GamersInfo.net

As a child, I never got into comic books, or as people like to call them today, "graphic novels." They just never appealed to me. With this in mind, people will probably say I do not know anything about the Hulk, who was recently placed into a DS game by Sega this year. All I know about the Hulk is that Bruce Banner got hit by some radioactive rays that transforms him into the Hulk whenever he gets exceedingly angry. Now he's on the run from the U.S. Army, looking for a cure before being sent to a foreign planet and battling his way to beneficent grand dictator, which takes place before causing World War III. At least, that is what Wikipedia told me one night in my sleep. I also briefly remember a movie from the 1980s, and the only major thing I remember is when one of his friends holds a big Norse hammer in front of himself and screams, "THOR!" This then makes said god materialize.

Brain Voyage is an enjoyable addition to the genre of brain-teaser type games for the Nintendo DS. Your host and tour guide is Dr. Reiner Knizia, a German game designer with a doctorate in mathematics. According to the liner notes, he’d already designed more than 400 other games and puzzles, in addition to the puzzles in Brain Voyage. Just as a side note, his digital image as your tour guide and game host in Brain Voyage is actually a reasonable likeness.

I have an 11-year old son who believes if he goes more than 2 days without playing a strategy game he becomes distressed. I'd like to argue with him except if I go more than 2 days without reading a book I become distressed so, he may be right. This is not to complain; I'm told that his analytical skills far exceed those of his peers, his organizational skills are exceptional; and he has an infuriating tendency to read instructions and prepare overmuch. I'm not trying to sound like a mother bragging; but the gamer in me knows where he learned his skills. Defendin' the Penguin is the first Wii title specifically designed as a strategy game for for children.

It can be like cutting teeth trying to see a game for the youngest of crowds during a vendor event. When D3 offered to show me Shaun the Sheep I was a bit startled. Partly because I had no clue who Shaun is - my kids have gotten older! But also because as I played the game I realized it's for the wee little kiddies and they showed it to me, on purpose!

I have a major confession to make: I abhor movies. I don't know why, but it might have something to do with being traumatized as a child by “The Land Before Time” and “The Little Mermaid.” Thus, I only see about two movies a year. When the cult film “Napoleon Dynamite” was released in 2004, I missed it. One guy I knew swore it was the best movie ever — validated by the mysterious disembodied announcer voice for Comedy Central. However, another friend of mine swears it is the worst movie ever. I can imagine this friend tattooing a swastika on his forehead and burning all available copies of the film. (Ironically, the swastika is an old Indo-European symbol for “peace.”) Perhaps this image is a little extreme. Anyway, three years later, a game based on the movie is released. So, how does it hold up?

When I was younger, I had a diary and wrote all my poetry and secrets in it. What I didn’t know was that my mom also read it, and when her eyes came across the entry about losing my virginity, she packed me off to a camp for troubled youth. Diary Girl wasn’t around back then to save me from a wasted summer, but you can rest assured that your secrets are safe inside this game.

In the 19th century, Dracula has returned, and it's up to the Order of Ecclesia to stop him. Unfortunately for the main character in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Shanoa, her jealous collegue Albus has made the hunt for and fight against Dracula more perilous by interrupting an important ritual and causing her to have amnesia.

Populus, originally a game for the PC, is coming back this fall for the Nintendo DS. This time, instead of just following one god, you'll have the option to choose which of five gods you'll represent for each mission.

Korg DS-10 Synthesizer is, to be completely accurate, not a video game. It is, instead, an accurate recreation of the Korg MS-10 synthesizer of yesteryear. Yes, what was a huge synthesizer "back in the day" can now be completely ported over to a small handheld video game console.

Like many of my generation I have fond memories of hanging out with my friends as a kid, playing Nintendo with all that came along with it. Laying down on the floor, blowing the dust out of cartridges, checking out the random games and occasional magazine a friend might have that you didn't. Retro Game Challenge recreates that experience in an unusual but very cool way.

Sometimes simpler is better. Back in the old days all you needed to have was the ability to jump. With N+, that's the only thing you can do, but heck - you can do it well!

Sometimes a game isn't a game - or it's more than a game. It might not even try to be a game, like "Korg DS-10 Synthesizer" (first look coming soon on here) or it might be like "What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver" - a DS title that acts more like PDA functionality on your DS aimed at home cooks than a cooking game, though it incorporates some of the latter.

Brave: A Shaman's Challenge is DS tie-in to Brave: A Warrior's Tale, which takes the Native American theme and applies it to a color-matching, falling-piece action puzzler. I wasn't privy to the storyline, as this was another game that developer's happily put into my hands, confident that I'd pick up on the simple and fulfilling game mechanic.

Igor is an upcoming kids movie, and South Peak has the DS game out for show on the E3 floor. I was turned loose to play with this a bit, and I took a real liking to it after only a few minutes game play! I hope to convey what I saw in the game in the short preview below, so DS owners can consider this title when the movie comes out and the game makes its appearance as the expected tie-in.

To put it simply, Big Bang Mini is a fireworks game and one of those games whose unique method of play could only work on the DS. Light a match and watch those fireworks go...

Ninja Town for the Nintendo DS is a cute introduction to the tower defense genre of strategy games. You must defend against the evil Mr. Demon as he tries to infiltrate Ninja Town.

The 24 hours leading up to E3 make my inbox scream for mercy. Wave upon wave of press releases, trailers (but you can't put them up now!) and batches of screenshots drop from the virtual sky until it all becomes a blur. In the evening when I should have been considering a supper I never ate, an announcement that Deep Silver Co-Signs Publishing Agreement with Ap, huh? Being the good little press person I am I look a little closer. Ap = Apogee software in this case. Ok, cool. Deep Silver are the Chernobyl guys. Apogee? Rings a bell...from the 90s - shooters like Wolfenstein, right? Man, I'm hungry... knock at the door, my writers have arrived!

