Kidzworld's Official Blog

This week, Split Second is pumping a ridiculous amount of adrenaline into the racing game genre. On May 25th, two more racers are coming out with very different approaches. Let’s just quickly compare the three.

Split Second: Race opponents and your friends over chaotic courses that anyone can blow to smithereens at any time, totally changing the course and taking racers out.

Blur: The only one of the three with real licensed cars, it’s more realistic than the others as well while still being arcade-y. Racers still try to perform stunts and use power-ups to take down the other cars.

ModNation Racers: Think LittleBigPlanet meets Mario Kart. It’s a kart racing game where you get to make the characters, the karts, and the tracks, all with incredibly detailed tools that anyone can use.

Monster Hunter Tri came out this week for the Nintendo Wii, so here’s a quick rundown of all the game’s weapon classes for those who are interested.

• Bowgun: Projectile weapon with all kinds of different ammunition and all kinds of different uses.
• Sword & Shield: Sounds traditional and normal, but actually takes the most smarts to use, because you can use other items while still having your weapon out, so items are vitally important.
• Hammer: For those who don’t even care about blocking, and would rather just keep smashin’ ’til the job is done.
• Long Sword: Like a really huge, awesome katana.
• Great Sword: Powerful and able to block, but very slow.
• Lance: Shield that can’t be stopped combined with a huge long spear. Pretty tough for monsters to get around that!

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is the biggest kids’ release of the next week, and because maybe the coolest thing about kart racing games is all the characters, here’s a full list for you:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog – No surprises there.
2. Miles “Tails” Prower – Side note: It took me years and years to get the joke on why his name is Miles Prower. Do you get it?
3. Knuckles – Again, not too surprising.
4. Doctor Eggman – His real name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik. I guess “Eggman” was just a bad nickname he got in school.
5. Amy Rose – She was introduced in my favorite Sonic game ever, Sonic CD, for the SEGA CD. As a kid I had a combination Laserdisc/SEGA CD player, and I swear those are both real things.
6. Shadow the Hedgehog – I realize he’s the anti-Sonic and everything, but it still seems odd that a hedgehog can have a gun, like Shadow does.
7. Big the Cat – Another Sonic side character, and he looks about as much like a cat as Sonic looks like a real hedgehog. I mean, look at him.
8. AiAi – He puts the “Monkey” in “Super Monkey Ball.” Otherwise, the game would just be “Super Ball,” which actually might be trademarked already.
9. Amigo – From “Samba de Amigo.” For those keeping score, that’ s Monkeys 2 – 3 Hedgehogs.
10. Ryo Hazuki – The main character from the Dreamcast cult hit, “Shenmue.” Yeah, don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it.
11. Beat – From “Jet Set Radio,” another cult hit for the Dreamcast.
12. Alex Kidd – Oh boy, this is even more obscure. He was SEGA’s main man until Sonic took the stage, and hasn’t been in his own new game since well before you were born.
13. Billy Hatcher – From “Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg” for the Gamecube. He, uh, wears a chicken suit. Hm.
14. Zobio and Zobiko – A zombie couple. Too early for Halloween and too late for Valentine’s Day.
15. Ulala – From “Space Channel 5,” another Dreamcast game you’ve probably never played, but should. I miss the Dreamcast now.
16. Jacky Bryant and Akira Yuki – From the “Virtua Fighter” series.
17. B.D. Joe - From “Crazy Taxi,” which hopefully you’ve seen in an arcade or something. Do arcades still exist?
18. Robo and Modo – Now here’s one I hadn’t even heard of. They’re from “Bonanza Bros.,” which apparently came out in 1990. Ooooookay.
19. Opa-Opa – A living spaceship. Cool.
20. Chuih, ChuBei, ChuPea, and ChuBach – All from “ChuChu Rocket!,” another awesome game for the Dreamcast.
21. Banjo and Kazooie – Xbox 360 version only. Sorry, Nintendo fans like me who played the original “Banjo-Kazooie” on the N64.
22. Avatar – Not like James Cameron’s Avatar or the animation show Avatar, but your New Xbox Experience one. Obviously, also Xbox 360 only.
23. Mii – For the Wii.

