Nintendo 3DS Pre-Order Madness Starts With Nary A Price Point In Sight (AND Your Kids WIll Go BLIND… Er, Maybe)…


I’m gathering that reports that the upcoming 3DS will carry a warning about use of its innovative 3D functionality being not recommended (or good, for that matter) for the eyesight of kids under six years old isn’t going to stop anyone from putting down a fat deposit at Gamestop and posting copies their receipts online. Of course, those pre-ordering folk aren’t six years old (and hopefully don’t have kids coming up on that age they want to introduce to that sort of eye/brain strain) and heck, trying to stop early adopters from throwing packs of money around is sort of bad for the economy (which someone should tell those AGAINST alternative fuel sources).

Still, Nintendo really needs to play offense as well as defense here as they address this potential sales-killing (or class action lawsuit bringing) issue as more of the dopier media outlets (you know, the ones that ALWAYS take the “Video games will turn your kids into mass murdering sex fiends in three seconds!” approach to this sort of news) take this negative angle and run wild with it. I say, as long as parents can read the damn box (or have a clerk point this age limit out to them) BEFORE they buy it, it’s all good. Now, about that price point… Guess we’ll see by CES (my prediction: $249.99, but perhaps with a pack-in and maybe loaded with some cool stuff)

My REAL question is this: Why the hell do we keep seeing kid’s movies arriving in theaters (then later on DVD or Blu-Ray) in 3D if kids under six shouldn’t be able to watch them at all? Granted, you can sit around playing “normal” games for hours on end with only a few issues. 3D gaming has been headache-inducing since the 90’s when there were something like two to four minute experiences along with a few other applications. I guess we’ll see what happens after the 3DS ships and more folks can afford 3D televisions and those expensive glasses.

Still, I’m crazy that way. I can see myself playing a 3D game ’til I fall off the couch from dizziness, but I just can’t imagine myself or someone else watching more than two 3D movies in a row before their butt tries to bite them for making them sit so long doing nothing…

Didn’t Get The Game You Want? Grab Tyrian 2000 For FREE From GOG.com!


GOG.com is one of the greatest gamer gift-giving websites currently operating today thanks to their love for the PC classics and the means to get them up and running for sale as single or multiple pack deals at incredible prices. Part of their holiday promotion is releasing Tyrian 2000 (one of the best vertical scrolling arcade shooters ever made, I’d say) for FREE to any and all who have gog.com accounts (which are also FREE). All you need to do is drop on by, sign up and BOOM, the game is yours. the download is a tiny 10MB and you can also grab the soundtrack separately (an extra 128MB on your hard drive). I’m guessing that sound I hear is the gog.com servers collapsing thanks to the traffic I just sent there… or maybe not.

Hmmm… might have been Santa hitting the side of a building (oops)…

Random Holiday Greetings Roundup



Here’s a few more of the e-cards or holiday-themed images that have ended up in my inbox (I don’t drive, but thanks, Maserati!). I need to poke around and see what’s ended up in the spam folder, as on occasion, a card or three turns up there as well. Click on that amusingly rustic card from CDProjeckt Red’s The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for a trip to its pre-order page, as there’s a rather spectacular bonus-packed deal on the upcoming title that’s very hard to refuse. For some wonky reason, I can’t even see the digital card Atlus USA sent out, but I’ll try to upload and post it later.

Stuff I’m Just Getting To Looking At: The Thor Trailer

Actually, I got to see a tiny bit of the game an some excellent concept art at this year’s New York Comic-Con, but no pictures of the tiny sliver of game footage could be photographed or filmed. Yeah, yeah, you can make all the God of War jokes you care to, but hey, at least Thor isn’t going the Superman game route. The God of Thunder has his powers intact and it looks like players won’t be forced through hoops or rescuing kitties in what’s looking to be a mighty fun experience. The game is definitely coming along nicely in my book (with a May 2011 launch planned) and between this and Captain America: Super Soldier, shows Sega is back on the right track as far as their Marvel Comics games go. Speaking of Cap, I actually DID write up a preview of THAT game, but it was one of the ones that vanished along with that USB drive I’m on the hunt for. Must have been the Red Skull at work, grrrr…

Lost & Found (And More Work, Too!)

Whee. After a big hard drive crash a few years back, I’d been storing articles in progress, reviews and a few interesting game or story ideas on either portable USB drives or SD cards, but of course, I managed to screw that otherwise reliable storage method up somehow. A few months back, one of the cards I was using for a LOT of DAF stuff suddenly failed to read (nooooo!) and I misplaced one of the USB sticks while traveling around (well, I couldn’t find the darn thing no matter where I looked). Anyway, I’d kept that old card around a few days back, happened to pop it into my camera to see if there were any photos that could be recovered. *Boom!* no decent pics (well, some ebay items I’d sold off last year) but I DID see a load of text files now free from their digital prison. Looks like I’ll be spending the holidays polishing up and posting some old to recent reviews. I’m still on the hunt for that USB drive as it has even MORE articles and ideas plus some PC game data I wasn’t planning on losing (ha ha)…

Why Killzone 3 Will Be A Blast, No Matter HOW You Play It


Let's see now: so far, I've played demos of Killzone 3 in 3D with a Dual Shock 3, in regular HD with a Dual Shock 3, in HD with the Move/NaviCon combo and in HD with the upcoming Move Sharp Shooter peripheral and each time I'm floored by what Guerrilla can do with the PS3. Alright, Sony, you can stop now. I'm sold…AGAIN. Hell, I was sold months ago when I saw the E3 demo running in not quite fully optimized 3D because I “got” what the team at Guerrilla were trying to accomplish with the narrative (as well as all that wonderful tech they're wisely hoarding to themselves).

An updated demo of the game along with Sony's new Move Sharp Shooter attachment were drawing lots of attention at Sony's Holiday 2010 event last week and after watching a few editor types fumble away with the peripheral, I was wondering if this was yet another game that was going to be sunk by a well-intentioned but flawed one-use controller. Then I got the chance to try the thing out for myself and found out it's actually quite remarkable once you get a feel for the peripheral.

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Playstation Move Heroes Hands-On Update – Nihilistic Aims For The Core


When last we saw Playstation Move Heroes (formerly known as Heroes on the Move) back in October, the demo build was indeed a lot of fun to play but there was obviously more coming in terms of levels, game modes and other features. Last week at Sony's Holiday 2010 event, Nihilistic's peppy Design Director Harley Baldwin White-Wiedow and SCEA's equally peppy Caley Roberts showed of the latest build which was more polished and quite packed to the rafters with many lovely and destructive things to do. Not content to shove out a simple Move-enabled mini-game cash-in for the younger set, Nihilistic is cooking up a solid, hugely fun (and funny) game any fans of Sony's mascot franchises will be proud to add to their collections.

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Knights Contract Update: New Screens, Art, Release Date


Namco Bandai's rather surreal fantasy/horror/action game hybrid has been on my radar pretty since its initial announcement and now, the Game Republic-developed title finally has a release date. February 22, 2011 is when you'll want to be lurking around your favorite game retailer (or creeping in to pick up your pre-ordered copy). The single-player PS3 and Xbox 360 game features Heinrich, an immortal executioner and Gretchen, a resurrected witch who acts as Heinrich's AI partner. Namco Bandai hopes that the mix of fantasy elements, high action sequences and M-rated gore coupled with the game's bizarre menagerie of monsters might lift a few of those lingering holiday blahs right out of your system.

Speaking of bizarre-looking monsters, more nice concept art images and renders of two bosses, Straeggle and Trude are below the jump along with some new screens featuring the pair of beastly beauties in action.

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thatgamecompany’s Journey – An Online Experience Like No Other

Some games are so good, they just make me want to sing, so pardon me while I warble a bit before the actual preview…

Gonna take a Sentimental Journey,

Gonna set my heart at ease.
Gonna make a Sentimental Journey,
to renew old memories…

OK, I’m done, the judges have spoken and I got unanimously booted off the island (without a boat or a paddle, mind you). You may remove that cotton from your ears and read on.

One of the biggest and best embargoed surprises at Sony’s holiday event last week was thatgamecompany’s Journey, a downloadable PS3 exclusive that just may be one of the most innovative online experiences ever created. Taking a cue from the beauty, simplicity and ease of play found in flOw, Flower and Cloud, the game combines open world exploration, platforming and puzzle elements in an elegantly simple, yet extremely lovely package. While the build on display was only playable by the two tgc staffers present, it was immediately clear what was on display just might rewrite the book on Internet play. In a way, tgc has created the safest online multiplayer game in the world… and a gorgeously rendered one at that.

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Portal 2 Co-Op Trailer (Yes… and Yes)

Yes, it’s the PAX 2010 trailer (I wasn’t at PAX, so I’m seeing this for the first time) and Yes, Valve wants you to buy the game because they’re working on it harder than you think. Hell, they’ve got my money as long as i can walk into a game shop and buy it on a disc.