Sony Delivers In Game XMB and Trophies

Looks like the boys at Sony finally finished updating the firmware for the PS3, well at least the way rabid fans wanted it to be. The latest configuration should give you access to your XMB Bar while you play your games would give Sony a galore of encomium.

I can almost hear the collective “Sigh” across the net waves as fanboys (and myself) rejoice. Hands down, this was the biggest missing feature, especially for anyone who came from XBOX/360. Still, my hats off to Sony for actually changing their operating system, over time, to meet this user request. Perhaps Microsoft can get in line.

Say hello to the Trophy Whore.

Update: Take a peek at Sony’s PlayStation Blog for even more details: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/06/30/firmware-v240-faq/.

C.O.R.E New FPS Title for NDS

As a marine, you are sent on a mission into the government C.O.R.E. lab complex. The complex was built on the site of a meteor which smashed into the desert some 20 years previously. The facility was built so that government scientists could investigate the impact; everything had been going to plan until 2 weeks ago when all contact was lost. Your mission to investigate why contact has been lost with the facility will be complex and dangerous; the lab covers many levels with offices above ground and chambers below dug deep into the desert bedrock.

The final solution will take place deep down underneath the earth where it is believed that the scientists tunnelled into the remains of the meteor itself. When you and your team reach the final level you will have to face a danger that is a threat for the whole of Mankind.

GEARS 2 - MP Footage

Here in you’ll fine some serious footage on GOW 2 Multiplayer mode.  I say serious because it’s worth looking at.  Cliffy B and other creators indulge us with the different modes and gameplay you can expect for this highly anticipated title for XBOX360.

Most notable are improvements in grenade tagging (noobs), a human based capture the flag mode and more. Mr. B also points out several fixes for the game that include the loss of that Glitch-Chain-ChainSaw-Pwnd-Move, and the inclusion of “you can’t roll at me and shot gun me anymore”.  If you didn’t know, in the previous MP mode you could essentially chain kill multiple enemies with the chain-saw. Chain sawing enemies would temporarily put you into God Mode. Not any more. Also, gamers often take advantage of the dive and roll move (with a shotty in hand), and bumb rush you for an easy close up kill. That’s gone to. So it’s bigger, smarter, and more bad ass.  Oh, lets not forget the most important thing: more blood. I’ve had my fair share of announces with GOW on the PC and clearly relate to the Shotty Gangs, and Chainsaw Chainers. It’s nice to see that developers are punk busting these guys in the arse.

New Footage on Final Fantasy Dissidia

There’s something about pitting several of the villains and heroes of every Final Fantasy story out there against one another that just sounds right.  Well, other than the fact that it sounds like the Square-Enix version of Super Smash Brothers, it still sounds right.  Everyone who has played through more than one of these series had the thought, “Man, what if I had Cloud in FF 9″.  It’s true, though we’re looking at 15 plus versions of the series, there are those episodes that just stand out to us more than others.  I’ve never been partial to the series personally, and always tried to appreciate each as its own, but the idea of Dissidia is akin to an overload.

But its Amazing isn’t it, Square built a franchise that has gotten so deep into the core of gaming, that gamers sworn to one type of genre couldn’t help but take notice.  As my little niece would say “.. don’t get it twisted Uncle” because the title is an action adventure at its core.  The fighting system is aptly named “Dramatic Progressive Action”, so don’t expect any ATB style fights.  You will earn Gil and EP and enjoy a strong nod to Amano-san’s art style as Tetsuya Nomura takes the helm for artistic direction.

It’s so hard to imagine this being a balanced game though but Square-Enix points out that certain characters will have specific moves that enable them to get out of situations while being overpowered by the EX moves that all characters can utilize.  Expect to be busy as you’ll have to block, dodge, jump, attack, cast and manuever throughout the 3D stages.  If you remember Chaos, the force of darkness, it will make an appearance while there will be a new character, Cosmos, as the apposing force of light.  If you expect to complete the Dissidia story you’ll have play through the game as each character and a minimum of 10 characters have been confirmed (not including Cosmos and Chaos).  Saddly, for most westerners, Cloud has not been included in the roster yet, but the appearance of Sephiroth may imply he will make a cameo in the least.

DEADSPACE - COMIC 02 & 03 HD

Enter Parts II and III of the Dead Space Comic written by Anthony Johnston and Ben Templesmith. You can catch episode I here if you would like to brush up.

Episode II takes place right after events of the discovery of the holy relic, the Marker, and explores the continuing effects that it is having on the planet-mining colony.

In Episode III, things start getting a little … funky as the colonists get closer to planet-crack. The hallucinations start taking a hold on just about everyone in the colony, especially the religious sect, and there behavior gets more hostile, frantic, and insane.

Help Capcom Stress Test SSFIITHDR

Looks like Wolf of the Battlefield will be your ticket to get first dibs on Capcoms’ Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. If, and when you download Wolf of the Battlefield, you’ll be able to get access to the SSFIIHDR beta version. Capcom says this goes towards them stress testing the networks for online multiplayer.

The cool thing about this is that the beta will run for a massive eight weeks. Sadly, you’ll only be able to select two characters, Ryu and Ken. As if we weren’t fed up with those two enough already. Lord knows that the 360 has a shit load of Online titles like this so its a pleasure to see it coming to PSN as well.

Lightsaber action on the Wii

Eager fans wanting some lightsaber action using the WII remote will finally get their chance! In LucasArts upcoming WII exclusive Star Wars: The clone wars, players will get the chance to use motion gestures to control a lightsaber on screen. For instance, swing the WII remote to the left and the character on screen swings their lightsaber to left, swing up the character swings the lightsaber up etc. LucasArts promises to let players recreate the hot saber battles from the movies. So far it’s looking good but my only question, is this game a vs. or straight up action game with levels, objectives, bosses etc. I know more info will be revealed soon but for now peep the debut video from Gametrailers.

