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preGAME 11: PSP roundup

This week on preGAME we bring you a trio of some of the most unique PSP games around. That's right, on today's episode we bring you live demos of Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, Patchwork Heroes, and Echoshift. Joining us on the phone to chat about the PSP version of Fat Princess will be Matt Morton, the U.S. producer on the game.

But first, we'll take a look at the just-released teaser-trailer for one of the most acclaimed mashup fighting games around. Join us as we screen the first-ever video for Capcom Vs. Marvel 3! Sure the game may not be out for another year, but Mark tells us why this title is so important. Next, we'll talk about some of the most highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade games due out this year. From Limbo to Sonic the Hedgehog 4, there's something for everyone on our list.

Been to a 7-Eleven lately? The company has announced that after a successful trial, used console games will be available for sale in most of the nation's stores by September. Games will go for $20 or lower and classic consoles may soon be supported as well.

Next we'll chat about publisher Ubisoft and the announcement that it will soon be removing paper instruction manuals from games to reduce the cost of production and help prevent waste. Finally, Mark and Jeff discuss software piracy and how it affects portable gaming consoles the most, especially now that Nintendo blames it for a 50 percent sales drop in Europe.… Read more

The 404 563: Where strange things are afoot at the Circle K (podcast)

The first half of today's extra silly episode of The 404 Podcast is all about the latest updates surrounding the iPhone 4G prototype found on a bar floor in Redwood City, California--turns out the phone really does belong to Apple, and Darth Jobs wants it back. Last night, Gizmodo posted a picture of a very brief letter sent to editorial director Brian Lam asking for the device in question, validating its authenticity as an Apple product. So now that it's out on the open, certain issues need to be addressed on our show.

First, should Gizmodo have outed the Apple engineer that misplaced the phone in the first place? What's going to happen to his job--should he be let go for his folly? What legal action can, or will, Apple take against Gizmodo for paying $10,000 for the phone? And finally, who is the secret identity of this "good Samaritan" that received said $10,000 from Gizmodo? The first half of the show attempts to answer these tricky questions.

To compound the workload of Apple PR, here's another story about a guy who also lost an Apple product, and more. Fifty-nine-year-old Bill Jordan from Colorado had just come out of an Apple store holding a brand new iPad in an Apple bag tied around his wrist, when all of a sudden he noticed two young men following him to the garage where he parked his car. Just as he got to the vehicle, the assailants attacked the man and tried to grab the bag in his hand, and what happens next is not for the faint of heart:

""He was almost sitting on the ground he was pulling so hard and it was still tied around my fingers; and it wouldn't come off and then finally he gave it one big jerk; and that's when he stripped the skin off my pinky and it went right down to the bone."

The worst part of the story is that he wasn't even buying the iPad for himself; he'd been asked by a coworker to pick one up for a "colleague in Canada who is being promoted!" OK, actually, the worst part is about his left pinky getting torn off, and our condolences go out to Jordan, who we can only guess will be a big proponent of online shopping from now on.

In addition to correcting an error in Calls From The Public, we also talk about the Boy Scouts of America's newest merit badge for GEOCACHING. For people who aren't king-size dorks, geocaching is a high-tech version of "hide and go seek," where participants use GPS devices to locate hidden containers across the world. That sounds like great fun for these savvy young men, but Wilson brings up a good point- should we be celebrating this underhanded throw of an accomplishment? Isn't this the equivalent of awarding a Firestarter badge to the kid with a Bic lighter and a newspaper in his hand?

Like today's episode? Add YOUR voice to The 404 Podcast by leaving a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET or send us an e-mail to the404(at)cnet(dot)com. Happy everything, everyone!

EPISODE 563 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Nintendo flashback: Game & Watch

The year: 1983. I was headed to sleepaway camp at Camp Na-Sho-Pa in upstate New York. "Return of the Jedi" and "Krull" were the big movies that summer. As I got my books and toys packed for weeks in the humid isolation of cabins in the middle of the woods near Bloomingburg, I made sure to take the one portable game system I had at my disposal. Or, rather, two. I packed my Game & Watch collection delicately--they used to cost a whole $20 each--and made sure the watch batteries they took were fresh.

Before the PSP, the Nintendo DS, the TurboExpress, Game Gear, Atari Lynx, or even the Game Boy, there was Game & Watch, Nintendo's first handheld game franchise. The portable LCD games were compact, took watch batteries, told the time--hence "Game & Watch"--and only played one game per unit. This was an age when an LCD game was made by cutting out a series of silhouettes across an LCD screen, which would ping on and off to create animation of a crude sort. Nintendo wasn't the only company to make these types of handheld games, but it was the one that made the very best.

