buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

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On Why I Loathe Mario Kart Wii

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mariokartsummarySailing along in first place and leading by almost half a leap on the group. The finish line is in site. Maybe a game distance of 20 feet. Blue shell. Red shell. Red shell. Green. Green. Red. Red. Hello 9th place. What just happened?

Poor balancing, that’s what.

I’ve never completed Mario Kart Wii. I don’t have the patience to do so. It has the most playtime of any of our Wii games at home (over 200 hours), but it’s not a game to play for serious players. It is a fun game, but it has this wonderful knack for not rewarding skill.

I don’t mind the powerups. I do mind that there is no counters for some or even a remote chance for others. Do the powerups add any strategy to the game? Not one bit. Some people may argue that, but it’s just too random. To random for this gamer to enjoy. I’ll stick with my DS and SNES versions.

As a side note, does anyone else’s Wii put slight scratch marks around the outer edge of their games–especially ones they play a lot? We’ve gone through one Excite Truck disk and our Mario Kart copy has been giving read errors lately.

My Podcast Playlist, updated

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PodcastingI never meant to wait this long to update my podcast playlist, but my how the time has flown.

For reference, this was what my podcast playlist looked like a couple years ago. A lot can happen in that time. Three of those shows are no more, a few are a shell of their former selves and the rest are going strong. But now it’s time to reorder my top 5. For a while, I was listening to a lot of different podcasts. Way too many. So I decided to whittle my playlist down to a select few. These are the ones that have made the cut.

I recently got a new iPod Nanothat plays video, so in addition to the new podcasts I’ve picked up to replace the old ones, I also started watching a few video podcasts. I won’t include those in the list, but I’m really liking Area 5‘s video-cast, CO-OP.

Also, allow me a second to prove how well rounded I am. I don’t just listen to gaming podcasts. Here are a few non-gaming podcasts I really enjoy (links take you to the iTunes page where available): The BS Report (Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy from ESPN, talks about sports, pop culture and a little of everything else. I’m not embarrassed to admit I like Simmons), Wizards of the Coast D&D podcast (I started listening to this to hear the Penny Arcade/PvP guys play D&D, which is strangely compelling), This Week in Tech, and You Look Nice Today (I don’t know how to describe this one. Listen to a couple episodes and you’ll know immediately if it’s for you or not).

So on to the new list.
Honorable Mention: VirginWorlds (iTunes Link) – I don’t play as many MMOs any more, but when I need a fix, I listen to a little VirginWorlds. Extra Life Radio (iTunes Link) – More of a geek podcast than a gaming podcast, but a fun listen nonetheless.

5. CAGCast/CAG Foreplay (CAG Cast iTunes Link, CAG Foreplay iTunes Link) – The CAG Cast was my #1 podcast the first time I made this list, but they faltered a bit and went through a period when they seemed tired of podcasting and generally disinterested. Luckily, they worked through it and seemed to have regained their enthusiasm, but I find that I listen to their show later than the other ones. I’m also including CAG Foreplay, another CAG podcast that is equally enjoyable.

4. Major Nelson (iTunes Link) – Not much more to add to what I said a couple years ago. Major Nelson is a podcasting machine. Still can’t get much closer to the source than Major Nelson.

3. Gamers with Jobs Conference Call (iTunes Link) – I’ve been going to their site for a while for their excellent writing, but when these guys get together in front microphones, good things happen. One of the things I really like about the GWJCC is when they talk about an esoteric game you’ve never heard and they discuss it with such passion that you can’t help yourself but give it a try.

2. Listen Up! (iTunes Link) – The artists formerly known as 1UP Yours, Listen UP is still going strong.

1. Giant Bombcast (iTunes Link) – My new #1 show, the Giant Bombcast is great. These guys are a riot to listen to and their gaming knowledge goes deep. I could go on and on about how funny these guys are, but you can listen to this (I LOL everytime) to get a taste (this was part of one of their E3 podcasts, talking about Nintendo’s Press Conference). This podcast is the real deal.

