The Japanese obsession with shoot 'em ups has made for some great games making it over to the United States. Unfortunately, we also tend to miss out on a lot of the more bizarre Japanese titles. So, we should feel very lucky that SNK has decided to bring its cutesy, hardcore arcade hit stateside with Trouble Witches Neo for Xbox Live Arcade. I'm not sure how big the demographic will be for challenging arcade shmups in a teenage anime witch wrapper. Guess we'll find out!



Who says that America never gets all the best Japanese games? Japanese developer SNK, originators of the home and arcade videogame system, Neo Geo, have announced a console version of Trouble Witches, the hardcore arcade shoot ‘em up full of cute witches, flowers petals, and magic. Hardcore shoot ‘em up with flower petals? Trust us. It’s awesome.

As part of my transition into the world of still cameras, I've been working on point-and-shoot reviews. My first full review is for this little Nikon Coolpix S4000. It's a tiny little camera that looks better on the outside than it does on the inside. But it was fun to review a simple little thing, where the answer to "how does the camera do such-and-such?" was usually "it can't" instead of three paragraphs of detailed explanation.



The Coolpix S4000 (MSRP $179.95) is one of a few entry-level digital cameras offered by Nikon. Ease of use is the name of the game here, with very few bells and whistles to get in your way. Fortunately, the photo quality is pretty good too...

I love good games. I love Super Meat Boy. It's exceedingly rare to see truly exceptional games published these days. We're constantly looking for a needle in a haystack, sifting and sifting through mediocrity and even really good games. Until we get to the truly great games. I play a lot of videogames. I lot of really good videogames. I honestly believe that Super Meat Boy is the cream of the crop. The kind of game that only comes around once in a great while. I am honored to have experienced it.

Very rarely does a game come along that is so fun and so hard that you alternate laughing with hurling profanities… that you insist you’ll give it “just one more try” and yet play until your hands are a crippled, arthritic mess… that you realize as you’re playing it that you are experiencing one of the finest games of our generation… that you fall in love with a squishy blob. Such a game is Super Meat Boy.

Back in April, we lamented the top ten games we wish were on Xbox Live Arcade. Well, welcome... to die! Konami has heard our prayers and announced that our favorite 1992 side-scrolling beat-em-up is headed to XBLA.

Videogame industry analyst Michael Pachter has looked into his crystal ball to see a $50 price cut for Xbox 360 consoles in 2011. He may have his share of enemies and skeptics, but when he tells us what we want to hear, there seem to be plenty of willing listeners.

There really are so few games with female protagonists—even today. In 2003, Ubisoft released a remarkable action-adventure game full of memorable characters, political intrigue, a deeply layered world, and... Jade. The heroine of Beyond Good & Evil is noteworthy not just because of her courage, but because of her realism—both emotionally and physically. She's the kind of character that gives me hope for women in games. And now that Ubisoft is creating an HD remake of the game for XBLA/PSN, I'm also hopeful for the long-promised Beyond Good & Evil 2...!


Ubisoft released the first screenshots for its XBLA remake of Michel Ancel’s masterful 2003 action-adventure title, Beyond Good and Evil. This sharp upgrade was only recently announced, but it already looks likely to impress fans.