Setting a first for a mainstream handheld, the PSP will gain exclusive downloadable titles when the service goes live next year. Standard fare for PS3 users, these fresh titles will join original PlayStation games now available if you own a PS3 and can access the hardware via the portable.

Games are planned to be up to half the size of UMD titles, which come in 1.8 gigs. Thankfully, memory stick prices have dropped dramatically since the PSP’s launch.

While incomplete, this little YouTube video tracks gaming consoles over time. It’s older so you’ll see the Revolution instead of the Wii, but it’s a nice introduction to the industries history. When you’re done, make sure to read up on some of the hardware that’s missed like the Game.com, 3DO, CD32, TurboGrafx, Microvision, Vectrex, and 32X (amongst others).

It’s Friday afternoon, so I figured everyone would need a little Halo comedy to kick off the weekend. Perusing YouTube for a minute or two will yield all kinds of crazy Halo 3 videos, including tutorials, glitches, and other general tomfoolery. This particular video is my favorite so far. The level of awesomeness involved here is off the charts. Check it out for yourself. Oh, and take extra care when handling traffic safety devices and/or ultra velocity projectile weapons this weekend.

Happy Friday.

Well, this definitely isn’t always true. However, 2007 is the year of the shooter games. Every gamer anticipated the release of Halo 3 for months, if not longer, but the excitement do not end there. One could criticize the product release tactics of the Epic Games, but where they lack in the strategy of marketing, the may make up for with the performance of the soon-to-be-released Unreal Tournament 3.

Let’s start with the downside of this release…

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After a massive announcement of the return of Bionic Commando earlier this week, Capcom has again dove into their vaults to (finally) give us another title in the Street Fighter series. Sadly, we know nothing in terms of details, such as console or even if the game will stick with a 2-D presentation.

In a perfect world, the game would animate like the criminally underappreciated Street Fighter III (Editor’s Note: SF III 3rd Strike is the ultimate iteration) with high resolution sprites. Then again, this isn’t a perfect world and we all know of their recent fighting game history including Capcom Fighting Evolution or the Street Fighter EX series. Check out the announcement trailer below which shows no gameplay, but a nicely animated fight between Ken and Ryu.

 

While not in the same league as fellow fighters such as Street Fighter, the World Heroes franchise was short lived on the Neo Geo hardware. It spawned four total games, ranging from the nearly unplayable original to the refined and superb finale, World Heroes Perfect.

Unfortunately, the series may stay obscure even with a compilation on the PlayStation 2. Whoever thought someone would pick up a game with the title of World Heroes Gorgeous should probably find a new line of work… tomorrow. All four games are included, but with a title like that, who would even know?

Do you remember the days of constantly blowing and cleaning out every game cartridge about thirty times before actually getting to play the game? The frustration of your favorite games giving you problems, no matter how well you took care of them? Fortunately for many of you, the answer may be “no”.

However, many of the top gamers out there did get their start on the old systems such as Nintendo. Whether or not you remember those old games and wish you could get the old system up and running, or you were never able to experience them, the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live! have produced the best solution.

You may have noticed the lists of games and demos in the Xbox Live! dashboard. Do not forget to checkout the classic games. It is an amazing experience to download a game and within minutes, be playing your favorite old game without the flaws of the original system. Even better, most of these games come with multiplayer capabilities! If you think you are the only one that loved Street Fighter II, you will find how wrong you are on Xbox Live!

There is hours of fun packed in to the classics like SF II when you can challenge the best from around the world, right in your own living room. The list continues to expand as they add more and more games. In these times, with the ever expanding and developing high graphic online games, don’t forget to visit your roots. The challenge is endless while you play the masters of the old. See for yourself, and download your favorite. This list includes the original Doom, which was one of the first 3-D multiplayer games. No more dialing up to your friends phone through a DOS-Prompt with slow connections and many errors.

If you are over age 24, you may know what we are talking about. Otherwise, you should be getting online and seeing what has led us to the Halo 3 era.

The web is clearly the best resource for finding information about your favorite video games. Whether it is cheat codes, strategy guides, file downloads, or just the latest breaking news - most turn to the web. With that in mind I thought it was necessary to take a look at some of the biggest gaming resources out there.

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The past week has seen a flurry of content for both online services. PlayStation 3 fans landed a stack of demos, including Ratchet and Clank, Conan, and NHL 2K8. Everyday Shooter, a long awaited indie title, also hit the Network for $9.99.

Xbox 360 online users gained a glimpse of Virtua Fighter 5, though the demo only allows for local multi-player. The hyped online features are obviously on hold until the final release. Also, as if you weren’t busy enough, the wildly addictive Puzzle Quest arrives on the Live Arcade, packed with online multi-player that will cause you to miss even more holiday hits than you were going to already. Yaris, a free downloadable adver-game for Toyota, will from here on be referred to “The Game We Shall Not Speak of.”

You won’t be prompted for any update, but Bungie has added much needed features to the insanely popular, ”$300 million in Bill Gates pockets” FPS Halo 3. Thankfully, the annoyance of the constantly appearing “Shotty/Snipers” in ranked play has been toned down and in an obvious move from there, it will no longer appear after being vetoed.

Other changes include 16 player Big Team Battles and more Slayer in Lone Wolf. Seriously though, the best change in all of this is the lessened screams of 12 year olds screaming “Veto! Veto! Veto!” every time Shotty/Snipers comes up. Consider it an added after effect.

Here’s a bonus link: The guys at Team Milestone have aggregated instructions on how to score the elusive Recon Armor in Halo 3. Check it out.

Sega takes a stab at the strategy genre with the release of a beta for Universe at War. With a release date only a few weeks away, how much benefit is there in a beta anyway? Consider it a sneaky way to shovel a demo to you while making you think you’re contributing.

Notable inclusions include cross-platform play between console and PC owners, tried successfully earlier this year with Shadowrun. The download is only available to PC owners however, and can be found at Gamespot via this link.

A Halo 3 video has been making its way around the net showing off one of the luckiest shots I have ever seen in just about any multiplayer FPS to date. Checkout the video below:

Try to find one Halo 3 video better than this. You won’t. Whether by sheer luck, proper alignment of moon and the stars, or staging, this is the greatest grenade launch the game has ever seen.

Performed on the fun stage The Pit, the air vent is used in a logical way (as you can also do with man cannons and such) to pop a player half way across the map. From the player:

I BlackShadowMist pull off one of the luckiest sticks in Halo 3 history, which boils down to total insanity. A Cross-Map, off wall, air lift, sticky. With 99.999% of luck involved. Cannot reattempt and succeed.

Nice work…but this only sets the bar higher for the next video BlackShadowMist.