Point Blank DS - Review

Light gun games in the arcades are timeless classic. Grasping a plastic rendition of a fire arm and shooting away at on screen targets can help sharpen those hand eye coordination skills and reaction time but really we play them because they’re good entertainment. Unfortunately videogame arcades are dying breed these days but one game I vividly remember pumping heaps of dollar coins into a few years ago was Point Blank. Most likely a game that you won’t see at the few remaining arcades nowadays but back in its prime it was a popular title both as a single player and as a co-op. I discovered this game sitting in the bargain bin at my local EB and I thought I would snap it up and enjoy some nostalgia. So how well did this arcade classic do when it made its transition over to the Nintendo Dual Screen? Read on to find out.

Upon loading up the game you are presented with an option/game selection screen that is represented as island with buildings sprouting from it. Each one of these buildings represents a game option and is selected via touching the lower DS screen.
Free Play mode allows you to select any stage at will and have a play so this is basically a practice mode to allow players to familiarize them selves with the various stages.
Arcade mode allows you take part in the game’s adaption of the arcade original. There are four difficulty levels to choose, practice, beginner, advanced and insane all of which have you aiming for top score across groups of four randomly generated stages which you get to select the in order you wish to play them in. Each group of four stages are separated with a bonus stage where you have a chance to earn extra lives, bonus points or absolutely nothing.
In both free play and arcade mode you are given a rating on how you perform after each stage. Hits, accuracy and quick shot is what you’ll be rated on along with a total score for that stage which will be saved in the games internal memory if you rank high enough.
Game Museum is basically an added bonus where a handful of old arcade classic light gun games can be played in the same manner as the traditional Point Blank stages. Shooting clay targets and crabs are among the few available.
Brain Massage has a bit of brain training feel to it because of how it scores you after completing a set number of stages. A number of stages are grouped together in a categories, eagle eye, mental focus, shoot to survive etc, with even more categories available if you can unlock them. Once you complete a category the game tallies up your score in accuracy, judgement, reaction, precision, attention and overall, then tags you with a name depending on how well you did.
VS mode lets you play against a friend with another DS unit. Unfortunately I never got around to exploring this option so I can’t give you much information on this.
Options doesn’t give you many options as you think it would with the only thing you can do here is to erase save game data.
So that’s basically what the game is constructed of. Your main goal though out the game is to achieve high scores and try to beat them again the next time you play with a few unlockable categories to work for.

When a light game makes the transition from the arcade to another platform usually a gun is supplied or the gamin system’s official gun is compatible but in the DS versions case it’s certainly not practical to be pointing a plastic gun at the screen and shooting targets. So the obvious decision to utilize the DS touch screen interface was used. Tapping the lower screen with the DS stylus is how you shoot at targets. This control system works fine but it takes so much of the game’s original feel away it actually makes the game quite repetitive. Just simply tapping the screen doesn’t have the original excitement factor it had in the arcades and takes away a lot of the hand eye coordination skill that was previously needed to achieve high scores. Add to this the close proximity of the screen and you have your self a pretty easy game. To be fair though I do understand that the only other control system they could have used was to manually move a set of cross hairs around the screen then press a button to eliminate targets and that would have made the game completely frustrating.

Graphically the game wasn’t very impressive when it was in arcades with most targets being represented by a cardboard cut out that moved on rails, or toon like animation that compromised of only the bare minimum of animated frames placed over simplistic backdrops. No textured mapped polygons or special lighting effects here just enough detail for the player to establish what they are shooting at. The DS port is virtually spot on to the original though so full credit given there for that. Same goes for the games audio, all the quirky stage and menu music is all the same affair. The gun sound, exploding targets and the squealing noise of creatures being shot are all the same as the original but they do sound a little weaker mainly due to the low powered speakers built into the DS unit.

