Pagoda of Gaming

We’re about T-Minus 40 minutes away from the start of Sony’s E3 show – the final Press Conference of the show. Sony’s got to bring the big guns this round. Riddle me this? How many big titles do you know of that Sony is releasing in the latter part of the year? Well apart from LBP2, not much really. Let’s hope we get to see something special.

As for the hardware side, I expect a PSP2 Unveiling and I hope beyond everything that it’s got two freaking analogue sticks. I guess by the end of the day we’ll all know.

To save myself the horrors that was Ubisoft’s Live show of 2009, I scoured a couple of live-blogs for the details. In summary there was a crazy Kinect Rez like game from the creator of Rez. called Child of Eden. There was live demos of Assassin’s Creed BRUTHERHOOD and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

AC Brotherhood looks like more of the same from AC2, continuing the story of Ezio and his beard, with the addition of new 4 player co-op, though the exact details are unclear – regardless I’m up for more AC2 no matter what.

Future Soldier really surprised me – it looks a lot like splinter cell in the way the characters move and interact. Seems like you switch between first and third person on the fly, helpful for much of the precision shooting the game employs. It would be great to see some 4-player co-op missions, as there seems to be some kind of aggro management going on, but maybe that’s just me. I’m always a sucker for Future – as opposed to Science Fiction – warfare.

Anyhow, the Sony presser is about to start, let’s see how it goes.

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- 20:00 - Whoa, that’s a sharp start there, the legendary Jack Tretton is on stage giving an intro, and Kaz joins him on stage. Going to be talking about 3D. All PS3 is 3D enables through software update, Getting the idea that this is going to be taking up a huge chunk of the show.

- Killzone 3 Live Demo. (it;s in 3D), the demo is in 3D too, but I guess they’ve turned it off for us watching at home. Most noticeable UI change – damage indicators are a lot more accurate. Plenty of dudes on Jetpacks. DAMMIT they haven’t killed off Rico yet – he was the worst things about Killzone 2. Player gets to use Jetpacks too. Can’t comment on Graphical quality due to feed – but it looks a lot like Killzone 2. Decent applause from the audience on demo closure. Coming out in February next year. Compatible with Playstation Move on launch. No word on Multiplayer though = SADFACE.

- Kaz is back to talk about 3D - Announces Gran Tourismo 3 in 3D. Mortal Kombat, Ghost Recon, the Tron 2 game and Crysis 2 will also be in 3D. One last 3D video for everyone – Just a 3D demo reel. Lol, lots of obvious “oh no this object is coming right at your face!” moments.

- Jack’s back on stage. We’re getting a show of Playstation Move. Reel showing Developer Impressions – the basics of it is “Wii and Kinect can suck out light-balls”. Talking about putting the Move version of a game on the same disk as the regular title – mitigating the risk of publishers putting out a dedicated title – pretty smart bro. New PSMove game reveals.

- “Sorcery”, generic sounding fantasy game for Move. You play a Sorcerers Apprentice going through a magical world of blah blah. Technical Difficulties in the stream here. Motion looks pretty immersive. Game looks like a standard Zelda affair with the style of Kameo (remember that 360 launch title?) Looks kinda cool – shame about the generic-ness of it.

- Now talking about sports, so I’ll get a break to eat my supper (Steak pie and mash FYI). Tiger woods game – not like the South Park game sadly. Available as a title update when the Move launches.

- “Heroes on the Move” – Rachet, Jak and Sly in the same game? No proper details, but looks like a platformer. Now he’s talking about the marketing campaign?

- Haha Kevin Butler is on stage. EPIC. Talking mess about Microsoft. Quite possibly the greatest character Sony has ever created. Also quite possibly the greatest Press Conference speech ever made. They should make him president of gaming.

- Launch details for Move – Europe in September 15th. Move Controller at $49,99 – Bundle for $100 with game and eye camera– huge applause from audience. Haha, Time Crisis Game. A couple of games getting functionality patched in. Roll trailer reel.

- Jack’s back. New PSP trailer featuring Kevin Butler and a kid from the streetz. Kinda makes me feel bad for not playing my PSP more. Jack’s talking about known PSP games. New God of War game. Haven’t seen anything proper new yet. 70 new titles coming to PSP by the end of the year.

- Now talking about Playstation Network. 50Million registered accounts globally. Hahaha Season 2 of “The Tester” coming soon.

