Nobody Miniviews - De Blob

It is amazing what developers are allowed to get away with in games that are labeled as 'kid friendly'. Mario is pardoned for mass genocide of a kingdom of turtles, not to mention his highly questionable fixation on shrooms. And here we have a 12 and under version of V For Vendetta. All these 'bad guys' wanted to do was create order and stop all those people distributing child pornography. Is that such as bad thing? Apparently so, because rebelling against authority is quite fun when you are a walking paint brush.

Rolling into town seems simple enough. Those janitors hired by the new regime seem to have done a good job in cleaning up this town, but now it seems kinda....boring. Wonder what they will say if I make a few trees red. Hmm, no one seems to be complaining – maybe a building next, or why not half a dozen buildings? Hey, now someone brought out the funky tunes in acknowledgement of me, and he knows how to play to my groove. Chillax time is a go!

But it seems the man doesn't quite want me chillaxing. For some completely stupid reason, there are time limits and high scores. However, since there are enough bonus time and points scattered around this totalitarian town, kinda seems that taxpayer dollars are going to waste with this scheme. And while I'm bitching about pointless ideas, whoever legislated that all jumping be regulated to swinging around wiimotes should be removed from office faster than Richard Nixon. But there is no time to complain, I seem to have earned a bajillion points and extras just by doing my own thing in town. Someone bring out the margaritas – the party is off the ball n chain!

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Connection Tour 2009 - Welcome to the resort or whatever

Just in case you couldn't tell from giant sign hanging overhead, it was the time of the casual gamer once again. Beneath the behemoth of a sign was the island of DSi inhabited by the people of Rythym Heaven and Pokemon Platinum along with the usual collection of touch generation samples used to entice those with several mortgage payments to go.

Around the mountain that housed the DS games we had numerous tv sets showing off mostly why people should pay money for this game instead of sticking to the free bundle of Wii tennis and bowling. While all 12 sports weren't shown off (or maybe they were and I just didn't notice between all the Rythym Heaven + Guitar Hero) I did get a taste of what to expect when the game hits later this month. For now I'll save my opinions til I get more time at the launch party later this month, and instead just dump the less-blury pics from my borrowed camera.

Pull back on the nunchuck...

...hit the target...

...and win a silly hat!

The budget for chairs clearly went into those headphones.

Yours truly about to defend his honor in Wii Swordplay ... he failed.

But that's not a DS- oh wait, I get it!

Finishing up with the swag haul of 09'

What the fuck Kotaku!?!?!?!

Seriously Kotaku, what the hell!? How come I had to find about about a DS Haruhi game, and Wii Hare Hare dancing through other websites? Standard Kotaku policy dictates regular posts regarding all things Haruhi related, followed by a embedd display of Hare Hare Yukai.

Guess it's time to pick up Bashcrafts slack

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Memories of the previous Connection Tours fill my mind with casual groups picking up a Wiimote for the first time with Wii Sports and other simplistic fun games. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo have set up yet another Connection Tour in Australia. In place of the go-active Wii Sports audience, this tour is more catered towards the self-titled ‘hardcore’ gamers.

At opening time, the line of gamers was set with one goal; kick some ass in Super Smash Bros. Brawl! With over 100 entries the Brawl tournament was the main attraction of the day, drawing people to their controller of choice. With four individual Wii systems running copies of Brawl, it was the popular choice for all age groups.

Along with Brawl, the list of games was quite a step up compared to previous tours. With the notable disappearance of Wii Fit and Wii Sports, the floor was cleared for new highlights including Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Samba De Amigo and Emergency Mayhem. The DS also saw a software roster update, adding to the growing list of Touch Generation games along with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Guitar Hero: On Tour. Here’s a breakdown on my impressions of each new game:

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith – This is my first time using the Wii’s Les Paul controller and I gotta say that I am not a fan of it. Maybe it was these guitars themselves, but the strum bar was flimsy and whammy bar was loose. Outside of controller complaints, this is the same ugly dummed down Guitar Hero 3 people got last year redone with Aerosmith tunes. It won’t win over any new fans, but if you didn’t like the difficulty curve of GH3, Aerosmith may be just right for you

Samba De Amigo – Never played the original game so I have no idea how this compares, but it was a fun game that seems to fit the Wii (or a pair of maracas) perfectly. Only tried a couple songs, but the controls seem to work perfectly so no complaints to be had from me.

Guitar Hero: On Tour – 26 songs isn’t really worth the high price point for Australians, but price aside this is a really well done game. The peripheral is made with small hands in mind, so people with hands bigger than 8 year olds may not want to strap themselves into the device. I don’t know if it’s a good thing that this impressed me more than the Aerosmith game, but it’s a great attempt at bringing the Guitar Hero series to new platforms.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood – I wasn’t paying much attention to this game before, but after sampling a bit of the gameplay myself I’m ready to give this game a solid chance upon release. Functional combat mechanics, clean presentation and branching storylines all help to show off that Bioware can make a great game regardless of platform. Still skeptical about the Sonic universe being suitable for a decent story however, and that will probably never change.

Swag was on the light side this year with most quiz prizes consisting of Guitar Hero caps and Pokemon figurines. The top 4 finalists of the Brawl tournament all scored a free copy of the game for their skills, although I question why THEY would need a second copy since they were all of high caliber. All contestants in the tournament also had their photo taken and kept in nametags (although that barely qualifies as swag to most people)

In short, if you were thought this tour would be more of the same as last year then you were wrong. If at any point you try to question this, I would point you to the sea of nerds and otakus hardcore gamers viewing every round of the Super Smash Bros. tournament. The last fight came down to two brothers with a single stock life each, with the younger brother coming out on top thanks to a deadly smash ball and hammer combination.

And what did he get to show off his accomplishments? Along with Mario figurines and a copy of Brawl he received a friggin sweet trophy!

P.S - As much as I loathe Naruto, I still gotta give credit where its due. Props to this brawler for a decent attempt at the world's most annoying ninja.