Search Results for Category: Consoles

The details of Sony’s Playstation successor has hit the airwaves and while they are answering a lot of questions – they are neatly tiptoeing around far more.  In this article, we’ll look at what we know and discuss the good, the bad and fugly for each one.  Note: This information is accurate at the time of writing and may not represent future information.  There are no assets due to the timely nature of the content. Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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I had an epiphany today which compelled me to write this article. Many people have questioned Nintendo’s decisions – both in the past (with the Wii) and currently with the Wii U. We know how it turned out for the Wii (best selling console, printing money, etc.) – and most people have finally gotten a hold of the reasoning behind the original Wii; don’t compete in an existing market – create a new one. You can’t argue with the facts – the Wii did what it was supposed to do (and made Nintendo a mint in the process). It didn’t gain market supremacy by taking users away from Microsoft and Sony – it created a new market of soccer moms and accountants who bought up Wii Sports, Wii Fit and other “common consumer” gaming products. Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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As someone fortunate enough to be enjoying my Wii U on launch day, I feel it is my responsibility to tender my experience here for my fellow Review Lagooners since I know a lot of people are taking a “wait and see” approach to Nintendo’s new console.

Therefore, I’ll take a very quick look at the entire system and give you some initial feedback – hopefully enough that will help the “swing gamers” to decide whether they want to track one down before the holidays hit (believe me, these things will be NOWHERE to be found in a couple of days) or wait until the crazy shopping season is over. Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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As the Wii ends its incredibly successful tenure as the best selling console, we have been throwing lists of great games you’ve never played.

Now? Ten great “guilty pleasure” games on the Wii. What is a “guilty pleasure”? Well, it is either a game that is just SO BAD that it’s good – or it is a game you would hate to admit to your friends and family that you actually play and enjoy.

So, here you are – my personal top ten “guilty pleasure” moments in Wii gaming history. They get more cheesy and shameful as the list counts down. Enjoy! Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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By:  Alex J. Lopez,  alexjlopezmw@twitter, alexjlopezwmr@googleplus

It’s hard to dispute that E3’s 2012 show pretty much belongs to Nintendo.  Riding high on the sudden interest in 3DS adoption (driven mainly by a big price cut and some key game releases), Nintendo averted going into E3 this year with the task of introducing a new system in the shadow of a recently failed one.  Gamers have at least gone from indifferent about the brand to lukewarm or better, which is a start.  Nintendo made some big promises at last year’s expo about better addressing the core audience and partnering with third party game makers to fix some of the shortcomings of the Wii generation, and E3 2012 will be their first opportunity to provide tangible proof of those changes.  Showing how they’ll deliver on those promises will drive gamer and  games media reception of this year’s show, though we’ve all learned that won’t necessarily dictate success one way or another.  Nintendo could very well decide to stick with their quest to provide game experiences everyone can enjoy without catering to the needs of any niche group.  For those who actively follow the games industry, most of us will likely feel that’s a mistake–primarily because it means less emphasis on our own niche group.  But Nintendo has always found a way to find success where none of us suspected or even guessed it could be had, and surprises are what makes Nintendo, well…Nintendo. Read more

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Keeping with a tradition I’ve had of writing an end-of-year article on what to expect from Wii in the coming year, I have to admit that I considered not writing this at all.  That’s the kind of year Nintendo has had across the board, with a last minute surge of top-shelf Mario and Zelda releases saving the year from being completely unremarkable.  Indeed, had The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword not made its November release date, 2011 would have been a complete wash for the Wii.  And for most, even that stellar release is not enough to change what can only be described as a complete fall from grace for a system that was once the hottest console this generation. Read more

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As a follow-up to Shane’s great article “The Ten Greatest Wii Games You Never Played” here, I thought I’d add my own list of ten fantastic Wii games that somehow didn’t light up the sales charts.

As with Shane’s article, my hope is that this list will help you discover some of the more obscure, but excellent games available for the platform that are worthy of your attention. The games are listed in no particular order.
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The genie is out of the bottle … along with bringing the Nintendo console up to (and possibly exceeding) current generation gaming specs with HD 1080p graphics and a robust online service (eluded by Big Reggie himself) – we have another new disrupter;  the personal screen on the Wii U controller.

When I first heard the rumors about a 6″ screen being on the console controller, I had horrible flashbacks to VMU days and promises of Sony PSPs being used as rear-view mirrors.

After coming down from the my E3 high, I have decided that the personal screen is the greatest addon for a game console possible – completely trumping Nintendo’s previous disruption of motion controls.  But why? Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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Go to Part 3

In this multi-part article on Digital Distribution, we will explore various aspects of the digital distribution model along with successes, failures and speculate on the future of this model based on current and past trends. This series will be primarily aimed at video gaming and media such as film and television.

In our last article, we compared and contrasted the promised delivery of Digital Distribution and why they just don’t pass the test. In this final article, we will take a look at some of the success stories of current day Digital Distribution and discuss the future. Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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Go to Part 2

In this multi-part article on Digital Distribution, we will explore various aspects of the digital distribution model along with successes, failures and speculate on the future of this model based on current and past trends. This series will be primarily aimed at video gaming and media such as film and television.

In our last article, we discussed all the Good Things(tm) that Digital Distribution promises; both to consumers as well as Content Providers. Now we need a reality check on these points.

Content Providers believe Digital Distribution will provide them with several things; absolute control, anti-piracy measures, after-market resales, price/flow control and reduction in costs.

Absolute control requires complete anti-piracy measures and this simply isn’t possible. So, let’s look at that first. Read more

About Shane Monroe

Shane R. Monroe has been doing technical and social commentary writing for over 20 years. Google+

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