Games

Cute little Ninja flash game

I was always a little bit obsessed with Ninjas since the first Shinobi game by Sega. This continued with Tenchu on the Playstation and numerous Ninja games and movies. It was always my childhood dream to become a stealthy deadly assassin, hehe. Well, I found a nice - but short - flash game that lets you play, I think you guessed it already, a Ninja.

You have to make it through ten levels to rescue a woman (princess, geisha ?). To do this you have to cross the levels and beat all the enemy guards who are defending the captured woman. You only have a limited assortment of techniques at your disposable. Amongst them are the infamous wallrun, the backflip and the quick short slash.

Fix for black screen in Nintendo Wii virtual console games

The following fix should help users who do have problems with some virtual console games for the Nintendo Wii that display only a black screen after starting them while the sound remains normal. This does not work in all occasions but should work if you get the Wii menu when you press Home and works only for games that received an update for the interlaced mode.

Try out the following to see if this fixes the issue. Start the game normally until you see the black screen. Connect the Nunchuck to the Wiimote and press Home to see the menu options. Now press A + 2 + Z together which should result in a short "ping-like" sound.

This should have activated the interlaced mode. Leave the menu and you should see the normal game screen and not the black screen anymore. To change the mode again press A + 1 + Z using the same method as above.

Is Microsoft banning modified Xbox 360 consoles from Live?

The first news about Microsoft possibly banning modified Xbox 360 consoles from the Xbox Live service started to emerge yesterday in some known Xbox 360 forums. It is possible to modify the firmware of the Xbox 360 drive to be able to play backups which of course includes pirated games. There has been no official confirmation from Microsoft about this issue but the frequency of the posts can only lead to the conclusion that Microsoft is actually banning Xbox 360 systems with modded firmwares.

Games for the Weekend Online Boardgames

I grew up playing boardgames like Risk, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit and witnessed that board games evolved almost as much as computer games did. I would like to introduce one of my favorite online boardgames websites where you can play about 50 excellent boardgames online. Boardgames include Settlers of Catan, Carcassone and Thurn and Taxis. All boardgames of the year and of course playable in multiplayer.

More Angry Videogamer Videos

I really enjoy the shows from this guy. He is reviewing all those bad video games that came out for classic gaming systems such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis. It is pure fun to see how he bashes the video games into oblivion showing lots of in game footage. The technique behind his videos is getting better as well which makes it a pleasure to watch his rants. Be advised that this is not really suitable for minors.

Weekend Fun The Last Stand Flashgame

Finding great flash games is not as easy as it sounds. I found the game The Last Stand at the donation coder blog and was blown away by the gameplay. It looks like your typical shoot all incoming enemies type of games also known as base defender gamers. At second look it introduces several strategic elements that make every approach different. You have to defend your barricades against Zombies at night and search for better weapons and other survivors at daylight. The goal is to hold out as long as possible and hope that someday a rescue team will come and get you out of this situation.

Weekend Fun Bontago

I'm presenting a new game as usual on Fridays and this time it is Bontago. Bontago is a real time strategy game that can be played against computers or human opponents. Players start evenly on the area and can place blocks to expand their reach from their current position. The task of the game is to encompass all flags that are placed in the level. The initial area of control for a player can be expanded by adding new blocks to the territory under control. The height of the blocks that you can place on top of each others determines how far the influence is expanded.

Replaced Xbox 360 Troubles

Every now and then a shiny Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming system will stop working and has to be send in for repair and eventual replacement. Replacing the old Xbox 360 with a new one sounds great on first glance but you have to consider something before you make up your mind on this. If you did download arcade games and other stuff from the Xbox 360 Marketplace you are in for a nasty surprise.

Weekend Game World of Padman

World of Padman is a multiplayer ego shooter that is using the Quake 3 engine which is a very capable engine. Just imagine the game Quake 3 without the adult science fiction theme but a theme that resembles a game for children. Not saying that World of Padman is actually a children's game. Action is as fast paced as in Quake 3 and the game mode is still deathmatch. Frag the others before they frag you. Levels look really detailed and the style of the game is pretty unique as well. Before you begin you can select a character that you want to play and customize it a little bit.

