Title: The Princess and the Frog
Format: *Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download
Price: (SRP) $44.99 (3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital), $39.99 (1-disc Blu-ray), $29.99 (DVD), $14.99/$19.99 (Digital SD/HD)
Release Date: March 16, 2010
Publisher (Distributor): Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Rating: “G”
Pros: Great voice talent, amazing (and slightly nostalgic) hand-drawn animation, great soundtrack and entertaining take on a classic story.
Cons: A few scenes seem to have been cut a little short, a couple scenes might be a bit too dark for (the parents of) little kids and a couple tiny areas of plot confusion.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

The latest Disney animated flick to hit Blu-ray is also the company’s super proud return to hand-drawn animation and the wonderful world of the musical.

The Princess and the Frog offers a zesty blend of Cajun musical flavors, voice talent, humor, creepy voodoo and animation that you’ll wonder where the company has been for the last few years.

Down on the Bayou

Set in 1920s New Orleans, a hard-working waitress names Tiana (voices by Anika Noni Rose) dreams of owning her own restaurant while carefree Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) has squandered his riches away having fun. A nasty Voodoo magician named Doctor Facilier (Keith David) turns Naveen into a frog to try and take over the city.

Tiana soon turns tiny, slimy and green after smoothing Naveen and the adventure ensues as they try to regain human form. Along the way they befriend a firefly named Ray (Jim Cummings), a gator named Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) who wants to play trumpet in a real band and a crazy old lady who lives in a boat in a tree named Odie (Jenifer Lewis).

They go from the city to swamp and back again, trying to undo the Voodoo and make both of their dreams come true.

That Voodoo that Disney Do So Well

The story is quite energetic, full of songs that range in tempo from swing to a cajun waltze and also delves into the darker, creepier side of Voodoo magic. The creepier side may seem unusually scary for a Disney movie but my three-year-old didn’t find need to cower.

They managed to pack in a bevy of voice talent including Keith David, Oprah Winfrey (who offers the perfect quality and hardly sounds like her TV persona), Randy Newman and Terrence Howard. Even Emeril Lagasse gets in on the acti’n and John Goodman forges his Saturday Night Live version of Cajun-speak as “Big Daddy” La Bouff. (The only notable Nawlins name I noticed missing was Harry Connick Jr.).

It’s also packed with an eccentric mix of Randy Newmann tunes that are not nearly as gruff and irregular sounding as many of his previous creations. Instead, the songs are all appropriately smooth, playing right into his New Orleans roots sounding less like his typical songs and, strangely enough, much better than other Disney flick he’s worked on.

Various characters are animated with hints of movies past which helps to give the movie enough of a classic feel to please long-time Disney fans and developed enough to excite (or not bore) younger viewers. You’ll see nods in not only the dynamic relationships between the characters but the art style of many of the animals (save the frogs).

There are plenty of wonderful voice acting performances, and a lot of wonderful animation you can hardly believe was hand drawn by anyone, let alone a team of artists. it’s certainly a twist on a classic tale, which is what I believe Disney does best (instead of messing with original stories that rarely have had enough time to properly ferment to gain true depth) and it certainly delivered here. There are only a couple scenes that feel like they got an early chop but, knowing Disney’s tendency to stay under 1 1/2 hours for animated movies (and the theory that you end a movie when parents start waking out of the theater to get out of the parking lot first), it’s not really a detriment to the movie.

That tendency does hurt the extra features, however, which no one getting in more than a fat sentence or two in a row before being cut to the next interview nugget. They offer a few nice insights but really are Disney propaganda for the movies, telling less about how they did it than what they did. Sure, there are a few cutscenes but they were not even animated (just sketches with non-talent voice overs). I certainly find those interesting but pretty much any early sketches and drafts of the script could be used for these so-called deleted scenes. They’re not as much deleted as seemingly fabricated for a featurette. Of course, Disney like to re-re-release movies so you can expect more in-depth footage in later and likely more expensive collector sets.

Of course, you do get a separate DVD disc and a digital download disc which is pleasantly becoming a norm for Disney Blu-ray releases. Fair warning: You can only redeem one version of the digital download, either for Windows Media or for iTunes, not both.

Kiss Me, You Fool

The Princess and the Frog is a surprisingly dark and fun movie that nods to Disney of old while bringing old fashioned hand-drawn animation back with style.

Sure, it’s ultimately a swampy, er, sorry, sappy love story but it done well enough to entertain the entire family throughout the film.

Note: As with most Disney properties, The Princess and the Frog also spawned a few namesake video games for Wii, PC and DS (November 2009).

Read [Alternate Disc-Tractions @ Gamertell] Site [The Princess and the Frog]

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In theory, the iPad seems like an absolutely incredible idea.

Then again, that’s what a company does when it’s doing something new for itself and its customers. It trie to make it seem much better than it actually is. So, you’re probably wondering what could go wrong.

Well, entirely too much can go wrong.

This is especially true for a piece of hardware that could fail horribly in multiple ways. Just about as many things that can wrong with the creation of new hardware as with the creation of new software.

Often the first generations of new hardware or software has its failings. Things don’t work as they should, if they work at all. Examples in hardware terms can be seen with the Xbox 360 where quite a few of them - let’s be frank and just say most since that is accurate - would get the Red Ring of Death. In some instances it would occur after about a year and, in others, as soon as a week after purchase. The real failure rate wasn’t even fixed until the newest generation was released.

In terms of software, look at Windows ME, which, even after multiple service packs and patchwork, never even came close to the way Microsoft thought it was going to work. Even after all of the patchwork and updates for Windows ME, there were still some people who would suffer OS crashes while trying to run the simplest programs like Microsoft Word. It was just too unstable of an OS to warrant its own existence.

For an Apple example, some users of the first generation of the iPhone had complaints on it not working quite the way it was billed to when it first came out. The touchscreen occasionally wasn’t as responsive as it was supposed to be for some people. Another example is that complaint that the iPhone took more getting used to than most Apple device. Albeit, the complaints were rare and usually focusing in on single details rather than the product as a whole. They were also occasionally individual-based complaints and not wide-spread ones.

Sure, referring to the competition of Apple might not be the best policy but it is important to view what could go wrong with something new. If you’re going to be shelling out at least $499 before sales tax is figured in, you might as well look at the possibilities that it might not work as advertised.

It’s not against Apple. It’s just the basic trend that regardless of intention or quality of manufacturing, new technology always needs a generation or two to actually work out the kinks and get the product to work as it should, if the work and updating actually does help.
There’s also the problem with the fact that it’s billed as something completely new and revolutionary. It can be viewed a more capable netbook that takes up less space. More accurately, it’s a tablet PC with some more capabilities. It is new to have something that is stated to have all of the capabilities of the iPad. However, the concept of what the iPad is happens to be old news. It existed within the realm of possibility, though no one outside of science fiction authors, filmmakers and game developers thought to develop it into something more realistic. The idea has been periodically brought up since the 1960s in the genre.

There have also been PDAs and tablet PCs for longer than a decade although they might not have the style or touch that Apple can bring to a product. Still, the Apple style and touch isn’t new, though it’s occasionally pretty revolutionary. Even the iPhone wasn’t really a new thing, just another option that happened to make the growing population of smartphone shift from the early Blackberries to devices that resemble the iPhone in terms of style and capabilities.

So you’re looking at something that isn’t necessarily new in concept or attempt, though it is pretty revolutionary in terms of the attempt.

You’re also looking at something new that could possibly not work as it’s supposed to, which would be a pretty big problem if you’re going to spend $499-829 (enough to buy at either one of the more expensive netbooks, a basic laptop or a low to mid-range performance desktop). It just seems like it could fall flat and not have the effect that Apple wants.

This opinion can be wrong but only time will tell whether or not it actually is wrong. In a business sense, here’s to hoping that the opinion is wrong since Apple does come out with pretty solid and stable hardware.

Read [Gamertell]

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I’ve been playing games on the iPhone since the day the App Store opened. I’ve enjoyed plenty and I’ve hated plenty.

I’ve played some for review and I’ve played some for pleasure.

And yet there are hundreds of great games out there I haven’t played because either A) I didn’t know about them, or B) they didn’t seem to make sense on the iPhone. The accelerometer and touch screen are nifty features but are rarely conducive to gaming.

And don’t even get me started on that tiny screen.

The iPad, therefore, will be a more logical choice of many games because the controls won’t be as cramped. I won’t need to worry as much about my thumb hiding the action or my fingers missing the proper “buttons.”

Yet, it’s still kind of tricky because many iPhone games were designed specifically for the small screen. The iPhone is easy to tilt and turn, for example. I won’t know if this is the case with the iPad until April 3rd (2010).

And so, there are quite a few games I’m eager to try out on the iPad. I’m going to list off ten of them over two articles.

The five here are games I’ve already played on my iPhone. Later this week I’ll round up five I haven’t yet played, either because they haven’t been released or I just didn’t think the iPhone would do them justice.

I have no guarantee that iPad optimized versions of any of these games will be released but I think that most are a safe bet, starting with…

1. MotoChaser (Freeverse)

This is one of the very first apps I ever purchased for the iPhone, if not the first, and it’s still on my phone. Despite a ridiculous number of racing games that have come since, I still prefer MotoChaser‘s unique style of gameplay and whimsical premise.

MotoChaser was the first game to really sell me on the legitimacy of the iPhone as a gaming device, so I’m going to rely on it to do the same with the iPad. It’ll instantly let me know if the iPad’s processor can handle decent graphics at an acceptable frame rate. More importantly, it’ll provide a clear indication of whether tilt-based controls will work on a device that large.

2. Jungle Style Pinball (Gameprom)

I love pinball. I love pinball sims. Jungle Style Pinball is my current favorite on the iPhone, so it gets this slot. On the iPhone, you tap the left and right of the screen to activate the flippers. I imagine it’ll be exactly the same on the iPad and that’s to the game’s benefit.

The iPad should be quite comfortable to hold and use while playing pinball, provided I’m able to brace it with the base of my thumbs while tapping the screen. I’d have to be able to tap higher up on the screen to do that, which raises an interesting development choice; do they allow the pinball table to take up the whole screen and pan the camera up and down as with the iPhone version, or should they force the full length of the table onto the screen at once? This will leave empty black areas to the left and right of the table, and that’s the way they should go. The black areas will allow me to leave my thumbs in place without every covering the gameplay area, and it’ll eliminate the camera lag problem with the iPhone version in which the ball often rolls completely out of view before the camera can catch up.

3. Space Invaders (Konami)

Note that I’m including the original Space Invaders, not Space Invaders Infinity Gene. This is because I really would love for the iPad to become my portable virtual arcade. Load it up with Space Invaders, Frogger, and any other ‘70s/ or 80s arcade game that doesn’t require an analog stick for decent controls, and I’m suddenly back to wearing the collar up on my denim jacket and hanging out in buildings that still reek of cigarette smoke.

Showing off the nostalgia of Space Invaders on the iPhone is one thing (and Konami totally nailed the nostalgia aspect in their iPhone version), but being able to do so on a device large enough for multiple people to see at once would be fantastic. You will all have your own games that are crowd pleasers despite being single player games. With my crowd, it’s throwback arcade games, and Space Invaders is the best example I’ve seen on the iPhone.

