Peach is getting married….

..TO BOWSER?!?!!?!? That’s the story of Super Paper Mario. The new Paper Mario game that is coming to the Wii and releases on April 9th of this year. We hope to hear more details soon.

Gears of War is the Game of the Year

Gears of War has been awarded with the title “Game of the Year” by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Wii Sports came in second, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess came in third, with Guitar Hero 2 in fourth and lastly, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Nintendo Wins 5 Awards

Nintendo has won 5 awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences for their works with Wii Sports, LOZ: TP, and Brain Age. They were nominated for 19 games in 11 different categories of gaming.

Wii Sports won awards in Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Game-Play Engineering and Game Design. Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess won in Story and Character Development. While Brain Age took an award in Best Handheld game of the year category.

Congrats Nintendo!

Diddy Kong Racing Review

Diddy Kong Racing is the first game in a long time to be published/developed by Rare that is not on a Microsoft console. And it’s not made by THQ (I despise THQ), so far DKR has a good start.

When the game first starts you get to see this really corny story video that was never on the N64, plus it has a completely different story starter then the N64 version. In the old game it talks how WizPig came from space and started destroying the island, but a wrong spell caused him to put a big head of himself out of rock and he is then trapped in it.

Now we go down hill. After you set up your game, you meet Taj the big elephant genie thing and get to race him. I noticed that for once the map is not on the touch screen (as it is in most DS games) but rather the top screen. The screens are like this until you start racing.

But what really sticks out to me as the biggest change is that the genie doesn’t have the same voice. He sounds like he is going to kill you (voice is much much lower, not as funny, and very little emotion) rather then help you (the original game had a cheery, upbright, funny voice). Also remember the how the characters would exclaim some sort of yell at the start? They took that out. Taj seems like he is the only character with a voice and he doesn’t even have the Arabic accent anymore. It would seem as Rare fired all the old voice actors. How sad.

The controls are a bit odd for a racing game. To go in reverse you have to hold B and then back instead of just holding down B. Otherwise it works out like the old version did. The hovercraft vehicle has improved, before it was hard to move around with the stick, now it’s harder! Hooray! It’s vehicle standard seems more like: “Okay, you wanna turn left but you haven’t mashed down left”. Then you mash down left and you then spin out. Thus there is the need to continuously tap right as you are going so you can avoid spinning out. Also, you can get a starting boost if you spin this wheel on the touch screen. It’s tedious and really hard to do with a stylus and then switching back to DS controls to move and race.

Diddy Kong Racing has also got rid of Banjo (from the Banjo-Kazooie series that was extremely well known) and Conker (Because Microsoft now owns Conker and this was before Conker was rated M for mature [he appeared in a kids game called Conker's Pocket Tales for the Gameboy Color]).

The racing is not that bad (the other guys are pretty easy), it still stands up to the N64 version of the game. The racing levels haven’t changed much, if at all. And the weapons are still as crazy as ever. The create your own track is a cool feature, allowing you to make some pretty crazy tracks. Wi-Fi is really fun, as you can use all the tracks and so far there are no cheaters playing (just watch though). And you can have way more people than just 4 (like in MKDS). More people = more fun, right? So let’s get to the ratings.

Sound: 4.8/10 -The music is okay, sounds like the N64 versions but at a lower quality and people singing (which isn’t needed). Voices are terrible, especially Taj’s.

Graphics: 7/10 – Not bad, looks like the N64 ones

Controls: 6.2/10 – Controls are fine with the exception of the hovercraft (but it isn’t super bad if you are a good driver)

Playback: 6.8/10 -I like Diddy Kong Racing, the game is fun and with a few fixes could have been just as good as Mario Kart DS

Improvement: 4/10 -WHY!?!? I liked Taj’s voice! YOU GET A 4 RARE! YOU HEAR ME??!? A 4! The only reason it isn’t a 1 is because of Wi-Fi, the ability to make your own tracks and customize your craft.

