Games! Games! Games!

But second and more important, this insatiable need for human interaction is also influencing the bricks-and-mortar retail establishment. More and more retail stores are becoming like "hangouts." We see this with larger stores as well as shopping malls, with their food courts, playgrounds and arcade games. Again, they're becoming like amusement parks.

Refill ammunition:
Select the "Enter Cheats" option at the main menu, then press B(2), X(2).

I could write considerably more on what makes Jade Empire a great game. It is an early leader for RPG of the year, if not overall game of the year. And it ranks among the best Xbox games on the market. This isn't just a great RPG, it is also a brilliant action game that casual gamers can pick up and enjoy.

An interesting new piece of info has emerged which suggests Xbox 360 will indeed play original Xbox games after all. And what’s more, Xbox Live will allow owners of either console to play together.

Sony PlayStation Portable to arrive in Europe on 1 September

Gamesradar has what may be the first screenshots from a Playstation 3 game. Taken from the PS3 game Possession, they certainly look a mile ahead of anything the PS2 is capable of. Possession, developed by Blitz is a real time strategy game with zombies.

It causes more problems than that. With the decrease in power on the PSP, Dynasty Warriors has been sent back to the launch of the Playstation 2. There's a deep, gaudy wall of fog surrounding everything; the ground is muddy, textures are bland, and the frame rate takes a hit all to make the skirmishes seem as epic as possible. That works on a more powerful system. On the PSP, it's a struggle to just make the game work right. It's fascinating how you can take out 20 enemies without even seeing a single one of them due to pop-up.

Toshiba has announced a display technology that makes 3-D images appear to stand out several centimeters from the surface of a specially designed screen when viewed from an angle.

The new technology, said Toshiba, opens up new areas of application for 3-D displays, including e-learning, simulations of buildings and landscapes, and arcade games.

Xbox Live is an online gaming service that works across both the current Xbox system and the future Xbox 2. You will be able to play online and compete against others across both consoles. If you are playing an Xbox game on Live you will be able to compete against people playing that same game on Xbox 2.

Spong.com are at it again. Call it halfway between rumour-mongering and investigative journalism, but seeing as it's fun, we'll join in... Games site Spong.com has grabbed some copy off Brooke Burgess' website regarding industry speculation on Nintendo's next console, currently codenamed "Revolution".

Nintendogs is officially out in Japan, and I picked up a copy last Wednesday. This Nintendo DS title lets you interract with a variety of dogs via the unique DS hardware. Here are the impressions so far.

Video game sales rose 22% to 2.2 billion in the first quarter of the year. Normally video games sales in first quarter drop as industry recovers from Christmas. The growth was attributed to the PSP and DS, but consoles not handhelds led the sales. Maybe that was because there was at least one A title for consoles released every week. Kinda proves the point, release a strong game and the sales will come.

The Soul Calibur Series has proved popular among gamers who look for a balance of realism and fun in a fighting game. No doubt, the coming Soul Calibur III looks to be one of the best fighting games around. As seen in Soul Calibur II, Namco has not failed in producing a high-quality game greatly surpassing Tekken 5, which released in March. Soul Calibur III not only looks good, but feels good (there I said it). The graphics and human-movement emphasize why Soul Calibur III is the game to beat. New changes make the game even more breath-taking.

In fact, I’d ditch the broader ‘hint books’ entirely, and focus on volumes specific to in depth coverage of one game. Video game cheats and codes can be found in abundance, and fresher, on the Internet for free. Why duplicate? Strategy guides for one specific game will have a longer shelf life and fill a ‘not for free’ niche.

More PSP links: The Ultimate PSP Micro Scratch Removal Guide.

The Sony EyeToy is a USB camera for the PlayStation 2 that acts as a mixed-reality interface, blending and controlling digital settings with a user's environment and body movements. At first glance it may have been easy to write-off the EyeToy as another peripheral novelty destined to go the way of the infamous Nintendo Power Glove (which is looking remarkably retro-chic, BTW :-). But in his talk at Accelerating...

If you have a playstation 2 and you haven't played God Of War, you must. Mind you, this ain't a kiddie game, it deserves the big M it carries. It's simply one of the best games I have seen done on the Playstation 2 on all levels- graphics, art, music, gameplay, technical prowess.

IBM, Sony et al have finally revealed details on the much hyped Cell chip which is going to power the PlayStation 3 console slated for release early next year. Boasting 4+GHz, 8 vector processing cores and a whopping 234 million transistors, it looks set to be a very powerful...

