In case you were living under a rock, dear gamer, the new Xbox One was announced today. I must say I felt rather underwhelmed with Microsoft's presentation. Especially after Sony's strong showing back in March. Here's a peak and some commentary at what's coming up for the nextbox.

It has an odd name
When gamers refer to the Xbox One, they usually mean the original Xbox. Guess that well known fact went unnoticed at Redmond. It's a bit of an odd choice, and completely out of left field. Many figured it would be called the Infinity, which makes (ahem) infinitely more sense. Then again silly names can work sometimes. Just look at the Wii. Though I still think it's code name Revolution was cooler.

It will be out by the end of the year
Microsoft hasn't set a date but they did confirm it will launch by the end of 2013. Expect a November launch window in the run up to the holidays. That seems to be the norm these days.

We don't know how much it costs
Microsoft didn't say a word about pricing, or even if there would be different models to buy. With cable integration, we can speculate that this may be part of the much rumoured subsidization program. So far, Redmond is tight lipped on the subject.

Keep reading after the break more details on the Xbox One

Well now this is interesting. Hackers have already been plodding away at SimCity and found out the game can indeed be played offline. It involves putting the game into some sort of "debug mode". It's fully playable though it can't save cities or interact with other regions. By the sounds of it, the process is relatively simple. To make an offline, single player version, programmers would just have to add local saves. Something that could easily be patched in. This fully dispute's EA's claim that online functionality is so deeply interwoven into SimCity that an offline version was impossible.

Furthermore, a Maxis insider told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that the servers only handle cloud saves and communication between players. All the computational business happens on the local end of things. He stated he can't understand why EA keeps claiming otherwise.

It's also been suggested that the servers don't even react to your gameplay in real time. Kotaku found out that the game could run happily offline for 20 minutes before it realized it wasn't connected to the server. This backs up the hackers claims and proves SimCity really isn't an MMO at all, nor does it need the servers to run.

So it seems EA isn't being completely honest over their always-on functionality. The servers do enhance gameplay but are not necessary for it. Yet EA continues to state otherwise. The plot keeps thickening.

Sources:
-Destructiod
-Rock, Paper, Shotgun
-Kotaku

Electronic Arts once again has egg on their face. The latest fiasco has to do with SimCity 5 and its always-online functionality. EA had planned to reinvent the game as a multiplayer experience. Instead gamers were met with clogged servers and dropped connections, rendering the game unplayable. It launched without enough servers to meet demand. EA says they plan to add more over the weekend to address customer concerns. This is just the latest PR disaster for the company, who Consumerist named the "worst in America".

For those less technically inclined, the always-on DRM SimCity uses requires a player to be connected to an EA server in order to play. Should the connection be lost on their end or yours, the game is rendered unplayable. This method of copy protection has been met with controversy since its introduction a few years ago. Many gamers feel it's unnecessary for single player games. Aside from that, it has been plagued with technical problems since day one. The issues with SimCity are only the latest in long line of rocky launches. Last year, Diablo III was met with harsh criticism when gamers could not log on to its servers. Prior to that, Ubisoft was met with outrage when the same thing happened to those who had bought Settlers 7.

The definition of insanity is attempting the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results. In the case of always-online copy protection, it has never worked. While Diablo III managed to keep piracy to a minimum, the problems with the system generated a lot of ill will towards Blizzard/Activision from the gaming community.

SimCity Burning - or how gamers really feel buying EA. From GotGame.com

EA has followed the classic corporate model for the entertainment industry. Buy up competition and focus on producing products at low cost in high volumes. Suits with MBAs control the creative process, and most don't even posses a creative molecule in their body. The conglomeration of studios has definitely hurt gaming. PC gaming in particular has taken it on the nose more than other platforms. Gamers are often still treated as pirates even though they legally obtained their games.

So far SimCity's problems have been met with strong backlash from the gaming community. Video game publications are recommending people not buy it, at least not until EA gets their act together. Most companies would freak at this level of negative press. Yet EA seems to blow it off as a lot of whining over spilled milk.

What has happened is inexcusable and rather amateurish  A company that large should anticipate large server demand at launch and prepare accordingly. They didn't and in my opinion, they don't deserve your $60 because of this.

Though I will take the time to take a knock at my fellow gamers. We knew this was coming. EA never hid the fact that SimCity would require a constant server connection to play. We also know that these systems have never worked properly in the past. Why would this time be any different? Yet people still bought the game. People are probably still buying it. That's the fatal flaw. As Forbes columnist Paul Tassi put it, the only way to force EA to change is to vote with your wallet.


Images from 
Falahultrachaos
GotGame.com

Meet the Kitchen family, and their five year old son Danny. Like many families, they have a communal iPad they let their child play with. Dad was kind enough to even download some free games for Danny. He put his password in, grabbed the games, and let his kid go to town. Over the next 15 minutes, the precious little scamp went on a mind boggling shopping spree. To the family's horror, Danny had racked up £1,700  ($2500) on dad's credit card.

Fortunately this story has a happy ending. Apple realized it was a mistake and decided to refund the Kitchens. However, there's a lot of lingering questions. How could this happen, and more importantly, how can you prevent it from happening to you?

The blame obviously lies with the parents themselves. Apple had emailed them an itemized invoice for 70 pounds the next day. They ignored it assuming it was sent in error. In fact it's likely the spree would have continued had the Kitchens' credit card company not called. That's mistake number one. Any charge that you did not make on your credit card should always be cause for alarm. ALWAYS check your receipts. I can't stress this enough.

The second mistake was allowing a five year old unsupervised access to the family computer. Kids are a lot smarter than we adults tend to give them credit for. It's truly amazing how much trouble they can make in such a short time. Especially when you give them the means to buy things when the child has no concept of money.

