Gunslinger Gaming

On September 4th-6th (2009), Denmark hosted the N-Club 6 Live Convention in Aalborg.  The convention, which hosted tournaments and various other sorts of competitions and activities, drew in Nintendo Wii Danish fans from all across the country.  One of those fans, Missie, is a member of Gunslinger Gaming, and she was kind enough to share her photos and thoughts on the event.

N-club Live 6

Mario Kart Wii on Outdoor Large Screen

As some might know, I have been to a convention, a Nintendo Marathon, and I would like to share my experience with you.

First of all, what is N-club live 6?  N-club is an unofficial Danish Nintendo Forum here we talk and discuss about Nintendo and games and stuff. You are even able to sell or trade some of your Nintendo things you do not need. N-Club live is an annual convention where all members are invited to come and play Nintendo together with many competitions of all kind of games and consoles.

My Trip

I was standing at the train station, waiting anxiously for the train where some of us would go to the convention

Mario Kart Wii Competition with Crowd

together.  Some already was there from Copenhagen.  I was very nervous since most people knew each other from the forum or previous N-Club live events.  For me not being very active on the Forum, I was very worried about not really fitting in.  Getting on the train, I did not say much just:  just smiling nicely and pretending not to be nervous.  A person who also joined the train ride at the same station as me took out his Nintendo DS and said, “Who has a good multi-game?”

I replied, “I have Mario Kart,” which I had just bought a few days earlier.  The ice was then broken.

“You host,” he said, and so we played Mario Kart most of the way.  At the next bigger city more joined us, and we had enough of Mario Kart.  At least, I had enough since I have not played it before and came in last all the time.  After that, we played Tetris the rest of the way, which I also really enjoyed, even though I lost every time. Finally, we came to the final station and I felt good because I had already made friends so I would not feel awkward when I would get to the convention.

We were welcomed and shown around when we arrived at the convention.  It was at a rented school.  When we came into one of its rooms where they had all the televisions and Wiis set up, I was like, “Wow! I can’t believe I am actually here.”

We found our place to sleep if we should sleep and put our things there. I had my bag with me, which contained My

Missie Winning in N-Club Live 6 MKW Competition

Wii-mote, nunchuck, and my DS with Mario Kart in it.  I was ready to look around at all the game stations and stuff.
It was set up in 2 rooms:  one big room for the Wii and for the big screen for the final event in the different competitions.  The second room was called “Retro Room” where they had all the retro consoles from Nintendo, which I personally think it was awesome because I have never really played any other Nintendo consoles so it was like a culture shock for me to see all these consoles in real life…‘

Missie went on to compete in a Mario Kart Wii competition comprised of 32 players.  Unleashing her racing skills accumulated by her practice with friends, she finished in 4th place.

All photos posted in this blog entry has been provided by Missie.

There were many competitions that took place beyond that of Mario Kart Wii.  You can view some additional footage, which is of the finale for the FIFA event.

N-club – Wii eSport Aalborg FIFA Finale from Nintendo Club DK on Vimeo.

Mercedes Rose, Voice of Princess Rosalina

Recently, we had the chance to catch up with Mercedes Rose, the voice of Rosalina in Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart Wii (both published on the Nintendo Wii), and asked her a few questions about her experiences working with Nintendo and her creative process in general.  Below is what we found out:

GS:  We at GunslingerGaming.com are collectively excited to have you, the voice actor of Rosalina in both Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy, take the time to share your experiences.  Our members would like to thank you for bringing to life such a popular Nintendo character.

What got you into voice acting?

Mercedes Rose:  Honestly? I became a voice actress completely by accident! I was a film and commercial actress and my agent sent me to an audition one day. When I got there I realized it was a VOICE audition. I had never done one but I jumped right in and had fun with it. Must have worked because I booked the gig. The rest is, as they say, history. And I thank my lucky stars (and agent) every day for the chance to have a career that I love. It’s a good thing to because I have very few other marketable skills…Yes. I do talk for a living.

