It's so pretty!

Our review on GamingAngels will be coming soon (we bought it today) but I thought it would be interesting to see what people are saying about Kingdoms of Amular online. What do you think about this format? Are you curious about Kingdoms of Amular? Have you played the demo?

Remember Flower, the serene game for the PS3, where you drifted through the game being calmed by the soft music? Flight of the Fireflies is almost like that.

Wooly Robot, a Swedish game studio, has created an iPad game where you guide fireflies with your finger. Each lit bug has its own note and creates the music as you collect more fireflies.

The game is great for mobile trips where killing time and distressing is needed. Flight of the Fireflies is all about the experience the game gives you. It may not be what some people think as a traditional game, but Jonathan Hise Kaldma, the game designer, doesn’t care.

“I call it a game, since it comes from that tradition. But I know some people wont think it’s a game since you can’t really win or lose,” said Hise Kaldma. “I don’t really care if people call it ‘interactive art’ or something else instead. As long as they don’t think it’s inaccessible or hard to understand, because it’s not. Anyone with an open mind can enjoy it.”

Sony informed Kotaku today that the UMD Passport program, first instituted in Japan, would not be available for North American users.

This program allowed gamers to put UMD games in their PSPs to register them, then download them at a discount on the Vita.

Unfortunately, this means that when Vita launches in North America, you’ll have no way to play the UMD games you’ve collected over the PSP’s lifespan — and you’ll have to keep your PSP if you ever intend to play those games again. Any PSP games you’ve downloaded/purchased digitally will still be available.

No reason has been given (as of yet) for not offering the program. It’s possible that, for some reason, it’s just not popular and therefore not worth offering in the U.S. and Canada.

Does this change your opinion of the device? I’d say I was bummed out, but I never owned a PSP, so it doesn’t really affect me that much.

After a bit of a delay, Kinect Star Wars and the fantastic-looking console bundle designed to go with it both have a release date: April 3, 2012.

Kinect Star Wars now features five modes: Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising, Podracing, Rancor Rampage, Galactic Dance Off and Duels of Fate. (No, Galactic Dance Off isn’t a typo — that mode features Star Wars-inspired pop tunes. And you battle Darth Vader on the dance floor. Yeaaaaaaah.)

Buy the bundle and you get an extra unlockable for that Galactic Dance Off — C-3PO. I bet he’s really good at doing The Robot. Just a guess, though.

You can preorder the bundle on Amazon here (and ignore that June release date).

PC gamers can now download Mortal Kombat Arkade Kollection, from Steam, GameStop’s Impulse and other distributors. The collection comes with Mortal Kombat 1, Mortal Kombat 2 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The collection costs $9.99, or £6.29.

The games are playable in their original state. Have fun playing all the classic characters, with the addition of achievements, online leaderboards and play.

What’s your favorite Mortal Kombat title? They are classics, after all.

Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: E10+ / PEGI: 12
Developer/Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 1, 2011

RENT

I picked up Generator Rex: Agent of Providence with the thought that despite it being for the 10-12 year old set, my five year old son might find it entertaining. I should caveat the rest of this review with the fact that we do not watch the show and had never heard of the series, but I am always up for a new game.

If you, like me, were unaware of the cartoon, here is the general idea: Nanites have infected everything and everyone on the planet, and they randomly mutate creatures. Some creatures manage to deal with the mutations and use them (such as Rex), but most go insane and become monsters. Rex can control his mutations and use them to neutralize the monsters and their mutations. He works for an organization called Providence, and they fight against the E.V.O.s (Exponentially Variegated Organisms). The main enemy is a bad guy named Van Kleiss.

The game is a basic hack and slash with a side scroll. You learn how to use all kinds of different mutations for different monsters and scenarios, such as jumping high or smashing through barriers. As you progress through the levels, you unlock new mutations you can use. When you kill monsters or break objects, you collect nanites that you can use to upgrade your weapons. Most level are a series of mobs followed one after another with an ending boss. There were two levels that did not follow that format: one was a motorcycle ride with a monkey E.V.O. and another that involved a ride on rock tablets through a tunnel while being chased by a huge boulder.

And that is when I quit the game. First, a boulder chasing you? Maybe a 10-12 year old would not understand why I found that irritating, but I am old enough to consider it a bit of a rip off. Second, the level was nigh unplayable for me. It involved a lot of timed jumps, and these are not my strong suit. I kept dying, and my frustration level kept going up. My husband took about five attempts to get through the FIRST section, but neither of us managed to get through the next one. Third, after an initial sense of awe and wonder, my five year old grew quickly bored with the game. He likes jumping and racing, so it had little to no appeal to him (although he did like me killing the monsters and perhaps I should rethink what a good idea this was). He would beg me to play, but he would wander off more quickly each time. Fourth, maybe it was just the DS controls, but I found myself relying on only one or two different weapons (I do not think I even unlocked them all) because switching back and forth required not only the buttons but the stylus and touchscreen. It was overly complicated for what should have been a fun, simple game.

Dig indie games? Good. It’s time for the Independent Games Festival’s Audience award to go public — that is, for voting.

