Those who’ve been with me for the long haul may recall a post way back in March concerning the release of Worms Open Warfare, which was a brand new 2D game in the Worms series. Unfortunately, the game didn’t turn out to be so great as it lacked a lot of the weapons introduced in the earlier versions and was a bit buggy, consequently failing to make much of an impact.

However, it looks like Jake was predicting the future in his comment on my post; Team 17 are releasing this new Worms game on Xbox 360 Live Arcade, set to go by the end of January! There’re surprisingly few details about the game on the web right now, but a mysterious chap just sent me the URL to a video that debuted yesterday, showing off the upcoming wormfest. Not only is the new graphical style introduced in Worms Open Warfare back, but the Xbox 360 version comes in high definition too! Sadly, the weapon selection seems to be pretty much the same as in Worms Open Warfare, which isn’t even close to the volume of equipment found in the older 2D Worms games.

But, regardless of the fact that the Xbox 360 version (unimaginatively entitled “Worms”) lacks the depth of the older 2D Worms titles, I sincerely hope that it proves to be popular with the crowds of today and gets this new generation of gamers into a series that just never stops being fun. With the game penetrating the market via the Xbox 360’s online distribution service, Team 17 couldn’t ask for a better way to achieve exactly that.

While I don’t have an Xbox 360, superb sales may be enough to give Team 17’s publishers the courage to attempt another full-blown PC release, which – let’s face it – is the best medium for playing Worms. Every single console version thus far seems to be compromised in some way, be it the graphics, the controls, or the equipment selection; although saying that, I must admit the general gameplay flow in the Xbox 360 version seems to have been tuned to perfection. The much needed adding of zooming and various other small things that only an obsessed series fan would notice make all the difference.

For a little more information on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade version of Worms, which is unofficially dubbed Worms HD, check out the Wikipedia article; I imagine that it’ll become more filled out before long. If any of you guys own an Xbox 360 and spot Worms on there, do feel encouraged to snap it up and post your thoughts! Also note that you can easily download the high definition Worms HD video for leisurely viewing.

Suddenly, missing the initial supplies of the Wii doesn’t seem so bad. According to GotFrag who’ve been talking to a Toys R Us manager, Nintendo is planning to release a new revision of the Wii in Spring 2007 that’ll not only sport the multiple colours that were advertised aeons ago, but also have some technical upgrades.

It’s a very vague statement, and I’m not sure I believe the rumour, but it’d make sense; after all, multiple colours are a tradition of Nintendo, and there’s almost certainly room for hardware tweaks now the whole world’s been swinging Wiimotes around and discovering issues with the pointing, etc. In fact, Nintendo announced the other day that they’re shipping an enhanced wrist strap with all future Wii units, so it’s not like the hardware is completely frozen in time from release; small changes such as improved wireless broadcast reception and a more accurate infra-red sensor could be other later additions.

Whatever the case, I’m really not sure if I should continue striving to get a Wii as soon as possible so I can enjoy this copy of Twilight Princess that’s been sitting on my shelf since the 8th or whether I should wait it out until spring. I know I’ll be ticked off if I get one and then there’s a bunch of hardware improvements a few months later, but then just like with PCs it’s impossible to always stay on top; you have to just accept what you’ve got, and live with the fact that people will be getting better stuff for exactly the same price only months or even weeks later.

I guess I’ll find out when I see a Wii and I need to make an impulse decision. Speaking of impulse decisions, I grabbed Yoshi’s Island 2 following an associate of mine talking about it on IRC last weekend; so far it’s a quality game, but it’s certainly not perfect — I’ll write a review soon to elaborate upon that. I also really fancy playing Metal Gear Solid 3 (and 2 for a second time), and might have to grab myself a PlayStation 2 before Christmas.

I phoned up ASDA (a large UK supermarket chain) and it turns out they’ve had their assignment of launch Wiis, which are due to hit the shelves tomorrow, delegated to the one in the next town. So I phoned the other ASDA up, and at 7pm they said, “We’ve got 14 Wiis, but there’s 14 people in a queue waiting for them to get one at midnight”.

Well, that certainly leaves me up a brown creek. So now I’m stuck with no launch day plan, which was admittedly a desperate one based on missing the early pre-orders. As such, my being shut out of the current affairs in gaming continue and I am, as the title clearly states, not a happy bunny.

If anyone in the UK has any idea where I could put an order in now to at least get one in the next round(s) of shipment(s), please leave a comment. The likes of HMV, Amazon, Play, etc aren’t taking any orders of any kind at the moment, and I bet once they do they’ll all be extinguished again within minutes.

Update: Benny informed me that Argos are claiming to have multiple additional allocations before Christmas, and from the website it looks like he’s right. They’re not currently taking orders (unless I’ve missed something), but the chances of getting one from there are probably higher than the likes of Amazon and Play. Also, I’ve just been told thatmy post/comment pages have been broken for a few days – doh! Fixed now, though.