This week, Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll was released, the first in the Super Monkey Ball series to support the Wii Balance Board. Pretty sweet, but those of you who bought Wii Fit are still probably wondering: Just how many games support my balance board anyway? Well, here is every single one of them that’s cool for kids, with a helpful awesomeness rating out of 10 for each game to help you choose one.

• Academy of Champions: Soccer – 6/10 Awesomeness Rating
• All Star Cheer Squad – 7/10
• Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 – 7/10
• G1 Jockey 2008 – 3/10
• EA Sports Active (and Active: More Workouts) – 9/10 if you’re into exercise!
• Equilibrio – 5/10
• Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout – 7/10 again, just for exercise
• Imagine Fashion Party – 8/10
• James Cameron’s Avatar: the Game – 5/10 surprisingly terrible
• Jillian Michael’s Fitness Ultimatum 2009 & 2010 – 8/10 exercise only
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – 9/10
• My Fitness Coach 2 – 7/10 only exercise
• NewU – 7/10 only exercise
• Overturn – 7/10
• Punch-Out!! – 9/10 and yes, there are two exclamation points in the title…
• Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party – 10/10 perhaps the most awesome
• Rock ‘n’ Roll Climber – 6/10
• Shaun White Snowboarding (Road Trip and World Stage) – 9/10
• Skate City Heroes – 7/10
• Skate It – 9/10
• Snowboard Riot – 6/10
• Tetris Party – 9/10 I’m sad that I’ve never been invited to a Tetris party…
• The Incredible Maze – 4/10
• Walk it Out – 6/10
• We Ski – 8/10
• We Ski & Snowboard – 8/10
• Wii Fit – 10/10 but surely, you’ve played it, right?
• Wii Fit Plus – 10/10
• Wii Music – 7/10
• Winter Sports 2: The Next Challenge – 8/10
• Yoga – 6/10 Well, it is just yoga…

This week’s game release post covered Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but there wasn’t nearly enough space to mention all the awesome characters you can play as. So, (with many thanks to Wikipedia, because I certainly did not know all these anime shows) here’s a list, along with what games/TV shows each character comes from.

Capcom Characters:

Tatsunoko Characters:

Well, we learned in today’s Kidzworld gaming new releases post that in Wii Fit Plus, you can weigh your dog or cat, even though they can’t really play any activities! Well, I’m here to give Nintendo some ideas on how to better integrate our pets into the game:

1. If you have a dog, then the screen should show a picture of a kitten and make meowing sounds. That’ll get your dog running, or barking, or jumping, or something. At least he’ll be burning calories. Just switch roles if you have a cat.
2. Let’s add in some really high pitched notes into the game at various points, just see how your dog reacts.
3. Toy bone-shaped Wiimotes are a must.
4. Wii vitality sensor technology inside a tempting ball of yarn for your cat.
5. Maybe a new Wii balance board that can double as a scratching post?

And today’s question for you all: Do your pets ever even react to what’s on your TV screen?

Co-op games seem to be all the rage these days and I’m not complaining. There is nothing more I like than to be able to pick up a title and enjoy it with someone close to me. Great experiences are made better just by having someone else there to appreciate it with you. It also gives rise to inside jokes and a lot of those “you had to be there” moments that forge strong bonds between people.

Cheesiness aside, there seems to be a teamwork theme this week as I review three games: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Scooby Doo First Frights, and Spyborgs. Mario and Luigi’s Superstar RPG series has always been a favourite of mine. As video games’ version of the dynamic duo, the brothers can perform special attacks together and also jump to aid the other if one goes down. Scooby Doo and Spyborgs both focus on actual co-op, as two characters are always used, even when you are playing by yourself. If you’re all by your lonesome, you get a computer partner and can switch between the characters whenever you want. Since the computer partner is always there, friends can drop in and out of the game whenever they please, which is convenient.

While Scooby Doo followed the LEGO Star Wars formula closely, which I adore, Spyborgs is inhibitingly hard. Even at the easiest setting, the game becomes nigh on unmanageable and, despite rocking out exemplary graphics and combo system, the level of frustration makes it hard for me to recommend the game to anyone.

