On Gear Live: Samsung S95C: The OLED TV You Can’t Afford (to Ignore!)

  • STICKY POST

Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!

If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!

Myst island

I have fond memories of first popping Myst into my computer’s CD-ROM drive (oh, how exciting it was at the time!) and exploring its incredible world. While it was only a point-and-click adventure, it still was incredible for its time. It was an experience, to be sure. And for the record, I’ve beaten it more than once - the fair way.

So imagine my surprise when my eyes came upon a press release stating that Myst was getting a remake, DS-style. The game is bound to have a pretty limited appeal, despite the fact that it’s being rebuilt specifically for the DS – a system that is simply the perfect platform for a game of this ilk. Fans will be excited to hear that a new age, known as the RIME Age, will make its way into the game.

While the press release has a sentence that might be a punch to the gut to many gaming fans – “Unlike most adventure games, Myst offers no inventory, no death, and no dialogue.” – it’s something that you really need to play to appreciate.


Advertisement

Nintendo DS LiteSince its launch in November 2005, over five million DS owners have connected to the dual-screened system’s online gaming service. More than 60 games make use of it, some even featuring VoIP communication – most notably, the recent Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is excited with the news, stating, “The milestones represent millions of hours of fun and camaraderie despite miles between players.”

Reggie also went on to tout the fact that it’s a free service that allows for global competition. He didn’t happen to mention the inevitable frustration the system’s friend codes have caused, but we’ll let that slide for now, especially when you look at the figure for total number games played: more than 200 million.

Read More | GamesIndustry.biz

Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars, for those who haven’t had an opportunity to play it, is a very simple game to describe: it’s like Asteroids on crack. With neon lights. And a lot more enemies. It’s super addictive, and has been the prized jewel of the Xbox Live Arcade since its release - many even considered it the best title available on the Xbox 360, retail or otherwise. Fans have been begging for a sequel, and they’re getting it, sorta – Geometry Wars: Galaxies is in development and is headed exclusively to the Wii and DS.

For everyone who owns a platform other than an Xbox 360 (those guys and girl had their heads explode after reading that exclusive bit), the two titles were confirmed in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. The game is taking the classic “in a new direction” – expect an extensive campaign and multiplayer. They will each take advantage of the respective system’s features.

The original Retro Evolved game will be included as well, making this one incredible package. Both games are being developed by Battalion Wars developer Kuju, and should see release sometime this fall.


Latest Gear Live Videos

On the heels of EA’s new Madden video comes this brief look at the newest Need for Speed title, which we know next to nothing about - not a title or even the platforms it’ll be released on. The video is entitled “Damage,” and if you take a look at the video, you’ll agree that it’s an appropriate name. One of the features in the new NFS is apparently going to be the ability to rip your car to shreds in an accident, Burnout-style.

Like the Madden video before it, the game certainly looks pretty, but hopefully the game will play as well as the competition. As the video alludes, there apparently will be some sort of announcement on May 31 at the official Need for Speed website, and we’ll get word of whatever that might be to you as soon as it’s made available.


Raving Rabbids 2 Logo

So the real gaming news is that Ubisoft will be releasing Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2 for the Wii and DS. According to IGN.com, the game will focus much more on the Rabbids themselves, and much less on Rayman. Personally, this sounds to me like a great idea - the bunnies have enough charm to be a franchise all their own, so there’s no need to tie in a popular platformer character (especially when the game retains little of what the original Rayman series was all about). The game is expected to hit in Fall 2007, no exact date given yet.

OK, now with all that NEWS out of the way, isn’t it just a little odd how closely that graphic above resembles the advertisement for a certain other hyper-kinetic rabbity thing? I’m guessing Telltale Games will have a good sense of humor about Ubisoft using their idea, but maybe RRR2 should give Max a cameo as compensation…

Read More | GoNintendo.com

Geometry Wars Wii


Buttonbasher brings us the scoop from the latest issue of Nintendo Power, noting that the XBLA hit Geometry Wars will be hitting Nintendo’s platforms this fall. The new game, Geometry Wars: Galaxies will feature what sounds like a quest-style single player game, in addition to multiplayer and ports of the original 2 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved XBLA titles. The Wii version will (of course) use motion controls, and the DS version plans to use the touch-screen. Personally, I’m hoping they add an option to put the dual-analogs on the classic controller to good use.

The game is expected to hit in the fall and will hopefully carry a budget-style price, given that the xbox 360 title has been out for years now.

Read More | Buttonbasher

Metroid Prime 3 logoNintendo certainly gave Wii gamers some reasons to be excited this morning. First off, we have the announcement of titles that will hit the little white box this summer. It looks like August 20th is going to belong to Nintendo - not only will Metroid Prime 3 hit, but Brain Age 2, the sequel to the smash hit for the DS, will be launching as well. The pairing of these two titles seems like a pretty strong statement that Nintendo is indeed going after both the “core” and “casual” gamers, respectively.

There’s some more great surprises in the list, but we won’t spoil it all for you here. So, click that jump for all the summer release dates!

Oh, and if you needed another reason to get excited, the Smash Bros. Dojo!! site should be going live in a matter of hours.

Click to continue reading Nintendo’s Megaton Morning: Metroid in Summer, Smash Bros. Live


Blockbuster LogoGiven that the little-two-screened-handheld that could has been topping the sales charts these days, I don’t see why Blockbuster hadn’t thought of this earlier… if current rumors prove true, then the video-rental mega-chain will start renting DS games in the near future. The rental price is rumored to be $4.99 for a week, which isn’t a terrible deal compared with services like Gamefly. Of course, if their DS selection ends up being anything like what I’ve seen for their other console selections, Blockbuster might not be your best bet for getting the latest, hottest games.

Blockbuster stopped renting GBA carts years ago, due to problems with renters removing the chips inside the cartridges and replacing them with less desirable games. However, this seems like something that should be easy enough to test these days (and charge to the credit card of the offender!).

Read More | Play-Nintendo.com

Tons o' gamesAccording to a report on Bloomberg that’s getting a lot of attention, Nintendo is working on at least 45 titles for the Wii (we’re assuming first-party?), and 79 titles for the DS. That’s a number that sounds pretty darn exciting.

Still, other than that, the report is VERY short on details. For instance, are these titles that are slated for release, or are they along the lines of tech demos and test concepts? Are they first-party titles, or does the count include properties being developed by second-party firms, under the auspices of Nintendo? When will these games be released… is this the one-year outlook for Nintendo first-party titles, or are they looking further ahead? And most importantly of all, why the heck hasn’t Nintendo announced some titles and/or concepts for these games in order to drum up a little excitement?

You’ll excuse us if we don’t get too excited just yet… after all, I was pretty excited after hearing about Sadness, and look what that’s gotten me.

Read More | Bloomberg.com

Baiten KaitosIt looks like Nintendo is moving to grow support for more traditional Japanese RPGs – while having the new Dragon Quest XI appear on the DS is a pretty big coup, and Square has been supporting Nintendo with Final Fantasy remakes and side stories, it would be nice to see more diversity on Nintendo’s platforms. It was announced today and reported by IGN that the company has moved to acquire an 80% stake in Monolith Soft, developers of the popular Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos. Bandai Namco will still hold a 16% stake in the company. This move would effectively seem to make the company an exclusive developer for the Wii and DS, but no new game announcements were made at the time of the news release.

Read More | IGN

Advertisement