So, we managed to get a look at some advanced promotional art for Street Fighter IV. It’s pretty good looking stuff.

Of course you do! So go here, and good luck! My robot Construct Optimized for Calculation and Killing (aka, my robot C.O.C.K.) only got me to level 5…

Since most of us have Wii’s and there’s no decidedly awesome place to find out what got released on the virtual console, we’re going to start publishing it here.

So, for today:

WiiWare

Critter Round-Up (Konami, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone – Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The critters have escaped, and the barnyard is in chaos! It’s up to you to quickly corral the animals in this puzzle-action challenge. You’ll have to mend fences in a hurry to keep all the critters safe and satisfied. But the fun doesn’t stop with the farmland; more than 50 challenging levels take you to several exotic locations, including the outback, the icy Arctic and more. There’s even a series of minigames for when the critters get you down: Snowball Soccer, Predator Rampage, Chicken Catch and Fence Trap. Up to four players can compete or cooperate as the critters run wild. So roll up those sleeves and grab a friend-those critters won’t catch themselves.

Star Soldier R (Hudson Entertainment, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Fantasy Violence, 800 Wii Points): Star Soldier R is a new kind of shooter where players aim for the best scores within a two- or five-minute time limit. Develop various scoring strategies, and pump out those points within the breakneck time frame. Assembled in record time to counter the advance of a powerful enemy, the mysterious Brain Forces, the “Caesar” starfighter takes off to fight for the very future of mankind. Shoot down countless enemies, upgrade your ship to the max with power-ups hidden throughout the levels and wage an all-out assault against the core of the enemy fortress. Combining the excitement of shoot-’em-ups with in-depth scoring strategies, this state-of-the-art competitive shooter will keep you coming back for more. Upload your best scores with Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, and pit your skills against the world’s best fighter pilots from the comfort of your living room. Hone your skills and show the world who’s boss.

Virtual Console

SKYKID™ (NES®, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): Red Baron, from the freedom- and peace-loving nation of birds, Bird Land, faces off in the skies with his rival Blue Max in this side-scrolling shooting game. Defeat the many enemies that await you as you complete your mission, using moves like the loop-the-loop to shoot down enemies from behind. Fly low to pick up bombs placed in the stage and drop them on command posts, warships or other designated targets to destroy them. Then land safely at base to proceed to the next mission. Beware of enemy fire, though-it will cause you to crash, unless you’re able to recover by rapidly pressing the buttons. You can even play with a second person and fly simultaneously, sometimes helping each other and other times competing against each other. Prepare yourself and take to the skies, but make sure that the catchy background music (which became an instant classic when this game was originally released) doesn’t distract you from your goal.

So, the Wii Ware section is pretty new and I want to point out a release from last week: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

It’s a brand new FF game, just for the Wii:

FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: My Life as a King™ (Square Enix, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, 1,500 Wii Points): FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King takes a legendary franchise and launches it into the realm of simulation gaming. Players are challenged to rebuild a kingdom, leading its young king on a path of discovery through an adventure bristling with mystery and intrigue.

As far as games that came out today, I don’t think I’m buying any, but be sure to check out for more recommendations. Also, I heard a rumour that Dr. Mario Online is going to be launched soon. So take that with a grain of salt.

Visit, read, write, and then spread it to all your friends. Pixelbot 7 just may start respecting you humans.

http://www.videogamevoters.org/index.jhtml?_requestid=6026

As most reviews around the world are saying, as well as the concensus of all us bots here at BSR! Iron Man was a kick-ass movie, and will likely go down as one of the best superhero movies of all time (mostly due to the Iron Man Brain Trust). However, as with most movies, just because the movie is awesome doesn’t always mean the video game that goes along with it will be.

I recently finished the Iron Man video game, more out of resolve than enjoyment, and I am sad to report it’s not that great. Now, while it is at times a visually cool game and flying around as ol’ shell head himself is pretty rad, the game is riddled with glitches, at times nearly impossible game play, and a plot that barely reflects the movie itself.

Now, I fancy myself to be quite the gamer, but some of the levels of Iron Man are frustrating, and nearly impossible to beat on Normal difficulty, let alone Hard. The baddies are numerous and relentless and the game does not properly equip Iron Man to handle the sheer amounts of enemies that the game presents at time, especially for the “Hero” sub-mission for each level. Towards the end of the game, I just started doing the bare ass minimum to pass each level because if I tried to complete the sub-missions, I would get too damaged in doing so to actually complete the main objective. Normally I enjoy being out numbered by enemies and kicking their asses and taking names in video games, even when the enemies are really tough, but normally a game will equip you to handle this, but in Iron Man, you are frustrating out manned, out gunned, and royally screwed. The best way to beat some of the bosses is to wait for them to glitch out (which will happen), then shoot them with your missiles, unibeam, and repulsers for 10 minutes. There is just so much technically wrong with this game it would take me all day to write it!

