Launch Station: Mario Kart 8

Not everything has to be saving princesses and stomping giant turtles for the world's most famous plumber.  From time to time, Nintendo's mascot is not afraid to pick up a baseball bat, hit the tennis court, play a few rounds of golf or dance all over the Mushroom Kingdom.  Before Mario did everything and anything under the sun, his first foray outside the confines of the platforming genre came in the form of Super Mario Kart for the SNES.  That little kart racer sparked a global phenomenon that has become a staple of every Nintendo system as a new Mario Kart game only comes once in a system's lifetime, be it a console or a portable.  Such a limited release schedule makes the release of a brand new Mario Kart feel like a huge event.  Mario Kart 8, the latest in this long-running series, is among the most anticipated titles for the Wii U and the wait for this huge game is just about over.

Mario Kart 8 looks to flip Nintendo's kart racing franchise on its head literally.  The newest addition to the Mario Kart formula is anti-gravity sections a la F-Zero.  At specified areas of the track, the wheels on the kart will turn sideways in order to engage anti-gravity mode which allows karts to travel on surfaces parallel or perpendicular to the regular track.  During anti-gravity sections, racers can bump into each other or special bumpers to receive a spin boost.  Careful timing and chaining of these spin boosts can be the difference between victory and defeat in the more difficult races.  These anti-gravity sections can be found on most of Mario Kart 8's tracks including some of the sixteen classic tracks which have received some tweaks to take advantage of the new mechanics.  Apart from the new anti-gravity mechanic, much of Mario Kart 8's improvements come in the form of online multiplayer.  Mario Kart 8's online multiplayer supports up to twelve people at a time, friends and random people across the globe, totally customizable rule sets and voice chat in the lobbies.  On top of those features, players can set up tournaments that can be put on a schedule, download ghost data from friends and expert Mario Kart players including the developers themselves, earn Miiverse stamps by beating developer times and share their online exploits through Mario Kart TV.  In particular, Mario Kart TV allows players to share, edit and view replay data from races.  Players can take some initiative in creating some cool looking clips to share on Miiverse and even upload to Youtube.  Aside from all the additions to the gameplay and online multiplayer, Mario Kart 8 introduces new characters such as the Koopalings and Pink Gold Peach and new items like the racer and item chomping Piranha Plant and the shockwave-inducing Super Horn.

There is no doubt that Mario Kart 8 will be packed to the brim with content for players to indulge in.   The more Nintendo shows this new kart racer, the more this writer cannot wait to gather some friends together to create some brand new Mario Kart memories.  Also I look forward to diving into the online multiplayer in order to see where my Mario Kart skills rank on the world stage.  For those looking to pick up Mario Kart 8, Nintendo is offering a special bonus for registering the game on Club Nintendo before the end of July.  Register Mario Kart 8 and get a digital copy of New Super Bros. U, Pikmin 3, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD or Wii Party U for free.  An excellent bonus that even counts when registering the Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle on Club Nintendo.  With all these great incentives, it is better time than ever to pick up a Wii U so do not hesitate.  See you on the track.

Bit by Bit: May 2014

May has been one interesting month.  As we inch ever so closer to the biggest video game trade show of the year, the focus of game developers, publishers and journalists has slowly shifted to E3 2014.  Every piece of information released or news story ran relates back to E3.  Considering all the questions leading into the event, E3 2014 should be either an exciting onslaught of brand new games or a disappointing slog of new information for already announced games.  Personally, I am hoping for the former because I want to see the games that will truly get people excited about spending over 500 dollars on the current generation of gaming.  As of right now, all this generation has given us is shinier graphics and a massive drought of games.  We will see what the future of gaming is next month, but before that let us take a look at the month that was May 2014.

Game of the Month
Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Mario Golf: World Tour both came out on the same Friday at the very beginning of May and these are the two games that captured most of my time this past month.  Out of these two game, there can only be one Game of the Month.  The game that earns that title is Mario Golf: World Tour.  It has been a long time since Mario Golf graced a Nintendo system and World Tour is a return to what gamers loved about Camelot's golf game now turned up to eleven.  Early on your time will be mostly dedicated to the single-player Castle Club as you play in tournaments to improve your Mii's handicap, earn new attire and equipment and prepare yourself for online.  After some time in Castle Club, you will be ready to hit the online links where the meat and potatoes of World Tour is.  The online in World Tour is great as you play rounds against players around the world or in your region at your own pace.  Once you complete a round, you can post your score to the tournament or play again and see if you can do better.  The online is incredibly smooth and hardly caused a problem for yours truly.  Scouring new tournaments each and every week easily will become routine for Mario Golf enthusiasts.  Mario Golf: World Tour would not be some fun to play if the core mechanics of golf were not so well made and finely tuned.  If there is one game to pick up this month, it is Mario Golf: World Tour.  It has given me hours of enjoyment and will give plenty more thanks to online.  Guess I will be seeing you on the golf course.