- Live demo of Little Big Planet 2. Looks really cool – receives probably the best applause so far.

- Adding optional Subscriptions to PS Network - “Playstation Plus” – same price as a Xbox Live Gold subscription but gives you a lot of free games, launches this month, and will come with Wipeout HD.

- Dude with an epic beard is on stage talking about Medal of Honour. Coming on June 28th a series of interview videos with real Tier 1 Operators. Game coming out October 12th. Now talking about Dead Space 2 – Live Demo, continuation of Demo from the EA Event Yesterday. Both games getting exclusive collectors editions.

- WUT WAT WAT !?!?!? GABE NEWELL IN THE FUCKING HOUSE PORTAL 2.!!! Emergency Surprise system deployed indeed. Portal 2 coming to the PS3, the game is getting some sort of Steam Integration. Portal 2 Trailer. Looks awesome. Coming in 2011, no month confirmed. (I’ll still totally be playing it on a PC tho :P)

- New Video of Final Fantasy 14. ARE YOU READY TO BE GRINDAN SHIT LIKE YOU’VE NEVER GROUND SHIT BEFORE!!?!?! nothankyou.jpg

- Mafia 2 getting some day 1 exclusive content.

- Assassins Creed Brotherhood getting Exclusive content, and Exclusive Beta. Getting a Multiplayer Trailer now, All in game. Can’t tell if this is competitive or cooperative.

- Treated to a big third-party Trailer Reel

- It’s now the part of the show where every year they show us some Gran Tourismo.

- inFamous 2, Don’t think that’s Cole as the lead character, different voice actor Totally new City – I’m guessing New Orleans meets Paris kind of setting. New powers, Ice powers confirmed.

- Jack’’s back with one more surprise: Twisted Metal Confirmed. This is a big deal i guess??? Hey look it’s David Jaffe! Getting a live demo. Dude that’s a Helicopter. That sure is a car combat game.

- and it’s over.

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You know that was a decent show. But what can I take away from it? Well, Killzone 3 looks cool, and so does Little Big Planet 2. But when it comes to 3D and Motion Gaming, I still don’t really care. And I was really surprised that they didn’t say a thing about a new PSP.

Valve putting Portal 3 on a PS3 is a rather amazing surprise, along with some sort of cryptic steam integration. I hope we get to see how this deal came together at some point (i.e. how many money trucks did they drive into Valve? Lol).

But what surely stole the whole Kevin Butler skit.

From tomorrow onwards until the end of the show I’ll be putting up blog posts each day with some of the coolest stuff I’ve seen from across the web from the E3 Show floor. And at the weekend I’ll be doing a round up post and a “10 best videos” post like I did last year. So all two of you – keep F5’s at the ready.

‘Nin Out!

Here we are again, it’s Quarterly Incoming!!! that new feature on the blog that I nearly forget to write about. This quarter is looking to be pretty great - lots of titles evenly spread out to the point that there’ll be something new out every fortnight. I weep with anticipation whereas my wallet simply weeps. As always, release date tracking is provided by Eurogamer.
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January

This year, January’s a pretty good month. There’s only one title in that list that I’m not entirely sold on - and it’s Dark Void. I saw Giantbomb’s Quick Look the other day, and I think I’ll have to wait for reviews to see if I go for it. Bayonetta and Darksiders are both already in my possession and I intend to indulge sometime today. Despite the original’s flaws, what I’ve seen of Mass Effect 2 looks amazing. But January’s icing on the cake comes in the form of Plants Vs Zombies for the iPhone - I’ll be there as soon as it hits the iTunes Store, whenever that may be.

As for MAG - I played some of the Open Beta yesterday, and I can say - I’m pretty damn impressed. I experienced No Lag in 64 player games, and I played pretty well too once I got a little used to the controls. But the game feels really old - like it were a FPS from the early days of the PS2. It’s simply a case of ‘feel’ and feedback when it comes to the shooting and a couple of odd choices regarding the button layout. I’ll talk a bit more at the end of the post.