GS:  You have done everything from television promos to acting in feature films.  How did the role of Rosalina come about?

Mercedes Rose:  The role of Rosalina came about the traditional way:  my voice agent got the call for the character and a ton of us auditioned for the role.  A few weeks later I got the call that the role was mine.  Then I googled the game and realized it was a HUGE deal!

GS:  For all of us unfamiliar with how voice acting works, can you explain how the process is commonly done?  What is the average work day for a voice actor?

Mercedes Rose:  The basic process is a client (such as an ad agency or in the case of games, a gaming developer) makes what is known as a “breakdown” – a list of characters and voice descriptions – needed for a particular project.  Then they contact a voice agent (mine is the amazing In Both Ears).  The agent then sends out a “casting notice” with all the important information to any talent that fits the breakdown.  The talent record in their home studios and send in mp3 files of the auditions.  The agency then goes through and submits the best of the auditions to the client.  The client may listen to every second of every read or may listen to 4 seconds of 5 reads and then picks who they want!  Then the chosen one usually goes into a studio and records with the client (and often the writer, producer, executives and the like) present.  Voice acting is extremely competitive.  And can be extremely lucrative.

An “average day” for a voice actor?  There is no such thing!  Many voice actors have day jobs to provide a stable income that supplements their voice work.  I am very blessed to be able to focus only on my acting career.  Daily work includes voice auditions, voice recording for clients, practicing, editing files, invoicing clients, and looking for the next gig!

GS:  What sort of acting choices did you make and/or performance directions were you given when voicing Rosalina?

Mercedes Rose:  My idea behind Rosalina was that she was a very young but wise mother-type.  So, really she is just me!  I kept it very simple and just did what came naturally.

GS:  What was your favorite part of your experience voice acting for Nintendo?

Mercedes Rose:  The entire experience, from audition to the recording session to answering fan letters, has been fantastic.  Nintendo is an incredible gaming machine and I am thrilled to be a part of the family!

GS:  Are you interested in doing more voice acting for video games?  What type of games?

Mercedes Rose:  You’re joking, right?  Of course I would love to do more game acting!  In fact, I have done a few more games but due to non-disclosure agreements I can’t talk about any of them until they are released!  But- yes.  I would love to do a ton of gaming work.  My hero of the voice world is Lani Minella.

GS:  Are you going to be involved in Super Mario Galaxy 2?

Mercedes Rose:  Well, that is the million dollar question isn’t it?  Let me say this- if you liked my work as Princess Rosalina, it can’t hurt to email, blog, Twitter and the like that you want Princess Rosalina back!

GS:  The inner nerd in all of us must ask.  Do you own a Nintendo Wii?  If so, what games?

Mercedes Rose:  I love my Wii!  Of course I bought Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart Wii the day they released.  My kids have a bunch of games but I am more of a Wii Fit kind of girl.  Although I throw a mean gutter ball in Wii bowling.

GS:  For our members interested in voice acting as a career, what advice could you impart on them based from your professional experience?

Mercedes Rose:  Learn all you can, treat it like a very fun hobby that you could potentially make money at, know that it is way harder then it looks (or sounds) and expect to suck before you rock.

GS:  What project can we look forward to seeing you in next?  Is there a website fans can visit to learn more about your upcoming projects?

Mercedes Rose:  I have a few things coming out in the next little bit.  My pet project is a comedy series called The Paranormalists – basically the Ghostbusters meets The Office. Check it out at www.theparanormalists.org.  Keeping an eye on my IMDb page is also a great way to stay in the loop.  Then there is my personal acting website www.mercedesrose.com. Really, it is easy to keep up with what I am doing- I am a social networking fiend.  Facebook and Twitter rule!

GS:  Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions.  We sincerely appreciate it, and we all wish you the very best in all your future performances.

Texas Hold Em Tournament, 500 Wii Points

Gunslinger Gaming had the recent honor of having an exclusive interview Paul Gold of Digital Leisure, the makers of Nintendo’s popular WiiWare game entitled Texas Hold Em Tournament.  Below is how the interview went.

