Let's Race

In the past 6 months I've got two racing games for my Wii: Indianapolis 500 Legends and Madagascar Kartz

I give them both a thumbs up, even though I'm not very good at either of them.

I have a really hard time staying on the road and not bouncing off the wall in the Indy game or hitting boulders, diving into the ocean, and smacking a palm tree in Madagascar.

Madagascar is crazy fun, while the Indy race is just going around in circles in classic race cars, like they dove when I was a kid.

A stadium tip

I just finished another tour of the island.  I'm not sure if I remembered to tell you that there are many capsule inside the stadium that don't show up on the map until you enter the stadium!

The magic clocks for 12 PM are in the stadium and will only appear at 1 AM, 3 AM, 6 AM and 8 AM.

When you enter the stadium it will ask if you want to review the basics again.  Be sure you say No to that question, but Yes to do you want to walk in the stadium.

Something New Every Day

I'm going around the island again and just found something new.  If you click on the "portable player" in the lower right you can check how many capsules you have found for the magic clocks and zodiac signs.

Go to the Portable Player
Then Records
Then Status
Then Events (middle tab on top)
Then click on the Info icons to the right of the Magical Clocks and Zodiac signs.

The zodiac uses symbols so you might have trouble interpreting this screen if you're not all that interested in astrology.

You can use this information to find when and where to find the missing clock and constellation pieces by going to Konami's web site. Look for question Where can I find X capsule -has schedules for constellation, music, and magic clock.

Around and Around

I'm going around the Island one more time with Walk It Out.  I only have a little more than 200 buildings, trees, streetlights, etc to go and 1 magic clock.  I have looked and looked for the magic clock and can't find it.  I have changed the time on the Magic Clock widget thingee to every single hour (except the missing hour, of course) three different times and still can't find it.

This evening I went to the Konami web page and found when and where the missing clock part should be.  It's available at 4 different times during the day so I don't know how I could have missed it all 4 times.   Especially when I looked for it 3 times which makes 12 opportunities to find it.

All that going around in circles is making me batty.

Around and Around the Island

I completed my trip around the island twice and have started again since I last posted.  It was much faster the second time.  Partly because I've built up my stamina and can "walk" much farther at one time now.

Here are today's tips.

Before you leave the island for the day, click on the little box in the lower right corner of the screen to save what you have built.  Konami refers to this box as the "portable player".  Inside the portable player is the Pause Menu where you can do things like view your game records, change the song list, select a new time, change the settings, or play some mini-games as well as save the game. 

1. You may want to change the settings for your game.  I played the game with the default settings for a month or so, but have since changed them to EASY.  On the Settings selection, you can make things easier or harder just by clicking on the little buttons on the right.  I think the instructions in the game manual adequately explain what each selection does.  I set the Miss Penalty to Off and the capsule value to Very Easy.  (The values placed on the capsules are not logical.  For example, on the ranch a hay bale is worth more than twice as much as a house.)
2. You will probably want to remove some of the songs from the play list because they are just plain awful. 
3. Also you may want to remove the songs with slower beats because you can collect points faster when you walk to faster beats.  You can always add the songs back to the list if you want.  Or maybe you want to stick to slow songs and go
4. You can select only one certain genre of songs to play.  I did that accidently so unless you only want to listen to Japanese Pop be sure you are on the All button before you select "play in order listed" or "play random"
5. There are different capsules available at different times of the day.  If you want to finish the island you will either need to exercise at different times of the day AND night or use the magical clocks to change the Island's time of day.
6. Some of the capsules are hard to find.  There is a map on the portable player that shows you where you are and where the capsules are.  At the bottom of the map are icons of each type of capsule with the number of each type availabe at that time of day.  If you click on one of those icons it will remove them from the map (click on it to bring them back).  This is helpful when you have over 3,000 capsules and you want to see where the rainbows are.
7. If you click directly on your avatar, it will change directions. Sometimes a capsule is visible when you turn around and approach it from the opposite direction. 
8. If you hold down the A button on the Wiimote you can see different views (left and right, up and down).  If you hold down the A button while holding the cursor on your avatar you can move it.  Click both the A & B buttons at the same time to return the avatar to the default position.

Capsules

As you walk around Rhythm Island, you automatically collect chips. The chip counter is in the upper left corner of the screen next to the “rhythm” bar that tells if you are keeping time to the music. You spend the chips by clicking on “event capsules” that are bobbing around the island – sometimes on either side of the path, sometimes up in the air or peeking from behind trees and bridges.

When you point the Wii remote on a capsule it will tell you what is inside and how many chip you need to open it. (The capsules won’t “open” till you actually click on them.)

There are two ways to “buy” a capsule.

