A few notes about the site

I know the site has been pretty dead lately, but that's because there's barely been any news lately. Wednesday is Nintendo's E3 Press Conference and we'll have loads of news then. But for now, we'll just have to deal with the low amount of news. Also, remember my story I was going to create called Super Smash Bros. Unleashed Chaos? Well, that's not happening. I'm sorry to anyone who was interested, but I just don't have time anymore and I've kind of lost interest in it.

As for the Kirby Hats I've been posting, I'm done with that. They are really good fanmade creations, but there are just too many of them and I don't see a point in keeping posting them. So, if you want to see the rest, just keep checking the "Kirby's SSBB Hats" thread on the NSider forums for updates.

As for Thought of the Day, I will no longer be using that label. If I ever want to post my thoughts about something, it'll just be its own thing. And lastly, I plan on buying Mario Party 8 very soon. I have 3 Wii Remotes and I want a game that I can use those for, and me and my sister enjoy the Mario Party series. I'll tell you guys what I think of it once I buy it. That's all for announcements for the site. Please spread the word about NES Online!

6/30 Thought of the Day: Impressions of Video Games Live

So, I told you I would write out a report on Video Games Live. Well, I am. And it's going to be really long. I'm warning you now. What is contained in this report is pure awesomeness. Let me begin. I went down to Video Games Live with my friends, Andrew and Justin. Neither of them are hardcore gamers, but they have played a few games. Anyways, we get there and there's a mass of people waiting to get inside. There are a few things to do there so we walk around. I see a group of people wearing the overclocked remix shirt, so I thought they must be from the awesome site, Overclocked Remix (www.ocremix.org). I went up to them and asked if they were from the site, and they were all like possibly. I then told them it was a great site and gave them a thumbs up and then went back to my friends. It was cool meeting them, though it would have been much better if I could have met the crew from Go Nintendo, who will be there tonight. Oh well.

Anyways, they had Space Invader going on a big screen and anyone could play (though there was a long line). I think they had a prize for the high scorer. They also had a Guitar Hero II competition two floors up. We went inside after a while and before the concert started, they brought out the Top 10 costume contestants. The Top 3 was a little girl dressed as Zelda, a guy dressed as a L-shaped Tetris block, and a guy as Megaman. The Tetris guy won, which I agreed with. Then, they played this video of a guy in a pacman suit being chased by guys in ghost suits in the middle of a city. It was hilarious. If I can find it on youtube, I'll post it for you guys. Oh, and I bought a poster for Video Games Live for $10.

Anyways, now the concert actually starts. First up was a medley of classic arcade games, that included pong, frogger, and loads more. The music went well with the video and I enjoyed it. Oh, and please note that for the rest of the report, I am guessing the order of the songs. I don't remember the exact order. I believe the second song was from Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid, came up on screen for a short intro and then the music/video began. During the song, a guy in a black suit holding a gun, with an exclamation mark on top of his head (probably something that happens in the game to show an enemy), came out on stage. Soon after, a guy in a crate came on stage (Snake) and moved around a little. It was pretty entertaining.

Then they played music from the game Myst. I had never heard of it so was interested in seeing what it was all about, but I couldn't tell from the video. It was kind of weird, but the music was good. I believe Tron was in the first half as well. They played music from Tron and it was pretty cool. It really went with the video well and I enjoyed that performance. Advent Rising was another thing they played. There were 3 movements to it I believe. The first was slow, the second was fast, and the third was about medium. I enjoyed all 3 movements and it went with the video really well. The only thing that I thought was odd was the third movement's video. I couldn't really tell what was going on all the time.

They also had music from God of War and Civilization IV. Both of them were really good. The videos were really interesting and made me want to see more. The music was captivating and really awesome. I loved the action music played for those songs. And last but not least for the first half was The Legend of Zelda. When I saw Koji Kondo come on screen for an intro, I knew it was either Mario or Zelda. Either way, I was excited. The Legend of Zelda music was my favorite of the night. It was AMAZING. The music sounded so good with the orchestra and it was awesome hearing it on stage. The video took scenes from all of the Legend of Zelda games, including Twilight Princess, which was great. I especially loved when the orchestra played a slow theme and suddenly started building up into the main theme once again. The video went so well with the music at that part especially. After it ended, they had a screen up that said loading Act II, which was pretty funny.

