Devil's Third, the next game from legendary Ninja Gaiden mastermind Tomonobu Itagaki, is on ice for now. The game, set to be published by THQ, will not come out before April 2013 and seems to be in jeopardy of coming out at all. During a quick chat with me at a THQ event today, Executive Vice President of Core Games Danny Bilson said that the company is looking for financial partners to finish the game. Itagaki's action game is an expensive proposition, Bilson said with a grimace that reflected his wish for the project to be on firmer ground.

Devil's Third is to be Itigaki's first game since leaving Tecmo, and unlike Ninja Gaiden, it places a focus on shooting over melee combat. The story and setting of the game are still shrouded in mystery, but when we first learned about it, Bilson described it as having a musical bent, since the "Devil's Third" is a reference to the tritone, a dissonant musical interval long associated with the Prince of Darkness.

A THQ spokesperson told me that the company is "looking at strategic opportunities on the title. As a project self-funded by THQ, that's not going to happen."If THQ finds a financial partner the game could still come out in later 2013, but it may no longer be under the THQ umbrella.

While some might take this as a bad omen for other upcoming THQ projects, Bilson said that the company's projects with Left 4 Dead co-creators Turtle Rock and Assassin's Creed visionary Patrice Desilets are well under way.

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China's first foray into creating a mainstream video game system is a solid try in the right direction, except the system isn't a game system, it's an Online Multimedia Motion-sensing Device. The eedoo CT-510 already exceeded my expectations when I first saw it, it did exactly what it set out to do, entertain while providing a work out. Now that I've had some time with the device we'll take a deeper look into China's first non-gaming game console.

Hardware Aesthetics
From an aesthetic point of view, the eedoo CT510 is a very simple machine. Dressed in white aluminum housing, the device almost looks exactly like a DVD player, so much so that just looking at the main system and the accompanying remote control makes it scream DVD player.

The back of the CT510 has various ports expected to come with a gaming system. You've got two USB 2.0 ports on the front and two on the back, a LAN port, the power port, a 3.5mm microphone jack, analog audio jacks, a 3D Sensor port for the 3D camera, and both VGA and HDMI support. Oddly enough the system does not come with a jack for composite video (my review unit came only with HDMI).

Looking at the 3D Sensor unit, the thoughts "Kinect rip-off" immediately comes to mind. The CT510 camera unit is a touch smaller than the Kinect and it doesn't sport its own microphone.

The jet black camera unit clashes with the all white system, so much so that it looks very odd to put them together. Luckily the system and the camera were meant to be apart.

Unfortunately eedoo has been keeping mum about the specs of the system, what we do know is that the CT510 has a built in dual-core CPU, a 250GB HDD and a 3D GPU. Playing the games on the system however tell another story.

User Interface
Unlike traditional home consoles, the CT510 only came with a regular remote control. The reason why it comes only with a remote and not a game console is because of two reasons. The first reason is because video game consoles are banned in China and having a controller will make it feel like a game console. The second is because motion sensing gets very tiring after a while.

When using the CT510, you can switch between both remote style and motion sensing; however you can not do both. To use to the motion sensing, the camera must pick up your movement, which sounds easier than it actually is. Before the camera can start tracking and interpreting motions as commands the player must first hold their right hand to the side and wave in a slow but exaggerated fashion. Once the player is "tracked" a little hand shows up on the screen acting as the pointer. After the initial process of tracking the rest is simple.

The bladed fan UI of the CT510 screams Xbox but it's simple. Moving left or right and stopping on a blade will change the screen to the next. There are a total of 6 screens available: game, apps, settings, store, photos and videos. Using either the remote or your hand, you can quickly access each page. In a similar fashion to connect, holding your hand still on an option will create a circle timer to show up, once the timer is filled the option will be selected. All in all the system UI is very plain and simple.

Games
Despite the fact that it isn't marketed as a video game console or marketed towards core gamers or gamers in general, the CT510 comes with 8 pre-installed games. The games are all very simple mini games designed to make the player move, and by move I really mean move.

The first game is a game called the Fun Park Adventure. Don't let its name fool you, it has nothing to do with fun parks, and it isn't very fun. As the only game in that comes in English, Fun Park Adventure was terrible. It was basically an on rails third person beat-em up. The player takes controls of one of 3 choose able characters all called "Dragons". The goal of the game is essentially beating up monsters and reaching the end to stop a demon infestation. Unfortunately the game is tedious and boring, and very graphically unpleasing.

