Yes, you can now sell murder simulators to impressionable youth....

At least that's probably how some idiot like Jack Thompson would interpret the Supreme Court Justice's historic ruling that Video Games are in fact protected speech and therefore criminalizing them is a no-no. Now, I do not think restricting minors' access to M-rated titles is a bad idea, they are for adults and anyone under 18 who can't get their parents to buy it for them just has to deal with it. Criminalizing it however is another matter altogether and not something that should be attached to a valid form of art (which video games are regardless of what some deluded movie critic thinks) that does enjoy first amendment protection.

Need another reason to buy Playstation plus? Today's update should give you 2 perfectly valid reasons (on top of all the other awesome reasons so far): Free download of Streets of Rage 2, arguably the finest side-scrolling fighter actually made and guaranteed access to the increasingly awesome-sounding Uncharted 3 multi-player beta.I try and avoid most mp these days as it's nearly all inferior attempts at aping stuff like Modern Warfare or Battlefield but Uncharted 3's mp sounds so vastly different it actually warrants attention. I may have mocked the idea of this pay for stuff you may not want plan at first but frankly in terms of perks it pretty much beats out Gold in every single measure, though IMHO (and most opinions) has a far superior set-up for online (i.e. not having to download and then install and not really being able to do much during).

Ok that's really all I have for today, but I should have another post up tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Brave

Blast from the Past...

To say the years since the 16-bit heyday of the Genesis have not been kind to former Mario rival Sonic would be a massive understatement, as Sega has chipped away any goodwill they built up from his prime with terrible after terrible release. There was the rare bright spot, namely a majority of the portable titles and Sonic 4: Epsiode I was a decent attempt to return for form, but it's becoming harder and harder for longtime Sonic fans to give a damn anymore.

And yet, Sonic Generations shows us a glimmer of hope. Not a big glimmer, mind you, but the demo that popped on Xbox live a few days ago showed us just a glimpse of what Sonic could be, letting us play the Green Hill Zone in glorious hi-def. It was a brief experience but it was a magical one. Now, I'm not about to get fooled again, Sega has spent way too much time burying their once beloved mascot and pissing on the grave to get me truly truly excited again, but they do have me holding out just a little hope that Generations will bring back at least a little bit of the 16-bit glory.

I also saw Green Lantern yesterday. Maybe it's because my expectations were just a tad lowered because of the really bad reviews it has gotten, but I'm not understanding the hate at all. At least one review said it was worse than Jonah Hex. I can tell you it's far better than that laughably awful movie. It's certainly not up there with the greats like Dark Knight and I might rank it below say X-Men First Class or Thor but it's still a really solid flick with good performances and fun action sequences. People complained about too much CGI as well, but it's a movie about an intergalactic police force, what did you expect? I get this sense that people were either just suffering from too many comic movies or just expecting something way different and didn't get it and a perfectly good film suffered for it. Unfortunately this may quash the planned trilogy, which would be a shame because I would definitely be up for another one.

Ok that's really all I have for today but I should have another post up tomorrow or Tuesday. Until then here's your BIG BANG CLIP OF THE WEEK:

The Top 8 Nintendo classics that should be remade for the 3DS

You know what arguably the best part of Ocarina of Time 3D is? It actually looks like what I remember it like in my mind, because let's face it as much as it was an awesome title, it really hasn't aged well. Now it looks on par with a high-end Gamecube title, which is a huge upgrade, along with the improved z-targeting and 3D capabilities has made it the definitive version of a highly regarded classic, which is not an easy thing to do. And after playing it for awhile I can honestly say if all the 3DS ends up being good for is portable remakes of classics (i.e. Starfox 64 will hit in a few months and Tales of the Abyss should be released sometime this year) I'd be pretty happy as long as they are of the caliber of OOT. With that in mind, here's 8 Nintendo classics that could use a 3D upgrade: 

Blast Corps: One of the most original and fun N64 titles, Blast Corps, from Rare's glory days, always gets mentioned whenever someone puts up a list of best Nintendo or especially best N64 titles. Deservedly so, and it hasn't really made any sort of resurgence in the nearly 15 years since it originally came out. A fully realized re-release with some graphical upgrades and 3D capabilities added would make this classic even better.

Super Mario 64: The above picture should be proof enough of why we need a definitive version of this on the 3DS. One of the greatest games of all time and arguably still the greatest Mario game to date, much like OOT, the classic gameplay hasn't aged a bit, but the at the time stunning graphics sure as hell have not. This classic really deserves the same treatment that OOT got, and sadly we may miss out because of a quick and dirty port to the DS when the system launched that added virtually nothing to the game and it may be considered digging into the well once to often.

Banjo-Kazooie: Man, I forgot how many good games Rare made before Microsoft bought them (seriously, what the hell happened there?), and nearly all of them on the Nintendo 64. This being another prime example, one of the best-selling titles on the systems, easily stood toe-to-toe with any platformer at the time, only bested by Mario 64. And sure, it's gotten a solid digital release for 360 owners, but a portable version to bolster the 3DS' platformer library would be quite a welcome announcement.