So, after me and my friends walked around for a minute or two, we went back in. I heard some of the people working there saying they were running late and may have to cut a song. Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that they did, and more than just one song cut. Anyways, they played stuff from World of Warcraft, and since I haven't played it, I didn't recognize any of it, but the music was great. They did Medal of Honor as well, but instead of using game footage, they used real footage of World War II, which was touching and the music went really well with the footage of the War.

They then brought out a guy named Martin Leung. You may have heard of him as the Video Game Pianist, or maybe as the Blindfolded Pianist. I'm sure many of you have seen him in action, blindfolded, playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on YouTube. Well, he was there to perform, not blindfolded though, a medley of Final Fantasy music. I didn't recognize the music, but it was amazing. Parts of performance looked like someone hit fast forward on their remote. His hands moved so fast and he jumped a few times in his chair. He was really into the music and it made the performance so much better. It was one of the highlights of the show.

Then they played music from Kingdom Hearts. I was excited, but then they said that they weren't allowed to use footage from the game, so they used footage from Disney movies. It was still good, but it wasn't the same. Either way, the music was awesome. They played the main theme and I love that music. It was definitely my 4th favorite from the show. My 2nd and 3rd favorites were at the end of the show, though not the very last one (I'll get to that song later). Koji Kondo appeared on screen again, and I knew it was Mario time.

This performance was awesome! They used stuff from every Mario game I could think of, except Super Mario Galaxy (though they showed a few seconds from something that kind of looked like it, so I could be wrong). The music was awesome and of course, went really well with the video. I loved the part where they played the underworld theme and they showed scenes of Wario and Waluigi and of Mario swinging Bowser around. It was great. After Mario, they said we had time for one more song and the audience, me included, screamed out Halo. Even though I'm a Nintendo fanboy, I love the Halo music and the games are actually quite fun. So, they played Halo music and it was great. I really liked the main theme part of course and it sounds good. Then the video stopped for a second and another video started, which was a teaser for Halo 3. The music continued and it ended in a big finish that sounded awesome.

But it wasn't over just yet. They told us that if wanted an encore, we had to wave our cellphones, DS's, PSP's, and such around. We did, and instead of an encore, they treated us to a new song. This was the last performance, and it didn't go so well. I'll explain in a second. They said these few things to get us going: "The company is Square-Enix. The composer is Nobuo Uematsu. The game is Final Fantasy VII. The song is One Winged Angel" and they started... or not. They were having technical difficulties with the video. So, they just started playing the music. I enjoyed the music, but it wasn't the same without the video, which sucked, but oh well. And that was the end of the concert.

I just now realized at home that we didn't hear music from Sonic, Castlevania, the Tom Clancy series, the Lucasarts Medley, and more. My guess is that we weren't supposed to hear those. I think they switch it up every concert and they sometimes play different songs. They couldn't have skipped that many songs. So, all in all, I really, really enjoyed it and would love to go see it again. My favorite was The Legend of Zelda Medley, which was pure awesomeness.Everything about Video Games Live, the video and the music and the lights, they all just fit perfectly together. The orchestra sounded amazing throughout the night. I was so glad I could go and I'm glad I made that decision. It's well worth it. And now to go on YouTube and watch videos of it because I just haven't had enough.

6/29 Thought of the Day: Wii Play

I said I would talk about Wii Play, so I will. I'm going to rate the game based on the Games, Control, Sound, Multiplayer, and Extras. First up, the Games. Let's start with Table Tennis. I have Table Tennis in my basement, so it was easy for me to compare with the Wii Play version of Table Tennis. Which is easier? The Wii Play one of course. Which is more fun? It's a tie. The Wii Play version is pretty easy to play. The only issue I have with it is it's hard to hit balls when they go on the sides of the table. It could be that I'm just not getting it right though, but that does become somewhat of a pain. The next game, Laser Hockey, is one of my two favorite games. Laser Hockey is easy to play and is as fun as actual Air Hockey. The thing that makes it even better though is the Laser Hockey table design and sounds and stuff. It is so much fun to play.

