Sunday, September 26, 2010

9/26/10 - So Many Games...So Little Time and Moolah

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!

That's right! I'm actually hoping to get the blog out on time this week....mostly because I actually had time to work on it today. Anyways, another week has come and gone, and my fall semester is already 1/3 over. For those wondering about my classes and how I'm doing; let's just say I'm hanging in there. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm getting it done.

I don't really have anything to talk about or complain about this week, so I will save you guys from having to hear about it. Besides, things have been going pretty well for me regardless. My sleep schedule has been kind of messed up *glares and smiles at someone*, but it's cool. I'm still getting things done, and getting them done right.

In other news, the release of Wii Party is coming very, very soon. Unfortunately I don't currently have a Wii I could use, which I finally did get sent in for repairs (or at least tomorrow when I go by the post office), so hopefully I get that back before too long. Besides, I still have to play Metroid: Other M, purchase Samurai Warriors 3, and hell, even Epic Yarn might be out by the time I get it back. There are really a lot of games coming out in this one month period. Money for them isn't really a concern or anything, but still, it's a lot of games.

Anyways, I did want to talk about Wii Party specifically, because I've been looking at a lot of information about it, and being the Mario Party guy of Youtube, people have been interested in what I think about the game so far (from previews obviously), and the possibility of whether not I'll have a Wii Party video series on my channel. So far from what I have seen about the game, I can say for certain that it is definitely not going to be like Mario Party (besides the obvious similarities). However, I wouldn't say that is necessarily a bad thing. The game seems to be more oriented to the board game aspect, which I think is cool. I like board games after all. From what I've been hearing from reviews, it hasn't been scoring very highly, but neither have the other Mario Party games, and I've enjoyed them. Sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on the review scores rather than what is actually said in the reviews themselves. After all, there was that one case of a Twilight Princess review where the Gamecube version scored higher than the Wii version, despite the review telling everyone to get the Wii version because it was better. Anyways, I am very much looking forward to Wii Party despite all the criticism it has been getting. Not to mention I still don't see why Nintendo completely refuses to put online in these mainstream titles. It's really gotten to the point where it's not that Nintendo Wifi is bad...it's just that they refuse to use it, which kinda makes me mad. I don't think online play makes a game, but I do think that it enhances it for more playability, and it just doesn't make sense to why they refuse to put it in. As for a possible Wii Party project in the future, I'm definitely not going to count that out. Just let me finish the Mario Parties first! :P

Moving on Youtube, things are still going smoothly with Donkey Kong 64. At the time of this blog, I'm up to Episode #15 being uploaded, and in recordings I'm up to #23. In comparison with my old project, I'm about 7 videos ahead, which isn't that surprisingly given the time limit and such, but still, I'm glad that I'm making a pretty smooth progression through the game. I'm also having a lot of fun with it.

For future projects, these are still things I am thinking about. I have a few ideas at this time, but again, the big thing is figuring out when I want to bring them out. Right now, the only thing known for sure is Mario Party 7 which can be expected by the end of the month (assuming I get my Wii back ok). The same could pretty much be said for CSS as well. Don't expect anything right now, but once we get things figured out, we'll be sure to get moving on that as well.

I think that will about do it for this week's entry, but since I promised you guys a Game of the Week, I'll do that now.

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Game of the Week:

This game of the week has been something I've been meaning to do for awhile now, but I was unsure of whether or not it would be a project I would do in the future, since one of the things I try to do in these sections is talk about future project possibilities. However, a good friend of mine has recently started a project of a game that fits the same bill, so I figured that it might be a good time to talk about. So...in other words.....WELCOME TO MARIO GOLF!

Mario Golf (N64)


Next to the Mario Parties, and maybe Mario Kart, Mario Golf is probably my favorite sub-franchise, and I'm ticked they haven't brought it to the Wii yet. Either way, that's not the point, the point is I love Mario Golf. A lot of people wonder how Mario Golf could possibly be that much fun, just because it's Golf, but for some reason, it works....and it works well. Obviously, being Mario, you can't really expect a lot of realism, but when it comes to the gameplay, it feels authentic, which I think is a big charm of the game. Even though the sequel, Toadstool Tour (which is what ShadowMarioXLI is currently playing on his channel), improves on the formula of the series, I wouldn't say it really does that much extra to take away from the original. The original is definitely more challenging as your shots have to be precise, and you don't have the advantage of seeing your shot in action all the way. Plus you don't have the rather cheap "super topspin" or "super backspin either. Anyways, for awhile, this turned me off from the original since i got really into Toadstool Tour for a period of time, but recently in the last few years, I gave the original another try, and I got instantly hooked and had a really good time with it. Now I ironically think I'm better at the original than Toadstool Tour. XD

