Lost is back people!! Yes, I’m like two days late on this, but OMFG!!! The show is way too good! How can a show that leaves you completely flabbergasted before every commercial break be so damned good? If you allow me to invoke Aziz Ansari, “WWWWHHHHHHAAAAATTT!!!!” It’s probably the best show on network television, and gives True Blood and Dexter a run for their money as best on TV. Did any of you ever play the Lost game? That was crap, I do not suggest it. It wasn’t on Wii, so you were hopefully spared. Still, it’s stupid how good that show is and I can’t wait to get answers this season. (Side-note: I’m still under the delusion that we’ll be given answers. I know it won’t happen because I’m pretty sure the writers decide plot points using one of those origami fortune telling thingies that middle school girls play with to decide who their gonna marry. Yeah, that’s how Lost is written….)

I want to talk about this Project Needlemouse first. If you don’t know by now, it was the code name for the new Sonic game, “Sonic The Hedgehog 4.” Everyone’s favorite hedgehog is going back to his 2D roots after some misadventures in time and the 3D world. Seriously, the most recent Sonic games were horrific. I’m not here to talk about them though, or to even talk about Sonic 4; I want to discuss the choosing of “Project Needlemouse” as the code name for the game. WTF is that about? Was that what popped up if you picked the color purple while playing games with the Lost writers or something? It has to be the silliest name ever for a game. Whatever… Sonic 4 will be coming to all the consoles this summer, and you can find a trailer of the 2D glory just below.

Now, about High Voltage Software; we all know they love the Wii. They are the ones that delivered the ridiculously awesome, “The Conduit” to us, and shortly after its release, HVS announced two other Wii exclusives, “The Grinder” & “Gladiator A.D.” There have been some changes since then. The former is no longer a Wii exclusive, and will be delivering co-op madness to the HDC’s as well. This leaves yours truly in a bit of a pickle being a PS3 supporter, though if they are promising controls as solid and customizable as “The Conduit” gave us, I’m going Wii all the way. The latter is now called, “Tournament of Legends” and has been given a release date of May 18. Yes, I know it sounds like something that would take place on Wheel of Fortune or some other gameshow, but ToL is not child’s play. The game looks to be barbaric, bloody, and freaking awesome!! The “Legends” referenced in the title refer to Greek mythical beings and Gods, because those are the characters you will play as. Yeah, I know. You can expect much more on both of these games in the very near future. In the meantime I’m giving you the latest trailer for The Grinder, as well as some new jack swing goodness courtesy of Tony! Tone! Toni!, because Raphael Saadiq of the legendary group has started a gaming company, “Illfonic”. Yes, as soon as I get more on them and their plans for the Wii you’ll be the first to know. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Today, it’s time for something completely different. If you journey way back to late 2006, you’ll recollect the frenzy that was the launch of the Wii & PS3, and the unofficial beginning of the next-gen wars. During those early days, everyone with a voice to be heard on the internet bombarded consumers with what they thought were the essential items that should be paired with your new console purchase. As you all know, we do things a bit backwards at The Spin; I like to mix it up a bit, like shake-n-bake. That, my friends, is why today, more than 3 years after the release of Ninty’s little console that could, I am going to tell you everything you need to get the most out of your Wii. I’d also like to give a special shout-out to my older sister and her ill-informed friends, who served up the delicious plate of inspiration for this post.

So, you got a Wii, now what? Yes, we’re starting this off with the assumption that you actually made the leap and bought a Wii. To be honest, the timing is right as the price is lower now, the devs have had time to get rid of the party-game craze, and Nintendo has some huge releases planned (or having just released). One of the first things you may ask is, what about controllers? The Wii comes with one nunchuck and one Wiimote. The rest is up to you, if you buy a Wiimote, you need to buy a nunchuck at the same time. If you can still find the WiiPlay bundle, you can get it as it basically gives you a free Wiimote, be warned, the games included are crap though. Now, pay attention to this bit, there’s this thing called WiiMotionPlus, which is awesome. You need to get that, it makes the Wii the best controlling game you’ll ever play, and I’m betting that sooner or later almost all games will make the add-on necessary. I suggest getting the sexy black Wiimote/WMP combo.

