To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Rockstar Games are discounting Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the iPhone and iPod touch by 30% until Sunday, the 14th of February.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is the most critically acclaimed PSP game to date.

 

As society moves towards what some optimistically refer to as a "global community", it's entirely likely that future generations will be unable to imagine a country, and immediately associate an item with it.

For all my years on this planet, I've been content in the knowledge that should I wish to purchase mouthwatering bratwurst, hand-crafted Lederhosen, or cars that have no indicators, Germany is the place to start looking. Likewise, if at any point, if the urge arrives to experience magnificent stone architecture, clever stand-up comedy routines and cirrhosis of the liver - perhaps in the same afternoon - then the only logical choice is Ireland. Some countries are just better at doing things than others.

So with this in mind, and casting a reflective and somewhat biased eye over our own country, just what can we be proud of as kiwis? It used to be that playing the "country association game" with a foreigner prior to around 2000 would generally yield "sheep" and "rugby". These days, it's "sheep", "rugby" and "that film that Peter Jackson played a hobbit in". We're really not on the forefront of the global stage when it comes to many things, so it's important that when we do find areas to excel in, we pick up the ball and run with it, and most importantly avoid using any cheap sporting clichés in the process.

 

Activision has confirmed over the weekend that there will be “a future instalment” in the DJ Hero franchise. Speaking out to aspiring producers who are attending the MIDEM festival in Cannes, France, Activision asks, “Do you want your song mashed up in the next DJ Hero?”

Interested attending producers have been invited to submit one track, which will be judged at a live listening session, and “one lucky undiscovered musician [will have] the priceless opportunity to have their winning song mixed, mastered and featured in a future instalment of DJ Hero.”

 

Assassin's Creed II

WE STARTED 2009 in the grips of an economic recession and with the small hope that the videogame industry was recession-proof. Unfortunately, our hopes were unfounded as many game companies made significant staffing cutbacks and others quietly disappeared altogether. As developers and producers both tightened their belts, we were offered a string of sequels - intellectual properties that carried less financial risk than new and unproven titles.

But what sequels: Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II rolled the time line forward to Renaissance Italy, stripping out much of the original's repetition and adding vibrancy to the setting. Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 moved the zombie apocalypse to America's deep south, taking everything that we enjoyed about the original and elaborating upon it. We declared Uncharted 2: Among Thieves one of this console generation's greatest experiences.

But there was one sequel that dwarfed all the rest, raising both the ire and adoration of the gaming public, and in the process pushing many titles into 2010: Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

 

Gameplanet has been giving away stacks of prizes (over $9000 worth!) every day during December, and from now until Christmas Eve we're finishing off with the most epic prizes of all.

Today's prizes: December 18th~24th
Win a $3000 Pioneer/Wharfedale Home Theatre Package or Darksiders: Wrath of War

This is the big one - one lucky winner will score our Xtreme Xmas Grand Prize, valued at over $3000:

• Pioneer VSX-519K 5.1 channel A/V receiver
• Wharfedale Diamond 9 home cinema speaker package

Plus, you could be one of six more winners who will win these great games:

1. 2x Darksiders: Wrath of War (360/PS3) - releasing 8 January
2. 2x WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 Collector's Edition (360/PS3)
3. 2x Planet 51 (PS3)

And more spot prizes!

 

Assassin's Creed II: one of the best of 2009.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

The sequel to the game that should never have been made. This time out, Fiddy is shooting up the criminal denizens of a war-torn country to retrieve a blingin’ diamond skull – the dowry for a sold-out concert. The perfect Christmas present for anyone who still can’t put their cap on straight. (our score: 7.5/10)

Aion

 

You don’t have to be a fan of the long running Harvest Moon series to enjoy the simple charms of the sandbox-style farm sims. There’s something perversely satisfying about tending your own crops and raising livestock for hours on end, or putting some personal touches on your dwelling and whipping up a culinary masterpiece in your kitchen. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is the latest title in the series, and it’s a Wii exclusive.

After choosing to play as a boy or a girl, and making the sea voyage out to the delectably titled but sparsely populated Waffle Island, you embark on a lengthy intro and tutorial session which familiarises you with all the necessary skills and knowledge to get started running your own farm. The Wii remote and nunchuck set-up is well suited to this type of game; activities such as fishing are so much more fun when the controller movement mimics the real thing. At this point we should mention that load screens are frequent and sometimes quite lengthy, which does affect the flow of play – especially when travelling from one area to another on the island.

As well as tending crops and raising animals, there are a number of other wholesome activities you can engage in to pass the time and maybe earn a bit of money, which is required for almost everything – from food to farming equipment, to furniture and décor.

 

Pro skater Tony Hawk believes critics had passed judgement on RIDE, a game he has lent his name to, before ever getting their hands on it.

“Most snarky critics had their minds set before ever seeing/playing the game. I'm proud of what we created; it's innovative, responsive & fun,” tweets Hawk.

RIDE is the latest offering from Activision Blizzard to include a plastic peripheral – this time in the form of a skateboard. Critical aggregator metacritic averages the game at 49/100.

 

Legacy Interactive have announced they will release an adventure-puzzle game based on television's perpetually grumpy Dr House.

House, M.D. will challenge players to solve five different medical mysteries with over a hundred puzzles and mini-games, and is due to arrive on PC and Mac in February, and Nintendo DS in April.

Legacy Interactive have previously created television-to-game adaptations of TV shows such as Murder She Wrote, C.S.I.: NY, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It's not known yet whether actors from the TV series will contribute their voices to the title, however early images (such as the one attached to this article depicting the DS version) seem to indicate that at least the actors likeness will be used.

 

With a long list of titles spanning some 15 years, EA’s Need for Speed franchise is well established as one of the most successful racing series ever. Of course, the NFS games have evolved over the course of time, and with the recent NFS: Shift receiving plenty of positive feedback from the punters, we were interested to see how the latest title would rate.

We do have to ponder whether the Wii is the best platform for a racing title of this type. Aside from the very popular racers featuring cartoon characters in karts, the Wii is always going to struggle as a serious race platform. Graphics, physics and drive mechanics are king in the genre, and unfortunately the Wii is not in the supercar category. However NFS: Nitro is not trying to be another ultra-realistic sim racer like NFS: Shift. Instead it’s very much an arcade-style racer, with stylised graphics to better suit the console for which it was custom-built.