Pre-orders, the point of them and mini kart review.

Isn't that getting the game or whatever product you've pre-ordered the very same day that it's released? I sure thought so, but now it seems I'll have to wait till Wednesday or even Thursday to play GTA IV, because the site I bought it from doesn't have their stuff in time. I guess I really can't blame them, though, since it's really not their fault at all, but it's still annoying. Should I have just gone witht he regular edition instead of the limited edition? Can't tell, but if I had, I would have gotten the game sent to me on friday, which would probably mean that I would have had it today. Ah well, what can you do? Nothing, that's what!


So yeah, Mario Kart Wii. I bought it and I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying it too. I mean it took some getting used to, since I haven't played a Mario Kart game since Mario Kart 64, but once I got in to it, it worked out fine. Although, like I suspected, that damned Wii Wheel just complicates things. It's really more of a nuisance than anything else. Luckilly though, you can use a Gamecube controller or a Wiimote too, which makes things a whole lot easier.

When it comes to the actual game, I can't help but feel like there's too much of the old and not enough of the new. Sure there's 16 new tracks, as well as 16 old, revamped tracks, but many of the new tracks are based on the older ones, so what's the point? That said though, some of the new tracks are really great and fun to play, and that's not to say that the old ones arent't, but come on, Nintendo! You can't live off of nostalgia forever. They could have at least thrown in some Super Mario Galaxy-inspired tracks, but such tracks are nowhere to be found.

New to the game is the ability to perform tricks, a new way to boost and the addition of bikes. All welcome in my book, but it seems like if you wan't to perform tricks you need to use the Wii wheel, which kind of sucks. But it's not the end of the world, since you can just boost instead of performing a trick and at the same time avoid covering the extra ground that's needed for the trick. If you're dead set on tricking though, the new tracks are the ones you're looking for, they've been built up with that in mind, so there's plenty of jumps to go for.

So the new boost-system, love it or hate it, I'm just glad it takes "snaking" away. This time around, there's no stick-wiggling to boost, you just simply brake and hold the button down to slide away. The longer you hold it down, the more boost you get once you let it go. It still takes some getting used to, but it's a whole lot easier than the aforementioned stick-wiggling.

On to the bikes, while a nice addition to the game, they really aren't that much different than driving a kart. The main differences are that you can boost by tilting them back on straight roads and that you're going to get knocked around a whole lot easier. That said, though, they are a welcome addition and can offer a different playstyle than karts if you really want them to.

Graphically, the game doesn't really look much better than Double Dash! did. Which is a shame really. Of course, there are some small improvements that are mostly noticable on the new tracks, such as better lighting and particle effects. But it's not at the level of polish that SMG has, not even close. In all honesty, I was more impressed with Mario Kart DS on the graphical side of things.

Online mode, what many people will buy this game for, actually works pretty well. I haven't tried much of it, but the time I did spend online worked almost as well as it would with any Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 game. On top of the actual racing online, there's battle mode, which I haven't touched, and leaderboards. Being able to keep track of leaders worldwide, continental or on your friends list is a really nice feature, which will probably keep the insane fans of the franchise happy, even if they're possibly let down by the single player game.

There's also a bunch of hidden content to be unlocked, such as extra vehicles and characters. I haven't unlocked too many myself, just King Boo and Rosalina from SMG, which is probably the only thing they've added from that game. But who knows, I haven't unlocked everything yet.

All in all, 32 tracks, 25 characters (12 of which needs to be unlocked), online capability and the inclusion of the Wii wheel for the same price as any new game makes me feel good about my purchase.


As I'm finishing this up, I noticed that the site I pre-ordered my copy of GTA IV Limited Edition from has finally sent it. So hopefully I'll still have it tomorrow, but I'm guessing Wednesday. Still, it makes me a happy camper to know that it's on it's way.

LE's and CE's.

As someone who collects video games, there's nothing I like more than a good old Limited Edition or Collector´s Edition. With that said though, there's the good CE/LE and the bad LE/CE, you need look no further than the Assassin´s Creed Limited Edition for an example of a bad LE. For an example of a good LE, take a look at The Witcher Limited Edition.

