I did not mention the Wii or 3DS versions as those games have been confirmed that they do not have the same open world gameplay as seen in this new trailer for the latest Lego game. I believe those two versions will be more streamlined. Maybe it'll be for the better, but that might be a leap in logic as this trailer for Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes looks sensational.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The Most Notable Wii Games: A Video Retrospective
I had an all-around satisfactory experience with my Wii. The only bad parts were: 1) My Wii's disc drive malfunctioned, meaning I needed to get the system replaced, losing all my save data, and 2) Just how pathetic the hardcore gamer became in denouncing the platform. I have sincerely never seen an angrier, more bitter, more despicable, saltier group in gaming than the Wii troll. Period. The hilarity when the Wii routinely outsold their favorite platforms was a sight to behold. Oh, the tears, the hyperbole ("worst console ever") and excuses! But then again, I deplore the hardcore gamer, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so I guess that made me root for the Wii.
Regardless of that fun, the real fun came from the bounty of games the system possessed. Nintendo provided their best content since their SNES days (and some have the gall to call their Wii output "unambitious"). We saw a myriad of magnificent games like both Super Mario Galaxies, Wii Sports, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Excitebots: Trick Racing, and many more. Third parties provided some content to go alongside Nintendo's efforts, and the ones who put in the most work were rewarded the best. Fancy that. While not my favorite console of all time, the Wii is pretty up there.
Regardless of that fun, the real fun came from the bounty of games the system possessed. Nintendo provided their best content since their SNES days (and some have the gall to call their Wii output "unambitious"). We saw a myriad of magnificent games like both Super Mario Galaxies, Wii Sports, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Excitebots: Trick Racing, and many more. Third parties provided some content to go alongside Nintendo's efforts, and the ones who put in the most work were rewarded the best. Fancy that. While not my favorite console of all time, the Wii is pretty up there.
Most Overrated Industry Figures
The video game industry is bursting at the seams with creative personalities, some more than others. This generation alone, apart from so many studio closures, has been one of the best of all time, no hyperbole intended. However, there are some figures in the industry who get more praise than they deserve, something that irritates me slightly. Time to bring the fight to them directly with this list of five Most Overrated Industry Figures, a special editorial at SuperPhillip Central. Which five will you most likely disagree with? Let's wait no longer.
Cliff Bleszinski
One of the faces of "bro gaming", something that brought a whole flock of stupid and annoying so-called "fratcore" who play "mature" games like Gears of War and Call of Duty and crap on anything else, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski is one of the two main faces of the company alongside president Mark Rein. His company's games generally allow grown adults to fulfill their young juvenile male fantasies of slaying thousands, curb-stomping enemies, and killing people with chainsaws attached to guns. Moreover, his company is going to force Microsoft and Sony to upgrade their next consoles even further with more power. We're already at a point in the industry where most publishers can hardly break even on their big budgeted games, and the cost is only going to go higher if Epic has their way. I understand that Epic's bottom line depends upon high-powered platforms, but if the next Xbox and PlayStation can already run Unreal Engine 4, why do they need more power? Why take more steps to ensure that the video game industry should be even more risk-oriented? Congrats, Cliff, and your horde of man-children fans. Pass the Mountain Dew, bro!
Peter Molyneux
The man of a billion broken promises, Peter Molyneux suffers from what I like to call the Janet Jackson what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome. That is, Mr. Molyneux has been around the industry as a figure for quite awhile, and has done some exemplary work with titles such as Black and White and Theme Park which showcased his talent well. But recent efforts like Fable and The Movies made Molyneux create checks that his mouth simply couldn't cash. Promising features to the press and overhyping his games to adoring fans led to him-- at least in Fable's case-- coming out and having felt the need to publicly apologize to everyone for being slightly more than overenthusiastic in his beginning words for his latest titles. But like I said, what has he done for me lately? We have a Kinect (ugh) based Fable coming and a cancelled Kinect (did I say "ugh" already?) project that looked promising (we all know how far promising goes when talking about Peter Molyneux) in Milo & Kate. Perhaps Peter can redeem himself with Fable: The Journey as long as he keeps expectations firmly steeped in reality.
