The Warp Pipe

- due out in June (Europe)
- published by Tradewest

“Play as the Freddie and take on the world in this fast-moving, high-scoring arcade cricket game. Outwit your opponents with awesome bowling and build massive scores with your devastating batting – master the skills and to become the perfect all-rounder.

The new game endorsed by Freddie Flintoff features numerous gameplay and bowling options, including Head-to-Head multiplayer. Quick Match, T20 and World Tour game modes with 4 bonus challenge modes plus net practice option.”

A portion of a Kombo review…

I feel embarrassed for the developers at Puzzle.TV. It is hard to imagine how this wound up on store shelves, even for 20 dollars, and how the Game Show Network wanted to put its name on the product. This is a terrible game that isn’t any fun. Don’t waste time and money on this one.

Miyamoto has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want any big story elements in Mario games. That hasn’t stopped members of the dev team from trying to sneak things in, and that was just the case with Super Mario Galaxy 2. As a matter of fact, Miyamoto had a talk with Galaxy/Galaxy 2 director about the story elements from Galaxy 2 getting too out of hand. This lead to those elements being toned down/removed. Miyamoto then explained that it’s much more important to resonate with the player.

“I realized that whether it’s story or movies, it’s not about whether we need them or don’t need them. What’s most important is that the game resonates. You notice things like how a certain enemy wasn’t scary, but the next time a similar one appears, its color is a little different and it spits out two rocks instead of one, so you think it must be tougher. You reason things out for yourself and put them to the test. This kind of interaction is interesting.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

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“Unless you’re careful, there’s a tendency for games like Mario that can be played by children to gradually become childish. Those making the game tend to unconsciously make them that way. Taking how Mario’s line can be scripted as an example, they even propose to write, ‘Where’d my mommy go?’ When someone in their fifties like me hears their player-character speak childishly like that, it doesn’t quite sit right. After all, Mario wasn’t a game only for children in the first place. As I make a game, I try to keep in mind that guys in their fifties will play it, too.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

I never thought of Mario games as software for the younger crowd only. I see Mario as the perfect game/character for all ages and types of gamers. Mario is about pure fun, and I hope that no one ever becomes too old for fun.

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