Is the PS3, like, totally fucked, dude?

Just a quick note to clarify my points about the PS3 in the next post down:

It is the fastest-selling console ever in the UK, shifting 165,000 units in the launch weekend. Isn't it weird how seeing brand new games consoles on the shelves makes it seem like they're not very successful, even when they are? [source]

But the machine is being outsold 2:1 by the Nintendo Wii in Japan. [source]

And in the US, 127,000 PS3s were sold last month, compared to 295,000 PS2s and 335,000 Wiis. Ouch! [source]

Meanwhile, people who queued up for a PS3 hoping to sell it for profit on eBay are actually making a loss. Double ouch! And [source]

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I still love Wii-ing

Last December, it seemed like every other post on here was about the Nintendo Wii and how much I was looking forward to getting my hands on one. Then it arrived and, one paltry review of Zelda later, everything went quiet. Here's what's happened since:

Everyone who plays Wii Sports wants to take the console home with them. It's the most intuitive and addictive game since Tetris.

While playing Wii Tennis, at least one guest has come close to throwing themselves through the window with a rather overzealous backhand return.

The tutorial videos on Wario Ware: Smooth Moves made me laugh chips out my nose.

Mrsdiscopop-in-law got overly competitive on Wii Play's shooting range, making everyone a little more nervous on Christmas Day.

If you like the internet smaller, blurrier, and more difficult to navigate then the Wii's Web Browser is the product for you.

I completed Zelda in 50 hours, and was smug for approximately the same amount of time.

Lots of people who are better at computer games than I will ever be posted their high scores to Flickr. Does the phrase "too much time on your hands" mean anything to the youth of today?

The PS3 came out. Nobody bought it. We all laughed.

Although it's a bit too early to claim victory for the tiny white console - especially as Nintendo can't get enough stock to the UK while the PS3 sits winking coquettishly at people on the shop shelves.

Added to which - can we have some new games please, Nintendo?

Actually, I've just come across the following trailer for Wii Sims. Once mrsdiscopop gets her hands on this, I won't be able to get her off the sofa for weeks. Which could be a problem, as we're supposed to be moving house...

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I just want to be Mii

One of the best things about the Wii is the little application that lets you make a character based on yourself (called a Mii) which can then be dragged into games, sent to other people's Wiis over the internet or loaded onto your remote so you can bring it round to your mate's house and beat up his Mii on Wii Sports Boxing. It's quite a simple application, but I've already spent about six hours messing around with it.

It seems I'm not the only one. A blog called kottke has been running a competition to find the best celebrity Mii. Here are some of my favourites:


Left to right: Charlie Brown, Hannibal Lecter Jack Black, Woody Allen,

If anyone wants to send their Miis to, erm, me you can register my console with the following details
Wii number: 1009 2440 7878 8115
Nickname: mrdiscopop

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Wiiview*

I've had my Wii for a week now and, while I haven't been able to spend as much time getting used to it as I would have liked, my initial impressions are very favourable indeed.

When it arrived last Friday, Amazon had kindly omitted to include the games I ordered, so my first experiences were solely based on Wii Sports - which is bundled with the console.

The five sport simulations are more proofs of concept than in-depth gaming experiences, but they showcase the versatility of the Wii's motion sensitive controllers perfectly. Playing tennis, in particular, is incredibly intuitive. A flick of the wrist makes your on-screen character thwack the ball and there is an instant sense of connection and immersion that I've never experienced before with a video game. This is Nintendo's unique selling point, of course, but I do wonder whether it will give grist to the mill of campaigners who say video games encourage violent behaviour in children.

While the tennis game is pleasantly broad in it's interpretation of your movements, the golfing game require a bit more precsision. I have to say the controls seem somewhat more fiddly and less responsive in this scenario - and it can prove frustratingly difficult to make delicate putts. It seems that subtlety is not the Wii's strong point.



