Videos: Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2.

These are the latest trailers for both Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2. We talk about these in our latest podcast (episode 7, that has not yet been posted) and so I'm posting them here so you'll know what we're talking about.

This is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.



This is Battlefield Bad Company 2.



We hope you like them as much as we do. CoD:MW2 is due out 11/10/09 and BF:BC2 is due out 3/2/10. Both are being released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

Forza + Gran Turismo = Racing Ecstasy

This year's E3 unleashed what is for gamers who love racing: Heaven. Both Turn 10 Studios (T10) and Polyphony Digital (PD) showed up to L.A. with their guns blazing and both left everyone in attendance saying, "I WANT IT NOW!" Unfortunately for Gran Turismo fans and gamers who only own a Playstation 3, there is still no official release date for Gran Turismo 5. Rumors have come about with a release date slating it for November in Europe, but there has been no official word from PD. Though, unlike T10's secret approach with Forza 3, PD has been slowly letting gamers get a taste of Gran Turismo 5 via the Playstation Network with Gran Turismo HD Concept and later with the "supersized demo" Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. T10 has kept Forza 3 a secret (even though we all saw it coming) up until E3, then surprised everyone with the release date of October 27th, 2009. So let's break down both what has been speculated and what has been officially said for both games.

Let's start with Forza Motorsport 3. Officially, T10 came out at E3 showing that yes the game is coming and it's coming out on October 27th, 2009. They've said that it will be on 2 discs, there is a collector's edition that comes with bonuses such as: "Forza Motorsport 2GB USB Storage and keychain: Show off your Forza pride with these specially branded items. Forza Motorsport VIP Membership* and Exclusive Car Pack*: Want to be a top painter, tuner, driver or just more active in the community? VIP membership is the way to get yourself noticed. Includes special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums. Also includes 5 of the hottest cars from the roster of Forza Motorsport 3, available only through your VIP membership. Exclusive Collector’s Edition Car Pack*: This one is for the fans. This pack includes 5 cars that have been hand tuned and hand painted by the developers at Turn 10 to fly the Forza Motorsport colors. Exclusive Forza Motorsport 3 Theme:* Customize your Dashboard experience with this limited availability Xbox 360 theme." -(Gamestop.com) Also T10 has officially said that there will be over 400 cars in the game (excluding DLC and CE cars) as well as over 100 tracks.

The biggest aspect of Forza is and has always been realistic physics and T10 claims to have raised the bar yet again. Officially T10 has revealed that there will be obscenely realistic physics all the way down to tire flex. Also they have shown that you can, in fact, roll your car in the game and that if you mess up during a race you can press the back button to enter rewind and try and fix whatever it was that you did wrong without having to restart the race. T10 has also said that the car models in Forza 3 contain 10 times the number of polygons from the cars in Forza 2, in other words, the cars look like sex. As far as game modes are concerned, "An innovative single-player season mode puts you through a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift and Timed Events. No two calendars are the same; they react to the cars you love and the races you enjoy most. In addition, the online multiplayer mode* gains an all-new game rules editor. This gives players a never-ending variety of ways to play with friends." -(Forzamotorsport.net) the only other things that have been officially revealed are the prices ($60 for regular $80 for Collector's) and a few cars which I will list after we talk speculation.

What would the internet be like without speculation? We're not going to find out! Ever since the leak of the Forza 3 logo, there has been TONS of speculation about the game, and the devs at T10 just fueled the fire for fun as well. Before the game was announced, the weekly pitpass report that is posted by the T10 devs on their site Forzamotorsport.net talked about "their next big thing" and "water physics". With the logo leak, speculation got as far as the next big thing being Forza Watersports. Someone actually photoshopped the logo to turn the M/roman numeral 3 into a W. It was really quite ridiculous but a lot of people bought into it. Thankfully it was proved false with the unveiling of Forza 3 at E3. But this has me thinking, they haven't officially said that there was going to be weather effects in the game... but they kept talking about water physics. So via the powers of speculation, I'm almost assuming that there will be weather effects in Forza 3. T10 has said that the modification of cars in Forza 3 is much more in depth than Forza 2, but didn't go into detail. One thing that I am hoping for is more tuning options, particularly with boosted cars. Boosted cars have a tendency of having an absurdly high PI rating (which is returning for Forza 3). If we could adjust the boost pressure, we could better tune our cars to specific PI levels so that we can use them in more races. Also, with the inclusion of timed events and drift events, it makes you wonder if the point-to-point races and tracks will be returning from Forza 1. Uphill and Downhill tracks like the point-to-point ones in Forza 1 are perfect for drifting. There has still been no mention of rally racing though T10 has said that they still have tons of feature to announce. There has also been speculation of time of day effects. It's going to be a long few months. Of course, the most speculated thing for racing games is always the car list. So here is a list of confirmed and rumored cars for Forza 3. The cars in the list are speculated unless otherwise noted.

