As you were all aware, we as hosts were given this mystical tokens that once given out would bestow magical "gift" properties through the allgames network.

As stipulated....I set up a challenge that if someone formally challenged me in ten rounds of SC4 and beat me they could win my token, or if I was challenged in a Civ Rev game and was defeated could also get you to token land.

Well I awaiting challengers and no one came until the strong and powerful....[though I hate to admit it....] Alphabox. YES he was a fighter of epic proportions, he was fighter by chance, and he used Yoda too....

However Alphabox claimed the token of another host of a different all games show...so I devised a way to sort this out...through the power of delegation. Alphabox was able to pass the token won from me to a close friend of his in the allgames community And...the winner of this sacred delegated token is......ZAPPY

So Zappy you know the drill as you are of the community!..Enjoy Alpha's victory because with out it, you wouldn't be getting presents...

Thus Spoke Pandalicious....

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Ring Ding Dong...Ring a ding..ding ding dong (Dr. Dre Reference)
Yo! Yo! Yo! Como Estan? Beeches. Pandalicious here to bring forth a new installment that should have hit y'allz earz last Thursday but brotha let me tell you what had happened...

You see what had happened was.....[insert flashback CG ripple effects] that I'm about as lazy as the next person. So last Thrusday I was out with my Crew we were gonna go steal some pants...BECAUSE I AIN'T GOT NO MONEY! (Unforgiveable Reference) I'm just playing. In all honesty though, I just plumb forgot! So Here Comes some old school flava with some old school thought!

I figured I would start with what I know best...The first real time I can remember liking video games wuz when I would engage in a hunt....a hunt...for ducks....no that doesn't mean I maliciously hunted down the all the casts of the Mighty Ducks, or any spin offs that may or may not occur. Though there were many of times were I had wish this gun controller had had the power to do so.

TO most of us Ataris and Nintendo's were the big deal. To most of us here in the United States rather [let me state that now] that is. One of the first real exposures to the FPS that i can remember...and by remember I mean being really little with the control and sitting faceplanted on the television. [Now that I think about that I'm sure all those early afternoons of playing like that most likely resulted in my now having to wear glasses...Oh Fuck....]
Though many of us played this cult classic in the comforts of our homes however is was also found on other platforms besides the NES. It was also on Famicom and Arcade.

Duck hunt was not a game that people woke up at 7am for and dashed to their local Walmart to get..in fact..Walmart did not exist then [Yes I know that for most of you, you cannot beleive that such evil did not rear it's satanistic side until it branched off from its primary store which came into existence in 1962..YES it's that OLD] It was a game that was given onto us to get a a response off of it. Thinking back now, who would have thought that letting people take fake guns and shoot ducks out of the sky to our trusty loving bloodhound...

If Nintendo had been in REM's music video for "Everybody Hurts" this is what we as a budding gaming nation would have saw.

(Scene: Children on bikes in slow motion riding by the glass window at the Nintendo headquarters. Inside the window a meeting of several official to talk about the questionable progress of "Duck Hunt"

Man in suit #1: Well surprisingly enough people actually like this game...
(thought bubbles appears) FUCK! I hope we don't have to deal with PETA again...

Man in suit#2:Who knew that people would actually enjoy a game based on a desire to kill
(thought bubble appears) Now if only we can redirect this towards something that we can continue to market and not worry about organizations putting their stamps of disapproval...like....bigger animals...animals with advance thought...oooo yes and will power...they should be intelligent...like humans...Oh My God Humans! That is brillant, I should head over to development right now..

Woman in suit#1 (looking at Man in suit#2's thought bubble:I'm sorry Man in suit#2 that is fucked up.
(thought bubbles appears but it's a little flash movie of herself kicking Man in suit#2 in the nuts. [Yes I went there, like you wouldn't]

Woman in suit#2: Well that might be true however we should do what is best for the progress of our company
(thought bubble appears) Oh I can't wait to spend all the money I'll make on these games on therapy for my future teenage son who will shoot up his school because he thought it would all reset the next day. [yes this one is also bad but...come on....]

Anyway you guys get my point. But why do I like this so much, so much that in fact decided that this would be my first piece.... Well ladies and gentlemen of webspace....I can not remember a time that I did not enjoy playing this game, whether it was just with Ninjahsistah before the ninjafication.... or with our father who is no longer with us. It presented a time of innocence and a good time with just the bare essentials...and isn't that what we want in our games....simple satisfaction?

You decide....

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I have spent weeks trying to ignore games on the iPhone mostly because the last thing I need is another portable gaming device, but then I heard about this game Aurora Feint: In The Beginning and I got sucked in.

Aurora Feint reminds me of Tetris and Puyo Puyo Pop in that you spend the bulk of your time trying to get three or four items of the same type in a row in order to explode them and clear out space. In AF you spend your time "mining" elemental substances that allow you to gain new skills to level up your player. Sounds simple and light right? Wrong. AF is one of the most engaging and deep games that I have played on the iPhone. Many a metro stop have I missed as I was in the middle of mining earth stones in order to unlock a new skill or magic to make it over to the tower.

What makes AF so deep is it's gameplay. Unlike the puzzle games to come before it, part of solving the puzzles that make up AF is that the accelerometer in the iPhone is taken advantage of and used as part of the puzzle itself. In order to get three or four in a row you will at times have to push the puzzle along by rotating the phone so that the element stones will shift and more quickly reveal the next line of stones. You can only move stones horizontally at any time, so rotation of the playing field allows you to link more stones together and get a higher bonus. I used AF to get through waiting in line for "The Dark Knight" iMax [both times] waiting to board my plane to Mass, even getting through some long phone conferences that I had to participate in last week.

Aurora Feint: In The Beginning is a solid game, and is crazy good for being free... and now that they are through being "delisted" on the iTunes store for grabbing user info in a non-secure manner [it's been removed from the game] it's a definite on the "DOWNLOAD WORTHY" list.

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"COMPUTER!"
"RAM!"
"MUSIC!" "SOUND!" "IMAGE!" "GO PANDA!!!!"

Panda: With your geekdom combined I AM TINY TECH PANDA!

Pandalicious here donning the "techie" hat to become TINY TECH PANDA! Now what could I possibly have up my tiny tech panda sleeve to share from Gadgetville in the land of ESH? This is simple ladies and gentlemen. Today I have a review of the one and only Razer Piranha!

Now I know what you all are thinking...and yes I dig snakes, but this isn't a snake! It is a headset of awesomeness and extreme comfort! On the rating scale I give this headset a 4 out of 5.

*~Panda Testimonial~*
::Cues spotlight, violins and light snowfall::
When I was a young panda before the days of Machood and true gamer l33tn33z, the only way I could hear other people was to actually have them in my house...or.... they would record themselves via WAV and send them through e-mails [I know what you are thinking! who would do such a thing?!]

However now I have gone through technology puberty and have HUGE tracks of pwn33z! Also I have the ability to access hearing more than just the sounds in the games I play. I can now listen to the people that I play with! Granted, those who have had XBOXes long before me have been using microphones for a while, but when they switch to their PC games what do they don their heads with? If these gamers were smart they would check out the Razer Piranha.

Da Pros
+Comfortable on the head
+ Big cushy earmuffs
+ Cool Stylish Logo instead of word labels
+ Nifty Volume control for easy access
+ long cord for moving around [and the grabbing of the snackage!!]
Da Cons
- Adjusting headset is a little difficult
- Mute button is sadistic and hates you!
- For Mac users you will need an iMic attachment to use it since it is designed for uncool Computers that aren't Macs!

Overall Tiny Tech Panda wasn't upset about the death of her third Logitech headset because of this divine piece of sweet head....gear!

To see more than what I mentioned here go to www.razerone.com, and feel free to tell me what you think!

This is Pandalicious and don't you dare say I don't know a thing about gadgets!

