What I learned a couple of days ago was that a year before Ralf Jones (a.k.a Paul) was kicking ass in SNK’s Ikari Warriors, he was the main character of an earlier SNK arcade title, T.N.K III. Players are tasked with destroying a weapon on an island, and to do so, will need to eliminate enemy troops and tanks with extreme prejudice, and they get to do that in a tank.

Each hit from enemy units will cause the tank’s energy bar to drain and thankfully there are power-ups to replenish the energy bar. Other power-ups provide bonuses to weapons and there’s one that takes away every other power-up, making not taking it a no-brainer. There are 12 different levels to go through in the game and you’ll definitely need them power-ups.

The  game features an interesting control scheme whereby a switch will cause the tank turret to rotate in notches, allowing the tank to move independently and aim at a separate direction at the same time. While I do not have a problem with the turret control (I find it rather cute actually, archaic as it sounds in the previous sentence), the tank’s movement controls translates rather poorly in the PS Mini port of the game.

My advice would be to ditch the analog stick in favour of the direction pad, but then again do not expect it to work as well as an arcade joystick. To me, the control scheme made the game a little of a pain in the ass but what’s not to love when faced with classic arcade gameplay. Like every other SNK ports to the PS3, players are given a little more extra when it comes to saves, cheats and even configuration and networked multiplayer capabilities.

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates T.N.K III at a 4 out of 5. The game is available on the PSN Store at a price of USD 2.99. A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

Not everyday you get to see Soul Calibur related merchandize. You really need to be a fanboy of the upcoming Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny PSP game in order to be wearing this officially licensed Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny t-shirt.

Not only does it look fugly, and it doesn’t have Kratos’ (yup, the dude from God of War is in the game as well) ugly mug to begin with. If his face was on the t-shirt I would actually be compelled to buy the t-shirt as a keepsake.

Anyways, if you are interested, the t-shirt is priced pretty cheap, at USD 9.90, and is available at Play-Asia (click here for details).

Malaysian Sony PSP owners, I bet some of you have faced this when you purchased your console. It’s common practice for retailers (not Sony Centre-types) to sell the PSP in a “package” consisting of the console, charger, battery, an 8 GB Memory Stick, screen protector, pouch, earphones with remote and USB cable.

This brings about a premium of around RM 150 to the price of a standard PSP package (console, charger, battery), but bear in mind that despite some of them bearing the Sony or other trademarked logos, all those extra goodies are third party knock-offs, including the Memory Stick!

Just to give you an idea on how much profit retailers would stand to make selling the “package” to you, the wholesale price for each of the third party items (excluding the Memory Stick) range from RM 1 to  RM 2. The knock-off Sony Memory Stick probably costs lesser than RM 70, so it’s pretty much a more than 100% profit selling ‘em accessories to you!

There’s no point asking why retailers do this, as the high-profit margin is the primary incentive, and the fact that knock-offs are cheaper and easier to pass-on to users. So, the next time  when you are about to purchase a PSP “package”, be sure to bargain for what its worth.

I don’t normally cover PSP titles, but since I’m thinking of getting one of those new PSP-3000, it’s a pretty good idea to check out what bargain PSP titles are available at my favourite online retailer, Play-Asia:

• Pump It Up EXCEED Portable (USD 9.90) ~ Click here for details
• Field Commander (USD 14.90) ~ Click here for details
• Wipeout Pure (USD 14.90) ~ Click here for details
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (USD 19.90) ~ Click here for details
• Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded (USD 24.90) ~ Click here for details
• Monster Hunter Freedom (USD 24.90) ~ Click here for details

The PSP is home to some pretty interesting stuff. First up, is the fighting game, Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper (Megamori Box Edition). Aside from the fighting game itself, you’ll find quite a number of goodies in this Megamori Box, namely Tarot Cards, Tarot Binder, Drama CD and a special DVD. This usually sells for USD 89.90 but is now available at USD 49.90. Click here for details.

Next up, it’s a shooter that is so irrelevant that it is in a league of its own. Having vowed retro consoles with its “man beams”, Rei Choaniki is now making its debut on the PSP. What more to celebrate this then to have a First Print Edition for sale, and do note that it comes with a soundtrack CD! Something that you don’t see everyday for a PSP game. Click here for details.

