Crysis Demo released

A few days ago, EA posted a demo for the next game made by the Far Cry developers, CryTek. The game, otherwise known as Crysis, is a 1.8 GB download and contains the Sandbox editor, which allows you to just play around with tools to make new levels and such. Then to test it out you can spawn yourself in them. A fun feature to be included in a demo.

The demo also contains the first Single Player level, known as Contact.

The Crysis Demo can be downloaded here. The full game comes out on November 16^th.

Brawl Custom Maps!

Yesterday, Nintendo announced that players will be able to create their own maps for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Yep, that’s right. Custom Maps. That’s pretty sweet. You will be able to create your own maps, with music and custom backgrounds, etc. When you are done, you can play it yourself and save it or upload it to Nintendo to be featured some day.

Nintendo is also experimenting with the idea of having the daily custom map that will be able to be downloaded onto your machine. Awesome, eh? They have yet to really work out the details whether it will be a one time download for only one day and then it will go away, or start saving each day onto your Wii. We hope to hear more as this develops.

On a side note, sorry for the really long time between postings. I have been busy for the last few weeks and things are winding down for awhile.

Yaris Game free on XBLA

A while ago this game was announced, and about 2 days ago the Yaris game was released to the Xbox Live Arcade (but I couldn’t find it until earlier today). The game isn’t really the best thing I have ever played. It’s style would have been acceptable around 6 or 7 years ago, but probably not now. An interesting play on racing, the Yaris game is something of a rail-shooter with cars. But this doesn’t mean it is automatically the coolest game in the world. I would say that this might be near the bottom of the barrel of Xbox Live Arcade games (I have seen better free XBLA games [Aegis Wing]). Yaris is basically a playable advertisement for the Toyota Yaris.

The car basically auto accelerates (according to the controls, pushing in any direction on the left stick will cause the car to go [but I found that it moves by itself]) rather giving control to the player. Which would be nice, so that you could get all the enemies behind you in front of you so you could shoot them. The text is normally really big (and oddly on any confirmation dialog the text is really small) and doesn’t give a very cool feel to it.

Anyways, Yaris doesn’t have a good multiplayer system. In order to start a game you have to wait 5 minutes until the room is full (who is gonna wait 5 minutes?). The menus are a bit slow and some of the tracks have dull colors. Enemies on the track will tend to popout out of nowhere, and damage you from behind (which can get annoying). However, the tracks are very big with lots of crazy roads you would think be in stunt track racer.

What Yaris does have is an upbeat techno soundtrack, nothing much to complain about there. Unfortunately, Yaris will give you maybe 5-10 minutes of fun, but not much else. But what can I say, it’s free right?

Sonic’s Move List revealed

Sonic’s Moves list has been revealed to the general public. Most of his moves are what I predicted yesterday they would be.

His side special move allows him to do a spin dash like move. Really it’s like the homing attack, as it can be used in the air and on the ground as well. Pressing and holding the special button and down will allow you to spin charge, which you can do with spin dish, it’s probably best if you charge before you actually attack. The last attack is a bit odd. I originally thought it would be the blue tornado. But instead you do a spring jump. It actually creates a spring underneath Sonic, who can bounce on it and fly really high. The downside is that the spring stays there until you land.

The Orange Box has been released!

Praising!

Finally, the long long long long awaited Portal and Team Fortress 2 games have at long last been released. Team Fortress has actually gotten around being developed and going gold (AMAZING!). But the most important thing is definitely…Portal. Yes, I am a Portal fan, and I will be picking up a copy soon (very very very soon). So soon, that I am playing it in my mind right now. People who were in the ATI promo and got the Black Box free (which never released) will be getting the Orange Box for free instead (how nice!).

I will soon report on my Portal findings. Fun times!

Brawl Delayed?!

The Brawl website made a small change recently, and some smart users might notice that it no longer displays the end of this year. It now displays TBD, giving us the impression it’s not gonna come out until after 2007. Most likely it will be March of 2008 or something like that. 

Wii Internet Channel Updated

Nintendo has updated the Wii Internet Channel today, including some new features and some well waited for bug fixes. The list has a lot of the most requested functions for the Wii Browser (like USB Keyboard support).

1. USB Keyboard support (hooray!) for typing URLs, use on Websites, and as a replacement input device for the on-screen keyboard.
2. The ability to send URLs, Favorites, etc, from the Wii Browser (you can only send to addresses within your Wii Message Board Address Book)
3. The site info icon is always displayed even if the bar is hidden (which doesn’t work when the bar is hidden)
4. You can now highlight text on webpages by holding down the A button
5. Holding down B on the on-screen keyboard will hold down the shift button
6. URLs on the Wii Message Board can be opened in the Internet Channel
7. Opera Widgets [from widgets.opera.com] work (you can only have one widget at a time though)
8. You can now have more favorites (beware, the new update adds favorites and will mess up the layout your current favorite list)
9. A credits list is now found in the help docs
10. For people like me who had the browser add a bar of blank space above any website, can now turn that off by unchecking the new checkbox found in the Adjust Width window
11. Links now have a wider range of clicking (making it easier to click on links)
12. You will now be notified when you have zoomed 100% (this will only display if you are in manual zooming only)
13. Correct error URLs. So if I were to type in gamespotting.egg or .muffin, I would be taken to an error page. On that error page it will have a text box with the URL you were trying to go to so you can correct it easily.

That really is about it. Once again, if you have gotten the browser for free or have paid for the browser, this update is free. For everyone else, they need to shell out 500 points to get the browser with this update.

