Get a Free 30 Day Trial for PlayStation Plus with Select Purchase from Amazon!

That's right folks, Amazon.com is offering you a free 30 days of PlayStation Plus goodness when you purchase select PS3 exclusives.  While the selection is not huge, there are some gems in there like the Uncharted trilogy, Gran Turismo 5, God of War I & II HD pack, the ICO/Shadow of Colossus HD pack, and a few others.  So if you've been planning on getting any of these games, today might be the day to get them with the free trial of PlayStation Plus thrown in!

Nintendo 3DS Card Case 18 from Club Nintendo (Review)

At the beginning of the month, Club Nintendo introduced the Card Case 18 available for 250 coins.  Many people have been wondering, is it worth it?  For 250 coins?  Yeah, I think it's worth it.

The case is not much different than your typical 3DS case.  It's just a teeny tiny bit thicker, and it is transparent.  The case comes with 4 sleeves each with a front and back image that you can customize your case with.  On the inside, you will find 18 slots to hold your 3DS and DS games in.  For those of us who want to carry around a few games with minimal storage and keep them protected, Card Case 18 is the way to go.  The only downfall with the Card Case 18 is that, since it's the size of a regular game case, it's not going to fit into your pocket or even one of those cool little 3DS pouches you can get from Club Nintendo too.  But for only 250 coins, fast shipping, cool inserts, and a way to carry up to 18 games in one case, you really can't go wrong and I highly recommend the Card Case 18.  Now, on the the pictures!  You can click on the pictures for a larger version.

Front cover of the CC18 with The Legend of Zelda insert

Back cover with The Legend of Zelda insert

Side of the case with The Legend of Zelda insert

Inside of the CC18 with the Retro Mario insert.  As you can see, it holds both 3DS and DS games.

Retro Mario outside

Retro Mario inside

Mario & Company outside

Mario & Company inside

The Legend of Zelda outside

The Legend of Zelda inside

Card Case 18 outside

Card Case 18 inside

Outside of the case with no sleeve inserted.

So as you can see, the Card Case 18 from Club Nintendo is a very solid item.  Anyone who is on the fence about the item should go ahead and order one for 250 coins.  If anything, it's cool how you can mix and match your cover sleeves.  I myself, enjoy the Zelda one on the outside while having the Retro Mario inside.  All in all, the CC18 is highly recommended!

Rumor Radar

Everybody likes to hear rumors about what's going on in the world of gaming.  While some of them are just that, rumors, there are others that have a bit of truth behind them.  I'm going to use some Rumor Radar to see if I can sift through some of these rumors and find out which might be true, and which are most likely false.  The Rumorr Radar is not perfect, and even if it gives a high probability of a rumor being true, it could always turn out to be false.  But it's all for fun anyway!  Right?  Right?  Well, on to the rumors!

Rumor #1 The next Call of Duty game will be named 'Black Ops 2' 
RR Predicts: 100% True
I'm sure it's no surprise that we will be seeing another Call of Duty game this year.  The series has basically become the Madden of FPS games.  But will it be called Black Ops 2?  All signs seem to point to yes.  With mysterious sightings of the name popping up briefly on people's project lists, and with the increasing staleness of the series, I think it's a safe bet that the next Call of Duty will be yet another rehash of the same game you've been playing for years now.  The series will never change.

I'll never show my face out of embarrassment that I cannot offer you anything new

Rumor #2 The Vita version of 'Black Ops 2' can be played online with PS3 players

RR Predicts: 70% False (But in a way 100% True)

It would be sweet to own the PS3 CoD players while riding the bus, wouldn't it?  Sadly, I don't think this is going to be the case.  While the Vita seems to be an amazing system and it will be getting the next Call of Duty game, I highly doubt that it will be compatible with it's bigger brother.  It would be one hell of an innovation for the series, and I don't think either Trey Arch or IW are familiar with the word innovation.  However!  All is not lost!  The Vita does have a feature called Cross Play that allows it to connect to the PS3 and not only allow you to play your PS3 game from the Vita, but you can view it on the Vita screen too.  It's like a much better version of remote play.  While we still have to see if the Cross Play is fast enough to handle a Call of Duty game, it appears that it might be the only way PS3 and Vita users can play Call of Duty together.

It's every fanboy's dream to tea bag you while chillin in the back seat of their mom's ride

Rumor #3 Monster Hunter Tri-G will be announced for a US release soon

RR Predicts 95% True

Monster Hunter is all the rage in Japan.  If you're a gamer who lives in Japan and never heard of Monster Hunter, you're not really a gamer.  No game has been this popular since the Dragon Quest series with our fellow gamers of the East.  And just like Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter is slowly gaining a huge fan base in America as well.  With Tri being a smash hit on the Wii, and Tri-G getting praise as the game that saved the 3DS, I think you can expect Capcom to announce a US release of Tri-G very soon.  Heck, I'll go one step further and say that they'll even offer a special edition that comes packaged with a Circle Pad Pro.

