Thanks to our friends at AFA Interactive, we’ve got five copies of the game, plus five extremely limited edition art books, to give away all this week. The art book contains gorgeous concept art (pictured below) from the game’s artists and there were only 130 of them printed worldwide. Yours will be hand-numbered and everything!

One unique feature of A Boy and His Blob is that it has a hug button. Yes, a hug button. A button for giving hugs.

To be in the running to win, we want you to give a hug, too. Send us a photo of yourself hugging someone or something. The five hugs that most warms our heart with love and affection will win. It’s as simple as that.

Entries close at midnight, Sunday, November 29. Good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

Estavillo’s suing Microsoft for an RROD on his 360, claiming that a disability means he can afford neither a new console nor a “well over $US100 fee to fix it.” He’s looking for $US75,000 on that complaint, because of the “undue stress” he’s suffered since the machine’s failure, plus the “sadness he will have in the mean time of finding one he can afford.” Allllllllright. Next.

Nintendo of America isn’t so holy in this either. Estavillo complains that a Wii firmware update disabled his homebrew channel. Basically, he’s bitching that it prevents him from unlocking a character in Super Mario Galaxy and for that he wants $US5,000 for obstructing his “pursuit of happiness.”

In his suit Estavillo says he depends on games for his emotional well being because he suffers from depression, OCD, panic disorder, Crohn’s disease and agoraphobia, the latter of which you might recall was his basis for suing Sony after it banned him for being a jackass on PSN. A judge threw out that lawsuit, a judgment which he has appealed. There’s obviously no stopping this guy.

Banned Resistance Gamer Targets Microsoft and NOA in Latest Suits [Game Politics]

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is coming to Wii next week. It’s an excellent light-gun shooter that retells the events of Resident Evil 2. Thanks to our friends at Capcom, we have five Darkside Chronicles prize packs to give away.

Each pack contains:

* The Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles Wii Zapper Bundle
* The best promo t-shirt we’ve ever seen (pictured)
* A Darkside Chronicles pen
* A Darkside Chronicles medical mask
* A Raccoon City Police Dept wallet

How do you win?

You need to send us a photo of yourself (and a friend, it’s a co-op game after all) proving how well prepared you are for the zombie apocalypse. The most imaginative, creative, inventive and downright funny entries will win.

You’ve got until midnight, Sunday, November 29, to get your entry in. Send it to the usual address with Darkside Chronicles in the subject line. Only one entry per person, please!

Good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

So far, it’s not known how if this glitch is repeatable or what circumstances would force it, but, dang, that box is barfing infinite coins and thus infinite lives in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Glitch Causes Infinite Coins/Lives [Go Nintendo]

This coming Monday, November 23, sees the release of the original SNES Mario Kart for 800 Points. Good news. Better news is to come, though, as “sometime this holiday season” Nintendo will also release the original SNES Pilotwings and the original N64 Smash Bros. Exact release dates and pricing to come on those two.

Leaving just one game on my Virtual Console wish list. Jurassic Park. Chop chop, Nintendo.

Super Mario Kart drifts onto Wii VC [GameSpot]

There’s currently a trial program in place in the state called “Empire 2.0″, which is all about the government extending existing services and means of communication to 21st century outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

Of course, gaming consoles are included in that, and NY are in the process of testing – across Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and the Wii’s network – a means of distributing emergency warning messages across those platforms, so anyone with their console on (and TV or radio off) can be reached.

It’s a good idea. I actually had the displeasure of hearing the “whoooop whoooop” of an emergency warning back in 2003, but I only heard it – and evacuated my house in time – because it was on both the radio and television. These days, I’d be far more likely to be on Xbox Live or the PSN.

Not that I live in NY, just saying… it’s a good idea.

Interop: New York Tests Xbox-Based Alert System [IW, via Gizmodo]

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is coming to Wii next week. It’s an excellent light-gun shooter that retells the events of Resident Evil 2. Thanks to our friends at Capcom, we have five Darkside Chronicles prize packs to give away.

Each pack contains:

* The Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles Wii Zapper Bundle
* The best promo t-shirt we’ve ever seen (pictured)
* A Darkside Chronicles pen
* A Darkside Chronicles medical mask
* A Raccoon City Police Dept wallet

How do you win?

You need to send us a photo of yourself (and a friend, it’s a co-op game after all) proving how well prepared you are for the zombie apocalypse. The most imaginative, creative, inventive and downright funny entries will win.

You’ve got until midnight, Sunday, November 29, to get your entry in. Send it to the usual address with Darkside Chronicles in the subject line. Only one entry per person, please!

Good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

So instead, I give you these screen shots Capcom provided so you can make the call. What do you say?

Monster Hunter Tri, however, is going for a different audience with its exclusive Wii release. By streamlining the Wii friend code process and adding features other multiplayer games rely on — such as a chat window — Tri is trying to jump start the online ecosystem that’s already built into the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

But how does that impact that actual monster hunting?

What Is It?
Monster Hunter Tri is a multiplayer adventure game where up to four players can team up to hunt down monsters. The game skips over friend codes, instead using a lobby system where you can easily find other players and send friend requests. Additionally, there’s a chat window in-game that can be accessed with a USB keyboard if you don’t feel like pointing and clicking. Currently, Wii Speak is not in the game — but Capcom is “looking into it”.

There’s also a singleplayer mode built into the game, but details on it are scarce.

What We Saw
I played three missions during the University event using both the Wii Remote/Nunchuck configuration and the Classic Controller Pro because they had one handy.

Note: It’s unconfirmed if the Classic Controller Pro will be brought to the US along with Monster Hunter Tri.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out early 2010. I didn’t notice any major show-stopping bugs — but I was sad to see that the Wii was hooked up to computer monitors which have a nasty reputation of making even very good Wii graphics look fugly. So I can’t speak to the graphics which are apparently supposed to be pretty.

What Needs Improvement?
There’s No Lock On: Normally, this doesn’t matter in Monster Hunter because you pan the camera toward a monster, press attack and bam! You’ve hit it. However, Tri introduces underwater combat where the monsters can change depth quickly during a fight. Panning the camera a la ground combat under water takes a little extra work and can be totally disorienting. So, yeah, a lock-on would be preferable.

At Tiddy Bit Fiddly: On the Classic Controller Pro, I had a lot of problems getting the Bowgun to aim right. Not only do you have to have the weapon out and cocked before you can attack — you also have to choose between shooting from the hip or going into sniper mode with a targeting reticule. Given that battles move very quickly and monsters can charge across a field right at you while you’re reloading and re-cocking, it would be nice if the button controls for un-slinging, cocking and aiming your Bowgun were perhaps a little streamlined. Or if there were a Panicked Dodge button that would snap you out of sniper mode at the last second.

Constant Loads: Every time you leave an area of a map — which you will, because the monsters move around — you’ve got to endure a loading screen. It gets tedious.

What Should Stay The Same?
Wow, It’s Multiplayer! I’m not used to more than two people in my multiplayer on the Wii, so I was excited to see four people in the same place, attacking the same thing with no lag — on the Wii! If Monster Hunter Tri can work things out such that people actually buy this game and play it, it’s going to be a lot of fun team up with people and make new friends among strangers the way I would on other consoles.

Swimming Is Fun: Once you get the hang of the quick-swim button and the dive button, moving around underwater feels pretty pleasant. I kind of wonder how the lancer doesn’t drown under the weight of her weapon, though…

Final Thoughts
Two things will probably make or break this game: Wii Speak and pay-to-play subscriptions. In Japan, they don’t have the former, but they do have the latter — and a long history of loving Monster Hunter. Here, we’re sad because there are only like two games that use Wii Speak and I really don’t think we’d stand for a subscription Wii game no matter how awesome it might be. Also, we’re not as fond of or familiar with Monster Hunter — but with any luck and a little attention to these two make-or-breaks, Capcom could be changing that.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends much of its time focused on the brickification of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it also gives players a taste of Indy’s original adventures. Better still, it gives Indiana Jones fans a chance to build their own LEGO levels this time around.

Can a new, coop-friendly split-screen system and the ability to design your own levels make up for the fact that the game reanimates Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Lets see.

Loved
Two Players, Two Screens: One of my big qualms with previous LEGO games was that when you started playing coop — and that’s always been the best way to play — the screen became a leash. If one player went too far in a direction it started pulling the other player around with them, sometimes to their death. This time around, once you hit the limits of the screen it splits, allowing the two players to go their separate ways. The way the screen splits also shows which direction the other player is in. It’s a neat design concept that typically works quite well.

Build Mode: While LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends most of its time focused on just about everybody’s least favourite Indy film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it also introduces the ability to design and play through your own LEGO levels to the franchise. The system is fairly straight forward: You select and throw down LEGO bricks you’ve unlocked through gameplay to create sets based on what comes with the game. Not only does that include AI-programmable enemies and creatures, but traps that you can tie to different bricks. It’s a robust little system tied to a fun aesthetic. My only disappointment is that you apparently can’t share your creations with friends online. A pretty big bummer.

Another Take: While more than a third of the game is devoted to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the game also includes abbreviated takes on the first three movies. Interestingly, instead of just porting over chunks of these LEGO adaptations from The Original Adventures the game seems to completely reinvent them. While Indy purists may lose sleep over these in-a-nutshell adaptations of the first three films, they’re clever, punchy and fun in a way that makes playing the story a second time worthwhile.

Wide Open Spaces: Every LEGO game has a sort of jumping off point, a hub from which gamers embark on the multiple stores and adventures of the particular game. In the original LEGO Indy game it was a university, this time it’s the storage warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sort of. The top menu has you select one of the eight containers (some start boxed up and have to be unlocked) to decide where your adventure begins. There are crates for the first three movies and then three crates for Crystal Skull and finally a crate each for the build mode and another for “Super Bonus” levels, which are essentially time trials. But when you jump into a movie, the game drops you into a fairly expansive area that than has to be explored to find the storyline. While you wander around these large set pieces you also discover hidden items, challenges and fun little things to do. It’s a neat addition to the LEGO gaming experience.

Vehicles: Always a pleasure in LEGO games, this time around the world gives you access to cars, motorcycles, bikes, tree-cutters, horses, camels, rickshaws and, my favourite, planes. There’s nothing like flying over a LEGO land and jumping out to parachute to your favourite play area.

Completest: As with all previous LEGO games, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues comes with quite a few reasons to play, replay and replay the game again. There are special LEGO pieces to collect, time trials to unlock, Easter eggs to discover. And it’s all a lot of fun to do.

Funny Story: Played in tandem with my eight-year-old, the game had Tristan in stitches. And it wasn’t just him. Sure, I’d still like to see a LEGO heart ripped from a mini-fig’s chest, but the alternative to all of that Indy violence can be quite funny at times.

Hated
Not So Invisible Walls: The worlds of LEGO Indiana Jones 2 are much, much bigger, but they’re not without their limits and unfortunately those limits aren’t disguised very well. Go too far and your mini-fig will just float back to the map.

The Camera Controls… Still: How can Traveller’s Tales, who have single-handedly reinvigorated, reinvented the LEGO gaming franchise, still not have the in-game camera worked out? I’m sick of dying simply because the perspective is throwing me off. Fix this already.

What Next: I love the huge explorable, hidden, area-filled worlds of LEGO, but I hate having to wander around in them for half an hour trying to figure out which path, which cave, which ladder will take me to the next step in the story. A map or maybe a better indicator would be much appreciated.

I wasn’t really looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Of all of the LEGO games the first Indiana Jones was my least favourite, though I still quite liked it. And this time around, I wasn’t really anticipating playing through my least favourite movie in the series. But the game delivers on so many levels, adding a much needed split screen and a fantastic build mode, that I’ve been delighted with the experience.

If you didn’t pick up the first LEGO Indiana Jones game, I think it might even be worth skipping and instead going straight to this one.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues was developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by LucasArts for the DS, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360 on November 17. Retails for $US49.99/$AU89.95 (Xbox 360/PS3). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through all sets and campaigns both alone and with my son on Xbox 360. Built several levels alone and with my son.

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