Though Spirit Tracks is far from innovative, it boasts enough improvement in gameplay and graphics over Legend of Zelda’s previous release on the Nintendo DS, Phantom Hourglass, to insure its success.  Not every game has to be groundbreaking to entertain its audience.  Spirit Tracks takes fans of the Zelda franchise into another quest to save Hyrule – this time with Zelda’s spirit accompanying and assisting Link along the way.The story, including why you need to visit the Tower of Spirits, is not particularly innovative, but it has a certain amount of charm. A few generations after the adventure of Link and Tetra in Phantom Hourglass, peace reigns in Hyrule with Princess Zelda ruling. Read More...

Continuing from the God of War Review from a few weeks ago, the beginning part of the Collection, we bring you God of War II. Which as you would think, continues the story of Kratos and his fight against the Gods and Titans from Greek mythology. Only this time with a little bit more twists and a quasi surprise ending that some could kind of see coming. At least if you know your mythology. Before I get to much further in, let me answer a question you may have. Read More...

Microsoft has finally caught on to the whole instant gratification idea and released it's long awaited Games for Windows- Live games on demand. Talk about a day late and a dollar short.Microsoft opened it's doors to PC gamers everywhere, with their new Games for Windows LIVE software.  Gamers can download numerous titles from Microsoft ranging from Dirt 2 to Street fighter IV.  Yes we are all aware that Digital Distribution already exists with Steam and Direct2drive among others, but Microsoft gives the players the ability to use cash or Microsoft points to purchase games. Read More...

One of the few game developers that has never ceased to amaze me is Gameloft. I don't know what their development philosophy is, but it has consistently led to some great gaming experiences on mobile devices. To be perfectly honest, Chuck Norris: Bring On The Pain continues in that trend, turning the worn jokes concerning our favorite Texas Ranger into a pretty entertaining game.Over at the official site, Gameloft gives some insight as to what you are in for: "Step into the boots of America’s toughest man in the first Chuck Norris game available for your iPhone and iPod touch. A brilliantly outlandish scenario sets you, Chuck Norris, in the Cambodian jungle to release prisoners of war held hostage by a rogue army of Communist soldiers. Read More...

With the lack of backwards compatibility on the current age PS3 units, it was starting to look like there was no way for new users to play their classic games as the technology became more economically available. This being the case, it looked like some great classic games would get purged from households to make way for the new technology. But you can't keep a great classic down, and it was decided to produce a version of one to make it through to the modern tech. Much like the great Greek Tales, God of War and God of War II do just the same with the God of War Collection. Read More...

Are you ready for another Medal of Honor game? Well it has been a while since we have seen action in the Medal of Honor universe. What if I told you that this Medal of Honor won’t take place in World War II, but instead it takes place in modern era?  Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that in 2010 an all-new Medal of Honor will introduce the Tier 1 Operator, a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle. EA has been working closely with Tier 1 Operators from the US Special Operations Community since the earliest stages of development to create the most authentic modern war experience. Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer of Medal of Honor had this to say, “When we first set out to reinvent Medal of Honor, we wanted to stay true to its roots of authenticity and respect for the soldier, but bring it into today’s war. Read More...

As I was about to board my flight for the trip, I thought I might pick up something to help the trip go by faster. I understood that buying inside the airport usually meant higher prices, but I managed to find a reasonably priced PSP Assassin's Creed Bloodlines bundle, which came with the game, a Silver PSP-3000, a code redeemable for a DLC version of Angels and Demons, and a 2gb memory stick. Sure, I already had the PSP-1000 and I did know that the 3000's screens were crap at best, but I decided to get one anyhow seeing as that my launch unit's screen was fairly beaten up, scratched, and the fact that the audio only worked through the headphones as the speakers had found a way to stop working about 2 weeks before. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed isn't new to the handheld world, Altair's Chronicles was released to the Nintendo DS and iPhone earlier, however this was the first time that they would try putting the full free-roam style gameplay on a handheld. Read More...

After a nice long coma from all the turkey I have eaten, I am back to bring you this week's Nintendo Download. While you are out shopping or in front of your televisions, Nintendo brings you 10 downloadable games to make sure you have one hell of a Christmas, or the start of one hell of a Christmas. First is Chapter 4 in Tales of Monkey Island for Wiiware, along with a few other titles. The DSiWare is serving up some magic with PopCap's popular title Bookworm and EA’s Foto Face: The Face Stealer Strikes. Read More...

