For I and many other school children, the summer months are always filled with warm memories – perhaps it is of random events with friends, or simply one’s naïve childhood, but, in looking back on it, it’s sure to make most people happy. In reflection, I remember that my childhood was spent playing video games, oftentimes with friends or simply by myself, and only just recently have I remembered just how wonderful these memories really are.

I remember the day I made a purchase for my purple lunchbox, otherwise known as the Nintendo Gamecube. It was a fateful evening where the car ride home seemed to be longer than usual, as my itching to play Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was almost unbearable. And I remember, alone in front of the television screen, the room darkened and the speakers blaring, starting a new game and having my tiny mind blown away. I would later bring the game over to friend’s houses, along with the barrel of required accessories, and plug in many fictional years into the game.

And then I left it alone, and moved on to other, better, more “mature” games – I traded in the youthful charm and colors of one world for the violence and blood of other games, and never looked back upon those days.

Now, in digging through my closet, I came across a few lonely game cases that I had not seen in a long time, their bright, pastel colors giving them an odd charm that drew me closer in. I had found my old Gamecube games. Almost in a nostalgic daze, I dug out my Wii (having been dismissed to an expensive paperweight), controllers, memory cards, and strategy guide, and placed the petite monochrome disk inside the futuristic glow of the Wii’s gaping maw.

I found my old file, a Yuke by the name of Cid who had seen 11 trips of his caravan out into the world, carrying proudly the Mystery element within his chalice gained from deadly and ancient sands as carried by the proud and obedient Moogle, his fur color-coordinated and cut to never tire, never burn, and to knowingly assist in casting more magnificent and powerful spells. And I found all of this outside of the game’s final area.

The visions of attempts past rushed into my mind – running headfirst into whole groups of enemies without any cause or care, being slaughtered by foes invincible through my lack of preparation, choking on the miasma as I panic, my chalice growing dim by the power of some dark crystals… I remembered this all and was scared – I no longer wanted to play. I was afraid by what my memory told me would happen, and I began to reach for the power switch.

But I stopped. I would not leave the game in my closet again – I would see this memory through. And so I did. Three painstaking hours later, three hours of combat, of storytelling, of frustration and resetting later did I find myself the victor of the game. And I was proud! I conquered my fear and bested all that the world of the game had to offer.

As I sat and listened to the closing theme, however, I began to remember something – it was around this game I had built up memories, and it was this game that played into what I remember of my childhood – and it was not just this.

Soon, days of youth were upon me once more – days spent learning the spawn points in James Bond: Goldeneye so that I could apply proximity mines there to never let anyone play the game and watch my kill count soar; weeks huddled with friends over The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and trying to figure out just how to get through that damned water temple, before I lazily ran through the entire thing to the bewilderment of everyone.

The laughs, the fights, the smiles that all came from the stories woven into the games and the stories we wove ourselves, of epic battles between Pikachu and Link and of daring races wherein a single banana peel could spell victory or eternal shame…

Video games just weren’t something I had enjoyed over the years – they were the very thing that put forward into motion so many of the wonderful memories of days bygone, but also of only recent days; of nights spent roaring in victory over the death of all of the survivors at the hand of the tank; afternoons huddled in the very pits of hell, commanding others to create portals to town and not to take my epic maul that I so needed, and my friend, the sorceress, was forever stupid for selling; of watching friends tear apart an entire mall of zombies with anything she could lay her hands on…

Even as I let these thoughts fly past on the computer, the icon of another world, the world of Azeroth, remind me of relationships – of a night, out by a pier, under a pink umbrella and with a small picnic basket that bestowed upon me a cute little buff, that I founded a cherished relationship, only to have forgotten that that very pier would have boat land on it every few minutes and harbor passengers that would be undoubtedly confused by the Draenei and Night Elf lying together on the dock, but we cared not, for, if only for a moment, we made a massively multiplayer world ours, and only ours.

People can play games, and many do – we play them at parties, and at our own home; we play with friend, family, millions of strangers, by ourselves, or with that special someone; we play for fun, we play for laughs, but as I’ve come to realize and cherish, we play for memories, for those bytes, clicks, shots, points, and deaths all come together to form some of the most enjoyable moments of my life.

