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In the UK there was a campaign about a related issue that Fruit Machines* would offer a gambles with a pre-determined outcome.

See http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/fairplay/fruit/fruit1.htm

The outcome of this is that manufacturers were required to add a small sticker saying this was the case.

*Fruit Machines are similar to Slot Machines but a difference is that they're compensated not fully random. This basically means that the more money has gone in the more likely it is to pay out and visa-versa.

meh, i downloaded grid wars, mouse & keyboard is *way* easier http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/grid/wars.htm

Pretty much everyone knows that game reviews have been co-opted by advertiser bias, and that this has been a problem since pretty much forever, although things always seem to be getting worse. Reviews are simply not looked at as though they were objective works of criticism, but rather as more advertising and hype masquerading as information. It's an intolerable situation, and the wonderful thing about it is that the days are numbered.

It's the easiest thing in the world stop paying attention to reviews, turn off the hype channels, and buy games based on information that you can trust. Word of mouth from friends who game is hugely more trustable than a game magazine or web site. Rent the game or download a demo and play it before you buy, or watch a video of the game being played on YouTube. Suck can't hide from direct experiences like that.

Maybe some day the video game critic will be able to throw off the oppressive advertiser dollar and write finely crafted reviews that read more like serious art and film criticism than they do press release and ad copy. Maybe the way to start is to start selling advertising space to people advertising stuff OTHER than games. Sell more ads to Doritos and Mountain Dew, they don't care if $newshineygame sucks or not. It's possible to sell adveritising and maintain a certain amount of independence and objectivity. It's not easy, but it is possible.

http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/grid/war s.htm

Note on the URL: I believe it's World of Stuart, not Wolrd ofStu art.
Anyway, some games are pure, this is an example.

You should just get Grid Wars, no need to wait, it's awesome and it's freeware. It works best with a dual analog controller, so you might want an adaptor if you don't already have one.

Review and download link.

Still, I might get the DS version if it turns out good. A good portable shooter would rule.

Another, even more psychadelic, game in a similar style is Llamatron. There's a free version around, it's worth a try.

I gotta say Cannon Fodder (check sig).

And to give this post a little added value, here's a link to an interesting page about the making of Cannon Fodder 2: Cannon Fodder 2: The Untold Story. It's long and fun to read.

True, but my point is in WarioWare the mini games are all different genres - the prime example is in the retro section, and you get to play 3 seconds of Dr. Mario, 3 seconds of Zelda, 3 seconds of Super Mario Bros, etc. So it is "genre" busting.
Anyway, my real gripe is at the increasing use of the lazy "if you like the genre, you'll like this, if not, maybe not" style of reviewing. Fuck the genres. Why not stick your neck on the line and tell us whether YOU the reviewer think it is a good GAME or not, eh? It's not just Zonk does this, of course. Read Stuart Campbell for a look at someone who really can review. He doesn't bandy about mealy-mouthed maybes. He nails his colours to the mast, and the review is all the better for it.

You talking about Grid Wars 2?

One of the best anti-stress games I have is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. All the colors and lights are quite soothing to me.

On a PC with a fine graphics cars, this is same, only better.

Well, for me Wii Sports is a disincentive - For a parent it's going to be different. Ignoring everything else and looking at the Wii Sports game - if the child is under 10 the parent will get the Wii if the child is over 12 the parent won't.

Any teen or adult is going to be far more impressed by a 360 game such as 99Nights

99N (NNN?) is probably a bit too violent for the preteen market but there is nothing stopping Microsoft giving a game like Kameo free with the Core 360. That's going to further marginalize the Wii.

This senario supposes that the store is promoting the "free" game and not something like WarioWare of Raving Rabbits. They can also promote more grown-up (FPS) games, but Wii Sports just looks bad. And it's apparently realy easy.

Ronan

It's actually a hard nut to crack as far as comparisons, it borrows a lot of things from a lot of games. To me it is most like an Asteroids variant, but I found this website with a decent breakdown of the game: http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/geowars. htm

I like his quote: "Geometry Wars is basically Robotron crossed with the famous Macintosh game Crystal Quest, with vector graphics" That sums it up well if your familiar with those titles. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but it is fun... and funny you bring up Smash TV as it is also on Xbox 360 arcade and also experiencing a nice revival. Also supporting my initial post.

Heh, reminds me of the anti-piracy adverts run by the Federation Against Copyright Theft in UK computer magazines during the 80's.
The one involving the market stall is a particular classic.

You paying customers are getting screwed by the companies themselves. Even before it was as "rampant" as it is claimed to be today, they were building in copy-protection techniques, which made it harder for the paying customer to use their media their way. This is even truer now, with cds like "Break the Cycle" (classic example cd) unable to work on many players.

I highly reccomend a read of The hard-to-find truth about piracy, which includes excellent parts such as:

The leisure corporations are conducting, in fact, a war not against pirates, but on their own customers. For many years now, honest consumers paying full price for legitimate products have been saddled with crippled, inferior versions of what the pirate users get for free:

- Pirate users don't have to keep their precious PC game discs spinning endlessly and noisily in the drive (and being subjected to repeated handling) while they play the game.

- Pirate users don't have to sit through all those infuriatingly long, unskippable splash screens / trailers / adverts before they can watch the actual movie on their new DVD, while the poor saps who paid for it in a shop do.

- Pirate users don't get their brand-new music CD home only to find that it won't play in their computer because it's been made in a non-standard-compliant "anti-piracy" format which prevents legitimate users from legally listening to music they've paid for.

- Pirate users can use their game consoles to play games originating from any country, while legitimate purchasers of, say, a game from Japan will be unable to play it on their legitimate, but UK-bought, Playstation 2.

- Pirate users don't have to uninstall perfectly legal software applications from their PCs, or put up with the secret installation of damaging programs if they want to play their new games, unlike the unfortunate legitimate consumers.

And so on. But astoundingly, the entertainment business still doesn't think it's made life miserable enough for its honest, paying customers.

Found that nice link in NTK for Sept. 9, 2003. I'd say that as a customer, you're getting screwed over. I'm not saying don't buy what you want, please do, but I'm saying it should also be ok for you to download a "Pirated" version so that you get to use the media your way instead of theirs. No-CD Cracks should be fine, but companies are now making your $50 product useless for using them. Sad, I think.

Funny this article coming up now, just an hour ago I was reading this article by UK games journalist Stuart Campbell, saying that the whole industry's holier-than-thou approach to piracy doesn't stand close scrutiny since historically such a large part of it is basically based on ripping off other people's ideas.
Stuart Campbell writes a lot of thought-provoking stuff on piracy... his main gist is that if games were cheaper and the industry didn't treat us with such contempt then they might sell more copies.

Firstly, let's not forget that EVERY game gets mixed reviews - Stuart Campbell thinks its still great, for one.

Secondly, its not nostalgia if you didn't play it first time round.

Thirdly, do people really expect every old game to be good? I merely hope that the ones that were great still are, and that seems a lot to ask sometimes.

But this game was a PS1 title, under 10 years old. Is that even old enough to be 'retro'? Is it considered irredeemably nostalgic to buy a DVD of SE7EN or Heat now?