Any game chosen as a finalist is up for the vote. If you need to try some of them out to make your decision, that’s easy, even if you’re not able to attend IGF. On the Audience Award page, each game is marked to indicate whether or not there is a version available for you to play now (some games have beta versions, others are available for purchase).

After you’ve played what you can, make your decision and vote. You’ll have to verify your decision through email, but that’s easy enough.

Voting closes at midnight PST on February 19.

Have you played any of the finalists? I’m personally a big fan of Lume and WAY, but I really, really wish Antichamber had a demo. I’ll have to check some more games out for sure!

Last year we sent Sarah, 16, to National Computer Camp. She had a great time learning at the camp and it’s our honor to be able to offer the experience of attending National Computer Camp again!

GamingAngels is teaming up with National Computer Camp (NCC) to offer the Second Annual Scholarship for NCC’s June/July 2012 enrollment valued at $985 to a female student (ages 8-18) for one week.
 At NCC (http://www.NCCamp.com), campers can design a 2D or 3D video game, learn to program, create a graphic video, take apart a computer, create a home page, play tennis, play Civilization and make new friends. Now in its 35th year, NCC is America’s original computer camp with locations in Connecticut, Georgia, New York and Ohio. On National Computer Camp’s facebook page, you can see pictures of what the camps are like.

“We’re excited to offer this scholarship again on GamingAngels.com,” said Trina Finton, CEO and Founder of GamingAngels.com. “We had great entries last year and look forward to innovative entries this year. We’re going to step it up by having game designers read over the essays and pick the winner this year. I could not be more proud to offer this scholarship to help encourage young women to explore technology and have fun with it!”

National Computer Camp provides an opportunity for young people from all parts of the United States and around the world to interact creatively. This harmonic integration of young minds is the primary focus of NCC. Computer camp is the brainchild of Dr. Michael Zabinski who was awarded several federal grants to train teachers to integrate computers into their classrooms. In an effort to reach young people personally, he established the first of these educational summer camps, coining the phrase “computer camps” to describe them, and then founded NCC.

Scholarship applicants need to submit an essay in response to the following question:

“What is your favorite video game, and how would you change the design to improve it?”

The 500 – 600 word essay must be submitted to scholarship@gamingangels.com no later than May 31, 2012. Along with the essay, include your name, address, telephone, email address, and age. The winning essay will be posted on GamingAngels.com for readers to enjoy. A GamingAngels.com panel consisting of game designers will judge the essays and the scholarship recipients will be announced the first week of June. For a scholarship to be awarded, at least five entries need to be received. Former scholarship winners are not eligible. Essays submitted previously will not be accepted.

Winners will be announced on June 8th, 2012.

Get inspired and read Sarah’s entry here. National Computer Camp is a great way to encourage your daughter to explore technology and have fun with it!

On February 7, AKA “tomorrow,” your PlayStation Network account is having a bit of a procedure done. At least it’s one you don’t have to pay for — an update to Sony’s Terms of Service, User Agreement and Privacy Policy will change the name of your account from a “PlayStation Network” account to one on the “Sony Entertainment Network.” See? All cosmetic.

But there are a few more changes in the ToS that you’ll want to keep an eye on. Here they are, provided by Sony in convenient list form.

• New terms for parents of minor, subaccount holders regarding the limitations of chat parental controls. Your reacceptance of the Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy affirms your consent to the sharing of your child’s data that may occur if your child utilizes certain communication functionalities on PlayStation devices such as PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita systems.
• New terms that explain the location-based services offered through the PlayStation Vita system. For parents of minor, subaccount holders your reacceptance of the Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy affirms your consent to your subaccount holder’s user of these services on the PlayStation Vita system.
• A description of our “What’s New” section, which provides topical information about our services and advertisements.
• Information about pre-ordering content.
• The name of your “PlayStation Network account” is changing to a “Sony Entertainment Network account.”

Sony emphasized that this is truly a change in name only — you’ll get a quick software update that will change the names used on the PS3 and PS Vita. (PSP? Not getting an update “at this time.”) PlayStation Network will continue to be a part of SEN.

I’ve always enjoyed receiving gadgets over diamonds, but now that concept is a bit more official. According to a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Women in CE, electronics are the “desired purchase”.

In the study, eight in ten women wanted Consumer Electronics, an increase of 10% from the previous study. Women spend about $667 on CE products in the past 12 months. Which is slightly less than men who spend $728.

“This Valentine’s Day, the way to a women’s heart just might be through electronics,” said Jessica Boothe, manager of strategic research, CEA, who oversaw this study. “Women want technology more than ever and they view electronics as very personal devices that can be toted around and customized with private information.”

But men, be wary when shopping. Be excited that you should now buy the woman in your life an electronic, but you might want to make sure it’s not pink. Or at least know her well enough to know if she would like the gadget in pink or not.

“Forget pink. Women don’t want to be catered to with ultra-feminine looking products; they simply prefer lightweight devices that can fit smaller hands and smaller body frames,” said Boothe. “Women play many roles, like mother, spouse and career women, and CE products that can perform many functions are a necessity.”

Women want electronics that “simplify their life” (77%). So when shopping for this Valentine’s day, consider a gadget to make her heart soar.