Have you been staring at mini-maps too much lately?

Have you been missing the beautiful scenery of today's hottest games because you only had eyes for the map in the corner of your TV?

Have you essentially been playing a 3D Xbox 360 or PS3 game by focusing on a graphical view of Liberty City or Paradise City that could have been rendered on an NES?

Have you, like Peter Molyneux, considered that mini-maps should be replaced by in-game dogs?

Are you making a mockery out of all the effort today's hardworking game artists put into the parts of the game you don't see because you're staring at the edge of your TV?

Mini-maps: gamer friend or game designer foe?

Decide now.

I was recently IMing with my good friend Justin McElroy of Joystiq.com fame. It turns out that Justin and I share a similar lament. We believe that one of the most exciting parts of a super-hero's life -- the moment he or she needs to duck away from civilian friends and make the costume change into a hero -- is woefully underrepresented in video games.

In fact, in some super-hero games, it's not present at all.

Is there a level in a Superman game in which I have to figure out how to discreetly get Clark Kent out of the Perry White's office so that I can rescue the crashing airplane that only my super-hearing can detect?

Is there a one-button transformation from Bruce Wayne to Batman, from Peter Parker to Spider-Man? Any levels in any games that invite me to play with that transformation in a mixture of stealth and action? (Besides those "Hulk" levels that people tell me weren't so good. Not those.)

I've written about this before, back in July and I will be looking at next week's "Iron Man" game to buck this trend.

But I don't expect it to.

Who agrees that the super-hero costume change needs to become a staple of super-hero video game design? McElroy and I aren't alone on this, are we?

The week of April 27 is going to be one of the biggest weeks for video games ever. Both "Mario Kart Wii" and "GTA IV" will be released, only days apart.

The games have the potential to cause gamers a dilemma, the likes of which hasn’t been seen this side of November in a long time… which game are you going to play?

"Mario Kart" and "GTA" are two distinctly different experiences for two distinctly different groups. They are on two (well three) distinctly different consoles.

So, which one is for you?

I'm firmly in the "Mario Kart" camp, because "GTA" almost caused me to fail out of college. I fear my life could suffer similar repercussions. I swear I'll actually get around to "IV" before the summer.

An internal poll of avalible Multiplayer contributors asking which is the game of their choice yielded these results:
GTA IV: 1 Vote
Mario Kart: 1 Vote
Both: 1 Vote

So… which game is going to get your hard-earned cash?

I'm curious again... Are you a Nintendo Wii owner?

Were you an early adopter? Someone who studied the game's unusual online configuration and anticipated the service the company calls WiiConnect24?

Have you been to the official Nintendo web site and read that "WiiConnect24 enables Wii to stay online 24/7 and download updates - even on standby"?

Have you checked out the WiiConnect24 description on Nintendo of Europe's website? The description that states that "WiiConnect24 delivers new content even while users are sleeping or not at home, presenting 'new experiences that anyone can enjoy every day,' and laying the foundation for a lifestyle in which everyone in the family can relate to Wii on a daily basis."

Did you ever read a May 2006 interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata back and see his comments on WiiConnect24?

Read more...

I need help. I could go to Wikipedia. I could go to GameFAQs. Or I could ask you fine folks.

Since I never played "Final Fantasy VII" but do hope to start the new PSP game "Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core" in the next week, what do I need to know?

All I know about "FFVII" is that there's a hero named Cloud. And I know who dies. That's it. So… in 50 words or less, what do I need to know about "FFVII" to fully appreciate "Crisis Core"? You could do it in a haiku, if you prefer. But there's no prize.

You won't just be helping me, you'll be helping the few dozen other people in the world who somehow missed playing "FFVII" and still consider themselves gamers.

Are you a gamer who is fortunate to have both an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3?

Do you find yourself getting in a groove with one machine and ignoring the other? If that's the case, I was wondering what makes you switch? Or are you constantly hopping from one machine to the other?

I ask because I noticed that I had been playing 360 for several weeks this winter, choosing against the PS3 versions of multi-platform games, because I have more friends on Live. Then the noise of the Xbox started getting to me and I switched to the PS3, which, thanks to "Burnout Paradise," is now linked to a lot of my friends, too. I think "GTA" will yank me back to the 360.

You?