The goal in Atlus’ latest PSP release, Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, is to prove you are the ultimate high school bancho badass by beating up all of the other high schools’ banchos before the seven day school trip ends. But, you have to find the banchos before you can beat them up. This can be accomplished by beating up their underlings on the streets to collect school itineraries. Once you have an itinerary, you know exactly where you have to be to take the bosses down.

The thing is, itineraries can be quite difficult to find. You never know where you’ll find the right minions, and there’s a very real possibility that you’ll find the itinerary you need after the boss is no longer available in Kyouto.

That’s where Gamertell’s ultimate Kenka Bancho itinerary comes in. I’ve gone through and collected all the itineraries so you don’t have to. You’ll still have to actually be at the right place at the right time, but at least you don’t have to beat up meaningless minions first.

Day 1

Afternoon

• Aomori - City Hall
• Iwate - Yasaka
• Yamagata - Shinkyogoku

Day 2

Morning

• Aomori - Gion
• Chiba - Yasaka
• Ehime - Station
• Iwate - Arashiyama
• Kanagawa - Nijo Area
• Wakayama - Gyoen
• Yamagata - Kinkakuji Area

Afternoon

• Aomori - City Hall
• Chiba - Station
• Ehime - Shinkyogoku
• Iwate - Gyoen
• Kanagawa - Yasaka
• Wakayama - 2.5 Year Hill
• Yamagata - Kinkakuji

Day 3

Morning

• Akita - Kiyomizu
• Chiba - Jiki-Shian
• Ehime - Station
• Fukushima - Yasaka
• Hiroshima - City Hall
• Kanagawa - Tenmangu
• Kouchi - Kinkakuji Area
• Okayama - Gion
• Osaka - Nijo Castle
• Tokushima - Arashiyama
• Wakayama - Togetsubashi
• Yamaguchi - Gyoen

Afternoon

• Akita - Station
• Chiba - Togetsubashi
• Ehime - Gion
• Fukushima - Yasaka
• Hiroshima - Gyoen
• Kanagawa - Kamishichiken
• Kouchi - Kinkakuji
• Okayama - Nijo Castle
• Osaka - Arashiyama
• Tokushima - Kinkakuji Area
• Wakayama - Jiki-Shian
• Yamaguchi - Gosho

Day 4

Morning

• Aichi - Station
• Akita - Nijo Castle
• Fukushima - 2.5 Year Hill
• Ishikawa - Nijo Area
• Kagoshima - Kinkakuji Area
• Kouchi - Jiki-Shian
• Nagano - Gosho
• Okinawa - City Hall
• Osaka - Kamishichiken
• Shiga - Kinkakuji
• Shizuoka - Shinkyogoku
• Tokushima - Kiyomizu
• Tokyo - Togetsubashi
• Yamaguchi - Gion

Afternoon

• Aichi - Station
• Akita - Nijo Area
• Fukushima - Kiyomizu
• Ishikawa - Gyoen
• Kagoshima - Kamishichiken
• Kouchi - Jiki-Shian
• Nagano - Gosho
• Okinawa - Gion
• Osaka - Kinkakuji Area
• Shiga - Tenmangu
• Shizuoka - City Hall
• Tokushima - Kiyomizudera
• Tokyo - Arashiyama
• Yamaguchi - Yasaka

Day 5

Morning

• Aichi - Shinkyogoku
• Fukuoka - Kiyomizudera
• Gunma - Yasaka
• Ibaraki - Gion
• Ishikawa - Kinkakuji Area
• Kagoshima - Jiki-Shian
• Kumamoto - Station
• Nagasaki - City Hall
• Okinawa - Arashiyama
• Ooita - 2.5 Year Hill
• Saitama - Nijo Area
• Shizuoka - Tenmangu
• Tochigi - Gyoen
• Tokyo - Kiyomizu

Afternoon

• Aishi - City Hall
• Fukuoka - Station
• Gunma - Tenmangu
• Ibaraki - Gyoen
• Ishikawa - Gosho
• Kagoshima - Jiki-Shian
• Kumamoto - Gion
• Nagasaki - Shinkyogoku
• Ooita - Kinkakuji Area
• Saitama - Togetsubashi
• Shizuoka - Kamishichiken
• Tochigi - Arashiyama
• Tokyo - Kiyomizudera

Day 6

Morning

• Fukuoka - Yasaka
• Gifu - Tenmangu
• Gunma - City Hall
• Ibaraki - Gyoen
• Kumamoto - Kinkakuji
• Miyagi - Togetsubashi
• Nagasaki - Kamishichiken
• Niigata - 2.5 Year Hill
• Ooita - Shinkyogoku
• Saga - Kiyomizu
• Shimane - Arashiyama
• Tottori - Station
• Yamanashi - Gion

Afternoon

• Fukuoka - Gion
• Gifu - Kinkakuji Area
• Gunma - Station
• Ibaraki - Gosho
• Kumamoto - Kinkakuji
• Miyagi - Jiki-Shian
• Nagasaki - Temangu
• Nara - Kamishichiken
• Niigata - Kiyomizu
• Ooita - City Hall
• Saga - Kiyomizudera
• Shimane - Nijo Castle
• Tottori - Nijo Area
• Yamanashi - Shinkyogoku

Day 7

Morning

• Fukui - Kinkakuji
• Gifu - Gyoen
• Hokkaido - Kinkakuji Area
• Hyogo - Nijo Area
• Kagawa - Togetsubashi
• Kyoto - Arashiyama
• Mie - City Hall
• Miyagi - Yasaka
• Miyazaki - Gosho
• Nara - Jiki-Shian
• Niigata - Tenmangu
• Saga - Gion
• Tottori - Kiyomizu
• Toyama - Nijo Castle
• Yamanashi - Kamishichiken

Afternoon

• Fukui - Station
• Gifu - Nijo Castle
• Hokkaido - Kinkakuji Area
• Hyogo - Kamishichiken
• Kagawa - Togetsubashi
• Kyoto - Arashiyama
• Mie - Gion
• Miyagi - Shinkyogoku
• Miyazaki - Gyoen
• Nara - Jiki-Shian
• Niigata - Kinkakuji
• Saga - Yasaka
• Tottori - Kiyomizudera
• Toyama - Nijo Area
• Yamanashi - Tenmangu

A special thanks to Atlus, for their help in providing the Osaka, Miyazaki, Kouchi, Yamaguchi and Okayama itinerary information.

Read [Gamertell]

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This week’s first downloadable feature is actually an application and not a game. AdHoc Party is available free at the PlayStation Network store as an application that will allow PlayStation Portable owners to play their PSP games online through their PlayStation 3. A program that was released in Japan last year that connects the PSP to the internet using the PlayStation Network instead of standing within close range of another player just to challenge them. You can now connect to them in much the same way you connect to multi-player games on your PS3. How does this program work? Check out this introduction video by Sony:

The next downloadable feature is Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines for $39.99 for the PSP. Follow Altair from the holy land into Cyprus trailing the Templar’s to their newest conquest and assassinate them. A direct sequel to the original Assassin’s Creed and a prequel to Assassin’s Creed II, in fact players who own Assassin’s Creed II can connect the PSP to their PS3 to unlock and transfer health and weapon upgrades from the PS3 game to the PSP game to aid in your missions. Check out Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines:

Price Drops

• Uno (PS3/Now $7.99)

Here is what else is new:

Downloadable Games

• Echoes (PSP/$2.99)
• D-CUBE Planet (PSP/$3.99)
• Circles (PSP/$3.99)
• PSOne Classic: Resident Evil 2 (PS3/$5.99)
• PSOne Classic: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (PS3/$5.99)
• Peggle (PS3/$9.99)

Free Demos:

• Smash Cars Demo (PS3/Free)
• PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Demo (PSP/Free)
• LittleBigPlanet PSP Demo (PSP/Free)
• Promethus Demo (PSP/Free)

Bonus Game Content:

• Way of the Samurai 3 Accessories (PS3/Free)
• High Velocity Bowling: Techno Modern Ball Pack (PS3/99 cents)
• High Velocity Bowling: Psychedelic 60’s Ball Pack (PS3/99 cents)
• PAIN: Flavor Flav (PS3/$1.99)
• Peggle Nights (PS3/$4.99)

Guitar Hero 5 Pack:

• KISS Track Pack (PS3/$5.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Lick It Up” by KISS (PS3/$1.99)
• “Modern Day Delilah” by KISS (PS3/$1.99)
• “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by KISS (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Pack:

• AFI Pack 01 (PS3/$8.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Beautiful Thieves” by AFI (PS3/$1.99)
• “End Transmission” by AFI (PS3/$1.99)
• “Love Like Winter” by AFI (PS3/$1.99)
• “Medicate” by AFI (PS3/$1.99)
• “The Leaving Song, Pt 2″ by AFI (PS3/$1.99)

Individual Song Tracks

• “Walk Like An Egyptian” by The Bangles (PS3/$1.99)

Rock Band Unplugged bonus content:

• “California Über Alles” by Dead Kennedys (PSP/$1.99)
• “You’re No Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun” by Sleater-Kinney (PSP/$1.99)

The Beatles Rock Band Pack:

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Album) (PS3/$13.49)
Individual Tracks:
• “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “Within You Without You” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “When I’m Sixty-Four” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “Lovely Rita” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “Fixing A Hole” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)
• “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles (PS3/$1.99)

Free Game Videos:

• Pulse 11/19 Edition (PS3/Free)
• Pain: Flavor Flav Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier Launch Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 15 sec Accolade TV Spot (PS3/Free)
• FIFA Soccer 10: Director’s Cut Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Madden NFL Arcade Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Flag Runner Trailer (PS3/Free)
• NBA 2K10 TV Commercial (PS3/Free)
• Assassin’s Creed II Arsenal Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Assassin’s Creed II TGS Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Assassin’s Creed II Dev Diary 3 (PS3/Free)
• Assassin’s Creed II GP Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Critter Crunch “Feeding Time” Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Army Of Two: 40th Day Extraction Trailer (PS3/Free)
• Peggle Trailer (PS3/Free)

Wallpapers and Themes:

• Peggle Theme (PS3/Free)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Wallpaper (x5) (PS3/Free)
• Topatoi Wallpaper (PS3/Free)
• Peggle Wallpaper (PS3/Free)
• DJ Max Fever Wallpaper (x4) (PSP/Free)
• Armored Core 3 Wallpaper (x2) (PSP/Free)
• Armored Core 3 Portable Theme (PSP/Free)
• Celtic Maidens PSP Theme 3 (PSP/$1.49)
• Celtic Maidens PSP Theme 4 (PSP/$1.49)
• Celtic Maidens 2 Premium Plus Theme (PS3/$1.99)

Read [PlayStation Store Blog] Site [PlayStation]

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While watching horror movies on Halloween is a perfectly acceptable way to celebrate the holiday, it’s also a hands off approach. You’re a spectator, not an active participant in the action. You could always go out to a good haunted house, but those can be far away and quite expensive. Perhaps the best approach would be to gather a handful of your closest friends and have a horrific video game marathon. The beauty with the horror game marathon is that it has the thrills and occasional scares of a horror movie marathon, but also the excitement and personal involvement of a haunted house.

Here’s how to set it up right. Invite only a handful of people over. A number between three and five is perfect, but anymore than seven and it may not be as frightening. Where ever you’ll all be playing the games will have to be dark, save for the light of the television screen. A few candles wouldn’t hurt as well, but make sure they’re set up so they don’t drip, cause a mess or perhaps burn your place down. If anyone has to leave the room, set it up where there are no other lights on, and they have to take a flickering, ready to burn out flashlight, to light their way.

If you have enough time, you can also set up some optional decorations. I’m not talking about the stuff you can find at Walmart or your local dollar store. Try to purposely arrange things in your home or room that look otherworldly or out of the ordinary. Make sure a coat rank has a sufficient number of coats so it looks like a menacing individual in the moonlight. If there’s a scary tree outside your window, leave the shades open. If you ever had a furby or incredibly creepy American Girl doll, now’s the time to leave it in a shadowy corner, watching. Another tip - if there are creepy household noises that you can amplify, do so. Or, claim that you’ve never heard that sound before.

Now, for the games. I’d recommend going with a five hour, five game marathon. From 9pm to 2am works well. You can adjust the schedule as you like though. Also, if you don’t have five games, perhaps just one or two really good, scary ones, then focus on the games you do have and use the marathon to try and complete them in a single night. In case you’re wondering how to proceed, here’s four schedules PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii owners could use.

PS2 owners

9pm - 10pm: Clock Tower 3
10pm - 11pm: Silent Hill 3
11pm - 12am: Rule of Rose
12am - 1am: Fatal Frame
1am - 2am: Fatal Frame 2

Note: The PS2 had a wide selection of horror games. If you don’t think the schedule above would work for you, some good games you can substitute in are Haunting Ground, one of the other Silent Hill games, Siren, Fatal Frame 3 or a Resident Evil game.

PS3 owners

9pm - 10pm: F.E.A.R.
10pm - 11pm: Resident Evil 5
11pm - 12am: Siren: Blood Curse
12am - 1am: Silent Hill: Homecoming
1am - 2am: Dead Space

Xbox 360 owners

9pm - 10pm: Left 4 Dead
10pm - 11pm: Clive Barker’s Jericho
11pm - 12am: Silent Hill: Homecoming
12am - 1am: Condemned: Criminal Origins
1am - 2am: Dead Space

Wii owners

9pm - 10pm: LIT
10pm - 11pm: House of the Dead: Overkill
11pm - 12am: Resident Evil 4
12am - 1am: Dead Space: Extraction
1am - 2am: Ju-on: The Grudge

One final note, should you make your own schedule, try to arrange the games in order of scariness. Leave the most unnerving and frightening game for last. And also, bear in mind, that the schedules above are just suggestions, and don’t cover all horror games available for those systems.

Also Read [Gamertell]

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Halloween is swiftly barreling down on us but, due to monetary situations, creating an elaborate costume is probably out of the question. A more practical, inexpensive and easy alternative is probably best.

The thing is, video game fans can still show their allegiance to their favorite games without breaking their budgets. It isn’t too difficult to dress up as some of the more famous characters out there and, with a little creativity and common sense, come up with a pretty decent costume. Even if it doesn’t turn out well, who cares. Halloween is all about having fun.

So, for budget-conscious individuals, Gamertell has 15 video game costume suggestions for you.

For Men:

• Mario: Blue overalls, red shirt, gloves and hat, construction paper and double-sided tape. The construction paper is to make a moustache and the M insignia for the hat and I’m pretty sure you can figure out what the double-sided tape is for.
• Luigi: See Mario. Substitute the word “green” where ever you see the word “red”. Make sure the hat insignia says “L.”
• Disguised Solid Snake: Here’s one where you could go one of two ways. You could just grab a cardboard box and crawl around under it all night. Or, grab some cheap fatigues from Goodwill or an Army surplus store and a mullet wig to go with your cardboard box.
• Ryu: Head to Goodwill and search for a Karate outfit. You’ll probably actually find one. If anything, settle for the shirt and a pair of white pants. Grab a long, red ribbon or strip of fabric and tie it around your head and you’re all set. If you can find the outfit in red, you could go as Ken.

For Women:

• Princess Peach: Pick up a floor length pink dress. Again, Goodwill is great for this and they usually have a special Halloween section. Also, grab some costume jewelry and one of the Burger King free gold crowns (add spray paint if you want to avoid promoting any one company). If you’re not blonde, you’ll need a wig or can of cheapie, temporary hair color as well.
• Princess Daisy: See Princess Peach, and substitute “yellow” for “pink.” If your hair isn’t brown, pick up a brunette wig or spray color as well.
• Terra or Rydia (FFVI or FFIV: Here’s one that could go either way. Both need a green wig. Both also need a strapless swimsuit - go magenta if you want to be Terra, or green if you want to be Rydia. Pick up some patterned tights as well. Again, green for Rydia, and paisley for Terra. You have some freedom with footwear, matching boots would be best, but you can get by with green or magenta shoes. If you want a cape as well, get some red (Terra) or green (Rydia) fabric and string. Costume jewelry is optional. You could also pick up a magenta (Terra) or green (Rydia) skirt, or a sword/staff if you’d like.
• Lara Croft: Green or black tank top, khaki shorts, wig (if necessary), scrunchi, cheap glasses (frames only) and two water pistols. Boots would be best, but black sneakers could work as well.

Gender Neutral:

• Red Ring of Death: Sure to strike terror into the heart of any Xbox 360 owner. You can do this two ways - the really cheap way, or the sorta cheap way. For the cheap way, grab a white T-shirt and a red sharpie. Draw an oversized RROD symbol on the shirt with markers. If you want to class it up, get a narrow, flat piece of cardboard, white paint, some appropriate colored sharpies and some string. Make the cardboard look like the front of an Xbox 360. Draw the RROD on it. Attach string and wear it.
• Harvest Moon Farmer: You have a bit of freedom here. All you really need is a backpack and some kind of hat. Baseball hat for guys, bandanna for girls. Overalls are a nice touch, but optional. Jeans work just as well.  If there’s a particular entry in the series you’re fond of, use that farmer’s look as your model.
• Pokemon Trainer: Normal clothes and a stuffed Pokemon toy (check Walmart or Goodwill). If you really want to go all out, stop by Michaels or your local craft store. Pick up some small, styrofoam balls and a red sharpie. Make them look like pokeballs, and tape them to an old belt.
• A Sims 2 or Sims 3 person: Get a headband with a spring already attached to it. These antenna headbands are everywhere around Halloween. Get one in a color you like. Also, pick up a black sharpie and green construction paper. Make two large, green diamonds out of the construction paper. Glue or tape them to the antenna, so that you don’t see what was on there before, just the diamond on the front and back. Use the sharpee to add accents to the diamond. Put it on, and you’re set.
• Lost in Blue survivor: Take some old clothes and tatter/fray the edges a bit. Put on a pair of old, comfortable gym shoes. Grab a stuffed monkey, backpack and a large stick from outside. Now you’re a shipwreck survivor, trying to find a way back home.
• Pac Man ghost: Buy a red, pink, teal or orange sheet. Cut holes for your eyes. Follow around your friends. I’m pretty sure Pinky is the only girl but, really, they’re ghosts. Does gender really matter?
• Animal Crossing avatar: Grab a cheap watering can or slingshot, some gold paint, a brown paper bag and a darker brown marker. If you’re a girl, you’ll have to wear a dress. Paint the watering can or slingshot gold. Decorate the brown paper bag with the bells symbol.