Co-op games are fun, even simple co-op modes like that of Super Mario Galaxy is nice to have so that you can enjoy gaming with friends and family. I am eagerly awaiting Pokemon Rumble, which I got to try at PAX, to come out as its co-op is very promising and I have been looking for something fun and non-competitive (and a bit cutesy) to enjoy with my fiance.

Almost all of the songs in The Beatles: Rock Band have now been revealed, but one is being kept secret for now, likely an endgame surprise. Here’s the list, in order of the songs’ original release, and with which level the songs will be played in:

# Twist And Shout / Cavern Club
# Do You Want To Know A Secret / Cavern Club
# Can’t Buy Me Love / Ed Sullivan Theater
# I Wanna Be Your Man / Ed Sullivan Theater
# Eight Days A Week / Shea Stadium
# Paperback Writer / Budokan
# And Your Bird Can Sing / Budokan
# Yellow Submarine / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# With a Little Help from My Friends / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Revolution / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Birthday / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Dig A Pony / Rooftop Concert
# I’ve Got A Feeling / Rooftop Concert
# Boys / Cavern Club
# A Hard Day’s Night / Ed Sullivan Theater
# I’m Looking Through You / Shea Stadium
# If I Needed Someone / Shea Stadium
# Ticket to Ride / Shea Stadium
# Drive My Car / Budokan
# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Getting Better / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Good Morning / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Hello, Goodbye / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Hey Bulldog / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Dear Prudence / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# While My Guitar Gently Weeps / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Helter Skelter / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Something / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Come Together / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Don’t Let Me Down / Rooftop Concert
# I Want You (She’s So Heavy) / Rooftop Concert
# I Me Mine / Rooftop Concert
# I Saw Her Standing There / remainder unknown
# I Want To Hold Your Hand
# I Feel Fine
# Taxman
# Day Tripper
# Back In The USSR
# I Am The Walrus
# Octopus’s Garden
# Here Comes The Sun
# Get Back

This week I reviewed Active Life: Extreme Challenge and Brave: A Warrior’s Tale, both for the Wii. Active Life is another mini-games compilation series, which was talked about in last week’s blog. Brave, on the other hand, is an example of another type of shovelware, a port.

A port is, more or less, a version of a game, that originally came out on another console, made for another console. Usually, these are older games remade for a new generation of console. Ports are, compared to completely new games, easy to develop and are safe on release. Everything you need to make the game is already there, including the 3D models and whatnot. As well, since you have a good idea of how well the original game sold, you can except a rough percentage of that to rebuy your game along with some new customers.

Everyone is guilty of porting and it is not always a bad thing. In all fairness, Brave was remade with whole new levels, more than doubling the size, scope and length of the game. This is more than can be expected from most ports, which are done without even so much as a graphics upgrade, such as a lot of what you will see on the Virtual Console and XBLA.

Speaking of Nintendo, they are quite guilty of repackaging IPs. There is a whole line of “New Play Control!” games, like Pikmin for the Wii, which is basically the same game as the one for the GameCube, but with only new controls tacked on. Luckily for them, their games are awesome. I hate to admit it, but I am looking forward to the new Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver that was just recently announced to be coming to North American in Spring 2010. This game is a remake of the original Pokemon Gold/Silver. Note that remake is different than a port as the game is redone from bottom to top.

Another remake, which unfortunately is not doing as well, is the Turtles in Time Reshelled for XBLA. The original game was a masterpiece and it is a shame to see that this version leaves a bitter taste in most people’s mouths due to poor art direction and soundtrack decisions.

To summarize: ports of good games are well accepted. Ports of decent games with vast improvements and new additions are also welcomed, as they are almost remakes. Most remakes are welcomed, unless they ruin the game instead of improving it.

Here’s a full list of sports in Wii Sports Resort, because we couldn’t fit one into the news post:

• Swordplay
• Table Tennis
• Frisbee Dog and Frisbee Golf
• Golf
• Bowling
• Wakeboarding
• Power Cruiser (Jet Ski)
• Basketball (3 point shootout and 3-on-3)
• Archery
• Cycling
• Air Sports (including dogfights between two planes!)

Though the game comes with one MotionPlus accessory, make sure you pick up at least one more for the multiplayer.