Small Games Sunday (?): Oasis

Again, away later, you get now.


Oasis by Mind Control Software is a must download. It plays like a strategic board game without all the boring stuff and alot of cool features only available on a PC. you play an Egyptian prince who's missed a big fight and your dad's dead. Now it's up to you to scour Egypt for followers, research tools and fight off wave after wave of evil Barbarians. But things aren't easy, the land's een covered in a mysterious fog that only lifts as you explore and the Barbarians thrive when you can't see where they come from. Thankfully building roads and gaining the support of special people (Scouts, Prophets, Architects, etc.) can help you on your journey to becoming the greaest ruler Egypt's ever seen. The full version's $20, a steal for a game this good.

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New Games Next Week

Since I'll be gone this weekend you get to know early (lucky ducks!):

Xbox 360:
Battle for Middle Earth II

PS2:
Ultimate Board Game Collection

PC:
Kitty LUV
Terrawars: New York Invasion
Glory of the Roman Empire
Big Oil: Build an Empire
For Liberty!
First Battalion

Gman is NOT Having a Wonderful Time

Cheif Zando found this on YTMND.com, enjoy!

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Mario Feeds The Needy

Downtown Toronto, Nintendo's set up a giant Mario made out of canned foods for "The Daily Bread Foodbank". He's big, he's mean, he's Italian, and he's also promoting New Super Mario Bros. See, homeless fed, video games for the rich, Nintendo does love everyone!

P.S. The people in the picture are my friends. See, they do exist!

PS3 Controller Named!

Sony's finally patented the name of their new controller. Ripping yet another page from Nintendo's book (and getting it horribly wrong), Sony's opted for a double-vowel incursion with real-world connections, just like Wii. Unfortunately Sony must not have been listening to the outcry of bathroom jokes Big N recieved when they opted for the very special name "Poos". That's right. Just so you know, it's supposed to be an infinity sign in the middle there, looking like the two analog sticks, but every time I look at it I can't help but think of the body part it's named around.

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12-Year Old Tests "Timeless" Title

The folks over at AddictedGeek decided to test out the "timeless" label Goldeneye (N64) has recieved by most gamers. They took a 12 year old geek whose history goes through the PS2, 360 and a pretty hardcore PC, sit him down and have him review the game. "Admittedly, it was a good fun. For about 20 seconds." Let's just say things went less than stellar. Lousy whipper-snappers.

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Transformers Trailer Pokes Early

Ignoring their giant flash countdown clock, the Transformer's website has posted a teaser trailer. It doesn't show much, but it'll definately wet the appetite (and dreams) of any geek.

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Be the Voice of Namor

Marvel's Ultimate Alliance is hosting open auditions for the role of Underwater anti-hero Namor. So, if you think you can pull it off grab your mic and give it a shot. Or don't if your Tuna. (Get it, they're the chicken of the sea!).

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Superman is a LVL 60 Human Paladin

Alright, he hasn't really said what his character's like, but Brandon Routh has admitted that he playes World of Warcraft. "I just like that world. I love medieval time and swords and horses and that kind of thing. It's fun to live that out, and I can play with some friends who also enjoy the game. It's challenging and mentally engaging. It's just fun." There you have it, even superheroes game.

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Xbox Live Arcade to be Less Live

Peter Moore has announced that Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged will be shipping by the end of the year. The box will bring Geometry Wars, Smash TV, Texas Hold'em, Wik: Fable of Souls, Bejeweled 2, Outpost Kaloki X, and Hardwood Backgammon to the non-Live world (Those poor people...) for a mere $40 USD. It will also try to draw them into Live with a 1-month Free Gold card and 100 MS Points.

Back From Niagra Falls

I'm back from Niagra Falls, but only for te day, tomorrow I go to my Grandmother's for a few more days (I'll be back Tuesday). The motel we stayed at had an arcade, but it really sucked. It had Ms. Pac-Man Cruisin' USA and a random Police shooter. Problem is they were all $1 each to play and I'm rather che...broke... Anyway, we went down the street to this giant Marvel Midway and let the mayhem ensue. Enjoy the video:

No Updates for a Week?!

