David Hinkle first got his start in the gaming industry as a reviewer for a small time website in early 2004. After getting tired of little pay and a lack of recognition for his hard work, David sought employment elsewhere, eventually landing a job with Weblogs Inc. in March of 2006.
In October of 2006, David left his day job to blog full-time. He is still trying to convince friends and family that he actually has a job and doesn't just sit around the house all day in his underwear.
David can be reached through his email at david [@] joystiq [.] com or stalked at twitter.com/davehinkle
Princess Tomato in Salad Kingdom is your usual text-based adventure game, with a decidedly vegetarian twist. It's tough for us to provide you with a comprehensive look at a genre with so much content -- plus all of the trial-and-error. It wouldn't make for a very comprehensive and enlightening video, however we soldier on. Check out the latest episode of VC in Brief above!
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
We usually don't buy into Nintendo Week's particular brand of family-friendly hype generation -- after all, this is a Nintendo-funded program and we'll be damned if we're going to let The Man tell us what we're going to like. But this week's update on the Nintendo Channel is pretty amusing, especially if you enjoy fake mustaches, fourth wall destruction and tips on playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Or, you know, ripping the lids off various things.
Hudson's banking that you'll want to sample its brand of "traditional survival-horror" in Calling. Make all of the jokes you want about the game's phoney nature; what we've seen so far is downright creepy. And in the interest of getting your week off on a frightful foot, we've rummaged around in Hudson's creepy old mansion to secure some more screens, which you can find in the gallery below.
Alex Kidd comes to the rescue on the Virtual Console this week. It's more of his usual hijinks in the latest Alex Kidd entry from Sega, as players must call upon the powers of Shinobi -- including platforming, dodging incoming throwing stars and chopping dudes up something fierce. Check it all out in the latest episode of VC in Brief above!
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
Oh, and big ups to reader Cody Borst for creating that sweet new intro. Heck of a job, Cody!
Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
We usually write off Nintendo Week as nothing more than the usual PR flim-flam, but this week's episode on the Nintendo Channel is one to watch. The segments on Muscle March, Super Mario RPG and Little King's Story are nice, but there's an important lesson to be learned here: New Super Mario Bros. Wii ruins friendships. If you plan on partaking in Mario and Co.'s latest outing on the Wii, make sure those bonds are krazy glue strong; otherwise, you'll do something cliched ... like divide the room in half with tape.
Head past the break for this week's Nintendo Channel content and be sure to check out the new Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth demo!
The Console Wars™ have been raging since before some of us were even born. For a majority of gamers, this is all they know, but thankfully one man is stepping up to try and bring an end to this eternal conflict. In combining Halo's Master Chief and Nintendo's iconic mascot, Mario, he's created one super tattoo and blueprint for the future prosperity of all gaming peoples. This Master Mario Chief is able to squash Goombas at alarming speed and save not only the Mushroom Kingdom from despair, but all of humanity in the year 2553 -- he's a figure every console owner can love.
Frankly, we applaud this man's courage and dedication to acknowledge that there are good things on all consoles via this permanent tattoo. Instead of blindly trashing the opposition as inferior, he celebrates each console's merits. Except for anything on Sony platforms, though, because Sony totally sucks.
Ghoul Patrol is the sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, built on the same engine and very much feeling the same. This time around, the game plays a little slower: the controls seem a little clunkier (I have to shoot my gun before I can start dashing?) and the environments are bigger and present far too many dead-ends ... literally. Still, it's a potent formula and on the whole, the game is great fun, even if it's not as endearing as Neighbors. Check it out in the latest VC in Brief episode above!
Ghoul Patrol (SNES, 1 -2 players, 800 Wii Points)
Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
This week's Nintendo Channel update is light on the content. There's the obligatory fresh episode of Nintendo Week (this week's episode is about marshmallows and marketing games on Nintendo platforms), but, outside of that, it's just a bunch of info videos for this week's NintendoWare Weekly offerings and some new, brief teasers for No More Heroes 2. Head past the break for a breakdown of this week's content.
