Pikmin 2 has taken a bit of a back seat for a while, as I was finally able to get hold of my Wii games from the loft and play through those that use NWC for an online connection. Today, you see, is the last day of full service, with the closure of GameSpy taking NWC down with it. Before it disappeared, I wanted to see what I would otherwise miss.
I'll write up some games in more detail over the next few weeks, but in general I was surprised to find that in all but one case I was able to find people to play against or with. This, on a console thought to have the least active online community, in some cases on games that are seven or eight years old. It has been quite a contrast to Xbox Live, say, where if you're playing a game older then a few months it's rare to see anyone else in the world. This may well, of course, be due to people logging back in to play the games one last time before the server shutdowns, but still …
For some of these games it meant taking the wrapping off - they've been sat on the "to play" pile for years. Battalion Wars 2 was really fun, and I suspect I'll go back to that (though I never completed the first game). I was hopeless at The Conduit, though I did manage at least one kill. Mario Strikers Charged Football is a great game, even though I did lose the first game 28-1 because I couldn't find the tackle button (and there was a fair amount of lag) - the second game was a loss too, but at 3-2 it's a bit more respectable.
A lot of my time has been playing Mario Kart Wii's time trial ghost challenge mode, where you get one attempt at beating a ghost that's downloaded (which has a time just ahead of your best time, I think). It's incredibly addictive.
I'll write up some games in more detail over the next few weeks, but in general I was surprised to find that in all but one case I was able to find people to play against or with. This, on a console thought to have the least active online community, in some cases on games that are seven or eight years old. It has been quite a contrast to Xbox Live, say, where if you're playing a game older then a few months it's rare to see anyone else in the world. This may well, of course, be due to people logging back in to play the games one last time before the server shutdowns, but still …
For some of these games it meant taking the wrapping off - they've been sat on the "to play" pile for years. Battalion Wars 2 was really fun, and I suspect I'll go back to that (though I never completed the first game). I was hopeless at The Conduit, though I did manage at least one kill. Mario Strikers Charged Football is a great game, even though I did lose the first game 28-1 because I couldn't find the tackle button (and there was a fair amount of lag) - the second game was a loss too, but at 3-2 it's a bit more respectable.
A lot of my time has been playing Mario Kart Wii's time trial ghost challenge mode, where you get one attempt at beating a ghost that's downloaded (which has a time just ahead of your best time, I think). It's incredibly addictive.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
