Gaming Addict

I just watched the new Killzone 2 video, which features the entire introduction that you will see before you fire up your copy of the game. And I have to say, I’m still feeling pretty meh on the whole Killzone thing. My biggest comparison is always Halo, mostly because Killzone clearly aspires to be the Sony version of Halo, but Bungie is a better developer than Guerrilla Games, and every video in a Halo game or any Halo trailer just makes the spectacle of the story and characters seem larger than life.

I feel like Killzone 2 is trying to do that, and I should feel all amped up and excited, but I’m just not inspired to be. The plot just leaves something to be desired for me, and Killzone has always felt too predictable, because it‘s all been done to death in other games. I know that’s not why you necessarily play an FPS, but the setting is very important to me, and instead of spending my money on KZ 2, I’d much rather just play through both Resistance games, or play through Gears Of War’s co-op again, or even fire up some Halo 3 multiplayer.

But that’s just my opinion.

Overlord was a great Xbox 360 game, albeit not with the best graphics you’ve seen on the console. But take those visuals and put them on a system with a history of underachieving in the graphics category, like the Wii, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic experience. Overlord: Dark Legend aims to do just that, and if the current screenshots are any indicator, this will be yet another in a recent slew of interesting games for the more hardcore gaming enthusiasts on the Wii.

Normally I’m disgusted with the gimmicky nature of the Wii’s motion controls, but I’m actually very interested to see how they are carried out in conjunction with your Minions. The most genius aspect of gameplay in Overlord is taking a small army of Minions with you as you ruthlessly destroy the countryside, and I see the Wii as completely revamping just how much fun you can have burning crops and torturing villagers.

Overlord: Dark Legend is most definitely my new most anticipated Wii game, and deservedly so.

UFC 2009 Undisputed, I can’t decide whether or not to be excited about this one.  I like MMA for the most part, but how good can an MMA game without Fedor be?  I already wasn’t a real big fan of the UFC games in the past, because I just don’t think that MMA is something you can really accurately capture in a videogame.  Most other sports like football or basketball are fairly easy to capture, because of the tactics involved, the on field strategy, the movement of the players and the fact that none of those are that hard to reproduce in the digital realm.

But measuring up fighters so that weight, height, and reach all mean something seems a bit harder.  Especially deciding how to fairly execute ground moves, like submissions and jostling for position, and the way it’s been done in the past just hasn’t convinced me that a new game will do better.

But just look at those visuals.  That might be the one factor that makes me at least rent Undisputed, but I’m still not expecting a mind blowing virtual fight experience.

I just saw a new video for Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Athena, which features the entire intro video to the game, looks like complete awesomeness.  I loved Butcher Bay, and I can’t wait to re-enter that sort of world, only with a completely new area to wreck havoc in.  Not to mention the fact that Dark Athena comes with the revamped upgraded version of Butcher Bay.

Riddick was one of the best stealth games ever, and probably the best looking FPS in Xbox history.  I can’t wait to see how the limits are pushed this time.

And finally, do you love your Nintendo DS and DS Lite?  Are you excited for a new DS that’s basically the same thing only with like two new features?  Well you’re in luck then because a brand new Nintendo DS is coming this Spring, the DSi.  Which features all the excitement of a few cameras, and slightly larger screens for your video gaming enjoyment.  So go buy the same console for the third time over, Nintendo really enjoys your money, and they especially enjoy not having to do much to earn that cash!

The tracks for Guitar Hero: Metallica have been announced, and I’m more amped up than ever for this one.  Guitar Hero: World Tour didn’t have enough fun songs to play, at least in my opinion, but the Metallica edition looks like it will be my favourite GH game yet.  And what’s really awesome about this news, in addition to all the great Metallica songs we all knew would be released, also coming are 21 tracks from other artists, had picked by the members of Metallica.

The Metallica song list is as follows:

• All Nightmare Long
• Battery
• Creeping Death
• Disposable Heroes
• Dyers Eve
• Enter Sandman
• Fade To Black
• Fight Fire With Fire
• For Whom The Bell Tolls
• Frantic
• Fuel
• Hit The Lights
• King Nothing
• Master of Puppets
• Mercyful Fate
• No Leaf Clover
• Nothing Else Matters
• One
• Orion
• Sad But True
• Seek And Destroy
• The Memory Remains
• The Shortest Straw
• The Thing That Should Not Be
• The Unforgiven
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
• Wherever I May Roam
• Whiplash

And the 21 additional songs are:

• Alice In Chains - No Excuses
• Bob Seger - Turn The Page (Live)
• Corrosion of Conformity - Albatross
• Diamond Head - Am I Evil?
• Foo Fighters - Stacked Actors
• Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather
• Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesdays Gone
• Machine Head - Beautiful Mourning
• Mastodon - Blood And Thunder
• Mercyful Fate - Evil
• Michael Schenker Group - Armed and Ready
• Motörhead - Ace of Spades
• Queen - Stone Cold Crazy
• Samhain - Mother of Mercy
• Slayer - War Ensemble
• Social Distortion - Mommy’s Little Monster (Live)
• Suicidal Tendencies - War Inside My Head
• System of a Down - Toxicity
• The Sword - Black River

I really really can’t wait to play Master of Puppets, Battery, Sanitarium, and Enter Sandman most of all, not to mention Tuesday’s Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  This is going to be the best Guitar Hero yet, guaranteed.