Donkey Kong 64:  Another classic Rare title (I know they got paid a lot of $. but Rare seriously lost something when they left Nintendo), and another awesome platformer. A lot of N64 owners actually missed out on this because it was one of the few games that required the expansion pack, yet another Nintendo add-on that offered tons of potential, but was rarely used. A re-release with online for the extremely fun multi-player modes is very warranted.

DK Jungle Beat: Granted, mini-bongos would be awesome, but realistically the touchscreen is a perfect fit for this rather brilliant but virtually ignored title. It obviously wouldn't benefit too much from the implementation of 3D, but honestly just the thought of playing it on the go with a touch screen gives me very happy thoughts.

Super Metroid: Other M left a pretty bad taste in most people's mouths, so it's time to remind people exactly how awesome a 2D Metroid can be, and what better way then with a proper re-release of one of the greatest games ever made? I would keep it side-scrolling with a huge graphical upgrade, and use the 3D for things like map layouts, which would be a pretty awesome effect.

Wave Race: Just an incredibly fun racing game that seemed to sort of get ignored once Mario Kart 64 hit, it would do really well on the 3DS, taking advantage of not only the graphical boost and 3D effects, but the tilt controls could also be used incredibly well, like many other titles it could easily be the definitive version of a classic.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: I think it's been long enough that most of us would enjoy another Hoth level, especially in 3D. The 3DS seems custom built for this title, and the somewhat similar Star Fox 64 will probably be a perfect example of this. Done correctly this could pretty much be a killer app for the 3DS, and although probably unlikely at this point due to either licensing issues or Lucas just having his head up his ass for so long, it is easily the remake I would like to see most on this system.

Ok that's all for today, with a little luck I'll be able to get a post in tomorrow. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Robinson Crusoe: The Game

Will you follow Suda 51 to Hell and back?

Ok unfortunately there will be no Ocarina of Time impressions as of yet as I wasn't able to get my hands on the game until this afternoon so I won't really get any quality time with it until tonight and hopefully I can give impressions sometime between tomorrow and Saturday. In the meantime there are several big games out this week worth discussing, the most interesting probably being the latest from Suda 51, who brought us awesomely weird games such as Killer 7 and the No More Heroes games, Shadows of the Damned, featuring a gun named Johnson. Yeah, it's not afraid to go for the easy jokes, but then No More Heroes was all about some ultimate nerd rage fantasy so it seems very keeping with the style you've come to know and sometimes love from Suda. I've previously mentioned I pretty much see him as the Quentin Tarantino of video games, which can be a polarizing factor, but for the most part I really enjoy his work and hopefully this wacky trip to Hell will be no different.

Dungeon Siege III also is out but judging from the demo and the reviews this strictly falls under the "buy if you've gotten everything else interesting" category. Shame too, as we could use a console-focused dungeon crawler that didn't really dumb itself down.

Finally there's F3ear. And no that's not a typo, it's the 3rd game in the desperately trying to be scary Fear series, but instead of simply going with Fear 3 they went with the absurdly stupid F3ear. This could be the best game ever and I probably won't ever get it just on principle. But since it's your standard shooter just mixed with horror elements I doubt it's much special to begin with.

Ok, that's all for today with a little luck I'll get a couple of posts in by Saturday. In the meantime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Muppets

Robin Williams and the Legend of his Beard...

Seriously, just look that damn thing. Sorry about no post yesterday but I've been fairly sick the last couple days, praying I'm mostly better tomorrow so I can actually go pick this up. Granted there is always a chance that a re-release, especially with a makeover like this will suddenly remind us of things that we somehow glossed over in our fond memories of a classic, but this is indisputably one of the finest games ever made. You normally don't mess with such a nearly flawless formula. Yet all the reviews point to this as being the definitive version of this highly revered title. It also finally is a title that really justifies owning a 3DS(because as far asI can tell the only worthwhile title before now was . Yes it would be bad if the primary reason to own this was 3D remakes of old classics, but this is a good title to really push the system early in it's life and hopefully this is mainly something to appease us early adopters til later this year when the system really starts getting some quality original titles.

Ok that's really all I've got energy for today, I should have a post up Wednesday at the latest with my impressions and with thoughts of other things. In the meantime, here's your BIG BANG THEORY CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Is the future of rpgs in the portable market?

Admittedly this was sort of touched on in a recent issue of Game Informer, but I mean to expand on it quite a bit more here. Truthfully if you take a good look at the libraries of the consoles and their portable counterparts these days, if you are looking for something besides the hugely budgeted, barely recognized as an rpg anymore efforts from the likes of Bioware and Square Enix, increasingly you are finding it in the portable market. There are smaller cultish titles, titles rich in and proud of their JRPG roots, beautifully remade classics, and occasionally the newest entry of a long-running series.

And maybe this is the way it should be. Games seem to ballooning in budget, which leaves little to no room on consoles for niche titles. If you want to do an rpg on there, it almost automatically suffers from it's niche market to begin with. Hell Mass Effect 3 was officially delayed to make it appeal to a wider audience. Now I love the ME games, but what started out as a futuristic rpg with slight shooter trimmings has become pretty much the inverse of that, becoming less and less what drew in rpg fans in the first place. It's happened with Dragon Age as well. The original was a harsh old school rpg while the sequel was much more casual. Now I enjoyed both these titles, but if everybody follows in their footsteps we are left with what we've got now which is a huge gap in worthwhile rpgs for the home audiences. Turn to portables and that is nowhere near the case, as between retail and downloadable releases you seem to on average having a couple every month. Admittedly I may get an PSP Vita just so I can play all the PSP rpgs I'm currently missing out on. And you are seeing series that previously were only on console migrate to the portables such as Dragon Quest and Paper Mario.

Now some of this makes sense fiscally, these titles are cheaper to develop on portables and much less of a risk. But despite the original idea of portables only being good for bite-sized gaming, this just seems like an increasingly good and natural fit for this genre, as it's just overall a great landscape to be more experimental and being something where it's easier to fnd your niche audience. I believe portables are pretty much the future of rpgs (at least rpgs as we've traditionally defined them) and that future is actually looking increasingly bright.

Well that's it for the main crux of today's post, but of course a new post for the week means a new bit of Zelda goodness: JOHN HUGHES THE LEGEND OF ZELDA




And of course your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK (and I should be back Friday with a new post): Level Up

Do Not Hail to the King.....

There was a short period where I actually enjoyed Duke Nukem titles. Way back when it was a series of 2D shareware games along with forgotten classics like Commander Keen. But then the FPS explosion happened and someone decided that Duke should suddenly take on all the worst extreme aspects of the 90s. Stealing catchphrases from much cooler characters, so much machismo that it would make Andrew Dice Clay say enough already and of course lots of nudity and swearing because that's "edgy". All this was put first and gameplay second, as it was pretty boilerplate shootemup action, but it sold extremely well anyways.

Now he's back and suddenly people are realizing what they should've realized 20 goddamn years ago. Duke Nukem sucks. They claim he is so iconic of the 90s, but in reality he is iconic of the worst of the 90s stuff that was truly great in the 90s is still either fondly remembered or still around as great as it always was.

Moving on, Zelda is 25, and along with Nintendo commemorating it for the rest of the year, I plan to commemorate it every post this week until the long-awaited release of LEGEND OF ZELDA:  THE OCARINA OF TIME 3D. You could argue every game Zelda title since then was pretty much a take on OOT in some form or another and that's because it's simply of of the greatest games ever made. So to start things off, here's a great vid of possibly the only person who could ever explain the Zelda timeline: DOC BROWN!



That's really all for today, but I should have another post up tomorrow. Until then here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: 50/50

The E3 game I'm currently most excited about...

 Is Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS. Why do I even care about a sequel to a quickly forgotten Gamecube launch title that nearly everyone (including myself being completely honest) considers a poor choice when Nintendo had much more bankable stars? Well for one, I've always liked Luigi more than Mario. He's more human, has more personality, the he's the Donald to Mario's Mickey. Mario is almost lacking a personality at this point because they've been so concerned on making him the family friendly face of Nintendo that he cannot possibly be flawed and have any edge or flaws and therefore he is pretty bland. It's Luigi who gets to not be perfect and cowardly and actually overcomes his fears in most games he's in, so getting him another chance to step out from his brother's shadow is a great thing. Also, while a poor choice to launch the Gamecube with, the original was a really solid game that was a lot of fun, it was just short, like 6 hours max. This one promises to be much longer with several mansions to traverse and a whole ton of new tricks at your disposal to use. While not an original IP it is a pleasant surprise to see Nintendo giving one of their best secondary characters some long overdue love. It just sucks that I have to wait til next year to play it.

Ok that's really it for today's post.  I should hopefully have another post up this weekend, but no gaurauntees as it's pretty packed at the moment. In the meantime I leave you with your TRAILER OF THE WEEK:  Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo

Post-mid E3 thoughts....

E3 isn't quite over yet, but the big 3 had their press conferences, which are usually the thing people care about most each year, so let's break those down:

Microsoft: Awful, just awful. People complained about Nintendo abandoning the hardcore, but that was on full display here as it looked like the 360 was just becoming Kinect with a couple of trivial titles thrown at the core crowd to keep them satiated. Admittedly it wasn't as mind-boggling painful as last year But the only midly interesting thing in the entirely laughable 90 minutes was the live TV service which may not be much of anything depending on what they offer at what price.

Sony: Arguably Sony's biggest mistake this year was no big blockbuster announcements. There was nothing really surprising for the core players. The Move had nothing but really boring titles. The Vita looks perfectly serviceable but I didn't see one title that makes it a must buy. Honestly after the PSN network debacle I expected them to blow the doors off because frankly they needed to and they didn't. Pretty much the only positive is that a new Sly Cooper game was coming.



