Gamertell

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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Title: Dream Pinball
Price: $19.99
System(s): DS (Wii, PC)
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Publisher (Developer): SouthPeak Games (TopWare Interactive, Zuxxez Entertainment)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone 10+” for mild blood and mild suggestive themes
Pros: Good sound effects, fairly nice audio, odd material balls and fun themes. It’s afordable portable pinball game that includes wireless features.
Cons: 3D actually gets in the way. Dizzying camera, poor use of dual screens and lack of alternate flipper controls.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways; 70/100; C-; * * out of 5

This game just doesn’t capture the sense of speed and thrill of a really good machine. The speed may have been knocked down a notch so the camera could keep up with the kinda nice 3D graphics but it ultimately worked against itself by slowing most boards’ to a mediocre pace. The $20 price tag does give the game a few bonus points for affordability.

Click through for the full review…

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It looks like 2008 is going to be the year SEGA fans start buying lots of cell phone games. In a recent press release, SEGA announced six new cell phone games, most based on existing SEGA properties, that will be released this year, starting with SEGA Columns Deluxe in May 2008 and ending with Crazy Taxi in December 2008. Prices and carrier availability have not yet been announced for any of the games.

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On January 8, 2008, Taito Corporation released the cell phone adaptations of Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2, Space Invaders Pinball and The Legend of Kage. All three titles are T-Mobile USA exclusives. If you’re interested, each game costs $2.99 monthly or can be purchased for unlimited use for $5.99.

Rainbow Islands and Legend of Kage are both remakes of the classic arcade titles from the 1980’s, while Space Invaders Pinball is a rerelease of a 2005 title. Rainbow Island features the dinosaur Bub as a boy going through levels to beat enemies and bosses with rainbows. Legend of Kage stars the ninja Kage going through levels fighting enemies to rescue a princess. Space Invaders Pinball is basically a pinball game with a Space Invaders theme. No additional material has been added to any of the games.

Normally I’d suggest kudos were in order for reviving old classics, but the circumstances are a bit different here. Space Invaders has practically been done to death and the last few Rainbow Island ports (ex: Rainbow Islands Revolution DS) have been abysmal. In this case, resurrecting the games could tarnish happy memories.

Read [The TestMarket Evolution] Site [Taito]

Product: Flipper Critters
Price: $14.99
Rating: 4/10
Pros: The dialog can be pretty entertaining and the game is challenging.
Cons: The visuals will make your eyes and ears bleed.
Overall: Too challenging for kids, too grotesque for adults.

I sincerely think that if Ignition Entertainment and Zen Studios had perhaps spent another 6 months working on the graphics in Flipper Critters, the game wouldn’t be the visual eyesore it is today. As is, Flipper Critters looks like a box of 64 crayons got drunk and puked all over your DS. Not pretty. It also is somewhat perplexing, as it has a storyline and characters which would appeal to children and yet has a difficulty level and dialog which would be more suited to adults. Its best not to over-think things like this though. Its a waste of time and can take a toll on your sanity.

Flipper Critters was designed to be an adventure pinball game, along the lines of Devilish. The difference is that Devilish was actually good. (Or at least good when compared to this.) Horrid level designs and graphics which not only induce seizures but also cause temporarily blindness prevent players from progressing too far.

Supposedly there are guide symbols to tell you where to hit the ball, but in the flurry of colors and shapes it is impossible to find them. Playing is all about dumb luck. Hit the ball (which is really supposed to be a tiger or monkey rolled up into a ball) and pray to whatever higher power you believe in that it hits something that lets you progress to the next level.

If, thanks to a hollow promise that you will build several temples in Yoshitaka Amano’s name (you pray to your gods, I’ll pray to mine), you manage to make it through a level, then a mini-game interlude will begin. I think this is to give your eyes a chance to recover after the trauma. The mini-games are somewhat easier both on the eyes and on your fingers.

At the very least, things aren’t a constant cacophony of random colors as they are in the pinball levels. There are three mini-games included, a flying level, an undersea level and a general platforming level. I’m not sure if its random which one you get or what, as I only managed to make it to the “Flying Battle” once. It was almost enjoyable, and reminiscent of Space Invaders. I suck at those kinds of games though, and so I perished before making it to the next stage.

