news via worthplaying

At home or on the go, challenge the world's top golfers in all-new PGA TOUR Mode, featuring training sessions, practice, and The FedEx Cup, the new PGA TOUR championship playoff system. Hone your skills in the all-new Shooting Gallery, then play as or against 11 players, including John Daly, on 12 championship courses.

Earn respect and climb the ranks with the Tiger Challenge in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 07. The top-selling golf video game franchise is packed with new content, including 18 championship courses and 35 pro and fantasy golfers. Use the cutting edge Wii controller to swing the clubs like the pros. Perfect using the Wii-mote interface for enhanced interaction with the game.

key console Features

* The power and control of every swing are literally in your hands. Whether you tilt the Wii-mote to hook and slice the ball or swing away for a long straight drive, the Wii’s innovative game controller provides the most realistic golfing experience that has ever been felt or seen. The Nunchuk can also be attached for the traditional analog swing.
* With new True Aiming, survey the layout and weigh the risks before each shot, then hit away with life-like Wii Remote swing system, making the quest for the perfect ball just a little tougher.
* Use the Wii-mote’s point and click interface to move the new golf glove, grab the True-Aiming circle and position your shots for true-to-life accuracy.
* Put your skills to the test with eight Arcade games, or challenge your friends in 12 multiplayer game modes.
* Travel the globe in a single player tour to 18 Championship courses, take on PGA TOUR Pro golfers through the new Arcade Modes and unlock the fantasy golfers as you climb the ranks to take on Tiger Woods himself.
* The race to become the top golfer in the world is based on FedExCup points earned at every tournament during the season.
* Train yourself and your character to hit like the pros. Use the instructional tutorials to learn how to effectively use the Wii-mote or flip on the Practice Mode during course play to dial-in your swing.
* Featuring 35 of the game’s best pro and fantasy players, including Tiger Woods, John Daly, Vijay Singh, and Annika Sorenstam, the most decorated golfer on the LPGA TOUR®.
* New PGA TOUR licensed courses include Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, and many more.
* The innovative character creation tool is revamped with deeper modifications, more apparel, equipment licenses, and specialty items.
* The announcing dream team of David Feherty and Gary McCord provide commentary and irreverent observations during every round.
* Challenge yourself with the new adjustable difficulty levels and golf as a novice to a championship pro. Change the swing sensitivity for enhanced draws and fades.
* With 480p Widescreen support and improved texture resolution for skydomes and greens, the courses are sharper and more realistic than ever!
* Swing away and hear the crack of the club as it impacts on the ball through the Wii-mote’s integral sound system.

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news via engadget



Apparently not content with simply selling other company's wares, Gamestop has decided to get in on the Wii accessory madness itself, introducing its own line of Wii add-ons of varying utility. Sure to attract more than a few stares is the company's Afterglow Cooler (pictured above), which promises to keep the already cool console even cooler, with some blue LED lighting adding some justification for the $15 price tag. The rest of Gamestop's accessories take on the ever-expandable Wiimote, including a $10 silicon grip that replaces the controller's battery cover to reduce slippage (check it out after the break), and a full compliment of now-familiar Wii Sports accessories (also viewable after the break), available in a bundle for $20. Look for the whole lot to be available sometime before the end of this quarter.

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news via kutv

Kids all over the country put Nintendo’s Wii at the top of their wish list. But, as we found out there’s much more they can see on the games besides golf or tennis. It was the hot item on Christmas lists but it can also be portal for porn!

Here’s what you need to know, and how to keep your kids safe.

When moms Marty Mata and Laurel Auerbacher bought the Wii game console for their kids, they never thought that they could access sexually-oriented web sites on the internet as well.

“Absolutely not,” says Marty Mata. “I would have never imagined that. That’s why we keep the computer here where we could see them.”

Laurel Auerbacher says, “The sole reason for buying it was to keep our kids off the internet.”

Auerbacher was especially concerned after she discovered that her son and some of his friends had found inappropriate web sites on the computer.

Not only can your child access porn along with their favorite games, the porn industry is advertising to target those toys.

What’s worse some porn sites are advertising they are Wii friendly. Their screens have reportedly been reconfigured to fit the Wii and the Playstation 3 and the news is spreading.

Just take a look at this blog on YouTube where one person shows others how to get porn on Wii.

In fact, in a study published in February’s pediatrics magazine more children and teens are being exposed to online porn.

42% of internet users ages 10-17 told University of New Hampshire researchers they had seen online porn in a twelve month period.

That news is very disturbing to these moms.

“It’s just one more added worry to being a parent,” says Laurel.

Now there are some things you can do to protect your children. The Wii does have built in parental controls where kids would need a pin number to access content on the internet.

