GameJonez Blog is back by popular demand!

WELCOME BACK!!

Posted by Tiberius Jonez
GameJonez Blog Founder and Editor

Well, hello there GameJonez readers. Long time, no see. I've received quite a few requests over the last several months to write some fresh material and breathe some new life into GameJonez Blog. So, by popular demand, and after an extended absence, here I am, out from under my proverbial rock.

I want to thank everyone who has emailed me encouraging me to resume my participation in GameJonez Blog. After more than a two year hiatus, it is gratifying just knowing someone out there even remembers me or this little gaming blog of mine. As long as you keep coming back and commenting, I'll try to keep finding interesting things to talk and/or occasionally rant about.

So, here we are. The first thing you'll notice is our new look. I hope you like it. I doubt anyone will confuse GameJonez Blog with the IGNs and Gamespots of the world, but considering I'm only using free Blogger tools, I'm pretty happy with the result. I think the new look is more elegant than the old and most importantly, it's even easier to navigate. Each picture represents a story. Simply click and enjoy. All the old content has been preserved, and amazingly, some of it is actually still worth reading. With any luck, I will hopefully give you plenty of new reasons to stop by often. As always, I welcome and look forward to your comments!

So, where to begin...hmm. So much has happened in the world of videogames over the past couple years. In short, with the current console generation coming to a close, Nintendo seems to be fading fast, Microsoft is kicking butt in the sales arena and Sony is hoping to reclaim their previous status as market-leader as we move into the next generation of hardware this Fall. Meanwhile, PC gaming keeps chugging along despite an environment of rampant software pirating and copyright infringement and in spite of the naysayer's seemingly never-ending pronouncements of doom and gloom.

I finished Bioshock: Infinite and Mark of the Ninja a couple weeks ago. Both were absolutely outstanding for different reasons. Bioshock: Infinite, aside from being visually stunning, left me contemplating and discussing with others, it's controversial subject matter and compelling plot for several days after the final credits rolled. Mark of the Ninja was a refreshing take on stealth mechanics and the Ninja approach to combat wrapped in a package of slick graphics and uber-tight controls.

Everyone's favorite annual gaming event, E3, is right around the corner, and with new consoles from Microsoft and Sony on the horizon, it should be a whale of a show. All in all, there's certainly lots to talk about and we will get to much of it, in time. Over the next few weeks I plan to gradually work my way up to once again contributing to the global conversation surrounding gaming on a regular basis. For your part, I would love to hear some suggestions for topics you'd like me to explore or gaming related things that have been on your mind.

For today though, I want to briefly talk about my favorite past-time and, I assume, the reason you're here...playing games! Specifically, playing older console games on your PC. So, please, read on to the next post. And, as always, thanks for visiting GameJonez Blog. Game on!!

Nintendo alienating consumers with supply mismanagement

By Tiberius Jonez

Before Nintendo launched the Wii they promised the console would expand the videogame market to previously untapped consumers with an easy, low-stress, user-friendly experience. Fast forward nearly two years later and the Wii experience is anything but stress-free. Angry consumers are being confronted by “sold out” signs at retailers instead of Wii Fit and Mario Kart games.

Nintendo’s hardware and software supply problems following the Wii’s launch have persisted for so long that what was once perceived as the result of unexpected success is now being recognized as an inexcusable mismanagement of the companies supply chain.

Rob Fahey of gamesindustry.biz has written a fairly scathing, but accurate, editorial about Nintendo’s negligence toward their newly found consumers. Essentially telling Nintendo if they want to be the market leader then they need to stop acting “like an overgrown cottage industry” and more like “the vast globe-spanning corporation it has grown to become.”

I have to whole-heartedly agree with him. Nintendo has a long history of inflexibility and straight-up hubris that once cost them the huge hardware advantage they held with the NES and Super Nintendo before the birth of the original Sony PlayStation. From inflexible licensing agreements to unwillingness to adapt to their own growth, Nintendo has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for the very customers they are so proud of having garnered.

At some point the demand Nintendo thinks they are creating by holding back hardware becomes a backlash against their product with the end result being money left on the table that could have gone into the corporate coffers.

Reminder of the Day - Get a Wii before Black Friday or not at all

Nothing says "spirit of the holidays" like trampling fellow holiday shoppers in an effort to secure the season's must-have toy for your personal little angels. Once again the Wii looks to be that item, and since we are always looking out for your welfare, we implore you to heed our advice -- if you would like to avoid bloodshed this Black Friday, I suggest you get to your local retailer today because, after tomorrow, Wii's are going to be scarcer than an honest politician.

