Gamertell

Just when you thought the world was turning an evil eye towards video games, accusing it of converting children into violent thugs, rotting their brains and making them fat. Consoles like the Nintendo Wii have opened up a new way for the medical field to use the games to their advantage. With games being integrated into physical therapies that can not only improve a person’s hand-eye-coordination it may just help shed some pounds in childhood obesity.

According to an article published by the UK Press Association video games that engage children in any form of physical activity “may be an effective answer to childhood obesity…“

MORE »

Ah, nothing makes me reminisce like stand-up arcade machines.  A new company is bringing back the glory days of gaming with the Retro Space Arcade Cabinet complete with old game casings, old-school joysticks, buttons and even a trackball. 

The Retro Space is packed with a computer that comes preloaded with 100 licensed arcade classics and several emulators. When not gaming (*gasp*) the cabinet can be used as a jukebox for a music collection and includes 1080p playback. As for the screen, it is a 24-incher with…

MORE »

The notion that dedicated consoles will eventually become obsolete is beginning to gain some support. The logic behind this belief is simple: video games are going to be available on umpteen devices and in forms never imagined before in the not-so-distant future. Sandy Duncan, former VP of Xbox Europe also is among those who subscribe to the game console extinction theory.

He told That Video Game Blog that in the next 5-10 years video game consoles will cease to exist…

MORE »

Just when gamers were gearing up for what could be the next bigger then life MMO, Microsoft, Marvel and Cryptic Studio’s Marvel Universe Online, news has come out that the future title that was to be an exclusive title for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, may be dead, or very near to dead.

While neither Marvel or the title’s developers and publisher has stated why Marvel Universe Online might be headed for the great beyond, all that is known at this time is, that production has hit serious, potentially stalling, development troubles.

While the Marvel Universe Online hasn’t been publicly canceled just yet, the future of the MMO that was to bring the entire Marvel Universe to life, where players would have created their own characters, interacted with many of Marvel’s greatest heroes and even…

MORE »

Finally, a retail console that will play carts from more than one game system. Unfortunately for younger gamers - and fortunate for us lder gamers who horde their old carts - the Gen-X Dual System plays both 8-bit NES and 16-bit Genesis games.

The Gen-X has two top slots, one for each type of cartridge. I’m guessing it’ll play your original carts, which is nice if you are still blowing to get your games to play. (Much like shaking a Polaroid picture, that does not really work. If your games have troubles starting, you likely need a new data cable. Ask any game system repair tech).

Currently selling for…

MORE »

The game industry hasn’t been too kind to the Terminator franchise over the years. With a number of lackluster titles on the arcade and home consoles, The Halcyon Co, which owns the licenses to the Terminator series, is forming their own subsidiary diversion devoted to bringing the Terminator to next-gen consoles, PC and mobile.

This news comes after it has been confirmed that Batman: Begins and 3:10 Yuma star, Christian Bale has been cast as the new lead actor for the role of John Connor who was previously portrayed by Edward Furlong in T2 and Nick Stahl in T3.

The first game is targeted to be released along side T4, which is set to begin filming sometime in 2008. As of yet, Arnold Swarzenegger, who made his name starring in the first three Terminator films, is not attached to either the game or the fourth film.

Read

• Believe tech can change the world?  Buy one of these this holiday season.
• A hot keyboard always needs a partner…
• ARM teams with Canonical to break free of cell phones

After one of the biggest mergers in gaming history, the new partnership between Activision and Blizzard quickly confirmed that Call of Duty 5 is already in the works. While this news isn’t a shocker to most fans, as Call of Duty 4 is reminding gamer’s world wide that there are more conflicts to be won then just World War II, expectations for the fifth installment of Call of Duty will no doubt be one of the loftiest of the already outstanding series. No word yet has surfaced as to whether or not Call of Duty 5 will continue the storyline and characters that was featured in the last game, or even if the title will still be set in the modern world.

The partnership between the two gaming powerhouses has also confirmed that, Guitar Hero 4 and unnamed Racing title are also in the works. Unfortunately for millions of fans, it is confirmed that World of Warcraft will remain a PC only game, and not likely in the near future to come to next-gen consoles.

Read [IGN]

• ARM teams with Canonical to break free of cell phones
• Believe tech can change the world?  Buy one of these this holiday season.
• A hot keyboard always needs a partner…

Product: Metal of Honor: Airborne
System(s): Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rating: 7/10
Publisher (Developer): EA (EA LA)
ESRB Rating: Teen
Pros: Great graphic, total freedom, large level design
Cons: Poor AI, short game play, unoriginal, dull game play
Overall: Airborne does some things right but in the end, this game is just a poor man’s Call of Duty

It is hard to believe that before 1999, World War II video game were still a unique and relatively unexplored genre. To an entire generation back then, WWII was little more then old war stories told by either your grandfather, or aging veterans at VA centers. That would forever change after the box office release of the Steven Spielberg’s Oscar nominated masterpiece, Saving Private Ryan. Soon after, it wouldn’t take too long before the game industry opened its doors to the Second World War for source material.

