droolicious : playstation 3

Logitech Wireless Axe: the Next-Best Thing to Having Real Strings?

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Sure, you could get a real guitar for the price of this $199.99 Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, but if you don't actually play a real guitar, well, why lower your standards?

Officially licensed for Guitar Hero, the PlayStation 2- and 3-ready controller features solid-body construction, a real wooden neck, a rosewood fingerboard, and metal frets and peg handles, along with a touch-sensitive neck slider and Star Power button that let you rip through all those Metallica solos. It's got a 30-foot wireless range, too, so you and the fam can really make the living room your stage.

Unleash your inner rock god, you big nerd, at Logitech.

CES 2009: Pyro Army Chair From Pyramat

Chris Ford — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Here's a new gaming chair from Pyramat that I thought was pretty cool - the Pyro Army Chair. Like some of the other Pyramat chairs it has four speakers (two at the top, two at the bottom) and a big subwoofer. It's called "Army I suppose because of the camouflage patterns and has loads of pockets for whatever your son (most likely) wants to put in them.

What I liked the most about this version though is that it can be linked up to other Pyramat chairs - up to eight in total - so more than one person can enjoy the video game, movie, or whatever other audio source you have plugged into it. Each chair will have to have it's own separate power, but the audio plugs just into the first chair, and is distributed to the other chairs from the first.

The Pyro Army Chair should be available in four to six months an should retail for around $129.

CES 2009: Vibe By X Rocker - A Vibrating Stage For Rocking Rock Band

Chris Ford — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Judging by the number of booths at CES with something Rock Band or Guitar Hero related, you'd think that everyone was pretending to be a rock star at home. We've seen some cool video game chairs, but this thing gets my vote for most unique Rock Band accessory. The Vibe by X Rocker isn't a chair, but a vibrating Rock Band stage for you to dream your dreams on.

Basically what you're doing is standing on a big speaker - actually three speakers. It's got stereo sound and a giant subwoofer with also some sync lighting thrown in for effect. But the cool part about it is the massive vibration you feel when you're playing the game. It's definitely not for all night gaming sessions, but if you and your kids are Rock Band obsessed it's something you should definitely check out.

Vibe from X Rocker will retail for around $99 and should be available in Q2 of 2009.

Very Big Toys: Video Game Beanbag Chair - Pyramat Gamebag 2.1

Chris Ford — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:07:00 GMT

Getting your kids a special comfy chair with built-in speakers is kind of encouraging them to play video games, watch movies or generally waste time, but think of it this way. When they go to bed you'll have a totally sweet chair to waste time in too.

The Gamebag 2.1 is a bean bag type chair made out of "breathable microfiber fabric" that has surround sound speakers and a subwoofer in the seat. It's compatible with all gaming consoles (XBOX, PS3 etc.) as well as televisions, DVD players, hand held video games and iPod/MP3 players. There's even a smaller version (pictured below), the Gamebag Mini, that is pink only and is a little cheaper.

The Gamebag 2.1 is apparently available now at Linens N' Things for $89.99 and the Mini is available at Toys R Us for $49.99 (though nothing is available at their respective web sites yet). You can also check out products from Pyramat at Pyramat.com.

'Rock Band' Goes Nerdcore in Support of Kids' Charity

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:04:00 GMT

If you're tired of hearing the kids' endless requests for "Don't Fear the Reaper" in your family Rock Band jams, head to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PLAYSTATION®Network today to grab some lesser-known indie tracks, and you'll be supporting a good cause in the process.

Marking the 2008 wrap-up of the annual gamer festival Penny Arcade Expo, the "PAX 2008 Collection" for Rock Band contains three playable tracks from NYC nerd-folkie Jonathan Coulton, nerdcore (we're sensing a theme here...) rapper MC Frontalot, and self-described "Lovecraftian doomsayers" The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, all of whom played the recent PAX festival in Seattle.

As for the charitable element, Harmonix/MTV Games’ proceeds from the sale of the collection between now and the holidays will be donated to the Child's Play Charity, which has contributed over $3 million in toys, games, books, videos and financial aid to children's hospitals across North America.