Love Star Ocean?  I know I do, I’m all about any action RPG, and the new Star Ocean game for Xbox 360 looks freaking awesome, and good news, Star Ocean: The Last Hope is coming this spring.  So in the wake of how awesome Final Fantasy XIII’s trailer looked, Square-Enix gives us the freaking fantastic news that we will have a new Star Ocean to quench your RPG thirst while you continue the long wait for the new FF.

And finally, apparently the PS3 is beginning to flop.  Sony still hasn’t made any profit from console sales and are still operating well into the red, and PS3 system sales dropping aren’t going to help.  While Xbox and Wii are reporting more successful sales periods than ever before, Sony’s console is falling flat, and I would have to blame the lack of quality exclusive content.

The Wii can survive with wave after wave of crap, because the system appeals to everyone because Nintendo has made the Wii into a gimmicky family friendly console.  PS3 doesn’t have that advantage, and with Xbox already claiming a much larger stake in the market than Sony’s alternative, I think the PS3 could become the next console to become obsolete.  Sort of like the Sega consoles of years past, meaning PS3 could become the next Dreamcast or Sega Saturn.

But that’s good news for anyone looking to buy a cheap Blu-Ray player, because no doubt the PS3 will drop in price if Sony can no longer move the consoles, so that’s positive I guess. . .

The first thing I’ll say is head over to http://www.finalfantasy13game.com/ , because Final Fantasy XIII looks freaking awesome, and they just released a trailer that shows actual gameplay.  I’m not at all a Final Fantasy fan, but I’m completely interested in playing this one, because the graphics are just beautiful to look at, from the cut scenes to the actual gameplay itself, FF XIII looks to be a game like we’ve never seen before.

And playing it in high definition on my Xbox 360 sometime in 2010 when it’s released stateside, is going to be an unparalleled RPG experience.  I’ve never been on board for FF, but I am now.

Warner Bros. is looking to re-launch the Tomb Raider movies, hopefully that means they will re-launch them to not be horrible.  I think the first step in that vein, is casting Lara Croft with an unknown actress, because Angelina Jolie didn’t look the part or act the part.  Lara Croft has a British accent, almost no American actor can pull that off, so I think for the believability factor, that’s a very important aspect to handle correctly.

I love the Tomb Raider games, so here’s to hoping another Tomb Raider movie won’t be a bad thing.

And finally, both Lost Planet and Dead Rising have sequels announced, and both sequels will be multiplatform.  And that excites me extremely, not because of the multiplatformness of the news, but because Lost Planet is getting a sequel.  I love the first Lost Planet, despite all the shortcomings naysayers always throw in my face.

But a game that combines exciting third person shooter combat with great easy to learn Mech combat, as you fight gigantic creatures as well as other humans, that’s just awesomeness.  I just hope a new Lost Planet brings more machines to control, more creatures to fight, and even bigger boss battles.

As for a new Dead Rising, I would want a few things as well.  First off, good shooting controls, because shooting a gun in the first is more than a chore.  Slant the difficulty down a little bit, because some of the tasks aren’t so much challenging as just plain annoying.  Change the scenery next time around, the mall was wicked fun, but two malls in a row will just feel like you’re playing the same game again.

And most importantly, make the main character’s running animations look less like he’s a constipated photographer, because it’s hard to feel like the cool main character guy when you run like you’re having intestinal issues.

Sony keep denying it, but game sites and magazines keep reporting it, so I have to believe that a PSP 2 is in development.  And the latest report has it that the new PSP will feature a touch screen, not in the Nintendo DS sense, but rather the iPhone sense.  Featuring a scrolling interface like the iPhone, and touch features that will be used for system management and gaming.

I would hope also that they find a way for this new PSP to feature dual analog control, like the PS3 controllers.  Because real FPS action would be awesome on a handheld.  Just throw another control nub on the other side of the system too.  Sure the controls would take some getting used to, but once you got the hang of things, you’re blasting fools all over the place.

