buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Archives for May 2008

New Resident Evil 5 Trailer

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If you missed it last night, here’s a link to the HD version of the latest episode of Gametrailers TV, which has the world premier of the newest trailer for Resident Evil 5, aka the Buttonmasher’s most anticipated game EVER. You can jump right to the trailer

If you’d just like to see the RE5 trailer (in SD, for the moment) you can see that here.

Along with that, I grabbed a handful of screenshots from the trailer and threw them up on Flickr. You can see the whole set here.

RE5 Screen - 4

Right now, RE5 looks like a high-res version of RE4. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, as RE4 is superb. I just hoped to see something more. And not just a new femme fatale.

GamOvr

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“GamOvr is a collaborative effort to share video game pictures we find interesting.”

A lot of cool pix up there, including one of my favorite animated gifs of all time:

Wii All You Can Be?

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Why the Military Needs the Gaming Industry

An interesting Popular Mechanics article about gaming (and gaming interfaces in particular) and how the military is using gaming technology.

“What an interesting evolution, I thought. For years, video games had been appropriating the controls of airplane yolks (Atari 2600 joystick) and guns (the famous “Duck Hunt” pistol)—interfaces common to military equipment—and now the military is using equipment that evolved in the gaming industry.”

Not sure about comparing the NES Zapper to the real thing, but whatever. The Super Scope, though…

“By now, the dual analog thumbsticks on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers have turned the standard logic of the first-person shooter (FPS) into muscle memory for most red-blooded young American men”

and

“Some might say that all those teenagers “wasting time” on Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 are actually the warfighters of tomorrow, training themselves at zero cost to the U.S. taxpayer. In fact, when offered the choice between the traditional airplane controls and gamepad controls, many younger soldiers pick the thumbsticks that are familiar to them.”

Ender’s Game, anyone?

As always, read the whole thing.

Kids say the darnedst things

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While we were playing Mario Kart on the Wii this evening, my brother-in-law mentioned how he really liked the SNES version of Mario Kart, or as he called it, “old Mario Kart.” My daughter asked how you played the “old Mario Kart.” We explained that you played it pretty much the same way you play Mario Kart on the Wii, only with a different controller.

Then she asked what it looked like. Again, we said it looked a lot like Mario Kart on the Wii. She followed that question up with, “was it in black and white?”

How old does she think I am?!

Needful things

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GTA IVWe need things like air, water, food and shelter. We want things like T-bone steak dinners and down comforters. All of us have the things we need. Luckily, most of us have a lot of things we want.

Somewhere around the 20% mark of GTA IV, it went from being a want to a need. I have become thoroughly engrossed in the story and I’m anxiously doing missions so I can see what happens next. I need to see how things end. It’s no longer a matter of wanting to. My well-being depends on it. Which is the main reason I’ve been so sparse around here lately.

I’m working on a bigger post for GTA IV, but I do want to point out a couple things, one good and one bad. The bad — almost all of the humor, the “jokes”, the throw-away details are puerile and immature. It’s not fratboy-humor, it’s 13 year-old, giggle everytime someone says “Hancock” humor. It gets old fast. The citizens of Liberty City are unnaturally foul mouthed and hot-headed. They will throw-down at the drop of a coffee cup. It also gets old. I could do without a lot of these “details”.

The good — the main character, Niko, is really well done. I don’t know if Robert De Niro was an inspiration for this character, but I see a lot of him in Niko. The facial expressions, way he talks, the hand-gestures and posture are all spot-on. Even though the guy is morally bankrupt, he is still interesting in a “The Professional” sort of way. I am anxious to see more of his character.

So with that, I must away with myself. Liberty City calls.

[Gamer Responsibility] Growing Another Hand

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Wii Fit comes out this week.

Nintendo, please…stop.

Actually, my wife and I were excited about the possibility of Wii Fit—more so about the possibility of using Wii Fit. We’re not getting it now. For having the cheapest selling (more on that in a minute), fastest selling, and most unique console, Nintendo kills you when it comes to peripherals. I would assume that most readers here who have a Wii don’t just have the basic remote and nunchuk.

How many other games are going to use the Wii Fit peripheral? Looking back, how many used the drums, dance pads, guitar(s), microphones, wheels, etc. other than their bundled games?

Since the release of the console, it appears that almost every AAA first-party title on the system has needed more than just the Wiimote. Sure, many titles can be played with just the included controller, but many of those same titles play better with the nunchuk (also included). Let us see: Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Strikers Charged, Metroid Prime 3, Mario Kart Wii, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Fit. Yep, it seems as if every title needs a controller add-on. Excite Truck may be the only other major title that can be played with just the remote. It looks like the good ol’ ‘chuck needs to be used on most of them. What happens when you add a player? That $250 console just became a $310 console (another controller plus nunchuk). Now add two more players.

Ouch. We’re in Sony and Microsoft territory now. Their better online play exempts buying another controller for me. I have two 360 controllers. Interestingly, most third party titles get away with just using the standard remote. Of course, they don’t have a need to sell an add-on either.

We won’t even discuss the “classic” controller which is not really all that classic in look, style, or feel. (another $20). And the Wii Zapper? Terrific.

A couple of the games listed earlier let you use the Gamecube controller to play, and ironically it’s even preferred by most gamers on one title. Speaking of Gamecube, I own three drums and two dance pads. Ask me how much we use them.

Why do we need all these extra controllers? Why? I’ve not even touched on all the guitars and instruments that usually work for one game or their sequels…maybe. It appears that the next Guitar Hero is going to have it’s own instrument set. My guess is that it’ll even be exclusive. I really don’t know. I could care less about the music games—Boom Boom Rocket is my level of video game music depth, oh, and Audiosurf—a music game that doesn’t need an extra device to play. In the end, some gamers are going to have more instruments than most real bands.

When I saw the Wii remote for the first time, I was pretty excited about the possibility of playing games with as few buttons as possible. Control simplicity seemed like it was back in our grasp, so to speak. Pointless thinking. (Pun gloriously intended—both times). I will admit, however, that the Wiimote/nunchuk setup for some games is rather intuitive. Excellent, even. I cannot imagine Metroid Prime without it. Keep the gaming design there. Stop. No more add-ons—by anybody. Nintendo is certainly the leader, but, terrifyingly, it appears that the big money is in peripheral bundles.

We already have a Rubbermaid box by our couch that holds all our system controllers and add-ons for a 360 and a Wii. It’s full—a five gallon tote. No more room for another device will use for a period and it’ll sit in the box not to be used for anything else.

The game we keep coming back to: Excite Truck.

All Around Me Are Familiar Faces

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I’m going to warn you that this is hyper-violent. I also think it’s the most interesting visuals seen in a game since Okami. Oh…oh…OH! Guess what! It’s made by the same group of guys who made Okami. Welcome to Madworld.

Ebert, thoughts? Sigh.