Following our review of Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on the latest edition of Gamesweasel TV we’ve been asked when the UK release date is. Nintendo are actually selling the long awaited follow up to Professor Layton and the Curious Village under the title of Professor Layton and Pandoras Box in the UK and Europe. The game features new a storyline, new mysteries to solve and over 150 new puzzles – DS owners connected to the internet will be able to download an additional 33 puzzles after the games release. Already out in the US Nintendo have confirmed that the Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box UK release date is the 25th September 2009.

Fans of the series will be pleased to hear that there are 2 further games in the series of DS puzzle games – Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel which is already out in Japan but awaiting development to English. Professor Layton and the Specters Flute is actually set 3 years prior to the Curious Village and deals with how the Professor and Luke met, this title is due for release late November 2009 in Japan with no word on a US or UK release yet.

Buy Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box now
New: Buy Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy coupon codes for September 2009 to save money on hosting and web domains, using the September 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: review of Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Tags: Professor Layton, Diabolical Box, Professor Layton and Pandoras Box, Nintendo, DS, Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel, Professor Layton and the Specters Flute

Episode 114
This week on Gamesweasel we review Madden NFL 10 and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, take a look at the news about Mass Effect DLC and the Xbox 360 slim, plus you get the chance to win 5 copies of Tomb Raider Underworld for the Xbox 360. Looking on our blogs this week we have posts on how to get free microsoft points, another Harry Potter game for the Wii, using the Guitar Hero guitar for Rock Band for the Wii and a review of Tales of Monkey Island Episode 2.

• Mass Effect Pinnacle Station
• Xbox 360 slim
• Madden NFL 10 review
• Win Tomb Raider Underworld for the Xbox 360
• Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box review

Buy
To play any of the games reviewed in this episode you can buy from the Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box Amazon and Madden NFL 10 Amazon pages.

Offers
This weeks episode of Gamesweasel is brought to you in association with GoDaddy and offers you discounts on hosting and domain names. Use one of the following September 2009 GoDaddy discount codes to save you money – WEASEL7 gets you 10% off domain name purchases, WEASEL8 gets you 20% off orders over $57 or £35 and WEASEL9 gets you 30% off .COM domains. Some restrictions may apply, please see the GoDaddy web site for more details.

Gamesweasel is also brought to you with Squarespace.com, using the September 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Win
We have 5 copies of Tomb Raider Underworld for the Xbox 360 to give away by 14 September 2009, full details of how to enter can be found on our competitions page.

Contact us
Email: gamesweasel@mevio.com
Twitter: twitter.com/gamesweasel
Facebook: facebook.com/gamesweasel

Watch the show
Gamesweasel TV: [WATCH NOW] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES] | [DOWNLOAD MP4] | [VIDEO PODCAST RSS FEED]
Gamesweasel Radio: [LISTEN NOW] | [SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES] | [DOWNLOAD MP3] | [AUDIO PODCAST RSS FEED]
Gamesweasel PSP: [DOWNLOAD MP4] | [PSP CHANNEL FEED]
Gamesweasel Blog: [BLOG RSS FEED]

Screenshots

YouTube Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box review

I’ve been waiting almost a year to go on another puzzling adventure with Professor Layton and his trusty sidekick Luke and I couldn’t wait until it came out here in the UK so I’ve imported the US version. Once again I’m having a thoroughly good time and that’s thanks to the same great gameplay as the first game Professor Layton and the Curious Village. This time, one of the Professor’s friends has apparently been killed after opening a mysterious wooden box, and they set off to find out what happened. During the course of the game they uncover many more mysteries and of course over 150 puzzles to solve.

These range from sliding puzzles, to riddles, to interactive puzzles where you must move and manipulate items. There are also observation puzzles where you need a keen eye – tricky on such a small screen. To add a bit more variety there’s also a pet hamster to look after. Treat him well and exercise him via a mini game and you get a nice surprise.

Once again the visuals and whole presentation are cartoony yet interesting and there’s more dialogue this time. It can jar a bit when suddenly the dialogue is replaced by just text but there isn’t all that much room in a DS card so developers Level 5 are forgiven.

