Couple Gaming

So everyone is wondering if Guitar Hero: World Tour is just a Rock Band rip off, and to be honest I can’t answer that fully, however it does appear that if it is a copy of Rock Band, they obviously did some good improvments to it.

The most obvious improvement is in the drums, not only did they add two elevated wedges that serve as a high-hat and a cymbal but it is also wireless! That’s right now the only thing wired in the whole set is the mic, which if you have seen pictures of my setup is a welcome change, as I hate having all those wires strung across the room,  hopefully someone will make a wireless mic soon.

Besides that there is also some good game play additions, like the ability to make your own songs in the Music Studio, which allows you to record four tracks: Lead, Rhythm, Bass, and Drums, and I hear this goes in much further than most of us will use, but people like Lunchb0x will love.  Also the customization is said to be very in depth, so much so that you can create your own tattoo and design your own band logos, etc.  Unlike Rock Band where you can only select from pre-created ones, granted they did offer a lot.  And there is one other addition that I think was a good thing to do, and that is the beginner mode, which is just strumming, which will let your younger kids enjoy the game a lot more.

So even though at first I had written off Guitar Hero: World Tour as just a wanna be Rock Band, and I still believe they are stealing the idea, it does look like they are bringing some good things to the table.  I guess the only left is to see what Rock Band 2 brings when it gets close to release and decide from there, either way it looks like we all win in this competition, just pick the one that best suits what you are looking for, that or buy a bigger garage to rock out with all of them!

It looks like the people who brought you the Carmen Electra Pole Dancing Kit are shopping around for someone to help make them a “Wii Pole Dancing” game. That’s right, Wii sucks you in with Hannah Montana.. feeds on you with “How to be an expert food-eater” and is now at “Be a better stripper”.

“Peekaboo will be all about fun and fitness for a new generation. Peekaboo wants to make the fitness benefits of aerobic pole dancing accessible to millions of Wii users. The goal is to encourage men and women of all shapes and sizes to improve their pole dancing skills while having fun, toning up and burning calories. Ultimately Peekaboo and AT New Media want to do for pole dancing what ‘Guitar Hero‘ did for rock n roll!”

OK, I understand that pole dancing is the new Pilates, and that the Wii is seriously trying to be the “console for ALL family members;” that aside, I’m not sure this is going to go over well. I’m just picturing hanging upside down, hugging a pole with my thighs, trying not to get a major head injury, on Level 8, and wondering… where do they plan to put the controller?

And to pre-empt the media: is this a gateway game to GTA X: Hooker Fever?

I’ve been ogling the Surgery games coming from Nintendo ever since I enjoyed Cooking Mama so much.  If it was that much fun to cut up a mushroom, how could it NOT be fun to remove someones intestines??

So, we picked up Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii.  I wasn’t aware I had picked up the “second opinion” until it showed up at my door, but figured I would give it a whirl anyway.

First, I would like to say .. YES. Yes, it is fun to remove someones intestines with your wii-mote.  Yes, it is also fun to cut them open, stitch them up, and pinch the wiimote to remove large shards of glass, or even a tumor. It is fun to suck up blood, give a shot for more health, and replace bone shards. These things are immensely amusing, and I loved doing them.

It’s not just fun for you.. it’s a gross-out fun factor for the whole family. Even my daughter had a look of awe as she removed her own glass shards. It’s fun to watch others, as well as try for yourself.. and easy to get the hang of in the first 5 or so operations.

What ISN’T fun is tabbing through cut-scenes for “plot,” and doing the exact same thing 15+ times for 1 operation. I’m not sure how I felt about having a “special power” that slows down time if I do something specific, but I gotta’ tell you.. after pinching some blood-clot thing for the 20^th time and still failing, I didn’t care if I was going to become a drugged-out has-been doctor. I was taking a “the earth wanted this man back” approach and letting the blood-clot things take him. The banality of the problems was also rather disappointing; if you had ANYTHING that could go wrong with someone in front of you, why choose blood clot things?? Why present tumors over & over?

So.. I say yes.. rent this game. Enjoy it for a rainy weekend with the family. Then don’t feel even a little badly about returning.

I would really like to know if anyone has played the first Trauma Center and if it is any better. Would anyone be willing to give a quick review?