Alfa Romeo:

8C (confirmed)

Audi:

R8 V10 (confirmed)

R8 race car (confirmed)

R10 TDI (confirmed)

TT-S

S4

S5

Aston Martin:

DBS (confirmed)

DB5 Vantage (confirmed)

DB9

Bentley:

Speed 8 (confirmed)

BMW:

V12 LMR (confirmed)

'08 135i (confirmed)

'09 M3

M5

Z4

Cadillac:

Northstar LMP (confirmed)

'09 CTS-V (confirmed)

XLR

Chevrolet:

'06 Corvette Z06 (confirmed)

'09 Corvette ZR1 (confirmed)

'10 Camaro SS

Cobalt SS

Dodge:

Challenger SRT8 (confirmed)

Viper SRT10 ACR (confirmed)

Charger SRT8

Ferrari:

F333SP (confirmed)

California (confirmed)

F430 Scuderia (confirmed)

599 GTB (confirmed)

F50

F40

Enzo

FXX

Fiat:

500 (confirmed)

Ford:

GT (confirmed)

'68 GT 500 KR (confirmed)

'10 GT500

Focus RS

Honda:

NSX (confirmed)

Fit (confirmed)

Civic

S2000

Infiniti:

G37 (confirmed)

Jaguar:

XKR-S (confirmed)

XJ220

Lamborghini:

Murcielago LP-640 (confirmed)

Murcielago LP-670 SV

Gallardo LP-560-4

Lexus:

IS-F (confirmed)

Lotus:

Elise (confirmed)

Evora (confirmed)

Maserati:

Gran Turismo (confirmed)

Mazda:

Mazdaspeed 3

RX8

6

Mercedes-Benz:

CLS 63 AMG (confirmed)

SLR (confirmed)

ML 63 AMG (confirmed)

SL 65 AMG BLACK (confirmed)

Mitsubishi:

Evo VIII MR (confirmed)

Evo X GSR (confirmed)

Evo IX

Eclipse GSX

3000GT VR-4

Nissan:

GT-R multiple gt class race cars (confirmed)

R390 GT1 (confirmed)

370Z (confirmed)

Sentra (confirmed)

GT-R R33 (confirmed)

GT-R R35

Versa S (confirmed)

GT-R R34

Silvia S15

Pagani:

Zonda C12-S (confirmed)

Zonda R

Porsche:

997 GT2 (confirmed)

997 Turbo

997 GT3

Carrera GT

Caymen S

Subaru:

Impreza STi (confirmed)

Toyota:

GT-one (confirmed)

Yaris (confirmed)

Supra

TVR:

Sagaris (confirmed)

Speed 12

Now on to Gran Turismo 5. Though Forza has taken the throne from the racing kings at PD, Gran Turismo 5 may just be what it takes to reclaim that throne. PD hadn't said much officially about GT5 prior to E3. They said it would have tons of cars and super realistic graphics and not much else. GT HD Concept was more or less GT4 reskinned in HD. GT 5 Prologue, as PD said, is about 1/100,000 of what GT 5 will be. It shows a few cars, a few tracks, and a little bit of the new physics. So what all happened at E3? They announced that GT 5 will include NASCAR, FIA WRC, damage modeling, weather effects, and time of day effects. With the inclusion of NASCAR and FIA WRC brings forth many questions such as, how will the races take place exactly? Will you just randomly have a NASCAR race or will there actually be a league with points and everything? Same goes for FIA WRC. The beginning of the GT 5 E3 trailer shows someone walking in DuPont racing gear exactly like Jeff Gordon's, but whether Jeff Gordon is in the game or they just rendered matching racing gear is in the air. While the game plans to take up all 50GB of space on the dual layer blu ray disc, it does make you wonder how far will they actually take it?

