Now the man who made that man Mega, Keiji Inafune is here to show us more. He’s released 3 trailers to 3 game sites, each with the same introduction, but different gameplay footage.

Watch them all here and let us know what you think of the game in action!

2. Marathon Trilogy (PC, Mac)
Before Bungie put on its Halo, it ran the Marathon. Even though it was released in 1994, it introduced many concepts that many of today’s shooters take for granted. Dual Wielding, mouse aiming, and AI controlled teammates were just a few of the many innovations that Marathon bought to the table. Now that Bungie is done with the Halo series, perhaps they will revisit the Marathon universe. For now, you can download the trilogy from here.

3. Rise of Nations: Gold Edition (PC)
This is easily one of my all time favorite PC Real time strategy games. Developer Big Huge Games has managed to use Civilization-style nation building gameplay to disguise traditional RTS 4X game play. Conquer the world as the nation of your choice, rewrite the cold war, take control of Alexander the great’s army, or design a scenario of your own using the game’s rich editing tools.

4. Lumines 2 (PSP)
Lumines is this console generation’s version of Tetris. Lumines 2 blends thumping music tracks with block matching gameplay and the result is something never before seen in the puzzle genre. The music is a mix of top 40 hits and more alternative tunes. With so many game modes, a sequence editor, and multiplayer, this is a title you’ll be keeping in your collection for months.

5. Knights in the Nightmare (Nintendo DS)
KITN may very well be 2009’s Nintendo DS sleeper hit. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it’s 2009’s sleeper hit on any system. The mash-up of different playing styles, fantasy-meets-noir storytelling, multiple endings, and deep strategy make this a can’t miss for Nintendo DS owners everywhere.

6. Dead Space (Xbox 360, PS3)
EA’s survival horror game brings in the fear that games such as Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil have lacked in their recent entries. The game’s atmosphere is disturbing, and the necromorphs are formidable villains. EA has built a franchise around this game, with comics, and animated film, and a Wii prequel. With the sequel arriving next year, survival horror fans, especially those who have been put off by Resident Evil 5, should check this out.

7. Blast Works (Wii)
Blast Works is almost the Wii equivalent to the PS3’s LittleBigPlanet. You have the freedom to design your own side scrolling shooter, complete with your own ship, enemies, and backdrops. Although there is a steep learning curve, the content creation is complex, and will extend the life of the game for months to come. The game’s Katamari Damacy-meets-Gradius gameplay isn’t bad either, and you can even unlock hidden games on the disc. Blast Works is one of the few games available for Wii that caters to the hardcore audience.

8. Saint’s Row 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
While it may not be one of the most original games on the list, THQ’s Saint’s Row 2 manages to expand upon and in some aspects even improve what makes the open-world genre great. There are even more zany activities to do to earn respect, the customization options are even deeper this time around, and there are even more vehicles to steal/wreck/customize/pilot/drive, including helicopters. Saint’s Row’s parody on gangbanging is a great way to pass the time until the next Grand Theft Auto is released.

9. MadWorld (Wii)
I’m still wondering how a game like this got the green light from Nintendo, and how the people who made the cult classic Okami managed to come up with something like this. The Sin City-style graphics and the multitude of ways to bring death to your opponents make this game a must for people who crave M-rated action on the Wii.

10. Crackdown (Xbox 360)
As one poweteer stated, Crackdown was unfairly judged as “the free game that cane with the $60 Halo 3 demo”. Even so, Crackdown game players the chance to wreak a path of mindless destruction with a variety of weapons. Even if the game was light on plot, using your agent’s abilities to cause chaos kept players entertained for hours, and packaging the Halo 3 beta invite was nothing short of genius.

11. The Orange Box (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
This collection of 5 games; Half-Life 2, HL2 Episode 1, HL2 Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal, represented the finest of what the FPS genre had to offer. Half-Life 2 and its two episodes had a story that was seamlessly told without use of cutscenes, Team Fortress 2 was a fun class-based multiplayer game, and Portal was a puzzle game disguised as an FPS that had players think their way through a facility while being taunted by a malevolent artificial intelligence. These games show Valve’s Source engine at its best, and gave console players a taste of what their PC counterparts have been enjoying for years.

12. The SimCity Box (PC)
This collection of Maxis SimCity titles includes the awesome Simcity 4 and the Rush Hour expansion, the not-so-well received SimCity Societies and the Destinations expansion, and the quirky puzzle game SnapCity. While some people will enjoy Societies’s unique take on Sim City, Sim City 4 alone makes this worth the price of admission for players who don’t already own the city-building classic. It’s deep urban planning shows why Maxis is among the best in the Sim genre.

Except where otherwise noted, all of these games can be found at almost anywhere that sells video games for $20 or less.

This week I take a look at Thrust. I had to read his TFWiki entry to find something interesting about him, but I mostly stuck to what I know.

I do mention Thrust from Beast Wars II as well as Thrust from Beast Machines, just to get some sake of continuity of character, or lack there of. For such a descriptive name, its been used on a few very different characters.

I briefly mention Dino Riders in this episode too.

Bad News: Major Nelson announced this morning that subscription costs for Xbox Live for One, Three, and Twelve month terms are going up. Major Nelson, for the uninformed, is the alias of Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live Director of Programming. You can read the details of the pricing here. Basically a one year subscription was $50, will now be $60.

