Retro Monday: Super Mario All-Stars (SNES/Wii)

Within the last month, I've decided to finally succumb to my girlfriend's wishes and my inner Nintendo fanboy and purchased a Wii. I'm building up to some mega blog post filled with insightful metaphors and loads of fancy talking about it, but it's going to take me a while to summon up that kind of brainpower. In the meantime, let's talk about about Mario All-Stars. See, we CAN be topical! A Retro Monday that is both retro AND contemporary, the little Italian's plumbers greatest hits collection, or 'Now that's what I call the invention of game mechanics and industry-changing techniques and ideas'. Yeah, Mario always has been kind-of a big deal.

Released on Friday, Mario All-Stars is a compilation based on a Super Nintendo game, in which the 3 Super Mario Bros titles are put in one neat little package along with 'The Lost Levels' (Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan). All re-touched and re-done for the 16-bit era, the games were a great introduction to people who may have not played Mario before, and a great refresher course in those that did. All in a single package, I liked the game.

My main problem with the SNES game is the touching up though. As any die-hard Mario fan will attest to, the memories are what drives the series. When I switched on the SNES, the graphics overhaul was undoubtedly an improvement on the original, but it didn't feel the same. It felt a little more rounded, a bit too colourful for my personal tastes. I always thought it was a bit like eating an ice cream with extra sugar sprinkled on the top. Just a little too much.

Old Nes Super Mario Bros

New All-Stars Super Mario Bros

Nevertheless, it meant I got to play the Japanese Mario Bros 2, with it's invisible platforms and general bastardry, and got to properly get to grips with the Western Mario 2, which I never got a pop at first time round. Both were lovely additions, and the package itself was a delight. The little touch of the characters chatting before the title lights up was lovely, and it felt like real value, and a proper addition to a SNES collection.

This time round, it's a little more disappointing. Why? Because it literally hasn't changed.

In reality, it's a SNES Emulator on a disc. They haven't even bothered to fix the screen ratio properly. It's a pretty lacklustre attempt. One which, in my opinion, doesn't really celebrate the 25 years of Mario (we all know it's 27 really). What it does is more cement Nintendo's reputation for laziness when it comes to some of it's titles. Would it of killed them to add a little more to the package? The CD and booklet that came with the game was good, but the game itself could of been just that little more special.

I mean, they could of released a new package, included Super Mario World and a whole host of stuff. Put some Yoshi's Island on there? Paper Mario? All this would of EASILY fit on a Wii disc, and would have made it astonishing. I know it would of been more effort, and I know it might have taken a little longer, but come on guys, give the little plumber a bit of a celebration. He is getting on a bit, after all.

So what can I say? For a grizzled Nintendo veteran, the package was ultimately a tad on the disappointing side. I can see parents showing their kids this and getting them excited about the good old days, but for me, I just wish they'd done a bit more. I reckon you'd fare much better by getting yourself an original Nintendo Entertainment System, and blowing into a good old grey cartridge with 'Super Mario Bros 3' emblazoned up on it's plastic case. Either that or Mario Galaxy. Wahooooo.

GainBoy Gets ART- 4

Bonjour!

Another installment is here. Our fantastical series in which our good friend and all-round solid chap Heartbox to come up with classy Game Art. Well, we think it's classy.

Check it out below, and let us know what you think!

Click here for Full-Size GLORY

Kinect. Should you believe the hype?

When I first heard of Kinect I was definitely intrigued by it, instead of simply copying and pasting Nintendo's Wii success with Motion Controls they opted for some new technology that showed some good potential.

Yet post-release, after checking out several video's, reviews, write-ups, etc etc... It seems that at the moment the Minority Report controls are the only reason to own it...but that doesn't justify the cost for me.

This is coming from someone who is a very open-minded gamer too. I play a whole bunch of games from what's considered 'hardcore' to 'party games', and I'm not shy about it either. So please don't take me as one of those close minded "motion controls...f*** that" type of people. A game like "Kinect Adventures" I reckon I'd get a kick out of (providing it is more fun than frustration to play).

I came across THIS interview on Eurogamer the other day (that although quite long, is worth reading). After reading that it seems clear that Kinect is before it's time. The motion tracking camera itself has a weak resolution, and thus this is definitely going to limit it's ability to keep up with games that require precise inputs. More importantly, this means the precision Microsoft led us all to believe Kinect had...it doesn't have.

