GameBlast

The Sims 3 Review

2010-12-09T22:41:00.005-04:00

I was very excited to get my hands on the Sims 3 when it came out, especially after being addicted to the Sims 2 not long ago. I was pretty impressed with what the Sims 3 on consoles had to offer. Check out my review after the jump....

The Sims 3
Platforms: PC, Mac, iPhone, PC, DS, PS3, Xbox 360 (reviewed), Wii, Android
Developer: The Sims Studio Edge of Reality
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: October 26th, 2010

Let's start with creating your Sim. You pick their looks and their clothing, the same as always. But you also get to choose their workout clothing, everyday clothing, formal clothing, work clothing, swim suit, and night time clothing. You get to pick new clothing each time your Sim reaches a new age level as well.

You get to choose the parts of your Sims personality. Your Sim will have 5 traits. Some are automatically assigned, and you're stuck with them. I honestly did not choose for one of my Sims to be evil. But you get to pick most of them. The traits range from "Couch potato" to "kleptomaniac" to "lucky".

You can buy your Sim house already built, and from there you have the option to buy it furnished, for not too much more. The best part? The pre-built house actually looks decent. Of course you're stuck with the cheapest models of everything, but it still looks somewhat stylish. A new feature that I love? You can now place your things on an angle. You also have a little more variety with the items you buy for your household, as most items come in a few different colors.

I think the best feature of The Sims 3 is the ability to go places. You have a whole town you can explore, complete with restaurants, theatres, museums, a gym, a spa, more neighbors to visit, fishing, parks and a lot more. It's like a real town. You don't get to view the inside of too many of these places, which is an annoyance of mine, but they are neat to explore. You can also buy parts of the business, and be a part owner, and eventually completely own the business. I haven't experimented too much with that so far.

You can follow your Sim to work, but are limited to sitting outside the entrance of the building. But to make up for it, you have choices for what your Sims work ethic is like. You can make he/she work hard, barely work at all, work the average amount, suck up to boss, get to know co-workers, etc.

The goal of The Sims 3 is to complete your Lifetime Wish. Mine was to be the girlfriend of 10 different Sims, which I failed miserably at. I couldn't even get my Sim baby's daddy to commit, let alone 10 Sims.

The Sims 3 is based around a lot of little wishes as well. A lot of the wishes are pretty easy - like chatting with a ertain Sim, reading a certain book, playing with your child, buying something etc. Something that bothered me was that once you complete the achievement, a lot of the same ones would be suggested to you later on to do again, but you're still getting happiness points for your Sim, so it makes up for being redundant.

Gathering Lifetime Happiness Points are good to unlock Lifetime Rewards such as always throwing a good party or cleaning in half the time usually needed.

There are also 'opportunities' and 'challenges'.

Opportunities are, well, opportunities to do certain things. They can help out your career, your skills, or just be something special. You can accept or reject the opportunity. Some that I've seen so far are "Catch 5 fish then sell them to the Supermarket" or "Bake two batches of cookies and turn them in for a bakesale". You are often compensated with money, improved job performance, improved skills, or with the special opportunities, something special.

Challenges are things to complete over time in the game, not just in the lifetime of one Sim. They are things like: "Complete a lifetime wish" or "Buy a car" or "Bring somebody back from the dead". For some of the bigger ones, you will get your Xbox Achievements, for others you just get challenge points. Challenge points can be used to unlock Karma Powers.

Now you're wonddering what are Karma Powers are. My favorite is 'Super Satisfy', which immediately satisfies all of your Sim's needs. My second favorite is 'Bless the Mess' which is amazing after an earthquake as it cleans all messes and fixes all broken things around the house. I haven't unlocked them all yet, as there are certain challenges you need to complete, then you also need to spend Challenge Points before you can unlock them. There is one that allows you to bring someone back from the dead, as long as its within the first 5 days of them being a ghost. I know this one well as I have used it twice on my first Sim. It is entertaining to live life for a little while as a ghost though. My other living Sim at the time even socialized with the Grim Reaper for a little while. Not all of the Karma Powers are good. There are just as many bad ones, like causing an earthquake or putting a curse on someone.

