Look, what our friend the crazy modder has done now: mixed a 1981 Octopus Nintendo Game & Watch with a cellphone with his bare hands, probably creating the best retro game handheld/cellphone combo ever. What makes this Octo-phone better than the WiiPhone is that, first of all, people won't think you're a recent release from the local Mentalist Correctional Facility who believes he is having a rational four-way conversation with God, Peter Sellers and Poon-tang the Seven-Legged Donkey on a Wiimote. And secondly, it's Game & Watch, the first game I ever had *goes all misty-eyed*:




Game & Watch cellphone

As an 11-year-old, I managed to persuade my mum to buy a Double-Screen Donkey Kong Game & Watch for me when we visited NY, and then, what with the bleeps and the profanities emanating from my seat during the eight-hour return flight, she confiscated it. Between ordering a double whisky from the trolley dolly, and settling down with a Harold Robbins she'd picked up at JFK, she left my Donkey Kong in the seat pocket in front of her, tucked between the vomit bag and the safety instructions.

And there it stayed. When we arrived back in London, neither of us, groggy from the cloud of fug produced by the woman with the fuschia nails, tight perm and camel toe in the row behind us, who had chain-smoked a whole carton of ***s during the journey while she chatted up the fat man next to her, thought to rescue the Game & Watch from its hiding place.

In the car I cried all the way home. And what made it worse was that when I got back to school and told my friends that Mum had bought me one, but we'd left it on the plane, none of them believed me and, between the bleeps of their Game & Watch consoles, accused me of being a fantasist. You know, the older I get, the more I think they were right

http://gizmodo.com/350979/nintendo-g...e-verdict-want ...

News from Play Asia

Welcome to this week's Games & Toys update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.

Plenty of top selling games have been published into the last week of January. The hottest title this week has been Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 (available in plenty editions for PlayStation3™ and Xbox360™, some released this week, others following next week).

Nintendo's Dairantou Smash Brothers X / Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Nintendo Wii™ has been following closely but orders have slowed down due to the game's shortage in the market. Play-Asia.com has processed less than 20% of all preorders as of now but more supply has now been confirmed to arrive during the next few working days.

Further popular releases have been Nippon Ichi's Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 for PS3™ as well as the Wii™ US version releases No More Heroes and Endless Ocean: Dive, Discover, Dream.

It's also been a strong week for the PlayStation2™ once more with Namco's RPG hit Tales of Destiny Director's Cut and Banpresto's Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi (Regular / Limited Edition). The latter has currently been presold, but we are expecting a few more copies to arrive next week.

Also of interest is Sony's MyStylist (Regular / With Camera) for PSP™, which has surprisingly been released in Asia a month prior Japanese release as well as Capcom's Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0 Premium Package for PC.

There have also been plenty of interesting soundtrack and toy releases, so make sure to check the complete new releases lineup as well as outlook for next week.


PlayStation3™:
Assassin's Creed JPN US$ 64.90
Burnout: Paradise US US$ 64.90
Devil May Cry 4 ASIA US$ 59.90
Devil May Cry 4 JPN US$ 72.90
Devil May Cry 4 Premium BD Pack (Ceramic White) JPN N/A
Devil May Cry 4 Premium BD Pack (Clear Black) JPN N/A
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 JPN US$ 64.90
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 ASIA US$ 59.90
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 89.90
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness 3 [Limited Edition] ASIA US$ 79.90
Need for Speed: Pro Street JPN US$ 64.90
SEGA Rally Revo JPN US$ 64.90

Xbox360™:
Burnout: Paradise US US$ 64.90
Devil May Cry 4 JPN US$ 72.90
SEGA Rally Revo JPN US$ 64.90
Xbox 360 Devil May Cry 4 Premium Pack JPN N/A

Nintendo Wii™:
Dairantou Smash Brothers X / Super Smash Bros. Brawl (restock on or before February 5th) JPN US$ 69.90
Endless Ocean: Dive, Discover, Dream US US$ 34.90
Family Ski JPN US$ 64.90
Need for Speed: Pro Street JPN US$ 59.90
No More Heroes US US$ 49.90
One Piece Unlimited Adventure US US$ 49.90

PlayStation2™:
Izumo 2: Gakuen Kyousoukyoku - Double Tact JPN US$ 64.90
Izumo 2: Gakuen Kyousoukyoku - Double Tact [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 89.90
Need for Speed: Pro Street JPN US$ 64.90
Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi JPN US$ 64.90
Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 109.90
Taiheiyou no Arashi: Senkan Yamato, Akatsuki ni Shutsugekisu JPN US$ 64.90
Tales of Destiny Director's Cut JPN US$ 59.90
Tales of Destiny Director's Cut ASIA US$ 54.90
Tales of Destiny Director's Cut [Premium Box] JPN US$ 79.90
Tales of Destiny Director's Cut [Premium Box] ASIA US$ 64.90
Xyanide JPN US$ 59.90
Your: Memories Off: Girl's Style JPN US$ 64.90
Your: Memories Off: Girl's Style [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 99.90

Nintendo DS™:
Hiromichi Oniisan no Oyako Taisou Navi JPN US$ 42.90
Houkago Shounen JPN US$ 48.90
Indianapolis 500 Legends US US$ 34.90
Kaiun Kenkyuuka - Utsukita Mahiro Kanshuu - Mainichi Kokorobics: DS Uranai Happiness 2008 JPN US$ 42.90
Loopop Cube: Loop * Salad DS JPN US$ 44.90
Mega Brain Boost US US$ 24.90
Nushishi: Amakudaru Sato JPN US$ 48.90
Ryouri Exercise JPN US$ 39.90
Simple DS Series Vol. 31: The Chou-Dangan!! Custom Sensha JPN US$ 28.90
Simple DS Series Vol. 32: The Zombie Crisis JPN US$ 28.90
Umezawa Yukari no Yasashi Igo JPN US$ 48.90

