Ahhh, the last time I will type the year 07. What shall I do to celebrate? Well, according to Nintendo’s press release I should download the three new VC titles for the week and play videogames all night. Normally this would sound like a good plan, but on New Year’s Eve? I guess since both Bubble Bobble (NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points) and Top Hunter (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and older-Cartoon Violence, 900 Wii Points) are multiplayer you could at least have some fun with other people but playing Light Crusader (Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Animated Violence, 800 Wii Points) by yourself on New Year’s Eve should not even be an option no matter how much you love using “your best combination of brains and brawn to save the kingdom.”

Now then, if it wasn’t New Year’s Eve and I didn’t have a fancy dinner with a toast to attend and friends to be around I would totally be downloading Bubble Bobble as that is some fun bubble action - a statement you can make surprisingly often in the world of videogames. I’d also give Light Crusader a try since it’s Treasure’s only RPG and with the option of playing as either Roddy or Cathy Top Hunter could really shine as a game where you can play as either Roddy or Cathy.

All games are live at 9 a.m. pacific time. The entire New Year’s Eve extravaganza (read: Press release) is after the jump.
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Let’s face it: most multiplatform games are bound to have insanely bad handheld versions. I can’t recall one time I was blown away by a multiplatform games’s handheld spawn. MX vs. ATV Untamed for the Nintendo DS definitely applies to this theory.

Read on for the review of this poor port.

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As BFeld pointed out not many of us were around over the holiday break and thus the spreading of holiday cheer stories was minimal but I’m here to make that all up to you with the heartwarming story of Taylor Smith. Taylor was born with the degenerative muscle disease arthrogryposis and has no muscles in her arms. A family friend figured out that she could play the Wii if he tied the remote to her arms. The success of this venture prompted him to try to find one for the little girl for Christmas but, like most of the world, Australia is running pretty short on Wii’s. So he wrote Nintendo who did the only decent thing and sent the family a Wii for Christmas. Warms the cockles of your cold heart.

I’ve always wondered if companies keep a stash of products for when situations like this arise. Would seem prudent, wouldn’t it?

To: Everybody (Yes, even you)
From: Bfeld

Hey guys! If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been a little lazy about updating the sight for a few days. This might have something to do with the fact that winter break started right around the time our lethargy set in. So this holiday season, we’ve decided to spend a little time doing other things besides refreshing our RSS reader every 30 seconds looking for news to give to you. Don’t worry, though. You can expect me to be back in full swing in ‘08.

So what should you do instead of reading the site? Try playing some games. Most of you probably got new systems for Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. For those of you who didn’t get anything new, I’m going to suggest a giant online gaming marathon. Most of the new guys will be playing their first games of Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Team Fortress 2 today. If you want to boost your online rank, today is the day.

To recap: Sorry for the laziness. Go play something or spend time with your family. Maybe you can even get your family to join you in your gaming.

Those wacky guys over at Aperture Science just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. Just this once, the cake is not a lie.

Well, we got nothing. No new releases this week. Bah humbug.
So…
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While it may have been proven that most gamers don’t care about gaming’s right of free speech this doesn’t mean that our President shouldn’t. This is why, as a registered Democrat, Hilary Clinton has just lost my vote in the primary. She recently responded, late, to Common Sense Media’s survey on how the presidential candidates would deal with gaming rights. All her fellow democrats that responded said they would be fine with letting the industry regulate itself as they thought it was doing a good job and parental education was the place to focus their attention. Clinton, on the other hand, had this to say:

When I am president, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content.

Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise as Clinton already introduced a bill that would regulate game sales two years ago which was oh-so benignly titled the Family Entertainment Protection Act. This is something to strongly consider when choosing who you vote for as changes like this will effect everyone, not just gamers. For the full run down on responses, which every gamer should read before voting, go here.

Although the channel is filled with horrific programming that has nothing to do with gaming whatsoever, G4TV is planning on revamping their only video game related show, X-Play, and turning it to a block of television that will provide gaming news, reviews, tips, and other bits, that’ll give G4TV a bit more credit for being “TV for gamers.” Kyle Orland got a chance to interview Adam Sessler on the new revamped X-Play, and reveal a bit more about the show’s new style.

Sessler talks about the revamping of the show:

This is the show I’ve always wanted to do. Obviously I’m very, very deep in games, and I find that many aspects of the industry that are newsworthy are very interesting to cover, and I’d like to get in the middle of it. I happen to like our show’s perspective when it comes to reviewing games, and I think we can offer that exact same perspective as to events inside the industry.

Sessler also comments about G4 and all of its crap:

I think [covering] games 24/7 would always be a little bit tough. You see other kind of genre-focused networks out there, they have to start rehashing and rehashing and rehashing. I’d just as soon see a network with a lot of fresh content that’s not always consistent on one topic rather than the same three hours repeated ad nauseum.

The new X-Play will premiere on Jan. 14, 2008. The show will now be airing 5 days a week. Oh, and fans of the odd humor of the show don’t need to panic. Sessler says “there’s still going to be comedy.”

In an updated interview with StuffWeLike.com, Valve’s Doug Lombardi tells gamers that we have the choice of choosing either Half-Life 3, or an Episode 4.

We would like to mention here that “Half-Life 3″ is speculation, as we only have confirmation that Half-Life 2: Episode 3 will not be the last Half-Life game. It has been confirmed previously that Episode 3 will end the current Half-Life story arc, but not the franchise, nor the episodic medium.

There is perfect chance that there will be a series of episodic Half-Life games after Episode 3 (but unconnected to the current story arc). Then again, we cannot deny the possibility of a full-fledged title like Half-Life 3. Hell, for all we know, it might even be a prequel!

So, Half-Life 3 would be a prequel, Episode 4 would be an unrelated sequel. No, that’s not confusing at all…

Honestly, I want to know what genius at Neversoft said “Hey, let’s release tracks for obscure European bands! Everyone will love it!” The above video showcases the song “Ernten Was Wir Säen” by Die Fantastischen Vier. I’m pretty sure I heard the singer say stuff about showers and Final Solutions a few times (Oh, I went there). Another song, “Antisocial”, by totally world-famous French band Trust is available after the jump, as well as a few other ‘goodies’.
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Apparently Harmonix has had a patch that makes the Guitar Hero controllers compatible with Rock Band on PS3 ready for a while, but Activision won’t let them release it. Now Activision says they’re more than willing to let it be released, they just want to make even more money out of it. Here’s what Maryanne Lataif, a spokeswoman for Activision, told The Boston Globe:

Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision

By “unwilling to discuss” she must mean unwilling to pay up and by “high standards” she must mean money mongering, as she makes Activision’s motives perfectly clear with the following statement:

We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology

I thought people actually purchasing Guitar Hero III in the first place was compensation enough, and once they owned it they should be able to use it however they please - but Activision wants more in addition to the $100 they already got for each game sold. While it seems clear that Activision is only preventing the patch’s release for money, and they even admitted it, they’re still in denial and another spokeswoman, Spencer Saltonstall, says they’re doing it for the consumer:

We are really and truly not looking at this from the financial standpoint, we are looking at this from the consumer standpoint

I’m not sure how delaying a compatibility patch until Harmonix bribes them to allow its release benefits the consumer (or anyone besides Activision themselves) at all, but I guess they just refuse to admit how bad they’re handling this.

[Via Evil Avatar]

The first Rainbow Six Vegas 2 trailer was released a little over a week ago, and unfortunately it was pretty disappointing with its only redeeming factor being some random boobs thrown in. A new teaser has been released, and unlike the first one it’s composed of more than live action gambling and cheesy voice-overs. It doesn’t really show much though, besides the team getting out of a helicopter and the leader shoving his hand into the camera, but at least it actually shows the game (even if it is pre-rendered). Still, I’m left waiting for some action and explosions, and it could have been a lot better. Maybe next time - they’ve had two tries after all, so they better have something awesome for the third.

Blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood and blood. Sorry, I just had to get that out of the way before telling you about the new Ninja Gaiden 2 video. Why? Watch the thing. There is blood everywhere and limbs flying all over. There’s also a boss battle and some impressively violent special moves. Looks as challenging as the first one to boot. If you can’t get behind a challenging video game with gallons of blood and a ninja, well then maybe you shouldn’t be playing video games in the first place.

With each new Burnout game the graphics and physics are improved, making for more realistic and satisfying crashes and damage. Burnout Paradise looks to be no different, and should provide the most realistic, visceral destruction yet - but even so, how close is it to real crashes? Games Radar has put it to the test by comparing the crashes in Burnout Paradise to those in real life (seen in the video above).

The virtual crashes certainly look great, and they seem to have mimicked the physics very well - although they may have gone a little overboard with the wheels.

In case you haven’t heard yet, the Duke Nuke Em (game that took) Forever (to make) teaser trailer that we announced yesterday is now up. Watch the Duke pump iron, shoot aliens, blow smoke in your face and then say snarky things into the camera.

Honest to God, this trailer actually got me psyched about the game. I am anxious to see how (if it ever comes out) it will turn out.