Go Games!

 The new mobile-gaming platform from Nokia is finally being launched, dubbed N-Gage First Access. Actually, the platform is playable and support numerous Nokia devices, however at the moment First Access can only be used by Nokia N81 owners.  They can download the N-Gage applications and game demos for free (though you may have to pay for the Internet connection or data rates). The titles are pretty dull, except for one game; Hooked On: Creatures from the Deep, which is a fantasy fishing simulation that takes you to numerous places in the world, trying to make the big catch of the day.

Anyhow, if you’re one of the lucky N81 and N81 8GB owners, follow the download and installation instructions here.

You gotta hand it to the Japanese. While American gamers must wait until March 9 to buy their copies of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Europeans are pretty much in the dark about the release dates, our Japanese friends have already enjoyed this smashing title for Wii. How smashing, you may say? Well, the game has already sold 819,647 copies since its release back in 31st January. One of the reason is that SSBB was only the seventh game in the history of top Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu to be given a perfect score of 40 out of 40, so it was no surprise that the game has been selling so quickly. With that record, SSBB is in the number one spot in the Japanese game chart for January 28 to February 3. Regarding hardware, the Wii came out on top this week, with SSBB no doubt helping to boost the sales of the console–94,473 were taken home by new owners. The PlayStation Portable came second with 72,528, then the DS Lite with 67,472, PlayStation 3 with 41,796, PlayStation 2 with 12,115, and finally the Xbox 360 with 6,060 units.

Source: GameSpot

Okay, some of us may not have the luxury of time to exercise. And those who have the time, like me, will definitely spend their free time playing games. Even when we’re not playing games, we’ll invent hundreds of other excuses just to stay in the couch or bed.

I’m glad Nintendo hears our niggles by launching Wii-Fit, which is basically the ultimate workout programs ever invented. It combines Wii Board, which is the controller, and the games to “tempt” you to move your body and getting sweaty.

Of course, words couldn’t explain how fun it is. See the videos here.

For the first time, Sony PS3 tops Nintendo Wii’s sales in Japan. This is largely due to the new cheaper version of PS3 (with only 40GB hard drive) which sells for only US$361 in Japan.

According to data provided by Enterbrain, the trade magazine, the PS3 sold 183,217 units in November in Japan, outstripping the Wii’s 159,193 consoles. Increasing sales of the PS3 is crucial for Sony, whose lossmaking games division is weighing on overall profit growth.

This “victory” may not last long since Nintendo is going to launch Wii Fit, which has created big buzz among game industries in the recent months.

Source: Financial Times

Nintendo has outsold Sony and Microsoft in the videogame console market and became the leader in game revenue in the third quarter, a market research firm said Tuesday.  Read the rest of this entry »

Nintendo has announced to unveil WiiWare, allowing owners to download original games for the console and let developers create and sell games via the Wii Shop.

Will Sony Ericsoon introduce its PSP phone? According to Fraser MacInnes of PocketGamer, most probably the rumour will turn to be real. Read the rest of this entry »

Tracy Erickson of PocketGamer wrote a review about PSP game Brooktown High: Senior Year. This Adventure, Simulation genre game was developed by Foundation 9 and published by Konami.

Read full review here.

Are video games resulting negative impact to its players? Some scientific findings say yes, but Dusty Plunkett of The Times-Journal says no. Read the rest of this entry »

Owners of Nintendo’s hot Wii video game system have downloaded more than 4.7 million classic games from Wii’s Virtual Console.

Read the rest of this entry »