The straight edge Jak and his lovable furry sidekick Daxter are returning for yet another action-adventure for in the next chapter of the series, The Lost Frontier, coming to the PSP and PS2 this fall. … Continue Reading
Sony said there was going to be a big announcement today on the 31st March, it appears it was about the PS2 and it’s price drop from $129.99 to $99.99.
Sure, it is quite the milestone, but come on! Sure it’s nice but, this isn’t really that big of an announcement. I wasn’t expecting a PS3 price drop, but this sort of hyped up announcement is aimed at us hardcore gamers who often check out news on a regular basis, and most of us already own a PS2, and even if we didn’t, most wouldn’t consider getting a last generation machine. (no matter how good it is) So making it this huge announcement is a bit pointless. At least now more people can experience the great console.
But hey, it isn’t bad news, but it just get an overwhelming meh from me.
Today I’m excited to talk about another milestone in PlayStation 2’s lifespan. For the first time ever, PlayStation 2 will be offered at a price point under $100 (that’s $99.99 MSRP, to be exact), starting April 1!
Why is this so significant? Well most importantly, this new price means that more people than ever will be able to join in on the fun that so many of you PlayStation 2 owners have been enjoying for years, which means new families will become part of the platform’s record-breaking install base. With this new price, we intend to introduce a new generation of consumers – some of whom weren’t even alive when the system was first introduced in 2000 – to the immense entertainment value offered by PlayStation 2.
In the gaming industry, the typical lifecycle for a console is around five years, but because we build each of our platforms for a large and diverse consumer base, we design our platforms differently. With the original PlayStation and now PlayStation 2, we’ve proven that consumers can rely on our platforms for their gaming and entertainment needs for at least a decade. This speaks to the technology and features that were packed into PlayStation 2 from the beginning, as well as to the ongoing support the platform enjoys from the publishing and retail communities and, well, all of you fans.
PlayStation 2’s unmatched gaming library will grow to nearly 1,900 titles from both our first-party studios and publishing partners this year, with a particular focus on the social and sports genres that are so popular with the emerging family demographic. This will include games such as MLB ’09, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Guitar Hero Metallica and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge…not to mention the 250 titles that have achieved “Greatest Hits” status. With all of that content, PlayStation 2 is a great option for families looking for ways to share their entertainment experiences together; they can rock out to Rock Band, test their trivia knowledge with Buzz!, or simply use the PlayStation 2 as their DVD or CD player.
In the news this weekend, details on the upcoming Burnout Paradise patch, some free GHWT tracks, Guitar Hero: Metallica set list has been revealed and Gamers are more likely to be drunks and drug addicts?
This free patch will add an in-game store for the PS3 and PC version, tweak vehicle handling, tweaks to events and road rage, and the best thing they added is a restart feature. Yes you can now restart a mission from the get go. Criterion know how to treat their fans.
On Tuesday you will be able to download some free Bruce Springsteen tracks, the tracks are Born to Run” “My Lucky Day” and “Working On A Dream”.
Guitar Hero Metallica set list Revealed
All classic Metallica tracks are there, and for those who downloaded the new album for the world tour, the DLC will work on this version. Other bands include, Slayer, System of a Down, Mastodon and Machine Head.
Gamers more likely to be drunks and drug addicts
A recent study at Brigham Young University in Utah that gamers are more likely to be drunks and drug addicts. They say it’s because we remove ourselves from social settings (bullshit) or use gaming as a way to escape for hard times, like for example relationships. 800 students took part in the survey, yes of course ask 800 people who’s social life in university revolve around drinking and drugs, oh what a very reliable survey.
Here is a list of all the New Releases for the week commencing 11th January.
11th
19th January
High Voltage Hot Rod Show – Wii
Star Ocean: Second Evolution – PSP
World Championship Games: A Track and Field Event – DS
20th January
Ar tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica – PS2
Big Bang Mini – DS
Commander in Chief – PC
Deer Drive – Wii
Inkheart – DS
Stoked – Xbox 360
Ultimate Shooting Collection – Wii
Wonder World Amusement Park – DS
21st January
Hot n’ Cold – PC
Sim Animals- Wii
Skate 2 – Xbox 360, PS3
The Maw – Xbox 360
In total there are 13 New Releases this week. Here is the console breakdown:
Wii – 4
Xbox 360 – 3
DS – 2
PC – 1
PS2 – 1
PS3 – 1
PSP – 1
Well, there hasn’t been one of these in a while and I have some spare time so here goes!
Resident Evil 5 Box Art revealed
Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection Box Art revealed
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania Box Art revealed
Suikoden now available on PSN – $5.99
Skate 2 demo on PSN – January 15th
White Knight Chronicles US release ‘likely’
Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii: November 9, 2008
Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii: November 12, 2008
Another year, another WWE game. With every passing year there is hope that THIS time we will get a wrestling game that truly defines the art of big, sweaty men in pants, pretending to fight. With their biggest rivals TNA releasing a game earlier this year, the pressure may be starting to mount on WWE and THQ to produce top quality wrestling games one again.
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009 is very much what I have come to expect from a WWE game. It is more like a strange fighting game than a wrestling game in that professional wrestling is actually (gasp!) fake, yet the games portray all of the acts as if they are actually fighting. In ‘real’ wrestling, the matches are a constant back and forth with the match nearly always ending with a finisher. The problem with this latest SmackDown! game (and the majority of them) is that the match will nearly always be the player decimating their opponent and hitting them with a few finishers before they end the match. So the game ends up being unrewarding and unfaithful to the source material which is really disappointing.
