Console offerings: I go beyond lazy bullet lists and break down every game that publishers have planned for your time and your wallet. Every week you can expect a short concise synopsis, and my recommendation overall.

Also on tap: Portable offerings! This week’s DS releases are here, and this week’s PSP titles are right here.

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires | KOEI | Rated “T”

If you find yourself needing yet another brawler from KOEI set in ancient China which allows you to…Ok, truthfully, I don’t have the energy to feign excitement about the umpteenth Dynasty Warriors title. Nothing against KOEI or the series, but methinks the wind is rapidly leaving this IP’s sails.

Overlord II | Codemasters | Rated “T”

Picking up right after the events of the original Overlord, this sequel is a warped action-adventure written by award-winning games writer Rhianna Pratchett (Dungeon Hero, Mirror’s Edge). In a story inspired by the rise of the Roman Empire,  you and your minions can either dominate or destroy everything in your path. It’s a humorous, complex story with co-op and multiplayer modes packed in.

Transformers: RotF | Activision | Rated “T”

Unlike 2007’s shoddy attempt at Tranformers bliss, RotF closes the door lid to the sandbox, relying on tightly structured mission-based gameplay. This is a good thing. Throw in online co-op and Activision is at least attempting to make up for past mistakes. The problem? I’m a proponent of extended replay value, so I’d be plunking down $60 for this romp.

Fight Night Round 4 | EA Sports | Rated “T”

Electronic Arts is hyping this one to eternity and back, but it may be well deserved. The iconic Tyson vs. Ali bout, a physics-based fighting engine which puts importance on height, reach and style, and a giant roster of 40+ boxers.

Pick of the Week: How about process of elimination? I’m not shy about my distaste for recycled Dynasty Warriors entries. Movie-licensed games – if they’re quality – still typically offer fleeting fun, making a $60 purchase a big committment. So, it’s a match between two widly different titles. Fight Night Round 4 is an exhilerating game for boxing fans with a buddy to brawl with all summer long. If you’re going to play mostly solo, it’s not money well spent. The winner this week is Overlord II. The first was hilarious, and just full of quality. Given the script credentials, the breed of humor, and the diverse gameplay options, it’s your best bet for that $60 purchase.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know down there in those comments! Dig what you’re reading? Subscribe via email at the top of the page!

A love letter from SEGA to its 16-bit fans

Jason Evangelho, Executive Editor: The news about my recent “console divorce” has been leaking out, and when Sega sent along their Ultimate Genesis Collection for review, I finally had to fire up my 360 for something besides Netflix. (FlameMail to: jason AT gamesareevil.com)

And no, the irony of this is not lost on me.

The disc captured me the second the intro music began streaming out of my speakers, coupled with dozens of virtual cartridges whizzing by. The music had a 16-bit edge to it, but felt wholly modern as well. It’s somewhat indescribable, but I actually got goosebumps from an overdose of nostalgic bliss into my bloodstream.

Fanky Malloon, Retro Confessional & 360 Staff Writer: I was also caught up by that catchy theme music. It was retro, yet reminded me of Time to Pretend by MGMT. This wound me up even more than the opportunity to play some Genesis titles I may have had to miss back in the day. I was just as excited to play some old favorites again.  Once I started getting into the layers of the “game” I was made even happier by the presentation. I love the fact that the interface lets you know the genre of the game before you even fire it up. Also it was a nice touch allowing the gamer to rate the individual games, which makes sorting through titles even easier (This would be a great addition to Rock Band & Guitar Hero).

The extra effort of a museum feature for each game doesn’t go unnoticed, either. It makes this collection of games even more than just a bunch of XBLA downloads in one place. I am a bit of a trivia nut, so the addition of summaries about the games and little details was a welcome touch.

Jason:  They were a lovingly handled touch, filled with sometimes witty and always engaging facts.  Even more refreshing is that whoever wrote the copy for these updated game bio’s was clearly instructed not to take themselves too seriously, and as a result even the text contained here captures the whimsical and energetic spirit of the Genesis era.

Before you even venture into one of the 40 games collected on this disc, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection begins to feel like a love letter from Sega to it’s hardcore fans. You notice a dozen or so newly recorded developer diaries. Unlockables encourage you to try lesser known games to unlock classic gems. For example, to unlock Space Harrier you’ll have to achieve a respectable score in Super Chobber Blade’s 1st level. Want to open the original Phantasy Star? Beat Sonic 2’s first boss with two players. But fear not, these tasks can all be accomplished, and you’ll have a blast doing it. And you’ll earn achievement points and PSN trophies along the way.

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Fanky:  The first game I delved into first was Doctor Robotnick’s Mean Bean Machine. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I had never played this version of Puyo Puyo.  So I felt obliged to check it out first. Needless to say I was not disappointed and it has been stealing time away from old favorites like the Streets of Rage and Golden Axe series.

Next up I took on Streets of Rage and it was a spot on port. I associate Genesis playing with hanging with my friends in one of their basements. Well, my man cave is in my basement and I felt like a teenager all over again. I even had to laugh out loud when my first enemy came running at my character in that familiar kerky jerk way with his knife drawn. The same fun and same frustrations were there all over again. The other striking thing about Streets of Rage was the fantastic soundtrack by Yuzo Kashiro, holding that time travel feeling. The only thing missing was the rush of drinking 6 Mountain Dews.

Jason:  The last game I physically played on an actual Genesis console was Vectorman, so after spending a solid 30 minutes just reading the descriptions and absorbing all the original box art, I started my 16-bit platforming voyage. This game is 15 years old? The fluidity and 3D modeling is outstanding, the sprites vibrant, the sound absolutely crisp and absorbing.

40 minutes later, I had barely eeked my way into Vectorman’s 2nd stage with a single life remaining, and this was after several tries. It was at this point I remembered the punishing difficulty of several of these Sega-made platformers. Shinobi, Vectorman, Streets of Rage, even Alex Kidd can be frustrating without a gentle touch. Perhaps it was the combined impact of challenge and addictiveness that endeared me to Sega in the 1st place. That instant gratification which, lately, we only experience on portable platforms.

Well, bonus points to SEGA for allowing us to save our game at any point, unlike most of the original carts. We can even remap the controls to our liking.

Fanky:  Definitely! The save feature is a great addition that was wisely included, making the collection function like a legit emulator rather than a typical games museum. I found the button remapping and turbo fire feature to be handy too.Several of those games are a refresher course in what it used to mean to be a gamer. Sure my friends loved the Genesis for the sports games, and who didn’t? For the real video game players this collection will bring back old memories of how hard the other games really were and for those not exposed to that era will find a difficult road ahead of them. These are not the games of today where you all but have to fall asleep to get killed. Pick up Super Thunder Blade and let me know how far you get in the first outing.

Jason: In the first outing? I lasted a laughable 30 seconds! But to wrap things up, I have to reiterate that this is a gaming buffet. You’ll take little bites to experience the stuff you never played, and indulge on the old standbys, of which there are plenty. It is a perfectly produced, and still perfectly playable, reminder of our 16-bit heritage.

@timhaines

Here are  the other sites that will be participating:

• RazorianFly
• iPhoneAlley
• iPodTouchFans
• 148Apps

Things you need:

1. Facebook
2. An account to comment @ TPG (either intense debate or wordpress)
3. A copy of BurnBall

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Join the FaceBook event
2. Get a copy of Burnball, or plead with us at tpg@gamesareevil.com or on Twitter for a promo code (only regular readers/tweeps need apply)
3. Comment on this blog post here to join our tribe, so we can have a database.
4. Post on The 30 Days of Burnball Facebook Event Wall, saying you’re joining our tribe.
5. Set your name to be < your name > < space > TPG in BurnBall. (Example: ‘Jason TPG’)
6. Recruit other members if your friends have BurnBall.

Here’s how it all works:

• Tribe members need to have their tribe name setup in game as above, and be registered on the Facebook event as above.
• Tribe members play BurnBall each day, trying to win the highest score for their tribe.
• The BurnBall high score board shows all time, this week, and today high scores. It will be the “Today” scores used for Tribes.
• On each of the first 9 days (see other info below), the winning tribe will be the tribe who has the highest score on easy difficulty. The next 10 days, it will be the highest score on hard difficulty. The final 10 days, it will be the highest score in OMG.We’ll let you know when the difficulty settings need to change here on this post.
• Entries will close at 8PM PST each day; the winning tribe will be announced, and entries for the next day will open!

On November 23rd, the Games Are Evil crew had the distinct pleasure of getting our journalistic rear-ends handed to us by a multitude of talented 360 gamers. It was an unforgettable experience. Not only has our faith in Xbox Live been restored after seeing the high-caliber personalities out there, but we are vowing to have many more community playdates in 2009.

But hey, we promised some prizes, right? Everyone we encountered was awesome, but there were about 40 gamers who really stood above the virtual crowd. Whether they were unanimously crowned as the best GoW2 player EVER, caused us fits of laughter with a certain attacking ferret, or did their damnedest to keep our undisciplined butts away from enemy chainsaws – it made the experience memorable. We could only choose 20 of you however, so away we went to randomly pull names out of a virtual hat.

IF YOU GAMERTAG IS HERE: You’ll get a message over Xbox Live with the gift code and instructions. 1st Tier Winners: Your code is equal to about $60 in your pocket! 2nd Tier Winners: Your code is equal to about $30 in your pocket!

(Goozex is the leading online game trading service in North America today.  Goozex connects members to trade games for points, which they can use to get other games for only $1.  Members save on average $16.50 per game trade versus traditional used game stores.  Goozex has one of the largest library of video games available with over 9,000 plus titles ready for trading.  All trades are 100% guaranteed on Goozex and there are thousands of open trades happening at any given moment.)

1st Tier Winners:

• darkroom demons
• dj rock gears
• EccentricBull
• NeverThinkTwice
  
• Mr Enz0
• Pyro4316
• Rakuru
• TheHiveBerzerker
• Volva 904
• xMAxPaTrIoTs

2nd Tier Winners:

• c1oseca11
• CaptCalamity
• DriveByKitty
• Johnny W1shbone
• Operatingbook
• OWLNYC
• rhymeswithseven
• Socom X Killa
• thatruth007
• Kilmo the Great

John Robertson, 360 Editor: Its all about the shooters for me this weekend. My multiplayer rank in COD: World at War needs improving, so I’m able to access all the weaponry the game has to offer; ‘bouncing betties’ in particular. Still got seven or eight waves of Horde to complete in Gears 2 so it’d be nice to get that polished off too. Might even start over on the campaign again on insane difficulty, if i’m feeling tough enough on the day. I’m sure I’ll be heading back into the Capital Wasteland for some Fallout 3 at some point also – gotta find my pa’ man.

Rob LeFebvre, Associate Editor: I will be trying to eke out a few hours of gaming, probably focusing on Fable II while the kids are awake, and Gears 2 when they head to bed. I’d like to finally finish the campaign mode, but would be glad to do it co-op, so hit me up for co-op if you see me online. Fable II is still calling me, too: I have an Alchemical quest to get enough renown to talk to the Bishop guy in the Temple. Oh, and I have to find a house for my fiancee.

Gabriel Marchisio, 360 Staff Writer: If I get through this weekend’s UNGODLY amount of schoolwork, I intend to treat myself with the newly-rented Dead Space. If I play my cards really well, then I’ll be able to go my friend Nick’s house, whom you guys may remember from Resident Evil 4 co-op fame. If Dead Space is really as similar to RE4 as people say it is, then I’ll have another gut-bustingly good time, and have many stories next week.

Peter J. Skerritt, Senior PS3 Writer: What gaming time I have this weekend will likely be devoted to trying out  Call of Duty: World at War, Resistance 2, and the Movie Studio expansion for PAIN (complete with David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff as my human cannonball) on my PlayStation 3… plus I’m still working through Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on my Nintendo DS. Ecclesia is a fascinating case for me because I’ve made the turnaround from hating the game at first to really enjoying it now; even if the game still kicks my ass every now and again. Fallout 3 has been relegated to the PS3 backlog for now, but I’m sure it will get a bit of play again soon.

Blake Grundman, Wii Staff Writer: This week, in between attending my sister-in-laws birthday party, I plan to take care of some unfinished business in the form of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.  If I can manage to steal some more time I am going to attempt to finish the AC/DC Track Pack for Rock Band and get a solid start on Mercenaries 2.  If all else fails, Rock Band 2 still needs some love too.  Looks like I will be busy after all!

Fanky Malloon, Retro Editor: I will be continuing to live life as a High School student in Persona 3:FES, rock the world as a member of Chocolate Chunk (and guest musician in the Calamity Janes) in RB2 (you can also expect a new Retro Confessional discussing my ‘Ultimate Set List’), and of course late night action in Gears of War 2, probably facing the Horde.

Well, the creative minds over at Half-Masked have immortalized Jim’s story in comic book form, and it’s rather hilarious.

Be sure to add Jim’s blog (The BBPS), and the excellent Half-Masked to your daily reading…

If you’re on the fence, cast your eyes towards our Doodle Hex review here.

This collection showcases the cartoony characters of the game, and we rather dug em!

DOWNLOAD THE ZIP FILE or have a gander at the individual backgrounds:

Ubisoft just shot us an interesting developer diary on Shaun White Snowboarding, hosted by the title’s producer Louis Lamarche. In it, he explains how in-house games like Assasin’s Creed & Far Cry are to thank for the open worldness present in their new snowboarding game, and we’re treated to some new visuals showing off incredibly far-reaching 20km draw distances.

We also get a glimpse of a multiplayer snowball fight. Ubisoft, show us more snowball fighting mayhem :-)

Below are standard and high quality YouTube versions…but feel to download the original 720p WMV file here.

HIGH QUALITY VERSION

STANDARD VERSION

Here are the YEAs and NAYs:

• NAY to the Sony Defense Force at N4G: For the record, the only non-Sony gaming hardware that I own is a Nintendo DS. I stand by my criticism of the Qore program and of the Premium Themes. I do understand (and I noted in the column) that the demos offered by the Qore program eventually become free to the rest of the PSN userbase; however, that doesn’t excuse Sony charging a fee for a promotional product that was free at one time. Qore’s editorial content is also frequently uninteresting and there are cheaper ways to access media for upcoming games. The piece was a Sony criticism and not necessarily a Microsoft-to-Sony comparison.
• YEA to the now-live patch for Grand Theft Auto 4, which has added Trophy support. It is unfortunate that the Trophies are not retroactive, but this update will likely spark players to dust off their copies of the game or incite PS3 owners who don’t own the game (such as myself) to consider adding it to their libraries.
• NAY to Neversoft and Activision: Speaking of Trophy support, can anyone from either of these two entities give me even one good reason why Guitar Hero: World Tour does not support Trophies, while Rock Band 2 does? I didn’t think so. Even though I believe a patch will be forthcoming, the fact that it’s not on the disc to begin with is inexcusable.
• YEA to Koji Igarashi and his Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia crew: Apparently, IGA got sick of players walking through his recent Castlevania efforts with little resistance because OoE’s difficulty is among the toughest that I’ve ever experienced in a Castlevania game, dating back to the NES trilogy. In spite of more than a few periods of frustration and many, many deaths, I find myself continuing to keep devoting time into the game; it makes the victories against tough bosses or progress through difficult sections of the game that much more rewarding.

