Review: Flipnote Studio

Now that millions have gotten their mitts on the Nintendo DSi, Nintendo needed to deliver something that made this upgrade an actual upgrade. This promise of DSiWare being relevant has been for the most part unsuccessful with needless two dollar clock and calendar apps followed by incomplete portions of retail games like Brain Age. Now Nintendo has released a completely new app called Flipnote Studio: one of the coolest and feature-rich software that the Big N ever released. Plus it’s free, two dollars less than what Nintendo charges for clocks that the DSi already has.

Flipnote Studio (dubbed Moving Memo in Japan) is an animation app that uses most, if not all the DSi’s features. Drawing each frame is easy with the stylus, and adding a new frame is as simple as pressing right on the D-pad. Animators are blessed with options like copying frames for fluid animations, seeing the last frame with the lightbox, speed control of the animation and creating a negative of the frame. Pressing up brings up a menu for copy/pasting, changing colors/brush/eraser, general options and other little knickknacks.Sadly, these artists are limited in one big way and that is the four-color pallet: White (canvas), black, red and blue. Worst than that, users can only choose between two of the non-canvas colors to use, although the few brushes that are available can help users make an illusion of pink, light blue and gray.

In addition to scribbles, animations can be enriched with saved pictures made with the DSi’s camera as well as sounds using the built-in microphone. The DSi never had a great camera, but Flipnote Studio further deteriorates the quality of the photos by robbing them of their color but two. After the user thinks they finished their “Flipnote”, they use the microphone to add background music and up to three sound effects. It’s a great feature to have indeed, but the imported audio isn’t the greatest quality and can leave a bit of feedback. Even with the limitations, these features will further user individuality to a great degree.

After completing the animated masterpiece, one can save them and upload them online. The best part is that when the piece is uploaded, it is not limited to just fellow DSi owners. Nintendo teamed up with a Japanese blog site named Hatena to allow every Flipnote to be uploaded as a flash animation onto their website. The best part is that these Flipnotes can be embedded like other flash videos, so users can show off their work on social networking sites like Facebook or to show off on a personal blog like Never Unplaying.

Everyone can search videos on Hatena’s site and the Nintendo DSi itself. This could have been so much more user friendly, but without the ability to name or describe a Flipnote disallows the ability to manually search. Instead, you can just look at all the Flipnotes ever uploaded and view them based on what the middle frame looks like. In a Google and YouTube infested society, this is far below a mediocre attempt. However, DSi owners can comment these videos in the most unique of ways by using the touch screen to write or draw out an opinion.

Flipnote Studio is proof that the Nintendo DSi is a true upgrade from its Lite predecessors. Its free price tag hooked people to try it and its ease of use with the addition to embed will keep them entertained for months on end. Nintendo once again shows how software should be done on their platforms. Hopefully this could be a stepping stone for a whole new retail franchise or a way for Nintendo to start experiencing download content or software upgrades. If they can upgrade Flipnote Studio or create a sequel that takes out all their limits by adding like a color-rich pallet and newer options like free-form select, this can be a new phenomenon worthy of a DSi purchase alone. For now, what we have is a great first step in a whole new way of experiencing a video game platform.

Never Unplaying's score of Flipnote Studio: 8.8/10.0

Retail Unplaying- What Third-Parties Did Right On Wii & What They Need To Do In The Future

Nintendo’s little white box hit fifty million units fast and it is becoming the fastest selling console in history, so what games do we see on it? Answer’s not as simple because it’s completely different than the other systems in nearly every way. The Wii is not as built like the Xbox 360 and PS3: The system’s not nearly as powerful, there’s no high definition and uses a completely different controller. Obviously because of this, game developers use a completely different method to make games for it. Developers either port PS2 and GameCube games to it while some make simple mini-games, and some actually put some decent, original content on it.

Even though there are a ton of games on Wii, the real question is how they do sales-wise. The answer is so complicated that some publishers can not grasp the concept on how to make a game sell well on Wii. What’s funny is that is always something simple. Either it is a misstep in marketing the game, introducing a new franchise that hasn’t truly sold a lot of people or deciding on an art style that was not accepted by the public. A great example of all these points is Sega’s MadWorld with its black and white motif mixed with a questionable marketing campaign that doesn’t show its true, bloody self. Sega’s failure to introduce this new property correctly with some fun commercials and other intensive advertising doomed MadWorld to obscurity.

What can these third-party publishers do to guarantee success on this platform? The answer seems dumb, but it’s simple: Take advantage of the moment with something great. It sounds hard to grasp, but there’s meaning here. Believe it or not, games have sold well on Wii that was not made by Nintendo. These games either took advantage of the Wii’s control scheme or took advantage of the ideology of the platform and created some unforgettable moments on the system.



One great example of making success of Wii is the Guitar Hero franchise. Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour are the best selling on Wii because it caters to the demographic for the platform. It is multiplayer-friendly, it is enjoyable to everyone at every age, and it is bundled with stuff. Games like Guitar Hero and Wii Fit are popular on that platform because the basis of the Wii is expansion: The idea of people playing games in a different light. Playing with not only the Wii Remote, but with many different inputs like a guitar or board or even a GameCube controller.

The Wii is probably the biggest console with bringing older games and restyling them with a new control scheme. Many publishers, including Nintendo, have done it and done it with mixed results. One game however took this idea and made a fantastic game even better with a control setup unrivaled by traditional controllers and that was Capcom’s Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. In 2005, Resident Evil 4 was either Game of the Year material or the Game of the Year to most people and Capcom took what worked and redid it with the Wii’s controller in mind. What came out was a version that made the older versions obsolete with a brand new control setup. The Wii’s pointer function made the game faster and less frustrating and went on to be the most popular version, even two years after the original won awards. The success of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition was so great that Capcom’s next Resident Evil game on Wii, dubbed The Umbrella Chronicles, went on to be another game to ship over a million copies. Due to the popularity of these games, Capcom is far from done and are releasing three more Resident Evil games to Wii.

When Nintendo lit a fire under the video game industry’s posteriors in 2006, publishers were too late to take advantage of the moment. They doubted and insulted the Wii and thus prevented their own gravy train from departing when Nintendo’s did. One publisher was the exception and took direct focus on the Wii’s launch and that was Ubisoft. Though they dumped about seven games on the Wii’s launch window, two are the most memorable: Rayman Raving Rabbids and Red Steel. Rayman was a platformer star that started on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, but failed to keep up a successful ongoing series soon after the GameCube launch. He was revived on Wii in a hilarious mini-game compilation that showed what the Wii can do. Rayman Raving Rabbids went on to sell over a million copies and spawned a franchise of its own with the little demented Rabbids. Red Steel was known as the first Wii game shown in action when it was revealed in a spring issue of Game Informer. This showed the hardcore gaming audience the Wii’s possibility with first-person shooters and excited them. The game launched when the Wii did and although it was not the best game out there, Ubisoft struck gold twice with a second launch game to sell over a million copies. This could have only happened during the Wii’s launch and most failed to take advantage of it.

