Couple Gaming

It has been a very long time since I have played a fishing game.  As a matter of fact I think the last one I played was one of those little hand held devices you could pick up just about anywhere.  I liked them enough, but it never held my attention for more then a few minutes at a time and obviously was no where near as fun as real fishing was, but it was nice to pass the few minutes on the car drive to the lake.

I can’t say I am actually excited about this game, and even less so with the rumored $70 price tag, but I am interested.  Watch the video and decide if you would drop $70 for it, in the mean time, see you on the lake!

If you are anything like me you have been hearing about how awesome House of the Dead: Overkill for the Wii is, but what was so special was never really conveyed to me, either due to my own reading skills or the way the reviewers told their story.  So let me break it down for you.

Ophilye and I were in crappy moods and we both felt like a good game of shooting zombies would make us feel better, and Gamefly just sent us House of the Dead: Overkill.

Now what made this game so fun to us is it did what we didn’t expect, so if you want that same feeling, maybe you should stop reading and just go rent it.  If you are walking the line between “oh, yet another iteration of that stupid game” and “well, maybe it’ll be fun..” then please read on.

*****SPOILER ALERT****

Ok so this is the Wii, the console that every woman and child in america has or wants, with loads of shovel-ware thrown its way and most of it’s target demographic wearing makeup or playing with dolls.  With this expectation, when the game opened to a stripper, dancing away, and I am not talking animated stripper, this is full motion video of a real 70’s stripper with a wii controller, I was excited.  Now don’t get too excited, she wasn’t naked, but she was sexy and it was the perfect opener for a game that was balls to the wall and something straight out of grindhouse!  2 men throwing obscenities left and right  before you even get control of the game,   The writing and cinamatics reminded me of  Tarentino’s recent “GrindHouse” flick, it caught us so off guard both Ophilye and I were laughing and cheering.  We then got to the game play, which was just like the old House of Dead, you point the wii controller and shoot zombies as the camera dictates what you will see and where you will go.  Truth be told, if this game only had the gameplay it wouldn’t appeal to too many people, unless you loved House of the Dead (I did!)  or wanted a light gun shooter game.  But luckily they added that “grindhouse” effect and story line and that made us both want to keep playing.

It’s obvious at this point that I’ve only played the first level, but am BEYOND excited to continue playing.  The obscenities, violence (albeit poorly-lit & 70’s-ish), and blatant sexuality makes it a game we have to play when the Couple Gaming Test Subject goes out to play, so I wanted to let every couple gamer out there know:  TRY OUT THIS GAME.  We know you bought the Wii for the wife & kids, but this is the “mans game” you’ve been hoping would one day show it’s pimply ass.

Go, make the wii full of testosterone.  It’ll be good for both of you.

Anyone that is a friend of this site knows my favorite games:  Phoenix Wright & Hotel Dusk.

I’ve been lucky enough that the Phoenix Wright line has continued to 4 or 5 games (like a good book series), but I have been left cold with Hotel Dusk.

Cing, the creators of Hotel Dusk as well as Trace Memory, is creating a new game:  Eye of Providence.  Here’s just a quick teaser of the game (be warned, it’s not a _good_ preview, and it’s a little dizzying, but at least we get a taste of what the developers are shooting for).

As a side note, Wikipedia is saying that Cing is also creating another Trace Memory, but this time for the Wii. I have high hopes…

Since the Wii has come out, they have really tried to utilize their nifty Wii-mote.  Yes, it’s an original design, yes you could do a lot with it.  Unfortunately, when testing out what works and what doesn’t, the Wii has come up with a lot of games that are absolute CRAP.  It’s to the point that I am afraid to buy a Wii or DS game, for fear that they are just pushing out shovel-ware.

But, as anyone that has been on this site more than once knows, I am a sucker for pretty colors, and De Blob has them in spades.  The premise is that the city has been taken over by little inkblots that have died everything black & white, filled the canals with ink, and kidnapped it’s citizens into being black dots with banal jobs.

You are a color-devoid blob, but you suck up the color of any paintbucket you touch… and you dye anything you touch as well.  So, you jump on a red paint bucket, you absorb 20 paint points, and you go paint 20 buildings.   You absorb a red and a blue paint pot, and you now have 40 purple paint points.  absorb another red after that, and you have 60 red points.  Easy, right?

OK, so the game has the possibility to get really boring really fast, but then you have little jobs to do.  “Oh Blob” gushes one little green girly-swirl, “please paint all these buildings green.”  No problem.  A guy wants “50 blue paint points to change this prison into an art studio”.. ok fine.

But the game has to get more difficult, right?  Next she wants “all of these buildings red, blue, and purple.  A little demanding, but ok.  On the next board, she says, in what I perceive to be a whiny, nasal voice “I want the top chartreuse, the middle kinda’ a burgundy color, the bottoms blue, and the little pin at the top a bright pink.  And do it in 30 seconds!”  I find myself then swearing back at her in words no one but a sailor should be shouting. “YOU #*(&ING &*#(@! DO YOU HAVE ANY F&*(#@ IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO JUMP?!  THERE AREN’T EVEN ANY #&*@()$&*( PAINT POTS AROUND HERE! YOU &#*(@ &#*(@&$#*(!!!”, and Ymiris has to send out the Couple Gaming Test Subject out of the house, lest she be corrupted by her mother swearing at colors.

But, these more difficult challenges are optional, are as all of the “achievements” you can get, such as coloring every tree or freeing every citizen.   This game really excels at playability at any gamer level, as well as re-playability, if you want to complete more “achievements”.

