If you don't know, SmashPad Streamkend is our live stream show that happens every Saturday at 2 PM EST as I play a new release for about two hours to let you see the game in action. This week's game is the console version of Terraria, so feel free to join me in about an hour if you're interested. Thanks.

http://www.twitch.tv/smashpad

If you've been lagging behind on entering CAG March Madness Tournament Contest, you've got less than a day left to enter for your chance to win some cool prizes. I'll be taking entries up to tipoff tomorrow at 12 PM EST, so be sure to get your entry and bracket done in time to be eligible to win. I will be going through the list tonight for the first pass of entries with the last pass happening just before the deadline tomorrow. Good luck to those that enter!

With about 16 hours to go for sign ups to the Eighth Annual CAG March Madness Contest, there have been some new prizes added since the last time I blogged about it. I've added in a few more games like Dead Rising 2 (Xbox 360), Epic Mickey (Wii), Crush 3D (3DS), and Picross 3D (DS) that spreads the love to the other platforms and the final big piece is a donation from JP to offer a Steam gift for any game $29.99 and under. Since there isn't that much time left to enter, please go to the thread linked above to see how to sign up and make your picks ASAP so you don't end up as a loser with an incomplete bracket.

You may recall that I've had problems with iTunes not playing nice with my iPod Touch earlier this year that effectively destroyed it and required a restore to make it work again.

Well, it's done it once again. And I knew the moment that I was completely ed when I wanted to transfer Jetpack Joyride to my Touch after getting in on that free code offer on Facebook. When I tried to drag and drop the game over to the iPod to sync it, iTunes alerted me that there were purchased items on my Touch and asked if I wanted to sync them to my PC first. I said no, but it decided to do it anyway since the settings I've set on iTunes are merely a suggestion that it will ignore most of the time. I decided to let it go in the hopes that this would get iTunes to shut up and it stalled somewhere along the way, which resulted in the creation of this garbage data that killed the iPod Touch.

That's where iTunes screwed me so that I have to restore my Touch to restore it to...

What a busy week. I've been really busy lately with all of the releases that have happened lately, which has continued with four reviews in the past week or so.

NBA 10: The Inside is the new Sony basketball game that is now a PSP exclusive, which isn't a good sign for a series that was on PS3, PS2, and PSP in the past few years. Gran Turismo is the new PSP iteration of the series that everyone's been waiting about five years for it to be released now. Ion Assault is an interesting shooter that can be best described as a spin-off of Asteroids' basic concept. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the highly-anticipated return of Nathan Drake on his latest adventure while investigating one part of Marco Polo's story.




"When all is said and done, Naughty Dog has done an amazing job of fixing any issues that the original game had for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves while adding more to make this a package that...

As we near the end of our server transition at Gamer 2.0, the staff and I are still working hard to put out content on SmashPad until that is complete and we get our site back. For me, I've been working on a few reviews this month on a cheap PSN game, Trash Panic, and two PSP games that aren't so cheap, Rock Band Unplugged and Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament.



"Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament does a nice job of being a fairly entertaining game, though the short experience that capped at 14 hours for us definitely seems to be an issue when you learn that the game will cost you $39.99. Such an expensive cost of entry for a game without much replay value, unless you’re engrossed enough to beat all of the missions and collect all of the parts, kills the appeal of the game when there are better experiences in recent memory to be had for much cheaper."

Steambot Chronicles:...

This week was an especially busy week for me with a couple of previews and reviews I wanted to write up for Gamer 2.0. The lull in releases has left me with focusing on the handhelds, with reviews of Patapon 2 and Dokapon Journey that I finished today. As for previews, I wrote up my impressions of the Infamous demo along with impressions on Crimson Gem Saga, which I have a review build of to play before its release.



The demo does a good job of giving you a nice variety of missions and some time to explore the city before taking on the last few missions, but it's the simple, easy to use controls that really make it easy to look like a badass. If you don't want to preorder for access to the demo, it should be out for the public the week before the game is out on May 21.

You can read the full preview of Infamous at Gamer 2.0 here.



"Our first impressions of Crimson Gem Saga are very good so far since we were not...

In another busy week for me, I've had three reviews go up in the past week. Tokyo Beat Down for the DS is a beat-'em-up with a cheesy cop drama story. Comet Crash is the third tower defense game for PSN with an interesting twist that sets it apart from the rest. Burn Zombie Burn is an arcade-style shooter that focuses on zombies and setting them on fire.



"Tokyo Beat Down could have been a cheesy beat-‘em-up that is still enjoyable, but clunky controls and gameplay keep it from reaching its potential. Asking for $30 for a five hour game with maybe two hours of gameplay if you’re lucky just does not compute when there are better experiences to be had for the same price or less elsewhere. If you’re a DS owner waiting for the ultimate beat-‘em-up, you’ll have to continue waiting for a bit longer."

Tokyo Beat Down received a Skip It recommendation. You can read the full review at Gamer 2.0 here.



"The...

So, instead of saving up the points I've got for some of the pricier items on Goozex, I decided to splurge and buy something now to have yet another game to play this holiday season. I can't really make up my mind though, so I'm enlisting your help to help me decide what to request.

Here is what I've got in mind for what I can afford:

Blue Dragon - Would be interested in an RPG to play over the holidays.
Eternal Sonata - Would be interested in an RPG to play over the holidays.
Enchanted Arms - Would be interested in an RPG to play over the holidays.
NBA Street Homecourt - Lots of buzz from the Sports Anomaly, but have never thought to pick it up yet.
The Bigs - Lots of buzz from the Sports Anomaly, but have never thought to pick it up yet.
Saint's Row - Enjoy sandbox games, but never interested enough in this to pay for it.
Overlord - Enjoyed the demo a lot and would like to play more.

So feel free to post your...

I noticed on my profile the other day that today was the fifth anniversary of the day I joined this website and I felt compelled to reflect on my time here and how the site has changed since then.

When I first heard about the site, it was because CheapyD was all over GameFAQs with his signature touting a site called "Cheap Ass Gamer" that could provide cheap games and such. I bit and signed up just a few months after it was created, so it was no surprise that there was very little activity, which was why I mainly lurked for a while. I think the first actual deal I picked up from CAG was Beyond Good and Evil's epic price drop to $10 just after it flopped during the 2003 holiday season.

Nothing else really popped up much for a while after that, but July brought what's probably the biggest contribution I've given to the community, which was the $5 Circuit City Clearance sale that I stumbled upon a week before it was officially supposed to happen. I visited...

If you haven't checked out the PS Store thread in the PS3 forum, here's what is in this week's update on PSN:

Quote: Deals - Summer Sale - Expires: 7/31/08 High Stakes: Poker Edition - $4.99 PixelJunk monsters - $4.99 PAIN - $4.99 High Velocity Bowling - $4.99 Rocketmen: Axis of Evil - $4.99 Games Siren: Blood Curse - Full Game - All 12 Episodes - $39.99 Siren: Blood Curse - 3 Bundles of 4 Episodes Each - $14.99 each 1942: Joint Strike - $9.99 Demos PixelJunk Eden - 107 MB Add-ons Rock Band - Nine Inch Nails Pack 2 - $5.49 - Includes three songs below Rock Band - "Burn" by Nine Inch Nails - $1.99 Rock Band - "Capital G" by Nine Inch Nails - $1.99 Rock Band - "Last" by Nine Inch Nails - $1.99 Rock Band - "Devour" by Shinedown - $1.99 Rock Band - "Junkies for Fame" by Shinedown - $1.99 Guitar Hero IIII

...