New from SuccessHK



Battlestations: Midway blends intense 3rd-person action with epic, large-scale naval combat and brings to life the great Pacific battles of World War II. From the chaos of Pearl Harbor, through the Philippines, Java and the Coral Sea all the way to the epic Battle of Midway. Players can relive classic battles with realistic locations and accurate historical detail and take part in huge multi-unit online battles with up to eight players controlling over 60 units. Players can take direct control of over 60 different warships, planes and submarines, many of which are based on actual historical vehicles, from a 3rd-person perspective. Single Player mode features 11 large-scale campaigns with 12 bonus challenge missions while the online multi-player combat offers an entirely new online battle experience and features head-to-head and co-operative battles featuring over 60 Allied and Japanese units. ...

New from SuccessHK



Sonic brings his trademark speed and attitude to the Nintendo Wii. The story begins with Sonic turning the pages of the classic book, "Arabian Nights". Suddenly, he is visited by the tale’s central character, the Genie, who reveals that the last several pages of the book have mysteriously gone blank. This mystical being grants Sonic the ability to travel into the book's world. Armed with his signature speed, Sonic sets off on an adventure to retrieve the missing pages, and set the world of the Arabian Nights back in order. Mimicking the energy and movements of Sonic, players actively perform specialized moves with the Wii controller, bringing their stamina and wide range of motion into the action! ...

via joystiq

Speaking from years of experience, we know how hard it can be to get your girlfriend interested in playing video games. Granted, it might be impossible to drag her into play-til-dawn Halo 2 sessions online, but dropping into casual gaming with a Wario Ware: Smooth Moves round or two is entirely doable. Need some tips? Wikihow has an entry up on how to get your girlfriend to play video games, which offers up some gender stereotypes like this:

"Don't get games that involve things like strippers, prostitutes, and sex. Unless she has a really good sense of humor about such things, she probably won't like it."
Well, where's the fun in that? Oh, we keed, we keed. True, most of the article is common sense, and it might actually be helpful to some of you out there who have had a hard time getting your significant others interested in jumping into the game with you. However, some of it is just plain whacked, like explaining to your girlfriend how to stretch and uncramp her hands. If your girlfriend doesn't know how to do this already, then you've got more serious problems.

For those of you who need a girlfriend in order to find this article useful, check out Wikihow's hilarious "How to get a girlfriend if you're a nerd" entry. We're not sure whether to laugh or cry. For all of you female gamers out there, let us know how they could improve this entry, and don't worry about being gentle ... blast away.

More Info ...

via joystiq

Nielsen Media Research, best know for its TV ratings, has released an outline the American video game landscape in the form of "The State of the Console" report. Among the more interesting findings:

45.7 million U.S. households have at least one game system, out of 111.4 million that have TVs (41.1%). This number has risen from 38.6 million (35.2%) in late 2004.
148.4 million Americans have access to a console in their home, out of 283.5 million that have access to TVs (52.4%). Of those, 93.8 million Americans (33.3% of the TV population) actually used a console in the 4th quarter of 2006.
The top 20% of gamers are responsible for 75% of the console time, averaging 5 hours and 45 minutes of use per day.
Those last two factoids are pretty interesting, as they show console games are still appealing primarily to a very small niche of the potential market, and that a small slice of that niche is responsible for most of the actual playing time. If game makers can somehow attract these uninterested console owners, they'll have tapped into a much larger market than they might be used to. ...

via joystiq

As a medium, video games have been blamed for a whole host of society's ills. Violence, obesity, and educational underachievement are just some of the high profile problems that have been laid on gaming's doorstep at one time or another. But now, video games are being portrayed as the cause of a much graver threat; namely, the decline in Australian pet ownership.

As Australian Veterinary Association President Kersti Seksel told the Sydney Morning Herald (and any other outlet that would listen) today's kids "interact more by playing computer games and less by going out there and throwing the ball to a dog." Why is this a problem, exactly? According to Seksel, "We need to learn people skills, physical skills, and sitting in the lounge room with a computer doesn't teach you that."

