EL33TONLINE Editorials

Editorial: A trip down Mario Kart memory lane

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:00:00 +0000

We are no strangers to Mario Kart, having careened around the Mushroom Kingdom in Double Dash on the GameCube and with Mario Kart DS having become almost a staple food in our diet.

Double Dash was in all honesty the game that introduced me to the wonderful world that is console gaming. While the game did not feature any online functionality, the real charm lay in the fact that four players could enjoy simultaneous racing. While one player controlled the racing aspect, the second player seated behind the driver held an equally important role in launching red shells and bombs at other teams and making sure they slipped up on banana peels. Obviously this meant the driver also had to develop seriously quick evasive skills to avoid the aforementioned shells and bombs.

Now although my driving skills were not up to scratch because I was the designated ‘back-seat driver,’ I can say that my wiggling abilities (toggling the analogue stick quickly left and right to earn that much needed boost) soon became an integral part of my Double Dash team.

Next in line was Mario Kart DS. Even before I bought my first DS, Mario Kart DS was there to help get me through many tedious car trips, afternoons spent lazing in the sun on holiday and general fun and merriment. The DS was often a cause of contention since those friends who were without this handy gaming device were often seen sneaking away with another’s gaming possessions. Tempers have also been known to flare when certain friends (you know who you are…ahem…Advance Wars) even went so far as to mix up game cartridges belonging to different friends. This habit becomes quite a problem when you settle back to continue where you left off in New Super Mario Bros. only to discover that you have since adopted someone else’s game cartridge who has been shirking his responsibilities in saving Princess Peach!

Whenever a braai is had with my gaming friends Mario Kart DS is as standard as braai meat and potato salad. Our annual trips to rAge in Johannesburg have also led to somewhat of a Mario Kart tradition with Rebound, El33tonline and other DS gamers from various forums hooking up at the event to test our province’s mettles against one another. We have also spent many happy times whizzing through the tracks until the early hours of the morning, only to be asked the next day at breakfast, “Are you the guys who were making all the noise last night?” And this coming from a Counterstrike clan made me blush slightly!

And so I am sure you can understand the anticipation with which I wait to board the aeroplane this morning heading to the launch of Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart Wii has been available in a couple of retail shops for almost a week now, which is why I have firmly kept my legs from wandering into any shop which could mistakenly lead me to buy it in a fit of weakness. It just wouldn’t be right practising before the launch I am sure you will agree.

I have heard from reliable sources that the game really is fantastically fun. Even better are the reports that online play is great with hardly any lag. 12 player online – way to go Nintendo! So what will you be doing tonight? I know where I will be so maybe see you online.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Wii Fit 25 day Challenge

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:55:00 +0000

To those who may be in the dark, let me bring you up to speed. At the recent launch of Wii Fit in South Africa, Core Gaming issued a 25 day Challenge to members of the media. The bottom line is that Wii Fit is being put to the test...will this game deliver the goods? Check back daily to track our progress as we develop our “deep muscles” and search for our balance.

Each day Monday to Friday we will complete the body test in Wii Fit as well as undertake some of the exercise routines. We know that playing games is hard work, but hey somebody has to do it!

This is a challenging task moving from the couch to the Balance Board so we would appreciate your encouragement to help us secure one of the top five places in the competition. It’s a worthy cause in that the five individuals who lose the most BMI get to donate their Wii Fit units to a charity of their choice.

In the meantime, check out more details on the challenge as well as our first impressions of Wii Fit. Our review of the game will follow shortly.

Wii Fit Tracker

Day	Lisa BMI	Lisa Wii Fit Age	Wayne BMI	Wayne Wii Fit Age
1	20.22	38	23.79	48
2	20.29	32	24.03	51
3	20.12	31	23.69	33
4	20.26	24	24.06	36
5	20.33	33	24.19	30
6	20.26	26	23.81	31
7	20.29	40	23.88	28
8	20.51	30	23.75	32
9	20.33	28	23.81	27
10	20.04	20	23.63	28
11	20.76	26	24.25	29
12	20.15	26	24.19	28
13	20.37	25	24.16	25
14	20.40	27	24.00	23
15	20.22	22	23.91	28
16	20.29	32	23.69	24
17	20.29	32	23.78	22
18	20.29	22	23.28	29
19	19.58	22	22.75	28
20	19.94	20	23.28	26
21	19.69	21	23.06	30
22	20.15	21	23.44	28
23	20.01	20	23.41	29
24	19.94	20	23.47	30
25	19.94	20	23.50	26

Click here for the most recent entry (Days 12 - 18) or here for Days 8 - 11.

Week one

Despite being tired after trying the game out at the press launch and a return flight to Durban, Wayne and I could not restrain ourselves from setting up the Wii Balance Board the moment we stepped in. It was great to set up our own Miis in the game and calibrate the Balance Board to our individual weight and height.

Since only a handful of games were open in each of the four categories, the first week saw us mainly unlocking games and difficulty levels. The FitPiggy keeps track of how long you spend on the game each day, but quite simply the longer you spend the more you unlock. The unlocked games are greyed out so it is really an incentive to play for longer, unlock the goods and see what else lies in store for you.

While I was eager to try the games in each of the four categories (Yoga, Muscle, Aerobic and Balance), Wayne seemed to be comfortable in the Balance section. In particular he has grown fond of Tightrope Tension which he now seems to zip across while I plod along behind.

So far I have attempted a few Yoga poses. All of them have been challenging but fairly easy to perform. Even the simple breathing pose will leave your heart rate higher while the Half Moon will stretch your limits and the Tree pose will see you doing things you never thought were possible.

I must admit I have not yet tried any of the Muscle workouts but since Peter looked particularly tired after doing press-ups and lunges, I will have to save it for a day when I am feeling more energetic. The balance games seem to be the most popular with my friends.

If you like a challenge, head into the aerobic section. You will be surprised how much of a workout you will get from doing hula-hoops and the good news is that a more advanced level of hula-hooping awaits to be unlocked!

With thoughts of teenage girls jiving to Dance Dance Revolution in the arcades, I was a bit daunted by the Dancing Steps at first. Once you have the rhythm not much will hold you back, but be warned that leg kicking, clapping and sideways stepping is on the cards in one of the unlockables (I hope I am not giving too much away). This is not much different to a gym step class and if you turn the volume right up you will be so caught up with watching the Miis strut their stuff on stage that you will soon forget you are actually working out. Remember to dust off your sweatband for this one.

The jogging is also sweet and sees you taking in the sights while your friend’s Miis and dogs roar past you. Don’t do this after having just eaten a hotdog. For this game you just pop the Wiimote into your pocket and jog on the spot (no Balance Board).

And so we arrive at the balance games. Ahhh, the balance games. This section of Wii Fit is particularly addictive and will see you trying to beat your best time as well as that of your friend. I have to point out that I did at one stage hold the record for longest jump in Ski Jump and Ski Slalom, but have since been robbed of the title. Never fear, vengeance will be mine, soon.

At first I shyed away from Table Tilt, it just did not look like ‘my cup of tea’ (as the Balance Board likes to remind me). However, when I did give it a go I managed to finish this puzzle-like challenge and still am top of the scoreboard. I recently unlocked Balance bubble which has proved to be the most challenging game to me yet. The age-old gaming motto ‘just one more level’ has really rung true here.

The real beauty of all of these games is that most of the time you are having so much fun you forget that you are actually doing exercise. Sometimes I have been so swept up in the game that my aching muscles the next day are a stark reminder of the workout.

Days six and seven

Yesterday I finally unlocked the Balance Ball game which Wayne had been taunting me with for the past couple of days. I must admit that my excitement was short lived as this turned out to be the most challenging game I have played so far. Challenging but fun and really annoying when you don’t complete it which leads to many, many attempts. Today I can proudly say that I negotiated my Mii to safety, past rapids, ragged rocks, bees and even my own impatience. Now if I could just beat Wayne’s time!

After trying out a couple of the Yoga exercises again, I decided to give the muscle workout section a whirl. A couple of single leg extension’s later I was feeling the burn. I have unlocked quite a few muscle exercises and am looking forward to giving them all a go in the coming weeks.

Right, left...block

After working on my fish catching skills in one of the balance games (I obviously was not meant to be a fisherman), I unlocked a new game in the aerobics section. It turned out to be boxing and one of my favourite games so far. Most of the games in Wii Fit are either one or two minutes to begin with, but as you progress in the game the unlocked games are longer to challenge you more.

Boxing is four minutes and rivals the Step Plus routine which weighs in at five minutes. This is the first game in Wii Fit which I have used the Nunchuk for. You connect the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk and follow the lead of your boxing trainer as you punch first left, then right and finally block in different combinations. Apart from being fun, this is a promising workout routine and I look forward to working on my Million Dollar baby moves tonight.

Since Wayne has been preoccupied with balance games since we started, I decided to shake things up a bit. With me in charge of the Wii Remote he had no option but to try his hand at Yoga and Aerobics. I let him off easy, I mean he only did the Half Moon, not the Tree! After some complaining following the stretching that yoga inflicted on his unsuspecting body, it was off to the aerobics section. Despite the evil glint in my eye, I did not select the Hula-Hoop but instead settled for the Step Basic routine.