Now for those who haven't played Mario Golf, there really isn't that much to discuss. It's Golf with Mario characters and that is basically it. However, if you are only expecting just normal golf, that's not completely true. There are a variety of different modes you can play in addition. There is Speed Golf, where you are timed on how fast you can finish the courses, Ring Attack, where you have to hit your ball through rings scattered across specific holes and then score the par, Club Slots, where your club set is limited to just 3 clubs before you tee off (chosen via a slot machine), and even a fun little mini-golf mode (which I found kind of disappointing when they didn't bring it back for Toadstool Tour). So yeah, the fun doesn't have to stop at just the tournaments.

One of the biggest challenges of the game is unlocking all the characters. To unlock the characters, you have to play against computer-controlled versions of those characters and beat them in Match Play. From the get-go, you can probably expect how difficult these can be, especially since the characters are generally expected to hit the fall further than you and are programmed to at least play competently. You won't see them hit it out of bounds or in the water very often. They also have the ability to randomly get super long putts and ridiculous chip-ins that you normally wouldn't expect them to get so easily, but that's the downfall of playing against a random AI. Unlocking all the characters, I think, is one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire N64 library of games (not because of the characters, just the feeling of getting everything). Obviously it's not THE most rewarding, but still, when I did it for the very first time, I was very happy because of how difficult it was. Because of this, if I ever do a playthrough of the game, I won't be stupid enough to delete all the data (on my N64 cartridge or Virtual Console copy), so I will not unlock them all again....let's make that straight right away. =P

Overall though, for what the game is, it's really fun, and despite what it may seem, I think it has quite a bit of replay value. I often find myself playing a round or two just out of boredom. Of course though, if you aren't into golfing games, you might have trouble getting into the game, but you don't have to exactly be a golf enthusiast to enjoy it either. That's what I love about Mario games. They can make anything a lot more fun. =P If I had to give it a score, I would probably give it a 4/5.

Future Project Possibility: I will say right now that I am very interested in doing a Mario Golf project in the future (possibly this one), but it definitely won't be for awhile. I'm thinking that after I finish Mario Party (and Wii Party -_-), I might try to advance to some of the other Mario subfranchises, and Mario Golf will probably be one of the first ones I do.

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Ok, that's about it for this entry! See you guys next week! Later folks!
- SlimKirby

Monday, September 20, 2010

9/20/10 - A Somewhat Philosophical (But Still Quite Late) Entry

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!

Hooray for another blog entry, and “Double Hooray!” for it being late! I know it really feels like I’m not taking this blog seriously, but I assure you that it is nothing like that. Things have truly been a lot more hectic than I’ve given them credit for, and I was working until like 1 AM last night before MegaFreak400 reminded me, “Hey! You have a blog to do, don’t you?” At that point, I was ready to move away from the keyboard and not even think about writing anything at that point. I do apologize if some of you guys truly look forward to my blog entries, but I really have to prioritize the way I do things, and unfortunately my blog is at the bottom of that list when it comes to things I have to do on Sunday. Trust me though, it would be a lot higher if I didn’t have any classes the next day…but unfortunately I can’t get that lucky.

So yeah, if you couldn’t tell, things have been really busy for the Slimster once again. I’m not sure what is up with my professors this semester, but they are seriously out to get me. One of them is set on assigning really difficult programming assignments and is a real hardass when it comes to things he doesn’t care for, and two others teach a class filled with very difficult mathematical content….content I define as “Who Cares Mathematics.” Generally, I’m actually somewhat of a math enthusiast, but when it comes to this kind of math, I just stare at the problem and say to myself, “does the fate of the world really depend on knowing how to use Taylor’s Theorem and MacLaurin Series?” I swear, after midway through Calculus I, math was just ruined for me. It really sucks that my major pretty much requires these types of classes, and I’ll do what I can to pass them and come out of them with good grades, but I really hope I don’t lose my sanity over it, because that would just not be worth it.

