Wii Sports is the best selling Wii title to date, due to its bundling with the console since its launch in 2006. It served as an excellent example of the Wii’s capabilities both in motion control, and as a family friendly platform.

It would appear as though Nintendo is riding a familiar wave with the launch of its new Wii Motion-Plus peripheral by packaging in a similar product both in name and purpose – Wii Sports: Resort serves to exemplify the abilities of the new accessory via a series of activities that are enjoyable for the whole family.

Resort takes the concept and style of the original Wii Sports and expands upon them, while also making spectacular use of the Wii Motion Plus – a peripheral that attaches to the bottom of the Wiimote and provides a one to one level of control. This accessory makes a significant improvement upon the controller’s existing motion-control, which can often degrade to suggestive waggling.

It’s apparent that nearly all of the included activities have been designed from the ground up with the peripheral in mind; even the returning golf and bowling games have been fine tuned. For example, the player can now more accurately add spin to their throw while bowling, which adds a whole new level of strategy to the already popular concept.

The title offers twelve mini-games in total, and while some are more worthwhile than others, they’re all family friendly and should at least result in some laughs. Most activities include multiple modes and difficulties, which provides a wide variety of options to choose from.

For example, swordplay has three modes available: duel, speed-slice, and showdown. Duel consists of a head to head sword fight against another player, speed slice tests your accuracy as you cut various objects at the directed angle, while showdown pits you against dozens of enemies at a time.

The most successful activities are those that manage to accurately emulate their sport without sacrificing their fun factor – such as archery,  basketball and table tennis. The former has the player look down their Wiimote at eye level while drawing the nunchuck back as though it were a bowstring – a mechanic that both resembled the actual activity, and was surprisingly accurate.

Basketball generated a similar effect – the movement of one’s wrist during the shot and follow through can make all the difference. Likewise, one can legitimately control the spin of the ball in table tennis, resulting in a much more rewarding experience than the original Wii Sport’s tennis.

On the other end of the spectrum, cycling is more tiring than it is entertaining, as it has the player jerk the Wii-Mote and nun chuck up and down to pedal while monitoring the mii’s fatigue on the screen.

In addition, sports like frisbee, canoeing and golf can make the Motion Plus accessory feel a bit too sensitive. Perhaps it’s simply highlighting the player’s inability to perform the actual sports, but much of the target audience will have trouble with some of these more difficult mini-games.

Players familiar with the original Wii Sports or Wii Fit won’t be surprised by Resort’s visuals. It’s a bit sharper than its predecessor, and it really shines during outdoor activities that remove the claustrophobic feeling of the original. In addition, the colorful island helps maintain a lighthearted mood – which is helpful after slicing a ball into the ocean during a heated match of golf against your grandmother.

All in all, Wii Sports: Resort is the perfect game to bring out when friends and family are around for the same reasons as its predecessor – it’s both entertaining and accessible. Despite the mediocrity of some of its mini-games, the more enjoyable  ones will keep you coming back for more.  If you own a Wii, you’d do yourself a favor to pick it up. The Motion Plus add on is worth the investment, and Resort is an excellent showcase for its abilities.

The achievements for Fallout 3 DLC Mothership Zeta have been unveiled. Summing up at 100 Gamerpoints, these four new achievements boost the available points for Fallout 3 to a whopping 1550. Hit the jump for the goods.

Not of This World 20G
Completed “Not of This World”

Among the Stars 20G
Completed “Among the Stars”

This Galaxy Ain’t Big Enough… 40G
Completed “This Galaxy Ain’t Big Enough…”

Alien Archivist 20G
Collected all Alien Captive Recordings

Mothership Zeta will be available on 8/3 for 800 MSP.

Source: StickSkills

Creators of the highly praised Castle Crashers, The Behemoth, had quite an interesting showing at Comic Con 2009. They showed off new footage of their upcoming game, titled only as “Game #3“. I can safely say that I have no idea what is going on in the video. Check it out after the jump.

It’s no secret that Michael Jackson had a soft spot for videogames, and his personal arcade was one of the most impressive that I’ve ever seen. His Neverland Ranch arcade was filled with classic games machines and consoles. Apparently he also signed a chunky PS1, which can be yours for the minimal price of $1.5 Million!

