Extra Lives

Death of Arcades

2010-10-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Note

Before you read I think there should be a little context to where this is coming from. A while ago I read a interesting article on Shoryuken.com about the current state of north american arcades which I can't find or else I would link it for you. I had a length comment on it but the site wouldn't let me post the comment for some reason, so I thought I would make it a blog.

Also some of the parts might seem weird since I am refering to the article itself, if I find it I will link it right away.

Actual Blog Post

This article is dead on. The popularity of console gaming and online play, where people can play other real people from the seat of their own house is too good to pass up just to go to an arcade so I can see a person face to face. In my town of Hamilton I can't even find a legit arcade, the closest thing we have is a place called Pownz which is more or a console scene than anything. Weirdly made cabinets holding Xbox 360's and a 10 dollar cover charge to play for the day. Its fine, buts it's not the same as an arcade. A place as specialized as that only really gets the "elitist" gamer whose sole purpose of being there is to show you his combo he's been working on and then call you out for not playing well with comments like "Well it seems they let anyone play here now." Note: Someone actually did say that at Pownz, it was the douchiest thing I've ever heard.

The arcade scene is also very daunting to people who just play on consoles, especially with fighting games. A 2 hour drive from my house is a mall with an arcade; it's really sweet, sit down cabinets, Japanese versions of 3rd strike, the whole deal. But a lot of people don't go in because the whole place is pro. I had fun messing around with Makoto in 3rd strike but as soon as someone sits down to play you there's no mercy. I get double perfected because I don't know how to parry and dude on the other side might as well be J playing Makoto as well. So I end up just playing at a empty Tekken 6 cabinet.

As said in the article I think the problem with arcades now is not only the type of people it brings (most elitist players who will call you out for being a noob) but also the business model. Tokens and coin slots are too easy to manipulate, if they change to something like a reloadable card you can buy for that arcade specifically then load money onto it when you feel like it and that money doesn't expire off the card I think that would be a good fix. But of course it might be to expensive for arcades to implement since they're not making that much money as is.

In the end, I think that having a home console, playing friends online from your own house is better for most people than going to an arcade and getting "serious" about a game. Sure they might have games like DrumMania or GuitarFreaks but even those have come to home consoles. The way things are moving, I'm sad to say that arcades (at least in North America) is on the edge of its life. Unless you city, town, or even neighbourhood has a scene of some sort arcades aren't going to be around other than some mall or pizza shop having a old Time Crisis machine or something. Arcades have to become a inviting and cost effective place for people to want to go there.

Question to the Reader

What do you think, can the North American arcade seen come back to its previous state or is it never going to come back? Did you even enjoy arcades when they were around? Can you think of anything that would help the arcade sceen?

2010-09-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to just go with the Kotaku day numberings of TGS. So day will be a special blog covers both days 3 and 4! I hope you enjoy.

TGS Day Three

First we're going to start off with day three. I can't say many reveals got that excited this day, but there are a couple I am interested in.

Neverdead

Though this game looks like a typical shooter, the quirky attitude of the trailer gives it some charm to separate it from the rest. The trailer starts with a guy talking about his time with Louis the Sixteenth. Then eventually he gets smoked by a monster and his head pops off, but he's still alive. So he can't die from blunt force, but he is also immortal. Some of the gameplay shows the main character taking off his limbs and using them as grenades. In that aspect it reminds me a lot of Stubbs the Zombie, which was also a great game.

I can't wait to see how the game actually deals with death, if there is any. Getting smoked by some monster, getting all your limbs fly off and ragdoll around seems like a lot of fun. .

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Lords of Shadow has yet to get me really interested in it. To be honest I was more excited by Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. At TGS Konami released a really long trailer show off the game, and it's looking good! I like the fact that they're not trying to punch the "This is a Castlevania" game motif into your face.

A lot of the demon designs look really cool, and unique. This is a really good thing in my prespective because it's really easy just to make a red guy with horns and call it a demon. Each character has their own interesting personality and to be honest I can't wait to see more of this game now. Though I really wished they would have shown some gameplay.

TGS Day Four

Day four brought more announcements that I am really excited for. The fighting game releases are the most exciting for me but also the fact that a new Disgaea is going to come out is awesome!

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

When arcades were still something to go to here in North America, I remember days when me and my friends would pump money into Tekken Tag with both of us picked Eddy Gordo. We both knew he was "cheap" but since we didn't know anymore characters if one of us didn't pick him we were obviously going to lose.

The new Tekken Tag Tournament trailer shows a lot more of the tag mechanics in action, using juggles while switching between characters as well as some awesome looking tag team moves. Mainly my hype for this game is nostalgia, but it's good nostalgia.

Disgaea 4

Nippon Ichi Software has been having a tough time lately, with shares plummeting and sales for games not getting to where they want them to be. So it was only a matter of time before a new Disgaea was announced and shown, since that is their main franchise.

What I come to expect from a Disgaea game is all in the trailer they've shown, from insane special attacks to crazy looking characters. They also showed some new things you can do with stacking all your characters, like getting blocked off treasures and some new tower specials. Another changes is was looks like being able to merge two of the same monster into one bigger monster, and even being able to magichange that bigger monster into a huge weapon.

More crazy is what I want from a Disgaea game and they sure as hell delivered. I just can't wait to see what the new late game stuff will be like. I also hope that the achievements aren't as insane to get as Disgaea 3.

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition

Super Street Fighter 4 has been out for a while but over in Japan the long awaited arcade release is finally coming out, along with a few additions. Yun and Yang from Street Fighter Third Strike are the biggest official reveals for the arcade edition. From the looks of the gameplay they play a lot like their Street Fighter: Third Strike counterparts.

Yun still has his dive kicks and his super that let him combo combatants over and over again in third strike is his super in this game. Yang is the character I'm looking forward to playing the most, and he still has all of this third strike moves as well. Though reports say his dive kick won't come out a low as Rufus's, his other moves look badass. His super makes two shadow copies of himself so you can keep the pressure on with normals and his ultra animations look really cool.

There will also be balance changes introduced to the game for all/most characters. From minor things like damage being toned down on characters moves or changes to move properties like how Juri's fireball kick will combo naturally now. These changes have the possibility to change up the game dramatically, and I can't wait until those changes come to the console version. Though there has been no announcement for Yun and Yang coming to console I would say it's safe to assume they will come sometime.

Tokyo Game Show: Day 01 02?

2010-09-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

I'm still a little confused on what day of TGS it is. We need swatch time FAST!

TGS is on another day, and another day means more announcements. There were some more big announcements this day as well, but the pre show reveals will be hard to top.

Last Guardian

Team Ico have a great track record for making great unique games. Their first game is the princess saving simulator Ico, and the second being the massive monster hunting game Shadow of the Colossus. From what they've released so far of Last Guardian it seems like Team Ico is mixing the two styles together into one great looking game.

With the release of the new trailer it shows some more light-hearted aspects of the Last Guardian, also finally something that looks like gameplay. The trailer starts off with our little man sneaking on top of the giant beast, and playfully waking it up. This is the whole tone of the trailer, very fanciful, and adorable! A lot of teamwork between the hero and the creature shows off some of the puzzle solving elements and just how attached the two character are to each other. Some combat was also shown but not too much, the dog-thing and the boy defeating some living suits of armour.

I know it's terrible to say but I can only think of one way for this game to end, and that is with one of the two characters dying. I know it's terrible to say! But *Spoilers* think of the way the other Team Ico games ended. Shadow of the Colossus ended with you failing to save the girl and turning into a corrupt colossus yourself. And in Ico the game finishes with your fate unknown after being knocked out by the Queen surrounded by a collapsing castle.*End Spoilers*

Yakuza 5: The End

Even though Yakuza 4 is set to release in 2011 here in North America, in Japan they're already announcing their 5^th game. The Yakuza series has been known for being a little wacky with some of the side stuff you're able to do, but with Yakuza 5 they might have gone off the deep end. Zombies are the main focus of the new Yakuza game, you heard me right; zombies.

In 2008 Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan or Yakuza Kenzan came out in Japan as a spin off to the Yakuza series set in the samurai days. Though this game wasn't numbered and this new Yakuza game is. So I don't know if it will actually be a continuation of Yakuza 4, but I think that would be too crazy even for Japan.

In a recent Kotaku article they interview the producer of the game, Masayoshi Kikuchi, he the team wants to branch out and make new experiences with the Yakuza franchise. And that they don't want to stop making the Yakuza franchise.

In the trailer we find Haruka, the girl our hero Kazuma Kiryu rescued in the first game captured again by an unknown assailant. Then everything pans out to see that Kamurocho has been destroyed taken over by zombies. It doesn't show any gameplay but we eventually see Kazuma and his three friends carrying guns looking like they're going to take back Kamurocho. Left 4 Yakuza? Am I right, am I right! ... I'm sorry.

Other

Shadow of the Colossus & Ico HD Remake
Ni No Kuni's TGS Trailer
Tron Bonne and X-23 join the Marvel vs Capcom 3 cast

Tokyo Game Show: Day 00

2010-09-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

TGS officially starts tomorrow, but that didn't stop the announcements from coming early. Some big new titles have been announced along with some impressive looking original IPs. Some of these games I am already looking forward to just based off these announcements and I can't wait to see more as the week continues.

Devil May Cry

While the announcement of a new Devil May cry isn't a surprise to anyone. The fact that it is being made by Ninja Theory is. They have a lot to prove though, there last game Heavenly Swords was not a terrible game, but it wasn't fantastic either. My own personal worry is the gameplay aspect of the new DMC. So far there hasn't been any public gameplay on Enslaved, Ninja Theory's game that is due soon. But based off of Heavenly Sword the action did look nice, but wasn't all that fun to play. Though that was in 2007 so I am willing to give Ninja Theory the benefit of the doubt.

The other thing that changed is the overall style of Dante. Since the game is going to be a prequel seeing Dante in his teens, he's looking like a younger demon hipster. I have to say I'm all for it, I think this is a nice change of pace from the white haired hero we are all used to and it will show us another side on Dante. Well, a cockier than we've ever seen (If that is even possible).

Asura's Wrath

Asura's Wrath is new IP that is made by Cyber Connect 2 surprisingly. A developer that is mainly known for making the .hack series and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games. From the trailer it looks like it has the particular type of Japanese crazy that I long for.

All I can gather from the trailer is that you play a hulking red rock skinned looking dude, who can take as many spears to the chest as he wants. Also eventually grow 4 more arms and try to stop a giant earth crushing fist that comes from space. Was seems to look like gameplay has the red guy swinging around huge pillars, and smashing smaller enemies faces into other smaller enemies faces.

Seeing the trailer I can't see how things can get any crazier in that game. But then again I don't make games, so I'm sure something can get crazier than I giant stone statue in space punching the earth just to kill one man.

Other

• Ninja Gaiden 3: Ni Oh
• Valkryia Chronicles 3

So far the Tokyo Game Show is showing off some big announcement, and just cool looking games in general. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned to this blog every day for new posts about TGS.

Vanquish: Demo Impressions

2010-09-04T15:08:00.001-07:00

Platinum Games is known for their over-the-top creations. With games like Bayonetta and Mad World, it's no surprise that Vanquish is as fast paced and stylized as it is. The game is a 3rd person cover based shooter with a focus on blazingly fast and stylish game play. The demo lets you play through a short level where it's action all the time and finish it off with a big boss battle.

It's wise to note that Vanquish is a new creation by Shinki Mikami, the creator of the original Resident Evil. The game revolves around Sam Gideon, a scientist for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) who uses a specialized suit called an Augmented Reaction Suit to battle evil Russian robots. Sam is surprisingly badass for a scientist, showing no fear when fighting robots and taking the chance to smoke whenever he can. This suit allows you to boost around the level while sliding on your knees like a robotic rock star, and slow down time using an ability called Augmented Reality Mode. The game also has a scoring aspect to it. You rack up points for getting headshots, killing enemies, and for overall time completed at the end of a level.

Using boost to get around the level is critical to your survival. Enemies will shoot at you constantly and bosses will unleash Robotech-like amounts to missiles. So you'll want to be getting to as fast as you can. The weapons in the game all come from one base called the BLADE system. As you find weapons on the battlefield you don't actually pick them up, the BLADE system scans them and then morphs into that gun. Also guns can be upgraded to hold more ammo by scanning the same type of weapon you are holding while at full ammo capacity or by finding an upgrade pickup that an enemy drops.

The look of the game is a very stylized futuristic look. Everything is very visually appealing from the BLADE system morphing into other guns, to the heat waves coming off your suit when you overheat from boosting or using slow mo too much. The games style also is reminiscent of another Shinji Mikami game that came out for the Gamecube called P.N.03.

The demo has gotten me hooked on the game play and I can't wait to see more when the game comes out October 19th this year.

Return of Fighting Games

2010-08-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

In the 90s and early 2000's, fighting games where a big deal. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter ruled the arcades which are now nonexistent. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 brought all of your favourite characters from each universe into the ultimate throw down in the year 2000. But then fighting games started to die off. More fighting games did come out but they never reached the height of popularity that they did before. But with the release of Street Fighter 4 in 2009 fighting games have come back in a big way and have captured the hearts and minds of many once again. But will fighting game have the strength to stay in the eyes of the masses or will they again fall to the wayside.

I remember when I used to play fighting games on the PS2, games like Soul Calibur 2 and Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore. But fighting games never gripped me like RPGs or Action Adventure games did. Fighting games to me were something to do when friends were over because it's the easiest choice for a multiplayer game. This was also in a time where the arcade scene was dying here in North America and the wild popularity of games like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Mortal Kombat have long since passed. Recently fighting games have made a big comeback and have even stopped me from playing big name releases like Uncharted 2 because I'm having so much fun playing them.

If there is one thing that will represent how big fighting games have become it is EVO. EVO is the world's fighting game championships and since the release of Street Fighter 4 it has gained a massive spike in popularity. The most recent one was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in none other than Caesars Palace. Not only was it held in such a grand arena, the conference hall was packed wall to wall with people from all over the world. People even flew from different continents to be a part of the action. Simpler reasons are just the shear mass of people who are playing these games now. Other than the few friends I mentioned before I would play DOA2 with it took a lot to try and get other friends to play fighting games. But now many gamers are using resources like shoryuken.com and their favourite gaming websites to play with other and improve their game.

What surprises me the most about the popularity is the fact that fighting game are relatively hardcore games. There are many things to think about other than just what combos you're going to use in a match with another person. Things like the match up, other player's relative skill, mix-ups, mind games. How to counter certain situations, and all these things have to be thought of on the fly. It feels like an MMO, there always something new to learn and discover, new combos to try, new characters to master and overcome. It is a game that takes dedication and the fact that so many people are trying to become the best tells me that fighting games are back.

With games getting easier and more accessible to more people it is a surprise how popular a hardcore genre like fighting games has come but into such popularity. And with other even more hardcore fighting games coming out like Blazblue, it seems fighting games have come back in full force, and are here to stay for a while.

Top 5 Badasses

2010-04-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

I felt like making a top # list since they're easy and I haven't updated my blog in a while. I'm sure these characters are up for debate on weither or not they should be on this list at all but this is my list. Hopefully you enjoy reading it.

5) Travis Touchdown ( No More Heroes)

To start off the list we meet with Travis Touchdown. The otaku that every gamer strives to live up to. He’s nerdy, he’s bad with women, he owns a beam katana, and he’s badass. First making his debut on the Wii with No More Heroes, Travis has to fight his way through the assassin rankings in order to become number one. He is

so badass in fact that when he kills his foes he is able to make them explode in blood and coins. I have no clue how he does that but it happens. Travis does eventually become the head honcho of assassins, but what does he do when he gets there? HE WALKS AWAY FOR 3 YEARS! Basically just telling the world “Yeah, I’m too awesome for you people, I’ll fight my way back up again later”. No denying how badass that is.

4) Bayonetta ( Bayonetta)

Bayonetta as many of you may know is a witch who battles angels in order to appease demons. If you are taking on heavenly forces with your own skill then you are automatically a badass but she doesn’t stop there. She not only beats them into a bloody pulp she does it with style, and an alluring sex appeal. If a character can suplex giant 3 headed angel dragon all while possibly making it look like a stripper dance they deserve a spot on this list.

3) Gene (God Hand)

Gene is a unique guy. One day he is trying to save a girl from a bunch of thugs then he gets his arm cut off. Then he mysteriously gets his arm back inform of the god hand which gives him super strength and fighting skills. Gene has no bounds when it comes to fighting styles because he can make up his own combos on the fly. Genes got it covered and he threw in some Bruce Lee kicks in there just for good measure. He can also kick someone into space, even when he is inside a building. Enough said.

2) Dante ( Devil May Cry 3)

I specifically chose Devil May Cry 3 Dante because this is when Dante was in his prime. He’s a young up and coming son of Sparda who knew no limits and just did as he felt like. After the first boss fight he gets shot at with a rocket launch, now he could have just dodged it by stepping sideways, but no. Dante felt the need to pull a back flip and ride the missile around the room for no reason before kicking it into the air and making a hole in the ceiling, and that doesn’t even come close to the most badass things he does in the game.

1) Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza)

Kazuma is the Dragon of Dojima, the ultimate badass. He has been the main character in the Yakuza series for three games now and soon four, and in these games he has basically stopped an all out gang war mainly by himself. He’s trained in martial arts and can fight a whole Yakuza clan by himself. While he’s not fighting, he’s awesome with the ladies, awesome at videogames, and is even nice enough to help out total strangers. Kazuma Kiryu is a badass with a cool head on his shoulders, he can beat the crap out of anyone who gets in his way and does it all without super powers. Don’t get in his way or he’ll plant his snake skin shoe in your face.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hey all of one reader that reads this. Happy New Years to you, I hope your day is going well and with all the games that have been coming out I hope you are getting some good games. Right now I am playing a whole bunch of games. I hope to get Bayonetta when it comes out day one because I am looking forward to that game so much.

I hope to make more posts this new years since I really ignored the blog for a while. Happy Gameing!!

Katamari Forever: Review

2009-10-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Katamari Forever is the latest edition to the Katamari franchise. Since the original release back in 2004 Katamari has had somewhat of a cult following. Mainly because this game is very Japanese, I mean as Japanese as it can get. This game still provides that same old gameplay you know and love but that doesn’t mean it is stale. Katamari is still able to bring fun gameplay along even though it has been kind of the same for 5 years.

This iteration of Katamari is a best hits of all the other Katamari games, not very surprising since the game is called Katamari Tribute in Japan. Gameplay is still the same as before with a new edition of the prince hop which makes your katamari jump. The awesome quirky style to everything in the game makes rolling up each object just as fun as the next. There is also this great satisfaction of looking at something that is way bigger than you and working your way to its size then FINALLY rolling it up.

What will be new features to the people who haven’t played a Katamari since the ones on the PS2 is the scale. The scales of the levels have been increased dramatically, to the point where you are eventually rolling through space and have the earth you were just rolling on in your ball. There are also some new modes that are brand new to the series including the introduction of graphics filters which drastically change up the look from the game. Also a little addition is the power-ups in the form of The Kings Heart and The Kings Broken Heart. The Kings Heart activates when you pick it up and then the screen starts going all crazy and for a couple seconds and your Katamari has a magnet effect and anything that you are big enough to roll up get attracted to you. The Kings Broken Heart works the same way but instead just everything in a larger area towards you but only for that second.

In all the Katamari games the story has something to do with an accident happening then all the stars in the sky being destroyed because of it. This game is no different. One day the King is flying up into space and all of a sudden a giant space rock comes and bops him on the head. After he crashes down to earth the cousins find out that the king has lost all his memory and has fallen into a coma. So in a panic the cousin build RoboKing, a robot replacement. But there is a glitch in the system and RoboKing destroys all the stars. Same old story but in a new and amusing retelling.

You now have to take missions form both RoboKing and the regular King. RoboKings missions are more focused on just getting it as big as you can classic Katamari style. While the regular Kings missions are more specific, like trying to get as big as you can by only rolling 50 items, or roll up as many calories as you can while in a grocery store. Though the king’s missions are all in black and white and gain colour as you pick up items. So if you pick up a watermelon then all the watermelons in the level gain colour. It is a very nice artistic touch and it plays into the story of the King trying to gain back his memory.

After the main mode there are 3 other modes of play to get through. Katamari Drive which has you going through all the level at lightning speed, Eternal which is unlocked in some levels and you have no time limit and Katamari Classic which takes it back to the first games and has no power ups and doesn’t let you jump with your Katamari.

Even though this game is great all around if you’re not into Japanese craziness then this game won’t work for you. If you are new to the series or have just fallen off after the first or second games, this is a great place to get back into the franchise.

Top 5 Games To Get This Holiday

2009-09-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that there are a ton of awesome games coming out in the end of this year. So I thought I would help your purchasing woes by listing some games that I am looking forward to this year. Here are my top 5 games I am looking forward too and will most likely buy by the end of 2009.

5) Boarderlands

Boarderlands is a new first-person shooter by the guys over at Gearbox. You maybe remember this game as the famous E3 demo where they were spawning infinite guns. The reason I am looking forward to this game is because of the art style and the seemingly endless customizations for your weapons. It’s like Diablo but with guns.

You can pick from four characters to start from and they all have different abilities. One of the most humorous is the tank class, when you trigger his rage power all you hear is yells and grunts while he starts punching things. The art style has this awesome cell shaded look. It went from looking very bland before to something that is truly eye-catching.

The real reason I am hyped is because of the multiplayer. All of your gear you have links seamlessly with the 4 player co-op mode. Another way it is like Diablo it that you can’t power level. So don’t think your high level friend can come in and just rush you, he will get most of the experience. It also has two player offline co-op which is exciting since I haven't had a game to play with my friends when they are over since Resident Evil 5.

4) Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Ninja Gaiden 2 has been on the Xbox 360 for a while. The only complaint I have ever heard about the game is the camera and the difficulty, but all the people who complain about the difficulty are babies.

If you have played Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the PS3 you know all the upgrades that are bound to come with this game. Not just including two new playable characters Ayane and Momiji bringing the playable character list up to 4. There is also a new co-op mode where you and a friend can go through 30 mission rooms. Also all the single players Mission Modes from Ninja Gaiden 2 on the 360 are on the disk in Sigma 2.
The demo is out now on PSN so you can play it for yourself and you can even play as Ayane. From playing the demo I can safely say the camera issue has been fixed.

3) Brutal Legend

This game is super obvious since Tim Schafer is a genius in the videogame industry. Brutal Legend is an open world adventure game, but with a unique art inspiration. METAL! Not metal as in the substance but metal as in the music. Jack Black plays the voice of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is the best in the business but get’s transported to this fantasy land of metal by getting blood in his demonic belt buckle.

The line that got me hooked on this game is that they said if it didn't look like it should be on a heavy metal album then it wouldn't go in the game. So when you look at all the set-pieces in the game you know they are truly metal. Also there are a lot of metal guest stars such as Lita Ford, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, and OZZY!!!
I used the word metal way too much.

2) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

There is not really much to say about this game, you know it is just going to be awesome. All the new features for multiplayer seem really interesting including the Street Fighter 4 style title system, customizable kill and death streaks.

One addition I don’t think they may have thought over well is the ability to silence shotguns and sniper rifles. The strongest close and long range guns can now be silenced... seems like some unbalanced upgrades to me.

1) Bayonetta

I know Bayonetta got delayed until January but it’s still coming out in Japan before the end of the year so it kind of counts. If you read my TGS report from last year then you know how much I am looking forward to playing this game. It has Devil May Cry attitude, hot chicks, and sexy librarian glasses. This game really does have it all.

Platinum games have released more information on the weapon system. You can equip weapons to both your feet and your hands. So you could have gun on your feet and swords in your hands and vice-versa.

The thing that has been worrying me though is Platinum Games is saying they are not responsible for the PS3 version of the game after the apparently terrible looking version that was shown. If Platinum Games pawns off responsibility and the PS3 version turn out to be really bad I am going to be pissed. Though so far all signs point to good.

So these are the games you should be keeping an eye on this holiday season. Have fun gaming.

Honourable Mention (Since the game is already out)

Katamari Forever

Katamari Forever is basically the greatest hits of all the katamari games. If you’ve loved the games in the past then I suggest you pick this one up and it is even at a discounted price of $59.99(Canadian).

You know what, even if you haven’t played a katamari game you should get this. The game is just so original and awesome it is one of those games that you should be ashamed of to not play, or at least try.

New A Life Well Wasted

2009-09-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Robert Ashley is finally back with a new amazing episode of A Life Well Wasted. This one goes into to the life of fans and some of the amazing things they've done. Also some heartfelt stories about the life of people of how they found a way to the amazing things they do now. One interview with the founder of I am 8-bit and Circut Girl from the website www.fatmanandcurcuitgirl.com. Just another amazing episode that you all should listen too.

Direct Download: A Life Well Wasted, Artist Fans and Engineers

WET Demo Impressions

2009-09-02T11:22:00.001-07:00

WET is a new action game from Bethesda Softwork, it has a very Quentin Tarantino vibe to the game while also having nonstop action. The demo came out on PSN Thursday and it has been really fun.

WET, from what I get from the demo follows a badass whisky drinking chick named Rubi Malone (Who suspiciously looks like Tina Sanchez from 1up). She is a gun for hire and looking to take down anyone in her way. The demo starts off with a very stylishly made cutscene with a deal between to gangs going down. The whole game has the 70’s film grain look which makes it super stylized.

The action in the game to me feels like a mix of Tony Hawk and Max Payne. Which most likely sounds super weird to all reading this but hear me out. The Max Payne part comes from the slow mo shooting and diving but the Tony Hawk part comes in the levels and the chaining system. Basically the fancier moves your chain together the higher score you get. I’m not sure if the score actually contributes to something at this moment but it is really fun just running on a wall, then grabbing a poll and flipping off that all while shooting dudes in the face.

