GAMING


Tecmo Bowl is coming back!!!

Posted by Dan in GAMING on 03-08-10    No Comments


tecmo-bowl-throwbackTecmo Koei America has just announced that they are bringing back SNES favorite Super Tecmo Bowl and calling it Tecmo Bowl Throwback.   The game will have a new 3D mode or you can play in old school 2D mode.  This version will have online multi-player mode and a national leader board.  Look for it on Xbox Live  Arcade and the Playstation network this spring.  I wonder who will take up the reins as the games’ unstoppable character, Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl had to be the most powerful video game character ever.




Apple “Special Ad” Superbowl Buzz Begins

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 01-31-10    No Comments


I know I am getting ready for another round of Apple Superbowl spots. The web chatter is up that Apple will have some nifty ads for the big game  Apple Insider for example is saying that Apple Inc and Apple Corp. — one is the music company that the Beatles made. The other is the computer company Steve Jobs made, — will release some new Beatles tracks a la iTunes. Now sure, the move makes sense. Both companies want to get the digital word out. But I’m betting that fans can expect an iPad angle in this commercial. Since Cupertino would be insane to pass up a chance to drive a marketing message home about its new tablet computer.  Just take a look at what will be available for the game via the iPhone and the iPod touch. And this application does not even have a deal with the NFL.




Move Over iPad: Board Games To Go Organic.

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 01-28-10    No Comments


The iPad and baseball … oh please that is just old hat. What’s really the cutting edge of displays? Board games! They’re a sport. Not a big sport, but they count. And there’s a way interesting new riff Organic Light Emitting Diode display technology that is, at least in the lab, making neat board games electronic. OLED Display.net is reporting, and many of the edgie tech blogs picked up, a new technology out of Queen’s University in Ontario that renders board games on mobile, changeable OLED displays. So if you are thinking of playing some table top baseball — and not wasting your time on the dumb iPad watching MLB —  these suckers will positively make that game rock. Simply place the paper like displays on any table and they render different images depending on the state of the game. Now on top of the cool factor, the big story here is how fast innovation is coming to next gen displays. If something as simple as a board game can be coolified, just think about what will happen in a stadium, or a sports bar? Probably the bar itself will be a display. Strange days ahead.




Move Over PlayStation 3: Time To Start Gaming On The PC For That Ultimate Gaming Look

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 01-13-10    No Comments


Sure the Wii is supposed to be the king of sports. But for our money we prefer a rippin fabulous game running on the fastest possible gaming platform, which is usually the PlayStation 3. But If a new family of PC games optimized to run on new hardware and software is any indication, The PS3 is losing its rendering edge. Just check out this demo for car race game Dirt 2..

Now what makes this average racer important is the quality of the image, the speed of the rendering and the depth of information being managed and displayed. Even on a crap computer just look at the details on the image above.

The secret here is Microsoft’s Direct X 11 programming environment that is now being optimized for gaming titles. The code can be optimized with the gobs of new processing power coming from the latest generation of PCs and suddenly pure play gaming platforms, even the vaulted PS3 cannot keep up.

Besides just being flat out fabulous to look at, the Direct X environment offers a solid portal for rich media into Web-based coding. And for sports programmers looking to make their events more interactive, this is big news. With this kind of programming power at hand, how far are we from FoxSports building rippen Direct X apps that run with say NASCAR, MLB or even the NFL.

Look for the line between TV and sports gaming to blur.




Slope Side At Vancoucer With Mario And Sonic

Posted by Jonathan in GAMING on 01-04-10    No Comments


Now how silly would it be if the Vancouver Olympic sleeper techno hit was a fat Italian animated man on a snowboard. Yup Mario and Sonic are might just score big at the coming Winter Olympic Games.

Nintendo has modeled “Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games” after any one of a number of easy to play course, action and puzzle titles: Choose from the usual Nintendo staple of cuttie characters: Yoshi, Mettle Sonic or Mario himself. Pick a sport: say hockey, downhill, bobsled, long jump or maybe figure skating. Then wave your Wii sticks around. Do your best to get a gold medal. Madden it is not.

Reviews on the title have been flat to middling. With PC Magazine giving it an emphatic “good.” But it would clearly be a major mistake to ignore this title. Parents have been looking for a decent game to get for their by now aging Wiis. And Nintendo has had a hard time meeting demand. (Name even a decent good new Wii game?) And while Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has almost nothing to do with the actual games — no known athletes and no real imagery from Vancouver. But the IOC 5 ring bug and the brand seems to be enough.

If early post holiday messing around is any indication, every kid we know seems to know or have this game. Competition in ski cross seems the most intense. And kids are getting smart about how to find quality Mario Olympic time: picture-in-picture of hockey worked well against the NHL Winter Classic.  For our 13 year olds, Mario was as entertaining in many ways as the Bruin’s goalie Tukka Rask.

Interactive sports is entering some strange days.