Who’s Got The Best Exclusives?

console-warsIn the epic fanboy debates of ages past and present, the ultimate factor always turns out to be console exclusives. Being able to tout a game that the other console doesn’t have wins major points, even if the other side pretends that they wouldn’t touch Halo or Metal Gear Solid if it was on their console of choice. Yeah. Right.

However, these days, console exclusives are light. Since games cost more to make, it’s just not financially reasonable to make an exclusive for one console when you can make more money by spreading the love and your game around.

Unigamesity has put together a list of the pure console exclusives from 2008, and compares their Metacritic ratings. Who wins? You might be surprised. For the record, I think Left 4 Dead should have been included on the 360 list. Sure, you can play it on the PC. But console-wise, you can only play it on the 360, which is what matters for the purposes of this argument.

Source- Unigamesity

PS3 Games to Watch Out For

ps3In terms of games, the last couple of years have belonged to Microsoft, with just a few exceptions for both Nintendo and Sony. The slew of games for the 360 since 2007 seems to have finally slowed though, and we’ve gobbled up the bevy of FPS games til our eyes have turned red. Now that the 360 doesn’t seem to have much on its plate, this could easily be Sony’s year, and it’s about time.

Edge Online has put together a list of the 10 most anticipated PS3 games for 2009, and I have to say, I’m excited to be a PS3 owner. There are more exclusive games coming out than I realized, and who knows, maybe Sony gets its groove back after all.

List after the jump!
Continue reading PS3 Games to Watch Out For

LittleBig Michael Jackson Planet

LittleBigPlanet has been used to make lots of things. Calculators, music composers, wedding proposals and even side scrolling shooters. Apparently, you can also make music videos to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Thriller”. Yes, there is even some moonwalking. One of the coolest parts of all? The dude that made this actually made it for a machinima class at USC. Good way to make the grade, I guess.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMjwAsThY00[/youtube]

Review: Fallout 3

fallout-3-zombie Having been a great fan of Bethesda’s earlier RPG series, The Elder Scrolls, I was eagerly waiting for Fallout 3 and their decision to make it into a FPS/RPG hybrid. Not having played any of the previous Fallout games, I was not concerned with any drastic changes they might have made, so this review will come from the perspective of a Fallout noob.

Continue reading Review: Fallout 3

The Metal Gear Solid Cast Improv Therapy

Sounds just as confusing as the plot of MGS4, no? Basically, there is a new video out that features the voice actors of the MGS games (Raiden, Snake, Roy Campbell, Naomi Hunter and Otacon) all doing an improv session. The idea behind the skit is that they can’t separate the game characters from their actual lives.

It’s completely made up on the spot (improv, duh), and is sometimes bizarre and somteimes hilarious. My favorite bits are when David Hayter busts out the Snake voice, and when they jump in with the “Snaaaaaake” bits. Some good stuff, give it a watch.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2WkHLIweE[/youtube]

The Star Wars Battlefront III That Could Have Been

battlefrontI loved me some Star Wars: Battlefront II. Seriously. I played the junk out of that game online with some friends of mine. We would often just square off against an army of bots, playing as heroes, grunts and whatever else held our fancy to enjoy us some killing, Star Wars style. I think it’s one of my favorite games of last gen, and have been dying for a sequel.

Well, apparently, Free Radical was working on one. I say was with such emphasis because Free Radical just closed up shop in the last couple of weeks. The game has now passed on to Rebellion, so it’s still making its rounds, but recently some SW Battlefront III screenshots have made their way to the intertubes of some of the models being worked on. Granted, these are Free Radical’s designs and are from a year or so ago, but I find it pretty interesting.

Check them out, as some of them are rather fancy. Did any of you guys play Star Wars Battlefront at all? Thoughts?

Source- Kotaku

Review: Prince of Persia

prince-of-persiaThe Sands of Time, the Warrior Within and the Two Thrones were some of favorite games on my PS2, especially the Sands of Time. The fantastic controls, the platforming, the sweaty palms as I guided the Prince past buzzsaw traps and rolling logs with spikes…all of it made for a fantastic gaming experience.

So with great excitement, I started on this latest adventure. First thing to note is that this is not a sequel or a prequel or anything like that. It is a reboot, no characters return except the Prince (who isn’t even a prince now) and Farah (who is now a donkey). This kind of thing never really bothers me, so I can’t blame the developers for wanting to start fresh on a new console.

Continue reading Review: Prince of Persia

MGS, Meet LBP

So the next update to LittleBigPlanet is going to make the darn sackboys even cuter and way more awesome. A new MGS4 pack is being added, complete with exclamation points, Meryl, and all kinds of other MGS content. There were will even be new story levels, and a paintball gun with which to shoot things. Guess we’ll see lots of sidescrolling shooter levels next. And that’s not a bad thing.

Resident Evil 5- Gameplay in the Refinery

Resident Evil 5 might have some of the best graphics we’ll see this gen. Seriously, the level of detail, the crisp motion blur, all of it comes together to form a stunning picture… of incredible zombie violence. And this is always a good thing. It’s nice to see some more gameplay footage, and not just trailers.

Anybody else excited about this?

Square Enix Hearts Them Some XBox 360

Uh, get out your fanboy flame bats once again. We all know that the console wars get a little heated at times, and quotes like this just add fuel to the fire. Apparently, the director of Last Remnant had some pretty interesting things to say about Microsoft’s console:

In fact, as we’ve only just finished work on Last Remnant I don’t even know what my next project is going to be at Square Enix. However, I’m very much hoping it’ll be for Xbox 360 as it’s been a lot easier to work with than PlayStation 3.

O noz! This isn’t the first time a developer has talked about this. In fact, Valve’s Gabe Newell said something about it some years ago. However, one always has to take these things with a grain of salt, especially considering Last Remnant supposedly sucked donkey balls.

