News on Golden Sun 3

Finally after 6 long years, Camelot Software Planning announced the newest title in the Golden Sun series, Golden Sun DS. It will be the third title and has long been awaited from fans including myself.

A video teaser here
and for more info go to the website here.

Mario Kart Racing

Mario Kart for the Wii (with the Wii Wheel bundle $49.99) takes players into the Mario Kart series. The tracks include several new courses for the Wii as well as playable courses from the Gamecube, DS, N64 and Snes versions of the game. You get to pick your character and your kart, bike or whatever before the race and then which track or circuit you will race on. Like previous Mario Karts, there are 50cc, 100cc and 150cc difficulties that allow for more fun instead of beating the cpu all the time. With the online capablity you can play up to 12 players from around the world or just your friends. It is quite the party game, since you can have at least four people on one Wii racing at a time and there is never a dull moment with Mario Kart for the Wii

While racing, when you go off a ramp you can perform tricks by quickly moving the Wii Remote up, these tricks will give you a little boost in speed that can be very helpful. The items available in the game haven't changed much since the previous titles, you can still get the blue shell to take out the person in first, or the red shell or shells to take out the people in front of you. There is the bullet that will take you with it, the mushrooms that help boost your speed and bananas galore to throw behind you to stop anyone from closing in on your position.
Overall, Mario Kart is a great game, but don't just take my word for it, here is the website and a few videos.

Waking to the Golden Sun

Golden Sun (GBA $10) is quite the game. Of course with it being on the Game Boy Advance it seems like it is old, but to many still a favorite. Golden Sun starts out with a couple of characters interested in psyenergy go to Sol Sanctum and run into others who make it erupt and release the Djinn. They must then go on an adventure to capture all the Djinn and keep the villains from lighting the lighthouses that could very well destroy the land.

The Djinn are helpful in battle as you can use them themselves to cause massive damage then you can even use multiple at once to cause great spirits to come and help kill your foes.

The adventure leads the main characters into interaction with others and a growing alliance that helps to cease the actions of those who are trying to light the lighthouses. All see the danger that is upon the world, but only these four can stop it.

The battle system works in that you have turns to attack, defend, use psyenergy or items and then it plays through the actions and shows great graphics. There are many different places to explore. Caves, desserts, a lake where you travel by boat, and other dungeons let many monsters appear and places to find Djinn and other items including swords, armor, and healing items.

Overall, it is a Rpg that truly delves into a world of monsters, powers and plot as you must defeat those who are trying to destroy the world.

The Book of Prophecy Chose You

Avalon Code, a new game for the Nintendo DS ($34.99), tells a tale about a young boy/girl who is chosen by the Book of Prophecy to create a new world. First you must try to save everyone while entering anything of value into the Book. This is the funny part, when you enter a person into the book they don't really know what happened and end up with a question mark over his/her head. By entering things into the Book, you can change their codes, which are made up of metals, elements, animals, values and ideas. By changing the codes you can make things stronger or weaker. Then for the weapons you wield against the foes, you can make them stronger or weaker or even into weapons like Excalibur or Thor's Hammer by following a metalize tablet. The metalize tablets are really recipes that tell you what you need to have in order to make the weapon, but there are also metalizes for accessories, armor and other items. Throughout the story you meet new people, the spirits of the elements, the various villains and many creatures. But it all ends when you face the ultimate evil, the former owner of the Book of Prophecy who was betrayed by those he populated his world with.
After the main story line, a few things open up to just explore the world and even check in on the world to come, by going to Sunny Hill, which is where you first obtain the Book, to check on what things will look like. Which means you can always change them by answering the questions of the new world differently.

I found the game very entertaining, since it was able to keep me wanting to play it. A few of the cut scenes seemed like they would go on forever, but I realized they were just getting further along the plot line and had a lot to get out of the way. For anyone who is an Rpg fan I strongly recommend this game.
For more info here is a trailer and here is the website.