A crowd favorite and a definite head turner is the the kung fu game aptly named Kung Fu. Kung Fu a 2D side-scrolling fighter super imposes the players image onto the game world. Despite the cheesy music and the PSP style graphics this was one of my favorite games on the CT510. The game is an extreme work out, the camera picks up nearly all the bodies movements and translating them into moves and attacks on screen. I was even able to use my butt to attack an enemy (of course this may just be a fluke as it only worked once).
* Update * user Pullus Pardus has bought to my attention that the Kung Fu game is actually Kung Fu Live . No wonder this game works. Good catch good sir, good catch.

Maya Fit, eedoo's answer to Wii Fit took up the most physical space and the longest time to set up. I was pretty much pooped by the time I actually launched the game. The game takes into account the players body measurements and creates a work out to help the player lose weight. With the addition of a Yoga mode that actually reads moves such as upward facing cat and downward facing dog, this is one of the better and more developed apps on the whole system. Unfortunately launching the game requires going through at least 7 pages of menus, by the time I was done filling out my information my right arm was sore.

Flyer's Story was just a waste of time. Nuff said. Another favorite of mine was Hole in the Wall this game was great fun and a great work out. Exactly as its name implies, the player must shape their body into different poses that fit into an oncoming wall. I was very surprised at how well the CT510 worked and how accurately it was able to capture my movements. In fact there some holes where I got the pose, but because I am fat, I couldn't get through the wall. This game was also a total blast with other people, it supports up to two players.

Unfortunately, it seems that for every fun game the CT510 has, there is a crap gaming waiting in the corner, case in point, Bumper Cars. Right next to Hole in the Wall on the main menu Bumper Cars is a very slow game with uninspired graphics and characters. The player holds their hands out like they are driving an imaginary car. Pushing your hands forward causes the car to accelerate and that is pretty much the only other thing that you can do. This game was another terrible creation that nearly made me stab myself in the eye balls.

The flagship title of the CT510, Green Exercise, is buried on the bottom half of the games menu. I personally believe the reason is because it looks too much like a Kinect game, so much so that the character color schemes are reminiscent of Kinect. Pretty much just like Wii Sports and Kinect Sports , Green Exercise is comprised of different smaller games. The game modes found in Green Exercise are boxing, soccer, rollerskating, parachuting and a brick break style ball game. The boxing game and the soccer games are both very fun and active but the other three are just okay. The rollerskating game and parachuting are very bland, kind of like cycling in "Wii Sports: Resort, but the brick break ball game was just plain old broken. The CT510 wasn't able to pick up which direction I was sending the ball, thus making the game a complete waste of time.

Finally the last game on the CT510 is the Dancing game Dance. This game is by far the biggest work out of the bunch. I believe If I purchased a CT510 and played the dancing game for a month, I would have abs like the female avatars in the game. One odd thing about the game is the fact that the on screen avatar isn't exactly mirroring your moves but instead meant to show you how to do the moves. Currently the game only has about 8 songs but according to eedoo more songs will be available for download.

Apps
According to eedoo, the biggest selling point of the CT510 are its apps. Currently only available through eedoo's on online store, the apps that the CT510 offers feel like glorified mobile apps. Of the notable apps there is a Sina Weibo mirco-blogging application, an online video application that links to China's Youpeng video service and a Disney education app. Unfortunately our review unit did not come with the finalized versions of many of the apps, I was unable to test out the video app and the Disney Online app. As of this posting the weibo app is only able to read and re-post, there is no original posting or commenting yet.

Wrap Up
Exceeding all of my wildest expectations by just working, the CT510 is a very impressive first for a no name Chinese company trying to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately for eedoo its 3,799 RMB (600 USD) price tag really kills it.

Eedoo's Victor Wang argues that the CT510 isn't vying for gamers at all, and that its value for its money is that it offers many more services such as online video streaming, an app store that is blooming, and an exercise machine, but still I don't see how they can justify a $600 US price tag especially when the Kinect and 360 combo is readily available at the gray market .

As a gaming console the CT510 is terrible, but taking into account that it is China's first console of its type and that it "isn't" a game console and the fact that the motion sensing actually works, it is acceptable. Should you spend $600 on it? I don't think so. If there was a price drop, say about 2000RMB ($316 USD) then I might reconsider. For now the CT510 is just an uber-expensive set-top all in one box that does everything but doesn't do anything great.