You know you want me, I'm even better than the Wii version!

Rumor #4 Dragon Quest 7 will be remade for the 3DS

RR Predicts 75% True

Dragon Quest has been popular since the 80's in Japan, and while it's had a small fan base in the US for many years, it's starting to really increase in popularity.  Almost every Dragon Quest game before 8 has been remade for one system or another except for 7.  And this game is the one that needs a remake badly!  It was a great RPG at the time of it's release, however it was overlooked because the graphics weren't the best and people were foaming at the mouth over Final Fantasy VII.  If Square-Enix is going to slap you with another dose of Dragon Quest goodness before they release Dragon Quest X, you can count on this game being remade for your 3DS.

Dragon Quest VII was a PS1 game, but looks like a SNES game.  A remake with the 8/9 graphics style would be completely awesome...and in glorious 3D!

That's all for today's Rumor Radar, I'm sure I'll have some more for you very soon!  Until then, let's all see how these rumors pan out!

'Retro City Rampage' Looks Awesome!

Check out this trailer for the upcoming Retro City Rampage game being released on nearly every system in the very near future.

8-bit gaming never looked so good

Wow, does that look great or what?  RCR looks to be a top down open world game like the original Grand Theft Auto that has a ton of old school references in there.  How many can you spot?  Here's a few I saw without studying the video too hard:

1. Skate or Die
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
3. Contra
4. Bionic Commando
5. The Legend of Zelda
6. Guerrilla War
7. Metal Gear
8. Paper Boy

I can't wait to play through the entire game and see if I can spot all the references, and it looks like I'm going to have a blast trying to do it!  This game looks incredibly fun!  Expect to be gunning your way through Retro City Rampage in May!

PSP Games Look Great on Vita

Somebody made this animation showing a Dark Stalkers game running on both PSP and the Vita.

I never realized how terrible the ghosting is on PSP until now

As you can see, the Vita's far superior screen makes this PSP game look incredible.  The graphics are sharper, the colors stand out more, and best of all, the ghosting is minimal compared to the PSP.  Nicely done, Vita!

Vita Games: Buy 2, Get 1 Free!

Wow!  It doesn't get any better than this!  Hurry to either Amazon.com or your local Target store to get a early jump on your Vita collection.  Any time you can get free games is great!  Click the link right below to take you to the Amazon page.

Amazon Vita Deal

Everyone Loves Speed Runs! (Super Mario Bros)

DreamCast's 'Seaman' Coming to 3DS?

According to the Japanese news outlet, Nikkei Inc., it is.  The 1999 DreamCast hit is just the first of Nintendo's plans to revive games from former rival publishers.  While there are not many details at the moment, it does seem that we will eventually see Seaman on the 3DS.  When that will happen, as well as if the US has a possibility of seeing a release is currently unknown.

Great, just when we thought the stupid jokes were dead and buried...

PlayStation Vita Makes it's US Debut Wednesday!

Hello!

The Vita hits stores soon in the US and people are excited!  Sony's high end handheld will be the perfect competition (or companion) to Nintendo's 3DS.  The Vita will ship two different models.  One using just WiFi to connect to the internet, the other adding the option to connect via AT&T's 3G network (of course data rates will apply) as well as GPS features.  The 3G Vita w/ GPS will start at $299.99 while the WiFi only version will see a price of $249.99.  Whichever version you get is totally up to your personal preferences.  Most gamers should be comfortable with the WiFi only version, while the hardest of hardcore who are always on the go might want to look into data plans for the 3G featured version of the Vita.  Regardless of which version you decide to get, you can expect these features on all PS Vita systems:

• 5" OLED screen that displays 16 million colors.
• Dual Analog Sticks
• Six Axis Motion Sensor
• Touch Sensitive (The HD screen will be a touch screen, there is also a touch pad on the back of the system)
• Front and Rear Cameras
• Cross Play (An interesting feature that allows you to play your PlayStation 3 from your Vita)
• Able to play all your PSP games your purchased on PSN and some of them will have the option to take advantage of the Vita's second analog stick.

The Vita sounds pretty solid and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.  It's always exciting to see new systems hit the market, and it's a great time to be a hand held gamer with the HD Vita as well as the 3DS bringing mini powerhouses to the market.

The only potential drawback of the Vita right now seems to be it's battery life.  It seems you can only get 3-5 hours of play time before you have to charge it.  

Hope everyone who gets a Vita in the next few days enjoys it!  Feel free to leave comments about what you think of the system!

3DS Fastest System to Reach 5 Million Units Sold!

Nintendo is still king of the sytem sellers as the 3DS beat Nintendo's former champion, the DS, to become the biggest and fastest selling video game system in Japan.  Many skeptics were saying that the 3DS would not do so hot due to the rise of smart phones and their brand of mobile gaming.  While Nintendo's new blockbuster was off to a shaky start, it quickly caught it's footing and showed the world why it's the best of the best.

Chart of sales for recent Nintendo systems in their first year.