Brawl Countdown Widget for Macs

Countdown the days until your regular life goes out the window. Homework will be left unfinished. Chores will left undone. Friends and loved ones will might be ignored…unless they’re playing with you.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Countdown Widget (Mac) 

Brawl Box Art Confirmed?

Guess so. With 40 days left before Brawl hits the US, and 24 days until its Japanese release, this placeholder box art seems to be official. Yeah, yeah, I know people have called this official I while ago but I have my reasons for making this late statement. Back when Melee was about to launch Nintendo gave retailers a shoddy, uneventful placeholder until about two months before the game went gold, so I thought they might have been pulling the same stunt again.

Placeholder boxart for Super Smash Bros. Melee

Final boxart for Super Smash Bros. Melee

The first one: dull. The second is packed with more action than Steven Segal versus Jean Van Damme fist-fight. The Brawl box art isn’t terrible, it’s actually pretty sweet, but I guess I was expecting a bit more. The art doesn’t really reveal too much and only features most of the characters revealed on Smashbros.com. Where’s Captain Falcon? I wanna see the flames spewing out of his Falcon Punch on the box. Wait, why isn’t he on there in the first place? Is he still in the game? See that’s my problem with the box; it gets me worried about who’ll be retuning for Brawl. Luigi? Ganon? Game & Watch? Young Link? Hopefully Smashbros.com will soon trickle drops of info to reassure us thirsty Smash Brothers, and being the obsessive fans we are we’ll wait patiently like we always do.

Damn, Fox looks bad-ass. Like he just came from the future to save John Connor bad-ass. Look how jealous Link is of him.

Cheap Thrills: SSX3 ($20)

I’m a huge fan of snowboarding games considering the fact that I have no idea how to snowboard. Or the fact that I only saw snow for the first time in 2002. SSX Tricky kicked off my addiction with its insane “wait did that guy just do The Worm on his board?” moments. SSX3 cemented my love for these games; unlike Tricky it found the sweet spot between realistic and ridiculous. This game is solid, period. Solid gameplay, solid controls, and solid graphics that still hold up till this day.

The single player mode made you conquer every nook and cranny of three different peaks set on a huge mountain, which was a bit different that the usual extreme sports formula where you collect stuff and unlock new maps (as seen in Tony Hawk games). Each peak hosted a wide range of activities (racing, slopsetyle, half-pipe, big-air) or you choose to simply cruise through the entire peak on your own free will. The trick list was vast and so were the ubertricks, which were far more believable than they were in Tricky. Like I mentioned before, Tricky had you doing all sorts of crazy things on your board and it was enjoyable, but SSX3 toned it down a tad bit and somehow catered to those looking for a realistic snowboard sim as well as the Tricky fans of old. The soundtrack was amazing (seriously, I can’t describe how great the soundtrack is) and I still listen to most of the tracks today. There’s a huge list of characters and tons of boards and other accessories to ensure you never get bored; the last time I played I had my Elise character in a leather jacket, daisy dukes and giant angel wings coming out of her back.

SSX3 is the best snowboarding game ever made. All snowboarders after 2003 have aimed to be just like it and have failed. Other efforts from EA (SSX On Tour, SSX Blur) just never cut it because they had already created a near-perfect gme. SSX3 was one of my favorite games of last generation and maybe even of all time. No joke. Playing it recently gets me excited that EA BIG will soon try to replicate their brilliance on a next-gen console that isn’t the Wii. Sorry Wii, but snowboarding in high-def is just too good to pass up.

You can find SSX3 lying around for $20 or lower. I’d recommend the PS2 version due to the controller; the Gamecube pad has less shoulder buttons to perform grabs, so it has a gimped move list. The PS2 controller’s shoulder buttons are more comfortable than both Xbox and Xbox 360 pads.

Twenty bucks for the best snowboarding game ever? Steal!

Is 2008 Sony’s Year?

The Playstation 3’s first year on the market certainly didn’t go as well as planned. It was pretty much cursed from the start; its launch day was marred by negative publicity regarding shootings and beatings that occurred while the public waited in line to get their hands on one. Its software library was less than impressive and lacked a significant number of quality triple-A titles. Its marketing campaigns weren’t very convincing until recently (I couldn’t understand the point of half of their commercials) and a series of ambiguous price drops and mix-and-match SKU’s certainly didn’t help either. Monthly sales were dismal and were lagging behind the Xbox 360 and, of course, the Wii. Sony fans can argue against these points in their console’s defense but can’t deny this past year was anything but a success. Sony has wisely diverted people’s attention away from 2007 and towards the forthcoming year with its enticing software lineup. The year 2008 could be a one where their luck is looking more likely to change everyday.

