Disney Infinity

So because I like video games and Disney, I decided to get a hold of Disney Infinity back when it came out last summer. So you can call this my little review of sorts. Disney Infinity is a game for almost all platforms, it consists of individual worlds called playsets with short story-lines and a platforming/brawler type gameplay with light puzzle solving. The main hub of the game is called the "Toybox mode", where collectibles found in the playsets can be used to create custom stages to be played in by yourself or to be shared online. Personally I started out with the version for the Nintendo Wii, but quickly switched to the Wii U version once I got the machine. Why? Well yes at around $65 for the main game alone it might seem like a very poor decision economics wise however the Nintendo Wii version just does not live up to the steep price point. If I wanted any enjoyment out of the game, not to mention the additional characters I purchased, I would have to switch version. There are a bunch of notable differences between the Wii version and the other versions of the game, if you look away from the most obvious one (the lower quality of graphics and sound) you will quickly realize that the Wii version is one of the poorest ports of a game out there. Not only are certain sound effects condensed beyond recognition (The sound effect of a horse jumping in the Lone Ranger playset sounds like a bear growling), the worlds are significantly smaller, gameplay aspects have been removed from the games, the storylines are shorter and the Wii version does not support 2 player co-op outside of toybox mode. On top of that, the entire online portion of the game small as it may be has been removed as well for the sake of the port. Wii owners, unless you have children that wants the game and you just cannot afford another game system I strongly advice that you do not purchase this title. For the rest of you however, there are plenty of good times to be had. The artstyle of the game is streamlined and pleasant to look at, the voice acting is, decent, taking into account that it's impersonators and not the original actors in the roles. The story-lines are all entirely new and fits right into their respective established universes with some acceptance for plot-collision. 

The main draw of the game is of course, the characters. You play the game by purchasing plastic figures that you can place on top of a USB device. The individual figures are about $20 a piece, but also really well crafted considering the price. When not being used for playing, they make for nice decorations on the shelf. With the game comes three characters with their respective playsets. Mr. Incredible from Pixar's The Incredibles, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and James P. Sullivan from Monsters University. It should be noted that if you want two player co-op in the playsets you'll have to purchase matching characters. Disney has you covered with a "sidekick 3-pack" sold seperately for around $42. The pack consists of Hector Barbossa for the Pirates set, Mrs. Incredible for The Incredibles set and Mike Wazowski for the Monster set. With every character you'll also get a code you can redeem online for usage in an online game for PC and Smart devices. On top of that, you can also collect "power discs". You'll get one with your initial purchase of the game and then you can buy packs of three for about $10 each. These are like playing card value packs though, so you should expect to get doubles. The power discs either gives you character a boost during play or gives you items for use in stage customization in the toybox mode. There's really no reason to get the power discs outside of the realm of bragging rights though, do with that information as you wish.

When critics reviewed Disney Infinity back in summer, they had a habit of comparing it with the Activision Skylanders franchise - and while there's certainly noticeable similarities in the marketing and gameplay it should be noted that while Skylanders has an overarching storyarc for each game Disney infinity does not. Therefore, there's no "point" in Disney Infinity outside of casual fun. You're not saving the world or anything, and the game consistently reminds you of this by making everything resemble actions figures and toys. The in-game store for purchasing items for puzzle solving is called the "Toy store", the superhero headquarters opens up like a gigantic Mighty Max toy, the list goes on. These are "just" toys, however I still found a lot of enjoyment in the title. 

The state of Nintendo

Recently a lot of speculation has surfaced around Nintendo’s announcement that 2013 was a very poor fiscal year regarding the Wii U. It should be noted though, that the 3DS on the other hand has become the best selling handheld of all time in the same period.

I of course have my own opinions on this, so I have actually compiled a list of what I would do to “fix” the state of the Wii U. But first I’d like to clear up 3 things:

1. This is not a loyalty post, I love Nintendo but I also have great memories surrounding Microsoft and Sony. I fully expect to also acquire a PS4 and Xbox One when I reach the funds necessesary to do so.
2. I consider the Wii U to be part of this “generation” of consoles.
3. This is not a rumor mill, I’m not going to concern myself at all with the Nintendo Fusion rumor.

Are we clear? okay let’s go.

• Re-brand the Wii U.

I love my Wii U, and so does anyone else I’ve talked to that has actually bothered to get one. However, Nintendo pulled a very stupid move in the naming department. It’s no secret that most of the impressive sales of the Nintendo Wii came from the casual market. Nintendo managed to create a console that scratched that itch between button pressing and joysticks that a lot of the population apparently missed. That friend you had as a kid that would move the controller along with the directional button? Yeah the Wii was made with him or her in mind and it didn’t hurt that you could actually lose weight by using it.

Let your kids play video games and still get a bit of exercise: BRILLIANT! However none of the people who thinks that way will actually notice that the Wii U is an entirely different machine. Why would they? And Why would they want a Wii U? They’ve got their Wii Fit board and their copy of Wii Sports. Here’s what to do: Bundle the Wii U with the Wii U Pro Controller.

The most off-putting part of the Wii was it’s controllers. Nintendo hasn’t exactly been traditional with it’s controllers for quite some time now but they’ve generally stuck to the two-handed approach. The Wii Remote and Nunchuck however was just way too far from the comfort zone of your general audience, they wanted something that felt familiar. So they went to Playstation and Xbox instead. The Wii U pro controller however is just “hardcore” enough, if you play your cards right you can still save some of the audience that takes itself far too seriously.

• Third Party is your friend

Nintendo, you produce some of the finest installments in the way of puzzle adventures, platformers and action experiences. What you don’t produce, is modern wartime shooters, realistic racers, stealth based horror games, or some of the other genres on which the best games of the last generation were based. So why does the Third Party not like the Wii U? Well if you ignore the fact that the Wii U is not as powerful as the competition, it’s that the Wii U Controller is a big hunk of a controller. I like it, but it’s not exactly similar to the competition. This is where the last point comes in, if you can guarantee third party developers that people who own a Wii U probably owns a Wii U Pro Controller, cross-releases won’t be a hassle.

There won’t be that big of a difference in programming to make up for, currently if a developer wants to release a game on the Wii U they have to take the Wii U controller and the ugh Wii Remote into consideration. That’s at least 10 extra hours of programming. Either take the Wii Remote out of the equation, or provide a coding skeleton they can copy/paste into the games code when doing a cross release.

• DVD/Blu-ray player

Okay so this one is a bit circumstantial, as I am not sure it’s possible to actually pull off on the current hardware. However you released the Wii Mini, didn’t you? - while no “gamer” will outright tell you this, and Sony will probably never own up to it, but a lot of the successful sales of the Sony consoles has been the fact that they doubled as media devices. The PSOne doubled as a CD player, to a lot of people from my generation the PS2 was their first DVD player, the same goes for the PS3. Even Microsoft tried to emulate this by being able to play HD DVD’s on the Xbox 360. Why you guys never decided to get on the media wagon outside of apps I have no idea, but it’s a small add-on that apparently means a lot.

• Use the 3DS.

This is a Super Game Boy. It allowed you to play game boy games on the Super Nintendo. The 3DS has two screens, one being a touch screen, so has the Wii U. Do I really need to take this argument any further? You even have advertisements for the 3DS online store ON THE WII U ESHOP. Take the next obvious step. Please. The DS literally prints money.

• Smartphone games

Speaking of eShop. Look at all that awesome creativity on the Google Play store and the Apple App store. Now if only you guys had the possibility of offering the people’s favorite app games in 1080p on their TV’s at home without having to try and find a comfortable spot over their tablets or smartphones. It’s not like you have a CONTROLLER WITH A TOUCHSCREEN THAT COMES WITH THE SYSTEM OR ANYTHING. Too bad, that would’ve been nice.