Besides that though, the week really wasn’t that terrible. There were some downs, but there were also some ups too. Things often alternate in the world of SlimKirby, I’ve started to notice. One minute I could be getting excellent news about an opportunity that could further my life and help me obtain an exciting future career, and the next minute I could be feuding with a close friend. It’s a shame life can’t be all gumdrops and lollipops, but the world doesn’t really work that way, now does it? You can try to change it, but it probably ain’t gonna happen…..life just sucks in general. I know that’s a rather negative view to have on things, but the way I see it, it’s only a general outlook, not a feeling. Even the most unfortunate person is bound to have a stroke of luck and goodness every now and then, and when they do, they should enjoy it…..they should feel warmly about it….they should EMBRACE IT…THEY SHOULD LOVE IT! THEY SHOULD….ok, getting a little carried away there. Anyways, yeah, I’m not saying that you should just dread life in general, I’m just saying you shouldn’t go into it expecting only good things, because most of the time, you will be easily disappointed, and that’s not that much better than feeling miserable all the time. So my motto is, be prepared for the ugly, so you can deal with the bad stuff as soon as possible and then enjoy the things that make you happy. I know it’s a rather weird, maybe even a blasphemous, viewpoint, but it’s worked for me at least, and I’m a happy-go-lucky, all-around, nice guy……..right?......RIGHT? You better have answered yes to that. >=( =P

And that actually brings up another point….why are people so obsessed with gumdrops being used as a metaphor for happiness? I’ve never found gumdrops to be that exciting. In fact, I’ve always found them to have a rather bland taste, plus the fact that small pieces can get stuck to your teeth….very annoying. =\

In Youtube news (yes, that’s right, screw the dotted-line format I’ve been using), Donkey Kong 64 has been moving pretty smoothly so far. I’m already on the road to finishing the project in a lot less videos, and at this point I already have the first 3 worlds recorded (not completely though (I still have World 3’s boss fight to record and I have to go back and collect a few things in World 1 and 2, but I don’t imagine that taking me very long to do)). Not sure when I’ll get the chance to record more, but hopefully Thursday, or even tomorrow, opens up a window of opportunity. I’m actually really enjoying the project thus far. It’s given me a lot of time to think about the old days when I was playing through the game during my first few playthroughs of the game. I won’t get into it now, because I will in a future video, but I actually have a lot of history with this game, complete with many fond memories.

For those wondering about any future projects on the horizon, I honestly wouldn’t expect any at this time. Right now it looks to just be Donkey Kong 64 for the next few weeks, mainly because at this time I don’t even have my Wii, and some of the projects I’ve been thinking about are only playable on my Wii system (keep in mind, this means Wii, Gamecube, and Virtual Console games, not just Wii games). Before anyone brings up the possibility of me bringing another system with me, let me quickly say that I already have my N64 up here, my second system is always reserved to be my Playstation 2, and there is no way I’m bringing up more than 2 systems for my temporary home…..no, just not going to happen.

For anyone wondering about my Wii, as I’ve explained in past entries, my Wii is currently being sent in for repairs to have the lens reader fixed (or readjusted). I’ve been having problems with my system reading certain games, specifically my Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii discs. I haven’t physically sent in the system yet, but I will this weekend when I go home. All I’ve done at this point is call customer support so I know at least what to do, but it will be under way soon.

For those who continue to wonder about CrystalStarStudio and the future of the co-op channel, the only thing I’m going to ask you guys is to continue to remain patient with me (and us) as we try to figure out a few things. Believe it or not, we have actually run into some difficulty at this point, a difficulty that will probably delay things even more (if me not having my Wii wasn’t enough). However, I promise that we will try to figure things out as soon as possible so we can go back to creating videos for you wonderful people.

I think that’s all I’m going to talk about for this entry. I know I promised a GotW this week, but the lateness behind this entry kind of prevented that from being made. I do have a candidate in mind though for next week, so hopefully next weekend’s entry doesn’t get delayed. -_-

Anyways, I’ll see you guys later, whether it’s in my next video upload, or my next entry! Later folks!

- SlimKirby

Sunday, September 12, 2010

9/12/10 - September Blandness

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here, and welcome to another exciting blog entry! Let’s see if I can actually get this entry up before the clock strikes midnight (my time). Anyways, not much to really report on this week from the life of SlimKirby….nothing that would be worth mentioning. Although I guess I should mention that I did sign up for a twitter account, for those who would be THAT interested in following what I’m doing during the course of the week. Don’t expect there to be any extra or important information exclusively on the twitter account though. It’s really just something new I feel like experimenting with. Anyways, the link is as follows:

http://www.twitter.com/slimkirby

Besides that though, as I said previously, there is not much really to report on.

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Youtube:

Let’s Play Donkey Kong 64

Although the project starts tomorrow, I don’t think there is really any harm in talking about it. I recorded the first 5 (or 4 1/2 if I decide to add more to the somewhat short 5th video) episodes at this point, and at this point, I think they came out ok. The only way I could really describe them is that, if you like the majority of my videos, or rather, the style I do my videos in, you should feel right at home. Definitely expect the first batch of videos to be a bit informative though, just because the nature of them.

