First Byte: Nintendo 2DS

This past Wednesday was a big day if you are a Nintendo fan.  The Big N came out and revealed their plans for the remainder of 2013.  They gave release dates for all their first-party titles and finally announced a much-needed fifty dollar price drop for the Wii U.  This announcement alone would have been enough as it puts the Wii U in a better position to compete with the PS4 and Xbox One this holiday season.  Funny enough, the Wii U price drop and the slew of release dates was not all Nintendo had in store this past Wednesday.  The biggest and most polarizing news was the reveal of the Nintendo 2DS  (no that is not a typo).  The 2DS is the newest model of the Nintendo 3DS designed specifically for young children and those who cannot use the 3DS's glasses-less 3D features.  The 2DS's major changes are the removal of the signature 3D features and the bulky design, which is very similar to old Tiger Electronics handhelds.  Other than those changes, the 2DS is exactly the same as the other 3DS models on the market.  Since its reveal, the 2DS has created a major stir across the confines of the World Wide Web.  Due to how sudden the reveal of the 2DS was, the reactions from media outlets, game designers and general gamers have been very interesting.  So interesting in fact that it has inspired this writer to give his two cents on the topic.  To tackle this topic, yours truly has decided to take a different approach with this edition of First Byte.  This writer will be analyzing the 2DS from two different perspectives- Nintendo's perspective and the gamer's perspective.  There is no absolute right or wrong perspective to this topic because both have their pros and cons.  So sit back, take in the insights provided and do not be afraid to share your opinions in the comments below.

First and foremost, Nintendo did not design the 2DS for core gamers like you and I.  The 2DS is designed for children under the age of seven because 3D is damaging for a young child's developing eyes.  The 2DS, much like the Canada-exclusive Wii Mini, is designed to be a child's first handheld game system.  This mentality is why the 2DS looks a lot more like a children's toy than any other Nintendo before it.  The new bulky design is definitely built to withstand the abuse a child can give to a device.  The 3DS XL is very durable, but the original 3DS with its gloss finish is much more fragile than any Nintendo handhelds to date.  For a younger gamer, it is not hard to see them causing a lot of damage to the regular 3DS unless you invest extra money in protective case for it.  While children are the target audience for the 2DS, it also appeals to gamers that cannot use the 3D features of the 3DS because they get easily nauseated by 3D or it is damaging for their eyes.  You can just turn off the 3D on the regular 3DS, but there is no purpose for these people to have the option if they are never going to use it.  These people can now buy the cheaper 2DS and never have to worry about getting a migraine or experiencing double vision because they accidentally hit the 3D slider.  The final reason Nintendo decided to announce the 2DS has to do with its release date of October 12th.  Funny thing being that October 12th is the same day Pokemon X and Y release, hands down the 3DS's biggest games to date.  Connect two-and-two together and there is no doubt Nintendo is positioning Pokemon X and Y to sell the 2DS as it will cost less than 200 dollars to purchase them together.  It is an ingenious plan on Nintendo's part as this writer predicts Pokemon X and Y will be the best selling Pokemon games in years.

With all that said about why Nintendo decided to make the Nintendo 2DS, the question that should be on gamer's minds instead of blind rage is whether this was the right time to release the 2DS.  In all honesty, this writer thought somebody was playing one hell of prank on him when he first saw the announcement.  I had to check a calendar to make sure it was not April 1st.  The reason these thoughts were running through my mind was that the 3DS has been having the best year a system can ever have.  Nintendo did not need a new piece of hardware or a brand new accessory to sell the 3DS because the onslaught of quality games releasing for the system were doing it for them. Yes, they are taking advantage of the 3DS's immense momentum at the moment, but there is one caveat.  Nintendo is one entity and that entity as a whole is not in the greatest light with the problematic launch of the Wii U.  There is no reason to overshadow the best news the Wii U has gotten in months with the reveal of the 2DS.  By no means is the Wii U dead; in fact it is actually on the up swing.  Although, it should be Nintendo's top priority to get the Wii U on stable ground before making more strides with 3DS hardware.  Another problem with this system will come about because of the 2DS name.  This writer can easily see confusion with the target audience and uninformed parents.  From experience, it is hard for people who do not play games to wrap their head around some of the most basic concepts.  This writer has seen people buy 3DS games even though they do not own the 3DS because they see the DS logo after the three and think it must work on the DS.  A game can sitting its own separate section in different cases with Nintendo 3DS plastered all over it, it does not matter.  There is no doubt in my mind there will be a few kids that search high and dry for these mythical 2DS games as they do for Mario on the PS3 or Halo on Wii.  It will not cause massive confusion, but just enough to possibly frustrate the guardians of the target audience.

