Running video games (and consoles) thread

Thinking about picking up a game tonight. What say you: Black Ops or NBA Jam?

 

Both? Depends how much you love first-person shooters. If you're not a huge fan of them, and fondly remember playing Jam at all hours, it's a no-brainer.

But let's face it, COD has way more to it than Jam.

 

Hockey sucks on the Wii, but NHL Slapshot (Gretzky on the front, comes with a stick controller holder) is supposedly the best out there.

Get Tiger Woods 11, but make sure you have a Wii MotionPlus dongle for true 1:1 movement. The new Wii systems might ship with them; if not pick a couple up. The Tiger game is amazing on the Wii.

Not many good baseball games either. Try renting a couple. I've got The Bigs 2, but nothing compares to what's available on PS3 or Xbox.

Oh, if you like puzzle games, go on the Wii store and buy the WiiWare title World of Goo.

 

My wife and I are playing a lot of Super Mario Bros and Wii Resort. Wii Resort was a huge hit at Christmas with the fam and Super Mario Bros is a great when you're drinking. Also, I like Mario Kart a lot.

 

The Wii probably came with the Wii Sports disc. It has four or five games on it that are fun. Bowling and golf are great, especially with other people. Boxing will kill you if you're not ready for it.

I'll second the recommend for the Tiger Woods game. Once you graduate from Wii Sports golf it's a great next step.
And if you like puzzlers, check out Boom Blox. It's like playing with a series of destructive, chaotic Rube Goldberg machines.

You should also check out the WiiWare and Virtual Console stores. Lots of great old games on there from past systems, from a wide assortment of genres, and they're cheap. Most games are under $10.

The main thing to be careful of with the Wii is the incredible amount of crap that is on shelves. Lots of "party games" that are little more than a collection of bad minigames, usually masquerading as family friendly offerings. Although I'm sure some of them can be fun, a lot of them are just awful.

 

Moddy Wii Sports should keep you fairly busy for a little while. Baseball, boxing and bowling are my favorites.

 

Pro sports on the Wii can be a bit tough, because the remote doesn't really have a whole lot of buttons on it. However, as mentioned, Wii Sports is awesome fun because it's so easy to pick up and play. Tennis gets all the hype, but bowling and baseball are fun with friends too.

If you're into simple fighting games, Smash Brothers is fun. It has oodles of classic Nintendo characters, and you fight against one another. Again, a good game for parties and other gatherings of casual gamers.

 

GameStop has a buy two, get one free sale going on for used games. Went today and picked up Madden 10, COD 4 and NHL 10 for 30 bucks.

 

Ditto the virtual console.

Have downloaded Tecmo Bowl, Mario Golf, SimCity, Cruisin USA, PunchOut.

My 5-year-old nephew's favorite games on the Wii aren't even the $50 Wii games. It's Super Mario III, Donkey Kong Country and Super DodgeBall.

 

This game is SO MUCH FUN. Plus, if you have small children hanging around, they'll get just as much of a kick out of it as adults do, as it is also a big game in learning colors and the like. Plus, you get to blow shit up. AMAZING.

I do a lot of strategy-type games. The Lego franchise of games are pretty fun. I'm currently playing my way through the Lego Star Wars game, but they also have Batman, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter (which I *really* want). Can't think if I'm missing any. Also, I have played my way through Super Paper Mario (the third in the series, the first was on Nintendo 64 and the second on GameCube) and that was tons of fun as well.

 

I got Lego Harry Potter for iPhone and can't believe how good it is. I've played Star Wars and Batman on other consoles and this thing on iOS is on par in terms of depth and gameplay. Astounding.