The funny thing is that the story isn’t half bad. Its as though the writers realized it was horribly asinine and decided to take potshots at everything along the way. The ‘main’ story is that the leader of Ylwitch, Fluffy ‘Bull’ von Gigglestein, is sick and Gruff ‘Billy’ Goat, the wise, old sage, has asked Gawain ‘Tiger’ Chesterton and his best friend/sidekick Bubba ‘Monkey’ McManus to find a way to cure him. The characters can be delightfully sarcastic and come up with some surprisingly funny one liners. This little injection of humor prompted me to actually read the instruction book, which has funny little character profiles for each critter.

Of course it is a sad thing when the best things about a game are the instruction book and the occasional snippets of dialogue. If only some extra time had gone into fixing the wretched graphics, this could have been a whole different story. Flipper Critters is a pinball game which needs to be put down for the good of the children. Now if you would excuse me, I have some temples to build.

Product Page [Gamestop] Site [Flipper Critters] Site [Flipper Critters]

Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. has revealed its upcoming 2007 holiday lineup, all fresh with tons of PS3, PS2 and PSP games and hardware bundles to keep anyone entertained during this festive season. Much of the lineup includes first- and third-party products.

“This holiday season we are offering our largest line up of quality software and hardware products to meet every taste, lifestyle and budget,” said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president, product marketing, SCEA. “Triple-A masterpieces such as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and bundles such as the Daxter PSP Entertainment Pack and the SingStar PlayStation 2 Pack.”

Already released are this year’s PS3 heavy hitters including Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Ratchet & ClankFuture: Tools of Destruction and the more recent trading card based game The Eye of Judgement to name a few.

For the PSP, there will be several bundles available to include a newly-designed PSP system that include the Daxter and the limited edition Star Wars Battlefront PSP entertainment pack designed to show off the multi-functionality of the newly design PSP.

For those gamers who are fan of party games, a limited edition ceramic white SingStar Pop hardware for the PS2 at a holiday price of $149.99 launches later this month (November 2007). For the casual gamer more titles releasing for the existing PS2 system.

Here is Sony’s complete lineup for the holidays for the PlayStation 3:

First-Party Games

• THE EYE OF JUDGMENT
• Heavenly Sword
• NBA 08
• Lair
• Folklore
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
• Warhawk

Third-Party Games

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision
• Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, Activision
• Jericho, Codemasters
• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Eidos
• FIFA 08, EA
• Medal of Honor Airborne, EA
• Rock Band, EA
• The Orange Box, EA
• The Simpsons Game, EA
• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War, Koei
• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Lucas Arts
• BlackSite: AREA 51, Midway
• John Woo Presents Stranglehold Collector’s Edition, Midway
• Unreal Tournament 3, Midway
• Time Crisis 4, NAMCO BANDAI
• SEGA Rally Revo, Sega
• College Hoops 2K8, Take 2 Interactive
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, THQ
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, THQ
• MX vs. ATV Untamed, THQ
• Assassin’s Creed, UbiSoft
• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII, UbiSoft
• Haze, UbiSoft
• TimeShift, Vivendi
• Elder Scrolls IV: OBLIVION - Game of the Year Edition, Zenimax

For the PlayStation Network, gamers can enjoy the following games and download packs:

• High Velocity Bowling
• PAIN
• Everyday Shooter
• Go! Sports Ski
• Go! Sports Skydiving
• Mesmerize 1
• Trials of Topoq
• MotorStorm Christmas Livery
• Toy Home
• Twisted Metal 2 (PS One)
• MotorStorm Premium Pack 2
• Resistance: Fall of Man: Map Pack 2
• Operation Creature Feature
• Aquatopia
• Snakeball
• flOw Download Pack
• MotorStorm Vehicle and Livery Pack
• PixelJunk Monsters
• Folklore Download Packs 1 and 2

Holiday line-up for the PlayStation Portable:

First-Party Games:

• Jeanne d’Arc
• NBA ‘08
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs
• Tactical Strike
• Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow

Third-Party Games:

• Spider-Man 3, Activision
• Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, Activision
• Atari Classics Evolved, Atari
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Capcom
• Ben 10: Protector of Earth, D3
• FIFA 08, EA
• The Sims 2 Castaway, EA
• The Simpsons Game, EA
• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, Konami
• Silent Hill Origins, Konami
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, Konami
• Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, Lucas Arts
• Sonic Rivals 2, Sega
• The Golden Compass, Sega
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Square-Enix
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, THQ
• MX vs. ATV Untamed, THQ
• Beowulf, Ubisoft
• SWAT: Target Liberty, Vivendi
• Aliens vs. Predator Requiem, Vivendi

Holiday line-up for the PlayStation 2:

First-Party Games:

• Buzz! The Mega Quiz
• Buzz! Junior: Jungle Party
• Hot Shots Tennis
• NBA ‘08
• SingStar: Amped
• SingStar: 80’s
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

Third-Party Games:

• Cabela’s Monster Bass, Activision
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision
• Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, Activision
• Dragon Ball(R) Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Atari
• High School Musical: Sing It, Disney
• Need for Speed ProStreet, EA
• Rock Band, EA
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am, Midway
• .hack//G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption, Namco Bandai
• PopCap Hits! Vol. 1, Popcap
• Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus, Sega
• Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 2, SNK
• Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess, Square-Enix
• College Hoops 2K8, Take 2
• Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Burning Earth, THQ
• SpongeBob’s Atlantis SquarePants, THQ
• MX vs. ATV Untamed, THQ
• Crash of the Titans, Vivendi
• The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, Vivendi
• Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, Warner Bros.

Read [Game Career Guide] Site [Playstation] Also Read [Game Shark]

SpikeTV has announced the nominees for its Video Game Awards show. The nominees were chosen by SpikeTV’s advisory panel, made up of two dozen game journalists, that were released between November 16, 2006, and December 1, 2007.

So far, BioShock and Halo 3 has received the most nominations with seven each, including nominations for Game of the Year and Xbox 360 Game of the Year. No Wii or PS3 exclusives have been nominated as Game of the Year. The “Most Addictive Game” category will be selected by online voters polled on the official VGA website.

The show is scheduled to air December 9, 2007, gamers still have a chance to cast their votes for most addicting game at iFilm through the event’s sponsor Mountain Dew.

Here is the complete list of the nominations for this year’s Video Game Awards:

Game of the Year:

Best PS3 Game:

Best Wii Game:

Best Xbox 360 Game:

Best Handheld Game:

Best PC Game:

Best Shooter:

Best Action Game:

Best Rhythm Game:

Best RPG:

Best Driving Game: DiRT Forza Motorsport 2 Need for Speed ProStreet Project Gotham Racing 4

Best Military Game:

Studio of the Year: Bungie Studios Harmonix Irrational Games Valve

Best Graphics:

Breakthrough Technology:

Best Individual Sports Game:

Best Team Sports Game:

Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show:

Best Soundtrack:

Best Original Score: BioShock God of War 2 Halo 3 Mass Effect

Best Multiplayer Game:

Most Addictive Game:

Read [Game Industry Biz] Site [SpikeTV VGA 2007] Vote [Most Addictive Game]

Often when people think of women in gaming, they either think of the digital super cute, super sexy or super barbaric women found videogames often portrayed as the damsel in distress or weak. On October 25, 2007, the Xfire Debate Club logged on for their ninth meeting to discuss issues women face trying to get into the gaming industry or as a gamer.

The eight million strong gaming community, Xfire, invited nine successful women of the gaming industry to speak with the Xfire community on the topic of women in the gaming culture, game marketing, portrayal of female characters in videogames and the online gaming experience as women to name a few. Xfire is one of the fastest growing online gaming platform and community in the world helping gamers to easily connect, chat and play with their friends online

The eight women in the gaming industry who attended include:

• Colette Bennett, Editor, Destructoid
• Amber "AthenaTwin" Dalton, Clan Leader and Founder, PMS Clan
• Robyn Fleming, Senior Editor, Cerise Magazine
• Jasmin Kassner, Founder, PixelTamer Games
• Helen Kennedy, Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England
• Lesley Smith, Freelance Games Journalist

Leigh Alexander, Staff Writer of Gamasutra was unable to make the panel.

"Women play an increasingly important role within the gaming industry as gaming becomes ever more mainstream," said Frederic Descamps, senior director of marketing at Xfire. "We are thrilled to welcome this panel of experts, each of whom brings a unique perspective and approach to issues facing women in the industry."