Yeah, you heard right, I won't be able to update the site for the next week. I'll be in Niagra Falls on vacation. So, you'll either have to hold down that urge for my excellent writing skill or you'll die. I implore you not to choose the latter.

Oblivion Modders Create Multiplayer

Although it's very basic and only has you showing up together as NPCs, MultES4 Allows you to run around with 1 friend and fight monsters. There's no chat, inventory, quest, or stat synching, so things are pretty minimal, but they're working hard and expect things to escalate quickly, enabling 8 players simultaneously in Cyrodill. Let's cross our fingers they get some real progress on it.

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Xbox Live Maintenance Tomorrow

Tomorrow Xbox Live will be undergoing some maintenance to enhance performance, no new features will be added but we can presume some sort of improvement will come (likely less lag). Maybe if we're lucky they'll tidy the marketplace a little more. Thankfully it's only from 2 - 6 AM so only those crazy 24 hour Halo fans will be affected. Also the Xbox.com website will be down and up in the same time with the forums the only accesible part.

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New Games This Week

Hitting store shelves this week:

Xbox 360:
Over G Fighters

PS2:
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier
Pirates of the Carribean: Legend of Jack Sparrow
Micro Machines V4

PSP:
Stacked with Daniel Negreanu
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
Micro Machines V4

DS:
Sudoku Gridmaster
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi: The Genie & The Amp

GBA:
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

PC:
Hard Truck: Apocalypse
Titan Quest
Glory of the Roman Empire
Kitty LUV
Night Watch
Pirates of the Carribean: Legend of Jack Sparrow
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
Micro Machines V4

Small Games Sunday: Teddy Factory

I have to admit, I am completely addicted to this game. I'm not sure if it's the cutesy colour screen or the repetitive (but fun!) gameplay, but I can't put it down. In Teddy Factory you play a poor girl living in an orphanage that's in charge of making sure every orphan has a cuddly animal to snuggle up with. The only problem is your kind uncle who once ran the teddy bear factory has been bought out by a large corporation and you have to work in the factory to make exces bears to give to the children. It totally feels like you work in a Build-A-Bear, except instead of making them for snotty brats you make them for snotty orphans! Kinda makes you feel all warm and good, helping *virtual* orphans. The demo's pretty inclusive and the game is definately worth a check, however at around $20 it's likely to turn off alot of people, especially considering it looks so kiddie. I definately think it's worth a look though, I can't stop building bears! ORPHANS HAVE HOPE!

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Jon Stewart Does Video Games

Ah, Jon Stewart, I love you.

Comparison: Games to Movies

I found myself just now wondering if better games made better movies. So, I did some research, took a bunch of random movies based on video games and compared the score of the original game (voted by users of GameSpot) and the movie adaptation (voted by users of Interternational Movie Database). Shockingly it turns out that no matter how great a game was the movie will inevitably suck. Silent Hill is the best game-film I checked and Uwe's stinking up the bottom with a pathetic 20% for House of the Dead (#17th worst film ever). It's really odd because even comparitivly it makes no difference whther the game was good or bad the movie results vary (within their degrees of suckiness).

WOW Offers Server Swapping

Blizzard's begun to offer server swapping for characters in World of Warcraft. This is a feature rarely added to games, Everquest being the last remembered one, mostly due to it's hefty cost. SOE Charged upwards in the 100's of dollars for a server change (multiple characters), while Blizzard only charges $25. Cheaper? Yes. Sane? By no means.

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Will Wii Affect ESRB?

I was just thinking for a minute, while Nintendo's never been known for rarely producing (or even allowing on their system) controversial games I'm curious to know how the enhanced immersion factor of the Wiimote will change the ESRB rating system. Currently there's no criteria for immersion in games because it's so subjective. However, now there's a clearcut difference between say an 360 title and a Wii title as far as player involvement is concerned. Maybe I'm just paranoid that Jack Thompson and his army of retarded politicians are going to peg Nintendo for producing "murder simulations", but I think developers should definately be a little more careful when handling the Wii to avoid legal backlash. It could definately be said that the actual act of swinging a sword or aiming a gun could have a greater impact on the "evils" video games invoke than a simple tap of the A button. It's really something to look out for, I mean, none of us really want katana masters as children, right?

