This past weekend, I donned my flesh suit and attended the GEEX show. So what did this humble robot think? Well… it was not that great. But let’s be fair, there were a couple of high points at the show, such as:

Neumont University was in attendance, impressive because of being the only actual college there with a course directly related to Video Game design, plus a robotics course. Pleasant to talk to, they made me aware of an open tech demo, TechTopia, the eight and ninth of August at 10701 S. River Front Parkway. They’ll be running workshops for game design and flash-based projects, and handing out Scholarships! I’m almost tempted myself…

I wanna point out one SLCC organization that had no booth, but captured my tiny black pixel heart; The SLCC Video Game Club. Open to students and non-students alike, they gather to talk about games, and LAN, especially during the summer at the Redwood SLCC campus. A gaming club is really too cool not to notice, and I will be slipping back on my flesh-suit and heading to a meeting or two.

Those two are really the only good things. I had high hopes for GEEX, really, I did. All it was for the most part was a over-glorified LAN party. The closest thing to an actual gaming booth was Game Crazy. Did no one bother to see if the Big Three (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) would attend? Where were game developers? I bet if they had been there, the few cosplayers wouldn’t have felt so out of place. Poor guys… I bet they worked hard on their costumes for what they THOUGHT would be a gaming convention.

All in all, if they do it again, do it right. Make it a mini E3 or something. Also, I’m sad I missed the Geek Show Podcast, but I showed too late. Probably the only decent humans out there.

Stay tuned for picture updates once I find the photos.

This week there were 2 Virtual Console games and 1 WiiWare game released.

WiiWare

Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Games, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Pirates: The Key of Dreams is a frantic nautical shoot-’em-up. Sail your way across the Caribbean, cannons blazing, looting booty, running blockades and ultimately battling Blackbeard himself. The player takes control of a navy captain sent deep undercover as a ruthless pirate in order to seek out and retrieve the Key of Dreams, a valuable and dangerous cursed artifact. Rescue castaways to bolster your ship’s crew, gaining performance increases to your navigation, weaponry, structural integrity and cartography skills. Collect increasingly powerful weaponry including rockets, mines, chain shot, saw blades and a flamethrower to hurl destruction into the path of your enemies. Play against three of your scurvy friends or A.I. opponents in pitched multiplayer battles over 35 levels, set in seven themed environments. Choose from different ship types that reflect your play style. Play in turbo mode if you’re pirate enough.

First up is Pirates: The Key of Dreams.  There is a preview here. It looks like it would be a good game if you like the idea of sailing around and blowing crap up.

Virtual Console

Super Fantasy Zone  (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Cartoon Violence, 900 Wii Points): The last entry in the Fantasy Zone series, this side-scrolling shooter puts you in the shoes of main character Opa-Opa, who is on a mission to avenge the death of his father. To do so, you’ll have to battle a variety of Enemy Generators to clear out the various levels and finish off the Menon Guardian at the end of the level. Eliminating your enemies will let you rack up some gold, which you can use to buy even better weapons, upgrades and other equipment. Spend your gold wisely, as each different boss you need to defeat presents a unique challenge.

The next up is Super Fantasy Zone.  You can see a preview here or here.  This looks like it’s just a solid shooter game where your blowing Flowers and other assorted stuff up in the air.  This looks like it would be a quick and fun game to get into.

Gley Lancer (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Fantasy Violence, 900 Wii Points): In the year 2025, a war breaks out between humans and a hostile alien race, and 16-year-old Lucia and the rest of the starfighter pilots in the Earth Federation must join the battle. When Lucia’s father is kidnapped by the aliens, she decides to take action and hijacks a brand new prototype starfighter, the Gley Lancer, in order to try to save him. In this side-scrolling shooter, step into the cockpit of the Gley Lancer as Lucia, rescue your father and destroy the evil aliens that are bent on destroying the human race.

Last but not least Gley Lancer.  You can see a preview here or here. It’s looks like another fun shooter game. This game reminds me a lot of gradius. based on the videos I would highly recommend this game.

All in all it looks like they picked some pretty good games to release this week.

This weeks Nintendo released 2 Virtual Console games and 1 WiiWare game,  Plus some E3 News.

The First one up is called Major League Eating: The Game. Although I haven’t seen too much of it.  it just doesn’t look good.  you can see an Interview about the game and some game play here.

WiiWare

Major League Eating: The Game™ (Mastiff, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Crude Humor, 1,000 Wii Points): The ultimate chomp-off is about to begin. Grab your Wii Remote™ controller and dig into 12 different foods as you compete against the greatest major-league eaters in the world. This isn’t just a race to stuff your face-you’ll need strategy to master a smorgasbord of digestive attacks, defenses and counters. These include the Mega Burp, Gas Attack, Antacid and more. And don’t forget to keep an eye on your Barf-O-Meter, because if the food hits the plate twice, you’re out. Unlock more than 10 characters in single-player career mode, go gut-to-gut against your friends in versus mode, or compete online using Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection. Online play supports friend codes, random matchmaking and leader boards.

it’s all about competitive eating so if your in to that maybe it would be worth checking out, although I wouldn’t recommend it other wise.

Virtual Console

Donkey Kong™ 3 (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Based on the third game in the enormously popular arcade series, Donkey Kong 3 introduces an exterminator named Stanley as he desperately tries to protect the flowers in his greenhouse from Donkey Kong. Armed only with a can of bug spray, Stanley must force Donkey Kong higher and higher into the greenhouse rafters until Donkey Kong is off the screen and the next stage is reached. Not surprisingly, Donkey Kong isn’t going to move without a fight, so he sends wave after wave of bugs, bees and other creatures toward Stanley. Not only must Stanley repel the insects in order to save the flowers, but he’ll also have to keep an eye out for projectiles thrown by Donkey Kong himself. If Stanley is good enough, he’ll be able to grab a can of more powerful bug spray and really get Donkey Kong moving. It all adds up to frantic fun that anyone can enjoy.

I would recommend this game if you like the older Donkey Kong games I’m sure you’ll like this on.

NINJA COMMANDO (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Language, Fantasy Violence, 900 Wii Points): NINJA COMMANDO is a vertically scrolling action game released by ADK in 1992. Players choose from among three ninjas-Joe, descended from the Koga ninja; Rayar, a woman who has learned the ways of the Iga ninja; and Ryu, descendant of the famous ninja Fuma Kotaro-as they pursue the merchant of death known as Spider, who plans to use a time machine to bring havoc to the world. The battle spans seven time periods, including the Stone Age, the Egyptian era and the Japanese Civil War era. Each hero features a variety of attack options in addition to their own normal attacks, including a deadly attack that inflicts damage upon all enemies on the screen, special ninja-arts attacks performed by inputting specific commands, and a powerful attack unleashed by taking on the “shape of the beast” when three scrolls have been collected. The game also supports two-player cooperative play, so you’re welcome to bring a friend and enjoy taking on the evil Spider together.

This game is like the other commando games of old but This one has a bit of a twist can do special moves like the “Ryu fire ball” movement to do special actions.  I would think this game is worth getting.

This was Just announced at E3 it’s a new Wii-Remote attatchment called “Wii MotionPlus.”  It basically makes every movement in your arm affect it rather than just your wrist.  I haven’t quite figured out what they are planning on using it on yet but it sounds like it should be able to make sword fighting games more intresting.   The have an official announcement here.

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Holy freakin’ crap. Here are three videos Sierra released showing off the engine they built for the game. No need to really talk about it, just check ’em out:

Roughly four months from now we should all be taking time off work to play the new Ghostbusters Game. For those that haven’t heard about the game yet, push that rock off of you and read my original post about the game. I’ve decided to start a countdown of news and interesting facts about the series until the game comes out.

For starters, let’s go over all the news since my original post:

• Not all of the actors from the original movies are coming back. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis will not be providing their voices for the game. Moranis made enough money off of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies that he has retired. And who can blame him?
• Ernie Hudson claims the script for the game to be effin’ huge. He had this to say:

“You know, I read the script, and it’s a really good script,” he said. “It’s huge. It covers every possibility. A regular film script is 120 pages, this thing’s 480 pages, or something.”

