Halo: Reach Sneak Peak in Toronto

By Paul Hunter

Xbox Canada have announced on their website that a Halo: Reach sneak peak event will be coming to Toronto on Saturday, September 4th.

Dubbed "Mission: Defend Reach" on the event page, the mission will let you become a new UNSC recruit and battle Covenant troops live using "state-of-the-art weapons technology". Not sure exactly what that entails, but sounds like you'll get to wield over-sized, fake plastic guns. The battle is taking place between 4pm and 10pm at 306 Queen Street West. I did a google street view and it appears to be a parking lot, so yeah, lots of cars to use as cover fire.

For more details on the event, check out the official page on Xbox Canada's website.
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Nintendo DSi and DSi XL Price Drops

By Andrew Shin

Today, Nintendo of Canada officially announced a price drop for both of their highly successful handheld gaming systems - the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL. As of September 12th, the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL will have a new retail price of $149.99 and $169.99 respectively.

"We know shoppers want to get the maximum value out of every dollar they spend," said Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada’s vice-president and general manager. "Our new Nintendo DSi prices make it easier than ever for consumers to access the tremendous variety of games, applications and social tools on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL systems."

The new price drop will be important in sustaining Nintendo's dominance in the handheld gaming segment against its long time rival the Sony PSP. With the PSP having dropped in price a while back to $169.99, it was only a matter of time that the DSi and DSi XL would see its own drop in price. It could also have a little something to do with that new handheld system that Nintendo announced earlier this year...what was it again? Ahh yes, the 3DS.

Additionally, history has demonstrated that price drops for gaming systems in September translates to successful sales leading up to and during the holiday season - just ask Microsoft and Sony.


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Canada Overtakes UK To Become Third Largest Development Community

By Paul Hunter

Canada's robust video game industry is making moves again to further strengthen its position as a world class leader for top development talent and innovation, according to the Ontario Technology Corridor. Leading the charge is the province of Ontario which has committed $130 million to new gaming infrastructure in 2010.

A confluence of factors in Ontario, including a large pool of talented developers, low-risk business environment, and generous tax incentives has helped push Canada past the UK as the third largest development community in the world, the group representing technology innovators spanning the Greater Toronto area, Ottawa region, Waterloo region, city of London and the Niagara region, says. Canada now trails only Japan and the United States in terms of total video game development head count.

A major win for the province came last year when Ubisoft announced a joint investment with the Province of Ontario to open up Ubisoft Toronto, a development studio that is currently working on a new Splinter Cell game and an unannounced AAA-title.

The recently announced gaming infrastructure investments in the Ontario Technology Corridor includes a $107 million dollar digital media centre for Ontario companies, called The Communitech Hub, which opened earlier this summer in Kitchener, Ontario. The 30,000 square foot hub offers dedicated space to support the rapid growth of digital media research and commercialization of innovation. The Province of Ontario supported the development of the hub with a $26.4 million investment, with the rest coming from other levels of government and private investors.

Earlier this month, Google announced it secured two floors in the Hub, virtually doubling its Waterloo Region staff from 70 employees to 140.

This fall the University of Waterloo's Stratford Institute for digital media will welcome its first class, fostering cross-disciplinary and cross sector collaboration in the region's digital media industry. The $20 million institute received half of its funding from the Province of Ontario, with the remainder being invested by the City of Stratford.

Earlier this year a study from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada found that more than 14,000 people are now directly employed across Canada by more than 247 video game development companies. That head count is strictly looking at employees working in game studios and doesn't encompass the larger industry which includes outsourced marketing/public relations, retail and transportation.

Executives from the Ontario Technology Corridor recently returned from the Game Developers Conference (GDC Europe 2010) in Cologne where they showed digital entertainment companies the many benefits of expanding or relocating their operations in Ontario.

"Our job now is to add to our tremendous home-grown crop of companies and help demonstrate that Ontario is a prime destination in North America for gaming investments," said Gerry Pisarzowski, vice president of business development for the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, an Ontario Technology Corridor partner.

Ontario is home to many large developers including Ubisoft Toronto, Capcom (mobile division), Koei Canada, Big Blue Bubble, Digital Extremes, Electronic Arts, and Silicon Knights, as well a number of successful indie developers such as Capybara Games, Metanet Software, Playbrains and Queasy Games.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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Sony Releasing New PS3 Models in North America

By Paul Hunter

Continuing the trend of roomier hard disk drives, Sony Computer Entertainment of America announced two new, larger capacity PlayStation 3 models that will be available in North America soon. The new SKUs were announced initially for Europe during gamescon, and later confirmed for western markets.

Both packages will include the new, slimmer form factor PS3 model that was introduced last summer and achieved an impressive sell through of one million units in only three weeks.

The launch of the new models is timed with the imminent release of PlayStation Move, Sony's new motion-sensing technology to compete with the Nintendo Wii and Kinect for Xbox 360.

The first model to be introduced will be a new charcoal black 160GB PS3, which has a $299.99 MSRP. At 33% more space than the current 120GB model, and for the same price, the 160GB PS3 represents a good value for consumers who can hold out until they start appearing in retail stores across the country. Sony's press release stated the 160GB "is now shipping".

