Macgirl's Media Pick of the Week (5/30/09)

I was thrilled the other day to find Birthdayclause left me a copy of the new Wii game by EA Sports, Active, under the birthday tree.

I have been Wii Fitting for the past year, standing on the balance board, doing my hula-hooping, and stepping in an advanced manner.  One year later, and I have only maintained my existing fitness level.

Enter EA Sports Active.  Holy crap!  Active is an appropriate title for this game. It is a real workout.  The first time I played, my thighs hurt for two days!  It was quick, easy, and I felt immediate results.  The trainers are likable and do a great job representing the moves expected of you.  One mode is a 30-day challenge that adjusts the routines for you each day, allowing for various parts to recieve focused attention.  Another mode which I like is the pre-set 30 minute workout.  You can chose the intensity and length of your workout.

For a game that actually makes you break a sweat, it is enjoyable, easy to use, and the graphics are neat and relaxing. The fast pace of this game beats Wii Fit with a bat.  Expect to keep moving, and enjoy the results!

PROS:  *Fun, strenuous, lots of different challenges.

CONS:  *The rubber band can be inconvenient to balance in your hands with the Wiimote and Nunchuck.  *I really liked the fit of the leg band, but another TDL tester had difficulty keeping it in place.

Root Access Visits The Video Game Expo (VGExpo)

Saturday Jamie and I checked out the VGExpo, or Video Game Expo in Philadelphia. Try as we might, we just couldn't find the Mac gaming section. We did get to see people dressed in some cool (and some not so cool) costumes, and we met some super-young Call of Duty players. Here's our take on the event, the state of gaming, etc.:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

June Apple Fantasy Merger: Nintendo

(Each month we weigh the pros and cons of a particular potential merger for Apple. Please note the "fantasy" part of this speculation: Many times the mergers mentioned couldn't or wouldn't be realistically possible. But put all that aside and enjoy this month's edition of Fantasy Merger.)

Apple has been on a tear conquering the worlds of portable music, cell phones, and computers. There are two areas though, where Apple continues to meet resistance: The settop box (Apple TV) and gaming. This month's fantasy merger would solve both of these problems overnight: Merge/Buy Nintendo.

The Wii has been a success in large part due to the (here it comes) "think different" approach they've taken to game control. From the outside, it seems like there would be several workplace culture similarities between the two companies, more than say Apple and Sony.

Apple would immediately have a gaming hit on its hands, and a device in millions of homes (millions more than Apple TV) in which to stream TV, movies, and music.

Will it happen? As if with all these fantasy mergers, probably not. But not letting little things like company valuations, international ownership issues, and ego clashes get in the way, it looks like a great match.

Gaming: The Wii is a Lie

"It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it. So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on." - Michael Capp, President of Epic Games on the Wii

With more quotes like this beginning to show up on the web, it looks like some gamers are starting to regret their Wii purchase. Here are a few reasons I think the Wii has failed.

Ease of Use. When the Wii was first introduced gamers were told that the reason behind its unique controller was to make games easier to play. I suppose some people are intimidated by the multiple buttons present on most game controllers. Nintendo was going to make games easier to play. With the exception of a few titles such as Wii Sports, this is simply not true. The inaccuracy of the motion controls and sensor bar has often left me flailing my arms while watching my character on screen do absolutely nothing. Many games simply don't work with the current technology. Perhaps they will with Wii2. When the controls do work, they're a waggle motion that replaces what should be a button press (Mario's spin move in Mario Galaxy) leaving you wondering why you're not using a standard controller in the first place.

Innovation. We were told that the games industry had gotten boring and stale, turning out sequel after sequel. This may very well be the case, but Nintendo hasn't exactly separated itself from this trend. Instead they have released another Zelda, another Donkey Kong, another Mario Kart, Mario Baseball, Mario Soccer. When was the last time Nintendo created an original IP? Third party support isn't setting the world on fire either, unless you want to play yet another collection of mini-games.

Price. At $250 the Wii was considerably cheaper than the $400 Xbox360 and $600 PS3 at launch. But is it really that much cheaper when you start considering what you get for your dollar. You are basically getting a $40 GameCube with a bluetooth remote and wifi. The majority of the software looks equal to or worse than what was previously available on the 2001 released GameCube. When you start adding in the cost of additional Wiimotes and Nunchuck controllers you are approaching next gen price ranges without getting the benefit of high definition graphics or movie playback.

So what does all this mean? Nothing really. The Wii will continue to out sell everything and the media will continue telling you how cool the Wii is. But remember what we learned from watching American Idol. Just because something is popular, doesn't mean it's any good.

Gaming: Hey Nintendo it's not 2001 anymore!

As a Mac user, I do all of my video gaming on consoles. Currently both a Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii reside in my game room, but lately only one seems to be getting much love.

Am I the only one feeling cheated and ripped off by the Wii? Nintendo promised innovation, but instead have been repackaging the same tired franchises since the N64 days. How many times will they remake Zelda? How many Mario Strikers or Mario Baseballs do we need? How can they charge $50 for Mario Kart Wii, when it's the same game they released in 2001?

Next week TDL will take a look at some of the disappointments of the Wii. In the meanwhile have a look at this comparison video of Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart Gamecube. Can you spot the differences?