"Free" games targeted at young children frequently use micro-transactions for in-game items. These items range for $1 all the way up to $100 or more for something as stupid as a "Trunk of Diamonds" in one particular farming simulator. The kid is smart enough to know that more resources make the game easier. What they don't know is these items cost mommy and daddy real, finite money.

Lucky for you, it's very easy to protect yourself from what's happened to the Kitchens and countless others.

1. Never let kids use the computer unsupervised. 
Don't treat it as a babysitting tool. If your child wants to play a game, play it with them. As any parent knows, kids that young can start a world of trouble if you take your eyes off them. For the love of god never share your passwords with your children either. Heck I can remember hacking my dad's user account when I was eight because his password was too obvious.

2. Familiarize yourself with your computer's security and parental controls. 
It's amazing how many people rely on technology to run their lives, but are still technologically illiterate.

In iOS, under the settings tab, go into General and click restrictions  These are your parental controls.  The list labelled "Allowed Content" is what you're interested in. Particularly the two at the bottom. By default, iOS allows in-app purchases and waits 15 minutes before requiring a password to buy and download new content from the App Store. You'll want to set these to OFF and IMMEDIATELY respectively. This will prevent kids from accidentally buying things without your permission.

Turn off "In-App Purchases" and set Require Password to "Immediate" to prevent accidental charges

3. Set up a separate iTunes account for your kids
The biggest problem with iOS is you can't set up separate accounts for different users. HOWEVER, what you can do is set  up multiple iTunes Store accounts which can be used on a single device.

It's very easy and requires about five minutes of your time. Sign out of iTunes on your computer, then hit sign in and select "Create Apple ID". Don't tie a credit card to this account. Just select "none" as your payment method. Now that your kid has their own account, which you will monitor, they cannot download any apps or in-game content that aren't free.

4. Teach your kids the value of money
It's never too early to start teaching your kids the value of a dollar. Get them to do some chores to earn money, or if they like playing games on your iPad, some iTunes gift cards. Let them know that once they spend the value of the card, that money is gone and they'll have to earn another. Not only will this prevent you from financial heartache, it will set them up for a responsible future.

5. When all else fails, don't count on a bailout
The Kitchens got extremely lucky here, in that Apple refunded them. However, they are a business not a charity. Once these incidents start happening too many times, they won't be as forgiving. If you take the above steps to protect yourself, you shouldn't encounter problems. That is unless your kid is Bart Simpson and is smart enough to steal your credit card. But that's a whole different kettle of fish.

Sources:
ArsTechnica
BBC News

You walk into the front door and you're met with wall to wall nerdgasm. The shop is filled with the musty smell of old electronics. Every single nook and cranny is lined with games for every system you could dream of, and a few you never knew existed. ToyRatt in Milton, Ontario is one of those rare gems. Their staff is driven by a passion for vintage video games. You can chill out with them, talk games, or even play a few with your fellow geeks on their big screen TV. Something that future generations may be denied if Sony and Microsoft get their way.

Today, Edge leaked a report suggesting that the Xbox Durango may ban the use of used games. When you purchase a disc copy, its specific serial number would be forever tied to your Xbox Live account. Sony recently patented a similar system to block out used games.

The used video game market has been around for as long as gaming has been around. However, game publishers have suddenly begun to equate it to piracy. When you buy a used game, publishers never see a dime from that sale.

For retailers like GameStop, the sale of second-hand games is big business. Profit margins on new games are  thin. A friend who owns a computer shop sold games at one point. At the time he was only making $5 for every copy. He didn't sell enough to make it worth while so they were taken off the shelf. Retailers like GameStop and Best Buy have the same problem. Buying and selling used games is a good way to boost profits. Since they're cheaper to buy, it's a win-win for both retailers and budget minded gamers. Though many have accused GameStop of paying too little for used copies and selling them only a few dollars below MSRP. Which is partly why Microsoft and Sony have their panties in a knot.

Even if you hate GameStop, the loss of the used market would be a major infringement on consumers rights. If this becomes reality, video games would be the first ever industry to completely ban the sale of used items. Imagine how ludicrous it would be if eBay, Kijiji, Craigslist and Autotrader were shut down. If Goodwill could no longer accept donations because sales of used clothes aren't going to labels. It's all silly but that's the point we've gotten too in our greedy, materialistic corporate culture.

Worse still, it would kill the soul of gaming. For years, gamers have been buying, selling, renting, and trading  to grow their collections and fuel their obsession. Stores like ToyRatt aren't GameStop. They're run by a couple of guys or girls who just live and love video games. They're not greedy corporate monsters. If the industry bans used games, they'd be put out of business. Classic yet unpopular titles would die quick deaths in favour of bland shooters that sell lots but hardcore gamers hate. Once the servers go down and the discs stopped getting pressed, it's curtain call. Many great games I've discovered I've found in used bins. The loss would cheapen the art form by denying so many fantastic titles the appreciation they deserve.

What about the PC market? Used games have been defacto banned on that platform for years. Which is true except for one catch. PC games tend to be substantially cheaper than console games, and they tend to go on sale more often. Also many disc based PC games have moved away from DRM which ties copies to specific accounts or hardware. The Spore debacle and the revolt of casual games four years ago caused a paradigm shift regarding this style of copy protection. So used PC gaming has potential for a comeback.

Lets keep our vibrant culture alive by retaining the used market, help protect small used game shops, and let Microsoft and Sony know what you think of their plans. Tweet @Xbox and @Playstation to ensure that future gamers will have access to today's best games. Use #SaveUsedGames.

Taking a look at the gaming and tech trends in 2012

If there's one thing about Nintendo, they've never played a conservative game. Their innovations are small, yet have a profound impact on gaming. Take something as simple as the plus shaped D-Pad. It's hard to believe that something so ubiquitous didn't exist prior to the Famicom. The Wii U is a little different. The latest gimmick is something that has existed for some time, just never really implemented: dual screen gaming.

