mm

"Prey looks like one of the best first-person shooters of the year in both graphics and gameplay." -icn

"Absolutely incredible to look at, packed with scintillating effects." - piay

"Doom 3" hiked the bar. Prey may transform the bar altogether." -1up

"Prey is built around a carefully crafted, cinema- wo rthy storyline." - Official Xbox Magazine

"An alien-abduction epic, Prey casts the player as Tommy, a reluctant Native American hero trying to save himself and his girlfriend from a gigantic organic spacecraft--a sentient Dyson sphere powered by the artificial sun inside its shell--that is strip- mining the Earth for human food." - cage

"The environments have a fleshy, biomechanical, organic style that hints at a variety of filmic influences...The flesh-and-bone body of the alien ship is merged with a variety of stolen alien technologies that mess with gravity, direction, and relativity." -xseo

"Possibly the dawn of a spiritual awakening for the shooter genre." - pc Gamer

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ractivé Software and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. 2K Games, the 2K logo, Venom Games, the Venom Games logo and Take-Two Interactive Software are all trademarks and/or jo Interactive Software, Inc. © 2006 3D Realms Entertainment. All rights reserved. The Prey name and logo, 3D Real ient and the 3D Realms logo are trademarks of Apogee S igital, Deli Ltd. Developed an Head Studios, Inc. Human Head Studios and the Human He: ios logo are trademarks of Human Head Studios, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Assi i Digital.Delivery at Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and the Xbox Live logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Copyright 2005, ATI Technologies. www:PlayTriton.com Inc; ATI arid the ATI logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. All other marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ver story

42 NEED FOR

SPEED CARBON

Mega-publisher Electronic Arts is busting out of the racing mold with this current-

and next-gen racer. Not content with

merely reinventing the single-player career paradigm, the company is introducing video games to a whole new style of automotive competition. Join us for this world-exclusive

first look on page 42.

‘departments 4 STAFF Read the team's latest favorites

6 GI SPY Silly pictures of our life and times

8 DEAR GI Your chance to fire back at us!

12 CONNECT Where news, talk, and technology collide

36 INTERVIEW

Hideo Kojima of Kojima Productions talks about gaming as art, the relevance of film, and the future of Solid Snake

2 GAME INFORMER

38 GEAR Geeky gadget stuff for the masses

40 OPINION

Game Informer's Joe Juba address- es the issue of paint-by-numbers RPG plots

41 CALENDAR Get hip to this month's happenings

52 PREVIEWS

There was so much awesome software at E3 that we just had to whip up an enormous preview sec- tion to cover everything we could. Find out what the best game at the show was, along with the dish on 76 other sweet-looking titles

E3 2006 REPORT It's the biggest annual event in gaming, and we of course

d bring you all the news and analysis you need. Full

| breakdowns of all three console manufacturers, explanations of all the crazy daims made at the show, and more are all part of our massive E3 coverage.

THE E3 HOT 50 Faced with an overload of fantastic software at this year's expo, Game Informer picks the 50 titles that every gamer absolutely must know about - and gives you the scoop on every single one of

$ them. From Gears of War to

M Alone in the Dark, we've got what you need.

102 REVIEWS Game of the Month: New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS

114 CHARTS Retail Sales Data and the GI edi- tors' Top 10 Games

116 SECRET ACCESS Codes, strategies, and passwords

118 CLASSIC GI Reliving gaming's greatest moments

122 GAME OVER The end...or is it?

GAME

Alone In The Dark

Army of Two

Assassin's Creed...

BioShock

Blue Dragon : Brooktown High: Senior Year.

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway . . . Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

Club, The. RES. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Company of Heroes

Cooking Mama

Crackdown .

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Crysis.

f Might & Magic Darwinia Dead Head Fred Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Elite Beat Agents. Y Enemy Territories: Quake Wars FEAR FEAR: Extraction Point. . Final Fantasy IIl. . Final Fantasy XIII Final Fantasy Versus XIII Frontlines: Fuel of War. Full Auto 2: Battlelines Gallop Racer 2006 Gears of War. . . God of War Il Golden Axe .

