Miis vs. Avatars

Microsoft's Avatars

If you follow the internet, you may know a thing or two about Microsoft's Avatars. Basically they're Microsoft's answer to Nintendo Miis. So will they dethrone Nintendo's little characters? Microsoft may think so, but I as a gamer see many flaws in their plans. Read on to see my analysis as to why I think so. Enjoy!

First off, Nintendo's Miis have been there since the beginning. The moment you bought a Wii, you could turn it on, adjust some of the settings and set to making Miis of yourself and family. And since the Wii's launch dozens of games have used Miis to some extent. Everything from Wii Play and Wii Sports, which allowed you to actually play as your Mii, to Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which had you use a Mii for your save slot. Genius? I dare say so. But then Avatars are a different story... The XBox 360 has been around for almost three years, and Avatars have just been announced. So that means all those games that could've used them won't or will need some sort of patch, which can be a hassle for gamers and developers. Plus the Wii had Wii Sports packaged in. The game was great fun for a little while and the Mii integration was nice. It was great if you didn't have any other titles at the time. But the 360 doesn't have a packaged game like the Wii, so no using your Avatars right off the bat, which will suck for people who don't buy a lot of games.

Nintendo's Miis

Currently, there are only three games in development that are going to use Microsoft's Avatars: UNO Rush, 1 vs. 100, and Scene It? Box Office Smash, all casual catered games. Which brings up my next point. As you may be aware of, the Wii is a more family friendly console. Sure they're hardcore games too, but if you're thinking about buying a sytem for your mom or grandma, you usually don't think of the 360. But with Avatars, Microsoft is trying to cater to the casual folk. And I don't really think that's a good idea. Most of the buyers and player of Microsoft's XBox 360 are more core players. Most 360 owners buy the system for games like GTA, Gears of War, and Halo 3, not Avatars. While on the Wii, Miis are used in a variety of casual things, because casuals play the Wii. Stuff like Everybody Votes Channel and Check Mii Out Channel thrive on the Wii because of the expanded userbase. This isn't so much the story on the 360.

So overall, the Miis are better in my opinion. The main two reasons being that they've been on the system since launch and the Wii is more casual friendly.

The Good and Bad of E3 2008 - Nintendo and Microsoft

My last E3 article... Nintendo and Microsoft only because those were the Media Briefings I watched, maybe I'll watch Sony's sometime and post something, but it's unlikely.

The Good

• Animal Crossing: City Fold announcement and footage/creator interview (looks very cool).
• WiiSpeak peripheral announcement (aka the Wii's voice chat).
• Guitar Hero: On Tour sequel will feature "trading songs" feature (allowing Guitar Hero: On Tour and Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades to trade songs).
• Wii Sports Resort announcement (looks really entertaining).
• Wii MotionPlus demoed (allowing 1:1 motions of the Wii).

The Bad

• Cammy Dunaway (god she's annoying).
• Shawn White demoing Shawn White Snowboarding (looks mediocre, and the Flying Tomato's pretty annoying too).
• Wii Music (um...).

The Unexpected

• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars announcement (for the DS).
• No news of "core" games. Pikmin? Mario? Zelda? Punch-Out!!? Nintendo franchises (Other than Animal Crossing)? o_O

The Good

• Fallout 3 demoed (looks very cool).
• Resident Evil 5 demoed and co-op announced (co-op looks very sweet).
• Fable 2 demoed (looks interesting, especially the co-op).
• Gears of War 2 demoed (looks very, very bad ass).
• Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions, and Portal Still Alive annouced for XBLA.
• Netflix for Live users!

The Bad

• Microsoft Miis, er, I mean Avatars.
• The new Dashboard (looks quite a bit like Apple's Cover Flow).
  
• "Casual" games: You're In the Movies, Lips, and Uno Rush.

The Unexpected

• Final Fantasy XIII for the 360 announcement (no longer a PS3 exclusive).
• No showing of Microsoft's rumored motion controls or remote (thank god!).

The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected

• May be coming soon (don't count on it)...
  

Upcoming Wii Games

I've been seeing a lot of articles like this lately, and I decided to write one of my own.

It will be upon us soon...

With E3 just around the corner, there will definitely be some new games to look forward to. But rewind back to the present, and there are already quite a few Wii games to be excited for. Today I've chosen the games that I'm hungry for every bit of news and every little tidbit about. Enjoy!

de Blob

Platform(s): Wii, DS
Release Date: September 26, 2008 (USA)
This colorful platformer from THQ is shaping up to be awesome. The core concept (in case you haven't heard) is that all the color of the city it's set in has been drained by these evil corportation. And it's your job as de Blob, who can absorb colors, to repaint the city and wipe out the evil corporation known as I.N.K.T. With the flood of recent previews and hands-ons, this is one game I'm really looking forward to.

Wario Land: Shake It!

Platform(s): Wii
Release Date: September 29, 2008 (USA)
Wario returns to his classic series of Wario Land in his latest Wii game. And man does it look fun. The hand drawn style and 2-platforming goodness all add up to another of my most excited games. You hold the Wii-remote classic NES style and it sort of reminds me of Super Paper Mario. Unfortunately there is waggle in the game, such as to get coins out of a bag or to fling yourself up. I only hope they incorporate the shaking parts good, such as in Super Paper Mario.

Guitar Hero: World Tour

Platform(s): PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, Xbox 360
Release Date: October 27, 2008 (USA)
The first time I had heard of the fourth true entry into the Guitar Hero series was in my magazine Game Informer. There it was only title Guitar Hero 4. Now with the internet abuzz with news and screens of the game, it is titled Guitar Hero: World Tour. It seems to take everything in Rock Band and make it better. It has the four instruments of Rock Band: guitar, bass, microphone, and drums. The drums also look very cool and different from Rock Band's. Another neat feature is the ability to make your own songs. Since the Wii is my only system, I'll be getting it for that. And let me tell you, the Wii version is shaping up to be as good as the XBox 360 and PS3 versions (excluding graphics); it even will have the same downloadable content, a first for any Wii title!

Mega Man 9

Platform(s): WiiWare
Release Date: Fall/Winter 2008 (USA)
Capcom was really thinking about the fans when they decided to make Mega Man 9. With 8-bit graphics, 8-bit music, and Mega Man 2 difficulty, the game practically screams fan service. It's been looking very cool lately. It'll even have downloadable content! I'm really digging the style and can't wait for it.

Not so sure about...
Listed above are the games I'm really excited about; most of those will probably be day one purchases for me (or maybe shortly after). But there are several games I'm not so sure about. the first of these is Star Wars: The Force Unleased. Being set between Episodes III and IV, it looks like a cool entry into the Star Wars universe. But I'm still cautious about the game. Because there's been quite a few good Star Wars games, but there's been a lot of bad ones too. Another game I'm not to sure about is Deadly Creatues, which, if you haven't heard, is being published by THQ (same as de Blob). Basically in the game you take control of either a scorpion or tarantula and play through these environments from their views, fighting other bugs and snake/lizard bosses. It's also supposed to have some sort of interesting back story involving humans.

To round off my article there are two other games I'm pretty excited for, just I don't know a whole lot about them. They are Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and Monster Hunter 3. Both look pretty cool, but I haven't seen many articles about them.

And that rounds up my most anticipated games for the Wii. What games are you excited for? Agree/disagree with my picks? Tell me in the comments.