The Humble Bundle for Android is their first bundle for mobile devices (if you don’t count Windows tablets). Unfortunately, there’s not word of an iPhone bundle, or Windows Phone bundle, but considering how popular Android devices are at the moment, that isn’t a terrible thing. Buying the Humble Bundle for Android also gets you Mac, Windows, and Linux versions of the games.

In the bundle you get 3 games, including Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Osmos, and EDGE. Care to pay more than a few dollars? Beat the average (lingering around $5), and get World of Goo thrown in for free. These are some pretty awesome games, valued at $60, so check the Android Bundle while it’s still on. [Source]

The classic returns

Beginning in December, the Nintendo’s reward program, Club Nintendo, began offering downloadable games for the Nintendo 3DS, DSi, and Wii in addition to their large collection of physical rewards. It recently updated its catalog with a few classics, one of which is the renowned Majora’s Mask, which I downloaded to my Wii. The other three games currently available are Dr. Mario Online RX (Wii), Kirby’s Dream Land (3DS), and Dr. Mario Express (DSi).

Club Nintendo is one of the few “player-orientated” video game reward sites of used, mainly due to its reasonable pricing and desirable collector’s items it has available. To earn “coins”, you can simply register your consoles, hand helds, and games’ serial codes on their site, and after a simple survey you receive a specified amount of coins depending on what you registered. I’ve been a member for four years, and my collection of their prizes include two Game&Watch Collections, a collector’s edition Mario hat, Japanese-style bamboo fans, and many other products that you can check out on their catalog.

Yep. A choir at the Microsoft keynote.

On January 9, 2012, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer took the stage at CES for the tech company’s final appearance at the electronics show. Along with him (for no real reason) was Ryan Seacrest. At the keynote, Ballmer didn’t really announce anything too special. Probably the biggest thing talked about was Kinect for Windows, which will be available in February for $250. Maybe a little too pricy for the general public, but indeed cool. So, altogether the Microsoft keynote was a little weird (with Ballmer and Seacrest chest-bumping; and the choir singing tweets about the keynote) and a little productive at the same time. But it was more weird, than anything.

• Utilize Kinect skeletal-tracking, sophisticated microphone array, and other sensor technologies
• Link computers to Kinect devices running Windows 7 and Windows 8 Developer Preview
• Run applications built with the Kinect for Windows Commercial Software Development Kit (SDK)
• Use the Kinect for Windows SDK to build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Studio Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
• The sensor will only work on computers running the SDK softawre

[Source - Amazon, Microsoft] [Developing]

Update

Official blog post on the Kinect for Windows blog is now live, this provides an in-depth explanation on the technologies used.

Sony started off their CES press conference with some good news. Their Playstation line, including the Playstation 3, PSP, and Playstation Vita sold more than 6.5 million units during this past holiday season. PS Vita sold half a million units to consumer since its launch on December 17, 2011 in japan, and December 23 in Asia. The PS3 system exceeded 3.9 million units worldwide during the holiday sales season, and continues to build momentum and remains on track to reach its annual sales target of 15.0 million hardware units worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 31. With the PS Vita launch in the US still to come, it’s looking good for Sony this year.

Cloud-gaming company OnLive, a service that allows users with sub-par computers to play high end games by streaming content directly to the screen, has just now released their OnLive Player App for Android Phones and tablets alike. I’ve used this service almost religiously since it came out, on my netbook, and on my TV, as I purchased the OnLive Gaming Console in June of this year. I pay next to nothing for most of my games, as I am subscribed to the PlayPass, which for $9.99 a year, I get access to 160 (mostly bargain-bin titles, but some are actually worth playing) games, and 30% off all purchases, and combined with OnLive’s almost weekly Steam-like sales, I get to keep a nice chunk of cash in my pocket.

The OnLive Player app essentially allows you to play PC/Console quality games on your cell phone or tablet. That’s right, now you can enjoy games such as DiRT 3, Darksiders, and LEGO Batman right on your tablet. Even better, for a limited time, OnLive is offering LEGO Batman for free for anyone who logs in with the mobile app. It works over 3G/WiFi, and I’ve found the experience to be seamless on both connections.

