So, you still interested? Ok, not long after you discover you’re in the past, you need to save this princess from her past family who thinks she is the princess of the current time. Oh, since they look similar, being genetically related. After that, your adventures doesn’t stop, you bounce from time period to time period and must save the world from this alien being. Not to mention, this game will have a huge amount of endings depending on what you do or don’t do. All of this packaged and ready to play on your Nintendo DS.

If this is the type of game you want to play. Then the fine folks over at RPGamer have gotten hold of a release date for Chrono Trigger DS. It will be released on November 25, 2008 in North America. It will keep the original story and gameplay elements. It will have added DS functionality with extra dungeons and an arena to enhance the game. Rated E10+ by the ESRB.

Official site: Square Enix

Source: RPGamer

We are big fans of [Double Fine chief] Tim Schafer. We hope the game finds a good home.
That’s all they had to say, but my reading of “PR-ese” is that MTV considered publishing “Brutal Legend,” talked to Double Fine and its reps, but ultimately decided not to pick the game up and/or couldn’t reach a deal.

So where will “Brutal Legend” end up? With MTV out of the picture

I think Activision made a big mistake here. One of their biggest franchises is Guitar Hero. It has been said that there are parts of the game that require use of a guitar controller. I mean could this not be more obvious product synergy? Also, MTV games also made a big mistake since they could have published this game and linked it to Rockband.

I really hope this game gets picked up by some publisher out there. I remember reading an article in Game Informer and it looked really good back in the magazine.

Source: The Cut Scene

I was searching all over the internet in a quest to obtain all gaming knowledge. Unfortunately, I failed in that quest. I was able to obtain this little tidbit of information from the fine folks over at Eurogamer. Until now, it was previous unknown how gold was going to transfer from the pub game into Fable 2.

1. Pick a gambler to represent yourself. You can choose other gamblers by the names of Lynch, Poe, Maya, Daphne, and Mongo. You’re allowed to stick with one personality or switch between multiples.
2. Gamble to your heart’s content, earning those achievements, waiting until the release of Fable 2 in October.
3. Once you have Fable 2 in your grubby hands, create your hero and find a gamemaster either in a seedy tavern or down the winding path. Start a game variation that is offered by the gamemaster.
4. After you start a game, you’ll be given an option to merge your hero with your gambler you created. Allowing you to all funds accrued from the game.

You are able to merge multiple gamblers with your hero. In addition, you can go back to the Live Arcade pub game with your merged character with the in game funds. Also, after the merged, it cannot be undone.

I am pretty excited about the release of the pub games, the future release of Fable 2, and this explaination helped me not worry about how the transfer will go down. From what I heard from other gamers was that gold was really hard to come by in Fable. Remember, those Pub Games come out tomorrow.

Source: Eurogamer

It’s not that they are naughty, illegal or even nerdish, it’s just that any glimpse inside his head could be worth billions. Particularly so now: the Wii still sells strongly around the world, but its successor is the talking point. Unfortunately, the only place where the discussion has any grounding is inside Mr Miyamoto’s head.

Actually this makes complete sense. Since many successful first party titles are created by him. Any glimpse into his imagination could be a disaster for Nintendo. By banning him from speaking about his hobbies, they can keep their competitive edge when it comes to producing creative new games.

However, at the same time, it must be strange to be “banned” from speaking about your personal hobbies by the company that you work for. If I was in his shoes, I don’t know what I would do.

Source: The Times Online

MILTON, Ga. — Milton Police officials said they have arrested three teens and charged them with 57 felony counts in connection with a recent series of car bombings with Molotov cocktails in the city of Milton, north of Atlanta. The felony charges include arson, criminal damage to property and possession of explosive devices in six vehicle fires between 11 p.m. July 24 and 3 a.m. July 25. Each teen is charged with 19 counts. Officials said the teens — ages 15 and 16 — told authorities they learned “how to do it” from playing the video game “Grand Theft Auto.”

Truthfully, I am getting tired of video games being blamed for crimes committed. Society always seems to blame popular entertainment when these outrages happen. Oh, it is easy to blame the violent video game, instead of other influences affecting their life. It is wrong to blame their parents, or even themselves for their own actions? Many people need to wake up and look for some proper answers. Like Family Guy’s Peter Griffin once said. This really grinds my gears!

Source: WSBTV-2

Fast forward a couple years and the music game genre is a booming business with sales from software and downloadable content. These games are so popular that many bars often host Rockband nights for their many inebriated patrons to make fools of themselves. Let’s just face it, these games are very fun and tap into our dreams of becoming rockstars.

Well, these games require music, preferably from well known bands from past and present. These require the music to be licensed from the record labels. As reported by Reuters, Warner Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman draws comparisons between MTV’s launch and Apple’s Ipod launch to music based video games. In addition, he also states that since these games are wholly dependent on content own and controlled by them and they should be getting more money.

Truthfully, I feel that the record labels should be grateful that are often getting residual sales because of their music being in these games. Generally, it seems that the music industry is behind the times when it comes to promoting their product in the best possible manner for themselves and the artists they represent.

Source: Reuters

Early Sept price reduction on X360 hardware:

• Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
• Pro (60GB) to $299
• Elite (120GB) to $399

We should also expect hardware and game bundles for all hardware versions coming in the fourth quarter, just in time for the holidays.

From the stories of yore that I heard, this mole was the hero of the great 60GB Xbox 360 rumor release. A rumor that later became confirmed fact by no other than Microsoft itself! If this new rumor is indeed true then many gamers who need an Xbox 360 can raise their hands up in joy.

