Animal Crossing Journal - Online Homecoming

It's been quite a while since I last wrote an entry in the old Animal Crossing journal. Let me rectify that with a new entry here this evening. By the game's count it had been nine months since I last visited Central, and I was surprised by how little it changed. Sure, there were about forty weeds to pull and many flowers had died, but the townspeople I abandoned had not abandoned me at all. They were still there, wondering where their human friend had run off to.


So I made it my goal to clean up the town, pull some weeds, plant some new flowers, and revisit my old friends. Filbert was as weird in his cool way as ever:


Then I opened my gates and allowed some new friends into my town. They're all from CheapAssGamer, and they were all quite nice and friendly. We chatted, we played around, I tested out my Wii Speak toy which worked well, and it was just a lot of fun exploring my old town. I got a lot of compliments regarding my road infrastructure that I had custom built and worked very hard on. It was very gratifying hearing... er... reading feedback. Perhaps pictures best tell a story, so I'll just hush up now and let the pics (and their corresponding captions) tell the story.

Steve and Maple waste no time getting to know one another.

What else do gamers do than talk about gaming?

The gang's all here.

Apparently Central is epic.

Everyone's favorite party, leave the newbie trapped
in the middle of several holes (he didn't know how to get out).

You had to be there to understand the gag.

So there you have it. Good times, great fun, and some nice company made for an enjoyable homecoming to Animal Crossing: City Folk. Who knows when I'll return to my lovely burg by the bay? From Central, this has been SuperPhillip with your Animal Crossing Journal.

Top Five Gaming Peripherals

Peripherals are becoming increasingly common, especially with Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's Arc controllers coming to fruition later this year. Why not take this opportunity to discuss my personal favorite peripherals of all time? That's exactly the plan with this top five list. Sit back, relax, and gaze upon the peripherals of gaming past and future!

5) The Dance Dance Revolution Dance Mat

Long before there were plastic guitars, drum sets, and microphones, there was a dance mat for a little-known video game known as Dance Dance Revolution. The object was simple: when an arrow went over the direction, you stepped on that direction either left, right, up, down, or one of many other directions. It gave you a good sweat, was fun to play, and was infinitely more deep than the current dance craze video game, Just Dance.


4) Sony's Eye Toy

An innovative little device if I ever saw one, the Eye Toy was a camera that put you into the video game. Of course, the majority of games used for the Eye Toy were simply mini-game compilations, but the novelty wouldn't wear off for a long time. You used your hands to bat away enemies, control Sonic as you roamed through a tube, and much more. This technology could be seen as the predecessor to Sony's PlayStation 3 PlayStation Eye which will be used in conjunction with Sony's new motion controller, Arc.


3) Wii MotionPlus

Here's a cheap device that plugs into the bottom of your Wii remote for added motion control benefits. Near 1:1 gameplay, less waggle, and more fun. Only a select few games use the MotionPlus device currently which is an oversight on Nintendo's part, but the games that do use it well. Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, and the upcoming Red Steel 2 showcase just how ingenious the add-on is. It could have been with the Wii day-one, but who knows how much more overpriced the Wii would actually be then?


2) The Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak

Notice how extreme the Rumble Pak is. It isn't spelled "pack". No, no. It's too cool for that! It's spelled "pak"! Now that's extreme! Bundled with Star Fox 64 with its release, the Rumble Pak let you feel the game. Boost? Rumble. Get hit? Bigger rumble. Crash? Huge rumble. It was unlike anything seen before. Now rumble is all the rage. It's been built-in to controllers now with Sony leading the way on this front. Regardless, it will always be Nintendo who brought rumble to the gaming masses. Another one of their many contributions to gaming.


1) The Gameboy Player

I originally foolishly purchased the GBA Link Cable thinking it would allow me to play my GBA games on my television. This wouldn't be the case for many years. The Gameboy Player hooked into the underside of the Gamecube, and it would be run with a special boot-up Gamecube disc. You could play any and every Gameboy Advance game on a big screen television. Very cool. Here's hoping Sony develops an easier way to play PSP games on a television. That would be awesomeness times ten.

Did I leave out one of your favorites? Let everyone including myself know in the comments section!

Red Steel 2 (Wii) Developer Walkthrough

Now here's a game we haven't covered yet on SPC. It's Red Steel 2. You know, I never played the original Red Steel. I got six games with my Wii, and Red Steel was fortunately not one of them. The game got mixed (mostly poor) reviews. Regardless, Red Steel 2 looks like it's shaping up to a vastly improved sequel. Watch one of the developers show off this awesome-looking, MotionPlus-enabled game.

Dragon Ball Origins 2 (DS) - First Trailer

Goku is back, and he's brought his friends along to do battle! GoNintendo posted a brand-new video for the premiere of Dragon Ball Origins 2, coming to North America this summer! All-new locales, a fight against the militant monstrosity known as the Red Ribbon Army, cooperative gameplay, and several playable characters add up for one impressive trailer. Check it out below.

Direct Link Here

Most Overlooked Wii Games - Part Four

Welcome to the middle of your week here at SuperPhillip Central. This Wednesday we're once again taking a look at the most overlooked, unappreciated, whatever games that the Wii has to offer. The lead console should have the most overlooked titles, should it not? Just like the PlayStation One and Two. Let's kick things off in style, shall we?

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop

Kill, maim, slice, dice, hack, slash, rip, tear, and do whatever else you can think of in Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop, the port of the 360 original. The game got a lot of trouble for the zombie count, but when you play the game, there's just enough low polygon monstrosities to annihilate! The game structure also changed to a less frantic, more linear experience. It wasn't a horrible game-- it was mad fun with the Resident Evil 4 control scheme. It was just different than what most 360 Dead Rising purists were expecting.


Little King's Story

All rise! The king grants us his presence. You play as a lonely little boy who suddenly gets to control a mighty kingdom. You take your faithful and loyal subjects across the land, conquering new kingdoms for your control. With beautiful visuals, humorous dialogue, addicting gameplay (cliche, I know), and hours upon hours of content to dive into, Little King's Story is a fantastic game deserving of your time. Long live the king!


The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

Fly high and aim true in The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces. This title was recently reviewed, and it got a glowing review. Take flight in more than fifteen missions each with different parameters for victory such as destroying all targets, protecting a secret weapon, or saving your teammates from enemy fire. The game looks very impressive, the ships and backgrounds are highly detailed, and the soundtrack is one of 2010's best thus far. For frantic flying and intense dogfighting that even Michael Vick would love, check out The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces.


Overlord: Dark Legend

The once HD-exclusive series hits the Wii with its own brand-new installment. You are the demon king, and it's your job to reclaim your kingdom from those miserable peons that have occupied it. You control your character, telling your evil minions to do all the work for you. There's four types in all each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The solo campaign will take most players ten hours or so, and it's so good that you'll want to go through it again and again. It might not be as good as the HD versions, but it holds its own to many games in the Wii's extensive library.


Samba de Amigo

Samba! De! Amigo! Gearbox brings us a re-imagining of the Dreamcast Samba de Amigo. Instead of using maracas, you utilize the Wii remote and nunchuk or two Wii remotes. The song list is very impressive with such titles as Take On Me, The Theme from Rocky, and the Wedding March among others. This was the first title to enable Nintendo's Pay-to-Play downloadable content, and it's a blast to play with or without friends. Just be sure to stick with the easier difficulties (easy and normal) as otherwise the game's a broken mess! To shake your groove thang with relative ease, Samba de Amigo is the party game for you.


Take a look at other Most Overlooked entries on the Wii side here:

Wii - Part One
Wii - Part Two
Wii - Part Three