For as long as I can remember, GI Joe has been a staple of every young man’s childhood. They’ve come a long way since they used to be nameless 12-inch dolls. The Joes have graced multiple TV shows, comic book lines, and several lines of the famous action figures, but what of video games? You think that the real American heroes would be a perfect fit for a video game right? Well, yes, but not greatly. Alson with a slew of computer and atari 2600 games, the name has graced 2 little-known NES games that were actually pretty good.

The games were side scrolling shooters which allowed players to take control of one of several Gi Joe characters, each of which having thier own abilities and upgradable weapons. The first, which was published by now-defunct publisher Taxan, had players select a three-man team of Joes before the start of each mission. The first of which was a preselected team leader. 5 characters were included; Duke, Snake-eyes, Rock-n-roll, Gridiron, and Blizzard. Hawk was playable in the game’s final mission. Each level was broken into 3 parts. First you make your way to the base, then you search around and plant bombs at various checkpoints, then you escape and battle a boss. The second one, which was published by Capcom, was a little less linear, as you could select which order to take the stages in. You started out with General Hawk this time, although you would run into Wet-Suit, Duke, Roadblock, Storn Shadow, and others after you found them in certain stages.

Although these games didn’t do as well commercially, they were still pretty decent games. Your best bet is to hunt down the roms, seeing as how there is a very slim chance of them being bought to the virtual console. (Seeing as how they are licenced games and such. It dosen’t help matters that the first game’s publisher is out of business as well.) Also, check out Konami’s arcade game while you’re at it.

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Famicom Dojo – Wii Launch Day Special

(Show notes after the jump!)

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Sorry I was late this week, but I was caught up in the holiday. So without further ado, here’s the $20 GOTW.
For all of you wishing for a return to the 16 bit glory days of gaming, and don’t plan on buying a Wii (even if you are and don’t want to wait until these games come to virtual console) this one is for you: Sega Genesis Collection on PS2
If you thought system fanboy wars are bad now, you should have been there when Nintendo fanboys went head up against Sega fanboys. Even though multiplatform releases on the SNES were better most of the time, Sega had a lot of classic games as well. They pretty much had to, since they had to catch up thanks in no small part to Nintendo’s rough licencing policies. The Genesis was graphically inferior to the SNES, so Genesis game programmers had to make the most out of the hardware. When they did however, some pretty sweet games were the result. Sega has packed nearly 30 games from thier genesis catelog as well as a few unlockable arcade games into this one handy dandy PS2 disc.
Many of your favorites are here, such as Sonic, Phantasy Star, and the Golden Axe series (including 3, which was never before released in the US!). There are also several cult classic titles such as Comix Zone, Ecco the Dolphin, and Vectorman. Of course, what Sega comp would be complete without Altered Beast? Each title is accompanied by a history feature, as well as artwork and game tips.
Even though there are some glaring omissions, (NO STREETS OF RAGE? WTF?) this is an excellent alternative to shelling out the cash to grab these on virtual console or hunting them down in your favorite gaming stores. Hopefully Sega will give us a sequel with even more classic goodness.

Take a look at the Mii Channel on the Nintendo Wii:

Please note that I filmed this video while wearing no pants or underwear as a blatant disregard for the oppressive Powet.tv show dress code.

Amazon.com is listing for a very very limited quantity of 1,000 units, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 for only $100.00 US. The console normally retails for $299.99.

Of course there is a CATCH! The purchase must be made from the Amazon Customers Vote page, and it will go onsale at 11 AM Pacific time November 23rd. Thats Thanksgiving day. Tomorrow.

Remember, this may only be the Core pack, but at this price, the seperate purchase of a wireless control, headset, cables, and hard disc drive still net you a savings against the $399.99 premium.

What better way to celebrate PS3 launch day than to watch the guys from SmashMyPS3.com smash a unit in front of a bunch of lined up geeks.

Thanks to Zac for finding this.

And special thanks to spooie for this picture of G4 Tech TV’s Olivia Munn licking a PS3:

And if you read the forums you could have seen all this hours ago.

Original word was that the Wii component cables would only be available online. Later it was announced that a few retailers would have them in stores on launch day. In anticipation I checked Nintendo’s online store every few days hoping to order a set before launch day fearing I’d be unable to find them in Canada. The result was that the Wii was never and still isn’t listed in the listing of systems in the store and up until a few days ago a search for “component” yielded only results for the discontinued Gamecube cables.

Well today a search showed the Wii component cables were in the store, not reacheable by navigating through the links but only with the search and most frustratingly of all sold out until at least November 28th already! These things are harder to get a hold of than the PS3!

I really like my robot ninjas.  Last week I featured another robot ninja game, Hagane.  This week is Taito’s Ninja Warriors.  This is actually based on the sequel to the arcade Ninja Warriors, and is called “Ninja Warriors Again” again in Japan.  I guess somone figured the name was pretty dumb, but enough of that, lets get to the game.  It’s a side-scrolling beat-em-up, similar to X-men Mutant Apocalypse.  You have your choice of three characters, the Big strong slow guy, the fast but weak girl, and the guy who is in between.  Each character has a lot of moves in thier arsenal, and can pick up and throw things at enemies.  There is also a super power bar which allows you to unleash a mega attack.  Yeah, it’s familiar territory, but damn if it ain’t fun.  Download the rom, you won’t regret it, especially if you like robot ninjas.