Better than a kick in the pants!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Scoring Game

Gaming reviews, what would people do without game reviews? Reviews serve to aid gamers in what is good and what is bad. But over the recent years, gamers are tending to rely solely on a reviews score, and in a lot of cases if it falls below 8, it is automatically written off as a terrible game.

Why do a lot of gamers see 7 as an average or below average game? Shouldnt 5 be the pinnacle of average? What would happen if game reviews didnt come with a number representing their worth? Would some of those games that received a sub 8 score be seen in better light? I think that its definitely a possibility.

Now heres an example of how scores may influence someone's decision to buy a good game. Sonic Advance 2 on the GBA is easily the best Sonic game on the system, the levels were well designed and the game featured some new gameplay additions such as tricks, which helped you to gain access to other areas of the levels. It was also a pretty tough game and a great platformer in general.

Heres someone elses take on the game, this is a portion from a PlanetGameCube review.

Overall, Sonic Advance 2 is a good game, but incredibly difficult. You certainly won't be breezing through this one, and there are plenty of unlockables to keep you occupied, should you ever manage to do so. Beginners should definitely start out by playing as Cream, and even if you're an expert you should consider it. There's both a single- and multi-cart multiplayer game to give you some added replay value if you're having trouble unlocking everything.

Having read that conclusion on the game, one would assume its a feature packed game which would definitely be worth your money. Now what if your the kind of gamer that thinks anything below 8, is either average or below average? Well you wouldnt be buying this game, the reviewer gave it a 7.

Most gamers do read reviews, or at least the conclusions. But sadly there are people out there who seem to discount a game, just because someone rated it on a slightly different scale. One persons 9 is another persons 7, and people should never discount a game just because of a score.

Another example I have, is a review from a local gaming mag called Hyper (fairly well respected). They gave the first Kingdom Hearts a 70 or so score. Many people would argue that this is not a satisfactory score for this game. But what if that was the first score someone saw for the game? They may never give it a go simply because it fell below 80.

I think its time we started seeing 7 as an above average score, and start seeing 5 as the definite average game.

So when I review upcoming Wii games in about a months time. Nintendo Gamer's review scores will be out of 10 with no .5 .6 .8 attached to them. 5 will be the middle, so anything over 5 is either slightly above average or above average. And anything below 5, is either slightly below average etc. I'll post a proper breakdown as we get closer to Wii reviews.

Now have any of you discounted a game based off a review score?

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

GameCube & Wii Ads + Call of Duty 3 Wii Trailer

Since the first wave of Wii ads are hitting on American TV's and Youtube, I thought like looking back at some of the GameCube's early advertising. Turns out some of these ads were quite good, and definitely had an edge to them.


I dont know if this was shown in Australia, but im sure many are familar with the print ads which featured these cubes.


Part one of the four part Wii ad series currently playing in America

Wii Ad
I couldnt embed this one, one of the parts, proberly the second one.


Also heres a Call of Duty trailer that also looks pretty cool. I might have to pick this title up sometime down the road. After I battle my way through Hyrule.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Zelda:TP Review - Spoiler Free

A segment from The Hylia's review of Zelda:TP.

Of course, the big question on many fans' minds is if the game lives up to the hype. Is the title harder than Ocarina of Time, and recent titles like The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap? It most certainly is. Does Twilight Princess have more dungeons and take longer to beat than Ocarina of Time? It's a debate if it has more dungeons, I would say "as many", but it is definitely the longest Zelda game ever, in both game play and storyline aspects. Finally, does it surpass Ocarina of Time? This question is reserved for the community and industry in the coming months and years, but all indications are this is simply the best Zelda title ever, and it dwarfs Ocarina of Time in every respect. Nintendo delivers on the goods.

This really is a great review of the latest Zelda epic! Anyone wanting to read a solid review should definitely give this a read. Its positive but doesnt let the hype creep in, so its fairly objective. Its also written by TSA, the famous Zelda speed runner. So if your going to trust any reviews, this is proberly the one to read if your still on the fence for some reason.

The Hylia

Monday, November 13, 2006

Bond, Zoonami Bond - Speculation

Today I was looking around on the Zoonami website, I hadnt been there in months and months. Anyway I stumbled upon their upcoming projects, two have already been revealed and two havnt and are going by code names.

The code names are :
Project Z1296PT
Project Z2007PU

That may or may not mean something, but the second code name caught my attention because it happens to have 007 in there. Now most people know that the founder of Zoonami worked on Goldeneye as a director, and a few other Rareware employees joined him. So could Activision possibly be employing the skills of Zoonami to create a new Bond game, that could perhaps be directed by one of the main creative minds behind what many consider the best Bond experience, and one of the greatest FPS of all time?

MAYBE...

It could also just be referring to the year this game may be scheduled to begin development on. Although, the above codename offers no such hint.

Link - Zoonami

Ready, Set, GO!

Hello

This blog hasnt been updated in months, I want to change this. So this is a notice that the blog will be becoming active, with less filler content and more actual content. I'd like to try and get a good blog going with good discussions and some good ol Nintendo fun.

So with only a few weeks left till the Wii launch (Yes weeks..us poor Australians) lets start getting even more hyped for Wii, and possibly the finest game since Zelda : Ocarina of Time.