Sir Paul McCartney: musician and gamer

Paul McCartney may be entering the video game world with the upcoming September release of The Beatles: Rock Band, but the musical mastermind is no stranger to gaming. In a new interivew with Game Informer, McCartney proves he knows a thing or two about gaming.

"I have a son who's 30, so he's a big gamer, he gamed through a lot of the early stuff," McCartney said. "I was thinking the other day, 'God, that's a long way from ping pong.'"

McCartney continued, "...his generation went through stuff like — I like Pilotwings and stuff like that," he continued. "I liked the way you used to crash on purpose: 'No!'" It's very refreshing to hear an entertainer not only refer to himself as a gamer, but without the cliche Pac-Man or Galaga references.

"So those are great, and I say I played a bunch of that along with them, so I know the excitement of it. I just never got into it as much as the guys did, because I was doing other stuff." Ha, yeah, other stuff.

Another notch of coolness has been added to your belt, Sir Paul.

Sir Paul McCartney: musician and gamer (Examiner)

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World Championship NES cartridge sells for $17,500

Anyone familiar with The Wizard knows a thing or two about the Nintendo World Championships of 1990. It was a thing of beauty, offering gamers a chance to experience the hottest games on the market, and even get exclusive looks at unannounced titles, similar to E3.

Well, the games used for the tournaments were actually on a single cartridge, each holding Super Mario Bros., Tetris and Rad Racer, the three tournament titles used at the NWC. Because only 26 of these delightful game cartridges were ever created, they've become quite a hot commodity. So much so that one man just spent $17,500 on one. Gamer JJ Hendricks found one on eBay and apparently couldn't let it slip through his fingers, despite its hefty price tag.

As some of our readers may remember, we at One Life Gamer are avid fans of the Nintendo World Championships. So much so that we bought these badass shirts!

Yahoo!

GTA: Double Stuffed

Up to now, truly violent games on the DS have been slim pickins. While Trauma Center does contain blood and exposed organs, it's not exactly a Tarantino flick. Dementium: The Ward is probably the closest thing to a gore fest the system offers, but where can you turn for more realistic law suit inducing violence? Hmmm....

For guns and fisticuffs, Rockstar Studios is always a safe bet. With the rampant success of their Grand Theft Auto franchise it was just a matter of time until even Nintendo's pocket monster wrangling handeld was corrupted.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is a DS exclusive set for release this May. Two major factors stand out about Big N's maiden voyage into bedlam.

First is the stylized approach Chinatown takes versus past iterations of the series. Obviously the game had to be made in a more efficient way for the DS' cartridge space and I hope that the solid mechanics of prior GTA outings will make Chinatown feel right at home.

(Gasps)... Just a few days from pixelated retirement...

Second and most notable is the scope of the game. Rockstar claims that Chinatown will be substantially larger than GTA's current PSP offerings. While "larger" can be construed to any number of meanings (gameplay options, missions, the size of the box) it's rumored that the in-game map is near GTA IV in size.

First Nintendo's trading exotic animals over the internet and now it's just a countdown until people are bartering crack for Bulbasaurs. I'm not saying that I'm not excited, but please... don't bring Bulbs into this...

Source: Nintendo Power

Club Nintendo Reopens Its Doors

After a short hiatus, the Nintendo rewards service has reopened. Since its December 15th launch, the site had been plagued with reported login issues and other odd bugs. Users were frequently told that their username and password were incorrect, or would just get logged out while browsing the website's different sections. Fortunately, after a few days offline, all of the bugs seem to be gone.

You can now login or sign up and feel safe knowing your hard earned coins aren't going anywhere! That is unless you spend them.

Club Nintendo

Club Nintendo: Overview

Finally, North America Joins the Club

North American gamers are generally spoiled when it comes to release dates, as we always seem to get products first, or close to it. But Nintendo burst that bubble when years went by with no Club Nintendo in our sights. Finally, after Japan, Europe, Australia and even South Africa, Club Nintendo opened its doors to North America.

Most North American gamers probably hadn’t heard of Club Nintendo until somewhat recently, but you should thank the hardcore Nintendo fanatics that constantly begged and pleaded for the service. It really is because of strong fan reaction that we have the service in the first place. Club Nintendo started in Japan as a reward system for those consumers loyal to the Nintendo brand. Members are rewarded “Stars,” in Japan or “Coins” in North America, that you use to purchase “Rewards.”

Before any coins can be earned, you must create a Club Nintendo account on Nintendo.com. Luckily, if you previously had a “My Nintendo” account, you can easily sign in and your information will not need to be reentered. If not, signing up is easy and only takes a few minutes. Once you’re ready, it’s time to beginning earning some coins. Earning coins can be done in three ways:

* Register a Wii or Nintendo DS game and complete a quick survey.
* Indicate your intent to buy a game and you'll earn 10 extra Coins after you buy it, register it and complete the survey.
* Register a Nintendo game and complete a quick survey within 4 weeks of its launch and earn an additional 10 Coins!

Coins are unfortunately not given based on how many products you register, but how many surveys you take based on those products. Luckily these surveys are quick and easy to do. Now you can begin registering some of your Nintendo products, which is simply done by entering the PIN or Serial Number given with your software or hardware.

