Gamertell

It seems like a videogame system just hasn’t made it, until it receives its first pet simulation. The latest incarnation of the N-gage has just received its first pet sim, Dogz, thanks to Gameloft. The game is rated for ages 3+ (like a kid would own an N-gage), is a small 1MB download and even has a free trial option. It’s only available in the UK though, and is available for £1.50 for one day, £4 for a week and £6 for unlimited use.

Dogz, like Nintendogs from Nintendo and Petz: Dogz from Ubisoft, lets you raise virtual puppies. There are three different breeds of dogs to pick from, and based on screenshots the breeds appear to be a lab, jack russel and shiba inu. There are also nine different places to explore with your dog and eight mini-games to play. You can also see how your dog ranks compared to other dogs online…

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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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The Escapist has announced that it will be holding the 2008 GamerLympics this August. There will be over 20 events taking place over a two week period from August 8-22, 2008. Some of the highlights include Kongregate.com Game matchups taking place each day of the competition, contests, and a “King of the Hill” Reset Generation Nokia N-Gage event.

The first 2008 GamerLympic events begin on August 8, 2008, with a photo contest, a gamer trivia game and Kongregate Game 1. Events will then resume on August 11 and run until the 15, with more Kongregate Games, movie trivia, a haiku contest, a comic contest and voting on the photo contest entries. The last stretch starts August 18 and ends on the 22nd, with comic contest voting, haiku contest voting, Kongregate Games, Reset Gen event and TV trivia all taking place the final week.

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Title: Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes
Price: $4.99
System(s): iPod Nano 3G, iPod Classic and 5G iPod
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Square Enix (Square Enix)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Multiple user profiles, uses your songs to create Tune Troopers, easy controls, auto save feature, handy tutorial
Cons: battery hog, loads of loading, small images
Overall Score: One thump up, one sideways; 80/100; B-; *** out of 5

When I first started seeing iPod games, I figured there would never be anything available beyond casual titles or puzzle games. And I was okay with that - I bought Tetris and Phase and figured I was set. And then Square Enix released Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes, a GBA quality RPG for a selection of iPods.

Song Summoner is easily the best iPod video game available through iTunes. Not only that, it shows that more advanced genres can run on this portable platform. If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be playing an affordable, strategic RPG on my iPod, I’d have called them crazy. And yet here I am and I’m loving it. 

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Apogee Software Ltd has woken up from its deep slumber and announced Duke Nukem Trilogy for PSP and DS handhelds. But it hasn’t bothered with any worthwhile details of Duke Nukem Trilogy, and there is no word on Duke Nukem Forever that has been in development for the past 11 years. All we know is that Apogee will start releasing new Duke Nukem chapters beginning Summer 2009 for the two handhelds. The three chapters are named Critical Mass, Chain Reaction and Proving Ground. 

Apogee frugally revealed the following details about the upcoming chapters

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Last week Publisher X announced a partnership with four international developers and will be focusing mainly on downloadable programs.

Publisher X currently has six new games already available for the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod touch including Zen Pinball, Critter Crunch and Reel Deal Slots. Click through to find out more about each game…

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According to an article in the New York Times, the now open Apple App Store for iPhone software offers more than 500 software applications, games, educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity.

In the article, writers John Markoff and Laura M. Holson interviewed Steven P. Jobs, the co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple Inc., who explained the quality and sophistication of the applications for the iPhone placing the product in a class of its own…

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Square Enix’s recent iPod release, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes requires a lot of patience. Not because it is a strategic RPG, mind you, but because you’ll have to sift through quite a few songs in the Hip-O-Drome before you find some truly worthy Tune Troopers that can be used in battle.

I spent over an hour yesterday, just testing tracks in the game and seeing what would come from them. At one point, I abandoned logical assessment (15 minutes in), and decided to just have fun with it. The result was a selection of popular, video game related and obscure tracks being plugged in to see what came out. Would a “One Winged Angel” trooper trump an “Aerith’s Theme?” How would a classic track, like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” fare against a top 10 pop hit like “Bleeding Love?” Would other Square Enix songs, or other video game songs in general, create stronger warriors? I tested it so you don’t have to.

Since the creation guidelines aren’t clear yet, I’m not sure if others will get the same results. So I’m including all the information about the tracks I plugged in, in case song length, my rating of the song or how I sorted it effects the resulting Tune Trooper.

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I’ve owned Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes for less than a day and already I am developing an unhealthy obsession for the Square Enix’s strategic RPG created exclusively for the iPod.

This isn’t enough time to craft a full-on review (that will come in a day or two) but an hour crafting Tune Troopers and a few hours of playing have provided me with a rudimentary education. I’ve learned a few tricks while playing which have been helpful in crafting a solid foundation for troop formation.

So the following are a few tricks to help you in creating your first few Tune Troopers and earning “S” ranks for your first battles…

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iPhone and iPod touch owners who love to doodle in their spare time will adore the Etch A Sketch for the iPhone. The new Apple App Store, which opened today (July 10, 2008), has an official Etch A Sketch application from Freeze Tag. It is a 2.4 MB download, costs only $4.99 and is recommended for users ages four and up. It only works with the iPhone (with 2.0 software) and iPod touch.

The reason it only works on touch screen iPods is because there are actually two knobs on the screen. Users can either doodle with their fingers, or use the two knobs to create works of art. You can do the classic black and grey art, or go with multiple colors, imported backgrounds and write on the drawing. The program also allows you to save your art and send it to friends. The best part - you shake your iPhone or iPod touch to erase the art when you’re done. 

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