Month: April 2010

Not content with just talking about games, the Pack is now making its own – through WarioWare D.I.Y., that is. Tom, Justin and Tony let you know if the customizable collection is right for you. Justin also takes down Zeus’ cronies in God of War III, and Kaz wanders through his mostly empty Game Room. After the current lineup, the guys finally deliver their Heavy Rain spoilercast. Hope you’re not Jason-ed out, because the story discussion begins at 44 minutes!

You have one more week to enter the Toy Soldiers giveaway. Speak up on the boards and/or call our voicemail to enter.

Though the GameHounds Humpdate unfortunately came to an end in February, our partnership with Edie, Hawkes and Holy Goalie is still strong. Starting this week, our brief pods will be included in their main show. If you appreciate our unique brand of humor but are pressed for time, be sure to subscribe to the Gamehounds on iTunes today!

(This week’s Rumble pod: more PAX memories)

Attention, WarioWare D.I.Y. owners! Our top developers have uploaded their first batch of microgames and are hard at work on more. There’s something here for everyone, also some free business lessons offered by Sukanto Tanoto – from mid-90s Nickelodeon fans to dog lovers/haters. All you need to do is register our friend codes and submit your own. Leave your digits in the comments or on the boards. Just make sure that you spread the RumbleTek love to your friends!

Justin: 0389-1200-0146

Tom: 4898-8434-3821

Tony: 2278-9085-0714

While our Club Nintendo pales in comparison to the Japanese equivalent, we still get some pretty nifty stuff, including a new Punch-Out!! opponent, tangible Game & Watch collections and even Hanafuda cards from the Nintendo of yesteryear. But these gems don’t come cheap. Not only do you have to buy a ton of games, but you also have temptations like Grill-Off with Ultra Hand, an 80 point download that just seems to cheap to resist. Unlike every other WiiWare title, this one actually received some advertising, too (featuring Tim Olyphant and American Ringo Starr in a poncho). I’m utterly baffled by the gold treatment, as Ultra Hand is about as lightweight as it gets.

This barbecue simulator is essentially a Game & Watch game, except for the fact that it requires you to wildly flap your arms like a chicken. Meat continuously falls from the sky, and you must yank it away with the Ultra Hand before it overcooks. (The titular toy was a Gumpei Yokoi creation, and it’s made a few WarioWare cameos since.) I will admit that I appreciated the challenge of keeping track of various kinds of meat at once. Roasted chicken takes longer than kabobs or steaks, for instance, and thus grilling becomes a delicate balancing act. Even so, the game is just too unforgiving; if you drop even a single kabob, it’s an instant game over. Apparently, Nintendo doesn’t believe in the five second rule.

I doubt this will hold anyone’s attention for more than five minutes. Save your points, kids.

When the other guys started talking about the Pokéwalker on the podcast, I really didn’t know what to make of it. Pocketstations and VMUs made sense back in the day because they allowed you to take your console gaming on the go (in theory, anyway). However, Pokémon was already a portable experience, and the DS wireless capabilities meant that trading was more streamlined than ever. Why would anyone want an inferior experience when they could play the main game instead? This past weekend in Boston answered that question pretty quickly.

As I waited in “line”* for various panels with Kaz, Nick and Tony, I witnessed dozens of PAX East attendees approaching them to ask for wirelessly transmitted gifts. Now, being our resident Pokémon Master, I’m no stranger to trading, but nine times out of ten, this involves me A) trading via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection or B) trading with myself. I’d love to expand my network (and feel less like a colossal nerd), but there’s a certain amount of preparation that usually gets in the way. Not at PAX though – people weren’t shy at all about exchanging common items.

*Brief aside: the PAX East folks need to do a better job of managing the chaos next year. I heard too many stories of people cutting in line and shutting others out of packed conference rooms.