According to the seller sektor71a, not only is the PlayStation authentically signed by the King of Pop himself, but it was the 1,000,001 PlayStation that Sony produced. The text on the console says “I love you, Michael Jackson”. But with just under 5 days left on the item and a current bid of $1,025, I highly doubt that the seller will get his desired millions.

If you have a couple of thousand to spare, check out the Ebay auction here:

Hand signed Michael Jackson Playstation with proof

One of the most exciting things about Super Mario Galaxy was all the news suits and power-ups; ranging from springs to bumble-bees, there were plenty of surprises to be found. However, those of you anticipating all new suits for Galaxy 2 are going to be sorely disappointed, because Miyamoto has revealed that there will be no new suits to wear!

Even though there will be no new suits, we’ll still have the old ones from Galaxy to enjoy; not to mention the added bonus of power-ups for Yoshi, such as super-speed and balloon abilities. Its kind of disappointing that there won’t be any new power-ups, but the inclusion of Yoshi alone makes up for this dramatically.

We fully expect Galaxy 2 to be as good as Galaxy, simply because Nintendo haven’t gone wrong yet. Expect surprises from the game though, considering how Ninty love pulling stuff out last minute I’d expect some interesting details to emerge around the release date. Shame about the suits, I’d have loved to see some classics go into Galaxy 2, like the Tanooki or Frog Suit; that would have been awesome.

Source: Nintendo D-Pad

The buzz generated after God Of War 3‘s spectacular E3 showing hasn’t stopped – it is still one of the most anticipated titles for the PS3 to date. Yesterday the God Of War 3 official website was relaunched with a bunch of new content to sift through.

Anthony Caiazzo the Sony Product Marketing Manager, posted this on the PlayStation Blog yesterday:

“After a successful E3 and God of War III’s March 2010 release date announcement we have given Kratos a new place to show off all his carnage and destruction. Today, we relaunched the God of War III website with an all new look, screens and video section, community forums and much more. For you die-hard fans we have the God of War III Press Conference Video available, as well as more DOWNLOADS! You might also want to check out the merchandise section, which will be updated throughout road to launch… And for those who feel worthy to fight alongside Kratos, you can enlist in the Spartan Army, where you will have opportunities in the future to get access to exclusive updates and other cool content.”

Spread the word! Chaos is coming to Gods in March 2010

Source: God of War Official Site

Boxart for Monster Hunter 3 (tri) has finally been shown; and it looks better than I expected it to. Not only that, but with the Black Nintendo Wii being released this Summer, the Japanese will also have the choice of buying it in a bundle with Monster Hunter 3. No release date for the US has been set yet unfortunately. Hit the jump to check out the box art.

Monster Hunter 3 is set for release in Japan on August 1st.

Okay, I can only speak for myself when I write this; but drinking is awesome. Drinking is even more enjoyable when you are with a group of your buddies, all laughing and making jokes about penises in your intoxicated state. What could make this scenario even better? The answer is videogames; however some games are far better suited to drunken people than others. Not only are they more fun to play when drunk, but they can lead to hilarious situations often involving injuries such as broken bones or a Wii-Mote in the bum.

I’ve spent some time mulling this over and thought up some games which should be inducted into a new gaming genre: the Drunk and Dangerous genre. Check them out inside!

First things first is Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and I’m struggling to think of why I should even write a reason for this, isn’t it obvious? A drunken gamer will struggle with the 5 buttons on a guitar shaped controller immensely; I can tell you that when I’ve tried it, it has taken the full will of my mind concentrating on it.

Once you get the hang of the controller you still have the scrolling blocks of colour shooting at you on the screen to deal with, for some this is just too much; causing spasms and vomiting all over the console. That’s never a good thing.

A combo like no other!

I’ve covered the guitar, but drums and vocals will offer the same kind of confusion and horrible Gameplay. Drumming will be loud and obnoxious, often missing every note completely unaware of the levels of suck you are bringing to the table. Vocals are just horrible to listen to, whining, slurring and spitting into a microphone while others look on in disgust. Stay away from the mic if you’re wasted, and definitely keep your distance from the karaoke games like Singstar and Lips; with which your only option is to try and read the lyrics and make it through without embarrassing yourself.

