Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Action, Adventure, Video

We had a few concerns with Sonic Rush Adventure – less with the “Rush” part of the title, and more with the “Adventure” — but the latest gameplay trailers shows us that SRA is more of a good thing. Nothing wrong with classic Sonic side-scrolling, super-fast action (albeit with a few 3D boss battles and water-sports thrown in for good measure).

Still, Sonic hasn’t been doing so hot in recent history. Is Rush Adventure the game to pull the blazing blue mascot out of the gutter?

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Filed under: Portable, Sony PSP, Galleries

In a surprise move, Sony decided to display the new PSP Slim at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend after all, letting excited fans get their grubby little hands on the new hardware right now. They were clearly extremely worried about the security issues though, because each PSP Slim was tethered to the pants of a Sony booth babe — and the cables weren’t very long.

This led to some kind of awkward situations where you all up in their personal space and playing with something right next to the front of their pants. Needless to say, Star Wars: Battlefront turned out to be incredibly difficult to play.

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Filed under: Portable, Casual

Apple just made a whole slew of iPod-related announcements, with just the faintest hint of gamer love. Revealed during Steve Jobs’ special iPod event, both the revamped iPod nano and the iPod classic will ship with three games: Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike.

Klondike is just a fancy name for that Solitaire card game we all know and love, so nothing new there, and iQuiz is a remixed version of the older iPod “guess which song this is” game. Vortex, meanwhile, is a circular, three-dimensional brick-busting game in the style of arcade classics Breakout and Arkanoid. All three titles were developed in-house by Apple, and both Vortex and iQuiz can also currently be purchased on the iTunes store.

Even if the new nano is the Gimli to the old nano’s Legolas, it’s nice to see both it and the classic getting more into games. Jobs also promises more iPod games coming to the iTunes Store (Hey! You know what would be awesome on the iPod? Peggle!)

Although not addressed during the event, it’s assumed that the brand new iPod touch will join the iPhone in being unable to play any games purchased from the iTunes Music Store.

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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Peripherals, Rhythm

It might not go up to 11, but the miniature amp included in an upcoming Jam Sessions bundle shows that Ubisoft is definitely taking their music simulator seriously.

The “Performance Bundle” — which includes a First Act-branded mini amp — will retail for $69.99 USD, but won’t be out until November 1st, despite the game being released next Tuesday. The bundle’s a clever move by Ubisoft to appeal to the more earnest musicians with their product. Now all we need is Guitar Center to start stocking the non-game.

[Via DS Fanboy]

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Filed under: Portable, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

If you were into combing Xbox Live Arcade last fall, you probably remember Small Arms. For the uninitiated, the game could probably best be described as Super Smash Bros. crossed with … well, with no recognizable characters. If you’ve played the game, but thought it could be improved with the introduction of squinting and phone call interruptions, your prayers are about to be answered.

Reaxion Corp. has announced that they’ll be working with Gastronaut Studios to bring the diminutive brawler to phones in October of 2007. Listen, Gastronaut, we’ll be happy to download it, just, please, stop making their arms smaller! It’s like a Pikachu convention over there.

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Filed under: Portable, Wireless, Joyswag

[Update: Submission period is over! We’ll be picking the winner soon.]

To help promote Kratos’ first portable outing, Sony has offered us a PSP to give away to one lucky reader. But it’s not so simple. Now that God of War has gone mobile in God of War: Betrayal, we thought we’d ask readers to, well, go mobile as the god of war. Wherever you’re likely to break out your cellphone to eviscerate some minotaurs kill some time, we’re asking you to:

• Take a picture of yourself dressed as Kratos in a mundane location; think: bus stop, DMV, waiting in line, etc.
• Submit your image in .jpg format, no smaller than 800px wide, to joyswag.submissions+kratos AAT gmail DAWT com between now and 5pm on 9/5/07
• You may submit one entry each day, giving you more chances to win
• Winners will be selected based on creativity, uniqueness, and humor
• Please, no real weapons, we don’t want anyone to get hurt. Try cardboard or styrofoam instead!

