After playing Wii Sports I am sure I do not need to tell you how exciting it was to think about future games like The BIGS, or Brunswick Pro Bowling, and maybe some day Fight Night and Virtual Tennis coming to the Nintendo Wii platform. To each have their own game, where the developers could take the basic concepts from Wii Sports and then go above and beyond to higher degree of immersion with each individual sport. Unfortunately Brunswick Pro Bowling does not go to much higher.

This is a pretty comprehensive bowling game. You have the quick play option where you and three other people can basically just bowl ten frames. Or you have the career mode. In career mode there are entrance fees and minimum score levels which you must maintain. You can purchase upgrades, different clothes and what not. The graphics look pretty good, but I will be interested to compare them to the PSP and PS2 version of the game. The game play is pretty close to the bowling game in Wii Sports with some small changes. One of those changes is how you position where you will release the ball. In Wii Sports this was done with the directional pad which made it very easy to pick up. In Brunswick Pro Bowling you need to hold down the B button and rotate your Wiimote clockwise to move right and counter clockwise to move left. This is quite cumbersome at first but after a while you do get the hang of it. The other problem is that it is very hard to make minor adjustments to what path you want the ball to take. Adjusting the angle of the roll as well as the approach and throwing the ball are for the most part the same as Wii Sports. The game uses real life looking humans instead of cartoon characters, and these humans actually have legs unlike the Wii Characters.

Aside from the career mode, and the human looking characters there is not much different from Brunswick Pro Bowling to the Bowling in Wii Sports. Bowling fans will definitely get their monies worth. But for the average gamer who just wants to bowl with some friends, Wii Sports is definitely the obvious choice only because you probably already have it and Brunswick Bowling is not substantially different in functionality. Had this game featured online play that would have completely changed my perceptions of this game. The idea of getting to go bowling with a friend or relative who lives far away would be really appealing. Imagine sitting there talking like you were at a real life bowling alley, you take your turn, he takes his turn. Celebrating great frames and engaging in some friend trash talk between the two of you. The only difference would probably be the lack of a cute waitress to bring you your favorite refreshments and snacks.

But the facts are that Brunswick Pro Bowling did not include online play. That being said until you can find it for under $20 it is pretty hard to recommend the game if you already own its equivalent. If you do not have Wii Sports for whatever reason I would definitely recommend renting this game and or buying it for some good fun.

When I first noticed news bites and other bits of information about Planet Puzzle League I thought to myself Oh alright another puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. Then I started hearing some great reviews so I got really excited when GameFly finally got this game in the mail to me.

One thing I liked right away was there was a menu option to erase all the previous data. Instead of trying to grow an additional arm with five more fingers so that I could press and hold whole bunch of buttons while I turned on the Nintendo DS to get rid of previously saved data. The user only needs to find the menu option only a couple of layers in and all those old game files are gone. This is a much better solution to the problem then trying to hold down five buttons while turning on the Nintendo DS.

The game concept is pretty simple. The player needs to match at least three of a matching block type in order for them to disappear there by allowing you to rearrange other blocks in sets of three or more. Now most of you are probably thinking, OK another Tetris game. You are close but Planet Puzzle League is a little different. The lines of blocks come from the bottom and build their way up. The player can only slide the blocks sideways to make matching sets of three. As time progresses more lines of blocks work their way upwards. You need to match them up to keep the screen as clean as long as you can. There are different games types, one of them piles garbage non colored block types and you have to make matches to finally convert the garbage to useable block types.

The game does utilize Nintendo WiFi which makes playing multiplayer with friends across the world possible. This does add a great deal of replay value to the game. And the game has some daily play options

At the end of the day Planet Puzzle League is just another puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. If you have Puzzle Quest, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, or especially Tetris DS you may not really find Planet Puzzle League any more fun then the others. If you are looking to add a puzzle game or another puzzle game to your DS collection definitely give this game a look over I think you find that it is just as good as the rest.

The guys over at Pixel Perfect put together a list of all the things that suck about each of the consoles. It is a fairly common list of complaints that you will see on any blog, forum, or website. But it is interesting to read through their thoughts.

The one thing on the list I do not agree with is the comment about non standard PS3 headset support. I like the idea of having a simple Blue Tooth headset. It is easy to work with and it allows the user some flexibility.Via Pixel Perfect

Via Pixel

If you are like me you are finding that allot of the Nintendo Wii games seem to have the attitude of no matter what there will be some sort of motion control, whether it applies or not.

There are many instances of Nintendo Wii games using the motion control when it really does not seem to clearly fit.  In Metal Slug: Anthology there are plenty of buttons on the Wiimote that were left over that could have been used to throw grenades.  But the developers force you to shake the Nun chuck control.  And there are countless other examples of that, in fact it has gotten so bad that across the Internet it has been termed “Waggleware”.  Now I have to say that there are quite a few games that have really captured the sense of motion control.  Obviously the game Wii Sports is leading the pack, but other games like The Godfather, Excite Truck, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Tiger Woods Golf 2007, and Cars are all using the motion controls in a manner that adds to the experience the player has and is not simply trying to pawn itself off as utilizing the motion sensing capabilities of the Nintendo Wii.

