Features

It’s no secret that Nintendo isn’t in the best shape right now. After finding great success with the Nintendo DS, the Wii launched and got the masses talking about Nintendo once again. Then something happened. The Wii’s sales plummeted, the Nintendo 3DS launched poorly, and investors are questioning Nintendo’s direction with their next console, the Wii-U. Nintendo is desperately trying to gain back momentum. What happened to Nintendo’s mojo? Well, Microsoft, the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade all have something to do with it.

To truly understand what’s at play here, we have to first consider why Nintendo has historically been a successful company. Nintendo has always excelled at making games that appeal to the masses. Nintendo makes games that anyone can pick up and play. Mario has been a part of our living room since 1983 because Mario games have always been easily approachable for anyone who wants to sit down and play. Whether it’s you, your little sister, your best buddy or your dead beat uncle, Nintendo makes products for everyone. When Nintendo is succeeding, it has always been the case. So why are the tables turning?

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What we are playing is a weekly column that appears each weekend. Various staff members let the world know what games had them hooked the past week and which ones …
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What we are playing is a weekly column that appears each weekend. Various staff members let the world know what games had them hooked the past week and which ones …
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A theme within the gaming industry this generation has been the expansion of who plays video games. Console makers have been looking to draw in a new audience by making games easier to approach and simpler to play. Motion sensors and touch screens are just two of the things we’ve seen this generation that are making it easier for your mom, dad, and little sister to pick up and play video games. But look a bit deeper and you’ll see a trend when it comes to the games themselves as well, and Xbox Live Arcade has something to do with it.

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Beat em’ ups are awesome. There’s nothing like delivering some blows to a virtual bad guy to calm a rough day. The list of great beat em’ ups is a mile long, but one stands out as a great candidate for re-release on Xbox Live Arcade: Def Jam Fight for New York. Of the four Def Jam fighting games it stands head and shoulders above its peers. Vendetta, the first game in the series, was great, but didn’t have the features New York first exhibited. The PSP version of New York, subtitled The Takeover, had a few new gameplay elements but removed all voiceovers. Finally Icon, the only current-gen title, was absolutely horrible, taking fighting far beyond over-the-top to a point where it’s comically awful.

No, there’s only one in the series that could truly make a comeback.

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We know some of you are having issues with the site, specifically with older  posts. Basically when you click Older Posts you get taken back to July 14 of …
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What we are playing is a weekly column that appears each weekend. Various staff members let the world know what games had them hooked the past week and which ones …
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During gaming’s golden 16-bit era, Sega released a side-scrolling action-platformer called Vectorman. Players take control of an “orbot” (robot composed of orbs) aptly named Vectorman, with the task of cleaning up Earth and making it habitable again after it has been transformed and polluted by other orbots that have gone insane. Enter Vectorman, a game that had a strikingly unique visual style, smooth action packed gameplay, and a stand out soundtrack that earned it both commercial and critical success when it was released in 1995.

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It seems like everyone likes to gang up on Microsoft, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s for attention, maybe it’s from bitterness, maybe they’re ignorant to the goings on behind the scenes, and maybe, just maybe, their beef with MS is justified. But honestly I’m tired of what I largely consider to be whining. I just want to break out the world’s smallest violin and play a sad song for them. I realize that sometimes the process developers must follow complying with Xbox Live is tough, but that’s why we don’t get several patches for a game, why we have the most secure network, and why we as consumers are happy with our service.

What’s coming next may seem a little sharp to some. Please remember that this is an editorial, so it’s my opinion, and mine only.

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