Had the pleasure of attending a screening last night of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button courtesy of our friends at Warners and i have to say i haven't seen a more poignant and beautifully shot film in a long time. The way they've aged Brad Pitt is nothing short of amazing, and the costumes, cars and sets are stunning as the film evolves from the First World War right up to Hurricane Katrina. Go and see it or get the DVD when it comes out, you won't be dissapointed.
Forget the weather and the credit crunch and get yourself a copy of Tropic Thunder and Don't Mess With The Zohan two of the silliest and most side-splittingly funny films i've seen in ages. In Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr steals the show, and Adam Sandler turns in his funniest performance since the Wedding Singer for me.
So, Street Fighter IV is coming out on Xbox 360 and PS3 on February 20th. Well, to celebrate the launch of this milestone in the fighting genre, hmv.com are taking part in the Official Street Fighter IV Arcade Tour!
On Feb 19th and 20th, head on down to our flagship store, 150 Oxford Street, London, and you’ll be able to play the original Arcade release of the game on some good old fashioned arcade units. Fight against your mates and Street Fighter masters from across the land, and show us what you’re made of.
Other exciting SFIV/hmv news – we’ve got some exclusive sleeves that we’re giving away to everyone who pre-orders the game from hmv.com, so if you haven’t done so already, head over to the main site and pre-order now! Cos they look well nice, and you’ll kick yourself if you don’t get your hands on one.
How’s this for a deal – I write a feature with Dawn of War 2 producer, THQ give us an exclusive Orks trailer in return. I like it. Check out my feature page right here. There’s info on our exclusive content (ooooh), the aforementioned interview with DoW2 producer Jonny Ebbert (aaaaah) and info on how you can play DoW2 in an hmv near you – as long as you live in Manchester or London (wooooo!).
Here’s that exclusive Orks trailer I told you about:
In other news, click the ‘more’ button to see a picture of a person who looks like a thumb. It doesn’t get any better than this…
The smelliest loos, the stickiest floor and arguably one of the worst bars to get served at, but after 11,364 nights of musical mayhem, the Astoria in London's Charing Cross Road has finally played its last gig. I've seen some great gigs there down the years, as well as some dodgy one's, but one of my favourites was The Cramps in '98, one of the coolest bands on the planet in one of the best music venues in the world. Thanks for the memories...
You remember IO Interactive, don’t you? They’re the genius developers behind the legendary Hitman series, a franchise which has spawned a whole bunch of games, merchandise, hell, even it’s very own box office movie.
Well their latest project, is something all-in-all a little more cute. Mini Ninjas is in development for Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and sees you taking on the role of protagonist Hiro in an adventure to take on the Evil Samurai Warlord in his Fortress of Doom!
So say’s the press release:
"Join Hiro, the smallest hero on the biggest adventure, as he embarks on an epic and electrifying quest to restore harmony to a world on the brink of chaos. Use your skills and mighty Ninja training to battle a magical army of evil Samurai."
Looks pretty quirky to me, definitely one to look out for when it’s released later this year. For more screenshots, click, um, the ‘More’ button…
If you’re like me, you can’t wait to get your hands on Resident Evil 5. Actually, that’s not true, as I’ve already played Resident Evil 5, so maybe that sentence should be “If you’re like me, you can’t wait to get your hands on Resident Evil 5 – again”. But then again, there are probably not that many people who have played Resident Evil. I tell you what, I’ll start again…
I bet you can’t wait to get your hands on Resident Evil 5, right? Well Xbox 360 gamers were given the good news last week that from January 26th, they’ll be able to download the game’s demo, containing two levels from Capcom’s forthcoming fifth instalment of the legendary survival-horror series. My word, that’s a week today!
Well, never one to disappoint Sony fans, Capcom have announced today that the PS3 demo will follow a week behind on February 2nd, which means everyone will get a chance to try out the game, as long as they’ve got either a PS3 of Xbox 360. Hurrah, everybody’s happy (although Xbox 360 owners will be happier for exactly one week longer than their PS3-owning cousins).
Resident Evil 5 is out on March 13th – that’s FRIDAY the 13th (spooky). You can find out more about the game, including the Limited Collector’s Steelbook Edition over here on the main site.
To the thumping hardcore tune of DJ Zany's 'Be On Your Way' - the midnight hour cometh, darkness descends, Ladies and Gentleman, i give you the 2009 BDO World Darts Champion - Ted "The Count" Hankey !!
According to official figures from games industry analysts ELSPA/GFK Chart-Track, the UK games industry was worth over £4billion in 2008. That’s a lot of wonga! Impressively, almost half of that figure is made up of software sales alone, with games like GTA IV, Gears of War 2 and Wii Fit being big contributors to the final figure.
The rest of the revenue was made up of sales of peripherals, which enjoyed an impressive 82% increase from 2007, and console sales, which managed to rake in £1.4bn. This has all meant that last year people spent more money on games than they did on music here in old Blightly, which is a bit of a first.
With reports that the average Brit now spends over six and a half hours a week playing video games, and with a quarter of UK households now owning a Wii console, it seems that the sales of games and their popularity are likely to rise even higher in 2009. Bring it on!
There’s a new video out today for Football Manager Live, which is Sports Interactive’s hybrid between FM and fantasy football. The ‘trailer’ (if you can call it a trailer) explains the concept much better than I ever could, so hit the play button and let me know what you think...
I particularly love the mexican losing song at the end. I wouldn’t mind that as my ringtone. Anyway, the game is released on January 16th, and includes 4 months free subscription. Should be fun!
Hello, and Happy New Year to all you good people. We’re back in full swing and looking forward to a great 2009, with the Xmas break now feeling like a lifetime ago. Sitting in my flat this weekend, I was trying to find a game that I could play to while away my final few hours before having to go back to reality. Perusing my ever expanding games collection, I stumbled across a copy of Spore, which I still hadn’t got round to playing. So I installed it on my brand new top-of-the-range PC (thanks Gamerbase) and gave it a go.
It’s an odd game. Well, odd in the sense that it never really seems to make up its mind about what kind of game it is. The five stages you go through see you playing a basic mini-game-style section, a free-roaming RPG style, a weird Civ/RTS type of game, before building a space ship, flying around the universe and taking over other planets.
All very quirky indeed, and definitely good fun. It’s made by Will Wright who made the Sims games, and it’s full of that bright, bubbly wit that you’ll have become accustomed to if you’ve ever got your hands on one of the many titles Sims series.
But to be honest with you, it really just made me very excited about the forthcoming Sims 3, which is out on February 20th, and is shaping up to be rather fantastic if you ask me. Not long to go until it’s release, and if you pre-order from hmv.com now we’ll send you an exclusive pattern that you can add to any item within the game. Head over to the main site for full details on that one….
By the way, don’t forget to take down your Xmas decorations tonight!