Nintendo: Ok yes, Nintendo. You sold me on the 3DS because while it started off soft, there are a ton of games in the near future that will be awesome. So I picked one up after the conference and so far I'm really enjoying it. But where's the new IP? There doesn't seem to be any. Wii support? None aside from Zelda which apparently is the last Wii game ever. Ok but what about the new console, the Wii U? Hell if I know. A bunch of major 3rd party titles were announced, but it was nearly all titles that would be out long before the system itself is. You want me to wait to play Arkham City? You're fucking nuts. And really, the main thing they seemed to focus on-that you can continue playing your game when somebody else wants to use the TV, doesn't seem like much of a feature. I mean I love the idea of playing Zelda in 1080p on my 42-inch flatscreen but not extremely thrilled about say my wife wanting to watch something and me really having no valid excuse to say no since I can transfer it to my much much smaller screen. And honestly the controller looks fucking huge and clumsy. I'll hold off judgement until I get to handle it and given that they've already announced Smash Bros. is at least in development I'll get one at some point but this is far from a day one buy to me right now.


Ok that's it. I should be back tomorrow with more E3 thoughts. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Goin Up

My 9 most anticipated E3 games....

Ok so Kung Fu Panda 2 review may not be coming, it was frankly too damn hot out today and after running a couple errands I was in no mood to brave the heat again. I'm sure your all crushed. Unfortunately due to my schedule, I probably won't have time to watch and post about the 3 big E3 conferences until Wednesday (I'm considering cutting myself off from most of it until then and just watching the conferences in one solid block). But like everybody else I've got games I'm absolutely salivating over to read about and see new videos posted. So here are the top 9 I'm most excited to check out (and you should probably be too)

#9: Fable: The Journey-Fable has a really divisive history. I think most would agree the closest the series has come to actually attaining the lofty goals set by Peter Molyneux was II, with III being a huge step backwards. But I'm willing to give the 360's flagship rpg series another shot. Of course, they most driving thing is aside from a title, we really know nothing. Is it a Kinect spin-off? Major expansion/DLC? A collection of craptacular minigames? Either way as of right know I'm extremely interested to find out.

#8 X-Men : Destiny-Now granted, X-men games haven't been extremely exciting as of late, but this wholly original game not tied to any movies or TV shows that has you starring as a new member who gets to fight alongside the X-men just screams awesome potential. Of course, there's plenty of potential for it to go the other way, but over the last few years when we have gotten a licensed game that isn't tied into any movie or TV show we've actually gotten pretty solid results so hopefully this'll be true of this game as well.

#7 Uncharted: Golden Abyss-Sony's NGP/Vita/whatever has to make one hell of a showing considering how poorly the PSP did in order to convince people it's not going to be the same thing. Golden Abyss may be the exact title to do that. The Uncharted games are arguably the best reason to own a PS3 and could be a very. very compelling reason to buy Sony's new portable if they really do it right.

#6 Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One-Ratchet and Clank games always deliver compelling fun gameplay, and this should be no exception. Adding in co-op online play is a daring new step, but one that seems badly needed with all the "me-too" online shooters these days. It would be a well overdue breath of fresh air to have a title like this that is probably the closest thing we may ever get to New Super Mario Bros. Online.

#5 Super Mario 3DS-Admittedly the 3DS lineup has been majorly lacking in solid games. Hopefully at E3 this will change, spearheaded by an orginal Mario game that while we don't know a lot about at this point, has been promised to be a combination of Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy which just sounds like the best game ever.

#4 Zelda: Skyward Sword-Possibly the Wii's swan song, also possibly a launch title for Project Cafe? Nintendo has done it before. Either way, Zelda games are always amazing and usually great at showing what Nintendo consoles really are capable of and Skyward Sword will be no different, at this point I just want to know it'll actually be out within a year.

#3 Skyrim: It has been way too long since we have seen an Elder Scrolls game and I don't think I've spent more time on any one game, pouring a couple hundred hours into Oblivion. I'm very prepared to do it all over again. This will be a timesink like no other, and we will welcome it gladly.

#2 Arkham City-The sequel to the best superhero game ever aims even bigger and actually looks to outdo its predecessor with more villains, more gadgets and even a little help from Catwoman. I'm still amazed at how good Arkham Asylum is because according to all logic a licensed game just can't be that awesome and yet Arkham City seems primed to somehow top it.

#1 Mass Effect 3: The epic conclusion of the greatest video game trilogy of this generation (possibly ever) is finally here. And It'll be different for everybody. Who's still alive? Who's pissed at you? What seemingly minor decision did you make way back in the first game that has probably doomed the galaxy to extinction? It all comes to a head here in what promises to be one hell of a finale. And you know it will want to make you go through the series time and time again just to see all the possible outcomes.

