Tiger Woods for the Wii — frustratingly awesome!

All the fun and frustration of a game of golf is now available in your living room with EA’s “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007” for the Nintendo Wii.
The game, already available on most other video game systems and the home computer, has been tweaked by EA Sports’ video game developers to work on the Nintendo Wii with motion controls.
The end product is both a blessing and a curse for Wii owners. It’s a blessing because the game plays wonderfully, and the control is often spot-on. The curse is the type of words you’ll be yelling at the TV when you realize the controls are precise enough to translate your imperfect golf swing into a perfect drive directly into a lake.
Just like real golf, huh?
The “Tiger Woods” golf games have been around for years. In fact, EA produced the first game of the series back in 1998. Since then, these games have been the titles for gamers to look toward for a realistic golf challenge on real-world courses.
This year’s version of the game is the first to be available with motion sensitive controls, but many of the features are similar to those on other consoles.
I played the Wii version, so I know that the graphics are much better on other consoles, but graphics aren’t exactly what this game is all about. Included here are all the courses from other versions and all the professional golfers. The invaluable “Game Face” is included as well, so you can make a golfer that looks exactly like you, if you want. It actually is pretty funny to watch as you swing the remote and your onscreen double follows your movements fluidly.
I can’t say enough about the motion controls. On other systems, you’ll control your swing with a flick of your joystick (which can also be done on the Wii if you’re not a fan of the motion controls). But here, you will have to step up to the TV, plant your feet, adjust your aim to compensate for the in-game wind, and swing the remote, just like you would a real club.
The precise controls can sense if you twisted your hands in your backswing or follow-through, and the ball will hook or slice depending on your swing.
Here it gets frustrating at times because, just like real golf, it will take you some time to get rid of your hook or slice, and you’ll need to practice a little bit to get the hang of it.
As an example, I played this game with a few friends the other night. Some of them got the controls quickly and were hitting like pros in no time. However, one of my friends couldn’t seem to hit a straight shot and was cursing and spewing venom and his frustration at the game. But, he kept playing. He got a hang of the controls, and later that night, he was the only one of us playing to get a hole-in-one. It just takes finesse.
The game is fun with friends around. As a single-player game, there’s a wealth of options and modes available. There is a challenge mode, a career mode and players have the ability to play courses at their leisure.
I had a few problems with the game. The fact that, while the game play is the most important aspect of the game, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. Also, as good as the controls are, sometimes drives don’t seem to go as far as they should. I hit a few 100 percent full-power drives that should have gone a certain distance, only to have the ball stop short, even with the wind at my back. It didn’t happen that often, but in a close game, a glitch like that can cost a player the tournament.
I almost forgot to mention putting. It’s a big part of the game, and it is handled well, but it is often hard to judge your power, and you may hit the ball over your target.
Overall, I have to give this game a big thumbs-up. The controls are much better than the “Wii Sports” golf, and it’s a lot of fun to play. Better graphics and time taken to fix the wonky half-power drive errors would have made this a perfect title.

Rayman upstaged by rabbids in newest game

Rayman is a relatively obscure video game hero in America, but he is wildly popular in Europe. In fact, the original “Rayman” game, released in 1991, sold more copies in the UK than games like “Gran Turismo” or “Tomb Raider 2,” which sold well that year in America. “Rayman” still holds a record for the best-selling Playstation game of all time in the UK.
So, what is it about this strange character with no neck or arms that is so admirable overseas?
Well, first of all, Ubisoft, who publishes this game, has always been a solid company held in high regard by gamers because all of Ubisoft’s games are well planned with game play in mind. Second of all, the level design in the early “Rayman” games was fantastic.
Due to his early success, Ubisoft, a France-based video game company, made Rayman its mascot, thereby ensuring the company would handle the character with care. Ubisoft has handled Rayman well, as any games starring the character have received critical praise upon release.
He has been the star of no less then seven of his own games, but in the newest Ubisoft title, “Rayman: Raving Rabbids,” the (mostly) limbless hero takes a backseat to his co-stars, the “Rabbids.”
The Rabbids are a goofy-looking race of rabbit-type creatures who imprison Rayman during the opening movie of “Rayman: Raving Rabbids.” It seems the Rabbids don’t want anything from Rayman other than entertainment, and throughout the game, the player will have to do many different tasks to entertain a roman gladiator-style arena full of the rabbit-like creatures.
The game is played similarly to the Wii’s “WarioWare: Smooth Moves,” where the story progresses as mini-games are completed. Here, the mini-games are longer than in the Wario title, but many themes are the same. On the Wii, most of the games revolve around making the player use the remote in weird ways. On other systems players will have to do repetitive or odd motions with the controls, but nothing like the movement on the Wii.
Mini-games are the meat of “Rayman: Raving Rabbids,” and throughout those games, players will find a wide array of fun and innovative game types. Players will need to pull worms from a Rabbid’s teeth, steer a neuron through a Rabbid’s brain (to help it think faster), hold dance competitions with the bunny-things, shoot them with plungers, throw cows into the air, jump rope, and even close doors for Rabbids, as they are forgetful and the doors to their outhouse stalls seem to open too often. It’s all very silly and very fun.
Upon completing mini-games, you will need to play longer, level completing, mini-games (usually a plunger shooting game or a racing-while-riding-hog-creatures game), and upon a win, you will receive, of all things, a plunger, ta-da!
But, a plunger isn’t too bad, because as you collect a bunch of plungers through the game, eventually you can stick them all to the wall, in an effort to create a ladder in your holding cell and climb to freedom.
Some of the games in this collection can be played multi-player with friends, and all the games should at least be played and shown to friends, as “Rayman: Raving Rabbids” is much more fun to laugh at with others.
On the down side, while I found the rabbids humorous, I wanted to see more variety in the games. I would have also liked to see more boss creatures instead of just longer boss-style mini-games.
Also, the arena, used as the hub area where the player guides Rayman to each of his mini-games, is unnecessary. The arena looks good, but the Rabbids in the audience are poorly animated.
Overall it is a lot of fun, and the sure-to-happen sequel will probably iron out some of the bumps in this game.

Captain America, R.I.P. (victim of the money hungry comic press)

Captain America is dead. In the comics, he is the victim of a sniper’s bullet as he walks from a courthouse.
Honestly, I don’t think that the circumstances of his death matter much. Instead, I believe the decades-old superhero has fallen victim of the Marvel Comics marketing department. The comic book market is a suffering beast. Video games and other distractions keep kids from reading comics, and few adults read comics, even if the comic books are well written.
So, in an effort to find readers, Marvel Comics has tried quite a few different stunts in the past year, from de-masking Spider-Man to pitting heroes against each other during a fictional “Civil War” to drive sales.
But, this is my concern — Captain America was a hero way back in the 1940s when he battled the Axis powers during World War II.
He kept morale high on the home front with fantastic stories of his adventures against the oppressive Nazi regime. Then, in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Captain America battled communist villains in the pages of his comic.
He was meant, by his creator Joe Simon, to be an image of all that was right with America, fighting the evils of the world. He began as an image of America personified, and he fought our real-world enemies. But, they have done nothing with him concerning terrorism or the current Iraq War, wasting the creative potential that exists in allowing writers and artists to examine our current political situation through the eyes of the “perfect American.”
I can understand not wanting to be too political and risk losing readers who feel strongly one way or another politically. But, it’s a true shame and a missed opportunity not to allow an intelligent, artistic take on current world events with this hero as events unfold.
Instead, he has been murdered in ink and on page, thereby destroying his potential as a creative personification of the American ideal. He was killed for the one thing that Marvel Comics is all too willing to sacrifice its heroes for — the almighty dollar.

