codfish

Jan. 8th, 2007 09:03 pm
spiderpig: (Default)
[personal profile] spiderpig
Please forgive this goldfish-brain of mine - I can barely remember most of the titles I played today and am unceremoniously mooching off the GameAxis website's pictures to see what titles I actually played. :D()

Batter up!
To gaming-newbies who can't tell the difference between a PSP and a Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Wii is the one of the fore-runners of the new generation of console games. The XBox 360 and PS3 are part of its brethern. It's not fair, in my opinion, to compare any of these to each other - frankly, they all serve different purposes and different types of gamers. People who want to be wowed with graphics, the PS3 is for you. The XBox 360 would sit well with DOA XTreme 2 fans people who centre more on online/wired-up gaming.

The Wii on the otherhand, fits rather comfortably with the generic, casual gamer. Granted, I only tried a few games today, the serious hardcore gamer would probably shun the rather different and unique outlook on games the Wii provides. It's more about having fun.

That aside, the Wii doesn't let down on graphics front either. The wireless capabilities sadly can't be fully explored as of now, but they certainly do look promising. Little details such as being able to swing the globe around - as you would on a real globe - are a nice touch. Interestingly, the music is rather hypnotic.

I wouldn't say that the Wii-mote is 100% intuitive. It's a near perfect fit in your hand though I did hold it backwards a few times in my enthusiasm, and the nun-chuck is no different. To put it simply, it's easy to get used to, but hard to master I suppose. Still, it's a breath of fresh air to physically knock someone out in a round of boxing vs the usual X+ -> on mundane controllers. Of course, the response could've been much better. For example, some swings didn't tally with the golf club or baseball bat movements on Wii sports. (Of course this could be totally due to my retarded non-existent hand-eye coordination, but trust me, I did try.)


The console itself looks great. Sleek, slim and white, the slightly asymetrical shape will not look out of place in the living room. In fact, the console and the sensor is so discreet that possible n00bs would mistake it for some zen statuette. Right, roll your eyes at me.

One exception to the near perfect score on aesthetics! I hate slot-loading devices personally (irrational fear of them eating my disks up) and the Wii console very gratiously uses one. However, the fact that it lights up a nice soothing blue redeems itself slightly in my eyes.

Okay on to the games.

First up we have:Wii Sports
Wii Sports is quintessensial. So much so that it's included in the starter pack. You need Wii Sports to get by before all the awesome games get to our shores. Trust me, Wii Sports is your life long friend.

As most of you should have heard, there are a number of preset mini-games of sorts available on Wii Sports: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, Boxing. I think I got them all. Well, those were the ones I tried. :D()

Out of the five, baseball and golf have probably one of the least syncage with the Wii-mote. In other words, it's extremely hard to hit a proper ball without oodles of practice.

My personal favourite would probably be boxing. With the nun-chuck, the Wii-mote provides the perfect combination of mad uppercuts, blocks, double-punch combos that an amatuer boxer could ever dream of. Don't snigger at me, I am the undefeated champion of today's Wii's boxing-matches! Here goes the next Mike Tyson!!! Even though Leon insists that "it's in the wrist" not the arm when I swing my 'mote around dangerously, it's bloody fun to violently move your arm as you punch, or just plain use the wii-mote anytime.

Tennis is probably the best game on Wii Sports, even though its not my number one favourite. It's easy to catch on, and extremely addictive. Even a real-life tennis n00b like me, never able to hit a single ball in my life, manage to win some sets. No mean feat for an almost hikkomori.

Another interesting addition to this unique game would be the Wii-Age determinator (exact name forgotten). Much like Brainage, this subgame lets you go through a series of tests using the aforementioned games of bowling, tennis etc etc. Nearly bordering on tideous, this would be only fun if you've tried it first rather than play it after every other game.

In any case, I turned out to be 59 years old. HAHAHA.

Of course even Wii Sports does get boring - and tiring - after a while.

