Mobile emulation expert ZodTTD's newest project, a Nintendo 64 emulator for jailbroken iPhones, has been released -- and just in time for the holidays, too, allowing you to recreate that one video with those screaming, flailing children. With a miniscule $2.50 price tag and bluetooth support, which allows you to control the emulator with a Wii remote, it would be a pretty great deal. If, you know, it didn't run at a handful of frames per second.

Check out the video after the jump to see the emulator in action, and to decide whether the double-thick molasses-slow gameplay is still worth the price of admission.

[Via Gizmodo]

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With Pac-Man Championship Edition having just come out on the iPhone (and being, pretty much, Pac-Man Championship Edition), we're in a pro-Pac-Man frame of mind. So when we saw this European trademark for a game called Pac-Man: Battle Royale, we thought "Another Pac-Man game!" instead of "... another Pac-Man game?"

Adding further excitement was another trademark for "Drill Till You Drop," which sounds a lot like a Mr. Driller spinoff (and maintains the spelling error found in the title for the Dead Rising game on Wii). Now, all we know is that these trademarks are for games. They could very well be lame arcade redemption games, or Flash games, or any number of completely underwhelming things. But Battle Royale could also be -- though it probably won't, since this is too exciting -- something like a multiplayer take on Championship Edition.

[Image: The Arcade Flyer Archive]

No matter what electronic game-playing device you own, we wish you and all those important to you a joyous and loving next nine days... after that, all bets are off. What's everyone playing?

Happy post-solstice and pre-Q1,
Joystiq

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You may not have to wait too long after Christmas for Darwinia+ on Xbox Live Arcade, because Introversion Software says the game has passed Microsoft's certification process. It's been a long time coming and you can bet we're glad to finally see those little stick men at the end of the tunnel.

If you're wondering what all of the hubbub is about, then we suggest you check out this free demo of the PC version over at Big Download.

You're going to think I'm messing with you, that this is some sort of holiday gag, but I assure you that it is not: I can not remember ever being as addicted to a game as I was to A Christmas Santa. For a full calendar day it absolutely ruled my life, and then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

You think it's easy to type these words and admit that as you sit there all smug and judgmental? Well, it's not. But give me a chance to explain myself and I'm hopeful that you'll walk away -- if not convinced, perhaps just a bit more tolerant.

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Chalk up another frustrated party accusing SouthPeak of wrongdoing. The company has been sued by Section 8 developer TimeGate, which alleges that the publisher has withheld royalty payments and entered into a PS3 licensing deal on the game with Russian company IC, an arrangement that TimeGate claims SouthPeak had no right to make.

In legal documents obtained by Joystiq, TimeGate also alleges that this SouthPeak T-shirt promotion was unauthorized, that the publisher had mislead TimeGate about sales figures and that the publisher has stated it should not have to adhere to TimeGate's original agreement, as it had been made with Gamecock, which SouthPeak purchased in late 2008. We've reached out to SouthPeak for comment.

If you prefer your language far more formal, the lawsuit puts it like this: "[SouthPeak] failed to provide a sufficient sales report, withheld royalty payments and did not adhere to the obligation to act in good faith and fair dealing when they established the sham transaction in order to deprive TimeGate of royalties despite the special relationship between the parties and being in a position of trust."

No specific amount is mentioned in the suit, with TimeGate asking only for "compensatory damages in an amount to be determined" following an independent audit of Section 8's sales.

Buying games is always fun -- and we've made it easy with our Holiday Buyer's Guides -- but it's even better to receive them ... in one gigantic stack!

In that spirit, Microsoft has generously donated download codes for many of the Xbox Live Arcade games featured in our Marketplace Buyer's Guide, including 'Splosion Man, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Castle Crashers, N+, Geometry Wars 2 and many, many more. Plus, we're tossing in a one-year subscription code for Xbox Live Gold!

To enter for your chance to win:

• Leave a comment on this post telling us which downloadable games -- for any and all platforms -- you hope to buy with the cash and credit your receive over the holidays
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Limit 1 entry per person
  
• This entry period ends at 12:00PM ET on Thursday, December 24
• We'll randomly select one winner at that time to receive redemption codes for Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Carcassonne, Geometry Wars 2, Castle Crashers, N+, 'Splosion Man, Puzzle Quest, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Alien Hominid HD, Mega Man 9, Ikaruga, Galaga Legions, Pac-Man Championship Edition, UNO Rush, A Kingdom for Keflings, Rez HD, Assault Heroes 2, TMNT 1989 and Bomberman Live for Xbox Live Arcade [Total ARV: $190] and a redemption code for a 1-year Xbox Live Gold subscription [ARV: $50] -- please check your emails!
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

Happy holidays and best of luck!

