Part of the appeal of video games is the visual eye-candy that splashes across the television screen. But even the addictive imagery is only half of the equation. The remaining half is the magic bestowed upon our eyes when this imagery comes to life. Animation that’s controlled by a gamer is all it takes to escape into a different time and place – a time and place brought to you by virtual reality.

As you can imagine, virtual reality is a hypothetical three-dimensional visual world created by a computer. Players can enter and move about in this world and interact with objects as if inside it. Some of the games that are already on the market give a pretty good idea of what virtual reality is and can do. Video games like Zelda, Halo, or Harry Potter allow players to enter into an environment and interact with objects, but they don’t allow the player to create an environment and that’s what virtual worlds are all about.

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Krzysztof Murzyn of NoWay Studio shares his thoughts on the upcoming first-person shooter for the Nintendo DS.

First-person shooters on the Nintendo DS are few and far between, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t developers taking the plunge to bring this genre to the dual-screen handheld. NoWay Studio, a division of QubicGames that focuses on DS games, is set to launch its debut game on April 17. We had the opportunity to ask Krzysztof Murzyn of NoWay Studio to share some of his thoughts regarding the development of the DS exclusive.

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This week the Virtual Console is dropping the mouth watering Super Punch-Out!! That’s right, starting this week you can battle it out with Bald Bull or Super Macho Man. The smash hit sequel is timed perfectly with the new Punch-Out!! hitting store shelves in just over a month. Super Punch-Out!! is available today and can be yours for 800 points.

WiiWare is unleashing a completely different type of game in Bonsai Barber. The title was developed by the Zoonami team and utilizes the Wii system clock to give you five customers per day. These aren’t your ordinary customers, they are wacky plants!! Using the WiiMote as a pointer you will cut these plants’ hair in the style they desire. Or, you could do it how you wish and hope they like it. The Zoonami team is headed by Martin Hollis who brought us GoldenEye 64 so, this title may pass on shear name factor alone. You can play Bonsai Barber with up to 4 players locally. The game is available today and will cost you 1000 points.

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First-person shooters singled out for potential therapeutic benefits.

Video games have racked up their fair share of negative controversy over the years, with some saying that they desensitize people to violence to others claiming they warrant their own health warning labels to others labeling them a public health threat.

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We check out this Miami-based crime adventure game for the Nintendo DS. All that’s missing is the David Caruso license.

If you think the world needs more crime games on the DS that feature oddly named anime characters and are set in Miami, then for the love of all that is holy, finish that time machine you’ve been working on and dial it in for late June of this year. That’s when Hudson’s upcoming adventure game, Miami Law, is set for release on the Nintendo DS. We had a chance to check it out today and came away impressed with its charmingly cheesy atmosphere and loads of quick and clever minigames.

Now, you might think that a game named “Miami Law” would be all about law enforcement in the sunny South Florida city. But you’d be only half right. While the game does take place in Miami and follows the exploits of the local police as they battle the drug trade, its main character–a feather-haired, loose-cannon cop on the edge–is named Law Martin. No, not Martin Law. Law Martin.

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Ready for some wacky minigames, this time with a camera? Then check out our preview of the latest WarioWare offering.

The title of this preview is actually a little misleading. Although we did play WarioWare: Snapped today–the newest collection of strange minigames from Nintendo–we never actually got our hands on anything. That’s because Snapped, which will be available on DSiWare for the about-to-be-released DSi, is played entirely using the new handheld’s camera, making it a mostly hands-free experience.

You’ll have to drop your inhibitions–again–when playing this WarioWare game.

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We take a look at the brand-new trailer for the latest DS Zelda game.

A new entry in the Zelda franchise has been rumored for some time, so it was only a mild surprise today when Nintendo unveiled that it is, in fact, working on Link’s next adventure. What did create a stir, though, is that this is not a new Wii game. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks follows on the heels of the hugely popular DS game Phantom Hourglass, and though details are sparse at this time, Nintendo has released a trailer that shows off a few of the new features. There is one concrete bit of information that is sure to delight eager fans, though: Spirit Tracks is set to come out later this year.

The cel-shaded art style from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass returns in Spirit Tracks. Although Nintendo has not confirmed where this falls in the Zelda timeline, it appears as though this is a sequel to Phantom Hourglass. If true, this would be the first time a Zelda storyline has continued for three straight games. We’ll have to wait for Nintendo to fill us in on the plot details, but at the very least, this is an aesthetical sequel that seems to be every bit as charming as the games that preceded it.

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Duke is back. For real! This time on the PSP and DS with Critical Mass.

Believe it or not, there will be at least two Duke Nukem games coming out this year, not counting the perennially delayed Duke Nukem Forever. Apogee Software–which is now a completely separate entity from 3D Realms–has PSP and Nintendo DS adventures lined up for the tough-as-granite game icon, and we managed to get some hands-on time with both today.

Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass is the first of three planned games for the DS and PSP, and though they may share the same name and some story details, the two are completely different beasts. Although we know only a little of the story so far, we do know that Duke somehow finds himself responsible for the destruction of the entire world (with a little help from aliens, of course). The misogynistic tough guy now has to set things right, travelling back and forth in time throughout the course of his three new game adventures in an effort to foil the evil aliens’ plans.

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It’s time you grab your DS and hit up every Wi-Fi hot spot in town because Aspyr’s upcoming game is full of wonderful goodies.

SAN FRANCISCO–There’s a reason now for you to take your gaming on the go, given that Aspyr’s Treasure World’s main focus is for you to unlock several thousand items by exploring real-life locations. A game that revolves around collecting, customizing, and creating, Treasure World was designed to target a younger audience, but people who have any kind of obsession with collecting and creating will find that there’s always room on their Nintendo DS for treasure. We had the opportunity to meet with Aspyr to see how this gem is shaping up, and though it’s still incomplete, we see the potential in this unique and magical game.

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The action RPG franchise heads to the DS, but with a puzzling twist…

When you think of covert ops, you probably think of Jack Bauer, Sam Fisher, or Rya Hayabusa. Codemasters, it seems, takes a rather different view, at least judging by the Overlord covert ops team pulled together for Overlord Minions.

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