The first mentioned Assassin´s Creed LE contains a figurine of our protagonist, Altaír and... Oh wait, there is no more, aside from the actual game of course. What really annoyed me about this LE though, was that the game you got with it, at least here in Europe, had a bigass "Not for resale" sign printed on one of it's corners. Since it was actually printed there's no way to get it off. This I payed about 250 SEK extra for.

Now the second mentioned The Witcher LE contains the soundtrack for the game, an impressive artbook, a making of DVD, a map of the world of the game and the actual game. That, to me, is something worth shelling out a little extra for, especially since I payed about the same amount of extra cash that I did with Assassin´s Creed. A Limited Edition like this makes you feel good about your purchase, rather than walking around thinking "was it worth it?.


The reason for all of this collector´s and limited edition talk is that thanks to my good friend Kotaku, I got to see some limited editions of upcoming games. One of them I already knew about, but it's still nice to see some actual real-life pictures of it. The game I'm talking about is, to no one´s shock, GTA IV, which I've had on pre-order for about a month now and it's coming out real soon too! *giddy*.

In any case, most of the people even remotely interested in games knows what the limited edition of this game includes, but in case you don't, I'll go through it for you. It contains a Rockstar labeled duffle bag, the game's soundtrack, a safety deposit box, an art book and the actual game with embossed lettering on the box. In all honesty though, while it contains the right stuff, it costs too much for me to count it among the good LE's out there. In case you're wondering, we have to spend 1500 SEK for this LE here in Europe, which is really too much. Being the idiot that I am, though, I still bought it. Now then, the pictures I was talking about? Given that the space I have on this blog is rather limited, you'll have to do with a link to the good folks over at GTAGaming. Enjoy!

Another game I saw was Soul Calibur IV: The Quest for More Money Limited Edition. Ok so that's not it's real name, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, the limited edition of Soul Calibur IV includes what looks like a tin box for the game, an art book, a "tournament kit" whatever that is and a XL-sized T-shirt. Seems ok in my eyes, at least if you're a fan of the series, but it's going to cost you $80 to get your mits on it, and I'm not knowledgable enough about Soul Calibur to say anything about whether or not that is a justifiable price. In case you're wondering about why there's two boxes in that picture, it's because one of them is for the Xbox 360 and the other for Playstation 3, which is just stupid in my eyes, but what can you do? It looks like the Playstation 3 is getting all the good the stuff when it comes to this game. I mean first they get Darth Vader instead of Yoda and now they get the black shirt with the Vader print. Where's the love for Xbox 360 owners?! Now don't get me wrong, I like both characters but come on, it's V to the A to the D.E.R, VADER. You can't beat that.

Last, but definately not least, there's the Alone in the Dark Limited Edition, which could very well be the closest to a perfect LE I've ever seen. This baby includes the official soundtrack, a making of DVD, an art book, a figurine of Edward Carnby, the game's protagonist and of course the game. As if that wasn't enough, the box you get everything in gets a nice treatment as well, assuring that everything in this package is of some value. I know that I'll be buying this limited edition if the game turns out to be as good at it looks to be. At least if it's priced correctly, as in not more than what I payed for GTA IV. What's interesting about it, though, is that this box is only for Europe, so I don't really know about what people in the states will get, but I'm guessing it's something similar. I mean they can't screw them totally, can they? Either way, I'm really looking forward to seeing some reviews of this game when it store later this summer.


So that's that, my ramblings about LE's and CE's. I don't know if any of it makes much sense, but nor do I care all that much. Oh and you know GTA IV? Yeah, the hypemachine is beyond active, and in some places it's beyond insanity.

MK meets DC meets GH meets DS.

In case you can't see who's on that picture, it's Sub-Zero and Batman. You read it, Mortal Kombat is going to do the old mixaroo with the DC universe in the upcoming game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. My original thoughts about this was skepticism, skepticism, skepticism. Since I've kind of been longing for some news about the new Mortal Kombat game ever since I heard it was going to be using the Unreal 3 engine. Well I got what I wanted I guess, but this was not what I expected, and I don't think anyone else did either. However, after reading up on the game, watching interviews and getting a glimpse of the in-game action from the trailers that are out there, I've gone from skepticism to optimism with a hint of worry. Can they pull this merger off? I mean, how on earth is Batman going to be able to do any damage to any of the characters of the MK universe? He doesn't have any powers, he's just rich and has a lot of gadgets. In my eyes, it seems like he'd get obliterated by just looking at Sub-Zero for example.

