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For those of you who sort of follow gaming news, however few of you there are, probably have been following the Tokyo Game Show, which is probably the biggest show there is for gaming now that E3 is dead. Long Live E3. So, there are a lot of bombshells and great announcements to come from TGS, and if you want to know what they are I suggest you look at a website that blogs about games. Might I recommend Kotaku. See, I am not here to report all the crap that was announced at TGS. Rather, I want to start a discussion as to the things that excited us. Well, now that I got this out of the way way, let me begin.
Continue reading TGS is going on, what excites you?
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This would be the sorry for me being slow, at least it's still the calm before the storm edition. Oh well, here's this week's BALLIN release list:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Fracture
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009 | •Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•Guilty Gear 2: Overture
•Fracture
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009 | •Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
•Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•Game Party II
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•NBA Live 2009 All Play
•Ten Pin Alley 2 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •My Spanish Coach
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA Live 2009
PC
•Baseball Mogul 2009
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also available in a limited edition)
•Can You See What I See
•Dark Horizon
•Etch A Sketch
•Exodus from the Earth
•The Guild 2: Venice
•Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Baseball Mogul 2009
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also available in a limited edition)
•Can You See What I See
•Dark Horizon
•Etch A Sketch
•Exodus from the Earth
•The Guild 2: Venice
•Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Crash: Mind Over Mutant
•NBA 09: The Inside
•NBA 2K9
•NBA Live 2009
•Onimusha: The Essentials |
 Anyways, the highlight this week is Fracture. In case you don't know, Fracture is a third person shooter like so many others. What sets this one apart from the rest is the ability to manipulate the terrain around you. Neat idea on paper, but the actual games falls victim to the disease affecting so many other games today: more of the same. The actual shooting portion of the game is just not that great. It feels like every other third person from the past two or three years. But that's not my biggest issue with the game. I truly have a problem with how it seems very linear and hand-holding in what you need to do. LucasArts really should have taken this game and made it more into a free roaming style experience with some clever puzzle solving aspects rather than a generic third person shooter that rips borrows something from every big name game over the past couple of years.
It may sound like I didn't like Fracture, but that's not the case at all. The game is pretty fun, but nowhere near $60 fun. Wait for this one to hit $20 or $30 before buying. Or if you're unsure, try out the demo on Playstation Network or Xbox Live.
Also out this week is the latest game based on the Bleach anime series. The only reason I mention it is because one of my favorite developers, Treasure, made it. I didn't highlight in the release list because I hate Bleach and it's wannabe Chuckie main character.
Another big release this week, and a possibly game of the year contender will be released this week: Etch-A-Sketch for the PC. In case you have not been following the massive hype surrounding this game, Etch-A-Sketch is the new prequel to the classic MS Paint which appears to feature a special guest appearance from a silver Pac-Man. Wonder why they decided to bring out a prequel over 20 years after the original, but maybe they can ride the cash wave of casual games. For me, I'll be sticking with Paint.
Finally this week, notice Ten Pin Alley 2 in the Wii's release list? This is the perfect example of how bad the shovelware situation on the Wii has become. Did you ever hear of the first game? It was a mediocre bowling game released in the US in 1996 for the PC and PS1. Yeah. We're digging up mediocre 12 year old franchise and shoehorning in Wiimote controls in hopes of a little money. Nice going Jack of All Games, whoever you are.
Come back next week when the REAL wallet raping begins. Now if you'll excuse me, I just got a LittleBigPlanet beta key in my email. 
 First off, let me say I'm a huge BioWare fan. I'm also a Sega fan in general and while Sonic isn't super high on my top lists of titles or franchises, especially lately, I still enjoy the Sega Genesis titles from that series. So while you read this, keep in mind that these impressions come from someone with no particular loyalty to the series but instead, from an RPG fan, a BioWare fan and someone who doesn't get as much use out of his DS for lack of games suited to his tastes. In fact, this is the first DS game I've bought this year.
Now I admit, I was a bit hesitant on picking this up. This is after all BioWare's first title on the DS and also it's first ever handheld title period. Sonic as a franchise seemed almost un-salvageable as a quality series and it has earned some harsh criticism due to it's overall downfall. Don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to it's release, but that's as much from curiosity as it was the prospect of a DS RPG from my favorite developer. In the end it was my faith in BioWare as a developer while owning and loving every game they've made so far that convinced me to take a leap of faith and plunk down the $40.
