Video Games

BioShock Review (Xbox 360)

By Tim Hanlon

09:33 September 3, 2007 PDT

While gamers and the gaming press continue to rave over what is almost undisputedly the most immersive first-person shooter experience yet, there's a reasonable chance that part of Gizmag's readership remain unconvinced, or even unaware of BioShock. Do you read science-fiction? Think first-person shooters all went downhill after Doom? Looking for a game that offers moral choices? Do yourself a favor and check out an in-depth review of BioShock for the Xbox 360 over at our game blog, The Gamer Gene. Read More

Analysts: Nintendo DS will penetrate 89% of Japanese households by 2011

By Loz Blain

June 26, 2007 A Nintendo in every pocket? The phenomenally successful Nintendo DS handheld gaming console is comprehensively trouncing the more powerful Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) around the world - but nowhere is Nintendo mania more alive than in Japan, where on current sales and penetration figures, a key industry analysis firm has forecast that 89% of Japanese households will have a Nintendo DS by the year 2011. What a stunning figure! Read More

The Falcon Game Controller - with realistic force feedback

By Mike Hanlon

UPDATED IMAGES June 30, 2007 We all know the keyboard and mouse are NOT the future of the computer human interface, and to be frank, we’re getting a bit sick of waiting for a replacement capable of generating critical mass. One device with the potential to play a role in the next generation interface, at least in the area of computer games, began shipping this month. Novint Technologies’ highly anticipated, award-winning Novint Falcon game controller is now available in a special Limited Edition bundle. The Falcon is an entirely new type of 3D game interface that makes virtual objects and environments feel real. Replacing a computer mouse or joystick, the US$190 Falcon is, essentially a small robot that lets you feel shape, weight, texture, dimension, dynamics, 3D motion, and force effects when playing enabled games. Read More

Spiderman 3 Review (Xbox 360)

By Tim Hanlon

May 22, 2007 Movie licensed games are typically horrible, and should be avoided at all costs. The precedent was set way back in 1982, when lengthy licensing negotiations left a single Atari programmer with just 5 weeks to conceive and develop the entire "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" game. Despite being widely regarded as the worst game ever made, it sold 1.5 million copies - making it the eighth best selling game for the Atari 2600. For obvious reasons, countless movies have been turned into games since 1982, and a mere few gems like Goldeneye 007 and Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer have emerged from the noise. Did the developers of Spiderman 3 get enough development time to deliver a polished game in time for the movie? Our Games Editor has the full story. Read More

Geometry Wars: Galaxies coming to Nintendo Wii, DS

By Tim Hanlon

May 22, 2007 Geometry Wars first appeared as a mini-game in Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, and much to the surprise of the developers, people loved it - enough to warrant a HD sequel on the Xbox 360. Geometry Wars: Evolved was the first game released on Xbox Live Arcade, and to this day remains the cheapest, and arguably, best game available on the service. Finally, Nintendo fans are set for a taste of the hellishly frantic action. Read More

Eball sports simulator goes mobile and inflatable

By Loz Blain

May 18, 2007 You may recall our enthusiasm last year when we reported on eballgames and its development of an interface between a real ball and ball games – think of it as a CHI (Computer Human Interface) for any real world ball game and you’re close. Motion and speed sensors take your kick, throw or golf swing and play out the results on the big screen, for better or worse. The crowd will roar or express their disappointment, and the commentator gives you a pat on the back or a serve for missing. The ball goes into a net and is ready for the next player to have a go. It's simple, quick fun and it continually breaks records for drawing crowds wherever it is installed. Now the company has taken its VR sports simulator and developed it into a number of inflatable structures so the promotional killer-app can be quickly set up anywhere, indoors or outdoors. Eballgames is already working on many different sports and is keen to discuss development opportunities with interested parties. We see it as the ultimate Wii peripheral for kids that want to play ball games. Indeed, there’s plenty of opportunity for the development of remedial and skills development games using this technology. Read More

Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s announced

By Tim Hanlon

May 11, 2007 It was only recently that we became properly aquainted with Guitar Hero 2, but that doesn't mean we're any less excited about Activision's announcement of the third game in the series, Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s. Details are scarce, but read on for a sneak peak at the tracklist. Read More

Guitar Hero 2 Review (Xbox 360)