After a brief weekend visiting the in-laws, I returned to find two more games on my doorstep. The first of these, Zelda: Twilight Princess, is Nintendo's so-called "triple-A" title for the console's release. Now, I've never really gelled with the Zelda series before - it always seemed a bit to dungeons and dragons for someone who prefers the company of humans to that of orcs and elves. But I have to say this installment has won me over. The plot is typically geeky (someone steals the daylight and you have to get it back) but the game draws you in like a seductive whisper.

The graphics are superb, too, drawing on a beautifully muted colou palette. It's hard to see why people are complaining about the Wii's graphical inferiority when you look at this game which, to my mind, is on par with early Pixar films.

Zelda also puts paid to any qualms about the Wii's control mechanism in traditional games. Control stick movements are smooth, while the energetic sword-play fits in seamlessly. I still find myself searching for the second analogue controller on occasion as I attempt to swing the camera round, but I expect I'll lose that instinct very quickly.

The final game, which I'll only mention briefly, is Rayman Raving Rabbids. It's basically a collection of mini games, in the style of Wario Ware, with a Python-esque sense of mischief. It had me laughing so hard I was unable to hold the controller.



So is the Wii the future of gaming? To be honest, it's not going to please everyone, but it is a brilliantly capable machine. I've never played games this accomplished so early in a console's lifetime - so it'll be interesting to see how things develop, particularly when it's multiplayer online games launch (that's you, Mario Kart). Hardcore gamers will probably want an Xbox or PS3 sitting under their TV but this is the machine you'll be coming back to with your friends.

* Enough of these dreadful puns for now, yes?

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Reading material and pop trivia

Pitchfork runs through the worst album covers of 2006. Including this one:

Shakira is finally coming to play a concert in the UK, after winning every Latin music award available - plus three more she invented in her mind. Tickets go on sale at this address tomorrow at 9am.

The world's tallest man has saved a dolphin by ramming his arm down its throat and retrieving a bit of plastic it had swallowed. It's really true. Scout's honour.

Download an MP3 of Beyonce's Irreplaceable in Spanish and convince your housemates the stereo has gone on the blink. Altogether now: "Ya lo ves, ya lo ves".

Popjustice is giving away Lily Allen's Chopper.

Girls Aloud run through their political views in The Spectator. They're anti-war, pro-grammar school and support high taxation, apparently. Cheryl's going to get some flak for saying she only votes for Labour because "me mam does", but isn't that how most people choose their political affiliation? Except Hitler, of course.

Get some free mash-ups courtesy of Hop's MP3 Thingamajig. Regardless of their quality, the titles are ace: 99 Voodoo Children and Control, Bloody Control are my two favourites.

After all the reports of gamers breaking their TV screens, lampshades and faces with their Nintendo Wii controller, this guy has found a way to make the wrist strap more secure. Handcuffs.

PS: I'm hoping to get round to writing a proper review of the Wii tomorrow. But I doubt you'll be surprised to hear me say this: It is fabberoo.

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Play safe, kids

Which of the following two images from Nintendo's saftey manual for the Wii console is real and which is fake?




Wrong! They're both for real! Quite why Nintendo thinks anyone would be willing to put a shamrock in their gamehole is quite beyond me, but maybe the Japanese are more litigious than I previously imagined.

Kotaku has grabs of all the illustrations from the safety manual, while theiconfactory has created some fake ones and loaded them up to Flickr. They are almost as funny as the real ones.



PS: 2 days to go! 2 days to go!!

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2 wiiks to go

I've now placed two pre-orders for a Nintendo Wii, just to make absolutely sure I get one on release day (8 December).

Does that seem a bit excessive? I admit that when I woke up this morning I was beginning to question my own sanity... Then someone sent me this video of a small child playing the boxing mini-game on Wii Sports and I realised why I'm so excited all over again.



How could you not want something that makes you do that in front of your tellybox?

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Europe release date for Wii

It seems my cynicism yesterday was unfounded - gaming giant Nintendo is releasing its new games console in Europe in time for Christmas. Called Wii, its available on these shores from Friday, 8th December.