In a statement a spokesman for Wii told us:
“Nintendo firmly believes that parents should be empowered to control what’s right for their family and has provided a parental controls option as a standard feature of the Wii system. This setting allows parents to control access to games and online content enabled by the Wii system.”

Whether it is a computer or a game console the key to keeping your child safe and from seeing what you don’t want them to see is supervision.

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release via my-video-convertor

Moyea PSP Video Manager is a PSP Video file manager freeware developed specially for PSP owners, which can transfer PSP video files between your PSP and computer with ease and is very popular with the PSP owners. PSP Video Manager helps you easily import PSP MPEG4 files to your PSP. At the same time, the freeware also allows you to export PSP MPEG4 files located in your PSP to your computer. While transferring PSP video files, you can copy or move the video files to decide whether or not keep the original files. The whole process is easy. You don't need to manually rename PSP MPEG4 files to play in Sony PSP, and just a click can do it with PSP Video Manager.



The simple and easy-to-use user interface;

Two beatiful skins are offered in the program to select;

The program supports two lauguages- English and Chinese;

The size of the selected file will be displayed;
Both veterans and beginners will love it, and you can know what function is available from the status of the buttons;

Before using PSP Video Manager, you need to know what kinds of file can play in PSP. PSP just can play PSP MPEG4 file (.mp4) so that you can not import AVI or another video files to PSP. If you have not PSP MPEG4 file in your computer, you must use other software of converter to convert PSP MPEG4 file, e.g. PSP Video Converter

What a best and powerful PSP MPEG4 file manager freeware! With PSP Video Manager, you will no longer be confused by how to manage your PSP video file. From this icon of easy-to-use interface, It is not difficult for you to see how to use PSP Video Manager.

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As Pipeworks cranks down on the Wii version of Godzilla: Unleashed, Santa Cruz Games, the development studio that worked on Superman Returns for the dual-screen handheld, is hard at work on a Nintendo DS version of Atari's giant monster franchise. Atari was in the office today showing off Godzilla: Unleashed, and while the Wii version's more of a fighting game, the DS edition's taking the form of an old-school arcade-style action game. The Wii version was way early, but the Nintendo DS version was even further away from "not quite ready for Prime Time". At least in this early stage we could see the concepts that the designers at Santa Cruz are aiming for as their game's working through its development cycle.

Godzilla: Unleashed is a side-scrolling game that puts focus on two monster cooperative play -- the scrolling environments spread across both screens vertically, with flying monsters taking care of the upper-screen and ground creatures marching along the bottom. It's almost like a cross between a horizontal shooter and Double Dragon, and players are encouraged to swap between their two selected characters to wipe out enemies that wander across both screens.

Though the game is strictly a 2D affair, at least in its action, the game pushes a 3D engine across both screens of the DS. The visuals are more stylized for this handheld-outing -- creatures are a bit more "deformed" with larger and more exaggerated body shapes, and the addition of a cel-shade across the characters, enemies, and environments jazz things up a bit. Boss creatures can be half-screen, full-screen...even two screens tall.

Because the game has a huge multiplayer focus, the developers have enabled the Nintendo DS system's Download Play feature so that only one copy of the game is needed in the networked two player cooperative option.

The Nintendo DS version is clearly in more of a "conceptual" pre-Alpha stage at this point since only one stage could be played and the multiplayer wasn't enabled quite yet. And though the style of the 3D in Godzilla: Unleashed, with its cel-shaded look and huge monsters, certainly looked impressive, the framerate was not. Hopefully this less-than-fluid frame rate is an area of focus as the game's worked on back at the studio.

We'll have more on the Nintendo DS version of Godzilla: Unleashed as we creep closer to its Fall 2007 release date. Click the links below for the first screens and artwork of the handheld game in action.

via ign ...

via ign

Playing something like Spectrobes just serves to highlight how incredibly boring real-life pets are. Rabbits can't find ancient magical fossils hidden deep in the ground. A parrot is unlikely to be able to stop an alien invasion. And, last time we checked at least, a hamster couldn't unleash powerful lightning attacks that shake the ground and send bolts of electricity crashing down from the sky. But, in Spectrobes, the animals you collect and train can do all this and more - something that will no doubt be familiar to anyone that's ever tried the Pokémon games.

It almost goes without saying, some might find it easy to dismiss Spectrobes as yet another Pokémon clone. After all, it's possible to see the creature collecting and monster fighting Poké-DNA running right through the game. You almost expect some of the cuter critters to say "pika". However, after just a few hours' play, it's clear that the Pokémon comparison is relatively unjust. Spectrobes takes the "gotta catch 'em all" ethic of Pokémon and runs with it. Even if the direction it runs isn't always the best.



