1P Start

I hope you’re prepared, because my impressions of Star Was: The Force Unleashed are so unleashed that they make Toby Keith’s Unleashed album look so leashed in comparison.

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Lucky blogs that have a lot of pull (or enough traffic) can get their hands on early copies of games like Kotaku. Their look at the upcoming Ghost Busters video game shows that the game is quite promising. Not only was their demo fun with busting ghosts, it wasn’t repetitive. One detail that I liked is that you have to wear the ghosts down before you can put them in the trap. I always wondered why it was so hard to put them in those things. The more you fight the ghosts and cause destruction, the less you get for your fee.

The one complaint that they seemed to have didn’t make much sense to me. You can’t have your PK meter out at the same time as your proton wand (the thing that does most of the busting work). This makes it more like the films though, since it requires both hands to operate those things. Anyway, I’m jazzed their impressions are positive so far.

The trailer for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has hit and it looks… well… it looks pretty underwhelming. The only superheroes shown are ones that you’d expect. Even more disappointing than those items is the fact that the “fusion power” doesn’t seem much more than a gimmick. I’m hoping that it’s not just a new power you get when you push right trigger and the Y button. Hell, the fact that Hulk can throw Wolverine isn’t that impressive. You’ve been able to throw Wolverine since the first X-Men Legends game not to mention the first outing of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

On the good side, the graphics do appear to be improved. While they don’t look jaw dropping during close ups, when the camera pulls away they look fantastic and most of the game is probably going to be from that higher up perspective if its anything like the first game (or X-Men Legends).

I really hate when a company tries to copy a novel and popular idea as a means of cashing it. It never works as well and usually is half assed and poorly supported. Case in point, the motion sensing PS3 controller vs. the Wii’s motion based controls. The latest case is Microsoft’s blatant copying of Nintendo’s popular Miis in their upcoming updates to Xbox Live.

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The latest Ghostbusters: The Video Game trailer is up and man oh man it’s getting me all kinds of excited:

The game itself better not suck, because this has potential to be the coolest thing ever. How could it not be? It’s the unofficial Ghostbusters III with all the main talent on board (No, I don’t count Rick Moranis) and even most of the secondary types. Hell, it could almost be better than a movie, because you won’t be distracted by the ravages of age on the main actors. Dan Aykroyd’s almost more frightening than any of the ghosts.

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The Japanese frighten me sometimes. Yeah, I did that they have strange sexual tastes, like the fact that they blur out genitalia, but have invented some incredibly explicit acts over the years. Sometimes there’s a line that’s crossed that turns something from “sexy” to “incredibly disgusting”. A recent homage to Nintento’s Wii Fit on cover of what looks like a softcore porn DVD called Geki Fit fits the later description quite nicely:

In case you’re slow, let me highlight the good and the bad here:

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An elite team of Grandmas are busy knitting drum silences for Rock Band 2

More details emerged on the new Rock Band 2 drums. While they are essentially the same drums as the first game’s, the new drums are reputed to have quieter drumpads that are velocity sensitive, a reinforced metal pedal (thank god), and clips for add on cymbals that could be purchased separately. It’s a bummer that the cymbals aren’t included with this set, but at least Guitar Hero World Tour doesn’t trump the Rock Band 2 drum set entirely.

But wait, that’s not all! Rock Band 2 will have another set of drums that’s called the Ion kit. The Ion kit will have three cymbals, adjustable pads, a metal frame, and the ability to use the kit as a fully functioning electronic drum kit, i.e. it’s not for just Rock Band.

If you crave more info on these drum kits, you can find all the deets in the latest issue of Games Informer or you can just go to this message board where some dude scanned the entire article and posted it. Isn’t that illegal or something?

Everyone knew it was coming, but Harmonix has officially announced the arrival of Rock Band 2… in September! The name of the sequel appears to be Rock Band: Opening Act. I’m really hoping they change the name, since an opening act isn’t the pinnacle of rock success. Anyway, In a talk with IGN, Harmonix Lead Designer Dan Teasdale divulged a few details about the sequel, but what’s interesting are some of the questions he didn’t really answer.

You can read the whole article for yourself, but here’s a quick run down of all the most important facts:

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When Wii Fit was released in the states last month, not only did it sell out within days, it also prompted a new wave of fitness freakery and another way of people to attempt to lose weight. While some will doubt the ability of what is essentially a video game, to help you lose weight, one blogger’s experience with the game is nothing but positive.