Continue reading Initial Impressions: Sonic Chronicles for the DS
In the early to mid-1980's, the North American video game market began to severely decline. Too many companies tried to make a quick buck with their own video game systems, like the Fairchild Channel F, and the Bally Astrocade. Also, the software companies began to just put out basically shit to keep up, for example, Atari's E. T. The Extra Terrestrial. After this, the market plummeted sharply and completely crashed in 1983. The North American video game market would not recover from this crash for 2 years.
Then, in 1985, a small, unknown Japanese company called Nintendo, decided to bring their Family Computer (also called the Famicom for short), video game system to our shores. The system was re-branded and re-tooled as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Because the original run of the system came with the R. O. B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), the system was seen as, not just another video game system, but a robot gaming system, as the robot was used to play games with you. Also, the system was also a video shooting gallery, as 2 of the set variations came with the game Duck Hunt. The graphics and sound of the system were unparalleled for the time, and the games on the Atari systems gave way to games that could actually be completed, such as the Super Mario series, Mega Man, and Contra, just to name a few. Because of these things, the system was an instant success, and the North American video game market was going strong once more.
This system was also the first to have different sets of systems with different included accessories. The ones made were the Deluxe Set, Action Set, Challenge Set, Control Deck, Sports Set, and Power Set, and finally, the Control Deck, with the NES 2.
Here are the different sets, by year of release
NES Set Variations
Deluxe Set-1985-System, hookups, 2 controllers, R. O. B., Zapper, Duck Hunt, Gyromite
Control Deck-1985-System, hookups, 2 controllers, Super Mario Bros.
Basic Set-1987-System, hookups, 2 controllers, The Official Nintendo Player's Guide (does not include game pak.)
Action Set-1988-System, hookups, 2 controllers, Zapper, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
Power Set-1988-System, hookups, 2 controllers, Zapper, Power Pad, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet
Sports Set-1990-System, hookups, NES Satellite, 4 controllers, Super Spike V' Ball/Nintendo World Cup
Challenge Set-1990-System, hookups, 2 controllers, Super Mario Bros. 3
Control Deck-1993-NES 2 System, hookups, 2 "Dogbone" controllers. (does not come with game pak).
As the years went on, the NES began to be rivaled by newer, more powerful systems, such as the Sega Genesis in 1989. Still, the system continued to thrive, all the way into the 16-bit wars. The final set was the control deck, consisting of the top loader, and 2 dogbone controllers, and the final game, Wario's Woods, was released in 1994, and was the only NES game to have an ESRB rating.
After all was said and done, the Nintendo Entertainment System sold close to 62 million units, with the best selling games being Super Mario Bros. (40 million units sold), and SMB3 (18 million units sold). For many gamers in the 1980s, this was their first and possibly their favorite system of all time. Although I did not grow up in the 1980s, I own an NES, and would not give it up for the world. This one also gets a 10/10.
Ahh, what can be said about the original Game Boy, that hasn't been said a million times before? This one handheld, released in 1989, completely revolutionized the handheld video game market. Before the Game Boy was released, there were literally hundreds of different kinds of handhelds, but they were the cheap, lcd screened systems that you would find in small discount stores.
At first glance, the Game Boy does not seem like much, but when you pop in that Game Pak and boot on the system, you know that it is more than you expected. The Game Boy is vastly more powerful than lcd handhelds, and will probably last longer (which is true, seeing as how there are some from '89 that are still working flawlessly). The system is instantly easy to use for any gamer who grew up playing the NES, as the controls are exactly the same as those on the NES controllers. Another thing, the system has a screen, but is green for some reason. This was also the first handheld that was able to link up to multiple Game Boys to play multiplayer games.
Nintendo made the perfect choice to secure the rights to Tetris as the system's pack in game. This meant that anyone that bought a Game Boy had a game that they could play right away. Tetris was obviously not the only game on the system, as Nintendo made sure that all of the NES favorites were available to be in your pocket (game such as Super Mario,
Donkey Kong, Metroid, Tetris, Mega Man, TMNT, and newcomers such as Kirby).
