The first trailer is a developer diary discussing the “Re-imagining” of GoldenEye 007 and the second trailer is an edited version of Blood Stone’s Istanbul trailer.

Remember the Super FX Chip? It was developed by Argonaut Software and used to process 3D graphics in SNES games. Chances are you’ve heard of Star Fox (renamed Starwing in Australia), a co-development between Argonaut and Nintendo and the first game to use the Chip. What you may not have heard is that Argonaut went on to develop a lesser-known, though arguably more impressive game called Vortex.

Vortex is a game where you pilot the Morphing Battle System, a transforming vehicle with four modes: Walker (giant robot), Sonic Jet (plane), Land Burner (car) and Hard Shell (pretty much what it says). Each mode had its own strengths and weaknesses which you had to take advantage of in order to succeed. The Walker, for example, had access to four different kinds of ammo- homing missiles, rockets, cannon and laser- and you could equip two at a time. The Sonic Jet could only use cannon or laser shots, but made up for it with its ability to fly really fast. The Land Burner was similar to the Jet, except it drove along the ground so it used less fuel. Finally, the Hard Shell was the slowest mode and couldn’t use any ammo, but it didn’t lose any energy (it lost fuel instead when damaged) and had a special weapon of its own- the screen-clearing Electrobomb. The MBS had an energy bar and a fuel bar and was destroyed if either one ran out (but fuel recharged over time), so you had to take advantage of each mode’s unique attributes to prevent that from happening.

There were two main gameplay modes in Vortex. The first would be referred to as ‘All-Range Mode’ by anyone who’s played Lylat Wars. What this means is that you could move about in any direction, completing objectives and shooting anything that moves. It gave you the freedom to strategise and really unlock the full potential of the MBS. For example, you could use the Jet or Burner mode to reach an objective quickly while dodging enemy fire, switch to Shell mode to defend against enemy fire, then switch to Walker mode to counter-attack. Or you could stay in Jet or Burner mode and use your speed to evade enemies while shooting. Or you could be more cautious and move through the map slowly in Shell or Walker mode, ready to counter any enemies. The possibilities seemed endless.

The second gameplay mode was the ‘on-rails’ stages, where you’re on a fixed path. Two of them were set in space and had a real Star Fox vibe, but Vortex had some other tricks up its sleeve. There was one particular stage where you had to navigate a narrow pathway within a certain time limit, but the gravity in this stage was so high that the Sonic Jet would run out of fuel in seconds. This meant you had to race down the pathway in Land Burner mode, jumping over gaps and shooting things in what ended up being a pretty fun stage. A similar stage, set on a water planet, had you following a narrow, winding path, but there was no time limit so you could take your time and use whichever modes you wanted. Technically, these were All-Range Mode stages, but it was the level design that kept you on a fixed path rather than invisible walls, so they had a different feel to them.

Vortex was an amazing technical achievement, but it also delivered in the gameplay stakes. The wide range of weapons and abilities kept the game interesting and varied, and even by today’s standards it’s really challenging. It’s also really short, but it’s fun while it lasts.

The trailer reveals multiplayer will feature 8 classic characters, 25 iconic weapons and 10 new and original maps.

Press the play button below and enjoy.

And on a slightly different note, here’s a new trailer for Bizarre Creation’s Bloodstone (a game Wii won’t be receiving).

Which one will you be getting? GoldenEye 007, Blood Stone, both or neither.

Just like the previous U-Sing game, Girls Night is a SingStar-like title designed for young female gamers. However, this time round, the focus is on the top female artists and bands. There’s Blondie, bands from the 90s such as The Cardigans and more recent hits from younger artists like Katy Perry and Lady GaGa. All up there’s 30 songs on the disc, and many more to download with the assistance of the Wi-Fi Connection and a couple of Nintendo points cards. The only real issue with the tracklist is that it mainly consists of hits from the 00s, but then again this is forgivable when it is considered that newer songs would appeal more to young Wii owners.

Blondie soon found out she was losing her mind.

In comparison to the SingStar titles, and even the previous U-Sing title, U’ve got talent, there really isn’t much on offer within Girls Night. There’s a single player, two player and jukebox mode. The single player is very straight forward. Players select a short or long version of the song they wish to play and then choose one of the three difficulties to play the song on. Then they play it. The only real drive the game gives players to continue playing this mode is to try and enhance their singing skills or to beat past scores they’ve set on certain songs. To be honest though, the more causal players will probably use this game like a music album rather than a video game, meaning it could potentially have a longer lifespan than other Wii games if it’s in the right home.

Although there only is a small amount of content within Girls Night, just about all of it has been copied from SingStar. There really is no stopping U-Sing. In-game or in general, Girls Night pretty much takes every single ‘good’ aspect of the SingStar series and claims it as its own. The menu layout, the way songs and artists are displayed in the track selection area, and most obviously the little bars that track players’ vocals and how well they are singing. It’s all there, and once again, it has all pretty much been ripped from SingStar. Unlike SingStar though, U-Sing Girls Night hasn’t entirely nailed the karaoke genre. In particular, the quality of the supplied microphones does not seem to rival the build of the Sony’s ones, and then there’s all those minor errors due to the lack of polish, making U-Sing fall short of becoming the best karaoke game on the market.

Visually U-Sing isn’t much. For most of it, it’s just like watching a really bad line up of songs on an early morning session of Rage. The Wii’s lack of HD means the majority of videos won’t look as good as they could, but a lot resemble their original and (in the case of the 90s tracks) gritty-looking television counterparts – though some of the more recent songs in the game do look much better. Sound wise, the musical backings are fine, but rarely will players be able to hear themselves through their television or sound system speakers, and if they do, it’ll usually just be a few muffled sounds.

In a nutshell, U-Sing Girls Night is the Nintendo Wii equivalent of SingStar, just nowhere near as polished. Although the title features 30 #1 female artist songs, it falls short of Sony’s long-running karaoke series due to its limited single player mode and few online options. Even if MindScape just threw in a couple of online leader boards, it would have drastically extended the life of this title regardless of its obvious flaws when compared to SingStar. A great alternative for lovers of karaoke would be to go out and buy a PS2 with two official microphones for roughly $100.00 and about 5 or so SingStar games for $20.00 – $30.00 each. And seriously, if you really are interested in checking out this type of game then you probably should consider the PS2 and SingStar option that was just suggested as U-Sing Girls Night with two microphones retails at $119.95.

Graphics: C+

Decent enough, but they really could’ve been better. The only positive thing in this department is that the Wii’s lack of HD means that the majority of older videos have a true old and gritty feeling to them.

Sound: C

Possibly the most vital aspect of this type of game. And it really only just succeeds in most areas. The in-game sound is good enough, the quality of the mics is passable and the game’s tracklist is a matter of opinion.

Gameplay: C

Like the rest of this title, the gameplay is also good enough. The few features it has are all pretty much copied from SingStar, but have much less love put into them. The lack of online leaderboards doesn’t help either.

Overall: C

If you already own a PS2 and a few SingStar games then stick with that. If you haven’t tried a game like U-Sing Girls Night out before, then maybe consider purchasing a PS2 and a copy of SingStar. If Wii is all you’ve got, then U-Sing Girls Night will probably satisfy your sudden need for a karaoke game.

See that camera on your DSi? There’s a reason why it’s there. Like most of Nintendo’s recent ideas, its origins can be found in some weird peripheral that’s been long forgotten (to be fair, you could probably say that about any hardware manufacturer). In this case, the forefather to the DSi camera was the Game Boy Camera.

What is a Game Boy Camera? It’s a camera that plugs into your Game Boy like a regular game cartridge, allowing you to take digital, black and white photos which you can then draw on (MS Paint style) or cover with stamps (ie. weird eyes, mouths, Pokemon characters, that sort of thing). Also, in keeping with Nintendo’s favourite gimmick at the time, it was available in a whole range of different colours to match your mood. Remember those wonderful days when Nintendo products were available in colours besides black, white and pink? Yeah, me neither.

If you had a Game Boy Printer (sold separately), you could print the photos out on a unique kind of paper which turned the photos into stickers. Take a photo, cover it with stamps, print it, peel it off, and stick it somewhere. It’s so easy that nothing could go wrong, right? Well… not unless Nintendo stopped making paper for the Printer, turning it into a useless lump of plastic that wasn’t even fit to be a paperweight. Ah well, at least the Camera was still cool.

When you think about it, the Game Boy Camera was quite an influential piece of tech. As well as being the first Nintendo product that let you take photos and mess with them in comical ways, it featured a small collection of games where you could put your own face into the game- a feature which can now be found in various DSiWare games. Speaking of DSiWare games, the Camera featured an animation creator that resembled an early version of Flipnote Studios. I still have fond memories of creating animations where the pre-made image of Charizard burned various things.

Apparently, the Game Boy Camera caught the attention of legendary musician Neil Young, because the cover of one of his albums (Silver and Gold, released in 2000) was taken with one. I wonder if he owns a DSi…

Unlike most of the games featured in these articles, I’m not going to suggest that you rush out and buy a Game Boy Camera. Sure, it was great for it’s time, but its best ideas have since been carried over to better products. If you’re really desperate to decorate your photos with Pokemon and Mario stamps and don’t care about frivolous extras such as colour, resolution, or being able to print your photos, then you’ll want to track down a Game Boy Camera. For everyone else, it’s merely a retro novelty, like View Masters and Magic 8-Balls.

The only details that have been revealed are that the game is a turn-based strategy game and, if all goes to plan, will be a launch title for the console.

Some have theorised that the mystery title may actually be Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Lead The Ghosts, a turn-based strategy game which was unveiled by Ubisoft at E3 and went largely unnoticed by the gaming press.

The uDraw GameTablet will be bundled with uDraw Studio, a drawing suite that promises to be quite intuitive and kid-friendly. THQ have also announced two other uDraw GameTablet games, Pictionary and Dood’s Big Adventure. Pictionary is fairly self-explanatory to anyone that has played the famous pen and paper game. Dood’s Big Adventure is a platformer that requires the player to draw as well as tilt the tablet.

Game creator Masahiro Sakurai has revealed that each stage will be split into three sections: a flying section, a ground section, and a boss battle. The flying sections last for five minutes each and are highly choreographed, with events and music changes being timed in a very deliberate fashion. Ground sections, on the other hand, have no time limit.

Some of the controls have been confirmed, with the Slide Pad being used to move, the L button being used to fire weapons, and the touch screen being used to aim and move the camera. The gyroscope and motion controls are not being used in the main game, but could be used for mini-games and such. Unfortunately, there was no word on what the controls for dodging or switching weapons would be.

Fans of the original game will be glad to know that the main characters- Pit, Palutena, and Medusa- are all returning, along with classic enemies such as Twinbellows and the Eggplant Wizard. The game’s storyline is apparently linked to the original, and in a case of art imitating life, it is set 23 years after the original game. For fans of Super Smash Bros Brawl, Pit will apparently retain some of his moves from that game.

In short, what we saw in the E3 trailer has now been clarified and explained in greater detail. In light of this new info, are you more or less excited about the game than before?

When I first heard the name of this game, I thought it involved making virtual pop-up books. While I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that appeared on the 3DS in the near future, this game was nothing like that. It was a puzzle game where you play as a time-traveling ball. Why is it traveling through time? Apparently, it’s trying to get home, because the game ends with the ball entering its ‘house’ and banging against… sorry, making innocent contact with a blob who has ears or wings or something. And hearts appear. Awwwwwww…

Let’s go back to the beginning. This is a puzzle game where you play as a ball who bounces on platforms and collects random items to make an exit appear. Reach the exit and you move on to the next stage. This goes on for 100 levels, to the tune of one surprisingly catchy song, with a difficulty curve that bounces around as erratically as the main character. Heck, one of the last ten stages is nothing but angled platforms, so unless you self-destruct it is absolutely impossible to fail it!

Oh right, there’s different platforms to make the experience varied and challenging. There are angled platforms that bounce you in a certain direction, platforms that shrink every time you bounce on them, sticky platforms that you can’t bounce on, spiky platforms that kill you, and various other wonders. Also, there are walls that can be destroyed if you collect enough keys, fires that can be put out by collecting water droplets, and brick walls that require hammers to destroy.

And that time-traveling element I mentioned before? Just an aesthetic thing. The background changes from the Big Bang, cavemen, a medieval castle, the Statue of Liberty, and… back to the Big Bang again. The items and enemies have been designed to match the time period (most of the time), so while you may be collecting moons and dodging asteroids on the Big Bang stage, you’ll be collecting stuff like computers and dodging cars on the Statue of Liberty stage. Also, the keys and hammers change with the time period, so while modern hammers look just as you’d expect, the stone age ones look like ancient tomahawks. Clever!

But then, the whole game is clever. It’s a puzzle game that is simple to learn and difficult to master, full of variety and (mostly) excellent level design. With the recent explosion of wacky platform/puzzle games available on digital distribution services nowadays, Pop Up is just begging for a remake. How about improved graphics, more time periods, and maybe a different remix of the song for each period? Infogrames are still in business (albeit under a different name), so why they wouldn’t exploit this brilliant game is anyone’s guess.

While researching this article, I discovered that Pop Up is so obscure that it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. It does, however, have a free online version which you can play here. It’s a Java version of the game, but it retains all the original graphics and physics. Just remember that Z makes you jump really high, X does the same, and pressing both keys at once makes you self-destruct!