After just a week since we've announced our comeback, we are now ready to really make a true comeback. Ladies and gentlement, mozlapunk.com has launched. Please click on the screenshot at the bottom of this post to go to the website. If you get a work in progress screen, please press CTRL+F5. Enjoy!
Click on the image to go to the new website!
As you can clearly see, we are back. But is this all there is to it? No, not at all.
Right now, we can't talk much. We can say there is something in the works that will take this place to the next level, and we want you to know it is certainly worth it to keep checking this place.
We're so busy with various things that the content is a bit lacking right now, but don't worry: it will be worth it. So stay tuned, not only for our special surprise, but also a Mario Kart Wii review very, very soon.
-Moz
Source: IGN
Treasure, the genius developers behind such classics as Gunstar Heroes and Go! Go! Trouble Makers (also known as Misschief Makers in Europe), are working on two games for the Wii. Count me excited.
The deal is that they're both 3D games. Interesting, since most of the games from Treasure are indeed in 2D. Do I smell a sequel to the underground Nintendo 64 hit Sin & Punishment? I sure hope so.
-Moz
Since the dawn of men there has been one question every single sould searched an answer for. Rarely someone found it, and even still are most of us scratching our heads over it.
We are talking, of course, about Grand Theft Auto IV. Which version to get? The Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version? The version with Xbox LIVE, achievements and downloadable content, or the version with slightly better graphics and a disc that is going to make the PS3 useful again, finally?
Tricky business indeed. Myself, I had to choose so that I could pre-order it. I went for the PS3 version. Please don't ask my why. I have no idea.
-Moz
Can't wait to get virtually drunk. One more pleaseSource: GoNintendo
As you can see, things are quite out of control in Dublin, Ireland. The launch of Mario Kart Wii is getting to the best of us, I swear.
As seen in this picture, everyone is super interested in the plumber on the streets. Talking about moist holes, I'd fix the pipes of that Princess Peach.
-Moz
Yes, I have what could be the best thing since sliced bread in possession. The thing that makes it worth to own a Wii. I'm talking about Mario Kart.
While I'm typing this, miss La Punk is steering the Wii Wheel in uncharted territories, in other words, she's playing the game and enjoying herself quite a bit. I hope.
It's here! It's here! It's here! It's here! And so forthI played it as well, went through the first normal cup and first retro cup, and of course became 1st on both. It's not really difficult in 50cc, mind you. Though you have to get used to the movement of the Wii. And for the love of god I can't get a boost through slipping in a corner down. I know it has something to do with the B button on the back of the Wiimote, but it just won't work. I'll figure it out in time.
Next to that I'm in discussion with someone that'll be very special for Moz La Punk indeed. You'll have to wait and see what I mean but keep watching us is all I can say. Go to the forum for a hint.
-Moz
Sonic Unleashed seems to be a return to form for ye old blue hedgehog. We say seems, because you never really know with SEGA, do you?
At least, the 2D-pseudo-3D gameplay of the first Xbox 360 screenshots had our panties filled with urine of joy. Talking about urine, there's still a Sonic friend in this game, this time a werewolf version of Sonic, but hey at least it's not Shadow.
Anyway, on to the news, according to various English persons with bad teeth (I kid), the English official UK magazine has pictures on the new Sonic game and describes the graphics as shiny next gen. The pictures look nearly identical to the ones from the Xbox 360 version. Also, SEGA says the game has more in common with Sonic Adventure instead of the previous Wii offering, The Secret Rings, or the terrible Sonic the Hedgehog game for PS3 and Xbox 360.
This is a picture of Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360. Will Wii be able to pull this off? Don't get a stiff Wiimote just yetSo, the Wii version will look nearly identical to the PS3 and Xbox 360 version. This can only mean two things. Either SEGA is being incredible lazy or they've unlocked the Wii Super Shiny Chip (TM) to create next gen visuals. Or of course, the last and more reasonable option, the UK Nintendo Magazine was the lazy one here and they posted screenshots that don't even come from the Wii version. Gaming journalism at its finest, misleading your readers whenever you get the chance!
SEGA, we don't care. We want another Sonic console title that is fun to play. That will be enough. Alright?
-Moz
Nintendo is remaking the GameCube controller for the Wii, because games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii make use of it as well, as an alternative for the Wiimote. This is good and bad news.
This news is good because:
But it is bad because:
-Moz
It roughly translates in: "Buy your GameCube controllers again! We could release a Wavebird but we're saving that for next year, which means more money. Also cocksYesterday I brought you a preview of Mario Kart Wii. Indeed, this awesome slice of awesome is coming out this Friday in Europe. I just pre-ordered the game this morning (I know, kind of late) and I can pick it up tomorrow already. But I think it's going to be Friday. I think.
