As if people weren’t playing long enough.  Japan is known for releasing some pretty radical and sometimes very innovative stuff.  This time, the land of the rising sun is bringing us “Game Suppli”, a new supplement designed to prolong the endurance of the most fanatic video game players. 

According to their site’s advertisement, “We concentrated on developing a supplement for those who love games.”  Apart from the pill, the site sells a variety of items for gamers.

The pills come in two forms: blueberry tablets that help those tired gamer’s eyes and transparent capsules containing Docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, a fatty acid that supposedly enhances concentration.

While the drug isn’t certified to work as advertised, the prospects of video game dopers isn’t one I am a fan of.  If you need to drink something like this to keep playing it just means you are playing too much. 

[Source: Reuters]

Lets face it, Sonic’s entry into the 3D realm has been pretty much rubbish.  It’s only reasonable that when the trailer of Sonic Unleashed was released, it had a number of people (including me) feel rather skeptical about the game.

Thankfully, the people behind this game is hell bent into not making the same mistake twice.  According to Yoshihisa Hashimoto, the game’s lead designer, the game has been developed from scratch, and will not follow the past few Sonic games.  He said:

As a development team, we originally started off this project planning to create Sonic Adventure 3″, Hashimoto revealed to the magazine. “In our minds, this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series. It has no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog [on PS3/Xbox 360] or Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Now that is one less thing to worry about.  All we can do is wait and play the game.

[Source: CVG]

I’ve been playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the past 2 weeks or so and boy, sleep has become a whole lot more irrelevant.

Hmmm in case you didn’t know, SSBB features characters from almost all Nintendo games to duke it out for multiplayer glory. Plus, it features Snake and Sonic. How awesome is that?

Ehermmm back on point. After the 4 trillionth match, a sharp realization has occured to me (just after hearing the news of a new Mario Kart):

NINTENDO NEEDS A NEW FRANCHISE.

The Wii’s only notable games right now are just revitalized franchises that carried over from its predecessor, the Gamecube - which is the sucessor of the N64 which followed the footsteps of the SNES (you get my point) . These are:

1. Super Mario Galaxy - which came from Super Mario Sunshine which came from Super Mario 64

2. Super Smash Brothers Brawl - which came from Super Smash Brothers Melee which spawned from Super Smash Brothers

3. The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess - from the Phantom Hourglass, Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time… and yes, if you want to be a nitpicker, The Legend of Zelda of the NES.

4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - which came from the Metroid Prime series for the Gamecube and of course, Super Metroid for the SNES.

5. Mario Kart - Mario Kart -> Mario Kart 64 -> Mario Kart

If you think about it, (with a little research) the last "new" franchise Nintendo gave birth to was Pikmin, which was released during 2001, later followed by Pikmin 2. It has been almost 4 years since the release of Pikmin 2 and Captain Olimar and his brightly colored allies are nowhere to be seen.

Will Pikmin be revitalized? Hope so

Sure, you might argue that maintaining franchises is the lifeblood of the industry and quite honestly, I agree wholeheartedly. The 360 wouldn’t be the 360 without the solid fan base created by Halo. People stand by their PS3s with the hope and glory that Metal Gear Solid 4 will bring to the beleaguered console. The Wii, on the other hand is running out of cows to milk. By my count, all that is left is the Mario Kart series… well, unless they try to revive the Donkey Kong, Kid Icarus, and God-willing, the Pikmin series.

As ironic as it is, perhaps Nintendo requires a new "Mario Killer", don’t you think?

Not THAT kind of Mario Killer…. ugh. 

Bottomline is… You can only cannibalize yourself for so long before you run out of limbs to gnaw on….

Madness?!

Okay I’ll stop right there. I’m a frequent Ebay shopper and seeing bizarre things everyday on the site is nothing new. Today, I came accross something so eccentric I don’t know if this art should be hated or appreciated. Halo’s mighty green-armored Spartan, The Master Chief, has become…a pony.

Optimus Prime: Hey! You’re no Transformer!

Anyway, buffoonery aside, this piece of “art” is being auctioned on Ebay. So if ever you have a friend who’s a Halo fan at the same time crazy about ponies, give them a heads up about this customized figure. Here’s a short description by the seller:

“This is a OOAK Master cheif [sic] in His MJOLNIR IV armor as seen in HALO 3.
He is fully sculpted with Apoxie sculpt. The armor has been weathered, to give it an authentic battle look.
He also won second place in the Kentucky anime/gaming/comic custom pony contest.”

W-h J: Imagine Barbie riding on a Master Chief Pony…

(Sources: Gaming Today, Ebay)