4. Dracula: The Path of the Dragon - Part 1 (Chillingo)

Steve introduced the iPad to us while sitting down in a comfy chair, using it as if a book. Chillingo’s Dracula: The Path of the Dragon plays as if a book. It’s a “point and click” (“touch and drag?”) adventure game of the type we used to get all the time back in the ‘90s, and of which we’ll hopefully seen more in the ‘10s.

Adventure games are perfectly suited to playing while lounging on the sofa or in bed, as they don’t demand any twitch skills. When you’re holding a gamepad playing a solid action game, it makes sense to be sitting on the edge of your seat or jumping around with the action. With a graphic adventure that sort of lazily asks you to solve some puzzles, tap here and there, and watch a bunch of cut scenes, you may as well be sitting comfortably. Steve has demanded it be thus, so thus it shall be.

5. Hybrid: Eternal Whisper (Gamevil)

This is my last open question (at least for now). Hybrid is an epic action/adventure/RPG that always felt like it was too big for the iPhone. It requires a lot of reading, which isn’t always fun to do on the iPhone. It has fantastic graphics with battle effects that would happily burst right out of the device if allowed. Some of the battles take quite some time to complete, so it’s the type of game you’d want to play at home as opposed to in Starbucks waiting for your lowfat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich to be delivered. But, there’s a problem.

On the iPhone, the action buttons are too small to hit accurately, making the fights more difficult than need be. This could be improved on the iPad, but will we even be able to reach them? That bezel, while necessary for holding the device, means your thumbs won’t be able to reach very far into the screen itself, especially for games requiring horizontal orientation. I’ll therefore hope to use Hybrid as my first look at how developers will be repurposing their iPhone games, and to determine whether developers who had set their sites too high on the iPhone will find happier, more comfortable dwellings on the iPad.

Read [iPad @ Gamertell] Site [Appletell]

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Title: 2012
Format: *Blu-ray, DVD, PSP, Digial Download
Price: (SRP) $39.95 (2-disc Blu-ray), $38.95 (1-disc Blu-ray), $28.95 (DVD), $24.94 (PSP/UMD), $14.99 (iTunes)
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Publisher (Distributor): Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 for intense disaster sequenes and some language.
Pros: Amazing special effects, a lot of great cameos and bits of decent acting. A decent test of your HD TV.
Cons: Trite and overly punny dialog, sketchy science and primarily predictable plot.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down; 76/100; C; * * 1/2 out of five.

You’ve got two more years, buddy, because the world is going to end in 2012. No, really. Everyone says so.

In the science fiction disaster movie, 2012, the entire planet is in danger thanks to a massive neutrino burst warming the Earth’s core. And guess when it’s all going to go to pot? (Hint: Read the @#$%! name of the movie.)

Explosions, volcanoes, fireballs hurling from the sky, massive earthquakes, outrunning explosions, ginormous tidal waves, mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together, it’s all in here. And in high definition.

The Ragu of Disaster Movies

After a scientist alerts the US President (Danny Glover) that the Earth’s upcoming doom, a secret plan is formulated by the world governments to save the human race, 99.9% of which have no idea what lies ahead.

Enter down-and-mostly-out writer, Jackson Curtis (John Cusak), who happens to have written an unsuccessful book about people trying to survive during a major disaster and stumbles on this ultimate secret. And there just happens to be a map to salvation in the hands of a crazy guy (Woody Harrelson) broadcasting a pirate radio show about, of course, the end of the world.

Naturally, because no one can have anything going well for them in a disaster movie at any level, Curtis is also divorced, his wife (Amanda Peet) is remarried (Thomas McCarthy) and his kids (Liam James and Morgan Lily) are being a bit cranky towards him.

Most of the movie is filled with reverse chase scenes with the cast dodging giant disaster after disaster and trying to get to the next supposedly safe spot on the globe. With so many actors in this movie (I left out Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, John Billingsley, George Segal, Patrick Bauchau and many, many others) you can bet that at least one is expendable per big-action sequence.

If Everyone Jumped At Exactly the Same Time…

The film’s premise is quite a bit of science fiction, fully embracing the idea that neutrinos short from solar flares would cause the Earth’s magnetic poles to rapidly swap which, in turn, would result in instant doom for everyone on board. If you can get passed the sketchy premise, you’re left with an intense action film with a few layers of character development and subplots which all eventually collide.

Nearly all of the special effects are truly amazing and the fact that you can see all the effect in high-def at home is a definite plus. They are often so good, in fact, (save some of the waves late in the film) that the acting often does not offer equal justice to the horrors, instead seeming more like people simply amazed at the really cool effects they are seeing off camera.

Unfortunately, the film’s dialogue doesn’t help, often cliche and packed with blatant foreshadowing.

There are, however, several pockets of decency. The fact that they got Harrelson to put on his crazy suit is pretty funny. Cusak does a good job with his usual semi-muttering, pseudo-cranky nice guy shtick which may not immediately put him at the top of the action movie list yet works pretty well here. Ejiofor’s scientist offers the film’s strongest, and most crucial, performance, making even this ridiculous premise seem plausible.

A Disk is Not Just a Disc

Since this is a Sony product, you can get the movie not only as a Blu-ray but also as DVD, digital download and even UMD (and the press sheet says you can download from the Blu-ray disc to your PSP via PS3 that I have yet to try thanks to Sony’s pricey memory card).

The Blu-ray comes with a few exclusives including in-movie trivia (“movieIQ”) and a picture-in-picture comparisons to story boards and pre-effects visualizations. Most are fair although the film’s final effects are often far more interesting.

More Ka-Boom for Your Buck?

There are really only two reasons to get this movie: The amazing special effects and the leapfrogging between Cusak’s and Ejiofor’s decent performances.

At it’s best, 2012 is an in-your-face action disaster movie with special effects you’ll love to watch - and pause here and there - and a few small surprises. At its worst it is unnecessarily filled with sap, gratuitous cameos (read: lackluster performances) and trite dialogue you’ll want to slap in the face.

This one really is only for those who need a modern, high-def disaster movie in their collection to plunk in when there’s nothing else to watch or to test their new HD TV.

Read [Alternate Disc-Tractions @ Gamertell] Site [2012]

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Title: Ponyo
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Format(s): Blu-ray, DVD
Price: $39.99 (Blu-ray+DVD), $29.99 (DVD)
Company: Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment (Studio Ghibli)
Rating: “G” (General Audiences)
Length: 1 hour, 43 minutes. (103 minutes)
Pros: Gorgeous visuals, mostly amazing voice acting, beautiful soundtrack and it appeals to the very young target audience.
Cons: A couple annoying voices (especially to older viewers) and a little darker than most Disney movies.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 87/100; B+; * * * 1/2 out of five.

Hayao Miyazaki’s films can arguably be described as a bit too weird for American audiences to accept, lacking a clear, super-hero style main character and instead focusing on normal people in not-so-normal circumstances. Most times he exudes a mood more than a clear, linear story in his films, though this may be one of the most linear of his productions (thanks to the film’s literary inspiration).

Some elements in Ponyo may not immediately endear older American viewers but the overall story will prove entertaining to its true target: very young viewers.

Under the Sea

Loosely based on Han Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, Ponyo stars a cute but strange looking magical fish and a little boy who finds her stuck in a jar close to shore. Mistaken for a goldlfish, the human-faced fish Brunhilda, aka Ponyo, soon becomes enamored with young Sosuke (and ham, of all things), wanting to leave her magician father’s literally protective bubbles to become a little girl.

That, of course, throws everything out of balance, causing the seas to rise and nature to basically freak out. The only way to set things right is either for Ponyo to return her to her aquatic life or to abandon magic altogether and become a human.

Like most Miyazaki movies, some of the characters are a bit outlandish, emotions run from mellow to explosive and so does the animated action. There’s a strong nature them that gets a little preachy for only a couple minutes and a lot of big-weather action but, ultimately, it’s a cute, emotional story with amazing visuals.

Turning Japanese

The American voice cast includes some rather impressive names: Cate Blanchett (Gran Mamare), Noah Cyrus (Ponyo), Matt Damon (Koichi), Tina Fey (Lisa), Frankie Jonas (Sosuke), Kurt Knutsson (The Newscaster), Cloris Leachman (Noriko), Liam Neeson (Fujimoto), Jennessa Rose (Kumiko), Lily Tomlin (Toki) and Betty White (Yoshie). Only Neeson’s voice seems, at times, too far over the top - although it fits the stripe suited character - and most surprising is Fey, who sounds as if she’s been voicing anime movies for decades. All of the movie’s on-screen old ladies (Leachman, Tomlin and White) are perfect choices for their characters. Cyrus’ Ponyo is often a high-pitched yell which might be an instant turn off to older ears.

As with all Miyazaki’s movies, the soundtrack (like the visuals) is a wonderful blend of subtlety and swelling excitement.

The high definition of the Blu-ray makes the disparity in the film’s artistic styles obvious, occasionally making the lined edges and solid coloring of the main characters a bit too bright against the lush and intricately detailed backgrounds. It gives it a slightly older-than-it-really-is feel but this is a hand-drawn animated feature and not an uber-computer shaded creation. It’s rarely an issue in terms of overall film enjoyment and may even lend itself well to Miyazaki’s tendency to create a purposefully mixed-up era on screen.

After watching the extra features - which primarily consist of interviews with Miayazaki or interviews with Disney execs about him - it’s clear that the most critical audience of this movie is not the target. Instead, he was trying to make a movie for 4-year-olds, featuring slightly older-than-that main characters and more fish than you can find in a 3D release of Finding Nemo. And there he certainly succeeds.

Another success of this release is the interview with Miayazaki. He’s not only offers decent insights into the film but is also rather candid about his own failings as a filmmaker, admitting that most of his movies have taken several years, in some more than a decade, to gather fans and acclaim. These bonus features will help to make this release much more entertaining to older audiences, especially Miayazaki’s US fans.

I’m Turning Japa-Three

This is one of those instances where an adult cannot properly pass judgment. It’s simultaneously cute, weird, strange and magical. It’s not my favorite Miyazaki movie but, then again, it’s not supposed t be.

Ponyo is, at times, a bit scarier and creepier than most Disney movies (maybe Dark Crystal aside) but my 3-year-old certainly didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he asks for the movie by name almost daily.

Your kids may, too, if you give it a chance. (Trust me, it won’t be anywhere as annoying as Barney or the Teletubbies).

ALSO OUT: To coincide with the Blu-ray-DVD release of Ponyo, Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment has also released three other Hayao Miyazaki-Studio Ghibli films as Special Edition DVDs: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky.

Photo Gallery [Ponyo @ Gamertell] Read [Ponyo Movie Review @ Gamertell] Site [Ponyo]

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We have earned quite an affinity with zombies over the last few years. The games industry is constantly coming up with more ways for us to cut down zombies like never before. Instead of shooting them in the head, we can connect two chainsaws to a paddle a la Dead Rising 2, or send the garden after them like in Plants vs. Zombies. What other highly entertaining situations can we turn into a zombie killing fest? How about Zombies vs. Cheerleaders?

Zombies vs. Cheerleaders is a comic book from Moonstone that will be released June 2010. I’m pretty sure the title of the comic wraps up what is to be expected from the series. You take a horde of the undead, mix in some curvy young girls in titillating cheerleader outfits, throw in an assortment of weapons and watch the fun begin.

It seems to me this idea is ripe for a videogame adaptation. We already witnessed the horror which was Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Squad so I think a second try is in order. Maybe the cheerleaders can take what is usually associated with cheerleading and make it violent. Take pom poms with hidden blades for example in the following scenario.