Hopefully publishers will start to see what really works on Wii. Future games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Dead Space: Extraction and Red Steel 2 seem extremely promising and deserve all the hype and marketing that their respective publishers can dish out. Hardcore gamers are sick of seeing awesome games like Okami, Zack & Wiki and House of the Dead Overkill suffer from crummy sales due to publisher and developer ignorance. The Wii has been out for nearly three years and gamers are getting restless, it’s really time for publishers and developers to open their eyes and step it up a notch.

Retail Unplaying: How Games Sell and Trade at Game Stores- PlayStation 3

The gaming industry is like the car industry, some people buy games with older gamers in conjunction with money. Whether or not the game companies like it, this is something that cannot be stopped. There is however, a guide of how successful a game can be and how often your game could get traded in. Obviously the retailers profit off the eventual used games that come in, so this complicates long term success of most games. Our next stop is Sony’s PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 3 has what might be, the hardest library to discuss about. With a smaller install base and library, getting an accurate analysis on their customers was difficult. Secondly, the customers’ purchasing patterns are extremely hard to pinpoint as it was with the PlayStation 2. Obviously because of the factors, the PS3 article was the longest to analyze and compile.

Like the Xbox 360, Sony adapted the next generation standard price point: $59.99 with prices dropping after a few months after launch depending on the game. The PlayStation 3 library consists of games similar to the Xbox 360, mostly the sports and action types. Mostly the PS3 versions of games don’t sell as well as their Xbox 360 counterparts and the system has fewer exclusives, but PS3 customers rely on those games along with the great first party games like Resistance, Killzone 2 and LittleBig Planet.

PS3 customers aren’t revolved around game stores like GameCrazy or GameStop, they’re fans of Best Buy thanks to a non-stop marketing campaign for the system due to increase Blu-Ray movie sales. That’s common to see stores rally marketing towards their personal or potential money maker. GameStop always point to the 360 while it’s hard to even see into a Toys R Us gaming section without the blinding white from Wii product placement. Therefore, you don’t see gamers trading in games at the gaming retailers. Of course it’s not a stereotype, because few PS3 gamers do go to gaming retailers like 360 gamers go to Best Buy.

The busier GameStops have a lot of used product that doesn’t sell, so naturally that means PS3 games trade in for less, right? Not really because there’s another fact that keeps it equal to other versions: the lack of banged up defective disks. Blu-ray disks are lined with an anti-scratch coating on the bottom of the disk, making them scratch resistant. Because of it, customers and retailers won’t need to worry about a used PS3 game being defective. Oddly enough those PS3 gamers don’t buy used even though the games are rarely beat up, but that can be a lack of knowledge on the subject.

So after literally months of getting data on PS3 customers, the best conclusion is that PS3 games get bought and traded in as fast as any 360 gamer as long as the game sells. So when you walk into a game store, don’t be shocked if you see three copies of Killzone 2 used after two weeks next to new copies of Eternal Sonata and its six months of junk sales. However, laugh when you look down to see a new copy of Genji rotting away since its release on the PS3’s launch. When PS3 games don’t sell: they DON’T sell and that becomes a game you don’t find used often either. While you see dozens of copies of Resistance and Uncharted, don’t be shocked to not find Folklore or Valkyria Chronicles.


Now do PS3 games get traded in fast like 360 games? Yes they do surprisingly. In the PS2 era, it wasn’t common to see this buying habit due to people not knowing much of the concept of trading games or that they didn’t need to. With the rise of popularity of games and a worsening economy in this newer generation, people feel less enthusiastic about owning a library of games and feel more to just play then sell. For those with that habit, a recommendation to services like Gamefly is in order. A monthly fee costs less then what you lose on one game, so gamers should really stop doing this wasteful purchasing habit because these games are not cheap!

Nintendo DSi: Worth it or not?

The Nintendo DSi has finally got it release date and price. The thing is that the DS has been out for years and has sold tens of millions of units. So Never Unplaying has decided to outweigh the pros and cons, to outweigh if the $169.99 machine is worth your hard earned money when it releases the fifth of April. Let’s not beat around the bush, and get straight into the facts:

DSi Pros:

Bigger screens- The screens get a smidge upgrade in size so that words are read easier and visuals can be seen a bit better. The Lite did it too, so naturally the DSi should have an upgrade. It’s now 3.25 inches compared to the Lite’s 3 inches.

Cameras- The Nintendo DSi can take pictures through the two VGA cameras. They can be saved and used through a SD memory card. What’s neat about the pictures is that you can play with them. You can change the color, distort them or add things to the pics. There’s a LED light on the outer clam shell for people to know that you’re upskirting them. The camera has face tracker too, something I was shocked to see in a VGA camera for a gaming device.

Plays Music- In addition to pictures, the DSi can play music (AAC format) that are on the SD card. You can also play with the music by messing with the pitch and speed.

Audio Recorder- The things you can do with the music, you can do with anything you record in the DSi’s microphone too.

DSiWare- Exclusive to the DSi is the option to download games to the system like how the Wii uses WiiWare. This way you can carry many games on the hardware itself as well as get nice unique indie games that couldn’t get the cash for retail and marketing. World of Goo is known to be one of the Wii’s top games and it’s not even on a disk. Let’s hope we see killer software for DSiWare too. Good titles can warrant a purchase of this machine alone. Another point is that DSiWare does not limit to games. Tools can also be downloaded to it like a calculator, memo pad, or things like Personal Trailer Cooking: A cookbook. A (free) web browser will be one of the first DSiWare tools.

Don’t have to restart the system to do something else- This is awesome and one of the coolest features of the device. Every time you want to change the settings or quit the game, you always had to shut down the system and manually restart. Now you can soft reset into the main menu if you want to quit something. Same thing applies for the settings menu and DSiWare games.

Change the brightness anytime- Another fantastic feature that only a few will probably know about. Hold the Select Button and press Up and Down Volume buttons (Volume is not a slider anymore) and you can instantly adjust the screen brightness. So if you battery’s low you can instantly conserve it by changing. There are now five brightness settings on the system.

Better speakers- The DS Lite speakers are a bit weak because of the thinness of the upper shell. However with better technology, the DSi speakers have better quality in addition to output louder sound.

Possibility of the “Virtual Handheld”- If this picks up, we might be treated to Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, and more games on DSiWare.

