Being a pretty new Xbox 360 owner (today's my one month anniversary), I don't have much experience with XBLA games. I do, however, have a wealth of experience with 2d action games, seeing as a grew up with them on the SNES/N64. I never had an NES, so I missed out on some of the greatest classic 2d games back then. Bionic Commando was one of them. When I found out that BC: Rearmed was coming out earlier than I had expected, I dashed to Target and got some XBLA points, downloaded the title, and got going. I've only played two levels so far, but I'm proud to say that I've already gone commando.

The first thing I noticed about Rearmed was that this game has style. Colorful backdrops and enemies, and the bullets look pretty too. The menu is simple but easy on the eyes. I haven't bought a lot of XBLA games, but I've seen some and I can't imagine a lot of them having better graphics than this little gem.



Shooting enemies takes a pretty good amount of strategy for a 2d game, with enemies who almost always look for cover. I'm not saying it's hard, but it makes combat a bit more complex than most games of this kind. There's a whole other element of gameplay that you encounter when you run into an enemy on a map. It's kind of fun, but I can see how a lot of people are going to get bored of it over time. I've already run into it about three times after only two levels. It doesn't really take anything away from the game, and you can get an easy 20 points to your gamerscore if you kill all of the enemies on the field.

The real cream of the crop here, as most of you know, is the swinging. The element of gameplay is absolutely addictive, and the controls are handled brilliantly. There's plenty of fun to be had trying to dash through the levels quickly with the swinging mechanic, which I recommend on a second playthrough. If you really like swinging, you're going to love the new challenge room feature, which puts you through wireframe-style rooms and gives you a certain amount of time to swing through. I've already done a few, and I can say that they are aggravatingly difficult, but you won't be able to stop until you've beaten them.

So, I didn't feel like I needed to finish the game to be able to say that it is a must-have. Seriously. Don't worry about it being short either, there's a hell of a lot to do in this game, and is has some really easy achievements. I felt the same way way about buying this as I did with the Orange Box. I feel like I'm stealing it for ten dollars. This is the first of Capcom's plans to bring back 2d, and if this is a sign of things to come, keep it up.

P.S. I haven't tried the multiplayer modes but they look pretty meh.

I'm getting sick of all these people whoare getting mad when other people talk about how horrible E3 was for Nintendo. Come on, you guys really can't deny that Wii owners don't have much to look forward to, especially from Nintendo. In fact, for the first time in a while, third-parties are doing more for the console than Nintendo is. We have seen a few quality third-party titles lately. Maybe not as much as the other consoles, but still something.



But that's not what I'm arguing. Nintendo has let us down lately. Believe me, I'm a huge Nintendo fan, and I have been since I was about five. Some people say that the Gamecube lacked proper support, but the line-up was more than enough for me. Original games like Pikmin and Chibi-Robo, semi-original games like Starfox Adventures, and tons of other solid returns to franchises. That's why I buy Nintendo systems.

The truth is that we haven't seen a trailer debut for a quality Nintendo game on the Wii since, well, the last thing I can think of is Mario Kart Wii (I know I'll get corrected on that, sorry). And I know that a lot of people would use Wario Land as an example, but that's not really the big blockbuster I'm talking about. That really shouldn't be the only thing we've seen from them, even if it will be plenty of fun.

A lot of people also say that this is all fair game since we got our big four games (TP, Corruption, Galaxy, Brawl). Those were great titles, but I'm done with those because that's the kind of game consumer I am. Specifically, the kind who Nintendo isn't doing much for right now.



I know that Miyamoto mentioned Pimin 3, Mario, and Zelda. That's great, but it's pretty much the equivalent of Square Enix stating that they're working on Final Fantasy 14 after 13 comes out, or EA talking about a small team in an office drawing up Mass Effect 2. Right now I'm pissed, but the second Nintendo starts supporting gamers the right way (which will probably be in an event of their own around October), I'll get over it. Here's hoping Monster Hunter 3 comes soon.

Since most of the big announcements and showings at E3 have passed (Activision and Konami are all that's left, meh), I've pretty much made up my mind on what stands out that's coming this holiday season. These are them:

Fallout 3
Easily my most anticipated title as of now. I love Oblivion, and I love every bit of footage that I see for this game. I love post-apocalypse games, and Washington D.C. is one of my favorite cities. VATS is totally chill (although I hope that I won't use it too much), and last night I saw Todd Howard shoot an enemy's torso off of the rest of her body with a teddy bear. Immediate ejaculation. I admit that I've never played a Fallout game before, but this seems like the perfect time to start.