From the big screen to the small one, Superchic[k] is also part of the new Playstation 2 game Steel Lancers Arena International (SLAI). The game is a Robot shooter (Robot Combat Game), and Superchic[k] music is featured extensively throughout. Watch for an upcoming trailer for the game with the special arena mix of “Anthem,” from Beauty From Pain. SLAI will be available everywhere you can buy video games, and hits shelves Sept. 6th.

For now, the Massive ads appear only on PC games that are connected to the internet. Eventually, the ads will work similarily to games played on consoles like Sony’s PS2 and Microsoft’s XBox, if they have internet connection. The internet link allows Massive’s software to refresh the ads as players progress through the game.

XBox's Challenge:Strengthen the position of Xbox Live as the online gaming service of choice among athletes and sports gamers Cultivate sports gamers with unique and compelling Xbox Live programming

Yup, the LONG delayed former GameCube title, then Xbox title, is now rumored to be an exclusive for Xbox 360. The game is rumored to be a launch title for Xbox 360’s this fall (although, it’s Rare), which could happen since the game has been in development since Rare showcased the younger Joanna Dark at GameCube’s unvailing at Space World 2000 (August 2000).

Well….if some of you are still thinking that this game might not be a good buy…I wonder what you’re thinking. But maybe there’s one thing that I can mention that might sway a bit. Thats its replayability. This game, just BEGS you to play it again. One of the biggest and most obvious reasons is the fact that it has 3 seperate endings, one of The Way of the Open, The Way of the Closed Fist and then one for bheing neutral in it all. To go along with different endings, you’ll obviously have...

We did not have Playstations or Xboxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. (I'm still not sure exactly how I survived this, but of course we had video games)

I just saw guys at Engadget use Abyss to showcase Howto setup your own PSP web. So very cool! Version 2.0 was released incorporating a lot of feature requests. If you’re wetting your toes in the webserver software, Abyss is a go.

As all of the base stations along the track are not yet in place, the system switches users over to GPRS when there is no Wi-Fi signal, of course the user may notice the slower speeds but at least the conection will be maintained. I'm sure it won't be long before we'll be playing online games on our PSP consoles over Wi-Fi.

AtomFilms: Mobile Movie Theater features downloadable movies specifically formatted for viewing on the PSP. Nice!

UPDATE: Somebody over at atomfilms needs to fix those files. All three end in .mp4, but the PSP cannot read them unless you capitalize them to .MP4. It took me about five minutes of cursing last night before I realized why the newly copied over films weren’t showing up.

All three currently available movies are entertaining. I watched them in bed last night. One downside: none of them were formatted to perfectly fit in the PSP fullscreen.

Xbox 360? Back nearly a year ago, a list of potential candidate names was unveiled for the Xbox 2, on this list contained Xbox 360, now considered by many the final retail name for the next generation Xbox. The reason being to better compete. Xbox 2 sounds older then PlayStation 3 - therefore if they bump it up to 360, it sounds more cutting-edge and more modern. Microsoft often up version numbers, from memory they've done this with DirectX and Windows Media, why bother with 360? Why not just call it Xbox 3. This could well happen, but again total...

With the GameCube though, all that's needed is for one jumper to be opened, and another closed, to convert the US unit into a Japanese one. If the opening/closing can be switched on/off, then we can toggle between the two regions at will! No modchip needed. Awesome!

So, after looking thru the simple online guide, and acquiring myself a 2nd-hand GameCube, as well as some tools from Radio Shack (old reliable), I took apart the console, did some cutting and soldering, and ended up with this:

Yes it is true the Xbox 2 or Xbox 360 has been revealed on the internet , this leaked picture showed up on www.teamxbox.com

Yup, the title should speak for itself, but sources say that Nintendo will NOT showcase its next-generation console at E3 2005 in May. So what’s up with that? Well, we all know that Nintendo is very secretive about any information regarding any of their new consoles and they take FOREVER to be unvailed for the world to see. I really can’t see Nintendo releasing “Revolution” (working title) this year because they still have a few killer app games...

Well, it’s still not a standalone web browser, but there are reports that there will be another web browser included with “Derby Time”; not much more info though: “At this point, it is not clear how the functionality of the Derby Time browser and the Wipeout Pure browser differ.” If it takes less clicks to get to, then it is better.

I have to admit that I'm not a hardcore gamer. I've become much more interested in games since I got my PSP, and I suspect that will be the case for a lot of people over the next several months.

When I got my PSP, I asked the clearly hardcore gamer behind the counter what the hottest games were for PSP. He took a quick poll of the other two gamer dudes and they all agreed that Ridge Racer definitely had the best graphics but Wipeout Pure and Lumines were also hot titles.