I now know why this game was tossed into the bargain bin as there’s not much in the game to keep you playing for extended periods of time or to keep you coming back for more. Point Black was a great game when it was in the arcades and basically it should have stayed there as it looses too much of its original feel when the gun has been taken away. Namco Bandai games did make a good effort in the conversion but wasn’t given the correct tools. Overall the game is a fairly decent time killer and can be easily picked up on the fly for a quick game but it will no doubt be gathering dust not long after purchase.

Overall Rating 6/10

ctrl+alt+del

I have seen a few ctrl+alt+del comics now and 9 times out of 10 they have given me a decent chuckle but since I was shown the ctrl+alt+del videos by a member on myds.com.au

I've just become an on going fan. Enjoy the embedded videos above and if you want to see more of the commics click here

Mario Kart Wii - Review

No doubt that there’s going to be an influx of Mario Kart Wii reviews and that’s not going to be much of shock as the game has been eagerly anticipated by many Wii owners around the world, the more opinions on this game the better. So if you have the time for another opinion on this top selling game please read on.

So what’s a Nintendo console with out Mario Kart? A Gameboy or NES I guess, at that point in time I’m gathering that Nintendo didn’t conjure up the concept of lumping all their iconic characters together, throwing them into carts and having them duke it out on various tracks. Either that or the older systems didn’t have the processing power to provide the adequate experience, hell! Even the Super Nintendo needed the aid of the DSP chip in order to get the right mix of pseudo 3D graphics, and that’s one aspect of the Mario Kart franchise that makes the games so special, Nintendo pushing their hardware to the limit to give gamers the best experience possible. The Mario Kart series has its own element of flavour that shouldn’t be adjusted too much only tweaked. Having just the right mix of ingredients that makes the games just epic, good graphics that enhance the game play, a nicely matched sound track for each stage accompanied by screaming engines and squealing tyres, crisp handling vehicles that improve as your skill level progresses and action packed multiplayer mayhem. Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo blew everyone away with Mode seven graphics, Mario Kart 64 gave us a true 3D environment, Mario Kart on the Gameboy Advance took the experience portable for the first time, Mario Kart Double Dash on the Game Cube smoothed out the rough edges of the N64 version and Mario Kart DS took all the best bits of the series and added wireless Online gaming. So what has this latest version of Mario Kart brought us? Let’s take a look.



Gameplay

I have to admit that I got pretty nervous when I first saw the above E3 video. When Reggie Fils-Aime announced that a Mario Kart beginner could stay bumper to bumper with a veteran, then continues on, makes a goofy face and introduced the Wii wheel. I thought the classic Mario Kart series was going to get violated in order to accommodate the latest batch of casual gamers the Wii has attracted but there was no need to fret as the latest edition of Mario Kart on the Wii will keep both beginners and veterans happy.

All the things we love about the Mario Kart series are present in the Wii version along with a few added extras. The usual game modes are all here which include Grand Prix, Time Trials, VS race and Battle. Grand Prix mode comprises of 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and the unlockable 150cc Mirror Mode. If 50cc or 100cc mode is selected you now have option to choose what other vehicles you race against, this latest option has been added because of the introduction of motor bikes. From then on you have the choice of 24 tracks, 12 newly designed tracks and 12 remastered classics from the predecessor versions of the series. Playing some of the old Super Nintendo tracks did bring back a little nostalgia it’s a shame they didn’t add more of them.
Character and vehicle selection is good and plentiful, the moment you fire up the game for the first time you already have a good selection to pick from with even more available by completing various aspects of the game. Characters range from the light weights like Baby Peach to the heave hitters like Bowser with each character having good and bad points; the larger characters have the advantage of pushing the smaller characters around, while the lighter characters have the cornering advantage. Each kart and bike has a rating in the following departments; speed, weight, acceleration, handling, drift, off-road and mini turbo, all you need to do is find the one that suits your driving style. We all pretty much know how a Mario Kart game pans out regardless of its platform so I won’t bore you any further with anymore obvious details.
[pic]http://image.mycolours.com.au/medium/943592.jpg[/pic]
What would Mario Kart be with out the items; they have been the ‘in game’ equalizers since the beginning but for the Wii version I do believe that they are handed out a little too loosely this is very apparent during online multiplayer matches. All the classics items are here along with a few new additions like the POW block which originates for the original Mario Brothers game back in 1983. When activated the POW block will knock all other players out causing then to spin out and drop what ever item they may be holding at the time. The Mega Mushroom gives you a short stint of speed and expands your vehicle to gigantic proportions allowing you to smash everyone out of your path. Last but not least the very annoying Thundercloud, this item will appear over your vehicle for a short period of time and if you don’t bounce it off onto another player quick enough you will get hit by a lighting bolt.
The items do crank up the excitement and entertainment but it does get to the point where you’re screaming “ENOUGH ALREADY” when you’re at the front of the pack being bombarded with weapon after weapon after weapon. With the previous Mario Kart games the blue shell and lighting was the holy grail of weapons and they didn’t appear frequently but now if you’re trailing behind you can pretty much bank on getting some decent items to bring you back to the front line. Don’t get me wrong I do think it’s fair for the tail enders to get the good items but I do think Nintendo should have tweaked the balancing system a little more not focussing mainly of making the races beginner friendly.