The $50 annual cost has been in effect since 2002 when the service launched

Here is the good news: Price change doesn’t go effective until November 1, 2010. You have plenty of time to renew or go buy a subscription card at the current rate. As a matter of fact, as of the time of this writing, a one year card is a little less than $40 on Amazon. Heck, if you’re already an active subscriber, Microsoft themselves will renew you for $39.99 via a Price Lock Loyalty program.

Before we all go nuts, some things to keep in perspective: The price increase is $0.83 a month, which is far less than inflation. This price change comes into effect 5 years after this generation’s game systems jumped from $50 to $60 priced new games. Nintendo and Sony may offer free alternatives with online play, but it would be hard to argue that Microsoft hasn’t set the standard and has a far more robust service.

Now I love the mainstream as much as anyone. Like most other gamers worth their salt, I get a rise out of blowing someone away in Halo, running a touchdown in Madden, and carjacking and gunning my way to 6 stars while playing Grand Theft Auto. The current state of video gaming is great, and with new advances in gameplay and graphical technology, it’s only going to get better. However, if you look closely, there is a movement going on beneath the surface. Not only is the mainstream taking strides forward, but so is the independent scene. In the past few years alone, many independently developed releases have become just as critically acclaimed as the biggest mainstream releases, and with indie titles being released on outlets such as Steam and Xbox Live, there is greater incentive than ever. Far from being simple mods, independently developed games often feature innovative gameplay mechanics and presentation. Lets look at some aspects of the independent scene, and hopefully some of you more creative poweteers will get some inspiration.

Tools of the Trade
The recent rise of the independent game development movement is due to the emergence of open source software which is freely available, easy to learn, and fully featured. Packages such as Blender (a 3D rendering program), Gimp (a 2D image manipulation program) and the Eclipse IDE are every bit as capable tools as their more expensive counter parts. Microsoft’s XNA, a game development driven framework which uses c# (pronounced c-sharp) and LOVE, an LUA driven 2D game engine allow developers with programming knowledge to make amazing works. Ready-made frameworks such as the Retribution Engine and Reality Factory allow players with little to no programming knowledge to create complex games as well. At the bottom of this article is a list of tools you that are commonly used by developers.

Developers and Distribution
Compared to more mainstream development studios such as a Bungie, Square, or Rockstar, independent developers usually function in much smaller teams, as little as one person in fact, as is the case with Everyday Shooter’s Jonathan Mak. Back in the days, smaller game developers didn’t have the leverage of bigger budget titles, so independent developers have had to either form their own game companies, or sell their works to bigger companies for any distribution. Thanks to the internet, it has been easier than ever to distribute one’s efforts. Most independent console developers prefer to develop for PC and Mac, as they are more accessible than consoles. Traditionally, console software development kits from companies such as Nintendo and Sony carry high price tags for both licensing and royalty fees, and the console developers usually take out royalty payments. However, some breakthroughs have been made on this front, as Microsoft’s indie games network only requires a $99 annual creator’s club membership with Microsoft only taking a 30 percent profit. Also, console manufacturers have snatched up independently developed efforts for release on their console’s digital distribution networks. Examples of these titles include the aforementioned Everyday Shooter, and Jonathan Blow’s Braid.

But Why?
Of course not everyone is lucky enough to get their effort snatched up by Microsoft or Valve. Surprisingly, not everyone wants to either. So with the long and complex process that goes into a game, and little or no financial reward, why does one do it? Several reasons actually. It’s quite gratifying to have your own product out where others can enjoy it. Also, game development gives you hands on experience with various tools and programming languages, enabling you to build a portfolio to show potential employers. Most importantly, independent game development allows one to share their vision with the world. While I won’t go into the whole ‘games as art’ debate, many independent releases such as Limbo and the Path have a unique presentation style that forces players to form their own interpretation of the game’s message. On the other end of the spectrum, games such as Super Columbine Massacre are quite blunt about their message, forcing players to think about taboo events in a new way.

In the DVD documentary Beef, rapper DMX says that while the money is in the NBA, streetball players are have the best skills. If mainstream companies such as Capcom and Electronic Arts are the pros, the indie developers such as Jonathan Mak and 2D boy can be considered the street. Just like in music and movies, the independent scene is the go-to destination for gamers who want something different. Keep a close eye on these games, because a big name always starts as a small one, and you could be seeing the next great superstar right here.

Tools and Resources
http://www.blender.org/ – Blender, an open source 3D Modeling Suite.
http://www.makehuman.org/ - Makehuman, an open source tool for making 3D characters
http://love2d.org/ – Love, a 2D game engine which utilizes LUA
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/ – The XNA Creator’s Club
http://www.gimp.org/ – Gimp, a free 2D image manipulation program on par with photoshop
Retribution Engine- The Retribution Engine, a free tool for creating FPS games
http://springrts.com/ – Spring, a frame work for creating real time strategy games
http://sauerbraten.org/ – Cube 2 Sauerbraten, a multiplayer/single player FPS with an in-game map editor

The internets are abuzz this morning with some color photos surfacing of the Masterpiece Rodimus Prime figure that we’ve heard about before and seen an unpainted prototype of at a recent convention in China. YFrog user GENograw posted images to his account showing not only Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Convoy), but also that he has the ability to become Hot Rod (Hot Rodimus) in both robot and vehicle mode. As we heard knew before, the trailer section will become the battle station as it did in Generation One. Better photos are now sure to follow.

 

But this one takes the cake. Not as deep on story, but its full of action. Its not hard to imagine a Halo movie now after all this.