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Small Games Sunday: Heavy Weapon

This game is great, it's an arcade shooter, you're a scrolling tank that keeps getting powerups. I play the web game quite a bit and the deluxe version's only $20, or you could wait 'till it's out on the Xbox Live Arcade.

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New Games This Week

Hitting store shelves this week:

Xbox:
NFL Head Coach

PS2:
Moto GP 4
NFL Head Coach

PSP:
The Legend of Heroes 2
Ultimate Board Game Collection
Tomb Raider: Legend

DS:
Break 'em All
Sudoku Mania

PC:
Cossacks 2: Battle for Europe
Hard truck: Apocalypse
Rome: Total War Alexander
Jaws Unleashed
NFL Head Coach
Sea World Adventure Parks 2-Pack

GTA IV Uses RAGE

Grand Theft Auto IV will be using the RAGE graphics rendering engine, the same one that they used for Table Tennis. Needless to say the series' blocky look definately could use the awesome graphics update, but the coolest thing is the physics. One of the most detailed (Check out Table Tennis!) just imagine precise calculations of bodies flying and car crashes! Hmmm, how will the quality of the graphics affect the next Hot Coffee segment?

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Bill Gates "Retires"

Not a full retirement, but the Big Bill is planning to work part-time by the end of 2008. He's doing it to work more on his charitable organization, but still rake in all the money. Besides really, will it make much of a difference? No, almost everything is run by the company's little guys anyway. Kinda puts that whole capitalist system into perspective doesn't it?

What effect will this have on Xbox? None likely, just one less awkward character talking about his achievements from level 5 of Zuma and his "Marble Blaster" (?!) loving son prancing around the next E3.

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SMB Theme: Most Popular Ringtone

According to Billboard.com Super Mario Bros. Theme is the most popular cell-phone ringtone, holding the number 1 spot for 87 weeks! That's almost 2 years! WTF!??! Yeah!

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Vista's Halo 2 Will Cross-Platform Message

Halo 2, finally on the PC years after console brings an interesting prospect. With Vista being Live enabled it seems like a logical choice would be to make Halo 2 playable cross-platform. Unfortunately MS says that's not a possibility, but lucky us! We'll be able to express our wishes to play together or even set up a match on the console version we already own with cross-platform messaging. Um... yay...

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Halo 3 Ending Leaked!

Well, at least some of it, probably mostly rumours, but does have inside sources from Bungie, check out the source.

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ESRB Demands "One Million Dollars!"

The ESRB has updated their policy, now if a game is found to have questionable content hidden in it (ala Hot Coffee) publishers can be fined for up to $1,000,000 (A MILLION). Now, my question is, how much MORE money did rockstar make after Hot Coffee? I'm not entirely sure, but it may just offset that million. Still though, that's nothing to sneeze at. Looks like Developers are going to have to be alot more careful. Damn...

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BEAR WITH ME!

Hey guys, sorry to let you know (I kinow how much you love the site.... But I'll be lacking in posts (as you can tell from recently) as my internet scenario is trash thanks to rennovations. (Nevermind exams). So, sorry for the lack and lack to come of posts, expect things to be nice and cheery by month's end.

New Games This Week:

Hitting store shelves this week:

Xbox360:
MotoGP 06

Xbox:
Urban Chaos: Urban Response

PS2:
IHRA Drag Racing
Armored Core: Last Raven
Urban Chaos: Riot Response
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
AMF Xtreme Bowling

PSP:
Metal Gear: Digital Graphic Novel

GameCube:
MLB 2K6

GBA:
Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Falzar
Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar
Backyard Baseball 2007

PC:
Luxhor Mahjong
Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War
IHRA Drag Racing
Rush for Berlin

Mobile:
Lara Croft's Poker Party

Mac:
Luxhor Mahjong

My Interview With: Athena Twin PMS

I recently got ahold of Anthena Twin of PMS Clan fame. I asked her a few questions regarding the state of girls and gaming.


1) What do you think has caused the rise in girl gamers?

