So Two Nintendo Fans Walked Into A Gamestop...

" Nintendo can't give away too many free games. They're in the Red..."

So says guy behind the counter at the Galesburg Illinois Gamestop yesterday.

Let me back up a bit.

My dad and I decided to go to Gamestop to buy Mario Kart 8 and a Tomodachi Life (download code). We entered the store around 1 o'clock.

The store in Galesburg seems pretty Nintendo friendly on the surface. It has a Wii U demo station & a 3DS demo station too. It also has a Nintendo Representative that visits the store. My regular Gamestop in Macomb has NONE OF THAT. So the Galesburg store seems superior...

We waited till the guy at the counter was done with another customer and then went to the counter. Dad asked for Mario Kart 8 and then a Tomodachi Life (download code).

The guy told us that we should have Pre-ordered Mario Kart 8 cause if we had "we would have gotten a Free Nintendo game." I told him we'd get a Free game anyway because Nintendo was giving them away till July 31st.

He told us "no. Nintendo is only giving away a limited amount of them." He told us they couldn't afford to give away too many copies because they were in the Red. He looked at our copy of Mario Kart 8 and said "well, you're lucky. This one still has the code. Look at the number on the side, its a 1. The new ones they are putting out have the number 2". Meaning the new copies have no codes. He was acting like this whole free game thing from Nintendo was a Gamestop Exclusive & a special code was in the copies that would get you a free game...

I knew this was wrong (Nintendo is giving away a free game to everybody, not just Gamestop customers). I wanted to tell him. We started by saying that Nintendo wasn't the only company in trouble. Sony was having issues too and he agreed with us about that. Then the subject changed to the Tomodachi Life code.

Dad asked for a Tomodachi Life download code. He told the guy at the counter we were doing this because Gamestop was charging 39.99 for the retail copy & it was $34 on the Eshop. We had done our research first hand on this. Dad and I had bought two retail copies over our Macomb store for 39.99. We had preordered. The day the game came out, though, I saw it was $34 on the eshop. I knew Gamestop was over charging for the game. My mom wanted a copy of the game, so we decided to get her the download code version. The guy behind the counter tried, at first, to tell us they were the SAME PRICE. $39.99. He also wasn't sure if they still had the download code. We said that the price wasn't right & if we had to buy it on the Eshop itself (no download code) we would. Then, he looked over at the price of the retail version and finally looked on his computer. He realized we were right & got us the download code.

After that, he started talking to us about Nintendo not announcing very many games (for Wii U). I knew that was WRONG because I had watched E3. We told him that was wrong. He showed us the list of Wii U, PS4, and Xbox 1 games on his counter. The PS4 list was long, the Xbox 1 list was long and the Wii U list...was very short. It was, in fact, a list of games coming out THIS YEAR for Wii U.

The games coming out for next year: Yoshi, Kirby, Xenoblade, Zelda Wii U, Splatoon. Those games were NOT listed. Meanwhile, on the PS4 and Xbox 1 lists, the games for next year were listed...

I pointed out that that wasn't all the games that Nintendo had announced on the list but the guy wasn't listening to me. I had no idea if someone had made that list up to make Nintendo look bad on purpose or if someone just hadn't watched Nintendo's E3 and went by whatever was on the computer for Nintendo... (though it really looked like it was on purpose...).

He said he hoped they got Third parties back sooner or later. Personally, I'm so tired of people bringing this up on the internet and got a bit snippy with him. I said the Third parties were idiots. We could care less about them.

Then, the Gamestop guy went on to say, again, how bad Nintendo was doing and said that a Nintendo rep had told him...

I am trying not to laugh as I write this next part...

A Nintendo Rep told him that Nintendo was thinking about putting Old Mario games on the Sony & Microsoft systems. But they hadn't decided if they would or not...

I admit I didn't stop from laughing in the store. I laughed. Yes, I definitely laughed.

We told him Nintendo would never do that. That would be shooting themselves in the foot. He insisted, again, that a Nintendo Rep had told him this...

I moved away from the guy, heading toward the door, and I was laughing.

Any Nintendo fan can tell you that Nintendo will NOT be putting any of their games on Sony or Microsoft systems. They wouldn't even be thinking about it. I had no idea if this guy was trying to pull my leg or if he really believed what he was saying. I doubt a Nintendo rep told him that. Maybe one of the reps from the competition? (if a Nintendo rep had told him that...that Nintendo rep should be fired).

I actually think the Gamestop guy believed what he was saying...but maybe he just thought he'd have fun with the Nintendo fans...

In any case, our purchases were paid for and we left the store. When we were out the door, I turned to my dad and said "Let's NEVER go back there."