Some games have already acknowledged this issue.

For example...

"Joyride" basically has you on training wheels so you can't be THAT bad at the game.

Sonic Free Riders is an example of a game that gives you no assistance and leaves you too it, and [Click Here] if you're interested to see how that went :\

Kinect as it stands doesn't look like it will be able to give you the 1:1 control for a more serious game. Especially since they took out the extra processing power that was once in it during the development stage (to keep the cost down). Another issue with this is that Kinect is controller free. It was speculated pre-launch that there could be hands free FPS games with Kinect, but any that did it would have to be 'dumbed down' drastically.

With the Wii and now also Move...those FPS games are about replicating real life aiming and shooting, with perhaps a few gestures thrown in to simulate a re-load or grenade throw etc, you still do all the moving around in game with an analogue stick, as that method is still very much king when it comes to in-game character movement. I'm getting the impression anything on Kinect is going to have to put your character movement 'on-rails', and if a controller was to be used along with Kinect, then that will mean losing the freedom to do things with either 1 or both your hands, and having your hands free is integral to what Kinect uses to differentiate itself from Wii and Move.

Still, the limitations of Kinect aside, I will be picking up Kinect at some point as I like to be able to try new things like this out for myself, it's just a case of fingers crossed that game developers find ways of utilising the peripheral for fun, and keeping the product alive.

Kinect is still somewhat new to developers, and things may improve a bit once smaller developers are able to release some quick XBLA/ indie game type stuff that use it. It's my personal opinion that if and when you can download things via Xbox Live Arcade that use Kinect, you can then potentially get some quick fun games that use it without making you take the risk of spending £40 on a full fledged game, and generally the sort of games you'd enjoy playing using Kinect are shorter attention span type games (which Xbox Live Arcade embraces).

My Final thoughts:

• Early Kinect adopters, it's a case of hoping the product you (and 2.5 million others) have backed will get the support and creativity it needs to go the distance.
  
  
• Those on the fence, make that seat as comfy as possible, and give it a few more months to see what games get announced, and keep your eyes on the reviews the release games get.
  
  
• Those whom hate motion controls, yet read this article. Try opening your mind, you might find yourself having some fun outside of the latest Fifa and Call of Duty >_>.

Getting Myself Kinected

So lucky little me, I went and got myself a Kinect (along with yet another 360, since they have a terrible tendency to blow themselves up). Microsoft say they've sold more than 2.5 million units of this bad boy since it was launched, and I can tell you that it's like magic. Actually, better than magic - it's like Minority Report.

Kind of.

Y'see, you have to get used to it. It does work straight away, but you have to tune it for the ideal experience. You have to teach it who you are, a tortuous process that involves assuming all manner of undignified positions. It's a bit like an invasive airport search, or being measured for trousers in a way that seems just a little too invasive. It's so Kinect can recognise you in different lighting positions and angles. So they SAY.

Navigation in the Kinect system (once it's rolling) is like a trip to Hogwarts. Just wave, or use voice commands "XBOX KINECT" - the thing responds immediately, dropping you into the Kinect Hub, the menu system for all the Kinect based McGubbins. Hold up your hand, and your position is tracked with a hand cursor and you just pause briefly over your selection to fire that selection up.

So far, I've only had a chance to play Kinect Adventures, which is surprisingly a lot of fun - even for a crutch-bound fatty with little to no agility to speak of. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the Kinect may show potential as a rehabilitation tool - you don't get to omit the leg motions from the games on account of some weak excuse like "oh well I don't have any legs".* The games are simple and accessible, perfect casual gamer fodder.

It's easy to get carried away with the Kinect's mystical powers, and it is lovely to not have to put up with any irritating controller at all (especially one with a glowing ball on the top). There are some disappointments, though. First of all is the amount of space required. You need a LOT, and most regular folks don't have a lot of space. Second, and this really chaps my crack, is that the voice commands are not in play universally across the xbox platform. Apparently you can use voice to control videos that you play via Zune and Microsoft's downloads - but you can't use them to control videos you might be streaming over your network in your video library. You can't voice control DVD's either. I'm hoping that future dashboard updates will fix these glaring omissions.