Weekend Fun Rooms

Rooms is an excellent puzzle game. The objective is to move the character from the start of the level to the door that exits it. This can be done by either moving the character himself if there is space to move or by moving the different rooms that make up the level. Take a look at the screenshot below to get a better impression of how a typical level looks like. Several rooms make up each level and you can only move the room that you are standing in at the moment.

Nintendo Wii Unbiased Review

I bought the Nintendo Wii gaming system the first day it came out. Besides the system itself I bought a second pair of controllers, a classic controller, 2000 download points and the game Wii Play. After a while I added new games to the list including Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbits, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz and Korinpa. I purchased games from previous systems including Mario Kart 64 and Mario 64 and played an extensive list of Gamecube games including Resident Evil 4 and Mario Party 7.

I think that I have a good overview of what is currently going on in the Nintendo Wii "world" and would like to describe how I feel about the Nintendo Wii and what I expect of it in the future. I know that some of my friends already sold the Wii again because of the lack of good games following the launch - I personally think that this decision is understandable, the lack of games is obvious at this point.

Starcraft Origami

I still believe that Starcraft is the best real-time strategy game that was ever produced and hope that Blizzard will one day create a second part of at least a MMORPG out of it. Starcraft is part of my past, I used to meet with friends back then and play it in local lan games all night long. It was perfectly balanced and much better than Command and Conquer in my opinion. Someone - I suppose another fan - has created an unbelievable amount of Starcraft Origami and uploaded pictures of them to Flickr.

Weekend Fun Veck Special Edition

I forgot the weekend fun thread last Friday and promised myself that this would never happen again. Today I'm going to present a great arcade shooter called Veck Special Edition which looks and plays like a mix of many of the classic aracade games including Asteroids, Robotron 2084 and Smash Tv. This version is packed with 15 levels each lasting one minute. Every minute your spacecraft gets an weapon upgrade that makes it more powerful while at the same time more powerful enemies emerge that want to destroy you.

Wiimote + Games + PC = Ultimate Fun

If you thought it would be fun to play games on the Nintendo Wii you should see the following Youtube videos to get an impression of what I consider ultimate fun. Developers have already been able to use basic applications like Google Earth in conjunction with the Wiimote and they finally managed to get some games working as well. All you need is a Wiimote, a Pc that has Bluetooth, some games that are supported and of course the software GlovePie.

Wii outselling PS3 in Japan Three to One

Media Create published up to date figures for hardware sales in Japan and the figures demonstrate a astounding success for the Nintendo Wii in Japan. Nintendo sold 1.041.975 Wii systems this year while Sony managed to sell 353.823 Playstation 3 gaming systems. Not to forget Microsoft with 79.013 in this year with their Xbox 360. It should be noted that Sony is loosing money with every system produced and sold while Nintendo gains money.

Echoes new game from Binary Zoo

Back then when I started writing articles for ghacks I was writing about a freeware game that blew my mind. The game was called Mono and had such an addictive fascinating gameplay that I played it for endless hours. The creators of Mono developed a new game which is called Echoes that uses many of the addicting elements that made Mono famous. Echoes is an Asteroids clone on steroids. That is probably the best way to explain the basic principle of the game. The developers put it that way when they describe Echoes: "Yeah, it's a bit like Asteroids hyperactive, drug crazed brother displayed in blur-o-vision© and viewed through psychedelic sunglasses in a cheap nightclub."

NullDC a new Dreamcast Emulator for PC

Many gamers think that the Dreamcast was the best gaming system of the last generation. It featured many unique games that never made an appearance on other systems. I sold my Dreamcast a while ago but still have a few games here that I did not sell with the system. Games like Samba de Amigo or the incredible Soul Calibur made a big impact on the gaming community. Yesterday NullDC was released which is a Dreamcast emulator for PC. It is supposed to be the emulator with the most playable titles running Dreamcast games at full speed.

Wiikey - Testing the Nintendo Wii Modchip

Wiikey is one of the modchips that are available for Nintendo's Wii gaming system. The modchip Wiikey is able to play backups from the same region which means Wiikey can play backed up PAL games on European systems and backed up NTSC games on Japanese and US Wii systems. It is possible to play Japanese games on US Wii systems and vice versa but it is currently not possible to play all NTSC games on European Wii systems with Wiikey. You can also play backed up and imported Gamecube games with Wiikey as well as Gamecube homebrew discs.

