Game Diary - July 16, 2008

I find that I might have given up on "Alone in the Dark". As much as I want to love this game, I just can't bring myself to play it again. The very cheap one hit deaths have made me scorn the game I was most eager for this summer.

I went looking for the fourth Colossi in "Shadow of the Colossus" today, and that's about as far as I got. The bugger was no where in sight. You think it would be easier to spot a foe the size of a skyscraper, but somehow my massive adversary managed to evade my sword. It would help if the directions to get to each lumbering adversary weren't so cryptic. I mean the whole sword glowing thing is cool, but it doesn't direct me as well as I'd like.

Spoilers contained herin, be warned!
Since I was still in the mood for some epic adventures, I returned to "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" for the first time since forever. I toppled the villain Zant with my powerful Master Sword and resumed an adventure that's been in progress since I bought my Wii back in June 2006. Unfortunately, the quest is not over and you-know-who lurks at Hyrule Castle. I barely find myself up for one more dungeon, but I'll consider returning to this one. I just might finish it before the next one comes out.


Compare the Wii version of Animal Crossing to the DS and see for yourself.

I also played some Animal Crossing: Wild World on DS and felt a vague sense of deja' vu. The presentation is very similar to the recently announced Wii version, a little too similar in fact. My gut tells me that we can expect another Nintendo title with zero innovation attached, another game that's more of the same. I only hope that I'm wrong.

Dear Nintendo, Can We Please Have Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on Wii Ware...

I can get quite hysterical at times, especially regarding things that I believe in. For a while now, my foul mouthed rants and raves have centered around many different things. And I can be a very clueless joe at times, I know. But I have a bone to pick with Nintendo tonight, and it's been building for quite some time.

Of course every hardcore fanboy and fangirl out there is already concerned with the obvious point: Where are my hardcore Nintendo games, Reggie? Why aren't you giving hardcore gamers what they want. And the whaambulance continues to roll on.


For the record, I'm over that one. It's clear to me that Nintendo does what Nintendo wants. Period. But rather than piss and moan over the point everyone seems to make (and remake), I want to offer a suggestion, a possible idea. Something that I would love to see, if Nintendo would deem it fit to give.

The game idea I'd like to see is, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for Wii Ware.

Talk about a game idea that was ahead of its time. Think back and soak in those clumsy link cables (each sold separately), the mandatory multi-Gameboy setup for multiplayer, and the chance that your friends were probably too poor to play the intricate and competitive (and only console) co-op Zelda ever. If "Zelda: Four Swords Adventures" managed to sell well for the Gamecube in 2004 (Wiki guesstimates over 400,000 copies) no one has the right to complain about the recent growth in the and-you-need-this-peripheral-in-your-living-room-too market.


Zelda: Four Swords in 2004 (again, on Gamecube) may not have made much sense, but a Zelda that's supported by an online infrastructure like Wii Ware does. And you can keep the graphics the same Nintendo, really. Those sprites were just fine the way they were. But then you could spruce up the place a bit, add some 3-D, and really make it shine. A boss here, some DS support (if you must), and violla! a game that anyone in the masses can enjoy (and that hardcore types can go nuts for). Multiplayer Zelda in cute downloadable form (with decent netcode, please). A grand Hyrulean adventure, indeed.

I don't find my request unreasonable. In fact it's entirely do-able, if Nintendo is up for it.

If only E3 2008 could give me that. My decade would be set. And I'm not arguing that this is the only thing Wii Ware needs, its just the thing I'd like to see most of all. Pray, you the reader do the same.

**Yes, I realize Zelda: Four Swords Adventures was originally part of the GBA port of The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (my favorite, by the way), but I really would prefer this on home console than a DS remake.

You're protests, if any, are duly noted**

Game Diary: July 9, 2008

After one hour, I've got three Colossi down and thirteen left to go.

The thing that strikes me most about revisiting "Shadow of the Colossus" just one week before E3 is that I'm convinced this game was only successful because of the huge marketing push that Sony put behind it. That's not to say that the game isn't art, but I recall a number of two-page ads, a commercial, and similar endorsements created to generate buzz for the obscure sounding game (and I only hope that they eventually learned this).

My first experience came with a demo sent to me in the mail (prior to that, i never knew what a Colossi was). And what a demo indeed! It captured the first battle with a Colossi (I think it ended actually before you even fought him). You look up at this lumbering creature roughly the size of a five or six story house (actually he's petite compared to his comrades) and BAM! Demo over. End Scene.

But what is it that specifically makes this game feel enormous, even by today's standards? Is it the immense proportions of scope and scale as you battle enormous creatures that can, and will, kill you if they land a blow? Is it the connection to your horse, the only character in the game you'll interact with during the eight to ten hour game? Or is it the futility of the Wander's mission, as he is fooled into believing that his sacrifice will reunite him with the woman he loves?

People on the internets continue to argue that "Shadow of the Colossus" is a sheer representation of games as art, and that's fine. But I argue that if "Shadow of the Colossus" is art, then "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is our Mona Lisa (and forget the constant comparisons to film, as if nothing ever existed before Citizen Kain). I make this argument because as much as Shadow does so much with very little, it's really a minimalist version of the stuff Link has done for decades. The only detractor being that Zelda bosses never appeared as complex on the surface (they didn't make you feel anywhere as pathetic as some of the Colossi can).

However, Nintendo's constant refinements to the franchise (without introducing anything really new) are slowly making the series lose its luster.

Besides rolling around and cutting up some Colossi, I managed to sneak in some time in Animal Crossing. I named my town Cali (for obvious reasons), and my character doesn;t have enough money to pay the rent. I'll try to stick with this one for as long as I can, but i have a feeling its not going to last.

Maybe I should invest in the DS version instead.