These guys drag a Gamecube behind a truck for about 2 minutes, and it bounces around pretty damn hard. The thing STILL works afterward! HELL YEAH NINTENDO!

For all you shootemup fans out there looking for the old school arcade feel that you just don’t ever get from today’s game, you’re in luck because Castle of Shikigami III will take you back to the days of sprites and the bullet hell evolution of shooters. Slated to released sometimes in the spring of 2008 (also for the Xbox 360), one may wonder what ever happen to Castle of Shikigami II or let alone, Castle of Shikigami I?? That I don’t know. But what I do know is that this mysterious shootemup was released in Japan back in 2005 and in the arcades earlier this year. According to Joysiq.com, Castle of Shikigami III will feature 2 player co-op and 10 different characters to select from. So if you still haven’t had enough of Geometry Wars Galaxies or Ikaruga yet, then this game is definitely for you!

Thinking back in time..one of the most standout moments in my video game experience has got to be the first time I’ve laid eyes on F-Zero for the Super Nintendo back in late 1991. I was still a little kid in grade school then, and during that time the SNES was the hot new game console on the market. It was also during a time when a famous game known as “Street Fighter 2” was taking the arcades all over the world by storm and sparked fighting game genre that exist until today. The massive iron grip power of the NES was slowly starting to give way to the new powerhouse 16-bit systems of the Sega Genesis, SNES, and TG16.  That was during what is now known as the Fourth Generation of Video Game Consoles and the legendary 16-Bit Wars was just on it’s way. This was the 90’s baby.

Sonic the Hedgehog boasted the “Blast Processing” buzzword to enhance the Sega Genesis’s image of speed and power.

Yes it was a happy time for gaming because anything new was exciting and it didn’t take much to impress us, considering now consoles games were approaching the level of their arcade counterparts. Fancy words like “Blast Processing“, “Megabit“, “16-bit“, “Parallax scrolling“, and something called “Mode 7” was used to it’s full extent to dazzle us. And it sure as hell worked. You see, back then all games were still 2D sprite based and anything out of the 2D realm seemed unimaginable on a video game system - at least at the time it did. I still remember imagining a 3D-like game (which is easily done on any 3D game engine nowadays) in which you can walk or drive around a full 3D digital world. But that was impossible then.

This was where the SNES surprised us all. One advanced feature of the SNES was something called “Mode 7” which allowed for a series of 128×128 tiles to be stretch, rotate, and scaled to form a 3D-like perspective without the processing of any polygons. Hell, this was even before any one even understood the concept of polygons in a video game. The end result effect however, was amazing and was best put to showcase on the iconic futuristic racing game F-Zero.

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As reported from Joystiq.com, Gary Coleman, the child star of the late 70s and 80s hit TV show “Different Strokes” has put up his proud Nintendo GameCube and games up for sale on eBay! I’m guessing he finally got his very own Nintendo Wii!! About time Gary!! So aside from being autograph by Gary himself, (and who wouldn’t kill for Gary Coleman’s autograph seriously??) among the games thats also being sold are : Mario Kart Double Dash, Super Smash Bros Melee, Robots(wtf????), Mortal Kombat Deception, Sonic 2, and Sonic Gems. Unfortunately for us, even big stars throw away the instruction manuals. So for those of you who can’t figure out how to install a GameCube, sorry you’re out of luck.

For anyone who actually cares, so far as of this posting the bid is up to $510 US dollars, which ends on Saturday 10:46 PST( thats 1:46 for us EST). With a game like Robots, YES Robots, in this collection, you CAN’T go wrong!!! Get it now!!!

Whatchu talking about Nintendo?

But then again, I just can’t help feeling bad for the guy…after all the problems he’s been through and the unfortunately struggles of being a child star. I mean, just look at the pain in his face thats he’s going through just to sell his beloved GameCube!!?? 

Ahh well…

From CGV.com, according to the latest Edge magazine, the next game in the ever popular life simulation franchise “Animal Crossing” for the Nintendo Wii is now rumored, note the word, rumored to be an MMO - a massive multiplayer online game. Exerts from the magazine states :

“A Japanese source has confirmed to Edge that the upcoming Wii iteration of Animal Crossing is set to be a social networking MMO.”