BMW’s skinned car?!

Hello world, meet the first skinned car! Brought to you by BMW, this concept car called “GINA” could quite possibly represent the future of automobile design. This car’s outside body is coated with a skin like material wich can bend and mold into any shape. This joint looks like some straight out of a sci-fi flick and it looks hot! I like how the headlights resemble eyes and at times it could look freaky. My only concern is how well does that skin hold up in a crash? Anyways peep this sick car in the video below.

source:www.baekdal.com

Call of Duty: World at War debut trailer

Call of Duty 5: World at War is going to scrap the modern update of Infinity Ward’s recent game and will instead take the game back to the roots of the franchise, which is either a good or a bad thing dependent on how resistant to change you are.

World at War will be set in the Pacific theater during World War II, which begs the question of why the game isn’t called Call of Duty 5: World at War, Again.

According to the report from Xbox Magazine, Treyarch is planning to make the game more of a survival horror experience than other games in the series by exploring “the darkest corners of WWII…tackling darker themes” and ptting players against “a new, seemingly alien fighting force.” They also revealed that the game will now support a multiplayer campaign mode where a total of 4 players can join and tackle the story mode.

Sonic Unleashed

Dr. Eggman is the primary antagonist for Sonic Unleashed. In this installment, he has called forth a slumbering beast from the center of the Earth, which causes such devastating tremors that the planet shatters into pieces; it is up to Sonic to return the seven broken continents back to normal by retrieving the Chaos Emeralds and activating their power.

Gameplay will primarily consist of two modes: a 3D sidescroller, with second-person gameplay (as found in the Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals series), with seamless shifts to third-person view where the gameplay looks like (Sonic secret of the rings for the wii). Concepts returning from past games include Sonic’s trademark high-speed gameplay, as well as improved lock-on for automatically targeting and hitting enemies. Sliding across the ground also returns, but players will be able to perform new “side-step maneuvers”, allowing Sonic to dodge obstacles to the left or right at high speed. Another new control mechanic, whose final implementation is still being decided upon by Sega, is “drift turns”, whereby Sonic can slide around a corner.

An on-screen energy meter can be filled by collecting rings, which is used to activate a temporary speed boost, during which time the camera uses a fish-eye effect and motion blur; hitting enemies and obstacles will reduce the meter. The game will also have Town Stages, and players will be able to walk around the environment freely and speak to townspeople.

Kojima/ MGS 4 signing @ Uniqlo NYC

True game head DW was on hand for the MGS 4 Kojima signing at the clothing store, Uniqlo in NYC. The fans were out in droves and excited to get a glimpse and signature of the legendary game producer. Also at the event were the limited edition MGS 4/ Uniqlo collabo tees which flew off the shelves. Unfortunately Kojima wasn’t signing those ( proab’ to avoid the ridiculous ebay prices they would go for). Another plus for the event was the beautiful actress Yumi Kikuchi (Raging Raven) also giving signatures to eager fans. The event was great and it was nice to meet the man himself! Props to Konami, New York Tokyo and Uniqlo for this hot event! Peep the video below.

Agent Clank is shakened, blown-up but not stirred!

Secret Agent Clank is an upcoming platformer developed by High Impact Games exclusively for the PlayStation Portable as a spin-off to the Ratchet & Clank series. The game is set to be released in North America on June 17, 2008 and will star Clank as the main character, playing the role of a secret agent. It is the 7th game in the series (6th chronologically), not including the mobile games. It is being developed by High Impact Games, known for their PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable title, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

Happy Tree Friends videogame…

Shortly after its internet debut in 2000, Happy Tree Friends became an unexpected success, getting over 15 million hits each month, and being shown in film festivals. In some countries, the episodes can be seen on television. On June 10, 2005, the shorts were shown during Attack of the Show!. A series, Happy Tree Friends and Friends, began to air on August 29, 2005, as part of the late night Midnight Spank block, owned by G4. The series also features Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Retarded Animal Babies and Angry Kid. The series has been reformed into its own show, rather than as a part of a compilation as before. It is featured on many websites on which flash cartoons can be watched, such as YouTube, Atom Films, Purple Twinkie, Albino Black Sheep and the official Happy Tree Friends website.

There are 20 main characters in the Happy Tree Friends series, all of which have unique personalities and appearances. There have been many ‘minor’ characters that have appeared on the show, some appearing many times and some appearing only once. And now it’s spawned a videogame I don’t know how honestly I think its going to be fun for about 1 hour.

FFXIII @ DKΣ3713

What does it mean? If you navigate over to Square Enix’s Global hub, then push on through the Japanese section (yea I go there from time to time) you’ll notice this massive announcement. What’s the big deal? Well, boys and girls, looks like Square Enix is about to let loose more information on favorite titles. Yes, that includes Final Fantasy XIII.

In addition more information on that elusive bluray version of Advent Children. How long we wait to see cloud in 1080p action. DK ? 3713 (’D.K. Sigma Three-Seven-Thirteen’) means ‘Dissidia, Kingdom Hearts, Sigma Harmonics, The 3rd Birthday, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children Complete, Final Fantasy 13′. Could they have been any more cryptic? Credit to a hardcore buddy of mines at GT for breaking this down for me.

Sadly, this event is only accessible if you are a Square Member, and then there’s a raffle … for one ticket. Not to mention it’s held in Tokyo. The promise of the event will bring about more footage on several of their upcoming titles.

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