Do you have an idea for a cheap and easy to make video game costume? Let us know in the comments below!

Read [Nothing Corporate] Also Read [Gamertell]

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One of the most popular varieties of Facebook game applications at the moment is the farming simulation. What started innocently enough with Slashkey’s Farm Town exploded the second that game found fame. Now, there’s a wide variety of other farm game spin-offs. They tend to fall into two groups, ones that focus on a multiplayer experience and ones that focus on a single player experience.

To help keep things organized, Gamertell’s done some rudimentary research on the six most popular farming applications on Facebook. We give you the essential information - the basic premise, focus, maker, number of people player and cash shop information. Then, you can check out each one on your own to see which ones your friends are playing and are the best fit for you.

So, let’s get farming!

Name: FarmVille
Maker: Zynga
Average number of monthly users as of September 27, 2009: 50,813,894
Premise: A massive farming game where you create a farm by placing farmland, raising animals and planting trees. You can also own vehicles to make farming easier. As you level up, you can buy more items and do more things. Though Farm Town came first, FarmVille has proved more successful.
Focus: Farming and expanding your land, while also interacting with friends.
Cash shop: Sort-of. You can buy Farm Cash to purchase special decorations for your farms. However, you can also earn Farm Cash while playing the game by leveling up.

Name: Farm Town
Maker: Slashkey
Average number of monthly users as of September 27, 2009: 18,842,468
Premise: You are able to create a plot of land. You put down buildings, plant flowers, grow crops, visit friends’ farms, expand your territory and interact with other Farm Town users by either going to work for them or hiring them to work for you. Animals here are just a decoration. As you level up, you gain access to more decorations and crops.
Focus: Working with other Farm Town players to get the most money and experience so you can improve your own plot.
Cash shop: Sort-of. Like FarmVille, you can use real money to buy coins and FarmCash that you can use to buy items in the shop. However, you don’t have to. Every time you level up, you get one FarmCash, and coins can be earned during normal play.

Name: Barn Buddy
Average number of users as of September 27, 2009: 7,016,151
Premise: You plant and take care of crops. You can use fertilizer to improve them. You also have to handle bug infestations and deal with weeds. You’re also able to steal crops from friends who don’t own dogs.
Focus: Crop maintenance.
Cash shop: Sort-of. You can purchase credits to buy fertilizer and such.

Name: Country Story
Maker: PlayFish
Average number of users as of September 27, 2009: 6,778,917
Premise: You are a farmer who’s developing a small area. You are limited in what you can do each day, as your farmer has only so much stamina. There’s a small town you can visit, where locals will give you quests to fulfill. As you level up, you can grow new crops and plow more land. You can own dogs, chickens, cows and sheep, and the latter three provide goods you can sell. You can have your friends help if your friend points are high enough.
Focus: It’s more of a single player experience where the focus is on taking care of your farm and completing missions.
Cash shop: Yup. There are a selection of items you can only purchase with PlayFish Cash, like certain decorations or animals. You can only get these items with real cash.

Name: (Lil) Farm Life
Maker: Greenpatch Inc
Average number of users as of September 27, 2009: 3,851,406
Premise: It’s pretty much identical to the FarmVille and Farm Town experiences. You tend a small area of farmland, level up by performing tasks and so on.
Focus: Farming your area of land and working with friends to earn more money.
Cash shop: Sort-of. You can purchase additional coins, like in FarmVille and Farm Town, with cash to make the game easier. It isn’t required though.

Name: Happy Farm
Maker: Five Minutes
Average number of users as of September 27, 2009: 2,074,444
Premise: Manage a farm and complete missions to make it successful. You can send gifts to friends, among them customizable bouquets. You also need to use pesticides and weed killers on crops from time to time. There isn’t much customization available for farms, compared to the more popular applications. Originally gained popularity in China.
Focus: Single player experience where you complete set missions.
Cash shop: Nope

Name: Island Paradise
Maker: Meteor Games
Average number of users as of September 27, 2009: 1,984,495
Premise: A farming sim with a tropical approach. You’re developing a farm on an island. You can work with or steal from your friends. Also, salvage items occasionally wind up on your farm, which you can collect and eventually use to upgrade your tropical farm. Crops, animals and trees are all ones you’d expect to see on an island setting.
Focus: Developing and upgrading your deserted island.
Cash shop: Yes. Certain animals and items can only be purchased with real money.

Site [FarmVille] Site [Farm Town] Site [Country Story] Site [Barn Buddy] Site [(Lil) Farm Life] Site [Happy Farm] Site [Island Paradise]

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As of this writing Sony still hasn’t offered a practical solution to everybody’s growing UMD problem. With the launch of the PSPgo only days away, we still don’t know how or if we will be able to enjoy our UMD based games if we choose to purchase a PSPgo. Well lets take our minds off that issue for a second and talk about a new promotion Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe is having called PSPgo Rewards.

PSPgo Rewards is Sony’s way of easing us into the digital download only process the PSPgo will offer. It’s offering three free downloadable games from a list of 17 available titles that includes Wipeout Pure, echochrome, Killzone: Liberation and Patapon .

There is a catch to all of this though - you must have an existing PSP to qualify. The good news is it doesn’t matter whether you have a PSP-1000, -2000 or -3000 to get in on this deal. The promotion starts on October 1, 2009, and will last until March 31, 2010.

The process you must go through to secure your free games is a little lengthy so we’ve included step-by-step directions to help you out courtesy of SCEE:

1. Unwrap your shiny new PSPgo and start it up
2. Connect to PlayStation Network and activate your new or existing PlayStation Network account for PSPgo Rewards
3. Start up your current PSP and connect to PlayStation Network
4. Login using the same PlayStation Network account , and launch PlayStation Store
5. Pop one of your UMDs into the drive of your current PSP and register on PSPgo Rewards when prompted
6. Download a PSPgo theme
7. Wait for your email voucher for your three free games
8. Choose, download and enjoy!

Read [The Lost Gamer] Also Read [CVG] Also Read [Gamertell]

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Games are expensive, and with people cutting back, that extra extravagance is one of the first things to be cut out of the budget. Many gamers are searching for free or cheaper game alternatives. That’s where casual games come in.

Casual games are very accessible, available in multiple locations online and many compatible with multiple operating systems. They often offer free demos for players to try, and quite often are affordable.

If you’re interested in testing the waters and perhaps becoming a regular casual game player, take a look at these helpful tips.

Test the demo first!

The absolute first thing you should do if you find a casual game you think you’d be interested in is test the demo. It’s smart for two reasons. First, you’ll be able to see right away if your computer is capable of playing and running the game. Some sites neglect to provide essential system requirement information, and it’d be a shame to pay for something you can’t even play.

Second, you’ll be able to see if you’ll actually enjoy the game. Most casual games demos allow players to sample the game for one hour. That should give you plenty of time to determine if it’s the sort of thing you could see yourself playing and replaying for hours on end. If you don’t like it, you’ll have saved yourself money.

Check out Amazon.com first.

If there’s a game you like, don’t just go and buy it right away. First, check out Amazon.com. The site has a substantial casual game selection and tends to be cheaper than other sites, without requiring buyers to commit to some kind of game club or plan. Which would you prefer, paying $19.95 at a site like Alawar Entertainment or PlayFirst, or $9.99 at Amazon?

Consider a game club membership.

If you know you’re going to be making a lot of purchases, look into one of the major casual game sites’ game clubs or programs. For example, Big Fish Games has the Big Fish Game Club, which lets you get their games for $6.99 and get access to new releases early. That particular site also has a Big Fish Games Toolbar which lets you see a $2.99 daily deal game. PlayFirst has a similar program called PlayPass, which lets you purchase games for $9.95 and get access to games early. GameHouse’s GameHouse Club FunPass also allows members to purchase games at a discount or sample a game for an unlimited amount for free. And those are only a few of the programs available.

Do your research first. Check out what games are already in a site’s catalog before you go investing in any club. See what kind of price discounts are offered. Make sure it’s the kind of plan where you can cancel at any time with no penalties. As long as you’ve done your research, taking advantage of one of these plans can help you get some great discounts.

Don’t overdose on one genre.

Pace yourself. While it’s great to have a favorite genre and kind of game, don’t only purchase and play games from that genre. If you spend too much time playing only hidden object games, your eyes could start feeling strained and you could find yourself bored with them. Then, you may even find yourself ignoring or not enjoying really great hidden object games.

Instead, diversify your casual game library. If time management games are your favorite, by all means get the ones that appeal to you. But perhaps get a match-3, point and click adventure or hidden object game every occasionally to play between time management endeavors. It’ll help keep things from getting stale and make the other games feel fresh.

Backup your games!

Once you start purchasing casual games, finding a way to save and preserve them is crucial. Make sure you back up the install programs to a CD, otherwise there’s a chance you could end up losing it. Make sure you copy any unlocking codes and paste them in a text file, also recording if there’s a limit to how many times it can be installed. Create a CD or DVD with that data backed up. That way, if something happens to your computer, you can still access your game.

And always remember - every Friday Gamertell runs Casual Friday, our casual games update. It details all of the latest releases in the casual game world, offers a brief description of each game, pricing information, system requirements and links to sites you can find them.

Site [Big Fish Games] Site [PlayFirst] Site [GameHouse] Site [eGames] Site [Alawar Games] Site [Amazon] Site [Reflexive Arcade] Site [Harmonic Flow]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

In light of this year’s Dreamcast anniversary I’ve decided to write up a guide for many of you who either are just diving into Dreamcast or rejoining the Orange Swirl Society.

I’ll try to cover as many aspects as I can about the system but if I miss some burning question, feel free to ask in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Acquiring a Dreamcast

The first step is perhaps the most obvious one – get a system. You can find one on the usual online marketplaces (eBay or NCSX for instance) or check your local pawn shops, Goodwills and even a yard sale.

A decent running price for the system alone is about $25 to $75 depending on condition. Some places will even include bundles with extra games and controllers. Be sure to acquire a VMU (Virtual Memory Unit) or you won’t be making much progress in your games. These will run anywhere from $0.50 to $8, they come in various colors and, even if the battery is dead, it will still work once plugged into your controller.

Setting Up Your Dreamcast

Next we naturally have to hook the thing up. There are various ways to do this.

If you have a standard CRT television, the composite cables will work fine for you.

However, I prefer the method of VGA adaption, especially if you are going to play shooters or are just going to hook the system up to an HDTV. You can either purchase a VGA box or grab one of these adapters that goes straight from your Dreamcast into your monitor/television.

What to Play?

The Dreamcast is an amazing system with a great library of software to boot. Most of it was aimed at the arcade crowd although there are plenty of other genres represented. Here a few suggestions to get you started:

• Jet Grind Radio
• Shenmue
• Soul Calibur
• Sonic Adventure
• Seaman
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures
• D2
• Evolution
• Giga Wing
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• Street Fighter: Third Strike
• Crazy Taxi
• Space Channel 5
• Skies of Arcadia

For the completionist, Sega once posted a complete checklist of Dreamcast titles on their site, however the link is currently dead. Thankfully, the strong community surrounding the system has kept the list alive today in PDF form. The best thing of all is that most Dreamcast games these days are kicking around for a few bucks. However don’t be surprised to see high price tags on rarer more complete finds.

Import Heaven

Much like the Sega Saturn, one of the Sega Dreamcast’s true strengths was the easy ability to play imported games. All it takes is a Boot Disc or a Gameshark CDX and your Dreamcast is region-free.

You can acquire these one of three ways: Either purchase them online or do some digital footwork and you may be able to find an image of the Boot Disc and instructions on how to make it work on your system via Google. Finally, there are mod chips but it’s perhaps easier to use one of the other routes.

What kinds of imports can you expect to play on your system? Tons. Here’s a tiny list just to name a few:

• Ikaruga
• Border Down
• Under Defeat
• Radirgy
• Princess Maker series (thanks for informing me of this Jenni!)
• Sakura Taisen
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Psyvariar 2
• Puyo Puyo Fever
• Super Street Fighter 2X
• Trigger Heart Excelica
• Shenmue II
• Rez

TATE (TAH-TAY!)

What is Tate Mode? It’s the mode in which the picture on your screen shifts at a 90-degree angle. This is where it’s handy to have your Dreamcast hooked up to a VGA monitor (not a flat screen unless it has a swivel stand). How do you play with the screen shifted? Simply turn your monitor onto its left side. Relax, it won’t hurt it (remember to bend at the knees).

Why would you want the screen shifted 90-degrees? Because it lends itself to a more arcade feel and, in most instances, actually shows you the entire screen without bunching it up.

Accessory Fever

Don’t you just love accessories? Stop lying. I know you have more than two plastic guitars in your house. The Dreamcast has some awesome accessories.

For instance, the official Sega Dreamcast Arcade Stick was a solidly built piece of hardware. It’s been seven years and mine is still going strong. There are plenty of sticks available for the system yet I find the official one the best of them.

Then there was the Dreamcast keyboard. This thing provided many a classic moments with Typing of the Dead. Typing in words to kill zombies was hilarious enough especially when you are no good at it. But the keyboard also had other uses. Since the Dreamcast could go online via the built-in 56k modem, you could browse the web and if you had a VMU plugged in, you could (and even still can) download games and other things straight to the unit.

Then there was the microphone and Seaman. Talking to that human headed fish was/is perhaps one of the most surreal experiences gamers can have. It’s just something you have to experience on your own to grasp.

Playing Online

Yes its true, avid Dreamcast owners can still take their systems online either through the 56k modem or the viable alternative of the cable modem adapter. What are you going to play though? Chu Chu Rocket was a big time waster but perhaps the biggest and most addictive reason is Phantasy Star Online (PSO).

For people longing to relive their days on Ragol, there’s good news in that there are still working servers for the Dreamcast, GameCube and PCs.

Now Go Play!

Alright, that about covers the basics so go get started and let us know how it’s going for you. Was it everything you remembered? Was it better as nostalgia? Did I miss something you wanted to know? Write us!

Read [Racketboy] Also Read [Bitmob] Shop [NCSX]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Many people don’t really rely on CDs anymore. With laptops and mp3 players, many prefer direct downloads of music. Unfortunately, direct downloads of video game soundtracks and Japanese rock or pop music aren’t that prevalent yet. For many people, the best way to go is straight to the source - iTunes Japan.

The Japanese iTunes store has tons of music waiting to be downloaded. Tracks from your favorite video games or obscure Japanese artists. There’s just one catch, you have to have a Japanese iTunes account to access all of it. And, to have a Japanese iTunes account, you must have a Japanese mailing address and a Japanese credit card or iTunes music card. Fortunately, creating an account isn’t a terribly difficult task.

Check your region’s iTunes store first!

A Japanese iTunes account and music card may be unnecessary. The iTunes store is expanding every day, and the music or artist you’re looking for may already be in the system.

If you’re looking for general Japanese pop or rock music, try searching for the artist or group’s name. You never know, it could come up. Or you could always use the iTunes Browse option to take a look at the artists available in the J-Pop, Anime or World music sections.

If you’re searching for video game soundtracks, plug the name of the game into the search box. You could end up finding a Japanese or official soundtrack already on the site. Searching for “Final Fantasy,” “The Black Mages” or “Nobuo Uematsu” brings up numerous results, especially “Nobuo Uematsu.” A random search for “Devil May Cry” brought up the Devil May Cry 4 Original Game Soundtrack. Searching for “Guitar Hero” brings up the iTunes Essentials My Groove Guitar Hero track listing.

Procuring iTunes Japan cards.

There are quite a few options for purchasing iTunes Japan cards, but it’s important to do so through a source or outlet you trust. (You don’t want to pay money to find the code’s already been used on the card!) JList/JBox is the most established and well known online merchant selling the cards. The 1,500 yen card is $21.50 and the 3,000 yen card is $37.95. JList also will either send you the card through the mail or email you a scan of the card’s code, whichever you prefer.

Other small anime or Japanese specialty online stores also offer a similar service. For example, Otaku.com sells the 3,000 yen card for $34.95 and will also email you the code and/or send you the card, based on your preferences. eBay is another source for iTunes Japan cards, but make sure the seller has a high feedback rating and is someone you can trust before buying.

Of course, if you have a friend in Japan who can go out and pick up a card for you, that’s probably the best and easiest solution of all!

Using said cards to acquire iTunes Japan music.

First, you need to shift over to the Japanese iTunes store. It’s a simple process. Scroll down to the My Store selector and choose the very last option. It’s the only one in Kanji, so you’ll have no problem spotting it. You’ll automatically switch to iTunes Japan and be logged out of your iTunes account.

Since the process takes place in English, there’s really no explanation necessary. Just make sure you have the Japanese iTunes card by your side and a Japanese mailing address you can use.

There’s only one thing you may have to worry about, a glitch that is described in the JList iTunes account creation guide. Sometimes the account creation will not offer the “None” option when registering and will demand a credit card. Just click the home button and start over. The second time through the “None” button will appear.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Importables reviews the DS mini-game collection Vitamin Y.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables discussed video game soundtracks..

Site [Apple.com (Japanese)] Site [Play-Asia] Site [YesAsia] Site [NCSX] Site [Himeya Shop] Site [Strapya World]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

I’ve had the good fortune to be playing Class of Heroes for quite a while now, and I’d like to think I’ve familiarized myself with the game. After all, I’ve never had a party completely wiped out in a labyrinth, and it seems like my players are dying less often than they were when I first began playing.

After a while, I realized that some races were better for beginners than others. Yes, every race has its pros and cons. I couldn’t help feeling that I would have been a bit more comfortable knowing that certain races were sturdier, with better innate skills, than others and that some majors were more useful when just beginning the game.

