AHH. Is it just me...

...or are we all just a little starved for new information about the 3DS and upcoming titles?

Sure, there's Zelda - and don't get me wrong it's a Day 1 purchase - but damn it all why is E3 so far away?! I'm already kind really hyped for the Nintendo keynote (Sorry MS/Sony... I'll be watching, but the Big N has me all worked up). Next-gen Wii rumors... And you have to assume Nintendo is going to pull out all the stops for the 3DS as well.

I'm just going a little batty here... waiting. Hitting all the usual spots in hopes of some new nugget of information about the future of my beloved new 3DS.

In the meantime I should beat Street Fighter 4 3D again, and get my ass in gear with Shadow Wars.

On the subject of Shadow Wars, I've at last come face to face with a black screen crash. Happened out of nowhere on my 2nd attempt at a mission - and it was rather annoying (Yes, my 3DS has the current firmware).

Pilotwings 3DS is, thus far, an enjoyable and relaxing excursion. I'm chipping away at the missions in between periods of distraction by the free flight mode. I think the glider is my favorite of the aircrafts so far - it has a neat mechanic where you're able to see updrafts (which are key for any long flight), and you can get pretty high up in that glider (I've topped out around 2.5k feet or so as of this writing).

If Nintendo doesn't at least *tease* a new proper Advance Wars title for the 3DS at E3 (and a new Battalion Wars game does NOT CUT IT) - I will be very disappointed.

What the...?

So out of seemingly nowhere, the internet is buzzing with rumors of an imminent pre-announcement this month(?) and a full official reveal of Nintendo's next generation of home console at E3.

Back on April 7th, Kotaku made an educated guess based on the immediate release schedule that new Nintendo hardware was coming soon.

Then yesterday, EVERYONE in the video game press suddenly claimed to have insider knowledge that this WAS in fact the case. Here is Kotaku again with even more details and links.

So - not that I have any insider knowledge, but i'm pretty damn excited at the prospect of a fully backwards compatible next gen Wii (in my opinion, it should be called Super Wii, for old time's sake), with a robust online service.

If Nintendo can manage to really woo the 3rd parties, and get Epic and the Unreal 3 engine on board, they just might win back the hardcore gamers...

We will have to wait till E3 gets close to know for sure. In the meantime, who's up for some Super Street Fighter 4 3D? Here's my friend code 0259-0316-4469 - let me know if you add me!

3DS nitpicks

Argh. So it's been a little over a week with the 3DS and I have one major nitpick.

The battery life kinda sucks.

I don't have any hard statistics that I've collected or anything, but the average 3-5hrs you'll see on any of the major gaming sites is pretty spot on. To be fair, the only thing I've really done to improve this is kick the screen brightness down from 5 to 4 (and i totally leave the wireless on at all times... can't risk missing a streetpass opportunity!) - but seriously, this is less than optimal.

I am debating picking up one of the Nyko 3DS battery packs, but i think I'll hold out a bit longer to see what other 3rd party solutions come to light.

Maybe it's because it's still new and I'm itching to play with it more, but the time it takes to recharge the 3DS is also a bit of a pain. Seems to take about 3-5 hrs to fully recharge...

So nitpicks aside, I'm still loving this system. I've also "learned" how to see the 3D display properly while in 3D mode, which has been a real kick. I do find my eyes getting tired after about 30-45minutes of 3D play, but a short break with 2D mode and I'm ready for more.

Bring on the next wave of titles!

What the 3DS needs

While the Nintendo 3DS is an amazing system, there are a few items that I feel Nintendo must address in future updates.

First - A means to send/receive short messages from my friends list. I honestly don't know how this was overlooked. Have the system alert you with the usual orange light when you get a message.

Second - A means to send/receive pictures, especially the 3D pictures. The 3DS is the optimal device for viewing these pictures right now, and it should be easy to share the cool pictures you take with your friends list.

Anyway... back to Ghost Recon Shadow Wars....

The Nintendo 3DS

Like a moth drawn to flame... there was no way I could resist the launch of new Nintendo hardware.