Breaking records

After he unlocked the boxing game, how could I not let him step into Rocky’s shoes and his session ended by trying to save his dignity after Peter walloped both of our Ski Jump records. How he managed to record a jump of 348m is still beyond me but practice makes perfect so more Ski Jumping is definitely still on the cards for the rest of the week.

Before I finish off today’s entry I would like to discuss something with you who may be reading this article. Have you any tales of mirth which you would like to share with us? What is your distance record in Ski Jump and how many hula-hoops have you managed to complete? We would love to hear from you and if you make us laugh hard enough or astound us by beating our records we may scratch around in the lost and found box and see what we can send you.

Days 8, 9, 10 and 11

I am bushed after a session involving Yoga breathing, a muscle workout, Step Plus and Hula-Hoops. The Step Plus sees you stepping on and off the balance board in time with the Miis on the stage. However, in this routine you will not only be going backwards or left and right but things will be mixed up slightly with you having to clap, kick alternating legs forward and even step on to the balance board sideways. The rhythm will even get faster about half way through the routine to shake things up but it’s really fun and is guaranteed to get your heart racing.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this I unlocked new games as well as new difficulty levels for some of my favourites. Oh boy…time to rev things up a bit. I noticed an exclamation mark above the friendly Balance Board’s head (who was pounding away on the treadmill at the time) and thought ‘Aha, a secret!’ When I clicked on him he asked me if I was ready for the Ultimate Balance Test. ‘Bring it” I said. If only I knew then what I knew now. Give it a whirl and let me know how good your balance is.

Wayne tried the Lunge out – ouch! The trainer is helpful in that he/she gives you tips on how to improve how you are doing the exercise. He also tried his hand, or should I say his hips, at Hula-Hoops. Good thing the curtains were closed because the neighbours would have thought he lost the plot the way he was gyrating! This is the first time he has stopped to get a glass of water.

He unlocked the final balance game, Woot! Unlucky for him he had just completed the Hula-Hoops so he was suitably exhausted and struggled to maintain his zen focus (any more and I would be giving away the plot). Wayne has also been perfecting the advanced level of the Tightrope Tension…if he ever needs to give up his day job I swear he could join the circus as a trapeze artist. The advanced levels of the games generally throw more obstacles your way, making it harder for you to complete the challenge but more determined to do so as well.

Be one with the ball

Table Tilt remains a firm favourite for us both. While I was the first to successfully complete the game, Wayne has become quite the pro, even after unlocking the more advanced level. This game is quite simple in design, lean left, right, to the front or back to roll the balls on a platform into a hole…but it is extra sensitive and when a ball drops off the platform it will swing to a different position, confusing you in the process. Highly addictive and a great game to compete for high score.

To end off today’s recap of the past few days of Wii Fit, I have to mention the Snowboarding. You place the balance board perpendicular to the TV instead of placing it parallel. Even if you have mastered the Ski Slalom it will no doubt take you quite a while to get used to this game. You must pass between two flags placed down a ski slope, but the flags are much closer together and you must keep a close eye on your speed to avoid missing the flags. You will lean towards the TV or away from it to navigate your Mii down the icy slope.

Days 12 through 18

First up apologies for not having kept you up to date on our progress in the Wii Fit Challenge, I was never good at writing in diaries!

As you can see we are well into our Wii Fit Challenge, over halfway in fact. In a way it is going to be disappointing to finish the challenge since it has served as a great motivator to step on to the Wii Balance Board and fit exercise into my busy daily routine. However, with that being said I will admit that it is much easier after a hectic day to start up the Wii and engage in some heart-raising (although it can sometimes be hair-raising as well) activity than head off to the gym in the chill of early winter.

I have been a bit more adventurous of late, trying a few more of the yoga poses and cursing at my wobbly stomach in the process. There are some very interesting names for yoga poses including Palm Tree, Warrior and Downward Facing Dog. The Balance Board keeps on asking me if I am noticing that my tummy is firmer, it really is a bit direct that board, especially when it asks me if I find myself tripping often.

Weigh your baby or pet

We recently had two more friends register and I was happy to see that I was not the only one being quietly reprimanded and lightly insulted. Since one of my friends Kerry happened to have a two month old baby on hand (how convenient) we tested out the option which allows you to weigh a baby or pet. Kerry climbed on to the Balance Board and it said “Oh, do I detect a little someone or something on me with you?” It then gives you the weight of the baby or pet you are carrying, which Kerry confirmed was a pretty accurate report of James’ two month old weight.

To use this function the object must weigh 3kg or more since a weight difference under 3kg will be treated as a natural fluctuation in your weight. As Wayne pointed out if you happen to have gained 3 kgs since your last weigh-in, you might get a surprise when that message asking if a little someone or something is on the board with you. Balance Board, meet my love handle!

So back to the challenge…I have been trying my hand at the games in the four different categories over the past few days. Table Tilt remains a firm favourite of mine. I have attempted the advanced level of the game, which is much harder because there are no raised edges to help prevent the ball from rolling off the platform. I am also concentrating on the original beginners’ level (and I use the word ‘beginner’ lightly because this is one of the most challenging games in Wii Fit) because I have not beaten Wayne’s record, yet.

Stop Mii!

Speaking of breaking records, my friend Brad is my hero because he beat Peter’s high score in Ski Jump. Of course now Wayne is trying to beat both their scores but a little bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone.

The Balance Bubble game continues to intrigue me. The premise behind the game is simple but completing it is another story. My Mii just does not seem to go in the direction which I want her to go in and this usually leads to gales of laughter erupting from my friends as I shout “No Mii, not that way…Stop Mii!” Sometimes you just don’t do what you tell yourself to do.

Wayne has also started to enjoy the yoga exercises. To my total disgust he beat my score at Deep Breathing but last night I took back the crown so the gauntlet will no doubt be thrown down again tonight. He has also mastered the art of advanced Table Tilt and still holds the record for the Ski Slalom, although I did recently manage to score second place on that record board.

All in a day's work

What I have found is that the Balance Board is extremely sensitive and if you are tired after a day’s work you will notice that you don’t respond as well as you normally would when taking the Body Test. As a result even if you have performed the tests before you may find that your Wii Fit age will shoot up on certain days. Another thing which I have noticed is that, much like if you wash your car it is bound to rain, if you are tired you will find yourself doing the Single leg balance test in the Body Test.

I also wanted to give you a heads-up that Core Gaming has amended the rules to the Wii Fit 25 Day Challenge. Initially the top five winners were going to be selected based on those who had lost the most Body Mass Index over the 25 days. Now the top five will be selected based on most improved Wii Fit Age.

Stay tuned for a report of our final seven days on the challenge and an updated Wii Fit Tracker.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Rock Band Rendezvous

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:25:00 +0000

All you need is Rock Band

The story began a long time ago when Brad proclaimed amidst a fury of gaming that ‘All you need is Rock Band.’ Since that enlightening day he began to count down the days to the game’s release, eagerly lapping up every morsel of information the developers chose to throw his way. Suffering in PAL-land, he decided that his addiction could wait no longer. Spurred on by Wayne’s somewhat fortunate procurement of the game, he began to search earnestly for someone to lug the 7kg parcel from North American shores.

Now, although Wayne had secured a copy of the elusive Rock Band, it was still stuck across a vast ocean and so he sat for many months pining away in anticipation of the great day. Meanwhile, with the terms of the bribes finally agreed upon, Brad’s probe had returned successfully with his copy of the goods.

And so it was that we began our journey down Rock Band’s melodious path. Many evenings and mornings were spent rocking out to the many different tracks, including the somewhat controversial ‘Green Grass and High Tides.’ However, not all were as fortunate as us, many had just gazed in wide-eyed wonderment at pictures of the game and imagined how it would feel to sit behind the drums or simply rock in a band. We being the kind souls who we are decided to round up the troops and give others the chance to take Rock Band for a whirl. And so we arrived at the Rock Band Rendezvous.

Lights, drum roll, action

The stage was set, instruments primed and fans … well umm we had them all ranging from 5 weeks to 30 years. Mark decided to rock out with style and arrived sporting a Mohawk – it’s going to be hard to beat this next time so you better get the wheels turning now. Thanks for adding a little bit of razzle dazzle to the evening, even if you did break the tap!

Brad brought his rock band set over so we were lucky enough to have two sets of drums, two guitars and two mics. In Rock Band you can face off against another person with the same instrument, the drum offs proved to be the most popular. Truth be told after seeing Mark set the guitar on fire with his dazzling display of musical genius on expert mode, there wasn’t anyone in the room looking for a playoff.

Since we didn’t always have a willing participant to sing, Peter decided to multitask. We had tried this technique on a previous occasion where it soon became apparent that Harmonix had not included a vital piece of equipment – a microphone stand. Well luckily we live in Africa and in Africa ‘a Boer maak a plan’ so Dawid hooked us up with a mic, South African style. It worked a charm.