Control

Thankfully the control system hasn’t differed too much from the Game Cube and DS versions. Turbo launches and drafting are the same affair with only the drifting element being tampered with. The old art of snaking (linking multiple drift boosts to gather more speed) has been nullified. No longer can you manually pump up the drift boosts, with the Wii version drift boost happens over the duration of your drift. The karts have two levels and the bikes have the one. This has disappointed many fans of the DS versions as this technique used to separate the pros from the amateurs this is another example of Nintendo moulding the game to suit a broader audience. If drifting isn’t your forte then there’s a newly added option called ‘Automatic mode’ that automatically puts your can into a drift without having to jump into it manually. Nintendo were kind enough to give us a little back in return for messing with the drift boosting controls and that has come in the form of tricks. Now when you launch your vehicle off a ramp you can pull off one of four different tricks and once you’ve hit solid ground again you get rewarded with a small boost of speed. Overall the vehicle control is smooth and crisp, a Mario Kart veteran and easily adjust their technique to suite while a beginner can jump straight in and have a blast.

When it comes to controller options we now have four different types to choose from; the Wii Wheel, Wii Remote + Nun Chuck, Game Cube controller and the Classic Controller. The Wii wheel is great for beginners as they can simply select the Automatic Mode then twist and shake away. For someone that’s been playing Mario Kart though out the series probably wont like this option as it doesn’t have the accuracy of a digital or analogue controller. At times I found myself almost dislocating my shoulder followed by a ninja roll across the lounge room trying to get my vehicle pointed in the direction I wanted it to go. As for the Wii Wheel accessory it’s self it basically is a wad of plastic moulded into the shape of a steering wheel but compared to the plethora of crappy pieces of plastic posing as Wii accessories the Wii Wheel has to be the best design. The Wii Remote sides easily into the Wii Wheel and wheel it self has its own trigger button that is larger than the actual Wii Remote trigger. Nintendo were smart enough to add a hole in the side of the Wii wheel so you can still use the IR sensor, it’s such a simple idea that does wonders for convenience and I’m surprised none of the third party manufactures thought of it earlier. In the same manner as what they did with the Wii Zapper Nintendo have showed third party accessory manufactures how to do things properly.
If you’re still fixated on Double Dash and want to retain that feel, plug your old comfy Game Cube controller in and enjoy. All the buttons are the same as Double Dash, the new tricks are performed using the D-Pad and you have rumble feedback. The only draw back is that you’re hard wired into the console and by this point in time I’m sure most of us are spoiled by wireless controllers but if you have Wave Bird wireless Game Cube controller in your possession you’ll have the best of both worlds. Option three is to use the Wii remote and Nun Chuck combination, it is functional but to me it just feels to clumsy and unnatural to be used for racing game. Last but not least is the Classic Controller which is my personal favourite. Its wireless (sort of), having most of the SNES and N64 controller features it gives you that old school feel when playing and it’s accurate. My only gripe about it is the lack of rumble feed back and the way you have to juggle between the Classic Controller and the Wii Remote when navigating though the options. Apart from that the classic Controller is my weapon of choice with only a Wireless Game Cube controller being the one to top that.