Hideo Kojima
I'm not going to mince words here-- I hated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It had an overabundance of cutscenes which slowed the pace of the game to a crawl. The ratio between actual gameplay (you know, what video games are supposed to be about) and cutscenes was grossly lopsided. It seems Hideo Kojima is more interested in making C-quality movies with cringe-worthy dialogue than actually making video games. This desire by the West and some Japanese developers who wish to emulate the West that video games need to be more like Hollywood is sickening to me. Games are games and movies are movies. If I wanted to watch an awful movie, I'd watch Pauly Shore's Biodome. Frankly, I don't want to watch that, and I don't want to be interrupted constantly by nicely choreographed cutscenes and head-shakingly bad conversations and scenarios. I don't care if you keep crapping your pants, Johnny. Not only is that incredibly stupid, but it is embarrassing to sit through. Who thought this garbage up? I know the answer, and that is one of the reasons why Kojima is on my *crap* list.
Michael Pachter
For someone whose predictions are usually wrong (but a broken clock is even right twice a day) and just reeks of ignorance, he sure does have the video game press by the balls. They eagerly-- especially GameTrailers-- hang on every word the man utters as if it were gospel. I don't see why as I find the man to be totally reprehensible and not worth my time (this part of the article notwithstanding). I'm still waiting on the HD version of the Wii that was supposedly a good idea and due out three years ago (even though it would have segmented the Wii user base severely), I'm waiting for a better apology from him for mocking people complaining about the Team Bondi situation and their horrible working conditions, I'm anticipating Kinect being less than $79 like he said it would be (it came out at $150), I'm still waiting for GTA V to come out by 2010 and then "fixed" to by 2011, and according to Pachter, dedicated handhelds are dead, and if you say that the 3DS's pace is outselling the DS's pace back when it originally launched, you are "spinning." Oh, Pachter, please go away and never come back, but this won't happen because the gaming media is made up of morons who will listen to anything you say as long as it fits their agenda.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Time for the most unpopular choice, Shigeru Miyamoto, another man who suffers from the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome. Yes, he is known for creating such fabled franchises like Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, and Zelda (but not in that order, of course), but what has he done for me lately? He mostly has a supervisory role at Nintendo, but he still gets most of the credit. No, the real brains behind the operation is Yoshiaki Koizumi who is a rising star at the company, at the helm as director or producer for games like Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Mario 3D Land. In fact, he's the man behind the idea of the three-day cycle that made The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask so famous and well loved. Then there's Masahiro Sakurai, the figure behind Kirby, Super Smash Bros., and the excellent 3DS game Kid Icarus: Uprising. Now, to be fair, there's talking of a new IP from Mr. Miyamoto in the works, but if it is anything like Steel Diver, then I'm not holding my breath. The man is still a game design genius, but he hasn't done much in recent history to still be idolized like he's God's greatest gift to modern gaming.
I no doubt struck a nerve with some of you (that wasn't my intention, though), so let me know what you think about this piece. Agree/disagree with my comments? Then share your own below. I look forward to reading your respectful thoughts.
Cliff Bleszinski
One of the faces of "bro gaming", something that brought a whole flock of stupid and annoying so-called "fratcore" who play "mature" games like Gears of War and Call of Duty and crap on anything else, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski is one of the two main faces of the company alongside president Mark Rein. His company's games generally allow grown adults to fulfill their young juvenile male fantasies of slaying thousands, curb-stomping enemies, and killing people with chainsaws attached to guns. Moreover, his company is going to force Microsoft and Sony to upgrade their next consoles even further with more power. We're already at a point in the industry where most publishers can hardly break even on their big budgeted games, and the cost is only going to go higher if Epic has their way. I understand that Epic's bottom line depends upon high-powered platforms, but if the next Xbox and PlayStation can already run Unreal Engine 4, why do they need more power? Why take more steps to ensure that the video game industry should be even more risk-oriented? Congrats, Cliff, and your horde of man-children fans. Pass the Mountain Dew, bro!
Peter Molyneux
The man of a billion broken promises, Peter Molyneux suffers from what I like to call the Janet Jackson what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome. That is, Mr. Molyneux has been around the industry as a figure for quite awhile, and has done some exemplary work with titles such as Black and White and Theme Park which showcased his talent well. But recent efforts like Fable and The Movies made Molyneux create checks that his mouth simply couldn't cash. Promising features to the press and overhyping his games to adoring fans led to him-- at least in Fable's case-- coming out and having felt the need to publicly apologize to everyone for being slightly more than overenthusiastic in his beginning words for his latest titles. But like I said, what has he done for me lately? We have a Kinect (ugh) based Fable coming and a cancelled Kinect (did I say "ugh" already?) project that looked promising (we all know how far promising goes when talking about Peter Molyneux) in Milo & Kate. Perhaps Peter can redeem himself with Fable: The Journey as long as he keeps expectations firmly steeped in reality.