Looking Forward To: No More Heroes (Wii)

I’m a big fan of the Wii but not of the juvenile image that it’s associated with. Every time I witness a trailer showing (somewhat) hip youngsters overacting as they make use the latest Wii game’s poorly implemented motion controls I want to throw up. Visualize the Wii as a young kid bursting with youth and sucking on a lollipop (or whatever kids do these days). Not hard is it? Now imagine Chuck Norris giving that kid a roundhouse kick to the face. No More Heroes is that roundhouse kick to the Wii’s childish public image. It’s as mature as any self-hating adult Wii owner would have wanted.

Let’s break it down. You’re Travis Touchdown, an anime lover and wrestling fanatic, who wins a beam katana (see: lightsaber) on the internet and becomes a hitman. He’s officially ranked as the 11^th best hitman in the city but wants to become numero uno the hard way; by killing the 10 hitmen above him. I like the idea so far.

Street Fighter IV Revealed! First Screens & Details!

There’s good ol’ Ryu in all his street fighting glory. This was the first official screenshot of Street Fighter IV in motion courtesy of 1UP (they have an exclusive on it in the lastest EGM). Later on, random Brazilian gaming blog Blogeek.com.br somehow got hold of two more shots displaying everyone’s favorite matchup: Ryu vs Ken. They also spilled the beans on some new deets

• It takes place between Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III
• Chun Li and Dhalsim return
• “Ultra” moves are available, as well as “Super” moves a la Super Street Fighter II
• New defensive cancel system
• Runs at 60 frames per second, online mode
• Don’t worry, fights still take place in 2D

Not sure how I feel about the art style; Ryu looks a bit chubby in some screen, as does Ken in the shot below. But I think its the character animations that will really blow us away so we’ll have to wait until video footage shows up. Get your shoryukens ready! 2008 release!

[UPDATE] – Photos from Blogeek have been taken off the Internet. They were illegally leaked from 1UP.

[via Kotaku, 1UP]

Mini-Review: Mario Party DS

 

It’s seems pretty odd to think it took Nintendo three years to bring Mario Party, probably the most abused video game franchise in the past decade, to the DS. Although the Wii seems to be the powder keg of the mini-game phenomenon, the DS was the match that lit the fuse when it released late 2004. With its two screens, stylus, microphone and wireless multiplayer capability the DS seems like a great place for Mario to throw a bash. Sadly, this game’s brand name is its own worst enemy.

Mario Party DS would be a great game if we hadn’t seen its idea repeated a billion times over the years. Every year we see the MP formula repeated; you and your friends scurry around a themed board game levels collecting coins and stars by facing each other in a slew of mini-games. Oh, but now you can take it with you wherever you go. Sweet. I’ve simply gotten bored with it all.

 

8 Reasons the PSP Might Overtake the DS, and Vice Versa

Last week Gizmodo ran a bold article giving 8 reasons why the Playstation Portable might trounce the Nintendo DS eventually. That’s a very bold list if you consider the fact that the DS has sold a staggering 15 million more units than the PSP worldwide. Although this hypothesis seemed far-fetched, each of the 8 points are definitely valid arguments. Being the good journalists that they are, The Giz ran a separate article giving 8 reasons why the PSP will do no such thing. Both are a good read and help explain the current state of the portable console war.

8 Reasons Why The PSP Might Overtake the DS

8 Reasons Why the PSP Will NEVER, EVER Overtake the DS

[Gizmodo]

Review: Zack & Wiki – Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure

Genre: Puzzle/Adventure
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Number of Players: 1
Release: 10/23/2007

+ Creativity at its best
+ Unique puzzles
+ Worth the $40
- High cuteness factor might turn off older gamers
- A bit too hard at times

Remember that saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”? It applies to video games as well. So when you’re browsing the Wii aisle at your local Best Buy and come across a game with a cover resembling a Saturday morning cartoon while brandishing the silly name ‘Zack & Wiki’, ignore its appearance and give it a chance. I can safely say that you won’t be disappointed.

You play as Zack, member of the pirate gang called The Sea Rabbits, as he searches for missing pieces of treasure owned by the late, great pirate Captain Barbaros. He’s joined by his trusty sidekick Wiki, a flying golden monkey thing (they never say what exactly he is) that is so cute you might have to poke yourself in the eyes to negate the vitriolic “awww” vibes he gives off. Seriously, he makes Pikachu look like Flavor Flav. So with a monkey by your side your objective is to open treasure chests located in different stages by solving puzzles using the Wii Remote. Sounds easy right? But getting to those chests might make your brain explode. You navigate around each stage like a point-and-click adventure; you move Zack around by pointing to where you want him to walk and interact with objects by clicking on them. If you thought Wiki was weird enough, giving the ‘Wiimote’ (see what I did there?) a good shake turns him into a bell that transforms nearby animals into tools that aid the solving process. Centipedes turn into saws, frogs turn into bombs and bats turn into umbrellas. From then on you’ll be twisting, turning and flicking the Wiimote in order to snag great treasures though puzzles that last anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.