I was able to play Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the new MGS title for Sony’s PSP, at last year’s Tokyo Game Show (where the game was playable for the first time). I thought it was pretty good back then, and now the Famitsu, Japan’s (and probably the world’s) best selling video game magazine reviewed the title and gave it a perfect total score of 40.

That 40/40 score means that four Famitsu editors rated Peace Walker with 10/10, the first time for a PSP title ever. Maker Konami plans to ship the game in the US on June 8 (see cover art above) and in Europe on June. The Japanese version will be released as early as April 29.

The last game getting this score was New Super Mario Bros. back in November 2009. For some reason, the number of perfect scores awarded by Famitsu has accelerated in the past years.

Here is a time line for all of Famitsu’s 40/40-games so far:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, for Nintendo 64)
2. Soul Calibur (1999, for Dreamcast)
3. Vagrant Story (2000, for PlayStation)
4. The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker (2003, for GameCube)
5. Nintendogs (2005, for the DS)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006, for PlayStation 2)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, for the Wii)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, for PlayStation 3)
9. 428: Fusasareta Shibuya de (2008, for the Wii)
10. Dragon Quest IX (2009, for the DS)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009, for the Wii)
12. Bayonetta (2009, for PlayStation 3/XBox 360)
13. New Super Mario Bros. (2009, for Wii)
14. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010, for PSP)

I was able to play Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the new MGS title for Sony’s PSP, at last year’s Tokyo Game Show (where the game was playable for the first time). I thought it was pretty good back then, and now the Famitsu, Japan’s (and probably the world’s) best selling video game magazine reviewed the title and gave it a perfect total score of 40.

That 40/40 score means that four Famitsu editors rated Peace Walker with 10/10, the first time for a PSP title ever. Maker Konami plans to ship the game in the US on June 8 (see cover art above) and in Europe on June. The Japanese version will be released as early as April 29.

The last game getting this score was New Super Mario Bros. back in November 2009. For some reason, the number of perfect scores awarded by Famitsu has accelerated in the past years.

Here is a time line for all of Famitsu’s 40/40-games so far:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, for Nintendo 64)
2. Soul Calibur (1999, for Dreamcast)
3. Vagrant Story (2000, for PlayStation)
4. The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker (2003, for GameCube)
5. Nintendogs (2005, for the DS)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006, for PlayStation 2)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, for the Wii)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, for PlayStation 3)
9. 428: Fusasareta Shibuya de (2008, for the Wii)
10. Dragon Quest IX (2009, for the DS)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009, for the Wii)
12. Bayonetta (2009, for PlayStation 3/XBox 360)
13. New Super Mario Bros. (2009, for Wii)
14. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010, for PSP)

Last night, I spent a truly obscene amount of time reading through Action Button’s incredibly good reviews of games, old-school and new. The Super Metroid and Super Mario Bros 3 reviews in particular struck me in particular, because it was clear that the reviewers love these games even more than I do, which didn’t think was possible. These are deep waters indeed, I reflected — love of games can be far more intense and complex than I thought. And here I wake up this morning and find that two gamers have worked together to accomplish nothing short of a life-changing event for both of them.

Roy Williams, an enthusiastic gamer from Camden, South Carolina, put together a moment-by-moment guide to completing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so that a blind Zelda lover in Ontario could beat it on his own. Seriously, this is some made-for-TV movie stuff, but it really happened, and it really worked.

Jordan Verner, who is blind, had been playing little bits of the game (OoT to true fans) but of course was frustrated by the fact that it’s not exactly accessible to a blind person. I mean, hell, that game’s difficult enough for a sighted guy of moderate skill like me to beat. He asked for help online, little thinking that he’d get it. But over the next two years, Roy and a couple friends put together a literal move-by-move guide to beating the game, relying on audio cues and plain old dead reckoning. And Jordan freaking did it!

Well, you can see how it is in the video above. These human interest stories usually leave me cold, but the fact that something as misunderstood and reviled (in mainstream media at least) as gaming could be the unquestionable source of joy and improvement for a couple people like this really makes me happy.

Online video chat by Ustream

These dudes are doing a 48 hour Zelda marathon for Free the Children. They’re playing Faces of Evil (the CDi version, which is amazingly bad) right now and are accepting donations at Extralives. Up next is Ocarina of Time. Watch and donate!

You can chat with the guys here and they have some giveaways. If you’re not doing much, it’s a lot of fun.

Japan’s biggest gaming magazine, the Famitsu [JP], has given Nintendo’s newest Mario game New Super Mario Bros. the highest honor in the latest issue. All four editors who tested the game gave 10 points out of 10, resulting in a perfect 40/40 score.

New Super Mario Bros. is already the fourth game in 2009 to get a 40/40 rating, even though until 2007 the magazine was well-known for not giving away this score easily. But the perfect rating isn’t that surprising, as the game seems to be really that good and many reviewers outside Japan gave it the thumbs up already.

Here is a time line for all of Famitsu’s 40/40-games so far:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, for Nintendo 64)
2. Soul Calibur (1999, for Dreamcast)
3. Vagrant Story (2000, for PlayStation)
4. The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker (2003, for GameCube)
5. Nintendogs (2005, for the DS)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006, for PlayStation 2)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, for the Wii)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, for PlayStation 3)
9. 428: Fusasareta Shibuya de (2008, for the Wii)
10. Dragon Quest IX (2009, for the DS)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009, for the Wii)
12. Bayonetta (2009, for PlayStation 3/XBox 360)
13. New Super Mario Bros.

We eulogized the Sega Dreamcast yesterday, and even though today, September 10, isn’t really all that significant in the life of the Nintendo 64, we present to you a photo montage of the life and times of Nintendo’s little system.

In the montage: The Donkey Kong 64 bundle, which I’m not too ashamed to say that I had once upon a time (even though it had a problem with saving games for some reason); the N64DD, which was as big of a flop as I’ve ever seen; Ben Heck’s portable N64; and the elusive golden N64, which I cannot remember for the life of me.

We had the launch day N64 (and I do mean launch day, my Dad pre-ordered the system quite early) and the aforementioned Donkey Kong bundle. And I had the launch day copy of Ocarina of Time, complete with the now-banned Fire Temple song. I was a baller, basically.