All right that's the list. Most likely the next time I post will be Wednesday, but I may post sooner if possible. Until then, here's your BIG BANG THEORY CLIP OF THE WEEK:

PENNY ARCADE... THE MOVIE?!?

Well sort of. If you don't regularly keep up with Penny Arcade, in addition to their pretty brilliant constant commentary on games and pop culture, does a lot of inspired one-off ideas that really seem like they could be developed a lot further into full blown comics, TV shows, Movies, etc. Nothing ever really seems to come of it, but hopefully this will be a huge launching pad for PA properties because really, we need to see a real version Automata as soon as possible...

Moving on to movies of the here and now, the X-Men reboot First Class opens today. Admittedly with X-Men's last outing being rather abysmal and the rights still being owned by Fox we shouldn't have too high expectations, especially of something that just screams quick dirty reboot. But you give Matthew Vaughn source material and he makes it work, as evidenced by the really high praise it's already getting. I unfortunately don't have time to see it this weekend, but I fully intend to check it out next week so look for a review sometime after all the E3 madness most likely.

The PSN network is back up, yay! No freebies as of yet but I did download the demo for Infamous 2, which hits next week. My thoughts? Maybe it was just the limits of the demo but for missions in an open landscape it seemed very arbitrarily limited. For example I come to a big park where a huge fight is going on between soldiers and monsters. The lead monster is called Ravager. I led it away from the park and killed it on a roof top that wasn't far away, but somehow that was considered failing the mission and I had to start over. Makes absolutely no sense. Otherwise, I have the same issues I did with the first game, and that's ultimately that the controls feel iffy and way too loose, making anything that requires precision difficult (especially say launching cars at enemies, which while a cool idea, is nearly impossible to do with any accuracy).

Finally, file this under incredibly stupid ideas. Now, I'd love to see an awesome Star Trek game based on the new Star Trek movie. Obviously a Star Trek game would involve space exploration & combat, possibly with some shooter elements thrown in if you are boarded by Klingons or whatever. But a whole game based strictly around co-op shooting with Kirk & Spock? Excuse me for a moment....

Ok that's it for today, but I will hopefully have another post up tomorrow with my review of Kung Fu Panda 2 as well as a couple other things. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Dragon Age Legends Remix

Of Dungeons (and possibly Dragons)...

Ok so I may have admittedly been a tad premature stating that there are no rpgs a little while ago, because suddenly I've realized that the first half of 2011 is pretty much the return of the dungeon crawler. Between Torchlight, Daggerdale, Hunted: The Demon's Forge, which just came out today and Dungeon Siege III which hits in a few weeks anyone who has a urge for hack n slash should be pretty satiated. Of course the real question is if you can't afford all of them, which ones are a good bet? Torchlight is already a pretty proven commodity, pretty much its only downfall is its lack of co-op. But its also been out for months so there's an incredibly decent chance you already own that. Daggerdale, despite bearing the Dungeons and Dragons pedigree has gotten at best so-so reviews for being a brainless, buggy hack-fest.

Now Dungeon Siege III is arguably has arguably the highest profile of these titles and a demo was released today. While it boasts solid graphics and varied hack-n-slash gameplay that is decently satisfying, it seemed to be lacking anything resembling restorative items. Now granted, this could be merely because it's a demo and they weren't included or you get them later, but relying strictly on energy orbs that randomly appear and/or save points is definitely a dealbreaker for me.

So that essentially leaves us with Hunted: The Demon's Forge. I guess the biggest issue with this is it's complete lack of profile. I had barely heard about the game until a few weeks ago, and the tagline about it being "a dungeon crawl for the Gears crowd" (referring to Gears of War) worries me some, as I'm not particularly fond of the Gears series. And then there is the lack of reviews. Granted, even for big critically acclaimed games review embargoes are not unusual, but the game is out, and there are still no reviews from any major gaming outlet of what is arguably the biggest title out this week. That really gives me more pause than anything.

This is fine for me, I've gotten back into the hidden PS3 gem Valkyria Chronicles, but for somebody desperately looking for a new rpg to play, this just seems like a huge pile of disappointment. Hopefully something will come along this summer to clear up the doldrums.

That's all for today, I will try to have another post up Thursday or Friday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

What the Big 3 Need to do at E3....

We are fastly approaching this year's big video games show and it's easily poised to be one of the most exciting in a long, long time with a lot of big things to talk about from each company. Of course we have a rough idea of what the each company is going to talk about, but not every one of them is going to be addressing issues that are staring them right in the face, so here's things they should be talking about:

Microsoft: Microsoft's biggest failure nearly every year is that they always play it incredibly goddamn safe. I don't remember a single year where I was pleasantly surprised by anything or even really surprised at all for that matter. We need to know that Microsoft hasn't pulled a Nintendo-esque move and is solely focusing on Kinect and its new casual base. And while catering to that base with Kinect isn't a bad idea, how about some games to show that Kinect is not just the Wii in HD without a controller? Because so far we've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Sure there's a Star Wars game in development. Big whoop, Star Wars games hardly have a great track record and there's several on Wii that range from mediocre to completely terrible. Microsoft might even want to go as far as at least teasing their next console in order to show that they are not resting on their casual laurels. And show us what the hell you are doing with Halo now that Bungie is no longer involved with it. That could be a great new opportunity on a number of levels. Some new IP wouldn't be a terrible idea either frankly as I'm getting a little tired of the 360's biggest guns being Halo & Gears and virtually nothing else.