Prince of Persia
Simply put, this game is a piece of art. The first big thing I noticed when I saw this game was the blue in the Prince's scarf. I know that's weird and all, but it was the first time I saw such a beautiful color in a game since Endless Ocean. Plus, unlike Endless Ocean, it has gameplay. Seriously, the color pallette in this game is jaw-dropping. I also really trust this franchise, and the people making it.



Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Again with the color palette. This game isn't a shooter. In fact, it's a platformer, something you haven't seen done well on an XBOX since Psychonauts (someone's gonna correct me on that). Just like everyone else, I'm a little afraid that Rare might make it more about vehicles than classic Banjo platforming, but their going to have a hard time messing this one up for me.

Mega Man 9
I'm getting it on WiiWare. Not much to say. It's a ten dollar game that, between difficulty and nostalgia, is going to blow my nuts off.

Animal Crossing: Village People
I know it's really City Folk, I was just kidding. Village People, get it? I'm getting this because I loved it on Gamecube and I know that I'll have a good hundred hours to spend on it by the time the next one comes out. I'm not, however, getting the thirty dollar "communtiy" voice chat system. Bullshit Nintendo, bullshit.

Mirror's Edge
This is the last time I say the words "color palette" in this article, although it really is something that gets me going. Mirror's Edge is the opposite of every dark, gritty WW2 shooter out there. It's crisp, clean, and delivers a new kind of first-person gameplay. I just hope they nail the combat, or at least it doesn't suck.

Portal: Still Alive
YES!!! I didn't get to play Portal because I got the Orange Box on PC before I got my 360 and Portal was the only game that wouldn't run well on it. Can't wait.

Far Cry 2 or Gears of War 2
I can only fit in so many shooters, as I'm barely a fan of the genre, and Far Cry seems to stand out the most as of now.

In a perfect world, I will have all these games by the end of the year. I probably wont have enough money to get past the first four (and Portal), but who knows?

By the way, I'd like to take a second to laugh about Capcom's conference rather than making a separate post. Haha.

In case you haven't heard yet Punch Out! is coming to the Wii. Now, for some this has been long awaited, and a lot of people are very excited about this, but I don't think this is going to end up being the game everyone really wants.

Let's face it, it would be really easy for Nintendo to screw this one up. There are a couple of ways that I could see this happening.

Unresponsive Controls
Hey you, do you remember Wii Sports Boxing? Yeah, it sucked. The game depended on skill about as much as rock, paper, scissors does. Even when it registered a jab, it would take about a second to show up on the screen. Now I know that a second doesn't sound like a lot, but when you input a command in a videogame, especially a with motion controller, delay is about the most frustrating thing that can happen. When it happened to me in Boxing, I'd just start to punch harder and harder, until I eventually gave up. I never played Wii Sports Boxing again after my first few tries. I can't imagine that Nintendo couldn't do something to that game back then that they can do now with Punch Out!

Casual Game of E3? Sounds Like It...
I would be surprised if Nintendo didn't use the opportunity that they have with this game to spend ten dollars making it and selling a million copies. Granted, they could pull off a casual game that satisfies gamers and families alike, but they really don't have to make a good game to make a big profit off of this. It's also got the balance board support, if you weren't already convinced. Add a fitness tracker, a shallow online mode that everyone thinks is cool but no one uses, and Mii support and you've got this years best-selling game.



No Mike Tyson :(
Okay, it hasn't been confirmed that Mike Tyson won't be gnawing off body parts in this installment, but if he is, then this game is not coming from Nintendo. Now, they could make some interesting, silly characters, or bring back the ones from the old games, and that would please fans. I vote for Hilary Swank as an unlockable character.

Okay, so that last one didn't really count, but I think the chances are that this time around, Punch Out! could could stink more than the inside of a pair of used boxing gloves. However, if Nintendo can fine tune their controls, give us solid online, pretty good graphics, and great characters, then this one could just get that champion belt.

I have a feeling next week is gonna be pretty big for all three consoles. We know pretty much everything that micrsoft is going to talk about (2008 releases only, just watch), and Sony's Got Killzone 2, SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet, Home, etc. Nintendo, however, is the one that no one has any idea about. Here's my shot at putting in some worthwhile predictions...

