One of the most surprising films in the sort of "Holy crap? What the heck?! This is cool!" vein to come out of SXSW film festival earlier this year was Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet. It's all about chiptune music and the performers, and is beautifully shot. It's hard to imagine Nintendo thinking people would be hacking into their Game Boys in order to create full-fledged concerts, concerts that would one day spark a feature documentary and an entire genre of music.
For one week, you can watch the impressive documentary at Pitchfork.tv. It's even broken up into bite-sized chapters for you. Give it a looksee and you'll find yourself toe-tapping along to the addictive 8-bit music throughout the film. It's beaten Wizard Rock as our current favorite geek music of choice.
The gaming community doesn't typically put a lot of stock in what media outlets such as Time have to say about our collective hobby. But these publications do tend to have their fingers on the pulse of the mainstream, providing perspective on and to that other, oh, baziliion or so consumers who aren't "enthusiasts." So, when they tell their audience that Apple's iPhone could be big for gaming, it's definitely worth taking notice.
In its article, "Can the iPhone Rule Gaming?," Time makes some compelling points. One quarter of all currently available iPhone app store titles are games, and, further to that, seven out of the top 10 paid app downloads are games. Also, as the article points out, a third of the iPhone userbase is in the game industry's hottest demographic, aged 26 and under. The article spotlights the ease of downloading games to the device directly as a key advantage over DS and PSP. These factors, combined with titles such as Spore: Origins, could, in Time's words, "Bring the iPhone into the same league as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP."
Still, there are questions raised, particularly regarding software quality. The piece's author, Anita Hamilton, states, "Key to the iPhone's success as a gaming platform is a deep portfolio of titles that take advantage of the device's coolest attributes, such as its tilt sensor," adding that, "It remains to be seen ... whether iPhone games actually evolve beyond the amusing, lightweight titles available now."
When he isn't dabbling in rocket science, id Software's John Carmack is one of the world authorities on 3D graphics programming. Carmack, who recently revealed that he is turning his talents to Apple's iPhone (the graphics ones, not the rocketry smarts) for a "graphical tour de force," has provided his two cents on just how powerful the cell phone personal media device really is.
During an on-stage appearance at QuakeCon 2008, the man who's tinkered with every graphics tech under the sun likened the polygon-pushing capabilities of iPhone to that of Sega's late, great Dreamcast. Taking the comparison to more current game hardware, he stated that iPhone is "more powerful than a Nintendo DS and Sony PSP combined," perhaps even nearing the capabilities of the PS2 and original Xbox. Given his statements, we're even more eager to see the two projects id is developing for the device, a "conventional mobile game" and the aforementioned visual show stopper.
While, for the most part, Chrono Trigger on the DS looks just like Chrono Trigger on the SNES, some liberties have been taken to make the use of the new, screenier hardware. I snapped this control scheme diagram from the Chrono Trigger demo station, figuring there may be someone out there interested in how it would play on the DS.
Oh, and I played it. The big revelation here is the touchscreen movement. The touchscreen (which displays an automap of the room you're in) basically acts as a big analog stick: hold the stylus toward the right of the screen and Crono moves right; hold it farther toward the edge and Crono moves faster. Tap, or run into something, to make Crono interact.
It's awesome if you want to have a really hard time performing basic movement operations in Chrono Trigger. But the traditional button controls remain more than adequate. It doesn't really mar the fact that it's OMG CHRONO TRIGGER. And battling on the touchscreen is perfectly fine -- you just touch buttons on a menu.
In other Chrono news, an SE rep told me that the translation (yes, it was the English version!) was new! And according to a statement given to Spencer Yip, the single-screen version just as it appeared on the SNES will be added to the cart before release.
The Apogee website has been updated with a few more details regarding Duke Nukem Trilogy, which was announced today. Both the DS and the PSP will be getting versions of the game, which will each offer "a totally different gaming experience on each system while staying true to the storyline." The three chapters, Critical Mass, Chain Reaction and Proving Ground will be released sequentially, starting Summer 2009. Almost certainly before Duke Nukem Forever sees the light of day.
Other various tidbits are included on the website and give a very vague idea of what to expect, such as 3D graphics and multiplayer gameplay. We still have no idea how Duke Nukem Trilogy will play, but we're expecting to see something like the sidescrollers of the early 90s. Hopefully Apogee will release some screenshots soon so we can see exactly what they have in mind.
Apogee Software, a one-time forerunner of shareware titles, is back. According to a press release, the company has reached an "exclusive agreement" with 3D Realms and MachineWorks Northwest LLC to release Duke Nukem Trilogy to the "handheld console market." The brand new game includes episodes Critical Mass, Chain Reaction and Proving Grounds.
Square Enix has a surprise RPG for the handheld gamer. No, it's not on the PSP or DS. Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes is an iPod exclusive RPG with a rather unique twist. You'll be able to transform your music collection into "Tune Troopers" that you can use in battle. Even cooler: you'll be able to level up your "Tune Troopers" simply by listening to the same song you created them on your iPod. You'll need the help of all your best MP3s, as you fight the Mechanical Militia and save your brother.