You can see more abstract shorts on Remember Reach.

Preordr HALO REACH on Amazon to get a $20 store credit on your next game!

While his limited availability makes him hard to come by, the completely unique mold and originality of the features makes him a highly collectible figure. If you can find him, he’s worth any reasonable price.

…

Ok, so this didn’t turn out as good as we hoped. They can’t all be great can they?
Just so you don’t feel ripped off, here is a REAL video about a REALLY GOOD toy: DCUC Plastic Man!

Like Bionic Command Rearmed, Dark Void Zero is a downloadable title that manages to surpass the bigger name console game that it was made to promote. Available for $5 on the DSIWare store, it’s an excellent value for gamers who enjoy the classics.

In the short time they had been around, manufacturers took steps to make video games available in as many formats as possible. After their arcade origins, games were made available on home computers, and consoles. After making consoles which allowed interchangeable cartridges, the next logical step would be to make games that you could take with you on the go. From the tabletop electronic games of the 60s and 70s to the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and everything else in between, there has been no better way to pass the time.

Origins
Handheld gaming consoles as we know them are basically the synthesis of the old table top electronic games from the 60s and the electronic LCD calculators, which were increasingly becoming popular. These table top games were referred to as non-video electronic games and non TV games. In 1976, Mattel started a line of handheld sports titles, after then-marketing director Michael Katz challenged his development team to create a game the size of a calculator. The first release was 1977’s Auto Race, which was the first electronic game that was entirely digital. It was quite primitive. There were no buttons beside the controls to move the car and the on/off switch. Your car was represented by a blip on the screen, and you had to make it to the top of the screen 4 times (represented 4 laps) while avoiding the other cars. It wasn’t much, but Mattel followed it up with football. The games became a resounding success, and other companies such as Coleco, Parker Brothers, and Bandai followed suit. One company, Milton Bradley, took a huge step forward. In 1979, they released the Smith Engineering-developed Microvision, the first handheld game system with interchangeable cartridges. The unit was a moderate success, though it would eventually meet its demise due to the lack of available games, faulty hardware, a small screen, and the lack of support by software developers.

Gunpei Yokoi and Tiger
Even before, during, and after the great video game crash, the handheld video game scene was becoming more prominent. Nintendo’s Gunpei Yokoi in particular made significant strides not only in the field but in video games in general. Inspired by the popularity of LCD calculators, he created the Game and Watch series, which allowed a single game to be played on a double screen unit that included a clock and an alarm. These units were the predecessors to the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and virtually everything else Nintendo did (By the way, that pic to the left look familiar to anyone?). Particularly, the cross-shaped directional pad which Yokoi invented for use to control on-screen characters made its way into the design of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, and other consoles. It’s important to note that Nintendo’s Game and Watch units are not to be confused with Nelsonic’s Game Watch series which were literally games within watches. Interestingly enough however, among them included Nintendo properties such as Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong.Tiger electronics was another pioneer in the field. The started doing electronic toys in the early 80s with the K28 learning computer. Throughout the 80s and 90s, they produced a number of handheld games based on everything from movies, to TV shows, to even console games. Thus, players who couldn’t afford to play games like Mega man 3 and Double Dragon could play what essentially was a crippled version of the game. Both the Game and Watch series and Tiger’s games made use of primitive LCD screens with preset sprites and limited animation if any at all. Still, they were light years more advanced than earlier, and things were going to get better.

The race heats up
1989 saw the North American debut of two handheld systems, both of which would change the shape of the industry: Nintendo’s Game Boy and Atari’s Lynx. The former system was the brainchild of Gunpei Yokoi. Although the Game Boy had a monochrome green-and-black LCD screen, it’s graphics were miles above anything else seen at the time, almost resembling NES games in terms of animation and detail. The unit itself included a headphone jack to listen to music in stereo, and an external power supply jack for an AC adapter or rechargeable battery pack. Two players could compete against each other using the gamelink, which was sold separately. It was bundled with the popular puzzle game Tetris, which became one of the highest selling games on a portable system. The system went through a number of revisions, either focusing on the color of the system, to its size. They eventually released a color version of the system, but we’ll get to that later.

The latter system began life as Epyx’s Handy Game, until the company was bought out by Atari and the Handy Game was re-dubbed the Lynx. Along with being the world’s first handheld system with a color display, the Lynx also packed in several nice features as well. The graphics were more advanced than anything else seen at time, featuring sprite scaling techniques that were almost on par with the emerging 16-bit systems. It also had a backlit display, and players could flip the unit upside down to play it left-handed. Players could link up to 17 other units to play multiplayer. Even with these features, the Lynx’s high price point ($189.99 vs the Game Boy’s 89.99 price tag), lousy battery life (six AA batteries gave the system somewhere between 4 – 5 hours of gameplay – keep in mind that this was before rechargeable batteries became the norm), and lack of support from third party developers and publishers (mainly due to Nintendo’s heavy handed licensing policies and the fact Atari couldn’t’t move enough units to attract third parties) caused the Lynx to be edged out by Nintendo. Atari slashed the unit’s price tag down to $99 in 1991, but they still couldn’t move very many units. In 1994, Atari shifted its focus away from the Lynx to the Jaguar. Although the system was pretty much dead at this point (losing out to both the Game Boy and Sega’s Game Gear), developers continued to make software for it, and at the end of the decade, Hasbro released the rights to make games for both the Lynx and the Jaguar to public domain, gaining the systems popularity amongst homebrew and independent developers. New games have been released for the system as recently as 2009, when Super Fighter Team released the horizontal side scrolling shooter Zaku.

