Games Cheats and Reviews

From the PlanetXbox360.com feature article:

"Every year or so at the Apple Keynote Event, Steve Jobs, the face of the company, has presented something to the slavering public to make just about everyone want it, even the PC and Linux faithful. So, much to the disappointment of several gadget wizards and technophiles, the unveiled iPad is proving to be far more underwhelming that originally thought. Following off the heels of products like the iPhone and iPod Touch that are slowly proving Apple’s capability to compete in the greater video game market with creative and clever apps, the iPad seems to be taking a minimal step forward, if any at all. Regardless of whether or not gamers will quickly dismiss the iPad as merely an enlarged version of the iPod Touch, that’s really what it’s shaping up to be. For a product attempting to be a middle ground between the iPod Touch, currently available netbooks and Macbooks, this is a monumental disappointment."

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If you haven’t purchased Metroid Prime Trilogy but still plan to eventually, your window of opportunity is closing fast. Coffee with Games reports (via Kotaku) that Nintendo has confirmed the game is “no longer being shipped,” meaning if your local game retailers are all out of their new copies, you’re likely stuck looking in the used section.

“Unfortunately, Metroid Prime Trilogy is no longer being shipped. Having said that, you may be able to find what you seek through the secondhand video game market,” read a response from Nintendo about the status of Metroid Prime Trilogy. A later response added a bit more information, if not any more clarification: “When first introduced, it was announced that there would be limited availability. However, a reason for this was not announced.”

The end result is a compilation that was only at retail for about four months — a fairly unusual situation. This also marks the first New Play Control! title (adding Wii motion controls to the first two Metroid Prime games) to be discontinued, but Nintendo did make clear the other New Play Control! games (Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat) “are still being shipped.”

There is no doubt whatsoever that Japan’s influence in the video game market in past times has been paramount. From the classic titles found in arcades to the quirky yet fun console games they produced, gamers of all ages have enjoyed some fantastic games. From Mario to Solid Snake, Tetris to Street Fighter, everyone knows of the great games developed by this little gem of a country. The Japanese influence on gamers was at one stage absolute, and to say Japan ruled the video game market, seemed to some, an absolute fact.

As part of Gamasutra’s June NPD analysis, the site is revealing the Top 5 year-to-date rankings for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii games in the U.S. – with some notable games and surprises.

Obviously, the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PlayStation 3 are currently the focus of much of the American video game market, and relative sales charts for the year so far are difficult to calculate.

Therefore, the NPD Group provided us with exclusive ranking data on the top five games for each platform thus far in 2009. (Note: The rankings here do not include limited or collector’s edition versions of each game.)

The Sony Playstation 3 is starting to look shaky in an otherwise brilliant video game market. The console may not survive another year.

The PS3 was always meant to last for a very long time. It took about five years for Sony to start making a profit from the Playstation 2, and the PS3 was supposed to follow the same path as a media center powerhouse with gaming roots. Three years into the system’s life cycle, Sony’s gaming division is still bleeding cash every quarter. And now the industry itself is starting to lose patience with Sony.

The week ending April 4, 2009 ended the day before the DSi launched in the Americas. So even though the market is down compared to last week and last April, the incoming DSi launch should insure the video game market in the Americas rises above April 2008 levels after a brief drop this week. Given the games released in that period – like Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii – it is quite impressive that the video game industry continues to grow.

Wii – 155,575

DS – 148,998

X360 – 71,546

PS3 – 63,898

PSP – 52,579

PS2 – 36,651