Seriously. I mean it. As a Nintendo fan, I thought I'd heard everything. I'd even heard some stuff over at the Macomb Store (like the guy who tried to tell me that Nintendo was going to announce Majora's Mask at E3....yeah...that was true...lol). But never had I run into someone so obviously Anti-Nintendo in person. On the internet, sure, you see it all the time. But in person, most of the time, people at Gamestop act like they care about Nintendo at least. (even though its obvious they don't). I always thought Gamestop was anti-Nintendo...but wow...

This guy in Galesburg kept trying to tell us untrue things left and right. Either he was the most ignorant Gamestop Employee ever OR he was just trying to mess with us because we're Nintendo fans.

I tend to think he was just ignorant. Thats what I want to believe...

Nintendo fans should avoid that store. Save yourself the headache.

Nintendo on TV

      " Like Donkey Kong?" a character asked on tonights Warehouse 13. " Ya, expect nobody plays Donk..." The first character stares at her and she doesn't finish the sentence. Yes, some people DO play Donkey Kong. Of course, the person saying that nobody does is an Xbox player. In the U.S., it can't be denied (as much as I wish I could) that Xbox is more popular than Nintendo. And Yet....I have noticed something very interesting lately....

    Three shows lately have mentioned Nintendo, not by name but by Nintendo brand names or by showing the games. Tonight Warehouse 13 showed Donkey Kong and awhile back, the TV show Resurrection showed the first Donkey Kong game. Not too long after that, Resurrection showed a kid and an adult playing the Wii U. Oh and just yesterday, the show Once Upon A Time had a kid want to go back to his room to get his Gameboy. Its very interesting to see different shows mentioning Nintendo a bit. Still, there is one thing that I don't like about the attention and thats the inaccuracy of some of the appearances.

   On Resurrection, when Donkey Kong is shown, its shown on a CELLPHONE. Let me repeat that: ON A CELLPHONE. Donkey Kong isn't available on a cellphone. Well, unless you have an Illegal Rom on a cellphone. The character that had the game on his cellphone was a Federal Agent, so I doubt he'd download an illegal rom. This appearance of Donkey Kong is NOT the first time the Kong has "appeared" on a system that in reality he doesn't belong on.

    Years ago, on the TV show Angel, the vampire Spike was playing an Xbox. You couldn't see what he was playing but you could clearly hear the sounds of the first Donkey Kong game. Yes, I realize the people who do this kind of thing are probably not gamers but there is such a thing as RESEARCH. Even tiny details for a show, like a video game appearance, should be researched. Not taking the time to make sure you know what you're talking about (when you do a TV show that reaches millions) is very lazy.

   Remember I mentioned the Gameboy earlier? The gameboy is no longer a system that is out. So having a kid want to go back to his room to get his GAMEBOY seems like a VERY dated reference. Why not his 3DS? Or even his DS? Why a gameboy? Either the people who write the show only know about the Gameboy and none of the other systems or they like Retro gaming and threw that in there. I think its very likely that the Once Upon A Time writers are not gamers and so went with the only portable gaming reference they knew. I love the show, but thats pretty lazy. Still, its very interesting to see Nintendo make a comeback to network television.

   Nintendo on a TV show is not a new thing. I was rewatching House recently and it was very cool to see him playing a Nintendo DS. He switches over to a PSP later on but yes, House M.D. starts out with Nintendo games (and we even see Metroid Prime Hunters in one episode). Also as I mentioned with Angel, using Nintendo wrong in a television show is nothing new too. It has been quite a while, for me at least, since I've seen Nintendo on a TV show. More often that not, we see Xbox mentioned on shows or the Playstation. Its nice to see Nintendo get some love (or not in Warehouse 13s case).

   Nintendo does need to get into the spotlight again with the general public. I hope we see them mentioned more on television shows (yes I WANT to see more Nintendo product placements). I also hope Nintendo decides to become more aggressive with their marketing like Sony & Microsoft is!

  Oh and lets see Nintendo back at E3. On stage! Please!

  Next time: I'll try to write a blog entry about what I hope to see at E3.

Tomodachi Life #3: Living A Mii Life

Note: the Following is based on what I know about Tomodachi Life and not what I've played of the game (cause I haven't play it yet. sigh). Sorry if I get anything wrong.


Tomodachi Life blog entry #3: Living A Mii Life

            What do Mii's do all day when we're not looking? That is basically the concept behind Tomodachi Life...well...expect we'll be watching!

           Do Mii's eat? Yes. Do they sleep? Yes and dream too. What would a Mii dream about? I know one dream had to do with being a snail. Yes, Mii's are very strange. They have strange dreams, hopes, and friendships. They can also get...MARRIED!