Download the OnLive App: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.onlive.client&rdid=com.onlive.client

Minecon, the Minecraft convention, is only a few short days away. In anticipation for this large gaming event, the Mojang team have pushed out Minecraft – Pocket Edition for iOS. Right now it’s only available in Australia, but will be available at midnight (November 17th, 2011) in the US.

Suprisingly, this version of Minecraft is $10, which is a few dollars more expensive than the Android version ($6.99). That being said, this version has a dedicated version for both iPhone and iPad for that same price, unlike the Android version which is phone-only. Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS is available for $6.99 USD. Here are the features of the iOS version:

* Randomized worlds
* Build anything you can imagine
* Build with 36 different kinds of blocks
* Invite and play with friends to your world (local wireless network)
* Save multi-player worlds on your own phone

Did you get the newest version of Minecraft – Pocket Edition? Leave a comment below!

The 3DS has had a pretty poor start up, and even a 3DS owner like myself would agree that the 3DS is seriously lacking powerful start-up games to boost sales. I became extremely excited once I saw this beautiful limited edition Legend of Zelda 3DS. It will be released in Europe in December and will be bundled with a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Japanese players will also get to enjoy a Monster Hunters 3D themed 3DS bundle pack. Monster Hunters 3D will also be the first game to use the Nintendo 3DS Slide Pack.

This is the 3DS Slide Pack. It attaches itself to the bottom of the 3DS, adding another row of shoulder buttons and an additional joystick. Future games such as Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance will be compatible with the Slide Pack. It may look bulky, but some lucky people who have demoed the Slide Pack emphasize the fact that it feels surprisingly normal.

To close up, many strong games will be coming to the 3DS. As mentioned before, Monster Hunters 3D, Metal Gear Solid, and Kingdom Hearts 3D will be arriving to the 3DS in the near future, while games like Super Mario Land 3D, Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus, Animal Crossing, Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton, and Super Smash Bros are either already available or coming as well.

Could it be? The new FIFA 12 is a breakthrough in sports game technology? No, or at least not in my opinion. When I first opened up the game, I was expecting to see a jaw-dropping opening clip with previous season’s top goals and saves, but instead I was greeted by a straight image of Wayne Rooney. Disappointing to say the least. But enough with that, let’s talk game. When completing basic tutorials and drills, I was brought to the home page where everything looked exactly the same as FIFA 11. With Ultimate Team, Xbox Live, and Career Modes I was extremely shocked to see that EA did not deliver a new addition to the game.

Ultimate team, where users can create their own so-called “dream team,” is exactly the same as last year’s. The only difference being that it is pre-downloaded on the game, instead of having to purchase it from Xbox Live. With the same layout, formations and players, I was expecting a lot more. Just like Ultimate Team, Career Mode is exactly the same as Fifa 11. However, I was surprised to see the newest addition to the Head to Head online competition. A league format has been set up where the player can participate in tournaments and level up through leagues by winning games. This is by far what EA has spent the most time working on.

The level of reality in this new game is spectacular. With stunning new facial graphics, players actually look like they do in real life. With new controls making defending harder the level of “noobs” playing the game will most likely decrease. The game is actually so realistic that it almost isn’t fun anymore.

For me, I’m going to stick with playing my dear old friend FIFA 11, and wait for another year, only to probably be disappointed again.

UPDATE: We now have a tutorial on how to install pre-release 5

The guys at Mojang are at it again: pumping out yet another version of the 1.9 pre-release. Some of the new features in Minecraft 1.9 include NPCs, and updated things in the nether like Nether dungeons and new blocks. New features of 1.9 pre-3 specifically are:

• Simplified potion system
• New items and enchantment table (wip)
• Baby animals

This morning, Jeb tweeted out the 1.9 pre-release 3 JAR file which can be downloaded here. The updated JAR file should be placed in your Miencraft bin folder. Only mess with this is you know what you’re doing. To get to your Minecraft bin folder simply visit the folder “Local” then “Roaming” inside your user file in Windows. Then inside the bin file in Minecraft, you’ll see “minecraft.jar”. Rename this to something like “minecraft18.jar because you’ll need this later when the final version comes out. Simply place the 1.9 jar file that Jeb tweeted about inside that bin folder and boot up Minecraft. Everything should be ready to go.