radioheadrule83
Banned
UK demo pods, where they are, where they're gonna be
HMV, Virgin, GAME, Gamestation and many other stores all have their DS demo pods as I'm sure you're aware.
Topman, Vue Cinemas, Megabowl and other places are having special demo-events all over the country. You'll be able to go along to any of them between certain dates and have multiple systems at your disposal. The site indicates they'll have lots of games at these events so I'll be hitting the Liverpool Mega Bowl from next week to try out the games I don't have. Check [link=http://www.touchmehere.co.uk]www.touchmehere.co.uk[/link] for details on the Nintendo DS Mall Tour, and click "partners" on the far right hand side to find out which stores and venues are doing similar things near you.
Wario Ware the DS poster child?
Anyone noticed that all of the demo stations have Wario Ware Touched demos running on them currently? That's how it is in my area at any rate. They're getting a lot of attention because of the awesome design of the demo pod, but I'm in two minds as to whether showing this game in every store is a good idea. On the one hand, everyone in our office who has played my copies of Mario 64, Metroid Hunters demo, and the Wario demo -- they all really loved the Wario Ware demo. Some of them have never seen a Wario Ware game before, and although it's hard to tell whether someone really likes something when they're busy laughing out loud from the sheer novelty:-- one or two of them have confessed they found it really addictive. In one sense, you could argue it's the perfect kind of game to demo for this kind of system. It fits the philosophy. On the other hand, it doesn't really show off the full power and potential of the system. I actually found a guy who works for Nintendo who agrees!
My meeting with a Nintendo rep today
I bumped into a Nintendo rep in HMV today for the second time in as many weeks. Last week he was in GAME. He seems to be touring the shops even after all the product placement stuff is in place. For what reason I don't know. I got talking to him simply by hanging around the DS demo pod & games area. I explained that I already have my DS thanks to the deal on the official Nintendo Europe site. I said that I was just checking to see if I could get the instore model to boot to pictochat and try it out.... Impossible. All the demo pods quite rightly lock the cart slots out from theives. In an unfortunate addition to this counter-measure, the machines are set to automatic boot. So basically you don't get to play about in the OS or load Pictochat. I said I really wanted to try out Mario or Metroid in multiplayer too. No sooner than the words were uttered, the rep pulled out his own DS and asked if I had Metroid with me or not... it is my understanding it wouldn't matter either way. I was gonna get my first multiplayer game of Metroid Prime: Hunters in multiplayer. Awesome!
I have to say, having lived out my first week of Nintendo DS ownership, I would be tempted to feel that the Metroid demo is the weak link in my tiny game library. I found the single player challenges in the Metroid demo a bit underwhelming. They show some cool FMV, cool menus, and the fact that FPS games control perfectly. However, it's quite obvious that this is an expo-specific tech demo rather than a good representation of a final game. The xenomorph jelly metroid things are easy prey, and what vicious ones there are clinging to you are soon shawn off with a good old morph ball bomb. The multiplayer was a wholly different story -- and it proved, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the problem with Metroid Prime 2's multiplayer is the lock-on controls. It was a really good game and it totally killed my lunch hour. I won
I can't wait to play this again.
So we start talking about the demo pods again. I asked him if they've been getting a good reaction, and he said very much so. One of my friends from work was now playing the demo station at this point, so I took the time to explain to the rep everyone where I work absolutely love the Wario Ware demo. Laughing, he turns to me and says he thinks it's crap! ... I was a bit taken back to be hearing it from a guy in a Nintendo shirt with a badge hanging around his neck, but I think he was just being honest as he knew he didn't have to be the salesman with me: which I appreciate. He said he wasn't sure if it'd sell the system well to people, and would rather Nintendo had pushed for Mario, Metroid or one of the other games in them instead. From now until launch, it looks like wario-ville though! Should be interesting to see how that plays out.
I told him what I'd be picking up at launch, and that I couldn't wait for more games to be out. There and then he threw me what appeared to be a company line. There are blahblah-hundred games in development. That kind of thing. Right next to us were a bunch of custom DVD cases - with "PSP Coming Soon" written on them, with nice graphic images of the machine. The magazine racks a little further away even had the current issue of Edge & other magazines which have emblazoned themselves with the PSPs image. I couldn't resist - I asked him what he thought of the system.
"I think that for games, this is the better machine. But for multimedia functions and things like that I think it's gonna be really good."
I've only played Ridge Racers on machines in local shops, overmarked to the tune of £450. For my personal tastes, his quote rings true. I'm not interested in the PSP lineup yet. I'm interested in what it does. All the same, I couldn't help but feel he'd switched salesman mode back on a little, so I told him that while I thought what I had in my hands was absolutely fantastic, PSP would probably be good for the kinds of games I have on my PS2. I said I felt that I'd almost certainly pick one up myself. Obviously and quite rightly, there was no dissent from this chap just because he works for Nintendo. He was pretty cool actually. I thanked him for the good game of Metroid and explained I had to get back to work. Now I'm just hoping he's still around town in the near future, so I can play him again. He's pretty much the only competition I'll have until March 11!
