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Sometimes I like to fantasize about being John F. Kennedy. Except that I'd be smarter than to sic my brother on the Mafia after they helped ensure my presidential victory. And I wouldn't have abandoned those Cuban refugees. I'd still totally be tapping Marilyn, though. Some things just shouldn't change. Some strong deals this week. GameStop is doing their annual "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" sale on used titles, so it might be a good time to swing by your local store and see what's on the table. Game Crazy has some serious savings on their used handheld units. And Target is offering gift cards when you buy some Xbox 360 stuff, including MS points! Hit the jump for all the week's bargains. And, if you're in the UK, you should head over to Gemsi's cblog and check out what's on sale in your neighborhood. Software Discounts

• Killzone 2 [PS3] - $49.99 ($10 savings) 
• The Bourne Conspiracy [PS3] - $34.99 ($25 savings)
• The Bourne Conspiracy [360] - $26.80 ($33 savings)
• Armored Core 4 [PS3] - $25.57 ($24 savings)
• Blacksite: Area 51 [PS3] - $27.92 ($12 savings)
• Halo Wars [360] - $41.99 ($18 savings)
• Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon [360] - $28.58 ($11 savings)
• We Love Golf! [Wii] - $7.96 ($12 savings)

Software Discounts

• Gears of War 2 [360] - $29.99 ($30 combined savings and price drop)
• Guitar Hero: On Tour Modern Hits [DS] - $39.99 ($10 savings)
• HAWX [360] - $39.99 ($20 savings)
• Terminator Salvation [360] - $39.99 ($20 combined savings and price drop)
• Halo Wars [360] - $49.99 ($10 savings)
• Prototype [360] - $49.99 ($10 savings)

BUY TWO GET ONE FREE ON ALL USED PS2, XBOX AND GAMECUBE GAMES Hardware Discounts

• Nintendo DS handheld - $59.99 (USED) 
• Nintendo DS Lite handheld - $79.99 (USED)
• PSP handheld - starting at $69.99 (USED)

  HUGE SUMMER SALE: BUY 2 GET 1 FREE ON ALL USED TITLES Software Discounts

• Guitar Hero: Smash Hits [360/PS3] - $49.99 ($10 savings)
• Guitar Hero: Smash Hits [Wii] - $39.99 ($10 savings)
• Guitar Hero: Smash Hits [PS2] - $29.99 ($10 savings)
• Prototype [360/PS3] - $49.99 ($10 savings)
• Classic Word Games [DS] - $24.99 ($5 savings)
• My Healthy Cooking Coach [DS] - $24.99 ($5 savings)
• Grand Theft Auto Trilogy [PC] - 19.99 ($10 savings)
• Bioshock/Oblivion Bundle [360/PS3] - $29.99 ($10 savings)
• Bioshock/Oblivion Bundle [PC] - $19.99 ($10 savings)
• Wii Play [Wii] - $9.99 ($5 savings, USED)
• Metroid Prime 3 Corruption [Wii] - $19.99 ($10 savings, USED)

Software Discounts

• UP [DS/PSP] - $19.99 ($10 savings)
• UP [360/PS3/Wii] - $29.99 ($10 savings)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [360/PS3/Wii] - $39.99 ($10 savings)

Other Promotions and Discounts

• 1600 MS Points Card - $19.99 ($5 gift card with purchase) 
• Wireless Controller for Xbox 360 - $49.99 ($10 gift card with purchase)
• Xbox 360 console w/ 60 Gb Hard Drive - $299.99 ($50 gift card with purchase)

Software Discounts

• Red Faction Guerilla [360] - $44.99 ($15 savings) 
• inFAMOUS [PS3] - $44.99 ($10 savings)
• Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit [360/Wii] - $99.99 ($90 savings + $10 gift card w/ purchase)
• Guitar Hero World Tour Guitar Kit [Wii] - $49.99 ($50 savings + $10 gift card w/ purchase)

  from destructoid

  I like to think that I'm a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, but I must admit that I'd never heard of Final Fantasy Legend until today, much less played it. It was kind of a big deal, apparently: it was the first RPG on the Gameboy, was the first Square game to sell over a million copies, and was the first game in what would go on to become the SaGa series. It's final boss, The Creator, also sparked a JRPG trope that continues to this day: the ultimate goal of most JRPGs is to kill some sort of deity. Makai Toushi Sa-Ga was released in the States in 1989, but carried the Final Fantasy title to help marketing (a nifty trick Square Enix still hasn't grown out of). Makai Toushi Sa-Ga featured three classes: humans, mutants, and monsters. Humans leveled up by equipping and using items, and mutants by fighting in battles. Monsters, on the other hand, only got stronger by eating the "meat" dropped by enemies. It seems like a proto-Devil Summoner, except with cannibalization. That alone makes Legend the best Final Fantasy, ever. Period. But if that weren't enough, there's also a one-hit kill chainsaw weapon, and, depending on your class, your character might not have a face -- only a skull. Anyway, that's a really long introduction for a Final Fantasy Legend speedrun video below the jump. I know that the words speedrun and Final Fantasy* seem like an oxymoron, but Legend can be beaten in about two minutes -- the ending sequence takes longer than the actual game. As Kevin from Magweasel explains, the speedrun relies on a series of glitches that allow you to warp to different places, access characters and weapons that are stronger than they should be, travel 16 times faster than usual, and bypass all of the game's puzzles. Hit the jump to see the speedrun in action and if, like me, you've never played Final Fantasy Legend, you can enjoy the game's final sequence -- that is, of course, if you read Japanese.   from destructoid [Via TinyCartridge] *Fun fact! In Final Fantasy IX, if you reach Memoria in under 12 hours, you can get Excalibur, the most powerful sword in the game. 

I'm not sure whether or not to be excited about the new Final Fantasy title for DS, Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden. I like Square games, obviously, but the whole "summoned by a king to rescue a princess" does sound kind of ... not innovative. Whatever though, I'm sure it will be cute. We'll have to wait until we have more info. In the meantime, here are a few new Famitsu pages which you can scrutize for tiny pictures and details. Gamekyo has all four, so head over there if you want to check them all out. Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden is currently due out near the end of the year in Japan, with no US release date announced yet. What do you think: do want, or are you maxed out on DS RPGs?   from destructoid

Before you ask, here's what C.O.P. stands for: Criminal Overturn Program. Don't feel bad, I never would have guessed that either. C.O.P. The Recruit is all about a petty criminal who becomes a one man episode of Miami Vice set in New York City. Rather than using the DS to capture the city in a bird's eye view the way that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars does, The Recruit renders New York in 3D open world on the upper screen and uses the lower screen for inventory, maps and objective details. So while the game might resemble parts and concepts of other games and TV crime procedural shows, it really is a fresh take on DS gaming. What Is It? C.O.P. The Recruit is an open world shooter/adventure game with 60 some-odd missions and six square miles of city to explore. Like GTA games on consoles, the game is made up of three primary parts: shooting, driving and the occasional mini game. Right now, I'm told the ratio in The Recruit is 30-50-20. What We Saw I played through a couple of early main story missions. Then I watched the developer jump to a later mission to show off the "catching up" cut scene feature where the game splices together pieces of cut scenes and text to explain what you're supposed to be doing. How Far Along Is It? The Recruit is due out this fall. What Needs Improvement? Too Much Driving: Your character can commandeer pretty much any car in the whole game by standing in front of it to make it stop and then pressing one of the face buttons. This is fun for the first five minutes of driving across town to a mission, but it rapidly becomes un-fun when you spend all your time bumping into other cars or trying to navigate around Central Park. At times, The Recruit feels more like a driving sim than an open world crime adventure game. What Should Stay The Same? Nice Shooting Controls: Tapping your weapon with the stylus (or poke it with your fingernail) in the lower screen snaps the upper screen's third-person view into an over-the-shoulder view so you can shoot people. Basic movement still gets done with the D-pad as with the rest of the game, but to adjust aim or turn left, right, up, or down, you have to drag the stylus along the lower screen – which feels more intuitive than it sounds. To fire the weapon, you can double tap the lower screen or squeeze the left shoulder button. Impressive Scope: There is so much to do in this game. Besides the 60 missions, there are five different times of day you can view the city in (depending on which missions you're playing) and the city itself is so big for a DS game. Even if the driving gets a bit monotonous, it seems like the variations in missions will make up for the dull bits – and you can always commandeer boats when you get sick of cars. In the 20 minutes I spent plowing through the early part of the game, I could be doing anything from shooting criminals to putting out fires (because apparently the NYC Fire Department is always late) and the lone mini game I played where you had to pick out a redhead on a series of security cameras certainly felt like a nice change of pace. Final Thoughts This game is invariably going to be compared to Grand Theft Auto and I think what The Recruit lacks in hookers, it hopes to make up for with its story. Twenty minutes really wasn't enough time to get a feel for the story, but if it's even half as solid as the shooting gameplay seems to be, I'm optimistic.
from kotaku