The socialization is a a bit more impressive than what I was expecting. You can complain about dirty dishes or criticize someone's book. You can also socialize with other Sims using the 'special' option, which gives you options specific to your personality. Like if you're a 'flirt' or 'great kisser' you have a bit more romantic options under 'special' than your regular Sim would.

My biggest annoyance with Sims 3 is the slow speed at which the time goes by when the Sim is sleeping or at work. The time goes at the same speed as everything else, unless every one of your Sims is sleeping, then it speeds up a bit until one wakes up. Sometimes it's nice to have that time to plan ahead for your Sim, but mostly it left me bored for a minute or so.

I love that Sims 3 shows you 'moodlets', things that have affected your Sims mood like dirty surroundings or a great meal. It lets you know what to do to make them happy or unhappy in the future.

When you first start a game, the money comes in slow. If you keep an eye on your work progress, you can read books or upgrade skills that help your job performance. If you keep at it enough, you start getting nice raises and promotions.

If you're not making the money you'd like to be making, you have the option of getting a part-time job as well. Or maybe you have an artistic Sim. In which case, you can write novels which make you small amounts of money (approximately $9 per chapter, starting out), but as your skill goes up you start making a bit more. With completed novels you get weekly Royalty Checks for six weeks, which is usually a couple hundred Simoleons. It adds up. A few other quick ways to rack up a couple dollars? Paint or collect rocks you see in your yard, parks, etc. The possibilities seem endless in this game.

With all the challenges, wishes and Xbox achievements left to obtain, I have a feeling I will be playing with The sims 3 for a very long time.

8/10

Gran Turismo 5 Review

2010-12-08T21:54:00.008-04:00

Well it's finally upon us. After many delays, and 6 long years, we are finally graced with Kaz Yamauchi's masterpiece, Gran Turismo 5. Did it live up to the hype that has been surrounding the game for years? Check out my review to hear my thoughts, and opinions on the matter after the jump...

Gran Turismo 5
Platform(s): Playstation 3
Developer: Polyphony
Publisher: Sony
Released: November 24, 2010

The game starts out with a very lengthy (yet optional) install that can take upwards of 50 minutes. The install itself appears to of frozen on me many times, but it does actually continue, you just have to be patient. Once the install was done I dove right into the game play (GT Mode) to attempt to see how the physics were, and I wasn't disappointed.

The game emulates most cars exactly how they would run in real life. How they handle, turn, max speed, and the all around feel is exactly like the real life counterparts (at least in the cars I have actually driven). The sounds of some cars leave a little to be desired, but it does not take away from the sheer magnitude of what Kaz and his team have accomplished with the physics.

The graphics on the other hand can vary wildly from absolute photo realism, to almost PS2 era graphics. This in itself doesn't take away from the fun of the game, but it is an eye sore. The premium cars, for example, look absolutely gorgeous, and you will mistake them for real at times, but turn a corner and some of the ugliest shadows you have ever seen will come out to show their ugly faces.

Another bad graphical issue that seems to plague the game is dust or snow. When you kick some up by accidentally going off the track it will envelop your car in a sheet of pure ugly. Again though, this does not take away from the fun factor of the game itself. Even at its worst, GT still looks comparable to most of its competition. At its best though, nothing even comes close.

For the first few minutes I also found myself a little lost in the menus. After getting used to it though, I really started to appreciate its slick style, and how it was actually a breeze to navigate.
The game ships with 800+ Standard cars, and 200+ Premium. It also boasts 71 tracks in over 20 locations. The game is jam packed with hundreds of hours worth of game play. If you're a racing game fan, you will not be bored with GT5.

The premium cars are all beautifully rendered masterpieces. With full "cockpit" views that (from what I can tell from experience with certain cars) emulate their real life counterparts. The standard cars however are upscaled, HD versions of GT4 cars, and do not have the interior "cockpit" view. They also do not look as polished as they are just HD upscaled versions of PS2 era cars (think God of War collection, only better), but run the same none the less.

As you level up and finish your licence tests, harder and higher level races will unlock. These are playable in both A-spec (a series of races that you race) and B-Spec (a series of races done by AI teammates which I will explain in a moment). As you get higher and higher, endurance races also unlock. If you were a fan of these races in the past, they are in the game at level 25.

