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EA Announces “The Sims Stories” Designed for PC Laptop
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Electronic Arts, PC, Portable/Mobile, Release Dates, Simulation,
EA has announced yet another game in the cash-cow Sims universe… this time it’s a set of standalone “Stories” built around characters in the Sims universe. Unlike previous Sims games, which seemed designed to suck every moment of your real life away so that you could give it to your virtual character, The Sims Stories are self-contained (i.e., they don’t require any previous games or expansion packs) and designed for short, casual play on PC laptops with modest specs. The first in a series, The Sims: Life Stories will be a comedy/romance which you play from the perspective of two different generically-named Sims, “Riley” and “Vince”. The initial story will be followed by The Sims: Pet Stories and The Sims: Castaway Stories.
Maybe it’s just that I never really got into the Sims universe, but this sounds like it has “flop” written all over it. How is EA going to convince gamers to spend their money on generic adventure games about everyday characters? It’s a lot like trying to convince somebody to play Sam and Max, but without any artistic style or wacky characters. I suppose you could make the argument that Sims Stories is to reality TV as Sam and Max is to cartoons (and boy is that there reality TV popular these days), but somehow I don’t see this working in the gaming sphere.
Regardless of its success, these games look like they were rather cheap for EA to produce, and will probably net them a bit of a profit. The game was only announced today, but will be debuting in stores on February 7, 2007, a scant 3 weeks away.
Click the jump for EA’s full press release…
Click to continue reading EA Announces “The Sims Stories” Designed for PC Laptop
Read More 
| EA.com
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New Champagne PSP in Japan, Starting Feb 22nd
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hardware, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Survival Horror,
With its shiny new exterior and designer-sounding color, the “champagne” PSP appears to be trying to emulate the success of the Dolce and Gabbana RAZR. Personally, I think the shade ends up looking a lot more like the default color choice for Cadillac-driving old fogies.
Whether you love it or hate it, though, chances are you won’t be able to get your hands on this PSP for a while anyway. These tiny bubbles won’t be available in the States just yet, and currently the only place you can read about it is on the poorly-Google-translated Playstation Japan website. If you’re into the import scene, you should see these popping up on eBay around February 22nd, for around $200.
Read More | Google Translation of jp.playstation.com
Thrillville PSP Impressions
Posted by Hector Martinez Categories: Features, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Reviews, Simulation,
While every new system gets its fare share of hate, I’ve gotten especially annoyed at those that say the PSP needs more support from developers. The past few months have seen an explosion of fine games on PSP spanning many genres, and at this point the system probably has the most solid new software line-up heading into this Christmas season. Today, I decided to give folks a look at one of the newer releases which came as a surprise to me, but a pleasant one nontheless.
Click to continue reading Thrillville PSP Impressions
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Pink PSP Being Hawked by… Pink?
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Rumors,
Wait a minute… I thought the pink PSP was being advertised as such because of it’s pink color? How wrong I was… turns out it’s all part of some elaborate marketting tie-in built to:
a) Skyrocket Pink (yes, the “artist”) back to the top of the charts via her association with the pink PSP
b) Skyrocket the PSP back to the top of the charts via its association with Pink(?)
c) Just make gamers feel even MORE awkward when they pick up their new PSP color
d) All of the above?
Seems like a weird move on Sony’s part. Just because I want a pink PSP doesn’t mean I want to endorse Pink, does it? Oh god let’s hope there’s not any “bonus” free media with the Pink pink PSP.
Read More 
| TGBus via MaxConsole.net
EXCLUSIVE Reviews: Zuma, Pac-Man, Bejeweled, and Tetris on iPod
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Portable/Mobile, Puzzle, Reviews,
Yesterday, we reported on Apple’s move to bring several popular casual games to the iPod - and for those that are fans of instant gratification, you’re in luck… today we’re going to review them! The iGames now currently available for Apples 5G and 5.5G iPods include 9 titles: Bejeweled, Cubis 2, Mah-Jong, Mini-Golf, Pac-Man, Tetris, Texas Holdem, Vortex and Zuma. To really test how well Apple’s done, we picked four of the titles that we thought would be more challenging to port for the click-wheel interface: Bejeweled, Pac-Man, Zuma and Tetris. And for all you out there wondering whether the new iGames are worth your $4.99, you can find our full review of these 4 titles (along with tasty videos) and our thoughts on the iGames functionality in general after the jump!
Click to continue reading EXCLUSIVE Reviews: Zuma, Pac-Man, Bejeweled, and Tetris on iPod
Apple Releases PacMan, Tetris, Zuma for iPod: $4.99 a pop
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, Portable/Mobile, Retro,
Well, it looks as though all of those rumors of Apple trying to hire games industry professionals may not have been all that far off. Today, during the “It’s Showtime” keynote at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco, Apple announced that they will be releasing iPod-compatible versions of Tetris, Zuma, Mah-Jong, Texas Holdem, Cubis 2, and other games on the iTunes store for $4.99 a piece.
It’s not clear whether these games will only be compatible with the iPod phat yet, or if they’ll also work with the nano. However, Steve J did mention that all of the games should be compatible with the 5G video iPods y’all already have. This is good news, since Apple also announced during their presentation that they’re updating the whole iPod product line - including a “5.5G” video iPod with 60% brighter screen, iPod nanos in colored aluminum enclosures, and a re-designed iPod Shuffle. We’ll update this story with more information as it becomes available on the Apple website.