Sony: Whether or not Sony will mention the huge security breach is kind of a question mark. They have dealt with it for now and they may just want to move on. But I think they should at the very least address it and reiterate why it will never happen again. But far more important are both the Move controller and the NGP. Sony needs to make us care about these products. The NGP already has a pretty lukewarm reception before its even out and with the PSP being a platform for mostly emulation and ports of old games that's kind of expected. Move hasn't moved much,being poorly marketed and shoveled into games that don't work well with it or never needed it. We know the tech itself is good, let's get some games out that aggressively show off why someone should get this over the other options out there.

Nintendo: Lat year, I think Nintendo knew the Wii's days of huge profitability were pretty much done, hence why they decided to more or less push nearly every core franchise out the door in relatively short time. It was actually a pretty good time to be a Wii hardcore gamer last year (the atrocity that was Metroid: Other M notwithstanding). Now it's time for Nintendo to move on and I'm pretty sure they know that(though throwing us a couple awesome titles to send the Wii out with a bang would be nice. With the 3DS what I think they really need to do is show some software not coming next year but coming out by this holiday season that we must buy now because the library for the 3DS is looking extremely pathetic atm and there is virtually no reason to buy one. One thing I think they shouldn't do is announce a re-design already like they are prone to do with their portables, it would just stall sales while people wait.
Now the big question mark is of course "Project Cafe", with so many rumors floating around they can't possibly all be true. But regardless of what kind of tech and tricks the new console is sporting, it seems like Nintendo is aiming to get back into the more hardcore gamer market with this system (I have seen at least one article suggest that it would actually co-exist with the Wii and they would serve separate markets which seems plausible). In order to do that, we need some new, possibly mature IP along with the great franchises that made them the icon of the industry they are today. We also need the price point to not be something that makes us shake our heads, even $299 better offer us a helluva lot for our money considering what we can get from the competition these days. But regardless of what Project Cafe turns out to be, Nintendo really needs to make the case that this is the Next Generation of gaming or else people may just not care.

That's it for today, I'll hopefully have a new post up Monday or Tuesday (possibly with a review of Kung Fu Panda 2 depending on my schedule). Until then here's your BIG BANG THEORY CLIP OF THE WEEK:

Kung Fu Panda 2>Cars 2

This may seem like a really bold statement, especially given that one of these movies is not only from legendary hitmaker Pixar but it isn't even out for a month. Now I should preface this with saying that while I do enjoy some Pixar movies, I have not enjoyed all of their work. I found Monsters Inc to just be irritating, Finding Nemo was fairly underwhelming and the original Cars sort of had to grow on me. And even though Pixar has a much better track record than Dreamworks, the concept of a Panda being a master of Kung Fu still feels fresh enough to tell another story, even if its roughly more of the same. I mean just compare trailers for the two here:



Sure it's more animated Kung Fu action, but the story seems to fit and being that the original was a pleasant surprised, I am pretty excited for the sequel, which I'll probably catch next week when I might have time for it.



Now this trailer seems to scream unimaginative cash-in in nearly every possible way. Cheap toilet humor, a plot that makes no sense throwing the characters into a plot more fitting a 007 film. And what happened to supposedly indispensable team of Radiator Springs locals? Gone except for Larry the Cable Guy's 'Mater", who was easily the most annoying character of the original for anyone over the age of 5, but clearly that's who they are catering to since they crammed a lot more of him in there.

Admittedly these are kids films and maybe I shouldn't care, but Pixar seems to be one the few people that understands that older audiences have to sit through this kiddy garbage too and actually bothered with the idea of making FAMILY films that most people of any age would enjoy. This seems like a step towards being just another studio that craps out kiddy fare that probably rots childrens' minds. It's a Pixar controlled by numbers (Cars to my knowledge is their most profitable property) and that takes the properties we love and buries our fond memories with terrible sequel after terrible sequel. This may be me being completely paranoid. After all, they for now have stopped the Toy Story movies at 3 (all of which were excellent) and have claimed there will be no more, but even if they leave that series alone there are plenty of others they could shamelessly mine for years if not decades.

