Mario
more recognizable than Prime Minister
In
a sad-but-true turns of events, a survey commissioned by Nintendo of
Canada found that more people in Calgary, Toronto and Halifax were
able to identify a photo of Nintendo's iconic video game plumber,
Mario, than were able to identify a photo of Canada's current Prime
Minister, Stephen Harper. The survey, taken by Harris/Decima, also
found that less than half (48%) of the Canadians surveyed were able
to identify opposition leader Stephane Dion. The survey itself was
conducted
between
October 11 and October 16 via mall intercepts with randomly selected
Canadians in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto GTA, Montreal and Halifax,
in both English and French.
While
the complete statistics for the survey were not announced, Nintendo
did say that more women identified Mario than the Prime Minister (66%
vs. 63%), that both were recognized by 70 percent of the respondents
in five major centres when asked to identify the people/character in
the photographs by name and that in each politicians own riding Mario
was recognized more (47% vs. 41% in Harper's riding and 78% vs. 71%
in Dion's riding). The survey was done in preparation and promotion
for today's release of
Super Mario Galaxy
for Wii, and appears to be yet another sign of just how disinterested
people have become in politics.
Super Mario Galaxy
is available now for $49.99 USD and CAD and is rated E for Everyone.
Lights,
Camera, Action now on Xbox 360
The
number one selling DVD board game in the U.S. made its video game
premiere today, as Microsoft Game Studios, Screenlife Games and WXP
released
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
for exclusively on Xbox 360. Instead of coming packaged in a board
game format, the
Lights,
Camera, Action
package comes complete with for new wireless Big Button Pads with
four selection buttons and and large, coloure
d
buzzer button, which give the game a feeling equivalent to that of a
game show.
The
Big Button Pad actually takes its inspiration from the buzzers used
by contestants in countless game shows throughout the years, but uses
the latest infrared technology to minimize the chances of an argument
over who answered first.
“
We’re
taking party gaming to the next level on Xbox 360 with
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
,”
said Stuart Moulder, executive producer at Screenlife Games. “It’s
the first trivia franchise available for Xbox 360.We’ve brought
Scene It?
’s
award-winning interactive experience to this next generation platform
with HD movie clips, photo stills, audio clips and more.”
Scene
It? Lights, Camera, Action
is
available now for Xbox 360 for $59.99 USD and CAD and is rated T for
Teen. If you are wondering how a family oriented game like
Scene
It?
could be rated T, the answer
is actually quite simple. The game includes movie clips and images
which have content which the ESRB would normally consider as being
part of the T rating for other video games, so the same content
ratings apply for this game as well.
DivX
to be added to PS3
DivX
Inc. announced today that its self-titled video technology will be
integrated into Playstation 3.
“We
are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to
PS3,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX Inc. “Our technology will
expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy
access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media
format.” DivX is currently working on certifying Playstation 3 for
proper video playback and visual quality. The company also says that
current Playstation 3 users will be able to add DivX functionality to
their console by downloading a future software update. Also,
Playstation 3 game developers will be able to utilize DivX's decoder
technology by updating the system software of the Playstation 3's
Software Development Kit to version 2.00, so players may also start
seeing games which use DivX in the future as well.
Xbox
Live celebrates 5
th
anniversary with big news
Microsoft
will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Xbox Live this Thursday,
November 15
th
.
As as gesture of thanks for making Xbox Live the most popular social
gaming network on the planet, with more than 8 million members,
Microsoft will be giving all 8 million Xbox Live members the
opportunity to download a free Xbox Live Arcade game (we believe that
means “a selected Xbox Live Arcade game”), which will be
available for download between 12:01am PST on November 15
th
and 11:59pm PST on November 16
th
.
In addition to this, every active member who joined Xbox Live in 2002
will receive 500 free Microsoft Points.
On
December 4
th
,
Microsoft will be updating Xbox Live with a host of new features and
enhancements. This update will also include the ability to download
original Xbox games to the Xbox 360. Games like
Halo,
Psychonauts, Fable
and
more will be available to be downloaded directly to the Xbox 360 hard
drive. Titles will be 1,200 Microsoft Points per game, and the
current lineup of titles is only the beginning according to
Microsoft, which says that Xbox 360 owners can expect to see a
growing catalogue of original Xbox games available for download over
the coming year.
More
information can be found online about the downloadable games
available on Xbox LIVE, the evolution of Xbox LIVE or the Xbox LIVE
is 5IVE member rewards at
http://www.xbox.com.
Today's
game releases
Disney's
Enchanted
for Nintendo
DS - $29.99 USD/$34.99 CAD
Electronic
Arts
Orcs & Elves
for
Nintendo DS - $29.99 USD and CAD
Electronic
Arts
Smarty Pants
for
Wii - $49.99 USD and CAD
Electronic
Arts
SimCity Societies
for PC - $49.99 USD and CAD
Electronic
Arts
Crysis
for PC –
Price varies by version
THQ's
Smackdown vs. Raw 2008
for
Nintendo DS, Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP and Xbox 360 –
Price varies by system
THQ's
Warhammer: 40,000: Squad Command
for
Nintendo DS and PSP - $29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD
D3
Publisher of America's
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the
Warlords
for Playstation 2 -
$19.99 USD
Majesco's
Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends
for Nintendo DS - $29.99 USD
Midway's
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Imagination Invaders
for Nintendo DS - $29.99 USD
Midway's
Ultimate Mortal Kombat
for Nintendo DS - $29.99 USD
Midway's
Blacksite: Area 51
for PC and
Xbox 360 – Price varies by system