Every FRIDAY - Keynsham has a local paper again!

Yes you heard that right ... Keynsham (and Saltford) now has a brand new local rag, just for themselves. Totally local to Keynsham & Saltford, it is 50p where sold in all local newsagents and the like.Using high quality paper more so than the free, nasty one that comes around stuffed full of Bristol window & sofa ads, the local paper does have adverts but they are all or mostly from local firms, and there are actually articles in the paper. Not just adverts with the odd article in there.

And I wrote one of them this week, so get down to Churches and buy a copy! Support your local rag and your local writers!

The paper is featuring local classifieds, contests, arts and culture etc. It will also have births, deaths and marriages, along with local sports (Keynsham Town girls team were on the back page last week) and any big news that's going on (like with Cadburys).

If you don't live in Keynsham and this means nothing to you, fair enough. If you're passing through though, buy a copy anyway!

NB: Years ago, Keynsham used to have it's own paper. It folded (pardon the pun) through lack of readership support. Let's all make sure that this time, we use it and don't lose it.

New interview: Kane talks C and C 3, his PJs and tanks!

This is a brand NEW interview. It only went up today, so if you haven't caught it yet and you're a C&C fan, you owe it to yourself to go take a snizzle...

Kane is the charismatic Brother of Nod faction leader in the C&C Tiberium-based games. Actor Joe Kucan plays him with flash and flair!

Read this one Kim Kaze's interview with him:

www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=28341

We're expanding again ...

How we love to spread the subjective commentaries round about the place. But that's what journalism is, a system of avereges; the hope that by hitting the majority of nails right on the head, the every day person will find reviews helpful and not unlike their own views of these products.

Ho hum. See? Anyone can talk intellectual-sounding BS when they want to. The truth is, news is news and it sells. People want to know, and if you have a passion to tell people what you think because you either think you can help them or just want to make money, that's what you'll do. Academia dies when we do something random like laugh at nothing or decide to have an extra beer even though we decided we'd only have that one tonight. Life is alive, and words will never be.

I felt like talking today; the news on Entertainmentwise is done as are the reviews for today.

Check out our latest Wii review, Zelda
(www.entertainmentwise.com/review?id=25765)

Today though, Viva Pinata is fresh on the block for Xbox 360! (www.entertainmentwise.com/review?id=25913)

Game Reviews section:www.entertainmentwise.com/review?ct=21
Gaming News section:www.entertainmentwise.com/news?ct=20

Wii: Gone In 60 Seconds, Almost!

Consoles snapped up in record speed at midnight launch ...

Following months of eager anticipation, the official midnight launch of Wii – Nintendo’s new home console – saw fans and gaming newcomers turn out in force to claim their slice of the future of home entertainment!

Check out my article at: www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=25760

WiiView - 2006 Titles On The Wii Exposed!

Our team got into Nintendo House and are able to bring out the following:

All the early Wii titles laid bare ... easy to digest breakdowns of many early Wii titles about to reach the UK.

www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=25410

Golden Joystick Awards 2006

How do the people who play games decide what’s hot and what’s not? By voting themselves in their droves to awards golden joysticks to the approved, that’s how! If you didn’t vote, shame on you; but there’s always next year. 2006 saw more than half a million of you voting! However, the question remains what exactly went down at the star-studded ceremony in London’s Park Lane Hilton, who won the awards and which journalists got extremely drunk. Kim Kaze made her way down there, and this is her story.

Beginning with a champagne reception during which everybody mingled (except me, who waited anxiously), the event soon got interesting as it was announced "If you’re staying for dinner, dinner is served!” Several people remarked that now would be a pretty stupid time for anybody to think about leaving, unless they literally came only for free champers. A few wanderings later, and we found ourselves sitting at table 15, between the good folks at Nintendo, Gamestation and EA. My table was hosted by Chocolate Communications, a great bunch of lads and lasses with a very pro active attitude towards gaming, including mobile gaming.