Heavenly Sword Heavy Rain Hellgate: London vis Heroes of Might & Magic V Hitman: Blood Money Indiana Jones. John Woo Presents. Just Caust Legend of Heroes Il, The. . . . Legend of Zelda: Twilight Prin Lemmings (PS2) Lemmings (PSP)... LlocoRoco ..........- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Lunar Knights. Madden NFL 07 Marvel Ultimate Alliance Mass Effect Mercenaries 2: World In Flames Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption . . Moto GP ‘06 Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. Naughty Dog Project Neverwinter Nights 2... New Super Mario Bros. Overlord Paradise Prey Rainbow Six: Vegas. Red Steel 5

tance: Fall of Man.

f Nations: Rise of Legends

Star Fox DS . Street Fighter Alpha Anthology Super Mario Galaxy Super Paper Mario Super Sr ros. Brawl Supreme Commander Table Tennis Thrillville . .. Tomb Raider: Legend Tony Hawk Project 8. . Turok 3 Unreal Tournament 2007. Urban Chaos Warhawk E WarioWare: Smooth Moves. eie World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade n: The Official Game F 's Island 2

—-- | |

RESPONSE^

MATURE 17+ Blood and Gore Strong Language Intense Violence PING cidos

62006 SCi Games Ltd. “Eidos” and the Eidos Logo are trademarks of the Eidos. connection and Memory Card (8MB) (for PlayStation 2) (each sold se

group of companies. "Urban Chaos" and “Urban Chaos: Riot Response" are trademarks of Eidos Interactive Ltd. All rights reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Online play requires internet

parately), The Online icon is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live logo, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. The rating icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

SHOCK | AND AWE

D ANDY McNAMARA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I'm sure | wasn't the only one that was floored by

Sony's announcement of a $600 price point for the PlayStation 3. While it's a lot of cash, ! don't think the cost is unreasonable. The PlayStation 3 has everything but the kitchen sink inside it. That said, the price point is going to be a nightmare for Sony's PR and marketing machines to overcome, especially when you consider that many of the third party games, like Grand Theft Auto, will be available on the Xbox 360 and will likely look the same to most consumers.

Sony will sell each and every PS3 it puts in the pipeline this year, even at this outrageous price point. However, it does leave the door open for the other two contenders, and | think it's highly likely that both will capitalize on Sony's overzealous approach.

What this does do however, is put the console war on hold. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony will do quite well over the next two years. The real battle begins when these console manufacturers try to reach outside of the hardcore gamer crowd. Sony will have to aggressively lower its price point, Nintendo will need to keep third- parties supporting its system, and Microsoft will just have to keep doing what it's doing.

1 do feel that Sony's only hope to reach its previous dominance of the market lies in delivering entertainment that simply isn't possible on the other two systems, and that means a monster 50 gigabyte game that pushes graphics and gameplay to never-before-seen heights. But even then, | wonder if that is enough.

Industry insiders are putting the market share at 40 percent each for Microsoft and Sony, with the remaining 20 percent for Nintendo.

Personally, | think the Wii will do even better than that. Its unique gameplay opportunities and sub-250 dollar price point will make it an easy choice for gamers as a second system, if not their first.

Regardless, Sony's domination of the video game market is likely over unless it pulls a rabbit out of its hat. That said, the PlayStation 3 is going to be awesome and | know I'll be there day one. Of course, Ill have all three. The real question is: How will consumers react and what will be their choice? Anything can happen, and probably will.

Enjoy the issue.

Cheers,

f

Andy >> andy@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Hombre Expertise: RPGs, Action/Platform, Driving, First-Person Shooters Interests: The Heroine's Hair In Heavenly Sword, Nintendo's Screw-You-We-Will-Do-What-We-Want Attitude Dislikes: Sony's Press Conference (It Was Perhaps The Worst | Had Ever Seen), The Wii Name (I So Wish It Was Still The Revolution) Current Favorite Games: Gears Of War, Spore, Mass Effect, BioShock, World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy

4 GAME INFORMER

Reiner >> reiner@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Raging Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Action, First-Person Shooters, Strategy, Sports, Fighting Interests: Zelda On The Wii, The Endless Stream Of Wii Jokes, Green Arrow, X-Men: The Last Stand (90 Minutes Of Awesome Death) Dislikes: PlayStation 3's Price (Looks Like I'm Eating Grass Sandwiches And Dirt Pies From Now Until November 17), Straining A Muscle While Playing Baseball In Wii Sports, The PlayStation 3 Controller Not Having Rumble Current Favorite Games: Gears Of War, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy (All 12 Of Them), Mass Effect, The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Matt >> matt&gameinformer.com

