There aren’t many boxes left to be released this year. Do the games in this year’s final round of box art reviews stack up? Let’s find out…

“Wordfish” (DS)
What the Box Tells Us: It’s an “outrageously fun word game.” Three fish float by amidst a few bubble-encased words with missing letters.
Pros: There are words on it. And fish. So it’s true to the title.
Cons: How can a game be “outrageously fun” if its cover is outrageously boring?
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.  Read more…

Yesterday, I wrote about a few icky encounters I had on PlayStation’s Home over the weekend.

But I logged on again last night and had an entirely different experience. And it was even more unexpected than guys proposing marriage… Read more…

“Clock Tower” is a PlayStation gaming franchise that has gone untouched since 2003, but Hollywood has continued to circle the game with the man with giant scissors.

The theatrical adaptation has been reported as only loosely based on the game series. Be honest — do you remember anything from “Clock Tower”?

We all remember the iconic villain, though, who is predominantly featured in this series of movie posters made available online by Russian film site Filmz.ru (as discovered by horror site Bloody Disgusting).

We’ve included our two favorite posters below.

Read more…

Microsoft’s home console maintained a significant sales lead over the PlayStation 3 and even showed some signs of life in Japan, a territory it had failed to perform well in for years. Its New Xbox Experience brought new excitement to the console and its internal publishing arm continued to produce some of the best games of the year, as it has for quite some time. But it couldn’t catch the Wii.

The PC gained a gaming alliance and hosted the biggest launch of the year, for “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.” What became increasingly clear is that high-spec games just aren’t performing on the platform. But casual games and mid-spec games succeed. Those who saw EA’s decision not to make sports games for the PC this year as yet another sign of the platform’s allegedly looming demise can now look to that publisher’s expected 2009 return of its sports games to the platform — possibly using a new micro-transaction-enabled economic model — as a potential turning point in how big publishers support the most widely owned gaming platform on Earth.

When Soulja Boy challenged MTV Multiplayer’s own blog editor Stephen Totilo to an Xbox 360 face-off in October, we couldn’t let it go unchallenged. Stephen recently responded to his offer, and the rapper, famous for his dislike of “Braid,” stopped by the MTV offices to put all this smack-talk to rest.

The competition went down today, but check back tomorrow for the full video and to see who won (and if developers’ tips helped Stephen at all). For now, take a look at some photos from just a few moments ago…

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Wii has become to be the most popular vehicle for music games, but two years in a row, MTV Games and Harmonix have delivered “Rock Band” on Wii months later than its counterparts.

This year, “Rock Band 2″ will not ship for Wii until December 18. It might not make Christmas. That depends on when your retailer receives it.

Following an avalanche of complaints from fans, Harmonix took to their official “Rock Band” message board. Harmonix assured fans the studio is hoping to release future versions of “Rock Band” for Wii at the same time as everyone else.

“We’ve seen that many users in the Wii community have been unhappy with the period of time between Rock Band’s release on other platforms and on Wii,” said the company in a statement. “We want to apologize for the delay in getting RB2 onto the Wii and to reaffirm that we believe that Wii is an amazing and unique fit for Rock Band 2, and one that we care deeply about getting right. Going forward, it is our ambition to release future games on Wii simultaneously with releases on the other platforms.”

The first test case should be the upcoming Beatles-related “Rock Band” title next year. If you can, will you be picking up “Rock Band 2″ for Wii this holiday?

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Harmonix Answers Our Questions About ‘Rock Band 2′ Wii

Here’s one more important “Halo Wars” fact that I learned during my recent interview with the game’s lead writer, Graeme Devine:

-The Game’s Text Won’t Repeat The Mistakes Of “Banjo-Kazooie” — Several prominent Xbox 360 games have been programmed to display text in such small sizes that words can’t be read on standard definition TVs. Pity the gamer who hadn’t splurged on an HD set. This was an issue with Capcom’s “Dead Rising” in 2006 (which was never fixed) and Microsoft/Rare’s “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” earlier this year (which Rare plans to be fix).

A few of recent console real-time strategy games, notably those from Electronic Arts, also had text that was hard-to-read on standard TVs.