They are both good games. But if you are just going out to pick up a PSP and don't want to buy both of these games, I give the nod to Wipeout Pure. Here's why:

Both of these games allow you to race against other PSP users in the same room via PSP's wireless capabilities. I think Wipeout Pure might also allow you to compete against other players in remote locations as long as you're all connected to the internet but I haven't been brave enough to check that out yet (I'm not certain about this so if it's an important feature for you, make sure you check it out before buying).

Nintendo of America has announced the Nintendo World store, located in the heart of New York City’s Rockefeller Center, will open on May 14, 2005. Nintendo World will celebrate with a grand opening block party outside the store in Rockefeller Plaza.

[ News : Article ]

The Nintendo World store will feature exclusive Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance SP, Nintendo GameCube and Pokémon merchandise not found at any other store in the world.

“This will take patience, time, skill, and jolt cola. Tim Schuerewegen released the driver and application necessary to allow anyone with a Nintendo DS, a GBA flash cart, and a supported wireless network card to load any homebrew demo/app on their DS. You could do it with PassMe but now it can be done wirelessly.”

As well as the standard console, an additional $100 will bag you a hard drive (which is said to fit into a port near the top of the machine), WebTV and, intriguingly, backwards compatibility - meaning that the basic Xbox 360 won’t be able to play current-gen Xbox games.

I’m basically just using this entry to let everyone know that deep down, i’m a total geek. Now that that’s out of the way, on with the list. This list is the ten video games, in reverse order, that have been my most favorite at one time or another. It’s a pretty subjective list, but then, aren’t all lists pretty subjective? I haven’t actually spent much time on games in recent days, and with Joel coming soon, it’s doubtful that i’ll have copious amounts of time for them in the near future. But it’s...

Managed server and hosting provider Liquid Web (liquidweb.com) announced on Tuesday that it is including a free Sony PlayStation Portable device with all managed Professional and Enterprise servers.

Playboy.com today has announced its next step in delivering digital and downloadable beauties with the launch of its newest feature “PlayboyStation Portable.” Given the tremendous popularity of the new Sony PlayStation Portable®, Playboy.com has created a sci-fi themed pictorial of the Cyber Girl of the Year 2005 Amy Sue Cooper that was photographed and formatted specifically for viewing on this device.

This is cool:

Seven Seas Entertainment announced today the release of 155 pages of downloadable manga content specifically converted for optimal viewing on the new Sony PSP.

I hope more people start releasing content like this for the PSP.

Hey, Kevin, you own Nero, right? Check it out: Nero Supports Sony PSP.

With all the talk of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 launches, Nintendo didn’t want to feel unhip by not announcing the unveiling of anything during this year’s biggest gaming trade show. Unfortunately, they probably won’t be showcasing much of the Revolution, however they will be showing off their new DS online service, as well as the games that will feature it. Pokemon Pearl and Diamond will supposedly be the flagship titles for this new service and will feature prominently in their presentation. If you’re a Gamecube fan...

Terra Nova is weighing in on today's announcement from Sony Online that it's establishling a player-to-player market for selling virtual assets in its game worlds (which include EverQuest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies). See Sony's original "Station Exchange" press release her

“MSN Messenger on the PSP wipout pure haxed browser just point your browser to http://mob.e-messenger.net/mobile/ and log in and walla your there!”

read more | digg story

“Find out how to change the default removable disk icon you see when you connect your PSP to your computer, with an actual icon of the PSP in action. All you need to do is download a 4kb file and extract it into the main directory of your psp, which shouldn’t be a space issue, and your done.”

read more | digg story

The old UFO game from years past was one of my favorite PC games. It was well done, with good graphics for that time, and I must admit I lost hours and hours to this fun game. A couple of years ago Russian developer SMK Software began porting UFO to the Pocket PC which always seemed a perfect fit. The development was originally in Russian and I never could get early betas to work on my Pocket PC. Well, it looks like they are finally getting the game ready for release and have a near final...

I spotted a Nintendo PowerPad at a thrift store a couple of years ago and thought it would make an interesting midi keyboard. Hacking this controller was fairly simple. Inside are two 4021 8-channel parallel to serial converters. 8 pads are wired to one of the ICs and the remaining 4 pads are wired to the other. I used a microcontroller to convert the status of the shift register into midi data. My midi converter also has 2 pots – one to change octaves (including a position that will keymap to my drum machine) and another to set the midi velocity (volume). With this interface, the pad can be connected to a synthesizer, drum machine, or to a computer.

I also found a couple of Nintendo Uforce controllers (horizontal and vertical planes of infrared sensors) so I made another midi interface that could be used to input data from both Uforces, a PowerPad, and a standard NES controller simultaneously. I even used the actual sockets from old NES consoles so I didn’t have to add my own plugs to the controllers. As is, this system cannot directly used with a synthesizer, it has to work with a program that allows custom mapping of midi data (Max, PD, Supercollider, etc.). However, the code could be...

In an interesting story out of the Japanese market and posted by GameIndustry.biz, Anime media giant Bandai will ship titles in both DVD and UMD in the same package. This way, you can buy a movie and play it either on your favorite DVD player or on your PSP.

Brand new anime series Eureka 7, which has been created by the team behind the hugely successful RahXephon, will be the first to get the treatment - with a single box housing both UMD and DVD, for slightly more than the price of buying both separately.

At present, the series has only been announced for the Japanese market, and there's been no sign of any North American company following this lead - with most presumably waiting to see how standalone UMD titles perform before considering such bundling deals

in this blog i will be reviewing and talking about xbox games

Microsoft Game Studios - whose stable includes Bioware, Bizarre Creations, Bungie, Epic, FASA, Lionhead and Rare - will produce exclusive titles for Xbox 2. As will legendary Japanese developers Yoshiki Okamoto (Resident Evil, Street Fighter), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez, Lumines) and Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), all of whom have recently announced their commitment to the platform.

Who wants to take a trip to LA?? Its a gallery event full of dedications to early video games.

With Microsoft gearing up to reveal its successor to Xbox on 12 May in an exclusive MTV special, Xbox 2 game-makers have already begun teasing us with snapshots of what we can expect graphically from Microsoft�s next-gen giant.

Nintendo's next-generation console — codenamed "Revolution" — is based on multiple wireless technologies, Broadcom said.

Nintendo has denied reports that GameCube title Odama, a curious mixture of the pinball and strategy genres, has been canned and re-envisioned as a Nintendo DS title.

Time to geek it up, yet again for another game round up. E3 is just around, which should be very interesting this year with the unveiling of the next generation consoles, and the associated next generation games. A few of the upcoming, announced games which look interesting are Call of Duty 2, The Godfather, Battlefield 2, and Myst V. One other game which has me considering buying a Gamecube (apart from the new Zelda) is the next game in the Harvest Moon series, an amazing series I must say.

The Sony PSP will rock your ass off! I finally picked one up when I got back home! Damn it kills the Nintendo DS over and over! I own them both so all you Nintendo fanboys back the fuck up. I can’t believe how clear the picture is on the display. Nintendo is done for! They can’t compete with this technology. Two little screens doesn’t replace one big kick ass screen. I would take a digital photo of my PSP, but I’m afriad my inferior digital camera will break if it gazes upon my PSP’s greatness.

Since Jon is too slow, I guess I’ll have to enlighten you all with a review of the new PSP. I decided to trade in every Nintendo piece of entertainment I had, as well as a couple of Xbox games that weren’t getting used anymore, in order to lay my grubby little paws on the coveted PSP.

Paris: Japanese entertainment giant Sony has patented an idea for transmitting data directly into the brain, enabling people to see films and play video games in which they smell, taste and perhaps even feel, New Scientist reports……In Sony’s patent, the technique would be non invasive - it would not use brain implants or other surgery to manipulate the brain. The patent has few details, describing only a device that would fire pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify the firing patterns of neurons in targeted parts of...

The graphics are nicer too. Things are refined, more crisp. They are still held back by PlayStation 2's poor handling of anti-aliasing though. With much luck, Gran Turismo 5 will have nice anti-aliasing and more improved graphics on PlayStation 3. Time will tell though.

Well, it is now almost a month left before E3 and we here at Vicious Bytes just can’t wait. Several of us attended E3 2004 to witness the birth (or atleast renovation) of the handheld revolution, but this year promises to be even more exciting as we will finally get to see (and hopefully lay our hands on) the next generation of home consoles. That’s right, we’re talking XBox2, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Revolution.

Chances are you don't, unless you own a PlayStation 2 and are an avid player of Gran Turismo 4. But there are millions of video gamer ten-year-old kids who positively worship this car, even though it's a Buick. Why? Because it's fast fast fast fast, and stomps Jaguars and Corvettes and Porsches around the world's (virtual) racetracks like nobody's business.

