time its far too early to tell. I had at least 3 or 4 years to grow to love Melee, and Brawl’s time is only just beginning. I’ll get back to you on that in a year or two’s time.

What else has been happening you ask? Mario Kart Wii. That’s what.

I picked it up on the AU launch and I have to admit, its pretty fun. It has the usual depth of gameplay that the other Kart games feature, with items which feel far more broken than ever.

Online is awesome. Seriously, I’d buy this game just for the online. It runs smoothly and is very easy to navigate around. Pick this game up if you adore online madness.

I’ll be posting the review next week or maybe in a few days. See how I go.

Currently I’m trying to beat the frustration of 150cc with CPU’s getting Blue Shells, Red Shells and the sort constantly. Kinda hinders my winning.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Review

We waited two years or so for the third instalment in the already popular Super Smash Brothers franchise. And it has had no problem finding a home in the hearts of Nintendo fans everywhere. Now that we finally have our hands on this game its time to see how it performs after such a long wait. For those to lazy to read the following review I’ll sum it up for you. Brawl plays okay. There, now if you wish for more detail then keep on reading, slackers.

Normally I’d start you off with an overview of the story, but what we have isn’t a story-orientated game. Unless you do count Subspace, in which case come here now so I can slap you. This is still a multiplayer beat-em-up and Subspace alone isn’t going to justify it having a story. However I’ll still give you an overview of stuff, the villains are turning the heroes into trophies and collecting them, then stealing them from each other, and then there’s this guy with wings and a big maze. I give up. Forget describing Subspace’s story, here is the real scoop. Subspace is for every fanboy to drool over their favourite characters teaming up against their favourite villains.

Read the full review here.

My First Brawl Tournament

Well, I suppose the title is an understatement. Not only was it my first Brawl tournament, it was my first playing Brawl ever. Taking that into consideration I’m very happy with how I went yesterday. Keeping in mind that we’re all noobs to Brawl and none of us have any real bragging rights, coming 13th out of 33 Smashers for your first Brawl tournament is nice. I scrapped myself up a 60% win ratio with my feminine Marth and manly Ike and missile spamming Samus.

Overall I enjoyed Brawl, probably not as much as Melee, but I’ve been playing Melee at high level play for 3 or 4 years now. So it’d be foolish to expect Brawl to surpass that already, it has a long way to go.

Throughout the course of the day I used: Marth, Ike, Samus, Toon Link, Bowser, Zelda, Pokemon Trainer, King DDD, and Wolf.

I’d say Brawl is fun. But time will tell if it holds its ground.

Confirmation.

Tonight my orders were confirmed. My freeloader via OzModChips, should ship after the Easter weekend and arrive around Tuesday. And Brawl via Play-Asia, which I’m hoping ships today will probably arrive come Sunday-ish.

I’m pumped. Even though I’m taking part in my first Brawl tournament before I even GET a copy of Brawl. It will be hard, since I have no experience whatsoever and knowing how entrenched my Melee skills are I’ll probably find myself playing a Melee style. Playing a Melee style is guaranteed to get my ass kicked out of that tournament in the first few rounds. Woo! Lol.

Apart from that, its just thumb twiddling until Brawl arrives.