After chatting with Steve Boxer (a well known, long-standing journalist with particularly awesome hair that reminded me of Bowser) who was sat to my left about the plusses and minuses of the PS3 that the lucky sod has somehow acquired, we were served with more liquor and some starters. As the wine flowed and the food was brought forth, tongues loosened more and more, including my own. It was nearly time for the awards themselves and I heard several comments about ‘getting as drunk as you can to last through them’. Oh, the cynicism of my industry! I love it.

Fiona Haldane (PR Executive from GAME) sat to my right informed me that the award of special interest to her would be Retailer of the year, in which GAME were pitted against the might of Play.com, Amazon.com, Gamestation and others.

Kicking things off was fellow Bristolian Justin Lee-Collins; a mad character who some of you may know from his hosting of TV shows on MTV, Bravo and BBC Three, or perhaps his 1997 win at Glastonbury as New Comedy act. The whole thing was being broadcast live via the web site of Computer and Video Games magazine (CVG).

After a few well placed sexual jokes, it was time to crack on with the work. First award was the T3 Innovation award and this went to Xbox Live marketplace, with Nintendo coming in third and second with WiFi connect and Brain Training: How old is your brain? Groans from the Ninty table as more bottles with shiny caps are opened. I wished I could crash their table.

Then it was time for every guy in the place to fill his seat with dribble. The Sun’s family game of the year award was somewhat dampened by their less-than-family presentation including two very fit ladies not wearing a large volume of cloth. However, spirits on the Nintendo table were raised to the ceiling as Nintendogs took the accolade. If anything they opened more booze than before.

A table very near the front and off to the right were then filled with mirth – 2K Games wee’d all over the opposition as they took the title of best PC game of the year with their awesome RPG title, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion in the ebyer.com sponsored award. I don’t mean they literally urinated by the way … a figure of speech.

The following award was 1Xtra’s soundtrack of the year which appeared to be a closely fought battle. The winner was Need For Speed Most Wanted and folks behind us from EA were on their feet. Organised like an army, they sent up their three most facially vital characters for the camera pose down that every award seemed to generate. At some stage, Justin decided to go behind the staging to ‘do something’ and returned with his belt undone. Amusingly, he didn’t re-fasten himself for the rest of the evening.

After that, it was time for chick power as Lara Croft stole the accolade of PSW’s favourite gaming character (as voted by you, the fans, of course).

Xbox 360 official magazine sponsored the next award, Xbox game of the year. This was again, a closely fought group but out on top came 2K Games again with Oblivion! The happy chappies loved up the stage (and Justin) once more, before Bliss magazine pleased every female eye in the house with two MALE models as they awarded Nintendogs as Girl’s game of the year. Nintendo were back on stage again as more corks went flying. Ed & Sarah from Chocolate were getting into the fun of it I noticed, as was Rhianna Pratchett (Daughter of ex-journalist and Author Terry Pratchett of Disc world fame) on the other side of the table from me.

The Nuts magazine all nighter award went to Pro Evolution Soccer 5. By this stage we’d all drunken copious amounts of wine and the food was definitely sinking to the pit of my stomach, and there were several comments on the tables round about concerning Nuts. I won’t repeat them.

Playstation 2 Magazine announced the best PS2 game of the year as Resident Evil 4. Capcom’s Sam Brace got on stage and showed off his awesome, semi emo haircut. I was impressed. I also want to know what gel or putty he uses!

At random, one of the guys from Nintendo leapt across to our table to show off his … er … joystick. “It’s really heavy as hell, look! They actually made the base out of slate this year!” I never thought slate would excite a grown man in this way, but he seemed happy as hell to be holding an award. Nintendo were doing well tonight, so why not I thought?

Handheld game of the year was hosted by EDGE Magazine and went to GTA: Liberty City Stories. The folks at Rockstar showed us all how to party as they went up there – and why not? This is the fifth successive year that a GTA title has scooped a golden joystick. Nintendo’s own award was hosted by Official Nintendo Magazine and New Super Mario Brothers collected the award, in style.

Online Game of the year really could have been anyone’s guess, but Age of Empires 3 took the honour in the end. This award was sponsored by Intel, and as they were announced I heard some AMD fans in the room voicing their opinions, too.

Retailer of the year caused a stir on the table I was at as GAME took the award, with the Gamestation table beside us decidedly silent. Fiona exploded with applause as her fellows went up to collect their award. This one was sponsored by Sierra.

Publisher of the year had a bit more respect than some of the other awards, with a bit of a hush falling as the names were read out. In the end though, the howls of jubilation came from behind us as EA scooped the title. Comments nearby fell into the class of ‘It’s all those sports brands…Tiger Woods…you know how it is…’

Editor’s Choice, the only award not voted for by the gaming public, went to Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter which is an Xbox 360 game. This one sponsored purely by Future themselves, I guess.

When PS3 was announced not only as an entrant for ‘the one to watch’ next year but also as the winner of the accolade, there were opinions expressed at tables surrounding ours, and including ours. It seemed that someone thought the unit should have shipped two years ago, a ‘giant enemy crab’ was mentioned and I also heard someone comment that it got the one to watch award because the Wii was about to come out already, and the PS3 wasn’t. However, props to Sony for winning the award. They scored ‘massive damage’ with that one. Sorry - couldn’t resist. CVG also commented that Lik-Sang obviously didn’t vote …

Finally, the Ultimate Play.com game of the year 2006 was scooped by the night’s biggest success story, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. With three joysticks to stack on the shelf at home, the boys and girls at 2K Games held the most gold, slate and alcohol by the end of another excellent awards ceremony. So long as you could stomach the comments about sex, skin diseases on your anus and many other crude gags from the Bristolian host, you should have enjoyed yourself.

As for the after show party, I ended up singing Ice Ice baby, watching journalists battle it out on Street Fighter 2 for a television prize, having my Gozian necklace broken and staggering off to a flat in the Clapham area after realising that I’d missed my train home. A night well spent, and well done 2K Games!

Jazz wants a Wii! (Part 3)

This is intended to be read after you've checked out Kim Kaze's Wii long play session breakdown, as well as 'The Wii according to Mat'.

Having spent countless hours reading up on the technology, development, arguements and so on surrounding the Wii, getting hands on wasn't as shocking as it would be had I not been well prepared. Having spent ten minutes or so on it before, I was ready to tuck into the most anticipated game on the system most likely, Zelda - The Twilight Princess.

The only sections playable on this E3 demo were a small dungeon sample and a fishing section. I chose the dungeon first and slowly got to grips with the controls, as the guy helped me out. The first thing I noticed as with my previous ten minutes of Wii playing was I found myself pointing too high with the pointer.

Anytime I had to use the pointer on screen I'd have to drop my arm down more to my wait, or at least drop the aim down. Once I was aware of this, aiming was a breeze and I could arrow down a row of bad guys in no time. The movement of the nunchuck was superb, just running around naturally using the analogue stick, holding the z button to lock onto bad guys, and waving the nunchuck around to do whirling sword attacks.

Once you try the moves a few times it all seems 'natural' somehow, exactly what Nintendo promised from the system. I ventured through the dungeon and killed the boss, hurrah! I stopped a few times enroute to admire the views. It really did look pretty.

My only complaint graphics wise would extend to the whole system, whereby there seem to be more jaggies (not enough anti aliasing) than I'd hoped. But then I'm a spoilt PC Gamer.

Fishing was up next, and just like previous fishing subsets of rpgs (both Ocarina of Time and other rpgs have featured fishing), you find yourself strangely enjoying it even though you've no interest in real fishing at all. Possibly this is because you can actually catch fish unlike real life, and the fun of just chucking it out using the remote and then reeling a big fish in with the nunchuck spinning and the remote tugging up - it was all, again, 'natural'. Natural AND fun I'll point out. This will surely be going on my wishlist.

