Though they’re a developer with a heavy background in the theme park tycoon genre, Frontier Developments has brought about one of the most atmospheric title’s the Wii has seen in LostWinds. Combine that with intuitive Wii controls, you’ve got yourself a steal for $10 (1,000 Wii Points.)

The story in LostWinds begins with your protagonist, Toku, waking up to a bit of wind. Soon thereafter he falls off a cliff and picks up a stone that holds the world’s Wind Spirit inside. That’s all fantastic, but sadly this is about as exciting as the story gets. The Wind Spirit tells you the story of how it’s hard out there for a Spirit, and what peril the world is about to face due to the escape of the most diabolical insect looking thing ever. Very generic, which is really unfortunate, as the organic setting could have benefited from having some kind of emotional attachment to Toku.

Speaking of the setting, the atmosphere this game creates is second-to-none in my book. It’s not just the calming music, the way the world reacts to your gusts, the natural wind audio, or the games art: It’s how every piece of the atmosphere’s puzzle compliments the others. Now let’s get something straight: this game does not create the conventional atmosphere that a BioShock fashions, as seeing the protagonist from the third person fundamentally removes you from the environment. Still, the rural Japanese tone is something to behold.

To control Toku’s movement you will be using both the Nunchuck and Wii Remote. Move left or right with the analog stick, and when jumping use the remote to control the winds to control Toku in the air. You’ll also be solving puzzles with the wind, which range from simply drawing a line to drawing lines, opening doors, pulling levers, and watering plants in hopes of obtaining a ball with holes in it. The controls are solid from start to finish, and they achieve something very few Wii games have yet to sniff: the player doesn’t realize they’re controlling the game with flicks of the wrist. As such, this game could only be successful on the Wii.

There is however one not-so-minor problem. This game needs a FREAKING MAP. There are points in the game (and by points in the game, I mean for the entirety of the three to four hours LostWinds lasts) where you will be told to go to a specific location to find a certain something. While that’s not at all unexpected given the genre of game this is, there are simply not enough hints to inform you of where in Chris Hansen’s name you are while exploring. Actually, Frontier Developments are to the successful middle-aged men on To Catch a Predator as video game critics are to Chris Hansen: Frontier KNOWS their game isn’t scum, but when Sir Hansen asks “So what exactly are you doing here [without a map]?” all they can say is “We were just going t-… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Even so, LostWinds is a must-play for Wii owners that enjoy either puzzle-dusted 2D platformers, or games with ambiance. 4/5.

#5 – Super Mario Galaxy

Mario games hold a dear place in my heart; My first ever video game experience came when I was three years old playing Super Mario Bros. for the NES with my family. Although I couldn’t jump over the first hole in the ground at that point, I have Mario to thank for instilling in me a life-long (so far) passion for video games. So for me, having the words Super and Mario in the title made this game a must-own. However, the inclusion of the word Galaxy and the mechanics derived from that word are what made the game special.

#4 – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Again, a series that tugs heart strings. I played the original Call of Duty for the PC online like a crazy person for at least a year (word to my team [Judge] brethren.) When the next few COD’s came out, my computer was in no shape to perform colonics with the butts of guns, and their console versions just did not control tightly enough for my pin-point-PC standards. Now comes Call of Duty 4, and it feels nice. That’s really all that’s needed to be one of my top games of any year: a Call of Duty game that feels nice.

#3 – WarioWare: Smooth Moves

Smooth Moves is crazy in a way only something from Japan can be. I still play it at least once a month.

#2 – The Orange Box

Again, not a lot that I can add to the mountain of drool created by critics. This is a disc containing five different works by Valve. Portal is one of them. How could a disc be more easily recommendable?

The Bestest: Rock Band

…By being accompanied by a set of electronic drums. With the best in-room multiplayer experience ever, a great track list, and an always-expanding library of downloadable songs; Rock Band continues to amaze me.

And just because I’m gutless…

Honorable Mention: Picross DS

If you like puzzle games, play Picross. The only way I’ve been able to (insufficiently) describe how Picross works is “Un-Sudoku.” If that at all sounds interesting to you, buy it immediately.

Unfortunately, I found myself suffocating it for the third day in a row today. Thoughts of facing Microsoft tech support (which I have nothing bad to say about…yet) and sending my loyal 360 in for repairs have begun. It kills me to send it in for many reasons:

a) There aren’t any Wii or DS games I have much of an itch to get from GameFly.

b) Seeing my 360 complain about what a jerk of an owner I am on its own fake blog makes me sad (which in itself is horribly sad.)

c) I spend roughly 4 hours a day on my 360.

d) GTA4 is out in 2 weeks.

On the other hand, it might lead to a neat experiment in trying questionable Wii titles. Probably not.

