Nintendo

An article on the most famous video game company: Nintendo!

Nintendo is world's largest video game company but it wasn't always so.
It was founded in 1889 in Japan, by Fusajiro Yamauchi and was at first a company which produced handmade playing cards, called "Hanafuda", which means litteraly "flower cards", for the flowers pictures painted on the cards.

It was Fusajiro Yamauchi's grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who expanded the sight of the company: in, 1956, after a journey in the U.S.A., he realized the limitation of playing cards and after getting access to  Disney's characters, he put them on his cards to increase the sale.

Nintendo tried different sectors of entertainment but most of them failed. Nintendo barely did it, staying on the market as a toy company, and it was thanks to Laser Clay Shooting System, a light gun shooting simulation, that Nintendo founds what will really make it great. Gunpei Yokoi is now the one who runs the company; he will step down around 1996.

 From 1974, Nintendo started dealing with video game stuff. The first console sold by this company was the Magnavox Odyssey console and Nintendo starts creating its own hardware in 1977.
Several important people are hired from here: Shigeru Miyamoto, who created some of the most famous Nintendo games and designed the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. There is also Genyo Takeda, Nintendo's first game designer, who created EVR Race.

However, it was the creation of the game Donkey Kong, designed by Miyamoto, that dramatically changed Nintendo's fortunes, bringing in many licensing opportunities and a huge increase of profit. Around the same time, an earlier version of Mario was released; back then, it was known as "Jumpman"

Since then, Nintendo never stopped growing, both in console and in game.
One of the greatest successes were the Nintendo Entertainment System,

and Super Mario Bros.

In 1989, Nintendo launched the Game Boy (left) and in 1998, it was follow by the Game Boy Color (right).









In 1996, it was the turn of the Nintendo 64 but at the same time, Sega launched the Saturn and Sony, the Playstation.

In 2001, both the Game Boy Advance and the Game Cube where released.

In 2003, Nintendo gave us the Game Boy Advance SP, smaller and with the possibility to close to prevent damages on the screen.

In 2004, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS (in which DS stands for Dual Screen) and it is Nintendo's best selling handheld gaming system. The innovation was also due to the touch screen (the lower one).

2005: the Game Boy Micro was released, a version similar to the Game Boy Advance, just with a smaller form.

 

In 2006 Nintendo released the Wii, successor to the GameCube, featuring the controller motion controlled Wii Remote (on the left). The Wii was the best selling console of the seventh generation, regaining the market share lost by the 64 and GameCube. At this time, Nintendo also released the Nintendo DS lite (on the right), the first revision of the DS, smaller and more compact.

In 2009, Nintendo followed up the success of the DS with the release of the Nintendo DSi, similar to the DS lite but with a camera and WIFI access.

In 2011, Nintendo continued with the DS legacy by releasing the Nintendo 3DS, which featured 3D effects. A first tome on a handheld console.

In 2012 Nintendo released the Wii U. It sold slow at first but it was the first eighth generation console. By September 2013, however, sales had incredibly increased.

In 2013, Nintendo hoped to make a cheaper handheld system to appeal to more people by releasing the Nintendo 2DS in 2013 (left). Nintendo also released the Wii Mini, another console redesigned to be cheaper (right).

In matter of game and characters, Nintendo created so many, just telling the half could take days. Let's keep it to the most famous and liked.
The firsts we must name are the games of Donkey Kong and Super Mario (who will become Nintendo's mascot).

Next we have Fire Emblem.

Then we have Kirby.

There is also The Legend of Zelda, with the Princess Zelda and the Hero Link.

Another well known game game is Golden Sun.

The Star Fox series is, of course, a must.

For the last one I'll name, I've chosen the world most famous game, which you either played or know so well it's as if you did: Pokemon!

There it is, the end of this article. I hope you liked.
Thanks for reading.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

This will be the first article about a Nintendo 3DS game: Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

This will be released in May, even thought released in January in Japan and we can see in the trailer that the graphic is perfectly adapted for the Nintendo 3DS and is quite similar to Kirby's Return to Dream Land. It was developed by Hal Laboratory and published by Nintendo.