If you loved the first game as much as I did you’d be a fool not to get on this right away. It’s more of the same and as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I can’t put it down, so Professor Layton’s latest adventure gets an almost perfect 9 out of 10.

Get Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box now
New: Buy Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our Gamesweasel September 2009 Godaddy coupon to save money on web domains and hosting, using the September 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Mystery Case Files Millionheir review, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box review

Tags: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Professor Layton and Pandoras Box, puzzles, Nintendo, DS, Professor Layton, Diabolical Box, Pandoras Box, puzzle game

YouTube Madden NFL 10 review

Another year sees another roll-out of all EA’s sports franchises such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Madden NFL 10 is no different. Here we see a couple of new gameplay innovations along with the ones which worked from previous years.

First of all, let me say that the game’s presentation is fantastic. It really feels like you’re watching a football game on a Sunday and the player models and graphics make for a really great game atmosphere. It’s a shame the commentary doesn’t shape up so well but to be honest you can choose to ignore that, much like a member of your family trying to turf you off the console because they want to watch a rerun of friends.

I also like the fact there’s no calendar system in Franchise mode. Some of you will miss the opportunity to train your players between games but all I want to do is play the game so for me, this works.

When on the gridiron play’s also been slowed down a bit so it’s now a bit simpler to see a defender charging towards you and make a pass or dive out of the way in time. There’s also the new Pro-Tak system at play which basically means multiple players can now go in to take down a player and you get even more realistic action on the field.

SuperStar mode is also back so you can create a player and play through a whole career with your big muscle man.

If you’re new to Madden games you’re also going to have to look for the holographic training section in the game. Last year you had to play through it at the start, now it’s hidden in the menus. It is there though so if you’re not sure of the rules or how to play, check it out and get with the programme dude.

Online play has also been refined. There’s an online franchise mode and online co-op and everything’s been sped up to make sure your opponents don’t spend ages browsing through their plays before finally snapping the ball.

Once again, as I always say with EA’s sports games, the game’s good but I’d only buy this over last year’s Madden NFL 09 game if you really, really like American Football games.

Madden NFL 10 gets a very good 7 out of 10.

Get Madden NFL 10 now
New: Buy Madden NFL 10 from Amazon.com
Rental: Rent Madden NFL 10 – free rental trial from Gamefly.com
Offers: Use our September 2009 Godaddy coupons to save money on hosting and web domains, use the Squarespace coupon code ‘WEASEL’ to get 12% off for the lifetime of your account.

Related: Madden NFL 09, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Youtube Madden NFL 10 review

Tags: Madden NFL 10, EA, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, Madden, NFL, Youtube Madden NFL 10 review

The Bioshock movie could be directed by the same geezer that directed 28 Weeks Later. Juan Carlos Frednadillo will probably be in charge. Let’s hope it’s better than other movies based on videogames. When I tried to watch Alone in the Dark I almost fell into a coma.

Buy Bioshock now
New: Buy Bioshock from Amazon.com
Offers: Visit the Gamesweasel offers page for September 2009 Godaddy discount codes, using the September 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Bioshock review, Alone in the Dark

Tags: Bioshock movie, Bioshock, Juan Carlos Frednadillo

Even though the Xbox 360 has gone through many redesigns to avoid the ‘Xbox 360 red ring of death’, Microsoft aren’t denying a 54.2% lifetime failure rate. They claim they’re still working on improvements to make the hardware less prone to failure and needing the Xbox towel trick. There are rumours flying about that, just like the PS3, we may see a newer, slimmer model appearing soon.

Buy an Xbox 360 now
New: Buy an Xbox 360 from Amazon.com
Offers: Use our Godaddy coupon codes for September 2009 to save money on hosting and web domains, using the September 2009 Squarespace discount code ‘WEASEL’ at checkout will get you 12% off the lifetime of your account.

Related: Xbox 360 red ring of death, Xbox towel trick

Tags: Xbox 360 slim, xbox360 slim, xbox slim, 360 slim, red ring of death