Flying out tomorrow, hope to see some Pandas.

Before I start packing, a couple of things.

Edgecrusher, on the HD Goldeneye

IGN review 8.5/10

Gamespot 8.0

And two 9/10 review scores from lesser known sites.

From GAF, different people for each quote:

"Controls just as sluggishly on the 360 pad, as it did with the classic controller pro on the Wii.


Wii Remote still the superior control scheme"

"The controls feel really clunky to me."

"I played the first level with the Move. I don't think I like it very much. Too imprecise when used for turning (this is with the nunchuck as well).


I think they game is really meant to be played with the gamepad. There aren't any wiimote/move specific waggle minigames are there?"

"Looks pretty good except it seems they've dumbed down the stealth gameplay by showing all enemy positions on the minimap. In the Wii version they only show up when they're within sight of the player and disappear when they move out of sight."

"Although Move only came out relatively recently it doesn't feel like we'll see a repeat of the Wii situation, where developers just needed time to get to grips with the technology. The problem seems to be that the core tech for FPS gameplay in Move is lacking to such an extent that there can never be any improvement or catch-up. Move will always be guessing where you're pointing, will always have cursor drift, and will always feature laggy input. I don't see how this will change.


Whether Wii incorporates true pointing or not is debatable, I won't disagree with you there. But for my two cents, I'll say I'm pointing at the screen and it feels like I'm shooting where I'm aiming at. I simply cannot replicate that experience with Move. "

Steel and Robio or for whomever it concerns. It appears that reviewers really didn't give Go Vacation a fair shake, as it's a game that opens up the more you play. For instance:

Lenny Light Speed on GAF said:

Bought this game about a week ago and on my first play I decided this game was 6.5/10 material. The controls of the different gears are imprecise and cumbersome, and some of the mini-games are hit and miss (not to mention boring). Then, after a few more plays and unlocking the different resorts I decided this game was more of a 7.5/10. The variety of mini-games and the free play were amazing. It was a blast to just go out into the ocean to surf or go scuba diving. The inline skates around the city were mindless fun, and kayaking from the top of the mountain resort was incredibly relaxing. After unlocking the different times of day and the Villa this game shot up to an 8.5/10. If you’ve ever been interested in Animal Crossing or Sims for the house design segments you owe it to yourself to get this game. The view of the ocean is amazing and the amount of items for the villa is crazy. Each mini-game and open world tasks will award silver keys that you can use to unlock villa items (there are around 80 silver keys and each key opens around 5 items or a different house style. Before you unlock the box it will also tell you the ‘theme’ to the pack). Then, each item has around 10 different colors schemes that drastically change the look of the item. Then there are also gold keys (around 15, I think?) that are unlocked by completing a list of achievements for things such as taking a dog to all the resorts, etc. I haven’t got any of those yet, but it would seem that they unlock even larger packs than the silver keys (makes sense…).


Granted, this game has many flaws that will kill the joy for some. The controls for vehicles can be very frustrating and walking on foot is slow, there are plenty of loading screens (thankfully you can interact with the screen by placing dog stickers, but even that gets old), and some of the sounds and character voices are jarringly low-fi. The biggest flaw here, by far, is the waggle. Most minigames don’t feel precise and not being able to control free-roam vehicles without swinging around constantly is annoying to say the least. On the plus side, the visuals are amazing for a Wii mini-game collection. Even being the pc-master-race-overclock-to-get-60-fps-in-everything jerk that I am, I found myself amazed at moments by the beauty of the game (free surfing and the ski resort at night come to mind).


Overall, this game is a labor of love that is worth getting. I went into it thinking that the mini-games were the focus and that the multiplayer free-roam world was just a bonus. Instead, the mini-games are a patience endurance run that are there only to further fuel my house building addiction. The true star of the show here is the relaxing pace and the free-roam. I’ve only found three hidden treasures in the game so far (there are 7 in each area making for a total of 2 and I’ve yet to find any secret areas (how many of them are there?) and the incentive to play is still high. Hell, even the fact that I made a write-up for the game is more effort that I would normally put forth. I think that everyone that goes into this game with an open mind and gives it a few hours to prove what it has to offer with be pleasantly surprised. Now, back to treasure hunting and getting more keys….

ONM also reviewed it as an 8.0

The only big bugbear is that all vehicles are tilt controlled and you only use the analog stick for walking. Massive own goal by the developers

Check this 10 minute video review from Screwattack which is the most helpful and extensive feature I have seen on the game on the internet so far. It's balanced too, there is some stuff he hates.

New Little King’s Story Was A Licensing Deal, Konami In Charge Of Game Direction

While charming, Little King’s Story wasn’t a huge seller on Wii. King Corobo will have a second chance too woo gamers, this time on PlayStation Vita with The King, Demon King, and the Seven Princesses: New Little King’s Story.

Marvelous and Cing created the original game, but Cing closed and creator Yoshiro Kimura left the company years ago. Instead of designing the game internally, Konami is in charge of New Little King’s Story. "AQI is the developer, Konami is doing the production. We’re the rights holder, we own the IP and we licensed it to Konami. It’s a licensed game," producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto explained in an interview with Siliconera. While "Marvelous AQL" is the developer, its only their external development arm coding the game. Marvelous’ production staff is not involved with it.


"To be honest as a rights holder, we are keeping an eye on what they’re doing," Hashimoto added. "Right now we don’t have plans to license out any other of our IPs. We’re not actively looking for licensing opportunities, but if some other company has an idea that makes us think ‘hey that might be fun’ we’ll discuss it."

Gameinformer review of Goldeneye Reloaded.

