So far, reactions have been mixed over Jeff Minter’s newest opus Space Giraffe, most likely because the game has some flaws that the average gamer might not be able to overlook. You play the game as a giraffe, in space, shooting your way through levels in a manner not entirely unlike Minter’s most famous game, even though the first line in the tutorial clearly states, “This is not Tempest.” While it isn’t exactly the same, it is pretty similar.

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It seems like chip musicians are a dime a dozen these days. While the genre as a whole may tend to blend together for the untrained listener, but there have been certain artists that have managed to stand out from the crowd for different reasons. Paza did a handful of remixes for Beck, Nullsleep seems to be the most well-known 8bitpeoples artist, and Bubblyfish is the talented lady of the group. With such a niche audience and sound, it’s hard for new artists to make a name for themselves; however, with the release of his latest “album,” Vegavox, Alex Mauer may have just put himself on the map.

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The recently released Xbox Live Arcade game Bomberman LIVE is a homecoming of sorts for this long-loved franchise. Fans of the series have been dropping bombs for almost 25 years now, and the newest version appears to be the first one in a long time that is a worthy update to the franchise.

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Some might consider the biggest announcement from Nintendo this year to be Wii Fit, and the Wii Balance Board; Nintendo certainly thinks it is. It was easily one of the biggest surprises of E3, and it might leave a lot of gamers wondering if it's right for them, and the answer is simple -- it just may not be. I was able to spend a few minutes getting a bit of a workout atop the board, and as amazing a piece of hardware as I thought it was, I can completely see how there are gamers out there that are just a lot more comfortable sitting on the couch. And that's OK, the Wii Fit isn’t really for them (although they might stand to lose a bit of weight while gaming – I sure can). From the time I spent with the game it’s really easy to see that Wii Fit is a great piece of software, built on top of an intriguing piece of hardware – the Balance Board -- but don’t you remember the Power Pad?

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Super Mario Bros. 2 has always been the anomaly in the SMB universe, since it wasn’t the original sequel (you needed a Famicom to play that one). Much like my thoughts on Punch-Out!!, there have always been a handful of questions left unanswered.

1. What’s the deal with Wart, and where’s he been? The same goes for Mouser, Fryguy, Triclyde , and Clawgrip. They should totally have made an appearance in a Mario Kart game by now.
2. What makes Shy Guy and Birdo so special? They have reappeared, and they both kinda suck.
3. Why did that face chase you when you stole the key? Was it his house key or something?
4. Why is Toad so awesome?
5. Floating Princess? That doesn’t even make any sense- SHE COULD HOVER!

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Since the Wii was released there have been a multitude of peripherals that have been released, and it seems that there's actually been more than average due to the success of the console. In terms of peripherals, I'm generally not a huge fan; they just add to the gaming clutter in my apartment. However, one company has truly created something that every single retro gamer with a Wii must have. So thank you Retrozone for your Retroport, because I can finally play my NES and SNES Virtual Console games with my NES and SNES controllers, and it actually makes a difference.

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PC gaming and me -- we've ve never really mixed. I think it has something to do with the fact that I can't rely on my left hand for anything other than the thumb (but oh how good a thumb it is). Maybe it's because every time I time I try to use my keyboard it melts a little and gets all over my hands.

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When cart racing just doesn't do it for you any more, maybe it's time you turned to spring-coiled mini car racing (although that doesn't quite roll off the tongue as easily). Mad Tracks is the newest addition to the previously nonexistent list of Xbox Live Arcade racing games. Who knows why developers apparently think cars don't make for good downloadable content? Either way, Mad Tracks is a welcome addition to XBLA, but it might be targeted a bit more to the casual racers out there.

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Apparently, I?m the designated Pac-Man enthusiast for MTV.com. So much so, that my co-workers thought it would be a good idea for me to actually play against (read: get destroyed by) the newly crowned Pac-Man World champion, Carlos Romero, in an upcoming episode of our videogame show, The G-Hole. So what happened?

It?s kinda sad; I wasn?t even close. I barely broke 90,000 points in fives minutes of the Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Carlos scored somewhere in the realm of 170,000. I'll admit that he's far superior to me, but he also had a whole day (and an entire tournament?s worth) of practice. It was the first time I even saw the game...

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Pac-Man has made more than a few video game appearances since the early '80s. Even though he?s appeared in what seems like hundreds of derivations of the original he?s never really stepped too far out of his rotund role as a pellet-chomping ghost hunter. Unlike other video game mascots (who've played so many sports they're going to the Olympics this year), the Pac's hefty weight hasn't really let him step up his game. However, this could all change with the release of Smash Court Tennis 3 for the PSP in early July. It looks like Pac-Man might be able to shed some pounds on the courts as the star of one of the training mini-games.

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