Kris Abel, a blogger writing for CTV, details his experience with the game in the six weeks since he bought it, and reviews the software at the same time.

The most interesting and intriguing part of his post is where he tells of his Wii Mii’s response to him reaching his weight-loss goal of 16 pounds in six months in just six weeks.

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So the big thing on the internet is a chick who is wearing underwear playing a boring Nintendo Wii game. Uh, yeah like I can’t find something much better than the Wii

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the original video:

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Nintendo has always been the games company that puts fun above all else, sometimes at the expense of innovation, graphics, and moving the game industry forward. In that sense, you could say that Nintendo is the casual gamer to the hardcore gamer folk at Sony and Microsoft.

This generation has seen the casual gamer tag being applied to the Nintendo consoles more than ever, because both the Wii and DS have a much wider range of appeal than their competitors the PSP, PS3 and Xbox 360. But despite being inherently and unashamedly casual in their intent, I thought Nintendo would at least respect the more hardcore amongst us. But it seems not after comments from Nintendo of Europe managing director of marketing Laurent Fischer prove.

In an article about Wiiware, the downloadable games store for the Wii which features hundreds of small but highly playable games, NextGen.biz revealed that Fischer referred to the storage space problems on the Wii by saying how “geeks and otaku” were the only people who would want the issue addressed.

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After the success of Rock Band it was almost a matter of time before serious talk of Rock Band 2 emerged and it has! Through a couple of online surveys we’ve been getting some hints at the creation of the new game. The first survey asked participants about a possible price point. The second survey was a little more interesting as it asked participants which of two possible box art samples was more appealing. Here’s the first:

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In news that made me as giddy as a school girl, LucasArts is thinking about re-releasing some of their classic adventure games on the Nintendo Wii. Lucas Arts is quoted as stating:

“We have looked at it,” admits Norris. “It is something we are continually looking at - new venues to put out our library of games on. We’re not announcing anything about that because honestly I don’t know anything about it.”

“The cart size of the DS makes it impossible to put out ports of any of our old graphic adventures,” claims Gullett. “There’s literally not enough room on those carts to put the games out.”

“It could still happen,” rallies Gullet. “We’ve got a lot of pride in our heritage and it’s definitely something we’re still leaving open.”

If there was any way possible to do so, it must be done. Newer generations should be exposed to games like Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle (I still have my Corley Motors T-shirt). Hell, there’s even licensed games like Sam and Max Hit the Road or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis that need to see the light of day again. The Nintendo DS would be a fantastic platform for these kinds of games, but if the cartridge is too small then there’s not much you can do about that. The Nintendo Wii would be a decent way to play these games considering their point and click interface, so why aren’t these available as downloads on the Wii Virtual Console yet?

Thanks to: Gaming Today

Wii Fit has been out in the US for almost two weeks now, and has sold extremely well so far. In fact it has sold so well that the problem now facing potential fitness freaks is trying to find a copy of the game.

Online and offline retailers are already reporting shortages, and many people keen to get hold of a copy of the game to maybe kick-start a fitness regime are finding themselves out of luck. The incredible success the game enjoyed in both Japan and Europe has now definitely been repeated in the US.

The Nintendo Wii itself is still in short supply, even though it has now been out a year and half and you would think everyone who wanted one would have already got hold of one. But Wii Fit has increased the demand. The console may be cheap compared to it’s rivals the PS3 and Xbox 360, but the game is certainly anything but.

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At the beginning of last month, rumours emerged of Microsoft developing a Wii Remote style controller for the Xbox 360 in an attempt to grab a piece of Nintendo’s obviously huge market. The company has already started this strategy by releasing the Xbox Arcade pack, a cheap and cheerful package to appeal to casual gamers everywhere.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months, here’s a short rehash of the rumours. MTV News (not who I’d normally look to for gaming news, or any other news for that matter) reported that an inside Microsoft source has revealed the plans for an almost exact replica of the Wii Remote. It looks almost identical, although is thought to have a microphone included for future games similar to Singstar.

At the time, Microsoft refused to comment on the speculation, as they do with almost every rumour, but Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has chosen to speak out.

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