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Febuary

For me, the only sure thing on this list is Bioshock 2 - fun fact: If I had put down the name of every developer under 2K games that worked on Bioshock 2 for the game in the table - it would’ve broke the table. Dante’s Inferno and AvP’s purchase will hinge solely on Review scores. The same kinda goes for Star Trek Online, I’m really worried for the game, or anything that comes out of Cryptic for that matter. Not to mention that it’s been pretty atrocious how they’re riding the hype train super hard, there’s a new video or batch of screenshots every week, and yet we know next to nothing about the game. Heavy Rain is my final choice for the month - I’ve been playing through Quantic Dream’s last title “Farenheight” (or “Indigo Prophecy” if you’re not european) and it’s a pretty unique title, if Heavy Rain comes back and fixes some of the studios decisions regarding Farenheight it should be pretty great. And after the awesome that was Assasin’s Creed 2 and from what we saw at E3, Splinter Cell: Conviction is a Must Buy.

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March

I’ve been slowly jonesing for a Battlefield fix ever since I stopped 1943 at the end of august last year - Bad company 2 should fix that - and it’s probably the title that I’m most excited for this month. FF13 is a game I will most certainly play, but I’m in little ways excited for it - you know, actually, I’m really excited to see how they’ll fuck up the achievement lists. The same kinda goes for God of War 3 - I don’t really hold the same reverence everyone else has for the game, but assuredly I’ll be there day 1. The Chaos Rising expansion is something I’m not sure I’ll have the time or the patience to go through with, and rounding off the month is Yakuza 3 & 4 - games I have only heard whispers about, and I think I understand that the premisce is something like Shenmue meets GTA minus the Autos, and that alone has me interested.
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I really hate Sony’s Dualshock controllers - this fact came to light once again during the time I’ve spent with the MAG beta this weekend. My most hated parts of these controllers: the sticks and the shoulder buttons - both of which the beautiful 360 controller has without flaw. But I think I’ve found an answer - instead of just waiting for sony or some third party to market a better PS3 controller, why not just use the 360 one instead? The XCM Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 (now with rumble support and button switching!) lets you plug a wired 360 controller right into the PS3 and have it just work. You can see a video of it in action HERE. I’ll be finding out just how well it works, and telling you all about it, sometime this month, when I go get mine.

I didn’t really post alot during my holiday break, and that was certainly my intention. I did alot of stuff, and I dont think I have the room or the time to fit it all onto the Blog, so here are the cliffnotes. I went to see Avatar and I really liked it. I saw Daybreakers and it was… ok, but there were alot of problems I had with the overarching vampire lore and cure for vampirism they came up with. I saw Sherlock Holmes and it was really freaking good. I ate Sushi twice from YoSushi in Aberdeen and I intend to go back many more times. I had my second Driving Theory test yesterday, which I wasn’t allowed to take because I forgot that dumb slip of paper that came with my provisional liscence. And I slept, alot.

As for games, I got through most of Farenheight and I intend to finish it soon. It’s a really unique adventure game, and despite some of it’s odd design choices it’s got a great story behind it. It’s a really old game, so I think my words here might fly over your heads a bit so maybe I’ll put up a proper review once I finish it. My PC upgrades went well - except I bought 4GB too much RAM, no-one mentioned to me that a 32-bit OS only works with 4GB max of RAM. The upgrade is noticable, but The PC still can’t run some games as smoothly as I’d like it too, which makes me think that I’ll be aiming for a new full system alot sooner than I anticipated. And of course, as I predicted, I resubbed to WoW - I forgot how utterly satisfying a game it is to play. Currently I’m leveling up my Deathknight ‘Ichimaru’ through Northrend and I started a new Rogue called ‘Tatsumasa’ also on Argent Dawn. It’s a class that I’ve never played before (not counting druid cat-cat) and it feels really different. Hopefully I’ll get him up to a pretty decent level before the expansion - and with the changes they’ve made to the game for low level players it shouldn’t be too tasking. I mean, I get a freaking mount at level 20 for christs sake!

In future news, I’ll be hitting Fundee the 29th to the 31st for the Worldwake Prerelease and the usual Fundonian hyjinks. I’ll probably get back to doing some proper blogging soon too - atleast once a week, but that all depends on how interesting my life gets, and these days it usually hits “not very” on the scale. Well that’s all for now, I’m off to play some Darksiders, Bayonetta and a little more of the MAG beta before it ends on monday. Until next time!

Trading in my god for this one

Yes, another new feature. Atleast with this one, I don’t have to write it every week, and you don’t have to read it every week. This is totally the Blog’s THREE-HUNDREDTH-POST. Yey me and my insignificant perseverance! Let’s not look back at the gigantic downfall my life has taken since I started this Blog. Nay, let us look into the next paragraph and thus onto the future. Fat Penis.

