“Luigi: A life in the shadows” covers the other brother’s origins from palette swap to star of his own (two) video games. Anybody else remember playing Mario is Missing? Yeah, that game starred Luigi.

Best bit? Right here…

But Luigi’s heart has strayed at least once during the previously mentioned Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The Beanbean Kingdom the two stars explore has a prince to match the Mushroom Kingdom’s Princess Peach. Prince Peasley is a dashing (if self-absorbed) pretty boy, who throughout the game slowly gains Luigi’s attention. As time goes on, Luigi seems almost enamored with Peasley, blushing at his compliments and eventually trying to hug him, which Peasley deftly dodges, as Peasley seems to only love himself. But this bi-curious side of Luigi has yet to return, as he’s since stayed pretty true to Daisy. However, that hasn’t stopped the devs of the M&L series from continuing to ramp up Luigi’s effeminacy to Tingle levels of fab.

I totally did not know that. I thought when Luigi wasn’t with Daisy, he was letting Peach cheat on Mario with him. Also, I thought John Leguizamo and Samantha Mathis as the “ideal” Luigi/Daisy couple.

Check it out, if you’re a little Luigi-curious:

Luigi: A life in the shadows [GamesRadar]

I sat down at Nintendo’s Redwood City office to get a good look at the single-player mode for myself (since all I had to go on were Nintendo Power previews and Stephen Totilo’s experience) before diving into the multiplayer mode. I was given a choice: I could replay the same demo Nintendo Power and Totilo had already covered, or I could be one of the first to see the second dungeon in the game – the Snow Temple.

What kind of correspondent would I be if I didn’t go for the latter? A copycat, that’s what!

What Is It?
The Snow Temple was described to me as the “second” dungeon in the game once Zelda and Link are sent to the Tower of Spirits to restore the Spirit Tracks of Hyrule. The level began outside the snow-covered structure with the train parked out front and Zelda hovering beside Link.

What We Saw
The temple had about three floors and judging from the main room that requires puzzle solving, I’d say I completed three quarters of it before having to stop to play some multiplayer.

How Far Along Is It?
The game comes out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that could well be a final version of the game.

What Needs Improvement?
My Snow Temple For An Item-Toggling Button: Link started this dungeon with the Whirlwind item and earned the Boomerang about halfway through. To use an item, you’ve got to select it from a menu so that it appears in an icon in the upper right-hand side of the lower screen. Tapping that icon activates the item and then you do whatever is required of you to use it (blow in the mic for the Whirlwind, draw a path on the screen for the Boomerang). There came a point in this dungeon where you had to use the boomerang to create a path of ice over water (by crossing its path through an ice torch and back across the water) – and then quickly change to the Whirlwind to activate a switch out in the middle of the water. Because the ice path melts quickly, your timing has to be spot on and it can get pretty fiddly when you’re trying to bust out the Whirlwind, aim it and THEN blow into the mic. I died at least twice, wishing in vain that a tap of the shoulder button would switch between items.

Dude, Where’s My Zelda? As soon as I set foot in the Snow Temple, Zelda shrank and faded away with a sigh. It turns out she can’t go with you or help you within the Temples and you can’t talk to her for advice the way you could with other companion characters in other Zelda games. This turned Spirit Tracks into an experience that was an awful lot like Phantom Hourglass. Phantom Hourglass was good, so that’s not an automatic minus – but I think people were expecting the all-new Zelda gameplay to be a consistent feature instead of an area-specific thing.

What Should Stay The Same?
Shallow Learning Curve: Truthfully, I never beat The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and it’s been ages since I’ve touched it. But it really didn’t take long to master the stylus-only controls and the menus weren’t at all difficult to navigate and interpret. People who missed out on Phantom Hourglass are going to be just fine adjusting to Spirit Tracks.

Sure Rings My Bell: The entire temple was based on moving three bells into a main room together so that Link could trigger them in a sequence to open a door. This objective was communicated entirely through visuals (little panels with bells on different note lines, panels on the floor, etc) and all of the puzzles were familiar slide-the-block, clear-the-room-of-monsters affairs that I know and love in Zelda games. I got so caught up in the familiar, simple gameplay, I didn’t mind dying twice and getting stuck three different times.