TV Show of the Month
I wanted to change some things up this month.  Considering my most anticipated game of the month comes out at the very end of May and I have a whole article already drafted up and ready to be published this coming Friday, there really is no need to regurgitate what I will wrote here in Bit by Bit.  So the TV Show of the Month is back for another go especially since May marks the month when most TV shows air their season finales.  It seems like every week this past month there has been a major finale of some sort be it Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Survivor.  Each person has their show they watch every week.  As of late, that show has been Person of Interest for yours truly.

I knew of the show, but never watched it until I caught my dad watching the show this past Fall.  Person of Interest has gripped me in a way that I have not experienced since Lost came to an end four years ago.  Currently, I have watched all of seasons one and two and a part of season three and can say the show has gotten better with every season.  Person of Interest is a show about the vigilante partnership between a computer genius Harold Finch and a burned CIA agent John Reese.  Finch and Reese receive numbers from an America-wide security system simply known as The Machine.  The number they receive indicates either a perpetrator or victim for a possible crime.  During the course of the episode, Finch and Reese have to determine whether their person of interest needs to be saved or stopped.  Interesting concept for a show that was initially a procedural.  Over these three seasons, Person of Interest has become much more serialized with overarching stories and reoccurring threats such as the corrupt police association HR and the rogue security corporation Decima.  In particular, Person of Interest perfectly walks the fine line between procedural and serial that makes it like nothing else on television today.  The season three finale happened just about two weeks ago now and I cannot get over how amazing it was.  The finale completely changed the course of the entire series going forward that I will not do a disservice in spoiling it here.  The finale has to be seen to be believed, it is that good.  With this finale, Person of Interest has sealed its place as must-watch television.  I highly recommend checking Person of Interest out as it is the best show I have seen since Chuck ended in 2012.

Video of the Month
What do you get when you mix the superb music from the Ace Attorney series with popular musician Brentalfloss?  Well, you get the newest "With Lyrics" video-- Phoenix Wright with Lyrics.  Taking the song Cornered from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and adding lyrics that parody the tropes of this series such as the well-endowed women characters and extreme juxtaposition between charming wackiness and brutal violence.  It is a fun song that fans of the series will thoroughly enjoy.

First Byte: Microsoft's Power Play

Ever since Microsoft announced the Xbox One to the public about a year ago, the system has been on a roller coaster of twists and turns.  Never seeming to be on solid footing, Microsoft has tirelessly been rebuilding their damaged reputation after alienating most of their audience at E3 2013.  Changing their policies one week after E3 was the first step, but there is a lot more that still needs to be done.  This past week Microsoft made the next significant steps in changing their tainted image for the better with two big announcements.

The first of Microsoft's two announcements concerns a brand new version of the Xbox One hitting store shelves in a few weeks.  This new Xbox One will run for 399 dollars and come without the Kinect sensor.  With this announcement, Microsoft looks to compete more directly with the PlayStation 4 instead of having one hundred dollar difference between the prices of the two systems.  Sadly if you live in Canada, the roles have now been reversed as the PS4 is now 50 dollars more than the Xbox One due to the poor projection of the Canadian dollar this year.  Microsoft's first real jab at taking some of Sony's profits lands on Monday, June 9th which is the first day of E3 2014.  It is not hard to imagine as a result that Microsoft's conference will be directed towards convincing potential customers to pick up this cheaper Xbox One that very day.

The second announcement from Microsoft involves some changes to Xbox Live.  In particular, it involves new free services being added to the free Xbox Live membership.  No longer will streaming apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Twitch and ESPN be behind the Xbox Live Gold pay wall.  This change cuts out the need for consumers to buy a Xbox Live subscription on top of their other subscriptions just to enjoy the same apps which are free to use on other consoles.  To make amends to current Gold subscribers which only use the service for streaming apps, Microsoft is offering refunds to these subscribers up until the end of August.

