Peggle, new from PopCap Games, is an stunning mix of Pachinko, Pinball, Breakout, and probably some other games.

Four Modes

There are four modes of play in Peggle: Adventure, Quick Play, Duel, and Challenge.

Adventure Mode

In Adventure Mode you play through eleven phases of five levels each, with each phase introducing a new guide character who gives you a special power that is unlocked by hitting green pegs.

For example, in the dragon mode, you get a fireball that cuts through every peg in its way and can be helpful in getting to those elusive pegs tucked away out of reach.

Quick Play Mode

Quick Play allows you to play any level you have previously completed.

Duel Mode

In Duel Mode you play against the computer or another player, with each player taking turns.

Challenge Mode

Challenge Mode gives you tougher and tougher individual levels to complete.

For instance, you might have 45 orange pegs to clear instead of the 25 that you’d have in Adventure Mode.

Stunning Graphics

PopCap has outdone themselves with Peggle. The graphic experience is bright and colorfully explosive, replete with particle effects, and attention to detail.

Extreme Fever

Clearing the level requirements zooms you into slow-motion Fever Cam footage of the action.

Peggle Deluxe

Once the trial runs out, you have to buy Peggle Deluxe ($19.95) to continue playing. It has 55 levels, 10 magic powers, 75 Grand Master Challenges. It also allows you to play against friends or the computer and save replays of your best shots.

Rating

The following ratings are from 0 to 10 (10 is the best).

Graphics: 8 – the graphics are not ground breaking but are used effectively and make Peggle a lot of fun.

Sound and Music: 7 – the sounds and music are pretty good and are used well, though they aren’t spectacular.

Gameplay: 9 – incredible gameplay is what makes Peggle so great. The controls are simple and the game is easy to play but difficult to master.

Reply Value: 7.5 – Peggle provides many opportunities to get higher and higher scores, so once you go completely through it you can shoot for something better next time.

Bottom Line: 8.5 – PopCap has turned out another great game. Though it’s derivative of several games, the unique combination makes for a distinctive and enjoyable experience. Highly Recommended

Ken Kutaragi (久夛良木 健), the Father of the PlayStation, has resigned his position as Chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment and will instead become Honorary Chairman. The resignation is effective June 19, 2007, when he will be replaced by the currect President and COO, Kazuo Hirai.

Kutaragi was responsible for the PlayStation, which debuted in December of 1994 in Japan, as well as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and the PlayStation 3. Lagging sales and other challenges facing the PlayStation 3 are thought to be the primary reason behind Kutaragi’s resignation.

Is PlayStation 3 to Blame?

Despite the PS3′s struggles, Kutaragi’s latest system is a top-notch entertainment and computing platform. Aside from the superior power it makes available for game developers to leverage, other uses for the PS3′s power have emerged, such as Folding@Home, which recently announced that the additional teraflops donated by PS3 owners has more than doubled its computing power.

Father of the PlayStation

In the late 1980s, Kutaragi was the early champion of video games at Sony, which at the time thought video games was simply a fad. He had worked, sometimes in secret, to build and provide components for Nintendo’s systems. After a heated contract dispute between Sony and Nintendo, a CD system (SNES-CD) under development by Kutaragi was kept in-house and became the original PlayStation. These early systems had a SNES cartridge port, which was eventually dropped before the official PlayStation release in 1994. Sony has sold over 100 million PlayStation units. (Contrast that to the 49 million SNES systems sold by Nintendo.)

His success led to the PlayStation 2 (more than 115 million sold), the PlayStation Portable (25 million sold), and the PlayStation 3 (3 million sold).

References

Sony PlayStation architect resigns

Sony unit chairman and CEO Kutaragi to step down

Time 100: Ken Kutaragi

Wikipedia: Ken Kutaragi

Wikipedia: PlayStation

Ken Kutaragi Resigns, Weeping Heard in Solid Snake’s Condo

Zork and Imagination

Back when we occasionally had to use our brains to create the images within games, a.k.a. in the 1980s and earlier, a text-based adventure game called Zork was incredibly popular. Since most games back then were either played on a board or in the backyard, our imaginations regularly got a workout. Besides, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and other books (stories written on piles of flat sheets called “paper” and bound together) were popular back then too, so the imagery came easily.

