On the Download: Wii U Update Bonanza

After months of patiently waiting, Wii U owners have finally received the massive update needed to solve the load time problems the system has had since launch.  While this update does drastically decrease the load times between running games and applications, it is not the only feature that Nintendo has added to the Wii U through the update.  Wii U owners can now boot right into the Wii Menu by holding the B button during start-up, download and install games and applications in the background and when the system is turned off and transfer data between two USB storage devices.  Along with the update came a few new games to download in the Wii U eShop.  For the first On the Download of 2013, let us get on with the show.

Wii U owners have gotten a little taste of the Wii U Virtual Console through Nintendo's 30 cent trial program on the Wii U eShop.  Now with the release of the spring update comes the official launch of the Wii U Virtual Console.  While Nintendo's 30 cent program on select Virtual Console games will continue until July, Virtual Consoles will be released much more frequently now that the service has officially launched.  For those looking at what to download for the Virtual Console launch, there are eight games to choose from.  These games are Super Mario World, F-Zero, Punch-Out, Balloon Fight, Excitebike, Kirby's Adventure, Ice Climbers and Donkey Kong Jr.  The prices for Virtual Console games range from 5 dollars for NES games and 8 dollars for SNES game, but Kirby's Adventure is on for 30 cents until May 16th.  For Wii U owners who have moved their Wii Virtual Console library to the Wii U, you will be able to download the Wii U Virtual Console versions of these games for either 1 dollar for NES games and 1 dollar and 50 cents for SNES games.

While the delay of Rayman Legends and loss of exclusivity made a lot of Wii U owners very angry, Ubisoft has been trying their best to make it up to these gamers.  First, it was announced that the extra time has allowed the developers up to 30 new levels into Rayman Legends.  Second, Ubisoft planned to release the multiplayer portion of Rayman Legends exclusively for Wii U owners before the launch of the actual game.  There was a vague mention of a spring release for this feature, but nothing was ever set in stone.  It was to many gamers surprise to see the Rayman Legends Challenges App up on the Wii U eShop ready to download this past week.  This free app allows gamers to play through the final versions of the demo levels along with the online challenge mode.  There are daily and weekly challenges for gamers to test their platforming skills against people from all over the world.  Win trophies in these challenges in order to boost your awesomeness level and unlock more extreme challenges.  Personally, I have enjoyed my time with the Rayman Legends Challenges App and will easily spend more time with my Wii U because of it.  The app is free so Wii U owners should have no excuse to download it while we all wait for Rayman Legends' September release.

The End of Nintendo E3 Press Conferences

News broke late Wednesday evening, early Thursday morning that Nintendo would be taking a much different approach to E3 this year.  Instead of tackling the giants of the PS4 and the next Xbox head-on with a major press conference of their own, Nintendo has opted to holding smaller Nintendo Direct broadcasts from E3.  Definitely a move to save the Big N some money and make them stand out from Sony's and Microsoft's offerings at E3.  To say the least, ending the tradition of major E3 press conferences is an incredibly bold, risky and polarizing move by Nintendo, but it is also a smart move.

