Magic Ball (PS3) --- $9.99
Playstation Store saw the release of a Brick-remake this past Thursday. It is more like Brick with a boost of steroid, graphics, and sweet animation. The game's developer added the fun of going to a Carnival shooting range (if you shoot random objects, something happens, etc.) to a usually boring game of Brick. You can also go co-op or competitive with a second player (local or... ONLINE!). I haven't tried the competitive mode yet, but the co-op was pretty good --- one player got the right side and another, left.

in this game, you get to smack sharks, pirates and wolves with a soccer ball

I assume everyone is well aware of the ill effects that loads of gaming can induce over and extended period of time. Also, I feel we are all conscious of the rising obesity rates across the globe due to an increase in multiple variables. It can be attributed to the expansion of fast food chains making it easier to access empty caloric food to the advancement in technology, allowing hard labor tasks to be accomplished by machines or in some cases robots. Luckily for us there is one piece of tech that is assisting in a growing trend that mixes video games with exercise. I know this may be old news to some of you but for those of you who haven’t learned of it’s influence on health or the advancement in rehabilitation assistance it has had, let me introduce to you the Nintendo Wii.




The unique controls of the Wii are instantly recognizable. Gone are the days of dual joysticks to control the aiming reticule or pressing a combination of buttons to activate a door. Now with the Sensor Bar and Wiimote you are pointing and shooting at your enemies and using the 3D Accelerometer to mimic picking a lock to open doors. This new interface for gaming alone has gotten kids, teens and adults alike up out of their chairs and onto their feet… or at least on the edge of their seats. Almost every game for the Wii uses this new form of user interface and with the honing of this technology it’s only going to get better. The Wii remote and Nunchuk are not the only innovative controllers used exclusively for the Wii. This brings us to my next point.




With such games as Wii Sports, My Fitness Coach or Wii Fit, assisted by the Wii Balance Board, it is no secret that Nintendo is trying, and succeeding, to make more physically active games. In fact these games are doing so well at increasing kids heart rates across the globe that the International Sports Sciences Association endorsed Wii’s fitness benefits. In one instance, Al Grant, an ISSA certified trainer commented "I think any gaming system that gets the users off the couch and moving around has obvious health benefits. I saw kids using the Wii in the mall and they were working up quite a sweat playing the boxing and tennis games". Anyone who has stepped into a yoga studio knows what Wii Fit has in store for you. Wii Fit gets your heart pumping and limbs loose with a good balance of stretching, cardio and coordination mini games. It doesn’t take a certified physician to come to the conclusion that with discipline and mediation the Wii can be used as an effective physical training tool to lose weight and gain muscle.




If you have ever endured the long and strenuous activity of physical therapy you probably thought to yourself, “Isn’t there anything else I can do to help me other than this?” In medical centers from the U.S. to Germany the Wii is being used as a therapy tool for patients recovering from injuries sustained from car accidents to combat injuries. The success of, what has been dubbed by some as, "Wiihabilitation" is the mix of entertainment, challenge and physical activity. Video games are obviously a form of entertainment but what makes the Wii unique, as I have said before, is the motion sensitive control. This motion sensitive control requires the patient to execute movement, similar to therapy exercise, to play the game. Physical therapists are noticing that some patients are pushing themselves further than they would with traditional methods because they get caught up in the game and forget, or ignore, the pain. The end result is a faster recovery and happier patients.

The health benefits alone make the Nintendo Wii an attractive gaming console. Then add good games, new controls and unique game play and you have the ingredients for a fantastic entertainment system. I use the Wii mainly for FPS, Fighter and Music games but I do enjoy "getting my sweat on" playing Wii Sports or Wii Fit.

According to this article I read the other day, Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 failed to meet industry sales expectations in 2008. Their sales were lower than their respective franchise sales in 2007 despite have many more titles in the market, which was supposedly going to offset the negative impacts of the economy.

Having played both, I can't imagine that the low sales are due to lack of improvement on the first releases - the added drums and mic for Guitar Hero really make the game way more fun (honestly though multiplayer generally has that effect) as I've spent many hours playing happily with other writers of this blog and our friends. The song selection is larger, the customizable avatars the icing on the cake.

But, despite immediately buying Guitar Hero when it came out for Wii, I've opted to wait on buying either the new Rock Band or Guitar Hero. And I'm sure I'm not the only one - there was nothing wrong with my older copies, I've yet to beat all of the songs on expert, and I don't envision myself sitting by myself playing just the drums or fumbling my way through the lyrics of many of the song options. I'd love to think it'll just take a little getting used to having my own one-person kareoke show but in reality I envision the extra equipment becoming my latest end table in my furniture-limited apartment.

(Luckily I don't aspire to be these guys...)

Declining economy or not, ultimately the latest music games (even Wii Music) all seem best suited to a multiplayer environment, possibly bringing down these new music titles' sales, and should have done a better job to equally engage the individual player to entice spending that extra $100.