Of course, Nintendo isn’t confirming or denying any rumours as usual (since when do companies ever do unless it hurts them?) so it’s still left to be determined. Considering the game itself lays the platform for an easy transition to an MMO, it would make perfect sense to do so. This is significant because it’ll be the very first Nintendo Wii game to support MMO technology - a feat that many considered not to really be possible. I’m actually wondering how this is going to turn out.

For those of you who haven’t played Animal Crossing before on the Game Cube, its one of the most unique game that you’ll ever lay eyes on. If you can look past the overtly cute straight out of Nick Jr graphics, you’ll find a game or rather simulation that similar to The Sims but takes it to another level by following real-time events. Meaning, the game world and all the events takes place in real time - our time, us people, human time (get it now?) using the Game Cube’s internal clock. Even holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and others are simulated correctly based on the date, as well as seasons. So if its the winter season when you’re playing Animal Crossing, expect it to either start snowing or something in the game. Yeah pretty cool eh?

But the main point of the actual game is a bit vague. Since there really is no direct purpose except to “live out your life”, all you do is perform your daily work and sort of grow your character among with others. The game itself is very direct and easy to play and can get quite addicting overtime. Nintendo Wii owners should give it a try when ever they get a chance. Just don’t forget that you have a real life to live also….

One of the benefits of owning a Wii is that it’s 100% backward compatibility with the Game Cube. Hence once I got a Wii, there was really no need to keep a Game Cube, but there was plenty of reasons to keep the games. Going through my collection of Game Cube games the other day, I pulled out one of the more memorable ones that stuck out in my mind. Some of you may remember this game, many may not even have a clue of what it is. But for shoot ‘em ups fans, Ikaruga is the holy grail. Just look at IGN’s comment on the front of the box!

“Our frothing demand for this game Increases“

Developed by a four man company called Treasure, Ikaruga originally started as Japanese arcade game in 2001. It was later ported to Sega Dreamcast as it’s “swan song” in late 2002, then finally made its way to the Game Cube in 2003.  So aside from being a bullet-hell game, Ikaruga featured a unique polarity mechanics in which your ship has two polarity sides, black and white. Doesn’t make sense? Well its quite simple actually. All the enemies in the game also has two polarity modes and will shoot either white bullets or black bullets depending on their modes. Since you have the ability to flip modes at will, you can essentially absorb the bullets when you’re the same color as it while taking damage when you’re the opposite.  Keep in mind that your bullets also switch polarity when you change and you can only do more damage when your bullets are the opposite polarity of what the enemies is. Sounds easy right? Well not quite.

Even though there is only 5 short levels in the entire game, this is one of the most hardest game I’ve ever played and I still haven’t even beaten it yet - on normal! It could possibly be due to fact that I just plain suck, but I still beg to differ. This is one tough game and there are some very, very tense moments throughout. As with most bullet-hell shoot’em up games, you’ll need quick reaction time to dodge the barrages of bullets fired at you, but you also have to do some serious memorization of the patterns of the bullets, enemies, and the level itself. The good news is that the game has a tutorial mode that will actually show you how to pass each area. The only issue is memorizing it and reacting with enough precision to make it though. Ikaruga does supports 2 player co-op so you and a buddy can both blast your way through this insane bullet-hell.

The visual for the game is stunning and top notched for its time as it is now. Everything is rendered beautifully in 3D and it even features a “sideways” mode in which the games plays as a side scroller (but you’re control stays the same so I’m not sure if it actually wants you to flip your TV sideways :p). From my understanding, its a direct port from the arcade and the Game Cube version doesn’t suffer from some of the graphical slowdowns of the Dreamcast. The style of the graphics combined with the orchestral-like soundtrack made the game seem more “epic” than a typical shooter. Almost like what would happen if you were to take a Final Fantasy game and combine it with a shoot’em up game. The experience is definitely unlike anything you’ve played before.

So is this game worth trying out? Like I said before, if you like arcade shoot’em up games, then this is your holy grail. If you like a good challenge then this one is for you. Definitely worth it if you can actually find one around. Ikaruga is one of the more rarer Game Cube games out there so chances are you won’t be able to get one unless you check on eBay. Since it’s so rare, you can expect to pay upwards of $30 or more for a usedcopy. Now if you happen to also own an Xbox 360, good news for you guys because it’s also coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the near future.

So if you can get your hands on Ikaruga, plug in your Wave Bird controller and blast away!