Firmware upgrades- Like every other current system, the DSi is upgradeable. So if any issues or if Nintendo wants to add stuff, a simple firmware upgrade can happen. This was something the DS needed from the beginning.



DSi Cons:

More expensive- The $169.99 price gave me sticker shock. Even with all these new features, in the end it means more money. In harder times, the last thing we expect is a drastic increase in price. The DS Lite is a nice sleek system with a great library of DS and GBA games to play on for $129.99. When the Lite replaced the old DS, it was at the same price with a cooler system. It was really a good value. Finally, for the $169.99 you can get a PSP.

Weaker battery life- It’s not by much, but the system’s battery life is a little bit weaker. It’ll also die faster with the new louder speakers, bigger screens, music player and camera. Better screen brightness management however can save time while in a critical moment.

Onboard memory is only 256MB- That is the size of one DS cartridge. If DSiWare games and tools are pretty big in size, this machine will fill up fast. Even IF you can use the SD card, it’s dumb that Nintendo still hasn’t learned their lesson about the small onboard memory issue that the Wii is struggling with.

Doesn’t seem to cater to the mass market like the Lite- My mom loves the DS Lite. She would hate it if the system was like the DSi though. She’s tech-illiterate, but it doesn’t take much to know how to use a DS Lite. Older or tech illiterate customers would feel ripped off over the music player, the camera and the idea of DSiWare. It’s intimidating to those people.

No plans of DSi exclusive games in retail- Yep, only the downloadable DSiWare games are exclusive to the platform (At this given time). Why buy a system where only the niche downloadable games are exclusive? It’s not that digital downloads itself are niche, but DSiWare games are. These are really only for the hardcore gamers in America. Those same hardcore gamers who already have DS Lites won’t feel like upgrading just for a few perks.

No MP3 support for the music player- The DSi plays music, but not in the most used format. It uses the AAC format. The format has a bit better quality, but not that popular outside certain players. Funny enough, the idea was probably based on the fact that iTunes and the iPod use that format. Ask yourself though: If I was using those things, why use the DSi?!

The cameras are only VGA’s (0.3 megapixels)- That means the pictures are 640 x 480. That can’t even be a good wallpaper image for you PC. When you import the pics to the Wii Photo Channel or the PC via the SD card, you’ll see some small pictures. It is more than fine for the DS screen though.

Power button placement- It’s on the left side next to the touch screen. It’s where a thumb could be. It feels like they’ll be a lot of accidental turnoffs or accidental resets to the menu.

The material used for the handheld- The DS Lite is glossy looking but the DSi is a matte black or blue. It looks a bit dull, but the worst thing is that every little scuff shows on the thing so if you use it often, it will look beat up real quick. People with the Crimson or Cobalt DS Lite know that the bottom half is matte black like the DSi will be. It feels like we’ll see some pretty banged up DSi’s. Won’t have to deal with fingerprints though.

No Game Boy Advance slot- Cut the current library by a half because the DSi will not be backwards compatible with the hundreds of Game Boy Advance games. Truthfully, I can understand that, but the GBA slot was not just for the GBA games. Now some DS games are incompatible with DSi, like Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk’s Motion. Plus, some games are also cut on their features, like the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl import feature or Mega Man Zero/ZX special bosses. Rumble Pak’s worthless too. Future games could have used the GBA slot in other unique ways also, but those concepts are now scrapped.

Pictochat is not enhanced with video or online- You’d think this would be obvious, but video chatting on Pictochat through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection would be great. Hopefully, this could be a DSiWare application though.

No accelerometer- After the iPhone success and that little thing called the Wii that made Nintendo a few bucks, an accelerometer should have been a easy choice for gameplay enhancement.

DSiWare is exclusive to DSi- Face it, we might not buy this because we already own Nintendo DS Lites along with over 75 million people. Most of that 75 million won’t upgrade because of the digital download service, camera and music player. It’s not reasonable. So already, 75 million people won’t have access to DSiWare. That worries me about the success of the service, which is exclusive to the DSi. Every Wii owner has access to WiiWare if they want to, so should DS owners. I’d like to see something for DS Lite owners to gain access to DSiWare, but it seems unlikely.

System reeks of piracy possibilities- I hate homebrewing myself. I think it’s dumb to jailbreak an iPhone or hack a Wii, so seeing the SD card slot and the onboard memory makes me upset about the ideas of the DSi homebrew community. Though I do think Nintendo put that there so ROM cart developers and cheat device makers go out of business. I doubt the firmware updates would do anything too.

Nintendo scrapped an idea of dual DS slots- Recently, Nintendo made a segment called “Iwata Asks.” Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, interviews the masterminds of a latest piece of hardware or software and the latest one was about the DSi development. A funny part they actually said was that the original design had two slots for DS games. So that you can quit one game and start another without switching out games. I thought that would be a great concept if people can take two games within the handheld itself and with the option of booting back to the main menu, it’d be neat to switch to a new game without turning the system off.



As you can see, I’m not a huge fan of the DSi. It’s too pricy to upgrade and for what? Possibilities for good DSiWare games really. Sure the screens, sound and features are a nice touch, but with every enhancement comes an issue about it. The music player and the camera are cute, but outdated gimmicks and are not necessary. Maybe if this thing was a phone then yea, it’d be really cool to only carry this. The thing is if you own a phone, you have a better camera and a better MP3 player. So at the price of $169.99, I cannot suggest owning one unless you:

1) Don’t own a DS and want to pony up another 40 bucks,
2) Want to upgrade from the old fat DS and want to pony the extra 40 bucks or
3) Feel strongly with the option for DSiWare.

There is hope, if we complain enough and don’t support the platform; Nintendo would have no choice but to drop the price eventually. It’s Nintendo, so we know they’re making money with every DSi sold so there is room for a price drop. If that does happen, DSiWare wouldn’t get off the ground.

The thing is that a game system should not be bought unless adequate software warrants a purchase. Also for the DSi’s case to Lite owners, a game system shouldn’t be needlessly upgraded unless the system totally improves as a gaming machine over its predecessors. Take the Game Boy Advance SP with its backlit screen and rechargeable battery or the PSP 2000’s video output function. The DSi reminds me of the Xbox 360 Elite; only those who know they want it should get it. Those who don’t are only throwing money out the window with useless options.

Will I own one? Yes, because I have every Nintendo system, but like the Game Boy Micro, I probably won’t get it until I can get it cheap used long after its discontinuation. Of course that may not be true and I could get one soon if DSiWare becomes a force to be reckoned with. As an iPhone user myself, the DSi’s camera, music capabilities and web browser are a joke to me as well as a waste of my money. There might be a few who want this, but I’m not one of them.

