The PSP has been fertile ground for hackers, and despite Sony’s efforts, they keep finding ways around the security. The PSP Go was released as a piracy deterrant, but they probably only added flames to the fire when they started releasing retail-only games and keeping Go owners from downloading them via PSN. That, and hackers are tenacious as hell.

The solution results in similar functionality offered by previous hacked firmware available on regular PSPs, but functions like the more recent firmware hacks, meaning the hack is gone when you turn off the console.

It’s also almost all a moot point now, as the news reported last week regarding the PS3’s encryption becoming exposed applies to the PSP now as well, meaning an even better hack will be on the way soon.

This must all be a little scary for Sony, whose steady return as a serious contender in this generation has pretty much defied everyone’s expectations. The hacking community suggests that this is an unfixable hack, making the PS3 and PSP about as vulnerable as the Sega Dreamcast was, and we all know how that went.

This is the bone-chilling premise upon which the classic computer game The 7th Guest is built. When the Trilobyte game launched in the early 1990s, it not only scared the pants off of adults and children alike, it also became a huge hit that helped popularize the CD-ROM. Because the home computer has evolved considerably since Windows 95, The 7th Guest was unplayable on modern machines until just a couple of weeks ago, when it was released for the iPhone and iPad. Now a new generation of gamers as well as old-school fans can experience the horror that is Old Man Stauf, for a small fee.

You may have heard the basic plot before: a handful of people are invited to a creepy old mansion, and the one who survives the night wins the game. Stauf has promised six guests their most secret desire, so long as they solve the many puzzles hidden within the house. Throughout the night, the guests are involved in betrayal, seduction, and murder, with most of them willing to stop at nothing to get what they want. The player watches these events unfold while also solving Stauf’s riddles and unraveling the disturbing mysteries of the mansion, though seemingly not for the same selfish reasons.

The 7th Guest is a first-person adventure game, with the bulk of the gameplay focused on various puzzles in the many rooms of the house. The controls are simple; point in a direction to move, click a door to open it, and all of the puzzles translate well to the iPad’s touch screen. Solving puzzles or touching certain items will trigger full-motion video cut scenes, and while they’re certainly dated and a little cheesy, they still manage to be effectively creepy. The player will most likely uncover these story moments non-chronologically, depending on the direction he or she takes while exploring the house, but the uncertainty actually adds to the tension. The more puzzles that are solved, the more doors will unlock, and there are also a few shortcuts and secret paths to find throughout the mansion.

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I’ve had plenty of time to kill lately so I’ve been catching up on a lot of online games which I missed in 2010. Those that I’ve been really impressed with are The company of my self, which is quite haunting, Armed with Wings 3 and Steambirds. Game Developers are starting to come out with some great titles. I only wish I discovered them earlier, as clearly I’ve been mssing out! Kongregate has such a wealth of brilliant games on offer. I just finished playing Skyfyre, which is a fantasy 2d side-scrolling shooter, which at first may seem like a light calm game, but that is covered in intense mechanics such as levelling upgrades and character points, which give it elements of an RPG. The game is controlled completely with the mouse, move the mouse to control your character, and click to fire.

A very well made tower defense game I’ve been spending way too much time playing lately is Bubble Tanks TD. As the name suggest the distinctive theme of the game is bubbles. The art work is fairly simple but that just makes the game more crisp is clear, enabling the game play to shine. The flash game may be enjoyed in three stages: easy, medium, and hard. Generally there are various challenge modules to choose from for people searching for more from the flash game. These online games usually are actually one of the perfect styles of totally free internet flash game available, then when you will be bored stiff, give them a go.

The game play of Bubble tanks tower defense is simply superb by the way. How the game plays is as follows. The participant has got to prevent a group of npcs, from reaching an area around the surface. This can be achieved by generating and updating towers which fire at, damage and get rid of the opponent well before they will usually are qualified to achieve their particular goal. Different from quite a few various other defense games, the way of the attacker theirselves isn’t established.

Sometime today I might have a go at a tank game, which a was recommended to me by a friend. Apparently this is a military style game where you control an armoured tank. You gain points by using it to smashin into other vehicles. Sounds pretty fun, and I think i’ve seen some other games in the series, which I’ll also be playing if this tank game is any good.

At its root, ilomilo is simply a puzzle game. Each level is composed of purposely organized rows and stacks of cubes that must be traversed between two characters to have them reunited. At its heart, however, ilomilo is an adorably pleasant game centered on equally cute protagonists. ilo and milo are the best of friends, and reuniting them is your task as the player. Although the storyline is thin at its core, that simplicity is perfectly suited to the nature of the game.

Each of the four chapters in your adventure introduces a new hindrance to ilo and milo’s reunion. From levels plagued by the water of tears shed for having parted one another, to lands covered in paper notes addressed to each other, ilo and milo trek through unique and playful levels.

Along these levels, special cubes help guide you from one partitioned path to another. The first special cube you encounter is the “dog-creature,” which is a single cube allowing you to fill a gap between two paths. As you progress you will find the stretching cube that allots three extra cubes, rotating cubes, trap-door cubes, flying cubes, cubes that projectile you across pathways, cubes that eat apple obstructions and many others.

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It has been six years since players first stepped into Azeroth, and still no MMO has come close to challenging the dominance of World of Warcraft (WOW). Blizzard works tirelessly to constantly improve the game at all levels. WOW has been through so many changes that it scarcely resembles its former self, but none have altered the experience as severely as Cataclysm. Although you can witness many of the changes via a patch, the expansion is the only way to try out the new races, professions, and endgame content. For veteran players, it is a necessary investment.

There’s quite a bit of lore to read through, so suffice to say that a dragon of unfathomable power, Deathwing, has escaped from his prison and he is seriously ticked off. Continents are literally ripped apart and balances of power are shaken to the core in Deathwing’s vengeful wake. The valleys of Thousand Needles are flooded, Darkshore is a mess of crags, and the Barrens has been sliced in half, but keep in mind that these are the exceptions. Most areas got away with only minor damage, if any at all, but the atmosphere of destruction is everywhere with the Horde and Alliance clashing more openly than ever.

Retired and jaded players have ample reasons to roll new characters. The Worgen (werewolves) have come out of seclusion to join the Alliance, and the Goblins have reunited with the Horde (finally!). Blizzard has learned a few lessons from previous starting zones, such as the painfully dull Draenei zone, resulting in the most engaging low-level quest chains WOW has ever had. High-level players will likely interact with the altered zones through the secondary profession of Archaeology. Although it can yield rare items, there isn’t much to archaeology besides following your map and digging up artifacts until you have enough pieces to possibly make something of value.

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