For Sure 100% Totally Happenin'

There are two things you can expect to see this year at Nintendo's conference/booth. First off is Pokemon Platinum. If you haven't seen the famitsu scans yet, let me tell you, there are famitsu scans. Okay, it's not really a big deal, but don't expect to see much else for the DS. Second, if Animal Crossing Wii isn't there then I can see a lot of people canceling their subscriptions to Official Nintendo Magazine (they practically confirmed it in their preview of September's issue). Expect some bitchin' wi-fi support up in that bitch.



Wii Music is more likely than the last two. I promise you someone's going to be playing it on the stage at the big conference. For Ubisoft, I wouldn't be surprised to see Red Steel 2 up there this time around. It'll be cool, I promise... Okay, maybe not. We'll see.

We'll see...

Although everyone has been rumoring about this one for a while now, it might not happen with Animal Crossing around. I'm talking about Kid Icarus. It seems like a reality if you listen to the IGN Nintendo Podcast, because they mention it every single episode. On the buisness side of things, I don't know if Nintendo is going to want to make a big-budget game from a franchise that last we saw was probably in black and white (GameBoy). Remember, Nintendo is pretty into money.



Here's a better one; a new DS. Or GameBoy. I actually don't see Nintendo taking the dual-screen approach this time around. Don't take my word for it though. Lastly, "family-safe" voice chat or a hard drive/sd card memory solution. Not much to that. Could see both, but probably not. Pikmin 3 might come along, but all we've heard about it lately is just speculation.


Halo Wii... and others!

No, it's not that bad. These wouldn't be here if there was no chance of them happening. First off, I think that if we don't see a new handheld, New Super Mario Brothers 2 is going to be ready to make millions for Nintendo. They could pull off one last 2d platformer before the 3d handheld makes its way. And, of course, the one and only Zelda trailer. I could probably squeeze this one into the "maybe" section because a trailer means about four years until release, but it really hasn't been mentioned at all.

Casual Predictions

For every hardcore game you see for the Wii (from any company) at E3, expect about ten casual games. The likliest announcement will be Nintendogs Wii. This one would be a crowd pleaser for the people that find out about it during E3 (gamers), and the people who will find out about it in about a year when we see Liv Tyler and Carrie Underwood playing it on TV.



Wii Health Pack is another possibility that has shwon up on various lists in the past, who knows. As for non-nintendo (but still casual game) predictions, expect 2K to show us (or announce at least) Carnival Games 2. Everyone like money. Everyone.

So that's it. I don't know about, you, but I'm pretty damn excited to see Reggie come on stage and tell us what's next for a company that's been pretty shy on details lately.


In unrelated E3 news, GameTrailers is revealing the new BioWare game on GameTrailers TV Friday night. Good times...

Mega Man. One of the most beloved gaming franchises of all time. Famous for its painfully difficult boss battles and, well, a guy with a canon on his arm. Some people like to complain about the fact that the series needs to legitimately take the jump to 3-D (excluding the crappy Playstation 2 games), but then again, a lot of people like to complain about anything. Mega Man really isn't a game that needs to, or should, be 3-D, and while all of these people have been waiting, it's been growing up under their noses.

After the second saga of Mega Man, the X series, ended, the franchise began to lose steam. The Battle Network EXE installments took a different direction, and then took that direction about five more times. Meanwhile, the tried-and-true formula came back with Mega Man Zero. It had the challenging 2D gameplay, with a few new twists, one of them being the protagonist, Zero. This time, the game used a mission-based overworld and nixed the stage select screen. The game still retained the blaster gameplay, but with a saber as well.



Capcom took another big step, this time to the Nintendo DS with the ZX series. For the first time ever, the game gave you the option to play as a girl named Aile. The game takes a much more anime-style approach, featuring some pretty cool anime cutscenes. Also, you could quickly switch between suits that had various functionalities. One suit in particular, the HX suit, practically gave Mega Man the power to fly. The game looked and played beautifully, and received positive reviews from critics.



The franchise is pretty healthy these days, and it doesn't look like Capcom is going to stop raising it anytime soon. They can have as many spin-offs as they want, as long as I get my fix. One track I'd like to see them take is to keep the game on a general storyline again, as opposed to starting over every few games. Change the gameplay every once in a while, but keep an involving narrative. That's what makes a series popular in this day and time.

And no more of this...