To find out more about these items, check out the article on TheForce.Net.

]]> http://kezins.com/2008/08/kotor-minis-and-campaign-guide-available-now/2812/feed http://kezins.com/2008/08/megaman-9-too-old-school/2802 http://kezins.com/2008/08/megaman-9-too-old-school/2802#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:50:19 +0000 Juan Perez http://kezins.com/?p=2802 With the upcoming release of MegaMan 9 on the “Big 3″ consoles, will the 2D style graphics hold up?

MegaMan 9 will be THE first game to join Nintendo’s Wiiware, Xbox’s Live Arcade and PlayStation 3’s PSN.  With the processor, memory and video cards these consoles posses why did Capcom select to go with their 2D graphics?  My guess is that retro gaming STILL sells.  As much as developers are trying to create the next Mario or Sonic gamers love where there roots began… back in the day.

MegaMan has always been an 8-bit classic, so I bet their release of MegaMan 9 will have those “old-timers” cracking their knuckles and ready to show the new bloods how to game.  Nintendo first showed up MegaMan on the NES, but where will MegaMan succeed?  Will it be the underdeveloped Wii?  The pay for service XBLA?  Or the supercomputer PS3?

While you ponder on these questions, check out Capcom’s latest screens.  I’m sure they’ll get you to reminisce the 90’s.

[Show as slideshow]

We’d like to know what you think about ‘Mad World’ so far. Is it a good thing it’s headed to the Wii?

Video via gamernetblog

If you have followed my writing over the past few years, you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that I’m not the biggest Nintendo Wii fan on the planet. When I hear people talking about how it’s the greatest console ever, I just find it extremely difficult to understand how they could possibly think this. Nintendo fanboys sometimes remind me of women with battered person syndrome. The Wii is basically like a busted crack head who beats his wife (the Nintendo Wii fanboy) yet she still loves him for some reason. It simply does not make the least bit of sense. Don’t take my post too personal. I still enjoy certain aspects of the Wii. I just find that it’s a highly flawed system that receives far more kudos than it should have.

10. The length of time it takes for the average gamer to get their hands on a Wii is still shocking. Although it’s much easier now, Nintendo still can’t seem to keep up with demand.

09. Nintendo whores out Mario so often it’s hard to even keep up with how many games he’s in. At the same time, some of the greatest Nintendo games of all-time have yet to re-appear. Where’s the new Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out or the new Pilot Wings?

08. Lack of decent online features combined with a laughable internal HD and SD slot.

07. There are more poorly made games on the Wii than any major system I can think of in the past two generations. I’d estimate that at least 80% of the current Wii games are total rubbish. Games like Ninjabread Man certainly don’t help the system in any way.

06. It’s more or less a Game Cube with a few extras and a sensor bar.

05. The Virtual Console has a long list of truly awesome games, but there’s several problems with the VC. The first problem is that there’s no room to actually download all the games you love. I currently have 92 games downloaded from Microsoft Xbox LIVE. Even though the Virtual Console has better games, I have only bothered downloading 5 of them. The other problem is that VC games don’t support online multiplayer. Without that support, I’d sooner find the old games at a garage sale for a quarter and warm up the old NES.

04. Wii Friend Codes are probably the most retarded thing they came up with. With all the programmers that work for Nintendo, I find it hard to believe that this was the best thing they came up with when it comes to online multiplayer. I can go back as far as the Sony PS2 and SEGA Dreamcast and find better online functionality.

03. Just when we thought Nintendo was improving their third-party relations, we discover at E3 that they kept all developers and publishers in the dark when it came to Wii MotionPlus. Instead of getting some cool games using this technology in the near future, we probably will not see any decent Wii MotionPlus titles until late 2009.

02. With all the crazy peripherals being released by Nintendo, they have yet to release a worthwhile controller for classic style gameplay. I also find that the Wii-mote is a bit small for people with big hands. I feel as if mass appeal continues for Nintendo, they have no plans to fix the little things.

01. 2001 called and said they want their graphics back.

The title pretty much says it all. Five teenagers were arrested in Chicago for breaking into a video game store and looting merchandise. The strange part is that two of the criminals nearly escaped the scene, but they asked police officers for a ride home and that’s how they were caught.

