As a prelude to these, the distributors also conducted a survey of families’ gaming habits and opinions, and the results included a number of surprises.

Listen to our interview with Mark McKrindle, where we examine this survey and dissect the results.

This interview was originally broadcast on July 11, 2010

Once such game to stand out in this area is “World of Goo,” a cute & quirky puzzle title that has you take on the role of… well… goo.

The World of Goo paints a world filled with globular bits of gloop populating the planet.

You are goo. Goo in blobs, drops, droplets, drips, and any other slippery dribble that ever appears in the world (of goo). As a droplet, it’ll be your job to help fellow droplets make their way up into pipes in order to make it across the world.

That is – basically – the back-story for World of Goo. Over the course of the 48 levels that span the game’s five chapters, you’ll find what’s actually happening by way of clever & unique graphics that make this world seem much more dynamic than most games you’ll ever play.

But it’s really the gameplay that makes this entire adventure stand out.

Dodging obstacles like windmills is just one of the challenges World of Goo presents.

Built on a physics engine, World of Goo works by providing you with semi-realistic physics in a crazy sort of way. The basic game mechanic is that you – as the deity who controls the blobs of goo – will work out spider-web ladders to stretch out across rifts and up towards pipes that will suck you all to victory.

With every new section comes a new type of Goo including ones which can be reused as well as others that act as match heads and incinerate when they meet with fire creating a domino effect of exploding cuteness.

All of this creates a rich & diverse environment with level after level of cute puzzle brilliance. It starts to get quite hard too with drops & ladders occasionally falling to their untimely deaths and obstacles all looking to turn your goo-bridge into little more than sludge.

Once you get to the computer world, it all starts to get a little weird. Ok... weirder.

The sound is lighthearted with noises that will entertain anyone with a kid inside of them and a soundtrack that blends polka, jazz, and enough rhythm to keep you in the spirit of speed.

It’s all very cool and loaded with some of the quirkiest art there is, and it’s so addictive that you’ll find yourself looking for as much spare time as humanly possible so you can go back to the World of Goo.

I dare say that it’s better than Peggle.

Your mission is to make it to the pipes. Can you do it?

What it is, however, is nothing short of brilliant. We reviewed on the PC but it’s also available on Mac OS & Linux as well as the Nintendo Wii. Seriously recommended for anyone who wants to be addicted to something truly fun.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Game: World of Goo
Rating: G
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Wii
Developer: 2D Boy
Distributor: 2D Boy, Steam, WiiWare

A few months ago, Microsoft pushed the Xbox even further with the release of the “New Xbox Experience,” a software upgrade that aimed to push the Xbox in a way that made everything friendlier and allowed you to connect to the games community in a way you previously couldn’t.

Some people haven’t made the move yet so we had a chat to Xbox Australia’s Andrew Jenkins to see why you should…

[media:1 width=320 height=80]

(transcript below)

Andrew Jenkins (AJ): It’s a software update that really reinvents the Xbox 360 from the inside out, making it more approachable, adding a ton of new features, just really adding some great visuals, and just making it an experience that everybody’s going to be able to enjoy.  For instance if you want to play games, obviously we’ve got one of the best gaming consoles on the market with five hundred plus games available as well a whole bunch that you can download directly to your Xbox 360.

But we also have the ability to watch movies, to pause and play live TV, to connect with your friends, to share photos. You know social networking is a huge phenomenon over PC as you see right now. You’ve got products out there like Facebook and MySpace; well you can do similar stuff on your Xbox 360. Where I can share photos with my friends, my family all over the globe and  share those great experiences. I could be video chatting,  I could sit there and have a conversation basically with anybody at any time from my living room. It’s fantastic.

Leigh Stark (LS): I’m curious about the “pause” and “play” TV thing, because I didn’t actually think my Xbox could do that.

AJ: Ah, well see that’s actually something that the Xbox allows you to do and the way that it allows you to do that is most people have a PC in their house, and through connecting to your PC through the Media Extender, you’re actually able to record live TV. So you see a lot of devices out there right now, digital recording devices that allow you to the exact same thing that the Xbox 360′s going to allow you to do. Now it does require a connection to your PC, but the great thing is that opens up a whole world of other possibilities. Being able to get any of your media that you may have stored on your Xbox or your PC and share them in your living room.