B-Spec is not a completely new idea. It adds on to what was already started in GT4, and builds on it. This time around you take an AI driver, and enter him into races. While racing you're able to radio him commands such as "pace down", "maintain pace", "pace up", "overtake" and later "pit stop". Although I do find sometimes these commands do help, it really just seems to come down to if your driver has the fastest car.
There have been many times (like now while I write this review) that I have left my AI driver on his own in my Ford GT Spec ll Test Car (fully tuned of course), and he will win 95% of the time without me having to do a thing. Which for me is a good thing. It allows me to do things around the house, or run errands, and still be accomplishing something in the game. It may not be for everyone though.

Also new to the Gran Turismo series is online play. Although it's nothing special at the moment (No leader boards, and not many options) it allows you to create a lobby and invite friends to race in various tracks, and conditions. Also with the 1.03 patch that was just released, online play also has mechanical damage now. You can set it to various "difficulties" which will allow for either no mechanical damage, mechanical damage that will slowly fix itself over time, or mechanical damage that requires you to pit in order for it to be fixed. Quite a neat idea, and I'm glad to see Poly is working so hard to continue to make this game even better over time.

Getting down to it, Gran Turismo 5 is a great game, but not without its flaws. It does have strange graphical glitches, and is not without its issues. If you're a racing game fan though you will love the game, and like myself probably won't be able to put it down. The amazing racing physics and depth of the game far outweigh the issues with graphics that do not effect game play in the slightest.

8/10

At the time I wrote this review I was level 22 in A-Spec, and 26 in B-Spec, I have raced over 10,000km, and have a stable of 113 cars.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 Review

2010-10-20T21:20:00.007-03:00

It's finally here. There was a long delay, a boat load of fan hate, and a lot of skepticism. We now have Sonic 4, Sega's attempt to return to the roots of the Sonic universe. Will Sega win us over? Or will this game be the flop everyone who never played it thought it would be? Check out my impressions after the jump.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Platform(s): Xbox 360 [Reviewed], Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, iPhone

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher: Sega

Released: October 11/12/13, 2010

Sonic 4: Episode 1 has 4 zones that consist of 4 stages (3 platformer areas, and one boss battle as a 4th stage). It also has a 5th zone called "special stages" that you will unlock as you meet certain requirements in stages (getting a set amount of rings and jumping through a giant ring at the end of the stage). The 4 main zones all consist of remade areas from old Sonic games: Splash Hill, Casino Street, Lost Labyrinth and Mad Gear Zone.

Once you manage to beat the three stages in each zone, you'll get to the 4th stage which will also be a reworked boss battle with Sonic's old foe Dr. Eggman. For the small amount of money the episode costs, you will definitely get your money's worth if you've been waiting for a decent Sonic game in the last 15 years.

One of the big problems I noticed right off the get go with Sonic 4 was the physics. For example, in the Sonic games of old as you rolled down a hill you would continue to build momentum. However in Sonic 4 if you let go of the forward button, your momentum immediately stops, which sometimes left me somewhat baffled. This can also work in your benefit at times though. You can stop on a dime in the air by releasing the forward button which can really come in handy when trying to make precise jumps.

Although a lot of people will probably disagree with me, I loved the music. It's not Michael Jackson quality Sonic music, but I don't think anything ever will be. This, for me, was a damn close second though. They made me feel nostalgic from beginning to end with fantastic scores that reminded me of my childhood.

Some of the new stages are just brilliant, like World of Darkness. The stage gives you a torch, and you can only see a little bit around Sonic. The rest is darkness. As you go, you light torches that will let you see a bigger area temporarily. It just reminded me so much of games from my childhood where something so simple could make something so fun.

The mine cart parts everyone was so worried about were nowhere near as bad as they were made out to be. They were short, but comparable to the mine cart stages in Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. I've played through the stage multiple times now, and even when I tried I couldn't get it to look any where near as bad as the way it was depicted.

The Casino stage took what I loved so much from the first one, and added to it. As you go through the stages you will collect cards. These cards will give you free men, rings, and sometimes nothing at all. They also had one stage where you would take a deck of cards and run across vast areas of the stage on them until the deck ran out of cards. It looks really neat.

