E3 '09 Excitement

Ok, guys, I thought I should just kinda run over some of my hopes and dreams from each of the "Big 3" at this year's E3 show.

Lets start with Sony. There are a few things that Sony really needs to do to get me to play my PS3 a little bit more and one of those things is a better networking interface. I know what you're thinking "what about PSHome, JD?" and I say, what about it? Anybody who has spent more than 10 minutes trying to use it usually stops the second you have to wait in line to bowl in a virtual bowling alley. The idea is cool and all but its just not cool enough. Though they do have a decent online store where you can buy and rent movies in HD and standard, Netflix would definitely not hurt.

Next up, Nintendo. I really just wanna see a new Zelda or Metroid game, but there are some hardware issues that need to be addressed. The first one is obvious: a hard drive. Please. i dont wanna constantly have to re-download all of my virtual console and WiiWare titles every time i wanna play Ecco the Dolphin for the third time through. Also, just an after thought, DVD playback maybe? We'll probably never see that but it doesn't hurt to throw it in there. Oh, and also, i really don't want them to announce a WiiHD or something that has anything to do with that. Not because i don't want to see it, but because i dont want to have to buy another Wii.

Last but not least, Microsoft. What's there to say about Xbox 360? They have an amazing online interface, with an extremely successful marketplace, and Xbox LIVE. But where is the internet browser? Its such a small request and it really wouldn't matter either way, but it would still be cool, I mean, Microsoft does have Internet Explorer. Both PS3 and Wii have their own browser that work extremely well. They can both even stream YouTube videos fairly well.

In closing I would just like to recap: Wii needs a hard drive, 360 needs an internet browser, and Sony just needs to hit the delete button on Home.

thanks for reading.

comments welcome.

-JD

Batman AA (PS3 Trailer) : "FreeFlow" Fighting Style

...Ok mons here's a trailer i came across, its a new one. This will give you just a peek at an all important feature they've so obviously called "free flow" fighting In Batman: Arkham Asylum, due hit the shelves "ummm sometime this year". (c'mon make a deadline already!) Its pretty self explanatory but the technology is not just goin' be featured in AA but all over soon enough.

I'm excited to see these all new high-def trailers that Devs are releasing. It the perfect medium to express all the kick-ass features that will keep us icing our ankles while standing in line at the local shop. Check it out.......Bane sound awfully like a familiar ill-tempered resident of the Waistland to you?

~eek

More Batman: Arkham Asylum News & Previews

Waistin...my....life.....

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

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

Killzone 2 Demo Downloadable in the US

Yes, its true, boys and girls. It is possible to download the Killzone 2 demo here in the states. Through a surprisingly easy and deviant process (and legal for the suits out there), you'll be dropping Helghast in no time. To do this, simply hop online to www.playstation.com and create a European account (prefferably a UK account), follow the login process, and your on your way. You do, however have to create a new user on your Playstation 3 console, but that only takes a total of 3 seconds. You might also want to make a new gmail account and tell them that you're in the UK as well. My Playstation 3 is downloading the demo as you are reading this, lets hope it was worth the trouble.

Killzone 2 is slated to release stateside on February 27th, 2009

Thanks to Kotaku.com for the heads up!

-JD

DLC Review: Fallout 3's Operation: Anchorage (Xbox 360, PC)

The first of 3 downloadable content packs has been released to our 2008 Game of the Year called Operation: Anchorage.  After you download the content, when you start your game (once you're out of vault 101 if it's a new game) you receive an emergency radio transmission from the Brotherhood Outcasts.  This will place a quest in your quest menu, and a map marker on your map.  When you travel to the marker, you will find an Outcast outpost in a big battle with Super Mutants.  After the battle you'll be invited into the outpost because you have a pip-boy.  The outcasts tell you that there is a large weapons cache that they have found but they cannot open it until they complete a military simulation.  None can use the military sim without a computer like the pip-boy.  So they offer you the task and in return you will get your share of loot from the cache.  *Note: Even if you killed all of the Outcasts in Fort Independence you WILL be able to do this quest.  **Image below courtesy of IGN

Once you are in the simulation, you get to see Fallout 3 in a whole new way.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  It is good because the environments are new and fresh, everything is clean and new, your weapons and armor are brand new so they do not deteriorate, and best of all, there are a couple all new weapons and armor.  The bad, well, the content as a whole is very linear.  There is a lack of exploration due to the fact that you can only pick up certain items in the simulation.  Enemies disappear once they are killed so there's no loot to be taken from them either.  You are limited to certain areas of the simulation as well so the whole free-roaming feel just disappears.  That does not mean that the content is terrible though.  It is still very fun and bring lots of great battles.  The story is pretty decent as well.

*Spoilers* After you beat the sim, you get to take everything out of a weapons room which includes some new weapons and armor such as the Gauss Rifle (uses microfusion rounds), Trench Knife (like the combat knife), Jingwei's Shocksword (electric Chinese officer sword), Winterized T-51b Power Armor (and helmet), and the badass Chinese Stealth Armor. This is not all that is in the cache though.  There are tons of other weapons and guns throughout, but that is all of the new stuff that you get to bring into your Fallout universe.  *End spoilers*  My recommendation for maximum loot'age would be to do the sim, then kill all of the Outcasts in the outpost.  They all have a lot of weapons and the outpost has quite a bit as well.