In addition, this image below, smuggled by a faithful member of VG Chartz may provide valid proof that the mole of Ars Technica speaks the truth of such price cuts. All signs point to sometime this September. We shall see if this really happens.

Source: Ars Technica
Source: VG Chartz

Game Review: Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm

Released: June 25^th, 2008

Developer: Stainless Games, Ltd.

Publisher: SEGA of America

Available Platforms: Xbox 360

Players: 1

MSRP: 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00)

ESRB Rating: Mature

Website: Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm

The Happy Tree Friends, the flash animation from Mondo Mini Shows has finally come to the Xbox Live Arcade. The seemingly cute cartoon animals who oft suffer very violent deaths have garnered a cult following on the internet. Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm doesn’t disappoint in carrying the torch of violence and cuteness as you attempt to take them through many different dangerous obstacle courses.  As you take them through these obstacles courses, the purpose for you is to guide them to safety so they can live on for another level. Of course, if you wanted, you could send them to their deaths over and over. After all, you are in control.

Graphics: B

The graphics in this game are not the worst seen from an Xbox Live Arcade game. The backgrounds are highly detailed for each zone that you play through. The colors are varied but at times can make it hard to see the objectives for completing the level. The digital recreations of The Happy Tree Friends are very faithful. Laughs ensue as signs show of their abuse if you are unable keep them from harm.

Sound: C+

The sound and music in this game is not the strongest point. The music is light and playful but easily forgetful. The sounds effects are relevant when certain actions happen. The Happy Tree Friends scream and cry as they see fire or are being defiled by level obstacles. Truthfully, sound and music are not major factors in this game experience.

Gameplay: C

Gameplay was very lackluster. It follows a general formula of Lemmings or Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Help your “men” from point A to point B without losing anyone. Solve the obstacle puzzles to complete the level. If you are able to get everyone to the goal quickly then you will score more points. The difficulty of each level was pretty easy. Few of the levels were frustrating but easily defeated by simple trail and error. I believe this game had much more potential if they tried to add innovation to this genre and added a bit more polish. The AI of the Happy Tree Friends was horrible at times and could potentially exasperate the player.

Controls: C-

The controls were pretty simply to use in theory. However, at times, if the cursor was just a pixel off the lever or button then nothing would happen. This happen more often than it should have. I believe the controls should have been much tighter given this game’s genre. The controls to scroll through the level to preemptively turn off the obstacles were very slow at times. In most cases when I did this, I would freeze the Happy Tree Friends so I didn’t have to worry about them getting killed while I worked out the rest of the puzzles. Overall, more work was needed to fine tune the controls.

Replay/Multiplayer: C

This game has no multiplayer feature whatsoever. This type really doesn’t work with any sort of co-op or competitive multiplayer. The only LIVE feature this game has is an online leaderboard. As for replay value, the only reason most people would have to reply a level is to get a gold award to reach the next zone or for achievement hunting. Once all of the achievements have been obtained, there is little reason to load this game.

Value: C-

Given all the issues experienced in this game, I could not see value in this game being 800 Microsoft Points. I feel that game should have been much more to be worth that price and should have priced lower in its current incarnation. Even if the AI and controls were not issues, the game is too easy and can be completed in about 2-3 hours. This game is simply overpriced at the moment.

Overall: C

The game was fun but it suffered from many flaws. If these issues were resolved then it would have been a much better experience. At the current price of 800 Microsoft Point, I would highly suggest taking a look at the demo before purchasing this game. The biggest redeeming factor of this game was the exclusive cartoon for completing the game. It paid homage to many old video games.  If you really like this game genre then there are better games out there for challenge and value.

Alex’s Bottom Line

Truthfully, if you have a DS, Mario vs. Donkey 2: March of Minis might be a better use of your hard earned gaming cash. However, if this game’s price was reduced to 400 Microsoft Points, then I could recommend it for quick gaming thrills and achievements.

Turns out that Bungie’s latest Halo project was originally part of the program for Microsoft’s press conference on Monday, but it was taken out of the lineup at the last minute. Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Xbox games business, said the company decided to pull Halo …

… to help trim its E3 presentation to under 90 minutes, from 2 1/2 hours, to accommodate attention-challenged reporters. “We had an embarrassment of riches,” Mattrick said. “We felt we could do this game more justice with a more dedicated event.”

Indeed, very strange. The reason this could be is because some many other games are coming out like Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2. It could be, likes other sites have stated, Microsoft did not want Bungie’s announcement to compete with Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 13 announcement. However, other than time constraint reason, we may never know the true reasons. Only time will tell.

Source: LA Times

From: Harold Ryan
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:00 PM
Subject: E3 Announce

For the last several months, we’ve been building toward a reveal of something
exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan
community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed
by our publisher.

We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie
team share that disappointment.

When the right time comes, we look foward to sharing this exciting announcement with you.
Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.

Harold Ryan
President
Bungie LLC

There has been rumors about a possible Halo without Master Chief among other things. It could be speculated that such a message is fake given the time it was posted. Noted, 7 is a very special number for Bungie, and the message was posted at 7pm. As we know, Bungie day just recently passed with the release of Cold Storage Map, themes and gamer pics to celebrate. All fans were waiting for this surprise with barely abated anticipitation, now many sit with utter disbelief. Unsure with if this true or just a ruse. Only time will tell.