A lot of entertainment providers talk about multiple screens. When I watch a movie on TV, I'm frequently on my iPad looking up actors, directors, discussing it on Twitter. The Wii U is a natural extension of the tablet revolution as much as it's an extension of the DS. The motion control that made the Wii famous has been pushed aside for a tablet-like controller with a touch screen interface. Have your inventory pulled up at all times, touch to solve puzzles, or even detach it from the TV and take your game with you to another room. Play your games on your TV the same way you loved to play them on your DS.

The Wii U GamePad is such an innovative product, it was introduced by Sony, six years ago. Back then it was called RemotePlay. The much touted feature would have allowed you to play PS3 games on your PSP. A couple of indie games implemented it but it never got far beyond that. Possibly owing in part to the PSP's low resolution and painfully slow WiFi. The same function is present in the Vita and has been used a bit more effectively, but not by much. So far only one game officially supports Wii U style mobile control. Apple also has this technology via AirPlay to stream iOS games to a TV and use iPad or iPhone to as a controller. Both these systems require the purchase of costly peripherals.

Where Nintendo excels the most is jumping in on trends before anybody else does. Even if they didn't originate the idea, they're the first to see its potential; no matter how small.

I've been told for quite some time now that I'm wrong about mobile gaming. Many fellow gamers have said that smart phones and tablets are not cannibalizing the console and handheld market. A recent study by Neilson proves them wrong. Kids want Santa to bring them tablets, not games.

The study looked at interest in electronics for kids 6-12 and teenagers. Almost half off all children said they wanted an iPad. The Wii U topped second place with 39%. The iPod Touch, iPad Mini, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only a quarter of all kids wanted an Xbox or PS3. In the case of portables, 29% wanted a 3DS and 18% wanted a PSP. Only 14% wanted a Playstation Vita.

In the case of teenagers, things are a little different. The iPad still topped the list with 21% wanting one. Computers, non-iOS tablets, Wii U, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only 8% of teens said they wanted a game console, with the PS3 being the most popular. In the case of portable systems, the 3DS and Vita actually come out on top. It's a Pyrrhic victory with only 5% and 4% respectively.

Things aren't full of Christmas cheer for console manufacturers this year. Though we're hardly set for another crash, a lot of what's going on mirrors 1983. There's a strong interest in multi-functional devices over dedicated gaming systems. Interest in portables has taken a nose dive. Still, it's unlikely parents will be willing to spend upwards of $500 for an iPad. Especially for the little ones. If Sony and Microsoft take anything from this, they will need to get their new systems out by Holiday 2013. The current generation has finally run its course.

Source: IGN
Image copyright Bethesda, via Nukapedia

A video gaming legend has passed away this week. Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore and former CEO of Atari, has died at age 83. The man was famous for bringing the world the legendary Commodore 64, one of the firstr gaming PCs available to the average consumer. However, elite gamers may know him for an entirely different legend. One involving a quest for a golden sword. A SwordQuest if you will.

In the early 80s, Atari was the king of video games. Prior to Major League Gaming, they held their own pro level contests to find the best of the best. Perhaps the most famous was SwordQuest. The contest began in 1982 with a series of four games planned for it. Gamers who joined the Atari fan club received a t-shirt and would receive each game as soon as it launched. The games also shipped with their own DC comic book tie-in.

SwordQuest as a rudimentary precursor to Zelda type adventure games

The four games were based on the ancient elements of the cosmos: Earthworld, Fireworld, Waterword, and Airworld. The structure of the games were based on ancient symbols; the zodiac, tree of life, chakra, and I Ching respectively. It being on the Atari 2600, a lot was left to the player's imagination. That's what made games a lot more magical back then.

Gameplay was basically the same for all four One had to navigate rooms, collect items, and find clue words. These clues were hidden in the companion comic. They would then have to be arranged in the correct sentence. Those who got it would compete at a finals event at Atari HQ. The champions were given custom cartridges and had 90 minutes to find as many clues as possible. The winner would receive a fabulous prize.

A clue in Earthworld directs the gamer to page 16, panel 4 of the comic. The clue is "SPIRE".

In today's game contests, you might win a grand, or a free collector's edition. Atari was serious back then. No plastic trinkets or trips to Hawaii. SwordQuest winners would receive authentic jewel encrusted swag, valued at $25,000 each.

The prizes, clockwise from top left: Talisman of Penultimate Truth, Sword of Ultimate Sorcery, Chalice of Light, Crown of Life, Philosopher's Stone

The winner of Earthworld received a solid gold talisman studded with diamonds, a white gold sword, and the twelve birth stones. Steven Bell took home the prize. Unfortunately, it was forever lost when Bell melted it down and solid it to a coin dealer. Only the sword pin remains.

The winner of Fireworld received a platinum chalice with gold base. It was adorned with citrines, diamonds, green jade, pearls, rubies, and sapphires. Michael Rideout won the chalice and still owns it to this day.

Winners of Waterworld were suppose to receive a gold crown, also adorned with rare gems. Then the video game crash of 1983 hit. Production of SwordQuest games stopped. Two semi-final winners of the Waterworld contest received $15,000 each. The finals for the crown were never held.

After that, Atari stopped the contest. Had it continued, winners of Airworld would have been given a white jade "Philosopher's Stone". It was to come in a jewel encrusted, solid gold box.

Both the crown and the stone did exist. They were on display at the previous three competitions. However, neither captured gamers' imaginations quite like the grand price: the titular sword.

When the four contests were over, the previous grand champions would have a chance compete for the ultimate prize. The Sword of Ultimate Sorcery featured a solid silver blade and solid gold hilt. The hilt was also covered with rare gems. This ultimate prize was valued at $50,000, or over $100,000 today.