We, gamers, all know President Elect Obama has not been the biggest fan of video games, stating such things as "…watching TV, playing video games and avoiding tough classes in school..." attributed to low scores in math and science across America and his stance on Bill “S.2126”, the “Family Entertainment Protection Act” doesn’t help all to much either. Naturally one would think that Malia and Sasha would thus have to spend the rest of their spare time, while not studying calculus and quantum physics, playing with their new pet dog… one would be wrong. Not only did Mr. Obama hook his kids up with the Nintendo Wii for Christmas but he also admitted to bowling a few frames himself!



Obama Predicts a Florida Victory
By John Harwood

“Mr. Obama said he’d have his hands full attempting to rescue the American economy. But he has gotten in a little practice in bowling lately on the Nintendo Wii his daughters received for Christmas. Mr. Obama, who famously struggled in bowling during last year’s Democratic primaries, said he performs better in the video game.”

Halo 3
Bungie
Microsoft Game Studios
FPS
Xbox 360
25 September 2007




Halo 3, like it’s predecessors, is a basic FPS, meaning your not concerned with collecting items and using player awarded points to upgrade your weapons and armor. Which is just how I like it. Your main sense of game play is destroying what ever is deemed a threat and therefore a target. The weapons of choice you will use to finish the fight are an assortment of human and alien pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shoulder fired rocket launchers, grenades and more. Do not let my quick explanation of Halo 3 over simplify this games heavily laden story line. Case and point the following summary of H3. Skip the following summary to continue reading my review of H3.


(SUMMARY *WARNING SPOILERS*)

Master Chief is joined by Sgt. Maj. Johnson a squad of Marines and the Arbiter shortly after crashing to the ground in Africa. A failed final attack on the High Prophet of Truth led by Commander Keyes and Lord Hood allows the activation of the Forerunner artifact. After sterilizing the infected area of Earth from the Flood, who crash landed there, MC, Keyes, Johnson, Marines, Arbiter and Elites pursue Truth through the portal following Cortana’s message. Once on the Ark, Master Chief discovers that Truth can now activate all of the Halos from this location. After the rings are activated, involuntarily by Johnson, Master Chief forms an alliance with Gravemind. After disabling the installations firing sequence Gravemind turns on MC, Arbiter and Johnson who then escape. Master Chief discovers that the Ark is building a replacement Ring for the one that was previously destroyed. Master Chief decides, in order to eliminate the flood, that he will now activate this new Ring. To do so he will need an Activation Index ergo, Master Chief knowing that Cortana is in possession of said Index rescues her from the High Charity. Before MC and Johnson can activate the Ring, 343 Guilty Spark explains, that since the ring is not completed, to activate it would mean the destruction of the Ark. Johnson ignores the warning proceeding to activate the ring and is thus killed by 343 GS. In turn MC destroys 343 GS and activates the ring. MC then escapes the ring’s blast by launching himself, on a warthog, onto the frigate “Forward Unto Dawn” that is being piloted by the Arbiter. Only the first half of the Dawn makes it completely through the portal returning the Arbiter to Earth. Meanwhile the latter half of the Dawn floats through an unknown part of space. Realizing this MC enters cryo telling Cortana to, “Wake me, when you need me.” Unknown to the two occupants the Dawn is drifting towards a mysterious planet.

(END OF SUMMARY)


This series, Halo, is the reason that I purchased an Xbox 360. I remember playing Halo CE with friends on there Xbox’s. I was there with them when Halo 2 launched and thoroughly enjoyed teaming up with them, online, using fireteam tactics and being amazed that they worked in a virtual world. That is probably the moment that I truly became obsessed with Halo. I picked up my 360 and H3 on New Years Eve for 2008 and played through and completed Halo 3 on Legendary, first, then at a later date I completed Halo CE and H2. About a week later, I began playing online every waking moment my girlfriend and job would allow me to. I did this for about a month straight then in February I put on the brakes and did a reality check. I could have easily continued on playing and I wanted to, Bungie did a fantastic job at creating a well rounded video game. Not only is the story line intriguing, which is why I felt the need to include an in detail description of the game in this review, but its multiplayer system is the most advanced of its kind to date. Once you have been online for a week you will have learned the ins and outs of how it all works. Everything from climbing up the ranks, to organizing group battles or testing your ability against Halo addicts across the globe, you will become so comfortable with your surroundings that you won’t want to leave... ever.

The Xbox 360 does a wonderful job at rendering the wide multitude of graphics from brilliant explosions to deep shadows and the sound FX allows you to immerse yourself completely into the Halo universe especially when you get into those ever intensifying battles with the covenant and flood. I was also awed by the ease at which I learned the controls for Halo and continue to be amazed at how they, every time, are able to make it even better then before.


The good; story line, replay ability, online multiplayer
The Bad; addictiveness, insomnia, nightmare of the flood

I don’t play online nearly as often as I first did, obviously, but I do wander onto the battle field once and a while under the Gamertag: semperneoeon. So if you are really bored and want to play some H3 give me a shout.

I give Halo 3 5 out of 5 Plasma Grenades

Casual games, the bane of many a serious gamer's existence, include classics like Bejeweled and Diner Dash, has a growing market size of $2.2 bn that is an increasingly strong force in the gaming industry today.