In a neat bit of pricing synchronicity, it costs 25000 yen in Japan, $250 in the US and €250 in Europe. The bad news is that the console will cost £180 in the UK (£10 more than the rest of Europe and a full £60 than the US). The good news is that a free game is bundled with the console.

The European Wii site is now live and available here: www.wii.com

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When do wii get one?

That slghtly shiny Japanese lady in the picture is holding in a wee.

No, wait a minute... What I meant to say was that she's holding a Wii - the new games console from Nintendo.

Now, you'd think that, with Sony ballsing up the launch of the latest Playstation, Nintendo would be falling over itself to get their new machine onto shop shelves in time for Christmas.

Not so, unfortunately.

At a press conference yesterday, the company announced it would start selling its Wii from 2 December in Japan. The US gets it on November 18. Which probably means Europe won't see one until 2007 (unless we use special long distance glasses to gaze across the ocean).

But there is some good news. The Wii still looks supercool, and there'll be 16 games available on launch day, at least half of which seem decent. The price is pretty good, too - around £113 or less. No, that's not a typo. You can buy five Wiis for the price of one Playstation 3.

Not only that, but the console will have a fully operational internet browser, and you'll be able to download old Nintendo games for as little as £2. Crikey.

The launch line-up includes a new Zelda game, a new Super Monkey Ball, and a compilation of sports titles using the Wii's magic wireless remote control waving-your-hands-around-like-a-goon wand thingummy.

And, in a break with Nintendo tradition, there are also a whole slew of games about shooting people due for the console. They include launch title Red Steel and a new Resident Evil Game from Capcom.

Sega has also (accidentally) revealed it'll be releasing some of its best ever games for the Nintendo download service - including Sonic The Hedgehog, Toe jam & Earl, Ecco The Dolphin and Golden Axe - classics one an all. No sign of Alex Kidd in Miracle World, though. Bah.

Clearly, I'm gushing a bit here (perhaps 'gushing with wii' could be an advertising slogan?). The console has even stopped me from thinking about music for 10 seconds - although I notice Nintendo is releasing a drum kit simulator. This is a product that will undoubtedly lead to a discopop divorce.

So don't look at this video, don't get excited about this console, and certainly don't go out and buy one. My marriage depends on it.

Official Wii website

Launch line-up at Wii fanboy

Press conference coverage at 4 Color Rebellion: Japan / New York

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Are the Pet Shop Boys secret Nintendo fans?

The Pet Shop Boys have announced the second single from their excellent Fundamental album will be the uptempo dancefloor stomper Minimal.

What they haven't announced is that the song features a cartoon dog from Nintendo's Animal Crossing game...

Animal Crossing is a role-playing / life-simulation game on the Gamecube and DS that sees you performing menial tasks and cultivating friendships in a primary colour village.

It's played in real time, and on Saturday nights you can catch a wandering canine minstrel, K.K. Slider, performing a set of folk classics in the village coffee shop. He even gives out bootlegs at the end of the gig!

Clearly the Pet Shop Boys are fans, as they've "hired" Slider for a solo spot on the chorus of Minimal. Don't believe me? Here's a handy side-by-side comparison:




Pet Shop Boys - Minimal

KK Slider - DJ KK

KK Slider - Rockin' KK

See what I mean?

Pet Shop Boys site

Introduction to the groovy world of KK Slider

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Sounds and lights and music and flashy buttons

Remember that strobe light / musical instrument we were talking about in our last post? Well, some kind soul has filmed its inventor, Toshio Iwai, demonstrating the Tenoi-On at the Spanish ArtFutura festival. The video is just underneath this text.

We can see Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood sporting one of these machines at Glastonbury 2007.

The second half is where everything whizzes and bangs - so we'd recommend judicious use of the fast-forward button.