Ever since E3 downsized way back in 2007, the grandeur and spectacle of what was originally the video games industry's biggest convention of the year has slowly but surely been lost.  To the point that last year's E3 was nothing short of abysmal.  While great moments have squeaked through the cracks on occasion such as the unveiling of the 3DS, Kevin Butler's speech or Watch Dogs, the E3 press conferences these past six years have left a lot to be desired.  Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have tried too hard to appeal to a much broader audience with their E3 press conferences that many of them lose their focus and easily become a chore to watch.  These companies forget that the people who actually tune into to watch their E3 press conferences are primarily hardcore gamers.  These gamers want to see games, not applications or entertainment options.  With the Nintendo Direct format, Nintendo has captured lightning in a bottle.  Nintendo directly talks to their consumers through 30 minute to one hour mini conferences.  Providing information on upcoming games, applications and initiatives directly to their audience.  Due to the nature of these mini conferences, Nintendo is able to make these Nintendo Directs target certain audiences be it casual or hardcore gamers, Wii U or 3DS owners or even younger or older fans.  It allows Nintendo to keep these conferences focused and more importantly keep surprise game reveals from leaking.  From Link to the Past 2 to the sequel to Xenoblade, Nintendo Direct has offered a numerous amount of E3 quality surprises that if not kept internally would have easily been leaked.  Adapting this format to E3 is an excellent idea because it keeps the focus on the games and makes a more intimate connection with their audience than a massive press conference would.  While it is a great idea, Nintendo still needs to worry about being swept under the buzz of the PS4 and next Xbox and the lack of mainstream coverage due to the smaller scale.  Addressing these possible problems will be the difference between Nintendo's success or failure at this year's E3.

No matter what breaking tradition can always sting.  Personally, I am a little bummed out about Nintendo's announcement of no more large-scale press conferences.  While I do have some fond memories of past Nintendo E3 press conferences, the video game industry is constantly changing.  With the traditions of E3 becoming more and more stagnant over time, change is definitely needed in order for E3 to regain the grandeur and spectacle that it has lost.  Nintendo is trying an entirely different format to how they present their news at E3 and it will be interesting to see how things turn out for better or worse.

Games for the Summer

When new game releases start to slow during the spring and summer months, many gamers get very impatient.  Instead of a steady stream of new games to play, they are left with a little trickle.  One option for gamers to turn to during this drought is the realm of downloadable games, which release more frequently during the summer.  Another option is for gamers to resort to their backlog.  For those gamers who rarely trade their games like yours truly, we have accumulated a massive library of unfinished games to work on.  During the spring and summer, most older gamers (ages 19 and above) have much more time on their hands to dedicate to gaming.  This list below are the games that I personally want to dedicate a significant amount of my gaming time to with the ultimate goal of beating these games.

BioShock
After playing the great yet somewhat disappointing BioShock Infinite, I have had an urge to go back and experience the very first BioShock.  Having missed out of the revolution that the original BioShock was, I impulsively picked up Infinite just so I would not miss out on experiencing the revolution again if BioShock Infinite actually lived up to the hype.  While I did enjoy my time with BioShock Infinite, I was left wanting to experience that revolutionary first-person shooter that could possibly give Half-Life 2 some competition for my favourite FPS game.  Considering I own BioShock, it is finally time for me to really experience this game more than an hour.  Time to fight splicers, get scared crapless by the Big Daddies and learn about the underwater dystopia known as Rapture.

Darksiders II
I have put a good amount of time into Darksiders II, one of my favourite games of 2012 and currently my most-played game for the Wii U.  Even though I have invested 20 hours into this game, I have not finished the game.  That is what usually happens when a game gives me a massive open world and numerous side quests to complete.  I am in no rush to complete Darksiders II because I am loving it.  Although to move onto newer games, you have to beat your older games.  Eventually, my time with Darksiders II will have to end and I want to make it this summer.

Half-Life 2:  Episode 2
I love Half-Life.  Valve has easily created the greatest first-person shooters on the face of this planet in the Half-Life games.  While I have still yet to beat the very first one on PC (I hit a random bug that completely halted my progress and I have not picked it up since), I tore through Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 on the 360 edition of the Orange Box a couple years back.  I was about to get into Episode 2 and then I stopped.  I cannot remember why, but I have not played it since.  When thinking about games to work on these next four months, Episode 2 just sprung up right away as I game I have to finish.  Not only in preparation for whenever Valve decides to grace us with the next instalment of Half-Life, but just for my own gamer pride.

