What we have here is a very detailed and scientific video clip that explains how Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy game, is actually able to run upside down and shoot like a rocket from planet to planet. But there’s only one tiny little problem - it’s in Japanese! To make matters worse, the subtitles are also in Japanese! After over 17 thousand views, the best we can make of this clip is : WTF?

A press release from Capcom today announced that one of my all time favorite games ever, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition has shipped over 1 million units worldwide. Not surprising as it is one of the most kick-ass games in history (damm straight). But while this is interesting to hear, noticed that Capcom stated that it had shipped , not sold. So the actual sales figures are still a bit flaky. But then again, that’s still not bad for game that’s been around for 2 years. Resident Evil 4 has showed up four different platforms already including the GameCube, PS2, PC, and of course our lovely little Wii. According to GameSpot.com, the combine sales figure since August for all the platform is 2.1 million units and $73.9 million in revenue in the US. There you go Leon, you’re now bankable.

The entire Resident Evil series itself has shipped more than 33 million worldwide and Capcom is going to bank on it again once Resident Evil : Umbrella Chronicles launches for the Wii on November 13 (the day after the “Galaxy”), and later on next year with the next big release of Resident Evil 5 on the 360, PS3 (but no Wii….booooo!). Speaking of Capcom making money with the Resident Evil franchise, anyone hear about the upcoming Resident Evil CGI movie? Apparently Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment is going to team up and release three live-action films based on the Resident Evil universe. Except that this time around we won’t be seeing anymore of Milla Jovovich, but rather CGI in the footsteps of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy : Spirits Within. Yeah, we all remember how well that one turned out. Wonder if Capcom does…? 

Put down those guns Milla…you won’t need them in CGI…

Yes, Guitar Hero 3 : Legends of Rock is finally out! On Sunday morning I headed over to Game Crazy to picked up my reserved copy and rushed back home to try it out. Now, I’ve played the previous Guitar Hero 2 before on the 360 and had a blast with it, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out it was arriving on the Nintendo Wii.  So I’ve been playing it for the past couple of days and needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The guitar in Guitar Hero 3 now comes packaged with a detachable neck and body which from my understanding is different from the previous Guitar Hero games. The Wii version of Guitar Hero 3 is however quite different from the other consoles since the guitar itself was designed to house the Wii-mote. This of course works out well because it almost seems as if the Guitar Hero game itself was designed perfectly with the Wii in mind. The Wii-mote slips into a housing slot in the back of the guitar’s body, attaches to the connector in the slot, and now you’re all set! You now have a motion sensored guitar, with it’s own speaker, that vibrates, and no syncing or re-syncing needed. Perfectly seamless!

I’ve heard that the Xbox 360 and the PS3 owners are having issues with their guitar since the new detachable neck’s electrical pins aren’t connecting well enough with the body, resulting in the fret buttons not registering when pressed. A co-worker of mine brought his in today to work and showed us that the neck and body of the 360’s version does not actually snap in together as tightly as it should of. Well, I’m happy to report that the Wii’s guitar does not have any of that issues - or none that I’ve came across yet. The neck and body on the Wii’s seem to snap in tightly and perfectly with no loose gaps.

The other cool thing with the Wii’s version is the inclusion of the Wii-mote’s speaker. May not be a big deal to some, but it does enhances the experience when you can actually hear the clinking of the strings from the guitar when the wrong note is played. Not to mention that it’s actually kinda cool how the guitar vibrates when “Star Power” is activated - although this doesn’t seem to be very noticeable when you’re standing up.

Guitar Hero 3 comes packed with a whole new slew of rock songs from the past and present. In all, there is a total of 71 playable songs, while 46 are the main set list of songs you play, there are 25 that are bonus tracks. Now, I will say this right now. I’m not totally big into rock music, but I’ve found some of the songs on here that I recognized from before and discovered a few new ones that I liked. Some of the songs that I was already familiar with and liked are “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine, “Paint it Black” by Rolling Stones, “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam, and “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour - which ironically are all “encore” songs in the game. And then there are others that I’ve heard before, but never really listen to until playing the game that I found to be quite “interesting”.

The game features a Quick Play mode (only for single player though), a Career Mode and a co-op Career Mode with a partner, and an Online mode. Not all the songs are available right away. You have to play through the Career mode to unlock them. But one particular issue is that there are certain songs that can only be unlocked in co-op career mode, so if you don’t have a partner with another guitar to play with, then you’re out of luck until an unlock code appears on the Internet somewhere. Guitar Hero 3 also features special rock legends boss characters such as Slash, Tom Morello, and Bret Michaels who can be unlocked after defeating them in a battle. 

The online multiplayer feature worked quite nicely on the Wii without any issues. You can either hook up with a friend online using your friend codes or find a random gamer to battle against. I was able to load up some online battles and one in particular against some guy named “Dan” who totally kicked my ass to “Cult of Personality” - note that at the time I hadn’t even made it to that song yet so it messed me up badly. Needless to say, I think I’m going to stay offline until I get a little better.