(Via YouTube)
By the way, if you like what you see we'd suggest getting hold of Mr Iwai's new game for the Nintendo DS, Electroplankton. Using the same premise of turning user's interactions into sound collages, it has been getting rave reviews everywhere. Yahoo calls it, "a unique sort of marine pop-art biology". (read the whole review here)

Essentially, Electroplankton is an interactive musical toy. The underwater theme is pure whimsy, the 'plankton' of the title really being pictorial representations of sounds, instruments or speech. Using the stylus, you manipulate the little creatures or their surroundings to create melodies. No, piano 'grades' are not required.

As you can see, the whole thing is incredibly difficult to explain. The best way to tell your friends what it's all about would be to show them, otherwise you'll end up using phrases like "deranged subaquatic jazz improv computer game toy sound making thingy", which is no use to anyone.

Even better, blogger Stinkygoat has made this exciting discovery while spanking his plankton:

"Sometimes they chirped, sometimes they formed into circles and crosses... until at one point I held the DS out in front of me and sang "FLUFFY!" into the microphone.

"The nanocarp swarmed and reformed in the shape of a llama.

"I thought this must surely just be some random shape change, but subsequent experiments proved to me without doubt that if I sing "FLUFFY!" at a certain pitch to my DS, the nanocarp always form the shape of a llama."

Brilliant! In 2006, we love computer games all over again.

Buy Elektroplankton at NCSX.
(You have to import it if you're in the UK. Bah.)

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Save money now

Here's a nifty way to save money: a search engine that looks for mistakes on eBay listings.

It's fairly obvious that a pair of pants listed, by accident, in the antiques section will be seen by fewer people and therefore attract lower bids (unless they're really unique, frilly Victorian pants previously owned by David 'cheap as fucking chips' Dickinson).

Less obvious, however, is that mis-spellings can also reduce visibility to the casual e-Buyer, and thus have the same effect.

According to this website, one eagle-eyed user has just picked up a brand new Nintendo DS and three games for £40 because the seller had listed the machine as a "Nintendo D S" (with a space). Doik!

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Not much happening in the world

Ho-hum. It's been a quiet week, and it doesn't seem like it'll get much more interesting. In the meantime, here's some stuff off of the internets.

First up, a picture of Rachel Bilson from the OC. She's drinking milk, but there's a slightly guilty look in her eye. Perhaps its not really milk but a white Russian.

Or, worse still, macrobiotic yoghurt.

What's it like to see yourself projected onto a film screen as an 80 foot gorilla? Andy Serkis reveals all to comingsoon.net. (NB: you lose points if your answer was "kinda neat".)

Is Nintendo Mad?!?!?!? screams gamesindustry.biz. Apparently hardcore gamers are laughing at the Japanese company because their next console will only be as powerful as the old Xbox. But, as gamesindustry.biz points out, it all "depends on whether you consider it insane for a company to launch a product with low manufacturing costs, easy software development, high margins and strong brands and franchises backing it, at a price significantly lower than its rivals can compete with."
We'll know by next Christmas.

Boooo!!! Jennifer Aniston didn't burn her wedding dress, after all.

Hooray!!! ABC might be buying Arrested Development out of it's cancellation misery.

Finally, have you ever wondered what Police Academy 'star' Steve Guttenburg is doing these days? "Why do I need to do anything?" he asked the Metro newspaper, "I’m rich."

"Do you want me to be poor again? Do you want me to go back to making tomato soup out of ketchup and water? Or would you like me to be a multimillionaire and be rewarded for all the entertainment I gave you for all those years?"

No, Steve, we'd like you to be locked up in Azkaban for all the misery you caused us for all those years.

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Don't let Mario kill you

The Nintendo DS is, almost unbelievably, outselling the PSP in every country around the world. It has even been shifting 40,000 units a week in the notoriously Nintendo-phobic UK.

To be fair, we can understand why. The games are innovative and genuinely fun, the wireless multiplayer works like a dream, and the touchpad is incredibly intuitive. In fact, our home consoles haven't had any play since we bought the DS back in October.