And that’s my suggestions, what do you guys think? If you liked this article please share it with your friends or try using it to open up discussion

(this is a cross-post from my tumblr)

Offspring Fling!

The game really isn't as creepy as the title may sound.

Sometimes it's nice to just sit down and relax with a nice puzzle platformer. This is exactly that. Lately I've not been one for big games but more something I can play for a bit and then quickly stuff away when I've had my fill. This game fills that purpose quite nicely. In Offspring Fling! you play some sort of bunny.. thing. You purpose is to get all of your offspring to the door in the level by flinging them through various obstacles, activating buttons and whatnot. There really isn't anything else to it. The artstyle is cute and fuzzy and the puzzles are just hard enough to keep you interested throughout.

I've had this game for some time now but I've not really played it before recently. Reason is that I got it in a Humble Indie Bundle and then just kind of forgot about it. Call it a pleasant surprise if you will. I even only booted the game when I did because I heard the game had become part of Steams Trading Card system. In hindsight, I'm kind of ashamed I didn't try this out sooner because it actually is pretty good. It reminds me of Braid, another puzzle platformer I just kind of bought and forgot about originally.

While certainly a good game art and game-play-vise,
the story for Braid was just kind of pretentious and confusing

This game is nothing like Braid though, it knows exactly what it is and it doesn't try to tack on some kind of artsy fart-sy drama on top of it that no one but the creator actually understands. The artstyle is cute, the music is cheery and simple, and the story is the most wayforward ever: Your family is attacked by a dinosaur, so your offspring scatters. Go collect them!

So why I am I talking about this game at all? Escapism mostly. There's some issues with my school-transfer endangering my entire livelihood (In my country, students are granted a monthly payment from the state). I'm expecting to have my grades put into the national exam database today so I can send out applications to the next stage of my education but I fear there may be some technical difficulties for various personal reasons. On top of that, my father has finally gotten told by his doctor that his liver is giving in after years of light-alcoholism so my life is kind of stressful. This makes me write as escapism, mostly reviews for Kaiser Critics. 

Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Later days.

Beginners Guide: Team Fortress 2

I've been playing Team Fortress 2 for quite some time now, considering myself a pretty decent player. However, some newer players make choices in the game that to me just defies logic. Therefore I provide you with this short list op tricks I've picked up for new players:

In General:

• Before choosing a class, please consider the setup on your team. If your team already has 3 Heavy, pick a Medic or at least another class.
• Don't let dying dishearten you, thankfully dying doesn't play quite as big a role in this game as in most others
• If you get an item drop, please wait to check it out or equip it till after the round is over. You're needed in the game.
• If you get a losing streak, don't take it out on your team mates OR your adversaries. Just carry on carrying on.
• Changing class rapidly helps no one, try to keep it to a minimum
• If you and your friends are on an English server but NOT native or at least adequate English speakers please consider not using voice chat and maybe using Skype instead, communication is awesome but listening to a language you don't understand can just be confusing and distracting. 
• If you ARE adequate at English or a native English speaker and discover someone not following the above rule, please hesitate to be in their faces about it. Be polite. Always be polite. Remember, you can just mute them if you're not using the voice chat anyway.

The Lion King Storybook

 This was originally going to be a rewrite of the number 7 spot on my top 10 Disney Interactive games. But I instead decided to make the following it's own thing and delete the former post all-together:

A Random Selection of Good Old Games

Most of the time, when you talk about old games that are good, chances are the most mentioned are either not only good but GREAT or almost exclusively from the consoles.

So this is a selection of old games in random order that aren't GREAT but they hold a nostalgic value to me, and can most definetly get the rank of "good".

THE PINK PANTHER - PASSPORT TO PERIL.

