Leaked: Sonic 4 screenies and videos

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

UntitledVideo footage of Splash Hill Zone: Act 1, one of the 12 cool levels that will make up Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (yes it will be divided up into chapters, sadly), have been released onto a few sites, proving the fact that nothing is secret when the internet is involved.

If you’re fans of the rapid blue-colored mammal and have been looking for gameplay videos of the Sonic  HD sequel, go to All Games Beta site and check out the videos and gameplay screenshots they’ve collected for your perusal.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is is going to arrive on PS3’s sometime around mid-summer or so, and to date it looks pretty good. Feel free to check it out here.

A Note of Appreciation: PS3’s Varied Capability

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

it-only-does-everythingWe take for granted how powerful and cool the PS3 really is sometimes. When the PS3 first launched in late 2006, the console struggled to find a game that best represented the platform and its powerful, yet untested specs. Sony made several promises in regards to the console and with a poor advertising campaign, struggled to maintain a foothold of any sort against the powerful Nintendo Wii machine and Microsoft’s XBox.

It’s now 2010 and Sony has seen a huge surge in sales, and a large variety of games ad varied types of content. I can say with much certainty that the PS3 has the most diverse collection of games anywhere in the console world.

The amount of choice in the PS3’s library is amazing: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Killzone 2, are just a few examples of incredibly varied titles pushing boundaries in the console marketplace. Here’s to more years of the PS3 pushing the limits of what a console is capable of.

Rumors/News: Call of Duty 7: Black Ops

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

treylogoMap Mod News has posted a juicy report: Activision has apparently shared some bits of info about Call of Duty 7: Black Ops, the next installment in the huge CoD franchise. We know, you can’t wait. Here’s the scoop from the company itself:

Black Ops will be set historically somewhere between World War II and present day, with a heavy emphasis on the Cold War and Vietnam. The ever-popular (and much-requested) Nazi Zombies mode introduced in Call of Duty: World at War will make a welcome return, and there is even talk of providing dedicated servers to host the title’s online multiplayer component.

Treyarch, the developer behind 2009’s famed WWII first-person shooter, is already hard at work on Activision’s next project. If all goes well, we might see Black Ops hit high street shelves no later than November this year.

Well, this is welcome news indeed, and Turkey time can’t come soon enough for us this year.

New Game News: Lord of the Rings PS3 game in development

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

lord-of-the-ringsIt appears that Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment will be releasing a brand new game for the LOTR universe for the PS3. They have said that the online play will be up to three players forming their own “partnership” of sorts which seems on the small side.

Martin Tremblay, President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has mentioned that this game will carry an 17+ rating, so it will include blood, guts and other assorted carnage involved with battles. We actually applaud this decision, that it won’t be a “kiddie” game.

The main storyline for this is you’re taking part in the War of The Ring, which occurs before the actual films, in regards to the progression of the books. Snowblind Studios (creators of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance) will be assisting with the actual game design, and its supposed to be very similar to conventional RPG standards, with weapon upgrades and the like. Its scheduled for release some time in early 2011, and we’ll keep an eye out for it on our radar as it gets closer to release.

Business News: GTA episodes delayed a bit

Friday, March 19th, 2010

161914-gta-episodes-ps3-pc_headerEver since their release PS3 gamers have been waiting to get their hands on the Xbox 360’s “exclusive” downloadable episodes for GTA: Episodes from Liberty City, which have been very popular with players. The PS version was recently announced to be heading to the PS3 on March 30th or so. Well, not quite that soon, it looks like.

Rockstar Games has announced today that the episodes won’t be making it onto your PS3 until April 13th in the US, and the 16th elsewhere around the globe. Yes, its a disappointment, but hey, if its for the better of the game, it’s worth it, right? Well,  it may not be for that sort of reason.

So what’s the cause of the delay? It’s being called ‘minor content changes’ (short for ‘censorship’ usually, from our experience), but that’s the offical word for the two week delay. Rockstar reps state it won’t affect the enjoyment of the game, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, we suppose. It’ll be interesting to see and hear more about these ‘minor content changes’ in the next few weeks.

Leading Contender: PS3 and the new Medal of Honor

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

medalofhonorMedal of Honor is a game that any FPS fanatic has heard of and more than likely played extensively, but now this traditionally World War II based series has made the transition to modern-day warfare, and the lead console for the release is the PS3, which shouldn’t be a shock to anyone familiar with its capabilities.

The new title is boasting some sizzling graphics and features Modern Warfare type game mechanics, which should appeal to a large section of the target audience, indeed.

Medal of Honor (the new version with the modern slant) is scheduled to be released some time later in 2010 (probably around August or so), and will compete against such stalwarts as Bad Company 2 and Call of Duty.

But now the coolest news: At the 2010 Game Developers Conference the producers said that the PS3 is better designed for multiplatform production and it will not only benefit the PS3’s performance, but will put a smile on XBox 360 owners as well. The title is slated to take full advantage of the PS3’s powerful graphics and processor, more so than many other titles made for the platform, according to the designers.

We’re looking forward to this release, needless to say.

Secret Revealed: A new SOCOM game?

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

4406155387_d419ec72d0Remember when we talked about a secret game to be revealed exclusively for the PS3 from Sony? Well, the secret is out: It’s a new SOCOM sequel, and the graphics look pretty intense so far, from what’s been revealed.

It’ll feature all new graphics designed from the ground up for the PS3, new maps, teamwork modes and lots of other goodies. Release isn’t set yet, but late summer or so is a safe bet, we think. The last SOCOM game was considered a critical disappointment, so it’ll be curious to see how they improve the game.

Here’s a link to the official announcement from one of the inside guys at the company on the PS3 blog: Link

Exclusive is Good: Surprise PS3 sequel to be announced soon

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

ps3-bannerIn the unlikely event that you have been unsatisfied with the amazing line-up of exclusive PS3 games so far, we have some very good news for you. Gametrailers will be unveiling another PS3 title, it will be exclusive and it’s also a sequel as well. One we weren’t expecting, necessarily. Oh, the anticipation…don’t you hate it when companies do things like this? Well actually, we sorta like it, but those that dislike surprises may hate it.

Some games jump to the brain instantly: Killzone 3, MotorStorm 3, Socom 4, Sly Cooper, or even Syphon Filter 5, perchance? Twisted Metal, even? Who knows, and that’s the whole point of a surprise, after all.

One thing we do know: we’ll be reporting right here when the full, official trailer and announcement is made. It’s a good time to own a PS3, and this news only strengthens that belief.

Review – Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

forceunleashedmainStar Wars fans may have a game worth trying out, but overall this is a rather bland and uninspired effort. It tells the story of Darth Vader’s apprentice and is set before the original Star Wars movies, the PS3 game Force Unleashed gives you the task of getting a handle on the Force and dishing out oblivion to various types of enemies.

The in-game story was interesting, but nothing above or beyond typical SW fare. The control system is well implemented and you’ll be soon throwing enemies around left and right.

However the game seems to suffer from ‘Prototype‘ personality in terms of skill balancing. For example, there are many upgrade types, but only a few that really mattered long-term, so a player end up just using those much of the time. The design never forces you to use any others; game balance in this way is very much off, and is a big letdown.

Graphically the game is nice to look at, and cut scenes are fairly well done. It’s too short (around 5 hours or so) and is overall fairly disappointing, especially if you aren’t a fan of the SW mythos. Otherwise, rent it, don’t buy it.

Issues: Older PS3s “partying” like its 1999 (in a bad way)

Monday, March 1st, 2010

psnFor most of today, Sony’s PlayStation Network has been turning away users of older PS3 consoles with ‘8001050F’ error codes, which is normally not a good thing. This error locks users out of the PSN, and can in some cases corrupt trophy data and paid DLC content, which would make those users quite angry, needless to say. All of this can cause random game lockups, among other symptoms.

In an odd symptom reported as well, PS3s that have not connected to the internet either for years are finding their clocks being set to 12/31/1999 for some weird reason. This is causing some games that check to this sort of thing not to function correctly, even if they don’t need a net connection to work normally.

Sony’s Twitter reply to all of this? Here it is: “We’re aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we’re looking into it. Stay tuned for updates.” Not much info, hopefully this all gets fixed sooner rather than later, lest angry PS3 gamers storm the gates of Sony in protest.

Another curious note: newer “flat design” PS3’s aren’t affected, it seems.