New from Play Asia



features
Trick Remixer: This all-new trick system gives you the ball and puts it in your hand. Take control of your player's rhythm mixing quick tricks with elaborate moves using two trick buttons.
Game Breaker: Unleash a whole new set of over-the-top tricks and electrifying dunks, or watch in disbelief as your rival steals away the opportunity.
Take Your Game to New Heights: All-new dunk controls keep you engaged from take-off to throw down.
Showcase your Master Skills: The best NBA players have hidden master skills that separate them from the rest.
Become a Homecourt Hero: Go from an unknown talent to a playground legend and put your homecourt on the map by dominating courts from coast-to-coast.
Every Legend has a Beginning: The NBA's best all came from somewhere and many built their skills and reputations in their hometown playgrounds - including NBA Stars Carmelo Anthony and Richard Hamilton.
Fresh Create-a-player: New Create Player system allows you to quickly create avatars by melding your favorite NBA stars into the ultimate baller
That Girl's Got Game: Six of your favorite WNBA stars are featured for the first time ever, including Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Sheryl Swoopes.
Take Your Game Online*: Represent your homecourt online with your created player against the nation's greatest ballers-anywhere, anytime.

description
NBA STREET returns with a brand new game engine only possible with the power of next generation console systems, allowing the franchise to once again raise the bar with innovative gameplay and cutting edge visuals. With a new animation engine and control system, we put the ball in your hand and allow you to show off your own style by creating hundreds of tricks on the fly. Soar through the air to execute gravity-defying dunks and double dunks or step off the back of your teammate for a jump-off dunk.

NBA STREET Homecourt merges legendary playgrounds with the hometown courts of your favorite NBA stars, featuring 360 degrees of view. Plus, the NBA's best players are all rendered in meticulous detail, making true athlete likeness a reality and putting you up close and personal with every move and moment. Set roots in your own homecourt as an anonymous baller with big dreams. Earn a name for yourself and garner respect as you progress along your hometown journey and become a legend.

Any way you shake it, NBA Street Homecourt allows you to play like you never dreamed you could, right from the first time you pick up the controller. ...

via gizmodo



It seems like every month a new gadget goes up in flames. This month it's an iPod nano that was caught exploding while being charged via a PC. The owner says that the force sent his iPod flying to the ground, where it started smoking and sparking until it was unplugged. Unfortunately, the iPod was out of warranty, so the owner wasn't able to get an immediate replacement. I've had my iPod Nano for a long time now and never has it heated up, so we have to take this one with a grain of salt, but you can never be too wary when charging your gadgets. ...

In Gamespot's review of recent Wii release Cooking Mama: Cook Off, they make a complaint that is becoming an all-too-common refrain among Wii fans: "The motion controls just aren't reliable. Some are overly sensitive... and some aren't sensitive enough."

There are bigger stakes here than the occasional botched omelette. Over the months since launch, the unpredictable Wii Remote has led to a maddening dichotomy. Some games are too easy, while others are too hard -- for all the wrong reasons.

The easy games, like Wii Sports Bowling, let the most feeble grandma instantly taste sweet victory. But the player's actions don't seem to have that much impact on the results. Swing the remote more-or-less the right way, and you're almost guaranteed a strike.

Gamers who crave a deeper challenge have to settle for battling incomprehensible controls. Wii Sports Boxing is certainly "difficult," but that's because the best strategy is "Flail your arms like a Muppet on PCP." In Wii Sports Golf, you can take the exact same swing five times in a row and get wildly different results each time. And then there's Cooking Mama. Here's a tip: go into your real-world kitchen, and cook some actual food. It'll be about 9,000 times less frustrating, and might result in you eating something healthier than your regular diet of Slim Jims and Funyuns.

So far, the revolutionary controller that was supposed to be universally accessible is confusing, finicky, and imprecise. Maybe over time, developers will learn how to create challenging games that also have intuitive controls, not just one or the other. Until then, the Wii Remote is breaking more than just TV screens... it's breaking hearts.

via joystiq ...

via kotaku

Hands-On Mobile recently inked a deal with Activision to bring Guitar Hero to the cell phone, aka "mobile devices."

Besides going on and on about how much money the franchise made, there's really not a whole lot of information in the press release. Here check for yourself:

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2, 2007 - Hands-On Mobile, Inc., the world's leading developer of connected games and applications, today announced an agreement with Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), to bring the wildly popular Guitar Hero™ franchise to mobile devices.
"Guitar Hero is an epic game experience that has mushroomed into a cultural phenomenon," said Erik Pavelka, Vice President of Business Development, Hands-On Mobile. "We are thrilled to bring this award-winning franchise to mobile and to continue our successful relationship with Activision."