Here are the top-10 best selling PC games from March 27 til April 2, no surprises with the Sims stil ruling the charts, if I were EA I’d milk the franchise as much as I can too seeing how much money each expansion must make, I mean how can a 5 year old game (albeit repackaged with its expansions) still take up a spot in the Top-10 charts? Also pretty surprising that Halo is still selling well, even beating out Gearbox’s newest game, Brothers in Arms, I hope BiA moves higher on those charts, it’s a great game, SP and MP-wise.

Excitebike is one of the most popular motorcross NES games. Released in 1984, it gained far more exposure with its October 1985 release for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

iPodArcade.com is your one-stop resource for all iPod Games. All of our iPod games are completely free of charge and available to download. We offer different types of iPod Games, including note games and arcade games. To see which games are available to

Maybe it is my Asian nature, but I like to quanitfy things. That’s why video games are so appealing to me. You can always tell when you are doing well in a video game, your numbers are going up. Positive reinforcement. You are a good person. Your points are going up. You now feel better about yourself.

The Xbox will still be supported of course after the new iteration is released. However, it's obvious where the focus is going to go. This move makes Microsoft look desperate. They want to be first to the market and though it looks like a good move on paper, in execution it's not smart. Many attribute the death of the Dreamcast to its early release. Once Sony starting spouting off numbers on the Playstation 2, DC sales took a major hit (though there were other factors involved).

Maybe it would make sense if sales were declining too, but they're not. Playstation 2's are just now coming back into stock after the holiday season and Xbox's are few in number. Microsoft is again hurting themselves if the rumors are true about their factories prepping the next-gen Xbox instead of putting the current one in stores. The $150-$179 price point is great one for the casual gamers and parents. A system should still have a decent lifespan left by this point. If not, you're only ticking off those who just bought a new system last year.

or "Geekiest Music Performance. Evar!". It's a performance of various Nintendo theme tunes by an a capella group called Redefined who are from the University of Wisconsin.

It's right up there for geekiness with Mario On Guitar and Mario On Piano for geek status but Redefined's A Cappella Nintendo Medley wins for me because it includes a cool rendition of the Zelda theme tune and quite a few other favourites. It doesn't hurt that the games are being acted out at the same time - the Tetris one is class!

I have been lusting after a PSP and a Nintendo DS. But caution seems to be the word of the day for the PSP which puts Nintendo back in front for more immediate purchase. PSP is experiencing problems and mishandling them grossly - namely dead pixels on the screen.

Nintendo’s policy is simple: Dead pixels = exchange of unit by transhippment. That is to say you keep your DS while Nintendo sends you a new one. When you get the new one you send them back the old one. Period. DS users are being treated like the 6 billion dollar a year market they are.

The console environment was different. Nintendo was more conservative in developing their hardware taking a slower approach and eschewing backwards compatibility which is why they got slammed on the GameCube which is a great platform but like all previous Nintendo systems will not play games from previous Nintendo systems. The place they dominated the marketplace was in the handheld where they always had backward compatibility. When Sega bowed out Sony jumped in with PS1 then PS2 making certain their games could port from one system to the next...

Rumors of the Xbox 2 have really stepped up as the console gets closer and closer to its unveiling. So according to their sources, Eurogamer has confirmed that the next Xbox will indeed be called the Xbox 360. The logo will also be just a simple round nexus and the console may go iPod white with its color. If that last part is true that would certainly go with the white Xbox 360 controllers. Were these just intelligent guesses based on the rumors...

Microsoft has announced that the grand unveiling of its next console will not take place at E3, in Los Angeles in May, as widely expected, but via MTV on May 12. In a move that sees Microsoft talking much more directly to gamers, rather than to the gaming press, the youth channel will broadcast a half-hour show featuring hot band The Killers and Lord Of The Rings actor Elijah Wood. The show, "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed" airs in the UK Friday, May 13, at 8pm.

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting a leak in the UK XBox team. As other rumors have suspected the XBox 2 will be the "XBox 360". The console stands upright like the PS2 and has a concave middle. The new info is now pointing to white as the color of the unit (instead of silver). There is still no word on the much speculated hard drive unit and there was no other info gleaned on any sort of data storage.

More seriously, here are the steps you'll need to go through to get your music to download successful from your Windows PC to your new Sony PSP unit:

Note that the PSP does not support any Windows Media formats i.e WMA & WMV, so any music you have in that format must

be converted to MP3 before copying to your PSP. Fortunately, Sony's very own Image Converter 2.1 can convert all your music with a very simple GUi and will then also manage all the measuring and transfering for you too.