All the moves are very easy to do and happen with only the press of a single button making it simple and satisfying to pull them off. While you are in midst of doing an acrobatic move like wall running, jumping, or sliding while you’re shooting the game will automatically go into slow motion and will last as long as the move does. While you are in slow mo since Rubi is holding two guns the game will automatically target one enemy with one hand and give you free motion over the other one allowing you to either take you two enemies at once or just smoking one enemy with two guns. Other than guns you also have a sword which is used by pressing the Square button. This is used for close range only but can sometimes also be used in conjunction with the acrobatic moves.

The demo goes through four stages in the game. The first is just the tutorial stage which shows off all of the acrobatic techniques. The second part of the demo is an arena. Enemies will keep pouring out of “Spawn Doors”... the game actually calls them that. The object in this part is to make all these spawn door obsolete by breaking these control panels which bring a steel door over them not allowing the enemies to spawn from there. But the more fun way to play this part is shoot everyone until the game thinks you’re being too cruel and just stops spawning enemies.

Third part of the demo puts you into Rubi Vision. This is an even more stylized than normal part of the game. This parts with Rubi capping a guy running towards her then she gets blood on her face, when this happens it triggers the Kill Bill Esq. siren sound and everything goes red, black and white. The entire environment is Red while you and the enemies are black and their blood is white. In this mode you can just hold down the trigger and watch the bodies pile up. These segments are cool to look at but are not that different from the core game accept for giving you a few extra weapons to play with. My favourite is the duel crossbows which explode on contact.

Finally the last part of the demo is a quick play action event. You are speeding down a highway trying to get the bad guys from the beginning of the demo but the catch is you are riding on top of the car, not in it. The whole event is scripted to don’t expect anything new to happen the second time around but the action of jumping from car to car and wall running on the side of a transport truck while dodging exploding cars around you just make for some awesome visuals.

While WET isn’t the greatest game out there it brings some uniqueness to the table. Its awesome 70’s inspired, rockabilly soundtrack will keep your toe tapping through the whole demo and the look is unmistakable. The demo left a good impression on me and I’m hoping the full game doesn’t just stretch out everything in this demo to a full game. Look for WET coming to a console near you on September 15th.

Mirrors Edge Review

2009-08-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

Mirror’s Edge is a first person action game. The unique thing about it is that it’s more like first person free running game. This allows for unique set pieces and game play. But due to some confusing level design and weird gameplay focuses Mirror Edge comes up a little short.

In Mirrors Edge you play as Faith. You are a runner for a group of people who deliver information from one underground group to another. The reason for their presence is because the city you are playing in is slowly becoming a police state. This is the only back-story you get from the game because all that has nothing to do with the actual story and more of a reason to say why your character is able to do all these death defying acts of acrobatics. The real story is that your sister has been framed for a murder of a high ranking and publicized politician. So obviously you go to great lengths from fighting to police force and uncovering secrets of the city to clear your sister’s name.

While you have the occasional in game cut scenes for telling you where to go next and also to progress the story forward, in between chapters you have some animated cut scenes. These cut scenes are not that great to look at. The jokes that have been going around is that it looks like those Esurance commercials. But once you see it for yourself you realize that those jokes are spot on. They go a good job of linking the chapters together but they could have made a better decision or at least redraw it to make the cut scenes more visually appealing.

The game play is that you are going to play Mirrors Edge for. It is very unique in that it is a first person platformer. This is what is really great about Mirrors Edge. When you are running through the city and high speeds, jumping over and sliding under obstacles, this is when Mirrors Edge really shines as a great game. But unfortunately there are not as much of those moments as you would like. A lot of the game has you shimmying up and down polls, which is ok when you are just getting from point A to B, but not when you are getting shot at and hoping not to die before you get to the top. Sometimes you can get easily lost in the world but there is a great feature where with the press of a button Faith will look in the direction you have to go. This should relieve some frustrations with the level design since it is not obvious where to go next sometimes.

Another part of Mirrors Edge that is not fun is the actual confrontations with the police. There are some cases where you are forced to defeat a certain number of cops to move on to the next area but these are the lowest points of the game. Fights mostly consist of you running in, dropkicking a guy then running away because they have guns and you don’t. Once you do get a gun it becomes considerably easier but it’s still not enjoyable. If you don’t run away prepare to die because Faith seems to be as frail as a piece of paper.

The visual fidelity of Mirrors Edge is great. From the rooftops, to the sewers, and water effects Mirrors Edge doesn’t disappoint of the graphics or level variety. One thing they do with the visuals is give you something called Runners Vision. This feature turns certain objects in the world red while you are looking at them which proves very useful while you are running at high speeds and trying to keep your momentum going.

After the story mode there are some cool extras. Since this is a free running game they have added speed run modes of the story and even some cool time trial courses. The speed run of the story is just you playing the game again one chapter at a time but you are now timed. The time trial mode has taken a certain segment of a level in the game and added checkpoints in it. You must hit these checkpoints in order to see the next one and having these and the story speed run linked to worldwide and friend leader boards makes these modes really addicting. There is also downloadable content for the time trial mode which brings super unique levels to the time trial mode in the vein of a Mc Esher picture or something, but more colourful. Also if you own a PS3 you will get a special map for free. If you are a fan of the running portion in the game and want to find ways to minimize times then these modes will keep you coming back for a while.

While Mirrors Edge seems amazing in theory and has some great features like time trial it seems that it is keeping itself from being great. If DICE ever decides to make a Mirrors Edge 2 I’m sure they could smooth out some of the rough patches, but the annoying battles with the police and sometimes confusing level design. Mirrors Edge is a game that you should check out because it’s so original but otherwise very mediocre game.

Score: 3/5

PS3 Slim is real

2009-08-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

So Kotaku just posted information about the PS3 Slim being official. So official that there is now a video out.

This thing looks really good. It seems Sony has taken into consideration all the things that the audiences have been saying about the old one. New non fingerprint able top. Instead of the little heat sensor buttons they have real buttons. Also weirdly no more back power switch, so I assume your not going to have standby mode anymore. They have taken out the flash card compatibility but really that's not a loss at all.

New system looks super sleek and the new low price point, and bigger HDD is super appealing. I wonder if this will help Sony get more PS3's out there and be able to compete a little better with the 360. Not going to say the Wii because we all know it's going to be in the lead forever.

Original Source: Kotaku PS3 Slim Unboxing

Back Log (Since Summers Dead)

2009-07-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

Since this summer is DEAD in terms of game releases I thought I would start playing some games I missed on initial release. Also some games I have just kept playing for trophy/achievement reasons.

Mirrors Edge

I always wanted to play this game because of its unique perspective but I never thought it would be worth the full retail price. So when I was it was now 30 bucks at my GameStop I picked it up. For those that don’t know Mirrors Edge is a first person, free running/action game.

You play as Faith this girl who is part of a group that is going against the “man”. People hire them to deliver information for unknown reasons. But that part of the back-story plays absolutely no role in the story other than “this is why I can run so well”. The main story mode was fun accept for the parts where you are forced to fight enemies.

The game really shines when you are picking up momentum by running fast, jumping building to building and finding awesome ways to get through the levels. My favourite part of the game is the Time Trial mode which just puts you in a part of the story levels and you have to get from checkpoint to checkpoint as fast as you can. Look forward to a review later on.

Street Fighter 4

I picked on Street Fighter 4 on the cheap and it was possibly the worst and the greatest purchase I ever made. I played a lot of 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive but I was not prepared for the technicality needed to play this game. This game caused me to smash a controller in my early days of playing but by investing some time it has become really fun to play rather than the Ken Flowchart technique. Once you get the handle of how to play this game it is really rewarding when you learn a character and you just smoke a scrub which you once were.

The online has some weird things going on like being able to change the rounds and the timer length in ranked matches but all the matches are very stable. I don’t think I am going to review this one because I don’t know enough about fighting games to make a well critiqued review. Though all the craziness at EVO 2K9 that went down earlier made me want to purchase an arcade stick.

Prototype

I have still been playing prototype but this is basically just for trophies since I am only two trophies away from my second platinum. Those two are the kill 50,000 dudes one and get Platinum rank on all side missions. After those I think I am going to retire that game until I need my next gore fix but by that time Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will have come out and I’ll be good with that.

Some Old PS2 Stuff

I bought three new PS2 games. They are Bully, Resident Evil 4, and Rumble Rose. I have yet to play Bully because my disk is too messed up to play it on my PS3 so I am going to go down to my local Blockbuster and get that cleaned up. I started playing Resident Evil 4 but the controls are so weird since I played Resident Evil 5 so much. It is going to take a while to get used to but I will eventually get through it.

Lastly is Rumble Rose. I don’t know why I bought this game, well I didn’t buy it but I forced my friend to buy it for me because I got his girlfriend from a bus station but it was totally worth it. This game is just funny to play. Scantily clad women wrestling in some all female wrestling league with terrible voice acting and stories that a 16 year old with a dirty mind probably came up with. In short the game is great. I would suggest that you pick it up just for some laughs also it’s a fun party game to bring out because people are usually baffled by it.

Well that has what I have been playing lately. Also have been getting back into anime but thats not videogames. *Cough* go watch Battle Programmer Shirase *Cough*.

Prototype Review

2009-07-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

With all the free-roaming games that have been released in such a short period of time it seems like Prototype is the title with the least amount of hype between Infamous and Red Faction. At first glance Prototype seems very similar to many other super powered free-roaming games. In the end it proves itself to be very different in terms of gameplay, story.

In Prototype you are Alex Mercer, a super powered freak of nature with amnesia. In many events, you wander the streets consuming other individuals in order to make sense of your past. This clears up the story further by finding possible explanations on how you obtain your inhuman powers and who you really are. The story in Prototype is set in the city of New York and isn’t quite impressive. The characters are not memorable. Also, as you continue, the experience seems to become more generic as it goes along. After the story ends in Prototype you will be able to roam around the large New York landscape to find many of the collectables and finally finish the abundance of side missions.

The missions in Prototype range from “kill a whole bunch of guys” to “follow some people then kill all the guys”. Though this is basically the game itself, all the power-ups and powers you have are able keep the game fresh with new ways of disembowelling your enemies.

Prototype is a gory game. I don’t mean like blood everywhere type of stereotypical videogame violence, I mean, I am going to grab this pedestrian then knee his head so hard that it explodes and then let his body slowly meld with mine in a mess of flesh and entrails. This is also shown off through the variety of powers you get from hammer-like fists forming on your hands to a giant blade growing from your elbow down to your fist. You get some defensive powers like a shield and body armour which grows out of you which brings up the question, why doesn’t he have these on automatically. Finally some useless powers like thermo vision.

Getting around the city is a smooth process with all the power-ups you have. You are able to dash through the air, run up walls and over obstacles automatically, and glide through the air. Your dashes make getting around the large skyscraper-infested-city with ease. The special moves in this game are not remarkably noteworthy, they are effective in game but they aren’t too creative. Special moves oftentimes take regular moves but create a bigger version of it that will clear the area around you.

At first Prototype might seem like a difficult game but, in the end, just becomes tedious. During a boss battle you will find yourself running away to consume some civilians to get enough health to use your specials. However, you are hit by one attack that you probably couldn’t dodge anyway so you then end up losing your special and repeating this process. This occurs frequently on hard mode and becomes frustrating towards the end of the game. Other frustrations involve the AI within the game. In some events, the AI could run into you while you are driving one of the vehicles in the game thus causing you to lose your disguise and having a whole battalion on your ass. In more annoying cases you have all these flying robots which can detect you in disguise making infiltrating army bases to get specific upgrades a pain.

Even though there is some tediousness to Prototype, the game is just satisfying in a way I just can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s all the visually appealing gore. It could be simply flying around the city, dropping from huge heights, and landing on the street with a shockwave, which in turn, results in flying bodies and cars everywhere. But what I do know is that Prototype is a very satisfying game that, despite the obvious difficulty flaws in some of the missions you will have fun with.

A Life Well Wasted asks, Why Game?

2009-07-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is most likely old news since this podcast came out a while ago but it is just too good to keep away. Robert Ashley formerly of GFW Radio fame has started to make his own podcast a while ago and it has been consistantly great stuff so far. You can check his stuff over at A Life Well Wasted.

But this one inparticular caught me listening to the whole thing without doing anything else like I normally do with podcast. The question of Why Game? Robert goes through the steps of asking people why they game and also sheading some light on how the medium is expanding. I would suggest everyone to listen to this amazing peice of research.

Direct Download - Why Game? Robert Ashley (A Life Well Wasted)

Red Faction Gurrilla Review

2009-06-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Red Faction Guerrilla is a 3rd person shooter as well as an open-world adventure game made by THQ and Volition; the people that brought you Saints Row 2. Nothing about the game significantly stands out except for the destruction but all the good qualities come together to make a very fun game.

Red Faction Guerrilla is the 3rd game in the Red Faction series, the first two being on the Playstation 2. In this game you are Alex Mason, a miner who has come to mars to start a new job with your brother. Upon arriving, your brother shows you how the EDF (Earth Defense Force) has taken over Mars and is ruling communist style. Just after doing some work your brother is killed by the EDF and you are forced to join the Red Faction, a rebel group that has broken away from EDF rule and are trying to liberate Mars for the people.

The EDF has taken control of Mars in different regions which you will take back you one by one. There are six regions in total to liberate and you will have to blow up everything in your path to do it. As you destroy more EDF facilities in the world this will bring the moral up in that region and sometimes if you engage in a firefight some of the locals will come out guns blazing with you. The main gameplay feature for Red Faction is the destruction. Volition has made the GeoMod 2.0 engine which allows every structure you see in the world to be destroyed. Some other games have used this as a pull but they way Red Faction does it isn’t just a simple texture swap; they have developed an engine which allow for physics to decide when a building will fall. This makes blowing things up very satisfying.

The world of Red Faction is a recently Teraformed Mars. You will notice right way some regions are just barely livable for humans while some other places are actually showing signs of life and greenery, but not much. For a game which focuses on destruction sometimes places with buildings are few and far between. In some cases you will be driving through a deserted Mars and sometimes not finding any buildings to blow up for a fair amount of time.

The main story missions are plenty with around 20 of them. But Red Faction also had side missions which are broken up into different types. There are ones such a bringing a vehicle from one place to another within a specific time limit but also some very fun ones like trying to figure out a way to take down a building in a certain amount of time using the weapons that your are given. Also ones where you ride around in a turret while the AI drives you and you have to destroy as much EDF property as you can. These side missions are scattered throughout the different regions and they give you salvage bonuses which you will use to upgrade and buy new weapons.

Weapons in the game vary from your trusty sledgehammer to some very spacey things like a Thermo-baric Rocket Launcher which will absolutely destroy anything that is in your way and an Arc Welder which will shoot electricity at your foes. All weapons can be upgraded which cool features and also extra ammo for them. One this you will be needing later in the game is the armor upgrades because about ¾ of the way through the game gets less of just running and gunning (But not by much) and turns into get behind some cover because there are about 60 guys coming towards you and you will be dead in like 5 seconds. This makes the game less fun but it is not a game breaker.

After you are done with the single player Red Faction also has a bunch of multiplayer options for you to choose from. There offline game is called wrecking crew which has a variety of modes. The one we had most fun with is called Total Chaos, where you take turns destroying as much as you can in 1 minute. Wrecking Crew mode is very fun when you have a bunch of people over but unfortunately can only be played offline.

The online mode is Halo style match making with all of the modes you would expect. Deathmatch (Team also), Capture the Flag. But they also have some modes that take advantage of the destruction element. Those are Damage Control, Demolition and Siege. Damage Control has you getting points by destroying the point and reconstructing it with the Reconstrutor then the point will be yours, the longer you hold areas the more points you will get. Demolition a certain person is the destroyer and they have to take out a specific target, and in Siege you have multiple points that you have to defend or destroy and if you are on the defending side you can also use the Reconstructor to repair structures.

Another main part of the multiplayer is the backpacks you will be able to use. Backpacks range from a Jetpack like in the single player game but in the multiplayer you will also have some backpacks like the Tremor which will shake the ground around you, not only making it harder for enemies to shoot you but also destroying building around you and also the Rhino which is my personal favorite, it will let you charge through anything in your path for a brief period. These are just a few of the many backpacks you will use in the game.

Red Faction Guerrilla is a very fun game that will keep you entertained for many hours even past the initial single player campaign. Even through there are some issues and some blandness this game is defiantly worth your time.

Sony Press Conference (Semi Live Blog)

2009-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sony Press Conference

The conference starts off with Jack Tretton coming out. Hopefully he makes some more jokes about dead people (See last year Sony's Conference)

300+ games to be released on all Sony platforms. Seems impressive but that was just a numbers plug so it kind means nothing.

Jack says that they think 2009 will be the best year ever, overtaking last year.

Jack is now talking about the PlayStation 2 and how they have lowered the price to $99 dollars. It has sold more than some next gen systems this year. They are going to keep supporting the system “As long as people see value in it”. They are saying that there will be 100+ new titles for the PS2 including some favorites.

Numbers speeches are always boring but hopefully they do something interesting with it like last year with the Little Big Planet level.

Jack thinks Infamous has kept you up like a crack fiend playing it all the time…

They are now showing some accomplishments for Naughty Dog (creators of Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted) They are now showing some Uncharted 2 video. It is actual gameplay. Starts off with Drake on top of a ruined hotel. The animation for the climbing looks really good. I was not too impressed by Uncharted 1 it was OK.

Drake was shimming across a beam and a helicopter started smoked it and he started falling almost to his death. Looks like the game has some flip-able cover. Also gears 2 style cover system. Lots of explosions. Everything looks very impressive. Demo ended with the helicopter exploding.

Jack is now showing LIVE gameplay from MAG (Massive Action Game). The games main feature is 256 player multi player. Maps look huge. But it looks like your regular brown shooter. Seems very Battlefield Esq. As the leader you can set objectives for your team. Guy in the demo keeps getting shot but I'm sure he has god mode on or something. CHEATER!

Once you capture an area you will be able to use it as a spawn point. He just called in an air strike which looked very impressive. Game looks like it is going to be really fun.

Now they are talking about the PSP. I’m sure they are going to unveil the PSP GO! My dog is so excited about the PSP apparently its flipping out. They announced an Assassins Creed game for the PSP and a Final Fantasy 7 game. They are appealing to the girls by releasing a lilac coloured PSP. Well they didn’t announced the PSP GO! Yet but they brought out Kaz. (RIDGE RACER!!!)

Kaz is now bringing out the PSP GO! He pulls it out of his suit pocket. It looks smaller than the regular PSP but it slides up to reveal the D-PAD and the buttons. The PSP GO! Will not replace the current PSP systems. Kaz admits that this is the worst kept secret of E3 this year.

It has 8 to 16 gigs of space to store all the download games since you can’t play UMD’s on it. You will also be able to use memory sticks with it to expand the memory. Sony has a new Media Manager called Media GO. It will work seamlessly with the PSP GO! They now have a new feature for music called Sense Me that will make a playlist for you based on the mood you select. All PSP titles from now on will be on the Playstation Store digitally as well as on a UMD at retail stores. PSP GO! Will be released all over the world at the same time for $249.99

They are now talking about the video service Netflix style. You can now use that feature directly on the PSP. They are now showing a ton of new content from other television stations for more variety.

Kazunouri Yamauchi the creator of Grand Turismo has just come out on stage and he is talking about Grand Tursimo PSP. The game is running at 60 frames per second on the PSP. Single player mode contains all the modes you come to expect and a challenge mode to improve your skills. This game will be a full fledged Grand Tursimo. You can use Ad-Hoc mode to race against your friends. You can also trade and share your vehicles through the PSP to other players.

They are now showing a trailer for the game. Looks even better than the PS2 games. Which is crazy considering it’s on a PSP. They got some sweet techno beats playing in the background. The trailer says that the game is coming out October 1^st.

Kaz is now back on stage.

The new Metal Gear Solid game being announced. Hideo Kojima is now on stage. The game is called Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The setting is 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3. So it is set in the 1970’s. He says that he is writing the script for this game and some of the main team on MGS4 will be working on this game as well.

The trailer for Peace Walker is now playing. Starts off with some real footage of some guy in a bunker. More political intrigue from the MGS team. See like a sequel to the other PSP game. More emphasis on Outer Heaven. New ways to capture your enemies and recruit them to your team. Now they are showing 4 solid snakes? End of the trailer shows new type of Metal Gear. Some classic comedy at the end there. Of snake going in a box and then another snake going in the same box.

Kaz brought Jack back out on stage. Still on the PSP they have just shown a new Resident Evil game for the PSP. They are calling it Resident Evil Portable which seems lazy to me. They are showing a new Motorstorm game and a PSP version of Little Big Planet.

Another trailer for the games coming out on the PSP. Shows some gameplay from the PSP version off LBP. Glimpse of a new Jack and Daxter game. Some Final Fantasy Dissidia stuff. New Socom game. The Expansion for Monster Hunter. Also some good looking gameplay for Soul Caliber on the PSP. The whole trailer is just a big montage. Some of these games look impressive but I don’t know if they will sell all that well. They also showed that Fat Princess will be on the PSP as well.

They are now talking about the PlayStation Network… some more numbers. According to Jack FF7 will be available on the PlayStation Network TODAY. I’m not a big fan of FF7 but I’ll probably it pick the game up.

Trailer for Home is now being shown. They are just showing some of the ways it has expanded. Home always seemed like a thing you either love or hate. It has been ok but its not something you go into alone for. You need a lot of friends that are into it also.

Now a trailer for some of the games that are going to be coming out on the PS3 are coming out. Uncharted 2, FF13, MAG, and some other games are being shown. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, WET, Saw game. All kinds of stuff being shown. Noticed some clips from Guitar Hero Van Halen in there. New Katamari!!!

Sony really likes their montages.

They just showed a new game being made by Rockstar called Agent. It is going to be exclusive to the PS3 but we all know that means timed. They are actually showing some gameplay footage. Game is now set in Venice and it shows some impressive climbing gameplay. You are not Altier anymore you are like his cousin. You will be friends with Leonardo Divinchi and he will be your personal inventor. They are showing off a flying machine that is letting him travel all around this seemingly massive open world.

They are giving this new main character a lot more assassination moves. Showed him using the double hidden blades and killing two guys at once. Apparently assassins can now swim. Which always sucked in the first game since you died by water.

Jack is now introducing a trailer or Final Fantasy 13. It’s a brand new trailer and this time in English. That graphics look amazing which is what Square Enix has always been known for. New female character has been shown; she seems to be a villain of some type. Gameplay is way more action oriented.

SURPRISE! It seems like they are already working on Final Fantasy 14 and it will be exclusive to the PS3. Seems like they are going back to old school FF look with a lot greenery. Also this will be an online game like Final Fantasy 11

Everyone is doing a new motion controller now. This little wand thing he brought out it the new motion controller. The PlayStation eye will be able to pick up the new controller. The controller will have true one to one tracking. This guy really sucks at these virtual sports. They are showing a variety of different objects being used with the wand. They have their own are demo with the wand using it to write and paint things. This wand seems like the Wii More on steroids.

They are now using the want on a character to the one to one motion of the wands. It seems very impressive. He is using two wands, one for the shield and one for the sword. He is also using the two wands as a bow and arrow and it looks really impressive

Jack is now talking about the future of Little Big Planet. Now they seem to have a partnership with Disney for costumes and stuff. There is a new exclusive coming to the PS3 called Mod Nation Racers. Seems like a cartoon-y racing game but with tons of modification. Very kid friendly art style and it seems like a very kid friendly game. Looks like Mario Kart on the PS3.

You can create tracks in the track editor and your crate is while you are just driving around. They have made a fully functioning track in less that 5 minutes and it is very impressive. Everything is incredibly easy to create.

Another PlayStation exclusive trailer is being shown. A game called The Last Guardian. It is starting out like that same trailer that was leaked before on youtube but with the graphics updated. The game looks much more impressive. Lots of wind effects and a nice showing of some vast open landscapes. Looks like the game is going to be an emotional ride based off of the music playing. It turns out this is not the same trailer but an extended one.

Sony is just rolling out the exclusives with a new trailer for Grand Turismo 5. This trailer also has some sweet techno beats. I guess the PlayStation brands love their techno. I guess they have the official Nascar license now because they showed official cars.

God dammit this is to lo- GOD OF WAR 3!!!!

They are showing a live demo of the game and they say this game will be the final chapter in the series. Demo starts off right where God of War 2 left off. Some new grab moves are being shown off as well as a new ranged weapon which is a flaming crossbow. Right from the start you can noticed the blood has been increased in this game. Helios is now attacking the titan Atlas. Some Blades of Chaos action is being shown now and you can actually hear the individual chains hitting against each other. The new Lion Head Gauntlets are also being shown and these things pack a ridiculous punch. New quick time event was shown on a centaur and it ended with its guts and innards all over the floor. Another new enemy is being shown the Chimera. Another quick time kill he rips off the goat heads horn and shoves it in the chimeras face.

Jack now is saying his closing speech for the 1000 hour conference. There is the end

Every console had an impressive showing this year and I can’t wait to see more from all of them in the future.

Nintendo Press Conference (Semi Live Blog)

2009-06-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Nintendo Press Conference hopefully there will be some good stuff announced so I can take my Wii out from under my table and put a book a under it to prop it up instead. (Joking obviously)

•Nintendo starts off with quick montages of games with the Nintendo Zapper and the Steering Wheel. A bit of DS action is shown. Montage also includes some old faces from Nintendo.

•Kammi Donaway says there’s a personal connection to video games. Trends say video games were as big as all media combined. She states that games are "everyone's game". Kammi also promises innovation and surprises today.