That would seem to make “Halo Wars” a likely suspect for the same failings. Not to worry, said Devine: “We’re proud of the experience on SD.” How come? “Half our play-test lab is full of the crummiest standard sets you can find,” he said.

Breath easy, gamers living in the SD era who want to play “Halo Wars.”

Related Posts:
New ‘Halo Wars’ Facts - Alice The Spartan, ODSTs And Not Contradicting The First ‘Halo’
Despite Studio Shakeup, ‘Halo Wars’ Lead Writer Promises Game Will ‘Kick Ass’
‘Halo Wars’ Designer Wants To Play ‘EndWar,’ Hadn’t Considered Voice Control

“Colosseum” is not the best selling Community Game, according to Microsoft’s early results released last week, but it was one of the top 5.

It was also the most expensive.

When I met with the developers of “Colosseum,” Shortfuse Games, at a San Francisco launch party for Community Games in October, they weren’t sure how to price their creation.

I made the argument that pricing low would garner them the requisite fan base for a more expensive second game. They didn’t follow my recommendation.

Instead, they priced it at $10. How do they feel that’s gone over with gamers?

Read more…

[Correction: Upon reviewing my notes, I overstated the ability of two users determining their real-life locations by playing with "Wizard 101"'s security restrictions. I observed two users trying to skate around the system, but neither seemed to learn much about the location of the other. I regret the error.]

Even though kid-friendly MMO “Wizard 101″ has safety precautions in place to protect its biggest user base, those same users are constantly trying to get around them.

During an early morning demo yesterday, I was being shown some examples of what kids can and cannot say to each other in “Wizard 101.”

To chat in “Wizard 101,” you must be over the age of 13. If you’re younger, you’re restricted to preset chat options and emoticon gesturing. But if you’re over 13, you can chat with others. One thing you can’t do, however, is say what state you’re from.

The game blocks people from listing states, for fear of children accidentally revealing where they live. But the “Wizard 101″ kids are smart, and I saw that in action. Two users attempted to describe where they lived, with one listing a state around them, the other requesting a state nick name. “Wizard 101″ restrictions meant they had to be careful about what they asked, but since I didn’t see how it ended, I don’t know how close they got.

The “Wizard 101″ developer with me simply sighed and chuckled.

For comparison’s sake, here’s EA’s take: Read more…

If you didn’t catch the annual Spike Video Game Awards on TV Sunday night, we rounded up a few images from stock supplier photo Getty Images to show you what you missed from the star-studded event.

Make the jump to see photos of host Jack Black, various celebrities (Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Mike Tyson), game developers (Hideo Kojima, Will Wright, Ted Price) and nearly-nude models covered in body paint (yet again). But there were also some men sporting just tighty whities to balance it out this year. Take a look, if you dare… Read more…

My match against Soulja Boy is happening soon and he’s named his game of choice. So, last night, I enlisted some friends to help me improve my “Gears of War 2” multiplayer skills.

As I’ve mentioned before, despite this blog being called Multiplayer, I’m not that good at multiplayer games. I don’t play them frequently enough to get good at them. And, sadly, playing through the single-player campaigns of games — which I do all the time — barely provides you enough skills to win any points or score any kills in even a mildly competitive online match.

What I can thank Soulja Boy for is that he’s at least got me re-thinking my stance on multiplayer gaming. I enjoyed playing a lot of “Halo 3” multiplayer this weekend. Last night, I had fun playing both with and against friends in “Gears.”

Multiplayer gaming might be for me, after all.

That may not seem like much of a revelation to many readers, but I was surprised at how alien it felt for me to try something new with my games. I was pleased with how much fun it could be.

I wonder what other comfort zones I occupy in gaming and which aspects of games I should stop neglecting. Maybe I’d have a ton of fun learning to play sports games? I’ve barely touched the genre in a decade. Maybe I should find a racing game and master it? I haven’t done that ever.

So, thanks, Soulja Boy, for reminding me about a great part of gaming I’ve been neglecting. Now go easy on the chainsaws and watch out for my “Geometry Wars” skills. I think they’re good enough for you.

Next: I’ve been missing “Prince of Persia,” which went from having really easy combat to having some strangely hard battles. Not sure if I’m missing some key moves in my arsenal or something. I plan to get back to it tonight.