Hideo Kojima
I'm not going to mince words here-- I hated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It had an overabundance of cutscenes which slowed the pace of the game to a crawl. The ratio between actual gameplay (you know, what video games are supposed to be about) and cutscenes was grossly lopsided. It seems Hideo Kojima is more interested in making C-quality movies with cringe-worthy dialogue than actually making video games. This desire by the West and some Japanese developers who wish to emulate the West that video games need to be more like Hollywood is sickening to me. Games are games and movies are movies. If I wanted to watch an awful movie, I'd watch Pauly Shore's Biodome. Frankly, I don't want to watch that, and I don't want to be interrupted constantly by nicely choreographed cutscenes and head-shakingly bad conversations and scenarios. I don't care if you keep crapping your pants, Johnny. Not only is that incredibly stupid, but it is embarrassing to sit through. Who thought this garbage up? I know the answer, and that is one of the reasons why Kojima is on my *crap* list.
Michael Pachter
For someone whose predictions are usually wrong (but a broken clock is even right twice a day) and just reeks of ignorance, he sure does have the video game press by the balls. They eagerly-- especially GameTrailers-- hang on every word the man utters as if it were gospel. I don't see why as I find the man to be totally reprehensible and not worth my time (this part of the article notwithstanding). I'm still waiting on the HD version of the Wii that was supposedly a good idea and due out three years ago (even though it would have segmented the Wii user base severely), I'm waiting for a better apology from him for mocking people complaining about the Team Bondi situation and their horrible working conditions, I'm anticipating Kinect being less than $79 like he said it would be (it came out at $150), I'm still waiting for GTA V to come out by 2010 and then "fixed" to by 2011, and according to Pachter, dedicated handhelds are dead, and if you say that the 3DS's pace is outselling the DS's pace back when it originally launched, you are "spinning." Oh, Pachter, please go away and never come back, but this won't happen because the gaming media is made up of morons who will listen to anything you say as long as it fits their agenda.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Time for the most unpopular choice, Shigeru Miyamoto, another man who suffers from the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome. Yes, he is known for creating such fabled franchises like Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, and Zelda (but not in that order, of course), but what has he done for me lately? He mostly has a supervisory role at Nintendo, but he still gets most of the credit. No, the real brains behind the operation is Yoshiaki Koizumi who is a rising star at the company, at the helm as director or producer for games like Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Mario 3D Land. In fact, he's the man behind the idea of the three-day cycle that made The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask so famous and well loved. Then there's Masahiro Sakurai, the figure behind Kirby, Super Smash Bros., and the excellent 3DS game Kid Icarus: Uprising. Now, to be fair, there's talking of a new IP from Mr. Miyamoto in the works, but if it is anything like Steel Diver, then I'm not holding my breath. The man is still a game design genius, but he hasn't done much in recent history to still be idolized like he's God's greatest gift to modern gaming.
===
I no doubt struck a nerve with some of you (that wasn't my intention, though), so let me know what you think about this piece. Agree/disagree with my comments? Then share your own below. I look forward to reading your respectful thoughts.
Monday, May 21, 2012
SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Rock the Dragon Edition
Are you ready for SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs? If you're not, well, I don't know what to tell you. I'm doing it anyway! On this Monday's fine and stellar edition we have music from such great games like Metroid Prime, Mario Golf, and Blue Dragon.
v111. Metroid Prime (GCN) - Phendrana Drifts
Quite possibly my favorite area in any Metroid game, Metroid Prime's Phendrana Drifts is an icy, snowy, winter wonderland full of awe-inspiring architecture and perils. You wouldn't expect so much danger when this gentle, flowing song plays. Kenji Yamamoto provides the music for Metroid, and his ambiance-filled tracks make the series all the better for it, wouldn't you say?
v112. Mario Golf (N64) - Boo Classic
The latest in Mario's popular line of sports games, Mario Tennis Open, released yesterday in North America with Japan and PAL releases to follow later within the week. Mario Golf remains one of the best Mario sports entries to this date. Even though it only has six courses to tee off of, the holes are so well-designed that you will keep coming back to the game. Boo Classic is a theme by Motoi Sakuraba, and the course takes place high above a pale white stretch of sand. Move over, Yanni, Sakuraba-san knows how to compose great golf music, too!
v113. Blue Dragon (360) - Mechat Takes Off!
Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square Enix early this millennium to focus on a new studio, Mistwalker. Their first project was the Xbox 360 exclusive Blue Dragon. Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) provided character design while the incomparable Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) penned the music. Mechat Takes Off! is the airship theme of the game. It is a guitar-filled, hope-filled piece that lifts the spirits just like an airship taking off into the skies.
v114. Gundam Battle Assault 2 (PS1) - BGM 1
Gundam Battle Assault 2 is a lesser known PlayStation One game that came out near the end of the system's life. It was a 2D fighting game that combined the universes of various Gundam series like Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam Wing, and at that time the newest entry in the Gundamverse, G Gundam. The songs for Gundam Battle Assault 2 do not have titles, so I (as well as the YouTube video uploader) had to improvise. BGM 1 is so creative of a title, no?
v115. Dragon Ball: Final Bout (PS1) - Hero of Heroes
Continuing our dragon-inspired edition of the VGMs, the original version of Dragon Ball: Final Bout is a relatively rare PS1 game. My brother and I just so happen to have it in our collection. It's an okay 3D fighter that spans the whole Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT sagas, but there are much better ones out there. The game would be re-released as Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout later on down the road. I do enjoy the music for the game such as the track I have selected to represent Final Bout, the theme of Super Saiyan Goku 4, the pulse-pounding Hero of Heroes.
We must bid my VGMs adieu once more. It won't be a long wait for the next edition, however. There we will have music from titles like SimCity 3000, Perfect Dark, and Kingdom Hearts! I hope you look forward to more marvelous music.
v111. Metroid Prime (GCN) - Phendrana Drifts
Quite possibly my favorite area in any Metroid game, Metroid Prime's Phendrana Drifts is an icy, snowy, winter wonderland full of awe-inspiring architecture and perils. You wouldn't expect so much danger when this gentle, flowing song plays. Kenji Yamamoto provides the music for Metroid, and his ambiance-filled tracks make the series all the better for it, wouldn't you say?
v112. Mario Golf (N64) - Boo Classic
The latest in Mario's popular line of sports games, Mario Tennis Open, released yesterday in North America with Japan and PAL releases to follow later within the week. Mario Golf remains one of the best Mario sports entries to this date. Even though it only has six courses to tee off of, the holes are so well-designed that you will keep coming back to the game. Boo Classic is a theme by Motoi Sakuraba, and the course takes place high above a pale white stretch of sand. Move over, Yanni, Sakuraba-san knows how to compose great golf music, too!
v113. Blue Dragon (360) - Mechat Takes Off!
Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square Enix early this millennium to focus on a new studio, Mistwalker. Their first project was the Xbox 360 exclusive Blue Dragon. Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) provided character design while the incomparable Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) penned the music. Mechat Takes Off! is the airship theme of the game. It is a guitar-filled, hope-filled piece that lifts the spirits just like an airship taking off into the skies.
v114. Gundam Battle Assault 2 (PS1) - BGM 1
Gundam Battle Assault 2 is a lesser known PlayStation One game that came out near the end of the system's life. It was a 2D fighting game that combined the universes of various Gundam series like Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam Wing, and at that time the newest entry in the Gundamverse, G Gundam. The songs for Gundam Battle Assault 2 do not have titles, so I (as well as the YouTube video uploader) had to improvise. BGM 1 is so creative of a title, no?
v115. Dragon Ball: Final Bout (PS1) - Hero of Heroes
Continuing our dragon-inspired edition of the VGMs, the original version of Dragon Ball: Final Bout is a relatively rare PS1 game. My brother and I just so happen to have it in our collection. It's an okay 3D fighter that spans the whole Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT sagas, but there are much better ones out there. The game would be re-released as Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout later on down the road. I do enjoy the music for the game such as the track I have selected to represent Final Bout, the theme of Super Saiyan Goku 4, the pulse-pounding Hero of Heroes.
===
We must bid my VGMs adieu once more. It won't be a long wait for the next edition, however. There we will have music from titles like SimCity 3000, Perfect Dark, and Kingdom Hearts! I hope you look forward to more marvelous music.
007 Legends (PS3, 360) New Trailer
The James Bond movie franchise is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and Activision is also celebrating with their October release of 007 Legends, a game set within six famous Bond movies. The first movie represented is the kooky Moonraker. I am a huge Bond fan, so this game seems like a must-have for me. SuperPhillip Central will additionally be joining the 50th anniversary fun with reviews of several Bond games and various lists.
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