The Associated Press is echoing last week's report from the BBC that the Nintendo Wii is the focus of more than a few Black Friday sales this week. So common sense says, if you can get to your local retailer today while everyone else is distracted buying Thanksgiving supplies, you have a much better shot at being greeted by smiling angels Christmas morning instead of an angry mob.

Super Mario Galaxy Reviewed - "It's Out of this World"

If your Nintendo Wii has been sitting as dormant as mine over the past couple months, you will be thrilled to watch the video review below from Gametrailers of Super Mario Galaxy. They love the game, calling it "out of this world", and from what I see in the video, I'm excited to get my hands on this one!! From the beautiful graphics to the sublime control and zero learning curve, the reviewer suggests that Super Mario Galaxy marks the rebirth of the platform genre. Sweet!!

UPDATE with Metareview After the Video!!



Here are some words about Super Mario Galaxy from other reviewers. If you're Mario (or Mel Brooks) "it's good to be the king!"

• Game Informer (98/100): "Galaxy also makes great use of the Wii's motion-sensing controls. While Mario's general movement is handled beautifully on the nunchuk's analog stick, many feats require a shake of the remote or a steady pointing hand. If you have a second Wii remote, you can also experience one of the coolest and most inventive non-traditional co-op modes in any game. The second player doesn't control a character, but rather a star. This player can pick up collectible items, and can also freeze enemies or projectiles in their tracks, which can be a great aid."
• GameSpot (95/100): "You could probably swap in just about any other characters from practically any other franchise, and this would still be a phenomenally fun game. That it layers all these memorable characters and components on top of that phenomenal design just makes it all the sweeter. If ever there were a must-own Wii game, Super Mario Galaxy is it."
• 1UP (95/100): "Galaxy is one of the most impressive, engrossing games in recent memory -- and quite the contrast to the rest of this year's triple-A gaming crop, which tends toward the dark, the M-rated, and the first-person perspective. Gaming may be growing up (per se), but gamers will always appreciate beautifully polished gameplay and inventive design...even if it's sugarcoated with squeaky baby stars and a goofy cartoon of a hero. Galaxy proves that Mario matters just as much today as he did 25 years ago, and that makes him one of a kind in this medium. But don't play Galaxy simply because Mario is the timeless godfather of gaming. No, play Galaxy because it's fantastic.."

Why Xbox 360 is Crushing the Playstation 3

Halloween is over and the Holiday 2007 sales push is officially on for video game manufacturers. This is a pivotal time for Sony and Microsoft. While Microsoft is looking to expand their current lead in Next Generation hardware sales with games like Mass Effect and Halo 3, Sony is just trying to get back in the race with price drops and some big games of their own. It's certainly a huge change from just a few years ago when Playstation 2 was king and the original Xbox was struggling to gain a foothold in the consciousness of gamers. How is Xbox 360 crushing the PS3? More importantly, what will the future hold for these two behemoths?

November 2005, I remember it well. Excitement was high for the release of the Xbox 360. Microsoft had announced their new console before anyone else even had a "Next Gen" offering beyond the drawing board stages. Sony was no where near releasing the PS3 and in fact they had not announced final specs for it; only a wish list of "features", many of which never materialized. The early announcement of the 360's release which would pretty much guarantee Microsoft at least a six month jump on their competitors was seen by many as risky in light of the fast moving pace of technological advancement while others viewed it as necessary considering Sony's domination in the previous hardware generation when it was estimated that they controlled 70% of the overall console market.

When the Xbox 360 hit retail, the reviews were mostly favorable for the console, but it was a mixed bag as far as the software was concerned. If examined in an unbiased manner, the 360 software lineup was undoubtedly the strongest of any new hardware launch. With 18 titles available on day one including Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, Condemned, and Kameo: Elements of Power all of which received very strong reviews at the time of their release, the Xbox 360 had something to offer everyone right from the get go. The downside was that many third party games, most notably the entire sports lineup from EA, were all seen as lacking in features and depth.

Shortly after the launch, and straight through to the present day, the 360 has been haunted by reports of hardware failures which have come to be known as the dreaded red ring of death. However, with a continuous stream of quality software titles including consecutive Game of the Year winners in Call of Duty 2 and Oblivion or Gears of War (depending which game sites you follow), the 360 was able to maintain strong sales through it's hardware troubles by giving gamers what they truly crave...good games and customer service. At the same time, with the introduction of achievements and gamer scores, Xbox Live evolved to unprecedented levels of user friendliness and online gaming goodness, giving Microsoft yet another arrow in their suddenly formidable console quiver.