New Guitar Hero: World Tour track packs are coming out in February.  Three to be exact.  The first will be the Acoustic track pack featuring Incubus’ ‘Drive’, The Shins ‘New Slang’ and Ryan Adams horrid version of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’.  Why not the good Oasis version if you’re putting Wonderwall into Guitar Hero?  Because the Ryan Adams version is waaaaay too tame for a game about rocking out.

The second track pack is the Wings track pack, featuring ‘Juniors Farm’, ‘Hi Hi Hi’, and ‘Jet’.  The third pack will be a Bob Segar track pack featuring ‘Old Time Rock And Roll’, ‘Her Strut’, and a live version of ‘Get Out Of Denver’.

I have to be honest and say that this is kind of weak by Guitar Hero’s standards, and I’m not looking forward to any of these.  Get back to rocking Guitar Hero, let’s get more stuff that I actually want to play, not more of the fluff I wish I didn’t have to play to progress through the game.

Love The Maw?  Or have you still not really heard of it?  Well you should log on to Xbox Live right now and buy it off Live Arcade, because The Maw is awesomeness.  And The Maw is already getting three new levels, each of which will cost 100 Microsoft points and will feature an achievement.  The new levels will be accessible through the game’s ‘deleted scenes’ menu option.

And finally, go download the Resident Evil 5 demo off Xbox Live now.  You won’t be sorry.

Bungie announced today that Halo 3:ODST will not be bringing back the Elites for your combat enjoyment, unfortunately.  I guess I was a little bummed by that on some level, as I’m a huge Halo fan, the Elites are the classic bad guys, and I do miss seeing them instead of the much lamer Brutes.  But ODST continues the plot in the Halo 3 vein, meaning it’s after the Elites fell out of favour in the Halo universe, and so I understand Bungie’s motivation to not include them.

The upcoming Gears Of War movie is supposedly a planned trilogy, if you believe director Len Wiseman.  The only thing I’m worried about for a Gears movie, and I’m hoping they won’t ruin how cool a trilogy could be with this, is if either they cast someone lame as Marcus Fenix, or if they focus on action more than plot, like the games.  The Gears world is such a fascinating place, I’d really like for someone to delve into that much more.

There’s some great source material there, and unfortunately the Gears games really only scratch the surface of what the plot could be.  Well actually the Gears games have horrid plots with a great foundation for what could be.  But who plays Gears of War for the plot?

But as long as they don’t ruin Gears the way DOOM was ruined I’ll be okay.  You know, how you enjoyed DOOM for most of the movie, and were actually beginning to think that it might finally be a decent videogame film.  Then they hit you with that stupid evil is a gene crap, instead of the creatures being from hell.  Who knew The Rock could steer us wrong?

That was my biggest videogame movie disappointment. . .until I saw the third Resident Evil movie of course.

And Grand Theft Auto IV is getting a new patch for PC, and I can’t wait because the patch contains all sorts of upgrades to better utilise your graphics card.  Now you will be able to mess with the water quality, shadow quality and reflection resolution, to better modify the game for peak performance on your PC.  The patch also includes VSync optimizations and a mirrors fix for the Nvidia 7000 series graphics cards.

Resistance 2 is getting a patch on Monday to fix a few of those issues that you may not have necessarily known were issues, but you’ll nonetheless be glad to see them fixed. The patch will fix multiplayer matchmaking, as well as better balancing multiplayer matches as well as clans, lowering the possibility you’ll be paired with someone too good or too bad.

The patch will also fix a few issues with weapons and overall gameplay to make your whole Resistance 2 experience flow better and look as good as possible.

Have you seen the new DC Universe Online trailer? You know, that MMO that’s supposed to be really awesome, coming soon for PS3 and PC. Well the trailer does not leave me very convinced as to the game’s quality. I just question how good a game could possibly be, when the trailer, the thing that’s supposed to hype you up most for a game, looks jittery and shows melee combat that looks horrible, I just don’t have very much faith in the game.

I’m not a huge fan of DC comics to begin with, but I really don’t see anything from DCUO that’s going to convince me to play the game anyway. Although admittedly I would much rather play a licensed game with real superheroes, opposed to City Of Heroes what with all the generic tight wearing wannabes contained therein.

Did I mention that the flight animations look laughably bad?  I don’t think I did, well, the flight animations look laughably bad.

A ton of Ubisoft news today, well not a ton, but a legitimately large amount of important news I guess.  First off, Ubisoft is reportedly planning on releasing more sports focused games.  Hot off the success of Shaun White Snowboarding, they’ve decided to push more products of the same type.  What I’m hoping this means, is that Ubisoft is going to attempt a unique take on the skateboarding game like EA did with Skate, because with no more Tony Hawk, Skate needs some good competition to keep the game’s evolution going strong.