•A Mario montage goes up presenting the games he's been featured. They are showing Mario in the 4th dimension. New super Mario bros for the Wii! Apparently there is going to be four player Mario? Cooperative Mario kind of looks like the DS title. There’s a new suit called the propeller suit where you shake the Wii remote and you fly! Looks like the screen will continually side scroll and not while you move so if you get stuck at the end then you will lose a life. Really hope this game doesn’t cost more then 25 bucks... launch is holiday 2009

• Wii fit has been the best selling in North America15 million sold world wide. Kammi introduces Wii fit plus which promises to incorporate the whole family. Six new exercises. Target areas and watch your calories burn.15 new games juggling perfect ten and skateboarding. One of the new games have you jumping like Mario over logs. It will come bundled with the Wii fit plus

•Reggies back mother f***** YEAH!

•Reggie said that the Wii’s primary weapon was their easy to use interface. He shows the Wii motion plus which is supposed to up the realism. It will have precision control. Like one to one motion so if there is a Star Wars game get ready to swing that Wii mote around.

• Montage shows a female playing ping pong, dude playing basket ball, samurai cutting wood, an archer, golfer swinging, rowing, fetch. All these are included with the Wii sports resort package I assume.

•A demo of the Wii motion plus is shown lets see how it goes. I'd say it is probably going to go over well.

•Demo opens up with a Mii jumping out of an airplane which is the first action in the game. It looks pretty accurate the Mii’s fall into formation and the parachutes open showing the title of the game. Archery is next seem accurate sensitivity could be better kind of seems like it’s really accurate though it has the little jittering that the regular Wii mote has. He misses and fails. He calls out Reggie and they are playing a game of 3 point basketball. Lame jokes are being thrown at each other. Reggie is sucking but Bill is pretty good. After this demo I’d say that it seems like the motion plus does add a bit more accuracy to the Wiimote. By the way Reggie won the 3point game.

•Tiger woods 10 bundled with the Wii motion plus. Now they are showing Virtua tennis 2009 for the Wii. Red Steel 2 will only be played with the motion plus but the game will be bundled with it. Seems like some good usage for the Wii Motion Plus.

•Square Enix making a new game for the Wii it looks like a Crystal Chronics game. It is called Crystal Bearers. September 29th kingdom hearts for the DS opens up on star shaped island with Roxas and 2 other members on the beach. What a tease.

•A new RPG Super Mario Bowsers Inside Story has players go inside Bowser literally and look at his insides. Game play looks fun. Some new mini games but same kind of style as the old Super Mario RPG. It will be released this fall in North America and Europe.

•An old franchise returns in 2010 with a new golden sun! Trailer opens to a desert like area. Some of the summons are being featured. Game called Golden Sun DS. Wow, I am so surprised by this. I never thought they would bring out a new one.

•James Patterson is making a game called Women's Murder Club. It is a murder solving game kind of like hotel dusk.

•Ubisoft developed Cop: The Recruit. It puts you in the shoes of an undercover cop that street races (Fast and the Furious style? Oh god I wish). Gameplay shows 3rd person shooter and some racing.

•Style Savy for the tweens and ladies out there. Woo, you can make your own fashions and show them off! Customize your own shop and omg there’s runway competitions!!! (Not this whole thing is said in sarcasm)

•A DSI montage interviews with people who bought the DSI from a young girls to middle aged men and women saying they love the DSI and how they just cant put it down.

•DSI has sold 1.4 MILLION units within the past 2 months. (Pinky on mouth Dr.Evil style)

•Flip Note Studio will be available this summer. It is a drawing movie maker game

•Mario versus Donkey Kong will have a map creator. Available only as a download June 8th. Wario Ware: DIY lets you make a Wario ware game. This summer you can automatically upload pictures to Facebook. Legend of Zelda available to play on the show floor.(Lucky Bastards)

•I’m guessing Nintendo’s new motto is "everyone’s game"

•Satura Iwata comes on stage and says good morning. Good morning to you too Mr. Iwata!

•There are three groups of gamers according to Nintendo: Active, never and maybe. 295 million actively playing games 149 million potential in all Japan, America, and Europe. Nintendo’s goal is to win over those 149 million to play games. Next goal is to bring in every type of gamer.

•Wii vitality sensor. Looks like a diabetic thing.

•Second full 3d Mario for the Wii. Mario Galaxy 2 it looks like you will be rolling with Yoshi. It also looks like the first but hey its a Mario game.

•Reggie is back out

•Reggie is talking about some new IP’s that would will only be able to play on the Wii. Now a trailer for the Conduit it playing. Seems like an interesting Wii game, lots of alien tech to play around with in the first person. Looks promising.

•Now he is showing a new Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles game. From the little clips of gameplay it is going to be a rail shooter House of the Dead style. Those are always fun but if you would want to get some other people to play it then you need to be able to unlock infinite lives easily.

•They are showing a new Dead Space game. Dead Space extraction is another rail shooter game coming out for Nintendo. It seems like they are keeping the gore of the original dead space in it. Apparently it is going to tell the origins of what happened on the ship before the first game.

•Ohh, cool Team Ninja is making something for the Wii, there logo just appeared. Trailers starts off with meteors going through space and blowing up stuff left and right. AWESOME! Trailer is for a new metroid game. It seems to be switching from third person and they showed a brief clip of it in first person. The game will be called Metroid: The other M. It looked way more stylized. Team Ninja Style.

•Reggie says the game will take you deeper into the Metroid universe.

The conference is now over. Pretty good showing from Nintendo. I am most intrigued by the new Mario Galaxy and the new Metroid. But come on… no Kid Iccuris game. LAME. Over all it was an amazing conference. I can’t wait for this stuff. Thanks to Tony Akins for helping me with the live blog.

Microsoft Press Confrence (Semi-Live Blog)

2009-06-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well I am going to be covering the Microsoft Conference. I missed some of it due to some personal doings I had to take care of but I started watching right when Allen Wake started playing. The rest of this post will be in point form so you can just read the parts that were to most interesting rather than watching the whole press conference.

Allen Wake was shown by some of the guys from Relic. It looks very impressive (it better be since its been a mystery for a while) but it seems like they love to overuse the Max Payne slow motion style.

They are now announcing some new features for Xbox Live. They are partnering with Last.fm to bring music to Xbox live. Some new Netflix features such as sports and Sky also they are bring all this in full 1080P now. Also they have a new feature were you and friends can watch movies and listen to music over Xbox Live while you are not in the same room. So I guess if you want to watch movies with your friend it will sync the movie with them and you could talk through the headset while it is going on.

FELICA DAY CAME OUT YEAH! Well she is on stage to demonstrate the new Facebook application for Xbox Live. You can find all of your friends and Xbox Live friends all in one place. Facebook Connect is a new feature where you can post screen shots and text of the game you are playing to Facebook in real time. Also they have a new Twitter application which is well…. Twitter on your Xbox. These features are going to be coming out this fall.

Can this press conference be any more rehearsed? They seem so stiff.

Hedio Kojima came out and they announced that the MGS franchise will be coming to the Xbox 360 with a teaser trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising, one thing I noticed that was funny that instead of Tactical Espionage Action it said Lighting Bolt Action.

Don is now talking about how controllers are barriers for video games so I assume there motion controller is coming out… and here is the trailer. Playing some Wolfmother is a good start to this. This seems like the Eye Toy but vastly improved. Trailer is showing all of the features, it is a full body tracking camera which looks really fun for some games but I don’t know if I personally would use it all the time. The camera is called Netal. I don’t know how well this will go with other developers because if they didn’t really want to work with the Sixaxis I don’t know if they will want to work with a full motion body camera. The camera will work with all Xbox 360s out now.

Kudo came out. Haven’t seen that guy since he was pimping Fight Night Round 3. He is showing off the camera. It will instantly recognize your face and log you in to the appropriate Xbox Live account automatically. The avatar also recognizes the full body motion but it kind looked like a crippled person moving around. Going through the menu is done by just swiping your hand. Also they are showing off a game that is basically Breakout but you use your body to hit the ball. Oh Kudo just took a shot at Nintendo for their “Preset Waggle” commands. Continuing with the games the now brought out one called Paint Party. Looks very tech demo-y. Nothing that anyone would really play for a long time. The pose option looks like something out of an Ipod commercial while you are posing.

Peter Molyneux has just come out. He is saying that the controller is a barrier and that Natal is revolutionary…. Yeah we have heard that like 5 times in the past 5 minutes.

They are showing a really interesting video for the camera with a kid named Milo and you he can recognize your face, and emotion in your voice. Wow this is something that is pretty awesome. If it works like is looks you can hold conversations with the virtual kid, also you can transfer physical objects with the boy. Sounds really cool if it will work.

Pause for applause failed at the end there. After that the conference has ended. Thanks Gamespot for streaming the conference.

Well that’s it for the Microsoft conference. Some interesting stuff in there, if the rest of E3 is going to be like this then I can't wait for the other conferences. Sorry I could start writing this earlier but I will be sure to get the conferences from the beginning for the Nintendo and Sony ones. See you soon.

Duke Nukem Forever: Leaked Video

2009-05-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about the news of Duke Nukem Forever not being developed anymore I was like "Pff that's not a real game anyways" but the fine residents of the Internet have proved me wrong. Turns out they were actually working on something over at 3D Realms and it looked good. Here is the video and judge for yourself.

Personally I think this video looks amazing. Its classic Duke, and as we all know its always good to bet on Duke. The animation looks awesome especially when those pig guys are jumping over the house duke is in. Also the middle finger to the boss as he passes out, classic. I would love to have seen more Duke action because I loved every game. Too bad this might not see the light of day even though its been underground for so long just waiting to break free.

Lincon Knows Their Music

2009-04-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Remeber a while back I posted about the Lincon commerical with the awesome Cat Power cover of Space Oddity. Well Lincon is at it again with another awesome song in their new commerical for another car. The song is called Major Tom by Shiny Toy Guns. This time I actually have the link for the full song. The youtube discription has a download link and everything. Check the video below. Make sure you listen in High Quality.

Red Faction Gurrilla Demo Impressions

2009-04-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Red Faction Guerrilla is a 3rd person shooter set on mars. Now you think that is all you would need for a good game but it gets better. Like the games for the PS2 the main attraction for Red Faction is destruction and you will see that very apparent throughout the game. The new engine named GeoMod2 allows for everything to be destroyed. I don’t mean like Battlefield Bad Company destruction where you can take out the wall I mean you can take a skyscraper from fully erect to a pile of garbage scattered along the ground.

The story for Red Faction from what I could gather from the video that plays voiced by your stereotypical movie announcer before the demo starts, is that you are a guy named Alex Mason and you moved to Mars looking for a new start. But a group called the Earth Defence Force (EDF) has been abusing their power and you as a part of a rebel group called Red Faction are there to bring this corrupt group down.

The demo is your standard here is an area doesn’t go outside of it kind of demo. But for a limited area the demo has a lot of replay value. You start off with some mines, an assault rifle, and your GeoMod Hammer. The hammer is your best friend for destruction in this game, just start swinging and watch everything in your path get obliterated. Eventually in the demo you will be able to take control of one of the three available walkers that will be in the full game. The walker has a vertical and horizontal attack and will destroy anything in your path. With the walker you can just walk through buildings and watch them collapse in a pile of rubble. While all this destruction is awesome there are some slight frame rate problems when you are causing so much destruction. It is nothing significant but you will notice it, and in some cases it will actually make the destruction look cooler. So maybe it works to the game advantage.

All in all the demo was a really fun one to play and this is a game that you should keep an eye on in the near future. The game is set for release on June 2nd.Enjoy the trailer bellow courtest of Giantbomb.

Snaked by an Old Man

2009-04-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, this is more of a personal post than anything. Today I was in my local pawn shop/Buy stuff people probably stole store. I was checking out the videogame section because they usually have some pretty awesome stuff. Today I noticed they had a copy of Resident Evil 4 for 8 dollars.... I was like "FUCK YEAH" so I was thinking of buying it. I was looking around the store some more and came back to the game case noticing some old dude hanging around it also checking the PS2 games. I was about to call a clerk over to open the case so I could grab the game and the old guy calls him before me and BUYS RESIDENT EVIL 4! Like what the hell! This guy was like 70, had 3 missing teeth and the rest were yellow. Smelled like he was sleeping in the alley behind the store for a week or something...

Anyways needless to say I didn't get RE4 but I ended up getting Dark Cloud instead. For those of you that don't know its a very early RPG for the PS2 and it is arguably one of the best. Either way I had a choice of two good games but its just irritating that the one guy snaked a copy of RE4 from me. Oh well there's always next time.

Also check out this new trailer for Bayonetta. This game is really starting to shape up and look very interesting. Trailer courtesy of Giantbomb.

Persona 3 FES Review

2009-04-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Persona 3 FES is the sort for special version of the regular Persona 3 for the PS2. In case you already own the first version of Persona 3, FES allows you to bring over your save file from that game and start playing right away with all the new features. The Shin Megami Tensei games have been among the hardest of the hard core in terms of JRPG’s (Japanese Role Playing Games for those of you not in the loop) and Persona 3 stands up to that hardcore standard, with side quests galore and being over 70 hours long even if you just solider through the main story and do none of the side quests.

