Greetings humans, Monki here with your weekly dose of video game news.
Some craziness going on around the world of gaming this week; Sony is still going bonkers and another game that my father will love is going to hit the DS pretty soon and a game that I already love is going to be hitting the DS this Summer!
Have you submitted your art to the 8 Bit contest yet? Remember, you've got just less than two weeks to finish up your entries. Submit them to aicn.monki@gmail.com with the headline "8 Bit Art."
A few questions answered, yes, you can submit more than one entry, but you will only be eligible for one prize pack, and yes, you can submit music as well, as long as it is original music and not just a remix of existing music. (Mashing three Mega Man tracks, for example.) Send music along in MP3 format. Any more questions, e-mail me.
Okay, time for a quick plug for something I just picked up this week that is pretty cool. I've been working out over the last month or so and I just picked up some new running shoes and the Nike+ adapter for my iPod. Holy crap. It's like a real life video game. You set goals, you challenge other racers, you get awards, all totally free (after the initial purchase of the adapter kit).
I've currently joined a couple of guys who are seeing who can run from Houston to Round Rock (north of Austin) the fastest. For those of you who claim Dance Dance Revolution is an "exercise game" I challenge you to jump on Nike+. The music is better too. As a matter of fact, if any of you guys out there are in the Nike+ community, let me know, we can set up an AICN challenge or something. Drop me an email and we can get something set up.
When exercise and video games collide, life is that much better. And for those of you who say this whole deal isn't a game, I beg to differ. Oh man, wouldn't it be cool if someone created a game to go along with something like this where real life achievements and targets affected a virtual character? Run 50 miles in 4 weeks and your in-game character gets faster reloading time. Marcus from Gears running at 10 miles per hour. Challenge Cole Train to a 40 yard dash. This whole deal could positively effect the outlook on video games as we know it. Or not.
Alright, enough exercise talk, pass the Cheetos, let's get to the real deal.
Correction of the correction of the Week!
So, most of you read last week that I had to correct myself via a reader who mentioned that Terminator: Future Shock was actually the first true 3d shooter. This week a reader by the clever name of "John" dropped me a line to remind me about a game that can't believe I overlooked.
DESCENT.
Descent, the space simulation game where you flew your craft around hunting baddies and had true motion in any direction. I remember getting to play Descent in Mr. Mitchell's computer science class because it didn't feature any blood or shooting of humans. Good times.
So, the bar has been raised to Descent, anyone else got another?
Press Releases of the Week!
Wooo hooo!! SimCity DS! One of my favorite SNES titles and one of my favorite PC titles. I know exactly what I'll be playing when AICN sends me to some island to cover another film festival! Don't you love flying over water?
TOKYO, Japan - February 28, 2007 - Electronic Arts announced today that SimCity franchise is returning with SimCity DS, developed especially for the Nintendo DS platform. In addition to creating and growing their very own pocket sized city while being on-the-go, players will be able to leverage the unique action features of the Nintendo DS system, discovering an entirely new way to play this internationally acclaimed franchise. The product will make its debut to consumers worldwide in summer of this year.
True to the SimCity series, players will be able to create and control their city in the palm of their hands...and much more. Maximizing the stylus and built-in microphone controls of the Nintendo DS, SimCity DS brings to the franchise like never before the feeling of personal involvement with your city—from blowing into the microphone to put out fires in the city to signing off on mayoral proclamations with your stylus. By enabling the players to communicate with each other, the "wireless data exchange" feature brings additional interactivity into the game. As an added bonus to SimCity fans around the world, the game also offers a wide array of recognizable international landmarks to spice up your city.
"We are very excited to bring the SimCity experience to the Nintendo DS platform," said Takahiro Murakami, Producer of SimCity DS. "The unique Nintendo DS functionalities inspired us to incorporate many new features to delight the most dedicated SimCity fans. The game is filled with fun surprises that will appeal to new and existing fans of the franchise."
Oh man that just looks so awesome. Perfect use of the DS platform. Can you tell that I'm excited at all? Throw in Bowser to terrorize your city and I'll buy three copies.
No other major press releases have hit my inbox, but a very very important website went live today.
Any predictions what this one will bring? We know that Rockstar Table Tennis basically was a model test for GTA4, gotta figure the characters will at least look badass.
Pretty Images of the Week!
This first image hit my inbox with a thundering fist. I'll just let you look at it, click the image to see the larger version. Woooooo.
Look me in the face and tell me that doesn't look cool as shit. I'm not sure which system that screenshot comes from, but it's either PS3 or 360. Transformers: The Game hits the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC, PSP and DS this Summer.
We go from radically detailed robot to simple crosswords. I'm posting these shots because I remember every Sunday morning as a child waking up and running downstairs to pull the Sunday comics from the paper while my dad did the crossword. For his birthday a few months ago I bought him a Nintendo DS along with Brain Age. No other gift to him has given me more pleasure. My dad never really "got" video games, but he was a good enough man to let his son spend his time with them. This one is for you dad.
Simple enough, it's The New York Times CrossworDS for the Nintendo DS. How smart is that? More than 1,000 crosswords directly from the pages of the Times. Also included is Wi-Fi enabled modes including a cooperative mode! Sweet! Easy early birthday present right here. So, if your parent was a crossword fan, why not pick this one up and let them check it out. I certainly will be.
To round out the images this week I've just gotten some screens for the upcoming "Shrek The Third" title for Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PC, NDS, PSP and GBA. (No PS3, oddly enough.) Anyway, I wanted to show you these screens because they are from the Wii version of the game.
Looks like swordplay is going to play a large role in this title. You think the handling in this game will be better than the sword stuff from Red Steel? We'll see!
Presenting Monki's First Ever "REALLY??" of the Week!
Watch this, and replace "Michael Vick" with "Sony" and replace "taking weed into the airport" with "blackballing Kotaku."
Sony....really? Kotaku is one of, if not the best gaming blogs on the web. Brian Crecente is one of the best gaming journalists out there.
If you didn't hear, this Thursday, Kotaku posted a RUMOR about a big announcement Sony would be making at the GDC this week. Kotaku went to Sony before posting and told them that the story would be hitting later that day. Sony freaked and basically said, don't post the story or else. Kotaku posted the story. The "or else" bit was Sony BLACKBALLING Kotaku pulling their interviews at GDC and saying they wouldn't send early builds of games any more and that they wanted their dev kit back.
At this point, the internet kind of exploded. A surge of protest went up in the blog-o-sphere (god I hate that term) and Sony quickly scrambled and made an apology to Kotaku and the world began spinning on it's axis again.
What the hell Sony? You are already in a publicity nightmare. Your $600 system isn't living up to the potential you claimed it would be. PS3s sit on shelves all the while Wiis still don't even make it to the damn shelves from the trucks. (I know for a fact, I got a tip last night that 15 had arrived at a local Best Buy. They had all sold out in 40 minutes...they arrived an hour before the store closed.
The Playstation Home deal that was the big rumor actually sounds kind of cool. Adorn a virtual crib with crap you get playing a game. Kind of a cool idea. Disney Online has the same kind of thing with their Virtual Magic Kingdom MMO thing. (Sue me, I used to work for the Mouse.)
Why the hell make a big deal out of this whole thing anyway Sony? You realize by killing the messenger you have pretty much validated a rumor. Wow. Sony really needs to hire some new PR folk before blogs just stop talking to Sony instead of the reverse. Silly technology.
Oh, and for what it's worth, The Departed looks awesome on HD-DVD.
Double the Fun Wrap-Up of the Week!
What a week. So much coolness out there. That Transformers screen looks insane. Anyway, for all of your efforts reading this article, I'm going to give you double the fun wrap-up movies.
The first is a reader-submitted vid. Brendan found this mashup of the 300 trailer with footage from Halo. Freaking awesome. Well well done.
From there, I'm going to go completely off track and show you all my favorite video I've seen this week. It has absolutely nothing to do with video games, it just has to do with awesomeness.
Aren't vampires technically dead? My quote regarding this video: "It's like it's from a musical about Vampires written by Trey Parker." Merrick (who has watched this clip about 1,000 times) has this to say: "If Meatloaf banged Anne Rice...and they made a retarded child that nobody wanted..." Either way you look at it, god damn, pure fucking gold.
Okay, I'm going back to my treehouse to try to finish Crackdown this weekend. Boing boing boing goes the supercop. Until next time, back up the tree I go!
