Saturday, July 24, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
My DS Collection
* Updated 01-25-11 *
In alphabetical order (more or less):
Jools
In alphabetical order (more or less):
- 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
- Advance Wars: Dual Strike
- Animal Crossing: Wild World
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
- Batman The Brave and the Bold
- Beat City
- Blood Stone 007
- Boing! Docomodake DS
- Bomberman
- Brain Age
- Brothers in Arms DS
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized
- Call of Duty: World at War
- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
- Chrono Trigger
- Contact
- Contra 4
- Cooking Mama
- Cop The Recruit
- C.O.R.E.
- Dawn of Discovery
- Dementium II
- Dementium: The Ward (US, Europe, and Japan)
- Diddy Kong Racing DS
- Dig Dug: Digging Strike
- Dirt 2
- DK Jungle Climber
- Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter
- Dropcast
- Elebits The Adventure of Kai and Zero
- Elite Beat Agents
- Exit
- Fast Food Panic
- Final Fantasy III
- Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
- Final Fantasy Fables Chocobo Tales
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - Imagination Invaders
- Ghost Trick Phantom Detective
- GoldenEye 007
- GoldenEye Rogue Agent
- Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars
- Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
- Hotel Dusk: Room 215
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Impossible Mission
- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
- Insecticide
- Intellivision Lives!
- Ivy the Kiwi?
- James Pond Codename: Robocod
- Kirby Canvas Curse
- Kirby Squeak Squad
- Kirby Super Star Ultra
- KORG DS-10 Synthesizer
- Lego Batman: The Videogame
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
- Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
- Lock's Quest
- Lunar Knights
- Mario Kart DS
- Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story
- Mario & Luigi Partner's in Time
- Mario Party DS
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 March of the Minis
- Megaman Battle Network 5 Double Team DS
- Megaman Zero Collection
- Megaman ZX
- Metal Slug 7
- Meteos
- Metroid Prime Hunters
- Monster House
- Moon (US and Europe)
- My Sims Racing
- MX vs. ATV Untamed
- N+
- Namco Museum DS
- Nanostray
- Nanostray 2
- New International Track & Field
- New Zealand Story Revolution (Europe)
- Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
- Nintendogs Dachshund & Friends
- Orcs & Elves
- Petz Dogz Pack
- Phineas & Ferb
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Pipe Mania
- Plants vs. Zombies
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
- Pokemon: Pearl Version
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2007
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village
- Rayman DS
- Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
- Retro Game Challenge
- Ridge Racer DS
- Scooby-Doo! First Frights
- Scurge Hive
- Sim City DS
- Sonic Classic Collection
- Sonic Colors
- Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
- Soul Bubbles
- Space Bust-A-Move
- Space Invaders Extreme 2
- Spider-man 2
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Fox Command
- (New) Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario 64 DS
- Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll
- Super Princess Peach
- Super Scribblenauts
- Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop
- Tetris DS
- The Legendary Starfy
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- The World Ends With You
- Tomb Raider Underworld
- Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
- Trace Memory
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat
- Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble
- Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise
- Wario Master of Disguise
- Wario Ware D.I.Y.
- Wario Ware Touched
- Wire Way
- Yoshi's Island DS
Jools
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Alan Wake Impressions
Based on the positive reviews that Alan Wake received I blindly purchased Alan Wake for the 360. I purchased Red Dead Redemption the same way. I love RDR.
This is by no means a fully fledged review of the game; just the initial impressions of a spoiled gamer (spoiled by the goodness that exists out there).
I really liked the approach the team took with the narrative, and how it takes you through the game not only in cut-scenes but also in gameplay. But, I felt it was a little heavy handed in some places, taking some of the surprise out of me discovering things. The engine is fantastic. Some of the visuals are simply stunning. But, I experienced small game pauses when data was being loaded, which I assume must have been enemies or a new segment of the world being loaded/unloaded. C'mon guys, really? Our DS games don't even do that! I appreciate the amount of script and acting in the game, this is something I really like about RDR too (I use present tense because I am still playing RDR), but in Alan Wake the acting felt like acting for the most part and not natural. The concept of the enemies was pretty cool, the axe murderer angle is pretty freaky, but I found the repetition required to kill the first 20 enemies made the experience dull and ironically left me wanting to just sit back and watch the movie... oh wait, this is a game. Hehe.
Overall I was impressed by many of the things accomplished in Alan Wake, but I simply lost the desire to continue playing it. This rarely happens to me, I like to give games a chance. But, I guess I was expecting something different and expectations can be a products' enemy sometimes. The reason I mentioned RDR above is due to the hype that I had heard about the game before playing it myself, an it lived up to that hype. With all of the positive buzz around Alan Wake I was expecting something more than what I experienced.
For me, Silent Hill 2 is still the King of psychological thrill.
This is by no means a fully fledged review of the game; just the initial impressions of a spoiled gamer (spoiled by the goodness that exists out there).