Play other poker fans from around the world.

audience! We released in Europe late March, two months earlier than North America, and have been in the Top 5 for many regions since release. In fact we’ve received countless emails from German, Dutch and UK gamers who absolutely love the game.

GS:  Compared to other projects, how is designing a title for WiiWare?  Were there challenges unique to WiiWare?

Paul Gold:  There are always unique challenges when designing products, but overall it was a great experience. Nintendo has a fantastic support group.

GS:  Were there any features to Texas Hold Em Tournament that Digital Leisure was hoping to include but couldn’t for whatever reason?

The official numbers for May have been released by the NPD Group, and for the third straight month, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter’s forecasts have missed the mark.

But that’s very good news for Sony in their battle with Microsoft for second place in the next-gen race.

Pachter had predicted XBox to outsell PlayStation 3 for the month of May in North America, but Sony wound up selling 208,700 units while 186,600 XBox 360 consoles were sold during the same period of time.

Nintendo won for May altogether with 671,000 units sold.

While Playstation 3 was number two this month, it was expected that GTA IV would translate into big hardware sales. It didn’t.

“The continued success of GTA IV is not translating into big hardware sales for either the PS3 or the 360 but there may yet to be a lift in June due to gift-giving for Father’s Day and graduations,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Sure, Microsoft has slashed the price of Xbox 360 in order to try to get an edge against PS3. And yes, Nintendo’s DS still outsells Sony’s PSP.

But that doesn’t mean that Sony isn’t having an incredible fiscal year nonetheless.

Head honcho Jack Tretton recently revealed how the company is ahead of the game with PlayStation 3 and PSP.

“We are tracking at 100 percent up over last year,” he said in an interview with Reuters. “…About 30 percent ahead of where we should be. So sales could slow down and we will still hit our number.”

In fact, if the trend continues, there may be some heartbreak when the holidays roll around.

“I’d say we are able to meet somewhere between 80-90 percent demand, based on how things are trending,” said Tretton. But even if supply does get limited, he said that the shorages would not be “drastic”.

Playstation 2 is still in the game.

Don’t count the Playstation 2 out just yet.  That seems to be Sony’s introductory message for this year’s E3 convention held in Los Angeles, California.  Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony, wasted no time to announce that the Playstation 2 will be hosting at least a hundred new titles by the end of the year.  While that may not speak well of the Playstation 3’s ability to finally emerge from behind the Xbox360 and Wii sale figures, it is a good sign that Sony itself is finally listening to their consumers.  The Playstation 2, which easily won the last generation’s console war and, until the last quarter of 2008, was still outselling the Playstation 3, is still a solid investment for Sony despite the fact that both Nintendo and Xbox have had much success with their newest console offerings.  “We’re committed to the PS2 for as long as users see value in it,” said Tretton, and that is the most realistic and financially sound commitment a company can make whom has been struggling against the competition.

According to wikipedia.org, the Playstation 2 is the best selling console in history, totalling over 136 millions units sold by the end of December 2008.

Playing on the fears of both the unknown effects of radioactive fallout and the cold war, director Gordon Douglas delivered to audience members a chilling look at nature gone wild and one of the most recognized and likable classic movie monsters of the 1950’s. Not only was THEM! a hit with audience members, it was also Warner Bros. highest grossing film the year of its release.

An excellent cast which includes James Whitmore, Edmund Gwen, James Arness and Sandy Descher as the “Ellison girl”.

THEM! is the best of the “giant bug”-type movies, and was responsible for the popularity of those to follow, including Tarantula (1955), The Dealdy Mantis (1957), and Earth vs. the Spider (1958) to mention a few.

I’d place this production alongside such classics as INVADERS FROM MARS and the British QUATERMASS (trilogy?) which also terrorized a generation. In a time when the world seemed doomed to nuclear destruction and our homes ripe for invasion by THEM!, regardless of who (yes, I know, the Communists) or what (monsters created by our cavalier use of technology) would be invading. And, strangely, nothing has changed, except that postmodern children seem to have lost their innocence in a demonstrably violent and insane milieu. As I stated before, these movies, in hindsight have lost none of their power. The themes remain the same.