The next model announced includes a 320GB PS3, the largest hard disk drive ever available for the console, and will release day and date with Sony's PlayStation Move on September 19, 2010. This PlayStation Move bundle includes a PlayStation Eye camera, one PlayStation Move motion controller, a copy of Sports Champions, and a bonus Blu-ray demo disc. Sports Champions is the flagship PlayStation Move title, and similar to Wii Sports is a collection of sports games intended to demonstrate the console's motion control capabilities. The sports included in Sports Champions are: Table Tennis, Volleyball, Gladiator Duel, Disc Golf, Bocce and Archery.

“With the launch of PlayStation Move just around the corner, we’re expecting many new consumers to join the PlayStation family. The PS3 Sports Champions Move bundle provides those families with everything they need to get into motion control gaming at a great value, with the 320GB model PS3 system as the centerpiece of the package,” said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of product marketing.

Thanks to the high-resolution image processing technology within the PSEye, the PlayStation Move is reported to be more “precise” and “exact” than controls on the Wii, even with the Wii MotionPlus attachment. The PlayStation Move uses the wand's light source to track motion in 3-dimensions down to millimetre precision, accurately relaying 2D as well as Z-plane movement information. The Wii Remote is also able to process Z-plane movements but apparently it's not as accurate as the precision found with PlayStation Move. That means gamers will have true 1:1 control accuracy during play.

At present, there are two PS3 models available, the 120GB and the 250GB configurations. Sony also released a special 250GB model earlier this month which includes a copy of Madden NFL 11. No word on whether any of these three packages will be phased out, but if I had to place bets I'd predict the 120GB will eventually be replaced by the new 160GB version, and given that Madden is an annual franchise, the NFL 11 bundle is surely a limited run.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Full Track List Revealed

By Paul Hunter

The publisher behind the sixth main entry to the Guitar Hero franchise has unleashed its full track list today, containing more than 90 songs from rock music's pantheon of legendary guitar shredding bands.

When Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock ships on September 28, gamers will be able to jam to revered rock songs such as Neil Young's political-infused "Rockin' In The Free World" and Twisted Sister's defiant "We're Not Gonna Take It". Continuing the series tradition, the game contains several artists from among the best of heavy metal for those rockers with a penchant for headbanging. This time around featured heavy metal bands include Slipknot, Dragonforce, Metallica, Pantera, Megadeth and more.

Here's the complete track list:

* A Perfect Circle - "The Outsider"
* Aerosmith - "Cryin'"
* AFI - "Dancing Through Sunday"
* Alice Cooper - "No More Mr. Nice Guy"
* Alter Bridge - "Ties That Bind"
* Anberlin - "The Feel Good Drag"
* Anthrax - "Indians"
* Arch Enemy - "Nemesis"
* Atreyu - "Ravenous"
* Avenged Sevenfold - "Bat Country"
* Bad Brains - "Re-Ignition (Live)"
* Band Of Skulls - "I Know What I Am"
* Black Sabbath - "Children Of The Grave"
* Blind Melon - "Tones Of Home"
* Blue Oyster Cult - "Burnin' For You"
* Bush - "Machinehead"
* Buzzcocks - "What Do I Get?"
* Children Of Bodom - "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
* Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son"
* The Cure - "Fascination Street"
* Deep Purple - "Burn"
* Def Leppard - "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
* Dethklok - "Bloodlines"
* The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants"
* Dire Straits - "Money For Nothing"
* DragonForce - "Fury of the Storm"
* Drowning Pool - "Bodies"
* Edgar Winter- "Free Ride"
* Fall Out Boy - "Dance, Dance"
* Five Finger Death Punch - "Hard To See"
* Flyleaf - "Again"
* Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
* Foreigner - "Feels Like The First Time"
* George Thorogood and The Destroyers - "Move It On Over (Live)"
* The Hives - "Tick Tick Boom"
* Interpol - "Slow Hands"
* Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing"
* Jethro Tull - "Aqualung"
* John 5 - "Black Widow Of La Porte"
* KISS - "Love Gun"
* Linkin Park - "Bleed It Out"
* Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me The Breeze (Live)"
* Megadeth - "Sudden Death"
* Megadeth - "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due"
* Megadeth - "This Day We Fight!"
* Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne - "Paranoid (Live)"
* Muse - "Uprising"
* My Chemical Romance - "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
* Neil Young - "Rockin' In The Free World"
* Nickelback - "How You Remind Me"
* Night Ranger - "(You Can Still) Rock In America"
* Nine Inch Nails - "Wish"
* The Offspring - "Self Esteem"
* Orianthi - "Suffocated"
* Pantera - "I'm Broken"
* Phoenix - "Lasso"
* Poison - "Unskinny Bop"
* Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
* Queensryche - "Jet City Woman"
* Rammstein - "Waidmanns Heil"
* The Ramones - "Theme From Spiderman"
* Red Rider - "Lunatic Fringe"
* R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion"
* Rise Against - "Savior"
* The Rolling Stones - "Stray Cat Blues"
* The Runaways - "Cherry Bomb"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 1 - Overture"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 2 - The Temples Of Syrinx"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 3 - Discovery"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 4 - Presentation"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 5 - Oracle: The Dream"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 6 - Soliloquy"
* Rush - "2112 Pt. 7 - Grand Finale"
* RX Bandits - "It's Only Another Parsec..."
* Silversun Pickups - "There's No Secrets This Year"
* Slash featuring Ian Astbury - "Ghost"
* Slayer - "Chemical Warfare"
* Slipknot - "Psychosocial"
* Snot - "Deadfall"
* Soundgarden - "Black Rain"
* Steve Vai - "Speeding" (Vault Version)
* Stone Temple Pilots - "Interstate Love Song"
* Strung Out - "Calling"
* Styx - "Renegade"
* Sum 41 - "Motivation"
* Tesla - "Modern Day Cowboy"
* Them Crooked Vultures - "Scumbag Blues"
* Third Eye Blind - "Graduate"
* Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Listen To Her Heart"
* Twisted Sister - "We're Not Gonna Take It"
* The Vines - "Get Free"
* The White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army"
* ZZ Top - "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)"

"We engaged our fans to find out what they really wanted and then hand-picked over 90 tracks that deliver the ultimate rock experience," said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Guitar Hero.

Taking a story-driven approach, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock features a deep Quest Mode that has your band journey to a world populated with Demi-Gods and Beasts. The music voyage will introduce you to eight Guitar Hero characters that must band together to become the ultimate rock warriors capable of taking down "The Beast" and saving rock 'n roll. The story mode will be narrated to the players by Gene Simmons from KISS.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock also features a brand new guitar controller that was inspired by the game’s unique art style and over-the-top story that players will experience in Quest Mode. The streamlined controller has all essential parts contained with the neck, allowing removable ‘wings’ to be replaced with alternatives, giving gamers the chance to tailor the guitar controller to their own unique styles.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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Dates Announced for New Kirby, Donkey Kong and Pokémon Games

By Paul Hunter

Nintendo has put dates to their upcoming holiday Wii line-up, including Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure. Dates were also given for anticipated Nintendo DS games such as Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!

Furthermore, company provided dates for notable third party Wii and Nintendo DS titles including NBA Jam, GoldenEye 007, Disney Epic Mickey and Super Scribblenauts.

Here's the complete list:

Wii (Nintendo)

* Metroid: Other M (Aug. 31)
* Samurai Warriors 3 (Sept. 27)
* Wii Party (Oct. 3)
* Kirby's Epic Yarn (Oct. 17)
* PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (Nov. 1)
* FlingSmash (Nov. 7)
* Donkey Kong Country Returns (Nov. 21)

Wii (third party games)

* New Carnival Games (Sept. 21), 2K Play
* NBA JAM (Oct. 5), EA Sports
* Just Dance 2 (Oct. 12), Ubisoft
* GoldenEye 007 (November), Activision Publishing
* Sonic Colors (Nov. 16), SEGA
* Disney Epic Mickey (this holiday season), Disney Interactive Studios

WiiWare

* And Yet It Moves (Aug. 23), Broken Rules
* BIT.TRIP FATE (this fall), Gaijin Games
* Super Meat Boy (this holiday season), Team Meat

Nintendo DS (Nintendo)

* Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (Sept. 12)
* Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (Oct. 4)
* Art Academy (Oct. 25)
* Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (Nov. 14)

Nintendo DS (third party games)

* Super Scribblenauts (October), Warner Bros.
* Final Fantasy The 3 Heroes of Light (Oct. 5), Square Enix
* Rock Band 3 (Oct. 29), Electronic Arts/MTV

Nintendo DSiWare

* Need For Speed Nitro-X (Sept. 20), Electronic Arts
* Shantae: Risky's Revenge (this holiday season), WayForward

Nintendo has unquestionably revealed a killer holiday line-up of games, one that seems to be pleasing younger and older gamers alike -- something the publisher has contended with the last couple of holiday seasons. Even the more casual fare, such as Kirby's Epic Yarn, Poképark Wii and Wii Party, impressed me during my hands-on time at Nintendo of Canada's recent Eh!3 event in Toronto.

Digging deep into their roster of iconic characters, including Metroid, Kirby and Donkey Kong, Nintendo is relying on a well established catalogue of popular franchises to drive momentum during the crucial fall season. This trend will continue in 2011 and beyond with Nintendo already announcing new entries for The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, Nintendogs, Star Fox, Pilotwings, Paper Mario, Mario Kart, and a new Wii sports collection (Mario Sports Mix).

Curiously, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, a role-playing game sequel to a couple of Game Boy Advance games, was the only game at Nintendo's Eh!3 preview event not given a holiday 2010 release date. The dates given go to November, meaning there is a chance Golden Sun could still be announced for December, or it could mean the game is slipping into 2011. At this point we're really not sure.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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Welcome, Visitor 250,000

By Paul Hunter

At the NextGen Player HQ we like finding random reasons to party and today is no exception. Looking at our site analytics it looks like we're on the cusp of welcoming our 250,000th visitor, in fact it should be achieved by the time this article is posted.

NGP began in April 2008 with the goal of being the #1 website for exciting video game news with a unique Canadian focus. Since our humble beginnings our staff of talented writers have produced over 900 articles -- all on a volunteer basis. We've poured in thousands of hours into this site in hopes of letting you, our loyal NextGen Players, be more informed about the Canadian video game industry.

While we've had peaks in valleys in terms of the quantity of posts being published each month, we are more determined than ever to ensure we bring the news.

Canada is a powerhouse in the global video industry and you can count on NGP to be here every step of the way to deliver the news. Thanks for reading. All 250,000 of you.