Thanks to PSP owner Tommy Martin for his help

The folks at the consoul games blog have found out that the PSP is intentionally capped at 2/3 of it's potential.

So what does this mean to PSP owners? Not much at this time but what it could mean is that as battery technology improves game makers can begin increasing and even eliminating the caps allowing for full functionality of the console.

Famitsu pulled a fast one with their 'Control Aibo with PSP' trick, which has just recently revealed (to the English-speaking part of the world anyway) to be a hoax. This is why, ladies and gentlemen, the phrase "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" has lasted so long.

As weird as that sounds, it just might be what someone said while the PSP was still in development. It has been revealed in a recent copy of Famitsu magazine that certain button combinations, when inputted on a PSP, will cause your Aibo (assuming you actually bought one of the things) to perform tricks. As far as we can tell, this feature is either an unintentional side-effect, or an unannounced feature that Sony has yet to clue us in on. Though it was quite the rage in years past, the popularity of the Aibo on whole has waned significantly, although...

All in all, it's good to the see that the PSP has even more functionality than we had originally hoped. Plus, it's even better to see that old (albeit, robot) dogs can learn new tricks.

Sweet! Great marketing idea: PSP BLOG

Touted as the Walkman of the 21st Century the PSP not only has about the same power as its non-portable PS2 predecessor, but also Wi-Fi connectivity, video & audio playback capability, and disc & memory stick storage. With all this fronted by a quality 4.3" Wide screen TFT display, you can see why the gaming community were queueing overnight to get them.

Yeah, so what is so interesting about the release of yet another gaming console then? What people have achieved by hacking in to them to do things Sony hadn't expected, thats what. The BBC are running a story "PSP embraced by DIY technicians" highlighting that within a few days PSP hackers were publishing methods for using it for Internet browsing, playing back TV recorded on Tivo, chat clients, e-book reading, etc. Here is just one list of available...

If that has all come to the surface in a couple of weeks, its highly likely that it won't be long before Sony won't have the faintest idea, or control, over what their PSP platform is being used for in the wild. Great for Sony, the more things you can use it for the more they will sell.

Just a couple instantly come to mind. The PSP enabled museum, would be a great place for kids, and adults, to wander around taking in the exhibits with the assistance commentary, explanatory video clips, relevant games. Or how about the PSP enabled Wi-Fi exam revision guide download point in the school library?

As usual today it wasn't so much one article in particular that caught my eye but rather the overlap that existed between several. MIT has gotten serious about building a $100 laptop for kids. But kids don't want laptops, they want video game machines -- especially portable ones.

I just think MIT has its form-factor wrong. The PSP is a great example of a computer that is lightweight, portable, rechargeable, rugged and maybe most importantly of all: engaging. It's not just a video game machine either. With wifi and a web connection, virtually anyone, anywhere can engage. In fact, I think the PSP has another going for it besides having a better form-factor and being a serious computing platform: you don't have to know how to read to use it. I've...

It doesn't take much imagination to imagine the kinds of educational video games that are possible for such a device. There aren't a lot for the PSP just yet and frankly I think we've only begun to take the idea of the educational game to the level it could be taken.

Oh yeah. The PSP is $250. Sell them in bulk units of 1 million (as MIT plans to do with their laptop) with pre-loaded educational tools to governments and educational organizations and you could easily reach the $100 mark. I say give the kids what they want. Give them portable game machines!

Team Xbox posted it's comments on the leaked Xbox 2 hardware specs. While they won't guarantee that the specs are final, at least we can get a peek at what's planned:

When I originally wrote about how closely politics and video games resemble one another, I didn’t expect to get the sort of responses that I did get. It leads me to believe that the subject of women and video games still has a lot of room for exploration. However, that’s for another time, another place and another project. What I wanted to put the spotlight on was how, even in a medium who’s prime interest is making more money, women are summarily dismissed as a valid market.

As Elayne pointed out in the comments of the original post, it isn’t only video games. Every ‘hobby’ that is primarily made up of males is riddled by the very same prejudices and irritations. What makes video games special and unique is that they generate a great deal of money - in the billions - that other hobby industries tend to not get nearly as close to. While any type of hobby can gain by attracting more women, Video Games have a *huge* amount to game. Capitalism, as we’re told time and time again, is supposed to even out the playing field. If video game makers really do want that extra money (and there’s a lot to be had), then they will learn and adapt and make products that appeal to both genders. However, with rare exception, they don’t.

The UN body seeks to capitalise on the popularity of video games to educate youngsters about hunger and the work of the aid agency.