Although the FX are somewhat dated, the storyline and acting hold up well, and remains one of the most beloved classics of the 50’s.

For those who are fans of horror-survival and FPS’s, Dead Space does not and will not disappoint!

The player assumes the role of Isaac Clarke, and engineer sent to the disabled space craft USG Ishimura, to discover why there is a distress call.

The enemies in Dead Space tend to be quite unlike those from just about any other game. The organic alien forms that you meet are grotesque parodies of the human form and range from the extremely quick and mobile all the way through to the completely immobile spawners, who may well cause you more problems than you’d think. Each weapon seems to be suited a particular enemy, but some are far rarer in terms of ammo than others.

The setting is dark, the enemies can pop out of literally anywhere and when the warning lights activate and you’re sealed in for a quarantine session I guarantee your hair will be standing on end. The USG Ishimura is a strange and unsettling place, all the more so for the many system failures it seems to suffer on your way out of the near-derelict ship.

The graphics are above first-rate, and the game play is both engrossing and somewhat complex…yet easy to master. There are a few spots in the game where (unlike others of this genre), the void of space produces pure silence…which adds an especially creepy element to the already superb sound contained within this game.

Dead Space is certainly a game to play, and to keep an eye on for a possible franchise.

Travis Touchdown Returns.

Suda 51’s corky and comically bloody No More Heroes, which was released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii back in 2006, was hailed by critics as truly unique and an immensely needed example of a Mature offering for the system.  Gamers had the luxury of being Travis Touchdown, a wrestling and anime fan based out of the fictional California city Santa Destroy, who gets mixed up in the eccentric underground assassins association.  Never taking itself too serious, No More Heroes became an instant classic now available at a discounted price.

No More Heroes is back with a sequel and, judging by the newly released trailer for the forthcoming game, promises another bout of wacky carnage.  No More Heroes:  Desperate Struggle takes up where the storyline left off in the original game and returns with the same game mechanics already proven to be infectious.  Sylvia Christel, the object of Travis Touchdown’s obsession, appears to be at the center of the plot once again as does the familiar boss battles.  Only time will tell if this light saber gameplay and stylized graphics are too familiar for fans.

Judge for yourself by watching the trailer.

Bubble Bobble Plus!

Usually, there is a clear division between what Nintendo offers Wii owners for  its Virtual Console and WiiWare library.  The Virtual Console normally features exact emulations of classics from past gaming systems such as the Super Nintendo or the Sega Master.  On the other hand, WiiWare prides itself on new, original titles specifically designed for the Nintendo Wii.  During the final weeks of May 2009, Nintendo offers two new titles, Bubble Bobble Plus and Adventure Island:  The Beginning, that meshes the gaming engine of a past classic with the strokes of modern abilities.

Bubble Bobble Plus, which can be downloaded for a mere 600 Wii Points, exhumes the one hundred block-based stages and the simple yet addictive gameplay of helping a bubble-blowing dragon defeat hordes of enemies.  The selection becomes a true WiiWare title with the added play features such as hosting four player simultaneous action, Super Mode, and a WiFi hosted Ranking Mode.  In addition, players can battle brand new bosses by purchasing two different Expert Modes.  These Expert Modes, however, do cost additional 200 Wii Points a piece.

Adventure Island:  The Beginning goes to even greater lengths to enhance the classic core of

Adventure Island: The Beginning

the game.  What hasn’t changed is that players will help grass skirt wearing Master Higgins weave through islands full of deadly pits, snakes, boulders, cave bats, and various other platform pitfalls.  Players can now enjoy semi 3D graphics, custom character outfits, unlockable character skills and purchasable items, along with several mini games.  For the first time in the Adventure Island franchise, the game also features a simultaneous two player mode.  The game can be purchased with 800 Wii Points.

Both games are now available via the Nintendo Wii’s Shopping Channel.