Nintendo DS

Cute, but deadly

HIGH "All of Tera's towns are so impressed they're giving money!"

LOW Being one space away from a doorway and spinning a two. Then a four. Then a six.

WTF The walking undead should not make me go "Awww!" and want to pinch their cheeks.

I try not to whore myself out too much, but I'm a sucker for a good Atlus game in general, and doubly so for Shin Megami Tensei games in particular. In lieu of my regularly-scheduled blog content, instead nibble on this preview for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor coming to the Nintendo DS.

The wife and I polished off Resident Evil 5 today. I've got to say that having co-op in more games these days is a fantastic option, and doubly so since players aren't required to go the splitscreen route if they've got the correct hardware.

Each player having their own screen in a game as visually rich as this one is a real treat. That's not to say the game itself is flawless, but I will leave further comment to the review. Turned it in this afternoon, so look for it soon.

Is the game industry in a state of arrested development? We present our take on Heather Chaplin's incendiary GDC presentation. Plus, the proliferation of co-op, the viability of OnLive, and lessons learned from Leisure Suit Larry. With Chi Kong Lui, Mike Bracken, David Stone, and Tim Spaeth.

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Topic and Game References:

• Final Fantasy 11
• OnLive
• Resident Evil 5
• Heather Chaplin on "Burned by Friendly Fire: Game Critics Rant" GDC 2009 Panel
• Fable
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• Madworld
• Gears of War 2
• Leisure Suit Larry

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

The wife and I are doing co-op in Resident Evil 5 right now. Haven't finished it yet, but I'd say that we are at least halfway through, if not a little further.

Gotta say, it's fun enough and a good rental, but I think anyone who complains about the control system is justified and there are a number of other issues that just don't make any sense. For example, you can buy all sorts of guns and life-up items between missions, but not ammo? Instead, it's somehow better to have players breaking barrels (a truly fresh idea, indeed) to find boxes of ammunition scattered throughout tribal huts and swampland?

Been spending some time playing Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure on DS lately.

It's been getting quite a bit of positive praise from people whose opinions I usually put some stock in, and I'm glad to report that it's as good as they suggest. I won't talk about it too much since I'm contemplating a review, but I will say that it's certainly worth a purchase for anyone who can appreciate tightly tuned platforming and some straightforward puzzle action. The game is certainly more than the sum of these parts and combines very well together, and honestly, I'm little bit mystified as to how EA ended up publishing something of such quality.

Picked up Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on DS a couple of days ago. Tim Spaeth from the podcast was raving about it, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe the words "game of the year" were in there somewhere. I hadn't originally intended on picking it up, but after hearing his praise I decided to take the plunge since I had a little extra trade credit on hand. In terms of production it's certainly got everything nailed down tight and I am impressed by the ability of programmers to pack so much onto the DS, but in all honesty, I got quite bored of it almost immediately.

If you're my age (37 later this year) then odds are you and your friends spent a large portion of your childhood lusting after Alyssa Milano. Let's face it—was there really any other reason to watch Who's the Boss? I rest my case.

Variety is reporting that Milano has been hired to voice the female lead in the game, which sees the return of the entire original cast, minus Sigourney Weaver (who declined the offer to return). When asked about replacing Weaver, Milano offered the following:

"Obviously, fans of the movie are going to miss Sigourney Weaver. I have so much respect for that character in the movie that I hope I do the position that she is in justice. I was just flattered to be asked to be part of Ghostbusters."

Milano will be voicing the character of Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, the brainy guest curator of a "World of Gozer" exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

Ghostbusters hits video game retailers on June 16th. It's available for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS.