For ten bucks more than the cost of a Wii Remote Plus you can pick up the new Nintendo controller with a copy of FlingSmash, Artoon's paddle-ball platformer. Is it worth it? Let's see.

FlingSmash is a rather ballsy name for a game on a platform that began life plagued with television-damaging controller throwing. When I first received the game and its bundled Wii Remote Plus, I stripped off the protective rubber covering of the controller and scoffed at the use of the remote strap, because I am a mature adult that knows how to control himself. About an hour into playing through story mode, which involves swinging the Wii Remote Plus to bat about a ball-shaped hero through multiple levels of obstacles, the Wii Remote Plus slipped out of my hand and nearly took out one of my cats. There's a lesson there somewhere. There's a game review right here.

Ideal Player

Anyone in the market for a Wii Remote Plus that happens to have a spare ten-spot laying around, or parents trying to teach their children the proper way to swing the Wii controller.

Why You Should Care

Aside from it being packaged with the Wii Remote Plus? FlingSmash is one of the relatively few games that makes use of Nintendo's enhanced motion-sensing functionality, and only the second Nintendo-published title in North America to require it.

So what exactly are we looking at here? Putting it as simply as possible, FlingSmash is a side-scrolling pinball game with a singular mobile flipper that moves in any direction. There's a tropical island that's been invaded by the evil Omminus, and the spherical legendary hero Zip (or his female counterpart Pip) must save the day by smashing through three levels and a boss for each of the game's eight worlds. Players use the Wii Remote Plus to bat Zip around the screen, smashing enemies and bricks while collecting coins that in turn unlock the magical pearls needed to take on each world's boss fight. Oh, and there's a multi-headed dragon chasing Zip through the levels, which explains the scrolling. The game's structure is pretty formulaic, but it's a formula that's worked for Nintendo on many occasions.

And it's packaged with the Wii Remote Plus. Does it make good use of it? Yes and no. There is definitely some one-to-one motion control going on here. There's a little circular indicator in the bottom corner of the screen that tells you so. I'm just not so sure that indicator and the actual gameplay have anything to do with each other. When I am playing FlingSmash, my instinct is to draw back my arm and give my little spherical friend a powerful smack, sending him flying across the screen. A message pops up from time to time telling me not to do that. Apparently FlingSmash wants me to take smaller, measured movements. That would be fine if I had time to line up each shot. Unfortunately there's a multi-headed scrolling mechanic behind me at all times, ready to swallow me if I spend to much time planning, so of course I swing like a madman.

Zip's friend Pip is every bit as capable, yet she's not the legendary hero. I call foul.

You seem a little frustrated. That's because I am frustrated, and for good reason. I see the promise of FlingSmash at every turn. The delightfully whimsical music, the colorful, memorable characters and epic boss battles; these all point to a game I should be loving. As each level scrolls by I see the sort of tricky events Artoon has put in place, waiting for the perfectly precise shot to set them in motion, but I swing the Wii Remote Plus, Zip goes in a different direction, and I lose that feeling.

Is there no enjoyment here at all then? I wouldn't say that. Some of the unlockable mini-games are quite entertaining. In fact, the game improves substantially when you add another player. It's easier to forgive missing a shot when you've got two pinball creatures flying about the screen and two Wii Remote Plus controllers flying through the air. I'd say the key to enjoying FlingSmash is not caring too much about accomplishing every goal and making every trick shot. My problem is that if you give me five coins to collect with every level, then I'm going to throw myself at the game until I've collected them all, and that's when the frustration is at its worst.

FlingSmash In Action

The Bottom Line

If FlingSmash weren't a Wii MotionPlus game, I probably would have enjoyed it more. With its colorful cartoon world, quirky characters, and its overall sense of whimsy, it shares traits with many of the Nintendo classics I've come to adore over the years. Unfortunately it is a MotionPlus game, and for me that indicates a level of control and precision that the game never truly achieves, and I'm left flailing about instead of falling in love.

FlingSmash was developed by Artoon and published by Nintendo for the Wii, released on November 7. Retails for $49.99 bundled with the Wii Remote Plus. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through all eight game worlds single-player, played a few two-player co-op levels, and tried out a few of the unlocked mini-games.

This is how you bring down the Megacopter in Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 - hang on its undercarriage, blast away at the engines and then - jump on a plunger so it shits out a clown car?

Well alright. That's one way to finish off a boss in BCR2. Capcom released the following gallery o' images and characters, along with 90 seconds of straight gameplay, set to the beats of Simon Viklund, who did the original's outstanding soundtrack. BCR2 is due sometime early next year.

Minecraft guy and Captain Viridian of VVVVVV are known to be two of three playable characters exclusive to Super Meat Boy's upcoming PC version. Team Meat teased the third today; looks like the guest star's game name rhymes with Shmachinarium.

There are three more characters to be revealed, and Team Meat dropped these hints: "One of them sticks, one of them dashes, one of them changes form and one of them isn't organic."

