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Boom Boom Rocket Launches Tomorrow
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Electronic Arts, Music, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Bizarre Creation’s latest Xbox Live Arcade title hits the Marketplace tomorrow; Boom Boom Rocket will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The game features Bizarre’s particle effects as fireworks layered over a 3D cityscape. Combining fireworks, classical music, and cityscapes will certainly draw comparisons to the PS2 title Fantavision, but hopefully this, combined with music/rhythm gameplay, will be an original enough creation to set it apart. Certainly Bizarre Creations is familiar with remixing order gameplay styles to create something new; Geometry Wars still stands as a unique mix of classic arcade archetypes.
Read More 
| Gamerscoreblog
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Circuit City: “Get Paper Mario Today or Get $20”
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Nintendo, Release Dates, Wii,
I’ll be very interested to see if Circuit City actually plans on honoring this bargain (and will probably make the trip to my local Circuit City myself!). In their weekly circular, they note the release date (today) of Super Paper Mario with the accompanying text:
guaranteed (3) in store 2pm or get a $20 gift card**
Where, with a little additional sleuthing we see that (3) means “Offer valid this week only for select video game New Releases on the advertised release day from 2pm until close of business. In-store only” and ** means “Gift card good for future purchases only. Terms and conditions are applied to gift cards”
Doesn’t sound like a bait and switch to us! So if we’ve got this right, as soon as Circuit City sells out of Super Paper Mario today, anyone who expresses interest in the title can get $20 toward a future purchase? Not bad… not bad at all. Hopefully this title will sell as well as its expected to and we’ll all be $20 richer at the end of the day. If not, I at least plan on picking up a copy… I imagine it’ll be a win-win situation for a lot of other Wii owners out there.
Read More | Circuit City Weekly Ad via Joystiq.com
Halo 3 Beta Details Announced
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Bungie today announced the details of the Halo 3 beta for qualifying gamers; those that either got into the original registration period, those that won spots during the “Rule of Three” contest, or those that bought copies of Crackdown with the golden ticket inside. At midnight May 16th Pacific Time the beta goes live and will continue through the end of June 6th. Bungie is currently promising three maps for the beta program, Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound, available through the beta version of Bungie’s matchmaking service. Some of the new weapons and vehicles will be present in the beta, including the Spiker, Spartain Laser, and the Spike grenade. It sounds like some of the mysterious functionality of the “X” button will be revealed; from the video Bungie has released, it looks like the button will act as a “deployment” function for some of the new equipment in the game. Further details and information on the road leading to the beta can be found in Bungie’s new Vidoc, linked from their beta announcement.
Read More | Bungie
Xbox 360 Mini-Keyboard Official, Not Rendered
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Internet, Mods/Hacks, Xbox 360,
If you were wondering when Microsoft would recant on their position and re-introduce the era of gargantuan controllers, you’re in luck. No, MS won’t be releasing a larger controller for the Xbox 360, but they WILL be releasing this mini-keyboard that attaches to the bottom of your current 360 controller, increasing its button-count to above-Lynx size!
As previously speculated, the keyboard attachment will allow for easier text-messaging via Windows Live Messenger and will feature fancy-schmancy back-lighting. We’re wondering (but not getting our hopes up) whether a web browser can be far off. The release date is “summer 2007”, with no price set yet. Hopefully it won’t follow the ridiculous pricing of the wireless adaptor. And hey while we’re at it, given how l33t this thing looks, maybe it should be included with the Elite 360 (hint hint!). I know, it’ll never happen…but a boy can dream, can’t he?
Read More | Flickr via Gear Live
Sam and Max Episode 5 Now Available to Pre-orderers
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Internet, Puzzle, Release Dates,
Originally, Telltale Games advertised that Gametap subscribers would be getting each Sam and Max episode a bit before the lowly non-subscribers. For those of you that didn’t want to subscribe to Gametap, though, there’s some good news. Telltale has decided to be nice and release Sam and Max Season 1 Episode 5: Reality 2.0 a few days early for all of you Sam and Max lovers that bought the season in advance.
Personally, I like owning my games, not leasing them from a service like Gametap, so it’s nice to see that Telltale is showing some love for loyal Sam and Max followers.