Excite Truck was the only other game I played a fair time on. I'd previously seen it and thought "what have they done to excite bike", and passed it off as a cheap tacky tech demo that would be no fun to play. How wrong I was.

After the initial turbulance of getting to grips with the movement sensitivity whilst holding the remote in 'handlebar' mode, I found myself sliding round the corners, turbo'ing over jumps and landing smoothly on any sloped surface, all using the remote's positioning. The racing was cheap and cheerful with item powerups to make things a little more fun and bonuses earnt by 'stunt' style landings and such, but it was definately fun - and what, ladies and gentlemen, is actually more important than that? Sure you might think it's an arcade style of game, no lastability and you wouldn't want to play it for a long time.

Playing for prolonged periods of time doesn't seem to be Ninty's aim with most Wii titles. Having said that, I could've happily played a lot more Excite Truck - it simply kept you on your toes, ENGAGED with the game. Had I been racing with friends or even better online it would've been great!

The Wii, according to Mat (Part 2)

This article is intended to be read after Kim Kaze's recent feature on the Wii's first UK LONG play session. With her, I ventured into Nintendo land to discover what playing over two hours of Nintendo Wii would feel like and get a bit more meaty play time in on key launch titles.

This was far better than a quick burst at E3 2006 or even the odd ten minutes at the previous Press event in the UK. This was like having a Wii at home, and what follows are my perceptions as an adult, male gamer in the UK.

Everyone's talking about the Wii remote; will it change gaming or become a gimmick for sporty titles and the odd bout of Wario Ware? Intuitive to pick up, after five minutes of use you'll get used to the sensitivity of the remote the control. The control over the games is very easy to pick up and really and truely - unlike anything else.

Sports games on the Wii are much like playing sports in real life, and you need to practice to get a really good 'feel' for them. If you’re bad in real life at sports, likely you won’t be much cop at Wii Sports pack certainly to begin with, but you will have a lot of fun. It is better to be fit and about that there's no doubt, but having said that I managed the session without any real problems, and I was going for it. A poor PR lady was almost wearing the Wii remote in her hair at one point. I think my forearm swing needs to be reeled in a little!

The versatility of the remote is highlighted by the Wii Sports pack and the number of different ways you can hold the controller and the different ways it responds. The precision is excellent; you’re never left feeling like you’re just randomly twitching the remote hoping something will happen. It feels very interactive and you'll want more than a few minutes stuck in a que with fifty other gamers all wanting a go.

Excite Truck is an Arcade Racer essentially, similar in style to the Burn Out series but set off road, which means lots of air when you go over the jumps and interactive scenery that changes when you pick up icons, causing jumps to appear or rocks to fall. The sense of speed is very impressive and the remote use is again intuitive and very easy to pick up - did we mention it's a lot of fun? The handlebar position takes a bit of getting used to but once you're doing it, you realise that no other gaming machine you can take home with you offers this. If you're not already grinning like a kid in a sweet shop, you will be now.

Wario Ware is ... well ... Wario Ware. Almost undefinable as a game; mad mini games, all of which use the remote in differing ways, an excellent party game and also highlights once again the sheer versatility of the Wii remote. The title probably won't have you playing it for very long in a session but that's not what it's for. Definately one for quick bursts of mirth and stupidity, this is a party game that anyone can play but there is a learning curve for those who want to play it a little longer.

The one weakness of the Wii is the apparent lack of graphical horsepower. Not to say it looks bad - far from it, but you do notice it doesn’t look as good as some systems. But then you don’t notice it once you’re playing, because you’re having too much fun.

After two hours with the thing, I can say this with certainty. The remote is not a gimmick, it’s a well thought out interactive control system that will let people of any age and skill pick one up and have a go at gaming. They'll have a lot of fun in the process.