There is little to no pointing (smart move, as this game really doesn’t need it), and the shaking is used only when really needed.  It could have been made on any console, but the seperate-hands controller does make this game a little more user friendly (and stopped me from throttling people, though did give me a handy way to wrap the cord around my own neck).

The biggest downside is the save points: Before  or after a board.  THat’s it.  If you run out of time or die too many times, you go back to the beginning of the board, all the challenges and colors completely reset.

So.. I say give it a try.  The replayability & pretty colors means you can take it out when you’re bored or if new people come over,  and it may be one of those things you bring out when people say “pfft, wii games suck.”  Just don’t talke to the green swirly girl.  She’s a bitch.

So, a professor at BYU (everyone in Salt Lake, please commence vomiting now.  Everyone else, please place your bias regarding mormons here as well.  Done?  OK, let’s continue then shall we?) did a study showing how Video Games influence the life of college students.

Evidently, the media in general stole what they wanted out of it, stating that gaming and bad relationships/drug use are directly related.  Kotaku has gotten to the bottom of this and the professor has stated more the thinking below:

“Also, please remember the nature of the statistics shows that as one variable goes up the other went down. For example, the more one played video games the lower their quality of relationships. That suggests that, as with almost anything in life, that the more extreme you get in its use the more problematic it becomes. That doesn’t therefore show that moderate use is bad. Not by any means. Also please remember, these are averages. Just because you happen to be an “exception” doesn’t mean that the results cannot be “true” for a good number of young people. Right?”

OK, that makes sense.  It becomes interesting when the BYU website seems to clarify, as well as muddle…

“It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time,” Walker said. “My guess is that it’s some of both and becomes circular.”
…..
Statistical analyses also revealed that the more young adults play video games, the more frequent their involvement in risky behaviors like drinking and drug abuse. Young adults who played video games daily reported smoking pot almost twice as often as occasional players, and three times as often as those who never play.

Wait.. hold on a second.  Both of these statements are leading to same thing, but can easily lead people to believe two different things.

If you see someone going from playing 1 hour of video games a week to 10 hours, and see them fighting with their parents more & increasing drug use… which act could be causing the other??  How do you WANT to see it?

Of course, the same could be said of reading 1 hour a week to reading 10 hours a week.. or going out with friends 1 hour vs 10 hours, or watching TV.    Shouldn’t the study also have included other “escapist” activities, instead of trying specifically for this study?

Couple Gamings stance is that the study should be ruled inconclusive.  Also, we’d like to volunteer for the next study, as long as it is truly well thought out.

As aside note, when the Couple Gaming Daughter & Sometimes Test Subject fights with her parents, she does homework (as it’s the only time she can really be alone in her room without us calling her Emo).  Maybe we can use this study to link homework with drug use as well?

Here at Couple Gaming, we have amassed a whole two (yes, 2) people to review games & pull all the really interesting things off the web that we believe is relevant to couples (This is my silent scream for help). Because of this, we usually miss 90% of the brand new games, but try very hard to pull things out of the woodwork that others may have missed or forgotten about and would  really enjoy.

So, with that caveat, I swear if anyone mentions “OMG, You’ve just played a 3 year old game for the last 2 months?!” to me in the forums, I may have to hurt you.

Lost In Blue starts quickly – you are a boy whose cruise ship has crashed, and the opening is that you have washed up on a deserted island. You have very low health, and need to find something easy to eat, quickly. There is no “how to”, there are not many suggestions.. it’s survival nature. Find a coconut, eat it. Find water. Find Shelter. Once you’re up for it, start looking around. Now you find Mushrooms that may or may not make you sick, rocks & wood to begin making things (like a fire starter and a spear), and soon enough you find a girl, who also happened to be on your doomed ship. You explore more and more, finding cliffs to climb up and different foods to have the girl cook. The more you search, the more you find, with the strategy to stay alive & learn the easiest way to do that.

While the storyline and the gameplay are relatively simple, every day is an addictive battle. Feed yourself and the girl, keep both of you healthy; these 2 things take up 80% of your time. You can fish in a river or the ocean, dig up potatoes, catch rabbits/snakes/crabs, set traps to catch deer, and even drag the girl up with you to tame a goat or cow for milk.

Unfortunately, this micromanagement of time doesn’t give you enough leeway to move on with the other aspects of the game. In 2 months time, both game and real, I managed to build beds & table/chairs, fish for eels, catch a snake & crab, catch a rabbit, find a mayan temple, and solve all the puzzles in the temple. What I have NOT done is: Made it past the temple, killed anything larger than a rabbit, tamed an animal, found a lizard, found a gem, and killed my characters more than 20 times (Only 19).

It is the list of what I have not done that has kept me from sending it back to Gamefly. I know through reading online that eventually you become the girl, and the boy leaves you to make rope, dinners, milk animals, etc. Unfortunately, I am not sure I am ever going to make it there.

There is a Lost In Blue 2 out for the DS, though I have read unfavorable reviews. (If you have played LIB2, please post your opinions here!) I also passed by our local gaming store yesterday and saw an advertisement for Lost In Blue for the Wii. I’m so excited, I may finally send back this gamefly rental. (By the way.. what is the limit on how long you keep a game as a rental before you just give in and buy it?)

Final synopsis: Definitely a game worth buying. The inability to save more than 1 place keeps it from being a really good couple game, but the amount of time that goes into the minutia of staying alive makes it a perfect game to trade off under the same save! I definitely suggest picking up used.  Although the game has very little really ingenious screen-touch/mic abilities (it’s only used for 2 things), the other aspects of the game make it really interesting. I’m not sure if it is as much enjoyable as addicting, but definitely worth a try.

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.