Races

There are three races every beginner should lock on to - Drakes, Celestians and Erdgeists. Felpiers, Elves and Sprites aren’t without their charms as well. (I found a Felpier thief worked well as a front-line character, as did a Sprite wizard.) However, the first three races are some of the best starters.

Drakes are a perfect choice for front-line warrior tanks. I’ve used three different Drake characters, and never had one even come close to dying in a dungeon. They’re also incredibly strong. Perhaps their best trait is the Breath attack they all come with, which can be used to attack multiple enemies in a single group. By the time my main, male Drake was level 5, his breath attack could easily wipe out two enemies at once in the Novice dungeon. The race’s only downside is that they aren’t very compatible with other races. While they get good with Erdgeists and other Drakes, they tend to be neutral towards many other races and don’t get along at all with Humans, Sprites or Diabolos.

Celestians are the perfect spell caster race. I found that a Celestian would excel as a wizard, devout, cleric, evoker, alchemist, psychicer, paladin or valkyrie. They’re far more adaptable than the instruction manual and game would suggest. At one point, I had a level 5 Celestian wizard with higher HP than a level 5 Human thief. The race automatically levitates, meaning that ground dungeon traps have no effect on them. I also noticed that the Celestians I trained often learned a levitate spell to make the whole party fly over traps. Another bonus is that the Diabolos is the only race a Celestian doesn’t get along with.

The Erdgeists are a great beginner race for two reasons. First, they get along well with every other race, even the Diabolos. So if you add an Erdgeist or two to your team, you’ll have a group with high affinities toward one another. Second, they work great as mages. Based on my trials, they’re the best when it comes to spell-casting majors. The manual also recommends Erdgeists for the monk major, but I found that it could take a long time for the strength and vitality stats to reach the required amount. Erdgeists also naturally levitate, just like Celestians, so floor traps aren’t any trouble for them.

You may be tempted to go with a Human character. Unless you decide said human will be a back-row fighter or mage, it’s probably a good idea to go with other races instead. I tried a front row devout human and a front row thief, and both seemed to have trouble staying alive. Their HP was low, in comparison to other characters, they tended to miss more often than other characters and they had a nasty habit of dying.

Majors

Thieves are wonderful. You need to have at least one in your party. Perhaps even two. They’re quite versatile, as practically every chest in the game is booby-trapped. Thieves can discover what trap is on a chest and disarm it for you. They also are great for unlocking locked doors, and eventually learn how to dual wield one-handed weapons. I keep two in my party, in case one dies an untimely death.

Clerics are yet another awesome major. The class learns not only white magic, but black magic as well. Since there’s no MP, and instead you have a certain number of uses for each level of magic, you get a nice variety of spells to cast. The clerics tend to focus on white magic, but before long you’ll have all kinds of black and white magic to cast. Plus, they learn a Requiem skill that can be used to dispatch those menacing ghost or spirit monsters weapons can’t hit.

Warriors round out the top three initial classes. They work well as strong, front-line tanks. They can take hits, unlike many other classes, and deal tons of damage to all non-ghost and spirit enemies without much tweaking. Plus, they eventually learn true dual wield, which means they can wield any kinds of weapons, not just one handed-weapons.

Once you get to advances classes, an Alchemist could be helpful. They have the unique Alchemy ability, which lets you create new items and equipment on your own, without visiting the Laboratory and paying to do it. The only thing I noticed was that low level alchemists tend to fail

If you don’t mind watching a mage character’s HP sink like a stone, you can always perform the major swap trick. If a mage character has the stats to qualify as a psychicer, wizard or cleric, you can have them learn the first level magics for each major in a matter of minutes. Once a character learns magic spells, they’ll have them as long as the current major allows them to use between 1-4 magic spells. So, you can get a few spells you like, quick visit the status screen to cut down to the two or three level one spells you really want, then change the the final major for that character.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Class of Heroes]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

One of the most challenging aspects of Crimson Gem Saga is the Skill Tree. You’re given the ability to develop characters in any way that you want, but then learn that you have to be patient when it comes to making them stronger. You have to expend skill points to make skills visible on the Skill Tree, which usually costs between 50 and 200 skill points. Then, you have to invest more points into a visible skill to actually learn it.

If you’re patient and level grind, plus only invest in skills you need immediately, you should have no trouble building strong and useful characters. For example, if you’ve unveiled a skill that doesn’t seem particularly useful at the time, don’t invest in it. Instead, move further down the tree and start revealing another skill. You may uncover something much better and more useful.

In an attempt to help, Gamertell’s going to look at the first four characters that join your party in Crimson Gem Saga and offer possible Skill Tree suggestions. Maybe you’ll find a hint that could help you out.

Henson the mage comes to the party with three skills. The light fire attack Char, the light ice attack Ice Shard and Channel, which lets him turn his HP into MP. That isn’t nearly enough for a magic user.

A good idea is to focus on Henson as soon as he joins your party. His physical attacks are incredibly weak, compared to all of the other party members. Plus, he’s typically kept in the back, out of harm’s way, because his hit points are low as well. The second he joins your party, your prerogative should be teaching him magic spells. If you don’t, he’ll be worthless. Try to at least teach him the basic elemental spells. It’s worth it.

A good idea is to try and get all of Henson’s medium strength elemental spells unlocked before you start spending SP on other characters. By level 30, I had taught him the following skills:

• Wizard Aura - automatically restores MP each turn
• Inspire - increases all allies’ defense when used
• Crystalline Crush - the medium ice spell
• Spark - the light lightning spell
• Scorch - the medium fire spell
• Immolate - the strong fire spell
• Blaze - the light fire spell that hits all enemies
• Whirlwind - the light wind spell that hits all enemies
• Gale Force - the medium wind spell that hits all enemies

Next is Gelts. While Gelts may seem like a awesome candidate for heavy hitter, and you may be tempted to start using SP to reveal special attacks for him to use in battle, it’s a better idea to teach him as many healing spells as possible. Early on, Killian and Gelts are the only party members who will be able to learn the basic cure skills. Since Killian’s a better attacker than Gelts, plus he can occasionally land multiple hits more often than Gelts, it’s best to have him focus on attacks. Gelts’ class is “cleric” for a reason.

Gelts only comes with one skill learned, Gelts Crush. To make things worse, Gelts Crush isn’t even a very good special attack. I’d recommend immediately heading to the top branch of the Skill Tree to Quick Fix, the first healing spell Gelts can learn. Follow along that top line and teach him Heal, the medium healing spell, and Revitalize, the massive healing spell. Then, go to the branch between Quick Fix and Heal and teach Gelts First Aid, the skill that heals all allies a little. If you have any medallions stored in Items, I’d recommend leveling up Heal to rank 3. It made battles a lot easier for me.

Spinel the thiefmage is a character you can put off for a while. Yes, thiefmage is a word. It must be, that’s how she’s described in her character profile. Anyway, she comes with one skill learned, Shadow Strike. It’s a very basic physical attack. Her skills are nice, but they aren’t as essential for battle early on. Focus on Henson, Gelts and Killian first, then work on her special abilities.

The only thing I’d suggest investing in is the combo attack she shares with Killian, Wave Strike. If you rank Wave Strike up enough with medallions, it can end up being a powerful way to handle large groups of enemies. I also invested in Deadly Attraction and Toxic Needles for Spinel, two attack skills on the same line as Shadow Strike. Both deal medium damage and also inflict a status ailment (confusion or poison) on an enemy. Toxic Needles is especially nice, since it hits multiple times.

Killian’s similar to Spinel. Once Henson and Gelts join, you’ll want to spend your SP on them and not him. He’s a well rounded chevalier character, which means he comes with a lot of physical attack skills and support skills. The only skills I strongly recommend teaching him early on are Cross Slash, Quick Fix and Wave Strike. If you want to use the Wave Strike combo attack with Spinel, you have to make sure both characters have it unlocked. Killian’s side is hidden and must be revealed, so make sure you follow the branch between Cross Slash and Holy Armor to unlock it.

In case it helps, by level 30 I had unlocked the following skills for Killian:

• Cross Slash - a medium attack to all enemies
• Quick Fix - light healing
• Heal - medium healing
• Holy Armor - increase one ally’s defense
• Wave Strike - the combo attack with Spinel that hits all enemies

Read [Gamertell] Site [Crimson Gem Saga]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’ve been paying attention to Sony’s free-to-play MMO Free Realms, you’ll have noticed that the company has implemented a rather novel way of aquiring unique items. While there are the typical giveaways, for example the special avatar cap given to beta testers or the Station Cash and avatar shirt given to the first 999,999 players, there are also little extra items players can receive by acquiring codes. For example, a code (rosesformom) for a bouquet of flowers was made available on Mother’s Day.

There are numerous ways to find these codes. For example, some can show up in the News section on the Free Realms site. Be sure to check that section before you start playing. Codes have also been known to appear in magazine ads. You can’t always be alert and searching for codes, so it’s good to know places you can go to find codes that are guaranteed to work.

Your first stop should be the Free Realms Insider, a fansite that is devoted to the new game. Besides always discussing the latest Free Realms news, providing a forum for players and offering assistance in learning to use game features or finding new character jobs, the site also has a code directory. When a new code comes up, Free Realms Insider reports it, and includes a picture so you can see what the new item looks like. The site also keeps track of which codes have expiration dates. If you haven’t played in a week or two, this is a great site to visit so you can catch up on free items.

If you’re on Facebook, you can join The Official Free Realms Page. Item codes show up on the page below the “Get the Goods” ad. (Plus, you can see videos and screenshots from the game.)

Once you’ve found a code, it’s incredibly easy to collect your prize.

1. Visit the Free Realms site. After you’ve logged in,
2. Once you’ve clicked the Redeem button, a page will come up telling you that you were successful in redeeming that code. The page will also tell you what non-transferable item the code unlocked.
3. Log into the game as normal.
4. Enter the Station Cash cash shop area, indicated by the gold coin in the bottom menu with SC on it.
5. Click the claim button then, once in the claim menu, pick up the code items you redeemed earlier.

If the item you claimed is food, you can use it any time you’d like. If it’s clothing, you may need to change your character’s job if you want to wear it. The baseball cap I redeemed above doesn’t show up when I’m in the Brawler job, but does appear when my character is an Adventurer. If you’re having problems finding a new item in your inventory, try changing jobs.

You can also redeem codes when you first log into Free Realms. The opening menu, which offers information on cash shop items and your character, also has a spot at the bottom where a code can be entered and redeemed. I’ve found the process is a bit quicker and easier when completed before entering Free Realms.

Site [Free Realms] Site [Free Realms Insider] Site [Facebook]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

For my latest melted beads project I decided to remain old school, this time with Link from The Legend of Zelda (NES).

I found a lot of sprite designs online for this one but none were lage enough to maximize the 29x29 pixel grid. Again I used PCStitch to convert images I had found before picking the right one and editing it to make the desired design using the Pyssla beads 10-color pallet.

Since the 29x29 grid is a little larger than most of the existing sprites it allowed me to take a little liberty in adding some squares to make areas slightly more diagonal in appearance. You can see it best in the top of the hat, the diagonal line on his chest and his chin. That also left me a little room to keep the shield out of his mouth.

Like the other two designs, this took less than an hour from start to finish and I’m still working from the same bucket of Ikea’s Pyssla beads. After seeing a bucket that contains 5500 Perler beads I estimate the Ikea bucket to contain approximately 8,000 beads. They are a slightly smaller size - width and height - than Perlers.With each project using less than the 841 points, that’s a lotta sprites.

Here’s the pattern I created in PCStitch and the reference image:

Previous Projects:

• Peter Pepper (Burger Time)
• Raccoon Suite Mario (Super Mario Bros. 3)

Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Spirited Heart is an awesome, indie simulation game. Awesome, but also incredibly challenging. Beginners can easily find themselves frustrated by expensive classes, relentless taxes and seemingly unrealistic job requirements.

That’s where this guide comes in. Initially, Spirited Heart is difficult, but with a little perseverance and quick thinking, you can find fairytale endings for every character you raise. The key is to think strategically and know what you want for your characters. If you set a goal and begin creating a game plan, you’ll have a better chance of being successful.

1. Choose the Noble Family to raise your character. Noble characters start off the game with the most money, which means you can pay to train skills and build up your character’s attributes quicker.
2. Splurge before you have to pay the tax on your earnings. Every three months, taxes are due. Keep track of when tax day is coming up. Then, the week before they’re due, splurge on attributes or a trip. The tax applies to the total amount of money you have, not what you made. So, you’ll only have to give the King a few pieces of gold. If you time things correctly, you could end up owing nothing.

3. Focus on building stats for the Advanced Job. Once you get an Advanced Job, you get a lot more money. Plus, after maxing out the stat associated with an Advanced Job, you’ll get a bonus each time you perform it. You can then use the extra money you’ve earned to build up your other attributes and skills in the Train Skills section.
4. When looking to marry off a character, earn the attribute stats (and then some) for the Advanced Job relating to the guy before visiting their Basic Job location. You can trigger random events for Thofte, Ramas, Janimee, Mgorem and at practically any age, so long as you visit that job. Be advised: I’m not sure if this applies to Frebo, as I haven’t successfully married off a character to him. The Basic Jobs for the suitors (except Ramas) don’t boost the attributes needed to perform the Advanced Jobs they appear at, so it’s quicker to unlock the Advanced Jobs, then visit the guys at the Basic Jobs. Ramas is the only character who defies this, as the Guard job does boost Concentration, which is one of the attributes needed to unlock the Smith job. Here’s a quick cheat sheet regarding the suitors:
   • Ramas: Basic Job - Guard, Advanced Job - Smith
   • Thofte: Basic Job - Farmer, Advanced Job - Gardener
   • Janimee: Basic Job - Waitress, Advanced Job - Sexy Girl
   • Frebo: Basic Job - Schoolgirl, Advanced Job - Wizard
   • Mgorem: Basic Job - Maid, Advanced Job - Soldier
   • Yuza: Basic Job - Tailor, Advanced Job - Cook
5. Save often. If you don’t do particularly well in a job or at a class, you can always try reloading to see if you’d get different results. Also, if you save at every break, you don’t have to worry about making a bad decision when a random event pops up.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Spirited Heart]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Inspired by the cross stitch projects (and by our very own Jenni Lada), I picked up a pack of Ikea’s plastic beads and decided to give a go at some 8-bit art.

Since I live pretty close to an Ikea, I picked up Ikea’s bucket o’ beads (aka Pyssla, US$5.99) which contains ten colors, most of which are appropriate for old-school avatars. For my first project I opted for a Racoon Mario from the classic NES game, Super Mario Bros. 3. For the working base I used Ikea’s Pyssla bead shape set (US$2.00) which includes four colored shapes. The largest is the white square with 29 x 29 pegs.

To create a pattern, I scouted around the web and found a few decent images of Mario. I first tried to hack it apart in Photoshop but that proved too cumbersome. Instead, I went with the cross stitch idea - since both melty beads and cross stitch work on a grid - and found a couple free image-to-pattern cross stitch programs. I toyed with both KG-Chart LE, a free program, and PCStitch 7, a professional application with a decent free trial mode. Both allow for point-and-click square-by-square editing, which is highly convenient.

Since the Ikea bead bucket only contains 10 colors, I had a very limited palette. KG-Chart LE proved a little too light for such a limited palette so I primarily used PCStitch 7. I created a pallet, imported the image, set the stitch width at 29 (the white square’s peg width and height) and edited the design. I liked the Raccoon Mario with blue overalls with brown ears and tail even if it’s not the NES avatar from Super Mario 3.  I spent more time looking for a good image to convert than I did converting it (about 15-20 min to convert).

The trial of PCStitch doesn’t allow you to save or export the final pattern, so I took a screen shot of both the pattern on the grid (the useful pattern for placing beads) and the Final Pattern Preview the program generates. Then it was simply a matter of following the pattern. You can see the screenshot, reference Mario and progress from blank board to finished Mario in the Photo Gallery.

In less than 45 minutes I was able to place all the pegs and iron them own to the final design. I ironed both sides which not all beaders do. The nice thing is that even though the beads are round, they form small square when ironed. Ironing both sides made the finished object two-sides and, if you hold it up to a light, you can see through all the colors except black and brown.

The whole project cost about $8 and took an hour and half to complete, and it hardly made a dent in that bucket of beads. The final Mario is 5 in. wide, 5 1/2 in. tall and about as thick as a quarter.

Any suggestions for my next bead project?
Read [Gamertell] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

April Fools is a day to have fun with those around you. A lighthearted day where you can enjoy yourself, or perhaps seek vengeance for being caught unaware the year before.

In case you’re stumped, and unsure what to do this year for April Fools, Gamertell has you covered. We’ve put together four potential pranks that you can use as inspiration for your own adventures today.

Be forewarned - many of these jokes can be quite mean. They involve playing on gamers’ deepest fears. So if you decide to attempt one, don’t be surprised if it causes a rift in your friendship.

1. The Memory Card Swap

Have you ever experienced the sense of loss and frustration that comes from losing a game save you invested hours of your life in? It’s a tragedy. A tragedy that can be easily exploited and recreated. Unfortunately, in an age where game saves are saved on hard drives, it is a trick that has gotten more difficult to pull off. You can still do it though, if you’re determined and have ninja-like reflexes.

If your target has a PS2 or a PSP, it’s simple. Just have a memory card that looks identical to the target’s card. Replace the cards when you get the chance and then you’re done and can watch your friend/foe go through some serious mental anguish.

If your target has a Wii or PS3 you can still do it, but it’s slightly more complicated and I personally wouldn’t condone doing so. Some save files can’t be transferred (ex. Animal Crossing City Folk) or there could be other, unintended repercussions. If you’re absolutely set on faking an erased Wii or PS3 save, you’ll need an SD card for a Wii and a SD card or USB drive for the PS3. Copy the game to your SD card or USB drive first, then delete it from the system. If the game save can’t be copied over, then don’t delete it and abandon the prank.

If your target has a PC or Mac, you can also take part in this prank. Simply research online to find out which folder the game save files for your target’s favorite game are stored. Then temporarily relocate the files. If your target is a fan of The Sims 2,  there’s a cruel way to mess with him or her. Go to the Documents folder and select the EA Games folder. Rename the folder called “The Sims 2” by adding the word “backup” to the end. Now, when your target starts The Sims 2, it will start over totally fresh with the default homes/neighborhoods/objects/characters. Once the prank is done, delete the new “The Sims 2” folder and remove the word “backup” from the original folder.

2. The System Swap

This is a slightly different take on the Memory Card Swap, and requires a bit more care and preparation. It can also go two ways.

One way to handle this is to try and convince your target that a different system is their system, and you have “accidentally” damaged it beyond repair. You’ll need a way to get access to the target’s home when he or she isn’t there, so get on good terms with a parent, guardian or roommate. You’ll also need an already damaged system that looks like your friend’s console and doesn’t look suspicious. Try checking eBay or Shop Goodwill for a parts-only PS2/GC/Wii/Xbox 360/PS3.

Get yourself invited over to hang out on April 1. If you couldn’t get in beforehand, bring an accomplice. Have the accomplice distract the target while you swap the two systems. Then, when you’re all together, put on a little “show” and take that fake console down. In a perfect world, the target’s console would be an Xbox 360 and the “fake” 360 would be one with the Red Ring of Death. You could turn it on, watch the Red Ring light up, and claim, “It was like that when I got here.”

Another way to handle this is to set your friend up. Buy a broken console that looks exactly like yours. Then, either invite your friend over to play or allow your friend to borrow said console. You can then make the target think that the console was fine until he or she touched it.

3. “Oh no! The internet’s down!”

This is a fun, and somewhat easy, trick to pull off. It works best for systems that connect to the internet over Wi-Fi, but a less spectacular version of the prank can also be executed with consoles that are actually connected to the internet via wires or cables.

If the system is connected via a wire or cable, simply loosen the wire. Give a gentle tug so if you glance at the wire it will look connected. Hopefully, it should be enough to cause some connection problems and frustrations for your target.

The better way to handle this prank is to tamper with the Wi-Fi connection. Unplug a router. Turn on the console or handheld and change the password the target entered to allow access to the internet. Or, if you’re a parent/sibling/roommate who has the ability to change the password that lets you access that Wi-Fi connection, temporarily change it for a day.

4. Freeware Prank PC Programs

Last, but not least, there’s always TheFreeSite.com. TheFreeSite.com has a special section devoted to April Fools computer pranks. Most of these programs are freeware and will do random things, like generate error messages, randomly change desktop wallpaper or randomly play sounds.

Before using or downloading any of the programs from TheFreeSite.com, make sure you know what they do, how to disable them and also take the time to verify that they are safe to use on your, or your target’s, computer.

Site [TheFreeSite.com]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Last week, Gameloft’s iPhone and iPod Touch revision of the classic game pretty much everyone who went to school in the ‘90s played around with in the computer labs, The Oregon Trail, was released to the anticipating public (if you have been looking for it, its under Educational in the App Store).

I gave it a spin last night and after 32 days (in game) arrived at my family’s first major destination, Fort Kearny, 298 miles into our journey without a single soul perishing and in good health is quite the achievement in these times.

Being a carpenter as my chosen profession, I know a thing or two about wagons so the worry of being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken wagon isn’t on my mind. Together with my wife Jane, two daughters Martha and Cassidy, and my son Billy, we are searching for a better tomorrow, one hopefully filled with gold!

We set out in March, the air is still chilly and there’s not a lot of grass for the oxen, but at least we have the advantage of starting out cold and ending warmer. We decided that a moderate pace would be best for us, especially since the kids kept nagging about whether or not we were there yet.

After a a couple of miles, our wagon train leader offered to let us do some hunting. Of course, because I still had to prove my worth to the train, I could only hunt small game that wouldn’t last very long but would get us by.

Continuing our days on the trail we came across a hitchhiker who claimed to be a doctor heading to Fort Kearny. He offered us $15 for the trip and what harm could having a doctor on your train be? My wife and children were scared of the man, I was definitely in the doghouse should anything happen to us, but I was confident the man was legit.

Days passed and trail crossed we hunted and fished for food. Then the unthinkable happened and my daughter caught the dysentery. Luckily we had our doctor friend with us and he cured her after two days. I knew having him would be a good idea.

A few days later we encountered some bandits. Unfortunately, we couldn’t out run them and lost supplies. Greasy bandits won this time, but we still had enough food and supplies to make it to the fort.

At least until our wagon broke down. I pounded nail after nail into the wooden wagon and fixed ‘er right up. I told you being a carpenter had its advantages out here.

After more traveling and another bout with disease we finally made it to our first destination: Fort Kearny.

During our brief stay at the fort, I took up a job at the local Post Office tapping out telegraphs earning me a whooping 18 dollars. I also conversed with a few characters such as a dainty lady who shot her first buffalo, apparently it fed them for 2 weeks. All I’ve been allowed to shoot at this point was some rabbits and squirrels. There was also a fellow by the name of John O’ Sullivan spouting some rambling nonsense about “manifest destiny”. 

Altogether our finances totaled $83, so my trip to the general store was going to be thrifty at best. After $70, I procured a Pony Cart whip to keep my oxen healthy, some food, some supplies, and new clothes for the family.

It’s now going to be another 32 miles to our next destination to Plum Creek. Who knows what craziness this journey into the West will offer us. We have survived thus far though, I’m sure we’ll survive what’s to come… as long as its not dysentery.

Site [Gameloft]

Full Story » | Written by Kris Rosado for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Want to get involved in Nexon’s free-to-play MMORPG Mabinogi? It’s a great time for it, what with the massive Pioneers of Iria expansion just added into the game and a lot of previously premium content suddenly becoming free.

Of course, with that expansion came some important decisions. Now there are three different races for characters to pick from - humans, giants and elves. Each race plays differently, and depending on which you choose, you could end up an unknowing pawn in an ongoing war.

So today we’ll take a close look at Mabinogi‘s three races, to help newcomers and returning veterans better understand what each has to offer. We’ll tell you how to get your free elf and giant character cards, then go through basic information on all three races. When you’re done, you may want to look back at Gamertell’s previous Mabinogi guides.

Getting your Giant and Elf Assistant Cards

Nexon wants you to test drive the new races. Really, it does. That’s why it is so easy to get one free card for each race in the game. Okay, it’s easy if you can find someone who’s already been to the elf village Filia or the giant village Vales and can take you there via Mana Tunnels. Otherwise, you have to trek all across Rano, Physis and Connus. Human characters can swear allegiance to the elves or giants. When you speak to the elf elder Castanea or the giant elder Krug for the very first time and swear to be on his or her side, you’ll receive a card to create a character from that race.

Once you’ve received one card, you can speak to the elder again and break ties with that race. Then, the next day you can go to the other elder, swear allegiance and receive a card for the other race.

After getting your cards, you’re ready to agonize over which race to focus on.

Human

Humans are your basic characters. They’re reliable, well rounded and the most plentiful race in Mabinogi at the moment. It’s what everyone starts out as, in Tir Chonaill.

When it comes to appearance, theirs is the most varied. They have a wide selection of equipable clothing, weapons, armor and accessories. They also have the most basic and premium character feature options. So if you want to look unique, a human is the way to go.

Humans also have a lot of riding options. They can ride any of the mountable pets. Also, if a human decides to ally with the giants, they can ride on giants.

They also have two possible transformations that can be earned by going through the storyline quests from Generations 2 and 3 of Mabinogi. This means they can turn into a Paladin or Dark Knight.

Humans also have access to the Final Hit and Arrow Revolver skills. Final Hit lets humans who are dual wielding two one-handed weapons to unleash a continuous attack. Arrow Revolver lets players fire five arrows in a row, instead of one, with a bow or crossbow.

Finally, as mentioned briefly earlier, humans can ally with the elves or giants. They will then receive discounts at the respective race’s town’s shops, be able to use special L-Rods that normally only giants or elves could use and be unable to enter the opposing race’s village without being attacked. Humans can also marry humans, elves or giants.

Humans can pretty much do anything. They’re a great backup character to have on an account, or maybe use as a primary character with an elf or giant to fight as for fun. You can play alone, or in groups, as a human. It’s the most well-rounded race in the game.

Elf

All Elves in Mabinogi begin in Filia, which is near the humongous Connous desert in Iria. They have quite a few customization options, but not nearly as many has humans. They are slightly shorter than humans, and run faster than both humans and giants. They all tend to have fair skin, and there is a henna option for the characters’ faces.

Elves are born archers. They are the only race in the game that shoot while moving, or perform a ranged attack while mounted on a pet. They also fire two arrows at once, without having to implement any special skill. Elves’ arrow bags also can hold 500 arrows instead of the standard 100.

This means that they really aren’t that skilled at hand-to-hand combat. They can only use single hand weapons, and can’t dual wield. The special hand-to-hand combat skills for elves load quickly and don’t use as much AP as they do for humans, but they also aren’t as effective as they are when humans or giants use them.

Since elves are about the same size as humans, they can wear much of the same clothing and armor. There is some elf-specific armor and clothing, but it isn’t an overwhelming amount.

They also are able to use some unique abilities. First, there’s the Hide ability. This makes them completely invisible to everyone - monsters, NPCs or players. The only way someone can see a hidden elf is if they are in the same party. There’s also a Falcon Elf transformation, similar to humans Paladin and Dark Knight transformations, that can be learned by undertaking a series of quests.

Elves and giants are at war, which means that elves can’t freely enter and leave the giant village Vales. This means no giant/elf marriages, and that elves can’t ride on a giant’s shoulders.

If you’re going to play as an elf, go with the best possible long-range weapon as one equipment set, and an adequate hand-to-hand normal or fast sword for the second equipment set. That way, if a monster survives an arrow attacks and comes to attack you, your elf can automatically switch to the substantial melee weapons.

Elves work great as explorers. Make one, buy it a horse or ostrich, equip it with a good bow and set out to explore Iria. You can have him or her perform attacks on the move, or equip an L-Rod for discovering hidden treasures.

They’re also very valuable party members for exploring dungeons. They work best as a healer/archer in these situations, backing up the main fighters with ranged attacks and healing spells.

Giant

Giants are the absolute largest race in Mabinogi. Their journeys begin in the snowy village of Vales, on the continent of Iria. Even though they’re large, they run slightly faster than humans do.

Their size does handicap them a bit. For example, one giant can ride a mountable animal at once, even if it could normally carry two humans or elves. A two person animal can carry one giant and one other race though.

Giants also have more limits when it comes to clothing. They aren’t able to equip many of the items humans and elves can.

When it comes to weapons, giants can use practically everything. The only exception are bows - instead giants wield javelins. Giants also can use two-handed human weapons as one-handed weapons, and even dual wield them. Giants also are the only ones who can use giant mallets, axes, swords and knuckles. If there’s nothing else around, giants can even use some trees as weapons.

There are two unique giant abilities. The first is Stomp, an attack which can damage and stun enemies. It can also create holes in the Reus River for ice fishing. Giants also have the Savage Beast transformation earned by going through a series of quests.

Giants are physical attackers. This means the Counterattack and Defense skills are much stronger for them than other races. They can also use Assault without a shielf equipped. There’s a bit of a downside to this - giants aren’t as adept at magic as the other races.

And finally, of course, giants can’t visit the elf village without being attacked and can’t marry elves.

Giants are great for beginners and solo players. They’re incredibly strong characters. They can even take down some monsters empty handed. In a party, they’re fantastic front-line attackers and tanks.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Mabinogi]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

I want to start by thanking Brinstar who left a comment in my previous story bringing up a good question about Street Fighter 4 costumes for Home.

“Do the SFIV Home unlockables expire? I’m not planning on getting SFIV immediately after launch, ... Budget constraints,” Brinstar asked. Well, here’s what I was able to find and please note this is not an absolute answer as not much is known about unlockable Home avatar items yet. I just ordered my copy and it hasn’t arrived yet.

According to a report posted by IGN, there will be paid and rewarded Street Fighter 4 items available to fans and Playstation Home will have launching stations for the game within Home. The only unlockable free items that I know of at the moment are those my friend RayBlade has already earned playing the game. Since I’m still trying to survive the arcade mode just to unlock other playable characters, I asked my friend RayBlade how he unlocked his t-shirts. He said it was easy, all you had to do is:

• Compete in 10 online matches to unlock a blue Dan Sakiyo t-shirt and earn a “The Journey Begins” trophy.
• Compete in 100 online matches to unlock a black Akuma “Ten” t-shirt and earn the “10 Years Too Late” trophy.
• Defeat Gouken and clear the arcade mode while playing at the hardest difficulty level available to unlock the “Shadoloo” shirt and a “Legendary Champion” trophy.
• Obtain 70 percent of the trophies for Street Fighter 4 game and you can earn the S.I.N. Corporation t-shirt.

But there are Street Fighter 4 items available now for those who haven’t bought the game yet. There are four costumes available now at Threads located in the Home mall. These items are 99 cents each and include the following for male avatars: Ken, Ryu and Guile’s wig (found under the hat category); Ken and Ryu’s Gi; Guile’s camouflaged pants and green sleeveless T-shirt complete with an American flag tattoo (which will appear on your avatar’s shoulder); and Guile’s Army boots.

For female avatars you can purchase Chun Li’s wig, spiked bracers, blue and gold blouse, blue and gold skirt with red tights and white laced up boots. Sorry, no camo outfits were found at the store.

The items were hinted at in the Playstation Home Blogs and finally appeared after the Ninja hunt event held February 24, 2009. Where, if you were lucky enough to catch a ninja hiding or sneaking around in Home, you would receive messages about the items and the launching of the Warhawk Home world which is also currently available.

When you visit the Warhawk Home you will find yourself in the Warhawk Command Center featuring sand tables where you can plot their game plan and soon be able to launch into the actual game to test their plan. The table uses maps from within game and has game pieces players can use by positioning them on the grid any where on the map. There are terminals all around the command center with hints, game play tips and information about the game itself. With the launching of Warhawk Home, the Playstation Store is offering Warhawk for $19.99 until March 11, 2009. Booster combo packs for the game will be available for $4.99 each during this time before returning to its original pricing of $29.99 for the game and $9.99 for each booster combo pack.

The next game mentioned in the blogs to appear on Home is Resident Evil 5, which just opened March 5, 2009. You can explore the world and even talk to developers of the game at the movie set and some of the familiar characters on the street. There are many features like an arcade there but currently not available to play. But for all the girls who ranted about not receiving their free Resident Evil 5 T-shirts in January 2009, they are now available at Threads in the mall.

Read [IGN.com] Site [Official Street Fighter site] Site [PlayStation.com]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to design your own game (I know I have), and have barely any programming skills, that wonder may feel like only a dream. If you have own a copy of Little Big Planet you can let your creativity run rampant through the world but it’s still rather hard to get the challenges to work right without glitches. (And reading poor reviews of your game can be heartbreaking.)

I came across this article in USA Today about a program called Kodu. According to the article, written by USA Today reporter Mike Snider, Kodu is a program that will be available to Xbox Live users later Spring 2009 and will give players the tools they need to create their own game. Similar to Little Big Planet, you can create a variety of levels, bosses and vehicles for your character which kind of looks like the robot from the old Nintendo 64 game Rocket: Robot on Wheels.

According to Microsoft Research site the program uses simple language and is entirely icon-based to make it so easy even a child could create a game using their own Xbox controller. Here’s the quickie description from the Microsoft Research site:

Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. The programming environment runs on the Xbox, allowing rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input.

Key features highlighted in the program, according to Microsoft’s research site, include:

• High-level language incorporates real-world primitives: collision, color, vision
• Uses Xbox 360 Game Controller for input — no keyboard required
• Runs on Xbox 360 and PC
• Interactive terrain editor
• Bridge and path builder
• Terrain editor - create worlds of arbitrary shape and size
• 20 different characters with different abilities

With these tools players can bring a variety of Kodu characters and items to life. If it’s anything like Little Big Planet it will be quite an adventure just creating a level and then publish it on the server for others to tryout.

I’ve been playing around on my Metal Gear Solid-themed level in Little Big Planet for three months now and have yet to finish my game. Hopefully Kodu may be a little bit easier and be as enjoyable as Little Big Planet.

Read [USA Today] Also Read [Microsoft Research site] Site [XBox community news]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

After the mad rush of the holiday season, with so many of the year’s biggest guns (ahem, Gears of War 2, LittleBigPlanet, Left 4 Dead, need I go on?) behind us, it’s understandable that you’re probably a little bored right now. January and February have traditionally been a pretty slow time for releases, and that means you’ll have to get a little bit creative in order to keep things interesting in the meantime. But getting a little bit creative is what we do best, so we threw together a few tips that should keep you happily amused until March, when the trickle picks up again.

Throw a gaming party

I don’t mean just inviting a few gamer buddies over - throw a real party, and invite non-gaming friends too. Kotaku recently posted an excellent feature on how to throw a successful (and reasonably well-mannered) gaming party that will appeal to friends of all tastes (and genders.) Among the highlights:

“Do: Serve things that can be eaten quickly with one hand – usually during a loading screen (pizza rolls, hard candies, gamer grub).
Don’t: Serve anything that will leave stains on your controllers or splooge all over the floor (Cheetos, pizza, mochi ice cream balls).” And “Do: Make it a point to talk to everybody.
Don’t: Secretly hope that this will be the one day “that guy” doesn’t whip your ass in Halo and then do a victory dance around the living room. Because he will, and you invited him – so in a way, you’re just asking for it.”

Have a LittleBigPlanet design competition
This is a game that was absolutely built for longevity, and we all love a little competition among friends. Gather a group of buddies, appoint a judge, pick a theme (say, best recreation of Jurassic Park, or best interpretation of the infamous “Leroy Jenkins” battle - the wackier, the better), and let the building begin.

Play Through That giant “pile of shame”

Every gamer has a few (or a few dozen) great games that they always meant to play, but never got around to it. Now is the perfect time to pick up Psychonauts (hey, I finally played it during a lull last summer and it quickly rose to my all-time top five), or even a few golden oldies on the Virtual Console - Sin and Punishment, anybody?

Of course, you can always attack the games of last season - considering how long it takes to get through everything in Fallout 3, you may just be in that boat as well. Either way, here’s to a fun gaming season.

Read [Kotaku] Read [Giant Bomb]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

We all know what a giant rip-off the Xbox 360’s Wi-Fi adapter is at $90. When damn near every other modern system (PS3, Wii, PSP… even the DS!) has built in Wi-Fi, you have every right to be a little pissed off/confused about the 360’s utter lack of wireless. The good people at Gizmodo have put together a handy guide to getting that Xbox up and running on the wireless intertubes without the overpriced MS accessory.

While the post lists several handy setups (all of which seem fairly easy to coordinate) but my favorite has to be the most obvious - sharing your laptop connection. All you have to do is bring over your laptop, hook your 360 into your comp via an ethernet cable, do a little “internet jui-jitsu” and viola - Xbox Live is at your fingertips. One word of warning, however - Mac and Linux folks will have an easier time with this solution. Still - it’s free and almost hassle-proof. I love it.

Another genius fix - using the Xbox (original Xbox, that is) wireless adapter. From the post: “Turns out, a regular Xbox wireless adapter (which is a supercheap $50), works just fine, with a tiny bit of finagling: Don’t put in its actual install CD. Just plug it in, and set your encryption. It might take two tries to get it to work, but it will. And, it won’t eat up a USB port like the official Xbox 360 one.”

Definitely give this one a read if you’re short on cash and haven’t fallen down the $90 rabbit hole MS wants you to.

Read [Gizmodo]

Full Story » | Written by Danielle Riendeau for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

I figured I’d at least have another good thirty or forty years before I’d start becoming obsessed about my lawn. Meticulously leaving out little “Keep off the grass” signs. Harassing the neighborhood kids. Telling them not to skateboard on the sidewalk for fear they’ll land on my property.

But Animal Crossing: City Folk changed all that.

It altered my plans (and possibly my thought processes) because now I’m contemplating putting up those very same signs in my virtual town. Well, either that or declare a free-for-all after Snowman building season is over and let any visitors who want to drop by destroy any remaining patches of green.

Until then, I’m trying to gradually rebuild Midgar (my town’s) vegetation. I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks that I’ve been implementing since the beginning of December, 2008. Some of them are working for me, so perhaps you’ll find that they’ll work for you as well.

At least there’s one bright side - grass, or lack of grass, doesn’t affect your Perfect Town status. You can have a Perfect Town, even if you’re living in a desert.

Option 1: Look at all the pretty flowers

You may remember the following image. It appeared in my December 30, 2008, article, “An open letter to Nintendo: Time to fix Animal Crossing: City Folk” and was taken on December 29, 2008.

As you can see, I am trying to use the flower method to encourage grass growth in my town. If flowers are planted in a desolate area, it will help grass grow back quicker in that spot. Quicker is, of course, a relative term. It’s going to take a long time for grass to come back, but it will be just a bit faster with flowers.

It’s been about two weeks since that last picture was taken. Let’s look at how the area in front of my house looks on January 13, 2009:

Okay, so there hasn’t been a revolutionary change. But it does look a little bit better. The white snow dots, where grass will show once Spring comes, are larger and have multiplied. It is still going to take a while before my front lawn completely recovers.

Planting flowers takes time. The best thing to do is take good care of the ones you have, water the withering brown flowers to restore them and try not to run over them. Also, take the time to water healthy flowers, as it may help encourage hybrids and more flowers to grow.

Option 2: Time to create a Department of Transportation

A good way to preserve your grass is to create your own paths throughout the town. Paths ideally preserve the ground beneath them, give people a safe area to traverse and also add a little extra aesthetic appeal. Many Animal Crossing: City Folk players have already created custom path designs they are willing to share, but it is also fairly easy to create your own. Even Wendell has a few path designs, so it may be worth researching ahead of time online what designs he’ll give you for certain fish.

If you’re a beginning designer, a simple, single-tile design repeated throughout the town may be the way to go.

If you’re more experienced, perhaps create a new character and use all eight design inventory slots for different path pieces to use throughout the town.

An important thing to remember though - if you change the design in your inventory, the displayed path piece will also change. So, if you’re going lay down paths, make sure you have space in your custom design section for them.

Option 3: Institute town ordinances

Another way to help is to set down some ground rules for your town. Tortimer is a useless figurehead, so he isn’t going to be any help in passing or enforcing any new laws or ordinances. (He spends his days sleeping in the town hall!) So if you want to get something done, you’ll have to do it yourself.

You need to set some basic, grass preservation, ground rules. I’d recommend “No Running” and “Stay off the grass” to begin with, and see how those work. You may also want to enforce some sort of floral protection code as well, just to be safe. Make sure whenever someone enters your town, that you either let them know via WiiSpeak or a regular message that certain actions are not permitted.

Making signs will also be a big help. If you plan on having international visitors, the best bet would be to go with signs that don’t have words. Take , for example, the impromptu image made with the Texture Generator at Animal Crossing Ahead. You can instantly tell from the image that walking on the grass is prohibited. Have these images on the ground in front of your gate, so people know right away what is or isn’t permitted, even before you say a word.

Option 4: Astroturf

If you’re getting desperate, you can always resort to fake grass. It’s always green, it’ll never die and if you set it up right, you can still run on it. Of course, you won’t be seeing any fossils, but it is a small price to pay for perfection.

You can either design your own grass or stop by Animal Crossing Ahead‘s Texture Gallery. It’s filled with different grass patterns from various Animal Crossing players. Most of the patterns were designed for Animal Crossing or Animal Crossing: Wild World and not Animal Crossing: City Folk, but the patterns should still work. Or, next time Wendell visits your town, give him a Crucian Carp or a Black Bass for a ground or grass pattern.

Option 5: The last resort - cheating

There are two cheating options in Animal Crossing: City Folk that can restore grass, and I don’t recommend either of them. Both could have drawbacks that can affect your town, game or maybe even your Wii. However, this wouldn’t be a comprehensive grass guide if I didn’t at least include them as options.

The first, and probably safest cheating option is time traveling. You simply set your Wii’s internal clock ahead, and your town will flash forward into the future. There are drawbacks to messing with the forces of nature, and I’m not talking about alternate timelines or temporal paradoxes. The first three things you’ll notice is your character will have bedhead, weeds will overrun your town and all the neighbors you knew will have moved. See that weed up there in the image above? Imagine that times at least 50.

There are a few others risks that may be incurred due to time traveling, though it isn’t a guarantee that your game will experience these. First, turnip prices at Nooks could plummet - staying below 70 bells for a long time. Gracie Grace’s stock may also disappear, and you’ll have to wait until next season for more of her exclusive items. Joan may refuse to sell red turnips, claiming they’ve all been bought. Also, some time travelers have reported not seeing Phineas the gift giving walrus in the city after time traveling.

The other resort, which I don’t recommend as it could not only mess up aspects of your game, but also could ruin your save file, is to use the GeckoOS Wii homebrew program to cheat. While the GeckoOS cheats can regrow your grass and give you access to a lot of other amazing items and things, it also could screw up your save file, and installing the homebrew channel to have access to cheats could brick your Wii. If you’re going to go through with it anyway, visit the GeckoOS WiiRD Community and learn as much as you can about GeckoOS from people who know what they’re talking about.

Read [Gamertell] Also Read [Gamertell] Site [Animal Crossing Ahead]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

As I read an article about banning certain words from our journalistic vocabulary by Gus Mastrapa of GameDaily I had to admit, he does have a point.

“Let’s pretend I’m your editor for a second. Done laughing? Okay, how about we talk seriously about cliché and weak, meaningless words and the way they diminish the impact, entertainment value and clarity of games journalism,” Mastrapa wrote. The list of words he would like see banned in 2009 which includes:

• Hype. In this section he gets a little confusing about the over use of the word “hype” when referring to talking about video games as far as marketing of the said games goes. Mastrapa explained that using “hype” is piling all the opinions of fans and writers “under one umbrella.” So basically avoid making blanketed, over exaggerations in a story to over emphasize a game and its fans.
• Title. Under this section of his story he picks apart the words “Video” and “Games” as they are used in headlines. “We have a big problem in video games. We’ve only got one or two reliable words to describe the stuff we write about,” he suggested finding supporting words to help describe a game rather than fall back on the ol’ faithful words of “Game” and “Video game” and become more creative. A few words he suggested include using “flick,” “tune” or “tome” to help describe the games we are writing about.
• Meh. I have to agree with Mastrapa that using words like “Meh” is kind of a lazy, but at the same time I’m guilty of using this word when blogging on my personal spaces. But what other word can you use to describe a shoulder shrug or a silent opinion that we’re simply not amazed by a game. “... when you say ‘meh,’ you say nothing. If that’s your point, that there’s nothing worth saying, either don’t bother or come up with a more original way of not saying it,” he wrote.
• AAA. In this section, I’m confused as to how three letters are even part of describing a game. I’m still learning the “1 out of 100 percent” scoring system for games. So, like Mastrapa I’m leaving this section alone.
• Graphics. I’m not even going to really comment on his break down of the word “Graphic” in a story since he pretty much explains it himself. “There’s a reason why we laugh at that commercial for Westwood College where the half-stoned game tester talks about “tightening up the graphics.” It’s because people who use the word “graphics” to describe the settings, art, animation, design and direction of video games sound like they’re eleven years old,” he wrote.
• Acronyms for Video game titles. In his break down of game title acronyms I agree we do tend to go a little crazy with the use of acronyms but to me it is sometimes considered a necessary evil. Who wants to spell out World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy: Crisis Core throughout an entire story each time its mentioned? And most sites have a set headline space we must figure out how to fit our titles in. So its actually much easier to refer to them as WoW or FF:CC. Besides, as I traverse through the online community most of the people I run into speak in acronyms for more than just the game titles when speaking of their games. So, sorry Mastrapa, I disagree that no one will know what we’re talking about if we use acronyms but I agree if we get too crazy we end up confusing everyone.

But he does have valid points,  as I said earlier in this story, but to aid in the writing adventures of fellow game journos he ends his story with a few words writers may consider using.

“And just so I’m not ending the year on a sour note I’ll leave you with a handful of words I’d like to see more of in the games writing of 2009,” he wrote. “Please feel free to use the following ten-cent words to your heart’s content: post-mortem, taxonomy, symposium, grok, round-table, game designer, developer, texture artist, tester, blockbuster, NeoGAF-crasher, bomb, mega-budget, micro-budget, freak-out, color palette, environment, scenery, atmosphere, animation, eye-candy, diversion, actioner, adventure, cartoon, symbolic, life-like, realism, surreal and psychedelic.”

Read [Game Daily] Also Read [PlayStation Pro Game Dictionary] Also Read [UnWord Dictionary]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Most of us are on break right now from work and school, and could use a little entertainment. Why not play some internet games?

GRUVme is a website that has offers 1000 Flash and animation games from several different genres, including adventure and shooting. They are all short but sweet and should keep you entertained for a many hours. You may have seen or even played some of these internet games before, but it is still nice to have them all in one place.

GRUV games is a part of the bigger GRUVme website which houses games, music and media downloading. You can download and listen to thousands of songs and videos from your PC, Blackberry and iPods whenever you want. GRUVme puts music and games all in one convenient place for you.

All of the games were submitted by users and some were even created by them. Anyone who registers for the site can submit a game by filling out a form found at the bottom the screen. You don’t need to download anything to play the games because they open up in a seperate window, and they will run on any computer. You can set the quality on most games. All of the games are free to play and some come with a download feature, for a price, so you can own the version of the game.

You’re not going to find Fallout 3 on here but you will find some rather addictive games including Penguin Swing (where you smack a penguin with baseball bat to send him flying as far as you can) and Coffee Tycoon (where you manage a coffee shop, but new stores and drinks, hire new employees and just make money).

You can also find some fun “search and find” games in the adventure’s section, as well as classic RPG style games like Shadow of the warrior, where you pick you class, buy weapons, and other such things. 

There are also some fun, quirky games like Hang Alien which is the same as Hangman but with an alien. Also Bolder Bash, where you have to drop a bolder on a criminal to stop him form escaping.

There are even quiz games on here like Quiz Chrono where Crono from Chrono Trigger asks you questions about music from old Nintendo games.

Sign up to the site is simple, and best of all free! All you have to do is create a user. name, password, and have a valid email address (which everyone should have by now.)

GRUVme is definitely a great place to kill a few hours while waiting for the all the snow to melt or for the huge shopping lines to die down.

Site [GRUVme]

Full Story » | Written by Jessica Moen for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Do you find the official Animal Crossing: City Folk clothing from Gracie Grace and the Able Sisters a bit lacking? Or perhaps you want an avatar who stands out in the crowd. I understand. I do.

One of the more entertaining and open-ended aspects of Animal Crossing: City Folk is the ability to create your own clothing, especially since Nintendo has given us the opportunity to create Pro Designs, where players can create clothing for 350 bells that have a custom front, back and sleeves. It’s a wonderful chance to start making clothes that look realistic or are replicas of things we have seen online or even own in real life.

I’ve taken quite a shine to the Pro Design system and find it entertaining to create patterns based on all kinds of different real and imaginary characters. I especially love making outfits based on video game character clothes, and, after becoming slightly obsessed with Persona 4, decided to start making some Animal Crossing: City Folk attire based on that game.

So today, Gamertell’s offering up an illustrated guide designed to not only to teach people how to make Chie Satonaka’s casual Persona 4 outfit but also to act as a sort of introductory guide to making your own clothes and patterns based on reference images.

Step 1: Find a Reference Image

The first thing you want to do is find the best reference picture you can for the outfit or design you want to recreate. Ideally, you want to find a model that has the front clearly displayed and maybe also has the back or even a clear view of the sleeves as well. For the Chie casual outfit we’re making today, we’ll be relying on this official character art image that appears in both the game and the art book. Since it offers a clear view of the front of the layered shirts and jacket, as well as the sleeves, it should work well for our design.

If you have a laptop, you’ll want to have the source design next to you as you create the outfit in Animal Crossing: City Folk. If you don’t, you may want to print out a copy of the image. That way, you can have it nearby while you’re designing.

Step 2: Get to Able’s and start making a Pro Design

You’ve got your source image in front of you, so time to head to Able’s. Make sure you have 350 bells on you. Once you’re inside, talk to Mabel and tell her you want to make a Pro Design. If you want, she can explain it to you, or you can jump right into designing your outfit. When you finish talking to her, the design screen will show up on screen. The first thing you’re going to want to do is set up the grid, by clicking the grid button on the right. Symmetry and knowing exacting where lines and items appear are a major factor in making quality designs, so you’re going to want, nay need, the grid up to make things easier on yourself.

Step 3: Color Match

You can’t just use any colors you want when making clothes, sadly. You have to choose a palette of 15 different colors, and work with that. This means that before you even start working on an outfit, you have to determine which color scheme best fits the outfit you want to create. Look back up at our source picture of Persona 4 Chie. The main colors in the outfit are a light green, yellow, two shades of light blue, white, grey, black and red. So the best thing to do is check through the 16 different Pro Design color schemes and find one that fits.

It seems like color scheme 7/16 is going to work best for our outfit today, so we’ll go with that. Since it also offers an extra darker shade of both green and blue, we’ll be able to use these to outline the jacket and blue undershirt in our Chie outfit.

Step 4a: Begin defining the front

The front of a shirt is most likely going to be the most complicated to create, which is evident with today’s Chie design. While you’re designing, you want to focus on not only making the front drawing area look right, but also check to make sure that the preview image in the upper left corner matches what you want the outfit to look like. If you just drew straight, downward lines to make the sides of the jacket, it wouldn’t look realistic or match the above image. So instead you’ll want to do arcs. Personally, I like to start drawing in the upper left corner of the screen, and work from left to right, top to bottom.

We only want a hint of the jacket’s edges to appear in the front, so we take the darkest shade of green and, while zoomed out, start making our first lines with the line tool. As you can see above, every line drawn on the left side is also drawn on the right, only slightly altered. The right side will always be a mirror image of the left side for the first part of this design.

Once we have the jacket outline done, we’ll move on to filling in the jacket color. Go to the lighter shade of green, select the paint tool, and fill in the area to the left of the left line and the right of the right line.

Step 4b: Zooming in for more detailed areas

We’re going to get a bit more detailed now, so you’ll want to zoom in. Move to the empty white space between the upper left and right collars of the jacket. Now select the darkest shade of blue offered in our color palette. First, we’re going to define the upper collar of Chie’s innermost shirt - the blue tank top. First, set up the design shown above, where you first make a single dark blue line along the top of the grid, then add a blue dot below that first line on every other empty space.

Then, switch to the lightest shade of blue. As we can see in the Chie source image, there’s a little light blue design on her tank top. We’ll mimic that here, as shown in the image above. Once you’ve done that, change to the medium shade of blue. You’ll be basically creating the rest of the blue top that’s visible in the source image with this color.

Now that we’ve made the blue tank top, we’re going to quickly make the slight black striped top and the collar for the white shirt that’s over everything. We’re going to shift our view over to the upper left corner of the design, and start using the black small drawing tool with the color black. We’ll first make a dark, double line directly blue the medium shade of blue to act as the collar for the black and white striped shirt. Then, we’ll make a small black line a space below the black “collar”. Now we’ll change to the shade of grey and begin working on the collar for the white shirt. In the source image, it is more of a V-neck design, but we’ll go with an oval here. You’ll want to create a thin collar under the striped shirt to complete this section.

Now, you’re going to shift the view over to the right and almost the exact same thing, only reversed. In the case of the blue tank top collar, you’ll want to continue the pattern, but when it comes to the striped shirt and white shirt color, you’ll want to do a mirror image of what you’ve done so far. That way, everything will match up and look even.

Step 4c: Decorative accents

The front of your Chie top is basically done now. All that’s left are the finishing touches. We’ll do some slight shading in gray on the white shirt, in order to give the illusion of depth and shape. We won’t try to mimic the shading and folds in the source image, because it would only make the shirt look dirty or awkward when worn in Animal Crossing: City Folk. This is a step where you can be more free - you don’t have to add the exact same shading and accents around the color as shown in the image above here. If you want, you can, but it isn’t mandatory to make the top look good.

We’re going to zoom in again now, and recreate the button on Chie’s lapel. Go to the upper right corner, about parallel with the black striped top and white top collars. Choose the crimson color from the palette and the small drawing tool, and draw a rectangular/circular shape that is about seven squares by six squares, but don’t color in the corners. Change to the black color now, and draw in the eyes and mouth.

You technically don’t have to go to such lengths and put this kind of detail on the button. As you can see from the preview, its barely noticeable when on. But for accuracy’s sake, go for it. Its not like it takes that long to put in that little extra effort anyways.

Step 5: Turning to the back

Next, we’ll work on the back of Chie’s outfit. Click the button in the bottom/center of the design screen and select the far right black image to work on the back of the outfit. This is incredibly easy for Chie’s, since we don’t have an image of the back of the jacket. Just select the paint tool and the light shade of green. Click anywhere in the white area to turn it all green. We’re done here, so let’s move on to the sleeves.

Step 6: Taking care of the sleeves

The sleeves for Chie’s outfit are pretty easy as well. All we have to do is put yellow stripes down the center. The thing to remember here is that the sleeve design stretches. So we can’t just put a straight yellow line down the center of the drawing space. Instead of being a thin yellow stripe, it would end up looking like a yellow stripe that expands as you move further down the sleeve. To counteract this effect, we’ll slowly taper the stripe down from the top of the design to the bottom. Choose the dark green color to outline the stripe first, then, once you’ve created an outline on either side, choose the paint icon and fill in that center area with the shade of yellow.

Working on the next sleeve is going to be exceedingly easy. Bring up the screen where you can see all four designs, and grab the sleeve design you’ve already created by pointing with the remote and pressing A. Drag it to the other, blank sleeve and drop it. A menu will come up, offering the option to copy the design you’ve made to that part. Do it, and you’re almost done!

Step 7: Double checking by watching the preview

Before you click done, take a moment and watch the rotating design preview in the upper left corner of the design screen. Its time to make sure everything looks okay. Upon inspection, there’s an area that needs improvement. Look at the source image of Chie. The yellow stripe on the sleeves also covers the shoulders, and in our design it isn’t doing that. So we’ll need to do a bit of editing on the front and back images of Chie’s outfit to make it look perfect.

First, we’ll do the shoulders of the front of her jacket. Select the dark green color and the line tool, and go down seven spaces from the upper left corner. Click the line tool, and drag it diagonally so there’s a staight line to the collar. Do the same, on the upper right side. Then, select the paint tool and the shade of yellow. Fill in that area and check the preview image. Now it looks like the front shoulders have the yellow stripe. Time to move on to the back.

We want the upper corner triangles on the back to match the front ones exactly, so make sure you follow the image above exactly as shown. If you do so, it will make the stripe extend perfectly and evenly from the neck to the ends of both sleeves.

Step 8: Finishing your design

At this point, you’re pretty much done. All you’ll need to do is click done to save your design, pay the design fee, name the design and tell Mabel what kind of person would like/wear it. I chose to call this design Casual Chie, since it is based on Chie’s casual Persona 4 outfit that she wears in winter and fall in the game. I chose to recommend it as being more towards simple, subtle when Mabel asked for more details, and leaving it right between fancy adults and cute kids.

And that’s it! Your character can now dress exactly like Chie from Persona 4! Hopefully, you should now have an idea of what needs to be done to turn a source image into an Animal Crossing: City Folk Pro Design.

Site [Animal Crossing: City Folk] Site [Persona 4]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Let’s face it, gaming is expensive. With the economy currently in its poor state, gamers have quite a bit to worry about.

There are, however, are some ways to appease the habit and get more bang for your buck. You can take everything that you’ll read to heart as advice from a fellow poor gamer along with some of the advice given to us by MSNBC. These tips should help ease some of your monetary burdens when it comes to gaming.

Old Does Not Equal Bad

People tend to be more obsessed with the newer,  potentially better product and either don’t know about or forgot about the beauty of older games. While we have Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, some forget that we also had Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. While Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is out now, we occasionally forget Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid.

There’s nothing wrong with getting (or digging out) one of the older consoles and getting some of the better games from those systems. If you go to places like Disc Replay you could get older consoles for anywhere between $50-90, depending on what console you’re buying. Games, unless they are rare yet popular, range anywhere from $3-20. Stores like Half Price Books also sell used games at half or less than half of the retail price.

Time Management

A lot of people also forget about replayability. Since some games tend to be the same thing, only offering a different difficulty level doesn’t offer much in the way of replayability. If you want something that will really last you a while, especially if you happen to get one of the newer consoles, try to find something that is fairly open-ended in the way that you can play it. This means that you might end up going back to some older games (see the above point).

The Elder Scrolls (Oblivion for the newer consoles) series, Fallout (Fallout 3) series, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games and Far Cry 2 allow for players to play through the game in many different ways. If you play through multiple times while following the different paths and story lines, there is only a small chance that you’ll play the game the same way more than two or three times. Even if you spend a lot of money on a game, length and replayability is always important.

Independent Pay Dirt

When you get around to it, independent games can be great games. Usually, due to simplicity, they’re easy to get into and can be quite engaging. They’re usually inexpensive, normally ranging from about $10 to $20, due to the fact that it’s a small staff with a small budget. It really doesn’t take that long to remake the money spent in development, so the low price really isn’t that bad. Here are the top 5 of independent games as compiled by MSNBC.

Group Help

Multiplayer is a great thing with a lot of the different games right now. No matter what you’re doing, the higher the multiplayer possibility the more fun it will be. The biggest reason why we game is because it’s fun and the more people there are the more fun it can be. Get a game that has the possibility of two or more people joining in. Multiplayer increases the replayability quite a bit, especially in terms of first-person shooter, action/adventure, real-time strategy, music and sports games.

There’s Still More (or Less)

A lot of games have downloadable content that will be available almost monthly or even mods of other games. Some things might end up costing some money (usually $1 to $10) but quite a few mods (if you already have the game it’s based on) are completely free. There is still much play in many games even after beating them.

In terms of space economy, if you’ve got an Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP or PC you can work with direct download services like Steam (for PC), Xbox Live, Playstation Network Store or the Wii Virtual Console. They usually have a good selection and, in the case of Steam, usually have good sales or packages that would save some money. These games only take up disc (or removable media) storage space instead of plastic boxes on a shelf.

If you want to get into MMOs, it can be a bit daunting to find an affordable one. Aeria Games has a host of good and beautiful MMOs that are free. Guild Wars is still evolving as a MMO and is also free2play so it works out. All you need to do is fork out the money for the initial buy, which is $20-40 depending on which standalone version you’re trying to get.

Read [MSNBC] Read [Gamertell Gift Guide]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Back in 2000, Radio Shack (and Digital Convergence) gave away free barcode scanners called the CueCat (aka :CueCat) that connected to your computer. You’d use it to scan stuff and then it would open a web page based on whatever you scanned. It was a nice idea that simply flopped.

A lot of those little scanners are still around (heck, I have three) and operational so, naturally, people want to use the cute little scanners with more modern applications including home collection software made by Collectorz. Particularly, gamers can use a barcode scanner to scan their collection of video games for a complete and easy-to-browse catalog using Game Collector.

Although Collectorz sells that and other software (for music, movies books, photos, MP3s and comic books) bundled with a laser barcode scanner ($199.90 for Game Collector with laser scanner), you can also use your freebie CueCat and save some money, making the software $29.95 (or Pro version for $49.99 or Pro on CDC is $69.95).

Collectorz also sells USB CueCats along with the software for $100 less, at only $99 for a CueCat scanner with CD software. You can also find CueCats online for about $10 to $15 each.

A recent email sent by Collectorz indicated that the company gets “lots of questions” concerning how to use a CueCat with its software. Here’s the email and quickie How To:

TIP: How to setup your CueCat scanner
======================================
...How do I setup my CueCat to work with my Collectorz.com software?

So here it is, a complete step-by-step guide on how to do that:

Step 1: Plug its USB connector into a free USB port.

And that’s it! Just plug it in and start scanning barcodes!

Our software has integrated support for the CueCat, so there’s no need to install drivers or anything. Also, you don’t need to use the Initialize or Find Scanner commands in our software, those are for Flic and Opticon laser scanners.

The CueCat will work straight out-of-the-box! That’s the beauty of it!

It’s probably about that easy if you have the early 2000s freebie model that has the PS/2 connectors. The nice thing about that pricier laser scanner is that you can remove it from the PC connector and scan things on your shelf (or in the store) and it stores a bunch of codes. The CueCat, however, has to remain corded, though it does work with Windows and Mac.

Product Page [Game Collector]

Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’re playing Ninjatown, I’m sure you’re feeling a bit of pressure. After all, its on you to protect Ninjatown and save the secret ninja cookie recipe! With monsters constantly assaulting the areas you’re in, it can be quite a challenge to find a method that works for you.

Luckily, there are a few key tricks which work for every level. Hopefully these helpful suggestions will aid you in your campaign against Mr. Demon and his sneaky minions. Common sense combined with extensive ninja combat experience helped craft these five game tips - use them wisely.

• Always investigate the map. The first thing you want to do, before even planting any houses, is to analyze the map layout. Initially, they will be very straightforward with only one or two entrances where monsters will emerge and one goal area. However, later levels will feature multiple entrances and goals. The key is to look for a point where paths intersect. That is where you’ll want to set up your first few ninja huts. That way, no matter which path the enemies emerge from, they’ll be caught by your ninjas. Don’t just rely on the map on the top screen for assistance, actually look around the area on the bottom screen to start scouting prime real estate.

• Wee Ninjas, Anti-Ninjas and Sniper Ninjas first. There are quite a few varieties of ninja, and they can be very useful and cute. When you first start out a level though, go for the Wee Ninjas and Anti-Ninja huts. If there are some flying enemies in the first two waves, you may want to add a Sniper Ninja hut as well. But you’ll mainly want to concentrate on building a strong base army of Wee and Anti-Ninjas, because they are so versatile. Business Ninjas, White Ninjas and Forest Ninjas are nice, but you don’t really have to have them.
• Focus on a central area, then expand. When wave after wave of enemy starts approaching, your gut instinct is probably to try and match their numbers. This isn’t always wise. Instead, try to get a respectable army built up first. I’ve found having six huts (two Wee Ninja, two Anti-Ninja and two Sniper Ninja) which are then each leveled up to level 3 are enough to handle the first five waves of enemies. After you’ve secured that area, then start gradually expanding, adding in Business or Forest Ninjas as a supplement to your main force.

• “Get off my lawn” is worth saving up for. One of the most useful Ol’ Master Ninja powers is “Get off my lawn!” This ability lets you blow back enemies. If you get overwhelmed, this is often the best trick to use - you can push opponents away from your goal and, if you aim properly, right into legions of waiting ninjas. Its a bit frustrating to implement, since you have to blow into the microphone, but well worth the effort.
• Shoot for Ninja Droppings! Ninja Droppings are a great way to deal with super opponents or stages where you have to defend a specific location on the map. Just plop down a dropping in the path, and the toxic fumes will gradually drain the opponents’ life bar. It is easily one of the best character token defenses, especially since it is available from a very early point in the game.

Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

A unique aspect of Mabinogi is that it has a constantly expanding storyline with special quests that people subscribing to premium services have access to. When you first visit the game’s homepage, you’ll likely see an announcement discussing Generation X Season Y. This is a quick way to determine what the latest game updates are and the most recent storyline.

At the moment, the North American version of Mabinogi is in Generation 3 Season 2. (The Korean version is in Generation 9.) This means, if you end up subscribing to a premium service, you will start with the Generation 1 storyline, and then work your way through 2 and 3.

The question is, are the storyline quests in Mabinogi right for all players? Some casual players may be more than satisfied with the free content offered throughout the game, especially since the storyline quests require a bit of commitment to complete. Gamertell has compiled five questions to ask yourself to determine if the Mabinogi Generation quests are worth paying for a premium service for.

1. Do I spend enough time playing Mabinogi?

If you’re a casual Mabinogi player, logging in only once a week and just taking on basic jobs or dungeon crawling for fun, then the main storyline quests may not be the right choice for you. There are also level requirements to even trigger each Generation’s quests (5 for G1, 25 for G2), which you may not meet. These quests will also require you to travel throughout the game’s world, and not stay centered in one town or region. They may even require you to level up a skill you normally wouldn’t use (like blacksmithing). You’ll likely need to log in to play at least two times a week to make it worth your while.

2. Am I able to commit to the game for however long it will take to complete the quests?

As mentioned in question one, you actually have to commit to Mabinogi to get the quests done. Generation 1’s storyline consists of 29 quests, some of them requiring you to work with other players and others requiring you to wait a certain amount of time for events to proceed. Generations 2 and 3 are significantly shorter though, consisting of 16 each (G3 also has an extra quest if you want to take the time). If you really commit yourself, you can probably finish a Generation in a month, but that may even be pushing it. It could take three or maybe even four months to complete.

3. Can I afford to play?

Completing the three Generation storylines so far could take quite a bit of time, depending on how often you’re able to play. It could take anywhere from two to five months, maybe more if you get distracted by other games or real life. The three cheapest premium services each cost $9.50/9,500 NX for 30 days. This means it could cost you between $19 and $47.50 to complete the first three Generations, maybe more. Plus, by the time you finish Generation 3, Generation 4 may have begun. While Generation 4 doesn’t have a set storyline like the previous three Generations, it will still have content exclusive to premium service subscribers.

Do I want to be able to access the Paladin and Dark Knight classes and other extra incentives later on?

Generation 1’s storyline reward is getting more information on Mabinogi‘s background story, the title “who Saved the Goddess” (which boosts Will and Luck by 20, increases minimum and maximum damage by one and increases your MP by 10) and gives you a Goddess scroll that you can use to enchant a weapon to make it more powerful. The good stuff happens in Generations 2 and 3. Generation 2 allows you to transform into a Paladin for a brief period each day in game time, boosting your stats and allowing you access to special skills. Generation 3 allows players to change to and access the Dark Knight transformation, which has its own stat boosts and special skills. Both the Paladin and Dark Knight transformations can only be accessed while you are paying for a premium service too, so if you went to all the trouble to complete the Generations, you’ll only be able to use Generation 2 and 3’s rewards when you’re still subscribing.

Do I have friends who also play, that I can call on for help with storyline quests?

This is more important than you may realize. Many of the Generation storyline quests require you to crawl through dungeons in a group to defeat monsters or meet certain objectives. If you don’t know other people playing, it could take you a lot longer to complete the quests, because you’ll have to try and form a group with strangers. So guild members and people with friends also playing Mabinogi will have a much easier time getting through the main storyline (and have more fun doing it). If you prefer playing alone, then you may not be able to make it through.

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Mabinogi doesn’t offer any in-your-face or lengthy tutorials when you first begin playing. Instead, you receive a spirit weapon which will answer any questions you have while playing, and owls will deliver scrolls with quests to your. So people familiar with RPGs or MMOs shouldn’t have any problems jumping right in.

Those who are new to the genre may need a bit help to get started. So to help you out, Gamertell has gone through the beginning of the game, to help you get accustomed and settled in, until you receive your first title. The game’s “tutorial” section can be described as consisting of five quests which send you around Tir Chonaill, performing basic tasks for people, learning a few skills and meeting some of the residents.

Quest 1: Nao’s Letter of Introduction

After logging in as a character you’ve just created, you will find yourself in a white room. If you move around a little, Nao will appear. She will greet you, welcome you to Tir Na Nog and offer to answer some basic questions for you. You can talk with her a bit if you like. When you’re done, choose “Its alright now.” She’ll then give you a letter of introduction to give to Duncan, the village chief of Tir Chonaill, tell you to stop by and chat with Tin once you arrive in the world and you’ll be sent on your way.

You will then appear just outside Tir Chonaill, in an area you won’t be able to get back to once you’ve left. A boy in a helmet, Tin, is standing near the portal you’ve passed through. He’ll greet you and provide you with your first weapon, a spirit sword with a spirit inside. If you have any troubles in the game, click the white wings in the bottom right corner of the screen. Your spirit will pop up and offer to answer any questions you may have.

While you’re in this starter section, you’ll see a number of raccoons and chickens. Its a good idea to level your character up to level three while you’re here, since the raccoons are easy prey. You can either keep clicking on a raccoon to attack it, after equipping the sword, or click the auto-battle icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. If you turn auto-battle on by clicking the sword and shield icon, then click an enemy, your character will pursue and attack it until it is dead.

Once you enter Tir Chonaill, you’ll find Chief Duncan’s house right in the center of town, near a giant tree. After bringing it to Duncan, he’ll greet you and welcome you to the village. He informs you that the townspeople will often need help, either in the form of missions or part-time jobs, and you should explore and get to know everyone. You also learn that quests will come by owl. Once you’ve finished talking to him, press the Q button (or tap the Quest box at the bottom of the screen) to bring up the Quest box. Then click the yellow Complete button to claim your 100 exp reward.

Quest 2: Rescue Resident

Shortly after speaking with Duncan, an owl will fly overhead and drop something onto your character. The Quest button will flash. Press Q, and you’ll see Trefor, the town guard, wants your help in rescuing a villager from Alby Dungeon. So head north and go talk to Trefor. If you need help finding him, open the Quest window and select the Rescue Resident quest. A pink arrow should point you in the right direction. If you shrink the box, the arrow will remain.

When you talk to Trefor, he’ll ask you to first defeat five brown foxes (young or adult). Don’t do it just yet. After you talk to him, you should receive a quest called “Go to School.” Head down to the school and speak to the man out front, Ranald. He’ll introduce himself and talk about the purpose of the school. Once its over, you’ll receive the Defense skill, a Defense guidebook and 600 exp.

Now head back to where Trefor is standing. Turn auto-battle on, if it isn’t already. This tends to be a very congested area, and you’re going to have to be quick to get your five foxes. Instead of just killing the requisite five foxes, I recommend killing brown foxes until you’ve gathered 10 brown fox fomor scrolls. Fomor scrolls are very important - you can purchase fomor collection quests from Duncan and other NPCs in each village and receive substantial rewards for them.

Talk to Trefor again. He’ll teach you the Smash skill and give you a pass to place on the altar in Alby Dungeon. This pass will take you to the same dungeon the resident is lost in. Head north, open your inventory (press I or open the window), grab the pass and drop it on the altar.

This dungeon is exceedingly simple, and you shouldn’t have any trouble completing it. The whole map is supplied, so you don’t have to explore every corner. You also should only find basic monsters like white spiders, rats and perhaps bats. Monsters are triggered by clicking the chests in dungeons. Since you need the keys they carry to open locked doors, be sure to instigate every battle.

At the end, you’ll find the villager facing off against a giant spider. The villager will act as an NPC fighter in this battle, so don’t worry. Defeat the big spider. The villager will then thank you and offer you a reward - 1000 gold or Tork’s Hunter Gloves. Pick which one you’d like. She’ll then tell you that there are treasure chests after every boss you can open. Open the chest, take the items inside, then click on the winged goddess statue to leave the dungeon.

Once you leave the dungeon, bring up the quest box. Click Rescue Resident’s Complete button. You’ll be rewarded with 300 exp, 1800 gold and 3 ability points to spend on skills.

Quest 3: Save My Sheep

Two new quests should arrive, Save My Sheep and Let’s Learn the Resting Skill. Since the Inn, and Nora, are on the way to the pasture, stop there first. Talk to Nora, and she’ll teach you the Rest skill. Rest allows your character to sit and regenerate HP, Stamina and wound points. Since you may need it (if you don’t succeed at Save My Sheep the first time or have trouble during the next quest), its a wise idea to get it now. Click the Complete button next to this quest to get 700 exp and a skill guide book.

Head to the pasture in the northeast, past the rivers and talk to Deian. He will ask you to watch and protect his 20 sheep for five minutes. This is a challenging quest. Make sure you’re at least level five, perhaps even level seven. If you aren’t, level up by going after the red and gray foxes near the pasture.

Once you take on the quest, you’ll be teleported and a 5:00 counter will appear in the upper right corner. There are gray wolves scattered throughout the area you’re now in, and they’re hungry. Don’t worry about grabbing any items the wolves drop after they’re defeated, just attack. You have to have at least five sheep left when the five minutes are up or you’ll fail the quest and have to restart.

When its over, talk to Deian to receive his thanks. Open the Quest window, click Complete, and receive 900 exp, 2600 gold and 3 AP.

Quest 4: Malcolm’s Ring

This is the last of the gopher quests, but also the most challenging. At least, the end is the most challenging. You’ll need the skill Counterattack to defeat the boss. After attacking the wolves in Deian’s quest and the foxes near his pasture, you should have attacked at least one who was using Counterattack, so you should have knowledge of the skill. If not, don’t worry, you’ll get it during the crucial moment in this quest.

You’ll get a mission by owl after helping Deian called Malcolm’s Ring. Head to the General Shop in the center of town (near Chief Duncan’s house), and step inside to talk to Malcolm. He’ll say that he lost the ring in Alby Dungeon, ask you to retrieve it and give you a pass to enter that dungeon.

Head Northwest to Alby Dungeon. On the way, stop by the Healer’s Shop and speak to Dilys. If you don’t have at least 10 Life Potion 10 potions, purchase a few from her. If you aren’t at level eight, you may want to level up a bit. If you really want to be prepared, get your character to level 10. Then continue on to the dungeon. Drop the pass Malcolm gave you on the altar. This dungeon is a bit more difficult than the previous one (you may encounter a few mimics), but still fairly uneventful.

At least, until you reach the boss room. This boss can only be damaged by using the Counterattack skill. If you have the skill learned already, press S or open the skill window, and drag the Counterattack skill icon to one of the blank boxes in the upper left corner of the screen. If you don’t, keep this in mind and enter the room.

After an attack or two on the boss spider within, you’ll know learn that the Counterattack skill is needed to cause damage to the beast. If it isn’t in the upper left corner in a quick option box, put it there. Then click it to have your character prepare for an attack. It’ll take quite a few hits for the spider to go down. If your HP get low, press H to use a potion. If your stamina gets low (and you know you have some stamina potions in your inventory), press K to use a stamina potion.

Once this is over, you’ll find the ring. Head back to Malcolm and talk to him. You’ll automatically give it back to him. You know the drill, open the Quest box, click Complete. You’ll get 1500 exp, 1700 gold, a gold pouch that holds 10,000 gold and 3 AP. Open your inventory. Click the gold you’ve collected so far and drag it to the gold pouch. Do this until your pouch is full.

Quest 5: Duncan’s Praise

You’re almost done! Once leaving Malcolm’s shop, you’ll receive a quest called Duncan’s Praise. He wants to thank you for helping everyone. So go over to him and talk with him. After you do, end the conversation, talk to him again and choose shop. Check over the scrolls and find one for the 10 brown fox fomor scrolls you collected earlier. Exit the conversation. Open the Quest window, click the Complete button next to the quest you purchased for the brown fox fomor scrolls and you’ll receive a substantial amount of gold for your troubles.

Duncan will have directed you to talk to either Trefor, Deian, Malcolm or Nora, depending on how you performed in Rescue Resident, Save My Sheep and Malcolm’s Ring. Once you talk to the person he sends you to, you’ll become friends and receive a “is a friend of _____” title. After that, click Quest, click Complete and receive 300 exp and 1200 gold.

These titles are a wonderful help for beginners, or really anyone, because they guarantee you free items. If you have one of the titles equipped (you can do so by opening the character window and clicking the titles box), you not only receive stat boosts, but also get free items from different characters. The Mabinogi World Wiki (as of 8:10pm CST on October 15, 2008) has a full list of what free items you’ll receive from NPCs in Tir Chonaill if you talk to them with your “is a friend of ______” title.

That’s it! Congratulations, you’ve completed your first few Mabinogi quests. You should continue to receive random quests after this point. You can also visit stores and NPCs for part-time jobs. If you have subscribed to a premium service, the next time you log into Mabinogi, you’ll see a cinematic and receive your first Generation 1 storyline quest.

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Mabinogi has two character card options. Every account starts with a basic Character Card, which allows you to create your first character. However, you can later rebirth that character, or add another character to your account, via Basic and Premium Character Cards purchased in the Premium Shop.

Extra character cards are going to cost you real money either way. A Basic Character Card costs 7,900 NX/$7.90 and a Premium Character Card costs 9,500 NX/$9.50. Both function in the same way - each one can be used to create a new character or rebirth one of your existing characters. If you start with a Premium Character, you can use a Basic Character Card when you rebirth, and vice versa, so don’t think that once you’ve chosen an option, you always have to stick with it for that character.

It all comes down to customization. Characters created with the cards will be identical when it comes down to character statistics. The only difference will be physical. The Premium Characters will have a special outfit and more hair, eye and mouth customization options than a Basic Character. But, you don’t necessarily need the more expensive card. So today, Gamertell is going to review the perks and problems with each Character Card. Hopefully, after reading, you’ll know which one is best for you.

Premium Character Card

Pros: Premium characters look special, and anyone can tell instantly that you invested in a more expensive card. You’re less likely to find any other player avatar looking exactly like yours - a plus if you’re going to be doing a lot of exploring with a guild or party members. A Premium card offers 43 male hair options, 45 female hair options, 24 hair colors, 29 eye options, 21 eye colors and 23 different mouths, so many that you may have trouble deciding on one. It also seems to give your character more personality, since you have so many choices when creating him/her.
Cons: The main con of the premium character card is the price. It costs 1,600 NX/$1.60 more than a basic character card. Since Nexon cards and cash can be purchased in $5 and $10 increments, this leaves you with only 500 NX/$0.50, not enough to buy any other Premium or in-game Item Shop perks.

Basic Character Card

Pros: The price of a Basic card is the main draw. You get one free when you first create a Nexon Mabinogi account, and its hard to beat that. Then, after your first character, it costs 7,900 NX/$7.90. It may seem like a lot, but you still have 2,100 NX/$2.10 let over. That extra money is almost enough to buy a pet, and more than enough to buy a item from the in-game cash Item Shop. So going with a basic card might allow you to get an extra item or two to make your gaming life easier.
Cons: You have some pretty noticable limitations when it comes to character creation. You only have 8 hair options, 12 hair colors, 5 eye options, 5 eye colors and 4 different mouths. This means you may even end up running into a near-identical twin of yourself while playing the game. Basic characters all have a less elaborate starter outfit, so people can tell just by looking that you didn’t go for a Premium card. The basic outfit is also very plain, so if you want a more fashionable character, you’ll have to save up to buy an outfit from one of the NPCs or Personal Shops in the game.

Personally, after creating a character with the Basic and Premium cards, I prefer the Premium Character Card. After all, you’re already spending almost $8 on a new character, an extra $1.60 isn’t that big a deal. If you’re going to be playing a substantial amount of Mabinogi, then looking unique is going to make a big difference. Its not like you could utilize your Basic Character’s generic appearance as protective coloration when monsters attack (though it would be cool if you could). Plus, you can always sell the rarer outfit and make some extra in-game money off of it.

If you’re a first time player, don’t buy anything until you’re positive you like the game. The free Basic Card you begin with is more than adequate for your first adventures in Mabinogi.

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The Premium Services in Mabinogi are a helpful way to make gaming a bit easier in Nexon’s free-to-play MMORPG. They aren’t necessary, but all four options make adventuring quite a bit easier, if you decide to take advantage of them. Plus, all four options will allow you to take part in the story quests, which is an automatic bonus.

They’re also fairly affordable as well. The Advanced Play, Extra Storage and Nao’s Support Services all cost $9.50 (9,500 NX) for 30 days. The Fantasy Life Club, which bestows all three services at once for 30 days, costs $14.90 (14,900 NX) for 30 days.

Since you may not want to jump right in without knowing what each service is giving you, Gamertell is testing and looking in-depth at each service, to analyze what kind of player might want each one and how helpful each is.

Advanced Play Service

The Advanced Play Service is something I could see veteran Mabinogi players enjoying. Many of the premium items included in the service apply to battling, either alone or with a group. There are recovery potions and feathers to heal your characters and party members, coupons to access NPC services like the bank, blacksmith, healer or tailor without actually being there, a camp kit where your character will respawn and the ability to adjust your skill levels.

What happens is, every day you’ll be able to claim an Advanced Play gift. You either accept the gift option presented (an item which may or may not have a expiration date), or you take a chance and pick a random box for another Advanced Play item. Once you’ve picked, that’s it. You’ll have to wait another day for your next item. This means that the Advanced Play Service doesn’t really start being useful until after a week.

I found this service was most helpful when I was sure I’d be adventuring with friends and exploring dungeons. I’m something of a casual Mabinogi player, who likes to play devotedly for a week, then take a week off. This means that sometimes, when playing with friends who were more devoted the game, I’d be a drain on the team.

When using the Advanced Play Service though, I felt like I was more of an asset to the others. If there was trouble, I could use the Party Phoenix Feather to resurrect everyone else in my party. If I started to lag behind the others, I could heal my character with the Full Recovery Potion and then use the Party Recovery Booster to help keep everyone at their best.

Most helpful was the Skill Reset Capsule. When I first began playing Mabinogi, I invested a lot of points into the Tailoring skill. I imagined my character creating gorgeous clothes. Then, I realized that I was playing in a different manner and typically acting as my group’s healer. So I made good use of the Skill Reset Capsule I’d receive every Saturday, gradually lowering that skill to get the Ability Points back and use them on other skills.

Extra Storage Service

I’d say the Extra Storage Service is the dream of any player who has a character that focuses on creating, and not fighting. The highlight of this option is the Personal Shop, which lets you open a shop in the game and sell any items you’ve collected. If you’ve decided to make your character a blacksmith, cook or tailor, this provides the perfect opportunity to show off and make some money.

It also lets you store loads of items. Your storage area in the bank doubles, you become able to use item bags so you can carry more and you can share one character’s items with one of your other characters via the bank. If you ever wanted to be a shop keeper, the Extra Storage Service is an absolute necessity.

It also lets you create and manage a guild. Personally, I didn’t use this portion of the service. It is a nice feature to have though, if you’re an advanced and devoted player.

The only downside is, you’ll need quite a bit of money to make good use of the Extra Storage Service. If you’re going with this option, chances are you want to have your own shop to sell off items you’ve created or found. You’ll need to buy an Item Bag from Malcolm or another General Store NPC, which can cost 37,000 gold or more. If you don’t have that kind of cash already handy, then it may be better to wait on getting the Extra Storage Service until you do. Also, advanced Mabinogi players may not be satisfied with just the extra storage and guild options. If anything, I’d suggest hardcore Mabinogi fans invest in the Fantasy Life Club, so they can have the storage, personal shop and guild options and the Advanced Play items.

Nao’s Support Service

I adore the Nao’s Support Service plan. It is the perfect option for beginning or casual players, because it provides a better resurrection option if you die in the field when adventuring alone, free accessories on your character’s birthday and Emergency Escape Bombs.

I work odd hours, so sometimes I end up dungeon crawling alone. Since my main character is still at a relatively low level (21), I can sometimes get in over my head. This plan gives you three Emergency Escape Bombs per day, which you can deploy when you’re surrounded. The bomb will damage all surrounding monsters and knock them down, so you’ll have no problem beating them up or making a quick escape. Depending on which dungeon you’re in and the level of opponents, these bombs may even kill all the monsters coming after you.

The Resurrection by Nao is also awesome. Normally, if you get knocked out when adventuring alone, you have to respawn either at the dungeon entrance or in town. You can end up losing items, experience or a lot of your progress. Then you have to pay Duncan the village chief to get your items back from the Lost and Found and backtrack to where you were when you collapsed.The Nao method resurrects you right where you fell, completely restoring your HP, MP and stamina. She also blesses your items so if you die again you won’t lose them, makes your items more durable and makes it easier to fix items. It is a definite blessing for beginners.

You also receive a birthday gift from Nao on your character’s birthday each week, and get a special 20th birthday present on your character’s 20th birthday. Since accessories are normally expensive or difficult to come by, getting a free one each week is very helpful. It just makes adventuring in Mabinogi a little bit easier for beginners.

Fantasy Life Club

The Fantasy Life Club is the ultimate experience. It also is a service that is perfectly suited to any player, of any skill level because it contains all of the other premium support services at a fraction of the price.

I’d probably recommend any serious Mabinogi player going all out and splurging on the Fantasy Life Club at least once. Its a good way to determine which services you like best, and also gives a sample of every special service Nexon has to offer for the game. Plus, it gives you a month to participate in the season 1, 2 and 3 storyline quests.

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All pets in Mabinogi cost real money. This means you can’t just pick one without at least a little thought. After all, you don’t want to spend $5 on a pet that isn’t going to compliment and assist your character.

Your best bet is to learn about the best parts of all the pets available so you can make an informed decision before adopting.

Getting Started

I’d suggest going with two pets for your primary character and one for any secondary characters you may play as. For the two primary pets, go for those that compliment each other. Perhaps choose one pet that boosts critical hits or one who boosts strength. Then, for the secondary characters’ pets, choose pets that directly affect those characters’ strengths.

Below is a list of all the Mabinogi pets organized by the type of player who will get the best use out of each pet. Some pets may fit in multiple categories due to the versatility of their skills and abilities.

Pets for Beginners

These are pets that can take care of themselves. Some pets may accidentally die right when you need them because of low stamina or HP stats. A pet may also not be able to use healing items or spells on your character when you need it. These pets are fairly well rounded and will work well with any kind of player. I personally recommend the Japanese Bobtail and Mini Bear since both are very strong and versatile pets that handle themselves well. In fact, I found the Japanese Bobtail was a fierce little fighter who leveled up quickly and often defeated opponents before my character could even get in her first swing.

• Mini Bear - 7,500 NX/$7.50, dances if you play music, good sized inventory, boosts owner’s HP and Stamina stats.
• Labrador Retriever - 6,400 NX/$6.40, huge inventory space (6x9 spaces), boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.
• Japanese Bobtail - 2,900 NX/$2.90, gains exp quickly, fairly high MP, boosts owner’s Critical Hit skill.
• Dalmation - 4,000 NX/$4.00, boosts owner’s Critical Hit skill, boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.
• Golden Retriever - 5,900 NX/$5.90, large inventory (6x8 spaces), boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.
• Yellow Jindo - 2,900 NX/$2.90, long summon time (116 minutes), boosts owner’s HP and Stamina stats.

Pets for Artisans/Craftsmen

Since there are many different ways to earn experience and money in Mabinogi, some players may decide to level up and make their way through the game by creating items, cooking, sewing, mining or making music. These people may want a pet who can carry extra items for them, perform special tricks while they do their jobs or find items for them. Be advised that some of these pets are mainly used to produce materials and aren’t ideal battle companions. The Mini Bear is your best bet, so if you decide to venture into dungeons, you have a strong pet to support you.

• Mini Bear - 7,500 NX/$7.50, dances if you play music, good sized inventory, boosts owner’s HP and Stamina stats.
• Albino King Snake - 4,800 NX/$4.80, dances if you play music, can use Lightning Bolt, Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt and Healing spells, boosts owner’s MP and Intelligence stats.
• Labrador Retriever - 6,400 NX/$6.40, huge inventory space (6x9 spaces), boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.
• Minature Pinscher - 5,900 NX/$5.90, finds items, can tell if a chest is real or a mimic, boosts owner’s Stamina, Intelligence and Luck stats.
• Samoyed - 6,200 NX/$6.20, finds items, can tell if a chest is real or a mimic, large inventory (6x8 spaces), boosts owner’s Stamina and Intelligence stats.
• Herb Pig - 5,900 NX/$5.90, herbs grow on the pet’s back and can be harvested.
• White Flame Spider - 4,500 NX/$4.50, produces cobwebs that can be spun into thread.
• White Sheep - 5,400 NX/$5.40, produces wool that can be turned into yarn.
• Cow - 4,300 NX/$4.30, produces milk that characters can drink or cook with.
• Light Russian Blue - 5,800 NX/$5.80, large inventory for a cat (5x9 spaces), boosts owner’s Dexterity and Intelligence.
• Golden Retriever - 5,900 NX/$5.90, large inventory (6x8 spaces), boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.