A seemingly fragile cheerleader is sobbing in a corner while an overconfident zombie drags his way over to her. Right when he thinks he’s got a free lunch, she stabs him right between the eyes. Insert a corny one-liner from the cheerleader, and you’ve got an opening cutscene.

Since cheerleading is a team effort, why not provide some group attacks? All the cheerleaders can form a circle, do an anti-zombie cheer and unleash a flurry of gun fire and melee attacks while still in unison.

There has to be someone out there willing to take a chance with this idea. When they do, I will be there with cash in hand.

Read [ICv2] Also Read [Comic Monsters]

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Title: Plants vs. Zombies
Price: $2.99
System(s): iPhone, iPod Touch
Release Date: February 15, 2010
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for Animated Blood and Cartoon Violence
Pros: Excellent port of PC original, catchy soundtrack, over 50 stages, lots of room for strategic creativity, tons of plant and zombie types, affordable for anyone.
Cons: Puzzle modes found in PC version have been cut due probably due to space limitations.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, * * * * 1/2 out of 5

Plants vs. Zombies was a great success when it was released on PC back in 2009. It joined the vast number of highly addictive yet surprisingly simple titles developed by PopCap Games. PvZ has made its way from the computer screen to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices for $2.99. It retains everything that made the original great and needs to be a part of anyone’s mobile game collection.

Ready, Set, Plant!

PvZ is a tower defense game unlike any other before it. Its premise involves protecting your house (and your brains) from a zombie horde. The only thing standing between your house and the zombies are various plants that are ready to lay down their lives for you. The arsenal of plants you have are range from peashooters, watermelon launchers, cherry bombs and wall-nuts. Each plant is effective against all zombie types but bringing the right type of plants into battle will make things much easier.

Know Your Enemy

You’ll fight zombies that are as unique as the plants themselves. You’ll start by fighting the basic Garden - Variety Zombie and move on to more complex types such as the Dancing Zombie, Football Zombie and the Zomboni. They move from right to left across a grid that is five squares long and nine squares wide. Your plants must fight off increasingly difficult waves of zombies in a single level in order to earn more plant types and money to expand the game.

Seeds of Victory

The gameplay is very straightforward. Sunlight is the currency you use to create plants. You earn sunlight by planting sunflowers and grabbing sun that fall from the sky. You then use that currency to choose what plants you want to use. Selecting a plant and placing it is easily done by tapping on the plant’s icon on the left side of the screen, and touching the space where you want it. Multi-touch controls are not necessary to maximize your effectiveness in PvZ.

The coverage most of us have seen in PvZ leads most to believe the levels only take place on the lawn but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There are some levels that take place at night which bring in totally new plant types and strategies. Plants you would use in daylight can’t be used at night until later in the game. There’s even some rooftop stages where you have to take into account the angle of your attacks. Mini games such as Wall-nut Bowling and Wack-a-Zombie modes help to break up the standard gameplay. Sadly some modes did not make the move to the iPhone/iPod Touch version. A take on Bejeweled PvZ style and a mode that let’s you play as the zombies aren’t present.

Blooming With Fun

Purchasing PvZ is really a no-brainer (no pun intended). It contains all the levels from the original and automatically saves whenever you exit to the main menu. There’s no need to worry about loss of quality here because PvZ on iPhone/iPod Touch looks and plays just like the PC version.

Purchase [App Store]

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It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Rebellion, the developer charged with bringing Aliens vs. Predator to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, is responsible for two of the worst games in recent memory. Shellshock 2: Blood Trails and Rogue Warrior aren’t just bad games, they are true Hall of Shame contenders. If one were teaching a class in how to make an embarrassing game, these two disasters would be worthy textbooks.

In an interview with Xbox 360 Magazine, Rebellion Lead Designer Alex Moore addressed the elephant (or Alien queen, as it were) in the room. Despite a checkered past, Moore believes Rebellion will prove itself here.

“I thought this question would come up and I suppose it’s something you’ve got to ask. I would hope that people can see that Rebellion’s roots are in AvP. We’ve put an awful lot of time and effort and investment into AvP. Just the devotion to it and the fact that… I’ve got to be so careful what I say. I would hope that people can see that Rebellion’s roots are in AvP.”

Gamers know bad games sometimes happen. We know that often games are dropped in developers’ laps with ridiculous deadlines and horrible games get out the door as a result. Rebellion’s history as the developer of the fondly remembered 1999 PC title is giving a lot of us hope past mistakes are just that, in the past.

Major problems in the demo that went live last week have done little to reassure gamers that Rebellion is going to deliver the much anticipated goods here. Matchmaking took forever for many players and was a mixed bag when it did start. Rebellion later released a new demo, but there is no patch for bad PR.

It hasn’t helped Rebellion that early reviews have been all over the place. Game Informer hit Aliens vs. Predator with a 5.75 out of 10, while UK Official Xbox Magazine gave it an 8 out of 10. Even in that largely favorable review, OXM said the Alien and Predator campaigns weren’t as good as the Colonial Marine campaign. OXM also noted the graphics, admitting AvP “isn’t the prettiest game.” Dated graphics have been a complaint in most of the negative reviews.

On the other hand, with these two huge licenses in tow this game may not even need to be that good to sell millions of copies. Campaign missions are important and shouldn’t be phoned in by a developer but multiplayer is what will sell this game to the masses.

Here’s hoping this game proves largely enjoyable to an extremely dedicated fanbase. After the recent movies, fans of Aliens and Predator don’t need much more disappointment in their lives.

This much debated game releases February 16, 2010, on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Read [Gamertell] Also Read [CVG]

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

Title(s): The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum (aka The Bourne Trilogy, The Bourne Singles)
Release Date: January 19, 2010
Format: Blu-ray-DVD (flipper disc)
Company: Universal Home Entertainment
Rating: PG-13
Length: Respectively: 1 hour,  59 minutes (119 minutes) ; 1 hour,  49 minutes (109 minutes);  1 hour,  56 minutes (116 minutes).
Pros: Released on flippers discs, excellent transfers and plenty of extras. A lot of decent action, not too bloody and excellent acting.
Cons: Blu-ray internet extras are a bit lacking 9as with most Blu-ray movies). The second movie is the weakest of the three.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 83/100; B; * * * out of five.

The most recent release of the three Bourne movies - The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum - marks Universal Home Entertainment’s foray into the wonderful world of the flipper disc. These two-in-one, Blu-ray-DVD combo discs mean you can get the movie and enjoy it now, even if you don’t yet have a PS3 or Blu-ray player (assuming, of course, you have abandoned VHS and embraced DVDs).

Here’s what that means for you.

Bourne Again

First, a big fat, super fast recap that puts all three movies into a tiny nutshell.

In this spy-assassin action series, a guy (Matt Damon) wakes up, isn’t sure who or what he is and find himself running from the government he discovers he’s serving. He eventually figures out that his “name” is Jason Bourne and there are several chase scenes, misdirections, wordless fights with household items used as weapons and a few cool spy tricks.

There are enemies who become friends (or non-enemies), a love interest, lots of stern facial expressions and, with a few suspense-ending exceptions, rarely a giggle. Super spy is chased, gets framed, exposes the chasees and then is simultaneously being chased while chasing the chasers.

The series is packed with suspense but, surprisingly (and to help keep it PG-13) not blood and the audience, as well as Bourne, get a trickle of insight into who and what he really is until the end of the third movie. Secret government projects are covered up and old white dudes act all stern about it.

Each of the films has a slightly unique look and pace, with the fist (Identity) having the welcome-to-our-story advantage. The middle movie (Supremacy) has the most awkward and slowly paced of the three yet still proves a worthy middle movie offering Bourne some of the more exciting personal revelations. The third (Ultimatum) literally brings the action home and puts everything nicely to rest.

There is plenty of decent acting (Julia Stiles’ acting actually improves with each film), a lot of jittery action scenes and many grumpy old white guys. You can certainly see where 24 gets a lot of stylistic inspiration, although these films deal with a man simply trying to find himself while being chased instead of preventing a ginormous disaster.

Shiny Round Objects

Being a flipper you obviously have the option of standard def DVD one one side or high def Blu-ray on the other.

Each of the film shows well in high definition, with Ultimatum often being the most frenetic in terms of action sequences and disparate in terms of settings. Some of the first two film’s distant shots seem a little blurred but that may be more a matter of original film stock than transfers. On DVD, you’re getting essentially the same video as previous releases so don’t expect much improvement there.

If you are an extra junkie then the Blu-ray releases of these movies will prove exciting.  Each comes with a picture-in-picture option (overlay commentaries, alternate shots and other goodness over the movie), a Bourne Card Strategy Game, miscellaneous files and deleted scenes.

Each movie, for both the Blu-ray and DVD versions includes movie-specific featurettes (some avaialble on earlier DVD releases). The first two movies include background bios whereas the third primarily offers featurettes based on the make hard-to-shoot action scenes.

BD-Live interactivity is also included with each movie, which allows you and a friend, who must also own the movie, to watch the movie together or select scenes and record your own comments. This is a feature that the film industry seems excited about enough to include it on most Blu-ray releases but doesn’t always result in the most - or best - community videos. You might want to browse though to see if any have been added and the silliness people have to utter but expect cruddy delays and a distinct lack of insight (aside from company sponsored celebrity mini-features).

ReBourne Again?

This release makes it clear that the higher the def, the more exciting the action, the more tense the tension and the grittier the grit. If you don’t already own a home video release from this series, go for a Blu-flipper. Invest for the sake of having it in two formats. Otherwise, don’t expect too much more than you’ve already seen on previous releases.

Site [NBC Universal Store]

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Product: B.O.S.S. (aka BOSS; Big Oversized Super Shell)
Price: $9.99
Rating:  Two thumbs up; 90; A-; * * * * out of five.
Pros: Improves overall fell of the WiiMote, makes it easier to hold and larger button sizes. In some instances also improved perceived button sensitivity. A decent price.
Cons: Covers the attachment port and is intended to be used only in the horizontal position.
Overall: A bargain buy for any Wii owner, especially those who play a lot of platformers.

This is one of those instances where the name has it spot-on. The BOSS is, indeed, a big oversized super shell. And in a good way.

Livin’ Large

Developed by PDP (Performance Designed Products LLC), the BOSS is basically a colorful, plastic shell that fits over a standard WiiMote.

At its widest the shell adds 1 1/2 in. to the width, 3/4 in. to the height (when holding the WiiMote with the Power button at the top) and approximately 1/4 in. to the thickness. The WiiMote snaps into the shell and is held in place by three plastic tabs, one oval shaped and two that lock into the WiiMote’s base. The WiiMote is removed by pulling a spring-loaded section of the back, which pulls out the two mini plastic tabs.

There is a slot to expose the WiiMote’s status lights, speaker holes that line up with the mini speaker and a translucent plastic for the remote singal to pass through. The bottom of the WiiMote, including the B trigger button and battery access, is exposed.

The text on the face of the BOSS indicates it is meant to be held with two hands, with the longest dimension from hand-to-hand, much like the Classic Wii controller and older console controllers.

On the face are larger-than-WiiMote buttons that also slightly rearrange the configuration to an older style controller scheme, putting the 1 and 2 buttons at a 45-degree angle from each other instead of on the same horizontal line. All other buttons and the + control pad are in te same locations, accessed by larger-than-the-WiiMote’s buttons.

