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    Top 5: Jury's Still Out

    January 19, 2009 - 12:44pm

    In this little hobby of ours, there are undeniable classics. Only an utterly clueless fanboy will ignore Shigeru Miyamoto's contributions to gaming, and any Nintendo enthusiast can never deny the quality of a series like Halo or God of War. No matter the platform, there are games which make up the foundation of this medium as we've come to know it.
    Traditionally, the formula would seem to be game made by a respectable company + a few years to let it sink in = indisputable classic. Yet there are a few that still provoke debate.

    These are games that are neither universally adored nor hated. They almost always spark conversation, and are considered by some to be an acquired taste. Here are the Top 5 games that we all can't decide if they're classics or not. NEXT >> #ninbutton {border-style:solid;border-color:#000;border-width:2px;background-color:#BBB;color:#000;text-decoration:none;width:100px;text-align:center;padding:2px 2px 2px 2px;margin:2px 2px 2px 2px;}.buttontext {color:#000;text-decoration:none;font:bold 14pt Helvetica;}#ninbutton:hover {text-decoration:none;color:#BBB;background-color:#000;} The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.

    MadWorld somehow makes it into Australia unscathed

    January 19, 2009 - 11:47am

    We were afraid that Platinum Games' brutal black-and-white action game MadWorld would just be too violent for Australia's OFLC ratings board, and that the organization would force Platinum and Sega to bowdlerize the game -- or worse, they'd bar a release. But it turns out that despite the organization's history of harsh treatment of "mature" games, our fears were unfounded. The OFLC's rating for MadWorld is available in their database, meaning that the game has been given the okay for release.Surprisingly, it's been rated 15+, which is even less stringent than the BBFC's rating! Thankfully, the database identifies the game as "original," meaning no edits were made to achieve the 15+ rating!

    Fragile screens: great setting, uneven quality

    January 19, 2009 - 10:53am

    We've been big fans of Fragile since its debut, and it's certainly a highly-anticipated title around here, even though we don't know whether or not it'll ever see a release outside of Japan (though it's likely). That doesn't mean, however, that we won't criticize it occasionally, and so we're going to point out that the latest screenshots, though intriguing, are a little uneven.We've seen this room before, and it looks tremendous; bright and colorful while still keeping the abandoned atmosphere of the game. But a few of these shots look a little messy; there are ragged, ugly edges on the protagonist. It's probably just the old curse of Wii stills, but next to the rest of the shots from the game, which are mostly fantastic, they stick out.

    Retail and download releases for the week of January 19th

    January 19, 2009 - 9:59am


    Another week, another slew of new gaming content for the Wii. This week, we've got two new WiiWare titles that we've all been waiting for, as well as one new Virtual Console game and a handful of retail releases. Hop past the break for this week's full list. Planning on getting anything? Let us know in the comments!

    Hardware shortages blamed for Wii's underwhelming December

    January 18, 2009 - 2:00pm

    Let's make this clear: Wii sold a helluva lot of units in North America during December. 2.15 million consoles in a single month is a number Sony and Microsoft can only dream about right now, but there's no doubt that the figures weren't as grand as expected. He who is Pachter predicted the console would clear the 3 million mark, only for the platform to fall short by 850,000 units.Why the lower-than-expected sales? As usual, analysts reckon they have the answer: more of those accursed hardware shortages. EEDAR's Jesse Divnich and Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel both believe demand outweighed supply for the third December running, with Divnich stating the Wii would have sold "north of 4 million units" if more consoles had been produced in time.Phew, panic over! Wii's not the next N-Gage or anything![Via Joystiq]

    More awesome House of the Dead: Overkill art, European date

    January 16, 2009 - 11:00pm

    Click to embiggen.
    Wow. The build-up to House of the Dead: Overkill's release next month has resulted in some excellent art (be it in the form of comics, limited edition boxart, or swag), and here's something else Overkill-related to crave: this superb, grindhousey movie poster. We dearly hope Sega isn't intending to use this solely for the marketing of Overkill and then forget it forever, because this is precisely the kind of thing that needs to be on our walls. You can see a bigger version of this in our gallery, along with three new screens.Meanwhile, Sega has confirmed a very spooky European release date of Friday, February 13th. That's just in time to treat your loved one to a helping of black magic and violence! Don't forget your Hand Cannon.

    Deadly Creatures attack in new screens

    January 16, 2009 - 10:00pm


    THQ has treated us to another round of screens of Deadly Creatures doing their thing (their thing being: appearing deadly). If we were to evaluate these shots on their ability to make our skin crawl, we can safely say they're a success. Well done, Rainbow Studios!There's also something we haven't seen a lot of in Deadly Creatures media so far: humans. We knew they were always going to be there -- Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper obviously weren't brought in to play the role of a scorpion or something -- but this is the first time we've seen much of them. The role of humans in Deadly Creatures? To be watched. Eek.

    Near-simultaneous worldwide release for Sonic and the Black Knight

    January 16, 2009 - 9:03pm


    Some happy news to start the weekend on: Sega's Japanese arm just announced that Sonic and the Black Knight would launch on March 10 in all territories apart from Japan, which will be getting the title on March 12. Then, on or around March 17, we can all start telling ourselves that Sonic's next game will see his return to form (we kid, please don't hurt us).Incidentally, should the planned release date hold, it will mean less than five months have passed between the release of Black Knight and Sonic's previous game, a prolific turnaround. Sega also sent out four new shots -- these are now ensconced in our gallery, and looking pretty fine!

    Muramasa: The Demon Blade cuts down Japan this April

    January 16, 2009 - 8:09pm


    Word on the street is that the highly stylish and, well, one of our most-watched games, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, will hit Japanese retail in April of this year. We've got no firm date yet, however an April release in Japan means that we could be seeing it localized in North America this holiday season. It is coming to Europe in November, after all (not taking into account summer placeholders).It's a long wait, but one we'll gladly suffer for what we're sure is going to be a wonderful game.

    Natsume has (Fish) Eyes for the Wii

    January 16, 2009 - 7:12pm


    Remember Fish Eyes? If not, you may be more familiar with its western name, Reel Fishing. The series has been staying very still and quiet in a tiny boat since 1996, popping out a new game every few years. It is the very antithesis of something like the mad, hyperactive Fishing Master: World Tour. This is serious fishing business.So far, the games have been met with a shaky critical reception, but that hasn't prevented Natsume and Marvelous from thinking Fish Eyes Wii might a good idea. Maybe it is, and the waggle factor will help reinvigorate the franchise! If the screens from the official site are anything to go by, Fish Eyes Wii appears to mimic previous titles in the series by using animated CG backgrounds. That doesn't guarantee a good game, of course, but it sure makes for a very purdy view.