Category: Nintendo 3DS

PETA Still Hates Nintendo: Pokemon Red, White, & Blue

The morons at PETA have released another Pokemon parody to take advantage of the hype surrounding Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. The latest misguided attempt to raise awareness to the organization’s cause is Pokemon Red, White, & Blue. This time around, the group is challenging people to evolve (get it?!?) by urging them to become vegetarian or vegan. Here’s an excerpt from the campaign:

For generations, humans have loved Pokémon, but if Pokémon came to our world and saw how we treated animals, would they love us back? Be a hero for real-life animals by pledging to try vegan.

With the huge selection of delicious vegan meats and alternatives to dairy foods and eggs available, there’s no excuse not to give a vegan diet a try. We’ll send you delicious recipes and tips for living cruelty-free to help you along the way.

Some of you will recall that PETA has a history of picking on wholesome and harmless Nintendo games. In the past, it went after Super Mario Bros. 3D Land with Super Tanooki Skin 2D and attacked Pokemon with Pokemon Black & Blue.

While there are certainly several great reasons to become vegan or vegetarian — both for personal health and the good of the environment — it’s hard to take PETA seriously given its history with Nintendo. When you see mainstream media go after Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, you can see how a violent videogame can be taken out of context to blame social disorders and further an agenda. Exploiting a Super Mario Bros. game or a Pokemon game is just dumb. At worse, those games aren’t the least bit offensive. At best, they’re quite positive. Twisting them in a negative way in order to push your message is pathetic.

Personally, I would love to be vegan or vegetarian. After thinking about PETA’s use of Pokemon to push a meat-free agenda, I want to devour a Smith & Wollensky ribeye.

Anyway, what do you think of PETA’s latest use of Nintendo characters to promote its agenda? Do you agree that it’s a bad way to push a good message? Would any of you like to join me for some all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ in PETA’s honor?

Source

This Week’s Videogame Releases

It is a marvelous week to be a gamer! Millions of people will be picking up Pokemon X and Pokemon Y this week. As someone that spent 700+ hours on Pokemon Pearl and a former writer of a weekly Pokemon column, I’m completely psyched for this game. Another one that’s high on my personal wish list is Beyond: Two Souls. Most of my videogame-journalist friends love it, but a few of them aren’t into it. It really depends how much of a Quantic Dream mark you are. As many of you know, I’m a big-time mark for Quantic Dream games. Fans of awesomely quirky and wickedly deep tactical RPGs should definitely pick up Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness. I absolutely love that series. Honestly, between the three games I just mentioned, I could be a happy gamer for the rest of the year (and more). Lastly, two game-of-the-year editions are hitting store shelves, for those of you that have missed them: Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition and Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition.

So, any of you picking up new games this week?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

With the Yankees 2013 season ending in failure, I’m ditching baseball and getting psyched for the 2013-2014 NBA season. NBA 2K14 should be a great help. I have no idea how this season will end, but when I play, the Miami Heat will not win another title. I know that many of you regular RPadholics aren’t big on the Nintendo 3DS platform, but there are a pair of lovely JRPGs hitting the Nintendo handheld this week: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl and Rune Factory 4. Lastly, Ubi Soft has a pair of trilogy bundles for those looking to maximize their gaming dollars: Assassin’s Creed Ezio Trilogy Edition and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Trilogy Edition.

So, any of you picking up new games this week?

Pokemon Origins Trailer

Pokemon Origins is a four-part animated series that tells the old-school story of Pokemon Red/Blue. While many fans of the Pokemon cartoons known and love Ash Ketchum, fans of the original game have a special place in their hearts for Red. Almost 20 years after the original game’s release, Red finally gets center stage in Pokemon Origins.

While some gamers might not be familiar with Red, they’ll see lots of familiar characters in Pokemon Origins. Professor Oak, Brock, Lance, Team Rocket Giovanni, Reina, and more will be in the show. The real stars, of course, are the Pokemon. While I’m quite fond of many Pokemon from the second generation and beyond, the originals are still my favorite. (In fact, one of my bathrooms is protected by a charmander and a charmeleon.) I’m really looking forward to seeing old-school Pokemon and the original characters from the game in Pokemon Origins.

The first episode is being released in Japan on October 2, 2013 to promote the Pokemon X and Pokemon Y games. The international release date for Pokemon Origins is November 15, 2013. It will be streamed through Nintendo’s Pokemon TV service.

Check out the Pokemon Origins trailer below and let me know what you think (please!). Are you excited for its release? Which original Pokemon starter is your favorite? Bulbasaur for the win!!!