Please consult the official rules for more details. You can purchase God of War: Betrayal on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, or by texting KRATOS to 4SONY.

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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Action, Adventure

As a DS fanboy (even before– well, you know), as soon as I saw The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass at Nintendo’s PAX booth, I was there. And I was not at all disappointed. In fact, despite having already read lots of gushing about the game, I found myself completely sucked in by even the most basic tasks. My impressions agree totally with the E3 impressions– however, these are PAX impressions, which are a completely different thing.

The demo starts you out in a port town, unarmed, with a directive from your fairy friend to go talk to your grandpa. After a visit to Grandpa, you head out to a monster-infested area, then your general jaunt around town (Go talk to this character! Go try to cross this bridge! Oh, the bridge has collapsed! We should talk to Grandpa! etc.) The demo spent just enough time not giving you the sword that I was starting to get a little antsy; however, one final visit to Grandpa got me my weapon, and he then went about teaching me how to use it.

It’s as simple as can be: tap enemies to attack, draw a line to do a sideways slash, draw a circle to do a spin move. With this equipment and knowledge, I was allowed into the northern part of the town to fight some ChuChus as I made my way into a cave and some puzzles. The first puzzle asked me to write on a sign the number of palm trees on the beach (spoiler: 7) before I was allowed access into the next room. The rest of the rooms followed a similar pattern: a few enemies, a few puzzles that involved doing things in the right order, and key-collecting. Very Zelda.

But, as standardly Zelda as it sounds, I must stress this fact– I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun just making a character walk in a game. Directing Link around with the stylus is a lot like movement in Animal Crossing, but faster; it turns out, the speed makes all the difference. Simple activities like pushing and pulling blocks and doing basic attacks are not only novel, but are enjoyable independent of their novelty. And while the controls aren’t based on simulating real motions as they tend to be in Twilight Princess (because swinging a sword is rarely like drawing a line), they are much more intuitive and much more natural. If you’ve become tired of the Zelda formula, or if you just like action-adventure games, or games, consider Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It manages to be instantly familiar as Zelda while being startlingly fresh.

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Filed under: Portable, Sony PSP, Galleries

In a surprise move, Sony decided to display the new PSP Slim at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend after all, letting excited fans get their grubby little hands on the new hardware right now. They were clearly extremely worried about the security issues though, because each PSP Slim was tethered to the pants of a Sony booth babe — and the cables weren’t very long.

This led to some kind of awkward situations where you all up in their personal space and playing with something right next to the front of their pants. Needless to say, Star Wars: Battlefront turned out to be incredibly difficult to play.

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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Simulations

Ubisoft has announced the official track list for Jam Sessions, the DS guitar simulator known formerly as the hard-to-swallow Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06.

Songs include Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Beck’s “Jackass,” and Coldplay’s “Yellow.” The 17 tracks feature a solid range from mainstream pop, to reggae, to good ol’ rock & roll. Like M-06, Jam Sessions will step players through the chords of each song, allowing them to rock out with their whatevers out. Of course, Jam Sessions will still feature the free-play modes that made the original such a viral sensation. After an initial delay at the start of the summer, Jam Sessions is currently scheduled release on September 11th, and we can’t wait for it. Check out the full song list after the break.

Continue reading Song list for Jam Sessions reveals Beck, Bob Dylan, and others

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Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Simulations

Ubisoft has announced the official track list for Jam Sessions, the DS guitar simulator known formerly as the hard-to-swallow Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06.

Songs include Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Beck’s “Jackass,” and Coldplay’s “Yellow.” The 17 tracks feature a solid range from mainstream pop, to reggae, to good ol’ rock & roll. Like M-06, Jam Sessions will step players through the chords of each song, allowing them to rock out with their whatevers out. Of course, Jam Sessions will still feature the free-play modes that made the original such a viral sensation. After an initial delay at the start of the summer, Jam Sessions is currently scheduled release on September 11th, and we can’t wait for it. Check out the full song list after the break.

Continue reading Song list for Jam Sessions reveals Beck, Bob Dylan, and others

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