I showed someone how to set it up just yesterday and it took me all of maybe a minute just to plug in the simple eight digit code  that it tells me what the code is. All of a sudden, I’m connected up and running.

LS: That’s interesting. Tell me about the social networks side of things. I understand that people could be playing games as they talk to their friends.

AJ: Yeah, the social networking. The community over Xbox 360 is massive. We have over seventeen million members right now on Xbox Live and it’s growing by leaps and bounds every day. We practically doubled year over year on how many members that we have locally in Australia joining the Xbox Live service. What that allows you to do though, it allows you to stay connected with your friends, with the community, and take advantage of not only gaming but also being able to chat and being able to have video conversation.

So we have a feature on the Xbox 360 that allows you to plug in a camera, and you could sit there and have a video chat conversation with anybody that’s connected on the other end with an Xbox 360. In games, multiplayer games, and I happen to love playing definitely some of those more challenging shooter games–

LS: You’re a “Gears of War” fanatic, aren’t you?

AJ: (laughing) I am a “Gears of War” fanatic. But you know, there’s basically every game that launches right now on Xbox 360 has an Xbox Live component to it. So of it’s downloading new content that enhances the gaming experience and extends it into new maps and new missions or if it’s going head to head multiplayer like in a “Gears of War” match where I truly do love doing that, you know that’s all part of the Live Experience you can do. So I could chatting with my friends, and I actually find it very useful for me because I moved to Australia two years ago and I’m able to stay connected with all my friends back in the US and in Canada through the Xbox Live service.

LS: Huh, that’s cool. So basically, it’s not just a video game system. It’s become the, it’s not a replacement for the computer but it’s more the extension of the computer in the living room.

AJ: It does help you connect to your PC, but that’s just one feature of the many features that the Xbox 360 offers. You know it is your entertainment hub that connects you to all different forms of entertainment. So if I wanted to pause and record live TV, I can do that through connecting to my PC. However if I wanted to download a movie or download it a video over Xbox Live, I can do that as well. Or if I wanted to download additional game content, if I wanted to check out the latest blockbuster trailer of the upcoming “Watchmen” movie or something like that, it’s available directly from your Xbox. As long as you’re plugged into an Ethernet port, you could do it right away and it’s right there at your fingertips in your living room.

LS: I have to assume that it’s available on pretty much every Xbox that’s sold. What about the older Xbox’s?

AJ: Well so the great thing about the Xbox Experience, all you need to do need to do is plug it an Ethernet port and if you have the old Experience, it’ll automatically update to the new Experience and it’s almost instantaneous. I mean it is one of the quickest downloads I’ve ever experienced, so flawlessly and automatically does it and it’s so intuitive that it takes you right through anything that you want to experience right away.

LS: Do you need the hard drive? Because there’s still a lot of Xbox Arcades being sold.

AJ: Well the hard drive is an option. It depends on how you want to experience your Xbox 360. Personally I recommend the hard drive because there’s so much content out there and so many ways that you can take advantage of this that the hard drive and enhances that experience. So if you’re a heavy arcade gamer – which is our user friendly, smaller bite-sized games that you can download over Xbox 360 -  you may want to play games like Joust, Pac-Man, and Galaga.

LS: I’m a fan of Braid.

AJ: Oh Braid’s a phenomenal game. (laughing) I’m an absolute fan of that as well. So you can download those onto your actual hard drive and you’re going to want to do that, and obviously it sounds like you take advantage of the hard drive quite extensively.

LS: Mmm.

AJ: However you know if are just someone who wants to plug in a game and play that they bought at retail, you could definitely take advantage of the Arcade and do that as well. I will have to say though that that memory does open up a whole world of experiences over Xbox 360 that you’re definitely going to want and we recommend getting the hard drive.

Street Fighter II became the arcade game of legends. For years (and still today), gamers would hover around arcade cabinets watching masters pump coins into machines like madmen. Opponents pushed buttons and swung arcade sticks while the fans cheered and grinned through it all, the winner coming out on top with pats and hand-slaps from every angle.

Out from Street Fighter II came animated movies, live action movies, and a plethora of spin-off game titles including the highly celebrated Marvel vs. Capcom series of games.