One missing feature that the Wii currently doesn’t have is the ability to purchase and download new songs to play like the other consoles. Apparently they are still working to get it functional, but when it’ll be done is still another questions. Some of the issues stems from the the Wii’s limited internal storage and how it can load data saved on the SD cards. Of course there could be a chance that they don’t get it working at all and we’re just stuck with the songs we have now. Hopefully that doesn’t happen…

So anyways, if you haven’t picked this game up yet, you seriously need to now. Definitely one of the most unique games in recent years and I highly recommend it. The game has enough difficulty settings so that even the most novice player (like me) can get into it right away. The variety of songs is enough to keep you interested for a long time, or at least until Mario Galaxy comes out in a couple of weeks…

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo’s big dawg in the US recently stated to SFGate.com when asked about how he felt about the other platforms :

“I’ve been very intrigued with Little Big Planet (from Sony). I don’t know that it belongs on their platform. Microsoft has done well. There are a range of first-person shooter type games that are all very well done that could all do quite well on a Nintendo platform.”

Woah…this is a first in a long time that I’ve seen head chiefs from one major gaming company actually complimenting another, not to mention even insisting that perhaps the other company’s idea may do well on his? Now that’s a first. Finally we get some comments from Nintendo that make sense for once.

Reggie then continues with his view on Halo :

“Certainly, the Halo trilogy - anyone who would look at that and say, “No, I think we could live without it,” probably doesn’t think real long about this industry.”

I do agree. The Halo series has taken multiplayer gaming on the console to another level - an area which is highly dominated by PC gamers. But I still don’t believe that it was totally worth the hype it somehow received(damm right I said that!). Reggie finishes off by commenting about one of the ground breaking games of the year :

“Even games like BioShock. I thought that was tremendously well done. The writing was tremendously clever. I would love to see more of that type of content in the industry overall that actually makes people think a little bit.”

Yep, definitely need more of that. It doesn’t even have to be a first person shooter. It just has to be a good quality game. Perhaps Nintendo has finally came to their senses and will start to enforce only quality games from the developers and no more mini games? Heh, yeah right. With all the success they’re rolling in right now, Nintendo isn’t about to change nothing anytime soon. But we can all wish….It’s interesting how these comments from Reggie contrast with his previous comments on Halo, and Kaplan’s comments on the gaming industry. Yet even though he is complimenting the other companies and their work, there are still folks who have something complain about….you know who you are.

Part of the Wii’s success can be owed to the straight forward simplistic little demo-like game that overtook the world called “Wii Sports“. Outside of Japan, Nintendo made the perfect move by distributing the Wii around the world with a copy of this game disc. It was an instant success because this little series of game demos provided gamers and non gamers alike with a new way of gaming and the possibilities of what the Wii may provide. Everyone was impressed - well not everyone, but Electronic Arts sure was. So impress that they decided to tackle their own version of a Wii Sports.

EA’s first foray into the casual gaming market is known as EA Playground on the Nintendo Wii and DS. One may think that a game that extends Wii Sports would definitely make for an interesting game, but not all was impressed. I recalled a couple months ago when I mentioned this game on a forum and displayed some screenshots. To my surprise, the response was not very positive. I would of expected that some die hard Nintendo fan boys to be somewhat interested in this game - since it sort of encapsulate what made the Wii so fun in the first place, but nope. They pretty much trashed it, but I think they were mainly just trashing EA in general. Tough crowd, heh…

EA Playground was released a few days ago and since I was always interested in this game (yeah it’s kinda against my beliefs in casual gaming, but what the hell..), I went ahead and picked up a copy at Best Buy for the price of $39.99, which I think is reasonable because I’m not expecting a AAA title here.

So what’s my first impressions of it? Well before I begin, I must make it clear that I haven’t played this thoroughly in multiplayer mode with a whole bunch of people yet. Aside from a few quick games with my girlfriend, that was the extent of the multiplayer gaming I’ve done with it so far. But I did get to lay down some good single player time with it on my own. With that said, let us begin.

Overview

Lets just say that EA Playground won’t revolutionize the way you saw gaming like Wii Sports did, but it does provide you with what you would expect - a bunch of mini games. Note the word, “playground” in the title. You can already figure out the general demographic target of gamers that EA was shooting for when they designed this game. Think back to the good old days of elementary school (not the part of you getting picked on by a bully :p ) and recall all the playground games you use to play. Following in the footsteps of Wii Sports, EA decided to take some of these school yard games and put it all into one package. The only problem is that some of these games don’t actually exists….or do they?

Starting out EA Playground, you’re given the option to either choose to play a single player game mode, multiplayer, or quickplay game mode to jump straight to the game. To play a single player game, you are required to create a new profile from a selected list of pre-made “kid” characters, instead of using one of your own created Mii’s like Wii Sports. In single player mode, you start out on the school yard and is immediately greeted by a kid who claims to be the “King of the Playground” and guides you throughout the game. I’m assuming you’re going to have to take him on before you can claim the title yourself towards the end. On the school yard, there are kids running about throughout the area and with particular ones who you can challenge to a game, while others have to be unlocked before you can do so. Defeating a kid will give some marbles in which you can trade with this “King of the Playground” kid for stickers and other upgrades. Successfully defeating more games will unlock different areas to challenge other kids throughout the playground. Aside from the main games, there are other mini games scattered throughout that really does nothing for you (to my understanding), but just to get you marble points like dribbling a basketball, free throw shooting, bug catching, and apparently “high-fiving” other kids.

