Hot News For Today

Let’s Play: Pokemon Black and White (DS)

Today is Pokemon day, and to celebrate Let’s Play some Pokemon Black Version!

Pokemon Black is one of two versions of the latest set of Pokemon titles available, each with varying Pokemon that are harder to find in the other version (as well as some Pokemon which won’t appear in the other version). Which is nothing new for the long-running Pokemon series; What it means is that you will need to trade with others if you are to “Catch Them All” and complete your Pokedex in the game (thankfully you can trade online and battle online in Pokemon Black and White). The clearest example of version differences are between the two Pokemon that grace each version’s cover. In Pokemon Black you will exclusively encounter the Legendary Dragon-type Pokemon Reshiram; While in Pokemon White you’ll exclusively encounter the Legendary Dragon-type Zekrom.

And don’t forget that from today until April 10th you will be able to catch a special Pokemon that won’t be available after that date. Check out our How to catch and where to find Victini in Pokemon Black and White guide to see the steps you need to take to catch this mysterious Legendary Pokemon.

Without further ado, let’s play Pokemon Black!

Part 1: Intro, Opening Scenes, Meeting Professor Juniper, Choosing A Pokemon, First Battle

Part 2: Second Battle, Chatting to Townsfolk, Angry Father!

Online hry / Online Hry

Review: Dead Space

Price: $6.99 (Download here)
Version: 1.0.1
Official Site: Electronic Arts

Dead Space is a peculiar case. It’s a grotesque futurist miniature: a to-scale replica of Visceral’s haunting vision running on a smartphone. Seeing a 3-inch by 2-inch touchscreen open up into the fluid-drenched corridors of a pre-Titanic James Cameron film is impressive. The visual style is so slick, it’s wet, and it let me slip effortlessly — and, at times, against my will — into the Sprawl, a freakish spaceship infested with alien zombies.

But, behind the dancing shadow of technology crept the sneaking suspicion that I was playing the equivalent of a slasher film– a game stuffed with gore and plenty of “Oh shit!” moments, yet devoid of true craftsmanship.

Don’t get me wrong. The programmers, artists, and sound engineers did a masterful job of crafting an environment that is compelling and frightening to inhabit. In fact, the illusion is so convincing that I didn’t realize the game doesn’t flow until I was halfway through it.

Slaughtering necromorphs — aliens that just happened to evolve into the most disgusting lifeforms imaginable — is fairly satisfying. The hero has multiple guns and powers at his disposal. It’s fun to zap a mutant with Stasis (a move, based on the concept of cryogenics, that temporarily freezes an enemy) and shoot off its limbs methodically, tilting the iPhone to angle the gun, which clicks into position.

To dismember roomfuls of monsters in a chilling, ambient-drenched space station is Dead Space’s charter statement. But while killing sprees and silent horrors work well on their on, together they tend to cancel each other out.

Most of the killing takes place in lockdown, which is the game’s way of forcing players into intense action sequences. The hero enters a room, an alarm sounds, the doors lock, and necromorphs pile in. The problem is, when the doors locked, I lost the portentous feeling that made the game special. I was thrust into a situation I had seen a hundred times over — in Resident Evil, Doom, and now Dead Space.

Furthermore, once I learned that I was only truly in danger when locked inside a trap, the nervous sensation I got from moving forward dissipated. I started noticing the game’s flaws. The ill-defined puzzles became maddening. The battle segments began to drag. Running through familiar-looking places felt repetitive. Combat got cheap.

The illusion was broken. And nothing — the graphics, the sounds, not even more necromorphs — could change it.

Hope Dworaczyk

The Nintendo Okie Podcast - Episode 57

Episode 57 of the Nintendo Okie Podcast is live. This week join Shelby and Tony as they talk about all of the games they've been playing; including Bit.Trip Flux. They also have a lengthy discussion about the Mario Kart franchise. During the news segment they talk about all of the 3DS news that came out of GDC including the updates that will hit the eShop in May and Netflix coming to the system.

Best Video Game Deals on the Internet 03/7 Its Time for a PS3

The Best Video Games on the Internet for this week are led by Sony. Many video game deals have hit the net, but only the best deals which offer the best savings are worth mentioning. It's time for a PS3 gamers, Sony deals are killing it! Also, LBP2 up for grabs.

Google hot trends