I don't want to post back-to-back videos, but I can't resist this one. We've known for awhile that the next Splinter Cell will make a surprising turn in direction (but hopefully not gameplay), but here's a new, official trailer for the game complete with bigshot movie-studio announcing.

Just came stumbled upon this trailer of montage footage for the Xbox 360 version of one of my personal favorite Xbox Live games... Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. Notice the superb lighting effects - this game is going to rock.

Various blogs such as N-Philes are reporting the new Nintendo DS redesign, which seems to simply be smaller and brighter. It seems pretty legit, mainly because of the fact that it's on display on the official Nintendo of Japan website. According to that and many other sites (such as the one mentioned above), the specifications are as follows...

Japanese Release Date: 03-02-2006
Price: 16800 Yen
Feature: 4 levels of brightness
Old Size: 149 x 85 x 29 = 275g
New Size: 133 x 74 x 22 = 218g

Neat. But not worth buying a new DS for, I don't think. Those of you wanting one should obviously wait, unless you don't think smaller is better... however a brighter display is hard to resist. I don't see the rumoured mobile phone influence anywhere, which is a good thing really.

Edit: It just came to me, my hands cramp up after just a few Mario Kart races. As slick as the DSLite is, there's no way I could play it for long periods without having to stop in pain. Oh well.

There are a lot of people out there. Not all of them like games, really. But we've being thinking (which could be the problem, actually) - Nintendo could do well with this one, because it's just about appealing to absolutely everybody. Yep. Everybody.

The Casual Guy. There are plenty of people, as co-blogger Chris pointed out, who will buy this machine even if they aren't really gamers. The situation would go a little bit like this;

"Nintendo, they've been around forever. What's this, a new way to play games? They've lasted this long, so they must know what they're doing. BUYBAG"

And they'd pick one of the shelves - plenty of stock in because Nintendo won't drop a bollock and only give out 10 units per-store. At the snip of $250 - can't be arsed to do a UK exchange rate, the casual guy can afford to splash out on a new gadget.





The Generous Older Woman. Be it a mum, or a granny - the generous older woman won't be able to resist the advertising posters plastered in both game shops and big high street chains. They'll see the gaming in action, see the price, and then they'll want one for their home - for all the family.

"My kids could do with some active games, and I wouldn't mind playing that fishing minigame myself. It's always nice to play with a bigger rod than my Ron can provide too. BUYBAG"

The great thing about the Revolution is that most people in the house will want a go. It could be a talking piece for the living room - get some guests around, and let loose on some interactive Super Smash Bros. Maybe Silent Hill 5 will captivate the whole room too, as people pass the unique controller to proceed with the scary ongoings. The Revolution will be the ultimate family toy, for a cheap price too.


The Xbox / Sony Fanboy. The Xbox or Sony Fanboy has room in their wallet, and their life for another games console. The thing about a fanboy is that they'll only buy an 360 OR a PS3 - so the only other obvious choice is a Revo. Now the Revolution isn't directly competing with either of these two machines.

"I have a load of 360 games here I don't play. All I have to do is trade them in, and I pretty much have a Revolution under my GRASP! Plus, Mario is cool - even though I don't tell my teddy-bear-mike that every night before bed. BUYBAG"

So the fanboy walks off with a Nintendo product in their bag, for some innovative-good-clean-fun!




The Hardcore Gamer. The Hardcore Gamer will buy one of these things regardless anyway - he owns all consoles, at all costs.

"I must own all consoles, at all costs. BUYBAG"







So there you go. It looks like all four of these areas are pretty much covered. Will you be buying a Revolution? You probably will be doing, even if you think you're not!

Team Xbox is reporting that various Mortal Kombat fansites have taken the wraps off of the final MK installment for the current generation. To be released in October for the current crop of consoles (excluding the 360), Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will feature 60+ combatants - potentially every single Mortal Kombat character ever. How this will be explained in storylines is unknown, but it will be quite a task.

Driv3r may not be considered a big success by most people, but I had a good deal of fun with the game and absolutely loved the director mode, even if it was limited. The on foot sections were crap, granted, and Reflections knows it - Parallel Lines should bring the game back to the movie-quality car chases it was founded on... have a look at the trailer below.