A rare photo of the legendary lost sword. It was rumourned to be owned by former Atari CEO Jack Tramiel.

When Atari filed for bankruptcy during the crash, the three remaining prizes disappeared. Then Jack Tramiel bought the company and restructured it. The whereabouts of the sword, crown, and stone have remained unknown up to this day. However, rumours persisted that Jack Tramiel was in possession of at least one, if not all these missing prizes.

Some people claim to have seen the sword  hanging in Tramiel's house. However, none of these reports have been confirmed. Tramiel repeatedly denied he was in possession of the items.

So gaming's greatest mystery persists. Now that Tramiel has passed on, we may finally find out if he did indeed hold on to these legendary relics of games past. That is if his estate chooses to share that information. Until then, the quest continues. 

If you want to know more about this contest, check out Cinemassacre's Angry Video Game Nerd special on SwordQuest.

The year was 1993. It was an innocent time. The Blue Jays had won the world series, you could still buy yogurt in the large tubs, and Mike got his first console for Christmas. Thus began the passion for gaming. One sparked by a blue hedgehog and a system called Genesis. When us old school Sonic fans demanded a game that recreated the experience of the original trilogy, someone listened.

The folks at Sonic 2 HD embarked on an ambitious project. Recreate Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in its entirety, with high definition graphics. It's not an upscale either. While the core of the game remains the same, the music and artwork have been completely overhauled. The end result is better than what Sega themselves accomplished with their lackluster attempt at Sonic 4.


After months of anticipation, the team finally released a demo of the game this week. Though it's an alpha build, it's as close to perfection as a Sonic fan can get. So what's the downside? It's not licensed or endorsed by Sega. The company is within its rights to have the project stopped. As a fan, I hope they won't do that. With any luck, Sega may publish this fan labour of love. Until then, if it ever happens, hit up the link for screenshots and to try the alpha for yourself.

Sonic 2 HD Alpha PC Windows Download

There might be a Steam console coming to a TV near you. That's the rumour percolating this week. Sources say Valve has developed a mini computer, with the purpose of creating a stand alone console that can play PC games. Should such a thing exist? Blasphemy, so say PC gamers who have heard it all before.

Valve certainly wouldn't be the first company to do this. Phantom Entertainment attempted it as far back as 2003. The hardware looked promising, as well as the allure of a truly open platform. Then a lawsuit and fraud investigation later, and The Phantom disappeared entirely.

Valve has also come up with a system that has promising hardware. It's claimed to feature an i7 processor, 8gb of RAM, and an nVidia graphics chip. All built with off-the-shelf components. Valve  has considerable gamer & publisher support, and an existing distribution model. If we compare past systems, a Steam box would be like the original Xbox. A big company takes a risky move to create a console out of PC hardware.

A standardized system would have huge benefits for software developers. However, such a system wouldn't necessarily benefit gamers. After all, standardized hardware already exists. They're called the Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. Many, if not most PC titles launching today are ports of console games. Few exclusives exist beyond MMOs and real-time strategy, and that's only because they're impractical on consoles.

The Steam box is a novel concept but it fails to take into consideration one important factor. PC gamers don't game just for the sake of gaming. Much of the hobby comes from building and customizing hardware, or tweaking and modding the games themselves. Especially outdoing those doing the same. As a PC gamer myself, I feel a Steam box isn't going to appeal to this community.

As for console gamers, the market is already saturated. There isn't room for more than three systems. There never has been. It's especially true if the system can't offer up any clear advantage over the others. Both Nintendo and Sony survive through well established franchises and unique exclusives. Nintendo furthermore has its gimmicks. Microsoft has their superior online play. Steam would add a direct download, discless alternative. But is that enough?

Valve should not be producing another stand alone console. The world doesn't need it. If they want in on the hardware business, custom PCs are a more viable choice. Especially if they partner with nVidia, as has been suggested. Similar to what AMD has done with their Vision platform. If they can use their leverage to produce a Windows PC focused on gaming, with prices comparable to consoles, then they may be on to something.

We've said it time and time again. You got your hopes up only to have your dreams dashed. This time I can say it with confidence. The Hedgehog is back. In fact, Sonic Generations is easily the best Sonic game in 15 years.

As a long time Sonic fan, I don't make the above claim lightly. I was a huge fanboy back in the Genesis heyday. I mastered every game of the main series, played every other at least once. I religiously watched Sonic SatAM, and collected all the Archie Sonic comics. I loved the blue blur. To seem him fall so low in the 3D era pains me. It's like watching a piece of your childhood die. 

Saga is trying hard to turn their struggling mascot around. We've seen three major releases in the last year. Each one has improved upon the other. Generations finally manages to capture the spirit of the Genesis games, while at the same time perfecting them for the modern era.

Story & Gameplay

Thankfully, Generations keeps it simple for once. No bad dialogue, no weird ineterspecies romance. The story is kept light. Sonic's friends are captured by a time beast and thrown into the White World. This acts as the level select screen. There's no unnecessary over-world, which is refreshing. The story has plenty of nods and in jokes for fans. It even mocks the ludicrous stories and bizarre characters the 3D era is known for.

The game is structured like a classic Sonic game. There are nine zones with two acts each. Each zone is taken from the nine games released in the main series, from Sonic 1 up to Sonic Colours.

The zones are split into a Classic Sonic act and a Modern Sonic act. Seeing the chubby Sonic of yesterday puts a smile on any fan's face. Seeing him race through modernized versions of Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant managed to put a huge grin on mine. Everything is just perfect with these classic levels. The focus on speed, speed, speed is gone. Instead, we return to good old fashioned platforming. That's really what the original series was all about. Physics are as close to the original Genesis games as you can get. You do tend to loose momentum in rolls quicker. The jumping is spot on though, a big improvement over Sonic 4.

Green Hill Zone looks great in the 21st Century

Compared to the original Green Hill Zone in 1991

After that first act, you move on to 3D Sonic. I actually enjoyed playing these levels just as much as the classics. Building on what they learned in Unleashed and Colours, Sega has perfected Sonic in the third dimension. There's a lot of great speed but a lot of good platforming. You get the feeling of a blistering pace, but without the cheap deaths that went along with previous games. One difference over the past is a boost gauge, which allows for temporary bursts of speed. You fill up the gauge by collecting rings, and doing mid air "tricks".

Both classic and modern levels are just a blast to play. The difficulty feels just right. It gets harder as the game progresses, without overwhelming the player. There's no sense of cheap traps here. Except maybe in Chaos City. Why Sega would want to revisit that rotting disaster known as Sonic 2006 is beyond me.

The game can be completed in a few hours. Some reviewers have complained about the length. I think they forget how short the original games were. Though Sega is not completely cheap here. Each zone has several challenge levels for both classic and modern Sonic. Completing these will more than double the game time. Plus, you get to unlock lots of goodies by finishing them.

Graphics & Sound

Sonic Generations is a gorgeous game. Sega has really taken attention to detail seriously. They're good at making their games pretty. The levels are crisp and colourful, which is nice in today's shades of grey games. The recreations of the Genesis levels in 3D are stunning and true to the classic design. Levels have been carefully designed to add challenge and excellent platforming.

As fast and as beautiful as the game is, modern consoles can't keep up. Sega took the unfortunate step of trading fluid motion for beauty. Sonic has to be played at a high frame rate to create smooth motion. In traditional games, this was 60 frames per second. The PS3 and Xbox 360 can only manage half that. It creates a fair bit of lag and motion blur. This takes a lot away from the Sonic experience.

Sonic Generations is a beautiful game best played at the PC's fast frame rate

 The best platform to play Sonic Generations on is the PC. The game still has a locked frame rate, unfortunately. However, it will run at a full 60 frames per second on Windows. This is how the game should be played, provided you have a powerful enough system. In my case, I'm running an AMD Phenom II X3 at 3.0ghz, Radeon HD 5770 1gb, and 4gb of RAM. This is enough to run the game at full speed without breaking the bank.

The game has no major technical issues. There's the occasionally frame rate hiccup but glitches are at a minimum. Thankfully, Sega learned from the disastrous Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.

Aside from looking good, the game sounds amazing as well. Even in it's darkest days, music has always been the Sonic series' strong suit. We're not getting anything new here. Instead, Sega has recreated and reinterpreted classic tunes with help from their original composers. The new versions of the old Genesis tracks really stand out for classic Sonic fans. Listen for your self. As you play, you can unlock the original tracks for a blast from the past. Even as a Sonic fan since the beginning, I still prefer the new versions.

Conclusions

Sonic Generations is the best console game in the series since Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Period. Sega has made a lot of mistakes with their flagship series. This is the game that finally gets it right. Classic Sonic plays like classic Sonic should. Modern Sonic is fast and fun. Both modes balance each other perfectly.

That said, the game isn't perfect. It has a few pitfalls. Later levels return us to a few cheap deaths, and the frame rate is too low on consoles. Some have complained that the game is short too. While that's true, it's no shorter than the Genesis classics.

Sonic Generations is a pure and unabashed lip service to fans who started with the series' roots. It's a fantastic game that really shows what Sonic should be, and what he can be. No stupid stories, no nonsensical friends. Just pure speed and smart platforming.

Score: 8.5 out of 10

What Works
-Classic Sonic plays like classic Sonic
-Colourful graphics and reinterpretations of classic levels
-Re-imagined music will make Sonic fans smile
-Modern Sonic gameplay finally perfected
-Lots of stuff to unlock, with missions that add variety

What doesn't work
-Cheap pit deaths in later levels
-Low frame rate on consoles

"He'd rather eat, the rotten asshole, of a roadkill skunk and down it with beer." If you're a gamer, chances are you've seen James Rolfe's Angry Video Game Nerd web series. His character is known for a foul mouth, love of bad games, and affinity for Rolling Rock. The beer is popular in Pennsylvania and Rolfe's native New Jersey. The LCBO here in Ontario just started carrying it. I couldn't resist giving the king of nerdy beers a try.

Rolling Rock is a pale larger originally from western Pennsylvania, now based in St. Louis. It's brewed by the Latrobe Brewing Company, as it has since 1939. InBev, a global beer conglomerate behind many famous brands including Budweiser & Alexander Keiths, currently owns them. It is a staple of the AVGN series, and has been since the 2004 pilots. Rolfe's Nerd is seen drinking it to dull the pain of playing bad Nintendo games.

I'm writing this as I try the beer. Rolling Rock has a very light yellow colour and pours with a thick, foamy head. It's very reminiscent of "cheap" beers like Molson Canadian or Budweiser. It has a light grainy, but non-alcoholic smell. So I take my first sip.

Yep, this is classic American beer. It's fizzier than most beers I've had. The level of carbonation is close to soda. I guess you'd say it has a light, clean taste. There's no appreciable amount of hops in it. That's fine by me, as I don't like bitter beers. However, there's nothing else in the way of flavour. It has a faint grainy taste, but no malt. Heavily watered down is a more appropriate way to describe it. It's like drinking club soda with a slice of white bread. This is a bad beer.



I don't like InBev's brands. A lot of their products are a lesser quality, and weaker, than others I've had. Even Keith's allegedly doesn't qualify as an IPA anymore, it being weaker than in the past. This one is exceptionally poor though. James Rolfe has the right idea. Rolling Rock is only good for dulling the pain. It will get you drunk, and that's it. For those that appreciate good beer, look elsewhere. This is a stereotypical American pisswasser. Despite what the label says, premium this ain't.