Once you gain a foothold in the industry, choose your career path wisely. If you think video games are stupid, why would you want to work for a video game company? You won't have much to talk about with your co-workers and you certainly won't "climb the ladder" because doing so often requires working above & beyond the call of duty (long hours in stressful environments), learning new software or techniques on your own time, and taking the initiative to "push the envelope" creatively or technically. Someone who lacks a passion for the end product...

Well the guy who brought us the portable Atari 2600 has once again done it. This time he has made the portable Nintendo 64! This is pretty cool and I wonder if he’ll allow you to send in your old N64 and have it tranformed into this portable one?!

It is with this cultural authority behind me that I say to you: you need to get hold of a GameCube and play Resident Evil 4. I'm totally serious. A GameCube now costs less than a new PS2 or XBox game, so for under AUD$300 you could get yourself a console, a memory card, RE4 and a Pikmin game.

Instead of reading this you could be trading in some old games and playing Resident Evil 4 tonight (prior to my gig of course). Look at those gorgeous screenshots! You won't regret it.

Microsoft it all set to release a bunch of new info about the XBox 2 on MTV. Usually this type of thing is done at E3 but Microsoft decided to break from that tradition. Probably because Sony and Nintendo will be unveling their next-gen consoles at E3. Actually, I’m not sure about Nintendo, but I’m positive about...

More stunning however is this image comparison of the Xbox 2 Ferarri to a real one - [http://image.com.com/gamespot…]

Lots of Xbox 2 news coming out. Or should I just start calling it Xbox 360. The nForce HQ guys seem to think they spotted a clue of why Xbox 360 is it.

MS seems to be readying the media blitz for Xbox 2/360/Next/Whatever.

The technique could one day be used to create video games in which you can smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf.

What if Opra invited Harry Potter and Pokemon on to her show to explain how to use a Macintosh, an iPod, Voice Over IP, Bluetooth, Skype, and Vonage? SURELY it would be a hit episode?

While I was stationed at Tinker Air Foce Base, back in the Civil War, I bought a Sony Playstation from Sears. $425! It had just come out and my traumatic Nintendo-less childhood caught up to me. I think it came with Ridge Racer. Very cool game with awesome graphics and a great soundtrack. I spent many a hours bothering my neighbors with that soundtrack.

Seriously though, a full time job is exactly what I need regardless of what slave style wages I earn. Working a lot in the middle of the night has tons of great benefits. Not the least of which is that I don't have to deal with people and I'm getting paid to sit on a company computer and finally complete the epic SNES ROM of Super Mario RPG. I love that game too damn much.

The PSP design just oozes power and grace. The design is sleek and it clearly has the mark of the Sony Playstation brand that gamers all over the world has come to love. I was absolutely blown away at how crisp, bright and clear the quite large high-resolution LCD screen is. The unit has a dark glossy feel that puts some of the high tech cell phones to shame. This is not just like a Gameboy only better it is an incredibly powerful hand held Playstation unit that comes close to the PS2 in graphics with wireless multi-player that fits in the palm of your hand with a next generation high resolution LCD screen. It is so very very good and I think it is really worth the higher price tag. The $250 price tag is nothing to scoff at but I think it is a good investment since I am sure that the PSP will be around for at least five years. I was surprised to see the analog stick under the digital pad. I always thought it was a speaker

Microsoft have deftly sidestepped their rival Sony by arranging to announce the XBox 2 in a half-hour show on MTV four days before the official reveal of Sony’s PlayStation 3 at the E3 trade show.

The televised launch of XBox 2 will be hosted by Elijah Wood and will see sports, movie and music celebrities on stage to advertise the next-generation console’s media and gaming abilities. Microsoft is expected to announce an Autumn ship date for the XBox 2 which will allow them to grab the Christmas 2005 sales season and gives them a huge head start over Sony who’s PlayStation 3 is not due till 2006.

For now, the Massive ads appear only on PC games that are connected to the internet. Eventually, the ads will work similarily to games played on consoles like Sony’s PS2 and Microsoft’s XBox, if they have internet connection. The internet link allows Massive’s software to refresh the ads as players progress through the game.

In addition to telling the world how great XBOX Live is, I found at least one reason to renew our LIVE subscription: "Xbox Live Arcade, a new social experience that brings popular retro classics and broad-appeal games directly to the Xbox console over the Xbox Live service. Members now have a personal arcade connected to Xbox Live, offering quick and easy access to classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man and Dig Dug as well as exciting new games such as Bejeweled and Alien Sky." That is pretty cool!

