Remember all those old school wrestling games like Wrestlefest, WWF Arcade, Sega Slam, and (more specifically) Nintendo’s Pro Wrestling? You know, how Pro Wrestling gaming used to be before we were spoiled with games like WWF Attitude, WCW/NWO Revenge, No Mercy, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, and Smackdown vs Raw? Well Xbox 360 Indie developer Action has bought back that retro feel thanks to Action Arcade Wrestling. It’s got a small, but varied selection of wrestlers, and it’s easy to pick up and play. You can even edit your own wrestlers and arenas. There are several match types available including steel cage and tag team. While it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of other wrestling games, it does bring back that nostalgic feel that’s been missing from video game wrestling. At only one dollar (80 ms points), the price is right. By the way, tell your friends to support the developer as well, as word is he’s making a sequel.

While remakes, spinoffs, and re-releases of the demon summoning franchise Shin Megami Tensei series seem to be released every few months these days, for the longest time the releases were confined to Japan only. In Japan, the franchise is the third most popular RPG series after Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. However, the game didn’t hit U.S shores until almost a decade after its 1987 debut on the Game Boy, largely in part due to its religious themes and Nintendo of America’s stance against such material. Thankfully Sony, just beginning the recognize the popularity of RPGs like Suikoden, Vandal Hearts, and the upcoming FFVII, had few such restrictions.

The first SMT game to be released in North America was part of SMT spinoff series Persona. What’s so unique about this game, and much of the SMT series in general, was that the game didn’t take place in some sci-fi/fantasy timeline, but instead in Modern Day Tokyo. Instead of summoning demons, the characters summon figments of their psyche. Playing as your typical nameless RPG hero, you and your friends, a group of Japanese high school students, find yourselves at the center of some weird happenings after visiting a sick classmate. From there, it’s up to you and your crew to save the city from a demonic threat. You do most of the exploration in a first person view (at least until one of the many random encounters, this being an JRPG and all), while you go into an isometric view for battles and conversations. The game underwent several changes for its U.S release. It was re-named Revelations: Persona, and its cast underwent several changes to make them more westernized. In many cases, characters were given different faces. One character originally named Masao was renamed Mark and made into an African-American. Several places were also renamed as well, and some enemy names were changed in order to avoid referencing Japanese folklore.
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The PlayStation Vita will be released on Wednesday February 22nd. Should you pick one up? Now that I’ve had a few days with the system, I’d like to share my first impressions of the system itself and the game I’ve spent the most time with, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The PlayStation Vita is a powerful machine with great graphics and the best controls a portable has ever seen, but it’s UI and launch titles are plagued by an unnecessary overuse of it’s various gimmicks such as two touch screens, cameras and gyros. At a $250 price point, getting one is a no brainer to me, but the real value of the system won’t be obvious until we see how successful it will be, and what kind of support the system gets from developers.

A PSP, PlayStation Vita and 3DS

The size of the system is larger than Sony’s previous handheld, the PSP and Nintendo’s current offering, the 3DS. It’s not so large that it’s not portable, and a lot of that size is in the screen, which is really noticeable. With an amazing resolution of 960×544, the 3DS with it’s laughable 400×240 main screen offers no competition and this is apparent by the breathtaking graphics this system is capable of pulling off.

Last night, GTTV premiered the first gameplay footage from Transformers Fall Of Cybertron. It is within the full episode, so the footage isn’t available separate on the website. An interview with High Moon Studio’s Matt Tieger is from the one minute mark to the three minute mark.

Tieger mentions that Optimus Prime will be able to command Metroplex during one of his levels. Also of note is that the campaign will alternate from Autobot to Decepticon and back, unlike War For Cybertron, which had separate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns played back to back.

Another segment starts at around 6:15 and shows Jazz using a Bionic Commando-style grappling hook and gameplay footage with Vortex before and after combining with Bruticus.

System Protocol One is a tower defense game with old-school style vector polygon graphics and a catchy techno soundtrack. Its unique plot is computer related, and everything in the game is in terms of computers. You are a security administrator charged with protecting his company’s system against viruses, which are the enemies that come across. By using cache (resources), you create a number of anti-virus programs (which are the towers you’ll build) to stop them. Just like any good tower defense game, you’ll have a variety of towers to use with a variety of different abilities. The game is quite challenging, and the tutorial is quite lengthy, which may intimidate players. However, the game is easy to pick up and play, and players who have a passing knowledge of Tower Defense games will have no problem playing this. Mastering it however, that’s a whole different story. It’s available for $10 on Steam, and of course they’ll have specials on it frequently.

Welcome, Poweteers, to a brand new original column where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond!

The late Don Cornelius, the creator and the longtime host of the legendary Soul Train, the show which revolutionized black music television. Can anyone do the same for gaming?

This month is Black history Month, which is the 28 (or 29 if its a leap year) days out of the year to recognize the achievements and contributions Black Americans have made towards science, sociology, history, civics, and entertainment. That last one is especially important, as our people have made many advancements in the field of entertainment, and I’m not just talking about Spike Lee and Tyler Perry either. Since before the days of Motown, we have made unprecedented contributions to movies, books, television, video games, and even pop culture in general. Within this legacy is an untapped well of potential for video game companies looking to create the next big gaming hit. There have been attempts to tap into this well before, although with limited success, as seen in this week’s Maximum Letdown. Don’t get me wrong, I love EA’s Def jam fighters and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but they don’t even begin to scratch the surface to what decades of movies, music, and literature can contribute to video-gaming, and don’t even mention crappy ‘thugsploitation’ games like 25 to Life and 187 Ride or Die. This list features 5 properties that are either created by Black Americans, or feature Black Americans in leading roles. I even give suggestions to what platforms they can be released on, as well as possible pre-order bonuses/downloadable content. Hey, if they can make games out of Desperate Housewives, then they can make games out of anything.
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I had really high hopes for this game. Obviously it wasn’t going to be the next Madden out the gate (or even NFL Blitz), but there was a lot to like about it, and for the right reasons. For one, it’s development team features several black female programmers, and the developer, Nerjyzed Entertainment is headed by a black female CEO. The company’s mission is to produce games which promote the more positive aspects of minority cultures. While BCFX is a good note to start on, it tends to fall flat during the execution.

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