"The lifestyle of music is strongly immersed into our everyday culture, and having Guitar Hero on mobile platforms will now allow our dedicated fans the opportunity to passionately feel the music, anytime and anywhere," said Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane. "Hands-On Mobile has extensive experience and success in bringing established franchises to mobile devices, and we greatly look forward to extending the Guitar Hero brand to mobile users."

Since its launch in 2005, Guitar Hero quickly became one of the most popular console games, with Guitar Hero II™ topping the charts as the best-selling console and handheld game in dollars for the U.S. for the month of December, according to The NPD Group.

With Guitar Hero, Hands-On Mobile expands its current crop of top-selling mobile games and applications. These include the Activision franchise Call of Duty®, as well as other top brands.

I've emailed the company to beg for some details, any details, about the upcoming mobile game. Could be kinda cool if it's pulled off correctly. Could be... ...

Late last month, online retailers EB Games and GameStop posted a listing for Project Silpheed, an Xbox 360 shooter previously released by Square Enix in Japan. Unfortunately, it looks like EB and GameStop got it wrong...about the spelling that is.

Project Sylpheed, as it is also known abroad, will be coming to the US this summer, Microsoft confirmed today. Developed by Japanese game studios Game Arts and Seta Corporation, the game will be published domestically by Microsoft Game Studios. The shooter is a 3D update of the arcade game Silpheed and features more than 50 minutes of CG cutscenes.

In addition to confirming Project Sylpheed for the US, Microsoft also confirmed that another Japanese-developed Xbox 360 game, Vampire Rain, will also be available this summer. Vampire Rain is a stealth-based shooter featuring a special agent hunting down creatures of the night in Los Angeles.

via gamespot ...

via gamespot

Playing video games is a dangerous business. If gamers aren't dodging flying controllers or getting inadvertently hit by their partner while playing Wii Sports, they're getting the dreaded Tekken Thumb after a few fighting rounds too many. Now, according to a UK report, it's official--gamers who button-mash too much can wind up in hospital.

In 2006 in the UK, a total of 577 children had to go to hospital for treatment for repetitive strain injury (RSI), according to British newspaper The Daily Mail.

RSI is a medically recognised condition which results from spending long periods of time making repetitive movements with the hands, wrists, arms, or shoulders. If these motions are performed on an almost daily basis (such as by an assembly line worker or a typist), inflammation can occur and not be given a chance to heal, since the muscles will continue to be used in the same way.

The figures are a 35 percent rise on those from 1999, and it is believed there is a direct link with the growing popularity of gaming.

Conversely, injuries related to falling out of trees were down 36 percent last year to 1,163, which The Daily Mail believes illustrates the trend for children to "turn away from basic outdoor activities." ...

via slashdot

Ars Technica opines on Eidos' decision to hold off on PS3 games until 2008. Though they make a point of mentioning all of the great steps forward Sony and the PS3 have taken in the last month or so (LittleBigPlanet, Home, the EU launch), they feel this decision may have ramifications for the console.
...

via eurogamer

Those of you patiently waiting for a patch to let you play PES6 against your friends using your shiny new PS3 will be twiddling your thumbs a while longer, as Sony told Eurogamer this morning that we'd probably not see a fix until the next firmware update.

It's one of a handful of PS2 titles that has noticeable issues when running on the new console, prompting Konami to previously release a statement claiming that online play was incompatible due to the loss of internal hardware dedicated to PS3 emulation.

This emotion engine chip, the processor used in the PS2, was removed for PAL PlayStation 3 units. However, Sony promised that it would continue to support last generation of games with software updates to the system.

The most recent update was v1.6, which went live on 23rd March and significantly increased the amount of PS2 titles playable on the new console.

You can find a full list of those that work on Sony's backwards compatibility site, boasting around 1,240 golden oldies.

There's currently no news on when we can expect the next firmware update for PS3. ...

Well, it's long been expected and it's finally materialised - Star Fox 64 has hit Virtual Console in North America, headlining this week's update over the pond. It supports one to four players and is going for a cool 1000 Wii Points.

The shoot-'em-up is joined by the NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (one player, 600 Wii Points) which finds the heroes in a half-shell battling Shredder and The Foot in an attempt to save reporter April O'Neil, and Dragon's Curse (one player, 600 Wii Points) which appeared on TurboGrafx16.

Dragon's Curse is a side-scrolling action-RPG that finds the lead character on the trail of the Salamander Cross, which can break a nasty curse placed upon him by the Mecha Dragon. Whatever.

via cvg ...