So is Boohbah for kids or stoners?

That website kept me fascinated for ages anyway, but I once sat in front of my computer listening to the hi-score music from Rodland for 2 hours, so what do I know?

The inner Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer nerd in me has come alive again, as I’m putting hours into Final Fantasy X and Sam and I have just started adventuring in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance on the Xbox. The latter title has also reminded me how much fun co-operative play is, even when one party member is at a certain age where they want to give up immediately. He didn’t even want to play it at all initially, but a couple of things caught his attention.

_{This actually led to a later comment: “Dad, big boobs are just a fact of life!” That’s my boy.}

Okay, so I look at a lot of strange Japanese websites. I think I’ve seen just about everything, but I’m constantly wrong about that.

I give you Muscle Factory, where you can see all your favorite videogame and other characters. With really big muscles.

Hmm, which to go for? Taiko no Tatsujin or Donkey Konga?

To the beat of the drum.

So how’s about that Nintendo DS, eh?

My first response? *VIRTUAL BOY’D*

I’d be interested in finding out how the two processors work together. Is a developer forced to use one CPU per screen, or could they essentially do nothing on one screen and utilize both processors for a single screen? Would a game that did that even get by Nintendo’s approval for release?

Thinking about it more, I’ve warmed to the idea. Like their press release mentions, RPGs where you could have a map visible at all times instead of having to go to a different screen would be great. A survival game where you could actually see from your stalker’s POV at the same time would be interesting. Pokemon with full screen graphics for each monster during battles would be yummy. Pinball with multiple parts of the table visible at once. Puzzle games that have you working on 2 screens at once have been done before, and they’d be a natural for a system like this. Any game that has a sidekick could work where they’d be always available on screen 2, offering advice (or criticising you). A “Simon Says” dance game.

Hmmm.

I predict YOU’RE WINNER will be the new internet fad phrase.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I thought.

Gentle reader, I put it to you that Nintendo is not the most family-friendly company in the world of games.

“Dude, you’re insane!” I hear you say (thereby proving that I am, in fact, insane, because obviously I can’t really hear you), but think about it..

Nintendo has several kid-friendly franchises, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pokemon, etc. But it’s not the content of the games that I’m looking at, it’s their marketing strategies.

First off, let’s look at their pricing. The Gamecube is the cheapest of the Big Three, but the system is nothing without games, and this is where the problems start. I would venture that most families have a budget when it comes to toys and games, and if you’re anything like me, you were very happy when the console guys came out with their value-priced re-release lines. For the Xbox, it’s Platinum Hits, for PS/PS2 it’s Greatest Hits, and for Gamecube, it’s the Player’s Choice line. Right away, you’ll see that Nintendo has far fewer titles on the list, but then you find out that while the top titles for the PS2 and Xbox usually retail for $19.99, the top Player’s Choice games will run you $29.99. When some new games are now debuting for $39.99, $29.99 is just too much for 18 month old games.
Sony is the clear winner here, with games such as Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, and Final Fantasy X all going for twenty bucks. The other thing is that Nintendo really drags their feet when it comes to adding games to the Player’s Choice lineup in the first place. This would explain why they only have 12 games on that list, compared to Microsoft’s 36, even though the two systems had virtually simultaneous US releases.

Then there’s the tiny memory cards. You’ll have bought a few of the $14.99 originals if you’ve had the GC a while and played a lot of different games, because the capacity was ridiculously small.

This is just the Gamecube. On the older N64, it was common to see new release games at $59.99 when competitor Sony was releasing new Playstation games for $49.99. On the GBA, new releases are $29.99 - and while there are some fantastic games out there for the GBA, is that price really justified when compared to the Big Three console games?

And speaking of the GBA.. Nintendo scores a lot of points here for backwards compatibility, for sure, just as Sony does for PS2 supporting PS games. But Nintendo’s on a new “synergistic” kick - lots of Gamecube games have extra features that can only be accessed via a GBA, a copy of a GBA game, and a link cable. Some games (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Pac-Man Vs, and the next Zelda) can only be practically played with several GBAs hooked up to the Gamecube. So for a complete experience, your $99 Gamecube needs at least one additional $99 GBA SP (because let’s face it, who wants to buy an original GBA that can only be played well in direct light? Unless you spend even more money on special lighting accessories..) and $13 link cables. Plus for each synched game, a $50 GC disc and a $30 GBA cartridge. These are not things billed as extra bonus features, as with DVDs, these features are now being pushed as essential gameplay elements.

You could say this reaches its height with Animal Crossing. It’s a game about collecting, so generally the people who like this game are going to want to collect everything. To do this without cheating requires a GBA to get to the extra island, the necessary link cable, an extra memory card to have another town (some things can only be found in other towns), an e-Reader device for the GBA, and however many packets of e-Reader cards (at 4 bucks a pop) it takes to collect all the cards in each set. Now that’s impressive marketing tactics. You don’t think you or your child would think about what you’re missing out on? ‘Fraid not, as the game will regularly remind you that you’re not getting the most out of it without the GBA and e-Reader.

Of course, I accept the argument that this is just a bonus for people who already have GBA systems. I just don’t believe that the majority of Gamecube owners also have GBAs already, and if that’s the case, they are being pushed to invest more and more in Nintendo products.

Then we have Pokemon, the game that really pushed CCGs to kids. The marketing guy who came up with the English tagline “Gotta catch ‘em all” is quite simply an evil genius. Want all the monsters in the GB games? Well you can’t do it with just one cartridge, you have to buy both versions. I suppose the idea is that you trade with friends, but that’s not always going to happen. As for the CCG itself, well, as the parent of a Yu-Gi-Oh! collector, I can tell you for certain that trading between friends does not always go smoothly. (I don’t feel I’m doing anything wrong by including the CCG in my criticism of Nintendo, as I believe they are now the sole distributor of the game)

Am I just cheap? Well yes, I suppose I can be cheap at times. But I’m prepared to spend money on what is essentially an expensive hobby. What I’m objecting to is the fact that Nintendo products are marketed heavily to kids in ways that require more and more additional purchases.

Nintendo makes some fantastic, pure games that the whole family can enjoy. You just better have deep pockets, and most families I know don’t.

So right now, I pick Sony and the Playstation 2 as the most family-friendly platform. Plenty of quality games at a low price point (and don’t forget all the compatible Playstation games) without the Nintendo “gotta catch ‘em all” attitude. I expect this to change with the release of Sony’s PSP portable system, but with their existing Greatest Hits line, I’m confident that Sony will still provide the best value for money.

Alright, fine, so Movable Type has shamed me into posting by moving the last post off the page and leaving me with a big empty space.

I just haven’t felt like posting anything, you know? While it’s good to have an outlet, you also reach a stage where you can’t be bothered thinking of something to write when you know the only person reading it is your spouse, and you could just, you know, tell her what you’re thinking and save the bandwidth.

And besides, I’ve got better things to do. I’m keeping busy with both real work and working on the game, and in my downtime I’m playing lots and lots of videogames.

So I think I might just stop the weblog, or move it somewhere else.. hmmm. We’ll see.