Demo Impressions: Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 4 came out for the Nintendo GameCube in January 2005 and became a must have for the platform. I remember getting that the day it came out and thought it was a great action game. Then in 2007, Capcom ported the hit to the Nintendo Wii as Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. The Wii Edition became the most popular of the versions due to the faster paced, intuitive control scheme. Most who played it now think the GameCube and PlayStation 2 are now obsolete due to the slower pace it has compared to the motion controlled Wii version. The Wii Edition is now one of my favorite games of all time because it was the perfect platform with the perfect control scheme.

Now this article is about Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Why was the introduction totally about Resident Evil 4? It’s because Resident Evil 5 is not on Wii and instead is on platforms whose controllers are more traditional. After seeing Resident Evil 5 four years later than the original RE4 and two years after Wii Edition, can the next-generation consoles beat out Wii Edition in controls and become the best in the series?

Like Devil May Cry 4 before it, Capcom makes the most with the demo by offering two parts of the campaign. One is in the African slums and the other was in the African slums. Each of them though has their different feels. The first one sticks you in a secluded area, where you kill and kill until your backup arrives, while the other is more based on the “let’s see why we added a partner” bit where your goals are based on teamwork.

For those who are new to the new-age Resident Evils, it has skewed away from being a normal survivor horror to being a third person action game with Resident Evil 4. You shoot, you slash, you try not to die. RE4 started revolving all other controls around a context sensitive button so when you needed to jump, instead of pressing a jump button, a button will designate all other non-action related moves. RE5 continues the same setup for the most part, with some better or worse tweaks. Stuff like right analog stick turning and map switch are added due to the extra options the newer controllers have versus the GameCube controller.

For those who played Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, expect to be disappointed by the crawl-like pace the fifth Resident Evil feel with the standard controller. Not only is it slower than the lightning-fast Wii Edition, but it’s even slower than RE4 on GameCube. Seems like Chris Redfield ate one too many cheeseburgers than Leon, because it takes forever to turn, run and walk compared to the GameCube original. Deaths will happen if you cannot adapt, because the guy with a chainsaw won’t give you the chance to get a handle with the controls.

One thing Resident Evil 5 has added is a partner. It’s a nifty addition, but it adds something I never wanted. This partner can be controlled via the CPU, or through another player- online or off. It’s cool the newer consoles can produce so many infected enemies that two people can blast them away, but it’s too bad I have to share ammo, weapons and health items with someone that will just waste them (or force me to be conservative for once). One final gripe with the co-op in the demo: Why can’t we both have shotguns in the demo? Plus, will the full game allow two of the same weapon outside pistols?

In the end, I expected most of what I saw in Resident Evil 5. It plays a lot like Resident Evil 4 with a buddy. Sadly, one thing I didn’t expect was the torturous speed of the playable characters. Just one last plead to Capcom: Please make a Resident Evil 5: Wii Edition. I REALLY need this game with a faster pace. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions feel so obsolete compared to the excellent Wii Edition control scheme.

Never Unplaying Game of the Year 2008

Never Unplaying isn’t made up of a pool of editor’s that take weeks to critique a year’s worth of games and make a ton of awards that span thousands of games. I’m one person and play what I like and rent what I think I might like. At the end of every year, I play everything I played throughout the year and decide my personal Game of the Year. I take it pretty seriously actually.

Past Game of the Years include both new games and traditional games. Last year, my Game of the Year was Picross DS, a simple puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. Why the nod for the award? I spent most of the year playing it, and I played it every night. It stimulated my brain before sleep and I dreamt a ton more. It was, in my opinion, a perfect puzzle game. Great interface, precise controls, thousands of puzzles, downloadable content, and user generated content. The cool part is that all of Picross DS’s features are nicely wrapped up in a $20 price tag.

The 2006 Game of the Year proved that something more traditional can win people over. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess got the Game of the Year 2006 for many reasons. First and foremost, Zelda is one of my favorite series of all time. The series is so good that only two hated Zeldas come to mind: Zelda 2 for the NES and Phantom Hourglass on the DS. Twilight Princess did what fans wanted and gave us an Ocarina of Time clone, but with better art direction, story and a staggering 50 hour long adventure. It is still my favorite game in this generation so far.

With those two examples said, it’s time to announce the Game of the Year. It’s a game that very few would put on their list. It’s also not a high profile game like Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Fallout 3 or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nope, it’s Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360.



Tradition rules 2008 since Vesperia is the second Tales game to be my Game of the Year. The first was the 2004 GameCube hit, Tales of Symphonia. I was still a bit green in the Japanese RPG’s back then and only having Nintendo systems at the time limited access to them outside the first party Pokemon and Mario RPG’s. Then came Namco and its juggernaut RPG and all of a sudden, a whole new genre opened for me. Sadly no one has beaten Symphonia in my eyes since, but few have come close. Three come to mind: Dragon Quest VIII, Eternal Sonata and finally Tales of Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia starts off with a man named Yuri Lowell, an ex-knight who lives in the slummier sections of the capitol city of Zaphias. He’s the Robin Hood of games; he beats on knight collecting taxes to protect the people around him. He gets thrown in the slammer after breaking into the house of a thief of a device that supplied the slums’ water. Yuri breaks out and saves a noble girl who is friends with Yuri’s best friend. They set off finding the friend named Flynn and triggers the huge seventy-plus hour adventure of Tales of Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia refines all the great things of the “Tales” series, from the unique battle system to the anime-inspired visuals. The game outside of battle plays like any normal JRPG, explore a world map between detailed towns and monster-filled dungeons. Inside battle though, it’s unlike most RPG’s. Namco needlessly calls it the "Evolved Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System" (EFR-LMBS for short), but its fancy name is only a name.
What it is though, is an exciting, fast-paced, and fluid battle system. The closest comparison would be that it feels like a fighting game mixed with special attacks and item usage.

Possibly the best part about the game is the cast. Most JRPG’s usually have a diverse cast to relate to, but Vesperia’s cast of characters are extremely memorable and a blast to play with. From the badass Yuri to the hot-headed Rita to the perverted Raven; the party consisted of triple-A personalities with better-than-expected voice acting. A great cast is supported by a great story, and while Vesperia’s story doesn’t break much new ground, it still satisfies thanks to the colorful characters. It’s hard to let go of the controller once a player gets knee deep into the game.


(Image from IGN.com)

Tales of Vesperia didn’t win because it was something I never saw before; it won because it took a successful formula and tweaked it for a new generation. The game looks stunning, plays well and is a blast to experience. Sadly, Vesperia is like all the games I liked in 2008; it was good, but nothing overly impressed me. Only thing I liked were games from existing franchises; from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and the winner: Tales of Vesperia. Though these games are great, it was hard picking a winner due to nothing feeling fresh. So don’t think of last year as a year of innovation, because there was none. It was just a fair year full of easy expectations and the same old thing.