Batter up for Trauma Centre
Another maligned game title. This is the medical Phonenix Wright for the nexgen Nintendo systems. I admit, the art is lovely (Ah, Dr Stiles is very bishounen) and the story line is surprisingly engaging. Dr Stile's angsty, emo moments is precious and the DrxNurse relationships make good fodder for fanfics.

MY FANGIRL RAMBLINGS ASIDE, Trauma Centre does make use of the Wii's capabilities. Using the nun-chuck and Wii-mote, players can perform operating procedours liking pulling out tumors and making stitches. Obviously the concept is recycled from the original DS version; but the main plus here is that the DS utilised a pen to do the operations - the Wii uses your very hands "to save the patients' lives".

A few minutes of Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty was a MESS for me because I couldn't control the truck at all. Watch out for me when I really hit the roads.

Ollied withTony Hawk's
Again I kinda sucked at this with my horrible coordination. Admittedly, it was very fun because zomg I get to do ollies and mad 360s and grinds that I will never ever be able to do in real life. Wii-mote response was good, the game managed to use, if not push, most of its capabilities.


Serving up some Ultimate Marvel Superheroes?
OMG ADDICTIVENESS. If you've played UMS on the PS2, you will either love or hate this. Hate this because it is a pain to physically render attacks instead of pressing buttons only. Love it because you have to physically move the wii-mote to attack.

One major downside to this game? The nun-chuck has the annoying ability to control the camera angle. This makes for horrible views of the game when you accidentally start moving your nunchuck around and end up not being able to see your own hero.

And it's a homerun!
Mmm. in the end, I had immense fun with the Wii. Thank the Lord in all his incarnations for Leon's awesome invitation. I never had this much fun gaming for so long. Warcraft III doesn't count. Warcraft III is a necessity for me and not enjoyment.

And now I'm home and have been making furious phonecalls to Vivocity's PageOne bookstore (only to be put on hold for around five minutes) in an attempt to track down the elusive Red Moleskine.

Why do I have to do this?

I thought all was swell when I received an email from the Moleskine Asia HQ in Hongkong stating that they just received a new shipment of Red Moleskines (3rd Jan), after I emailed them enquiring about its status. So a few hours later, after I got home from work, I zipped into the webpage at approximately 4am in the morning of 4th Jan and placed an order for it.

No problems right?

NOOOO.

I just got an email from them today telling me that they ran out of stock. WHAT? WHAT?!?!??!?!?!? And apparently wow, Vivocity's PageOne has stock of it.

I have a feeling that they're making me do this because I LIVE IN SINGAPORE AND SO I CAN GO DOWN TO VIVOCITY?

Now, I don't want to go on a wild goose chase, so I'm awaiting (VERY ANXIOUSLY!) the call from Vivocity as to whether they TRULY have it in stock. I need to place a reservation if not at least determine how many they have before I make like a bandit and get one tomorrow.

Edit @ 9:15pm: FUCK. THEY'RE SOLD OUT. ALL 8 COPIES THAT THEY RECEIVED. WHAT?

Edit @ 9:30pm: ARRRRRRRRRRRGH. CALLED KINO. THEY ARE NOT BRINGING IT OR ANY OTHER MOLESKINE DIARY IN.

I HAVE MADE A DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT E-MAILING PAGEONE'S HEADOFFICE TO SEE IF THEY CAN BRING IT IN.

Right now, I'm just upset because I can't even get the normal diaries. Like wtf. Argh. I should have never listened to certain people when I was deliberating to buy the Red Moleskine at BooksActually. I'm such a dumbass. Why trust anyone but myself for the important things in life?

Ugh. I'm getting indigestion.

I have to remind myself to call Tango Mango tomorrow morning to ask if they have any left. Good God, the world is out to get me. :\

I'm trying to remind myself about the Wii so that I'll get rid of the bad karma and stay happy and abuse the cap locks and italics more.

The Wii and Kurtz' horrendously short shorts has conviniently distracted me.

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