Surprised no one has talked about Let's Tap yet. It comes from Prope Studios, which is headed up by Yuji Naka. His site originally had a picture of a penguin, and apparently alluded to the idea that Naka wanted to make a game "that even a penguin could play." Naka later said, "Now I've made a game where you don't even hold the controller."
Let's Tap seems to take cues from Nintendo's own bongo controller for its own unconventional interface. You lay the Wiimote upside down on a surface, and then tap that surface. While I'm not sure what is going on here, but most speculate that the controller is able to pick up the vibrations, which can then be translated into input. This does bring up a LOT of questions for me on just how accurate it could be and whether or not any sort of honest precision can be expected, but I'd need more impressions before that could be decided.
Here's the original trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGnwL0ganu0
I'm holding out judgment on this one. I like how Wired News called it "not entirely stupid." Right now it is priced at roughly fiddy bones, and half of the game appears to be little more than tech demos and "visualizations," so I'm not sure that there's an honest amount of depth to warrant the price.
Oh, and the title song is extremely catchy too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogsDELXEPfA&feature=related
The video is dumb, but the song is delicious.
Next up, Dokapon Kingdom.
I'd ignored this until someone commented that IGN really liked it. Not a high pedigree, no, but I checked it out anyway. Apparently it is essentially Mario Party RPG from Atlus, so there's a decent amount of hope based on the developer alone.
Games can be short one-hour affairs or much longer, and the intended effect is that you and up to three friends play out a long campaign sort of thing. You start out as a typical RPG adventurer - warrior, mage, thief, etc. You travel out much like in Mario Party and can do things like fight enemies, buy items, equip weapons, gain experience, etc.
It goes further in that you can also apparently do a lot of Munchkin-y things. (Side note: Munchkin is essentially card-based D&D but hugely simplified, where you are encouraged to be a bastard and backstab friends and steal treasure and that sort of thing. Hopefully someone here knows what I am talking about - it makes for great gaming with friends, and even better gaming with friends and alcohol.) For example, you can go into an item shop and rob it, and then you become wanted, and if someone hunts you down soon enough they can get a bounty. But you can also buy a disguise kit, and then rob it disguised as another player, and then THEY get the hit put out on them.
Other options apparently include hiring a futuristic robot to assassinate other players, or getting a thief to pilfer their equipment. Other actions you can do include taking over towns to get quick revenue if you liberate them from monsters. If you fight someone and win, you can change their name or give them a stupid haircut. Apparently this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now I won't lie - the game could suck. The graphics are very simple, bright affairs. This game is basically a port from a PS2 version that will release alongside it, with only 480p/16x9 being the differences. Additionally, due to the nature of this game, it lends itself PERFECTLY to online play, but it doesn't look like that is going to be a feature. Sadly this hugely gimps the multiplayer-friendly nature of the game, since one of the bulletpoints is to play a game with your friends over the span of, say, a few weeks (much like an extended D&D session).
This is the main reason this game might prove fun - it's meant to be played with others and actively encourages you to be a jerk. Sure you can team up and have alliance and all that sort of thing, but it's another thing entirely to try and be as underhanded as possible. Since the game is essentially an RPG, more time spent in a campaign helps you out - you'll get stronger, so maybe you'll want to attack everyone. Or you might get a lot of revenue and buy nefarious means to hurt others.
Finally, I don't know how much the PS2 version will cost, but it might be a good alternative.
Again, this thread is for sleeper hits, so I'm withholding judgment on these titles until we get more information. If this thread proves to be useful, I might make it a semi-regular thing, and include games as I see fit in the future.
Let's Tap seems to take cues from Nintendo's own bongo controller for its own unconventional interface. You lay the Wiimote upside down on a surface, and then tap that surface. While I'm not sure what is going on here, but most speculate that the controller is able to pick up the vibrations, which can then be translated into input. This does bring up a LOT of questions for me on just how accurate it could be and whether or not any sort of honest precision can be expected, but I'd need more impressions before that could be decided.
Here's the original trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGnwL0ganu0
I'm holding out judgment on this one. I like how Wired News called it "not entirely stupid." Right now it is priced at roughly fiddy bones, and half of the game appears to be little more than tech demos and "visualizations," so I'm not sure that there's an honest amount of depth to warrant the price.
Oh, and the title song is extremely catchy too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogsDELXEPfA&feature=related
The video is dumb, but the song is delicious.
Next up, Dokapon Kingdom.
I'd ignored this until someone commented that IGN really liked it. Not a high pedigree, no, but I checked it out anyway. Apparently it is essentially Mario Party RPG from Atlus, so there's a decent amount of hope based on the developer alone.
Games can be short one-hour affairs or much longer, and the intended effect is that you and up to three friends play out a long campaign sort of thing. You start out as a typical RPG adventurer - warrior, mage, thief, etc. You travel out much like in Mario Party and can do things like fight enemies, buy items, equip weapons, gain experience, etc.
It goes further in that you can also apparently do a lot of Munchkin-y things. (Side note: Munchkin is essentially card-based D&D but hugely simplified, where you are encouraged to be a bastard and backstab friends and steal treasure and that sort of thing. Hopefully someone here knows what I am talking about - it makes for great gaming with friends, and even better gaming with friends and alcohol.) For example, you can go into an item shop and rob it, and then you become wanted, and if someone hunts you down soon enough they can get a bounty. But you can also buy a disguise kit, and then rob it disguised as another player, and then THEY get the hit put out on them.
Other options apparently include hiring a futuristic robot to assassinate other players, or getting a thief to pilfer their equipment. Other actions you can do include taking over towns to get quick revenue if you liberate them from monsters. If you fight someone and win, you can change their name or give them a stupid haircut. Apparently this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now I won't lie - the game could suck. The graphics are very simple, bright affairs. This game is basically a port from a PS2 version that will release alongside it, with only 480p/16x9 being the differences. Additionally, due to the nature of this game, it lends itself PERFECTLY to online play, but it doesn't look like that is going to be a feature. Sadly this hugely gimps the multiplayer-friendly nature of the game, since one of the bulletpoints is to play a game with your friends over the span of, say, a few weeks (much like an extended D&D session).
This is the main reason this game might prove fun - it's meant to be played with others and actively encourages you to be a jerk. Sure you can team up and have alliance and all that sort of thing, but it's another thing entirely to try and be as underhanded as possible. Since the game is essentially an RPG, more time spent in a campaign helps you out - you'll get stronger, so maybe you'll want to attack everyone. Or you might get a lot of revenue and buy nefarious means to hurt others.
Finally, I don't know how much the PS2 version will cost, but it might be a good alternative.
Again, this thread is for sleeper hits, so I'm withholding judgment on these titles until we get more information. If this thread proves to be useful, I might make it a semi-regular thing, and include games as I see fit in the future.
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ing-tastic!
