Gaming pleasant surprises/disappointments in 06

+I finally got the joy that is x box live, and now couldn't imagine not having it.

+Wii boxing is a lot of fun. And really the biggest thing here is it works ONLY a the wii being one of the few games that doesn't make it feel like a huge gimmick. If they made a fight night no matter how ugly it would still be fun because you're punching.

-The rest of the wii sports games are terrible, tennis is the worst because it could have easily been a lot of fun. But clearly nintendo thinks gamers are such chimps they need to move the character for me. Many times of which I could do a better job at.

-The wii does NOT work well with FPS 2 hours with call of duty 3 was more than enough to show me this.

+The ds has been a grave yard after it's great first year.

+FFT remake is on the way....even if it is for the psp.

-I was pretty shocked to see Sony drop the ball like they did. $600 lol

Xbox 360 -- One of the best consoles I have played in a long time.

Oblivion, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Dead Rising, Fight Night Round 3, NBA 2k7, Saints Row, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Gears of War, and Viva Pinata. I don't usually play this many games at all, yet I played all of these a lot this year. Things like Mass Effect look really great on the horizon as well. Viva Pinata and Gears of War both looked like shit this time last year yet made impressive games when they dropped in November.

Wii -- A surprisingly good launch as far as sales go, but not a whole lot going on to keep the momentum going.

Nintendo did a few things right. They succeeded in suckering in a few non-gamers to buy their system. They had a very, very good e3 and rode that wave of solid press to a successful launch. All of the games everyone were excited about probably won't even see 2007 launches. Wii Sports, Zelda and maybe Excite Truck are all there is.

Zelda's ok at best (kind of dull, boring).

PS3 -- It's been funny watching Sony topple over off of its high horse.

+ DS
+Zboz

-Wii
-PS3 I mean holy shit, wow.

I loved Radiata Stories.

I really didn't much love the Guitar Hero. I wanted to really get into it, but after a while I was just kinda like. :/

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Originally Posted by Finch

- Twilight Princess isn't as much like Majora's Mask as i thought it'd be.

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This is a good thing, quiet you. I just started the game but I'm liking it a lot more than MM aside from them absolutely spewing the entire hard plot on you in the first hour and a half of gameplay. OoT at least had a more decent transition into the big quest.

Most of the good games I expected to be good so I wasn't really surprised. This is why I haven't listed many positives. I do think it was a great year.

- It needs repeating. Sony. WTF?

- Jerkoffs who tell me I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy my new console because I didn't have money for both it and a newfangled setup even though I can enjoy the games just fine, and it doesn't harm other people at all.

- Again, no Mario with a Nintendo launch.

- Nothing shown from Junction Point Studios.

+ Okami and FFXII. Right now Okami probably has my vote for GotY (still haven't played GoW though). Both of these games are extremely original and well executed. I always had high hopes for Okami, and I feel it delivered on every level. And I've come to despise Square RPGs, but holy shit did they make something special with FFXII

+Nintendo's financial success. I am absolutely shocked that the Wii, and the DS especially, did so well this year. When I found out that all the DSs in this region were sold out, I was pretty damn shocked. Thats pretty impressive for a 2 year old handheld, especially since this didn't happen the last 2 christmases that it has been out. And I can't remember the last time a Nintendo console received so much positive press...

-The uncertainty of the Wii's capabilities. I guess this isn't really a good or bad thing, but its got me a bit worried. So far, most of the controls I've seen on the Wii are just hints of great things to come. When I played Red Steel, all I could think about was how great Metroid Prime 3 could be (the controls are supposedly way way better). When I played tennis in Wii sports, all I could think about was how great it will be to play a tennis game where it actually matters HOW you hit the ball with the remote. So when you swing the remote he swings his racket... ok... how is that any different than just using a button to do the same function? Another thing that has me worried is the lack of camera controls in 3rd person games. Zelda has no free camera control, and from what I hear Mario does not either. Thats a big problem if no developer can come up with a way to include camera control into 3rd person games.

-Zelda TP. Don't get me wrong, this is an absolutely great game, probably one of the top 5 of the year. But when it was all said and done, I think I was left with a feeling of dissapointment more than content. The game is probably the best in the series from a technical standpoint: great controls (even without camera control), best dungeon design, great art style. But there were just too many small things off with the game. Like I said, no camera control, annoying fetch quests at the start of the game, blurry graphics (wtf Nintendo? Retro did this better 4 years ago with Metroid Prime), useless items (you get a slingshot at the start of the game just to get the bow on the second dungeon... what the hell? the spinner and dominion rod were great items, but they could only be used in very very limited conditions. And where the hell are the fire/ice/light arrows? , only 2 swords and 2 shields in the game (this was a real dissapointment to me), a soundtrack that would instantly be 100x better had it been orchestrated (look at Okami, Nintendo), and just an overall dull feeling from the game. The game lacks that classic, epic feel of OoT and the great sense of adventure of WW. I just hope the next major Zelda game is fresher than this one.

-Oh yeah, and LOL@Sony. But, maybe thats a good thing?

Actually, in Wii Sport Tennis, the tilt of the remote do translate into spins, etc. I know what you are saying how you pull back the racket and whacking the ball... but the tennis game is actually alittle deeper than simulating the button press. I can make the ball curve now or hit it low and fast. It all depends on the moment of contact and how you hold the remote.

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- Cavemen: If you're not playing your 360/PS3 on a 16:9 HDTV with a 5.1 setup with component/HDMI, you belong on a Geico commercial. In fact, you should have bought the TV and stereo before you spent the money on the consoles that now you can't fully appreciate. Fuck you for potentially making one game get delayed by one day so that the text size can be increased.

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oh yoshi.