Without a release date still and without much official talk of what will be in the game, I can't quite comment on GT 5 as much as I can on Forza. Will they be able to get roll overs like Forza? Will their new physics engine compare to the one that Forza blew GT3 and 4 out of the water with? This is all speculation of course. Gran Turismo will likely have a larger car list than Forza just based off what they have done in previous games and their larger disc space. Even with 2 dual layer dvds, Gran Turismo 5 has more than twice the space Forza 3 has to use. But will Gran Turismo suffer the repeating cars that past GT games have? Will there be 300 different kinds of Civics again? Will all the american cars sound like vacuum cleaners again? Will you be able to mod the cars in more detail? Will you be able to mod race cars again? Tons of questions still remain. As far as car lists go, you can pretty much rest assured that everything from GT HD Concept and GT 5 Prologue will be in Gran Turismo 5. The tuned versions of the cars on the GT5-P list will likely not return, though, that is assuming they bring back the option to mod your car (which they better bring back or I'll be pissed!). Obviously you can add stock cars from NASCAR and a few rally cars the list.

From GT 5 E3 trailer:

Various NSX gt class

Citroen rally car

Various GT-R R35 gt class

Maserati MC12 gt class

Various Supra gt class

350Z gt class

RX7 gt class

Ford Focus rally car

Suzuki rally car

Subaru WRX STi rally car

R33 Skyline (clearly modded)

Ford GT (clearly modded)

Corvette Z06 (clearly modded)

Bugatti Veyron? (can't tell, if it is, it's modded)

Mercedes Benz SLR

Mazda 787B

Audi R10 TDI

From GT HD-C:

1995 Suzuki Cappucino

1989 Mazda Eunos Roadster

2004 Honda Integra TYPE R

1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR

2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe

2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR

2005 Lotus Elise 111R

1994 Nissan SKYLINE GT-R Vspec II

1995 Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car

2006 Ferrari 599

From GT5-P:

Acura NSX '91

Alfa Romeo 147 TI 2.0 TWIN SPARK '06

Alfa Romeo Brera Sky Window 3.2 JTS Q4 '06

Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo

Amuse/Opera Performance Gran Turismo 350Z RS

Art Morrison Corvette'60

Aston Martin DB9 Coupe '06

Audi R8 4.2 FSI R tronic '07

Audi TT Coupe 3.2 quattro '07

Blitz Dunlop ER34 '07

BMW 135i Coupe '07

BMW 135tii '08

BMW M3 Coupe '07

BMW Z4 '03

Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) Tuned Car

Chevrolet Corvette Z06 '06

Citroen C4 Coupe 2.0VTS '06

Clio Renault Sport V6 24V Tuned Car

Daihatsu Copen Active Top '02

Daihatsu OFC-1 '07

Dodge Viper GTS

Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe

Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe Tuned Car

Ferrari 512BB '76

Ferrari 599 '06

Ferrari F40 '90

Ferrari F430 '06

Ford Focus ST '06

Ford GT '05

Ford GT Tuned Car

Ford Mustang V8 GT Coupe Premium '07

Honda Integra TYPE R '04

Honda NSX Type R '02

Jaguar XK Coupe '06

Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione '91

Lexus IS F '07

Lexus IS F Tuned Car

Lotus Elise 111R '04

Lotus Elise 111R Tuned Car

Lotus Elise '96

Lotus Elise Tuned Car

Mazda Atenza Sport (2007 Tokyo Motor Show reference exhibit)

