When Did Batman Start Earning Experience Points?

Heath Ledger won the Oscar, you have seen the Dark Knight a thousand times. How do you get your fill of Batman? Videogames! For those of you starving for new(er) material check out Lego Batman for most 7th generation systems. For those who have already played this, you'll just have to drool over the upcoming release of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Much like Spiderman: Web of Shadows, the game will follow the comic's storyline, not the movies and will feature Free Flow Combat and great graphics.
Check out screenshots @ http://http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/142/14273491/imgs_1.html

Why Is Nintendo So Lazy?

As many hardcore Wii owners know, there are a dozen terrible party games for every good game on Wii. Nintendo only released a handful of games that provide a truly deep experience for the fans of the company that have stuck with it since the days of the NES.

For some, the future relases of games in the New Play Control! series will be a great way to end their boredom, but for others there will not be anything new about them. Scheduled for release are New Play Control! Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, and Metroid Prime.

Undoubtedly, NPC Mario Power Tennis will provide a greatly improved experience. The game is expected to use the same control scheme as tennis on Wii Sports, which will provide a much more interactive experience.

NPC Pikmin and Metroid Prime are a different story. Pikmin had a very simple concept. You take control of Captain Olimar and his merry band of Pikmin as they search for the missing pieces of Olimar's ship. There does not seem to be a way to drastically change the controls, other than using the nunchuk or Wii remote to guide your pikmin where you want.

NPC Metroid Prime will definitely have better controls. It will include use of the IR pointer to aim Samus Aran's gun and more. This game, if it were released before Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, would probably have done much better than it will. The game's suggested retail will be $29.99, around the same price as a used but much more fresh copy of MP3.

Where do Gamers Fit in a Recession?

We all know that video game systems are expensive, especially in today's economy. How can a gamer satisfy his/her needs and still balance a budget? The solution is finding bargains and selling your old games.
GameStop has long been a place where gamers who are bored or finished with a game can trade their games for new ones, or accept 20 percent less in cash. It is also a place where used games can be bought cheaper.
The bad news? Gamers are getting less and less for their money and used game prices are rising. A new copy of Super Mario Galaxy, a Wii title, is $49.99. A used copy is $44.99, a difference of only five dollars.
The good news? There are websites that do business differently and arguably better than GameStop.
The first is a site known as cheapassgamer.com, which is a blog that regularly posts deals at businesses like GameStop and Best Buy. Founded by an avid gamer, the poster constantly searches everywhere possible to give viewers a heads up on the hottest deals.
Another website, switchgames.com allows gamers to trade games with each other. Users make a free account and compile a list of games they have and games they want. The site then matches two people who both want what the other has, and they then mail the games to each other.
www.cheapassgamer.com
www.switchgames.com

Fire Up Your DS

Enter a world where you command a band of mercenaries that have only one life to live. Dragon riders, pegasus knights, spellcasters, warriors, thieves, paladins, and more stand ready to attack at your order.

This is the intense tactical RPG gameplay that made this game popular in Japan. Fire Emblem's immense Japanese popularity led Marth to be an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and later in its sequel, SSB Brawl.

Americans are only truly familiar with the spiky-haired protagonist Ike (also an SSB character), who was featured in the first Fire Emblem game released in America for a home console system with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Ike was also featured in a Wii sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Two more games, not featuring Ike, were earlier released for the Gameboy Advance: Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. None of these featured Prince Marth.

Today, a DS remake of the original Fire Emblem game will be released for the Nintendo DS entitled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. The remake will include the addition of the weapons triangle, a system of weapon hierarchy that states lances beat sword, swords beat axes, and axes beat lances. This was not included in the original. The remake will also have greatly improved graphics.

Fire Emblem games tend to be very familiar because little comes in the way of radical new gameplay. However, the basic formula has held all of these years, and Shadow Dragon will be no exception.

Punch-Out!! (Wii) Announced!!

Originally known as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, it was a popular arcade game that featured boxing gloves as controllers. A Wii version will be realeased with a control scheme similar to Wii Boxing.
See screenshots @ http://media.wii.ign.com/media/142/14266716/imgs_1.html

The Legend of.....Sonic

With the upcoming March arrival of Sonic and the Black Night, sequel to Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic Unleashed, gamers will take a gamble.

For many franchises, the transition from 2-D to 3-D has been difficult. A developer has to decide what to change and what not to change in order to maintain a game's core concept.

When the popular fighting series Mortal Kombat arrived in the dimension in which us humans live, problems were encountered with projectiles. Once but a mass of pixels, these iceballs, fireballs, and more could only be blocked, or if you were a skilled kombatant, jumped over. Now any novice can dodge by pressing up on the joystick to sidestep.

When Sonic arrived in our dimension, it seemed he might lose the hard earned nickname "The Blue Blur". Players were constantly running into walls, crates, spikes, etc. Granted, these were all present on the Dreamcast, but they never caused nearly as much of a problem.

In an effort to expand Sonic's horizons, Sonic Team released Sonic Unleashed with the slogan, "The Difference is Day and Night." Gameplay featured two distinct environments. Daytime was the almost classic Sonic game, complete with loop de loops and corkscrews. However, night was a totally different game. No longer was the main character a hedgehog but a werehog. This werehog whose name was actually Sonic gained a few pounds. He could no longer run through these loop de loops and corkscrews without falling on his head. Instead, the game became a Gauntlet style, button mashing third person action brawler. Sonic the Werehog used his claws to beat bad guys in way similar to a certain X-men character.

Sonic and the Black Knight, set in the realm of King Arthur, will return to the storybook theme of its predecessor Sonic and the Secret Rings, set in the world of the Arabian Nights. SEGA has promised much fanfare, including Shadow as Lancelot and Amy as the Lady of the Lake.

Hopefully, Sonic Team will fix the issues it has been presented with and deliver a Sonic game that stays true to its high-speed roots.