Once you register the product onto Club Nintendo, a survey will pop up in the “To-Do” section on the main page. By clicking on the survey, you’ll answer less than 10 questions about your purchase. As of now, the surveys are the same exact questions for any product you register. After you have completed the survey, you will see your Current Balance with a newly deposited amount of coins. Members are rewarded coins in different amounts, based on what type of product you registered.

The breakdown is as follows:

* Wii games = 50 Coins
* Nintendo DS games = 30 Coins
* Wii Shop Channel games/Wii Channels = 10 Coins


By filling out surveys, indicating your intent to buy a game, and filling out surveys close to the title’s release date, Club Nintendo gives you plenty of opportunities to increase your Coin Balance. However your Coin Balance isn’t just important for purchasing Rewards. Club Nintendo members can gain “Elite Status” by earning enough coins to hit one of the two benchmarks within a Club Nintendo year. The Club Nintendo year starts on July 1 and ends on June 30. A Gold Status is achieved by having 300 or more coins. A Platinum Status is achieved by having 600 or more coins. Members who hit either of these benchmarks by the end of the Club Nintendo year will be given a special reward. In Japan, such rewards have included a Super Mario Galaxy OST, or a new Super Famicom controller developed for use on the Wii.

The Glorious Super Famicom Wii Controller & Super Mario Galaxy OST

At any time, you are able to view what Rewards you can redeem with your coins, but special gift rewards given to Gold and Platinum members are kept secret. Currently, the Rewards selection is small and includes Nintendo themed playing cards for 500 coins, a Nintendo DS Game Rack for 600 coins, and an exclusive Club Nintendo DS title, “Game & Watch Collection,” for 800 coins. Out of the 11 rewards currently available, only 4 are less than 600 points, which is a little surprising. I’m fairly confident however that the Reward section will update several times each Club Nintendo year, with array of great prizes.

The Club Nintendo website is less than a week old, and some kinks are to be expected. However the launch was more of a catastrophe, plagued with login errors, registration trouble, coin misinformation displayed and so on. As of now, the website seems to be running much better, as traffic has inevitably died down since launch, but it’s still not perfect.

I’m still continuously being logged off or told my username/ password isn’t correct. None of my WiiWare or Virtual Console titles had surveys to accompany them, many of which are first-party Nintendo titles. It’s unknown if Nintendo plans to go back and allow users to earn points on other past purchases, or if we are just looking to the future from here on out. It’s also unclear if you lose your Gold or Platinum status if you spend your hard-earned Coins. It would be awful to spend your Coins on a 600-point prize, at the expense of your Platinum status, and not getting that Special Reward at the end of the Club Nintendo year.

The website is setup nicely with tabs clearly indicating where to go to find what you’re looking for. But some information doesn’t seem to fit within those tabs. In order to view products you’ve registered that weren’t accompanied by surveys, you have to click on the “My Account Settings” tab, which seems pretty counter intuitive to the old My Nintendo page.

It’s not logical to review a service based off of a website’s debut. The site can only get better, and I’m sure the bugs are being worked on as we speak. For whatever the website lacks, the service makes up for with its free exclusive Rewards, available just for showing your devotion to Nintendo. As a fan, it is nice to get a little back from a company you give so much to. I’m fairly confident that Club Nintendo will continue to take care of us. As a company Nintendo might be stubborn, but they always come around in the end. So start buying, registering and surveying to get whatever Rewards you so desire. And let us all keep our fingers crossed for the day we might see the Super Famicom controller debut in North America, courtesy of Club Nintendo.

UPDATE: A response about whether your Gold or Platinum status goes away after spending your coins was given by Nintendo of America's Ryan Cardiff:

"Great question. Elite status is based on coins earned within the year, not remaining balance. So as long as you earn 600+ coins within the year, you will be eligible for the special reward. In the meantime, you are free to redeem your coins!"

So there you have it. Thanks Nintendo!

Gamer Swag (Not a Limited Edition Pokemon Card)

Ballin. The game industry is full of it. Sony wins a format war with what? It's ballin blu-ray support. Nintendo makes gaming more mainstream than ever; ballin. The ballers at Microsoft's X-box 360 offer hardcore gaming delight.

It's straight ballin across the board. And the fashion industry is taking notice. No, not just Hot Topic. Game swagger hits a new benchmark with these kicks from Nike:
These NES inspired Nike Air Max are set to hit the streets soon. The colors resonate strong from Nintendo's first console outing and the start (hopefully select) accents add even more floss to the overall pallet. No word on price yet, but it'll likely cost you some serious cake.

A little further off the radar, kicks producer Globe has thrown together a nice looking Gears of War set of shoes.


They'll set you back $80, but just tell your significant other that you bought some shoes and not: "These really awesome shoes based on X-box 360's blockbuster first person shooter Gears of War! (Catching Breath) Star Trek!"

Coming Soon!

First off, thanks to everyone who has visited and critiqued the site. I'm working slowly but surely to make it flow. As of right now, the only reviews I have up are for games on the PS3 and PSP systems, but that is about to change. In the coming weeks, you will see reviews and news for Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PC, Cell Phones, and Web Based games. It's been a long time coming, but please continue to check in regularly. Also, if you or someone you know would like to submit reviews or news articles, please e-mail me at theadamballard@gmail.com.



There's a lot of games to review and news to cover, but here's to things to come!

Adam