Video Game Visions - Xbox 360, PS3 & Nintendo Wii!

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recent Wii recall. The recall is for the Psyclone Essentials and React Wii™ 4-Dock Battery Recharge Stations, which are distributed by Griffin International Cos., Inc. These charging stations were sold from January 2008 through July 2009 by Amazon.com, Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy for about $50.

Apparently the battery recharger stations have resulted in overheating problems which can pose a burn hazard. There's been at least six reports of overheating, two of which lead to minor hand burns. If you experience a burn, you should contact CPSC as soon as possible to report it.

To determine if your Wii battery recharging station is part of the Wii recall, check for the company name "Psyclone" or "React" on your particular item. These will have model numbers PSE6501 and RT530 respectively on the bottom of the unit.

If you determine you have a faulty recharger eligible for the recall, stop using the item and unplug it immediately. You can also do any of the following to find out how to return the product for a free replacement:

Call Griffin toll free at: 888-344-4702 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday-Friday

Email productsafety@psyclonegamer.com

Visit this site: www.psyclonegamer.com/Wii4Dock for more information.

CNET.com, a technology review and news site has unveiled its Top 10 Video Games list for 2008. 10 titles were listed but not necessarily ranked. Here's the 10 games CNET has chosen for 2008, in no particular order:

01) Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, PS3)

02) Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)

03) Mario Kart (Wii)

04) LittleBigPlanet (PS3)

05) Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)

06) God of War Chains of Olympus (PSP)

07) Dead Space (Xbox 360, PS3)

08) Resistance 2

09) Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PC, PS3)

10) Metal Gear Solid 4

See more about these titles including game reviews at CNET.com.

You've seen the Guitar Hero ads running amok all over television. One of the latest ads features sports stars Alex Rodriguez, Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps and Kobe Bryant rockin' out as a group in the living room. One of the original Guitar Hero World Tour ads featured supermodel Heidi Klum wearing a long shirt which drops right below her waist ala Tom Cruise in "Risky Business". Below you'll find the "Director's Cut" version of Klum's ad which never made the air. If it did, Guitar Hero might be selling way more copies, but they're doing quite alright...



In case you're wondering, other ads in the GH series feature American Idol finalists from last season David Archuletta and David Cook, as well as Corbin Bleu.

Most of all the ads can be seen over at YouTube as well as random people's attempts to impersonate the ads.

BPN Magazine has unveiled a list of the Top 10 video games this 2008 holiday season. These are the games most likely to be topping the wishlists of video game enthusiasts everywhere. The latest games below are listed in no particular order. Use the links below to find out more info on each of these games which are flying off store sheleves!

Midnight Club Los Angeles (Xbox 360, PS3 – Rockstar)
Guitar Hero World Tour (Xbox 360, PS3 – Neversoft/Activision/Red Octane)
Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360 – Epic Games/Microsoft)
SingStar (PS3 – SCEA)
Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PS3 – Bethesda Softworks)
Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii – Harmonix/MTV Games)
Shaun White Snowboarding (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii – Ubisoft)
Bionic Commando (Xbox 360, PS3 – GRIN/Capcom)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3 – Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Star Wars: Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (Wii – Krome Studios/LucasArts)

(Source: bpmmagazine.net)

If your'e an avid video gamer, today's the day that Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 video game is available for multiple video game platforms! The game arrives today for Xbox 360, PS3, Playstation 2, PSP, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS systems.

Wrestlers featured:
The game features vast rosters of characters from the Raw, ECW & Smackdown rosters including John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, Edge, Batista, Kelly and The Undertaker. Also included are the following characters who aren't playable, some are character you can unlock:

Unplayable/unlockable:

Hornswoggle
Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross
Joey Styles
Jonathan Coachman
Justin Roberts
Lilian Garcia
Michael Cole
Mike Chioda
Mr. McMahon (suit)
Nick Patrick
Scott Armstrong
Shane McMahon
Stephanie McMahon
Tazz (suit)
Tony Chimel
Vickie Guerrero

There's no legends in this game like there has been in the fact, due to the release of another wrestling game called Legends of Wrestlemania.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 has some of the best new wrestling play in a video game. Here's just some of the features you'll find on this exciting new game:

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 unleashes a brand new tag team match. Build momentum and attributes as a team, destroy opponents with high-impact double teams, pull off new bone-crunching tag team finishers and get the “hot tag” for the win.

Road to Wrestlemania – Pave the way to WWE’s biggest event of the year through WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009’s new story mode, which features the franchise’s first-ever co-op storyline.

Create-A-Finisher – Construct the most devastating moves ever unleashed in a WWE ring with this brand new interface. WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 lets players customize all aspects of created Superstars – even their very own finishing moves.

