Monthly Archives: June 2013

Nothing memorable from the last day of E3

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You’d think there’d still be a bit of news that caught my eye on the last day, but I only marked one interesting article from all the coverage I saw.

Xbox One’s new Achievements system explained, time-based Challenges don’t reward Gamerscore, Griffin McElroy, Polygon, 6/13/13.

I think what Microsoft (and by extension Griffin’s article) was trying to explain in too many words is that the Xbox One will have Feats of Strength like Blizzard games do. Terrific! These are especially fun.

Nothing else stands out in my memory sadly.

New Super Mario Bros. U beat!

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I know it took me a while, but I beat New Super Mario Bros. U this week! I still have star coins to collect and bonus levels to complete if I wish, and I haven’t tackled Challenge Mode or Boost Rush at all yet either. I thought it was very fun. While I preferred the 3D obstacle courses of Super Mario 3D land, I thought New Super Mario Bros. U was a great addition the series. It seemed to be reminiscent of Super Mario World just as New Super Mario Bros. was reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. Given that Nintendo just announced Super Mario 3D World, I wonder if that’s supposed to be the new Super Mario World. New Super Mario Bros. U just seemed a bit more playful, and I loved the use of the Koopalings, the Koopa Clown Car, and the airships.

After beating the game, a “secret island” is unlocked. It contains one building that offers you some stats on your records. Here are mine:

  • Coins Collected: 12039
  • Star Coins Collected: 126
  • Goombas Stomped: 32
  • Items Collected: 409
  • 3-Up Moons Collected: 2
  • Distance on Boost Blocks: 300.4
  • Distance on Mini-Boost Blocks: 0.0
  • Goal Poles Reached: 68
  • Goals Reached with Yoshi: 2
  • Goals Reached with Baby Yoshi: 3
  • 1-Ups Earned at Goal: 16
  • Fireworks at Goal: 9
  • Times Applauded: 133
  • Nabbits Caught: 7

E3 day 2 gives just a pinch of news

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There wasn’t a lot of interesting news coming from E3 on day two. In fact, I think there’s only two things I saw that I wanted to mention.

Pac-Man Museum collection coming to digital platforms, includes Pac-Man Battle Royale, Richard Mitchell, Joystiq, 6/12/13.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. Pac-Man is a great game, and Pac-Man Battle Royale is one of my favorite games. It’s amazingly fun and probably the best reason to visit your local arcade (if your local arcade has one). With the inclusion of it in a console, it’s experience may get watered down. Yes, now I can look forward to playing it at home, but that takes out the incentive to go the arcade and experience the arcade cabinet.

Pokemon X and Y’s online features feel like a true evolution, Bob Mackey, Joystiq, 6/12/13.

As you play Pokemon X or Y, your friends list will appear on the bottom screen along with a list of people playing near you. This includes people from your 3DS friends list added before the game was even released. As you battle strangers, they’ll move to your acquaintances list and eventually friends. The bad news? They don’t have a plan for importing Pokemon from the DS versions yet.

E3 day 1 was full of Nintendo news

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As I mentioned previously, I’m not reading every bit of E3 news, but some stuff sticks out. Here’s what I read yesterday that’s interesting to me.

PS4 hard drive is user-replaceable, Samit Sarkar, Polygon, 6/11/13.

Good news!

The Last Guardian is ‘on hiatus’, Jessica Conditt, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

Absolutely terrible, yet not surprising, news. The Last Guardian was, sadly, a factor in my purchase of the PS3.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze hits Wii U in November, Sinan Kubba, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

Lots of Nintendo games seemed cool to me. A new DKC is always welcome news, although I didn’t even play Donkey Kong Country Returns (besides at E3).

New ‘Yoshi’s Island’ game called ‘Yoshi’s New Island’, Alexander Silwinski, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Yoshi’s Island, so I’ll be happy to try Yoshi’s New Island.

Super Smash Bros. coming to 3DS, Wii U in 2014; Mega Man joins fray, Alexander Silwinski, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

I’ve never been big into Smash multiplayer, but surprisingly, I love the single player. I hope it has a cool adventure mode.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD hits Wii U in October, Sinan Kubba, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

When Wind Waker was released, I thought it looked dumb. My tastes in graphics have changed completely, and for a while now I’ve been really interested in going back to Wind Waker. I guess I’ll be trying to HD remake!

Mario Kart 8 races to Wii U Spring 2014, David Hinkle, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

Mario Kart 8 looks awesome and includes anti-gravity segments. Hopefully Nintendo steps up their game in response to Sonic & All-Stars Racing. Transformed was absolutely awesome.

Super Mario 3D World pounces on Wii U Dec. 2013, Bob Mackey, Joystiq, 6/11/13.

Super Mario 3D Land was the greatest 3D Mario game I’ve played in a very long time. It ranked with 64 in my mind, although I’d be hard to pressed to crown one the best over the other. We’ll see how this new one is!

Nintendo has a tendency of releasing a lot of great games in their core franchises early and then tapering off. I don’t know if that’s going to happen with the Wii U, but I don’t care. They’ve announced enough already to make the Wii U more than worth the cost.

E3 Day 0 recap

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While I didn’t follow all the news super closely, I skimmed a lot of article titles and read some posts about E3. Of course, Reddit and Facebook couldn’t keep quiet either. Here’s what I took from the announcements.

  • Microsoft didn’t alleviate any fears about DRM or used games. Games must be installed, publishers could allow you to loan it to one and only friend if they’ve been on your friend list for 30 days, publishers could allow you to resell it to authorized resellers, and you must be online once every 24 hours to play games at all. Publishers could blog trading and reselling entirely. Boo!
  • The Xbox One will also allow you to stream gaming like the PS4 (but using Twitch.tv). Yay!
  • Xbox Live Gold members will get two free games per month.
  • The Xbox One will retail for $499.99.
  • The Playstation 4 will allow you to sell games to resellers or another person. You can lend your games. Super yay!
  • Playstation Plus required for online play on the PS4. Boo!
  • The Playstation 4 will retail for$399.99.
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is a new third-person shooter in the PvZ universe. The trailer made fun of Modern Warfare and similar games. Yay!
  • The Order: 1886 is a steampunk-looking exclusive for PS4 that looks really awesome from the teaser trailer. Yay!
  • Mirror’s Edge 2 announced for XBO, PS4, and PC. Yay!
  • Mirror’s Edge 2 is a reboot with new introduction story for Faith! Boo!

Not a lot of big reveals, but I’m glad Sony confirmed being the good guys. In my opinion, the console wars are over for this generation. The PS4 is significantly better and only four-fifths the price. Other games were announced, but Garden Warfare, The Order: 1886, and Mirror’s Edge 2 are all games that interest me. I love the look of The Order: 1886, but it’s too early to know much for sure. I feel sort of relieved hearing Sony’s announcements about the PS4. It’s nice to know the difference, especially when it seems so clear-cut in my mind.