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Nintendo of Canada's Moving In

By Paul Hunter

Nintendo of Canada is taking their hit games and going on tour across Canada, visiting select Real Canadian Superstore and Maxi & Cie stores. Dubbed the "Neighbourhood Tour", the store displays will let you take a stroll down Wii Street, Nintendo DSi Drive, or spend some time in the activity gazebo with Crayola and Kodak.

In the gazebo there will be colouring sheets of your favourite Nintendo characters (like perhaps some Pokémon) and you can snap a photo with Mario.

Visitors to the attraction can learn more about Club Nintendo and connectivity on Wii and Nintendo DSi systems.

The full list of tour locations can be found here.

If anyone attends and gets their picture taken with Mario I am willing to post it on NextGen Player, provided they aren't obscene. Which really they shouldn't be, it is Mario we're talking about. Send your pics to inquiries@nextgenplayer.com.
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A Glimpse of Nintendo's Epic Lineup

By Alice Stancu

A while ago, I got some hands-on time with a few of Nintendo's upcoming games for the fall and holiday season. 2010 is without a doubt the year of the retro franchise revival – about half the games that Nintendo has announced are new entries in long-thought-dead series. Donkey Kong Country? Check. Tron? Check! Kid Icarus? ...Well, we'll have to wait a little longer for that one.


Let's start off with the biggest deal (for me): Donkey Kong Country Returns. When I first heard the announcement at E3, I almost had a heart attack. This is an all-new, side-scrolling platformer – without bongos. The game looks great and sounds great; a lot of the background music is remixed from the original games. While everything is a little too shiny, the game plays fantastically well with level design that offers a good mix of innovation and nostalgia. There is only one thing that I really dislike about this game, and that's the controls. Not only are you forced to use the Wii Remote in either horizontal or nunchuck configuration, but some very important moves require the use of “fun” motion controls. I don't know about other gamers, but when I'm careening off the edge of a cliff and jumping at the last minute to get that extra boost, I'd rather trust the push of a button than a frantic controller-shake. Similar to my issue with other “hardcore” games that use “casual” controls (like Super Mario Galaxy), I don't like dying because the controls are bad; I like dying because I messed up. This may all sound like a negative impression, but I don't mean it to be – I'm looking forward to this more than any other title coming out this year! It's just that with a game that's amazing in so many ways, the negative aspects need criticizing too. Release date: November 21, 2010

The original GoldenEye was one of the greatest games to be made for the N64. It's the great-grandaddy of modern console shooters, and it's still held in high regards by many fans of the genre. The news of its remake wasn't surprising, per se – it's just surprising that it's a good remake. GoldenEye Wii doesn't mess with the original formula – it just adds a few modern touches, like destructible terrain and a modern Bond story. And that's perfectly fine; it's how a remake should be (but rarely is). As an added bonus, you can use just about any controller configuration you want, whether it's the original Gamecube controller, the Classic, or the Wii Remote. This really should be a standard option in every game that isn't super-casual, but until that happens, I'll try to shut up about it and just appreciate the effort. Release date: November 2, 2010


Metroid: Other M is one of the biggest titles of the year. The game's being promoted as the first that really gives you an idea of what's going on in Samus's head, and that's already a pretty interesting. Most of the game is played with a horizontal Wii Remote from a 3rd person perspective similar to the old-school 2d games. Easier, almost, because there's a strong auto-aim on your Beam. But, there's a twist – you can (and must) switch to 1st person by pointing the Wii Remote at the screen. You'll switch between the two quite often as that's the only way of shooting missiles, though you can't actually move around in first person. The switch may be seamless, but in practice, shoot-and-run situations might be harder to pull off. On a side note, melee combat has finally been added to the franchise; you can counterattack and perform context-sensitive attacks on the various enemies. Release Date: August 31, 2010

PokéPark: Pikachu's Big Adventure is a cute and very casually paced game. While it looks a bit simple and child-oriented, it's still fun to roam around and befriend other Pokémon. The mini-quests in the game are entertaining if a bit gentle and simple, but bang-on for the target audience. If you have little tykes of your own, this might be a great introduction to the gaming world. Release date: November 1, 2010


Kirby's Epic Yarn is going to be another heavy hitter this year, with the most innovative visual design I've seen in a long time. The look of this game invokes the mood of games like Yoshi's Island with its crayon effect, or Okami's sumi-painting style – except in this story, everything appears to have been made out of the bits and pieces found in your grandma's knitting drawer. Characters and enemies are made of yarn, and they “unravel” when defeated. There are precious buttons and pieces of patchwork felt a-plenty. Essentially, everything is just really, really cute. The game really plays with the 2-dimensionality of a yarn world by adding sections where you move behind and in front of terrain. And thankfully, despite the cuteness, it feels like a fairly intense platformer – more Super Mario Bros. than, say, Super Princess Peach. Release date: October 17, 2010


On the topic of epic games, Epic Mickey will also be coming out this year. From the demo I played, I discovered that a major game mechanic is Mickey's new ability to destroy and rebuild objects and terrain with the help of magical paint. While it isn't as visually impressive as one might hope for (I've seen PS1 games that looked better), the concept is quite surprising, to say the least. In the Disney universe of happy-ever-afters, there is a world populated by cast-offs; characters who have fallen to the wayside over the course of time. A surprisingly profound concept for the normally whimsical and happy-go-lucky brand, isn't it? It feels a bit like what Kingdom Hearts would've been without all the cool Square-Enix characters. Come to think of it, the game does bear a few similarities to Kingdom Hearts – the two even share a Steamboat Willie stage! Release date: Holiday 2010