One of the other games in Wii Play is Fishing. Fishing is pretty easy to do. You just move the Wii Remote as if it was a fishing rod and put it in the water. In fact, it's too easy to do. Even though it was fun at first, it got sort of boring to me. Another game that's in Wii Play is Find Mii. This game, as the name implies, uses Mii's. You have to do things like find 2 matching Mii's or something like that. It's not too hard, but sometimes I find myself selecting a Mii right next to the one I wanted to select on accident and sometimes I don't understand how 2 of the Mii's are similar at all. Other than that though, it's fun. Pose Mii is another game, one that gets pretty hard. At first, it's kind of easy but it gets really intense later. I would probably say this is my 4th favorite game.

Another game is my other top 2 favorite: Shooting Range. It's basically Duck Hunt, but you shoot Ducks, Targets, UFO's, and stuff. It is a lot of fun and easy to do with the Wii Remote. It feels like you have a gun in your hand and your blasting the targets. The option of using A or B to shoot is also great. Billiards, one of the other games, is actually more fun than I thought. I was honestly thinking I would probably never play Billiards, but it's actually not too bad. One of the only issues I have is that it sometimes doesn't register me pulling the Wii Remote backwards, but other than that, it's great.

The last two games are called Charge! and Tanks!. Charge! has you riding a crow into scarecrows for points. It's pretty weird, yet entertaining. It's pretty easy to jump, though it's a little hard to steer. Tanks! is probably my 3rd favorite game. You have the option of using just the Wii Remote to steer and shoot or use the Wii Remote to shoot and the Nunchuk for steering. I have yet to try it with the Wii Remote, but using the Nunchuk is easy. It's a fun game to play because it gets kind of challenging after a few levels. Overall, I give the games a 8/10. They are all pretty fun, but there are a few that lose their appeal after a while.

The controls are mostly spot on, except for a few issues that I mentioned, so I give the controls a 9/10. The sound is great, and I don't really remember much of them right now, but that's probably because I haven't played it too much. I would say a 9/10 for sound. The multiplayer is one of the best parts of the game. It greatly improves the fun of the games, so I give it a 10/10. As for the extras, there are a few things that are in that category.

In Wii Play, you can poke your Mii's on the Main Menu, select a different paddle in Laser Hockey by pressing A and B, shoot down targets and ducks and thigns with 2 Wii Remotes in 1 player, and best of all, Wii Play comes with a Wii Remote. I give the extras a 10/10. That gives Wii Play an overall rating of about a 9/10. It's definitely worth buying, especially if you need another Wii Remote. I now have 3 Wii Remotes (one for me and one each for my sisters). Check it out!

6/27 Thought of the Day: The Appeal of Wii

So, I had my graduation party on Sunday and I thought I should post about what we did, which was play Wii. I had one or two people that have played games before and a few that really weren't gamers at all. The first two people arrived, Ashley and Andrew, and we played some Wii Sports Tennis. It was me vs. Ashley and Andrew and I won, but after a while, it became hard to win. They both caught on quickly and I even had to take on some power serves from Ashley. We then transitioned into Wii Sports Golf. At first, it was fun, but by the third and final hole, we were all getting bored. I think I even heard Ashley say that she has to go soon or something like that. The party was turning into a disaster.

But then, two more friends, Justin and Amanda, showed up, and so did the pizza. We went and ate pizza and snacks, and while we were doing so, another friend named Tiffany showed up. After we ate, we all went back down to the basement where I had my Wii hooked up to a projector and sound system. We started to play Wii Play, but it turns out that I had to unlock the games (It was the first time I put it in Wii) so we stopped playing after one or two games.

We decided to play Mario Kart 64, and this is where the fun started. We switched off playing since there were now 6 of us. Ashley was the only one that played this a lot when she was young and thus, tended to win whenever she played, unless I played. My friend Justin who isn't a gamer, usually ended up in second place, which was pretty funny. All in all, this game really was fun to play and it showed everyone how great the Virtual Console part of Wii was. While playing Mario Kart 64, my friend Lindsey showed up (she had work earlier) and when asked to play Mario Kart 64, she declined by saying she isn't a gamer. I was determined for Wii's motion control to win her over and win everyone else over, so we started to play Wii Sports Bowling.

It was like magic. Everyone figured out the controls right away and it was a fun game. Even Lindsey, the non-gamer, really liked Wii Sports Bowling and everyone remarked that it was great that it came with Wii. A little while later, Amanda said that she had to go. Justin, who is her boyfriend, asked her why since he had to give her a ride. Amanda promised she would go to someone else's party too, so she had to leave early and I heard Justin say that he wanted to stay and play Wii. Eventually, we decided to have cake and then they left and we went back down and continued Wii Sports Bowling.