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My Addiction has a first name...it's W-O-R-L-D...
As the masses here in ESH land know that I suffer from an addiction...It is one that I discuss freely and openly. I am a WoW addict. [I feel no shame in it. In fact I embrace as part of my being now.] However even I can see the see the dangers of my addiction....and so can these select few.


Because of things like this I spend my time away from the game keeping innocence away from the horrible life draining effect this game can have on people...
Don't Do Drugs
Don't Drink and Drive
Don't World of Warcraft!

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I’ll keep this short and sweet. Grand Theft Auto IV will be released to the public when the sun comes up on April 29th, but you could be jacking cars and committing armed robberies (in-game, of course) hours before then.

No one should be surprised to know that Gamestop and EB will have a midnight opening Tuesday morning to allow anyone who reserved GTA IV to pick it up when the clock strikes twelve. (Check your local game stores for participation info.) My copy is already reserved and I’ll be in line with bags under my eyes to pick it up. I’ll be twittering the event so if you have a Twitter account, then you can get updates of my early morning journey by following “Douceswild”. If you have the “Twinkle” app. installed on your iPhone then you’ll be able to view some pictures as well.

Try not to get jacked or pimped out ‘til then!

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I’m sure you all know that the official release date of Grand Theft Auto IV is set for April 29th. I’ve played and completed every installment of the series and I plan on adding this one to the pile as well.

I’m not going to waste time trying to convince you of how good GTA is. You’ve heard of it and at this point you’ve probably made up your mind if you’re into the controversial video game by now or not. A few days ago the final official trailer was released and now we sit and wait. The problem is…I CAN’T WAIT!

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A lot of video game stores have a reservation policy which allows you to plop some money down on a game so the employees will hold the game for you when it comes out. The question I pose to you is how necessary is it to do this?

The employees at the game store will tell you if you want a game on the day it releases then it’s in your best interest to reserve it. After talking to a few friends of mine that work at GameStop and EB, I’ve come to the conclusion that what that statement means is that they might have extra copies of the game to sell other than those on reserve, but you won’t get one if you didn’t reserve it.

Why do the employees want you to reserve the game? I used to manage a GameStop store a long time ago and the official answer which was pounded into the head of managers’ was to raise the initial sales of the game within the first couple of days. Now the answer you’ll get from employees (behind the scenes of course) is “because we have a quota and my manager told me to.” The employees have a weekly quota on reservations so the fewer people they convince to reserve a game, that’s the more grief they catch from the higher-ups. If you did not reserve the game when it releases, then the employees will not give you a copy out of spite even if there are extra copies behind the counter.

I’m not saying that this happens at every gaming store in the world, but I think it’s a safe bet to say that this is happening in most of them. Is this to be expected from the average kid working at the store? It definitely is. If he or she catches hell from their boss (who in turn probably caught hell from his or her boss) about not getting enough reservations for the week on a particular game, then that employee will more than likely take out his or her frustration on you when you come in without your reservation stub, thinking you’re going to march into their store and get the game you want so badly, after turning him or her down a few weeks ago when asked to reserve it. You’re at their mercy now. What can you do?

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It’s always been a dream of mine to have a place where gamers and like-minded individuals as myself could hang out share thoughts and opinions. Well that dream has come true!!

Myspace has dominated the online social community for a long time. Although, it’s a good place to hang out, meet people, and share life experiences, it has always been hard for me to find a group that I fit into there. Even with the few gaming, anime, and technology groups that exist on Myspace, I’m very limited to what I can do once I join.

Well there’s a place for you and me now at GAX. GAX is a social community for gamers, movie enthusiasts, anime-lovers, etc. The site is named after the late Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008), the author of the well-known fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). GAX allows members to created and decorated their own page, invite friends, create and join member-created groups of various topics, create blogs, and much more! There’s also an active and live chat running on every page.

Sign up. It’s free! Who knows? Your blog may be featured on the main page of GAX!

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Wouldn’t it be awesome to play your favorite mmorpg on a portable device? I know what you’re thinking. “I do that already with my laptop.” Well I’m talking about something just a bit more portable than your average-sized laptop.

How many times have you missed the train or bus to work because you didn’t want to log out of your mmorpg? Have you ever wished you could take your mmorpg with you on that long family trip so you’ll have something to do in the car? Well the OQO model 0.2 might be what you’re looking for. The OQO is basically an ultra mobile PC capable of running XP or Vista and weighs about one pound. You can also play a variety of other pc games on the system.

Here’s World of World fully functioning on the system.

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So I've gotten this email from the fine folks over at Capcom touting the amount of downloads the DMC4 demo off of XBLive.

Well duh!

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the DMC4 demo has been downloaded so much. First off, remember all the n00bs that got Xboxes [Xboxi?] for Christmas? Well they gotta have stuff to play, and I'm sure they haven't run off to the local game emporium to fill their little collection with $60 titles yet, so free demos and cheap Arcade games are welcome features of their new toy. Secondly, DMC fans are, well, fanatical. We love the franchise. We love the franchise enough to suck up the suck ass DMC2 to wait for DMC3 and DMC4. Give us the opportunity to play DMC on a new platform, with a new character, and we will flock to it like alcoholics to a happy hour.

Yeah, DMC4 "el demo gigante" dropped into the XBLive Marketplace nearly predestined for greatness. Here's what the email to me said:

Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 demo on the Xbox LIVE service passed its one millionth download, and is still going!
According to Microsoft, not only is this the first demo of the year to hit a million downloads, but it’s also one of the fastest downloads to hit the one million mark in the history of the LIVE service. The demo appeared on the network January 24, and has been averaging over 25,000 downloads a day ever since. Additionally, the game has been a huge hit at retail, with reorders coming from major retailers within days of the game's release.

I'll hold my judgement of whether or not the game is fun to play until I get it. But if you haven't downloaded the demo yet and you have an XBox, get thee to the Marketplace and join the million of people that have been playing the hell outta this demo.

You can try to fight Berial!

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The number “13” has always been known as an unlucky number and that just may be the case for me as far as SquareEnix's Final Fantasy XIII is concerned.

I’m at a crossroad right now. I’ve been pretty firm on my decision not to purchase a Playstion3 because I detest the price of the next-gen system. On the other hand, I’ve been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series since FFIII. Seeing as how Squaresoft/Enix has had a longstanding relationship with Sony, I figured the chances of the series coming the the Xbox 360 was slim, but with the release of FFXI Online on Microsoft’s system and the announcement of another possible mmorpg by SqareEnix in the future, my hopes were high. I always knew in the back of my mind that I would have to make the decision to either pony up the cash for the PS3 or bid farewell to the series that I love so much. The time for the decision is now.

The long time character designer of the Final Fantasy series, Tetsuya Nomura, not only swears by a 2008 release for FFXIII, but also teases at a playable demo on the Playstation Network a while before the game is released to show off the revamped battle system. Either two things are going to happen this year. I’ll either eat my words and breakdown and purchase the overpriced system or say goodbye to the FFXIII and /wrist when every PS3 owner sinks their teeth into the demo and then the full game. No matter the choice, you guys will probably see an grown gamer cry.

Decisions, decisions.

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Here is the horrible, horrible truth: Stay away from the new PS3. The old PS3 out there, the one languishing on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Circuit City, the one you don't have to stand in line for, the one you don't have to wait by your mailbox for, well, it's, uh, better.

That's right. The 60-gig PS3, the one that's been around since November, the one that they just reduced in price by $100, the one that... oh, stop it. The word from E3 is that the older, 60-gig PS3 is better than the new 80-gig model. In fact, if you still play some PS2 games, you should positively stay away from the 80-gig PS3 model.

Why? Emulation. The original PS3 also contains the PS2 Emotion chip to help it play PS2 games. Now that the Sony folks have come up with a way to emulate PS2 capability in software on the PS3, they have dropped the Emotion chip from the new machine.

And we all know what happens when you emulate a chip in software, don't we? Incompatibilities. That game you've been playing for years suddenly doesn't work anymore. The disc spins and spins, but doesn't go anywhere. You're left with unexpected crashes -- or eerie silence.

So here's the warning: If you've got several PS2 games you intend on playing on the 80-gig PS3, test them out on the machine before buying one. Better yet, stick with the original PS3. We suspect the 60-gig model isn't even being built anymore (they've got a few million on hand gathering dust at places like Amazon.com and GameStop), so when they're gone, they're gone.

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Sony would like you to think that they have reduced the price of the PS3 today. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Remember when the PS3 first came out in November? They brought out a lame version for $499 and a better version for $599. Today's announcement simply reinstates that pricing model.

Sony dropped its $499 version a few months ago because nobody was buying it. Now the $599 version has been repriced at $499, but it's all window dressing because Sony has already announced a premium-ier version packaged with an 80-gigabyte hard drive and a racing game called "MotorStorm." Guess how much it costs. That's right -- $599.

To reiterate today's announcement: Sony has a lame version of the PS3 that sells for $499 and a better version for $599. Just like in November 2006.

And the PS3 forts grow higher and higher at Best Buy.

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Monday brings with it once again a crunchy new episode of the Electric Sista Hood podcast, and this one is just as off the wall and fun as the other ones!

All three regular hosts hop on the cast this week to bring you some info about some cool and not so cool goings on in the worlds of anime and video games. First up at bat is Panda "Stop Saying I Have Herpes" licious who shares with us her experiences with the anime Hare+Guu, which [like many anime series] is very weird.

Magic "I Forgot About the Giant Ball Monster" MysticGrl chimes in at the number two slot to share with us EVEN MORE .Hack// goodness with us by imparting her sort of found wisdom from .Hack//roots.

And bringing up the rear [as usual in this weekly menage] is NinJa "Get a Twinkie, Cuz Yer Gonna Need Brain Food" Sistah dropping her 2cents on the whole Manhunt 2 debacle.

Yeap! Grab yourself a Twinkie and something to drink, Episode 55: Welcome to the Eyefor Towel is up and running!

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This is ya boy Douce checking in to bring you news of some of the hottest topics on the street right now. It’s gonna be quick so…On your mark! Get set! Go!

Ok ladies and gentlemen, first on the list is the official iPhone release date. A commercial aired on Sunday flashing a June 29th release and it’s been confirmed by AT&T. Corporate stores have begun putting up advertising material with that date plastered all on it. Get your money ready!

Next on the docket is an animated movie that I must give credit to Nutsy Waterbelly for bringing to our attention. Paprika looks to be this year’s animated mind-fracking movie and I’m definitely in the mood to get my mind fracked. I’ll be watching Paprika this weekend and bringing you guys a review on it in the future. Thanks Nutsy!

Last, but definitely not least is the release of Guitar Hero. What’s that you say? It’s out already on Playstation2 and Xbox 360? You’re absolutely correct, but it’s also coming out for the…

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Nintendo DS!! That’s right. Activision has confirmed a Guitar Hero release on the DS sometime next year. I’m curious to see how it’s going to work. Thanks Activision for giving me another reason to be glad I purchased one of these bad boys. ROCK ON!

There ya have it people. That’s what’s hot on the streets right now. Keep checking the site for more news because, if we know it, then you’re gonna know it.

Later!

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Sorry for the lengthy AFK all. I’ve been putting in some long hours at work, but now I’m back with something that I’d like your opinion on. What’s the difference between cheating in video games and exploiting a system that’s already implemented into the game?

When it comes to video games, people will always find various ways to cheat. It’s just in our nature. Whether it be the 30-life Contra code or hacking a mmorpg to get better items, cheating and exploiting will always be around. There’s also a fine line between the two.

Everyone knows about World of Warcraft’s first expansion called the Burning Crusades, which released a few weeks ago. One of the new features is a raised level cap from 60 to 70. To a lot of casual players, that brings another month to three months of level grinding and questing to hit the new level cap. Well not everyone.

A player from France was able to reach level 70 twenty-eight hours after the release of the game. He grinded constantly without any sleep. As tales of him being the first level 70 player in the game spread, he began releasing his strategy to many curious and amazed players. He had forty of his guildies helping him out. He would hit (tag) the mob to claim ownership of the kill, and then the rest of his guild would kill the mob and keep him healed as he moved on to the next mob to repeat the process. Twenty-eight hours later **poof** level 70.

Now here’s where the controversy comes in. It seems that others are saying that he cheated. In my opinion, “cheated” is a strong word to use in this instance. He only did what Blizzard and every other mmorpg developer intends for you to do when you log in to their game and that’s interact with other players to get the most out of the game. I see it more as exploiting the system than cheating. He didn’t use a hack or mod to speed up the fight or increase the experience points. He just used and benefited from the help of some friends to get the job done.

I pose the question to all of you. Is what he did cheating or exploiting a system that’s already in motion? You want my opinion? I say, don’t hate the player. Instead, hate the player that can’t play the game.

Any thoughts?

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In a story that is blazing its way through the bloggernet, GameStop has allegedly expanded its policy regarding M-rated videogames that are sold to minors. The bottom line is that we could be seeing a brand new version of The Revenge of the Nerds.

GameStop has long had a policy regarding M-rated games that are sold to minors. You can read it right here. It's pretty simple -- an employee sells an M-rated game to a minor, the employee gets fired.

But that was all changed in a recent conference call of GameStop employees. According to a writer for kotaku.com, not only does the employee get fired, so does the manager. That adds a whole new dimension to employee-management relations at GameStop.

Work at GameStop and hate your manager? Get him fired! Just sell an M-rated game to an underaged kid and tell the kid to tell his parents where he got the game. After all, being fired is nothing to a 20-something kid. Heck, GameStop can't even tell future employers why the kid no longer works at GameStop -- all they can do is tell the hire date and release date. The manager, on the other hand, is probably some 40-something geezer with a failing marriage and a couple of unappreciative kids. Getting fired could make him go right over the edge into drugs, drink or maybe even suicide.

And wouldn't that be entertaining?

Kudos to the folks at GameStop who put their most vulnerable employees directly in the line of fire as they pander to the desires of a few loudmouths who want everybody to live by their rules.

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I sorta owe you guys an apology...

You see, NinJaMom [using amazing stealth abilities that even I do not yet posses] came into town and surprised this NinJa for her b-day. Caught unprepared, I forgot to write up some shizzole for the website. I also forgot to beg the other editors to cover for me whilst I was out of commission. But how was I to know she was heading into town? It's hard to detect Ninja, especially when they don't want to be detected, and you KNOW your mom hates to fly... but I digress.

My bad. I'll catch up on some reading goodies for you here shortly, like my opinion on the AMD/ATI thing, how to build a sweet gaming laptop [pc], and the Devil May Cry manga.

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Fresh from Electric Sista Hood podcast oven is Episode 38 of our weekly podcast.

In this episode Panda shares some thoughts and insight into what gamers want [and don't want] to see in the coming [we hope] Kingdom Hearts 3 game, MagicMysticGrl makes it back to the group session to share some Legend of Black Heaven info with you, and NinJaSistah brings a Gears of War/Crackdown demo compare and contrast to the show to end it.

We can't forget our new candybitch: Arrot! You rock man!

Oh yeah, the girls also chat about the march of the skanks, selling teapots into slavery, buying Keyblades at Wal-Mart, Pandalicious' shrub versus NinJaSistah's goomba, and a few other tangents. Made for you with love, [or something like it] Episode 38: This Isn't Marriage Counselling.

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Just a little question from the Monkey about Real time strategies.

I've been looking over all of my RTS games and I was trying to come up with the best ones. I couldn't get it narrowed down so I wanted to know, what do you guys think the best RTS games are?

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I got a chance to sit down with a shiny new PS3 and play some Madden 07 recently. I have always been a big Madden fan, I still have a copy of the first one I ever bought for Genesis back in 1993. I had high expectations for this one since it was on a system that dwarfed the previous systems I had played the Madden series on, but I was sorely disappointed.

What I found was a very sloppy game. It had a menu that in an attempt to be slick and stylish was not very user friendly. The replays and videos of your team entering and getting ready for a play were incredibly choppy, usually unable to go a second without it freezing up for a little bit. It had lost the franchise mode I had come to love and instead focused mainly on Superstar mode, which was a big disappointment.

The concept of Superstar mode itself was not bad. It's a cool to control yourself on a team and fight towards greatness. The problem with this is that there is oftentimes not much to do. I don't enjoy sitting down to a game with a controller in my hand and just watching. Since you could only control your player, that's all you really did. As a quarterback I was able to get some control but as a cornerback I lost interest very quickly. I had no control over the offense and on defense I ended up covering sides of the field that the opposing team never passed to anyway. To make this mode more frustrating, the UI was awful. Every time my QB handed off the ball to the running back he would run right into a mob of the opponent. In every game I played via superstar mode my RB only once got a gain of above three yards. It wasn't because I had a bad team either, last time I checked Tiki Barber was pretty good at running.

They tried to showcase the better look and playability of the system but that also fell short. Not only did they have choppy videos but they used terrible camera angles to show off the field. They continually used a shot that was from the entrance into the mid level seating down onto the field. The problem with this view was that it showcased how bad the audience was. I counted only three models in the entire stadium, and from that terrible camera view you could see how flat their were as well as mysterious floating pixels.

I still have hopes for the game, though not on this system. Perhaps the X-box 360 will be able to handle the graphics better or maybe the Wii innovative controller will make it as fun to play as Wii bowling. Perhaps EA having exclusives on the NFL means the end of some great games however....

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What would you think of a mobile gaming device with these specifications? It's only 0.46 inches thick. It has a speaker, a microphone and a camera. Held horizontally, its screen is 480 pixels wide, just like the PlayStation Portable, and 320 pixels tall, nearly 50 pixels taller than the PSP's 272 pixels. At 160 pixels per inch, its screen is the most dense of any standalone portable gaming device. It's got up to 8 GIGABYTES of RAM (compared to the PSP's 32 MEGABYTES). It's got touchscreen controls. It has 802.11 b and g Wi-Fi capabilities (PSP has only b) and Bluetooth built in.

Oh yeah, it's also a mobile phone, an internet browser and an iPod.

The iPhone, announced earlier today during Apple's MacWorld keynote speech, is a whole lotta things. Most people are going to buy it because it's an amazing mobile phone combined with an iPod. But there are a lot of reasons why it could become a force among gamers.

First of all, its mere specifications make it better than any standalone mobile gaming system. Although the screen is not physically as large as the PSP (the iPhone's screen is only 3.5 inches, compared to 4.3 inches for the PSP), it meets the PSP in pixel width and exceeds the PSP in pixel height -- the PSP's pixels are simply larger and, as a result, coarser.

The iPhone is half as thin (0.46 inches vs. the PSP's 0.9 inches) and half as heavy (135 grams vs. the PSP's 280 grams). Held horizontally, it is a third less in width (4.5 inches vs. PSP's 6.7 inches) and a half-inch less in height (2.4 inches vs. PSP's 2.9 inches).

There's just one problem: no games.

The gaming market for the Macintosh dried up when the computer's 10th operating system OS X arrived in 2000. But the iPhone is exactly the catalyst that could turn things around for gaming on the Mac.

The iPhone shows great potential in this area. It has Google Maps and the Opera browser built in. It has "push" email, provided by Yahoo, which gives it email capabilities similar to that on a Blackberry. It is able to run Apple's Dashboard widgets, which should at least allow for simple games when it is available in June. Everything else is a big question mark: How much RAM is there? What is the graphics card? Is there stereo Bluetooth support? Will third-party Dashboard widgets work? Is there going to be a Software Development Kit to allow high-end game makers access to the device?

Perhaps few people will even care. With the Nintendo DS and PSP slugging it out on the high end and LG, Samsung, Nokia and other cellphone makers battling each other in that arena, maybe no one will take a second look at gaming on an iPhone.

But the sheer combination of all those different technologies sure is intriguing, isn't it?

Finish What You Start...

It’s a new year people! Resolutions have been made (and probably broken already). As far as the gaming industry is concerned, there will definitely be new and exciting things coming our way. What are you looking forward to the most?

I’m sure a lot of people would name Halo 3 the most anticipated game of 2007. I’ve had mine reserved for the past month and will be standing outside of Gamestop if they have another midnight release. Even though I’m excited about that title, and can’t wait to put Master Chief back into the fight for mankind’s survival, it’s not at the top of my list.

One of the games of 2007 that has me sitting at the edge of my seat is Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. It’s an action rpg from the developers of Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, both of which are awesome games. In both "JE" and "KOTOR", as they’re called, a lot of the plot twists and the outcome of the game depend on the choices you make. Your decisions may also effect the way your party members feel about you and whether they choose to join you at all. The same concepts have been added into Mass Effect and amped up a bit. All of this plus unbelievable graphics is enough to make my mouth water.

This year will undoubtedly bring new and exciting releases for all systems. What titles have you running to your local game store to place on reserve status? I’ll get the ball rolling since most of you are still probably recovering for your New Year’s celebration.

(Some of the these titles are coming out on multiple systems but I’ve listed the system I plan on playing them on.)

Mass Effect – Xbox 360
Assassin’s Creed – Xbox 360
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - PC
Tabula Rasa – PC
Halo 3 – Xbox 360
Wii Play – Nintendo Wii
Crackdown – Xbox 360
Rogue Galaxy – PS2

There’s plenty more but I’ll stop here because I have to go look for a second job to pay for the rest of the stuff that’s going to come out this year. I’ll turn the keyboard over to you. What’s your 2007’s Most Wanted?

Finish What You Start...

We’ve all heard about it. Some of us may have actually done it. Today I’m talking about MMORPG cheating and hacking and the steps being taken to prevent it. If you’ve put in some long hours and hard work on your online toon and are prone to practice a little TOS violation (Terms of Service) every now and them, you really want to pay close attention to this.

Purchasing MMORPG accounts, currency, and items is nothing new to gamers. It’s been going on for years and has only increased despite developers’ and owners’ threats and warnings. You see this awesome level 58 two-handed sword in the Auction house selling for 500 gold and you only have 150 gold which took you five months to get. What do you do? Do you go out into the beast-inhabited forest and kill for hours and hours and sell the loot for a total of 10 gold or do you take the easy route and jump on the fastest gold selling website and purchase you a little cabbage to obtain that kick-arse sword in a matter or minutes? It seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

For a while now, a popular and very successful U.S. guild named Overrated in World of Warcraft has been clearing instances with ease and getting phat loot that would make almost any gamer bow down before their greatness. They are the only guild to have cleared Blizzard’s most recent dungeon, Naxxramas. One of the instances the guild successfull cleared was AQ40 (40 individuals in Ahn'Qiraj) and they were always walking out (or hearthing, if you will) with some great loot dropped by the final boss. The majority of their members were geared with some of the best items from the instance and fellow players sang songs of their exploits, yada yada yada.

Well it’s been all over the Internet that the guild Overrated has been, well, overrated. They have been exposed as using a hack that makes some of the walls in Ahn’Qiraj disappear allowing them to easily travel to the final boss without wasting time on the trash mobs and bosses in between. What was their punishment? Blizzard permabanned (permanently banned) the guild and it’s members. If this doesn’t seem like a big deal, then take it from someone who’s been playing the gam