That’s it for this week’s Perspective… but I’ll be back next week. I’m sure you can find a few games to play until then :-)

Agree with the Yays and Nays? Disagree? Sound off people! There’s a good idea….

The Fab Four is getting their own Harmonix franchise?

Forget everything you know…from news that was reported only hours ago…

Last night, the internets were set all ablaze by a vague announcement via the Wall Street Journal that the remaining Beatles had licensed some of their music to Harmonix for use in Rock Band. This is only half true, it turns out.

The band has licensed their music to Harmonix – but for a completely new franchise.

This morning, a Harmonix rep put things in black and white:

“This game is not just a Rock Band song expansion pack. It’s much much more than that. This will not be a Rock Band game…This game will be a celebration of the Beatles undeniable legacy.”

That’s about all we can tell you at the moment as Harmonix is keeping the info close to their chest. While we had hoped to be rocking out to the Beatles back catalog and specifically some select Abby Road and Revolver tracks via Rock Band, this is still a behemoth accomplishment for Harmonix & MTV Games.

If you are a Guitar Hero, it's time to change your pants

*THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED: CLICK HERE FOR THE BREAKING NEWS

Big players in the music industry, namely one Steve Jobs of Apple, have been courting the Beatles for years in attempt to sign the fab four into the iTunes music store.

And out of nowhere, here comes Harmonix and MTV Games with an announcement that is, for music junkies, equivalent to the announcement of the Playstation 4 – The Beatles are coming to Rock Band. The bomb got dropped in our lap via the Wall Street Journal (and Brent, our watchful RSS junkie).

Even the hardest of hardcore fanboys must recognize that this is a major victory over Activision and the Guitar Hero franchise. Unfortunately we don’t know if this is a timed exclusive, how the tracks will be released, or anything beyond the fact that Beatles tracks have been licensed for use in Rock Band.

But believe us, we’ll let you know as soon as possible. If you haven’t yet purchased the newest iterations of Rock Band or Guitar Hero, does news like this influence your decision? Let us know in the comments!

Doogie Howser Dr. Horrible Neil Patrick Harris & Will Arnett have been pegged as the lead voice actors for Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. The comedy/FPS follows the misadventures of Matt Hazard (voiced by the snarky Will Arnett), a classic videogame character from the 80’s, out to prove that he’s still the king of gaming. (Anyone drawing a parallel to Duke Nukem?)

Things of course go horribly wrong when Wallace Wellesly (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris with, we’re guessing, evil sincerity), the owner of titan video game publisher Marathon Megasoft gives Matt the opportunity to star in a new outing that sees him facing off against every boss he’s ever faced.

We’ll let you guess how the evil unravels from there, but here’s a hint: It’s reality, not a game! (oops, we blew it, didn’t we?)

D3 Publisher is set to release this zany FPS on the X360 and PS3 sometime between January and March 2009, and we’ll keep you updated as the title progresses.

PS: If you haven’t had the bliss of experiencing the quirky and campy Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, do yourself a favor and click here now.

So it’s with no shortage of enthusiasm that we tell you Phantasy Star Portable is coming. Soon. Sometime in March 2009, you can schedule a few days off work, feign sickness (we don’t condone skipping school. Unless it’s worth it) and enjoy offline co-op or play through the story solo. All we know about the story mode thus far is that it takes place after the events of Phantasy Star Universe.

If this one is remotely equivalent, or better, than the Dreamcast version, it’s going to be sheer joyful addiction.

[Thanks to Brandon @ DigitalSomething.com for the tip]

We’re especially looking forward to the in game screen capture support. Here’s what you can look forward to with your shiny new PS3 Firmware, straight from the Playstation Blog:

• Support for the PS3 Official Bluetooth Headset - we’ve told you about the upcoming Bluetooth Headset and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation Bundle on the Blog. This latest firmware installment enables High-Quality (HQ) mode, which delivers clear and wide-band online voice chat. On top of that, an added on-screen indicator shows battery status, volume level and use of HQ mode.
• PlayStation Trophies interface enhancements – I know that many of you are busy collecting trophies and raising your PlayStation Trophy level. This update makes sharing and comparing your trophies with your friends even easier. On 1st part of the profile page you’ll see a symbol under level that represents level and the actual percentage towards the next level along with the existing level meter. The level symbol carries over to the trophy comparison screen where you will now be able to see your level, your friend’s level and the percentage towards the next level for both users along with all of the game by game comparison information you see today.
• Friend status – Offline friends on your Friends list will have information below their avatars that will indicate how long it has been since they were last online.
• Video – This update adds the Scene Search feature similar to the feature on the PSP. Activating this feature while viewing a video on the PS3 will break the video up into scenes that you can quickly access by pressing the X button. You can break the videos into one, two or five minute intervals. In addition, you can now choose to have all of the videos under the video section of the XMB play in sequence. Go to Settings then Video Settings to turn this option on.
• PlayStation Store – We’ve added a redeem codes option right on the store to make it easier to redeem your PlayStation Network Cards and promotion codes. In addition, PlayStation Network Sign Up and Account Management have been redesigned.
• Power Save Settings – You can now set your PS3 and wireless controllers to turn off automatically after set periods of inactivity. Go to Settings then Power Save Settings to turn on these features.
• Background Downloading – You now have the option to set the PS3 to turn off automatically after a background download or installation of content has completed. This option is available when you turn off the system from the button under [Users] while content is being downloaded or installed.
• In-game Screenshots – this tool will allow everyone to capture, share and in other words, immortalize their favorite gameplay moments. This will be supported on a game by game basis. Please check back to find out which games will support this feature.
• In addition to all of the features above there are some additional features and enhancements included in 2.50. Once the update launches, you can read all of the details here.

We’ve sent a query to Scott Goryl, Sony’s lead Playstation rep, asking specifically about which games are scheduled to utilize the in game screen capture ability (a feature we’re especially jazzed about), and you’ll know when we know!

I can’t count the number of times I air-guitared the crap out of “Kickstart My Heart” with it’s crunchy metal riff, or abused my steering wheel with the catchy drum flourishes of “Dr. Feelgood.”

Gang, this is one of those albums that you’ll play repeatedly – both offline, and on your 360. It’s the Crue’s best work.

Here are the PS3 titles available today in the USA.

ROCK REVOLUTION | Konami | Either Konami’s PR team have failed miserably, or simply no one wanted to review this rhythm music game that wants to follow in Rock Band’s footsteps. As of this writing, Metacritic has zero reviews for this one…

FIFA 09 | EA Sports | Anything related to PES or FIFA has seen insane traffic on our site, and it’s a safe bet that even casual fans of soccer will be snatching this one up. Our FIFA CLUBS Q&A may make your decision easier.

GOLDEN AXE: BEAST RIDER | Sega | Sega’s ambitious new installment of Golden Axe looks promising, but a rental sounds much more appealing than $60.

DEAD SPACE | EA | It’s ridiculously creepy, and Resident Evil 5 might even start having nightmares about this survival horror entry.

SAINTS ROW 2 | THQ | We want to play it based on the Gary Busey commercials alone!