Hall of Fame

Thanks to everyone’s contribution on our road to the Hall of Fame. Brad’s l33t drumming skills combined with Mark’s smoking guitar solo’s saved us, Ricky and Aaron’s sweet bass tunes set the tone while Dawid, Wayne and Pete were our all round supporters, jumping between instruments to keep the show on the road. One thing is for sure, we put that Abba party down the road to shame.

They say the proof is in the pudding and man the pudding was lekker. The same can be said for Rock Band and Brad has proved to be some sort of modern day prophet with his saying ‘All you need is Rock Band’ ringing true. If you can call in a few favours and hang on to your soul in the process then do whatever you need to get this game now. It is only getting better with more songs being released for download pretty soon.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Revelations of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:00:00 +0000

My Easter weekend was spent largely observing life from the couch in my lounge. The past few months have been a gamers’ delight with a plethora of top titles for all the platforms being delivered into our grateful hands. And while it hardly seems fit to complain about this sort of thing, I must admit (rather shamefully) that I still had not got round to playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Although I had ventured into Hyrule on a few occasions, I had not offered myself up to the realm completely and surrendered myself to the beauty and ingenious that is Zelda.

I will pretend that I did not hear that collective sigh of disbelief. Continuing along my path of honesty, I will admit that I did not even start the game on my own accord. After spending the morning and afternoon shooting aliens in Capcom’s Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, I found myself delving into my games draw to pick out my next gaming adventure. My friend Peter (an all-time supporter and motivator of Zelda who has introduced me to many, many sweet games) hinted not so subtlely that I really should make a decent start on Zelda. I decided to jump in and I have not looked back since.

Of dungeons and maps

My guide to Hyrule and I played most of the afternoon and evening. The controls were really easy to pick up and I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible the game was. When people mention dungeons to me I have flashbacks to a very slow afternoon spent watching a friend play Dragon Quest. I always assumed that the dungeons in Zelda would be like this, with me not knowing what was going on and being thoroughly confused and bored! I am happy to report that the dungeons in Zelda are quite the opposite.

Another aspect of the game that I was dreading was the navigation of the map to reach the far corners of Hyrule and locate the dungeons. I have always disliked maps, something which I confirmed in the aforementioned Dragon Quest and later began to dislike somewhat (although on a much lesser scale) in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Using the map in Zelda and purchasing items with the discovered gems was unlike any other game that I have ever played – it was easy to learn and quick to master. Did I mention that I generally don’t like purchasing and upgrading items in games either…well Zelda scores ten out of ten for dungeons, maps and items in my books. It really is clearly in a class of its own.

Raising the bar

I have always had a soft spot for adventure games, series that are firm favourites of mine include Tomb Raider, God of War and Prince of Persia. Other titles that I rate are Super Mario Galaxy, Beyond Good and Evil, Ico and The Shadow of the Colossus. Now Peter has always be a good sport when it came to me playing games in the Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia series, but he has always criticised how you often don’t know where to go next and have to attempt wall jumps or runs several times before mastering them. Before I expand upon this thought, let me first explain that I still believe these games are great as they are challenging and fun. However, it was not until I played Zelda that I really understood what he had been saying for all these years. It was like the scales fell from my eyes and I saw how adventure games really should be. Zelda has definitely raised the bar.

Although I hesitate to compare Zelda to another game because it is in a class of its own, I would say that it reminds me most of The Shadow of the Colossus when you embark on quests through wide open plains. Link is such an unassuming and unlikely hero, much like Wander was.

Venture into Hyrule

So getting back to how four days flew past in hardly the blink of an eye, I am happy to report that I am now roughly 22 hours into the game and a firm Zelda supporter. This game just has that special something, the combination of all the right elements in just the right amount. It draws you in and as although you look forward to progressing in the game to discover more and more, you do so with a bitter sweet taste because you simply do not want it to end, ever.

The game is just so huge that it is hard to talk about which bits appealed to me the most but I will try. First things first, the atmosphere in the game is breathtaking, I have never been drawn so completely into a game. The settings, characters, music and environments have been so thoughtfully designed that I find it personally reprehensible not to investigate each area and talk to each character in order to fully submerge myself into this world. The storyline is beautiful, unique and sees the normally peaceful kingdom of Hyrule threatened by the twilight which has descended upon the land. You will explore the land as Link, upon whose shoulders it has fallen to save Hyrule, who sometimes transforms into a wolf because of the twilight. Not only is each area vastly different but so is the difference between exploring the areas as Link and as the wolf.

I hope that this will encourage other gamers who have not yet stepped into Hyrule to do so, because honestly it is an experience that you will never forget and that not many games are likely to overshadow in the future. If you have already experienced Hyrule, why not visit it again, I know I will.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Party on with Wario and Rayman

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:00:00 +0000

If you have a free Saturday night, a couple of eager friends and a Wii get ready for a wicked cool time with two party mini-games that have just hit the South African gaming circuit. Step aside for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and WarioWare: Smooth Moves.

If you have never had the pleasure of meeting Rayman and Wario, let me introduce you.

Rayman is…well, I am not actually quite sure what he is but that’s not the point, he is fun! If you see a hip looking guy with no legs or arms but feet and hands that mysteriously bob around and a freaky yellow hairdo, the odds are its Rayman. One thing thats for sure is that wherever Rayman is, crazy bunnies are close behind, lurking and ready to instigate mischief and unleash mayhem.

Wario is kind of like Mario’s arch nemesis. If we turn the ‘W’ and the ‘M’ around, what do we get…bingo, you got it! Where Mario is kind-hearted and generally an all around good guy (you know the kind a father hopes he might one day get introduced to instead of these gamers his daughter seems to be attracted to because they know how to slay dragons and save the world from alien invasions), Wario is a trouble maker and renowned for shouting ‘Bwahahahaha’ as he runs away towards the horizon with stolen goods. You get the picture?

Now in his defence he is not at bad as Bowser, I mean he most certainly does not always kidnap Princess Peach but he has a pretty bad rap nonetheless. Some of Wario’s distinguishing factors include a big curly moustache below quite a sizeable pink nose, evil looking eyes, a large ‘W’ on his hat and the aforementioned ‘Bwahahahaha.’

Right, now that the introductions are out of the way, lets get down to it. Wario and Rayman both generally appear in party games consisting of fun mini-games which you can enjoy with a bunch of friends (up to four players for both these games) or on your lonesome if you are struggling to rustle up support. Both games are not designed to be taken seriously, and be warned that, although you may find some sort of storyline, these games are purely for fun. Be prepared to leave your dignity at the door and you will enjoy both Wario and Rayman for many years to come.

The games are easy to pick-up-and-play and you will enjoy them no matter what your age. Just be warned that you can work up quite a sweat in both games so rotate gamers or take a break every now and again. If you want to find out more about these two great games, be sure to check back later in the week when the reviews will surface.

If you are chomping at the bit and simply cannot wait a few more days to read all about it, head over to our preview of WarioWare: Smooth Moves or check out a cool Nintendo DS game called WarioWare Touched. To get an idea of what Rayman is about you can also check out our review of the first Rayman Raving Rabbids. To make sure everyone is happy you can even choose to read the PS2 version or the Wii version of the game.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Upcoming DS games that tickle my fancy

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:00:00 +0000

The Nintendo DS is a marvelous little machine – not only are we DS owners spoilt for choice in terms of games but we also have the option of on-the-go gaming and a multiplayer feast of fun. Recently I have discovered another use for old faithful – being able to still play games despite Eskom’s pesky power-cuts across South Africa.

If I may comment briefly on the multiplayer aspect of the DS, may I point out just how fun it is to round up some mates and test your mettle in the ever-popular Mario Kart DS which does not seem to age at all, try your hand at Metroid Prime Pinball, spin and drop in Tetris DS or even prod your grey matter with multiplayer maths in Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training. You don’t even have to be physically near to play multiplayer thanks to Nintendo’s Wi-Fi which allows you to play against gamers from around the world. Trust me if you have not yet tried this out, get to it right now, you will not be disappointed.

Turning to the games side of things, it is difficult to single out titles since there are so many DS games which appeal to so many gamers out there and every gamer is so unique in their tastes that it is almost impossible to recommend titles. However, with that being said I am definitely an adventure game kind of girl so I would highlight all the games in the Phoenix Wright series which is a firm favourite for me (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for all, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney- Trials and Tribulations) as well as Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Another real winner was Animal Crossing for its sheer ingenuity and Super Princess Peach for showing me that platformers were in fact possible.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

It should not come as much of a surprise then that I am looking forward to the next installment in the Phoenix Wright series. Although Phoenix Wright is not actually the main character, the game is sure to follow the same formula and is destined to be a champion. Titled Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, it is set to court North American gamers from the 12th of February.

Interesting to note is that although this is the fourth title in the series, it is the first Ace Attorney game to be developed specifically for the Nintendo DS. The game will introduce new characters including a new defense attorney, Apollo Justice, his trusty assistant Tracy, who also happens to be a magician, and mentor Kristoph Gavin, attorney by day, lead singer of a rock band by night. Like the previous games in the series, players will need to scan crime scenes, solve puzzles, interview witnesses and gather evidence before stepping into the court room and facing the prosecutor and judge. Look out for the new Crime Recreation Mode which can be used to reveal hidden clues.