Wii Party feels a little too much like the newer Mario Party games to be really original, but it's still a pretty solid family game. Because there's a high degree of luck involved, age and skill have very little to do with how well you fare, so your kids won't kick your butt every time you play. Plus, like the rest of the Wii series, you get to use your Miis. Thank goodness, eh? All those hours you put into making Grandma, Grandpa, Mario, and Jesus are finally paying off. Release date: October 3, 2010


Tron: Evolution is a curious mix of RPG, action and racing. I only tried out the racing portions myself; they play well and look fabulously cyber-shiny. This game manages to keep the feel of the original movie but vastly improves on the graphics. Actually, the look is a bit similar to the Tron world in Kingdom Hearts and – I really need to stop talking about Kingdom Hearts. I didn't spend enough time roaming around Evolution to really get a feel for it, but it seems like a good tie-in for the upcoming movie. Lately, tie-in games seem to have been getting better than usual – some, like Scott Pilgrim VS. The World, are arguably better than the movie itself – so I'm not at all apprehensive about the quality of the rest of the game. The events of Tron: Evolution take place between the original 1982 Tron and the upcoming Tron: Legacy. The release date is November 1, 2010, which means that you'll have about a month and a half to beat the game before the movie comes out.

In addition to these killer Wii games, there are also some must-have DS titles coming out soon. Dragon Quest IX has already been released but still deserves special mention, as it goes above and beyond the duty of a regular JRPG and contains tons of extra content that can be unlocked at IRL events (and yes, they have been held in Canada too, not just in Japan). You can even just get treasure maps by simply hanging out with other people who have set their game on “tag mode”. A hand-held mini-MMO game that you can play while hanging out with friends – is this the current-gen answer to Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube?

While I also tried out half a dozen upcoming Disney-centric DS titles, I have a feeling that I'm getting too old to really appreciate them. I'm sure they will be loved by fans of the original shows, but they just don't have that broad appeal that can be appreciated by all gamers. The Camp Rock rhythm game was probably one of the more interesting titles in the collection of casual titles, but it doesn't offer anything new or interesting. That's a pretty serious problem when you consider the saturation of today's rhythm game market.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, the third entry in the puzzlicious series, keeps the delightfully classy and light mood of its predecessors. It's everything you'd expect it to be: a solid collection of puzzles with more of the intriguing backstory that keeps the games addictive and catchy. Will this answer questions like “What is Luke's relation to Layton?” or “Do true gentlemen really prefer blondes?” Probably not. But I'm still going to enjoy the hell out of it. Release date: September 12, 2010


I never played the original Golden Sun (I know, I bring shame to the name of JRPG fangirl), but it's apparently the only traditional JRPG that my boyfriend has ever enjoyed. From this perhaps arbitrary recommendation (as well as its consistent ranking as one of the top games of all time), I was excited to see what Golden Sun: Dark Dawn had to offer (besides a cheesy title). The world of Golden Sun looks amazing– the in-game graphics push quite a lot out of the DS's graphic capabilities. The summons, magic, and enemies are innovative and beautifully rendered. Since the game takes place 30 years after the previous title, the characters are new, though related to the previous generation of heroes. Overall, the gameplay seems quite typical for the genre, but that's quite acceptable – there's a reason why the classic formula is a classic. Release date: Holiday 2010

I think that about sums up the best of what's to come! The Nintendo star is shining brightly this year; instead of pushing to revolutionize home gaming with 3D, they're sticking to solid titles on the Wii and leaving the experimental business to the upcoming 3DS. Not a bad choice, considering the success they had with their previous 3D console.

This is what the future looked like in 1995.
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Chiptune Workshop in Toronto this Sunday

By Alice Stancu

Have you ever wanted to learn how to make music on a gameboy? Well, you're in luck!

Jeff "jefftheworld" Alyanak (remember him from the Nuit Blanche guerrilla show?) and Site 3 member Jonathan Guberman are teaming up to teach you the sacred art of chiptunes.

The 4-hour hands-on workshop (1-5pm on Sunday August 15) is only $40.00 and it'll be held at Site 3 coLaboratory. You can bring your own original Game Boy and flash cartridge, or borrow one from the instructors. You can even buy yourself a shiny new (old) Game Boy!

If you're interested in getting the tickets online, head here.

And if you want a better idea of what you're getting yourself into, check out Jeff's live act:




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GottaCon 2011 Date Confirmed

By Andrew Shin

Victoria, BC's own GottaCon has been confirmed for its 3rd straight year. The 3 day gaming convention will take place from February 4th to 6th at the Pearkes Recreation Centre located at 3100 Tillicum Rd. The unique aspect of the GottaCon gaming convention is that it will be open from 5pm on Friday and straight through to 7pm on Sunday. That accounts for 50 hours...yes, you read that right...of non-stop gaming debauchery. GottaCon promises a bit of everything from video gaming to role playing to collectables.

GottaCon's founders Evan Hatch and Carson Upton expect the 2011 event will be their best, estimating approx. between 1,200 and 1,500 attendees. The 2010 GottaCon attracted 900 attendees, which in itself was highly successful for its sophomore year.

For more information on GottaCon, you can check out their website at www.gottacon.com.


