High quality designs at an afforable low price.

“Handheld gaming systems and cell phones have become a big part of our everyday lives,” states Matt Witek, Co-Founder of GHskinz.com. With the increasing trend of consumers looking to add personal custom designs to their personal gadgets ranging from the Nintendo DS to the iPhone. GHSkinz has announced a new lineup of high-quality skins offered exclusively online for $4.49 a pack. Each set includes 20 different designs for each of the following systems including the PSP, DS, Wii, Xbox 360 as well as Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

This is the perfect solution for anyone who lacks the resources or funds to invest in custom designs that typically end up expensive. Rock Band enthusiasts should especially take note that the site features a lineup of skins and accessories including guitarOn a different note, the site also has a section dedicated to Rock Band enthusiasts, featuring a lineup of drums skins and other Rock Band related accessories including guitar stands, guitar straps, mic stands, mic covers and drum sticks.

Editor’s thoughts: The skins are actually impressive, but the designs seem to favor the females more.

We knew it was coming, no really.

Slow news day? I guess you can say that. In any event, while this news probably won’t come too much of a surprise for most, it still deserves a mention. Capcom has officially confirmed Street Fighter IV for consoles and PC.

(pauses)

Yes, I know that seems like common sense that one of the most anticipated release would eventually have to make the jump from the arcade to the console, right? Of course - it’s just that up till now, everything has been speculation. Well now the theories can be put to rest because SFIV is in development for Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC. (Looks like the Wii isn’t getting any love, at least for now).

That’s just about it. Sorry guys. I was hoping the news was going to come with some new gameplay footage, details of more hidden characters, anything that would create a bigger buzz than the obvious. I guess they’re holding out until E3. I hope you’re reading this Capcom, this gamer is starved for some new JUICY tidbits.

In other news, Super SF2 Turbo HD Remix is allegedly going to be included as a playable demo with . I can’t wait for that, and yes, expect full hands-on impressions to follow!

The future of the feature is obvious, and console gaming needs to embrace it.

It's been a long time since the days of the Doom wad, when obscure tools were required to make maps and only the truly dedicated could create something worth playing.  Level design tools have come a long way since then, and now anyone with creativity and a bit of perseverance can play game designer.  While the distribution methods on the PC side of things have evolved nicely, with the clear leader in the field being Trackmania's incredible community website, consoles…  Hmm…  How to put this kindly…

Level distribution on consoles sucks syphilitic goat wang.  That's the polite, sugar-coated version.

N+ had its online level distribution yanked by Microsoft at the very last second.  Boom Blox lets you share your levels with friends, putting Nintendo in the unique position of being smarter about the ways their online infrastructure is used than Microsoft.  Echochrome is even better, automatically uploading a handful of user-created levels every week or so in addition to allowing users to trade.  Taking things a step farther, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy will allow players to upload their levels to BlastWorksDepot.com to share with the world, and Little Big Planet will do roughly the same thing a few months afterwards.  Now we're talking!

Tangent-  Part of the reason given for Microsoft pulling the plug on N+ level sharing was fear of rude words and genital-shaped creations polluting the minds of America's youth and upsetting their lawyer-happy parents.  While I have no doubt that there will be more than a few giant penis bosses to download for Blast Works, Nintendo is still showing themselves to be less afraid of the shenanigans their users get up to than its more "mature" competitors. -End Tangent

Creating things can be a lot of fun, although I'll admit I'm not particularly good at it.  There's not much point, though, if you can't share what you've made with other people, and so far it's been very difficult to do on consoles.  The PC world has been dealing with the content for years without any problem, and in the age of memory sticks, USB drives, and web browsers built right into the system it's time for the console world to follow suit.  Every game with a level editor needs to have a web site where users can upload, trade, and rate their levels, from now on.  It's being fixed, slowly, but two games working to build an online community around shared content barely qualifies as a nice start.

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext's official position on the subject.

Penny Arcade's first game appears on PC, Mac, Linux, and XBLA.

Coded up by newcomers Hothead Games, this first of a planned four part RPG adventure has hit the downloadable street, available over Xbox Live or Penny A's and Hothead's own Greenhouse digital distribution platform (www.playgreenhouse.com) for the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions.  All versions have a demo you can snag for free, and discover if this colorful steampunk adventure is worth your $20.  Expect the full game to run you 6-10 hours of enjoyment if you're a fan of Penny Arcade or ATB style combat, a la Final Fantasy 7.  The official word runs like this:

"Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is an RPG-Adventure game set in the deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia, delivered togamers via accessible episodic releases. Players join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the Startling Developments Detective Agency, to combat savage enemies and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia. The game is the result of close collaboration between Hothead Games and Penny Arcade, featuring distinct artwork and characters designedexclusively by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, story and dialogue by Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, both brought to life by the Hothead team."

I've tried the demo on both XBLA and PC, and I have to say it's hard choosing which to go with the final buy.  The production values in everything from the visuals to the sound was beyond my expectations, especially how my own customized character shows up right as I made him in the 2D cut-scenes.  Yet when it came to playability, I felt that combat was really designed for the mouse and got adapted to the 360 controller in a way that's just a little awkward, especially with three people to control in real time.  The comedy comes through loud and clear on either device, complete with clever narration and jovial item descriptions.  So if you're a fan of the comic, I can't see how you can go wrong.

Bethesda Softworks unleash an explosion of concept art.

From the hand of their concept artist Adam Adamowicz, they've put together one big team diary for Fallout 3, chock full of creatures, weapons, buildings, and more.  All sorts of designs have been put on display in these 11 new pieces of concept art.

Read and see it all at the official site: http://fallout.bethsoft.com

Their official site now also includes a fully translated Russian version, to go along with English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Polish.