But I think this begs the question should all games that are released for the Nintendo Wii have some sort of motion sensing features?  Or can the user just enjoy the game by a traditional D-Pad, trigger, and pushing buttons?  There have been a few games on the Nintendo DS that have been great games that do not use the touch screen, so I think it stands to reason that there could be great Nintendo Wii games that do not use motion control.

Your thoughts?

So after playing a couple of cross platform games I have found that I have not had great experiences for the most part.  There have has been a couple of exceptions, but for the most part it cross platform games are not a strength of the Nintendo Wii.  The Wii’s little brother the Nintendo DS also struggled with cross platform games.  Games like Madden, Splinter Cell, Need for Speed and other cross platform games have never been real strong on the Nintendo DS.  Unique titles like Nintendogs, Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents and Hotel Dusk have been the driving force for the legendary sales of the Nintendo DS.  I think the Nintendo Wii will find success in similar unique titles.  But right now developers seem content to be shoveling ports from XBox 360, PS3, PS2, and even the PSP onto the Nintendo Wii platform, then throwing some sort of waggle feature in and calling it a Nintendo Wii title.  I really hope that developers take a chance and try some crazy idea that truly utilizes the Wiimote functionality in some creative way.  With the sales numbers that the Nintendo Wii is generating a simple title could end up a massive hit, and being the next Halo or God of War series.

Whether you believe Chris Hecker’s comments about the Wii, or you are a die hard fan boy of Nintendo one thing that most people can not argue is that the Wii has not been taken seriously by most developers and publishers aside from Nintendo themselves.

I think there are allot of fun games that are available for the Wii.  Excite Truck, Wii Sports, and to a certain degree The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Light Princess.  The problem with this is that all of these titles are from Nintendo themselves, I think anyone would be very hard pressed to say that there is a third party game that is a must have for the Wii right now.  Most games I have played from third party developers simply take a game already wrote for the XBox 360, or the PS3 and then simply slap on some “waggle control”.  When I say Waggle control I mean some feature that simply replaces pushing a button with shaking the Wiimote or the Nun chuck.  A perfect example of this is Metal Slug: Anthology.  To throw a grenade you simply shake the Nun chuck, really this feature could have been accomplished by simply pressing a button on the Wiimote.

To me throwing on waggle features is not using the Wiimote in the way that Nintendo intended it.  I will say that the exception to this rule right now is THQ’s game Cars.  Using the Wiimote to drive the Car is about the only example I can think of right now that utilizes the Wiimote in a manner that was add functionality to the game and makes the game easier to understand for new gamers.  Now there are some games coming out from third parties that I hope will use the Wiimote as more then a salt shaker.  The first is Tiger Woods Gold 2007 for the Wii.  If EA does a good job and utilizes the Wiimote as an imaginary golf club, I think this could launch Wii sales even higher and create a demand from golfers for the console that could make it getting your hands on a Wii nearly impossible through the holiday season of 2007.  If the physics and the game play closely mimic the actual game play of golf the demand for the console will be unprecedented.  Another game is Blazing Angels by UbiSoft, mimicking a flight yoke with a Wiimote could really be an incredibly immersive experience, I played Blazing Angels on both the XBox 360 and the PS3.  With the limited motion sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS controller, the PS3 version was fun to play with motion sensing, but I think if the developers do the Wiimote justice this could be a much better experience.

If game makers keep shoveling Waggleware onto the Wii platform I think it is something that could actually kill the Wii, or at least doom it to third place like the GameCube.  I worry that people will buy third party games that do not handle well and are not as pretty as the same game on other consoles, and the hype and excitement will soon die.  Only hardcore Nintendo fans will stay with the console, and every six months Nintendo will crank out a really good game to keep the dying fan base playing the Wii.  If Third Party developers produce games that use motion control in new ways that actually make the game more immersive, and easier to understand for new gamers their game will sell and make them allot of money, and will strengthen the Wii platform.

This is the first post to the new blog Live For Nintendo, the newest member in the Around the Controller Network.  Live for Nintendo will feature news articles about all the consoles that were produced by Nintendo, reviews of new games and even old games that are now once again new through the magic of the Virtual Console, and editorials.

LiveforNintendo.com is committed to keeping all the fans of Nintendo products up to date with all that is happening in the world of Nintendo.  Within a couple of weeks we will also be doing a regular Podcast relating to content on the site and some unique content that is exclusive to the Podcast itself.

As I mentioned before LiveforNintendo.com, is going to be part of the Around the Controller Network. In the coming weeks we will have the following sites up and running in our little online family:

www.AroundtheController.com
www.LiveForXBox.com
www.LiveForPlayStation.com
www.LiveForPCGaming.com

If you are lucky enough to own more then one console, go head on over to the other sites in our little family and see if there is anything that catches your eye.  We will also be featuring Podcasts specific to each site. While LiveforNintendo.com content itself will be dedicated to Nintendo specific consoles, games, news and editorials that Nintendo gamers can relate to and enjoy.

Also check out www.AroundtheController.com, for articles that deal with general issues that affect gamers of all platforms and brands.  The site will feature articles on gaming culture, political events that may affect gaming, editorials about where the gaming industry is headed, special pricing and deals, or just thoughts about gaming in general. 

We will be looking at your comments and looking forward to reading your feedback.