Back in the 90's, The Pink Panther was re-exposed to the world in a packet-format TV-series as was popular at the time. Typically, an episode of such a show would have a 10 minute episode with the host character (in this case, The Pink Panther) and then two 5 minute long cartoons with other characters like forexample The Blue Anteater. In Any case, the show spawned two PC adventure games for kids that would challenge them but teach them about stuff while they do it. Pink Panther - Passport to Peril taught kids (and at the time, Me as well) about different cultures and countries around the world.

The storyline is as such: There's been made a summer-camp called Chilly Wa Wa for the children of highly influential and rich people from around the world. But suddenly the children have started to act weirdly from one day to the other, Pink Panther gets assigned to travel around the world (England, Egypt, China, Bhutan, India and Australia) and find out stuff about the kids so he can try and make them normal again. All the while the kids playing the game would learn about the things children in these cultures have to deal with while growing up. There would also be songs, Awesome songs. Go check them out on Youtube. And while you're at it, check out the sequel Hocus Pocus Pink as well.

LEGO: Chess

Do you like Lego? Do you like Chess? Well then what the hell do you need to know?! This game taught kids about the boardgame chess while entertaining them with short clips depending on which character defeated which. There would be differently themed Chess boards and stories, forexample: In the Cowboy storyline, a sheriff is trying to capture three robbers. So yeah. It's Chess. CHESS!

DONALD DUCK: QU@CK ATT@CK

This is one of the simplest and shortest platformers I have ever played. It's easy as boink and you can pick it up and complete it in an afternoon. Which is perfect if you have an afternoon to spend. Seriously, I know standard length for a game is 10 hours and I wouldn't have it any other way. But this game is just too much fun to pass by.

For another really good Donald Duck game check out Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow.

(EDIT: I know the picture says "Going Qu@ackers" but it was called "Qu@ck Att@ck" in Europe.)

ASTERIX: THE GALLIC WAR

It's the universe of Asterix The Gaule meets the boardgame RISK in a way. You start out with the ever-silly village that Ceasar somehow just can't conquer and then start conquering back all of Gaule from the Romans. While most of the time the conquering would be like a simple strategy game animation, other times it would switch to a platform game depending on if you're Asterix or Obelix. And other times (again) it would be a parody of the Olympic game Hammer Throw.

There, wasn't that fun? If you have other games that people really need to mention more, please name them in the comments! Maybe I can make more of these :D

In defense of The Boy Wonder

Like any other fan of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I look forward to it's sequel. I haven't really had any complaints about the news about this game until I saw.. This:

Okay granted, That is a VERY cool looking costume and it uses Robins Colors without making them too bright. the staff and hood DOES make him look like a misplaced elemental mage though. That being said, did we forget the purpose of this character?

Batman is one of, if not the most popular superhero character, an excellent line of movies both new and old (with a few exceptions of course) has made Batman stand out in public consciousness perhaps more than anyone else that wears a cape and beats up criminals.

In case anyone forgot, Batman isn't exactly the most witty character around. He's a brooding no-nonsense John Wayne of the night. His parents was shot in front of him, and in return he decided to learn everything he could about the criminal underworld, in order to combat it. A few months later, Robin came along. Robin was a kid, always firing off one-liners and wearing a bright colorful costume. Just as intelligent as his mentor and an accomplished acrobat, Robin became the arche-typal sidekick in the business. Robin was created so that children wouldn't fantasize about being Batman - But rather working beside him. Mostly to make sure they wouldn't start climbing buildings and wearing masks. Understandable.

Robin also had another effect on the Bat, he became happier. Sure he was still dark and brooding and hateful, but Robin was a bright spot in his life. I honestly think that the Robin character completed Batman. Made him something more than a one-dimensional avenger.

Of course, a lot of people doesn't realise this. In the modern world-view, Robin makes Batman look "gay". Mostly because of the internet, and the 1960's TV-series. Oh, and Robin wearing shorts. That could help. But really, aren't you just making Robin ping on your Gay-dar because you kinda WANT them to be gay? You want something to make fun of, plus you kinda wanna fit into the general consensus. After all, if you don't think someone is gay, you MUST be gay. Or well, that could just be me raging at the stupidity of the modern Batman fan. Seriously though, sometimes Batman fans like with any other fanbase can be a bunch of sheep. I've already written in great length elsewhere about my hatred of the Heath Ledger Joker, so I won't go into it here.