In quick-play mode, you can jump straight to all the main games. The games are quite simple actually and I’m not sure how some of these are actually playground games, but they are in EA Playground :

• Dodgeball - Your typical dodgeball game. A 3 on 3 game, you control your main character with 2 other AI players. If your main player is out, you assume control of one of the other AI players. The objective is simple : run and get the ball and fling it at your opponent trying to hit them before they hit you. Get all the players out on the opposing team and you win.
• Kicks - Apparently a combination of soccer and volleyball, you’re basically on a volleyball court with goals at each end. The objective is to score by kicking the ball into the goal. Weird game, plays alot like volleyball to me though.
• Slot Car Racing - Not sure how this became a playground game. I would assume that this is more of an indoor game. You simple race slot cars on a track. Switch lanes, smack into each other, and drop tacks on the track in order to slow your opponent down. Win the race and you win the game.
• Tetherball - This one I remember playing as a kid. You swing a ball tied to a rope around a pole. Swing it all the way until it wraps one direction and you win. Just hope that it’s actually the direction you’re suppose to be swing it to.
• Paper Racers - The object here is to guide a paper airplane through some obstacles and grab some items along the way to score points in the lowest amount of time.

• Wall Ball - A game that I actually remember vividly playing as kid, you simple throw a ball at the wall, alternating between an opponent. The objective here is to throw the ball in a way so that your opponent misses the ball or gets hit. Knock him out and you win.
• Dart Shootout - Remember those toy guns that shoot those orangy-red darts that stick to a glass or smooth surface when ever you shoot it - but yet we always aimed it each others eyes? Yeah, we all did and I’ve done my fairs share of losing darts and taking out an eye or two in the process. Well now you get to enjoy it all again in this first-person-on-rail-like lightgun shooter game where you have to hit targets and as well as other kids shooting at you. Probably one of the more funner games in the bunch, make it through by deflecting the other darts and taking out the bosses to win the game.

Haven’t played too much of multiplayer yet, but from my understanding you can have up to four players to compete with. And in case you’re wondering, no online multiplayer here!

Graphics

Yes, graphics. My favorite subject in gaming. Being the graphic whore that I am, graphics are the first thing I usually take notice of before anything else. The graphics of EA Playground remind me of the cartoons or CGI shows that you would see on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. They’re not great and can easily fit into the standards of the last-gen console graphics, but then again, it doesn’t have to be good and it doesn’t try to be. The game presents you with a colorful cartoony world which could only appeal to kids 12 and under and perhaps…..female gamers (no offense girls!). With that said, it doesn’t look bad and everything detailed quite nicely. But on the bright side, it sure looks better than Wii Sports - and yes the characters in the game actually have arms and legs!

Controls

Controls are quite simple in EA Playground and responds fairly well. You only need the Wii-mote to play, no nun-chuck needed. The controls are your basic gesture mapped movement for the sports game, but for the Paper Racer game, you’re actually tilting the Wii-mote to control your paper airplane. In the Dart Shootout game, you’re basically in lightgun shooter mode so all you do aim and shoot. Each game has detailed instructions on how to perform the movements so you’re never lost.

Sound and Music

Well, there’s not much to say about it. Nothing really stands out but what you expect to hear. The kid characters in the game make these nonsensical sound when speaking to you like how its done in The Sims series. Other than that, its….okay.

Overall

Over all this is a decent game, but if you are coming off of Resident Evil 4 or Metroid Prime 3, don’t expect this to compare well to either of them. This game is definitely for kids and not for the hardcore gamer. The single player game just doesn’t have the depth to hold most gamers attention that long and the games themselves are not too challenging for the seasoned gamer. Although the mini games here are all very simple and does not quite capture the same wow factor that Wii Sports did, it does appear to be fun when playing with a group of people. The replay value may be a bit limited since EA Playground is basically a series of mini games, but if you enjoy playing Wii Sports till this day, you may actually enjoy EA Playground also.

So if you have kids, or looking for another party game to add to you collection, then this game is definitely for you. Pick it now up for $39.99.

The results are in from The 2007 Golden Joystick Awards. Obviously Nintendo was going to take in their fair share this year. Here’s the results :

• Wii Sports for The Sun Family Game of the Year 2007, beating off Guitar Hero II, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, Mario Party 8 and Viva Piñata.
• The Wii itself for The Innovation of the Year 2007, beating out the PS3, the Halo 3 Beta, Direct X 10 and Xbox Live Arcade. Why Halo 3 is in that category, I don’t know.
• Nintendo gets The Publisher of the Year 2007 - sponsored by Future, beating Microsoft Game Studios, Codemasters, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts.
• Zelda Twilight Princess wins Nintendo Game of the Year 2007 Award beating Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Call of Duty 3 and Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition. Wait, Resident Evil 4!!!? What the…