I reviewed the best game on the iPod a few months ago on Macapper. Here’s the review:

iPod games up to this point have been lackluster and unoriginal. The card and board games I have seen before don’t seem to be worth the $5 asking price. Harmonix, the creators of Guitar Hero and upcoming Rock Band, are out to change that with their new iPod game, Phase.

Phase is the first music based game on the iPod (unless you consider iQuiz music based) and takes advantage of your existing iTunes library. No paying for overpriced downloadable content like on the consoles. With Phase, a playlist in iTunes is created to upload the songs you want to play during the game. Uploading takes a little bit longer because more song information is needed, presumably to align the game play with the music. Phase does come with music (including a song by Freezepop for the GHII fans), but picking your own music makes it so much more fun.

Game play is simple. The left, center, and right buttons are for matching the green circles and the scroll wheel is used to follow dotted blue trails. The mixture of the two controls make this game challenging, but enjoyable. There are the usual difficulty levels and the harder the difficulty the better the game plays with the music you’ve uploaded. There are two game types, “Quick Spin” and “Marathon.” Quick Spin is for playing quick games and the Marathon game type is for playing songs that increase in difficulty. I tend to play Quick Spin the most, Marathon takes much longer to finish.

Phase plays beautifully on my 5.5 generation iPod and will also play on the new iPod Classic and Nano. Apple has still left out games on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but I don’t think this game would be the same on a touch screen. Phase’s ability to play any song proves that custom songs can be done on the iPods, so it’s just a matter of time.

Harmonix’s Phase is in the iTunes Store now and well worth $5. This music game is perfect for Guitar Hero fans or someone who wants more out of their music library.

Phase was and is still is a great, cheap, time-waster for the iPod.

Apple refreshed the whole iPod line recently and they introduced the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is exactly what everyone has been asking for, an iPhone without the phone. The 8 millimeter device won’t be shipping until October, but I have a feeling Steve has a few more tricks up his isleeve sleeve.

Gizmodo reported that the new iPod Touch might include Bluetooth after they found a picture of it on a foreign Apple site. With Bluetooth, the iPod Touch could:

•  Share music with other iPod Touch and iPhone users
• Have wireless earphones
• Connect to any Bluetooth-enabled computer wirelessly (audio/video transfer)

Bluetooth would be a revolutionary feature on an iPod, but I don’t beleive it’s the only one.

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New web companies surface every day, but just as many disappear. To become popular, you have to be innovative and based in California. Here are five sites to keep an eye on:

1. Blogmusik- A France based site that lets you listen to music, free, using their flash player or embeddable player. Even though Blogmusik doesn’t have the rights to play most of the songs they host, they still have a chance to become popular, especially among the MySpace crowd. Blogmusik’s music selection is extensive, but if you can’t find what your looking for, you can always upload it to the site. Registering, saves playlists and ratings for listening later on another computer.Why it will become popular? It’s like having your iTunes library accessible wherever you go and best of all it’s free.

2. Vimeo- A video service and social network that moves away from video hordes like YouTube. The site design is simple and a refresh to all the cookie cutter video sites out there. Vimeo is more focused on users making friends and sharing video, than finding the next viral hit.Why it will become popular? It’s a mix of two extremely popular areas of the web, video and social networking.

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A big time waster for me has been flash games. There are websites chalked full of games, but Kongregate is different. At first look, Kongregate looks as if it were another social network (like we need anymore) and it is, but it’s a social network based on flash games. Just create a profile and then your ready to leave your mark (in the form of comments, scores, and ratings) on a near thousand flash games Kongregate currently houses.

Kongregate distances itself from other flash game sites because it relies on people to create, upload, and play the games. YouTube of games, anyone!? Since it relies on people, the games are much higher quality than the games you’ll find on AddictingGames and/or Hallpass and you’ll end up actually playing them for more than the typical thirty seconds.
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How disgusting does that sound? Well, it is much more entertaining than you would think. With PictoGame you can create flash games that include your closest friends or your most dislike co-worker.

The site is simple, upload your desired picture, position it with the outline head shape, and your done. The game can be embedded or linked much like a YouTube video. The site would be a great addition to the MySpace profile pages, especially if you use one of your friends pictures.

Unfortunatly, there are only 5 games and they will be nothing you’ll want to come back and play again. Internet novelty you say? Absolutely.

Put this game on your blog   Create your own   More games

PictoGame is a very innovative idea that allows anyone with a picture to personalize a simple web game. I could see this becoming a popular embed on MySpace, if the games had some “meat” to them, (it’s only fun to pop zits for about five seconds).

