For nearly 15 years, Sony fans have thrilled to the balls-out futuristic racing action of the Wipeout series, with each instalment bringing new challenges and more speed to the beloved hover car racing franchise.

This is not one of those games.

Instead, this is a game based off of ABC’s Wipeout television show, which is a program about people with giant balls. No, really.

See? Giant balls.

Wipeout is a television show that features regular folks trying to get through a rough and tumble obstacle course. Hilarity often ensues. Futuristic racing in hover cars never ensues.

“Watching ABC’s ‘Wipeout’ on TV is outrageous fun, and viewers can’t help but dream of trying the obstacles themselves,” said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. “We designed the video game with this in mind. Wipeout: The Game brings all of the challenge and laugh-out-loud hilarity without the pain.”

I have never seen this show before. I watched a few clips on ABC’s website earlier, and it does seem rather entertaining, but in a string of mini-games sort of way.

Maybe if they tried tying the people to tricked-out hovercrafts?

No, it just wouldn’t be the same. Damn entertaining, sure, but not the same.

The software is called NVIDIA 3DTV Play, and lets anyone with a 3D-capable laptop or desktop PC plug them into a 3D-capable television set and play supported games in, yes, 3D.

While this would apply to less than 1 per cent of you, it’s more of a show-off thing than something that’ll sell millions, the good press generated by press events worth the cost to NVIDIA of developing something few people out there have the technology, let alone the will, to buy.

It’ll be out in a few months and will sell for $US40.

Interesting choice of image for the press release up there. It’s like the Velociraptor Safari of my dreams.

* Yes, you’ve waited long enough – VENGEANCE WILL BE OURS with our God of War 3 review – will Kratos finally be able to overthrow Zeus, once and for all? Regardless, there will be much spillage of intestines, great and small.

* We take things underground with Metro 2033 – will skag-like creatures ever escape us?

* Another brilliant Backwards Compatible in store this week, as we look back over the Elder Scrolls series.

ALSO – Our all-time TOP FIVE best ever gaming guns. You may be surprised to find out which made it to first place…

Catch Good Game Monday nights on ABC2 @ 8:30pm – and now also Good Game: Spawn Point (especially for younger gamers) on Saturday nights on ABC3 @ 7:25pm.

Watch any episode at www.abc.net.au/goodgame
Or if you miss them, watch higher quality versions on ABC’s iView service.

Kratoskratoskratos!

I’ve always loved the video for Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys. I love it more, though, when its hokey ’70s cop show footage is replaced – scene for scene – with clips from Battlestar Galactica.

I mean it. It’s scene for scene. Watch the Galactica clip, above, then compare it to the original, below (or, for something even more awesome, watch the two side-by-side). Same briefcase tackling, same phone throwing, pretty much same everything.

[via Neatorama]

With a plethora of HD video capable portable devices at my fingertips, the Nintendo DS is probably the last handheld I would consider watching streaming video on, but that’s just me. A Netflix survey looks to be testing the non-Fahey consumer population to see if they’d like to give DS video streaming a go.

Imagine that Netflix offers its subscribers the ability to instantly watch movies and & TV episodes on their Nintendo DS. The selection available to instantly watch includes some new releases, lots of classics and TV episodes. There are no advertisements or trailers, and movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, and pause or watch again. The movies & TV episodes you instantly watch are included in your Netflix membership at no additional fee.

SO it’s basically the same sort of functionality already available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, only smaller.

Netflix also notes that your DS must be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to stream content, but that’s for the folks who still believe TV transmissions are magic.

What do you folks think? Would you watch streaming video on your Nintendo DS, or are those screens too tiny for your tastes?

Thanks to Kevin for passing along this story.

Here’s Hex to tell you what’s in tonight’s episode:

What’s on Good Game this week? Wouldn’t you like to know…

* Coming off last week’s epic Final Fantasygasm, we find out how the latest instalment stacks up to its predecessors in Final Fantasy XIII.

* There’s plenty of top-hatted, pie-filled puzzle madness with The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom.

* Need something to pry that well-worn copy of COD4 from your fingers? Could Battlefield: Bad Company 2 be the game to help you do just that? Check out our review to find out…

PLUS – when you think of gaming, do you think of a psychedelic trip-fest combined with the glorious huggability of cuddly llamas? No…? Well, Jeff Minter does… which is why he created ‘Llamasoft’. We go backwards compatible to take an in-depth look into some of this eccentric game dev’s creations.

Catch Good Game Monday nights on ABC2 @ 8:30pm – and now also Good Game: Spawn Point (especially for younger gamers) on Saturday nights on ABC3 @ 7:25pm.

Watch any episode at www.abc.net.au/goodgame
Or if you miss them, watch higher quality versions on ABC’s iView service.
STOP. Llamatime.

Bill Murray was on Letterman the other night and got talking Ghostbusters. Then he got talking the recent Ghostbusters game. I had to watch it four times to catch it all, so dazzled was I by that shirt.

Watch the clip and you’ll hear how much he loved the experience of getting back into the character of Dr Peter Venkman while recording for the game. I’m glad he did, because Venkman’s lifeless voice work was probably the most disappointing aspect of the entire game for me, especially when placed next to the amazing job Dan Aykroyd did with Ray Stanz.

Still, it’s always nice listening to Bill Murray, seeing as his public appearances are so few and far between. Then again, judging by his attire, there might be a reason for that.

[via Go Nintendo]

A killer episode of Good Game lined up for this week:

Teetering on the edge of the release of Final Fantasy XIII – we’ve launched into a monumental Backwards Compatible in which we examine the entire series. So epic – it’s a two-parter.

We also meet a seriously dedicated collector of old gaming consoles – taking a walk down memory lane when we visit him and the library of retro consoles that he’s amassed.

Also, we of course throw in a review or two – this week we’ve been playing:

* MASSIVE ACTION GAME – Or just… MAG. We put it through its paces on the PS3.

* Spot the face-hugger in our review of Aliens vs Predator – they mostly come out at night.

….Mostly.

Catch Good Game Monday nights on ABC2 @ 8:30pm – and now also Good Game: Spawn Point (especially for younger gamers) on Saturday nights on ABC3 @ 7:25pm.

Watch any episode at www.abc.net.au/goodgame or if you miss them, watch higher quality versions on ABC’s iView service.

Happy gaming.

I’ve downloaded the 995 MB episode, in high definition, of course, to see just how entertaining The Tester will be. Which PlayStation video game luminaries will make appearances? Who will be judged unworthy of bug-testing video games and sent packing? Will I pause the show to get up and pour myself a drink?

Read on for blow by blow liveblogging of the very first episode. If you’ve already downloaded episode one of The Tester, watch with us. If not download it to satisfy your genuine or morbid curiosity. It’s free!

It’s finally here! I hit the play button. They’re going over what The Tester is—11 contestants vying for a testing position at Sony in the QA dept.

First contestant is the girl with the handle “Star,” the one with all the shit in her face. She’s a pro gamer and is really serious about this whole thing.

Next up, “Cyrus.” “I’ve been in gaming since as far as I can remember. The whole cast is being shuttled in a black van to The Tester set. Here comes “Amped” aka the Cute One, a cheerleading coach.

Here’s the host Meredith Molinari, who is very animated. She says “coveted job of PlayStation game tester” with great enthusiasm and gets the 11 tester contestants pumped up with the promise of a $5000 signing bonus. So far, so good.

Oh, here comes “Goof!” “I really want it,” Goof says.

Meredith threatens that the challenges may be heartbreaking. There are two contestants wearing sunglasses indoors, normally the kind of thing you should be ridiculed for, but I bet the lights are pretty bright in the Tester studio.

Now, onto the PlayStation and Sony product placement.

“Nauseous” is VERY impressed by the Bravias and various generation PlayStations on the set. Amped is impressed by the PlayStation badges. We’re really setting the bar pretty low here.

Wait, there’s another female contestant I don’t remember seeing before, “Luge.” She’s got a sweet New Yorker accent.

“Barmy,” the dandy of the group, aka Vest Man aka The Shy Thoughtful One, gets his monologue. He seems impressed with his own ability to read people and sounds like he perceives himself to be quiet the strategic contestant. He must’ve have watched some Flavor Of Love.

“Doc” attempts to flirt with Amped by saying she has a face for television. He also outs Star as a pro gamer, a Guitar Hero “threat.”

Excellent. Notes to the contestants are delivered through the PlayStation Network messaging system. “Barmy” is really excited to survey the other contestants. He’s the outsider of the group, supposedly by choice. The group thinks they are about to play some Eye of Judgment. Surprisingly, no one gives up at this point.

The Tester Lab, where these little contests are going to go down, looks a bit like a Saw torture puzzle. Oh, the esteemed judging panel is here!

Brent Gocke, “release manager for global platform first party quality assurance,” according to Meredith. But you probably know that! Brent’s a former tester, he says. I should have started counting the number of times “A-game” is used in this episode.

Hal Sparks is on, putting on a brave face. He’s the “celebrity” judge I guess.

Finally, Petro Piaseckyj, managing producer for PlayStation international software at Sony, who I’ll just call Petro from now on. No point in trying to spell that last name correctly ever again. He’s worked on Heavy Rain, EyePet and Buzz. Petro calls testing the “backbone” of game development.

Star looks worried and weathered.

Meredith is going to give the 11 contestants some sort of bug-testing exercise. Doesn’t look like they’ll actually play a game and seek out bugs, as that would be incredibly boring. And no one at Sony wants to show a buggy game in a show that literally tens of hundreds of people will probably watch.

Cyrus says he’s “scared shitless” to take the challenge, which is looking at pictures. This is intense!!

Doc is up next, he’s like “Bam! Bam! Bam!” but he’s also like “Duh.” He crashes, setting up for too many jokes about his weight. Too bad.

The rest of the contestants burn through all this Highlights For Kids inspired contest. Hey, there’s a Heavenly Sword cameo! Uh-oh, looks like Barmy didn’t do so well. And Nauseous isn’t doing so well either. It’s still reality show intense. Buzzers are buzzing.

Wait, her handle is Fame Girl? You know, the crying one from the Tester teaser trailer. I think she needs a better t-shirt for future episodes.

Here comes Luge. I like her. She seems alright. Just nerdy enough.

Man, they’re going to show everyone going through this contest. When are they going to show these kids getting hammered, throwing haymakers at each other and crying to their parents on the phone?

Barmy… I’m feeling awkward on his behalf after his “We who are about to die salute you!” He’s probably be most uncomfortable of the group.

The show is pretty stock stuff at this point. Meredith comes out and warns everyone that the contestant with the highest score is safe. You can guess what’ll happen to the Tester with the lowest score. Yep. Hot tears of shame(TM).

Here we go. The standard elimination sequence. I’m happy there are no commercials. I couldn’t take the tension otherwise!

The Tester with the highest score is…

LUGE! YES!!! She reminds me of a tinier Ralph Macchio, but female.

Here comes the critique. Petro is laying into Doc, saying that he wasn’t professional. Doc’s eyes are already a little bit wet. Amazing. Maybe they pump something into the atmosphere in these rooms.

The lowest scores: Barmy, Roni and Fame Girl. Barmy is greatly bothered by this, his vest clearly wrinkled. I’ll be you five dollars Barmy owns a pipe.

Oh boy, Barmy just cracked a joke. It went over like a lead balloon. Please get this person off the show, Hal Sparks!! Woah, I think Hal just compared Barmy to Jeffrey Dahmer, which Barmy clearly did not appreciate.

Is this focus/defocus thing standard reality show camera work? I’ve really only watched Hogan Knows Best, for obvious reasons!

Oh no! Roni, the girl who got almost no face time or exhibited personality is eliminated.

Fame Girl and Barmy are in the bottom two. And the judges kick off Barmy!

YESSSSSSS!!! Sorry Barmy, but I would only grow to despise you more as time goes on.

“I’d wanted to do better,” he says, for his kids Stephanie and Allister, issuing a tearful goodbye. I can’t look. What is with the crying, people? It’s a show! And it’s not even on BASIC CABLE.

Well, that’s about it for this episode. Fame Girl vows to be number one in the next episode. Oh! Next week’s teaser!

That would be the episode that sees the contestants in inflatable orbs being yelled at by their peers with bullhorns. Looks like there will be contestants in shorts and David Jaffe pointing fingers at people.

Good lord, more tears!

Well, that wraps it up. I’m officially interested to watch one more episode of The Tester, now that Barmy has packed up his vests and is headed home and that Luge will be back on. Will someone at SCEA please send me a PlayStation Network points card? The rest of these cost money, right?

In case you missed it – and let’s face it, you probably did – over the weekend, Microsoft decided that the perfect place to promote Project Natal was… on TV show Smallville.

Here it is, complete with French subtitles, which make it look a lot sexier than it actually is. What’s best about it is not the French; it’s the way the whole segment avoids subtlety to such an extent Microsoft would have been better off just screening a proper Natal commercial during the ad break instead.

[thanks everyone!]