Be The Maker

Before Mario Maker

It seems like Mario Maker was what the Wii U system needed after all.  A game that puts the power of creation in the players hand and thrive on community participation. In today's society where everyone has a voice that wants to be heard, Nintendo has created the perfect modern nostalgic game.

Creating a good level is not easy, there is no substitute for creativity so spending hours making a level doesn't necessarily result in a good one. I learnt that the hard way slaving over the level design without much inspiration. Sometimes a good idea pops up by accident when working on the level but one idea alone is never enough to sustain a whole level. So I rather just keep the level on save and continue to work on it instead of uploading on impulse when it really isn't good enough.

Still this game will keep me busy for a long time so Fatal Frame V might just have to wait a little longer. Games aren't cheap these days and getting more than one in a month is not a good habit I want to fall back into. Plus I'm not lucky enough to have a generous wife to spoil me when I control my spending habits.

After Mario Maker

Camera Obscurity

When Nintendo got the rights to Fatal Frame series, some would say they doomed the horror series to obscurity. I think the series is always going to be a niche series compared with the mainstream success of Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Sure Nintendo didn't help the cause by refusing to localized some of the newer games on their system. But under the big N care, the series innovated in ways that simply wasn't possible if it remained on Sony consoles. It's kind of a two steps forward two steps back kind of evolution.

The two games on the Wii system used motion controls  to allow your Wiimote to mimic the flashlight. It didn't place the flashlight in your hands quite like Shattered Memories but that was never the key component of the game anyway. The camera obscura will always be the main feature of the game and the motion controls made it easier to capture the perfect shot.

Tecmo took it up a notch on the Nintendo 3DS by transforming the handheld into the camera obscura, thanks to the gyro sensor function. As funny as it was to wave the 3DS around like a camera, it wasn't very practical to alternate between the light and the dark as you needed to use the AR function to scan pages from the booklet.

Now the latest Fatal Frame on the Wii U is finally getting localised and I'm eager to play it. Eager enough that I simply don't care if there isn't a retail release. I love the Gamepad concept and frankly there isn't enough games on the system that properly utilized the Pad. Fatal Frame took the obvious concept of using the Gamepad as the camera but without the AR function of the 3DS game. Plus it has HD graphics and officially undub for the very first time.

It's going to be a great Halloween this year.