Sonic is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

As confirmed today by Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. Brawl finally has that SEGA character almost everyone wants. Falco. Wait, Sonic. Sonic is now a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nintendo has once again, sold their popular game out to some other company, thus adding another non-Nintendo entity to the mix (meaning a character that has been on systems other than Nintendo ones [and Link and Zelda and Ganondorf don't count. That was a crappy system anyway.]).

While his moves have not been revealed, it’s most likely that it’s pretty much going to be kicks and stuff. His power attacks are most likely going to be spin moves and blue tornado (as seen in Sonic Heroes). His smash move, will most likely involve either the chaos emerald, be super sonic (gold sonic) or involve a fury of little chaos who run all over everyone. It’s probably going to be super sonic, if SEGA gets a say in it.

Sonic fans, you may now rejoice.

Neogeo joins the list of consoles that appear on the virtual console

News from Nintendo, NeoGeo console games are now appearing on the Wii Virtual Console. Each NeoGeo game is about 900 Wii Points.

Here are the descriptions of this week’s games:

FATAL FURY (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen – Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1991 and one of the longest-running series in the fighting-game genre, this title introduced players to Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi. Select one of the three and visit many locations as your chosen fighter engages in numerous street fights around the fictional city of South Town. If you’re good enough, you’ll eventually take on Billy Kane and then his boss, the notorious crime lord Geese Howard. Use each fighter’s own finishing maneuver and battle in two different planes on the screen, one in the foreground and the other farther away in the background. The game also features a two-player mode that is well known for its unique setup, which allows fighters to both fight and help each other. Do you have what it takes to win the King of Fighters tournament?

WORLD HEROES (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen – Animated Blood, Violence, 900 Wii Points): A fighting game released in 1992 featuring eight characters, including Hanzo, Janne and Rasputin, modeled on historical figures from throughout the ages. The fighters compete against each other to become the world’s toughest combatant, with players using a setup consisting of only three buttons (one each for punching, kicking and throwing). Adding to this unique system is the fact that the strength of your offensive blow depends on how long the button is pressed and held. Along with regular match styles, Death Match mode is also available and features mines, electrified ropes and other dangerous objects in the battle arena that can change conditions during the fight or damage players. Enjoy the wide range of combat forms as you take on history’s best!

ART OF FIGHTING (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen – Animated Blood, Violence, 900 Wii Points): This fighting game, released in 1992, began the story of the Sakazaki family and Robert Garcia, further developed in two later sequels. Yuri Sakazaki has been abducted by Mr. Big to punish her father, Takuma, and her brother, Ryo. To rescue her, Ryo and Robert must take on numerous enemies around South Town, eventually reaching the mysterious Mr. Karate. The passion of the game’s creators is evident in the unique game-play elements introduced. These include an energy gauge that is depleted every time a fighter uses a special maneuver, Desperation Attacks that are usable only when a fighter’s health is low and camera zooming that adjusts on the fly as fighters move around the stage. All these features ensure that players use strategy and tactics, rather than simply mash buttons. Adding to the mix are little touches such as characters showing cuts when they are injured and voice-over samples during cut scenes. Can you perfect the art of fighting and save Yuri?

Nintendo Virtual Console games from Japan

Nintendo has imported this week’s Virtual Console games (and seriously over-charged one [thus breaking their regular pricing methods]. Geez). So people waiting for Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels can sleep soundly tonight ’cause Nintendo “imported” this title from Japan.

The other title, which was originally announced for America (very very quietly in a copy of Nintendo Power [which 4 issues later disappeared from the charts only to appear in Japan]), is Sin & Punishment which is a highly requested one. Oddly, it’s also worth much much more than regular N64 games costing about 1200 points (those 200 extra points are probably due to the fact this game is pretty rare or it had to be translated). If you know anything about Sin & Punishment, you might remember that the game has English voice acting (and the Wii version still has that same Voice Acting). The game now has English menus (different from the old game where all text was in Japanese).

Here are Nintendo’s Descriptions:

Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (NES , 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): Originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2, this game has previously made only brief cameo appearances in the Western Hemisphere. Now available on the Virtual Console in all of its original splendor, Mario fans will appreciate the familiar look and feel of the game, while finding that its updated game play creates an entirely new challenge. No longer content just to wear different-colored overalls, Mario and Luigi also possess different skill sets: Mario can stop quicker, while Luigi can jump higher. In addition to the classic enemies already known to fans worldwide, there are also Poison Mushrooms, backward Warp Zones, and the occasional wind gust (which can help or hinder your progress) to take into account. And if that’s somehow not enough, expert players can go looking for the game’s secret worlds. So get ready to put your Mario skills to the ultimate test, and save the Princess again. Just don’t be surprised if she’s in another castle.
Sin & Punishment (Nintendo 64, 1-2 players, rated T for Teen – Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, 1,200 Wii Points): Created by the legendary development studio Treasure, this is a game that hard-core gamers and fans of Japanese imports recognize as one of the finest Nintendo 64 titles to have never previously reached North American shores. Its unique combination of English voice-overs with Japanese subtitles (preserved in this version) has only added to the enthusiasm for its eventual release here. Experience the frenetic pace of a classic shooter, while choosing from a variety of options and a number of different skill levels until you are ready to take on the full-blown challenge of Turbo Hard mode. Not to be outdone by the action, however, the intriguing story line gives the game its soul and draws you even further into the mix. Set in the near future, on an overpopulated Earth starved for resources, players uncover the intriguing mystery of two teenagers (Saki and Airan) and their battle against the Ruffians as they advance through level after level of nonstop action. Take a deep breath, gather your energy and prepare to see why this game is so highly praised.