Now you can play games on your iPod

Your iPod blasts music, shows vacation photos and plays movies. It now does something else that seems an entertainment no-brainer: It runs video games.

It was only a matter of time before Apple's ubiquitous digital media player would have the ability to keep us just as occupied with simple games like "Tetris" as it does pumping out the Killers. And with the latest generation of iPods' ability to run video comes the option to download games off iTunes and play away.



Video-game giant Electronic Arts is on the cutting edge of creating games for the iPod, and, after checking out its offerings, we are impressed with its initial batch of titles that can be played on fifth-generation machines (don't bother if you have an older version).

The classic puzzle game "Tetris" looks much better than the monochrome original did for the Game Boy all those years ago, thanks to bright colors and decent sound effects. And like the other iPod games, you control those tiny blocks the same way you search for songs: with the circular scroll pad and middle button.
"Mini Golf" is a fun little romp in a colorful miniature golf course that features obstacles including creatures that have an appetite for golf balls. The exotic music on this one is a particularly nice surprise.

And "EA Mahjong" brings the classic tiles to life on the iPod's screen without being too hard to see.

EA also just released Sudoku and Solitaire titles to keep you equally occupied. The games cost $4.99 each and can be downloaded at the iTunes store (go to www.apple.com/itunes/store/ and look for "iPod Games" in the upper left-hand corner).

These don't have the depth of play that you'd find in titles for dedicated game systems such as a PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS, but that's not the goal here. These titles, rather, are for the person who wants to squeeze in a little play time here and there, and to that extent, they — and the medium they're played on — are a great fit.

"Star Trek: Legacy" boldly goes ... eh, whatever

Proof positive that Nintendo has a lock on heavy-duty whimsy, "WarioWare: Smooth Moves" for Wii pretty much exemplifies what Wii is all about. Like "WarioWare" titles before it, "Smooth Moves" is a collection of "microgames," some 200 of them, actually, each using the system's crafty Wii-mote in totally exclusive ways: tilting, swinging, stabbing, swatting, balancing, mashing and manhandling the thing like no other controller ought to be handled. With it, you invoke in-game activities like sawing logs, thumb wrestling, picking noses (seriously), pumping iron, shaving and cranking.



It's a testament to the Wii-mote's wide-ranging motion-sensitive sensibilities, if nothing else -- also a fine example of its minute-motion precision, with most activities easily actuated within a forearm's radius of your starting position. If you ever snap your wriststrap and send the Wii-mote flying off to shatter the chandelier, that pretty much makes you a clumsy oaf and has nothing to do with the hardware. You probably shouldn't be handling power tools or small children, either.

In spite of the game's obvious content abundance, on the whole, it's too short because each game, delivered in thematic clusters, lasts but a couple of seconds. That doesn't exactly add up to hours of fresh gameplay.

Similarly, "Smooth Moves" sports only a token two-player mode (played from a single Wii-mote plus the nunchuk attachment for the second player, or by passing the Wii-mote around like a hot potato), which is short-lived, anticlimactic, offline only and feels completely like an ad hoc afterthought, though the game clearly begs for more "Wii Sports" -- or "Mario Party"-like interactivity with at least two players, ideally more, right out of the box.

Tales of Destiny 2

Or watch it here

Shady O'Grady's Rising Star Simulates the Ups and Downs of the Music Business

Build Your Band, Write the Songs, and Score That Elusive Recording Contract

Gilligames, an independent developer and publisher of PC games, today announced their upcoming musical simulation/role-playing game, “Shady O’Grady’sTM Rising Star” for Windows PC’s. Rising Star captures the struggles and successes of up and coming musicians, as they work to recruit band members, gain popularity locally and throughout America, and ultimately, get the lucrative recording contract of their dreams. Shady O’Grady’sTM Rising Star will be available in early March 2007 for $29 (download) or $36 (CD-ROM). A downloadable demo will be available in February 2007 at www.gilligames.com.



