Gadzooki

Nintendo announces massive Autumn/Winter software collection

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nintendo-logo

Whether you’re a Wii fanatic or prefer pocket-sized fun with the DS, you’re likely to find something worth getting excited about as Nintendo today announces its Autumn/Winter collection of games and other software titles, hitting stores from tomorrow, through Christmas and into the new year.

First up, Wii Fit Plus will hit European stores at the end of October, offering a range of new exercise features including personalised yoga and strength training routines, lifestyle routines, calorimeter, and a range of new training regimes.

On 20th November, Super Mario Bros arrives on Wii, featuring a fully-fledged adventure that up to four people can play simultaneously.

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Top Ten Reasons Why Animal Crossing Is Better Than a Real Village

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I was thinking of how Animal Crossing gives you access to a persistent offline world to explore, but without any real people to interact with. In my opinion, there’s a good few reasons why you should play offline as well as online; and there are even occasions when it’s better to play on your own. So, lets take a look at these ten reasons why you should consider offline play, with an emphasis on Animal Crossing:

1. In your own AC village there is no bad language, nor racism or other stupidity.
2. There is far greater world control – this includes control over your house, your environment and of course what goes on when you’re not there. In the case of Animal Crossing things do develop and change, but that’s part of the experience and it is still fundamentally the same.
3. No noobs or experienced players – only you at your own level.
4. No stealing, hacking attacking or otherwise Pking during play. What happens is really in your control, and that’s the appeal.
5. The village can be developed as you like, and noone will disturb it – except that XXX Tom Nook!
6. We all have our ‘quirks’ – in your online village there isn’t anyone to see them unless you allow them into your space. Watch that they don’t steal anything though!
7. If you’re a girl, you can play without being harassed to death by teenage males giving you a/s/l every five minutes.
8. Peace is a rarity with online play, what with random texts of people selling things, voice chat and people saying rather odd things. In your own village of collections and cleaning up, you have full peace.
9. After reading this, would you really want to open your game to this?
10. You have your objectives – no one will hinder – or help. The will have will mould to you. 1up.com has a brilliant feature on it.

Overall, the level of control you have with your own village in Animal Crossing makes it something that you really should not miss if you have a DS and Nintendo would be stupid not to bring it to the Wii. Enjoy!

How To Save $1000 Per Video Game System

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Some of the readers of Gadzooki are probably a young as I once was. In other words, some of the readers of Gadzooki are yunguns.

I’m only in my 20’s now, but really, I’ve gained some wisdom…especially when it comes to handling the excitement of a new video game system like the Wii or PS3 or Xbox360.

I used to be just like you. I used to line up at midnight on the night of release, waiting hours to buy the brand new system. I just couldn’t wait. I salivated for months (nah, years!) reading daily about all the rumors about the upcoming system. And then bang. The minute it was available, I bought it. Just like you.

But over the years I’ve become a video game veteran. And I’ve realized something important about the video game cycle. The key is to realize that the cycle depends on YOU. That’s right. And when you realize that you can create your very own video game cycle, you’ll have found that you can save over $1000 per system generation.

Here’s how to do it. You ready? You think you can handle the truth?

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Nintendo in Flux – and the GameCube Top Five

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No doubt this will seem controversial to many of you but I think Nintendo are in a state of flux. No longer the driving force behind video games, but instead an aging giant – and certainly not aging gracefully. After the defeat of all home consoles to the might of the Playstation Nintendo haven’t really seemed to recover. Don’t get me wrong, I can see the magic in the Nintendo DS (see my articles here) – as can many others – but in the arena of the home console they are lost.

To demonstrate this, just look at the GameCube. Not only am I not able to buy games for it in many stores now, but the third party support has been almost completely lacking from the system – which is a shame as the controller was ok and the GC did have a lot to offer. It had a lovely form factor to boot! Anyway, we’ve now seen most of the big releases that would have allowed it to end with a bang being cancelled – at least for the shores of UK. This is a mighty shame, as I had my GC long before I had my Xbox (I never did get a PS2).

Of course, we have the Wii coming very soon. Nintendo probably, and Quimby reckons it might well be this date. I hope they are right. Xbox 360 has a decent user base (and even more so then) and of course the PS3 will be making a big splash. Whilst it has a big price tag, I can’t imagine the behemoth that is Sony getting the formula too wrong. I like the Wii, and I like the innovation it demonstrates. However, I’m concerned that it’s moving a little too far away. Nonetheless, I wait rather excitedly for more developments.
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Regardless, to demonstrate my fondness of my black cube of Nintendo-loveliness I decided to give you all my top five GameCube games. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other gems out there – but don’t expect to be able to pick them up too cheap. I don’t know why but games (at least here in the UK) for the system are becoming increasingly rare. I guess I’ll have to go online for those I don’t yet have. Anyway, without further ado, please see my top five Nintendo GameCube games:

Animal Crossing

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Animal Crossing first appeared on the N64 many years ago. It was fun then, but the GC version takes it to a new level. Esentially the game is a bit of a life/community sim, with a collection element. You come to a new town (with animal neighbours), and you get to pay off your mortgage, sell and swap items, put stuff in your house and much more. It’s satisfying on a very basic level – and even offers Nintendo games to play! The greatest thing is that it has a universal appeal, and even if we in the UK waited for years and years to get it, it still hits the spot every time. 9/10. [Read more…]

Top 10 Gadgets I Actually Use

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I know. I know. This is a gadget site. We’re supposed to be all about the wanting, the salivating, the dreaming…

But I thought it would be fun to step out of fantasy land for a second and consider the top 10 gadgets that I actually use on a daily and/or weekly basis. Maybe this will give you a glimpse into the inner depths of my life…or maybe not.

