Is Mercury Meltdown Revolution a part of your Wii collection? If not, it absolutely should be, for Ignition's addictive puzzler must be one of the most criminally overlooked gems on the platform. And now Costco has it for $10.99, along with a bunch of other titles that range from pretty damn good to shovelware (oh, hai Pool Party). Angelina Jolie favoriteGhost Squad is also on sale, giving you a chance to knock terrorists from their speeding, swan-shaped jet skis, and save money in the process. If a better offer has come along this century, we've yet to see it.
Below are the six titles that most stood out to us (the full list is past the jump); we expect at least two of these to be in your house by June 22nd, when the sale ends:
Ghost Squad is rapidly becoming the game of choice among celebrities. We don't really have much in common with chef/writer/crazy person Anthony Bourdain. He's a vocal grump about food: it either has to be fine cuisine or prohibitively authentic regional dishes (i.e. gross Fear Factor stuff) or it's garbage; our lunch today was first frozen and then microwaved.
But Bourdain revealed a commonality between the famous food nerd and game nerds when, during a stay in Korea as part of his No Reservations show, he went to an arcade with his guide and made a beeline for the Ghost Squad machine, going so far as to declare it "my favorite game in the world."
Of course, being No Reservations, the rest of the clip involves eating disgusting stuff. Skip to around the 8 minute mark for the arcade trip, and enjoy Bourdain's genuine enthusiasm for Ghost Squad. The segment continues into the first few seconds of the next clip of the show, when Bourdain has a mock fit over being forced to walk away from the game.
We'd like to be envious of Angelina Jolie's vast wealth and movie star looks, but heck, we just can't muster up the hate -- not when she has the nous to buy games like Ghost Squad.
Alas, not everybody appreciates Ms. Jolie's discerning taste in Wii Zapper titles. Brad Pitt's own sister, for example, was less than pleased that her children received a copy of the T-rated game from the actress for Christmas, and apparently sent it back with a slightly indignant note, explaining to Auntie that "We don't promote violence in our home."
This apparently trivial celebrity tale probably raises lots of important questions concerning violent video game content and the role of parents. But we have our own questions -- vital questions -- that need answers. Questions such as: Did Jolie get the game cheap? Does she have her own dolphin-shaped Zapper? And if so ... does she read us?! Hai Angelina!
Ghost Squad, as we've already seen, is not afraid of being different. It's also not afraid of standing up for itself and picking on bigger games, when the need arises; games such as the PlayStation 3's Resistance: Fall of Man. The print advert above, for example, has been seen in various German magazines in recent weeks. And if we were being completely honest, we'd totally buy Resistance: Fall of Mandy.
A few NeoGAFfers are reporting that their local Target stores have started clearing out the excellent Ghost Squad for around ten bucks. That's terrible news for Sega, and awesome news for you. To put it bluntly: holy crap go buy the game. You can use the (ridiculous) savings to build your own Zapper/Perfect Shot/shark gun bundle.
A word of warning, though: Target's clearances are rather tricky. Not all stores participate, and sometimes it's quite a battle to actually convince the employees that the game is on sale. Sometimes their clearanced games are removed from the system, meaning that you have to convince the employees that it's an item Target sells.
Posted Dec 20th 2007 9:45AM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane, breakin' you off something proper. The old saint has brought in a trio of video game deals from Amazon, and not crap games, either. Hang your stockings and take out your credit cards because these bargains can be pulled at any moment.
Speaking of Santa, have you kids heard that new Ludacris song, "Ludacrismas," from the Fred Claus soundtrack? It is all the way live. Fill your hearts with Christmas cheer and join us past the break for a listen.
Seeing as it's (kind of) the next upcoming major Wii peripheral, we think it's worth our time to look at lots of hardware pictures of the thing and scrutinize its design. GAME Watch felt the same way as we do, except they got one.
Luckily for us, they took a bunch of detailed pictures from different angles, of the peripheral alone and in use. We thought the picture above was interesting, because we don't usually see the two-handed approach in Zapper demonstrations. We think you'll agree-- it's nice to have the option, but it looks totally goofy with this gun shell design. If only they would give us such a detailed overview of the shark gun!
We have lamented the lack of a hilarious themed Zapper to enhance our enjoyment of the ridiculous bonus mode in Ghost Squad, but now it seems that our troubles have come to an end thanks to Pega, whose silly gun shells we've enjoyed in the past. They're still playing easily, and playing happily!
Sure, the gun actually represents a shark shape, but it's close enough to a Wii-white version of the Ghost Squaddolphin squirt gun for our purposes. Isn't it amazing that Pega and other third-rate peripheral companies have graduated to outlandish gun shell designs while Nintendo has yet to release their own Zapper worldwide?
We apologize in advance for dropping more Ghost Squad media onto your lap, but this newest video features ninjas, and our love for ninjas is outstripped only by our zeal for zombies ... and Batman.
