Author Archives: TheWiredFishStaff

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[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Pikmin 3

Ah Pikmin, such a quirky game about a man and his sentient plant-life. For this one, we got Suikoinfinity to play this since he’s been playing Pikmin 2 on his livestream page. Have you been seeing it? You should! For this demo, I’m sad to say that the tablet functions were unavailable beyond just displaying a map. But the rep did inform us that upon release the Gamepad will be fully supported and will be the main controller. So for now, let’s enjoy Suikoinfinity play Pikmin 3 with the Wiimore+Nunchuk setup.

Suikoinfinity: (Excuse incoming profanity) This is the one Wii U game I had time to play during my day at Comic Con. I got to look at the pretty map on the gamepad, but after being handed a wiimote/nunchuk it was just a fuckin’ tease. I bought original copies of the Gamecube Pikmin games just so I could avoid that “New Play Control” shit. I couldn’t find a melee attack button, or purpose for picking up apples and stuff aside from getting a better medal at the end of a stage (I missed getting Platinum — that’s a bummer). I can’t really give an opinion on control because I couldn’t use a decent gamepad, but the combat and atmosphere felt like any other Pikmin game. Here’s hoping there’s more to pick up than fruit/points and that Louie is a playable character!

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Crashmo

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“Oh, this looks like Catherine” is what some of us said when we saw the gameplay of Pushmo. And, much like Catherine, it was quite addictive, especially for our resident Pushmo fan Suikoinfinity. So we thought it proper to let him have a go at the sequel, Crashmo.

Suikoinfinity: I haven’t had much of a chance to express how much I love it, but while the rest of the team was playing Catherine, I was learning to solve Pushmo puzzles like a pro. I like to save my on the go time for puzzle games and on 3DSware, Pushmo is among the best. The similarities to Catherine is in the idea that you’re climbing a structure by pushing in and pulling out parts of that structure; in Catherine it’s boxes and in Pushmo it’s entire walls/floors that can come in any shape. Usually the goal is at the highest (or most difficult to reach) point on the structure. The major difference is that a Pushmo puzzle is embedded into the rear wall, so, while you can push segments in or out, it’s impossible to slide them left or right. Crashmo might feel more like Catherine, because puzzles are in the middle of the floor instead of attached to a wall, so you can slide in any direction. Gravity also becomes a factor, and entire segments of the puzzle can come crashing down with a slide, hence the title. As you can see in the demo, I wasn’t exactly prepared for the change in pace, but from what I played, Crashmo seems like it’s going to be just as addicting as its predecessor. Fans of the first game should love it, and to those new to the series, I recommend giving it a shot, especially if you love puzzle games! Also, my performance is embarrassing in this video — enjoy!

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With God of War: Ascension (Multiplayer)

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Kratos is back and still ad angry as ever. However, we’re not here to see his anger. Instead, we’re here to see the multiplayer mode and to evaluate this mode has a chance of standing side-by-side with the single-player campaign.

Gesfrid: For the 1st time ever, SCE Santa Monica Studio has introduced a multiplayer feature for up to 8 players on the latest God of War game. In the beginning of the game, players can choose and customize their spartan warrior. The multiplayer game takes place on a desert. Players are on two teams of four where they will try to take control of the map so they can earn their rewards from the Gods. In the desert map, players will battle each other and go up against the giant Cyclops named Polyphemus in the background. The game offers a unique combat play-style and abilities in battle. Just like any other previous God of War game, players can use magic spells, select a variety of deadly weapons, open up chest to find orbs to heal your life or to upgrade your weapon up to a maximum level.

