Aramation Games

Strongly recommended: Picross DS (DS)
Picross, also knowns as paint-by-numbers, is a puzzle game where you paint a grid with different colors while following the instruction. This addictive game finally comes to North America, with the promise of regular downloadable contents.

Recommended: Mario Strikers Charged (Wii)
Mario and his gang of friends are back to the soccer pitch in Charged. This is the first Wii game to feature online play, and that alone may be worth the price of admission.

Other releases:

• Attack on Pearl Harbor (PC) 
• Brave Story: New Traveler (PSP) 
• Chameleon: To Dye For (DS) 
• Combat Mission: Shock Force (PC)
• Drake & Josh: Talent Showdown (DS) 
• Glory Days 2 (DS)
• Pet Alien (DS) 
• Ricochet Infantry (PC) 
• Ride! Carnival Tycoon (PC)
• Snakeball (PS3)

Sony’s PS3 already got it, so it’s fitting that Microsoft will be dropping the price on its almost 2-year old Xbox 360 Premium system. If these leaked store flyers from Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us are to be believed, Xbox 360 is getting a $50 price cut early August, and will be priced at $349 USD. This move will make the Xbox 360 system more attractive to purchasers especially once the discounted PS3 sells out and the price reverts back.

Strongly recommended: Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (PC)
Already second expansion to the epic strategy game Civ IV adds 10 new civilizations, new units as well as many scenarios featuring historical battles, fantasy lands and even space!

To be avoided: Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s (PS2)
Why would you play Guitar Hero 2 on PS2? Just wait a bit and get it as downloadable content on Xbox 360.

Other game releases:

• Alien Syndrome (PSP, Wii)
• Chameleon: To Dye For! (DS) 
• Combat Mission: Shock Force (PC)
• Dynasty Warriors DS: Fighter’s Battle (DS)
• Escape from Bug Island (Wii)
• Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition (PSP) 
• Full Metal Alchemist: Trading Card Game (DS)
• It’s the Big Game, Charlie Brown (PC) 
• Nascar 08 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2)
• NHRA: Countdown to the Championship 2007 (PC)
• Ride! Carnival Tycoon (PC)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2)
• Ultimate Puzzle Games: Sudoku Edition (DS)

In the casual gaming industry, clones are plenty and a developer must try hard to come up with a new concept. Puzzle Quest is a Bejeweled clone as the gameplay consists of matching 3, 4 or 5 same colored gems. Where it differs and improves upon the original is its role-playing element.

First, you must choose your character among 3 classes offered: druid, knight or warrior. Once you customize your character, you’re dropped onto an overworld view with many places and cities to visit. You go to different cities, doing various quests (mostly of go-there-and-kill-something variety) and return for rewards. Rewards can be gold, experience points or even unique items. All this is very standard RPG game: what’s unique about this title is the fighting.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the fight is done Bejeweled-style on a 8×8 grid. You and your opponent takes turns matching gems: red (fire), blue (water), yellow (air), green (earth), purple (experience points) and gold. When you match skulls, you’ll cause damage to your enemy. Match 4 or 5 gems, you get another turn which means you can potentially cause the enemy to skip many turns. Sometimes combat can be frustrating since you depend on random gems that drop from the top…

With the gold you earn from combat and completing quests, you can buy items such as armor and weapon, or decide to spend it and upgrade your stats. The RPG-system goes on further with city siege, companion system, a whole slew of magic spells, item crafting, monster capturing and even mounts. You can learn spells from captured enemies and your mount will give you specific stat bonus as well as a spell that you can use in the battlefield.

Puzzle Quest is a great puzzle/RPG game as it succesfully marries two genres and creating something better out of them. The only issues are occasional slowdowns during combat, and the fact that companion system is broken in the PSP version… If you don’t have a PSP, you can get it on Nintendo DS and soon on Xbox 360 as well as Nintendo Wii.

Rating: 85%

How many color variations of Nintendo DS Lite do we honestly need? Now Future Shop is offering an exclusive Crimson Red / Black color combination. To come bundled with Brain Age 2 and a matching carrying-case, this trend, if left unchecked, will make sure every human being ends up purchasing a DS Lite. Not that it’s a bad thing…

If you want to pledge allegiance to Nintendo’s little machine that could and Canada’s electronics retailer we all love to hate at the same time, this is the only way to go. And it’ll only cost $159.99 +GST +PST!

[Pre-order your own Crimson Red/Black Nintendo DS]

 How does Electronic Arts keep improving its Madden franchise year after year? Partnering with Jostens, the purveyor of graduation rings, photos and albums. Now Jostens will sell gamers real-life rings based on the progress in Madden 08. Cheapest ring will be $149 and put in some gold and you’re looking at $495.

I realize Electronic Arts really likes money, and it is despised by many gamers for its business practices, but I find this to be a very innovative feature. Xbox 360 has popularized Achievements and human desire to show off. Now with customized rings that are a lot easier to get than the real Super Bowl rings, gamers will have another thing to compare… I have to hand it to EA for finding yet another revenue stream. We’ll know soon enough how popular this “Ring of Champion” service will be.

Sony sure knows how to keep the PLAYSTATION 3 in the news all right… After announcing the price cut for the 60GB model of PS3, it is now confirmed that the price cut is just temporary in order to get rid of the existing stock. Once the stock is depleted, PS3 will be a 80GB affair (+ Motorstorm) at $599. Basically this means the added benefit of 20GB, a game that is too short, limited and frustrating, minus complete backward compatibility are what you get for the extra $100.

Doing so, PS3 has gone through 3 SKUs, just like Microsoft’s Xbox 360. When the Xbox 360 Elite was announced, at about $150 premium over the Xbox 360 Premium, you could see why you would pay more: inclusion of HDMI output, 100GB more storage and new color clearly distinguished the 2 models. In terms of the “new and improved” PS3, all it has going for is a minor bump in storage which isn’t that significant since the harddrive is user-replaceable anyway.

In the end, PS3 remains at $599 USD, and that’s still too much. Exclusive AAA games still haven’t materialized yet (it’ll be in 2008 and beyond), standalone Blu-Ray players are now cheaper than a PS3 and Sony is shooting itself in the foot with the confusion over price cut, putting rumble back into the controller and even the wacky marketing that doesn’t make much sense. At least it doesn’t advise dudes to get their own PSPs…

Announcements:

• Halo branded Xbox 360 console will be released some time in the future
• Gears of War and Viva Pinata to be released on PC
• Viva Pinata: Party Animal coming soon to combat Mario Party 8
• Disney movies available now on Xbox Marketplace
• European Xbox 360 Elite coming on August 24th
• Blue and Pink Xbox 360 controllers coming to Asia and Europe
• Blue Dragon demo out

Videos:

• First gameplay footage of Halo Wars @ GameVideos.com
• New Halo 3 single player trailer @ GameVideos.com 

So far, Microsoft hasn’t announced a price cut as expected, nor any new kind of software/hardware bundles. Most promising news of the E3 conference is the availability of Disney movies in HD. Disney is a Blu-Ray only supporter, but if they make all their Blu-Ray offerings available on Xbox Marketplace, it may prove to be a more attractive option to consumers.

Microsoft will release its Chatpad for Xbox 360, in addition to a special headset, for $29,99. Currently scheduled for September 4th, this accessory will allow you to use the Messenger function of the Xbox 360 without having to rely on on-screen keyboard or USB-keyboard.

Now it’s finally official. Sony has officially confirmed the price drop for 60GB PS3 to $499 (and $549 CND) and it’ll launch a new 80GB PS3 bundled with MotorStorm at $599 to be released in August. Official press release is after the jump:

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