I’m not sure if these guys were gamers or not, but they ceratainly need to play a little more Grand Theft Auto IV. They could probably learn a thing or two from our good friend Niko Bellic when it comes to the proper way s of evading police. These guys may actually make our list of “world’s dumbest gamer criminals”.

We decided to use the Beta image of Niko above because these guys don’t deserve the real thing.

Via Destructoid

One of the coolest items to come out of the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany has to be Razer’s ‘Maelstrom Audio Engine’. The Razer Maelstrom is a highly upgraded virtual surround sound system found in the Razer Megalodon™, Razer’s latest 7.1 surround sound gaming headset. These bad boys process positional audio 800% faster than comparable products. For $149.99 they may seem like a steep purchase for gaming, but any audio enthusiast will see this as a pretty good buy.

Headphones
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz
• Impedance: 40 Ù at 1kHz
• Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): 105 ± 4dB at 1 kHz
• Max. Input Power: 200 mW
• Magnet Type: Neodymium

Microphone
• Frequency Response: 50 – 16,000 Hz
• Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): -37 dB (user adjustable)
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 50 dB
• Pick-up pattern: Unidirectional
• Cable: 3.3 meters

Here’s an image of the system (click on it for a larger view):

Regardless of what people might say, Banjo-Kazooie has been a good series that, while definitely inferior to the Mario franchise (but which isn’t?), showed off what a great developer Rare was. They’ve had their fair share of duds (i.e. Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo), but this year might be good for the British team.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is due November 18 to the tune of a surprisingly cheap $39.99. As an incentive for pre-ordering the game, buyers will get a code to download the original N64 Banjo-Kazooie two weeks prior to the release of the XBLA re-release…for free.

We kind of like the idea of getting free stuff when we pre-order games around here, especially when the full game is $20 cheaper than the bloated regular price of other titles.

You guys plan on taking Rare up on their pre-order offer? Here’s a video of what you can look forward to if you do:

Heath Ledger’s swan song performance and serving to elevate Christian Bale’s popularity — apparently, the movie industry had yet to see his acting in “Empire of the Sun” and “Henry V” — “The Dark Knight” has been blowing up the box office this summer. Viewers have taken so much to the film that many are speculating it will break 1997’s “Titanic” $600 Million U.S. lifetime earnings (the highest grossing film of all time).

#2 Iron Man - $317.1 Million

Re-energizing Robert Downey Jr.’s career might be “Iron Man”’s biggest accomplishment, but it hasn’t done too shabby considering its earnings this summer. It’s easily one of the better comic book adaptations out there and if you haven’t watched it yet, shame on you.

#3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $315.1 Million

Proving that 80s franchises are still all the rage (and that Hollywood is still fresh out of ideas) has put “Indiana Jones” at #3, just narrowly missing to top “Iron Man” by a couple of million dollars. Actually…once written, that’s a LOT of money.

#4 Hancock - $225 Million

Wow. Sure, Will Smith’s latest might have provided a few chuckles and light entertainment for some but it easily beats all the other movies on this list to the “summer fluff and crap” title. Poor “WALL-E.” “Hancock” didn’t deserve to make more money than you.

#5 WALL-E - $214.1 Million

It’s a little surprising that “WALL-E” didn’t top a couple of the movies on this list (it should have taken down “Hancock,” at least!), but it was still hugely successful. The film showed a great maturation for Pixar as they took on touchy subjects while maintaining that high level of movie magic the studio is known for. One of the few movies this summer that entertained both kids and adults, alike.

We don’t know about you, but whenever a press release touts that their new game “contains no violence or foul language” and “no action sequences or timed puzzles,” our attention for it wavers more than a bit. Merscom’s Time Stand Still hopes to attract your attention regardless.

The game is completely mouse driven and features a story about an English girl, twenty-something, living in Sweden who takes on “cases.” Yes, the press release doesn’t go into any more detail than that.

Does it sound like a game you guys would play knowing that it keeps it G-rated and full of talkative, non-action bits? If it does, it’s now available for “as low as $6.99 with Game Club” here.

Via Press Release