Let's get one fact right out into the open - I am a life-long Nintendo fanboy. If you're looking for an unbiased opinion/review of the 3DS, you're in the wrong place, and I am sorry for wasting your time.

That said, There is nothing in this world that makes me feel like a kid again more than new Nintendo hardware. The Nintendo 3DS is no exception. The first thing to notice is the 3DS is just about the same size as your trusty DS lite. It's a little thicker, but really, to the naked eye its pretty spot on. The second thing you'll notice is the top screen for the 3DS is quite a bit larger than the DS lite/DSi.

Then there is the glasses-free 3D. Truth be told, this effect doesn't really work on me. I'm a little bummed about this, but it's due to a life-long issue with my left eye - so really, what can you do?

With my 3DS, I purchased Super Street Fighter 4 (which as i said in my E3 keynote post was a must-have), as well as Ghost Recon Shadow Wars. Both are fine titles, but SF4 stands head and shoulders above GRSW because it seems to leverage every cool feature the 3DS has to offer.

So let's talk a bit about the 3DS features!

- Graphics: It's like you've got a portable Wii in your pocket. Seriously - using Street Fighter as an example, these are by far the best graphics I've seen on a portable system. The fact that Capcom pulled off a damn near flawless port of SF4 really blows me away.

- Network Connectivity: Now *THIS* is what WiiConnect24 should have been! With the 3DS you have a single system-level friend code. You're also given a proper friends list and are now alerted any time a friend comes online. This ties into the next item...

- StreetPass: This is a really cool functionality that basically allows your 3DS to communicate and trade data with other 3DS without any sort of user interaction required (the idea being that your 3DS is asleep in your pocket as you go about your day to day life). The 3DS Mii Plaza uses StreetPass, so when you DO bump into another 3ds owner out in the world, you exchange Miis (and other goodies). I was lucky enough to have a random StreetPass encounter while visiting Washington DC and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Street Fighter 4 supports StreetPass in a really cool way - you set up a team of 5 fighters that actually do battle with other SF4 players as you pass them.

- AR Games/Face Raiders: The 3DS comes with 2 Augmented Reality (AR) games - AR Games and Face Raiders. With AR Games, you're given a deck of 6 cards with the 3DS. The main card (it looks like the Super Mario '?' block) is the root of the game - you start AR Games and aim the camera at the card... and suddenly your surroundings are part of the MANY mini games within. Face Raiders uses the built in camera to take pictures of your face, or other faces around you - then incorporates them into a fun AR shooting title, where again your surroundings become the game. This functionality really needs to be experienced first hand...

- Pedometer/Play Coins: The 3DS also has a built in pedometer which keeps track of how many steps you take in a day - but with a twist! For every 100 steps you take you are rewarded with 1 Play Coin. These play coins can then be exchange for in-game items (With Street Fighter it allows you to buy more StreetPass figures, and with AR Games it unlocks more mini games). This feature is seriously going under the radar right now, and i think it's one of the more brilliant parts of the 3DS. It's like a super refined/distilled idea from WiiFit, and the in-game rewards ensure i keep my 3DS in my pocket at all times keeping track of my steps (not to mention for the StreetPass connections).

I gotta be honest here, I'm almost overwhelmed by how awesome the 3DS is so far. This system has a very bright future ahead of it, and I am dying to see what the 2nd and 3rd waves of software hold in store for us. I'm also really looking forward to novel uses of the AR gaming. I plan on writing more about the 3DS as i discover more, so stay tuned.

This is a game-changer - Sony, you had best bring your AAA game with the NGP....

'till next time...

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, FF13-2, and other items

Hello fellow geeks!

So recently i've been playing the latest Need for Speed title, Hot Pursuit which was created by the amazing people over at Criterion Games (the Burnout people!). When it was announced that Criterion would be in charge of NFS:HP, I became rather excited at the prospect of the NFS series getting a long overdue shot in the arm. Criterion's Burnout series has always been a top notch title in terms of gameplay and graphics. The most recently Burnout title (Paradise) has provided my household with many hours of enjoyment through the core game and it's addon packs.

