My Review of the Nintendo Wii's Super Famicom Classic Controller!

A post of befores and afters

Hello again.


Just got back from Baltimore, picking up the TDI from the upholsterer's. I refrained from naming exactly what shop it was on The DL and on my last blog post because I didn't want to give them free publicity just yet - in case they screw it up or otherwise don't deserve it. Luckily, they did a stellar job so I can publicly endorse

Enterprise Upholstering!

Here's a crappy before and after shot of the front seats:

I'll take better pictures later - but the jist of it is that the black suede (all seats plus door panels) is actually black now, instead of green. I recently shipped my camera off to Canon for warranty service, so I don't have access to it right now. I should have it by next week. Also - if you're a subscriber to The DL, you remember the shot of the tiny little ghost chili plant at the end of episode 20. Well, it's doing quite well. Here's a shot comparing it as seen on the DL (left) and today (right):

Baltimore Trip

Greetings. Just got back from my trip to Baltimore - I dropped the TDI off at Enterprise Upholstering, who is going to re-upholster my interior pro bono! If you've seen my car, you know that the once-black suede seats and panels have faded to a nasty dark green. Clearly that was not supposed to happen. So I found the 2005 invoice and called the shop who did it, who agreed to re-do it for free, under warranty. Kudos to them, for sure.

While in town, though, my mom made plans for us to attend Medieval Times! If you don't know, it's a "dinner and tournament". You sit in a big arena, around a large sand pit - and there's a big theatrical show that takes place inside - all medieval themed. dozens of horses doing tricks, jousting, sword fighting, etc. - and you get a large meal (including half a roasted chicken), and no silverware. Authentic!

Also, our hotel happened to be right next door to a Denny's, so I took everyone's advice and tried the Maple Bacon Sundae on Sunday night - which was awesome - and came back for the bacon sampler and bacon flapjacks on Monday morning. Jelly?

Look for Medieval Times and Denny's footage on episode 20 of The DL!

Got that truck horn installed in my car

Cool Stuff Coming Up

Here's some stuff you can expect to see on episode 20 of The DL:

• Tomorrow (Thursday), UPS will be delivering a truck air horn for my car. (You can listen to a preview - choose "Compact Italian Big Truck Sound Air Horn")
• Friday, UPS will be delivering a package from a viewer of The DL containing a Snack Attack item.
• Nintendo 3DS stuff

Also, episode 20 of The DL is the season 2 finale! So expect some epic season-ending bits and a peek at season 3.

The new DaveLinger.com

Greetings. If you're reading this, you've stumbled upon the new DaveLinger.com. It's like the old DaveLinger.com (in that it has all of my social networking and social media connections for you to click on), but it also has a blog component. I'm not going to use it for traditional blogging, per se (regular updates about my life), but I will be using it for posting reviews, videos, photos, stories, etc. - and being on the Blogger platform makes that easier for me. So feel free to browse around and comment/share anything you find to be interesting.

Goldeneye 007 Wii & Wii Classic Controller Pro Reviewed

I'm definitely late to the game when it comes to reviewing Goldeneye for the Wii, but after recently playing through the game, I decided to write up a quick review.

The first thing that struck me about the game was the price point. At Wal-Mart, one could pick up a brand new copy of the game plus a special edition gold-colored classic controller pro and a tee shirt (that says something about how playing as oddjob is cheating) for $50. That's absolutely unbeatable. The game has the same, if not higher production values as any other major first person shooter, but includes a $20+ retail controller and a [arguable, marginal value] shirt and STILL comes in $10 less.

With the game up and running, the most obvious thing that sticks out at you is that the role of James Bond is now played by Daniel Craig, the current "Bond", (who played 007 in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) NOT Pierce Brosnan, who played the original role as Bond in the 1995 film as well as the original Goldeneye videogame for Nintendo 64. My understanding of the reasoning behind this is that the licensing opportunities for the likenesses of actors from past Bond films have expired or are otherwise no longer available. The presence of Craig really wasn't a big deal to me - Brosnan and Craig have similar body shapes, and are rarely seen, considering you're playing as Bond. However, what was distracting to me were the other likenesses they removed - the characters who play Alec, Ourumov, Xenia, Natalya, and others. For example, in the level where you are trying to find Valentin Zukovsky, I was expecting to find a large guy with a Russian accent, but they replaced him with a tall skinny dude. I understand if they can't use the exact likeness of the original actor, but surely they would be allowed to make the ingame character very similar, but with a different face.

