hands-on
December 10th, 2009 at 08:45pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
When the holidays roll around, the gamers who buy everything they want throughout the year might find themselves stymied asked for a wish list. Today, we put the Nyko Charge Base IC through its paces, and it looks like a great way to pad your list to Santa. The Wiimote charger uses induction, which not only alleviates the need to plug everything in, but — as you’ll see in the above video — also looks really slick.
Also, to help justify this video’s existence, we teach you how to make butter cookies.
Nyko Charge Base IC Hands-on/Butter Cookie Tutorial originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: charge-base-ic, hands-on, nyko, peripherals, Wii / Nintendo, wiimote
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Nyko Charge Base IC Hands-on/Butter Cookie Tutorial
November 20th, 2009 at 06:30pm
Under DS
Having not played Renegade Kid’s first survival/horror-FPS on the Nintendo DS back in 2007, Dementium: The Ward, I had few expectations going into my recent hands-on with the game’s sequel, the aptly titled Dementium 2. I knew that the first game enjoyed critical acclaim for more than adequately bringing survival/horror tropes to Nintendo’s handheld, and ultimately scored pretty well with reviewers, but ever since Metroid Prime Hunters I’ve been wary of first-person mechanics on the DS.
Thankfully, when first faced with manipulating Dementium 2’s main character, it became quickly obvious that the game’s slow pace helps to account for any discomfort issues that might arise from the control scheme. Over the course of 45 minutes, I put together puzzles, traveled between two dimensions multiple times, and even fought a boss who tried to throw up on me from the ceiling (what a jerk!). Though its content and storytelling seems to be a carefully crafted amalgam of games from the three or so genres it mashes up (fps, adventure, survival/horror) – a handheld Half-Life meets Silent Hill on Monkey Island, almost – the time I spent with a preview build of Dementium 2 earlier today felt like the beginning of what could be a very interesting game.
Continue reading Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS)
Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS) originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: dementium, dementium-2, fps, hands-on, horror, renegade-kid, southpeak, survival, survival-horror
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: Dementium 2 (DS)
September 24th, 2009 at 02:00pm
Under DS
Is it a Zelda clone? Yes. Is that a bad thing? We don’t think so. EA Japan’s Tsumuji will seem instantly familiar to anyone who have played any of the “Celda” games on DS/Gamecube. The art is not just reminiscent of Nintendo’s classic: the main character looks nearly the same! (Granted, he wears a red tunic, not a green one.)
The story begins with generic JRPG convention #1: our hero wakes up in a small remote village. Inexplicably, the game wants you to throw a rock at your mom’s precious china. It’s easy, too. Just simply tap on a faraway item to throw a rock at it. None to pleased about losing a valuable treasure, your mom punishes you by giving you money to buy a delicious meat dinner (seriously). Your character takes the money and lifts it in the air in a motion that should be familiar to most Nintendo fans.
Beyond the presentation, most of the gameplay will also be more-than-reminiscent of the DS Zelda games. Your character is controlled entirely through the stylus: simply drag the stylus to where you want your character to go and click on people/items you want to interact with.
Continue reading TGS 2009: Hands-on: Tsumuji
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Tsumuji originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: ea-japan, hands-on, tgs-2009, tsumuji
By Mister-X
Continue Reading TGS 2009: Hands-on: Tsumuji
September 14th, 2009 at 07:00pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
As anyone who’s ever seen me tickle the colorful neck of a Guitar Hero guitar or keep impeccable time upon a Rock Band drum kit will attest, I’ve got a knack for rhythm games. I’ve never placed my hands on a peripheral that I wasn’t immediately able to mentally deconstruct and use to its fullest rockin’ potential [I'm only allowing this catastrophic failure of modesty because it's true. - Ed].
My first few minutes with the Xbox 360 version of DJ Hero, however, initially left me flummoxed. That’s not to say the turntable peripheral therein is poorly designed or difficult to use. No, my inability to pick up and expertly play Activision’s newest bundle of musical joy is due to the fact that for the average rhythm genre veteran, DJ Hero is a horse of an entirely different color.
Continue reading Hands-on: DJ Hero
Hands-on: DJ Hero originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: activision, demo, dj, dj-hero, freestylegames, hands-on, rhythm, turntable, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: DJ Hero
September 9th, 2009 at 10:15am
Under Xbox 360
Hi. I’m Joystiq writer Griffin McElroy, and those are my feet. They’re attached to my shins, which attach to a long sequence of other appendages which stop at my brain — which at the very moment this image was taken, was likely in a confused, panicked state. It’s a reflex reaction I usually turn to when placed before an alien video game peripheral, although in most cases, it quickly subsides, and is replaced with a steely determination to figure out how it works.
By the time I’d reached the end of my brief hands-on session with Tony Hawk Ride, I had only just begun to deconstruct the hardware’s machinations, and started determining how to deftly manipulate it in order to do sweet tricks. I was making progress in this endeavor when the demo came to a halt, but I’m still not sure my mind had completely wrapped around how I was supposed to manipulate the device. Is that indicative of the peripheral’s weakness? No, I think it can be entirely chalked up to the fact that skateboarders move in mysterious ways.