If you haven’t seen Taito‘s paddle peripheral, pay better attention. There’s a picture of it literally a centimeter above this paragraph. It’s compatible with the future US releases Arkanoid DS, Space Invaders Extreme, and presumably with any imminent paddle-controlled arcade releases for the DS. Though I haven’t used the paddle myself, Chris Kohler over at Wired.com has. He writes:

“…It’s fantastic. It’s not just a little plastic dial. It’s sitting on ball bearings or something, and it’s got momentum and a little bit of kickback to it. That means that it spins incredibly smoothly — if you spin it and let go, it’ll keep whizzing for a good five seconds or so. The response time is perfect.”

Very exciting. What’s sad to me is that the rumored/inevitable DS redesign won’t have a GBA port. This translates to the paddle (and Guitar Hero fret board) not working with everyone’s third DS. Fortunately the redesign has not been announced yet, so there is still hope that Nintendo will reconsider AXING (Hi-oh! Axe…guita-…nevermind) the port. Regardless, the paddle and Arkanoid DS bundle can be imported now, as can Space Invaders Extreme. If importing isn’t your thing, Arkanoid DS, Space Invaders Extreme, and Taito’s paddle will be released in the US on June 17.

I was originally recording that night to show the prevalence of those that quit early during ranked matches of Rock Band. Clearly better content was destined. Enjoy.

I finally played through The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion this weekend. I know, two years late, BUT I TOTALLY BOUGHT IT THE DAY IT RELEASED, SO BACK OFF. I originally bought it to last me the 3 weeks between the free beta and retail release of Final Fantasy XI on the Xbox 360. I didn’t even close an Oblivion gate before I decided the game wasn’t for me.

I was wrong. I played Oblivion for the entirety of this past weekend. No really, the entire weekend. Even so, I think my RPG elders would be aghast by how I played Oblivion. I put the difficulty slider all the way to the easiest position.

At first I told myself “I’ll put it back up when I get into the swing of things.” Didn’t happen. I happily slaughtered everything in my path, rarely going below 75% health. It was almost like playing a book in that the story progressed with little effort from me. I was truly mesmerized by how vast the world was, and how many options I had. I could bust out some Fighters Guild quests if I wanted to, or I could screw up a bunch of Dark Brotherhood quests. From time to time I thought about how I should probably be playing something more difficult than breathing, but I was enjoying the book+freedom experience I was having. I was doing it wrong and liking it.

I’m sure those that have experienced the game with a greater degree of difficulty feel something for the game that I come nowhere near feeling, but I became my avatar while I was playing nonetheless. Much like an MMO, the experiences my character was having were my own. Every conversation, while not always fluid, was genuine. Every action had a consequence! That was probably the most amazing thing to me. If I screwed up real bad, perhaps I went through the Imperial City’s market district and just mauled everyone, the Fighter’s Guild would kick me out! That may seem petty, but the usual punishment in a video game is death, not expulsion from a group you’re a part of.

The last place you would think to find comedy is in an RPG called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but some serious funny can happen in this game. The funniest thing I’ve seen for a while actually happened last night while I was dicking around in the game. Here’s the situation: A boy called my “Adoring Fan” is following me everywhere. He loves me, because I am the Grand Champion of the Imperial City’s arena. Basically, I kick ass. This boy is always following me. At any time I can tell him to leave me be, or to wait somewhere, but I don’t have the heart to do it. He’s so pathetic, the least I can do is let him watch someone as great as me. I’m on my way to a cave to kill some things for a quest. Usually when I have to run to a far away place I switch the point of view to the third person, then I jump around and swing my weapon because it looks ridiculous and robotic, and that’s funny to me. To be cool I decided to try 360′s and 540′s while jumping around like an asshole. I accomplish looking like an asshole, and continue to do so while flailing my gigantic weapon around. I smash the pathetic little boy in the face with my Fine Steel Warhammer while I’m in mid-540. My jaw drops and my eyes widen. His body ragdolls, and the torch he was holding spins and falls to the ground where he was standing. “This game is the best,” I thought to myself.

The game certainly isn’t without issues however. There are a lot of weird little problems with the character to NPC interactions. The most notable of which is how angry everyone looks at you when you’ve just saved the entire land of Cyrodiil. I’m sure this isn’t a problem for everyone, but it’s really off-putting when right after giving the land a chance at life, the Emperor is gritting his teeth at me like I just told him that I booked Fergie for his birthday party. I can ignore this, and the few other problems the game has (frame rate issues, collision detection, etc.) seeing that the game is almost on an MMO scale on every front.

This raises the idea of an Elder Scrolls MMO. Could it work? I won’t go crazy in-dept, but I sure think so. The pieces of any Elder Scrolls game’s story are so distinct and separate from one another that the same sort of saga could be blown into an MMO fairly easily. Seeing that Oblivion was one of 2006′s most critically acclaimed video games while never relating your work in the main story to your side quests, I think most would find it difficult to be disappointed if some sort of quest relationship system isn’t implemented when the game is in MMO form.

Whether or not an Elder Scrolls MMO comes out, play Oblivion. If you really want to read a fantasy book this weekend, don’t. Just play Oblivion for 40 hours. You won’t regret it, unless you’re a jerk.