Rarely do games get celebrity renders right.
There are some amazingly accurate renders, such as Jean Reno from Onimusha 3 or Gackt from FFVII: Crisis Core.

... but most of them aren't quite so good ...

GamesRadar has compiled a list of the worst celebrity renders ever to appear in a game. From Charlie's Angels to Wayne's World, there's an awful celebrity render from almost any movie-to-game adaptation you can think of.

(go to the source for full list)

"Have you ever gotten bored simply playing Mario, and wished it was a little more real? While unfortunately we can’t help with treating such delusions, we can help you make your make-believe Mario world seem just a little more real with the following contest.

We’re giving away a set of Plush Mario Sound Bops thanks to the awesome people at ThinkGeek, along with a Super Mario Vinyl and Fabric Figure (from them as well) for the second prize."

With the upcoming release of Fatal Frame IV, Gaming_Issues has given a quick rundown of the entire series, for anyone who hasn't played the games and/or has no idea what they are about.

(go to source for full article, including the Pros and Cons of each game)

You can also read IGN's rundown of the series here.

Monique over on Girls Don't Game (that's satire!) has some intriguing views on gamers and politics. She speaks about gamers' general willful ignorance towards the politics involved with the video game industry these days (Clinton wants to censor the crap out of them, did you know that?). Her solution to make things better for everyone: both sides have to start listening to each other. It's a great read, anyhow, especially her dissection of the GTA controversy (despite the 8 million articles o...

"Nowadays, we express our love through Walmart Gift Cards, Avon fragrance packs, and Sizzler buffet passes. It's safe to say, sons and daughters of the world, that we have pretty much dropped the ball; our mothers deserve more than cheap, foreign-made goods, irritating perfumes, and hazardous meals.

Unfortunately, we here at GameSpy don't really have a solution to this crisis of veneration. But we do have some suggestions. If you're anything like us, chances are your mother doesn't really s..."

In light of Mother's Day, Destructoid has popped off a list of the top 10 video game moms (it's slightly tamer than this one). It reads as follows:

10. Rosa (Final Fantasy IV the After: Tsuki no Kikan)
9. Mayna (Legacy of the Wizard)
8. Marge (The Simpsons Arcade Game)
7. Ness’s Mom (EarthBound)
6. Lara (Chrono Trigger)
5. Dr. Tenenbaum (BioShock)
4. Valanice (King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride)
3. Lirum (Lost Odyssey)
2. Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)
1. Denise Concelmo (The Conce...

Even though Europe is the third largest video game market in the world, many games never release over in the PAL region. Because of this, Europe has missed out on many great gaming experiences. (particularly during the SNES era) BritishGaming takes a look at the ten best games that were never released in Europe. The list includes "Hey You, Pikachu" and "Final Fantasy III", among others.

This article discusses ways to improve cognitive skills using video game guides, especially targeting areas impacted by learning disabilities. Why not use strategy guides for games young people are already playing. Author gives suggestions to parents for using guides with young people to build reading, analysis, and language skills.
The author has a PhD in Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology.

"So to test out exactly how free the experience is, we decided to see how far we could get through the game's story without committing a single illegal act, documenting it every step of the way, (For the purposes of our own sanity, though, we're discounting things like speeding, trespassing, running red lights, public intoxication, reckless driving and accidental damage to property as "crimes." If doing it in front of a cop doesn't get you in trouble, it's not technically illegal.)"

"Japan appears to be fixed the combination of Mario Kart and Monster Hunter. The Nintendo and Capcom smash hits continued their reigns at the top of this week's Media Create sales chart, covering April 28 to May 4.

Mario Kart Wii was, once again, in the top spot with an additional 173,387 sales. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G took second with 102,320 units. The two have remained in the same position for the past four weeks, since Mario Kart's release. In terms of overall sales, Mario Kart ha..."

"The Saturn's surprise launch celebrates its unlucky thirteenth birthday this month. SEGA's gambit to drum up big hype by debuting the Saturn months earlier than its original due date -- the big E3 shock of 1995 -- ended up being its death blow. And after parsing the results of a poll asking IGN Retro readers whether or not they owned a Saturn, we've determined that you were in fact its death rattle. In spite of games like the Panzer Dragoon series, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2, and SEGA Rally..."

Mother's Day is coming up(thank me later for the reminder) so Games Radar decides to celebrate with the top ten 'Mother's I'd Like To *bleep*'. Don't get all excited now boys, but go ahead and slowly look through the list which includes LuLu from Final Fantasy X-2, Milica Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV and The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. View the rest at the source.

"The biggest game of the year deserves the most in-depth face-off piece yet produced by anyone, anywhere, so we've massively upgraded the scope of our coverage and the amount of 'assets' you can view. There's still the same 720p and 1080p 24-bit RGB screengrabs taken from both versions of the game of course, this time using the new Digital Foundry TrueHD capture station, so why not take a look with the first of our galleries, featuring general gameplay shots?