Now, Capcom have gone back to the drawing board and released a game that embodies all of what was loved about the classic Street Fighter II.

The legend is here. Ryu about to fire one of his legendary fireballs. Yes, the king of fighting games has returned.

Street Fighter IV pushes the franchise in a new direction while leaving a lot of the tradition in its place.

Much like the original game, the format is still the one-on-one two-dimensional fight screen. But instead of leaving the 2D animated characters, now you get detailed vibrant 3D characters with which to punch, kick, and force fireballs out with. Characters now have heavy-set bulges, muscles, and structure to make them feel real. Instead of just having the classic anime look, they now have that in 3D and there’s a very real sense from the jagged line adorning their bodies that they’ve been drawn just a few minutes ago.

Both characters and models are extremely detailed. Some to the point of confusion as female fighters often look just as mannish as their male counterparts.

The backgrounds have also been pushed into this new dimension while leaving a lot of style in tact. Now you’ll find yourself fighting the world’s best in cityscapes that are bustling, cruise ships with people cheering, and even the quiet of a rocking boat. While the backgrounds are very interactive, it is obvious that they’re just wallpaper and don’t interfere with your fighting in any way.

And the fighting is what you came for so let’s talk about that. It’s still just as fast & furious as you remember. While you can still button-mash it to death, the more experienced player will be taking note of every stick movement and combination of buttons to get the best shot in. Power moves are now there and, short of quickly removing the life out of an opponent, these look stunning on screen and will quickly fill a gamer with as much awe is left in the world.

Because it’s a Street Fighter game and because it’s from Capcom, it’s still got the same sort of fight modes you expect. You’re still generally playing a fighting game and unlike some of the Mortal Kombat games that started to shift to action, adventure, and RPG styles, Street Fighter has none of that here.

Street Fighter IV throws down any competitor. Seriously, put away Virtua Fighter 5, Soul Calibur IV, and any other fighting game you thought you were playing. In the immortal words of Duke, "Hail to the king, baby."

What is a little strange is how the story plays in this. Pick a player and you’ll watch anime stories based off of each player.

This isn’t so strange given that at the end of the game in the original, players were treated with a text version of what happened to each player at the end. It’s weird here though because the anime is often childish and somewhat stupid. Somewhere between the bad English voice actors and the slightly odd stories, you’ll wonder what the hell happened to your Street Fighter game.

You don’t really have to think hard about it and can move onto the next thing quickly because Street Fighter IV is a game about fighting. In fact, it is the quintessential fighting game. I can think of no other fighting game that brings out as much fun with each control manoeuvre than Street Fighter IV.

This game was made to be played and don’t be surprised if you end up ruining a game controller in the process. Street Fighter IV is just that much fun.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Game: Street Fighter IV
Rating: PG
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developer: Capcom
Distributor (AU): THQ

Tap Tap Revenge was one of the most popular games when it first came out and was free. The new one takes the same premise, adds more skill, a new 3D engine, and provides some really cool features.

Check out what we think of Tap Tap Revenge 2 in our review below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’re taking a look at three of the four currently available flight simulation titles from Laminar Research available for the iPhone & iPod Touch in this video review!

With more titles on the way including X-Plane Racing, there hasn’t been a better time to check out one of the AppStore’s premiere games available for the touch-based devices.

Don’t believe us? Check out our video below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just like we did for our “I Love Katamari” review, the text of what’s been said can be found below.

Fancy a flight without having to leave the ground or pay sky-high prices?

Laminar Research aim to get you there and you don’t even have to leave you seat.

Now available for the iPhone & iPod Touch, the X-Plane series of games lets you do it all.

A much easier alternative to their 6-disc title of the same name that takes up around 80 gigs of space, X-Plane allows you to fly a professional flight simulation in the palm of your hand where ever you are.

Boasting some of the best accelerometer control ever, these games let anyone take on the role of pilot and fly where they want to.

Fairly realistic graphics and controls should keep even the most keen wingman happy here, and since the game is based off of its desktop counterpart, updates are pretty frequent too. This means you’ll get more planes and locations to fly in before you realise it.

We will say that it’s not for those seeking adventure as X-Plane is purely a simulator; you won’t be dogfighting like Snoopy in this game at all.