Person 3 FES’s story is about a young boy who you get to name who is going to a new school and is staying at one of the local dorms. Upon coming to the dorm a strange boy makes the silent hero sign a contract making him responsible for his own actions as vague as that sounds that what the contract says. After the weird run in with the mysterious boy the hero befalls a strange time called the Dark Hour where demons called Shadows have come out to terrorize this alternate dimension that happens at mid-night. Your character in the midst of this entire calamity learns about this unique power called Persona which allows him to summon demons of all kinds from religions and beliefs to world to help him defeat the shadows. Shortly after your discovery of your power you learn that your dorm mates also have the same power as you but they can only use one persona while you can use any ones you want. The protagonist gets introduced to an item called an Evoker which allows you to summon your persona by forcing it out of your head. How this happens is that the Evoker is kind of like a spirit gun where you whole party points the gun at their head a pull the trigger. Yep you shoot yourself in the face to summon ancient demons; I bet this game had your attention now doesn’t it. Along the way the main character and party members try to find their way to the top of a tower called the Tartarus which only appears during the dark hour to try to find the reason for the dark hour and how to stop it. Tartarus is split into different blocks and the tower as a whole is about 250 floors that you will traverse throughout the whole game.

The combat in the game is set up like you typical JRPG. Your characters have health and magic points and will use a variety of attacks and spells to defeat the foes that they encounter. Each of your party members can only use specific weapons and some have armour specific to their gender. Everyone will also have the choice of one accessory which will grant various bonuses, but with only one slot you have to make your choice wisely. The main character can use any weapon in the game but cannot use the female specific armour. Encounters in Persona 3 are not random, though the dungeon floors are. Each floor is randomly generated but the enemies who are on these floors to not just appear out of random. While you are running around on the floor trying to find the staircase to the next floor black blobs on the floors will represent the shadows and if they see you they will run at you and try to imitate battle. You can either sneak up on an enemy from behind or press X to attack it. If you hit the enemy this way your party will gain a Player Advantage and you will get one extra turn at the start of the battle. But this can also work against you because the shadow can attack you and if this happens the enemy will get an extra turn which can be very bad for you. Extra turns also play a part in battle. If you find an opponent’s weakness you will be rewarded with an extra turn to attack again. You can keep getting these extra turns until you don’t hit an attack that is a weakness or until all the enemies are knocked down. When an enemy is hit with a weakness they are knocked down and will use a turn getting back up when it is their turn again. If you manage to knock down all the enemies at the same time you will be able to use a special team attack where you all attack at once and do a great deal of damage to the enemies. But just the like starting of battle this mechanic can work against you and the enemy can also find your weakness and take advantage of the extra turns given. But your enemies will not be able to do the group attack like you do.

During the progression through the story everything takes place in this one giant tower, with one sound track playing throughout this massive 70+ hour game. Surprisingly this track does not get annoying and eventually gets catchy the more you get through the game. Also during the story you will run into some very interesting new party members ranging from a dog to a shadow destroying robot. This makes a very interesting variety of characters to choose from to be in your party each with their own unique style of playing. It also shows their uniqueness during the story with their different ways of thinking and also their ways of dealing with certain events affect the group as a whole. Your group is controlled by the game AI and not by you but you will be able to affect how the AI picks moves by choosing the fighting type you want your party members to be. So if you have someone with high SP and some healing spells you can set them to act as a healer.

In between battling the shadows in Tartarus you will be attending Gekkoukan High School since you are a student. During your time at school you will be taking mid terms, yeah you heard me right; the hobby you do to get away from the real life is making you go to virtual school. After school you will be able to go into the town to places like the local mall, a shrine, the train station and other places to go explore start making friends. Yep in Persona you will be making “Social Links” during your time. Increasing your relationship with the people with these Social Links will help you when making personas by powering up certain persona types which you will be able to make in the Velvet Room. Along your journey you will be able to capture many personas and then use those to fuse and make new stronger ones in a velvet room based on your social links.

Specific to the Persona 3 FES edition there is a whole other 40+ hour game called The Answer. *Spoilers to the main story ahead* In The Answer you play as Aigis one of the party members from the first story. You learn that after the ending of persona 3 The Journey the main character fell into a coma about a month ago and has just recently been declared dead. Things don’t seem to be looking up either with the SEES dorm being shut down. During one of their celebrations time mysteriously freezes and no longer advancing. After some investigation on this weird happening they discover a maze called the Abyss of Time that is located under the dorm. During the exploration of the maze the team discovers more about the main character from the first story and the reason for his fate. Also a new character named Metis is introduced and she turns out to be Aigis’s sister. *Spoilers End*

With the great original story and the new 40+ hour game The Answer, Peronsa 3 FES is a great deal that you cannot afford to pass up.

Out of the Game Podcast

2009-03-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, just writing to let you guys know about a new podcast that is out. Its called Out of the Game. On this episode Shawn Elliot, Robert Ashley, N'Gai Croal, Jeff Green and Luke Smith are on it. Im not sure but I think the podcast is hosted by Shawn Elliot.

It is an amazing crew and the topics are very interesting, like how technology like facebook and twitter is changing the life of people and how it can affect people in the future. Be sure to give it a listen.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Rant

2009-03-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

With the latest news from Eurogamer about Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 I am actually kind of angry. When I first heard of the news that Ninja Gaiden 2 was coming to the PS3 I was very excited. The thought of news levels, new enemy types and new characters to play with sounded super fun. But now that the news came out that the new director was taking it in a new.... non gory, casual direction I was kind of unsold on the game.

Ninja Gaiden in my mind is all about the stylish action and intense difficulty. With the announcement of the game only having two difficulty modes and the blood being removed from the game and being replaced with a purple mist sounds like they are trying to go for a broader audience on what we all know is a "hardcore" game. I could see if the purple mist came out of field characters but I think we all know the humans bleed..... you know, blood. There has also been talk of DLC content "that will be meaningful and will extend to the experience. This to me screams "We're going to release the difficulty modes later to milk some money you of you guys".

Don't get me wrong the new additions to the game sound awesome and the co-op features are just getting me anxious to take my ninja skills online but these so called "new features" just sound straight up weird to me. Maybe the new producer Yosuke Hayashi has something against Tomonobu Itagaki or something but taking the game in this new artsy way just doesn’t sell to me. They could have had the purple mist as an option while also leaving the blood in like Gears 2 style violence filter. If they sell difficulty levels as DLC so help me I'm probably going to buy them, I guess I'm just part of the problem as well.

Here is the video to check it out for yourself.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 'GDC 2009' trailer HD

Kickin' it last gen

2009-02-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Lately I havent been playing anything new for this gen but I am looking at Street Fighter 4 and Killzone 2. But what has been suprising for me is that I went back to my PS2 collection and started to play Devil May Cry 3 again. I have the special edition so I have mostly been playing as virgel.

I thought going back to this game would be like a little trip down memory lane because I remebered loving it when I first got it. But the game turned out to hold my intrest enough to beat it 3 times now (Twice with virgle and once with Dante) even 4 years later. This game is actually my favorite action game of all time followed up by Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Even though it is hard and the last boss made me smash my television remote it is still my favorite.

The bonus stuff in the Special Edition is actually worth while. While the difficulty has been turned down from the original version the new easy is easier than the original version but they add a new very hard mode which brings back the original challenge from the original game. So your not losing out on challenge if that is what your looking for.

If you have ever played a DMC game then you know what this game is all about. Over the top cutsceens and action with some rediculously hard game play. If you are looking for a challenging game you should play this.

New Final Fantasy XII Trailer

2009-01-29T13:51:00.000-08:00

Square Enix as just released a new FFXIII trailer and it's finaly showing off the gameplay! I loved the new direction they took the battle system in FFXII and I am glad that they are embrasing the idea and taking the Final Fantasy series in a new direction other than the boring cookie cutter turn based JRPG. Check the video here curtosy of Giantbomb.com (Video is too big to embed)

Back to the beats

2009-01-27T10:26:00.001-08:00

Now I haven't been making and music related posts in a while and with so many great songs that I have been listening to lately I thought now would be a great time.

We start things off with a band I have been following for a while now on TheSixtyOne.com They are called Florence and the Machine. Their new song "Dog Days are Over" has just captivated me for the past week. You can check out their other single "Kiss with a Fist" here but just click below for the video to Dog Days.

Another band that has caught my attention recently is Delta Spirit. They have a very upbeat rock sound that just makes you want to get up and dance. Songs like Trashcan and Motivation are great songs to listen to while driving to or just while being outside on a sunny day. You can check out the song Trashcan here and look below for the video to Motivation.

On the hip hop sceen check out the group Hilltop Hoods with their song Nosebleed Section. With a catchy flute section going on throught the song and some great rhymes this song should be stuck in your head for a while. Check below for the audio. (No video for this song.)

Next post look forward to my thoughts on the retail copy of Skate 2.

Resistance 2 Review

2009-01-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

Resistance 2 is sequel to the very good first person shooter Resistance: Fall of Man which was a launch title for the Playstation 3. It see ms in this game it takes the story telling aspect of the first game and just kind of throws it out the window in favour for a more focused multiplayer mode.

This game picks up literally where the first one left off. You, as the only survivor of an American army troop Nathan Hale is trudging through the snow in a blizzard after shutting down a main chimera base in the first game. You are picked up by these mysterious soldiers and sedated. You wake up in an underground base where you have been given a type of medicine that will control your chimeran infection. This is basically the most detailed story telling that is in the game. Compared to the first game that heavily went and built up the lore of Resistance and how the alien invasion is converting people to their side, this game just throws in a brief voice clip just saying why something in the last game does not add up with the new game. One example of this is when you first encounter these fleshy looking sacks in a neighbourhood. Then to explain why there are these aliens inside your team mate just goes “Makes you miss the days that they needed conversion pods”.... and that’s it. No back story no nothing.

The game play in the story mode sort of saves the story telling though. This game is a solid first person shooter in terms of mechanics. Controls are very streamlined and you can tell that they borrowed some options from other successful shooters; but that is not a bad thing. Enemies are very smart and if you are not careful will kill you very fast. But sometimes kill you fast anyways. I found myself restarting a level many, many times because the enemies come at you fast and furious with bullets and just kill you so fast that you don’t even realize where the bullets came from. Other than the sometimes quick deaths the combat is solid and fun and that carries over to the multiplayer as well.

Multiplayer is something to be seen in Resistance 2. It has accomplished what used to be only be done on the PC’s and this is massive 60 player online battles. As you would think these battles are hectic but to make things more manageable the teams have been split up into 5 player squads so that you’re not just hearing voice chatter from every single person on your team. Most of these matches however just turn into running around randomly in a big map shooting every enemy you see. The team with the most miniscule of teamwork will win though. Small maps are really where it is at for more team based play but there are no gripes with the multiplayer and in my opinion it is good enough to give Call of Duty 4 a run for its money.

Other than the bad story telling compared to the last game and the sometimes super quick deaths in the single player campaign Resistance 2 is a very solid first person shooter that should not be missed by the Playstation 3 audience.

Sad Times my friends, sad times

2009-01-06T21:09:00.001-08:00

I’m am sad to report that Electronic Gaming Monthly is now deaced. According to the current news story on 1up.com the site has been bought by UGO. As a long time reader of EGM this news saddened me A LOT. I literaly shed a tear.

Here is the sad news. On the NEO GAF thread they have posted the list of people who have been fired. Some people internet icons and others just amazing talent.

Here is the list.

Adrian Frieg
Amy Mishra
Amy Moran
Andrea Garcia
Andrew Fitch
Andrew “Skip” Pfister (Man behind the podcasts)
Anthony Gallegos
Cesar Quintero
Christina Rosa
CoyLou Steel
Derek Chinn
Doug Parsons
Eric Ellis
Giancarlo Varanini
Greg Ford
James “Milkman” Mielke (Editor and cheif)
Jason Bertrand
Jason Wilson
Jervilyn Jaramillo
Justin Frechette
Leslie Gelfand
Marci Yamaguchi
Matt Chandronait
May Tong
Meredith Stowe
Michael Donahoe
Monique Convertito
Ndubuisi Madu
Nick Suttner
Norris Boothe
Philip Kollar
Rey Serrano
Robert Bowen
Rosemary Pinkham
Ryan O’Donnell
Ryan Scott (King of the Internet)
Shane Bettenhausen (Internet Superstar and know Sony Fanboy)
Simon Cox
Tammy Ross
Tipler Ubbelohde

It is sad to see these people go but the fun times they have brought us videogame geeks will not be forgoten.

What I'm Playing

2009-01-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

I have been playing a lot of games recently. After all the christmas stuff I went on a game buying spree.

The first game is Resistance 2. That game is a really good FPS and I see it taking a lot of time away from me playing CoD4 but the story telling comapred to the first game is really bad. But the multiplayer more than makes up for that.

The second game is Little Big Planet. When I bought this I was kind of sceptic. I thought that I would go through the main pre made levels and just then mooch off the other users creating stuff. At first that was the case but all these amazing levels that have been made are inspireing and have gotten me to make new levels.