However, we've discovered the console could kill you !!!!!!11!

We've been shielded from the potential health hazards because the European version of the DS comes without the nine pages of safety advice contained in the Japanese instruction manual.

Luckily, some enterprising souls have posted the Japanese manual on the internet. We're guessing that the majority of you don't speak Japanese, so here is a rough translation of the key points.


When using the stylus, avoid repeatedly stabbing yourself through the tongue.

Your DS will not help you to attract a mate, even if you put it in your pants.

Don't play while hiding under your sheets, in case the bogeyman gets you.

On occasion, the DS will emit poisonous fumes.
Do not approach it during this time.

The Nintendo does not much like milk.

Play safely, folks.

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Click on these

The sit-com is back from the dead (again) claims the New Yorker. Try telling that to anyone who's sat through Scrubs, Weeds or Two-and-a-half Men recently.

Get your MP3's on:
1) Mr Red Penguin has Mylo and the Arctic Monkeys from last week's Jools Holland
2) Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire sessions over at The Torture Garden
3) Fluxblog have the double-whammy of Girls Aloud's superb new single Biology and the classic Dolly Parton Baby I'm Burning (as they suggest, mix it with the White Stripes "My Doorbell" next time you DJ. It rocks).

Rate Celebrity plastic surgery if you dare.

How Stuff Works have posted an article on Nintendo's revolutionary wireless pointy, clicky, wave-it-about-your-heady game controller. It's mostly guess-work, but quite informative nonetheless.

Finally, Mike "Austin Powers" Myers is directly responsible for 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'. Are there any crimes against comedy he isn't guilty of?

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Bits and pieces

It's not been a good week at Discopop towers. That trip to Delhi resulted in a massive fever, and 8 days off work (so far). It's not Malaria, though, so we'll be back to normal eventually. Or so the doctor says.

In the meantime, we've played a lot of Resident Evil 4, and slept 80% of the day. There are also a few things we've seen on the internets which might interest you:

The Times has the complete list of the 142 singles John Peel had inside his record box when he passed away last year. Personally, we'd prefer the contents of John Lennon's jukebox - but you have to give Peelie credit for having two copies of Sheena Easton's "9 to 5" in his collection.

We love Nintendo music - you can quite often hear us singing the theme tune to Super Mario Bros as we walk down the street (often while jumping on brick walls and sliding down flagpoles). So it pleases us no end when people update the music and format it for our ipod. Jason Cox is one such person - he's re-recorded the entire Super Mario World suite with real instruments. Now we can download it and pretend we really are the squat, bouncy plumber. If only we could find a Yoshi to ride into work.

Pitchfork media's review of Destiny's Child's greatest hits package argues the girls have 'reneged on everything they once stood for'. Their reviewer says it's because the band have traded female independence for being "kept wives" in their lyrics. We say it's because they traded cutting-edge r&b for sappy Diane Warren-penned bullshit love songs. But, hey, in the final analysis we both agree.

Finally, Games shops in the USA have been getting into trouble for selling second-hand memory sticks for the PSP. It seems that some memory cards still have data left on them - and in certain cases, retailers have sold little children some gut-wrenching porn formatted for their games machine. Ooops! (Insert Michael Jackson joke here).

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Quicklink Thursday

What if "The Shining" was a sappy comedy film about a struggling screenwriter? (links to a quicktime movie trailer)

"The Revolution controller is the new controller, everything else is now the classic controller." Shigeru Miayamoto (the man responsible for Mario, Zelda and Pikmin) talks up Nintendo's new console

Meanwhile, "Students who frequently use computers perform worse academically than those who use them rarely or not at all," says some guy.

Because we're at work we haven't checked this one out, but Defamer.com promises us a "video clip of a naked Janet Jackson rubbing her breasts and drumming on her ass". It's probably just that superbowl performance again...

Why is it so cold today? Because hell has frozen over.

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Revolutionary or ridiculous?

