I gotta give this dude credit (click the pic to enlarge) – it takes some cojones to flagrantly take 2 vacation days from your company and make a Grand Theft Auto 4 reference as your reason.
So paroxym from Shacknews, we salute you! For being potty guy of the week!
Read the thread [shacknews.com]
If you’re a good little video game fan like me, you’ve undoubtedly already pre-ordered a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 and received the Metal Gear Saga dvd with a Metal Gear Online beta key. The beta will be available this Thursday, April 17th for download from the (new!) Playstation Store.
According to Playstation.Blog, though, you’re going to need to a Konami id in order to play in the beta (and also the full game). The Metal Gear Online beta set up process on the PS3 will prompt you to create one via their web page, but lord knows how annoying it is to input text on the PS3 using the controller. Fortunately, you can expedite the process by signing up for a Konami id here from the comfort of your own computer.
Yes, I’m wondering the same thing you are. Why do we need to sign up for these extra ids to play the game? Wouldn’t it be easier on poor gamers to just allow us to use our PSN accounts?
Read more details on the Metal Gear Online Beta [blog.us.playstation.com]
You know how a lot of DS games feel like they’re either Super Nintendo titles or could have been done on the Game Boy Advance? Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (NGDS) is not one of those games. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say NGDS would not be possible on any other gaming platform. It’s a unique title that every action game fan who owns a Nintendo DS should check it out.
NGDS takes place about 6 months after the events of the Xbox version Ninja Gaiden (or Ninja Gaiden Sigma if you were late to the party). Personally, I can’t remember much of the plot of Ninja Gaiden since I played it about 5 years ago, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with saving the Hayabusa ninja clan from evil fiends and demons from the netherworld. NGDS has something similar with a kidnapped girl and the fate of the world blah blah blah. Let’s be honest here, you’re not playing Ninja Gaiden for the plot. You’re playing it to kill the shit out of dragons and ninjas as Ryu Hayabusa. And believe me, you will be doing lots of that.
Playstation Network Store senior manager, Grace Chen, gives us a video demo of the newly redesigned PSN store on the Playstation 3, set to debut this Thursday, April 17th.
The fact that the new store is a native PS3 application is news to me and a welcome tidbit at that. It looks like it’ll run very fast and have a slick presentation. The instant trailer watching is a nice touch as well.
While the existing PSN store web-interface wasn’t unworkable, it wasn’t winning any awards. This much-needed update looks to bring the PSN store at least on par with Xbox Live Marketplace. It might actually surpass XBLA in performance, as I’ve noticed some very annoying load times there when scrolling down long lists.
With each update, Sony is slowly and quietly making the PS3 experience equal to Xbox Live. We’ll see if and when they surpass Microsoft’s online platform.
If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy 7 and own a PSP you owe it to yourself to play Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 ASAP. Just stop reading and head over to your favorite retailer and pick up a copy – you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve never played a Final Fantasy game before, or are on the fence about starting with this one, then read on.
Crisis Core is the prequel to what is considered one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, Final Fantasy 7. However, unlike other titles in the series, Crisis Core does not have a turn based combat system. Rather, you control one character (Zack Fair) in an almost real-time action title. Combat almost reminded me of my time with God of War: Chains of Olympus as there is a button to roll/dodge and one to defend. Quite often I would play encounters like I did with GoW, dodging and blocking judiciously. Make no mistake, though, the game contains elements that are undeniably Final Fantasy.
The world’s most famous horror author cum BoSox fan, Stephen King, moonlights as a pop culture columnist for Entertainment Weekly. His latest post rails on a proposed Massachusetts legislation that would ban “violent video game” sales to anyone under the age of 18.
According to the proposed bill, violent videogames are pornographic and have no redeeming social merit. The vid-critics claim they exist for one reason and one reason only, so kids can experience the vicarious thrill of killing. Now, what does and doesn’t have social merit is always an interesting question, one I can discuss for hours. But what makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic.