Helen Kennedy, a feminist researching and writes about women and how they game and play, moderated the event and began the debate by asking the panel about the specific challenges each of them faced as a gamer and as a professional.

"I think most women have had at least a few irritating conversations about whether they really play games," responded Fleming."... and when you do something gaming-related for work, the assumptions just keep right on coming - only now it's about you as a professional as well as a hobbyist. I think there are lots of gaming communities that are ready to take women seriously as players."

Bennett agreed and added, "I know personally (that) people still don't really believe women play games," she said. "Or if they do, they play girl-specific games. Personally I feel you just have to let these stereotypes roll off you. I think women are very much judged because of the fact that we are women; a stereotype that is hundreds of years old won't just go away because a girl shows up and says she can beat you at a game."

During the debate Bennett mentioned that the image of women in general is always an issue to some communities.

"I think the image of women in games versus women who play games in real life is always an issue," Bennett explained adding that to avoid the harassment some women hide their gender when playing online. "Women are still being heavily objectified in most games. Whether we like it or not, it has an impact on how we are viewed in general. Well, the internet gives you the ability to create yourself as you wish (to a degree.) You don't have to identify as female if you don't want to. Hiding your gender seems pointless, but some women will do it so they won't be harassed."

Dalton agreed and added, "Offline is more friendly I think than online," she said. "Online, where people hide behind anonymity, is where women are really harassed more I think."

Kassner disagreed stating that she has been playing MMOs for a long time to include Ultima Online for 9 years and has never been harassed. Kassner added that in Germany women are widely more accepted as gamers than elsewhere.

Dalton was quick to tell Kassner that her perfect gaming experience won't last once the male gamers start see more and more women coming out and saying "look we are here, we play just like you do."

Kennedy asked the ladies if they had experienced any pressure as gamers professionally and as competitive gamers. The panel all agreed, Fleming pointed out that there is even pressure for women to be the right kind of female player to earn acceptance within gaming groups.

"Sometimes there's pressure to be 'one of the guys,' and not remind your fellow players that you are ... a woman," Fleming explained. "And other times, the pressure is to be cute or sexy, or to play the damsel in distress, etc."

Bennett agreed and said even as a female journalist in the gaming industry there is pressure, but not as much as the ugly treatment competitive female gamers often go through just to enjoy gaming.

"I think the image of women in games versus women who play games in real life is always an issue," Bennett added. "Women are still being heavily objectified in most games. Whether we like it or not, it has an impact on how we are viewed in general. Games became important to me when I was 8 years old. I think girls of today may have to contend with what their parents think of gaming and if they believe in the negative media that people like Jack Thompson support. If that doesn't stand in the way, they may be able to discover the gaming culture naturally. It scares me because when I think of what games represented to me, and how they made my childhood and young adulthood so much better, I fear that girls growing up may be cheated out of that because of the media image of gaming."

Kennedy focused on how negative media has scared many potential young female gamers and created the "Pink Poison" most young girls are given as alternative games.

"The pink poison problem (are those) games that are targeted at women (and) are always in pink boxes and advertised as for women only," Fleming explained. "I kinda like the pink ... but I hate the way it's marketed."

Smith agreed and added that "pink consoles are a bane, I personally hate them intensely and yet the major manufacturers continue creating them," she said. "I think women don't really care about the colour, it's the console and games that matter but the industry can't understand they do not need to make special ones just for us."

Dalton agrees the whole usage of color to make a system or game women specific is a lame attempt by the gaming industry to make them feel apart of the culture when it actually separates them.

"We are a viable market companies should be targeting as consumers, employees, etc.," Dalton explained and said although she likes pink consoles but more of a fashion or personalization choice not because its for women. "We are individuals that like all different things, brought together by a love of gaming. I think they all work together, have the games we like and have the way to make it as personal as we like it. It is about personal preferences, and neither is wrong. (It's not just about) color, fashion is a natural companion for male and female audiences ... personalization is key. Women on the forefront is still underdeveloped, and we owe it to the next generation to be able to say 'yes you are a girl' and that is fine to play."