The Mad Gear Zone is just like Sonic 2's Metropolis Zone. Very beautiful in how it's laid out, but very frustrating at certain points. The stages in this zone felt a little long, and even drawn out at times. I still had fun though. I really enjoyed the "Escape the cog trap" stage. This stage really reminded me of the frustrating parts of Metropolis Zone from when I was a kid, I got upset once or twice, but it was so much fun I didn't care.

The last stage frustrated the hell out of me, but in a good way. It was a non-stop gauntlet of previous boss fights, followed by a difficult final encounter that I won't speak of here, as to not ruin it for readers who haven't played. Needless to say, it took me a while to conquer this one. Once I got it down, though, it was cake walk to do over again.

Sonic 4 definitely has some flaws, and there are a lot of people out there just trying to find reasons to hate this game, but if you give it a chance, it is actually a lot of fun. I think Sega has something here and if they can fix the physics by episode 2, they will have something magical on their hands. If you can look past the fact that you need to keep holding forward to keep going, I guarantee you'll have fun with this return to what Sonic should be.

8/10

Conduit 2 gets a new release date

2010-10-14T21:16:00.000-03:00

Sega released the new (and hopefully final) release date for developer High Voltage's new upcoming Wii shooter Conduit 2. It is now slated to hit stores February 2011. Check out more after the jump.

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The game that was originally dated for a fall 2010 release, was (as stated before) today given the February 2011 date. Hopefully this will allow High Voltage to polish this awesome looking FPS up a bit. I really hope, as I'm sure 99% of you do, we get classic controller support for this.... I have my fingers crossed.

Also Sega released a new trailer with the news of the release date change, check it out below.

Dragon Age II Signature Edition

2010-10-14T18:26:00.003-03:00

Bioware announced today the contents of the Dragon Age II Signature Edition with a twist for those who pre-order early, and not the horrible M. Night Shyamalan kind of twist. Check out what's included, and what Bioware is planning for us after the jump.

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First thing is first, what's included in the box will be a digital soundtrack, a download for a playable character with some missions, and an in game armory full of weapons and items. The awesome thing is if you pre-order the game before Jan 11th 2011, this "upgrade" to the signature edition will be absolutely free!

What are you waiting for? I already pre-ordered this, you should be too! Dragon Age II will be available for PS3, Xbox, and PC March 8th 2011.

Dead Space 2 Collector's Edition Leaked

2010-10-13T17:10:00.004-03:00

Even though EA hasn't announced anything officially, Amazon.com took it upon itself to yet again "accidentally" leak something ahead of time, and God damn it looks awesome! Check out more after the jump.

-Click to enlarge-

This lovely picture of what looks to be 100% pure awesome, was posted on Amazon.com earlier today (it has since been removed). The ad stated it would come with some DLC, an art cell, a CD soundtrack, and a God damn amazing replica of the Plasma Cutter!

Depending on what the plasma cutter is made of, this will cement my pre-order of the collector's edition. Dead space drops into stores January 25th 2011.

NDP to drop its monthly hardware sales numbers

2010-10-12T22:32:00.003-03:00

In a strange move, the American NDP group that is responsible for keeping track of console and video game software sales, amongst other things, anounced that it would be dropping it's local monthly report of consoles sold in America. Check out more on this bizarre move after the jump.

This is a bad thing for anyone who is in love with arguing online about the fabled "Console wars". The NDP has stated it is leaving it up to the hardware manufacturers to report its own sales numbers, which we all know will either never get released to the public, or be twisted as consoles sold.... to retailers. This is going to be bad news to a lot of "passionate ~~fanboys~~ fans" out there.

They also announced they will not be showing sales numbers in their "Top 10" video games sold list, just the list itself. Either way, I think it's baffling why the NDP would scale back on something like this.

[Source: www.vg247.com]

CoD: Black Ops Single Player Campaign Trailer

2010-10-12T17:57:00.000-03:00

Treyarch has finally released a better look at what the single player game will consist of, and it looks like a Michael Bay film, full of explosions and action. I was very skeptical of this game, but I am starting to become a believer and I'm really looking forward to getting to review this soon. Don't take my word for it though, check out the video after the jump.

