Daily Archives: April 26, 2012

Super Smash Bros. to head in a new direction

Posted on by

IGN recently sat down with Nintendo’s Masahiro Sakurai about the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, and what direction he expects to take when developing a new sequel for next-gen platforms.

Since its arrival on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, the Smash Bros. series has followed a carefully similar trend over the course of three titles and three consoles. With the inclusion of new items, new characters, new stages, homages to classic stages, unique storylines and the edition of third-party characters and a stage creation option, the Smash Bros. series follows in the fashion of hit Nintendo titles like Pokemon and the Legend of Zelda, who need only to build off of what appears to be a perfect formula for a videogame. But Sakurai says he wants to change his direction.

“There is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game,” said Sakurai in an e-mail to IGN. “I intend to change direction a little as we go. The key to that’s going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U.”

So of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean the end to a continually expanding roster, stages and other extra features, but Sakurai is definitely expressing his interest in cross-connection between console and handheld.

“I’m really just getting started on this so it’s going to take time, but I’ll come up with something that uses that link as the game’s central axis, so I hope you’re looking forward to it.”

So its too early to really know what his true intentions are for the game, or at least the main issue of the minds of many fans, “who’s coming to Smash Bros. next?”

With files from IGN.com

Online Comics (hopefully) for Gamers

Posted on by

I’m Online Comics today, kids! Most of us enjoy the Sunday Funnies or at least remember getting an Archie comic or two when we were kids. As with most things, there’s the Rule 34 online variety. From Rage Comics with troll-faces to weekly strips you find on deviantART’s front page every time you log in. By the end of this post I hope you’ll find a comic to your tastes.

The first comic I’ve found is of the adorable variety. GaMERCaT reminds me of Garfield, except rather than eating lasagna and tormenting his owner’s dog, this cat drinks Mountain Dew and eats Doritos while playing a variety of video games. Between the cute adaptations of gaming and internet memes and the fun of just seeing an animal play video games, I love it. Maybe I should be on 4chan? Kitties <3

This next one is more on the…muscular side. Literally. Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is just that. Although it centers around an employment agency for retired game heroes like Duke Nukem and Kratos (from God of War) who need help rejoining society, I found myself entertained by the antics of Commander, Jared and Mr. Fish and loved seeing characters from games I haven’t played in a while (like Dragon Age! Makes me want to go back and make a new character. Oh the Pigeons!) Speaking of birds, it has silly references to little things like Shale’s hate of them. She’s from Dragon Age, for those who don’t know. Maybe I’m just a sucker for men with bulging biceps, but I doubt it. Have you seen how skinny my boyfriend is? Well, anyway…

This one is a bit more of a Nintendo throwback. It Sucks To Be Weegie is about that green guy from the Mario Games. Remember him? What was his name? Centered around how there are very few Luigi games and he’s almost never in the Mario games. It’s cartoony and witty and makes you wish that there were more Luigi’s Mansion games…or, well, more Luigi games in general. The guy’s depressed enough. With a gay best friend (Link) and an older brother with a shadow WAY too long for his height, Luigi’s got a lot on his plate. I especially like bar strips! Those cute little Potions for drinks! It’s awesome. Check it out when you get a chance!

Minor Acts of Heroism (or MAOH) is about little heroes! This is a very stylized and colourful series with fun characters–WITH SUPER POWERS! I love the idea of becoming friends with the Superhero, or kid in this case, you idolize. This comic has magic in it. You begin to love the characters as soon as you meet them and kind of wish you were younger and use some sort of rift-opening device to enter the comic and hangout with these kids.

Here we have Paranatural. The premise is that Max and his family have moved to a new town and live about his father’s convenience store. But Max isn’t quite “normal.” HE SEES DEAD PEOPLE!! Actually, he sees spirits. Along with the rest of the Activity Club at his new school, he gets into shenanigans fighting evil spirits and possessed toilet plungers.

From gaming kitties to little boys with super powers, I enjoy these online comics! I hope you will, too. As I get back into online comic reading/following, I may add more or make another post. For now give me suggestions!

- Lauren

P.S. I’m a big sister now! =D