Attention All Friends

Across the Pond

2008-07-03T13:28:00.004-04:00

So I figured that since I'd pretty much played out God of War: Chains of Olympus, WipEout: Pulse, and haven't been in the mood for heavy Japanese grinds (a la Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness), I should probably look into picking up something new for my plane ride to Europe.

I've been wanting to buy Dead Head Fred since its release, but never got around to it. My impending trip and the game's recent price drop to $15 were enough incentive to get me to take the plunge.

Five hours in, and I can see why the game got an award for its writing. The story is humorous and engrossing, with unique characters, amazing voice acting (John C. McGinley, of Dr. Cox fame, voices the main character) and an art style that gives everything unique personality and disturbing charm. The platforming isn't too difficult, but it's not too easy. The environments are fun to explore and the load times are minimal for a portable game.

Problems I've encountered so far were minor (I couldn't figure out how to win the first boss fight). The camera is good for a portable game, but lacking a second analog nub on the PSP means you get into some weird situations. While the options and customization due to the switchable heads adds good amounts of depth, it can seem shallow at times. Combat has lots of interesting combos and animations, but you're never compelled to use any of them- I quickly found that a Square + Square + X, used repeatedly, will interrupt all special and normal attack sequences farely quickly, while dealing minimal damage to yourself (bosses are faster than other enemies, so you can take some hits there).

The heads offer unique styles of gameplay and puzzle solving for anyone, and the upgrades are actually useful.

In short- Dead Head Fred, while not the most popular title (I don't think it even qualifies as a cult classic), is definitely worth the minimal scratch you throw down to acquire it.

Oh, and Diablo3. Looking forward to playing it, Winter of 2011.

Trophies and In-Game XMB? What More Can We Ask For?

2008-06-30T15:26:00.003-04:00

Just recently, Eric Lempel (director of PlayStation network operations) has released a video demonstrating in-game xmb and the trophy system that will soon be released to the gaming community. This is big news to PlayStation owners since this is what they have been waiting for ever since the launch of the PlayStation 3. The new 2.4 update will include the following that have been confirmed so far:
-In-game xmb
-In-game music
-In-game messaging
-A display of the date and time
-The trophy system
-New display of gamer profile
-Search feature

The expectation of the arrival for 2.4 will be July 2nd. Here are the following videos that were posted on the PlayStation blog:

Part 1

Part2

After 2.4, what more can PlayStation owners ask for? All I can ever think of is in-game pictures and videos.

Monkey see, monkey do.

2008-06-26T13:55:00.005-04:00

So it's a tradition of publishers and developers, worldwide, to begin releasing 80% of their games in the late Fall/early Winter season. It's some kind of "lets release for the holidays! it's bound to sell some!" craze that has gripped them for years. You'd think that they would have learned by now that doing this is a practice bound to kill your company off, if you're lucky.

The chances of your game being rated favorably (70-average, on most "school-style" scales being used by many reviewers) at 85 or higher is very low. The chances of your title being a triple-A hit, or at least a 93 or so (A-range) are even lower. Many titles that release in this pre-holiday window ARE potentially qualified for triple-A* status, this year's examples being Fallout 3, Fable 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Prince of Persia... etc.

That's a (possible) 5 or 6 games, given that not all of these can reach the top, and some unexpected ones might.

How many games ARE releasing in this window? I'd guess (for all platforms) it's between 40-50. A good half of these are going to be shuttleware crap, especially for the Nintendo Wii. Random shooters, such as Legendary, Fracture, the newly announced Damnation (which inspired this article) are pretty much doomed to the bargain bin. Potentially adopted by some (memories of myself and TimeShift come to mind), but generally overlooked and possibly under-appreciated. Why? Because these people choose to get their games out for the holiday season instead of pumping up the market during the classic lulls (early spring, mid-summer) and getting much more publicity and a larger possible adoption rate than they would ever achieve in the months of falling leaves.

Games I could see easily slipping through the cracks this year are some that definitely don't deserve to be overlooked: Far Cry 2, Sacred 2: Falling Angel, Tom Clancy's HAWX (probably going to be delayed, as are the previously listed titles), Dead Space, and I'm making lists again.

My point is- congratulations, you've made a game. The best game? Probably not. Quirky, appealing, not too hyped? Almost definitely. Is it going to sell in the holiday season? Not unless some ironic miracle takes place. Developers and Publishers need to start realizing that the games they push are not going to always be amazing, always be new and loved. It's suicide to push them in between titles from huge studios with media resources behind it that cost more than the studios that make the smaller games. All gamers know and dread the summer drought, that famous time when people scoop up games they'd traded away months ago just for something to play.

Look at things like Gears of War: Refresh. In a time when people have mostly ditched Gears, gotten bored with other things, and are looking for something new, we have a perfect repackage. Battlefield: Bad Company- a mediocre game on all counts, with a mediocre frame-rate, lackluster environmental destruction and seriously flawed design choices in multiplayer that cripple an otherwise pretty fun game. The game has gotten way more publicity than it might have in the fall (although it has EA behind it). People are a little slow to buy it right now, but it's a viable summer entry, and it's guaranteed to have a strong playerbase for at least a few months.

People need to start getting smarter about their release dates, and start realizing the truth- they aren't developing a cure for cancer, their game probably won't sell nearly as well as they want it to, and Fall will burn them alive. Space out your releases, and benefit yourself as well as the gamers who now get something to play in a normally dry (no pun intended) season.

*Games listed as potentially triple-A are based purely on personal speculation and general media perception.

Live and let die!

2008-06-23T23:06:00.001-04:00

Im cheering this board up with none other than!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sims dying! Yes click the link to see 13 ways to kill sims. Also on the youtube site are funnier sims videos like a girl getting hit by a asteroid. A guy killed by a swarm of babies. Also some how a dumbass drowns in a toilet. Also sorry my spelling isn't perfect ok. Like baby Jesus always said "Blow Me". Fin.

Metal Gear Online Pictures =D

2008-06-21T02:49:00.003-04:00

So today I took some awesome pictures in Metal Gear Online and I was thinking, "I should share it with the people at this blog." Anyways here's the pictures that I took.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Look! A PMC soldier!

ArsenalMan!

........

What time is it?

I'm going to die, am I?

Lightning!

Do you guys see the ghosts?

Hm? A comet?

Pressure is building...

2008-06-20T11:58:00.004-04:00

This is an important message for anyone who happens to stumble across it: Valve, the owner of Steam, is hosting a Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend! Coinciding with the new Pyro update, which fleshes out the class with some really cool new weapons, you can try out the critically acclaimed Team Fortress 2 in it's entirety for a whole 2 days, no charge!

Team Fortress 2, for those who don't know, is a class-based shooter with a cartoon style not unlike Pixar's The Incredibles. One of the most well-balanced, quirky games I've ever seen, it offers a map, gameplay style, and fun for everyone.

To download the Steam client, click HERE. The client doesn't take up much storage space, is easy to install, and it's free. Then, go through the motions of creating the SteamID you need to access the service. It's your typical registration process. After that, come back and click HERE.

That link should let you pre-load the game, and make it easy to launch. After that- launch the game, and have fun!

Oh- and here's the great new "Meet the Sniper" video released on Wednesday of this week.

IGN hands out another perfect 10

2008-06-13T13:35:00.003-04:00

Well there you have it, Metal Gear Solid 4 has received a perfect 10 from ign.com. Which reminds me to tell you, I will not be writing an impressions of MGS4 (I am currently 50% done with 11 hours) but I will be writing an overview, which to me is kind of a review, without scores. Do you know why? Because I think scores are stupid.

With that said, I still urge you to go read this review if you are contemplating buying a PS3, because this game is truly a masterpiece.

PS: I can confirm that indeed, Raiden is a straight up badass in this game.

Happy birthday, Keanu!

2008-06-11T06:51:00.004-04:00

I know it's not really gaming related, but today is the site's co-creator Keanu's birthday!

So...

Celebration!

Or did I miss it by a few days...

Smooth move, Japan.

2008-06-10T15:15:00.005-04:00

For those of you who weren't paying too much attention to the conference that Microsoft recently held in Japan...

They held one?

It showcased several (j)RPGs:

Tales of Vesperia. I made a post a while back about this, and Tales games are pretty much the only JRPGs I bother playing. Sadly, it looks like I may not get much of a chance to play this one.

Star Ocean: Last Hope. Star Ocean is an alright series. Not the best, not the worst. I played through the first one during a summer stint at a cousin's house, long ago. Good? Bad? Who knows. Generic? Probably.

Infinite Undiscovery. I saw a trailer on this several months ago. It looked interesting. The entire "lets sneak around and avoid ogres, and then run away" concept doesn't appeal to me in the least, however. It's a cool idea, but it looks really gimmicky in its execution *cough wii cough*.

Last Remnant. The small information page on IGN makes it look like some kind of Japanese version of Viking: Battle for Asgard. Doesn't look that interesting. Haven't seen the trailer they've supposedly released, but I suppose it could play out well.

So we have a healthy lineup of Japanese RPGs heading out (mostly) at the end of the summer. Tales of Vesperia hits on August 9th, 2008. Several days before Madden 09 (I think) and 10 days before Too Human. That raises the question: Do I plop $60 for a new Tales game only a week and a half before Too Human, the game I've been looking forward to for over 3 years, comes out? Will I be able to enjoy it all by then? Will I have enough goddamn money?

