The Michigan video game law which would make it illegal to sell or rent violent games to minors has been determined unconstitutional by a federal judge. In the ruling the judge states, "Video games contain creative, expressive free speech, inseparable from their interactive functional elements, and are therefore protected by the First Amendment." Going further, he says, "The research conducted by the State has failed to prove that video games have ever caused anyone to commit a violent act, let alone present a danger of imminent violence." Awesome.

Continue reading "Michigan Game Law: Unconstitutional"

Tuesday - April 4, 2006

This past Saturday five Ohio girls got together to spruce up their small town of 12,000 with seventeen festive Mario blocks; you know, the coin blocks that are brown with a black question mark. Well, some passersby didn't like the looks of them and called in the sheriff, who then called in the bomb squad. The blocks were then carefully dismantled, revealing neither bombs nor coins. Where does one start? Well, here is the official home town newspaper article. Here is qwantz.com, the site that details how to make various power up and coin blocks, and chronicles the adventures of those who make them.

Continue reading "Mario Bomb Scare in Ohio"

Thursday - April 6, 2006

Microsoft has purchased British video game developer, Lionhead Studios, founded by Peter Molyneux, developer of Black and White, The Movies, and Fable. Lionhead Studios will immediatley begin making games exclusively for the Xbox 360(TM) and PC. Microsoft has been on a developer buying spree over the past five years including the acquistion of Bungie (Halo) and Rare (Perfect Dark, Kameo). Lionhead Studios gives Microsoft an immediate boost in the RPG genre. Molyneux's Fable has sold over 2 million copies...nothing to shake a sword at.

Continue reading "A Molyneux Aquisition by Microsoft"

Friday - April 7, 2006

We are happy to report the completion of our LB The Godfather Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. In it, you'll find what you need in order to climb the ranks from Outsider to Don of the Corleone family. Whether you're learning to extort your first business, transporting a horse's head, or infiltrating a rival family's compound, this guide will get you through it. Per usual, we've also made a PDF version of this guide, which is ad-free, easily searchable, beautifully bookmarked (for ease of navigation), and is allowed to be printed.

I was among the many who groaned when I heard that Rockstar Games was in the process of developing a game called Table Tennis for the Xbox 360. A new and improved version of Pong was all I could imagine. That's not to say there's anything wrong with Pong...I'm just sick of new and improved versions of it. However, now that I've seen the trailer and understand a little more what it is that Rockstar is going for with this title, I'm actually quite excited. My family, by the way, is a very competitive table tennis playing family, so I'm quite excited to put our skills on Xbox Live...aka, my home turf. The reviews are quite impressive, too.
Rockstar's 'Table Tennis' Site

Continue reading "'Table Tennis' Site and Trailer Launches"

Monday - April 10, 2006

"The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine" have a specially themed April issue: Media and Children. Included in the magazine is a much talked about study from University of California's Dr. Sonya Brady which concludes that those who play GTA III (the study's example of a violent game) are more likely to smoke pot and drink alcohol. It also concluded that blood pressure rises when playing violent games. I don't have the time to get into everything that is wrong with this study, but let's just start with the fact that the study tested 100 male undergrads age 18-21. Um, I'd imagine the chances are high, even if they were playing Katamari and Animal Crossing that they'd be drinking and smoking. Oy. Get ready for more news stories that don't know what they're talking about.

Take-Two Interactive has today announced that worldwide shipments of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have surpassed the 1.7 million mark. The press release was issued with no mention of a breakdown of how many of those 1.7 million games were Xbox 360 titles and how many were PC titles.

In case you're wondering why it was Take-Two that annouced this, their publishing label, 2K Games, co-published the game with Bethesda Softworks, which is the company most people associate with Elder Scrolls titles.

Continue reading "'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' - 1.7 Million Shipped"

Microsoft released a few new items onto the Xbox Live Marketplace today, among them a playable demo of Amped 3.

Jer and I played a bit of Amped 3 when the game came out at the Xbox 360 launch, and we were pleasantly surprised. We worried when 2K games picked up the publishing rights from Microsoft, as Microsoft had done a great job with the first two titles. However, the new publisher was able to step up to the plate and successfully transferred the greatness of previous Amped titles to Amped 3. What's more, they were able to mix up game play enough so it wasn't simply more of the same AND they made it one of the funniest games I've ever played.

Check out your Xbox 360 Marketplace to download the demo, then purchase the game here.

Tuesday - April 11, 2006

While our European friends have already gotten their hands on Ms. Croft and her latest adventure, those of us in North America will get our chance today, as Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend is expected to infiltrate stores across the continent.

Having played the free demo on Xbox Live, I can tell you this game is much more fluid than previous Tomb Raiders (jumping and grabbing is no longer an issue), yet still keeps its focus on puzzle solving. The demo was fabulous. I can't wait for the game.

If you need TR: Legend Help, please check out our growing LB Tomb Raider: Legend(TM) Walkthrough and Strategy Guide, which I will begin today.

Here is San Diego Serenade blogger Conor Lastowka's entry in YouTube's Cybersmack contest, which called for the creation of the internet's bet viral video, with a re-enactment of Game Six of the 1986 World Series as played on the NES's RBI Baseball.

For those not familiar with the 1986 World Series, Wikipedia defines it as, "a memorable battle between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox which helped to spread the legend of the 'Curse of the Bambino' to mass public awareness. This was the only Series in which a team was one out away from losing and came back to win. Moreover, the Mets were actually a single strike away from losing during two different at bats."

Only if you watch the video (below) will you understand the number of hours Lastowka must have put into the setup of such a re-enactment, and the pain it must have caused him, if he was a Red Sox fan.

Continue reading "1986 World Series Re-enacted in 'RBI Baseball'"

I stay away from gambling, as I'm fully aware of my obsessive compulsive personality and addictive nature, and how these traits can add up to a lot of trouble when combined with monetary betting. However, one company, operating out of San Jose, Costa Rica, is looking to make this self-imposed rule a little tougher to enforce. UGX1.com has issued a press release today, announcing the launch of its new service, allowing online gamers to bet on their video games. That's all I'm going to say about that...if I have to write any more, I just might find myself signing up for the service.

Continue reading "Video Game betting site launches"

Wednesday - April 12, 2006

Ubisoft has made it official: The newly announced title Red Steel, an exclusive first-person action title for the Nintendo Revolution, will be available the day the Revolution hits retail stores. The game will make its worldwide debut in 2006 at E3.

According to Ubisoft's press release, "Red Steel is set in modern-day Japan. Players will master both the ancient art of the katana and the sophisticated technology of modern firearms taking advantage of the emotion and immersive gameplay possible only with the Revolution's remarkable controller." For more information, check out Wikipedia's Red Steel entry (thanks for the heads up KarmaPolice). There's also the newly launched Red Steel teaser site.

Continue reading "'Red Steel' Confirmed for Revolution launch"

While reviews of Nintendo's latest Gamecube release, Odama is receiving some mixed reviews, everyone seems to agree that the game is hard as all hell. Truthfully, I find this quite appealing, and I think now I'll be picking up a game that I had no intention to buy. It's battlefield pinball. I don't know what that's about, but it sounds good to me, plus it's unique and challenging. For screenshots and info, please, click here. Go here to purchase the game from Amazon, or go here to put the game in your Gamefly Q.

Continue reading "Everyone agrees, 'Odama' is quite difficult"

Thursday - April 13, 2006

I figured a perfect Holy Thursday story would be to report that Eidos has announced a release date for Hitman(R): Blood Money: May 30. Christ would be so proud. Anyway, this is the fourth in the Hitman series and each one has gotten better. In this iteration, there will be rival assassins. The game will be available for the PC ($40), PS2 and Xbox ($50) and the Xbox 360 ($60). We'll write a walkthrough and strategy guide for the game as soon as it comes out. Until then, we'll practice our stealth tecnhinques on our cats.

Friday - April 14, 2006

The LB Kingdom Hearts (R) 2 Walkthrough and Strategy Guide is progressing nicely. Yesterday I finished Port Royal and am now off to Agrabah to visit with some old friends. I am very impressed with the game thus far, although sometimes the lengthy cutscenes are a bit too much. Still, there is enough of that Kingdom Hearts magic to more than make up for any slow parts. If you're stuck, check the Guide first and if you're beyond where I am, post your question in our Kingdom Hearts 2 Help Thread.

I have officially begun work on the LB Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. I'm having a great time with this newest Lara Croft adventure, and I expect to wrap up the guide sometime next week, as, rumor has it, the game is on the short side. If you have any questions that are not, yet, addressed in the guide, please post them in our Tomb Raider: Legend Help Thread.

Monday - April 17, 2006

Nintendo's smash hit, Brain Age(TM): Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, will hit store shelves this week in North America. The Nintendo DS game was created with the help of a prominent Japanese neurologist, Professor Ryuta Kawashim and its goal is to make your brain younger by challenging your brain in such things as counting, basic math, wordplay, memorization, etc. As a bonus, it also includes 100 Sudoku puzzles. We can't wait to get our hands on the game...the only question is, who gets to play it first?

Continue reading ""Brain Age" Released This Week"

As reported a couple of months ago, Electronics Gaming Monthly magazine had made mention in its "Rumors" section that the very creepy and highly acclaimed PC game, F.E.A.R., might be on its way to the Xbox 360. Today the latest UK OXM magazine is reporting that that little tidbit of info has moved from rumor to fact.

Expect more details, including a release date for the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R., at E3 2006.

According to this article from Gamesindustry.biz, Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital, is predicting a price cut on the Sony Playstation(R) 2. Sebastian isn't going out on a limb here. Every year around E3 time (May-ish) we hear of possible price cuts. Add in gloomy software sales, the end of a console cycle (typically about 5 years), and the PS3 delay, and it seems highly likely that Sony will cut the price. On the other hand, what do they have to gain from it? They already have the market saturated. In all likelyhood, the people most likely to buy the $129 PS2 are those whose PS2 have broken or are performing poorly after 5 years of use. Hey, when you have to shake your PS2 upon booting up a game to get it to work, you know it's at the end of its life.

Tuesday - April 18, 2006

Ubisoft and Bethesda Softworks have reached an agreement to publish Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. The game tells the tale of the movie via Jack's perspective. Gameplay is action/adventure with the player using his sword, solving puzzles, and using the environment to progress. As a big fan of pirate games I can't wait for this title. Years ago, The Legend of Black Kat set the tone for great pirating adventures. I have full confidence that Jack Sparrow won't disappoint. The game is due out June/July '06 for the PS2 and PC.

Continue reading ""Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow""

THQ Inc. has announced Destroy All Humans! (TM) 2 is currently in development and is expected to be released this fall for the PS2 and Xbox gaming systems. According to the funny little press release issued by THQ, they have, "once again enlisted the expertise of Pandemic Studios to aid in thwarting this new invasion".

Jer was pleasantly surprised by the original game, although it did tend to drag on after the funny wore off. Hopefully this newest incarnation will bring on more funny.

In case you wanted to play the original, might I suggest the LB Destroy All Humans Walkthrough and Strategy Guide....

Continue reading "'Destroy All Humans 2' Announced"

The New York Times has published an interesting and revealing article about LucasArts and its quest to be number one (or, at least in the top five) in the realm of video game publishing. The article provides the mission of LucasArts, which is to "make high-quality games, and deliver them on time and on budget." (I never realized it before, but LucasArts games do come out when they say they're going to come out...and I appreciate that). What's more, the article reveals a couple of new games in the works. One is starring an Indiana Jones character (to coincide with Indiana Jones 4 I wonder) AND a new Star Wars game that focuses on a Darth Vader storyline.

Read the NYT article

Lunabean's "24: The Game(TM)" Walkthrough and Strategy Guide is all you need to successfully complete all 58 missions in the game. Whether you're facing a rooftop helicopter, losing cops who are ruthlessly pursuing you, or locating rooftop snipers before they take out the Vice President, this guide will get you through it successfully.

Ad-free, easy to read, beautifully bookmarked for ease of navigation, and includes man helpful screenshots. For Sony PS2. 48 pages. 1.33M. In Adobe PDF format. Free Adobe Reader required, if you do not already have it.

Also available is the Text Version (Printer-friendly) for only $5.95.

Are other walkthroughs driving you mad? It seems today's strategy guides are either filled with pictures instead of information, or they are written by people with little experience, and end up confusing (and sometimes offending) you even more.

Lunabean is here to save the day! Our walkthroughs and strategy guides are all written by professional video game strategy guide writers. They are easy to understand, easy to navigate, easy to read and easy to print. If you want screenshots, we have many screenshot versions available, too. However, we understand the information is more important than the pictures, which is why we offer lower cost text-only versions of all of our guides.

Lunabean.com is a company dedicated to helping gamers through games, and we are confident our PDF guides are among the best guides on the market.

Screenshot Guide - US$7.95

Printable Guide (text only) - US$5.95


ALL Lunabean PDF Guides - US$15.95

Continue reading "'24: The Game' Walkthrough and Strategy Guide (Download)"

Wednesday - April 19, 2006

Thanks to BoingBoing.net for alerting us to the large Katamari Damacy ball that will roll across San Francisco on May 21st.

If you're in San Fran on that third Sunday in May, check out the Bay to Breakers 12K event, and you just may catch this guy, who will be rolling a, "a FREAKING HUGE cardboard katamari that shall be carved out of refrigerator boxes, and decorated with elements of the city that we've rolled up along the way."

For 400 Microsoft Points you can get the latest update to Project Gotham Racing 3, our favorite racing game. The "Speed Pack" offers new super cars and lots of gameplay updates including, new Xbox Live achievements, Gamertags displayed during in-game conversation, and saveable custom routes. But you really want to know about the cars, right? Here are some of them: Audi RS 4, Chevy Corvette Z06, Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, Pontiac GTO, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, and seven others. Admitedly, Allison and I rarely have time to play the game, especially online, but it is one of our favorite pass times when we get some down time. Enjoy!

Continue reading ""PGR 3" "Speed Pack" Available for Download"

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PS(R)2 has a date! On June 6, for a mere $20 you can get one heck of a great game. The game was originally a PSP game, and a highly entertaining and suprising game at that. We wrote a LB "GTA: Liberty City Stories" Walkthrough and Strategy Guide for the game and from all reports, the game is a straight port, so it will work for the PS2 version as well. We'll probably replay the game to shore up the guide and to potentially take screenshots.

Continue reading ""GTA: Liberty City Stories" - PS2 - Gets a Date!"

Thursday - April 20, 2006

Sony's Playstation(R)2 is now $129.99. The much rumored price cut happened earlier than most analysts predicted (story). The price cut, of course, is meant to spur sales and to keep the money flowing until the PS3 debuts Holiday '06. Sony currently dominates the console market, but with the Xbox 360 getting a year's head start on the PS3, Sony is doing everything it can to maintain their lead. My personal feeling is that many of those who will purchase the $130 PS2 are those, like us, whose 4+ year old PS2 is about ready to die. This is good news for gamers as there are many great $20 PS2 games out there, including God of War. (LB's God of War Walkthrough and Strategy Guide)

LB's Kingdom Hearts (R) 2 Walkthrough and Strategy Guide is progressing nicely now that I've had some time to work on it. I'm currently revisiting some worlds in hopes that the green fog will clear over Pride Land (The Lion King World). If you need help, check the guide or if you're past where I am, check out our Kingdom Hearts 2 Help Thread on our message boards. I'll be updating the guide at the end of each day, so stay tuned!

Monday - April 24, 2006

Joystiq has a good list of 3rd party Revolution games that have been announced to date. Most formidable among them is Red Steel from Ubisoft, which is a new take on a First Person Shooter. Over the weekend, I read the "Red Steel Issue" of Gameinformer (US Magazine), and I have to say that I am extremely excited for this game. The way that the Gameinformer team talked about the controller, its response time, and its accuracy has turned me from a believer in the Revolution to a full on cult member. Well, I haven't severed ties with my family, so I guess I'm not quite there. It's a good read if you happen upon it in a book store. The companion article details George Harrison's (VP of marketing, Nintendo of America) detailed lessons learned from the lack of third party support. You can read about that here.

I am pleased to report the completion of the first draft of our LB Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthough and Strategy Guide. Today I'm going to locate a few missing rewards and snap a few screens (for those particularly sticky areas). Expect to see the completed version of the guide (and the PDF version) within the next 2-3 days.

LB Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthough and Strategy Guide

Tuesday - April 25, 2006

Nintendo's free online service for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo WiFi, is getting up to 260,000 users per day, and has tallied 1 million unique visitors since its launch last November, according to RevoGaming.net. The service works with WiFi enabled Nintendo DS games like Metroid Prime: Hunters, Mario Kart DS, and Animal Crossing: Wild World. In only 4 months they're getting Xbox Live-type numbers. When the WiFi enabled Revolution launches, I'd bet that it will connect to the same network. If Sony and Microsoft are charging for their online service and Nintendo isn't, guess who will win that war? Exciting times indeed.

I have at long last entered the final world in the LB Kingdom Hearts 2 Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. I am currently at Level 46 and hopefully will level up a few more times before I have to face any final bosses. As I near the end of my long (now 67 hour) journey (hey, I'm playing and writing at the same time), I feel a sense of sorrow; that my friends for the past 2 weeks are soon to be lost forever. But, as Sora said to Pooh Bear, "you all will always be right here (points to heart)". Okay, as you can see, I've played way too much KH2. If you need help, check out the LB KH 2 Walkthrough and Strategy Guide or the LB Kingdom Hearts 2 Help Thread on our message boards.

Square Enix, the company best known for its Final Fantasy series, has revealed its display line-up for this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to be held May 10-12 in L.A. The publishing company will have on display eight different Final Fantasy titles (six on consoles, handhelds and/or PC, two for mobile phones), the highly anticipated Dawn of Mana (PS2), Children of Mana (NDS) and several other titles I know nothing about (but you can read about them here).

Truth be told, Square Enix doesn't really do it for me...but that's just me, and I have the utmost respect for the company and the gamers who love its games. I just feel I missed the Square Enix boat, as it seemed to have launched when I was in college, and now it feels too late to catch up to it.

Continue reading "Square Enix reveals E3 line-up"

Wednesday - April 26, 2006

Chris Morris, author of CNNMoney's Game Over Column, has some interesting predictions regarding this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3): Nintendo will reveal the official name of the Revolution and the final secret about the system, but will not reveal pricing or a release date. Sony will not reveal the price of the PS3. Microsoft will focus on the gaming aspects of its new Vista operating system while showing the first footage of Halo 3. What I find interesting is that Microsoft gets to focus on software while the others focus on hardware. For the first time, Microsoft isn't playing catch up and is, in fact, a year ahead of the competition. With the Revolution shaping up to be a huge hit and speculation that the PS3 will be expensive, it'll be interesting to see how Sony fares this time around. E3 begins on May 10 and we'll be covering all of the big (and little) news.

The Oklahoma State Senate has unanimously (47-0) passed HB 3004, which classifies games with "inappropriate violence" or sexual content as "harmful to minors", and bans the sale or rental of such broadly defined games to minors. This means, for all intents and purposes, Oklahoma is trying to classify these games as pornography, which is banned from minors in the same way.

Continue reading "Oklahoma Senate passes video game restriction bill"

Thursday - April 27, 2006

We are so excited we can barely stay still. The Nintendo Revolution has a name: the Nintendo Wii. Yes, Wii. As in "we." You can see where Nintendo is going with this name; aiming for the inclusiveness of gaming with other people and breaking down the barriers that separate gamers from non-gamers. As the press release points out, it is also easy to remember and say in many languages. Most impressive is the ability for the two "i"'s to appear as two people. Design brilliance.

Continue reading "Introducing the Nintendo Wii"

I am very pleased to announce that I have completed the rough draft of LB's Kingdom Hearts II Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. Yesterday was spent battling the final boss over and over to test out techniques and writing a comprehensive introduction explaining all of the various menus, gameplay, synthesis, etc. Today I'll be making the guide nice n' pretty and making the downloadable PDF version for your viewing pleasure.

Friday - April 28, 2006

It was a long journey, filled with familiar friends, new faces, and a mysterious organization. Along the way I learned that the heart is all that really matters and once the heart decides there is nothing I can do to interfere with that decision. I also learned about Struggle matches. What am I reminiscing about? Well, I have completed the LB Kingdom Hearts 2 Walkthrough and Strategy Guide. This massive tome of information contains everything you need to know in order to bring peace and calm back to the kingdom. Of course, you can simply download the printer friendly PDF guide for only US$6.95! Enjoy the game and the guide!

We are pleased as bees to announce the completion of our LB Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthrough and Strategy Guide (or, as I like to call it, "TRL") for the PS2, Xbox, X360 and PC. As usual, we are offering a free online guide, a printable PDF guide and a PDF guide + Screenshots (for those who need a little visual guidance). The PDF guides also include ALL reward locations, and a bonus walkthough of the Croft Manor. Enjoy!

Sunday - April 30, 2006

Lunabean's "Tomb Raider(TM): Legend" Walkthrough and Strategy Guide is all you need to explore, solve and shoot your way through each of the game's levels. Whether you can't move the gears, can't get the water flowing, or can't find that last Gold Reward, this guide will get you through it.

ALL Rewards and walkthrough of Croft Manor included. Ad-free, easy to read, beautifully bookmarked for ease of navigation, allowed to be printed, includes select helpful screenshot. For PS2, Xbox, X360 and PC. 50 pages. 999K. In Adobe PDF format. In Adobe PDF format. Free Adobe Reader required, if you do not already have it.

Also available is the Text Version (Printer-friendly) for only $6.95.

Are other walkthroughs driving you mad? It seems today's strategy guides are either filled with pictures instead of information, or they are written by people with little experience, and end up confusing (and sometimes offending) you even more.

Lunabean is here to save the day! Our walkthroughs and strategy guides are all written by professional video game strategy guide writers. They are easy to understand, easy to navigate, easy to read and easy to print. If you want screenshots, we have many screenshot versions available, too. However, we understand the information is more important than the pictures, which is why we offer lower cost text-only versions of all of our guides.

Lunabean.com is a company dedicated to helping gamers through games, and we are confident our PDF guides are among the best guides on the market.

Screenshot Guide - US$7.95

Printable Guide (text only) - US$6.95


ALL Lunabean PDF Guides - US$15.95

Continue reading "'Tomb Raider: Legend' Walkthrough and Strategy Guide (Download)"