Is the Nintendo 2DS the worst idea for a game system?  No, it is not.  In actuality, it is a very smart business choice on Nintendo's part.  By designing a new version of the 3DS that is more approachable to younger children and those easily bothered by 3D, it drops the barrier of entry for those looking to invest in a video game system.  Including more people into this hobby we share is never a bad thing.  On the flip side, this writer whole heartedly believes that Nintendo's timing for announcing the 2DS, while ingenious in some sense, was absolutely horrible.  The 3DS is in a great place with an incredible lineup of games this year and leading into next year as well.  There is no need for Nintendo to focus too much energy on thinking up new 3DS redesigns when the Wii U is definitely in need of some good will for once.  Right now, Nintendo should step aside and let the 3DS games do the heavy lifting.  Get the Wii U on stable ground then unveil a new 3DS model when all the animosity has dissipated.  In this writer's opinion, six months to a year from now when people are concerned about the problems of the PS4 and Xbox One would have been a much better time to announce the 2DS.

First Byte: Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Back when my brothers and I first bought a Xbox 360, Splinter Cell: Conviction was among the titles we specifically bought the 360 just to play.  After watching demos and reading reviews, we finally got a chance to pick up Conviction a few months after its April 2010 release.  For the first Splinter Cell game that we ever got our hands on, Conviction blew us away.  The smoothness of the controls, the stylishness of the executions and the slickness of the stealth all combined with the phenomenal story of a burned CIA agent pulled back into the game in order to correct past wrongs and get revenge on those who betrayed him.  This writer's fond experiences with Splinter Cell: Conviction has put a huge amount of expectations on Ubisoft's newest entry, Blacklist.  Developed by their newest studio, Ubisoft Toronto, Splinter Cell: Blacklist looks to combine Conviction's action-pack Mark and Execute system with the hardcore stealth found in the earlier Splinter Cell games (Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory).  There have been quite a few posts on Blacklist already up on Silver Bit.  Instead of regurgitating the same points mentioned in earlier articles, I will share my first impressions on Splinter Cell: Blacklist in this edition of First Byte.

Due to many commitments and an ever-growing backlog of games, this writer has not been able to spend as much time as he has wanted to on Splinter Cell: Blacklist.  Even though I have not spent most of my free time playing Blacklist, I have put in just under ten hours into the game.  Funny enough, I have only finished two story missions outside of the intro mission in those ten hours.  A ton of my time has been spent on playing the optional side missions, trying out the co-op missions with my brothers and dying multiple times.  It has been well over three years since yours truly has played Conviction.  Due to the long time away from this series, it is taking some time to get back into the intricacies of Splinter Cell's mechanics.  Blacklist does an admirable of making the tutorials scattered throughout the first few hours as unobtrusive as possible.  Every mission in Blacklist supports three types of play styles: Ghost (stealth approach by using non-lethal takedowns), Panther (stealth approach by using lethal takedowns) and Assault (guns-blazing approach).  After each mission, you are shown the amount of points gained in each play style to see which one you lean towards and to post to leaderboards for bragging rights.  During my time with Blacklist, I have personally leaned towards Ghost with a little Panther mixed in every once and a while.  There are so many options to dispatch enemies from plain takedowns to guns to gadgets to the Killing in Motion system, Blacklist's version of Mark and Execute.  Speaking of Killing in Motion, it is the natural evolution of the Mark and Execute system.  While I have not pulled off anything as smooth and slick as what Ubisoft has shown off, it is a lot of fun to take out one enemy with a takedown and in a few quick button presses mark and execute a few other enemies in the immediate vicinity.  It is very smooth and incredibly empowering.  Apart from the sonar googles, there were not many gadgets to use to dispatch foes in Conviction.  Things are much different in Blacklist with Sam Fisher's new placement as the leader of Fourth Echelon.  There are tons of gadgets for you to use against the foes that guard your mission objective.  My personal favourites are the shock mines, sleeping gas and Tri-Rotor, but each gadget offers tons of options to tackle missions.  Aside from the story missions, which are all great so far, there are a number of side missions to complete.  Each of these side missions can be opened up from the SMI, Blacklist's centralized mission select screen, or by individually talking to each character on the Paladin, Fourth Echelon's mobile base and Blacklist's hub.  Grimm's missions focus on infiltration, Charlie's missions focus on wave-defense, Kobin's missions focus on taking out all enemies and Briggs' missions are a combination of all of the above.  These missions can be played solo or cooperatively both on and offline.  The side missions serve as great diversions from the main missions and allows the player to sharpen their skills solo or with a friend.  The Briggs and Kobin missions are the ones I have been spending the most time playing as I have not tried a Charlie mission yet and the only Grimm mission my brother and I tried was a two hour disaster.