1991 saw the release of NEC’s TurboExpress, a unit that allowed players to play the ultra slim Turbografx-16 Hucards on the go. All three systems had link cables to play 2 player games, although in the case of the TurboExpress, very few TG-16 games had been designed with TurboExpress co-op in mind. The system also had a TV tuner enabling the system to be turned into a color TV. Despite these advantages, the TurboExpress was wrought with problems from the get go. The game’s library was based on that of a system that wasn’t getting much third-party support anyway, and there were several hardware problems with the unit too. Thanks to the cheap capacitors used in the hardware, the systems suffered sound failure, sometimes even in new units. The LCD screen tended to suffer from a high rate of pixel failure, many times showing up in new units as well. Also, many of the on-screen text fonts were obviously meant to be seen on a television, not on a small 3 – 5 inch screen, so much of the text was hard to read. Some of the HuCards saved data to the internal memory of the TG-16 or TurboDuo. Since the TurboExpress didn’t have any internal memory, it was impossible to save these games. As cool as it would be to play your TG-16 HuCards on the go, it would seem obvious that NEC didn’t exactly think this through through enough. The $299.99 price tag (which was lowered down to $199.99 by 1992) and even worse battery life (six AA for three hours) didn’t exactly do it any favors either. It was discontinued around the same time the TurboDuo was on its last legs.

Despite having a monochrome screen however, the Game Boy managed to outperform both the TurobExpress and the Lynx. The following year saw the release of yet another system, released by one of Nintendo’s fiercest competitors.

Sega Gets It’s Game in Gear
During the early 90s, Sega’s Genesis was catching fire, gaining the lead on Nintendo. However, Sega realized that even if they were to surpass Nintendo in the home console market, it wouldn’t mean anything if Nintendo still had a strong lead in the portable gaming market. Thus in 1992, Sega released the Game Gear in North America. Like the TurboExpress and Lynx, it was a color unit. Since the architecture of the Game Gear and Master System were similar, it was easy for Master System titles to be ported down to Game Gear. There was even am adapter, called the Mastergear Converter which allowed Master System games to be played on the Game Gear. Like the TurboExpress, there was also a TV converter for the system. The Game Gear wasn’t popular in Japan (which wasn’t surprising, as the Genesis wasn’t exactly doing well over there either), although in the U.S, they managed to gain a surprising market share thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign against Nintendo’s Game Boy, one which was similar to the Genesis vs NES/SNES marketing campaign. The majority of their ads centered around Game Gear’s color screen vs Nintendo’s ‘spinach green’ (as one ad called it) monochrome screen. Even so, Nintendo’s Game Boy managed to outsell the Game Gear thanks to (wait for it) a high price tag ($149) and lousy battery life (5 – 6 hours) on 6 AA batteries. Support for the system ended in 1997, which was pretty much the same time Sega ended support for the Genesis as well. While the Game Gear failed to outsell the Game Boy, it did do better than every other portable system that was competing with Game Boy.

Handheld vs Portable
It should be noted that while all handhelds are portable, not all portable systems are handheld. Take your laptop for instance. You can take it with you, but you obviously can’t hold it in your hand. Lets consider 2 systems released by Nintendo and Sega during the mid 90s: Nintendo’s Virtual Boy and the Sega Multi-Mega, or as we knew it, the CDX. The CDX was one of many attempts to create a hybrid Genesis/Sega CD unit, although it’s price ($399) and short battery life kept it from being little more than an overpriced and over-sized CD player that could play video games (as long as you plugged it in and hooked it up to a TV of course). It wasn’t exactly designed with 32X compatibility in mind. Although the unit did technically work with the add-on, the combination caused a number of problems. At the time of the system’s release, consumers were pretty much losing interest in the Sega CD anyway. The Virtual Boy was the world’s first true 3D gaming system, although it’s colors were only red and black. You had to sit it on a flat surface and peer into the headset while holding the dual gripped controller. It didn’t do very well at all despite several price drops, and only 14 games were ever released for the system in the U.S. It’s critical failure was believed to be the reason Gunpei Yokoi was forced to leave Nintendo, although many speculate that the system had been rushed to the market so Nintendo could focus its resources on N64 development. Still, even the Virtual Boy made its impact in a way, as the dual-control pad design is similar to the design of control pads with dual analog sticks.

Game Boy Grows Up
During the mid to late 90s, the console race heated up and went into the 32 bit era. Although the Nintendo 64 was struggling to hold its own against the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn, the Game Boy was doing better than ever due to the lack of any real competition at the time. Well scratch that, Tiger, the maker of all those handhelds from the 80s tried to enter the console market. After the horrific R-Zone (which was no different from their handheld LCD games save that now they were cartridge based), they tried again with 1997’s Game.com (that’s to be pronounced “Game Com”, not ‘Game Dot Com”). The system was geared towards an older audience PDA style features such features such as a stylus and touch screen. It could even be connected to a modem for limited connectivity. Though they had virtually no third party support, they obtained licenses to develop ports of console titles for the system. Thus the console featured games such as Duke Nukem and Resident Evil 2, although unsurprisingly, they were inferior to their console ports. It’s poor distribution and marketing (featuring a marketing spokesman being mobbed by angry gamers after declaring that the Game.Com plays more games than they had brain cells) led to its demise in 2000. Of course Sega tried one last time to be a contender in the handheld market with the release of the Sega Nomad, a unit which played Genesis titles. Of course this flopped as well, due to (say it with me) a high price tag and a low battery life. Not only that, the system was released at a time when consumer interest in the Sega Genesis was waning in favor of more advanced 32 bit systems. Nintendo meanwhile, finally went color with the Game Boy. Not only did it finally allow developers to make color games for the system, but it was backwardly compatible with older Game Boy games giving the system an instantly large library from the get go. The move was perfect to coincide with the increasing popularity of Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise. The system’s graphics were similar to the NES, and there were several sequels, remakes, and releases on the system. The port of Super Mario Brothers for the unit features an overworld map and a battery backup save feature, making it the definitive version of the game.