Prof. Layton and the Curious Village

The second title which I have been eagerly awaiting is Prof. Layton and the Curious Village. It is a part adventure, part puzzle game - it's got a beautiful hand drawn art style that is really quite unique, and the puzzles are of the brain-teaser variety and only loosely tied to the plot. Level 5 have created a distinctive feel to the game with a story with fully voiced animation scenes as well as a memorable cast.

The game will introduce you to Professor Layton, a puzzle expert and archaeologist, and his apprentice Luke who are hired to find a treasure hidden in the village of St. Mystere. Prepare to be faced with over 130 puzzles including mazes, riddles, logic and sliding puzzles. In addition players will be able to download new puzzles every week for half a year via Wi-Fi. It will be available in North America from the 10th of February. The good news is that this is the first in a trilogy so if you become a fan of the game you can look forward to many more Prof. Layton gaming hours ahead!

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Wii Christmas Buyer's Guide: South Africa edition

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:19:00 +0000

So, you're thinking about getting a Wii, or perhaps you have one already and are wondering what to buy for it now that you've worn out your Wii Sports disc. We've put together a list of games available locally that we can recommend. Without Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption and Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition out in South Africa, this list is mainly populated with multiplayer mini-game collections, but that's just what's needed for the holiday season - the Wii is the perfect family console.

Wii Sports

Well, this is a no brainer - if you're thinking about getting a Wii here is the number one reason you should. It comes packed in with the console and offers a huge amount of fun, so much so that no other games are really needed for a while. The only thing is you need extra controllers to extract maximum enjoyment from Wii Sports as while it is fun to hone your skills against a computer opponent it can't substitute for trading blows with someone in the room with you. Of course, Nintendo thought of this, and decided to a pack a game in with a controller, so your next game should really be...

Review of Wii Sports

Wii Play

This is controller+game pack which is only R100 more than a standard Wii remote and offers some great mini-games for the price, so it hardly seems worthwhile buying a controller on its own instead of this pack. The best of the mini games are Shooting Range, where you aim at targets on the screen with the remote and try to out shoot your opponent, Find Mii, where you are tasked with identifying matching characters or odd ones out the fastest, Laser Hockey, an air hockey like game, and Tanks! which involves toy tanks and shooting. The focus is again on multiplayer, so you're bound to get your money's worth, although Wii Play only caters for two players and not four like Wii Sports. R499 with a Wii Remote.

Review of Wii Play

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

This is completely different - an epic 50 hour (perhaps 60 if you're not familiar with Zelda games) adventure that is absolutely enthralling. Where Wii Play and Wii Sports offer simplicity and short game times of a few minutes each, Zelda offers satisfying complexity and lengthy and engrossing bouts of gaming. If Wii Sports is a summer blockbuster for the whole family, say a Pixar movie like Cars, Zelda is an epic adventure of Oscar material, a Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It's still accessible for newcomers, but it will require time and effort. It's oh so worth that effort though and is among the best games you'll ever play. R599.

Review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Note: This is the GameCube review. The story is the same but the Wii version has a different control mechanism.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

Last year saw the introduction of the deranged Rabbids, strange looking rabbit-like creatures that have an insatiable appetite for destruction and mayhem. Aside from the wacky humour and charm of the Rabbids, the game offers a collection of mini games which see you playing musical instruments and generally waving the Wii Remote around in an inelegant manner. Of course, this is deemed to be large amounts of fun here at El33t. Out in December, R599.

Review of Rayman Raving Rabbids

Note: This is the review of the first episode. This will give you a good idea of the game mechanic which was further enhanced in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 to fully utilise the Wii controls.

Mario Party 8

Unless you were lucky enough to own a GameCube or N64, you've likely missed out on the first 7 installments of this series, and it's a great time to join in the fun. For those who have played all the previous ones this is a phoned-in uninspired update to the series, but for the rest of us Mario Party 8 is great relaxing family fun. It's a roll-and-move board game punctuated by some brilliant mini-games to shake things up. Note, this game is super-luck-heavy, so those who are averse to luck-based games, please stick to one of the others, but this game is one specifically designed with groups of different age groups in mind (up to four players, only Wii Remotes required), and in that it does a superb job of keeping everyone entertained. Out in December, R599.

Sonic and the Secret Rings

In the absence of Super Mario Galaxy, Sonic is the one left carrying the platformer crown in South Africa this Christmas, and is being released in December at a very reasonable price. Many hailed this as a return to form for the Sonic series after a poor outing on the Xbox 360 and PS3, but it seems it's still far from Sonic's glory days on the Megadrive. Still, this is the best 3-D Sonic game, and is a must for any fan of the hedgehog, or action games. R299.

I would also mention Smackdown vs Raw 2008, but really, I can't bring myself to encourage any form of this mind-numbing form of entertainment.

Contributor: Peter

Editorial: The Internets

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:00:00 +0000

The Internets are not working. I feel like screaming out, “Someone get on it and fix it right away!” I need to work but feel like I am spinning out of control without access to email, google talk and the admin section to my website...the list goes on.

What does one do when the Internets do not play by the rules? I mean it needs to work for at least eight hours of a working day, my South African working day that is….Greenwich Meridian plus two for those of you who are trapped in the twilight era. And contrary to most South African’s popular belief, Telkom is not always to blame. In fact, from my personal experience, it is more often than not simply the Internets themselves which are to blame.

A series of tubes

Now everyone who is worth their salt in this world knows that the Internets are a series of tubes and, perhaps more importantly, that they are clogged. This often leads to the IE or Firefox icon spinning endlessly in circles until I feel like I am going to go dilly in the head. It can also lead to a 504 Gateway Timeout error. This one is my personal favourites because it simply reads "The following error occurred: [code=GATEWAY_TIMEOUT] A gateway timeout occurred. The server is unreachable. Retry the request." Now here is the real gem: "Please contact the administrator." Would someone please bring me up to speed on who the administrator is?

Is this the administrator of the Internets and if so why is his or her email address not in my email contact directory? More importantly why has he or she not responded to my somewhat agitated requests to press the refresh button on the Internets. I mean how hard can it be? Just hit F5, even Shift F5 should do the trick, and reset the Internets once and for all, clean out its tubes good and solid.

We apologise for the inconvenience

If any one out there has the administrator details for the Internets please forward them to me. In the interim please forgive us for EL33TONLINE being unavailable for a brief period yesterday. I did log a ticket with the Internets right away and hoped to be back online again as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Douglas Adams hit the nail on the head when he gave the answer as being 42 in his book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ The problem was finding out what the question was. Incidentally to those amongst us who are literarily challenged, the question was what is the answer to life, the universe and everything. Similarly if the answer was frustration, the question would have to be working on the Internets. They will bring you as much gnashing of teeth as they will joy, however, since this particular series of tubes holds so much valuable information, I will just have to hang in there until the Internets are updated to version 1.better.

And just like that, it is back on. Sigh, back to work for me I guess. Round two: The Internets one, Lisa zero…fight!

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Different gamers

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000

So, you think you’re a gamer do you? Ever thought about what it actually means to be a gamer. Think about it for a minute or two - there are all sorts of kinds of gamers out there…hardcore gamers, casual gamers, console gamers, PC gamers…which one are you? Here is a bit of my gaming story.

Lanning and clanning

A couple of years ago I would not even have dared to call myself a gamer. The only kind of gaming which I had dabbled in back then was on a PC borrowed from my dad. My only claim to fame was a 17 inch monitor (which, believe it or not, was big at that time) and that I was a pretty good shot with a double barrelled shotgun. Of course the fact that I was forced to take a nick after consistently having a costume known as the ‘Crack whore bitch’ assigned to me made me pretty cool, well to my gaming friends anyway. After taking the nick ‘Leeloo’ I was upgraded to a costume consisting of bandages covering the essentials bit and bobs in honour of Milla Jovovich of The Fifth Element fame. Coincidentally Milla also happened to kick serious zombie butt in Resident Evil…damn, I was cool!

So, back to the plot. A couple of my friends were very interested in PC gaming and formed what is known as a clan called Yoda. The fact that we named our clan in honour of Star Wars shows you just how serious we were. Starting with just a few, our clan soon grew and prosper it began to, yes. The games of the time were Warcraft II, Starcraft and Quake. It was the official thing, I mean we had a ladder to track wins and losses and everything. Man, those were the good ol’ days…sigh. Looking back on it I realise now that our parents were quite understanding, (yes, we were all still in school). I mean we pretty much took over the whole house, occasionally the garage, arriving with our chairs and tables, set up our PCs, network cables running everywhere, late nights or should I say early mornings, hotdogs, litres and litres of coke, and let’s not forget the interesting zergling noises that emanated from speakers set up to drown each other out.