Once you’ve created and practiced enough songs, you’ll need to visit all the small bars in the area to see if you can find a gig. Whether you are opening for a better known band, or competing against other up and comers in a battle of the bands, you’ll have to prove it all night as you build your performance to a satisfying conclusion and leave your audience feelin’ alright and partying like its 1999. Give your fans a reason to believe and they’ll keep coming back to see you all day and all of the night. But if you end up getting out of control during your performance, you might over do it during your symphony of destruction and end up in the local hospital – alive, but dazed and confused.



Other Rising Star features include:
RPG-style experience/leveling system, with six assignable skills: Songwriting, Playing, Stage Presence, Production, Repair, and Business.

Make band decisions based on your musicians' Inspiration, Health, Happiness, and Ego levels.

Dynamic musician attitude system - recruit compatible musicians, and kick out egotistical musicians living in their own private Idaho that no longer get along. Unhappy and uninspired musicians may quit on their own.

Over 800 different types of equipment, including real brands with images supplied by American Musical Supply (www.americanmusical.com) to let your band rock on.

Over 120 cities to roam and conquer each randomly generated and presented in 3D for exploring.

Thousands of locations: Homes, bars, theaters, stadiums, clothing stores, music stores, studios, hotels & motels, manager offices, parks, cemeteries, and hospitals are all useful aspects of the game, providing lots of things to do.

Customize your band's appearance with thousands of combinations of hairstyles, hats, glasses, shirts, pants, pants, and wrist/hand wear. Live out your rock and roll fantasy.

Earn money doing odd-jobs to survive while trying to earn a reputation for your new band.

Customize your van's appearance with over 50 different paint jobs.

Success depends on decision making, not twitch skills.

Trash hotels & motels with the advanced physics engine. Go ahead and throw that lamp at the TV and see what happens.

A living world of working bands, spread over the continental USA

Built-in tutorial to help beginners understand the wealth of information and options.

Soundtrack of original music from real independent bands.

Map editor, allowing you to add, delete, or modify existing cities.

Equipment editor, allowing you to add, delete or modify existing equipment & supplies.

Easy to add your own content, or share content with other players.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (PC)

A packshot and contents pic for the 'Radiation Pack' special edition.

Phil Harrison on developing Game third Age Games

Sony Executive Phil Harrison on the Possibilities Of Connected Communities In 2007 Game Developers Conference.

Phil Harrison, President, Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), will return to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) to present the keynote, “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the Third Age of Video Games.” Complementing the “Take Control” theme of GDC 2007, Harrison’s talk aims to enable developers to make the most of the countless opportunities made available by the new era of connectivity. GDC, CMP Technology’s annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games, takes place March 5-9, 2007 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

In his talk, Harrison will explore the seemingly infinite entertainment, creative, and commercial opportunities presented by the massively connected communities of players and developers. He will enlighten attendees as to what “always on” can mean for both the game development industry and consumer, as well as what some of the innovative products and services are that will help content developers define and shape the meaning of Game 3.0. The SCE Worldwide Studios head will also demonstrate some exclusive insights into the company’s development of products and services that will help define future growth in the video game market.

“Each console cycle gives platforms the chance to reinvent the experiences they enable developers to provide to gamers,” said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. “Phil Harrison is uniquely positioned to apply both his prescient creative abilities and his command of a globe-spanning network of leading development teams — to bring the entire developer community in on the giant leap forward of the PLAYSTATION®3.”

Phil Harrison has been immersed in the creativity, technology and business of game development for over 20 years. In September 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment unified its regional product development operations under a global structure, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, and appointed Harrison to serve as President of the new organization. Working closely with the talented studios in Japan, Europe, North America and Polyphony Digital, Inc., Harrison is responsible for setting the global product strategy and managing development operations of 14 studios in 5 countries. He is a corporate executive and representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, and Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Since joining Sony in 1992, Harrison has held executive management positions in Europe and North America — where he served as Vice President, 3rd Party Relations and Research and Development for SCEA from 1996 to 2000. He has been a core member of the teams that successfully launched all of the PlayStation family of hardware formats and innovative software that have helped expand the market for interactive entertainment worldwide.

