Terrific BBC Tetris Documentary

In 2004, BBC Four released a documentary about the grand-daddy of all puzzle games, Tetris. It is an hour long show directed by Magnus Temple. The show focuses on how Tetris was licensed. Without a doubt, it is one of the most fascinating stories in video game history. All the major players are included in this special. The following list is taken directly from BBC Four's website:

Alexey Pajitnov
Invents Tetris in 1985 while working at the Moscow Academy of Science's Computer Centre. Alexey moved to the USA to work for Microsoft after the success of Tetris.
Evgeni Nikolaevich Belikov
Head of Elorg, the Russian ministry for import and export of software and hardware. Belikov is the man with whom all negotiations about Tetris had to be done.
Robert Stein
President of British software house Andromeda. Sells Tetris rights to Robert Maxwell’s Mirrorsoft UK and US affiliate Spectrum Holobyte before he’s negotiated anything concrete with the Russians.
Kevin Maxwell
Son of Robert Maxwell and head of Mirrorsoft UK. Buys all Tetris rights (except arcade and hand-held) from Stein not knowing that Stein has no formal contract with the Russians.
Henk Rogers
American entrepreneur and video games enthusiast. Nintendo employs Rogers to get the hand-held Tetris rights to support the launch of Game Boy.

The candor of eveyone interviewed is what makes this film so special. No video game fan should miss it.

BBC Tetris Video

2007 Dreamcast Lineup

While it has been almost 6 years since Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast, games are STILL being released for it. So far in 2007, at least 3 games have been announced: Karous, Trigger Heart Exelica and Last Hope.

To no one's surprise, all 3 are top-down shooters. Last Hope is out now, Trigger Heart Exelica comes out in February and Karous is due in March. Here's hoping the Dreamcast can survive yet another year!

Dreamcast's Best and Rarest Puzzler

The Lost Golem
(released Feb. 2000)

Looking for another Tetris clone? Well, look elsewhere. This game is anything but a clone of the granddaddy of all puzzlers. The Lost Golem (Golem No Maigo) is an obscure (the last count I saw was under 500 sold) Japanese-only game for the Dreamcast.

There are 2 main characters in this game: A Golem (a huge stone creature) and a King. The object of the game, like all good puzzle games, is very simple. Playing as the Golem, you must guide the king to safety.

The game is broken down into dozens of stages. In each stage, you are in the room of a castle. The object is to get the king to walk out of the door in each room. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

But the king isn’t the brightest torch in the castle. He can only walk in a straight path. When he hits a wall he turns left. If he can’t go left he will turn right. If both left and right paths are blocked, he will turn around and go back in the direction he just came.

As the Golem, your only way to guide the king to safety is to move walls in front of the King to change his path. Walls are connected to 1 of 2 different types of pillars. The type of pillar determines how the walls will turn/move when it is pushed. When you push a wall on a turning pillar, the wall will swivel 90 degrees. If the pillar is an ordinary pillar, the wall will just move forward in the direction it was pushed.

Besides getting the king out the door, there is one other requirement per stage. On each stage you must connect the required number of walls before the king can go out the door. This adds an extra element of fun to each puzzle. Not only do you have to figure out the correct path for the king, but at the same time you are trying to move and connect as many walls as needed.

Besides the 1-player mode, there is an exciting 2-player mode. The game play is the same as the 1-player mode except now it’s a race to see who can rescue the king first.

The last mode of play is the design-a-stage mode. It has an extensive list of commands. Everything you could possibly want to do is here.

The Lost Golem is a highly-recommended puzzler.

And even though it is an extremely rare game, this gem can be had on ebay for under $30. So, there is no reason not to pick this baby up.

Nintendo Ice Hockey

Medium guy, skinny guy, fat guy. That's usually how I describe Ice Hockey from Nintendo when I try to talk to someone about this classic 8-bit game. That's all it takes to jog people's memories. While the game is light on graphics and strategy, it is downright heavy with action and some of the finest twitch-gaming around.

And now, even more people can enjoy this game since it has been released on the Wii's Virtual Console. This game is definitely best played by 2 people. The 1-player mode is lacking depth, but still fun. The 2-player mode is actually more like an evolved version of Pong rather than ice hockey. The speed (at its fastest level) is slippery fast. Pass and shoot. That is all you have time to think about. Add in having to control the goalie when you switch to defense and you have a recipe for mayhem.

It's fast, fun and best of all, anyone can pick it up and play. One button passes, the other shoots. Nothing complicated. Ice Hockey is simple non-stop fun.

The only thing that could be better than Ice Hockey on the Wii would be online Ice Hockey on the Wii. Nintendo has already stated that previously released Virtual Console games can be updated, so how about it Nintendo? How about updating this classic game to include online play? So far, the only game that has been updated has been Military Madness. And that was to fix a bug in the emulation. Let's hope we start to get some real game updates soon.

Check out gogamego Games for some cool Ice Hockey stuff!

Mii Channel: A Surprise Hit!

During Thanksgiving, we had the Wii going the entire day. Everyone was playing: gamers and non-gamers. People loved bowling and tennis. And had a lot of fun with boxing. But what captured people's imagination as much as anything was the Mii Channel. When the rest of the family saw the Miis we had already created, they were eager to do their own. Boxing is cool, but when you are pummeling a cartoon version of a family member, it becomes so much more fun!

Nintendo definitely has a hit on it's hands with the Mii Channel. Let's hope Nintendo is already preparing an update to the Mii Channel that will provide much more variation. To date, my wife has logged in more Mii time than Wii time. And I'm guessing a lot other have as well.

Where is Our Saturn Bomberman 2?

Yeah yeah. I know the Saturn is long gone, but why can't Hudson release a sequel to this masterpiece? Bomberman on the Dreamcast and Gamecube were ok, but they just weren't as good as the Saturn version. Why can't we get a new Bomberman game with the Hudson characters (instead of nothing but different colored Bombermen), the dinosaurs (Tyras), 8-player mode (10 for widescreen), and all the original Saturn level plus additional ones?

If Hudson did all of this and included online play, for 8 players, not the standard 4 they have been doing, this would be a killer game.

Think about this...the PS3 has 7 wireless connections. Perfect for Saturn Bomberman. The Wii has 4 Wii remotes and 4 Gamecube ports. Also perfect for Bomberman.

Add all of this together with online leagues and tournaments and you have one of the best games out there. Let's hope someone is already thinking about this.

New Wii Revelation Coming Soon?

According to GoNintendo.com, Reggie Fils-Aime (President of Nintendo America) has said there is yet another secret to be revealed around launch time. Now what in the world could this be?

New hardware specs? Doubtful at this late date.

Additional pack-in? Possible, since this wouldn't effect anyone to this point.

Lower price? Possible, since Nintendo did the exact same thing with the N64.

Only 19 more days until we know for sure.

No Wii Price in Toys R Us Big Toy Book?

Anyone else find it odd that every console and handheld system in the TRU Big Toy Book had a price next to it, except for the Wii? Even the PS3 had prices for both of it's versions listed. My first thought was back to the N64 launch. Nintendo originally stated it would sell for $250 but then at the last minute swithed the price to $199 even though they had pre-sales for several thousand already in the books.

It might be wishful thinking, but I would love to see Nintendo pull the same switch-a-roo.