I have to say though, doing these episodes of Donkey Kong 64 has gotten me thinking about a few things, a few things that I’m sure some of you (although, maybe not) would be surprised by. For one, I’m really not as confident with my ability to do commentary as many people would probably think. I mean, I can sit down and do it no problem, but watching it back, I always seem to get the feeling that I could do so much more with it. Maybe it’s just because it’s hard for anybody to listen or watch themselves, but still, I’ve never really been able to move past that confidence barrier, even after almost 2 ½ years of doing commentary. Maybe it’s just something you never really get over? Meh, I dunno, but I do know for sure that I’ll never let that discourage me from continuing what I do, so don’t worry about that if you think I’m getting tired of doing LPs, because I’m definitely not. It’s just more of a mental thing.

Anyways, getting back to the actual project, this should definitely be a lot of fun. I’m very much looking forward to kicking this game’s butt and having fun with it too. I’ve already started to plan my routes throughout each level, which I know probably seems a bit unnecessary, but I’m actually challenging myself to get this done in as few videos as possible without making any extravagant cuts. At this point, I see less than 70 videos as a very distinct possibility. My original project was about 84 videos, and that was with the old time limit. Adding 4 to each video will definitely make this project go a lot faster considering that the equivalent of 3 videos now is 4 with the old time limit. Maybe I should have project video # ending predictions? :O

Anyways, as usual, I hope you guys enjoy the project. I’m not sure when or if I will have a secondary project right away or not, but it’s something I may consider. It would be nice if I actually got my Wii back first though, because there is something I have on my Wii that I have considered LPing……what that game is? You will have to find out later. ;)

CrystalStarStudio:

Well, I have some good news….me and the guys at CSS have finally discussed some future plans. Not in very great detail, but enough to know what we might be doing next besides TTYD extras. As usual though, can’t really give you any information besides that….sorry. =(

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I’m actually going to end the entry here actually. I know this is kind of a short entry and there is no Game of the Week, but I did say a few weeks back that I am going to try and make the GotWs less frequent because I won’t have as much time during the week to play games anymore now that I am back in school (besides my Youtube projects of course), and sure enough, I didn’t really play any new games (that haven’t already been GotWs) this week, so that is pretty much an excuse in itself not to update.

I’ll try to have a much larger entry next week and hopefully I can have an exciting week for a change so I can actually have things to talk about. =P

Later folks!
-SlimKirby

Monday, September 6, 2010

9/6/10 - Happy Labor Day! =)

Hello everybody, SlimKirby here!

I hope you guys have a great Labor Day! I'm not sure how it works for every person in the world, but in the case of me and the majority of the people I know, there are no classes today, so I had a nice little small vacation this weekend. Given, it was only 3 days, but still, some times even one extra day can be a lot.

Anyways, first off I once again apologize for the lateness of this entry. I didn't really have a very productive Sunday and didn't really get anything done. I guess I've truly underestimated how much my new schedule has been wearing me out that I just crashed at a very inopportune time. Oh well, it's something to get used to, I guess. Basically with the way I have things going on now, I can stay up as late as I want most days, however, some days I have classes at 9 in the morning (which is early for most college students), and staying up late doesn't usually help me for those. However, since I'm so used to my late schedule, I end up staying late anyways which means I usually don't get much sleep for those early class days, and as far as naps go, you can only take a nap in the middle of the day for so long before you just can't stand to lie down anymore. So basically, I have definitely lost some sleep over the last few days...thankfully though, not too much sleep. I'm still getting things done and not falling behind on really anything, so I guess that's the important thing.

Speaking of classes, things actually went a bit better this week than last. I might actually enjoy this semester a lot more than my past semesters, believe it or not. I guess I was just too focused on the work load that I forgot that the work really wasn't that bad. Plus, I have plenty of outside time to do it in as well, so I really had nothing to complain about. It's also kind of cool because one of my professors is actually a gamer and I'm thinking about telling him about what I do on Youtube. I'm not sure if there are any other Computer Science majors out there (besides those who I already know), but if you are, he's the kind of teacher who is really into technology and really enthusiastic about his work, so I think that class will have a lot of fun times this semester.

In other news, I got The Simpsons Season 13 on DVD and Metroid: Other M on Friday (although the latter I haven't touched, nor will I probably touch for a few weeks (since I am sending my Wii in for repairs). So far, I'm actually enjoying season 13 quite a bit. There have been a lot of my favorite episodes, and I think it's probably the season right before the series started to go downhill a bit (granted, I've never really thought the series got that much worse, but I think it can be argued that the older episodes are definitely better than the newer ones). But besides that, not much new going on the real life world of SlimKirby.