November 2006 saw the release of the Playstation 3. This was six months later than Sony had originally announced. Sony reported that the delay was the result of problems getting the finalized specs on the PS3's Blu-Ray HDMI output. Others pointed to Sony's difficulty in manufacturing the Blu-Ray player itself as a primary reason for the delay. Either way, instead of Sony facing a six month head start for Microsoft, they were looking at a being a full year behind.

When the console was released, many critics found it to be big and ugly, which was ironic as those were criticisms levied against the original Xbox at it's launch. However, in terms of engineering, most people agreed that the PS3 was well-made and almost seemed to emanate an aura of power. Unfortunately for Sony, how much of this power was real and not just imagined was difficult to say due to a lack of compelling software for the console at the time of it's release. Of the three Next Gen consoles, the PS3's launch lineup was the lowest rated of the group. The only PS3 launch title to receive any kind of widespread critical acclaim was Resistance: Fall of Man. The rest of the PS3 launch lineup were either weak third party efforts or straight ports of Xbox 360 games that, for the most part, failed to match their 360 counterparts, both in terms of graphics or performance. Considering Sony was perceived to have had an advantage in terms of processing power combined with an extra six months to a year of development time on these games, their failure to exceed the Xbox 360's technical performance was seen as a major failure for Sony. While Sony talked up the supposed technical superiority of the PS3 pre-launch, several developers have come out and refuted those statements, such as here and here. In fact, according to these game developers, the Xbox 360 is the more powerful gaming platform.

Since that time, things haven't gone much better for Sony and it's PS3. Originally released in 20GB and 60GB iterations, the high price points of $499 and $599 respectively made it a hard sell for most gamers, despite Sony's assurances that the inclusion of Blu-Ray playback made it a bargain. Launch shipments sold out everywhere mainly due to a severe shortage of units on store shelves. Many were listed on Ebay with one listing selling for an incredible $10,000. While Sony continued to spin and spin these events as signs of huge public demand for the console, the truth was that three months after the launch when PS3's were readily available in stores, demand had slowed so much that millions of units sat unsold across North America. Eventually, Sony discontinued the 20GB version completely and introduced a larger 80GB model in reaction to Microsoft's 120GB Xbox 360 Elite.

Even with all the mistakes they have made, Sony is not dead, and either is the Playstation 3. It may have been slow in coming, but Sony has responded to some of the criticism of their approach so far (or at least the lack of sales) this generation by offering the new 40GB version of the PS3 at a more palatable $399 price point and lowering the price of the 80GB model to $499. While the 40GB version sacrifices all PS2 backwards compatibility and lacks the different memory card slots of it's bigger brother, it still offers consumers a Blu-Ray player with the ability to play all PS3 games at a price more in line with their primary competition, the Xbox 360. Perhaps with some highly anticipated games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Army of Two, Assassin's Creed, and Haze coming between now and January '08, maybe Sony can gather some momentum moving into the all important Spring and Summer of 2008 when the console's really big guns, GTA4, Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 are expected to be released.

While this story is focused on the PS3 and Xbox 360, we can't completely ignore the Nintendo Wii. While I don't consider the Wii to be a direct competitor of either MS or Sony consoles, there is no doubting that it will play a role in the sales of all consoles over the next two to five years.

When I look at the events of the past two years, I see Microsoft as a visionary future thinker, Sony as reluctantly reacting to changing market conditions, and Nintendo as thinking outside the box while ignoring some important trends.

Clearly Microsoft's future goals go far beyond just the world of video games. Their reasons for getting into the console business from the outset included a future vision of set-top boxes delivering all kinds of digital content to your living room. The Xbox 360 is starting to realize some of those goals by offering games, movies and television shows through Xbox Live in addition to excellent online gaming. The deepest pockets in the world allowed them to lose over a billion dollars without blinking in their efforts to establish the Xbox brand last generation. While they have had their share of struggles, they have undeniably gained a solid foothold in the console market far surpassing anything they ever achieved with the original Xbox.

Having dominated the last generation of console hardware, Sony set the precedent of offering a new media format (DVD) with their new console (PS2) and are following that strategy again by packing in Blu-Ray with the PS3. Their goals center around making Blu-Ray the dominant High Definition DVD format for years to come. However, the stakes are much higher for Sony this time around. With their company as a whole bleeding money over the past couple years, the success or failure of this strategy has far reaching ramifications across their entire electronics division. Unfortunately, the sometimes ham-handed execution of their plan has managed to alienate a large portion of their user base, placing the wisdom of their plan in serious doubt. Now they are faced with the challenge of reacting to change instead of being in the confident position of clear leader. How and if they can turn the tide remains to be seen, but I wouldn't write them off just yet.