Enjoy this review? I might be reviewing some more craft beers to game by in the future. Stay tuned.

Title image copyright Cinemassacre Productions

Capcom is tasting a bit of UBIsoft's bad medicine. Sony's Playstation Network is currently suffering from a massive outage. Normally, this would mean no more online noob-bashing for a while. That is unless you own Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2, or Final Fight. Capcom started using a DRM system that requires you to be online to play the games. Yes, even for single player mode. With PSN down, gamers cannot access what they've legally purchased. Capcom has yet to comment on the issue.

Sony is working on repairing the problem, but says it may be a few days before PSN gets back up and running. Early rumours that pointed to another denial of service attack have been denied by Sony and the hacking community.

Source: Kotaku

The first MMNtech gaming challenge is honouring a retro gaming hero. Classic Sonic is making triumphant return in Sonic Generations, due out later this year. To commemorate this, we're going to play through the chubby blue blur's classic Genesis games in one run. For this challenge, you must play each game in the original series, in order, from start to finish.

This is purely for fun. There's no prize, but you do win extra gaming cred if you use a Genesis and an old CRT TV, or get all Chaos Emeralds in each game. Enjoy.

Apple is a gaming juggernaut today. Millions use their iOS devices to play countless games available on demand. This came at the end of a long road for company. Their Mac OS operating system was never designed with gaming in mind. It long stood in the shadow of the Windows PC. The pre-Jobsian era were dark days. Despite that, they decide to build a standalone console, on the same horrible platform. Like many things Apple did at the time, the Pippin never made sense.

It was the mid-1990s and Steve Jobs had yet to return. The video game market was flooded with consoles already. Naturally, Apple jumped in screaming "me too." The company never intended to release a system on its own. They instead chose to partner with Japanese game publisher Bandai. The result was a beautiful mess.

Like all Apple computers of the era, the Pippin was expensive and under-powered. The console used a PowerPC 603 processor at 66mhz and had a scant 5mb of RAM. Apple intended to make the Pippin into a low cost computer as opposed to just a game system. Perhaps they were channelling the Commodore 64. Unfortunately, the Pippin excelled at neither. All this came at a hefty $599 price tag.


There was nothing particularly wrong with the Pippin. It worked, and it's games actually did look ok, if not somewhat dated. It was also one of the first consoles to feature a built in modem for online gaming. The controller was unique, featuring a trackball instead of an analogue stick. It also featured Marathon 2, which in many ways was Bungie's prequel to the hit Halo series.

PC World put it best when they named the Pippin the 22nd worst tech product of all time.
"Underpowered, overpriced, and underutilized--that pretty much describes everything that came out of Apple in the mid-90s."

Image courtesy of TNW

Portable gaming isn't what it used to be. The DS and the PSP are downright primitive. Who makes a system that's two generations back? At least that's what Sega thought in the 90s. Why use aging technology for a portable when you could make one on par with the home version. That concept gave us two portables. One amazing and memorable, the other being the Sega Nomad.

In 1991, Sega released the Game Gear. It was essentially a portable Master System. It used the same hardware inside and had a full colour display. It was also the first portable to have media functionality, via an optional TV tuner. Compared to the monochrome Game Boy, the Game Gear was a technological juggernaut. However, it sold poorly due to its high cost compared to Nintendo's system. Battery life was also an issue.

In 1995, Sega took another stab at the concept. The Nomad was even more ambitious. It was a portable Genesis. It had identical hardware, had a high resolution screen, and even took standard Genesis cartridges. It had the entire library of its big brother at its disposal. Furthermore, it had a second controller port and TV-out. Sega originally planned a touch screen, but ruled it out due to cost. At the time, it was the most impressive hand held ever seen. Yet, it sold poorly. Only one million units; one tenth that of the Game Gear.

A lot of things killed the Nomad. It was expensive for starters. Nobody wanted to pay $180 for a portable at the time. It's biggest flaw though, yet again, was battery life. Since it used hardware identical to the Genesis, it had the same power requirements. Gamers had to stuff six AA batteries into the thing just to get it running. That only gave you about two hours of gameplay. It couldn't accept rechargeable batteries either, since they have a slightly lower voltage than standard. The Nomad needed 9v of juice or bust.

The Nomad quickly faded into history. It would be ten years before someone else would successfully challenge the Game Boy dynasty.

Some say they single-handedly saved gaming. When Nintendo's NES came out in 1985, it was a smash hit. The lone console brought the market back from the brink. It was the daddy of modern game systems. However, it wasn't the first for Nintendo. The company's history goes back over a century. Prior to the NES, they made arcade cabinets. Before that, they had the Color TV Game.

Let me take you back to a time when gaming was in its infancy. The year was 1977. The only game available was Pong, a simple table tennis simulator. There were countless different companies making their own copies of this game. Then Atari released the 2600. It had high quality colour graphics and a huge bevy of games. People jumped on it and it quickly dominated the home gaming market. Of course Nintendo, an arcade developer, wanted a piece of the action. Their response to the 2600? The Color TV Game; another Pong clone.


The original featured six variations of "Light Tennis". Unlike other Pong clones, it had colour graphics. Colour in the sense that it had white paddles on a green background, as opposed to a black background. The games were controlled with two dials, attached to the console itself. A revised version featured wired controllers and 15 variations of Light Tennis. A third Color TV Game, released in 1979. It dropped tennis in favour of "Block Breaker", a Breakout clone. The systems were only released in Japan.


Like the Halcyon, the Color TV Game did have something notable going for it. It may not have been the most advanced, or even the most innovate system. Block Breaker would have the biggest influence on gaming. The console's external design was one of Shigeru Miyamoto's first projects. The legendary game designer would go on to create Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and countless other Nintendo classics.

People complain about realism in games. I often find myself screaming at the TV because the game did something I didn't think was realistic. What if there was a game exactly like reality? Such a game does exist. It's called Desert Bus, and it's a piece of sheer mind-numbing brilliance.

