Toronto Thumbs

Potential Solutions for Wii Storage

By Shaun Hatton - May 13th, 2008

Wii storage is a big issue for me. As I posted yesterday, I now have no more room on my Wii’s system memory. But storage can mean something else: Where do we actually put all the accessories the Wii demands us to have?

Not to get sidetracked, but I do have a lot of gaming accessories. These include a full complement of controllers for every system I have that’s hooked up to my television (and that is nine systems) plus a bunch of extra game-specific peripherals (like guitar controllers, the Rock Band drum kit, Wii Wheels, and Scene-It buzzers). But physical storage is a topic for a future post.

Today I want to discuss the options I have to remedy my problem of not having any more room on my Wii for Virtual Console games, WiiWare titles, and Wii Channels.

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Posted in Editorial, Virtual Console, Wii | 2 Comments »

Club Nintendo Members Get Cool Stuff

By Tetris Maximus - April 17th, 2008

If you happen to live in Japan and are a member of Club Nintendo, you could get yourself one of these! It’s a Super Famicom controller that plugs into a Wii Remote so gamers can play Super Famicom games on the Virtual Console in style.

Oh how we wish this was coming to Canada. But fear not: play-asia.com will be selling them pretty soon. I happen to like the Classic Controller, so I probably won’t be getting this. On the other hand, Shaun will have probably bought four by the time you read this.

Posted in Famicom, Super Nintendo, Virtual Console, Wii | 3 Comments »

REVIEW: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

By Jorge Figueiredo - February 18th, 2008

Developed and published by Nintendo for DS.

My introduction to The Legend of Zelda series was through The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube. I can’t tell you why I had never been interested in the series before. Given the number of hours I poured into Wind Waker, you’d think I was a devoted fan of the series since the beginning (you can ask Shaun how obsessed I was with finishing this game).

So you can imagine my glee when Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass debuted for the Nintendo DS. Go ahead. Imagine!

Are you done imagining? Good.

Phantom Hourglass picks up where Wind Waker left off. Link has just finished saving Hyrule (once again), when suddenly he comes into contact with the legendary Ghost Ship. His captain, Tetra, leaps aboard in search of booty, but is essentially kidnapped. In an attempt to save her, Link leaps aboard the Ghost Ship, only to be hurled overboard and lose consciousness.

When he is revived, he finds himself on an island he doesn’t recognize. From here, you’re in control of Link and you must help him find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.

Gameplay essentially switches between transit mode and dungeon-crawling mode. You will either find yourself sailing one of the four seas (on the S.S. Linebeck steam-powered paddle boat), or running around on islands exploring dungeons, solving puzzles, and talking to people.

Like Wind Waker, the production quality of Phantom Hourglass is very high. It’s what we’ve all come to expect from this series. The cel-shaded graphics are tight, and due to the simplistic nature of the design, the animation quality is incredible. It’s a bright, cartoony game. But that doesn’t take anything away from it, in my opinion. In fact, I would say it is very effective at drawing players into the fairy-tale nature of the story. The dual screens are used very effectively, too, allowing a new visual twist to play that wasn’t present in Wind Waker. It’s nice to have access to maps on the top screen.

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Posted in DS, GameCube, Nintendo, Reviews, Virtual Console, Wii | No Comments »

DOWNLOAD UPDATE: February 14, 2008 Edition
(AKA The “No Love” Edition)

By Michael Pugliese - February 17th, 2008

Commanders: Attack of the Genos. available on Xbox LIVE Arcade, offers some fun battle simulation.

In the spirit of Valentine’s day it seems Sony loves to tease. And tease they did this week with almost nothing of interest being released though the PlayStation Store besides the new “Create-A-Level” video for Little Big Planet. Fortunately, anticipation for the title is so huge, that this may be enough for PS3 gamers this week. A demo for MLB 08 The Show and the (Arguably) Punk Pack 2 Rock Band song pack ($6.49 CDN) were also made available for download this week. The PC PlayStation store brings Twisted Metal: Head On ($15.99 CDN) to gamers who may have missed it the first time around (you can check out our very own review of the PSP port here), along with some behind the scenes videos and a PSP wallpaper for the title. Don’t forget to checkout the demo for the super-stylized Patapon, which dropped this week as well.

The big N lets Wii owners choose whether they want get their farm on with the release of Harvest Moon (SNES) or rock out to the to the heavy-metal sounds of Lords of Thunder (TurboGrafx-16) for 800 Wii Points each. I’ve never had the opportunity to check out Lords of Thunder before, but with a description like “a side-scrolling shooter that has you take on the role of a legendary warrior, blasting enemies to heavy-metal tunes” I think I’m missing out. Anyone who checks this out, let me know what you think by email at michael@torontothumbs.com.

Finally, after a big week last week with the release of Poker Smash, and Xbox Originals Ninja Gaiden Black, Black, and Sid Meier’s Pirates hitting the marketplace; Microsoft follows up with the release of Discs of Tron (400 MS Points) and Commanders: Attack of the Genos (800 MS Points) for Xbox LIVE Arcade. In addition, a whole lot of add-on content for titles including Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, Overlord, Need For Speed: ProStreet, PGR4, NBA Live 08, Chessmaster Live, Gripshift, and of course the ever expanding Rock Band was also made available.

Posted in Download Updates, LIVE, PSP, PlayStation 3, Virtual Console | No Comments »

DOWNLOAD UPDATE: January 31, 2008 Edition

By Tetris Maximus - January 31st, 2008

Rez HD has the looks and hooks to keep gamers happy.

There’s not a lot happening online this week from the big three.

Sadly, Nintendo’s brought us only one game this week, but it’s a great one: 1080° Snowboarding is a classic from the Nintendo 64 days (1000 Wii Points). Too many of my controllers were destroyed because of that game. Sony’s also only got the one game available this week: Neopets: Petpet Adventures - The Wand of Wishing ($16.99 CDN). But this is among a tonne of game add-on content for Rock Band and Folklore, two titles that seem to keep getting expansions.

The big story in downloadable content this week? Xbox LIVE Arcade. Rez HD finally makes its debut. It’s an upbeat, trippy, music-intensive game. In addition, the popular Chessmaster series is now available for download. Both titles cost 800 Microsoft Points.

Posted in Download Updates, LIVE, News, PlayStation 3, Virtual Console, Wii | No Comments »

DOWNLOAD UPDATE: January 23, 2008 Edition

By Shaun Hatton - January 23rd, 2008

Undertow is the deal of the week.

This week is arguably more exciting than last in terms of downloadable content available for our favourite consoles. Wii finally busts out Super Street Fighter II on the Virtual Console while Xbox 360 owners are getting the chance to get the critically-acclaimed Undertow absolutely free.

Wii

Looks like Nintendo has gone from releasing three Virtual Console titles per week to just two. But that’s okay because this week’s releases are all about quality over quantity. Nintendo Entertainment System adventure puzzler Adventures of Lolo 2 makes its debut on the Shop Channel and is available for 500 Wii Points.

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Posted in Download Updates, LIVE, News, PlayStation 3, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox 360 | No Comments »