Pah! Just recently - on NewsNow, and other publications on the web, there have been dozens of Revolution rumours, from boot screens to menu's - all of which look rather amateur to me. From what I've gathered this week, I'm going to try and put together a step by step dummy's guide on how to create the perfect Revolution Rumour. Foolproof. In other words, it will only fool the fools, and MasterChafe.com are not fools. Fools.

Could it be? A good video game film that stays true to the roots of the game? I see Pyramid Head, and I see multiple characters from the original game... not to mention the town looks surprisingly like the one of the original title (complete with freaky school rooms). The director also has a film on his credentials with quite a big cult following called Brotherhood of the Wolf. Have a look below at the Silent Hill trailer for yourself...

I've just saved my life. Well, I've saved it for the eighth time now. I've just unsubscribed from World of Warcraft, see. But I'm not like your average player. I waste my time leveling up every character to level 10, before getting bored, and starting a new one. I can safely say, I've had every single class to the ripe-for-Jackson age of 10. For me, and millions of other casual players who don't sweat their way upto level 60 - is there really any real point to the upcoming WoW expansion; The Burning Crusade?

I mean, what is there? A load of high level content to have you spending more time and money leveling up, and two new races, one for each side. WoW, what an anticlimax. Although this rant might be a little late, with the Burning Crusade almost upon us, I just thought I'd express my view. A view which not many people like, either. But come on. Where are my new classes which I can try to level 10? I had high hopes for this one, but the only people who can benefit from this high-hoped title are those with high-levels, and those who are highly-addicted.

Just when I made a post proclaiming the excellent additions that the newest GameCube Harvest Moon installment are making to the series, this sprouts up. The official website for a new game called Harvest Moon: Innocent Life has cropped up proclaiming a Japanese release date of April 27th for the first PSP version of the series.

What's awesome is the picture included. A full grown male is depicted riding a small tractor around a large, wide open field. With the additions of wild animals, planting crops outside of your field, and the ability to play as both a male or female in the upcoming Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, one could hope those features would be included in Innocent Life as well.

Unfortunately no UK or US release has been announced, and though you could always import the Japanese version I'm sure it wouldn't be fun trying to figure out how to play without text. We'll keep you posted when news arrives of a PAL or NTSC copy... hopefully this year.

EA may be taking cues from the company they tried to bury. Current gen titles from the game giant are all being lowered in price in the states and we except it to translate to the UK as well. Games like Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire and Medal of Honor: European Assault are all being reduced in price, as well as the entire sports line.

This is great news for those of you who haven't yet bought into the new Xbox 360 and are still perfectly content with with your PS2, Xbox or Gamecube. Sluggish sales of EA titles for the current gen were the main contributer to the decision, and hopefully they'll continue this plan with the upcoming Godfather game and especially Criterion's amazing looking Black.

On the heels of the announcement that Peter Jackson will be producing the Halo feature film, a "L.A. insider" recently gave GameSpot a scoop claiming that Quentin Tarantino would be stepping up to direct a film based on the Half-Life videogame series. It's easy to see why people would get behind this rumour: it insures that a beloved game would get a pretty damn good movie adaptation, it keeps Uwe Boll out of the picture, and if Jackson is behind Halo, then why not??

However, like the recent rumours of Tarantino directing the Daniel Craig 007 Casino Royale remake, GameSpot has also confirmed this to be untrue with the people at Valve, who create the game, in a statement:

"As much as we'd love to meet with him, we've never been contacted by Mr. Tarantino nor 'his people,'" said director of marketing Doug Lombardi, "We've had many conversations with folks in Hollywood, but have no commitments for an HL movie at this time."

So, GameSpot has posted a report that claims a Japanese newspaper has quoted Nintendo president Satoru Iwata as confirming the Revolution's speculative 2006 release date. Furthermore, he claims that the Revolution will make a Thanksgiving release in America to get the support of retailers (the day after Thanksgiving arguably being the biggest shopping day of the entire year). No specific date or price was revealed as usual, but Iwata went on to say the console will be affordable.

Talk about shoving it down your throat. Sudoku in NewsPapers, Sudoku in TV Guides, Sudoku handheld stations, Sudoku on the PSP - and now Dr. Sudoku himself has ventured onto the GBA so you can play Sudoku where ever you may be.

Known as Poem of Happiness in Japan, the newest installment of the shockingly addicting Harvest Moon series comes to the Gamecube in the Spring/Summer or 2005 for the US and UK, respectively.

Why should you care?