The answer is, regrettably, no. I will probably not end up getting this game, or any of the other ones mentioned in my nice bullet list. I'm interested to see SquareSoft's new IP's, sure, even if I do hate the company; but nothing will stand in the way of my enjoyment of the games we all know we'll be playing instead: Too Human, Gears of War 1.75, Fable 2, and Fallout 3.

I have respect (not much) for the jRPG genre, but I still don't think that Asian developers have anywhere near the production values that Westerners do, with the exception of very few games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, or any well-respected fighting series (Street Fighter, DBZ, DOA, Virtua Fighter, etc.).

And I have to ask: great, you're making 4 new games, but...

Where the hell is the diversity?

(Hit the title for an IGN LiveBlog)

Meat Shields and Mayhem.

2008-06-04T09:37:00.012-04:00

It would seem that I was wrong. I will now offer an official Gears of War 1.75 classification, as opposed to the 1.5 I had given it earlier. The new multiplayer details announced by IGN state that new weapons, more execution options, an ability to block chainsaws/retaliate, and other things will be included.

That's all fine and dandy, but I still hold that none of this makes it a sequel. I suppose you can justify it by saying that the story progresses, as it does with Rainbow Six Vegas 2; but honestly. Gears of War's story? Who would even want to use that as an argument.

I will probably give in to peer pressure and buy this thing when it comes out, and I have to admit that the new pistol and improved Boltok specs sound interesting. Returning maps are the super-popular Gridlock, and the DLC Subway, also known as "map of a thousand ways to roll into the abyss and run around pissing people off".

You may not have been aware of it before, but the Hammerburst was one of the most overpowered weapons in the game. Firing incredibly accurate and quick burst shots, an experienced Hammerburst user could easily have you down in seconds, popping your knees and melee'ing to finish it off. It's brutal, efficient, and fairly easy. And now it appears they've gone and made it even more powerful. Sounds like a lot of fun.

My point is, they've managed to add a lot of new features. That's a good step in the right direction for really fleshing the game out, and I'm glad they took it. The problem that remains is still in the technical parts. Will Gears continue to trade performance and color range for super-detailed bump mapping? Have the idiots at Epic figured out how to write proper netcode? What use is all the new features if we still have a pile of glitched-out shit when the dust settles? How will they balance all the new features out, when it took them over a year and a half to get it marginally acceptable the first time?

I point to a quote from user Mr_Shingles at the IGN boards, who sums up my position fairly well:

"Gears of War was a flawed game. It was built on an engine designed specifically to look better than it actually performs (hence heavy texture pop-ins and lack of diverse color palettes). The game's online netcode is some of the worst ever conceived, resulting in rampant bandwidth wasting, poor usage of combined processing power, and extremely limited application. Tweakable settings are minimal, the lobby system is terrible. Lag/"host advantage" caused by stupid and lazy programming puts heavy strain on host's connection. When the host DOES have an acceptable connection, game performance is fine, but the host then gains enough of a speed boost to dominate the match uncharacteristically. Because all actions must pass through the host's router (the central hub), all outside connections take twice as long to transmit data to other players compared to the host. The host's packets only travel half as far, because the data originates at the host router, so no time is wasted transferring data twice.

These flaws also allowed for the game's many glitches, more than I have ever seen in any triple-A rated game before. Not only does the flawed multiplayer design make it nearly impossible for Epic Games to make a permanent fix for these problems, it is the reason why players can keep on making up new ways to break the game.

That's not even getting into balancing issues, incredibly stupid enemy AI in campaign, and the generally uninspired drivel that was campaign. "

Has Cliffy "The Bitch" Blezinski learned from his rookie entry? Will we finally have balanced gameplay, functioning multiplayer, and actual features? That all remains to be seen in the coming months; and I really do hope that I'm proven wrong. For Gears of War 1.75 to be an amazing game would make me really happy, because although I love to hate on the original, it had some great ideas that I hope have been polished and upgraded.

Hit the link for the IGN article that inspired this post.

Disagree? Think I write like a monkey with Alzheimer's? Post a comment!

Master Ninja Leaves His Village

2008-06-03T13:25:00.008-04:00

Ever since I found about this around 4:00 A.M., I didn't want to report on it, but it's about time I do. Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the "Dead or Alive" series and the modern "Ninja Gaiden" series, head of TECMO development branch Team Ninja, and overall genius Japanese developer ahead of his time and culture has resigned from TECMO and filed a lawsuit against the company for their injustices towards him. His full statement reads:

I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year.

In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

Before the start of development on DEAD OR ALIVE 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me "if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it." In addition, he made demeaning remarks about me to my subordinates and colleagues, causing me significant emotional distress and worsening my personal relationships and work environment. Thus, I have no choice but to resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd.

The conduct of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its president Yoshimi Yasuda towards me has been unbefitting of a publicly-listed company.

I have filed this lawsuit with a strong intent to question the social responsibility of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its President Yoshimi Yasuda, as well as condemning them for their unjust acts. Today, in addition to announcing the reasons for this lawsuit, I make clear my reasons for resigning.

To All Game Fans

I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. NINJA GAIDEN 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last NINJA GAIDEN I will create. I will also never be able to make DEAD OR ALIVE 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans.

However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so.

I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future.

Tecmo Co., Ltd. Creative Officer
Leader, Team NINJA

Tomonobu Itagaki

Microsoft also released this:

"Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave Tecmo and Team NINJA to pursue other opportunities. We thank Tomonobu Itagaki for the many years he has supported Xbox as he has contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole."

It's really hard to predict Itagaki's next actions as a developer. He's too proud and egotistical for a Japanese company, and too Japanese for an American company. I see two possibilities:

-Microsoft picks up Itagaki since he has been their most valuable Japanese developer since the original Xbox and gives him his own side branch to continue making projects. They could possibly even buy the rights to DOA and NG from the recently failing TECMO and give it to Itagaki to continue his work. I see this scenario likely since Microsoft even published NGII for Itagaki.

-Itagaki forms his own company and hires many of his own TEAM NINJA employees. They would form new IP's and have more freedom than they did under TECMO. Microsoft would likely publish for them since they did so for NGII.

Nobody knows what the future holds for Itagaki, but I hope he finds his way and continues making great games. I hope this will be the final nail in TECMO's coffin, since they wronged the man who kept the company alive in the 90's.

Long live Tomonobu Itagaki.

Polls Closed, New Category System

2008-06-02T11:59:00.005-04:00

I would first like to thank every single one of you for following the site so far. It has been a fun ride, but we still have an exciting year of gaming ahead of us.

Lets get down to business, shall we? Up above you will see the pie chart I made to sum up the results for our most recent poll. As you see MGS4 takes a huge percent of the pie chart, 39%, or 16 votes. Which reminds to say that I am simply amazed that a small blog like ours brought in 41 votes.

This piece of news is more for our authors than our readers, but nevertheless I'll tell you anyway. Within the next 24 hours of this post I will update some of the blogs interface and add categories in the form of labels. So authors, this means that those labels that you put at the end of you post will, from now on, be labeled with previously used categories, or if you think that your new label will be a category that will be used later on, go ahead and submit it.

If that totally made no sense what so ever than let me say it a little simpler. Instead of putting random things in the label field put one of the previously used categories of a new category which will be used later on.

Well, there you go, another insight on how AAF is getting better and better everyday.

Summer is here: PS3 - Weekly/Monthly Feed

2008-06-02T01:56:00.010-04:00

Well, spring has already closed to an end and now the big event of summer and fall games are about to come. It's going to be a spectacular time for gamers since games such as, Battlefield: Bad Company, Gear of War 2, MGS4, Guitar Hero 4, Socom Confrontation, etc are coming to town. So gamers, get your controllers ready this summer because it's going to be a blast.

Now what exactly will we be exactly expecting for the ps3 this month?

News:
-Due to a leaked video of update 2.40, people will be expecting to have 2d trophies, in-game xmb, and in-game music which will be released on the days of June 11-20.

-Upcoming games:

June 3: Grid
June 3: Ninja Gaiden II
June 3: Kung Fu Panda
June 3: Lego Indiana Jones
June 3: The Bourne Conspiracy
June 5: Fatal Ineteria EX
June 5: The Incredible Hulk
June 10: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
June 10: Nascar 09
June 12: Metal Gear Solid 4
June 23: Battlefield: Bad Company
June 23: Top Spin
June 24: Hail to the Chimp
June 24: Hell Boy
June 24: Overlord
June 24: Wall-E
June 29: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

That is all I have for today, stay tuned this month for more Weekly/Monthly feeds on other consoles besides the PS3.

Resident Evil 5 Preview

2008-06-01T22:12:00.007-04:00

Here's a new trailer from Capcom for Resident Evil 5.
It looks like they'll pick right up from Resident Evil 4's winning formula.

Two New Amazing Burst Limit Videos

2008-05-31T14:27:00.009-04:00

NOTICE: I recommend that you click the link and watch these videos in high quality, they don't look nearly as good from the embeds. The link goes to the first video, and the first video response to that is the second video.

Sorry about not writing recently, I've been very busy over the week and even have plans tonight, but I have had enough time to find the two most amazing Burst Limit trailers available!

