OT: Wii's Star Trek game

[Fyron]

The Wii's got a Mitsumi DWM-W004 WiFi 802.11b/g wireless module. Getting actual b parts would probably have been way more expensive when production started, due to complete obsolescence.

The Wii supports WPA. Its only the DS that is limited to WEP, and it sadly gets no firmware love.

[gregebowman]

Most of what you said is greek to me, but thanks for the info. I don't have a DS yet, but we're thinking of getting one also. Why my son wants both a PSP and a DS, I don't know. I'll try to figure it when I can actually read the booklet that comes with the game.

[Fyron]

Why my son wants both a PSP and a DS, I don't know.

Probably because the available game libraries are mostly orthogonal.

[gregebowman]

I'll bite. What does orthogonal mean?

[Fyron]

orthogonal:
5: statistically independent

Outside of geometry, it generally means the two sets (DS games and PSP games) do not have much in common.

[gregebowman]

Thanks for the clarification. You learn something new every day.

[dumbluck]

Originally Posted by Fyron

So you base your opinion on shallow graphics?

Tell me how a combat mode where you cannot do anything but 8 vs. 8 teams does not suck. Tell me how a combat mode where almost all of the maps are based on that stupid ice cream cone level design from Mario Kart DS (where the level consists of a giant set of ramps in the middle, with the item blocks up in the air) does not suck. Tell me how ruining the shell mechanics is a good thing (3 shells offer almost no protection from incoming projectiles, shells held behind the kart have a really tiny bounding box). Etc.

Well, for starters, you can adjust the rules (at the top of your screen when choosing between balloon or coin battles). There, you can change things like the AI difficulty, whether there ARE AI, what kind of vehicles the AI can drive, who picks the battle maps, etc. etc. etc. This rules-adjustment option is available for races, too, not just the battles.

Considering the mini turbo effects of a good jump, is it really that surprising that jumps are instituted into the default maps? Oh, and if you actually play the game for a while in single player, you will unlock more maps, pulled from several older Mariocart versions. Most of those maps don't have many jumps, if any.

As for the shell mechanics you mentioned, I honestly hadn't noticed. I hadn't experienced any problems with the 3 shells not offering much protection (they protected me just fine, until it was down to just one shell). And I've found that equipping an item behind you is still an effective defense against shells coming from behind you (why would they protect against shells from any other direction?) Besides, these seem kinda nit-picky to me. I was having to much fun playing the game to nit-pick it to death.

[Ed Kolis]

Whoa, you can actually turn off the AI's in battles? Strange that I never noticed that before...

I was kind of surprised at the lack of unlockable battle stages, though - but you say you can unlock more just by playing a lot of battles? Must be why I haven't unlocked them then - my stats show something like 400 races and 30 battles played! :P

edit: P.S. Dumbluck we should exchange Wii friend codes! I already have Fyron's, but I really need more

[dumbluck]

honestly, I don't know if it was lots of battles with my son, or lots of races with my son, or lots of single player races. But yea, there are as many retro maps as Wii maps for the battles

[Ed Kolis]

Oh, the six or so that are there? I could've sworn I *started* with those! :P