technorchid

Jack Thompson

Posted on February 21st, 2010 by M. Williams

What does it say about the addictiveness of videogames if the CEO of the third largest publisher in the world can’t play games because of his addictive personality?

Jack, you said it yourself. It is because of his addictive personality.

I am not saying games aren’t addictived, not saying they are either. That is for other people to decide for themselves. But it is the way you said it, Jack, that makes you seem… well, ignorant. If someone has an addictive personality, of course they are going to be drawn towards things that are awesome like sex, drugs, videogames, food, and shopping.

Tags: Gaming, M. Williams // Add Comment »

What To Change About Zelda

Posted on February 21st, 2010 by M. Williams

There has been a lot of this going on. So I’ll throw my hat into the ring. I’ve heard a lot of things like no master sword to play as a girl. From harder puzzles to just more puzzles to no puzzles. Voice acting and playing as a 40 year old virgin Link. My idea is very simple. In the past I thought blending RTS elements in all out Hyrule vs Ganons Army Warfare with Link as the commander in chief would be awesome… Still kind of do. I imagine it like the movie Troy. The battle is raging and you are directing your troops. Fighting is ferocious. All sorts of magic and swords and arrows and boomerangs flying everywhere and you are just straight killing fools…. And then BAM! there is the other sides champion coming straight for you. You gotta take him out. I still like the idea but here is my updated version.

The Legend of Zelda

That’s it! The original had really no story, neither did A Link to the Past as I remember. It was about fighting almost constantly, in every screen. Ocarina was the greatest of them all so I think Nintendo should stop trying to remake it because it will just keep drawing unfair comparisons. What I am calling for is next to no puzzles. Next to no story. Lots of magic fireballs and whatnot. TONS of battling. I mean tons as in, you have to wade through masses of moblins just to make it from town to town. Where you are relieved to enter a minigame because you are literally weary from battle. Make it beautiful, make it compelling, make it amazing, just make it about Link and his progression through warfare and it will explode. This is my true belief. People cheered the most when they saw him fighting on horseback, not when he solved a puzzle or clicked through a bunch of story. Make it a game again and not so much a saga. Make it badassed and people will play.

Maybe I am just tired of the high-minded ideals of narrative and cinematic cutscenes and blah blah blah just make a cool game about me and my medieval weaponry.

Oh, and make it hard too.

Tags: Gaming, M. Williams, Nintendo // 1 Comment »

13.58 Million Copies Worldwide

Posted on January 31st, 2010 by M. Williams

Everyone gets along on Wuhu Island. Petty arguments and elaborate scheming are left behind in favor of fun activities, precision controls and cooperative play.
Wuhu Island offers a dozen fun resort-themed activities. Four of them are archery, golf, wakeboarding and basketball. The other eight are table tennis, Frisbee(r), Swordplay, cycling, canoeing, Power Cruising, Air Sports and bowling.
Wuhu Island is always there when you need it. Time after time, whenever you go looking for it, it’s always right where you left it. Better yet, you can leave and return to the island whenever you want.
Wuhu Island is a smoke-free zone.
If your plane crashes while you’re playing Air Sports, you always restart from where you left off, even if you crash 15-16 times.
New technologies, such as the included Wii MotionPlus(tm) accessory, might make you feel like you’re living in the future.
The biggest twists and turns on Wuhu Island are the ones you make yourself, with the help of the Wii Remote(tm) controller, which is available in both black and white.
Night or day, the basketball courts are always open. See how many 2s and 3s you can sink.

Tags: M. Williams, Wii // Add Comment »

NSMB Wii Has Probably The Best Chance Out Of All In Reigniting The Wii Train

Posted on January 15th, 2010 by M. Williams

PlayStation 2 333.2K
PlayStation 3 1.36M
PSP 654.7K
Xbox 360 1.31M
Wii 3.81M
Nintendo DS 3.31M

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Nov-09 2.82M
WII FIT PLUS* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Oct-09 2.41M
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Jul-09 1.79M
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Nov-09 1.63M
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2* PS3 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Nov-09 1.12M
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 1.01M
MARIO KART W/ WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 936.1K
ASSASSIN’S CREED II 360 UBISOFT Nov-09 783.1K
LEFT 4 DEAD 2 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Nov-09728.5K
MARIO & LUIGI: BOWSER’S INSIDE STORY NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Sep-09 656.7K

(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

The title is something I said in a thread long buried in a forum that I visit quite a lot. Yeah, I’ve been catching up on the internets this whole time. Now I am not saying that the Wii will sell what it did in ‘08. That was an amazingly special year for Nintendo and gaming right along with it. But I am getting wicked de ja vu.

I do remember wondering what would happen when Halo 3 came out didn’t move systems (it didn’t and fell off the charts), I remember wondering what would happen when GTA came and didn’t move systems (it didn’t and fell off the charts), Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 already isn’t moving systems and will fall off the charts, probably for this month of January. What the hell is going to happen to the hardcore forum dwellers when Mario brings the Wii close to ‘08 levels. What if it actually matches or, dare I even say it, exceeds the levels that the Wii has already enjoyed?

I think back to ‘08 and the games that really pushed the Wii over the edge. Mario Kart, Wii Fit, and Wii Sports. Now two years later, we have a huge new Mario game, a new Wii Fit, and a new Wii Sports lighting up the charts. These titles took 1, 2, and 3 in the charts for the biggest month of the year in spite of 2 of them being out for a few months already. Can Nintendo ride these titles like they did before in ‘08? Can they exceed the greatest selling year in the history of gaming on the power of a 20 year late Mario title? Will the internets implode if it does happen?

