Now you can play the movie!
All you have to do is whip out your dvd copy of The Matrix. Press play and grab a video game controller. Whenever a fight scene or something exciting happens, mash the hell out of the buttons.
In between scenes, pause the movie so the next level can load.
When lots of bullets and stuff are flying around, put the movie on slow-motion so you can witness the frame rate drop.
OK, so this isn’t exactly like the PS2/Xbox action game, but trust me its a remarkably similar experience. I realize not very many people like Enter The Matrix (I thought it was OK…), but Shiny really assed up this game. Its clumsy, ugly, and broken.
Not even worth a rent. I played less than an hour before my mind drifted off and I started thinking about candy.

Forget for a minute about the reasons why the US sent it’s troops to a foreign country, and think about what happens when they get there.  Full Spectrum Warrior does this exactly.  Created as a training simulator for the US army, this game allows players to direct two squads of military soldiers in combat.  You’ll learn how to flank, supress, and outwit the enemy, and keeping your men alive is a crucial part of the game.  It has two downloadable levels via Xbox live, and the actual US army version, with even more complicated tatics is hidden on this disc as a secret code.  A sequel is due out later this spring, so check this one out and get your practice.

In what could only be described as a strange alignment of timing in auctions for rare items, some auctions have gone up or are going up soon for some incredibly rare Transformers figures.

First up is an auction for two rare Japanese release only Cassettes that transform into dinosaurs, Dial and Zaur. They can combine to form RegOut (which wouldn’t be too far a stretch to be called LegOut in the japanese and actually make more sense.) I’ll be honest. I like to think I’m highly knowledgable when it comes to Transformers, but before this past week, I didn’t even know these existed. I was only aware of the similar cassette pair, Gurafi and Noizu, that form Decibel. I have personally seen these at a previous Botcon and watched them be sold for over $300 as a pair (which in hindsight was clearly a great deal since this auction is over 800 already with 2 days left.)

Next up is the supremely rare G2 Protectobot, First-Aid. The Protectobots and the Stunticons never made it to release for Generation 2, but samples were made and are regarded highly in the collecting community. This piece is from the Hartmans’ personal collection. The Hartman’s (Jon and Karl) have been a pillar in the Transformer fan community having a pivotal role in Botcon’s inception and are still active to this day working on the convention and collectors’ club. They have a set of both the G2 Protectobots and G2 Stunticons and will be putting eight of the ten figures up for auction (Silverbolt and Motormaster excluded). According to the auction, this First Aid is one of six known to be in existance. That puts its rarity on par with the likes of Lucky Draw Six Shot and his Lucky brethren, whom I have seen on sale at Botcon for over $6,000. The Stunticons and Protectobots will be put up for bidding one at a time. So watch Jon Hartman’s ebay id, Elrich, for more to come.

Instructions for Gurafi and Noizu were from tfracetrack.com.

In what might be one of the strangest import deals ever, Craig McCracken’s anime inpired Cartoon Network his Powerpuff Girls is going become an actual anime.

PPG already runs (successfully) in Japan and this new show will start airing in July with a 52 episode run, according to Toon Zone. No plans for a US release yet, but a dub release of an anime based on a US show that is inspired by anime is surreal.

Someone has got some (kinda poor) early footage from the show, but you can get a good idea of what we might be in for with this.

A long while ago I heard about this little guy and thought it might be neat. They certainly seemed to have some cool specs, and if Microsoft Game Studios was working on it, then it might’ve been the portable x-box.
But not really. It sank so fast, I never even saw one in stores. N-Gage at least made it to market. Gizmondo was a massive disaster, and now Game Trailers has been nice enough to piece together what happened in the last year, from the announcement of the portable to the destruction of the CEO’s Ferrari.

Tekken 5 came out on PS2 last year and it wasn’t long before the arcade version got an upgrade with new characters and made the PS2 version seem obsolete.

Namco’s brilliant idea to fix this: put it out on PSP!

Boasting 35 characters and a robust customization mode, their top fighting franchise is poised to underwhelm with its continued lack of online support and even less detail than its console version.

Come on, Namco. First Soul Calibur 3 only on PS2 and now this. I know you’ve got an xbox live development kit sitting around there somewhere because Galaga and Ms Pac Man are both on Live Arcade. If you’re going to give players all these choices and customizing options, you might as well let them show off online.

official site

First4Figures has released some images of the next bust in their Beast Wars product line.

Images and more can be seen here.

Seeing Will Wright in my mailbox this week made me think of the first game of his I ever played.

Already a huge hit on the PC, Nintendo snatched up the rights to Wright’s city planning game and gave it their own spin. Controls were simple enough, using the d-pad and face buttons of the SNES controller to perform the same functions as a mouse on basically the same interface. But earning a Mario Statue for a job well done and Bowser attacks on the city insured this was more than just a direct port.

I never actually owned the game, I borrowed it from my cousin. For something like 2 years. When I’d get a new city starting, I’d work on it for a couple hours then leave it running all night to collect nothing but tax money and pray the whole place didn’t burn down while I was literally asleep. Sure, there was a code to start out with like a billion dollars, but I liked the more risky way. And of course, I used the various color coded industrial zones and residential areas to spell out naughty words on the map, something I’m apparently not alone in doing…

Nintendo also fashioned an avatar for Will Wright as “Dr Wright” who would dole out advice on how to run the city and alert you in case of an emergency. While Maxis has gone on to become one of EA’s biggest developers, Nintendo still pays tribute to the visionary creator with the occasional cameo.

While I can hardly endorse trying to dig up one of these carts when newer better versions of Sim City are all over the internets for very cheap, this was a fun way for someone like myself to play a game well before I had a PC in my home, and it deserves a tribute. PC ports are met with all kinds of disgust over controls and lack of hi-res graphics these days, but back then all I knew was this game let me build a city, and then tax it into oblivion or build the best public transit ever or just screw around. It was really the first sandbox game I can think of, and the first game I ever played where I didn’t care about killing or collecting anything. Wow, I know a guy like Will Wright doesn’t exactly need someone to stand up and call him a genius, but its a testament to his design that he could distract my demented little pre-teen mind away from MTV long enough to build a utopia.