RIP EGM

It’s a sad day – legendary American videogame magazine EGM will ceased to exist as of this month. The February issue, which was due to feature Street Fighter IV on the cover, won’t even make it to the press. It will apparently be available online at 1UP.com soon though. EGM stood tall over other US …

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You’re buying more budget tat

The BBC has properly reported on 2008’s video game sales figures, as released by ELSPA and GfK Chart-Track. Basically: we’re buying more games than ever, and across all formats. But it’s not that I’m interested in. Unit and pound figures have been released, meaning we know the average price people are paying for games on …

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Do the locomotion

The January sales – which, oddly, have been starting in mid-December for the last few years – are a thing of brilliance. Not only are the big name games recently released cut in price (Mirror’s Edge for under £15? Thanks, Tesco!) but many retailers also flog off the titles that have been gathering dust for some time. A-Train HX, purchased for a nice £5.98 in Game, is one such example.

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Test your success

I’ve mentioned TrueAchievements before, but since then the site has had a clean and tidy up and had new bits added. If you haven’t been there, the site works out your true Xbox 360 Gamerscore based on how rare your acquired achievements are and how hard they actually are to obtain. You can also see …

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Gears of War 2 in words and pictures

Gears of War 2 is a typically decent sequel, improving on the original in every way possible. It looks and sounds amazing, while the new weapons – including a flamethrower and mortar cannon – have their shortcomings as well as strengths. Which is good. The new multi-player team-based horde mode is stupidly addictive, and the …

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The Twelve Games of Christmas

It’s the festive season, so rubbish features are a requirement. Hence this Twelve Games of Christmas. We’ll skip to the end, shall we? On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: The King of Fighters XII, » Winning Eleven, » Final Fantasy X, FIFA 09, Mario Party 8, » Ridge Racer …

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Why we’re better off now

In a recent spate of tidying, I had cause to go through a box of old console paraphernalia, which I’d left without a lid on. It reminded me how much we’ve moved on. Controller cables, for one thing. From the last generation of cabled consoles, PlayStation 2 definitely wins: even though my blue pad has …

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Five things that annoy me about the Xbox 360

The title explains it all, really, here are five things that annoy me about my 360. Firstly… …The inconsistent stupidness of it all. The 360 can play DivX when I share my media through the cumbersome Windows Media Player, but the nice Windows Media Centre interface won’t play DivX at all. This is stupid. I …

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Cake, cake, cake, I love the cake!

You can’t beat a bit of cake, and this Nintendo DS cake from Asda tastes sweeter than most. Well, it probably does. Maybe. The main image features artwork (note: not a screenshot) from New Super Mario Bros. while the top screen is made from cardboard with a blank ‘screen’ to write a birthday message on. …

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Free is my favourite price

We Brits may get our games later and often at inflated prices, but there is one advantage we have over our American friends: a continuous flow of free gifts stuck to the front of our video game magazines, some of which are actually worth the price of the magazine alone.

These are some of the best from over the years.

 
 

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Now with Snake built in!

If I were to tell you that there’s a new console on the horizon with games from Sega, Namco, Capcom and EA confirmed, you’d be pretty excited, right? Now what if I told you that they were games initially designed to be played on a mobile phone? Less excited? I thought as much. Zeebo will …

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Wii Fit more memorable than new lubricant

The Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey is definitely as interesting as it sounds. It tells us today that Americans can remember fewer new things this year because of the economic shit storm and the presidential election. Moreover, it tells us that Wii Fit is the most memorable new product launch of 2008. It beat …

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Donkey clone country

When Donkey Kong Country was first revealed many thought it was for the then upcoming Ultra 64 console. The twist was that it was actually for the SNES. But what if it was made for the NES instead, complete with rendered visuals? Impossible, right? Well, talented Chinese pirates ‘Hummer Team’ have had a go and …

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I’m walking on (Mario) sunshine

Globe recently revealed some Gears of War branded skate shoes, but they weren’t anything fancy – just a plain black shoe with the iconic red skull logo on the side. These Nike Air Classic NES trainers, on the other hand, are obscenely desirable. Rather than covered in predicable NES-era pixel art, Nike have been cleverly …

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Brand extension update

Need for Speed must rank as one of the most improved brands we’ve seen – in terms of commercial success, at least. EA has noticed, of course, and now has plans for Need for Speed Live. Negotiations are underway to hold the event next summer at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, and a better …

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