More Than a Handful

It’s rare that give comment concerning other reviews in my own but I’ll make a rare exception here to say this: They are all (well, almost all) wrong. In nearly every review they refer to the BOSS as making the WiiMote too large to handle, even for adult-sized hands.

Not true.

I found the BOSS to make the WiiMote much more comfortable to hold, especially for long-term gaming, when being used in the intended orientation. Yes, if you try to play holding it like a TV remote control for along period of time your hand may begin to cramp due to the extra girth but, even then, the contours of the BOSS make it easier to grab.

The rounded edges fit perfectly into your palms, placing the +-shaped control pad and the 1 and 2 buttons at just the right width away from the edge. The design obviously takes advantage of the years of ergonomic hit-and-miss from the now classic style controllers whereas the WiiMote still feels a but cramped in my hands with buttons placed way close to each other, causing many miss-presses during active gaming.

As for younger gamers, my 3-year-old always wants to use the BOSS when playing the Wii. I’m sure the bright red design make it a bit more attractive than the sterile while, naked WiiMote but, even then, he has hardly an issue holding on, pressing buttons and controlling on-screen avatars or targeting reticules.

Controls worked as normal, with hardly any extra effort being required to press the buttons, with the larger 1 and 2 buttons and upward curved + pad improving sensitivity. I especially appreciate that the + and - middle buttons are more recessed in this design than on the face of the WiiMote. This worked wonderfully with platformers including New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

The only downfall might be that the peripheral port at the base is covered by the BOSS, meaning you won’t be able to use the Nunchuck, Wii MotionPlus or Classic Controller attachments.

The BOSS of You

This relatively inexpensive and colorful shell adds life and comfort to the rather bland WiiMote.

The design is certainly intended for horizontal use and, despite other reviews, ultimately proves neither too large nor to bulky. Curves and light weight keep this an ergonomic delight to use.

If comparing it to the Wii Classic Controller, keep in mind that this remains wireless and the Classic Controller still requires it to be tethered to the WiiMote and it is about half the price.

Photo Gallery [Big Oversized Super Shell @ Gamertell] Site [PDP]

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

I used to go to Macworld Expos in New York City and there used to be games there. Plenty of games. Aspyr, Freeverse, Ambrosia, MacSoft, MacPlay and more. There were gaming pavilions with competitions and prizes. Displays with forthcoming games. MacPlay pitched a tent and donned fatigues to promote their latest first-person shooter and MacSoft drove me around Manhattan in a limousine.

I won’t tell you that times have changed because a) I’m at the age now where if I say that, it’s no longer ironic, and b) you know that they have.

There’s no Apple at Macworld this year and that means a smaller Macworld. Truth be known, though, the halcyon days (and yes, there were a few months scattered about where things really did look very good) of Mac gaming were done well before Apple tried to kill the Expo.

MacSoft and MacPlay are gone.

Aspyr is around but they focus largely on PC and console titles.

Freeverse and Ambrosia remain but Freeverse concentrates fully on the iPhone apps and Ambrosia’s production has mostly dwindled to the occasional utility. Neither company is at Macworld Expo this year.

So, where does that leave us? It leaves me in San Francisco wandering isles in search of the unmistakable sounds of gaming goodness. I’m not a man without hope. I know that as long as there are keys to be punched and a mouse to be clicked, someone, somewhere will be making games for the Macintosh. It may not be as viable as the PC (and come on, it never really was, right?) but it’s there.

Evidence:

1. GameSalad - Gendai Games, the makers of GameSalad, an authoring tool created to support amateur and professional game development, has enlisted judges from the Mac and gaming communities to select five finalists for the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge. For the past five weeks, participants have submitted their GameSalad-created games in the GameSalad Challenge. The winners will be announced today, and I’ll be there.
2. Telltale Games - Last month, the good folks at Gamertell got word that Telltale Games would soon be releasing its entire lineup of games for the Macintosh. We haven’t heard much about this rumor since, but our inside source has pointed out that Telltale is now officially listed as an exhibitor at Macworld Expo 2010. They’ll be unveiling their plans today and Appletell will be there for the announcement.
3. Alawar - This company has put out some stellar games on the iPhone, including The Treasures of Montezuma 2, Hotel Mogul, and Farm Frenzy 2. Although they don’t have a booth at Macworld Expo 2010, they are having a press conference Thursday morning to announce their 2010 iPhone lineup and, more importantly, their foray into Mac gaming. Likely, these are going to be Mac versions of their iPhone titles, but games are games, and Alowar knows how to put out a solid product.

Now listen: I know none of this God of War 3, Fallout 3 or The Sims 3. I know PC gamers can look at this article (although, seriously, what the hell are you guys reading this article for?) and just laugh their smug little selves all the way to GameStop. Mac gamers aren’t stupid and we know our place in the gaming industry.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had out there. Games both casual and hardcore still stock the shelves at the Apple Stores and such. Big name publishing houses still occasionally throw us a bone, and we’ve still got companies like Feral Interactive fighting the good fight (they’re brining us Rome Total War quite soon…go ahead and laugh, PC gamers), and that’s why I’m here on Gamertell.

Every couple of weeks or so, or when a special announcement calls for it, I’ll use this column to highlight the gems—be they current, old or forthcoming—in Mac gaming. Expect a Macworld roundup soon, and then the adventure begins (I just have to come up with a clever title). If you want to join me, there’s room in the party.

I mean, what else have you got to do, play games?

Editor’s Note: Kirk Hiner is the Editor-In-Chief of Appletell and a frequent contributor to Gamertell.

Site [Appletell @ MacWorld 2010]

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Title: The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Price: $29.99
System: Wii
Release Date: January 12, 2010
Publisher (Developer): Xseed Games (Project Aces)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for mild language and violence.
Pros: Decent graphics and audio effects, intense (and often unique) combat, customizable controls and cool airplane designs.
Cons: Premise is unbelievable, story mode is short and default controls could be more responsive.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 86/100; B; ***1/2 out of 5

Imagine a world without war. Now, imagine the people of that world so used to war and the corporations so reliant on wartime profits, that wars are staged simply as spectacle to keep the cash revenue flowing. Can’t imagine that? That’s because it’s ridiculous. I mean, sure, any way to make money would be embraced by shareholders but would citizens be willing to accept their family members dying for no reason or their churches all the time getting smashed into by downed planes? If that’s the case, then someone needs to stop this merry-go-round, because I would like to get off.

Regardless, that’s the premise of The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, a flight combat sim from the Project Aces team. It’s based on a series of novels by Hiroshi Mori and an animated film by the acclaimed Mamoru Oshii (of Ghost in the Shell fame). I’ve never read or seen these, so I’m willing to concede that they likely do a better job of setting up the premise than this game did. Still, the story is presented well in quality anime cut-scenes and copious in-battle chatter, and you’re not buying this game for the story, anyway. You’re buying it for the dogfighting action; and up there, Sky Crawlers is absolutely thrilling (as evidenced by the reaction of Maumi Orishina, below).

Kildren, Live On Tour

You play the game as the never heard and never seen but often referred to Lynx. After a couple basic missions that basically serve as training, the “kildren” arrive (no, not a death metal band but young, ageless pilots who are genetically created to fight in this corporate manufactured war), and then the action really kicks in.

The battles are the typical of mix of aerial and ground objectives. Each is presented up front in very cool mission briefings that allow you to survey the battle map at will. You can also select your plane and deck it out as necessary, provided you’ve earned the proper upgrades from your previous missions. Certain planes and weapons are better for certain objectives, but if you’re like me, you’ll find one plane that suits you best and generally stick with it.

The game never bothers with the nonsense of taking off and landing; you begin in the air, and you end in the air, solidifying the pitch-perfect mix of flight sim and arcade aerial combat. A lot of the story and character development is actually revealed through dialogue while fighting battles, and you’ll often hear the warnings and cries for help from your comrades even when there’s nothing you can do about it. As a result, the combat feels quite real and personal.

Promoting Their New Album: Immelmann Turn

As expected, there are multiple methods of control (supporting the WiiMote-Nunchuck combo, a Classic Controller and a GameCube controller). There’s also room for customization, and that may be necessary as the default controls take some getting used to. You hold the WiiMote in your left hand, using it as the throttle. You tilt the Nunchuck in your right to turn the plane and use its buttons to fire. This never felt natural to me. The Nunchuck was quite unresponsive at times, and never allowed for very sharp banks even when it was working as it should. Bump up to the Expert control set and you can compensate for this once you’ve learned them.

Thankfully, you don’t need mad skillz to to survive the wild dogfights. This is because the difficulty isn’t that great on the lower skill levels, and because of unique control features that don’t require you to be a master of the Immelmann turn.

First, various defensive maneuvers are assigned to the Nunchuck control stick. If someone is on your tail, simply select the maneuver you want with the stick, and hit A. Your plane automatically pulls a stunt it can’t do under your own control, and the threat is usually gone.

Likewise, if you’re chasing down an enemy plane, a circle will appear on your targeting display. Keep the enemy in this circle, and your TMC Gauge will start to fill up. If you hit the A button while this gauge is filled past Level 1, your plane will automatically position itself for a better shot. The higher the TMC Gauge when you execute the move, the better positioned it’ll be. This adds a unique and wildly entertaining component to dogfighting, and eases the learning curve for those having trouble getting proper position on the enemy.

It’s Death Metal for the Emo Crowd

War games need to be big and dramatic to be successful and Sky Crawlers delivers there. Although the ground detail is a bit sparse and disjointed between important landmarks and general structures, it’s always pretty (in fact, one of the characters won’t shut up about how pretty it is). The aerial combat is well done graphically and aurally, with dramatic explosions, sound effects and combat animations.

The music is great, too, although without the usual bravado of military games. That’s likely done on purpose, though, as the whole presentation has a softer, more “innocent” feel than your typical macho war game. That’s kind of the point, after all.

Sky Crawlers has no multiplayer option, which is unfortunate, although a second player can join in to man your plane’s secondary weapons. It’s a fun way to get others involved for a little bit, but ultimately not terribly satisfying for them. After the battles, you can watch a video replay and save it if it’s exceptionally good, but I found these to be a mess of odd cuts and weird camera angles. I can’t imagine they’re all that entertaining, anyway. A quick, precompiled highlight reel would be better.

Available Now at Finer Game Retailers

All of this comes together to make an odd little anti-war wargame that also happens to be the best air combat sim currently on the Wii. It has its troubles, none of which should deter you if you’ve been pining for quality dogfighting action since finishing Blazing Angels. There’s not much reason to keep playing it once you’ve completed all the missions, but at only $30, it’s fairly priced.

The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces won’t take over your gaming world but it’s a title you’ll have plenty of fun going back to when you need a break from whatever else you’re playing.

Site [The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces]

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

Title: Tom Clancy’s Hawx
Author: David Michaels
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Release Date: January 2010
Price: $9.99
Pros: Interesting story with realistic supporting characters that is supported by the same intrigue as other Tom Clancy licenses.
Cons: Follows one character and it’s the most irritating, least interesting and least developed character.
Rating: One thumb up and one thumb down, 75/100, C, * * 1/2.
Overall: It’s a good story ruined by a main character who alternates between irritating and uninteresting.

Tom Clancy tends to put his name to solid gold military and spy fiction. So the question is whether or not the novel Hawx stands up to the fine traditions that both Tom Clancy and David Michaels have set down. Let’s see where it goes right and horribly wrong.