It has been well documented that yours truly is a critic of Microsoft especially the direction their game division has taken in the past five to six years.  When they do something right, this writer still has to give credit where credit is due.  While I personally have some reservations, Microsoft made two good moves this past week in removing the Kinect to drop the price of the Xbox One and moving streaming apps from the Gold pay wall.  Lowering the barrier of entry to the Xbox One and Xbox Live opens Microsoft's newest piece of hardware up to a broader audience that may have been scared away by the need to own Kinect and subscribe to Xbox Live Gold to get the most out of the system.  Coupling these changes with a plethora of quality exclusives that play to a variety of genres and differentiate themselves from Sony's offerings could help move a lot more Xbox Ones.  The announcement of Halo 5: Guardians this past week and releasing the first gameplay footage of Sunset Overdrive two weeks ago should get some more hype building around Microsoft and the Xbox One.  Now Microsoft needs to capitalize on this wave of good press with a great showing at E3 to continue building momentum for the Xbox One going into the last half of 2014.

As good as these announcements are, there are a few key details Microsoft has not touched which could sour this good news.  First and foremost, Microsoft has not mentioned anything about selling the Kinect separately from the Xbox One as of yet.  Considering Microsoft designed the entire system to run at its full potential when paired with Kinect, it would be silly not to give those people who purchase the Xbox One for 399 the option to buy a Kinect later.  With the Kinect, the next question is the price of the unit on its own.  The smart decision would be to release the unit at or under 100 dollars in order to avoid alienating the customers who purchase the cheaper Xbox One, but it would not surprise this writer to see Microsoft try to make a profit off of these people by pricing the Kinect between 120 to 150 dollars.  The other detail Microsoft has not mentioned yet are the exclusives coming to Xbox One in the near future.  Halo 5 is coming in Fall 2015, the next Gears of War game is in the earliest stages of development and Fable Legends has not seen the light of day since it was announced back at Gamescom 2013.  The only title confirmed for this coming Fall is Sunset Overdrive.  Hopefully at E3 Microsoft will shed some light on what is coming for 2014, but it needs to be something really big or something completely new to get the attention of the masses.  Microsoft cannot keep expecting to push their new system to the heights of the Xbox 360 with two shooter franchises people are quickly growing tired of, a fantasy RPG series that has never lived up to its true potential and a racing series that has overstayed its welcome.  Microsoft needs to show more initiative in being a first-party force on the Xbox One rather than a passive hardware creator that gets third-party exclusive items or DLC every once and awhile as it is the only way to convince the audience they lost to consider buying their system.

With these announcements, Microsoft is inching towards reestablishing a connection with their lost fan base and moving away from the negative connotations currently associated with the brand.  The more good will they can generate towards the Microsoft and Xbox brand, the closer Microsoft gets to cutting Sony's considerable lead in this new generation.  E3 2014 will be very significant event for all console developers including Microsoft as we get see if the promises made of power and new experiences brought on by the next generation come to fruition.  The need to deliver at this year's E3 is huge.  It could be the difference between ending Microsoft's current woes or making them even worse.

Infamous: Second Son Review

Ever since man could dream, they always desired powers beyond their being.  Abilities like flight, x-ray vision and supersonic hearing would all make our hard and sometimes trying lives more manageable and relaxing.  As long as humans have dreamed of these superpowers, ironically the only realm where they can truly become reality is in fiction.  From comic books to television shows to movies, superpowers and superheroes have captured the hearts and minds of people the world over.  Unlike those types of media where you view these unbelievable powers and iconic heroes from a distance, video games immerse one in the world of superpowers and spandex like no other.  In direct control of all the action, you are the one soaring over Gotham's streets, catching bad guys in your webbing or thwarting a villain's plans to rule the world.  The latest game to give you direct control of these wondrous superpowers is Sucker Punch's Infamous: Second Son.

Infamous: Second Son takes place seven years after the events of Infamous 2.  In that time, super-powered humans known as Conduits have been vilified by the government.  Known as Bio-terrorists, they are hunted down and captured by the government's special DUP unit.  Second Son's story begins when protagonist Delsin Rowe comes in contact with three escaped Conduits.  From this meeting, Delsin awakens his dormant Conduit powers which allow him to absorb any power he comes in contact with.  Delsin's new powers get him in trouble with the DUP head Brooke Augustine which leads to Augustine unleashing her concrete powers on the innocent people of Salmon Bay.  Due to Augustine's actions, Delsin and his brother Reggie travel to DUP-occupied Seattle to absorb her concrete powers in order to heal the people of Salmon Bay.  While the narrative hits certain pre-determined points, the player has full control of how Delsin presents himself.  Delsin can either be the goody two-shoes superhero or the revenge-driven supervillain.  This decision directly affects Delsin's actions, appearance, ultimate attacks and abilities available to customize and upgrade.