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What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. For more info on our policy, click here.

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Toys R Us will feature a "buy one, get one half off" game sale on all console and some Nintendo DS software starting the day after Christmas (that's December 26) through January 2, 2010. The sale covers all Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, and PS2 titles, along with Nintendo DS games that are $20 or less.

Remember that TRU now accepts game trade-ins, although dealing with the customer service desk the day after Christmas will likely be a nightmare -- just imagine all those parents trying to return the white Zhu Zhu Pet because their kids wanted the brown one. Stores open at 8:00AM on December 26 for those who want first dibs on the discounted games.

Here, on the eve of the eve of Video Game Gift Giving and Receiving Day (known in some cultures as "Christmas" or "Festivus") comes a heartfelt plea by the fine men and women of the Christian Civic League of Maine, who join us under a common banner of misusing semicolons to bring us this message; "All decent people should denounce the video game 'Modern Warfare 2;' and join in opposing the sale and use of such games."

Yes, Modern Warfare 2's controversial "No Russian" mission -- erroneously titled the "Massacre Level" here -- has once again brought the full weight of the nation's outrage (represented here by the Christian Civic League of Maine). The group reminds us of the "well-established cause and effect relationship between video games and school shootings" and cautions that "the ready availability of drugs, violent video games, and outrageous rock music is a witch's brew which will eventually lead to tragedy here in Maine." Speaking of witches, GamePolitics points out that the group has outed the owner of a local book store as a witch (and a Democrat!) and claims she "cast a spell" on the Administrator of the League.

Merry Christmas!

[Via GamePolitics]

Project Natal aims to revolutionize video games by doing one simple thing: removing the controller from the video game equation. The Emotiv Epoc aims to revolutionize video games even harder by removing the entire human body from the video game equation ... well, except the brain. The would-be mind-control device made an inauspicious debut at the 2008 Game Developers Conference where it failed to sway a skeptical live audience (including us!) -- the company later pinned the blame directly on interference from the sound crew's fancy wireless headsets.

Now, a year-and-a-half later, Emotiv is finally shipping the $299 device this week, which means, if you pre-ordered the device (alas, that first shipment is all sold out) it should be in your hands (and on your head) this week. We're not sure what to make of the lack of press outreach, but we'll be at CES in January and hope to give the Epoc another trial. In the interim, if you want to drop $299 on the thing, "orders placed will be shipped within 2 weeks." If you've got one already and want to share some pictures and feedback, you know where to find us.

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While we have analysts like Michael Pachter to tell us the future of gaming, Famitsu has Yusho Fukuda, a real astrologer (well, as real as an astrologer can claim to be). Why bother looking at market trends and such mumbo-jumbo when the stars have all the information about the game industry's upcoming plans?

What totally specific insights did the cosmos reveal to Fukuda for Famitsu's end-of-year issue? "A game will come out in the first half of the year that will touch off a major boom," Fukuda writes, as translated by 1UP . "And another game will follow upon that in the second half." Also, there will be delays, disputes between publishers, and "we may see a price drop in hardware or software in November."

Fukuda offered predictions for each of the hardware companies as well. Nintendo will advertise a game all summer and release it in the fall; Sony "will release a hit game in 2010 that is based off an older title and will attract attention for games based on history and that feature a large cast of characters;" and Microsoft will sell a game this year involving "adventuring around the world, or examining a map and doing something based off that." Since astrology is a hard science, all of this is 100% guaranteed to happen exactly as Fukuda predicted.

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There are no words. This trailer for Mass Effect 2 -- which just happens to be the expanded edition of the trailer teased during IGN's pre-VGA show -- is just completely radical. This particular video is more story-driven than the previous pieces of marketing for the game, giving a bit of backstory into the team Shepard has assembled, then showing that team going to war against a gigantic, sinister spacecraft.

We like to think of ourselves as fans of the holiday season, but we'd be more than happy to skip the next couple of weeks, just so we could be that much closer to Mass Effect 2's January 26 release date.