The hook that set me on Monster Lab can be paraphrased as, "Do you remember your chemistry sets when you were little? Don't you remember combining stuff, but nothing good ever happened, because nothing in there could possibly blow up? Monster Lab tries to revive that chemistry set, and let you experiment with things that COULD blow up!" Obviously, this caught my attention. I enjoy the blowing up of things, largely when I am responsible for it, but this isn't really necessary, as destructive fun is — generally speaking — a hoot. But what, specifically, could a very cool-looking (if oddly cute) cartoon game with junior mad scientists have to offer in that field? More than you'd expect, really, with a host of other features to create an appealing game for kids and adults, alike.

The DS has come a long way. I remember when I first saw a picture in my April Issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly of what appeared to be a mangled monstrosity of a portable system. I looked on in utter mockery, as I thought myself clever for finding the infamous Electronic Gaming Monthly April Fool's joke so quickly. Oh, the wonders of naïve youth. Turns out Electronic Arts had not committed a heinous crime (this time) by sinking money into the convincing "Lord of the Rings" kart racer that also was present, which made my mind reel even further at the possibility of how the kings of portable gaming could develop such a silly idea.

In the interest of fairness, I want to share with you a little of my own baby experience before we jump into the review. I had a challenging baby. She ate poorly. She screamed about 8 hours a day (yes, I did time it). She was nearly impossible to comfort. We later found out she was lactose intolerant and that had been causing many of the issues with her milk. We decided early on that she wasn't going to have any siblings. Anyway, after the many, many, many hours of screaming, listening to a virtual baby scream makes me twitch. I finished diapering my child. I don't want to diaper another — even a virtual one with the scent removed. I do adore my daughter. She's the center of my world — but I would not willing go through another baby for anything (and yet, here we are).

Puzzle de Harvest Moon is a Harvest Moon themed er… well, puzzle game. Made for the Nintendo DS, it makes use of the stylus and touch pad to tap and drag instead of pushing buttons. I heartily approved as it meant I wouldn't have cramped hands and sore thumbs playing this game, I thought, before trading out the tiny, skinny stylus that came with the game for a fat pen shaped one that I use on my PDA, an hour or so into the game.

Back in the dark ages of gaming - you know, the early 90s - The Incredible Machine was simply the coolest game ever. Assuming you can find a copy and an emulator, it still is. Based upon the principles of a Rube Goldberg machine, it asked you to solve simple problems in insanely complex ways. "Please place this ball in the basket using only 3 platforms, an electrical fan, 2 ropes and pulleys, and 4 trampolines." The magic is never the end but the means. I Love Geeks! is the Rube Goldberg principle at its best: 100 levels of "incredible machines" using the physics of today's game systems and controls of the Nintendo DS.

Enchanted is based on the delightful movie of the same name. Yes, dear reader, I have actually seen a movie prior to playing the game for once. It's like a miracle. In Enchanted the Video Game, I actually take turns between playing Giselle, Prince Edward, and Pip the chipmunk.

Crash of the Titans is the fourteenth installment of Crash Bandicoot series which began in 1996. I had no idea who Crash Bandicoot was. I was not a console gamer in my youth but I do have a PSP and a DS. On the blandishments of my gamer nephew (all of four) and his sister (all of six), I decided to review this game (as THEY wanted to play it). Was Crash Bandicoot a Saturday morning cartoon character? No, they were aware of him and the game because of advertising during Saturday morning cartoons.

My husband and I are fans of the Olympic games. We watch our favorite sports in both the Summer and Winter games. We have even been known to record events that we particularly want to see if we aren't going to be home. I thought the idea of Olympic games for the Wii sounded good. I did not realize it was going to be tied to these summer games.

Finding myself of two minds when reviewing a game usually means I don't get to the review. Funny thing about not reviewing the game though - the people who asked you to aren't really fond of that. (Something about expense of sending out product, yadda, yadda, whine, complain...) LOL is one of those titles that has me schizophrenic. I love it, some days. Others... I dunno.

At the 1C event on Thursday, I saw IL-2: Sturmovik: Birds of Prey and spoke with one of the developers. I have to say that this is one of the most promising combat flight sims I've seen in a long time. It's also the first actual combat flight simulation on the 360.

Professor Layton, renowned archaeologist and master of logic, along with his able, young, assistant Luke, is summoned to the village of St. Mystere by Lady Dahlia. We know that her husband, Baron Reinhold, has recently passed away and that his fabled wealth is to be left in its entirety to the person that can solve the mystery of the Golden Apple.

I LOVE Zelda games. Love, love, love them. A fanboy of Zelda? Sure! But... I think one of the harder things to do is ignore or deny such bias when taking a more critical approach to the material you have grown to love. To me, the Zelda franchise represents one of the cornerstones of the videogame medium, which has introduced, influenced and charmed generations of gamers with its simplistic yet stunningly beautiful gameplay mechanics. Phantom Hourglass has the task of giving Nintendo DS users a taste of what a little Link would be like in touchscreen format, after a waiting period quite familiar to most Zelda players. As DS and Zelda fans have been waiting eagerly to see the next big adventure in Hyrulian (or in this case, Great Sea) lore, does the game merit a "Get out of Jail" free card on the Zelda name alone?

Disney Friends is a virtual caretaking game aimed squarely at the younger set. In Disney Friends, you are a brand new guardian. Your job as a guardian is to spend time with, feed, play with, and generally keep occupied and out of trouble your four Disney friends.