Toronto Thumbs

FanExpo 2010
Item 3 - Checking Things Out

The Halo: Reach tent.

By noon, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was packed with people, both fans and superfans alike! In some areas were relatively easy to traverse, while others were like rush-hour in Taiwan. I do not pretend to understand how the sites for the different booths are chosen; whether they are picked by the companies that are represented, or by the governing committee of the event itself.

In our travels, we managed to visit a number of booths…

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Posted in Events, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony | No Comments »

FanExpo 2010
B Number 2 - Tron: Evolution

Easy to recognize.

When Tron 2.0 came out, it was pretty clear to me that only those of us who saw the original movie would be excited, if at all; fans are a fickle bunch; resistant to change; any departure from the plot is met with a frown and an insistence that “this never would have happened in the original”. Monolith did a good job toeing that line between canon and the introduction of new material. Even with generally favourable reviews, Tron 2.0 underperformed from a sales perspective, and support was eventually dropped; a shame, really, since the faithful user community kept producing mods for it, as well as an expansion.

Tron: Evolution, though, is a whole other story, and has something going for it that 2.0 did not: an accompanying motion picture (Tron: Legacy); even though that film may not be as closely tied to the game as one might expect.

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, Move, PC, PSP, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

Thriller
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is the follow-up to an old N64 Japanese shooter by a similar name which was released back in 2000. I never played the original and, admittedly, never even heard of it; from what I understand it managed to obtain somewhat of a cult following. Both games were developed by TREASURE, the name behind some very successful shumps such as Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. Although, as I will describe, this game departs abruptly from your typical shoot’em up style.

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Fashionably Late Review
Civilization: Revolution

When I first heard that they were going to make a console version of Civilization, I was taken aback; how were they going to take such an expansive premise and simplify it in an enjoyable way? Then I read that they were also going to bring it to the DS; my mind was blown. I recently picked up this title and tried it out in my daily travels on the TTC, and man, let me tell you, this game is hella fun!

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Posted in DS, DSi, Reviews | 2 Comments »

Preview
Metroid: Other M

The other night, I had the privilege and pleasure of attending Nintendo’s preview launch of Metroid: Other M. Being as much a fan as anyone of the original NES platformer, I was pretty excited when they told us that this new episode would be a direct continuation of Super Metroid from SNES, including characters like Mother Brain, and of course, Ridley. I was even a bit relieved as I had dropped off a bit from the series when the Prime franchise was released on the Gamecube & the Wii.

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, Wii | 6 Comments »

Preview
Dragon’s Lair Trilogy

Hot on the heels of the recent story circulating around the internet about my large Dragon’s Lair collection (47 distinct different versions), Destineer has announced that it will be bringing Dragon’s Lair to the Nintendo Wii this fall, and this time, its partners are along for the ride.

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Posted in Previews, Wii | No Comments »

Tag! You’re it!
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Any fans of the recently released Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies should take note: select EB/Gamestop locations across Canada will be hosting a Tag Mode event on July 31, 2010 between 14:00 and 16:00. Tag Mode allows players in range of each other to exchange custom greetings and treasure maps; unlocking grottoes in the game is made much easier by Tag Mode.

Folks attending the event will be able to download an exclusive map and can enter to win a Midnight Blue Nintendo DSi XL.

Click here for participating stores »

Posted in Events, News Bytes, Nintendo | 1 Comment »

Fashionably Late Review
Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery

After Altair’s Chronicles, I was a little hesitant to dive right into Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery. On one hand, the original game had over-reached; the graphics were less-than-impressive, and the gameplay was stunted. On the other hand, some time had passed between the creation of these games, so improvement was inevitable.

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Posted in DS, Reviews | No Comments »

Late to the Party
Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles

After playing the Assassin’s Creed series on a next gen console, I was curious to try it out on a hand-held. So I ran out and grabbed Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles for the Nintendo DS. I had just purchased a DSi XL, so I was interested in putting it through its paces. While I love the ideas behind it, and admire the ambition of the creators, I did not like this title as much as I wanted to; and now I’m going to tell you why.

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Posted in DS, Reviews | No Comments »

It Slices, It Dices!
Red Steel 2

Red Steel was not a good experience for me. I know it was one of Ubisoft’s initial forays into the then-new Wii control system, but I didn’t find it fun at all. As it was a launch title, people were still getting used to the idea of motion control; I played it once at Shaun’s place, trying to get used to it, but I couldn’t get the hang of it, and it didn’t help that the Wii Remote would bug out on me from time to time. Thank the gods of gaming that my experience playing Red Steel 2 is the exact opposite of its predecessor.

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Posted in Reviews, Wii | No Comments »