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It's an exciting time to be a gamer. E3 is around the corner, with Nintendo’s Wii U sure to be one of the major talking points. And rumours that Sony or Microsoft will also be showcasing new hardware crop up just as quickly as they can be strenuously denied by their PR departments. All this adds up to a period of excitement and speculation for the gamer, along with a touch of melancholy at the closing of yet another hardware generation.

The ending of a generation struck me as the perfect excuse for this year’s Screen Play poll. Previous polls had looked at favourite game franchises and the best game of the past five years. I thought this time it would be good to look beyond the games to the hardware behind it all.

The call was put out for submissions to answer one of the great gaming questions, namely, what is the greatest gaming system of all time. Response was strong, with top five lists flowing into SPECTRE (Screen Play Electoral Commission Tallying Rated Elements) Towers. Now the lists have been checked, tallied, votes tabulated, and the results are in! So without further ado, I present the top 20 gaming systems of all time.

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Fusible says that the avengers battle for earth was registered by Marvel Characters, Inc. last week. The URL is also mentioned on the nameservers for Ubisoft: nic1.ubisoft.com and nic2.ubisoft.

Thus far, the only Avengers game out there is Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook. Marvel said previously that their plans are much larger than just that one social game, though.

"We launched Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook; which is just the tip of the iceberg," TQ Jefferson, vice president of games production for Marvel, said in a recent interview. "This is the first in a much larger effort to support the Avengers franchise across not just one but multiple video game touch points. The Avengers are bigger than just one game, and we’re planning to allow consumers to enjoy The Avengers regardless of their preference in gameplay style or platform. Look for more announcements in the weeks to come."

It seems likely that a huge console game will be part of the plan. We are talking about a film that was hyped to the heavens, after all. It wouldn't feel right for Marvel not to milk the franchise in every way possible.

Maybe they missed a big opportunity by not releasing a console game on the same week that the film hit theaters. However, it could be a savvy business move to wait. Many tie-in games have the exact same plot as the film itself. The potential for spoilers might dampen enthusiasm for the film itself. Also, nothing makes you less jazzed up to see a film than a shitty game adaptation. The Avatar game made me a lot less excited for the film. Releasing the game after everyone's already seen the film minimizes that risk.

A long wait for an Avengers game could be a good thing for consumers, too. The reason that a lot of game adaptations of films suck is that companies rush these games so that their release coincides with the film's debut. Allowing the developers to finish the game at their own pace will hopefully result in a game that's actually worthwhile.

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I tend to get the idea that we’re in a zombie apocalypse right now. A very different one, mind you, than the one that has been pumped out so often in just about every entertainment medium imaginable. Among the most popular has been Robert Kirkman’s comic and recently television series The Walking Dead. The thing about The Walking Dead is that it’s more concerned with the people surviving the zombie onslaughts than the implications of zombies themselves. It’s a character-driven series through and through, and with Telltale’s latest release, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The studio behind the most-recent “Sam and Max” titles has created a new cast of characters to inhabit Kirkman’s world (along with some familiar faces), and this dialogue and atmosphere-heavy adventure game is a successful spin-off of the comic series.

As of this writing, only Episode One of the “Walking Dead Game” has been released, and it’s titled “A New Day.” The player takes control of Lee Everett, a man sitting in the backseat of a police vehicle when we meet him. The mystery of his past is one of the most compelling things about him, and “A New Day” does a fantastic job of putting him under distressing circumstances concerning that past. Needless to say, the eponymous walking dead make sure that he never makes it to wherever he was going, and he soon stumbles upon a helpless young girl named Clementine. Lee and Clementine are the two constants you can likely expect throughout your journey and the upcoming four episodes in the series, as this is a universe where characters are taken by the walkers left and right. These deaths often play into very tough moral choices throughout the game, and they’re bound to get tougher as the games go on. The key to these moral choices is that they are far from black and white. There are no good or bad characters in the game, just as there are no right or wrong choices. As a player, you decide how you would react in that situation based on your concept of morality, and in turn, it informs Lee’s character. The people that Lee stays with will react to each choice you make, and there isn’t a karma or “Paragon/Renegade” system to keep track of, just choice and consequence, and that is easily the strongest thing the game has going for it.

