Hey kids, remember when Sonic still starred in cool games and had a shred of credibility?  No?  Well, he did once, and that credibility was used to endorse Honey Nut Cheerios.  Yes, Cheerios do seem like the perfect fit for a blazingly fast rodent.

Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Sonic to advertise something like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Cookie Crisp?  Just something entirely unhealthy with the pitch being that he had to run fast a lot to burn off all those excess calories.  That might be too high minded for kids, but one can imagine a Sonic diet program in the future.  Speaking of which, does anyone else wonder if Mario will be trimmer in his next title due to Wii Fit?

If you’ve ever dared to delve into the darker nether-regions of geekdom known as AV message boards, then you know people can literally muster an argument over which is the best $500 HDMI cable.  Yes, they’ll quote random studies here and there (usually “studies” coming from a magazine article trying to sell magazines), but they’ll never come to a unanimous decision.  Well, that is except to tell you whatever equipment you own sucks.

The folks over at Criterion, on the other hand, are true lovers of film who pull out all the stops to transfer many forgotten classics to digital media for all to enjoy (at this point, some AV enthusiasts will probably want to point out how Laserdisc was not technically digital…).  So, when it comes time to choose a Blu-ray player for their new reference high-definition theatre what model do they choose?  The PS3, of course.

The folks over at CNET are not surprised by this fact, and they themselves use it as well.  Still, it’s a bit of an interesting revelation and goes toward making the point that the PS3 is quite a bargain for a piece of hardware, even at $400.

If you’ve ever dared to delve into the darker nether-regions of geekdom known as AV message boards, then you know people can literally muster an argument over which is the best $500 HDMI cable.  Yes, they’ll quote random studies here and there (usually “studies” coming from a magazine article trying to sell magazines), but they’ll never come to a unanimous decision.  Well, that is except to tell you whatever equipment you own sucks.

The folks over at Criterion, on the other hand, are true lovers of film who pull out all the stops to transfer many forgotten classics to digital media for all to enjoy (at this point, some AV enthusiasts will probably want to point out how Laserdisc was not technically digital…).  So, when it comes time to choose a Blu-ray player for their new reference high-definition theatre what model do they choose?  The PS3, of course.

The folks over at CNET are not surprised by this fact, and they themselves use it as well.  Still, it’s a bit of an interesting revelation and goes toward making the point that the PS3 is quite a bargain for a piece of hardware, even at $400.

Game Design Workshop is a new feature where we work through the fictional design of an overlooked genre of game.  This is not an actual game in development, but more a pitch for a game we can’t believe no one has made yet.

The pitch
Where are the cheerleading games?  Other than one scheduled for the Wii and a few others that have appeared as shovelware, where are these titles?  It may sound like a silly premise for a game, but consider it for a moment more.

The Dance Dance Revolution titles have proven insanely popular, as have other music titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Additionally, the Wii has made wildly flailing your arms an actual form of input for a game.  Lastly, titles such as Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball have made it acceptable for a generation of young men to play virtual dress up with dolls.  Roll these three bits together and you have the makings of a cheerleading title.

The idea
The game is basically like Electronic Arts’ Boogie or even the last Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii.  Players perform routines, but this time using the Wii remotes and Balance Board.  In this way, measurements of balance, hand movements, and speed can be measured and matched to onscreen squad mates.  All of this is, of course, set to high energy songs from the original artists (which, of course, can be added to via downloadable content).

The second half of the game is the virtual dress up part.  While this may not sound initially appealing to some, remember all it takes is hot CG models to entice many a young man.  The player can design costumes and buy additional locked costumes and accessories for their character (which, of course, they create).

The outcome
Could such a game work?  If you could get many hardcore players to look past the girly concept the game would likely sell.  Of course, these are the same players who bought DOA: XBV just to play dress up and leer at the virtual pinups–so the sales pitch shouldn’t be too hard.

More enticing to a developer is the potential wave of new players such a title could bring in.  Lots of “tween” girls would flock to such a title if a little elbow grease were put into it (don’t mention the grease to them) and the game looked better than half baked.

The likeliness
As noted earlier, a cheerleading title is coming to the Wii soon already.  The idea of a second such title coming out anytime soon is probably unlikely, and especially with any sort of real budget behind it.  Still, that doesn’t mean many young girls (and some young men) won’t continue to dream.

Dying for your real, first look at the Prince of Persia film currently in production?  Well, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.  However, the above image shows a behind-the-scenes shot of actor Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role.

He’s looking very Warrior Within, the second in the game series.  No idea what that means for the story, but hopefully it will turn out better than that game did.  Otherwise, he seems to have the look down and so far looks an excellent pick.  It will be interesting to see how the buzz develops around this one as it nears its 2010 release date.

Via | Game With A Brain

Dying for your real, first look at the Prince of Persia film currently in production?  Well, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.  However, the above image shows a behind-the-scenes shot of actor Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role.

He’s looking very Warrior Within, the second in the game series.  No idea what that means for the story, but hopefully it will turn out better than that game did.  Otherwise, he seems to have the look down and so far looks an excellent pick.  It will be interesting to see how the buzz develops around this one as it nears its 2010 release date.

There’s nothing wrong with obsession, except when it leads to stalking some actress outside of her Beverly Hills mansion every night.  Otherwise, though, obsession channeled in the right direction can lead to cool things like a working Lego version of the arcade classic Donkey Kong.  Take that Calvin Klein.

This monstrosity, built by Dan Kressin, even features a radio controlled jumping Mario.  What kid wouldn’t have wanted this back in the 80s–or now, for that matter?  Finally, you can have something the kid from Silver Spoons didn’t.  Below is a video detailing the workings of the system.

There’s a new video out that showcases the Xbox 360’s new install feature.  Essentially, it allows you to copy the entire game disc over to your hard drive and play it, one would presume, with less load time.  Of course, all of this is still dependent on the fall dashboard update.

The feature looks like it was implemented simply enough, and that’s a good thing.  The bad thing is the hard drive space.  The Xbox 360 has serious issues with hard drive space if they expect people to install games, download movies, buy XBLA titles, and more.  Even the 120 GB drive will seem limited to some, and overpriced to all.  One wonders if Microsoft has a solution for these problems in the pipes, as well.  Perhaps cheaper hard drives, or the ability to connect external drives via USB?  We shall see.

Actually, we can’t be sure how much of this is in game or not, but it certainly is showing off more than the infamous crying trailer.  You get a couple of quick glimpses of one level (a neighborhood in the rain, who’d have guessed?) and some shots of the team modeling characters.  And yes, it’s still as graphically impressive as it ever was.

The intriguing part of Heavy Rain, however, is its legacy.  The same team who made Indigo Prophecy is working on this, too.  Their games have in the past shown a desire to break free from the normal confines of gaming and try something new.  Heavy Rain looks to follow in that tradition.  While many might have shed a tear at Final Fantasy VII’s shocking twist (you know which one), it appears Heavy Rain might be the first title to truly carry emotional weight that lingers with its audience.  Well, that’s both the hype and the hope.