Sonic Lost World Video Interview

Here’s a video interview and screenshot gallery of Sonic Lost World for Wii U. Sega of America associate brand manager Aaron Webber chatted with me about Sonic’s new enemies (The Deadly Six), new gameplay elements, mixing classic Sonic gameplay with those new elements, cooperative play, tie-ins with the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World, and more. Some of the more interesting features include the parkour system (Sonic will no longer come to a dead stop!) and power-ups influenced by the excellent Sonic Colors.

As someone that grew up with old-school Sonic games, I’m always apprehensive about new twists to the old formula. However, Sonic Lost World looks like it has enough classic elements to satisfy longtime Sonic fans and several new features that will appeal to modern gamers.

After you’ve watched the video, please be sure to check out PaulSemel.com’s excellent preview of the game.

[nggallery id=138]

151 Original Pokemon Drawn By 151 Artists Via Twitter

In one of the coolest Pokemon projects ever conceived, Justin Chan put together a collage of the 151 original Pokemon drawn by 151 different artists. The really cool part is that it was all organized over Twitter. In an amazing show of Pokemon love, all 151 Pokemon had assigned artists less than 24 hours after the project hit the Twitterverse. In less than 48 hours, 80 percent of the artwork was complete. In the immortal words of Brian Fellow, “That’s crazy!!!”

Check out a clip of the collage above and download the giant 27MB 8,800 x 6,800 file here. After perusing the image, kindly leave a comment and let me know which Pokemon drawings you like best.

Chan’s Pokemon collage project is an amazing testament to the power of Pokemon and the power of Twitter. I can’t wait for the Johto and Sinnoh versions!

Source

Scribblenauts Unmasked With Geoff Johns and Jim Lee

Here’s a Comic-Con 2013 clip of Scribblenauts Unmasked featuring DC Comics chief creative officer Geoff Johns and co-publisher Jim Lee. The two comic-book legends go over the character creation process in the game and spout some dorky (in that awesome nerd way) zingers. In addition to an adventure set in the DC Universe featuring numerous towns and characters from the comic books, the game’s character creation system features thousands of DCU heroes and villains. You can mix and match physical attributes and superpowers from well-known characters and obscure ones. For fanboys, the character creation system is a dream come true.

As a comic-book nerd, fan of the Scribblenauts series, and fan of developer 5th Cell, I’m super (get it?!?) looking forward to Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. How about you?

Nintendo Selling Refurbished 3DS, DSi XL Hardware

Nintendo’s online store has been updated to include refurbished 3DS and DSi XL hardware. The products come with a one-year warranty and “are guaranteed to be fully functional, but may have minor cosmetic blemishes.” A refurbed 3DS costs $129.99, while DSi XL units are available for $99.99. On Amazon.com, a new 3DS can be had for as low as $165, while a new DSi XL runs for $143. Refurbished hardware bundles packaged with a game are also available.

What do you guys and gals think of Nintendo’s refurb deals? Are they a good value? Or would you rather buy a new system? Any of you planning to pick up a refurbished 3DS or DSi XL?

Source

No Nintendo Press Conference at E3 2013

As Polygon reported yesterday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company will not have a traditional press conference at the E3 2013 trade show. Instead, the company will focus on smaller events. Whether this is a sound strategy or not remains to be seen. What’s certain is that is creates a perception problem for Nintendo. Its major competitors, Microsoft and Sony, are going large with events to promote upcoming console hardware. By not having a competing presser, many pundits believe that the company looks weak, whether that’s a fair judgement or not.

For my part, I couldn’t help but think of the last major console company not to have an E3 presser: Sega. Before it was Microsoft vs. Nintendo vs. Sony, it was Nintendo vs. Sega vs. Sony. I distinctly remember videogame journalists predicting the demise of Sega when the company announced that it wasn’t having an E3 press conference. Many of them had the knee-jerk reaction that it was a sign of the company’s impending doom as a console-hardware manufacturer. And that knee-jerk reaction was right.

Nintendo’s supporters are defending the move by saying that E3 doesn’t matter anymore, the trade show isn’t for the enthusiast press (and by extension, readers of enthusiast outlets) anymore, and that Nintendo plays a different game than the other console companies. I’m not going to argue any of those points because that’s not a debate that can be won. What’s undeniable is that by not having an E3 2013 press conference, Nintendo has created a perception problem that the company’s marketing and PR teams will have to fight.

Of course I want to hear your take on the issue too, because you guys and dolls are smart and awesome. RPadholic smartguy and I touched on it briefly in the RPad.TV live chat, but lets keep the conversation going. What do you think of Nintendo not having an E3 2013 presser?

Source

This Week’s Videogames Releases

Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines is this week’s big videogame release. People love space shooters. People love Aliens. Ergo, this game has a lot of people amped. In other Sega news, Sonic and pals drive through multiple console systems in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. The cover of the game has Sonic in a race car. I’m pretty sure he can run faster than a car, so I don’t know why he’s in it, but the kids seem to love it.

So, any of you picking up new games this week?