When you aren’t struggling to make difficult choices or talking to fellow survivors, you can move Lee around with the environment, pick up and use objects, and even defend yourself from the zombies when they get too close for comfort. These defense segments are often the tensest in the game, as they require decent timing and the circumstances Lee is in are always dire. They can be fairly shallow (which is unfortunately a complaint that can be lobbed towards much of the gameplay in “A New Day”), but the tension and animation make up for it.

In regards to where this game fits in in the “Walking Dead” canon, it happens just days after the outbreaks hit Georgia, which means that Rick is in the hospital and won’t be making a surprise, fourth-wall-breaking cameo appearance. The game’s aesthetic is certainly more in line with the comic’s art than the show’s realistic feel, and I feel that it serves the game better. I should first mention that the art (which is almost reminiscent of “Borderlands’” cel-shaded style) is wonderful but never feels too cartoony for the source material. It serves as a great contrast to the violence and the horror of the situation that Lee and Clementine find themselves in, as well as present a very unique take on the universe. That said, there are some animation hiccups here and there, but nothing to get worked up over.

The audio is, for the most part, an incredibly noteworthy part of the experience. I think, in particular, Lee’s voice actor was chosen perfectly, as his sentimentality hits all the right notes, as do his zombie-killing bellows. Clementine was cast well too, but I feel like she didn’t get enough of a role in this episode, which I hope will be remedied later in the series. The two cameo appearances I can remember (there may have been a third, but I’m not well-versed in the series’ mythology) don’t sound much like they do on the show, but that’s due in part to this game having been in development since before the first season aired. The new cast additions do a wonderful job, especially in a tense pharmacy talk-out (it makes more sense in context) near the halfway point of the game. I did notice, however, some pretty bad audio popping, mostly on a particular character, but I’m pretty sure everyone got hit with it at least once. It’s pretty jarring near the end of the game where Lee has a conversation with said character and all that you can hear is audio popping.

The game ends by reminding you of your choices and how many people made the same ones, as well as a sneak peak for the upcoming episode, “Starved for Help.” (I won’t be reviewing individual episodes after this, but when the full product is released, I’ll write something up on that.) The trailer was enough for me to want to play the rest of the series, but this introductory episode does a great job of bringing the “Walking Dead” franchise into the realm of gaming, and I simply cannot wait for Episode Two.

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Lenovo has launched its first home entertainment console, skirting a Chinese ban on gaming equipment by marketing it as a family exercise device.

The move puts Lenovo in direct competition with Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to capture market share in the unofficial Chinese console market. The device, developed by a Lenovo subsidiary called Eedoo, has been plagued by delays but went on sale in China this week for Rmb3799 ($604), nearly twice as much as the going rate for Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect.

China has more gamers than any other country in the world, but a decade-old ban on gaming consoles has meant that the most popular machines, like Microsoft’s Xbox, have never been launched officially in China. They are readily available for sale on the grey market but must first be smuggled in.

“In China this machine is the first of its kind – one that sells a gaming console through official channels,” said Sun Mengzi, gaming analyst with Analysys International. “It is hard to tell how successful it will be, but at least it will test the water and may encourage more gaming hardware producers to come in.”

The $17-billion global market for gaming consoles and handheld gaming machines is heavily dominated by Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation, according to Gartner.

Eedoo’s product, called the CT510, operates with motion-sensing cameras and comes with fitness games including kung fu and “family gym” titles.

“National policy bans the selling of gaming consoles, but the CT510 is a sports machine,” said Jack Luo, chief executive of Eedoo. “We don’t define it as a gaming console. The CT510 doesn’t have fighting, or the cruel and bloody games that are common in a normal gaming console.”

Mr. Luo added that the console can only be loaded with programs from Eedoo’s app store, which contains wholesome family games such as English teaching programs for children, Karaoke and films. The target customers for the new console are wealthy families, professional women, children and older users.

The console went on sale in China on Sunday and Eedoo hopes to sell “tens of thousands” of the machines in the current fiscal year. The initial reaction from customers in China seems to be tepid, however, with Chinese tech blogs filled with complaints over the price of the machine.

A poll on Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblog service, found that only 6 per cent of respondents voted to buy the new console, compared with 31 per cent who said they would not buy it because of poor value.

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April Fool's Day was exactly one month ago, but Sega's Toylet urinal game has us doubting whether or not the company is actually a bit late to the practical joke party. The Toylet system consists of a mountable screen and a variety of games which are controlled by – we kid you not – your stream of urine.