As you can see, this is only a brief overview/review of the game boy. It may seem very old and very outdated by today's standards, but will always live on in the hearts of classic gamers as one of their favorite systems of all time. This one gets a perfect 10/10
So, I had this written earlier today and wanted to make a few corrections, but then I closed the web browser on accident. Looks like I'mma have to do the commentary section from memory.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Silent Hill Homecoming | •Mobile Ops: The One Year War
•Silent Hill Homecoming | •Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
•We Cheer | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Cake Mania
•Pipe Mania
•Valhalla Knights 2
PC
•Baseball Mogul 2009
•Dark Horizon
•Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
•Mount & Blade
•Pipe Mania
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Animal Paradise
•Margot's Word Brain
•Pipe Mania
•Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation
•Princess Debut
•Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
•Unsolved Crimes | •Mortal Kombat Kollection
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania |
 Looks like the game companies decided to give us a break before completely slaughtering our wallets in October.
First featured game this week is Silent Hill Homecoming for the PS360, the newest installment in the popular survival horror franchise. I must confess that I've never played a Silent Hill game in my life, but I do know that Pyramid Head is badass. Since I've never played Silent Hill, I pose this question to my readers. Is it worth getting into the series? If so, where should I start?
Next up is Sonic Chronicles for the DS. Expecting a fast platformer like Sonic Rush? You're definitely not getting that. Sega decided to take Sonic in a totally different direction with this new game, and hand off development to Bioware, creators of Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Yup, this is an RPG in the Sonic universe. Quite an interesting concept if I must say so. And get this: it's getting strong reviews. Let that sink in. A new game starring Sonic that's actually GOOD. For reals.
Also this week: 360 owners can MUST download Mega Man 9 for 800 Space Bucks (that's $10 for us Earthlings).
Check back next week for a return to game companies raping your wallet.
Well, any classic Nintendo NES fan will know that, like other consoles, the NES has its own number of sports games, such as Slalom, and 10 - Yard Fight by Nintendo. There are even games from third parties such as Tecmo's Tecmo Bowl and Super Bowl. One in particular, Ice Hockey, is the one that I will be reviewing here. Starting off, you will notice the cartridge and box art are different than most Nintendo sports titles. Most come in the black boxes that we've all seen at one time or another. Strangely, Ice Hockey comes in a bright blue box with a picture of some random ice hockey player. This is the only Nintendo sports title that hasn't had the cartoony style characters on the box and cart.
Now, as you first boot up the game, you are treated to some quite cheerful music and some small hockey players on the screen. Like most NES games, Ice Hockey has the option of either 1 or 2 players. As you press start on the controller, you get a screen of several options. On this screen, you get to choose your team (USA, Canada, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Poland), your opponent's team, the speed of the game, and the length of the game, ranging from 7, 10, and 15 minutes. The last thing that you will set up before the game begins, is the setup of your team. You choose which type of players will be on your team. Once all of the options are selected, the match can begin.
As the game begins, you will start out at center ice to battle for the puck. The gameplay mostly relies on being able to pass the puck, shoot, and how you selected your team. From the get-go, none of the teams have a statistical advantage over the others. Before the game, each team has five players (a stocky player, 2 average players, and a skinny player). The stocky players are the best at shooting and bowling over other players (which is pretty entertaining), the average players are average all around, and finally, the skinny ones are the fastest but tend to be the ones that get bowled over the most often. Also, each team has a goaltender as well. The controller only controls the player that is selected, but it will also control the goaltender no matter which one is selected. Fights can also ensue, and will continue until the ref stops it and sends the starter to the penalty box. Goals can be kind of hard to achieve at times, but when you do score one, it is damn satisfying! One other thing to note is that, when the game is paused, the pause sound is the same pause sound from Super Mario Bros.!
As you can see, this is one of the greatest sports titles to be released on the NES, and is personally one of my favorite nes games of all time. I'll give this game a 9/10
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Yet another crowded week. It's especially bad for Wii and PS3 owners...