The story and karma system may provide initial motivation for the player to combat the overwhelming forces of the DUP and customize Delsin's large set of powers, but both are far from Second Son's best features.  The success or failure of every superhero game depends whether the game truly makes the player feel like a superhero or not.  With four powers to play with and tons of ways to enhance and upgrade those base powers, Infamous: Second Son succeeds at putting you in the shoes of a superhero.  The powers easily take centre stage in Second Son as they are your primary tools for combat and exploration.  Each power is suited for different play styles.  For example, neon is best suited for long range sniping and video is perfectly designed for stealthy approaches to combat.  Each power is fleshed out and fun to play, but each person will find a favourite among the four powers available.  This writer's personal favourite is neon because of the incredible speed, the ability to slow down time during combat and the precision sniping.

The powers would not be as fun as they are without a fully realized world to use them in.  The virtual sights and sounds of Seattle are Delsin's playground in Second Son.  Compared to current more grandiose open world sandboxes like those found in Grand Theft Auto V or the Batman games, Seattle can feel a little lifeless and bland at times.  While you are not overloaded with tons of optional missions to tackle or additional attractions to experience all at once, Seattle offers enough side missions, collectables and random enemy encounters to keep players engaged.  Although the lack of variety among side missions can can cause things to get repetitive from time to time, one can easily lose themselves in the ebb and flow of destroying surveillance cameras, collecting blast shards, spray painting buildings and busting drug dealers.  A key reason why the Seattle setting is so engrossing comes from Second Son's superb graphics.  From the stunningly captured faces of all the main characters to the dazzling particle effects to beautifully rendered cityscape during day or night and rain or shine, the game uses the power of the PS4 to make the world of Infamous more believable and photorealistic.  The graphics of Second Son truly shows off the incredible horsepower of Sony's PS4 and brings the city of Seattle to life in a way no game has ever captured before.  Seattle may have its drawbacks, but ultimately it is a well made playground that keeps players moving forward in progressing the narrative and the advancement of Delsin's powers.

Infamous: Second Son may have some great features and content, but there are a few areas where this game falls short.  The tedious nature of the side mission, which sees the same six missions repeated over and over again throughout all of Second Son's world, really holds back Seattle from being held in the same regard as classic open world sandboxes such as Batman's Arkham City, Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City or Spider Man 2's New York.  This repetition limits the replay value of Second Son as all but true completionists will have their fill finishing only the side missions they run into during their first playthrough.  Some may be inclined to play Second Son again to experience the differences between playing as a superhero or supervillain though the story does not excite even the first time around.  Sadly after the opening hours, the story falls into a pattern of introducing a new Conduit with a desired power,  gaining said power and searching for core relays to unlock new abilities.  Along with the repetitive story structure, none of the other major characters are fleshed out to the point of caring about them or downright hating them outside of Delsin and Reggie.  Even Augustine, the antagonist of Second Son, has barely any character development until the final moments of the game.  The lack of character development and repetitive story points makes the plot feel like it is going through the motions to move the player from one objective to the next.  The karma system is no better as it forces the player to one path rather than experimenting between being good or evil.  One action that is opposite of your current path, even if it is an accident, will completely derail the karma combo needed to use ultimate karma bomb attacks.  Also the major choices of the game lack weight as they are always between two extremes instead of multiple shades of grey.

Although Infamous: Second Son may have some flaws in terms of narrative, variety and choice, Sucker Punch's open world adventure succeeds where it counts.  Second Son truly makes the player feel like a superhero or supervillain as they are in full control Delsin's powers and evolution throughout the game.  It also succeeds as a technical powerhouse that perfectly shows off the power of the PS4's graphics processors in the most crucial early stages of this new console cycle.  Overall, Infamous: Second Son is one of the best games currently available on the PS4 and a worthy addition to anyone's library.

