The Rumble Pack Posts

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.

PAX East wrapped up way too quickly! Luckily, the guys still found time to record in between the hands-on demos, panels and Pokéwalking. Listen up for impressions on Red Dead Redemption, Alpha Protocol, Comic Jumper, Split Second, A.P.B., Crackdown 2 multiplayer, Two Worlds II, Photo Dojo and more. Plus, favorite panels and moments (“Jason!”) from the convention.

Relevant Links:

The “Pack’s at PAX” Flickr album

In the next installment of the podcast (going up today), you’ll hear all about the games we played and the panels we attended. But even though the convention was only three days long, we had far too many adventures and fond memories to cram into a single show. Below, you’ll find a little bit more of the randomness left on the cutting room floor.

It’s unfortunately a rare treat to have the five of us together in one room. If only we could have a couple more days.

If there was a running theme for our PAX East experience, it would probably have been Pok̩walker addiction. Many Elekids were captured this weekend Рand none were shared with Justin.

PAX is heading to New England this year, and so are we! If you see us on the show floor – we look like this – be sure to say howdy. Check the board for our whereabouts and don’t be shy! Even if you couldn’t make it to this ultimate nerd party, we’ll be updating our new Flickr page and a photo blog post daily. You should probably expect Episode 131 to drop this weekend, too.

You may be looking at the site and wondering, “Hey! What happened to the logo?” Well, we’re moving to a new look for the site and thought we’d give people a sneak peak. You’ve probably seen the new logo on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page, but we’ll be using it everywhere else from this point forward.

-The Management

We’re back in the trenches! This week, Max Wagner, Co-Founder of Signal Studios, joins the guys to talk about Toy Soldiers. He discusses the team’s inspirations, multiplayer tips, Facebook cross-promotion and some vague battle plans for the future. After the interview, Kaz drools over Metro 2033, Tony catches ’em all in his Pokéwalker, and Justin and Tom have Perfect Dark in their Farsights. Plus, a visit from Cowboy Curtis and former “Pokémon Master” J’s dark secret.

Visit the boards and/or call our Pack line for your chance to win a free download of Toy Soldiers. More details at the end of the episode!

I can understand the appeal of wanting to return to Rapture. Well, maybe not an actual Rapture, but the Unreal-powered, respawn-friendly Rapture pressed to so many millions of discs. The original BioShock did a lot of amazing things, but one thing it didn’t do so well is offer a satisfying resolution. After the pivotal golf club to the head, the game had trouble maintaining momentum, and I could see why fans would want a second volume of dystopian horrors. In many ways, 2K Marin’s BioShock 2 is that worthy followup, especially in the running/gunning department. Even so,  much of what made the original special – the mystery of Rapture and Andrew Ryan – has been washed away here. I’m just hoping this isn’t the start of a trend for 2010’s other big sequels, including Metroid: Other M and Portal 2.

Again, BioShock 2‘s stumbles are not for lack of trying. 2K Marin had the unenviable task of following up on Ken Levine’s monster hit, with its ambitious literary inspirations and macabre atmosphere. BioShock shouldn’t be put up on a pedestal as the perfect gaming narrative, but it did take great strides in interactive storytelling and world building. The sequel’s Lamb family drama doesn’t stack up, but I don’t think that’s the problem here. Rather, it’s the familiarity of Rapture that works against all of 2K Marin’s fine work.

Nick’s back from San Francisco with his full report on the Game Developers Conference. Before the rundown, the guys shunt their way into the Blur beta, Tony offers some Toy Soldiers multiplayer Pro-Tips and Kaz zooms into the R.U.S.E. virtual tabletop. Later, our Rumble representative has the full GDC scoop on the Playstation Move, potential indie gems and a few choice panels from the event. Plus, summertime Quizno’s shenanigans and a “Hurt Locker”/Minesweeper dream pairing.

Relevant Links:

Minesweeper FAQs

Audio from Will Wright’s “Metaphysics in Gaming” GDC Presentation