• Master Replica has semi-announced the production of Ghostbusters props. In their most recent newsletter, in the coming soon section it said “Back off man, I’m a scientist.” I’m crossing my fingers for a ghost trap. Or a Stay Puft diorama, at the very least.
• Screen shots of the Wii version have been released. They look a lot like Dan Schoening’s art.
• Tokyopop is releasing a manga digest to bridge the gap between Ghostbusters 2 and the game. You can preorder it at your local comic shop.

Warner Bros studios (along with Sony Online Entertainment) has just announced plans for an MMORPG set in the DC universe and, obviously, as mechanical beings of pure logic, we had to resist the urge to leak fluids of nerd-bot excitement (except Swank-Mo-Tron… he’s still getting cleaned).  So, what could make this game incredible, and what could they do wrong to piss off a lot of comic book readers everywhere?

The good:

One, this is not a Batman MMO, or Superman. It’s DC. Conceivably, you could fight thugs during the day in Metropolis, and finish off your night pounding faces in Gotham City.

Two, it’s been done right before. City of Heroes, and the award-winning follow-up City of Villains boasted robust character customization, straight-forward combat, and best of all, no worrying about having the best loot. (Powers are enhanced using “Origins” and are not hard to find in questing.) Hopefully, SOE will take a page from their book.

And finally, the benefit of ogling Wonder Woman any time you want is almost too hard to resist.

The bad:

Apparently, you aren’t Batman. You’re those moronic looking henchmen pictured on the right. So, if it’s what it looks like, the big heroes will be your boss, and you’ll be running the errands.

While that sucks, I don’t even want to think about if they do let you be the big guys. Can you imagine Metropolis with five-thousand Supermans flying around? Not to mention, with DC already backing this, they won’t have to worry about copyright issues like CoH had to deal with. So, we could have one real Black Lightning, and a whole bunch of slightly different ones moving about.

Even in a city riddled with crime, would anyone really want to subject it to forty lookalikes of the Creeper?

But with all these doubts, this still makes it seem worth the wait:

So, while it seems as though DC is screwing the pooch on their comics, they’ve got the MMORPG front covered to the point where we all have one question to ask: Where’s the Marvel MMORPG?

This week their were 2 games 1 on the Virtual Console and 1 on Wii Ware.

The Wii Ware game this week is called SPOGS Racing. It’s a 3D racing game that you drive around as a Wheel with a Picture in it. If you like Wii based driving games you might just like this game.

WiiWare

SPOGS Racing™ (D2C Games™, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Cartoon Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Coming at you full throttle is SPOGS Racing, an all-new racer from D2C Games featuring classic arcade racing, pick-up-and-play controls, all-new racing vehicles and Crash N’ Grab™ instant upgrades. Jump in, gear up and modify your ride on the fly as you compete head-to-head for a totally outrageous arcade racing experience on your Wii console. Whether you’re a casual gamer or hardcore racer, SPOGS Racing features fun for all and is a must-have download for your WiiWare digital game library.

Based on the video of the game that you can find here it looks like a decent racing game. It seems like it would be a fairly cheap and good game for a child.

The Virtual Console game that came out today is King of the Monsters. It’s an old Fighter game that is based on wrestling monsters destroying the city as they fight. you can see a video here.

Virtual Console

KING OF THE MONSTERS (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Fantasy Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released by SNK in 1991, KING OF THE MONSTERS is an action/fighting game that features city-destroying battles between huge monsters. Choose one of six monsters and travel around Japan, stopping to fight in various famous cities with the aim of becoming the ultimate winner. In addition to punches, kicks and other regular moves, each character has the ability to use more devastating maneuvers, like throwing flames and shooting laser beams, to defeat opponents. Wrestling elements are also incorporated, as you must completely exhaust your opponent and get a three-count to pin him and be victorious. Along with the player-versus-computer game, multiplayer options allow you and a friend to enjoy one-on-one matches and two-on-two tag-team matches against the computer. Take on the challenge and claim the title of King of the Monsters.