So an interesting thing occured to me this week at work whilst I was doing mindless repetative task #1, I actually have no idea what is still coming out this Pwnmas. Those “Spring 2010″ delays that are in effect really threw a curveball at me. So I figure I should analyse the rest of the christmas catalogue on the Blog in order to become stabalised once again. Three Months, One Quarter, One Ever Changing Release List, EQUALS SIGN DIVIDER GOOOO!!!! (But to clarify, these are the games that I am interested in, hence the lack of Wii titles and sports games)
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The Rest Of September

The game we’ve already had this month is Arkham Asylum, and it is fucking amazing - but we’re not back-to-the-futureing here, hence it’s not on the list. WET came out on friday, but after playing the demo a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to avoid it at all costs. I found it to be a really ugly, messy game that causes physical repulsion when played - but that’s just my opinion. I’m glad that there’s a Layton sequal, but I haven’t finished the first one yet (I realise my fault there) so no second course for me. Maybe I can play some more of the first one whilst I mine shit in EVE.

I’m naming Halo 3: ODST as my pick of the month - I’m just really excited for this game’s release. I know that some people plainly don’t get the haloes, but I consider myself a fan - though unrabid. For myself and many, Halo was the reason to buy an Xbox, and since then we’ve played many many more excellent games. But for us, a Halo release is an event, and we allow ourselves to be pulled in by the marketing and hype, and we recieve an experience from that has yet to dissapoint. Staring at the Halo 3 poster on my wall, I salute Bungie, and prepare myself to drop next tuesday.

As a side note: isn’t it fucking weird that ODST is hitting on a Tuesday? weird. Also, I just preordered.
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Rocktober

It’s been years since there’s been a South Park game, and that’s easily explained, considering the nature of previous titles. But I respect Matt and Trey too much to not notice this game. It could be good, and a free trial should solve the mystery.
I mentioned on a previous blog post that I really liked the Tropico 3 demo, but I think I’d need to be on holiday or something to really have time to dedicate to the game - So I’m not rushing out to get it, but maybe in the future. The game will also be released on Steam.
I’m reasonably underwhelmed by Borderland’s presentation so far, but the Giant Bomb crew have had positive feelings towards previews of the game, so I’ll have to wait for a review to sway my purchasing decision.
Uncharted 2 should be better than the Original - that I have yet to finish due to “GIANT BRICK WALL OF HARDNESS, let’s go play something on the Xbox instead“. From what I recieved from the Multiplayer beta is that they’ve made a game beyond the last, fixing some of the shortcomings of the original, and added in a multiplayer experience on par with most Xbox Live enabled titles.
Not much to say about the Ballad of Gay Tony, other than I’m going to be fabulously there on day 1. If Lost and the Damned was anything to go by, this should be even awesomer than the original disk game. I think both the DLC adventures are going to be released on the PS3 this month too, and I urge PS3 owners to pick them up.
I mention Fallout 3 as it is a Game of the Year edition, full of every piece of DLC content they’ve released for the game. So if you havent got my personal choise for game of the year 2008 yet, now would be the time to do so. Again, I believe this is coming out on the PS3 in the same month, complete with the DLC’s and new Trophy Support.
Sadly I never really got into Little Big Planet, though I fully endorse the ideal the game represents. Putting it on the PSP may be a way to bring it to a wider audience, especially when the PSPGo is hitting shelves. I won’t be there, but I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.

My pick of the Month for Rocktober is the game that has dubbed the month so. I hope, in total sincerity, that Brutal Legend sells trillions of copies and makes Tim Schafer a rich motherfucker. So rich that he can afford to turn himself into a game making cyborg that can simply output games from his crazy-masterful mind via USB. Or, just enough to allow Double Fine another AAA title.
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Modernwarvember

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be playing Modern Warfare 2 this month. Hence it is my completely obvious pick of the month. I’m seriously considering obtaining 2 copies for the game, one for the X-Box (and the achievements and the nice HDTVness) and one for the PC, so like Fallout 3, it may come wherever I go, and so I can play with people who are not blessed with a 360. There was a tonn of info on Multiplayer that dropped in the last week, THIS should sum it up for you.