For the next several years, Nintendo’s only real competition came from Japan, as SNK entered the market with the Neo Geo Pocket and Bandai arrived with the Wonderswan. Although both systems had a decent library, they were both monochromatic portable systems released at a time when their biggest, and only competitor just released a COLOR system. Thus the following year, both systems released color iterations of their systems, with the Neo Geo Pocket color being made available in America. Both systems did almost everything right. They were available at low price points (69.95 for the NGPC and approximately $59 for the Wonderswan) and had good battery life. Both systems even had several high profile exclusives. The NGPC had SNK vs Capcom – Match of the Millennium and Card Fighters’ Clash while the Wonderswan saw remakes of Final Fantasy 1 and 2 (the ones that were ported to Game Boy Advance, PSP, and Playstation 1). However it just wasn’t enough in the end. The NGPC collapsed when SNK filed bankruptcy, and although the unit was advertised on TV and being sold at places such as Wal-Mart and Toys’R’Us, all unsold units were recalled. The Wonderswan began to collapsed when developer Square reconciled its relationship with Nintendo, thereby taking away the system’s competitive edge. Despite the release of the successor system the SwanCrystal, Bandai eventually dropped out of the portable system market and went back to being a third party publisher/developer.

Nintendo Advances
Left with no real competitors (at least in the U.S.), Nintendo’s Game Boy evolved further’ or rather I should say advance. In the summer of 2001, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance, a 32 bit portable console. The unit was backwardly compatible with both Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, and the graphics were on par with the Super Nintendo in most cases. Much of the early lineup consisted of ports of older SNES titles such as Contra 3, Breath of Fire, and Super Mario World. Unfortunately some of them were hampered due to there only being 2 face buttons on the unit (as opposed to 4 on the original SNES controller). Contra 3 in particular, removed two of its stages due to the lack of buttons. There were also more original titles as well. Advance Wars’s brand of turn-based combat gained it a significant following among fans. The Mega Man Zero series was a Mega Man spin off that bought classic 2D gameplay to the new era. The system even saw ports of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. A few years later, there was a redesign of the system called the Game Boy Advance SP which featured a backlit screen and a fliptop design. Even with the Game Boy Advance, cell phone gaming was becoming more popular among casual gamers, and hardware manufacturers were taking steps to make the medium successfully crossover into the mainstream, albeit to mixed results.

Nokia Gets Dis-N-Gaged
Since their creation in the 80s, cellphones were slowly and increasingly starting to modernize and towards the end of the 90s, people wanted more out of their cell phones. Things such as calendars, calculators, and contact storage were being added, and in 1997, Nokia bought games to the cell phone for the first time via a port of the game Snake. Thanks to its popularity, it came pre-installed on many Nokia phones. In 2003, Nokia made an attempt at a cell phone based gaming platform with the N-Gage. It showed a lot of promise, as the unit included features such as MP3 player and an FM radio along with bluetooth connectivity for internet and multiplayer. Unfortunately, right out the gate there were problems. The system’s $299 price tag just didn’t make it an attractive competitor to the Game Boy Advance which was selling for less than a third of what Nokia was asking for, especially with Nokia’s scant library of games vs the dozens that were already available for the GBA (and that isn’t mentioning the hundreds that were already available for the Game Boy and Game Boy color. From a game system standpoint, a clunky design (which among other things required players to remove the battery color to change the game cartridge) hurt the system’s image and the phone keypad face buttons don’t translate well to a video game console. From a cell phone standpoint, the system was available at game dealers rather than cell phone providers, so it was hard to obtain a cell phone plan for the unit, which looked unconventional to customers who were in the market for a cell phone. Also, the speaker and microphone were located on the side of the unit, forcing users to hold the unit on their face uncomfortably in a manner that was dubbed ’sidetalking’, making the N-Gage the butt of many an internet joke. Now to Nokia’s credit, they did everything they could to get the unit over. They redesigned the unit bringing it down to $99 (of course many features such as USB connectivity and MP3 playback were removed), it attracted quality third party support from companies such as 2kGames and Eidos and the games Pocket Kingdom and the WWII strategy game Pathways to Glory were well received. Sadly, it was too little too late, as by the mid part of the decade, the N-Gage was going up against the PSP and the Nintendo DS. In 2008, Nokia shifted gears and made the N-Gage a ‘gaming-on-demand’ service similar to Xbox Live Arcade. It too was folded up and will be relaunching as the OVI service, which would be comparable to the Itunes store and the Zune Marketplace. It would be a few years until companies got cell phone gaming right.

