The E3 Rundown

E3 was last week! And you know what that means: time for thenoblehero's recap of awesomeness! I was going to talk about everything E3, but then I realized how bored I was writing about it, so I'm just gonna skip through my favourite things. Just a warning, it'll be pretty much all Nintendo, 'cause Nintendo wins E3.

First thing: more new characters for Super Smash Bros. were announced! Mii Fighters in three customizable varieties are on their way, so finally you can enter the battle. They also added Palutena from Kid Icarus (cool I guess? I'm not really big on that series), and Pac-Man! Now they've got mascots from a bunch of the big video game companies, and they showed off a battle between Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man to demonstrate.

Next up, Nintendo showed off its next Yoshi game: Yoshi's Woolly World. I've always liked Yoshi, but I've never actually bought a Yoshi game. This game is changing that. It just looks so adorable and very fun. Yoshi is a crochet doll version of himself! I'm really looking forward to this game.

Another new game I'm looking forward to is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. This game spins directly out of Super Mario 3D World where there are little sidequest-like levels in which you take control of Captain Toad and go through an odd little 3D puzzle level. I'm not describing it well. This game takes that concept and dials it way up giving the titular character more abilities and more complicated levels to get through. It looks awesome.

There are two new Zelda games coming. Hyrule Warriors is a mashup of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors. It looks pretty fun, and you get to play as a bunch of different Zelda characters (including Zelda herself). It's a hack and slash action game that's sure to be a hit. The other is a new formal Legend of Zelda game (currently untitled) that is probably still quite a ways out, but the quick video they showed looks beautiful! I am very much looking forward to seeing more.

There was a little bit of news about Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby at and around E3, as well. There was a trailer showing off a little bit of gameplay, and four new Mega Evolutions, plus two Primal Evolutions were shown off. Mega Sceptile and Mega Swampert will round off the 3rd generation starters' mega forms. Mega Diancie and Mega Sableye made appearances, and the versions of the legendary pokémon on the box-art have been revealed to be Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Clearly I'm excited for these games.

Nintendo also showed off a new game called Splatoon, which could be a pretty big hit. I recommend looking it up 'cause I don't think I can describe it and give it justice. It's a team battle game where you play as little squid people who spray coloured ink everywhere to take over as much territory as possible. You can turn into a squid and swim through the ink rapidly, but get stuck when you hit the opposing team's ink. Like I said, it sounds odd, but looks great!

The last game I'm going to mention is a new game exclusive to Xbox One called Scalebound. It looks like you play as a dragon knight battling monsters and stuff. The trailer looks fantastic. Go find it!

Better yet, I'll post links below. If I can figure it out. Perhaps I'll post liks to all the trailers of games I'm excited for but don't feel like talking about, too! Yeah! I may later give my impression of the actual press conferences too, but at this point, probably not... Anyway! Links below!

Nintendo:

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS - October 3rd, 2014
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Holiday 2014
Yoshi's Woolly World - Holiday 2014
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - Holiday 2014
Hyrule Warriors - September 26th, 2014
The Legend of Zelda - TBA 2015
Pokémon Omega Ruby - November 21st, 2014
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire - November 21st, 2014
Splatoon - TBA 2015
Mario Maker - TBA 2015
Fantasy Life - October 2014
Mario Party 10 - TBA 2015
Mario vs. Donkey Kong - TBA 2015
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright - August 29th, 2014

Xbox One:
Scalebound - TBA 2015?
Assassin's Creed: Unity - October 28th, 2014
Dragon Age: Inquisition - October 7th, 2014
Sunset Overdrive - October 28th, 2014
Ori and the Blind Forest - Fall 2014

PS4:
inFAMOUS: First Light - August 2014
Ratchet & Clank - TBA 2015?
LittleBigPlanet 3 - November 2014

PC:
The Sims 4 - September 2nd, 2014

Pokémon! I Choose You... Again!

You would think that, by now, I wouldn't get excited about things like Pokémon game remakes, but MAN am I excited!

The day before yesterday, it was announced that remakes of the third generation games, Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version will be updated and released this November as Pokémon Omega Ruby, and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. These will be released using the same engine as the current Pokémon X and Y games, which means a significant update to graphics and game mechanics, much like past remakes in earlier generations.

While no real details have been released, The Pokémon Company is promising a rich new world and brand new adventures. What this means, we'll have to wait and see. Along with the announcement, the game packaging was also unveiled, featuring images of Groudon and Kyogre looking powered up and intimidating. It was mentioned that there is a significance to their souped up looks, so we'll have to wait and see if this means new forms, or perhaps Mega Evolutions for these legendary pokémon. I'm also curious what that will mean for the third member of the generation III legendaries, Rayquaza.