Growing up

This practice ensued for many a year but eventually friends moved away and some even became too ‘cool’ or too ‘old’ to dabble in the odd PC game. Strange that. To some lanning became a thing of the past but this did not stop the rest of us and although the clan pretty much dissolved, the ladder disintegrated and the network cable bag began to gather a bit of dust, we still managed to find the time to get together every once in a while to test our mettle against one another. Of course the games progressed to Counterstrike, Bomberman, Tower Defence and the contentious Battlefield 1942. I think I could write an entire book about both the fun and fights which network games created. Key words would include defragging, camping, reinstalling and leaching. But that is another totally different story which perhaps one day I will take the time to tell those of you who are interested because I am sure that quite a few of you would laugh, having had similar experiences yourselves.

A key component to PC games in my youth consisted of an entity known as ‘WANG.’ I feel it would just not be right not to mention this institution created by the male members of the clan. For those of you who might be in the dark, ‘WANG’ is an acronym for ‘Women Against Network Games.’ Now it would seem that many a male gamer considers his girlfriend or wife to be an obstacle in his gaming adventures and so it was that WANG was born. Despite the fact that most girlfriends/wives were, in my opinion, always very supportive of their men endeavouring to save the world and that a few of us of the female variety actually played PC games now and again did not take away from the fact that we were women and therefore we were WANG. You will be happy to know that WANG is alive and well today. It normally leads to leisurely ladies days spent shopping, having tea, gossiping and, budget permitting, trips to the spa for nails and facials. Love live WANG!

Looking back on the console journey

This is the point in the story that is generally called an epiphany. One day my friend decided that we needed to buy a GameCube. We dutifully set out to acquire this strange cube-shaped console. Little did we know that this journey would be the beginning of another chapter in our lives. Our quest to source a GameCube took us to no less than three shopping centers before we managed to purchase the last unit in stock. We set up this little black shaped box and started up Mario Kart Double Dash. Now I know that many of you gamers out there experienced this classic game many years before I did but we were simply hooked! Many a weekend after that was taken up with Mario Kart Double Dash or Mario Soccer and this was really when I began to become a console gamer.

Shortly after the GameCube epiphany, Toys ‘R Us advertised something called a Nintendo DS at a special launch price. Of course, my friends all got this funky little machine and I was left wondering what all the fuss was about. What was this game called Mario Kart DS and why did it cause people to get so excited? I must admit, I was not that interested (To read about the start of a beautiful relationship with my pink DS Lite, check this out). One of my friends then bought a GBA and a GameBoy Micro and was donated a PSP – the console gaming revolution had begun! What followed was the purchase of a PS2, new and improved DS Lites, a Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and more recently a PS3 has been added to the fold. Freek, did anyone notice when we managed to accumulate all three next-gen consoles as well as most of the handheld systems? Next thing I knew we had decided to share our passion for console gaming with others from around the world and EL33TONLINE was born. And to think that this was all started by a GameCube - wipes away tear.

Gaming is contagious

Not long ago my elder brother approached me with the admission that he wanted to buy a PS2. I was of course stoked, at least someone in my family had seen the light! That afternoon I showcased the Xbox 360 and PS2 to my noob brother. He immediately liked the 360’s Dead Rising but I had to explain that this console was a bit out of his budget. However, he was somewhat consoled (excuse the pun) when I let him play Tekken 5, Gran Turismo and Burnout on the PS2. I am proud to say he was a natural, although he did grudgingly admit to having played similar games in the arcades as a young ‘un. Apparently I had missed out on that part of our youth, presumably because I played the part of the bothersome little sister.

And so it came to pass that he became the proud owner of a PS2. The PS2 came packaged with Gran Turismo and Tekken 5 so I dutifully leant him the PS2-defining titles including God of War, Timesplitters 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. Something which you need to understand is that my brother lives on a farm in the Drakensberg…with no electricity! He has to run a generator in order to supply power to the PS2 and TV. He began playing the racing and fighting games until late at night, much to the disapproval of his fiancé whose membership of WANG is currently under consideration.

However, the real fun and games began when he started God of War. Being the legend game that it is, it immediately hypnotised him and he began to lose track of hours and sometimes even days, something which I am sure many gamers can attest to. One day he phoned me and said that he had been playing for about 8 hours already that day. I was, of course, suitably impressed. Next he told me that if he continued to run the generator he would not be able to run the stove and cook dinner, neither would he have lights that evening. The funny part is that he was actually considering continuing to run the PS2 and going hungry…I was so proud because he was not only a true gamer now but a hardcore gamer too! How many of us gamers have been faced with such choices before…one more level or eat, one more level or act like zombie at work the next day, etc etc? We all know what real gamers choose!

Recently my brother was fortunate enough to have two new foals born. Want to know their names? Sparta and Kratos of course! Which reminds me, I better get back to God of War II soon so that he can stop hassling me to finish it so he can play it.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Next gen consoles - how are they really doing?

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:20:00 +0000

June has arrived and with it comes the opportunity to reflect on the impact that the next-gen consoles have had on gaming this year. There was plenty of hype pre-launch to suggest the domination of the PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii as the triumphant winner, nevertheless the reality is somewhat different.

The PS3 has all the specs to suggest that it should win on muscle alone, however, has failed to impress given a lack of quality software titles to support the launch. Equally troubling is the removal of hardware level PS2 compatibility support for the European release, discontinuation of the 20GB model, news of software developer layoffs by SCEA and rumored price cuts. All in all Sony seems to be struggling to recoup the massive investment they committed to the PS3. Fortunately the PS2 continues to sell relatively well at a bargain price and will no doubt be boosted by the recent launch of God of War 2. In the long run there is still hope for the PS3 but Sony need to get quality titles released soon - lets hope SingStar, LittleBigPlanet and Assasin’s Creed can turn Sony’s woes around. The PSP is doing reasonably well in Japan and mediocre in the US but it is improving in the States, partially due to a strategic price cut. Will the PSP see a re-launch similar to the Nintendo's DS to DS-Lite strategy to give it a kick-start in the right direction? Only time will tell.

Show me the money

Nintendo is smiling all the way to the bank with week upon week of outstanding Wii and DS sales around the globe. For instance, in Japan the Wii and DS are outselling the PS3 and PSP at a ration of 5 to 1. Nintendo's main challenge is producing sufficient stock to keep up with the unprecedented demand. On the software front, there are plenty of quality DS titles to keep avid gamers delighted, however, the Wii could do with some new mega titles. For instance, Wii Play and Wii Sports are keeping the masses happy, but what next? Trauma Center, Zelda and Super Paper Mario are top notch available titles and with Metroid Prime, Mario Party 8 and Smash Bros on the way the future is looking very rosy.

The Xbox 360 now has an attachable HD-DVD drive, tons of downloadable content and the promise of the revved up Xbox 360 Elite version. The console is wriggling its way into living rooms as a "media server" and DVD player in addition to its primary game playing role. Given the Xbox 360 was launched a full year ahead of the competitors, the software titles are plentiful, however, are focused on traditional gamer stereotypes. More attention needs to be given to female and family gamer focused titles.

Check out our news items on the Japanese Sales figures and UK Chart Review for additional analysis.

Sigh, movie tie-ins cash in

Trends that are growing this year are the success of movie tie-in games as well as downloadable content. The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Spider-Man 3 titles have stolen the limelight on the UK All Format Charts for many a week now. Nintendo has reached 100 virtual console titles available for download through the Wii Shop Channel, with American Nintendo fans having clocked up 4.7 million downloads since November 2006. Microsoft has made huge inroads into downloadable content through their Live Arcade and Marketplace services, despite initial infrastructure challenges when the services launched. The public has spoken and the "internet" connectivity of consoles has become a necessity...let's see how the PS3 Home service is received going forward.

Last but not least, retro is in with remakes of arcade titles and simple additions to nostalgic games from yesteryear selling well. Pac-Man was launched across arcades in 1980 and this past week was re-launched through Xbox Live Arcade. Toru Iwatani, the original designer of Pac-Man, finishes his career this month with the release of this much loved title, adding in new mazes and modes for future generations to enjoy.

Contributor: Wayne

Editorial: Boss Battles

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:00:00 +0000

If you are a gamer, the chances are that you have played a boss battle, unless of course you are Miyamoto’s wife and you refuse to play anything but Nintendogs and the Everybody Votes Channel. I find boss battles interesting and the more games I play and the more boss battles I fight or watch my friends fight, the more hilarious they become to me.

It has over the course of many years been becoming clearer and clearer to me how to know precisely when you are about to encounter a boss battle. I thought that I would save you gamers out there the frustration of being killed the first couple of times in a boss battle – yes, it happens to the best of us, but I am here to help. There are clues to be spotted and it is best that you don’t ignore these clues since you will probably end up getting your a$$ kicked if you do.

Gloom and doom

Firstly, always be on the lookout for ominous sounding music which generally starts to play just before you are just about to walk around the corner into a boss battle. You may think this is trite, but gloom and doom generally spells death and reload.

Secondly, the developers have left an uncharacteristic amount of health lying around. Be warned, developers never ever give you health just because they felt like it. Developers like to see you die, they are heartless, so even if there is a copius amount of health strategically placed before a dark, strangely lit room face it, it will probably still not be enough to facilitate your defeat of the boss first time round (unless of course you are playing on weener mode). Whatever you do though, let me give you this piece of advice, which I advise you to treat like a pearl of wisdom and clutch dearly to your breast until the day dawns, if ever, that you trade in your gaming fingers – take whatever health is lying around, no questions asked, just take it. Chances are that if the sadistic bugger is allowing you to level up, you are going to need everything you can possibly get your hands on, including toothpicks and sanitary towels.