By Tim Hanlon

April 30, 2007 As you might imagine, we're surrounded with technology at the Gizmag office...and we thought we'd learned to do a pretty good job of soldiering on despite all the distractions the wired lifestyle brings. Alas, those times are over now, and we refer to the period as BG (Before Guitar Hero). For the uninitiated, Guitar Hero is rock and roll condensed into a video game, complete with plastic guitar controller and a drummer who always turns up to practice on time (and doesn't hit on your girlfriend). The original Playstation 2 game sold over one million units in its first year, and the sequel sold over 1.3 million units in 2006 - 800,000 in December alone - and it's hooked everyone from the neighbors seven-year-old to members of the prog-rock super-group Tool. Now it's here on the Xbox 360 in crisp 720p resolution with 10 additional tracks - if you've listened to guitar music at all in the last thirty years, read on for the full review, video and track list. Read More

Advanced video games for US Navy pilot training

By Loz Blain

April 30, 2007 It's the ultimate flight sim video game. 360 degree cockpit views, multiplayer, totally realistic instruments and the option to have a separate gunner in the back seat of your F/A-18 Hornet as you dogfight the others or engage in air-to-ground missions. Sadly, you'll need to sign your life away to play it. Read More

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II Review (Playstation 3)

By Tim Hanlon

April 10, 2007 When this landed on my desk to review, I had my doubts - of the forty million or so World War II games released during my years of gaming, I can count the ones I've enjoyed on one hand. Thankfully, Blazing Angels stands out from the noise just by not being a first-person shooter, and rekindles the almost forgotten air-combat genre. If piloting one of 50 authentic World War II era aircraft through several key battles over historic sites like Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor, Midway and Berlin sounds like your thing, read the full review. Read More

Playstation 3 continues to top Folding@Home statistics

By Tim Hanlon

April 10, 2007 Folding@Home is a distributed computing project where people donate spare clock-cycles from the CPU or GPU in their Internet-connected PC's, the result of which is one of the largest supercomputers in the world. The Folding@Home client for the Playstation 3, released as part of a recent system update for the console, quickly raced to the top of the statistics. Shortly after, just as the network of over 20,000 consoles was about to hit the team's goal of one petaflop, the Folding@Home team reevaluated the performance of the console - dropping it to half the original figure. In spite of this, the Playstation 3 remains the greatest contributor to Folding@Home, and currently provides over half of the processing power available to the project. Read More

The Xbox 360 is back in black

By Tim Hanlon

March 29, 2007 After more rumours (and denials) than you can shake a stick at, Microsoft have officially announced the new Xbox 360 Elite, and somehow managed to leave us with more questions than answers. What we can safely tell you is that it's got an HDMI port, comes with a 120GB HDD...and it's black. Read More

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Review (Xbox 360)

By Tim Hanlon

March 28, 2007 If you have ever doubted just how much advantage the Dominator system equates to on the battlefield, here's your opportunity to sample it first hand. Was the development of the real Dominator and the interface to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 linked? We don't know but when our games editor saw the real system demonstrated, he visibly paled. Ubisoft has already given gamers in Australia 10,000 good reasons (AUD$10,000) to play this game in an upcoming Xbox Live tournament. This no doubt left the majority of our readers, who can't play online games competitively and don't live in Australia, entirely unconvinced. Here's our games editor with a full review. Read More

New research substantiates Video Games as key advertising vehicle

By Mike Hanlon

March 23, 2007 New media research and measurement firm Interpret’s Gameasure report is likely to make a few marketing managers think about the most effective way to spend their precious budget. The report reinforces the significance of video games as a medium for marketers seeking to reach and influence key demographic groups, particularly young males. The report measures actual reach, frequency and demographic makeup of over 80 video game titles and shows that games reach well beyond reported retail sales figures. Read More

Video Game Penetration grows and grows

By Mike Hanlon

March 19, 2007 Once regarded as frivolous and inconsequential, the game console is fast gaining mainstream media clout and the third generation of consoles has further expanded its penetration into homes with 150 million US citizens now having access to at least one console - more than half (52.4%) of the total U.S. television population. As a medium it is particularly strong among key demographic groups with more than two-thirds (67.7%) of all men 18-34 and 80 percent of men 12-17 years of age. The number of video game consoles in U.S. television households has expanded by 18.5% in just two years, according to a new report. Specific console penetration details have not yet been released. Read More