As far as things we know that we know, a title update has been sent to Microsoft for approval "and should be up by the 21st (we hope)," saith Team Meat. "This update will fix all known bugs, erase all 0.0 times from the leaderboards and come with a totally new music track by Danny called Dr. Fetus's Castle. But the biggest addition to the update will be the 1st new set of 20 internets levels."

That first new level is "The Sewers of Dross," and in it, you'll be using Gish only to navigate 20 levels "that ramp in difficulty from medium to soul crushing." That means they adjust in difficulty from "very hard," to "Eli Eli lama sabachthani."

Super Update! [Team Meat]

Wii hit de Blob is going 2D, HD and stereoscopic 3D when the globose, paint-drenched hero makes his way to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next year. THQ's Blob also has a few new tricks, including one that made 3D Metroid games more fun.

de Blob 2 retains the soft, brightly colored charm of the 2008 original and its color restoration gameplay. Faced with a world made white by the evil Comrade Black, Blob must soak up color from paint pools and ambling Paintbots, then re-paint the environment to restore its vitality. Blob's paint reserves are his life force, depleted when splattering buildings with color, when crushing desaturated enemy forces or when hit with toxic black ink.

Blob can soak up and combine red, blue and yellow paint to turn himself green, purple, orange and brown, as he could in the first game. In the sequel, Blob can also transform into an indestructible wrecking ball by absorbing a lead-like liquid. He can plow through enemies without fear of harm and attach himself to magnetized walls, a small part of the more vertically focused gameplay in de Blob 2.

He can also pick up a Hazmat power up, a force field that renders him temporarily resistant to toxic ink—key to some battles where exploding ink barrels are involved—and grab "Inspiration" hidden throughout levels that will upgrade Blob's abilities.

de Blob 2 also introduces Gravity Wall surfaces to the series, a similarly sticky force that fondly reminded me of the Metroid Prime series' take on Samus Aran-as-adventuring-morph ball gameplay. Blob will reach new heights with puzzles that involved climbable Gravity Walls, a mechanic that really shines in de Blob 2's two-dimensional gameplay sequences.

Players can access puzzle-driven 2D platforming levels by entering the interiors of some buildings. They're primarily switch flicking, enemy stomping tasks. Hit this lever, paint this marker purple, ride this elevator, liberate this desaturated ally and get back out into the real world.

But the 2D portions really open up when de Blob 2's new mechanics combine with the old. One 2D challenge I played saw Blob alternating colors to flip polarity-altering switches, a sequence of alternating Gravity Wall surfaces that pulled him back and forth while I tried to avoid bumping Blob into spikes. Many of the 2D levels I played were much simpler than that gravitational force-bending ride, but very enjoyable, even with their straightforward challenges.

With 100 of these 2D levels scattered through the world of de Blob 2, it's an addition that shows great promise.

de Blob 2 also adds a little more variety to the enemy types, with standard Inky soldiers, ink gun-equipped Heavy Inkies and Elite Inky enemies that can only be crushed if Blob is painted the same color as that enemy's hats.

Gone from de Blob 2 is the need to waggle a Wii Remote to make Blob jump. Wrists everywhere will be spared further suffering, as across all console versions of de Blob 2, jumps are performed with a simple button press. That includes the PlayStation Move version, which we're told approximates Wii-like controls for an alternate control scheme on the PS3.

Stereoscopic 3D will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, supporting both 3D HDTVs and standard televisions.

During my hour-long playable experience with de Blob 2, I was surprised at how quickly time slipped by, with a constant stream of new tasks, new ways to play and hidden collectible items thrown my way. de Blob 2 felt like an easy, breezy way to pass the time, exploring its desaturated world and coloring it with paint and music. For players who are looking for more than just a way to pass the time, THQ promises harder difficulty levels for more serious de Blob fans.

de Blob 2 smartly borrows a few mechanics from gaming greats, letting players roll about like a Metroid morph ball or see new primary colored platforming heights in the vein of a 3D Mario—while also adding in the side-scrolling 2D gameplay that made Super Mario Galaxy games better. It also retains the exploratory fun of the original, while correcting its mistakes.

See de Blob 2 in high-definition action in the game's first trailer for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

de Blob 2 will come to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS on February 22, 2011.

With ten installments of the main Mega Man series and several spinoffs, it's hard to tell one evil Robot Master from the next. That's where Udon's Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide comes in.

The Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide, due out in March of next year from frequent Capcom collaborator Udon Entertainment, compiles data on every evil robot that's appeared in Mega Man 1-10, Mega Man and Bass, and the Mega Man Gameboy series into a 144-page paperback. It's packed with original Capcom art, biographies, and the most effective way to reduce each robot to its component parts. the guide even covers characters like Proto Man, Rush, Roll, and Duo, who aren't quite evil but important nonetheless.

Check out a few pages from the upcoming volume here. The Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide is now available for preorder at Amazon.com.

Maybe the assassins are the bad guys?