Overall Score: 6.3/10 – A few fixes like hovercraft problems, a better script, improved music (so it doesn’t sound like midi versions), the original voice actors and minor other fixes and it would have been a 8.2

Still looking for a Wii?

GameStop finally speaks. They have Wiis but you can only buy them online as a “gamer pack”. This gamer pack costs $569 dollars and includes:

• Nintendo Wii system (system, remote controller, nunchuck, stand, sensor and Wii Sports)
• Wii 1 Gigabyte Memory Card
• 1 additional Wii Remote Controller
• 1 additional Wii Nunchuck Controller
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Call of Duty 3
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Which is an okay deal, since if you bought everything seperately it would total $515 dollars, but I might be off in my count (most likely).

By the way, Nintendo has their very own store locator that tells you which stores have Wiis around you. It’s accuracy is probably much better then anyone else’s.

Portal is delayed…again.

Yes, Valve delayed it again. This time it will come out in the 4th quarter of 2007. However this time we finally get an update on it’s production. It turns out Valve is going to release the game as two different sets.

One is the Black box, which is Portal, Half Life 2 Episode 2, and Team Fortress 2. The Black box will be only for PC.

However, since the game is coming to the Xbox 360 and the PS3, this is where the other box comes in. The Orange box will have Portal, Half Life 2 Episode 2, and Team Fortress 2 (basically the Black Box Pack) plus Half-Life 2 and the original Half-Life 2: Episode One pack. The Orange box is for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 systems.

So, I guess we have to wait a little less than a year (AGAIN!) for Portal and Team Fortress to come out. Sigh.

3 new games for the Wii release at 9 tonight!

Nintendo is releasing 3 new games for their VC channel of the Wii. This includes the awesome Super Mario World from the Super NES! AWESOME! I loved that game. And it’s relitively cheap, which is nice to have. I suggest you get Super Mario World

From the Nintendo site:

Super Mario World  (Super NES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): During a vacation in Dinosaur Land, Princess Toadstool gets kidnapped and a spell is cast on the inhabitants of the island. When they stumble upon Yoshiâ„¢, a young dinosaur, Marioâ„¢ and Luigi learn that Bowser is responsible for the terrible misdeeds. Now, all Yoshis are trapped in magical eggs that Bowser has hidden throughout seven castles. Many hidden paths aid Mario in making his way to Bowser’s castle, completing 74 areas and finding all 96 exits. Discover items, including a feather that gives Mario a cape that allows him to fly, or a flower that shoots fireballs in layers upon layers of 2-D scrolling landscapes. Players can even ride Yoshi and swallow their enemies.

VIGILANTE (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): Brave the streets of New York City in this side-scrolling beat-’em-up game. Thugs kidnap the beloved Madonna, and it’s up to players to become vigilantes. Players fight their way into enemy territory to get her back. Enemies attack with weapons like iron pipes, chains, guns and motorcycles. To fight back, players can punch, kick or use the “nunchaku” item that appears in the stage. Players must use each of the attacks effectively to defeat their enemies. To clear a stage, defeat the boss that waits at the end. Players fight their way through exciting stages that include the City Streets, Junkyard, Brooklyn Bridge and the Backstreets.

Gain Ground (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): It’s the 31st century, and science and technology have progressed to the point that the human race is approaching perfection: no war, no poverty and no conflict. With nothing to worry about, the human race seems destined to live forever in harmony. But what if Earth came under attack? By this point in time, people did not know how to cope with problems or conflicts, and had completely lost their survival instincts. In response to this, the United Earth Government created the Gain Ground system, a war simulator that would help humans rediscover their lost instincts. After several terrible malfunctions, the creators became prisoners in their own creation. Now it’s up to players and two courageous comrades to go into the Gain Ground system, rescue their fellow humans and destroy the system. Players battle through different periods in history as they revive their survival instincts, while trying to live.