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Arts&Entertainment *
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Wii Play
Nintendo Wii
Despite one or two
solid hits in the Wii’s
game library, Nintendo
and developers seem to be
having a really tough time
finding the perfect mixture
of gameplay and technology.
Instead of being able to
play well-rounded games
like The Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess, store
shelves are being flooded
with minigame compilations
and tech demos like Rayman
Raving Rabbids and Elebits
respectively. While these
types of games aren’t
necessarily a bad thing,
they tend to unavoidably
bore the masses looking for
a more fleshed out gaming
experience.
This is certainly the
case with one of Nintendo’s
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
By Bobby Moore
Guest writer
rmoore7@my.westga.edu
Can one of the most
hyped debut albums in
recent memory live up to its
potential?
Can Paul Simonon
continue to wow me by
playing in a third fantastic
band?
Will I give a good
rating to a semi-mainstream
release?
Thanks to The Good,
The Bad and The Queen’s
debut, the answer to those
questions is a resounding
yes.
I’ve never been into
Damon Albam even if I
think he is the best thing to
come out of the “Brit Pop”
explosion of the 90’s, but
I was still excited when I
found out about this group.
Former Verve guitarist
Simon Tong is another 90's
pop standout and is also a
member of Albam’s super
group.
Two other well
known members caught my
attention when I first found
out about this band.
Simonon, a former
member of The Clash and
Havana 3AM, brings his
underrated bass playing
skills to the band.
When Simonon first
rose to prominence with The
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newest outings, Wii Play.
Following in the trends
of other Wii games such as
Rayman Raving Rabbids
and WarioWare: Smooth
Moves, Wii Play is best
described as a collection of
nine minigames on one Wii
disc. These small games all
make good use of the new
technology the Nintendo Wii
has to offer, but eventually
fall flat with their lack of
variety and depth.
Out of these nine said
games, three of them could
actuallybeconsidered worthy
of multiple plays. The best
of these three is undoubtedly
the game Tanks! Using the
Nunchuck attachment and
Wiimote to play, players
guide a single tank across
100 top-down perspective
levels of utnk battling fun.
While ricocheting shots
off walls and using power
ups is obviously the most
enjoyable part, it’s the many
different types of enemies
and numerous levels that
will keep gamers coming
back for more.
The other two rather
enjoy able games on Wii Play
are Billiards and Shooting.
Billiards is naturally a very
solid 9 ball pool simulation
Clash, he was pretty much
on stage because he had the
look. Thirty-one years later,
he’s on stage because he
developed over time into mi
outstanding musician.
Drummer Tony Allen’s
name also caught my eye.
He was one of the fathers of
the afrobeat genres when he
played with the brilliant Fela
Kuti.
When you pair this
Photo courtesy Myspace.com
foursome’s individual
reputations with the hype
surrounding this album’s
release, there was a lot for
this band to live up to.
“History Song” with
its atmospheric sounds and
mellow vocals and the more
upbeat “80’s Song” begin
this album as steadily as
expected.
The third track is one
that allows players to use
the Wiimote as a pool stick.
With its surprisingly in
depth control, players are
allowed to control stick force
and even put spin on the cue
ball for those tough shots.
Shinning on the other hand
pays homage to the days
of Duck Hunt by allowing
players to aim their Wiimote
at the screen in order
to shoot targets in a
shooting range type
environment. Making
sure to keep the action
fresh, numerous
shinning games are
available from can
shinning to target
shinning.
While these three
games definitely make
Wii Play entertaining,
three other games out
of the nine could also
be considered fun, but
require a little more
fine-tuning and variety . Find
Mii is basically a virtual game
of Where's Waldo with user
created avatars better known
as Mii’s, whereas Charge!
is a simple racing game that
requires turning the Wiimote
like a steering wheel and
other sporadic movements to
steer a cow-riding Mii across
the finish line.
The best out of these
three moderately tun games
is a simple little game known
as Laser Hockey. By adding
flashy neon colored lights
of the best on the album,
as “Northern Whale” starts
out sounding like ambient
techno music and features
a chorus that reminds me of
Marianne Faithfull’s cover
of "Tears Go By”.
The guitar and organ
driven “Kingdom of
Doom” features percussion
by Danger Mouse, while
“Herculean” made a great
single since it is Albam at
his best.
Both "Behind the Sun"
and the spectacular “Three
Changes” were recorded on
the same day nearly two years
ago, and they incorporate an
array of different instruments
without losing that indie pop
sound.
‘The Bunting Song” has
enough bells and whistles
in it to make this dub fan
along with the intuitive way
the Nintendo Wii controls,
leaser Hockey is a quick and
fun little game of virtual air
hockey. Using the Wiimote
to control the neon paddles
as the puck zooms to and
fro across the table is fairly
enjoyable, but as is the
case with real air hockey,
the controls will often
"9 A*
Photo courtesy Gamespy.com
The true genius behind the Wii is the scientific discovery allowing ping
pong to be played by floating, detached hands.
have gamers frustratingly
knocking the puck into their
own goals.
With three great games
and three average games, it’s
no doubt that Wii Play has
three terrible games. These
games have the slimmest
of pickings in depth and
fun, and will only divert
players' attention one or two
times before they find their
favorites elsewhere.
Among these games
are Pose Mii, Table Tennis,
and Fishing. Pose Mii once
happy, and it has beautiful
vocals and lyrics.
Another lyrically
beautiful song called "Nature
Springs", with its memorable
w histlers towards the end, is
followed by the symphonic
“Soldier’s Tale".
The folksy sounding
tune “Green Fields" captures
Album’s vocal talents as well
as the abilities of his three
experienced bandmates.
The band's self-titled
album is capped off by a
synthesizer-fueled self-titled
track.
Overall, the album lives
up to its hype.
There’s not a weak
track, and all of the songs go
together to paint a picture of
life in England.
Granted, anything that
has a Clash member’s name
attached to it will get at
least one spin from me, but
that Clash pedigree didn’t
save “Earthquake Weather”
or Topper Headon’s solo
album.
The Good, The Bad and
The Queen’s debut doesn’t
need saving by anyone’s
past accomplishments,
though. It stands on its own
as an outstanding album.
RATING: 8 out of 10
again uses the player created
avatars to play the game, but
there really isn’t much to
play w ith this one. The game
consistsof switching between
three Mii poses to match
the corresponding pose in a
floating bubble. Players are
required to twist the remote
to match the exact pose,
but if one bubble reaches
the bottom of the screen, a
life is used. It may be quite
tedious and annoy ing, but it
isn't as much of a waste as
the T able Tennis and Fishing
minigames are.
Table Tennis may seem
like a good premise for a
motion capable gaming
system, but it is severely
hindered in the movement
department. Instead of
allowing gamers to actually
swing their amis to virtually
swing paddles in-game.
Table Tennis really only
TOP RINGTONES
1 Foppin’ - Chris Brown 17Jay Biz
2 Crazy B***h - Buckcherry
3 Rockstar - Nickelback
4 W hat Hurts the Most- Rascal Flatts
5 Candy Shop -50 Cent Featuring Olivia
6 Because I Got High • Afroman
7 Super Mario Brothers Theme - Koji Kond
8 My Humps - The Black Eyed Peas
9 Lovers & Friends - Lil John & The East Side
Boys f/Ludacris
10 Irreplaceable -Beyonce
Courtesy Billboard.com
TOP BOX OFFICE
1 300 - S7O mil
2 Wild Hogs - S2B mil
3 Bridge to Terabithia - $6.9 mil
4 Ghost Rider - $6.8 mil
5 Zodiac - $6.8 mil
6 Norbit $4.3 mil
7 The Number 23 - $4.2 mil
8 Music and Lyrics - $2.8 mil
9 Breach - $2.6 mil
10 Amazing Grace - $2.5 mil
Courtesy Rottenlomatoes.com
relies on moving the virtual
paddle to where the ball is
while the computer does the
rest. It’s incredibly boring,
but not as boring as Fishing.
Fishing only requires
that players move their
Wiimote around a virtual
pond in order to attract and
catch fish. Another seemingly
in-depth activity mined
completely by a lack of
options and variety as
all that is required of a
player is to yank up on
the controller to catch
fish, instead of a possible
reeling motion with the
Nunchuck controller.
While Wii Play is
undoubtedly lacking in a
variety of options, there
are some things worth
contemplating when
considering a purchase.
The first is the inclusion
of two-player mode for
all games. It’s assured
that some games may be a
snore fest, but playing with
a friend tends to make any
horrible game a slight bit
more bearable.
The other important
thing to remember is that
Wii Play is packaged with a
Wiimote Controller. These
controllers are typically
S4O when bought new in a
store, but players will only
spend SSO on the packaging
of a Wii controller and the
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