The single-player experience is great with plenty of things to unlock, and the multiplayer experience also holds up despite questionable features and a bad online lobby. Mario Kart fans looking for another racing game would be silly to pass up this game.

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EA says that this move will allow them to offer up better integrated deals with ad publishers, and bring about more relevant content. I guess they weren’t happy with what the other guys were bringing in for them!

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While Max isn’t entirely broken by any means, you’ll be hard-pressed not to get annoyed with constant attempts to draw simple straight-lined shapes that turn into crooked abominations. Unless you can hold a Wii remote with an incredibly steady hand, you might want to stick with the PC for your marker-wielding adventures.

Zallag reveals more details about the upcoming racing game developed specifically for the WiiWare™: Racers’ Islands : Crazy Racers. Previously known under the codename “Shoot the drivers : Project 1”, this game is developed by Artefacts Studio who had previously developed Moto Racer DS.

Six different and unique islands (each representing a country) serve as a background for the 20 tracks present in the game. Not only will the players need driving skills, they should also consider precision. Indeed, the original gameplay of Racers’ Islands : Crazy Racers allows the player to target precisely other players and adversaries with the Wii RemoteTM while driving.

Specifically designed for the WiiTM system, this unusual gameplay offers a real learning curve while remaining accessible to everyone. Six colorful characters are playable, each with his/her own car and unique weapon. Many power-ups can be found along the tracks and a 4 player mode in split-screen is also present.

The universe of Racers’ Islands : Crazy Racers will also be presented through a comic book. The idea is to explore and to expand the game’s background further.

Illustrated by Studio 109 and scripted by Hubert Chardot (scriptwriter of such games as Alone in the Dark 1, 2 and 3) this comic book will reveal the characters’ past. Just like the game, it will be sold only through digital distribution.

The next announcement will present the 6 characters of the game (American, Japanese, Russian, French etc…). The final versions and the early drafts of the characters will be revealed!

About the game

Genre: Racing
Platform: WiiWareTM
Number of players: 1-8
Publisher: Zallag
Developer: Artefacts Studio
Release date: TBA

GamesPress

Half of the retailers our chapter visited responded with contempt when it was pointed out that they weren’t following the ratings when selling adult games to children. Obviously, penalties are needed to enforce what should be a simple thing for retailers to control. If we can prohibit the sale of tobacco, alcohol, and pornography to minors without restricting the rights of adults, we can do the same with adult games. - PTC Rhode Island Chapter Director Marcia Weeder

If this bill were to pass, retail employees that sell M/AO games to those under the appropriate age would fine themselves hit with fines, and jail time that could last up to a year. I think that jail part might be a bit too much at first. How about a fine for the first time, and then possible jail time the second offense?

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TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, said today that the UK should aim to increase the proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) invested in higher education in two ways: by maintaining in real terms public expenditure on tertiary education at 2009 levels and then increasing it as the Government’s deficit is brought under control; and by eliminating the cap on tuition fees. TIGA also proposed that tuition fees for students studying mathematics and computer science degrees should be set at a competitive rate in comparison to other tuition fees to incentivise the study of these subjects. TIGA made the comments in response to Lord Browne of Madingley’s review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance.

Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:
“The UK should aim to increase the proportion of GDP allocated to tertiary education in order to maintain the quality of higher education, to enhance the competitive edge of our universities and to support our ambition to be a leading knowledge economy. This should be achieved by increasing public investment in higher education as public borrowing is brought under control and by ending the cap on tuition fees.

“Funding per student has halved in the UK over the past 20 years. Funding in the UK ($11,866) is around half the US level of investment ($24,704) and substantially lower than Canada ($19,992) and Sweden ($16,073).[i] The UK video games industry competes to a crucial extent on the quality of its workforce. If tertiary education is not adequately financed then the supply and quality of graduates will be adversely affected.

Jamie Macdonald, TIGA board member, said:
“Reducing tuition fees for mathematics and computer science degree courses and keeping them lower in comparison to other undergraduate subjects would provide a strong financial incentive to bright students to study these subjects. Other things being equal this should increase the supply of good quality graduates in these disciplines, potentially easing skill shortages in the video games sector and in other industries.”

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Also worth nothing are some cutbacks at Rebellion’s Oxford headquarters. We’ve heard that somewhere around 20 staffers have been let go, but no reason has been given yet. Hopefully someone can come out and confirm/deny all this talk.

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Somewhere along the way, developers forgot how to make games. They only saw video games as absolutely huge undertakings, which is why budgets and staffing ballooned. Now that the indie scene is out there, the traditional devs are seeing that you can make smaller games with smaller teams, and the experience can still be very enjoyable. Not every game has to be an epic adventure just to be epic.

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“(The evaluators) are regular people, unaffiliated with the game industry. They go through a training process where they rate past games; it’s about 30 hours of training in total.” - Kazuya Watanabe, CERO’s senior director

I don’t know…this system sounds like it gives a small amount of people a rather large amount of power. Granted, I don’t know all the ins and outs of the ESRB, but let’s hope it’s not set up like this!

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Is Sonic Rush one of the best games on DS? I’d say it definitely is, as it’s one hell of a fun Sonic game! That’s not something we get very often anymore. On top of that, we get an amazing soundtrack to go with it. If you haven’t played this title yet, you’re truly missing out.