Handle: The Original Gamer Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Action/Platform, Action/ Adventure, Action/Sports Interests: All The Great Games In Development, Mission Impossible Ill, Making The Most Delicious Enchiladas Dislikes: The Fact That A Lot Of Great Games Aren't Out Until 2007, Fox 9 News Scaremongering ("Downtown Is A Death Wish!”), Ramsey County Judges Putting Rock On Lockdown Current Favorite Games: Gears Of War, New Super Mario Bros., Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, BioShock, Just Cause

Kato >> kato@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Katana Expertise: Sports, Racing, Action/Adventure, Action/Platform Interests: Sid ‘n Susie - Under The Covers Vol. 1, X-Men: The Last Stand, Toyota Coming Into NASCAR, Roscoe’s House Of Chicken & Waffles Dislikes: Poker On Sports Channels (No, Poker Is Not A Sport), The Retirement Of Little Big Man Doug Flutie, The End Of The West Wing Current Favorite Games: Rainbow Six: Vegas, Heavenly Sword, Alone In The Dark, Supreme Commander, Mass Effect, BioShock, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Loco Roco, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, Brooktown High: Senior Year

Lisa >> lisa@gameinformer.com

Handle: La Game Nikita Expertise: Survival Horror, Adventure, RPGs, Action/Platform, Racing Interests: Next-Gen Excitement, Bike Commuting, Lost Season Finale. ..And Web Game... .And Potential Game Ideas, Perplex City Dislikes: Not Having Enough Room To List All Of The Games I'm Pumped For, Freakin’ X-Men: The Last Stand - Total Bummer Current Favorite Games: Gears Of War, Mass Effect, BioShock, New Super Mario Bros., Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Assassin's Creed, World Of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, Cooking Mama, Spore, Halo 3, Valkyrie Profile (Both Parts), Heavenly Sword

Jeremy >> jeremy@gameintormer.com

Handle: Gamezilla Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Survival Horror, Action/Platform, Fighting, Strategy/RPGs Interests: Creative Labs Zen Vision: M, The Glut Of Gaming Awesomeness On The Way, Giant Enemy Crabs, Camping, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Revisiting My Metalhead Roots, 52 Dislikes: Wrathful Garbagemen, The Putrid Purple-Grey Color Of LA's Sky, Getting Stuck In Pandemic's Elevator Current Favorite Games: Rise Of Nations: Rise Of Legends, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Gears Of War, Spore, Mass Effect, The Club, Alone In the Dark, Supreme Commander, And A Ton More

Adam >> adam@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Alpha Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Strategy, First-Person Shooters, Fighting Interests: Mocking The Alliance, Seeing More Awesome Software Than | Thought Existed At £3, Moving To A Sweeter Residence, Dislikes: How Flying Makes Me All Stupid For A Day, Paladins Who Know How To Play Their Class (Both Of Them), Hard Drive Failures, Other People Having Awesomer MP3 Players Than | Do, X-Men: The Last Stand Current Favorite Games: World Of Warcraft, Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin, Enemy Territories: Quake Wars, BioShock, Supreme Commander, Company Of Heroes

JOE >> joe@gameinformer.com Handle: The Real American Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Adventure, Action, Strategy, Puzzle Interests: The Spread Of Misinformation (“Divine Retribution” Was A Headline, Not A

v Subtitle, Suckers!), Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge, Hiding Chicken In Vegetarian Salads Dislikes: George R. R. Martin (| Trusted Youl), Brett “Hollywood's Toilet" Ratner, All The Pun-Hate In The Office, The Fact That It Isn't 2007 Right Now Current Favorite Games: Mass Effect, Spore, BioShock, Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, God Of War II, Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain

Miller >> mitler@gameinformer.com Handle: The Once And Future Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Action/Adventure, Fighting, Platform, First-Person Shooters Interests: Roscoe's Chicken, Roscoe's Waffles, Roscoe

You Are), My Own Personal Robot Friend (Finally!), The Games Of 2007

Dog's Deep Mistrust Of My Own Personal Robot Friend, Fundamental Flaws In What Could Have Been A Great X-Men Movie, Waiting For Fall TV To Start Current Favorite Games: New Super Mario Bros., The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Mass Effect, Star Trek: Legacy, Final Fantasy XIII, Heavenly Sword, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy

UNLIMITED ENABLED

GAME INFORMER UNLIMITED

When you see this logo on a game preview, review, or feature, you can learn more about it by heading to www.gameinformer.com and clicking on the Unlimited logo.