Next up is the Wii. That’s right; the ENTIRE console is dangerous for drunken people. Not only are you going to make a fool of yourself, but you are a danger to yourself and everyone else in the room. Swinging around a hardened remote like a baton while stumbling around is funny to watch, until you get cracked in the side of the head. Wii-Motes go flying, people cry and before you know it a perfectly fun night is gone to waste.

Wii Sports alone can be the worst or the best game on the Wii (depending on how you look at it), bowling, golf, baseball, tennis and boxing are all bloody dangerous, especially seeing as the wrist straps for the Wii are mediocre at best. Luckily enough Nintendo have released those plastic safety condoms for your Wii-Mote; made specifically for gamers who like getting hammered. It’s for your own protection.

Not only is the Wii-Mote a formidable weapon in its own right, but Nintendo actually gives you extra plastic bits to add on. Maracas, tennis rackets and even pool cue extensions make a simple gaming controller more and more dangerous. If the Wii is drunken fun, think about how crazy Microsoft’s Project NATAL could be! I bet no one has tried it drunk yet.

He has NO idea whats going on.

Last but certainly not least is the king of drunken games: Dance Dance Revolution. I don’t think anyone can disagree with this decision. It has all the ingredients for success: a slippery and inaccurate floor mat, fast paced and loud music, flashing lights that make your eyes burn and of course, jumping around like a fool. First and foremost, NEVER play this drunk at an arcade, as you will surely be kicked out and ridiculed.

You don’t want to be known as the DDR kid (Drunk Drunk Revolution) in that arcade, do you? Even playing at home remove all breakable objects from the vicinity because when you inevitably fall over you’re going to grab for something sturdy; however when drunk a Ming vase looks as sturdy as a marble pillar, so be careful.

I’ve played DDR drunk and it make you want to vomit all over the television, the game is so in your face at times you feel like you want to die. I ended up on hands and knees feebly pressing the floor mat with my hands barely looking at the screen out of fear my eyes would burn. It’s like looking at the sun.

Anyway back to business, those would happen to be my favourite drunk games; besides Street Fighter (my skill increases exponentially when I’m wasted). What are your favourite games to play when drunk? If you come up with enough new ones I’ll try them all and write up a “Games to get drunk to… 2!”. Plus it’s an excuse to drink some more!

New to Gamer Limit? Check out what we’re about here.

Today the trophies for upcoming sandbox game “Prototype” have been revealed! Unfortunately there are still 7 secret trophies on the list that haven’t been revealed but we still have 20 bronze, 9 silver, 4 gold and 1 platinum trophy for you to feast your eyes on. Check them out inside.

bronze:

• Wrecking Yard – Destroy 2,000 Vehicles
• Misconception – Destroy 25 infected water towers before they hatch
• Brain Trust – Complete all consume events
• Half-Truths – complete a mission without causing a single military alert
• Return Fire – Catch any object tossed by a hydra; and throw it back
• Gunning – Destroy 20 helicopters in a single helicopter flight
• Cleanup – kill 15 characters with a single whipfist attack
• The First Thread – unlock the web of intrigue
• Self-Deception – Discover what happened to alex mercer through the web of intrigue
• It’s Him! – Patsy 5 military personnel
• In Plain Sight – Evade 10 strike teams
• Infiltrator – Infiltrate 10 military bases disguised as a commander
• Threat Elevated – destroy 25 strike teams
• Repossession – seize 50 vehicles from enemy hands
• SME – Gain the ability to drive and fly all vehicles
• Surface-To-Air – Shoot down 50 helicopters while driving armor
• Evolutionary step – Use the upgrade menu to acquire an upgrade
• In The Web – consume 50 web targets
• Speed Bumps – Run over 500 characters in a single tank

silver:

• Trail Of Corpses – Kill 53,596 infected
• Endless Hunger – Consume 200 characters to boost your health
• Streetwise – collect all landmark collectibles scattered across new york city
• Polymath – collect all hint collectibles scattered across new york city
• Mankind is your mask – complete 3 missions without causing a single military alert
• The butcher – Kill 50 characters in 5 seconds
• Unnatural Selection – Acquire all available upgrades
• The Cleaner – Destroy 10 military bases or infected hives in new york city
• Au – Achieve a rating of gold or better in all events
• Nice Guy – Complete the game while consuming 10 civilians or fewer

gold:

• Revenge Revisited – complete story mode on hard difficulty
• Web Of Knowledge – Acquire all nodes of the web of intrigue
• Hard To Kill – complete story mode in any difficulty without dying
• Pt – Achieve a platinum medal in all events

platinum:

• Platinum Trophy – Get all other trophies

Wow that’s a ton of trophies for you to get, including the 7 secret ones Prototype sounds like a fun challenge!

