Game Reactor has had a redesign, and has turned from one of the best looking magazines out there (that I can’t understand a single word of) into, um, an even better looking magazine (that I still can’t understand a single word of.)

In the new redesign, too, they’ve actually managed to make the picture of me that accompanies my article even bigger than ever (if you download the PDF you’ll see it’s massive.)

This article is largely one long cuss. I cuss the PS3 for not having any decent launch titles, and then I cuss Nintendo for the absurdly shoddy state of the Wii Virtual Console, specifically in Europe, where the games are all crippled with 50hz conversions, but also worldwide, noting the inability to download games from other regions and just how (in general) overpriced it is.

Admittedly, I do have some rather kind words for Xbox Live Arcade, as the online scoreboards can turn any old game into something compulsive, not to mention the often excellent original content. If they could only get up to speed and release more than one game a week!

“Interesting and depressing news today in the Toronto Star, with the revelation that there are no plans to release the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres in Canada. Why is that, hmm? The article states (quite correctly) that it’s one of the most popular shows on The Detour on Teletoon (where you can watch it at 10:15 pm weeknights) so why they’re not giving it at least a limited release here confounds us.”

Also this week, Magic Pony and Nintendo run a Wii Sweepstakes that is pretty cool:

“Art” Wii Clever

“The competition to provide the complete mobile gaming experience is heating up with Nokia returning with the N-Gage brand, so Games On Deck has taken the opportunity to talk to Mike Yuen, head of Qualcomm’s Gaming Group, about their option, the Brew Gaming Signature Solution.”

Linked for the title, a sneaky reference to the greatest soft drink in the entire world: Barr’s Irn Bru.

“Following our earlier Nokia coverage, which included an interview with Nokia’s director of games publishing, Gregg Sauter, and an editorial from Dr Mark Ollila, Director of Technology and Strategy and Head of Games Publishing, in this second interview with a Nokia executive, Games On Deck talks to Tomi Huttula, Head of Arena Product Management for Nokia, about the new incarnation of N-Gage Arena.”

I’ve actually had a bit of a chance to fiddle about with a (very) early version of the N-Gage software. It’s in far too early a stage to post anything resembling proper impressions of, but it’s very similar to the Xbox 360′s interface. I’m not entirely sure how well that idea works with the concept of mobile gaming, which involves far shorter play periods, so it’ll have to be seen to what extent the games and system are going to allow players to easily drop in and drop out. I’m sincerely looking forward to finding out.

“Going to see all three films in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher Trilogy, one after another in one night, is one of this Torontoist’s most treasured cinema memories, and although we did it at 2005’s Toronto International Film Festival, anyone who missed that chance can now do it at the Brunswick Theatre (296 Brunswick Avenue) tonight and tomorrow night starting 7 p.m. It’s $10 for one film or $15 for the lot, so obviously you should see all three.”

A column with some discussion of the absolutely brilliant Pusher Trilogy, and, as I couldn’t resist, a little bit of chatter about Shadows of the Colossus’ appearance in Adam Sandler vehicle Reign Over Me.

Of course, even more surprising than the idea that a video game might be used intelligently in a movie (regardless of it’s quality) is the idea that Kotaku actually has some worthwhile reporting on it.

Who knew?

“In this latest interview on GamesOnDeck, we talk to Midori Yuasa, President of Capcom Mobile, about the company’s history, future plans, and its choice to develop all titles for the US market in-house in North America.”

This probably isn’t the most exciting interview, but Capcom Mobile are, like many of the other mobile game companies that are borne of established Japanese (console) game publishers, interesting because they have a Japanese equivalent producing far more advanced games for Japanese consumers. A perfect example would be their recently released title Lost Planet: Trag Zero, which is a very limited sort of top-down shooter here, but a fully 3D third-person action adventure in Japan!

I would imagine there just aren’t enough consumers here with the hardware required to run such titles, and I’m guessing that Capcom learned that when they released Resident Evil: The Missions (Biohazard: The Missions in Japan.)

However, I rather hope that there comes a point where it does make sense to translate and port tiles across, because Resident Evil: The Missions is really great, and there are more exciting titles than that which gamers outside of Japan will never see.

“So, this week’s most noteworthy film featuring a horrible zombie is obviously Fido, considering it’s Canadian and stuff, but we’ve talked about it more than enough, so in this week’s column we’ll make do with the next best thing – the horrible freaky visage of Cillian Murphy!

Well, we think he’s scary looking, anyway. To think he was in 28 Days Later… playing a human!”

The chance to be rude about movie stars. Is there any other reason to write a film column?

“I don’t doubt that Suzak tried to make yet another innovative instalment in the Wario franchise, with their stressful demands for constant touch screen use – but the sad fact is that there isn’t a single spark of imagination or joy in this entire game. Despite some obvious effort, Wario: Master of Disguise is just utterly tedious in every respect and an absolute chore to play.”

Wario: Master of Disguise is the worst game I’ve had the misfortune to play through in ages, and that’s really saying something, because I was playing through the Sega Ages 2500 version of Golden Axe at the same time! In fact, the game is so dull it actually depresses me to think about. So instead I’ll say this:

If you have any interest at all in music games and have a Game Boy (or DS) plus a set of headphones , you owe it to yourself to pick up Soundvoyager, one of Nintendo’s Bit Generations titles that made a small stir when they were released a short while ago. It’s only $14.90 on Play-Asia! It absoutely proves the kind of interesting thing good developers can do for Nintendo.

(Thanks to Mister Raroo for reminding me it was Skip that developed the Bit Generations titles… Other than Digidrive, apparently, which was developed by Q-Games.)

“Torontoist officially can’t wait for the first home renovation programme to have its interior designer kick open a door to an empty room and scream ‘This…Is…SPARTAN!’ referencing this week’s biggest release, 300. On the topic of 300, we link you to the best review ever featured on the otherwise not-particularly-good Ain’t It Cool News. Neill Cumpston enthuses, ‘If you watch this movie and go into a Taco Bell, and say to the cashier, ‘I need some extra sauce packets’ guess what? You’re getting twenty sauce packets because your face will punch him in the brain.’”

It’s the best movie review I’ve ever read. The kind that makes you stand up and think “I have to try harder.”

(And I’m genuinely being serious, here.)

“When we last spoke to Michael Chang, in September 2006, the ad-supported model of game distribution was still in the process of being proven. However, with more than 1.4 million downloads on Gamejump.com within 4 months of launch and new distribution partnerships made with networks such as MobilePro’s ProGames Network and more and more publishers signing up for the service, including the likes of Orange Pixel and Kiloo, Chang is more than willing to argue that Greystripe’s solution is a revolution in mobile gaming. Games On Deck sat down with Chang pre-GDC Mobile to discuss.”

This is a fairly interesting article that I link here mostly because the ad-supported model has kind of led me, what with the recent announcements of things like PS3 Home and so on, to think about the future a bit. It’s easy to argue that within a short period of time (5-10 years) almost all of our information and entertainment will be streamed directly into our homes, either via the ad-supported model or by one-off payments for downloadable content. Yesterday I walked past my local Rogers Video (Canada’s Blockbuster, basically, though we’ve got Blockbuster too) and wondered – what on earth are going to happen to all these shops and workers when there’s no need for them any more? Mega City One levels of unemployment, or what?

I’m probably getting ahead of myself – even broadband penetration isn’t really that high here, and the mobile phone companies in North America lag a good 2/3 years behind even Europe in terms of forethought. But still. Interesting times await.