Thirdly, and this kind of ties in with number two, the developer leaves enough weapons to support America’s war in Iraq for the next ten years just lying around. Like health, developers do not just leave weapons around to brighten your day. Take everything, everything that you can possibly carry and shove into every nook and cranny that you have. Even with this small arsenal, you will still only have a fighting chance and are doomed to die a couple of times before mastering the particular boss’ weaknesses.

Boss minions

Fourthly, no matter how many enemies, or what I like to refer to as boss minions, you face before entering a boss battle it will never be anything in comparison to what you are about to face in a boss battle. Five hundred, eleven thousand, hell why not throw in twenty five million because someone’s coffee machine had run out that day. My personal favourite is the boss minions who fire at you from the sidelines in a boss battle. They are not packing anything dangerous enough to seriously damage your health, but every little pinprick of health they sap away counts and they are normally just out of reach too. Anyone who has played God of War or Lost Planet will understand this feeling only too well. You are engaged in a fiery battle with a mean looking beast while scrawny acne-covered tosses target you with fire arrows from above or, my personal favourite, 50 carbon copies of yourself attack you. Snap out of it gamer, this is what you live for remember?!

Health bars...gotta love 'em

Fifthly, a health bar suddenly appears on the screen. Mostly it appears in the centre at the bottom of the screen but is has also been known to migrate to the top of the screen, or even to the left or right – so keep your eyes open! Although boss battle health bars are helpful in that they indicate how much health you have taken off your foe, sometimes they can be a dead giveaway. Picture it, the game is building up an eerie atmosphere, you don’t quite know what is going to happen next, your heart is beating fast, your palms are sweating…and then a health bar appears. Just like that – bam! – and now the guesswork has been taken out of the game, you know for sure it is a boss battle. During the many hours of games which I have played with my friends, I think that I have killed this aspect of gaming because never does a boss battle go by that I don’t yell out, ‘Gee, a health bar, this must be a boss battle.’ Sorry guys, it is just too good an opportunity to pass by and I can’t help myself. I must admit though that I have recently played some games without the health bar appearing, how refreshing, but be warned that it can be damned annoying too. Just don’t ruin my gig and tell my cronies that.

Sixthly, if you walk into a room and large, in my experience, red fists suddenly appear to block off all the exits. Although this does not strictly qualify as a boss battle, be afraid because this means that you are about to enter a very challenging battle with limited health and weapons, and an army of enemies. Inevitably after you win the battle and the red fists break open you will enter a boss battle. So try and preserve your health. Ha ha, like that is possible.

A few tips on how to beat a boss

Seven, this is perhaps the most important piece of advice that anyone will ever give you, so listen up. Always shoot the boss in the eye, especially if he has only one. Don’t argue, just do it, you will see. I mean would you like someone to shoot you in the eye. Go ahead, poke yourself in the peeper and see how it feels.

Eight, if at first you don’t succeed, jump on his head. A boss will normally hide his weaknesses on his head. I always find that a well placed kick or shot in the noggin takes a good bit of health off his health bar. Shadow of the Colossus is a prime example of just how effective this strategy can be.

Nine is a tip I learnt from Shadow of the Colossus. Always look for weak spots, generally designated by highlighted areas on the beast. Sometimes if you shoot the boss in the leg or arm they will writhe to reveal the highlighted area.

Ten, always use the weapon that you just picked up to kill the boss. Although there will usually be many weapons, there is usually one particular weapon that will stand out and that will be most effective against him.

Use the FAQ, Luke!

With all this said and done, no matter how irritated we may get with the amount of enemies thrown at us and how challenging the boss battles may be, we will always triumph, no matter how many hours it takes us, whether or not we cave and consult the FAQ, with profanities hurled, and ultimately we will all shout ‘Is that the best you can do, come on!’

According to research, articles that list a top ten are popular on the internet. So this is to test this theory but also because I can’t help but notice the above things popping up in so many boss battles that I play. I hope you have enjoyed this. If you want to expand this list or have any comments please drop me a line through our contact us section. I would love to hear about your take on boss battles.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Wii-modelling

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:39:00 +0000

Getting a Wii is much like buying a new puppy, there are many things that you need to think about in advance and many preparations that need to be made. I am taking the time to point these things out to you because first time Wii buyers may not already have thought of these few simple steps that are essential before setting up your Wii and which will appear glaringly obvious once you have completed the set up. I hope that these tips will help you.

Household insurance

Check that your household insurance premiums are up to date. This is not only important in light of the fact that various household items such as lamps and coffee mugs may be broken in the course of playing your Wii, but more importantly that your actual television set be insured because it may very well have a Wii Remote thrown through its screen. Now I know what you are thinking, that only girls need to wear the Wii Remote wrist strap. After all, it was just added to cover Nintendo right? Wrong. I too was a believer that the wrist strap was unnecessary, until I played Wii Sports. As soon as you step up to the lane in Bowling or go for that elusive backhand in Tennis, you will realise just how much force you are putting into each action and just how easy it would be for the Wii Remote to fly off your wrist straight through your television tube. It does not help that you start to build up quite a sweat during the games and pretty soon your wrists will become sweaty and your palms moist, making it even easier for the Wii Remote to go flying to rendezvous with Goldie in the fishbowl.

As the competition heats up, you will discover that you will become more and competitive, especially in Wii Sports. And the more competitive you become, the more effort you will put into each swing, the more sweat will roll off your brow and the more determined you will become to win, at all costs. But I am getting ahead of myself, let’s go back to that first glorious day when the Wii arrived on our sunny South African shores.

Power converters

We had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Wii for many weeks. With anticipation building, we finally got the call that it had arrived at last. After much tears and frustration we finally managed to work out how to convert the US connection to work with our SA plugs. It was a close call and tempers were flaring, but just cradling the Wii Remote in my hand made all the bad thoughts about throwing ill-prepared people off balconies go away. Please remember that the US Wii’s use 110V, and if you are in South Africa you will need to purchase a power converter to reduce the voltage from the local 220V to the required 110V. If you don’t organise this beforehand, you will be stuck staring at a very pretty white console all evening while your friends kick you repeatedly.

There had been so much hype leading up to the Wii launch, so many articles read and so many pictures looked at that it was hard to believe that I was finally holding a Wii Remote in my hand and was about to put the Wii through its paces. Let me say this about the Wii Remote, firstly it just fits so comfortably into your hand, and secondly it is a damn nice looking remote. End of discussion. The Nunchuck is equally as attractive in white and also settles happily into the palm of your hand.

We hooked the Wii up and stared lovingly into the blue light which we had all been dreaming about for so long. We started with the essentials: a Wii, a Wii Remote, Wii Sports and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Needless to say there was much competition to be the one with the Wii Remote. Try four people, one Wii Remote. It is a disaster waiting to happen. Friendship goes out the window and is replaced by red hot rivalry. More about that later.

Creating Miis

It started simply enough, with each of us creating our own Miis. Sounds simple enough right, but the level of detail that you can add to your Mii is phenomenal. From choosing your face type, eyes, mouth, eyebrows, hair, beauty spots, beards and moustaches to your favourite colour, weight and height, you really have the opportunity to make your Mii look just like you. Of course, some of us are more artistic than others so some Miis resemble their owners more than others do. Of course this could just be because some people really don’t care what their Miis look like. The one thing which I noticed is the surprising lack of choice of ears. Do you think Nintendo forgot to add an ears selection or did they just decide that they did not want to cater for big ones and small ones? Either way, someone should let them know and the person in charge of ears should get fired. Anyway, moving on.

After each creating a Mii and scouring the Wii menu thoroughly, which is very easy to navigate and comes complete with very chilled music by the way, we decided to give Wii Sports a go. Now is the time for me to return to the one Wii Remote part. This could be problematic, so just try and be adult about it and take turns. We started out just testing each Sports game: Tennis, Bowling, Boxing, Baseball and Golf. I preferred the Bowling and Tennis right away, mostly because I seemed to be inexplicably good at the Bowling and was kicking butt and the Tennis is just fun, especially when you see your Mii jumping around like Yoda on drugs. After being very diplomatic and giving everyone a chance to try out each sport, we decided to take it to the next level. Yes, I mean multiplayer. Did you forget already that we only had one Wii Remote? Indeed we did. But we did it anyway.

One Wii Remote, four players

Bowling was first on the cards. After each ball we would diligently remove the Wii Remote wrist strap and hand it to the next player, who would diligently strap it on. We continued like this for ten balls each. Now that, my friends, is what you call dedication. And of course there were the slightly intimidating stares from Justin who would look at us threateningly when we swopped the Wii Remote. So we played Bowling and Golf like this, Tennis would have been a bit of a stretch. I mean, we could not actually quickly swop the Wii Remote between the four of us for every shot…I actually think that would have been impossible. The moral of this whole story is to remember to tighten the wrist strap, it is not for sissy’s. Also always make sure that you have more than one Wii Remote, it really helps. Also make sure to watch out for the light fittings if you are playing in a house with a relatively low ceiling, especially while playing Boxing. It could be a shocking experience.