In the meantime I will read a Greek play, possibly play some video games, and maybe nap, then go to frisbee. I think it’s a much better use of my time than zoning out in class.

Maybe that’s why some video games are not as memorable as the classics. I think it all started with Gran Turismo on the Playstation no? Can anyone really say that the music to GTA is better? All it is is a compilation of 80’s Greatest Hits CDs. There are a few golden nuggets still out there like the Paper Marios of the world, but a great deal of music in games is trash.

So I guess I tell you people a little about myself now. Don’t worry it won’t be that long, I lead a boring geeks life. Ok here goes, I am 28 and I live with my grandmother in kentucky. I am unemployed right now, one day I will find a job. I am a full geekster to the fullest, I play video games and pc games. I love to work with computers, I like to read and watch anything about computers. See I told you I lead a boring geeks life!

Which, obviously, got us thinking about our own games history here at Bleepblog Command Post. Oh, the nostalgia of Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Neuromancer ...

I had always suspected that rendering 8-bit graphics is a lot slower with needle and thread than with a standard Nintendo Entertainment System. Now I know.

(Cross-stitched from sprites available at Final Fantasy Classic on Planet Nintendo.)

"Borrowing a page from Apple's marketing playbook, Nintendo, the Japanese video game giant, will open a retail store in Manhattan this spring.

The Nintendo World Store, which company officials say will be the first anywhere, will feature many of the company's popular video games and consoles, including the GameCube, Nintendo DS and Game Boy line.

Much like Apple Computer high-end outlets (and similar stores operated by Sony and Samsung), the Nintendo store will include high-tech trappings like interactive stations, and will provide previews of new and unreleased software, a Nintendo...

If you are one of the many lucky sons and daughters, you must have played Super NES before. Yep, the purple Nintendo Super NES that superseded the good-old red-and-white Nintendo. I've found a website with screenshots of the endings of many SNES games, like everyone's favorite Donkey Kong Country.

Remember Tamagotchi? Nintendo expands on the tamagotchi with Puppy Times, a game for the new NintendoDS. It's ultra realistic, so you don't need those dull pixelated pets anymore.

Looks like Microsoft is probably getting ready for a late 2005 launch. I know I’ll end up buying a next gen console, Xbox 2 or PS3 (Yet to see how good the Nintendo Revolution will be), but the chances are, I’ll just buy the one which has Grand Theft Auto, so most probably, the PS3.

Microsoft is putting out a new means for battling grade inflation at America’s universities: the Xbox 360. Video games – the great eaters of college students’ time – just get more and more complex, and now the means by which they hit the market is getting more complex too. Too chic to simply put on the shelves at Target with a few television ads for hype, the new Microsoft Xbox 360 demands a coronation party, and MTV will be providing it.

Today, I got a game for my Gamecube called Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Its basically a side-scrolling platformer kind of like Mario or Donkey Kong Country. However, this one is controller using this drum controller. Its just two bongo drum kind of things that plug into the system like a controller. If you hit the right drum, Donkey Kong moves to the right, and if you hit the left drum, he moves to the left. The faster you hit it, the faster he runs. If you hit both drums at the same time, he jumps, and if you clap (there’s a clap sensor...

Nintendo also aims to bring wi-fi support to their DS console before the end of the current year. In addition, the company has made clear that their upcoming Revolution would be compatible with existing games developed for the Nintendo’s GameCube. Critics call this move quite unusual considering Nintendo normally rely on proprietary media formats for their newer releases.

I am hopelessly addicted to playing Lumines on Sony's new PSP. There is really nothing else available for the handheld that I am all that interested in. Many of the games released so far are smaller versions of games already available for the PS2, games that would benefit from being played on a much larger screen. However, the types of games that do work exceptionally well on handhelds are puzzle and arcade games, and Lumines is one of the best puzzle games to come along in a very, very long time....

If the graphics in the old arcade games were bad (as I talked about in a past blog), the graphics in text adventure games were, well, horrible. Actually you can't judge them because there were no graphics.

So, the Internet is rife with Xbox 2 speculation. I know that, because Gamer Centric, an Internet news site, is speculating about the origin of Xbox 2 speculations, and reporting on the speculation, adding fuel to the speculative fire and, most importantly, another entry into NewsNow from which other journalists can draw additional speculation.

What do you reckon the Xbox 2 will be like?

Microsoft says they’ll keep producing new games for the Xbox console until 2007. Xbox 2 (Xenon) is supposed to come out by the end of this year. I really hope they make it backwards compatible with the Xbox. I wanna play my current Xbox games on the new Xbox.