Flame on!

Source- CVG

Mirror’s Edge DLC Trailer is Trippy and Totally Sweet

Not sure how many of you guys have gotten around to playing Mirror’s Edge, but one of the things that I hear a lot is that despite it being a lot of fun, it’s got some flaws. Namely, having to fight with soldiers as well as other crazy ninja parkour dudes, which is just not everyone’s cup of tea.

There is a new trailer out for the Mirror’s Edge DLC, though, that looks to be all of the fun of the actual game, minus the combat. To me, when I see this, I’m like, dang, I’d pay for a game that was just THIS. What do you guys think?

LBP Sales are Not so Hot

Little Big Planet, we hardly knew ye. I always wondered if it was such a good idea for Sony to hitch its wagon onto Little Big Planet for the second half of this year. I mean, it was such a unique, different kind of game that it didn’t seem to me that all that many people would really be into it. They kept touting the thing as a console pusher, but I never saw it that way.

I guess other people agreed. Unfortunately, November NPD reports show that LBP has only sold around 400,000 copies since it came out in October. Compare that to Gears of War 2’s 3 million copies sold, and you’ll start to see what the big deal is. Considering that this game was THE game for PS3 for the holidays, those numbers are pretty dismal.

So what do you guys think? Just another sign of Sony dropping the ball this gen, or are they going to bounce back and be ok?

Source- Kotaku

Drake’s Precarious Uncharted 2 Trailer

Seriously, if you own a PS3 and haven’t played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, you really need to check it out. It’s one of the best games on the PS3, and is just a good old fashioned fun time. A new trailer appeared for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves last night at the VGA’s, along with some ridiculous high-res screenshots over at NeoGAF.

This trailer captures that cinematic flair that made the first game so fun. Can’t wait to play it.

VGA: God of War 3 Trailer

Say what you want about the VGA’s, but man, it was cool to see some exclusive new announcements. For instance this teasingly short but tantalizingly sweet God of War 3 trailer, which shows off what looks to be incredible in-game footage. The graphics here are remarkable, and it looks like there will be some familiar gameplay tropes as well as new twists.

Thoughts?

New Final Fantasy XIII Trailer Says Nothing New

So I feel like I’ve been seeing the same Final Fantasy XIII Trailer for 2 years. It’s always the same shots, over and over, and we still don’t have any gameplay to look at. Granted, the same thing was the case for FF XII and that game turned out to be incredible, but even still. Anywho, here’s a new FFXIII trailer.

What do you guys think? Will this game be any good?

Anthony Goes Home

Monday night was a weird night. After watching my beloved Tampa Bay Bucs get pounded by the Carolina Panthers, I noticed it was about midnight. I drove up the road to Blockbuster and purchased The Dark Knight and went home to watch it. I decided to check my email first, though, to see if there were any emails from Eddy telling me how great my posts are.

Alas, none from Eddy (probably busy playing Little Orphan Eddy by replaying Fallout 3’s opening tutorial) but I did receive an email from Sony, which brought a brief moment of panic. Had they finally noticed how awesome I am at all their games and sent me a Cease and Desist Pwning email? But no, wrongo. It was an invite to the Playstation Home Beta! I knew my awesomeness would be recognized eventually.

Continue reading Anthony Goes Home

Playstation Home Launches Tomorrow

So Playstation Home launches on December 11th, 2008 and… wait. That’s tomorrow. Home is only a day away. That’s right, in just about 24 hours, you can be browsing your own version of Second Life for the Playstation 3, complete with avatars, emoticons, and all the advertising your heart is wet for.

While Sony claims that this is totally groundbreaking and unique, I just don’t know if I can see this thing through rose tinted glasses the way they can. I’m not sure if users will really spend a whole lot of time in it when they could be, you know, playing games.

What about you guys? Any of you excited for Playstation Home?

Source- VG247

New Batman: Arkham Asylum Trailer Has Sizzle

Not only sizzle, but also Akira trails on the Bat pod and “zzzzt” editing effects! Fancy. But even fancier and more fascinating to batfans out there is just how moody and dark this trailer is. I love the design on the Joker, and the shot of Croc at the end is just awe inspiring. Count me excited.

Review: Saint’s Row 2

This year, tons of buzz was made about a few open world games. With great games like Fallout 3, GTA IV, Fable II and the like, it was hard to ignore the pull that these titles had, sucking gamers in and sinking their teeth in for the kill. However, there was one title that got ignored amidst all of the to-do about these other good games: Saint’s Row 2.

The THQ sequel puts you back in the shoes of Stillwater’s most wanted, the leader of the Saints, the city’s most notorious criminals. As the curtain opens, you are in a coma, having survived a horrific explosion that changed your appearance and left you comatose. And then the fun starts.

Continue reading Review: Saint’s Row 2

New Riddick: Dark Athena Multiplayer Details

I’ve always said that if I could meet one famous person, I’d meet Vin Diesel, because I’m convinced we’d be friends. Seriously. He’s a true nerd at heart, and even knows some D & D madness. Needless to say, the opportunity to play as him in a video game is an exciting one indeed.

Some new details have started to trickle down about some of the new multiplayer modes in the next Chronicles of Riddick game, and they sound pretty interesting. Of course, you have the customary 12-man-deathmatch, where everyone gets their frag on. Beyond that though are some CTF gametypes as well as a prison riot mode, where several teams face off in a battle royale.

The coolest mode, though, sounds more like a Splinter Cell gametype, in that several prison guards hunt down one player (Riddick) in pitch black. They have flashlights and guns. He has night vision, blades and is awesome. This mode really sounds like it could rule. It’s nice to hear of something beyond the standard CTF or deathmatch. What do you guys think?

Source- CVG