Are both listed at the end of the article as games that will be reviewed in November. The games are reviewed as they are received, which means the article is always about 20-30 days behind:).
I am still enjoying my Wii quite a bit, but then I don't think that I could say I've ever gotten tired of any game system I've had (perhaps the Atari 2600...though Adventure was always fun).
I think the question is how much are you playing your Wii? If you aren't playing it as much, why aren't you?
For me I'm 'playing' the Wii less. I'm still slowly working my way through Zelda, but have played quite a bit less Wii Sports due to the holidays being over. I've only bought 1 VC game since Christmas, but I dont' belive VC games really count...do they?
While I may be playing less, I'm turning the Wii on quite a bit more. Since the launch of the Voting channel, the Wii has been on every day. My wife, kids and I have been voting, predicting and comparing our results. I'm really impressed by the interface and simple fun. Plus, it only takes a few minutes to play. The reason I don't get more Zelda in is because I need to sit for at least an hour to get much out of it. I love it...and play a few hours a month, but it's easier to find 15 minutes to play than 60.
Additionally, I've bought 5 GCN games in the last 2 months, which has given me plenty more to play, and since the GCN isn't connected, I end up playing them on the Wii...perhaps that counts as playing the Wii?
So end result
- I'm playing Wii games less (which is where the 'lost magic' comments come from I believe)
- I'm turning the Wii on more
- I'm playing games on the Wii more
- The voting channel is a lot of fun
That's not entirely true.
GT does affiliate wherever possible. Affiliates are set-up after the reviews are done, so they don't affect what is reviewed, but it probably ought to be disclosed anyway. Most indie games provide affiliate programs, some don't. GT reviews some freeware, an occasional web game and every decent indie game that is submitted to them. It does get a percentage of affiliate sales though, even if it doesn't have a store of its own (like say Manifesto games). Bulking up on advertising money could be another route...but currently the advertising has been kept inexpensive so indies could afford it.
In the US the DS has been struggling to win over the audience, but this, and countless other threads I've seen like it make be believe that the DS has made a lot of headway. I believe with the DS Lite launch that March/April/May hardware numbers for the DS all were low as people waited for the newer prettier system. When the June numbers are released in a few days I think that it will come as a surprise to most (including the analysts). Clearly a launch month is important, but this isn't a new product. Of course perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm very curious to see if the numbers echo what most of us have seen throughout the net (as expected). Software has already shown the DS as selling far above the competition.
As a secondary note, the website referred to has incorrect Japanese numbers according to media create. I'm not sure where they came from. Even Enterbrain (the more conservative of the two companies that track Japanese sales has DS sales at 3.8 million this year...nearly twice what the website above lists - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid= 18190)
Howdy! Just FYI as it appears this rumor is still out there, Game Tunnel doesn't charge for reviews. It stopped doing so more than a year ago to help clear up any possible questions of impropriety (notably reviewers were never told whether or not they were getting a paid review or a non-paid one). Anyway, paid reviews haven't been around for a long time...hope that helps resolve this question:).
I appreciate the comments, but wanted to clarify a point.
Developers do not pay for reviews on Game Tunnel. That was something that was done to help pay the bills, but after some complaints here we decided to modify the policy. There hasn't been any review paid for on GT for over a year now. Clearly getting the word out can be difficult;)
While not all the reviewers may write in a way that you appreciate, I would certainly disagree with them not spending much time on the games. Most spend many hours in the game, playing them to completion, before writing the review. I know the kind of efforts that they put in and think we have a pretty good group of review writers.
Open source/freeware is not covered due to a lack of resources. While there are MANY freeware sites out there that cover those games, there were not any indie game sites when Game Tunnel started. We've worked hard to cover Indie games, and we still turn a lot of the indie games away as we just don't have enough time to cover everything. Everyone has to draw a line somewhere, and though we do typically review a freeware game each month, we focus on the Independents.
Thanks for your thoughts. Hope the clarification was useful.
It definitely takes a bit to get the swing of things.
If you haven't encounted the Klackons you probably want to run from every battle.
The klackons give you a device that you can use in battle (top of the screen) that lets you call them in...they are pretty tough and will help you win. There are of course dozens of other power-ups and mercenaries you can run into...depends on how you play and your objectives, but I did run into the same problem when I first played it.
I've been told that on the primary server that bandwidth isn't the issue...it's the site processing (probably should move the mySQL off the server)
I'm unable to access the dedicated server in anyway at the moment...don't know what the numbers are like. Sadly this news was sent to Slashdot on Thursday, and it was un-expected this afternoon...I wasn't around and the person running the server wasn't' either. So I was caught a bit off-guard in having a quick response:(.
We actually spent MANY hours trying to be ready for this type of traffic, but apparently fell short:(.
There is a pseudo mirror of the article and website here: http://gt.independentscore.com/articles.php?id=412
For whatever reason I thought I'd respond to this one...you are dead on right in why I wrote the piece on Halo. It was totally unfair and aimed at having people pay attention to the post.
The hope was to stir up a little energy. Energy means visits and that is typically good...except in this case it was way too much of a good thing.
As far as being bitter and angry, not really any more than anyone else. I enjoy all sorts of games and play them all way to much, indie or mainstream.
Slashdot Mirror
Are both listed at the end of the article as games that will be reviewed in November. The games are reviewed as they are received, which means the article is always about 20-30 days behind :).
What is your address? The game is going for $30 on ebay, I'm happy to get one for $12 if you have an extra ;).
