1P Start

Last I had wrote up on GameFly, it was to announce that a brand new Tampa distribution center was opening. I remember the Pittsburgh or Texas news, which left me with no difference in turnaround time for games that I had noticed, still, I stick with this service because I am usually either working or sleeping just about all the hours Blockbuster is open, plus who doesn’t like to get mail (and honestly, there is a part of me that has a lot of faith in GameFly to get up to par with Netflix).

Well today while checking the ol email, I get an one with the subject, “News Flash: New Shipping Center!” …. Wow, quickly I open and read this:

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If you’re a Rock Band addict and you’re sick of the click clacking of the drums, you’ve might have checked around online to find a way to quite those puppies down. While the solution is a rather simple one involving a trip to a craft store there’s a cottage industry for the lazy (i.e. me) to lessen the annoying clacking of the drums. An online bud of mine, Unleaded Logic, recently posted a review on YouTube of one such company named Drumshhh that you may be inclined to check out.

In a strait up admittance that the idea is stolen from SomethingAwful’s well known “Photoshop Phriday” they do (which are well worth checking out btw), NeoGAF has a thread started taking images and photoshopping them using the letters from the game’s original name (.. “Anagram”). Below are just a sample of my favorites… some are greatness, some are odd, just make sure to hold out till the last one for childish humor at its best:

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Random deal of the moment. Amazon is offering up Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Gold Edition at 40% off, so it is $29.99 and shipping is free. On Metacritic has this game with a score of 94, that is huge. So if you PC gamers do not already have this great strategy game, get on it.

I love this quote about the game from GameSpy: “This is what PC strategy is all about: hour after hour of interesting decisions and nail-biting conflicts. The single-player game alone is remarkable, but the addition of multiplayer (and yes, it actually works this time) puts it over the top.”

[Source CAG, forums sadly down at the moment]

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Deals, Sid Meier, Civilization IV, Gold Edition, Amazon, Deal of the Day

Oh wow, this is sure to have those tabloid newspaper hacks frothing at the mouth in anticipation of writing an ill researched, illogical hate piece about how all computer and video games are evil, and contributing to the downfall of civilised society.

But no, it’s just a new video game, albeit one based on the gory psychological horror film Saw, and it’s due to be released in October 2009.

Brash Entertainment, the game’s developers, held a press conference, where they showed journalists a teaser trailer featuring the Jigsaw puppet, the main protagonist from the original film, and its three (and counting) sequels.

Not much is yet known about the game, probably even by the game’s makers themselves, but a positive sign is that the people behind the films will be providing lots of input, hopefully helping this stay out of that pile known as ‘yet another crappy movie tie-in game’.

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Rarely do I do regular updates for Super Smash Bros Brawl, as the official site updates so much and not everything is MEGATON NEWS. Well this is, the last batch of characters in the game has been revealed.

Returning Characters unknown till now:
Marth
Game & Watch
Luigi
Falco
Ganondorf
Ness (HELL YEAH!)
Captain Falcon
Jigglypuff

Newcomers unknown till now:
Lucario
Toon Link (Woah!)
R.O.B. (…I can’t believe this, I still have my R.O.B. NES robot.. doesn’t work, but I am buying this game day one because of this)

One unconfirmed:
Wolf

Can’t wait to play on Green Hill Zone!

I highly suggest checking out this NeoGAF thread for some great information from real Smash Bros geeks that know what they are talking about. Captured below is the full intro video to the game, it’s good:
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Last week saw Undertow given away free on Xbox Live Arcade to placate all those unfortunate souls affected by the service outages over the whole of the holiday season. Not a great game, but not bad for a free download.

However, this week sees a classic piece of video gaming goodness making it’s début on the Xbox Live Arcade, in the form of Chessmaster… no, just kidding, Rez is the big one, and Chessmaster is also being thrown in there to please the nerds.

Those of you who have never played Rez are in for a treat, and a bit of a mind fuck in to the bargain. Those of you who have never played Chessmaster have got lives, and good on you.

Rez, for the initiated, is a rhythm action and shooter game unlike any you may have previously experienced. You play a hacker who enters a computer network to try an reboot the AI at the centre of it. Think of a cross between Tron, and being a rave, and you’ll be maybe halfway there.

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The latest NPD results are in for PC gaming during the whole of 2007, and they show two distinct things: PC gaming revenue is down overall, at least in terms of over the counter retail sales; the same old faces are topping the charts for sales, with add-ons, expansion packs and alternate versions of existing franchises taking the top ten places on the chart.

The NPD numbers don’t take in to account anything other than retail sales, so that immediately rules out the effect of digital downloads on outlets like Steam on sales figures.

