Earthbound on Wii U means anything is possible

May 23, 2015 by Patrick Kulikowski in Editorial

After today’s stunner of an announcement via Nintendo Direct regarding the longed-for re-release of Earthbound on Wii U, I hereby declare that anything is possible.

Okay, maybe not anything, but this sudden acknowledgement of the Earthbound/Mother series’ existence by Nintendo of America came out of left field for a lot of people, myself included. You need only look at the outpouring of happiness from folks on Twitter to know that the company made fans’ days with that single announcement.

That being said, what took them so damn long!? I’ll get to that in a moment, but first, some history.

Hey publishers, offer your soundtracks digitally

May 23, 2015 by Patrick Kulikowski in Editorial

If you ask me, one of the most important aspects of a game (aside from being fun and playable) is whether or not it has good music.

A game’s soundtrack can make or break a game. Without a good soundtrack that instills some sort of joyful, thrilling or even fearful emotion in me I can’t have fond memories of that experience.

Some of us don’t think it’s enough to just hear a great tune while we’re busy blasting through a random encounter, stomping on a Goomba or tossing sonic booms. Damn it, some of us like to walk or drive down the road to the hair-raising ’80s rock euphoria that is the Grandia II battle theme, or the infectiously catchy melodies of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. That’s why we like to purchase videogame soundtracks.

Five things the Wii U needs

May 23, 2015 by Patrick Kulikowski in Editorial

Let’s face it: If Nintendo wants to succeed among its hardcore audience in this new and upcoming console generation, it needs to propel itself into the now with the Wii U.