If gaming was taking a while to work on cell phones, then it would seem Palm Pilots wouldn’t get gaming right at all. Take the Tapwave Zodiac for instance. I won’t go into detail, but here are the basics: the unit played MP3s and video, ran on a version of the Palm OS, and competed with the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. Unsurprisingly, it was discontinued in 2005, 2 years after its release. Also of interest to note was Tiger Telematics’s(not to confused with Tiger Electronics) Gizmondo. The unit which never saw a U.S. Release was launched in 2005 and discontinued less than a year later after selling only 25,000 units driving the company into bankruptcy. Although Tiger Telematics is more famous for the antics of one of its executives, Stefan M. Eriksson. Mr. Eriksson became famous not for the Gizmondo, but for wrecking a 2 million dollar sports car while driving under the influence. Later it was revealed that he had links to organized crime in Sweden, and that the car he crashed was suspected to have been stolen. Ouch. Read more about it here.

The Modern Era
Nintendo decided to change the handheld world once again with the release of the Nintendo DS. The DS stood for Dual Screen. The unit opened in a fliptop laptop style, and there was a top screen, and a bottom. The unit included a stylus, which could be used on the bottom screen. The unit came with a built-in Pictochat program where users could draw messages and send them over to each other via the unit’s wireless connection. The unit’s stylus was used for everything from menu interaction to character movement, and the two screens had a variety of uses as well. Some used them as an extra menu, others used them to expand the playfield, and others used them to display player data, much like the Dreamcast VMUs. Although the unit could play Game Boy Advance games (and some games, such as Guitar Hero used the GBA cartridge slot for extra peripherals and connectivity), it could no longer play Game Boy or Game Boy Color games. In true Nintendo fashion, Nintendo released a number of remakes of the unit. The Nintendo DS Lite was a smaller version of the unit with a slightly larger screen, and the Nintendo DSI, which was released last summer included a redesigned menu interface, AAC audio playback, SD Card Support, two cameras, and an online shop similar to the Wii’s shop channel. Sadly, the unit omitted the Game Boy Advance slot, and there is only one DSI exclusive game, the little known System Flaw. Even so, Nintendo managed to retain its dominance over the handheld scene, with titles such as Mega Man ZX, Nintendogs, Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga, and Contra 4.

A few months after the DS, Sony released the Playstation Portable, a handheld device which perhaps out of all of Nintendo’s competitors, had the best success. Of course this wasn’t saying much, but at 5 years and counting, it lasted much longer than the Game Gear, Wonderswan, and the TurboExpress. Not only did the PSP’s library include ports of PS2 and PS3 games, but it also included several original titles and series installments. Games such as Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker and God Of War: Chains of Olympus do a great job of showing that the handheld could stack up to what the dig boys were offering, and games such as 30 Minute Hero gave the system a unique identity of its own. The unit was $249 at launch time, although it wasn’t a big deal. It drained power rather quickly, but it included a built-in battery and a cable which could quickly recharge the unit (as you see, power usage has gotten better since the days of the Game Gear sucking up AA batteries). The PSP’s games were primarily released on the Universal Media Disc format, a new format Sony tried to push for movies and entertainment as well. As such several studios released movies, cartoons, and TV shows on the format, and there were even porn titles available for the system. Unfortunately, the UMD as a media format wasn’t getting over well, as it UMDs didn’t have as much storage as DVDs, so many studios had to cut out DVD extras to get their releases to fit on UMD, and really, the PSP was the only device available that could play UMDs. Many studios pulled out UMD support as it just wasn’t feasible for consumers to buy a film on scaled down UMD when they could get it on DVD for roughly the same price in most cases. On the bright side, the unit supported expandable memory with the SD Pro Duo Expansion slot, wireless connectivity, and online multiplayer. When the PS3 was released, the two systems were integrated with each other, and users could access an online store where they can purchase titles similar to the Xbox Live marketplace and Virtual Console. The system went through a few revisions of its own. The PSP 2000 and 3000 series made the unit smaller, with the latter changing around button placement, while the ill received PSP-Go omitted the UMD slot to encourage digital download of games. It has an on-board 16 gig flash memory and can support up to 32 gigs via a Micro SD card. However, the unit carried a higher price tag than the 2000/3000 units and there was no way to transfer UMD titles to the system, so it’s not hard to see why this isn’t exactly flying off store shelves. Even with this mishap, the PSP remains the most successful Non-Nintendo handheld console. The system is also hit amongst various homebrew developers. Make that would be, if not for Sony’s constant stream of firmware updates.

The Future
The handheld market is looking good for the future as well. Nintendo has recently unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, a 3D version of the Nintendo DS. The graphics seem to be on par to at least the PS2, as games such as Metal Gear Solid 3 and Street Fighter 4 have been announced for the system. The former was even being shown on the unit as a tech demo. With the system to be released early next year, Nintendo looks poised to retain its control over the market.

Meanwhile with the advent of smartphones and 3G cellular networks, mobile gaming is on the rise. The Iphone is making several advances in this field, with games such as Plants vs Zombies and Doom Resurrection being available on the AppStore. The Zune Marketplace isn’t far behind either. Thanks to the XNA platform, developers can create their own games for Zune and Zune HD. Google Android is another mobile phone platform that is making strides in open-source tech. The Android Marketplace is expanding often, with new titles showing up.

Gee, for gaming that can fit in your pocket, this article sure packs a lot. Now that you’re finally done reading this, get out there, and grad some fresh air. Oh, and you can take your Nintendo DS or Sony PSP with you if you want.

