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