This first trailer basically summarizes the Saiyan-Freiza saga using Burst Limit cutscenes and "Kiseki no Honoyo Moeagare" as the background music. It shows off just how good this game looks and how faithful the game's cutscenes stay to the show. A truly impressive video, and an example of Burst Limit's greatness.

Next up we have:

This is a similar video, except it covers Trunks- Cell Saga, Bardock: The Father of Goku, and Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. This time it uses the same song, but the so-called "English version", which I can still barely understand due to the singer's heavy accent. This video impressed me as well, and more importantly hints to side storylines for the movies in single player since they have their own cutscenes. With Saiyan-Cell Saga, two movies, and what-if storylines this should be a long game with plenty of content. Can't wait until the 10th!

P.S. I should have a review for "Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One" up once I have some spare time over the next few days.

And the Hammer came crashing down...

2008-05-29T14:42:00.009-04:00

Well... I've been banned. For the second time in about as many months. For an entire week.

The first time, I don't even think I did anything. My bio was clean, and it was just a revenge attempt by a fat egomaniac midget from Wisconsin who's entire profile was about killing people.

This time, I had a quote from the popular video game "Grand Theft Auto 4" in my bio. It was from the TV, and it was about Tony McTony.

Now- here's where the bullshit reeks. My profile is only viewable by friends. That means either Xbox Live caught me on some sweep, or some conniving ass betrayed me. Oh well.

I don't have a problem with getting banned, when I deserve it. In this case, one of several scenarios could have played out. Xbox could have deleted my bio and had me re-type it and warned me not to use offensive language again. Or they could have given me a warning to remove the word from my bio within 24 hours.

My point is- they didn't. Instead of doing something reasonable, leaving all parties satisfied and offending nobody, they decided I needed to be punished for using a word that they don't even bother censoring (if they don't want anyone to use it, make it easy and don't let them!). I've been denied service with one of my favorite pastimes for a week, and the prospect of a Playstation 3 seems that much more likely.

At least I have a week to catch up on my PSP games. Maybe play some single-player (do achievements earned offline translate to online?) GTA or Viking.

So I ask you, readers, co-authors- what's your opinion on censorship policies and bans for related infractions? Do you think they are too harsh? Have your own story to tell? Post a comment.

Oh- and just a tip for all you players out there. "Bitches love the initials!"- Tony McTony. That quote right there got me banned.

Reviews? This is Madness!

2008-05-27T21:59:00.009-04:00

Well it turns out that Metal Gear Solid 4, despite being 16 days away, has already garnered some reviews.
Here they are straight from the source at NeoGaf:

PlayStation Official Magazine (UK): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (US): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (Italy): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (Dutch): 9.6/10
LEVEL (Sweden): 10/10
Joypad (France): 19/20
Jeuxvideo Magazine (France): 18/20

The game is set to release worldwide on June 12th, 2008.

In other news, Ninja Gaiden II has been recently reviewed by various sources and so far on gamerankings.com its ranking stands at 85%. Not bad, not great, but good.

Here's some gameplay of what I think is the bloodiest game out right now.

Gta 4 Easter egg madness!!

2008-05-26T19:54:00.006-04:00

Here is a link to a giant map on IGN of Grand Theft Auto 4.It is worth checking out hands down. It shows the location of many easter eggs. Including dinosaur bones weird statues and other things you have to see. This is an amazing job done by IGN and everyone else on the site. If you find any easter eggs you can report them and IGN will check it out and add it to the site. So happy hunting.

(EDITED BY RELOAD)

Resident Evil 5, Timesplitters 4

2008-05-26T19:30:00.011-04:00

Sorry to everyone about the recent drought of posts but I'll try to make up for it, starting now.

Right now if you go to Resident Evil's official website you will see a camera lying on the ground, with a counter counting up from the sites debut. Some people have said that once we get 72 hours away from the new trailer (on May 31st) that it will start counting down. What's really interesting is that people have reported seeing people and things walk by the camera on the website if you watch long enough.

(Screenshot of website)

In other news, right off the launch of Free Radical's Haze, screenshots have already surfaced for their next big project, Timespitters 4.
The screenshots come from scans of the official UK Playstation Magazine.

Xbox Minute

2008-05-24T16:48:00.004-04:00

Click on the title and it will take you to ign after every video ends a new one pops up. The first 3 ive seen are hilarious. They involve someone acting out ninja gaiden 2. A racing chair idea and just them running around being dumbasses.
This would be the best job in the world. They also have some footage of new games and some funny videos. So check it out each vids only a minute long.

Prince of Persia

2008-05-24T11:48:00.011-04:00

By now, many of you should have heard the announcement that's been simmering beneath the surface for quite a while now. Formerly rumored as "Prince of Persia: Next Gen", the official title is now just Prince of Persia. It's a new project out of Ubisoft, working on an upgraded Assassin's Creed engine with changes to everything imaginable.

First, let's talk about the art style.

That screenshot right there is completely-in-game. The new digs are definitely appreciated. The lines make it look like some sort of living drawing, a mixture of influences seem to remind me of Okami and Crackdown. GameInformer stated that the new prince alone uses 13 times as many polygons as the old, and that his hair uses as much processing power as the old prince in his entirety. Basically, expect a whole lot of detail, but not so much photorealism. I love this look, and think the unique approach will only help the game.

Those of you looking closely may notice the new weapons. This time around, the Prince (who starts off as a mere traveler in this new universe) doesn't have his trusty time dagger. Instead, check out a sexy one-handed scimitar, and that claw-gauntlet on his left hand.

That gauntlet, and the sword, were supposedly picked up on previous adventures. Whether or not this has story significance, I don't know. What I do know is, the gauntlet is the most important piece of equipment in the game. It not only helps you in combat, it's your key to the new platforming elements.

Prince of Persia is taking on a much less linear approach to level design this time around. You hang out in a hub world, a part of the Garden of Eden where you take refuge after a sandstorm. From this hub world, you travel out to different areas, cleaning out the corruption that has leaked from the Tree of Life. The tree used to house the soul of an evil god, one of two brothers who represented yin and yang, essentially. Somehow, the terrible power has been released, and this corruptive ooze-like substance is taking over flora, fauna, and the landscape itself. Each location is an open level, which you have to run around and solve puzzles on while defeating monsters and performing incredible acrobatics.

The gauntlet comes into play here. Sliding, climing, wall running, gripping and anything else you can do involves using the gauntlet to aid you in some way. Slow your descent, keep your cool running on a wall 500 feet above the ground, and stab things gloriously. I can't wait.

Combat has been revamped too. Instead of fighting multiple enemies, you'll usually be only facing one or two. Don't think you'll have an easy time though. These enemies will be ferocious, extremely powerful, and out to get you by any means possible. You'll have to use your environment to your advantage when defeating these beasts, but be careful to avoid corrupted areas. These locations covered in the dark substance are places you should never go if you can help it. Bad things happen if you do.

Hit the link in the title for more information (IGN has a 3 page preview) if you'd like. I can't wait for this game, although its apparent release date is a bit irksome. I'm already going to be juggling Too Human, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 at minimum that time of year, and having this must-play addition to the PoP stable is going to make me very, very aggravated.

Thank you very much to IGN for the beautiful screenshots.

Comments/Feedback appreciated. What's your opinion on the new direction, and will you play the game?

5 Incredible Little Big Planet Details

2008-05-21T16:31:00.008-04:00

Source: MTV Multiplayer
I don’t mean to brag when I say that I had already played “Little Big Planet” a few times before trying out the malleable PlayStation 3 platformer again last week.

Instead, I mean to convince you that I had good reason to think I knew about the coolest stuff in the game. I’d run through levels. I had used the game’s mighty content editor to create all sorts of wild costumes and level props.

And yet I was floored five times during my brief opportunity to play the game with “LBP” technical director Alex Evans. Here’s what impressed me:

1) How Enemies Work — I kept hearing that each new “LBP” press demo would finally reveal the game’s enemies. But in each demo — including the one I went through last week — they were not in there. I asked Evans about this; what he told me made me realize I had been expecting the wrong thing. The developers at Media Molecule aren’t focusing on giving players pre-made enemies.

Instead, Evans said the game will ship with five or six artificial intelligence brains. He wouldn’t tell me what the AI behaviors would be, but explained that a “LBP” user would be able to apply them to their creations in the game’s editor. Whether or not the AI brains will drive your creations effectively depends on your designs. For example… did you put wheels on the giant attack-llama?

2) Gaming’s Most Impressive Screenshot Tool — You can take in-game screenshots in “Little Big Planet.” Hooray. You can then take those screenshots and apply them to objects. That’s actually… promising. While using the game’s content editor I made a few beams and struts. Then I hopped my character on top of them to pose for a screenshot. I took that shot and applied it as a sticker to one of the beams or struts. I had created an optical illusion, my character standing on top of a beam that looked like an image of him standing atop a beam. Think about how you could use this feature to mess with people: making solid walls look like empty space and fooling them to crash right into them.

3) How “LBP” Music Can Turn Levels Into Rhythm Games — “Little Big Planet” users can place sound objects in the levels they create. The object Evans showed me was a little speaker. We were able to attach it to a block that was resting at the beginning of a level we were making. You can assign music that will play from that speaker when a user’s character walks past it. The music from that speaker can be set to play from any point in the track. I proposed an idea to Evans that he said was 100% do-able: I could line a level with speakers, one set up every few steps — and set them all to play the same song, but queued up from different parts. Doing this, I could make it so that if a player ran through my level at a certain pace, he or she would hear the song play perfectly. Running at the wrong pace would cause the player to hear the song play in a choppy fashion.

