Game// Street Fighter IV Cover-Art: Crap!

Well thats my opinion. Good year for games. Bad year for their covers.

Examples below:

Spider-man: Web of Shadows

Sonic Unleashed

...and the list goes on.

Game// LittleBigPlanet Vinn En Beta-Nyckel!

Translation Please. LittleBigPlanet Beta-Key!

Now I'm not sure if this is going to work for me, but it is sure worth a try! Europa site gamesreactor.net is giving away 300 LittleBigPlanet Beta-keys for signing up to their site, and answering 3 questions regarding LittleBigPlanet. Once signed up, head on over to this link to get your beta-key!

Ahh but not so fast, the questions are in swedish. Here are those questions translated for you sackboys/girls!

What is the name of the developers behind Little Big Planet?
Media Molecule
Media Monster
Monster Molecule

As the game goes on?
Jump, run and build things
Shoot, fly and eat ice cream
Knyppla, crochet and burning up expensive scarves

Who is most like a sackboy on Gamereactor?
Jonas Säcky
Jonas Mirko Cro-cop
Jonas Mäki

If you don't know the answer's you don't deserve the Beta!! But here they are anyway 1,1,3... :) Good luck!

http://www.gamereactor.se/tavling/331/Vinn+beta-nyckel+till+Little+Big+Planet/?sid=8e0e318ff4d20bf898b23c50e4dd3a9f

Games// Ergh... Argh... Halo 3 again... Ergh

So you know that countdown Bungie had at E3 earlier this year? Well... It came back a few days ago, and guess what it was counting down? Yup! You guessed it! A new Halo game. Well an expansion rather. The teaser shows us a futuristic city getting plummeted by meteor shower of spaceships and an explosion to top it off. At the end of the video you see a bunch of warning signs, then a logo for ...dun dun dun Halo 3! Yes, I'm not shitting you. Another Halo 3. Apparently the trailer is called Halo 3 keep it clean. Is this an expansion or a whole new game? Only time will tell.

Heres the link - http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15574

Games// You Has A Motorbike In My World Of Warcraft???

A bike in WoW you say? Damn that's pretty insane. I can't see how these are gonna fit in the lore of the game but still, I find this pretty cool. Engineers will be building bikes come the new expansion. Sure they might be hard to get and all but from what I hear they will have a sidecar where you can carry a buddy along with you. Kinda sick eh? Of course just like anything in life, you hear the complaining. "Bikes just don't belong in WoW" people say. You know what I say? It's a *@#&$ fantasy game! Keywords here are game and fantasy. Just get a hog and ride into the sunset.

Games// World of Warcraft + Bejeweled = Twice The Addiction

The Wired Blog posted up a story about a gamer who had made a mod to make his time spent waiting for raids or for mobs to spawn less boring. This game was more of a Bejeweled clone so once Pop-Cap developers heard about it they decided to hire him to make a more official version for the MMO. It's being released this thursday so look out for it.

Read the Wired Blog

Games// Crysis Warhead; Change My Settings To What?

Thats it. EA has completly lost it. What do you say about a developer like Crysis and a publisher like EA when changing your graphic settings has been changed from the norm? (Low, Medium, High, Maximum) Rock, Paper, Shotgun first posted about this insanity that is in newly released PC game Crysis Warhead. You get to choose from Minimum, Mainstream, Gamer and Enthusiast. What the hell does that mean? If I choose Minimum I'm not a gamer? If I chose Gamer does that mean I don't play mainstream titles? And Holy *#%& what the *#% does choosing Enthusiast mean? EA might have been trying something different but this is totally not the way to go about doing that.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Game Preview// 1Up Gives the Goods on Mirror's Edge All Week Long

1Up.com is running another of their 1Up Spotlights and this time they are gonna be telling us about Mirror's Edge.
Day one begins with 10 things you don't (or might not have known) about the game.

From ingame cutscenes, between level cut scenes, button customization, DLC, Trophies and Time Trials.
So check out their website all week long.

1Up Spotlight Mirror's Edge

Games// Grand Theft Auto IV (PC): Exclusive To Games for Windows Live.

This is some pretty bad news in my opinion, the only thing worse than having a PC game carry the Games for Windows Live logo is when the multiplayer is gimped by the crappy service that is GFWL. This also means that most likely no STEAM version either.