Weekend Fun Tails Gear

Tails Gear is one of those Japanese arcade shooters that make it pretty difficulty for average gamers to see more of the game than just a few levels. If you ever played games like Ikaruga you know what I mean, they live of extreme amounts of enemies and bullets that they send your way and you have to move the ship more than carefully to avoid death. Graphics are excellent as is the gameplay, you always see some kind of sequences when you finish a level and move on to the next. One of the interesting features of the game are the satellites of your ship that shoot on their own and can stay in a place for tactical reasons.

Weekend Game Naac

Naac reminds me a little bit of Smash Tv. It is a pretty straightforward top down shooter that can be downloaded from the developers homepage. You start with a handgun and have to defeat all aliens that emerge from different sides of the screen. The game would be incredibly boring if it would not feature power ups, better weapons, different types of aliens and even boss aliens that require strategy to defeat. It is absolutely crucial that you pick up the power ups and better weapons when they emerge randomly on the screen. It would otherwise become impossible to defeat the hordes of aliens at later stages.

European Playstation 3 compatibility list

Europeans get a weaker software emulation of Playstation 2 and Playstation 1 titles compared to the hardware emulation that Japanese and American Playstation 3 owners enjoyed. It was not known - until now - how good, or shall I say bad, the software emulation worked and how many games could be played at all. Sony wants to cut down on manufacturing costs and Europeans are the first to witness the ill effects. The Playstation 3 costs more and plays less, would not call that a bargain but the crazy Brits will surely buy the PS3 nevertheless.

Weekend Game Streets of Rage Remake

I loved to play games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight in the arcades with a friend. It was tremendous fun to several punks at once with the character that you have chosen to play. A nice feature was the character selection screen before you start a game. Would you select a quick guy who was faster but would not hit that hard, or would you rather select the slow brawler that hit harder ? Streets of Rage Remake offers six playable and two unlockable characters to chose from. All vary in power, technique, speed, jump and stamina.

Game for the Weekend Shadowflare

Right from the beginning Shadowflare reminds me of probably the greatest action rpg game of all time - Diablo 2. The perspektive, game mechanics and even graphics look really similar and are really good for a freeware game. You control a nameless warrior who starts in a small remote village. A dog companion that can be commanded is always at your side and you receive the first task from the commander of that village.

Game for the Weekend Little Fighters

It is Friday again, time for the game of the weekend. This time I have a great beat em up game for you that reminds me a little bit of the game Power Stone for the Dreamcast. Little Fighters offers an astonishing amount of game modes starting by the usual 1v1 battles which can also be played as team battles with up to eight characters. Stage mode puts the human player against waves of opponents who become stronger over time and championship mode features a tournament.

Europe gets delayed and crippled PS3 for more money

Now that is what I call a bargain. Europeans do not only have to wait longer for the Playstation 3 to hit the shelves they also get a crippled PS3 that has reduced backwards compatibility. And the best of all ? They pay even more for the package. I was not sure what to make of the story that Everton posted today on his connected internet blog, he missed to cite a source for his story entitled: "Playstation 3 To Have Less Backwards Compatibility in Europe" and I immediately performed a search to find out what was going on.

Maniac Mansion Overkill for the Weekend

Maniac Mansion was a special adventure that introduced a new way to interact with the environment. It was famous for its humor, the choice of characters and storyline. I remember that I had so much fun playing it with a friend on my good old C-64 exploring every inch of the game. Well, Lucasarts decided to make money with the Star Wars franchise instead of making great games which is rather unfortunate for fans of classic Lucasarts adventures.

Wii Modchip Comparision (Wiinja, Cyclowiz, Wiikey)

It is currently possible to buy two modchips for the Nintendo Wii gaming system with another one becoming available every day now. The available modchips are called Wiinja and cyclowiz, the one that comes out soon Wiikey. All three are connected to the Wii drive and prevent that the drive reports whether a original or copied disk has been entered. This however has the disadvantage that those chips will not be able to defeat the region code of the games.

Game for the Weekend Ballistic

Ballistic is a addictive 3D maze type of game that reminds me a little bit of games like Marble Madness. The game Ballistic however brings some new elements to the "move ball to exit" type of games. First, the environment is fully 3D compared to the two dimensions of the other games. Second you do not move the ball(s) but the complete level and the ball just follows the laws of physics.

