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Review: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Posted by Hai Vu on October 31st, 2009 No comments
When we think about innovations in gaming, platformers don’t usually come to mind. Although I loved Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast and the Sypro the Dragon series for the original Playstation, platforming games in general are a dying breed. Whereas games in other genres—such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear and Final Fantasy—have made leaps and bounds (pardon the pun) in the way of technology, platformers have been essentially stagnant for well over a decade.Another problem (at least for us older gamers) is we often have to recall our childhood love of Saturday morning cartoons to overcome the syrupy sweetness of these cute characters. The sugar coated graphics and often silly, childlike storylines do nothing for hardcore gamers.
The Ratchet & Clank series may be a platformer, but it’s been known to tower above other games in this genre in quality and gameplay, with gorgeous graphics and a grand arsenal of highly entertaining and humorous weapons. Is the third installment into this classic franchise a simple rehash of older Ratchet titles, or does it propel the series forward? Read on to find out.
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Nintendo Admits "Wii is Stalled"
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 31st, 2009 No comments
Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata is swallowing that bitter pill, admitting the company has dropped the ball. Profits for the latest quarter have dropped 43 per cent compared to last year. Why the decline in sales? A lack of good first party titles.“Wii is stalled,” Iwata told a press conference, held to explain the drop in profits. “We didn’t release good software continually, and let the good mood cool.”
His statement becomes quite obvious when you consider most of the games released were “new play control” titles. Take a look at the list and judge for yourself…
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Microsoft Targets Pirates With Mass Xbox Console Banning
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 30th, 2009 No comments
If you illegally download and play games on a modded Xbox 360 console, there’s a good chance your reign of piracy has just come to an end. Microsoft has just unleashed a massive wave of bans, targeting illegally modified consoles.“We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs,” a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN. “In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE.”
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Top Ten Scariest Games
Posted by Sean Taylor on October 30th, 2009 No comments
It can’t be denied. Some of the best moments in games don’t come from a first-class headshot, the thrill of a winning lap or a perfect touchdown pass. The moments that you remember years later are the scares that send you shooting off the couch yelling, ‘Holy Shit!!! What the f*ck was that!?!†Here is our list of the Top 10 Scariest Games! -
$16.5 Million Settlement in Wii-Related Water Contest
Posted by Natalie Sit on October 30th, 2009 No comments
Jurors in Sacramento have awarded $16.5 million to the family of Jennifer Strange. Strange died after participating in a radio contest, “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” to win a Nintendo Wii. You may remember, contestants were challenged to drink as much water as possible without going to the bathroom.In addition to the settlement, the jury found the radio station 107.9 “The End” to be 100 percent responsible and negligent.
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RIP N-Gage
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 30th, 2009 No comments
We knew this was coming. Nokia has officially taken N-Gage off life support. The company says no new games will be published and all current games will be moved to its Ovi store, and will be available until September 2010. After that…they will be gone for good.
Anyone really surprised by this announcement? No better question…did anyone actually use an N-Gage?
[Via Pocket-Lint]
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iPhone Launches in China…No One Cares
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 30th, 2009 No comments
After years of waiting, China finally has the iPhone! China Unicom, one of China’s three big cellular companies, now has the rights to sell the “Jesus Phone”, but does anyone care? Doesn’t look like it. Just take a look at this “line up” outside a China Unicom store. *insert cricket sounds here*
China is a huge market to tap into. It has 710 million cellular subscribers, the most in the world. Looks like Apple has its work cut out for it.
[Via Mobile Crunch]
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Playstation 3 Sales up, Sony profits Down
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 30th, 2009 No comments
A bit of good news mixed with bad news for Sony this morning. Sales of the Playstation 3 have gone way up. 3.2 million units were sold during the second quarter of this year, up from 2.4 million in the previous year. That’s the good news.
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Happy 40th Birthday Internet!
Posted by Sean Taylor on October 29th, 2009 No comments
That’s right! This thing that you’re using right now has been around for 40 frickin’ years! How the time has passed… from those fledgling days at UCLA when there was only one other computer to talk to, to the days when the U.S. military and AT&T helped spread your wings, to your adolescence when people were first introduced to the joys and pitfalls of email. Now, in your teenage years, we have to deal with your tantrums in the form of Nigerian princes, viruses, data-mining and dot-com bankruptcies. But we also have YouTube, Facebook, Smartphones and information on-demand, so it’s not all a bad thing. -
Toyota Engineers New Flowers To Absorb Emissions
Posted by Mike Yawney on October 29th, 2009 No comments
What do you do when the process you use to create your flagship environmentally friendly vehicle actually kills the environment? Well it you’re Toyota, you engineer two new species of flowers to suck up all those pollutants.The flowers, which are derivatives of cherry sage and gardenia, absorb nitrogen oxides, and remove heat from the atmosphere. This in turns lowers the temperature around the factory, reducing the amount of cooling needed.
