Welcome back to another episode of Twisted Gamer Radio.  On today’s show we help the elderly with depression instead of the Wii, we chat about the Activision vs. Infinity Ward beef, as well as cover the PSN bug that hit last week and how it affects the Playstation Network.  Plus, a great new infomercial for Zoobooks in Sound Clip Corner.

- PSN Bug Chatter

- 2K Sports Talk

- Real Baby Dies, Fake Online Baby Lives On

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The previous 2 DLC packs for Borderlands hit Xbox Live and PSN with gamers still clamoring for more to do on the distant world of Pandora.  You have built your individual character to your liking using Borderland’s in game “path” RPG system and gamers have grown fond of their creations.  Trouble is, when the second playthrough of the game is over and the stash of unique weapons runs dry, most gamers put their killing machines up on the shelf.  The greatest thing about the third Borderlands DLC is that it allows you to take your one of a kind character and kill, kill, and get more loot.

I’m going to treat this review as if it’s a full retail game (not just a DLC) because all of the content Gearbox lovingly put into this add-on equates to enough gameplay for other sixty dollar game title.  The new guns, new loot to find, new character mods and shields all add up to a ton of new things for you and your character.  But guess what, you are going to need it; all of it.  The General Knoxx add-on is hard, and the difficulty shoots up dramatically after the other DLC packs.  This is what Borderlands players asked for, and Gearbox delivered.  This DLC should only be tried with Level 50 characters with pretty heavy weapons in your arsenal.  I finished the single-player and Zombie Island DLC as a Level 42 Berserker, and even that wasn’t enough to make General Knoxx fun by myself without the assistance of a few friends.  Just trying to defeat the Level 64 Crawmerax at the end by yourself is near impossible and will drain your bank stash fast if you haven’t gotten to the level cap yet.

Borderlands is not supposed to be played solo though, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience to share with your friends online.  Hopping into the new vehicles and setting out onto the long elevated highways and sand dunes can get monotonous at times in between missions, but overall General Knoxx packs in about 7 to 8 hours of great gameplay that shouldn’t be missed.

This Borderlands DLC is not without its faults though, as there are a few glitches in the game that I experienced, as well as the addition of a new character with no real back story.  Some of these glitches were good for me and some were not so good for my bank account.  Falling out the back of the garage at Scooters and other weird glitches have been talked about, but getting exclusive access to the vault without the timer going off is one of my favorites.  Plus, Gearbox for some strange reason tried to add the character Athena to the long list of classic Borderlands NPC’s that includes the like of T.K. Baha, Crazy Earl, and Scooter.  Athena as a character just doesn’t fit in with that memorable company.

With these very small downfalls for The Secret Armory, it’s still Borderlands, and it still rocks your fucking socks off.  Gearbox listened to what all the gamers asked for, and like the ad said, they kicked it up to 11 and delivered (hence the new level cap of 61).  The Secret Armory is by far the most challenging Borderlands DLC to date, and I would have to say is the top DLC to get if you get just one.  General Knoxx is a must buy, then Zombie Island, and then if you’re a complete Borderlands freak, you’ll need Mad Moxxi’s Underdome to round out the trilogy.  Good things do come in threes.

Pick up The Secret Armory of General Knoxx on the Xbox Live marketplace for 800 MS points.

[A download code of the DLC was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]

By now you have all heard about the huge news coming out of GDC. The PS3 is finally getting the motion controller that has been rumored for months. It’s called the PS Move and could very well be a huge avenue for potential on the console. The $64,000 is, should we get excited and should this be on all of our holiday gaming lists? So far, so good. If the chance of dual wielding blades as Kratos in God of War 3 is even a remote possibility, I’m on board already.

PS Move – The Good

This is a huge step forward for the PS3 because it is something that the Xbox 360 does not have. MS will be unleashing Natal on us all, but that seems to be more of an on-screen representation of the gamer, not solely a motion controller. Second, it’s bluetooth. Expect great signal recognition there. Third, the final product looks sleek and is easy to handle.

PS Move – The Expensive

The price is going to be significant. Granted you will be getting a PS Move with the pseudo-nunchuk, a PS Eye camera, and a mini game package for what is said to be under $100. That will likely mean $99.99. Is the price too steep? Don’t know yet. It all depends just how functional the PS Move can be. The question is, what if you already have a PS Eye? Do you need to buy it all as a package? Is the controller to be standalone if you want multiples? One would assume yes because that would be a major problem.