Although both my daughter and wife love the wii, it never really seems to fit my play style. Most games for the Wii seem cheap or thrown together quickly to milk the cash cow that is the Wii, with of course the occasional exception, i.e. Smash Brother, Wii Sports etc. None that I was ever really excited for though, but I can understand the allure. That has now changed though with the soon to be released Bloom Box, developed by EA and Steven Spielberg.

From the press release

Fun for kids and the entire family, BOOM BLOX offers action-packed interactive activities that takes Wii play to a new level of creativity and fun with single player, co-op, and versus gameplay. Players can explore the visceral gameplay—perfectly suited for the Wii’s interactivity—that keeps them destroying their way through brain-twisting challenges. They can interact with entertaining characters such as the Blox-laying chickens or the baseball throwing monkeys, who bring personality to the Tiki, Medieval, Frontier, and Haunted themed environments. Additionally, players can remix any level of the game in Create Mode using props, blocks, or characters that have been unlocked during the game. Players can also virtually build anything they can dream up. Plus, their designs can then be shared with friends or used to challenge others to solve their newly created puzzle via WiiConnect24

And for your pleasure, a quick video.

Last year about this time, Ymiris & I were out shopping for our daughters christmas presents.  She was getting a Wii, so we were going through different games to get her.   The new concept Wii-motes were a scary idea, so we were leary of giving her games that would be too difficult to use or understand.  Ely & I were very much into Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, and figured it may be a good start.  After reading a few bad reviews a week or 2 before Christmas, we hastily took it back and traded it in for Elebits (horrible game, but a good how-do-you-do-this starter).

Now they have a new Avatar game out.   A year and a few bugs later, and I figured they’d have the whole thing down, right?

No.   And because that is such a small word for the magnitude that they’re forcing on you.. I must repeat heartily:  NO.

First, let’s go over the plusses… because otherwise, you’re going to think I hated this game.  You really have to grasp how much I really, REALLY wanted to like it.  I love the cartoon, and really believe it is under appreciated.  The first player plays consistently as Aang, with your 2nd player switching between Katara and Sokka depending on the storyline.  This keeps both players engaged, as you can’t both be Aang (the main character), but still moves along the story.

The story is the entire second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender; traveling to the earth kingdom and such.  This means that your child, or anyone that follows the storyline, is going to feel like they’re watching reruns on NickToons for the most part, with a few “hey, I wonder if they cut this out of the cartoon” parts thrown in for fun.  Of course, they also take out a lot of the story line, so I don’t know if someone that has never watched the cartoon would get as much of a kick out of the stranger things (like pentapox) as the avid watcher.

Now we delve into the negatives.  I tried this game on the Wii, so I can’t speak for the 360 or PS versions, but on the Wii, the special “combo moves” seemed to go off all on their own.  I would be walking down a hall, and suddenly Aang would go into some “bender” mode, where he sat on his air ball, waiting to throw out air at nonexistant people.  Aang did this so often, I started jiggling around the Wiimote, TRYING to make him do it when there were a lot of people, with little success.   When fighting large groups, we had to button mash and shake our hands up and down to try to get it to do all the cool things it did other times for no reason.  Luckily, the battles are easy and button mashing worked just fine to defeat them, but it seemed a sad waste of the Wii’s capabilities.  The bending capabilities to solve puzzles was a nice twist, but again the controls were clunky and there was no ability to move the camera, so multiple times you would jump and move without being able to see your character at all.  This eventually became more than just inconvenient.. down to frustrating and almost infuriating.

The final straw came when we  were told to stand on a runed circle, and two little images came up on how you should move your Wiimote on that circle.  What those pictures really meant is anyones guess… we thought it meant hold your Wiimote up, then put it sideways.  It also didn’t list WHO had to do that, so we both tried repeatedly.  My daughter got her character (Katara) to do SOMETHING on it, but it didn’t cause the puzzle to be solved, and after 20 minutes of both of us standing on that circle and doing everything we could think of, we finally threw up our hands and went to play The Scruffs.

In short, Avatar is still too buggy to play on the Wii.  If you have played this on another system and got it to work properly, we’d love to know what you thought of it.  Otherwise, I’m writing Avatar off as an unplayable game, and sticking with watching it on Nick.

As a final note, because my coworker (who we’ll call PointWhore) pointed this out to me first thing Monday morning, if you play Avatar on the 360, you can get all 1000 points by firing repeatedly at the wall in the very first board.   So for all those of you that connect with PW, that seems as good a reason as any to rent this game.  Just don’t rent it planning on playing past the first 5 minutes.