Anyway, they already had the wheels on sale. Of course, anyone with at least some electricity running through his brain knows that you're only part of the cool guys if you're playing with the steering wheel. This mean piece of plastic is how Nintendo envisions gamers playing the game, so why would you use the GameCube controller? So you can rock online instantly? Lame! You need to work for your skills, man.
Reggie handles the Wii wheel so well, the manbeast he isActually, my better half paid for the wheel, since she's going to be all over this game as well. With us still playing Mario Kart: Double Dash nearly every week, it's a no brainer that this is going to be better than sex for at least a few months. And that says everything about the game and nothing about my qualities in bed.
So she has the wheel at home now, and I have nothing Mario Kart Wii related. She's sitting in front of her television now, wheel firmly in her hands, pretending she's already playing and making 'Vrmmm' noises, I'm sure of it. I'm doing that as well, actually, only without the wheel.
-Moz
So, what are you playing the last couple of days? Tell us about it! For your reading pleasure and to make time pass faster at your work or at school, here's what I'm playing.
I'm finally playing Call of Duty 4. For me the franchise has always been about Xbox 360. When Microsoft's console launched, I bought the second installment right away and I was addicted to its online multiplayer for a good year.
I like to knife people and let them see me right before I kill them. Yes.Early last week I finally got around buying the fourth installment (late last year there were just too many quality releases). In two days I played through the single player. Since then I've been trying to get through veteran mode and enjoying the online experience.
What is so good about the online experience is that it actually works with ranks, giving you a higher rank the better you become and the more you play. And it's not just for showing off either. You'll get better weapons with more features the higher you get.
So if you want to play online with me, let me know. My gamer tag is, obviously, Moz La Punk.
Now, what are you playing?
-Moz
Living in Europe isn’t everything you know. Sure, we might get Mario Kart Wii upcoming Friday. But did you know we still don’t have Rock Band? Electronic Arts have now pinned down the European release on May 23 and it will only be released on the Xbox 360. That’s right, no other versions.
But it gets better. As in, even worse. The price is an ‘interesting’ 199 Euros or £69.99. Of course, this includes the guitar, microphone, drum kit. But not the game. Oh no, the game is a further 69.99 Euros. Call me crazy, but this is just plain ridiculous. Gamers from the US have to pay $169 – which is just under 110 Euros. Yes, in Europe you pay way over double the price for this game and all its instruments.
Yes, Europe will get eight new tracks to cater to the market. Songs from Blur, Muse, Die Toten Hosen, amongst others. Also, the songs that have been available for download in the US will all be available instantly in Europe – see the list here. It’ll cost you 160 MS Points per song.
But does it really matter? No. Buying this game is an insane idea. For this price, Slash should be included to give you personal guitar lessons. EA, get out of here. We sincerely hope this game flops in Europe.
Update: Rob Kay from Harmonix told Eurogamer there are reasons for the high price. According to him, VAT and the higher price of electronics in Europe are to blame. He says the experience Rock Band offers is definitely worth it though.
There's even more bad news though. The release date of May 23 is only for the UK, and Europe might have to wait even longer for the game. Oh goody!
-Moz
Yes, not only is the blog back, the forum is still here as well. The place where thousands of people came and discussed the N-Game, the new consoles and if it was really honest that people could post in the 'what song are you listening topic' whenever they wanted to inflate their post counts.
It's still the same old forum with thousands of members. Only 95% of them are gone. So make the place alive again! You know there are worse places to be when you want to waste your life away on the internet, talking about games. Well, not much worse places but I'm sure there are!
So click on the picture to go to the forum.
-Moz
Ah, Mario Kart Wii. How I want thee. No matter how bad the reviews got, I still loved Double Dash to pieces. Actually, I still play the 16-track cup with someone else once in two weeks on average. And this Friday, the Wii version will finally be available in European shops. Here’s what could end up making the game great, or terrible.
1. The Wiimote and steer
The only racegame worth getting on the Wii right now is Excite Truck. It’s downright exciting. But, let’s be honest, it’s not a game that makes you perform pixel perfect turning. Will Mario Kart Wii be easy to play with the Wiimote plugged into the steering wheel? Or will it be a disaster? Just to be sure Nintendo enabled the option to steer with the plain old GameCube controller, but I’m not going to use that. It’s your Wiimote, Nintendo, so you better pray it works great.
2. The track selection
There is no denying that 16 new tracks and 16 classic tracks in one package is a good deal. But will the new tracks be any good? Apparently Nintendo have made the tracks very wide so the tricky steering with the Wiimote is countered. Ehhh… is that good news? Beats me. Also, the classic tracks need to be carefully selected. Rumour has it there are a total of three Bowser’s Castles in the game. Why do we need three of them?