Exposure that women REALLY do play.and can play well! I believe this is because women, for really the first time in gaming, are getting recognition and support from the gaming community, media, and companies...in that order. For PMS Clan, we started on Xbox Live 4 years ago. It took almost 2 years of serious game play, dedication, and hard work to get the recognition we have today...and now many new women are actually able to come into a supportive gaming environment and learn to kick some butt, or just have fun! Guys are getting their girls systems now, and the girls are liking them! They go tell their girl friends about it, and the story continues.


2)How do guys react to girl gamers online?

This is a double-edged sword...some are mean as heck and some are huge supporters. Especially if one is losing to a girl, it can get really bad. I think majority of the gamer guys support us girl out there, though. Although, I have noticed a little more animosity as we have gained more recognition, sponsorships, and media. It really is a shame, and I think people need to realize that groups that bring positive attention to female gaming.like diversity, competitivness and a good community, help the industry overall. It brings awarenss not only to female and male gamers, but also to mainstream audience.which is where more gamers come from!

3) Has that reaction changed? (What did it used to be?)

It was really bad for us at first.until we started entering into the PRO tournaments last year. Once we started giving a face to PMS, as REAL GIRLS, the guys started realizing we WERE real women playing, and started treating us more like humans.

4)What is your training schedule like?

Personally, I only get to play about 3 hours a night now...and I play Xbox, PC, and hand-held games. I am training in PGR for CPL Summer, and will be Playing Halo2 at WSVG's LanWAR since one of my teams needed one more girl. I work full time as a manager for a finance company during day, and I run PMS Clan at night. Many of our top PRO Players like PMS Teen FiOS (our Verizon/FiOS sponsored team), and other members, play about 6-8 hours a day on their specialty game. Most of our girls average around 3-4 hours a night.

5) How competitive is PMS?

PMS is in almost every PRO US tournament for console for the past year. Our teams placed 6th & 8th at the CPL Summer Championship and the championship bracket twice at MLG events. Our PC division launched PMS V3nus last year at CPL Winter, and we will be debuting a new CS team at CPL Summer 2006. We were in the top 20 of Xbox clans on teamcompete.com in R63, and we have held successful competitive divisions in UR, CS, RTCW, GR series & R6 series. We have allot of catching up to do with the guys, as they have been playing competitively for years.and this is new (last couple of years) for many of the females players. I think as our younger generation of PMS girls, and younger women from other teams, start competing, that is when the world will see 1st place win from a female. I do want to point out, although we are competitive, it is not solely about competition for us.it is about support each other in gaming.

6) What were the major contributors to girls playing more games?

1.. Supportive gaming environment. As women find their place in gaming, and have communities supporting them, women turn a hobby into a passion. Many girls have joined PMS as casual players.and are now our top players. One of our main PRO players, Smiley PMS (16, she plays on our PMS Teen Fios team) said she probably would not even be playing Halo2 anymore if she had not joined PMS Clan do to all the smack talk and obscenities that can sometimes be found online (especially when you are a girl).
2.. Companies recognizing importance of marketing to women.


7) How did PMS get started?

PMS Clan was formed almost 4 years ago, at the Xbox Live. My sister and I ran into a girl named Blues, and it was the coolest thing to play together. Sisterhood at it's best! I went and posted on the Xbox.com forums about the new PMS Clan we created, and we met 2 other girls (FraggityAnn & Wildthing) to make our first 5 founders. Today we have close to 500 girls, which is really amazing. Any girl with a positive attitude is welcome into PMS. We only screen for attitude and dedication (i.e. attending practices), and they would just need to post in our recruitment section of our forums at www.pmsclan.com

She also encouraged me to let you guys know that to set up playtimes for PC, Xbox, or PS2 or for just more information you should visit the forums at www.pmsclan.com

MarioKart Source

Some modders in the HL2 community are working on a mod for the Half-Life 2 engine based of Nintendo's MarioKart series. The game will feature both Nintendo and Half-Life characters and will attempt to stay true to the MarioKart feel.

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Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade recently got their DS Lites shipped from the Nintendo PR department, here's a video of them opening it, proving Nintendo puts a little more effort into presentation.