That is not to say that the world outside of these walls do not hold their own memories, just as important and cherished, but only that I have come to respect my hundreds, perhaps even a thousand, hours spent on games for all of the good times they have brought me, and all of the moments I can look back upon. Sure, one can say that they’re worthless and that I should be outside forming other memories…… but at least the video game world offers me a second chance if I totally screw over my marriage by sleeping with someone else. The real world, unlike The Sims, doesn’t offer me that luxury.

The massively multiplayer game “The United States of America’s Democracy” (also called U.S. Democracy, USA, or simply US) has recently released a patch that updates the game to version 44.0, addressing a number of complaints and issues found with the game’s previous version released just under eight years ago.

The President, the largest factor of complaints, has received many notable upgrades from the previous patch. The Leadership skill has been fixed to scale properly to crises – this problem was identified with the proper application of artificial intelligence to the unit. The “Drain Treasury” bug was also fixed, which once allowed the President to share any loot from the Treasury with anyone on his friends list.

The Vice President has also received some notable reworking. A notable bug that made many players suffer was that he would incorrectly aggro on friendly units, an issue founded with the Ranged Attack and Headshot abilities. He is also now no longer immune to the Legislative and Judicial classes, also having been correctly re-identified as a pet.

The Cabinet and Homeland Security classes, as well as the Judiciary race, have also been the subject of rebalancing. A bug once prevented the Cabinet from disagreeing with the President. Homeland Security’s threat advisory auras have been fixed – Guarded (Blue) and Low (Green) have been removed as the aura is constantly stuck on Elevated (Yellow). Many Judiciary units were also mistakenly flagged as “ideological”, an issue that has been fixed and is still being monitored.

Several other game factors have been addressed, as well: many server’s economies have been ravaged, so correct monitoring of them is being applied to make sure that the auction houses do not crash and quest givers do not terminate their contracts with players. PvP factions have also been rebalanced due to the For Us/Against Us flag. The “Desert Storm” quest was displaying the “Mission Complete” message shortly after taking the quest, an issue that has now been fixed. Finally, much to the dismay of farmers, recipes that once required Crude Oil regents can now be made with Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and other alternate regents.

For the complete change log, please visit the official site here.

When the first Trauma Center, Under the Knife, was released for the Nintendo DS all those years ago, it was a cult hit: removing tumors with the stylus was an amazing experience that anyone without a weak stomach could get into. When the game was re-released for the Wii at launch, Second Opinion became more refined and even more entertaining. Now, a completely original title has been released for the Wii, and it’s just as good as the last, if not more so.
It’s been ten years since the outbreak of GUILT left it’s scar on humanity, and for doctors Markus Vaughn, a serious surgeon with a past of fame and horror, and Valerie Blaylock, up-and-comer with a strong spirit and steady hand, the field of medicine is about to become a lot more interesting. In Alaska, there is not much going on, but soon, Dr. Vaughn’s past catches up with him and Valerie discovers latent abilities that will make the two of them the foremost in the study of human health.

This time around, the story is embezzled with a wide array of multicultural and diverse characters, each one having their own tale to weave and personality to assert. The events are also much different as well, including research, terrorism, and even guerilla warfare in many different locals. While not utterly fantastic or epic, the story is crafted with detail and will be a driving force in the gameplay, making you want to carve up each patient now with remorse or sweet irony.

Visuals are still very unique and stylized, with character cutouts being detailed and the backdrops, lively. Human anatomy still retains a level of unrealism, but the creative colorization of vital organs makes them look real without being sickening. Blood is well placed and fluid, the various wounds and instruments look almost identical to their real counterparts, and the whole design allows you to differentiate between anomalies, something the DS original did not have enough of.

And, as always, the music of the series remains surprisingly good, with conference room tracks being uplifting, operation themes atmospheric and adrenaline-laced, and sound effects retaining a thankful level of realism. All of the music is very well done and placed, further enhancing the sort of mood that each situation wishes to convey.

