o8/o9 News from the wooden lands

 Despite the title I don't have very much (and new) to tell you, I'm just here to say that I'm still here. Somehow I made it through 2oo8. I don't know how though - I just sat here ;^p  Didn't move a muscle. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Recently I've heard about this new game that's about to be released in the near future, it's called Let's Tap. It's a rhythm game for the Wii™ that doesn't need any new peripheral - except for a cardboard box. At first I feared you needed a special box that came shipped with the game. Nintendo making money with the simplest most rudimentary peripherals again. But no, oh no, you can use any box. Apparently the box is just needed to transport the vibrations of your tapping on the box. The peculiar thing (to me) is that the Wiimote, that is to be laid on top of the box, doesn't have a microphone to process the tapping. It is solely using its motion sensor technology - how incredibly sensitive is that thing? After playing Wii Sports and other games I found the Wiimote to be rather inaccurate about the angle input. Well, it's not inaccurate about its movement input, I guess.

But I shouldn't have been all too surprised about that after having seen the scientific art of Johnny Chung Lee. Have you seen his usage of the Wii™? Maybe you have - I've wanted to tell you about his works for a very long time ...

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote

sent by Mika77

As we can see each year the tradition of reflecting the last three hundred and sixty or so days around this time of the calendar you can see how the gaming community (or a gaming community) elected Grand Theft Auto IV to be the best Game Of The Year 2oo8 - come on!! The game was good but not at all the best one. Especially not the best PS3 game. But what's my opinion worth anyway?

Anyway, as we are already here we might as well go the last step and discuss (lol) my very own VG MOY (that's Video Game Moment Of The Year for ... well, for everybody, I guess). For me personally there haven't been that many, only two to be precisely, and both originate from the same game: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots. Expect me to spoil.
For once, there was this gorgeous scene when you enter Shadow Moses and "The Best Is Yet To Come" by Rika Muranaka & Aoife Ní Fhearraigh commences, triggering wave after wave of nostalgia, both visually and auditive, mixed with the graphical new version of Shadow Moses. That was a very touching moment for me, and also quite impressive: in-game nostalgica features.
The other scene was the ending. Simply the ending. The end of this game which was also the end of four games (at least), a testosterone-laden ending that matched the preliminary action, an ending full of story twists, climaxes and conclusions. An orchestrated cutscene-feast. It forced you to push Old Snake through an ridiculously dangerous hallway of "microwaves" while you see in the split-screen the battles of your comrades, until he reaches the graveyard-like server room of Outer Haven where he passes out only to fight Liquid Ocelot on top of the giant submarine - but not right away. As if the game heard me say "Don't let me play the boss battle right away. The preceding cutscenes built up so much momentum - it would only destroy the atmosphere." the game listened to me and started with a cutscene version of the boss battle which only lead to the inevitable clash of the titan seniors that you had to control - followed by another long memorable dialogue scene on another graveyard - a real one this time - which culminates in the most incredible version of "Here's To You" (by Lisbeth Scott, originally by Ennio Morricone) that I've ever heard.
That - finishing MGS4 - was my most remarkable Video Game Moment Of The Year 2oo8 that no other game even came close to.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

[End of MGS4-Spoilers] Not even the new Prince Of Persia. I mean ... considering POP once made a personal VG MOY I was expecting quite a bit. Strangely enough I wasn't as thrilled of the visual look of the game when I saw it in-game (as opposed to in a trailer). I even disliked it at some moments while at others I adored the beauty of the corruption. But it's still a very good game. I just happen to be done with it because I got the platinum trophy. I'm just mentioning because it's my first one. Sorry ;^p  If you're playing it now or in the future, here's a tip: take the green power lastly and heal the land in front of the Warrior's black gates at the very end. I think the game is a bit easier that way.

Talking about videogames, a pal of mine, Foifur - one of my few loyal readers - is playing Secret Of Mana at the moment. Every now and then he asks me for advice which I then give him eagerly. Since then I feel this itching inside me .. this longing for nostalgic greatness that this game embodies, IMHO. I want to play it like I used to and re-live the joy I've had back then in the old days. I know though, that this is not possible ...

Just like with Street Fighter II: Turbo. There's this new version called Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (or SSFIITHDR for still-long-but-short) that is basically a refined version of this old game. But, oh refined it truly is: Capcom actually approached the fans over at OverClocked ReMix (okay, professional fans) to do the soundtrack for the game - because they would have remixed it anyway (>< ). Fans doing the soundtrack for a full-fledged videogame?!?! The mere thought of this is so awesome that I temporarily lose my eyesight, blinded by the joy of the little kid inside me. And it's completely for free! And it's online, the game I mean. It's an online version of a Beat 'em Up game that I liked, that I actually played back in the days, often too - that I actually *owned*. Yes, it was one of my "exclusive" six Super Nintendo™ titles. Oh, those were the days when you didn't have the money to buy them all.
The online part of the new game is even allegedly decent so I was indeed considering to buy it ... but to be true it would have been a waste of money. There's no way that I could play a Street Fighter game as joyfully and enthusiastically as "once". It's over ... ( ´.`)

But hey, look at the future: there's a new Street Fighter movie in the making featuring Kristin Kreuk, and it's called Street Fighter: Legend Of Chun-Li. It will probably be a disappointment just as many other videogame-to-motion-picture-conversions before but I sure as hell know that I'm going to check it out anyway. Here's a trailer. Judging solely by this footage I'd say it looks like an Uwe Boll movie, but if it was really was one it would have been his best (although I must say that I haven't seen all of his "work").

Another thing I might write (without having a gun being pointed at my head) is how cool Tycho from Penny Arcade is, IMHO. I mean, he's not just eloquent but his perspective on videogames has often surprised me one way or another, too. It's almost as if he could see right through the haze that distorts the image with which games are sold to the masses and pinpoint a big aspect of the core of a game that I often miss. Man, I wish I was like him. His "thing" is even more obvious with spoken words, I think, which is why I like their podcasts so much. My favourite so far is the one where they talk about how funny the idea of merging two specific universes is which ended up in this comic strip.
Also, I liked Jerry & Mike playing Dungeons & Dragons. I can't wait for the next round with Wil Wheaton.

This might be enough for now. Maybe I'll add something a little later. Now I'm headed to a thing called "Shadow Of The Colossus OST". # top #