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Buzz Quiz TV
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman
•Warriors Orochi 2 | •Brothers in Arms: Double Time
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•de Blob
•LEGO Batman
•Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
•Pitfall: The Big Adventure
•Rebel Raiders
•Samba De Amigo
•Sim City Creator
•Twin Strike: Operation Thunder
•Wario Land: Shake It
| | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Buzz Master Quiz
•LEGO Batman
•Pipe Mania
PC
•Battlelord: King’s Bounty
•Command & Conquer 3 Deluxe Edition
•Everlight
•Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition
•Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
•LEGO Batman
•Mount & Blade
•Nostradamus
•The Settlers VI Gold
•Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | •Barbie Fashion Show: •Eye for Style
•Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
•Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dinosaur King
•Disgaea DS
•Drop Cast
•Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge
•Kirby: Super Star Ultra
•LEGO Batman
•Margot's Word Brain
•My Japanese Coach
•My SAT Coach: Princeton Review
•My Little Pony Pinkie Pie's Party
•Nancy Drew: Hidden Staircase
•Pipe Mania
•Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
•Shaun the Sheep
•Sim City Creator
•Time Hollow | •Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•LEGO Batman (Also available in a bundle with a PS2 system for all 2 people that don't own one yet)
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania
•SingStar Pop Vol 2
•Warrior's Orochi 2 |
 Because I'm kinda busy, I will keep my rundown fairly short.
So, this week you have a Wiimake of Samba De Amigo (which apparently isn't that great), a Wii adaptation of student project that gathered a lot of attention at the Independent Games Festival, yet another WW2 FPS (but a good looking one), a new Lego game (which usually turn out good), a new Buzz! game (pretty good trivia/party game), Wario Land: Shake It (Nintendo hasn't hyped this game at all. Why?), Kirby Super Star Ultra (Same. Why no love Nintendo?), Disgaea DS (ugly art, but supposedly good game if you like that kind of thing), and of course Mega Man 9! If you own a 360, PS3, or Wii, I expect you to buy MM9. If you don't I seriously doubt your classic gamer cred.
Also out this week on the PSN is Wipeout HD, a steal at just $20.
Sorry for the abridged look at this week's games. Hopefully school doesn't totally screw me over again next week.
 Well look at that, Nintendo isn't going to the Tokyo Game Show, but it turns out they are going to have a press conference of their own. This conference is going to be on October 2, which is actually before the start of TGS. What are they going to announce and talk about? Who the hell knows! Nintendo certainly does not, as confirmed by Edge. Well, that's just peachy. Chances are that it's a malicious lie, and they know exactly what they are going to be talking about, but they just don't want you to know. It's okay, we know how you feel, and so does Jean Luc Picard.
Who the hell cares? Nintendo clearly doesn't care about you much, so why should you care about them? After the riveting hardcore gamer announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk, I have little excitement in what Nintendo is to announce. But, if this was a Sega Announcement regarding upcoming titles from Platinum Games, then, hell yes I'd be interested. I think the only thing that would remotely interest me would be an announcement that Captain Rainbow was being released in the US. The impact on Nintendo's image would be as beneficial to them as the Lehman Brother's Bankruptcy was to the Dow Jones. Certainly, it would be amazing.
So, do you care that Nintendo has a press conference in 2 weeks? Should you care? I don't think so, and I wholly expect Nintendo to announce some "casual gamer" nongames that will not interest me. Perhaps they'll interest you.
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I've been hyping it up for a long time now, but this is going to be the trend for the next few months. A fuckton of games. Enjoy!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Pure
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Battle Fantasia
•Pure
•Rock Band 2 (360 Exclusive. GAME ONLY! The bundle comes out next month.)
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 (Simply because it has LCD Soundsystem  )
•Igor
•Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
•Littlest Pet Shop
•Rebel Raiders
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•TNA Impact!
•Zoo Hospital | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •B-Boy
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Yggdra Union
PC
•Cooking Academy
•Crysis: Warhead
•Discovery
•Everlight
•Hell's Kitchen
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•The Price is Right
•Pure
•The Settlers VI: Gold Edition
•S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
•Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning | •Animal Paradise
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dragon Quest IV
•Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
•Happy Cooking
•Igor
•Imagine: Fashion Designer New York
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•My Secret World by Imagine
•Red Bull BC One
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Unsolved Crimes | •Dance Dance Revolution: X (Game only and Bundle. However, the game has a craptacular song list, par for the course with DDR these days. Hey Konami, just release a game with the arcade soundtrack for once. You'll make so many people happy.)
