BooksInMyPhone: Free ebooks on the go

Everyone has a mobile, cell, whatever it wants to call itself phone, though not everyone reads enough to be rightfully considered enlightened and that's where BooksInMyPhone, a fantastic site discovered by gHacks, brilliantly attempts to help mankind. All you'll need is a phone and a way to transfer data to it (think standard USB cable) and you'll be able to enjoy hundreds of classics on the go. Uhm, in ebook format and on your phone's probably tiny screen, that is, but for absolutely free.

Now, if I may, let me suggest some available and frankly timeless titles to start you off... Les Miserables by Hugo, Metamorphosis by Kafka, The Communist Manifesto by Marx & Engels, Gulliver's Travels by Swift and Dracula by Stoker. Enjoy, I know I will.

Related posts: Castlevania: Order of Shadows, Orcs & Elves review, God of War: a phone gaming meta-review, Nokia's ScummVM

Warhammer 40,000 Squad Command free PSP demo

Ok let's suppose you're neither interested in the dark, orc infested and elaborate Warhammer 40,000 universe, nor in the most ambitious RTS to ever hit the strategy starved Sony PSP. Let's even overreact and suppose you simply don't care about Warhammer 40,000 Squad Commander at all. Well, you still got to download the free demo THQ has been decent enough to provide us with, just to help companies understand how popular them demos are.

Download the 6.3 MB archive either from THQ, GameSpot, Filefront or PSP fanboy. All you'll need to run it will be your very own vanilla PSP and a USB cable. Oh, and here's the game's official website.

Related posts: freeware PSP Duck Hunt, Darth Vader PSP, Warhammer 40k Squad Command trailer

Birdman's Shooter: another freeware PSP shmup

Nice graphics, a decent level of polish and classic Galaga inspired shoot-'em-up gameplay and all in a lovely freeware 638kb archive for your Sony PSP. Grab it here. Oh, and if you absolutely have to know it's a traditionally homebrew game written in even more traditional C. Nice, traditional, alien destroying stuff, really.

Related posts: Duck Hunt (!) PSP, Sony PSP Darth Vader edition, Dungeons & Dragons Tactics review

Dungeon Master: classic DS free RPG action

Dungeon Master (MobyGames, DM Encyclopaedia, Wikipedia) hasn't aged a day. It still is as scary, tactical, beautiful and brilliant to play as it was back in the days of the Atari ST. Only difference is that you can now play this classic classy CRPG for free on your Nintendo DS simply by following this lovely link and managing to work out how homebrew works. It still is a pre-Alpha release mind you.

Related posts: ScummVM DS, Megazeux DS, Barbarian gets a GBA remake, Advance Wars DS 2: Days of Ruin

Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron PSP video review

Truth is that Funnyman definitely knows his stuff, is quite the Sony connoisseur and he's pretty adamant in his belief that the latest Star Wars Battlefront offering for the PSP is on the shite side of gaming. Then again, the game has managed to get its fair share of good reviews, usually comes complete with a shiny new PSP Slim and even got itself a pretty positive GameTrailers video review too (the one embedded in this post apparently).

As for me, well, I haven't played the thing and don't believe I'll be doing so in the foreseeable future, but I kinda like what I see. The game is in essence a stripped down, not very nice looking version of the highly enjoyable Star Wars Battlefront II and this just can't be a bad thing. Even if nothing can compare to the mouse-keyboard combo... Besides, it's one of the few online multiplayer focused PSP shooters.

Related posts: PSP 2000 Ars Technica review, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command trailer, Tower Defense PSP freebie

The amazingly gamey MP4 Media Player from China

Korea released the GP2X, Japan came up with the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, Europe sort of missed the party, the US missed the point and now China unleashed the pretty smart and apparently very well priced YDP-G68 by Yinlips. Hoorah! Follow the link and order 200 of the lovely things.

The new roughly GBA SP shaped console comes with a 2,8" TFT display, built-in camera, microphone, FM radio, flash/SD/MMC support, video in/out capabilities, a variety of apps (calendar, calculator, mp3 player etc), e-book reader and a multi-format video player. What's more, there's a mysterious game function supporting 8-32bit NESgames to download (?). Intriguing, isn't it?

Related posts: The video gaming digital camera, Weird handheld peripherals, GamePSP?, GP2X-F200

Free Duck Hunt (!) game for the PSP

Gotta love the homebrew scene and their brave disregard for intellectual property and corporate policies. Also gotta grab this version of Nintendo's NES classic Duck Hunt for the Sony PSP by clicking here. It obviously is a freeware download and is developed by French-based developer jojodu0010.

Developer jojodu0010's duck-hunt v0.1 has a little twist, mind you, concerning the game's score system. Unlike other creations, you're not supposed to shoot every single duck flying across your PSP's screen. Ducks with different colors yield the different scores. The black ones are not supposed to be shot because killing them will result in -10 points.

Related posts: God of War: Chains of Olympus hands-on, Ultima VII PSP, PSP Slim homebrew compatibility list

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) Walkthrough & Guide round-up

Lovely epic little game this latest Zelda offering for the Nintendo DS, innit? Well, according to most reviews it is, and, even though it's not as difficult, long or complex as your average Zelda game, I thought this handy walkthrough link collection might just come in handy:

• Phantom Hourglass Super-guide
• Video walkthrough: Part 1, part 2, part 3
• IGN (import) walkthrough & FAQs
• LB's walkthrough & strategy guide

Related posts: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass review round-up, RE DS easy mode, Megazeux DS, Arkanoid DS

Advance Wars DS 2: Days of Ruin

If you haven't played an Advance Wars game you just don't know a) what you're missing and b) how brilliantly simple and addictive turn-based games can get. These games are worse than any Civilization/Tetris combination you can imagine, fully portable (thus unavoidable) and even getting a brand new sequel on the Nintendo DS. Yes, the pictures above are from the forthcoming Advance Wars DS 2: Days of Ruin, that will be hitting US stores on January 21 2008. Find out more here.

Related posts: the Wii DS Station, HALO DS, Final Fantasy IV DS screens, free NDS VoIP

Monkey Island on a Nokia 6110

Having already mentioned ScummVM Symbian, I was more than happy to actually see the damn thing in use and thought you'd be too. That's why I posted the video above (discovered via Ron Gilbert's Grumpy Gamer blog) showing the 256 colours version of The Secret of Monkey Island running on a Nokia 6110 phone. Uhm, yes. Better watch it then.

Related posts: Orcs & Elves review, God of War Betrayal, Duke Nukem 3D Symbian, Zelda mobile

Sony PSP goes all Darth Vader

Yes, I know, it's absolutely lovely and Sony has been nice enough to bundle said ceramic white PSP with the well received Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron game and some rather useful bits like the much loved AC adapter. See for yourselves. It's been available for quite a few days, you know.

Related posts: God of War: Chains of Olympus demo, PSP 2000 review, Ultima VII on the PSP, Amiga PSP emu

Resident Rejoicing!!

Oh prepare the street parties, deck the halls, trumpet the funfairs, prepare the fireworks and break out the bubbly!!!! For today dear readers is the most fabulous of days!!! They Tyrant is dead, the Mansion destroyed, foxy Jill Valentine is safely in the chopper with Brad and Barry and for now (at least) the Evil Umbrella corporation is defeated! Yes for those of you unfamiliar with my love/hate relationship with Resident Evil Deadly Silence, read on...

This was the game that made me fall in love with the DS. It made me realise what a powerful and dynamic system it was... It also was a game which I found maddeningly difficult, ball achingly frustrated with it's impossibly stingy weapon and save systems, and a game which I eventually traded for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. But something made me buy it again and I'm so glad I did...

Now I won't bore you with the story line, I'll asume you know all about it After all it's a 10 year old game ported (some would say cheaply) to the DS. The original video and engagingly awful dialogue from the Saturn/PS1 version included. But the system specific DS features in Rebirth Mode are incredible... For a start there's the knifing... Using the stylus to dispatch zombies is fun. But at various points in the games you can use it to throw darts (honestly!), to reconnect circuitry, turn dials and so on... The microphone is even more cleverly employed... Blow on the screen to repel zombie vomit, to blow out candles, to give mouth to mouth to your injured colleagues... At one point you use your finger to turn a record on an antique gramophone... Highly innovative stuff!

But how pray tell, did I now succeed at a game that had previously defeated me (and frustrated my sage like patron Gnome)... well here's the deal... I discovered an easy mode. Now this is how you do it... Go to the start menu, select Rebirth Mode, then hold the d-pad to the right till the writing turns green, Hey presto! Easy Mode. Now the game already gives you the option of playing a normal game (as Jill) or a hard game (as Chris) but unless I'm missing something obvious, Capcom's definition of 'normal' means rock fucking hard! But Easy Mode gives you more resilience against attack, twice the ammo and twice the save potential. In other words it allows you a fair chance of beating the game.

