This week on preGAME we bring in fellow CNET editor Scott Stein to help us take a look at all the stealthy goodness Splinter Cell: Conviction has to offer. We’ll chat with Scott about all the week’s gaming news and check out a brand-new trailer for Gears of War 3, which is due out in April 2011.

Do you have a favorite first-person-shooter of all time? We’ll run down a list of 10 titles–most of which should appear on your roster. Where do games like Half-Life 2 and Doom fall? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

Also on today’s show we’ll chat about Hideo Kojima’s recent comment about the inevitable death of the home console. Will these staples of the home theater ever become extinct?

We all know about Conan O’Brein’s recent announcement that he’s moving to TBS in November, but what would it have been like if he left TV altogether? We’ll tell you about a story that had Coco flirting with an exclusive show on Xbox Live.

Finally, we’ll discuss the age of the average gamer. Are we ever too old to be gaming? Are you ever embarrassed to play games in public? Tune in and join the discussion!…

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Oops, I did it again.

(Credit:
Justin Yu/CNET)

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(Credit:
Justin Yu/CNET)

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(Credit:

Family of the Year)

Even though I definitely messed up the title format and everything else for that matter, today’s show is still “Where the cheese stands alone,” because you get to witness the pain as I try to record a SOLO podcast. That’s right, Jeff is out and Wilson called in sick, so I’m left to fend for myself with the generous help of a few friends along the way.

Disclaimer: Today’s show is atypical. If this is your first time listening to The 404, note that this is definitely not the norm. The show is usually very random and tangential, but today’s episode is a ONE MAN SHOW. That man is me, and for that I beg your forgiveness in advance. If you’re able to get through the entire show, well then I tip my hat to you.

It’s the first time I’ve operated the engineering board and camera switching by myself, so the production value ain’t up to par with Jeff’s expert skills…just keep that in mind as you struggle through this episode of random musings, behind the scenes scoops, upcoming guests, meetup ideas, Halloween costumes, and the future of The 404!

As hard as it is to listen to me wing my way through 45 minutes of streaming video, it would have been far worse if not for my dear friends Dan Ackerman, Scott Stein, and Julie Rivera who all came in to put me out of my lonely misery. They’re all part of CNET’s own Digital City Podcast, so be sure to check them out.

Here’s some exciting news to look forward to: Our guest on Monday will be the band Family of the Year. After hearing that we chose them for our Beck’s Beer Draft Pick, they agreed to come in for a LIVE in-studio acoustic performance!

Jeff will certainly be back for that, but no guarantees for Wilson G. Tang, who may or may not have contracted the Avian Swine Flu, a rare form of H1F1 that only occurs when pigs fly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

EPISODE 446

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Originally posted at The 404

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

The real NFL season is about to kick off, and EA has seized the opportunity to finally slide in the release of its much-anticipated port of Madden to the iPhone/iPod Touch format. It represents the meeting of the mobile entertainment industry’s unstoppable force, Apple’s black slab of wonder, with the gaming industry’s immovable object. Available at $7.99 through the kickoff of the Steelers-Titans game tonight and $9.99 afterward, is it worth your hard-earned tailgate dollars? We played it last week here at the CNET offices and played it a lot more on our own iPhone last night, and here’s our verdict.

It took EA a few weeks longer to get its iPhone act together than Gameloft did with NFL 2010. Did it pay off? Well, in some ways, yes. The player models and 3D stadiums seem better rendered than Madden’s NFL-licensed and similarly-named App Store rival, NFL 2010 by Gameloft, but with a significant drawback: the framerate on our 3GS playthrough was significantly choppier than NFL 2010. A future update will hopefully fix this, but in the meantime it doesn’t affect gameplay enough to be a game-killer. The presentation and commentary are impressive, nearing console level but hovering nearer to PSP and DS versions of Madden.

The biggest fear among those who play any type of hardcore game is whether losing a physical control pad affects gameplay in any significant way. The answer is simple: yes, it does. I’ve played games on my iPhone for more than a year, and it rarely avoids feeling like a compromise: lose a control pad, but gain a simplified interface and an extremely compact form in a smartphone. As to whether it’s worth it, ask yourself if you’d rather tote around a PSP or a Nintendo DS in your pocket in addition to your phone, or just carry an iPhone and lose a few controls, and you’ll have your answer.

The solution EA has given is the same many developers have, including Gameloft: add a virtual stick in the lower left corner, and a series of context-sensitive buttons in the lower right. The problem with the virtual stick is that, like other titles, it can be lost in the shuffle on heavy-focus moments of game play. There’s no tactile feedback, so it must be looked after, unlike a real analog pad. When playing Madden, that means a lot of the accuracy is lost. But the good news is that this game wasn’t really designed for finesse play. We’ll explain.
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Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Gameloft's successful GTA clone is being followed by the actual GTA.

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

Well, it turns out not everyone hates Apple’s App Store. Gameloft, the ever-present publisher of mobile games worldwide, likes the iPhone and iPod Touch quite a bit. In a recent news release,

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Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

CNET editors Jeff Bakalar and Scott Stein take a look at the highly anticipated Xbox Live Arcade side-scrolling action platformer from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games, Shadow Complex.

Jeff:
Shadow Complex may look like your typical side-scrolling action game, but it does a lot of things that separates it from most platform exploration titles. The unique “2.5D” style takes a bit of getting used to, but you’ll soon realize the genius behind the design.

Shadow Complex takes you through an intricate underground military facility where you must rescue your girlfriend who’s been kidnapped during a camping trip. With a grid map as your only companion, you must explore the complex all while finding secret items and passageways. You’ll also gradually unlock new weapons and ammo and upgrade your character’s health in order to fight the mysterious regime.

We fully embrace the developer’s choice to build Shadow Complex in such a way. Not only is it a tip of the hat to classic 2D games like the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, but introduces the genre to an entire generation of gamers who may not have been fortunate to play such titles.

With this 3D twist on a classic 2D genre, you’re able to shoot at enemies in the background and foreground even though you cannot physically go there. The 360-degree aiming mechanic will automatically target your enemies who aren’t necessarily in the same plane that your character is only able to navigate through.

Shadow Complex is truly a unique take on an older genre that will appeal to gamers young and old. It’s available now for 1,200 MS Points (or $15) exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade.

Scott:
One of the best trends in all of gaming has to be the rise of low-cost original downloadables, and Shadow Complex is a great example of why it works. …

The last Madden-rival standing: Gameloft's NFL 2010

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

NFL game fans, we feel your pain. Ever since EA locked up video game-publishing rights to consoles and PCs, Madden has become the only game in town–a monopoly on NFL gaming that eliminates free choice and, some say, removes a competitive need for change. We played the new Madden 10, and we happen to like it. Still, we miss the days when competitors such as NFL 2K5 actually existed.

But, in fact, one still does, and it’s made by Gameloft. NFL 2010 (App Store link) hit the iPhone last week with relative quiet. Not only is it an NFL-licensed game, but it’s a full-3D game with playbooks and complete league-accurate rosters. In case you’re wondering how this happened, EA Sports doesn’t own exclusive rights to NFL mobile games. In the mobile arena, competition still exists. Gameloft currently has a license to make NFL games as well, although only on phones and not for DS/PSP hardware.

EA is reportedly preparing an iPhone version of Madden, but for now, Gameloft’s title is the only real-deal gridiron action on Apple’s App Store. Of course, we were extremely curious as to how it would play, especially with no physical control pad. Read on for our impressions, and check out the gallery below.

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Originally posted at iPhone Atlas