To quote Digital Reality, developer of SkyDrift: “The goal is simple: if you can’t overtake them, shoot them down!” That line epitomizes SkyDrift’s attitude and gameplay almost perfectly. What you have here is more than just an aerial arcade racer. What you have here is an aerial arcade racer with power-ups. Do you remember playing Pilot Wings on your Nintendo 64 after a rousing Mario Kart 64 tournament and wishing you could toss some shells or drop some bananas on other pilots? If so, SkyDrift is what you’ve been waiting for. Read the full story

I’ve been gaming since around the age of five, and up until last November I thought I had achieved some of the most rewarding and inspiring moments of my gaming life: catching ‘em all the first time, vanquishing Ganon for the first time, the list goes on. But something happened over the course of 48 hours from November 19 to November 21 that easily put all of those achievements to shame and replaced the pride of succeeding and accomplishment with the pride of our medium and community making a difference. Read the full story

Nintendo is bringing motorized mayhem back to the race track on the 3DS with a new Mario Kart title slated for release this holiday season. The tentatively titled Mario Kart brings with it some new courses, karts and multiplayer functions that take advantage of the 3DS’ capabilities.

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The Nintendo E3 Press Conference may be over, but that doesn’t mean the excitement has waned. From the get go, Nintendo blew us away. Reggie Fils-Amie came out to debut a new Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and it got fans really excited.

We were originally led to believe that a man named Bill would be the one doing the live demo, since Shigeru Miyamoto, a mad genius, seemed like he was being video conferenced in. Turns out Miyamoto-san would be the one playing Skyward Sword, and also discussing how it works. Bill remained there, as translator, and the fun began.

The live demo consisted of us getting a tutorial on the controls, the new items, and how we can interact with the environment. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be a must-have game for the Wii console. Unfortunately it isn’t slated to launch until 2011, but more details will be leaked out in the months to come.

Following the excitement over Zelda, Reggie came back onto the stage to announce a new Wii Sports title: Mario Sports Mix. Like Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Mario Sports Mix won’t hit store shelves until 2011, but we saw Mario and friends competing in different arenas this time around. From what I was able to see, I caught volleyball, hockey, field hockey, basketball, and maybe water polo. Everything seemed to go by so quickly, it was difficult to catch it all. Obviously other sports titles like Madden and MLB are coming to the Wii, but a nice surprise was the classic NBA Jam. For E3 attendees, a live demo will be available on the floor.

For those out there who thought the Wii was losing it’s steam, Reggie presented us with some impressive stats. Last December, the Wii set record sales. He also informed us on how “more games have been sold for the Wii in the 43 months since launch in any other platform ever, in the same launch period.” Wii owners were also found to play their console more than other owners, and as for other game sales, Mario Kart on the Wii has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. The New Super Mario Bros. game has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. Those are some incredible numbers.

Fans of Mario Party will be interested in the new Wii Party game. In Wii Party, fans can have fun with their Mii’s, participating in multiplayer, and having the ability to choose from 13 different party modes. Board Game Island, which features over 70 different mini games, and Balance Boat were a couple modes presented to us. House Party mode is one the entire family can play together. Wii Party will be available for this holiday season.

On the subject of dancing games, Reggie announced the sequel to the popular Wii dance game, Just Dance by Ubisoft. In Just Dance 2, players will have 40 tracks to jam to. They can also engaged in dancing duets, get their cardio in with the Just Sweat mode, and have dance crew face offs with up to 8 players. Just Dance 2 is slated to launch Fall 2010.

RPG fans rejoiced when details and a trailer for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn were given. I’m a fan of the Golden Sun series, and played the GBA one for countless hours. From what I saw, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn on the DS will be incredible. My only wish is that they made a Golden Sun for the Wii, but who knows. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn will be out in time for the holiday season.

Now, what happened after the Golden Sun section was so incredible. In a trailer, they showed a panel of young gamers, and a man who was asking them about GoldenEye 007. You know, the awesomely popular N64 game? Well, good news my friends – in November of this year, we will be gifted a brand new GoldenEye 007 exclusive for the Nintendo Wii. It will feature split-screen gameplay, multiplayer (yes!), 8 classic characters like Oddjob and Jaws, and 16 special game modes like paintball and melee only. Unfortunately Rare won’t be the ones giving us this gem, but I think we can trust Activision to deliver.

On a nostalgia high, Warren Spector and Adam Creighton graced the stage to give us another Wii exclusive, Disney Epic Mickey. The game, which honors the past 80 years of Disney creativity, was given no release date, but a live demo was nice. In Venture Land you can talk with other characters and purchase items. You can also get quests there and visit memorable places like the Tiki Room and Swiss Family Robinson areas from Disney Land. The Waste Land is full of forgotten things, but they just talked to us about that.