Best of Retro Remakes 2006 Competition

Green Beret, Wings of Fury and Ghouls and Ghosts - if those names ring a bell you have come to the right place. Everyone else join us as we delve into a time where some of the greatest games of all time were produced. The motto of the 2006 Retro Remakes competition is "Good remakes of good games that anyone can play, regardless of their ability". I think this is indeed a great opportunity for old folks like us to enjoy those games we played when we were young once again and for us young folks to play games that we probably never heard about before.

Game for the Weekend Wing Commander Saga

Wing Commander back in the 90s was a phenomenal successful game franchise and is still considered one of the best - if not the best - space simulation game that was ever created. It spawned lots of sequels and included cinematic story telling. The Wing Commander series was developed by Origin which was later bought by EA where the game series found an abrupt ending.

Game for the weekend Ray-Hound

Ray-Hound is a freeware arcade game with great graphics and interesting gameplay. You move your spaceship with the mouse and activate a gravity field by left-clicking the mouse. The gravity field lasts for 1-2 seconds and becomes inactive for a short period afterwards. Other Spaceships fire rockets that destroy the energy shields of your spaceship, once the shields are down to zero your spaceship bursts and you see the game over screen.

Game for the Weekend Bloodmasters

I write an article every Friday about a new great game that could entertain you during your weekend. The game for this weekend is called Bloodmasters - a top down multiplayer old school arcade game that I enjoy playing regularly for a couple of days. All the known game modes like capture the flag and team deathmatch are available and add to the fast paced game experience. The maps are filled with weapons, armors, health packs and munition to fight the other players / team.

Add a bigger hard drive to your PS3

Babo Violent 2 Fast Paced Multiplayer Game

Fun Fun Fun ! That is exactly what Babe Violent 2 is all about. It is a free multiplayer top down shooter. Players are armed balls that carry one of six weapons and try to beat the opposite site in exciting game modes such as capture the flag, deathmatch and team deathmatch. It is currently possible to play on 13 different maps with 2 to 32 players that fight it out. Just add a name and connect to one of the servers that are available. Then choose a weapon like submachine gun or bazooka and enter the battle.

Colonization makes a free comeback

Colonization was one of those games that made Sid Meier, the creator of wonderful games such as Pirates and Civilization famous. Colonization was one of the best games that I ever played, it was highly addictive and had some resemblance to Civilization. You picked one of four nations and set out to colonize the new world. You had to deal with the Indians and the other powers and in the later stages with your own European motherland.

Game for the Weekend Toblo

Fast Paced Multiplayer CTF action, that's what Toblo is about. Two teams, the read and the blue team try to capture the flags of the other team and reach the own home base with it. The only weapon that exists in the game are the cubes that compose every structure in the game. Every player may pick up those cubes and either throw them at the enemy or destroy structures for better access to the enemy base. The flags themselves are located on top of structures at the beginning which have to be destroyed as well to reach them.

Wii Sports Fitness Training

We all made our jokes when Nintendo's new system Wii emerged about how the fat video gaming kids would lose weight while playing video games. Well, someone decided to give it a try and use see if a daily Wii workout would reduce his weight and body fat. He called it the Wii Sports Experiment and had some astonishing results.

Bang Howdy Free Strategic Multiplayer Game

I seldom come upon a great freeware game with stunning graphics, gameplayer and multiplayer action. Bang Howdy has all of that and much more featuring fast based turn based action with a twist. The excellent tutorial covers all basic game elements and describes the various game modes that are available when playing online. All players choose a number of units before the game starts who all have advantages and disadvantages against certain types of units for example.

Game for the Weekeend Rumble Box

Rumble Box is a great freeware beat em up game which uses characters made of cubes and balls. Controls are pretty easy to figure out. Use the arrow keys to move your character, double tab forward for a dash, press the spacebar to hit and use Control to grab. The enemies enter the level through doors that appear in the walls that limit the box that you are fighting in. Defeated enemies stay in the level dispelled in the objects that they were composed off.

The Blob game - paint the city

I think I found a reference to the blob game in the donation coder blog. The task of the freeware game sounds simple. Collect colors and use them to colorize the city that you are in. You, the blob, roll around in the city and absorb the colors of non player characters that roam the streets. Colors get mixed if you absorb more than one of them and run out after a certain time of rolling around and coloring objects.