So after we had built up a sweat, called for half time oranges and gone for a quick dip in the pool, we decided to sit back, relax and enjoy the highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. When the music started up I actually got goosepimples – it was that good. The introduction was amazing and when Link turns into the wolf, you just can’t wait to get started on this latest quest. We only played for a while because it is a single player game but the game is awesome, great music, amazing use of the Wii Remote and simply spectacular graphics. You also just can’t put a price on watching your friend moving slightly up and down on the couch while holding the Wii Remote horizontally to emulate riding a horse, all the while with a very serious look on his face. Still got to get that on camera.

Moving on. Another thing to make sure of is personal liability cover. Yes, I said personal liability cover. You may think that your friends would never sue you, but let’s talk again when they have had to fork out a good couple of thousand bucks for their broken arm to be placed in a cast and for copious amounts of painkillers, not to mention the psychiatric bills that they are going to have to foot after being taken out by their best friend with the Wii Remote. But the story begins when we acquired not two, not three but four Wii Remotes! What a glorious day, one for the record books indeed.

Wii play Wii evening

We had cunningly organised for three copies of Wii Play to be imported from the US. Why would we want three copies of Wii Play you ask? Because Wii Play comes with a free Wii Remote of course…don’t hesitate, get it today! So, we now had four Wii Remotes, Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, three copies of Wii Play and Call of Duty 3. Our collection was growing in leaps and bounds! Four Wii Remotes meant that we could now play four player Bowling, each with our own Wii Remote, but more importantly, four player Tennis! This is where the Wii-modelling begins. Four people swinging forehands, backhands, dropshots and shouting that that ball was on the line requires quite a bit of space. Be prepared to wii-arrange your entire lounge. We moved the couches, rug, coffee table and all breakables out of the way. Finally we were prepared to begin, and begin we did!

Four player tennis in one living-room, wow, who would have thought it possible? I will tell you who, Nintendo is who. Talk about building up a sweat…the game is intense and fast-paced enough to get you pleading for a drink’s break just into the first set. Weight loss is definitely not an option here, it is a reality. What we were not prepared for was the competition that began to build between the four of us. We started putting more effort into the shots, angling them to just drop over the net and holding the Wii Remote every which way to get in that elusive backhand. Our swings got wider and wider until someone punched someone else. Yes, punched, there is a bruise! It was obviously hilarious at the time, but be warned that this is bound to happen as you become captivated in the game and lose awareness of the close proximity of your friends. This was not the first time that it happened, it really is a lot easier than it sounds. You just reach that little bit extra to make the shot, and donk, you hit the person next to you, who of course is more angry that you made them miss the shot than the fact that they are going to be sporting a shiny bruiser the next day.

Now every house will have to be Wii-modelled taking into account the particular layout of that house. The next weekend we moved the Wii to another house and had to again move the couches, rug, coffee tables and breakables. But this time one player saw fit to stand in the kitchen, it is an open plan house, which gave him more room and also offered him less likelihood of being pummelled by other player’s Wii Remotes. Crafty fellow.

Well, I hope that these tips for Wii-modelling your house will come in handy should you be lucky enough to acquire a Wii. We have several more Wii games in the post, so be sure to check out EL33TONLINE for the upcoming reviews. The review of Wii Play should be hot off the press soon, so stay tuned.

Until next time, over and out.

Contributor: Lisa

Editorial: Getting that Wii/PS3 through eBay

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:00:00 +0000

So you really want a Wii or a PS3 but just can’t find them anywhere? Here’s a step by step guide to buying it through eBay.

Firstly, I would just like to remind you that people that are selling unopened Wiis and PS3s on eBay are in it for the money. Don’t expect to get either one of these for anything less than what you would pay for it in the stores. Remember these are unopened consoles and in the case of the Wii extremely difficult to find in stores. eBay has become a haven for these scalpers (the term given to a person that buys something new and sells it without using it for a higher price – exploiting the lack of availability) who seem to sometimes have stock of up to ten of the units, and they are selling them at almost double the price which they have paid for them in store.

Step 1: Setup

There are three things you are going to need to be eligible to start bidding through eBay. Firstly, you need a valid e-mail address. If you don’t have one you can log onto a free e-mail hosting site such as gmail or hotmail. Your e-mail account will become available immediately.

Secondly, you need to log onto eBay and create an account for yourself. This is fairly simple and safe to do. You can be in any country in the world and buy from an eBay seller anywhere in the world through this one account, as all the eBay country sites (US, UK etc…) are now linked. The eBay account becomes available immediately.

Thirdly, you need to set up a PayPal account. PayPal is the easiest and safest way to transfer funds to the seller. They work as the middle man so as not to disclose any of your credit card information to the seller. Using PayPal will also allow you to purchase your successfully won item with your credit card (all the major credit cards are supported).

Step 2: Finding your Wii/PS3

This is the most important step. You need to make sure you find the best item to bid on and know what you are bidding for.

Doing a simple search on eBay for Wii or PS3 is not the easiest way to go about finding your console. If you try it you’ll soon see why, the list will be flooded with Wii cables and silicon remote covers and e-mail addresses but you are not looking for these, you simply want a console. There are a lot of things that can distract you on eBay but try and keep focused on the Wii or PS3 that you have come here to find.

You’ll need to do an advanced search, so click on the link that is just next to the search box. It will take you to a screen that is overflowing with text fields and drop down menus. Don’t get intimidated by them as they are all there to help you. No one said this was going to be a walk in the park.

Enter Wii Console or PS3 Console as the main search keyword. The other important thing to do, especially if you are bidding from a country outside of the US, is to select available to and select your country from the drop down menu - not all sellers are prepared to ship the consoles outside of certain areas. You can go through the rest of the list and see if there are any other parameters you want to set for your search, but those two are the most important. I like to put the minimum price up to about $100 because it will filter out all the riff raff posts like guides on how to get a PS3 and yourname@wii.com email addresses.

HANDY TIP: Most posts for Wiis will say the console will come with 5 games. What this means is that the console comes with Wii Sports which has 5 mini games included on the disc. It is nothing extra to what you would usually get when buying the console from the store so be careful of that.

To combat fraudulent sales of PS3s and Wiis, eBay has released an official statement to all sellers and buyers that goes something like this. Any post for the sale of a Wii or PS3 MUST include a photograph including the following: The boxed console; the receipt from the store; and the sellers username written on a piece of paper. Make sure that the items which you are looking at bidding on have this! Try to stay away from posts that use the generic pack shot on the white background that anyone can take off the net. Real photographs with the username and sale receipt are what we’re after. The sales receipt assures you that the seller is actually in possession of the console and it’s not a ‘pay me now and when I get one I’ll send it to you’ sale. To be extra safe you can contact the seller and ask them a couple of questions regarding the item. The only problem with this is that it takes time to wait for a response and time is of the utmost importance when bidding on eBay.

HANDY TIP: Look at the seller’s history and the ratings that they have been given by other buyers that have done transactions with them before. This will help you to make up your mind about whether or not you want to transact with this seller.

Step 3: Placing your Bid

People may have different opinions about this part, but this is what I found works best. Decide how much you are willing to spend on getting the console (remember to factor in the shipping costs if you live far away). Now whatever that price is bid that amount. For arguments sake let’s say that you are willing to pay $400 for a Wii and the current bid on the item you want is sitting at $120, make your bid of $400. eBay automatically adjusts your bid (up to your limit) to beat any other bidders that place bids lower than $400. After placing your bid you might see that the current bid price has risen to $205 and that you are the current highest bidder. This is because the previous bidder had a limit of $200, your bid was automatically raised to beat his but by the lowest margin possible. Another instance might have been that after your bid you receive a message saying that you have been out bid and the current bid now sits at $405, this means that the other bidder has placed a bid higher that $400. The amounts that are bid are always kept secret, only the current bid price is made publicly available, even the seller does not know what your bidding limit is.

Step 4: Winning the Auction

It is mindful to watch out for snipers. Snipers are people on high-speed internet connections that will, in the last few seconds of the auction, try and outbid you. You should really only be worried about being outbid if the current bid price is close to your bid limit, as the snipers will only bid about $20 - $40 above what the current bid price is. Also do not be tempted to raise your bid limit unless you really want it, but remember the bid limit is the maximum price you said you were willing to pay for the console. Sniping usually occurs on Wii and PS3 auctions so before you breathe a sigh of relief when there is still a minute to go, wait. Like I said, expect the price to jump a couple of tens before it finally closes.

Step 5: You’ve Won…Now What?

You will receive an automatically generated e-mail from eBay once you have won the auction. All you need to do now is click on the pay now button, which will take you straight through to PayPal where you will confirm the delivery address and payment details. Before doing this step it’s best to contact the seller…just to confirm that they are a ‘real’ person with a legitimate item. All you need to do is click on the respond button on the e-mail you have just received from eBay and write a short note to the seller, something along the lines of “I’m glad I have won this bid. When would you be able to get to the post office to ship the item?” This will invoke a response which is exactly what you want at this stage before you transfer the cash.

