Bummed out because you can't find a Nintendo DS Lite anywhere? Upset that Nintendo's successful product is nigh unobtainable in the color you want? If you're willing to accept a horrifically cheap imitation, then feast your eyes on these cellphone strap DS toys. Yeah, they won't play New Super Mario Bros. but they do come in a bunch of colors. It'll help fill that void in your life left by the lack of human contact, just not as well as a real DS would. They're also less than $2, so at least the price is right.

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Microsoft has listed the games that are coming in the months following:

* Blue Dragon (Microsoft): RPG with Playable/Trailer
* Lost Odyssey(Microsoft): RPG with Playable/Trailer
* Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft): Racing with Trailer
* Atsumare! Pinata (Microsoft): Simulation with Playable/Trailer
* Riot Act (Microsoft): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis (Microsoft): Sports with Playable/Trailer
* Gears of War (Microsoft): Action with Trailer
* A Ressha De Ikou HX (Artdink): Simluation with Trailer
* Diario Rebirth Moon Legend (Idea Factory): RPG with Trailer
* Need for Speed Carbon (Electronic Arts): Racing with Trailer
* Dead Rising (Capcom): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Lost Planet Extreme Condition (Capcom): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Winning Eleven Series (Konami): Sports with Trailer
* Operation Darkness (Success): Simulation with Playable/Trailer
* Project Sylpheed (Square Enix): Shooting with Playable/Trailer
* X-Men the Official Game (Spike): Action with Trailer
* Prey (Spike): Action with Trailer
* Tomb Raider: Legend (Spike): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Full Auto (Sega): Racing with Trailer
* Phantasy Star Universe: Illuminous no Yabou (Sega): RPG with Trailer
* Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo): Sports with Playable/Trailer
* Moto GP '06 (THQ Japan): Racing with Playable/Trailer
* WWE 2007 Smackdown vs Raw (THQ Japan): Wrestling with Playable/Trailer
* The Outfit (THQ Japan): Action with Trailer
* Earth Self Defense Force 3 (D3 Publisher): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Fusion Frenzy 2 (Hudson): Family with Playable/Trailer
* Culdecept Saga (Bandai Namco Games): Board Game with Playable/Trailer
* Trusty Bell: Chopan no Yume (Bandai Namco Games): RPG with Playable/Trailer
* Gundam Operation Troy (Bandai Namco Games): Action with Playable/Trailer
* Idol Master (Bandai Namco Games): Simulation with Playable/Trailer
* Super Robot Taisen XO (Banpresto): Simulation with Playable/Trailer
* Tenchu Senran (From Software): Action with Playable/Trailer ...

Jerone Hunter, 20, and Troy Victorino, 29, were sentenced to death yesterday in the murders of six people in 2004. The killings occurred after Victorino, who was kicked out of a house that he'd been squatting in, returned with Hunter to retrieve his Xbox and other belongings -- but the mainstream media mostly picked up on the Xbox stuff.

The murders were vicious, with blood being found on the floors, ceilings and walls. The victims were not only bludgeoned to death, but were mutilated after.

In related blame-it-on-video-games news, last week 25-year-old Tyrone Spellman killed his daughter after she yanked the cords on the console he was playing. According to Mia Turman, the dead child's mother, "the system - the box itself - fell" so he "hit her in the face twice." Turman also says that Spellman "slung" the child over a chair.

Turman is currently eight-months pregnant with Spellman's second child. ...

The PlayStation 2 title Final Fantasy XII, released in Japan this past March, has already shipped over 2.4 million units. With numbers like those, it's no surprise that Square is cooking up a follow-up to the latest in the spin-off-happy franchise, as is reported in this week's Weekly Famitsu. What's more, the new game, titled Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, will be released on Japan's current reigning console, the Nintendo DS.

Famitsu revealed the game would focus on the characters Vaan, age 18, and Penelo, age 17. The DS's stylus and touch screen will be utilized, but the article did not reveal how. However, in an extensive interview with Motomu Toriyama, the game's director and scenario writer, and coproducer Eisuke Yokoyama, some tidbits of the game's creation were revealed.

"The reason we chose the DS was that we had many opportunities to see up close people playing it," Toriyama explained. "We planned to target the game at people who haven't touched games until now. The concept we developed was that of making an 'entry level FF' title."

As a result the game will apparently feature revised gameplay. "We removed anything that would look complicated [to a new player], and built the battle system with an eye towards users who were playing the game for the first time."

Although inheriting the FFXII title, Yokoyama downplayed its link to its PS2 predecessor. "It is not accurate to call this a sequel. We want people to view it as the latest FF game. This is not FFXII-2."

This is not the first time the company has made an "entry-level" Final Fantasy game. In 1992 it published Final Fantasy Mystic Quest for the Super Nintendo, a simpler, less complex spin-off of the series. ...

News from the Beeb

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) has been a long time coming. Five years ago Sony announced its intention for the next generation console when it declared publicly it would develop the Cell, the powerful chip at the heart of the next generation console.

Last year the electronics giant announced to eager gamers everywhere that the third PlayStation would finally hit shelves in Spring 2006.

Two delays later and Japanese and US gamers will finally be getting their fix of the sleek black machine this November, while European console addicts will have to wait until next spring.

The PlayStation 3 looks, sounds and plays as you would hope

Since the first machines were shown in Los Angeles in 2005, the closest most gamers and journalists have ever come to a machine is in a photograph or in a glass case.

But at the Tokyo Games Show (TGS) this year Sony finally delivered on its half a decade of promises.