You may be thinking to your self, “Wow Arse-Bot, you’re a pussy, can’t handle a few dudes in a video game.” I promise you, go rent the game, play through the first 3 or 4 levels, and then come back and talk to me. I’m confident you’ll be just as upset as I. When a shitty movie video game like Iron Man comes out, it’s frustrating because lately we have been blessed with a great movie game franchise in Spider-Man, the free roaming, follow the plot as you wish is a great set up, and I don’t see any reason not to follow that formula with Iron Man. But, the game is what it is and there’s no changing it, so avoid it if you can, play it if you’re curious and let’s hope for the best for the Incredible Hulk Video Game.

Holy shit. This game was announced in November or so through an exclusive with GameInformer Magazine. I’ve been following the news for this game rather closely. Here’s what I can tell you so far:

• Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd are returning to write the script for this game.
• Everyone is returning to voice the Ghostbusters, even Janine.
• This game is being treated as Ghostbusters 3. It will follow a few years after Ghostbusters 2.
• You will play as the new hire. Basically the intern that gets to test all the new equipment Egon and Ray are too afraid to try. The Slime Gun is some of the new gear (featured in the video below).

On Friday GameTrailers.com did an episode dedicated to the new game. A lot of new information was released, including an Ecto H20. It sounds like the basic plot will follow the lost script for Ghostbusters 3. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know. In a nut shell, this is what I know about the Script:

There is no vacancy in Hell. All the ghosts that would be sent to purgatory or Hell are spilling back onto Earth. Somehow the containment unit fails (possibly because of Walter Peck, since the actor is returning to voice him) and all our favorite ghosts return. The timing couldn’t possibly be worse, because the boys in khaki are trying to turn Ghostbusting into a franchise. But they have Walter Peck watching their every step as New York’s designated dick less wonder.

The first level of the game is a recap of the first movie. Stay Puft and Slimer return to haunt the same places you had originally busted them. Apparently Gozer makes a return as well. Later in the plot, the Ghostbusters will be entering another dimension, and possibly Hell.

The video below is 5 minutes of game play, previously unseen. For more information on the game, check out Proton Charging for all of your bustin’ news. I’ll continue to do updates on BSR! as I get them.

Mario Kart is probably one of the most consistently great games that Nintendo has put out since the original was released on the SNES, and I am happy to report (if you have yet to play it) that Mario Kart Wii delivers a great game once again.

I have spent the last 2 nights in a row playing Mario Kart Wii with Swank-M0-Tron and Kill-Tacular-Tron and it has brought back a lot of nostalgic memories of the previous games, and all the excitement of new features that you would expect from a new installment. From new tracks to new weapons, from new characters to new vehicles Mario Kart Wii introduces enough new content to keep it exciting, but all the while sticking with the basics that makes this series great.

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of motorcycles. When I first heard about this I was a little leary, because you know, it’s Mario Kart. But after playing the game for hours on end, I think it is a welcome addition, and while I still prefer the Kart, Kill-Tacular-Tron seems to have taken a liking to the motorcycle and there are advantages and disadvantages with both, but overall the racing field is still even when there is a Kart/Cycle mix race. The Kart still offers the same handling it always has, but boasts a better power drifting boost; while the motorcycle offers better handling, a lesser drifting boost, but a pretty handy “wheelie-boost”. The vehicle options aren’t just limited to Kart or cycle, but there are multiple variants of both, each promoting better handling, better speed, or better acceleration, even off-road performance plays a key in selecting your machine depending on which circuit you may be racing on. Over all, the vehicle variance is a welcome change.