If there are, in fact, new forms to these legendaries, how will they incorporate that into the story of the game? Will they follow the story of the originals? Or take it a brand new direction? Will we be seeing Team Aqua and Team Magma up to their old shenanigans again? Will mega evolution be possible in Hoenn? Will we finally see mega evolutions for the Treecko and Mudkip lines? So many questions! But with this only being the initial announcement, there's plenty of time before the November release period for them to slowly feed us details.

And one more thing... In X/Y they introduced the blue pentagon symbol that represents that a pokémon was caught in the Kalos region... Will they have a new symbol for Hoenn? And will it be immediately compatible with Pokémon Bank so we can bring back our favourites from the original Ruby and Sapphire games for this new adventure? So much to think about!

So that's what I'll be looking forward to for the next six months. Perhaps it's time to get X and Y out again and get back to shiny hunting... Anyway, that's all I've got to say for today!

So Much Nerd Love!

Okay, so it's been an exciting week. My little nerd heart has grown three sizes with all of this tech love announced.

At Apple's WWDC event, they made a bunch of cool announcements. There's a new Mac Pro in the works. There's new functionality with iCloud coming, mainly the ability to use iWork on the web. Mac OS X Mavericks was announced with improvements to Calendars, Safari, and Notifications, and the addition of the Maps and iBooks apps to Mac. There's probably a lot more cool stuff that was announced, but I was really just interested in one thing.

iOS 7 was announced, and I'm very excited about it. As you can tell from the above picture, there's been a major visual update. All of the app icons are updated with a flatter, more simplified look. They've greatly improved the visuals of all of the apps. They've added Control Center, which gives you access to some the important phone settings with a quick up-swipe. There's improvements all over, but it would take me too long to go over it right now, so I'll leave it for a later post.

I really want to talk about some of the cool stuff announced at E3 as well. As usual, my favourite part of E3 was Nintendo, but they didn't even do a press conference this year. Instead, they did a special Nintendo Direct featuring a bunch of new games. And they did not disappoint.

Super Mario 3D World is a new sequel to last year's 3D Land. This time they are throwing back to the old Super Mario Bros. 2 with the inclusion of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach as playable characters. They've introduced the new Cat Mario suit, giving the characters cat-like abilities. It's also multiplayer, so that's a really cool addition. I'm definitely getting this game.

They also brought news on Pikmin 3, Pokémon X and Y, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. They brought the MAJOR announcement of the new Super Smash Bros games for Wii U and 3DS, including the new characters added: Mega Man, and the Villager from Animal Crossing.Bayonetta 2, Sonic Lost World, Mario Party 8, The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. So many awesome games. I'm really gonna have to get a Wii U.

Otherwise, I haven't really been keeping up with all of the E3 news. I watched the Xbox One press conference, but nothing really stood out for me. I skipped the Sony press conference, but I'll probably watch it eventually. There's really only two other games I've followed. One was the re-announcement of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, now called Final Fantasy XV. The previous announcement that it would be PS3 only is now out the window as it's been announced instead for the PS4 AND Xbox One. Also announced, and I'm REALLY excited for this one: Kingdom Hearts 3! It's still early in development, but I can't wait.

So yeah, it's been an exciting week. I've already calculated that I'm gonna be very broke with all of the new games coming out over the next year and a half. At least iOS updates are free. Anyway, it's time for work. Enjoy your Saturday!

Generic Title

I have decided that I must post something today, but I really can't think of an interesting topic, so I'm just gonna wing it here.

Over the last couple of weeks there have been some pretty exciting things happening, what with E3 and WWDC going on down in California (all of the coolest things happen in California).

I'll start with E3. What is E3, you ask? Well, I'll tell you! It's the Electronics Entertainment Expo! Blank stare? Basically, it's a huge event where all of the electronics companies show off what they are doing. The key here being the big video game companies giving everyone a sneak peek at what coming down the line.

Honestly, this year was relatively boring. I didn't see a lot of stuff that I was particularly interested in. Not that there wasn't cool stuff, there was, but not really my style. It was mostly just Nintendo that did it for me.

There was finally more info about the Wii U this year, which looks fantastic. I can't really describe it here. It just looks pretty. Pikmin 3 is coming out on it, as well as a New Super Mario Bros. U game. Aaaand I can't remember any other games coming out for it yet. Oops. Oh! Nintendoland or something. That doesn't sound right... It's kind of a Mario Party-esque game but using various Nintendo properties for the minigames, like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Animal Crossing. It looks pretty fun, showing off all of the new capabilities of the Wii U.