There were 52 video games released this week. I’m not kidding. 52!!! how do you know what your friends actually want, and what will get you removed from their 360 friends list?

We’ve done a little research… Try finding one of these when you’re out at the stores at 5am tomorrow. Remember, if it’s “Couple Gaming” approved, you can claim it’s for your friend AND their spouse! One less present to buy!

COUPLE GAMINGS CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

Mario Party DS (DS)

This game looks like it was made for the DS. Sure, Single-player Mario Party isn’t as much fun as with friends, but it has always been a put-down-pick-up-when-bored kind of game… and why else do people have DS’s? But it does offer multiplay with other DS’s, and if you have a friend who has a DS, they don’t need to buy the game to play with you!

Rock Band (All Game Consoles)

See Pre-Review.

Guitar Hero III (All consoles)

If your friends do not have this yet, it is your duty as a friend to give it to them.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat (DS)

OK, so this is traditionally a non-couple-oriented game. But I know FAR too many people that viewed the Fatalities as “easter eggs” and were truly rewarded when viewing the unique way of disemboweling your opponent. Add that feeling to the new puzzle-inclusions, and I’m betting this is going to be enjoyed if both spouses have a DS. It looks like you’re also able to play online wirelessly.. so maybe I’ll have something else to do while I’m cooking…errr.. okay, watching Ymiris cook.

Mario Galaxy (Wii)

It seems everyone has been looking forward to this game; so much so, we’re pretty sure there will be bad reviews for months. Still, it’s worth trying..

Scene It (360)

Just like the normal Scene It that your nephew got you 3 years ago and you played only when they came over, there is now one that comes with cool controllers… so you don’t have to hunt around for the DVD Remote to play. But, no online play.. so if you want to play, make sure they live close, and you like going over there. And that they have a large liquor cabinet…

SimCity Societies (PC)

See Ymiris’ Post

The Orange Box (All Consoles)

Sure, this is mostly non-couple-oriented.. HL2 & Team Fortress 2 definitely can cause one spouse to become bored and nauseous while the other plays… but the Portal inclusion means it’s spouse-approved, with both members trying to solve the puzzles.

Bargain Bin Gifts

If you’re out wandering around and happen to see one of those “buy 3 get 2 free” boxes, shuffle around in them a little. If you see any of the following, snatch it up like a tickle-me-elmo doll & hide it in the bottom of your basket. These ones are pure gold!

Ghost Master (PC)
It’s like the sims, only you’re scaring people. Ahhh, I miss this game so much.

Phoenix Wrights (DS)
I will never have enough of it. NEVER!!!!

Movies (PC)
It’s like the sims, only you create your own movies. I loved the movies I made.. with the fires and the heartache and the horrible acting… back when all I had was a western bar set, and I wrote it myself. I want it back!!!

Alien vs predator (PC)
Even though this is more a single-player game, I remember Ophilye screaming with glee after being killed, and of course vomiting from the motion sickness. Good times! (When is the new one coming out!?)

EQ (PC)
yes I know, its still there, and we can’t go back to it now, but you always remember your first! We fired up EQ II the other day. It just isn’t the same.

Warcraft 2 / Starcraft (PC)
Another first for me, and something I spent many a mountain dew indulged night with!  This is always a good game to network and play for hours.

Ymiris Wish List:

It’s just not a list without Ymiris throwing in things that he’s been investigating.  This won’t get you bonus points as being something both members of a spouse will enjoy, but you will be thought of as someone on top of the latest hotness.

Assassin Creed (360)

Remember how much fun thief was? Well think of it made better and updated graphics! Only thing missing is Multiplay. We used to play theif as a couple way back when, and we’re pretty sure we’ll get the same kick out of this one. *Update*  We’ve now been receiving word that this is nothing like thief… more the openness of GTA, but the feeling of

Mass Effect (360)

It’s out, and if you aren’t playing it maybe you need to buy yourself and early gift eh?  If not, pick it up for a friend and plan on “borrowing it” the day after they beat it.

Spore (PC)

This is on a lot of peoples wish list, but without a release date announced this could be on their list next year as well!

OphilyesWish List

Pfft, if Ymiris is going to have a list, I damn well am!

