http://www.cybergamezone.com/ en-gb 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 doa@nospam.com hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1027.52 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA CTA Wings for the Nintendo WiiThe CTA Wings are designed to be used for one specific mini-game for Wii Fit Plus game called Bird's-Eye Bull's-Eye. According to The Escapist, the Wings are promised to let you "truly experience what its like to be a bird". How does it accomplish this? It's simple: you take these "wings" that look like over-sized pot holders, slip your hands and arms through the loops, strap on the Wings, and then flap your arms up and down like a bird while holding a Wii Remote.That's right, the CTA Wings do nothing except make you look even more ridiculous, and all for the sake of a single minigame on a popular title for the Wii. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1026.52 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Gamer GrubIt turns out that the 1980s don't have a complete lock on ridiculous video game related food items. Gamer Grub was introduced as a "performance snack formulated especially for gamers" because it was engineered to be grease-free and crumb free so that you wouldn't clog up your keyboards or gunk up your controllers. The Gamer Grub package was designed to be torn open and tilted directly at your open mouth so that you could keep playing with your free hand.As if the one-handed junk food that fed into gamer stereotypes (as well as gamer waistlines) wasn't bad enough, the names of the flavors were laughable. With flavors like Action Pizza, Racing Wasabi, Strategy Chocolate, and Sports PB&J, Gamer Grub marketing made the promoters of GoGurt look like geniuses in comparison.Wii Party StationThe Wii Party Station demonstrates why video games and food just don't seem to work well together. It featured a hand fan unit to cool off sweaty palms, a tiny storage tray, and four separate LED screens -- presumably for keeping score. But what drove this accessory from the boring into the ridiculous were its additional features: four plastic cup holders with freezable liners, and a shallow bowl in the center to store chips and dip.While storing greasy chips in a chintzy plastic bowl atop a unit that has a hand fan out of a bowling alley might seem to be the key reasons this product idea was sent back to the drawing board after a much-hyped release, its makers reportedly blamed rising prices of oil (and consequently plastic) instead. So the world has been spared this plastic monstrosity...for now.Sega Dreamcast Fishing RodReleased in 1998 alongside the inexplicably popular Sega Bass Fishing video game, this official Sega accessory attempted to make the typical fishing video game more realistic by releasing a controller shaped like a fishing rod and reel. Unfortunately, since Dreamcast games didn't officially support any sort of controller vibration or motion controls, all this gave you was a more frustrating experience. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1025.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom PomsKobian USA released this Nintendo Wii accessory last year, hoping to ride the popularity of cheerleading games on the Wii. For the low, low price of 20 dollars, the Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms can be strapped onto the end of your Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers, and... do......well, that's it. You've now paid 20 dollars for cheaply made pom-poms that dangle off of your Wii controllers and do nothing. And if you bought this set hoping to make the most popular cheerleader series, We Cheer, more fun? Well, you are going to have to buy a second set. The Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms set has one attachment for a Wii Remote and one attachment for the Nunchuck controller, but the We Cheer series uses two Wii Remotes simultaneously http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1024.52 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA U-ForceReleased in 1989 by once-popular publisher Broderbund, the U-Force was a controller for the Nintendo Entertainment system that unfolded like a laptop computer, and used infrared beams and flat panel sensors to translate a player’s motions into button presses. It sounded unbelievably futuristic when it was announced, and television commercials showed clips of gamers unleashing devastating right-left-right punch combinations in Mike Tyson's Punch Out by throwing actual punches.In practice, the infrared beams were very weak. The motions required a lot of effort to even register, and in many cases, the U-Force made a video game even more difficult to control. It proved to be a critical flop, even years later when IGN named it one of the 10 Worst Controllers of All Time. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1023.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Released in 1999 in Japan, the Pocketstation was a memory card for the Sony Playstation console that featured an LCD screen, flash memory and a built-in real-time clock, and could play simple games. It first came to the of US gamers when it was announced that Final Fantasy VIII's US release would retain the Pocketstation mini-game present in the Japanese version.Eager gamers who paid exorbitant prices to import one were rewarded with the ability to play a Chocobo-themed mini game... and that was about it. After you had paid more than a Game Boy or a Playstation memory card to get a much tinier screen with games that weren't all that fun, and a memory capacity no better than the cheapest memory card, you can understand why most importers were disappointed. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1022.52 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Nintendo Cereal SystemReleased by Ralston in 1989, the Nintendo Cereal System was a limited-edition cereal designed to cash in on the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The box of cereal was divided into two halves. One half had Super Mario Bros.-inspired fruit-flavored Mario pieces, along with mushrooms, Koopa Troopas, Bowsers, and Goombas. The other half promoted The Legend of Zelda and had berry-flavored cereal shapes of Link, along with other items from the video game like shields, boomerangs, hearts and keys.The cereal itself was bland and unexciting, tasting like an even sweeter Trix knockoff, but that wasn't really the main selling point. The back of the box featured Nintendo trading cards, Nintendo stickers and a contest entry to win a Super Mario Bros. cereal bowl, or a Nintendo Power Pad.Though the cereal was only produced for one year, the flavor of nostalgia is still strong with the gaming enthusiasts of today. Vintage boxes of the Nintendo Cereal System often reach a hundred dollars or more on Ebay. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1021.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Based on his portrayal in the breakout documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," classic game expert Billy Mitchell isn’t exactly the world's most likable guy. But at the International Video Game Hall of Fame's inaugural event, he proved that when it comes to video game chops, he's still tops.Mitchell reclaimed the official Donkey Kong world record by amassing 1,062,800 points in the legendary barrel-hopping platformer, putting him ahead of former record holder Hank Chien by a mere 1,100.But he didn’t stop there. Shortly after setting the new Kong mark, Mitchell went after the ape's lesser known son, racking up 1,270,900 in Donkey Kong, Jr. to claim that record, too. It took Mitchell 2 hours and 42 minutes to set the Donkey Kong mark and 3 hours and 58 minutes to top Donkey Kong, Jr.Why go after both records? You could say Mitchell was just caught up in the moment."I remember a lot of celebration; hugs, kisses and a lot of hooting and hollering," he said in a release. "Once that died down, I stood there looking at Donkey Kong Jr. and thought 'there's one more thing I have to take care of'."In "King of Kong," Mitchell was portrayed as the bad guy of the competitive classic gaming world, snubbing up-and-coming rival Steve Wiebe, a math teacher from Washington. Wiebe traveled to numerous locations to play Mitchell at Donkey Kong, including Mitchell's home town, but Mitchell repeatedly refused to participate in an organized match.Undaunted, Wiebe beats Mitchell's existing Donkey Kong record in the movie's closing scenes, a record that would stand until Mitchell retook the crown in 2007. Chien stepped into the pair's to-and-fro battle by taking the crown in February, and his record stood until Mitchell's recent triumph. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1020.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA As always for assistance with a CMS visit the community sites. E107 can be found at e107.orgFiles are available for download from there and here.Files Available in Downloads are:e107 0.7.22 Full install (.zip)e107 0.7.21 to 0.7.22 Upgrade (.zip)e107 0.7.15 to 0.7.22 Upgrade (.zip)e107 0.7.x to 0.7.22 Upgrade (.zip)e107 0.6175 to 0.7.22 Upgrade (.zip)Back up your site and database as always. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1019.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA If you’ve ever swapped a gem in one of the popular Bejeweled puzzlers, then you’re well aware of its addictive "match 3"-style gameplay. From computers to consoles, handhelds to smartphones, social networking sites and even airplane seatbacks and scratch-off lottery tickets, the franchise has appeared pretty much everywhere. But there is a lot more to learn about Bejeweled -- which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary -- than just matching gems.1. It's a money machine.Developer PopCap Games originally tried to sell the rights to Bejeweled for just $40,000 -- but found no takers. Instead, they decided to self-publish. When Bejeweled debuted in 2000, it was initially a browser-based game titled Diamond Mine, and the beta testers were the moms of the three co-founders. That turned out to be a smart move: according to PopCap, the game has generated well over $350 million dollars, establishing itself as one of the most lucrative game franchises ever. Despite it being a decade old, the game continues to sell somewhere in the world every 4.3 seconds.2. It can be beaten.Barely. In fact, only one person has ever officially completed Bejeweled 2: Mike Leyde, a 57-year old steel contractor from Riverside, California. In 2009, Leyde achieved the highest score possible -- 2,147,483,647 points -- after playing for more than 2,200 hours. Mike first discovered Bejeweled in 2005 when his son Brian bought him the game. Bejeweled 2 wasn’t designed to show a higher number than this, so his game simply showed a blank where the score would go.3. It's voiced by its maker.The deep-talking narrator in Bejeweled 2 – you know the one – is none other than Jason Kapalka, Bejeweled’s designer and chief creative officer of PopCap, who founded the company in 2000 along with Brian Fiete and John Vechey. Kapalka’s voice was modulated to make it sound deeper in the game. Prior to PopCap, Kapalka spent five years at casual game site pogo.com, and before that, the Canadian was a columnist for Computer Gaming World magazine.4. It spawned hundreds of imitators.Bejeweled is considered the original "match 3" game, though more than 200 knock-offs have surfaced over the years. While there are a few official sequels – namely, Bejeweled 2 (2004), Bejeweled Twist (2008) and Bejeweled Blitz (2009) – PopCap has rarely “reskinned” the game for promotional purposes. One was for the animated feature film The Ant Bully, and another time for -- believe it or not -- the Pork Advisory Board, featuring pork products on the board instead of colored gems.5. It's sociable.Bejeweled Blitz, the 1-minute Facebook adaptation of the game playable on both computers and iPhone/iPod Touch, attracts more than 3 million players per day. Collectively, that fan base spends half a billion hours per year playing at the rate of about 100 million games per day. That means plenty of tips, too: more than 2,000 videos of Bejeweled Blitz strategies, tricks and cheats have been uploaded to YouTube. http://www.cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1018.51 2010-09-09T23:29:12-04:00 DOA Buzz up! According to Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime, entering the next gaming dimension might not be a great idea for all players.Speaking to Kotaku during the E3 2010 conference, Fils-Aime warned that very young children shouldn't play 3D systems -- including the company's upcoming 3DS handheld, which boasts full 3D visuals without requiring special glasses."We will recommend that very young children not look at 3D images," he told the site. "That's because, [in] young children, the muscles for the eyes are not fully formed... This is the same messaging that the industry is putting out with 3D movies, so it is a standard protocol."Fils-Aime believes children "under seven" should avoid using 3D technology. That could prove problematic for Nintendo, a company bursting with kid-friendly brands destined to act as showpieces for their 3D-enabled portable. The good news? The 3DS isn’t solely a 3D device; players can use a slider to toggle the intensity of the 3D effect. Turning 3D "off" renders the image in traditional flat 2D.The 3DS, which is due out by March of next year, enjoyed rave reviews by the lucky few who experienced it firsthand at E3. Nintendo hopes the device will ultimately take the wind out of 3D leader Sony's sails, although Sony boss Kaz Hirai considers the 'naked eye' portable to be "imprecise."