Personally, I can dissect every little piece of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but this post would go on for far too long.  In conclusion, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a great game so far.  The pacing of the story is not the greatest especially compared to Conviction's campaign, the Grimm side missions can be unnecessarily unforgiving and Sam's new voice is quite jarring.  I have not run into any glitches or problems that hinder Blacklist in any way, but I have only played a little slice of the entire game.  I am hoping to put up a full review of Splinter Cell: Blacklist in the near future.

Rent, borrow or buy it.  Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a game that deserves some of your attention especially before the holiday flood of games sweeps it under the rug.

On the Download: DuckTales: Remastered

“Life is like a hurricane, here in Duckburg.  Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes, its a duck-blur.  Might solve a mystery or rewrite history!”

When that iconic verse rang through the halls of PAX East, a chill formed down gamers’ spines both young and old in anticipation of the newest adventure with the greedy yet lovable Scrooge McDuck.  From the charming 8-bit graphics to the beautiful chiptune music to the masterful gameplay, Capcom’s DuckTales for the NES has been revered as one of the greatest licensed games of all-time.  To see such an iconic game be remade for a new generation of gamers to experience and older fans to lovingly revisit is simply amazing especially considering the NES original has never been released on any online service.  Being developed by the wonderful team at WayForward Technologies, who are responsible for great titles like Shantae, Contra 4 and the Mighty series on DSi and 3DS, there are high expectations for the return of Scrooge McDuck.

DuckTales: Remastered is not a quick and dirty remake of the NES original.  The team at WayForward has put their heart and soul into reimagining DuckTales for this modern era of video games.  The 8-bit sprites have been replaced by beautifully hand-drawn and animated sprites that look straight out of the cartoon itself.  Even with the limited bleeps and bloops on the NES processor, DuckTales’ soundtrack is held in high regard by most older gamers.  Jake Kaufman, the composer of DuckTales: Remastered, did his best to preserve the original compositions of the soundtrack while taking a more orchestral approach on each track.  The NES did not have enough processing power to convey a story through cutscenes like games do today so most of the storytelling was put in the game manual.  With the extensive power of the game systems of today, WayForward expands on the original story of DuckTales with brand new cutscenes which add more context to Scrooge’s objectives in each level and explains some lingering questions such as how a duck is able to breathe on the moon.  Along with the obvious additions to the presentation and audio, DuckTales: Remastered contains two new levels, new areas to explore in returning levels, the privilege to swim in Scrooge’s money vault, a map screen, an easy pogo jump setting and tons of unlockables such as concept art and music.

As a big fan of the show, DuckTales has been a game that yours truly has wanted to play for the longest time.  I have listened to the music and watched quite a bit of gameplay from DuckTales, but I had never got the chance to play the game itself.  Thanks to DuckTales: Remastered, this writer can finally experience this NES classic now in high definition.  DuckTales: Remastered is available now for 15 dollars on PSN, Steam and the Wii U eShop.  Sadly, Xbox 360 owners will have to wait until September 11th to join Uncle Scrooge on his globe-trotting adventure.  For those who prefer physical copies of their games, a physical copy of DuckTales: Remastered will be available exclusively for PS3 on August 20th, which will cost 20 dollars instead of 15.  No matter if you enjoyed DuckTales on the NES or never played the game before, put down your money and support DuckTales: Remastered in order to convince Disney to revisit more of their classic video game library and hopefully inspire them to start a new age of quality Disney licensed games.

Launch Station: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

Gaming's favourite plumbers have explored many genres from goomba smashing platformers to fist pumping sports.  While Mario and Luigi have put on many caps, one genre has blended with the antics of the Mario Bros. better than the platformers they originated from.  This particular genre has been the RPG genre.  Quite a few developers such as Square and Intelligent Systems have successfully brought Mario and company to the realms of role-playing greatness.  While these Mario RPGs have found homes on Nintendo's consoles, there has been one that has dominated on Nintendo's handhelds- AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi series.  AlphaDream has taken the Mario Bros. through the BeanBean Kingdom, the past and Bowser's innards, which shows that there are no limits for where they can take Mario and Luigi next.