4) Just Add Water — The game features an impressive content editor. It integrates all its objects within a certain style of calculated physics. Objects teeter and roll with mathematical precision. But there’s one element that’s not in the game yet — liquids. I can’t flood a level with water and watch how that affects everything I generated. Instant non-purchase? No way. Evans told me liquids are possible: “If people want that, we can do it.”

5) The Gifts That You Can Give — Not only can you use “Little Big Planet” to create any imaginable gaming object that would fit in a 2D playing field, but you can also make the blueprints for any such object. Those blueprints — really, the object itself — can be uploaded to other gamers. Better than that: you can make the blueprints a collectible item in the levels you create. Better still: you can associate such objects with leaderboard requirements. So I can challenge the world to score a certain number of points in a level I’ve made and then automatically reward anyone who achieves that mark with a trophy object that I made myself. I wonder what I could force people to receive if they play my level poorly…

I'm in Liberty City and I'm out of control!

2008-05-20T19:18:00.004-04:00

Dear Mother,

Life is quieting down a bit in America. There was some trouble with a few new friends, but we worked it out. I have a nice loft near a great park, and it's right across from the water. I have two cars. A nice two-door named a Sentinel, and a great 4-door called a Sultan. I hope the crops are good this year. The cost of living in this city is pretty much $0, so I spend much of my free time shooting pidgins in the ass and annoying construction workers by driving fast cars over ramps and other equipment that they use.

-N

Rocking The Dragon

2008-05-15T22:11:00.014-04:00

The Dragonball Z: Burst Limit (DBZ:BL) demo was released today, so after downloading it over some GTA IV playtime I decided to give it a spin. I want to tell you now, I'll be giving my impressions of the demo, and this will be a bit bias since I'm a huge DBZ fan and a fan of the Budokai series. First thing that hit me was the intro. When I heard the music I immediately recognized it to be one of the Japanese DBZ openings, and probably the best DBZ opening song (yes, even better than "Rock the Dragon"). The opening was done extremely well, with many famous scenes of the show playing in harmony with the music while also showing small parts of fight scenes. The best intro of any DBZ game, easily. It really made a good start for the demo.

So, I get to the menu, skim the controls, press A, and get to the Z CHRONICLES menu. From there, I selected the first real fight of DBZ, Goku vs. Raditz. I watched the small scene, very fateful to the show, and BAM! I was launched into the fight without warning, just like a real DBZ fight. I immediately noticed that the Budokai engine had received a huge overhaul (as only a Budokai fan like me could notice) and now the controls were tighter, more responsive, and smooth. The fights are also much faster, just like a real DBZ fight, and this added a whole new level of intensity to the game. In the midst of the duel between me and Raditz, I paused to check the command list. Then I realized that Budokai now boasted a movelist like a real fighter, and was no longer a button masher for the kiddies. After I started to utilize these moves, I noticed a brand new feature in action, Drama Scenes. When either opponent trigger certain requirement(s), it will launch into a small few second cutscene which will add an effect to the user once finished. For example, after Raditz started to blast me with a special attack, my Piccolo drama scene triggered, where he jumps in and kicks my opponent, adding damage and taking fatigue from him. This new feature could end up being cheap if not kept balanced, but it definitely made it feel more DBZ. I finally finished Raditz off with a super Kamehameha, earning myself a Z ranking afterward.

Next up was Yamcha vs. Saibamen, a tragic tale indeed, but still fun as hell. Yamcha is definitely a speed player, with fast moves and movement, coupled with the Wolf Fang Fist and his signature Spirit Ball (Ball, not Bomb, there's a difference!). I had a very fast paced battle with the Saibamen, but ultimately longed for a tougher opponent. I actually found Yamcha's full moveset more diverse and enjoyable than the early Goku's, but that's a preference. If you find the fights boring in this new game, you are probably a novice to fighters and button mashed, so let me give you a few tips to make things more enjoyable. Look over your full moveset, use it, use your specials, use aura burst, use pursuit attacks, and go airborne. Long list, I know.

DBZ:BL really impressed me today, especially since I walked into it not expecting too much. This is a must have for any DBZ fan, and definitely a try for any fighting fan. It has all of the qualities of a fast paced fighter and is extremely faithful to the Dragonball Z franchise. It was the most fun I ever had with a DBZ game, playing the Raditz fight about 10 times and the Saibamen around 5, and this was only a demo. You really have to try everything you can to enjoy this game, because once you get all of the controls and techniques down, it becomes an incredibly fun fighter. I won't be able to pick this up first day, but I WILL pick it up eventually. For those of you who are, look for it on store shelves on June 10, for 360 & PS3.

EDIT: I went this whole time without an "OVER 9000" joke, I'm proud of myself.

Xbox Live Spring Update

2008-05-14T19:35:00.006-04:00

The new features of the Xbox Live Spring Update through the link, over 80 of them. The list is extremely long, so I'll post the highlights.

5. Introduce a group chat (4) for Private Chat and conferences through Video Chat.
8. More fields present in Personal Profile - recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section.
29. New button on Marketplace for optional dashboard features - uses Storage Device memory.
30. Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.
31. Option to purchase Membership for charities (includes benefits).
32. Integrate file-sharing for selected titles on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows - LIVE.
36. Web feeds integration - text, images, audio. Includes support for specific item codes on Marketplace.
1. Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).
2. Organize My Games at the Games Library section better (includes disc-based titles) - sort by genre, platform (Games for Windows - LIVE), percentage completion.
3. Support to display friends leaderboards for disc-based titles.
4. Show dates of an achievement unlocked when comparing.

Kotaku states this as a rumor, but other sources deem it true. I hope it is.

Banjo and Kazooie 3!

2008-05-14T07:25:00.004-04:00

Look at this link check out the vid and pics! I can't wait.

Androgyny in Video Games (Mainly J-RPGs)

2008-05-13T20:17:00.010-04:00

Is going overboard. It's primarily a problem in J-RPGs, a genre saturated by rehashed games and a wapanese fanbase, but still a genre that is notable. Nobody knows where it all started, since Japan has always been comfortable with androgyny and sexuality. I'm guessing that it is deeply rooted in Square-Enix games, primarily the Final Fantasy series. There are many other offenders, all from Japan, and usually makers of J-RPGs. Androgyny being bad is a matter of opinion, but I think it's getting completely overboard.

Let's start with these two nice little images from the upcoming "Fianl Fantasy XIII: Versus". The first thought that crossed my mind when I witnessed these was "These girls look weird...", then it hit me. They're f***ing guys. Ok, what is wrong with the FFXIII character designers. This is just ridiculous, they make Boy Bands look like lumberjacks. Their hair, their faces, their bodies, their clothing, just everything is screaming androgyny. Look, I don't think every dude out there should look like a manly man, I don't mind it when characters look a little girly, but this is just too much for anybody but you're typical yaoi fangirl. I just don't get it.

I have no idea why Japan loves these androgynous pretty boys so much. J-RPGs may have a huge female crowd, but it's still primarily male and this is not what males enjoy, even homosexuals probably find this annoying. It doesn't add any depth, personality, or uniqueness to a character when you make him appear more like the opposite sex. I know artists have visions, and they like to express themselves through their creations. I respect that, and I can tolerate a long-haired pretty boy, but please make it apparent that he's actually a boy! And once again, it appears that only Japan has this obsession, and it truly confuses me.

Well, maybe this was just a poorly written rant on androgynous characters in J-RPGs, but I think I'm addressing
a trend that is truly out of hand. I like J-RPGs, I really do, maybe not the ones of the Final Fantasy variety, but I even respect that series. I'm not saying "ZOMG androgyny is teh gay, make my doods manly!!1!1", I'm just saying that it needs some toning down before we can't tell the girls from the guys.

P.S. I have nothing against homosexuals, yaoi fangirls, the Japanese, androgynous men, or Square-Enix. The first two images are from FFXIII:Versus, the third from FFXII, and the fourth from FFVII: Advent Children. I hope I didn't offend anybody in this post, but I'm just really fed up with this trend right now. If I offended you, my deepest apologies, and grow a spine.

3 reasons why I would buy the Xbox 360

2008-05-12T17:00:00.013-04:00

Every now and again as a gamer you have to ask yourself this question, "What's on the other side?" Well since most of the "CONSOLE WARS" stories are over and the internet isn't exploding about a recent Gametrailers (third party) comparison I decided to reflect on my console of choice and imagine what it would be like on the other side. Without further delay here are my top 3 reasons I would buy the Xbox 360.

3. Achievements/Gamerscore System
Now, I hate most highscore systems out there, but achievements are different. Even though most hardcore gamers make out to be so, achievements are emphasized as a way to get more out of your game, instead of a way to inflate your ego. Adding replay value to my games is more than enough of a reason to buy a 360.

2. In-Game Voice Chat
As you probably already know if you want to chat with your friends on PSN then be prepared to stop everything your doing to do so. Many people do not consider this a major flaw, but I do. It's just the way Xbox Live keeps you seamlessly connected with your friends that is moving the online industry forward.

