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I have a new favorite genre now, and thus, I want it to be your favorite genre. The more of you out there playing tower-defense games, the more titles we'll see -- and even better ones at that, although I'm not complaining so far.

Sales of tower-defense games, however, aren't necessarily supporting this idea. One of the must-buys from recent years, Ninjatown, only sold about 75,000 units worldwide -- and that's on a mega-popular handheld platform that's supposed to make a developer millions just by thinking about making a game for it.

So, to help push my selfish agenda out to increase the genre's popularity, let's take a look at a few titles that you may have overlooked, what makes them stand out amongst their peers, what they might've done wrong, and an upcoming game for Xbox Live Arcade that you shouldn't miss if you know what's good for me.

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Even though we totally support retro consoles, the Retro Duo just isn't doing it for us. It's like it's missing something. What could it be? Oh, yeah -- that's right: Rambo.

Cultural Blips:

• Old-school console perfect for nostalgic blowhards. Pretend like modern consoles are lame by sporting this two-in-one Retro Duo console that allows you to play both NES and SNES cartridges. Or you can just download an emulator. Uh, not that we encourage such piracy! Ahem. [technabob]

• Yeti Kong is hot even though technically he is cold. This t-shirt for a Donkey Kong clone starring a Yeti may look real, but it's not. Just like the Yeti himself. Meta. [Offworld]

• This Mario foot tattoo stinks. Some dude decided to tattoo Mario and Luigi on his feet for some reason. Our guess: So people won't have to see how terribly stupid they are. [Geekologie]

• Boo papercraft good enough not to see. Try spotting the Mario enemy Boo in this papercraft. Can you see it? Yeah, well, so can we. And you thought you were special! [Nintendo Papercraft]

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Editor's note: Julian makes the case for the PSP Go as an Apple App Store-like open platform, but he isn't just writing from the perspective of a gamer -- he also developed the indie Xbox Live game Groov. Makes sense, but is Sony forward-thinking enough to actually do it? -Demian

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After listening to the Bitmob crew discuss the PSP Go on Mobcast 13, I couldn't help but notice that the guys sounded decidedly less than enthused. Sony is committed to re-launching the PSP brand this fall, but their plan doesn't fix many of the issues that have previously dogged the platform. My idea wouldn't address the device's exorbitant price or lack of a second analog stick, but it could very possibly invigorate its software sales and maybe even address its long-standing piracy woes.

The most exciting feature of the PSP Go is its emphasis on digital distribution. UMD has been a relatively useless format or a while, and since Sony has already announced the ability for users to transfer digital copies of the UMD games they already own to their PSP Go, those little disks really have no business hanging around anymore. The PSP Go's digital-only distribution model is a first for conventional game platforms, and could potentially signal even further innovations in the way that Sony delivers content to customers.

On the Mobcast, Shoe criticized Sony's attempts at mimicking the iPhone's distribution model without having the guts to take it all the way. This is right on the money: not only should Sony take Apple's notion of an open platform and run with it, they should take it further than Apple itself has. The iPhone is an awesome device and the App Store allows independent developers to deliver metric tons of original content directly to users. However, the device itself is limited in what kinds of experiences it can offer. If Sony opens its platform to huge publishers and small independents alike, it would take full advantage of its digital-only distribution model and give gamers a whole bunch of reasons to get excited about the PSP Go.

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I know about the uproar generated by some over Fat Princess, the new downloadable capture-the-flag game for the PlayStation Network. I've even given this uproar a thought or two, too.

You see, I'm a fat guy. I've been a fat guy for years. And while I still have some of those strong muscles of my younger days, days when it took six guys to hold me down, my girth is by far more flab than flex. And considering that I generally regain some, if not all, of the weight that I do lose when I decide it's time to shed some pounds, I suspect that I'll be a fat guy in my future, too.

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There's no shortage of Grand-Theft-Auto-inspired games on consoles, but the market is significantly less crowded on the iPhone. That's why Gameloft is bringing their 3D open-world game Gangstar: West Coast Hustle to Apple's platform, which is suddenly the destination for handheld gaming. I had a chance to play Gangstar the other day and wanted share with you five reasons why you should care about Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.

Because a Bitmob preview is different from a preview you'd read anywhere else, I'm not going to rehash PR-talking points and pretend like the work-in-progress that I saw was flawless. In addition to the good stuff, I'm going to detail a few concerns I have about the game and even give you my gut feeling on whether or not I think it's going to be any good. Honest, unfiltered impressions in a preview? That's how we roll at Bitmob!

Watch this brief teaser trailer to see Gangstar in action and then check out the rest of the preview after the jump.

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Now that Facebook is coming to the DSi, we just need the service to come the 360. Then everyone will know our crapping and gaming schedules.

News Blips:

• Promote vanity via Facebook DSi system update. Normally, you show off how awesome your life is in pictures by using the computer. But that's so yesterday. Tonight you can do it via your DSi with the Facebook system update. Man, we just can't wait to see everyone's drunken DSi photos. [Kotaku]

• New Sims 3 expansion will be the first of 5,000. Just kidding, EA would never release 5,000 expansions for Sims 3. Ridiculous. More like 5,001. Now that's more realistic. Oh, and the expansion is entitled World Adventures and has you visiting different parts of the globe in case you're actually interested. [1UP]

• Fat Princess fixes getting stuffed down Interweb tubes soon. Last week's Fat Princess is having some online trouble but developer Titan are already working on fixing them. Then we can all go back to feeling self-conscious about cake-eating. [GameSpot]

• Batman: Arkham Asylum demo pows, bonks, and biffs consoles/PC this Friday. If you fancy men dressed as bats beating up insane criminals, then you best download the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo this friday. [Joystiq]

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Editor's note: Garret and his brothers bonded over video games, so who better to champion the cause of splitscreen multiplayer? He makes some good points, but I can't help think that as the average gamer grows older, splitscreen multiplayer becomes less and less important. At least the Wii is keeping multiplayer gaming alive in the living room. -Demian

 

I come from a relatively simple family: neither of my parents attended college, video games were silly toys, and a computer never entered the confines of our house until I was in high school. Yet, somehow I turned out to be a tech-savvy (soon-to-be) computer engineer who whittles away a large portion of his time in front of a monitor with a controller in hand. My brothers never took to gaming as much as I did, but growing up, whenever we got together (they're both much older than I am), we always enjoyed firing up a game console and playing some good old-fashioned splitscreen multiplayer. It sounds strange, but whether we were playing GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Red Faction 2, or something else, it was a way for us to bond and have some good fun. We maintain the ritual to this day.

Almost too many good times to remember on this well-known GoldenEye map.

Of course, not everything is the same. Soda has been replaced with beer, we play on a bigger TV with a fancier controller, and my brothers have even less time to follow current gaming news.

When I got together with one of my brothers a couple weeks ago and told him that I got the new Red Faction, he was pretty stoked (Red Faction was one of our all time favorites). Of course, I had to regrettably inform him that while it's a fantastic game, it doesn't have splitscreen multiplayer. He couldn't believe it. I realized it had been ages since I played splitscreen myself -- the last time was likely over Christmas when we played Left 4 Dead. Even then, only two of us could play at once, while the other sat out and watched. It dawned on me that while online multiplayer is a great convenience, there's nothing quite like the experience of sitting down with a couple of good friends and enjoying each other's company while playing with or against them.

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I just received a press release from Gameloft announcing that they're bringing NFL 2010 to the iPhone. This struck me as odd since EA's exclusive rights to the NFL license have been a pretty big topic of discussion in sports video game circles for several years now. I thought that perhaps there was some loophole that allowed Gameloft to license NFL teams and not actual players, but a closer look at a few of the screens clearly show player names (Willie Parker and Adrian Peterson) under the players.

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We love fun-time ditties to promote games. Like this bizarro Zelda commercial. Man, now we want to play Link to the Past...while cutting a rug.

Video Blips:

• Wet trailer pours its heart out via silly song. This silly trailer for the action game Wet is pretty funny. Especially because it shows no gameplay. 'Cause we love buying games about dead people singing. [Joystiq]

Continue after the break for Madden NFL 10 gangbang tackling, Fallout 3 DLC trailer, and pretty Muramasa: The Demon Blade gameplay.

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Etsy seems to have an infinite amount of gaming-related arts and crafts...perfect to ease your grandma into the hottest arcade hits of the '80s. And Portal. Check out these perler bead creations from MagnetGames (hit "read more" for a ton more pictures):

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As I write this, Bitmob managing editor Greg Ford is likely settling into his new digs in...well, somewhere east of San Francisco in order to further his education. He'll still be contributing to Bitmob, but it'll be a little different from now on, since us West Coasters won't be seeing him on a weekly basis anymore.

But this isn’t about what Greg's doing now. It's about what he's done the past few years -- and I wanted to take some time to highlight that, since a lot of it went under the radar over the years, unfortunately.

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Bitmob contributor Aaron Thomas and Jay Frechette from Area 5 join Shoe and Demian this week to talk about people that are all fired up about game delays. Then we let our softer side show and discuss the games that make us emotional. But wait, there's more! We’re giving away ten copies of Zack Parson’s “Your Next-Door Neighboor is a Dragon” so listen close to find out how you can become a big winner (of the book, that is).

Bitmob.com - Mobcast #14: On this week's Mobcast Dan Hsu, Demian Linn, Aaron Thomas, and Jay Frechette discuss the recent slew of game delays, games that make them emotional, guilty-pleasure games, their ability to beat old-school games, and question their need for night-vision goggles. Email the crew at letters@Bitmob.com.

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