Sony PSP™:
MyStylist ASIA US$ 39.90
MyStylist (w/ Camera) ASIA US$ 59.90
Patapon ASIA US$ 42.90
R-Type Tactics KOR US$ 49.90
Rainbow Island: Revolution US US$ 24.90
SEGA Rally Revo JPN US$ 48.90
Taiheiyou no Arashi: Senkan Yamato, Akatsuki ni Shutsugekisu JPN US$ 48.90

PC Games:
Monster Hunter Frontier Online Season 2.0 Premium Package JPN US$ 59.90
Ys Origin (Chinese Version) (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 29.90
Ys Origin Limited Edition (Chinese) (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 39.90

Books & Magazines:
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin: Prima Official Game Guide US US$ 19.90
Arcadia Magazine [March 2008] JPN US$ 12.90
Assassin's Creed Perfect Guide JPN US$ 24.90
Burnout Paradise: Prima Official Game Guide US US$ 16.90
Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon: Toki Wasure No Meikyuu Official Complete Guide JPN US$ 23.90
Devil May Cry 4 Visual Capture Guide Book JPN US$ 14.90
Famitsu Wave DVD [March 2008] JPN US$ 16.50
Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 1: Character JPN US$ 26.90
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 14 Chou Ketteiban & Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Wii Ketteiban Perfect Official Guide JPN US$ 27.90
Minna no Golf Portable 2 Official Guide Book JPN US$ 21.90
Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes Official Complete Works JPN US$ 28.90
Tales of Innocence Official Complete Guide ...

New from SUccessHK



In multiplayer games, characters from all Nintendo universes meet up in Nintendo locales to duke it out. In the solo mode called "The Subspace Emissary," the world of Smash Bros. is invaded by an entity called the Ancient Minister and his army of creatures, called "The Primid." Normally, characters come alive in the world of Smash Bros. to do battle, then turn back into trophies when defeated. However, the Ancient Minister starts turning characters into trophies to harness their power, then detonates bombs that suck pieces of the world back into his realm of Subspace. Eventually, all the characters must work together to defeat the invading creatures from Subspace - this is accomplished by playing through side-scrolling levels. ...

Other sites have this now, but hey, they sent it to me first, even if I sat on it for a while! Vintage Computing has done a very nice chart comparing Virtual Console prices versus current used game prices on a game by game, platform by platform basis. Predictably, the PC Engine/TG-16 has the greatest discrepancy, costing almost $900 more to purchase in hard copy, even with three titles unavailable for hard copy pricing. Is the discounted price worth the poor emulation in the wrong resolution? I'm just glad I've got most of the games already... The chart was completed by JJ Hendricks of the Videogame Price Charts blog.

Simultaneously, Gamesniped has linked an auction for every U.S.-released Turbo Grafx and Turbo CD game, with three sealed consoles. Usually these things don't strike a chord with me, but when it's the turbo...that's quite a hot batch of stuff. It also comes with a Kisado Converter for imports (those aren't made anymore). Good stuff all round, only $9,999.99! Yikes. Thanks to Flavor for the link.

http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/002220.html ...

After bleeding red for months, Sony's games division finally turned a profit last quarter. Sony sold 4.9 million PS3s last quarter after slashing console prices, boosting game titles, and cutting production costs internally. Of course, we're sure Wii shortages aren't hurting Sony's bottom line either. Sony did lower its annual sales goal of PS3s from 11 million to 9.5 million (citing a slow start) while increasing PSP projections to 13 million from 10 million as originally expected. Sony's fiscal year ends in March. Overall, Sony's profits rose 25% for the quarter. Welcome back to black Sony, it's been a long time coming.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/31/s...urns-a-profit/ ...

After bleeding red for months, Sony's games division finally turned a profit last quarter. Sony sold 4.9 million PS3s last quarter after slashing console prices, boosting game titles, and cutting production costs internally. Of course, we're sure Wii shortages aren't hurting Sony's bottom line either. Sony did lower its annual sales goal of PS3s from 11 million to 9.5 million (citing a slow start) while increasing PSP projections to 13 million from 10 million as originally expected. Sony's fiscal year ends in March. Overall, Sony's profits rose 25% for the quarter. Welcome back to black Sony, it's been a long time coming.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/31/s...urns-a-profit/ ...

We're pretty certain middle schoolers across the world have sketched this exact console 10,000 times, but that still doesn't make it right.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/31/k...aming-console/ ...

The memory card announcements at PMA continue -- Kingston has just announced its first 16GB SDHC card. Sure, we're happy for them, but at $231, it's more expensive than SanDisk's $179 16GB card -- which comes with a USB 2.0 reader -- and it's certainly not as impressive as SanDisk's new 32GB card. Also, your hair is frizzy and you look fat. But have fun at the party!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/31/k...gb-sdhc-party/ ...

Dark_Alex has made a 1.50 kernel add-on for custom firmware 3.90 M33, usable for series 1000 PSPs (the big, original ones) making 1.50 homebrew usable again. Readme and instructions below:


150 kernel addon for 3.90 M33 (psp phat only)

• Copy 150k_addon to /PSP/GAME
• Get sony 1.50 update and copy it to the root with name “150.PBP”
• Run the program and done.

Download and leave feedback via comments ...