That's all for today, I should hopefully have another post up Friday. Until then, here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Battle for Wayland Keep

The Top 8 PSP games that should be remastered on the PS3

Sony recently announced that they will be remastering certain games in HD for release on the PS3. I actually think this is a great idea, as while the system is/was kind of a disaster there were a pretty decent amount of solid games released for the system. There are a couple of pretty obvious options like the Metal Gear & God of War titles, in fact those are so obvious they aren't on this list. I'm really hoping we won't get ports of games that were already ports themselves, so here's 8 original PSP titles that should get a well-deserved HD upgrade:

#8: Lumines: This really solid Tetris knockoff may not be the most obvious choice. But it's a beautiful almost hypnotic experience that would probably be even moreso on a 1080p TV. And I think this would actually be a great title to incorporate Move into as it would add a whole new dimension to play.

#7: Daxter: One of the first great PSP games. Even more surprising considering it stars Jak's mostly annoying sidekick. This was one of the first few games that really showed off what the PSP was capable of with solid platforming and really good graphics practically on par with any PS2 title. A revival in HD would be welcome and also possibly a prelude to a long overdue proper Jak & Daxter title.

#6: Jeanne  D'arc: The PSP is host to a large library of great rpgs, nearly all of which are ports of older titles. Jeanne D'arc is one of the few original titles developed directly for the PSP and by the great minds at Level 5 no less. It would be a great standout rpg on any system, and frankly the PS3 could use it as it is kind of lacking in really solid rpgs atm.

#5: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is one of the biggest rpgs of all time, and fans are always clamoring for more of it. Pretty much all they've gotten so far is this PSP spin-off title, but it's a damn good one with a great story and really solid rpg elements and also help bolster the PS3's rpg library.

#4: Locoroco: This completely oddball little title may seem like an odd choice, but think about it, this game is all about motion, flipping the levels to guide your blobs along the way. With Move controls incorporated, this could really be a showcase title for Move that might help it get past the Wii-wannabe stage it's in at the moment.

#3: Valkyria Chronicles II: The original Valkyria Chronicles tale is an all too common one of a brilliant game championed by reviewers and its small core of fans but largely ignored by the general public. Luckily it survived to go on to the PSP (with a 3rd title already released in Japan and hopefully on the way here soon) but I'm willing to bet the fans of the original who also own a PSP are far and few between and they certainly deserve a shot to own without having to blow the money on a PSP just to experience it.

#2: Patapon: Another title that would be a great showcase for Move, but this is also one of the best and most popular series for the PSP, with it's original and unique gameplay. This is pretty much a no-brainer, really.

#1: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters: Admittedly my love of the Ratchet & Clank games in general may make me a little biased, but this is just as good as any R & C game released on home consoles. And there is a another big reason. This excellent title did receive a PS2 port, but it was ugly & buggy. A properly done HD port on the PS3 is most certainly warranted and would also help the seemingly long time we are going to have to wait for a proper new Ratchet & Clank game (All 4-One notwithstanding, it isn't a traditional R & C game).

Ok that's the list. Hopefully this idea will prove pretty fruitfuland we will see lots of great ports instead of quick poorly done cash ins. I should be doing another post tomorrow, but until then here is your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: My Idiot Brother

Neverending Story...

Ok so I don't know when I'll get to give impressions on L.A. Noire since my local Blockbuster didn't even get it in (and this is the latest in a series of high profile titles, so odds are they aren't going to be around much longer. It did lead me to reactive my gamefly account but since getting brand new stuff is basically a crapshoot it may be awhile before I really get my hands on it.

Alan Wake was a high-profile title that had been in development for many years. And like so many before it, it failed to live up to the ridiculously high expectations set upon it. It's a shame really, because take away those impossible standards and you've got a really solid and creative game that deserved a better fate than largely being ignored. Well apparently we are going to get more of it in at least downloadable fashion. It's not as good as a sequel, but hopefully if it does reasonably well we can get into the further adventures of Wake because they are some of the more original you'll find this generation.

FInally, more supposed news about Nintendo's new ultimate console that does everything even more than the PS3 does. Apparently the controller also has a camera. Now this might have some credence given Nintendo's new focus on augmented reality gaming that they introduced on the 3DS, but it doesn't really gel realistically with everything else we've heard so far. Hell at this point if have the stuff is true it'll have to cost $1,000 and be a hopelessly complicated mess no one will ever figure out. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Nintendo is just leaking out all this info so whatever they do have at E3 will be completely different from anything we've heard and we'll all be blown away.

Ok that's it for today, I most likely won't be posting this weekend, but we'll see if I have time. So until next week, here's a NEW FEATURE that I will post whenever I have at least 3 posts in a week (which is what I will try and do): THE BIG BANG THEORY CLIP OF THE WEEK:

GRRR!!! SONY'S NOT GIVING ME ENOUGH FREE STUFF!!!

Well after about a month the PSN network is finally back up and running, and to make amends for basically having their userbase not able to go online for that long and possibl having their data stolen, PS3 owners get lots of free stuff. Sure there are some free days with PS+ and other things, but what we mainly care about is FREE GAMES. Which Sony has promised to provide  as soon as the PSN store is actually up and running. Of course, since all the titles or games that have been out for awhile and are poplar games, a lot of people already own them which has some PS3 owners crying foul. Sony's stance is basically that this is what they've decided, and if you aren't happy with it too bad.

