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The Nintendo Wii U: Virtual Reality Gameplay Prototype?

Posted on by Colin McMahon

The Nintendo Wii U does not appear, on the surface, to be leaving much of a legacy. With the code-name NX console slated for next year, the door is set to close on Nintendo’s eighth generation console. Its current claim to infamy: the Wii U (to date) is the worst-selling Nintendo home console, at 12.8 million units (the previous title owner was the Gamecube at 21.7 million units). Yet I believe history may show a silver-lining for the Wii U. In many ways, its unique, ambitious, and ultimately underutilized controller concept has prototyped the way that the industry may play in the immediate future. In a lot of cases, the Wii U controller screen was used like a virtual reality (VR) headset.

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“Save our People!”: How Durotan Doomed the Warcraft Movie

Posted on by Colin McMahon

I begin with a quick review. I consider myself a Warcraft fan – not a World of Warcraft fan, mind you (nothing against the people who love it – MMOs just are not for me). I grew up with the first three games and loved each of them. Warcraft II might be one of my favorite video games of all time, if only for its vivid art style:

I could play this all day.
I could play this all day. 

So yeah, I love the Warcraft games, I love fantasy, I’m also a fan of Duncan Jones (especially Moon) … with all that, I still did not like Warcraft. For the record, this is not one of the worst movies of the year – the film actually features quite a bit that works. In terms of video game movies, this would probably be in my top three… although I think that speaks far more to the sub-par nature of video game adaptations.

There are things to like in Warcraft, unfortunately there is just a lot more to dislike. One of the main weaknesses I took away from the film was the orc protagonist, Durotan. Warning: spoilers to follow.

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