PS Move – The Potentially Awesome

The chance to play truly HD games, over a true online service is very, very alluring. We already heard that PGA Tour 11 will be PS Move friendly as well as SOCOM 4, making me much more interested in that game. Could this be the new wave of online multi FPS? No longer sitting on the couch with modded controllers picking off noobs? Do you have to get off your ass, actually aim your sniper rifle, shoot, reload, repeat? The possibilities alone here are staggering. Fall cannot come soon enough.

Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation Move last night at GDC. While it’s almost identical to what we expected (other than the Nunchuck being called the “sub-controller”), a few things stuck out at me. Being able to dual wield the Move is a nice touch as well as the sub-controller being wireless. The price tag has me on the fence, with a starter pack being “under $100″ (read: $99.99) for a PlayStation Move, PS Eye camera, and some pack in game. How much additional Move units will cost, we don’t know. However, if I want to dual wield or play with friends, I want to know how much this whole package is going to cost.

I’m very intrigued with the Move as developers have a strong base of what they can do on the Wii. This essentially gives them completely hardware freedom and a ton more power to get done what they can’t on Nintendo’s platform. Imagine an enhanced Mad World or Red Steel. The real question is: how many people are going to buy the Move? Sony should start packing these in with new PS3 systems and sell additional units for a reduced price. That’s my 2 cents.

Perhaps you may have forgotten about OnLive already, the digital content distribution and gaming system destined to bring balance to the force change the face of PC gaming forever?  It seems like this type of technology could really indeed do such a thing – or fall flat on it’s face.  Until now, we’ve only seen bits and pieces of the system in action – and only in controlled environments, but on June 17th consumers will finally have the chance to try the technology for themselves, according to the official OnLive blog.

There are a couple catches, however:  the service is only launching for PC and Mac (not the above “mini console”) and the host computer needs to meet specific “network and performance conditions”.  On top of that, the service is $15 a month and does not include the cost of the games themselves.  I also noticed that launch titles like Assassin’s Creed II are considered “top tier” games – it’s not clear exactly what this means just yet, but perhaps there will be a different pricing structure per game.  The $15 gets you access to different rental and purchasing options, but it looks like this is tied to the account you set up with OnLive – meaning if you cancel the account, you’ll no longer be able to stream or play the games.

Call me old fashioned, but I’d rather own my digital goods, and I’d just as soon invest the $150 a year subscription cost into a new video card or similar PC gaming component.  But that’s just me.  If you’re interested, OnLive has a registration special which gives you a shot at getting the first three months of fees waived.

EA is getting ready to release the second Sims 3 expansion pack called Ambitions. This expansion pack has new jobs and career paths allowing  you to play your character while at work, something we’ve not been able to do before. This is a whole new way of playing the Sims,previously when they go to work the best we could do was pick a chance card when it comes up.

This time we can play be a doctor or fireman (two of the many choices) and save Sim lives or make chaos. Some of the other new jobs include ghost hunter, inventor, sculptor and investigator. How about an architect, salon stylist or tattoo artist? These careers allow you to make changes to the town and characters. Sounds pretty fun to me, I’ll be picking up a copy of this expansion. Will be available on PC and Mac and for iPhone and iPod touch. Look for this expansion around June of 2010.

Little Dude Gets Crushed By Hoop – Watch more Funny Videos

Yesterday, Harmonix announced Rock Band 3 coming this Holiday season. My reaction: eh. While I have been a huge rhythm game fan, I feel the genre is growing a little long in the tooth. There is very little left to innovate without more, crazier hardware, which I’m not buying. I have more than enough plastic instruments. So this begs the question – do we really need another Rock Band?

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand this from a business perspective. Harmonix needs to make money and making a game is how that happens. I get it. I fully respect everyone at Harmonix and I know they’re not trying to fleece me out of money. But as a gamer with a peripherals all over the house, I want to know what this new game is going to offer than I can’t get with DLC and expansion packs. They’ve said the game will “innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again”, but I have my doubts.

I’ll be waiting to see what the Boston-based development team is going to bring to the table to mix things up a bit. A new version of Rock Band 2 or The Beatles Rock Band or even Green Day Rock Band isn’t something I’m going to pre-order or even run out and buy on launch time. I need to be wowed.

Attention: A Tiger Woods announcement to follow that is only about golf and not what he does with his dong.

Now that I have your attention, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is coming earlier this year, June 8th 2010 to be exact. The game will have all the usual fanfare but with 2 major announcements. First, it will support the new PS3 motion controller which has not been officially announced for a launch date, so chances are you might have the game before the controller comes out. Also, the game will feature the Ryder Cup for the first time. This is the USA vs Europe biennially golf competition which is like the Olympics of golf. You will also note on the released above cover art, Tiger is not alone. Rory McIlroy is there to represent the European tour. Yeah, right. Anyhow, look for this to come your way in June.