DS Lite: Thinner than a turkey sandwich

Friday 16 Jun 2006 : 12:35 PM



We all know the sexy new DS lite is thinner than the fugly old original but how thin do you think it is ? Thinner than a Motorola Razr phone ? How about a marker pen ? or a potato ?

Well, thanks to Advanced Media Network you can now test your knowledge of all things DS Lite thickness related.

Take the test

Tags: Quizzes , Silliness

Formats: DS

Point Blank coming on DS

Friday 16 Jun 2006 : 12:21 PM



One of our favourite ever arcade shooting games gets it's DS release in the U.S. today and will hit the UK soon.

For those of you that haven't played the originals, this is a gun game with a difference. It's basically a series of Bishi Bashi/Wario Ware type mini-games played with a gun and it has a fantastic sense of humour.

The good news is that it includes wireless play with a single card , 'free play' so you can play any stage whenever you want and conversions of many of the leves from the classic coin-op versions.

The bad new is that U.S. reviews so far have been a little luke-warm, but we shouldn't have to wait long to find out if they're right or not.

For more info and a few more screens visit the Official Namco Site

Tags: Namco , Point Blank , Shooting Games

Formats: DS

Only 27% of top 300 xbox games backwards compatible on 360

Thursday 15 Jun 2006 : 23:29 PM



OK, so the titles a bit of a mouthful but it's a pretty amazing fact. According to Cheap Ass Gamer if you take the top 300 Xbox games on Metacritic, only 27% of them are backwards compatible, despite Microsoft's assurance that they are working towards 100% compatibility.

The handy graph also shows that 80% of the top 10 are backwards compatible, only Burnout 3 and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 aren't on the list yet.

Come on Microsoft, Pull your finger out.



Tags: Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility

Formats: Xbox 360

Mercury Meltdown on PSP - first trailer

Wednesday 14 Jun 2006 : 16:27 PM



Ignition entertainment this morning released this trailer of the follow up to Archer McLeans 'Mercury' on PSP.

We're sure you'll agree that the 'new graphical style' looks fantastic and new additions include a wireless 2 player mode, 5 sub games and 160 new levels with more downloadable via sony's www.yourpsp.com website to follow.

We're positively salivating at the thought of playing this and we'll only have to wait until September this year for the UK release.

Tags: Archer McLean , Ignition Entertainment , Mercury Meltdown , Puzzle Games

Formats: PSP

Commodore to return to gaming.

Wednesday 14 Jun 2006 : 14:57 PM



Unfortunately This isn't the news about a new commodore home computer we've all been waiting for since the mid nineties but it does look like the return of commodore into the gaming market is drawing closer.

Commodore have signed an 18 Million Euro deal with The Content Factory and a company spokesman had this to say, "Gaming is one of Commodore's key historic competences, and the conclusion of this agreement emphasises Commodore's strategy to build on the strengths of the rich Commodore heritage. Now that the license agreement is concluded, Commodore Gaming will continue to create new types of game experiences and interactions."

They haven't said exactly what they plan to do yet but the rumours are that they will be releasing games for mobile phones and possibly online games. We'll certainly keep you updated

Tags: Commodore , Mobile Gaming , Retro

Formats: Amiga , Commodore 64

30,000 banned from World of Warcraft for cheating.

Tuesday 13 Jun 2006 : 22:47 PM



During the month of May, Blizzard froze over 30,000 WoW accounts for gold farming (over 30 million gold apparently). Considering the amount of people who play the game it isn't a huge number but it's definitely a step in the right direction. The full statement from Blizzard reads as follows.

"In keeping with Blizzard's aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft, we banned over 30,000 accounts in the month of May, and with that removed well over 30 million gold from the economy across all realms. The banned accounts were taking part in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items, which severely impacts the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players."

Tags: Blizzard , MMORPG's , Online gaming , World of Warcraft

Formats: PC

Doom3 and 26 others added to Xbox 360 backwards compatibility

Tuesday 13 Jun 2006 : 22:23 PM



Having clarified their position on backwards xbox backwards compatibility this MIcrosoft have added 27 games to the list this morning. Most notable additions are Doom 3, Lego Star Wars and Amped 3.

They've still got a fair few games to add to the list but this is definitely welcome news. Here are the latest additions.

4x4 EVO 2
Amped(R) 2
Bad Boys 2
Big Mutha Truckers
DOOM 3
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Fatal Frame
FlatOut
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Intellivision Lives
LEGO(R) Star Wars
Minority Report
MLB SlugFest 20-04
The Punisher
RalliSport Challenge
Silent Hill(R) 4: The Room
Spawn(R) Armageddon
Spider-Man
Star Wars Battlefront
State of Emergency
Zapper

along with a further 6 that have only been released in Japan.

Bistro Cupid 1
Flight Academy
Othello Seminar
Igo Seminar
Shogi Seminar
Mahjong Seminar

For a full list of backwards compatible xbox games visit xbox.com

Tags: Doom 3 , Microsoft , Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility

Formats: Xbox , Xbox 360

UNO most successful demo on Xbox Live Marketplace

Tuesday 13 Jun 2006 : 16:52 PM




Microsoft says that UNO by Carbonated games has become the most successful demo on XBLM ever in terms of conversions to full paying customers. Apparently between 40% and 45% of users that download the demo have been snapping up the full game beating the previous record of 39% set by Geometry Wars.

The game has been incredibly popular online and will be the first game to use the new XBOX 360 camera which will supposedly hit the shelves in September.

Tags: Puzzle Games , Uno , Xbox Live , Xbox Live Arcade , Xbox Live Marketplace

Formats: Xbox 360

UK video Games chart 4th June - 10th June

Tuesday 13 Jun 2006 : 13:49 PM



Last weeks Uk sales chart has new entries for Sensible Soccer 2006, which was only actually released on Friday 9th so would probably have charted higher on a whole week of sales, Brain Training on the DS and Moto GP 06 on the Xbox 360.

No surprise about the top 3 big hitters although how FIFA continues to chart higher than Pro Evo we'll never know.

1 - FIFA World Cup Germany 2006
2 - Hitman: Blood Money
3 - Tomb Raider: Legend
4 - Moto GP 06
5 - Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6 - Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
7 - Sensible Soccer 2006
8 - Half-Life 2: Episode One
9 - Animal Crossing: Wild World
10 - X-Men: The Official Game

Tags: Charts , Sales Figures

Formats: Multi Format

Micro Machines v4 gameplay footage and details

Tuesday 13 Jun 2006 : 11:55 AM



This great gameplay footage from the upcoming Micro Machines v4 was released this morning by Codemasters, along with a few new details.

We're only 17 days away from the June 30th launch date for the Playstation 2, PSP and PC versions, the NIntendo DS version will follow later.

The bad news is that we can't see any mention of online play for any of the versions, here's hoping they'll announce online play for the DS version, this game is crying out for it surely ?



Tags: Codemasters , Micro Machines , Micro Machines v4 , Racing

Formats: DS , PC , Playstation 2 , PSP