Over the Labor Day Holiday Weekend, I had the chance to visit the county fair. And allow me the opportunity to set a mental landscape before entering this review full steam. Imagine the smells of cotton candy filling the air, funnel cakes, the unfortunate waft of an elephant (ew!) and popcorn by the ton. Visualize the brightly painted and extremely lit signs announcing oddball tests of strength and dexterity that you will probably never encounter in real life.

That is, not unless you get the 2K Games Carnival for your Apple iPhone or Apple iPod Touch. Best part, there’s no elephant smell either.

Carnival Games has the typical odd assortment of games from a test of strength, bumper boats, shooting galleries (shoot out the center of a star, shoot the ducks with the targets on their sides and a Wild West shooting game) and even a milk bottle game that you can actually win – much unlike in the real life cheating gosh darn game.

The graphics are great, simple, extremely clean and bright and in good looking 3D. Upon your first start up, you will create a character, I decided to make mine look like me… sorta. You can unlock many items and add them to the look of your character. In fact, my little cherub like avatar is now sporting a pair of x-ray glasses that I won by ringing the bell in the test of strength three times. And speaking of which, 2K Games actually worked it out where if you have to slide your finger up and down in order to build your strength for the test of strength, you actually have to rub your finger up and down – staying in one place won’t suffice. I found that actually cool that they used the iPhone’s touch screen in that manner.

You move around the screen using an virtual joystick and while it’s easy to get around, you cannot control the camera at all. The way the game is laid out, you have to walk around from place to place to where the carnival games are located. While I don’t mind the controls in that aspect, you can find yourself walking into corners or behind the game stands. Just walk around them and you’ll be fine.

I was one of the few that did encounter some random crashes; however since the 1.01 update in the last few days, I can easily state that I’ve been crash-free and enjoying this game to the point of having to charge my battery multiple times in a day. Easy to pick up, totally fun to play with, 100% addictive. I’ll have to give the Nintendo Wii version a spin later on too.

A definite must-buy in my book: 5 out of 5 (Highly Addictive)

[ Link: Carnival Games on iTunes, Carnival Games ]

The folks over at Tweaktown have reviewed the Psyko Audio Labs 5.1 PC gaming headphones and came away rather impressed.

The Psyko Audio Labs 5.1 channel headset offers some really exciting new ideas about how surround information can be delivered. Developing Psykowave proprietary technology as the flagship feature truly makes this headset something quite unique. Plus, the added design feature of building the speakers into the top of the headband chassis allows for two large subwoofers with a vented ear enclosure, which is another key part of making this system work the way it does.

Adding an external amplifier really allows all of the speakers to reach their full potential and is also quite an attractive unit in its own right. The included mic is also a bonus for those users who seem to swear by them when they play games.

Priced at $299.99, these are definitely not your normal headphones but will keep you from disturbing your loved ones and neighbors while delivering a great surround sound experience.

[ Links: Tweaktown Psyko Audio Labs 5.1 PC Gaming Headphones Review, Psyko Audio Labs ]

Official word is that this is a “long ways” off, so there’s no date announced as of yet. Destined to come out on the current generation of videogame systems – so far the Sony PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 have been confirmed. I will express concern as to how uneven the mostly non-projectile but combo heavy Tekken fighters will fare against the projectile heavy and somewhat combo heavy Street Fighter warriors will be. Ultimately, I finally get to see who’d win between Akuma (Gouki) versus Heihachi Mishami.

Can’t wait.

[ Links: Street Fighter X Tekken Debut Video ]

I’d consider myself somewhat of a gamer. I own a Sony PlayStation 3, I own a Nintendo Wii, I own a PC that I built around my video card (yes, it plays Crysis… quite well thank you) and I’ve purchased games on my Apple iPhone. On the Apple iPhone, I had found myself gravitating towards OpenFeint enabled games, a gaming framework created by the folks over at Aurora Feint that shares your high scores and accomplishments with your friends that also have that game, allows for announcements that range from free games for the day to updates and challenges from friends to beat their scores. All for free.

But what I noticed that a lot of OpenFeint enabled iPhone games had the ability to support in-game purchases on these games that… well, I thought they were losing money and just giving away the game but charging minor prices for trivial, and optional stuff. Boy was I wrong. There’s a lot of money in in-game virtual goods. According to a new Magid report, about $168 million dollars worth of money. That’s huge. And it’ll only get bigger in later years.