•Namco Classic Fighter Collection (Includes Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, and Soul Calibur II)
•Naruto Ultimate Collection
•Pac-Man Power Pack
•Speed Racer
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed |
 So, yeah, this week has quite a few good games coming out. Where do we start?
How about the biggest game of the week, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? I've played the demo on PS3 and it's pretty damned good. Not $60 good, but a good pickup at $30 or $20. However, if you're a Star Wars fan, you might want to get it right away because it seems like the first great Star Wars game since Battlefront II. In case you don't already know, Force Unleashed is kind of like a God of War or Devil May Cry game set in the Star Wars world. But what makes this game so awesome is that you can play around with the force. For example, grab a Stormtrooper and throw him into other enemies or grab a TIE Fighter and throw it at enemies. There's so much you can do in this game due to the fact that it is running THREE physics engines on the PS3/360 versions. But don't you Wii owners feel left out, you'll get the opportunity of using waggle to throw things. I haven't researched the other versions as much, but I bet they'll be good.
Rock Band 2 comes out this week ONLY FOR XBOX 360. Harmonix has load of cash from Microsoft a contract with Microsoft to have Rock Band 2 on the 360 one month before the other systems. The thing is that the only way you can get the game at the minute is without any of the instruments. The bundle will arrive next month along with the release of Rock Band 2 on the other systems. So, I'll save talking about it until then. However I will say that if you buy RB2 and you already have the first one, you can transfer over all the songs from the frist game for only $5...and any songs you purchased on the first game will work with the new game free of charge. Nice job Harmonix!
Square Enix whores will be happy to know that yet another handheld port of one of their old games is coming out this week. That game is Dragon Quest IV for the DS. Since I don't like Square Enix besides the fact that they published Space Invaders Extreme and Einhander, I won't comment on how good this game is because I obviously hate it. 
Also out this week is Pure, Disney's surprisingly fun arcadey ATV racer; Crysis Warhead, the sequel to the biggest PC game no one bought because they're all cheapskates that would rather pirate games instead of putting food on the developer's tables; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a neat looking FPS; Warhammer Online, yet another MMO; and Line Rider 2, a new version of the popular web game.
In case you did not notice there, I started listing PC games. You're very welcome. Let me know what you think of the new format in the comments.
A little bit lighter week this time around, but it sees the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact! | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact!
•Zoids Assault | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Hell's Kitchen
•NHL 2K9
•The Price is Right (One of my original ideas for the Wii. Read my comments later.) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures | •Hell's Kitchen
•Lock's Quest
•Mazes of Fate
•Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (It's a game with no hype from Nintendo. It's gotta be good.)
•The Price is Right
•Spore Creatures
•Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•NHL 2K9
•TNA Impact!
•Yakuza 2 |
 This week is one full of possibly great games that are flying under the radar...along with a game that is going to be freaking huge. First up is the new game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind The Sims and SimCity. That game is Spore for Windows and Mac. What is Spore? It's a life simulation game like The Sims, but with a much larger scope. In the game, you design a species and oversee their evolution from single cell organisms to intelligent creatures. During this time you will guide the species through many phases including Tribal, Civilization, and Space. Once you reach the Space Age, you will be able to travel to the planets of other players and interact with their civilzation by trying to make peace or attacking them. I am so very interested in this game due to the fact that it could be the deepest game ever conceived. I just hope my PC is able to run it. Hopefully PC gamers actually buy this game and support EA instead of pirating it and contributing to the downfall of PC gaming.
Anyways, next game I'd like to highlight this week is The Price Is Right for the Wii. Why the hell would I mention this? Back in 2005 or so when the Wii's "innovative" controller scheme was announced, one of the first games I thought would be pretty awesome on the Wii was The Price Is Right. Imagine spinning the big wheel in the Showcase Showdown, punching out holes in Punch a Bunch, or putting in Hole in One (OR TWO!),or dropping a virtual chip in Plinko. I didn't think much about my idea after that, but it was in the back of my head. Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I found out that UbiSoft was making a game based on The Price is Right. My hopes aren't very high for the game, but I still hope it turns out decently (and has a Barker's Beauties sex minigame).