The debate then turned its attention to the new line of girl-specific games from UbiSoft called the Imagine series. The series was released in October 2007 as the first games in the Imagine line for the Nintendo DS system. The game series for girls include Imagine: Fashion Designer, Imagine: Animal Doctor, Imagine: Babyz and Imagine: Master Chef. With an upcoming release of Imagine: Figure Skater to be released in early 2008.

Smith calls this new line a "prime example of how not to do games for women."

Kassner told the panel that companies should stop being gender specific and just produce good games.

"What I really want to bring across is that in front of the PC we are all the same. No matter what color, what gender or what sexual preferences. We have this unique opportunity to be all the same: Gamers," Kassner said. "Why does the marketing still cling on to the old fashioned values of male or female and stuff. Its stupid. By marketing a game to guys you loose females players and vice versa. Marketing peeps have to come into the present and realize that they can just market good games."

Bennett added that she couldn't blame a videogame company because they only produce what the public wants based on a survey, but even the survey needs to broaden.

"Well, the hard thing about trashing the Ubisoft line is that it is based on a survey of what girls in a certain age range wanted (supposedly)," she said. "I don't like the idea that these games are being pushed at little girls, but at the same time how do you market Contra to an 8-year-old girl? I think all PR and marketing ideas are directly linked to the bottom line. Money. Which is what makes it difficult to ever escape these stereotypes."

When challenged by the panel over her Contra statement Bennett explained her opinion further.

"What I am getting at is that when I was growing up, I played all kinds of games, Contra and Barbie games alike," she said. "I got to choose what I liked. In today's day and age, it seems much more important to be marketing at certain groups since gaming has become such a powerful industry."

Smith added that the whole pink issue is purely based on the childhood idea that pink is for girls and blue for boys which is outdated. The panel agreed that this type of marketing strategy separates women and men in gaming and often times turn female gamers into targets.

"I think it's a case of there are no such thing as women or men games, there should be just gamers,"mith said.

The panel agreed that because a lot of women don't have a problem with the sexualized images they use as avatars or screen names which separates men and women gamers, and often open themselves up as targets.

"I've received too many random rape threats just for having a female name on an online game," Fleming said surprising the panel and the audience. "It doesn't happen to every woman, but it does happen to many. When I'm playing a game, I often like to have a female avatar but that's as far as I tend to go and I still get that crap."

The group agreed that the gaming experience is getting better with monitoring to prevent harassment but as far as the gaming industry, they agree there needs to be more women in the gaming industry. At the end of the discussion Kennedy asked each panelist one final question. If they could improve the contemporary game culture what would they change?

Lesley Smith: "Stop segregating women, make games and magazines for gamers not for one gender or the other."

Colette Bennett: "More emphasis on creativity and breaking the mold. We have enough FPS, RPG, Platformers, etc., etc. Try to strive for genre hybrids or new genres altogether."

Robyn Fleming: "More variety of female characters in all kinds of games."

Jasmin Kassner: "Marketing should change to 'Global' in a sense of no sexism, racsim, etc..."

Amber "Athena Twin" Dalton: "Make development groups more diversified, all races, backgrounds, lifestyles to appeal to all aspects of gamers."

Site [Xfire Debate Panels] Read [UbiSoft] Site [PMS Clan] Site [Cerise: Gaming Magazine for Women]

Gamer Help Online recently posted 99 - yes you read that right - codes that will unlock secret movies, game enhancements, practical jokes, humor, mini-games and system tricks.

Have you ever become so infuriated with a game because you just can’t seem to overcome an obstacle. Like the hand-numbing button masher scene in the first Metal Gear Solid when you have to save Snake from getting electrocuted to death by Ocelot? Or maybe you just want to do something funny like give James Bond a bobble head or play as a piece of Tofu in Resident Evil, put your character in god mode or even unlock secret ending movies or minigames?

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Crave Entertainment showed off its Pinball sim at At E3 this week, featuring realistic recreations of classic tables including Gorgar, Black Knight, and Space Shuttle, for the PS2, PSP and Wii, due out Summer 2007. The tables are authentic down to the sound effects and individual quirks (like Black Knight’s revolutionary-for-the-time magna-save).

Players begin the game with access to four tables, unlocking the other half as the game progresses. The game includes ...

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