Many genres and series get criticized for their predictability and lack of innovation; shooters, sports games, fighting games, you name it. Ever since Final Fantasy VII the JRPG genre has been somewhat cliche itself. Ever since then they’ve been filled with spiky-haired youths wielding impossibly oversized swords fighting against evil empires.

The soundtracks are often equally predictable/interchangeable. An enterprising individual has created his own soundtrack for a JRPG known as Ebben Flow, a fantasy adventure where rising water levels have submerged most of the world. The kicker is that this game doesn’t exist, but Kotaku reader Michael Chadwick created a fifteen-track soundtrack which you can download.

Though they began their relatively young lives as characters in a slightly more gritty, adult-focused graphic novel series the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were quickly adapted for children to great success. The original animated series ran for ten years and spawned a whole host of toys, comic books, films and other products. Ubisoft announced today that to coincide with the twenty fifth anniversary of the series they’re releasing a new TMNT game.
It’s being developed by GameArts who worked on the much-acclaimed Smash Bros. Brawl. The press release claims the game will be the first TMNT game to not be tied into a movie, comic book or TV show (despite the fact that anything about the foursome is, since they originated in a comic book). It’s going to be a four-player action title for the Wii. Some screenshots have also been released and they suggest the title might be TMNT: Smash Up. The game is set to launch in autumn of this year.

It’s no surprise the economy isn’t exactly at it’s peak right now, and trust me I’m getting damn sick of hearing how horrible it is too. Best Buy probably doesn’t care if you’re sick of hearing it or not but who cares because they have recently introduced a new reduced price on several Xbox 360 games for a limited time.

The sale includes Halo 3, NBA 2K9, Shaun White Snowboarding, Midnight Club Los Angeles, and Tom Clancy’s EndWar all marked down from $59.99 to $39.99, not a bad deal if you ask me.

While they don’t list when the sale is going to end, chances are it won’t last forever so you better move fast!

We’ve made it yet another week so you know what that means, right? Updates from Nintendo for the Virtual Console and WiiWare.

Upon skimming through the updates I noticed ‘cuddly-yet-evil monsters’ in the WiiWare update, just to give you a heads up of what to expect:

WiiWare
Niki – Rock ‘n’ Ball (Bplus, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points): Are you in love with those unforgettable arcade classics where the only goal is to vanquish all opponents to reach the next stage? Niki – Rock ‘n’ Ball is a new interpretation of those games with a completely innovative and unique gaming mechanism. Roll along with Niki through fantastic worlds, find all the ZeLeLi pearls, and liberate your village from cuddly-yet-evil monsters before it’s too late. Timing is everything. Jump in the nick of time to avoid landing amid barbs. Hop across the stages thanks to the realistic gaming physics. Snap on the ZeLeLi amulet, transform yourself into Niki Rock, and force even the most obstinate monster to its knees. Explore all the stages and win valuable medals while dribbling through them, alone or with a friend. Use familiar controls in Retro style, or experience novel controls in the Wii style.

Virtual Console

Wonder Boy™ in Monster Land™ (SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Alcohol Reference, Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): After the defeat of the evil king, the kingdom of Wonder Land was a paradise…for a time. The peace was broken when a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon struck without warning and took over Wonder Land with a swarm of evil, monstrous henchmen, turning the once-peaceful land into the utterly chaotic Monster Land. Unable to fight, the people now look to Wonder Boy. Realizing that he is Wonder Land’s last hope, Wonder Boy sets out on an incredible journey to rid the country of the monsters and defeat the “invincible” evil dragon. Guide Wonder Boy through various environments and dungeons, and defeat enemies using Special Weapons and Spells.

Read (Nintendo)

If you’ve been watching the Winter X Games that have recently been showing on ESPN, you’ve probably noticed what seems like an over abundance of Playstation ads.

Well, that’s because among the event’s sponsors Playstation was one of the only ones to remain faithful. Having lost sponsors like Zune, Olevia, and 20th Century Fox ESPN Exec Rick Alessandri issued the following statement:

Given the economic environment out there, obviously we’re being impacted, like everyone else

While this is bad news for the event, the same probably can’t be said for gamers. Because Playstation was one of the only sponsors to stay on board they received a tent at the event that housed PS3 stations with LittleBigPlanet levels created by some of the pros like Tanner Hall, Sarah Burke, and Louie Vito.

Read (Kotaku)

EA’s biggest cash cow may have possibly been delayed, as the company told Edge that it is “evaluating the launch window”. The Sims 3, the third in the soul sucking money printer for EA, was initially pegged for release on February 20.

The publisher’s move is mirrored by the official UK site which now lists a “TBA” release date for the game; the US site likewise sports a rather vague “coming in 2009”. Online retailers – who are often the source of release dates and delays – disagree, however, with Amazon still marking the title for release on February 15, and GameStop and Best Buy indicating release in the days following February 20.

The Sims 3 is the third title in the immensely popular people simulation franchise that sucks the life and money out of gamers through millions (if not billions) of expansion packs and whatnot.

Seeing as how they catered to both Mortal Kombat and DC Comics fans, it’s unsurprising to har that MK vs. DC Universe has shipped approximately 1.8 million units across North America since its release on PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 16, 2008.

While that information may be boring, it’s more exciting to know that the company is working on more entries in the long-running violent fighting series. Here’s what franchise co-creator Ed Boon said: “We’re already hard at work on our next version of Mortal Kombat, and look forward to being able to reveal more details in the future.”

However, we might not be able to see the upcoming game, seeing as how Midway is currently $240 million in debt and facing possible bankruptcy next month.

Continuing its onslaught of job cuts, Microsoft has let Games for Windows Live general manager Chris Early, according to Dean Takahashi via VentureBeat.

The effect of Early’s departure on the service is not known. Games for Windows Live is included in quite a few games these days, offering video and demo downloads, as well as free online multiplayer. The service is also set to sell premium downloadable content starting tomorrow, beginning with Fallout 3. GFW was eventually expected to sell full games.

Microsoft recently eliminated 1400 jobs throughout its divisions, with the Entertainment and Gaming divisions seeing most cuts. Overall, the company plans on axing 5000 jobs across the next year and a half.

Shooting down a batch of rumors, Fable 2 developer Lionhead has denied that it is working on a PC port of the Xbox 360 acton-RPG.

“We’re not working on a PC version of Fable II,” stated Lionhead employee “Woody” on the developer’s forums. “If this changes we’ll make sure you know about it.”

The recent rumors stem from entertainment blog WhatifGaming, which claimed that a PC announcement for the game was “imminent”.

I would like to point out that the original Fable did hit PC after its supposedly-Xbox-exclusive release. It remains to be seen just how long Lionhead takes to make the PC announcement.

One of the general problems with a large body of psychological research is that it’s conducted on college campuses with most of the subjects being college students. A study has been conducted in the glorious state of Utah that claims to show that gamers are more likely to use controlled substances and make negative decisions.

When they surveyed 800 students they found that students who played video games regularly were 10% more likely to drink or take drugs then their non-gaming friends. Those who play daily were three times more likely to smoke pot, stop talking to friends and family or have low self-esteem.

Unfortunately for these researchers, college kids have been drinking since before video games were anything but a bar room novelty. Films like Animal House and television shows are much more to blame for the prevalence of teenage drinking and drug use than all the video games rolled into one. Conducting a study on how a generally irresponsible group with vast amounts of free time amuse themselves sounds like a bad idea, especially when you throw in the fact that BYU is a religious school.