Continue reading Hands-on: Tony Hawk Ride
Hands-on: Tony Hawk Ride originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: activision, hands-on, neversoft, pax, pax-2009, robomodo, tony-hawk, tony-hawk-ride
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: Tony Hawk Ride
September 8th, 2009 at 10:30am
Under Xbox 360
There’s a part of me that likes examining games’ sub-superficial levels — the lingering inspiration behind the art, gameplay, story and all the rest of its aggregate components. Behemoth’s Game 3 is difficult to dismantle in this manner, largely due to the fact that, even when compared to past entries in Behemoth’s bizarre repertoire — it’s an unabashed labor of madness.
It could also be due to the fact that the speed at which I was forced to play the Game 3 PAX demo could best be described as blistering. Still, it didn’t take much time to get what the game’s core components are all about: Frantic multiplayer platforming action, the likes of which you haven’t seen since Super Mario Bros. 3.
Continue reading Hands-on: The Behemoth’s ‘Game 3′
Hands-on: The Behemoth’s ‘Game 3′ originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: game-3, hands-on, original, pax, pax-2009, platforming, the-behemoth
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: The Behemoth’s ‘Game 3′
July 13th, 2009 at 10:30pm
Under Xbox 360
When Valve showed off
Left 4 Dead 2 at a European press event in London recently, we were anxious to see more of the game’s new features. Things that would elevate it above its predecessor. Those were sadly few and far between, but the two levels — which conclude the New Orleans campaign
shown off at E3 — added a unfamiliar twist to the zombie shooting action we’d been enjoying so much at the end of last year.
Apparently one of the reasons why L4D2 is a sequel is due to the engine upgrades. In particular — zombies now fall to pieces. Whether this is worth upgrading the content from a $20 level pack to a $60 boxed copy is down to personal preference, but being able to remove limbs and watch a zombie’s rib cage emerge as you shred the flesh from its chest definitely adds a little something extra to the experience. Having said that, when you’re in the thick of a mini-finale, surrounded by the undead, the last thing you’ll be doing is examining these sorts of details.
As we said during E3, the game plays identically to original. There isn’t even a particularly noticeable graphics upgrade, if you ignore the dismemberment improvements. Is that a bad thing? Of course not. A bad game is a bad thing. This is just a good game, made again. With new characters, levels and some new features — such as melee weapons and special infected.
Continue reading Hands-on: Left 4 Dead 2
Hands-on: Left 4 Dead 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: hands-on, l4d2, left-4-dead-2, valve
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: Left 4 Dead 2
June 4th, 2009 at 05:50pm
Under PSP
We got some hands-on time with an untethered PSP Go. So, unlike our one-hand-on with the system, this time we actually got to open and close it to our heart’s content. The system definitely feels light, but solid. The opening and closing function is totally smooth, and we joked that the company should set up an IKEA-style live feed of it opening and closing until it snaps. Anyway, the video compares the Go’s size (closed) to the iPhone and the standard PSP.
Hands-on: Flippin’ out the PSP Go originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: hands-on, psp-go, sony
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: Flippin’ out the PSP Go
June 4th, 2009 at 12:00pm
Under PSP
It’s a rare thing for a portable game to best its console predecessor, but that’s what might be happening in MotorStorm: Arctic Edge. BigBig, the team behind the cult PSP Pursuit Force games, know how to work the handheld and they’ve crafted an experience that handles far better than the console games. MotorStorm is known for its visceral races, but the juxtaposition of more “sim-like” controls in such an arcadey game didn’t jive with us fully. Arctic Edge adopts the game a bit, by tweaking the controls to be a bit more responsive.
The end result is a game that’s a bit more accessible, but no less fun and intense. Obviously, the PSP isn’t capable of producing the visuals of a PS3, but BigBig has developed a brand new engine for Arctic Edge and it shows. This new generation engine far surpasses the last Pursuit Force game, by throwing an impressive amount of particles in fast, detailed levels. The animation on the vehicles is particularly terrific as each of the wheels respond to the various bumps on the ground.
While the controls are slightly tweaked, the overall gameplay should remain largely familiar to those that have played the previous two games. Once again, players will want to effectively manage boost and navigate a dynamic branching race course. Racing against a multitude of vehicle types is one of the highlights of the console games, and we’re glad to see BigBig has expanded the garage with two new vehicles: the Snow Cat and the Snow Plow. Those of you that like the Monster Truck will get a blast out of this. The monstrous vehicle races at a surprising speed, and it’s quite the intimidating vehicle to race against.
Continue reading Hands-on: MotorStorm Arctic Edge (PSP)
Hands-on: MotorStorm Arctic Edge (PSP) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: bigbig, hands-on, motorstorm, motorstorm-arctic-edge
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Hands-on: MotorStorm Arctic Edge (PSP)