I’m on the edge about getting DJHero. It’s a £90 game via amazon, and that’s the price of MW2 and Brutal Legend put together, but there’s just something about it that has my brain hooked on it, and Daft Punk. I missed out on any Music game action last year altogether - the Burn I recieved from Rock Bands EU release has hurt me for life, but maybe I should get back on the saddle, depending on how good santa is to my bank account that is.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a known quantity of a purchase so much that I have basically pre-pre-ordered it. I need no previews, and I need no Reviews. Give me a date and a price and I’ll be there. Interestingly, I’m thinking about getting a 360 copy, If I can on the cheap. XBox Live seems like a good place for the game.

Assasin’s Creed 2, I don’t really know what to say. The last game left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth with it’s weird and often unneccesary gameplay mechanics and it’s more unneccesary collection quests. Maybe those crazy french canadians have had enough time and funding to fix those previous problems. As a side note, how do you think the game looks compared to the last? from the videos I’ve seen it looks like it’s received a bit of a graphical downgrade.
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Deadcember

Yeah… 1 title. I suppose December is where the desperate developers will release their undated games. There’s just The Saboteur, but despite it’s somewhat uniqueness (think Assasin’s Creed + Hitman * Nazis) and Inglorious Basterdsness, I think I’m beyond over WW2 games.

There’s a good chance we’ll all still be playing MW2 this month anyway, and on our 3rd prestige run.
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Have You Seen These Release Dates?

These game’s were slated for release in 2009 but have yet to show face. We’ve heard next to nothing about each of these titles, except the God of War collection, but aslong as that’s out before III we shouldn’t be gushing for it. The APB beta is probably (yes, just the Beta) is probably my most sought after of all of these. I yearn for that game so much. Why don’t you check out this new gameplay trailer(HD +Fullscreen For The Win):

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So that’s it. Despite all the delays til next year, this should be a fun packed Pwnmas afterall. So what are you guys looking forward to playing? And what is on your Santa wishlist?

Before I go, I actually have a rather pressing question. My PC monitor broke a couple of weeks ago (somewhat mysteriously) and I’ve been looking to get another one - once my bank account fills up a bit. I don’t really use it much, since the Nintop provides better everything than my old dreadnaught of a PC. But I miss the Dual Screening I used to get with my Laptop and hooking it up to my TV is somewhat uncomfortable. So my question: Where’s a good place to get a new Monitor online. I’ve had a look at some of Amazon’s offerings, but if there is a place my adoring public can reccomend that can give me something cheaper that’d be great. I found THIS on amazon, and that’s what I might end up getting if I don’t get a suggestion.

Join me in Deadcember as I analyse the releases of spring 2010. Next post - watch as I make some demonic pacts with cards and stuff. You can also scroll down to the previous post too to bask in the overwhelmingness of a 4000 word text on Flash Bear MTG deckbuilding tactics. If you’re into that sort of thing.

And you can’t explain why you claimed your cat

Having Words With The PSPGo
To get is plain and simple, it’s not the product that I wanted. My wants are threefold, for starters, why don’t you just give me a damn second analogue stick? It pisses me off so much that it isn’t there, the thing is supposed to be a playstation in my pocket (I mean literally, a damn PSone) and the games there used a second analogue stick - even if it were optional. Slamming a second little nob on there instantly gives every psp game made from that point onward some proper camera control, or a freaking twin stick shooter that actually has a second stick! And don’t bring the fucking face buttons into this, they’re not analogue and they’re supposed to be for jumping and punching and shit.

Secondly, why the fuck do you insist that beautiful screen continues to be all out in the open - ready to get scuffed to fuck in my pocked? It’s probably easier to build something flippy than something all weird and slidey.

Third, well, you actually get some points there - getting rid of the shitty UMD drive and bolting on a decent hunk of memory for a soon to exist online game store brimming with titles. Unfortunatly, I can basically do that with what I’ve got in my hand right now - all I have to do is get a bigger memory stick.

So no, I will not be buying a PSPgo. I’ll already have had one once they kick their download service in high gear. Consider this Words Had.

The MTG 2010 “Patch Notes”
Magic the Gathering is getting a major update, akin to something a MMO would get along the lines of a pre-expansion patch. The changes they’ve outlined are sure to be controversial, stirring up the fanboys as we speak. I suppose when it comes to MTG I should really end up in the fanboy catagory, so here’s my peice of pie. I like the wordy changes, stuff like “Into play” becoming “onto the battlefield” is all good, it adds to the fiction of the game. And honestly, it became a bit inevitable once they started keywording stuff like crazy(see Lifelink, Vigilance).

