SW Magazine #62 - Wii U launch aftermath, Halo 4 review, Vita's death, and more!

November 26th, 2012 - Issue 62 - @swm_magazine

Letter from the Editor:

The Wii U has arrived, and SW Magazine was right in the forefront of the entire launch. And by forefront, I mean complaining about it and doing nothing of value. Really, what else can you do with a Wii U? This....is....SYSTEM WARS MAGAZINE!!!

- Willy

Gamespot's version of the Illuminati is looking for some new friends. Come laugh at them.

REGGIE WAS RIGHT

Free the talking head!

HOTLINE MIAMI REVIEW

It is an anti-social, amoral game.

THE TWO PEOPLE ON SW WITH A Wii U SHARE THEIR PHOTOS!

What is Painguy1 looking at?

Wii U MOST BORING LAUNCH IN HISTORY?

I'm still first in line!

WHY IS THE VITA DYING?

It's too powerful to die!

HALO 4 REVIEW

Was Halo put in the right hands?

Wii U STORAGE SPACE IS PATHETICALLY TINY

Am I supposed to store games in here?

ARE Wii U ROUNDED DISCS THE GREATEST GAMING INNOVATION EVER?

Hope Sony doesn't copy it!

WHY YOUR GAMING TASTES ARE %$#@

Warning: This article has heavy language.

1st

I did not get a WiiU and from the sounds of things I'm glad I didn't. There has been a lot of negativity towards it so far and the games seem rather dull so far.

Rounded Discs?

They look like every disc I've seen.

HAH! Pretty spiffy Photoshop job there Willy, with your avatar smashed through the Wii U tablet :P

Rounded Discs?

They look like every disc I've seen.

gameofthering

Yeah I don't get this either, what's the dealio?

[QUOTE="gameofthering"]

Rounded Discs?

They look like every disc I've seen.

seanmcloughlin

Yeah I don't get this either, what's the dealio?

Engadget's article on the Wii U discs.

You forgot: Wii U third place in consoles sales in their first week (US). In the history.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="gameofthering"]

Rounded Discs?

They look like every disc I've seen.

Willy105

Yeah I don't get this either, what's the dealio?

Engadget's article on the Wii U discs.

I had a disc like this before for something and they do feel quite a bit different.

Some choice comments taken from other users on the "Why your tastes are crap" article:

"I honestly couldn't take this clown seriously since I've laughed at pretty much everything he said. This dude himself has no taste in gaming since he hates everyone else's taste."

"What an elitistic @sshole!"

"Stop adding your sh*t articles to stumbleupon. Theyre not informative. Theyre not insightful. Theyre not even well written dreck. Stumble upon is for novel web experiences, not your butthurt ramblings. I dont even like Nintendo franchises but your b*tching is making 13 year olds look mature. Its embarrassing. Get a f*cking role model."

I didn't even know we were on Stumbleupon. =/

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

DarkLink77

Read the last paragraph and if the rest was like that, i'm glad I didn't read the whole thing. Sounds like gushing (which is likely where your IGN reference comes in)

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

seanmcloughlin

Read the last paragraph and if the rest was like that, i'm glad I didn't read the whole thing. Sounds like gushing (which is likely where your IGN reference comes in)

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

seanmcloughlin

Read the last paragraph and if the rest was like that, i'm glad I didn't read the whole thing. Sounds like gushing (which is likely where your IGN reference comes in)

Haven't played Halo 4, not a big fan of the series, so I don't have a horse in this race, guys. Nevertheless, I would like to point something out:

As a die-hard Halo fan

the reviewer with a massive erection

That was right at the start of the review. Don't know why you expected anything other than gushing after that, and it's nothing to b*tch about, really.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

Read the last paragraph and if the rest was like that, i'm glad I didn't read the whole thing. Sounds like gushing (which is likely where your IGN reference comes in)

jethrovegas

Haven't played Halo 4, not a big fan of the series, so I don't have a horse in this race, guys. Nevertheless, I would like to point something out:

As a die-hard Halo fan

the reviewer with a massive erection

That was right at the start of the review. Don't know why you expected anything other than gushing after that, and it's nothing to b*tch about, really.

A clearly biased person shouldn't have a featured review then or be allowed to do the review. It's like when they let Greg Miller do the Uncharted 3 review at IGN. Such Hyperbole had never been uttered before.

