Nintendo 3DS for $199 or less?

/

So, are you wanting to buy a Nintendo 3DS when it hits store shelves but don't want to drop $249.99?  Will you also have an older DS system that will get no love once you buy a 3DS?  Well, you're in luck.  Now until April 3, 2011, GameStop is promoting a 3DS Trade Up Offer.  When you trade your old DS system you will receive a credit towards a new 3DS.  If you trade in your DSi XL you will receive a $100 credit towrds a 3DS.  If you have a DSi your trade in value will be worth $75.  Finally, if you're like the majority and have a DS Lite, you will receive a $50 credit.  So, instead of spending the full amount and keeping your old DS system, you might as well head down to your local GameStop and reserve a 3DS while saving some dough.  Check out the full details to GameStop's 3DS Trade Up Offer here.

Sequels Abound - Saints Row 3 Announced

/

THQ recently announced that Saints Row: The Third is scheduled for release on the 360, PS3, and Windows PC (sorry Mac guys).  According to THQ Executive Vice President Danny Bilson this games starts off with you at the head of the Third Street Saints who are now an elite criminal orginazation.  This means that "There’s no delivering pizza, no shuttling family members about in a long series of taxi missions. Instead, you take all the power of the Third Street Saints and you take the world by storm."  So hopefully there will be less pointless missions as are pretty standard in free roaming games, at least from my experiance.

So what is the games point?  Well now the Thrid Street Saints are a household name complete with their own products such as sneakers, energy drinks and even bobble heads.  But all this comes at a price at they have garnered attention from The Syndicate (BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMMMM).  The Syndicate is a global criminal fraternity and now demands the that Saints pay them tribute.  Being who you are you bow to no man (that is what go you to where you are now afterall) and the battle begins.  Look forward to even more outlandish gameplay then we had in the previous games this holiday season.

Nintendo Shows of 3DS at GDC

/

So Nintendo had their big thing at GDC today (which was mostly over shadowed by some blasted fruit companies announcement) and it focused mostly on the 3DS.  There was some mention of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but the main focus on this was the Nintendo 3DS which comes out the last week of this month.

Reggie Fils-Aime announces Netflix

The focus seemed to be what you are going to get out of your handheld besides your 3D cartridge based games.  One thing they mentioned is that at the end of May 3DS owners will be able to connect to more then 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots free of charge, which is very important to their ends goals.  This make the systems SpotPass™ more usefull in the geographically wide United States as it will all you to connect to both user via local connections and users around the country in restaurants, book stores, coffee shops and airports.

The hotspots will also allow users to stream 3D movie trailers to their devices via a short-form video service, so you can watch the Green Lantern trailer in 3D in your hands without pesky glasses.  Along with this comes Netflix integration.  Yes it seems like anything that can show video (except Android devices so far) are getting Netflix and the 3DS is no exception.  Although so far it looks like you are limited to movies in the boring old 2D, you won't have to waste your data plan to watch something while sitting at Starbucks.

The last thing they plan use all this network coverage for is the Nintendo eShop available at the end of May as well.  This is going to function like the Nintendo WiiWare store including classic games (whatever that defines) redone in 3D, DSiWare games, games from the Game Boy™, Game Boy™ Color, Game Gear and TurboGrafx-16, along with the afformentioned video service.  Say, why do we focus so much on games that are 15+ years old?  Must be that whole nostalgia thing kicking in.

Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo Co. Ltd., announces Super Mario in 3D for the Nintendo 3DSThen the main thing people (or at least myself) wanted to know is what other first-party games are coming out.  TheyTo this they announced that a 3D (GASP) Super Mario Bros game will come to the DS. Including old style Mario mechanics it will be made by the Super Mario Galaxy team.  So the game looks like it will be in safe hands.  The downside is it will not be a launch title for the system.

And there we have it, the 3DS is coming and Nintendo is trying to give you as much as they can for $249.99 without making the thing a smart phone / tablet.  Now lets see if it pans out for them, shall we?

3DS Game Expectations

/

So Nintendo's latest iteration of the Nintendo DS line, the 3DS has launched in Japan.  They had 400,000 units they had for their loyal minons fans sold out quickly.  According to sources most of the these units had been sold out for since they started taking pre-orders, but the places that where not sold of from pre-orders had lines 2,000 people long.  So is this what we are looking forward to here in a months time?

Well if you are planning on getting a 3DS you might want to know what games you will be playing when it is released and we got you covered.  But before you get yours hopes up, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is not on the list.

Read More

Australia Refuses to rate Mortal Kombat

/

No real surprise here given their history, but Australia has found that Mortal Kombat does not fit into it's limited rating system, and has therefore been banned from entering the country legally.  This is mostly due to the outdated notion that the Austrailian parlament has about games being only for kids since their highest rating for games is still MA 15+. While many groups have tried to get an MA 18+ rating into the Australian system these attempts have so far failed.  This leaves no room for games that are made soley for the adult population, and causes Mortal Kombat not to be availble for mature Australian gamers.

The Legend of Zelda - 25 Years of Epic

/

Mario just had his birthday so it was bound to be close, but The Legend of Zelda turned 25 this week.  To celebrate this Japanese artist AG+ created this below image.  It is epic, there is no other word to describe it.

 

Click the image for its full glory.

If you cannot name everyone in it, check the reference links for a site that has already done it for you.

Dead Space 2 Review - PC

/

In space, no one can hear you scream, but a space station is an entirely different matter, which is where Issac has found himself. Three years have passed (in game) since the events of the original Dead Space, so let us do a quick recap for those that don’t know. Issac Clark is an engineer that was sent out to do repairs on the USG Isimura, a planet cracker space ship. His girlfriend is on this ship so this works for him as this is the first time in months that he gets to see her. He gets to there, finds everyone dead and is almost immediately attacked by an alien with long scythe like arms. Long story short there is a strange “marker” that is causing these things to be created and causes people to go insane. His girlfriend is dead (spoiler, sorry) and it is up to him to destroy the marker, which by the way is the religious simple of the Unitarians. He destroys it, escapes and lives happily ever after. 

Ok, that last part was made up...

Click here to read the review in the Video Games Section

Winter-een-mas Comes

/

You heard me, Winter-een-mas is upon us.  For those of you that do not know what Winter-een-mas is the explanation is simple.  It is a 1 week long celebration from January 25th - 31st of all that is gaming. The holiday was invented in the comic Ctrl+Alt+Del.  With its creation so where created the Spirits of Gaming.  The Spirit of Action and Adventure, the Spirit of FPS, the Spirit of Fighters, the RTS Spirit, the Racing Spirit, the RPG Vixen and lastly the Sports Spirit (all introduced here).  Since the creation of this pixel laden week it has started to take on a life of its own.  So much the creator has started to let people do their own thing with it and not push it near as much as when he setup this site.  Now many of you may wonder why should you care about Winter-een-mas (which probably could have used a better name honestly), beyond an great excuse to play video games for a week straight as a celebration.

Read More