With all the hubbub over E3 we seem to have forgotten to post one of the juiciest videos of the past week. An amazing Jedi Vs. Sith cinematic from the new Star Wars MMO; The Old Republic. When you see this video you may overload with excitement: you have been warned.

Is that amazing or what? Bioware have also revealed that every single character in the game will have their own unique voice. That’s a hell of a lot of voice actors.

The boxart for the upcoming on rails shooter for the Wii; Dead Space Extraction has finally been shown. However there seems to be something a bit… off with it. When you compare it to the art for the original Dead Space, Extraction kind of looks like a joke. 

While the cover of Dead Space simply depicted a severed arm, this cover looks a bit too crowded for my liking. I have a sinking feeling that Extraction isn’t going to hold the same atmosphere as the original. What do you guys think?

Source: NintendoDPad

Why live life when you can live as a Sim? Developed by EA Black Box and Visceral Games, The Sims 3 is, you guessed it, the third iteration of the series. With the original Sims and Sims 2 released in 2000 and 2004, EA had a big act to follow, as those 2 games were show stoppers for the simulation genre. The aim of the game is to take control of a Sim, or Sims, and lead them through their life.

Through bad and good, fire and water and to hell and back again… well… not quite that bad; but there’s a lot do in a lifetime right? Can the Sims 3 take its place beside its brothers? Or is it just more of the same? Hit the jump to find out!

Out there in the gaming world there really is nothing quite like The Sims. It’s a real life simulator. Sure you’ve got stuff like Animal Crossing and Giftpia, but it’s just not *human* enough. This game truly allows you to live a life exactly how you want it, whether you want to have 200 kids, or be filthy stinkin’ rich. You can do it all. Your main “quest” in the game, would be to get a job, find a lady/young fellow to mate with, have a bunch of children and then… die. A game where you die of old age sounds exciting doesn’t it? But wait, there’s more. If you have kids when you die, you continue controlling them, so really, the game never ends! Unless you’re infertile.

The Sims as a series has defining strengths and weaknesses, some of which have changed in this latest iteration. Such as the ability to drive and an open world map. Others such as the occasional AI problem rarely occur due to greater advances and game development; but once in a while it might happen. Another complaint I have is with the sound, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Make your Sim look EXACTLY like yourself!

While visually it’s not a huge step up from The Sims 2, the graphics are still pretty damn impressive. The whole town is rendered as one, so that excuses the minor lackluster in looks; as too much would slow the game down terribly. The most noticeable differences are in the textures of the objects and Sims. The Sims now look more realistic, they still hold that “simmy” EA look, but they are a lot more professional looking; especially the hair, which now looks a lot more real.

Depending on your computer speed the animation will flux. Now my PC is only just good enough to run it, so I get a bit of slowdown when I zoom out too much, but if I concentrate on my house the game moves smooth as hell; with the Sim animation flawless. Earlier I mentioned sound problems. It’s not that the sound is bad, or of poor quality; but it feels like it’s just been copy/pasted from the Sims 2.

So come on EA, break out the fiddle and write some new tunes will ya! Even though the music is catchy and gives a bit of a nostalgic flash back, it would have been nice to hear something new. Voice acting must be fun to record in the Sims, because the jibber jabber nonsense is back and it sounds better than ever. You can even choose between 3 voices for your Sim, and the game allows you to modify pitch too; so your Sim sounds unique!

The most important part of the Sims games is the interface; how easy is it to play the game? Through all previous games and expansions the simplicity of the game made it a smash hit, it was easy to do as you like; though things are a bit more complicated with The Sims 3, it’s still a cake walk. The “create a Sim” function has been greatly modified; you can now change the fat and muscle mass, along with hair colour customization.

