Plug & Play - April 2008 - Super Street Magazine

Burnout Paradise
For: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
From: Electronic Arts, www.ea.com
Rating: p p p p 1/2
Screeeee... BOOM! That's the sound of you schooling fools on the streets of high-definition, open-world wheelman's utopia Paradise city, tagteaming with or shaming up to seven friends in hundreds of stunt- and crash-prone challenges. Seamless broadband integration ensures killer rubber-burning mayhem, with USB camera support providing authentic looks at losers' sagging faces. -Scott Steinberg

Super Blu Bh200
From: LG Electronics, www.lge.com
Price: $999
Rating: p p p p
Sprang for the HDTV but can't settle on a high-def video format? Don't pick sides. Instead, enjoy the highest-possible picture quality and greatest film selection with this combo Blu-ray disc/HD DVD player. Additional pluses include networked connectivity plus upscaling of standard DVDs to eye-popping 1080p resolution... Gigli, here we come. -SS

NFL Tour For:
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
From: Electronic Arts, www.ea.com
Rating: p p p p
Goodbye, NFL Street; hello, hyperactive, seven-on-seven gridiron successor, which trades way-over-the-top pigskin brawls for slightly less ostentatious showdowns delivered in a pro roadshow-style format. Notable additions include tackle breaking mini-games, more user-friendly controls and big play-unleashing special meters that, unlike previous Gamebreaker features, don't prove damn near as unstoppable. -SS

DJM-700 Pro Dj Mixer
From: Pioneer Electronics,
www.pioneerprodj.com
Price: $1,299
Rating: p p p p p
If you thought Pioneer made cool DJ gear, guess what? You're right. For years they've been pumping out pro mixers, cD and DVD turntables and even headphones; now, they've reinvented the mixer with the DJM-700, which boasts features like the world's first Effect Frequency Filter, a more intuitive manual filter, multiple effects and assignable MIDI functions-the effects only DJs can appreciate.
-Jonathan Wong

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
For: Wii
From: Nintendo, www.nintendo.com
Rating: p p p p p
We choose you, Pikachu, to beat down pansy-ass friends in madcap multiplayer showdowns alongside Mario, Sonic, Solid Snake and several dozen odd additional signature mascots, that is. Funny name, simple game: Grab randomly-appearing hammers or swords and button-mash your way to victory in ultra-addictive solo adventures or frantic four-man online scraps. -SS

Cinemawall
XP-103DHD
From: Runco, www.runco.com PRIcE: $99,995
Rating: p p p p p
Sorry, no misprint-you really will need to be ballin' out of control to afford this beauty of a 103-inch plasma HD display. But hey, a hunny Gs is a small price to pay for the looks on viewers' faces when they see a life-sized Jenna Jameson gettin' freaky in 16:9, right? -SS

Little Big Planet
For: PlayStation 3
From: Sony, www.playstation.com
Rating: p p p p
Got what it takes to outwit today's video game designers? Prove it with this bizarre toolkit, which lets you craft your own online-shareable 3-D adventures by plopping down random objects and creating quirky rag-doll characters on-demand. Weird, yes, but even more entertaining still when you factor in those funky physics. -SS

Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty
For: Pc, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
From: codemasters, www.codemasters.com
Rating: p p p
Save America the beautiful (but not the president, who must be wacked) from semi-intelligent Nazis who've invaded circa World War II following churchill's death. Ultra-bland story and clichd level design work aside, the hands-on, first-person, gat-'em-up action-interspersed with hand-to-hand combat, ledge-crawling sequences, rooftop chases and bomb-making mini-games-isn't half bad. -SS

Kartrider
For: Pc
From: Nexon, www.nexon.net
Rating: p p p p
Nevermind the juvenile visuals; this spastic, Internet-only arcade racer (think Mario Kart, only supporting text chat and eight-player head-to-head matchups from anywhere around the globe) scores for accessibility and price. completely free to play, the bomb/ banana peel-tossing favorite's so dope, it's already got 160 million trigger-happy drivers riding dirty worldwide. -SS

Eye-FI
From: Eye-FI, Inc., www.eye.fi
Price: $99.99 RATING: p p p
Can't ever get around to uploading all those pictures you take? Let this wireless-enabled 2GB SD memory card automatically transfer 'em straight from digital camera to Pc, Shutterfly/ Flickr-powered online albums, Facebook or your blog. Following a five-minute setup, all you need's access to a WIFI hotspot-and possibly, a hot model. -SS