Gamertell

Yesterday, Gamertell started our look back at the 10 cutest games Nintendo has helped develop and produce. Today we’re going to continue that list starting with number five and ending with what, in our opinion, is the cutest Nintendo title.

We last left off at #6 - Pikmin 2 for the GameCube. Today, we’ll pick up with #5 - Yoshi’s Story. So join us for our look back and see if one of your favorite games made our list…

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We often hear “Don’t judge a book by its cover,“ and it is a nice philosophy to have, but often times, we can’t do it - even if we know its right. Human beings can be incredibly superficial creatures, and this superficiality gives items and people with beautiful appearances an edge. After all, are you going to buy a game that doesn’t look good? Probably not.

Nintendo’s smart - the company didn’t get to be one of the top three video game players by ignoring its potential consumers. The result of this is the company developing and producing incredibly adorable games. Now, the adorability isn’t the main selling point, but some titles just end up being cuter than others.

So Gamertell has decided to look back over Nintendo’s extensive video game release history to pick out the 10 sweetest titles Nintendo’s ever had a hand in. I’d recommend not eating candy while reading - you don’t want to go into diabetic shock or something…

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Halloween 2008 is over. Hopefully, everyone had a good night, filled with some sort of spooky activity. But we don’t have to give up on the Halloween spirit so quickly, even though the month has changed and time keeps ticking away. We can still remember the good times that were had at this year’s event.

So, while you savor your hard earned candy, or the little tidbits left in the bowl because you over-estimated how many trick-or-treaters would come, take a glance back at the various Halloween stories Gamertell ran to prepare people for the holiday. In fact, many of the special Halloween events may still even be running, and you could have one last chance to take part…

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Well my fellow gamers, October 2008 has finally come. This month will feature must-have titles that are highly anticipated to say the least. Use this list as a guideline for this pre-holiday season so you’ll know what to look for while you fight through zombie-like hordes in the mall. There are more than 200 titles coming out in this month including cross-platform releases but I’ll focus on the cream o’ the crop.

Click through for a big ol’ list of the best games coming out October 2008 for every major platform…

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Square Enix’s recent iPod release, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes requires a lot of patience. Not because it is a strategic RPG, mind you, but because you’ll have to sift through quite a few songs in the Hip-O-Drome before you find some truly worthy Tune Troopers that can be used in battle.

I spent over an hour yesterday, just testing tracks in the game and seeing what would come from them. At one point, I abandoned logical assessment (15 minutes in), and decided to just have fun with it. The result was a selection of popular, video game related and obscure tracks being plugged in to see what came out. Would a “One Winged Angel” trooper trump an “Aerith’s Theme?“ How would a classic track, like “Bohemian Rhapsody,“ fare against a top 10 pop hit like “Bleeding Love?“ Would other Square Enix songs, or other video game songs in general, create stronger warriors? I tested it so you don’t have to.

Since the creation guidelines aren’t clear yet, I’m not sure if others will get the same results. So I’m including all the information about the tracks I plugged in, in case song length, my rating of the song or how I sorted it effects the resulting Tune Trooper.

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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is a phenomenal game, but it is really more than that. It provides educational information about the culture and lives of people living around Midgar. There are profound truths revealed to those who take the time and effort to explore environments and become acquainted with the population. This quick list provides eight of the most essential Crisis Core facts. Be forewarned - there are some spoilers in this list. They’re minor, even minuscule, but they’re there.

Also, before anyone asks, I can hear you thinking, “But why eight? Why not narrow it down to five, or expand it to ten?“ I’m 7/10ths of the way through the game. Perhaps if I waited until I finished, I’d have an additional three lessons. Well, I’m easily distracted by shiny things or new games, and if I waited until I completed the game, then I might forget previous lessons and the list would be down to three or five. So here, in no particular order, are eight things I’ve learned from Crisis Core.

Click through to attain enlightenment.

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The Wii’s Virtual Console offers the opportunity for interesting and engaging series which normally don’t make outside of Japan to reach North American fans. Some rare import titles can be import friendly, when text isn’t important. However you then have to buy a console from Japan or mod your own to read the different cartridges or discs. Also, in the case of RPGs, importing often isn’t an option as the in-game text is necessary to proceed through the game.

While there are many different games that are available as possible ports, Mr. Universal from Popzara and I have put together a list of ten interesting titles which deserve a wider audience. Nearly all have some sort of translation…

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The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS),  a non-profit organization that promotes entertainment software, held its 11th Annual Academy of Interactive Achievement Awards at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, NV, during this year’s D.I.C.E summit.  Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4 took home the night’s top honors with four awards.

Other noteworthy winners were BioShock, which was acknowledged for its outstanding achievement in art direction, story development and sound design, and Motorstorm earning itself racing game of the year.

Click through for the complete list of winners…

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Gamerhelp recently released a list of the ten most pathetic video game villains. These are the guys who are so pitiful, they return game after game in an attempt to finally get things right. They never do though. Its a shame really. The list compiled includes: Bowser (Super Mario), Dr. Willy (Mega Man), Diablo (Diablo), Ganon (Legend of Zelda), Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong), Sephiroth (FFVII), Pacman ghosts, James Bond villains, Dracula (Castlevania) and Mother Brain (Metroid). Most of them are dead on.

I do disagree with the whole Sephiroth theory. I mean after all, he’s the standard for Final Fantasy evil. There’s also a darn good reason why he couldn’t just take out the whole team right away. I’m sure there is. Or if there is, it is a spoiler and shouldn’t be mentioned aloud.

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It has always been challenging for parents to control the outside influences that might be warping the minds of their children. The game industry is no exception as media, parents and even the United States Senate have blacklisted a number of game titles over the years.

None of this has however stopped most children from getting their hands on the latest shooter or GTA style game as there are a number of outside sources for kids to test drive adult oriented games.

To better educate parents, the US non-partisan research and information group, National Institute on Media and the Family, has released its 12th Annual Media Wise Video Game Report Card, focusing on efforts to educate parents and retailers about M rated games, and why kids shouldn’t be playing them.

The top ten games that made their “Naughty” list this year are:

1. Assassin’s Creed
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Conan
4. The Darkness
5. Jericho
6. Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
7. Manhunt 2
8. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
9. Stranglehold
10. Time Shift

It should be noted, that some of the games on this list haven’t exactly flown off of store shelves nor received strong reviews, save for a few.

What made the group’s “Nice” list though are:

1. FIFA Soccer 08
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
3. Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour
4. Madden NFL 08
5. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
6. Need for Speed Pro Street
7. The Sims 2: Castaway
8. Super Mario Bros 3
9. Super Mario Galaxy
10. Viva Piñata

I guess it is a good thing that, apart from a few exceptions, this list doesn’t have much of an impact on the majority of us gamers. Otherwise, the industry might have floundered years ago.

Read [The Blog Guardian] Also Read [Media Wise]

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