Update #2: Well, my preordered copy of Twilight Princess came today — but I’ve got no Wii. I could cry. :(

I’m feeling like a total outcast right now. Everyone is talking about their shiny new Wiis, posting amusing videos on YouTube, sharing talk about Twilight Princess, and generally having an excellent time. I, on the other hand, can’t even think about getting a Wii until they launch here on December 8th, and considering it’s not pay day until the 9th I won’t even have a shot at the launch queues.

Since I’m trying very hard to avoid discussions about Twilight Princess and such due to the risk of spoilers, I ask: do any of you guys brave enough to comment have a Wii? And if so, what do you think? Does it knacker you out playing for extended periods? Is the interface nice? Is Twilight Princess really as good as it looks and sounds? Any other thoughts?

I suppose this is probably a daft set of questions to ask as a large portion of you guys are in the UK, but man do I want to get this limbo period over with and start playing some Wii. It’s really killing me having to wait like this.

It’s not very often that gaming culture gets a day as exciting as one when a console launches, but when one comes along it’s always a time for hilarity. And by hilarity, I mean a sobering reminder of just how much humanity needs lining up and shooting. At the moment the world is just recovering from November 17th, which is when the next generation of gaming really began if you listen to Sony. Yes, as you’ve undoubtedly heard the PlayStation 3 debuted in the US yesterday, and with it have come countless harrowing stories of muggings, shootings, stabbings, and also some amusing videos.

Since I’ve got bit of a reputation as a Nintendo fanboy (although I habitually own or at least get regular playtime on all consoles), I will of course share with you two videos that fit the stereotype! Yes, first up we have Wii guy in the PS3 line, which is a superb guy dressed up in a Wii costume and taunting people stood in one of the queues for a launch day PlayStation 3.

And as if it isn’t good enough watching this guy give PS3 enthusiasts the middle finger and throwing out those really weak “Why X is better” comments you tend to get in arguments with the more mainstream console gamers out there (you must have met at least one), there’s Smash My PS3, which simply shows an eccentric beardo and his mates applying the sledgehammer treatment to a brand new PlayStation 3 as launch queue lackeys watch on in horror.

Sadly, you can guarantee that the PlayStation 3 army will retaliate by doing exactly the same thing when the Wii launch commences tomorrow.

Update: As expected, the Wii sledgehammer video can now be witnessed.

Play Worms Armageddon or Worms World Party? Then you’ll probably enjoy my high-definition sound effect pack that replaces the game’s sound effects with beefier, higher quality versions. Having played Worms throughout my entire life, in 2004 I decided I wanted to spice up the game somewhat and realised that the sounds shipped with the game are fairly paltry. They may fit the on-screen actions, but the quality just isn’t there. Perhaps it’s because many were lifted straight from the 1994 original.

So, over many hours of loving labour I’ve replaced almost every single sound effect with a counterpart that retains the original feel but simply sounds better. Explosions? They’ll rock your chair. Jetpacks? You’ll think you’re using the real thing. Mines, grenades, blowtorches, splashes, banana bombs, everything — they’ve all enjoyed the special treatment. The only things that haven’t changed are the particularly memorable sounds such as the sheep’s “baa”, the worm movement sounds, various other animal sounds, and the Holy Hand Grenade’s “Hallelujah!”. However, I did find the original song the “Hallelujah!” came from and ripped a higher quality version.

In short, I think you’ll find that this pack retains the atmosphere of Worms but makes it feel like a whole new experience at the same time. If you don’t like it, simply delete the new sound effects and you’ll be right back where you started.

Download Ryan’s Worms Sound Effect Pack:
http://files.filefront.com/Ryans_Worms_Sound_Effect_Pack/;5382774;;/fileinfo.html

Stream preview of the sounds in action:
http://media.putfile.com/Ryans-Worms-Sound-Effect-Pack-preview/

To install, simply unzip the downloaded file and then copy the contents to C:\Worms Armageddon\DATA\Wav\Effects\ (this location may vary depending upon where you’ve installed the game, and of course whether you have Worms Armageddon or Worms World Party). I recommend saving a copy of the files already there before you overwrite them just in case you don’t like the new sounds.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the fruits of my labour! I know many people’ve enjoyed using this pack for the past two years, and there’s no reason you can’t too. If you love (or hate) it, I’d really like to see your feedback. And for those with Worms 2, I’d appreciate you giving it a whirl as I’m still not sure whether or not this pack is compatible with it.

If you’re wondering where all these beautiful sound effects came from, I sourced from the likes of Tribes: Vengeance, Unreal Tournament 2003, Day of Defeat, and various sound libraries that I’ve collected over the years. It took some considerable time to make them all fit into the Worms gameplay and quite a bit of editing was involved. At the time I used Sony Sound Forge, although I’m now more accustomed to Adobe Audition.

I don’t think theatrical is really the right term, but it’s the best word I can think of to describe the brand new trailer of Zelda: Twilight Princess that Nintendo has unleashed. It really is a joy to watch, and anyone who’s played Ocarina of Time and loves it as much as I do is bound to get giddy while watching it.

It runs for a good two minutes and shows off a lot of the game, and a lot of it is in-game footage. It has to be said, it looks amazing: the horse riding, the swording, the fighting multiple enemies — all fantastic. I could go on about Zelda all day so I’ll just leave you with the video. Only 34 days away!