One of our favorite things in life here at Tanksgame is saving a few clams on games and game related gear.  So we're going to do our best to save you a few bucks too.  One thing we have in the pipeline for you system builders and junior system builders is a series on building gaming computers on a budget. ie: "The best gaming computer you can build for $500."

But in the mean time, we're introducing a "Hot Deals" section. One of the best tips for saving money in the hobby is to simply buy things on sale. So when we see a good price on a popular item, we'll post it in out new Hot Deals section.

If you look at thte top menu bar you'll see links to the sub-categories. (even though some of them are still empty.)

We're going to launch Hot Deals with Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party for the Wii. Normally $40 and up, Amazon has it for $20. - If you liked the first 2 in the series, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party is an "Obnoxiously Charming" addition to the family. It has over 65 mini-games so there's lots of gameplay... And it makes good use of the Wii Balance Board so you can pretend you're exercising instead of playing games.

Note: Not all of the categories have deals this morning (Sunday) but as we find good ones, we'll post them. 

New Alien Conspiracy Shooter Due in Late June

Sega seems to think it's found its new footing, according to an announcement spotlighting its best upcoming releases for the next year in preparation for E3.

Included in that release were seven titles. The one hitting stores soonest is The Conduit, developed by High Voltage Software.  High Voltage Software has been making games for 14 years, spewing hits like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, and All-Star Baseball 2001.  Never in a rut, High Voltage has done games for a broad range of audience and styles, lke Tom Clancy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Liesure Suit Larry.

Their new upcoming shooter for Wii, The Conduit, has players swapping between human and alien weapon tech, scanning for invisible puzzles and lifeforms, and plunging forward into doom as the conspiracy becomes a deadly invasion.

The graphics and gameplay are state-of-the-art, or rather a bit better.  Control inspiration was taken from the newest Metroid; content flow, from Halo; and the graphics engine is all-new.  Programmers pushed the Wii's abilities to the red line with The Conduit's graphics engine, delivering visuals that look more like a PS3 game. 

Below is a trailer of The Conduit which is due for release June 23, 2009.

Electronic Arts announced today that its online real-time strategy game, BattleForge, will now be fully free-to-play.  Users can still buy the disc in a box to get a big pile of goodies, but non-paying users will have total access to the game.

BattleForge is an all-new game, just released this year and currently only available for Windows.  It got better-than-average marks from IGN and MetaCritic.   ArsTechnica gave it a glowing review.  Whether loved or hated, it's universally credited as being unique for taking the story of an RPG, the collectible addictiveness of a card battle game, and working both nicely into a real time strategy MMO. 

From the announcement attached to the most recent game patch:

"BattleForge goes Play4Free. You can now get access to the full BattleForge game world without having to enter a serial key. This includes all community features, upgrades, scenarios, ranked duels and 2 decks. To be able to trade away cards or BattleForge Points, you can unlock the full trade features either through reaching rank 4 in PvE or Rank 10 in PvP or by entering a serial key. Players that already played the demo can keep using these accounts. Their decks have been exchanged with the new decks and the rewards and campaign progress gained in the demo version is still available."

However, there are some problems.  Since mid-April, some new recruits to BattleForge have been unable to fully install it or have had to take convoluted steps to get the game working.  This appears to be due to a bug with the patch updater.  Users on the BattleForge official forums site have been reporting inconsistent can't find / can't verify patch errors, plaguing the install both for downloaded and store-bought copies.  EA is working closely with players to troubleshoot the issue, but as of today, freshly-downloaded copies of the BattleForge installer still can't get some players into the game.   However, complaints about this on the forum have slowed down over the past couple weeks.  Your mileage may vary.

Cards can be traded between players, or bought and sold at an auction house for in-game currency.  There is PvE (play vs environment) content, but the focus is definitely on huge PvP encounters and the social card-swapping atmosphere. 

Mission content is divvied up by the number of players required to engage it, and completing a mission unlocks up to two additional difficulty levels for that same mission.

All in all, BattleForge merges real-time strategy war simulation with collectible card gaming, and any time Electronic Arts gives something away for free, it's probably worth checking out.

Electronic Arts's "BattleForge" Announcement Trailer

At last year's E3, Nintendo announced a new addon for the wiimote to improve its 3D motion accuracy. Using a trio of gyroscopes, it's said to be sensitive even to minor motions when games are programmed to use it.

The device, called the MotionPlus, plugs into the base and provides a port for the nunchuk addon so that both can be used simultaneously.

So far, only four games have been announced as being MotionPlus ready, all of them sports games. Among these is Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort, which uses the MotionPlus for swordfighting, watercraft racing, and throwing flying discs to a dog. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Virtua Tennis and Grand Slam Tennis are also designed for the MotionPlus addon.

From advance information it looks like this is one of Nintendo's better-executed controller gimmicks. It comes with an updated wiimote sleeve and the jack guard isn't dangling there waiting to break off. A lack of better finesse has been a running complaint when playing games that use the motion controller in original ways, so the MotionPlus represents Nintendo listening to its fans. The only obvious drawback is that, judging from what I've read, buying the device doesn't translate into an instantly-upgraded Wii playing experience since it depends on game programmers developing games that know how to leverage it. This drawback is balanced by the MotionPlus's $19.99 price tag.

The MotionPlus can be pre-ordered at Amazon and will be available on June 6th.

Spring is in the air.  The sun is shining, the greenery is bright, and everything smells new.  
 
If your brain translated that into "Time to play some golf," then here are two golf game goodies you should know about this weekend.
 
Playable Preview – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
Xbox players can now download a demo of features being developed for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.  The demo features four playable holes from the courses to be played in this year's U.S. Open and British Open championships.  

Aside from being able to play the four holes, those who download the demo get to try out the new Tournament Challenge mode, and see previews of other under-development features.

Hook 'Em While They're Young, Wii Say
On Monday, Wii players can pick up a new Crazy Golf Competition Pack with two snap-on accessories that turn wiimotes into golf clubs.   Crazy Golf is a single- or multi-player miniature golf simulator made mainly for kids and casual gamers, with 72 courses and three play modes. 

The snap-on clubs were available for Japanese players when Crazy Golf was first released, and supposedly they improve gameplay with Crazy Golf.  Reviewers say that the physics of Crazy Golf work well, and that there are “secret” ways of completing most holes, just like in real mini-golf.

Kris Graft

As the audience for games continues to expand, a new study by research firm NPD Group said that more Americans are playing games than going out to the movies.

NPD’s study “Entertainment Trends In America” said that 63 percent of Americans have played a game in the last six months. Just 53 percent have gone out to see a movie during the same time period. The group said that the audience for gaming is expanding as consumers can access games through new outlets such as social gaming networks or digital storefronts.

The firm found that the average gamer spent just over $38 per month on “all types of gaming content” in the three months prior to March this year.

If you want to see the future of gaming, look at the history of music...  Every breakthrough in music was about portability even if at the expense of quality. Originally if you wanted to listen to a musical performance, you had to see it live. Reel-to-reel made music recording possible. Then we have a chain of formats that brought music closer to the individual, the phonograph, the 8-track, the cassette and then the CD.

MP3s exploded not because the music sounded better -it didn't- but because they where hyper-portable.