Game interactions are dependent on the volume and velocity of your, er, stream, (which is picked up by a sensor placed in the urinal) and you can pick up your very own system for a mere 140,000 yen. Check out the video below for a demo, though be prepared for a hard time in understanding what on earth is going on if your Japanese is a little rusty.

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Beijing eedoo Technology Ltd, the video gaming unit of Legend Holdings Ltd, said the company's first multimedia entertainment console is set to hit the Chinese market on April 29, at a price of 3,799 yuan ($600) per unit.

Eedoo is the world's second company to produce a controller-free entertainment console, after only Microsoft Corp, said Jack Luo, chief executive officer of the company. Eedoo delayed the launch date for about a year because, Luo said, it needed time to “further improve the product and provide a better user experience”. The CT510 console enables users to control and interact with the device without the need for a controller.
The target customers for the CT510 are mainly occasional rather than hardcore players, said Luo on Thursday at a Beijing news briefing.

The console will be pre-installed with eight games, such as Kongfu, dancing and gym exercises. It offers dozens of applications for family entertainment, such as watching high-definition movies and reading e-magazines. Lenovo Group, Legend Holdings and Legend Capital co-invested in the newly launched company. Officials declined to disclose the investment figures.

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The world of mobile gaming and console gaming might soon converge on one area of the market: Freemium games. Speaking to VentureBeat in an interview published yesterday, Todd Harris, chief operating officer of online-game developer Hi-Rez Studios, said that although consoles have by and large failed to deliver free-to-play games, his company is currently in talks with Sony and Microsoft "about how best to support free-to-play on consoles."

Freemium games have become all the rage in the mobile-gaming space. Just yesterday, research firm NPD released a study finding that 40 percent of those who downloaded an upgradable freemium game have made an in-game purchase. That followed a study from research firm IHS in January, which found that in-app sales reached US$970 million last year and could grow to US$5.6 billion by 2015.

"In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult for app stores and developers to justify charging an up-front fee for their products when faced with competition from a plethora of free content," said Jack Kent, an analyst at IHS. "Instead, the apps industry must fully embrace the freemium model and monetize content through in-app purchases."

Although console games have historically come at a cost, and then customers can buy digital upgrades for an additional fee, Harris told VentureBeat in the interview that the freemium model makes sense for the Xbox 360 too, since it allows consumers to "choose how much they want to pay."

It's not immediately clear how freemium games might be implemented on consoles. Standard big-name titles cost far too much for developers to justify giving them away with the eventual hope of making some cash at a later date. And on the digital side, it might be difficult for developers to change tactics, when it seems that Xbox Live Arcade games are performing relatively well with their pay-to-play model.

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Carnegie Mellon University researchers believe game consoles cost U.S. homeowners more than $1.24 billion per year, wasting 10.8 terawatt-hours, according to their study. The wasted energy adds up quickly -- a collective amount equivalent to one month of electricity bills -- and there is a simple solution to resolve the problem: fully turn off the game console when it's no longer in use.

"We demonstrate that the most effective energy-saving modification is incorporation of a default auto power down feature, which could reduce electricity consumption of game consoles by 75 percent (10 TWh reduction of electricity in 2010)," according to researchers, which would save "consumers over $1 billion annually in electricity bills."

Microsoft and Sony have worked to make their products more energy efficient, but both the Xbox 360 and PS3 still draw significant power.  When gamers choose to let their products go into standby, they consume about 75 watts of power before the console is fully turned off.

To counter this issue, Microsoft utilized an automatic standby feature any time the Xbox 360 is idle for more than one hour.  Sony's PS3 also has an auto shut-off option that must be enabled by the user. Consumers are still looking for ways to cut back and lower their bills, while companies want to produce greener products for good publicity.  

Standby energy waste stemming from vampire electronics accounts for 5 to 10 percent of a household's power usage, according to reports, adding at least $130 per year onto the power bill.  Consumers likely aren't aware of which products are drawing a significant amount of power, which has created a market for third-party devices that show how much energy electronic gadgets use.

In addition to hurting the pocketbook, vampire electronics are also responsible for 1 percent of global carbon dioxide emission.  Each household likely has between 10 and 50 vampire electronics, and state governments are becoming more active in stopping the trend.

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