Why have I not raved about this game yet?
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A conversation on 2D, as discussed by Kangaroo, DoomRater, and Dacapo.

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There is something about flash games that catches my eye.  Maybe it’s the ease of which it can produce a silly or entertaining game, or sometimes it’s the quality and effort put forth by what often is a single man project, with maybe a few free music resources here and there.  Either way, I’ve found that as the quality of Flash has improved over the years, so has the amount of endless entertainment for me at Newgrounds.

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Before I begin the review, I feel I need to mention a mistake I made in my last blog entry. In Pitfall II, you don’t have to get all the gold bricks to beat the game. However, getting the bricks is good for getting more points and possibly achieving a perfect score. If you just want to win the game, all you need to do is find Rhonda(Harry’s niece), Quick-Claw the cowardly mountain lion, and the diamond ring.

Now on to the review of Jill of the Jungle.

Released in 1992 by Epic Megagames, Jill of the Jungle was a sensation in the growing shareware market. The way companies used to market their games was to release the first part or ‘episode’ of a series for free distribution, as sort of a demo or teaser, and charge a fairly cheap price for the full package which generally consisted of three episodes. It was a hit due to the amazing(in that day) graphics and soundblaster midi music, some cool puzzles, and possibly fan service.

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Spending just a little time in the thick of things can really relate you to the pulse of public sentiment. Recently I was surprised to find how many people consider the Nintendo Wii an abomination. They blame “casual gamers” for their influence, and Nintendo for attending to them. They cite low attachment ratios (the number of games sold per console) for proof that the Wii is not a success, and insist these numbers are explained by smart hardware that is hampered by a subpar game library.

According to Nintendo’s second-quarter 2008 earnings, the Wii maintains a higher attachment ratio than the DS and the Gameboy Advance, and is led only by the Gamecube. Considering the Wii’s hardware sales have already overcome the Gamecube’s, it probably wouldn’t be fair to call the Wii unsuccessful by business standards.

The Wii’s game library may never see a sharp turn toward great numbers of games for Nintendo loyalists. Instead, we may continue to see them only on occasion, as we have with Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Personally, I’ve tried the Wii but only briefly. I don’t own one for the above reason: there hasn’t been a watershed game, or collection of games, convincing me to purchase the console (but there are plenty I’d like to try). Although the choice of titles so far might not appeal to me, I do recognize the power of the platform and the way it has shifted the perception of interactive games. More weighty than the issue of the Wii’s success for Nintendo are the implications for future hardware, and the impact on a population newly aware of modern video games.

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