Phil Harrison’s keynote, “Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the Third Age of Video Games,” will take place from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. in the Esplanade Room of the Moscone Center’s South Hall on Wednesday, March 7.

More than 12,500 game industry professionals will convene during GDC, the world’s largest games industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of resources, tools and technologies used to create interactive entertainment. The GDC features more than 300 lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts.

New from Xing Interactive: Dragon-X - Gold Quest for PC

Dutch publishers Xing Interactive are pleased to announce a new PC game called "Dragon-X: Gold Quest". This is a frantic platform game featuring a little Dragon who is out to gather as much gold as possible. Why? Well that's what Dragons do... They gather gold and guard it against greedy knights in shining armour. 7 different worlds and many bonus levels will make this game a great family friendly challenge for all ages. Initially the game is available in Dutch and English languages but it is designed for easy localisation.

Nintendo DS Tops 10 Million In The Americas; Nearly 9 Sell Every Minute

Nintendo DS™ continues to achieve milestone after milestone. As the fastest-selling video game system in the world, Nintendo DS now is in the hands of more than 10 million consumers in the Americas. Since launching in November 2004, nearly nine Nintendo DS or DS Lite portable game systems have sold – EVERY 60 SECONDS.

"More than 5 million people joined the ranks as Nintendo DS owners in America last year alone," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "And right now, they're all saying the same thing—'give me more!' Fortunately, no matter your taste or experience in gaming, that's exactly what we're supplying in the months to come."



Following a year in which Nintendo DS taught the world to play in new ways, the planet's most popular video game device will school the cash-fisted buyers in the early months of 2007. Before March ends, Nintendo will send Diddy Kong® racing, obscure Wario™ in a series of disguises, challenge you to pimp your robo and lure the most daring into the dimmest room at Hotel Dusk™. In all, 20 new DS games will launch in the United States in the first three months of 2007. The full list by launch month:

January
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Nintendo
Arthur & the Invisibles - Atari
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice for All - Capcom
Fossil League DTC - D3Publisher

February
Diddy Kong Racing DS - Nintendo
Lunar Knights - Konami
F24 Stealth Fighter - Majesco
Disney's Kim Possible: Global Gemini - Buena Vista
Meteos: Disney Magic - Buena Vista
Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 - Konami
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja - Atlus

March
Wario: Master of Disguise - Nintendo
Custom Robo Arena - Nintendo
Disney's Herbie: Rescue Rally - Buena Vista
Disney's Meet the Robinsons - Buena Vista
Spectrobes - Buena Vista
Steel Horizon - Konami
Cake Mania - Majesco
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - D3Publisher
TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) - Ubisoft

Fasten Your Seatbelt And Prepare For The Flight Of Your Life!

WING ISLAND LAUNCHES ACROSS EUROPE ON WII

Get ready to take to the skies with the ultimate aerial adventure! Wing Island will allow you and your friends to hone your flying techniques as you soar through the clouds as an ace biplane pilot, performing death-defying stunts and exciting tricks along the way with ease. Wing Island soars across Europe on Wii on 23rd March 2007. Wing Island is published by Hudson and distributed by Nintendo.

As the first flying game for the dynamic Wii Console, Wing Island is like no other flying game out there. Using the Wii’s ground-breaking motion sensitive controls, players can feel as if they really are flying their plane. The use of the Wii Remote allows players to achieve maximum precision whilst flying, combined with a more realistic feel. By simply tilting the controller left or right, you can turn the plane in the desired direction by angling the remote up or down gamers can easily change height. Quick turns can be easily achieved by waving the remote’s tip to the left or the right. Acceleration and breaking is equally simple to control with quick bursts of speed controlled by quickly thrusting the remote forward or backward, whilst more steady speed is achieved by pressing up or down on the D-pad. Not only is this a simple and intuitive way to control the game but it also brings an all-new level of fun and excitement to the game, regardless of your previous gaming experience, as your movements control the plane.