For the majority of the game it runs - with teeth bared and claws extended - into scrap after scrap. Thankfully, Spectrobes loses the frustrating random-battle mechanics of Pokémon titles. Enemies appear as black swirling whirlwinds on the map, which it's possible to run past instead of fighting, if your Spectrobe is low on health. When you enter the eye of the storm, you're faced with three aggressive alien invaders known as Krawls. Normal weapons are useless against the Krawl and the only way to kill them off is by using an assembled team of - gasp - Spectrobes.

It's only possible to take a pair of creatures into battle, so it's essential that you've formed a decent team. Once the fight begins, orders are given to your Spectrobes in real-time while running around the battle arena. Pressing either L or R tells a particular Spectrobe to attack. Once they've attacked, it'll take a few moments before they're ready to strike again. Some Spectrobes even have more complicated moves, such as the samurai-like critter that's able to guard and distract enemies, alongside its standard attack. This adds extra depth to tussles because, in this instance, it's possible to have your samurai distract enemies while his partner readies for another round.

What's more, as Spectrobes fight alongside each other, they actually develop bonds. So, the more they engage in a bit of rough and tumble, the more powerful their combined attacks become. Combined attacks are essentially "special moves" that can be charged up and unleashed during a fight. Depending upon the element of your combatant creatures, combined attacks can see lightning shoot down from the sky, meteors shower towards enemies or massive shards of ice pierce through the ground. They're certainly spectacular to look at. However, the fact that your combined attacks are limited only by how quickly you can recharge means that Krawl encounters can be over within a few special moves. We're hoping the difficulty ramps up when coming across more powerful Krawl because what we've played so far has been a breeze.

As well as fighting with your Spectrobes, you also have to collect them. Unfortunately it's quite a long and complicated process. First, using a young Spectrobe's ability to sniff out fossils, you must locate a dormant creature. This involves standing still, tapping an accompanying Spectrobe, waiting for it to scan the area and then jumping for joy when flashes appear on the ground to indicate something's waiting to be unearthed. The fossil locating process has to be repeated a lot because it's also used to find special minerals that Spectrobes eat to level-up. The novelty tends to wear off after about the 40th time.



However, your quest for new Spectrobes isn't over once you've managed to locate the fossil… oh no. Now it's necessary to excavate it by using the touch screen. Rather like an extreme version of Time Team you take to the soil armed with a series of drills. "Digs" last a few seconds as you chip away at the ground with a large drill until the fossil is exposed, then use a slightly smaller drill to carefully extract the fossil. It's no good just wildly scratching at the touch screen either because the fossils are quite delicate and it's possible to break them. This makes the whole process quite tedious and, although we've managed to snag a device that automatically excavates minerals, we've yet to acquire a similar tool to retrieve fossils.

So with fossil in hand it might seem like your Spectrobe gathering quest is over. Well, not quite. Next, it's necessary to head back to your spaceship and "awaken" the Spectrobe with a special machine. Developer Jupiter seems to have taken the idea of awakening something fairly literally, requiring that you bellow into the DS's mic to rouse the fossilised Spectrobes. Depending upon the Spectrobe that's being awakened, you're ...

There are two types of Wii games. There's the "now that we have our Wii dev kits, let's start making a Wii game kind of game," and there's the "now that we have our Wii dev kits, let's take this GameCube game we've been working on and put it on the Wii instead since you'd have to be crazy to release a new GameCube game now" type.

Usually, developers of the latter group make an attempt at hiding the hardware switch by adding Wiimote controls, or maybe even a 16x9 mode. But Nintendo is being quite open with Fire Emblem Akatsuki no Megami (Goddess of Dawn), which just hit Japan this Thursday. This first Wii Fire Emblem game, and the celebratory 10th entry in Nintendo's much loved strategy franchise, is really a GameCube game that just happens to be on a DVD. I bet if the disk were smaller, it would run just fine on that old purple box that's gathering dust in closets everywhere.

Akatsuki no Megami is missing a lot of what one might expect from a next generation, or even a new generation, Fire Emblem title. Looking for Wiimote waggle or pointing controls? Look elsewhere. Says so right on the box: "The entire game is played with the Wiimote's buttons." Ironically (I'm pretty sure this is irony), Akatsuki no Megami is one of the first Japanese Wii releases to include a pamphlet warning users against waving the Wiimote around too hard (in Japan, Nintendo actually has public service commercials showing proper use of the controller).

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It seems that comic book licenses are a permit to print money these days. Even if the comic books themselves don't quite have the mass appeal they once did, the characters are American icons guaranteed to generate sales. Look no further than the recent success of Ghost Rider for proof. It almost goes without saying that the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie will have videogames released on nearly every conceivable platform to accompany it. We recently had the opportunity to see a guided demo of the hi-def iteration running on Xbox 360, courtesy of publisher Activision and developer Treyarch. From the looks of this first in-game demo, Spider-Man 3 appears to be a refined version of the last movie-inspired Spidey game, capitalizing on its successes while scrapping some of the more ill-conceived ideas.