So far they've only announced 4 characters; Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Batman and Superman, which brings me to ask the same question as with Batman, but in reverse. How is anyone from the MK universe going to be able to hurt Superman? Do they have Kryptonite in Outworld? Because I don't see anything that could stop him otherwise. Luckilly, those questions were answered to some degree by Ed Boon in an interview about the game, but he didn't really go in to specifics, just saying that superstrong characters like Superman were going to be countered by an "elevated" use of magic in some of the more human characters of the MK universe. Other than that, he said that to make some of the characters not seem as 'boring' they would have "big massive events" instead of the old punch n' jab. So I'm hoping that means a lot of face-melting with Superman´s eye laser thingy. All in all, though, it actually looks good, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.



While I'm on the subject of skepticism, there's a little (haha) game called Guitar Hero: On Tour, which is coming to your favourite handheld console, the Nintendo DS, this summer. This doesn't really come as a surprise to me, what with the popularity of the Guitar Hero franchise and all. Combine popular game with popular console and you get popular sales numbers, simple as that really.

Well then, on to the skepticism I guess; Can this stripped down version of a well known game series be any match for it´s big boy counterparts? I mean, how are they going to recreate that silly rock star dream if we don't even have a guitar to hold? Can they give us the same feel as if we were holding a plastic guitar? I doubt it, but I'm optimistic about it, probably because I'm a big fan of the Guitar Hero series, so I'm hoping for the best. With that said though, how are they going to do it? I mean there's no way the sound can come anywhere near the sound of a 5.1 speaker system, there's only 4 fret buttons and I wouldn't be surprised if the sequel would be called Eye-strain Hero or something, with screens that small. Speaking of screens, apparently you're going to be tapping the touch-sensitive screen to simulate the strumming, which just worries me even more, since it doesn't seem sensitive enough to handle something like that.

Then again, maybe they're tweaking the difficulty to match that. It's probably the only way to do it too, because I don't see anyone playing Anything from GH3 at the expert difficulty on the DS. I guess we'll see how things work out in the end, and being the sucker that I am, I'll probably buy it myself. You've got to live that rock star dream you know.

Satisfaction.

So it's a few hours later, and here I am, reasonably satisfied with the look and feel of the blog. As such, my focus has turned to enjoying a cup (yes, a cup) of coke and some strawberry-flavoured vanilla ice cream. To accompany that, I'm watching an episode of Night Cops, which is like Cops but longer and only at night, in the UK. I personally prefer the latter, as I feel it's got more of a real, authentic 'in your face'-feel to it. Not that Night Cops is bad or anything, but it's not as engaging.

So, new week tomorrow, or today if you're going to be all technical about it, and I've still not made up my mind about whether or not to buy myself a copy of Mario Kart Wii. It seems like fun and everything, but at the same time it feels like it's too much like it´s predecessors. Then again, those were fun too, so can there be such a thing as too much fun? In any case, it feels like too much of the old and not enough new stuff, also, I don't want that damned wheel! And there's no option to buy the game without it, or at least not that I know of. Online mode is a new, great feature that gets me excited though, and from what I've heard, there's no 'snaking' but some other form of boost thingymajigg. What I fear about that feature is that once the insane Mario Kart fans learn and master this technique, it'll be Mario Kart DS online all over again. There were snakes everywhere! And it was the main reason I stopped playing it. One really nice aspect about it is that we got it before the states! In your face, yanks! In case you didn't know, it's usually the other way around. Either way, I'll see if I get a copy of it or not during the week.

The episode of Night Cops is almost over and I really need to sleep, so that'll be that.

Testing, testing. One two, one two.

So, I finally decided to follow the trend and get myself a blog. I don't quite know what it'll be about yet, but I'll figure that out as I go I guess. With that said though, my life mainly evolves around games, friends, music and movies so I'm guessing those are the main subjects that I'll toss around on this blog. I'm also trying to figure out a way to use the blog as a place to publish game reviews, something that I've done in the past to no real success. Like I said, I'll see how things turn out, for the better or worse, I'll keep the place updated for a while.