Pokemon White Version 2
Before Fire Emblem Awakening sucked up all my game time on the 3DS, Pokemon White 2 was taking up most of my game time.  Currently 28 hours into the game, there is still quite a bit to do in my second trip through the Unova region.  More Pokemon to capture, trainers to defeat and evil forces to stop.  Especially with the worldwide release of Pokemon X and Y this coming October, I want to finish Pokemon White 2 so I will be able to dedicate most my game time this Fall to the next Pokemon game.

Rayman Origins
While Ubisoft ripped my heart out of my chest, and repeatedly stomped on it with their delay of Rayman Legends just a couple months back, there were a couple good things that came from this heartbreak.  One was having some more money to spend on games during the game rush that was March.  Another is now having time to finally beat Rayman Origins before playing Rayman Legends.  I have been working my way through Origins for a while now, so I know I am closing in on the end of the game.  This summer is just the right time to make one final push to beat this game in preparation for the September release of Legends.

Bit by Bit: Q1 2013

Freedom at last!  Finally my first year of university is over.  Now with a little more free time on my hands, I can dedicate much more time to blogging.  As the season transitions from winter to spring to eventually summer, the release of games slow significantly.  While game releases slow, game news starts to pick up with big announcements leading up to some huge conventions like E3, Comic Con and PAX Prime.  The slowing of game releases for the spring and summer help with working on the immense backlog that has been building since last Fall.  Along with a few new games I am looking forward to in the next four and a half months, there are quite a few I want to work on this summer break.  I will get to those games in my blog tomorrow.  Before we look to the future, it is time to look back at the best of the first quarter of 2013.

Game of the Quarter
Even with the busyness that is university, I did make some time to pick up and play a good amount of new releases.  The games I picked up this quarter were Tomb Raider, Lego City:  Undercover, Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon and BioShock Infinite.  All these games are great and deserve your time and money, but none of them could compete with the 3DS's masterful strategy epic that released this past February.  Yes, Fire Emblem Awakening is the best game of the first quarter of 2013 and quite possibly could go to be this writer's Game of the Year.  Intelligent Systems has produced many great games over the years be it strategy, role-playing or even puzzle games, but Fire Emblem Awakening stands as their crowning achievement in this medium.  The countless hours of content, great story and vastly improved support system are the stars of Awakening bar none.  Combining these elements with the excellent tactile battle system and challenging yet fair difficulty that this series is known for easily makes Fire Emblem Awakening the best game in Nintendo's venerable strategy series, on the 3DS and of this year.  Personally, I have put just over 100 hours into Fire Emblem:  Awakening and I still have a handful of sidequests and DLC levels to play and plenty SpotPass teams to fight with tons of more content being uploaded daily.  Fire Emblem Awakening is a game that no 3DS owner should pass.  It is the 3DS's killer app.

Video of the Quarter
One moment in the past three months captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the world and put Capcom in a much better light after the hellaciously bad 2012 they had.  That moment was the reveal of DuckTales Remastered at PAX East.  Nobody saw this reveal coming, but when it happened jaws dropped.  Gamers have been clamouring for another DuckTales game for years now and finally got their wish when Capcom showed this trailer.

Launch Station: Tomb Raider

It has been a long wait, but the Tomb Raider reboot is finally here.  Bewitching gamers with its reveals over two years ago as the cover story of the January 2011 Game Informer and its first game footage at E3 2011, Tomb Raider is not the same as we all remember.  This Tomb Raider is a more mature game that looks to characterize Lara Croft as human being than this incredibly sexy female Indiana Jones with unrealistic assets.  A bold move for a franchise that has been so successful over the years no matter the quality of the games, but a necessary move that updates Lara and her franchise to the standards needed to survive in today's video game industry.

