Gamertell

Title: Boom Blox
Price: $49.99
System(s): Nintendo Wii
Release Date: May, 6, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Electronic Arts
ESRB Rating: “Everyone”
Pros: Makes great use of motion controls. Fun, frantic multi-player. Gets extremely additive.
Cons: Not all modes are created equal. Frame rate occasionally chugs along. May be a tad cutesy for some.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one sideways; 85/100; B; * * * 1/2 out of 5

When the Wii was first unveiled, the unique motion-sensing controller led many to believe that it would lead to a boom in creative, original titles. Unfortunately, that has not been the case, and aside from a few notable exceptions (mainly consisting of first-party Nintendo titles), games for the Wii have mostly been rushed ports and budget shovelware. 

That’s what makes Boom Blox so great:  It’s a game that couldn’t be played on any other system and, instead, it plays to the console’s strengths, offering a wholly fun and unique experience.

Click through for the full review…

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While a date has yet to be set, Silicon Knights President Dennis Dyack has said that a demo for the upcoming action/RPG epic, Too Human, will be hitting Xbox Live. “...A demo is absolutely planned,” Dyack told Eurogamer.  “We think it’s critical for the game. If things go as planned, gamers should get a demo well in advance before the game’s released.”

The game was recently given a release date of August 19, 2008, and Dyack hopes to have the demo out by then.  “Yes, that’s the plan,” he explained.

As far as what the demo will consist of, Dyack thinks that it will most likely be the first level of the game.  “The more we put in the demo, the more challenging it’s going to be,” he said. “We really want people to focus on the gameplay, because the fusion between RPG and action is something really new. You can’t really tell what the game’s like till you sit down and play.”

Expect a date for the demo to be revealed in the near future.

Read [Eurogamer] Site [Too Human]

• Deal of the Day: Xbox Live Gold membership free throughout the weekend
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One of the biggest surprises of last year was EA’s Skate, which reinvigorated the skateboarding genre after years of stagnation.  Nintendo DS and Wii owners will finally get to see what all the fuss was about.  Today (May 12, 2008), EA announced Skate It, a spin-off designed specifically for Nintendo’s unique hand-held and console.

The Wii version will allow users to use the remote as a skateboard, mimicking moves and tricks with the motion controls, while the players on the DS will…

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Nintendo’s WiiWare channel launched this morning (May 12, 2008) and soon a slew of new, small and original downloadable titles will be available.  One of the games that we’ll be seeing on the service later in the month is Protothea from Ubisoft.

Protothea is a vertical shoot-em-up (because we all know that the Wii is in desperate need of shooters), featuring 3D graphics and a control scheme that takes advantage of the…

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Pandemic Studios has revealed that it is currently working on The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, a spiritual successor to the Star Wars: Battlefront series which allowed gamers to relive some of the greatest battles of the franchise in a third-person action game.

Conquest will take a similar route, thrusting players into Middle Earth’s most famous battlefields, where they can pit almost all of the LOTR characters against each other.  From nameless orcs and trolls to main characters including…

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id Software has announced that it is looking for people to join its internal development team for the upcoming horror first-person shooter, Doom 4.

No information was given about the game, such as new features, story, or even what platform(s) it will end up on.  All we know right now is that it’s being - or going to be - made.  Here’s the not-so-surprising call for…

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Rockstar’s recently released epic, Grand Theft Auto IV, has been on the receiving end of a great deal of controversy for quite a while but parent company Take-Two Interactive is finally fighting back.

Take-Two is suing the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) for pulling all GTA IV related ads from buses and transit displays throughout the city just days after they were put up on April 22.  The ad campaign was supposed to last for six weeks.

Take-Two claims that by…

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One of the most anticipated titles for the PlayStation 3 has just received a minor setback.  At the Sony PlayStation Day in London, SCEE revealed that LittleBigPlanet is being pushed back a month, and should be hitting store shelves this October 2008 instead of September 2008.

The darling of last year’s Game Developers Conference, LittleBigPlanet is set to be one of the showcase pieces for Sony’s fledgling online network.  Developed by Media Molecule, LBP is a two-dimensional side-scroller for the Playstation 3 in which players can build and share their own levels. Using easy-to-use creation tools, players can…

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While the PS2 and upcoming Wii versions of Rock Band aren’t privy to the downloadable tracks that hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions each week, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be getting additional tracks to rock out to in the future. 

Harmonix has announced the Rock Band Track Pack: Volume 1, which will give Wii and PS2 owners 20 new tracks when it’s released on July 15, 2008.

The Track Pack, which will retail for $29.99, will feature a mix of classic rock and more modern tunes culled from the downloadable content (DLC) available on the other two platforms. Click through for the complete track listing:

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Ahh, adventure games, how I miss you. 

Once one of the most important and popular genres in gaming, the adventure game has seen somewhat of a resurgence in recent years after falling off the face of the planet for about a decade. 

Malinche Entertainment, currently the only active publisher of text-based adventure games, is looking to ignite gamers’ nostalgia with the 2008 Adventure Gaming Expo.  Lucky adventure game fans in the New Jersey area (or those willing to travel to the garden state) will get the chance to meet-and-greet with some industry legends and bid on some amazing pieces of gaming memorabilia August 29-31, 2008, at The Water Club in Atlantic City…

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