Online

Mario Kart was a smash hit on all the Nintendo platforms but when it made its début on the DS it was a phenomenon. Apart from its super crisp game play and smooth graphics the added online feature just made the DS version totally addictive and even to this day people around the world are still playing WiFi matches. Nintendo also added online multiplayer with the Wii version, which was a no brainer on their behalf but this time they built up on the DS version by including some extras. Naturally that ‘DEFCOM 3 missile activation code’ AKA Nintendo friend code still has to be entered by both parties in order to play one of your mates but you now have the ability to send an invite to friends previously added to your Wii console via the Mario Kart channel which takes a little pain out of hammering in all those digits. With the new Mario Kart channel you can now check out if your friends are online, compete against ghost data, check out world wide rankings or participate in competitions. If online multiplayer is accessed through the actual game you have the choice of playing against random people in your country or around the world. Up to 12 competitors will automatically be grouped together, if you all start the game at the same time you get to see each others Mii characters give you a friendly wave from their position on the globe. If you jump into a group that has already commenced racing you have to kick back and wait until the next race but during this time you can watch the other competitors finish off their race from a replay style view. You begin your online experience with 5000 points which may increase or decrease depending on who you win or loose against in a race, if you decide to use the option to bring a guest with you when you go online that guest will remain neutral with no points to gain or loose. The online multiplayer has to be one of the games most appealing features, with the only draw backs being the choppy frame rate and resolution drop when the number of players increases and the stupid amount of weapons you get bombarded with when you’re in first place.


Graphics and sound

Obviously I expected the Wii version to out shine the DS version graphically by a long shot but when compared to the previous Game Cube version there isn’t much of a leap. Yes we now have a higher resolution when running though component cables and the new batch of Wii specific stages are bright, colourful and run smoothly, I was expecting more though. I understand that the remastered retro stages would look a little bland compared to the rest considering what they are originally based on. I really wanted to get blown away with the new stages and expected Nintendo to do some of their classic programming trickery to squeeze every last polygon out of the Wii’s GPU but unfortunately I didn’t and I’m afraid I’m going to have to put the Wii version’s graphics a small notch above what we got when playing Double Dash. There’s also the issue of the frame dropping when playing against a large number of opponents online. Luckily there’s more than enough quality game play to offset this so it hasn’t crippled the game at all.
The audio of this game is actually quite impressive, each track has their own theme music although some of them may be a little on the cutesy side they all pretty much suite the stages that they are assigned to. The vehicle and item sound effects are clearly presented and easily identifiable as well. The impressive aspect of the audio of this game is the actual quality; I ran the game through a surround sound receiver with great results. You could here what or who was coming up beside you through the correct speaker which is quite a valiant effort from Nintendo considering that the Wii is limited to the standard red and white audio cables.



Overall Rating 8/10

Mario Kart Wii is a good quality game with solid game play both single and multiplayer. Nintendo have tweaked with the classic Mario Kart formula to make the game friendlier for beginners and as much as I disapprove of this I have to admit it hasn’t affected the fun factor of game that much. Although I was expecting more from this latest instalment I have to bear in mind the hardware limitations and enjoy it for what it is. So if you’ve never played Mario Kart before just grab a hold of the Wii Wheel get straight into it and enjoy. If you’re Mario Kart veteran plug in the Classic Controller or Game Cube Controller and simply adjust your self to the new drifting system. Definitely worth a purchase and recommended for everyone.

Thank you for reading

-Guyv3r

Hardware add-ons for the 16bit era – Retro Insight

Anyone who’s a member of one of the MyMedia game site may have noticed that I’ve been posting retrospective articles on a fortnightly basis and just today the most recent article was posted and it covers the hardware add-ons for the fourth generation of consoles AKA the 16bit era.
mywii.com.au
myps3.com.au
myds.com.au
mypsp.com.au
my360.com.au
Click anyone of the above links to check out this week’s Retrospective article.
Well I grew up watching the 16bit console come to light with great interest and I ended up owning both a Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo, and no I wasn’t some spoiled kid I busted my ass doing crap work for local factories as a kid to fund my gaming hobbies.
See I used to purchase a lot of gaming mags to keep my self up to date with what’s out and what’s on its way. Mind you this was an expensive method of information gathering but it was our only decent information source back then, thinking back now it just makes me say; “thank you Internet”. I used to sit there flicking through mags dreaming about all the cool stuff sprawled across the pages and make myself a virtual shopping list. When I first heard about the Sega Mega CD I just had to have one, it was like; “games on CD they have to be awesome” and to make the Mega CD even more desirable the first game I sampled was Sonic CD which even to this day I think is one of the best Sonic games ever created. I remember one time I stood up for hours in Toys r Us playing the display model until I finished the game…then I got booted out for loitering. Sonic CD was one of many fond gaming moments and this one game alone basically sold me on the Mega CD and the time came when I finally got enough coin to buy my own, mind you it was a second hand one but I wasn’t complaining. I did start complaining when I began to explore the rest of the Mega CD library. 90 percent of the games sucked balls and I only endured them to get my moneys worth. There was nothing but rubbish FMV games and Megadrive ports believe me I was very disappointed and later on my Mega CD only got used to play Sonic CD and music CDs. Live and learn I guess, never get to excided over things you see in a magazine as pictures don’t portray the whole story.

The Sega 32X also caught my interest, back then I though the idea of turning my 16bit Megadrive into a 32bit gaming console was the best idea ever and I just couldn’t wait to get it and play the Virtua series and Doom and on that there were games that were made that required both system add-ons to work. My thinking back then; “If a game requires a Megadrive + Mega CD + the 32X it must be beyond awesome why else would they need all that hardware for?”. I’m glad I came back to reality and my desire to get the Sega Saturn put me off from buying a 32X. It ended up as a dismal failure anyhow and bombed something shocking. Tody I still want to get one because it’s one thing I want to add to my Sega collection. Who knows maybe I’ll snag one on ebay some day but PAL versions are hard to come by and a great deal of them are damaged thanks to the 32X crappy design.

As for the Super Nintendo add-ons I was very jealous of the Japanese because they were the only ones to get Satellaview. I didn’t know much about the system back then so researching and writing about it was very interesting for me as it answered a few questions I had when I first saw it in a magazine many years ago. If you managed to get one now that had some games downloaded onto it I’m sure it will be worth a lot to the right buyer. The Super Gameboy was a cool idea but I never bothered with because I was just playing the same two games which were Tetris and Mario Land and since I played them to death I had no urge to view them on a bigger screen.

Last but not least the Turbo Grafx-16 was something I wasn’t to familiar with because it never was popular in Australia and not many people bothered to import them over. I did like the idea of it have lots of Anime themed games but that was about it. Finding information about the CD add-on was tough as well.

Well there you have it a more personal note about the recent Retrospective.

Gaming Console Modifications

Here's an old article I wrote quite some time ago but I thought it may interest a few people so I decided to dig it up and post it here.

As most of have no doubt noticed people with the knowledge and the willingness have been modifying gaming console and portables, not the most recent of crazes although in my opinion one of the more interesting ones.
All you have to do is check Internet forums, galleries or even a Google search and your bound to come up with some cleaver persons personal creation, so much has been tried, from the more common case, button and light mods right down to creating a portable version of a last generation console.
So why do it? Why bother? You ask, well it would be like saying why modify a car, and being a modified car enthusiast myself, the appeal I would see from having a custom gaming system is, you have something that is truly yours, one of a kind, you can’t buy this in the stores kind of feel, and sometimes you can just look at something and think to yourself; “hmm I can make this better”, or maybe people like a challenge and can’t stop fiddling with things, there’s even been competitions run.

