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Now we've played Sonic the Hedgehog 3 plenty of times. Fun game! You run around loops, collect rings, run around some more loops, and, well, that's pretty much it. But seriously: fun! Apparently we didn't know the half of it, though. Actually, more like 3/4 of it.

You see, this YouTube video explains all the intricacies of the classic struggle between Hedgehog and Egg Man. All told from the point of view of someone who obviously knows way more about this stuff than any of us do: an insane Sonic the Hedgehog fan. Enjoy! [via Level One Boss]:

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Editor's Note: Shudder. Just the thought of movies based on games makes me cringe, but Jon does a good job of convincing me of a game that just might be able to pull it off. See if you agree...or perhaps have a better suggestion. -Greg

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Recently I saw a Digg post about something I'd been considering lately. Every time a game sells successfully, you hear rumors of a movie being based off of it. Obviously, this is usually greeted with Uwe Boll jokes and -- more often than not -- moans and groans from gamers.

The problems with games being ported to movies are obvious: You watch movies; you play games. Your interaction with the main characters is completely different in games. You are the main character. You make his choices, you adjust his stats, you cause him to live or die. In movies, you're just along for the ride.

Games also sell well because they are fun to play. Games can have completely lame (or even nonexistent) stories and still be popular and fun.

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This question has been weighing heavily on my mind in recent weeks -- at my age (34), why are videogames still an attraction? I'm getting closer to middle age (the gray hairs on my head argue that I'm already middle-aged). I own a home and have a mortgage, and everywhere I look in the house, I notice things that I want to tinker with. My wife and I are preparing to start a family. I rarely have time for my other hobbies, like golf, music, and model building (the latter two are hobbies that I haven't pursued in years and dearly miss).

Why do I still play games?

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If we had done a 21 Random Qs interview with the EGM staff back in the day, our answers would've pretty much looked the same as Ted Price's. The CEO and Founder of Insomniac Games (developers of Resistance and Ratchet & Clank) likes the same movies we do, watches the same TV show we'd watch during deadline dinners, and most importantly, thinks the same game deserves the "best of all time" title as we did.

We might as well call this piece "The Price is Right." (It's cool...you can all groan now. We hear ya.)

Currently, Price is working on the upcoming Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time for the PS3 in the executive producer role ("Which means that I pretend to be useful while a lot of very talented folks here bust their asses to make our best game yet," he says). That means he had plenty of free time to fulfill our very last-minute request for this interview.

So let's get to know...Ted Price.

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1. What is your favorite movie of all time?

Ted Price: Star Wars. I remember the day I saw it in the theatre more vividly than any other day in my life. Is that weird? Maybe it's because I was a very impressionable nine-year old. Time Bandits and The Terminator came close though.

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We never expected Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima to have much of a say in the upcoming Castlevania game, so we're not too surprised to hear his involvement is mostly to give the series a new face. Literally.

News Blips:

• Kojima tells new Castlevania developers to whip it good. Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima reveals his involvement with the upcoming console version of Konami's classic Castlevania series is less hands-on than most probably realize. His biggest contribution so far? Asking developer Mercury Steam to change the main character's mug to look more "heroic." Oh, and he also suggested that the story make absolutely no goddamn sense via painfully long cut scenes. Hah! We kid. We hope... [1UP]

• Sega vows to keep Wii classy with mature games. It may seem like a risk to release blood-filled games like Mad World and House of the Dead: Overkill on the family-friendly Wii, because, well, it is. But that's not going to stop Sega from losing money making more M-rated games. [Games Industry Biz]

• Remember Michael Jackson through World War 2 fashion. EA is showing its respect to the recently deceased King of Pop via new costumes for Battlefield Heroes modeled after Jackson's iconic Smooth Criminal and Bad outfits. Thankfully, you don't have to pay for them either. Though at least one crotch grab is recommend upon wearing. [Joystiq]

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Wait, what's going on here? What happened to the annual summer gaming drought? All of a sudden, just in the month of June, I've amassed a backlog of games I need to get my hands on and play. That's my November tradition, dammit!

Infamous, Prototype, Ghostbusters, and Red Faction: Guerrilla have all popped onto my radar in a big way. I followed one friend's adventure in nabbing Ghostbusters over Twitter. Jason Wilson turned me on to Guerrilla's sledgehammer-happy ways (and Area 5's Matt Chandronait recommended it first out of the four). My buds on the Player One Podcast can't stop talking about Infamous.

So how come when I finally got my hands on one of these games on Friday -- not working in an editorial office means these games aren't so readily available (I know...boo-hoo) -- a day later I put it aside?

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Editor's Note: I feel a little dirty after reading Brett Bates's bathroom gaming adventures. At least I just washed my hands. Let's hope Brett did, too! -Michael

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Last week I flew from San Francisco to Orange County for my sister's high school graduation. Per usual, I arrived at SFO an hour and a half early (it's less stressful that way), and with my extra time I decided to take care of some, um, pressing business in the men's restroom.