1. My Old School Nokia Cell Phone

What can I say. I’ve got a RAZR, but that’s mostly for fun. When it comes to the daily grind, I still find myself preferring the simple, big-buttoned, hard to lose, big bodied Nokia from three years ago to the sleek, thin pretty flip-phones of today. Maybe that makes me uncool. But in this post, I’m all about telling it as it is. 4 hours a day with this baby.

2. My 2 Year Old Gateway Laptop

Sure, I can’t play Pirates or Empire Earth 2 on it, but I spend at least six hours a day on this sucker. Type, type, typing away. It does plays Empire Earth 1 though! And it does some mean web browsing, email checking and word processing. Hey, I use it and that’s all that matters in this post.

3. My Old School Nintendo DS

Well, it isn’t really old-old. But it isn’t the new Lite either. Big and bulky, I play Mario Kart or Advanced Wars every night as a bedtime story.

4. The five year old AC in my window

This summer has been hot, and a day doesn’t go by without churning on the ol’ window AC. Hey, my wife wanted “and old house with character” and that’s what we got: a house with lots of demands. Ever wonder why the men always say they want the newer homes on all those home shopping shows on HGTV (look, my wife makes me watch it!)

5. The Good Ol’ Coffee Pot

Eight cups a day for three years and still chugging. Simple yet effective. I just wish they’d make it fool proof for those times when I forget to slide the pot under the filter and the coffee runs all over the counter.

6. The Hyundai Tucson

Sure, I’d love the electric Tesla or a hybrid or a Ford Mustang, but for $17,000 I just bought a brand new Hyundai Tucson that’s actually fun to drive and has plenty of room for hauling. I just wish I could find some places on the East Coast to do some mild off-roading. Every time I get in this sucker I want to drive up on the curbs.

7. The Trusty Toaster Over

Hey, I’m no cook. But I also don’t like my stuff soggy. So instead of the microwave, I usually throw my food into the Toaster Oven to get a quick but golden brown meal. (I like my marshmallows burnt!)

8. My Dell Axim x50

He’s getting old, but when I’m on the road, my Dell Axim gives me the flexibility I need to track down free WiFi…and that’s all that matters, right? It’s like a treasure hunt, and once I’ve found free WiFi, my heart skips a couple beats before I fetch the laptop and hunker down for an internet feast.

9. My 8th grade Texas Instruments TI-81

Want to figure out how old I am? Figure out which year the TI-81 first came out, then figure that I was in 8th grade at the time. You know what. This calculator has balls of endurance. It graphs, it charts, it makes entering calculations a breeze (you can screw up and edit your numbers without having to type everything else in again). Hey, I’m still using it almost everyday, 15 years later with the original batteries (kudos to Duracell too).

10. My $35 DVD player that we bought on a whim for our bedroom

Now that my wife and I do Blockbuster through the mail, we have a steady stream of DVDs flying to our house each week. The DVD player which was sort of bought for “emergency” cases of boredom, has turned into a nightly event. Ali G, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and all the movies you can shake your fist at (though many of them turn out to be duds, like last nights movie…which I hated…Flightplan).

Daily Review in Tech

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The coolest cool things in tech:

We think they’re jumping the gun a bit, but Newsweek is running a story on how Nintendo is primed for a comeback with the Wii. Their main argument of course boils down to the e3 response coupled with an attractive price point. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of video games, there is more evidence that gaming is good for children. Told you so mom!

Hey, good news for all you WiFi anywhere freaks. M2Z Networks, fronted by former FCC official John Muleta, is looking to provide free WiFi across the USA. Ad supported of course. Now the fun will be seeing who can win the race and roll out free WiFi first. My bet is on Google…. Speaking of WiFi, looks like the geeks at IEEE can’t make their minds up about Wireless N standards. Sure, we’ve got the N draft models coming out already from Linksys, et al. But true Mimo Meshing will need to wait a while.

So, can’t make up your mind between Mac, Linux and MSoft? Why not buy a MacBook and use all three. While you’re at the software modifications game, why not try your hand at some DS Lite Brew. MmmmmMmmmmGooood!

Update: TechCrunch has an informative write-up on our current options for downloading TV shows off the internet. Neil Kjeldsen covers the current offerings from the major networks, the major platforms (iTunes, etc.) and the possible contenders. He also offers some speculation on how overlooked shows might benefit from internet distribution.