The title itself is a legend in the gaming community. Penn & Teller planned to include it with their 1995 Sega CD game Smoke and Mirrors. It was never released to the public and was largely forgotten. A bootleg version ended up on the internet some time later.

Desert Bus was a brilliant piece of political satire. It was the brain child of Eddie Gorodetsky, later producer of the "winning" sitcom Two and a Half Men. The game was a response to the violent video game controversy of the mid-90s. The attacks on the gaming industry were largely being driven by then US Attorney General Janet Reno. Gorodetsky wanted to make a game so dull and bland that even Reno would be pleased. As the intro video points out, why waste money on fantasy when you can learn skills valuable to your pathetic life.


You drive a bus non-stop between Tucson, Arizona and Las Vegas. You travel along an empty desert highway with no other traffic on the road. There are bus stops, but nobody gets on or off. The bus is also governed to 45mph. At this speed, the trip takes a mind-numbing 8 hours to complete. To top it off, the bus pulls to the right, making impossible to set and forget. Should you veer off the road, a tow trucks comes and drags you back to Tucson, in real time. You can't pause the game either. Hitting "Start" only honks the horn.

Desert Bus forces you to play it from start to finish. Should you actually get to Vegas, you get a single point and the option of driving back to Tucson.


Desert Bus would have been a foot note in video game history. Then in 2007, Canadian comedy group LoadingReadingRun decided to play it, non-stop for charity.

The money went to Child's Play, a charity that buys video games and toys for childrens' hospitals around the world. In the first year, they raised $22,805 and played the game for 4 days and 12hr strait. Penn & Teller have been avid supports of the event, now known as Desert Bus for Hope. The event has raised almost $210,000 over the past four years.

Dirt 2 is a fun rally racing game, when it works. It was also the first major DirectX 11 release. Unfortunately, a lot of PC gamers are having problems with it. Namely, the game will fail to launch. You'll get the Windows spinning ring, then nothing. The issue seems to be the most common if you purchased it through Steam, or are running Windows 7.

There's an easy, partial fix you can do to get Dirt 2 running again. First of all, make sure you have the latest video drivers installed, which you can get from AMD and nVidia. Next open up your Steam folder. Open up Steamapps, then open Common, and open Dirt 2. Right click dirt2.exe and select "Run as Administrator".

The game should now load up. Unfortunately, it will be stuck in windowed mode. I can't find a way to correct that. At least it makes the game playable. If you get any weird graphics issues, just restart the game. You'll have to do this process each time. I recommend creating a desktop shortcut so it's easy to find.

I'm not exactly sure what causes the problem. It's unfortunate that Codemasters hasn't found a way to correct the issue. Hopefully they will soon.

Pokemon is a game where adorable monsters battle it out. When they loose the fight, they feint. All they need is a little rest at the Pokemon Centre to bring them back to fighting strength. But do Pokemon die? Even though it's just a kids game, the original Pokemon Red & Blue says they do. It's even implied that the games villains kill the lovable creatures. That's heavy stuff Doc.

People seem obsessed with Lavender Town because of that. It's the only location in the series where there's a Pokemon cemetery. Even though it's a fairly minor location, it has spawned plenty of urban legends. Many of these are downright disturbing. Here are some of the more bizarre Pokemon ghost stories.

The Existential Pokemon Silver
This legend appeared on 4Chan, posted by an anonymous user. It reappeared linked to an article on Kotaku, posted by commenter Travakh.

A gamer bought a used copy of Pokemon Silver from a Gamestop. Upon loading the save file, he found the last owner had all 251 Pokemon, had played for 999 hours, and had all gym badges.

The game started up in Bellsprout Tower, inside an inescapable room. The trainer, simply named "..." had five Unown in his party with a sixth Cyndaquil named "HURRY". Unown were a species of Pokemon that looked like letters of the Latin Alphabet. The gamer discovered the Unown spelled out "LEAVE".

After finding a way out, he was confronted with a sign that read "Turn Back Now". HURRY suddenly fainted for no apparent reason. A new team of Unown replaced him, spelling out "HEDIED". The deceased is replaced by a Celebi.

Still trapped in the tower, the gamer engages in a battle with Red, the final boss of the game and protagonist from the first generation. The fight was between his Pikachu and the gamer's Celebi. Pikachu uses curse. Both Pokemon die at the end of the fight instead of feinting. His Celebi is now gone from his party. The gamer then notices his avatar's sprite is missing limbs and has turned transparent.

The game then cuts to the trainer's house at the very beginning. He has no items, his Pokegear doesn't work, and outside the house is nothing but a black abyss. After wondering aimlessly for awhile, the gamer eventually encountered himself, or rather his regular sprite. The sprite says "goodbye forever ..." He checks the Unown in his party, which now spell out "IMDEAD". He then finds himself in a room with blocked walls. A final text reads "R.I.P". The gamer figures out his trainer is dead and this is his grave.

The gamer believes the moral of this hack is about the futility of life. Despite his efforts to become the greatest Pokemon trainer, "...", who he refers to as Gold, was unable to cheat death. His adventures become forgotten in time. We've all had this go through out minds at some point. Usually lying in bed wide awake at 3am.

Since this was originally posted on 4Chan, we can assume it's fake. The site is famous for its viral pranks and hoaxes. However, it is plausible since hacked cartridges do exist. Like all great urban legends, stories like this are impossible either prove or disprove.

Lavender's Missing Frequencies
Lavender Town is known for it's sad, haunting theme music in the original game. This legend is based on reading between the lines, and finding missing sounds. Almost like a Pokemon DaVinci Code.