Launch Station: 3DS Double Feature

It has been a long time since Launch Station has graced the pages of Silver Bit.  Formerly part of regular scheduled programming, Launch Station is Silver Bit's preview article where yours truly conveniently summarizes all the information on a selected new release or possibly multiple releases for your reading pleasure.  Speaking of multiple releases, Nintendo is looking to jumpstart the summer months with a slew of new games for the 3DS this Friday.  The games in question are Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Mario Golf: World Tour.  For 3DS owners looking for games to play after getting their fill from Bravely Default, Yoshi's New Island or Disney Magical World, there will definitely be something for them this Friday as these two games fall under two opposite ends of the gaming spectrum.  They will easily be great appetizers for the main course that comes later this month in Mario Kart 8.

Due to the series more casual audience, Kirby has always been a character that Nintendo can test out new ideas and concepts.  For a character all about transformations, Nintendo's pink puffball embraces new directions and experiments as Kirby has been turned into various types of balls from a pinball to a golf ball and even being made entirely out of yarn for the sake of new ideas and concepts.  Aside from new transformations and more powerful inhaling abilities, Kirby's platformers have stuck to the same formula since the original Dream Land series on Game Boy.  Kirby: Triple Deluxe looks to add a few new ideas to the Kirby platforming formula in order to take advantage of the 3DS's power and stereoscopic 3D.  Levels involve more than just movement from left to right.  Thanks to the Warp Star, Kirby can move between multiple layers of the level in a way much similar to moving between the foreground and background in Mutant Mudds.  With the multiple layers, Kirby now needs to worry about threats from the standard Waddle Dees to massive life-ending mallets that move between the layers to attack.  More so than past entires, Kirby's inhale move has been super powered with the help of the Miracle Fruit's Hypernova Kirby transformation.  As Hypernova Kirby, the pink puffball can inhale extreme amounts of items, enemies and large obstacles in order to solve puzzles.  Along with the new transformation, Kirby's copy abilities have seen a drastic overhaul as the developers have worked tirelessly on creating unique move sets for every single ability in the game.  As a bonus to the main game, Triple Deluxe includes two extra subgames in Kirby Fighters, a fighting game similar in gameplay to Super Smash Bros. where you pit Kirby's different copy abilities against one another to see which one is the best, and Dedede's Drum Dash, a rhythm game that has you controlling King Dedede as he bounces on large drums to the tune of classic Kirby songs.

It has been just under a decade since Mario and friends last hit the links.  Considering Nintendo's focus on motion controls during the later half of the 2000s, it is very surprising that Nintendo did not bring Mario out with new entries in his two most iconic sports roles, golf and tennis, to champion a new motion-controlled generation of gaming.  Well the wait for a brand new Mario Golf game is almost over.  With the portability of the 3DS, Mario Golf: World Tour's main focus is on multiplayer.  There is a large suite of multiplayer options for players to choose from with the first choice being whether to play locally or online.  Local play allows for quick and easy competition amongst friends and colleagues in the same vicinity.  Online play allows for a few more options as players can compete in regional or worldwide tournaments to see where they rank in Mario Golf.  Since you only have to post your scores for online tournaments, there is no need to have players log on at the exact same time.  You can post a score anytime during the tournaments scheduled start and end date.  Players can even set-up their own online tournaments and communities to compete with their friends and rivals in a more personal online setting.  While it may be the main focus of World Tour, multiplayer is not the only way to play this Mario Golf.  Castle Club is World Tour's single-player mode which allows players to learn the basics of the game through lessons from Toad, compete in club tournaments to increase stats and earn new gear for your golfer and explore the club grounds in order to meet familiar Mario characters and find special challenges.  The fun does not stop there as Mario Golf: World Tour offers players with a lot more downloadable content to buy.  You can either pick up the Season Pass for 15 dollars which includes all three packs for download upon release or buy the packs individually for 6 dollars each.

No matter what game you choose to pick up this Friday, there is no way you will end up disappointed.  Nintendo has put out two great 3DS titles to eat up gamer's time until the next large 3DS release or Mario Kart 8 later this month for Wii U owners.  Personally, I am picking up both titles for different reasons.  While I am not the Kirby fan in my family as that title belongs to my youngest brother, I have heard nothing but good things about Kirby: Triple Deluxe.  Even though Kirby's notorious easy difficulty, I am looking forward to playing Triple Deluxe.  On the other hand, I am a huge fan for Mario Golf.  Considering my father is a golf professional and I have been around the sport all my life, blending Mario with such a key part of my identity has always made me identify with the series more than your typical simulation golf game.  With the incredible online additions to Mario Golf, I am excited to play the online tournaments and compete on world Mario Golf stage to see where my skills stand.  With two great titles released on the same day, there is nothing that will not keep a Nintendo system owners smiling this Friday.