1. All The Games I've Missed
There are three types of gamers, casuals, fanboys, and REAL gamers. If you are a real gamer then I trust you don't turn a blind eye to the opposing console's exclusives, I didn't. You would have to be a fool to say that the 360 did not have a strong line-up Winter 2007. Which is why this is my last reason. As I sit here and type I realize that I will never know what it feels like to sit down and enjoy the good qualities of the games, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, and Halo 3.

EDIT: Hey thanks for the link Xbox 360 Information!

Poll Update

2008-05-12T00:52:00.006-04:00

Quick update on the poll. The current placings are:
1.Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
2.Resistance 2
3.Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Too Human
4.GoW2, Spore, and Other

EDIT: Changed some of the positions based on recent developments. So maybe some of pirateninja's comments are irrelevant now.

I was glad too see my pick at number 1, and surprised by a few other things. The poll is PS3 dominant, with the top PS3 exclusives of the year heading the pack. Fable 2 and Fallout 3 are fighting for third. Too Human managed it's way past Gow2 and other. Spore was left in the dust, unsurprisingly due to our non-existent PC Gamer base. I know a few of us double and even triple voted, but it doesn't change much in the end. Can't wait to see how the poll develops.

MGO Training

2008-05-11T19:10:00.003-04:00

Exclusive Video From Reload92

Weekly Recap

2008-05-10T22:30:00.008-04:00

Well here it is, the weekly recap that I alluded to in my earlier post .

5. At number 5 we have a story from videogaming247.com which announces the retirement of Surfer Girl , a blogger that semi-accurately predicted lots of things in the video game industry.
What I Think: Meh, who cares? I never liked Surfer Girl because I saw many instances that she incorrectly predicted when and what games would be announced and so on. The only things she predicted correctly were things I could've predicted myself.

4. At number 4 we have Yahtzee's video entry for this week "Mailbag Showdown". He did this for two reasons, the throes of Brawl fans that invaded his inbox and that he needed a little more time to play GTA IV.
What I Think: I personally thought that it was hilarious. Although Brawl fans and this guy will tell you different.

3. At number 3 we have an article from joystiq.com announcing that DOOM 4 is in development.
What I Think: Never played a DOOM game (gasp) so you can guess that I don't care.

2. At number 2 we have another article from joystiq.com announcing that the Bioshock movie is in development, and that Gore Verbinski will be directing. They also report that Take-Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick has been quoted as saying that this project will actually be made (referencing the Halo movie).
What I Think: Even though I don't own a 360 and have only ever played a demo of Bioshock, I think I'll actually go to the theaters to see this.

1. Finally at number 1 we have the premiere gameplay video of Gears of War 2. And here it is now, courtesy of gametrailers.com

What I Think: Well after looking at a comparison from Gametrailers I'm proud of Epic for stepping out of the "gray zone", if you know what I mean.

Well that's about it for Attention All Friends Weekly Recap.

But not for the lure of the Forbidden Fruit...

2008-05-09T16:34:00.009-04:00

Today, I'm talking about gold buying. No, not the $1,000 per ounce commodity that commercials don't shut up about. I'm talking about WoW gold. Guild Wars gold. FFXI gold. Runescape gold. The kind you pay real money for. The fake kind.

To those of you familiar with the Massively Multiplayer Online scene, you should be aware of this process. For those of you who don't, it goes a little something like this:

Player feels a little down. Player decides "hey, lets get a shiny new sword!". Player isn't the wealthiest (insert any MMO) player. Player gets message from (insert Asian gold-farming company here). Player decides "hey, I've got 15 bucks! lets get some gold!". Player buys gold. Another one bites the dust.

Most of the time, transactions play out like that. It doesn't stop there, however. That player's money goes to some guy running a "sweat-shop", full of computers, with maybe one worker for 3 or 4 machines, running macros and farming gold all day. You've undoubtedly seen them, the players with absurd names who all move in the same patterns constantly, repeatedly, at all hours of the day. These are also the players who will spam you with constant messages about purchasing that gold. Perhaps 1 player in 100 will actually purchase gold; but we're talking about a game with millions of players. A game with it's own sophisticated economy. Once you have maybe 100,000 out of 10 million with absurd wealth, that begins to shift the balance of power. Rare item distribution doesn't follow any sort of circular pattern.

The disruption these operations have caused have game-altering, even international consequences. The popular in-browser MMORPG Runescape just recently had to drastically reshape it's auction system, PvP system, trading system, and update it's EULA. All in attempt to shut down one of the largest gold trading centers in the world. For the most part, it seems to have worked. Complaints have gone down about being spammed by gold traders, and people are seeing less auto-miners and other farming macros around the game. Guild Wars, a game second in userbase only to World of Warcraft, actually had to block the entire country of Taiwan from accessing its servers. It turns out, almost every single spam/goldbot was traced there. Some even say the revenue gained from the gold farming prompted the Taiwanese government to support these farmers. Recently, the Taiwanese have been allowed back into the game on American servers. Spambots have become a nuisance again, though not as much as before.

So while games are fairly successful thus far at heading off the gold sellers, there are still any number of ways popping up every day that circumvent that progress. I guess the honest players just have to hope that eventually, our games will be (mostly) free of these insidious balance-wreckers.

Jack Thompson Gets A Slap To The Face

2008-05-08T17:56:00.005-04:00

A recent study by the Federal Trade Commission has shown that game retailers have increased their enforcement of the ESRB rating policy. This directly contradicts claims made by Jack Thompson that game retailers sell M rated games to kids under age 17 all the time.

Here's the official report : FTC Report

More 360 news!

2008-05-07T21:46:00.006-04:00

For all you Fable fans out there get ready to spend some time on the internet next week. Lionhead is releasing a big-ish thing which is rumored to be a group of gameplay videos, but who knows.
Stay tuned and we'll find out.

Gears of War 2 news!

2008-05-07T21:40:00.005-04:00

In 2 days there will be an exclusive on Gears of War 2 on Gametrailers and Spike TV! It is supposed to be spectacular!

Playstation Day (The Three 2's)

2008-05-07T19:39:00.010-04:00

Before I go blabbering away like a little schoolgirl I would like to give a shout out to playstationdirect.net, our new partners.

First off here's the gameplay video for Motorstorm 2.

Next, a new gameplay video of Killzone 2.

Finally, Resistance 2. Notice the 3X, 4X, 5x markers above their heads. It's supposed to give you bonus points for killing people on a streak. This could be a good or bad feature depending on how its implemented.

Small Updates

2008-05-06T22:36:00.005-04:00

I have made some small updates to the blog to make it feel more compact, clean, and organized. Check back to this post for any more layout-related updates this week.

If these updates are received negatively, I will change it back or try to rework it with cooperation.

Guess What?

2008-05-06T21:29:00.007-04:00

At this current point in time I am downloading the Haze demo off the European Playstation Store. I will post a whole preview (with video) tomorrow.

Note: This will also give me a reason to record some MGO Beta action!

R.I.P. Chad Wardenn

2008-05-06T00:13:00.005-04:00

I am very sorry to report, that after finally reaching 1,000,000 views, the legendary super troll Chad Wardenn, the man who invented the term"PSTripple", has taken down all of his videos and closed his account. No one knows what happened, or whether he'll make a comeback, but for now Chad Wardenn is dead. Long live the first and the best Sony troll, we'll all miss you.

Stay ABAP, friends, stay ABAP.

What He Said

2008-05-05T16:24:00.007-04:00

Basically the first part of my post is a copycat of Tha PirateNinja's. We've all been so caught up in GTA IV that we haven't even thought about the blog.

Secondly I would just like to make everyone aware that Blogger has added a new feature that could prove very useful. Now when you click post options and change the "post date & time" to sometime in the future, blogger will post it at that time. For more info check your dashboard.

Finally I'd like to give everyone an insight on what's coming next. First, (since I've finally managed to log on to MGO BETA) I will post an exclusive video of me playing in the training arena. Next, don't expect the GTA IV reviews for at least another week (DAMN YOU SNOW STORM). Lastly, I'm going to start doing a weekly wrap-up of the weeks top 5 stories.

Oh, almost forgot, next week I will (with the help of vgchartz.com) dedicate a post to analyzing GTA IV sales data.

PS: I'm trying to figure out a way for us to post small things that don't necessarily need a whole post dedicated to the topic. *Considers Twitter*

Well, back to being extremely frustrated with 3-star police.
EDIT: ALSO OH WOW 40 EXACT POSTS IN APRIL!

GTAddiction

2008-05-04T23:45:00.005-04:00

First off, I would like to apologize to anybody who visits this blog for my irresponsibility in it's upkeep. With that said, I think that all of our authors have been distracted by GTA IV, and that's why this place hasn't had a non-link or video post in ages. I'm truly addicted to GTA IV, after already clocking in 26 single player hours, and who knows how many multiplayer hours. I haven't really been on the internet at all, but my addiction should slow next week to the point where I can start regularly writing again. I expect every writer to get over this addiction, because I can't keep this up by myself.

As for the Official GTA IV Review, it may be a while, this is the biggest game I've ever played and I want to cover it all. Until next time, friends, see ya later.

Jack Thompson Is No Longer Alone

2008-05-02T00:29:00.004-04:00

Apparently there are people with ignorance equal to that of Jack Thompson.

Check out these two vids taken from a broadcast earlier on CNN Headline News.