Exclusive Wii first long play session

Hailed as the largest innovation in gaming history by some and as the biggest gimmick ever to strike the realm of console gaming by others, the Nintendo Wii is sure to top many gamers Christmas lists. The sexy, minimalist white box with its soft, blue glow around the disc port deserves a spot on any lounge TV unit, surely?

What we’ve been lacking up until now though has been lengthy play times on the Wii itself. Ten minutes at E3 2006 just doesn’t cut it. Will you get tired too quickly? Do you have to stand around or is it feasible to sit? Is waving the remote a fine art or is it just like waving a stick in a goldfish bowl and hoping to strike lucky? Finally Kim Kaze is able to answer these and other pressing, REAL questions; after an extended, lengthy play test of four Wii launch titles at the UK offices of Nintendo themselves. No interruptions, no que, no noise and advice from one of the QA Team to assist with game play questions. Also, this time there were controllers without wires of any kind. Who could ask for more?

We also got to hold a Wii unit in our hands and gain real perspective of how it’s going to feel to handle the unit itself and the literal size as it will be when we slot it into our lounge TV units at home.

First of all, it’s important to remind you that the Wii is selling on two very important and unique points:

1) It’s for everyone; the hardcore gaming nut through to grannies, girls and irregular gamers.
2) The remote which acts as the primary control device is utterly wireless and more than just a tilt sensor; every movement of the remote is detected in any fashion and relates to game play.

No other console either out now or set to launch this side of 2010 offers this. Coming close, Nintendo’s DS handheld has been used as inspiration for many of the Wii features relating to the casual gamer, but that’s where the similarities end.

Some gamers have shown concern that the activity level required to play Wii games, especially the sporty titles, may be too high. There are concerns that you have to stand for long periods of time and use body actions such as swinging your arm above your head or at the side of your body. After playing non stop for two hours, did this happen to me?

No. I’m not exactly Wonder woman in terms of fitness and I can assure you, as a regular player there was enough action to warrant perhaps making sure one has access to a tap before playing (you’re going to want a drink if you play for as long as we did!) and possibly ensuring plenty of moving around space in your living room. The key to the Wii control is that even the most active title on the launch line up, Wii Sports, doesn’t require you to make large body motions unless you want to. You can play it moving very little if you want, and some of the games can be played sitting down. I wouldn’t recommend trying golf sitting down, as this is a little tricky.

To test this, in terms of fitness we took along two regular gamers with average to low fitness and one gamer with ME/CFS. He was able to play for the two hour slot with only a fractional tiredness issue and was if anything, making the largest motions with the remote controller out of all three of us and owned at Wii tennis! If you have health related concerns that you or your friends and family suffer from a tiredness health problem, it’s not going to bar you from enjoying the Nintendo Wii. We’ve tested it now and after two hours, it’s safe to say that it’s possible to play on the Wii launch line up for two hours and not be dripping with sweat afterwards. Just remember that large body motions are not a requirement – they’re what players do to have fun with the game. Playing with smaller movements or sitting down is largely possible, doable and healthy.

The biggest shock we got on arrival was that not only is the Wii remote controller a truly remarkable tool, but the nunchuck controller also has a sensor inside, enabling it to be used in exactly the same way! When introduced to Wii Boxing, all a player has to do is hold a nunchuck in one hand and the Wii remote in the other and then move exactly as you would a boxer – lean back or side to side, blocking, jabbing, upper cutting etc. The Wii detects the movement of the nunchuck exactly the same way as it does your main remote. There’s no need to press buttons in this game, you simply move. This is truly an awesome innovation in gaming and not an experience you’d expect outside of the arcades. The QA guy on hand to talk us through the launch line up also informed us that there may be plans to invent shin remotes of some form to enable kicking in games in the future. As far as I am aware, this would definitely be a first in home entertainment, if not any entertainment!

