Used video game stores are a lot like used record stores. They function like some sort of communal, hipster  gathering place where dudes can hang out and make fun of whoever walks in—the same kind of placeholder segue setting you see in every Kevin Smith movie that takes place in New Jersey. They differ from used record stores, however, in that they’re not… shoot-yourself depressing.

There’s a low-key, hopeful hustle & bustle, like how an old-folks home might look like if everybody visited their grandmas a couple of times a week and took them back home to play polish horseshoes.

Used record stores now only exist to be a place in a ‘watch-how-they-fall-in-love’ montage in a romantic comedy. They’re quaint, dusty, cute, and useless to all but a few aging baby-boomers who like to get reminded of how they used to be able to do the no-pants diggity and not wake up with AIDS covering their balls. The fact is there are way more old gaming consoles out their than there are old record players, which means even used games as far back as Vanilla Ice still get picked off the shelves, sometimes.
So who, pray, might a person find at one of these charming establishments? A variation of five different kinds of people, mostly.

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The PlayStation holds a warm, fuzzy place in the hearts of many people, nerds and normal human beings alike. It was the source of many classic games and the beginning of a revolution. On the other hand, it’s also outdated and hauling it out of the closet just to play a game is annoying. Wouldn’t it be nicer to play on some sort of advanced technology like, say, your phone?

That’s what PSX4Droid is all about…but it’s created a sticky situation.

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Yesterday’s Super Bowl allowed advertisers to reach a record number of viewers (111 million). So perhaps it should be no surprise that Sony eschewed the convention of an event-based launch for its long-rumored, highly anticipated PlayStation phone in favor of a Super Bowl ad spot. While Sony didn’t get into the meat of the gaming phone, it did indicate that it’s on the way and that it will be called the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.

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The Sony PlayStation Phone was starting to remind me of the Garmin Nuviphone–awesome when you first hear about it, but so slow to materialize that you really don’t really care that much anymore.

Well, my interest is stoked again. The PSPhone has made a few appearances recently, the biggest of which was on Chinese site  IT168. The site had a rather in-depth breakdown of the phone that provides a look at what it’s all about.

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It’s been a while since we were really excited about a cell phone–they’re all starting to look pretty similar–but the Sony PlayStation phone definitely breaks the mold and sparks some new buzz around the mobile. If Sony’s commercials with the wise-crackin’ little kid are any indication, the company realizes that it has one big advantage over the iPhone and other handsets: mobile gaming. So it’s not surprising to see it attempting to leverage that advantage in the cell phone market.

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Motion control gaming is the future! Or so we’re being told by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. The truth is, motion control, for as fancy and Minority Report-y as it is, is still in its infancy. There are a lot of bugs to work out and kinks that need to be smoothed. While the Nintendo Wii has been tearing up the console sales charts, the implementation of the hardware hasn’t been as revolutionary as its once mysterious codename alluded so many years ago. And while Microsoft’s off-puttingly named Kinect and Sony’s Wii-ish Move are hoping to offer us everything we’ve been hoping motion control would be, so far nothing has blown any minds.

This is probably due to the limitations that are inherent within motion control gaming, which is a bit strange seeing as motion control was supposed to free us of all the limitations of those dastardly controllers with their antiquated stiff, plastic buttons that our grandparents once used to dial phones and turn on blenders. If the big three console makers want to convince us that motion control gaming is the glorious future they are telling us we’re already living in, then they’re going to have to address some of its biggest drawbacks, most of which involve asking gamers to accept certain things that gamers – specifically, hardcore gamers –have historically been known to shy away from.

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Apparently puzzles have changed a bit since the 50 states puzzles I used to put together as kid. The Jenga-looking mf-er below is a 125-piece 3D puzzle. It looks innocuous enough, right? Put together the Tetris-style blocks and you’ve got a big, rectangular building.

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After the raging success of its Buzz social networking service (sarcasm), Google is looking to expand its play in the social arena. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Internet giant is shopping around for partners to develop social games, which will play a part in an expanded social network. The report indicates that it has been in talks with such gaming developers as Electronic Arts and Playdom, Inc.

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Ahhh, now that all the iPhone 4 chaos has finally been put to rest (hopefully), we can get on to more interesting matters. And to celebrate, we’re skipping the mundane software, cell phone and general tech news, and featuring something entirely impractical, outlandish and downright ridiculous. Yes, what could be more the antithesis of the hum-drum routine than a chainsaw rocket launcher? I think nothing.

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