Picross released, ready to puzzle players

Nintendo also released Picross today, a puzzle game which features your daily digest of Sudoku and Crossword puzzles. Picross is supposed to be more “fresh” than Sudoku DS (which only featured 80 or so puzzles and then it got boring) because it has puzzles that update everyday. Anyways, the game allows easy writing so you can easily fill in answers. Hopefully, it won’t get my 2′s mixed up with 4′s (even in the clearest of handwriting it still got mixed up) but I doubt Nintendo fixed that. Picross features the ability to make your own puzzles and share with friends.

No doubt is this a good game for newspaper puzzle addicts.

Mario Strikers Charged smashes in to stores

Nintendo has released the newest Mario soccer game today. Titled Mario Strikers Charged, the game is a half sequel/half modified port of the original Super Mario Strikers that was for the GameCube. Mario Strikers Charged contains many of the elements from the Nintendo GameCube version except this time the game is a bit more deadly (which makes it much more fun). Players and computer opponents can now launch thunderstorms, earthquakes, firestorms, shockwaves and other environmental hazards in their attempts to defeat the other team and win the game. How any of the characters survive such hazards is amazing (just goes to show you, this isn’t any old game of soccer).

The new sequel features 9 new stadiums, a ton of new characters, specialized WiiMote controls (flicking the WiiMote to block and steal) and Wi-Fi. If you are able to master Striker Challenges or the succeed in the tournament-styled Road to the Striker Cup you will be able to unlock new elements and cheats (as with all Mario Sports games) in Mario’s new soccer game.

For the new Wi-Fi multiplayer feature, players will be able to go online and battle it out against other Strikers players around the nation. However, in order to keep things “fair and friendly” there is a “positive” structured points-based system in place. But the odd side to this is that there is no way to be the best at this game point-wise as the game resets all points each week (that is so uncool, but I can see how it can be “fair and positive” this way).

Mario Strikers Charged is in stores now with an ESRB rating of E10+.

August Wii TurboGrafx-16 Virtual Console games revealed

Hudson Soft decided to start the month out early and put up their TurboGrafx-16 release list for the month of August. I love how they take away the surprise and let us know early. I wish Nintendo would do this.

One of the games coming next month is the Legend of Zelda clone, Neutopia. Neutopia actually looks like a good LOZ clone, so it might be a good pick me up. Neutopia will probably be released near the end of the month, while Cratermaze will be released somewhere in mid-August.

Cratermaze is a bit different from other Wii Virtual Console games, where the bosses kill you instantly and you dig holes to defeat enemies. The various levels are weaved together via the back story of you “traveling time” to various eras (each era is about 15 levels) trying to collect treasure and save your friends.

And the last (and the one to probably release first) is Galaga ’90 which is really a PC port of the Galaga ’88 game. However it’s not called Galaga ’88 but Galaga ’90 in the states because of release times. A bit confusing, but they are the same games. Galaga ’90 is an improved version of the original Galaga game. It feature better graphics, harder game play, more pickups, better bosses, and a bunch more. It’s kinda like the Deluxe version of Galaga. Basically you shoot bosses and bad guys in the scrolling arcade shooter style.

This week’s Wii virtual console list game are…

Sorry for not updating as much last week, ThunderBrowse (my current project) has been taking up way too much of my time. Wail was out on vacation and I was busy writing the biggest release of ThunderBrowse.

Anyways, this week Nintendo has the theme of “variety”, as they name the Wii Virtual Console as a box of chocolates. Apparently we are supposed to “savor” this week’s virtual console titles, and speaking of which, they are Star Soldier, Dynamite Headdy, and Drop Off. While some games listed (Dynamite Headdy) don’t look super great (you will love how cheesy the description is), but some other games look pretty good though. The games will appear on the Wii Virtual Console at 9:00AM today.

And to leave you off with tradition, here are the descriptions of the games from Nintendo:

Star Soldier (NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): The standard for vertically scrolling shooters, Star Soldier is the original game that spawned all of the titles in the long-running Soldier series. Go inside a floating space station inhabited by a giant computer known as Starbrain. Your mission: to stop Starbrain’s galactic invasion by piloting Caesar, a new, compact space fighter through 16 deadly stages. Collect power capsules to increase three different attributes of your ship: firepower, movement speed and defensive shields. Blast wave after wave of approaching enemies or use the innovative Trap Zone feature to fly beneath a land mass and avoid incoming fire. Conquer each stage to make your way to the final confrontation with Starbrain.

Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Comic Mischief, 800 Wii Points): Headdy, a toy with a detachable head, arrives in North Town to find that the evil puppet king Dark Demon is causing serious problems. Dark Demon is gathering up all the puppets in town and turning some into his own evil minions, while eliminating the rest of the puppets that aren’t good enough to join his legions. Headdy is captured and is targeted for the incinerator, but escapes in the nick of time. Now he’s got to save the town. To do so, Headdy has to take on all manner of bad guys and even has to contend with his lifelong nemesis, Trouble Bruin the bear. Can Headdy overcome all his foes and take down Dark Demon?

Drop Off (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): Brave five rounds of haunting, nightmarish dreams in this take on the classic arcade puzzler. To save his dearly beloved from the malicious demon that controls her dreams and holds her captive, our brave hero plunges himself into the nightmare to vanquish this evil foe. Deftly use the arrow items and control the angle of the ball to shatter the blocks that descend from the top of the screen. Set your sights on the joints holding the blocks together and knock off multiple blocks in one exhilarating blow. As you drop more and more blocks, their shapes will change, allowing you to earn bonus points. You must use your concentration and reflexes to defeat the demon and save your beloved.

Nintendo now 5th biggest company in Japan

Big news for Nintendo, they are now the 5th biggest company in Japan. The cause of this is because of that dang new founded touchy thing that those youngsters are carrying around. And I am not talking about the iPhone. But the DS and DS lite have brought in mass amounts  of money, we assume because of Nintendo’s targeting of non-gamer like people with games like Brain Age and the much older, yet still adorable, Nintendogs. Of course, no one can forget that PS3 whoopin’ Wii console that has managed to kick the PS3 in sales in Japan. It’s probably because of the motion sensor and the get up and play message they bring in their ads.

Congrats Nintendo!

Sony releases PS3 1.90 and PSP 3.52 firmware updates

Today, Sony released updates for PS3 and PSP firmware. The PSP firmware only includes security upgrades and support for more titles on the playable network.

The PS3 firmware update has more features then the PSP update. The new update includes messaging smilies (emotions), support for custom wallpapers for the XMB (Cross Media Bar). New AVCHD video playback (whatever that is) support from external devices, better DMB hard drive game sorting. It also includes improved CD audio quality from HDMI or digital audio out. A cool new eject disk function (an option you can do via the controller), and 1080p24 HDMI output for Blu-Ray media.

So nothing super exciting, but nonetheless some new features.

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s goes on sale

Activision announced today that Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s has just been released and is ready to buy. The game features popular music from the 1980s, but the music isn’t just the only thing that has been retrofied, nope, you can live the neon dream with characters decked in the 80′s styles. The songs feature artists like Flock of Seagulls, Twisted Sister and Judas Priest. As well as songs “made famous” by The Go Go’s, Poison, Iron Maiden and Quiet Riot, and more. The game is rated T for teen.

The Sims Bowling released for the iPod

Why in the world would we ever want a game called “The Sims Bowling” for an iPod? I mean why not just make “The Sims” for the iPod. That would be cool, and if it was made well, people will be sure to buy it.

Anyways, The Sims Bowling game is like a very very very simplistic version of The Sims revolved around bowling (it’s obvious from the title). You are able to create your own Sim and make Simoleons (the money in Sims games) to buy stuff for your character. You are able to play the “Sims Life” (which beyond playing as a Sim, it seems you can go home and do stuff there [I doubt much]) and fulfill your dream to be the most popular Sim at the bowling alley. The game looks pretty good, much better then “Lost” for the iPod. However, a much better game idea would be to make an actual Sims game for the iPod. The game does feature multi-player, and the graphics look great for an iPod game.

So if you love The Sims, like playing bowling (or Bowling games) or are looking for a good game for your iPod, The Sims Bowling might be a good pick.

New stage announced in Brawl: Rumble Falls

Monday’s daily update at the Smash Bros. Dojo brought us a new stage: Rumble Falls, which seemsto be be based off of Icicle Mountain (Ice Climbers stage in Melee), is a Jungle-themed Donkey Kong stage, with scenery from Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. As in Icicle Mountain, if you don’t keep going higher, you’ll get “left in the dust” (read: die). You start at the bottom of a waterfall, but even when you get to the top of the mountain, a beanstalk goes higher and higher. Seems interesting. Maybe they’ll throw a Kremlings into the mix as a substitute for those Coca-Cola polar bears…

Burnout speeding to the mobile platform

EA announced that they are developing Burnout (the best racing game ever) for the mobile phone. With this new addition to the Burnout series, people will be able to “take their dangerous driving experience wherever and whenever they are on the move”. Apparently, they are oblivious to how bad Burnout Legends was for the Nintendo DS, now take that game and give it worse graphics and you will get Need for Speed for the Mobile. While EA has yet to release screenshots, I assume this game isn’t going to be very good visually and via controls.

EA believes that fans will be raving about this game, and as a huge fan of the Burnout series, I can say that I for one am not looking forward to this game if it’s anything like Burnout Legends. There will be new game modes exclusive to the Mobile phone version that comes out next month (August).

We hope that you don’t play while you are in your car (or anyone else’s).

EA releasing Wing Commander Arena on the Xbox Live Arcade

This Wednesday, EA’s Wing Commander Arena will appear on the Xbox Live Arcade. Based on the original Wing Commander game series, Arena will feature 8 maps with all new playing modes like multiplayer free for all, multiplayer duel, teams (with satellite [capture the flag], control ship battles, etc) and of course, single player. This game will be the first Xbox Live arcade game to feature 16 player support. According to EA, there are 18 different ships to play in, on 9 different environments and features 2 races.

The game looks pretty cool and should be a good one to pick up and play if you are looking for an XBL Arcade game to get.