smash

Heading into E3 2012, Nintendo is either the easiest of the Big Three gaming companies to handicap, or the hardest, depending on your perspective.

We know, absolutely, that Nintendo's next-gen Wii U gaming console will reappear at this year's show. We know that games will finally be unveiled for this system. Yet, we largely have no idea what those games are. Nintendo's veil of secrecy on its software lineup is a little more opaque than it is for Sony and Microsoft...or so it seems. Here's what we think will happen.… Read more

Smash Cops is a fast-paced police-chase driving game with innovative controls, a helicopter's-eye-view interface, slick and satisfying sound and graphics, and some frustratingly imperfect design choices.

At its core, Smash Cops is great fun: You direct a cop car through a series of quick missions -- 22 in all, from simple pursuit to prisoner transport to skill challenges like navigating traffic cones or collecting items. You race around a detailed cityscape, navigating with either a traditional virtual joystick or a neat (if at times less accurate) system of dragging your finger behind where you want to go, almost as … Read more

Amazing Breaker is an arcade physics puzzler that challenges you to fling bombs into ice sculptures with a slingshot.

Amazing Breaker's slingshot schtick is not unique, but this app's combination of quick-playing levels, increasingly complex gameplay, and high-res graphics sets it above most physics puzzlers. In each new level, you slingshot a series of bombs up into an ornate ice sculpture, and you have to smash 90 percent of the sculpture to progress to the next level (smash 95 percent for two stars, 100 percent for three). The complexity comes in as you decide how and whether to … Read more

Super Smash Land is a classic and faithful imagination of a "what if" scenario that undoubtedly plagued the minds of the original series' fans. What if Nintendo had ported one of its most successful franchises to its most successful handheld? Would we have seen more Smash brawls than Pokemon battles on the playground?

Regardless, Dan Fornace has brewed up a simple and nostalgic tribute to the Super Smash series. SSL features four stock characters, with two unlockables. Controls have been simplified to two attack buttons to emulate the original Game Boy experience.

 In addition to pixelated renditions … Read more

Ant Smasher is an addictive, fast-paced game that tests your screen-tapping reflexes with onslaughts of elusive insects. As the different insects make their way across your screen, your only job is to tap and smash them all as fast as possible. Let too many escape your screen, or accidentally tap a bee, and the game is over. It's super simple.

Because Ant Smasher requires only quick reflexes and almost no thinking, we think it's a great pick-up-and-play type of download. We also think it would be perfect for very young children who may not be able to grasp … Read more

Road ragers have traditionally had several options. They can flip off the other driver, drive aggressively in return, or grit their teeth and bear it. Now they can add smashing the living daylights out of a gadget to the list.

The $19.99 RageGage smash pad looks like a mutant hockey puck with a squishy center. Turn up the volume on the device and wail away with your fist until you feel better. Think of it as a high-tech version of a stress ball.

The RageGage isn't a comforting companion. It will hurl insults at you if you fail to pound it hard enough. It might call you a wuss or question your manhood. I'm not sure how that's supposed to help you calm down, but it does encourage you to let it all out.

Why stop at having a RageGage in your vehicle? Carry it with you in your laptop bag. Put it on your desk for post-business meeting relief. Stash in it your pocket for your visit with the in-laws.

The RageGage plugs into a computer via USB and can be used as a game controller for games that require smashing things. Games matching that description are downloadable from the RageGage site.

New sounds and celebrity impersonator voices are available to customize your RageGage and you can share your anger with your buddies on Facebook.

The next time someone cuts you off in traffic, put away your middle finger. Keep your foot off the accelerator. Don't roll down your window and scream. Just take it all out on the RageGage.… Read more

The 1990s produced so many of our favorite music, movies, toys, and TV shows that we're making this a tribute to the decade. We're talking Supersoakers, TGIF, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Dumb & Dumber, Seinfeld, Gushers, Street Sharks, Clueless, Nerf Guns, Discmans, Laserdiscs, and more!

ZombieSmash represents the current apotheosis of enemy-flicking castle-defense games. Your rural home is your castle, and the foes to be flicked are a ravening variety of the undead.

ZombieSmash mixes up the castle-defense format slightly, with a central house that you alternately have to defend from the left, right, and both sides, using both thumbs as your on-screen perspective shifts for each incoming wave. Your primary task is served well by the game's great visuals and sound effects: you can touch and flick (or drag and slam) zombies to kill them, watching them fly with rag-doll physics and erupt … Read more

Today's episode of The 404 is especially passionate, maybe because we know it's the last one of the week. No show tomorrow, but look out for two special throwback episodes coming your way Friday and Sunday. Anyway, onto today's stories. As the title states, we're taking a trip back to our childhood and remembering some of our favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs and music videos. They've had so many hits that it's hard to pick just one, but I'll always love the video for 1979, and judging by the 5,298 five-star rating, I'm not alone, but who says it has to end? Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan recently announced plans for a new album! "Teargarden by Kaleidyscope" will include 44 songs and will be available for free!

Of course, if you want hard copies and album art, you can also get limited edition EPs with collectors art and high quality audio. The album won't be finished for awhile, but Billy says the music will sound more like the Pumpkins' first few albums: "psychedelic, atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty." We can't wait!

Next, we run through a slideshow of the eight technologies to thank the 1980s for. The list includes the Walkman, the Personal Computer, the CD, and more--mostly these things just give us an opportunity to make fun of how excited everyone was to run a 4.77MHz processor with TWO floppy disk drives.

In any case, the list leads us to the strangest hypothetical situation we've ever posed to each other: if you had to choose between using a COMPUTER or a WASHING MACHINE for the rest of your life, which one would it be? The catch is that you will be banned from using whichever product you don't pick for the rest your life. The rest of the world would go on as normal, so only you are are making the decision. Listen to the show to hear our choices (I think you'll be surprised) and leave a comment on this blog telling us you think.

We finally have another contest for all the gamers out there! Jeff got his mitts on two copies of EA NHL 10, which improves on the NHL 009 gameplay with a new "board play" feature that allows skaters to pin opponents against the boards and kick the puck. If you want to win the game, you're going to have to work for it. Here's what you do: take a picture of yourself standing on the ice of a hockey rink with your most creative 404 sign! Best sign on the ice gets to choose between the XBox 360 or PS3 version, and don't even think about using Photoshop or Jeff will hunt you down.

Since there's no show tomorrow, you have plenty of time to call 1-866-404-CNET and leave a funny/bummer/impression/hate/idea/question voice mail, and if you can manage to produce a coherent thought, we'll play it on the air! Have a great weekend everyone, we'll miss you! :)