EA, in development with DreamWorks Interactive (makers of Saving Private Ryan) teamed together in to try and bring the same thrilling on-screen experience to the home consoles of millions of eager Playstation gamers who, up until 1999, hadn’t had many true first-person shooters to call their own. The end result would ultimately be Medal of Honor.

The original MoH was considered by many publications - and fans - to be one of the 25 best games that graced the PS1. Fast-forward eight years and ten more games, and the MoH franchise has certainly follow far from grace. After numerous failed titles, some counted as the worst games of the last generation of gaming systems, EA is looking to revive the ailing franchise with Medal of Honor: Airborne.

Unfortunately, EA has not managed to capture that same old magic of the original series.

One of the strongest aspects about Medal of Honor: Airborne is its wonderful design and graphics. Using the Unreal Engine 3, Airborne is simply one of many titles to be released in 2007 that has the power of UE3 under its hood. Visually, this game is nearly even with the Call of Duty series in terms of graphics, but not quite. Environment details are rich too, varied and truly has a sense of destruction to it. General level design is quite good, even though there are only six total levels in Airborne. However, each of the six levels is quite large, taking anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to complete.

You also get all your usual suspects of WWII items and weapons in Airborne, but really nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times already. At this point I would kill to have a laser pistol to use against Nazi scum…just to change things up a bit.

When everything is laid out, Medal of Honor: Airborne doesn’t do anything visually different that we haven’t seen already done in the past two, to three years.

Features: 7/10

One thing you will read throughout this review is the mentioning of Call of Duty. Even though it was Medal of Honor that played a large part in the creation of the World War II gaming craze, it was Call of Duty that has defined the genre. Unfortunately, even though Airborne takes a lot from the Call of Duty’s play book, EA doesn’t come close to capturing that same intense adrenalin filled thrill ride that Call of Duty somehow manages to deliver time and time again.

Airborne, like most FPSes, has adopted the duck-and-cover system to its gun play. This system is easy to use as one only has to move near a wall or some piece of debris, then press and hold the left trigger, and the player automatically takes cover. The only real problem with this system is, even when you hold the left trigger, which you have to do in order to aim down your sights, your character will automatically freeze in place and only able to lean to the left or right, even though there is no cover present. This is very annoying and will more then likely get you killed more then a couple of times during the course of the game.

Like Call of Duty or Brother’s in Arms, the player has to aim down their weapon’s sights in order to fire. You can fire from the hip, but unless you are fighting at close range it isn’t likely that you are going to hit anything. The only problem is, even when aiming down the sights it isn’t likely you are going to hit anything anyways. Far too often, even when you have a Nazi soldier lined perfectly, for some reason once you pull the trigger your shot most of the time misses horribly. With the frantic nature of Airborne, this fault becomes a very serious matter, especially later in the game.

Weapons are also able to be upgraded. At first, this system seems interesting. The more the player uses any one weapon, the more it is upgraded with new features and attachments. The main problem with this system is, it is far to easy to upgrade all or most of your weapons in a single level or two. And once they are maxed out, three being the highest per rifle, machine gun or submachine gun, the enhancements or attachments don’t really seem to add any value to the weapon. Some in fact make the weapon worse as you can’t unequip certain attachments that actually hamper your game play.

The AI is pretty poor too. Allies AI is non-existent as your teammates will either rush continuously into enemy lines, or abandon you all together, leaving the player to storm the Nazi positions alone. Enemy AI is just as bad. While the German soldiers aren’t stupid enough to stand still and be shot, or rush you head-on, (most of the time) EA’s idea of good enemy AI is to have the Germans constantly change from one position to the next, even when they aren’t being fired at. Combined this with a horrible aiming system, just getting your sights locked on a Nazi soldier is a pain in the ass, no less killing them. Even German tanks just drive around in circles seemly awaiting for you to destroy them.

Airborne’s biggest game feature is as its namesake suggests. You play as a member of the 82nd Airborne, which means that you will have to make the leap of faith in order to reach you final objective. Although I would say that the character the player controls is either the luckiest bastard alive, or the unluckiest as five out six of the levels, your transport plane is hit by German anti-aircraft fire, resulting in the deaths of your expendable teammates. This does get real old really quick and seems to be a poor attempt by EA to make this game seem more exciting and intense then it really is.

In the beginning of each level, and after each respawn, you are dropped from a plane over the battlefield where you have the option and freedom to either land at the designated safe zone, marked by green smoke, or anywhere else within the game barrier. You are totally free to do just as the developers have said, whether it is running along the roof tops, fighting alongside you allies, or taking the fight to the Germans head on, the only problem is that if you don’t land at the safe drop, then it is more then likely you will land in the middle of a horde of Nazi soldiers with no backup from your buddies. This usually means certain death in a matter of seconds. Although, the option does allow you to bypass some of the more difficult Nazi defenses as you can attack them from behind.

Performance: 7/10

Ultimately the overall game performance is pretty okay. There isn’t any major bugs or issues with the actually game mechanics. But, there is nothing in Medal of Honor: Airborne that hasn’t been done already, and done better. The sound design is okay, sometimes. Most of it has already been used from previous titles in the series including the game’s music and theme.

