'Happy testing' the 3DS

You know, I'm a bit disappointed it took someone two whole days--the 3DS was released on Feb. 26, while the following clip was posted to YouTube on Feb. 28--to produce a video like this:



I'm pleasantly surprised, though, that the video in question utilizes a man's body rather than a woman's.

Speaking of the 3DS, the box art for the North American version of Pilotwings Resort--see it, and pre-order the game, here--has me jonesing for Nintendo's new portable system. Badly.

Catherine comes out on July 26

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about this Shigenori Soejima-designed character coming out of the proverbial closet; rather, I'm talking about the game of which she's the focus finally coming out (aka being released) in the US.

Surprisingly, Atlus is reusing, on Catherine's North American packaging, the rather sexy box art (right) that appeared on the Japanese PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of this action-adventure platformer-puzzler.

The question is, will the North American versions of Catherine also retain the (reportedly) confounding difficulty of their Japanese counterparts, or will the folks at Atlus include a "baby mode" for all of us wusses?

I guess I shouldn't say "us," as I've yet to buy a PS3 or an Xbox 360. Sigh. Hopefully some of you who own one or both of said systems will pick up a copy of Catherine and let me know what I'm missing.

Pre-order: Catherine (PS3) and Catherine (Xbox 360)

The Great Gaymathon Review #8: Nintendo Puzzle Collection (GameCube)

Game: Nintendo Puzzle Collection

Genre: Puzzle

Developer(s): Intelligent Systems, Nintendo R&D1, Nintendo Software Technology Corporation

Publisher: Nintendo

System: GameCube

Release date: 2003

The main draw of this colorful compilation, which sadly never saw the light of day outside of Japan: The previously unreleased Nintendo 64 port of Intelligent Systems' Panel de Pon (reworked, renamed and released as Tetris Attack in the States). Like all three of the ports included on this minuscule GameCube disc, this iteration of Panel de Pon features greatly improved--compared to the source material--graphics and sound. It also features a four-player mode--again, just like its Nintendo Puzzle Collection compadres, which includes an enhanced port of Dr. Mario 64 and an updated version of Yoshi's Cookie. (One final noteworthy feature of this release: Panel de Pon's 3D mode which, while interesting, isn't as fun as the traditional 2D mode.) Oh, and if you have a GameBoy Advance handy, you can use the bundled cable to download simplified versions of each puzzler to your portable system of choice and play them until it's powered off.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

This one's for the ladies

I know I just published a post about Aled Lewis (aka fatheed) on Friday, but I'm publishing another one today because I thought the ladies--and straight gents--who frequent this blog may get a kick out of the London-based designer's latest piece of pixel art:

According to Lewis, this image--of Street Fighter II's Chun Li and Super Street Fighter II's Cammy--was inspired by Tanya Chalkin's iconic Kiss photograph.

See also: 'Size doesn't matter if you can perfect the Rising Dragon Punch'

'Push my buttons'

Calling all lovers of the original GameBoy: A t-shirt design--called "Push My Buttons"--featuring everyone's favorite green-screened system is currently up for a vote on threadless.com.

I know, the GameBoy's eyes are a bit creepy, but it's still a pretty cool illustration overall, in my opinion. If you agree, vote on it (in the next two days) here.