1. Donkey Kong 64 - Even though many thought this game ruined the Donkey Kong series, I loved it. The visuals were good for its time and the game play was great, even with the addition of the weapons. The best part of this game would be the multiplayer, it was always fun to be shooting peanuts at Donkey Kong. If Nintendo included multiplayer this would be an instant buy.

2. Smash Bros. 64 - There is a newer version on the Gamecube, but this is the number ONE fighting game on the N64. I just loved throwing Poke balls and fighting the master hand.

3. Starfox 64 - My first game on the N64 and man was it a good one. Great story and gameplay made Starfox an enjoyable and fulfilling game. “You got a bogey on your tail.”

4. Donkey Kong Country - My very first SNES game and once again was great. Surprisingly good graphics and gameplay with a little difficulty. Jumping on rats and shooting from barrels makes this a game you’ll want to see on the Wii.|UPDATE: Now on the the Virtual Console|

5. Perfect Dark 64 - For those who have never played Perfect Dark on the N64 should know that the Xbox 360 version absolutely sucked. Perfect Dark 64 was an AWESOME first person shooter that was the Gears of War of the N64 (the Halo being Goldeneye). Will Rare allow Nintendo to put Perfect Dark on the Virtual Console. Probably not, but we game always dream.

6. Banjo Kazooie - Another great title from the once great Rare, which put you in a fantasy world, that reminds you of Donkey Kong. Great fun, but was never able to finish (got a Playstation).

7. Crusin’ the World - In todays standards this game would never sell a copy, but back then this was a great driving game. Didn’t you love hitting stuff and then having your car do crazy unrealistic things because I sure do.

8. Jet Force Gemini - I consider this the “sleeper” of the N64 because it came out near the end of the N64. The single player was ok, and the story was ok, but the multiplayer was great. The dog with the jet boots and turret on its back p0wned all.

9. Kirby - I am not real picky on which one because they were all good. Kirby was up there with Mario on the SNES and I want to see him again on the Wii VC. |UPDATE: Now on the Virtual Console|

Many of these will pop onto the virtual console in the next few months and years, but a few (like Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, and Banjo Kazooie) will never see the light of day on the Wii. There’s always hope.

Are you the kind of person that has upcoming games, music, and movies on your personal calendar? Are you the kind of person who pre-orders something even when it will be readily available to the public and their dogs? Well I sure am (seeing I have already pre-order Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360) and I had been looking for a site where I could find all of the new releases (TV, Movies, Music, Games) all in one place and I have found it, at ReleaseGuide.com.

ReleaseGuide is a very simple site just telling you what you want. I believe release guide could be better because they seem to always leave out a few releases. They should add some web 2.0 elements like user submits that allow users to add releases that were forgotten, which could be voted upon by other users. But by no means does that mean ReleaseGuide is bad, it makes finding upcoming releases much easier.

For those who play video games know that nothing is as fun as when you are playing with your friends. Here is a list of some of the greatest party games (to stay up late and play till you drop):

-Guitar Hero (PS2, XBOX 360): If a tear comes to your eye when you see all of those DDR nerds and there crazy dances then Guitar Hero is for you. I personally have very little coordination when trying to match arrows with a mat on the floor. Guitar Hero in a sense is DDR, but instead of that cheap plastic mat you have a cheap plastic guitar. You match the color with the beats of the song and it can get difficult when multiple colors pop up at the same time. I, myself, seem to get hit with artritis or some form of mental retardation half way through the song and end up being boo’d off the stage. Great game to play with friends, but the songlist could be much better.

-Smash Brothers (N64, GC, Wii): A Nintendo hit ever since it was first released on the N64. Super Smash Bros. is a great fighting party game for any late night with your friends. Put the lives up to max and play until you can play no longer. Hours of fun for anyone with a night to waste. Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii comes out later this year and adds a few characters (Solid Snake, Wario) and gets rid of some we hated (Ice Climbers).

-WarioWare: WarioWare is not a game, its a crapload of little mini-games that are mashed together to make one crazy game. The Japanese make some crazy games and this is definitley one of them. I find great joy in pulling the nose hair of some a badly drawn lady or emptying a toilet paper roll, but I even find it more fun when playing with friends. Some may think the story mode is much to short (which it is), but you don’t buy this game for the story (even though is midly entertaining), you buy it for the complete randomness and the crazy fun mulitplayer.

This isn’t obviously every game, but they are some of my all time favorites and best of all they all are part of a series. If you are looking for something to do on that lonely Friday night call your friends and party game it all night long.
***WARNING: PARTY GAMES SUCH AS THESE MAY CAUSE EXCESSIVE LAUGHING WHEN FATIGUED***