But as far as realism and fun goes, this one definitely a lot going for it. If you’re curious at the power the iPhone has, love flight sims, or maybe just want to show off to your friends, check out X-Plane today.

I’ve been doing some playing with video equipment, cables, codecs, and all manner of things that have now turned my makeshift office into a jungle of cables and mayhem and now… now, I’ve got it all working!

The text of the video can be found below the video just in case you were curious what I was on about…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

One of the craziest exports to ever make its way out of the country is here, and it’s on the iPhone.

The Keita Takahashi original We Love Katamari is now available on the iPhone and is just like the original ball of stuff mashing fun it used to be.

Just like in previous Katamari games, you’ll find yourself fixing the problems that the King Of All Cosmos left behind making planets out of stuff that can be found on the Earth. This means rolling around gradually picking stuff up and mashing it together to make these big balls of… stuff.

For the iPhone, though, Namco Bandai have enabled the use of the accelerometer making the control of this game very much like Sega’s Super Monkey Ball for the same system. Tilt and pivot the device every which way and your prince will do as you command.

Even with the patches that this game finally has, it’s a shame that lag and slowdowns are still ever present. It’s also not very good that after all the gameplay, there’s no ending to greet you with.

In a way, Katamari feels like a game made for the iPhone that was rushed out to meet consumer demand. This doesn’t make it bad, but rather leaves you wanting just a little bit more.

That said, it’s still a lot of fun and if you’ve never played a Katarmari game, this 10 buck title is a great introduction to one of the coolest franchises out there.

At a price of $5.99 AUD, it’s not really an expensive game. The question is have EA done a good job and is it worth your money?

Ah yes... Monopoly. Who could forget this old classic?

The first thing you’ll notice about Monopoly: Here & Now is the 3D engine EA have graced the game with. It’s fairly slick and is featured in almost every aspect of the game. Even the menu sits on top of the 3D board game with just about the only part not being placed under it being the cards and the trading part of the game.

The next thing you’ll notice is that this isn’t Monopoly as you probably remember it. As a sign of the times, the “Here & Now” edition changed everyone’s favourite Park Place and Boardwalk landmarks and replaces them with “Riga” and “Montreal.” Instead of being the same Monopoly game we all played as kids, this is supposed to be the evolved edition.

But while about everything about the board has changed, the game’s core still remains the same. The money has increased but only in sheet amounts, the mere thousands it used to cost to buy land now requiring millions. Don’t be concerned though, as you get more money. It’s still the same basic formula applied to larger quantities of money, like adding a few extra zero’s to the end of whatever sum Monopoly originally came with.

There are animations for nearly everything including each of the player statue pieces you can choose as well as that whole “landing in jail” thing every Monopoly player except the most broke of them all dreads. You can even elect to shake your device to emulate the shaking of the dice (I turned this off because much like Yahtzee! on the same device, it has the tendency to register even the slightest movement as a dice toss, sometimes when you don’t want it to).

Just like the original... except now with added floating "M" thingies...

But one thing that is lacking is fun.

Somewhere between making the AI either are too predictable or just not challenging enough, the developers have made a good looking game that lacks any real reason to play it other than you being incredibly bored.

It’s not that Monopoly on the iPhone & iPod Touch is a bad game. Far from it, in fact. No, it’s more that it’s an un-fun game. It looks like it could fill a void and a be a decent game of Monopoly in the same way that the old Sega Genesis version was, but it just doesn’t have the running power, especially not when we’re playing games in transit. It feels too convoluted, too overdone, and lacks the basic charm that made the original such a classic.

It doesn’t help that it feels like the 3D engine slows the game to an absolute crawl and tends to chew right through that battery power we iPhone users have to clutch on to dear life for as it is at the moment.

While many of the effects can be turned off to speed the game up, it doesn’t seem to offer any real challenge unless you decide to play against a friend, something that you can elect to do. Mind you, if you decide to do that, you may as well get the real board game out as it’s a lot more enjoyable playing for real.

This makes it quite hard to review.

What I can tell you about Passage is that it’s one of the more unusual games I’ve ever played.

It's unlike any other game you've played... unless you've played Passage before.