There are tons of other bonuses there (including movies, interviews, and screenshots) exclusively for Game Informer subscribers, so even if a game you like doesn't have the

logo in the magazine, there is a good chance you can still learn more online.

GAMEINFORMER,

JULY 2006 Volume XVI * Number 7 * Issue 159

PUBLISHER

Cathy Preston EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Andrew McNamara EDITORS

Executive Editor Andrew Reiner Senior Editor Matt Helgeson Senior Associate Editor Matthew Kato Associate Editors.

Lisa Mason e Jeremy Zoss Adam Biessener * Joe Juba * Matt Miller Mascot Arthur

PRODUCTION

Art Director Thomas Blustin Production Director Curtis Fung Production Assistant Rachel Nimerfroh

CONTRIBUTORS

Photographer Kato Studio + Mike Gitler Billy Berghammer

GAME INFORMER ONLINE

Managing Online Editor Billy Berghammer Associate Online Editor Bryan Vore Online Production Assistant Nick Ahrens

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Manufactured and printed in the United States of America The Editor welcomes company product information for all video games. Such materials should be addressed to: Editor, Game Informer® Magazine, 724 North First St. 4th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned or acknowledged. Entire contents copyright 2004. Game Informer? Magazine. All fights reserved; reproduction in whole or in pat without permission is prohibited. Game Informer is a trademark of GameStop, Inc. Products named n these pages are rade names, or trademarks, o their respective companies. PUBLISHER LIABILITY FOR ERROR The publisher shall not be liable for sight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement, The publisher's abiit tor other errors or omissions in connection with an adverisement is limited to republication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. INDEMNIFICATION The advertiser and/or ‘Advertsing Agency agrees to delend and indemnity the publisher against any and all labilt, los, or expense arising from claims of lel, unfair competition, unfair rade practices, infingement of trademarks, copyrights, rade names, patents, or proprietary rights or violation of rights f privacy, resulting from the publication of the

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ogg ineeyes

i S PY Candid Photos From The Seedy Underbelly Of The Video Game Industry

1 Clint Eastwood was on hand for the debut of the Dirty Harry game, and his very presence made us feel like sissies 2 Joe and Jeremy celebrate former GI Online staffer Chris Cook's birthday with buddies from Sega, Koei, and IDG Entertainment outside the Hooters

on Hollywood Boulevard. Chris gets classier all the time! 3 Steven Spielberg stopped by the Nintendo booth to check out the Wii and shake hands with Miyamoto, creating a vortex of geek fandom that nearly consumed the entire L.A. Convention Center 4 The GI posse and Vivendi Games ' Eric Reynolds visited the famous Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, and witnessed the horror of what a hungry Miller can do to a chicken 5 Matt and Ameican Idol castoff Ace Young plan their upcoming world tour 6 Kazutoyo Machiro, Akihiko Yoshida, Daisulee Watanabe, and Akitoshi Kawazu from Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII team couldn't be more thrilled to pose

for the GI Spy camera 7 Gaming leg- end and cell phone enthusiast John Carmack chills with his boy Kato

8 Jennifer Lam reacts to boyfriend

EXCLUSIVE STEAMBOT CHRONICLES HARMONICA 4 FREE: WITH PURCHASEYAT| PARTICIPATING RETAILERS!*

EARN MONEY PLAYING MUSIC!

Earn money by playing different instruments on busy

NON-LINEAR GAMEPLAY!

Make your living playing in a band, farming or even as a Trotmobile street corners and in nightclubs! arena fighter. The choice is yours!

CUSTOMIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE! EXCITING MECHA ACTION!

Buy parts to upgrade and change Battle against gigantic boss mechs the appearance of your Trotmobile! C H R (©) N I G L E S in your fully customizable Trotmobile!

TEEN

p Alcohol Reference is Crude Humor i

g | m e eia p. PlayS tation. VA alus Suggestive Themes ° WWW.ATLUS.COM

ESRB CONTENT RATING — www.esrb.org

(62004, 2006 IREM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INC. “Steambot Chronicles" is a trademark of IREM. All rights reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. Sony Computer Entertainment America takes no responsibility for this offer. “While supplies last.

The Readers Strike Back

Game Informer has a thriving online community, and this is where they can sound

off about issues facing the gaming industry today

THE QUESTION: How happy are you with your Xbox 360?

