Nintendo's new 2D platformer, Wario Land: Shake It hits the Wii this week.
So IGN have gone and listed the most anticipated games on the 360 for this autumn. I've took out the games that don't interest me, and here's what I'm left with:
3 days ago I ordered some stuff off of the Valve Store. Yesterday I got an email to say the box has been dispatched (from the states).This morning at 10:40 am or so the FedEx dude rang the bell with the box in his hand. I find that just amazing.. within less than 24 hours (our time at least) the box has been through all the channels and traveled half the world to get here.Anyhow, here's the inner-geek shining through:A Black Mesa parking permit :)
This came with 2 bumper stickers:
(What Would Gordon Freeman Do?)A Portal T-shirt. Front:
And, naturally, back:
Aperture Science mug:
Yes I'm a double agent! I work for Black Mesa, but drink out of Aperture mugs! Take that GLaDOS!Finally, my most prized piece - all ready for when we're gonna play the game:
As you can see, the cap is in "distressed" style, ie all tattered, just like a survivor :)
But this one's awesome! Watch as a PAX player throws a molotive cocktail at everyone (including a team mate!), gets vomited on (OMG!) and gets attacked by a tank.
Today is Apple event day (I can't remember what it's called).
is locked at 30FPS. How stupid is that?
There's a demo out on Xbox Live for Pure, the disney racer that we're all not looking forward to, cos all of us don't really know about it.
Chrome is Google's foray in to browsers, which according to them:
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
It's only just (22 minutes!) been released (Beta, windows only. Mac to follow), and you can grab it here.
Let's see what it adds to the already dominated scene.
Let me get this off my chest: I hate, despise, loathe, just cannot tolerate levels based under water, or on ice!
I just hate them.
Under water levels make me feel motion-sick. The degree of freedom in an under water level reminds me of what Descent did to me when I first saw it, and the slow movement under water makes that sick feeling even worse. Urgh.
Ice levels? Damn you ice levels!! I think they are just a cheap cheap way to make a boring level just a bit more difficult, and for me, really frustrating! Again, the whole trying to negotiate a surface that's slippery and in which neither starting nor stopping movement happens when you actually want it to happen, it's just enough to make me stop playing a game all together.
My rant comes on the basis that yesterday and today I've finished 2 galaxies that are based on water/ice in Super Mario Galaxy. As great as that game is, as inspired and original and imaginative that it is, and as perfect a platform game that it is, those 2 galaxies were just boring, frustrating and dull.
So you can imagine that if the great Nintendo can't make a proper water/ice level, who can? The answer? NO ONE CAN.
Don't get me wrong - I love platform games. In fact, I think they are my most favourite genre of games (followed closely by FPS), and I love good old fashioned pixel-perfect jumping and timing. But ice and water just annoy me - you can't time anything on ice, and you move so slow in water (usually coupled with a crappy control mechanic to speed you up, like repeatedly pressing A or something just as stupid) that both of them just make me want to -to quote a good delicious regular- athib min rasee (throw up).
Which is why God Of War I and II come in mind as excellent games: their underwater levels are a delight (because Kratos can move EXACTLY as he can on the surface, and there's no dodgy camera to work with), and any level with snow/ice in it is just for the atmosphere. There's no slipping and sliding, God Of War doesn't need any of that to make a level challenging.
To Kratos, I salute you.
To Mario, you're still number one. BUT I wish you wouldn't get yourself in so much shit (read: water).
