Gamertell

The Game Critics Awards list of the best games of 2008 has just been announced and the winners for the Best of E3 2008 include Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet, Spore, Gears of War 2 and Madden NFL 09.

Click through for the complete list of winners…

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Click through, bookmark the page and plan to press REFRESH a lot. We’re Live Bloggin’ Nintendo’s E3 press conference. It starts at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time (Noon Eastern time), Tuesday, July 15, 2008.

While you are waiting, make sure you check out the rest of our E3 2008 coverage.

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My wife was getting an oil change the other day and my baby gamer wandered into the dealership’s Videogame Room. Kudos to them for providing such a room. Sadly, it only has a slimline PS2 and four games (I think I saw Madden NFL 2002 in there).

But, there was a countertop pamphlet display with good ‘ol Mario on it. The pamphlets are for Visteon’s “Dockable Entertainment featuring Game Boy Advance.” It’s essentially a portable DVD player intended for your car with a GBA built right in…

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Title: Anguna: Warriors of Virtue v0.94
Price: Free ($10~15 on a cartridge)
System(s): Gameboy Advance
Release Date: July 9, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Game by Nathan Tolbert, art by Chris Hildenbrand
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: It’s a free, well-executed action RPG for a system which is no longer receiving commercial releases
Cons: There are no towns to visit and only five dungeons to explore.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down, 75/100, C, ** 1/2 out of 5

Anguna: Warriors of Virtue is a Legend of Zelda style RPG that simply offers an enjoyable, dungeon crawling experience. Some amazing homebrew GBA games exist on the internet and Anguna is one of them. It may not have all of the features of a full-fledged action RPG, but Nathan Tolbert has put together an extraordinary game that deserves a play-through. 

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Today’s cross stitch is designed to warm every Final Fantasy-loving heart. It is a FFVI family portrait, featuring Shadow, Relm and their dog Interceptor. Hey! Don’t go crying spoilers at me. The game’s 14 years old - the spoiler-cut statute has expired.

Click through to see an “in-progress” picture and find more cross stitch links…

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Nearly every successful video game series has a mascot, a character who immediately calls to mind a genre of games or perhaps a company. They’re instantly recognizable and, more often than not, prompt fond memories of classic games.

Mario, Sonic, Pikachu and Pyramid-head are some of the more recognizable figures, but there are plenty of other memorable mascots who often get pushed aside.  These are mascots from some really entertaining and enjoyable games that might not have enjoyed the same popularity as other series. Classic gamers may remember some of our five favorite obscure mascots.

Keep reading for the full list…

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Tonberries are probably one of the more devious video game villains, and yet, at the same time, one of the most intriguing. They’re cute little lizard things who generally prefer to be left alone. If you decide you absolutely must terrorize them, then they’ll hurt you so bad your great-grandpa will feel it. If running is an option, they’ll let you go.

Final Fantasy games are some of my favorites, so I decided it was time for a cross stitch of one a character from one of those games. I headed to the Sprite Database and picked out a tonberry sprite from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and set to work.

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All too often, female characters in video games are given bit parts, or designed in a manner that shows developers clearly intended them to act as eye candy. While female characters have become incredibly visible in games as time has gone by, it still can be difficult to discern characters who are really good role models for female players.

To make matters worse, when lists are compiled of strong female leads, they tend to feature the same characters over and over again. I’ve seen Lara Croft appear in lists at least 20 times, and frankly she doesn’t always deserve the spot.

Here are eight female characters, many of whom are often forgotten and should be considered role models for girl gamers. They are unique individuals in their various storylines and possess strong personalities…

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I really love the Fire Emblem games. The first GBA one Fire Emblem (which is actually the seventh game in the series) was my first and it really kicked my butt. To this day I still haven’t beaten it. Despite that, I still love the game because it got me interested in the series. I also really liked the siblings Nils and Ninian as characters. They’re pretty useful. I found some great sprites of them at Sprite Database and decided I wanted to do a slightly larger cross stitch than normal with the two of them. Aside from some color difficulties (why did there have to be so many shades of blue), and an accidental miscounting on Ninian’s scarf that had to be repaired, I think it came out really well. 

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One of the last quality titles for the Game Boy Advance is now available, and it isn’t one you’ll be finding in your local game store. Samurai Deeper Kyo, a top down action and fighting title based on the popular Japanese anime and manga series will be receiving a North American release. However the game is billed as an exclusive promotion for people who purchase copies of the full Samurai Deeper Kyo anime series DVD set. 

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