1. Walk until you have enough chips to buy it immediately. When you click on a capsule the “price” of the item will be deducted from your chips and the item will open.
2. Select it on the lay-away plan. Next to the chip counter are 3 grey balls. When you click on an event capsule before you have earned enough chips to buy it, the item inside the capsule will appear in one of the balls. When you’ve walked enough steps, the item will disappear from the ball and your counter will start over. The next time you walk past the place where you selected the item, the event capsule will be glowing and when you point the remote at it you will see the item but not the number of chips. Click on it and the item will appear if it’s a structure. You may also get a message from the avatar trainer about the item.  You can put up to 3 items in lay-away at one time.

Warning: you can’t save chips from one game to the other. When you close and save the game, it will save all the items you’ve acquired, but it won’t save unused chips.

There are six different capsules.

Route capsules: these are yellow circles with an arrow in them.  They open up new routes on the island giving you more places to explore and different ways to get there.

Construction capsules: these capsules are orange with a little building in them.  These let you build the island with buildings, trees, bridges, an airship, and more.

Music capsules: they look like little green CDs.  You start off with 15 songs and you’ll soon get tired of hearing them over and over so start collecting music discs right away. There are 4 discs per song.

Zodiac capsules: these capsules are blue dots with a white star in the middle of them. They build constellations in the night sky. It takes several capsules to build one constellation.

Magic Clock capsules: these capsules are brown clock faces. They allow you to change the time of day. Some capsules are only around at certain times so at some point in the game you’ll need to change times to collect all the capsules and complete the island.  You can also change times to walk in sunshine in the middle of the night or to walk at night in the middle of the day.

Rainbow capsules: These are FREE!   They are just diffent colored balls with no icons.  You need to collect seven different colors to build a rainbow.

Most of the capsules only take one click to build. However, it takes multiple capsules to unlock the constellations, music, and magic clocks. Different capsules appear at different times of the day. You can find schedules for the constellation, music, and magic clock capsules at Konami's web site . Look for the question “Where can I find X capsule”. The schedules will tell you where and when to find the capsules.

I'm back

I'm taking 2 on-line courses and working out with the Wii for 30 - 60 minutes most days so I don't have much time for blogging.

I've almost finished building the Island for Walk It Out and I learned some thing I wish I'd know when I started.

I used to ignore all the capsules for the Magic Clock.  I thought I'd never need them.  WRONG!  Now that I'm near the end sometimes there's nothing left for me to build - until I change the Magic Clock and go to a new "time zone" where I find a few more songs, zodiac signs, and buildings.  I've only got about 50 more buildings left to build, but I still haven't collected half the Magic Clock times and well over half the zodiac signs (which I also ignored.)

I'll know better next time.

I saw a rainbow

I saw a rainbow last night on the Walk It Out island.  It took a lot of walking and reading the map to find all 7 spheres and it wasn't as spectacular as some other bloggers claim, but it was a nice diversion.

Here are some general tips for using Walk It Out.

1. Click the A button with each new screen to get past all the commericials without watching them everytime you start the program. 
2. You can also click the A button to get past the trainer if you don't want to hear or read his/her comments before, during, or after your walk.  Warren keeps telling me I can do better so I enjoy shutting him up.
3. The female trainer is a little cutesy.  Warren is more mature.  (Actually, I'm not sure the male trainer is named Warren but that's what I call him.)
4. When the little brunette stops her walk and waves at you, respond "Hi, Honey!".  Your little avatar Mii just marches on past her and I'm sure it hurts her feelings to be ignored like that.  If one of the guys waves at you, say "Hey, Bob" or "Hey, Bill". 
5. Click on your avatar to make her/him turn around and walk the other direction.

Walking with your arms

Let's talk a little bit more about how I use my arms to collect points (chips).  First, sometimes I put the controllers in my pocket and do it the "right" way by walking in place, but the nunchuk doesn't catch all my steps that way.  Probably because I get bored taking the same step over and over and over so I start improvsing with back steps or side steps or dance steps.  

So after a few minutes the controllers come out of my pocket.  I hold the Remote in my right hand with my thumb on the A button ready to click on "event capsules" and I hold the nunchuk in my left hand.  Sometimes I switch hands though I'm not as good at clicking on capsules with my left hand as I am with my right.

This let's me click on a capsule with one hand while my other hand continues to move up and down collecting points and letting the Mii avatar walk ahead.  When I don't want her to walk, I stop moving both hands.

My arm and feet movements vary.  I have to watch the cord between the nunchuk and the remote because sometimes I get carried away, but sometimes I:

• Wave my arms back and forth like a band conductor.
• Do the twist, with my arms going back and forth about waist level.
• Roll my arms like a disco move or a samba.
• Shake the remote and nunchuk over my shoulder like maracas
• Play air drums
• Box
• Do arm exercises
• March with my arms pumping (but I have a small space for exercising so it's not much of a march)
• Just dance like I was on American Bandstand.

Occassionally, I'll put one or both of the controllers back in my pocket, but they don't stay there for long.

Walk It Out

I like thinking, but I don't like having to think so hard while playing a game that I get frustrated.  If you think finding things out for yourself makes a game fun, then don't read this.