Other games coming out this week include Yakuza 2 for the PS2, the long-overdue sequel to the original game on the PS2. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for the Nintendo DS, a new point and click mystery game from Nitnendo that hasn't gotten a lot of hype, so it's gotta at least be decent considering all the other games they've done like this have been good. Finally is the American debut of Masaya's truly fucked up PC Engine shooter Cho Aniki on the Wii Virtual Console. This game is unlike anything you've ever seen. It's the first in a series of shmups with weird homoerotic overtones and a strange sense of humor going throughout the whole thing. I can't even begin to describe the screwed up goodness that is Cho Aniki, so check out Hardcore Gaming 101's look at the series and prepare to be amazed.
The fall release season marches on this week...if you're a PS3/360 owner. The rest of you get nothing much at all. Here's the lineup:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •FaceBreaker
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species
| •FaceBreaker
•Infinite Undiscovery
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
•Warhammer: Battle March | •Rapala Fishing Frenzy ($10 more than the PS3/360 version?!) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Picto Image | •Mercenaries 2: World in Flames |
 This is actually a pretty good week considering how early it is in the season. Mercenaries 2 is the sequel to the 2005 PS2/XBox original, and expands on its sandbox style of gameplay. This new installment features enhanced physics (powered by the ever-popular Havok engine), the ability to light things on fire, swimming (along with boats as an added vehicle type), air support, a grappling hook, and more. I haven't played the first game, but the new installment looks pretty neat.
Next up is a game that I have tried, Facebreaker. This is the first game to be published under EA's new label: EA Sports Freestyle. Freestyle, as explained by EA Sports head, Peter Moore, provides "a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports." Enough with the businessy talk, the game is pretty damned fun based on the demo. It's a simplified version of EA's own Fight Night series but with cartoony characters and a humorous tone, much like Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast. FaceBreaker is nothing outstanding, but it certainly should be worth getting when the price drops to around $20 or $30. If you're interested in the game, give the demo on PSN or Xbox Live a shot.
Next up: Infinite Undiscovery, the much anticipated ( ) Xbox 360 exclusive RPG from Square-Enix (that's something you don't see every day). I honestly don't care about this game, I only highlighted it for Square fanboys (the most annoying variety) so that they don't totally deride me and rip me to shreds.
Finally, the true follow-up to possibly the greatest game on the 360 comes out this week. That's right, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. The new game includes 30 new species, new areas, and an Eye of Judgment rip-off like feature which allows you to scan cards using a Live Vision camera and get new Piñatas that way. But unlike Eye of Judgment, Rare is actually going to be making these cards free on their website and maybe bundled with promotional partner products.
That's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time!
Hope you've braced yourself because the onslaught of new games starts to ramp up this week! RPG fans have two great "next-gen" games to look forward to this week, and golf fans get the latest installment of EA's Tiger Wood series. Nintendo fans also get in on the action this week with a new Mario sports game...and a shit ton of shovelware. Think this week is loaded? HA! It's only gonna get worse as we approach the holiday season.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
•Ferrari Challenge
•Tiger Woods 09
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species | •Tales of Vesperia
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Ferrari Challenge
•Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
•Mario Super Sluggers
•Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
•Rebel Raiders
•Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
•Tiger Woods 09 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive)
•N+
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Commando Steel Disaster
•Digimon World Championship
•Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•From the Abyss
•Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
•My Chinese Coach
•N+
•Picto Image
•The Quest Trio
•The Sims 2 Apartment Pets | •Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•Tiger Woods 09 |
 So, highlights this week include Tales of Vesperia, Disgaea 3, Tiger Woods 09, Mario Super Sluggers, and N+. I'm not going to spend a lot of time detailing each title, but I'll give you a brief rundown of them all. Tales of Vesperia, fun JRPG (holy shit, an RPG I like...at least based on the demo), latest in the Tales series, fans start screaming kawaii now. Disgaea 3: latest in the JSRPG (that's Japanese Strategy RPG for short) series, weeaboos rejoice and have a seat, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Tiger Woods 09: You know what this is about, more golf and jesus shots. Mario Super Sluggers: more casual games from Nintendo, thanks Cammie! N+: It's like the original PC/Mac/Linux or Xbox Live Arcade game on the go, you can't go wrong.