As I sat there contemplating the tile pattern on the floor of my stall, I had the urge to pull my iPod Touch out of my pocket and squeeze in a quick game of Peggle. You see, I never got around to playing the PC version, so iPod Peggle has been a fresh experience for me -- and wow, everything I've heard about it is true: It really is digital crack. I had spent the previous evening blasting through Adventure mode, getting all the way to the final Master Levels before being stumped by Stage 11-3 -- otherwise known as that-insanely-difficult-one-with-two-warps-and-a-spaceship. I tried and retried that stage for at least half an hour before grumpily tossing the iPod on the couch and calling it a night.

Suffice to say, I still had Peggle plinking around my brain the next morning. So I did something I'm a little ashamed to admit: there, in the SFO men's room, I whipped out my iPod to try to beat that damn level.

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Poor, board games. No one really plays them anymore. Well, except for the Germans -- they love board games. But they also pop a wiener schnitzel for David Hasselhoff, so what do they know about entertainment?

Most of the us non-lifeguard-loving folk, however, prefer games of the video variety. But every once in a while we get a hankering for some old-school, paper and plastic fun. That's why when we spotted game-loving designer Ashley Buerkett's Mario-inspired board game Mushroom Kingdom!, we had to quart..err, token up to find out more about it.

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Editor's Note: I love playing golf with my father and my brother. I wish they would play Tiger Woods PGA Tour with me -- then maybe I could use my superior knowledge of videogame logic to beat them at some form of golf for the first time in more than two decades! Reid brings up a valid point; golf on the links is different than golf on a console. -Jason

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My father loves to play golf. He's been playing since he was in high school. Unfortunately, actually going out to play is becoming harder and harder to do thanks to time constraints and financial issues. So for Father's Day, my siblings and I got him Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for Wii (with Wii Motion Plus). My father was pretty excited about the gift, so we both drove to his house and started playing.

First off, thank you, EA, for allowing players to use the same Wii Remote when playing golf and disc golf. Allowing all players to use one Wii Motion Plus without having to trust the consumer to know to buy more is a genius move.

One of the key features of the Wii Motion Plus is that it will give a more 1:1 experience than the original Wii-mote. Tiger Woods PGA Tour has been boasting that with Wii Motion Plus, every flaw in your game will be re-created accurately. Unfortunately for long time golfers -- and new-time gamers -- this is not the case for the entire experience. My father has a very weird golf swing; he deliberately adds a lot of draw to his shots and aims to the right to compensate. The game doesn't read this action very well, so I tend to have better accuracy than him. He also knows how to read greens and elevation very well, but Tiger Woods PGA Tour does not. My father frequently overanalyzes a shot and completely screws it up because the game is not like real golf.

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You ever play a game and notice something that you're sure no one else really cares about, yet it means so much to you? We're talking about the small, seemingly insignificant features that would never make it to a press release, preview/review, or the back of the box.

We need submissions for the best of the best "Oh yeah, that is a good idea!" tiny game-design improvements -- stuff that would barely register a blip on the timeline of great features in gaming.

Some recent examples:

Gears of War: A sound indication plays when an area's cleared out, which lets players know it's safe to come out from behind cover and proceed on with the mission.

Burnout Paradise: After zipping through a gas station or repair shop and seeing a quick, fancy third-person side view of it, you will automatically straighten out before getting back on the road. This allows the game to show players a cool angle on the action without causing needless and frustrating wrecks due to the camera switch.

Infamous: This is really minor, but it's still worth recognizing that some level designer thought of doing this: It doesn't matter which side of a vertical fire-escape ladder you're climbing up, your head won't run into the platform above you. They're open-ended on either side, letting you scale fire escapes smoothly and quickly, without interruption.

We don't want to hear about the double-jump, GPS mapping, alt firing, or any other major advancements in game design.Think small!

Please discuss in the comments below, and if we have enough good contributions, we'll rewrap them up for a future story.

No, not yet!

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Trying to keep up with all of the downloadable games and content that's out there these days is enough to make a person cry. But cry no more, because Download Lowdown is here to help. Each week I'll sift through the good, the bad, and the weird to help you get the most from your game system of choice without leaving your house. Plus, if you read now I'll also toss in some choice (usually less-than-helpful) quotes from folks around the Internet at absolutely no extra charge!

This week I try to understand Fatal Fury: Garou -- Mark of the Wolves, look to placate the aggressive monkey in my Return to Mysterious Island, do my best to avoid getting Droplitz on the toilet seat, and fail to avoid the charms of Defender Chronicles.

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Most action movie genres have seen more than their fair share of gaming allusions. The Western, historically, has been sadly underreprented. The powers that be (also known as "game developers") seem to be rectifying that this year, and the first of the breed to make its way into our yearning grip is Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Boasting beauty as well as grit, it's a trek that JayFresh and I loved, while Cesar considered it an example of a good direction to go in gaming, even though it wasn't a complete success.

It's small wonder that in anticipation of the full game's release, Bitmob's own Greg "Mr. Awesome" Ford, Tyler Barber, and JayFresh were eager to jump into the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2. It seemed a pleasant surprise all around.

Ryan, one of the unfortunate ones to contract the Plague while in France, is still down for the count. At least he has his iPhone and the opportunities it affords, not the least of which is the most-excellent Star Defense. It may seem a small wonder that there's yet another tower-defense game on the iPhone, but this one offers unique twists that make it more than worth your while. Video and download links after the jump!

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