Copy and paste. Sorry, couldn't link it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzr138ijmaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqSCLrtioEl

GTAIV Causing Problems on Consoles

2008-04-30T22:38:00.005-04:00

As of today, many people have been reporting that they have faced several problems in GTAIV for the PS3 and the 360. For the PS3, the game would freeze during the first opening cutscene of GTAIV. So far this problem occurs mostly for the 20 and 60 gig ps3 users. The 360 on the other hand, would freeze out of no where while you are playing the game. The reason why the 360 and ps3 are freezing is because of the ram. Since Grand theft auto IV is a massive world with no loading points, the ram would be pushed to the limit and cause the cache to overload with information which causes the ps3/360 to freeze. Several people have been reporting that deleting your game save, game data, and cache would fix this problem. Many have done this but they are still facing freezing issues. Rockstar are now aware of these problems and will try to fix it as soon as possible.

P.S. People also reported that their PS3 became bricked after the freezes. Several people received the red ring of doom on their 360 as well.

GTA IV cheats blocks your achievements

2008-04-28T16:39:00.010-04:00

It has been reported from various sources that if you utilize cheats built into GTA IV, you will find yourself a little frustrated when you try to complete achievements.

But what do you expect? Did you think Rockstar was just gonna let you get your little achievements so easily?

Hit the link for a list of some cool cheats you can use in-game by dialing a special phone number on your cell phone.

EDIT: I wonder if you can use these cheats in multiplayer free roam..... >:D

live gta4!

2008-04-27T22:11:00.003-04:00

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gtaiv-live-stream--xbox360 copy and past into url live gta4 feeed

GTA IV Trailer 5

2008-04-26T20:41:00.004-04:00

Not really a full trailer, since they reuse some old clips, but it's the fifth official trailer.

GTA IV Hookers

2008-04-26T20:31:00.004-04:00

Are hilarious!

GTA IV sub standard hooker video from Matt on Vimeo.

Niko Bellic

2008-04-26T11:11:00.007-04:00

The newest and probably final character profile, Niko Bellic. The video was well done, and really makes you feel sorry for Niko.

P.S. Click the link for a bigger video and higher quality, I had to resize this one to fit the blog.

IGN GTA IV Review

2008-04-25T19:38:00.006-04:00

GTA IV has just made IGN history. For the first time since 1999, IGN has awarded the score of"10" to a game. Hilary calls GTA IV the best game in nearly a decade. Here's what he had to say regarding the 10 score:

A "10" is not a score we give out very often. In fact, the last time we gave a 10 to a console game was Soul Calibur in 1999. A 10 doesn't mean a game is perfect -- it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws. Certainly, GTA IV has some issues, the most noticeable being the occasional flaw in the cover system, but there are many more pieces of GTA IV that are better than anything I've seen from a game in the past decade. We don't give 10s often -- just to games that merit the score.

There you have it folks, click the title for the link.

Live leaker

2008-04-24T22:45:00.006-04:00

Watch live video from sculay's channel on Justin.tv
EDIT: Another one bites the dust.

AAF's GTA IV Reviews

2008-04-24T16:14:00.009-04:00

What's up, people? Well anyways here's a quick update for all readers AND authors. A week or two after GTA IV is released (Me and Josh will decide a date later on), we (me and Josh aka Reload92) will be submitting the official AAF reviews of GTA IV. Now, I'm not saying that you, the authors, aren't allowed to review it, I'm just giving the heads up that our reviews on the game (Me for 360, Josh for PSTriple) will also be the official AAF reviews for the game. I don't mean to sound elitist or condescending to our authors, but we are the site administrators after all. We will make sure that our reviews will be well written and thought out, and fairly long while touching on all points of the game and covering the pros and cons. You are all still welcome to review the game, and don't have to follow any criteria for quality, or wait for our reviews to be published. Just realize that our opinions will stand as the representative opinion of "Attention All Friends".

I'll be doing all of the further updates on our official reviews from now on, and this will probably stand as the precedent for official reviews to come.

NEW 10Min GTA 4 video!

2008-04-24T07:20:00.004-04:00

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/207461.html check it out!

EDIT:
VIDEO WAS REMOVED DUE TO BUTTHURT ROCKSTAR.

Leaks Closed.

Jack Thompson's Last Resort

2008-04-24T03:16:00.005-04:00

In a pathetic last ditch effort to stop the epidemic that is GTA4, Jack Thomspon wrote a letter, TO THE TAKE TWO CHAIRMAN'S MOM!

Read for yourself (Click the topic title)

GTA IV Leaked

2008-04-23T10:10:00.009-04:00

NEVER MIND THE VIDEO'S, R* IS BUTTHURT BEYOND OUR IMAGINATIONS.
I can't post much, since I'm at school right now, but I'll give explanation later. For now, click the link in the title.

http://www.ultimateps3.fr/forums/sujet-10358-premiere-video-ingame-de-grand-theft-auto-iv-maj.html
The full link if title doesn't work.

GTA 4 introduction+ingame (5min) 1ere vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

GTA 4 Gameplay 2eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

GTA 4 Gameplay 3eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

gta 4 gameplay 4eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

GTA 4 Gameplay 5eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

gta 4 gameplay 6eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

GTA 4 Gameplay 7eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

GTA 4 Gameplay+menu 8eme vidéo
Uploaded by nicothebestofall5

Why MGO Beta was delayed.

2008-04-22T16:06:00.008-04:00

Now hear me out, I am usually an avid Playstation supporter but seriously, WHAT WAS KONAMI AND SONY THINKING!

I might be going out on a limb here but, if it was just the people who pre-ordered the collector's edition of MGS4 that got into the beta then everything would be fine. But some mentally challenged person decided to host the beta download right on the European Playstation Store. (Not that it matters, considering you can sign up for any type of account you want.)

If it wasn't for them the servers would be just fine instead of being blown to smithereens. And on a personal note I would be playing the beta instead of sitting here ranting.

All in all it was a stupid mistake. And I hope for their sake it doesn' t happen again. If anyone else agrees with me please stand up now and let out your rage.

/rant

Kaz Hirai is posessed by a Giant Enemy Crab

2008-04-22T15:15:00.007-04:00

Scarily enough, this crab that spews bullshit is not actually any less intelligent than Hirai himself.

That is, of course, because Hirai is a stupid fuck to begin with.

Congratulations to you PS3 owners, because...

NO HOME FOR YOU, BITCHES.

I think I may have to delay my purchase of a PS3. Indefinitely.

Special Ed(ition)

2008-04-21T16:15:00.004-04:00

Ok first off, anybody who wants to toss an "I told you so!" my way can go fuck off, because I had no idea how awesome this thing was. In case you're lost, I have just decided that I will be purchasing the GTA IV Special Edition instead of the Peasant's Edition. Anybody who has talked to me about this particular SE before probably recalls me calling it "Stupid","Pointless extra crap", or just saying "I just want the fucking game, who needs a dumbass duffel bag?". Well, I was wrong, because all the stuff is actually kickass. Now, allow me to explain the reasons behind my sudden change of mind.

First of all, the Exclusive Soundtrack and The Official Artbook. Now, I'm not very enthusiastic when it comes to music, but GTA IV has to have a pretty impressive soundtrack. With 19 radio stations (16 of which are dedicated to music), this game is guaranteed to have a HUGE and most likely a quality soundtrack. Even if I'll barely listen to it, it's still a nice collector's item. But the artbook on the other hand, will be very nice for me. I have always found R*'s bunch of artist's to be very talented, and having an entire handbook of their great work will be awesome.

My second point is the duffel bag and the lock box. I shouldn't have to explain why these things are awesome, but I'll do so anyways. Actually wait, If you honestly don't want this duffel bag and lock box you need to never buy any SE ever again. This is honestly the best SE of this generation, with a low price for such a high amount of content, this is a deal that only idiots will pass up.

Well, eight more days guys, can't wait to visit Liberty City!

10 days left

2008-04-19T11:06:00.006-04:00

And I actually had a dream that I was playing GTA4 last night.

Jeez.

I can't stand it. I want it NOW!

Also, do we actually have any readers? Seriously. Is anyone out there? Care to post a comment? We really could use some feedback. C'mon. Step up.

Welcome Megashaman!

2008-04-18T22:07:00.004-04:00

I would like to take the time to welcome Megashaman our new writer to the writing staff.

I hope you being in Honor Roll English will serve you well.

Daddy... tell me a story.

2008-04-17T10:24:00.009-04:00

Tales of Vesperia, the upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive addition to the critically acclaimed Tales universe, has just released an amazing trailer.

And it looks great. I don't use "beautiful" to describe most things, but man. An exclusive PSP Tales, a Symphonia sequel, and now a 360 exclusive Tales? It's a Tales feast! I'm looking forward to digging in.

The only qualm I have is that every character seems to have had their growth stunted for some reason. Whatever.

Hit the link for an HD version on GameTrailers. Also, the GT version is in English.

Metal Gear Online is now available

2008-04-16T20:16:00.011-04:00

Yes its true.

It looks like even though the Playstation Store update is tomorrow, the MGO Beta is already available. I myself have a beta key and am going to start downloading it now. I will update this post later when I complete it to tell you how the whole process went.

Mini-Update: It is 741 MB.