Otherwise we’ll have another Tony Hawk series where the mechanics never really evolve, and the only justification for buying a new instalment every year are different locations with slightly updated graphics.  So bring it on, Shaun White can skate, how about Shaun White Skateboarding.

Ubisoft has also finally confirmed the existence, and eventual release of Assassin’s Creed 2, as though it were a surprise.  The first Assassin’s Creed was awesome, and I can’t wait to play the next chapter in the planned trilogy, especially to continue the ridiculously cliff-hanger ending.  Although no details have been given by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed 2 has been widely rumoured to take place during the French Revolution, which should create a spectacular backdrop for some stealth murdering.

Considering also that Ubisoft is a French publisher, a little French Revolution action seems either completely plausible, or an easy target for rumour fare.

I guess that wasn’t really a large amount of news even, but it was sort of exciting.

Remember Playstation Home?  Remember how completely pointless it is?  Remember how it’s all the fun of real life without getting up off your couch, so realistic that you actually have to wait for other people to finish playing at the Bowling Alley so you can have a turn?   Well this lack of a game is coming out with a new addition that I’m not at all excited about, and you shouldn’t be either.

Playstation Home is getting a Café.  And I couldn’t care less, seriously.  I don’t see the point of sitting around a virtual café without any of the things that would make a real café interesting.  Like actually drinking the coffee, or actually meeting new people.

But maybe I just don’t get Home.  I’m one of those people that would much rather do my online conversing in a party over Xbox Live, while all of us dominate some other hapless team on Halo 3.

Now that’s a fun virtual world.

Enjoy playing Spore?  Whether you are one of the 2 million plus that bought Spore, or the 1.7 million that illegally downloaded Will Wright’s latest opus, if you enjoyed the game you’ll  no doubt be interested in the four new Spore titles that have been announced by EA.  The first of which will be an expansion pack to the original Spore called Galactic Adventures, fleshing out the game’s biggest portion, space exploration.

With Galactic Adventures you will be able to create your own space missions, and even planets, which will allow you to actually leave your spaceship and do some adventuring.  While the create your own game approach never really appealed to me, I can see how Spore junkies will be excited for this.

The second PC adaptation of Spore will be Spore Creature Keeper, a stand alone instalment focused on younger gamers.  Creature Keeper will focus on the creation of your own unique creature, and will involve various toys and clothes that you can use with said creature.  So, Spore-Lite for the youngsters.

Another of the titles will be Spore Hero for Wii, which will entail creating your own group of creatures and watching them evolve as you explore and accomplish tasks in a colourful world.  With an emphasis on wacky motion controls of course.  And the fourth title is a Nintendo DS game called Spore Hero Arena, in which you create Spore creatures, and take them into battle with other creatures from all over the galaxy.

So if you’re a Spore fan, you’re set for some time with new content.  If not and you want an awesome Xbox Live Arcade game to play instead, check out the Reviews page for my take on the awesomeness that is The Maw.

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Ultimate Edition has been announced by EA for exclusive release on the Playstation 3.  Sounds pretty cool, except that a console has never been the place to play an RTS game.  But if that is your thing then you’ll be excited about the PS3 edition’s exclusive features:

-Five new exclusive multiplayer maps

-A whole slew of behind the scenes documentaries/features, including, From Pens To Pixels, Raising The Iron Curtain, the Girls of Red Alert 3, and Bloopers/Outtakes.

-The Ultimate Edition will also ship with the official Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 soundtrack.

Remember the speculation about Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures being in the dumps, and close to shutting down after having cut half of their dedicated game servers?  Well now I think Funcom has confirmed that by issuing a press release to the contrary, stating that AoC has shut down those servers in order to improve gameplay quality, and ensuring subscribers that the game will continue to run as long as the required amount of subscriptions is met.

To me that says Funcom doesn’t want to lose the few people that are still playing Hyborian Adventures, and that the game actually is in trouble of flopping.  Otherwise the improved ‘quality’ that they are ‘creating’ for the game world would have spoken for itself.

And finally Killzone 2, I know I’ve been hating on it for being generic and not that incredible, and now after seeing the new gun demo videos, I stand firm in my opinion.  The only thing Killzone 2 has going for it, are the graphics.  And to me that’s just not enough to get $60, when I can just go play Call Of Duty 4 if I want an FPS with great visuals.  Or even Resistance for that matter.  Or I’ll just go back to my 360 and play something original, like Halo.

Although I will admit one thing Killzone does better than everyone else are the reloading animations on the weaponry.  But again, cool reloading animations alone aren’t really worth $60.  So don’t be drawn in by the Killzone hype I would say, because it’s really not that deserving.