Now the downside... beating the game in easy mode does not allow you to access the unlockable 'Master Of Knifing' mini-game. Oh well! the main point of me taking this journey again was to give me the background on the Umbrella story for the upcoming Wii release "Umbrella Chronicles".

Plus now I don't need to play it on the Saturn, although I might play the Gamecube remake... This means I now have the honour of completing Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil Code Veronica and Resident Evil 4.

The next game I'm playing? Resident Evil 3 on the Dreamcast! Plus I've got Resident Evil Dead Aim, Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 and Resident Evil Code Veronica (Gun Survivor) for the PS2, so I should be fairly busy for a while... LOL!

Oh and I'm loving NFSC: Own the Streets and Fifa 07 for the DS, they're both great for short bursts of handheld game play. Plus I've got Prince Of Persia and Silent Hill on my phone at the moment so I might have another topic of conversation soon. Until then I'll leave you a couple of links if you want to know more about this classic series...

IGN Resident Evil DS

Resident Evil Wikipedia

Gamespot Resident Evil DS

Resident Evil DS Official Site

Capcom's Resident Evil Page

New Resident Evil Movie

Related posts: Megazeux DS, a decent DS choice, Simpsons DS video, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass meta-review

God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo Hands-On

It was bound to happen and you were bound to be left out. Again... Sony, you see, has been sending a select few souls them lovely God of War PSP demos and all you can do is read their hands-on impressions. Bah! It's an unfair world, isn't it? Still, Kratos looks as shiny and brutal as ever.

Related posts: Warhammer 40k: Squad Command trailer, PSP slm homebrew compatibility, Lair remote play

Turn your Wii into a DS Station and download those lovely free Nintendo DS demos

Kotaku, being able to translate bits of this, has been kind enough to let us know that Nintendo will soon be turning every Wii into a lovely DS Station, meaning we'll be able to download free Nintendo DS game demos via our Wii. Great news, especially for gnomes like me that have never really seen a DS demo and wouldn't mind trying a few games out.

Related posts: Jumbotron DS, Metal Slug 7 NDS video, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass reviews

Megazeux DS to spawn tons of free NDS games

Megazeux, the classic ZZT inspired ASCII-based game creation engine, has been ported to the Nintendo DS and will definitely reach all those ancient gamers currently enjoying two-screened gaming on the go. Find out more @ TIG Source and grab the download here. Now, to get an idea of how things will work on this version, well:

By default, the top screen shows a zoomed-in portion of the screen, and the bottom screen shows the entire thing. The stylus can be used to perform mouse clicks and pan around the top screen. Use the right trigger to toggle a software keyboard.

This port is still very rough, and just for testing. Be sure to make backups, as earlier versions have caused filesystem corruption on my CF card.

Controls:
D-PAD = movement (arrow keys)
A + D-PAD = shoot in this direction
B = enter
X = save game
Y = load game
START = start (in title screen)
SELECT = escape
L TRIGGER = tab
R TRIGGER = toggle bottom screen

Related posts: HALO DS, decent DS gaming choices, Sinclair ZX81 DS emulator, Cave Story on the go

The PSP 2000 (Slim) ArsTechnica Review

Ars Technica is a hugely popular mainstream site and for good reason; they just know their stuff, and that's coming from someone who just couldn't pass judgement (or water) on such technically intricate matters. Anyway, said hardware wizards have bothered with reviewing the brand new Sony PSP-2000 (a.k.a. Slim) and you can read what they made of the thing right here.

Among other and sometimes obvious stuff, like the TV-out capabilities & new sleeker design, the review focuses on two important matters: battery life and load times. Well, read the thing and you'll find out that battery life has been reduced and so have loading times, even though to a lesser extent. Not much of an upgrade then, is it? I mean it still is supposed to be a bloody handheld games machine, right? At least they fixed the d-pad...

Related posts: Ultima VII PSP, Dungeons & Dragons Tactics review, Galactic Breakout free PSP game

Jumbotron DS

It's the biggest playable DS-oid thingy I've ever seen (yet definitely not touched), it costs quite a bit and mostly consists of 2 Tablet PC screens. Find out more here. Issa nice.

Related posts: Final Fantasy 4 DS screens, Blue Dragon on the go, NDS free VoIP

HALO DS

Amazingly, Nintendo DS owners almost got themselves a pretty decent looking version of Bungie's HALO shooter complete with interesting FPS controls, recognizable graphics and Wi-Fi multiplayer options. Not so amazingly, the game never got to hit the shelves and mankind lost the chance to marvel at another beautifully named product: HALO DS. Pity. Click here for more info, gameplay videos and a definitely more excited write-up.

Related posts: Final Fantasy 4 DS pics, Blue Dragon coming to the DS, a GeOS for the Nintendo DS

Finally a decent DS choice!

Well good people, I'm pleased to announce that AT LAST I've managed to score a good game for my DS! Having been extremely frustrated with the console (or at least my software collection...) I managed to grab something tonight which has got my pulse (literally) racing.

Having unsuccessfully tried to buy a Logitech PS 2 LCD 7.2 " attachable screen from the 'pre-owned' section of my local Blockbuster Game store - (in fact I bought it and it didn't work) - I decided to use my credit note to score a game or two.

Having scanned the pre-owned DS section extensively, I was about to give up hope when I came across "Need For Speed Carbon:Own The Streets" (DS). I knew nothing about this game, but I did want a driving game, having just got rid of Ridge Racer DS.

The price was very agreeable - a mere £13 - and I had a credit note for £21. Hmmmm.... It didn't take me long to decide, it was a foregone conclusion. So then, with an £8 balance, I needed to pick up another title... I spotted Devil May Cry 2 for PS2 (£7) and it was game over.

Now with RE:DS, Fifa 07 and NFSC:OTS, I feel that I've got the right variety of software to provide me with a decent variety of game play. Plus I've still got Project Rub for a bit of silliness and X Men DS to complete...

The balance of my karma is restored and all is well with the world for now... Happy days!

Related posts: Metal Slug 7 DS video, Cave Story NDS freebie, Zelda Phantom Hourglass review round-up

And round and round we go...

About this time last year, I was almost wetting myself with excitement, that the mighty Gnome had allowed me to become a team member on one of his blogs. You have to understand the fact that at the time, people like Gnome, Elderly, Deitrix, Tomleecee etc. were like rockstars or filmstars to me... I held them in that high esteem!

Since then, I've got a bit slack in that department, and I've neglected my duties on GGOTG. At one point, I was the mainstay of this particular place, but recently, I've turned into an occasional visitor, and when I do get to come here, I just chat crap.

Well, in keeping with that tradition, I thought I'd sneak in here and tell you where my particular handheld gaming situation was at... I've been having a bit of a DS crisis of late. At one point the DS was my favourite console. I just loved its stylus/microphone interactivity. The innovation of Nintendo's massively popular handheld just had me under its spell...

And then WHOOMPF! It was like the DS had just lost all its attractiveness to me... Nothing excited me and it go tossed aside... Hence my inability to post anything of any relevance here on GGOTG.

Tonight, I looked at my DS stash... Tomb Raider Legends... (Ball ache) Sonic Rush (MEH) Ridge Racer DS (not bad... at least it had the one cart two player option), but basically nothing was floating my DS boat... Then it was that I read a Fifa 08 post by Gnome. Footie games? DS? Maybe...

There was a window of opportunity... I was out at Currys with Mrs. K, buying a Hoover... She was flexing her credit card... it wasn't 'real' cash from the family budget. I casually suggested that as we were getting stuff on credit, I might sneak in a game as well... Mrs. K had her guard down and agreed... the choice at Curry's was limited. God Of War for PS2 or Fifa 08 for DS?

I grabbed Fifa and made for the till... YES! BUT NO!!!! When I got home, I realised I'd just scored Fifa 07 for full price... NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

So I was stuck with the last seasons footie game, with none of the enticing extras of this season's fayre... SHIT!!!

Still, maybe some trade in potential at Gamestation? No... I traded in Ridge Racer, Tomb Raider Legends and Sonic Rush while keeping hold of Fifa 07 for... (wait for it) RE DS!!!!!!!!

Now any of you who know how much I bitched about this game on GGOTG, will know how much of a love/hate relationship I had with this game! It really did my head in! But still, it represents the best time I had with my DS, and as such, was a worthwhile purchase... (I think...)

Only time will tell... Until then, its a very mixed up, fragile and confused FK signing off until next time... (probably December) saying "Goodnight dear children, wherever you are..."

Related posts: Zelda Phantom Hourglass review round-up, VG Cats on the go, Closure! Resident Evil DS