Australian Xbox Live tournament offers $10,000 first prize

By Tim Hanlon

March 5, 2007 - Ubisoft-published game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) was released last March, and went on to sell 1.4 million copies in its first seven weeks. Sales figures of this caliber generally guarantee sequels, and sure enough, this Thursday (March 8th, 2007) sees the release of GRAW 2. You've probably already played the multiplayer demo released on the Xbox Live Marketplace in February, but there's no question those who haven't will have a newfound interest in the game now there's a chance to win AU$10,000 playing it online. Read More

Piano Wizard integrates the video game and piano lesson

By Tim Hanlon

March 3, 2007 - Parents rejoice! Finally a video game that you can give to your kids with no immediate hesitation or eventual regrets. The results of long hours spent in front of the game aren't just honed reflexes and hand-to-eye coordination, but the gift of fluency in the most beautiful and timeless language of all...music. Read More

Nyko Wii Charging Station simultaneously recharges two Wii remotes

By Tim Hanlon

March 3, 2007 - In this day and age, disposable batteries are environmentally irresponsible, yet remain a desirable retail item due to convenience and price point - and those of our readers with Wii's or Xbox 360's will know how many AA's regular use of these consoles can chew through. This makes us a little surprised that Nintendo left this one up to the third-parties, but equally glad Nyko have stepped up to the plate with their Wii Charging Station. Read More

Is Sony adding rumble to the SIXAXIS?

By Tim Hanlon

March 2, 2007 - Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Immersion have agreed to conclude litigation at the U.S Court of Appeals, and have entered into a new agreement to explore the inclusion of Immersion's technology (read: rumble) in PlayStation products. This is in stark contrast to Phil Harrison's recent comments regarding rumble as a "last-generation feature", which were widely criticised as a desperate attempt to hide the fact that the lack of rumble in the SIXAXIS was a design decision based more on legal proceedings with Immersion, than last/current-generation feature sets. Read More

Australia's Best Games of 2006 - Interactive Entertainment Awards

By Tim Hanlon

February 26, 2007 Last Friday, more than 350 industry types hit Doltone House in Sydney, Australia for the Interactive Entertainment Awards. Twenty awards were handed out - twelve industry voted, and eight based on GfK sales data from January 1 to December 31, 2006. Read on for the unsurprising results of the industry voted awards, and the surprising winners (and some truly bizarre categorisations) of the best sellers. Read More

Crackdown (Xbox 360) Review

By Tim Hanlon

February 23, 2007 - If you haven't heard about this game yet, you must be living under a virtual rock. We covered the release of the demo last month, but to sum things up, you're a cop with constantly evolving superhuman abilities, cleaning up crime in a city overrun by it. Today sees the game released on shelves worldwide, and our Games Editor has had a few days head-start to determine whether the cool premise was backed up by an equally cool game. Here's the scoop. Read More

New Wii channel - Everybody Votes

By Tim Hanlon

February 14, 2007 - Nintendo launches a new channel for the Wii Menu today, the Everybody Votes Channel, which allows up to six players per console to vote in regional and worldwide polls...a tired premise with an interesting touch - the ability to predict the results of the polls, and track your accurate predictions in a "How Tuned In Are You?" section. Read More

Register for Playstation Network in Europe, get Casino Royale on Blu-ray

By Tim Hanlon

February 13, 2007 - Even with the delayed launches of the Playstation 3 in PAL territories, Sony is still light on solid launch titles, with Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm being the only exclusives receiving substantial acclaim from reviewers. To shift the focus back to their current strengths, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced that the first 500,000 PS3 owners to register with Sony's free online service "PLAYSTATION Network" will receive a copy of the latest James Bond blockbuster "Casino Royale" on Blu-ray. Read More

Ubisoft plans expansion - 1,000 new jobs by 2013

By Tim Hanlon

February 12, 2007 Ubisoft is currently one of the world's largest video game publishers, home to 1,600 employees at its headquarters in Quebec, and a number of hit franchises including Rayman, Prince of Persia and Tom Clancy. Today the company announced a major expansion of its operations in Quebec - expanding its current video game studios, and creating a CGI studio, with 1,000 hires planned by 2013. The CGI studio will create short films based on Ubisoft games, with the first planned film based on the massively hyped Assassin's Creed. Read More

Perfect score in Wii Sports: Bowling

By Tim Hanlon

February 12, 2007 No doubt many of our readers lucky enough to own a Nintendo Wii have witnessed a few killer streaks on Wii Sports: Bowling, however none will have topped this. If you want to blow away the competition next time your friends are over, watch this video of a gamer known only as el moco take down a perfect 890 pins on the Power Throws training game, and then read his incredibly detailed post on the method he used to get there. Read More