While it takes between three and five minutes to play, it’s a very creative and yet direct game. The point of the game is expressed through long pixelated scenes that might take a few replays to register, especially in the frame of what’s going on.

Still available for free on the Windows, Mac, & Linux platforms, users of the iPhone & iPod Touch have to pay the tiny fee of $1.19 AUD ($0.99 USD) to play it, an option that might be a touch more realistic and convenient especially on the go.

I will caution people with Passage though: it’s not your regular game. You will have to play it a few times before you truly understand it. By the same token, it’s more a game for “gamers,” the breed of game playing people hopefully looking for something just a little bit different with their gaming dollar.

[PSGallery=2epj2djw58]

Little Big Planet is sort of like that but also not. It’s a game that encourages the use of an imagination by way of its storybook development.

Based around the concept of living inside of everyone else’s childhood imagination, you’ll play as Sackboy, an androgynous biped character made out of yarn who can be dressed up to be whatever you like and controlled to within an inch of his life. He lives in the storybook world that makes up Little Big Planet, a collection of childhood design & element that looks akin to what your kids used to find in children’s books all those years ago before ideas like the PlayStation ever came to fruition.

Sackboy’s world is fun, playful and most importantly imaginative. It still has rules of physics which help to let your character push & pull things, but unlike other games, everything in Little Big Planet is essentially living in one giant sandbox. If this doesn’t make sense to you, perhaps this will: in Little Big Planet, you make the rules.

You don’t just make the rules, you make the world. Most of what makes Little Big Planet fantastic is that its designed around the concept of its user-base making content for Little Big Planet. A downside of this is that Media Molecule – the creators of Little Big Planet – monitor what goes on pretty frequently and have been known to make some quick decisions about some of the better levels to see the light of day. Regardless, this whole user content side of things makes Little Big Planet one of those never-ending titles because of the sheer amount that’s out there for you to play.

Judging it like a game, the graphics are amazing with it being a very colourful and beautifully 2D adventure. The sound is equally cute and quirky with little noises puncturing their way through the music and causing your face to go “awww”. If you never thought a side-scroller could work on a next-generation system, you’ll be incredibly surprised here as Little Big Planet works on pretty much every level. It even uses SixAxis well, a motion control concept I was beginning to think no one at Sony would ever get right.

Ultimately, Little Big Planet is as close to perfection as Media Molecule could ever want it to be. It is simple and stunning, an achievement in design and fun. Little Big Planet could well be the best game of the year and is easily worth a look, especially if you have kids.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In a dystopian future, information is controlled by the government. To get around this, people use “runners” – individuals who ignore the chaos of rules & restriction set out by the controlling forces by moving on rooftops, walls, and other areas where people normally wouldn’t go.

You are Faith, a runner who finds herself in a sticky situation when her sister is framed for a murder. Now you’ll find yourself in a sticky situation as you run from rooftop to rooftop, from wall to building while you dodge bullets and try to not fall to your death.

Developed on the Unreal Engine, Mirror’s Edge is an experience unlike any other. About the closest you could say Mirror’s Edge comes to is the early Dreamworks title “Trespasser” but even this falls short. While the graphics are excellent in this stylised world, the amount of art direction really shows as an emphasis on primary colours keeps the user engaged as well as telling them where to go.

The gameplay is for the most part just as good as the well-developed graphics and short of some control issues, you’ll find it easy to get in and run, jump, and slide your way around the various things that keeps your life as a runner on track.

It might sound like I’m praising Mirror’s Edge ridiculously – almost too much – but that’s because of just how good it is.

That said, a patronising checkpoint system and a repetitive level & mission design are two of the main things that let you down. DICE should probably have programmed more checkpoints than they did and quite often you’ll want to rip apart your controller in frustration. Likewise, knowing that the missions generally consist of a little bit of scouting followed by a ton of running sort of puts a dampener on things, especially since you can generally guess what’ll happen in each level as well as the ending.

But put those two things aside and you have a superb game. Mirror’s Edge is really stunning and will probably be one of the best games of the year. Even with sequels upon sequels released this year which improve upon already heralded formulas, Mirror’s Edge shows just how amazing a game can really be if the designers opt to think outside the box.

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

[PSGallery=241t31010g3t]