I had read good and bad reveiws about Walk It Out (by Konami) - some said it was a lot of fun, other said it was boring because all you do is walk.  We have a contest at work that involves walking and I can't walk in cold weather, I can't tolerate hot weather, and I don't like walking when I'm not going anywhere so I decided to try Walk It Out because I had to walk to play so why not play while I walked?

I've been using Walk It Out  on the Wii for less than two months so I'm definitely not an expert, but I want to share what I have learned about it - and I learn something new all the time.  Personally, I found the directions that come with the game are a little vague about some things.

First, it's not boring to me.  I've played it for almost every day for almost two months - sometimes twice a day - and I'm not bored yet.  (Tired, yes, bored, no.)  It will take me at least another month if not 2 - 5 to finish building the island.  It probably would be boring to teenagers and other kids who like action type, shoot-em-up, or sports games.  There's no blood, violence, or sex - but the designers' taste in music is questionable (just an old lady's opinion).

The premise of the game is that while you are walking around Rhythm Island you earn points (called chips) that you can exchange for items to decorate the island.  These items include at least 4 kinds of trees, houses, stores, hotels, flower gardens, barns, windmills, a lighthouse, suspension bridges, cars, carts, and music.  Your points can also "buy" access to new routes and areas like the beach, farm, business district, cherry tree orchard, and look-out mountain, also zodiac signs and time-changing clocks. 

Playing is fairly simple.  As you walk, you use the Wii Remote to point to "event capsules" (round orange circles).  If you hover the remote arrow over the capsule, you'll see what item the capsule represents and how many points it costs.  More about event capsules later.

You can use the Wii remote with a nunchuk, a Wii balance board, or a DanceDanceRevolution controller pad.  I use the Wii remote and a nunchuk.  (I'd recommend a wireless nunchuk, but I don't have one and I haven't hung myself on the connecting cord yet.)  Note: to pick a controller click on the controller you want to use, then you go to a new screen, read it and do what it says then click the square orange button on the bottom right, this takes you back to the Select a Control screen where you have to click the orange button again to "confirm" your selection.

I like the remote/nunchuk the best because I don't have to just walk in one place  - I dance, I walk around the room, I do "aerobic steps" like grapevine, and occassionally I just stand still and move my arms.  You're supposed to put the nunchuk in your pocket and walk in place, but it doesn't always pick up my steps.  I found that I could hold the nunchuk and move it in time to the music and it worked better.  (Let me say here that I think this game would be fun for people who are in wheelchairs - as long as they can move their arms they can participate on a par with other players.)

The first thing you do is walk around the inside of a stadium where your trainer/motivator tells you how to play.  I admit that this is where I almost gave up on the game.  I just could not figure out how to get out of that stadium.  The trainer said to look for the arrows and click on them.  For some reason I just could not see the arrows.  (I wasn't the only one who had that problem - I saw forums on the internet where other people asked how to get out of there.)  Anyway, there are fairly large arrows just barely above the avatar's head when you get near the exit.  The red arrow points in the direction you are walking. Click on the white arrow that points right and it will turn red.  Then you can leave the stadium.   You will see these arrows all over the island as you walk and the red arrow always indicates the direction you are going while the white arrows indicate alternate routes.

That gets you out of the stadium and on to the island.

Before you leave the island for the day, you need to know that you must click on the little box in the lower right corner of the screen to save what you have built.  Konami refers to this box as the "portable player".  You can also click this button when you wish to take a break.  Inside the portable player is the Pause Menu where you can do things like view your records, change the song list, or play some mini-games as well as save the game.  Warning! The points you have earned won't save so spend them before you quit the game.

I just walked 3 miles

and boy are my arms tired!

You know that old joke, I just flew in from Albuquerque ... And boy are my arms tired? 

According to the pedometer attached to the waistband of these shorts with the stupidest pocket* in the word of pants, I only walked 1,500 steps.  According to Wii, I walked 3 miles.  Guess who I'm going to believe? 

The way I play Walk It Out on the Wii, my arms are as tired as my legs.  I cheat a little when I play.  It started because the pants I wore had no pockets so I couldn't put the nunchuk in a pocket as suggested so I just held it in my hand and shook the nunchuk in time with the music.  I found the hand-held method to be superior to the "right" way so I do it that way most of the time now. 

It's just a game.  Nobody lives or dies or loses an eye or a house if I play it my way instead of their way.  I'm not playing against anybody else so I'm not cheating anybody out of a victory dance.  So I'll do it my way.



* The stupidest pocket:

1. It's located on the side of the shorts.  I don't mean the entrance is on the side, like with jeans.  The whole pocket is on the side. 
2. I can get 4 fingers in the pocket at one time, but not with the thumb, and only my fingers - none of the palm of my hand.  How am I suppose to carry anything in there?

Welcome to Me

I have to go play with the Wii now, but I'll write more soon.