So today is Labor Day here in Canada and the US, so I’m just chilling at home and catching up on some games that I’ve been putting on hold (on account that I’ve been playing Starcraft II exclusively). As the recent Penny Arcade Expo is winding down, it looks as though Lucas Arts is showing off a multiplayer mode for the upcoming Star Wars: Force Unleashed II game. As you can see it, it looks like very reminiscent of the popular Super Smash Brothers series from Nintendo. The developer mentions that they did not find inspiration from SSB, but rather from other popular fighting games from SNK and Capcom.

Though the concept of the game isn’t something new, seeing your favorite Star Wars characters pitted against one another is probably a fans dream. I’m wondering if this mode shows favor with fans that Lucas Arts would look into making a dedicated game like this? I guess we won’t know until this is officially released.

-Stephen

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Normally when I hangout with a bunch of my friends over the weekend, we usually play a card game known as Tichu. Though the game is supposedly a centuries old card game that originated in ancient China, it is actually a game which created the theme of an old Chinese game. I can say that it’s pretty fun to play as a 4-player game, but it can be scaled to include even more players. The game is very reminiscent of another popular card game known as “Big 2″ and I used to play for fun with my colleagues during my lunch breaks. Well, I was surprised to see that this game was going to be ported to basically all the current iDevices even though the game doesn’t seem to be well known.

I think the great thing about this app is the fact that you don’t need to have 3 other players to start a game and if you do, you can play with them via wifi. At an affordable price of $2.99, it’s even cheaper than buying the actual cards! (well, not counting the fact that you need to have one of the 3 Apple devices mentioned). Anyway, I’m going to give this game a go and see how it lives up to the actual card game.

-Stephen

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Well, not long after it was revealed that a device known as the “PSJailbreak” could be used to run unsigned code on the Sony PS3, Sony filed an injunction to stop the distribution of the device in Australia and now other countries abroad. But recently, some very smart hackers have been able to “clone” software that is running on the device and have since released it to the mass public as a program called “PSGroove”. Now anyone with a programmable USB circuit board can create their very own “PSJailbreak”…and that spells bad news for Sony.

In the case of the PSJailbreak, Sony could stop put a stop to the production of these devices. However, with the code being distributed freely through the web, it’ll be next to impossible to stop the proliferation of these devices to the public. I think that Sony should either focus creating ways to prevent further incursion with this device, or be thankful that it took nearly 4 years before their security was circumvented (that’s great considering how short of a time it took to hack the Wii and XBox 360).

I can understand that Sony doesn’t want their systems to run certain software (especially pirated games), but I think the consumer should be able to do whatever they want with their PS3s after they’ve purchased it. Anyhow, with this news, hopefully we’ll see some cool homebrew that’ll show off the true potential of this gaming console.

-Stephen

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I’ve been a big fan of the whole Mega Man series since the beginning. I even bought Mega Man 9 and 10 on PSN to play on my PS3. Anyhow, with news of a new Mega Man game coming out, I’ve been fairly excited. So far, I gotta say that the game looks reminiscent of the old games but with improvement in graphics. I’m just hoping that the game will deliver as much fun and excitement as it has from the older series. Also, with the inclusion of a level editor and the ability to play as Ryu? I’m sure it’ll have quite a few new functions to get new gamers interested. Few details have been revealed thus far, but let’s hope that we’ll get to see more during PAX ‘10 this weekend.

-Stephen

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So yesterday was the big Apple Event where Steve Jobs announced the new Apple TV, the new iPod Shuffle, the new iPod Nano (with multitouch) and of course the new iPod Touch. Though the first 3 items are neat (I have no clue why you’d want the new iPod Nano), I think the item with the most improvement is the new iPod Touch. Now with features taken from the iPhone 4 (retina display, front facing camera, HD video recording), now people can enjoy all the goodies that iPhone 4 users enjoy (without the contract!). So I guess if you have been striking out with finding an iPhone 4, the iPod Touch HD is definitely a great alternative! Also, I can see more people getting into the whole “Facetime chatting” since there will be a larger user base. Plus, you can start pre-ordering these gadgets next week and have them available this holiday season. Woohoo!

-Stephen

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