During play in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, waving the nunchuck side to side quickly will perform a special sword attack which gets a crowd of enemies off your back. When you go fishing within the game, you use the nunchuck to ‘reel in’ your catch with a real, reeling motion. You don’t need a nunchuck for all the games though; on Wii Sports Boxing was the only title we needed it for and Excite Truck and Wario Ware didn’t require the use of it either.

The nunchuck itself is very light indeed, a lot smaller than it looks in the pictures and you almost forget at times that it’s in your hand at all! Giving you the thumbstick control as well as two buttons at the front of the nunchuck, the added factor that the nunchuck has a sensor inside and also acts like the main remote will is a massive bonus. We suggest that if you enjoy playing games with your friends, you purchase a nunchuck or two when you get your Wii.

Nintendo’s main Wii remote controller is the central feature of the Wii. The most talked about device quite possibly in the history of home console gaming, what did we make of using this thing to control all these different sorts of games for two hours straight? Practical or a gimmick?

It’s every independent journalist’s nightmare to sound like a hype generating machine; the very sight of hype sends us screaming for the hills. However, just sometimes there is hype well deserved. This is one such time. This controller, my friends, is to gaming what remote controllers were to TV sets. You have to play with this thing, and we’re convinced you’re going to love it. Really.

More than just a tilt sensor, if the entire beast makes one movement in any direction, or bends, twitches or turns then it will relate to the game you’re playing. All the games we played proved one thing to us over and over – the Wii is as versatile as a Swiss penknife. Holding a baseball bat is … well … like holding a real bat. If you pull it further back the angle of the bat on screen adjusts to suit. Swing it fast or at an angle and it will take this into account. Throwing the ball is similarly precise; though with ball throwing there are buttons to press which control the type of shot you do. In Wii Golf, you’ll discover that the remote picks up very accurately the power, angle and style of your swing. You are able to adjust whether you’re left or right handed in games so that left and right handed players can play together without one getting an advantage, or everyone having to use the same setting.

The Wii remote so far has been a tiltable steering wheel/handlebar (in Excite Truck), a balancing pole (Wario Ware), a fishing rod which you can pull up on and cast off with (Zelda), a bottle of champagne (Wario Ware), a boxing glove (Wii Sports), a golf club (Wii Sports), a baseball bat (Wii Sports), your hand (Wii Sports – Bowling & Wario Ware), a pen (Wario Ware), a sword (Zelda)….the list goes on and on, and these aren’t even all the games the Wii will launch with!

Whether you’re shaking a bottle of bubbly and taking your finger off the top at the right time to squirt people or you’re teeing up on the green, the Nintendo Wii remote is sensitive, versatile and feels natural after only a minute or so of gaming. Why would you ever go back to merely pressing buttons which are on or off, when the proportional and truly analogue element of your own body brings so much more satisfaction?

In terms of further details and a better breakdown of the games themselves, see our following articles, ‘The Wii according to Mat’ and ‘Jazz wants a Wii!’. Two of gaming’s most critical followers test the Wii for two hours and tell you what they think of the games and the experience.

The Wii unit itself has a very cool, flip-down side that covers the Game Cube four joy pad ports as well as the two Game Cube memory card slots. If you don’t ever want to use these ‘archaic’ devices, you need never seen them and the flip-down panels are not noticeable at all. If you do need them however, flip one or both of them down and access is yours. Discreet and sexy, it’s another thing about the physical Wii unit that’ll have gamers smiling.

Smiling. The Wii is about smiling gamers. I have seen the launch of many machines and gadgets, with expressions of surprise and admiration at graphics etc. But nothing comes close to this. No matter who you are and why you play games; you pick it up, you start smiling, even laughing straight away. The joy of gaming should be for everyone, and the Wii has brought joy to the face of every gamer I’ve seen touch it. Thanks, Nintendo. You’re brave enough to make fun once again the king of why we play games. Thank God someone thinks games should be fun before they’re anything else at all.

I’ve only got one question.

NOW do you want a Wii?