The System Works

The good thing is that the story is intriguing. You’re witness to a lot of different things and some of the emotional content is believable, especially the strain that going to war can have on different relationships. The relationships that are played up and strained the most are those of the family as well as the boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. There’s also a similar level of intrigue to pretty much everything that Tom Clancy has either written, licensed or will license.

Many of the supporting characters are also realistic, non-“cookie cutter” character archetypes. There is a certain urgency that makes it engaging, which makes you want to read. The story is a bit formulaic so you can tell when there is something big is about to happen, especially if you’ve read any novels by Tom Clancy, rather than novels based on licenses that Tom Clancy put his name to.

The formulaic predictability of the story isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just means that there’s an aura of familiarity to help the reader cope with to Michael’s style if they haven’t read any of the other Tom Clancy license-based novels. The story itself works, if you can get around the main character and focus on the story.

Engines Failing

One of the hardest things to do with writing is making a good, meaning believable and tolerable, set of characters to pull you into the story. If you can tolerate the characters and believe them, you start to care about what happens in the story. The supporting characters are very well done and you start to, at the very least, believe them right from the start. You might even like them right from the start.

The problem happens with the main character. He’s the focus of the story and he’s one of the least likable, least believable characters to put up with in this genre. That being said, the story is hurt pretty badly since you’re primarily following him. Troy Leonsch is one of your stereotypically obnoxious, arrogant, self-absorbed, showboating jock types. Note, this is not putting athletes down but is referring to the stereotype about athletes since that is what the character is. He’s nothing more than a stereotype and occasionally even the writer has to punish the character a lot for having been written into a stereotype. There are occasionally times where the character starts to act human and then he just becomes irritatingly stupid and, at best, two dimensional. Even at his best times, he’s not that interesting. So you either end up hating Troy or just being bored by him.

If the story had the same shifting perspective as Splinter Cell Endgame or Tom Clancy’s Endwar the story would’ve been a stronger piece of work. Either way, with the emotional aspect, there’s usually multiple sides to the story and it would’ve been a good idea to show those perspectives outside essentially having someone say that either Troy’s being an idiot, an obnoxious jerk or that they have a thing for them. Shifting perspective would’ve been a venue for showing each of the supporting character’s thoughts on Troy. Either way, a lot of the side characters are better developed than Troy. So it’s still a wonder on why he is the one we have to follow.

Shot Down

Despite the quality of the story and storytelling itself, it didn’t work quite as well as expected. It’s pretty well-written but character flaws and focus choices make the product unravel bit by bit. The emotional content works really well but the focal character’s reaction and oblivious nature toward the emotion content doesn’t. Due to the focus and main character problems, the book is very average though the overarching story is a good one.

It’s hard to justify buying this book. Either look for it in a library to test the waters for yourself or, if you can’t live without things with Tom Clancy’s name on it, try to find it in some used book store like Half Price Books or try to find it as an e-book, since most them tend to be considerably cheaper than the hard copy.

Purchase [Borders] Site [HAWX (video game)]

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• Extreme Dish Washing: It's a hard enough job getting out those tough grease stains, imagine having to do it while on stilts. With zombies attacking. With zombies attacking you on stilts!


• Extreme Chutes and Ladders
  Think about it: Ladders that are made of poisonous thorn bushes or even barbed wire and slides that twist and turn all over the place and maybe even break at certain points. That might sound cool but it is still a game where you roll the dice and move around on a game board and get stuck playing with 4-year-olds all day. Cute but, sorry, no.


• Hello Kitty Extreme
  Kitty and her friends are going on an all-out shopping-parting-and-being-ridiculously-cute spree in a whole new way. An EXTREME way!


• Extreme Accounting
  Do you have what it takes to file all your clients taxes before tax day, which is in two days, while also fighting off a hungry pack of wild wolverines? Avoiding an audit has never been so, wait for it, extreme!


• Extreme Animal Crossing
  Talking to animals and decorating your house with lots of cool junk will never be the same after you have done it to the extreme.


• Extreme Any-Movie-Based-Game-Name-Here
  Lets face it, most movie games are terrible to begin with, so making “Extreme Waterworld: The Game” would most certainly not be an improvement. What, more water? Not possible. What more can you reconstitute and consume than... oh, wait. That's just gross.


• Extreme Shopping Challenge
  Everyone likes games that are based on shopping but what if you had to push your shopping cart up tall mountains while avoiding bears, mountain lions and the occasional low flying plane? All while on a budget?! Oh, and you also have one of those annoying carts with the shaky, squeaky wheel that never goes in the direction you want it to. Now that's extreme.


• Extreme Paint Drying
  101 ways to help facilitate optimum air circulation and make certain it sets to the precise hue. Ooh, funsies. As if to prove the game's potential, and for added excitement, here's a YouTube video someone else made of paint drying.

• Extreme Tic-Tac-Toe
  Never will you block an X with an O in such an extreme way! Live grenades anyone?


• Extreme Mega Awesome Super Challenge
  I have no idea what you do in this game but you can be sure it will be extreme-lier than any other game out there or ever made. Until the sequel, of course. It'll probably be from Japan and has the potential to be the most fun game in this list.


• Extreme Sleeping
  On a cliff or when zombies attack, lie right down and take a cat nap. Wake up at just the right moment for maximum pointage (otherwise you might sleep through all the excitement).


• Extreme Crocheting
  As if crocheting wasn't extreme enough with those oversized, dull-pointed hooks! Your goal is to crochet as many sweaters as you can before you run out of time, or before all your friends stop talking to you.


• Extreme Shuffleboard
  Nothing gets me more revved up then pushing a puck towards a target with a giant stick. Imagine doing it to the extreme! You can’t either, right? That's because no one can.


• Extreme Mini-Golf
  Seriously, what could be “extreme” about mini-golf? Perhaps if you had to land a hole while standing on the back of a moving jet plane, while aiming for the hole that is on the back of another jet plane! Hmm, waitaminute...


• Extreme Dentistry
  Novocain schmovacane! Dentist's motto: "We drill while skydiving."


• Extreme Extreme Sports
  Why only go to one extreme to make sports awesome and challenging? It’s time to kick it up a notch and take extreme sports to the extreme, in an extremely extreme way! Be careful though, your head may explode do to terminal extreme-ocity.

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

Title: Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Price: $29.99
System: DS
Release Date: November 25, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Aspyr Media, LLC (Big Blue Bubble, Inc.)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for alcohol reference, blood and violence.
Pros: Classic dungeon crawling feel, fluid movement and animation, fun and rewarding exploration and plenty of spells and weapons to master.
Cons: Overly complex controls, extremely difficult enemies, lackluster/slow character upgrades and minimal story.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down; 75/100; C; **1/2 out of 5

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain may be the greatest videogame title of all time, right? Doesn’t it just sound kick-ass? You’ve got fighting, you’ve got fantasy, you’ve got warlocks and you’ve got mountains with fire on top of them, apparently. What else do you need… other than a skeleton? If this game were called Fighting Fantasy: The Skeleton Warlock of Firetop Mountain, it would’ve ruptured my geek gland.

Obviously, with a title like this, the developers are aiming at the hardcore crowd. This therefore isn’t your typical DS game and probably shouldn’t even be on this system. It’s better suited for the PC or PSP (a version for which was canceled) gaming audience. But here it is on the DS, so fans of hardcore dungeon crawlers can celebrate, provided they’re willing to put up with some problems.

Fighting Fantasy: The Story of Firetop Mountain

You don’t go digging deep into a mountain for story, do you? No. You go looking for treasure and for adventure. That’s pretty much all you’ve got here, despite the fact that it’s based on the Fighting Fantasy books created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone back in ‘80s. I’ve never read those books, so I can’t comment on how faithful this game is. If the point of the books was to lure you in early and then suddenly make them extremely difficult to read, however, then yes, this game is faithful.

You start the game off dorking around in a town called Stonebridge. This area pretty much plays out as a tutorial, teaching you the controls, combat system, inventory management and the like. As with most RPGs, you’ve got plenty to manage: attributes, abilities, weapons and such. Serious RPG fans will love the multitude of spells and weapons at your disposal, but likely be put off by how slowly your character levels up. Growth in this game is painstaking, and that’ll quickly come to haunt you.

Fighting Fantasy: The Gameplay of Firetop Mountain

You’ll also be haunted by the controls. It seems the developers couldn’t determine whether they wanted to go with a button- or stylus-based system of movement, so they went with both. You move with the D-pad and use the XYAB buttons to control the direction you’re looking. L and R are for attacking. Okay enough but you need to use the stylus to access your inventory and switch weapons, meaning you’re holding the stylus all the while. It’s not comfortable and it makes combat even more difficult than it is naturally.

And trust me, the combat is extremely difficult. The enemies get very tough very quickly and you don’t level up fast enough to take them on. As a result, your method of survival will mostly be to run past the enemy and just get out of the room. Considering the fact that enemies re-spawn, sticking around to try to kill them is a waste of time and energy. Pick your battles so you can level up, but don’t try to kill everyone; you’ll just abandon the game in frustration. And yes, many gamers will bail on this early.

One bit of advice on that; when you’re setting up your character, make sure your skills focus on ranged combat. Use spells, because your enemies will be using them on you; getting in close is extremely difficult. Also, a good deal of your treasure findings needs to be spent on health. You’ll be healing yourself a lot.

Thankfully, you will occasionally get a break from combat through lock-picking puzzles you’ll need to complete in order to open treasure chests. I like the idea of this, as it brings another element to the game and makes the thought of stealing treasure seem more devious, since you’re not just bashing open a chest.

Fighting Fantasy: The Graphics of Firetop Mountain

Although Firetop Mountain may be tremendously difficult to work through, it’s at least visually appealing in an odd sort of way. The environments are well-rendered in 3D at 60 fps, with nary a hiccup along the way. The enemies are only 2D sprites with stiff animation but I found that gave the game a disjointed quality that added to the overall creepiness of the surroundings.

So does the lack of a soundtrack. For the most part, the only thing to be heard as you progress are the sounds of your footsteps, which hammers home the thought that you’re alone against a mountain of enemies, quite literally. There are moments where the audio emptiness made the game feel incomplete, but for the most part, I didn’t mind the silent isolation.

Fighting Fantasy: The Summary of Firetop Mountain

Although the difficulty is likely to turn away all but the most gluttonous of dungeon crawlers, the game will reward those who stick around. If your notion of exploring dungeons is based on the Legend of Zelda, don’t even consider entering Firetop Mountain. Try the iPhone version instead.

The DS version, as I’ve pointed out, is a heavy, complex, extremely difficult game made specifically for those who want to feel they’ve earned the treasure that has claimed the lives of so many adventurers before them. The 10 hours or so of gameplay will easily double with the number of restarts required to get through it but you can do it, right? You’re a warrior. And the treasures that lie deep within the mountain won’t be nearly half as rewarding as the fact that you even made it through there.

Site [Fighting Fantasy]

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Title: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Price: $49.99
System: Wii
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Ubisoft Entertainment (Ubisoft Entertainment)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for mild language, mild suggestive themes and violence.
Pros: Pretty like the movie, varied gameplay, you can’t fall off ledges.
Cons: Horrible camera kills the multiplayer option, has little to do with the movie, linear level design grows tiresome.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways; 74/100; C; ** out of 5

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game is unique among movie tie-ins in that, rather than basing it on the movie, it appears to be based on the trailer. Or maybe just the one sheet or concept drawings. I don’t know but if you buy this expecting to play through the rather thrilling adventure that is Avatar, prepare to be disappointed.

