Hey, even hardcore gamers need a break from mangling other players online, playing God or dorking out in a dank corner of their room. Smell the fresh air… SNIFF… it’s sweet! Drink it all in, friends, for today, the atmosphere is heavily laden with deadly amounts of LOVEEEEEEE. You might also notice that the grass is a lot crunchier, the birds chirpier and the weather a whole lot more forgiving. No, you’re not in the Twilight Zone… well, you COULD say that you are.

Yep, it’s the day of good ol’ Valentine.  Today is the day when the whole world is awash with heart-shaped felt-papers, overly-priced roses that are hawked on the streets, and hearts that beat a million times faster. Suddenly, everyone is a small-time Shakespeare and hopeful Casanovas.

We here at Sumodownload have had our fair share of Valentine’s day shenanigans and now, I’m dedicating precious bandwith to help your day of love become more… memorable.

1. Poetry = win. Do It Yourself = win. Ergo, Poetry + DIY = a healthy, heapin’ pile of love. Nothing melts a heart faster than a well-thought, well-written poem that professes your eternal love for your beloved. Even better, write your OWN poem on a Valentine’s card that YOU made.

2. I’m assuming that you have amassed pictures, memorabilia and mementos of your loved one. Why not make a scrapbook chronicling your relationship? Nothing beats walking down memory lane holding hands with the one you love.

3. If you’re a guy, cook her favorite food. If you can’t cook, TRY. They’ll love you even more for trying (plus they find it cute). If you’re still too stubborn, you can always take her to a restaurant that SERVES her favorite food. Lazy lout…

4. In an era of digital music, making a mix TAPE (yes… a tape. The one that you put in a TAPE DECK. Remember those?) is a cute, albeit a corny way of putting on the love. Even better if you buy your love a new… old boombox. Or anything that has a tape deck. Do they still make those? I don’t know.

5. Lastly, and probably the most important one of all is: Be original. Don’t do stuff that the whole world does. It’s not cool. Your love will think that you didn’t put that much time and effort into scheming and plotting the perfect Valentine’s Day. A high-priced gift doesn’t automatically equate to the most glorious V-day ever. Au contraire. It’s the little things that are remembered.

Be spontaneous, be clever, be smart, be thoughtful but most of all… BE SWEET.

Or you could just print out one of these game-themed cards.

Cute ainnit? For more, you can go to N&B:Art 

While Rock Band and Guitar Hero III are really fun games, but did you know that there was an alternative to paying big bucks for these games?

Enter Frets on Fire, an open source rhythm based game that really looks like Guitar Hero III.  Weighing in at a mere 37MB to download, this client is available as a free download via FileFront’s servers.  Yes that’s right folks!  It’s FREE!!!

The game will allow you to use your keyboard as a virtual guitar.  But fear not, if you have a Guitar Hero controller, that would work too. 

The game is available for Windows, Mac and Linux systems.  Click on the link below to download this fun game!

Electronic Arts has revealed in the cover of PC Gamer magazine that Red Alert 3 is in the works. The game will be the first new installment since the 2001 C&! expansion Command and Conquer Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge for the PC.

The original Red Alert and its sequel occurs in an alternate history where Adolf Hitler gets Assassinated before he can start the second world war. Joseph Stalin then invades Western Europe, resulting in a brutal war. Red Alert allows players to play as a member of the European resistance or as a Soviet general.

Red Alert 1 and 2 differed in the overall atmosphere of the game.  The first game was dead serious, while the second took on a more humorous approach.  I was a fan of the first game, but sadly, the second one didn’t spark much interest for me.  No details regarding  how Red Alert 3 will play has been released.  Hopefully it would be at least as good as C&C 3: Tiberium Wars.

It seems like the Tekken movie adaptation is now making some headway.  First there was a teaser poster for the film then a report that Dwight Little will be directing the film surfaced.

Now more is revealed regarding the cast of the film.  In a post on the fan forums of the official web site of actor Luke Goss, an announcement was made that Goss just signed a deal to play the part of British boxer Steve Fox.

Goss became famous in the mid-80s as a member of the British pop group Bros.  After the group broke up, he became an actor and has appeared in films such as Blade II and Charlie.

I’m still doubting how the film will come out though.  Dwight Little is credited for films such as Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Steven Seagal’s Marked for Death and Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home.  These are not exactly films I have raved about.

The horror adventure game Penumbra: Black Plague by Paradox Interactive and Frictional Games will be out tomorrow.  So what does this new game promise to deliver?  Here are some key features:

• Cutting-edge game engine featuring modern 3D and physics technologies: Adapted motion blur effects and a new unified lighting system with real-time lightning create great depth with a realistic atmosphere of psychological horror.
• Compelling and detailed story:Find the answers to questions of the mystery of Philip’s lost father throughout the game, with new explanations and a complete storyline wrap up.
• Highly interactive environments:Interact with any object not nailed to the ground! Focus on, pick up and move around objects through a simple drag and drop interface.
• Environmental sounds system: The sounds of the different environments are contributing to the atmosphere and give the player scaring hints of dangers.
• Puzzle solving challenges: Horror adventure game in puzzle-like style with bonuses and incentives to challenge the player throughout the game.