Like every game with the same name, it's all about this little pink, round hero who has the amazing power to literally inhale anything and use it against his enemies; be it absorbing the power of the enemy inhaled,

or spitting him against other foes.

The gameplay is very simple if you played any game of Kirby, and even if you didn't, it takes you a few minutes of playing to be good at it. There is displayer of 2.5D perspective which means that even if the game is in 2D, you can move further, deeper in the display, by jumping from foreground and background, with the help of the Warp Star.

Kirby most useful power is to copy the power of an inhaled enemy; so if you absorb a foe who uses ice, you'll become Ice Kirby.

And with this transformation, Kirby will be able to freeze foes and skate on the ice instead of running.
Or, if you absorb an enemy with an umbrella...

...Kirby will get an umbrella that he can uses to hit the enemies or protect himself.

This game has at least 20 transformations; the most knowns are: Sword Kirby, Fire Kirby, Fighter Kirby, Indian Kirby... But there others that are new: mainly Beetle Kirby and Bell Kirby!
Another innovation is what can be called Rainbow Kirby. With this new power, Kirby becomes powerful enough to inhale a whole tree!

An innovative thing about this Kirby: Triple Deluxe is the use of the motion captor to complete various tasks.

When the game is completed once, you can play with King Dedede, who's usually the bad guy. However, when you play with him, Bosses are more powerful.

Through the game, the player can collect keychains which look like various characters from previous Kirby's games, much like trophies.
There are also two new subgames: Kirby Fighters, where you can customize your Kirby and fight other Kirbies in a Super Smash Bros fighting style game; and Dedede's Drum Dash, in which you play as King Dedede and jump on drums to collect falling coin to the rhythm of Kirby songs.

All in all, even if the game's life is short, it's still very enticing: colored, pretty and very funny to play; this game is good for everyone.
Sadly, because still not released, official notes aren't available; however, jeuxvideo.com was able to note it with an incredible 18/20. Myself, after seeing various video of it, give it too a 18/20.

Kinect Adventures

In this article, I'll write on a game which is more for family use than anything: Kinect Adventures.

The game's name said it all: with the use of the Kinect, the motion sensing camera, the player must use his whole body to play, by jumping, crouching, bending or even simple hands/arms/legs motions. It was released in 2010, pratically at the same time of the Kinect system, by Good Science Studio. This game is one of the most sold on Xbox 360.

Both game and graphics are simple but fun and suit each others: the game use your avatar, the character who represents you in the console and make it go thought various adventures. There isn't a real story, but you can obtain some objects for your avatar when you complete a level or obtain a high score. You can play up to two players but it's funnier when other players take a turn as well.
There are five environments in this game, each one of them with different rules and way to play. You must either complete the level or obtain as much points as you can before time runs out.

The first of those, Rally Ball, is in a protected hallway where you must stop and launch the balls using hands, body and feet to hit the targets and the boxes at the other end.

Of course, like in every good game, you can get bonus, in this case, like in pinball, you can have extra balls to gain points easier ans faster. The hardest part is to aim and fortunately, the body is transparent, which help in the task.

The second level, Space Pop, is in a space lab, where you have to catch soap bubbles by moving up and down, left and right and even back and forward!

It can be a little hard to move with precision since you mostly use your arms to imitate a swimming motion to go up and put them on you sides to go down.

In the third environment, 20,000 Leaks, the player is under water, in a special cube which is constantly attacked by sharks who are trying to eat you. Here, you must use your avatar's body to stop the water from entering and repair walls, floor and roof.

Of course, like Rally Ball, the body is partly transparent to allow you to see were the sharks hit the glass and where cracks form. The quicker you are to seal the holes, the more points you gain.

The forth level is on a platform, itself put on rails and is called Reflex Ridge. In this one, your avatar is placed on a roller coaster and launched in a journey through woods.

This level is likely the one that requires the more activity from the player. It requires, indeed, to jump over hurdles, crouch to avoid low beams and jump to side to evade the obstacles. This way, you must avoid take damages, and lose points, and acquire the coins to raise your score.

Lastly, River Rush, the fifth environment, takes place on a river, with the player on a raft. To control it, you have to step on the left or the right to turn and by jumping, the raft jumps too.

By taking ramps, you can access to secrets places where the coins are more numerous.

Kinetic Adventures is a good game but it's even better if played by two or more people; it's funny seeing the other players jump and make what look like silly moves to complete the tasks or avoid obstacles!

At the end of each level, the game takes some of your most funny poses and put them in a photo with a little title. Those poses can to be takes in any moment, so be aware that they can be a little embarrassing.

Even though jeuxvideo.com gives this game a 13/20 and gamespot.com a 7/10, I think a 16.5/20 is fair, especially if this game is played together as it should be. Even if you don't, it's a good way to move and do some physical activity.

That's all and thanks for reading.

Dante's Inferno

This article subject is a game which "parodied" the well known poem The Divine Comedy, wrote by Dante Alighieri: Dante's Inferno!

The game is produced by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts, and was released in 2010 on Xbox360, PlayStation 3 and on PSP.

The story's events are set at the time of the Third Crusade and are inspired by The Divine Comedy first part: Inferno; the main difference is that, instead of having a writer Dante, we have a Templar Knight Dante. The game shares many similarities with the poem: the journey in Hell, the encounters  with many souls of the past, the pursuing of Beatrice, the help of Virgil through the journey and the encounter with Lucifer...

However, even if he's a Templar Knight, who fought in God's name, Dante is far from being sinless; in fact, the whole story begins because of him: before leaving for the Crusade, Dante promised to his wife, Beatrice, to remain faithful to her. Obviously, he didn't and when he comes back, he finds both his father and his beloved murdered. Before his eyes, Lucifer appears and takes Dante's wife with him in Hell and the knight has no choice but to go and save her.

The first big fight is with the Death itself and after some struggling, we manage to kill it and take its Scythe, the main weapon, with which we can unleash powerful combos, and thanks to Beatrice, we find another one: the Holly Cross, which is used for ranged attacks.

Though the voyage, Dante will encounter many souls, some worth of salvation (with the use of the Cross) and others good enough to be damned for eternity (using Death's Scythe). Some of those souls are known to the protagonist, like his father (left) or one of his knight companions; others are historical or mythological figures: Cleopatra (right), King Minos... The souls are actually took from the original Divine Comedy.

In the ending cinematic, we can see Dante in the Purgatory, after he defeated Lucifer, meaning he managed to absolve his sins, with the help of the souls he absolved on his way down the nine Circles of Hell.
But in the same video, we can see that Lucifer may not totally defeated: the cross which was sewed on Dante's body becomes a black snake after he ripped it off.

Dante's Inferno is quite similar to God of War in game play: fast paced fights, magic attacks, devastating combos with a mix of Scythe's and the Cross' use, and the use of souls as money. The visual is in third person and the camera is fixed, which can be troublesome sometime. And there is the presence of Quick Time Event, when we fight the boss or particularly big opponents. Some paths need Dante to move in a specific way or to move/remove objects.
As said up, souls are the currency in Hell to buy upgrades or new abilities and we use potions to refill our health and mana. The skills are dived in two trees: Holly and Unholy; we gain experience in each when we either absolve or punish an enemy. As we go, more skills and new powers are unlocked.

This game make us go through a real voyage in Hell and can give us things to think about: "is Hell really like this?" and "Do I want to finish in that place?"
The graphics aren't bad but could have been better and the camera is a point against the game as we could use a better view sometime. The handling is really simple since all we have to do mainly is to keep hitting until nothing is left.

Two special edition of Dante's Inferno can be downloaded, either for PS3 or Xbox360.
With Dante's Inferno: Trial of St. Lucie, we can create our own challenges and complete them alone or in cooperation with other players.
In Dante's Inferno: Dark Forest, we have a new suit available, new weapons and an exclusive chapter added.

jeuxvideo.com note this game 15/20; gamespot.com give it a 6.5/10. As for me, I give a 17/20.