You can even create your own clothing with a texture customizer. Your Sim can now be you, from the shoes to the hair to the colour of your shirt. Personality configuration has also been upgraded. You now have to choose traits for your Sim (More than 60 to choose from); these range from Daredevil to Kleptomaniac. Toddlers have 2 traits, and as you age you gain more, finally reaching 5 as a young adult. The traits you choose alter which life ambitions you have access to, and you can now edit a Sims favourite music genre, food and colour.

Push your skills to the limits.

The buy and build functions have also received quite a makeover. You can now place objects in your house diagonally, and the square grid is now smaller for greater precision. Furniture is able to be customized, like you can with your clothes, so go nuts making your house a pink leopard skin paradise. Shortcut features include an auto-roof function, a sledgehammer for mass demolishing, as well as now being able to place objects on tables and counters with more freedom; even going so far as to leave a vase teetering precariously on the edge of a table.

In the first two Sims games your Sim had 8 general needs; but The Sims 3 cuts it down to six, (hunger, bladder, energy, social, hygiene and fun), removing comfort and environment. These have been replaced by “mood-lets”. You could call these the highs and lows of life, giving you little boosts and dips in the day depending on how it’s going. You’ll get a lower mood from working hard at your job because you’ll be stressed out, but a high mood lift if you get to Woo-Hoo with that sexy lady from next door. This is a great feature because it really shows how your Sim feels about his life, rather than arbitrarily complaining about what’s in the room.

Some of the best parts of the game involve your Sim learning new skills. I spent days teaching my Sim to paint and play guitar; and it’s very entertaining seeing how they progress through their skill. I was half disappointed when I found out that you can’t actually DRIVE the car yourself but it’s not a racing game so whatever; it’s still fun to go out and explore the whole town, from city hall to the graveyard. The commercial lots now allow you to get part-time jobs, buy shares in the company and take classes to improve skills.

The first time I played the game I played for 6 hours, without even noticing. The game sucks you in completely and you don’t notice the obvious repetition of it all. Sim wakes up, Sim has breakfast, Sim goes to work, Sim comes home, and Sim goes to sleep; REPEAT. It’s all the little things in-between like going out to dinner or chatting up the maid that keep you going through it all. Seeing as once your Sim dies you keep control of the kids, technically you could keep playing it forever starting from just one man. Your Sim a year from now could be the great great grandson of your original Sim; which when you think about it, is a very cool concept.

Find your true love and have a million babies!

I have one and only one problem with The Sims franchise, it comes in the form of one word; Expansion.  You know for a fact that The Sims 3 is going to have a metric-tonne of expansion packs with new content, and while new stuff is a good thing, you know EA have left it out deliberately. Why? Because they know people will buy it, and so they make more money. I know that once the 4th expansion comes out I’ll be wishing I had waited to buy a bundle with them all in.

Gamers of all ages have been waiting for this game since the Sims 2 was announced, hoping  that it would take leaps and bounds in the genre, and to be honest it hasn’t quite lived up to  my expectation. I’ve played the The Sims 2 a lot, and most of this stuff could have been introduced in a big patch. A new game wasn’t needed but it’s nice to have and it’s still a great game.

But if you are expecting a whole new experience you’re going to be let down, it’s as great as the previous games but not much better. The Sims 3 could have been turned into something like Sony’s HOME, with massive online capabilities with thousands of player Sims roaming a world at one time; or like Animal Crossing where you can invite your friends Sims to your town. Maybe we’ll get an experience like that with the next game.

The Sims 3 is going to be a smash hit. It’s got all the ingredients for success and it’ll sell purely on reputation alone. I can say that I enjoyed it a lot, and am still playing it with a smile on my face; though that could be because of character who’s life ambition is to be the Emperor of All Evil (That ambition ACTUALLY exists), but you’ll just have fun messing with the  damn game.

While it’s similar to the previous titles it’s got enough new content to warrant a buy, but I can’t shake the feeling that expansion packs are only around the corner. Good job EA, now I can live life in a virtual world in a way that lets me catch fire, kick flamingos, slap old women in the face and become an Emperor of Evil. What a game.