The Combat damage thing, I’m still trying to wrap my head around - At this moment I’m thinking that it’s going to stop me fucking about with combat damage, which at times I thoroughly enjoy. Basically, all combat damage has Split Second? Right?

I don’t think I like the removal of mana burn - I always found it to be extremely flavourful, the thought that a mage could absorb so much magical energy than their abilities could deal with. It brought a bit of science to the game - that all energy, especially those accidentally absorbed, needs somewhere to go, and usually it goes to a bad place. Regardless, I’ll be sad to see Mana Burn go.

Duels of the Planeswalkers
Whilst all that was whirling in my head, an ad on the site reminded me that there’s a MTG game coming out on XBLA, and that event is happening next week. I’ve always thought that Magic could do something more than Magic Online - something a bit lighter on the wallet - and maybe Duel of the Planeswalkers is a step in the right direction. My deepest hopes see this game becoming a success and sees that Wizards continues to add and support this game as an official offshoot of the card game, with many many sequals. It promises a grand Single Player experience and a rich Multiplayer experince - but after experienceing MTGO, proof of this will have to be in the purchase. So I’ll find out next wednesday.

It’ll also be interesting to see if they are going to integrate the new terminology and game changes to this digital version of the game - It would work as a fantastic bridge for existing players. And also, how many times will MTGO crash after these rules are patched in. I do however know that a purchase of Duels of the Planeswalkers gives a physical Garruk Promo. This is a crazy awesome thing.

Charting the Uncharted Beta
There’s something special in here. It takes most of the Gears of War standard of online gameplay and adds a Tomb Raider level of climbability. It’s very satisfying to jump from rooftop to rooftop chasing after some motherfucker, and it’s more satisfying to set yourself up a nice camping spot - hanging from a wall, peeking over the top of it with a one hit killing deagle. It’s surprising, they’ve added verticality, and it took me afew matches to reset my mind to it.

The Co-Op mode is also very interesting. I haven’t really dug into it yet, as there seems to be only one map available, but it looks like they’ve taken chunks from the single player, removed a couple of the puzzles and cut-scenes, and in it’s place some team player elements. It has Narrative. Granted, it’s probably watered down from the main plot, but it’s there. It’s good to see a multiplayer component like this removed, tweaked and tuned from it’s single player counterpart. Usually you’d be plonked into the same map as the Host to play sidekick. A Magical ninja person who wouldn’t appear in cutscenes or play silent bob throughout.

But overall, this remains hinged. The big question is how the leveling process is going to be handled. Right now, your XP is being called $, presumably because you get money for killing people - just like in real life. But will the money be spendable? will I get more than 12ish character skins to wear? are there more than 8 ‘perks’ to put in my slots? It feels less like a beta and more like a teaser - which is probably exactly what it is.

Game/Designer Rant of the Week
It came to my attention after playing some Red Faction and the Uncharted Beta that they’re both using character skins from the game for your multiplayer appearance. It’s a little dismaying these days to enter a team of 8 and see 4 people are carbon copies of Nathan Drake. I realise it’s a reusing of assets thing, and alot of people don’t care about their avatars. But when there’s two year old games like Halo 3 that are doing amazing yet simple things with digital appearance, and then there’s APB with it’s Barbie Maker Machine. By comparison it’s hard to take these multiplayer components seriously.

I dont feel invested in a game that won’t let me customise or show off, and usually it should be through an avatar - A character I create or a character who I’d like to be. I want to be able to display my cool shit so that people want to run away from me on the battlefield. And I want to be able to run away when I see a crazy looking, trophy covered, motherfucker coming towards me with a sledgehammer.

Having Words With InFamous
So I finished Infamous the otherday, and I have to say that the game has it’s ups and downs. Like a huge down in the middle and some nice peaks at the start and especially at the end. The story, and the seems Douchebaggy. It’s appears as a parody of comic books but you know they want to be totally serious about the whole thing. You could take the characters, remove the third dimension and you’d have a decent kids american-anime show on your hands. It starts with the explosion that gives your character his powers, and then after that the entire back story is played out through small snippets of cut scenes. I would’ve rather seen the protagonist as the Delivery Boy in action, delivering the package that changed his life.