Cost for the new tunes, which go on sale today through Xbox LIVE and Sept. 4 via PLAYSTATION®Network, is 99 cents/80 Microsoft Points per track and $2.99/240 Microsoft Points for all three.

Monopoly Razes Atlantic City, Dumps Dollar, Goes Global

Aaron Burgess — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:04:00 GMT

If you caught CBS' The Early Show yesterday, you probably already got a first glimpse at Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition, the completely overhauled version of the world's most-played board game (half a billion players and counting, according to the game's parent company, Hasbro). This time out, Mr. Monopoly's empire has expanded far beyond Atlantic City's borders, thanks to a six-week worldwide voting campaign that found some 5 million people chiming in on how they'd like the new version to look.

As you might expect, the results are pretty wide in scope: From a whole new global currency (the "M"-represented Monopoly Dollar), to a complete overhaul of the playing spaces (they're now cities, with the 4-million "M" Montreal claiming the blue high-rent spot most of us remember as Boardwalk), all the way to to more worldly-looking houses, hotels and playing pieces:

For all it adds, Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition also scales back on some familiar items: For instance, paper money has been replaced by bank cards and an electronic banking unit, and the familiar old utilities have given way to green-themed renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. Plus, thanks to EA's upcoming video-game versions, including the Aug. 27 debut of the game on mobile phones (via download) and at Pogo.com, you can do away with the board altogether.

Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition is also slated to hit Wii, Xbox 360, PS2 and PS3 in October, but if you're online for the game's Aug. 27 Pogo.com and mobile rollout (at 14:00 GMT, specifically), you can join players across the globe in an attempt to set a world record for the most people ever playing a game of Monopoly at the same time.

Oh, and fear not, classicists: You'll still be able to buy the old-school, Atlantic City-centric edition with your worthless U.S. dollar. As for the rest of the world, see you in Montreal...

The Babble Review: Kung Fu Panda the Game

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Unfortunately for the often great kids' movies that spawn them, video games based on CGI animated flicks tend to be so generic, bug-laden and unplayable that they end up doing more harm to the franchise than good (I'm looking at you, Ratatouille). So my expectations going into Kung Fu Panda, the new game based off the awesome Jack Black flick many Babble readers have no doubt been standing in line for the past few weekends, were a little less than high. Sometimes, though, it's good to be wrong: Not only is Kung Fu Panda one of the better movie spinoffs to hit game consoles in recent memory; it's also one of the more enjoyable kids' games that've landed in our mailbox this summer.

In a Nutshell: If you're an experienced gamer, you'll probably want to skip Kung Fu Panda altogether. With its tiny learning curve and relatively simple controls, the game can be beaten in a little less time than it takes to sit through the movie. It's a great game for younger players, though, with a fun script (complete with a dead-on Jack Black sound-alike) that uses the film's story as a springboard for bigger tales, as well as a big, jolly sense of humor to balance its cartoonish kung-fu fighting. And just as importantly, unlike so many movie-themed games, it plays as though it's more than a quick cash-in, with actual care put into easily botched stuff like graphics, gameplay and storyline.

Age-Appropriateness: Full disclosure: I reviewed the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS versions of Kung Fu Panda with my two sons, 7 and 5, fighting for controller time by my side, so right off the bat I defied the game's "E10+" ESRB rating. Odds are, though, that you may not be considering more than the "E" in a game's rating to determine whether it's suitable for your under-10 kiddoes, and with Kung Fu Panda itself being so appealing to a younger audience (in the theater where we saw it, giggling, cheering preschoolers far outranked any 10-year-olds), I figure it's only sensible to put the game in the hands of the age brackets that are probably asking for it. The good news is, at least one of those age brackets had no problem diving into the game and enjoying it -- more on the other in a bit.

Po and two of the Furious Five take on the evil Tai Lung.

Plot and Gameplay: Kung Fu Panda follows its jelly-bellied title character, a bumbling-but-aspirational panda named Po, across multiple stages on his quest to become the fabled Dragon Warrior and stop the recently prison-busted Tai Lung from returning to destroy the village that spawned them both. Sounds just like the movie, right? Well, unlike the movie, the game packs a host of other animal bad guys to take on, and if you thought Tai Lung's nerve strikes were nasty, just wait till you have to rescue a group of baby turtles from the Croc Gang while flying down whitewater rapids and dodging flying arrows. Other levels allow you to play as Po's warrior counterparts, the Furious Five, or as their master, Shifu, while taking on similarly nasty animal crews created just for the game.

