Has Nintendo ruined video games?

Nintendo confirms secret 'Help' feature

On the extraordinary success of its Nintendo Wii video game console, Nintendo says it's due, in part, to making games accessible to wide audiences. And with an unannounced – but now confirmed – feature built into future Nintendo Wii titles, the Japanese gaming giant is taking this accessibility to the next level.



Beginning with the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii, players will be able to pause a game during a particularly difficult level and let the game take over to complete the level. Press a button at any time to resume playing.

This will help reduce barriers of entry for new or younger players – without purchasing a strategy guide or resorting to websites that list cheat codes.

In an exclusive interview with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary game designer confirmed this optional feature called "demo play" (tentative name) is something the development team has been working on.

"In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they're ready" confirmed Miyamoto, through his translator.

"And yes, we're looking into this for future games, too" adds Miyamoto.

Not sure about you but I think this could be huge. I recall reading a stat once about how only 5 percent of gamers (or less) actually finish a game, because it gets too tough. Now if you spent $50 or $60 on a title, you should get to see the end of it. It's like buying a DVD or Blu-ray and turning it off after the movie's intro.

When a lot of people get stuck in a game they often turn to the internet and read a walkthrough for that particular level. Some, prefers to go to YouTube and watch a player finish a level so they can run back to the TV and try it out. But what Miyamoto is proposing means you don't need to leave your television to get through tough areas.

If it takes off -- and perhaps even copied by the likes of Microsoft and Sony -- this could mean the end of strategy guides and other game help books, too.

Do you think this feature is a good idea to help those stuck get through troubled spots in a game? Or are you in favour of a harder game, whereby players should keep trying (and failing) until they get it right (on their own)?

Thoughts?

Nintendo "brain games" no more effective than low-budget puzzles: researchers

"Edu-tainment" games like the popular Brain Training series (available on the Nintendo DS console) have been credited with bringing a new group of older users to gaming. The game features a number of activities, such as solving math problems, counting currency and unscrambling letters, that Nintendo says is based on the work of Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima.

"The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it's fine,” Alain Lieury of the University of Rennes in Brittany, told the Times of London “But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test.”

Lieury conducted a study with 67 10-year-old children, who are at an age where he says they have the best chance of improvement in brain performance.

He split the children into four groups — two did a seven-week memory improvement course, while the other did puzzles with pencil and paper, and the last went to school as normal.

At the end of the seven-week period, all the children were given tests to measure memory, logic, arithmetic skills and symbol interpretation.

Lieury found no significant improvement in memory among the first two groups — in fact, they registered a decline. The group with paper and pencil did 33 per cent better in memory tests. The Nintendo group did 17 per cent worse.

The Nintendo group did fare better in math tests — a 19 per cent improvement — and that number was replicated in the paper-and pencil-group, while the fourth group improved 18 per cent.

Nintendo, in response, told the Daily Telegraph that it never claimed to have scientifically improved cognitive ability.

Nintendo's website, which doesn't explicitly say Brain Age improves a user's intelligence or memory, nevertheless says it features games "designed to help stimulate your brain and give it the workout it needs .…"

"The design of Brain Age is based on the premise that cognitive exercise can improve blood flow to the brain."

Lieury says doing puzzles like Sudoku or playing Scrabble would be just as effective as playing games like Brain Training. Lieury's findings will be published in Stimulate Your Neurones, a book due out later this month.

Toys, Toys, Toys!!

With the Christmas holiday sales season just around the corner (or already started for those of us who don't want to wait for the last minute)
I was thinking about all the toys growing up in the 1980's and 1990's, before Xbox, PS3 and Wii was at the top of every child's wish list....

Rubics cubes: These were everywhere, for a while even as keychains, they were so hard to solve, eventually did though, admittedly by just peeling the stickers off and putting them back in order lol

Voltron: The poor man's Transformers

Transformers: The hardest one to find, was always the Optimus Prime action figure, when you did have one, you'd brag to your friends about it and show it off, pretty much just shortly before it somehow disappeared.

Thundercats: I had the action figures, the fortress, I even had a plastic "Sword of Omen"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: These were amazing little toys, barely did anything, but you HAD to have them!!

Monster Mash: An admittedly fun game, we all had one, and some of us probably still do somewhere right?

Happy Happy Hippo: for a game requiring very little skill, sure was a lot of fun.

Pogs: These little collectibles were expensive, the store owner would always go on about how they'd be going up in value in the years to come, you should get them, and tell your mom to put them away and give them to you on your wedding day...where are they now??

HE-MAN: These action figures were flying off the shelves at one time, and you'd have them with you as you'd watch the show (that was lame?)

Skip-It: This toy was fun, and so easy to use!

Pogo Ball: Why was this toy so hard to stay on??

Gameboy: The original one with the green screen, this was so cool when it first came out

Game Gear: Just like the Gameboy, but COLOR!!! by Sega (SEGA!!!) I was surprised this didn't catch on more then it did.

Hot Wheels: Had so many of these, but what was really hot about them?

Micro Machines: ALL over my room!! EVERYWHERE!!! I loved these little cars!!!

Atari/The original NES/Sega: Great systems, GREAT games, I'd waste away my entire weekend (literally) because of them

There were so many other toys back then that were THE toys to have, (some by boys, some by girls)
Some of the other toys I remember that all the girls would be raving about were:

Strawberry Shortcake: This doll actually smelled like strawberries!!

Cabbage Patch Kids: Every little girl you saw had one of these things, and the ones that didn't had..

Garbage Pail Kids: These weren't around as much, does anyone else remember them?

Pound Puppies: these little plush dogs were everywhere

Gumby: Woohooo GUMBY!!!!!!

Just thinking of this list really takes me back.... I really wish I had a time machine so I could go back and relive everything all over again.... What about you? What toys do you remember from your youth?

Until next time........