(It's like I planned on doing it the on Inauguration Day or something)


(Image from IGN.com)

Top 20 Countdown

1/2- Disgaea DS is the first to go!
1/3- Valkyria Chronicles is next!
1/4- Civilization Revolution is out!
1/5- Wario Land is outta here!
1/6- Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is gone!
1/7- Apollo has blasted off!
1/8- Another bad play on words arrives when the Prince cannot be king in this competition!
1/9- It pains me to take out Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. It's getting harder and harder now.
1/10- Professor Layton has dropped out!
1/11- Left 4 Dead was.... left for dead?
1/12- Okami is walking with her tail between her legs.
1/13- Persona 4 is Personout! (Wow I hate myself for that)
1/14- No More Heroes is no more!
1/15- Gears of War 2 is curbstomped!
1/16- Fable 2 is gone. Only a few more!
1/17- Chrono Trigger's time has run out
1/18- Snake? Snake! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAKE! MS4 and the last PS3 game is out!
1/19- The World Ends with You's run has ended. Two are left: Brawl versus Vesperia. Almost there!
1/20- Brawl is KO'ed!

2009 Predictions

We all know that 2009 will be a tough year. A struggling economy mixed with a questionable year for games will make all developers, journalists and gamers decide some very tough decisions. Only a few days in and this year already claimed a victim with Ziff Davis' Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1UP.com.

That's a reason why there are less predictions for this year. This is such a difficult year that anything can happen. The 2008 predictions were fairly easy and tons of good content was on its way. This year I wouldn't be surprised if Sony merged with Tomy and became Tony with some cartoon Italian guy for the logo. This year was harder to predict, the industry has really gone in weird directions. So anything's possible, and here's my version for anything:



1) Top selling game of 2009? Wii Play. Expect Wii Sports Resort up there too.

2) Highest rated game of 2009? Killzone 2? Resident Evil 5? The Conduit? Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2? Probably not, it’ll be something smaller. That goes double to my personal Game of the Year 2009.

3) I keep thinking the PS3 will do better and the Wii to do worse, and time after time I’m wrong. So I’ll predict it again. The Wii will still sell the most but not as much as the stellar 2008 sales (Two million in one month?! Really?). The PS3 didn’t fare so well this year but I predict it’ll sell better than it did ion 2008. The 360 will remain in the middle and keep a similar trend like it has before. 2008 it went Wii, DS, 360, PSP, PS3. However in 2009, it’ll go Wii, DS, 360, PS3, PSP.

4) I put PSP in last for a reason. Expect that downward trend continuing.

5) Sony will probably discontinue the 80GB and 160 GB models for some other models again. But expect a decent price drop too.

6) In America, DSi won’t be as popular as it is in Japan. If Nintendo continues the Lite model, expect that to sell more. It’s not as casual friendly and hardcore gamers either a) Already has a Lite or b) hate the fact it has no GBA slot or c) hate it because it does not enough DSi content to factor a purchase.

7) Lots of popular studios have gone down lately. Factor-5 (Star Wars GCN games, Lair), Black Box (Need for Speed) and Free Radical (Ex-Rare employees, Timesplitters, Haze) have all closed doors. Expect more studios to shut down in this fashion.

8) The PSP is selling decently, but not much is coming out for the platform. Other than the bigger games like Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Madden 2010, don’t expect much from it.

9) I just read the latest Nintendo Power and saw Ubisoft’s new TMNT article and got a little excited, but I predict the game will not be the best it could have been. Regardless that it’s developed by Game Arts (Grandia, Super Smash Bros Brawl) and former members of Team Ninja (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden).

10) Microsoft is pretty mysterious for 2009, not much was announced for them outside Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars. Expect the poorest first party lineup from Microsoft since the 360’s launch. Like Nintendo was in 2008. Makes you wonder if Alan Wake will be focused on and actually release.

11) Nintendo needs to prove themselves this year. Their top selling games are older games like Wii Play, New Super Mario Bros and Nintendogs. New stuff needs to come out to refresh gamers, both casual and hardcore. A new Zelda will finally be announced (not released) this year and will probably be the sole hardcore game while a sole casual hit (Wii Sports Resort most likely) will sell like crazy. Sin and Punishment 2 will probably do decent but will only sell to fans on the first. Casual-wise, expect more DS “Tools” like Personal Trainer: Cooking mixed with a new Brain game. Even with a Zelda announcement, don’t expect much from them once more.

12) Let’s focus on Square-Enix. Final Fantasy XIII won’t come out in 2009 in America but will in Japan at the end of the year. Dragon Quest IX will be released in both territories in 2009 and Dragon Quest X won’t touch 2009 in either territory. Outside Star Ocean 4, don’t expect a ton this year from Square-Enix.

13) EA has redeemed themselves to core gamers. Before, EA were nothing but sports and licensed games and their quality has been degrading year after year. However in 2008, we’ve seen hit after hit from them. Great new IP’s like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge launched. Their established franchises like Burnout Paradise and Battlefield: Bad Company were impressive. EA Sports has done wonders with Madden NFL 2009, FIFA Soccer 2009, Tiger Woods 2009 All-Play and NHL 2009. EA has even been pushing Wii efforts like Boom Blox and Facebreaker KO Party. You would think they could do no wrong, but they have been tanking thanks to lack of earnings versus the spending to make these awesome games. They had to cut 10% of their workforce and close studios like Black Box. So what’s their 2009 lineup? A lot less. EA Sports will be the same as always, but not much in games like Dead Space will come out. Heck, other than Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings Conquest, Skate 2 and the 2010 Sports lineup, EA doesn’t have much of a lineup.

14) …Which sounds like it’ll happen to Sega and its Wii projects. Sega has scored publishing rights to the Conduit and Mad World while publishing The House of the Dead Overkill. These three Wii games are some of the most hardcore efforts to the Wii’s lineup. Sadly without a killer marketing strategy set up, these three games will not do well on shelves. Best case scenario would be 300,000 copies sold each. Though Sega’s fourth Wii game, Sonic and the Black Knight, will probably sell more then those three. On Sega’s 360/PS3 front: Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection will do great while Alien: Colonial Marines will do mediocre, and not much else. No other Sonic game will be released on any platform this year.

15) Now my E3 prediction. It’s back to normal and I expect Nintendo will win it this year. In 2006, Nintendo adapted to the killer show and made an excellent showing for the Wii’s debut. The next two years were the reformatted E3, and Nintendo reformatted as well. Frankly, both sucked. Now with E3 back to normal, Nintendo should too. Though I doubt most they announce won’t hit this year. Sony has done pretty well with E3 but I see the least amount of content from them. Microsoft has dominated the last E3 but expect a lamer show from them this year.