Haven't played Halo 4, not a big fan of the series, so I don't have a horse in this race, guys. Nevertheless, I would like to point something out:

[QUOTE="the reviewer with a massive erection"]

As a die-hard Halo fan

jethrovegas

That was right at the start of the review. Don't know why you expected anything other than gushing after that, and it's nothing to b*tch about, really.

[QUOTE="jethrovegas"]Haven't played Halo 4, not a big fan of the series, so I don't have a horse in this race, guys. Nevertheless, I would like to point something out:

[QUOTE="the reviewer with a massive erection"]

As a die-hard Halo fan

DarkLink77

That was right at the start of the review. Don't know why you expected anything other than gushing after that, and it's nothing to b*tch about, really.

Exactly. A review should always be able to study a game objectively. In fact if you're a big fan of something you should be able to state its faults sooner than anyone else, as you know the series or franchise well.

A clearly biased person shouldn't have a featured review then or be allowed to do the review. It's like when they let Greg Miller do the Uncharted 3 review at IGN. Such Hyperbole had never been uttered before.

seanmcloughlin

Everyone's biased. Some people are more critical or level-headed than others, but that doesn't make the less critical ones somehow ineligible to review. I reviewed Hotline Miami this issue and basically "gushed" about it, and I have every right to. Moreover, I described it as running counter to trends that I personally (a qualifier a critic should never have to use) see as negative in gaming, so it was a clearly biased review, yet I will gladly defend it as a piece of criticism. It's not about biased or unbiased; it's about having reasons to back what you say. The Halo 4 reviewer did not go into much more detail than "I'm a Halo fan, this sh*t is f*cking awsum"(which I, for the record, think is f*cking moronic), but he clearly stated his reasoning, and also explained that he was not just a fan but a die-hard one, i.e, someone unlikely to be very critical of the game in question.

Pretty easy to say "okay, this guy's a die-hard Halo fan, this review isn't something that I want to read" and leave it at that.

I bought two Deluxe Wii U's at launch. I own two Wii U exclusive games (New Mario U and NintendoLand). I have friends that bought others, like the GS low scoring 4.5 ZombiU. It's not so bad, but I haven't beat it yet. ZombiU is doing better at Metacritic with a 74/100.

It's a shame the machine doesn't allow for my IDs to be on both my consoles. Nintendo needs to fix that fact the IDs are stuck to one console. The Sound options are rather disappointing as well for a next gen machine. The Wii U does not support any licensed surround formats: DPII, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD etc. It's a fun machine though, and playing the Wii U Gamepad Tablet while other in the house are watching 1080p Blu-Rays with 7.1 surround is pretty neat.

For the foreseeable future, the Wii U will be my exclusives playing machine much like my N64, GC, and Wii were.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

A clearly biased person shouldn't have a featured review then or be allowed to do the review. It's like when they let Greg Miller do the Uncharted 3 review at IGN. Such Hyperbole had never been uttered before.

jethrovegas

Everyone's biased. Some people are more critical or level-headed than others, but that doesn't make the less critical ones somehow ineligible to review. I reviewed Hotline Miami this issue and basically "gushed" about it, and I have every right to. Moreover, I described it as running counter to trends that I personally (a qualifier a critic should never have to use) see as negative in gaming, so it was a clearly biased review, yet I will gladly defend it as a piece of criticism. It's not about biased or unbiased; it's about having reasons to back what you say. The Halo 4 reviewer did not go into much more detail than "I'm a Halo fan, this sh*t is f*cking awsum"(which I, for the record, think is f*cking moronic), but he clearly stated his reasoning, and also explained that he was not just a fan but a die-hard one, i.e, someone unlikely to be very critical of the game in question.

Pretty easy to say "okay, this guy's a die-hard Halo fan, this review isn't something that I want to read" and leave it at that.

The point of a review is to show people who haven't played it what it does good and what it does bad. No game is absolutely perfect and you should be able to say some flaws a game has, more often than not if a game is good then it overcomes these flaws. But to mindlessly gush about something with all positives tells the reader nothing. It doesn't help them get a good grasp of things as tastes differ.

A reviewer is always slightly biased, sure, I can agree with that. But a proper review is able to hide these biased opinions and just write the facts. A little bit if gushing is fine if the game is really THAT good. But paragraph after paragraph of gushing and hyperbole isn't good. It's not good practice or good english. Balance is essential.

Great Hotline Miami review, by the way, Jethro. Had I seen that while it was still on sale, I probably would have bought it.

Great Hotline Miami review, by the way, Jethro. Had I seen that while it was still on sale, I probably would have bought it.

DarkLink77

It's one hell of a game alright. Dat soundtrack.

Also @jethro your review is good.

The point of a review is to show people who haven't played it what it does good and what it does bad. No game is absolutely perfect and you should be able to say some flaws a game has, more often than not if a game is good then it overcomes these flaws. But to mindlessly gush about something with all positives tells the reader nothing. It doesn't help them get a good grasp of things as tastes differ.

A reviewer is always slightly biased, sure, I can agree with that. But a proper review is able to hide these biased opinions and just write the facts. A little bit if gushing is fine if the game is really THAT good. But paragraph after paragraph of gushing and hyperbole isn't good. It's not good practice or good english. Balance is essential.

seanmcloughlin

I agree with your essential point, that reviews, ideally, should be critiques of a game. But that process cannot be reduced to a feature by feature evaluation. That's what a product reviewer does, not a critic. A critic evaluates a game through his (hopefully well-developed) frame of reference and makes of his overall feeling on the game a clear and open statement as to its quality. In the case of any review I've ever written the reader can, at the very least, come to an understanding of whether I thought a game was bad or good, sometimes with very detailed reasons, and sometimes with general rants. But the careful focusing of these feelings into language is the central purpose of a review, not a standardized, ultra-formal recital and examination of each and every facet of a game. If I think a game is complete sh*t I'm not going to waste my time and the reader's going over each and every one of its failings. That would take whole books in a handful of cases.

Great Hotline Miami review, by the way, Jethro. Had I seen that while it was still on sale, I probably would have bought it.

DarkLink77

Do so at some point. It's really quite something.

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

DarkLink77

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The Halo 4 review was absolutely disgusting. Like IGN levels of disgusting.

If that's not a joke review, whoever wrote it should feel bad for expecting people to take it seriously.

jg4xchamp

Objection that's called the truth completely different. jg4xchamp

[QUOTE="jg4xchamp"]Objection that's called the truth completely different. DarkLink77

You two really need to sleep together already. The tension is unbearable

Don't hate! But no seriously dead give away was pretty early, and I don't think he would really need to apologize for that review. He gave fair warning.

Edit: jethro is mad dialed back in his review. But he makes the game sound interesting. Can't think of a stealth game where I was encouraged to go stealthy for kills.

That Halo review...was a bit too much in my view.

The comment section on SWM articles never fail to disappoint.

I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Stevo_the_gamer

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[jg4xchamp

I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Stevo_the_gamer

I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Stevo_the_gamer

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[no-scope-AK47

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[no-scope-AK47

[QUOTE="no-scope-AK47"]

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Willy105

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[no-scope-AK47

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Willy105

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[no-scope-AK47

[QUOTE="Willy105"][QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"]I showed a picture of my Wii U. :[Stevo_the_gamer

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

A clearly biased person shouldn't have a featured review then or be allowed to do the review. It's like when they let Greg Miller do the Uncharted 3 review at IGN. Such Hyperbole had never been uttered before.

jethrovegas

Everyone's biased. Some people are more critical or level-headed than others, but that doesn't make the less critical ones somehow ineligible to review. I reviewed Hotline Miami this issue and basically "gushed" about it, and I have every right to. Moreover, I described it as running counter to trends that I personally (a qualifier a critic should never have to use) see as negative in gaming, so it was a clearly biased review, yet I will gladly defend it as a piece of criticism. It's not about biased or unbiased; it's about having reasons to back what you say. The Halo 4 reviewer did not go into much more detail than "I'm a Halo fan, this sh*t is f*cking awsum"(which I, for the record, think is f*cking moronic), but he clearly stated his reasoning, and also explained that he was not just a fan but a die-hard one, i.e, someone unlikely to be very critical of the game in question.

Pretty easy to say "okay, this guy's a die-hard Halo fan, this review isn't something that I want to read" and leave it at that.

So, if I happened to love a game and write a glowing review about it it's bias? Isn't that what glowing reviews are all about? I admit I tried so hard to find flaws but I coudn't and I put my Halo bias aside. I stand by my review and I appreciate all of your constructive criticism.