As the demo opened, we were given a rooftop look at the new and improved vision of Manhattan that will serve as your playground. Running in HD, this is easily the best looking Spider-Man we've seen on a console with a nice draw distance and slick animations. Spider-Man himself is looking good, especially in his black suit and Treyarch did a good job modeling the villains to look just like their movie counterparts. The city looks crisp, though we were a little let down at the lack of visual tricks such as the windows not having reflective surfaces. Still, the transition to new and more powerful consoles looks to be a smooth one.

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via ign

We hate to say it, but after Konami cranked out three nearly identical button-mashing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (TMNT) titles on the old-gen systems, game fans, turtle fans, and pretty much everyone else in their '20s who remembered Vanilla Ice's great achievement in acting were left longing for something more. We've all been waiting for a publishing/development team to treat TMNT material with intelligence, humor and design savvy. And one might say we're still waiting.

Enter the internationally diverse publishing powerhouse, Ubisoft. Grabbing the game license based on the upcoming 2007 CGI movie, Ubisoft Montreal has blended kid-friendly action, platforming and simplified Prince of Persia (POP) acrobatics into a single turtle concoction. Coming sooner than you think, TMNT is hitting eight platforms, yes eight, March 20. You'll see it on Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PSP, PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, GameCube, and Wii.


Gain momentum in "Turtle Time."

In this new adventure, you'll take on the role of every turtle, Donatello, Rafael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo, with each character prepared to lay down his own special set of moves. And not so surprisingly, you'll face dangerous and dark criminals bent on causing massive destruction to the turtles' home turf, the Big Apple. This episode's evil enemy appears in the form of the mysterious Max Winters who, after being fired from his job, pursues a new career in creating an army of monsters to do his bidding. Even though the turtles have grown apart, there is no doubt you'll combine all of their skills to defeat Winters, who threatens the very heart of the turtle family.

Visually, TMNT takes the easy approach. The turtles look more like moving comic-book characters than "realistic" super heroes. We are talking about teenage mutant ninja turtles here; you know, anthropomorphic, walking, talking turtles, so they're already distinct. One's got the red bandana (and two sai), another's got an orange one (and nunchakus), Donatello has the purple bandana and the quarter staff, and Leonardo dons the blue bandana and wields two katana. Still, Ubisoft Montreal has kept the visuals simple and easy on the eye, using very little next-generation juice to spruce things up. Let us just say that one shouldn't expect the same CG-quality visuals used in the movie.

The animations look decent in this preview build, with some of the better ones showing the turtles shimmying along rooftop walls, running POP-style over cave walls, and hopping, Mario-style, across every object possible. While none of the working public has seen the movie, which hits theaters three days after the game (March 23), the title doesn't appear to spoil too much of the movie's narrative. It does, however, use the same themes and environments as the film. Ubisoft Montreal uses a series of set-cameras, or cinematic camera positions, to capture progression throughout the game. Much like Prince of Persia, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and Onimusha, the camera is set in the most theatrical position possible, sometimes sliding along rails, and sometimes, in boss fights, remaining completely still.

Very much a kids' game, TMNT starts out and remains easy. The first few levels teach players how to perform the basic and necessary moves. All four turtles can jump, double jump, cling to and shimmy on special ridges on walls and cliffs, and they can walk, run, and perform fighting moves. Using arcade games as its model for fighting and the Jade Engine to power it, Ubisoft Montreal's combat moves consist of a simple attack button, a helicopter kick, and a jump and slam move that momentarily pushes enemies away. The attack move links out to combos by simply hitting a single button repeatedly. I gotta tell you, you'll want to link up all the moves, but, sadly, the best strategy is just pressing attack over and over. It's the best way to cream a circle of NY punks with pipes in their hands, anyway.


Team up, dude, and totally slam that harsh boss!

The game follows a basic familiar formula: Platform through an environment, fight groups of brainless and simple AI, platform some more, then fight a boss. What makes the fights a little more entertaining is the way in which you battle. Along with the basic attacks, an evade move sets up counter attacks. There is also a momentum meter that appears on the upper-left hand side of the screen to indicate multiple uninterrupted attacks. By nailing about 10 to 15 uninterrupted attacks in a row, the turtles will jump into "Turtle Time" (i.e. Bullet Time), slowing enemies down while cleaning them up without restraint. They basically crouch down into their shells and "spin attack" enemies by slamming into their shins until they lose momentum. It's silly, but satisfying.

While the turtles share basic moves, each wields his own weapon and delivers a special move set. Donatello, who wields a quarter staff, uses a pole jump to cross large gaps and pummel enemies lined up in a row. Rafael ...