Tomb Raider follows Lara Croft on her first adventure.  The story shows Lara's transformation from an innocent, naive and frightened young woman to the hardened confident survivor we all know and love.  Shipwrecked on a mysterious island, Lara has a daunting task ahead of her.  Not only does she have to survive long enough to get help, she also has to find her missing crew mates and friends that have been scattered all over the island.  While there is plenty of danger on this island with the wildlife and the islands' inhabitants, Lara has to face the dangers of merciless band of mercenaries that have stumbled upon the island as well.  Tomb Raider takes elements from the other games in the series and brings it up to today's standards of action-adventure games.  Tomb Raider offers a solid third-person shooting mechanics, new character progression, crafting and skill systems, a whole open world to explore and many animals to hunt and things to scavenge in order to survive this dangerous island.  While the story is a huge focus in Tomb Raider, the open world of the island allows players to complete the many side quests and challenge tombs in the game.  If you cannot get enough of Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics has also included competitive multi-player in Tomb Raider.  It is not the focus for the game, but a cool little inclusion for those who would like more chances to dive into the third-person shooting of the main game.

Personally, I have been looking forward to Tomb Raider ever since I read that cover story in the January 2011 issue of Game Informer.  Crystal Dynamics new take on Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series is incredibly refreshing as it matures a series that many gamers grew up with.  The strides taken to make Lara Croft a much more relatable and multi-dimensional character than she has been in past games have really gotten me excited to play this game.  While many have compared it to Uncharted, Tomb Raider looks to take Lara Croft to heights Naught Dog has reached with Nathan Drake and push it even higher.  This game may not be the Tomb Raider that many remember, but it is the Tomb Raider that will revitalize this franchise and propel it into the future.

Bit by Bit: February 10-16

It has been an exciting two months.  Things have been falling into place in my life and for this blog.  This Sunday is WWE's Elimination Chamber PPV, the final PPV before WrestleMania, and that marks the return of my Road to WrestleMania series on my wrestling blog, The Silverdome.  I would love to have a weekly post on both blogs, but with all my school work I cannot get around to writing two blog posts a week.  For the time being, I will be taking a little hiatus from Silver Bit.  I will most likely try to put up previews for Tomb Raider and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, two games I am personally excited for, next month.  Things will return to normal once WrestleMania has past.  Now without any further ado, let us get down to business.

Game of the Week

Game of the Week, Game of the Month and a possible frontrunner for Game of the Year.  I am talking about Fire Emblem Awakening for the 3DS.  It has been a while since a game has blown we away like Awakening has done.  Intelligent Systems has improved their already masterful strategy series to astronomical heights.  The excellent pair up system, a support system that adds much more than bonus conversations and a seemingly endless supply of missions to play, teams to fight through SpotPass and StreetPass and bonus challenges and maps to complete.  I have played Fire Emblem Awakening for close to 30 hours and I am only halfway through the main story of Awakening.  On top of all that, Nintendo is releasing new DLC missions every week for gamers to buy that adds much more value to this incredible game.  The more I play Fire Emblem Awakening, the more I love it.  It is a masterful game and possibly the best game on the 3DS and the best game in the Fire Emblem series.

Most Anticipated Games of the Week

I have two Most Anticipated Games this week.  Both games have out for a while, but this week they will be going on sale.  They are F-Zero for the Wii U Virtual Console and Crashmo for 3DS.  The former will be on sale for only 30 cents, while the latter will be on sale for 6 dollars.  It is a no brainer for someone who has been wanting to buy these game for a while now.  I highly recommend also checking out these deals if you own either a 3DS or Wii U.

Video of the Week

The Nintendo dominance continues here in this week's Bit by Bit.  This past Thursday, Nintendo gave us the best Valentine's Day present we could of ever asked, a brand new Nintendo Direct.  This Nintendo Direct focused on the 3DS games that will be released later this year and it was amazing.  Announcing Mario Golf World Tour, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D was the most newsworthy announcement from the show, but we also got a plethora of information on new eShop games for both 3DS and Wii U and some smaller Wii U announcements.  If Nintendo keeps releasing these Nintendo Directs at a regular pace, it could be an excellent year for us Nintendo fans.