Founded over a century ago, Nintendo is the oldest company of the three, and while that stability gives them the confidence to explore new ground such as the motion sensing control of the Wii, it also seems to have made them blind to the potential impact of some newer technology trends like online gaming and cutting edge processor power. Their long-held stubbornness in regards to third party game development is a major problem that will continue to plague them; you need more than two big games a year to maintain hardware sales over the long term. There is also the "Pet Rock" factor to consider. The Wii's controls may seem revolutionary now, but by the time this generation ends, will it be utterly "played out", relegating it to short-lived fad or will Nintendo find another way to sell the Wii II? Recent software sales already suggest the fad factor is a very real worry for Nintendo.

My belief is that by 2010, Microsoft and Sony will own a roughly equal 35% share of the gaming market, with the Wii holding a solid 30% market share. My reasoning is pretty simple; different management philosophies will determine the outcome for everyone. The real showdown comes in 2011-2012 when the next "Next Generation" begins.

67% of Wii owners aren't playing...Are you?

According to figures sited by Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, 67% of Wii's in households are sitting unused.

I know I haven't personally touched my Wii in a while. (stop chuckling) Where are the compelling software titles? MySims was fun for about a day but then just couldn't hold my attention; not when I have Halo 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 for my Xbox 360 just begging for attention.

The Wii has not seen a big hit title since Wii Sports, and that was a pack-in title. I know Nintendo is printing money with the console right now but this cannot be a healthy sign for the future of their cash cow.

With Nintendo's stock value increasing five-fold since the release of the Wii, is the time approaching to sell high?

Will Apple supplant Sony, MS and Nintendo to become the dominant video game console maker in 2015?

With the well documented problems facing Sony in attempting to retain it's market dominance in the video game console space, I got to thinking about past trends in the gaming industry and where we might find ourselves in the not so distant future.

The console industry has always been very cyclical.

If you go back 30 years (has it really been that long?) to 1978, Atari was the dominant game console manufacturer, having replaced Pong as the console of choice for consumers with their Atari 2600. After two generations of hardware, they were defunct as a viable console maker and in 1983 the industry as a whole imploded as a result of willy nilly licensing and a string of monumentally bad titles. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial takes most of the blame for this, but in reality that title was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

In 1985 the industry was resuscitated when Nintendo hit it big with the Nintendo Entertainment System and soon "Nintendo" became as synonymous with Video games as "Coke" is for soda pop. At one point, one in three American homes owned a NES. For over a decade Nintendo ruled the console world through two generations of systems with some mostly light competition from Sega's Genesis.

Sony first entered the console market space in 1988 when they partnered with Nintendo to create a new NES that would feature both NES cartridge functionality and CD-ROM multimedia technology, but after a series of questionable moves by both companies well documented here, the hybird NES was dropped, Sony's now forgotten Play Station (space intentional) was never released and the two companies became eventual rivals instead of partners.

Steve Race, Sony Computer Entertainment Of America's (SCEA) then CEO, stated, "Since the deal with Nintendo didn't come to fruition we decided to put games on a back burner and wait for the next category. Generally, the gaming industry has a seven-year product life-cycle, so we bided our time until we could get in on the next cycle."

In 1994 Sony did release the first "Playstation" in Japan and by the end of 1995 Nintendo had fallen prey to changing market conditions, and some say to it's own hubris, in being usurped by relative newcomer Sony as the king of console gaming.

In 2001 Microsoft released the first Xbox and although Sony overwhelmingly dominated that generation of hardware sales with it's own Playstation 2 which came out a year earlier, Microsoft impressed many gamers and game developers with their hardware and commitment to quality games and the universally praised Xbox Live. Microsoft sold only a fraction of the consoles Sony did, but they made invaluable in-roads and had cemented a place in the console game industry.

Then in 2004 Microsoft dropped a bomb on their competitors when they announced the Xbox 360, catching both Sony and Nintendo completely off guard. With a planned November 2005 Launch in North America and worldwide by the end of December, Microsoft virtually assured themselves of at least a one year headstart on either of their competitors possible Next-Gen offerings.

Which brings us to the present. Despite some hardware issues, Microsoft has done an excellent job selling Xbox 360's around the world, except in Japan where it continues to stagnate. Worldwide, more than 10 Million 360's have been sold. Nintendo's Wii is currently selling out everywhere it is released, and our last Gen leader, Sony is struggling mightily to sell PS3's, which come with a pricetag a full $200 higher than the Xbox 360 Premium system.

