I had a chance this weekend to test out a preview of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for the PS3, which is itself a preview of the full version of Gran Turismo 5 (which will come out eventually, I guess).

Anyway, I enjoyed the preview, but didn't get to test the online features in GT5 Prologue, so fingers crossed that online racing will be seamless and painless.

One note about the preview that I didn't have room to include in my article in the paper: the lighting effects in Prologue are fantastic, especially when you speed out of a dark tunnel and are momentarily blinded by bright sunlight before your driver's eyes adjust. Very impressive.

I do think that Prologue buyers will also want to invest in the upcoming DualShock 3 controller, which contains the vibration technology that Sony foolishly dropped from the SIXAXIS.

While I quite enjoyed the preview version of GT5 Prologue and am looking forward to the full game, a lot of gamers probably have their attention focused on another racing title that also ships in April: Mario Kart for the Wii.

Simulation or arcade: take your pick.

And it's nice to see top-flight games coming out sometime other than the Christmas season so gamers don't have to horde all their cash for the last two months of the year.

My Brawl review has attracted some irate comments.

Perhaps this essay from GameSetWatch can lend some useful perspective to those angry commenters.

What's interesting is that nobody has said my criticisms of the game are incorrect. Rather, I should love the game because everybody loves this game because it has Mario and everyone loves Mario and I SUCK!!!

Also, I'm a hater.

By the way, here's my column from Saturday about why it's still so hard to find a Wii.

And here's my column from last week, that I forgot to post, about how the PS3 is beginning to outsell the Xbox 360.

It's mindless shooting but as you race against the clock. It's actually kind of fun!

Nintendo's iconic 2d beat'em up is back...this time on the Wii!

• Is EA in a hostile takeover of Take-Two?
• Capcom's Xbox live games are larger than the reported size limit.
• Unreal Engine 4.0 coming to consoles before PC's (yea!).
• SSBB's online problems worked out?
• MTV says 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is "less like a video game than ever before"
• PS3 firmware 2.17 is out now
• Squid ink, Princess Peach's leg-breaking maneuver and ugly Mii fans make it into the gameplay footage (finally) of 'Mario Kart' for the Wii:

What's going on with the 360 and Blu-Ray?

Sony drops the hint that Microsoft is in talks with them to add Blu-Ray drives to the 360... then Microsoft angrily denies it.

Microsoft seems to be alluding to the fact that they think online-distribution of HD content is the way to go. But, as this blog on PCWorld.com points out, that method still has a long way to go and is still too frustrating for users. I second this opinion.

VICTOR UPDATE: I think Microsoft almost certainly WILL NOT offer a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360. What's the point? By time the drive would come out -- probably right before Christmas -- the 360 would be celebrating its third birthday. In other words, assuming the 360 follows the standard five-year console lifecycle, the machine will be closer to the end of its life than the beginning by the time Microsoft could get a Blu-ray attachment to market.

So Microsoft is almost certainly going to just wait for the 360's successor to come out, and then include a built-in Blu-ray drive for games and movies. Bet on it.

This is the coolest little app I've seen on the DS in ages: a full-fledged KORG synthesizer complete with sequencer! The KORG-DS10 basically lets you become a portable techno-band... you can even link several units together via wireless link. I might have to get a couple more DS's! How long before we see someone uses this (these) live on stage?

(I have a cool home-brew synth cartridge for the original GameBoy that I used non-stop for years... this makes me want to dig it out again.)

Product page here | Listen to it, here

No word on if this will make it to the U.S., but I think it could be a huge hit.

I gave the game a "B", which I know sounds like a harsh score compared to most reviews.

But I think a lot of critics are glossing over numerous technical flaws in this game out of their sheer love for all things Nintendo.

Look, I get that. As a former Sega Genesis owner (and one of the three Sega Master System owners worldwide, before that), I understand allegiance to beloved games and characters and franchises.

I still remember Streets of Rage and Golden Axe and even Altered Beast with fondness out of all proportion to the actual quality of those titles.

But that doesn't mean a critic can surrender their responsibility to honest judgment.

The fact is that SSBB has pedestrian graphics even for the Wii, is difficult to control with the Wii remote, has a clumsy online mode, and a boring singleplayer campaign.

Now, my criticism won't matter a whit when it comes to sales. SSBB will surely be one of the best selling games of 2008. And a lot of gamers will have a blast with the multiplayer mode for a long time.

But this notion that SSBB is a perfect game is absurd.

UPDATE: Anyone outraged by my review (Hi bob! Hi Collin!) might want to check this out.

The news today that Apple will soon start releasing 3rd party games on the iPhone and iPod Touch -- the first being a mobile version of EA's Spore, which you might have heard of -- is a big deal.

Check out this quote:

"The animation technology in the iPhone OS enables us to build awesome games," said John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts. "I think iPhone consumers are going to be blown away by the games we create for this platform."

That doesn't sound like Spore is a one-off project for EA and Apple, but the beginning of a beautiful friendship that should make Sony very nervous about the future of the PSP.

UPDATE: You can read my expanded take on Apple and gaming in my weekly column.

In my column this past weekend, I tried to come up with reasons to convince myself that PC gaming is not a mangled corpse trampled beneath the console gaming hordes.

I decided to write on this topic because I just ordered a new computer after my 4+ year-old Alienware finally succumbed to a massive motherboard failure FOR THE FOURTH TIME.

I bought a semi-boring HP machine this time that still has some decent hardware under the hood.

Unfortunately, while I ordered the computer last week, it looks like it won't be delivered until sometime next week.

Still, I'm pretty pumped and looking forward to finally playing all the PC titles that I'd been ignoring.

This is just evil.

Apparently, Japanese Wii owners can look up programming schedules and control their TV's functions via the Wii and Wiimote.

How cool is that?

When will the U.S. get such cool interactivity for our Wii's?

Check it out now... and weep