Back in my younger days, I swore by genre definitions. I had a very clear idea in mind of what I thought classified a game into each genre. Any deviation from those rules outlined in my head required a subgenre. But as time marched on, I’ve come to realize how incredibly ridiculous all this is.

While genres are a nice way to quickly identify what to expect from a game, I’ve run into quite a few issues with the concept. For one, different people classify genres differently. There’s also the issue of the increasing trend of blending genres. And what about the literal names themselves? Some of them just don’t make sense any more.
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E3 is finally over. Lots of exciting announcements were made as well as some not so exciting ones, WingDamage actually had somebody providing coverage this year, and people made fools of themselves dancing in front of cameras from the future. But what of our predictions? Did any of them come true?

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If Zombie Shakespeare were to sit down and compose a love letter to old school Legend of Zelda, he wouldn’t come close to capturing the nostalgia and joy that 3D Dot Game Heroes manages to convey.

3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to classic Zelda. You and your fairy companion set off to save the kingdom of Dotnia by recovering six orbs and the power of the six sages. To do this, you’ll need to recover a legendary sword and then set off into various dungeons filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles. If it sounds like something you’ve been doing since 1987, well it probably is. However, 3D Dot feels more like a Zelda game than the last couple of actual Zelda games.

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This years Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is just around the corner! Just like last year, we here at WingDamage are going to throw down some predictions. Will we make total fools of ourselves? Will we make people suspicious that we have psychic powers? Only time will tell!

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"An improvement over Phantom Hourglass, but by how much?"

For the most part, I love the Zelda franchise. The portable titles in particular have a history of getting on my good side with Link’s Awakening being my second favorite title in the whole Game Boy catalog (next to Tetris). That being said, I was shocked when I didn’t fall in love with 2007′s Phantom Hourglass.

While Spirit Tracks looked disturbingly similar to the object of my disappointment, the Zelda fan in me was determined to give the game a fair shake from beginning to end.

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"The Legend of ChooChoo: Phantom, the Friendly Ghost"

There’s something we all need to come to grips with right now: Link rides a train. Why does Link ride a train? I have no idea, but let’s just get past that for now.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks demo was divided into three sections. Each one had a different focus. The first one put you in a dungeon with your new Phantom pal. The other scenarios showed off a boss battle and Link’s latest wacky vehicle, the train. Thanks to multiple visits to the Nintendo booth, I was able to try out all three.

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"...and it only took me 5 years!"

Aside from being a writer here at Wing Damage, I like to spend my time making electronica music (hosted at MainFinger.com) in my home studio. As I’ve mentioned in the past couple podcasts, I have been very hard at work, both finishing up my new album and building a completely new site. I’ve finally launched the site with the new album on it, available for download and streamable, absolutely free! I do, however, accept donations via PayPal if you feel so inclined. The donation button is located on the sidebar of my site.

In case you’re wondering how this relates to Wing Damage, a majority of the songs on the album are videogame remixes. The tracks range from well known series’ such as Zelda, Metroid and Sonic the Hedgehog to lesser known titles like Section Z. Each track differs greatly in style so there’s a lot of variety to enjoy.

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