Pretty weird set of things to see together, isn't it? I mean, it's nothing new, but the December sales reinforced this yet again.

On the one hand, the Wii crushed all previous December sales records that month, selling 3.8 million systems, by far the best ever for any system in a single month. Total sales for the year were down slightly from 2008, but thanks to December, not by much. NSMBWii is a massive hit and sold millions. Nintendo-developed Wii games were six of the month's top ten, and it was pretty much the same for the year.

But on the other hand, no third-party Wii games were in the top 10, and the sales numbers we know are mediocre at best; third-party Wii sales aren't all awful, actually, but they aren't stunning either. They don't come anywhere close to first-party Wii sales, and in many cases don't match third-party sales on the PS3 or 360 either.

Of course, a lot of that is the third parties' own fault. Why would it be surprising for rail shooters to not sell that great, honestly? It shouldn't be! Rail shooters are a niche genre! And yet EA (Dead Space: Extraction) and Capcom (the second Umbrella Chronicles game) seem surprised that their rail shooters didn't sell as well as they hoped, and might cut Wii support as a result. Third parties just aren't putting their better teams on the Wii, and then they complain when their B and C team efforts get destroyed by Nintendo, one of the world's best developers. Hmm, yeah, that's hard to understand.

But anyway, it's definitely odd to see the Wii sell so incredibly well, while third parties still complain so much and overall third party support on the Wii really probably hasn't matched the GC's support in terms of quality, much less the PS2 or something. It's got quantity, and vast amounts of shovelware, but quality... not so much.

But still, considering how great Nintendo's own games are, the system fully deserves to sell as well as it is, I think. Hopefully eventually some third parties will get a clue.

Oh yeah, and I'll get a Wii sometime this year for sure...

Flash game. Played it once, got 20 lines and 2320 points. Interesting idea... though maybe a bit dizzying. :)

http://www.firstpersontetris.com/

Well, this is unique.

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYG9tmgC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

It seems to be a parody of those old 1980's video game review shows like GamePro (yes, the magazine actually had a show at one point), and a few others I forget the name of.

I don't know if this looks awesome or stupid... probably pretty cool, but we'll see. Better Transformers designs than the recent movies at least, though. :) I don't hate the movie designs as much as some people, but yeah, they just aren't the same as the classics... this game isn't quite the straight classic designs, but it's close, and that's great.

As for the gameplay though, that we'll have to see.

<div style="width: 480px;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=59860"/><param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=59860" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object><div style="font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: center; width: 480px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; background-color: black; height: 32px;"><div><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com" title="GameTrailers.com">Video Games</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/transformers-war-for-cybertron/12451" title="Transformers: War for Cybertron">Transformers: War for Cybertron</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-transformers-war/59860" title="Exclusive Debut Trailer HD">Exclusive Debut Trailer HD</a></div><div style="padding-top: 3px;"><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://xbox360.gametrailers.com/" title="XBox 360">XBox 360</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://ps3.gametrailers.com/" title="PS3">Playstation 3</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://wii.gametrailers.com/" title="Wii">Nintendo Wii</a></div></div></div>

Because it needs a thread, of course.

Anyway, so far, the game's mostly good, very much like Phantom Hourglass but with a somewhat better story and less choice in where you can go (because instead of being able to sail freely around you're stuck on the tracks). Because you don't need to go up the tower each time the fact that you're returning there each time means less, and I think I'd actually call that a bad change. Also, I've heard that the game is harder than PH, but apart from what I'm about to complain about below I haven't really noticed that. The music, graphics, and gameplay are all good, and it's just as fun to play as PH was. Mostly a good game.

So, what's the real problem? The flute. Specifically, those songs you need to sing on it in time with the spirit things. I'm at the second of those, with the spirit in the snow area, and I got there several days ago but can't get any farther because it's pretty much impossible. I might just have to give up here, I don't know... it's bad enough that it's a music game thing with timed button presses, and remember that that is something I'm HORRIBLE at, but beyond that, in order to press the buttons you have to BLOW INTO THE MICROPHONE! It's just ridiculous. Oh yeah, and the game gives you no indication of what you're doing wrong or how well you're doing until you suddenly fail after the third time you're supposed to play the notes. Cruel. So yeah, I'm stuck there and don't know if I want to keep trying... it's just ridiculously hard.

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According to Pat, The Haitian slaves overthrowing their masters was a act of Satan?

clicky

Quote:Mike Fleming and I have just confirmed that Sony Pictures decided today to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after Sam Raimi pulled out of Spider-Man 4 because he felt he couldn't make its summer release date and keep the film's creative integrity. This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, the studio will focus on a reboot script by Jamie Vanderbilt with a new director and a new cast. All this took place today at meeting on the lot today. An official Sony Pictures news release about it is

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Bah, doesn't he have a sense of humor? Sure, the game looks awful, but shouldn't it get some points for the ridiculous Alvin and the Chipmunks music? :)

... says an article on ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/new...id=4795625

Sounds like it's real though, they've got some details, such as that the original creator of NBA Jam is working for EA now, and they own the rights to the series name... those sound promising. NBA Jam T.E. is the best basketball game ever, even if the ones after it weren't quite as great it's still awesome to see it some back.

I only wish it was with Midway (poor, semi-dead Midway...) and not EA... but oh well.