Guitar Hero World Tour

Yes, that's right, Guitar Hero Aerosmith hasn't even arrived and here is Red Octane and Activision getting us pumped up for Guitar Hero World Tour!!!!!!!



Since not much is known about this game, this post will simply be a small preview of the game's new features. It will be launching for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and Wii and, like Rock Band, have guitar, bass, drums, and a microphone. No actual gameplay videos have been released so no one knows if that will be similar to Rock Band as well.

The drum kit will slightly differ from Rock Band. Instead of the four drum pads, it will have three, but don't worry. The yellow and orange are two symbols elevated above the actual drum pads! The bass pedal stays where it is, so now the drum set is even more realistic than Rock Band. In total, six things to hit/crash/beat/stomp on and the pads even sense how hard you hit them. The harder you hit, the louder the note.

The guitar will also get a makeover, with a sweet new black face and what looks to be similar to the solo buttons on the Rock Band guitar. Not much has been release about the microphone. The game will also feature extensive online play including the ability to have four friends at your house, as one band, against another four people, online, in a battle of the bands mode.

There is an expected fall release with big expectations, so let it be that Guitar Hero World Tour be one to remember.

Info from Crave blog, from Cnet, and guitarhero.com. More info also at guitarhero.com including videos and images for your own eyes.

Nintendo Channel

Yes, that's right, the Nintendo Channel, one that has finally come out and has all the features you could ever want! (yeah right.) Although that may not be true, this channel offers some features that Wii owners have been waiting for quite some time now. If you don't have it yet, do a Wii system update and download it from the Shop Channel.

 

The Nintendo channel is a video-based collection of all Nintendo games created for the Wii, DS, Virtual console, and Wii ware. It's weekly updated video list includes anything from TV game ads, to informational videos, to exclusive interviews. You are greeted by a simple digest video that highlights some of the new and popular videos of the week's new selections. The "blue-circle" theme gives a very Wii-ish feel to that and the straight forward menus are clear and easy to navigate. 

The channel also includes a recommendation feature where people can search by categories such as solo or multiplayer, casual or hard-core, rating, system, and gender/age. The information these categories are based on comes from people who fill out a form in the review section. Any game in the Nintendo Channel data base that has been played for more than an hour on a Wii can be rated in the categories listed above. The system works pretty well, except for the fact that the Nintendo Channel database is somewhat limited. A game like Okami (review coming soon, LONG article, AMAZING game), a third-party game developed by Capcom is not included in the list. I find this disappointing because most people know somewhat of all the Nintendo games, but its the third-party ones that need to get more mention and publicity. 

Other sections include the ad section, where you can get ads for new games to your Wii message board. Yes, finally the Wii has joined today's newest technologies (email, IM, text messaging) in the fact that you can get spam! Another neat thing I noticed was the purchase feature. On a specific game's page (includes basic release date, ESRB rating, cover art, any videos about it, etc. info) there is a purchase link that launches the Wii Internet Channel to a site where you can actually buy the game from your Wii! 

Lastly, my favorite. Although you have to allow Nintendo to see what games you've been playing and for how long (basically, the "Today's Play Time" on your message board), you can get exclusive downloads of demos of recent DS games from your Wii, to your DS! This is similar to the DS Download Stations at any game retailer, but in the comfort and privacy of your own home. So far, the demos seem to be advertising the more casual games such as Brain Age and Nintendogs, so as to extend that category of gamer's knowledge of games they might like. 

The Nintendo Channel has a lot of promise for a weekly updated channel with info on all the latest and soon to be release games. In the future, I hope for demos of Wii games too, as well as an extended game list. 

Info from: me through experience

Pics from: Nintendo.com

Wiiware

Nintendo's new Wiiware serviced launched yesterday, May 12th with six new games for the wii. Wiiware is a service Nintendo launched to allow more third-party developers to create games for the Wii. It's accessed through the Wii shop channel as a download so they don't have to deal with the whole creating the game case and disc and all of that. The new six launch titles are: Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, Frontier Development's LostWinds, XGen Studios' Defend your Castle, Nnooo's Pop, High Voltage Software's V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack, and Gameloft's TV Show King. Nintendo eventually plans to have over 100 Wiiware games, but this is it for now. My guess is they will have weekly releases like for the Virtual Console. Hopefully, we'll see some games we would've never suspected would make a console, and maybe we'll see some really memorable ones, only the future can tell.

Pics and Info from the crave blog at cnet.com

Pinball Hall of Fame: Willams Collection Review

Throughout the gaming world's attempt at pinball videogames, none have completely delivered, until now. Williams Pinball brings back 10 tables from the 70's, 80's, and 90's with a truly authentic pinball experience. 

Okay, let's start with the control scheme. You use the Wiimote and Nunchuck for this game. The right and left flippers are controlled with the B button and the Z button respectively. The plunger is operated via the control stick on the nunchuck. Those are really all you need to know, all the other buttons do minor actions (2 is camera scheme, shake the controller for a tilt, press control pad for a nudge). It works very well, and although the nunchuck might be unecessary (the Wiimote on its side may have worked, too) it still provides for fun gameply. 

Now that's said, I can get into detail on the tables. As previously stated, the game has 10 different tables from a variety of time, giving you everything from basic fields to mutliple flippers and ramps every which way. A complaint I have is that the new tables tend to outshine the old ones because they are so basic. While the last four or five are full of ramps and crazy multiple flippers, the old ones only tend to have bumpers and drop targets to hit. Still, the new ones are exciting and bring back those long lost memories of playing pinball with a bunch of friends.

To do's in the game include matching goals for each table which take a lot of talent. Multiplayer modes include freeplay and tournament mode where you get points for your score at the end of a table. The game also includes instructions which give you every detail on how to score points and includes the original flyers for the machines. It's really a fabulous collection of everything you would ever want to know about these selected pinball machines. I'd give the game a definite 8 because of some lack of graphic power and some outshining tables, but otherwise it makes a really solid pinball experience.