Final Thoughts
Despite not having beaten Phantom Hourglass and not really liking The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (yeah, I said it – you wanna fight?!), playing Spirit Tracks felt like coming home. That’s probably the best feeling I could ask for from a game, especially so close to the holidays when I long for that feeling and have all this extra time to play games.

But anyway, Spirit Tracks has multiplayer. Boy does it ever have multiplayer, and boy did we ever play it. Here’s what we liked:

What Is It?
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks’ multiplayer mode is akin to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube — four people each control one colour-coded Link and move around the same map as the other Links. The difference in Spirit Tracks is that instead of trying to help each other, you’re racing each other to collect Power Gems and trying to royally screw each other up on the way.

Note: It’s local-only.

What We Saw
I played two matches against a developer and two publicists at Nintendo’s Redwood City office after finally getting my hands on the single-player mode.

How Far Along Is It?
Spirit Tracks is out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that may have been a final version.

What Needs Improvement?
Little Bit Laggy: When dashing around the dungeon map, things start off steady and the Power Gem drops are few and far between. As the match picks up pace, however, and players start falling into traps or getting sliced up the Phantoms, huge amounts of Gems will suddenly spill out onto the map. That plus all four players frantically running to that point to scavenge Gems caused a couple of super-laggy moments in an otherwise smooth experience.

Trap Door Confusion: There are trap doors in every map that are either random or triggered by switches. I honestly couldn’t tell you which, though, because sometimes I’d press a switch and a trap door would open and sometimes the door seemed to open and shut in a kind of rhythm. It was confusing — and that much more frustrating when I fell into one because I didn’t know if I should blame somebody for it.

What Should Stay The Same?
Spreading The Phantom: Numerous Phantoms — those big guys in helmets from the last Zelda DS game, Phantom Hourglass — wander the maps, prowling for Links. When one spots you, a little icon pops up above your head, indicating that it’s got a bead on you. If you fail to run for your life, the Phantom will speed toward you and cut you – costing you precious Power Gems and precious seconds as you scramble to get up and recover them before the other players get there. The fun part about this mechanic is the bit where you can pass the Phantom’s bead onto other players you run by — like spreading Chlamydia. It’s amusing.

The Invisible Zone: One map we tried out had a patch of water in the centre that rendered players invisible when they ran in. You could still see ripples where their feet landed in the water — and if you look closely, the ripples are colour-coded like the Links — but with all four players running around in there and Phantoms bearing down on one or more of them, it was blind panic. And freaking awesome.

Mario Kart-style Pick-ups: Occasionally, an orb with a question mark on it will fall from the sky. Players that snag this pick-up are treated to several things like a random Gem drop, invisibility or a lightning strike that you can inflict on other players. It keeps things interesting and can be the salve to the wound of a player who just went from 51 Gems to two after a string of Phantom infections.

Single Cartridge Play: I am so happy that it doesn’t require four people to actually buy the game to enjoy this mode.

Final Thoughts
The multiplayer mode in Spirit Tracks certainly isn’t the main attractions of the game — but it’s a solid addition that deserves to be played if you can tear yourself away from trains and princesses for a little while.

GameStop announced today that it would hold the “world’s largest” Modern Warfare 2 tournament kicking off November 20 both online and at 2900+ US GameStop locations. I wonder if the fact that it’s the world’s only Modern Warfare 2 tournament makes it the world’s largest…?

There are actually three different tourneys. The first is the US-only Xbox 360 one-on-one tourney where Round 1 takes place in-store, Round 2 takes it to Xbox Live and the finals go down in some as-yet undecided location — grand prize is $US5000. Then there are the International four-on-four tourneys for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, which you can find at gamebattles.com/gamestop. The top four teams from each platform will go to the finals to duke it out for a $US10,000 grand prize.

Get more details here.