The Might & Magic series is more commonly associated with hardcore role-playing game or turn-based strategy combat – but Ubisoft is going for another reboot of the series with Clash of Heroes. The game is still turn-based and there's still a lot of strategy involved. But this adorable DS game is more of a puzzle game than an RPG, even if it does have the anime cut scenes and party stat balancing. Secret of Mana fans and Puzzle Quest-ers alike will definitely want to take a look. What Is It? Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a puzzle RPG where players build up an army of various units to take into battle. Combat is all about forming lines of like-colored units – horizontal for defense and vertical for attacks – and trying to do as much damage to your opponent's hit point gauge before he wrecks yours by shooting attacks through or over lines of defense. What We Saw Games writers got a crash course of the tutorial levels and a glimpse at one of the more complex battles (which can last up to 30 minutes, it sounds like). Later I was able to sit down with the entire tutorial section and two early quests, one story and one optional. How Far Along Is It? The game is due out this fall. What Needs Improvement? No Quicksave Option: I realize that the DS can go into hibernate mode just by closing the lid, but I'd really like a quicksave option for the middle of boss fights. You know, just in case I'm tempted to rage quit or enter a hospital's intensive care unit where the doctors will get uppity with you for not turning your handheld devices completely off. What Should Stay The Same? Easy-to-Learn, Difficult-to-Master: Based on the pace of the tutorial and first missions, I'm pretty sure most players won't have trouble picking up the game's controls. However, based on the sheer number of units you can accumulate (way more than can actually be deployed in battle at one time) and the fact that there's local multiplayer versus, I think this is going to be a tough game to truly master. Exactly the kind of thing you'd look for in any game, even a handheld. Final Thoughts I really liked this game both because the puzzle combat was solid and because the 2D sprite and anime cut scenes were so cute. It reminded me of Secret of Mana, Puzzle Quest and the anime Record of Lodoss War all at once – and at the same time, Clash of Heroes felt like a totally unique experience. Very impressive.

from kotaku

Earlier this year, a Nintendo patent came to light that described a function that would allow players to "skip" parts of the game they found difficult. This system eases the pain of completing a difficult game, without watering it down so much that it turns hardcore gamers off. The new system, described in a patent filed by Nintendo Creative Director Shigeru Miyamoto on June 30, 2008, but made public in January, solves the issue of casual gamers losing interest in a game before they complete it, while still maintaining the interest of hardcore gamers. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto first hinted at the feature to us at E3. The feature, called "Demo Play", will first appear in console New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and according to an article in Japan's Nikkei, the function won't only appear in console games, but also in upcoming portable titles. Demo Play is described as being suitable for "high speed action games".
from kotaku

Best thing about this video? It's short and too the point — that, and there's kicker at the end. Be sure to stay after the credits! Created in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Donkey Kong was made from a pile of post-it notes. Real life stop motion Donkey Kong [I Heart Video Games] [I Heart Chaos via Topless Robot]
from kotaku

Forget those mythical panty vending machines! This vending machine in Osaka's Den-Den Town is selling R4 devices. Best part? They're all sold out. Nintendo has been fighting the R4 piracy flash carts and fighting them hard. There's a court injunction against the Chinese R4 makers for "violation under Japan's laws". Yahoo! Auctions is prohibiting the device's sale. Retailers in both Akihabara and Den-Den Town do continue to carry the R4 devices. However, stores are apparently trying to liquidate their inventory before it becomes illegal to sell R4 devices in Japan. マジコン販売の最先端はマジコン自販機 [Ota Road]

from kotaku

Well this DS game is shaping up to be a great game and now you can check out the anime that showcases part of the story so far (sorry no translator included)

Today's Amazon Deal of the Day for videogames is worth looking at.  They've priced Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon at $14.99, which is a savings of 50%. In case you forgot, Shadow Dragon is a remake of the original Fire Emblem for the Famicom and the first time the original game has appeared on US soil. The DS release featured online multiplayer with voice chat, six difficulty settings and an all-new prologue to Marth's quest in the tutorial section of the game. Quite a bit of stuff there. I might pick this one up, personally. I have yet to play a Fire Emblem game and it makes sense to start from the beginning. And if I'm going to play as Marth in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I might as well have a reason other than that I can kick ass using him.   From Destructoid