Story is also further conveyed with full voice acting. Every part, large or small, has a person to voice it – even the dog or military grunt. The voices of Markus, Valerie and Elena are great, with the others being correctly matched to the characters and personalities of each, something very well appreciated when compared to walls of text. There are no voices in recent memory that were ever bad, something wonderful after the always hilarious Resident Evil.

Even so, you did not pick up a surgery game to listen to the next great hit or look at pretty pictures, you are here to cut up some fools, and maybe save a person here and there if you are so inclined. Well, I am happy to inform that the stellar gameplay is just as good as Second Opinion, if not better.

Operations are performed by pointing the cursor at the screen, then pressing the A or B button to perform the task relevant to the tool you are holding. The scalpel cuts, the sutures stitch, the syringe pokes, the laser burns and so on. All in all, you have eight tools of the trade, each one having surprising uses when the situation calls for it. You can never know until you have entered the person whether the forces will be used to pull out rifle rounds, shards of glass, or even turn tiles in the deadliest toy puzzle of your life.

Mission types are thankfully varied this go around; the previous game was an onslaught of surgical battles with GUILT, while the new pathogen of Stigma shows up for the occasional bought. Other operations will include the removal of tumors or appendixes, a kidney transplant or a Pacemaker instillation – there are no two missions that are exactly the same. Removing tumors is easy and rewarding, and the fights with aforementioned Stigma are challenging and entertaining.

One of the more interesting additions to the gameplay, other than the wide assortment of new medical problems, is the ability to move around inside the person’s body. It used to be that you were stationed with one view of the heart or lungs, but now, you can used the magnification tool to move your view to other parts of the organ, usually revealing additional wounds. While it isn’t much, it is nice to see that the whole of the battlefield is being used, rather than just a little square.

When the game hits the point of now return, when the patient is in cardiac arrest with seventeen lacerations and a shell in his heart, each doctor can perform the Healing Touch, a maneuver that enters the doctor into a state of hyper-focus. Vaughn slows down the very passage of time, while Blaylock can suspend the target with a heart rate of one until the move runs out of mojo. The Healing Touch is a great addition to the gameplay and is even required in some states, making it a useful tool. It’s nice to know that I won’t die because my doctor practices witchcraft.

Controlling the scalpel and sutures was intuitive in the first game, but with advent of the Nintendo Wii, they are even more fluid and unique. The pointer moves just the right speed, meaning that you won’t fly to the wrong area or get arthritis trying to get to the next laceration, with the Nunchuck being used to select the tool you use. It looks great when you’re watching someone, but you may oftentimes find yourself trying to drain a tumor with the sutures or burn an infection with the drain. While it only takes a moment to switch back, it’s something that happens many times over the course of your career.

Perhaps my greatest issue with the game, other than the following problem, is the cruel lack of instruction for some operations. While the first few are walks in the park with the senior surgeon holding your hand, others are infuriating due to the lack of direction to move in. Sometimes, the instructions are just vague to start with, and you sort of have to play etch-a-sketch with the laser, while others, your guide is drowned out by other messages telling you to what you already know, leaving you wondering why the person suddenly kicked the bucket.

Secondly, the difficulty of the game is surprising, even to a fan of the series. While Easy is basically a training course, Normal difficulty requires a very steady hand, some concentration, and a very astute understanding of what is going on and what to do, not always possible to the influx of messages during operations. Hard mode is incredibly difficult, and the extra stages unlocked midgame, as well as after the Epilogue are enough to make any person throw things though the television. Yes, this applies mostly to the endgame and Hard mode, it’s still somewhat confusing to see how anyone can complete the X-Missions with even an “A” rank.

In the end, this game is absolutely brilliant. While it may not sound like fun to sew up cuts and remove gall stones, once you start getting into the more advanced works of skin grafts and even brain surgery, the game becomes addictive. Great visual design, surprisingly good music and sounds and refined gameplay make this one of the better Wii games on the market. The only problems, albeit minor, are the lack of directions when you really need them and the great difficulty you will experience. In the end, this is a game I would heartily recommend to anyone.

Still…don’t try and cure aneurisms in the brain in real life. That’s why we have real doctors with real licenses and real hobos with real cardboard saying “MEDECAL LISENSE.”