It's fascinating how closely the Nintendo DS design matches the look of those old Game & Watch dual-screen models. It's no accident: the classic Nintendo crosspad was born on these units, and the DS is really the latest step in the Game & Watch evolution.

Pinball was a cherished classic of mine. Dual screens created a long pinball table, and though the ball leaped from spot to spot with bleeps and blips, the overall feel was convincing and better than anything else that existed. Other arcade games, like Donkey Kong Jr., actually created levels out of little moving LCD-block platforms that Donkey Kong could hop over. Some parts of the screen, such as vines to climb on, were actually painted on parts of the background, adding bits of color to what was otherwise a black-and-silver affair.

I remember sinking untold hours into these simple games, which couldn't even be saved or paused. Each game also came with an "A" or "B" mode, which ratcheted up difficulty and tended to throw an additional challenge in the mix.

Nintendo revisited Game & Watch with several collections on the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, as well as two collectors' edition DS games available to members of Club Nintendo. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the hardest characters to unlock is "Mr. Game & Watch," an LCD stick-man who jerkily moves through an arena that's a montage of the old LCD games. On the iPhone, a few well-made Game & Watch rip-offs were released and promptly removed.… Read more

Nintendo's 3D past: A look back at Virtual Boy

Let's time travel, shall we? The year: 1995. "Braveheart" was a popular movie. Bill Clinton was still in his first term. The end of the millennium was still five years away. Game Boy inventor Gunpei Yokoi readies the release of a product that becomes his albatross, a portable game system that many have never even seen in person. Its name: Virtual Boy.

An attempt to create a brand-new form of portable 3D gaming (sound familiar?), Virtual Boy achieved its 3D effects via an extremely large and heavy set of red plastic goggles that formed the game system. … Read more

Does the Internet help aspiring rock stars?

There's an interesting spat going on between Tom Silverman, who founded hip-hop/dance label Tommy Boy Records and runs the New Music Seminar for new artists to learn about the music industry, and Jeff Price, the CEO of TuneCore, a service that helps musicians place their songs on iTunes and other digital-distribution outlets.

In a three-part interview with Musician Coaching, Silverman dismissed the idea that the Internet is helping new musicians break. For purposes of this argument, his definition of "breaking" is selling more than 10,000 copies of an album in the year of its release, … Read more

Flashback 1989--Gaming 20 years ago

I found an old issue of Video Games & Computer Entertainment magazine in an ancient cardboard box filled with stuff I somehow saved from my years at summer camp. Dated July 1989, it's more than 20 years old--and it's an incredible reminder of how quickly things can change.

Besides the god-awful layout by modern standards, I found a few notable shocks when thumbing through the issue:

Game ads have addresses to write to and phone numbers to call, since there were no Web links yet. The TurboGrafx-16 preview, featured on the front cover, boasts how the $199 console … Read more

Game Boy enters Toy Hall of Fame with Big Wheel

Nintendo's Game Boy has been honored once again. This time, the handheld that changed the gaming industry is being inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, the Strong National Toy Museum announced on Thursday.

The Game Boy beat out several finalists, including Cabbage Patch Kids, playing cards, Rubik's Cube, and sidewalk chalk. It must have been a tough battle to beat sidewalk chalk. But beat it, the Game Boy did.

The Strong National Toy Museum, located in Rochester, N.Y., said it felt compelled to induct the Game Boy into the Hall of Fame because "of … Read more

Balloon Boy action figure perfect for attic

We should have seen this one coming. Richard Heene, much better known these days as "Balloon Boy's dad," has been made into an action figure.

Oxford, Conn.-based Herobuilders.com--whose action figures include Sarah Palin, Elliott Spitzer, and Joe the Plumber--is newly out with the Heene model. It sports a T-shirt with an arrow that points upward and the text "I'm with stupid." Attic box, confused 6-year-old boy, and gaggle of reporters not included.

The action figure costs $34.95, which seems a bit pricey given that you can get an entire Balloon Boy Halloween costume kit … Read more

Digital City Podcast 54: Taxi cellphone ban; Nintendo's holiday gamble; and the Ballad of Balloon Boy

Episode 54 of the Digital City, where we discuss NYC's plan to stop taxi drivers from using cell phones and Washington's suddenly high-tech subway system.

Scott talks about his meeting with Shigeru Miyamoto, and Nintendo's big holiday gamble on New Super Mario Bros., while special guest Jeff Bakalar expresses his frustration with Jack Black's Brutal Legend.

And, in a nod to the hottest story of last week, we show off the very best Balloon Boy Web games (ok, the only Balloon Boy Web games we could find), and host the world podcast premiere of the parody … Read more