King later brings up the example of the similar uproar in the 60’s over “unwholesome” comic books. The comics code authority was established as a censor board to keep “inappropriate material” away from children.
Did censoring comics produce an entire generation of cherubic humans? Does anyone give a shit about the CCA nowadays?
There’s simply no substitute for good parenting. You can argue over the moral value or even artistic merit of video game content, but the fact remains that games are only one form of entertainment in our society. Just like movies or comics or television, there are rating systems to help you, as a parent, determine what your kids should be consuming.
Of course, the optimal solution is to have a good knowledge of pop culture and to know your child’s interests and susceptibilities. If you’ve done your job right, little 16 year old Timmy can play Grand Theft Auto IV and still grow up to be a doctor.
Trusting and expecting septuagenarian politicians to do your parenting for you is a sure-fire way to not win that daddy of the year award.
Read Stephen King on video games [ew.com]
I came across this video of a supposed Quake 3 port to the iPhone/iPod Touch yesterday. From my quick detective skills, it looks like the work of a Canadian developer from Hermitworks.
This could all be a complete fabrication for all I know, but goddamn do I want to believe its veracity. The framerate looks very smooth and bodes well for the iPhone/iPod touch as able gaming devices, at least graphically. The controls, on the other hand, seem to be pretty awkward for a twitch shooter like Quake 3.
I wouldn’t plan on beating fatal1ty on your iPhone, but at least you can say your phone runs Quake 3! We might have to update the age old tech gadget question to: “Yeah, but can it run Doom 3?”
Well, I finally did my duty as a red-blooded gamer last night and pre-ordered my copy of the upcoming Playstation 3 blockbuster, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. As an aside, I gotta admit there is no more depressing time to be at a fairly isolated Gamestop than 15 minutes before closing on a random Thursday. There wasn’t a soul in the store and the employees looked more downtrodden than Eeyore.
Anyway, what got me out there was the awesome pre-order bonus that Konami is offering when you put down your $5. You get a DVD entitled “Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2” which is essentially a well produced (it better be since Hideo Kojima himself is credited as the producer!) recap of the previous games in the Metal Gear franchise. It runs about 30 minutes long and contains a lot of in game cutscene spoilers from the previous games. So if you haven’t played through the other games yet and don’t want it spoiled, you may want to hold off on watching this bonus dvd.
As someone who has played through every game in the series, though, it was a nice refresher to get me pumped up about the new game. It even includes all of the currently released Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers too! (Including the epic 16 minute trailer from E3 2006)
The other big draw of this pre order bonus is an enclosed code to download and play the Metal Gear Online beta in mid-April. If MGO is anything like the Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops online game was on the PSP, I can see it being forgotten in the annals as the PSP title was fairly boring. But, hey, it’s free and it has a shot at being decent given its pedigree. Lord knows the PS3 could use more exclusive multiplayer experiences.
All in all a GREAT package and a shining example on how to reward customers for pre-ordering titles.
Wayne goes through a retrospective of how we got to where we are today, gaming in high definition.
I will say that he forgets to mention Soul Calibur 2 on the Xbox. That was the first game i used to demo my shiny new HD TV back in the summer of 2005. It ran in 540P which was noticeably better than the 480p titles on the PS2/Xbox, but could not compare to the first generation Xbox 360 titles.
Read “The Long Road To High Definition Gaming” [highdefdigest.com]
I never really cared much for Gran Turismo soundtracks, because usually when I play Gran Turismo it is serious business and I need to turn off the music.
However, yesterday, SCEA announced that a remix of a brand new Weezer song, “Automatic,” would be included in the soundtrack (“mixtape”) for the upcoming US release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.
Everyone hungers for new Weezer material and the above clip showcases both the game and the song. I can’t say I recognize Rivers’ voice in the song, but I think I’m liking what I hear. It certainly fits a driving mood.
It’ll be interesting to see if the LA Riots did some heavy remixing to the vocals or if it’s a new direction for Weezer.
Read the full mixtape list [blog.us.playstation.com]