The strength of last week carries over into this week as well with the launch of a game that's been in development for 10 years, the first true sequel to Galaga, and a bite-sized follow up to one of the greatest PS3 games.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | ... | •Smash Court Tennis 3
•Too Human | ... | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive) | •Commando Steel Disaster | ... |
 Not a big list, but there's a lot of great stuff coming out. First is Too Human, the long in development Action RPG from Silicon Knights and The Canadian Loudmouth, Denis Dyack. In case you don't know, Too Human is an third person action/Dungeon Crawler RPG. I played the demo last week, and my impressions were that it was pretty fun, but chances are that the game could get very boring if it's stretched out to (supposedly) 10 or more hours. Not to mention replaying the game with all the various classes. So, I'd check out some footage or the demo if you're unsure about it. The buzz so far has been very mixed.
Also coming this week is the stunning sequel to Galaga, Galaga Legions. Galaga Legions is like the original game, but with several new features that change up the gameplay. What those features are, nobody really knows outside of a greater emphasis on combos, multidirectional attacks, and some serious bullet hell patterns. The game was made by the same team at Namco-Bandai that did last year's Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is an incredible game. So considering the team and the INCREDIBLE footage released so far, this game should be a winner.
 The final highlight this week is Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty for the Playstation 3. This pirate themed downloadable follow-up to last year's installment is a 3-4 hour experience with a heavier emphasis on platforming and puzzle solving than seen in the most recent games in the series. Insomniac has also introduced several new gameplay elements into the game including the ability for Ratchet to pick up and manipulate objects with his wrench, puzzles involving shadows, and more. What's awesome about this game is that it has all the polish and graphics of a $60 game, but as a 2GB download for only $15! I'm sure a lot of you would bitch about the $15 price, but I'm willing to pay that price in order to support Insomnaic and what they are doing. Hopefully this sells well enough to warrant future downloadable episodes.
Have a great week everyone.
Howdy!
This is Lord Roke in my first, and maybe last blog ever.
Some of my friends that I work with that also share my passion for games, which is great as we always have something to talk about by the tea machine (when other conversations dry up), but also great in that we used to play a lot of online games together. I'm not going back years and years - just to 2005/6, around the time of the when the XBOX 360 was launched / before the arrival of PS3.
There were probably five / six guys at work that are good friends that all used to own 360s and all used to regularly get together online for a session of Rainbow Six Vegas or GRAW with side order of occasional PGR 3. These were my golden days of online gaming. We were all on the same console, playing the same games, and more importantly: having fun. It didn't matter who won or lost it was just such a good laugh, and the fact that there were enough of us for a good game of terrorist hunt or a decent race in PGR meant that I didn't have to play with loads of the usual n0bs / weirdos / people that are good games - that tend to ruin the average online multiplayer gaming session for me. Plus, we were all of similar ability so the games tended to be close - but mainly it was just great fun especially with the voice comms on the 360 and the excellent system of game invites.
Then the PS3 came out (which was released in March 2007 in UK). The first thing that happened was that the half of the group that were hardcore PS3 fans switched to PSN overnight, despite having active XBL subscriptions and despite the fact that there were very few decent games (never mind online games) on the PS3 at this time. They still popped up on live occasionally but it became a lot more difficult to get everyone together at the same time for a game of RSV.
The non-PS3 hardcore (like me) stuck with the XBL as it was so much easier to get a game set up and the comms actually worked. I did try War Hawk a couple of times but not being able to speak to people and the extra hassle of setting up a game soon put me off (plus the game looked like something from the PS2 era). The next thing that happened was views on both sides [of the argument] became more entrenched - the PS3 fans wouldnt admit that PSN was not as good as XBL and to prove it decided to sell their 360s or switch them off permanently. This meant the salad days of online gaming were over. And to be honest I've hardly played online since - I had some good games on COD4 and another good mate has since got a 360 so hooked up with him as well, but it's never been the same since.
What a shame that misguided brand loyalty should ruin such a good thing. I could understand it if they moved on to something bigger and better I would have been there with them but to play something inferior makes no sense to me.
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