So, if things actually remain on course for Microsoft and they parlay their success with the 360 into a true market dominator with an Xbox 720 in the next "Next Generation" due sometime around 2010-2011, who will enter the fray then to dethrone them? History says it will happen. So far NO console manufacturer has managed to dominate beyond two generations.

Apple has made it clear they have an interest in gaming with the recent release of games for the Ipod Video. Rumors have floated around for the better part of two years about a possible Apple Handheld gaming console, and now with their Apple TV hardware, they have entered the digital delivery space previously dominated by Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace.

Are these moves the portent to more grandiose Apple gaming plans down the road? In 2015 will we all be playing Apple Igame consoles? Is Sega a sleeping giant waiting for the right time to be awakened? Will someone else emerge from the ether and surprise us all? Or will Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft be the only players in this game for another 10 years?

More PS3 Woes: Sony cutting jobs in struggling games division

Amid intense competition in the video game console market, Sony is planning a restructuring of its games division that will include job cuts in Europe and possibly in Japan and the U.S.

Sony used to welcome competition when it came from the Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast. However, with financial behemoth Microsoft steadily growing their Xbox brand and a resurgent Nintendo printing money with their Wii, Sony is feeling the pressure from stagnant PS3 sales worldwide and the latest result is the elimination of 160 jobs, which translates to roughly 10% of their entire European workforce.

According to Forbes, a Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) spokeswoman said the job cuts in Europe are under negotiation with employees and she declined to confirm numbers.

“In order to maintain our healthy business operation, we need to make structural changes,” she said, adding that it is needed to better reflect the convergence of different forms of content.
She said the business model would be very different from that for the previous two generations of its PlayStation games console, she said.

The move follows the reorganization of the executive team at the game division last November which saw Kaz Hirai, former president and chief executive of the Sony’s American gaming unit, replace Ken Kutaragi, the father of the Playstation, as president of the international group. Kutaragi was named chief executive and chairman of the unit, allowing him to save face while essentially stripping him of any real decision making power in regards to the Playstation brand's future direction.

Anyone who thought Sony was going to repeat the success of the PS2 and walk all over Microsoft and Nintendo in this generation of console hardware was sadly mistaken. Sony has made one mistake after another so far with the PS3; from marketing blunders to supply chain issues and a lack of games for launch. At the same time, Microsoft and Nintendo have both capitalized by making great strides with their own gaming divisions. Nintendo has deep pockets thanks to it's overwhelming domination of the handheld market and Microsoft continues to work the three step plan they've touted ever since they entered the market with the original Xbox. Step one was get in the door even if it meant losing money. Step two was making a profit while increasing market share, which they've done with the Xbox 360. Step three is to dominate the market in the 3rd generation which will begin in or around 2010-2012.

So, what will Sony do now to spur sales of the PS3? A price cut is the obvious quick answer, but with the amount of money Sony has gambled trojan horsing Blu-Ray players in the PS3 they can hardly afford to cut the price and take on even larger losses. Unless of course they offered a PS3 model without Blu-Ray. They would have to restructure some game manufacturing processes to allow for such a move, but it is not impossible.

Sony’s chief executive, Howard Stringer, told reporters this week that it has sold close to 800,000 units of the machines in Europe since its release in March, but the company has yet to confirm whether it met its target for global sales of 6 million units by the end of the fiscal year in March. Stringer's silence is as good as an admission that they have not met that goal. Global sales figures seem to indicate they are no where NEAR 6 million units sold.

I wouldn't count out Sony or the PS3 as dead in the water...yet. But clearly, they need to make some major moves to convince gamers to buy into the PS3 and it's games in a big way before they dig a hole so big they can't climb out. With Bioshock, Mass Effect and Forza Motorsports 2 right around the bend, Microsoft isn't going to stop to let them catch up. Things will come to a head this holiday season when Halo 3 hits. Sony will have to have one of their BIG guns like Metal Gear Solid 4 loaded and ready to counter it or this could very well be the end of a long era of Sony console domination.

Lose Weight the Wii Way!

So we know the Wii is a great way to keep seniors moving and active and it certainly seems to appeal to a diverse range of people, but can it really help change your life for the better?

Well yes, it seems maybe it can.

After being inspired by the Wii Sports Experiment, J.R. (last name not given) who goes by the online name "Eldorian" has created his WiiWeightLossPlan, incorporating the Wii along with some mild lifestyle changes to create a weight loss plan that seems to be working for him. He has tracked his progress over the past six weeks and he claims he is the lightest he's been in eight years. He started at 270 lbs and now weighs 254 lbs. Not bad. His goal is to lose 80lbs and get down to get down to 190lbs. That's a lot of Wii Bowling and Wii Boxing!