It's Harvest Moon! Perhaps the most addicting series of all time... and this looks to be the biggest leap forward for the series yet. Now with the ability to play as a male or female in the same game, you'll do all the typical harvesting and breeding Harvest Moon is known for as you watch your character grow into adulthood, but there are greater risks. Your animals can be attacked in the middle of the night by wild dogs if you leave them out and you can also plant and raise plants outside of your farm as well. You know you want it!

GameSpot is reporting that, following the release of several adult films on the PlayStation Portable, studio Digital Playground has selected Blu-Ray over HD-DVD as their high-def format of choice. So there you have it... if you want films like the award winning Pirates and the not-so-award winning Jack's Teen America 11 and Jack's Playground 28 you'll have to A) Shell out about $1,800 for the first Blu Ray player or B) get a PlayStation 3. Hmm, I wonder what people will decide?

The deciding factor according to GameSpot and Digital Playground was the built-in audience that will come when the PS3 is released with Blu-Ray support, meaning there are no strings attached when you want to bring home your HD porn. You can unzip and pop it right in - this could be a crucial blow to Xbox and their backing of HD-DVD. We'll keep you posted, but don't be surprised if Microsoft just throws in the towel right now.

Some months ago I reviewed Shadow of the Colossus, and now - three months later - I miss it terribly. I'm craving to revisit that isolated, atmospheric and chilling world that is so beautifully crafted.

Of course, UK gamers haven't had the pleasure yet. This is almost as bad as Nintendo of Europe... why has it taken so damn long? For a look at what you guys are in for check out my write-up of the game and make sure you pre-order it now, especially if you're one of the unlucky ones who've had their Xbox 360 turn its back on you :(

Seriously though, I understand that companies want time to run a marketing campaign in seperate regions to promote it, that's fine. A month? Not that big of a deal... but FOUR months? It's even worse with Nintendo of Europe, who still have yet to release numerous top-tier Nintendo DS titles. Are they trying to bury the handheld in that region? At least you can import those... Cheesus, I don't even live there and this upsets me.

Ah, spin. A wonderful tool for journalists to make readers buy into a story. Rumours have been circling all around the web about a redesign for the now very successful Nintendo DS. Suddenly, numerous sites are reporting that Nintendo has denied this. They haven't - they just haven't confirmed it, either. There's a difference.


As it stands Nintendo has neither denied or confirmed the existance of the DS follow up, but have said they're always looking for ways to improve their products. Judging by the current situation with DS sales skyrocketing and the unit being hard to find in certain areas - and the timing of it all - it matches up quite well with the previous release of the GBA SP. Let's stay tuned and see what Nintendo has up their business suits...

It has being revealed in a UK poll that 59% of teachers would consider using games in their lessons to aid teaching. Games like The Sims 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon could teach kids common sense early on in life, amongst lot's of other count skills. This got us thinking though. You could always use games to punish young kids too. If they miss-behaved in class, you could pin their eyelids back, and get them to play the stupidly crap game Knight Rider 2 for a certain amount of time.

But then there are the other 41%, most of which would probably like to bring back the cane instead - 6% for legitimate reasons, and 35% for 'illegitimate reasons, whatever they may be.

Of course, i can already hear EA thinking about games for school kids - maybe James Bond Number Cruncher, or Harry Potter and the Goblet of English - two of many cash-in licences EA have under their wing. We'll see what 2006 brings in the way of teaching and games in the very plausible, and very near future.

Some interesting 360 news has been floating around lately. Firstly, the announcement of Xbox Live Diamond, which comes in the form of a actual credit card sized card users carry in their wallet which allows them to get discounts at several stores and food chains, including Sam Goody and Quizno's. From the look of it this is only available for US subscribers at the moment, but that could change if Xbox is able to secure some deals with European chains.

An interesting statement came from Xbox's Peter Moore recently, in which he claimed the Xbox 360 could always support a Blu-Ray add on - similar to the HD-DVD ad on coming soon - if HD-DVD did in fact lose the upcoming format wars which will empty thousands of bank accounts all around the world. An official statement was later released stating it was important to understand the context of the statement, and that Microsoft fully expects to win the format war and has no plans to release a Blu-Ray add on. Typical statement from a corporation basically... the bottom line is if HD-DVD bombs, your 360 likely will come out with a Blu-Ray solution. But that's ONLY if it bombs.