The Rayman Legends Debacle

This past Thursday was not a fun day for Wii U owners including yours truly.  Just under three weeks before the release of easily the most anticipated third-party game for the Wii U, Ubisoft decided to announce two big changes to the latest instalment in the Rayman series.  Rayman Legends is now going to be multi-platform and has been delayed until September.  Ubisoft's reasoning for the delay was that it was for the fans.  One of the biggest loads of crap I have heard in a while.  It is just like Activision saying that the newest Call of Duty is not exactly the same as previous entries, it is a lie!  If Ubisoft remotely cared about their fans, they would not have waited until the eleventh hour to pull this bait-and-switch with Rayman Legends.  

Going multi-platform is best for business and personally I am totally fine with Rayman Legends going multi-platform because it allows more gamers to experience this masterful platforming game and it will help support Ubisoft Montpellier in creating new games such as Beyond Good & Evil 2.  While a multi-platform release is good for business, delaying Rayman Legends only 19 days before the game was set to release for the Wii U is definitely not good for business.  The delay alienates fans who have been promoting Rayman Legends through social media and other forums on the internet and supporting the game through pre-orders.  It serves as a slap to the face of every Wii U owner who Ubisoft promised would support their new system with quality games. Also a slap in the face to all the developers at Ubisoft Montipellier who have been in crunch since last summer in order to get Rayman Legends complete for its February release date only to have it delayed right when it goes gold.

Apart from all the people Ubisoft upset with this delay, nobody seems to notice how stupid delaying Legends until this September.  What HUGE game releases just got announced to release this coming September?  It is Rockstar's newest entry in their open-world behemoth known as Grand Theft Auto V.  Yes, there will be other games that will most likely release in September other than GTA V, but sales-wise most gamers will be buying GTA over any other game released in September.  Since this delay was most likely made to maximize profits on a simultaneous multi-platform release, releasing Legends in the same month as the biggest game of 2013 is just asking for history to repeat itself.  For those who do not know or remember, Ubisoft made a similar decision when they released Rayman Origins back in  2011.  They released Rayman Origins on the same day as Assassin's Creed Revelations and Saint's Row The Third.  Long story short, Origins got lost in the shuffle of the holiday season and the game did not come close to Ubisoft's sales expectations.  How is putting Rayman Legends in the same exact situation going to help sales especially since Ubisoft easily hurt sales by alienating their entire Wii U audience?  If Ubisoft wanted Rayman Legends to succeed, they would release the game in the summer when gamers are starving for new games instead of feeding it to the cannibalistic holiday season.  I love Rayman, but it cannot compete with the Grand Theft Autos, the Assassin's Creeds and the Call of Dutys.

As much as it hurts to have Ubisoft delay one of the games I bought my Wii U to play, there is nothing I can do alone to change this delay.  All I can do is talk about here, but it comes down to all of us Wii U owners to make our voices heard.  Do not stop at a measly exclusive demo, we want the entire game.  If we can convince Ubisoft to release Rayman Legends for Wii U before September, it will be amazing.  If not, at least we tried.  There are other ways of making our voices heard such as boycotting Ubisoft games or buying Rayman Legends used, but we should not unintentionally hurt the excellent developers at Ubisoft's many studios who sacrifice a lot to make the games we love including Rayman Legends because some idiot in a suit thought more about the money lining his pocket than the customers he ultimately serves.  No matter what happens, I will still buy Rayman Legends on the first day it releases.  Now I will definitely think twice before pre-ordering another Ubisoft game.  Sorry Ubisoft, us gamers do not like to be treated like trash.

For those interested in making your voice heard about this situation, please sign the petition I provide in this link, http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/ubisoft-entertainment-s-a-keep-to-the-original-rayman-legends-release-date-for-the-wii-u?utm_campaign=new_signature&utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt#.  The more people sign this petition, the more Ubisoft will take notice and hopefully release Rayman Legends when it was originally scheduled to release.  Like Ubisoft says, they listen to their fans.