I've played the Assassin's Creed games as thoroughly as I scrape the bottom of a bowl of vanilla pudding. I'm up on the lore, I've unlocked hidden movies and I'm waiting for more information about how Marco Polo was involved in the generations-spanning conflict between the brotherhood of assassins and the Knights Templar. But not until reading the new Assassin's Creed comic today did I give serious thought that maybe the good guys are the bad guys.

Perhaps I'm too trusting. Perhaps I should have considered that an organized group of killers who murdered great people around the world for centuries might not be the good guys.

The new Assassin's Creed comic, called Assassin's Creed: The Fall, briefly nods at the idea that our heroes are really our villains, a new twist to a new branch of Ubisoft's hit franchise. The comic, like the games, oscillates between a tale set in modern times (Philadelphia, 1999) and a rich period of the past (Russia, 1888). The former stars a seemingly normal man who is down on his luck and unsure of what he is seeing visions that make him feel like he's a Russian assassin. The Russian assassin wears a white robe, stabs with skill and leaps gracefully like Altair and Ezio, heroes of the Assassin's Creed video games.

For the main scene of the first issue, Nikolai receives orders to kill Tsar Alexander III, whose father was assassinated by the brotherhood for which Nikolai now works. But who is giving the orders and why does Alexander III seem somewhat reasonable when he confronts a hesitant Nikolai?

The comic is the first issue of a three-issue mini-series, so questions are raised, not answered.

I'm not sure how much new lore we're going to get, and if this will amount to anything more than Assassin's Creed In The Snow. But so far, so solid. The comic is an official Ubisoft production. Former AC franchise mastermind Patrice Desilets is thanked in the inside front cover. The lead writer-artists, Camerson Stewart and Karl Kerschl are better-known and seemingly simply better at illustrating than writing, but they do a fine job here.

In a spin-off, I want a story that "counts." This seems like it will. Comics cost $4 an issue these days, if you don't know, so beware that you'll be done reading this issue swiftly. Wait for the collection? At least read the preview and admire the lovely linework. The official preview is at the DC Comics website. The issue is in stores now.

We've seen off the wall knife kills before in Call of Duty multiplayer—remember this lucky Modern Warfare 2 stab?—but across the map, off the wall, off the floor and into the Achilles heel of an online opponent?

The unlucky recipient—a player by the handle of "BotteDimix"—of this Call of Duty: Black Ops tomahawk is likely calling bullshit on this seemingly random shot, but we're ready to call this the luckiest Black Ops kill to date until proven otherwise.

Chris Erickson's brother found himself without the use of his right arm following a tragic accident, but that hasn't stopped him from enjoying Xbox 360 Kinect games.

Here we see one of the direct benefits of controller-free gaming. He might not do quite as well with some of the more limb-intensive Kinect games like Dance Central, but Chris' brother seems to make do in Kinect Adventures, and he doesn't seem to have any problems with Sonic Free Riders, outside of some menu navigation.

Before I picked up my own Kinect this past weekend I was one of the folks who wondered why I'd ever want to control a video game with my body instead of a controller. Here's a heartwarming answer to that question.

The Monday Night Combat battle continues... in your home! Uber Entertainment, makers of the Xbox Live Arcade hit, have made four of the game's combatants available in resin form via the developer's online store.

These resin statues of Monday Night Combat's PitGirl, Assassin, Assault and Tank classes don't come cheap. They range from $69.99 to $89.99 USD, but check in at a good nine to ten inches tall. Really, you can't put a price on Monday Night Combat statue ownership.

If you'd like to show your Monday Night Combat pride in cheaper ways, trucker hats emblazoned with the game's logo and t-shirts with shotgun shells high-fiving anthropomorphic strips of bacon are also available... cheap!

Uber Store [Uber Entertainment via Tomopop]

The company that let us play The Secret of Monkey Island in our browser and just started letting people play a sort of Guitar Hero on Facebook is shutting down.

The company also owns the Torque engine which is used in many independent web and disc-based games. The engine is now up for sale.

Word of the closing popped up on the Instant Action forums and was confirmed in a post at TorquePowered.com that states:

Today, InstantAction informed employees that it will be winding down operations. While we are shutting down the InstantAction.com website and Instant Jam game, Torquepowered.com will continue to operate while InstantAction explores opportunities with potential buyers for Torque. We thank all of our past and current customers for their support.

- Torque Management

Instant Action had just released the Guitar-Hero-style Instant Jam this past summer and made it embeddable in browsers late last month. That game let people play a simplified version of popular music games in a web browser while seating in front of their computer keyboards or with a guitar plugged into their PC.

The company was formed a couple of years ago after media mogul Barry Diller invested in Oregon-based Garage Games, the indie-friendly studio behind the Torque engine, to build a platform for high-end video games playable in web browsers.

Kotaku has reached out to Instant Action for further comment.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Instant Action parent company IAC, said Instant Action was shut down because "it was operating in a highly competitive industry, and the business didn't scale profitably in the manner we had expected."

Earlier this week Diller's IAC announced plans to lay off 130 people from its Ask.com division. It also is rumored to be announcing a merger tomorrow of its Daily Beast online publication and Newsweek.