SOCOM: CONFRONTATION | Sony | Sony’s tactical shooter comes prepacked with a unique blue tooth headset, and based on our Beta experience it was a blast. But with no single player component, you’ll want to spend your dollars wisely here.

Enjoy these!

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Hey Playstation Underground members: Did you just get a surprise in your inbox?

It’s official: Amazon and Sony are saving you a tenner when you pre-order Motorstorm: Pacific Rift from Amazon.com before January 31st, 2009. Which means you can wait until your christmas cash arrives to take advantage of it. You’ll also get the official PS3 System Theme. Not too shabby!

Unfortunately, we can’t release the claim code as they’re the “one per customer” variety, but check your inboxes, and if you’re not signed up with the Playstation Underground, get on it!

This morning, EA France shot us 4 classy wallpaper designs to promote the upcoming NFS: Undercover. The designs are slick without being noisy or distracting, and we thought we’d share them with ya. Remember, you can decorate your PS3 and 360 backgrounds with these as well.

For your downloading pleasure:

All 4, in a handy zip file.

It’s a game?

Instead of a standard downloadable track pack, the 18 tracks of classic live AC/DC hits is a retail package available exclusively in the US at Walmart.

The price? $39 big ones. Unfortunately you won’t be able to actually play as AC/DC, nor will you be able to play these tracks online.

We acknowledge that it’s a smart marketing move as MTV tries to establish Rock Band as more than a game, but a facet of the music industry. But paying MORE for these tracks while not having the ability to play online is, frankly, baffling.

What do you think about this?

But upon seeing the video below, there was drooling.

Instead, we’re here to prove to people over 50 that MTV has indeed ruined our attention span — we can’t wait to look back at the past WEEK. So, hurry up, here it is, the Weekly Rewind!

360 Evil

• Bad news for those of us eagerly waiting to play online with our buddies in Lionhead Studio’s upcoming RPG Fable 2 as Microsoft have confirmed online co-op will not be ready for the game’s launch.
• Good news for Halo fans however, as Bungie have released a new teaser trailer for an upcoming, downloadable addition to Halo 3; the excitement starts now!
• With Rock Band 2 at the forefront of every rhythm-gamer’s mind we dive head first into the mayhem and look at the quality of both its soundtrack, and instruments. Part 3 lands today…
• Konami are upping the ante with PES 2009 as it confirms a host of fully licensed clubs that are set to appear in the game, as well as announce an advertising deal with UK sports broadcaster Setanta.

Portable Evil

• Shaun White Snowboarding heads over to the handheld arena, on both PSP and DS
• Sports gamers of all stripe are represented with PDC World Champion Darts, on the PSP (& 360)
• 3 killer App Store reviews, with Real Soccer 2009 (Bret likes it, he really likes it!) Asphalt 4 Elite Racing, and Imangi, chock full of deceptively simple fun
• A new racing game rages and thunders its multiplayer action onto the iPhone & iPod Touch; stay tuned for a full review from our resident iPhone racing game enthusiast, Jason
• And, of course, we round out our iPhone coverage with Episode 4 of our entertaining and informative iPhone Gaming Podcast

PS3 Evil

• We got our hands on the LittleBigPlanet Beta, and it was so absorbing we were lucky to even scribe these impressions
• Did Buzz! Quiz TV live up to the promise of a quality trivia game on the PS3? Our in depth review
• Violence, controversy, and steroid-hungry muscles can only mean one thing: Blitz is back!
• We have high hopes for Mirror’s Edge, and it’s bright and shiny dystopian future.
• The longest FIFA trailer ever really gets our blood boiling for FIFA 09’s Clubs Mode

Special Features

• Our weekly feature “The Retro Confessional” finds Fanky Malloon remembering his adventures in the land of mushroom people
• Resident conspiracy theorist Travi explores Violence in the Uncanny Valley

Wii Evil

• Action/puzzler Geon gets a new trailer, and new screenies
• Wii Music’s real competitor isn’t Rock Band or Guitar Hero. So what is it? Itself…

As always, thanks for sticking around! Remember that you can subscribe to our RSS feed and we’ll keep goodness coming, every day.

Hey, see the SHARE THIS button at the top of each article we write? If you dig what we’re about, consider clicking it and spreading the word. See you soon!

An explanation: Mirror’s Edge is a first person action/adventure game – which completely lacks a HUD, and utilizes a true 1st person viewpoint. It is set in a conformist dystopia – with a clean and radiant polish to it’s world. And it’s being published by EA – the behemoth company many consider to be lacking original thought and innovation.

Thought it’s true one can not judge a video game by trailers alone, we can’t help but envision the promise of new ideas, carefully crafted action, and clever level design when watching these.

Oh screw it, we think this game is going to rock socks, ok?

The 1st trailer, below, was released a few weeks ago but serves as a primer for the gameplay style, and the vivid colors present in the level, which are a refreshing change.

The 2nd trailer was just released today, and shows our protagonist Faith narrating some of the backstory. In wonderful cel-shaded animation, no less!

What do you think? Is EA breaking some new ground here?

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Mirror’s Edge releases November 14th, 2008 for the X360 and PS3.

The following is pasted from a recently created Google Doc, meant to be the blueprint for our LittleBigPlanet Beta impressions, but…How do I say this politely and professionally? I’d rather be playing the Beta! Here are the raw and unfiltered notes from my experience thus far. Check back regularly for more coverage. We promise it will be coherent :-)

6:05: Checking email. Brandon Cox @ Sony Sackboy just sent us an exclusive Beta invite code for LBP. Dropping everything! Here’s a snippet:

Hi Jason–

It’s SackBoy! I know you have been waiting to come and play LittleBigPlanet …well… here you go!

I have selected you to be apart of my exclusive extended beta trial of LittleBigPlanet for the PLAYSTATION®3.  Launching on October 21st, LittleBigPlanet is the highly-anticipated community-based game that allows users to play, create and share what they build with other PS3 users all around the world.

6:10: Sent a quick tweet out to the world. No, the Beta Key is not for sale :-)

6:15: Some dark roast java is ready, LBP Beta is installed. PURE Review postponed..

6:16: Setting anything with a status message to an excited “AWAY: LittleBigPlanet Beta!”

6:17: Narrator, speaking over video clips of humans sleeping, animated textures and icons floating skyward from their dreaming brains: “Planet earth, or as the rest of the universe calls it: The orb of dreamers.”

6:18: Even the opening credits are brilliant, cardboard cutouts of the MediaMolecule staff popping up as I trigger them by tiptoeing by.

6:21: Final intro scene: Starring “you” as I walk into a purple frame. Feeling a tingle of promise and excitement.

6:23: The narrative voiceover is enjoyable. Sounds like a younger, less gruff John Cleese. Just a touch of humor, and just enough information to get you acclimated with your controls, the PopIt menu, your “pod,” and the worlds around you.

6:24: Your “pod” can be decorated with any of the stickers and decorations you find throughout the worlds. Right now all I have are rainbow colored Converse…

6:25: “First Steps” teaches the basics of run and jump. “Get A Grip” and “Skate To Victory” get us acquainted with advanced techniques like grabbing and using vehicles. The puzzles are clever, it’s a joy to actually explore these levels, not a task that you begrudge. “Tie Skipping” just opened up, a minigame that resembles jump rope. Looks like that’s it for the Story in this beta version.

7:10: Under “Cool Levels,” patchwork icons are appearing in real time around a globe. Trying some of them out. Found one called “Super Mario Bros. Ver 0.1,” complete with Goombas who can electrify you.

7:20: I’ve tried a few quick race-mode levels. Everything from ice covered rocket ship dashes to platform style mazes with robots and fire pits. There are some ridiculously talented community designers out there.

7:36: Some community designers give you decorations or stickers from their levels for you to use as your own. The possibilities and combinations of items are staggering, especially as this grows.

7:51: At least 200 more user generated levels have appeared now. For a Beta, I can’t see growing tired of this anytime soon, and I haven’t even gone into creation mode yet.

8:10: Have made a few friends (one Sackgirl impressed me by making her purple-pigtailed covered character do a disco move during a level).

8:12: Neat! I’m getting instant updates via a black popup telling me how my PSN friends are faring on various levels.

8:14: It looks like I can track not only my favorite levels, but also the developers of those levels, and their favorites. (you tag favorites by “Hearting” them.)

8:30: Every community created level has a tag cloud (like what you see on the bottom right of our site), and you can leave detailed feedback for each level you try. You can also flatout “copy” the level and improve upon it.

8:33: There’s so much to experience and cover, impossible to do in one sitting. And this is just the Beta. Will continue this later.

8:35: Going to try building my own level.

11:04: Completely lost track of time…

*Stay tuned for continuing Little Big Planet coverage, in a variety of forms.

Developed by Black Rock Studios (ATV Offroad Racing, Moto GP) this is a critically successful, but severely underrepresented racing title that is an absolute thrill to experience.

Look for our comprehensive review soon, but for now here’s 2 new US Television spots to whet your appetite.

These are high quality so feel free to also Download #1 | Download #2

(The streaming files may be a bit too large to stream uninterrupted, please allow a minute for them to buffer)

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[flashvideo filename=video/pure2.flv /]

What’s the point? Our staff is living proof: we’ve got Unfinished Business.

Every weekend we round up a few Games Are Evil staffers to confess what they’ll be chipping away at over the weekend.

John Robertson, Sports Gaming Editor: I’ve hardly played anything but NHL 09 this week; the ‘Be A Pro’ and ‘EA Sports Hockey League’ modes are just fantastic.  Somewhere amongst the slapshots and body checking I did manage to get a few races in on Race Driver: GRID – I’d forgotten just how good that game is!  Over the weekend though I’ve gotta find time to improve my scores in Geo Wars 2 and get myself back to the top ranked player on my friends list. [John, good luck beating my 21million in Pacifism! Please welcome John to the chaos, gang. He'll be giving you more sports related gaming goodness than you can handle - Evil Ed.]

Rob LeFebvre, Portable Editor: I really should get back to Perfect Dark Zero, since I never finished  the story. Oh, and Half Life Episode 2 still needs a finish. I’m hoping to get all the way through Castle Crashers and Assassin’s Creed one day soon as well. But here’s what will probably happen this weekend: I’ll jam with my daughter to some Rock Band (ONE, darnit!), and spend a few precious minutes exploring the galaxy with my Spore creatures, the Squif. If I’m really lucky, I’ll get Star Wars for the PSP in the mail from GameFly (we dig Gamefly) and play on that for a bit.

Gabriel Marchisio, 360 Staff Writer: This weekend is going to be all Rock Band 2 (our review is coming, but honestly, do you need one?) Gotta get around 100 more stars to unlock the Endless Setlist 2. After that, I’m hoping to FC Master Exploder (current high at 99%) And after that, I’m going to try and boost my career score up to beat ParadigmShift89. And after that…maybe I’ll venture outside. [I just played a two hour set with Gabe. He MAY have missed one note on Expert Guitar. The guy is a fake plastic rock prodigy - Evil Ed.]

Jason Evangelho, Evil Editor: Where do I begin? I promised Rob a full review of Asphalt 4 Racing for the iPhone, so if I spew my plans to revisit Burnout Paradise (the newest update was just released with Bikes and day/night cycles!), finish up PixelJunk Eden, or join Gabe in our bid for world domination in Rock Band 2, he may have a panic attack. I’m also positively not planning to re-experience Metal Gear Solid 4. And hopefully he won’t see my playing Castle Crashers…

Nope, nothing but iPhone this weekend, Rob. Nothing but iPhone ;-)

How about all of you? What’s in your consoles for the weekend?

So, you’ve got a LBP fansite? Building one soon? Your buddies here at gamesareevil.com are going to help you build it, promote it, and make it shine. Keep reading!

Have you been thinking about creating a Fansite dedicated to LittleBigPlanet? Heck, I have. The simple reason we haven’t posted much about the game here is the sheer magnitude of information. (But this is a good start, no?) It would appear the folks at MediaMolecule are giving you some clever incentive.

Beginning right now, the marketing minds that continue to make the cult of Sackboy ever larger have decided to cater to early fans of the game, by encouraging them to develop their own fansites.

This is no ordinary “Please help us sell our our game and we’ll send you a sticker” scam. It’s a well planned, tightly orchestrated, and fairly generous effort.

The “What You Get” Bullet Point List:

• Regular updates & news on the game
• “Additional Surprises” (free plushie dolls? We don’t know yet!)
• Inclusion in the official LittleBigPlanet Website, with your site name and description
• A complete starter kit, including background tiles, logos, character artwork, digital stickers, and screenshots.

The LittleBigRequirements (paraphrased):

• Your site apparently has to be comprised mostly of LittleBigPlanet content
• It has to be free to access
• It must exist :-)
• You’ll need to stay focused and post something new every week

If you already have a site ready to roll, just stop reading this and click here to sign up and download the Fansite Starter Kit. (But come back later for some tips!)

So, where do WE enter the picture?

If you’re starting a LittleBigPlanet fansite, we want to know about it, too. But beyond that, our continuing series will show you:

• How to choose the perfect place to publish your fansite
• Tons of tips and suggestions for promoting it
• Ideas to create a thriving community around your LittleBigFansite.com (that’s taken though!)
• How to scrape the big bad internet for the newest news, without even looking for it
• How to create, record, and produce a podcast without spending a penny.

Oh, and why do we want to know about your site? We’ll plug the heck out of it, and if we fall in love with it, you may find your name in one of our headlined articles :-)

Now go forth, and create stuff. Keep checking back right here for Part 2.

Congratulations goes out to the one known as “Cheesebuster” who was randomly selected using random.org. (Staff comments and duplicate comments were stripped out, the remainder were assigned a number.)

Enjoy the expansion pack! And if you missed it, here’s our review of the game!

And as promised, a roundup of the most painful comments:

1) MIKE said: Mine would have to be when I was 14 and having my parents screaming at me to come upstairs to brush my teeth before bed JUST as I had beaten Final Fantasy VII.

We engaged in a back and forth screaming match for minutes as I frantically tried to watch the ending CGI and credits–I mean the game took me the better part of a year to beat! This was my ultimate moment of triumph and it was being ruined by two old farts just trying to win a power struggle with their 14 year old son!

I finally just snapped and threw my PS1 controller at my glass tv case only to have it break the glass (accidentally of course). My injury? Stepping on a shard of glass as I started to storm upstairs. 100% obnoxiously true story.

2) Cheesebuster, our winner, said: my worse injury while gamming was inflicted by my unstable older brother, I was playing ONI on the pc for an hour longer than i should have been – admitedly i had been hogging it and decided to tell me bro to F*** off and wait – he grabbed the keyboard and swung it across my forehead.

there was qwerty keys all over the place 1 of which had left a nice dent above my left eye – i’m pretty sure it was the F4 key

3) Gabe said: Got bashed on the head with a Les Paul during Guitar Hero co-op.  Got wicked blisters on my fingers right after beating Jordan on GH2. AND hit myself in the nads with a drumstick playing expert drums on Rock Band. It wouldn’t have hurt so much if I hadn’t been playing Run to the Hills.