While Airborne tries hard to give the player that same sensory overload that Call of Duty does, in the end, there is just no real excitement or heart to the overall performance of the game. Everything just simply works the way it is suppose to work, and nothing more.

Overall: 7/10

While Medal of Honor: Airborne isn’t a horribly bad game and does have its moments, in the end, this game has no passion. There is nothing in this title that we haven’t seen or played a hundred times already in better games of this genre. Worse still, it is pretty clear that in this game, which the once seemly endless source material that is World War II, is starting to run dry… or has.

Most of the real life operations in Airborne are going to be completely unknown to gamers. Unlike previous games in this series, players won’t learn anything either about the operations they are taking part in, nor will they learn anything at all about the 82nd Airborne and their great deeds that have made them legendary. There are no cut scenes at all, no central characters, hell, you don’t even get to see or hear your own character speak…a feature in games I am really starting to get tired of seeing. With only six levels players will probably feel cheated. In the end you really won’t care to play any further.

When everything is all said and done, Airborne is not the saving title for the Medal of Honor series. It can’t even be counted as one of the best. I would say at this point, as EA seemly can do little more then copy what Activision’s Call of Duty series has already done, they should just put the nail in the coffin and end this series once and for all.

Site [EA Games] Site [Metal of Honor: Airborne}

• Believe tech can change the world?  Buy one of these this holiday season.
• ARM teams with Canonical to break free of cell phones
• A hot keyboard always needs a partner…

The Xbox 360 normally isn’t the system that comes to mind when you think of a cute console, but a new listing on Ebay can changes all that. A very creative individual has put together a pink Xbox 360 plush toy. The item was just placed on Ebay today (November 25, 2007) and the auction will close December 2, 2007. The starting bid for the item is £35.00 British, or roughly $72 American.

Inkyfingersjunior, the seller, has 100% positive feedback over 92 transactions, so it is definitely a trustworthy seller. The item is in St. Helens in the UK, but the seller will ship worldwide. The seller only accepts paypal, so if you want to bid you better make yourself an account.

The Xbox 360 pink plushie is completely handmade and almost the same size as a real Xbox 360. It is made of fleece and cushion stuffing, and it took the artist 5 hours to create. This toy could be the perfect, one-of-a-kind gift for the Xbox fan in your household.

This has to be the cutest Xbox 360 I have ever seen. It is just the cutest thing. It could be a decoration or a pillow! This item will probably go fast, so better hurry and start bidding.

Read [DeviantART] Auction Page [Xbox 360 Pink Plush Edition]

• How to get your Mac to talk to your Xbox 360
• Apple and a gaming console?
• Street Fighter IV not coming to US arcades

The National Toy Hall of Fame held a ceremony yesterday morning (November 8, 2007) to induct the Atari 2600 into its list of 38 elite toys. The other toys inducted at the ceremony, held at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY, were the kite and Raggedy Andy (Raggedy Ann had been previously inducted).

This is the first videogame system to be inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame, though certainly not the first game system. The Hall of Fame’s press release called it a “controversial choice” to induct the game system which beat out Hot Wheels, Yahtzee and the Game of Life .

Paul Dyson, the museum’s curator, said the 2600 was inducted due to its popularity which helped spawn the modern console by “mesmeriz[ing] a generation with games such as Space Invader, Pac Man, and Frogger.”

From the Toy Hall of Fame’s web site regarding the Atari 2600:

When people play today, chances are very good they’re playing a video game. No company did more to make that true than Atari.

Atari did not make the first home video game system—that honor belonged to the Magnavox Odyssey. But Atari was the company that truly popularized this play form. Atari first entered the home market with its 1975 electronic table-tennis game Pong. But its true game changer came out two years later: the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. The 2600 had better games, more colorful graphics, and sharper sound than the original systems. Most importantly, players could change games by inserting new cartridges. Kids battled friends in Combat, saved the earth in Space Invaders, outran ghosts in Pac Man, and had fun with Frogger. Americans soon were spending billions of dollars a year on Atari 2600 products.

Because computer technology advances so rapidly, video game systems often have short lives. The Atari 2600, however, proved surprisingly long-lived. Its widespread popularity, relative affordability, and abundance of software titles kept it in production for fifteen years. Eventually it succumbed to newer, faster, more powerful competitors, but not before it made video games a staple of everyday play.

Way to go Atari 2600. No wonder I’ve kept you in such good condition for so many years.

This is a particularly interesting inclusion considering the Toy Hall of Fame likes to keep the inductees rather basic including the teddy bear, rocking horse, roller skates and red wagon among its 38 honored toys.

Anyone can nominate a toy on the site as long at it meets the criteria of having a decent amount of key criteria including icon-status, longevity, fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play and it profoundly changed play or toy design. The Atari 2600 certainly did all of those.

Read [WXXI] Site [National Toy Hall of Fame]

• Send the gift that lasts forever - inflatable fruitcake
• Internet:  It’s the most important thing in people’s lives
• Apple and a gaming console?