Round Table: Wishlist 2010

Now that we’ve recalled our favorite gaming gifts of years past, what video game gift could we wishing for most this year? From the start of the 2010 to the end, there have been a lot of excellent titles released on Wii and DS. Are there titles on those systems we’re hankering for? Or are we craving a WiiWare or DSiWare downloadable? Several of us on staff are fortunate to have multiple game consoles, so our most-wanted games may actually be on another system, but we perish the thought that could occur here! But we’ll be honest with you if that’s the case. Regardless, we’d love to hear what gift you’re hoping to unwrap in the comments.

---

Joshua Johnston

Back in August I opined about the sad state of JRPG localization on Wii.  In contrast to SNES and GameCube, who regularly saw its best RPGs (Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, Skies of Arcadia, Tales of Symphonia) make the trip across the ocean, some of Wii’s best role playing adventures have yet to see the light of day outside the Land of the Rising Sun.  Two in particular, Xenoblade and Tales of Graces, were critical and commercial successes in Japan but are MIA on U.S. release timetables.  This makes me very nervous, not just for these two games (which I want to play very, very badly), but for what it might mean to future JRPGs like The Last Story and even Dragon Quest X.  I don’t want Wii to wind up as Nintendo 64 all over again.

Tops on my wishlist, then, are a slice of the JRPG heaven (Arc Rise Fantasia notwithstanding) that has thus far eluded us.  Nintendo looks to have publishing rights on two of them (Xenoblade and The Last Story) while the other two are the property of Namco-Bandai (Tales of Graces) and Square-Enix (Dragon Quest X).  Namco-Bandai is in some financial trouble but the other two certainly have the ability to make it happen.  If somehow, some way, all four titles could make it to North America, I might very well cry.

---

Andrew Hsieh

I know everyone’s been saying it’s way too easy, and kind of cookie-cutter as far as RPGs go, but I’d love to play me some Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Golden Sun was one of my favorite Game Boy Advance games– I guess it still is, haha– and I played that on pretty much every plane ride or car ride ever. Same with Golden Sun: The Lost Age. So you can bet that if I got my hands on Dark Dawn, things would happen. Magical things. Psynergy-filled things.

And even though my Wii’s up in my parents’ house ‘cos my little brother is still there, I’d love even the slightest chance to get Little King’s Story. I haven’t played it, but all the reviews, you know, kind of sort of rave about it. Plus, it’s from Cing and Town Factory, and though I haven’t heard of Town Factory, Cing did Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Trace Memory, so I’d bet on that poker hand. Does this make me a little bit biased? Yeah, but it’s a good kind of biased. I’d be biased for Cing any day.

Oh, and if anyone can score me a 3DS prototype, go ahead, make my day.

---

Andy Hoover

Actually, this Christmas isn’t going to be very game heavy for me. I already know my major gift is going to be a new iPhone, and as we all know, the iPhone is a game console in the same way that the Toyota Prius is a car — it technically gets the job done, but not very well. Seriously though, as much as I rag on iPhone for its gaming prowess, I love it as a multimedia device, a portable way to surf the web, and its user interface is great. And who knows, maybe they will some day make an app that adds buttons!

My other major gift will hopefully be a good distortion pedal so I can get closer to achieving that great Geddy Lee or Chris Squire tone, and that has absolutely nothing to do with games, so I don’t know why you guys would be interested in hearing about it.

Getting back to gaming, I will have to do some Christmas shopping for myself soon, because, and it pains me to admit this, I have not picked up Kirby’s Epic Yarn or Donkey Kong Country Returns yet. Assuming none of my friends go ahead and grab these gems for me, I will need to grab them so I don’t completely lose all of my Nintendo nerd cred.

---

Kevin Knezevic

I also would really like to play Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. I’m not the biggest fan of RPGs (and I admittedly never got the opportunity to play The Lost Age), but I really enjoyed my time with the original Golden Sun, and that alone was enough to push Dark Dawn to the top of my wishlist this holiday season.

On Wii, I’d like to finally play Epic Mickey. I’m actually not all that interested in the title’s morality system, but I really loved adventure-platformers back in the day, and its been ages since I played a new one. I’d also like to get GoldenEye despite having never experienced the original. Shooters don’t normally pique my interest, but the game has been received very favorably, and I think I would be missing out on a significant part of this generation if I don’t try it.

---

Aaron Roberts

Here’s what I want this year:  MegaMan Legends 3.  Oh wait, we’re getting that.  Well, then how about a new Zelda game?  Oh, yeah, that’s on the way, too.  A new handheld system?  Nope.  I am actually somewhat confused on what to ask Santy Claus for this particular winter season.  Things are looking up on the game front for everything except my wallet.

So maybe I should just ask for a lot of money?  I don’t know.  How about a Wii Remote that has Wii MotionPlus built in?  Aw, crap.  I’m seriously running out of stuff to put on my wish list.  Maybe I should ask Santa Claus for something to wish for?  That always backfires, though.  How about I want a new Mario game with five different playable characters and 1000 levels and it has to have throwing keys and Fire Flowers and Diddy Kong as the bad guy?