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NextGen Player Review: Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert’s Revenge

By Paul Hunter

Disney's mega franchise Club Penguin returns with Herbert's Revenge, the sequel to 2008's Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force for the Nintendo DS. There's no denying this series's popularity with kids -- the original game has sold over 1.5 million copies to date, a feat that only a handful of third-party Nintendo DS game titles can claim.

Based on the popular children's MMORPG, Herbert's Revenge is a charming point-and-click adventure that allows fans of the franchise to take their Club Penguin experience on-the-go. Players assume the role of a covert agent of the Elite Penguin Force to complete top secret missions on Club Penguin Island. Beginning where the previous game left off, the one-part sinister one-part bumbling polar bear Herbert has set off a popcorn bomb and blew up the penguin's HQ. Along with his sidekick Klutzy the Crab, the evil duo has plans to destroy the island oasis the Elite Penguin Force and numerous penguin inhabitants call home.

Fans of the first game will instantly feel familiar with Herbert's Revenge as the island is nearly a perfect replica of what we've seen before, complete with shops, beaches, play areas and a hi-tech HQ. The gameplay mechanics are also identical and consist of roaming around the frozen island in search of clues, items and villagers to assist you on your mission to thwart Herbert's devious plans.

To aid your journey, you're given an assortment of spy gadgets from Agent G consisting of a wrench (to tighten or loosen bolts), a spy phone (lets you talk to other agents), a spy log (containing your mission objectives and clues), a mechano-duster (to uncover clues), scissors (to cut rope or string), a comb (helps untangle messy fur), a decoder (to translate secret messages), and an HQ teleporter to instantly warp you back to the Elite Penguin Force home base. Each gadget is used at some point during the game to help you complete your missions.

As an additional aid, every mission you're given some puffles, which are small, furry creatures native to Club Penguin and possess special skills such as smashing crates, flying using a propeller hat, melting ice, and welding.

Disney made a few upgrades to the sequel including smoothing out the graphics and making the game overall a little more vibrant. Items can now be combined together to form more sophisticated items, such as tying a rope to a hook to crate a makeshift grappling hook. There's also a new help menu that gives players an overview of your mission objectives and indicates which steps need to be taken in order to complete the mission at hand.

There are a few minor drawbacks to the game, including the occasional vague objective the will leave you scratching your head for a few minutes, and since it's a linear story you may resort to aimlessly wandering about Club Penguin in hopes of stumbling upon the next clue. Even more maddening is when you finally reach your destination and realize you don't have all the required items to proceed and the game won't let you backtrack to retrieve, leaving you no option but to reset the mission. Thankfully that only happened to me once during the game as I was attempting to scale a mountain but didn't have the tools required to do so.

Like Pokémon games, Herbert's Revenge suffers from one of the most puzzling of shortfalls: one save slot. If you have multiple kids at home then be prepared to erase data each time someone new plays. With the default save slots for most DS games being two or three, I'm surprised games still release with a single save slot.

To round out the game there are four enjoyable minigames found throughout the story mode and accessible from the main menu, including: Jackhammer, a mining game where you must strategically dig to the finish flag; Amazing Maze, a labyrinth navigation game that has you flipping switches and using puffles to open the correct path; Aqua Rescue, a life preserver tossing game where the objective is to keep an island afloat from underneath; and Grapple Gadget, a high flying platforming game where you swing via a grappling hook to victory.

As a whole, Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge delivers. The game has plenty of charm, witty moments and fun gameplay moments to keep kids hooked for some time. The controls are simple and easy to get into, and the graphics are undeniably eye-catching. If you're a Club Penguin member you can even transfer your coins collected in Herbert's Revenge and upload them into your online account, how's that for nifty integration?

NextGen Player gives Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert’s Revenge a...


[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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First Annual PlayStation Canada Charity Golf Tournament Raises $50,000 for Children With Cancer

By Paul Hunter

Sony Computer Entertainment Canada (SCEC) held their first annual PlayStation Charity Golf Tournament this past Wednesday, raising $50,000 for children with cancer. More than 130 golfers teed-off at the scenic Wyndance Golf Club located in Uxbridge, Ontario, for the charitable event benefiting Camp Oochigeas. Founded in 1983, Camp Oochigeas gives children united by the common bond of cancer the opportunity to participate in year-round programs at their site in Muskoka, at the Hospital for Sick Children and in the community.

“PlayStation Canada’s association with Camp Oochigeas reflects our strong commitment to the community,” says Stephen Turvey, General Manager of SCEC. “The generosity of all those involved mirrors the spirit of Camp Oochigeas, and we thank everyone who has helped kick off our first charity golf tournament.”

The private golfing event for SCEC vendors offered four levels of sponsor ranging from $2000 - $3000, with each level offering one complimentary round of golf for four. The Wyndance Golf Club holds the distinction of being the only course in Canada designed by the legendary Australian-born pro golfer Greg Norman. Norman, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has made a huge impact on the sport of golf, having spent 331 weeks as the world's top ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s, and later designing more than 70 golf courses on six continents. With its carefully crafted route through and around a former sand and gravel pit, Wyndance is considered by many to be one of Norman's most breathtaking. In 2008 the golf course was named runner-up by Golf Digest as best new course in Canada.

Camp Oochigeas is a privately funded, volunteer based organization that aims to enrich the lives of kids affected by childhood cancer by providing campers with a variety of opportunities for personal and physical growth. Some of the activities children can participate at Camp Oochigeas include swimming, arts and crafts, canoeing, and wakeboarding. The funds raised from the PlayStation golf tournament supports the camps year-round programs that approximately 680 children attend cost-free.