Virtual goods purchased on smartphones are a new emerging market in the United States. Who is actually buying them and how much they’re spending, however, has not been completely understood. Today, Frank N. Magid Associates and mobile social gaming network OpenFeint are shedding some light on the subject by providing the first-ever estimate on how much Americans are currently spending on virtual goods.

According to the study, Magid Media Futures 2010 Wireless and Consumers, Americans spent $168 million on mobile virtual goods in the last year. Magid estimates that over 70 million Americans now own smartphones – that’s 23 percent of the population. With 45 percent of those smartphone owners playing mobile games and 16 percent of those spending an average of $41 per year on in-game virtual goods, the market has already exceeded $168 million.

“The market for virtual goods has already exploded in web-based games like Zynga’s Farmville, and we’re just now starting to see this trend in the mobile space,” said Steve Lin, VP Operations of Aurora Feint. “In just the last few months we’ve seen amazing interest from our game developers in building mobile social games with virtual goods. Our internal numbers reflect the study in that free-to-play models will be the dominant pricing structure in the future.”

With 55 percent of smartphone gamers interested in buying virtual goods, the market is poised for strong growth as more virtual goods-based games enter the market. The study also shed more light on who is likely to play games on smartphones. Compared to the general population, smartphone gamers skew male and are between 18 and 34 years of age.

Buying virtual goods isn’t really anything new if you’ve ever played Diablo II or Farmville. But those micro-payments – I’ve personally bought a couple of extra levels for a couple of games to extend my enjoyment of some titles for 99 cents or so – add up. And apparently, it’s a back door to increasing the enjoyment and profitability of a game. And the best part, the people are buying into that mentality and in a big way in the aforementioned age groups (18-34).

“Everybody knows free-to-play social gaming models on PC platforms have been making a killing but mobile virtual goods aren’t as well understood,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors. “With almost 20 percent of smartphone gamers already making purchases, there’s a lot of room for the market to keep taking off as smartphones continue to increase in popularity.”

Magid has looked pretty deep into the explosion growth of in-game virtual goods purchases of smartphone gaming. I think it’s time I dusted off my programming skills and got serious about making a socially aware, OpenFeint enabled smartphone game that allowed for in-game purchases to get my share of that $168 million and growing market.

[ Links: OpenFeint, Aurora Feint, Magid Advisors ]

I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t Nintendo just release a DS variant just a scant few months ago? Ignore that Nintendo DS XL. You want the Nintendo 3DS. It has a widescreen 3.5″ screen up top that gives you the sense of 3D without the need for expensive and cumbersome glasses like you do with the current 3D movies and HDTV televisions. On the (outside) hood of the Nintendo 3DS, there are a pair of 0.3 megapixel I know, low, but it’s a only a video game system that allows for 3D picture taking.

Shown just yesterday at the E3, the following is known:

Size (when closed): Approximately 5.3 inches wide, 2.9 inches long, 0.8 inches tall
Weight: Approximately 8 ounces
Top Screen: 3.53-inch widescreen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses; with 800×240 pixel resolution (400 pixels are allocated for each eye to enable 3D viewing)
Touch Screen: 3.02-inch LCD with 320×240 pixel resolution with a touch screen
Cameras: One inner camera and two outer cameras with 640×480 (0.3 Mega) pixel resolution
Game Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, “Slide Pad” that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor and a gyro sensor
Input/Output: A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.

No details on pricing yet, but consider this a serious DOWANT.

[ Links: Nintendo ]

In case you’ve not heard yet, if you’re the owner of a non-slim Sony PS3, or “phat” or “fat” Sony PlayStation 3, it’s in your best interest to not try to play any games until either a fix is in place or until the datetime error is fixed.

“As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
• Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

Bad part… now that I cannot play my Sony PS3, I actually want to play it now.

UPDATE: Sony has “fixed” the problem, proceed with playing your games and collecting your trophies in peace now.

[ Links: PS3 IGN, Sony's Secret Warranty Timer? ]

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan announced that a limited edition PSP ‘Sweet Limited Package’ will become available on March 4, 2010, to coincide with the release of the new Blossom Pink PSP system.

Produced in collaboration with Jill Stuart, a highly popular women’s fashion brand from Sanei-International, the special package will be a limited offer at a recommended retail price of 21,000 yen.

The Sweet Limited Package comprises the PSP handheld entertainment system (PSP-3000) in an elegant Blossom Pink color, a special pouch and a cleaning cloth both designed specifically for the bundle pack by Jill Stuart and a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. The special PSP pouch comes in a champagne-gold color with crystal embedded shoulder chain strap, allowing users to coordinate with their outfit and carry around their PSP more fashionably. The glittering silver Jill Stuart logo is printed on the cleaning cloth as well as on the package with pink crystal motif design.