If you were born after 1980, brace yourself; the image you see below may shock you.

Super Paper Mario is out for the Nintendo Wii system and it looks amazing.

Mario in the Wii World

The 2-D and 3-D game integrates the Wii controller, held sideways, into the classic side-scrolling platform game world. When in 2-D side-scrolling mode, press a button and you move into 3-D mode where you can see previously-hidden secrets, paths, and fight enemies (well, Nintendo-fighting, which roughly translates into a pillow fight here in the real world). You can also play as Peach or Bowser.

Some trailers are embedded below, and Nintendo’s SPM site has some video as well.

Super Paper Mario Trailers

SCEA has dropped the price of the PSP Core Pack $30 from $199.99 to $169.99 to celebrate the second birthday of the PSP. The SCEA press release also indicates that Sony has added Daxter and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror to the Greatest Hits Collection.

This brings Sony’s mobile gaming platform closer to the price point of Nintendo’s DS system; and while it’s arguably more capable and flexible than the DS, the PSP has its work cut out for it if it’s going to catch its rival.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Unveils New Price for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable)

Apr. 3, 2007 – PSP Platform Celebrates its Second Anniversary, Offering Reduced Hardware Price and Adding Daxter™ and Syphon Filter®: Dark Mirror to Greatest Hits Collection

FOSTER CITY, Calif., April 3, 2007 – Following the recent second anniversary of PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has announced a reduced price for PSP hardware. Effective today, PSP Core Pack will be available in North America for $169.99 (MSRP), delivering a significant $30 savings to consumers. SCEA also announced that Daxter™ and Syphon Filter®: Dark Mirror are the newest additions to the PSP “Greatest Hits” collection, enabling PSP users to build up their software library with two popular titles at great value. More…

Seen here.

Desktop Tower Defense has been upgraded to version 1.2. This version introduces Spawn Creeps, a Bash Tower, new Fun modes, and smarter creep AI.

The Spawn Creeps are larger and when destroyed burst into smaller creeps, some of which may end up on the other side of diagonally-connected towers — so be careful.

Bash Towers are slow but damage ground creeps in the vicinity, with the potential to stun them temporarily.

The Fun Modes and new Challenge Modes add variety, while the new creep layout has them coming in spread out instead of single-file.

Overall this is a good upgrade that adds some additional, challenging fun to an already enjoyable game.

Bubble Tanks is Flash-based game from Hero Interactive. It is amazingly similar to flOw, a beautiful underwater petri dish game we mentioned last July in our roundup of online games. Bubble Tanks has a marvelous soundtrack and is visually impressive. Though it lags a bit behind flOw graphically, it adds the ability to shoot your enemies instead of eating them. Overall it’s a nice, fun diversion.

One major annoyance is the ease with which you can click an ad accidentally, ending the game and sending you off to some other website. Of course, while you may click them accidently, it’s doubtful that the ads are where they are by accident.

Boomshine is a nice little online Flash game from K2xL. The goal is to catch floating dots in the blooms of other exploding dots through twelve levels.

The game features a high score board and is accompanied by a beautiful and repetitive soundtrack. Very addicting in small spurts.

Yet another Flash-based Tower Defense game, this time from Paul Preece of Hand Drawn Games. Perhaps a little confusing, “Desktop” refers to the background image in the game, not that you download it and play on your Windows (or Mac or Linux) Desktop.

Desktop Tower Defense is great take on the game. Instead of building towers on the walls of a maze, as in Critters’ Flash Element TD, in Desktop Tower Defense your towers create the maze.

There are four difficulty levels available: easy, normal, hard, and challenge. Scores in the Easy level are not saved. Challenge levels include a speed level and a few where various tower types are unavailable.

At long last, David Scott, A.K.A. “Critters,” has released Flash Circle TD. It’s hosted at Wrigley’s Candystand.

Scott indicates that he’s still enhancing it, much as he did with Flash Element TD. It’s not bad, but it is tough.