Step 6: Good Intentions

After all is said and done, you’ve paid your money and you’ve received the item, you are asked to leave comments for the seller (and they will do the same for you as a buyer). This gives credit to one another where credit is due for a good transaction, or in the case where something went wrong a chance to warn other buyers.

If anything did go drastically wrong with the transaction I advise you to contact eBay and they will quickly sort out the problem. They have been doing this for a long time and know how to do it properly, so let them sort out the debate. Also if the item did not arrive or there was something wrong, eBay provides an insurance of up to $200.

I hope this guide can help you find what you are looking for as it did for me, and if you have any more questions please feel free to drop us a line through the contact us section.

Contributor: Justin

Editorial: Infinite lives

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:21:08 +0000

So I've been wondering about something lately. Do you remember, those who are old enough, when you used to start a game from the beginning and play it as far as you could get before you died? Arcade games were like that, so were console and PC games - games like Super Mario Bros, Lode Runner, Centipede, Pac-Man, you name it. So they had a concept called lives, where after a certain score or level or after collecting enough coins, you earned yourself an extra one. If you died (usually in one touch, what's this thing called health and why would we want that in our game?) you lost a life, and started again from the beginning of that stage.

Now, the reason I bring this up is that games still have this concept of lives. Except, now they mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. What is the point? I mean, I played New Super Mario Bros and 1Up mushrooms pretty much grew on blocks of their own free will, like mushrooms are wont to do. And losing your last life meant nothing except you get a little "Game Over, would you like to continue?" message. You say yes, and suddenly you have five lives again. So what was the point? Why did they bother with a meaningless number? In New Super Mario Bros, when I was running short of lives (which happened once or twice I confess to my shame, although I did happen to get every coin in the game which was a little harder than just getting to the end), I just visited stage 1-1, got the Super Mushroom and destroyed the entire stage to earn five free green mushrooms. I did this a few times and suddenly I had 30 lives again, so then I went back to where I was and carried on. It's absurd to do this, but it seems to be what's encouraged by the game - they put in this "number of lives" figure which decreases when you die which means it should be a bad thing to run out them, and they put in a mechanism to get more of them. So obviously I'm going to try not to run out of lives - then I would get the dreaded Game Over screen. But it's such a waste of time trying to keep from running out of lives. Why do they do this to us?

Kirby: Canvas Curse is another offender: every stage you complete you get a chance to get more lives by making Kirby jump a long distance. You can get up to three lives every time. So when you're running short of lives (which happens slightly more often in Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush than in New Super Mario Bros), all you've got to do is pop back to level 1-1, finish it in 30 seconds and do the jump successfully. Rinse and repeat for many more lives. So why do they insist on putting lives in the game?? If they're going to hand them out at the drop of a hat then they're completely meaningless. I can think of many other offenders, almost all being Nintendo games. All the Mario games since Super Mario World, for example Mario vs Donkey Kong and Yoshi's Island DS to name a very recent game (where I'm on 60 lives after world 2!). It seems to be ingrained in the platformer psyche, but it needs to be extricated. Nothing annoys me more than that screen: "Game Over, Do you want to continue?" Huh? Does that make any sense?

It's good to see that some developers have thrown out the concept completely, instead opting for a system where you can always continue. Treasure's games like Astro Boy and Gunstar Future Heroes let you continue from whatever stage you want to and number of lives never shows up anywhere. Essentially it's the same sort of set up as those other games from Nintendo, except without the little counter that denotes how long you have until you are going to have a Game Over screen. If you'd like to imagine how a Mario game would work without the 1-up mushroom you need look no further than Castlevania. Now imagine if that had lives - how horrible!

Dear Mr Developer

Please can you remove the 1-up mushroom from your game.

Regards,
Peter
Supporter of the Infinite Lives

Contributor: Peter

Editorial: Tingle RPG and the Western Gamer

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:00:00 +0000

There is much debate on the internet about sales figures of consoles. There is also much debate about why some gamers are so interested in these sales figures. One reason of course is sheer intellectual interest, the same reason one might read financial results of various companies or even magazines like the Economist or the Financial Times. Another is simply a sports-type mentality where you cheer a team on and feel gratified when they win. I think that's reason enough, but very often gamers couldn't care about all that stuff - all they know is that good sales for a console means more choice in games, and so some people follow very keenly what is going on in the Japanese market.

It most certainly seems to me that the phenomenal sales of the DS in Japan have translated to far better average game sales there, even for much smaller titles. Tingle RPG is a case in point - a very strange looking game starring a very minor character from The Legend of Zelda is not likely to drum up that many sales, but it's way over the 200 000 mark in Japan. That sort of success must give the publisher cause to wonder how it would do in other territories. This is not always the case though - Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! only sold a total of around 50 000 in Japan and Nintendo still saw fit to create a whole new version for the Western market with the same quirky style but with Western songs, so in this case successful sales were unnecessary to convince Nintendo to bring the game over to the West. Phoenix Wright (Capcom) and Super Robot Taisen (Banpresto) are two more examples of franchises that have only recently received translation despite being established series in Japan for quite a few installments. I suppose this is also indicative of the growth in Western markets, and lately the European market in particular.

Getting back to Tingle, the news that such a different sort of game is going to be translated is good because it bodes well for other niche titles to be translated. There are hundreds of titles published in Japan each year that never make it into English, and while many of them are poor or just uninteresting, there are some that it is a real pity to miss out on. It seems Nintendo (for one, others are changing too) are taking an ever so slightly more proactive approach to publishing in the non-Japanese territories, surely spurred on by good sales the world over.

Nintendo have an interest in doing this even if the game doesn't sell well, as everyone knows a broad game library means more console sales - just look at the PlayStation 2. Of course Atlus have been doing this for quite a while now, but even that publisher's Western output seems to have increased lately.

Here's hoping other games like Mother 3 (and 1 and 2), Rhythm Tengoku, Band Brothers, Project Hacker and more get translated and released in Europe and the US.

Contributor: Peter

Editorial: Wii blues - the lament of a lowly South African gamer

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:00:00 +0000

A tune every South African gamer can sing along to

I feel like my life has a theme tune lately, and it goes something like this.

“We don’t have a Wii,
Or a PlayStation 3,
We have a 360,
But we just want a Wii.”

If you are a fellow Wii lover, you can sing it aloud to the tune of “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” Now, sing along dammit, you know you want to. If you have a Wii, please don’t sing along, it would just not be very respectful now would it?

Watching as the world, except SA, received the Wii

Now don’t get me wrong, I reveled in America’s Wii launch hype and followed the outstanding sales figures with a kind of self-satisfaction, knowing that the Nintendo Wii had now officially lived up to what many gamers thought it would be, me included. I saw the queues of people and wished that I could be given the opportunity to line up right along fellow gamers and Nintendo fans. I saw the lucky soles purchasing the console, first in the US and then in Japan. I read about how pre-orders sold out in a few minutes online and longed that Nintendo of South Africa would also start talking about the largest mobilisation campaign which a console launch has ever seen, like Nintendo of the UK. I wondered if, by some miracle, the Wii were to launch in South Africa soon the distributors would launch it at midnight, or would that be too much to ask?

Over the past few months, as speculation has brewed among my fellow South African gamers as to whether we would get the Wii in SA this year, I remained positive and flew my proudly South African flag. But no more. Over the past few weeks you could not look anywhere on the internet without seeing pictures of happy Wii buyers and read about how even if the stocks are sold out now, they will be replenished – which means they will probably still get a Wii before me. Maybe it is because we are at the bottom of Africa that we seem to come last in everything. Maybe the gaming world forgets about us. But surely all of our voices combined should raise some awareness that gamers in South Africa are suffering. We don’t get consoles, we don’t even get games. We have to import, import, import. Surely someone, somewhere can make a plan. We will pay our honest hardearned money for your goods, we don’t expect them for free you know. We do have money in Africa. Through all of this, Nintendo of South Africa has remained tight-lipped about whether the Wii will actually be coming to SA this year. There site still says that the Wii can be expected in South Africa shortly after the European launch on the 8th of December (a date which has now come and gone). Well, you would have to be half a twit (not even a whole twit) to believe this. Smell the coffee people, it is not going to happen!

Desperate times call for desperate measures

We at EL33TONLINE have desperately tried to get our hands on a Wii, hoping to be able to bring South African gamers a perspective of it before it was launched here, but every attempt which we have made has been unsuccessful to date. We have even tried to get one from the States, but our contact could not get his hands on one there, unfortunately he had to fly out just before the next shipment arrived in the US. We know someone in Japan, but sadly he would probably also have a very slim chance right now. But at least they have the chance. And they are kept in the light as to when more will be arriving etc. For South Africa, this is how much we know……………zip.

Don't keep us in the dark!

Of course there has been speculation, and the forums have been rife with it, believe me. I am sure that the speculation is pretty accurate but wouldn’t it be nice if Nintendo of South Africa clarified the situation. Please throw us a frikking bone here.

Contributor: Lisa