Alundra and Arc the Lad land on PSN

2010-10-11T23:04:00.001-03:00

Monkey Paw Games announced today that both Alundra, and Arc the Lad will be landing on the PSN with the October 12th PlayStation store update. Find out more after the jump.

Originally published by Working Designs, both titles will be available for $5.99 each which is an absolute steal. They also teased "[plans] to promote the titles with some of the historical swag from the titles' original releases." Whatever this means, i'm sure it's going to be awesome.

Castlevania Retrospective Part 1: NES

2010-10-11T14:56:00.010-03:00

It was 1989 and my parents had just got me a NES for Christmas. As a 5 year old child I was understandably excited (not quite this excited). Mario / Duck Hunt came with the system, and the only stand alone game I got was Castlevania. My dad helped me hook it up, and after about 30 minutes of playing Mario / Duck Hunt, I finally got around to Castlevania, this is where it all started...

I was hooked, I even dare say the Castlevania trilogy on NES was the very reason I love games so much today. I literally would spend all of my free time whipping skeletons, hunchbacks, knights, and the undead. For me, Mario was for the weak, I was a young Castlevania fanboy.

As a relatively new writer, this is probably going to be the biggest review I've taken on to date. I'm going to do my best to go through every Castlevania game I can play, good or bad. I figured I'd start with the obvious, the NES trilogy. So let's get at it. Let's take a look at the early 8-bit beginnings of the series that changed the way I look at games.

Castlevania
Developer: Konami
Released: 1987
Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

This is where it all started, Castlevania. This is one of the pillars of strength for the NES, arguably one of the best platformers ever released. I do not know anyone that was a male born in the 80's, or even early 90's that did not like this game. It was so brutally hard, yet so fun you couldn't put it down.

You are Simon Belmont, Vampire Hunter. The game starts out with you walking up to the gate of Dracula's castle. Then one of the most memorable 8-bit tunes ever starts to chime in, and then it's time to start your quest in hunting down Dracula.

The graphics still hold their own against any 8-bit NES game, they simply looked fantastic for the time. The controls are a bit sluggish, and the way Simon "jumps backwards" when hit can be one of the most frustrating things to ever be included in a video game (this is in every game in the NES trilogy). After a while with the game though you can learn to use these to your advantage. For example, getting Simon hit at just the right time, in just the right place can get you "bumped up" to a platform that would normally make you fight your way through a horde of monsters to get to.

The game itself consists of 6 stages, each loaded with monsters galore, and a Boss to challenge your skill. On your way through the stages you will collect multiple different "special weapons" such as holy water, daggers, throwing axes, ect. You will also come across many hearts, but in Castlevania hearts do not = life. They are used for "ammo" for your special weapons. The more hearts you have, the better off you'll be.

If you're good enough, you will eventually make it to Dracula. Only to face one of the hardest 8-bit bosses to ever grace the NES. If your successful, Dracula's castle will crumble into the ground, and the day will be won!

9.5/10

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Developer: Konami
Released: 1988
Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

As the second game in the series, Simon's Quest had the almost impossible task of trying to live up to the original. Konami pulled a complete 180 with this game (kind of like the Zelda series on NES) and changed the fundamentals of the game so it played like an RPG of sorts.

In Simon's Quest you have a central town that acts like a base. You can purchase upgrades and items here..... during daytime. That was another huge change that Konami added. The game periodically changes from day to night. During the day you have free roam of the city, and monsters seem docile and weak. At night the town is full of monsters and the shops are locked. Monsters also appear to usually take twice as many hits to kill.

It was a neat idea. The only thing that ruins it for me is the frequency of the changes, and how long it takes for the transition between day and night to take place. Having to read "What a horrible night to have a curse" or "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night" over and over, without any way to skip just detracts from the over all experience. It even down right started frustrating the hell out of me at times.

The game has a fantastic musical score as far as 8-bit music goes. The night theme is still one of the most memorable NES songs for myself.

Konami also kept the way Simon controls from the first game. Which even though sluggish, it was definitely the right thing to do. I can't imagine playing Castlevania for NES any other way.