Image Cred

The full Joshi quote as pulled by Gamerzines reads: “RTS players are great people but some of them have very little balance in their life. So their enjoyment is entirely derived from smashing another human in a video game.”

On the one hand, I want to disagree because I like RTS games and consider myself a level-headed person who enjoys all kinds of balanced things like butterflies and nail polish, etc. But, yeah, I enjoy smashing another human player in a competitive video game — that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

On the other hand, I do agree with Joshi because I once watched a friend fling his expensive keyboard across a room during a total rout in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. “Unbalanced” just about sums him up.

And on a third hand that I don’t physically have, couldn’t you say that by Joshi’s logic all gamers who get off on crushing other players in any genre are unbalanced? Why pick on his own audience when there are so many other worthy targets to choose from (*cough* first-person shooters *cough*)?

Oh, but here’s another Joshi tidbit to sink your teeth into: “Now the gameplay is no longer tailored to beating the opponent’s base and having that be the source of victory. It’s now about capturing objectives. So there’s less of that head-to-head ‘I’m going to crush you’ mentality going on.”

I’ll let you handle the arguments behind that one, commenters.

RTS players “have very little balance in their life” – C&C4 Producer [Gamerzines]

The Guardian goes on to report that the campaign will run for six weeks, using games like Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed II and Left 4 Dead 2 to gauge players’ skills in quick-thinking, problem solving and team work.

In which case, they really don’t want me. When I’m not leaving my teammates to die in Left 4 Dead 2, I’m busy getting lost in aeroplane fuselages in Modern Warfare 2 until somebody’s good enough to come knife me. And I haven’t even bought Assassin’s Creed II yet. Oh, and I’m American.

Here’s what the British government has to say of its campaign:

“As well as tackling ‘traditional threats’ GCHQ’s work is also about helping government departments, such as the Ministry of Defence, to protect their information and communication systems,” said a GCHQ spokeswoman.

“This means we can offer excellent training and careers for people with specialist technical skills. However, the fact remains that many potential candidates remain unaware of GCHQ and what we do. Using video on Xbox LIVE helps carry our message to the right people in a creative and innovative manner,” she added.

Government intelligence organisation targets recruits with Xbox Live ads [The Guardian]

Thanks for the tip, Josh!

So instead, I give you these screen shots Capcom provided so you can make the call. What do you say?

Monster Hunter Tri, however, is going for a different audience with its exclusive Wii release. By streamlining the Wii friend code process and adding features other multiplayer games rely on — such as a chat window — Tri is trying to jump start the online ecosystem that’s already built into the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

But how does that impact that actual monster hunting?

What Is It?
Monster Hunter Tri is a multiplayer adventure game where up to four players can team up to hunt down monsters. The game skips over friend codes, instead using a lobby system where you can easily find other players and send friend requests. Additionally, there’s a chat window in-game that can be accessed with a USB keyboard if you don’t feel like pointing and clicking. Currently, Wii Speak is not in the game — but Capcom is “looking into it”.

There’s also a singleplayer mode built into the game, but details on it are scarce.

What We Saw
I played three missions during the University event using both the Wii Remote/Nunchuck configuration and the Classic Controller Pro because they had one handy.

Note: It’s unconfirmed if the Classic Controller Pro will be brought to the US along with Monster Hunter Tri.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out early 2010. I didn’t notice any major show-stopping bugs — but I was sad to see that the Wii was hooked up to computer monitors which have a nasty reputation of making even very good Wii graphics look fugly. So I can’t speak to the graphics which are apparently supposed to be pretty.

What Needs Improvement?
There’s No Lock On: Normally, this doesn’t matter in Monster Hunter because you pan the camera toward a monster, press attack and bam! You’ve hit it. However, Tri introduces underwater combat where the monsters can change depth quickly during a fight. Panning the camera a la ground combat under water takes a little extra work and can be totally disorienting. So, yeah, a lock-on would be preferable.

