Category: News

Gradius III, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Battle Lode Runner

Wonder Boy in Monster World

Three games that you might have never heard of have been added onto the Wii’s Virtual Console! As always here’s the full press release:Admit it. Somewhere deep inside, you’ve always wanted to go for the gold, take down Monster World, and have people call you Vic Viper. How cool would that be? Well, pay a visit to the popular Wii video game system’s Wii Shop Channel, and all those fantasies can now come true.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points(TM) to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games
are:

GradiusIII (SNES, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points):
Return as the pilot of the Vic Viper starfighter to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire. Blast through 10 action-packed levels in space, destroying everything in your path. Customize and power up your ship with weapons and upgrades including speed-ups, missiles, lasers, options, and shields.

Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points):
Monster World was a peaceful, happy place until one dark day when an army of BioMeka monsters invaded. As a young man named Shion, you’ve vowed to defeat the hostile foes and make the land peaceful again. You’ll attack enemies with swords and spears and guard against incoming projectiles with shields and armor. As you travel through the many different regions of Monster World, you’ll talk to the townspeople, collect money to buy items, and gather a large variety of weapons and magic. The further you venture, the more powerful your weapons and equipment, including suits of armor and boots,
will become.

Battle Lode Runner (TurboGrafx 16, 1-5 players, 600 Wii Points):
This upgraded edition to the famous Lode Runner series includes a 5-player versus mode. Gold funds have been stolen from the Time Machine Research Center, and the group responsible used a time machine to escape and hide the gold throughout time. The center sends an elite team of “Runners” to go and retrieve the gold.

In addition to the familiar Puzzle mode, the game features Battle mode, where up to 5 players can compete, and Edit mode, where you can create your own original stages. You can enjoy Battle mode in a number of different ways. Be the last one standing to win in Survival. Grab items from enemies and escape to win in Escape. With 4 players, you can separate into two teams to do battle in Tag Match.

Beautiful Katamari

 

Beautiful Katamari

NAMCO BANDAI announced today that The King of All Cosmos, everyone’s favorite pint-sized Prince, and the whole wacky and wild Katamari crew will be making their hilarious next generation debut in Beautiful Katamari for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft later this year. The newest installment in the insanely popular and highly captivating Katamari series will be rolling into the next generation world with Katamari-style quirky and unique high-definition graphics, an unforgettable new soundtrack, and a new online multiplayer feature that will have old and new players alike spinning when the title hits store shelves.

 

Experience the new high-definition, next generation sights and sounds of Beautiful Katamari as the Prince takes on a new high-rolling adventure, with his famous cousins in tow, to save the Katamari universe once again after the King of All Cosmos has a very un-royal and unfortunate accident. As usual, the King of All Cosmos demands the service of his son, the Prince, to roll anything and everything up into massive clumps and set things right, bringing harmony once again to the Katamari Cosmos.

 

Take the Prince for a spin in astounding 720p next-gen graphics, that stay true to the quirky yet captivating art direction the series is known for, but glistening with a new coat of paint in high-definition, as the Prince is tasked to roll up bizarre objects in brand new environments. To keep his son inspired, the King of All Cosmos will provide another fresh and memorable soundtrack that will have players moving and grooving to the beat as they roll through the absurd, yet wonderful world of Beautiful Katamari.

 

One is a lonely number, but thankfully the Prince can humbly ask the aid of over 50 of his cousins to get the ball rolling through his quest. The cousins have discovered new games to play since last time out, and love to compete with friends in multiplayer Katamari rolling games either together or online over Xbox Live and the PLAYSTATION Network. The Prince and his cousins’ online adventure won’t end there as a variety of future downloadable content will become available, continuing to expand on the amazing world of Beautiful Katamari, long after the game has launched. More online features will be rolled out at a later date.

 

The New Kid on the Block

Hello, everyone. My name is Blake Elens and I am the newest blog writer for Stuff We Like. Few of you might remember me from the older versions of SWL, where I was a writer for the movies and video games pages. For those who don’t know who I am, let me tell you a little about myself.

As previously stated, my name is Blake Elens. I am 18 years old and I reside in Pensacola, Florida. I am a freshman at Pensacola Junior College, where I am majoring in Computer Science, and I plan on attending the University of Florida after next year. I am the Crew Trainer for a local McDonald’s restaurant, where I have been working for 3 months. I play baseball, basketball, and football recreationally with my friends and my hobbies include movies, video games, and computers. As far as family goes, I am the youngest of three children, 1 brother and 1 sister, and I live with both my parents.

Well, that’s pretty much me in a nutshell. I look forward to working for SWL again and I hope my contributions will positively affect this website’s success.

Yes, Video Games Are to Blame

Lawyers are already going on TV news stating that the Virginia Tech shooter played video games and their impact was a cause for the shootings. After years of denying statements like these, I finally agree with them. Video games probably did help train the Virginia Tech shooter. They probably taught this shooter to be fearless in the heat of battle. They taught him that headshots earn him the ultimate score.

We should also blame his stressful life. His parents that didn’t nurture him. The school system that said he was average. His girlfriend who wouldn’t have sex with him.

With no way else to express himself he gave up on life and wanted to go out with a bang. The culture of gangsters drew him in and sucked him dry.

The question that I have is why should the media even try to draw its own conclusions to why the killer murdered members of his student body? Being able to cope with society is what allows humans to survive. Occasionally there are those whom do not gain this skill for whatever reason. To say that a $10 billion industry is to blame, when violence has been a form of human action since the dawn of mankind is a little ridiculous.

It’s during our life that we grow intellectually and spiritually in which we learn how to best interpret the things around us. To even try and begin to ask why a killer does what he does is pointless.

Death will happen whether it’s murder or a heart-attack. The solution is to ask, in what ways can we protect ourselves? Banning video games or even the sale of guns won’t fix the problem. How about something less drastic like a PA system installed in all schools and offices. As history has taught us, banning products destroys society.

Don’t be angered by the upcoming debates on whether or not video games were the cause – they were. What everyone should do is ask how can we limit the number of casualties in future incidents?

Video games will never be banned. Guns will never be banned. There is no way to stop people from becoming so bottled up inside that they simply pop. If we could accept these things the solution to the topic will arise.

Virginia Tech Shooting

StumbleUpon

If you’re a FireFox user, like I am, then you might know one of the best features is it’s great series of extensions. Well a great little feature has recently hit the fox and I suggest you check it out. It’s called StumbleUpon. It’s quite a simple little extension. You install it, either from their site, or from FireFox’s extension site, and input what you’re interested in. From then on you simple hit the “Stumble!” button in your toolbar and it’ll give you a site that fits those preferences everytime. If you like it, hit the thumbs up, if you don’t, hit the thumbs down. If you have a site you like a lot, like SWL, simply say “I like it!” and, if it’s not in the stumble system, it’ll allow you to add it to their site.

You just might find that sites you already use are on stumble upon and you just might stumble upon them again.