The game will be released in two versions.  The standard PC version will be released tomorrow.  If you are patient and want the ability to use a Novint Falcon controller, you will have to wait until April 16 when the HaptX Edition is released. 

In order to “purify” their youth’s online environment, China’s Ministry of Culture released a list of 10 recommended computer games for minors.  The 10 games were chosen based from scores given by the Chinese public, and the final list is made of games that the ministry deemed as “healthy” and can “enhance intelligence”.

The list comprises of five role playing games, four recreation and chess games and one educational game.  Some examples of these include Warring States II Online, Rainbow Island Online and Wonderlands of Learning and Games.  All of the games listed where made in China.

The ministry is trying to combat what they deem to be a growing problem of social problems such as game addiction, juvenile delinquency and the advocacy of brutality and perversion among minors by online violence and pornography.  According to them,  all of these come from an inadequately regulated Internet.

[Source: China View]

How the console war pans out is not only important to their respective fanboys and fangirls, but to the entire video game industry as well.  It’s the reason why analysts are getting paid big bucks just to give  their predictions on how the consoles will do this year. 

With millions of dollars being invested on each game, publishers need to know if making a game for a certain console will sell enough to regain skyrocketing development costs.  It’s only natural that they would be making their own forecasts.

It seems that analysts and publishers alike unanimously agree that the Wii will still be this year’s top-performer.  It only seems obvious that as more developers learn how to take advantage of the Wii’s control scheme and as more fancy peripherals come out, the Wii will still make strong sales.  The fact that the Wii is also the most affordable console out there makes it a hard to resist.

However, Electronic Arts and Activision are split between the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. 

Electronic Arts predicts that  the PlayStation 3 will tie with the Xbox 360 in the USA for this year with around 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles.  In the European front, EA predicts the PS3 will beat the Xbox by a large margin with 5-6 million consoles sold compared to the Xbox’s 1.5 to 2.5 million. 

Activision’s outlook isn’t as favorable to the Japanese console as EA’s.  They predict the Xbox to edge the PS3 by around 1 million units.

We can continue and speculate but there is no way of telling for sure how the consoles would do this year.  It’s just like that Super Bowl prediction gone wrong.  We will only know for sure when the year is over.

[Source: Daily Tech] 

Tron has been a classic since… well since it came out.  The original arcade game is already available from the Xbox Live Arcade.  Now Xbox 360 owners are getting more Tron fun with Discs of Tron. 

Disney Interactive Studios has announced that Discs of Tron will be coming to the XBLA on February 13.  The game involves trying to knock the villain Sark from his platform by launching discs at him. 

Several versions of the game will be available including the normal original mode and the enhanced mode with better graphics and sound.  Several multiplayer and co-op modes will also be available.

With the resurgence of Tron, I smell a movie coming…

You might get tired of hearing me say ‘07 was the MOST SUCCESSFUL gaming year in HISTORY with the Xbox360 catering to the hardcore while the Wii stood tall when it came to sales. The PS3 however, was the wall ornament of ‘07. Such a shame.

This year, on the other hand, I’m willing to bet my left nostril that the PS3 WILL make the console war much more interesting. Think of it as the Starcraft of console wars: Zerg (Wii - almost everyone has it), Terran (Xbox 360 - scrappy and cheap) Protoss (PS3, powerful hardware, takes an eternity to get started).

Personally, I believe that ‘08 is going to be the year of the PS3. All the great games that developers promised are coming… the MGS, the GTA, and the DMC (already released). With the blu-ray making the HD look like this generation’s betamax, it’s almost a no-brainer that Sony’s black box will make its presence felt. Fantastic.

Game Trailers posted a great video about what to expect this year. Let it load first, it’s 21 minutes of geek love.

A great point that was raised is "what’s next for the 360?" Personally, I agree with the rationale was behind the question. It IS true that ‘07 was 360’s flagship year and now, what do they do? They seem to have run out of software juice.

‘08 will be the year of exclusives. Ante up.

The Entertainment Consumers Association is not getting involved in the US elections.  According to its president Hal Halpin, not only does supporting a particular candidate goes against the gamers’ best interests but it is also illegal.

According to him:

The ECA is a 501(c)(4) non-profit membership org - an IRS designation that classifies the type of entity that we are and business that we do. It’s significant because that same classification prohibits us from backing any one party or politician. The rules have been further tightened recently, restricting us from promoting anyone (again, relevant because of our publications: GamePolitics, GameCulture, ECA Today, etc. which cover them when newsworthy).

But I don’t know that I would want us to [endorse a candidate] even if we could. The ECA represents ALL gamers, each with their own ethics, morals and perspectives. So apart from educating members about a candidate’s position as it relates to gaming, I’m not sure that it would be our place.

It’s a good idea overall to stay clear regarding issues such as these.  Although some of their sites may be considered political in nature, the ECA must ensure that they remain objective in their views and present the facts as is and not skewed towards or against a particular party.