Keep it up J.R., maybe you'l'l inspire some of us to get up off our duffs and sweat to the Wii.

"Win a Wii for a buck" or "Luckiest Kid in the World"

The following video is of the luckiest kid in the world. He actually won a major prize from a Stacker machine, you know those games you see in the mall, restaurants, arcades and movie theaters. And this kid didn't just win the biggest stuffed animal in the machine, he won a Nintendo Wii! Unbelievable.

Warning, the video is most definitely NSFW or school...the kids with him drop 20 megaton f-bombs in celebration of their friend's victory...and rightly f'n so!



I want that kid to come rub me for good luck! Wait, what I mean is...oh, never mind.

Did 2D Ocarina of Time creator fake his death?

We reported the passing of Richard "Dampe" Denton last week. Dampe was 15 years old and developing one of several 2D Zelda:Ocarina of Time games currently in the works by various artists. Now it seems we and many other media outlets may have been duped and that the reports of his death may have been erroneous.

Flashman of squidnews is reporting that he has done some pretty thorough research including trying to locate a non-existent police report, contradictory weather reports for the day of the accident (it was sunny when it was supposed to be raining) and the fact that 'someone' has logged onto Dampe's myspace page and has been "sited" in other online areas.

I don't know if Dampe is dead or not. Some of Flashman's research is solid and does make a compelling case for a kid under a lot of pressure just trying to make an escape. And I did find it a bit fishy that his family was so eager to immediately shut down the forums where he reported his progress to fans when you would think they had bigger fish to fry if their son had indeed just been tragically killed.

Digg readers seem to think Flashman is right and many of them are indignant. Heck, maybe Flashman is really Dampe.

I suspect we'll be hearing more about this in the future. We'll keep you updated when and if we learn more.

Is 2D gaming dead?

Is 2D gaming dead? It's a fair question and one I've been pondering lately with the advent of Xbox Live Arcade and the other Next Gen consoles offering "classic" games on their respective download services.

I'm in my late 30's and I played a lot of these games when they were first released, and I'm not talking Mortal Combat or Castlevania:Symphony of the Night...I'm talking PacMan, DigDug and Galaga. I love Geometry Wars, but honestly I'm yearning for Microsoft to bring Asteroids to XBLA.

There is of course a danger in releasing the classics...some of them aren't all that classic. Mike Triggs over at UGO has a great writeup asking the same question about the state of 2D gaming and he points out that often times nostalgia wins out over quality with some of these games. In his story, as an example of the bad of classic gaming, he actually sites one of the games I most regreted buying back in 1982...Atari 2600 Football. For those of you who've never played it...let's just say it was no Madden 07. For instance, your entire football team was represented by 4 blocky characters that looked more like Zamboni machines than athletes...it was a horrendous mess of a game. To make matters worse I paid $50 for it back then. That's $100 in today's dollars...ouch! But you know something, for as bad as it was, I had fun with it for a couple of days before it sunk in just how bad it really was. And if it were released on XBLA tomorrow, I'm not sure I wouldn't be willing to shell out $5 for a chance to relive the experience.

I don't know if that's an indictment against my love of games and gaming, or if it's a testament to the incredible nostalgic pull these "games of our youth" hold for some of us.

Even with all the graphical muscle of these Next Gen consoles with there dual core processors and Cell chips, we still sometimes forego another round of Gears of War to play Joust and Galaga and Pacman and Digdug and newer games like Geometry Wars, which is really just good 'ole Asteroids on crack.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone would release these kind of games as a $40 or more full fledged game...they just wouldn't sell, but I think there is definitely room for 2D games in spaces like XBLA, PSN and Nintendo's Virtual Console.

So, is 2D gaming dead? I would say it's not dead, but it is living in the old-folks home waiting for the last of us who loved it to be lost to the march of time.

Top Ten Coolest Game Characters - Nintendo is not cool.

Gaming site screwattack.com has posted a cool segment in which they detail their "Top 10 Coolest Game Characters". The rules are simple...only one character per game franchise can make the list and you gotta be LL Cool baby!

Duke Nukem came in as Number 1 on their list, citing Duke's phrases, and his general badassedness (is that a word...it is in the world of Duke Nukem!). They particularly seemed to enjoy one of the cinematics from Duke Nukem 3D. "I'll rip off your head, and..." You remember the rest. :)

Of course Top Ten lists are only fun because noone ever completely agrees with them, and that will certainly be true in this case. This list may actually be more interesting for who DIDN'T make it. Let's just say there are going to be some very irate Nintendo fans.

