Twitch Plays Pokémon: Not Done Yet!!

Twitch Plays Pokémon recently finished playing Pokémon X – the most recently released game in the Pokémon franchise. With viewers that hardly got above a thousand completing the game, there was a small surge of viewership as people came to see what would happen now that the last game had been played. What they were met with was the text displaying the promise of game play for Pokémon Omega Ruby in about 100 days and for Pokémon Red to begin a handful of days after that. Personally, I believe that they should go with Pokémon Blue to mix things up but that’s just me.

If you haven’t heard, the Twitch Plays Pokémon phenomenon is a Twitch.tv stream channel that shows the process of a Pokémon emulator that is rigged to accept button commands from the channels Twich’s chat window. Effectively, this means that anyone watching was in fact playing the game and had a (rather small) amount of control. What started out as a small experiment, exploded into a massive sensation.

This Is AWESOME!

The chat controls the emulator of the game up through Pokémon Black 2 (with the more newer games featuring a considerable slow down due to how difficult it is to extract ROMs of modern games). Since no functional ROM for Pokémon X had been generated, the game was played on the 3DS – a heavily modified 3DS for that matter. A very impressive feat! Each game takes roughly 2 weeks to complete and there have been some intermission with other games between Pokémon titles.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, enhanced remakes of Ruby and Sapphire from Pokémon’s 3^rd generation on the GameBoy Advance, will hit stores November 21, 2014, more than 10 years since their original release. In the mean time, Twitch Plays Pokémon seems like it will be continuing to stream random CPU battles from Pokémon Stadium 2 where views can “Bet” on which team will win.

While I’m sure many people have lost interest in watching and participating in TPP, it’s interesting to see that the journey has not ended. How long will this channel last? Who knows? It’s been over 5 months in the making and I’m sure it will make it to its anniversary. 

Online Services Ending for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS

Nintendo has announced that the company will be discontinuing the online services that it provides for Nintendo Wii and DS systems. As of May 20, 2014, online features requiring Nintendo Wi-Fi connection services will no longer be operational. This includes online mulitplayer, leader boards, and downloadable games and DLC.

The Nintendo DS and Wii were released in 2004 and 2006 respectively meaning that online support for these devices has spanned nearly a decade. And although many gamers will be sad to see the functionality go, Nintendo will be able to relocate these servers and resources to support the online features of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as the 8th generation moves forward.

With Mario Kart 8 launching May 20, two days after the closure, it looks like Nintendo is prepared to bring all of its resources to support the first major wave of online Nintendo multiplayer titles for the Wii U. Mario Kart 8 will be followed by the new Super Smash Bros. and other games with large online multiplayer potential.

Affected games have been listed on the Nintendo site and will include titles such as Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, DS Pokémon titles, and virtually every other multiplayer game featuring online play. It is worth noting that the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop Channel will still be tentatively functional after that date. Nintendo also released its statement outlining the change:

"Only online features for games using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service are impacted. Other online functionality on Wii and Nintendo DS, such as access to the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop and video-on-demand services, are not affected at this time. Online play for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games will be unaffected (aside from the Wii mode on Wii U and Nintendo DS games played on Nintendo 3DS family systems)." -Statement from Nintendo

8 to 10 years is a good run for a company's first online system. XBox Live for the original console was support from 2002 until 2010, while noting that many low-key 3rd party tiles had scrapped support earlier in its life time.

Can I speak Japanese.....?

The answer is no. But, I don't need a translator to tell me what I need to be looking forward to in the upcoming Pokémon Black and White Version 2! I'll be doing a full preview shortly, but here's one of the trailers that I'll be referring to as a sneak peak:

Stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled for more Pokémon updates!

Review: New Super Mario Bros.

After Super Mario Bros. 3 was released, it seemed that the "Super Mario Bros." Series was finished. "Super Mario World" played much the same way, but it was the last major side-scrolling Mario playformer. Although ports and remakes of these games were made, it wasn't until 15 years after SMB3 was released that "New Super Mario Bros." for the Nintendo DS continued the official “Super Mario Bros.” series.

NSMB hit the shelves on May 15, 2006 and it was a popular sale. The revival of the "Super Mario Bros." series has attracted tons of retro gamers as well as gamer of the modern age.

Overview

New Super Mario Bros. breathes life into the long neglected Mario sidescrolling world. The game returns to its roots with the return to retro mechanics such as an 8 world adventure, boss fights half way and at the end of each world, blocks to hit, Goombas to stomp on, and most importantly power-ups to collect. Per usual, Bowser has kidnapped the princess and it’s up to Mario to save her.

Breaking News: Pokemon Black and White...2?

Although I haven't gotten around to reviewing Pokémon Black and White versions for the Nintendo DS yet (heck, I haven't even bought it yet), I've seen enough and heard enough about it to agree with other reviews that these additions to the Pokémon series are one of the best ever released. Many new features and tons of new Pokémon nabbed it a place in the favorites among the series.
 

Japanese Teaser Artwork

 
A Japanese official Pokémon TV program (probably similar to "Nintendo Week" on the Wii) entitled Pokémon Smash has announced that either an enhanced version or a direct sequel to this generation of Pokémon will have a Japanese release in June of this year for the Nintendo DS.

Now, those of you familiar with Pokémon are aware of the typical pattern that each generation is released in 3s; 2 versions and then a 3rd version with special content and minor improvements. For example Pokémon Red and Blue versions was followed by Yellow as were Diamond and Pearl succeeded by Platinum). In this case however, it looks as if 2 enhanced versions are going to be delivered entitled "Pokémon Black Version 2" and "Pokémon White Version 2"

Now for the burning questions:

-Will this be released in the United States?
-Will they serve as the "3rd" versions or as direct sequels?
-Why for the DS and not the 3DS when it seems that the DS is on its way out the door AND Black and White's graphics are already rendering psudo-3D graphics on a 3D screen?
-Will we see new Pokémon to add to our already overflowing list of 648 Pokémon?
-Will we ever catch ‘em all?

Further Reading:
http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-black-version-2-and-pokemon-white-version-2/
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/25/pokemon-black-and-white-2-announced-hits-japanese-dses-this-jun/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokemon_black#cite_note-105