Italready has a fantastic library of titles for a starting console, and even better titles are lined up for the future. Though it has no true killer app, the 360 has only provided me with great game after great game. ganonsbane

Im already happy with it, but I

be more happy with a copy of

Too Human and Halo 3. Sangheili

The 360 is a disappointment to me. Although they have a library with a few great standout titles, none of those seem next-gen. When I went from PSone to the PS2, [was in awe. Now from the Xbox to the 360, it just feels a little better.

chrisredfield

I didn't get my 360 until early February, but it was well worth the wait I'm finding more games to be excited about, Xbox Live/Markeiplace is phenomenal, and the future looks bright. Quesidodo)r

The overall lack of effort to really take advantage of the system is a dissapointment. | want a true next-gen leap from a next-gen system, and so far only a handful of games deliver that on the 360.

MrVegeta

My current life consists of food, school, and Oblivion. Screw sleep. When it comes down to it, | think l'd shell out the $300 just to play Oblivion.

donttalktochris

8 GAME INFORMER

GI: GAME INSPIRER

| just wanted to thank you so much for the “Stay in School" article that appeared in issue 157. | am currently at a point in my

ı You are right that alpha and beta versions often have bugs or incomplete features, Kirk, but they are mainly used for internal testing and QA by the developers. As such, these versions are not sent out to the

life where | am trying to decide on a career path and still have no idea what my options are. I've often thought about going into the gaming industry, and reading your article made it sound like it could actually be attainable. | just wish that it had been longer and more in-depth.

Amanda Holt

St. Paul, MN

Your “Stay in School” article pumped me up and inspired me to work harder in art class. | am a 19-year old student, and my degree will be a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art. | just have to ask: Is what | am studying a good way to pursue a career in the video game industry?

Leon Coachman

via email

We're happy that aspiring industry insiders found our article helpful. After it printed, we received piles of letters from readers with questions about how to pursue a career in gaming. Unfortunately, no matter how long or in-depth an article on industry jobs may be, there is one fact that is hard to escape: It's never a sure thing. Is a BFA in Studio Art a good start? It certainly can’t hurt.

You could even graduate from a respected school like UAT, but it doesn’t guarantee you a place on a dev team. It isn’t like Resident Evil, where you can just find the key that unlocks the door; you need to have the necessarily skills and (with a little luck) be in the right place at the right time. Other than that, the best thing you can do is keep yourself informed as to who is hiring out there by checking out developer websites and message boards (see the letter entitled “That's Unpossible” for advice on how to communicate on these message boards).

ALPHA MAIL

| had my suspicions that you write your reviews based on alpha and beta versions of games, and you proved me correct when | received my April 2006 issue. My issue arrived on March 20, exactly nine days prior to the street release of Kingdom Hearts II. Now, | want to know how you can write a review (complete with English screenshots) that far in advance before the game has been officially released in the USA? How can your readers trust your reviews when they are solely based upon alpha and beta versions of a game?

Kirk Bramlett Saint Charles, MO

SCHOOL | Sors

media for review. In most cases, our deadlines make

it impossible to play the plastic-

copy of a title, so the game compa- nies send us final code in advance. Because it takes time to manufac- ture hundreds of thousands of cop- ies of a game, this final code is actu- ally available ear- lier than you might think. Developers aren't usually pull- ing all-nighters the day before their game ships to stores. The versions of the games we receive are practically indistin- guishable from the product you pick up from your local game store. If we believe that

we have been given a build that is not in a reviewable form, we will always opt to wait until we have a version we can accurately score. It's as simple as that.

Hous to Turn Your College

NERDTERIOR DESIGN

I've got a new room to decorate, and I've decided to do it in geek style. I've already planned to have Triforces pressed into the plaster and sponged gold, | have Tetris shelv-

ing ordered, and | am sewing a SNES con- troller-style blanket. You often feature some really awesome furniture in your Gear section. Sources? Sites? Suggestions? Anything would be greatly appreciated!

Kara Joshinki via hotmail.com

a We're happy to do anything we can to make the world a dorkier place. You can find a wide array of generally nerdy furniture and acces- sories at Think Geek (www.thinkgeek.com), and more specific video game-related oddities can be found at import sites like National Console Support (www.ncsx.com) and Lik-Sang (wwwilik- sang.com). For the more discerning nerd lifestyle, Cool Hunting (www.coolhunting.com) is a great resource for stylish design. None of these sites specialize solely in the decorative arts, but you'll undoubtedly find something that catches your eye. However, even with so much at our finger- tips, we're still no closer to obtaining the Holy Grail of Geekery - a 12-foot tall bronze statue of the girl from Weírd Science. Get on it, Internet!

THAT'S UNPOSSIBLE

| have been currently looking over certain online

MMO forums, and | must say that they have hor-

rid grammar. | find it appalling trying to decipher

the language in the posts. Why can't they type

out a whole word? | have seen many intelligent

beings assaulted by this method of typing, and it

is decimating the minds of today’s youth. Is there

anything we can do to stop it from spreading?

Maaku lano

via comcast.net

Unfortunately, you are powerless to slow the tireless march of Internet-speak. One person cannot make a difference. Therefore, your only hope is to educate yourself on some of the more common phrases and abbreviations. We've provided a short list of terms you can use to conveniently translate forum posts and make those trips online more understandable:

ftw: Feeds the whales (like chum or plankton — describes something useless)

wtf: Wonderful tact, friend!

(a compliment)

qft: Quit fire trucking! ("fire trucking" is when someone attempts to extinguish a “flame war”)

iawtp: I am wetting these pants (usually typed by the very young or very old)

imho: In my head only (refers to the opinions of a crazy person who hears imaginary voices. Disregard)

E The Hand Grenade Oil Lamp from Piet Houtenbos

Send your comments to Game Informer. Snail Mail: Game Informer Magazine © Attn: Dear GI © 724 North First St., 4th Floor e Minneapolis, MN 55401 Email: deargi@gameinformer.com

YA WIILY

Wii?! | know there's much more to a console than it's name, but come on... Wii? That is absolutely, positively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the dumb- est name any inanimate object has ever been assigned. | love Nintendo, but that name just sounds like the console is for a five-year-old kid.

| thought Nintendo might have lost it when they unveiled the controller, but | didn't count them out. But Wii? Is the double-i supposed to indicate two people playing together? Man, get that weak s— out of here.

E.M. Wade via e-mail

First and foremost, "Bawlz" is the dumb- est name ever given to a consumer product, followed closely by “Gizmondo.” Regardless, millions of gamers reacted just like this when Nintendo announced the new branding for the Revolution. The strange thing is this: No matter how awful Wii may sound right now, people have already started to use it. Sure, it may be accompanied by sarcastic jazz-hands or eye-rolling, but over time that will die off and it will just be the Wii you know and love. The fact that you will eventually learn to tol- erate the name still doesn't make it a good choice, though. Especially since gamers at large have never been known for exercising restraint when it comes to jokes about geni- tals and urine. We sure hope Nintendo has a thick skin.

GROPING FOR ANSWERS

I'm a fan of wrestling games, and I've always liked your reviews and scores for them (you saved

me from wasting $50 on Wrestlemania 21). But when it comes to captioning the pictures for these games, you sound like total wrestling haters! Wrestling is nothing to make fun of — you can't give it a glowing preview, and then on the next Page insinuate that Rey Mysterio and John Cena are a couple.

Ruben Nunez via snail mail

a Look, it isn't our captions’ fault. A picture is worth a thousand words, and when two half-naked dudes are half-nakedly grappling and playing “slap and tickle,” there isn't much to insinuate. The images speak for themselves.

Enter the Game Informer Envelope Art Contest. All you need to do is draw, paint, scratch, spit, or carve the best dam envelope art you can think of and send it to us. Please include your name, phone number, and retum address

on the back of the envelope.

If you're the monthly winner, we'll feature your work in GI and you'll receive a video game prize from the Game Informer vault.

Send to:

Game Informer Envelope Art Contest 724 1st St. N., 4th Floor Mpls, MN 55401

NATHANIEL KOLASA “Mario” and "dual-wielding" should never be in the same sentence

BERYL ALLEE Shadow the Hedgehog: bad game, worse garnish

IAN KNIGHT “If you call this a ‘horse’ one more time, you'll be smoking sticky shockers."

JOSHUA GEIER

“I'm too weak to beat him alone. If only Cait Sith were here!"

JOSE RAMIREZ

You want more Ryu. Instead, you get more volleyball. That is the way of the world

GAME INFORMER 9

> y

GAME BOY ADVANCE

NINTENDO DIS..

LIVE

PRODUCTS RANGE FROM RATING PENDING ro EVERYONE

R-E CONTENT RATED BY

E S 3239-3

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super power full

It takes a documentary, produced every week by an in-house video crew, to help EA producer Jeff Peters keep track of the huge array of powers and attack combinations that the 140 developers working on Superman Returns™: The Videogame have put together. "Metallo, for instance, is 60 stories tall," he says, "so you might want to fly around the city a little bit, maybe down to the port, and find something really massive — a ship, for example — pick that up and hurl it at him." Each villain has different strengths — and unique vulnerabilities — so attacks that devastate one enemy won't necessarily work against another.

"With a villain like Parasite, you may wantto keep your distance," he says. "You could do something like grab a fuel truck, throw it toward him, then blow it up with your heat vision just before it hits him." If the ensuing explosion happens to set an apartment building on fire, Peters suggests leaving the fight for a moment to airlift a fire engine to the scene so it can douse the flames, then rejoining the battle. "There are so many different things you can do," Peters says. "It all adds up to this amazing feeling of freedom."

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When he was 13, EA level designer Zach Wilson used to blow his entire $10-a-week allowance on Superman and other comic books. For the last two years, he's been tights-deep in processor cycles and aerodynamics with the rest of the team working on Superman Returns, giving life to the Man of Steel with his own personal branch of physics — from takeoff to 800-m.p.h. flight through the densely packed streets of Metropolis to midair hand-to-hand combat.

“The hardest thing with flight in a 3D environment isto make itlook realistic and make it easy to learn at the same time.” EA's state-of-the-art development methods gave Wilson & co. the tools to nail that balance between realism and playability. "Gamers can be so skeptical," Wilson says. “I understand - I used to be those guys. That's what motivates us: to prove to the world that we can pull it off."

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Before EA concept art director Phil Straub and his team could construct Metropolis in the game environment of Superman Returns, they needed a map. Building on 2D maps supplied by DC Comics, EA created a detailed 3D representation of the city — first on paper, then in clay, then out of papier-máché and wood and finally out of bits, pixels and polygons. Eighty square virtual miles of playable space.

And playable means seriously playable: billboards, fire hydrants, cars and tractor- trailers, lamp posts — you can use nearly every element in the environment as a shield, a weapon — or, in Metallo's case, a toothpick.

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fter having digested the announcement that the console formerly known as the Revolution is now called "Wii" we were curious as to what other tricks Nintendo had up its sleeve at its annual E3 press conference. You couldn't ask for a more vivid illustration of the vast differences between the strategies and philosophies of Microsoft and Nintendo than the way the companies began their E3 2006 press conferences. While Microsoft served up a bloody slice of the violent shooter Gears of War, Nintendo introduced their annual event with legendary Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto in a tuxedo, conducting a virtual orchestra with a Wii remote controller. This was but one indication that, as always, Nintendo was set to balance the sublime and the ridiculous in an E3 that, despite

some silly moments, turned out to be a grand coming out party for the company's oddly named new home console.

After Miyamoto left the stage, Nintendo's master of ceremonies, Reggie Fils-Aime, took control with his trademark style of high-concept sloganeering. In ty cal fashion, Fils-Aime dismissed Nintendo's competitors as stuck in the past.

"If all you want is next-generation, you're in the wrong place,” he stated. “Because what you'll see from Nintendo is not just next. Instead, it's what's absolutely new. What we're unveiling is the next leap in gaming.”

Fils-Aime went on to detail the way in which Wii will challenge the conventional thinking about video games, comparing it to the company's Super Mario 64, which revolutionized gaming with true 3D graph- ics and the introduction of the analog

E3 2006

NINTENDO PROMISES CHANGE IN Wii COMING OUT PARTY

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stick. In Nintendo's view, the industry must expand beyond its current way of making games in order to truly reach to the mass market, and it is gambling that the Wi motion sensitive controller is the way to do that.

Expounding on this theme of inclusive- ness, Fils-Aime observed, “Let me start with a couple of questions for you. Do you know anyone who's never watched television? Never watched a movie? Never read a book? Of course not. So let me ask you one more question. Do you know someone, even in your own family, whi never played a video game? | bet you do How could this be? If we want to consider ourselves a true mass media, if we want to grow as an industry, this has to change. Today, change begins here, with a new console, just as it already has with a new handheld"

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