Check out the entire segment in this clip from Youtube.



No Marcus Fenix? Hmmm. Who do you think should of made the list?

Nintendo Wii Hits the High Seas - on Cruise Ships

To the list of Nursing Homes, hospitals and bingo halls you can now add cruise ships to the places that the Nintendo Wii can be found entertaining the geriatric set.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) today announced it is the first cruise line to offer guests a chance to experience Nintendo's red-hot Wii on board its ships. Wii systems are currently on all NCL America ships and will be rolled out on the rest of the NCL fleet by next month. The systems are equipped with Wii Sports, Wii Play, WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Excite Truck.

"With its active, engaging and inviting game experiences appealing to every age from kids to parents to grandparents, the Wii from Nintendo is a natural fit for Freestyle Cruising," said Colin Veitch, NCL's president and CEO. "With the addition of Wii to our on-board activities, we can now offer bowling, boxing, golf, tennis and baseball across the entire fleet. Cheering, yelling and high-fives will be highly encouraged."

Whoohoo, take THAT Grandma...I own you!!

Gamestop exec says Wii shortages are intentional

Have you been trying to get your hands on a Nintendo Wii only to be met with empty store shelves? You're not alone, and now we may know why. We live in a supply and demand world...when supply is high and demand is low, prices drop. When things are reversed we see $10,000.00 PS3's on Ebay.

That's why it's hardly a surprise to hear R. Richard Fontaine, CEO of GameStop, saying that his company's profits may be about to ride the crest of "a cycle on steroids."

Fontaine believes Nintendo is about to release the floodgates on the Wii supply drought -- a drought GameStop feels may be the result of a well played Nintendo supply-and-demand strategy. Gamasutra has an article up at the moment in which a few statements made by Fontaine and other GameStop executives are quoted, directly following an investor-level financial reports conference.

GameStop's COO Dan DeMatteo also made the following statement to the press: "I believe that next week we get our first allocations of Wii and DSs and we are quite pleased with those numbers. We were concerned about the dryness here in March, but it looks like April is going to be good. [...] I don't think [more shortages] are going to be an issue...and this just my opinion, but I think [Nintendo] intentionally dried up supply because they made their numbers for the year. The new year starts April 1, and I think we're going to see supply flowing."

This is good news if you're looking to get a Wii next month, but is it good for the industry as a whole? These kinds of strategies can cause distrust and sometimes result in lost customer loyalty. If these reports are true Nintendo is walking a fine line between smart economics and poor public relations.

Do you think it's okay for Nintendo to intentionally hold back consoles just to make their fiscal year look better?

Xbox 360 Elite officially unveiled today

Finally, the Xbox 360 Elite has been confirmed by a mainstream media outlet and should be officially unveiled by Microsoft later today.

The New York Times has the story "revealing" the nitty gritty's, nothing of which is news to GameJonez Blog readers. I've been covering this developing story since the first pictures popped up 10 days ago. I just find it comical that MS felt the need to be so secretive...it's not like Sony and Nintendo are going to run out and redesign their consoles this early in their respective cycles. And with the PS3 European launch happening last week, it might have benefited them to make an official announcement earlier to steal some of Sony's thunder.

Who knows the reasons why they waited, I'm just glad its (more or less) official.

UPDATE: IGN just posted the story that they got "the call" from Microsoft. It's all officially official now, so we can all stop speculating. For your $479.99 you'll get a 120GB hdd, HDMI, and a special cable for transferring old HDD info to new HDD. Black charging stations are coming along with black play n charge kits and black controllers for everyone to buy. The system will NOT be limited edition and yes, future upgrades are a possibility. There will be 3 SKU's; they will NOT be aborting the "Core" system. That's pretty much it. Now go pre-order!

ORB to revolutionize media streaming for Next Gen consoles

If you own a Xbox 360 and a media center PC, you may have already tried streaming music and video from your PC to your TV. And when you get it working, it's really really cool! However, it's more likely you decided to skip it when you saw the complicated process involved in making it work. Sony fans are even worse off. Let's face it, while the PS3 has the horsepower to play media, it lacks the elegant software to make it a fun experience. The Wii is no better than the PS3 for media streaming currently. That's all about to change for the better.

Orb Networks announced that you and others in roughly 17 million households with gaming consoles worldwide can now enjoy and share all of the digital media on their home PCs directly on their living room TV screen, using the company’s free MyCasting software as the bridge. The announcement is great news for gamers because the Orb MyCasting software works with all three Next Gen consoles, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Steve Jobs is rumored to be scowling as the announcement comes just when Apple is beginning shipping its Apple TV. His buddy, Bill Gates can't be too happy either as Windows users now have one more excuse to hold off on that terrifying Vista upgrade AND Orb has just inadvertently handed Nintendo and Sony a tool that essentially raises their consoles closer to on par with some of the 360's best features.


How Orb Works with your game console:

Download Orb at www.orb.com (Version v2.00.0856 or higher) onto your always-on Windows PC at home. It takes less than 3 minutes to do. For the Wii and PS3, turn on the TV that is connected to your game console and open your Web browser. Using your remote control or controller, log onto your Orb account through your game console at mycast.orb.com. For the XBox 360, go to the media tab and select the media type (video, photos, or music) you want to play on your TV. Click “computer” from the list of options, and you will see a list of the computers running Orb on your LAN. Select one and then pick from the available video, photos, or music. That’s it. Now enjoy, watch and listen to any digital content on your home PC - videos, music, Internet TV and radio or any other online content you programmed in your Orb MyCast application: they are now all airing on your TV screen.

That sounds flippin' sweet! I'm heading to download the software now and will report in later this week with an update.

MySims Wii preview

If you're unfamiliar with The Sims franchise...well, the very fact that you're here visiting a gaming blog, I'm just going to assume that you ARE familiar with this mega-blockbuster franchise.

From it's roots on the PC to it's past console forays, there's never been a Sims game quite like what is coming to the Nintendo Wii. MySims seems to be an amalgamation of those past Sims games with the added touches of a little Lego Star Wars and Animal Crossing thrown in for good measure. Gamespot got some private time with the game and they have a nice preview up that highlights all the major bullet points.

Customization is one of the key elements of any Sims title and according to the preview, MySims will take this aspect of the franchise to a whole new level.

"As in the previous games in the Sims series, you'll have plenty to choose from when it comes to customizing your alter ego, though it must be noted that the character models in this game are quite a bit different form the longer, leaner characters of the traditional PC and console Sims games. Somewhere in between anime figurines, blocky Lego models, and the Wii's own Miis is perhaps the best way to describe them."

In addition to the character customization, for the first time players will be able to actually build their own oblects and furniture.

In addition to creating a home for your sims, you'll be able to create all the furnishings and items in the game using an interface that's tentatively titled "create-a-thing." Basically, you'll work off of a few basic components: the blueprints for various items, including all the game's furniture --- Fans of the console versions of The Sims who enjoyed the previous games' collection gameplay won't be disappointed by create-a-thing, since there will apparently be dozens of essences and about 30 different types of basic item classes (coffee tables, chairs, beds, and so on) for which you can collect blueprints. Crafting items will play a key role in MySims, since they'll be a key part of the tasks you'll perform to get in good with your neighbors and eventually develop your town.

Presently, the game is only at the pre-alpha stage but it is scheduled for release this fall on the Wii and DS. Whenever it comes out I foresee a whole new wave of gamers (especially females) lining up at retailers around the world. Gamespot also has a video interview with the games developer if you'd like a little more insight.

2D Ocarina of Time creator dies in car accident.

Richard Denton, the creator of the 2D version of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, and better known as "Dampe" around the net, was killed friday when he was struck by a car. Apparently, the road was wet, the car slid and Dampe was struck and rendered unconscious at the scene. He died later at the hospital; he was 15. According to the police report the car that struck him was not speeding and no alcohol or drugs were involved. Apparently it was just a very very sad freak accident.

We send our condolences to Richard's family and friends and his girlfriend. Reportedly his last known words were an "I love you" to her.

At the request of his family, the game, the official OoT2D webpage as well as the forums are closed. The future fate of the game itself remains undecided at this time.

A video from late last year shows the game in action.

To Dampe, I want to thank you for your hard work and passion, hopefully you know just how many people were inspired by your talent and efforts. You will be sorely missed.

Target $24 DS Games sale this week

Attention DS owners (and parents of DS owners), pack up the family and head to your local Target store this week for a nice deal on DS games. All games regularly priced $29.99 and above are on sale for $24. For most games, that might only be $5, but hey, used correctly, you could make it a family outing by using the five spot for a Mickey D's dollar menu meal. Or you could do like me and just use the $5 for those cool gel tabs for your Xbox 360 analog sticks...whoohoo, no more slipping fingers while splitting lips in Fight Night Round 3! Road Trip!!