16) Lastly, my bold prediction. If Microsoft wants to continue their positive trend for their scarce 2009, they need something big. It’s a big third party exclusive. Or one that Microsoft will take over as publisher.

...And that's Never Unplaying's predictions for 2009. Not as much as last year's, but its beefier. The extra detail makes it harder for the 100% true.

Happy New Year! GotY Noiminations

Happy New Year from Never Unplaying and I hope you have an excellent 2009. This was a pretty good year for games from start to end. From No More Heroes in January all the way to Prince of Persia in December, quality's been pretty steady. Hopefully 2009 will be no different.

Now to business, like I said earlier in the month, I've taken any free time I had to replaying (or starting) all the games I loved throughout the year. Now that I mostly have, I'm ready to give out nominations to what I believe will be Never Unplaying's Game of the Year. It starts with 20 Nominations and I'll pick them off one by one until only a winner remains. And here they are from order of release:

No More Heroes (Wii) – An extremely fun and brutal action from the guys behind the sleeper hit Killer 7. It’s funny, pretty and completely unique.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS) - Superb production values for a DS game mixed with excellent brainteasers make this one of the best handheld game all year.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS) – The fourth part of the cleverly written point and click suspense series. Apollo continues it with a brand new cast several years later.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) – The highest anticipated Wii game launches with a robust balanced roster, the best visuals on the console and thousands of hours of fun.

Okami (Wii) – The Wii port of my runner up of Game of the Year 2006. This time for the Wii, the console that Okami felt natural in the first place.

The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS) – Jupiter’s next DS hit after Picross DS: last year’s GotY. Located in Shibuya, it focuses on Japanese pop culture. Mix some unique and fun battle mechanics that uses all the DS’s functionality, this is a mega hit DS game.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PlayStation 3) – With extraordinary graphics, art, sound and story, MGS4 ties up the hundreds of loose ends of the convoluted story that won the hearts of millions.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (Nintendo DS) – The return to Ivalice brings back tried and true gameplay to the sequel of the addicting 2003 Game Boy Advance hit.

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360) – Addicting. CivRev is a surprise hit that takes a beloved PC series and modifies it enough to make a stellar console game. The play style is like a western tactical RPG.

Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360) – What makes a stellar RPG? Characters to fall in love with mixed with a little bit of an awesome story of course! Add the dependable Tales battle system and the answer’s simple: it’s a fantastic RPG. It’s pretty too.

Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii) – Every 2-D action game needs to adopt this art style. Wario has some fluid sprite animation that’s been unseen in games before it. Console 2-D platformers are a rarity nowadays and it’s something that needs to be resurrected.

Disgaea DS (Nintendo DS) – My 2003’s GotY arrived on the DS and didn’t come alone. Etna’s second storyline from the PSP version tagged along with extra playable characters. The best version of a personal favorite.

Fable 2 (Xbox 360) – What the first Fable should have been. A world thick with life and beauty, and all the options are open. Just remember that some choices aren’t as easy as others.

Valkyria Chronicles (PlayStation 3) – Gorgeous watercolor visual style is nice to look at while playing this enjoyable tactical RPG. The alternate World War 2 story is a nice change of pace (In RPG’s, not games in general. Like FPS’s).

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) – The second Gears of War expands from the original with an engrossing campaign worthy of replaying and Horde Mode. The beauty of fighting waves in Horde Mode.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii) – The sequel to the 2004 GotY returns players to the land they loved in 2004 with a new storyline a few years later.

Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) – Possibly the best co-op shooter out there. There are only four short campaigns, but what’s great is that it plays different every time. The one-of-a-kind versus is a great touch too.

Chrono Trigger (Nintendo DS) – It’s one of the best 16-bit games. It’s one of the best RPG’s in existence. It’s now on the Nintendo DS.

Prince of Persia (Xbox 360) – Take the acrobatics of the series and make your own path out of it. Great step up on gameplay from the Sands of Time trilogy with a new sarcastic Prince wrapped in a wonderful art style.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2) – The PS2 is going out with style. The Shin Megami games aren’t my thing, but Persona 4’s story made me a believer in the series.

One day at a time you’ll see a game drop from the list and in the end, you’ll see our lone Game of the Year. This is a difficult year, a lot of great games came out, but not one had the power to be a total winner. It has been difficult choosing.




Also the predictions of 2009 will be shown next week.

PS. Thank goodness I beat Tales of Vesperia last night because 2008 isn't the only thing that ended on December 31st. For the record, my next Xbox 360 will be my 6th.

2008 Predictions Revisited

It's fun being a psychic. Looking into a crystal ball, viewing the fate of your visitor. It'd be nice to know how your year will end, because I wouldn't have guessed that I created a blog called Never Unplaying. Now that I have it, I can use my predictions here!

Well, it's the end of the year and I usually cap it off with revisiting the predictions I made the previous January. It's been my second year doing this and I gotta tell, it's fun! I encourage all of you to do things like these to make life just that more interesting. I have to admit when something happens to make my prediction come true, I get very excited. Let's just get right to it by showing you what was the predictions I made 11 months ago. Let's just hope nothing happens in the next 2 weeks to make anything else come true/false.


1) Let’s start off with a 2009 release calendar. This stars Resident Evil 5 and Final Fantasy XIII.

2) In terms of sales, it’ll keep the current trend: Wii, 360 then PS3. DS will still outsell all 3 of them though. Seems like there’s little reason to change, but I will say that PS3 will do better than it 2006 and 7 slump.

3) After seeing Bioware Pandemic getting bought out by EA and Activision-Blizzard forming, this trend won’t end. I can see a new merger or buyout this year. Of course this is too vague, since this is actually common, Sega Sammy, Square-Enix and Bandai Namco tells us that. So I’ll say…. Either Tecmo or Ubisoft. I also wonder about Atari too and their struggling…

4) Monolithsoft, maker of Xenosaga, was purchased by Nintendo in 2007 after being a part of Namco. They will finally reveal something about Disaster: Day of Crisis, either info or cancellation.

5) Sony will continue the strong first party lineup (Killzone 2, White Knight and Resistance 2? I got this one in the bag). But I’ll revise what I said last year: Sony will make a strong push on Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4.

6) Call of Duty 5 will be announced if not released this year. It was announced earlier that it’s developed by Treyarch, who made the disappointing Call of Duty 3. Expect more of that trend by them. I’m gonna wait for 6!

7) As we can see, the Virtual Console has trimmed to 2 per week. Expect more of that, especially when WiiWare launches. Another problem is that they’re running out of classics. Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Kart and the N64 Mario spinoffs are the last big Mario games left and Majora’s Mask is the last Zelda. Expect them to launch this year with addition to more consoles added. I see Game Boy getting added too. Doubt they’d be cheaper than 5 bucks.