“PlayStation has been an incredible supporter of Camp Oochigeas over the past few years, and we are amazed at the success of the first PlayStation Canada Charity Golf Tournament,” said Rob Drynan, Executive Director, Camp Oochigeas. “Thanks to the hard work and commitment of the PlayStation team, more kids will be able to experience the magic of Camp Ooch!”

To expand their operations, Camp Oochigeas announced in June that the organization has found a home in Toronto after an exhaustive three year search. Their location needs were very specific including being close to SickKids Hospitial, have a "campy" look and feel, and will allow them to deliver new programs not possible at the hospital. The new location, near Bathurst and College Streets, will be opening its doors this fall.

Presenting the $50,000 cheque to Camp Oochigeas was SCEC's general manager Stephen Turvey.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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Researcher Says "violent video game issue is a crusade in search of a crisis"

By Paul Hunter

Video games have long been given a bad rap by the general media which has a tendency to cite, in a rather sensationalized fashion, the supposed negative impact they have on society, and on children and adolescents in particular.  Many of the opponents of video games make claims that video games are linked to a growth in youth violence -- especially school violence -- and that prolonged use of video games not only leads to a decrease in social competency but also lowers creativity.

While the research on video games is not conclusive, an increasing number of scientific studies are finding that the alleged correlations may simply be untrue. In a study published in the June 2010 edition of the Review of General Psychology, Dr. Ferguson conducted an in-depth analysis of the existing research on the impact of violent computer and video games on aggressive behaviour.  The study, entitled “Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games be a Force for Good?” (note: it's a PDF file), found that current research is marred by "poor methodologies and the intrusion of ideology and scientic dogma" and there is little reason to speculate that "violent video games are a significant factor in promoting youth violence."  Dr. Ferguson further states that the myopic view on the negative effects of video games is prohibiting a broader discussion in the scientific community about the risks of violent video games on behaviour.

It's true for decades now that video games have been a medium attracting vocal activists who protest the supposed ills of the form of entertainment.  Globally, the most notable anti-video game activist is Jack Thompson, an attorney in Florida who was disbarred in 2008 after more than ten years of litigation against video game publishers such as Take Two Interactive, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Take Two's subsidiary Rockstar Games.

Mr. Thompson's high profile crusades against the video game industry has been well documented on major games news sites who have criticized him for perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions about the video game industry.  Famous comedians Penn & Teller attempted to debunk Thompson's theories on their popular documentary television series "Bullsh*t" by tackling the issue of violent video game and the people who love to hate them.  While the show can't be taken as any sort of a reasoned argument, it does reflect the sentiment of an industry frustrated at the ideological-based arguments for the limiting or banning of violent video games.

While activists may claim a link between violent video games and increased youth violence, Dr. Ferguson's research found that in the last decade violent crime has plummeted at the same time as video games have increased in popularity.  Like the hypothesized correlation of TV watching and violence 20 years ago, Dr. Ferguson describes the link between video games and violence as "illusory" and notes that the explosion of video game consumption has not sparked an epidemic of youth violence.

These findings are consistent with other recent research that demonstrates a tenuous relationship between the consumption of violent video games and real world aggression.

For more information on Dr. Ferguson's study, as well additional research on potential positive effects of video games, read the write-up in ESA's August newsletter.

Also, I encourage you to watch my interview with the authors of Grand Theft Childhood, Dr. Lawrence Kutner and Dr. Cheryl Olson, where we have a revealing conversation about whether exposure to violent video games can result in increased levels of aggression in youth.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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StarCraft II Contest Winners

By Paul Hunter

Hello NextGen Players!

I'm happy to officially announce the Grand Prize winners of our StarCraft II Giveaway Contest.

Our lucky winners are: Chris Trickey from Newmarket, ON, and Eric Chan from Toronto, ON.

As the Grand Prize winners, they will both receive one copy of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (regular edition) for PC, courtesy of Future Shop.

Congratulations to both winners and a thank you to everyone who entered and made this contest one of our most successful to date. The NextGen Player team appreciates your continued support of the site.

Also a big thanks to Future Shop for supplying the two copies.

Cheers,
Paul and the NextGen Player team
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NextGen Player Review: ModNation Racers

By Jeff Alyanak

Back at the end of 2008, the Playstation 3 got a taste of something that the PC gaming world had been enjoying since time immemorial: user generated content. Sure, Playstation gamers had seen their fair share of it in the past - titles like the RPG Maker series for the original Playstation stands among many others - but never in the full, mature way that computer gamers had come to expect. LittleBigPlanet finally brought an in-depth creation system together with the crucial ability to share those creations with the world at large. The response to the game was a resounding “Hell yes!” with reviews consistently in the 90% range and more awards than I have time to list. Sony’s “Play, Create, Share” motto had clearly resonated with the gaming public.

ModNation Racers might be Vancouver-based United Front Games’ first game ever but it’s certainly fielding an all-star team with former member of EA Games, Rockstar Vancouver, and Volition Inc (makers of the Red Faction series, the Saint’s Row series, and my personal favourite Descent). Pedigree aside, ModNation Racers is a game that doesn’t just wear the “Play, Create, Share” jacket to look cool, it’s “Play, Create, Share” to the very core.