TGS is the first show where anyone can get up close and personal with the console.

The PlayStation 3 is five years in the making

Sony has 200 of the finished machines and is showing more than 20 titles here in Tokyo, including the first person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man and the Grand prix driving game F1 Challenge.

But the question on everybody's lips when they step up to the machine is: has it been worth the wait?

And luckily for Sony after stepping away from the machine, grinning, the consensus is yes.

The PlayStation 3 looks, sounds and plays as you would hope.

More realistic

The first thing you notice is the landscape created in the games look more realistic than ever before. Waters glimmer, glaciers shine and trees beckon to be touched.

The machine is released in November in Japan and the USA
Playing the action adventure Gengi: Days of the Blade there is a scene when you must fight in a river near a water fall. As you tackle the samurai-styled warrior, water flows past your feet carrying with it curled autumnal leaves. Carp dance around you feet as you slash at the bad guy.

The landscape is also the first thing you notice while playing the latest instalment of the driving series Gran Turismo.

The Swiss Alps look almost photorealistic, with sunlight glinting off the snow-capped peaks and hanging glaciers.

Detached from surroundings

But look past the landscapes and not all is well. The cars in Gran Turismo HD, as the latest version of the game is called, seem to hover above the ground. They don't seem to interact with the road surface. The basketball players in NBA 07 suffer a similar problem. The hoop-shooters seem to skip across the floor without actually setting foot on it. The characters too seem to be detached from the surroundings of the court.

With nothing in real life to compare it to you get sucked in

Some games also suffer similar problems to those seen on some HD movies. The clarity of the picture and the vibrancy of the colours sometimes make pictures seem too real and in turn they look unrealistic.

None of this really detracts from the gameplay and the developers of the titles were at pains to point out that they were still in development.

Many of the games on show do not have these problems. In particular those that take place in worlds where you are asked to suspend your disbelief and enter a fantasy.

Sucked in

With nothing in real life to compare it to, you get sucked in.

Lair is a good example. In the game you are a warrior in control of a dragon swooping through a dream landscape.


Rival console Xbox 360 hit shelves last November

To control the mythical beast you use the PS3's new tilt sensitive controller.

The motion sensors in the wireless controller give you six degrees of motion allowing you to control the attacks of your dragon.

Comparisons with the Nintendo Wii's controller are necessary but difficult.

Like the Wii's controller Sony's gives a compelling and natural feel to games. When playing driving games for example most people seem to tilt the controller without thinking. The motion sensors exploit this.

Two-handed affair

But unlike the Wii's two controllers, one for each hand, the PS3 controller is a two-handed affair. For large or fast gestural movements using both hands can feel awkward and at times the controller is slow to respond.

But overall it makes gameplay more interesting and fun. What gamers have lost in the dualshock controllers of the PS2, that vibrated to provide game feedback, they have more than gained in the new motion sensitive controller.

The on-screen interface of the PS3 is also intuitive. It uses the same menu system as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and gives you access to internet settings, photo libraries and downloads for example.

Photos can be displayed using the onboard software to create slide shows, while video conferencing and instant messaging allows you to chat to your gaming pals.

Slick software

The menu also gives you access to the inbuilt ...

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The Dragon Quest franchise may not have as strong of legs outside of Japan as it does at home, but the classic DQ Slime is like Mickey Mouse in its native land. Square Enix is making sure to feed the need for Slimes with a new entry in its Monsters series of battle games.

One of a number of Dragon Quest spin-offs, Dragon Quest Monsters is kind of like Enix's version of Pokemon. Instead of taking to fights yourself, you collect and train a number of beasts to do battle on the plains and in the forests of the land. DQM: Joker introduces a new character to this side of the series, a battler who takes up the challenge of the Joker's GP arena tournament. On the overworld, you will play as this Joker contestant as you explore the 3D space. In battle, however, you will stand aside and let your collected beasts fight it out.

Full article ...

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Namco's Tales of... series has really come into its own ever since the GameCube Tales of Symphonia conquered the platform and finally came into the hearts of American gamers. Namco has produced a flurry of entries in the series for just about every platform imaginable, including two ports of classic entries to the PSP (Tales of Eternia and the recent Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice) as well as a remake on GBA of Tales of Phantasia. Added to the Tales here at TGS are two brand new and completely stunning new portable entries, both of which bring the series to handhelds in full 3D.

Full article ...

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Square-Enix has taken quite a shine on the Nintendo DS, but its efforts have so far used the system only in very specific ways -- the RPG giant has made some great games already for the system, but we kept wishing that they'd find more use for the DS touchscreen and two-screen set-up, making full use of this unique system.

In Subarashiki: It's a Wonderful World, we see just what's possible when this company really sets its mind on making the most of a system. The unique visual style and constant two-screen gameplay of this title is outstandingly realized down to the last detail -- this game just exudes top-tier talent. Members of the Kingdom Hearts staff were a part of the project, and Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi were on hand for character design. This is no little portable game, this is an epic adventure put on the Nintendo DS most specifically because it's just about the only platform that could render this concept as imagined here.

Full preview at IGN ...

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Gunpey is something of a romantic notion of a videogame, something to keep very close to your heart if you are so stricken. The title, originally a puzzle game by a crew working with the late game maker Gunpei Yoko, derives its name from the beloved designer. It's always been a simple title -- another in an endless line of blocks and shapes making forms before the well fills up -- but its creative and manic gameplay is fittingly alive and well, finally brought back into action with new versions for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

Full article at IGN ...