Archive for May, 2012


16-bit Episode of NBC’s Community

Friday, May 18th, 2012

About once per season, the clever team behind NBC’s sitcom Community come up with a special episode that is done in a style atypical of the series’ regular real-life presentation.  Last year’s Christmas special, for example, was done in a style reminiscent of the stop-motion animated classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.  Well, this season’s special episode was done largely in a style hearkening back to the graphics of classic 16-bit systems like the Sega Genesis and the SNES.  The episode entitled “Digital Estate Planning”, aside from being hilarious as usual, is a particular treat for those of us who enjoyed 16-bit games in their heyday.  Chock-full of loving references to games like Mega Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario Bros. 2 & 3, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and more this episode is highly recommended.  If you live in the US you can watch this episode on Hulu, but if you’re like the rest of us you can either download it from a digital service like iTunes or wait for re-runs/the Community Season 3 DVD release.  The point is, if you can you should check this episode out as soon as possible!

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Diablo III — More Trouble Than It’s Worth?

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Reports coming in from all corners of the Internet state that many people are still having issues connecting to Blizzard’s forced-DRM-like servers to access even the single-player portions of Diablo III, which was launched at 12 AM this morning.  It may just be me, but paying $70 for a single-player game that gives you nothing but an error message when you finally install it and boot it up seems like something that shouldn’t be legal.

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Nintendo Drops Prices for the DSi Line

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Nintendo announced today that they’re dropping the North American prices for the DSi lineup of systems.  Starting on May 20th, the DSi will cost only $99.99 and the DSi XL will be $129.99.  I, like many, had been waiting for Nintendo to do this for a while, because the 3DS’ rock-bottom price was kind of confusing when compared to the similar prices of its predecessors.  So, come May 20th all will be right in the world of Nintendo portable system pricing, with the older systems a decent amount less expensive than the new shiny one. 

For the record, in our humble opinion the DSi XL still represents the best way to play DS games of the systems that are currently available.  There’s nothing wrong with playing DS games on the 3DS, but the huge, luxurious screens and wicked-long battery life offered by the DSi XL is simply unparalleled in the portable market.  So, if you’re looking for something to play Pokemon Black/White Version 2 on, and are not terribly interested in the 3DS apps that Nintendo’s offering to enhance the the experience on the 3DS, then look no further than the soon-to-be-reduced DSi XL.

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White PS Vita Coming to Japan

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Sony Japan recently announced that a new white-coloured PS Vita will be launched on June 28th (in Japan, of course).  Chances are that the new system colour will be making the “swim across the pond” and will fairly likely have a western release announced at Sony’s E3 press conference this year.  As with most other portable systems like the iPhone and the 3DS, white seems to suit the PS Vita very well and makes our black Vita seem just a little inferior.  If you have still yet to jump on the PS Vita bandwagon, the world is now your oyster with two fashionable colours to choose from. We’ll let you know if we hear anything at E3 about these units coming to a store nearer to you than 9000 km or so.

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Rayman Legends Wii U Concept Trailer

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

[cp_youtube id=”RSlccZt5O2o” points=”10″]

A concept trailer for the Wii U version of the upcoming sequel to Rayman Origins that was “leaked” online around a week ago has shed some light on previously unconfirmed details about the Wii U.

What we can learn from it:

  • Rayman Legends is built around a new graphics engine that looks awesome.
  • Rayman Legends will have new playable characters and modes.
  • The Wii U dev kits available to big developers like Ubisoft still have tethered Wii U controllers
  • The Wii U will have at least a decent online mode where you can see individual user names during play
  • The Wii U controller can be used either as a regular controller for the game, or as an additional touch-screen view where the player with the Wii U controller can move platforms to help the other 3 players out.
  • Wii U controller NFC (near field communication) technology is confirmed.  Physical objects with NFC chips can be used to activate items or unlock levels, etc. in games.
  • Use of the Wii U controller stylus is not depicted in the video, perhaps showing that Nintendo is encouraging more iPad-like use of the screen as opposed to DS-like usage.
  • Only one Wii U controller is shown in use, making us that much more worried that Nintendo is indeed sticking with its one-per-system set-up.  Maybe we’ll have to wait for the Wii U Too before we can play with friends who also have screen controllers.

What it doesn’t tell us:

  • Anything about the final retail look of the Wii U or its controller
  • To what extent NFC will be used in first party Nintendo Wii U games
  • Anything about the full-out technological power of the Wii U
  • When Rayman Legends is being released and by extension when the Wii U is being released

So, the new information is scant, but important in its own right.  We’re still holding out hope that Nintendo’s going to sink a bit more money into the system to make it compatible with 2+ new controllers and have significantly better graphics than the PS3/360, but we’ll find out for sure or not when we attend E3 in less than a month, so stay tuned for more Wii U news as it breaks.

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Point Review: Ski Safari (iOS)

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Genre: Action
Players: 1
Progress: High score of 474804

The “run for your life” sub-genre of games has been a popular one on mobile devices and this latest entry in that category of games adds a winter twist. Instead of running out of sunlight, time or health this time around the player is trying to stay ahead of the snowy terror that is an avalanche! Is it innovative and fun enough to stand out among the pack? Read on to find out…

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Microsoft E3 2012 Conference Liveblog

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

The Microsoft conference is over, check after the jump for a replay of our live blogging coverage! Check gameusagi.com/e3 for the next liveblog times.

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