Thom
HMV, Virgin, GAME, Gamestation and many other stores all have their DS demo pods as I'm sure you're aware.
Topman, Vue Cinemas, Megabowl and other places are having special demo-events all over the country. You'll be able to go along to any of them between certain dates and have multiple systems at your disposal. The site indicates they'll have lots of games at these events so I'll be hitting the Liverpool Mega Bowl from next week to try out the games I don't have. Check [link=http://www.touchmehere.co.uk]www.touchmehere.co.uk[/link] for details on the Nintendo DS Mall Tour, and click "partners" on the far right hand side to find out which stores and venues are doing similar things near you.
Wario Ware the DS poster child?
Anyone noticed that all of the demo stations have Wario Ware Touched demos running on them currently? That's how it is in my area at any rate. They're getting a lot of attention because of the awesome design of the demo pod, but I'm in two minds as to whether showing this game in every store is a good idea. On the one hand, everyone in our office who has played my copies of Mario 64, Metroid Hunters demo, and the Wario demo -- they all really loved the Wario Ware demo. Some of them have never seen a Wario Ware game before, and although it's hard to tell whether someone really likes something when they're busy laughing out loud from the sheer novelty:-- one or two of them have confessed they found it really addictive. In one sense, you could argue it's the perfect kind of game to demo for this kind of system. It fits the philosophy. On the other hand, it doesn't really show off the full power and potential of the system. I actually found a guy who works for Nintendo who agrees!
My meeting with a Nintendo rep today
I bumped into a Nintendo rep in HMV today for the second time in as many weeks. Last week he was in GAME. He seems to be touring the shops even after all the product placement stuff is in place. For what reason I don't know. I got talking to him simply by hanging around the DS demo pod & games area. I explained that I already have my DS thanks to the deal on the official Nintendo Europe site. I said that I was just checking to see if I could get the instore model to boot to pictochat and try it out.... Impossible. All the demo pods quite rightly lock the cart slots out from theives. In an unfortunate addition to this counter-measure, the machines are set to automatic boot. So basically you don't get to play about in the OS or load Pictochat. I said I really wanted to try out Mario or Metroid in multiplayer too. No sooner than the words were uttered, the rep pulled out his own DS and asked if I had Metroid with me or not... it is my understanding it wouldn't matter either way. I was gonna get my first multiplayer game of Metroid Prime: Hunters in multiplayer. Awesome!
I have to say, having lived out my first week of Nintendo DS ownership, I would be tempted to feel that the Metroid demo is the weak link in my tiny game library. I found the single player challenges in the Metroid demo a bit underwhelming. They show some cool FMV, cool menus, and the fact that FPS games control perfectly. However, it's quite obvious that this is an expo-specific tech demo rather than a good representation of a final game. The xenomorph jelly metroid things are easy prey, and what vicious ones there are clinging to you are soon shawn off with a good old morph ball bomb. The multiplayer was a wholly different story -- and it proved, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the problem with Metroid Prime 2's multiplayer is the lock-on controls. It was a really good game and it totally killed my lunch hour. I won
I can't wait to play this again.So we start talking about the demo pods again. I asked him if they've been getting a good reaction, and he said very much so. One of my friends from work was now playing the demo station at this point, so I took the time to explain to the rep everyone where I work absolutely love the Wario Ware demo. Laughing, he turns to me and says he thinks it's crap! ... I was a bit taken back to be hearing it from a guy in a Nintendo shirt with a badge hanging around his neck, but I think he was just being honest as he knew he didn't have to be the salesman with me: which I appreciate. He said he wasn't sure if it'd sell the system well to people, and would rather Nintendo had pushed for Mario, Metroid or one of the other games in them instead. From now until launch, it looks like wario-ville though! Should be interesting to see how that plays out.
I told him what I'd be picking up at launch, and that I couldn't wait for more games to be out. There and then he threw me what appeared to be a company line. There are blahblah-hundred games in development. That kind of thing. Right next to us were a bunch of custom DVD cases - with "PSP Coming Soon" written on them, with nice graphic images of the machine. The magazine racks a little further away even had the current issue of Edge & other magazines which have emblazoned themselves with the PSPs image. I couldn't resist - I asked him what he thought of the system.
"I think that for games, this is the better machine. But for multimedia functions and things like that I think it's gonna be really good."
I've only played Ridge Racers on machines in local shops, overmarked to the tune of £450. For my personal tastes, his quote rings true. I'm not interested in the PSP lineup yet. I'm interested in what it does. All the same, I couldn't help but feel he'd switched salesman mode back on a little, so I told him that while I thought what I had in my hands was absolutely fantastic, PSP would probably be good for the kinds of games I have on my PS2. I said I felt that I'd almost certainly pick one up myself. Obviously and quite rightly, there was no dissent from this chap just because he works for Nintendo. He was pretty cool actually. I thanked him for the good game of Metroid and explained I had to get back to work. Now I'm just hoping he's still around town in the near future, so I can play him again. He's pretty much the only competition I'll have until March 11!
Thom