4) Frito Zanzibar said: Frito’s Near Death Experience: I had just gotten my 60-gig launch PS3 and had a party that weekend, so naturally i wanted to show off my new toy-after showing all the cool music visualizations while we took shots, i showed everyone how awesome the wireless bluetooth controllers worked, so i opened up the door and kept playing a game as i walked backwards onto my porch, to show how far the controllers still worked..
since i had had a few shots too many, i didn’t realize as i was walking backwards and looking at the tv, i was about to fall down the concrete front steps! next thing i know…SUPER OOCH! but it was me, not a video game character, who felt the PAIN that day! Plus, everyone thought it was hilarious…

Thanks tons to everyone who participated. Keep checking back for more evil giveaways. In the meantime, you may want to consider suiting up in football gear before turning on your consoles!

Luck #14 belongs to Faraz, who just told us this was the first contest he’s ever won! We’re happy to accomodate, man! Keep checking back for regular giveaways, where all you have to do is answer a simple question.

A gracious thank you goes out to all the Playstation Forum members who left their comments. Here were some of our favorites! (Some may incite a flame war. Feel free, but keep it tame!)

DOBERMAN112: Master Chief. Partly Because he forces millions of americans to play the Xbox 360. Those people end of paying crap tons of money to microsoft and don’t even have the best console to play games on. Long live PS3.

MIXMOFF: Mike Tyson was the scariest villain of all time…

THEPIRATE07: I’d have to say Sephiroth. No one is more inherently evil. He wants nothing more than to cruise the cosmos riding on a planet filled with the corpses of his slaughtered. The guy doesn’t even stay dead, Cloud ran him through in FF7, he came back in Advent Children, and who knows if he’s done yet. A guy with his power could easily will himself back into the world, he has a job unfinished after all.

PHATPAT: Definitely Heihachi Mishima…anyone who can throw his son off of a cliff without hesitation is a little nuts.

KYLE: The CPU Pong Paddle, It will stop at nothing and It has no weakness.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Instead, we’re here to prove to people over 50 everywhere that MTV has indeed ruined our attention span — we can’t wait to look back at the past WEEK. So, hurry up, here it is, the Weekly Rewind:

Retro Highlights:

• Jason brought attention to the new commercial for TNA: Impact. This ad invokes feelings of days gone by and choke slams. Take that for what it’s worth.
• A story about retailers, the ESRB, and warm beverages was told by Fanky Malloon, in the latest Retro Confessional.

Portable Highlights:

• Episode 2 of the iPhone Podcast is here, for your listening pleasure.
• Two Macintosh favorites come to the iPhone and iPod Touch: Freeverse and Pangea.
• Spore wriggles it’s way onto Apple’s favorite handheld gadget: Our review of Origins.
• FIFA 09 and Ninjatown are announced for Nintendo’s DS; screenies abound.
• FIFA 09 also coming out on PSP. The Sony PSP had a slow news week. No one is surprised.

Wii Highlights:

• Virtual Mondays brought us Groovin’ Block, Final Soldier, and Cho Aniki.
• Another “Unpublished Review” revisits Mario Strikers Charged.
• Want to see more in this category? Write With Us :-)

PS3 Highlights:

• Please welcome Peter Skerritt, our new senior PS3 staff writer. (Senior in that he’s GOOD, not a senior!)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009 gets the review treatment.
• We just wrapped up our 2nd giveaway, and this one’s abusive.
• “I’ll take ALMOST for $600 Alex. Um, Alex?” Read the pros and cons of the new Jeopardy title on the PSN.

360 Highlights:

• Phil invites a flame war: FIFA 09 vs. PES 2009
• Gabe’s first impressions of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
• The word of the day is “Verticality.” SEGA looks to Stormrise to bring a new breed of RTS.
• We all had grand intentions in our “Unfinished Business” article this week, but I’m pretty sure Rock Band 2 obliterated those.

WEEK 5 is in the bag, and we’re just getting warmed up. Thanks for stopping by, and remember to subscribe to our RSS Feed to get all of our featured content delivered directly to ya.

Have an excellent week!

The Evil Staff

Today’s secret word is “Verticality!”

Currently in development for the 360 and PS3 by Creative Assembly (Empire: Total War & Medieval II: Total War), with SEGA set to publish sometime in 2009, STORMRISE is shaping up to be a promising Real Time Strategy title with depth.

Although it’s not evident from this new trailer, I peered into the accompanying Press Release and found this:

…Stormrise also allows units to be commanded in the air, across rooftops, on the earth’s surface and even underground…this unique idea of “verticality” introduces multiple layers of gameplay that must be mastered for strategic advantage. The experience is heightened by a simple yet effective control system tailored specifically for consoles, which allows easy unit selection, rapid navigation and precise deployment.

Verticality? It does sound intriguing, and who knows, it could be the new buzzword for future RTS titles to come. If they can find a careful balance between deep gameplay and easy to master console controls, this could be something to keep an eye on.

Keep your eyes here, and we’ll keep you posted.

Peter Skerritt, Senior PS3 Staff Writer:

NHL 09 is taking more of my time than I thought possible. Be A Pro mode is incredibly addicting, making the game the most immersive video game rendition of the sport that I have ever played. I also have Yakuza 2 sitting here, waiting to be played for the first time… plus I’m playing Mystery Case Files: Millionheir and The Price Is Right for the DS while I’m out and about. Of course… I have a wedding to go to this weekend, which will eat into my gaming time. Curse you, matrimony!

Fanky Malloon, Retro Evil Editor:

I am still working on Too Human, GTA IV, Soul Calibur IV, Lego Star Wars:TCS. One of these days I will start Bully. My PS2 keeps telling me to finish Front Mission 4, Kingdom Hearts 2, and X-Com UFO Defense. My Gamecube wants me to play Eternal Darkness again for a review. Finally my Xbox wants me to fire up a classics collection I found on my shelf that has Pit Fighter!

Gabe Marchisio, 360 & PSP Staff Writer, Resident Guitar Hero Expert:

Recently I got my PS2 back from a friend. I’ve been dabbling in each of my old games, but the one I’m really focusing on this weekend was Ratchet: Deadlocked. Sure, it takes longer to make a sandwich than beat the game, but it sure has style. In my opinion, its the PS2’s most action-packed title. I even got my Mega Dual Raptors to Level 99! (I was so angry when I realized there was no level 100)

Bret Jennings, Guest iPhone Staff Writer

I have a copy of Spore in hand for my PC, a borrowed Wii from a friend, Mercenaries 2 for 360, all on the same weekend I restarted my Blockbuster Game Pass Account.  As if that wasn’t enough, I bought 2 new games for my iPhone this week and I still haven’t finished N+ on the DS.  When I got home tonight I was informed that we are driving my daughter to St. Louis (about 4 hours round trip) to her best friend’s birthday party tomorrow.  It looks like the stars are aligning so I will have enough time to play and review Cro-Mag Rally for the GamesAreEvil crew.

Jason Evangelho, Evil Editor:

Despite some very evil temptations like Rock Band 2, SOCOM: Confrontation and PURE, I’m going to spend the weekend with my caffeine I.V. drip devoting some time to my Dreamcast (dying to revisit Jet Grind Radio and Shenmue), and finally progressing through Burnout:Paradise. If I’m lucky, I may even see the elusive 100% completion on GTA IV.

