Namco Bandai Games is bringing its classic roster of games to the Nintendo DS. Fans of Namco’s games get a handheld dose of gaming history along with an updated version of Pac Man Vs – which is the first time that particular game is being offered as a seperate product. Namco Museum DS is slated for a September 18th release.

Features:

•  Great Namco classics: Bring your favorites along with you: Pac-Man, Galaga, Xevious, Dig Dug II, Galaxian, Mappy, and Tower of Druaga

•  Pac-Man Vs.: For the first time ever, this collaboration between Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, and Shigeru Miyamoto, legendary Nintendo creator, is released as a separate product for fans to enjoy

•  Wireless play: Challenge up to 3 of your friends in Pac-Man Vs. as one of you race to chomp up all the pellets. With only one DS card, your friends will be able to play as ghosts to stop you on your mission to clear the board.

•  Unique viewing style: With a new rendering system, view your classics with the dual screens to your advantage

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I was playing around over at Dueling Analogs, clicked on their store link and found what had to be the most awesome shirt for a Nintendo nerd like me. Considering the fact that I own just about every U.S. release or Zelda in all of its incarnations, I would not take umbrage to being called a Zelda Nerd. Actually, I am quite proud of this, and now I will have the shirt to prove it.

While telling my co-worker Andrew about this, he mentioned a shirt he was thinking of purchasing over at Penny Arcade. So, like a good little conformist, I went to the store over there as well… and bought MORE Nintendo related garb. The Viva Miyamoto Tee.

Am I proud to be this big of a geek? Yes I am, and my female buddies can all just shut up and go get their fake nails and bottox. I have two cool new t-shirts and guys like a gamer girl better than a Stepford Wife any day!

The question that I have been asked ever since childhood is, “What are you going to do? Go home and play video games?” To which, my answer has always been an emphatic “Yes.” This answer was usually, much to my shame, the unpopular one.

See it’s hard for a gamer, as we don’t really want to be the social outcasts. We really don’t. But for gamers, we have the most fun inside our residence, as opposed to “normal” people who have more fun outside of their homes. For us, the boring times are the mall trips, or the clubs, or the uppity coffee houses. Regardless of what we are currently engaged in, somewhere in the back of our minds is the wanton desire to get back home and melt face in Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Gamers never really understand why people snootily glance down their noses, seething contempt over our choice to “go back home”. What is it that they know about “being out” that we miss? What are they so drawn to that they can make such empty judgments over how we spend our time? That’s what I attempted to find out.

There was only one chance to discover how the non-gamer lives, and that is a day without video games. This day would also involve no internet, TV, cell-phones, novels or any other medium that may inevitably divert me into thinking of video games.

The following is an account of my day.
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Over at SpawnPoint, they have compiled a list of the ten most influential people in gaming history. While I am sure there are some who have been omitted, they have focused mainly on the household and industry names. I have to say that I agree with their choices, plus, how can you argue about Will Wright or Miyamoto being on any influential gaming list?

Who ARE the most influential people in the PC/gaming evolution?

1. Nolan Bushnell – Notables: Pong, Atari, Chuck E. Cheese
2. Shigeru Miyamoto – Notables: Nintendo, Mario, Zelda
3. Dani Bunten Berry – M.U.L.E., Command HQ, Global Conquest
4. Sid Meier – Notables: Fireaxis, Civilization, Pirates, Railroad Tycoon
5. John Carmack – Notables: I D, Wolfenstein, Quake, every FPS you’ve played since thanks to him
6. Will Wright – Notables: Maxis, SimCity, The Sims, Spore, SimEarth, SimFarm, SimAnts
7. Minh Le and Jesse Cliffe – Notables: Counter-Strike
8. Warren Robinett – Notables: Atari, Adventure, Easter egg
9. Peter Molyneux – Populous, Black&White
10. Gabe Newell – Notables: Half life

• Worthy: Garry Gygax – Notables: Dungeons and Dragons

Congrats to Shigeru Miyamoto, who just made Business 2.0’s list of The 50 Who Matter Now. He made #20 on the list thanks to his business strategies that helped to make the Wii a success. This marks one of many top lists Miyamoto has been making thanks to the attention Nintendo’s little wonder has been receiving. And if he’s proven anything, it’s that he’s not done yet.

The Legend of Zelda is arguably one f the greatest video game series of all time. Below is one of the better video slide shows I have seen that shows cover art and some in-game art from the game through the years. The Legend of Zelda is a series produced by Nintendo and was created by master game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. The Zelda games are a strange mix of fantasy, action, adventure, role-playing and puzzle-solving. Interesting characters, unique settings and great music has kept the series alive.

The first Xbox 360 title for Majesco Entertainment Company, Kengo: Legend of the 9 (scheduled for a fall release), sets players in feudal Japan on a mission to become the best samurai warrior in the land. According to Majesco’s VP of Marketing Ken Gold: “Kengo’s stunning high definition graphics bring the game’s nine real samurai to life,with its 2-player head-to-head mode, attribute upgrades and fighter customization, Kengo: Legend of the 9 offers a great deal of next generation gameplay at a fraction of the price.”

The game features features nine samurai warriors: Musashi Miyamoto, Jubei Yagyu and Sanako Chiba, among others. Each samurai has their own style of battle techniques, and the four different modes of play including Main Mode; Mission Mode which challenges players to complete 10 missions within a specific time frame; Combat Mode that features two-player, head-to-head battles; and Xbox Live Leaderboard where players compete for new equipment and the best ranking against other Xbox Live gamers by pitting AI profiles against each other.

Today on EBay, you’ll see something unique. Sure, you can always get a DS on Ebay, but how often do you see one signed by Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata (President of Nintendo), and Charles Martinet (Voice of Mario)? It’s not an everyday thing.

In addition, the seller has pledged 25% of the proceeds from this sale to Child’s Play, the pet charity of Penny Arcade. Child’s Play donates toys and video games to kid’s hospitals around the world, and is a great cause for any gamer to embrace.

At the time of this post, the bid was sitting at $200. So, if you’re a Nintendo fan, this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

Take a moment and learn from one of the pillars of the video gaming industry.

Entertainment Weekly was right on in mentioning Shigeru Miyamoto as the Steven Spielberg of the gaming industry. There are classics out there, such as Legend of Zelda, which stick out in some of our minds the way that Jaws does in the minds of so many film buffs. I feel like Mr. Miyamoto is a father figure to me, because really, when I was six, I indirectly spent more time with him than my own father…

But moving on, Miyamoto answers questions of why he wants to lose weight to why he thinks Zelda is not doing wonderfully in the Japanese video game market right now. But the most visionary element you might see in an upcoming Miyamoto game?

“[Social responsibility] is yet another issue I might address in a game. But I probably sound like an old man when I bring these things up,” he said in the EW interview. And by social responsibility he of course means respecting your elders and paying taxes. Man this guy knows how to party.

Congratulations to Shigeru Miyamoto for making the Time 100 list. And they even got an actual gamer, Johnathan (Fatal1ty) Wendel, to write an homage article about you. You may be 92 on their list, but you’re #1 in our hearts.