Comparison videos appear to be ..."

Silviu Stahie, a video and PC games editor has written up a blog on five reasons that if Grand Theft Auto IV gets ported to the PC, it will be better than the console reasons. Two of the reasons are that the controls will be much better and how all the bugs from the console versions will be phases out for the PC release. Go to the source to read the three other reasons.

"What do Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Grand Theft Auto IV have in common? For one thing, they're all sequels, and for another, they're all awesome. And they're not alone. From Super Mario Galaxy to critically-acclaimed shooter Bioshock (a spirited sequel to System Shock 2, which, clearly, is itself a sequel), high-profile follow-ups are still gaming's most dependable earners.

But for every glorious copy of Half-Life 2 sit a dozen misfires, mishaps and straight up mistakes, great ideas gone b..."

"

Some people have asked for the blueprints I used to make it, so they can have a go at making one themselves (yay! I have inspired!).
I didn't really use "blueprints" for this, I basically just stuck my NES controller in a scanner and scanned it. I then printed it off so it filled an A4 page, and used that image to measure how far apart everything on the controller is.
The second half of these blueprints where are just a list of the pieces I needed to cut so I didn't forget."

"Uwe Boll is known the world over as a destroyer of hopes and dreams when it comes to movies based on video games. He has directed, produced and butchered the movie versions of games such as: Dungeon Siege, Bloodrayne, House of the Dead, and Postal. He also has 4 more movies based on video games coming out in the next 2 years, including a movie based on the mind-blowing Far Cry. His destruction of videogame movie genre (if there really is one) is so complete, that whenever a new videogame movi..."

A realist has written a lengthy blog on what he thinks will be in the next Xbox to come out for Mircosoft. He talks about the design(size, style), which media it will use/stick with, the CPU(sticking with IBM, possibly), the GPU(Xenos ATI chip), the controllers(maybe the Wii-look-alike) and finally, when it will be dated for release. He seems to be set on Novemeber 9th, 2009.

"As of late, much of my time has been spent in the friendly confines of Liberty City, and my wife has been extremely tolerant of my gaming time. Last weekend we were about to go out to eat, so I began shutting the game down when the thought popped in my head, “After watching me play for hours, I wonder if my wife wants a turn?” She was sitting on the couch next to me, so I extended the controller to her and asked, “You wanna drive around for a bit?” She replied, “Sure, why not.” During her tim..."

Cristism. Everyone needs it and while Grand Theft Auto IV was being praises with a 10/10 from IGN and living up to the hype, somebody from video gamer sat in their basement to write up a blog on all the wrong things of the game. He relates the new to the old, basically and how Rockstar changed things...for the worse. Go to the source to read full details, but the changes that he doesn't like in the game are the 'too-realistic' driving, harsh cops, the world, the bad combat, the overall fun(wh...

When you see the title, would you think this is a fanboy article? If you did, then you're wrong coz this is quite far from it.
That VideoGame Blog has analysed the situation of casual games. They seem to have problems with how these casual games sell even better than good action packed games. Read on and see how Nintendo and their casual games like Wii Sports, Crosswords DS and Wii Fit are taking over the world gaining such popularity.

Basically, a mother writes from her perspective, falling for her children's whines for a Nintendo or else they'd be 'left out'. What happens? Hell for her. She had read articles that praised the Nintendo DS, saying that it'd 'bump your mental ability'. So she bought it and the kids loved her. Yay! Too early to celebrate. The kids started to become addicted and fought over it. They desperately searched for it and found it when the mother hid it from them. They were hooked. When they lost the c...

The idea of a female gamer as a commodity, I think, is horribly outdated now. Since women have entered the video game world, though, even more stereotypes have developed, many regarding the type of games we prefer. Also very misleading.

But I’m not going to argue with your preconceptions of female gamers. Instead, I bring you yet another GTA IV related editorial. “But RCG, you’ve never posted anything on GameGrep!” That’s because I write for Neoseeker, so normally everything I write w...

It seems so long ago when Final Fantasy VII was first announced. Gaming magazines went crazy when it was revealed the game would be coming to America. Finally, gamers could get a taste of this "Final Fantasy" series that Japan was raving about.
Who knew the game would still be so popular ten years after it's release?

To commemorate one of the most popular games of all time, IGN has put together a history of Final Fantasy VII.

(go to source for full article)

There's no doubt you've seem the countless articles flooding in about Grand Theft Auto IV, but Blend Games believes that the game deserved the hype without a doubt. Now let's rewind back to Halo 3 which had loads of hype as well. They believe that Halo 3 did not deserve the hype at all due to the fact that it didn't live up to it, for one and it didn't fill in the shoes of the 'next-generation' gaming. On the other hand, Grand Theft Auto IV fit those shoes perfectly and deserves all the hype ...