The iTunes download, available today, will retail for $4.99. The game will be controlled exclusively through the iPod click wheel and will be compatible with iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod. While we haven't had a chance to play the game ourselves, we're certainly itching to give it a try. If you download Song Summoner, tell us what you think. Update: Trailer embedded, after the cut.
Our first thought upon seeing this very cool hack was "that's awesome." Our second thought was "do you have to blow on it to make it work?"
BenHeck.com forum member "darkeru" created this inventive new take on a home made NES portable, which manages to squeeze all of the 8-bit dynamo's guts into a 4.1" by 5.5" space ... with a backlit LCD display. We just had a third thought: what happens when you connect it to this portable NES?
Alan R. Moon's Ticket to Ride has only been out for four years, but it has picked up several prestigious board gaming awards, and is quickly becoming a popular "haul it out of the closet and get yer game on" addition to game night. Last week, the Xbox Live Arcade version was released, joining Catan, Carcassonne, and Lost Cities as games that have breached the digital divide. But how does it stack up against the freebie Java version, and the board game itself? Read on, ticket holders, and find out.
The PlayStation Phone? Not quite. But it's clear that Sony is keen to get in on the growing mobile gaming business, especially in the wake of Apple's recent iPhone game announcements.
Speaking of the iPhone, take a look, if you will, at the Sony Ericsson F305. Sure, it's sporting some decidedly old-school graphics on-screen, but what you can't see are motion controls under the hood. Our pals at Engadget report that the (officially) yet-unannounced phone contains an accelerometer to facilitate motion-based control, a la the iPhone. Plus, if you look at the right side of the handset (turned horizontally) you'll notice two familiar buttons: "X" and "O." There's also a prominent D-Pad on the phone's face, along with a distintive PlayStation-controller-iconified button.
The phone will reportedly come with three pre-installed games – Bowling, Bass Fishing, and Jockey – which all make use of the accelerometer. Not quite God of War, or even Super Monkey Ball, but it could signal a proverbial testing of the waters for Sony.
With the impending launch of the iPhone App Store promising to finally (officially) bring games to Apple's all-in-one portable, a Forbes editorial is again floating the idea that Nintendo's DS may be facing a threat to its market-leading portable perch. The editorial notes that the iPhone combines the touch-screen and microphone of the wildly popular Nintendo DS with the motion-sensitivity of the wildly popular Wii. Add in the support of Sega, EA and Ubisoft, along with the ability to download games wirelessly through the App Store, and you have the makings of a portable gaming game-changer.
The piece makes some good points, but we think we're going to join with The Motley Fool, MacWorld and ZDNet in the ranks of those skeptical that the iPhone is going to take the gaming world by storm. The reasons for our skepticism include the iPhone's high price point, limited on-board storage space and the lack of major announced titles (Super Monkey Ball and Spore will only get you so far).
The MacWorld writer probably summed it up best: "The iPhone, at its heart, is not a gaming machine. Not in the way that the DS is, where every design consideration is given to one task, and one task only: playing games." Hey, since we're already talking about wild speculation, there's always a chance Apple and Nintendo could just merge and make the upcoming "battle" moot.
The homebrew community lurves the Nintendo DS, and it's no surprise why: a portable system with WiFi capabilities, two screens, and none of the firmware-updating nonsense that the PSP has become infamous for? If we had the skills, we'd be 'brewing it up too.
Luckily, our BFF's over at DS Fanboy have put together an incredibly handy guide to the best DS homebrew peripherals, and what to do with them once they arrive on your doorstep. It even comes with a handy glossary, so you can feel cool and start dropping terms like "MoonShell" and "DLDI." Instant homebrew cred!
This video was released a couple of months ago, but if there's one thing we can't pass up it's a great sight gag. You have to respect a guy who would go through all the trouble of merging a Wiimote and a plastic AK-47 just so he could use the butt of the gun to smash the noses of the titular critters in Rayman Raving Rabbids.
What's more, the modder actually goes through the trouble of teaching you how to tie a shemagh to help increase the verisimilitude of your experience. What a value!
With 100 million units sold to its name, The Sims is certainly the most prolific PC game in history, if not the most popular. The milestone says a lot about the industry and consumer tastes, as well as Electronic Arts and the gaming giant's love of little computer people ... and money.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with The Sims' studio head Rod Humble about the brand he holds so dear. Over the course of the conversation we went back and forth on a number of topics, from the expansions that never were to what he felt has been key to The Sims' widespread success. If you are at all a fan of the series, jump into the pool. We promise not to delete the ladder after you dive in.
A turn-based RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood moves the speedy Sega characters into a role-playing world. After a big, "Huh?" I gave this DS-only game a shot at the Nintendo Media Summit. But especially with Bioware behind the project, I came away thinking it could be a fun game for kids and even adult RPG players. And forget Sonic; the deep game mechanics, dialogue options, and great-looking world could combine into a portable RPG favorite.
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