The first thing you’ll notice, in both the PS3 and PSP versions, is the incredibly large selection of ‘bits’ with which you can customize your racer and his/her kart. Dozens upon dozens of ears, eyes, shirts and shoes. I’m hesitant to say the sky is the limit because I’m not even sure of that. The reason you’ll be so familiar with the customization is that, even just playing through the game’s short story mode, you’ll be forced to use it (for no real reason except to show it off).

While on the topic of the story mode, I’ll give one warning: if you are looking for a long and satisfying campaign, look elsewhere. While the cutscenes are somewhat amusing, the story just doesn’t work - I’m not sure it would work well in any kart racing game, but that’s another matter - and it ends up consisting of a series of races that feel disjointed from the story. It’s not helped by the fact that the racing mechanics themselves are nothing special and that the tracks are, again, satisfactory at best.

However, this game is not about the story. It’s not even about gameplay or course design – not in the traditional sense, at least. ModNation Racers is a game about creation, and that is where this game turned my opinion around. The track creator is both powerful and intuitive, allowing for easy control with you PS3 controller or PSP. A little aside here, I was blown away by the PSP version’s creation tools. I expected them to be much less powerful but they allowed for an incredible amount of control over my creations and I was able to make everything I could think of while testing it.

Turn your game into the Super Smash Bros of kart racing! Wait, isn't that called -

After you’ve finished creating, it’s time for the last part of the game’s motto: Share.  Both the PS3 and PSP versions allow a lot of control over uploading your creations for others to greedily lap up. Likewise, you can browse through a veritable smorgasbord of wonderful creations, be they carts, characters or courses. Nothing beats downloading doppelgangers of other famous game characters and pitting them against each other on a course of your design. It turns the game into a sort of Super Smash Brothers kart racing game.

All silliness aside, both the home console and handheld versions of this game impressed me more than I had expected. However, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into: ModNation is, above all else, a game about creating and sharing. It is not a highly finessed kart racing game, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s found its own little home on this big planet (see what I did there). I scored the PSP version a little higher than the PS3 version because I feel it was more impressive given the hardware restrictions and because there are fewer titles with user generated content on the handheld market, but that’s just my opinion. Either game is worth playing, and I recommend you try them out.

For the PS3 version...


For the PSP version...



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Discussing Interactive Advertising With Monster Media

By Paul Hunter

Forget everything you know about traditional advertising. There's an emerging channel where, like video games, user interactivity plays a central role in the experience. It's called interactive advertising and I recently had a chance to speak with a company at the forefront of the industry, Monster Media.

Founded in 2004, Monster Media is a full service multimedia company focused on brand interaction through the use of portfolio of products that engage audiences in ways traditional TV, print or display advertising simply can't do. The key difference is Monster Media's ability to capture the attention and imagination of people through advertising that must be experienced, instead of simply watched or read.

Like Microsoft's upcoming Kinect for Xbox 360, much of what Monster Media creates uses player movements and gestures to "control" the interactive advertisement. During a demo by Crystal Koskinen, Director of Sales Canada, I was shown a campaign the company launched last year for ESPN to raise awareness for Monday Night Football's 40th season kickoff. The massive digital football game (see image above) utilized an interactive LCD wall combined with gesture-based technology that challenged players to catch as many footballs as possible, using body movements, and high scores were submitted in real-time to see how they measured up against players in other cities. To begin the game, pedestrians were required to touch a start button and were brought to quarterback selection screen where they could select the quarterback of their choice from a popular Monday Night matchup. A video of this unique interactive advertisement can be viewed here.

Shoppers look on at the Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story motion activated advertisement

Noticing a huge potential market in Canada, the company opened their first office here in March 2010. The first campaign recently kicked off in Toronto for BMO Financial Group outside their corporate headquarters at King and Bay Streets. Hot off the heels of the World Cup, the interactive display is to celebrate the growing excitement around grassroots soccer in Canada. Similar to the EPSN game, eight linked LCD screens utilize a combination of touch activation and motion cameras to transform pedestrians into virtual athletes, only in this case they play the role of a goalkeeper who goes one-on-one with a selection of Canada's future soccer stars. The campaign, including the eight-by-six metre display and interactive custom LCD wall, is the first-of-its-kind in Canada, says Sandy Bourne, Vice-President, Advertising, Sponsorship, Events and Merchandising, BMO Financial Group.

In addition to touch interaction and gestural interaction, Monster Media displays are capable of incorporating many other technologies including augmented reality, which Sony (e.g. EyePet, Invizimals) and Microsoft (e.g. In The Movies, Kinect) are also getting into in a big way, and mobile interaction by dialing an 800 number or sending an SMS text to instantly turn a cell phone into a keypad to control the ad.

A pedestrian stops and goal tends on Verizon's NHL Showdown interactive advertisement in Boston, MA

The company is also no strange to working with game publishers, having worked with Nintendo to promote last year's Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and with 2K for NBA 2K10.

Last year the company created 245 campaigns, such as a giant pinball machine in Times Square for Zyrtec, and an NHL Showdown competition for Verizon that cast pedestrians in the role of goaltender against some of the NHL's most coveted hockey players.

Monster Media has "big plans" for Canada says Koskinen, and says the BMO Financial Group campaign will be the first of many interactive advertising campaign the company will bring to Canadian consumers.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
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