Now that you’ve got all the controllers you can handle, you may be asking yourself, “To HD or not to HD.” Let me put this in the simplest terms possible, the Wii will not show in HD. It will show in better than standard-def, but that’s it. To accomplish that, you need to purchase the Wii component cables. I suggest using monoprice, as you can get the cables for a fraction of the price, and they are exactly the same. (Side-note: I suggest monoprice for all your cable needs. Don’t let the moron at Best Buy convince you to buy $100 HDMI cables, get them for like $6 instead. And for the naysayers, I have both super-expensive and super-cheap HDMI in my house, and they’re exactly the same. Suck it.)

Okay, we’ve got our Wii, our extra controllers, and have even decided whether or not we want to spend the money for a slightly better looking experience. What the hell should you be playing? This is single-handedly the easiest, and the hardest question to answer. If you ask me, and you are asking me, I mean, you’re not actually asking me but you’ve read this far so you should just keep playing along, then I’d tell you it breaks down into three groups: Games for Everyone (kids, families, parents, teens, and 28 year old immature men will enjoy these), Games for Kids (if Billy the Ginger is bothering you, set him in front of these and he’ll be happy), and Games for Adults (for those of us who like our games with a bit of ultra-violence). For the sake of this article, I’ve excluded the Games for No One (any game with someone who would be considered a betty at any time during the 90’s) category. I’m running out of time, and missing Lost, so here’s my top 2 for each category:

GFE:

New Super Mario Bros. - This game is an amazing title, and should be in everyone’s library.
WiiSports Resort - The evolution of WiiSports (which you get free with your initial Wii purhcase!), and it comes package with WMP, you really can’t beat that.

GFK:

MySims: Agents - Really great game, will make them think and promote creativity/individuality through the customization aspects of the game.
Punch-Out - When I fell in love with this game it had Iron Mike Tyson in it, you’re kids can play it with waggle. We’re all winners!

GFA:

No More Heroes (both of them!) - Yeah, I’m cheating a bit including them both, so what. If you want to play a game that’s cooler than a polar bear with ice skates on, Suda 51’s masterpieces are for you.
The Conduit - Best.Shooter.Ever. Yeah, I said it, and don’t you ever forget it. Agent Ford would drop a massive save on Master Chief. You owe it to yourself to get this game.

There you have it, everything you need to know if you are buying a Wii, or have one sitting in the corner getting dusty. Now, just for the hell of it, check out an amazing performance by Mos Def & The Roots. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

I have a confession to make. I set out this weekend to play the crap out of No More Heroes 2; to dominate suckas and drop tons of saves with Travis Touchdown. I was going to participate in an orgy of ultraviolence. The problem was, I got Modern Warfare: Reflex, and it is so choice. I’ll admit that the game totally snuck up on me, and I didn’t think it was going to be very good; thing is, Infinity Ward dominates at making games. It’s every bit as good as the original Modern Warfare. In fact, it’s the exact same game only it uses Wii controls. Obviously it doesn’t look as good, but I don’t mind. Especially when I’m shooting terrorist scumbags in their face. So, yeah, I didn’t get to play much NMH2 this weekend, and I didn’t get any time in on Shattered Memories, and I’m not even sad about it. I’ve still got those two to get through, Reflex is waiting on me, Mass Effect 2 may be the best game I’ve played in a very long time, and the PS3 is getting Tales From Liberty City for GTA4. (Side note: Seriously, ME2 is stupidly good. It’s like a BA Star Trek/Star Wars hybrid where you play the captain and get to kill all sorts of aliens and pick up all the alien betties. Yes, I know it’s not a Wii game, but it’s too good not to mention on this site. I suggest the PC version, only because the 360 is crap.) I think I may build a bomb shelter under the guise of protection for when the Vampires & Robots takeover, but it’ll really be just for me to live in and play all these awesome videogames that I’ve got!!