The only character I'm aware of who reprised her 1995 Goldeneye role for the 2010 game is Judi Dench (as M). A couple of actors from Quantum of Solace also appear in the game.

Aside from the character likenesses, the other main adjustment that was made to the Goldeneye IP was that it was modernized - which was a wise move, if you ask me, considering they're having to use the modern Bond. Instead of a laser watch and lots of other little gadgets, most gadget usage is achieved with a smartphone item - something that wouldn't have existed in 1995. It also makes it easy and believable to take photos. There's a level at a Dubai arms fair, and, notably, Boris (the eccentric Russian hacker) is completely gone from the game.

The level design is a mixture of three elements; memorable elements from the 1997 N64 game, elements that are much more like the 1995 movie than the original game, and completely new elements.

Story aside, the game looks and plays great. It's running on a modified version of the IW engine (the engine has powered Call of Duty 4, Black Ops, and will power Modern Warfare 3). Honestly, the lighting, animation, texturing, and modeling of Goldeneye are on par with any FPS on the PS3 or 360 - the only noticeable downgrade is in resolution - most PS3 and 360 games run at 720p, and Wii games run at 480p. In addition to the lower resolution, the Wii is the only console of the bunch that does not have a digital video output facility, which further degrades quality.

The gameplay, and I admit that this is a good and a bad thing, is a lot like Call of Duty. On the one hand, it has modern features like regenerating health (with no actual health bar, like CoD), aiming down the sights, etc. - the downside? ...it's a lot like Call of Duty, which has been criticized a lot lately for being a "cookie cutter" game without much innovation.

A few "features" that annoyed me related to fundamental design - if you use a silencer, there is absolutely zero chance that anyone will hear it fire - you could shoot a guard standing one foot from another guard, and he wouldn't hear it. That felt fake. Likewise, if you crouch as you walk, you will never be heard or seen - but if you stand and walk, you can be heard from 20 yards away and seen from 100. As you may have guessed, there are a lot of sneaking opportunities in the game, which I believe are handled well - it'll be easier on you to sneak through and not get caught, but it's possible to get through either way.

When I first got into the game, I was using the wii remote/nunchuck configuration, which was very, very hard to use. You have to move the cursor to the edges of the screen to turn, but if the cursor goes OFF of the screen, everything stops until you get it back onto the screen. Ultimately, I found this control scheme to be even worse than other Wii shooters that employ that scheme. So I bought a classic controller pro. I have a classic controller, but let me tell ya - the "pro" is about a hundred times better, even though it has the same number of buttons and same design, mostly. The difference is that the original classic controller was designed for looks, and the classic controller pro is designed for usage. The fronts look very similar, but the pro has large hand grips, and the back of the controller is shaped a lot like an Xbox 360 controller, without the battery provision - making it extremely comfortable. The four shoulder buttons are setup much like those on a PS3, except that all 4 are "on/off" type, none are springy trigger buttons like the L2/R2 buttons on a dualshock 2/3.

Once I plugged it in, everything changed. I felt like a, for lack of a better term, pro. The controls feel exactly like you expect in a console shooter, and are at least as good, if not better than, Halo or Call of Duty controls on PS3/360. It was kind of annoying to have it attached to the Wii remote the whole time, though.

The most highly anticipated feature of Goldeneye for me was the multiplayer. It has up to 4 player local multiplayer like the original, but also has online play. Extemely surprisingly, the online multiplayer works great. You type in a username for yourself and choose from an array of options to find a game that suits your mood. A few seconds later you're matched up and going at it - like "real" consoles, you can hold a button to see the scoreboard, with everyone's names and rankings - no baby "friend codes" and hidden names. Understandably, there's no chat. Additionally, the Call-of-Duty-ness comes through in a good and bad way. On the good side, it plays great and seems balanced. On the bad side, the system is just like Call of Duty. You get a few points for each kill or for special achievements, and you level up, which is public. To me it felt too much like Call of Duty. Besides that I was very impressed. I haven't tried out local multiplayer.

On the sound front, it's very good. Voiceovers are convincing, sound effects are accurate, and the music is scored by the same guy who does the James Bond films.

Ultimately, I have no reserves in naming this the best first-person shooter on the Wii. It's the best in basically every way - be it controls, graphics, engine, multiplayer, or price. This is definitely going on the "must have" list for the Wii.