Bearing that in mind, retail sales have fallen quite substantially from $970 million in 2006 to $910.7 million in 2007. That’s a fall of almost $60 million and bears out thoughts that the PC gaming market is struggling at the moment.

The Top Ten PC Games Sales For 2007 In The US:

1. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Vivendi) - 2.25 million
2. World Of Warcraft (Vivendi) - 914,000
3. The Sims 2: Seasons Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 433,000
4. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) - 383,000
5. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts) - 343,000
6. Sim City 4 Deluxe (Electronic Arts) - 284,000
7. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts) - 281,000
8. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 271,000
9. Age Of Empires III (Microsoft) - 259,000
10. The Sims 2: Pets Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts) - 236,000

It’s no surprise to see World Of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion pack taking the top two positions. Although I was quite surprised to see such a big gap between them and the third placed Sims 2: Seasons.

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No doubt legions of Space Channel 5 fans (namely my fiancee) will be interested to know that German magazine N-Zone reported that a sequel to Space Channel 5 may be headed toward the Nintendo Wii.

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If it was ‘82, your girlfriend would do these guys with extreme prejudice.

Guitar Hero III owners can nowdownload three classic rock songs from some legendary bands. Foreigner’s “Jukebox Hero”, Boston’s “Peace of Mind”, and Journey’s “Any Way You Want It” join the stable of songs available for the game.

Now that Guitar Hero III has Journey, let’s get some Journey action on Rock Band, pretty please? Some of us want to sing along with golden tones of Steve Perry blasting from our speakers. I would cry sweet vodka tears if only “Don’t Stop Believing” was available for purchase.

And what’s with the real deal Foreigner song “Jukebox Hero” when Rock Band only gets a cover of the ultra classic tune? Wait… what in the bloody hell am I talking about? Who cares about Foreigner?

Just in case you haven’t seen this yet, here’s an awesome video featuring A. Actors playing out a horrible comic strip and B. the cast of Garfield battling Final Fantasy style. For those of you who are impatient or have an extreme case of ADD, just wait for the Final Fantasy goodness to hit right after the canned laughter starts.

Truly, a new classic. You’ve got to love all the details they added in those menu screens. This came to you via the folks at Fatal Farm who are responsible for dozens of other Garfield videos (accessible via their YouTube profile).

This past week has seen a multitude of rumours spreading from both online forums, and industry insiders, over price drops for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. But are any of them true, and at the end of the day, does it really matter when the Wii is kicking so much hardware sales ass?

The talks f a price cut for the PS3 have emerged solely from Internet forums, and seem to be insistent that the console is due for a reduction in price to £299. And this will reportedly be announced by Sony on or around January 28th, which is next Monday by my reckoning.

A couple of things point to a possible reduction in price for Sony’s behemoth of a games console. For starters, there is the white PS3 coming to the States, which despite Sony denying is going to happen, I would put good money on. What better way to introduce the new colour of console than by coupling its launch with a well publicised price cut?

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When the Devil May Cry 4 news rains, it pours. While doing my usual gaming news surfing, I found this great news off Digg.com which got me searching to find the official post over on the Capcom blogs. There, they make up multiple reasons why the demo really just doesn’t do the game justice, but I am sure they are just trying to make sure you don’t get your hopes up, thus it becoming a positive because you went in thinking it would suck (I see through their reverse psychology). Either way, can’t wait till tomorrow for Undertow and now Thursday for some DMC4 action.
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Devil May Cry 4, DMC4, Xbox 360, PS3, Playstation 3, Demo, Capcom

In a kind of neat move on Microsoft’s part, they have made a set of Awards to recognize the great Xbox Live Arcade titles that have come out in the past year, and there really has been a lot of good ones after looking over the list. One game however, I notice got looked over. Luckily, when you vote, you can write in a game if it isn’t listed. Amazingly, “Tetris Splash” works in every single category, really, try it! See after the break for the categories, then click the vote now link to vote!

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In news, or at least rumour, that is sure to please the multi-console owning people amongst you, it looks like the white Playstation 3, that up until now has been a Japanese exclusive, could be on the way to the US and Europe soon.

When the console came out in Japan, thousands of PS3 fans in other territories felt left out and wanted a piece of the white action. Don’t ask me why, it is just a colour after all. And it seems, after waiting a while, either to increase interest, or work out whether it would sell in sufficient numbers to warrant it, Sony has decided to release it around the world.

At the moment, this is just rumour based on recent filings with the FCC which includes a cover letter from Sony of Japan. It seems the documents, along with pictures of the unit, were filed way back in October of last year.

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