So, did any of you pick up on the Juno reference in my title? That’s right, I watched Juno. I didn’t even hate it, at least I don’t think I did; I just asked Mrs. Mike and she said “it was okay, we didn’t hate it…” Michael Cera is funny to us, mainly because he just plays himself in every movie or role ever. I personally prefer him as George Michael; he should just change his name to George Michael. I would be willing to bet that if he did he’d get a lot more work, and wouldn’t have to worry about that Michael Cera knockoff that was in Zombieland or that Carnie movie with K-Stew. (Side-note: I’ve been reading way too much ONTD and may be slightly obsessed with Twilight and Vampires…) I mean, who the eff wouldn’t go see a movie with an awkward ass/emo teen who is constantly uncomfortable and slightly funny AND is named George Michael? I’d buy tickets right now if there were such a movie in theaters. But, there’s not… There’s also no Harry Potter movie in theaters right now, which honestly makes me kinda sad. Luckily, LEGO has our back and is going to milk the “let’s make a game based on a totally awesome series of movies and/or books using nothing but LEGO’s and we could have all our favorite characters and locations made out of LEGO’s” thing they’ve got going on a bit more with, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4. Basically, if you’ve seen the movies, you’ve probably read the books, which means you’ve lived through all this at least twice. You may as well relive it through the magic that is little plastic blocks that can snap onto each other eventually building a discernible shape or mass before being left in the middle of the floor for your parent to trip over in the middle of the night and then getting thrown away making you cry. I share too much…. Lemme share with you the latest trailer from the upcoming game, which will be in stores this May. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

There haven’t been too many days since our time together here at The Spin that I’ve actually felt sad, but today is one of those days. If you haven’t heard by now, J.D. Salinger has passed away at the age of 91. Salinger is most well known for his classic, “The Catcher In The Rye”. I know how cliche this sounds, but that was one of the books that truly changed my life. That, along with “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac, were probably the first two books I read out of adolescence. Holden Caulfield was the first character I ever read that I felt a connection to. (Side note: Don’t sleep, I freaking loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid, but there was no connection there.) The kid was a lost, sarcastic, smart-ass angry teenager; something that I was quickly shaping myself to become. The coolest thing about Salinger, was that he felt no need for the limelight. I mean, here was a man that wrote one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and he just bounced to New Hampshire to live his own peaceful life. One of my all time favorite quotes of his was from a 1974 interview with The New York Times: “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing … I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.” Trust that I do not lie when I tell you I would love to write something that could touch an entire generation and the generation after that and the one after that, only to be able to say screw it and live a quiet life with Mrs. Mike and Roxy the dog. (Side note: Yes, I’m aware that Salinger was quite eccentric, but dude lived to be 91, he must’ve been doing something right.) When I heard today that he had passed I was sad, even more so than the day MJ died. The world lost one of its greatest writers today. I hope you’ve found peace Mr. Salinger, and thank you for Holden Caulfield.

I’m having trouble staying away from Desperate Struggle, and I also just got Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (I’ll have a bit on that later in the week). Oh, there’s also the ridiculously epic Mass Effect 2 that I’m totally effing bonkers over right now. God, that game is too good!!! Anyway, now that NMH2 is out, that means we can start the long wait for Red Steel 2. That’s right, in less than two months we’ll be able to get our Western Samurai on. How about we whet our appetite with the latest trailer? Yeah, I thought you’d like that. And just for fun I’m gonna give you a video from the venerable Mos Def. There’s no reason for that really, other than the fact that Mos Def is super ill and The Spin supports real hip-hop. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

I have played No More Heroes 2 and it is glorious. It is beyond glorious, it is stupidly awesome. With the risk of sounding politically incorrect, and to paraphrase Roxanne Shante, “Desperate Struggle” gets retarded. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but allow me to drop a little science about the opening scene of Suda 51’s magnum opus….(Side note: I really don’t care what I spoil, and for who, as you’ll find out in the following paragraph. That’s code for **SPOILER ALERT**.)

NMH2 starts off with a blood splashed rolling of the credits while a voice over gives a bit of background on Travis Touchdown’s life since he became the worlds greatest assassin. All of this leads into what may be the greatest way to save a game ever: dropping a save in the toilet. It’s awesome! After you drop the save off at the pool, Travis finds himself on a rooftop, “where his last killing spree began”, with the vengeful brother of one of his victims. I’m not even going to lie, it took me a minute to gather my bearings with the controls and I died twice before overcoming the battle. I will say one thing that could possibly sum up the amazing job Suda and his team have done, I never got mad at dying. I know it was only twice, but you and I both know that on the first level of a game that can be infuriating. Nope, not here. It made me want to play it more, not less. I wanted, nay I needed to have that connection with Travis, to have him shake his energy sword back to life, to have him exclaim “What the %&*@” as he got blasted in the back; it was all amazing. Then, once the battle was over and Travis was victorious, the beautiful Sylvia shows up to inform Travis he’s back in the game. She also promises him a 5 course meal she’ll serve up Yoga style, which is more than Travis can handle. Oh yeah, Travis’ recently decapitated victim comes back to life to promise vengeance before re-decaptitating himself. You cannot make this up, if you could you’d be Suda 51. And yes, it is as effing awesome as it sounds!!! Desperate Struggle is everything a game should be: fun, creative, and unique. It also adds two things I cherish in my video games: ultraviolence and cussing. Yes, I’m a deviant at heart and Travis Touchdown is my hero. If Tarantino made video games, he would make No More Heroes. If Tarantino plays video games, he plays No More Heroes. Basically, Suda and crew have served up a slice of BA pie with No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, and you should definitely have seconds. Below you’ll find the launch trailer for NMH2, as well as Roxanne Shante & Biz Markie throwing it down with “Def Fresh Crew”. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Let’s get right down to business. As you should all be aware of already, Netflix has officially announced that they are indeed bringing video streaming to the Wii. This is fairly big news, even if I’m a day late reporting it, and it’s been something that almost everyone has speculated on the past 6 months or so. It only makes sense seeing as how the Wii is considered a “family console”, and I’m guessing about 95% of them are located in the family living room. This makes the market huge for Netflix, and is another selling feature to the little console that could. The one flaw is that users will need to insert a streaming disk into the Wii (just like the PS3), and I can see this being a problem for families with kids. Kids lose things, break stuff, and pretty much run paths of ruinous destruction anywhere they go. If all we’re gonna get is the paper sleeve to store the disk in when it’s not in use, Netflix better plan on allowing you to get a free replacement as needed. I’ve contacted Netflix asking about that and a few other things, stay tuned to see if they give me the answers. In the meantime, check the trailer for the upcoming movie, “The A-Team”, which is just below here. One day it could be in Netflix’s Watch Instantly lineup, so it makes sense to put it here. That and the fact that it’s so BA. Oh, don’t forget to go ahead and order your streaming disk so you can join in the streaming fun when Netflix hits the Wii this spring.

One of these days The Spin is going to hit the big time. I don’t know when it’ll happen, and I don’t know how it will happen. I do know that our day will come. On that day I may be privy to preview games before their official release. Games like No More Heroes 2 for instance, a game for which I’d let Suda 51 punch me in the face for an early look at. Sadly, that day is not today. IGN, on the other hand, has those days all the time. I imagine their offices are gaming meccas in which you can find games before they are released, consoles before they are announced, and everything else one can dream of. Sure, it’s probably not that glamorous, but I don’t care. I want to bask in my tiny corner of the interwebs, shaking my fist at the corporate “man” that is IGN as they play hours upon hours of No More Heroes 2. It should be me, and one day it will. In the meantime, I just have to watch the three videos they posted up and try my best not to cry. You can join me if you’d like, the videos are right down there. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

I think my TV is breaking, or has already broke. It won’t turn on no matter how much I press the power button. Before you ask, yes, I have gotten up and tried to physically turn it on. I think we’re gonna need something like power-supply-transistor-thingy, or something stupidly technical like that. My initial thought is to look up to the heavens shouting, “Why God?!?! WHY ME!!?!?!”, but then I think it’d be easier to just pull the other TV from the guest bedroom into our room. Of course, by easier I mean, “this isn’t really easier in any way whatsoever since the TV in the guest room weighs like 100 pounds and may be the first TV ever invented and moving it into our room is not a solution at all because it’s going to take about two days before I get pissed that our good HDTV is broken and then I’m going to have to either A: buy a new one or B: pay to get it fixed.” Yeah, I’m not really looking forward to this….

We’re going to keep this post short and sweet since it also seems like my computer is thinking about giving up on me again, sorry. As you should all remember from last week, NBA Jam was expected to make it’s glorious return to households, and exclusively on the Wii. Nothing had been announced, and it was all a bit hearsay. Well, I’m pleased to officially announce that NBA Jam is in fact returning sometime this year! Jam will apparently have a few new game modes, I don’t care about that as long as I can get my Bill Clinton on!! Actually, forget that, I hope I can get my old school on with the Charlotte Hornets and Larry “Grandmama” Johnson & Alozon “Gonzo” Mourning!! I used to seriously dominate fools with that team. They were so nasty!! If you feel like checking out the official website, you know what to do.

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that this is a two-parter. Two-parter is jargon that we in the biz use to identify a body of work that will have not one, but two parts. It’s all very complicated and I don’t expect you to understand. I digress…The second part of this two-parter is written with a heavy heart. Nintendo has announced that they will no longer be shipping, or publishing, “Metroid Prime Trilogy”. This was a collection of an extremely fine trilogy, and one that I was incredibly excited about. It is also one that I never got around to buying. (Side note: I totally just sighed there thinking that I may have missed out on Samus and all her Prime glory…) So, if you’re like me and are lamenting the fact that you never pulled the trigger on an awesome box set, I suggest keeping an eye out at Target & Best Buy in the coming weeks, I’d imagine the remaining copies may hit clearance. In the meantime check out some gameplay of the recently killed off title. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

Like most of the country, Atlanta is being battered by stupidly cold weather. We’re also getting snow and ice, which is kinda cool. I mean, it’s cold and annoying and dangerous, but it does look pretty. The thing is, Atlanta is not at all prepared to deal with ice and snow and stupidly cold weather. Airports, schools, government buildings all close down because we have no clue how to handle the ice that forms on the roads. Oh, we also have a ridiculous number of super old water mains that love to break all the time, which creates more mayhem. Like I said earlier, it’s all kinda cool until you get that email at 6am letting you know that even though you could die on the treacherous roads, you still have to come to work. Seriously, what the eff is with that?? Of course, they say if you’re unable to come then you don’t have to, but when you’re at the bottom of the food chain at a major lawfirm, messages like that really say you have no choice but to come to work. Fun times…

Something else that’s a lot of fun is CES, which I mentioned earlier this week. Between all the 3D TV’s, “super phones”, Tablets, E-Readers, and iPhone controlled helicopters, Nyko has managed to introduce another amazing controller. If you have a good memory you’ll remember last year I reported on Nyko introducing their take on the Wiimote called “Wand” at CES, and was very impressed with the controller like the rest of the world (the Wand one a Best of CES award). Well, the company that has a stranglehold on the peripheral market looks to one up Nintendo once again with their new controller the Wand+. I’m sure you can guess what the + is for, and you’d be right, it is most definitely signaling the inclusion WiiMotion Plus technology. The sweetest thing about it is, they’ve got it built right into the controller, and have managed to retain the standard size of the Wiimote. Yup, no more adding a dongle on and making your controller a bit bigger and kinda awkward. The controller is not only much sexier than last year’s offering, but it smashes the alternative Wiimote & WMP+ combo that Ninty offers us. It may be just me, but it seems that if Nyko can do this, and pull it off, then Nintendo has no reason to continue making consumers buy the add-on. I’ll post a couple of pics of the Wand+ along with the Nyko press release below. As an added bonus I’m including a video sent to me by Ben Hoffman who works for Al Gore’s Current TV, and may have as much love for Jenny McCarthy as yours truly. (Side note: Al Gore created the internets, invented global warming, and has his own television channel!?! I’m pretty sure Al Gore may be secretly running the world…). Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

The Wand + is designed to be the most advanced and user-friendly controller on the market for the Wii. Instead of requiring additional attachments or dongles for accurate motion control, the Wand + features Full Motion Technology™ built directly into the controller, allowing full 1:1 movement tracking that is compatible with all games that utilize the Wii Motion Plus™ attachment. By building the technology into the controller, the Wand + provides all the functionality Wii gamers expect, plus the versatility and convenience they deserve; no more dongles, no more custom sleeves or incompatibility with docks and other accessories not able to accommodate attached dongles. The Wand + also contains Nyko’s award-winning Trans-Port Technology, which allows key action buttons to be digitally replicated on other devices and pass sound and vibration signals to attached peripherals for the ultimate immersive gameplay experience. The Wand + features a fresh new design for a sleek, high-tech minimalist look.

The Wand + will be available at select retail stores nationwide in March 2010 and will retail for an MSRP of $39.99.