New Online Functionality – Extend the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 gameplay experience with downloadable content and much more.

Pickup Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 video game for your video game system at Amazon.com!

Looking to save money on video games? Here's some great deals to get the games and items you want for a better price. The following deals were found online via Spoofee.com:

Toys R Us is offering a $40 off when you buy 2 select Nintendo Wii games.

1. Buy 2 of the following
- Crash Bandicoot for Wii : $49.99
- De Blob for Wii : $49.99
- Madagascar 2 for Wii : $44.99
- MySims Kingdom for Wii : $49.99

2. Auto Discount : -$40.00

Toys R Us Website

---

RedOctane.com has the Activision Guitar Hero World Tour with 2 guitars for only $59.99 shipped

Pricegrabber on Game Alone : $60 ~ $65 Shipped

1. RedOctane Price : $79.99
2. Coupon Price : -$20 | Code : WORLD2X
Final Price : $59.99 Shipped

Offer link here.

---

Wii Steering Wheel : $7.99 - $5 Coupon | Code : WIIWHEEL = $2.99 Shipped

Use link here.

---

Toys R Us has a good deal on two copies of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Nintendo DS.

Pricegrabber Price for One Unit : $32 ~ $40 Shipped

1. Click here and add 2 to your cart
Final Price : $29.98 + Ship($5.48)

---

Freebizmag.com is offering a free subscription of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM).

View offer here

(Please note: Offers have not been checked as of this blog post, but are believed to be valid. Video Game Visions is not responsible for these offers or affiliated with them.)

A brand new website called GamerzReviewz.com is giving away your choice of a brand new gaming system. One lucky winner will get their choice of the Xbox360 Elite, PS3 or Nintendo Wii video game system courtesy of GamerzReviewz.com!

In order to win you can do any of the following:

- Subscribe to their site's RSS feed via email.

- Post a forum post on a gaming forum about their contest and link back to their contest page on the forum.

- Post on your blog about their contest and link back to the contest page.

- Add Gamerz Reviews Facebook as one of your Facebook friends.

- If you've added them on Facebook, post about their contest on your Wall with a link back to the contest page.

That's all there is to it...You can do any and or/all of the above options to enter the contest! Each of the above ways of entering the contest is worth a different amount of tickets into the drawing, with a total of 41 if you do all of them. To get the full details please see their post called:

Win a PS3, Xbox360 or Wii Gaming System.

The lucky winner will be drawn on June 18th at 12 Noon EST. Good luck to all entrants!

The Nintendo Wii makes great use of the remote control game controller, allowing users to do everything from Ninja swordfights to tennis to bowling, and more! The motion is said to be great excercise for gamers who once were relegated to playing games as Couch potatoes. Now Nintendo is taking the physical fitness aspect a step further, with the release of the Wii Fit.

The Wii Fit will include over 40 different types of training excercises which fall into four specific categories: Aerobic Excercise, Muscle Conditioning, Yoga Poses and Balance Games. It will include trackable stats for 8 different users as well, to measure fitness progress.

Once the Wii Fit Channel is added it enables users to not have to insert the Wii Fit Disc into a Wii console in order for the Wii Balance Board to scale your weight to calculate your BMI, measure the center of your bodily balance and conduct a balance test in order to calculate your Wii Fit Age.

It also allows you to monitor how long you did which category of exercise for in one day, all in the comfort of your own home and without the need to keep inserting the Wii Fit Disk into your Wii console each time.

The new accessory for your Nintendo Wii video game system will land in the United States on Monday, with sales of the item starting Wednesday. Nintendo already says the item has been successful in Japan for encouraging families to discuss and promote fitness. Wii Fit has already sold over 1.5 million units in Japan, so expect this accessory to really take off in the US as well, spurring gamers to get off the couch and get fit!

See the Wii Fit at Amazon.com!

Read more about Wii fit here at eflux.com

Note: Be careful not to get fired for using the Wii Fit as this women did!

The Xbox 360 has achieved a sales milestone, as it has now sold 10 million units in the United States! The Xbox 360 is the first of the next-generation gaming consoles to achieve this mark. According to reports though, Nintendo's Wii is still on fire and very close behind in sales, with about 500,000 units less. In fact, during the holidays and afterwards, there were all sorts of reports of the Wii being sold out, crowds forming and battles breaking out to grab them off the shelves!

More from efluxmedia:

The Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel believes that Nintendo will surpass Xbox 360 installed base as soon as next month.

The fact that Microsoft has managed to reach the milestone before its competition is mainly because it has a year on the market ahead of the Wii. The Nintendo console is supposed to reach Microsoft’s sales in less than two months, thanks to the incredible momentum it has on the market, selling an average of more than 700,000 units per month in the last two months, compared to Xbox 360’s 200,000.

According to Patel, the Wii's installed base reached 9.5mn units. Since its launch in November 2006, Nintendo Wii has sold close to 24 million units worldwide.

So the battle of the gaming systems is on! Price is definitely a consideration, as the Nintendo Wii video games system is much more affordable. 360 is considered the upscale gaming system, along with Playstation 3. So look for the Nintendo Wii to soon eclipse Microsoft's Xbox in terms of sales.

The main man himself, Mario is going on 17 years old..in Video game years. Here's a look at how the popular video game hero and icon has evolved over the years from a pixely character to his current hi-def self!

read more | digg story

Despite the scarcity of Wii's this past holiday season, they still managed to make sales records. According to Monstersandcritics.com the Nintendo Wii made this a sucessful and prosperous holiday season for Amazon.com. A recent statistic indicated that the console "sold a staggering 17 units per second" on the retail site.

Other hot items on Amazon included the Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean DVD's. The Apple MacBook also saw good sales at the site. Amazon reported that this was its strongest holiday season so far in terms of sales with 5.4 items sold on December 10th. This comes out to about 62.5 items a second sold on the online retail site. (Source: MonstersandCritics.com)

IGN.com recently released it's 2007 Awards for Nintendo Wii video games. Super Mario Galaxy was named the top game of the year for the Nintendo Wii. The game also was given several other awards in sound and graphics, making it the easy favorite of 2007.

The full list of IGN Wii video games awards:

• Best Action Game: Resident Evil 4


• Best Adventure Game: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


• Best Fighting Game: Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution


• Best 1st Person Shooter: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Best Music Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle


• Best Platform Game: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best RPG: Super Paper Mario


• Best Simulation: Trauma Center: New Blood


• Best Sports Game: SSX Blur


• Best Strategy Game: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn


• Best Graphics Technology: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Artistic Design: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption


• Best Original Score: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Licensed Soundtrack: Guitar Hero II: Legends of Rock


• Best Use of Sound: Super Mario Galaxy


• Best Story: Scarface: The World is Yours


• Best Local Multiplayer Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock


• Best Online Multiplayer Game: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Most Innovative Design: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure


• Best Use of the Wii-Mote: Medal of Honor Heroes 2


• Best Game No One Played: Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure


• Biggest Surprise: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure


• Best Developer: Nintendo (for its work on Super Mario Galaxy)


Wii Game of the Year: Super Mario Galaxy

Congrats to Mario and crew for winning over the Wii for 2007. After all, Mario is the original Nintendo star. GH3, Medal of Honor, Metroid and Zack & Wiki get honorable mentions. According to IGN, Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure is the game to buy now! So what will 2008 bring for Wii video games? It should be another great year for gamers!

The 10 most popular Wii video games right now: (courtesy of IGN)

1) Super Mario Galaxy
2) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle
3) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
4) Super Paper Mario
5) Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3
6) Resident Evil 4
7) Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure
8) Medal of Honor: Heroes 2
9) Pokemon Battle Revolution
10) Mario Strikers Charged

Check out the Wii Video games page on Squidoo for more about where to buy and rent the latest Nintendo Wii video games!

Renting video games is one of the best ways to test out those games you're interested in and also save yourself money. It saves money in the long run because if you spend $50 on a game and then beat it within a month or even less time, you're already itching for a new game. That's another $50 or so you spend, and so on and so on. But with a video game rental service you will pay a flat monthly rate to rent multiple games.

One way of renting games is by heading to your local video store, such as Blockbuster. Blockbuster is convenient, but often times you will pay $4 or $5 to rent a game. While it's a fraction of the cost of buying, it seems more logical to use a better method; mail order rental service.

Perhaps the best of the bunch in terms of video game rental services is Gamefly. This site offers titles from all platforms, from original Xbox to 360 to Playstation 2, 3 and PSP. They also offer Nintendo DS, Gamecube and Wii video games. You simply search for your desired games on their site, click to add them to your queue and then wait. The games if available are usually sent to you within just a few business days. You keep them for as long as you'd like and once you're done with the game simply put it into the mailing envelope you received with it, then drop it in the mail. Your game is returned back, and your next game is on its way!

At Gamefly the shipping on their games is free. They also offer a free 10 day trial you can sign up for to test their program. With the free trial you'll be able to rent 2 games at once for 10 days. So if there's any games you've been anxious to play, check it out. A membership at the site will also give you access to GameFly Rewards, which gives member special benefits and discounts towards buying pre-played games.


So if you're interested in playing your favorite games and saving yourself money, Click through into GameFly's registration page.


Stay updated, Subscribe to Video Game Visions RSS feed.