Just when I thought we were gonna get a better version of GTA. All they need to do now is announce that the game will not support a mouse & keyboard and will only be playable with a gamepad. Yeah, that would be the final kick in the groin.

News// IGN.com gets an overhaul!

Ooooo, Ahhhhhhh

Just surfing the net during my Math class lead by a teacher with probably the worst accent I have heard yet this semester; I find that my beloved IGN.com has changed its layout. It kind of reminds me of that Bomb gaming site(too busy right now to look it up :P), and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Its clearly made for quicker accessibility. If you have the chance go check out the new IGN, its really rad!

Games// GTA: Chinatown Wars - First Look Screens

Grand Theft Auto was announced at E3 this year in the Nintendo keynote, and was mostly tossed aside by everyone as a "casual" GTA. After seeing some of these newly released screens though, I must say that my hype level for it has certainly increased. 

Cell shaded graphics with an isometric view very reminiscent of the original GTA and GTA II. Looking at the bottom screen of the DS they seem to be working on how to use the touch screen to hot-wire cars or interact with objects in a first person view mode, like toss aside weapons in garbage cars it seems. Well whatever ends up happening with this game, I will certainly give it a try whenever it comes out.

Games & Music// Metallica's New Record Is A Sonic Disaster.

Holy shit Batman, no this has nothing to do with Sonic. I was so surprised to hear that the new album from Metallica sounded bad. Seeing as how great their last album was. End Sarcasm// The real surprise was hearing that the Guitar Hero version of the latest album Death Magnetic actually had better sound, from a mastering point of view of course. Nothing can be done to actually help the band with their song scripting which has taken a plunge ever since St. Anger was conceived. 

Understandably, fans are pretty upset with the quality of the mastering but sometimes these things happen. Maybe they were just more focused on getting the Guitar Hero version right? Check out Mastering Media Blog for full details.


Metallica "Death Magnetic" Clipping Distortion [Mastering Media Blog]

Game News// New Metal Gear Solid Game in Existence?

Like the Metal Solid Gear games before it, it looks like Metal Gear Solid 4 will be getting an extended edition as well. Kotaku is reporting that the name Metal Gear Solid Existence has popped up on Japanese Trademark database Siliconera. Of course this doesn't necessarily mean that its an extended version of MGS4. It could very well be a new PSP game, or another digital graphic novel. But it is more than likely the extended edition. I mean come on! Substance, Subsistence.. Existence. Yup. Seems about right.

Metal Gear Solid Existence

Game News// Peter Moore Responsible for Dreamcast's Demise...

I knew you were evil Peter, but I didn't think you were this evil. In an interview with guardian.co.uk, Peter Moore has recently revealed the reason for killing the Dreamcast back in 2001. It seems it was either DO or DIE back then, here is what he had to say:

"We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire – we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said – and I can't remember the exact figures – but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn't sustain the business.

So on January 31 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware – somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day."

Well... here's what I have to say about that. It was a ripple effect that killed the Dreamcast Mr. self absorbed Moore.

1. Lack of advertising.

2. Only advertising Sega brand games. Many people don't know that Resident Evil: Code Veronica(arguably best in the series) first appeared on the Sega Dreamcast.

3. YOU SUCK! - Sorry, but to me. You gave up. I know if Miyamoto ran Sega, he would put his own Salary into supporting the Dreamcast, or try some other tactic. What I am trying to say here is, you lost your sack Sir. You lost your sack.

4. Windows CE ehh?? You had plans from the beginning to leave Sega for Microsoft. Didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!?

5. The people. People were afraid to try new things back then. Too bad Sega Dreamcast didn't have a gimmick like the Wii to keep it a float.(I love the Wii don't get me wrong. There are some games that utilize the Wiimote to full extent, then there's the other 80%.)

Well it is over and done with now I suppose... but don't take this personally Mr. Moore. I hate you.


Peter Moore Interview - You can read the whole interview here.

Game News// Capcom says no more exclusives!

First the delightly remake(s) of Street Fighter/Bionic Commando for PSN/XBL, and the soon to be released MEGA MAN 9, now this! Capcom has recently announced that no more of their major games coming out in 2009 and beyond will be exclusive. Could this mean a version of Resident Evil 5 for Wii? That's doubtful, but still a possibilty.

Ahhh, Capcom. Why are you always the ones who do it right first?