Taken in small doses, "WarioWare" is big fun

Before I begin talking about Nintendo’s new “WarioWare: Smooth Moves,” for the Nintendo Wii, I want to explain why the fact that I said that the game’s fun comes in “doses.”
I said “doses” because this game looks like it is on drugs.
I will not make the assumption that the people who worked to develop the game were doing any illegal substances or anything like that, but the final product itself looks like some form of hallucinogenic dream. The whole thing is amalgamated into a series of mini-games that will test both your wits and sanity.
“WarioWare” games are a series. The games have been released for most of Nintendo’s game systems ever since the first game in the series was released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2003. Since then, the “WarioWare” titles have been released on all of Nintendo’s systems as a way to show off the systems’ abilities and features.
The “WarioWare” series setup is simple. Wario, a sort of malicious and greedy (but not quite evil) twin of the famous Super Mario, starts his own video game company in order to make money. The games he makes are where the game takes on its crazy twist. He’s a bad game designer, so all his games come out short and weird. That tradition is continued here.
The premise of the game, however, isn’t really important. All players need to know is that they are going to be faced with a barrage of mini-games. And by “mini,” I mean “really short” games. Seriously, most of them don’t last more than a few seconds. But there are more than 200 mini-games, so there is a lot to do here.
Also, players will find themselves using the Wii-mote in many different and silly ways.
You will start simple, holding the Wii-mote like a television remote control. From there, you will need to move the remote appropriately in games where you flip food in a frying pan, shine a flashlight or (gasp!) stick a finger into someone’s nose. It’s hilarious.
From there on you’ll need to hold your remote in new ways, called “forms,” in the game.
Sometimes players will need to hold the Wii-mote on their heads — in the “mohawk” form — and do squats or jump rope. Sometimes, the Wii-mote will be held at the hips — the “big cheese” form — and drawn like a gun in a wild west-style duel. Players will even have to put the Wii-mote in front of their face — the “elephant” form — to run through an obstacle course.
It’s all crazy fun, and if you play with friends and family who might be novice players, it is a riot to watch them figure out the weird games.
But, that “fun to play with others” facet is this game’s biggest drawback. While playing with a group of friends allows you to all enjoy the game, as well as enjoy joking with each other as the game goes on, when you play this game alone, it is hard not to feel silly. It’s fun, but playing alone does diminish the potential of the game.
Also, this game is short. Even with all the mini-games and the various storylines that you’ll go through during the course of the game, you can finish it in around three hours or so.
But, honestly, that is just your first time through the game. This isn’t a game that is great because of its initial run through. This game excels at its replayability. After you work your way to the end of the main game, a number of games unlock, including a set of addictive multi-player games where you will pass the Wii-mote between your friends a la Hot Potato, and you’ll find games like “Pong Tower,” where the point of the game is to survive as long as possible, turning the mini-game into a possibly infinite adventure.
Overall, this game is great. It might take a little bit of getting used to because, let’s face it, it’s weird. Some players might be taken by surprise with just how weird this title really is, but put it in the Nintendo Wii and invite some friends over, and weird or not, everyone will have a blast playing this game.

Philadelphia is the new Wild West — how do we stop the gunfights at the ‘Pa. Corral?’

In the Feb. 28 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News, it was reported that Philadelphia has the worst crime rate of any big city in America.
“You can bend and twist the numbers any way you like, but there's no getting around this sobering truth: Philadelphia is the most murder-plagued big city in the country,” said Daily News reporter David Gambacorta in his article.
According to homicide totals so far this year, Philadelphia, with a population of about 1.5 million, has had 60 murders as of Feb. 28. Compared to other cities like New York, with a population of 8 million, and a murder rate of only 51 as of Feb. 28, per capita, Philadelphia looks like a meat grinder. How can the city stop the violence? More police on the street? Stop and frisk police maneuvers? Harsher penalties for illegal firearm violations?
I don’t know if there is one solution, but something needs to be done, and Mayor John Street doesn’t seem to be the man to do it.
Hopefully, in the upcoming election, the city will find a mayor with more ideas and the ability to clean the crime from the street and the corruption from City Hall.