So that’s what I’m listening to. Do any of you guys listen to these? Am I missing any gems I haven’t listed here?

Over XBox Achieving

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I understand there is a huge debate over the merits of Achievements on the XBox 360, and for the most part I think people tend to make a big deal out of nothing. Either people put way too much into getting them or they often feel too strongly about how worthless the concept is and think it’s important to share this point of view.

I think like any standard of measurement, even as unscientific and illogical as it may be, achievements are only as important as you make them. For me though I established one rule that I have stuck by even though it has been painful at times. I will not put aside, trade-in, give away, or throw out a game that I have not earned at least one achievement while playing.

This was, in theory, my “give it a fair shot rule”. Since not all games dole out achievements equally I have often felt frustration trying to live up to my rule. While I don’t exactly flaunt my Gamercard I’m not going to hide it either. The one useful metric achievements has given me is an easy display that I at least tried a game before I used the disc as skeet.

I don’t think you have to finish a game before you can decide if you like it or not. A game that is absolutely brilliant in the last two hours but painful to play in the first two is not a good game. Of course, the typical game often shows the lack of focus it had later in its development the longer you go through a game, so if it was bad in the beginning it is likely to get worse as a good rule of thumb. My belabored point is that sometimes a bad game is just a bad game and wading through the manure hoping to find a diamond is a fool’s errand.

However, that said, I like to be able to “prove” I give every game that graces my disc tray a real chance. I won’t deny that it’s a point of pride that I will not dismiss, or even love, a game lightly.

Feeling out of it

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I was Blockbuster today, perusing the gaming section and thinking to myself, “Self, you are really out of it. Look at all these games you aren’t playing! Get with the program, man.” While I’ve never been able to keep up with all the latest games, I have fancied myself as someone who is “with it” and in the “in crowd” in terms of new games. Sure, I’ve been playing a little Sacred 2: Fallen Angel and a lot of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, but outside of those two, I have hardly played anything new. So there I am at Blockbuster, all the games I want to be playing are staring back at me, beckoning my rental dollars. Games like Bionic Commando, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tiger Woods 10, Terminator: Salvation and of course, Resident Evil 5. It’s almost blasphemous that I haven’t played RE5, as RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and my RE4 translation guide is still one of the highest trafficked pages on the site.

I need to play some of these games.

To make matters worse, more and more games have been popping up, garnering good reviews and generating a lot of buzz. Those games would include UFC 2009 Undisputed, Red Faction Guerilla, Ghostbusters, and Punch Out. And those are just 360 and Wii games. Nevermind the PS3, PSP or DS. Good grief.

So I hope to rectify my recent absence of gaming. I picked up Resident Evil 5 while I was there at Blockbuster and have high hopes (notwithstanding Brock’s recent tweet). Too bad Xbox Live will be down today, I really want to try co-op RE5. Then it’ll be some UFC Undisputed and Red Faction. Oh, and I’ll finish up Riddick, as well. And I’ll have fun, dangit!

How do you keep up? Or do you even try?

I Want to Be Held in Your Hand

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Some quotes from various blogs reporting at E3:

“Microsoft’s new motion controller is a camera, that uses object, movement, and voice recognition to deliver a new kind of immersive gaming experience.”

“We’ve seen Paul’s Höfner bass, John’s Rickenbacker 325 guitar and George’s Gretsch Duo Jet guitar. All that’s missing is Ringo’s drum kit. Until now.” (That’s three guitars, a set of drums, and three mics—Nat)

“Ubisoft announced Your Shape, a new fitness game for the Wii. But more interesting than the game itself is how you “play” it — with a new Wii camera peripheral that reads your body positioning.”

“Red Steel 2 may not have multiplayer, but it does have Wii MotionPlus. No, make that, it requires the Wii MotionPlus add-on.”

“Nintendo announces the Wii Vitality Sensor, a device that attaches to the tip of the player’s finger that measures their vital signs and helps them relax.”

“Richard Marks was here to show off the first PlayStation motion controller, the PS2 EyeToy. The latest camera will enable “a completely new set of experiences” using a new controller.”

This is my response:

NO!

I imagine that some are excited by this, but I am sick of buying one-shot peripherals. I have enough plastic as it is and I’m nowhere near close to what some people have. Of course, it’s all here to stay. This is truly the over-priced-plastic-device waggle age.

I, for one, am taking back my living room.

Thanks to Kotaku, Joystiq, and 1up for the quotes.

Ruh Roh Raggie!

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I was looking through my Google reader subscriptions and found this gem on i.gizmodo.com and thought I’d share it with all of you.


EDIT:I completely forgot to tell you why this picture was posted…wow I must have been out of it. This is a picture of the computer screen in a nuclear power plant in Iran. The box on the screen is a windows error, not something you would want to see.

Too funny to pass up.

Let’s not start this again

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First, the DS was endangering our children, making them easy prey for all the bad guys out there. Hopefully that misconception was either ignored or corrected.

Now, it’s the Wii that is going to let the bad guys destroy our children’s innocence. This, once again, is fear mongering at its worse:

Using the game you create a character and create your own town and house. When hooked up to the internet you can talk to anyone across the country.

WRONG.

“There is no reason an adult should have this game,” says Andy Anderson, Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force.

WRONG.

Anderson says adults playing “animal crossing” and similar games are likely doing it for the wrong reasons.

WRONG.

Three strikes! Yer outta here!

2008 Spike Video Game Awards

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Way back in the formative years of the Buttonmashing.com, I subjected myself to one of the first Spike TV Video Game Awards shows. It was terrible. I’ve had little or no interest in the show since, but for some reason, I feel like punishing myself for some unseen crime and decided to watch the VGAs, at least for as long as I can take it.

It started off disastrously, with a weird thing with Jack Black in bed with an Xbox 360 and a PS3. I almost gave up before it got started.

I won’t be live-blogging it, but I will chime in occasionally when something particularly egregious happens.

Of course, if you really hate yourself, you can follow Joystiq’s live blog here.

9:29 – Mike Tyson and Peter Moore on the stage at the same time. The Apocalypse is upon us. Tyson wants us to, “Decide whosthe the real Kingth” is.

9:40 – Say what you will about Jack Bauer (I mean Kiefer Sutherland), he has a voice made for video games. Mrs. Buttonmasher concurs.

10:30 – Alright, I think I’ve seen enough. Handing the remote over to the missus. Thank you, Spike, for not totally disgusting me.

Parents with Common Sense

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I don’t know how many times in the last year my wife and I have received a movie from Netflix only to get about five to ten minutes into it and be amazed at the junk Hollywood is putting out. Some of these are PG and PG-13 movies. In the last six to nine months we’ve taken a different approach to consuming a lot of different media. Amazon reviews have been a good source when it comes to books and some movies and close, online friends have been great when it comes to video games.

For a long time, I’ve been wishing for a one-stop place on the web where all aspects of media consumerism are reviewed with the family in mind. Enter a little Common Sense Media.

I’m not for sure how long the site has been around, and I’ve only just come across it today via a new feature on Netflix. However, this site does an excellent job of being descriptive but also being spoiler free. A quick scan of some popular movies, books, and games and they have been pretty much spot on. Some reviews even present some discussion questions you can use with your family if you do decide to let them consume something that may not be normally appropriate for children.

I think I’ll be visiting the site a little more in the future before we decide to allow the boys to consume any type of media. Of course, we’re still going to be more responsible than that by viewing it ourselves as parents before they do. We took them to see Madagascar 2 based on the standards of the first movie alone. We enjoyed the movie, but my wife and I were a little apprehensive taking them to see something that potentially we wouldn’t want them to experience.

Let me step on my soap box for a moment. There will be a time where our boys will see and experience violence, language, bad humor, sex, and all sorts of other things that we won’t let them see now. However, that will be when they are grown up and on their own and, hopefully, have the same level of standards and responsibility that we’ve tried to instill in them. We want them to have integrity and to not be morally corrupt. However, the choice is still their own. Until then, they are my responsibility.