<rant>So awoke today to an all to familiar sight: a red ringed 360. I've had 4 red rings in 5 years, and while I most likely use my 360 more than the average user, 4 units in 5 years is unacceptable for a company who can afford to make a system that won't fail.</rant> I did a poll of my 60 some friends on Live and got 30 responses: 23 of them have had red rings, 7 of them haven't, and of those 7, 3 got theirs this year (the newest 360, which allegedly won't red ring anymore). While many polls have been done outside of mine, the results are always staggering, in some polls (like the game informer poll) gamers report that the failure rate is over 50% while some polls report around 20-25%. Anything above 10% in my mind is a completely unacceptable. Read More...

Assassin's Creed had very few pitfalls: a repetitive story mode, inability to swim, and repetitive animations. AC2 fixes all these issues, and more. When Ubisoft came out with AC, it was the only gun-free, action oriented, free roam game, and up until AC2, it stayed that way. It was a risky move on their part in a predominately FPS dominated world. It paid off and did more than justify a sequel. In a world of gun oriented, short single player mode, multiplayer based games, AC2 isn't, and it is just as awesome as any other game out there. Read More...

So some news about Natal is making the rumor rounds. According to a member of a “secret tour of a Microsoft lab”, the controller-free movement only control system will come out November of 2010, which Microsoft had previously hinted at and then claimed bollocks. Microsoft hopes to have 5 million units available for purchase worldwide at the time of launch, some being sold with a 360, and some being sold on their own. The price would range anywhere from £30 to £50 (what the price would be in USD is anybody's guess at this point) and would have a fairly robust 14 launch games. We know that Criterion/EA had modified the popular Burnout Paradise to work with Natal, so maybe the 14 includes patches for some games. Read More...

As I looked at the massive amount of people at my local GameStop that were in line to pickup MW2, it dawned on me, this is the biggest, most anticipated, and what could be the best selling action game of all time. Over 300 people were standing in the cold for some four hours waiting for the same thing. Many of them planned on calling in sick the next day or skipping out on school just to get some playtime in. Many people were reminiscing about COD4 or saying how they played a bunch of COD4 to get psyched up about MW2. Read More...

Microsoft announced yesterday that they have banned a very large number (rumored to be up to 1 million) Xbox Live player accounts for modding their Xbox systems and playing pirated games.With the current release of Modern Warfare 2, players are anxiously trying to get online and fragging their friends but it seems Microsoft has other plans.  Microsoft is citing it's terms of service agreement that players agree to when buying an xbox system:Download or use any material sent or provided by another user of the Service that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally shared or distributed in such manner (except as expressly permitted by us).What they could and would do were clearly laid out:Microsoft may, among other things: (a) restrict or limit access to the Service; (b) retrieve information from the original Xbox, Xbox 360 console, personal computer, and any connected peripheral device used to log onto the Service as necessary to operate and protect the security of the Service, and to enforce this contract. Read More...

"Loaded with multi-touch, accelerometer, and 3D graphics, Zune HD makes portable gaming even more exciting. All to the sound of your favorite music. Download free games from our catalog of popular titles like Vans Sk8: Pool Service and Audiosurf Tilt.", says Microsoft's Zune Site.Not one to allow Apple to comfortably situate itself atop the movie gaming market, Microsoft has rolled out some titles for the Zune HD. These titles range from new properties to some existing licenses. One of the advantages right off the bat for the Zune HD as a gaming platform -- and by extension as a mobile device in general -- is that it takes advantage of Microsoft Points. Read More...

Last week, Nintendo announced that "for the first time" Link and Zelda will team up to save Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. When I first came across this bit of news, I honestly didn't think much of it. Don't get me wrong -- I'm looking forward to the next adventure with Link on the DS -- but after playing it at E3, I have had modest expectations on new gameplay. The more I thought about this new bit of news, the more excited I got. After 20+ years of waiting to be saved by Link, Zelda is coming to the forefront to assert herself as a dominant character in the series. Read More...