Concurrently with the release of the Sweet Limited Package, SCEJ will also release ‘PSP Value Pack’ comprising the PSP-3000 system in Blossom Pink, Piano Black or Vibrant Blue color, a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, a pouch and a cloth, as a limited offer at a RRP of 19,800 yen.

Link to the original article…

Mind you, I know that the trampling for new products is usually reserved for either Black Friday or $50 laptops; but I sorta expected to hear about something happening in Japan when this blockbuster game came out in Japan.

The Final Fantasy XIII launch event in Japan, the show started 6:30AM at Shibuya Tsutaya. Game stores at Shibuya, Akihabara and Ikebukuro had around 350 people lining up before 7am, people started lining up as early as 9:30pm the night before.

Let’s see if things are as civil when this debuts in March of 2010 in America.

Before this dwindles into a Sony PlayStation 3 versus Microsoft XBOX 360 argument, let’s just start and stop with the warning via Destructoid that if you enjoy Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 on the XBOX 360, I would wait from playing online until this is fixed for good.

If you’re playing Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360, you might want to lay low for a few days. Yet another problem has been discovered in Infinity Ward’s game, and this one’s a real bastard, with the ability to “infect” your profile and turn you into the game equivalent of an HIV carrier.

According to reports, players get “infected” by unwittingly joining a private match hosted by a carrier. They then get hit by the same issue – unlimited ammo and no reloads – and can pass it on if the end up hosting any games themselves. Allegedly, it’s “spreading like an STD.”

This unique issue started out as a mod on the PC version of the game, which we spoke about yesterday. It has been transported to the XBOX 360 and put to more sinister work. Infinity Ward is apparently “working” on the issue, and it appears that Microsoft is wielding its banhammer for anybody caught employing it.

So yeah. The potential that you might get hit with a hack, get banned and not even know you got it is rather high on this popular game. I would play it cool and not online for a while.

[ Links: Modern Warfare 2 gets an AIDS-like virus on Xbox Live ]

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2… yep, it’s coming for the Sony PS3 and Microsoft XBOX 360 sometime in 2010. Do want.

Hit up the Arkham Has Moved website for more.

In the last couple of days, I’ve had three or four of my friends call me and ask if I knew anybody that was looking for a Microsoft XBOX 360 and they all were selling them cheaply. Just over a week, Microsoft banned 1 million XBOX Live Players [Article: CNN] and those machines cannot rejoin the XBOX Live network, which is necessary for updates and playing games online.

This is the stuff that lawyers have wet dreams about. So a week later indeed, there were announcements of an class action lawsuit on the way [Article: Lawyers & Settlements] and at the same time, eBay, Craigslist and other sale outlets [Article: CBC News] are being flooded with these banned XBOX 360′s that look just like any other one until you login to XBOX Live and find out your cheap $100 machine will never get any updates and play online. Sure, it will play games just fine though… but it’s a crippled machine. All because people wanted to be able to pirate games for the Microsoft XBOX 360.

There’s been talk about firmware fixes for those machines that were affected [Article: Tom's Guide] but the fix is a complex set of instructions that will have you probably switching religions and getting the cops called on you because you’ve thrown your HDTV, a trashcan and your Pokémon card collection out of different windows in a fit of rage because you cannot pwn the next dude in Gears of War 2.

So yeah… don’t buy that cheap XBOX. It might be banned.

Some people fell in love with Street Fighter. Some people loved Mortal Kombat. The very first time I played SNK’s Samurai Shodown, known as Samurai Spirits in Japan, I fell in love. Matches could last for mere seconds… time enough for you to pull 5 moves with a weapon, then the end. But I loved it. I even bought a SNK Neo-Geo just to play Samurai Spirits II.

Looks like the Microsoft XBOX 360 will get it’s own updated version of the Samurai Spirits line, to be named Samurai Spirits: Edge of Destiny to be released in Japan on December 10, 2009.

SNK Playmore will release Samurai Spirits Sen [Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny] for Xbox 360 in Japan on December 10, for 7010 yen. The Xbox 360 version will have 26 playable characters, including the two final bosses Dorako and Goruba. SNK Playmore will have a pre-order campaign in Japan, those who order the game will receive a Suzuhime metal paper cutter with looks like the her weapon in the game.

If history repeats itself, this will be the game that finally makes me purchase a Microsoft XBOX 360 system. I can’t wait.