Saturday, November 30, 2013
A Musical Quest From Zelda's Great Ocean To The Hobbit's Misty Mountains
To coincide with the recently released Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for Wii U and the upcoming second chapter in The Hobbit Trilogy, here are two excellent covers from YouTube user Warialasky. Both pieces are worthy renditions of the source material and are accompanied by some slick music videos (the air humping Dwarves are classic). Both tracks are available for download at Bandcamp and allow you to name your own price including free. Download Ballad of the Wind Waker here and The Misty Mountains here. Enjoy!
Zelda Meets Ico In "The Girl And The Robot" For Wii U
The Wii U continues its charge into the indie arena with The Girl and the Robot which was recently funded through Kickstarter. The title is described as a mix of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Ico with a touch of Studio Ghibli film magic (Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle). The game features a simple yet compelling tale of a young girl who escapes her prison in a mysterious castle and finds a robot who helps her flee from the evil queen who imprisoned her. While the game is early in its development, it looks quite beautiful in its simplicity and is refreshing to see indie game developers tackle the types of games that the mainstream industry now ignores. Enjoy!
YouTube App For 3DS Now Available
As the Nintendo 3DS/2DS makes its mark as the best dedicated portable console on the market, the systems capabilities continue to expand with a variety of video programs. The portable has been equipped with Netflix, Hulu and even features a surprisingly capable stop motion program for creative filmmakers. In a shocking oversight, YouTube has long been missing from the system despite the Wii U having YouTube access since last year. That changes today with the release of the YouTube App on the 3DS eShop which is available now provided you have 113 blocks of memory free. I have given the app a quick test run and can say it is functional but rough around the edges. The price is right considering it is free and you can expect future updates to further refine its capabilities. Enjoy!
Friday, November 29, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
The Wii U Finally Has Its First True System Seller!
With all of the new generation consoles officially in the market, the question of which one to choose will lead to heated debates among the gaming community. Of the three new consoles, Nintendo's Wii U has been the verbal whipping boy of the industry with everyone proclaiming doom and gloom since its launch last year. It could be argued that some of this criticism has been warranted but much of it was not seeing as most people who actually give the machine a real chance realize that the system is actually quite good if not great.
The Wii U's biggest problem has always come down to software and much of this is a result of disingenuous third party publisher's who went back on their word to support the Wii U. Nintendo's initial strategy seemed to lean towards giving third party's the Wii U's first year in order to put a greater spotlight on their software so it would not be overshadowed by Nintendo's own stellar software. This comes from third party's bitching in the past that their software was outshone by the likes of Mario and Zelda and in turn did not sell on Nintendo machines. Tracing things back to the beginning of 2013, the debacle with Rayman Legends as well as EA combined with the PS4/XBone focus on controlled online software led to a mass exodus of support for the Wii U. The result left Nintendo's HD console with a lack of games during much of 2013 as the Big N was forced to spread out their own titles over the last half of the year. The new plan of attack now puts the focus on Nintendo's own titles (as well as partnerships with Sega/Namco) combined with one of the biggest console pushes ever for indie games.
This new strategy seems to be working with many gamers taking notice of great titles such as Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD and even the new Sonic Lost World which is easily the one of the best 3D translations of the Blue Blur. The indie front is also building steam with titles such as the recent Toki Tori and Edge posting huge sales in their debut weeks. With the Wii U having built a better library, the last piece of the puzzle is a "must have" system seller and Super Mario 3D World seems to be that title. Not since Super Mario Galaxy has there been such universal love for a Mario game with a lot of press actually pulling a complete 180 since the games launch last week. Read for yourself and prepare for a very strong 2014 for Wii U.
The Wii U's biggest problem has always come down to software and much of this is a result of disingenuous third party publisher's who went back on their word to support the Wii U. Nintendo's initial strategy seemed to lean towards giving third party's the Wii U's first year in order to put a greater spotlight on their software so it would not be overshadowed by Nintendo's own stellar software. This comes from third party's bitching in the past that their software was outshone by the likes of Mario and Zelda and in turn did not sell on Nintendo machines. Tracing things back to the beginning of 2013, the debacle with Rayman Legends as well as EA combined with the PS4/XBone focus on controlled online software led to a mass exodus of support for the Wii U. The result left Nintendo's HD console with a lack of games during much of 2013 as the Big N was forced to spread out their own titles over the last half of the year. The new plan of attack now puts the focus on Nintendo's own titles (as well as partnerships with Sega/Namco) combined with one of the biggest console pushes ever for indie games.
This new strategy seems to be working with many gamers taking notice of great titles such as Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD and even the new Sonic Lost World which is easily the one of the best 3D translations of the Blue Blur. The indie front is also building steam with titles such as the recent Toki Tori and Edge posting huge sales in their debut weeks. With the Wii U having built a better library, the last piece of the puzzle is a "must have" system seller and Super Mario 3D World seems to be that title. Not since Super Mario Galaxy has there been such universal love for a Mario game with a lot of press actually pulling a complete 180 since the games launch last week. Read for yourself and prepare for a very strong 2014 for Wii U.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
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