The third game is Rock Band 2. If you have read my review for Rock Band 1 you know how much I love this game. This game is Rock Band 1 but with more features. It is a must buy for anyone from casual to hardcore.

The fourth game is a special one. Chrono Trigger has been released for the Nintendo DS and I am IN LOVE with this game. After being told by friends how great it is I conviced myself to check it out and it was a good decision. This game has everything. Amazing story telling, amazing gameplay, great world. It is in my humble opinion the perfect RPG. If you do not buy this game then you do not deserve to play videogames.

That's it for videogames.

Check out this great cover of David Bowie's song Space Oddity by the band Cat Power. I t's Cat Power, and its Bowie.... you can't go wrong. I can only find it in the comercial it was used in so its breif. But if anyone can find a full version on this song please put a link to it in the comments.

Merry Videogame Christmas

2008-12-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Just wanted to wish all of the fellow readers a Merry Christmas. Also i come berring gifts in data form. Actually not me but Doctor Octoroc bring some gifts in terms of christmas songs. This person has redone your favorite christmas tunes but with an old school NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) sound chip. Also each song title is a play on a game title and if you listen closely you will here sound clips taken from those games and used in the songs.

The album is called 8-bit Jesus and it is a free download, but if you want you can donate 15 dollars to get a physical copy of it mailed to you. Or 30 dollars for two and so on. What a christmas gift LOL. You can get it here. Also check out his blog at http://www.doctoroctoroc.com

Merry Christmas everyone and happy new year.

My new favorite evil cutsceen.

2008-12-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

I was crusing through the internet and remebered how I used to love the Xenosaga series for the PS2. Then I remebered the villan. He is possibly the most evil villan that has ever been in a videogame. Albedo is crazy. Check out this video for the reason.

Yeah.....

Long time no see..... <,<

2008-12-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

For all of the zero people who have been reading this blog I am back. School got busy and then I kind of forgot about the blog. But that has nothing to do with videogames!

Well I bought Far Cry 2 like I said I would, and I beat it. I have some more gripes with that game but they will be mentioned in the forthcoming review (which I will start writing after my exams). The other game I bought a while ago is Fallout 3. I can't get enough of this game, but what I can get enough of is the constant freezing on the PS3 version whenever one of my friends logs in or messages me. I have beaten the main story and a good majority of the side quests. But I want to play the evil side before I make any final thoughts. Plus I am going to play evil side when trophies come out for that game so it might be a while for a review.

I am currently looking forward to the holiday season because that means I get some cash for games! I am looking forward to trying out Rock Band 2 and Resistance 2. I know I am going to love RB2 and Resistance 2 also looks amazing but I am kind of not looking forward to the story because of what I heard. If anyone wants to challenge me to a drum battle in Rock Band/Rock Band 2 my PSN ID is Killroycantkill.

The last game I have been playing since I beat those two next gen games is Persona 3. With all the hype over Persona 4 I thought I would go back and try to finish it. I forgot how much I love this game. The setting; the story; the art style. I love it all. For those of you that don't know the main part of the game that most North American audiences will know this game for is the game that you shoot youself in the face to get your magic on. Also I have been noticing a lot more relgious nudges in the later part of the game (I know you use demons to fight....). Also the social aspect of the game is really fun. Meeting interesting people and traversing through very interesting stories is great. I have put this game in my top 3 favorite JRPG's and I would recomend it to anyone wanting a great JRPG to play, or just go buy Persona 4 because it looks awesome as well.

In the music sceen, check out Eagles of Death Metals new album called "Heart On". Great rock and roll album and great driving music.

I will be updating this blog more since I am on winter break now so I will see you later.

First Impressions: Far Cry 2

2008-10-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

I picked up Far Cry 2 about 2 days ago. As soon as I put it in my system I was having loads of fun. Until I started to notice some of the quirks the game has.

Far Cry 2 is a good game don't get me wrong. But the weird thing with this game is that what it does good it does amazing, but what it does bad makes me want to snap a controller. The game itself is beautiful. It has amazing landscapes and the environments natural switch from one to another while your traveling through the seemingly endless world. The day and night cycle is impressive. Especially when you go into your safe house and watch the day go by in fast forward and seeing all the shadow changes and such. Having buddies in the game make it more fun so when you eventually die in the game sometimes instead of getting the game over screen you will get a nice little cut scene of your buddy saving you from the battlefield and dragging you to safety. The weapons are all nice looking and have a great feel to them. But this is where the negativity starts.

The weapons in this game get rusty over time causing the weapons to jam and backfire. Enemies never seem to have this problem though. They just shoot full auto hitting you with every bullet the shoot but when you kill them and pick up their weapons it is only usable for about a minute if that. The enemies in Far Cry also seem to have metal for skin because they can take a full clip of ammo sometimes and not die. Another thing is that the AI in this game goes from retarded to genius in like a blink of an eye. Say when you are sniping from a tower and they see you with there vision like that have binoculars strapped to there eyes or something, they will get in a car.... but not know how to drive it. They will be running into houses signs and even their own enemies.

Even with those complaints I am still enjoying the game it just seems I would be enjoying it a lot more if they just had more time to work on the game and get rid of these quirks. Look for a full review soon.

Reason I am getting Far Cry 2 on PS3 and not PC.

2008-10-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

The reason is this.

I will never ever be able to run that on my computer. LOOK AT THE PHYSICS! That would chew up and spit out my PC. But I am still excited for the game even if i dont get some sweet PC mods. Well back to studying.

Mother 3

2008-10-17T19:08:00.001-07:00

The fan translation is done! http://mother3.fobby.net/

Get it, fools!

Linger in Shadows: Art?

2008-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well... this is an interesting topic. Linger in Shadows is titled on the PSN store as "Interactive Art". While I am a firm believer that video games can be art, this game is not one of them.

Linger in Shadows basically have you watching a video but having some cool motion controller moves. While the actually art style is cool in the game the game it self is not art per say. There is not much to say about it. Watch the movie and figure out how to go to the next screen when it does the crazy rewind when it reaches the end of the scean and forces you to find the path to move on. Some are as simple as pressing the O button or just shaking the controller wildly.

In short (even shorter than this post is) the game (to me) is not art. It is a nice tech demo showing off interesting ways of using the sixaxis but it is not art. But I guess art is like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder.

I cant complain much though because this piece of "interactive art" is only three dollars. So i guess you cannot expect that much from it. The one good thing I can say about this game is that it has got some easy trophies. If you are looking to get another level on your PSN ID pick it up.

A Total Melvin says, "Play E4 for Christ's sake."

2008-10-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

Every Extra Extend Extreme (or E4) for the Xbox Live Arcade is goddamn cool. I've had such a ridiculously fun time playing it over the past two days, I'm wondering why the hell I hadn't played it before. It might induce a seizure with it's exorbant use of bright colours and flashes, but that's a risk I'm willing to take! Gamers sacrifice a lot these days, I tell ya.

I mean, look at that picture. It looks really confusing, but the learning curve is so short, that you'll get the hang of things in minutes. I'd write more but it's late and I have to play more E4.

Uh.

I mean sleep. And have pleasant dreams

about E4.

A Total Melvin's Musical Review: Day 3

2008-10-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've missed a few days. This was definitely harder than I thought. Anyway, no need to stop now. Let's move on.

Wild Nation Mountain by Blitzen Trapper

I was going to do another band here at first, named Cloud Cult. I think the album was Aurora Borealis. I'll probably be able to tackle that one another day. For now, it's onto Blitzen Trapper!

It's pretty damn difficult to pin point the genre here. It's definitely got country vibe, but a lot of the songs have psychedelic pop incorporated into them. Songs rarely keep the same pace or sound the same for very long. It's not a bad thing at all - many of the songs benefit from this, for sure. It's a pretty slick record.

I wasn't a fan of all the tunes, but there were some stand outs: "Wild Mountain Nation", "Miss Spiritual Tramp", and "Country Caravan" among a couple others. It may not be your thing, but give it a shot. You might be surprised.

3/5

TGS: Games that have caught my eye to far.

2008-10-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

With the Tokyo Game Show in full effect new videos and information on games that we having been looking forward to are coming out. I have been looking forward to a lot of games this year (Bayonetta you got some sexy glasses). Here are just a few I am becoming hyped about.

Bayonetta: This game is made by Platinum Games Inc. The people that are bringing you MadWorld and also who used to be a part of Clover who brought you Okami and GodHand. With it looking like a badass action game in the vain of DMC and looking beautiful (and im not just talking about the main charictar) this game is looking good.

Bayonetta 'TGS 2008' trailer

Noby Noby Boy: A new PSN title from the people that brought you Katamri Damacy.... Thats really all i can say about it other than i like the tune. I have NO CLUE what is going on in this game.

Noby Noby Boy 'TGS 2008' trailer

Resident Evil 5: An obvious choice but man. This new trailer is making me giddy. I need to blow up zombie tentacle heads sooner more than later.

Resident Evil 5 'TGS 2008 Play God' trailer

No More Heros 2: Now this game is one of my all time favorite Wii games and I cannot believe they licensed a sequel. I also think that Travis Touchdown needs a rival who's last name is Feildgoal.

No More Heroes 2 'TGS 2008' trailer

Thats the games for now... But there are still three days to go and plenty more games.

A Total Melvin's Musical Review: Day 2

2008-10-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, Avalanche by The Octopus Project:

With a band like The Octopus Project, and album art like that, you can't really expect the norm when listening to this can you? Okay, so maybe that's a little judgemental. Alright, alright - it's very judgemental.

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect at all. I knew nothing of the band before listening to the album, just as I knew nothing about Menomena. I was in a for a pleasant surprise. Hello, Avalanche is a solid instrumental album from start to finish. It's not catchy "pop" music, but all the song has serious rhythm and beats. I wasn't always able to comprehend what all the instruments being used were, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it any less.

The only problem was that some songs seemed to take their time to build up to something great, but they would fall flat. Not in an enormously terrible way at all, don't get me wrong - all the songs were good. But there was build up that felt like it went no where. I'd call it disappointment.

Except for the last song. That was the opposite of disappointment.

3/5

A Total Melvin's Musical Review: Day 1

2008-10-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's time to try a little experiment! In order to expand my musical horizons and expose myself to different genres, I've decided to review a CD every day for a month. A couple important rules are:

1: It has to be a different band everyday. I cannot review more than one album per band.
2: I have to listen to the entire album for the first time the day of the review.

That's pretty much it. These are not going to be in depth reviews that will blow your mind, but that is not the idea. The idea is to explore and listen to as much music as I possibly can over the next month - and to tell you about it. They will also be very short and to the point - I can't say that I have time to write an essay on each album. Perhaps if I find more time to deticate to this project, I will write more formal, informative pieces.

Up first: Friend And Foe by Menomena

What a fantastic start to the project! Friend or Foe is a unique, unconventional album with awesome piano riffs amongst banging drums and horns. Although it may feel random and unexpected, Menomena still manages to create catchy pop songs. I can't really say much about their lyrical content - perhaps after a few more listens I'll be able to catch and process what is being said - but one thing I can say for now, is that the vocal performance for each song is fantastic.

Before today, I knew nothing of this band. Now, I consider myself a fan. This might have been a better idea than I thought.

4/5

Pure Review

2008-10-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Pure is a new ATV racing game by Blackrock Studios and Disney…. Yes I know what you’re thinking. Disney doesn’t make good games, but you would be wrong in this case. Pure takes the ATV racing genera and SSX’s its up. Big speed and huge air is the name of the game and you will have plenty of chances to experience both.

Pure has an interesting new twist on customizing your vehicles in that you create your ATV from scratch. That’s right you don’t get a pre-made model then add some performance parts and a little paint job. You start off with nothing and add frames, breaks, transition, engine and the entire exterior of the bike such as the body and the mirrors and footholds. This allows for some very unique bike designs and a one-hundred percent chance that you will not see your exact same bike while riding online.

Tracks in Pure are beautiful to say the least. Tracks range from Italian mountain trails to icy landscapes where the ATV’s will slip and slide struggling for grip. Each track has plenty of alternative routes but the one main gripe I have with the tracks is that there is only one way around each track that will give you an optimal time on your lap. Unlike other off-road racing games like Motorstorm that have multiple paths that make it even for every player to use in Pure you can go through the whole track without crashing but if someone uses the optimal path he can beat you by a pretty hefty distance even with crashing a couple of times. The main progression through the single player is to get through these different event cards by getting a certain amount of points in each event within the card. You need a certain amount of point go progress to each card and eventually you will unlock higher grade engines and new parts to customise your ATV with. It is a very boring process and really the only reward is getting the new upgrades. This process is a major flaw with the game making it very unappealing goes to through. Each track eventually seems longer to get through because you have played it so many times.