Need a reliable memory solution for your Sony PSP and more importantly, an original one when the fakes don’t cut it? You’ll need the Memory Stick Pro Duo 8GB from Sony. Play-Asia is selling it at a discounted price of USD 69.90 (RM 260), so get it now while stocks last. Click here for purchase information.

In Malaysia, it’s pretty easy to participate in bulk purchases for anything like computer graphic cards, Blu-Ray movies, to even clothing and bags. There are many reasons to do so, namely the product is unavailable in the country or it’s cheaper to buying in a group to qualify for a bulk discount or BOTH.

Often than not, the seller, or organizer of the bulk purchase has contacts to source/provide the items by which the price is lower than that of retail.

In any case, here’s a case where two friends who participated in purchasing in bulk Sony PSPs for half the retail price with plans to sell ‘em at normal price, only to have the seller abscond with their money. Read on (article originally from The Star):

Two pals cheated in ‘clearance sale’ scam

By M. SHAMINEE

KUALA LUMPUR: Two friends who thought they could profit through an online business by buying cheap PlayStations and selling them at retail price were instead cheated.

Chay Jing Fei and Loh Chee Yuen both 24, spotted a newspaper advertisement by a Mr Liew who was selling the play stations for only RM350 per unit. The market price for such machines range between RM600 and RM700.

“When I called Liew, he said it was a stock clearance sale which was why the units were cheap,” said Chay during a press conference at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.

Chay said the man claimed that there were other benefits, including free delivery and 8GB memory cards priced at RM50. He ordered 40 units of the machine and five 8GB memory cards, including 10 units for Loh.

“Liew also said that for every 10 units we would get one unit free,” added Chay, who on Feb 20 banked in RM14,750 into Liew’s account. Liew, who promised to deliver the items by 5pm, did not turn up.

After efforts to contact Liew failed, the two lodged a report at the Ampang police station. Chay added that Liew had called him on March 2 asking him to settle the balance of RM7,000 failing which he would take legal action.

“When I told Liew that I had already made a police report, he said I won’t be able to harm him ” Chay said. Department head Datuk Michael Chong said online shopping had resulted in many fraud cases, and urged victims to provide him with their police reports or fax them to 03-2161 9772.

So do beware and be warned about bulk purchases on the Internet. Don’t rush in blindly just because the price offered is too good to be true (that’s a red light actually)

The sequel to hit PSP game Patapon, Patapon 2: Don-Chaka, is now available at a bargain bin price of USD 24.90. Yup, check it out over here.

If you ask me if I know of anyone who watches UMD movies on their PSP, I would actually struggle to come up with a name, knowing that every PSP owner I know would watch them movies from the Memory Stick. Anyways, here’s a post for all you UMD movie buffs, I’m sure there are some of you out there, somewhere.

Play-Asia is selling a whole bunch of 20th Century Fox UMD movies for USD 9.90 each. Quite a bargain eh? The 27 titles available range from classics such as Alien, Alien 2, Die Hard, Independence Day and Predator, to more recent stuff like X-Men 2, Kingdom of Heaven, I Robot, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and many more.

To check out the rest of the list, click here to view Play-Asia’s UMD offerings. If I’m not mistaken, there are several Warner Bros. titles going for USD 9.90 a pop too. Looks like UMD has not gone the way of HD-DVD..yet.

Looking for the new Sony Playstation Portable Slim & Lite PSP-3000? You know, the one that comes with an improved display over the previous PSP-2000 and comes with a built-in mic as well.

You can actually pre-order one from Play-Asia and it should be released any time now. The following consoles are available:

• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Pearl White (PSP-3000PW) (Click here for details)
• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Piano Black (PSP-3000PB) (Click here for details)
• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Mystic Silver (PSP-3000MS) (Click here for details)
• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Pearl White Value Pack (PSP-3000KPW) (Click here for details)
• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Piano Black Value Pack (PSP-3000KPB) (Click here for details)
• PSP PlayStation Portable Slim & Lite – Mystic Silver Value Pack (PSP-3000KMS) (Click here for details)

The Value Pack provide more bang for your buck as they include a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, Pouch, Strap and Cleaning Cloth. Each console comes with a 100-240v AC Adapter which should be able to be used anywhere.