I really liked the approach the team took with the narrative, and how it takes you through the game not only in cut-scenes but also in gameplay. But, I felt it was a little heavy handed in some places, taking some of the surprise out of me discovering things. The engine is fantastic. Some of the visuals are simply stunning. But, I experienced small game pauses when data was being loaded, which I assume must have been enemies or a new segment of the world being loaded/unloaded. C'mon guys, really? Our DS games don't even do that! I appreciate the amount of script and acting in the game, this is something I really like about RDR too (I use present tense because I am still playing RDR), but in Alan Wake the acting felt like acting for the most part and not natural. The concept of the enemies was pretty cool, the axe murderer angle is pretty freaky, but I found the repetition required to kill the first 20 enemies made the experience dull and ironically left me wanting to just sit back and watch the movie... oh wait, this is a game. Hehe.
Overall I was impressed by many of the things accomplished in Alan Wake, but I simply lost the desire to continue playing it. This rarely happens to me, I like to give games a chance. But, I guess I was expecting something different and expectations can be a products' enemy sometimes. The reason I mentioned RDR above is due to the hype that I had heard about the game before playing it myself, an it lived up to that hype. With all of the positive buzz around Alan Wake I was expecting something more than what I experienced.
For me, Silent Hill 2 is still the King of psychological thrill.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Update Time!
It's update time!
Spirit is progressing very nicely. I took a build of the game to E3 and had a number of people play our new baby to see how they handled it. It was very informative. Now that we're in Alpha it is the perfect time to have lots of different people play the game and see what does and doesn't work. We have three weeks left in Alpha, and the list of tweaks seem just about manageable, which is splendid.
Smoke is moving along at lightning speed. Have I mentioned that this project time-line is incredibly short? :) Fortunately, Smoke is a small game aimed at a younger audience so the scope fits the time-line... when you throw awesomely experienced people at it who are working as furiously as hell-fire to get it done! ;)
As I mentioned before, Face was going through a big change and now we're through with that change and back to making the game. The time-line has been extended as a result of this change and it seems plausible that we'll have a playable at E3 2011. So, it'll be a while before I'll have anything more concrete to share on this one.
If you haven't already checked it out, please go see my E3 2010 video recap - it's just 7 minutes long.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Spirit is progressing very nicely. I took a build of the game to E3 and had a number of people play our new baby to see how they handled it. It was very informative. Now that we're in Alpha it is the perfect time to have lots of different people play the game and see what does and doesn't work. We have three weeks left in Alpha, and the list of tweaks seem just about manageable, which is splendid.
Smoke is moving along at lightning speed. Have I mentioned that this project time-line is incredibly short? :) Fortunately, Smoke is a small game aimed at a younger audience so the scope fits the time-line... when you throw awesomely experienced people at it who are working as furiously as hell-fire to get it done! ;)
As I mentioned before, Face was going through a big change and now we're through with that change and back to making the game. The time-line has been extended as a result of this change and it seems plausible that we'll have a playable at E3 2011. So, it'll be a while before I'll have anything more concrete to share on this one.
If you haven't already checked it out, please go see my E3 2010 video recap - it's just 7 minutes long.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Saturday, June 26, 2010
E3 2010
I left Austin and headed for Los Angeles on the morning of June 15. I arrived around 10am and headed for my hotel... you can watch my E3 video to see some of the action.
I love E3. I was sad when it went away for a couple of years; reduced to a small invite-only event in a tiny hangar. E3 is a very important part of the video game industry. For me it is not only a great way to see new titles and hardware but also reconnect with friends and colleagues.
E3 2010 was a milestone show because of one new tiny hardware platform called the 3DS. If it were not for one special feature, the 3DS would be a relatively simple evolution of the Nintendo DS. The 3DS displays "real" 3D on one of its screens. 3D that can be seen without glasses. It is magic. Magic in a box.
It was wonderful spending some geek-filled time with old and new friends - gotta send much love and shout outs to Tim H, Matt K, Dana D, Derek, Glen E, Jay, Jon J, David J, Aubrey N, David B, Richard I, Michael D, Matt M, Husky, Kevin, Aaron, and all of the other fine folk I was lucky enough to hang with.
Until next year... keep playing.
Jools
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Alpha Alpha E3
Spirit went alpha yesterday. Hoorah! It is probably the cleanest and most complete alpha build that we've ever made at RK. Our previous games were all completed on time, but I don't think they were quite as "complete" as Spirit is now when they reached alpha. A lot of that is contributed to the genre of Spirit being different too, which allows us to focus more of our attention on the content of the game as it is a little simpler in some regards. This is actually a perfect time for the game to be alpha with me going to E3 next week. It'll be good to get friends' and colleagues' feedback on the game so we can make important adjustments to the game. If you are going to E3 and you see me, please feel free to stop me and I'll be happy to show you what we're working on and get your feedback.
I'm flying to LA on Tuesday morning. E3 opens its doors at noon. I have a bunch of meetings set up, and waiting on a couple to confirm a time. We have an assortment of pitches to present to publishers. This is an exciting time. The near-end of one handheld and the near-beginning of another. For us that means we can pitch games for both the DS and 3DS for a 2011 release. I am hoping to get my hands on the 3DS at the show. I'll be sure to share my thoughts if that happens. I plan on taking my pocket-sized video camera to record the events of the show like I did last year.
Hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
I'm flying to LA on Tuesday morning. E3 opens its doors at noon. I have a bunch of meetings set up, and waiting on a couple to confirm a time. We have an assortment of pitches to present to publishers. This is an exciting time. The near-end of one handheld and the near-beginning of another. For us that means we can pitch games for both the DS and 3DS for a 2011 release. I am hoping to get my hands on the 3DS at the show. I'll be sure to share my thoughts if that happens. I plan on taking my pocket-sized video camera to record the events of the show like I did last year.
Hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Monday, May 31, 2010
Jools Watsham's Developer Diary - May 31, 2010
Monday May 31 2010: My gosh, we have a lot going on right now! This is a good thing. Spirit is progressing very quickly, and very well. We're getting close to being Alpha, which is quite shocking to think really. Let's take a quick look at where we've been, where we are, and where we're heading to: We started the development of the project in January 2010. We had a playable demo working within a couple of weeks and we shared that with numerous publishers. We signed a publishing agreement in March 2010. We are currently adding the final assets to the game. In a couple of weeks we'll be in Alpha, where we no longer just focus on adding content to the game but instead we get to examine what on earth we've thrown into the bubbling pot of Spirit Stew. We will find that some of it tastes good, some needs extra seasoning, and some isn't even fit for the dog. We have 5 weeks in Alpha to do this, which, by our standards, is a great length of time. Once those 5 weeks of tweaks is up, we're onto the Beta phase where our focus is now purely on fixing bugs and errors for 6 weeks. Wham-bam, thank you Ma'am. Exciting stuff. Even though we'll have a fairly decent build of the game around E3, I think we'll hold off on showing it until it is fully spit and polished to avoid any issues. Sometimes, showing off a game too early has negative repercussions.
Smoke is also thundering along at a tremendous rate. We'll be done with that game before we know it! We have the design doc near-final. We're in the stage where we're doing both creative and schedule work at the same time. The ideas we have in the design doc are good and I think it will make for a fun little game. Gregg has created some kick-ass concept work, which I am hoping will be available in the game somehow. We have hired a new programmer, Matthew Gambrell, to help us out on the project. He has many years of experience and is a huge fan of the platform we're developing the game for. Welcome aboard sir!
Not much to say about Face just yet. More on that project later. :)
Let's face it, Red is dead. Won't be bothering to mention that title again I expect. I think three projects is good for now. However, by the end of this year we'll be needing some more, so let's hope E3 brings some our way.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Smoke is also thundering along at a tremendous rate. We'll be done with that game before we know it! We have the design doc near-final. We're in the stage where we're doing both creative and schedule work at the same time. The ideas we have in the design doc are good and I think it will make for a fun little game. Gregg has created some kick-ass concept work, which I am hoping will be available in the game somehow. We have hired a new programmer, Matthew Gambrell, to help us out on the project. He has many years of experience and is a huge fan of the platform we're developing the game for. Welcome aboard sir!
Not much to say about Face just yet. More on that project later. :)
Let's face it, Red is dead. Won't be bothering to mention that title again I expect. I think three projects is good for now. However, by the end of this year we'll be needing some more, so let's hope E3 brings some our way.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Friday, May 21, 2010
Jools Watsham's Developer Diary - May 21, 2010
Friday May 21, 2010: The project that is code-named Smoke is now a go! It's official. It's happening. There's no stopping it. The train has left the station. Hello Smokey. This is a super short project, so I expect you'll be hearing details of this project about the same time we're able to chat about Spirit. Smoke is SOOOO different from anything we've ever made before. I imagine some Dementium and Moon fans will be like, WTF? But, to be honest, Smoke is aimed at a different audience, which is exciting for us... and the audience hopefully. :)
Spirit is moving along very nicely. We're now nearer the end than we are the start of the project. I'm still not sure when we're going to reveal what the game is, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do. The game is turning out to be everything that I hoped it would be. There are some rough edges that need to be filed down, and I hope we find the time to do so in the Alpha phase... which is coming up pretty soon! The entire team is kicking some major booty, and the game is rockin' as a direct result of that effort. The publisher has been great to work with, which allows the development process to be effective.
Face is going through a big change that is great for the project. This game is nowhere near completion, so it'll be a while before I can give any details. I'm really excited about it though.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Spirit is moving along very nicely. We're now nearer the end than we are the start of the project. I'm still not sure when we're going to reveal what the game is, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do. The game is turning out to be everything that I hoped it would be. There are some rough edges that need to be filed down, and I hope we find the time to do so in the Alpha phase... which is coming up pretty soon! The entire team is kicking some major booty, and the game is rockin' as a direct result of that effort. The publisher has been great to work with, which allows the development process to be effective.
Face is going through a big change that is great for the project. This game is nowhere near completion, so it'll be a while before I can give any details. I'm really excited about it though.
I hope you're having a great day. TTYL.
Jools
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)