Nintendo also finally revealed some more info about a few 3DS games I've been waiting for. Paper Mario: Sticker Star is one I've been waiting for forever. I love the other Paper Mario games in the series, and this one looks pretty awesome. It doesn't look as good as the first two, but we'll see if they prove me wrong. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon also got a little bit of new info out. I really just wanna play it now. It looks fun. Luigi's running around basically being a ghostbuster? Who wouldn't love that?! The also announced New Super Mario Bros. 2, which looks decent. I'll probably buy it and never play it, 'cause I do that.

Otherwise, there wasn't a lot at E3 that I really wanna play. I was a little disappointed. There were games that look really cool, like Beyond, which has Ellen Page starring as the main character. The new Tomb Raider game also looks cool, but I think I'd suck at it. I think there was a new Halo game mentioned, but I am probably the only gamer ever to hate Halo.

The one game I was really excited about that wasn't Nintendo was Assassin's Creed 3. It looks so fantastic. I can't wait for it to come out, even though I have 4 Assassin's Creed games to play before I can play that one. Bad gamer.

Aaanyway, I talked a lot more than I thought I was gonna about E3, so I'll cut out WWDC for now. I'll be an Apple nerd next week. Sorry if this was boring. I should start linking to game trailers or something to make this more exciting... If you have any comments, let me know below!

Why Do You Hurt Me, My Love?

I was just reading an article on Gamespot about how Nintendo is planning on stepping up marketing for the 3DS due to lower than expected sales of the system. I don't think I have to tell you that I am a huge fan of Nintendo, and I think the 3DS is fantastic. You already know that. But they really don't get it. Marketing is not the problem.

The marketing is great! The system itself is great as well! The problem is that there is a severe lack of good games for the system! That and the fact that they still haven't released the promised update that will allow online capabilities such as the web browser and eShop (which includes the DSi Shop and Virtual Console library). When they decided to release the system, they really should have pushed to release at least one of the big games they announced way back when the system was first revealed. Give us Zelda, or Paper Mario (although I think that one might just be me that's super excited for it), or Kid Icarus. Something!

But no, they chose to release the system with a very limited selection of games and features, and now they are paying the price. Literally. They've got the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake coming out in a couple of months, but that is about the only big game they've got on the way soon. I love you Nintendo, but you've really gotta figure this stuff out. You can't sell a system without games to play on it! Your die-hard fans (me) will buy your stuff anyway, but then we suffer waiting forever for the games!

I really hope Nintendo learns its lesson by the time the recently hinted at successor to the Wii comes out, otherwise we may see them spending far too much effort and resources on marketing and seeing the games suffer.

I Eat My Words

In this latest entry of The Nintendo Hero, I eat my words. On January 21st, I posted another entry on the 3DS in which I said that I probably wouldn't bother getting the 3DS at launch day... I pre-ordered it a few weeks ago. And technically I didn't get it on launch day, but I got it the following day. Let me tell you. It is AWESOME! I'm a big fan.

So yeah, I pre-ordered from Future Shop, 'cause they had a better price for the game I picked up with it, and the 3DS also had a pre-order bonus in the form of a starter kit which includes all kinds of useful things, like a car charger, carrying case, screen protectors, and I dunno what else 'cause it's gonna be a little bit delayed in getting to me. But that doesn't really matter.

With the system, I decided to pre-order Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retriever and New Friends (there's a mouthful). It was really the only launch game that seemed even relatively interesting to me. And I'm actually pretty happy I did pick it up. I've got my little Shiba Inu puppy named Bean, and I'm teaching her tricks and stuff. If I can't have a real dog, this is the next best thing!

But again, I'm getting side-tracked, I really just want to talk about the system itself. The Nintendo 3DS is a pretty nifty piece of technology. The obvious improvement over the original DS and DSi is the 3D top screen. I'm really not a fan of the 3D craze going on right now, but for this system, I think it really works. The 3D effect works without glasses, so that's one big hurdle gone for me. I hate wearing the stupid glasses. And the effect can be turned off and you can enjoy the games in 2D.

The 3D cameras on the outside, coupled with the system's motion sensing technology (accelerometer and gyroscope) make for some pretty fun times as well. The AR cards are one feature of this, you can play a whole game based on one little card sitting on the table. The other more interesting one (in my opinion) is the Face Raiders game preloaded on the 3DS. You take a picture of your (or someone else's) face, and then play a game where little flying robots with the faces you've used fly around and attack you. I was dancing around my living room turning this way and that avoiding and attacking the weird little face-bots. Clearly more of Nintendo's attempts at more active gaming.

