Gamertell

Sure, they aren’t nearly as fancy as $100+ statues but kids meal toys they are certainly more affordable.

While most are given through those wee servings known as a Happy Meal, Children’s Meal, Kids Meal or a similar moniker, some are purchasable as individual items at specific chains (assuming the owner or manager is nice enough to let you buy them a la carte).

Here’s a look at some of the most notable fast food premiums offered throughout the years…

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This one ends son so get to it as quickly as possible.

For 24 hours, developer DotEmu is giving away Nicky Boom 2 for iPhone and iPod Touch. That’s right, zero dollars. Free ninety-nine.

The game is available through the Apple App Store (aka iTunes) today (February 17, 2010) only. Although the company press release did not indicate a specific time period other than “today,” assume it ends at midnight (although the time zone is still a guess). The normally sells for $2.99.

I played for a few minutes and it’s essentially a 2D platformer in the mood of various ‘80s games. You shoot little green bullets at opponents, jump only tiny platforms, duck into passages and climb ladders to escape various opponents.

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The most recent release of the three Bourne movies – The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum – marks Universal Home Entertainment’s foray into the wonderful world of the flipper disc. These two-in-one, Blu-ray-DVD combo discs mean you can get the movie and enjoy it now, even if you don’t yet have a PS3 or Blu-ray player (assuming, of course, you have abandoned VHS and embraced DVDs).

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This is one of those instances where the name has it spot-on. The BOSS is, indeed, a big oversized super shell. And in a good way.

This relatively inexpensive and colorful shell adds life and comfort to the rather bland WiiMote.

The design is certainly intended for horizontal use and, despite other reviews, ultimately proves neither too large nor to bulky. Curves and light weight keep this an ergonomic delight to use.

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Telltale Inc. today (February 11, 2010) confirmed today during the Macworld 2010 expo that it will, indeed, be releasing games for Mac.

Even better, the releases begin today (February 11, 2010) with Tales of Monkey Island. As for the next game to be released, Telltale announced in its press release that gamers can vote for one of three series: Sam & Max, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People or Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures. You can start voting now on the Telltale website and until on February 21, 2010. The next game Telltale will release for Mac will be announced the following week and released March 2010.

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If creasing paper seems like a dull pastime, then you obviously haven’t been exposed to the wondrous world of papercraft.

These artists take colored paper or printed patterns, add a few well-placed folds and creases and turn them into 3D masterpieces.

Case in point is Matthew Hawkin’s Pac-Man papercraft sculpture.

As with anything these days, there are fans in abundance and many of them gather at Paperkraft.net to share designs, several of which involve classic and modern video game characters.

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Assuming you have 3 bills to drop, that is.

Signed by artist-creator Matthew Hawkins, this all-paper Pac-Man 3D creation features the infamous yellow munching head with arms and legs, swallowing ghost Pinky and grabbing an unhappy blue-ish Inky.

It measures 14 in. wide and 10 in. tall and is available for purchase through RivetArt for $300.

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At first glance it is an oversized iPod Touch complete with a screen for the primary surface area (although a wider-than-iPhone border), a Home button, a SD card slot along the side, a USB port and a bottom power-dock slot.

As a game system, the iPad certainly has the screen advantage. It will be the largest screen of any handheld game device, if we can even call it a handheld device and not a netbook or tablet (or netablet?).

It will also have benefit of a massive library of games although a decent percentage will need to be reworked for the iPad’s size. The accelerometer makes it great for driving and balance games but the size, even light and thin, is going to be too wide, tall and slippery for swinging moves easily accomplished with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The battery life is not very impressive and may prove a nasty sticking point for gamers. Not being able to run Flash games is also an issue Apple will eventually need to address. The biggest sticking point will be, of course, the price. Five hundred dollars is a bit much for a console let alone a handheld. Of course, with the unexpected early adoption of previous Apple i-creations, this will likely be in a lot of hands and games will certainly sell well.

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Labeled as a “Midweek Madeness” sale, steam is offering Psychonauts for only $2 through this Thursday (January 28, 2010).

The platformer currently retails for $9.99 and was originally released in 2005 by Majesco for PC (windows), Xbox and Playstation 2.

Psychonauts stars Raz, a young psychic who leaves the circus to sneak into a summer training camp for future Psychonauts. As expected, nothing is as it seems and Raz has to quickly acquire and perfect a few psychic skills to defeat baddies and solve puzzles. Some of his learned abilities include telekinesis, levitation, invisibility, pyrokinesis, clairvoyance, confusion, shield and blast.

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Gamer isn’t quite what you’d expect from the title. Sure, it has a fair share of gaming cliches but it tempers them with just the right mix of seriousness and humor and then wraps it all in an interestingly gritty cinematic style.

Don’t be mistaken. Little about this movie is subtle.

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