While this unlockable mode for Sega's rail shooter doesn't have any bikini-clad women or porpoise pistols, it does have plenty of ninjas, ninjas, and more frickin' ninjas. Specifically, ninjas with submachine guns. What sort of stealth assassins need firearms? And what ever happened to Michael Dudikoff? We may never know ...
We continue to love the unlockable bonus modes in Ghost Squad. The extra dose of craziness elevates the game above "somewhat notable port" status into "Zapper killer app" and "Thing we want to buy" categories. A shooting game in which you squirt water at bikini-clad "terrorists" with a dolphin-shaped water gun, then disarm them of their banana knives, may be all we need in life.
You can see all the hilarity in action in this video, including the swan jet skis. But what you may not yet know about Ghost Squad is that it looks really fun for reasons not entirely related to silly swapped items and characters. It features unique gameplay twists, such as segments in which you use the Zapper to simulate knife fighting and hand-to-hand combat. And, of course, the game carries the Sega name, which we think still means something, at least in relation to light gun games. Check after the break for another video without the bonus stuff, to prove that the game looks like loads of fun. This is one port we can definitely live with.
We're not linking to Siliconera's coverage of the Japan-exclusive Ghost SquadZapper bundle because we're jealous-- after all, with Ghost Squad at $30, we're actually getting a better deal on the Zapper and the game. All we're missing is the huge box, and that's no loss.
But what we do care about (in a professional capacity) are the close-up pictures and details of the Zapper. Spencer Yip opened the thing up and provided detailed pictures of its setup. The process, including opening a panel and coiling the Nunchuk cord inside the compartment, seems well-thought-out and well-designed, with the intention of holding everything in place. However, we can spot two obvious problems.
First, the process appears to take a long time. This may dissuade the more casual players from using the Wii, as it renders the whole thing a lot less pick-up-and-play. Second, use of the Zapper, like the Guitar Hero III controller, necessitates removal of the Wii remote jacket that Nintendo seems so intent on having us all use.
There is actually a third problem, and it's the one that weighs most heavily on us: the gun shell is, disappointingly, notdolphin-shaped.
We're technically calling this a rumor, since prices changeall the time on online stores and don't represent the final sale prices. But with Amazon and GameStop both making the same change on the same day, we feel confident that Ghost Squad will actually retail for $29.99 when it comes out on November 20th.
That means that we can now approximate a Ghost Squad Zapper bundle. Buying Ghost Squad and a Zapper now would set you back $50-- the cost of most new games-- and would get you Link's Crossbow Training as a bonus. Or you could just save money and hold your controllers yourself!
We think that releasing the game simultaneously with the Zapper, and at a price that encourages buying it with the 'hardware', is a good move on Sega's part. We hope somebody manages to notice this move a week after Super Mario Galaxy's release.
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles may have the power of a big series behind it, and Link's Crossbow Training has that and the whole pack-in thing, but Sega's Ghost Squadhas something very important that none of the other Zapper titles can claim: swan-shaped jet skis. We won't know for sure until the games come out, but we feel confident about predicting a lack of swan-shaped jet skis in Crossbow Training and Umbrella Chronicles.
Between these, the dolphin squirt guns, and the be-swimsuited antagonists, Ghost Squad's bonus mode is starting to become very aquatic-themed. It's also becoming very hilariously surreal, and we can't wait to see what else pops up. Oh, Sega. You've already earned our admiration. You had us at dolphin-shaped guns. It's strange, but even more than the Sega fan dream of a NiGHTSsequel, a port is bringing back our long-dormant feelings of Sega fandom.
We've already seen dozens of screenshots and videos for Ghost Squad, Sega's arcade on-rails shooter adapted for the Wii, so what else can its newly-released official website offer? Well, uh, not much.
If you've yet to see any media for the game, though, it's all collected at the site for you to preview. Other than that, the only interesting item of note is the target reticule that replaces your mouse pointer, mimicking the in-game crosshair. There aren't any enemies for you to shoot at, but several menu buttons are available for you to aim and click. Pew pew!
Ghost Squad goes on sale this November 20th in the states -- that leaves plenty of time for Sega to fill the site with desktop wallpapers, AIM buddy icons, and other trivial "bonuses."
Yes, Ghost Squad has a dual wielding feature, if you accept 'just playing the two-player game by yourself' as a kind of dual wielding. It looks fun, however it's achieved. It also has a number of other newly-announced features that may be of interest to light-gun game enthusiasts.
For example, you can turn the cursor off. Since the Wiimote is not exactly a light gun and its pointer doesn't always move as quickly as your hand, the game displays a cursor by default. But you can turn it off for point bonuses and a more authentic gun game feeling.
Second, to combat the extreme brevity of the arcade game (as with all arcade gun games), Ghost Squad features a level system that changes the appearance and enemy layout of the levels as you replay them, gradually increasing the difficulty of the game.