Now what does the Kinect mean to the serious gamer? Right now, roughly two points shy of diddly-squat, if I'm any judge. It's too new, and developers haven't had the time to find ways to really put it to use. I imagine the motion detection will remain firmly entrenched in the world of casual and family games - although it does seem very precise, I can't see it being precise enough to use in an FPS - though I suspect that it would be fun to shoot folks with your fingers. However, the voice recognition could prove very useful, in games like Rainbow Six being able to give your squad voice commands instead of pressing stupid button combinations would clearly lead to more fluid and immersive gameplay.

Really, we'll have to wait and see what the world's game developers come up with to make use of this astonishing bit of technology. It's cool, it's friendly, but will it become an essential? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'll wait for my copy of Dance Central to arrive and see how easy it is with a cripply leg. It says something for the Kinect that it makes me WANT to try to dance to hits of Lady Gaga with a broken ankle.

* Now I'm curious to find out how the thing responds to amputees. If there are any Gainboy readers out there with less than the regular complement of limbs, do feel free to get in touch. Or if you have more than the regular complement of limbs, come to think of it. Usual address, of course.

Retro Monday: Psycho (Film)

It's been a while since I've written anything about film, but I feel there's no better excuse than with what is, in my opinion, the finest horror film ever. I studied Alfred's Hitchcock's masterpiece at high school, so my insight to the film is juvenile at best, but I still aim to stumble along, and try and make some sense out of it.

I think the best way to understand Psycho, however, is to study it. The first time I saw it was in A-Level Film Studies, and my love affair began. The film is so clever in it's approach that it deserves looking at properly, and deserves a bit of hype behind it. My babbling over the next few paragraphs is simply a few pointers of everything I love about this film. I could, and indeed have, write essays about it, but it's boring to read, and certainly not as much fun as looking into it yourself. If you've ever considered yourself a fan of Horror, then it makes for an incredible Sunday afternoon, trawling through Wiki archives, and reading about this masterpiece.

Everyone knows Psycho, whether you actually know it or not. I personally guarantee that everyone one amongst us has done the 'shower' sound effects and stabbing motion, and everyone has heard of the Bates Motel, even if they don't know where from. I think it's a testament to the impact it's had on popular culture, and how much it's affected the world at the time. In a cinema landscape where it was all about aliens from the future, or giant lizards from the past, here's a film which was a dark and brooding film, filled with tension and genuine horror.

It's when you look into the plot of Psycho really shines. Down to the combination of the original novel by Robert Bloch and Hitchcock's brilliant storytelling, this film contains within the best twist I've ever witnessed. A film that was billed as a thriller, and spends almost an hour of it's playtime as a thriller, then shifts straight into what we now know as the 'slasher' genre. It's how it should be. It still gets me now, but I can't imagine what it would of been like 50 years ago. Imagine going to a cinema to watch some sort of Denzel-esque thriller. It's all getting a bit much for Denzel who's acting his heart out. It's getting a bit psychological and tense, then from nowhere Denzel dies, and it turns into a horror film. It's so unique, and so unsettling, it's what's given the film a lasting appeal, and is the reason the film is a cut above most horror films.

EVERYTHING about this film is completely ground-breaking. From the strings-only score, to Perkins' flawless performance, Every single part of Psycho is astounding. If you haven't seen it yet, then I honestly have no idea why. You should rectify it as soon as possible, and watch one of cinema's finest moments.

Gainboy Gets Art- 3

It's been a while, but we're back! Gainboy gets ART. We've teamed up with our good friend and ferocious graphic designer Heartbox, to bring you some delightful computer games-based art. We've done enough talking anyway, hope you enjoy it. We'll the fourth one next week, and if you click the link below, it'll get bigger.

That's what she said.

Link to a delightfully larger image.

Retro Monday: Blackpool Retro Games Expo (EVERYTHING!)

I've been a bit quiet recently. Mainly because of the new release schedule. I've been so buried in games upon games, I've found it hard to do little else. I've had COD-itis since it dropped, racking up some silly statistics on multiplayer and enjoying the single-player campaign. Transformers is on it's way, I've got Undead Nightmare and New Vegas waiting in the wings, and this is all before the new Assassin's Creed drops this week. But in amongst it all, I broke free.

One bleary Sunday, 3 very hungover Gainboy writers made a trip to Blackpool, to the Retro Games Expo.

I had the brilliant/stupid idea of filming it on my phone, and these are some of the best bits. Hope you enjoy it:

Youtube loves cutting off bits of our video, so to see the full version, go HERE.

Thanks for watching!