All in all, Wii was a hit. It was appealing to both gamers and non-gamers alike and I'm glad I had it set up for my friends to play. So yup, that's it. Oh yea, just so you know, the plan was to go with Justin and Andrew to Video Games Live, but Justin is unable to take off work. So, Justin is giving his ticked to our other friend Jason, who is very much a gamer (He registered on the forums under the name DDRFlip) and he will be going with me and Andrew. I'll definitely be writing up a long thing about that concert because I just know it's going to be amazing. And that's all. Peace.

Classic Controller Goodness: 6/20 Thought of the Day

Today, I bought a Classic Controller for Wii, and I must say, I'm really happy I did. It's awesome! I tried it with a few of my VC games and I'm loving it. It feels really light and comfortable. It's a great controller. I played Super Mario Bros. with it and it felt great. I think the two biggest games that were impacted by the use of the Classic Controller were StarFox 64 and Mario Kart 64.

Both of those games were easier when played with the classic controller. Mario Kart 64 felt so smooth in playing and StarFox 64 was much easier to play thanks to the controller layout. All in all, I'm glad I purchased it. Oh, and one more interesting tidbit that I noticed. You can move around the cursor on the Wii Menu and select things with the Classic Controller. I didn't know you could do that, so that was an added bonus.

So, I highly recommend getting one if you don't have one already. VC games are much better with them and you can even use them for some Wii games, like Brawl. And lastly, I wanted to mention something completely unrelated to the Classic Controller. I MIGHT be going to Video Games Live. More details on that later.

6/17 Thought of the Day: My Twilight Princess Impressions

Today, I rented Twilight Princess for the second time. Yes, rented. I don't own it, but I do plan on buying it soon, hopefully. The reason I never bought it before was because of a past experience with a Legend of Zelda game. I have The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the GameCube and it is a good game and all, but I was constantly getting confused as to what to do next. Plus, the beginning part kind of dragged on and got kind of boring for me. I feared that Twilight Princess would be the same. Soon after it came out, I heard many good things about it and finally rented it.

Twilight Princess is one of my favorite games of all time. The storyline is great. Everytime I play, My sisters tell me to call them so they can watch me play. It's so interesting to see what will happen next. The graphics are amazing and so is the gameplay. The Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo really makes the game awesome. I love killing bad guys by slashing them with the Wii Remote or making Link spin his sword with the Nunchuk. I also love being Wolf Link. The Twilight Realm is very creepy and I like the added challenges it brings.

The game is also very long, as I soon discovered. By the time I had to turn it in, I still had a lot left. That's why I rented it again. I don't have enough money to buy the game, and I usually don't repeat single player games too much, so I rented it. Anyways, I continued where I left off and I feared that I would forget the controls. When I started the game back up, everything came back to me. The controls are so intuitive and perfect for the game that I easily remembered what to do next. I only have one issue with the controls: Jumping. When you want to jump, you quickly tilt the control stick upward. The control stick is also used for moving, so sometimes I would just move forward instead of jump. Despite that, the controls are great.

I wasn't that big of a Legend of Zelda fan before, but Twilight Princess has really got me into The Legend of Zelda. I look forward to the next Zelda game coming out, Phantom Hourglass for the DS, which I will definitely try. I highly recommend Twilight Princess to Zelda fans and non-Zelda fans. I give the game a 9.7/10.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Time

I rented The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the 2nd time today. I'll be putting up a Thought of the Day about that tonight hopefully, along with an explanation as to why I didn't buy it before. Sorry for not updating so much, but I've been busy with a few things, mainly my cousin's wedding this week. After this upcoming week, things should be much better in terms of posting on this site.

6/11 Thought of the Day: StarFox 64

Well, this past Saturday, I got 1,000 Wii Points. After hearing a lot of praise about StarFox 64, I decided to check it out. I downloaded it and I played the 1 player mode. I got through the first two levels, but had to turn it off because I had to go somewhere. From what I did get to play, I was interested. It certainly seemed fun. On Sunday, I went to my grandparents' house and took my Wii like I do most of the time. I then started to play StarFox 64. The first two levels were easy since I had played them before, but they were still fun. By the time I had started the 3rd level, my sister started saying she wanted to play Cooking Mama: Cook Off on Wii.

I told her to wait because I had just gotten StarFox 64 and I really wanted to play it more. I continued to play StarFox 64 and she continued to bug me. As I kept playing, she started to stop bugging me. By the time I had gotten to the last level, she was giving me tips and was into the game. So, how was it? Awesome. It was a lot of fun, though I didn't like the Landmaster Tank level as much as any of the Arwing levels. The Andross battle was intense. Andross scared me the first time I saw him. It was creepy and really crazy. I beat him and felt thoroughly satisfied with myself.

All in all, it is an awesome game. I can definitely see great replay value and I will definitely play it more. I can't give it a rating right now though since I haven't played the multiplayer yet. But, if I had to rate the 1 player mode, I would give it a 9.5, with .5 taken out because of the Landmaster Tank level being not as good as the Arwing levels, though it was fun. All in all, it was a great game. It was the first time I had ever played a StarFox game, and I loved it. Now I know why Fox is a popular character. Before, he was just some other character in Super Smash Bros., but now I have motivation to play as him. I strongly suggest downloading StarFox 64 if you don't have it already. It's awesome. Once I can convince my sisters to play it with me or once my friends come over, I'll post my multiplayer thoughts. I have $20 and I'm thinking of getting more Wii Points with it. Once a game that I'm interested in comes out, I'll download it.

6/6 Thought of the Day: The Fate of Mario Party

So far, there have been 8 Mario Party games. The general consensus is that each game gets worse and worse. I kind of agree with that, but can't fully agree since I've only played the first 5 Mario Party games. From the first 5 games, I must say that I agree. The first Mario Party was a lot of fun, and as they continued, they felt repetitive and not as fun. The minigames weren't as original and some features were changed that I thought made the game worse. Don't get me wrong, they're still great games, but I just think that they have slowly been getting worse.

As for Mario Party 6, 7, and 8, from what I've heard, they too aren't that good. Mario Party 6 started the use of the microphone and I've heard mixed things about it, and just recently, Mario Party 8 was released. This game has received low scores from many gaming sites and from people that have bought the game. The reasons they state for the low score are that the game feels kind of boring, the graphics are of the gamecube, some of the minigames seem like the motion controls were added on at the last second, and other things like that. Will there be another Mario Party? Most likely. Will it use the Wii to its full potential? I don't know. But what exactly would make a Mario Party game as fun as the original?

If another Mario Party were to be made, it would be made for Wii, so in order to become a AAA title, it would have to use the Wii to its full potential. That means using better graphics than before and showing Wii's true graphical power. That means making minigames that are completely original and fun to use with the Wii Remote's motion sensing, and not feel tacked on. That means adding fun features to it, like a Duel Mode from the earlier Mario Party games. And lastly, the thing that would make Mario Party a sure hit: online play.

I mean, think about it. The best part about Mario Party games are their multiplayer aspects. They are a lot of fun to play with friends, but the challenge is being able to play with people. There are only so many people to play with nearby and so many times to play together. But if you were to be able to go online, that would be a whole different story. If you could match up against random players and/or players registered with friend codes (yea, I hate them, but Nintendo is giving up on them anytime soon), that would make the Mario Party experience amazing. It would bring the multiplayer aspect to another level and it would surely be a hit. If only Nintendo would do such a thing for Mario Party 9. We can only dream for now and hope that Nintendo has got the hint.

6/5 Thought of the Day: Nintendo TV Shows/Movies part 3

Sorry for the delay guys, but as I said before, there were technical difficulties with the site and I couldn't post it yesterday. Anyways, today's thoughts will be nice and short since I just got back from a band concert, where I performed with 3 different groups, and I'm really tired. So, time to talk about my Animal Crossing movie idea, sort of. I had an idea of a movie where someone moves into a town and starts a new life there, just like in Animal Crossing. I also envisioned seeing many characters from the Animal Crossing games in that town, like Tom Nook, Mable and Sable, Tortimer, Mr. Resetti, and more. Well, it turns out that my idea ended up coming true.

Last December, an Animal Crossing movie premiered in theaters in Japan. There has been no word on a US release, and for some reason, I don't think we'll be getting it. Point is, my idea shows the simplicity of Animal Crossing and shows the many fun things you can do in it. The movie, which turned out to actually happen, seems to follow the same structure. From I've seen of the movie through trailers and pictures, it seems to be very faithful to Animal Crossing and looks like a really good movie. I just wish it would be brought over to the US. That would be so amazing. Anyways, that was what I wanted to say. The Animal Crossing series has grown more popular and it deserves a movie to release in theaters here.

