The armchair olympics

UK Chart There isn’t much in the way of action and excitement in the chart this week, with the top five games staying put. That means that Mario Kart Wii is still #1, followed by Wii Fit, Beijing 2008, Mario & Sonic and Wii Play. Carnival Games has risen from #13 to #6 thanks to …

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To Phil, love from Aunty Sony

It’s questionable whether this is meant to be for public viewing, but the company Build has uploaded images of the custom presentation piece Sony gave to Phil Harrison when he left the company to join Atari. If you can’t be bothered to click on the link, six layers of plexi-glass have been used to give …

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Return of the tat

This Week’s Games There are five games out this week, but you’d probably have more fun tying some milk bottle tops to a piece of string and jingling it up and down. Funnily enough, all five are for DS – AMF Bowling, Carnival: Funfair Games, Ducati Moto, Mary King’s Riding School and Road to Vegas. …

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Hell to pay

UK Chart Stamina. Strength. Speed. Determination. What better way to recreate the feats required to enter the Olympics than by sitting at home with a piece of plastic in your hand? Beijing 2008 is up from #13 to #3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games up from #8 to #4, and Summer Athletics from …

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Kellogg’s Frosties – now with added guitars

I expect we’re all guilty of picking out breakfast cereal as a child just for the free toy inside. Even on the wrong side of my 20s, I’d be tempted by one of the LCD Guitar Hero toys being packed inside Kellogg’s cereal. I bet the music’s a bit rubbish though. They’re North America only …

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Men with odd shaped balls

Madden 09 is out, so it’s not going to be hard to guess what the best selling game this month in the US will be. If memory serves, last year’s iteration managed to get quite high in the UK chart, but I’d be surprised if it gets into the top ten. The Wii version is …

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Three more cheers for the Overlord

Codemasters’ Overlord was one of last year’s hidden gems and recently found a new lease of life on PlayStation 3. Sale figures must have pleased Codemasters, as not only is there going to be a sequel, but versions for Wii and DS too. The Wii is getting Overlord Dark Legend. It’s a brand new game, …

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Shadowrun

Since its release early last year, Shadowrun has been on the receiving end of a lot of flack, and to be honest, it’s mostly deserved. The single player mode is almost non-existent – you can only play against bots with less intelligence than a ’80s calculator – and there are no options to speak of. You can’t even fiddle with weapon sets to get a ‘swords only’ match going. It doesn’t look much prettier than an original Xbox game, and the art style is laughable. I promise the first time you lay eyes on a dwarf kitted out in full riot gear you’ll, well, laugh.

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Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

The Wii version of this turn-based strategy game was canned, as the developers thought they wouldn’t be able to get a decent version of the game running on the system. So why they thought that the DS could is a bit of a mystery.

The DS isn’t renowned for being a 3D powerhouse, but it can still produce some nice 2D graphics – take a look at the recent Soul Bubbles for proof. Visuals must have been the last thing on the agenda here though – it looks like an ugly Game Boy Advance game, with dull maps and no flair to speak of. There isn’t any music in game either, which hardly helps the atmosphere side of things. The controls work well though; so much so that there isn’t even the need for a tutorial at the beginning.

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I find it kind of funny; I find it kind of sad

The Daily Mail are at it again, and this time they’re angry about Sega releasing Mad World on the “family friendly Wii”. Mad World, if you weren’t aware, looks like an unofficial tribute to the monochrome Sin City and lets you kill foes by sticking traffic signs through their head. It looks quite good. John …

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Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

It’s tough being a fan of Geometry Wars. Not just because if you blink you usually end up dying, which can lead to some very dry eyeballs, but also from a monetary point of view. This year has already seen two versions on DS and Wii, and now just six months later a ‘proper’ sequel …

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With Alex Kidd built in!

Count yourselves lucky – while we happily sit and play on our Wiis, Xbox 360s and Atari Jaguars, gamers in Brazil are still getting to grips with the Sega Master System. Tec Toy have been manufacturing the console for the past few years over there and have just unveiled their 2008 model – the Master …

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And this week’s movie license is…

Word has it that The Mummy III – out this week on PlayStation 2 and DS – is going to be the last game published by Sierra before they become Activision Blizzard. It’s a shame to see them going out with a fizzle rather than a bang – they had a decent reputation in the …

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Yoda wins!

Soul Calibur IV shot straight to the top of the chart, which isn’t surprising seeing as it’s the first one-on-one brawler to be released in ages. It’s the Xbox 360 version of that has shifted the most copies so far – 56 percent, in fact. Wii Fit has dropped to #2, Big Beach Sports has …

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Advance Wars in disguise

The wait for a definitive Transformers game is over – Glu have just released Transformers G1: Awakening for mobile phones. It’s based on the original 80’s series and has more than a hint of Advance Wars about it. Two versions have been made – one with 2D battle scenes and another with 3D battles for …

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