In Disney Epic Mikey, the two ‘weapons’ you have are paint and thinner. With the thinner you can erase people, buildings, objects… just about anything. With the paint you can bring it all back or create new things in the world. How you use the two affects everything in the Epic Mickey world. It will affect how characters interact with you, what they talk to you about, how their stories will end, and more. In the game you can expect adventure, platform, and RPG elements throughout, and we even saw a place known as Travel Zone. In Travel Zone, we saw a black and white level, with Mickey in color, and everything was based off of the popular cartoon Steamboat Willie. In Travel Zone, other popular cartoons will be levels as well, so you get something new each time. Disney Epic Mickey was very impressive, on every level, and I feel confident in saying that children and adults will find the game irresistible.

Following Mickey, another familiar face was shown – Kirby. Can you believe it’s been 7 years since Kirby has had it’s own console game? Neither can I! In Kirby’s Epic Yarn (I know, something about Epic Mickey and Epic Yarn back to back in the presentation seemed odd to me as well) you really get to interact with the enviroment. The trailer, to me, felt like this awesome, new Paper Mario game but with Kirby as the main character. The art style was fresh, the gameplay looked really fun, and you won’t have to wait long to play it. Kirby’s Epic Yarn will be out this Fall.

Another thing that got RPG fans excited was the announcement that Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies would be released in North America, finally. For a long time it was only available in Japan, received great reviews, and from what we were told today, it sounds rather impressive. Players will get to go on 120 mini-quests, participate in several Wi-Fi exclusive mini-quests, slay over 300 monsters, obtain 900 items to customize your character, have fun with an infinite number of randomly generated treasure maps, and be able to link up to 3 additional friends so you can quest together. By putting your DS in ‘tag-mode’ the game will automatically seek out people to play with, and add new maps for your character all while you are away from your DS. In 26 days, July 11th, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies drops so start saving your hard earned cash now.

Metroid: Other M was shown, and that will be released on August 31st. Metroid: Other M looks very nice. You will get some classic Metroid game play mixed in with Metroid Prime-esque moments. Being able to switch from FPS to third person is a nice combination, and I’m sure fans of the franchise will dig the new features. Samus will still be able to roll up into a ball and do everything we’ve become familiar with. I’m a huge Metroid Prime fan so I’m glad they kept those elements in.

Bringing the nostalgia back, we were shown Donkey Kong Country Returns, for the Wii. Developed by Retro Studios, Donkey Kong Country Returns brings us back to the 2D days of when DK and Diddy Kong were side-scrolling, platforming maniacs. Donkey Kong Country Returns will be out for this holiday season, and I need to get a copy. No joke. It looks that epic.

After all that DK goodness, we were shown the new Nintendo 3DS. I have to admit, it looks rather impressive and boasts some nice features. Satoru Iwata, Global President of Nintendo, gave us the rundown on the newest addition to the handheld family. I won’t go into too many details because we have an actual post going fully into the 3DS, but just know that there will be an analog stick, in addition to the D-Pad, you won’t need to wear glasses for the 3D to work, and you will be capable of watching 3D movies on the Nintendo 3DS.

Some of you might remember the name Project Sora. It was announced back in like January of 2009. Kingdom Hearts fans might have thought it was a new game in the works, but holy Hell, what they showed today was so much more. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I got teary eyed. Kid. Fucking. Icarus. Yeah I said it. KID ICARUS! As a child I loved the Kid Icarus game, so when I saw him, I couldn’t help but get amazing flashbacks. A Nintendo 3DS exclusive, Kid Icarus: Uprising looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m so excited about this game, I can’t even compose a proper sentence. All I know is that I want it, and I hope I get it. It’s Kid Icarus!

Nintendo has partnered up with E3 to create an E3 network for those who were unable to attend. If you check out their page, you can gather information on the event, get behind the scene looks, screenshots, trailers, and more.

- Me

If anyone has ever played any iteration of the Mario Kart series, then you know that the CPU controlled competitors start getting extremely cheap near the end of races.

Mario Kart Wii is no different than previous releases in the series.  It introduces motorbikes as vehicles, with the 50cc races being confined to karts, 100cc confined to motorbikes, and 150cc offering a choice.  While I experienced the usual amount of cheapness during the kart races, that level of cheapness has skyrocketed exponentially during the motorbike races.  Blue shell, red shell, red shell, lightning bolt, squid ink, red shell, POW, blue shell is NOT A GOOD OR FUN COMBINATION.

-Because I said so

Well, we started the week without really meaning to talk about the Wii every day, but it happened, so we decided to call it our Wii Week.  It was an interesting week filled with highs and lows.  On the one hand, we paid off a few house expansions in Animal Crossing, and I fucking RULE at Mario Kart, but on the other hand, Francine is a dirty bitch who robbed me blind.

I really fucking hate Francine now.

I’m going to try to get her to move out of Korriban.

Anyway.  That’s all for Wii Week!  Hopefully you enjoyed it (assuming anyone actually reads this drivel).  Maybe later on we’ll do a Virtual Console Week where we download and play games through the Wii’s Virtual Console (METAL SLUG!).