Let us know what dusty games you’re revisiting this weekend in the comments!

UPDATE: Comments are closed! Thanks goes out to everyone for the indeed painful recollections! Winner to be announced Monday!

The good folks at Sony handed us a voucher code for the new PAIN Add-On, Amusement Park yesterday. But Pete, our PS3 reviewer, had no patience for freebies and ended up purchasing it. (Look for a complete PAIN + Amusement Park review next week)

Connect the dots, la la la la…this means we have exactly 1 voucher code to give away. We can’t let it get lonely.

Want it? Just leave a comment right here. No CAPTCHA, no need to register, just good old fashioned instant feedback. If you want to have FUN with it, tell us about your craziest video game related injury (in REAL life!)

The fine print:

• Open to all humans residing in the US or Canada (Europe, we’re sorry!)
• Comments are open until Sunday, September 14th at 6 p.m. PST
• We will randomly select a winner using random.org and notify you ASAP!

Now, get your pain on…

Continuing their blend of blitz marketing, nonstop promotion, and drool-worthy announcements, Activision just unveiled the entire lineup of songs for Guitar Hero World Tour. The list is sure to bring a smile to anyone who has enjoyed music for the last 5 decades.

There are definitely a few standouts, but overall the list is an impressive one, with a wide variety of genres represented (Willie Nelson!?) And yes folks, this is coming from a Rock Band fanatic.

I can’t wait to destroy my skins on Hot For Teacher. What about you, have any favorites?

• 311 – “Beautiful Disaster”
• 30 Seconds To Mars – “The Kill”
• Airbourne – “Too Much Too Young”
• The Allman Brothers Band – “Ramblin’ Man”
• Anouk – “Good God”
• The Answer – “Never Too Late”
• At The Drive-In – “One Armed Scissor”
• Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
• Beatsteaks – “Hail to the Freaks”
• Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
• Black Label Society – “Stillborn”
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Weapon of Choice”
• blink-182 – “Dammit”
• Blondie – “One Way or Another”
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – “Hollywood Nights”
• Bon Jovi – “Livin’ On A Prayer”
• Bullet For My Valentine – “Scream Aim Fire”
• Coldplay – “Shiver”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Up Around The Bend”
• The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”
• Dinosaur Jr. – “Feel The Pain”
• The Doors – “Love Me Two Times”
• Dream Theater – “Pull Me Under”
• The Eagles – “Hotel California”
• The Enemy – “Aggro”
• Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
• Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way”
• Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
• The Guess Who – “American Woman”
• Hush Puppies – “You’re Gonna Say Yeah!”
• Interpol – “Obstacle 1”
• Jane’s Addiction – “Mountain Song”
• Jimi Hendrix – “Purple Haze (Live)”
• Jimi Hendrix – “The Wind Cries Mary”
• Jimmy Eat World – “The Middle”
• Joe Satriani – “Satch Boogie”
• Kent – “Vinternoll2”
• Korn – “Freak On A Leash”
• Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
• Lenny Kravitz – “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
• Linkin Park – “What I’ve Done”
• The Living End – “Prisoner of Society”
• Los Lobos – “La Bamba”
• Lost Prophets – “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”
• Mars Volta – “L’Via L’Viaquez”
• MC5’s Wayne Kramer – “Kick Out The Jams”
• Metallica – “Trapped Under Ice”
• Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
• Modest Mouse – “Float On”
• Motörhead – “Overkill”
• Muse – “Assassin”
• Negramaro – “Nuvole e Lenzuola”
• Nirvana – “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
• No Doubt – “Spiderwebs”
• NOFX – “Soul Doubt”
• Oasis – “Some Might Say”
• Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
• Ozzy Osbourne – “Mr. Crowley”
• Paramore – “Misery Business”
• Pat Benatar – “Heartbreaker”
• R.E.M. – “The One I Love”
• Radio Futura – “Escuela De Calor”
• Rise Against – “Re-Education Through Labor”
• Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”
• Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”
• Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”
• Steely Dan – “Do It Again”
• Steve Miller Band – “The Joker”
• Sting – “Demolition Man (Live)”
• The Stone Roses – “Love Spreads”
• Stuck In The Sound – “Toy Boy”
• Sublime – “Santeria”
• Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger”
• System of a Down – “B.Y.O.B.”
• Ted Nugent – “Stranglehold”
• Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording
• Tokio Hotel – “Monsoon”
• Tool – “Parabola”
• Tool – “Schism”
• Tool – “Vicarious”
• Trust – “Antisocial”
• Van Halen – “Hot For Teacher”
• Willie Nelson – “On The Road Again”
• Wings – “Band on the Run”
• Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

I realize their target market is pubescent boys who’ve never played some of the true wrestling game classics,  but this is dreadful. Not only has the gimmick of “real characters bursting into the scene” been overdone to death, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the last line: “Wrestling so real, you feel the pain.”

Yes, you will, by simply watching this:

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TNA iMPACT releases September 9th, 2008 across the PS2, 360, Wii, and PS3 platforms.

(Editors Note: This review was originally penned in 2007 for a site that never saw the light of day. It’s certainly not breaking news! But it’s a great addition to our Wii content. If your a new Wii owner, you should give this title a look.)

The sequel to the GameCube’s Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged is a soccer game for people who don’t like sports games. If you look forward to building the uber-team, balancing stats, and micro-managing your players, this is not the game for you. Charged, you could say, is loosely based on the rules of soccer. The players kick a ball. They pass a ball. They try to kick the ball into the goal. But what really defines this game are the quirky antics of all-star Mario cast.

Having trouble scoring a goal? Try passing the ball to a Hammer Brother first. Because when a Hammer Brother fires at the goal, he also unleashes a hail of hammers to knock the goalie on his butt.

It’s a neat trick. And you feel pretty badass if you’re the person unleashing it. The special skills available to the different character types become not so much bonus abilities as necessary tactics. You’re not meant to be able to play and score without using them. The goalies are very good at their jobs, and they blocked all but one of the shots on the goal that my friends and I made as we played through the Fire Cup.

To make gameplay even more interesting, the team captains have the special ability to fire a Mega Strike. Initiated just like a regular shot on the goal, the Mega Strike sends your captain into the stratosphere, where he or she glows like a brimstone demon, a rather awesome graphics effect, and fires a barrage of soccer balls at the goalie. You can land up to 6 goals just from this one move.

I played Charged with two of my friends. And my experience was that Mega Strikes were the way (some would argue the ONLY way) to win a match. If we could tackle the opposition long enough to give our teammate the time to execute the move, chances are we would win.

Scoring in the game tended to be low (though higher than real soccer) so 5 or so goals pretty much ensured victory. This did, I will add, become more difficult as we progressed. The computer AI started to tackle back. And the opposition tried to get Mega Strikes as often as we did.

Players defend against Mega Strikes by basically playing Whack-a-Mole. It’s fast, so you have to pay attention. Soccer balls appear briefly on the screen and you use the Wiimote like a laser pointer in order to whack them down.

The multi-player aspect of Mario Strikers Charged takes a little getting used to, but it’s also the best reason to play. Initially, the way it works is a bit confusing. The particular team member you control (Boo, Dry Bones, Hammer Brother) constantly switches. At one moment, you might be Bowser. Then you could pass the ball to a Boo and discover that you are now in control of that very Boo. This meant that often my friends and I didn’t know quite who we were or where we were. We ended up calling out the number of the player we wanted to pass, shoot, or run in the hopes that the person in control could stay focused. The switching also meant that anyone on the team could end up as the goalie defending against a Mega Strike.