In the main Story mode, gamers progress by completing each mission and unlocking new locations. The game’s single player missions set the player a number of fun tasks to test their flying skills ranging from food drops to extinguishing forest fires and taking photos of assigned objects. Players earn different ratings for each mission based on time, accuracy and damage to the planes. This in turn influences points, bonus points, and money awarded for each of the 27 missions. Earning money in turn allows players the opportunity to tune and repair their plane and even buy one of seven completely new planes. During each mission the player has the opportunity to fly solo or in a formation of five dependent upon which mission they are involved in, therefore enabling the player to experience the best of both flight methods.

‘Wing Island’ is centred around three different, exotic cartoon islands inhabited by wacky cartoon animals who will help players complete the tasks they are set. The first island is the smallest and houses ‘Wing Inc’, where the first few missions take place. The second location becomes available after completion of the initial missions and presents more challenging terrain across which to navigate. The third and final island has a large city built on it and is by far the most challenging to navigate across.



If the idea of completing missions doesn’t appeal to you then select Free Mode where you can fly freely around the islands in the game without constraints of time. At any point in the mission players can also try and break their own records to show off to their friends in the Single Player Competitive Mode. There are three options in this mode: score attack, where players must pop balloons by ramming them with a spike on the plane, time attack where they must race through numbered gates and also Plane Tail which allows you to pop balloons tied to your opponent,

If a bit of extra competition is what you’re looking for why not go head to head against a friend to prove yourself a flying ace, or perfect your skills by taking on Wii in Two Player Mode. As in Single Player Competitive Mode, this mode also contains score attack and time, as well as Plane Tail.

The super-exciting ‘Wing Island’ flies into stores across Europe on Wii on the 23rd March 2007 at an estimated retail price of around 49 Euros (approximately £34 in the UK). The Wii console is available across Europe priced at 249 Euros (approximately £179).

Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager

Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager available in the PAL territories of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia on release day.

It's official - Xploder PS3 HD Movie Player and Media Manager hits Europe on 23rd March!

Further to the successful North American launch of Xploder’s PS3 Cheat Save and Media Management solution, the company has announced that the PAL version of the product will be available at launch.



It’s well documented that the PlayStation 3 is not only a powerful next-gen gaming console; it incorporates a myriad of multimedia functions that have been included to place the console at the heart of the user’s home entertainment system.

And for those gamers who wish to exploit the capabilities of their new PS3 system, Xploder has created the ultimate media management application - as well as providing access to the latest PS3 cheat saves, the Xploder HD Movie Player and Media Manager provides users with a comprehensive range of software tools to enable the conversion, transfer and management of their entire media collections.

MOVIES
At the recent CES show in Las Vegas, delegates were astounded by the superior HD 720p and 1080p resolutions of the High Definition movies that had been converted by Xploder software for PlayStation 3 playback. Xploder automatically converts movie files to the AVC (.MP4) format for PS3 playback. It is compatible with the majority of movie file formats, including DVD (VOB)*, MKV, Xvid, DivX, MPEG 1, M1P, MPEG 2, TS, M2P, WMV, ASF, MP4 and AVI.

MUSIC
The conversion of music to MP3 and transfer via the easy-to-use ‘iTunes style’ desktop interface could not be any more simple! Convert your CD collection, along with MP3, AAC and WMA files, and you can even transfer music straight from your iTunes music library.

CHEATSAVES
If you want to get ahead of the game, you need access to the #1 Cheats Database - the software allows you to download exclusive PS3 cheat saves from www.xploder.net. North American users had instant access at launch to PS3 cheat saves for the latest games including Call of Duty 3, Ridge Racer and Resistance: Fall of Man, and with over 30 titles announced for European launch, Xploder.net is THE place to download PS3 and PSP cheat saves for the hottest games.

IMAGES
Manage your photo and image gallery for viewing on PS3 and PSP. Preview thumbnail images via the desktop interface and simply copy them across to your portable memory device. Compatible with JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIF formats.

All this functionality will be available for just £19.99 from high street retailers or from the Xploder store.
In addition the all-new Xploder download service means that you can get your hands on this market-leading software app for only £14.99.

*Non copy-protected DVDs only.