Jonathan Blow's Braid recieves critical acclaim

Game designer Jonathan Blow has designed one of the best games on the Xbox or elsewhere with his ‘Braid’. The game takes 2D to new levels with puzzle gaming and creates an awesome package that plays around with the rules of time and expectations and also with your mind. On the Metacritic charts, the game has earned the 8th place and can be downloaded online. The game is about a young man and his quest for the usual princess. However, the Braid isn’t so simple and as discussed earlier, plays with your mind in spite of the seeming mundaneness and simplicity of the structure.

Lego Universe may be the next popular MMO

All of us who love Massively Multiplayer Online games would agree that World of Warcraft is definitely on the top of the list. However, Lego Universe may soon arrive in the market and appeal to gamers who are either scared or tired of the witches, goblins and other evil beings of WoW. According to insiders, Lego Universe lets you build anything you want in the game using the Lego building blocks. Bricks can be bought using a monitor system based on plastic and if you are running short of coins, you could defeat enemies or complete quests and challenges in order to win some bricks for yourself. You may even find a hidden treasure if you are lucky enough. Lego Universe would be out on the PC in 2009. No word on pricing yet.

WheelStandPro allows you to control games in comfort

If you are the kind who has bought a number of gaming peripherals and controllers, especially wheels but discarded them all after a few hours of usage, you just have to buy WheelStandPro, which is a small, handy and stable stand for your driving wheel. Made of steel, it is durable but weighs only 9 pounds and the height can be adjusted according to your requirements. Once you are done, you can neatly fold it and keep it in a corner. WheelStandPro can be used straight from the box and needs no extra installations. You could invite your friend’s home and teach them how to drive that mean car! The stand for Logitech wheels costs $169, the stand for Microsoft Xbox 360 costs $170 and for Logitech G25, it costs $199.

SingStar PS3 versions to feature disc swap

If you thought the SingStar PS3 versions lacked the facility to swap discs, now Sony has made it possible and you can load new songs. PS3 players can keep playing their earlier PS2 SingStar songs and be able to hit Select and then play all the cool music. PS3 with a backwards compatibility is required though and comes with the Trophy support. Only gamers would know how difficult and annoying it is to wait for such things. Music based games have always been a success. Just like the Guitar Hero and many other music based games, we are hoping for a great success for this product as well.

Via: LootNinja

Valve delivers Team Fortress 2 updates for 360; will charge!

So finally it has happened (or is about to happen anyway). Team Fortress 2 is ready to receive its share of updates later this year. Xbox 360 owners will be able to add few more hours of gameplay to this title when Xbox Live Marketplace brings these updates via Steam. The reason for such a long wait before the updates were announced has been revealed by Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi. He says the company was looking to accumulate lots of goodies into a single update; needless to say that this essentially means that developers will charge for it. Gamers are essentially staring at new levels, modes, and unlockable weapons and abilities for Pyro, Medic amd Heavy characters. Valve will not spell out just how much it will charge as yet but hopes to keep it to the lowest, possibly to within ten dollars. PS3 owners are in for a disappointment since Valve has not announced any updates for them as yet.

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The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom takes you to exotic places

The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom sees the girls touring the world to take part in international dance and singing competitions. The girls travel from India to Spain and then hop on to New York City and you could join on their journeys. The game is released on Nintendo DS and with the help of the touchscreen, you could make your favorite character sing and dance. The story mode helps you understand all the modes and the game itself consists of 3 minigames namely Performance, Cheetah Fashions and Gita Says, which you could unlock and play separately. With exotic music and dance sequences, the game is truly exhilarating and the DS only helps you listen to all the awesome songs. You can also play the multiplayer mode and compete. This game will surely come as a gift to all Cheetah Girls fans and costs $29.99.

Via: USAToday

Cammy retained for console Street Fighter IV

Rewind to the days of Street Fighter II and you’ll remember a scantily clad character making its debut. More than a decade later Cammy retains her appeal for the fans of the series and now has received the official nod to appear in console version of Street Fighter IV. A poll was conducted by Capcom recently and Cammy topped the list of characters that the fans most wanted to see retained. In doing so she beat others like T. Hawk, Dan, Ibuki, Sakura, and Hugo. Game’s producer Yoshinori Ono confirmed as much at the Leipzig Games Convention. Ono, however, was rather secretive about other characters that would join the cast of SF IV. He did mention that Sheng Long could finally make a much awaited appearance at Tokyo Game Show. There fans would also see the PS3 version of the title. For now they would breathe a sigh of relief to see the bikini bearing British agent make the cut.

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US gets a Pokemon edition DS Lite

Those crazy creatures from Pokemon are raiding US homes. This time Nintendo is bringing home the fuzz with a limited edition DS. As a matter of fact, the Pokemon edition DS is already on sale from august 17th. Available at $129.99, the custom onyx DS console is adorned with images of Dialga and Palkia. The handheld will also come with a 22-minute animated DVD – Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness special. Also a part of the package would be a Dialga and Palkia carrying case and a collectable mini-poster. There’s also a matter of one t-shirt bundled along. Having made appearance in Japan an eternity back, no way would the fans in US linger on for this one.

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Logitech announces Speed Force Wireless Racing Wheel

Logitech announced Speed Force Wireless racing wheel, which you can use for controlling racing games. However, the wheel is currently compatible with only Need for Speed: Undercover, but other games will surely follow. You can feel like you are really steering and since the wheel gives you force feedback, you would know what it is like to go over a hump or to lose grip. Sans a pedal accessory, the 2.4Ghz wireless connection is rather convenient. However, the price of $100 is forbidding and may not encourage many users to buy. If the wheel supported many more games it really would have been cool.

Via: Dvice

Plantronics to launch Gamecom 777 headset with surround sound

Plantronics will ship it’s Gamecom 777 headset with surround sound and it stimulates 5.1 channel audio. PC gamers can now listen to sounds around them and not exactly in their ears and thus the headset reduces ‘listening fatigue’. The mouthpiece of the headphone can be tucked away into the headset so that it doesn’t get in your way while eating. The headset can be used with USB port and is designed to work with Skype, Windows Live, and Yahoo Messenger for VoIP calling. It will cost $99 and will be released in September. Now you can go ahead and enjoy the best sound possible in gaming world.

Via: CNET