Because anyone could take on any role, I do recommend going through training and giving each player a chance to try the special techniques. Some of the training sessions allow all the players to participate. Some only allow one player at a time. If you’ve got someone who is unsure of their gaming skills or the aspect of the wiimote, let them go through training on the Mega Strikes and defense against Mega Strikes. It only takes a few minutes.

THE VERDICT:

Definitely a good take on sports gaming for the casual audience, I highly recommend Mario Strikers Charged. It works quite well as a party game and keeps all players involved in the frantic, silly action.

If you’re more of a single player gamer, you may want to rent it before paying full price.

[rating:4/5]

Just like the recently released Too Human, a large portion of the story is inspired by Norse Mythology, specifically Thor’s Hammer, a weapon so powerful it can kill an immortal god.

Here’s the high quality vid, courtesy of Eidos, via our youtube channel.

As we turn the corner past our 1st month of existence, the entire staff would like to express their sincere gratitude for every pair of eyes that has graced our website.

Now, enough with the mushy stuff. Here’s the Weekly Rewind for September 7th, 2008:

OPINION:

• Downloads Are The New Plastic: Rob examines the increasing appeal of downloadable titles on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
• The Retro Confessional: Fanky Malloon declares the N64 the Undisputed Champion. Of what? Click here to find out. And be back next week to win a SNES cartridge with every new confessional!

Xbox 360:

• Pandemic is betting on pretty explosions to win your dollar. Gabe’s sharp-tongued analysis of Mercenaries 2 for the 360 & PS3.
  
• Activision has been methodically releasing trailers and vignettes for Guitar Hero World Tour. Here’s 2 of them, showcasing the customization & Music studio modes. You can see about 6 more on our YouTube channel.

Sony PS3:

• We had this little Warhawk contest. It was fairly popular and we’ll be announcing the winner soon. BUT, the real fun lies within the 29 comments.
• Though I’m not typically a fan of Collector’s Editions, the upcoming set for Resistance 2 looks awesome.

Nintendo Wii:

• Is the Wii the best console for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Fernando thinks so. How about you?
• Looking back at Excite Truck, for the first time :-)

Portable (DS, PSP, iPhone):

• PSP: LucasArts shows PSP some exclusive-level-lovin with this video.
• DS: Could the new Gauntlet be the best one yet? Gabe says yes.
• iPhone: We’re podcasting! Check out Episode 1 HERE.

Inside the GamesAreEvil HQ:

• Added: Write With Us & Contact Us pages.
• Martin Gaston, formerly of IGN, has just joined the evil!
• Peter Skerritt is our new PS3 writer, so expect more PS3 goodness soon.

That wraps it up gang. Enjoy the words, enjoy the games.

Yours;

Jason Evangelho, Evil Editor

Racing games fall into two distinct categories: Arcade style and Simulation style.

Simulation style are racers like Gran Turismo, Colin McRae Rally, and Nascar. These games are ultra-realistic, sport real life automobiles, and have limitless customization options that actually affect the way the car handles. They are also just… not all that much fun.

Then you have Arcade style. These are games like Ridge Racer, Midnight Club, Project Gotham Racing, Sega Rally, and one of my personal favorites, ExciteTruck. You may see actual car models and customization options in these titles, but they have one very important thing that sets them apart from the pack: I call it ARP™ (Absolutely Ridiculous Physics).

You’ll know a racing game with ARP when any of the following 3 events happen:

1: Driving off a ramp at 75MPH launches you airborne for as long as thirty seconds, in which time you can pull off a 1080 degree spin, pass all of your opponents from above, grab a quick bite to eat, and land on all 4 tires. Also, you’re now miraculously speeding off at 150MPH.

2: You can effortlessly powerslide around a ¼ mile long hairpin turn doing 180MPH.

3: Crashing and completely obliterating your vehicle is rewarded with points.

ExciteTruck meets all 3 of these strict requirements. And since I prefer to do things within video games that I wouldn’t dare attempt in real life, I’m happy calling it one of my favorite racing games. (I’ve played Motorstorm for the Playstation 3, and all of it’s graphical awesomeness and depth is fine and good – but few games match the pure adrenalin rush of ExciteTruck.)

Our Wii reviews don’t focus on graphical prowess, because that’s not what the system is designed for. With ExciteTruck, it all comes down to controls and gameplay.

As you’d expect, steering is handled by using your Wiimote in the “classic” end-to-end position to turn your truck left and right. This control scheme works, but you have to contain yourself. For the first 30 minutes of play, I was jerking left to right like a madman, but I slowly became used to the subtle gestures required for accurate steering. It can still be twitchy, but in no time you’ll have it mastered.

The game’s sense of speed comes from boosting, which is done by simply pressing up on the directional pad at any time. You won’t get an endless amount, of turbo however, and you’ll need to watch your engine temperature to prevent overheating. Boosting is also where you’ll find half of the strategy involved in ExciteTruck. Choosing to motor through a creek may be dangerous, but it keeps your engine cool and allows you to kick into overdrive for an extended amount of time.

The second half of the strategy? Death-defying stunts and tricks that result in Star Points. This is something I particularly enjoyed. Let’s say the Star requirement for any given track is 100. You can finish in 4th place but still pass the track, provided you pull off enough Air, Tree Runs, Truck Throws, and Drifts to net you 100 Star Points. It’s a flexible system that rewards both style and rank. It will take about an hour to master all of the various tricks in this racer and then you’ll be creaming your competition.

Sidenotes & Lost Thoughts:

-ExciteTruck’s developer, Monster Games, gets bonus points for allowing you to throw some mp3’s on your SD card to replace the games mostly jarring hard rock soundtrack.
-With only 5 core tracks (Canada, China, Fiji, Scotland, and Finland) you’ll breeze through the 4 cups in the “Excite” difficulty in about 3 hours. Unlocking the “Super Excite” difficulty, however, adds hours to the experience as you’ll need to achieve near perfection in 20+ races. But it’s so engaging, you’ll want to keep reaching for that perfection.
-The game also features an in-depth challenge mode that will test your trick skills.
-The one glaring omission, as with most Wii games, is the lack of online play. The sequel is but guaranteed to be online-enabled.

Overall, ExciteTruck is a blistering romp, and the Wii controls enhance the fun factor.

VERDICT: Buy It[rating:4.5/5]

UPDATE: The contest is closed, but we’ll be announcing the winner as soon as we hear back from him, as well as posting some of our favorite comments!

2nd UPDATE: The 1st winner never responded, so a 2nd winner has been chosen. Thank you to everyone who left some amazing comments!

Here’s the deal Warhawk fans: The kind folks at Sony have given us a free voucher to hand off to one of our lucky readers. No catch, nothing complicated, just a way of saying thank you for making our 1st month unbelievably awesome.

THE SCANT DETAILS:

• Win the Warhawk: Fallen Star Booster Pack
• Open to all United States humans
• Friends & Family of Games Are Evil staff are not eligible

WHAT TO DO?:

• Just leave a comment on this post, telling us who your favorite evil video game villain is. That’s it. No CAPTCHA, no registration!

• Be SURE to enter your email address in the comment form so we can track you down if you’ve won!

On Sunday September 7th at 3p.m PST we’ll randomly choose a winner, and send you an email with the voucher code. AND if you want, we’ll also plug your website of choice in the winning announcement!

Ok, your turn: Who’s your favorite (or most despised!) evil video game villian?