Races are massive with sixteen other opponents racing against you offline and online. That’s right sixteen player online multiplayer in all modes. Races are straight forward haul your ass around the track as fast as you can and try to be in first place at the end of lap three. Sprint is the same idea as race but with a smaller track and five laps instead of three. Then there is freestyle. Freestyle has the same sixteen player match up as all the other modes but instead of getting a score before I time limit runs out you have to get the highest score before you run out of gas. As you go through the track there are also score multipliers, gas freezers and boost upgrades. The bigger and harder the tricks the bigger the score and the more tricks you do within the combo time limit the high the multiplier.

Freestyle is where the tricks come in. Tricks are tied with your boost. When you first start a race you only have access to the X button. These tricks are short and pretty average for your ATV tricks. As you gain more boost you get access to the circle button and those are your medium difficulty tricks such as superman seatgrabs and Cordova’s. Then again do more tricks build up your boost and gain the trick mapped to the triangle button and those are the more insane tricks until you completely fill the bar and get your special tricks. This is the point that shit get bat-shit insane. These tricks are something out of a…. well…. SSX game. These tricks will have you twisting and flipping around and with your ATV while somehow being within the laws of gravity and physics just enough that you will be able to land it. If these tricks could be landed in real life I think most of our heads would explode from just trying to figure out how these people do it.

With the trick system being solid and the sixteen player competition online and off keeps the events fresh and exciting. But the boring progression through the single player makes the game a snore to progress through. Pure is a solid racing game that will keep you entertained for the time being but will not leave a lasting memory with all these triple A games on the horizon.

What I was afraid of.

2008-10-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well as most of you that own a PS3 know by now. Burnout Paradise has trophies and i am excited. I got a bunch of trophies but after reading online that you have to have a fresh save file to get every single trophy in the game..... Well this lead me to deleting my 96% complete save file to start a new and get all the trophies....

This is what I was afraid of, these superfical achivments are going to have me addicted to console gaming even more than I already am. I just hope I dont turn out to be like Jeff Gerstmann and start playing games I would not play normaly (Like Avatar aka Free 1000 points for press a button), lets just not hope it comes to that.

I have mentioned before that a Fleet Foxes album review is forthcoming but it has been put on hold. In the meen time look forward to a review of the new ATV racing game Pure.

Songs to check out.

2008-09-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Dan Deacon - Crystal Cat
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Justice - DVNO
Priestess - Talk To Her

That is all. Continue on with your lives.

Lakeview Terrace and other random tidbits.

2008-09-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Well I have just got back from watching the movie Lakeview Terrace at my local theater..... and well..... that movie is terrible. That's the long and short of it, all of the plot details are obvious throughout the movie the acting is sub par at best and out can tell what is going to happen and what the reasons for the antagonists motives from the beginning of the movie. I would suggest no one reading this go see it.

But other than bad movies, I found this sweet picture from Shawn Elliots twitter page (Which is located on my links gadget on the side of the page). If you are a fan of Team Fortress 2 then you will love this.
Come on, how can you not find that awesome. A level 3 sentry gun made of lego. Either someone has too much time on their hand or they aboslutly LOVE TF2.... or both.

Pure Demo (Thoughts)

2008-09-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

The Pure demo has finally come out on the PSN so I went and checked it out. I have been pretty hyped at this game for a while and I was excited for the "SSX on wheels" idea, and it seems that it has worked out really well.

Pure is an ATV raceing game. Yep, you go around a track and try to beat the other racers, but what makes this game so much fun? The verticality of these MASSIVE jumps that are in the game. These jump will have you falling hundreds of feet and sometimes seeing the whole track. Also to make those jumps a little more exciting Pure has a wide veriety of tricks that are linked to the boost system. The tricks are based off of three face buttons on the controler (on the PS3 it's the X, Circle, and Triangle buttons) and when you first start off you only have access to the tricks maped to the X button. These tricks are very easy and short to pull off but as you land those your boost meter fills up and you will eventualy unlock the tricks maped to the Circle and Triangle buttons. Then when you fill your boost meter you will unlock the special tricks which are like SSX Uber Tricks but tonned down a little. This system brings an intresting dynamic to the race of chooseing weither to use your boost right away or wait until you have a lot and get a bigger speed boost.

The game is a feast for the eyes. The demo track that you get is beautiful and has alot of diffrent track elements just as mud, and flooded areas. As you run through these areas your bike get progessively dirtier, as with your rider. The PS3 version has a more soft colour tone which is not better for me, I much prefer the Xbox 360s versons vibrant colours.

The demo does not let you check out Pures apperantly deep bike customising feature but what do you expect from a demo. I personaly cannot wait until the game comes out in retail and I am really looking forward to playing it after playing this demo.

(Look forward to a Fleet Foxes album review coming soon)

of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping (Preview)

2008-09-18T17:05:00.002-07:00

For those of you that don’t know, Of Montreal is a indie pop band from Polyvinyl Records. Their new CD Skeletal Lamping has been leaked onto the internet and I have heard it and am here just to give you a preview of the full album because I should not put out a full review until it releases on October 7th.

Skeletal Lamping is the ninth studio album from the band. They have had big indie success but have never been able to break it into the mainstream, in my opinion due to their really offbeat sound and far out there beats and tones. Of Montreal has put out one of the songs from the album called Nonpareil of Favor up on the indie music site thesixtyone.com. On the site the song has been getting a lot of praise. According to Kevin Barnes the CD is expressing his change from Kevin Barnes to his on stage persona Georgie Fruit. This is just like David Bowie and his alternate persona Ziggy Stardust. Coincidental David Bowie is Kevin Barnes favorite artist.

The Album it self is really good. There are minor parts of individual songs that you could argue of being unnecessary (Like the noise part of the song Nonpareil of Favor) but overall the album is very good. During the course of the album you can really notice the change of music style as Kevin changes into Georgie. It starts off really upbeat and gets a little more mellow as you go through the album. The downloaded album seems like it is not actually in the order it is suppost to be with weird transitions between each song that just don’t seem right.

From the download the album is looking really good but I will wait until the full album comes out to bring a final review.

Notable Songs: For Our Elegant Castle, Beware Our Nubile Miscreants, Gallery Peice

Justice Cross Album Review

2008-09-18T17:05:00.001-07:00

The album I am going to review is called Cross by a French Electro / Disco / Dance group called Justice. The group consists of two guys. Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay and they are with Ed Banger Records and they are managed by the head of that company Pedro Winter. This album has had rave reviews since it came out in 2007 and some reviewers have liked this band so much that to even call this duo the next Daft Punk. With all this hype I decided to pick it up and now I will tell you my thoughts on the album.

The album has a very upbeat feel to most of the songs. It’s a good party album if your friends are into this type of music, it will have them getting up off the couch and wanting to dance in no time. All the songs are in my opinion hits. Every song has a unique style to it while all remaining familiar with Justice’s sound. There single for the album is D.A.N.C.E which I assume isn’t an acronym for anything. But it is there biggest hit on the album and the memorable chorus is sung by a all boy’s choir and is very, VERY catchy. Another song that really appeals to me is DVNO which just recently was released as a single and also the song Stress. The song just caputres the feeling of stress perfectly. It has a very unique sound, possibly the most unique one on the album accept the Thee Party which is in colaberation with Uffie.

With every song melding into eachother amazingly and there up-beat dance sound makeing you want to get up and dance yourself. This album is deffinatly one to pick up, or download for all you Itunes users.

Pros:
Awesome album in general Makes you want shake your “groove thing”

Cons:
Album is not for everyone. Some songs might be too “out there” for some people.

Rock Band 1 Review

2008-09-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Just before I start I would like to mention that this review has been hosted on my profiles at Gamespot, Giantbomb, and Oddlotsirregulars. So if you have seen this on one of those sites I am the same person.

Rock Band is a multiplatform rhythm game for the Playstation 3, and Xbox360 (Also soon for the Wii) made by Harmonix (ex Guitar Hero guys). As stated Rock Band is a rhythm game that has you pressing buttons on plastic instruments as notes come streaming towards you on the screen. The game comes with a guitar, drum set, and a microphone (considering you get the special edition version of the game). The game has a pretty steep price tag for the whole package but the game is definitely worth the price. Or now if you don't want every instrument they now sell all the peripherals separately so you can buy the game and just one instrument if you want.

Songs are mainly focused for multiplayer gaming but that dose not mean that playing the single player is any less fun. For single player you choose your instruments from the ones listed above, create your character and then you start rocking. The game is played by pressing coloured buttons on your instrument corresponding with the colours that flow down the chart. Also via the Guitar Hero series they have the super power of the game called Overdrive. You get this by hitting a series of white gems that occasionally scroll down the screen and when you get your bar half filled you either tilt you guitar or play the drum fill to activate it. This power gives you double points for notes and also refills your rock meter at the side faster which will help you on tough parts of the songs. The main set list contains of 58 songs with such great songs as Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who, Foreplay/Longtime by Boston, Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, the list goes on. Also Harmonix have put in the famous bonus track list with bands like Freezepop and Honest Bob and the Factory to Dealer Incentives. These bonus tracks are great additions to the list and go along well with all the main songs.

The difficulty of Rock Band starts off easy enough for people who are new to the rhythm genre to be able to play and have fun, but in the high difficulties it is challenging enough to keep you veterans of the timed button mashing on your toes. Also the difficulty curve is very even. There is never a point in the game where you will be playing a set on medium then the next set on medium will just come out of know where and kick your ass (*cough* last set on Guitar Hero 3 on expert *cough*). The hardest of all the instruments though is unsurprisingly the drums. The kick pedal is a new thing for your brain to get used to and will be hard at first but as you get later into the game you will be wondering how you ever had a hard time with it.

The guitar for Rock Band is modeled off the real life guitar, the Fender Stratocaster and is solidly built and is also wireless. Unfortunately it dose not connect directly to your systems wireless, it is wireless because you have to plug in a wireless nub into one of our systems USB ports. The neck on the guitar is thinner than I would like it to be since I am used to the Guitar Hero neck thickness but it is still comfortable none the less. The button set up is your standard five button set up with your favourite green, red, yellow, blue, and orange buttons. The one cool new feature on the guitar controller is the added "Solo Buttons" on the lower neck of the guitar. These buttons are smaller and closer together. When you get into a solo on the guitar track (you will know when you are in it when the note path goes all blue and a percent sign shows up above the path.) you are able to hit all those notes without strumming which is a great help on the harder difficulties. Like the insane solo on the song Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws. Also another new feature on the guitar a little slider on the guitar which changes the sound effect that the guitar makes when you go into overdrive mode. It is not a big part to the game but it adds some fun. Also the bass is set up the same way as the guitar; accept the multiplier can go up to six instead of only the regular four.

The drums are one of the more interesting instruments to play in the game. It has four main pads that you hit with the drum sticks and the bass pedal on the floor. The drum set is wired, but that is good because you do not want any latency between you hitting the pad and the notes on the screen. When you first start drums the bass pedal will be the bane of your existence and you will possibly want to smash it. But once you get used to it you will be able to alternate between hitting the pads and the pedal without thinking about it. Some of the song gets ridiculously hard on the drums. For example Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden. This song was the last song I beat on the drums and it is noted as the second hardest song…… The song is just a flurry of red coming at you all the time for the whole song. The drums are not the sturdiest of the instruments; in fact I had my bass pedal snap in half on me. Nothing a little duck tape couldn't fix but that's not the point. The drums are going to be smashed on they should have made them a little sturdier. The last instrument is the microphone. It is a standard microphone… There is nothing special about it. The game play for singing is your standard karaoke game the words come across the screen and you have to sing the word at a certain pitch. One cool thing is that when like a tambourine or cowbell part comes up in the song these circles and when they get in the area you hit the microphone against your hand like a tambourine and it's a really fun addition to the singing.

Even though the single player game is straight forward complete a set of songs then move on to the next until you are done. The multiplayer has a more depth to it then that. In multiplayer you have your standard quick play option but now you also have Band World Tour. This mode you and a friend make a character or use previous ones that you have created and make your own band. You get to make your own band name, choose where you're from and then you're off. In the start you play the easier sets getting money and getting fans. The more fans you have the more venues and song you can play. But also the game forces you to get better so you can't just cruise all the way through the world tour mode on easy. Eventually when you get to a certain amount of fans you will have to move up a difficulty level. The difficulty raise dose not come too fast that's to the latest patch and the songs do not repeat too often so you won't be hearing the same song over and over in the set lists.

The game has been out for a while and with that a ton of downloadable content has come along with it. Rock Band has been coming out with a minimum of three songs a week since it came out. Since then they have also released two albums. They have released Judas Priest album Screaming for Justice and The Cars self titled album. All the songs are priced at $1.99 unless otherwise posted like on whole albums or song packs.

The game overall rocks (pun intended). You have a great 58 song list before any type of DLC and with the DLC the list climbs to 100+. Great peripherals to rock on, amazing note charts, and a whole bag o fun in multiplayer Rock Band is game that you have to add to your collection. Between rocking out with your friends and three new songs coming out every week Rock Band will have you playing for a long time to come.

Pros: Great rhythm game, good graphics, great song list, superb note charts, there's an instrument for everyone.

Cons: Instruments are a little fragile, single player mode dose not stack up to the fun of multiplayer