In any case, Robin is Batmans happiness. To some extent of course, but I think most people get what I mean by that statement. Of course Batman stories has to be somewhat dark, dark is cool.

But Robin doesn't really need to look like fellow-Teen Titan Raven. Otherwise we could just make Raven Batman's new sidekick.

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Let's Not.

(Proof read creds to Sophie & Eric. Sadly, I don't have any links to any stuff they've done)

The Power is YOURS

As you may recall, I was very disappointed with Capcom earlier this week. They had announced that to battle THE SCOURGE OF USED GAME SALES Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D would only support one playthrough. Well it seems that enough fans have given them flak for this, and they have now retreated and announced that they will never pull something so absolutely stupid again. My faith in Capcom is restored! Well, at least for now.

In other news, Nintendo pulled a fast one on Legend of Zelda fans. At E3 this year, they had a showing of a HD rendition of Link in the Twilight Princess style battling a giant spider. The showing was absolutely gorgeous, but Nintendo has announced that it was only meant as a tech-demo to show off the Wii U's capabilities. That's what we in the fanbase call a total cockblock. That's sad. Well at least Skyward Sword won't be anything like any other Legend of Zelda game ever, right? Right? Who am I kidding? It's repackaging, and I'm probably gonna buy it along with everyone else. Fun.

And now for something completely different.

In my infinite sea of absolute wisdom (*cough*) I've realised how much my art-style in All Sorts of Happenings has begun to resemble that of The Peanuts. Now I'm a big Charles M. Schulz fan, So this really doesn't bother me THAT much. But it occured to me how sad it is that while Superheroes and Manga is flourishing well into the new millenium, newspaper strips is a dying breed. One could argue that the webcomic is the modern reincarnation of the newspaper strip but this is where I have to disagree. Popular webcomics have a habit of either being about a single hobby (Penny-Arcade with Video Games) or having a complex storyline (El Goonish Shive). The classic semi-philosophic family-oriented newspaper strip doesn't really have a modern equivalent. Series like The Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes presented us with (at the time) unique stances on life. They taught us something about ourselves while at the same time being witty. In my upbringing at least, Newspaper strips played a role in shaping me into the person I am today. Sociologists theorize that we are in a post-modern era, in which our lifestyles are comparable to that of a charmeleon. We are no longer brought up solely by our parents, but by the instituions we frequent and the group of friends we create for ourselves. we resemble the Charmeleon in that while at work we may be the one that makes the jokes all the time, we can still fall into the role of the braniac at school. I believe that comic strips and fiction in general plays a much larger role in our upbringing in post-modern society. As an Atheist, I reject the fact that any God exists. Our morals are shaped by experiences and outside input, factual evidence that gives us our place in the universe. That said, I am honored to live on a planet where people feel fullfillment in learning about the world around them. To look back at our history of philosophers, Theists, Deists, Atheists or otherwise and see that some have spent their entire life building the modern zeitgeist that I'm privileged enough to live in is a humbling experience. And I truly believe that the future shapings will come from comics. While we may no longer have a Charles Schulz around, new comics like Scott Pilgrim and Nemi embrace the fact that our generation. My generation. Consists mostly of men and women who's concept of masculinity and feminism largely comes from a backdrop of fairytales and adventures as told to us by loving parents, or inspiring individuals.

Review: Spiral Knights

Quick Info:

Title: Spiral Knights

Price: Free to Play

Platform: PC/Steam Client/Facebook

Genre: MMORPG/Top-Down Shooter/Hack N' Slash.

Developer: SEGA, Three Rings.

Players: Massively Multiplayer, 4 Recommended for Action sequences.

