First – DISCLAIMER – The two titles that I’ll be talking about here are both rated M by the ESRB and are not intended for individuals under the age of 17 years. (You should be able to see the “M” pretty clearly on the covers above!) Having said this, these two Capcom titles are really quite impressive for the older members of your family. They are not recent releases, but they’re currently available new at GameStop for $9.99 each!
Resident Evil 4 (available HERE for $9.99) was originally developed for the Gamecube and was released subsequently for the PS2 and the Wii. Many believe that upon it’s release, RE4 was the most impressive entry to this survival horror franchise and all versions are something to behold. The PS2 version even offers 16:9 480p support for those of you with component cables on your PS2s or backward compatible PS3s. If you’re (not so) patiently waiting for the next installment for the Xbox 360 and PS3, this could keep you creeped out until RE5 hits the store shelves on March 13th.
If you prefer your gaming to be steeped in action rather than horror, you’ll find Devil May Cry 3 (available HERE for $9.99) a treat. This release offers a form of redemption to the franchise. Though the original Devil May Cry was an instant classic on the PS2, the sequel fell a bit flat and lost the sense of style and over-the-top action that had made the first release so compelling. However, DMC 3 brought the thrill back and abandoned the less creative level design and redundancy that plagued the second incarnation. Furthermore, the “Greatest Hits” version of this PS2 title provides even more content. It is a “Special Edition” complete with the ability to play the game as Dante’s brother Vergil, a more forgiving “continue” system, and a less strenuous difficulty overall. The one complaint that many had about the original release of DMC 3 was that it was just too hard. For better or worse, this is no longer the case.
As I said before, these titles are not for the younger ones in the household. But if you have an older teen, or if you yourself are looking for a reason to dust off the PS2 and you missed these when they first released, both titles are an undeniable bargain at this price.
Chris and I have a friend. (Yes, it’s true.) Our friend Kurt has a passion for games that approaches (and in some genres exceeds) our own. In addition to loving games, the three of us share a passion for music. And when these two worlds collide, we have sometimes found gaming nirvana.
Chris and I are big fans of a Dreamcast classic called Rez. It was later released on the PS2 and most recently resides on Xbox Live. However, Kurt and I were all about an old Dreamcast game called Samba De Amigo. This included purchasing special maraca controllers and having loads of fun.
For those of you that wish to relive the goofy joy (as seen in the video above), Sega has re-released this for the Wii. Though this isn’t breaking news (it’s been out for a while), Amazon’s current pricing is! If you want to pick up the game for $9.98, check out Amazon’s page HERE. Of course, if you are interested in authenticity of the experience, then you’ll have to pickup the Wii Maracas which Amazon lists HERE for $9.99. All-in-all, a lot of musical joy for $20 and unlike the original Dreamcast version, Samba De Amigo for the Wii allows you to download additional songs to add to your gaming experience. (Thanks for passing on the link, Kurty!)
For those of you who are interested in other music gaming experiences in addition to those listed above, I also recommend Donkey Konga (and its sequel) for the Gamecube (which you can enjoy on the Wii), Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (also for the Gamecube), and Taiko Drum Master for the PS2 and Wii.
Perhaps the greatest thing about all of these games is that most of them are intended for 2-4 players. This is great for the kids to get some energy out too. Nothing like the family enjoying a 4-player Donkey Konga marathon. However, if you play a while, expect your hands to ache a bit later.
♪ And we’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til our daddy takes the controller away! ♫
Micro transactions…downloadable content…updates…expansions…whatever you call it, the gaming industry is leveraging online marketplaces to sell additional gaming goodness for less than the cost of a whole new game via your local brick-and-mortar location.
Expansion packs are nothing new with this generation of gaming, however there are a number of factors that are making this a more feasible option for many console players. Right now all of the current generation systems have the ability to store content locally. The Wii uses flash ram. The Xbox 360 has an optional harddrive. Even if you choose to buy the Xbox 360 Arcade without a harddrive, you can add one on later. And all PS3s come with a harddrive. This means that each system has a place to store downloaded content.
Add to this our current economy and finding cost-effective ways to re-vitalize gameplay of your favorite title seems far more frugal than buying a whole new game at full-price which you may or may not enjoy as much. This is an important concept for parents. How many times have you heard a child (yours or another) beg for a game only to realize later that it was a total dissappointment. (Anyone my age remember E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial for the Atari VCS?) The fact is that if you know your child likes a game and you can add new levels to it or add another character which changes the gameplay experience, you get more fun for less than buying another game.
The industry is leveraging this more than ever even to the point that some games are created with the expectation that people will invest more in downloadable enhancements to the game than the original investment in the game itself. Look at the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises. Every week Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony push the latest song packs for these titles through their online marketplaces. Granted, there is logic to extending the value of something you enjoy as long as the original game is worth its initial investment freestanding. My biggest concern is that at some point the industry may choose to release Rock Band 7 with only one demo song per each of 5 genres because they expect you to fully customize the experience. Yet, they will charge the full amount for the title.
Perhaps it’s the cynic in me.
