The reaction to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been oddly tepid so far.
Maybe there’s a slight sense of disappointment that while Splatoon gets its own proper sequel, Mario Kart 8 instead gets an enhanced re-release.
Or maybe it’s just the fact that this is the first time in Mario Kart history that Nintendo has dipped back into the same well rather than offering a brand new helping of tracks, characters and gameplay mechanics.
Whatever the reason, I don’t share the same indifference. I believe Mario Kart 8 is the best game in the series, so getting the chance to play it wherever I want in the world is something that would excite me even if it was a straight carbon copy of the Wii U game. Continue reading “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe hands-on preview”→
Last year there was a Kickstarter campaign for a remastered version of Night Trap, run by its current rights holders. The campaign died on its arse, partly because it was confusing and didn’t really offer an indication of how the finished game would look. However, part of the campaign read:
“In recent years we’ve been deluged with messages from fans who’ve said they want a new version of their favorite game, but with a degree of video quality that modern hardware can deliver. It’s our mission to deliver that product.”
They may not have delivered that product, but someone else has. Step forward Tyler Hogle, an indie developer who’s put together a working fan-made prototype of a mobile version of Night Trap for Android. Continue reading “Exclusive – Night Trap mobile prototype footage”→
UPDATE: Since I posted this article I’ve written up a massive guide in which I review every Lego Dimensions year 1 character. That’ll be far more useful to you than this article (which is now out of date), so you can find it by clicking here.
Lego Dimensions is out on 29 September (or 27 September if you live in Americaland). I first reported on it, all full of wonder and excitement, back in April, and since then it’s become much clearer exactly what the game consists of and which separate figures are being released.
That said, Warner has been announcing each new figure and licence in such a bitty, piecemeal fashion that it’s been pretty hard to keep track of absolutely everything due for release.
It’s fair to say that Nintendo’s offering this E3 didn’t exactly blow the world away.
Sony cleverly stole the show with three “ah but” games – Shenmue III (“ah but it’s crowd-funded”), the Final Fantasy VII remake (“ah but it isn’t exclusive”) and The Last Guardian (“ah but we’ve known about this for years”) – while Microsoft went down the “well, we’ve got loads of stuff actually coming out this year” route.
Nintendo, however, had what felt like one of its trademark ‘stop-gap E3s’, where it presented a bunch of seemingly less impressive games to tide fans over until next year’s big reveals of Zelda Wii U and the new NX console.
That said, some ‘gamers’ went a little overboard in terms of criticising Nintendo’s E3 wares. From some saying it was a disgrace to others outright petitioning to cancel the development of one announced game, I’m struggling to think of a time I’ve felt so ashamed to be associated with other so-called gamers.
I’ve been gaming long enough to remember when people were up in arms about Nintendo turning Metroid into a first-person shooter, or turning Zelda cel-shaded. Fast forward more than a decade and, surprise surprise, Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker are heralded by Nintendo fans – many of whom whined at the time – as classics.
To be clear, my point is not that Metroid Prime Federation Force will be considered a classic a decade from now. All I’m saying is you should never judge a game until you actually get the chance to play it. Which is why I headed over to Nintendo’s top-secret post-E3 event in London yesterday to go hands-on with ten of the Wii U and 3DS games shown off in LA a couple of weeks ago.
The infinite food scenario is the most commonly used example: if you were stuck on a desert island and could only eat your favourite food for the rest of your life, you’d still probably be sick of it after about a month. Even if it was Nando’s.
This was the fate that befell the ‘plastic guitar’ sub-genre of rhythm action games spearheaded by Harmonix, who created Guitar Hero and then – in an odd twist of fate – went on to create its rival Rock Band after being purchased by MTV. Continue reading “Rock Band 4 hands-on preview – It’s Rock Band, innit”→
The reaction to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been oddly tepid so far.
Lego Dimensions is out on 29 September (or 27 September if you live in Americaland). I 
Tired Old Hack 