Gamertell

A recent article in the Daily Reveille tells frequent game buyers something we all already know - game prices aren’t going to fall. Abraham Felix’s article discusses the average $50-$60 dollar price tag on console games and also cites a Reuters report that videogame and software sales are still continuing to rise, despite the increase in average price.

Felix goes on to state that that the prices aren’t going to fall as long as consumers are willing to pay such premium prices. The article also goes on to suggest that an increase in episodic games or new developing concepts could make game prices fall. Personally, I don’t see this happening. If anything, I could see an episodic game costing players more money than a single game in the long run, should players purchase every episode. Also, I doubt a new developing concept would make companies lower prices - they already know they can get $50-60 per game and I don’t think they’d drop prices unless they started seeing a decrease in sales…

MORE »

Square Enix has just announced that the Square Enix Store is going to start stocking some high-end Kingdom Hearts jewelry. Fans of the series will be able to purchase official keyblade keychains (available in three different designs) or a charm bracelet and charms. All items will be online exclusives, and will start appearing in the store between August 30 and September 13, 2008. The three metal keyblade keychains will be available in Kingdom Key, Oblivion and Oath Keeper styles. The charm bracelet will come with a heart charm, but Mickey, Kairi, Sora, Roxas, Keyblade and Heartless charms will be sold separately…

MORE »

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…

MORE »

If you thought Japanese DS games were getting a bit risky, you may want to skip this blurb. To Love Ru Trouble: Waku Waku! Rinkangakkou-Hen, yet another suggestive game, has just been released in Japan. It is based on the anime To Love Ru Trouble, and is something of a mix of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan meets Duel Love.

In To Love Ru Trouble: Waku Waku! Rinkangakkou-Hen, you’re playing as Rito Yuuki, the only boy trapped in a mansion in the wilderness with 11 girls. Like Duel Love, there’s a slight dating-sim, adventure story, but like Doki Doki Majo Shinpan, there are plenty of mini-games. Some of mini-games include spanking the main characters, squirting milk at items they’re holding and tapping the girls from behind. DS Fanboy has the official game commercial, of you’re interested at seeing the games in action. It’s slightly NSFW (not safe for work), so keep that in mind before visiting and watching…

MORE »

Reflexive Entertainment has released a downloadable version of its music flash game, Music Catch, for Mac and PC users. Originally, Reflexive released the online game in June 2008. After achieving quite a bit of success and fame, Reflexive decided to tweak the title, which resulted in the downloadable version released yesterday (August 26, 2008).

Music Catch can really be a very relaxing game. The point is to collect shapes, which are released in time with the music. Certain colors have different properties, like yellow ones are worth more points and boost your combo, red shapes make you lose points and decrease your combo and purple shapes cause your pointer to become a mini blackhole that suck in any shapes released. There are no lives to worry about or goals to achieve, you just play for fun.

MORE »

OGPlanet’s latest free-to-play MMO, La Tale has just entered into the open beta phase. Its a fairly short open beta, however, lasting only until September 3, 2008. After that, the game will temporarily be closed down until September 18, 2008, the official launch date. MapleStory fans may want to take note, as La Tale also looks to be a customizable, adorable, MMORPG with a 2D perspective and active battles.

La Tale is designed to be an active MMORPG with easy controls, customizeable characters and quests that are easy to accomplish. You design an avatar that is a warrior, knight, wizard or explorer who is trying to uncover Stones of Iris and learn Iris Livier’s while journeying across different lands and fighting monsters. I have to say, it looks adorable…

MORE »

Angels Online, IGG.com’s free-to-play, cute/scary (Well - I think the characters look scary) massive multiplayer RPG (MMORPG)’s first expansion, The Lost Atlantis is about to be released, and events are being held to celebrate it. The event, called New Edition, will run from August 28, 2008 until September 1, 2008, is designed to help players level up and prepare for the new region that will be added in the Lost Atlantis expansion.

There are four basic perks to this Angels Online event. The first is that all double experience cards will now give players triple the experience. The second is that speedup effect cards will make characters even faster than normal. Virgo Lucky bags will also contain Flame Arena tickets during the event, which will allows users to visit the Flame Arena to train. Pets’ Exp Stones limit will also be doubled. If you’re a casual Angels Online player, August 28-September 1 might be the time to really put in some effort and level up your character…

MORE »

Remember So Blonde? I don’t blame you if you don’t - its been about seven months since Gamertell reported on the point-and-click PC game called So Blonde, starring shipwrecked, teenage socialite Sunny Blonde. Well, there’s a new development, actually a new game. Dtp Entertainment and Wizarbox are bringing So Blonde to the Wii and DS in Europe in 2009. A US release hasn’t been confirmed, but it could happen.

It isn’t the exact same So Blonde that we all remember. The Wii and DS versions follow an alternative, “what-if” storyline, where Sunny Blonde didn’t land on the shiny, happy side of Forgotten Island. Instead, she landed on the dark side. So some of the story will be the same, but some will be new. The game will also feature new party mini-games that weren’t in the original title…

MORE »

A new season of Mabinogi has begun, and you know what that means - new items, new quests, new additions and new events. Generation 3 Season 1 (G3S1) kicked off August 21, 2008, and brought with it a slew of new material to enhance Nexon’s free-to-play massive multiplayer online (MMO) game. Two new Masters events, G3 Mainstream Masters and Battle Masters were also announced.

The changes to Mabinogi make the game more appealing with both cosmetic and gameplay additions. Eight new premium character eye and mouth choices were added, more skill shortcut keys were added and new pets are available for purchase in the premium shop. The pet system and pet’s AI have been updated, battle skills no longer have level caps and characters can get married. Of course there are also new story quests, for those who wish to pay for service…

MORE »

Amazon recently held a DS Gold Box day on April 25, 2008. Its decided that the love and good deals must be spread around to console owners as well. So the site is going to be holding a PS3 day on August 27, 2008. Starting at 12:01am (PST), Amazon is going to be having PS3 Gold Box sales all day.

Amazon has not announced what the special sale items will be - as always, they’ll be a mystery until the hour they’re up for sale. So far seven sale items have been confirmed, with the items being offered at (Remember! PST!) 12:01am, 6am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. Each item will only be on sale during its time period and while supplies last. 

MORE »