Recently, Valve decided to support Free-To-Play games on their ever so popular Steam Client. Among the titles re-released for the client there was a game called Spiral Knights. Like with any modern MMO worth it's gull, you start off the game designing your character. The choices are somehow limited with only 3 types of helmet or armor available to choose from, you also get to choose from a sortiment of colors. Choose wisely however, as the color is the only thing you won't be able to change later on, it will become your permanent health-bar color and eye-color and all of your future equipment will sport the chosen color in some way or form. Very akin to the Guild Wars games. A friend and I had a 'incident' where both of our characters looked exactly the same. Thankfully, a really early quest requires you to aquire new amor in tier 2, of which there is lots to decide between so the problem was shortlived.

When you start the game, you wake up in no-mans land. The Spiral Order, the Knights of which you belong have crashlanded on a distant world. You'll have to fight your way to the rescue camp, armed with a sword, a shield and a handgun. Now already here you can find two pretty consistent complaints. The hit detection is pretty shaky, only hitting your target with the handgun 7 out of 10 times making you constantly switch to your sword. Even when it's strategically undesireable. The other complaint is the netcoding, a problem which alot of these games suffer from is that if you don't have a pretty good internet connection, The game is virtually unplayable. I myself, are for unrelated reasons only able to have a wireless 3G internet connection with a 20GB monthly download limit, making playing this game after the limit has been exceeded pretty problematic. If you can live with that however, the gameplay is definetly worth it.

Another reason to download the game is the free hat, If you're a Team Fortress 2 player (and if you aren't, why not? The Game is FREE now! Go get it!) you get a neat little helmet for your Soldier character which actually looks pretty cool compared to the standard equipment.

When you get to the Rescue camp, you're almost immediately transported to the city of Haven. Haven is your new permanent home-away-from-your-own-planet, Here you will be able to shop for equipment, chat it up with your fellow players, use the auction house, and train in the Advanced Training Center. More importantly though, this gives you access to "The Arcade" the area in which you're able to go to the action stages. The action stages are explained as being "The Clockworks" a maze of underground areas, riddled with monsters and traps. To get down to the clockworks however, you need to spend Energy. Energy function the same way as most Facebook games do. You're given a standard amount of energy, and every action costs some of it. When you're out of energy you can either wait a few hours for it to recharge or buy something immediately via micro-transactions with real money. An interesting twist on the tried and true formula is the Energy bazaar in which you can trade energy with other players with the in-game currency known as Crowns. While it definetly would have been preferred to just do away with the energy system once and for all, it's refreshing to see a new take on it. While the art-style is pretty cute it's also very standard and seen-before, so it's understandable they didn't go the League of Legends route.

All in all it's a very enjoyable experience, (Especially for the price of absolutely nothing) and it's a nice way to pass those times you need to wait for other games to patch, or your pizza to arrive.

SUPAH FAIGHTING ROBOTTO!!

I love anime.

I'm currently watching The Cowboy Bebop and Astro Boy cartoons.. and i gotta say.. it's funny how sci-fi anime is amongst the most classical series out there.. series like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion and .Hack//Something or another is highly regarded as being either art or absolute classics.. it makes one wonder if the japaneese have some of their technological skill from being so interested in Sci-fi.

I've also watched Death Note 1 & 2 now.. Theese movies could teach alot of american companies just HOW to make comic books into movies.. especially considering what they're planning to do with the new Dragonball Movie. They follow the series enough to not actually just copying them and being utter redicolous because lets face it, following the source material is great, but from a financial and artistic point of view it would be just plain retarded to not try and improve without destroying the orginal stuff.

The changes between the Death Note series and movies is really not all that big and they're barely noticed (to me atleast) of course there are some characters removed, forexample the crime syndicate isnt in it at all, instead it's a journalist that gets the Death Note while Light's plan about forgetting the Note is going on.

Theres also no M or N, only L. But that actually great because M and N just felt unesscesary in the original series (in my opinion)

oh well.. that's my 2 cents..