Wi-Philes

I was a bit of a late bloomer what with waiting until the late 90s to jump on the Pika-train, but I eventually fell in love with Pokémon. Even to this day, Pokémon Red (along with the 32-bit enhanced FireRed) is one of the few RPGs that I not only like, but can play over and over. Red is the Pokémon that owns a nice chunk of real estate in my gaming heart.

Despite having a franchise that within 10 years had become one of Nintendo's top three, there hasn't been a whole lot of change about it. Its successors adequately took that formula and tweaked it to take advantage of the power (however noticeable) of the successive platforms. Gold was good, Ruby was fine, and Pearl was... well, I have yet to finish that one. Its spin-offs (Puzzle League notwithstanding and disregarding Snap's otherwise brilliance) just never tried to amount beyond being what Handy Manny and Little Einsteins are for Disney: young kid fodder. Even the WiiWare Pokémon game is a crazy, oversaturated chibi-poke-je-ne-sais-quoi.

Ever since the turn of the century when we first saw the modem and broadband adaptors for the GameCube, everyone has been screaming to make Pokémon some sort of Massive Multiplayer Online game (MMORPG, for the uninformed). Those screams have just become louder as games like World of Warcraft grabbed the mind share of just about everyone, that Square tried with Final Fantasy XI, and that the DS and Wii feature, compared to their predecessors, online nirvana. Maybe Online is the next real step up for the franchise - true online, not the titillating "waiting for opponent" action we've received so far with Pearl and Battle Revolution.

What kind of form should this theoretical online game take, I wonder? Would it follow in the footsteps of the GameCube RPGs (ie faux-gritty, dull, and about as much fun as watching paint peel) and offer 3D-but-not-really worlds and massive-but-not-really regions? Would it stay true to the overhead 2D style we love in our handhelds and be subtitled Trainer Mayhem on Route Twelve?



Part of the fun of Pokémon is being a trainer and creating a team that can hopefully defeat any other team (or create an all water team, because water Pokémon are the coolest). That said, the two things gamers really want are to (1) control the Pokémon directly and (2) play the adventure with friends. If you want to know what my take is on an online Pokémon, you really have hold onto the core elements of what makes a Pokémon game - catching, battling, and training monsters, and throw out the rest. Why? Because Pokémon needs fresh air and needs to not be like everything else out there. Ironically, the inspiration for a MMO Pokémon is Maple Story.

... Still with me? Good.

If you don't know, Maple Story, created by Nexon and Wizet, is a completely free (with non-performance-enhancing extras that you can purchase), downloadable PC MMO. You start the game off as a generic level 1 character and quickly differentiate between five different classes of fighter, each with their own unique attack styles and equipment. The only story is the plights of the non-playable characters (NPCs) that inhabit the various (massive) regions of the land. Your enemies? Snails and pigs. And yes, eventually giant mushrooms, yetis, balrogs, and scary Japanese women. But beyond this seemingly shallow experience is a deep social underbelly built with guilds, party quests, and friend lists, combined with enough quests and playability to keep the experience fresh, which if you haven't noticed, are a couple of qualities of which Pokémon is in dire need.


2D is Key

Imagine taking a dive to get to the Seafoam Islands and seeing a school of Goldeen swimming by and a bunch Shellder on the sea floor, or travelling a fire cave with Magmar stomping about and hoards of Zubat aimlessly flying about. Imagine a world that, while stylized, feels alive with its own systems at work.

From a visual point of view, Pokémon really needs a fresh perspective. The best way to give each city, route, and region their own unique feeling is to completely redesign them. Keeping an isometric view keeps the player above the sights and sounds, not immersed in them. Besides, you can only stretch roof styles so far before the only real difference between Town A and B City is the maroon vs. the burgundy atop the buildings. Creating a lush, inviting 2D world solves many problems. First, it's easy to go in create a feeling of a marshland or a rain forest or a desert and really show off the differences. Not only is 2D one of Nintendo's strengths, but layered backgrounds can be just as gorgeous as the pretty 3D worlds that high def systems can pump out. The artists can also show off much more detail in the settings, the characters, the monsters and animations- details that are lost when using 3D.

There's also the added bonus of 2D being much simpler for the system and the servers - lag will be minimized.

Using a 2D system also allows for an intuitive portal system, where one section of the map has portals and entrances to other sections and so on. Dividing routes and cities into scrolling areas a few screens tall and/or wide makes it easy to find specific Pokémon or quest goals. Again, large, sprawling 3D areas lead to issues including lag, poor draw distance, large load times, and difficult navigation for the feint of RPG heart.


Massive Regions to Explore

Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Orre (and any other regions I may have missed) were sizable in their own respects. For an MMO, all these regions should not only be present, they should all be as large, if not larger than we've seen them before. Not only that, they should all have their own distinct styles: Kanto could be broad and colourful, Johto could finer and more natural, Sinnoh could be more urbanized, and Orre a desolate wasteland. On top of these established regions, a new game should have a few new regions of its own to inspire that explorer in all of us.

Not only that, but travelling between these regions should be epic. Just like Maple Story has its airships, Pokémon could use planes, cruise ships, railways, and other made-up travel systems that keep regular, real-time schedules and take a few minutes to get from point A to point B. How do you spend that time? The same way you spend time on buses and planes in real life: minigames and interacting with others.



Quests, Quests, Quests, and Catching 'em All

With a much more non-linear gameplay style, there have to be scenarios put in motion by both your actions and the NPCs that populate the world to give the game a sense of purpose. We're talking everything from "The Mukrows are destroying my crops! Please eliminate 50 of them" and "I'm making a comfy blanket for my mom's birthday and I need 25 cotton bails. I hear Mareep drop them sometimes!" to "There's an old myth that deep in the recesses of the Seafoam Islands, a legendary bird dwells. This bird is said to have control over the temperature of our oceans and seas! Say, you're a pretty tough trainer. If you could prove this myth true and catch the mythical beast, then I have a totally awesome and rare item with your name on it..."

Completing these quests provide you with all kinds of useful items, like fishing rods, TMs, and the like. Specially designed quests yield HMs, access to hidden areas, and perhaps even one-of-a-kind Pokémon, like that crazy Porygon.

Of course, the main motivation behind a Pokémon game is to go and "catch 'em all". With so many regions, it would be pretty easy to populate them with all 500ish monsters that currently exist. Some might be common across the planet, while others might be specific to certain routes at certain times during the day, of the year even. In order to build a strong team of six Pokémon that they enjoy, all players will have to patiently search far and wide, waiting until they're strong enough to survive the more dangerous areas, and perhaps even trade with some of the other trainers.

Exploration and trading with others has always been a core attribute to a true Pokémon game. This game would emphasize this point, especially if half the Pokémon were common and easy to find, and the other half were much more elusive, or harder to catch. The game's nature may eliminate the need for two versions of itself and the concept of "only one" of a particular Pokémon per game. Assuming that, for example, Mewtwo only spawns three or four times a day in one room of one cave and a million people want to catch him, even if every Mewtwo were caught, he'd still be a pretty rare find. By the way, the master ball may disappear.


Be the Trainer and Be the Pokémon

The Pokémon World that I've described so far sounds great, except for the notion of whether you play as the trainer, or just as a team of six monsters. The simple answer is, you play as both! The trainer, in a way, is the main player who makes all the decisions, like where to go, what to fight, when to catch, etc. But Pokémon has never been about a cookie cutter boy walking around, smacking Kadabra with a sword. With a tap of a button, the trainer takes the background as the starting Pokémon is called out. When the Pokémon is out, the player controls that Pokémon in real time, choosing the attacks to use, items and so on, until you either retreat, faint, catch the wild Pokémon, or defeat it to earn experience, moolah, and dropped items.

Switching between the trainer and Pokémon has its advantages. For example, only the trainer can use field items (repel and the bike for example) and access all the menu options, whereas only the Pokémon can attack wild Pokémon. Retreating from a battle is as simple as calling forth the trainer. While wild Pokémon usually don't attack humans (thus you can walk around without having to fight), they occasionally will, forcing out the Pokémon, and thus a battle. If your Pokémon faints, the next Pokémon is called out. If the whole team faints, you're transported to the nearest Pokécenter, perhaps a bit short on Pokédollars.

Plus, the trainer walks normal. It might be a bit slow trying to move as a Metapod or a Slowpoke. Likewise, it might be hard controlling a galloping Rapidash, or climbing a ladder as a Diglett - though any bird could just fly up to the platforms.

The new component here is that while the Pokémon get experience points by defeating opponents, the trainer gets trainer points for how he or she plays. This extra stat could influence how easy it is to catch wild Pokémon, how quickly captured Pokémon warm up to their new master, the quests available, and the like. How are these trainer points obtained you ask? By winning battles, defeating gyms, completing quests, saving your Pokémon from fainting, etc.

Because this is now a real-time game, it makes sense that a few of the mechanics behind the Pokémon change. Firstly, each Pokémon can know more than four moves, but only four can be assigned to use in battle at any given time. It might make more sense that Pikachu know thunderbolt when entering a water area, but have slash and thunder wave come up when entering areas with grassier types. Likewise, instead of only being able to use thunderbolt 10 or 20 times before needing to see Nurse Joy, the attacks can take up a certain amount of MP from that Pokémon's MP supply. An interesting spin on that would be if thunderbolt for the electric Pikachu would take up 20 MP points, but would take up 40 for a water/flying Gyarados. Casting times would also vary. Thundershock would cast faster than thunderbolt, and the time between castings for moves like fire blast and solar beam would feel like an eternity by comparison.

Speaking of moves, because you can learn more than four, it makes sense to have move trees for each Pokémon. Once a Pokémon masters base attacks to a given point, it can learn other related attacks. Again, once Pikachu has a certain amount invested in thundershock, it can learn thunderbolt and/or spark. Here the trainer can decide which is more important: equally learning both special and physical electric moves, or sticking with one and making its attack more powerful. Suddenly the concept of physical vs. special attacks becomes more concrete. By extension, after each levelling, the trainer decides how to divide the earned skill points between HP, MP, phyical/special attack/defence, speed, and accuracy.

After all, a Pikachu with a high physical attack should learn spark, right? Unless the trainer likes to attack from a distance, in which case he or she should focus on special attack and thunderbolt. This added flexability adds a layer of complexity and strategy never before seen in Pokémon. Plus it makes each trainer style and their Pokémon much more unique. Who wouldn't want a Pokémon that could level a city with one earthquake, but is so slow that it's defeated before lifting a leg?


Sounds Confusing. Controls, Please!

The Wii Remote and Nunchuk are best suited to playing the game. The control stick would move the trainer or Pokémon in play, C jumps/flies, and Z crouches/digs.

In the field, the B button could be used to bring up information on whatever the pointer is pointing at (like a wild Pokémon or another trainer), A selects choices/picks up items, + brings up the menu, - calls out the lead Pokémon, 1 and 2 are programmable hot keys for items, like the select button was in the handheld games.

As a Pokémon on the field or in battle, the D-Pad uses moves, A button uses the item that the Pokémon is carrying, B (with a Remote swing for style) makes the background trainer throw a Pokeball at the last monster that was attacked. Maybe there could be some basic waggle for powering up moves or something along those lines.

Because there would never be a need to press A and B at the same time, doing so could bring up the chat window to talk other players, be it the people nearby, your friends who are playing, your party, etc. Maple Story does have a robust anti-swearing filter that won't let you send a message with certain words; it's not unreasonable for the same kind of protocol to be a part of this game.


PVP FTW

So far, I haven't really addressed how a player-vs.-player match would work. The best way to approach this is that one player invites another to battle. Upon accepting, the two trainers become "locked" on screen, as a new screen is loaded. Here in the arena (which changes based on where the battle is initiated, by the way), the battle starts and based on strategy and the teams at hand, someone wins! Only the invite has several options that you wouldn't expect, options that solve certain issues with MMOs in general and that tailor the fight to the preferences of the players.

The first option is to choose between a real-time fight, akin to how the game is played, or turn-based, not unlike how Pokémon games are currently played. The second important option would be whether the Pokémon should fight as-is, or if the computer should do some math and interpolate the Pokémon's stats as if they were the same level. The third option would be whether the battle is rated and that the results are recorded on the player's trainer card. The last option would be whether to allow spectators, so that if passers-by notice two other players in a "head to head" battle stance, then he or she could click on them and watch the battle play out.


P&P, Too

So what about when players want to team up? After all, training and doing quests is always more fun in pairs, or in teams. By partying up, experience and money is split among party members, but having multiple Pokémon attacking wild monsters makes the task easier, and maybe even provides bonuses. Some quests may need a party to complete even.

You could even form guilds (or a Pokémon equivalent) to associate with other players that you like. Personally I never really understood guilds, but then again, I don't really play MMOs. I digress.


There you have it, my long, yet still brief idea of how an online Pokémon game should work. I could probably continue for another six pages, and six more. Essentially, this new game takes the core elements of a Pokémon game and transforms it into an entirely different experience - one that I think I would play even more than the time I've put into the current games! And before you ask, you shouldn't be able to transfer Pokémon from the existing RPGs to this game since it would unbalance this game at its core. Though that isn't to say that connecting a DS to this game (or activating a device that reads your Wii data) wouldn't occasionally make it easier to catch some of the Pokémon you've previously caught. If only it could read as far back as my Pokémon Red and the pages of level 100s I had - that is, if the save battery still works.

I hope that in Wii Music (or Wii Orchestra, whatever it's called), if it is in fact an actual game slated to see the light of day, Nintendo lets me conduct or play music from Super Mario Galaxy. The themes from Good Egg Galaxy, Battlerock Galaxy, and Buoy Base Galaxy are specifically on my wish list. Despite being a more casual experience, gamers will perk up at the thought of interacting with fully orchestrated versions some of Nintendo's best pieces of music. For the casual crowd, exploring the origins of these songs might be one of the side effects of putting original musical compositions beside Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Fur Elise. Nintendo using one of its games to advertise and leverage its other properties? It's almost unheard of!

I'm pretending that I haven't heard of the likes of WarioWare, Smash Bros., and Pikmin.



Actually, Nintendo is very good at telling people about their own games. One particularly brilliant move Nintendo started with its Touch Generations line, and quickly brought it over to all its games, was accompanying the instruction booklet and precautions manual with a leaflet showing off three games that are similar to the one at hand. Between those inserts, various websites, emails, traditional ads, and word-of-mouth, Nintendo the software publisher has multiple channels to tell everyone about anything from Picross to Pokémon.

Despite fixing many of the mistakes universally blamed for the GameCube's lack of mainstream popularity, there's still a big one issue Nintendo has yet to resolve with Wii: third party support. Granted, they've made strides in opening up and helping third parties with everything from development resources to ironing out game concepts, but they still have some way to go in terms of helping to promote third party efforts (something other companies seem to do well at both causal and core players). Take a look at three of Nintendo's big websites, Nintendo.com, Wii.com, TouchGenerations.com and count the number of featured third party games. The latter has zero.

With Wii and DS being the runaway successes that they are, it's more important than ever for Nintendo to tell its consumers about the products available on its systems. Like a gamer to their gaming-deficient cohorts, Nintendo the platform maker should be an ambassador for their systems, showing off all kinds of available games. This goes for both the casual crowd who might not know about Carnival Games and EA Playground, as well as the gamer crowd who might overlook titles like SSX Blur and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Such a simple act on Nintendo's part could very well affect the sales of a game (Nintendo's reach might be a bit further than Matt Casamassina's, unfortunately for Zack and Wiki). I'd go so far to say that Nintendo benefits more in the long term from each third party sale than it does a first party sale.

I'm not trying to say that Nintendo doesn't advertise third party games. Back in the latter half of the GameCube's lifespan, the stylish but questionably successful "Who Are You?" campaign eventually lent itself to third party games, though that was more an act of desperation when the number of monthly releases were less than the number of pancakes I can eat in one sitting. On their respective main pages, Wii.com does currently showcase Boogie, and Nintendo.com's Wii page shows off Guitar Hero III. Curiously, both titles are third party efforts that fit nicely into Nintendo's post-GCN philosophy of gaming.



I'm just saying it isn't enough. Nintendo games might be the ones that spark sales, but it's the third party games that keep interest burning and Wii consumers comfortably warm. Nintendo needs to step up and show that it cares about those that fill the gap that they themselves cannot fill on a monthly, let alone weekly basis.

Curiously enough, the one website that brings first and third party games together under one proverbial roof is GetUpAndPlay.ca, Nintendo of Canada's e-effort prove to embittered mothers that Wii gaming isn't mind-rotting evil. Under "Our Products", the site mentions a number of third party games. That number may only be eight, but it does take two hands to count that high. Plus, the site has some fancy badges:



Even after a full year on the market, Nintendo might not have enough Wiis to go around. They're probably so focused on trying to ship as many units as possible that they don't always remember that there are 15 million systems out there. There are easily twice as many people enjoying them, 30+ millions that might want to try a new game somewhere between Big Brain Academy and Wii Fit. It might be Trauma Center; it might be DDR. It ultimately is up to Nintendo whether we ever find out.

Music Mini:
The Cliks – Snakehouse (released April 24, 2007)

An album can be ruined if it's overproduced, when tracks and rhythms and pitches are so perfect that a sense of sincerity is lost. Snakehouse isn't like that at all. In a debut that's one part indie, one part rock, two parts alternative, and a pinch of Justin-Timberlake-but-better, The Cliks bake a sense of band and "music for music" in a world where Big Music overcook their talent (or use lots of seasoning on their untalented lot) for that one big hit and move on. Every nuance throughout the album, commanded by lead singer Lucas Silveira's strong vocals and under the direction of the band's heavy electric guitars, leaves the impression that I could probably count the number of takes for each track on one hand. In their case, this is actually a very good thing.

The fresh but familiar sound of the album is perhaps personified in the cover of Cry Me a River. The Click's take on the modern classic has me heavily favouring their version over JT's. I don't think it's the arrangement so much as the addition of emotion to a song that's supposed to be about anger, betrayal, revenge, and all those lovely things. Silveira's ability to sing honesty, in a style comfortably between screaming and keeping the tempo, carries strongly into Complicated, and the single, Oh Yeah. The only thing that could boost an otherwise great album is more in the variety department.



Previous: The Gamer Scale

The views and opinions stated in this blog do not necessarily reflect those shared by N-Philes or its staff.

Previous: The Lost Gamer | Next: Third Party Promotion: The Final Frontier


GoNintendo recently had a series entitled, "Casual vs. Hardcore: Opinions of the Gaming Industry," where a number of players in the industry were asked to comment on whether Nintendo's influence on the emphasis on the casual gaming market is good for the industry. While it's certainly a worthwhile feature that explores and exposes what the industry is thinking, it cements this dichotomic vision of gaming. Worse than that, it pits one group against the other, forcing everyone to take sides on the grand gaming battleground. Are you a casual gamer, or are you a hardcore gamer?

Once you answer that question, you quickly discover that the other gamer is a threat. Causal games are taking over; I have less ‘real' games to play because of cartridge wasters like Nintendogs and Brain Age. Games are so complex and violent when all I want to do is have some quick, clean fun. Casual gamers, hardcore gamers, non-gamers... they're all terms that have become standard, used by everyone in journalism and in conversation. Once they get used, it's always one in contrast to another, one versus the other.

Gaming may have its share of battlefields, but there shouldn't be a war between those who play games. Gamers shouldn't be treating each other as being superior or inferior, just that they are different from one another. Before the launch of Wii, Iwata urged those seasoned gamers to use the Wii to bridge the gap between them and those who don't play. It's been working. Everyday there are new stories on the internet about how Wii and DS have converted people into gamers. But how can us gamers lure our loved ones into our passion, then turn around and complain about how they're the ones ruining the very thing we love?

I think the problem lies within the narrow parameters in which we define the gamer segments. I'm not really a hardcore gamer, nor am I a casual one. Chances are, neither are you.

After an emo stint trying to find out exactly were I fit, I thought out a gamer scale, a Gamer Number of sorts. This system isn't meant to make one type of gamer superior or inferior to another; while not perfect, hopefully it helps to better define the kinds of gamers that are out there.

10 – Hardcore Gamer: The hardcore gamer plays anything he or she can get his or her hands on. Owning all the major platforms, he or she is knows the advantages and disadvantages of each one, and doesn't care. Fancy graphics might widen the eyes, but it's the game itself that will drop the jaw. Hardcore gamers are in it to play it, and if the game isn't worth playing, they move on to something that is.

9 – Core Gamer: With a couple of platforms under his or her belt, the core gamer knows what he or she likes. Core gamers have their favourite genres, styles, developers, and even publishers, but won't be afraid to play something else.

8 – Softcore Gamer: Softcore gamers look out for the games that are of interest to them, and will try to play them regardless of the platform upon which they appear. They stick to their favourite genres, styles, publishers, and developers, but will play games outside their natural scope if pressured by others. A softcore gamer will have any number of platforms, but will prefer one to another.

7 – Loyal Gamer: The loyal gamer, sometimes knows as fanboy, has a keen love for gaming. He or she is often dedicated to one platform, on which he or she plays every major release. By ignoring or minimizing the strengths and popular titles of other platforms, the loyal gamer has a robust, but limited scope of gaming as a whole.

6 – Hardcasual Gamer: Often mistaken by the casual types as a hardcore gamer and by the hardcore types as a casual gamer, hardcasual gamers fall in between the two extremes. Hardcasuals seek out popular, thrilling titles that tend to focus on realism and strong visuals. They will buy a well-hyped game, even if it is poorly reviewed. Hardcasual gamers are perhaps the biggest group of gamer, and have become publishers' focus over recent years.

5 – Vertical Gamer: The vertical gamer doesn't love gaming so much as the few games he or she plays. They purchase few games a year for their console, but they're almost always part of the same franchise. A vertical gamer might play other games with other people, but he or she will always curl up and find comfort in his or her game of choice.

4 – Casual Gamer: Casual gamers are vested enough in gaming to have at least one console to call their own, whether because they bought it themselves, or inherited one from someone else. They may not talk about FPSs and RPGs, but they do look around for those one or two titles they invest in each year. They won't quickly shy away from a challenge, but a game has to feel fun and rewarding to them need to keep their interest.

3 – Light-Causal Gamer: Light-casual gamers may or may not have a gaming system to call their own, but they might surprise you with their own library of games, or at least, their own save files. They enjoy the simpler games that don't necessarily have specific goals or purposes other than to entertain in short spurts. They're more likely to play puzzle games over first-person shooters and virtual sims over sim racers.

2 – Induced Gamer: Induced gamers wouldn't likely play a game on their own, but when they're with a gamer friend, they will pick up the second controller without hesitation. They know they won't win, but if they do, it's a cause to celebrate. They probably play flash games and Solitaire on their computer, but don't consider it gaming.

1 – Observant Gamer: Observant gamers game vicariously though another gamer, whether a child, roommate, friend, or family member. Their knowledge of games is limited to what they see. They're likely to decline an offer to play a game; it might take a drink or two to get them to actually try one.

0 – Non-Gamer: Non-gamers has never before played a videogame. They have no inclination to do so because of their preconceived notions of gaming. Whether that it's too hard, too complex, too violent, too much of a time waster, or something else entirely, they're convinced that gaming isn't for them.

Maybe I'll revise this scale over time. It represents only one sphere of a gamer. It doesn't take into consideration whether the gamer prefers home consoles or portable ones, whether they stay up to date on upcoming games, gaming news, or industry events, whether they interact with other gamers through forums, or whether they have a more active role in the industry.


Music Mini:
Cake – B-Sides and Rarities (Released November 13, 2007)

Cake's sound is one of the most distinct on the alt-pop scene. Just over three years after their last album, the quartet from Sacramento is back with a compilation that isn't a compilation. B-Sides and Rarities is just that, a collection of studio-polished tracks that have been released as b-sides or that they've performed live. Nearly all the tracks are actually covers of some of the band's favourite songs; they cover everything from Frank Sinatra to Barry White to the Muppets.

Cake is no stranger to the art of covering music; most famously, they covered Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive in 1996. When they do sing someone else's song, they do so in style, truly making it their own. B-Sides is no exception. Strangers in the Night and War Pigs, the album's single, are Cake at their best and shining examples of how classics can be revamped for a new audience.

While each track on its own is compelling, the album as a whole is a bit of a disappointment. B-Sides is uncomfortably mellow, and the number of country covers keeps its general appeal limited. There's certainly a place for B-Sides and Rarities in an eclectic music collection, or one with lots of Cake, but anyone else is better off sticking to its radio play.



The views and opinions stated in this blog do not necessarily reflect those shared by N-Philes or its staff.

Next: The Gamer Scale

By now, it it's been more or less established that there are all kinds of gamers that belong in many different gaming categories. I am, for example, an informed gamer, who stays on top of news, events, blogs, forums, podcasts, and the like, who is heavily Nintendo-centric (as in Nintendo fanboy without that 12-year old scent), but who is mostly a handheld gamer, playing casual and niche titles on his DS Lite and (occasionally) PSP.

For an informed gamer like myself, it's nearly impossible to imagine what it's like to not know which AAA (or even D-list) titles are coming out within the next couple of weeks, to know what big shot execs said at such and such a function, to not know what everyone thinks about the obvious, expected, yet still surprising announcement that Sonic is in Smash Bros. Brawl, and to not share your idea that one character from the top five Japanese third party game companies (ahem Sonic, Snake, Mega Man, Pac-Man, and some Final Fantasy guy) will be in Brawl. In other words, it's impossible to know what it's like to be completely out of the loop.

I however, managed that impossible. During the summer, in what I'll sum up as a near-computer-death experience, the internet, along with pretty much every other computer application, was effectively lost to me. Without this vital organ, All contact was lost with the real – I mean digital world. By the time I solved that dilemma, school started, as did my little employment gig, which boils down to zero free time.

I didn't even notice how long it had been since I was part of the whole gaming industry, until three events snuck out of nowhere. One, a gamer was at EB jonesing for a new title, and I had zero suggestions based one what's out and what's coming across all consoles. He had beaten Metroid Prime 3 twice by that point – and it had just come out. Two, Zelda Phantom Hourglass was on the shelf. I still have no idea what IGN scored that game, or any game really. I couldn't not buy it when I saw it there. And yes, Phantom Hourglass disappointed. The last event had me saying, "that's enough!" My friend and recent Wii-ite told me that he bought DDR. I didn't even know it was coming. So my natural instincts kicked in... I ran out and bought it, and decided I needed to get back into the swing of everything.



And so I have, slowly. Having kept tabs on everything at N-Philes during my absence, I'm back on the N-Philes front. I also decided that maybe I wanted to blog weekly about various game-, entertainment-, and tech-related things. I did start a personal blog, but I want to try something a little more focused. Somewhere where my random gaming-related thoughts and ideas can go.

I also want to finish (re-write?) a long forgotten article about Game Boy. But that will be a site feature. Hopefully.

Ending each of these blogs will be a mini-review for music. Feel free to send me music suggestions! I love new music.

Music Mini:
Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight (Released May 15, 2007)

Linkin Park is one of those really weird bands that are really love/hate. They're screamers, whiners, posers, repetitive. They're talented, experimental, honest, relevant. It doesn't really matter which camp to which you belong because Minutes to Midnight is worth a listen for one reason:

It's different.

I don't mean that it's so different that it isn't in the scope of all things LP, but the band known for mashing rap against rock and electric rhythms have taken a step toward the melodic. I'd go so far to say that they have a bit of bounce in their step too, as M2M comes off as more relaxed – dare I say fun – effort. You don't have to go beyond Bleed it Out, a personal fave on the album, to see that they're kicking up the fun factor. Oddly, Linkin Park also goes to the opposite, more serious on the back half, the politically-driven Hands Held High being perhaps the most socially relevant track in the band's library.

The duality of this album is summed up in the title, with "Minutes to Midnight" being both the excitement at the turn of the year, and the panic before catastrophic destruction. Either way, both scenarios have you focusing less on yourself and more on those around you. Perhaps more than their previous work, they focus less on the internal and more on the moment. M2M represents welcomed growth for Linkin Park as a band, proving that there's more to them than just anger and spray paint.

The other day, I walked into EB to possibly impulsively buy Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition when I spotted a big, yellow sign stating, "Trade 6 used games and get a used PSP!" I thought to myself that that could be really good deal. I've always kinda wanted a PSP, but I've never really had enough reasons to actually buy one. Trading away some games might do the trick.

Except, I hate trading away games. It nearly killed me to pick 3 games to trade in to reserve a copy of Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes a few years back (RIP Dr. Muto, Crazy Taxi, and something else that I'm sure I loved). So six games might actually do me in. I looked through my games collection and came away with a dozen-ish titles that I could live without. Only four of them qualified for the deal. I opted to go home and find two more instead of giving him my life and another $20 for the bloody system.

So I call him up and find my two new titles. I figure I should just do it. The casualties, you ask?

DSN Spectrobes (very sorry, Disney)

WII Chicken Little Ace in Action (very sorry, Disney, again)

DSN Spyro Enter the Dragon (kinda sorry, Vivendi)

DSN Nintendogs (very, very sorry, Nintendo)

GCN Mario Golf Toadstool Tour (I'd be sorry, Nintendo, if you included a mini putt mode)

DSN Horsez (eeh)

They wouldn't take LEGO Star Wars for DS. Not surprising, I guess. But they took Horsez over it?! I digress.

Ben is now the reluctant owner of a PSP. Ben has taken his first step towards multi-platform ownership, or at least, not-Nintendo console ownership. As you can see, my DS collection took a big hit, but at least now I get to play Gitarooman, those fancy Mega Man games, and Loco Roco, the latter of which I bought.

So, walking towards the bus stop, my mind races, kinda like what I imagine a mind does after you kinda accidentally sleep with a stranger (which I have yet to do, not that I'm looking for such an occasion). Except I'm not worrying about STDs and the like. "Bloody hell, I need to buy stupid memory card... er, stick. And probably a USB cable. And this is a PSP, so I'll need another battery pack. What if it's broken? What if it has dead pixels? Who in their right minds would ever take a used Sony product?!" I'll take the 1-year warranty.

A heavy sigh later, I do a 180º, go back towards the mall, and look for a memory stick. Now I know why I like cartridges. I walk into The Source by Circuit City (formerly Radioshack) and ask the guy, "what's the cheapest I can get a 1GB memory stick for Sony products?" Then I figure the 2GB is a better deal. After all, I bought this to watch podcasts and the like on the go... extra memory is a better investment. More money gone for my "free" system.

Now I have to deal with $50 portable games, and I have a new section that I have to browse. Worst of all, I have to deal with the "which version" dilemma, which I never had to before. For example, I was planning to get Star Trek Tactical Assault for the DS. But now that I have the PSP, I may as well get it for that platform because that version is probably better.

And what am I playing right now? Planet Puzzle League. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever need another portable game. How ironic, if only in an Alanis kind of way.

beN-Philes. (I just put that here so that if someone random fights me at Planet Puzzle League and websearch me because I'm awesome, they might actually find me.