Close call: Crane hoists Po and a baby turtle up, up and away from a hungry croc.

As with other multi-console games, your experience with Kung Fu Panda is going to differ depending on the system on which you're playing it. However, even though the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions offer some bonus content and unlockable items , their basic action doesn't differ much from that of the Wii, PS2 and PC versions. Also, with minigames and missions being key parts of the game, the action isn't completely focused on combat (and I do use that term in the jolliest sense here). Of course, combat makes up the best parts of Kung Fu Panda's action, and your kids will have a blast figuring out the different moves and combos for each character as they clobber their way through the game.

Getting Personal (My Kids' Hands-On Experience): Where gameplay was concerned, my 5-year-old suffered most: After getting his butt kicked in a few rounds of combat and not being able to grasp the controls and combo moves as quickly as he'd hoped, he gave up on the Xbox 360 version. Unfortunately, even though the DS version offers a relatively simpler side-scrolling experience (read: you move from one side to the next, hurdling over obstacles and jumping up to different levels as you go), it ended up being twice as frustrating for the little guy, and he gave up after being unable to clear the first few screens. (Poor kid is still just learning to read, so the reading required to follow instructions -- par for the course in many DS games -- usually ends up being a point of frustration, anyway.)

A shot of Tigress in combat, from the Nintendo DS version.

The good news is that his brother, though three years younger than the ESRB's recommended age for Kung Fu Panda, had no trouble getting cozy with the controls and knocking out the bad guys -- although after playing the far more expansive, open-ended and graphics-rich Xbox 360 version of the game, he rarely went back to the DS version. Out of curiosity, I went back to the DS version and found it a blast, and if your kids are familiar with a game like Spider-Man 3 -- which combines the sort of side-scrolling action mentioned above with clever touchscreen controls (in this case, you move with the directional pad and put together your fighting moves with the stylus/touchscreen), they should have no problem getting cozy with this different, but equally solid, version of the game.

Grab your own copy of Kung Fu Panda the Game at Amazon.

Video Game Review: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Rules)

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:02:00 GMT

Geeks the world over may be frothing over the upcoming be-all, end-all multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but in my house, the only Star Wars universe that matters is the one you make yourself out of plastic bricks and minifigures.

Needless to say, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, the new, third installment in LucasArts' awesomely, endlessly fun video-game series, has been at the top of my and my kids' Christmas lists this year. Luckily for me (but unbeknownst to them -- hey, they don't read Babble), I got it early. Sorry, little dudes.

LEGO Star Wars II marked the series' entry into next-generation consoles, but The Complete Saga maximizes the systems' technology -- which means, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3, you're going to notice some major improvements in graphics, as well as some cool new online capabilities. Wii users, unfortunately, don't get either, although the Wii version does make use of the system's motion-control capabilities. DS players, meanwhile, get a LEGO Star Wars experience completely redesigned from the ground up.

Playing like a combined version of its predecessors, The Complete Saga works in LEGO-fied versions of the characters, scenery and scenarios from all six Star Wars films, complete with LEGO Star Wars' trademark cheeky humor to take the edge off. Meaning: Star Wars Battlefront this ain't -- and you'll dive right into playing alongside your kids for just that reason.

Even if you beat the games the first go-round -- and despite the kiddie appeal, that's not as easy as you might think -- there's plenty here to keep you playing. Besides new characters like Watto, Zam Wessell and Boss Nass (with over 120 playable characters in all), you'll find 10 new bounty-hunter challenges, the ability to mix and match characters from all six episodes, and even a cameo by a certain archaeologist movie hero who's about to get his own LEGO video-game treatment.

It's not entirely "new," so calling LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga the season's best kid-friendly video game may be a stretch (and besides, Mario did come back fighting this fall). But for those of us who've enjoyed bonding with our kids over George Lucas' universe, boy, it'll sure feel that way.