Scribblenauts Unlimited Review

Good: Great puzzles, atmosphere and features. Robust replay value means you will not put it down for months to come.

Bad: Many puzzles are easier than others found in previous entries. Others may need some adjusting depending on your problem-solving skills and word usage.

Scribblenauts Unlimited is nothing short of a timeless delight. What initially started as a Nintendo DS game has slowly turned into an unstoppable machine of creativity. Now making its debut on the Nintendo Wii U, Scribblenauts Unlimited once again has players tapping, writing and exploring their imagination at full capacity.

The game revolves around hundreds of puzzles across a wide variety of themes. You will meet an array of colorful characters along the way that may need special favors, general requests and others who will downright attempt to beat you to a pulp. This is where the game’s genius comes into play. Using the Wii U GamePad, your job is to write any noun under the sun and the game immediately turns it into an actual object. How cool is that? If you went 10 years back in time and told game developers about this, most would very likely laugh at such ridiculously impossible trickery. But thanks to the Wii U’s technical advances and a small dose of creativity, everything now is very, very possible.

You can also create familiar characters such as Link, Mario & Luigi to help you along the way, and can even modify your own creations in any way you see fit. For example, if you wish for Link to beat an enemy with a flyswatter, well, nothing is stopping you! If you need to get rid of many disturbances at once, simply write something like “Black Hole” from the GamePad and the game will immediately swallow everyone in its path.

Although the puzzles are a tad easier now, the game still delivers everything that “puzzle junkies” and Scribblenauts fans could ever want. More levels, more characters, more words to choose from and overall more diversity. Scribblenauts Unlimited is, without a doubt, a game that applies to young kids and the average adult that claims he is no longer into gaming.

Verdict: 9.5/10

Full Length E3 Nintendo Press Conference (2012)

In case you missed it!

The Pros and Cons of Nintendo's E3 2012 Conference

In our humble opinion, we were a bit disappointed with this year's Nintendo conference. Sure, there's a huge line of titles available, which nicely touched on the software-side of things. Unfortunately, many burning questions are still left unanswered, most of which are crucial to the consumer. Considering the Wii U is only months away, Nintendo had a responsibility to reveal a little more than just: "Oh, look, we have some games and colored consoles."

As a company, Nintendo played with fire on this one. E3 typically helps drive sales, as developers and companies use this opportunity to hype their software and hardware lineup to the max. That being said, we think Nintendo missed out on a golden opportunity.

Some crucial questions include:

- Is the MiiVerse the console's default Home screen? If not, how will each section be presented to the end-user? The interface, believe it or not, is a big factor that helps many decide whether or not to bother with a console. As it stands, the Miiverse looks rather clunky and a tad unfriendly.

- How come Nintendo never bothered to update the Miis appearance? The Xbox 360 contains Avatars, which users can fully customize by adding an incredible amount of detail and personality. Instead of getting with the times, Nintendo will once again deliver shitty-looking Miis that didn't look good in 2006 in the first place.

- More hardware specs, anyone?  While not everyone cares about the console's graphical capabilities, supporting a high-speed processor and HD graphics is important. To give a brief example, the original Wii missed out on many critically-acclaimed titles due to a lack of CPU/GPU power. More specifically, the Unreal Engine is amongst the most popular on the gaming market. If the Wii U cannot support the new Unreal Engine 4 (as the Wii couldn't support UE3) then they will once again miss out on many great offerings.

- Will video content services be available at launch? How will each one work?

- Can you provide more solid information concerning storage?

- How will online interaction work? While Friend Codes will no longer be available, how solid will the multiplayer area be? As it stands, the Xbox 360 has one of the most robust and rich online interfaces available on any console. How will Nintendo counter attack?

- How much will it cost? Considering the console is only months away, it is hard to believe that the big execs are still pondering on the price tag.

Seriously?

Nintendo Wii U Expands on Content Streaming Capabilities

The Wii U made a not-so-shocking announcement that most major video content players will be available and supported on the Wii U console. These include Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and YouTube. This gives the Wii U a major advantage over current consoles, as it draws a wider appeal that goes beyond hardcore gamers. As you can imagine, browsing through the Netflix movies list on the Wii U GamePad will certainly kick ass!

Strong Launch Titles on the Horizon

It appears that the Nintendo Wii U will have a decent amount of titles available when it launches this Holiday season. Unfortunately, some of these are rather old, such as Arkham City. Personally, we don't think the console will sell many copies of such titles as most gamers have already enjoyed them before. The only saving grace would be tons of new features exclusive to the Wii U, and not just simple gimmicks.


 Some of the highly-anticipated video games include:

New Super Mario Bros. U
Pikmin 3
Donkey Kong Crash Course
LEGO City Undercover
Mass Effect 3
Tank Tank Tank!
Rayman Legends
Skylanders Giants
SiNG
Project P100
Zombi U
Wii Fit U
Batman: arkham City Armored Edition

This list excludes the games already announced last year, such as Darksiders II and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Sadly, a 3D Mario and Zelda game are nowhere to be seen, but hey, there's always E3 2013.

Nintendo Video Conference Pre E3 2012

This video demonstrates the Wii U controller along with its many features. Stay tuned as we will upload the full E3 Nintendo press conference this Tuesday.

Wii U Hardware Updates: Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller

As many of you know by now, Nintendo kicked off E3 a bit earlier than expected with their Pre E3 2012 video. This 30-minute video showcased various hardware changes and confirmations. While no major improvements were announced over last year's offers, the presentation clarified several things about the odd-looking gamepad.

Nintendo now officially calls it the Wii U GamePad (surprised?). It has been slightly redesigned to provide a greater sense of comfort. The joysticks are also a bit longer and do not follow the 3DS-like style shown in last year's prototype. There's also a "TV" button sitting comfortably at the bottom, which allows players to switch a game between the TV and the tablet itself. To this day, we find this feature incredibly useful.

This is the official Wii U GamePad:

Although it still looks rather clunky when compared to traditional gaming controllers, we are optimistic and confident it will revolutionize the gaming arena as much as the Wii U controller once did.

An unexpected surprise, however, came in the form of a more conventional-looking controller, which resembles an Xbox 360 gamepad's shape. We don't know how much use we'll have for it, but it sure looks impressive. Nintendo has officially named it the Wii U Pro Controller:

Nintendo's next console seems to be looking bright so far. A massive list of games is already on the horizon, many which are for the hardcore gamer in you. Now let's see what else the company has to show off this Tuesday at the official Nintendo press conference.