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Yesterday saw the release of the second remake in the Monkey Island franchise with the release of Monkey Island 2 : leChuck’s Revenge Special Edition on the Xbox 360.

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Thankfully due to the awesomeness of it all it has been given a thorough and pretty damn decent overhaul and as with the first remake its a spectacle and oozes fan service.

It’s quite funny playing these games again, its interesting to see what you remember and why you remember them. Mike seems to be able to remember certain things for particular reasons and I remember some things for others.

For example I knew I had to pick up Largo’s spit on a piece of paper it was just finding the piece of paper (Which I found in the Cartographers ship).

you can’t fault the remake in any way, apart from maybe its insistence to get you to try direct control *blergh* but other than that it is perfect. A good couple of hours of entertainment and laughs ahoy in a wonderfully piratey adventure.

I just hope that one day they decide to bring the Telltale ones out on the 360, I could certainly go for playing through those I just don’t want to on either the Wii or my PC! Go figure ..

Watching Ponyo tonight, I haven’t seen it since I went to the cinema but I remember it being amazing. Can’t wait to see it on a friends new “cinema” setup.

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I should probably watch Spinal Tap ….

Tracks available on Xbox 360 and Wii (Aug. 4) and PLAYSTATION 3 system (Aug. 6):

Spinal Tap “(Funky) Sex Farm”
Spinal Tap “(Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)”
Spinal Tap “America”
Spinal Tap “Big Bottom”
Spinal Tap “Cups and Cakes”
Spinal Tap “Gimme Some Money”
Spinal Tap “Heavy Duty”
Spinal Tap “Hell Hole”
Spinal Tap “Rock ‘n’ Roll Creation”
Spinal Tap “Stonehenge”
Spinal Tap “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight”

(All tracks are original master recordings from Back From The Dead recording sessions.)

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Admitting I had given up hope in the Wii wasn’t a hard thing, the first time I saw “Wii sports resort” advertised as “Nintendo’s biggest release this year” I think my heart actually sank.

What’s happened ? Nintendo used to be such a stellar company, the consistent quality releases and inspired titles. They certainly had their time through the SNES era and it’s never really been the same since. The Wii always was going to live and die on peoples tolerance for the ‘waggle’ and it sickens me to think that the gamecube should have been this popular but wasn’t.

Today however was like a break of sunshine in the British weather that is the Wii gaming platform, I finally got my hands on a copy of Little King’s Story. I really REALLY wish I had picked it up earlier because this is a corker.

From the minute the intro started I was enthralled, the sweeping music and the absolutely charming crayon-Esq style to the opening credits gives it a very storybook feel that is very much welcomed here.

I honestly haven’t played it for more than around two hours but instantly I can tell it’s just going to get better, from the familiar Pikmin style control scheme to the slow but constant progression of your little kingdom it really is one of those games that gives you a little shudder of pleasure when you start running around and making everything feel like yours.

While Becky has my Wii I’m kind of limited in play time but hopefully I can get her interested in it so I can scramble some more play-time.

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It’s amazing what you stumble upon from time to time…

Parking up this morning with Becky as we descended into town we came across what could only be a “Wii-Van”

I can only assume is motion controlled and is possibly driven with a wii-mote.

Notice the complete lack of a stearing wheel ?

I took some more photos for your viewing pleasure, although looking back i’m sure I looked like a bit of a weirdo taking photos of someones van in the middle of a car park but hey, I don’t think I can actually look that much more embarassing than I do anyway.

The front was lavishly decorated with the traditional Nintendo DS whoring and the back was covered in WiiFit. I can only assume the person who looks after this van must hate their job. It’s not as if we are talking about the Nintendo of old, this poor man, or woman, doesn’t have the joy of going from shop to shop and enthusiasticly talking about the next Zelda, or whats coming from Rare, or anything remotely interesting. They are more than likely given a script that makes them whore out the next big motion controlled waggle fest to hit the Wii that will sell millions to people who buy the game play it once then watch it collect dust and assume that now they have a console they are now gamers and fall into the “Casual” market of gamers.

The frustrating thing being is that the only real thing traditional Nintendo fans have to look forward to is the new Metroid game, and thats probably years away and I hate to say that I have a feeling Team Ninja may well bastardise the franchise, but thats to be seen I suppose.

Rant over I suppose, to say I am dissapointed with the Wii is an understatement. I have games, and I still intend to buy games, like Little King Story, but the whole experience is completely destroyed by the fact that to be honest, when I get home from work the LAST thing I want to do is waggle something that’s not going to give me some personal pleasure…

On other news, BloodBowl is out next friday, I can’t wait, ordering it shortly so I can do the early download on Monday and so I can get straight into the fray on Friday morning.

My copy of Ghostbusters has been delayed, but should hopefully have it by Tuesday/Wednesday time.

Also, Good Old Games have a special on Ghostmaster this week, 25% off is good price for a game I quite enjoyed, needs a follow up to be honest.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ghost_master $5.99 , give it a try!