Read More | Sam and Max at Telltale Games
Galaga, Alex Kidd, Bravoman Hit Virtual Console
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Virtual Console, Wii,
This week’s Virtual Console releases aren’t stellar, but are still a decent collection of retro games that may entertain, at least for a while. Gamers can pick up Galaga for the NES, a decent but not spectacular port of the arcade game for 500 points. The original arcade version is available on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace, so that might be the better option for those with both consoles. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle for the Genesis is also available for 800 points; the sequel to the original Alex Kidd for the Sega Master System is an average platformer with some gameplay quirks that set it slightly apart from others in the genre. Finally, Bravoman is a side-scrolling beat-em-up style game, more known for its unusual humor that for any gameplay excellence. At 600 points, though, it might be worth a look. Overall, a middling week for the Virtual Console and hopefully A-list titles will return soon.
Nintendo’s full press release continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Galaga, Alex Kidd, Bravoman Hit Virtual Console
Cell Speeds Up Medical Imaging Fifty Times
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
PlayStation 3 users have been racking up the work units through the built-in Folding At Home client in the console. The PS3 has proved to be particularly effective at folding proteins, doing the job more efficiently than the PC client. Now, IBM and the Mayo Clinic are announcing that the Cell processor can speed up 3D medical imaging by up to 50 times over traditional CPU configurations. While the new uses for the Cell processor might not be directly applicable to gamers, the more usages that can be found for the CPU can drive up demand, possibly leading to more optimizations in the manufacturing process and ultimately driving down the costs of producing the chip.
Read More | Mercury News
Wii Would Like To Play: Super Paper Mario
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Nintendo, Role Playing Games, Wii,
Nintendo’s Super Paper Mario ships today, and so far the game is tacking up a 90% overall rating on Gamerankings.com. From some of the major game sites, 1up rated the release an 8.0, citing the title’s relative lack of depth compared to its Paper Mario siblings, tacked-on Wiimote controls, and some slowdown evidenced in gameplay. IGN rated slightly higher at 8.9, feeling that the platformer and RPG merger was more successful and that the Wiimote controls felt appropriate for the game, but they felt the amount of writing in the game disrupted the flow, and the 3D elements seemed barren compared to the lushness of the 2D world. Nintendo has also kicked off marketing the game with a “Wii Would Like To Play” TV commercial, shown above.
Read More 
| 1up
Read More | IGN
Gamefly Offering New Free Wii Promotion (Sign Up Your Friends)
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Hot Deals, Wii,
First free DS Lites, and now a free Wii? Has Gamefly been stockpiling Wii’s all this time? Are THEY the reason no one can find the new Ninty console anywhere?
Anyways, Gamefly.com is currently offering a promotion that could get you a Wii for free (or about $60, if you want to enlist some imaginary friends’ help). All you have to do is get 5 of your friends to sign up for the service (which is the Netflix equivalent of videogames), and once they’ve been paying members for a month - with plans starting at $14.99 - you get a free copy of Nintendo’s elusive console.
If you have five real gamer friends, then perhaps you can convince them to sign up as a donation to your “I really want a Wii” fund.
Read More | Gamefly.com
RedOctane Acknowledges Guitar Hero 360 Problems
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, Music, Xbox 360,
It seems RedOctane changed their mind pretty quickly, probably due to the fact that reports of faulty Xbox 360 X-plorer guitars for Guitar Hero II are rolling in from all around the internets. RedOctane has now acknowledged that there may be problems with two versions of the guitar, as posted over on Kotaku.com.
From their support e-mail:
We have isolated this issue to two model numbers that can be found on the guitar’s packaging. The numbers are 95065 and 95055. We are asking that customers who puchased their items from a retailer perform an exchange with that respective store (for a model number other than the defective two listed above). Customer’s who purchased through our online story can complete an rma request for their defective item and we will exchange it for a fully function guitar controller. We do apologize for the inconvenience and will [resolve] these matters.
The strangest part about this whole fiasco is that these two product numbers actually feature slightly different designs of the GH2 controller… you’ve got to wonder why there isn’t a single unified design. Perhaps the production was outsourced to shoddy construction facilities that didn’t built the guitar exactly to specs? Anyway, at least they’re recognizing the problem now and offering consumers a way to fix it.
Read More | Kotaku.com
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