Tiny plants pack a punch in Pikmin

Pikmin, New play control for the Wii ($27.99-29.99) .
This game is actually a remake of the Gamecube game by the same name, and is part of a new series Nintendo is putting out of Gamecube Masterpieces. I loved this game on the Gamecube and always wanted to see what it would be like with the Wii since its controls lend it so well to the system.
The new controls make the game seem much better than before. You just point in one area and can send Pikmin doing a task in no time. The premise is that Olimar's ship is hit by an asteroid and he crashes onto a strange planet. He meets the Pikmin and then with their help finds the pieces to fix his spaceship. He just wants to get home, but since the pieces are scattered everywhere he must go on an adventure with the Pikmin to find every piece and meet new creatures, objects and plants along the way.
The battle system basically throws a Pikmin onto a creature and the Pikmin fight it until it is dead. They then transport the corpse to their Onions, which are their homes, for food and to make new Pikmin. It is such a fun game that most gamers who have played the series before are purchasing it for the Wii and awaiting the update to Pikmin 2 and the release of Pikmin 3, which will be the first new game of the series on the Wii.
For more information
See the trailer here
Or the website here

Evolution Revolution

Spore (PC & Mac $39-49, Nintendo DS version $35) has widely entered an evolution based game to the mainstream. In Spore, you start the game and watch as an asteroid flies through space and eventually crashes into a planet. This asteroid then breaks up and out pops an cell organism that is your character. Your goal then is to eat and not to be eaten. You choose to be an omnivore, carnivore or herbivore, and then what your cell looks like with each stage. Eventually you obtain enough points to move to land and begin the evolution cycle. On land the main goals remain, but added to them are befriending other creatures or destroying their species. As you move from nest to nest you meet many creatures along the way, some will be friendly to you from the beginning and some not. However, every choice you make has an effect later on. This also allows you to find new parts to use in the creator to make your creature look different, creepy, cute or funny. The end of the creature phase brings up your creature's movement into tribal stage as it has finally become sentient. In tribal stage you either have to make friends with other tribes or destroy them, while maintaining food supplies and giving clothes to your creation. There are five other tribes and what you do with them further develops your species. After you have dealt with the tribes, you get to move to civilization, which breaks the split to militaristic, religious, or economic abilities to overcome your rival cities. You get to create your city hall, houses, entertainment buildings and workshops, as well as the vehicles from land, water and air. After you have taken the planet, you move to space stage and expand ever on with more civilizations and space-faring species in a never ending quest to become the larges power in the galaxy.

Spore is one of the ultimate games in creativity as you can decide every aspect of your species from the way it looks to where it lives and the vehicles it uses. In another part of the game, there are creators that allow you to create the buildings, creatures or vehicles without playing the game to do so. Plus the connection with other gamers through the sporepedia and the Internet interaction allows you to share your creations with others and even use creations you liked from other people.
For more information here is Spore's website.

Brings back childhood memories

So during the break, Pokemon Platinum version was released for the Nintendo DS ($34.99). Now as a kid I loved playing these games and still do. This version, however, they have outdone themselves. They add several new features from Diamond and Pearl versions, of which Platinum is the third in the set. There is a new plot line, several twists, including one where you end up in another dimension due to the actions of the Boss of Team Galatic (the bad guys of the game).

Like other versions you start out on a new adventure, but this one you meet up with your friend and he tries to go into the tall grass (a dangerous place for kids without pokemon). He is stopped by the region's Professor and then the two of you are given Pokemon of your own. You get to choose between a fire type, water type or grass type. Then your own adventure begins. You eventually receive a Pokedex to help the Professor catalog the Pokemon you see while on your quest. You can participate in Pokemon Contests, fight Gym Leaders for Gym Badges, beat the Elite Four and become the Pokemon Champion, but around every corner awaits more adventures and surprises. It's just something you have to see in person.

