Sorry if this is way old news, but numerous people on the Internet have had a problem with WiiConnect24 overheating the GPU and causing graphical glitches. It just happened to me. It stinks.

My summer has been filled with disappointing games. I need a really good one to cap it off! Should I get Super Mario World or Chrono Trigger (both the portable versions)?

None I don't want to regret a purchase, which is why I don't pre-order.

Gamerz1569

He was a freaking amazing guitar player, especially in his prime. He pretty much invented shredding (the good kind, not the wanker kind). Not to mention he invented a little thing called the electric guitar.

Go look him up now on Youtube. I highly reccomend the black and white videos where he's performing with his wife. I bet you didn't know that early pop could have such great guitar playing. I discovered his talents a mere few months ago, though I knew about him long before that.

I've only ever pre-ordered Wind Waker. OoT + Master Quest for the win.Cherokee_Jack

Best pre-order bonus ever. I also pre-ordered Tales of Symphonia for the art booklet. I'm considering pre-ordering Metroid Prime Trilogy, since apparently it's initially a collector's edition, which means in the future the game might not come with an art booklet. And I don't know how quickly the initial run will sell out. Also, the poster and t-shirt from Gamestop will be nice.

Non-linear games are increasingly being heralded as the new standard. Why, I ask? Do people not mind the sacrifices that have to be made?

Most importantly, clear and interesting objectives must often be sacrificed dues to the sheer amount of side-stuff in the game. Developers don't have the time or resources to make all this side-stuff unique and interesting, and what you're left with is a bunch of quests/missions that are just plain uninspired.

Also, story and character development is often sacrificed. Again, this is due to limitations of time and resources. Developers focus on fleshing out the main part of the game, leaving the plethora of side-stuff having little-to-no plot or character development. Now I'm not saying ever game needs story (the Mario games don't, for example), but most of these sprawling open-ended games certainly do.

I could make more points (such as how non-linear games don't have nearly enough variety to support their playing time), but the absolute most important point I made is the one about having clear objectives. While in real life it is sometimes fun to do random, directionless, and aimless things, games will never offer the kind of unpredictable results real life does. So why compete?

And yes, Oblivion is the first and foremost game I had in mind when writing all this. It is the biggest culprit of non-linearity that I know of, though Fallout 3 may be just as bad (I haven't played it yet). Even the main quest in Oblivion feels like a side-quest, for lack of interesting objectives, characters, and story.

While nothing is as guilty as Oblivion, the other game that comes to mind is GTAIV. The story missions were great, but the plethora of stuff to do on the side was for the most part junk. And yet the game consistently pesters you (through your nagging friends) to hang out and date, and to do generic side-missions for your buddies. This makes the player feel compelled to do the optional stuff, as if he won't be playing the game correctly if he doesn't do it. After all, the game does keep track of how much your friends like you, and that's important, right? So that's what I did: in between story-missions, I hung out with friends, and I did the lame side-missions. I kept my friends and girlfriend happy, even though I knew that it didn't have any impact on the main story. I did it for immersing myself in the game's world. Isn't that what these open-world games are about?

But honestly, it wasn't even remotely worth it. GTAIV is far better as a linear game. As a linear game, GTAIV has cutscenes setting up each mission, in many cases furthering the story. This also gives many missions uniqe set-ups and objectives.

The thing is, non-linear games could be done right in the future. With more advanced hardware, and more time and money, developers may eventually be able to pull off a non-linear game where the side-stuff is just as compelling as the main game.

[QUOTE="LeGoofyGoober"]

i hate cel shaded games. they make me nauseous for some reason.

videogamesdead6

Did anyone even read the editorial? I doubt the writer of it was even the one who came up with "Better than Halo" subtitle. He doesn't mention Halo once in the editorial, nor is that the point he is trying to make. The point that he's trying to make is that Wii Sports Resort has a distinctive immersion and escapism that other games don't. Yes, his choice of words is over the top and makes me wonder whether he's serious, but he does lay out some good arguments.

My verdict: he's a bit of a loon, but he's a very intelligent one.

Also, whatever happened to games with fixed frame-rates? I know PC games have had variable frame rates for a while now, but I miss when console games were either 60 or 30 fps, no questions asked. Sure there were occaisonal slowdowns, but for the most part the framerate was constant.

I just hope this trend doesn't seep into Nintendo games.

Sorry, but I still think this gen has yet to live up to the previous generations. The games I have played from this gen are: Super Mario Galaxy, MGS4, GTAIV, BioShock, Oblivion (currently playing), SSB Brawl...I believe that's it. I also watched my roommate extensively play Fallout 3, Dead Space, and Gears of War 1 and 2.

To be fair, I think this is a good gen if you are into PC/X360 type games, i.e. shooters and WRPGs. I admit Oblivion, BioShock, and Gears of War are quite good. For console-type games, however, this has been a pretty weak gen. Only Super Mario Galaxy has truly amazed me. Brawl is great, but it's not amazing since it's more like Melee 2.0. MGS4 is also great, and I played it twice in a row. However, I do that with all MGS games, as they're quite short, and I would have to say that 4 is the weakest in the series. The boss battles were not nearly as good, and the story (which is a HUGE part of the game, at least 50% of the game-time if not more) is an insult that is akin to a bad fan-fiction.

Then there's GTAIV, the biggest dissapointment of all. Surely I'm not the only one who thought that Vice City and San Andreas were much more fun? Because of the more serious tone of IV, most of the missions are very similar and interchangeable. All the extra stuff that was added to GTAIV is completely superfluous and mostly uninteresting. Hanging out with friends, watching TV, etc. The story was far less interesting than Vice City and San Andreas. However, the combat was much improved, the voice acting was great, the graphics were much improved, and the main character was very likable and non-cliche. So GTAIV isn't a bad game. It's just underwhelming, especially in comparison with the previous games in the series.

And really, it seems like underwhelming is the best way to describe this gen. The emphasis has been on better. Better graphics, better combat, better sound. But "better" isn't enough. We need originality and creativity. Most of all, we need fun. So many games this gen have sacrificed fun for realism. Realism is overrated.