What the…?! That's really the only response to Nintendo's new controller. Well, that or: "Wait a minute, that's a remote control. How do you play the games?"



Well, the main controller is motion sensitive. Tilt it, and your movement will be replicated on-screen. It's got the usual array of buttons on the face, and a trigger at the back. The analogue stick, called a "nunchuck" is an add-on, which should provide mouse-style movement for shooting games.

Unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, its got to be a massive risk for Nintendo. The company famously wants to expand gaming beyond the traditional geeky boundaries -- see the stylus-controlled DS for proof. But will non-gamers be seduced by the new controller simply because it looks familiar? And will current gaming freaks give up the stunning graphics (but questionable gameplay) of the new Xbox and Playstation in favour of something new?

Certainly, peripherals like Eyetoy and Donkey Konga show that you can persuade gamers and non-gamers to get together and play if you offer them something new and innovative. Imagine using this controller as a virtual golf-club, or a conductor's baton. That’s the sort of thing that can get the entire family to gather round the TV, making Nintendo's "Revolution" a lifestyle purchase, rather than a boy's toy.

Ultimately, however, Nintendo will live or die by this console. They've already lost their predominant place in the games market to Sony and Microsoft. If no-one buys into the concepts behind the Revolution it could spell disaster for the company. Luckily, gaming magazines who've had the chance to try out the new console seem to love it. The much-respected Edge has already branded the controller "one of the most streamlined, classic and neatly designed... seen so far in videogaming."

Consider my Xbox pre-order cancelled.

Had I ever pre-ordered one.

And I didn't.

Nintendo official site

Edge online

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Bree is not a cheese

While Michael Jackson promises a song for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Prince has gone into the studio, recorded two of the damn things, and put them up on his website. Who's the King of Pop now? (Answer: Justin Timberlake, but never mind).

More info on Prince's songs at soundgenerator.com

So far, Rachel Stevens has been the only person to forge a career from ashes of S Club 7. Now she has competition - S Club's former lead singer, Jo O'Meara, is back with a new single. Rachel should be worried: Jo has already proved she has a stronger voice, and now she's managed to trump Rachel by giving an interview even more bland and innofensive than Stevens could ever manage.

In this 'exclusive' chat with femalefirst.co.uk we learn that:
- Her back is fine!!!!
- She is still friends with other people from S Club!!!!
- Her album is a 'compilation of good songs'!!!!!

After reading that scandalous news, we need to go and have a lie down.

Boooo! Billboard reports that Nellie McKay's album has been delayed to January.

Hooray! That unexpectedly yummy picture of Marcia Cross at the top of the post comes from the ever-excellent justjared.com

They're also responsible for this horrible image of Janice Dickinson shoving a big sausage down her throat. We're gagging as we type this, you know.

Over at lik-sang.com, they've unearthed a whole ton of Nintendo goodies that were supposed to be sold in the last millennium, only they kind of forgot. So now you can pick up a brand new SNES for £40, an original gameboy for a tenner, and the ever-popular Donkey Kong calculator for £1.50. It's even better than ebay!

And Girls Aloud have won the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. Well done, the Aloud.

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One diva to trump them all

Jennifer Lopez, we're told, is a "Triple Threat". We'd always assumed that meant she could sing, dance and act - until we saw Gigli. So what is that mysterious third talent? Apparently, it's farting in people's faces.

The ultimate present for your mopey, Morissey-stalking friend - His house.

Now you can buy Bill Clinton's jazz collection. Unfortunately, it's a CD of his favourite songs, rather than a stash of top-shelf magazines.

Thinking of buying a PSP? Why bother when Nintendo are discounting the DS. In the US, Nintendo's machine is now half the price of Sony's - and we'd wager that similar discounts will appear over here just in time for the PSP launch.

And, finally, how can we resist a video where a geeky teacher sings to his class:


"Nobody loves you like your mama loves you
But who's loving your mama?
I am."


Well, we can, after the initial novelty has worn off. But you can click here to watch it once.

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