A young man and his best friend Anthony were obsessed with Pokemon as kids. They go their separate ways in college but Pokemon ties them together. They keep having wifi battles nearly every day. Anthony eventually asks him to replay Pokemon Red & Blue together. Despite not really wanting to, the young man goes through with it. When he asks Anthony why, he says he might find something nobody else has before.

Three weeks later he receives a call from the Anthony's parents. Anthony has died. He suffered what appeared to be an intense seizure, despite having no history of epilepsy.

The man finds his friend had been obsessed with the music in Lavender Town. Anthony bragged about finding a rare rip from the original Japanese release. This rip apparently contained audio frequencies later versions missed. It was supposedly due to sound limitations of the Gameboy. Anthony began experimenting to replace the missing frequencies.

The young man describes finding the audio.

Driven by my desire to know what caused his untimely death, I opened the properties dialog box for the audio file, without opening the file to listen to it. Within the comments section of the metadata, he had written, "binaural tones, i added the necessary frequencies, i know why lavender town sounds so sad, and i know the part that was missing". Even eerier, I looked in his default audio program (still without listening to the file) and found the playcount for this file. One. I chatted with a sound enthusiast online in hope to decipher these cryptic comments. He gave me some special software which would analyze the audio in real time and said that was the most that could be done. This video is a screen recording of me running the aforementioned software with the original audio file. To this day I have not listened to the actual audio, as I am too emotionally disturbed by my best friend, Anthony's, death.

The story implies the missing frequencies caused Anthony's seizure. You can listen to the remix here along with the full story. I seriously doubt it will cause your head to explode as Anthony's did.

This particular story is very implausible. No audio engineer could work on something without listening to it multiple times. It sounds all too similar to the "brown note" legend, where a specific audio frequency was said to cause loss of bowel control. It also has a dash of a real world Pokemon incident. In that case, flashing lights in one particular anime episode triggered seizures in Japan.

A similar legend claims the original Lavender Town music contained frequencies only children could hear. The tones apparently caused Japanese children to go insane and die. While it's true Lavender Town originally did have slightly different music in Japan, no deaths have been linked to it.


Pokemon Black
Pokemon Black, not to be confused with the real Black & White, is supposedly a hack of the original Red. The gamer claims it features a "Ghost" pokemon, with the same sprite as the mystery ghosts found in Lavender Town before obtaining the SilphScope. It acts as your starter and cannot be removed from the party. It also only comes with one move, "Curse". When used, the move apparently kills the target Pokemon, and their trainer. The trainer is replaced by a tombstone with their name on it in the overworld.

The story gets a bit more interesting after you beat the Elite Four.

After viewing the Hall of Fame, which consisted of Ghost and a couple of very under leveled Pokémon, the screen cut to black. A box appeared with the words “Many years later…” It then cut to Lavender Tower. An old man was standing, looking at tombstones. You then realized this man was your character.

The man moved at only half of your normal walking speed. You no longer had any Pokémon with you, not even Ghost, who up to this point had been impossible to remove from your party through depositing in the PC. The overworld was entirely empty — there were no people at all. There were still the tombstones of the trainers that you used Curse on, however.You could go pretty much anywhere in the overworld at this point, though your movement was limited by the fact that you had no Pokémon to use HMs. And regardless of where you went, the music of Lavender Town continued on an infinite loop.

After wandering for a while, I found that if you go through Diglett’s Cave, one of the cuttable bushes that normally blocks the path on the other side is no longer there, allowing you to advance and return to Pallet Town.

Upon entering your house and going to the exact tile where you start the game, the screen would cut to black.

Then a sprite of a Caterpie appeared. It was the replaced by a Weedle, and then a Pidgey. I soon realized, as the Pokémon progressed from Rattata to Blastoise, that these were all of the Pokémon that I had used Curse on.

After the end of my Rival’s team, a Youngster appeared, and then a Bug Catcher. These were the trainers I had Cursed.

Throughout the sequence, the Lavender Town music was playing, but it was slowly decreasing in pitch. By the time your Rival appeared on screen, it was little more than a demonic rumble.

Another cut to black. A few moments later, the battle screen suddenly appeared — your trainer sprite was now that of an old man, the same one as the one who teaches you how to catch Pokémon in Viridian City.

Ghost appeared on the other side, along with the words “GHOST wants to fight!”.

You couldn’t use items, and you had no Pokémon. If you tried to run, you couldn’t escape. The only option was “FIGHT”.

Using fight would immediately cause you to use Struggle, which didn’t affect Ghost but did chip off a bit of your own HP. When it was Ghost’s turn to attack, it would simply say “…” Eventually, when your HP reached a critical point, Ghost would finally use Curse.

The screen cut to black a final time.

Regardless of the buttons you pressed, you were permanently stuck in this black screen. At this point, the only thing you could do was turn the Game Boy off. When you played again, “NEW GAME” was the only option — the game had erased the file.

I played through this hacked game many, many times, and every time the game ended with this sequence. Several times I didn’t use Ghost at all, though he was impossible to remove from the party. In these cases, it did not show any Pokémon or trainers and simply cut to the climactic “battle with Ghost.

I’m not sure what the motives were behind the creator of this hack. It wasn’t widely distributed, so it was presumably not for monetary gain. It was very well done for a bootleg.

It seems he was trying to convey a message; though it seems I am the sole receiver of this message. I’m not entirely sure what it was — the inevitability of death? The pointlessness of it? Perhaps he was simply trying to morbidly inject death and darkness into a children’s game. Regardless, this children’s game has made me think, and it has made me cry.

Pokemon Black was also posted on 4Chan so it's authenticity can't be verified. The unnamed author claims he lost the game cartridge years ago. Some versions claim he sold it out of fear. One variation on the story says a demonic image appeared on the screen after the character's death, with the words "you're next." It's still a great ghost story for any gamer out there.

Image courtesy of Bulbapedia, originally from the Pokemon anime.