For the Mario & Luigi series' first foray on the 3DS, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, the Mario Bros. are going to a realm they have never travelled to before- Luigi's dreams.  After their latest adventure, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toadsworth decide to take a vacation on Pi'illo Island.  What originally starts out as a relaxing vacation turns into another princess-saving adventure as Mario and Luigi must save Princess Peach and the habitants of Pi'illo Island from the devious bat-king Antasma.  Only exploring the exotic locales of Pi'illo Island will not lead Mario and Luigi to their goal.  In order to save the habitants of Pi'illo Island from their stone pillow prisons, Mario must enter Luigi's dreams.  On Pi'illo Island, Dream Team plays like every other entry in the Mario & Luigi series from the turn-based battles to team-based puzzles.  In the Dream World, Dream Team turns into a 2D side-scroller in vein of the Super Mario Bros. series.  Considering Mario is in Luigi's dreams, the player is able to interact with the sleeping Luigi on the bottom screen of the 3DS to manipulate the environment or create a great number of Luigis to demolish enemies and barriers.  Luigi also helps Mario when fighting enemies in the Dream World by allowing to hit multiple enemies with successful attacks and through special Luiginary Attacks such as using a humongous ball of Luigis to crush your foes.

The Mario & Luigi series has been a fan-favourite due to its quirky humour, charming visuals, engaging combat and interesting gimmicks.  Dream Team seems to have all that in spades along with a lot of new gameplay options for gamers to sink their teeth in to.  All the interesting ways to manipulate the Dream World both inside and outside of combat looks to be an excellent hook for this new Mario & Luigi adventure.  All-in-all, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team looks to be another great entry in AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi series and yet another great RPG to get for the 3DS this summer.

Launch Station: Pikmin 3

It has been nine years since the last entry in Shigeru Miyamoto's Pikmin series landed on the Gamecube.  While there were Wii re-releases and the inclusion of Captain Olimar in Super Smash Bros. Brawl to keep fans satisfied, it has still been one long wait for the third Pikmin game.  When Pikmin 3 was officially announced for the Wii U last year, fans were itching to get their hands on it along with the launch of Nintendo's newest console.  Sadly, Pikmin 3 has suffered from a number of delays that have removed it from the initial launch window of the Wii U.  Well come this Sunday, August 4th, the wait will be over as Pikmin 3 lands on store shelves across North America.

The first two Pikmin games followed the adventures of Captain Olimar and the Pikmin of PNF-404.  This time around the beloved captain is absent instead Pikmin 3 follows the adventures of three new protagonists from the planet of Koppai- Alph, Charlie and Brittany.  Koppai is suffering from a massive food shortage and it is up to these three adventurers to find a solution to this problem in the far reaches of space.  During their travels, Alph, Charlie and Brittany's spaceship crashes on PNF-404.  While stranded on PNF-404, Alph, Charlie and Brittany discover an overabundance of fruit, the solution to Koppai's food shortage.  It is up to Alph, Charlie and Brittany to collect as much fruit and fix their spaceship before they run out of resources.  Aside from the story, Pikmin 3 is a real-time strategy game where the player is in controls Alph, Charlie and Brittany as they command a huge assortment of different Pikmin.  There are different types of Pikmin that all have special abilities and uses such as Red Pikmin can withstand fire or Blue Pikmin can walk under water without drowning.  Pikmin 3 introduces two new types of Pikmin, Rock and Winged Pikmin.  Rock Pikmin can smash through tougher barriers like glass while Winged Pikmin can carry items through the air and fight airborne creatures.  Pikmin 3 offers multiple control schemes (Wii U Gamepad, Wii U Pro Controller and Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk combination).  No matter the control scheme used, the Wii U Gamepad will display a map of the level that allows the player to keep on top of all the tasks their Pikmin and commanders are in progress of completing.  Apart from the single-player, Pikmin 3 offers other options for gamers to pass the time such as the Gamepad's in-game camera feature, cooperative and competitive challenge modes and the multi-player centric Bingo Battle.

Pikmin 3 has been a game that yours truly has eagerly anticipated.  Originally, I hoped Pikmin 3 would have been out for the launch of the Wii U along with Rayman Legends as they were the two games that sold me on Nintendo's newest system.  Sadly delays plagued both of these titles, but delays are not going to temper this writer's excitement.  There is some great software on the Wii U, but the wait for this software is far too long.  With Pikmin 3, things look to be turning around for the Wii U with a major release each month until the end of 2013.