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Youtube:

I really don't have much to say either just because I said pretty much all I wanted to say last weekend, and I won't have any videos this next week, nor will CSS. I am very much looking forward to starting Donkey Kong 64 though. I haven't been this excited about starting a project since Kirby Super Star. Not that I haven't been excited about anything else I've done since then, I just really want to do this particular project so I can make it better than the first one I did and do the game justice. The first video of that will be going up on next Monday, so look forward to that on the 13th of September.

I've been wondering though if I should start doing...not really shout-outs, but basic run-downs what others have been doing and what I think of their projects, but the problem there is that it would be too restricted. I have a lot of LPers I try to keep up with, and I'm sure there are plenty out there who will want me to add them and....yeah, probably not a good idea in the long run. Maybe if I keep it restricted to community members of the Blargg Pit and CrystalStarStudio (since this blog is directly related to the site and CSS), but I dunno, that almost seems too selective to me. I guess it's something I could consider though.

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Game Discusssion:

There will be no Game of the Week this week because MadameWario stole all of my attention away, so this section will not added.

Ok, not really! =P

Madame herself actually suggested I put that since I couldn't really think about anything to talk about and I'm really trying to get this done. Although, the statement is kind of true though as she does distract me quite a bit already......but in a good way. =P

Anyways, today I was actually considering talking about my first thoughts and impressions on Metroid: Other M (as I mentioned earlier, I did buy it this weekend), but because I didn't play it and because I won't be playing it for awhile due to my Wii not being available, I can't really do that anymore. I guess I could talk about it for a little bit though, based on what I expect from the game based on what I have seen thus far and from what I have heard from other people.

Basically, some of the things I've heard and predicted are that the game is 1) kind of a combination of Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, specifically with the 1st person and 3rd person switches, and 2) is really centered on the storyline and character development. Basically, consider those two the main topics from my brief discussion.

First off, I will say that I'm one of those individuals who really fell in love with Super Metroid for the SNES, but never really got into the Prime series. While I think Metroid Prime is a very well-made game/series, I myself couldn't really get into the gameplay as much. I still acknowledge it though as one of the best Gamecube games, even though it's not up there on my personal preferences list. I do think the change from 2D side-scroller to 1st person shooter was needed, or rather, bound to happen, and I think Prime succeeded with that. As for Other M, where you pretty much switch between those perspectives, I'm not really sure.....although I do see how it could work and work well, but with that, I could also sense some faults as well purely from the game's controls and how they are set up. Keep in mind, I haven't played the game yet, so I really don't know how things actually are, and am purely basing this on assumption. Either way though, from what I have seen the gameplay looks pretty sweet and I am really looking forward to giving it a spin.

Another thing that I have heard a lot about, mostly from my friends though who only go by specific reviews and always assume things rather than experience them for themselves, is that Other M has quite a bit of focus on story and character development, something that hasn't really been shown very much in the series (at least on this level). Now, if you are my friends, you'd be saying that this is an awful thing and that it ruins the character of Samus because she is normally portrayed as a silent badass bounty hunter who goes out and kicks ass. I for one am a little more open than that. I do think it's a bit out of character for Samus, but does that mean it's going to be a bad game because of that? I don't think so. Besides, game developers can't exactly win with mass crowds anyways. There will always be a lot of people who complain about a game changing too much, or a lot of people who complain about the game not being unique or different enough. Those are just the facts of video games....there is no arguing side that is right, and the sooner people learn that the better. Unfortunately we live in a world where people don't like to compromise their opinions to be opinions...they see their opinions as facts and won't stand for anything else. Anyways, I kind of went on a little tangent right there, so allow me to go back to the main point. I'm actually quite interested to see how the story actually stacks up for me. Story has never really been a determining factor for me, especially considering my favorite video games are games where the storyline is basically "princess gets captured, hero saves princess." I am and have always been a gameplay guy, and right now I think that's where Other M is going to be judged on most. As long as they don't screw it up so much that it makes the game unplayable, I don't think story is going to be that big of an issue, even if it ends up being odd. Still though, it's interesting to think about. I'm hoping that The MBD ends up taking control of the universe. =P

My prospects are high, but how will they be at the end? I guess we will have to wait until I actually play the game (which again, won't be for awhile). The only thing I ask is that you don't give me any spoilers because I want to experience the game for myself. I also apologize for no Game of the Week this week either, but I didn't really play anything besides what I played already for Youtube. There will be one next week though, I promise!

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Anyways, that's about it for this entry. Sorry if it was kind of on the short side, but I'm on 3-day vacation, give me a break! :P

Later folks!

- SlimKirby