Exploring Stuff That Makes Life Great
The E for All expo has come back this year and I will be attending it! I’ve got 5 interviews lined up across the event. On top of that I’m going to cover the event and the games there. Expect many new videos in the coming week.
You too can attend the event at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It’s open to the public, which in my opinion is awesome!
Nintendo has gone Apple. Welcome to the i, the DSi. At Nintendo’s Fall Press Conference, they’ve unveiled their latest handheld device. While not an official successor to the original Nintendo DS, the DSi offers plenty of new hardware and software features.
Hardware –
No more Game Boy slot: I’m sure Nintendo fans will be annoyed with this move, but hey the future is forward, not backward.
Thinner: Yes the DSi is now even thinner than the DS Lite. Hopefully you won’t break the handheld in fit full of rage as you lose to a 9 year old playing Mario Kart online.
Larger screens: Now you’ll finally be able to read lines and lines of poorly written video game dialog! With screens being enlarged by 17% to 3.25 inches, I’m sure everyone will be able to notice the difference.
Audio Enhancements: It’s unclear what Nintendo has done to improve audio on the DS, but apparently whatever they did is worth talking about. But I’m still want to be able to listen to the radio on my Nintendo DS.
SD Memory: Portable memory is key to the success of a handheld. No one wants all their data stored onto only one device. Transfer information over to your Wii, PC, etc. Think of the possibilities.
Camera: Remember how the Game Boy Camera, sucked? Well Nintendo is going back to its roots by offering a new twist on an old friend. This bad-boy 3 mega pixel camera (yes it has more mega pixels than my cell phone!) is going to ‘change the way we play games.’ Ok, that’s an exaggeration, cameras and video games have already been in a long-term relationship.
Software –
DSi Shop/DSiWare: Download games, music, and more stuff that a shop can offer. Now you’ll be able to actually save your downloads onto your DS! Pricing starts from Free, 200 points, 500 points and 800 points.
Built in Browser – Surf the net without having to pay for a browser! Is Nintendo now imitating Microsoft?
All-in-all, I cannot wait for the new Nintendo DSi. I’m a sucker for this stuff. It has a release date of November 1 in Japan, at a price of $179.
Just a friendly reminder that on Monday the XBox Live service will be out of action for a full 24-hours. If you need a quick fix of Halo or Call of Duty on the console then now is really your last chance to get in some good times.
Microsoft are also running a few competitions this weekend to keep things buzzing before they go offline so it might be worth taking a look to see what’s going on. For PS3 users however all is normal and will continue to be so. It’s hard to imagine a world without XBL now especially with all the fanboys arguing that it’s a great service or that it’s bad you have to pay to play. Anyway, time is running out. For some the best XBL game will forever be Halo 2, but what do you think? As usual comments are always welcome here at SWL where gaming matters.
There are not many hours left so if you haven’t seen it yet this is almost a steal. The full Rockstar Games Collection is 50% off this weekend at just $29.99 U.S. You can get it via the Valve download service Steam which means while you don’t get a big box to put on your shelf there is the bonus of getting the games just as fast as your net connection. It’s quite a perk all this digital downloading from Steam as it even patches the games when required automatically so those who haven’t taken a look at the service should do so. The collection includes the GTA’s, Max Payne’s and Manhunt among others.
Be aware though this offer is doubtful to be available to those outside the US so bad luck for most of the world. It’s very unfair for those of US who are outside the US but on occasion we do get offers that our American counterparts don’t so there is some balance in the world.
Now I can’t miss a new trailer for Mirror’s Edge. I’ve already envisioned it as the next Portal: a smexy city, a female protagonist and parkour tricks?! This game is genius! I can’t believe it’s going to release on November 13th. That’s so early, it’s unfair!
Anyways, we see yet another trailer for Edge. This time, it’s one of those 2D-animated trailers to explain the story. Sometimes the theme and art of the game almost make me think that it’s a Japanese game, only to shaken up when I see the darn EA logo again. Which makes me wonder if EA is thinking of any draconian DRM measures for the game.
Now this trailer is one of those usual world-turns-into-dystopia stories, except here you can’t tell if its dystopia or utopia we’re heading to. We see our heroine, Faith as a child in a protest march against the usual oppresive-fascist-government. Yep, we’ve seen in Half-Life 2, but what it reminded me the most of was the Second Renaissance short from The Animatrix (damn, that was a good film).
Check out the trailer below! Click here to run and jump to the HD link.
Force Unleashed, for all the reviews it got, ended up being a success, with a whopping 1 million unit sales in a mere 5 days. If anything, it goes to show that people still buy Star Wars. While Metacritic gave it a score of around 70 on different platforms, LucasArts seems to be unfazed by the criticism.
So does that warrant a movie version?! After watching (and shaking my head profoundly) at Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, I can’t help but think how Force Unleashed can possibly be a great movie. Except maybe if the entire movie was about slicing and throwing people with the Force. But since its Star Wars, I doubt if Lucas will approve that.
Force Unleashed already got a comic book adaptation and a bestselling novel, oh and an artbook as lavish as a full-fledged movie. So it would it be surprising if LucasFilms announced out of the blue that they’ve decided to make a movie on Force Unleashed?
Haiden Blackden, project leader and Sith Lord of Force Unleashed says that a movie version would be an “testament to the priorities and sophisticated ideas of his team”. “It’s an incredible time,” he said, “to be telling powerful stories in this fairly young medium.” Well, I don’t know, Blackden, but storywise, I’d watch a Knights of the Old Republic movie first. Hell, I’d watch a Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast movie first.