Items and characters are essentially the same, though, there is a deeper roster, but how you select your character is still the same, you have light-weights, mid-weights, and heavy-weights, which all promote better acceleration, handling, and speed respectively. The power-ups you use to punish your opponents are mostly the same as well, with a few additions. First is the Mega Mushroom which makes you giant and ups your speed, giving you the ability to flatten any one in your path. Then you have Blooper, a squid that when deployed splashes the screens of your competitors with ink partially blocking your view (in my opinion, this isn’t that useful, more of just a minor inconvenience). You now also have Bob-Omb and Bullet Bill as well, you can leave Bob-Omb behind, or hurl him in front of you, after a set amount of time or if someone hits him he will create a massive explosion (similar to that of the blue shell); If you get a Bullet Bill, this means you suck, when deployed you will turn into a Bullet Bill on auto-pilot and fly through the course slamming anyone who is in front of you, usually this will give you a nice boost up to around 4th or so. The final two new power-ups are the POW Block, and Thunder Cloud, POW Blocks essentially just spin out everyone in front of you; the Thunder Cloud is a little bit trickier though, a cloud will hover over you zapping you with speed-boosting lightning, but you need to bump into somebody and pass him off quickly because after a set amount of time he’ll zap you too hard and shrink you! The items once again serve their purpose of evening out the field and not allowing one person to always run away with the race and makes the game enjoyable for seasoned racers and newbs alike.

As far as tracks go, well, there’s a lot of them. There is a good mix of new tracks and re-vamped classic tracks from previous Mario Kart games, way too many to discuss here, but you can check them all out here.

Unfortunately, like most games, Mario Kart is not 100% free of faults, though they are few. First, in Battle Mode, there is no “free-for-all” option, only team battles. Aside from this, the only one that kind of bothered me a lot was the fact that there is no 2-Player Grand Prix option like there has been in the past. So it is up to one person to race around and unlock everything, kind of a bummer, but certainly does not reduce the replayability or multiplayer aspects of the game tremendously.

Nintendo has delivered what I consider to be the best yet in the series and found that balance between actual racing (Mario Kart 64) and power-up usage (Mario Kart Double-Dash) to make a great game that evens the playing field without becoming too frustrating. If you haven’t picked this up yet, go find a copy, get some friends together, and start trash talking.

Side Note: Due to yet another arguement between Kill-Tacular-Tron and I that occurred last night while playing Mario Kart, there will be a new poll poster later today. Be sure to come back later today and vote on your favorite Mario Kart game of all time. I say that prior to Mario Kart Wii Mario Kart 64 was the best because it was more about the racing, but Kill-Tacular-Tron says that it was too easy for one person to run away with a race; Kill-Tacular-Tron argues that Mario Kart Double-Dash is the better game because it created a more even playing field for racers, while I say that it was fun and a good game, it was too weapon-heavy, and almost eliminated the ability to race a Kart. So, what do you all think? Which of the Mario Kart games is the best? Vote here at Big Shiny Robot later today!

-Arse-Bot out.

Leave them here.

Swank-mo-tron: 0946-2671-4549

After hearing the first few notes of many video game songs, a wave a warm cooling fluid feeling fills us. Check out what these guys did to some old NES and Sega songs. Just follow the link. You can also download the .zip here.

So, Super Smash Bros Brawl has been out for more than a month. Most of us have explored every bit of the game, unlocked all the characters, and collected a fair share of the other little goodies that were waiting to be exploited.

So what now? Maybe I’m a little picky, but there were so many things I wanted different with the game. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate it. In fact, I’d be glad to hand your ass to you as Sonic if any of you are up to it. Still, it’s time for me to explain what would’ve made Brawl even bigger than it was, and what could be added in the next installment.

Number one: If I wanted to play Melee stages, I’d plug in my Gamecube and play them. So much wasted space, especially when you have two awesome third-party characters to flesh out in their own arenas. A new stage for Snake might’ve been difficult just because Metal Gear’s settings are more realistic then fantastic… But Sonic? C’mon. I’ve got two that would’ve been perfect, either a level based on Chemical Plant Zone, or Casino Night Zone. (Both from Sonic 2) Also, why are the songs from those stages missing in action?

Number 2: Assist trophies are fine, but if you’re just going to tease us with cooler characters that aren’t fully playable, leave ’em out. Lynn needed to be in Brawl as a playable. For one, she would’ve closed the gap a bit further in the gender ratio, but also just would’ve been a great character. Don’t even get me started on Grey Fox. I’m so pissed he didn’t get in there. 

Number 3: Fuck the voice actor for Pokemon Trainer. Fuck him hard. I can’t stand that bastard’s voice.

Now, what needs to be in the the next SSB? Really, Nintendo just needs to open the flood gates for more third-party characters. My hope is to see Square-Enix throw their hat into the ring and add a new face for the next one. While some may want the depressed amnesiac Cloud, or the sociopathic Sephiroth, it really boils down to the fact that they wouldn’t fit in. However, Sora of Kingdom Hearts fame would fit great, and just be fun to play as. Bringing more in from the games they already have wouldn’t hurt, either. I mean, where was Tails?