6/2 Thought of the Day: Nintendo TV Shows/Movies part 1

This is something I've thought about many times. What if Nintendo were to make at TV show or movie about one of their current franchises? Yes, they have done it in the past, but I can see awesome potential for one now. I have a few ideas in particular. Why not make a Super Smash Bros. TV show or Movie? That would be amazing! The story could be something like this:

"In our universe, there are many dimensions. Each has different world and people inside of it, and different wonders to experience. But there is one being that is not in any dimension in particular, a being that rules all of the dimensions: Master Hand. The Master Hand watches over the dimensions in hope of creating peace in all of them. But one day, another being appears, one that is the complete opposite of Master Hand: Crazy Hand. Crazy Hand's goal is to take over all of the dimensions by creating evil villains for the people in the dimensions and destroying all that is good. This war of supreme beings, Master Hand vs. Crazy Hand, causes a catastrophe.

An inter-dimensional portal is created. People from one dimension encounter people from other dimensions. The chaos starts when an evil creature named Bowser kidnaps a princess named Peach in one of the dimensions. Mario goes after Bowser in an effort to save the princess. Meanwhile, Bowser comes face to face with an evil man named Ganondorf, who has also kidnapped a princess, named Zelda. Mario encounters a man named Link, who is searching for Zelda in Mario's dimension. As time goes on, more and more dimensions are mixed, and soon, the people from all of the dimensions join together to create two teams, one of good and one of evil. As days go by, everyone is transported throughout each of the dimensions and things get more and more chaotic. It is up to the heroes of the dimensions to stop the dark creatures of the dimensions, and only when they do that, can they close the dimensional portal, and thus end the war between Master Hand and Crazy Hand."

I think that would make a great TV show/Movie, but for a movie, it might be crammed full of stuff. I see it as more of a TV show, one that would be so awesome to watch. A few other ideas I have are of Mario Kart and Animal Crossing. Over the next two days, I'll tell you about those ideas. Please post your comments about my Super Smash Bros. TV Show/Movie idea.

6/1 Thought of the Day: Wii Channels

Today, I'm going to try to make it pretty short. I'm pretty tired after meeting a family whose daughter might marry my cousin. So yea, not too much on this post. Anyways, I'm going to tell you guys my ideas for some Wii Channels. We already have the Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Forecast Channel, News Channel, Internet Channel, and Everybody Votes Channel. There are a few other announced channels coming in the future to Wii too. The Mii Popularity Channel was scheduled for release in Japan on April 29th, and that didn't happen. Nintendo of Japan has yet to tell us when it's coming. A while back, Nintendo also mentioned a way to send demos to your DS from Wii, so a Demo Channel or DS Demo Channel is very likely. And lastly, Nintendo will soon be offering original content for download on Wii, and it's possible that we could get a new channel for that.

As for some of my ideas, I think that a Pictochat Channel should be implemented. It could communicate with the DS's Pictochat, and if you add Friend Codes, you could chat with your friends using that channel. That would be fun. Another idea of mine is a Nintendo Power Channel. You could get weekly updates or something in which things from Nintendo Power magazine could be shown. You could send messages and possibly get them answered and you could read up on the latest gaming news. And when E3 or another big conference rolls around, the Nintendo Power Channel could host a live stream of the event.

And lastly, another channel idea I have is the Trophy Channel. If you were to beat a certain part of game, you would unlock a trophy of sorts to put in a virtual room in the Trophy Channel. For example, if you beat Red Steel 2 in the future, you could unlock a special Red Steel 2 Trophy. You could customize your room. Some of the furniture in your room could also come from beating certain things in games. Also, every time you downloaded a VC game or something like that, you would get a trophy. Your Mii would be shown living in your room. Maybe the Trophy Channel isn't the best name for it, but you get my point.

That's all for today. I'll look for some new info to post, but if not, cya tomorrow.