I’m putting a spoiler warning here, because In the next paragraph I’m about to talk about the game’s ending.

It’s fucking retarded is what it is. Suddenly your enemy is a timetraveler that’s actually you from the future, come back to fiddle your dick and your future to face an enemy that’s described only as “the beast”. Surely this is a setup for a sequal, where you spend the entire game being the Scooby Doo to Inevitable Fire Guy’s evil plots. The way it was all delivered was all so sudden. I saw no hints of time travel on the lead up to the finale, and then it’s all summed up in a two minute cut scene. What the hell guys?

Spoilers over.

The powers your character get are taken to extremes at some points. The whole memory downloading thing he does is really weird, and is probably the most far removed of all the ‘powers’. But there’s a couple I think they missed to. For instance, if he can use electricity to glide, why can’t he focus it into a burst of energy and use it to jump really freaking high? Save me from climbing my ass up the side of another building - which you do all the time. The final power, I must say is certainly worth the wait. And that power’s surrounding mission is amazingly satisfying. You basically get a lightning storm rape button, that creates a trail of death in any specific direction you want - and by that point in the game, enemies are being thrown at you in a volume that you want a rape button.

The enemies are really odd. They’re always there and they always know you are there, and therefore they are always shooting at you. It’s really hard to find a quiet spot within the city. There’s no presence of Stealth in the game, and adding it would’ve been very welcome - I mean, your protagonist is supposed to be a freaking Urban Ninja FFS.

The moral choice thing is a bit black and white. To play the game properly, there is no middle ground. The game has essentially two stories, and straying from one after you’ve made your first ‘moral choice’ actually lowers your character’s potential for maximum power. It’s not really a bad thing - when you strip out the further choises the game presents to you it’s as if they werent there at all. The problem can be sourced, I’m sure, to marketing - It’s a unique selling point that simply doesn’t exist if you think about it.

There’s nothing like it on the PS3, but I can’t help but feel that I’ve played some of it before, quite possibly on another console. The game has little derivatives of everything from Assasin’s Creed to Crackdown - and in doing so it’s never totally it’s own product. But it’s still good, and it doesn’t take forever to get your fill of the game - as open world games often can, choke your fucking throat with too much content.

After the drudgery of the game’s middle section I was actually surprised that I’d do it all over again as a good guy.

So in conclusion, the PS3 has two games worth playing. InFamous and MGS4.

A Big APB Interview
Joystiq got a really great interview with one of APB’s Lead Designers at E3, and I totally missed it last week. So HERE it is. They get into a little bit of the nitty gritty of character customisation, matchmaking and the game’s economy. It alleviated some of my conscerns and stoked my game boner at the same time. And Let’s hope they don’t dissapear down a hole with game info as they did last time.

Today’s video popped up on Kotaku the other day and I find it very funny. Moreso if you understand TF2.

Le Weekend
I’ve been blessed, this weekend of the week my 360 is ressurected, with an extra day. That’s why I thought I’d post the big weekend post a day earlier - to make sure it all begins on friday night.

Goal #1 - Fallout 3 Broken Steel
Goal #2 - Fable 2’s ‘See The Future’ DLC
Goal #3 - Finish Red Faction: Guerilla’s Main Campaign
Goal #4 - Play some Prototype

A quartet of 360 gaming goals. But will the nefarious monster Parentis foil our hero’s plans to summon a mighty weekend of gaming?!? Will I order Pizza, or Chinese or BOTH!?! Tune in next time to find out, when I will touch on Prototype, Duels of the Planeswalkers and my usual gaming escapades.

It’s all about the Hamiltons, baby

Sony’s up to bat, and they really need to knock this one out of the park. I expect alot of PSP Go! talk, a bag of holding worth of exclusives, and maybe some MMO’s for the PS3 from a wide array of genre’s. I gotta get me a Lucozade Orange or something. Ubisoft’s 3am finishing time really killed me. My thanks go to Red Bull, the Originalist of energy drinks for helping me through the day.

So this is the shittest thing to happen ever. My ISP kicked my connection speed in the man balls mere moments before the sony conference. I could strangle my goddamn Internet Provider right now. Fuck you Demon! I’m a day late, but atleast I managed to avoid spoilage during the downtime. Below is the liveblog from when it was live to me. Also, I can’t be fucking arsed editing it - So enjoy my shitty grammar.

