The Zone

Edmund Mcmillen creator of Gish, the ground-breaking indie game involving everyone's lovable blob of tar has come up with an interesting Flash game called Aether to tie us over while waiting for the next incarnation of Gish. The game itself is fairly small by most gaming standards (about 29MB) but does incorporate a very simple but very interesting mode of transport just like Gish. However instead of flowing like tar you travel through space using a single super tentacle like tongue that hooks onto clouds and other floating objects. With plenty of simple puzzles and interesting game mechanics it should be a good timewaster for that saturday off.

NVIDIA's much awaited built-in PhysX is finally getting some support. NVIDIA has released power packs which should whet the appetite for more on their website through their CUDA interface. The power packs contain drivers, tools you can explore, a full game (WarMonger) and a number of demos that should tie you over until a commercial PhysX game comes out (NOT! Most such games are supposedly for next year!). Download them after the jump for a glimpse at PhysX.

Take an RCX, a couple of bumper sensors, two minifigs, a Donkey Kong figurine scaled to minifig size, a whole lotta patience, and we've got something called a labor of love :D

Well, the game was version 1.1 on the PC, game was played using the Xbox360 controller, and honestly, my FRAPS isn't playing too well with Vista :( And no, the 1.1 trainer has not been released to the public and I don't play with trainers lol

Anyone encountered this bug before?

The original LEGO Star Wars wasn't really a great game, but it was considered a cult classic for a lot of gamers (including yours truly). Part II is now out, so check it out at game shop near you.

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Not many game companies can afford to throw an anniversary bash for a game, unless you're GameFlier. The RO 3rd Anniversary 2006 Celebration was held last weekend over at The Summit USJ, and I managed to wriggle my way there to snap some photos. Here are a few of them.

The event has ended, the rivalries has started, now let the games begin! Our ardent shutterbug was at the CELgames 06 Kickoff's final day to capture a compressed look some of the exciting events that was held during the week.

The CEL Games preliminaries may be over but if you're still infected with soccer fever, PlayWorks arcade down at Sunway Pyramid will be starting their own unofficial Winning Eleven 10 tournament.

The first prelims begin this Saturday (16th September) with the Semis and Finals taking place on the 1st of October. For more details, check out the WinningKaki Project thread down at Lowyat.net here.

The New York Times has confirmed that the Nintendo Wii will premiere in the US for USD250 on November 19, which works out to be around RM920 according to current exchange rates. It will come with a copy of Wii Sports, a compilation of sport games designed for the Wii. When it arrives in the retail shops around here, I reckon it'll probably go for around RM1200 - RM1300 after markup.

First-party games (i.e. games developed by Nintendo) will cost USD50 (RM185), though it's unclear how much third-party games will cost. Downloadable classic games for the Wii's Virtual Console will go for USD5 - 10 each. We'll keep you updated as soon as more details come in.

The Japanese press conference which just concluded actually prices the Wii at 25000 yen (RM780), while Nintendo America has yet to announce the retail price for the Wii in the US. What's more, the Japanese launch is confirmed for the 2nd of December, meaning if the New York Times report is accurate, the Wii will launch in the US first. How true is it? Good bets that the report is legit, but we'll know for sure by tonight or tomorrow morning.

If the local price is right, I'll get one at launch. :D Will you be getting one? Shout out here if you are.

Guild Wars may not have the same intricate lush worlds and PvE gameplay that WoW has, but one sector that they have them beat is their PvP gameplay. Last Sunday, e-Club Malaysia held a mini 4-vs-4 PvP tourney to commemorate the upcoming Guild Wars: Nightfall expansion pack. (More)

Nothing so sinister about that, actually as the "G" in question is Logitech's first gaming keyboard; the G15! Oh yeah, baby, typing on this super soft keyboard is a charm, but as for gaming, this one is uncapable of creating macros, let alone spare some time for fragging undead zombies on his ancient PC, so this one will just let you drool over some pics for now....

The cool LCD and multimedia buttons......don't ask about the ram; my machine is on XP yet has lesser than 512MB of physical memory LOL

This one almost went under our radar last week. In a seemingly copycat move, HP recently announced that it has acquire specialist high-end PC maker, VoodooPC, for a undisclosed sum of money.

VoodooPC will be a special business unit within HP's Personal Systems Group division, focussed on the niche gaming PC market. The owners of VoodooPC, brothers Rahul and Ravi Sood, will assume the positions of chief technologist and director of strategy respectively in the new business unit.

No word yet if HP will maintain the VooodooPC name or otherwise. Stay tuned as we bring you more developments on this piece of news.

PS: We also don't know if HP is going to bring VooodooPC to Malaysia, but we'll find out soon enough.

Link (PDF)

Hullo, missed me? :D I didn't update the blog last week since I was in Singapore (courtesy of Sendi Mutiara Multimedia) to check out the debut of Hellgate: London and Granado Espada at the IAH Game Conference.

I got to try out both games and they're sweet, especially Hellgate: London. It was really fun hacking and slashing hordes of demon, and the first-person view when using ranged weapons really felt like an FPS even though I was shooting all over the place.

Developers Bill Roper and Kim Hakkyu were like superstars at the event; dozens of people were asking them to autograph their Hellgate/Granado T-shirts and posters (I, too, also asked for their autographs). With so many game journalists circling them constantly, I was lucky enough to get one-on-one interviews with both Bill Roper and Kim Hakkyu, so look forward to their interviews in the upcoming GameAxis issues.

It wasn't all fun and games as upon returning home to Malaysia, a few sample products came in the mail for me to review. Here're a couple of stuff that you can look forward to next month's issue of HWM:

Via digg

If you can't stand anymore of the irritating fingerprints on your treasured black DS Lite, do what this guy did - sand it down with sand paper! Madness! Absolute madness!

Link

When the Sony PS3 SixAxis controller was presented at this year's E3, many players expressed disappointment not only at the controller reverting back to the old PS2 Dual Shock controller design, but also of the decision to remove the rumble feature of the Dual Shock controller.

In a recent interview from GameDaily BIZ, SCEA President Kaz Hirai said that the decision was made to make the controller more affordable. Quote:

"Is it technically feasible? Absolutely. But the balancing act that you need to do, is to be able to present the controller to the consumer at an affordable price."

"If we have to come up with technology... to isolate the vibration from the sensing, but if that means that the controllers are going to be so expensive, then we're doing the consumer a huge disservice by coming up with a controller that is not very affordable"

So nice to see Sony thinking of the consumers' wallet! Especially a little while ago they said that the PS3 was "too cheap". But is rumble technology that expensive? Immersive CEO Victor Viegas says otherwise.