LightGun
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Homemade Zapper-mote
All the weapon shells in the world couldn't match the radness of this modded Light Gun. Having already given his console wings, AcidMods' CyberPyrot affixed an IR sensor from a Wii remote into the barrel of his gray, plastic pistol, wiring the gun's trigger with the controller's. The resulting apparatus looks a bit clunky, especially when you consider that the nunchuck hasn't even been hooked up yet, but CyberPyrot claims that it vastly improved his performance when playing Far Cry. Pew pew past the post break for more photos and a video of the refitted Zapper.
Every Saturn game you could possibly want, and then some
Got $5,000 burning a hole in your pocket? That's roughly what it will take to open bidding on the mother of all Sega Saturn collections on eBay right now. Besides 256 games from all three regions, including rarities like Radiant Silvergun and Panzer Dragoon Saga, the auction includes three actual consoles (including a white one that can play burned games and VCDs), six controllers, memory cards, light guns, multitaps, a steering wheel and even a mouse. That's a lot of defunct Sega goodness right there.If you're still balking at the price, consider that the winning bid includes free shipping to the U.S. from Australia. Because really, if you're gonna spend thousands of dollars on a classic system collection, the shipping is what will put you over the edge of reasonable expenditure.
PS3 Guncon relies on Wii-like pointer
With traditional light guns firing nothing but unhelpful blanks at our fancy LCD and plasma televisions, there was some question as to how the PlayStation 3's Guncon would function with the upcoming Time Crisis 4. An article on Japanese site Game Watch (which now appears to have been removed) provided the details, since documented and translated by Game|Life's Chris Kohler.Much like the Wiimote (as used by Sega's light gun game, Ghost Squad), the Guncon 3 relies on two markers placed on either side of the television. A sensor inside the gun's muzzle detects the markers and automagically figures out where it's being pointed. The controller also features six buttons and a second analog stick placed on an awkward "subgrip" that you're meant to hold with your left hand. The original article points out that while Japan gets a black gun, America and Europe will have to make do with a charming orange model, as seen above (in the company of the world's mangiest jacket)..
Wii Warm Up: On rails
With all this talk of a possible remake (can we get a sequel?) of Killer 7, we find ourselves once again dealing with the idea of games on rails. It seems to be one of those things gamers either love or hate -- never something that's just okay. But we've got to ask: where do you stand? Do you feel differently about, say, Sonic and the Secret Rings being on rails than you do about games that are essentially on-rails shooters?
Metareview: Touch the Dead
The reviews were slow to come in on Touch the Dead -- which usually indicates a dud. From the scores, it looks like that cliché may really be a fair assessment of the title's merits. With a current metascore of 58%, Touch the Dead is less OMG-zombie scary and more scary like Grandma's lingerie. Game Informer: 66% (average of two reviews) - "What you imagine to be headshot city is, in reality, the most challenging zombie game to come along in quite some time. As the zombies struggle to walk, their heads jerk about violently, making it an incredible test of skill ... this is a game that every zombie fanatic could love, but only the hardest of hardcore gamers can excel at." (Issue 170, p117)Game Almighty: 45% - "The first thing you notice when the game starts is the awful graphics. Touch the Dead reinvents what it means to have jaggies. Everything is pixilated and bland and the closer the zombies come, the worse it gets. Ironic, because the bad graphics actually inspire you to kill the creatures when they're as far away as possible, lest you think your DS has a broken graphics chip."GameSpot: 55% - "Every time you empty a clip, you have to manually reload by dragging the stylus from the ammo icon on the lower right-hand part of the screen to the clip icon on the lower left-hand part of the screen. While it certainly injects a little tension into the game, you quickly get to the point where you have to reload your clip after every zombie you take down, so you actually end up spending more time reloading your weapon than you do shooting zombies. It feels unnatural and can be difficult to consistently reload fast enough when you have a swarm of zombies bearing down on you."
Playing easily, shooting happily
Unlike other "zapper" products like Joytech's Blaster, the Pega pistol doesn't have a cavity for you to dock the Wii's nunchuck. Instead, you connect the nunchuck's cord under the butt of the $15 gun while the remote slides and locks into its top half. We're not sure yet if this is a more cumbersome or convenient implementation, but given our experiences with cheap, third-party accessories from Chinese manufacturers, you can easily guess which side we're leaning towards. If you're wondering why we're even bothering to bring up this lackluster peripheral, it's because we love to scrutinize the packaging of these products! What's up with Splinter Cell graphics? And why is it branded with that same inapplicable Wii Sports logo we saw on Fire Bird's rechargeable controller grip? Does Pega actually expect people to play tennis with this clunky plastic attached?[Via DCEmu]
Sega haunts the Wii with Ghost Squad
Much to our disappointment, Ghost Squad bears no relation to either the Ghost Busters series or the Wu-Tang Clansman, Ghostface Killah. No, it is merely a light-gun arcade game that Sega has decided to port to our fair console.If you've never had the fortune to come across Ghost Squad's arcade cabinet, it's an on-rails shooter that comes armed with plastic assault rifles for you to aim with. Playing without the modeled weaponry sounds like a downgraded experience, so hopefully there will be optional controller shells for us to equip by the time Sega releases the game this holiday season.This port will feature Wii-specific game modes, new ways to use the Wii remote as a "multi-purpose tool," and four-player co-op support. We've got a few screenshots that we grabbed from Jeux-France past the post break, but uh ... they're not very flattering. We think we'll stick with Umbrella Chronicles for all our light gun needs for now.
Who you gonna call (a Wii port)? Ghost Squad!
Sega just announced plans to port their arcade light-gun shooter, Ghost Squad, to the Wii -- falling into lockstep with other publishers, like Capcom, eager to dip their toes into Nintendo's swimming pool of cash. Sega isn't just doing a straight-up port of their on-rails shooter though; Ghost Squad for Wii includes the requisite Arcade mode in addition to a Multiplayer mode with support for four players (take that arcade cabinets of yore!).
Today's duckiest video: Rockin' Duck Hunt
Retro love is everywhere these days, including this hard rockin' Duck Hunt video, complete with sounds and graphics from the Nintendo classic and clever usage of the light gun as a microphone. Plus, if that isn't enough, the guy's name is Robby Roadsteamer."I got a Duck Hunt, in my brain! Ready to take you out!"Classic.
Grindhouse's Rose McGowan loves zombie games
Grindhouse star and all-around hot chick Rose McGowan told VH1 Game Break that she obsessively kicked zombie ass in Sega's House of the Dead II ... until her attention-starved dog sabotaged her Dreamcast with a strategic blast of pee. Hold up, nerds -- don't hightail it to Ms. McGowan's place with a bottle of wine and a light gun just yet. She's dating her director, Robert Rodriguez. Play it cool. Give them some time. And when their Hollywood romance fizzles out, be there for the rebound with a copy of Umbrella Chronicles and one of these.
Handheld germ zapper uses nanotechnology to nix parasites
If you're the type who rocks latex gloves everywhere you go, or you're just tired of toting around that messy liquid hand sanitizer, Hammacher Schlemmer has your solution. Posing as a flip-phone wannabe, this handheld germ-eliminating light reportedly eradicates "99.99-percent of E-Coli, staphylococcus, salmonella, and germs that cause the flu and the common cold." Aside from resembling a bevy of Nokia handsets, the device purportedly utilizes "UV-C light and nanotechnology" in order to "disinfect workplace keyboards or telephones (or mice), as well as items in the home that sustain germ vitality such as toothbrushes and cutting boards." Notably, it must be held just so above the germ-infested area in order to sterilize it, but an internal timer signals when the process is complete. So while we aren't apt to load down our knapsacks anymore with something so petty, the highly susceptible out there can get their own portable germ-slaying handheld now for $79.95.[Via Slashgear]
Time Crisis 3 tops Amazon's gaming list, outsells Brain Age & New Mario
How does a game released October 21, 2003 top Amazon's current best selling video games list? Good question. During the July 4 holiday weekend, Amazon dropped the price of Time Crisis 3 (with dual GunCon2s) to $19.99, sparking a surprising sales surge that shot the aging PS2 light gun title to the #1 position on Amazon's "Top Sellers in Computer & Video Games" list. While the industry is notorious for remaining dormant during the summer months, the Time Crisis 3 sale managed to outsell the red hot DS Lite and its most popular software titles, Brain Age & New Super Mario Bros. Time Crisis 3 is currently sold out on Amazon, but remains the bestseller as of this afternoon.
DS gets 'Point Blank' tap, light gun not required
Namco's classic arcade shooter Point Blank ships for the DS next week, as Point Blank DS. Back in 1998, the game was ported to the PlayStation and required the use of Namco's GunCon peripheral. Obviously, it would be awkward -- especially in public -- pointing a light gun at the DS's 3-inch screen, unless it was a really tiny zapper -- which would still be awkward in public. Thankfully, the stylus acts as an intuitive, if not unorthodox, alternative.Point Blank DS will be an important test for Nintendo's handheld, and if well received, will expand the possibilities for simple, addictive fun on the DS.
Namco unveils Point Blank DS
Nothing beats going to the arcade, grabbing a brightly colored lightgun and getting hypnotized by flashes of white as you pull the trigger and blast away zombies, dinosaurs, aliens and hilariously inept criminals who have a habit of leaning precariously over balconies. Namco's take on this genre was split evenly between their serious Time Crisis franchise and their more lighthearted Point Blank series, well known for its freakish egghead characters.With our fancy-shmancy new TVs refusing to cooperate with the GunCon, it comes as nice surprise that Namco is releasing a compilation of the entire Point Blank series on the DS. Apparently, tapping the screen with a stylus is similar to firing at it with a fake gun. 1up reports that the game will feature 4 difficulty levels to account for the added ease of playing on a touch screen, 40 levels and 5 modes of play--Arcade, Versus, Practice, Brain Massage (it monitors your performance and provides feedback) and Games Museum (features stages that borrow visual themes from other Namco games). Of course, the next step Namco should take is to port this game back to the arcades, complete with touch screen and an enormous stylus.