At Tiddy Bit Fiddly: On the Classic Controller Pro, I had a lot of problems getting the Bowgun to aim right. Not only do you have to have the weapon out and cocked before you can attack — you also have to choose between shooting from the hip or going into sniper mode with a targeting reticule. Given that battles move very quickly and monsters can charge across a field right at you while you’re reloading and re-cocking, it would be nice if the button controls for un-slinging, cocking and aiming your Bowgun were perhaps a little streamlined. Or if there were a Panicked Dodge button that would snap you out of sniper mode at the last second.

Constant Loads: Every time you leave an area of a map — which you will, because the monsters move around — you’ve got to endure a loading screen. It gets tedious.

What Should Stay The Same?
Wow, It’s Multiplayer! I’m not used to more than two people in my multiplayer on the Wii, so I was excited to see four people in the same place, attacking the same thing with no lag — on the Wii! If Monster Hunter Tri can work things out such that people actually buy this game and play it, it’s going to be a lot of fun team up with people and make new friends among strangers the way I would on other consoles.

Swimming Is Fun: Once you get the hang of the quick-swim button and the dive button, moving around underwater feels pretty pleasant. I kind of wonder how the lancer doesn’t drown under the weight of her weapon, though…

Final Thoughts
Two things will probably make or break this game: Wii Speak and pay-to-play subscriptions. In Japan, they don’t have the former, but they do have the latter — and a long history of loving Monster Hunter. Here, we’re sad because there are only like two games that use Wii Speak and I really don’t think we’d stand for a subscription Wii game no matter how awesome it might be. Also, we’re not as fond of or familiar with Monster Hunter — but with any luck and a little attention to these two make-or-breaks, Capcom could be changing that.

Not only were there an obscene amount of chalkboards, pennants and people in school kid uniforms — there was an actual lecture from Monster Hunter Tri Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, complete with pointing stick and warnings about getting kicked out of class for sleeping.

The only thing about the event that didn’t smack of school was the theme drink list — hence the A- instead of a perfect score. I must’ve been to a hundred pep rallies between being student body president in high school and president of the anime club in university — and not once did any of my institutions of higher learning shell out for drinks.

You can check out the cocktail list below. Here’s the swag report (all of which will be up for grabs at Ümloud!):
1 Ginormous sweatshirt I will never wear
1 Fancy-looking notebook
1 Monster Hunter “Field Guide”
1 Set of pins, featuring cutesy character Cha Cha
1 Backpack of significant sturdiness

But that’s just hearsay from an overzealous witness violating spousal privilege*. Here’s the real testimony regarding Ace Attorney’s transition to WiiWare.

*Yes, I would totally marry that game if such a thing were possible.

What Is It?
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a crazy-popular adventure crime-solving game for the DS in 2005 where players gather evidence to present at trial to convict criminals. Now it’s being ported to the Wii via WiiWare in all its investigative glory.

What We Saw
I played through a segment late in the trial where the murderer in on the stand spouting lies for Phoenix to rip apart.

How Far Along Is It?
It’s a straight port with no fancy extras or overhauled graphics, so consider the game done. Ace Attorney hits the United States in January with Justice for All and Trials & Tribulations following in March and May respectively. The bonus fourth episode will also drop in May for an as-yet unspecified low price.

What Needs Improvement?
Annoying Background: Observe the screen and note that little grey border with the Phoenix Wright logo on it. Now imagine that background is actually moving gradually to the upper left hand corner of the screen throughout gameplay. Yeah, kind of distracting, isn’t it?

What Should Stay The Same?
OBJECTION!!! The most amazing thing that’s been done to Phoenix Wright on WiiWare is adding motion controls — or rather, motion control, because there’s only one. It comes when you want to throw an objection out during witness testimony. Now, you could just open up your evidence file and press A to select evidence and then A again to present — or you could press to select and then fling your hand outward a la Phoenix himself to trigger OBJECTION! Which do you think is cooler?

Final Thoughts
Capcom is really supportive of WiiWare between this and Mega Man 9. As long as they don’t jack up prices or chop up individual Phoenix Wright games into tiny episodes (which is almost the same thing as jacking up prices), I support the decision to port awesome DS games to WiiWare.

This preview is adjourned. *Thumps gavel*