Gamertell

Nintendo has just announced it will be hosting a “mystery party” at its world store in NYC. On September 6, 2008, a kid-friendly scavenger-hunt-ish party will go down at the Rockefeller plaza store. It’s all in honor of the release of Mystery Case Files:MillionHeir, ("the new seek-and-solve game for Nintendo DS"), and will involve clues, puzzles and prizes. There will also be food, drinks and game kiosks and the opportunity to participate in a “live interactive performance with characters from the game” - whatever that means.

The best part? The press release says the party is for “Kids, parents, teens, enthusiastic gamers, curious consumers and mystery buffs of all backgrounds”. I can just picture a few 20-30 something rabid Nintendo fans pushing the 5-year-olds around. Then again, that’s not a very nice image. Mystery Case Files:MillionHeir is due out on September 8, 2008, whether you go to the party or not.

Read [411mania]

Title: Beijing 2008 (aka Beijing Olympics 2008, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics)
Price: $49.99 ($29.99 as PC Download)
System(s): *Xbox 360, PS3, PC/Download (Mobile)
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Sega (Eurocom)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Pros: Includes a lot of events and character graphics are rather impressive.
Cons: Too much thumbstick twitching, too many awkward movements and poorly queued events. Too much clicking to get to an actual event.
Overall Score: One thumb sideways, one thumb down; 65/100; D; * 1/2 out of five.

With events already completed and the Beijing 2008 Olympics soon coming to an end, it’s very likely more than a few gamers will still have that Olympic itch, the desire to compete and a residual want of track and field sports.

Click through for the full review…

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Check out the gallery: Beijing 2008 Olympics screen shots

You’ve heard of the “uncanny valley” that is, the fact that the more realistic computer-generated graphics become, the more disturbing their flaws (i.e. the best animated humans look very creepy and weird). Now, an excellent editorial at Gamasutra examines the “graphics plateau” - the point where graphics are basically “good enough” and all anyone cares about is gameplay. Writer Brandon Sheffield thinks we’re there already. He cites the crazy popularity of underpowered machines (like the Wii and even the DS), and the PS2’s continued success, along with the ubiquity of mobile gaming in Japan, as reasons supporting this.

What do you think? Are graphics now at the point where we no longer need the uber-machines to be satisfied? Or are simpler games just in fashion due to demographic reasons? An argument could certainly be made either way, but Sheffield’s piece is well worth a look whichever side you’re on.

Read [Gamasutra]

Get your radiation meds ready. Bethesda has announced the official release date for the hotly anticipated Fallout 3 - October 28, 2008. European gamers will be able to traverse the game’s barren, nuclear-scarred terrain on October 31st (just in time for Halloween!).

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A plethora of announcements were made at Leipzig 2008 including the announcement of what will be the fifth iteration of PS3 consoles with different storage capacities. So far we’ve seen 20GB, 60GB, 80GB, and 40GB PS3 models since the console was released almost two years ago. On August 20, 2008, Sony announced a 160 GB model that will come bundled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, a Dualshock3 controller and a voucher for the PSN title Pain. This bundle will be made available in November 2008 for $499.

This new model is definitely designed to get…

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The average gamer age is higher than it was when most of us started gaming. Content is much more mature than when the older gamers started as well. Parents, who are often gamers as well, still want to insure that their kids play age-appropriate games.

If you don’t want your kids to have exposure to inappropriate content, the only place you can really limit their exposure is in the home. Even then your control over inappropriate content in your house is still lacking to an extent. Unless your child is home schooled, has no friends, doesn’t watch TV, never goes online and doesn’t flip through magazines or the newspaper; sooner or later there’s going to be exposure to content deemed inappropriate for a child.

So with the general availability of information there’s a couple of ways to deal with the rise in mature content…

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You may remember last week’s unofficial announcement about the successor to the PSP 2000 aptly named PSP 3001. We knew it had to be a matter of time before Sony put more information about this on the record and, thankfully, Sony has done just that at Leipzig 2008.

Contrary to the FCC filings, this new PSP model will not be given the 3001 brand number. It will instead carry the easier-to-remember…

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FROM APPLETELL - Real Racing is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an accelerometer controlled car racing iPhone game that looks fantastic.
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Wii gamers who find themselves defending the system as a legitimate platform for hardcore gamers have been given some new ammunition (of course, they may want to save that ammunition for the zombies). Sega has announced The House of Dead: Overkill will be coming to the Wii early 2009. The game is being developed by Headstrong Games (formerly Kuju of Battalion Wars 1 and 2) and is being built from the ground up specifically for the Wii platform.

Using the Wii remote (as opposed to the light-gun approach of the The House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return port), the game will be presented in a pulp action-style design. This is made quite clear in the trailer which was instantly one of the best game trailers I have ever seen. Click through to check it out…

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OGPlanet.com is going to be fashionably late with it’s free-to-play MMO’s Olympic celebrations. Rather than running its games’ Olympic events at the same time as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, it is going to be holding events in Albatross18, Cabal Online and Rumble Fighter from September 4 to 14, 2008. Registration for the Olympic events opened August 19, 2008.

If you want to compete, you’ll have to sign up in the OGPlanet forums. You must join teams with players from the three MMOs to enter. Only 48 teams will be able to compete. The winners will receive prizes (like in-game currency and an item for La Tale) and honor. 

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