UPDATE 1: Apple’s website has been updated, indicating that the iGames are compatible only with the 5G iPod or the newly-released 60% brighter 5.5G iPods. iPod nanos are not supported. We’ve downloaded some of these games from the iTunes Store (went very smoothly - this is Apple after all) and will have full reviews up shortly. It’s looking like at least some of these are worth the $5.00 download.
Read More | AppleInsider
PopCap teams with Square-Enix to Deliver Casual Games to Japan
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Casual, Corporate News, Internet, PC, Portable/Mobile, Square Enix,
Talk about strange bedfellows… Who would’ve thought that one of the most tightly-lipped, hardcore RPG game producers would ever team up with a relatively open-sourced semi-indie casual game developer? Well, that’s exactly what’s happened thanks to a new agreement between Square-Enix and PopCap. Through the agreement, classic PopCap titles including Bejeweled 2, Chuzzle, Insaniquarium and Heavy Weapon will hit the Japanese shores via Square-Enix’s web portal.
Evidently, PopCap feels it needs a Japanese presence to truly penetrate the market. Although with the brisk sales of many recent DS titles, it’s evident that the Japanese have a taste for simple casual games.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Pink Godzilla Dev Kit- Videogame Development For Everyone
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Casual, Hardware, Portable/Mobile, Simulation,
For those out there that haven’t had the chance to make it to Seattle’s Penny Arcade Expo, you might think the event’s entirely focused on the latest and greatest videogames. Truth be told, the event’s meant to be inclusive of all forms of gaming, including table-top and card games (although these get substantially less press). I was not so excited about visiting the Magic-obsessed hordes in the card gaming area, but boy am I glad I did… for that’s where I discovered Pink Godzilla.
Pink Godzilla might just be the nerdiest concept ever - it’s a card game about developing videogames, with lots of puns and in-jokes that only hardcore gamers will get. It’s also a helluva lot of fun. The general idea is that you have to collect cards to develop videogames and thereby score points. Each game requires a title (for instance, “Pinky Gear Solid”, or my personal favorite “Dance Dance Team Ninja Supressors 2”), characters to star in the game, and accessories (like key-tars for music games or combos for fighting games). Along the way, you can add special features to your game like easter eggs or powered-up accessories, and lots of points are awarded for making the best game around!
You can purchase the Pink Godzilla Dev Kit through the link below. I for one highly recommend it - I’m not usually a cardgamer, but this one is just too much fun to ignore.
Read More | PinkGodzillaGames.com
Sony To Turn PSP Into Phone, or Phone Into PSP, or Something…
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Rumors,
Rumors are circulating that Sony is hot to combine the world of telephony with the world of gaming sometime in the future. As IGN reports, though, this may take a variety of shapes—it could be something that turns your PSP into a cell phone, or allows your PSP to connect via VoIP (e.g. via Skype). Or it could be something completely different (Sony Mylo anyone??).
This recent revelation comes to us courtesy of an interview between Japan’s Nikkei BP andd Sony’s Izumi Kawanishi, translated by IGN:
“The PSP started off clearly with the position of a portable game machine. However, looking long term, there’s the thought that it ought to become a portable network device. At that time, if there’s demand for an information terminal, it is possible to take it in that direction.”
Then speaking about the possibility of the PSP replacing a cell phone:
“There is a possibility. I won’t deny it. Personally, I’m interested in it. Of course, it’s not the case that you can connect to wireless LAN everywhere, so you can’t call it a permanent connection. But cell phones are permanently connected. Cell phones get more interesting as their data transfer rate increases, and I think it would be extremely interesting to try something like that.”
If I were to play corporate strategist for a moment, I’d say Sony’s put itself in a tight spot. If Sony plans on adding phone-like functionality to the PSP, they run the risk of either failing to create a truly useful communication device (i.e. N-Gage 2.0), or of succeeding and possibly taking business away from their Sony-Ericsson phone division or their recently-announced Mylo, linked above. If instead, they decide to create a phone with some sort of Playstation functionality (i.e. the PS Phone) as Gamedaily Biz suggests, then they risk diluting the Playstation brand or even worse confusing the market as to whether they should purchase a PSP or a PS Phone.
Read More | GameDaily Biz
EB Games’ “Buy One UMD Movie, Get One Free” Special This Week
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Portable/Mobile, PSP,
Maybe you really wanted Resident Evil, but didn’t exactly want to pay for Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Final Fantasy: Advent Children would be great to own too, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within wasn’t really worth the full price. Spider Man 2 was really good, but you’re not going to pay for Spider Man: The Animated Series. Well thanks to EB Games, this week you don’t have to be picky about your UMD Movie choices.
Honestly, it looks as if another retailer is looking to clear off their UMD Movie shelf space. This coming week, August 16th - 22nd, EB Games will be having an in store only buy one, get one free UMD Movie special. The special includes many of the best UMD titles (i.e., those released by Sony Pictures). So, if you’ve got a store near you that keeps a pretty good stock of UMD movies on hand, next week may be your lucky week.
The full list of titles is available after the jump.
Click to continue reading EB Games’ “Buy One UMD Movie, Get One Free” Special This Week
Read More | EB Games.com
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