Anyone who's played Paradise will feel right at home from the get-go. The controls are laid out like Paradise so there's no real learning curve. The boost system works exactly like it did in Paradise (hell there's even a "Burnout" trophy/achievement for basically... pulling off a Burnout [fill the boost tank, then empty it in one continuous blast]), you even refill the boost meter using the same tricks that worked in Paradise... basically drive like a madman in oncoming traffic, miss other cars on the road, and generally just raise hell.

Really, it feels as if a large portion of the core of Paradise was reused for NFS:HP - and that's ok in my opinion. Why re-invent the wheel when you've got a really good wheel already?

NFS:HP stands out with it's use of REAL cars and it's dynamic between playing as a racer and playing as a cop. My only nitpick right now is the inability to set up AI players as police or racers. This seems like something that could be added later on with a patch or addon (something Criterion has never been shy about). There's a lot to like about NFS:HP - if you're a fan of arcade style racing titles with solid online play do yourself a favor and at least check out the demo for NFS:HP.

In other news, i am still playing Black Ops very regularly. I am really looking forward to that map pack next month!

Also this week SquareEnix was showing off the next few Final Fantasy titles to the Japanese press - including Final Fantasy 13-2! The best part? We will see FF13-2 *this year*. As you may recall, there was quite a bit of content removed from FF13 prior to it's release. So that content plus not needing to write a whole new game engine from the ground up... leads to new FF this year :D

Until next time...
(don't take any wooden nickels)

Gran Turismo 5 & Black Ops

So this little game called Gran Turismo 5 just came out. Maybe you've heard of the series?

Sarcasm aside, the Gran Turismo series is very important to me. It's the game most directly responsible for me getting into the PlayStation platform, and I've happily purchased every new version (well ok, except the PSP version. No Career Mode = No Sale, sorry guys.) since the original, usually on the day of release. In fact, the day before Gran Turismo 4's release, my original fat launch PS2 gave up the ghost. This sucked extra hard because I had actually gone as far as to pre-order GT4 (the end result was my purchasing of one of the new slim PS2).

In any case, after 5 long years of development and delays, the king of CarPGs (as I like to call 'em) is finally here in all it's 1080p glory. Even though this is not the first taste of GT on the PS3 platform, this is a complete game at last. GTHD, GT5p were at their cores, demos. Expensive demos at that. Demos that wouldn't let you tune your cars until you've cleared everything bone stock...

So let's talk about game play.

If you've played a GT title in the past, the only thing that will jump out at you as being new and different will be the game's main menu system. Under the hood (heh heh), the core game play is exactly what you'd expect from a Gran Turismo title. You start the game with 20k in credits to purchase your first car and some upgrades. GT5 then eases you back into the game by tossing you into some familiar, but challenging courses. It's almost like a mini-greatest hits from prior games used to get you back into the flow of things. The tuning experience isn't all that different from prior games, but I've thus far noticed a lack of options for brakes. I don't understand this change or it's removal, but with a game this large I wouldn't be surprised if it's something I haven't found or unlocked or something - so for the time being I'll avoid making this an official nit-pick.

Online racing is also a rather big selling point for GT5 - however I have yet to try this myself (what can I say, I'm very into the career mode at the moment).

At the end of the day, GT5 is the sort of game that fans will probably automatically buy even without a review - and if you are a long time fan you really should not hesitate with this purchase.

While writing this post, I had a realization that the GT series is one of those rare titles that has wide appeal in all the major gaming markets (JP, NA, EU). It's a game series I can talk about with any of my PlayStation friends from anywhere in the world, and we can all mostly agree that this is a very fine series of games. That said, I do feel that at some point the gaming world will reflect upon the GT series and agree that this is one of the best video game series to ever come around.

Oh also - I completed the Black Ops single player game. My hat is off to you Treyarch. I've never been happier to be so wrong about a game and a studio. That was a hell of a story, and a HELL of an ending. I'm looking forward to their next COD title.

Until next time...