For more info or to see the commercial click below.
Pokemon Platinum Commercial
Pokemon Platinum Info

Top 10 Things About Medieval 2

10. Factions vie for power, playing as one of the many countries available, the player always tries to become the most powerful faction in the game.
9. Good Construction helps, constructing better recruitment buildings allow for better armies, and better technologies come from other buildings. You cannot get anywhere without money, so build those economic buildings like markets and roads!
8. Ensuring the Royal Line Continues, without the Royal family, your faction crumbles to revolt and dies. To ensure this doesn't happen, help heirs to marry and procreate.
7. Use your Agents wisely, Spies and Assassins can do wonders for the problems your facing. Too much unrest by the people in a specific settlement can cause revolt, so keep spies in your towns to keep enemies spies out and put them in enemies towns to cause revolt. Assassins can kill off that problem general that has been terrorizing your citizens, or rid a province of an unwanted guest.
6. Religion is your key, having your religion being followed by more citizens keeps them happy, where as another religion causes unrest. Use priests, cardinals and imams to your advantage to raise the amount of followers of your religion in a specific area.
5. Crusades and Jihads can show the power of your faction, when the Pope calls a Crusade, all Catholics should try to participate. This not only shows your faith, but allows for expansion into Muslim territory. On the other hand, Muslims have Jihads and can fight back with almost the same process to take out Catholic factions in their lands.
4. Diplomacy is a useful tool, without it there can be no alliances or trade agreements. Trade agreements make both factions more prosperous, and alliances are beneficial, especially if both of the parties share enemies.
3. The Size of the Army is always a deterrence, having a strong army can be the difference from winning a war or losing. It can also dictate whether or not an enemy will be more likely to attack a specific area or not, because with a stronger army comes more casualties to both sides.
2. Wealth is the glue of the faction, if you don't have money, you cannot buy construction materials or fund armies or navies. Your faction's wealth is what keeps you able to fend off attackers and helps to become more technologically advanced than another faction.
1. It all comes down to Influence, whether it is the influence of your Ruler or the influence of the Pope, or even of smaller persons, influence will deem how much people respect you. The higher the influence of your King, the easier it will be to have others do what you ask. The same goes for others, like the Pope's influence will determine how much Catholics abide to his rules.

Medieval Total War 2

First off, Medieval Total War 2 (PC,$12-29.99 depending on the combo) , now I enjoyed the other Total War games, and figured this one would be an instant favorite. However, the game-play and the improvements from the previous game smashed my expectations to pieces and said it was better than that. Starting off in the game there are only five playable factions: the English, French, Germans, Spanish or the Venetians. Once a game is finished in one of these factions, it opens the remaining 12 factions up for play. This is when the fun begins, as you can play not only Catholic factions but also Muslim and Orthodox factions. Each faction starts with a few provinces and the goal to be the largest and most powerful faction in the game. Each game, the difficulty and advice level can be set to what you would like. Certain factions seem harder than others, but it is mostly how they are played and what the faction starts out with that will decide the difficulties. The fact that every game is different allows for maximum replayability, which means you will never get bored from the flow of the game. Medieval 2 also gives some historical background as it tells you when things were invented, brought to Europe, or came to public thought.

I have found that I like to play the Scottish and go to a new history, where Scotland takes over the English before the crowns were united and then make Scotland into the over powered naval faction that it could only dream of being. Of course, there is always something that could stop it, whether the Pope starts putting pressure on the Scots to cease hostility between Scotland and England, or when the Spanish Armada has to fight the competing navies out of the waters. Even with that, I have played the Scottish at least five times and no game was alike. There were games where I ended up having all of England and the Iberian peninsula as the controlling faction of the seas, the one where I ended up in the middle of continental Europe and the ones where the Papacy had continuously been from the Scottish cardinal base which allowed for mass expansion throughout all of Europe and Northern Africa.

Overall, if you like the Medieval period or just want to see what it would have been like if a different faction had more control in that era and what its effect on history would have been, then I suggest getting your hands on a copy of Medieval Total War 2.

In the Beginning...

There was gaming and the gaming was good. When I think of gaming, the thing that comes to mind is Nintendo. Now in the 4th generation with the Wii and its hand held the Nintendo DS, Nintendo has never lost its following. In fact even now when the economy is down, the Wii is still flying off the shelves. Of course there are other platforms, like the PS3 and the XBOX360, but I don't own them. I do have a computer for PC games, a Wii and a Nintendo DS, though. Thus, this blog will probably focus on those systems' games and may hit some earlier ones that bring light to this generation.