Thursday, November 6, 2008
Macross F English Teaches: ‘I Like Middle-Aged Man’
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | With solid Macross games like Macross Ace Frontier out, now seems like good a time as any for some quality non-sequitur English study! In hopes of getting Macross Frontier nerds interested in the English language, we have this all too brief English study guide. More »
Folding@Home Wins Japanese Design Award
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | The PS3’s Folding@home service has nabbed a prestigious Good Design Award, AKA “G-Mark.” Since 1957, the Good Design Award has been instituted by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry to award outstanding design in industrial and consumer products. More »
Japan Can Now Play PSP Games Online With Their PS3
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Delayed last week, available this week. That’s how Sony’s Adhoc party rolls. The service – which allows PSP owners to connect their handhelds to an ad hoc internet connection through their PS3s – officially went live in Japan today, bringing joy and convenience to hundreds of thousands (and potentially millions) of Monster Hunter owners across the country. Before you ask “OZ release date pls”, don’t bother, we don’t know. More »
NES Air Max Sneakers Will Surprise You With Their Tastefulness
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | The same kind of kids who dig sneakers are often the same kind of kids who dig video games. Means that we end up seeing a lot of sneakers with a video game theme. Sadly, as exciting as the prospect of a union between games and sneakers sounds (at least to those of us who waste too much money on both games and athletic footwear), invariably we end up with something that makes us use the words “The Horror” in the headline. But not this time! Nike and Nintendo are to be applauded for these NES-themed Air Max Classics, which eschew gaudy colour schemes and obvious prints in favour of something a little more subtle. Nike Air Classic BW – Nintendo [Kicksonfire] More »
The Story Of Far Cry 2’s Fire
9:00PM Luke Plunkett | Of all the things Far Cry 2 does well, few are done as well as the game’s use of fire. Things in the game burn as they should, and fires – as they’ll do – once lit, out of your control. Start one and it’s as likely to come after you as it is your enemies. Yet, as I raised in my review of the game, few people really seem to notice just how well it’s done. So let’s take a closer look. Gamasutra are running an interview with Jean-Francois Lévesque, the guy at Ubisoft Montreal who programmed the game’s fire, and it’s great reading, detailing how one junior programmer took a minor feature in the game and managed to turn it into one of the most innovative new weapons we’ve seen in a while. Interview: How Far Cry 2’s Fire Fuels, Spreads [Gamasutra] More »
News
Metal Gear Solid 4 Getting Demo… Um, Now?
8:30PM Brian Ashcraft | In a move that makes sense only to the residents of Backwards Town, today Konami released a Metal Gear Solid 4 demo on the Japanese PSN. Almost five months after the game was released. The free demo is of MGS4’s first Middle Eastern stage. The game was not originally launched with a playable trial version. More »
News
Playboy’s Jo Garcia Game Regrets
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Playboy’s Jo Garcia is one of us: A gamer. She first let us know that back in May and does it again in a recent interview. When asked if there were any games she regrets missing out on, Garcia answered: More »
Why Would You Overclock Your DS?
6:30PM Luke Plunkett | The XCM Hyper Gear case for your DS Lite isn’t just a case. That market’s sewn up. No, the XCM Hyper Gear case also doubles as a device that overclocks your DS. Which, of course, doesn’t so much improve the handheld’s sluggish 3D framerate as it simply speeds up the entire game – video and audio – so you can run it at either 140% or 170% speed. Just in case you need an extra challenge. Or are a big Alvin & the Chipmunks fan. xcm hyper gear case overclocks your nintendo ds lite [technabob] More »
World Cyber Games 2008: Australia Is Here
6:03PM Seamus Byrne | Wondering where I ran off to? I’m in Germany with Team Immunity, the Australian team representing our country at the World Cyber Games 2008 in Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft III. The CS team has been here for more than a week now, with an amazing bootcamp experience playing against SK Gaming, a team based here in Cologne but whose CS team is from Sweden. They are one of the top teams in the world and arguably the favourites for this tournament. After a week, the crew are picking up some wins against SK and are in good shape for the main event which starts overnight Australian time.
I’ll deliver more updates as the event kicks off. More » 