Mazda RX-7 (FD) Special Tuned Car

Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) '02

Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) Tuned Car

Mazda RX-8 Type S '03

Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG '02

Mine's BNR34 Skyline GT-R N1 base '06

Mini Cooper-S '06

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR '05

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Premium Package '07

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Tuned Car

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR Tuned Car

Nissan Fairlady Z Version S '07

Nissan GT-R '07

Nissan GT-R Proto '05

Nissan Skyline Coupe (V36) Tuned Car

Nissan Skyline Coupe 370GT Type SP '07

Nissan Skyline Coupe Concept '07

Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nur '02

Nissan Skyline Sedan 350GT Type SP '06

Peugeot 207GTI '07

Peugeot 307cc Premium AVN '04

RE Amemiya FD3S RX-7

Renault Clio Renault Sport V6 24V '00

Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI spec C Type RA '05

Subaru Impreza WRX STI (18inch BBS Wheel Option) '07

Suzuki Cappuccino '95

Suzuki Cappuccino Tuned Car

Suzuki Cervo SR '07

Suzuki Swift Sport '07

Suzuki Swift Sport Tuned Car

TVR Tamora '02

TVR Tuscan Speed 6 '00

Volkswagen Golf GTI '01

Volkswagen Golf V GTI '05

Both games seem to have taken their own unique route, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Some final details if I may. Forza 3's native display is 720p though the Xbox 360 will easily display it in 1080p and most will notice nothing different. GT 5 is native 1080p. Both games claim to run at a smooth 60fps. I'm getting them both, pretty much no matter what.

-CA

NEWs UPDATE 7/8/09: Forza 3 developer Che has just revealed via Forza Motorsport forums that there will NOT be weather effects, night races, or rally races in Forza 3. :-(

Review: Street Fighter IV (PS3, 360)

Street Fighter is back and better than ever.  Capcom's outrageously popular Street fighter series has accomplished "the impossible" in its latest title: reinvent while maintaining the roots of the game.  I know it almost sounds like an oxymoron, but I assure you it is not.  While all new 3D rendered graphics and beautiful art styling take the series to a whole new level appearance wise, the main gameplay mechanics stay intact.  The fighter is still true to the Street fighter II roots in that it is strictly 2D.

A few new characters have been added to the series (Seth, Rufus, and Abel to name a few) but most of the lineup is compiled from you favorites like Ryu, Ken, Guile, and Chun-Li.  The gameplay remains solid as a rock while the story remains shallow and lame.  There is a new last boss named Seth... and he is the worst part about the game.  He is quite possibly the cheapest character in fighting game history.  I'm not exaggerating either, I've lowered the final score of the game because it is THAT bad.  Also, if you think you can alleviate the situation by lowering the difficulty, you're in for a rude awakening.  Seth fights exactly the same in every difficulty so unlocking characters (especially Akuma and Gouken) is not so much fun. (see image below for Seth)
Aside from the gorgeous graphics and solid gameplay, there are several gameplay modes to tickle your fancy.  From training mode to challenge mode, this game has a lot to do.  Let's not forget the online battle mode either!  There really is no difference between the PS3 version and 360 version other than the fact that if you want to use the d-pad for movement, you'll want to go with the PS3 version because the 360 d-pad is just awful.  The analog sticks on both consoles are a little sloppy but practice makes perfect.  As a side note, I thought I would also share the sexual exploitation in the game.  All of the girls in the game have unrealistically bouncy (almost like they float) breasts, and Cammy... well, I'll just show you a picture...  The left is the first thing it show when you start a fight with her and the right is her while fighting.  I'm not complaining by any means (I love it), but I thought I'd inform :)

On that note, Street Fighter IV scores a 9 out of 10.

9/10

-CA

Review: Noby Noby Boy (PSN-PS3)

Before I get into this review, I have to address an issue I've found with the Playstation Network.  Hardly any of thier games have demos, whereas if you went on, say, Xbox Live... Every XBL game has a demo.  Playstation needs to hop on that train... ANYWHO!

From the creators of the strange yet entertaining Katamari Damacy comes this... strange yet entertaining game.  Noby Noby Boy!  The game's premise is pretty straightforward, you control a character called BOY and you stretch him out and eat things to make him grow.  When BOY grows larger, GIRL also becomes larger as well, but that isn't all there is to it.  The game has you connected to the PSN and when anyone's BOY grows, it makes GIRL grow (there is only 1 GIRL).  Now, GIRL is far larger than boy, and when she grows, she grows outward from Earth to reach other planets.  So everyone that owns the game is working together to reach other planets.  So far, GIRL has reached the moon and is heading towards Mars.  Each planet is a level of the game, so everyone is working together to reach the next level.  Pretty unique concept if you ask me.