Considering all of the extras Eurocom added to Reloaded, I have no doubt the developer tried to make the definitive version of a modern day GoldenEye. However, I still feel like I would've been happier playing a $10 downloadable HD remake of the original game, similar to last year's XBLA release of Perfect Dark. GoldenEye 007: Reloaded still entertains, but stripped of its nostalgia, it fails to reach the status of an elite agent.

7.00

What a douche.

Why are people basing games on LA? According to everyone who has been there it is as boring as hell!

Those Goldeneye reviews seem to contradict each other....poopy.

Uncharted 3....mmmmm good.

10 9 8 7...

My sis got me an iPad 2 from her honeymoon in Thailand cos they were cheap there. I've been messing with it.

Infinity Blade is shit. Don't buy into the handheld killer AAA hype shit. Extremely simple game, Punch-Out!! is better. And no wonder the graphics appear so good, it's more limited than the worst rail shooter.

There's no free movement at all, you just click to the room "exit" if there's even more than one, click on treasure to pick it up, click on enemy to start waggle fighting and do some minimal loot and stat management. The whole area is a tiny castle thing with a few rooms that you can take a different route through each time, reach the final boss, die, repeat with your character's son until you're high level enough to see what's next.

Most games/demos I tried are shit too except for the casual stuff of which I guess some are good for what they are. Cut the rope is cute and fun for example, I might buy the full. There are also things like Broken Sword and Beneath a Steel Sky and even Avadon but I'm not gonna buy stuff I already bought/played on other devices.

The store browsing is shit, I can't believe people think WiiWare is the worst and hype this thing so much.

But actual game pages have like 2-3 actually nicely viewable screenshots unlike WiiWare game pages.

The device itself is locked to hell and back, you don't even have folder views or anything and have to go through itunes syncing to add anything (and even to remove for things like photos you synced) which is super annoying if you're used to just moving files and folders and such to wherever you want.

Web tasks and such work mighty fine. Multi tabbed browsing is slick with almost everything you can do on PC.

Of course it doesn't support flash, but youtube and some other streaming video things do work.

I got a messenger application that supports lots of networks, which functions well too.

Overall, great device for the size, shame it's so locked (I hear jailbreaking them is making great strides, if it reaches Wii homebrew ease of use and safety without affecting official stuff I might do that), but I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it as I accumulate more apps that do stuff I want and the occasional good game (waiting for King of Dragon Pass iPad version), especially if Greek publishers start adding more books and magazines and such at reasonable prices. I can buy books in English but I'd prefer if my dad could also get some use out of it there are only some free public domain stuff in Greek, ancient texts that are converted in not very good fashion or shitty modern Greek author stuff. Metro 2033 is one of the few books of the caliber I'd hope.

Agnates said:

My sis got me an iPad 2 from her honeymoon in Thailand cos they were cheap there. I've been messing with it.

Infinity Blade is shit.

So ipads are 3G right? Do you have to pay a monthly fee to get the internet on it when not using Wi Fi?

Yes, you have to, I won't bother with one, Wi-Fi only is fine. I think the cheapest rates here are like 10 euros per month for a 500MB limit which I guess is ok if you'll just do general browsing on the go but yeah, do not want.

More Goldeneye reloaded GAF impressions:

"Had a chance to try this game out at a friend's house. Luckily he loves the James Bond franchise and bought it.




Had to say I was pretty impressed with the single player. 60 frames per second, above-and-beyond improved graphics, and added animation to make it seem smoother. I went back home to check the difference on my Wii game and the difference is HUGE! Just the added weather effects in the HD versions are worth the purchase. I only saw the first part but I'd love to see the rest of the game.




Multiplayer was a mixed feeling. Some levels are smooth but some maps have choppier framerates when there's effects like weather in them. There was no lag, rubber-banding, or anything, it just dipped a bit in the framerates when a lot is going on. It reminded me of Quantum of Solace level of graphics, which isn't bad but it's a little dated. I guess multiplayer can be fun for a little bit, but this game's worth it for the single player alone.




I just wish Eurocom/Activision just remade the multiplayer portions using the Modern Warfare engine and maybe put it on a separate disc. Anyway, I think the game was great as it is regardless of a disappointing multiplayer."

IGN audrey drake review:

"While passable and still fun, Reloaded's single player experience failed to impress. Thankfully, the game shines in multiplayer - which is easily the meat and potatoes of any FPS anyway. With the ability to play both locally and online, you'll find a vast array of options for customizing your multiplayer sessions."

WAT? Completely the opposite of the truth.

GAMESPOT REVIEW

"Aside from the dull story and a few lame quick-time events, the campaign is an incredible experience. "

Yet still only an 8.0

Gameinformer review, so WTF that it makes my head hurt.

"Last year Activision released GoldenEye 007 exclusively on Wii in hopes of recapturing the love and excitement Nintendo fans felt for the original N64 title with a modern remake. Ultimately, the new GoldenEye 007 suffered from problems familiar to most FPS Wii titles: clumsy motion control implementation, fuzzy graphics, and subpar online support. Activision succeeded in fixing these shortcomings with GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, but it only highlights the larger dilemma facing this re-imagining: It's not the GoldenEye you loved, and as an unrelated title, it pales in comparison to other shooters on the market.


There's a way to update a beloved title for an HD console, and then there's the way Reloaded does it. Most HD remakes port the old game people know and love into a new engine and sprinkle in a healthy dose of improvements and fan service. Instead, developer Eurocom tried to create a modern shooter from scratch that remains faithful to GoldenEye's aged story and level structure. The result is a game that feels unpleasantly dated, while simultaneously lacking the nostalgia it tries so hard to cash in on."

Whole review is basically: Why isn't it just the N64 game in HD?