I See Me Through Your Eyes

Since everyone on the planet has seen Avatar (the movie) at least three times, I won’t bother setting this up to much. Your premise here is the same as with the movie: Humans = greedy and bad; Aliens = blue and good.

Fair enough, because it’s likely true. If there are alien races out there who are more selfish and driven by profit than we Earthlings are, then it’s probably best we just cease all space exploration this very instant.

In this game, the humans are contenting themselves with stealing totems and artifacts and capturing the occasional banshee. This angers the native Na’vi, so a few of them take it upon themselves to reclaim their tschotckes, even if they have to kill a bunch of humans to get it (and they will).

Most of the levels take place on the planet floor and high in the trees, although you’ll also do some banshee flying.

Breathing New Life, Flying High

The bulk of the action in Avatar involves hitting security guards with your staff, although you can also attack from a distance with your bow. There’s a minimal amount of leveling up you can do to each weapon to make yourself more proficient with them, and you’ll need to, because the ability to use stealth attacks (ala Tenchu: Shadow Assassins) quickly passes to the need to just run around and smack people, and that’s somewhat unfortunate.

Thankfully, none of the ground levels require you to properly time jumps or balance yourself on tree limbs. This is all automatically handled. You can’t step over cliffs or slip to the forest floor, so you get to focus on the enemies and how to best take care of them. Aside from letting you enjoy the game, this also makes sense within the story since the Na’vi know how to move quickly and quietly through the forests. It wouldn’t make sense if your warrior character couldn’t.

Then, there are the banshee levels in which you fly along a predetermined path with some slight movement along the way. These basically require you to avoid the fire of enemy gunships by tilting the Nunchuck attachment while aiming your own projectiles with the WiiMote. Unlike in the movie, your arrows can damage armor but most of the damage will be done during chained button events. Hit the wrong button? Don’t worry, the event will repeat itself until you get it right. Or die.

If you own the Wii MotionPlus and/or the Wii Balance Board, you do get to use them during the game. The The Wii MotionPlus controls the hellfire wasp, which allows you to cause damage to the enemy from a distance without risking the health of your character (although there are numerous plants scattered about to replenish your health). The wasps are kind of cool, so use ‘em if you got ‘em. The Wii Balance Board can be used to control the banshee, but this is just awkward and pointless. Don’t bother turning it on for this game.

Your Love Shines the Way Into Paradise

The best aspect of Avatar is how lushly defined this world is. The graphics are brightly colored, richly textured, and quite attractively designed. The world is fun to explore, even if you don’t really get to explore it. And although there are some frame rate issues when the action gets intense, they never hurt the game so much that you wish Ubisoft would’ve sacrificed some of the visual appeal for smoother action.

What does hurt the game is the camera, which is frustrating to handle on single player mode and downright unusable when playing with a partner. I can’t begin to count the number of times the camera fixed itself in front of Rai’uk, not allowing me to see where I was going. When playing with a partner, it would end up behind some vegetation and just sit there as we were being attacked. It was so annoying that it at one point drove my six-year-old daughter to tears. How about that, Ubisoft? You made my daughter cry. I think you owe her an apology.

So I Offer My Life As a Sacrifice

James Cameron’s Avatar The Game isn’t bad for a movie tine-in, it just doesn’t really serve a purpose. As a chapter outside of the film, it doesn’t need to exist. The story is not compelling and it won’t make you feel bad for these particular Na’vi. Pandora is pretty to look at but it’s so linear throughout that you’ll feel more like you’re exploring a cave than a huge jungle.

The fighting is decent but is hampered by a poor camera, especially in two-player mode, where it’s almost unplayable. The game never gets boring, however, thanks to decent pacing and the frequent changes in gameplay style.

If James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game were a movie, I wouldn’t recommend you pay to see it in the theater. If you were to find it on TV, however, it’s a decent way to kill a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Site [James Cameron’s Avatar The Game]

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Dear Nintendo,

I’ve had it.

I’ve had it with the smoke and mirrors, subtle hints and deception.

Just announce the next Legend of Zelda Wii game already!

It’s not that I’m interested in it. I’m still playing my way through The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I’m sick of the teasing, hinting and constant reports on any trivial details related to it.

“Oh, it’ll require MotionPlus but we really shouldn’t detail how it’ll be used yet.”

“It could be out in 2010.”

“Maybe, just maybe, the press will get to play it at E3 2010. For 2 seconds.”

Enough already!

I’m sick of seeing that same damn teaser image from E3 2010. You know the one. The one at the right over there. Link looks normal enough, but that thing with him? That doll/statue/girl officially freaks me out. Especially since she seems to have no arms. And those eyes! Creepy!

For the love of everything holy just give us something substantial to cling to!

A screen shot. Preliminary box art. Hell, a picture of Link mooning Ganon! Just something that isn’t that same ~$#@!  picture.

Oop! Look, here’s that picture again! See? Now you know how it feels, Nintendo.

I know you’re big, powerful and such but that’s no reason to act all high and mighty.

It’s been a year and you haven’t even told us the game’s name yet. At the very least, give us that little inking of respect. Do you know how ridiculous we’ve all sounded for the past year, referring to it as Zelda Wii?

Oh wait. Of course you do. You just don’t care.

Know what I’m starting to think? I’m thinking that there really wasn’t any new Zelda Wii in the works in 2009. Maybe you just decided to start working on one and you decided you wanted to have a little fun with your fans, releasing character art with the promise of a new Wii entry eventually being released. Then you grabbed some popcorn and decided to watch the fan sites and GameFaqs forum for giggles.

Listen, just announce it already. Arrange a nice interview, get together some media and show the world what you’ve prepared. Really, if you do that, and everything looks real nice and pretty, all will be forgiven.

Well, pretty much forgiven. I’m still not too pleased that you’re forcing MotionPlus on Zelda fans. But mostly forgiven.

  Toodles,
  Jenni Lada, Gamertell

P.S. Would this be a bad time to ask about A.S.H: Archaic Sealed Heat and Soma Bringer again? Yes? Okay, nevermind then.

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Title: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
Price: $29.99
System: DS
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Ubisoft Entertainment (Capybara Games)
ESRB Rating: “E 10+” for mild fantasy violence, mild language and mild suggestive themes.
Pros: Original and entertaining strategic battle system, great mix of combat goals, lengthy story mode, quick battles and multiplayer extend game life.
Cons: Dialogue can be quite dorky at times and you don’t know enemy’s level until you accept a battle.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 96/100; A; ****1/2 out of 5

I’m not going to tell you that Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is the best DS game of 2009. I haven’t played enough of its competition to make such a bold statement, but I can tell it is easily my favorite DS game of 2009. How much do I like this? I had one dungeon to go in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks when I played my first game of Clash of Heroes. That was three weeks ago, and I still have one dungeon to go in Spirt Tracks.

I will Be King, You Be Queen

Clash of Heroes is set in the venerable Might & Magic universe. I’ve played a couple of those games on my Mac but this entry is quite a bit different. It’s not your traditional turn-based strategy game but, instead, an odd mix of that, RPG and Bejeweled-style gem matching games. If you’re thinking, “Oh, you mean Puzzle Quest,” then I’ll have to work harder to explain what makes Clash of Heroes so much better.

The story is set in the world of Ashan, where humans and elves generally live in peace. But when a village is attacked and its people slaughtered, the humans and elves turn on each other. The first character you play—an Elven tracker named Anwen—knows that this is a set-up, and battles her way past many foes to prevent war between the humans and elves.

Nothing Will Drive Them Away

After Anwen, you play as heir to the throne Godric, and eventually as the dead Fiona, the bitter Aiden, and the mysterious Nadia. Each character has his/her own battle styles and powers and each moves around a map of the kingdom via a nodal system. Some nodes contain events and battles (inlcuding easily avoided random battles), but most just allow you get from here to there. Plenty of treasure chests and materials can be found along the way, and you’ll need to collect these to buy new elite and champion units.

In fact, let’s move right along to the battle system, as it—far beyond the story—is what carries the game. Your army appears on the bottom screen, facing up. Your enemy is that top, facing down. Fighting on your behalf are usually three core unit types, along with three elite unit types and two champion unit types once you’ve acquired or purchased them. Elite and champion units must be matched up with two or four core units. They take more turns to charge into battle, but usually do more damage.

You’re given a set number of moves with which you can place your units, remove a unit or wall from the playing field, or call in more units (your reserves build up with each turn).

If you line three or more similar units side by side, they disappear to form a wall at the top of the bottom screen to curb your enemy’s attack. If you align three vertically, they begin to charge up for an attack. Charging can take from two to six turns, depending upon the unit, so you need to plan your attacks ahead of time. Once their charge reaches zero, they plow into your opponent’s territory. If their hit points are not dwindled to zero by walls or interfering soldiers, they will damage your opponent. Wear him/her/it down to zero, and you win the battle.

If that sounds complicated, it’s not. In fact there’s a lot more to it than that. You can chain your attacks for more power, each character has a spell that can unleash a much more powerful attack, you can equip artifacts for special abilities, and so on. It’s a very robust system that’s easy to learn, and plenty of fun all the while.

We Can Beat Them, Just for One Day

After playing through the first character, I was confident in my strategies and abilities. But then, the game turns itself on its head. Suddenly, you’re facing bosses that don’t behave like typical armies. Then, your battle goal is not to defeat your opponent, but to hit doors in a certain order or simultaneously. And along the way, you’re presented with puzzle challenges that require you to successfully kill your opponents in only one turn. Clash of Heroes changes itself up just enough to prevent the gameplay from growing tedious, and just enough to make sure you never begin to feel too confident.

The game is huge, and the story mode will keep you busy for quite some time. Towards the end, the battles become very difficult, and there are few that you’ll beat the first time through without luck. But even after you’ve completed the game, you can keep on going with Quick Battle mode, and Clash of Heroes also offers single-card and multi-card multiplayer action.

We Can Be Heroes, Just for One Day

In Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Capybara has delivered one of the most unique puzzle/adventure game experiences I’ve ever had on any system. The story is fine (although the dialogue is quite dorky in parts), but it’s the battle system that carries the game. Considering that your character levels up automatically and you never get to select a weapon or armor (you choose nothing beyond which soldiers to send to battle and which artifact to equip), the fact that Clash of Heroes is still so totally engrossing is really saying something.

I sound like I’m gushing and I hate that, so let’s find something bad to say. I mentioned the hoaky dialogue and it’s annoying that you don’t know an enemy’s combat level until you enter into battle; you’ll have to save often so you can back out when you find yourself in over your head.

But that’s it. Get this game. Whatever you bought instead of this the last time you were at the store, put it down and forget about it for a while. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to get back to it in a couple months.

Maybe.

Site [Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes]

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Title: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Price: $49.99
System: Wii
Release Date: December 26, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Square Enix (Square Enix)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for alcohol reference, crude humor, fantasy violence, mild language and suggestive themes.
Pros: Briskly paced story, excellent graphics, nicely integrated minigames and an ambitious approach to game presentation.
Cons: Meandering gameplay, short, odd and somewhat irrelevant shop system and too light to be fully satisfying.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down; 78/100; C+; **1/2 out of 5

It’s quite possible I’m the perfect person to be reviewing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, as this is the first Final Fantasy game I’ve ever played. It’s true. Before this, the closest I’ve come to the franchise was seeing that movie from a decade ago.

It therefore wasn’t the name that piqued my interest in The Crystal Bearers, it was the trailer. It looked pretty wild, and quite gorgeous for a Wii game, so ignorance be damned, I decided to try it out. And I’m kind of glad I did. Kind of.

Leave It to Me

The Crystal Bearers focuses on Layle. He’s the kind of guy you’d likely want to punch in the mouth if you met him in real life but that makes him oddly entertaining in this game. He’s a “crystal bearer,” a member of a tribe of people imbued with the magical power of crystals who were once thought to be extinct. The world has turned to science, and the use of magic is forbidden. Does that stop Layle from using his powers in public? What do you you think?

I could lay out the whole plot here, but you already know the basics; peace threatened, boy chosen, battles fought, friends unite, world…saved? I won’t give it away. Suffice it to say the story is fine. It moves along at a decent clip, buoyed by decent acting and a script that never takes itself too seriously. It’s dark when it needs to be, but always with a gleam in its eye, like that our young hero.

Those Defeated in Battle Have No Rights.

There are two elements of The Crystal Bearers that will make or break it for gamers. The first are the controls. This game was built exclusively for the Wii and it certainly had the controls in mind. Combat isn’t a mess of button mashing, it’s about controlled WiiMote movements. Layle doesn’t punch or kick, he lifts and tosses. Almost all combat is handled by using his powers to lift and push/pull/throw/spin his opponents. I had no problem with this system, as the gestures weren’t so complex that they were difficult to pull off, and I never had to wave my arms in wide patterns to make them work. More importantly, they felt like an extension of the character. He does everything this way, right down to opening doors.

And yet, the combat does grow tedious, especially considering that monsters will constantly respawn after a set period, so you’ll fight them multiple times during your travels. In addition, there’s a sudden jump in difficulty level at one point that will really slow down your game if you’re not ready for it, and will prove exceptionally annoying if you haven’t mastered the gesture system.

Thankfully, the tediousness of the battles is broken up by the second make-it-or-break-it element, events that are essentially minigames. Some are quite fun, some, not so much, but they do a fantastic job of keeping The Crystal Bearers fresh throughout. Even better, they’re so tightly woven into the story that they never feel like a distraction. A couple times, I didn’t even know I was in a minigame until about halfway through.

You Really are Nothing but Trouble

Despite all of this, The Crystal Bearers was never as engrossing as it should have been. Is it because of the minigames? Maybe, I suppose, because although they do keep the game flowing, they also remind you that you’re playing on the Wii, and that apparently means your mother will want to sit down and play with you.

Is it because of the goofy shop system that has little impact on your character? Don’t suggest that to your little sister who’ll enjoy making new earrings and jacket patterns for Layle.

Is it because of the massive world you can explore and frequently get lost in because the game doesn’t have a map? Well, it doesn’t help. Exploring such a massive world is only fun when you have a basic idea of where you’re going. Too often I’d spend more time trying to figure out where to go than I did in actually going there, and that gets frustrating after a while. Even worse, I think that’s the point. The game seems to encourage you to wander around aimlessly, and that’s just not right.

I shall show you the crystal’s will, and its power

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers has a lot going for it. The graphics are fantastic, the story and characters are fun, and the action is varied and frantic…when you’re actually doing something. And yet, the game is never quite as enjoyable as it should be. It meanders and tends to get lost in its own ambition to appeal to the broad Wii audience. As a result, serious adventure gamers will find it too casual, while casual gamers will find it too adventurous.

If Square Enix had zeroed in on a specific demographic, I think The Crystal Bearers could’ve been one of the best titles available for the system. Instead, we get a “jack of all trades, master of none” sort of game. It’ll fill you up in the 10 to 15 hours of gameplay it provides, but won’t completely satisfy.

Site [Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers]

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On January 2, 2010, Times Online reported Microsoft’s possible plan to become part of the mobile world in the future. The questions and possibilities are numerous.

It was reported that Microsoft has already hinted that it might try to link Xbox Live experience to the Windows Mobile platform. It seems like a pretty wise choice to do so since smartphones have their own game apps that help flesh out their capabilities and makes them even more enticing to the gaming public. If Microsoft does link up Xbox Live to Windows Mobile, that would probably increase the popularity of Windows Mobile phones. That is if the idea is pursued and actually works.

Microsoft had a job posting for a software engineer who would work on making this happen. So the company is at least looking into it. It seems like a good idea, especially with the growing popularity of different smartphones being used as gaming outlets. There are a lot of ways that this can go, though.

The thought could be pursued and succeed. It could be pursued and fail. Microsoft could also find out that it’s not going to work and scrap the idea in development. Microsoft could even scrap it entirely before they hire the programmer that would help bring the idea closer to being a reality. As it stands, Xbox Live on smartphones seems like it might not work quite as planned. The hardware capabilities from console-to-smartphone are different enough to cause a considerable amount of problems.

Regardless, to test out how the mobile Xbox Live would work, the wisest choices for Microsoft would go in this order.

First, the company needs to find someone to make the option a reality.

Next, as a beta, the programming should be leaked out to some of the more popular smartphones on the market. Either way, gaming on cell phones is no new thing, though the games have been getting more elaborate since many of the current smartphones like the iPhone have been released and found to be legitimate venues for certain kinds of games. Even gaming on the Android devices seems to have taken off. Since Xbox Live is pay-to-play, Microsoft would still make money off the beta and the waters would’ve been tested.

Times Online also reported that Microsoft is thinking about the possibility of a mobile gaming platform to try to compete with the PSP and the DS. The thing to wonder about, though, is the practicality of pursuing the idea with the current generation of technology.

The DS and the PSP are firmly established and any real competition, until the next generation shift, would be between the DS and PSP. The handheld idea could end up working out if pursued. After all, when they released the original Xbox, both the PS2 and the Gamecube were well-established and the Xbox did well enough to warrant its current-gen successor.

So there are the more established handhelds out there but there are also lesser known ones that tend to go around with hardcore open-source software users, at which point the Gp2x is out as well. Sure, the Gp2x doesn’t appeal to all gamers, since it is mostly covering retro games, however it does have its fanbase. Microsoft has gotten lucky before but pushing that luck would be ill-advised.

Since there are loads of mobile gaming outlets at the current generation, Microsoft is going to have to look at things from every possible angle and weigh all the options, as any good business should.

A word of advice would be to release a handheld when it looks like the technology is about to advance. The technology for handhelds is probably going to shift in two or three years at most. If Microsoft starts working on a handheld console now, they’ve got time to develop, test and fix things so that they can possibly beat the competition to releasing a piece of quality hardware. There would be another advantage to this as well.

What would essentially be a handheld Xbox, Xbox 360 or whatever the next form of the console is next would probably require much less coding work and scaling back to make Xbox Live go mobile than linking up to smartphones.

Read [Times Online] Also Read [Windows Mobile devices]

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Science is a subject many people find hard to relate to. Some of the concepts are abstract and, many times, difficult to explain and understand. Even though understanding and applying these concepts is essential to our everyday life, many times they don’t translate into practical uses like new gadgets or appliances so, for many people, they’re just a mystery.

Sci-Fi shows have made many of these subjects more accessible to people. By mixing them with an interesting plot, people are more attracted and open to understanding them and now video games are following on this idea.

The Mass Effect series is one of the games mixing science with story in a fun way. In this case, the game introduces the concept of dark matter into its core mechanics. Dark matter is a concept theorized by many physicists as an explanation for the constant and increasing expansion of the universe, but Mass Effect puts it to a different and probably more interesting use.

The game introduces the concept of “biotics,” beings (human or otherwise) that can control dark energy and use it to move objects and affect their surroundings. This ability endows biotics with Jedi-like abilities making them fearsome fighters. This same energy allows for faster-than-light travel and other technological wonders that populate the game. This phenomenon, called “mass effect” in the game world, is what gives the series its name.  All this is explained throughout the game giving players access to this subject in a more entertaining way.

Even though applications like these are probably stretching it too far, dark matter still holds many secrets for scientists and eventually those secrets might yield stranger answers. By exposing the subject to a broader audience there’s a chance for more people to get interested in it and probably eventually involved. This could finally lead to a better understanding of dark matter and its interactions as well as the discovery of applications that make our life better and easier.

Video games are a great way for learning new stuff and I hope they keep on getting mainstream appeal and applications other than entertainment. Who knows, maybe if this catches on, people in the near future will get all their education from interactive simulations not too different from today’s video games.

Mass Effect 2 is currently available for Xbox 360 and PC (Windows). Mass Effect was released November 2007 for Xbox 360 and May 2008 for PC (Windows).

Read [Scientific American] Site [Mass Effect 2]

Image credit: Bioware

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Yesterday (January 27, 2010) Apple announced its upcoming touchscreen gadget dubbed the iPad.

Specs

At first glance it is an oversized iPod Touch complete with primarily a screen for surface area (although a wider-than-iPhone border), a Power control button, a Home button, a volume up/down button, a mute button and a bottom power-dock slot. It will also utilize online connectivity via WiFi or, for a bit more, 3G through AT&T (although no contract required).

According to the site’s specs, the iPad will include a “built-in speaker” with 20Hz to 20,000Hz playback and simple volume controls (along with a headphone port). It also includes a built-in microphone and the “Wi-Fi + 3G” model will have a SIM card “tray.”

Physically it will be 0.5 inches thick, approximately 7.5 in. wide and 9.6 in tall, weighs 0.68 kg (1.5 lbs. WiFi version and 1.6 lbs. 3G) and has a 9.7 in. display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution.

It’ll utilize a 1GHz Apple A4 chip and all-in-one processor that makes it nice for presenting videos and, according to the Appletell Live Blog, loads pretty fast. It probably helps that iTunes is built into the iPad.

Apple also nicely enhanced and released its software development kit for the iPad yesterday, meaning developers can get cracking and creating or updating existing apps - including games - for the iPad (with an iPad simulator).

The iPad will have an accelerometer so you can toss the thing around for motion control of games. It’ll also dock with a keyboard (included), so the possibility of PC-style games with a lot of controls is there, and will work with a digital camera (kit included).

Games

During the event they showed off ESPN’s X-Games Snocrosss (OpenGL ES) and EA driving game, Need for Speed Shift. Pretty much every distributor, developer and dude-makin’-games-in-his-or-her-basement will be able to make games for the iPad.

Gameloft was mentioned as an early iPad game developer at the press event and already had Nova, a first-person shooter, ready to demo. It utilized a lot of sliding controls (multiple object targeting by sliding a box around then) and multi-finger controls (2 fingers to toss grenades and three to rotate a locked door). It’s planned to be released late 2010.

Tentatively scheduled to be available March 2010 (WiFi model) and April 2010 (3G model), the iPad will run “virtually all” existing iPhone and iPod Touch apps out of the box either at current resolution or doubling pixels to expand the image to fill the screen. It’ll run $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB models and add about $130 to each model to run 3G.

Analysis

In terms of gaming, the two-handed hold will still be in effect with the iPad but the wider frame of the system means all of the controls will need to be rather snug against the sides. The Nova demo had the person holding with the left hand while dragging with the right for some menus with all of the active buttons on the side. This makes it rather clear that all the games with center-of-screen controls, which are easily accessible with either thumb, will need to be shoved to one side for the iPad. A lot of games will need to be tweaked to make the control areas either on each side or, even better, adjustable by the user.

The accelerometer - which will flip the display from portrait to landscape on the fly - is certainly a must for the games already developed but, being so much larger than the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad might prove unwieldy for big-motion moves. Delicate driving might be OK but I cannot see anyone swinging it like a bat, lightsaber or bowling ball without a hefty tether and rubber grips.

The battery is promised to run 10 hours for non-gaming use (music and video) and 3 hour while gaming with a month of standby life. That’s well below Nintendo DS’s battery charge and still less than the iPod Touch’s battery life for active gaming. It’s even less than the PSP which took two generations to make its battery life tolerable.

Considering the web capabilities, not incorporating Flash is a mistake in terms of gaming. Certainly Apple may release an update or work with Adobe to get Flash on there. However, as I found out recently during a meeting with Zoo Games in Cincinnati, people prefer to play games in-browser (most often in Flash) instead of downloading an installing a game. Granted, they were talking about smaller titles and PC gaming but it does not appear the iPad will support games beyond the Apple App Store.

Wrapup

As a game system, the iPad certainly has the screen advantage. It will be the largest screen of any handheld game device, if we can even call it a handheld device and not a netbook or tablet (or netablet?).

It will also have the benefit of a massive library of games although a decent percentage will need to be reworked for the iPad’s size. The accelerometer makes it great for driving and balance games but the size, even light and thin, is going to be too wide, tall and slippery for swinging moves easily accomplished with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The battery life is not very impressive and may prove a nasty sticking point for gamers. Not being able to run Flash games is an issue Apple will eventually need to address. The biggest sticking point will be, of course, the price. Five hundred dollars is a bit much for a console let alone a handheld. Of course, with the unexpected early adoption of previous Apple i-creations, this will likely be in a lot of hands and games will certainly sell well.

The keyboard and camera mean that, if developers are willing to put in extra dev time, we could see a new wave of complex role-playing, MMO and other console-esque genres. There is still that stigma of gaming on a Mac but, then again, this is an iPad and arguably not a Mac.

Read [Appletell] Also Read [New York Times] Site [iPad]

Image Source: Apple’s event video on iTunes.

Updated: February 1, 2010, to match Apple’s posted specs.

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Title: Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders
Price: $29.99
System(s): DS
Release Date: November 4, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Dreamcatcher Interactive (Black Lantern Studios)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for mild Language and violent references.
Pros: Faithful to Agatha Christie’s characters, mostly decent puzzles and nice period graphics and sound.
Cons: Some puzzles are nothing more than math quizzes, not penalized for guessing incorrectly, your decisions have no bearing on the game and the story doesn’t flow well.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways; 73/100; C; ** out of five.

I’ve only read one book by Agatha Christie: Murder On the Orient Express. I enjoyed it enough to want to read more by her but, apparently, not enough to actually do so. This has nothing to do with her skills as a story teller, obviously, but solely with my indifference towards mysteries (when it comes to novels, anyway). I actually quite like them when they’re games.

The reason for this is obvious: I prefer to solve the case myself. Yes, I can make guesses when reading a book but, ultimately, I’m just along for the ride. With novels, I’m merely the guy standing behind Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes or Sparkle Hayter who gets to say, “Well, duh, I could’ve told you that fifteen pages ago.”

In video games, however, I get to investigate the crime scene myself. I can put together the evidence and reach my own conclusion (within a certain framework, of course). The crime is mine to solve, not just observe. Unfortunately, that’s not actually the case with Dreamcatcher Interactive’s Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders.

Rather, this game is mainly a collection of puzzles framed by the popular story by Agatha Christie. The characters are there and you do get to interact with them but on a limited basis that doesn’t really affect the flow of the game.

For instance, when talking with the suspects, you’re presented with a number of preset questions. You can ask the questions in any order you like and you don’t have to ask them all but your decisions don’t affect how the game plays out. The characters always respond the same way, even if you ask the same question multiple times. It’s all academic and, therefore, unnecessary other than to make you feel like you’re actively participating in the novel, if not guiding it.

This makes the puzzles themselves even more important. Some tie in directly with what’s going on in the game but the majority feel random, such as the numerous math story problems like you used to solve in junior high (if train A leaves the station at this time and goes this fast while train B leaves at…). They’re presented as if Poirot is just seeking advice on how to get somewhere faster, but we know what’s really going on, right? We’re hitting your puzzle count quota, no matter how repetitive we have to be to get there.

But maybe this wasn’t a bad decision. After all, if you’ve read The ABC Murders, you know the outcome, so what would be the point in putting together the evidence and solving the crime? Instead, the developers provide a collection of brain teasers within a fictional setting that should appeal to puzzle gamers. That’s fine, it’s just too bad the whole package feels somewhat disjointed.

The puzzles sit outside the story’s universe. They’re just too disconnected to make us feel like they’re something the characters actually have to solve. Who cares what train’s faster? Let’s just get to the crime scene, Poirot.

That’s one other complaint, actually. At times, it’s possible to get lost in the story. There were points where I thought I had exhausted all of my current options as far as locations to visit and people to visit, but the game wouldn’t let me progress. I’d end up solving the same puzzle and working through the same bits of dialogue multiple times before discovering what I had to do in order to move on. Frustrating.

And yet I kind of enjoyed Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders. I never raced home from work in a hurry to discover what would happen next, but for a week or so it replaced my evening reading as a good way to wind down the day. Hop into bed, solve a couple puzzles (or make my wife do it, since she has a sharper mind for that sort of thing), then go to sleep.

There are certainly puzzle games out there that are more rewarding, but this is a decent way to keep yourself busy between Professor Layton releases. The asking price of $29.99 is too high for what you get here, but if you can find it for $19.99, puzzle gamers will be satisfied.

Or, you could always save some money and just read an actual Agatha Christie book.

Site [Dreamcatcher Games]

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This is one of the coolest uses of cupcakes and gaming that I’ve ever seen. Some folks over at Steel Head Studio have created 100 gaming-related cupcakes, some from the board gaming-realm, but most from the wonderful land of videogaming. Each sugary treat shows a cool little graphic based on a popular game. You can guess each one (or hover over the little “mystery mark” that says which game it represents), making it a sort of cute little metagame.

Ah, can you guess all 100?

Some are a little more abstract than others, but its a very fun little site to play around in. Some of those cupcakes are so intricate that they’d put most of the stuff they show off on Kotaku (or the very awesome Ace of Cakes TV series) to shame.

Site [Steel Head Studio]

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Title: Gamer (aka Game, The Game, The Gamer, Gamer: The Movie)
Release Date: January 19, 2010
Format: DVD, *Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download
Company: Lionsgate (Lakeshore Entertainment)
Rating: “R” for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content and language.
Length: 95 min. (1 hour,  35 minutes)
Pros: A very unique visual style, decent story, plenty of nods to gaming culture, great acting by a surprising lineup of recognizable actors.
Cons: Might be a bit dizzying, too gruesome and overly explicit for some viewers.
Overall Score: Two thumbs Up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

Gamer isn’t quite what you’d expect from the title. Sure, it has a fair share of gaming cliches but it tempers them with just the right mix of seriousness and humor and then wraps it all in an interestingly gritty cinematic style.

Don’t be mistaken. Little about this movie is subtle.

A Game by Any Name

Set in the not-to-distant future, massive multiplayer online games have evolved so that you no longer play digital avatars but, instead, control actual people. The mastermind behind the people-playing-people genre is Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) whose brain tissue replacing tech has resulted in two popular two games: A free sex The Sims-style game called Society and an uber bloody shooter named Slayer.

The latter puts death row inmates and helpless drug addicts in the game literally controlled as puppets or as dimwitted non-player background characters. If anyone can survive 30 rounds, he or she goes free. Only one has come close, tagged Kable (Gerard Butler) within the game, who is controlled by an arrogant, rich teen (Logan Lerman). Both player and avatar have become internationally famous, helping to make Castle even more rich.

Of course there are complications including the protest group called “Humanz,” a nosey and seemingly shallow reporter (Kyra Sedgwick) and Kable’s wife (Amber Valletta), who is working as an “actress” in Society and has to deal with her husband’s face constantly plastered across skyscrapers.

The Blu-ray disc comes with several making-of featurettes, in-movie visual commentaries and video “pods” and a never-before seen trailer. It also comes with a second disc that includes a downloadable version that works with iTunes, PCs (Windows and Mac) and several portable video players (must be compatible with “PlayForSure”).

It’s also been tweaked to work with PS3 Bluetooth remote-specific buttons and the menu pulls in real-time online content.

Caveat Lector

The action in this movie is vivid, dizzying and rarely slows down. If you are prone to seizures, don’t even put in the disc. Also, there are some pretty wacky moments, glimpses of kookie sex and a lot of blood and body parts. If you thought Moral Kombat was bloody or think Resident Evil games has too many flying body parts, forget it. You simply will not be able to watch a large percentage of this movie. Those disappearing blood, guts and body parts in games don’t just meld into the pavement in the real (or movie real) world.

If you are still reading, excellent. This movie is very likely right up your ally.

To Play

The hyper-realistic look of Gamers does justice to the story, helping to exude the pain of a real-life avatar (or even an active wartime soldier). Unlike the Halo movie, which did a crappy job of conveying first-person shooters on screen, this instead shows you the delicate interplay of gamer and avatar and the deadly importance of understanding the tiny delay between command and response, called the “ping.” Even the premise, which seems very Running Man, has little comical cheese and much more grit.

They’ve even done a decent - and sometimes appropriately humorous - job overlaying in-game HUDs into the movie without ever becoming overwhelming. Mods, hacks and even some silly gamer moves also get fair play.

Although this is a rather bloody and explicit depiction of what you might see on screen when playing a game, the gore is given plot purpose instead of gag (or gag reflex) appeal. The mass death of avatars adds to Kable’s plight and mounting feeling of helplessness and more than conveys an important sense or urgency.

There is also a surprisingly top-notch lineup of actors in this movie including Alison Lohman who admits in a featurette that she didn’t really did not want to be involved with the movie.

Butler turns Kable into the forced warrior that you still somehow want to love, Hall is the perfect swarmy, care-less, tech-head gajillionaire who can even throw down a dance move or two when needed and Terry Crews creates one of the best brutish bad guys around. There’s hardly a bad performance in the group including the smaller roles and cameos galore (John Leguizamo, James Roday, Maggie Lawson and a super creepy appearance by Milo Ventimiglia).

The interviews with the directors, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, offered in the disc’s extra features may seem a little long but they really do help make this movie even more interesting. They offer a glimpse into the effort they put into this as a small budget movie (only $50 million) and the cobbling together of this unexpectedly A-list cast. (BTW: The secret to getting those amazing over-the-shoulder shots? In-line skates.)

Game(r) On

Gamer is certainly not for the weak of stomach and the film’s many creepy moments may be more indicative of a foreign horror film than an action flick (and seeing it in Blu-ray high def makes it so vivid you may feel like your eye balls are going to bleed). Also don’t mistake this as a love letter to gamers or glorification of video games. If anything the story is a highly pessimistic view of the possible evolution of video games (especially MMOGs and full-body controls) that simultaneously mocks and embraces without being cliche.

Put your preconceptions about a movie about video games aside for this one. There are so many surprisingly decent elements pieced together and wrapped in an interesting, even if sometimes dizzying visual style that I recommend this to every Mature-rated game lovin’ gamer out there.

Site [Gamer]

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