Anyway, for now there are some real interesting options available for all three current generation platforms. Those who have the Xbox 360 who enjoy GTA IV (M-rated – not for the kiddies) are probably excited that Microsoft has secured an exclusive expansion which has an entire new story and characters using the original engine. Burnout Paradise (E10+rated) has offered a number of enhancements on the PS3 and 360 and many were free! And Little Big Planet (E-rated) for the PS3 has a number of costumes and levels available online.
However, LIttle Big Planet offers something which I hope to see more frequently. It presents the ability for the community to create their own content and share it free of charge. This is nothing new to the mod scene for PC games, but it has been much less common on the consoles. I hope that we see more games with this ability because it not only creates additional content with which to enjoy the game, but it opens provides a whole different form of entertainment through the creative process and, thus, offers a whole different type of “play.”
There’s nothing like hearing your son sing, “I’m Going Faaaast!” only to hear his friend echo the same thing about a major third higher. I got to appreciate this aria this afternoon as my son and his friend enjoyed the Pod Race sequence from Episode I in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.
My parents took me to see the original Star Wars (now known as Episode IV: A New Hope) in the summer of 1977. I’ve been a die hard fan of the franchise ever since. As far as the new trilogy (Episodes I-III), one scene has been the source of more videogame content than any other. The Pod Race sequence from Episode I. I own the original Star Wars Episode I Racer for the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and Star Wars Racer Revenge for the PlayStation 2. I even own Star Wars Super Bombad Racing thanks to a friend who was working at LucasArts during the development of the title. Though each of these is a fairly kid-friendly title based on this part of the film, Lego Star Wars offers a simplified, yet fun re-interpretation.
There’s no question that if you’re looking for more advanced gameplay and a more strategic experience, the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 incarnations of Racer offer much more depth. However, for a kid-friendly dose of speed-based-fun, the simplified version offered in Lego Star Wars is sublime. And keep in mind that it is one level of a larger adventure. Often children can get a little bored with repetitive gameplay (as offered in the racer games themselves). The variation in these comes from unlocking different tracks and characters, but the primary experience is the same: go as fast as you can and avoid all obstacles. The Lego Star Wars games offer platforming, shooting, simplified puzzle-solving, and flying sequences in addition to the Pod Racing. So there’s less of a chance for your child to get bored with one aspect of the game. And even if he/she does, plenty of genres are represented for other gameplay options.
I have two more friends who have added PS3s to their household as of this holiday season and, in both cases, they were shocked that they cannot enjoy any titles from their PS2 libraries on their new consoles.
Granted, if we step back a few years backward compatibility was never a given. We couldn’t play original NES cartridges on our Super Nintendo systems. And neither of those would fit our N64s. In the case of Sega’s Genesis, we had the option to buy a Power Base Converter to play Sega Master System Games. And in spite of the popularity of the original Atari 2600, it wasn’t the follow-up 5200, but the eventual release of the 7800 that finally allowed the player to enjoy backward compatibility with their old VCS cartridges.
The two big obstacles in providing backward compatibility are cost and size. In the case of these older cartridge-based systems, creating a separate port into which one can plug a cartridge is both expensive and drastically increases the size of the system. Selling an adapter (like the Power Base Converter) provides an option that lets the end user pay for the additional hardware and keeps the access through a single slot.
However, these days our current generation of consoles no longer use cartridges. They use a standard disc format. If we take a cue from the evolution of the media disc, we see backward compatibility as a standard. For example, a DVD player can play audio CDs. A Blu-ray player can play DVDs and audio CDs. Heck, the now-abandoned HD-DVD format went so far as to put standard DVD content on one side of a disc while putting the HD-DVD content on the other. As media consumers, we build libraries and we don’t want our investments to appear worthless. With this in mind, let’s look at the current generation of consoles…
Lego Star Wars is nothing new. In fact, the complete Saga (first and second trilogy) is nothing new either. However, for parents who are looking for a kid-friendly title after the holidays, it’s hard to beat this one for sheer fun and replay value. And speaking of value, the current $19.99 price (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and NDS) makes this title hard to resist!
I picked this up at a local GameStop this past weekend and my son and I played through the first three chapters of Episode I. I couldn’t tell who enjoyed it more – him or me! The version that we played (PS3) has co-op 2-player local and online. This is great for a parent/child team-up. It gives your kids a chance to explore a little while you try to protect them (kinda like our daily job as parents). Another great thing about the game is that even though it provides a bit of a visceral experience (light sabers and blasters), all of the characters in the game are made of Lego. This keeps the violence toned down and when a character is down for the count, he or she simply turns into a pile of Lego bricks. No blood. No guts.
The title has quite a bit of variety too. You play different chapters as different characters and while the default mode of the game is 3-D action platforming and exploration, there are flying and combat levels too. Also, the sense of humor in this title is really quite clever. Many of the jokes were lost on my son who has yet to see the films. However, as a lifelong fan, I was chuckling the whole time. Check out the clip from GameTrailers for an idea of the experience:
The game can be played in single-player mode and characters can be switched on-the-fly to use special skills, but the real fun comes from playing with a teammate. I know that my son hopes to put in more time this coming weekend. (Between you and me, I do too!)