8) Xbox Live Arcade will see more big titles. Seeing games like Ikaruga, Trigger Heart and Castlevania is a great sight, and let’s see more! What games though? I see a Dreamcast game….. at least ANOTHER Dreamcast game (Ikaruga and Trigger Heart are DC games)

9) On the heels of Smash Bros’ delay, what other games will see that? I expect GTA4 not hitting this half of the year as well as Mario Kart, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. These games have a spring 08 date.

10) Wii needs more hardcore games. I hope to see some this year. But how will Nintendo feel about making them anymore? Zelda and Metroid did good, but not as well as hoped in the end (one million ain’t enough on these hit franchises). Capcom will be one to deliver on that, I can see that. Note: This does not count Harvey Birdman, Wii Love Golf and Okami, I’m talking about an unannounced game. Can I see a third Resident Evil game on Wii? Yes.

11) Speaking of which, Mario was done twice, Zelda was done, Metroid was done and Smash is soon. So what’s up Nintendo’s sleeve this year this fall other than Mario Kart? Mario Party 9, Starfox, Animal Crossing and a new Wii-whatever game. Will that be enough to outsell any big game on the other platforms?

12) Speaking of which again, 360 games of 2008? What will beat Halo, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed and Orange Box? Too Human will be there with this GTA 4 and Call of Duty 5. Microsoft will announce a title that’ll be their big fall game: Gears of War 2.

13) And Lastly, the DS? New Super Mario Bros 2, Brain Age 3 and at least an announcement of the third Pokemon to complete the Diamond and Pearl series. Like the equivalent to Pokemon Yellow, Crystal and Emerald. I can also see Gold and Silver remade. For Third Parties, Castlevania, Sonic Chronicles and a ton of casual games.

14) Another PS3 exclusive will be lost to the 360 and/or PC. I mean a decent game here, too. But I think the same will go the other way too.

15) After playing Unreal Tourney 3 on PS3, I can say with confidence, the 360 port won’t nearly be as great, but sell the most in the end.

16) I’m a Sonic fan so I’ll personally focus on him here. With Riders 2’s release and Chronicles’ announcement, we ask about what’ll be next. Sega Superstars Tennis will probably be average, while an announcement of the next Sonic game on Wii and Rush 3 on DS will be announced. 360 and PS3? Something.

17) A 2D Metroid game will be announced this year. I hope to see the Metroid Dread name stick though. I won’t name a platform though, Wii, WiiWare or DS, it’s all game.

18) New Castlevania for DS I already said, but I can see one on either 360/PS3 or Wii exclusive.

19) Other than RE4 and Okami, Wii will see another Wiimake of a very popular game. This time, someone other than Capcom.

20) A Wii headset will also be announced. And you really thought Smash’s delay was a bad thing.

21) This year’s E3 will be a lot better than last year’s. In both format being back at LA and press conferences by the console manufacturers. No GamePro Expo this year I bet.

22) Wii had some great games this year. Sadly, it also had A LOT of crap. I mean a lot. I really think that’ll change. I mean there’s gonna be some, but overall, it’ll be better. Ironically even though the PS3 had nothing but 360 ports and Sony games, overall the PS3 had quality titles and a decent overall quality with all of them combined. That’ll also change, but the other way.

23) As my last one, I’ll be brave again. Failed last year, but what the hell. Microsoft has Zune and the PSP doubles as an MP3 player, where’s Nintendo’s answer? Well we’ll see it this year(MacWorld ended, so the words iPod wont pass though my lips, sadly).


Now let's see how accurate I was. I judge them in four ways: True, mostly, kinda and wrong.


1) Let’s start off with a 2009 release calendar. This stars Resident Evil 5 and Final Fantasy XIII.

True I think. RE5 is in March and FFXIII is whenever the heck Square-Enix decides to finish it.

2) In terms of sales, it’ll keep the current trend: Wii, 360 then PS3. DS will still outsell all 3 of them though. Seems like there’s little reason to change, but I will say that PS3 will do better than it 2006 and 7 slump.

Kinda. Wii dominated, even beating DS. 360 did do better than the PS3. PS3 did a bit better in the first half, but worse in the later months.

3) After seeing Bioware Pandemic getting bought out by EA and Activision-Blizzard forming, this trend won’t end. I can see a new merger or buyout this year. Of course this is too vague, since this is actually common, Sega Sammy, Square-Enix and Bandai Namco tells us that. So I’ll say…. Either Tecmo or Ubisoft. I also wonder about Atari too and their struggling…

True. Tecmo said no to a Square-Enix buyout so they can merge with Koei. Square’s after Eidos now… they wanna spend money.

4) Monolithsoft, maker of Xenosaga, was purchased by Nintendo in 2007 after being a part of Namco. They will finally reveal something about Disaster: Day of Crisis, either info or cancellation.

True. Disaster was released in Japan and Europe with lukewarm reception.

5) Sony will continue the strong first party lineup (Killzone 2, White Knight and Resistance 2? I got this one in the bag). But I’ll revise what I said last year: Sony will make a strong push on Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4.

Mostly. They didn’t push GTA as much as I expected, but pushed MGS4 as if it was a Sony game. Their first party lineup was great with Resistance 2 and LittleBig Planet, but neither are hitting 7 digit sales as they wanted. Killzone and White Knight didn’t hit 2008 in America. White Knight is hitting Japan on Christmas Day and expected to do fairly well.

6) Call of Duty 5 will be announced if not released this year. It was announced earlier that it’s developed by Treyarch, who made the disappointing Call of Duty 3. Expect more of that trend by them. I’m gonna wait for 6!

True, Treyarch's World at War hit with good sales and Modern Warfare 2 was recently announced by Infinity Ward.

7) As we can see, the Virtual Console has trimmed to 2 per week. Expect more of that, especially when WiiWare launches. Another problem is that they’re running out of classics. Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario RPG and Super Mario Kart and the N64 Mario spinoffs are the last big Mario games left and Majora’s Mask is the last Zelda. Expect them to launch this year with addition to more consoles added. I see Game Boy getting added too. Doubt they’d be cheaper than 5 bucks.

Mostly. No Game Boy but yes to Master System. Only Mario RPG hit from the titles listed above since WiiWare is doing very well. Games like World of Goo, Mega Man 9 and Strong Bad’s episodic adventures are great. Surprisingly Secret of Mana hit the VC.

8) Xbox Live Arcade will see more big titles. Seeing games like Ikaruga, Trigger Heart and Castlevania is a great sight, and let’s see more! What games though? I see a Dreamcast game….. at least ANOTHER Dreamcast game (Ikaruga and Trigger Heart are DC games)

Kinda. Don’t believe any Dreamcast games were announced. Seeing the XBLA fill with Street Fighter II HD Remix, Castle Crashers and Banjo Kazooie were a nice sight though.

