Down in Acapulco

LocoRoco didn’t sell as well as it ought to have, but Phil Harrison claims that we haven’t seen the last of the colourful blobs. We kind of knew this already though – a Christmas themed demo appeared on Your PSP just last week. “We’re continuing to evolve the franchise… We’re going to bring LocoRoco back …

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FIFA 07 still on top

One week on from release and Zelda is out of the top 10. It entered at #5, now it’s down to #12. The only other Wii-exclusive in the charts is Wii Play, which has dropped from #9 all the way down to #30. Blame the lack of Wiis on shelves. Predictability Zelda goes in at …

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Headlines of the week

This week’s achievements in the field of selling an article in a few words. » PS3 problems resolved – Sony A bold claim indeed. But Eurogamer’s headline doesn’t tell quite the whole story: it’s the manufacturing problems which have been resolved. So not the chronic lack of interesting games, the ludicrous price, the stupid Spider-Man …

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Smash TV

Nintendo: We’re offering to replace Wii remote wrist straps with thicker, more secure ones. The press: Nintendo recall 3.2 million consoles one week after launch! The press are idiots. But seriously, if you’re worried about having any accidents like these you can e-mail Nintendo at wiiwriststrap@codestorm.co.uk or call 0870 6060247 to arrange a free replacement. …

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Trioncube

There aren’t many puzzle games with plots attached, but with We Love Katamari publishers Bandai Namco behind this new DS block shifter, a suitably wacky one was always to be expected. We’ve been playing a Japanese copy and from what we can ascertain it involves a man with a head so big that it takes …

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Red Steel

In the past Nintendo hardware has always been demonstrated with Nintendo’s own software. Super Mario World, F-Zero and Pilot Wings on the SNES; Mario 64 and the canned Kirby Bowl on the Nintendo 64; the Luigi’s Mansion and Meowth’s Party tech demos on the GameCube. It was a little bizarre, then, to see Nintendo showing …

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Goodbye, our purple pal

It’s a sad day for the GameCube. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is likely to be the last Nintendo-published game for the system. Going by the scarceness of the PAL versions of Lego Star Wars II, Flushed Away and Naturo 2 it’ll be something of a challenge to actually find a copy anyway. Your …

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Viva Piñata

Are Rare shit now? Kameo was alright, but didn’t really hold our attention as it should have. Well good news, Warwickshire-based developer fans, Viva Piñata is cute, bright, fun, addictive and full of ridiculous regional accents. Yes, it’s a proper Rare game. At last. The only grumble in stylistic terms is that it isn’t particularly …

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A glorious waste of time

It’s been around for a while, but we may as well show you the Mii Creator if you haven’t seen it already. It lets you create your own Nintendo Wii ‘Mii’ characters from the safety of your web browser. Perhaps the best time waster since Line Rider. It’s particularly interesting if you haven’t got a …

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Monster 4×4 World Circuit

We were going to start this review by pointing out that apart from Red Steel, this is the only exclusive title in Ubisoft’s eight-strong Wii launch line-up. That was until we discovered that it isn’t a new game at all: it was first released on Xbox back in April, albeit only in the US. So …

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Shenmue on Xbox 360

Microsoft updated the list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 games on the Xbox website, only to retract the update a few hours later. We’re not sure why, but it was a good mixture of new Xbox titles (Family Guy, Scarface, Splinter Cell: Double Agent), old titles (I-Ninja, Pariah, Shark Tale) plus a few that I …

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Assault Heroes

We like Xbox Live Arcade at the moment, as the last few additions have all been shiny and new, rather than updates of crusty old arcade games. Last week we had the 3D platform / puzzler RoboBlitz, this week overhead shooter Assault Heroes from Wanako Games. It would probably be best not to say their …

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You can’t fool us, Sega

Sega are trying to confuse everybody. It’s the only explanation. Yesterday they announced that they’ve got the Alien license, and have at least an FPS and an RPG in development for release no earlier than 2009. Then today they’ve announced that an update of old Sega IP Alien Syndrome is in development, for the intriguing …

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F.E.A.R.

Fat Elephants Ate Rennies? Nope. Fire Everyone At Roofs? No. For Everything A Reason? Hmm, could be. Fold Envelopes At Reading? Now you’re being silly again. First Encounter Assault Recon? You got it in four – well done! Like Far Cry, Doom III, Half-Life 2 and Quake IV before it, F.E.A.R. is a first person …

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Wii: not as popular as FIFA

No surprises there. If Wii had been released at another time of year, then maybe Zelda would have taken the chart top spot. But as it is, #5 is what it gets, with FIFA 07 hanging on at #1. The best placed Xbox 360 title in launch week, almost exactly a year ago, was Perfect …

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