They keep telling me that Natal is coming and Wii is doomed. They say the Wand is going to destroy the Wiimote… wtf do any of those matter when the software that people are buying motion controlled games for is being developed by Nintendo? Does Sony have an answer for Wii Sports? I don’t mean the new one, I mean the first one. Can they even top that game? Will Microsoft beat Wii Fit? CAN Microsoft beat Wii Fit? Do they have depth of talent to actually tap into the previously untappable expanded market that has eluded them for so long? If they don’t have software to beat Nintendo’s offerings we already know who is going to be the only ones buying Natal and the Wand. It will be the same people who bought Halo 3 in droves and then disappeared. The same people who bought GTA and disappeared. The same people who make whatever flavor of the month 360 title #1 and then disappear. It is the biggest niche in the gaming world, so big it thinks it is the mainstream. The same people who don’t understand how the only gaming console on the market is outselling two PC’s masquerading as gaming systems.

What is so hard to understand about the Wii? It is a gaming console. It specializes in arcade, pick up and play type of gaming that people crave and probably have craved for a very long time. The HD systems (ever notice how people tend to compare the both of them together to the Wii) focus on games that are trying to be movies and this turns the actual mainstream, the actual audience that everyone tries to tap, off. “Hardcore” gamers love cinematics because they have hollywood envy. They want the glamour and the prestige of hollywood because honestly, who doesn’t? Actors get all sorts of girls and all the good drugs. But people who play games don’t want to watch them. They want to play them. This is why the Wii is successful. Why the best Wii games are probably the fastest to get into. People just want to play games. It’s no fun to watch people play Monopoly, there is no Jenga The Movie. We play games. It is no surprise that Wii Play is back in the charts. It’s very title is a battle cry. We Play. We don’t watch, or engage in quick time events to move the cutscenes along. Why is NSMB Wii selling so well? Because it lets everyone play, together, on one screen. We Play. The Wii isn’t trying to sell you movies. It isn’t even trying to run them. The Wii is for playing games and right now it has the best games you can buy.

It may be a bold statement to say that Nintendo has the best games, but wallets don’t lie even when reviewers do. The numbers don’t lie. The vast majority of people are playing Wii and DS. They are buying more of them than anything else. They don’t want FPS movie-games. They want games. That is the secret of the Wii. We play games, that is why we don’t buy movie-games to watch for 20 hours (if we even get that anymore).

Until anyone can make a motion controlled title that does something better than Wii Fit, Wii Play, or Wii Sports, Nintendo has nothing to worry about with Natal and the Wand. Better tech has never equalled better sales in the gaming world. Better games always win out in the end.

Tags: Gaming, M. Williams, Nintendo, Wii // Add Comment »

Site Note

Posted on September 16th, 2009 by M. Williams

It’s nice to have internet again. I went a nice long time without it.

Tags: M. Williams, Technorchid // Add Comment »

Editor’s Picks - Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy

Posted on July 14th, 2009 by A. Alexander

So the technorchid crew checked out the July 10th performance at Benaroya Hall of Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy by the Seattle Symphony. As a special treat, Nobuo Uematsu was in attendance. A fantastic show which I highly recommend; you can check out the details here. I loved every minute, and the big screen showing scenes from the retro to the ultra-flashy was a great touch.

Guest Writer M. Cusick states:
“Nobuo’s appearance was totally contrary to how I imagined him; when you think of a composer, you generally think of stiff and snooty–he was totally a dork! And I loved that about him. I thought the performance was very good and they covered a lot of my favorites. Definitely money well-spent.”

You can check out a video of an earlier performance here to get a taste:

Tags: A. Alexander, Editor's Picks, Microsoft, Music, PS2, PS3, Sony, Technorchid, Xbox 360 // Add Comment »

Monkey Island Contest? Count Me In.

Posted on July 14th, 2009 by A. Alexander

So there’s a contest over at the Monkey Island website if you want to get a line of YOUR PERSONALLY WRITTEN DIALOG into an upcoming episode of Tales of Monkey Island. Enter if you dare. Or better yet, vote for me.

Tags: A. Alexander, Gaming, Nintendo, PC, Technorchid, Wii, Wiiware // Add Comment »

Defend Your Castle: Just the Way I Wanted It!

Posted on April 27th, 2009 by A. Alexander

I’m pretty sure I’ve been asking for this port since the day I got my iPhone. It just seems like a perfect fit! Anyways, I can personally say it’s fantastically done, and right now is on sale for the low, low price of 99 cents. AWESOME. Check out some video footage below. Stick figure flinging FTW. Buy it. Now.

If you so choose, you can download it from the App Store of your browser at http://www.xgenstudios.com/defend-your-castle/.

Tags: A. Alexander, Apple, PC, Technorchid, Wii, Wiiware, iPhone // Add Comment »

Finally, Something for Wii Owners to Look Forward To

Posted on April 25th, 2009 by A. Alexander

I heard about this game awhile back, but for whatever reason it sort of fell off the radar for me. Muramasa is honestly about the only thing I’m interested in for Wii right now, so I’m glad to see it.

Tags: A. Alexander, Gaming, Nintendo, Technorchid, Wii // 1 Comment »