9) On the heels of Smash Bros’ delay, what other games will see that? I expect GTA4 not hitting this half of the year as well as Mario Kart, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. These games have a spring 08 date.

Wrong. GTA hit Spring the same time as Mario Kart. Gaiden 2 was a few weeks after, but Force was pushed to September.

10) Wii needs more hardcore games. I hope to see some this year. But how will Nintendo feel about making them anymore? Zelda and Metroid did good, but not as well as hoped in the end (Metroid Prime 3's 600,000 or so isn't enough for that franchise). Capcom will be one to deliver on that, I can see that. Note: This does not count Harvey Birdman, Wii Love Golf and Okami, I’m talking about an unannounced game. Can I see a third Resident Evil game on Wii? Yes.

Wrong. Nothing much in the hardcore department hit after Smash Bros hit America. Very disappointing and utterly surprising.

11) Speaking of which, Mario was done twice, Zelda was done, Metroid was done and Smash is soon. So what’s up Nintendo’s sleeve this year this fall other than Mario Kart? Mario Party 9, Starfox, Animal Crossing and a new Wii-whatever game. Will that be enough to outsell any big game on the other platforms?

Kinda... Barely. Mario Kart wasn’t delayed, yet it was one of their top games for the year. Animal Crossing came out, but fans were pretty pissed seeing no changes to the game everyone though to be extremely expansive. Wii Music launched though..... Yea.

12) Speaking of which again, 360 games of 2008? What will beat Halo, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed and Orange Box? Too Human will be there with this GTA 4 and Call of Duty 5. Microsoft will announce a title that’ll be their big fall game: Gears of War 2.

Mostly. GTA did not have the legs they thought though; game’s doing pretty poorly a few months after the stellar launch ($30 used now because of the incredible amounts traded in!). Too Human did okay, but it was all Gears 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead and a few more.

13) And Lastly, the DS? New Super Mario Bros 2, Brain Age 3 and at least an announcement of the third Pokemon to complete the Diamond and Pearl series. Like the equivalent to Pokemon Yellow, Crystal and Emerald. I can also see Gold and Silver remade. For Third Parties, Castlevania, Sonic Chronicles and a ton of casual games.

Kinda. No Mario 2, Brain Age and Pokemon Gold/Silver remake. Though Pokemon Platinum was announced. Third party games consisted of World Ends With You, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV and Tactics A2 from Square-Enix alone. A third Castlevania hit along with two Guitar Heroes, Disgaea remake, and Ninja Gaiden. Sonic Chronicles was shockingly lackluster. Third Parties made the DS this year because Nintendo didn’t touch it this year (pun not intended).

14) Another PS3 exclusive will be lost to the 360 and/or PC. I mean a decent game here, too. But I think the same will go the other way too.

True. Three words: FINAL FANTASY XIII. It’ll hit the 360 on launch for America and Europe. Smaller games went the other way, but nothing mentionable. Eternal Sonata, Bioshock(which was announced in 2007) and Alone in the Dark were three of the ports and none of them did well on PS3.

15) After playing Unreal Tourney 3 on PS3, I can say with confidence, the 360 port won’t nearly be as great, but sell the most in the end.

True. Unreal did well in the summer months on 360. It was good on 360, but it arguably played better with a keyboard/mouse on PS3/PC.

16) I’m a Sonic fan so I’ll personally focus on him here. With Riders 2’s release and Chronicles’ announcement, we ask about what’ll be next. Sega Superstars Tennis will probably be average, while an announcement of the next Sonic game on Wii and Rush 3 on DS will be announced. 360 and PS3? Something.

Mostly. No new DS game announced, though rumors of Chronicles 2 were swirling in September. Unleashed was announced, launched and forgotten. Another Sonic game was announced for Wii: Sonic and the Black Knight. Looks better than Unleashed, but I'm nowhere close to holding my breath for it to be awesome.

17) A 2D Metroid game will be announced this year. I hope to see the Metroid Dread name stick though. I won’t name a platform though, Wii, WiiWare or DS, it’s all game.

Wrong. Nothing Metroid other than the “Play for Wii” remake of Prime 1 and 2.

18) New Castlevania for DS I already said, but I can see one on either 360/PS3 or Wii exclusive.

True. Order of Ecclesia came for DS, Judgment came out for Wii and something was announced for 360/PS3 back at Tokyo Game Show.

19) Other than RE4 and Okami, Wii will see another Wiimake of a very popular game. This time, someone other than Capcom.

True. Amazingly, it was Nintendo that announced it. Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, DK Jungle Beat, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, and Chibi Robo. The PS2’s Rygar’s and the PS1’s Klonoa hitting Wii soon along with Resident Evil 0 and 1 in Japan only(For now).

20) A Wii headset will also be announced. And you really thought Smash’s delay was a bad thing.

Mostly. Animal Crossing came with WiiSpeak, a mic for the entire room. Works well, but sadly, no Smash and Mario Kart support.

21) This year’s E3 will be a lot better than last year’s. In both format being back at LA and press conferences by the console manufacturers. No GamePro Expo this year I bet.

Wrong. E3 sucked, but NOW it’s going back to normal. E for All came and went also, but that’s its last year.

22) Wii had some great games this year. Sadly, it also had A LOT of crap. I mean a lot. I really think that will change. I mean there’s gonna be some, but overall, it’ll be better. Ironically even though the PS3 had nothing but 360 ports and Sony games, overall the PS3 had quality titles and a decent overall quality with all of them combined. That’ll also change, but the other way.

Wrong. IGN mentioned all their 250+ reviewed Wii games averaged out at a 5.9 score. Terrible. PS3 went down a smidge overall, but it’s probably still the highest in score average.

23) As my last one, I’ll be brave. Failed at it last year, but what the hell. Microsoft has Zune and the PSP doubles as an MP3 player, where’s Nintendo’s answer? Well we’ll see it this year(MacWorld ended, so the words iPod wont pass though my lips, sadly).

True! Give me this one! DSi can play music, though it’s the ACC format. Comes with visualizers and audio tools also! Doesn't mean people will actually care about the system.

One last one though...

I also believe the Patriots will lose the Super Bowl because of the saying “Too good to be true” and lose to the Giants, the Underdog.

True. They did terrible after an undefeated streak...


I thought I did well. 23 predictions: 9 True, 5 Mostly, 4 Kinda and 5 Wrongs. Sure some were easy predictions, but some weren't and I got some right. In January, you will see the 2009 lineup. It'll take me a few weeks to think them up. Think I was too kind or harsh on myself? You can comment if you want under the posts.