To those who enjoy more straightforward and/or linear game such as the Halo series, you may not enjoy this game as you will probably start playing and say, "So all I do is run around and eat stuff?  This is dumb..."  Whereas the more imaginative gamer would think otherwise as there are many things to do as you run around and eat things.  In the end, the game is a mere $5 so even if you do not like it, you didn't lose much dough in the process.  On the other hand if you do like it, that's a good game for 5 bucks!  

Noby does include trophies however there are only a few and there is no platinum trophy.  All trophies are attainable without getting to any planets that have not yet been unlocked.  There is no word yet though on whether or not they will add trophies as more planets come available or whether the game will continue on past pluto.  I give Noby Noby Boy a 7 out of 10.  The unique concept and gameplay won me over, but it definitely isn't a game for everyone.  The $5 price point helps though!

7/10

-CA

Upcoming games to look out for

Like most years, 2009 has started out slow with in terms of big games being released.  But, alas, January is over and the games are about to flow.  Tomorrow, the sci-fi horror shooter F.E.A.R. 2, which has received mass praise after its demo was released, ships out for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.  While I didn't write an article about it on here, I was thoroughly impressed with the F.E.A.R. 2 demo and can't wait to get my hands on it.  For those who only have a Wii and still want a fun and gory experience, do not worry.  Sega has you covered with the all new House of the Dead: Overkill.  We only hope that they have improved the voice overs from the past games.  That's not all to expect from Sega this week though, for you fans of classics, Sega has created the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3.  This is not another Sonic compilation game!  This game includes 40 (THAT'S NO TYPO, FORTY!) classic Genesis games, oh, and did I mention it's only $30?  You want a list?  You got it: 

• Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
• Alien Storm
• Altered Beast
• Beyond Oasis
• Bonanza Bros.
• Columns
• Comix Zone
• Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
• Dr. Robotnik's MBM
• Dynamite Headdy
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Ecco II: The Tides of Time
• E-SWAT
• Fatal Labyrinth
• Flicky
• Gain Ground
• Golden Axe I
• Golden Axe II
• Golden Axe III
• Kid Chameleon
• Phantasy Star II
• Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
• Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
• Ristar
• Shining in the Darkness
• Shining Force
• Shining Force 2
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
• Sonic 3D Blast
• Sonic and Knuckles
• Sonic Spinball
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• Streets of Rage
• Streets of Rage 2
• Streets of Rage 3
• Super Thunder Blade
• Vectorman
• Vectorman 2

There are more games than this that will be unlockable as well.  Finally a classic game collection with good games!  But this week isn't the end of it!  Oh no, in two and a half weeks (Feb 27th) Killzone 2 ships out!  Based off the demo (whether you preordered it or downloaded it from the European PSN store), this is going to be a system seller.  The PS3 has had a hard time getting a legitimate system seller like Microsoft's Halo series.  Metal Gear Solid 4 is probably considered its strongest "system seller" at the moment, but a lot more people would go for an fps then a stealth third person action/shooter.  Killzone 2 is a solid shooter with insane graphics (best looking game yet? maybe...) and great action.  If the new multiplayer scheme is a winner, Killzone 2 will be a system seller for sure.  

If that wasn't enough, psp owners will finally get to dust off their fancy little portables come March 3rd when Sega releases Phantasy Star Portable.  The Phantasy Star series has a pretty strong following and his title will hopefully bring some life back into the psp.  It is basically a new and updated version of Phantasy Star Universe with a nice wireless multiplayer feature.  Does Sega stop there?  Nope!  They recently announced Phantasy Star Zero for the Nintendo DS which is a prequel to the hit title Phantasy Star Online that was released years ago for Sega's Dreamcast, then eventually Xbox, Gamecube, and the PC.  No date has been released for that game yet though.  Wii fans not happy with the gory'ness of House of the Dead, well Capcom has you covered with Dead Rising: Chop til you Drop which is coming February 24th.  Also, for you fans of fighters, Feb 17th marks the day of Street Fighter IV for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Also on March 3rd, Halo Wars for Xbox 360.  Microsoft's hit fps goes rts with this prequel to the hit Halo series.  A demo is currently available on XBL.  March 13th brings Capcom's survival horror series Resident Evil back to life with Resident Evil 5.  The demo for that is already out on PSN and XBL for download offering a look at two different levels.  If none of the games mentioned in this article appeal to you, then there's something wrong with you.  In the next month, there's something for everyone coming out.

-CA