-Because I said so

Wednesday night, I went on a fishing bonanza, filling my Animal Crossing house with fish to sell the next day in one big selling run.  Last night, a little while after I got home, I made my sales, getting myself up to over 85,000 bells (Animal Crossing currency), a hefty sum indeed.  I continued fishing, wanting to break the 100,000 mark, when I came across one of my town’s residents.  Francine, a rabbit, flagged me down to chat.  I took a break from fishing to see what she wanted.  She had a Sea Butterfly!  A Sea Butterfly is a tiny little fish that sells for 1,000 bells (a good price for something so small).  She asked if I would be interested in buying it and how much I would be willing to pay, which is followed by a vertical slider ranging from “Nothing” to “All of my money”.  I would hardly be willing to pay more than I could sell it for, obviously, so I moved the slider down near the Nothing (but not on the Nothing) option and continue the conversation.  She responded to my offer with:

“So 6,500 bells sounds about right?  Great!”

And suddenly, I find myself handing over 6,500 bells for a little Sea Butterfly.  I didn’t have an option to reject her ridiculous asking price.  I was forced into a purchase that lost me over 5,000 bells.  Needless to say, I was pretty pissed at that gameplay element, so I put in Mario Kart.

I fucking rule at Mario Kart.

-Because I said so

Well, since Monday was heavily focused on the Wii, and Tuesday documented a Wii-related experience, I figured we might as well make it Wii Week and run three more days of Wii blog posts.  I bet you’re all excited about that!

Lindsey and I have been playing a lot of Animal Crossing: City Folk since we got it.  It is the most played game we own now.  When we got it, I figured that would be her solo game, Super Mario Galaxy would be my solo game, and Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Mario Kart would be our together games.

I’ve played more Animal Crossing than Super Mario Galaxy.  Not because Super Mario Galaxy is a lesser game (it’s an amazing game), but because Animal Crossing is so easy and relaxed that you can’t help but lose track of time.

Which brings me to the point of this post:  Our lives are being devoured by the Wii.

Devoured, I say.

It’s a serious problem.  We’ve started caring less about things we enjoyed before because we’d rather be playing Animal Crossing.  The biggest problem is that I am completely aware of this problem, and I’m not going to do a thing about it.  I need to have a perfect rating for our town.  It will happen, and we will reap the benefits.

We’ve both had our houses expanded after paying off our original mortgage.  Lindsey has been grinding fishing for extra money, and I’ve started manipulating the residents.  Oh, it’s so very fun.

Is it weird that I like this game so much?

-Because I said so

On Friday the 13th, Lindsey and I became the proud new owners of a Nintendo Wii system, along with Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Animal Crossing: City Folk (with Wii Speak), and some accessories.  Needless to say, our weekend was very productive.

Very productive.

We have both been playing mostly Animal Crossing.  She has played this game in depth on multiple systems (Gamecube and Nintendo DS, I think that’s it), while I have only jumped in briefly on her DS version.  With the Wii version, I’ve become far more interested in it than before.  We both have moved into Korriban (her choice, as the dark side is strong in her).  She is Revan (see what I mean?), and I am Zim (DOOOOOOOOOOM!).  It’s been fun, so far.  We’ve both managed to pay off our houses as of yesterday, and we had a new resident move in to town!

I’ve played some Super Mario Galaxy, going so far as to beat the Dino Piranha star (first star after the Observatory), and I am having an absolute blast with this game so far.  The camera angles can get very disconcerting, but I think they’ve done an amazing job with the levels.

Lindsey and I have played a couple of team races in Mario Kart.  We lost our first two team races, but we won the third.  It took a few laps to get used to the accelerometer controls, but I think we’ve got it down pat, now.  With Animal Crossing, Lindsey came in with the experience.  Mario Kart is my game.  I’ve played Mario Kart DS to death, I loved Mario Kart 64, and while I never owned a Super Nintendo, I had a friend with one and we would play Mario Kart a lot.  I know how to Kart.  Lindsey is very good as well, which is great.  Between the two of us, we’re almost never out of the top 3 in any given race.

Wii Fit.  Fuck the Half Moon and fuck Lunges.  Everything else is cool, but fuck those two.  The Lunges really did a number on Lindsey, and the Half Moon is really painful.  I’m going to keep doing the god damned Half Moon, because it’s probably really good for my posture and spine, but fuck it straight to hell.  Other than that, it’s an amazing game that makes working out a lot of fun.  With the training tracker, graphs, BMI measurements, Wii Fit Body Age, etc, you get to have a lot of fun while having a visual goal.  We’re going to try at least half an hour each every day.

I enjoyed the Wii Play games (most of them), but Lindsey has given Wii Play a solid thumbs down.  I think the 7-2 score may have had something to do with that.

We didn’t do anything more in Wii Sports together, but I played a few frames of Bowling, as well as a couple of matches of Tennis.  I also did a game of Baseball, which is a lot of fun, even though I don’t really enjoy baseball too much.

We browsed through the Virtual Console games, and found some titles that really took us back, and some that made us go “Fuck that” at the same time (Ecco the Dolphin, anyone?  That’s another post altogether.).

Last night we rented two more games to try out: Metroid Prime 3 – Corruption and De Blob.  Metroid is Metroid, this we recognize.  De Blob, however, we have heard nothing about.  It looks like a pretty cool party game, maybe a puzzle game, we’re not sure.  We’ll try it out and see.

We love our Wii.

-Because I said so