This was also one of those games that almost seemed like it required you to have a subscription to Nintendo Power to figure out. What I mean by that is there are certain times in the game where you have no idea what to do, and there are absolutely no hints (the books you find don't help, no matter what you say).

For instance there is a particular area where you come to a dead end, seeing as nothing is there you'd assume you went the wrong way, or you missed something. What you really need to do is select a "Red Crystal" from your inventory, kneel against the wall at the dead end for about 10 seconds, then a tornado comes and takes you to the next area of the game. How I figured this out as a child I don't remember, probably word of mouth, but there was absolutely nothing in the game that tells you to do this.

The game has its faults, but it doesn't really detract all that much from the game play. The first game was brutal, and this game is just ridiculously hard. I would say this game is still very enjoyable, but it definitely is not for everyone.

Me personally, I like it, just not as much as the first.

6/10

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Developer: Konami
Released: 1990
Platform: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

This game features a different member of the Belmont clan, Trevor, as its main character. This game is a prequel, taking place before the other two NES games. Dracula is back as the main protagonist, terrorizing all of Europe this time. Konami also went back to the original Castlevania formula, ditching the central city, and RPG ways of Simon's Quest. This game is just a pure, unaltered Castlevania platformer, and it shows.

This game does add some "new" to the original concept though. Trevor has 3 "assist" characters that can help him out. Also the game dropped the linear path of the first game, and allowed the character to branch out at certain points letting the player chose their own path through the game. There are a total of 15 levels almost tripling the 6 from the original.

The difficulty in the game seems to be between the first, and second game. Not as easy as the first, but no where near the difficulty of the second. The controls stay true to Castlevania, but feel a tad less sluggish.

This is my personal favorite game in the original NES trilogy. If you get the chance, play this game. It's almost Halloween; games like this should be a staple in your Halloween gaming diet. There simply isn't anything as good for me platformer wise on the NES other the maybe Super Mario Bros. 3.

Throughout the game you'll find many power ups, including ones to make your whip more powerful. Every time you die though, you will lose these, so be careful!

If you haven't played this gem and you're over the age of 20, then I fear for whatever rock you've lived under your entire life. This game is an 8-bit master piece, and should be enjoyed by all.

10/10

New Mega Man Comic

2010-10-11T10:21:00.011-03:00

At NYCC (New York Comic Con) yesterday they announced that Archie Comics would be publishing a new Mega Man comic. With artist Patrick Spaziante and Archie writer Ian Flynn on board, this looks like it's going to be something to pick up for all those Blue Bomber fans. Check out more after the jump.

You can view the Cover page, and a preview page here. I must say, Patrick's art really fits well with the Mega Man Universe.

Paul Kaminski, editor of the Sonic comic, and now Mega Man said “Since 1987, the enormously successful Mega Man franchise has conquered media from video games to television to manga. Archie Comics is ready to carry on this tradition of success, holding true to the spirit of the old school with a fresh eye on Mega Man’s strong potential in the world of American comics.”

I feel like it's the early 90's all over again with all this Mega Man. First we have the Mega Man Universe announcement, then Mega Man Legends 3, and now this. I'm on complete Mega Man overload, but definitely in a good way.

[Source: Newsrama.com]

Bejeweled 2 free for today only!

2010-10-10T18:46:00.002-03:00

PopCap is celebrating 10 years of Bejeweled today by giving Bejeweled 2 away..... absolutely free! This is only being offered today (October 10th). Check after the jump for a direct link.

Why are you bothering to read this? Click here now and get your free copy.

Microsoft announces changes with its new Dashboard

2010-10-10T13:29:00.002-03:00

Microsoft has announced some of the more subtle changes to its fall dashboard update. Since E3 Microsoft has been telling us about ESPN, the new Zune interface, and the redesigned Netflix. Some of the things they have outlined here you may not have heard. For example, the new streamlined game marketplace (which I can say from experience makes things a hell of a lot easier to find). Check out the improvements after the jump.