Now of course you can't please everybody, and people are always going to find stuff to bitch about, but I find this offer oddly arbitrary. 2 games is more than adequate but why only from a very select list of 4? I get they are highly praised, but that just increases the odds you already own the games. Why not just let us pick any 2 greatest hits titles or PSN titles that were $30 or less? That would probably actually save Sony money in the long run since some people may pick cheaper titles. It just seems extremely odd that Sony is supposedly bending over backwards to please their base and when the base raises some valid concerns their response is to be stubborn and blunt and not even consider amending the offer. Now to be completely fair, Sony didn't have to really do anything and anyone who actually throws a tantrum/threatens to sue or boycott is a moron, But it's very hard to understand Sony's reasoning behind why the list so limited.



Ok that's all for today, with a little luck I'll have a post up tomorrow (most likely Thursday though) with my L.A. Noire impressions. In the meantime here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Dimension Diver

L.A. Noire looks amazing. Can't wait til somebody makes a game out of it...

L.A. Noire is of course Rockstar's huge benchmark title that comes out tomorrow. It's already getting high marks from most of the major outlets. But I can already see the underlying problem, and it's a more common one than you'd think-All the reviews are talking about the compelling story, the amazing facial technology and the stunning recreation of 1940s era Los Angeles. But talking about how the game actually plays or whether there is really much gameplay beyond the bound to get repetitive interrogation sequences? Virtually non-existent. This has been an issue in games like Heavy Rain and Shenmue where way too much focus was on the story and somewhere along the line somebody forgot to program in exciting and compelling GAMEPLAY. I mean I love the dialogue stuff in games like Mass Effect and indeed pretty much all Bioware efforts. But if that's all there was to those titles, I sure as hell would not pay $60 to experience it. I'm sure that L.A. Noire represents a huge leap forwarding what games can be capable of doing, but so do a lot of tech demos, and this seems more like a really stretched out tech demo to me. I do plan on renting it this week so hopefully I can give a more informed opinion by Thursday or Friday.

Ok that's really it for my post today, but I am going to really try to post more often (try and really get back up to 3 posts a week like I used to), maybe more. So until next time, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Horrible Bosses

CONSOLES ARE TEH DOOMED!!!!

According to Fox News anyways. Now, I really, really don't pay attention to politics much at all. I think all the news networks are ridiculous, but it's always funny when they try and be relevant to people under 60. I mean let's say this actually happens, games go truly digital. Are consoles going to be the thing of the past? Hell no. They'll just differentiate themselves much the way they do now-exclusives games and services. It's already like this-there are things you just can't get on one system. Let's talk about mobile gaming-it's all the same right? Then why doesn't everybody have the same mobile gaming device? And frankly like it was said in the article, there is a huge difference between gaming on the go and gaming in HD on a giant TV. And a huge component of games these days is things like multi-player and DLC. Mobile devices aren't really well-equipped for either. I do think casual mobile gaming is here to stay but it might very well experience a bubble bursting with the hugely overwhelming amount of shovelware that makes most of the crap on the Wii look like triple A titles.

Ok that's really all I got for today, I should have another post up by Wednesday, in the meantime here's your FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: A Knight's Quest

Not a Pirates life for me....

I was all excited to play the new Lego Pirates demo this week, but I found it woefully uninspiring. Now granted, part of it could be that between 2 Star Wars games, and Indiana Jones game, a Batman game and a Harry Potter game (and though I didn't play them there was also another Indy game and and yet a 3rd Star Wars game) that this Lego thing has just worn out its welcome. I mean how many times can you build and smash lego-fied things?

But thinking more on it. I thought the Lego thing had worn out it's welcome with the Indiana Jones games, but then really enjoyed both the Lego Harry Potter & Batman titles. Why is this? I think the key is memorable characters and locations being Lego-fied. As great a series of movies as Indiana Jones is, we really only care about Indiana Jones, nearly every other character is a complete forgettable throwaway. In Star Wars, Batman & Harry Potter , especially if you've read any of the literature based on those properties there are tons of well-established long running characters it is very fun to see a Lego version of. Pirates suffers from a pretty similar issue if you think about it. Aside from Jack Sparrow and maybe a couple of characters like Barbossa & Davy Jones who do we care about (hint if anyone cared about Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann they would be in the new movie)? So really I think what Traveller's Tales has to do for their next game is really find a franchise rich with lots of long-running well known characters. There are plenty still out there (I'd love to see something a little more out of the box like say a Stargate Lego game) so hopefully they will pick wisely rather than just choose a currently popular franchise without a lot of depth to it (i.e. please no Transformers Lego, at least not based on the terrible Michael Bay films).

Ok that's it for today, I am a little busy this weekend with going to the St. Louis Ren Faire (woot!) but I should be able to fit in another post Saturday or Sunday. Til then here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: