More tour, less four

The marketing has begun for the next Guitar Hero game, and it looks as though they didn't want to compete with all the "four" games this year so decided to switch the F for a T. I guess now it matches the upcoming GH: On Tour for the DS.

Activision recently released a trailer for the game, showing off not the gameplay, but rather a bunch of people rocking out on the new instruments. This is just like most of the other trailers and ads for previous games in the series, so comes as no surprise. It touts the "most realistic drums" as well as the option to create and share your own singles. I guess we can consider this confirmation about the track-creation mode rumored last week.

The video doesn't really show too much we didn't already know about, but is still worth a watch for anyone interested in the series. These recent announcements have certainly renewed my interest in the franchise and I will continue to follow the news up until it's release this fall.

No spring update? Or is there?......

It sounds as though the rumors we heard last week regarding the Xbox Live spring update were actually false. The site Next Generation recently interviewed Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten and he talked about what is happening on Live this season. Although there will be no actual "spring update", there will still be some changes, most of them affecting DLC: 

First of all, there will be an increase in the size limit allowed for XBLA titles from 150MB to 350MB. The limit was first increased to accommodate Castlevania, and will now be upped again to allow for titles such as the upcoming Soul Caliber. 

Second, Microsoft will be de-listing any titles that are over 6 months old, have a Metacritic rating of under 65 and a conversion rate below 6% (conversion rate means the amount of people who went on to buy the full game after trying the trial version). This will help clear up the Marketplace, and make it easier for consumers to find good titles without having to wade waist-deep in crap while they search. 

Third, and most important, is the new tool that allows users to consolidate all of their DRM licenses onto one console so content can be accessed even if it's not the system it was originally bought on. This was the feature I was most excited about from the rumored list of updates so I'm glad it's the one thing that was actually true. It finally sounds as though we can all buy as much DLC as we want, without worrying that it will become inaccessible if we have to get a replacement console. Thank God! I just hope the tool is easy to use and works as it should - giving you (and any other profiles on your system) full access to everything as though it were purchased on the system you are currently playing on. I guess we'll find out in June, when these changes take place. Now I only have one question - who the hell made up that update list then? I guess we'll never know...........

A painless experience

Over at Zero Punctuation this week, Yahtzee takes a break from all of the recent big hits, and decides to do a retrospective on a game from 2004 - the PC FPS Painkiller. I'll be honest, I know nothing about this title as I don't play PC games, but it really sounds like fun. Yes, once again it seems as though Yahtzee has picked a title he actually enjoyed, but I guess if you're going to review a game from a few years ago, it might as well be a good one. Forgetting about many of the things that muddy the experience in modern FPSs, such as story, stealth missions, and fetch quests - this one sounds like a pure shooter with one simple objective - kill everyone. To me though, this does sound like most every other shooter in recent memory, such as Halo 3 or Gears of War, as I couldn't tell you anything about the plot of those games except for the obvious - bad guys are in my way, and they must all die so I can get past. In fact, that's the exact same plot as about every shooter I've ever played, come to think of it! 

Anyway, here's the review - it's not the funniest as he doesn't have a lot to complain about but it's still worth a watch. As always it contains plenty of strong language and is definitely NSFW:

Check out the rest of his videos here.

A new wave of DLC

This week in Rock Band, I break my drum pedal again! I wasn't writing this blog the first two times, but lets just say I'm kind of used to it by now. You may have noticed that I have a metal plate on my pedal - it's called a Pedal Metal Billet with Hinge and I bought it after the second time I broke it. The first two times required some quick thinking, along with some old DVD cases and electrical tape to fix. This time the only thing that snapped was the hinge provided with my Pedal Metal, so the fix was much easier - I just cut a replacement out of a DVD case (God, those things are useful!) and screwed it in place. Good as new!

So what about the DLC this week? Well, we are offered a whopping nine songs, but I think many people will skip most of them. Why? Because they are strange Euro-pop-rock for the most part. All of them were originally announced as exclusive for the European release of the game, but it looks as though that exclusivity was actually a lie, as here they are in the US. The songs offered are:

Blur - Beetlebum

Die Toten Hosen - Heir Kommt Alex

H-BlockX - Countdown to Insanity

Juli - Perfekte Welle

Les Wampas - Manu Chao

Muse - Hysteria

Oasis - Rock N Roll Star

Pleymo - New Wave

Tokio Hotel - Monsoon

Note: Click on any song for expert drum videos.

When they told us which tracks would be coming this week, I figured I would probably only buy Beetlebum, as I'm really not a fan of Euro-pop. I wasn't really a fan of Blur when they were popular either, but the song is kind of catchy. However, it's about the easiest song I've ever played in the game (except maybe 29 Fingers) and I got 5 gold stars on my first try on expert. Oh well, it's still catchy and will be good when playing in Band World Tour mode.

I decided to have a listen to the other songs though, and while most of them are, well, really terrible, New Wave by Pleymo is actually kind of cool. Sort of like a French Rage Against the Machine, they combines hip-hop beats with thrashing guitar, and I knew I had to play the song. It's definitely a lot harder than many of the other tracks I've bought recently, with parts reminiscent of The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails, but not nearly as fast or difficult. Overall, it's something different from any other songs I've purchased so far and I would certainly recommend it to anyone with the game. Unfortunately, I didn't have much chance to play it as I've been getting ready for vacation (yes, I'm away right now) and won't have another opportunity until I get back in a couple of weeks. This means I'm going to miss the release of The Cars' debut album, but I'll still do my regular post about it next week. Now, I really have to go, as all this talk of Rock Band is starting to make me want to play. Making me want to play really bad......

Oscar's got a brand new bag

What you are currently looking at is a collection of pictures I took, showing off the bags my girlfriend and I decorated before we go away tomorrow. We bought them at an army surplus store and printed the pictures onto iron-on transfer paper. Okay, I bought the Rock Band one but the rest we made ourselves.
Many of them are just little images ironed onto pockets and straps, but the Elite Beat Agents one is actually quite large and looks really cool on the side of my bag. Plus, we had a few left over so I'm now the proud owner of a pair of Toe Jam and Earl underwear. Jammin'!

We're all going on a.......

Just had to mention something while I have the chance. I'm going away on a sunny Summer holiday, back to the old country (well, England) so I probably won't be able to post as much for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to write as often as possible though, so don't worry. I'm leaving on Wednesday and won't be back until June 6th, at which point I'll be back to my slightly more regular schedule.
I guess I won't be able to play Rock Band for a while, which is really going to suck, as I can't imagine any of my friends in England have payed the exorbitant price for it. This will probably be the week they release Who's Next or a Jimi Hendrix pack or something like that. I guess I also won't be able to finish GTA4 until I get back (if I finish it at all).
I have some handheld games to play so you'll probably be hearing about those instead. After I finish The World Ends With You I have Ninja Gaiden: DS and Echochrome to start on. These should last me through all my travel. My girlfriend and I also picked up some 2GB Memory Sticks for our PSPs, to load up with TV shows for the journey. Ah, the wonders of handheld video game consoles - what the hell did we do before them?
Anyway, I'll still be around for a couple of days so I'll get a few more posts in before I go. No need to fear, I won't be gone long - I'm sure you'll all be able to cope. If you really can't cope, then leave me a comment with your email address and I'll personally send you something to hold you over until I get back (don't know exactly what that would be though). See you all soon.

It's good to play together

Multiplayer is fun. It's pretty clear that many people out there love to jump online and test their skills against anyone who wishes to challenge them. I, on the other hand, am much more fond of the single-player experience. I like getting to new levels and unlocking new items, progressing in the story and ultimately reaching the end. I find that I quickly get bored of the repetitive "I win this round. You win this round. Oh, I win another round etc......" that comes with playing competitively against people. If I'm given the opportunity to play through the game with a friend though, then I'll certainly take that option as having a buddy along for the ride can make a bad game good, and a good game even better.
It certainly look as though developers feel the same way, as there are a number of titles due out this holiday season that offer this co-operative option. I'm going to just briefly mention a handful of them that I'm looking forward to playing. I'll probably write about them in more detail as their releases get closer and more information is released.

First off is Gears of War 2. The first game was a fantastic co-op experience that required some definite teamwork to get through. Not only did you have to heal each other to save your partner from death, but the levels were designed so one person could hold the enemy fire while the other sneaked around to flank them from behind. Also, the cheesy dialog was great for making fun of with your friend while you played. The sequel hasn't had too much information out yet. People have been watching the gameplay video recently released and have concluded that this title may actually include 4-player co-op instead of just 2. This would be a great addition and I hope some proper info is out soon regarding this feature.

Next is Viva Pinata 2. I wrote a post about the title when it was announced, but not much more information has been released since then. The original was single-player only, but supposedly the sequel will include local co-op play as well. We don't know exactly what this will involve, but building an awesome garden with a friend is definitely something I'd be interested in.

Left 4 Dead is next on the list. This is the first time I've mentioned this awesome-looking zombie survival game, but probably not the last. Team up with up to 3 friends to survive a zombie infested city and reach safety. With undead hordes that change every time you play, this one should be a fun game to experience multiple times. Kotaku recently got some hand-on time with the game and posted their impressions - It's definitely one to keep an eye on as the release draws closer.

One that I'm not entirely sure about is Too Human. This title has been in development for a long time and is finally supposed to release this holiday season. Looking like a sort of Diablo-style dungeon-crawler, it's co-op gameplay sounds as though you really need to work with each other well in order to survive the legions of tough enemies and avoid squabbles over rare item drops. I think I'll wait for some reviews to be posted before I decide whether or not I want to buy this title.

Last of all I'm going to mention two games that should be fairly obvious to anyone who's been reading this blog - Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 4. Okay, so we know next to nothing about either of these titles and RB2 hasn't even been confirmed yet, but I think it's safe to say that both will include fantastic co-op gameplay. The original Rock Band was especially good as far as rhythm games go, as it included "Band World Tour" mode which required your band to start in a chosen city and play little gigs, building up fans and unlocking more and more venues. Now if they could put this mode online, they'd have a game that I'm sure I wouldn't be able to put down for quite some time. GH4 will no doubt be including something similar, but again, no details have been released.

I'm sure there are other games that I've forgotten about, but I have plenty of time to mention them before the holiday release season is upon us. Also, some of the above titles may not end up having good co-op gameplay after all - much of what we know is only speculation right now. If they do turn out as expected though, I think I'm going to be spending a little bit more time than usual on Xbox Live later this year.

Spring is in the air

It's almost that time of year again - the time when Microsoft reminds us that our Xbox 360s are far from perfect. That's right, the spring update is almost upon us. Well, we can only assume it is anyway, as they haven't released any concrete information about it. For those who don't know, this is the point at which Microsoft updates the 360 firmware, and add some nice new features. They are usually a lot more substantial than the PS3 updates, which seem to happen every other week and add only minor additions and security improvements.
Although there has been no official announcement of the new features, a list has surfaced that allegedly contains all of the update information. There are about 80 items (most quite small) so I'm not going to print it all here. You can check out the entire list over at Kotaku if you want - I'm just going to briefly talk about some of the items that I think sound cool (that is, assuming this list is true).

First of all, the option to have 4-person private chat and video conferencing sounds neat. I also like the way they use the word "conferences", implying that people are using their consoles for business purposes as well as pleasure. Of course we all know that 4-way video chats really just mean that people can show their junk to more than one friend at a time. It's still cool though.
Apparently a user's personal profile will be expanded to include recent achievements, lists of favorite movies, games and interests and a so-called "custom" section (who knows?).
The option to donate Microsoft points sounds good. It will certainly make present buying easier in some situations. Now I can send my little brother something good for his birthday without even quitting the game I'm playing. Now that's convenience!
The option to delete games from your gamercard with no achievements is a nice feature. I've always hated the fact that when you download trial versions of XBLA titles, they are still added to your list of played games, with a gamerscore of 0. Finally we can clear some of these out, and not look as though we really suck at a whole bunch of games.
It also sounds as though we'll be able to see dates achievements were unlocked when comparing our list to our friends'. This will finally end the whole "I beat that game the day I got it!" argument between silly exaggerating children - now we can see for sure.
An item they just seemed to sneak in is one that says "Calibration options for motion sensor devices". Could this be confirmation that Microsoft really is going to rip off the Wii and release it's own motion controller? It sure sounds like it, but I suppose it cold be referring to some other kind of motion device that we hadn't even thought of. I guess only time will tell.
Okay, I've saved the (potentially) best for last. I'm not sure if I'm interpreting this correctly so I'll print the whole thing. It says "Option to automatically associate new DRM to items downloaded for free". I'm really hoping that this means it will now be possible to associate all of your downloaded content to your new system, in the event of getting a replacement console. This would eliminate the awful DRM problems people have been dealing with and make the whole console-replacement issue a lot easier in my opinion.

There are a whole bunch of other items on the list, most of which are just minor changes to make things more convenient for the players. It's worth checking out - even if Microsoft decide to change some of the items on it (or if the list turns out to be completely fake), it gives us a list of demands for the next time they update. Overall, I'm excited. Although there is nothing that will significantly change the way I use my 360, some of these things, if true, will make the aspects I already love about my console even better. Hopefully it won't be too long before the spring update is released and we can all find out for ourselves.

I am the Keymaster....

Okay, I couldn't help but mention this game. I'm not really sure if it's going to be any good but I feel that I would be doing my childhood a major injustice if I overlooked it. If you couldn't tell from the picture, I'm talking about Ghostbusters: The Video Game (yeah, I know, what a snappy title!).
In development by a company called Terminal Reality (don't worry - I've never heard of them either. Apparently they made a bunch of games I've never played), and published by Sierra, it's a direct follow up to the second movie. Set in the year 1991 it follows you, as a new recruit to the squad, and the rest of the guys as you battle, well, a whole bunch of ghosts I guess. When I say "the rest of the guys" I of course mean all the original cast from the movies. In fact, the game will even be written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, who wrote the films (as well as star in them of course).
As far as the game goes, it looks like a fun shooter with some interesting elements. I was really hoping for some co-op play but it doesn't sound as though this is going to happen. It's a real shame, as battling through hordes of ghosts with a buddy is one of those childhood dreams that I finally thought I'd be able to fulfill.
A five minute gameplay demonstration video was recently released, after it's initial airing on Playr TV in the UK. It's worth a watch, but it doesn't show any of the dialog or story which may end up being the best part. I suppose they probably don't want to spoil anything. I'll keep following this game, as I am interested, but I'll wait until we get some more information before I decide if I'm excited or not. Right now, it's set to release in October (in the US) on the 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS and PC.

Here's the video for you to check out:

No surprises in Japan or US

We have this weeks Japanese hardware sales and PSP is still top of the charts. Although the Wii is catching up, we're going on two months of great sales for Sony's portable Playstation. Could it be that the DS has saturated the market so much that there's no one left who doesn't own one? This is really the only explanation I can think of for PSP's continued dominance in a country that's been Nintendo owned for a long time. Here are the figures for this week:

• PSP - 100,870
• Wii - 71,518
• Nintendo DS - 52,542
• PlayStation 3 - 10,177
• PlayStation 2 - 8,802
• Xbox 360 - 1,725

Also this week we get the US sales data for April, as reported by NPD Group. Wii and DS are top of the charts by a large margin, which causes no surprises really. Although GTA4 is the clear winner in software sales, it failed to boost the sales of PS3s and 360s as much as some analysts may have thought. Here are the figures:

• Wii - 714,200
• Nintendo DS - 414,800
• PSP - 192,000
• Xbox 360 - 188,000
• PlayStation 3 - 187,100
• PlayStation 2 - 124,400

We also have the software figures for the month of April. Even though GTA4 launched right at the end of the month, it still managed to rack up almost 3 million sales between 360 and PS3. Mario Kart Wii launched with an impressive 1.2 million but fell well short of the number one. I guess it's clear: people would rather fire RPGs at each other while driving around than turtle shells. I wonder if next month it will be at the top of the chart - after all, many of the GTA fans could afford to buy it on day one, where as many of the Mario Kart fans have to wait until their Mummy and Daddy purchase it for them. Here are the numbers:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360) - 1,850,000
2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 1,120,000
3. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) - 1,000,000
4. Wii Play (Wii) - 360,000
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 326,000
6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) - 224,000
7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 202,000
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) - 202,000
9. Guitar Hero III (Wii) - 152,000
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) - 141,000

It's actually quite a nice split, with every major system (except PSP) having at least two games in the top ten. I'd like to see this kind of trend continue, as it's good for the console makers so therefore good for the players. Low software sales can make companies panic and with this panic can come some bad decisions. I'm not quite ready to start saving for a new hardware generation yet so I hope everyone can keep their sales figures good.

Rhythm games are the new black

I think it's about time I changed the name of this site to "The Rhythm Game Blog". I just can't help myself - I love this genre and there has been a lot of news regarding upcoming titles that I just have to comment on.
I wrote a post last week about the upcoming expansion pack for Rock Band. In this post, I concluded that EA and Harmonix would probably not be announcing a sequel anytime soon as they clearly wanted to keep expanding on the current game. However, a lot can change in a week and things are looking a little different now. EA have started asking people surveys to judge their feeling about the possibility of a full-fledged sequel to Rock Band. Judging from the questions it sounds like they are trying to find out how much people would pay, and if they would choose Rock Band 2 over Guitar Hero 4. By asking this question they've made their motivation fairly obvious - Activision's recent revelations about the next Guitar Hero title have clearly gotten them worried, especially the pictures of the new drum kit I'm sure. I'm actually not surprised. Sure, last week I would have been, but after realizing how cool sounding Guitar Hero 4 was shaping up to be, it was clear that Harmonix wouldn't go down without a fight. No solid details are out regarding the game yet, but I'm sure they're working on something.

They're not the only ones though. Konami also want a piece of the rhythm game pie, as they just announced their upcoming title - Rock Revolution. It looks, well, a lot like Rock Band to be honest. However, Konami are really the ones to pioneer the whole instrument-playing game genre with arcade titles like Guitar Freaks and DrumMania. People have been wondering for a while if they would try and emulate that success on home consoles, but at this point it's going to be really difficult for them with two major franchises to compete against. I think the biggest difference in this title is probably the drum kit. They just released pictures of it today and I must say it's kind of crazy looking, with six pads in different sizes and shapes. They claim that their game will be easier to pick up, as the lower difficulties won't use the kick pedal at all (for real pussies!) but if you watch a video or two of DrumMania, you'll see why I think this will be the hardest of the three titles. It it also said to contain a "Jam Session" mode for recording your own songs, online play, and the potential for DLC to add to the 40 songs that will ship on the disc.

There isn't much info out on any of these upcoming games yet so no-one really knows exactly which of them will be worth purchasing. One thing I do know though is that I'd better start saving my money now - it sounds like it's going to be a very expensive holiday season!

You're not welcome on Xbokkks Live

Xbox Live user Grant woke up the other morning and tried to sign on to Live, only to find a message telling his that name had been banned as it was offensive, and he must choose a new one if he wished to carry on using the service. So what was this name of his? Well, Grant went by the name theGAYERgamer which obviously contains no swearing or racism so a quick call to Microsoft and things were all sorted out.
Except actually they weren't. What Grant was told was that although the person he talked to didn't find it offensive, the community as a whole had complained. So what that means is that people on Xbox Live had seen his name and didn't like it. Why? Because he has the word gay in it? What the hell are you idiots worried about? That maybe he'll check out your virtual ass as you bend down to pick up a rocket launcher? Or maybe that by simply playing over Live it might be possible for you to catch "the gay"? Either way it's clear that the people who didn't like his name are the racist, sexist, homophobes who make the Xbox Live experience such a nightmare for the rest of us - they should be the ones to get banned (okay, I know he wasn't actually banned but still.....).

In response to people calling Microsoft homophobic, Steven Toulouse wrote on his blog about the reason for the name change. He states that all names with any kind of sexual innuendo are not allowed and that, yes, theSTRAIGHTERgamer is just as bad and would have to be changed as well. In fact, here are the policies regarding which names are not okay:

"[a member may not] Create a Gamertag or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members. This includes comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate any of the following: profane words/phrases, sexually explicit language, sexual innuendo, hate speech (including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs), illegal drugs/controlled substances, or illegal activities."

Now I'm not a big Xbox Live gamer (I really prefer single-player) but it took me all of five minutes to look down my recently played list to find the following names with innuendo: munch n BOX, Thr33DRIPPYNUTS, butt weezul, xl muffinman lx, Laid Krazy Klown, Private Enis, Giggilo, Poonpowda9507, Luvin Your Mom.
And the following ones with drug references: Jayman82, Coke Fein, xTPKx 8 Ball, HerbalConfusion, jointkilla420, stoNeD PeNGulN, Stoner Bashed, JessBlaze.
There were also plenty of names with 420 or 69 in them, or variations on the word "killer" (and last I checked murder was illegal - a lot more so than drug use).

Now it could be argued that these names refer to other things, but then again, gay can mean happy - the policy seems to be that if anyone can find it offensive then it must go. Also, just for the record I am not offended by any of the above names and I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble - just illustrating a point. I can't imagine anything that someone could call them self that would actually offend me! I would more likely be bothered by the things they said while playing than the title they had given them self.
I think what this really comes down to is that Microsoft are not to blame - it's the community as a whole that made this decision to complain, Microsoft were simply following the wishes of their players. I hope that one day maybe people wont be bothered by these kinds of things but in the meantime I'm going to fight back the only way I can - Every time I'm matched up with one of these homophobic assholes I'm going to act really really gay just to make the whole Xbox Live experience as uncomfortable as possible for them. Maybe together we can drive all these Nazis away and make Live a safe place for normal people again.

I think....he liked it

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee tackles GTA4. Although this really comes as no surprise (after all, who isn't playing that game right now?), what may come as a bit of a shock is his apparent enthusiasm for the game. Well no, not exactly enthusiasm, but if you consider some of his other recent reviews it's practically glowing praise. He definitely spends some time talking about the things that bugged him, but never lets any of that take over, which is kind of what he's known for. Playing through the game myself, I'm seeing a lot of things that I really thought would drive him crazy but I guess he enjoyed the overall experience of GTA4 enough to put those things aside. Besides, there's a lot of variety in the game so if you aren't enjoying one aspect you can go do something else instead. This seems to be how pretty much every reviewer saw the game, judging from the amount of perfect scores it received.
The review is still funny, maybe not quite as much as when he's flying off the handle about something, but I do find comfort in the idea that this clearly jaded man gets to enjoy a game every once in a while.

As always the video contains plenty of strong language and is definitely NSFW.

Check out the rest of his videos here.

It's true - triangles are innovative

Wow! There's been no shortage of Guitar Hero 4 news this week! To be fair, everything else was just rumors and speculation - now we have some concrete facts. The supposed issue of Game Informer magazine someone claimed to have gotten a copy of a couple of days ago, turns out to be real, and they have an exclusive picture of the drum kit featured in the upcoming game. I realize that this probably isn't the innovation we were promised last week, but there have been no details yet on the track-maker mode people are now expecting.
So as for the drums - they actually look really cool. Adding one more pad than Rock Band, they also have velocity sensors so they can determine how hard you hit them, although how this will be worked into the gameplay hasn't been revealed yet. They are also wireless, and supposedly quieter then the Rock Band ones. As my original Guitar Hero guitar is still going strong after two and a half years, I can only imagine that the drum kit will also be very sturdy and shouldn't break so easily.

As for how I feel about it, well, I'm kind of torn really. On the one hand I hate to see Harmonix have another one of their brilliant games ripped off by Activision (see here for a brief history of the relationship between the two companies), but to be fair, this wasn't Harmonix's idea to begin with - drumming games have been popular in arcades for many years now.
On the other hand, it really looks like an excellent kit, with some nice new features over the one I've become used to. I just hope they don't feel the need to ramp up the difficulty to the extreme, like they did with Guitar Hero 3. They haven't released any screens of the actual game yet, but I have a feeling it's going to look pretty familiar, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Overall, I'm definitely excited. Between this and the alleged track creation feature, this could turn out to be a really excellent title, and may bring people back to the Guitar Hero franchise who had since moved on to other things. Now that the first real info on the game is out, I have no doubt that a lot more will soon follow.

Check out the full picture from Game Informer here.

Scoop! New Wii and PS2

I have here what I believe to be an exclusive scoop, as I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else. If it turns out to be true then it's pretty big news:
First of all, I found out the other day that a certain large retail chain is trying to get rid of it's current model (SKU) of PS2s. Obviously the system isn't going to be dropped from production so this can only mean one thing - a new model. The last time this happened was back in 2004, when retailers sold all their current stock to make room for the PS2 Slim. We've known for a while that the PS2 hardware was recently revised to include the power adapter inside the unit, instead of attached to the cord. The new unit was supposed to debut some time this year for $99. Since I don't recall hearing about the revised model hitting stores yet, I can only assume that it's coming real soon. Ps2 still has some life in it yet!

I found out the second piece of news in the last hour: Yes, the same retail chain is also getting rid of it's current stock of Wii's! That's right, the current model is now considered end-of-life, although there has been no news of a replacement SKU yet. If this is indeed true (and I have no reason to believe it isn't) then it's pretty huge news. Nintendo haven't announced anything, but there have been rumors for a while about the possibility of a new Wii pack. Could it come with one of their hit games, other than Wii Sports? I can't imagine they'll take that game out of the bundle, as it's the reason the system has become so popular. That is, unless they just want to make a little more money by selling it separately. Or could this be a model with DVD playback, or maybe more internal storage for games? I'm not going to speculate, as I really have no idea.
I expect we'll be hearing announcements from both Nintendo and Sony at some point soon.

But my guitar's already broken......

This week in Rock Band, my prediction from last week didn't come true but I don't really care - we finally get a track from The Clash's best album. Okay, so maybe the song wasn't on the original record but it's on the version I'm familiar with.
The three songs available are, once again, not offered as a pack of three - probably because there isn't really a common theme. It's strange really, I wonder exactly who decides which songs will be chosen each week. They're probably working on many at a time, and they just release them as they're done. Either that or it really is someone's job to just listen to music all the time and decide "Yep, that's the one! Lets do The Clash again this week!", which would be about the coolest job in the World if you ask me.
The three songs offered are:

The Clash - Train in Vain
Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone
Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
Note: Click on any song to see expert drum videos.

I skipped Hanging on the Telephone. It's not really a great song and it sounded kind of easy on drums. I also didn't bother with Kool Thing - it's not too bad to listen to, but it's in set 9 in difficulty (out of 9) and I really don't feel like torturing myself this week, like I did when they released The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails. Train in Vain I obviously couldn't pass on though. It may not be the best song on the album, but considering it's one of the best albums ever, that still makes it a damn fine track!
It's fairly easy to play, only in set 2, but I think it's a little tougher than some of the other songs in the set. It has no difficult drum rolls or fills, but has constant triple-hits with the right hand, much like Rock 'n Roll Band by Boston, but a little faster, so therefore a little tougher. It's still the easiest Clash song released thus far, and has nothing that comes close to the difficulty of the opening of I Fought the Law. I would recommend it to Clash fans, but if you're looking for something to really challenge your drumming skills, you might want to skip it and pick up the Sonic Youth song instead.
Oh yeah, and even though Kool Thing was never on The Simpsons, Sonic Youth appeared on the show at one point. I suppose just about every band has been on the program at one time or another though, so this theme will probably carry on for a while.........

The best April fools ever

April first was a busy day on the internet. Many sites were releasing joke pictures and videos, such as IGN's Zelda: The Movie trailer. One of the videos that surfaced depicted Altair of Assassin's Creed fame, running around in Metal Gear Solid 4. It was simply assumed to be another one of the elaborate jokes that many developers were "leaking" that day.
Today however, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima revealed that the Altair costume will indeed be unlockable in the game. Many people simply see this as an April fools that became reality, but I can see the real joke. By leaking something crazy on April first, they knew that no-one would believe it! But that's the joke -the fact that it really is true! My mind has officially been blown.

Here's the video in case you didn't get a chance to see it:

Move over Gears of War......

It began as a rumor last night. Someone on the NeoGAF forums claimed to have gotten a copy of the latest Game Informer magazine, which apparently has some new info on Guitar Hero 4. As well as the expected inclusion of drums and vocals, it also details a new track creation mode where you'll be able to make and share your own songs, minus lyrics of course. I was going to jump on and write a post about how, if it does turn out to be true, I totally called it. Then I decided to scroll down a little further to see what else was in this supposed magazine, and I saw something unexpected and incredibly exciting - Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise.
For those who don't know about the original, it was a game developed by Rare - best known for the excellent GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, and now owned by Microsoft. Viva Pinata was released in November 2006 for the Xbox 360, right about the same time as Gears of War. In the game, you have a garden. By planting trees and flowers and digging ponds you attract pinatas into your garden. Yes, that's right - pinatas are living things in this world. They don't talk or anything like that, they're just animals. Each species has different conditions for it to visit, then join your garden. At first you'll only see small ones, like worms and birds, but the further in you get, the more and more varied species you'll see. Some may only join your garden if you have a certain amount of flowers or ponds, or enough of a certain type of tree. However, many of them will only become residents after they've eaten another type of pinata. Yes - there's a food chain and it's something you have to be aware of. It really sucks when you've become attached to a certain creature, named it something really cool and decked it out in groovy accessories, only to see it being bust open by a visiting pinata, who then feeds on the sweet candy inside. For a game that looks like it's meant for 5-year olds, it's actually kind of twisted, made all the more so by it's completely innocent facade.
Once you have two of any pinata, it's then time to start fulfilling a whole new set of conditions in order to get your pinata to mate, I'm sorry, I mean "romance". Each species has completely different requirements for all of these things, so it can be good to focus on them one at a time. There are also ways to evolve and mutate certain kinds by feeding them weird things, or setting them on fire, as well as many other things that I won't spoil here as they are fun to discover yourself.
Really, it's of those games where you make your own fun, and set your own goals, whether it be to attract every species, or discover every variation, or simply have the nicest looking and most valuable garden. It's really easy to start on one goal, then get sidetracked on something else - multi-tasking skills are a must as there is a lot to concentrate on at once. Anyone who hasn't played it should go and buy a copy right now, as it is one of the best games on 360, and it's really cheap these days, as unfortunately it didn't sell too well. Too kiddy-looking for adults and too complex for kids, it only found a market amongst those who enjoyed a good game and were not embarrassed about what it looked like to others.

So now that I've filled you in I can tell you the big news that was announced today - Yes, Viva Pinata 2 has been officially confirmed. It sounds like it borrows a lot from the original, but with many new features such as different environments for trapping pinatas, proper co-op mode, and some kind of Xbox Vision Cam support in the form of cards that can be scanned in to unlock items, buildings, and even change the weather. There is an official preview for the game from a site called Game Reactor, but it's been translated from Danish so some of it can be hard to understand. I'm sure that there will be some English coverage of the game soon, now that the embargo has been lifted. Needless to say, I'm really excited and can't wait for some more info.

But thats not all! Also announced yesterday is the fact that Viva Pinata for the DS is complete, according to Rare. We've known about it for a while, but it's really good to hear that it's almost upon us. Sounding a lot like the original for 360, it will be great for those who couldn't play it before, to get a chance. I just hope it isn't dumbed down to cater for the supposedly young DS audience. In fact, this is also something I hope doesn't happen to Viva Pinata 2. They may want to make it more accessible, which could mean easier for those who aren't 5 years old. It sounds though, like they'll have the option to simplify, but for those who don't want to a harder challenge awaits. I'm really excited about both of these titles. Looks like I'm going to be breeding a lot of pinatas in the coming months.
Oh and by the way, about that Guitar Hero 4 thing - if it does turn out to be true, I totally called it.

It won't sell that many, right?

I found something out today that really pissed me off. I'm trying to keep this blog relatively clean, so I'm going to have to be careful here.
So down at my local Best Buy, they've been advertising Wii Fit for a while. In fact only recently they put in a nice demo unit with video showing all the benefits of Nintendo's fitness game. Obviously the game is going to be really popular, as shown by the fact that it sold over a million units in it's first month in Japan.
They started taking pre-orders for the game, and after taking a mere 17 of them, their Nintendo rep told them not to allow any more in case they didn't get shipped more than 20 on release day. No you didn't hear me incorrectly - 20! This is a store that sold out of all 450 copies of GTA4 for Xbox 360 in one day, and Nintendo is allocating them 20 units?! What the hell is wrong with them?! Don't even try and tell me they can't produce that many of them - this isn't some little company just trying to get off the ground, it's Nintendo for God's sake! They've been manufacturing video game hardware for, lets see now, over 30 years - haven't they figured out how to go a little bit faster in all that time? This is just total crap, and we've been seeing it with the Wii since launch day. Over a year and a half since the release of the system and they still can't be found in stores. I can understand consoles being hard to get for the first few months, but then companies should step up production and try to meet that demand.
I realize that peripheral-based games are more expensive to make, but this hasn't stopped Activision or EA with their popular rhythm games. Even Rock Band, which is EA's first attempt at making rhythm game peripherals, had loads of copies in stores on launch day, and that came in a huge box with a $170 price tag attached to it. Quite a risk really in case it didn't end up selling many, but this gamble didn't seem to phase EA. So what about Nintendo? Are they really having production problems, or are they simply creating false demand by making their products seem like the hottest thing to ever hit the market - after all, if something can never be found in stores then you know it must be popular!

I'm kind of looking forward to this title, but I sure as hell aren't going through any hassle to get it - if I can't simply walk into a store and buy then I won't get it at all. They'll probably end up getting a few more than 20 copies at Best Buy, but they will still sell out in about five minutes, and I'm sure Nintendo will do their usual slow shipment thing - a few units here, a few units there - if you don't arrive at the store at 6am on a Sunday morning then you might as well not come at all. I really hope I'm wrong on this one, but I have a bad feeling about it. I guess we'll find out on May 19th when the game hits stores. And for anyone planning on getting a copy on launch day, without a pre-order, well, good luck!

A not so scientific study

I've been playing the excellent The World Ends with You recently for the DS. I decided to put the box away on my carefully organized shelves, and I asked myself "Now, do I put it under T or W?". Hang on a minute! How could I not already know my preference for this? This is when I noticed that out of all my games, only a small handful started with the word 'The'. I guess I'd never really realized this before, as movie titles begin with 'The' all the time.
I decided to do a little study, whereby I counted all the games and movies owned by me and my girlfriend to see what percentage began with this word. I just added our collections together, as this would mean more titles to count so slightly better results, I thought. Here are my findings:

Out of 229 games, spread over multiple systems, only 5 of them began with 'The', and 4 of those were RPGs (two The Legend of Zelda games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and The World Ends with You). The other was The Lion King for Sega Genesis. This is just over 2% of them, not a very high percentage.
On the other hand, out of 258 movies, 40 of them began with 'The' - which works out to about 15.5%, a much higher percentage.

I think certain types of movies, such as horror films, tend to begin with 'The', such as The Ring, The Shining, The Eye, The Fog, The Grudge etc..... Likewise, horror games also start with 'The' more often, such as The Suffering or The Darkness. I'm not really a fan of these though, so don't tend to buy them. The other type of games that tend to begin with this world are ones adapted from movies (Like The Lion King example from above), but again, I don't tend to buy these titles.
I don't think this really means anything, just something I noticed and wanted to point out. Have a look through your game and movie collection to check it out yourself. Feel free to leave a comment telling me your percentage - I'd be interested to see if for some, the ratio is much higher.
Oh yeah, and by the way, I put it under W.

One giant leap for Guitar Hero

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Guitar Hero would be going multi-instrument, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith recently made another announcement regarding the company's popular rhythm game franchise.
In a conference call the other day, he was heard to remark "For the holiday, we will provide a significant leap forward in innovation for Guitar Hero worldwide, on all platforms." Is he simply referring to the multi-instrument promise, or does he have something else up his sleeve?
Since he uses the word "innovation" he can't really be talking about other instruments as this has been done before. Even adding something like keyboard wouldn't be innovative as it's really more of a natural progression of the franchise, and a fairly obvious one. He also can't be talking about downloadable content as, once again, this has been done really well already in another popular rhythm game.

So what could he mean? Okay, assuming he isn't talking about either of the above things (which he could very well be) I'm going to speculate as to what I think this innovation could be:
People have been asking for a long time for some way of putting their own music into these rhythm games. It seems like a really difficult prospect, as how could the game tell exactly which part of the music is the guitar part? There have been rhythm games before that could create levels based on your own songs, but it was always rather basic and nothing near the complexity of a Guitar Hero track. Harmonix recently said that this could also be the direction Rock Band is going in, but so far neither company has shown anything concrete. Would it even be possible, or would the levels totally suck and feel nothing like the track they're supposed to? The other question is: Do either of these companies want you to be able to put your own music in, instead of buying new tracks from them? Since Harmonix is doing such a good job selling DLC in Rock Band, it's possible that Activision want to add custom music to Guitar Hero as a sort of slap in the face to their rival. After all, who would pay for a song if you could just pop in a CD and rip it straight into the game?

I honestly don't think this is going to happen though. Unless they've made some big technological leaps, I have a felling any songs wouldn't really come out as expected and the feature would disappoint. Far more likely in my opinion is the prospect of a custom track maker. This means a whole bunch of samples for you to sequence however you like to create whatever songs your imagination desires. This is a really easy prospect on consoles as it was done all the way back on PS1 with Music and Music 2000 (called MTV Music Generator in the US). Laying down a backing track, it could then be possible to create any crazy guitar part you want, maybe even allowing you to place all the button presses, increasing or decreasing the difficulty. This way people could recreate all their favorite songs (sans lyrics of course) and the game could essentially be fresh forever. Would Activision want this though, as it could stop people from buying the next Guitar Hero game, as they could simply keep recreating their favorite songs in the current one?
It's tough really - what the consumer wants is essentially the exact opposite of what the company desires in order to keep making money. In all honesty, this so called "innovation" probably is just some extra instruments, but it would be nice to see something really new and original to the series. We shouldn't have to wait too long to find out, as more information has been promised "in the coming weeks". I'll keep you posted.

DRM fixed? I guess not

As I've mentioned in a previous post, my 360 has not been 100% of late. I'm fairly sure that I shall have to send it off to Microsoft for repairs before too long, but I foresee two problems occurring when I do this: The first is fairly obvious - how am I going to play Rock Band while it's gone (or any of my other games for that matter)? The second is probably only obvious to people who've had to replace a system themselves - Digital Rights Management (DRM). This is the way in which companies selling downloadable content ensure people aren't making copies and giving them to all their friends. Some companies are implementing DRM without inconveniencing the customers, but Microsoft are not.
When you purchase content over Xbox Live, the content pairs itself with not only to your Gamertag, but also to the system you purchased it on. If you decide to access the content on any other system you must be connected to Live or the purchases simply won't show up. This makes sense if you're going to a friends house and choose to sign in with your profile on their 360. However, if your system breaks and you get a replacement one you're, well, just look at the image to see what I mean. As the Xbox 360 has a notoriously bad failure rate, many people are finding this problem out themselves.
Another issue is that if I purchase anything over Live, anyone playing on my 360 can access the content, even if they're signed in to a different profile. Change systems, and all of a sudden only the profile the content was bought on can access it. This means XBLA games, DLC, even gamerpics and wallpaper!
It is possible to call Microsoft and have them transfer your licenses over to your new system, but people say this is a real pain and takes a long time. Also, Microsft will only do it if you have your system repaired by them, not if you replace it at the store you bought it from. If you decide to upgrade from a Premium 360 to an Elite at any point, you're also out of luck.
So what can be done about this? Well, Gamerscore Blog recently posted a fix for people in this situation - here are the steps to follow:

1. Attach your hard drive or memory unit.
2. Turn on the console.
3. Sign in to Xbox Live with the gamer profile that originally downloaded the content.
4. Go to Xbox Live Marketplace and select Account Management, Download History.
5. Select an item and then select Download Again.
6. Repeat step 5 for each item in your download history.

Well this certainly could take a long time, but at least there's a way to sort out the issue. Or is there? According to the comments on the page, this solution only seems to work for some people. Most report that it does nothing and they still had to call Microsoft and spend hours on the phone trying to get their licenses transferred. This is totally unacceptable - when I buy something I want to know that I can use it whenever I want. I mean, what if I'm just about to finish a 5-star run of The Perfect Drug in Rock Band when my connection drops (don't worry - I'm not going to hit 5 stars on that song anytime soon)? Will the game simply stop? I have a bad feeling that it will. I'm really hoping that Microsoft do something to sort this problem out - after all, it's only because of their poorly manufactured hardware that this issue has become apparent. I really want to carry on buying DLC, but I worry that later on down the line, I may not be able to use any of it. And if Xbox Live ever stops running, maybe because Microsoft decide to leave the console market, then no-one will be able to access their content ever again!
Please Microsoft, do something about this. I hope that by the time I have to replace my system, they've implemented some kind of method to transfer licenses over, but I don't think this is going to happen. I'll try the solution posted above, but I have a bad feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the phone to customer service in the not-too-distant future.

I can't quit you Dom

1up recently posted the first ever gameplay footage from the upcoming Gears of War 2. In a year which sees the releases of huge games such as GTA4 and Metal Gear Solid 4, it's easy to forget about some of the other titles, even the sequel to one if the top games of 2006.
I loved the original Gears of War. It had a simple premise, with solid shooter gameplay and excellent co-op. Looking at the new footage, GOW 2 looks like it has a lot in common with first one, but definitely a few differences. I was surprised there's so much up-close action as the original was mainly a cover-based game, where standing out in the open usually meant instant death. I suppose this could have been some kind of boss fight though, unless giant cannon-wielding creatures are now a dime a dozen. Also, check out the awesome human-shield part (well, it's not technically a human but whatever) - I hope this is well integrated into the gameplay and not just a gimmick that's only useful in certain situations.

Looking around message boards, I've noticed a number of complaints about the visuals. People say it looks too much like the first one, and should have some significant graphical improvements. To these people I say: Are you crazy?! Name one game on any console that comes close to matching Gears of War visually. The level of detail was insane - most of the character models wouldn't look out of place in a pre-rendered cutscene from an Xbox or PS2 game. In the year and a half since it's release, nothing has matched it in the graphics department - I mean, did you play a little game called Halo 3?

Here's the footage. It's got a small into and outro by CliifyB, lead designer for the game. Gears of War 2 is currently slated for a November release and I, for one, can't wait.

PSP is a monster in Japan

This weeks Japanese hardware sales are in, and things seem to be pretty similar to before: PSP once again takes the top spot but this time Nintendo have a clear lead if you add together the Wii and DS sales. People say this is the end of PSPs domination as sales for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G are apparently starting to die down a bit. I still think it's really good that some one is finally giving Nintendo a run for their money, as competition can only lead to companies trying harder which benefits us all.
Here are the figures for the week:

• PSP - 100,870
• Wii - 71,518
• Nintendo DS - 52,542
• PlayStation 3 - 10,177
• PlayStation 2 - 8,802
• Xbox 360 - 1,725

Even though the PS3 hasn't been selling as well as Sony might have hoped at this point, they still seem to be moving plenty of PSPs and even PS2s. Meanwhile, the poor Xbox 360 is still selling as bad as ever. I guess every culture has it's likes and dislikes, strange as they may sometimes seem to me.

Blue Ring of DS

The Blue light on my Wii has been pulsing on and off for days now. I used to turn it on as soon as I saw the light, as I was eager to check what mail my friends had left for me. Then Nintendo decided to cheapen the whole experience by sending messages from within games. Suddenly I found that instead of a funny message or picture from someone I knew, I was getting mail informing me that Luigi has gone missing! Oh well, I guess I'd better pop in Super Mario Galaxy to go and find him! Nice try Nintendo, but I'm not falling for it. Oh and by the way, I know that Luigi has gone missing as it happened much earlier in the afternoon and I have long since found him. Thanks for the heads up though, I guess.
So how was I supposed to know that on this day, my Wii was actually trying to tell me about something important? No, it wasn't an urgent message from Nintendo warning me that prolonged exposure to the blue light causes cancer, it was the introduction of a new channel.
But wait! Don't all of those extra channels completely suck? Well, not anymore, they finally provided us with the feature I've been waiting for since the launch of the system - the DS Download Channel.

In all actuality, this isn't what it's called. It's called the Nintendo Channel, and it offers videos of upcoming games for the system, as well as demos for DS.
The videos are okay - kind of small and they take a while to load but it's a nice feature nonetheless. The real draw for me is the ability to turn my Wii into a DS Download Station, much like the ones featured in video game retail outlets, like Gamestop or Best Buy. Now you can zap demos directly to your DS, to play for as long as you keep it powered on. Although there were no new demos I was excited about right now, I will happily give my impressions on upcoming games when I get a chance to try them out. I think this is a brilliant feature and one that sets Nintendo's system apart from the competition.

However, there is a catch to all of this. In order to participate in the DS demos, you must agree to allow Nintendo to monitor all of your console usage, by collecting data sent by your Wii every time you use it. The list of things they monitor can be found here, and includes: what games you play, how long you play for, all of your console and Wiimote settings, the number of Miis you have, and things like internet settings and connection speed. Wow! Big Brother really is watching! Of course, this is optional, but you wont be able to check out the demos unless you agree to it. Usually I would have a problem with this but, in this instance, I want Nintendo to see how little I've been using their console. I want them to know that I haven't purchased a single one of their over-priced Virtual Console games, and don't spend any time on any of the stupid channels they've offered (well, at least up to this point). Maybe they will use this data to actually improve the system, but I have a feeling they only want it so they can boast about how much people are playing the Wii. As neither of the other two major systems keep track of this kind of data, Nintendo can claim anything they want about console usage, and no one can prove them otherwise. Now if only they kept track of my Xbox 360 data as well, then they'd see what console usage is supposed to be like.

Jiminy jillickers! More DLC!

This week in Rock Band, I get to make another Simpsons joke. But before I go into my usual discussion of the new songs, there were a couple of announcements I felt were worth mentioning (how many other games have this much news so many months after release?!).
First of all, Best Buy is offering two exclusive tracks for anyone willing to pre-order the new CD by the band Disturbed. The tracks are: Inside the Fire and Perfect Insanity. The songs are only offered on 360, but will be made available for regular purchase sometime in June, both on 360 and PS3. I have no interest in this band, but it's nice to see retailers getting creative with their offers - it might actually make me start pre-ordering things, if they offer some songs I want.
Second, in another attempt to promote Rock Band DLC, Harmonix are offering some of their songs at discount price - two per week for the next month. This weeks offerings are CrushCrushCrush by Paramore and Rock 'n Roll Band by Boston. They will be sold at half price ($1 instead of $2) up until Monday May 12th, then on Tuesday two different songs will take their place. I think this is a great idea as it may encourage people to start purchasing DLC, and this is really what the company wants. If they are attempting to have downloadable content as their distribution method then people need to get on board now, and this offer should help.

So anyway, onto the new songs: I'll be honest - I was very disappointed when the made this weeks announcement: Three pop-rock sort of bands, clearly going for the younger demographic. But hey, I thought I'd at least give them a listen and you know what, they're actually kind of catchy. The songs are:

Fall Out Boy - This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date with the Night
Angels & Airwaves - It Hurts
Note: Click on any song to see expert drum videos.

Okay, so the Angels and Airwaves song I skipped, but I bought the other two. This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race is the easier of the two. Much easier than Dead on Arrival, the other song in the game by Fall Out Boy (which I think is one of the very hardest). It has an easy verse, and a faster, but still rather easy, chorus. Just practice those double taps with your foot and you'll be fine.
Date with the Night is a bit harder. I guess it has similarities to Maps, but is really closer to The Hand that Feeds by Nine Inch Nails. The thing is, is has a much more erratic beat, and getting the timing down during some of those sections is something I'm still working on. Thankfully it has a steady kick-drum throughout most of the song, so you can concentrate on your hands. Overall, I would recommend both of them but would probably choose Date with the Night if I had to pick one - I think it will provide more of a challenge for longer.
But wait, there was one more song I checked out this week, as it was discounted in price - Rock 'n Roll Band by Boston. I'm not really a fan of the band, but purchased a couple of their songs when they released a six-pack last month. However, for a dollar, I thought I'd pick up one more. It's really not my favorite track to listen to, but it sure is fun to play on drums. Not too difficult, it has these constant triple-hits during the chorus which I had a lot less trouble with that I thought I would. I guess because they are hits with the right hand and, as I've come to realize, this is my stronger hand. Worth picking up definitely, so grab it while it's cheap.

Before I go, I just want to make a quick prediction before they announce next weeks songs. In keeping with the Simpsons theme I think they will announce Takin' Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Lets see if my carefully calculated prediction comes true........

I'm special enough already

Do you buy special editions of games? It seems that in recent years publishers have been asking us if we'd like to voluntarily pay an extra $10 for our electronic entertainment. We are promised bonus things like: A shiny metal case (oohhh....), a making of DVD (aahhh.....), or maybe even a book of concept art (no way!......), but now it seems things have gotten a little crazy.
Take the Halo 3 Legendary Edition for instance, which comes with a replica Master Chief helmet (that's not even wearable) and sets you back $130 (although it's probably cheaper by now)! Or the recently released GTA4 Special Edition which costs $90 and includes a duffel bag and metal safety deposit box. Am I missing something? I thought the game was called Grand Theft Auto, not Lets Protect our Valuables. I mean, I guess I can understand the Master Chief helmet (sort of) but the GTA bundle just seems, well, weird.

The funny thing is, I like special editions when it comes to DVDs. I guess maybe it's because when I put on a movie, I'm only planning on watching it, so a few more hours of stuff to watch is always good. When I pop in a game though, it's because I want to play, and sitting watching people talk about the game doesn't quite cut it for me. Also, DVDs often come with commentary tracks, which I love. I've only ever played two games that included commentaries, one that did it well, the other, not so well. Portal had commentary that could be turned on from the main menu and could be activated in-game by clicking on special commentary icons. On the other hand, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus had commentaries that had to be unlocked one level at a time by beating these ridiculously hard time-trials. Needless to say, I unlocked one of them then gave up on all the others - it just didn't seem worth the hassle.

I guess what I'm really saying is: Please put more commentaries in games. I would gladly pay a little more to hear the developers' insight while I'm playing. I know some games are really long and it could take a while to record them, but since games take so long to make anyway, I'm sure a little bit more time wouldn't hurt. Instead of wasting your time molding plastic helmets and sewing duffel bags, why don't you give me some special features that I'd actually use?
If anyone reads this feel free to leave a comment telling me if you buy special editions, and if not, what would make you more likely to purchase them?

Nothing beats a Yahtzee!

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee takes a break from his usual game reviews, and decides to tackle some of the "viewer feedback" (hatemail) he received following his Super Smash Bros Brawl review. It turns out that there are a lot of rabid Nintendo fanboys out there in cyberspace and they were none too happy with, what really was, one of his harshest reviews. Well that's what you idiots get for hassling him so much to play it in the first place!
Without wanting to spoil it too much, I will just say that he makes a point about people only taking offense when they have a doubt that the criticism is true. I completely agree with this statement. Calling someone fat is only effective as an insult if they feel that they actually are. Calling a slim, fit person fat isn't exactly going to upset them, as they know it not to be true. Maybe everyone who jumped right onto their computer and started vigorously typing four-letter words as soon as they saw his review, ought to really contemplate what they like about this game they're so quick to defend.
I actually find his reviews funniest when he's insulting a game that I enjoy because everything he says is pretty much true, and I always get where he's coming from. I might not completely agree with his opinions on everything, but it's good to remember that even the games we love the most have bits in we hate, and maybe we conveniently forget about these parts when reminiscing on the experience. Thank you Yahtzee for never letting my fanboyism over a certain title get the better of me.

As always, this video contains plenty of strong language and is definitely NSFW.


Check out the rest of his videos here.