Improved voice quality -- the audio codec is being updated to improve Xbox LIVE Party chat audio quality. So grab your friends and jump into a multiplayer game, catch a big sports event, watch a movie or do all three.
Improved experience for changing your Gamertag -- choosing a new Gamertag? If the Gamertag you're looking for is already taken, your Avatar will spin a wheel and we will provide five other Gamertag suggestions at a time for you to choose from.
Streamlined in-dashboard virtual keyboard -- we've taken the existing QWERTY keyboard in-dash and made it easier to use for scenarios that involve repeated text entry, for example when signing up for LIVE within the dashboard.
Improved Xbox LIVE Marketplace UI and browse experience -- the Games Marketplace has been re-organized to provide streamlined access to the games and content you want, reducing the number of steps it takes to get to a download.
Avatar changes -- we've made your Avatars slightly more proportional so you can better play Kinect games
Easier to get on a wireless network -- trying to connect to a wireless network? With the next update, you'll see a list of all the wireless networks within range when you go into network settings. From there, you'll be able to select a new network or further configure the network you're connected to.
Ability to sign-out other controllers in the sign-in UI -- we're adding the ability to sign-out profiles on other controllers in the sign-in UI within the Guide. This is especially useful when playing games like Rock Band.
New browse experience for 100% completed games -- you spent a lot of time and effort earning those Achievements, so instead of only being able to view your first dozen completed games, we're giving you a new and better way to browse all of them.

4 New Characters for Marvel vs Capcom 3 (360/PS3)

2010-10-10T11:35:00.007-03:00

The ever growing cast of MVC3 just got a little bigger yesterday. This news brings the total characters up to 26. Capcom has said there will be over 30 characters in the game when they are done.

Capcom announced that the 4 new characters that they will be including are Magneto (X-Men), MODOK (X-Men), Arthur (Ghouls and Ghosts), and Spencer (Bionic Commando).

The video below shows all 4 of the new characters fighting it out. Marvel vs Capcom 3 is still on track for a release sometime in spring 2011.

Awesome Reach

2010-10-09T22:08:00.009-03:00

What happens when two kids finally get their grubby little paws on Halo: Reach? Thanks to the makers of Metal Gear Awesome you're about to find out. Watch the video after the jump and see for yourself. I'd try to explain it....... but just watch for yourself.

Not much needs to be said other than this is definitely NSFW. Watch for yourself, and enjoy!

Source: Newgrounds.com

X-Men Classic Arcade is coming (PSN/XBLA)

2010-10-09T21:44:00.005-03:00

Konami announced today that it will be releasing the classic X-Men arcade game from 1992 on PSN/XBLA. However they did not announce pricing, or a release date as of this time. The entire 6 player game will be completely intact though, which is a good thing for anyone who has played this in the past.

I for one am psyched. When I was a child I remember pumping my entire allowance into this game with my friends. If anything this should have been released sooner.

What do you think about the re-release of this gem?

Canadian Netflix Impressions

2010-10-09T17:32:00.018-03:00

It was a long time coming, but it's finally here as of September 22nd. Rejoice Canadians! We now have Netflix..... well sort of. Check after the break for my impressions of Netflix in Canada...

As I said earlier, as of September 22nd everyone in Canada who has a Wii, PS3, iPad / iPhone, or PC (Xbox 360 coming soon) can now sign up for a free month of the streaming service giant here. The sign up is painless and quick, and took me no time at all to get up and running on my PS3. A bonus to Canadian users is the PS3 does not require a disk. There is a dedicated App you can download directly from PSN.

The Wii however does rquire a streaming disc. I ordered one right away, and it took about a week to arrive even though the Netflix rep told me it would only be 2 days tops. The Wii was surprisingly easy to use as well. After popping in the disk, and putting the number provided into my Netflix account on my computer, my girlfriend was up and running watching Curious George with her nephew.

Now to the selection. The poor, poor selection.

Here's where the Canadian Netflix struggles for me. From my personal "guesstimate" and experience, we only get around 40% of the content that our fellow Americans do. The first night I tried to watch Ghostbusters..... Unavailable. So I searched for Conan the Barbarian...... Unavailable. Needless to say I searched for a lot of my favorite classics to no avail. Not to say nothing is available. It is still a decent service. It's just far off from replacing my cable provider.

There was also a huge PR stunt that went horribly wrong in Toronto. Netflix had hired some extras to stand in the crowd and look excited. Apparently though, they started talking to news reporters about how "great Netflix was" and "how excited they were". When called on it, Netflix admitted to their wrongdoing, and apologized as you can see here.