If you like Fighting game this doesn’t seem to be a bad choice but I would recommend Street Fighter II on the Virtual Console first though.

It’s finally back Mega Man 9 and it is on it’s way to Wii Ware. The Last original Megaman game to be released was in 1997 on the playstation and Sega Saturn

This news was announced in the new Nintendo Power out this month. As you can see from the Pages from the Nintendo Power it is going to be in all of it’s 8 bit glory. From Wikipedia According to franchise creator Keiji Inafune, the simple fun of a classic Mega Man game “doesn’t fit into the grandiose and expansive world that the consumer gaming industry has become, and so you have to make games that match the current expectations.” He said pushing for the creation of a Mega Man in the style of the original “would be quickly criticized for things like being simplistic, outdated, or too expensive”, thus making it “too difficult” to develop such games in the “current climate”. He then goes on to say that the rise of retrogame services like Nintendo’s Virtual Console allowed the development team to put together Mega Man 9

the new Bosses announced are Magma Man Galaxy Man Jewel Man Concrete Man Hornet Man Plug Man Tornado Man Splash Woman

I for one am very excited about this. So far the news has been somewhat controversial because of the choice to go 8 Bit. It might not be the best graphics you can make now, but it was definitely where the game made it’s mark on the industry. I’m just hoping they make these games with the feature that they added in Mega Man Powered Up, where you can make and edit your own levels to challenge your friends.

There were only 2 games to come out to day 1 Virtual Console and 1 Wii Ware.

This weeks Wii Ware game is called Magnetica™ Twist it’s a Remake/Upgrade from the Nintendo DS version, it can be played with up to 4 people at the same time.

WiiWare

Magnetica™ Twist (Nintendo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The classic puzzle game Magnetica is now available on WiiWare , putting its own unique “twist” on the puzzle-game experience. You’re surrounded by marbles, marching slowly but surely down a track. Use a launcher (piloted by a Mii™ of your choice) to shoot marbles with matching colors and wipe them out before they reach the end of the track. Control couldn’t be simpler, as all you need to do is twist the Wii Remote™ controller to aim and press the A button to shoot. And the game play remains as addictive and deep as you’ve come to expect in Nintendo’s puzzle games, with five varied play modes, advanced mechanics such as the ability to lob marbles, and a never-ending supply of combos. This definitely isn’t your typical game of marbles.

Next up is the Virtual Console game and it’s a Classic FATAL FURY 2. there isn’t much to be said out this game that hasn’t already been said.

Virtual Console

FATAL FURY 2 (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated T for Teen-Animated Blood, Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1992 by SNK, FATAL FURY 2 is the second installment in the renowned fighting-game series. In addition to Terry, Andy and Joe, who appeared in the original game, another five distinctive fighters gather from around the world to compete for the championship title. Also newly added are stage-specific hazards and the ability to perform desperation attacks when a character’s strength is low. These particularly deadly techniques create the chance for a come-from-behind victory achieved with a single strike. Moreover, the innovative two-line battle, which proved popular in the previous version, also has been radically enhanced. Pressing the weak-attack and strong-attack buttons simultaneously enables players to move their fighters to another line themselves, or to launch an attack that pushes opponents back to another line. This game mechanic, unique to this title in the series, allows the player to take advantage of the depth of the screen and create even more exciting bouts. Can you prove yourself the king of fighters again?

I’m normally a strong robot. I usually don’t show emotion, but a little tear of oil trickled down my iron cheek at the site of this. This trailer was just released today, friends.

Details as always with Blizzard are scant, but a tech video featuring the familiar Barbarian and the new Witchdoctor class are circulating about the web. Other additions include a much prettier look to the game, male/female options for all classes, and interaction with the environment. (ie: pushing a wall down on the baddies)

According to Blizzard, there will still be no physical character customization, but if there is as big as a variety of equipment in the last Diablo game, characters shouldn’t look too similar.

I will be keeping my eyes on this one closely, so if I come by any more info, I’ll post it right here on BSR!