There is a mode called “Favor of the Gods”. In this mode, the 1st player to accumulate a target amount points will achieve victory. Points are earned by kills and is known as “Favor”. The Team can capture altars (which is quite similar to capture-the-flag) and they can also set up traps for opposing players. Another new control feature that was introduced is called “Escape and Heal” meaning you get to escape from opposing player grabbing you, then jump and heal yourself. Whoever captures the most gears and earn the most favor points, the Gods will award you with the spear of Olympus which will be used to annihilate Polyphemus and then the winning team will be able to gain it’s territory. However if the other team gain it’s territory, the giant cyclops will go back to its position and then the spear of Olympus will be lost. Overall, it is a very fun, great game so that millions of players can experience the new elements/features of God of War. Go forth in the name of Olympus!

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With The Wonderful 101

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Hideki Kamiya: a name that commands respect within the gaming community. The man behind Bayonetta and Devil May Cry is back, and this time he wants us to lead a group of superhero citizens in The Wonderful 101. Prota shows the crowd how it’s done with his playthrough of the demo.

Prota: The Wonderful 101 is a hard game to put into words. It has a visual style akin to Viewtiful Joe, you gather citizens to assist you in various ways like in Pikmin, and it has combat that is reminiscent of Kamiya’s previous action titles, such as Bayonetta. It takes all these things, and the innovation that Platinum Games is known for, and rolls them up into one extremely fun package. The touchpad worked fine for the most part, but I did have issues trying to form a ladder with it, which is when I tried the right analog stick instead and discovered how incredibly slow it was in terms of drawing the symbols. I hope you can adjust the right analog’s sensitivity when the game comes out. I also really enjoyed the section where I had to look at the gamepad’s screen to solve a puzzle in order to continue the level. I can’t wait to see what other ideas the people at Platinum come up with.

I’m not yet sold on getting the Wii U at launch, but when I do get one, it’ll be for games like this.

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge

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This time around, our Cameraman Gesfrid took a shot at playing a game for us. The game: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. Earlier this year, Ninja Gaiden 3 was lambasted by critcs and gamers for dumbing down the gameplay too much from its predecessor, creating a rather soulless and easy game. So with Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor’s Edge, Team Ninja is seeking to rectify this issue by bringing back what made the previous Ninja Gaiden’s fun and challenging: brutal difficulty and more weapons to wield. While we can speak for the weapons in this video, we can say something about the difficulty. Gesfrid was only the second person to beat the demo (after recording unfortunately), and it was in the afternoon. Everyone else just quit. Poor souls.

Gesfrid’s reaction after the break.

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[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Rayman Legends

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Remember last year when we had a terrible camera-person and we glitched the game when playing Rayman Origins? Well that didn’t happen this year! Nope, everything was smooth sailing when playing Rayman Legends. StevenDPX took over playing as the limbless wonder Rayman with the Pro Controller while someone else played with the Wii U Gamepad aiding him on his platforming adventure.

StevenDPX: The controls handled pretty well for the game. This was also the first time I played using the Pro Controller. It did feel weird having the face buttons at the bottom of the controller, but I soon got a bit used to it. The game also supported using the control pad thankfully since I’m horrible using joysticks for 2D platformers. My co-op partner did well when compared to previous people who used the gamepad. He was responsible for clearing the way, pulling platforms, distracting enemies, and in one instance flipping a large wheel Castlevania IV style. Overall this was a mighty fun romp in the land of Rayman. Now to see if I could get my hands on Rayman Origins…

[NYCC 2012] Hands-On With Game & Wario

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Finally, The Wired Fish plays a Wii U game… on camera. From the guys who made the Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven series comes Game & Wario. In this minigame, the player uses the tablet controller sideways to launch arrows at enemies, mines, and a boss at the end.

StevenDPX: The gameplay definitely had that weirdness of the WarioWare games. There was some fun to be had, and you also had to think fast about how exactly to clear out the enemies. There are mines on the floor, and you had to think “do I blow it up now, or wait for a bigger group to come in.” It became second nature to launch an arrow from the tablet, but there were instances when I shot nothing, looked down to see if a new one loaded, and accidentally shot it somewhere whilst I scrambled to take out incoming enemies. I was surprised when the rep told me this was a retail game. With all-do-respect, this looked like something for the download space. Of course, there are more minigames than this. But we’ll see how this pans out.

[NYCC2012] Hands-On With Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

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Sorry we took so long. But duty called, and it said “rendering: 2 hours.” But enough of that, here’s some gameplay footage from our time at New York Comic-Con 2012. Here, StevenDPX was playing Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for the Nintendo 3DS.

StevenDPX: The gameplay felt like a mix of a 2D platformer mixed with Okamiden. You’ll see that at first I tried to manually fill in the Mickey Mouse insignia. But then I realized that I just had to trace out the outline. I ended up glitching the game when I tapped the screen before pressing X to initiate painting. The rep there told me that that particular 3DS was acting weird all day, but I had a feeling it was the game. Hopefully it gets ironed out in time for release.

Tomorrow Is New York Comic-Con, And We’ll Be There!

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Missed us last year? Worry not as we’ll be back at the ol’ Con again. This time we’ll try out the Wii U and finally see for ourselves if this newest console from Nintendo is worth getting this year. We’ll also see what’s cooking at Square Enix, Ubisoft, and… a certain something over at Hasbro’s booth. And maybe, just maybe, one of us will finally meet a Final Fantasy legend.

Hopefully videos will go up the same day they’re filmed. Pics will mostly likely come later (videos take priority over photos here).

Keep your eyes peeled for us!

The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 7

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Ahoy one and all! It’s the Season Finale of The Wired Fish Podcast (which is one month late. Sorry about that…). In this belated episode, we talk about Nintendo Power’s end and how we grew up with the popular Nintendo mag. I’ve also added a slideshow of all the pages to Nintendo Power’s first issue for you to read while we talk. Next we pick apart Alex Hutchison’s comments about how Journalists give Japanese developers a free pass when it comes to storytelling.

As you know, the time table of contents are after the break.

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The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 6

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Ahoy! In this episode of The Wired Fish Podcast, we ponder about THQ’s money troubles and how they hope Darksiders 2 will save them. Then we talk about Next-Gen Expectations and what people expect from the next generation of gaming. Finally, we discuss about the Free-to-Play model giving rise to Pay-To-Win.

Time-Table of Contents after the break.

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The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 5

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On this episode of The Wired Fish Podcast, we talk about Zynga’s stock troubles and the fad of Facebook/Social Gaming. Next, was talk about some of the memories we had gaming in our youth. And finally, we talk about how far G4 has fallen.

Time-Table of Contents after the break.

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The Wired Fish Podcast S3 – Episode 3

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Ahoy one and all to Episode 3 of The Wired Fish Podcast. Today, we talk about the reveal of Battlefield 4 and wonder if companies will ever learn their lesson. Next, we take a look back at the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 one year later. Finally, we talk in-full about DRM and why this is a bad thing for the industry.

Time-Table of Contents breakdown after the… er, break.

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The Wired Fish Podast S3 – Episode 2

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Ahoy one and all to the second episode of The Wired Fish Podcast S3. Today, we talk about the Ouya and what it could bring to the console market. Next, we talk about Shinji Mikami’s quote about videogame’s being more like Hollywood movies. Then, we discuss the prospect of Bioware reviving the Ultima franchise with Ultima Forever. And finally, we talk a bit about the games we’re playing now.

Time-Table of Contents after the break.

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The Wired Fish Podcast Season 3 – Episode 1 (2 Parts)

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Ahoy one and all to the new season of The Wired Fish Podcast! Last Summer we started up a podcast show for TWF. And now we’re back this Summer filming what what will hopefully be a fuller season than Season 2. To commemorate this new season, it’s extra long as we had a lot to talk about. First up, we covered the situation revolving around Tropes vs. Women in Videogames. Next we talked a bit about EA’s money troubles. And finally, we discussed Nintendo’s E3 conference (and Microsoft’s a little bit).

As you already know, the timeline breakdown is after the jump. Since this is two parts, Part 2 is down there as well.

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