Mini-Update: SWEET JESUS! WHERE ARE THE SERVERS, JAPAN?!
It has been ONE EXACT HOUR and its only gotten to 25%. Hold me.

FULL UPDATE: This will be my final update for this post. The next morning it took me about 20 minutes to go from 65% to 100%. There is already a patch available for download in HTTP or Bit torrent. I have yet to download these patches for the fact that Konami's servers are obliterated. When MGO Beta becomes available April 21st I'll give you all the details.

Blog Updates

2008-04-16T20:05:00.006-04:00

Hello again.
I've just come by to tell you that I have made a few changes around here.

On the links sections to the right instead of seeing a link to our "official" forums, you see links to AAF exclusives and GTA4 articles.

I thought the removal of the forums link was a must for now. My main reason for doing so is because its just plain dead weight. It was kind of embarrassing to see our blog getting bigger with more posts, but then going to see the forums literally empty with 2 posts. But don't fret, as soon as we get a decent amount of people coming to the site I will put the link back in.

As for the links that are there now, I think they speak for themselves. It not only makes the whole blog feel more connected, but it also allows newer visitors to see quality posts from the past.

GTA IV Achievement List Now Confirmed

2008-04-15T22:55:00.010-04:00

Since it was confirmed real by OXM's review and other sources, I now feel safe posting up the achievement list here. I always thought it was real (like most), but didn't want to endorse a rumor.

Off the Boat 5G
Complete the first mission.

One Hundred and Eighty 10G
In a darts game score 180 with 3 darts.

Pool Shark 10G
Beat a friend at pool.

King of QUB3D 15G
Beat the High Score in QUB3D

Finish Him 15G
Complete 10 melee counters in 4 minutes

Genetically Superior 25G
Come first in 20 singleplayer street races.

Wheelie Rider 30G
Do a wheelie lasting at least 500 feet on a motorbike.

Gobble Gobble 10G
Score 3 strikes in a row, a turkey, in 10-pin bowling.

Driving Mr. Bellic 10G
Unlock the special ability of taxi.

Rolled Over 30G
Do 5 car rolls in a row from one crash.

Walk Free 50G
Lose a 4 star wanted rating by outrunning the cops.

Courier Service 10G
Complete all 10 package delivery jobs.

Retail Therapy 10G
Unlock the special ability of buying guns from a friend.

Chain Reaction 20G
You must blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds.

One Man Army 40G
Survive 5 minutes on 6 star wanted level.

Lowest Point 5G
Complete mission "Roman's Sorrow".

Over Fulfilled 10G
Complete all 10 Exotic Export orders.

Manhunt 15G
Complete the most wanted side missions from the police computer.

Cleaned the Mean Streets 20G
Capture 20 criminals through the police computer.

Fed The Fish 5G
Complete the mission "Uncle Vlad".

It'll Cost Ya 5G
Complete a taxi ride without skipping from one island to another.

Sightseer 5G
Fly on all helicopter tours of Liberty City.

Warm Coffee 5G
Successfully date a girl to be invited into her house.

That's How We Roll! 10G
Unlock the special ability of helicopter.

Half Million 55G
Reach a balance of $500,000.

Impossible Trinity 10G
Complete mission "Museum Piece".

Full Exploration 20G
Unlock all the islands.

You Got The Message 20G
Deliver all 30 cars ordered through text message.

Dare Devil 30G
Complete 100% of the unique stunt jumps.

Assassin's Greed 20G
Complete all 9 assassin missions.

Endangered Species 50G
Collect every hidden package in the game.

Under the Radar 40G
Fly underneath the main bridges in the game that cross water with a helicopter.

Dial B For Bomb 10G
Unlock the special ability of phoning for a bomb to be placed.

Gracefully Taken 10G
Complete mission "I'll Take Her".

Liberty City (5) 20G
After meeting all possible friends, the ones left alive all like you above 90%.

No More Strangers 5G
Meet all random characters.

That Special Someone 10G
Complete mission "That Special Someone".

You Won! 60G
Complete the final mission.

Liberty City Minute 30G
Complete the story missions in less than 30 hours.

Key To The City 100G
Achieve 100% in "Game progress" statistic.

Teamplayer 10G
Kill 5 players who are not in your team, in any ranked multiplayer team game.

Cut Your Teeth 5G
Earn a personal rank promotion in multiplayer

Join The Midnight Club 10G
Win a ranked multiplayer race without damaging your vehicle too much and with damaged enabled.

Fly The Co-op 15G
Beat our time in ranked versions of "Deal Breaker", "Hangman's NOOSE" and "Bomb da Base II".

Take It For The Team 10G
Be on the winning team in all ranked multiplayer team games.

Top Of The Food Chain 10G
Kill 20 players with a pistol in a ranked multiplayer deathmatch.

Top The Midnight Club 20G
Come first in 20 different ranked standard multiplayer races.

Wanted 20G
Achieve the highest personal rank in multiplayer.

Auf Wiedersehen Petrovic 30G
Win all ranked multiplayer variations, all races and "Cops 'n Crooks", as both sides.

Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie 10G

Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match.

There you go.

GTAIV Intro Leaked. Real or fake?

2008-04-15T22:23:00.009-04:00

IT'S FAKE, I WAS RIGHT!!!

(HE WASN"T, FAGGOT)

Ok people, before you read this, watch the vid.

This looks real and fake in quite a few areas. I'll start with the real. The intro is done in true GTA fashion, with the credits, panels, and cool little song playing in the background. It showed R* and the R*North labels beforehand, as always. All the pictures used in the intro were official art. The case looked real on the front, with classic GTA panels, and on the back with the trademark six pictures, three to a row, and a paragraph in between with a completely black background. The instruction booklet looked legitimate, being a tour guide like past GTA's, and the loading screen itself looked traditional, since all GTA loading screens are just changing artwork with a white bar. There's still a problem with the loading screen, among many other things, which I'll get to.

Now, I'll state the stuff that just seems "off". The spine of the case looked pretty fake, and editing out the full opening of the case just seemed a bit fishy. That disc DEFINITELY couldn't have been the North American, since it was missing some necessary labels. It could still be European though, so I'll look into that. I doubt it's a review copy of the game, for two reasons. I don't think they would get a case like that (just speculation, correct me if I'm wrong), and a review copy would NEVER get leaked, since said reviewer would be in (for lack of a better word) deep shit. Finally, that shit loaded way too fast. I heard about 360's having the installation option if they want to (stupid cores and arcades), but that guy couldn't have installed it, unless that was his second time around playing it. But half a min. for the only load in the game (yes, R* confirmed LONG ago that the opening load is the only one) is just too ideal, and I don't buy it.

So, Real or Fake? You decide.

P.S. Forgive my lazy writing, I'm rushing this since it's pretty late.

EDIT: Found the original poster. Confirmed for UK. It's his only video and he won't make more for a pretty BS reason.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TonyWarner21

EDIT2: After re-watching the video and looking at my own evaluations, I change my mind on certain parts. The spine looks fine, and he probably edited out th opening of the case since he needed two hands and it would just look awkward. I still can't tell with the case, since I'm no expert on PAL game cases. But his failure to go farther with a BS reason still bothers me.

My Current Opinion: Fake, and always fake.

First GTA IV Review

2008-04-14T22:22:00.008-04:00

A new scan of OXM shows the first GTA IV review, and it scored a 10/10. I'll let the scans talk. See ya later.

Here are all of the scans:

Enjoy, there is a lot of new info and cool screens in there.

Universally Bored

2008-04-14T19:49:00.007-04:00

Honestly, I went into the Universe at War demo with no expectations. I had read no reviews, previews or feature articles about the game. I knew nothing of it. I was ready for any possible reaction. However, I didn't think that after the release of Command & Conquer 3 and the upcoming Supreme Commander, anyone would dare put out anything that couldn't compete with or surpass its current and past competition.

I thought wrong.

I started off in the tutorial level, which will take you a good 15 or 20 minutes. The first thing I noticed was the graphical detail. Even in the mini-cutscenes, which were apparently rendered ingame, the screen tearing, textures, polygon count and even the color palate were immediately begging to be criticized. The game could have easily been run on the original Xbox, provided someone actually knew how to code for that thing appropriately.

The camera, I soon found, was equally disappointing. A very small level of zoom control, fidgety and often cumbersome rotation and selection, and a weird minimap system and very clunky unit selection. The camera automatically zooms to some weird custom level to give you a better perspective on individual units being controlled at the time. Interesting idea, terrible implementation. All it does is make you lose any concentration and hopes for micro you may have had. Selecting multiple units, creating squads, and switching between squads is also a lot of trouble. Lack of any instruction on how to manipulate buildings and unit's abilities to a deeper extent made the demo experience that much more hastling.

Overall, I was not impressed, and if you haven't played the game or demo yet, I'd advise you to just wait for Supreme Commander or possible EndWar later in the year.

COD4 Machinima: Retaliation Episode 1

2008-04-12T23:30:00.012-04:00

This is the most amazing machinima I've seen in a while. The camerawork and voice actors truly are fantastic, you can tell this took a long time to make.

GTA IV: Two New Hilarious Videos

2008-04-12T22:30:00.008-04:00

This is Playboy X, and he knows history. Can't wait to see him in the game.

And the "Liberty City Gun Club", using the 2nd amendment to it's fullest!

I personally enjoyed both vids, I hope you do too!