In other news - My 360 has been ressurected and is being shipped back to me. Hopefully to be in my hands this week, intime for Red Faction on friday.
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- Nice intro video there. Jack Tretton hits the stage. 365 games coming out on playstation platforms this year. Still selling PS2’s….. sold 22 million ps3’s last year.

- Uncharted 2 Stage Demo. Multiplayer beta starting at midnight americatime. Yep, certainly looks like incharted. Thank fuck - looks like it’s not taking a billion bullets to kill enemies any more. and a nice general crosshair thing for blind firing. nice applause.

- MAG live gameplay demo. live 356 demo. Players across america, from Zipper interactive developers. This is looking really good. I’m impressed - out this fall.

- Onto PSP. lol, innapropriate applause to the Hannah Montana PSP bundle. Jack Introduced Kaz. asking people for two years “how can we make PSP better”… impending PSPgo intro. Will not replace the old psp - acts as an alternative.50% smaller, 40% lighter. 16GB memory + memory card slot. Integrated bluetooth. Launch of new media manager. been making the dev tools better. All new psp games are going to be available for download. $249 for PSPGo, 249 Euros (£215). Video delivery service will be available on PSP aswel (IT’S STILL NOT AVAILABLE IN EUROPE DAMMIT.)

- Grand Tourismo PSP. Yeah. I think I’ll fast forward a bit.

- Impending MGS announcement - Kojima hit’s the stage for the second time this week. MEtal gear peace walker. set a decade after MGS3, a true sequal to the franchise. Kojima will be writing and producing, the MGS4 team will be working on this title. TRAILER TIME. looks like it’s getting all cold war in there. graphically it’s somewhere between a PS1 and PS2 game. WHAAAA QUADRO SNAKES????

- New resident evil game. new socom game, motorstorm, littlebigplanet. mew daxter game. FF Dissidia. Monster Hunter. MGS Peace Walker. Soul Calibur. Persona? Tiger Woods, some footall thing, tennis thing.,pixeljunk monsters, FAT PREINCESS, hannah montana. rock band, all coming to PSP this year.

- 07:45 going to have to stop it there, I’ll watch some more at lunch.

- Talking Playstation Network now. 51 playstation classics to be added in near future, FINAL FANTASY 7 OUT TODAY! (unconfirmed for UK) going to talk PS Home. Showing trailer - Nothing really new in there.

PS3 Montage Trailer. Uncharted 2, Infamous, foorbalk, FF13, some shooeter, brutal legent, batman, white knight story, rallt, ghost busters, wet, ninja gaiden, new byzz game, tekken, dark void, to name a few. heavy rain, BF1943 wow, really long montage.

- new rockstar north property exclusive, “Agent” set in late 1970s.

- Assasin’s Creed 2 stage demo. HELLS YES! looks really fucking amazing. Desmond and Animis confirmed. Assasin is not an assasin at the start of the game. Leonardo Davinchi is confirmed as your mentor and wepon upgrader, lol awesome. DOUBLE BLADE’D. AI enemies that search in hiding spots. PSP to PS3 connectivity with Bloodline game on PSP. Mighty aplause for the game. I cannot wait.

- new ff trailer. yep thats ff alright.WHAT FINAL FANTASY 14. On PS3 in 2010.Oh, it’s online. That just made this all alot less exciting.

- Playstation Motion Controller. looks like a wiimote with a big blue ball. ball is a tracker. it can change color. 1-to-1 motion. lol motion mace. Motion arching, motion motion sword, motion SHURIKEN. That’s some good tech.

- new LBP content…. new franchise, exlcusice play creat chare game, like lbp. Cartoon racer. ModNation Racers. looks like it’s got that charm that LBP has. mod the cars mod the racers, share features like LBP. looks like it’s got a great sence of speed. Track studio - full of features, including a sheep brush. Out in 2010.

- New game from SC The Last Guardian. Trailer rolling. Looks pretty freakikng epic. Totally all ingame footage. Crowd goes wild.

- Short teaser of Gran Tourismo 5. Meh, cars trying to be realistic.

-Stage demo of God of War 3. Kratos is looking toned.yep he just gutted a centaur. and impaled a chimera with it’s own horn.

- DUDE! IT’S OVER!
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Tune in later for my blog skimming for events from today.

‘Nin Out!