Posts for 'Games' Category

PopCap is known for creating addicting games that sometimes have unique and original twists. Bookworm Adventures was one of these unique games that did quite well for the company. Inevitably, the sequel has arrived and while it is generally more of the same, the same — in this case — is a very good thing.

In Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 you are Lex, a bookworm (naturally), and a freak incident in your library causes storybook characters to escape.

Lex is pulled into the books and is trying to discover what is going on as he battles through the creatures and characters he meets. During his adventures Lex battles characters from the Mother Goose fairy tales, Folklore, and Sci-Fi.

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The games we put hours into testing so you didn't have to.I wouldn't say we've had many poor games to review this year. Publishers are getting more canny and often don't bother sending over games that are likely to get very low scores.

That still doesn't stop some shenanigans. We've been asked us to not post a review if the score was below a certain level, of course we refused and posted the review. That posting threshold was pretty high too, it seems many publishers can't cope with anything less than 8/10. Madness.

Anyway, below are some of the poorest games we've looked at this year. I've not chosen all the lowest scoring games. Instead I've looked for high-profile games that have scored badly, having failed to live up to expectations. Sonic Unleashed - 4/10.

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TOKYO -- Nintendo will launch a DS machine that can take pictures and play music, hoping to cement its lead over Sony's PlayStation and encroach into the territory of Apple Inc's iPod and iPhone.

The new model will be launched in Japan on November 1. It is slimmer and has bigger displays than the current model, and will sell for 18,900 yen ($179), up from 16,800 yen for the current model but below the PSP's 19,800 yen.

The Kyoto-based company, locked in a three-way battle with Sony and Microsoft Corp in the global video game industry, plans to launch the new machine, the DSi, outside Japan in 2009.Nintendo's strategy to broaden the gaming population by offering innovative but easy-to-play games has been a roaring success in recent years as the DS and Wii console have attracted women and the elderly on top of traditional gamers.

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Backed by EA and licensed from Games Workshop, this sword and sorcery challenger to the highly-competitive genre of multiplayer RPGs drew high expectations. This hype is not entirely baseless due to the massive success of the Warhammer 40,000 PC strategy franchise.

As the title sounds, this game is all about multiplayer online gaming and while it could be played solo, the fun is definitely framed in networking and party quests.

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Two of Electronic Arts' most popular sports franchises are Madden and NCAA Footballl; however, the Madden franchise has licensed permission from the NFL to use player names and likeness, whereas the NCAA prohibits this.

For anyone that wants to make the game experience as true to real life as possible, it would take a lot of time to input all your team's roster information by hand.

However, there is an alternative, a company called Gamerosters provides you three ways to import the real life players name into the game.A mail in service--where you send in your memory card and they add the rosters to it, for $20

Purchase a new card from Gamerosters with the rosters. The prices are: PS3 (USB Memory Stick) $39.95, Xbox 360 Memory Card $44.95, and the PS2 Memory card $36.95

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Did you catch the news yesterday that Microsoft's Games For Windows Live online service, which used to cost $50 a year for multiplayer privileges, is now completely free? We caught up with Microsoft Senior Global Director of Games For Windows, Kevin Unangst (pictured above) to talk about why the company chose free now, what it's planning with its new Marketplace service, and how it's attempting to redefine the PC as the premier gaming platform in the entertainment industry.

Game On: Can you talk in general about the new Games For Windows Live announcements and how they'll impact PC gamers?

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This has been rumored for basically forever, but now it's official: the Nintendo DS remake of Dragon Quest IV is headed to the U.S. on September 16.

But wait, there's more! The final two chapters in the trilogy Dragon Quest V and VI will also be headed to America, and it'll be the first time the games have ever appeared in the U.S. Previous versions of the games for Super Famicom and PlayStation 2 never did make it over here, and so Square Enix can finally complete the set in English.

Other bits of RPG errata today: The ESRB has assigned a rating to the Nintendo DS game ASH, created by Lost Odyssey makers Mistwalker. And Square Enix also announced that its Xbox 360 RPG Infinite Undiscovery will land in the U.S. on September 2.

AMD launched a new initiative today, dubbed AMD Game! (We will henceforth ignore the stupid exclamation point), that's intended to clarify which OEM PCs are and aren't built for gaming. AMD claims that 61 percent of Americans, 49 percent of Europeans, and 49 percent of Chinese (not all of them gold farmers) are at least interested in buying a gaming PC. Those customers, however, receive little to no guidance on how to properly evaluate any given system to establish its gaming capabilities. If AMD Game catches on with OEMs, that situation could soon change.

The program is divided into two subcategories: AMD Game and AMD Game Ultra. AMD Game Ultra is the highest tier, and requires that a system be built with the following minimum specifications:

AMD Phenom 9600/9650 X4 (2.3GHz) processor

2GB PC-6400 (DDR2-800) RAM
Radeon HD 3870 512MB video card
Motherboard based on AMD 790FX/770 chipset
System components for the standard AMD Game tier are more relaxed, and allow for the use of an Athlon X2 5600+ (2.8GHz) and a Radeon HD 3650. 2GB of RAM is still required for both tiers, but the DDR2 in a non-Ultra AMD Game configuration can be PC-5400 (DDR2-667). Surprisingly, AMD's well-regarded 780G chipset makes no appearance here. When we inquired about its absence, AMD confirmed that current program requirements mandate the use of motherboards based on the 770 or 790FX chipsets, but noted that future boards based on a new spin of the 780G chipset might qualify.

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Wii owners pounced at Mario Kart Wii last week, giving it enough momentum to leap straight into first place in the overall Australian game charts for the week of April 21-27, according to data trackers GfK Australia. The game was officially on sale for four days during that period and shipped with the Wii Wheel.

The other game to ship with a peripheral last week Time Crisis 4 comes in just below Mario Kart Wii at number two. EA playground is back in the charts in third spot, pushing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the PlayStation 2 down to number four. Last week's top dog--Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games on the Wii--has fallen four places to five, while the DS version trails behind in 10th position.

In other charts news, The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff remains at the top of the PC chart, despite falling out of the top overall 10 last week. The Sims 2 also continues to sell strongly, moving up two places, to number four.

All sales stats, including console-by-console breakdowns, can be found below:

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Retail game sales are experiencing explosive growth, and Blockbuster is intent on getting a piece of the gaming pie one way or the other. After making a billion-dollar bid for electronics retailer Circuit City earlier this month, today the video-rental chain announced that it would be stepping up its game offerings in the company's corporate-owned US locations.

Customers will now be able to purchase software, hardware, and accessories for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS at roughly 4,100 domestic Blockbuster locations. The company also said that it would be expanding the variety of games available for rental, and upping the number of rental copies as well.

Blockbuster's announcement made no mention of PlayStation Portable or PC offerings, and company representatives had not returned GameSpot's request for confirmation on those platforms as of press time.

As with other retailers, Blockbuster will also be offering exclusive promotions to get gamers in the door. For example, the company announced a $499 PS3 bundle that will include a 40GB system, an HDMI cable, Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray, Activision's Transformers game, a Blu-ray DVD remote, and one free Blu-ray or PS3 game rental per week for 12 weeks.

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