5/31 Thought of the Day: Brawl Predictions

Today's Thought of the Day will be about my most anticipated game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I'm going to predict the release date, some characters, the controls, and more. Well, as you know, Nintendo's "Big Three", which are Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy, are all scheduled for release this year. Metroid comes out on August 20th, leaving September to December open for Brawl and Mario. My guess is that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will release in October, particularly late October, and Super Mario Galaxy will release in December. The reason for that is that Brawl is said to feel very complete, and so I think it will release before Super Mario Galaxy does. I also think that Nintendo will want to space out the releases of their "Big Three" games this year, and so I think 2 months in between each game is enough of a gap. When will we find out the actual release date? My guess is at E3.

As for the characters, the confirmed characters so far are Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Samus/Zero Suit Samus, Snake, Wario, Metaknight, Pit, and Fox. I doubt they would take out any of the original starters from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64, so I'm almost 100% sure Donkey Kong and Yoshi will appear. Scenes of Yoshi's stage have also been shown in a trailer for Brawl. Sakurai has stated that some characters will not be returning, and I'm pretty sure those characters not returning will be clones. I think that these characters will also be in Brawl: Bowser, Captain Falcon, Ice Climbers, Jigglypuff, Luigi, Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Ness, Peach, and Zelda/Sheik. As for the other characters from Melee that I didn't mention, I think they either will get new moves or won't be in Brawl.

As for newcomers, there are a few series that I think will have a presence in Brawl. One of them is Animal Crossing. You can't deny the success the series has had, and so far, they've only been shown in a trophy or two in Melee. I think that either an item or a character from Animal Crossing will be in Brawl. If it was a character, I would have to say it would be either be Tom Nook, Mr. Resetti, or K.K. Slider. We know there will be a few third party characters added besides the already announced Snake from Konami. If I had to guess, I would say SEGA will be represented by Sonic. I also think the following are likely: Mega Man (Capcom), Pac-Man (Namco), and Bomberman (Hudson).

As for new items and stages, I'm not sure on exactly what they would pick, but I'm sure that almost all, if not all, of the items will return from Melee. We already know of the Gooey Bomb, the Cracker Launcher, and the Smash Ball. I'm sure we'll get plenty more new items and new stages. As for returning stages from Melee, I would have to guess that Hyrule Temple, Green Greens, and a few others will return, along with one or two stages from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64.

Lastly, I will discuss the controls. This has been of much debate lately. First, I'll tell you what we know. Sakurai has said not to throw away our Gamecube controllers just yet. Also, the Brawl site has a picture of a Wii Remote sideways as the control icon. Today, with the debut of the news of the Cracker Launcher item, the control stick is mentioned. From all of these facts, I would have to guess that three different control options will be allowed. I think that we will be able to choose from the Wii Remote/Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and the Gamecube Controller. Sakurai has said there will be no motion sensing in the main game, and even with that, the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo could work. It probably won't be that great, but it could still work. I think I'll probably be using the Gamecube controller, and maybe buy a Classic controller.

Anyways, that's it for my predictions. I really like the new updates every weekday. It gives me something to look forward to everyday, except weekends. Another new update tomorrow. One last prediction. If I had to guess about the update tomorrow, I would say it's a character update, maybe a Final Smash update, a special attack update, or a character profile. Either way, I think it'll be old info, except for new screens. We've been getting new things a lot lately, so I think we'll be getting something old. Hey, maybe I'll be surprised and we'll get new stuff. That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed my predictions. Please post your own predictions as comments!

5/30 Thought of the Day: Nintendo ON

I'm going to be doing a special Thought of the Day post everyday, or rather, I'll try to do one everyday. For the first Thought of the Day, I'm going to be talking about Nintendo ON. Many of you were there when all we knew about the console was its codename: Revolution. But what kind of revolution was it? There were crazy ideas out there. Here's someone's idea of the system:


Those pictures suggest that maybe the big revolution was gyro sensors. That seemed to be a popular idea at the time. But out of all the fakes pictures and videos made, there was one video that will live in legend. A few days before E3 2005, a supposed leak happened, and a video presentation of Nintendo's new console was spread upon the internet: Nintendo ON. The Video was incredible detailed. It couldn't be fake, why would someone spend so much time on something like this just to fool some people? Pablo Belmonte would do it, and I'm glad he did. It may not be real, but it provides a glimpse at what could be the future of Nintendo. It's a fanboy's dream and Nintendo ON was the ultimate fan-made video. And not only that but he did it in 5 days. 1UP's review of the Nintendo ON video and Pablo provides great insight into the legendary revolution that is Nintendo ON.