        Yes, you heard it here first folks (or in the Nintendo Direct first). The Mii's can get married, move in together, get divorced, and oh yeah, they can have a KID! The kid can grow up and move away from your game even (via streetpass) or move into a building where all your other Miis live.

       Thats right, all your Mii's live under one roof. A Mii apartment building where you can go room to room to check on all of them and see what they NEED. Cause these Mii's are very needy. Of course, you don't have to feed these needs, you can just let the Mii's suffer if you're a mean, soulless gamer who likes to laugh at the suffering of Miis. (I know you're out there!).  But...thats not all the Mii's do...

     The Mii's in Tomodachi can date, play mini-games with you (even go on an rpg adventure), sing, dance, visit with friends, roll around on the carpet, and...I'm sure tons of other things we haven't even seen! These characters lead very wacky lives. What do you expect though? This game was created by the WARIOWARE developers!

I wish I had more to write about here. I wish I could tell you even more about Tomodachi Life. I hope these three blog entries have helped explain the game a little. If they haven't, sorry. Check out the Direct, check out the screenshots and PLEASE check out this awesome game when it comes out on June 6th for Nintendo 3DS!

So, thats it (for now) for my Tomodachi Life coverage. If you want more, you can also check out my twitter feed @df2506, cause I retweet Tomodachi Life pics often. Till my next blog entry, take care!

   

Tomodachi Life #2: The Mii's Might Need A Shrink

 
Note: The following is based on what I know about Tomodachi Life and not based on actual experience with the game. I apologize in advance for any errors in these blog entries.

Tomodachi Life blog #2: The Mii's Might Need a Shrink

      In Tomodachi Life, each Mii that you bring to your island will have their own personality. Before you put those Miis in the game, you have to assign personality traits to each of them.

     There are five categories that help define the personality of a Mii: Energy, Speech, Facial Expressions, Mood, and Overall. Instead of a slide bar, this time you have little buttons that you push one way or another to help lean a Mii toward one trait within these categories or another. Let me get into specifics about each category as much as I can.

   Energy is defined by two traits: Slow on the left and Quick on the right. How fast does your Mii move? Is he a laid back kind of guy (slow) or is he a fitness nut (Quick) ? He can also be somewhere in the middle. Now if your Mii will actually run around a lot if you go with the quick option, I have no idea. It'll be interesting to see how much the energy trait effects the game!

   Speech does seem to have an effect on the game. The two traits here are Caring on the left and Direct on the right. I saw a video where a Mii was a little rude to the player, so I suppose that would be in the Direct category (my House Mii will so be a Direct character. lol). A caring Mii, I guess, might worry if the player is getting enough sleep? I have no idea. It'll be interesting to find out!

   Facial Expressions are a big mystery to Mii. heh. I wonder if the Mii's facial expressions will really change a lot depending on these two traits. The traits are flat on the left and varied on the right. I suppose a very flat Mii would only have one expression all the time depending on their other personality traits. And an ultra varied Mii would show you many of the Mii facial expressions. I wonder what would happen if you put those two Miis in a room...

   Mood should be a very interesting one. The two traits are serious on the left and Light on the right. Dr. House Mii, for example, wouldn't be all the way serious but he wouldn't be all the way light either. I suppose somewhere in the middle for him. I wonder if a light Mii, that is very quick, with varied expressions and a ultra caring personality would be crazy or not. I will have to find out!

   The last category is Overall. What does overall mean? Just going by the name doesn't tell you anything. The two traits don't shed too much light on the matter either though. The trait on the left is Unique and the one on the right is Normal. I know at least one of my characters is going to be extremely UNIQUE. lol. I wonder what normal means though. I'm definitely not normal....

   The customization Mii program in this game is amazing. I can't wait to give all my Miis unique personalities and let them run rampant around the island!

     Ok, thats all for this time. Next time, I'll talk about what happens when you put a bunch of Miis on the island. Lets just say...well...do Mii's dream of being real boys and girls? I'm sure we'll find out for sure when we play the game! See you soon!
 

Tomodachi Life #1: THEY TALK!

Note: the following is based on what I know about Tomodachi Life and NOT on actual experiance with the game. Anything I get wrong in these blog entries is my fault and I'm sorry in advance

Tomodachi Life blog entry #1: THEY TALK!

      We've seen Nintendo uses Mii's before in other games like Wii Sports for Wii and Wii Sports Club for Wii U. Also streetpass for 3DS uses them. That said, we have never, ever, seen Mii's TALK. Tomodachi Life promises to do just that when it comes out on June 6th.