Alan: A Video Junkie

Alan, I feel your pain.

Wii Will Download Treats While You Sleep

The Wii will have the capability to download special DS demos, and likely other content overnight so when you wake up you'll get a lovely gift in your living room. And this time it won't be from your cat.

"I'll give you a specific example we are planning for. Let's say your Wii is connected to the Internet in a mode that allows activation on a 24-hour basis. This would allow Nintendo to send monthly promotional demos for the DS, during the night, to the Wii consoles in each household. Users would wake up each morning, find the LED lamp on their Wii flashing, and know that Nintendo has sent them something. They would then be able to download the promotional demo from their Wii's to their Nintendo DS's."

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Xbox Dashboard Update Tomorrow

According to Major Nelson's Blog tomorrow will be the day 360 fans can finally download the anti-annoyance update that eliminates alot of the minor flaws in the system interface. The download will be released periodically depending on timezone (5 AM in Toronto), so any time after your zone gets it you can start downloading. Xbox.com has also posted a list of all 125 additions to the system.

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Small Games Sunday: Chicken Invaders 2

It's like space invaders, but you no longer have a fixed axis, there's weird bonus stages and instead of pixelated aliens, you're shooting fat chickens in the groin. It's free too, so that's a plus. But then again, I'd never pay for a game this simple.

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New Games This Week

Hitting stiore shelves this week:

Xbox:
MLB SlugFest 2006
AMF Xtreme Bowling
And1 Streetball

PS2:
IHRA Drag Racing: Sportsman Edition
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
MLB SlugFest 2006
AMF Xtreme Bowling
And1 Streetball

PSP:
Race Driver 2006

DS:
Big Brain Academy
Magnetica
Scurge: Hive

GBA:
Scurge: Hive
Juka and the Monophonic Menace

PC:
Mumbo Jumbo Puzzle Pack
Ultra Sudoku & Ultra Kakuro
The Movies: Stunts & Effects
Jaws Unleashed

Mac:
Battleground Europe: World War II Online

Best of E3 Awards Winners

The results are in, I got 7 right. Not bad, but not that great. Wii and Spore came out as the big winners, Gears of War nabbing a few too. Kinda surprised Guitar Hero 2 won over WarioWare though, but I can see why. Anyway, there you have it. E3 is now dead. More next year.

Best of Show: Wii
Best Original Game: Spore
Best PC Game: Spore
Best Console Game: Gears of War
Best Handheld Game: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Best Hardware: Wii
Best Action Game: Gears of War
Best Adventure Game: Assasin's Creed
Best Fighting Game: Heavenly Sword
Best RPG: Mass Effect
Best Racer: Excite Truck
Best Simulation: Spore
Best Sports Game: Wii Sports
Best Strategy Game: Supreme Commander
Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game: Guitar Hero 2
Best Online Game: Enemy Terretory: Quake Wars

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Xbox Live Artist of the Month: Matisyahu

I remember seeing this guy on the news before, he's a Jewish Reggae performer who sings about his faith. Decked out in his wide-brimmed hat ad accompanied by his kickin' beared he's this month's artist. His video Youth is available on the marketplace now. Check it out, it's really different.

Dreamcast Strikes Back

Like a zombie, thrusting it's hand out of the rain soaked earth on it's grave the Dreamcast defiantly shouts out to the night "I'm not dead yet!". A full Sega rennaisance is occuring with IGN re-reviewing all 250+ Dreamcast titles, GOAT Publishing developing 10 new games to be revealed at DreamCon in a few months, and Sega Japan reselling the Dreamcast online. If all goes well, Sega may have anoher chance at things (maybe a handheld down the line?). The Dreamcast deserves it more than anything, the first online console, one of the most innovative and with a great library of games I think it's time we gave it a second look.

360 Backwards Compatibility Update Coming

Microsoft's PR team has announced that a major Backwards compatibility update, with many titles people have been asking for is on it's way. There have been major problems emulating each game's unique use of the Xbox's hardware. It's quite an impressive feat to get this many, but let's just hope they'll have more in the future.

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