3. Online
Well, snaking is not enabled, thank god for that. But will Mario Kart Wii online work? Nintendo’s lack of progression in this section might proof the downfall of this option, but first impressions are positive. Let’s wait and see.
4. The items
Anyone still hoping Mario Kart returns to a pure racing experience needs to give up the hope. Yes, there will be plenty of items to punish the players who are actually good in the game. However, it seems that Nintendo has done everything to irritate them this time. The Bullet Bill item and the ink from the DS version are here, as well as the blue shell. Fortunately, the character-exclusive items from Double Dash are gone now, so no Yoshi eggs or big bananas.
5. Baby Birdo.
He’s in the game. Actually, this is just bad.
Mario Kart Wii will come out in Europe this Friday. You can expect impressions very soon, right here on MLP.
-Moz
Like I said in this blog post, there was a time when Moz La Punk was on fire. On fire, I tell you! During the E3 of 2005 we had over 100,000 visitors a day. Kind of insane, really.
You can see the proof of it in this beautiful piece of art. Of course, visitor count dropped again when the E3 tradeshow was over. Then in the following months (which you cannot see in the figure), we started to write about games in general and visitors started to come back again. Early 2006 we launched the website, and we managed to get back to the number of visitors we had during the very beginning.
What's really funny is that just for kicks I was looking into the visitor count of this blog today, and each day there are still twenty to fourty unique visitors coming back here, even though we haven't updated in nearly two years before yesterday. Now, that's dedication folks. Let's see if we can get you to visit more often.
-Moz
Source: MTV
What better way to start off the new MLP with a big fat juicy rumor? Credits go to MTV. We know, credible videogame news source, right? According to an anonymous source they have, Microsoft is working on their own version of the Wiimote to counter the success Nintendo’s new console is enjoying.
This source, a developer who wants to stay out of the spotlight for obvious reasons (Microsoft will lynch him once they find out who he is or the guy is a figment of MTV’s imagination), claims the following:
Now, as if this wasn’t absurd enough, MTV also claims Microsoft wants to adapt all their popular franchise, like Gears of War and Halo, to the controller. This is not working in their favor and in turn is making the development of this controller a right pain in the ass, even though it should come out before the end of the year.
Well, we have our own sources too. An anonymous plastic manufacturer from Nigeria who has made countless control pad-cases for Microsoft for less than a dollar per day has confirmed to us that the so-called ‘Micromote’ is indeed in production. He even send us the first picture. Gee, thanks! We’ll send you a dollar to express our gratitude.
-Moz
Moz La Punk was a videogame blog that had some great succes in 2005 and 2006. Early 2007, the owner of the website, me, pulled the plug because of other things he had to pursue.
In 2005, Moz La Punk launched as a single-man blog to cover the Electronic Entertaintment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, an expo focussing on the latest videogames. It was meant as a hobby. During E3, I thought I saw a conspiracy in the form of Nintendo holding something back, which eventually was the hoax 'Nintendo ON'. Looking back now, obviously it was fake, but it was fun to speculate with thousands of visitors I gained about this conspiracy. It got so far that in a few days, most gaming forums and even some websites linked to this blog, and millions of hits ensured widespread speculation. We called it 'the N-Game'.
After E3, it was soon decided by most of the visitors it was a hoax. This blog continued, but started to focus on videogames in general. I hired talented writers from all around the world to create articles. Before E3 2006, it must have been around February, we started development on a professional website to replace this blog. We managed to get it online before E3 and enjoyed the rest of the year on a 'real' website.
Early 2007, however, motivation from both me, some editors and the visitors in general was lacking. Combined with my busy life as a student journalism and the high price for the hosting of the website, I decided to put a halt to Moz La Punk, or as we liked to call it: MLP. It was the end of a period in my life, maybe one of the most fun periods.
After that, I started to focus on my study and I am now a freelance journalist at one major Dutch website about videogames. This summer I also plan to finish my study. So yes, I am busy enough. But still, something tickled inside of me. It was MLP.
So I decided to pick up MLP again. Not as a full time project, but as a hobby. Of course, as visitors of the old MLP know, I always like to do things with a twist. So while I'm having a good time, I'm also planning to change the landscape of videogame journalism in the progress. A bit ambitious, yes, and just as likely to fail. But at least I will be able to say I tried.
For now, you can visit the forum, yes, still online after all those years. A lot of history is stored in there. It's the only place left, together with this blog, that still is prove of the MLP legacy. If you'd like to help with content for this blog, you can mention it there as well. See you around!
-Moz
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