    When you start up Tomodachi Life, you either add a Mii from Mii Maker (or a QR code) or create a new Mii to be your "look-a-like" in the game. After you have that Mii, you give the Mii a voice & a personality. You can also add up to 100 Miis in all and give each of them a voice/personality! They'll all to live on an island where they have a very crazy life (I'll cover that life in another entry).

For this first blog entry, I'll focus on the voice part of the customization.

    The Voice, I should note, is NOT a realistic voice. Instead, its more robotic in nature. You can go with a random voice, a preset voice or customize the voice completely. I really like the look of the Voice customization! You can adjust the pitch, speed, quality, tone, accent, and intonation through some slide bars! These features may vary in uniqueness depending on the region of the real world you live in. For example, depending on where you live in the world, the games accents will different.

    In the U.K. Nintendo Direct, there were very British accents on display; for the American Direct, there was American accents! The whole voice feature is pretty amazing. Oh and there's one other cool thing I should mention about the voices...
 
   The voices can SING and...you can actually change the lyrics to a song & the voice will sing that song! Yes, the voice technology of Tomodachi can read words that you write out in the game! Pretty amazing eh? You can give the Mii's catchphrases too and it looks like they'll read them aloud also.

   There are so many unique aspects of Tomodachi Life and I plan to cover as many as possible. I'm sure I forgot or don't know about some of the voice features. If I find out anything else, I'll update this blog entry.

Thats all for now. Next time I'll discuss how you can customize the personality of the Mii's. Until then, why not watch that wacky Direct again?!

Living A Tomodachi Life

      The last thing I expected on Thursday last week was the phrase " All Hail the Virtual Boy" from Nintendo. That was the very last thing. I also didn't expect the Nintendo Direct that the phrase was featured in!

      On Tuesday last week, we had a Nintendo Direct for Smash Bros. I liked it alot. I figured that was the last direct for a little while though. The next Direct would be a full one. I was wrong.

      I went on Twitter Thursday morning and heard people talking about a Direct for Tomodachi Life. I had vaguely heard of the game but it didn't look like anything I'd like. Still, I decided to check the Nintendo Direct out!

     What followed was the most insane, crazy bizarre, amazing, and HILARIOUS Nintendo Direct I had ever seen. I loved every second of it. From Bill Trinen Mii news anchor to gameplay footage showing off the Miis "life" to yes, even All Hail the Virtual Boy! Oh and of course the funny ending with Bill sleeping. There was SO many great moments in the Direct. It was my favorite Nintendo Direct EVER. There was no other direct, even the Animal Crossing direct, that was better. Also the Tomodachi Life direct sold me on the game.

     No, I wouldn't abandon Animal Crossing New Leaf for Tomodachi Life but I'm ready to add the game to my daily routine. I'm ready for a Tomodachi Life!

                                                 Is it June 6th yet?!

In my next blog entries, I will TRY to explain what is so unique about Tomodachi Life. I

think I'll start by telling you about the games Voice Feature. The blog entry will be up SOON!

Meanwhile if you haven't seen the AMAZING Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct, here's a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcmx4kC0tiU

Something About Conception 2 (the demo)

    I didn't know what to expect when I started playing the Conception 2 demo. I admit the concept of the demo made me a bit nervous. High school kids? ClassMATING? Hmmmmmm.

So, I started the demo and went through the tutorial. Okkkkk...are they talking about what I THINK their talking about?

And yet.

I kept playing.

I met with the first female student. She seemed nice enough. She liked swimming so I took her to the pool so that she could learn how to swim & fight. Then I went to meet another student. There was a misunderstanding that embrassed her (and me). Opps. Didn't mean that...

Then I checked out the Church...umm...ok. They did me mean MATING.

Er...

Okkkk. There's THAT...

Ya.

And yet.

I kept playing.

After the Church...I put my team of Star Children together and headed off to the
Labyrinth.

Ok. WOW. Love the battle system. There is so much strategy to it. You have to figure out the right place to attack, the right attacks to use, get combos, etc. Also the graphics in the Labyrinth are good and I like how the whole team wanders around with you. There are no random battles either. You see the enemies on the battle field and can sometimes avoid them. The battles start out pretty easy but it looks like there will be more challenge as you go on. The battle system is VERY good. The Labyrinth is cool.

I admit the overall concept of the game is VERY strange (and a bit
uncomfortable).But there looks to be quiete a bit of depth to the combat, battle system, leveling up, etc.

Its a VERY unique game. Am I sold on it? Not sure. I admit that I want to go back and play the demo again though.

But the church stuff...ya...

And yet...