New Zelda for the Wii is a perfect return to Hyrule

Most people have heard of Nintendo’s “Legend of Zelda.” Even if you are not much of a videogame fan, the Zelda series has been around for so long and it has been almost as important to Nintendo’s success as the famous pair of super powered, mushroom eating Italian siblings have been, that it’s a hard game to ignore.
The hero of the Zelda series has always been a short, green-clad swashbuckler named Link and although the story changes and it appears various heros names Link have had separate adventures, the main elements of all Zelda games remain the same. Link is the hero, usually he is an ordinary boy who needs to do some small , yet heroic task and is then wrapped up in a bigger adventure when he dons the “legendary hero’s green suit” making him look the part. Then there is Zelda, she’s always a princess, but sometimes, as in “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” she is more than a damsel in distress and is able to help fight against the forces of evil. And, evil is personified by an wizard named “Gannon” who sometimes appears as younger version of himself called “Gannondorf” and everything usually circles around an item of infinite power called “The Tri-force”.
These elements are all winners and they have been in place ever since the 8-bit “Legend of Zelda” was released for the Nintendo console in 1987. In fact, except for three Zelda titles for the Phillips CD-I, (an ill-fated attempt at a console and I’m ashamed to say that I owned one,) games that were the only Zelda games that Nintendo had no hand in creating, all Zelda games have met with critical success.
Anyway, aside from that ill-fated effort, Zelda games are usually videogaming gold, and the newest title “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”, is no exception.
This is a high-tier title for Nintendo and it shows. Once you put this game in your console, there is no skimping on production values. Everything is superb. For a game released on an underpowered system like the Nintendo Wii, the graphics are incredible. At times, images can blur due to intentional graphic effects, but it’s never unpleasant. The sound quality is good, even if there is little to no voice acing, and the sound effects are crisp and clean. Also, veteran players will have to smile every time they hear the “Do-Do-Do-Da” of the “Get Item” sound. If you’ve played Zelda games before I’m sure you know what I mean.
I played this game on a Nintendo Wii and I found the controls to be relatively intuitive, but not as impressive as they were for the “Wii Sports” game.
For example, fishing and attacking with your sword are both handled relatively well with appropriate hand movements controlling the actions, but when you try to use a zoomed in arrow shot or ride a spinning top, the motion controls do nothing and instead you need to rely on the thumb joystick. It’s fine but it’s easy to see how this game was originally meant to be a title for the Nintendo GameCube, with it’s standard controller, and the motion controls were added in later.
What I like most about this game is the constantly changing gameplay. Throughout the title gamers will need to switch between a human form and a wolf form that Link is cursed with at the beginning of the game. Both modes work well, and the player is never too confused by this mechanic. Players will need to use both forms to find items and traverse the levels, and when they get used to these forms, the game will throw new challenges at them. I especially liked the metal boot puzzles and the time spent riding the mechanical top. I don’t want to ruin the experience for gamers, but fighting one of the dungeon bosses while riding the mechanical top was some of the most fun I've had playing videogames in a long time.
There’s nothing bad I can really say about this game. It would almost seem like sacrilege to complain about a Zelda game in the first place because of the stellar history this series has had up to now.. “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” does nothing to change that fact. Nothing is perfect, but this game is mighty close.
If you are the proud owner of a shiny new Nintendo Wii, get this game, it’s great fun and shows off the new system. If you don’t have the hard to find Nintendo Wii yet, get this for the GameCube. It’s the perfect swan-song for the aging GameCube console.

Let 'Extra' and 'Access Hollywood' handle entertainment stories

The past few weeks were, by many accounts, slow for major news. I’m sure it was fairly obvious to everyone who follows the news. Even though the stock market suffered the biggest drop it has taken in years, and it’s possible an attempt was made to take the life of our vice president, the headlines on most newspapers and Web sites followed Britney Spears’ latest hair cut. TV cameras followed her close with up to the minute developments, while stories based on world affairs got considerably less attention.
It struck me as odd that, in a country currently at war, and with the possibility of war with Iran, the most popular news stories have to do with the recently deceased (even if some would say that she was brain-dead long ago,) Anna Nicole Smith and the recurring rehab addict Britney Spears.
I believe that, as a society, we are tired of the same stories coming out of the Middle East. That’s a big reason that Democrats won most of the Senate seats during last year’s Congressional elections. America was, and still is, ready for a change in our policy on the Middle East. Yet, instead of offering any new solutions or change of direction, the president is essentially going against the will of most of the population and “surging” American troops into Iraq, when other countries, like Britain, have seen the error in escalating the situation and are removing their troops from the war zone.
I bring this up because arguably the biggest story of last few weeks, the removal of troops from Iraq, was placed “under the fold” by headlines about some pop star’s new ‘do.
I have to admit, I have no solution to this dilemma, and I am making a broad statement about most news stories, obviously not all of them. Overall, I feel as if most conglomerate news organizations, in the board rooms at least, are happy being vultures, getting fat from the suffering of others, and leaving stories that might be controversial alone because those controversial stories could cause trouble, or complaints and that could be bad for business.
I can only suggest that the cutback spending on newsroom budgets, which most newspapers have suffered, has kept in-depth reporting to a minimum. It’s a shame. Where will the next “Woodward and Bernstein” come from if enterprising young writers can’t get jobs and news agencies insist on devoting coverage to topics solely based on entertainment value? Entertainment is fine, but knowledge is power and by filling respected news outlets with stories based on entertainment, the industry is doing a disservice to society. It is the purpose of the media to bring valuable information to the educated public, not to perpetuate celebrity gossip.