In the end, I'd give the DLC a 7 out of 10.  It's hard to discredit the content too much because it is still Fallout 3 which is tons of fun and it brings some pretty awesome new stuff to the game.  Though it does leave a little to be desired.  Also, the 4 added achievements that total for 100 gamerscore are rewarded for completing the quests within the content and nothing more, so no going out of your way for strange achievements.  Good thing it is only 800 points as opposed to 1200 or 1600.

7/10

-CA

Review: Resistance 2 (PS3)

Resistance 2 starts off directly where Resistance: Fall of Man left off. You continue the story at Lieutenant Hale where you get airlifted out of Europe. A lot has changed for this game, versus the first Resistance. The first thing that you will notice is the graphics. HUGE improvement (as you would expect since the first was a launch title)! Everything is far more detailed than in the first game (especially the character models). The very next thing that you will notice is that this game is VERY BIG. Everything about this game is huge! The environments are bigger and better, the enemies are bigger and better, and the game itself is bigger and better. And the third thing that you will notice very quickly is that you can only hold two different guns at a time. While that last one may seem like a downer to some, it actually makes the game better (in my opinion) and more realistic (have you ever seen a soldier carrying 8 guns like you can in Resistance 1? Didn't think so).

The game is very much improved from the first, almost to the point where it makes Resistance 1 seem bad. There is a single player campaign mode as well as a co-op campaign mode. There is a 60 player multi player mode that is almost lag free! Insomniac really brought their A game for this title. Aside from the things mentioned already, they ditched the crappy four bar health system for the regenerative health system that almost all fps's now use (thank god). There is a much bigger variety of enemies and many of them are massive! It is a lot like Gears of War 2 with battle sizes and enemy sizes. Not only that, but they also brought many theme changes to the game as well. Most fps's are either run and gun (halo) style or hide and gun (gears of war) style. Resistance 2 provides a nice blend of the two, where sometimes you will have run and gun action sequences and sometimes you will have large battles in which the duck and cover method is required. Not only that, but some parts of the game even left you with a sort of survival horror feel to it. At one point you have to go through a large train tunnel which has hundreds of Chimera eggs throughout. Needless to say, you don't have nearly enough ammo to destroy all of the eggs, so you have to slowly creep through the tunnel and random eggs hatch and attack you as you do so. It gives a feel much like Dead Space during those sequences.  Just before that event in the game, you get a sort of Left 4 Dead feel when travelling through a neighborhood in which all of its' inhabitants have been turned into Chimera eggs, ready to hatch.  When you get to certain areas, a lot do hatch and they attack you.  Because these Chimera have just hatched, they do not have guns so they sprint towards you and beat you to death (much like in Left 4 Dead) and yes, there are a lot of them, much like in Left 4 Dead when a boomer vomits on you.  Anyway, enough with other game references!

The game proves itself to be a serious competitor in the intense competition of FPS games.  With the combination of new elements (controls, guns, enemies, environments, etc) it really shines especially if you've played the first Resistance title.  They even got rid of the boring narrative story telling of the first for a more personal truly FPS style of story telling.  In the end, Resistance 2 gets a 9 out of 10.  I'd say it's a much have for PS3 owners.  And if you play this game before the first and think you want to go out and buy the first... you might be left disappointed because it is THAT much better than the first.

9/10

-CA

Mini Review: Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

Well, before I can post a review on Resistance 2, I figured I should at least do a small review of the first.  Please note that the score at the end of this review is the score that would have been given at this game's release, not what it would be rated now.  The reason for this is because games have evolved quite a bit in the past few years and it would receive a lower rating if it were reviewed by today's standards.

Resistance: Fall of Man is a game that probably 90% of PS3 owners have played at one point or another.  It was the system's first exclusive game that made an impact.  You play an American soldier named Lieutenant Hale that has been sent to Europe along with thousands of other American soldiers because there has been some sort of alien attack.  The game takes place about when World War 2 would have taken place if aliens hadn't attacked, so you get a nice alternate reality scenario.  In the beginning of the game, you are captured by the alien race (called Chimera) and are taken to a huge containment facility where the Chimera run people through machines that transform them into a Chimera.  Your character (Hale) is started into the process of turning into a Chimera but is then rescued by fellow soldiers before you could really "change".  Because of this, you gain traits and abilities that make you better than the average soldier.  You can heal using the Chimera health devices, etc.  

Overall, the story is well written and is told from a narrative perspective (kind of like the call of duty series).  The game is a pretty generic first person shooter in that it doesn't really bring too much innovation to the table.  The game does have its moments where the battles really shine and you thoroughly enjoy the experience, but for the most part, it's an average fps.  There are plenty of guns, all with secondary fire functions (nothing new).  The only real flaw the game has besides the lack of innovation, is the health system.  When this game was made, fps's were starting this new trend of regenerative health.  Insomniac decided not to use this system.  Instead you have a 4 block health bar.  Bad choice, with the large number of enemies in the game and intense battle sequences, the health system works in the enemies favor as there are not a lot of health pickups throughout.  As far as the story goes, it definitely helps bring the game up and out of its mediocrity, as it is very good.  With a so-so multi player mode (again, nothing that bad, but nothing new either), I'd score this game (when it was new in 2006) an 8 of 10.

8/10

-CA