Pets for Warriors

All of these pets have either innate abilities or special skills that are perfect for hand-to-hand warriors. These pets are strong and pack a punch. Also, these pets will likely boost your characters’ strength, defense or other stats that will impact physical attacks. The Gray Wolf is a strong companion with great skills that I enjoy using with my warrior character but, since it can’t use healings spells or rest early on, you need to watch out for it.

• Borzoi - 5,200 NX/$5.20, transforms when a person transforms into a Paladin, boosts owners’ HP and Will stats.
• Greyhound - 4,600 NX/$4.60, transforms when a person transforms into a Paladin, boosts owners’ Stamina and Will stats.
• Mini Bear - 7,500 NX/$7.50, dances if you play music, good sized inventory, boosts owner’s HP and Stamina stats.
• Minature Pinscher - 5,900 NX/$5.90, finds items, can tell if a chest is real or a mimic, can boosts owner’s Stamina, Intelligence and Luck stats.
• Border Collie - 4,700 NX/$4.70, finds items, can tell if a chest is real or a mimic, learns Smash at level 1 and Counterattack at level 7.
• Dalmation - 4,000 NX/$4.00, boosts owner’s Critical Hit skill, boosts owner’s HP and Strength stats.
• Gray Wolf - 4,900 NX/$4.90, knows Smash and Counterattack at level 1, boosts owner’s HP, Strength and Stamina stats.

Pets for Mages

These pets are a magic users’ best friends. They can most likely use a wide variety of magic spells and also boost owners stats that relate to spell casting. While magic users may benefit most from these, warrior-style players may want to invest in one to cast magic spells during battle. The Brown Fox is a huge help and I’ve noticed significant benefits when I use it with my healer character and my warrior character.

• Albino King Snake - 4,800 NX/$4.80, dances if you play music, can use Lightning Bolt, Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt and Healing spells, boosts owner’s MP and Intelligence stats.
• Samoyed - 6,200 NX/$6.20, finds items, can tell if a chest is real or a mimic, large inventory (6x8 spaces), boosts owner’s Stamina and Intelligence stats.
• Silver Fox - 5,700 NX/$5.70, learns Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, Lightning Bolt and Healing, boosts owners Strength and Intelligence stats.
• Light Russian Blue - 5,800 NX/$5.80, large inventory for a cat (5x9 spaces), boosts owner’s Dexterity and Intelligence.
• Japanese Bobtail - 2,900 NX/$2.90, gains exp quickly, fairly high MP, boosts owner’s Critical Hit skill.
• Brown Fox - 4,200 NX/$4.20, learns Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, Lightning Bolt and Healing, boosts owner’s Strength and Intelligence.
• Dark Russian Blue - 5,500 NX/$5.50, can learn Lightning Bolt in addition to Healing and Ice Bolt, boosts owner’s Dexterity and Intellect.
• Orange Pixie - 2,900 NX/$2.90, high MP, boosts owner’s Intelligence stat.

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In the past I’ve been asked how to create good Magic team decks. While I am not an authority, I have been a competitive player for two years and competed in multiple 2HG (Two-Headed Giant) tournaments including Pro-Tour Qualifiers. I’ve noticed some things that work really well so here are some tips that can work wonders on the table.

Read Your Cards

Since 2HG is usually a sealed deck, the first thing that you need to pay attention to is what you actually get to build a deck with on the spot. If you don’t read the cards before you start building, that will lead you down a road to disaster. So if you don’t pay attention, you most likely will lose. That’s just common sense though.

Understand the 40-Card Deck

With common sense out of the way, it’s time to build the deck. In terms of deck size, most competitive players play 40-card decks. The reasoning is essentially cutting out the fat. Doing this will get you to the necessary cards that might make or break a game quicker. The drawback is that, with only 40 cards, control spells will most likely put necessary things like land or tide-turning spells straight into your graveyard. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword if you don’t get cards in the pack that defend against this possibility.

Pick a Color

Before building the 40-card deck you have to decide who will play what color(s) in their decks. Some people play two- or three-color decks and one color might be best split between the two party members depending on the style of play that you’re going for in each deck. One thing that works for my team is to make two specialized decks. One deck will be heavy on offense (mixtures of green, black, red and occasionally white). The other would be geared more towards defense and controlling the assets of opponents (white, black, blue and, in cases of removal/destruction spells, occasionally red). Each deck will also have to compensate for the other deck’s weakness.

Still, the basic idea of what you want is in the decks are: Creatures (flying, trampling, lifelink, wither, reach, deathtouch and flanking are different abilities you want to look for), creature generation, removal (“destroy…”, “remove from game” or “put -/- tokens on target creature), life gain (anything that says you gain an amount of life), improvement (gives abilities or bonuses) and control (taps land and creatures, bounces land, creatures or enchantments back to the hand of their control, etc.). You will also need enough land to support these spells.

Pay Attention

Now, once you finally get your decks together to work with, you both need pay attention to your cards. Some have ongoing effects. Others are only for the turn that they are being used in. If you don’t pay attention, you might lose out on a lot of opportunities.

There are more intricacies of deck building but these are just some tips for on-the-spot deck building tips that seem to work.

Site [The Multiverse: Magic: The Gathering] Read [Magic the Gathering Zone]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Well, it happened. PlayStation Portable demos from the Japanese PlayStation Store are now exactly like domestic demos. This means there’s a copyright signature, where you have to sign into the store and download it directly to your PSP or it won’t work.

So you can’t just go to the ever so wonderful and convenient PSP Fanboy demo page and download demos of Prinny: Ore ga Shujinkou de Iinsuka? (aka Prinny: Is it okay if I’m the hero?) or Yggdra Union.

The time has come to provide for yourself when it comes to new Japanese game demos. You need to set up a Japanese Playstation Store account and here’s how.

Step 1.

• First, on your computer, go to the PlayStation Store site and choose Japan as your country.
• Then, click the last button in the upper right corner of the page to make an account.

Step 2.

• Once the log-in page appears, click the first option below the log-in portion. This will let you create an account.

Step 3.

The next portion begins the process.

• Enter your date of birth using the drop-down options.
• Then click the bottom right button to proceed.

Step 4.

• Choose the first option to create a Master Account.

Step 5.

• Click the button to the right to agree. (The Terms and Conditions are basically the same as the US Playstation Store’s.)

Step 6.

• Enter what is shown into the box, then click the button directly below.

Step 7.

Finally, we get into account creation.

• Give an email address (note: you can’t use the same one as your home country’s Playstation Store account) and a password.
• Then enter any word you like as the answer to the security question shown. I recommend writing down this information for later.
• Click the button directly below all this to proceed.

Step 8.

• You can close this window now.

Step 9.

• Check your email.
• There’ll be a link in there - click it to verify your email address.

Step 10.

• Click the button there.

Step 11.

• Type something in the box, and then press enter. Don’t click the red button.

Step 12.

Next is a name and address section.

• You need to enter your name twice (last name, first name, last name, first name).
• Then you need to enter a Japanese address. I recommend looking up a Japanese city on Google and getting the postal code.
• Enter the postal code in the first box.
• Click and pick any option in the drop down box below.
• Then enter a few random letters in the two lines below the drop box.
• Finally, in the box directly above the red button, enter in the city that goes with the postal code you entered.
• When you’re done, click the bottom right, white button.

Step 13.

• Click the second option to proceed.

Step 14.

• Once again, on the next page that appears, click the right-most button.

Step 15.

Now all of the information you have entered will be displayed.

• Check everything over.
• Then click the bottom right button.

Step 16.

You’re almost done - this page shows you the ID you will be using to log in to the Japanese Playstation Store website.

• Make a note of it, then click the white button.

Step 17.

Congratulations -You have an account! One more step to go.

Step 18.

• Now go back to the main Japanese PlayStation Store page.
• Click the right-most button that you clicked in Step 1.
• Enter the account ID shown in Step 16 in the first box and the password you set in Step 7.
• Then click the first blue button.

You will now be logged in and able to download PSP demos.

Now for the demos.

Let’s say you’re dying to play the 12mb Prinny: Ore ga Shujinkou de Iinsuka? demo. It requires firmware version 4.05 and the latest version of the PlayStation Store Downloader to download and play though, so be prepared.

• On the main page, the first section will have a new demos area. The icon with a Prinny on it is the one you want. Click that.
• Then click the button next to the orange button on the demo page.
• Your download should immediately start. If it doesn’t, and a shopping cart logo appears, then click the cart logo in the upper right corner of the page.
• Then click the bottom right blue buttons on the next two pages.
• Then you should be able to get your demo.

You’ll also receive a prompt saying your PSP is connected to another account. To play the Prinny, Yggdra Union and other demos, you’ll have to temporarily make your Japanese account your connected account. Any demos on your PSP won’t work when your PSP is connected to your Japanese account. So if you want to play those demos, you’ll have to shift and download a US store demo to switch back.

Site [PlayStation Store] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

“Chapter 3: Torneko and the Extravagant Excavation” in Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen is quite possibly the most tricky and intriguing segment, because it doesn’t involve winning a tournament, rescuing people or defeating a villain. Instead, you help Torneko Taloon become a successful merchant.

You help him find a rare steal strongbox that will allow him to travel without worrying about losing money, find a shop and clear a trade route. This means that the main goal in Torneko’s adventure is to earn money and find items. Its a refreshing change and the most entertaining of the early chapters.

Torneko’s chapter begins in his hometown of Lakanaba, where he lives with his wife and son and works at a local weapon’s shop. The first two days of the game involve Torneko walking to work, waiting on adventurers and then heading home again. Depending on how you treat customers, you’ll earn commission each day. (Hint: Just say yes all the time.) You’ll usually get at least 100 gold a day for your efforts.

After two days, you’ll see Torneko’s son outside. He’ll tell you the innkeeper wanted to see Torneko. After you see him, you’ll learn that a steel strongbox is in the cave near town. If you had that, you could start traveling, earning money and finding items to sell.

Instead of immediately leaving town to get the strongbox, I suggest working one more day at the weapon shop.

Then, the next morning, do shopping with the money you’ve earned so far.

Get Torneko outfitted with a decent piece of armor and a weapon and buy three or four herbs. Then head to the cave.

Once you’ve gotten the strongbox from the cave, you should visit the town directly south of Lakanaba.

Search the village elder’s home for some boxers, which Torneko can equip, and sleep at the elder’s house. In the morning, the village is gone.

Once you reach the kingdom of Ballymoral further south, you’ll find a broken bridge, a captured Lakanabian, an armor shortage, a missing architect and a power hungry king.

First thing you’ll want to do is visit the armor salesman in Ballymoral castle. (He’s in the lower left hand corner when you walk in.) He’ll buy whatever armor you’re willing to sell, often for more than it originally cost. Remember him, because you’ll be visiting him a lot until you get your own shop. At this point, Torneko will have to act as a middleman for the prince of Ballymoral and the king of Ballymoral. Focus on accomplishing the king’s quest so you can reach Endor and then complete the prince’s.

After the architect repairs the bridge to the kingdom of Endor, go and visit the shop across from Endor’s church. Go to the top floor and talk to the old man. It turns out this used to be his shop! He’s decided to retire and wants to sell. You can’t buy it just yet though - you need the king’s permission to set up a shop in Endor.

Go to the king. Read the prince of Ballymoral’s letter to the princess. Then trek back to Ballymoral and read the king of Endor’s letter to the king of Ballymoral.

On your way out (as you return to Endor), stop by the armor dealer in the castle and unload any armor you’ve collected from battling monsters.

Go back to Endor and talk to the king. Now you have permission to open a shop in Endor.

Talk to the old man who wants to sell to hear the price - 35,000. You won’t have the money, trust me.

So go and get Torneko an abacus from Endor’s weapon dealer and an iron apron from the armor dealer. Then head north-west to the cave. You can stop by the cavern to the west if you like, to talk to the man who’ll build a tunnel for 60,000 but that quest can’t be undertaken until you own a shop.

After completing the cave, you should have a goddess statue and a wide selection of armor and weapons from monster battles.

Go to Endor and visit the house in the upper right corner. Talk to the man on the second floor, and sell him the statue. You should only be a few thousand short of 35,000.

Take a trip to Ballymoral and sell armor to the castle dealer. Don’t sell him any iron armour though. You’ll see why in a moment. If you’re still short, return to the cave and battle a bit more to get more items to sell. Don’t sell any steel swords or iron armour though.

Now that you have 35,000, you can buy the shop. After you do, Torneko’s wife and son move to Endor. You can now give any weapons or armor you find to Torneko’s wife and she’ll sell them for you. She suggests you visit the king of Endor. When you do, he’ll place an order for 6 steel swords and 6 suits of iron armour (aren’t you glad I told you to keep those?). Take those to the man in armor in the upper right corner of the first floor, and he’ll take them from you.

At this point, all you really can keep doing is fighting monsters to get those swords and suits of armor for the king. Head to the cave where you found the goddess statue - if you battle there for 15-30 minutes, you should find everything. If you are only one or two pieces short, don’t feel like battling and you have the money, you can even go to another shop and buy them.

Money isn’t crucial anymore - after you turn in the requested items to the king, you’ll be paid 60,000 to take to the tunnel builder to end Torneko’s chapter.

Site [Dragon Quest IV] Read [Gamertell]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

In the Los Angeles Times, writer Alex Pham reports that the San Fernando Library encourages youth to play video games and even invites them to be as loud as they like.

“It lets teens be more comfortable with the library and become familiar with librarians,” San Fernando librarian Lydia Harlan told Pham. “And it’s what kids are into these days.”

In the article, Pham reports that more libraries are turning to video games to connect with technologically savvy youth who might be losing interest in books and stories. In New York, the New York Public Library has even added a collection of books, films, music and maps about video games.

“Especially at this pivotal moment in our history, it is so great to have so many people of this age group here in the library, because it foreshadows what life is going to be like around here when we have transformed this building,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, the co-founder of the Blackstone Group, to the New York Times. “We want to do a better job of integrating the circulation and research collections, and part of that is becoming more relevant for a younger audience.”

But not everyone agrees that this would be a good idea, some parents feel that it would just distract kids.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Miguel Castaneda, 45, told the Chicago Tribune after his 14-year-old son played a video game at the Florence Library in Los Angeles. “I think a library should be for studying, and when you go to play video games, your mind is away from what you’re supposed to be learning.”

In Chicago, the Library system does not approve of the new video game fad other libraries have taken a liking to.

“The video game aspect is not the direction we want to go,” Ruth Lednicer, the system’s director of marketing, told the Chicago Tribune. “We want to keep them focused on the literature-based aspect of it, keep it focused on reading and writing, and even the performance-based aspect helps them with public speaking.”

Whether the library system chooses to add video games to their collection or not there are a series of books about video games that may interest youth according to an article published by Kelly Czarnecki in the School Library Journal. Czarnecki wrote that the following books can help libraries understand the teenage mind:

• Sex, Brains, and Video Games: A Librarian’s Guide to Teens in the Twenty-first Century by Jennifer Burek-Pierce. Burek-Pierce, an assistant professor at The University of Iowa’s School of Library and Information Science, covers a wide range of adolescent issues and interests as well as findings involving the pros and cons of video games and discusses violence in video games to name a few topics.
• The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design by Flint Dille and John Zuur-Platten. The book is more of a resource for aspiring game writers and designers as well as high school students interested in a career in the gaming industry.
• Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom by David Hutchinson. The book contains hundreds of video game activities ideas for teachers who want to integrate video games into 4th to 12th grade classrooms with exercises in all subject areas to include Language Arts, Social Studies, history, science, math and music to name a few.
• Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do by Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson. Kutner and Olson are founds of Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, and have studied more than 1,300 middle school students in Pennsylvania and South Carolina to determine the effects of video games and violence on young people.
• The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning by Katie Salen. The book explains how gaming empowers young people and contributes to literacy, as well as help librarians and teachers relate to today’s youth culture.
• The Pleasures of Computer Gaming: Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics by Melanie Salwell and Jason Wilson. The book contains eight essays that look at computer gaming, the importance of cheats in a gaming context rather than deceptive practices, a look at gaming and addiction and other topics of interest.

Read [Chicago Tribune] Also Read [New York Times] Also Read [Los Angeles Times] Also Read [The School Library Journal]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

Just when you thought the world was turning an evil eye towards video games, accusing it of converting children into violent thugs, rotting their brains and making them fat. Consoles like the Nintendo Wii have opened up a new way for the medical field to use the games to their advantage. With games being integrated into physical therapies that can not only improve a person’s hand-eye-coordination it may just help shed some pounds in childhood obesity.

According to an article published by the UK Press Association video games that engage children in any form of physical activity “may be an effective answer to childhood obesity.”

The Science Daily reported that because video games seem to be the more popular form of entertainment among children, “Children burn more than four times as many calories per minute playing an active video game than playing a seated game, and their heart rate is also significantly higher with the active game.”

One of the companies mentioned in the press release is an interactive system called the XaviX gaming system created by SSD Company Ltd. in Shiga, Japan. Much like the popular Nintendo Wii system, the XaviX system is designed to involve children in physical activities playing games like bowling, fishing, tennis, golfing and a more physical activity like jogging by using a gaming mat to perform their activities on called the XaviX J-Mat.

Of course in my opinion this console is starting to sound more and more like the Wii system. I’m not sure who will be willing to go out and buy a totally new system that does the same exact thing a Nintendo Wii does. Having played in a recent Wii bowling tournament and working out for the next one in a few weeks, playing any game on the Wii console for 15 minutes and I mean ANY game will have you downing a bottle of Gatorade and hitting the showers following a session.

The only difference between playing a game on the Wii and actually going to a gym is there are no membership fees or bone thin aerobic instructors putting you through an hour of torture while dangling the fact she can out bend you in any yoga position possibly known to women.

Read [Daily Mail] Read [Science Daily] Read [Forbes Online] Site [XaviX Online]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »