Samus Aran, the legendary bounty hunter from the Metroid franchise comes to life via Brazilian cosplayer Yuki LeFay. If you’ve been living away from civilization for a while and don’t know who Samus is, she is heroine of the Metroid series that dates back to the first one. Gamers have even voted that she will win in a fight against Master Chief of Halo.

This is the best looking Samus I’ve seen so far. If you don’t believe me check out the following photos of her cosplay. Metroid Prime hunters weasel.

More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Videos, power thinker, horror game, minigames, and the low down on the DSi in this week’s Nintendo news roundup.

Nintendo mulling Wii-to-DS video download service
Nintendo is planning to offer video downloads via the Wii and send it to the DS. The service will be first made available in Japan later this year and if accepted by the Japanese consumers then it will debut worldwide. Download ATV service manuals.

‘Sims’ and ‘Spore’ creator leaves EA
Will Wright left EA to start a Stupid Fun Club, an entertainment think tank company. He hopes to churn out new ideas for games, movies, TV shows, and toys. I hope he succeeds in this endeavor.

Fatal Frame 4 Never Coming To US
Tecmo announced that the fourth installation of Fatal Frame would not be reaching the US market. This has been decided by Nintendo and Tecmo can’t do anything about it. AS to the reason why Nintendo doesn’t want it release it is beyond logic. It did well in Japan and fans are raving about it, saying Fatal Frame 4 is the best game of the franchise by far.

Make Your Own WarioWare Games
Made in Ore is composed of 90 mini games but its main feature is that it lets the player made his own game and share it among his peers. I don’t know about you guys but what’s the point of another mini game collection?

Nintendo DSi: Hands-on Review
The reviewer tells us that DS Lite owners should not switch to the DSi. The DSi is for those who skipped on the DS Lite or people who don’t have any portable consoles yet. I totally agree specially when he pointed out that the GBA slot is missing with the DSi that makes GH Tour unplayable on the new console.

The battle between beavers and robots that started on the DS will be making its way to the Wii. Fans of the 2008 DS game Robocalypse can get Beaver Defense from the Wiiware. The second game of the franchise focuses more on tower defense. Players must place defensive units on the map in the hopes of thwarting off the enemies.

The game’s producer Alan Martin has this to say about it:

“The story is hilarious and offers a fitting back drop for this fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek game where the player must thwart the plans of a maniacal beaver.”

Just like the DS version, the Wiiware’s Beaver Defense is written by Jay Lender. If you find the name familiar, you must have seen it at the end credits of SpongeBob Squarepants. There are a couple of tower defense games in the market today; I wonder what makes Beaver Defense different from the rest.

Like I said before, I don’t think Don King Boxing would be a good game and I was right. Don King teaming up with 2K Sports churned out a game that I would want to play. The storyline is interesting but boxing on the Wii is still a bad concept. Technology-wise, the Wii isn’t capable yet of exciting boxing action. Maybe the gameplay would improve once Wii MotionPlus is available.

Some have thought the Don King Boxing will be the game that dethrones Wii Sports’ Boxing but it still lacks the precision controls. Punches don’t go where you want them to go. Even after an hour or two of playing it, I had a hard time hitting uppercuts. The only difference it has with Wii Sports’ Boxing is that it incorporates the Wii Balance Board into its gameplay.

The story mode lets you play as The Kid as he begins his journey towards boxing supremacy. What I like about this mode is that it features real footage in telling the story. There are clips in between fights where boxers and managers talk about The Kid and how his career is rising. To unlock big purse fight, you have to meet certain conditions, such as winning by KO in a given round or get the judges decide the match to your side. The cinematics is great but the in game graphics still have to make do with what Wii has to offer.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s Japan gaming console numbers are in and it looks like Sony’s PS3 is looking to cement itself as the number one gaming console in the land of the rising sun. It has surpassed Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox360.

Nintendo’s DS still remains the king of all consoles but Sony’s PSP is not far behind from it. The DSi might be the reason behind this lead and with all the hype it’s getting from its Northern American release. Will we seeing next gen consoles from other companies to rival the DS?

Here is last week’s the Japanese sales charts:

Nintendo DS: 65,809
PlayStation Portable: 54,148
PlayStation 3: 22,825
Nintendo Wii: 17,276
PlayStation 2: 5246
Xbox 360: 4849

The PS3 still has a lot of room to improve, with regards to its hardware. Maybe Sony would release another upgrade soon then it could strengthen its claim on the top spot longer. Meanwhile, owners are busy searching for free PS3 cheats and codes to tide them over.

If you enjoy music games then get Rhythm Heaven. Since I got a copy of the game, it has never left my DS. It’s like going in a time machine to the time when music games were played by a few. This is the time when Rock Band and Guitar Hero didn’t exist.

Rhythm Heaven features 50 mini games where you must tap the DS’ touch screen along with the song’s beat. The controls are that simple and could be addicting. But be warned. Don’t let the simplicity of its graphics fool you. Its learning curve is a little bit hard and can frustrate a lot of gamers. Good thing each game in Rhythm Heaven has a tutorial that would show you how to play the game. You can practice and master the game before playing it for real.

This is a music game so let’s talk about the music. There are no rock bands featured or pop songs in the play list. But that doesn’t mean that it is not good. You need to listen to the rhythm of the song in order to beat the game.

Games have definitely changed in the past years. In the past we play games to relax. Then there are hardcore gamers who spend most of their time in front of the TV, playing games. These unhealthy folks usually have unfit bodies. But those days are over now. We see the emergence of casual games and games that can be healthy for the player. Video games became part of one’s exercise regime. Here are the top four games in the Wii that experts say is beneficial for your health. Ready for gaming, exercising, and Wii Fit?

Rock Band

If you say that Rock Band is not a strenuous game, then you haven’t tried being the drummer. One’s calve muscles will have a heavy workout when engaged pounding the Rock Band’s drum set. Drummers have my respect than the slacker guitarists slouching at the couch.

Wii Fit

We all know that Wii Fit’s selling point is its ability to give gamers a fitter body. It makes people jog in play and measure their Body Mass Index. This is one of the best sellers last year but there should be a survey on how many Wii Fits are currently being used.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

My generation might remember how it’s like to play those track and field button bashing games of years pass. This game is the “improved” version but instead of pushing those buttons, you have to flap your arms to win various events.

Wii Sports

My Wii came with this game. This is actually the only game I played for a week after getting the Wii. After sometime I observed that my wrists are much stronger than before. But what’s the practical use for this, I don’t know. Minute of playing Wii Sports will definitely make you sweat.

Upcoming virtual console games, Disney game, Echoes of Time, new console and the DSi in this week’s Nintendo news roundup.

Rumor: DSi Virtual Console will have Game Boy and GBA
I don’t know if it should still be considered as a rumor because Nintendo has already announced DSiWare and DSi Virtual console is definitely going to happened.

GDC 09: Spectrobes Preview
The original Disney game Spectrobes will be available for the DS this year. It is targeted for the young gamers.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Review
IGN reviews Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Wii and gave it a 6.5 rating. They like the DS version better.

OnLive: Will videogames be changed forever?
There’s a new gaming console out to challenge Nintendo and Sony. It would try to do what iTunes have done to music. To use it, you must download the program to your PC or Mac.

DSi sells over 2 million units in Japan
We’re nearing the launch date of the DSi for the North American market and we have news of the console reaching the 2M plateau in Japan. It is said to have sold at least 14,000 units each day in the Land of the Rising Sun.

I was looking for new ringtones for my Sony Ericsson C902 when I came across Entertonement. The site boosts of a large collection of sound bites, which includes a couple from your favorite Super Nintendo games.

Once you get to the web site, you’ll be able to listen to different sound bites from various Super Nintendo games, such as Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros, Final Fantasy, Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Trigger and a lot more. You could also upload your own sound to the site. All the sound bites can be embedded in various social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Bebo.

If you want to use the sound bite as your cell phone’s ringtone, you need to register first with the web site. After registration you can send the tone directly to your phone. Entertonement supports all major carriers. I’m using Final Fantasy III Victory Theme Song as my ringtone these days.

Apple’s iPhone changed how people play games. There’s no need to go to the store to buy the latest game. You could download the game directly to your iPhone. It’s no wonder that Nintendo and Sony are going for game downloads as features for their next gen portable consoles.

For their part, Nintendo will be releasing the DSi on April 5 for the North American market. One of its main features is its internal flash memory and a SD card slot. This means gamers can download and store games in their DSi, unlike the present DS version.

Downloadable contents are not really new. Nintendo have already implemented it with its Wii. The success of the iPhone put digital distribution into the limelight. Nintendo is inviting game developers into making games that would be made available through the DSiWare service.

But Nintendo stated that it would not go in the direction of Apple in which there are lots of similar apps competing with each other. Nintendo wants to provide the gamers with quality games that’s worth its download value. OK, so how about a downloadable Scooby Doo game?