Review by: Ed Humphries

One of the hallmarks of the current console generation has been the increasing dominance of games available via digital distribution. The Xbox 360 has reaped a windfall through the assorted classic arcade titles and original garage games made available on their XBL Arcade service, while the PS3 has opened their own storefront on PSN allowing gamers to choose from an original selection of smaller titles such as Echochrome and fLow. Up to this point, Nintendo had only weakly responded with emulations of classic gaming through their Virtual Console.

While the VC releases have gone a long way toward scratching that nostalgic itch, there’s something to be said (and money to be made) in providing a conduit for independent game developers to give gamers the types of experiences that don’t necessarily require $100 million dollar development budgets. To fill that void and to increase the competition in this burgeoning market place, Nintendo has recently launched their WiiWare service, which competes directly against the original content available via XBLA and PSN. Of the six launch titles that heralded WiiWare’s arrival on May 19th, LostWinds is easily the most ambitious.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Planet Moon
System: Wii
Genre: Rhythm and music
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

Ever since Harmonix proved there were millions to be made in the rhythm and music genre with the meteoric rise of the original Guitar Hero, a war has waged between game developers looking to launch the next hot music game. Of course, Harmonix moved beyond the guitar and assembled a full-on band with their latest hit, Rock Band, while Neversoft picked up the reigns to Guitar Hero III and kept gamers rocking all night. While those two franchises represent the apex of this formerly niche genre, there’s plenty of competition looking to make a name for itself. Into the fray comes Planet Moon’s Battle of the Bands.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Yuke’s Company of America
System: Wii
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

Ever since Nintendo took the “virtual pet” craze to the next level by offering up actual digital dogs in their hit DS release, Nintendogs, game developers have mined this niche looking to excavate the next hit animal avatar. So, in the years since, casual gamers have been granted a vast menagerie of pretend pets in titles such as Horsez and Catz. The use of pet familiars has even hit the hardcore mainstream gamer, with developers like Peter Molyneux introducing a dog companion that your hero gets to befriend and nurture in his forthcoming follow-up to Fable, due later this year. That said, as dog lovers will attest, there is nothing comparable to the bond that develops with Man’s Best Friend – a fact that developer Yukes aims to showcase in their new release The Dog Island.

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Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Codemasters
System: Wii
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

The old maxim goes “It’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.” And then there are places like Crisis City – the chaotically out-of-control burg at the center of Codemaster’s new Wii release, Emergency Mayhem. The question is would you want to play there?

With a name like Crisis City, you know mayhem is on order. Within the city’s four unlockable precincts, crimes and misdemeanors crop up for the player to get under control. Still, despite the open world gameplay and the ability to tear through the streets in a variety of emergency vehicles, this is no Grand Theft Auto clone. Rather, Emergency Mayhem owes a lot of its inspiration to SEGA’s old arcade hit, Crazy Taxi.

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Publisher: Destineer
Developer: Destineer
System: Wii
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

It’s no secret that the Wii owes its mammoth success to Wii Sports – that little pack-in tech demo that single-handedly converted a legion of non-gamers into the fold and helped propel Nintendo’s dark horse to the head of the pack. Simply put, Wii Sports proved that anybody could game and those who had either been turned off by video games or turned away by increasingly complex control systems suddenly found themselves enjoying them as a communal activity. So it was that during holiday season 2006, Nintendo caught the gaze of the non-gaming community who regarded the company with renewed interest. Watching someone swing their arms with wild abandon in a hard fought round of Wii Tennis; these neophytes looked on with growing interest and thought to themselves, “I could do that.” For better or for worse, so too did some game developers.

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As I near the finish of my week long series spotlighting my top five console games of all time, I’m struck by the realization that while my number one remains the end all, be all of the list, the other selections really jockey for position in terms of what number they fall on. Essentially, numbers five through two share two characteristics in common:

1. They’re beloved titles I could play and replay endlessly, and
2. They’re not number one.

With a shout out to Highlander, “There can be only one.”

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Three down; two to go. Bear in mind, this list focused on my top five favorite console games. At some point, I’ll offer up my favorite PC-based entertainments.

But, at heart, I’m a console kid. I was reared on the Atari 2600, and the Nintendo Entertainment System helped melt four years of high school. It was on the NES that I began to witness this medium’s ability to tell a story. While so many titles followed the familiar “Save the Princess” narrative, some brave titles took stabs at displacing celluloid as the parchment for inking a good yarn. Of note, the Ninja Gaiden series and Bionic Commando made impressive use of their primitive tools.

That’s why it was incredibly rewarding to witness technology catch up to the demands of Hideo Kojima’s vision for the Metal Gear series.

Without further adieu, here’s number two:

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Here we are at the series mid-point. So far, the titles I’ve selected have been fairly popular upon their release. No real surprises in the bunch. While I’m tempted to raid the vaults and come up with some obscure indie release to properly display my street cred, I find that in selecting my top five favorites, I have to be true to my heart. I discovered these games upon their initial release and fell hard for each one. While they all went on to enjoy varying degrees of success, their popularity doesn’t diminish their appeal. They got popular for a reason.

Today’s selection spotlights the first in a series that experienced the peaks and valleys of too much exposure. Here’s a title that blasted out of nowhere, gave gaming a new cover girl and eventually slid in disrepair. While we’re beginning to see a renaissance for this property, nothing can diminish the real pleasures provided by that initial title. Sure, it hasn’t aged well, but if we do the time warp back to 1996, this was as good as it got.

Without further adieu, I present number three:

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Yesterday, I launched my week long feature focusing on my top five favorite console games of all time with my number five selection — Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2. With today’s selection, a theme is beginning to reveal itself: it appears I’m a sucker for exploration. I like being placed in an “alien” environ and then being tasked with making sense of how that unique world works.

Therefore, today’s selection isn’t much of a stretch from my number five choice. Once again, I’ve fallen in love with a game that dropped me in the midst of an organic environment and charged me with making it from Point A to Point B using equal parts brains and brawn.

Without further adieu, I present to you number four:

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No matter how old I get, I can’t shake this gaming jones. Of course, as the calendar pages fly and the responsibilities mount, I find I have much less time for gaming than I once did. Still, I refuse to surrender it completely. So, like many people, I find time to insert my pastime into the crowded confines of my busy schedule. And I find that most days, when the house grows still and bedtime is close at hand, I’ll fire up a game versus mindless channel surfing to unwind. My wife finds that action incredibly ironic, as she feels her tension level rise when she plays, but I’m just the opposite. Saving the universe seems much less taxing than filing a TPS report or obtaining requisition authorization for a new frame relay.
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For my inaugural Blog post, I thought I’d bring you all up to speed on who I am and what I’m about.

Let’s start here.

I’m a man of many identities. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m no Sybil. But over the course of my life, I’ve been on the receiving end of my fair share of nicknames.

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