---

Maurice Tyler

Let’s see…  First, I’d like a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time.  I couldn’t get one last year because people kept telling me that I’d shoot my eye out– which could seriously affect my ability to play videogames.  I need every eye I can get in preparation for the release of the 3DS.  Too bad it will not be out in time for Christmas.  :(

That aside,  I have mere days left to tell Santa that I would like to receive Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Goldeneye 007 and the new NBA Jam in my stocking this year.  I guess it’s sad that there aren’t any original IPs on my list.  Oh well, fun is fun no matter how you slice it.

---

Evan Campbell

It’s hard for me to want more games when I have so many still left to finish, like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Okami, and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I’m wishing for just more time to play games instead of actual titles to add to my pile of shame.

But, Christmas is a magical time of year. As such, I wish Santa would stuff a purple Nintendo 3DS into my stocking, along with several launch titles like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. (Don’t tell me this is impossible and that Santa’s not real!) I also wish Majesco would release Monster Tale early so I could play that wonderful game this year. I’ve been trying to patiently wait since I got my hands on the title at E3.

My biggest wish of all, though, is for Nintendo to finally overhaul its online services for Wii and DS (as well as the upcoming 3DS). I want to easily connect with friends, talk to them over headsets and enjoy games with others instead of sitting alone by the tree. Is that too much to ask?



---

Carter Fagan

Well, all I want during my week and a half vacation is some more time to just sit around and play games. I’d like to continue my journey through the Ace Attorney series, for I have only played the first game and it’s been about a year. Anyway, with the new year fast approaching, I’d like to share some of my hopes for 2011.

First, and obviously, I want a 3DS. That’s a no-brainer. Next, I want to see Wii’s successor this year, most likely at E3. I love my Wii very much, but I also want a legitimate persistent online service to go with it, and that’s just not happening. I also want larger memory, among other things, but I won’t spend any more time harping on Wii’s shortcomings.

And if we don’t see a Wii2 next year? I’ll definitely be surprised, but if there’s a smattering of kick-ass titles lined up for Wii like there were this year, then I’ll most certainly be happy. In the end, I just want to be happy with Nintendo next year. Just give me a year in which I’m happy with the decisions Nintendo has made, new console or not.

---

Adam Sorice

As much as I love my friends and family at this time of year, there really is only one person with enough gaming taste to ensure the right gaming Christmas presents have been bought and that is me. Since about the age of eight I’ve been subtly dropping “hints” as to which games should be purchased for the upcoming yuletide season, and this has left me with many great presents, albeit unsurprising ones.

(If you need any proof of my gaming selection prowess, I gave one friend a copy of LittleBigPlanet and another a copy of Mirror’s Edge and they were both referred to as “The Best Present Ever”. I know, I should open a consultancy firm or something.)

But if a loved one were to purchase a game for me this Christmas (instead of the seven or so books I already know I’m getting; thanks, guys) then they’d be spoiled for choice from all of the games of 2010. The flood of recent updates to long loved franchises has managed to elude me this year and so the emergence of Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby’s Epic Yarn or Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (or Diabolical Box, the marvelous sequel to Curious Village that I’ve still not picked up yet in some heinous oversight of my own) all wrapped come Saturday would be deeply appreciated.

While I have no idea if any of these games will appear under my Christmas tree this year, there is another that will make a definite appearance: Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies. I decided to pick it up for my father after his somewhat worrying, all-hours play through of GoldenEye 007 and I won’t lie, I quite fancied playing it as well.

‘Tis the season, after all.

---

James Stank

What am I looking forward to on Christmas? I’d love to see Donkey Kong Country Returns under the tree, along with a pair of great DS titles. The DS has so many great games, but the two that I am referring to here are the two Shin Megami Tensei DS games, Strange Journey and Devil Survivor.

The other things I’m looking forward to aren’t Nintendo related. I’m hoping that on Christmas I will finally be able to play Red Dead Redemption, and get my first Kingdom Hearts game, Birth By Sleep. I already know the entire Kingdom Hearts story, but BBS should still be an awesome game to get into. While this Christmas is only days away, I’m already looking forward to the next, as Christmas 2011 will surely be one to remember.

---

M. Noah Ward

I don’t have any Nintendo video games on my wishlist.

What?!

Yes, it’s true. Oh, certainly I’d appreciate Mini Land Mayhem or that Sin & Punishment sequel, but the fact is I have a hard time waiting when it comes to Nintendo games. I’m blessed to be able to purchase games when I want them (within reason of course), and when you work at a Nintendo site with a bunch of other hardcore Nintendo fans, you can’t idly stand by while they all run out and get Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Metroid: Other M or Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. No, you have to go out and get it, too, so you can ecstatically compare impressions in the days following the game’s release (and probably write a review :-P). So, instead, I have 360 games like Enslaved, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood on my wishlist– games I also really want but can live without for some time given my surroundings. Plus, I got my parents some killer video game gifts which I’d be foolish to rattle off here, but I know I’m going to have a great time playing those games with them, too.

As for all those other Nintendo titles I’d like to get? I’m waiting for the prices to drop, like I did with Red Steel 2 and No More Heroes 2, both of which I got for $15 new last month. In the meantime, like Evan, I have way too many other games to play, and everything, friends, is good.

---

Did we name any games that you’re hoping to get as gifts this year? Or ones that you’re actually giving to a love one? Tell us in the comments!