Yeah, it's a great game overall. It has its drawbacks, but they aren't anything too drastic. I expect it'll spend a few months in my 3DS before being supplanted by a newer release. Whenever I get my mitts on Super Mario 3D Land, I'll put MK7 on hiatus. After I finish that, it'll likely find its way back into my system.
That sounds pretty crappy, man. As I've said before, there's always a place for you here at PixlBit!
We're not into disparaging our readers - we're all just gamers, trying to have a bit of fun. Skill levels vary, experience varies, but if you found your way here, I think that's enough to put us all on the same page.
In any event, I agree, it's 1up's loss, but our gain! Looking forward to your regular blogs :)
I laughed out loud on this one. I can see Travis walking around the neighborhood at night, bumping into people taking out their garbage wondering WTF he's doing.
I love how this is operating system agnostic. Linux stalwarts MUST be excited. Even Mac users are getting yet another option, though Steam has already provided some great in roads.
@Stanton
I too wonder exactly how this is working and what can truly be done within the native client. Bastion can't possibly be running on Direct X, can it? I mean, maybe it is, and Chrome is offering up the necessary drivers remotely so that the game can run on any platform. If that's not the case, I'd imagine these games are going to be pretty limited for now.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you need the memory stick to save games? I thought that's what the news reports were, but I could be wrong. Some games, if I remember correctly, require a memory card be present just to boot the game. Sure, you'll probably get by with the smallest one, but that's not going to cut it for most owners over time.
I agree with Julian. This is good news. We'll get some solid work out of Miyamoto and he'll be passing on his knowledge to others around him. He's been doing this for years, but if it's his sole focus I expect it'll be much better for Nintendo and for us as gamers.
I would agree with Esteban, I think SM64 holds up pretty damn well. The Wii Virtual Console release eliminates the need to use your (likely) broken N64 controller to play the game. I still like Sunshine better in the grand scheme of things, but this is still one of my all-time favorites.
In general I find N64 games much more approachable than PlayStation games. They mostly control well and the graphics don't do that weird shifty-jumpy thing that they do on the PlayStation. The character in many N64 games helps as well, but that's more subjective.
This game sounds great. I'll definitely keep it on my radar - maybe for next Halloween. I find it doubly intriguing that even without the visuals the game was able to draw you in so effectively. That's impressive in its own right and something that is undoubtedly praiseworthy.
Haha. It's not the most popular way, I'm sure of that, but I don't derive any enjoyment from playing online with voiceless strangers. I don't mind a local race with friends or family, but I don't care to waste time online playing race after race against strangers.
I like being tasked with a very specific, invariable challenge. If the courses aren't being traveled by AI or human racers and there aren't items in the way, I can run consistent laps and figure out the best possible routes.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the zaniness of multiplayer races, but those don't happen very frequently, so I've grown accustomed to enjoying the single player aspects of the game.
For Mario Kart DS at least, I played in a couple tournaments, which had no crazy rule sets, just general races. Lost to my brother in the local one and placed second in the national tourney. It was all snakers in the top 3 of course, but the degree to which I got beat in the national tourney was astonishing. I beat the game with a 3 star rank and I had beaten every staff ghost in the game by a significant amount (who also snaked in MK DS). This guy made it like it was my first race in the game, he beat me so badly. It was unbelievable. So as I said, even in competition, snaking perfectly is unbelievably important to being the best.
Anyway, I think I've beat the point to death. I think what draws me to snaking and not the new version of boosting, is that the current version of boosting is so much more straightforward and it simply comes down to one variable, which is perfectly racing through the track. Snaking added in the variable of needing to continuously execute the boost, race along a much less defined line and often, breaking the standard boundaries of the course to reach the finish line the fastest.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to preference, and like I said in the editorial, I will mourn its loss, though I know I'm clearly in the minority. Good news, Mario Kart DS still works just fine and I can enjoy it indefinitely.
@Kyle
If he's got world records, that's the only way. That's exactly how I play MKDS - if you're not snaking, you've got problems. Try snaking through some narrow sections of a course or on light bends, it's insanely hard to do effectively while trying to hug the edge to reduce travel distance.
I guess we'll agree to disagree. Snaking requires the same level of perfection for the best possible times. I might not have made this clear, but I play Mario Kart mostly for Time Trials, so every move counts.
I suppose in terms of a competitive race, I can see where that perfection isn't as necessary and Mario Kart DS allows snakers an unfair advantage. But even still, better snaking will likely lead to a better position in the race.