The Nintendo DS has been common grounds for a variation of mods, and since the introduction of the DS Lite, the original DS has been prime target most likely due to the fact the most have upgraded to the Lite.
Here are a few examples:


Original DS – Zelda case theme



Original DS – Donkey Kong game watch theme

Seems lately the DS Lite is no longer safe from modifiers, with case and light mods appearing all over the web and here’s a nicely presented Zelda themed DS Lite.

With backlit shield.

Also complimented with its own matching charging dock.

Just below is a neat lighting mod performed on a DS Lite, the LEDs are sound reactive, to see it in action check out the video.





Not just bound to cosmetic mods the Nintendo DS has received some interesting custom work, most of which seriously deviate from functionality, things like external hard drives and solar panels have been added, even a fully functional super sized DS has been created.


Original DS – with 40GB external HD



So the original DS doesn’t satisfy you for screen size requirements then check out this super sized version and prove it really works have a look at the video below.



The Nintendo Wii has also received it fair share of case mods even though it hasn’t been out for that long, but because of its cheaper price tag modifiers haven’t been discouraged.
With similar theme to the previously shown Zelda themed DS, this Zelda has been nicely done.



Wii – Zelda theme

Even the Wii-mote gets the LED treatment, with the ”A” button illuminating when switched on.


Moving up along the price scale of current generation gaming systems, the Xbox 360 has had a number of themed cases as well.
Here is a few nice examples:



xbox360 - half life mod



xbox360 - Illuminated case mod

One Xbox 360 modification that stands out is the integration of a water cooling system, this kind of cooling is usually reserved for high powered computers.


Now being the most expensive gaming system currently on the market I was quite surprised to see such a silly modification (that’s if you want to refer to it as that) performed to a PS3 a very expensive gag if you ask me or maybe this person just had access to a PS3 shell.
My apologies to PS3 fans this next video might make you cringe.





PS3 - Red case
Apart from this pictured red case PS3(white also available) there hasn't been anything very unique done to the PS3 but give it time.

Here's something I find quite fascinating, turning a current gen console into a laptop. The amount of work that would be required to make these concepts full functional is just awesome.



Wii Laptop
Don't know how you would look swinging around a Wii controller in public, but never the less it's still a cool idea and was created not to long after the release of the console.



xbox360 Laptop



xbox360 Laptop mk2

An xbox360 turned into a laptop could be quite useful as media portable media center, but I wouldn't be expecting quality battery life out of it.
One question on the minds of Sony fans is most likely "who's going turn their PS3 into a laptop?"

I guess many of us still have our older gaming systems lying around either collecting dust or stashed away for safe keeping, well if your not a collector and want to get some further use out of them apart from reliving fond memories from yesteryear why not make them into something else or even create a portable version.
Here are a few good examples:



NES – DVD player



NES – PC



NES cartridge external HD



PS2 – Portable



N64 – Portable



Atari 2600 – Portable



NES Controller – 4 post USB hub


PSP - Clear case with blue LEDs

The list of images could go on and on there has been so many cleaver creations surfacing over time, I know that some of these images have been circulating the Internet for some time and I can’t guarantee that all of these function correctly, but I thought it would be nice to see some of these modifications grouped together, and who knows maybe looking at these images and videos might have motivated someone to create their own master piece.

Written and researched by Matthew Armitage

Here comes Dr Tran

Ok a little of topic here but this is just too funny not to share, this video has been around for some time now and I've personally watched in many times and it still cracks me up. Check out the embedded video and laugh your ass off but beware there is quite a bit of mature language contained. For more Dr Tran related videos go to lonesausage.com there's a few other funny ones on the site as well but there's a few duds too.

Enjoy!!

Dead Fantasy - Video

Super Smash Brothers eat your heart out check the latest Monty oum masterpiece, yes it's the same guy that made Haloid. I wont bother giving you a description as this video speaks for it's self.