My personal thoughts are that Netflix has a long way to go in Canada, but hopefully it won't take that long. Right now if you get a chance, get the free month. Hell, 7.99 a month is not bad for the selection as is. If you wanna take the plunge, I say go for it. Just don't expect a very robust service right out of the gate.

Playstation Move Review

2010-10-09T14:00:00.022-03:00

Well Sony's motion controlled peripheral has finally hit the market, and I've had some time to sit down and get accustomed to it. Is it just a Wii clone? If Sony has anything to say about it, then were looking at the future of gaming. Read on for my review.

Developer: Sony

Released: September 17th, 2010

The Hardware

Let's start off with what's offered. The starter bundle ($100 US) contains a single motion controller, the Playstation eye, a Move demo disc, and a copy of Sports Champions. Additional motion controllers are $50US, and navigation controllers are $30US each. There is also a PS3 bundle with a 320gb PS3, motion controller, Playstation eye, Move demo disc, and Sport's Champions for $400US.

Once I got home I got everything charged (I would suggest charging the controller(s) for a bit before use), and calibrated. We were now up and running, and I have to say, Sony did not stretch the truth. This is true 1:1 motion control, not a Wii clone. I was simply amazed after years of playing the Wii just how accurate this was. The Playstation eye uses the glowing ball on the end of the Move controller to track it's movement precisely, and in real time. It also has body tracking (think "Kinect") to a degree. So in a way you're getting the best of both worlds.

The controller itself has a non-replaceable litium-ion battery, and needs to be charged via the Move charging station ($30US) or the standard Playstation controller charger. The battery in the Move controller seems to last anywhere from 8-10 hours for me, where the Nav controller still has yet to die (I would say it's been in use between 20-25 hours).

One thing that annoyed me a bit was the lack of anything to actually hold my Playstation eye in place (it has nothing on the bottom to "stick" it into place like the Wii sensor bar). For the first night I had to use packing tape to keep the bugger up there. Then when I went to the store to find some form of mounting device, I had to drop another $12.99US for Sony's branded "mounting clip". A small price to pay, but extra money out of this consumer's pocket.

The Software

The launch line-up leaves a lot to be desired. I would say Sony dropped the ball a little on this one. With Sports Champions, RE:5 Gold, and Tiger Woods 11 being the exceptions, I really feel everything I have played so far from the demo disc would not be worth $40US. Tumble is fun however, and so is Planet Mini-Golf (my girlfriend loves it). For $10US on the Playstation Network, these are definitely worth the buy in my opinion.

Included in Sports Champions are 6 mini games, Archery, Gladiator Duel, Bocce Ball, Volley Ball, Disc Golf, and Table Tennis. The precision of the motion control is beyond anything I have ever played before. I'll use Table Tennis as an example; when you step forward, so does your paddle, same with stepping back. Your on screen character even switches his or her stance when you do. The paddle also followed exactly what I was doing on screen 1:1, I was amazed. There's no "waggle to win" here.

RE:5 Gold is something else I wanted to mention, it is killer accurate. I won't go to far into the subject, but it's definitely worth the extra $30US for the Navigation controller to try out if you're into Resident Evil.

Another good thing Sony did here was include a demo for pretty much anything upcoming for move on either the demo disc, or the Playstation Network. This way you can give anything you want a quick go, and know if it's something you'd be interested in.

What I would call "The real test" for hardcore gamers wondering if Move could be a viable platform will be coming soon. With Killzone 3 (Feb 2011), Socom 4 (2011), M.A.G. (was patched last week), and Gran Turismo 5 (Nov 2011) all promising Move support, we will get to see if Sony's tech can live up to the hardcore demographic.

My Final Thoughts

Playstation Move is definitely not for gamers on a budget. The whole controller setup does come in $10US cheaper then the Wii, but is still very costly for the poor amount of software out at the moment.

The hardware is simply amazing though, and cannot be compared to the Wii (even with Motion Plus). You will not find anything else this accurate from the competition yet.

If you have the cash, by all means it's worth the purchase, but don't expect to much good software in the upcoming months.

8.5/10