You likely know Aardman Animations as the creators of the hilarious cheese-loving man and surprisingly capable K-9 duo, Wallace & Gromit. To celebrate last month's release of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracksin Europe, Nintendo tapped the studio to create a trio of custom animations paying homage to the game in Nintendo's free animation app for the DSi, Flipnote Studio. Now we get to see their labor bear fruit and, oh my, these came out looking sharp, as the video above this text can attest.
However, the real feather in this (Minish?) cap is the odd video past the break showing Link's game-long companion, Zelda. For us, the uneasy feeling we get witnessing Link's lack of concern seeing Zelda in poltergeist form is only exceeded by Zelda's apparent glee, despite being a creepy specter. That just weirds us out!
Even though Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is already bordering on the legal limits of how many characters are simultaneously allowed in a single game, Capcom thought about adding others. We all knew (and are very depressed about) the almost-inclusion of Phoenix Wright, but according to a web chat with producer Ryota Niitsuma (via Siliconera) the Samurai Pizza Cats were once considered for the game.
"We at Capcom too, wanted to see the Samurai Pizza Cats in the game. We were in discussion with Tatsunoko Productions to try to get them in the game. It went right up the last minute, but it didn't go through," revealed Niitsuma. It didn't end there, either -- Capcom even considered putting in Speed Racer. Niitsuma commented that the hurdle with him was putting his race car into the game, something we find a bit odd considering the game has characters who are far larger and comprised of far more complicated mechanical parts than a stinkin' race car!
In other news: Joystiq finally has a Samurai Pizza Cats tag. May it console you in your time of need.
In real life, an endoscopy is when a doctor needs to check out your gutty-works (you know, your innards) using a medical instrument called an endoscope, a long, tube-like device. In the world of Trauma Team, however, to perform an endoscopy you have to summon the power of the "eight million gods that exist to protect this world." You also have to use a bunch of instruments in what appears to be a somewhat complex orchestra conducted by a series of Wiimote and Nunchuk gestures.
If there's one thing to take away from this video, it's that the inside of your body is most likely tumor-ridden with tiny little holes everywhere, and you should probably bug your doctor for a check-up. Of course, you could just ask your friend to take a look -- just make sure you sterilize the Wiimote first.
While the Balance Board is a good tool for controlling cute little monkeys and perhaps creating a career, Australian scientists have found it's also an inexpensive way to measure the balance in stroke patients. University of Melbourne scientist Ross Clark decided to pick one up after reading that some physicians were using Wiimotes to help recuperating soldiers, and found it to be "an extremely impressive strain gauge set-up." That's a very good thing, considering the only alternative is a "force platform" which can set scientists back a hefty £11,000 ($15,700).
There aren't any results out of Melbourne yet, but if you're interested in what's under the hood of that little plastic pad you're slowly turning a kind of brownish-black (would it kill you to wear clean socks when using it?), check out this Nintendo Channel video from back in the day.
We know, you now have that Andy Gibb song stuck in your head. Sorry, but them's the breaks! This week's Virtual Console release is Sega's Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, a dog-friendly side-scroller very much like previous Shinobi titles. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Check it out in the latest episode of VC in Brief above.
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks like that.
This week's Nintendo Channel update has been pumped up beyond all recognition, and not because there's a bunch of new stuff to look at. In fact, there's really not that much at all, save for some new No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle teasers; however, the inclusion of a brief Muscle March info trailer is enough for us to question whether or not this week's update is on some kind of performance-enhancing drug. We've contacted the appropriate authorities, but in the meanwhile, head past the break for this week's content.
We hope you've got your stethoscope handy, because we have some new Trauma Screens to look over and nary a Doctor Wife™ in sight. There are some cuts to look at, erratic breathing patterns to resolve and even the case of trembly handitis pictured above that needs a cure. So: grab a pen and a clipboard and head into our gallery below to help nurse these wounded screens back to health.