While these game typically provide a 5-10 hr average gameplay, they have successfully tapped into the non-gamer market of older women and have a wider appeal to the general public, and are easy to learn and easy to play.

What's even more interesting in that these games retail at $19.99 (meaning that the pure number of units sold to make that $2.2 bn is larger than typical games), though many casual game distributors, like Big Fish Games, have started providing discounted membership prices by locking customers in for a preset number of games per month at the discounted price.

Even better though, is that Gamehouse now offers a free, full-version casual game everyday, that runs with ad sponsorship! The president of the company said Gamehouse's daily free game is intended to get people playing the games, given today's weak economy, which they hope will eventually lead to more sales (or in my case, more gaming for none of the cost). Let's hope it works the way they want!! :)

Either way, it's worth checking out, and I'll try and review the best ones on the day they are released to entice everyone to go over and download them.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Nintendo EAD
Nintendo
Action-Adventure
Nintendo Wii
19 November 2006




Following in the footsteps of past Zelda’s, Twilight Princess focuses on exploring and collecting items along the way to help you solve puzzles and advance yourself in the game. Link, armed with his trusty sword and shield along with many other tools and weapons, is on a mission to save Princess Midna (and Zelda obviously) but more importantly Hyrules realm of existence along with the Twilights Realm. Transporting, involuntarily at first, between the two realms, Link, either as himself or a wolf must fight the many enemies of Hyrule and Twilight to stop Zant from changing Hyrule and Twilight into is kingdom of darkness. Zant is not the only enemy posing a threat to destroy Hyrule as we know it. Ganondorf, though banished to the Twilight realm, is still planning to conquer Hyrule.



I was thoroughly impressed by the graphics and sound of Twilight Princess. To all the naysayers of the Wii’s processing ability you obviously have not layed your eyes on this beautiful gem. I used my entertainment center’s ability to give me 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound to navigate my way through many dark caves, foggy bottoms and enemy ambushes. The one added bonus of playing Twilight Princess on the Wii, for sound, is the feed back that you get from the Wiimote when engaging in battle with weapons from swords to bows. The control of this game, once you become oriented with the Wiimote and Nun chuck, is phenomenal. Whether you are slashing with your sword, shooting your bow or even fishing you are actually mimicking moves you would execute in real life. These techniques are then perfectly blended with movement and camera angles to give you a clean smooth controllability of Link through out the game.



The good; fun yet challenging, graphics, sound, control, game length
The bad; defeating bosses could have been more diverse, game length, game ends

I feel I have to make a special comment about the game length here. For those of you whom are not familiar with The Legend of Zelda series these are not games for the casual gamer. I easily spent 100+ hours playing Twilight Princess but this was not necessary, I spent A LOT of time exploring and just having plain old fun killing orcs and fishing. I would estimate if you cut straight to the chase and did the absolute minimal to beat the game you could fly through at the break neck speed of about 25-30 hours.



I give The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 5 out of 5 Master Swords!

With New Year's Eve, just right around the corner, I think it's fitting for me to tell you all what I'm looking forward to in year 2009... So here's 5 video games coming out next year (in some cases, hopefully):

1. Street Fighters 4 (Feb. 17, 2009)
Recently, I did a quick survey of my PS3 games arsenal and noticed that I am still missing a fighting game. So it's a no-brainer that I have to buy this game (unless someone's making a Kung-fu Panda fighter game). I was a huge fan of Street Fighters as a kid, and the ramped up current-gen look is just A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! Just look at this picture:

maybe another less embarrassing picture for bla...

... ugh... okay, I give up.

2. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. (March 3, 2009)
I was a fan of fighter jet simulators when I was a kid and am hoping this game would reintroduce me to that genre. The game looks great; your jets will be flying over some nice scenic landscape (Check out Brazil in this gameplay video). You will also have the option of flying OVER 50 jet fighters!!!

3. God of War III (TBA 2009)
Check out Steve's video post below... like the wise man said "get educated!"

4. Ghostbusters the Video Game (June 16, 2009)
Another throwback to childhood here --- this game is made to be the next "movie" and, as the marshmallow topping on the already-sweet cake, the original casts are involved (Aykroyd, Murray, Ramis, and Hudson --- they're writing it too!!!). I can't decide whether to go with the PS3 version (sweet graphics) or the Wii version. Wielding the proton pack with your Wii-mote is just waaaayy too awesome.


5. Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII (December 18, 2009)
I am an FF-fan, and thought it would be wise to pre-order the 13th game on the franchise back in September, thinking it would come out this December. I recently went back to check on my Amazon order... lo' and behold, the game is not out yet. In fact, it's delayed for ONE WHOLE YEAR. I should be mad as all hell with at this game but here it is making it to my list of games that I'm looking forward to. It's official: I am Square-Enix's bitch.

That's my list! Yay to list!

For something more in the immediate future, LittleBigPlanet add-on: METAL GEAR SOLID 4 will be available for download this week. Check out this video! Get ready to paint-gun LBP levels!!!

Let me know what you think, dear reader! Post your top 5! Happy Holidays!