Leaving aside for a second the idea of learning "people skills" from playing with an animal, implying that game playing and pet ownership are somehow mutually exclusive is a little ridiculous. You might as well argue that reading books and talking on the phone are dangerous pastimes because they take away from time with poor, neglected Fido.

Pet ownership usually takes up only a small part of a child's day, and singling out video games for distracting from that time strikes us as a little opportunistic. And while "you can't hug a computer," as the SMH article points out in the lede, you also don't have to take a computer out for walks. Man's best friend, indeed. ...

No, Odama isn't coming to the Wii. At least, that's not likely. But on the final day of the Japan Media Arts Festival, the game's designer Yoot Saito took a little time to publicly tinker with the Wii Remote, showing how the Remote and Nunchuk could be used to replace or enhance existing control schemes by running through a quick game of Odama with them.

He was pretty impressed by the added immersion the Wii Remote could offer, as he says gesture controls can make games feel more realistic. Not that Odama is a game whose controls could have gotten any worse, mind you, but it's nice to see at least some devs tackling the subject of Wii Remote integration seriously.

via kotaku ...

There's so many wallpapers for the PSP out there, yet I thought that a lot of them were either too busy or boring, featuring just naked girls, fake OS pictures or game related pictures, so I did a small compilation based on my own photos and voilá, here are 16 PNG images, that I hope will be to your liking. All images are submitted under the Creative Commons license.

/BH

Download and Screens Via Comments ...

Just in case you were confused between the convenience store and the upcoming Namco game, we secured two exclusive videos showing the game in action. Though the clips are short, it is clear that some sort of hasty, brain stimulating gameplay is taking place, a la Brain Training or Wario Ware. Click the movies tab above to see for yourself.

Movies Here ...

via gibiz

The size limit for games distributed using Microsoft's popular Xbox Live Arcade service is to be tripled to 150MB, effective immediately - with the firm launching a new 512MB memory unit for the Xbox 360 to allow Core System owners to take advantage of the new games.

Previously, all software distributed on Xbox Live Arcade had to fit inside a 50MB file - which also meant that all software was compatible with the Xbox 360 Core System, which uses 64MB memory cards for data storage rather than the much larger hard drive in the "full" Xbox 360 system. However, Microsoft has made exceptions to that rule - notably for Konami's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which it admitted at the start of this year would not fit inside 50MB.

Now developers will be free to develop games up to a size limit of 150MB - a size which hits a sweet spot between giving flexibility to developers and maintaining accessibility for consumers, according to Xbox Live Arcade product manager Chris Early.

"The new size limit offers developers increased flexibility and continued opportunities for innovative game development, while also ensuring that the millions of gamers on Xbox LIVE can continue to easily access, download and play all Xbox LIVE Arcade games on Xbox 360," Early explained in a statement on the size limit changes.

"If you take a look at current games like 'Roboblitz' and 'Small Arms,' it's clear that our developers deliver amazing game experiences within a compact size limit," he continued. "Our focus is on continuing to provide developers with an environment that allows for the creation of cost-efficient games and that nurtures an artistic and creative approach to game development."

The 512MB memory unit for the Xbox 360 will launch on April 3rd, and is expected to retail at $49.99 in North America when it launches - with the existing 64MB memory unit set to drop in price from $39.99 to $29.99 at the same time. For a limited period, each 512MB unit sold will also come with a full copy of popular Xbox Live Arcade title Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved.

The announcements concerning the size limit change and the launch of the new memory unit came ahead of Microsoft's planned Xbox Live Arcade showcase at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week, where the firm plans to show off a range of Xbox Live Arcade titles including Boom Boom Rocket (EA / Bizarre Creations), 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures (Sierra Online / Wanako Games), Eets: Chowdown (Klei Entertainment), Jetpac Refuelled (Rare) and Pinball FX (ZEN Studios). ...