Rock Band 3 is coming October 26, and this is full list of every song you’ll have available in the box. From Amy Winehouse to Yes, there is a lot of variety.

By the way, if there is any doubt to this list, check out this video from Harmonix, responding to the “leak”

Rock Band 3 Setlist OFFICIAL Comment from Harmonix on Vimeo.

1. Amy Winehouse – “Rehab”
2. Anthrax – “Caught in a Mosh”
3. At the Drive-In – “One Armed Scissor”
4. Avenged Sevenfold – “Beast And The Harlot”
5. The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”
6. The Beach Boys – “Good Vibrations” (Live)
7. Big Country – “In a Big Country”
8. Blondie – “Heart of Glass”
9. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Get Up, Stand Up”
10. The Bronx – “False Alarm”
11. Chicago – “25 or 6 to 4″
12. The Cure – “Just Like Heaven”
13. David Bowie – “Space Oddity”
14. Deep Purple – “Smoke on the Water”
15. Def Leppard – “Foolin’”
16. Devo – “Whip It”
17. Dio – “Rainbow in the Dark”
18. Dire Straits – “Walk of Life”
19. The Doobie Brothers – “China Grove”
20. The Doors – “Break On Through (To the Other Side)”
21. Dover – “King George”
22. Echo & the Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”
23. Elton John – “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”
24. Faith No More – “Midlife Crisis”
25. Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
26. The Flaming Lips – “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1″
27. Foreigner – “Cold as Ice”
28. Golden Earring – “Radar Love”
29. HIM – “Killing Loneliness”
30. Huey Lewis and the News – “The Power of Love”
31. Hypernova – “Viva La Resistance”
32. Ida Maria – “Oh My God”
33. INXS – “Need You Tonight”
34. The J. Geils Band – “Centerfold”
35. James Brown – “I Got You (I Feel Good)”
36. Jane’s Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”
37. The Jimi Hendrix Experience ˆ”Crosstown Traffic”
38. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – “I Love Rock ‘n Roll”
39. John Lennon – “Imagine”
40. Juanes – “Me Enamora”
41. Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird”
42. Maná – “Oye Mi Amor”
43. Marilyn Manson – “The Beautiful People”
44. Metric – “Combat Baby”
45. The Muffs – “Outer Space”
46. Night Ranger – “Sister Christian”
47. Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
48. Paramore – “Misery Business”
49. Phish – “Llama”
50. Phoenix – “Lasso”
51. The Police – “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”
52. Poni Hoax – “Antibodies”
53. Pretty Girls Make Graves – “Something Bigger, Something Brighter”
54. Primus – “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver”
55. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
56. Queens of the Stone Age – “No One Knows”
57. Rammstein – “Du Hast”
58. Ramones – “I Wanna Be Sedated”
59. Raveonettes – “Last Dance”
60. Rilo Kiley – “Portions for Foxes”
61. Riverboat Gamblers – “Don’t Bury Me… I’m Still Not Dead”
62. Roxette – “The Look”
63. Slipknot – “Before I Forget”
64. Smash Mouth – “Walkin’ on the Sun”
65. The Smiths – “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before”
66. The Sounds – “Living in America”
67. Spacehog – “In the Meantime”
68. Steve Miller Band – “Fly Like an Eagle”
69. Stone Temple Pilots – “Plush”
70. Swingin’ Utters – “This Bastard’s Life”
71. T. Rex – “20th Century Boy”
72. Tears for Fears – “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
73. Tegan and Sara – “The Con”
74. Them Crooked Vultures – “Dead End Friends”
75. Tokio Hotel – “Humanoid”
76. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – “I Need to Know”
77. The Vines – “Get Free”
78. War – “Low Rider”
79. Warren Zevon – “Werewolves of London”
80. The White Stripes – “The Hardest Button to Button”
81. Whitesnake – “Here I Go Again”
82. The Who – “I Can See for Miles”
83. Yes – “Roundabout”

Wow, two great Metroid trailers in one week!

Preorder Metroid: Other M from Amazon by August 30 and get a $20 credit toward your next game purchase!

Thankfully, this video puts some doubts to rest. Also, robots. If you want to see a bit more GameTrailers dedicated nearly their entire episode to Portal 2 this week.

Pre-order Portal 2

The Terrordrome brings us new that Hasbro has issued a press release explaining the circumstances of the ill fated SDCC Sgt Slaughter variants on HasbroToyShop.com. Basically, so many people wanted these puppoes that they sold out quickly at both the show and on HasbroToyShop.com. So fast on HTS that most eager fans staking out the site for it go on sale never saw the site update with the product in stock. This caused quite a backlash. Hasbro is apologetic and will try to figure out a way to include the figure in a future multi-pack. Its not clear if its one version or both.

Press release is after the jump. Its a pretty decent read.

To the G.I. JOE fan community,

The passion displayed since Comic-Con on fan-forums regarding the special edition Sgt. Slaughter figures has been truly remarkable. It proves that there is a huge appetite to see this character in action figure form and we’re thrilled that the designs were so well received. We know the Sarge himself, who you may have had the chance to meet in the Hasbro booth at Comic-Con, would be honored to see such an outpouring of support and desire for this special edition figure in his likeness.

We understand there has been a misperception that Hasbro Toy Shop did not offer the primary or variant versions of the figure on the website after Comic-Con as has recently been tradition. This is not true. As publicized prior to the convention, there were indeed a limited number of Sgt. Slaughter figures (both variant and primary) available after the show; a reserve set aside specifically for HasbroToyShop.com as there is with all of our special edition figures.