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends (DS)

No this game isn’t fun because girls like to cook.. cuz I don’t. It’s fun because.. well.. because it isn’t actually cooking. And because cutting things up is fun. Oh, I’m so ashamed for loving this game… and I know about 5 guys that feel the same way. Which means in about a month, you get to catch your male friends playing it & taunt them mercilessly. Ahhh, now that’s the Christmas present that just keeps on giving.

Childrens Wish List

Games that you buy for your child, but you’re okay playing with them after they go to bed…

Petz 2 games (DS)

Catz, horsez, dogz, and evidently dolphinz now. (DS, Wii)

Clue/Mousetrap/Perfection/Aggravation Compilation (DS)

Build-A-Bear (DS)

Hannah Montana World Tour (Wii) -
Okay, so maybe I want this a little too. Okay, a lot.

What about you? What are you writing to Santa for? What are you getting your friends? What do you miss?

When Guitar Hero III came out, we thought we had a choice to make: GH III or RockBand? GH coming out sooner pretty much sealed it for us (though if I had the choice to make again, I would have skipped GH III).

Saturday, Ymiris & I were out looking for christmas games for our friends when we came across a demo for Rock Band. They had a guitar, a set of “drums”, and a microphone, and it was set up right next to a demo for GHIII. Side-by-side, you can tell they come from the same minds. The graphics are incredibly similar, so much that I would almost call it a Guitar Hero 4. The tabs are a little changed, and the graphics look revamped (almost for the worse), but it’s easy enough to understand if you’ve ever seen GH.

After watching the graphics for a few minutes, we decided to try our hand at it. That’s right, it’s Couple Gaming Band.. with Ymiris on Guitar, and Ophilye on the Drums (I wasn’t about to take up the microphone in the middle of Best Buy) , performing EPIC.. as made famous by Faith No More.

Ymiris picked Medium and picked it up with ease. The guitar from the front looks a little less game-ish; the colors are listed along the side, and the buttons are the entire length of the guitar neck, instead of just buttons sitting on top of it. Ymiris reported immediately that they took a few minutes to get used to, and it wasn’t entirely a pleasurable experience, unlike the new wireless GHIII guitar. But, it wasn’t as sticky as the GHII guitar either.. so I suppose that is a good thing.

I picked Easy for the drums, and quickly realized that the yellow drum was broken, so I could only hit the other 3 notes. I also realized that there was no foot pedal.. but I still did pretty well without those 2 things. It came a lot more naturally than you would think, as I have never played the drums in my life; however, it was also a lot more difficult to keep the beat, at least in that song. There were drum beats where I couldn’t hear any, and it was missing things I thought would be there (it turned out being the base). However, the hardware was incredibly easy to get used to, and spaced apart fairly well.

Instead of just strictly Star Power to boost your collective score, you used something similar to help out your friends when they were sucking it up *cough*ymiris*cough*. The vocals & the drums have no control over when they use their power, but the base & guitar do. (I mean really, what are you going to do, shake the drums up & down to use the power? hehehe.. that would be awesome..)

Lastly.. we must bring up the songs. Now, I personally loved the GH1 songlist, was OK with the GH2 songlist, and despise the GH3 songlist. Don’t get me wrong, Barracuda is good, but when there are only 3 songs you like, they get annoying very quickly. Rock Bands songlist is Much more impressive. NIN, Garbage, the Clash, Soundgarden, Jet? These are bands I WANT to be! And they already have out 10 downloadable packs! granted $.99 - $1.99 per song is an obnoxious price to pay, (C’mon Microsoft. Just because I’ll pay it to have it on my Zune does NOT mean it’s acceptible for a stupid GAME that can’t go ANYWHERE with me!) but at least you’re not paying that amount for songs that already came in another game *cough*GH1*cough*. To get a full list of songs, view Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_son… )

So, as for the answer of GHIII or RB… well.. on our way out of Best Buy, Ymiris & I began discussing things. We’re pretty sure Santa could bring it to us this year, as Ymiris has been an absolute saint. Which, we continued discussing, is good, cuz I’ve been an absolute bitch. Luckily, I have some dirt on Mrs. Clause, so I’m expecting my Acura RDX to be in the driveway by 4 am.

I’m off for now. I need to go brush up on my singing…

“Wait.. they don’t love you like I love you.. maaaaaaaaahaaaahaaahhaaaaaps Wait.. They don’t love you like I love you!”