Yet with that being said, the game will undoubtedly appeal to certain people, avid fans of the WWE will really get a kick out of taking this guy, and making him beat the living crap out of this other guy. With a total roster number of 67 superstars / divas, there is plenty of opportunity to create your favourite dream scenarios, but it’s still a shame to see matches that are nothing like real-life wrestling bouts. The roster is a big improvement on last year’s 48 characters although there still seems to be a few ‘throw-aways’ in there. About ten percent of the characters will have to be unlocked by playing through one of the six Road to WrestleMania storylines.
The Road to WrestleMania game mode is replacing the classic story mode this year with six stories written exclusively for the characters involved. The mode sees you in the two months running up to WrestleMania with one of the following superstars: Triple H, John Cena, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, The Undertaker or Batista & Rey Mysterio. The stories are even more unrealistic than the real-life storylines (if you can wrap your head around that) but for the most part they serve their purpose and it fits in better than having [insert Superstar here] partake in [insert random storyline here] everytime. The same problems remain though, with horrendous voice acting and character movement not helping the less than impressive storylines. The presentation has been improved slightly, but the character run-ins and interaction is still a long way off from looking like anything on TV.
The other major update is the career mode, which has the player choose a superstar (or a CAW), choose a title to chase and then partake in a number of matches before challenging the title holder. In order to wrestle for the #1 contendership, the player must take on their choice of five superstars and earn a predetermined amount of stars in these matches. The only problem with this is it’s hard to get a high-star rating just by beating your opponent senseless, so you will find yourself purposefully breaking up pins and letting yourself get beat up a bit to get the stars. Without any actually story or cut-scenes in between matches or even title-wins, the mode grows pretty stagnant pretty quickly and you will be hard-pressed to find a reason to try and complete all nine titles trees.
In terms of the actually wrestling gameplay, it is almost exactly the same as previous instalments in the series, with a few new character specific moves added. New to 2009 however is the use of signature moves when using a stored ‘finisher’ which stops ‘finisher-fests’ and helps to differentiate between the characters as the announcers actually call the signature moves this time. The signature moves are all pretty good, but there is no indication before the match of which position you must be in to execute them so there will be a bit of trial and error gameplay when rooting them out. Tag Team matches have also had a bit of a re-hash, with a new ‘hot tag’ meter which is ridiculous. At any point the player on the apron can start some crowd clapping and unleash a hot tag, which involves a small quick time event after a tag. The whole point of a ‘hot tag’ in real wrestling is that the player making the tag has been beaten to a pulp and is crawling for his life to make the tag, but in the game it can be made at any time which makes no real sense and look as stupid as it sounds. Besides these changes, there is still a large amount of clipping and animation issues, with players taken no notice of the objects around them and jerking in and out of movements without any fluidity. It’s still incredibly aggravating to me that THQ STILL cannot seem to make a good, fluid wrestling simulator.
The exhibition modes are very much the same with a large range of different match types available including the all new Inferno match which is fun once or twice and then the novelty kind of wears off. Exhibition matches are kind of fun if you enjoy making your own title matches between different opponents in various match types, yet playing against the COM is too easy and unrewarding so the only other real place to try is online. Unfortunately the majority of online players are incredibly good at the game and due to some incessant lag issues, once someone has the upper hand it is nearly impossible to counter your way out of it.
The creation modes are back again and one of the only redeeming parts of SmackDown! Vs. RAW 2009. There is still a huge range of customisable character models and move sets to suit the player. A brand new addition the creation tools is the Create-A-Finisher mode which allows you to chain together up to ten movements to create your own unique finishing move. The moves flow together nicely although there are a few hitches when linking certain moves with each other but aside from that, it is pretty fun to create your own finishing moves to use on opponents.
The soundtrack only features about ten licensed songs, but wrestlers’ themes will now play on the menu screens as well which is a nice touch. The sound effects however, are not quite as nice though, as wrestlers will be slammed down to the mat with a rather disappointing ‘tap’ rather than an aggressive ‘THUD’ which draws away from the visual aspect of some of the more violent moves.
The Final Word
WWE’s SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009 is another disappointing wrestling game that tries some new things but ultimately does not focus on the things it needs to change such as wrestler animations and TV-style presentation. An in-depth creation mode and some semi-engrossing story modes are all that save this game from complete failure, but it’s still not passable.
- MonsterVine Rating: Mediocre
By Andy Jackson
Plants vs Zombies
Developer: Popcap Games
Price: $3 Dollars
Platform: iPhone
Genre: Tower Defense
There is something delightful about the charming simplicity of Popcap’s titles, and Plants vs Zombies continues this legacy. Much like Peggle and any of its past franchises, Plants vs Zombies takes a single round to comprehend all of its basic rules. Though it never becomes difficult [...]
The original Matt Hazard had the potential to be a great game, good voice work with the likes of Neil Patrick Harris and Will Arnett. A brilliant backstory and marketing campaign which broke the fourth wall entirely, and the story while thin was entertaining and amusing. The sole problem came in the gameplay department which [...]
When the newest entry in the beloved Zelda series was announced earlier this year, people were both excited and skeptical. How well would a train in the Zeldaverse go over with fans? Would the gameplay be a replay of Phantom Hourglass, with its infamously numerous trips through the Temple of the Ocean King?
Now that the [...]
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