Due to the overwhelming popularity, the figures sold out extremely fast. While we cannot provide a number of how many were available for practical business reasons, we do understand the frustration of those fans who were hoping to purchase the Comic-Con figures online after the convention. However, the very nature of these special edition figures dictates that they will be made in very limited quantities and availability cannot be guaranteed. Again, coupled with a strong demand for these figures, the supply available at both the convention and online afterwards went incredibly fast. Our primary goal is to make as many figures available at the show for the convention attendees. We are glad that we are also able to make some figures available online to those not able to make it to San Diego, but again, this quantity is limited.

It is important to note that the best opportunity to obtain these special edition figures is at the convention itself.

While we cannot guarantee anything at this time, because of the demand by fans who could not get the Comic-Con figures, we are looking at making the Sgt. Slaughter figures available again at retail, albeit in different packaging and likely not as single-carded basic figures. While details are not final we are making progress for late Spring ’11 and will have news in a couple months. We look forward to updating you then.

Thank you once again for the enthusiasm and support.

Sincerely,

The G.I. JOE brand team

The Behemoth dev blog posted some great news for PSN users. Tuesday, August 31st. They also mentioned that they would be at PAX Prime with a playable 4-player arcade cabinet of Castle Crashers. That is some pure awesome right there. Here’s the update:

Greetings to the Behemoth Development Blog of which we reside!

I’m here today to present you with the gift of a release date. After many months of certification we’ve finally secured an actual day for USA, Canada, and Mexico for Castle Crashers on the PlayStation Network. This gift is Tuesday, August 31st!!!!

We’ve been working on Castle Crashers for PSN for about a year and a half. In that time I’ve had the fortune of meeting everyone at tradeshows and lots of people will ask me, “C’mon what is taking so long?”. I have to say that we’ve felt the same way – our whole team’s goal is to make you all happy so we want to share it right now!! We’re super antsy. But like all of our games we can never rush anything as it’s necessary to make sure that every little piece is airtight. and fun!

We’ve teamed up with some other sites to give you a full list of contests for a chance to win free stuff. Be on the look out for these dates as we inch closer to the release. Perhaps something wonderful will be obtained?

Finally, we’re going to be at PAX (Penny-Arcade Expo) on September 3-5th at Booth #3102 so come on by and check out both Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theater. We are building a 4-player Castle Crashers arcade cabinet which you can use at the show! Look out X-Men/Predator/Simpsons we’re coming after your distant memories!!!!

love,
Dan

Sindra and I have been evangelizing this series. If you are not watching it, you are missing out on some quality story-telling and character development and it looks like Season 3 only kicks that up a notch. Get ready! Season 3 is coming September 17th!
[Via Newsarama]

Have I got some good news for you, poweteers! I was logged in to some multiplayer on War for Cybertron last night and noticed the marquee in the waiting room announcing that this weekend will be a QUADRUPLE XP weekend starting Friday at 6PM PST. Normally this would be great news on its own, but add this to the fact that this weekend will play host to PowetTV’s August game night featuring no game other than Transformers War for Cybertron. For more on game night and who to add to your friends’ list to play, check out the thread in our forum here.

The real fun begins when you land. The stages are made up of hundreds of blocks which have to be blown up to be destroyed. Here is cool part: your bombs can also injure you as well. Oh, and you’re blown back a few squares after setting them, and since they can explode quickly, this makes avoiding them quite difficult. Adding to the frustration is a constant energy drain. If you get hit, you lose even more energy, and you only get one life, so if you mess up, you’re basically screwed.

The level designs further add to the game’s difficulty. Most of them will have you bomb every block searching for a key, an exit, or a crystal, and some of them even repeat sections. You may even stumble down into an underground area which is PITCH BLACK. You can find various items scattered about the levels. Oh yeah, there is also the occasional boss battle.

With a needlessly frustrating difficulty level, Robowarrior pretty much guaranteed that no one who picked up the game would stick around long enough to finish it. However, the music in the first stage was pretty catchy though. In fact, there is a midi remix of it at vgmusic.com. Enjoy!

Interesting tidbit: this game was developed by Hudson Soft. It was known as Bomber King in Japan, where it was marketed as a sequel to Bomberman.

Show notes after the jump

New Adventures of He-Man Series Bible entry on Optikk
Optikk has a head-sized rotating eyeball that enables him to see throughvirtually anything. This comes in handy when the Mutants attach in regions of dense fog. He’s surly and always angry because while his long-range vision is incredible, he can’t see anything up close and is always walking into trees in front of him.

Masters of the Universe Classics bio for Optikk (this is the new one)
Optikk – Space Mutant Spy for Skeletor
Real Name: (pronounced through a series of blinks)
A Space Mutant from the foggy polar region of the planet Denebria, Optikk’s spyeye eyeball is specially adapted to see through the dense Denebrian fog of his homeworld, making him an ideal spy. He carries a Photon Neutralizer which has made him one of the most feared of the Space Mutants in the Tri-Solar System. Optikk allied himself with Skeletor shortly after the Lord of Destruction defeated Hordak and turned his ambition to the Horde Empire, forming a coalition of mutants and outcasts to conquer the universe. Optikk serves Skeletor by keeping an eye on He-Man and all of the Galactic Protectors of the planet Primus.