Video games as a skill?

Saturday, September 17th, 2011 at 6:00pm by Holly

Before I started thinking about this idea, I was easily frustrated by new gamers who couldn’t seem to grasp controls that are second nature to me. I have a friend whose family has never owned a single dedicated gaming system, handheld or otherwise. Even so, how hard can it possibly be to hold a Wii remote sideways and control the on-screen Mario with the directional pad and jump button? Even my little sister can’t do that effectively.

Naturally, this brought me to recognize that there is a skill for gaming! It can be practiced and honed just like any other skill. (more…)

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword new trailer from GDC

Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 11:12am by Chelsea
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An earlier post accidentally showed a trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which debuted at E3 quite a while back. Here is the actual new trailer for Skyward Sword that made a splash at GDC.

Personally, I’m very excited about the possibilities that the MotionPlus will open up within the traditional Zelda formula, for both combat and puzzle-solving. Combat was enhanced in Twilight Princess with the addition of special moves that could be unlocked and performed at opportune moments, and Skyward Sword will add vertical and horizontal slashes to the mix. As for puzzles, the scene at the 0:45 second mark in particular caught my eye; it was reminiscent of the sequences in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption where the player had to twist and push the Wii Remote to unlock a door, but with even more precision this time around.

I’m still itching for more details about the release date and story, but this is the first coveted new media we’ve received in a long time, so now we at least have something else to chew on and speculate about. Who’s that white-haired guy at the 0:51 second mark? What ever happened to the girl from the poster? Why am I so anxious to play Skyward Sword that I can’t feel my legs? Discuss this and more in the comments!

Video via GenGame.net

How many times have you beaten Zelda: Twilight Princess?

Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 12:30pm by Dan
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Zelda: Twilight Princess is a long game. Really long. Like upwards of 60 hours long, depending on how you play.

But that hasn’t stopped this guy from completing it multiple times. “I’ve played this through four times, and I’m still not tired of it,” says Virpoja at Game Trailers.

Now that’s dedication. How many times have you beating Twilight Princess?

Wii Zelda pushed back to refine visual style

Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 5:33pm by Sean Buckley

Nintendo stated during their E3 press conference that they had wanted to finish The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in time for holiday release, but decided instead to aim for an early 2011 release date to ensure quality.  What will they be working on with those extra months? According to Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, it’s the games visual style.

Speaking of the game at an E3 roundtable, Miyamoto stated, “I think the art style is very unique. I’m a big fan of impressionism in the art world, so we’ve drawn some inspiration from that. The sky and the mountain you can see in the E3 demo have a definite Cézanne feel to them,” eventually finishing with, “if we had just used the same graphics from Twilight Princess the game would already be done.”

Why the revision? The answer may be different than you think.

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