I am still enjoying my Wii quite a bit, but then I don't think that I could say I've ever gotten tired of any game system I've had (perhaps the Atari 2600...though Adventure was always fun). I think the question is how much are you playing your Wii? If you aren't playing it as much, why aren't you? For me I'm 'playing' the Wii less. I'm still slowly working my way through Zelda, but have played quite a bit less Wii Sports due to the holidays being over. I've only bought 1 VC game since Christmas, but I dont' belive VC games really count...do they? While I may be playing less, I'm turning the Wii on quite a bit more. Since the launch of the Voting channel, the Wii has been on every day. My wife, kids and I have been voting, predicting and comparing our results. I'm really impressed by the interface and simple fun. Plus, it only takes a few minutes to play. The reason I don't get more Zelda in is because I need to sit for at least an hour to get much out of it. I love it...and play a few hours a month, but it's easier to find 15 minutes to play than 60. Additionally, I've bought 5 GCN games in the last 2 months, which has given me plenty more to play, and since the GCN isn't connected, I end up playing them on the Wii...perhaps that counts as playing the Wii? So end result - I'm playing Wii games less (which is where the 'lost magic' comments come from I believe) - I'm turning the Wii on more - I'm playing games on the Wii more - The voting channel is a lot of fun
That's not entirely true. GT does affiliate wherever possible. Affiliates are set-up after the reviews are done, so they don't affect what is reviewed, but it probably ought to be disclosed anyway. Most indie games provide affiliate programs, some don't. GT reviews some freeware, an occasional web game and every decent indie game that is submitted to them. It does get a percentage of affiliate sales though, even if it doesn't have a store of its own (like say Manifesto games). Bulking up on advertising money could be another route...but currently the advertising has been kept inexpensive so indies could afford it.
http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=536#Defc on
Defcon wasn't a big hit with the Game Tunnel panel.
War on Folvos (also not on the list) got a much better response:
http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=565#war% 20on%20folvos
In the US the DS has been struggling to win over the audience, but this, and countless other threads I've seen like it make be believe that the DS has made a lot of headway. I believe with the DS Lite launch that March/April/May hardware numbers for the DS all were low as people waited for the newer prettier system. When the June numbers are released in a few days I think that it will come as a surprise to most (including the analysts). Clearly a launch month is important, but this isn't a new product. Of course perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm very curious to see if the numbers echo what most of us have seen throughout the net (as expected). Software has already shown the DS as selling far above the competition. As a secondary note, the website referred to has incorrect Japanese numbers according to media create. I'm not sure where they came from. Even Enterbrain (the more conservative of the two companies that track Japanese sales has DS sales at 3.8 million this year...nearly twice what the website above lists - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid= 18190)
Howdy! Just FYI as it appears this rumor is still out there, Game Tunnel doesn't charge for reviews. It stopped doing so more than a year ago to help clear up any possible questions of impropriety (notably reviewers were never told whether or not they were getting a paid review or a non-paid one). Anyway, paid reviews haven't been around for a long time...hope that helps resolve this question :).
I appreciate the comments, but wanted to clarify a point.
;)
Developers do not pay for reviews on Game Tunnel. That was something that was done to help pay the bills, but after some complaints here we decided to modify the policy. There hasn't been any review paid for on GT for over a year now. Clearly getting the word out can be difficult
While not all the reviewers may write in a way that you appreciate, I would certainly disagree with them not spending much time on the games. Most spend many hours in the game, playing them to completion, before writing the review. I know the kind of efforts that they put in and think we have a pretty good group of review writers.
Open source/freeware is not covered due to a lack of resources. While there are MANY freeware sites out there that cover those games, there were not any indie game sites when Game Tunnel started. We've worked hard to cover Indie games, and we still turn a lot of the indie games away as we just don't have enough time to cover everything. Everyone has to draw a line somewhere, and though we do typically review a freeware game each month, we focus on the Independents.
Thanks for your thoughts. Hope the clarification was useful.
It definitely takes a bit to get the swing of things. If you haven't encounted the Klackons you probably want to run from every battle. The klackons give you a device that you can use in battle (top of the screen) that lets you call them in...they are pretty tough and will help you win. There are of course dozens of other power-ups and mercenaries you can run into...depends on how you play and your objectives, but I did run into the same problem when I first played it.
:) Minions of Mirth will be considered for next year's list...it came out a bit late for us to consider it this year. We just got my copies on Wed ;)
I've been told that on the primary server that bandwidth isn't the issue...it's the site processing (probably should move the mySQL off the server) I'm unable to access the dedicated server in anyway at the moment...don't know what the numbers are like. Sadly this news was sent to Slashdot on Thursday, and it was un-expected this afternoon...I wasn't around and the person running the server wasn't' either. So I was caught a bit off-guard in having a quick response :(.
We actually spent MANY hours trying to be ready for this type of traffic, but apparently fell short :(.
There is a pseudo mirror of the article and website here: http://gt.independentscore.com/articles.php?id=412
Nice :)
What is the purpose of a news story but to drive traffic and discussion on that story?
For whatever reason I thought I'd respond to this one...you are dead on right in why I wrote the piece on Halo. It was totally unfair and aimed at having people pay attention to the post. The hope was to stir up a little energy. Energy means visits and that is typically good...except in this case it was way too much of a good thing. As far as being bitter and angry, not really any more than anyone else. I enjoy all sorts of games and play them all way to much, indie or mainstream.