Now, the feature that I find most interesting is StreetPass. When you leave the 3DS in sleep mode (closing the lid without actually turning it off) it will still search for other 3DS systems to communicate with. If another 3DS in sleep mode comes in contact, they will swap StreetPass info (depending on whether or not you have it enabled, and what you choose to share). Different games use the feature in different ways, but the 3DS StreetPass Mii Plaza has it's own exciting uses of the feature. Every time you run into someone, you'll swap Miis, and with the Mii, you will also get a piece of a puzzle that presumably creates something fun. And there's another game within the Mii Plaza called Find Mii, which is some sort of RPG game that requires you to run into other Miis to help you along your quest.

So far, I haven't actually run into anyone else with the StreetPass feature 'cause I've only had the system for 3 days and have yet to take it out with me anywhere, and somehow I feel like it might be a little bit difficult to find other 3DS users in my little northern city. But I suppose I'm gonna have to start carrying it around with me so that I can check out the StreetPass features. Aaaaaand that's it for this post. I'll probably think of something else fun to write about later, so look out for a follow-up post down the line!

The Nintendo Hero Returns, or Pokémon Master

So! The new Pokémon games came out a week ago, and I've decided that that is exciting enough to bring back The Nintendo Hero! The new games: Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version. I've only played a small portion of the games so far, but I am very impressed!

The biggest improvement is the graphics. The games keep their 2D sprites for the characters, but they've made the game world a much more 3D environment. They had a pseudo 3D effect in the previous generation, but it's much better done this time around.

The other great graphics improvement is the battle screen. Previous games have included small amounts of movement in battles, but this time around the pokemon are in constant motion in battles. The pretty much just appear to hop around, but when they use sound attacks, their mouths open, and when put to sleep their eyes close. It zooms in and out on the attacking pokémon and has a much more interactive feel.

I've got a lot further to go in the game because I spent nearly a week trading between the two games until I got all three starters in both games. I'm not sure how I feel about the starters in this game. I guess I like Snivy, and I do like Oshawott, but Tepig is pretty lame. But in comparison to the previous generation, I do like these starters better.

The rest of the pokémon introduced in this generation are a mixed bag. There are definitely some nice ones that I do like quite a bit, but it seems like there are quite a few really lame designs. The ice cream looking one, and the garbage bag, and the gear one. They seem very unoriginal, but I guess I don't really have to have them on my team.

I'm curious how difficult it will be to fill the Pokédex this time around. That has always been my main focus of the Pokémon series, the collection aspect. There are all those people that spend endless hours making their perfect competitive battle teams, but I'm really just not interested in that at all. I just want to get every single pokémon possible. On a related note, the only game I've ever completely filled the Pokédex is Pokémon Blue. The next closest is Pokémon Diamond where I'm only missing Deoxys.

So far, I'm really enjoying the game. The graphics are better, there are 156 new pokémon to catch, and the story so far is pretty engaging. I've only just gotten to the second gym, but I'll give updates as I make it further into the game!
Pictures borrowed from Nintendo and Bulbapedia.

The Nintendo Hero

So! With this post, I'm going to introduce a new recurring theme post I'd like to call The Nintendo Hero. See how it's similar to The Noble Hero? You know, thenoblehero, my chosen nickname? Yeah, that's what I was going for.

So, what's this new recurring theme post about? My love for Nintendo, of course! I would like to take a moment to point out that I am in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Nintendo, but if they noticed me, that would be cool too.

Anyway, I wanted to make this post to commemorate the introduction of the Nintendo 3DS! The announcements have been coming in for a while now, but the official North American press thingie was a couple days ago, so new news! Woo!

The USD price point of $249.99 isn't surprising, and to me seems totally fair, considering what all the portable gaming device has to offer in comparison previous handhelds. One interesting thing I've noticed in my online research, though, is that the price is the same in the US as it is in Canada! I had fully expected to be paying $279.99 or $289.99, but with the dollar being pretty much on par, it appears the pricing will be the same! This new revelation does ruin my plan of buying it in the States when I'm down there in the summer, but really, it's probably better this way. I won't have to worry about packing a big chunk of extra cash on me. I can save my money for more important things, like food and souvenirs.

The release date of March 27th would be exciting and have me lining up to get one on launch day, except that there aren't really any games I want coming out at launch. I think I might pick up Nintendogs + cats, but it's hardly exciting enough to run out and get the 3DS right away. Where's Paper Mario 3D? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D? Even their flagship title that they've been pushing, Kid Icarus: Uprising, won't be out at launch. It is interesting to note that the Future Shop website has Kid Icarus and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (the other game that I really want) with a release date of March 27th. I'm curious where they've gotten their information, if they are jumping the gun, or if they've got some inside info that no one else has.

So, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. I'm totally stoked for the Nintendo 3DS, and I can't wait for both the 27th of March, and more info on release dates of all the awesome games! Until next time...