Resistance 2: first trailer and analysis

2008-04-12T21:24:00.018-04:00

Well that was explosive wasn't it!

The one thing I have to say is thank you Insomniac for keeping true to your promise of making Nathan Hale the key point in the storytelling. For those of you who don't know, in the first game all the storytelling was done by Rachel Parker, a woman that I think was thrown in there at the last second as a mediocre love interest, but failed.
Lastly, I wonder why Nathan said he has only 19 hours to live?
WHAT A TWIST!

PS: Insomniac, I love you.

Valhalla, I am coming!

2008-04-12T18:51:00.010-04:00

I hate P90's in Call of Duty 4. The gun, while having a cool design, sounds like an airsoft gun (worse than an airsoft gun, even). It also has ridiculous range and accuracy for its rate of fire, and the way it shows up on people's backs is retarded.

I know CoD4 is touted for its incredible graphics and all that, but in polishing all these things they neglected the animations to the point that I almost can't stand watching people in third person because of how dumb they look. Hell, when they do the reload animations, which don't even fit most of the weapons, I want to punch an Infinity Ward employee. Although I'd rather have these minimal graphics problems than Gears of War's triple-A badly-coded glitchfest, I'm an incredible nit-picker at times.

On that subject, couldn't Grand Theft Auto 4 have at least improved their goddamn facial graphics? I mean, really. Everything else got a face-lift. Besides the faces. Bitter irony as usual, Rockstar.

IGN: Four New GTA IV Multiplayer Modes

2008-04-12T18:13:00.006-04:00

This wasn't reported by IGN first, but I like their article more. Call it a bias. But anyways, four new multiplayer modes have been officially unveiled by Rockstar and they are:

-Team Mafiya Work
-Team Car Jack City
-Turf War
-Race(Free Race and Cannonball Run)

All four modes look very promising, especially Turf War. Go to the IGN article for more.

Dualshock 3 Impressions, From a Sixaxis Supporter.

2008-04-11T18:35:00.014-04:00

In the beginning, back when Sony said that we didn't need rumble, I believed them, now though I'm beginning to question Sony execs intelligence. Having lived without it for over a year now, you could only imagine how surprised I was when I first started playing with it.

First off the bat, I put in the Super Stardust demo (didn't feel like hunting for a disc). And as soon as I started playing it, it instantly felt satisfying to feel each little rumble in the controller every time I hit a asteroid or launched my boost.

After playing various games from my growing collection I stopped at one game, Warhawk. The rumble implementation in Warhawk is amazing. For example, I was in a sniper tower scouting the enemy with my sniper. All of the sudden one of my teammates blew up a jeep beneath me. I felt a slight rumble that made me aware of the sudden occurrence below, but didn't quite make my controller rumble off its hinges like before in larger explosions. This made me realize what I've been missing.

But I can't just talk about how all the good times I had. I unfortunately have to talk about the cons. First of, to not give your hopes up, the controller is exactly the same except for three things. It has rumble, its noticeably heavier, and the sticks are slightly more accurate. That means yes, the triggers still make you question how long their gonna last before they snap. And the analog sticks are still hard to aim with for most First Person Shooter games.

Overall, any avid Playstation fan should pick this up if they have the extra cash to spare.

Technicalities

2008-04-11T16:54:00.010-04:00

Scratch that. I meant a soft g at the end. So... g as in Gerber Baby Foods, not g as in Gerald.

Also, to make this post not completely worthless:

To all who were pissed off that Battlefield: Bad Company was going to be utilizing microtransactions (read: you pay 3 bucks and get a bunch of downloadable guns), rage no more. Electronic Arts, in all their cancerous wisdom, have canceled the pay plan. Instead, those who buy the Gold Edition get the guns from the get-go (say that 5 times fast) while those who invest in the Standard edition ($70 vs. $60) get them when they reach the level cap of 25 online.

EA has also announced 5 more weapons, with varyingly annoying methods of unlocking. Although I'd rather have these free than payed for, I'd almost rather pay for them later than do all 5 prerequisites (each weapon unlocks seperately). It is appreciated though, and a very clever way to get people more involved in Battlefield's community and online opportunities.

The question is, will anyone still buy this game? EA has had enough faith in it to launch a closed beta for IGN insiders, which has generated a small amount of hype and positive feedback from users, Kotaku bloggers, and Nate Ahearn of IGN (lol). If you've clicked on the title for this post, you can see the IGN article related to it. One of them claims that a weapon unlocks for you if you've played the demo of Bad Company. I'm happy to hear that eventually, we'll all get a shot at the dynamically destructible craziness. Hopefully we'll get a chance to test both offline and online, but I'm betting the demo will give you a taste of single-player only. It would be wise of EA to give us some multiplayer fun, though, since none of the 99 people on my friends list even have the beta, and most of their friends don't have it either.

Sorry if this was a little long, but given that you've somehow made it to this website, I'm assuming you can read. Idiots beware.

Be still your beating hearts...

2008-04-11T16:38:00.006-04:00

Hi. I'm Jayge. I'm actually unsure as to how to pronounce this, but I think I've settled on "Jay-ge". The "ge" being pronounced like the end of the word gauge. I pestered Keanu into letting me be an author here, although I'm completely unsure why. Although Josh may be the resident Sony-dick-rider, I myself am a rabid PSP fanboy, so expect us to share some of the fun. I own an Xbox 360, a Wii, and am looking into procuring a Playstation 3 (white, I like that model). I have no idea what I will actually be writing regularly, but don't worry, it'll be good. I promise. I have a Boy Scout in my basement. Ascot and all. He'll promise too.

Incoming: Dualshock 3 Review

2008-04-11T15:37:00.007-04:00

Nothing much to say here, but expect a review on the Dualshock 3 controller from Josh in the near future. Is it really worth your 50-something (with tax) dollars? Is rumble really worth it? Has Sony even made a decent controller this generation? When will we get the boomerang? Have your Dualshock 3 questions answered later on.

360 GTAIV outselling PS3 GTAIV???

2008-04-10T23:11:00.007-04:00

Well, according to our incredibly accurate poll, which obviously represents the gaming nation as a whole, 360 GTAIV will outsell PS3 GTAIV by a 3:1 ratio!!! Stay tuned as the poll evolves, and I'll be making my final report on it on 4/29/08.

MGS2:Substance "Snake Tales"

2008-04-10T21:05:00.006-04:00

In MGS2:Substance, "Snake Tales" (ST) is a bonus mode where you get to play 5 different non-canon missions across Big Shell. The main bonus is that instead of playing as the ever-so-whiny Raiden, you get to play as Solid Snake himself. There's one problem though... SNAKE TALES SUCKS MAJOR ASS!!! Ok, first of all, let me give you a basic idea of this mode. Starting out, you get to read 10-15 pages of poorly written text, since Kojima thought that no voice acting wouldn't matter and slapping together an introduction that a 6th grader could have written would suffice just fine. WRONG. Second of all, you don't get a fucking radar, which Raiden has through his entire playthrough! Now before you call me a noob, go play MGS2 and take a look at the game's camera. It's a shitty overhead view that the game gives you no control of, but the radar always compensated for it. "No radar" doesn't make the game harder, it just makes the camera seem shittier than it already is! FAIL. I would rant about limited weapons and the shitty close range melee combo, but that's just MGS and I like it that way. But finally, the mission's just suck in general. Horrible plots, no cutscenes or voice acting, no codec support, only certain savespots, limited rations, overpowered AI, and everything feels like a giant rehash, except they reskinned Raiden for Snake. Unless you have an XBOX HUEG boner for Snake, avoid Snake Tales. It's the definition of Kojima being a lazy fuck.

I give "Snake Tales" a 6/10, since it's still MGS, which makes it awesome.

Grand Theft Auto IV bundle details for Europe

2008-04-10T20:22:00.012-04:00

Why can't more of these sweet bundles come to the US?
I could see a huge increase in US sales if we could get more bundles over our way.

Anyways I hope Europe grabs even more Playstation 3 sales off of this.

Hey Guys!

2008-04-10T19:54:00.010-04:00

Hey guys welcome to Attention All Friends, a blog for anything gaming related and occasional sarcastic comedy.

I am the Playstation side of the blog. I will mainly post various things related to the Playstation brand.

One thing I must emphasize is that if you want to say something, don't be afraid to comment. The only way the blog will grow is if you, the user, contributes to the discussion at hand. Whether that means posting a short comment and never coming back or partaking in a long drawn out comment discussion, it doesn't matter, as long as you participate.

Thank you.

IGN GTA IV Multiplayer Preview

2008-04-10T18:16:00.010-04:00

Added a few days back, IGN had a pretty good multiplayer preview, covering TDM, GTA Race, Hangman's NOOSE, and the amazing Cops n' Crooks. You definitely want to read this if you're still unsure on GTA IV's multiplayer. Oh, and take note, the preview is done on the 360 version ; ), and co-written by the always witty Hilary Goldstein.

"Attention All Friends" has finally started!

2008-04-10T17:46:00.006-04:00

After much procrastination on the parts of me and co-founder Josh, we have now started "Attention All Friends", so stay on the watch. This will start out slow, but will slowly become more active, so be ready! Oh, and to my XBL friends, my AAF's will slow down, but I'll still send some over XBL, so don't worry! Welcome to "Attention All Friends" (AAF)!