Recoil Games introduced Rochard, their upcoming PSN exclusive due out this summer. Rochard is a 2D platform puzzler, with an emphasis on physics based problem solving.

The premise of the game is pretty straight forward. You play as Rochard, a space miner for a company called Sky Rig. When your company discovers an alien artifact, they find themselves under attack by pirates. Its up to you to save yourself and your comrades from the pirates, and find out what the big deal is about the artifact.

The tools that Rochard has at his disposal are a grapple gun which he uses to grab crates and other inanimate objects in the world. Once an object has been grabbed, it can be fired from the gun and used a means of taking out a pirate, or to place the object in the appropriate spot to solve a puzzle. Another tool at his disposal is that Rochard can dial down the gravity a bit allowing him to jump further, or when used in conjunction with the grapple gun, allow him to traverse wide gaps with the proper placement of objects.

The art style reminds a bit of the character designs from Team Fortress. The game looks like a lot of fun to play. Check out the PlaystationBlog for a full write up and trailer for this fun looking title.

Image from Official Playstation Blog

1Up interviewed Vanillaware’s George Kamitani about their upcoming PS3 PSVita title Dragon’s Crown.

The game is shaping up to be a spiritual successor of sorts to Capcom’s Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom arcade game–a game George worked on during his days at Capcom.

Gameplay is in a similar vein to Golden Axe, and those classic D&D arcade games. Players will battle their way through large monster and treasure laden mazes in the lush 2D watercolor like art style Vanillaware is know for (i.e. Odin Sphere, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade). The game won’t be a standard hack ‘n slasher as George hinted at RPG elements such as weapon durability, and players needing to decide if their party is leveled up enough to take on a boss. He described a scenario in which a red dragon boss is asleep atop a massive mound of treasure. Players can attempt to steal the treasure, causing the dragon to awaken and battle it there, or the team to try to escape to a bridge that can’t support the dragon’s weight causing it to fall. His idea is to have different ways to handle boss characters; even if the team as a whole isn’t strong enough to deal with the boss in a heads-up fight.

George didn’t go into detail about everything about the game, as details are still being worked out. The game is going to be for Playstation3 and PSVita (with cross play) with a launch set only as Spring 2012. Check out the E3 trailer on YouTube.

It is games like this that pay homage to the classic 2D gameplay that I remember so fondly that I crave. I can’t wait to play this game.

Image from 1Up.com.

Anyone remember an old Konami arcade game called Jackal? One or two players took control of armed jeeps to rescue prisoners of war. Well the folks at Avalanche Studios must, because they showed a 4 player HD-fied version of that core gameplay at E3. The game is called Renegade Ops, and is being published by Sega. The game will be a downloadable title hitting PC, PSN, and XBLA sometime this year. GameTrailers has gameplay footage of the sharp looking game.

Image from Gamertell.com

Sony’s press conference was an interesting one. To begin with, they didn’t hide from, as Jack put it, “the elephant in the room.” Both Jack and Kaz addressed the PSN outage well. They thanked those that make these multi-billion corporations successful–us. I’m sure there are many who will say that they should have spent more time talking about it, but I think the subject got the appropriate amount of attention. Doing anymore would have taken the focus off of the point of the E3 press event–the products.

Games took center stage. Gameplay demos of Uncharted 3, InFamous, and Resistance 3 looked real good. Uncharted is the no-brainer–game looks freakin’ awesome. But what did surprise me was gameplay footage of Starhawk, and Resistance 3. I’m not much of a multiplayer shooter guy, but both those titles have me pretty hyped. I have a feeling I’ll be spending quite a bit of time with both those titles.

What really surprised me was the introduction of Sony’s 3D bundle starter. A 22” 3D display, a pair of active shutter glasses, and a copy of Resistance 3 for $499 is a brilliant move. I’m by no means a 3D adopter as it stands now (I wear prescription glasses) but this is a great way to get the technology into more homes. Another smart move was not to make the glasses proprietary with only Sony displays. These glasses are supposed to be compatible with a number of different 3D TV makes. Very smart.

Playstation Vita…Not such a hot name, but one hot piece of mobile gaming tech. Seeing an Uncharted look as good as it did on a freaking handheld was amazing. Front and back cams, OLED screen, a touch pad in the back, plus dual analog sticks makes for an impressive package. Not only does Sony have the tech, they have the price: $249.99 for the Wi-Fi version and $299.99 for the 3G puts this unit in direct competition with Nintendo’s 3DS. I will be first in line to drop my pre-order bucks, and to pick up the system when it launches. Not just Uncharted, but Mod Nation Racers, Ruin, LBP, as well as Streetfighter X Tekken look fantastic, and games like LBP and MNR look like they have Vita specific ways to make creation even more simpler on the new handheld based on the demos. Personally, I’ll take my Streetfighters and Uncharteds on my PS3, but I can’t wait to see some of those other games demoed and in the video montage.

On the downside: I know Sony is doing its best to justify it, but Sony’s Move controller just is not a controller for the hardcore. I understand what they’re trying to do, but I think there was too much attention put on the Move. I don’t care what Kobe says, the hardcore aren’t going to adopt Move controls for NBA 2K 12. I’m sorry, but having that House of the Dead looking cursor on screen with a basketball simulation game just didn’t look right. The Resistance Doomsday Edition is going to collect dust on the shelves. The hardcore want sticks and buttons. Not waggle. And I’m sorry, but I’m not buying Levine’s Bioshock Infinite plea to the hardcore regarding Move controls on that game. Its not going to get the those who have never tried a Bioshock game before to get one with waggle. The only reason I’ve contemplated getting a Move is to play Dead Space Extraction, but I can guarantee you I won’t be using it to play Bioshock, Resistance, or any other traditional game.

The other downer for me was that there was no showing or planning of a PSN reboot. I’m not talking about the rumored Steam functionality, I’m talking about the Vita. PS Vita’s connectivity interface is completely different from the Cross Media Bar, and function set of the PSN right now. Vita will support cross game chat, and location features that the PSN doesn’t have. If full connectivity and interaction between Vita and Playstation 3 is going to be achieved, it has to include a redux of the Playstation Network’s user interface. Maybe this change will come as the Vita’s launch approaches, but I was hoping to see it; or at least have it mentioned during the presser.

All in all, for the type of gamer I am, this presser made me glad that I own a Playstation 3. Sony addressed my needs for the most part as a hardcore gamer, and they will be getting a big chunk of my disposable income this year and next. I’ll wear my Sony fanboy badge with pride. lol

Grade: A-

Image from Official Playstation Blog.com

Capcom’s Captivate 2011 kicked off in Miami today, and while all of information hasn’t come out as of this article’s writing, what has been revealed is extremely enticing. Capcom seems to be sticking to their strengths–namely fighting (the genre they pioneered as far as I’m concerned) and action games–specifically, brawlers. Yess!!! Click the jump to check out the luscious hype.

Street Fighter x Tekken: This game is looking really good. Gameplay showcases characters some additional characters to the roster, including Ken, Abel, and Guile from the SF camp, and Bob, Murdock, and King from camp Tekken. One of the stages shown seems to be from one of Dino Crysis games showing two Alosaurus observing the fight–practically cheering as Guile and Abel go heads up with King and Murdock. It would be reasonable to assume that this game will have a slightly less serious edge than SSF 4. Then again, SSF4 does have a stage where you fight in front Hippos and Merecats…so who’s to say. Regardless, the tab based gameplay looks sick, and I can’t wait to play it. No release date as of yet. Check out Gamepro for video.

SSF 4: Arcade Edition: Speaking of StreetFighter, some details regarding the home versions of SSF4: Arcade Edition were revealed. Aside from Yun, Yan, Evil Ryu, and Oni Akuma, you’ll get the re-balances (or nerfs–depending on how you view what they did to your character of choice) to the original roster. Also, they’ve tweaked the online features too. You’ll be able to upload and send your replays to your friends, and you’ll have access to something called “Elite Channel”. As described, its a Twitter-like feature that allows you to follow top tier online players who have accumulated over 3000 battle points, and will even update you when they update new replays. [Update: Destructoid has reported Arcade Edition’s release dates. For those who have SSF4, AE will be available as DLC on June 7th on PSN and XBLA for $14.99. A retail disc of AE will drop on June 24th, and a PC version will hit later this year. For those concerned, those who have the update will still be able to play online with those who don’t. Day 1 Confirmed.]

Dragon’s Dogma: A real slick looking new IP, that seems to be set in the middle ages, where dragons are taking over. Its a 3rd person action game where you, as a human warrior take on these humongous creatures. In the gameplay trailer, an archer, swordsman, and magic user are showcased. I don’t know if you can chose to play as multiple characters, or if you get to choose a class i.e. Dragon Age. Some of the enemies you’ll encounter look like they could have been pulled from the Monster Hunter series. A giant Griffin, and a village crushing multi-headed serpent were shown. A vague release date of “Early 2012” was given, so hopefully the end of the world will hold off long enough for this title to hit the shelves. This game has two individuals of note at it’s creative helm: Hiroyuki Kobayashi, the producer of Devil May Cry 4 and Resident Evil 4, as well as Hideaki Itsuno, who directed Devil May Cry 3, and 4. Based on that pedigree, if anyone can pull the necessary gameplay elements together, its them. Gamepro has trailer video.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record: This DLC brings Frank West into the game as the main character with the focus being, what he would have done differently had he been in Fortune City when the zombie outbreak occurred. Based on the trailer Frank will have his hands full of zombie shenanigans; including in an extreme wrestling match. For some reason, I just could never get into the Dead Rising series, but Capcom deserves props for keeping the series fresh with DLC as opposed to annual retail releases. No release date was given.

Asura’s Wrath: I have a rule when it comes to new releases: Never get too hyped over CG trailers. It could be smoke and mirrors for a crappy game. However, Asura’s Wrath’s trailers makes this a really hard rule for me to adhere to. If the actual gameplay is just a fraction as good as the trailers shown, brawler fans are going to be in for a real treat. Some of your enemies are bigger than planet Earth–and–if the trailers are to be believed, you actually fight them. I have hypefaith because, while Capcom is publishing the game, it is the mighty studio of CyberConnect2 (creators of the woefully under rated Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series–if you haven’t played those games, you should) who did the code work. According to a GameTrailers interview with Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, you play the role of Asura, a demigod who is betrayed by the pantheon of gods who protect the Earth when they take his daughter away from him, and banish him to Earth’s realm. According to Kazuhiro, gameplay and story will be the driving forces behind this brawler, and I can’t wait to get my hands on this game. Asura’s anger is an important element to the gameplay apparently. The angrier he gets, the more options are available to him to deal out violent revenge to minion and boss alike. Kinda’ like Hulk I guess…Asura smash!! No release date info on this one either.

I’ve always been a Capcom fan, but this company–more so than any other developer recently, has more games that tickle my niche brawler/fighter funnybone than any other. First was Super Streetfighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom3, and now this lineup…If Capcom can nail the gameplay elements (and it looks like they have the right folks involved to do it) they will have sure fire AAA titles for 2011-2012. If these games are top notch, I hope the west can pull itself away from the latest FPS du jour, long enough to give these games a shot. Hopefully more info will drop on these titles as E3 approaches, but until then Capcom, I’m officially on your hype-train.

Blog Image from Gamepro

Its been about 11 years since since Marvel vs Capcom 2 first debuted on Sega’s Dreamcast. Now, Capcom has dropped the next game in the Vs series of fighters. Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds attempts to take what worked in MvC 2, tweak the combat system, and wrap it up in a modified Street Fighter IV graphics engine. Did it work? Will it attract new gamers to the franchise? Will you be doomed to endure Storm, Cable, and Sentinel matches online? Hit the jump to find out.

Let me get this part out of the way first. I’ll stack my knowledge base of brawler genre mechanics against anybody. Not so with fighting games. While fighting games are my second favorite genre, I am by no means a Shoryuken.com-like thesaurus on fighting genre mechanics. My tournament experience began and ended with local Street Fighter II arcade tourneys in the early 90s; an EVO contestant I am not–so keep that in mind for this review.

First, the basics: MvC3 involves 3 on 3 2D fighting like its predecessor. While your controlled character is on screen, you can summon your two team mates for assist attacks that can extend your combos, and set up your opponent Hyper combos. Each team has a Hyper meter that holds up to 5 bars. Once filled, you can execute your character’s Hyper combo moves to deal out heavy damage to your opponent. The combat system uses light, medium, and heavy attack buttons; 2 assist buttons, and one “special move” button which is basically a launcher that sends your foe into the air for aerial combo fun.

MvC3 has a roster of 33 characters (35 if you downloaded Jill Valentine and S. Gorath), and the one thing has become crystal clear after spending a considerable amount of time with the game. That being, all of the characters, in that the entire roster of fighters feel competent. While MvC2 had a ton of what I would consider throw away characters in its 50+ roster, every character in MvC3 has a move set that makes them more than a contender in the right hands. Granted, Sentinel is still an overpowered robot beast, and forums are filled with hate for Phoenix, but for the most part, I think every character has a shot at being a match winner. As far as I’m concerned there isn’t a throw-away in the bunch.

Once I settled on a button config for my arcade stick (I went on Youtube and found one that worked best for me), I found combat to be easy to grasp. Characters like Wolverine and X-23 are combo centric, while Thor and Hulk rely on strong normals linked to hyper combos to deal damage. The system works for me, and I was able to grasp some intricacies of it quickly. No FADCs here–its all about simple, quick inputs.

Speaking of getting a grasp on the game, the Mission Mode is a great way to get an idea of what a character is capable of. Mission Mode involves taking you through some basic moves of a character and quickly ramping up to multi hit air combos. You’ll probably want to pull your hair out trying to complete the more complex combos, but my focus was on observing how certain moves affect an opponent. For example: Wolverine (one of my mains) can follow up his Drill-claw with a dive kick which causes ground bounce. You can bring in a team assist for extra damage and hyper combo set up, or re-launch the opponent for a continued aerial assault. Mission Mode is filled with little nuggets of information that is applicable in real matches.

Where MvC3 falls a little short are the online assets. While Capcom raised the bar with Spectator Mode for SSFIV, you will find no such assets here. While two people do battle, the rest are left to chat in the lobby awaiting their turn. If you’re playing a friend online, you’re unable to do a quick rematch. Yet, when doing random online games, you have the option to do an immediate rematch. Right now, the best way to play online is to jump into training mode, and set fight request to on, set the parameters, and let the game put you in a match.

If you’re new to the Vs series, or new to fighting games in general, give Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds a shot. Combat mechanics are simple, yet deep–and the game is straight up fun. The hardcore vets from MvC2 may disagree. In my opinion, this is a better game than its predecessor simply because of the viability of the entire roster. The team variety encountered online, and observed in high level tournaments is proof of that. Online isn’t as robust as it should be, but it does work. I’ve had no lag issues. Bottom line: I’m giving this game an A-. Its a title definitely worth your time and money.

Q-Games brought out their latest PixelJunk game in the week just past, PixelJunk Shooter 2. I really liked the first PixelJunk Shooter and I regard it as the best downloadable game I’ve played. So it’d make sense that I was really looking forward to this sequel ever since it was announced. Right now after finishing the single player campaign, I’m not so sure.

PixelJunk Shooter was great fun, I would have loved more of the same from Q, but they complicated it in much the same way that I didn’t get hooked on LittleBigPlanet 2 compared to LBP 1. If you ever played PixelJunk Shooter then you’d know it was all about flying around in your spaceship rescuing scientists and jumping into elemental suits to either combat the environment (Fire, Magnetic Oil, Water, Gas and Ice) or just have a load of fun, it was always challenging but never annoyingly difficult. PixelJunk Shooter 2 differs from that formula, adding Light, Dark, Purple Sludge, Green Sludge, Purple Gas, Green Swarms and probably more that I can’t remember. To me there wasn’t enough time to establish why these new elements were put in the game, it seems as if they were just there to make the game harder – and boy, was this game harder. I got more frustrated by the level of difficulty in the puzzles than I have ever been in a game before (FYI I am a lightweight, having not played Ninja Gaiden). In the first game the enemies would spawn before they were on the screen, in this game it seemed at times you had to be right in front of them before they would spawn, killing you instantly. Often it would happen at the end of a level you had just worked really hard figuring out. PixelJunk Shooter 2 was not poorly made, it was too short for what it was trying to achieve. The simplicity of the first game allowed whole levels dedicated to having fun with water and magma suits that you and your friends could fly around and try and burn each other in co-op. PixelJunk Shooter 2 only ever has one suit per level, which is no fun at all. There is no room for error like the first game, if you want to beat a level real fast you are bound to be cut down within the first few seconds (mainly by those surprise spawns I mentioned earlier or a particularly accurate lava turret). I’m not the sort of person who likes a situation where a really crazily easy enemy has beaten you down ten times in a row because I tend not to feel really great when I do finally beat the level. Also spending a quarter of an hour taking out a boss then dying while trying to figure out the finishing move = killjoy. The game is ok and all, but if you want to know which of the two PixelJunk Shooter games to pick up if you can only choose one, I’d suggest the first. Final note on the campaign, they introduced dummy scientists that look exactly like normal scientists and transform into bats for no reason that will kill you if you aren’t paying attention, Q-Games, that was a stupid stupid stupid idea.

PixelJunk Shooter 2 introduces Multiplayer that I can’t really comment much on as apparently the servers I am linked to in Australia are only playable with Japanese players, which are isn’t…urg who am I kidding, this game has made me soo frustrated, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore until I’m in a better mood. Buy it if you want, I’d wait until it’s dirt cheap if I was you. Sorry Q, but I’m sure you appreciate the constructive criticism

More of my reviews/ideas/thoughts/bizarre at twitter.com/warmanator

Thought I might share my 2011 (or as I like to call it ‘year of the games I really want’) list I want to place in my permanent ‘care’ this year, share a bit of my fanboy love of serieses (or is it serii?) and brand new innovations that really caught my eye.

Quick note: Some of these are PS3 exclusive, but the majority will please everyone

Resistance 3
Resistance 3 Trailer

Welcome back to Insomniac Games’ alternative history WWII game that introduced me personally, with a handshake and a Hedgehog Grenade, to online multiplayer. Slightly disappointing that they would decide to make their teaser trailers in live action (like the Halo franchise did once I believe), but the idea of this game is fresh. At the end of Resistance 2, something major happens which I shouldn’t really disclose that basically ends this World War, and Resistance 3 is essentially the aftermath of the battle. Judging by what it looks like, you are following the story of Joseph Capelli from Resistance 2 (my description of him if you don’t know who I’m talking about is “the guy who you don’t really care about but comes up and does something pretty badass at the end of R2″) something happens to his wife and he’s sad. He’s joined by the strange little Russian scientist Dr Malikov, and they do something that involves somehow killing Chimera even though you’ve already rendered them harmless by killing their leader in R2. Anyway, even if the “Half-Life 2″ inspired campaign bites, I’m still looking forward to the multiplayer with it because Resistance games are pretty much the best you can get for PS3 exclusives at the moment

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Cinematic Trailer

I’ve not played any of the previous games but from what I’ve read/watched/heard, it looks to be a graphically stunning, non-buggy version of Fallout 3/New Vegas

Portal 2
Portal 2 Gameplay Trailer

The puzzler and tech demo turned amazingly successful game finally returns with new puzzles and ways of solving them. The best way I can describe what I think Portal 2 will be like is the way LBP2 took away the child-achievable level of puzzles of LBP by complicating them. Since it’s not a kids game it should add up to being the hardest and most rewarding puzzle game you’ll gain access to this year, that’s why it’s a must-get for me. Well, that and PS3s are getting SteamCloud support and PC/PS3 crossplatform multiplayer

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath Original 2005 Trailer

I didn’t have an original Xbox so I missed the follow up games of Abe’s Exoddus and Abe’s Oddysee set in the Oddworld universe. Those games would be Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath. The latter would have to be one of the games I really wished I had the original Xbox for, but luckily for me Just Add Water are rejiggering and rereleasing on the PSN and maybe XBLA if Microsoft raise their size limit above 2GB. Also, Abe’s Exoddus is also being rereleased as a HD side-scroller copy of the original

Dead Island
Dead Island Trailer

The trailer was shown to me recently, and it was so emotive that if you think you wont want to buy this game after seeing it, then you are truly mad. Very pretty looking game originally set to be released in 2008, is now arriving this year. It apparently is a solely melee zombie game

L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire Facial Tech Demonstration

Seriously, when the facial recognition tech is put into operation in May with this game, I’d find it hard to believe many developers would be able to go without it. Gameplay-wise it sounds like Blue Toad Murder Files but not a piece of absolute scat

Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Final Fantasy Versus XIII Extended Trailer

Almost definitely not coming out this year, but it probably should if Square knows what’s good for them. It’s Final Fantasy, but not as you’ve ever known it

More of my reviews/ideas/thoughts/bizarre at twitter.com/warmanator

Some of you may be looking forward to playing Dead Space 2, some may be cuteing it up in Little Big Planet 2, some might be looking for some thrills in the Killzone 3 Beta, but me? I’m looking forward to next week’s release of the Double Fine downloadable game Stacking, a stealth/class based action adventure about a Russian Doll trying to rescue his family.
If you weren’t keeping tabs, this is the second of four planned downloadable games from Double Fine that was to be the alternative to a sequel to Brutal Legend, which I thought was a good game but didn’t definitely need a sequel. This series of new games has sated my need for Tim Schafer’s quirky comedy games while also putting a different designer at the helm of each of the four games to be released. I’ve been a fan of downloadable games since I got my PS3 and realised the online games were soo cheap. Right up my alley.

Now, this post is obviously not a review of Stacking, since it isn’t out yet, so what could you possibly read in this post? How about my opinion of the first of the four games (Costume Quest), and maybe chuck in a bit of a glimpse DeathSpank 1 & 2? Ok then, you’ve got yourself a deal!

Costume Quest was released Halloween last year which is an indication to the theme of the game. It’s a story about a cute brother and sister who aren’t too happy about being forced into each other’s company by their parents during the trick or treat festivities in the neighbourhood. The story unfolds as a cutesy but not too sweet tale of teenagers raiding stores and kidnapping whichever sibling you chose NOT to play as at the start of the game. They aren’t actually teenagers in the game, they are mystical trolls and crows, but it is assumed they are teenagers from the perspective of a child’s over-imagination and adventurisation (if that’s a real word) of the game.
The gameplay is in the form of a turn-based RPG with the mechanics pretty much like a Final Fantasy, you see the enemy on the screen and when approached a separate battle sequence is initiated. In Costume Quest when a battle is encountered, the child (and later when you find companions, children) transforms into an awesome version whatever costume they are wearing – which makes things more bearable for the men out there to keep their machismo in check. There are plenty of costumes to pick up and battles don’t get tedious. The combination of costumes and ‘battle stamps’ give your characters powers that would be best described as picking character classes in a more tweakable way. For example, if you dress up as the jack-o-lantern (high attack power) you’d be wise to pair it with a counter-attack battle stamp which would make battles much faster and more efficient. Strategy aside, when in battle you are required to press a corresponding button/buttons/stick rotation (depending on the costume) to deal the maximum damage or defend against the maximum damage dealt by the enemies. This is a fresh addition to the turn-based RPG genre and creates more of a challenge, less of a button mash, and more fun for the kids (That’s if you let them play, since you’ll be too busy playing it yourself)
I thought Costume Quest was a lot of fun for little money, would be good for kids or hardcore gamers wanting a little time playing a reasonably challenging game with a child-like quality and trick-or-treat nostalgia. It’s been bug free since day one like most DL games available which is a plus. Costume Quest has no voice acting, so if you were planning on spending a sleepy/inebriated night looking at pretty colours and following forgivable quicktime event battles you should be prepared to do a bit of reading, or a bit of skipping dialogue which is a viable alternative. The only concern I had was after I played it once there was no reason for me to ever boot it up again, which is something DL game developers still haven’t worked out a solution to yet.

DeathSpank! From the name you can tell you’re in for a wild ride, and with the brain of Ron Gilbert of Monkey Island (I’ll promise to stop talking about that LucasArts piece-of-wonder after this post) your bound for a funny and completely customisable Diablo alternative. For a bit of money and a bit of gigabyte you get plenty of jokes, charm, action, character and undergarments.
DeathSpank and Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue (essentially episode one and two of the same game) are two action adventure slasher stories about a knight who loves to kill things in the name of Justice, and with the guidance of the mysterious Sandy, he goes about making the world a better place, one town at a time. It’s a mildly open world game at times and the quest system is good until you run out of quests. The weapon selection system is reasonable in getting you to use a variety of ranged, melee and thrown weapons in combat. The variety of weapons is also tremendous, you’ll spend most of your time picking out your best gear and thwarting enemies until you are strong enough to wear that even better and interestingly-titled armour you have been eyeing off since you picked it up an hour ago. Other things to look forward to is two player co-op with a Steve the Wizard obsessed with his own name or Tanko the man-spider, the presence of voice acting (!), top shelf – usually toilet – humour and fun, balanced combat that won’t make you cringe with difficulty or pout from easiness.
I’ll stop there to keep this review short and sweet, you can all shuffle off and read some more about DeathSpank elsewhere if this has tickled your fancy. Heck, maybe you’ll even buy it, stranger things have happened.

Stacking IGN Trailer

More of my reviews/ideas/thoughts/bizarre at twitter.com/warmanator

Today, at a press event in Tokyo, Sony announced its next portable device–and guess what? It ain’t no phone.

The company name for the device is the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Basically, here’s what the device has under the hood–or screen as reported on Playstation.com:

5 inch OLED multi-touch front display
Multitouch pad on the rear
Dual analog sticks
2 cameras (front/rear)
Motion sensitivity: 3 sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, electronic compass
Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, and 3G network connectivity
PSN, LiveArea, Near, Activity (social gaming functions), Trophy Support

The system will not be UMD based. Instead games will ship on dedicated flash cards. You’ll also be able to play all your PSP titles (downloadable ones), minis, PS1 Classics, digital comics, and video content from PSN.

Games for NGP either shown or discussed at the presser:

Killzone
Uncharted
WipeOut
LittleBigPlanet
Call of Duty
Resistance
Hot Shots Golf
Reality Fighters
Gravity Daze
Hustle Kings

There is a more complete official writeup including full list of games shown/discussed as well as tech specs on Playstation.com. I also found a GameSpot YouTube video showing Uncharted running on NGP. I’m sure its an early build, but sure did look a hell of a lot like Uncharted 2 on PS3 graphically. From the features and specs, this may very well be a “pocket PS3”.

No info was given on price, battery life, or an exact release date. You can bet that this will be shown prominently at E3 this year (if not sooner).

My Sony fanboy-ism is pretty known on this site, but I do have a concern. That being, I don’t necessarily want to play portable versions of games that I already have on PS3. The appealing thing about Nintendo’s portable systems has been that there are a lot of gaming experiences that you can only get on DS. It would be nice if at least some of these familiar franchise names presented the NGP player with truly differing gaming experiences than you get from their home console counterparts. I’m not saying turn Uncharted into a 1st person shooter, but I hope that with some creativity and finesse developers will be able to make me WANT to buy Killzone or Uncharted for the PS3, AND for the NGP as well.

That being said, I think the tech is hot, and it looks geek sexy. I don’t have much use for a portable system, but yeah–I’m getting one.

Firstly, hi! This is my first post on GHR, I’m still learning how to write gaming reviews, so I hope you find it a little interesting

During last year on the PSN (and other systems/see below), the classic point-and-click adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island was born again as a HD remake. I wasn’t born when it was first out, so this release was great for me. I played them as if it was a new game. Of course going online to work out solutions that stumped me isn’t the best idea of fun for most people (although try and tell me you didn’t when going for 100% on Arkham Asylum once or twice). The creators of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert (DeathSpank & HotHead designer), Tim Schafer (Double Fine creator) and Dave Grossman (Telltale designer) made Monkey Island and other games like Manic Mansion which was the first computer game I had ever played. They were employed by LucasArts when they used to make good games that weren’t star wars related. Monkey Island indirectly gave birth to many games that I consider at the front of the ‘comedy’ video game genre

In this article I want to share my experience with the first HD remake I had played and the first of the emerging platform of ‘episodic’ downloadable games of companies Telltale and Relentless
Haven’t done my research but The Secret of MI might actually have been the first HD remake of any game, and if not it would have to be one of the first. The original trio were in on the remake, creating a genuine experience of the original. Hardcore fans might have been put off by the inclusion of voice acting, but at any time the option to switch to ‘classic mode’ (the original untouched game) was available at any time. I chose to play in the new mode, which included the original detailed concept artwork put into the game to replace the original 1990 blocky representation of that artwork. It’s a beautiful looking game, and for a PC conversion played on my PS3 the controls weren’t just ported, the control scheme was custom fitted to console. I could tell a lot of love went into this game as everything was completely remade graphically while remaining faithful to the original dialogue and storyline. When Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge was inevitably remade and released I got it day one. The game was even better looking (near 3D appearance of the upgraded 2D artwork) than The Secret of MI and the story and dialogue was the same as the original sequel. I happily completed the game three times, first for the first play, second for the developer commentary (with the original trio) and third for 100% trophies.

Some criticize HD remakes for being a money grabbing scheme, I criticize most games of this generation for being too short or too pricey or both. With remakes (20 years old or 5 year old, doesn’t matter) they are cheap as chips and are the original length of that game, which is longer than a brand new game, plus they usually come as the whole series. I’m looking forward to getting more HD remakes soon (sly collection, ISO collection, Stranger’s Wrath) because not only are they cheap from day one, the originals are highly rated and include all the original games, not just one.

Now, I’ll take a turn tell you about the new episodic style games emerging recently due to the internet being able to deliver full games to your house instantly, no fuss. Telltale would be the most prominent developer of this genre, with Sam & Max, Monkey Island, the current Back to the Future and the future Jurassic Park under it’s belt of game/movie inspired episodic games. I have played Tales from Monkey Island by Telltale Games on the PS3. My main criticism of episodic games overall is they cost too much for what they’re worth. I purchased Blue Toad Murder Files for the PS3 at the same time (which is a dog’s breakfast of a game for any price) and was surprised they passed that little bit of average content for the same price as a disc-based game that’s been out for the same time. Tales of Monkey Island was worth the pricetag though. I wasn’t going all Monkey fanboy on it unless the price was right, and during the PSN christmas sale, it was.
I began playing it not too long ago but it was around 6 or 7 months after I had played the HD remakes of MI. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a game made by a different company and with only one of the original creators. ToMI is a 3D adventure game in the style of Monkey Island, retaining it’s dialogue choices and interaction with people and items. If you are looking for a flashy Unreal Engine game you won’t find it here, the graphics are cheerily cartoony and reminiscent of the Monkey Island HD remakes. In fact at some points when playing ToMI I forgot the first two I’d played were 2D. I made sure to play each episode over different days to give me a break as if I were playing it during the first release.
My impressions of the game were at first a little underwhelming. The first episode set the scene and had simpler puzzles compared to the original games. It was like watching part 1 of the new Harry Potter. Upon the second episode though, I was engrossed in the story and the game, it’s puzzles picked up the original ‘check the internet when you get stuck’ difficulty. The third episode flowed on all the way to the fifth and final episode, the game full of twists and turns that didn’t make you feel annoyed that maybe Telltale were trying to push out another episode by adding an unnecessary obstacle. ToMI isn’t a game made for kids but it is kid friendly, there are dark elements streaked through the story like death and a tad of dismemberment. Of course I don’t mean that MI had gone for a God of War hack and slash, it still retained the original game’s quality of no combat all puzzles. Like truly great puzzle game should be, it didn’t make you feel like you were playing a game that heaps of people had solved before and the game doesn’t play exactly the same each time (the dialogue changes by your choosing) it feels like you are blazing your own trail and that feeling is what got me hooked on Adventure games and Manic Mansion all those years ago.

This has been my journey through DL HD remakes and episodic games…how appropriate, you fight like a cow

Games in this article:

Tales of Monkey Island (PSN, XBL, PC) 14.45 (AUS Christmas Pricing) check your PSN, XBL or Telltale website for your country pricing, Australian pricing is usually around 5 dollars more than US

The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition (PSN, XBL, PC, iOS), Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (PSN, XBL, PC, iOS) 23.95 bundle (AUS) check your PSN, XBL, Steam or iTunes Store for your country pricing
Blue Toad Murder Mystery Files (PS3, PC) 19.95 (AUS Christmas Pricing) Check your PSN or bluetoadmurderfiles.co.uk for your country pricing – although I suggest you don’t buy this game without researching about it first

More of my reviews/ideas/thoughts/bizarre at twitter.com/warmanator

Siliconera did a hands-on with Konami’s Hard Corps: Uprising, a DLC game coming to PSN and Xbox LIVE. Contra faithful may recall Contra: Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis, from which this game gets it’s name.

Like the original, you will have multiple characters to choose from. In Siliconera’s write up, only two characters were available, but according to other sources I found on the game, rumor is that there will be at least 3 DLC characters. New to the series are two new gameplay features: You get a health bar for your character. This time around, it takes 3 hits to put your character down for the count. Secondly, you have the ability to reflect shots back at enemies using a rechargeable skill.

Probably most importantly, Konami hired Arc Systems Works (the company responsible for the 2-D heaven known as BlazBlue) to code the game. That means hand drawn HD anime style brilliant graphics and colors, with a frame rate that will be second to none. I’m loving these few but quality throwbacks to old school gameplay. Konami will definately be getting my money on day one.

Playstation Plus–the premium edition of PSN briefly talked on during Sony’s press conference–will supposedly be coming online with firmware update 3.40. According to an exerpt from a Sony press release posted on VG247.com, the download will be available on June 29. Those interested in Playstation Plus can only purchase it through the Playstation 3 at this point. No additional info was given beyond what was discussed at Sony’s presser with regard to Plus’ feature set. We can only speculate whether the long rumored cross-game chat will be offered.

With this announcement, I’m a little concerned. If Plus’ official launch is at the end of this month, it should have commanded a lot more time during Sony’s presser than just the vague descriptions and prices offered toward the end of the event. Hopefully we’re not looking at a Home launch situation, and PS Plus will be ready for prime time when it’s launched. It would be nice if Plus could be a viable alternative to Xbox LIVE–especially for those whose only system (or primary system) is the Playstation 3.

[Post image from Joystiq]

2010 is shaping up to be a super year for gaming, especially in the genres I’m interested in playing–namely fighters and brawlers. Games like Bayonetta, Darksiders, and God of War 3 will be giving my brawlers’ itch a major league scratch. Personally, I can’t wait.
Now comes the demo for EA’s Dante’s Inferno, one of the brawlers I was looking forward to early next year. After playing the demo however, I do have some concerns….

First, lets get the obvious out of the way. Dante’s Inferno will be a God of War clone. Aside from that, the demo shows that it borrows heavily from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence as well. Being a clone doesn’t make this a bad game. There are actually some elements in the demo that are kind of twists on brawler genre basics–at least as far as how God of War did them. For example, kill an enemy and you’ll collect souls to upgrade your weapons. However, punishing, or absolving an opponent builds power either in your cross, or Death’s scythe.

In the PS3 timed exclusive demo, you have access to two weapons–The Cross (a huge cross belonging to Dante’s wife) that sends cross shaped beams of light energy at enemies, and Death’s scythe. The scythe is the weapon you take from Death after he fails to claim Dante’s soul after a murder attempt during his tour of duty in the 3rd Crusade. Both weapons can be used in tandem–similar to Konami’s Castlevania: LoI building up some slick combos–even with the limited abilities available on the weapons’ skill trees. Combat is simple–like God of War. Based on the demo, button mashing will get you through, but the limited advanced moves given during the demo hint at deeper combat available in the final game. Hopefully there will be enemy types and bosses that will require a mastery of your skill set to beat them.

Graphics are sharp. There are no differences between the Animations are top notch. EA and Visceral Games (the developer) claim 60 fps. Another element that is top notch is enemy variety. The demo showcases several enemy types during the course of the short demo, including a large lumbering beast that you gain control of toward the end of the demo.

My concern about this game is two fold. First, EA’s marketing team has been acting like d-bags when it comes to marketing for this game. From staging a Christian protest of the game at E3, to setting up lame phony church themed blogs about the game tick me off. Just in case the marketing savants at EA are reading–Dante’s Inferno (the poem your game is based on) is an allegory of a righteous person’s rejection of sin, and moving closer to God. Elements of the Christian faith are used to tell the poem’s story. Nowhere in biblical scripture is Hell described as rings, populated by certain people guilty of certain sins. The Bible says that we are all guilty of violating God’s law, which is why He sent Jesus. If you want to learn more, look up John 3:16 in the New Testament. Thats why the poem is an ALLEGORY. Consider that your Sesame Street word of the day, EA. Trying to use the stereotypical angry Christian to gin up hype about your game is an idiotic idea, and I’m glad it backfired. EA wouldn’t even THINK about doing anything along those lines with the Muslim faith, Budhist faith, or even Scientology for that matter. Okay–dismounting soap box now.

My second issue is the use of nudity in the game. Sure, games like God of War, and lesser action titles like Conan used them, but Dante’s Inferno throws it in your face like a shovel full of funk–and I don’t mean the good kind, either. DI puts it front and center and keeps it there. There is no real reason for it, in my opinion. There is even a cutscene where the ghost of Dante’s wife is speaking about Dante. Instead of doing some cinematic camera tricks to make the scene intrigueing, all you see is her funbags heaving as she’s talking, taking up the majority of the screen real estate. It serves no purpose, adds nothing to the story, and tells me that certain developers like Visceral Games are still playing that old cliche of gamers being unsocialized boy bundles of teen hormones whose only hope of getting close to a woman are the bump mapped boobies they provide. Gee guys, welcome to 2001.

So, I have to say the demo is entertaining to play, and shows that the retail product may have a lot to offer. If you like God of War, and the high end clones the series has spawned (i.e. Wolverine), you’ll no doubt dig what the demo has. However, EA’s insulting marketing screw-ups and no-rhyme-or-reason nudity are substantial turn offs for me. Right now, I’ve got Bayonetta and Darksiders on pre-order. I’m going to have to think about whether or not there will be shelf space for Dante’s Inferno.

Some very cool information coming from Capcom of Japan by way of iplaywinner.com is showcasing new modes coming to Super StreetFighter IV. Here is what’s showcased in the video:

Endless Mode: Also known as Quarter Mode. It’s old-school arcade action, where up to 8 players duke it out where the winner continues until defeated. While waiting your turn, you can spectate the fight, and chat.

Team Battle Mode: Up to 8 players can split into two teams (Red v Blue). Teams can be either selected by the game randomly from those in the lobby, or players can set their teams up the way they want to. You can also send team invites to your friends list, and–so your not just sitting in a lobby waiting for your buds to show up, you can play Endless Mode until the lobby fills. Teams don’t have to even either, you can go 1 vs 7, 2 vs 6, ect. Just like with Endless Mode, players can spectate the fight and chat while waiting their turn.

Replay Channel: This feature sounds like ESPN Sports Center for StreetFighter. Several different channels, including a custom play list you can fill out yourself allow you the ability to see how the best in the world get down. Search specifics will allow you to narrow things down to just the replays you want to see.

Revamped Tournament Mode: Basically this lets you host tournaments with up to 9 players (including the host). The mode boasts replay recording from spectators, a visual win/loss results bracket, and the ability for the tournament host to award titles to the winners. As with the previous modes, you can voice chat with all participants.

Bonus Stages: Beat up a Lexus and empty whiskey barrels just like the good ‘ol days. Looks real cool.

Combine this with the additional characters coming to the already well rounded SFIV roster, (please Capcom–give me Dudley and Adon) you have a D1C purchase for me. I hope they have a bundle with the Mad Catz Tournament Stick. I need another one for PS3.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Its a familiar saying, and in the world of videogames and their sequels, it is practically a rule–for better or worse. From a developer’s perspective, history shows that people like what is familiar to them, and that comes out in sales figures. From a gaming enthusiast’s point of view, it can mean more of the same, with developers not being willing to stretch boundaries when it comes to gameplay.

Enter Tekken 6. From a game play perspective, Tekken has always been comfortably seated between the hard to master uber technical style of Virtua Fighter, and the gorgeous button mashiness of Soul Calibur (I’ll not even mention Dead or Alive). So, does Tekken’s latest entry break new ground, or re-run the same ‘ol same ‘ol? Click the jump to find out.

To get to the jist, Tekken 6 doesn’t change much from its previous iterations. What it does do however, is refine the hell out of what Tekken did right. For those who are unfamiliar, Tekken’s game play is all about keeping your opponent off balance with quick strikes, air juggles, and keeping the pressure on when your opponent is on the ground. Tekken pros can exploit this system to the fullest–depleting over 80% of your health meter by following up one well placed launcher. If you didn’t like that fighting system from previous versions, this game isn’t going to change your mind. The core elements of Tekken’s style of combat are refined, with some re-balancing done to staple top tier characters like Kazuya, and injecting a new mix of high-low, and launcher attack cross-ups with new fighters like Bob. Combat has never been better, if this style is to your liking.

As with all things man made, this is not perfect. Namco, for some crazy reason, decided to showcase the Campaign Mode above the other modes that focus on one on one combat. It’s the first option you can select on the menu. The campaign is a re-iteration of “Tekken Force”–a poorly put together 3-D Final Fight style beat-em-up, that started in Tekken 3 (if I’m not mistaken). I’ll not go into great detail about it, but just know that it’s horrible. It plays bad, looks bad, and tries to tell the hard to follow bad story behind the Tekken series, and how one of the new characters Lars fits in with the Tekken world as it stands in T6. It can be skipped, but if you’re interested in customizing your favorite characters, or if you’d like to see the ending scenarios for the fighters, you have to unlock them by doing a run through of this mode at least once. The lion’s share of fight money which you need to buy the avatar like accents for your favorite fighters is earned in this mode too, and why Namco tied the fighters’ end stories and fight money earning potential to this campaign crap and not the actual fighting game is beyond me.

I didn’t have any problems with playing online. Some reviews have stated problems with lag, but in my limited time online, I did not have any lag issues. Setting up a lobby and sending an invite is an easy process. The usual Player / Ranked Match and voice chat options are there. You can also check the leaderboards and download “ghost” characters from your friends list, and top ranked players. Basically, a “ghost” is the game’s interpretation of how a human player uses a certain character. Its not very accurate, but it can give you an insight into how an opponent plays a certain character for training purposes.

Speaking of training–the training mode in Tekken 6 is missing the ability to record an opponent attack string–sort of. For the hardcore, this is critical in working out counter strategies against certain attacks, and working on your defense. Instead, you have the option to select attacks from the character you’re using as your training dummy, and the computer will toss them at you at random. This is a poor substitute for a recording feature, as top players typically cancel one move to go into another to keep an opponent guessing on their defense, to set them up for an air juggle, or to keep the offensive pressure up while the opponent is on the ground. If you can’t record those exact custom pressure strings you may encounter while playing against a human opponent, you’ll have difficulty training against them, making it a little more difficult to get your game skill to the next level. You do have the option of having a second person playing as the practice dummy, but they’ll probably just want to play the game with you instead helping you figure out how to counter Bob’s gut crush. Hopefully that will be something that will be addressed in the upcoming patch.

To wrap up–if you are a Tekken fan, you’ll want to own this game. It has some minor problems (*cough* campaign mode *cough*), but the combat is excellent. Online is robust, with an actual lobby (take note Capcom) and invite system. As 3D fighters go, the Tekken series is my personal favorite. So yes, Tekken 6 is more of the same ‘ol same ‘ol, but that same ‘ol is so good.

Just some FYI, just in case you’ve been wondering. For the complete list check out, the Playstation Blog.

Click on the jump to see the list!

Updates

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords PSP Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

Cube Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Dead Head Fred Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 Temporary Price Drop (now $7.99)

WTF: Work Time Fun Temporary Sale (now $4.99)

Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! Temporary Sale (now $9.99)

TV Show King Permanent Price Drop (now $7.99)

PSone Classics: PS3/PSP

Jumping Flash! 2 ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 269 MB

Um Jammer Lammy ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 512 MB

Nuclear Strike ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 476 MB

Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko ($5.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 259 MB

Game Demos (free)

Brutal Legend Demo
ESRB Rated M
File size: 1.58 GB

Need For Speed Shift Demo
ESRB Rated E
File size: 854 MB

The Gaming Vault has reported on the known details from Sony’s official announcement of the upcoming firmware update for the Playstation 3. To be honest, it doesn’t sound like much, but hopefully some additional improvements will be revealed by or during Tokyo Game Show at the latest. Highlights include a “What’s New” section (replacing the Information Board) with interactive elements, dynamic themes and avatars, and a re-design display of your Friends List. No release date for 3.0 was announced.

Sony, if I just had an easier way to send invites and a cross game chat system, I’ll be thrilled

Gravity Crash is a high-res 1080p action shooter that harkens back to the glory days of the arcade in the mid to late ’80s. For those of you old enough to remember Scramble, and Asteroids on the Vectrex, or played Omega Race in the arcades should feel right at home with Gravity Crash. Multi-player, and level creation tools round out what looks to be a really fun retro themed blaster. CVG.com has the video from E3. Check it out.

Bethesda announced in a press release today that all previous DLC – Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, and Broken Steel will be available for download on PS3 starting late June.

In addition, two new DLC packs were announced for all systems (PC, 360, PS3). Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta will be available starting in June as well.

Gamestooge.com is reporting that the XBL and PSN versions of Marvel vs Capcom 2 has been officially announced. The best news, is that this game is not simply a port (which would have been absolutely fine in my book) but the game will be getting the HD treatment similar to what Capcom did for Street Fighter Turbo. That means sharp graphics, and widescreen support. Also, don’t worry about having to play through the single player repeatedly to unlock all of the characters like you had to do for the Dreamcast version. This time around, all 56 characters will be ready to duke it out online from the jump. While an official release date wasn’t given, we are supposed to get a demo on April 30th. This is going to be fantastic. I am LOVING this fighting game revival.

Maybe its me–maybe I’m the one with the problem. I admit I’m an old man, and I just don’t get a whole lot of this media designed to appeal to an “urban demographic”, and when I hear about projects like this, my concern and confusion only grows.

Criousgamer reported on the project in question called Ghetto Golf coded by a company called Illfonic out of Denver, Colorado. You play the part of Vonte, trying to make a name for himself in the world of golf by making impossible shots on a “golf course” in the middle of his Oakland neighborhood by using his assortment of spiked, and exploding golf balls, and his handy machine gun to get passed various urban themed obstacles. Hey, who hasn’t brought their “gat” to get the attention of the PGA–thats how Tiger did it, right?

I had to do a little more digging into this, and I found out that one of the founders of Illfonic is a man named Raphael Saadiq. Fans of 80s R&B may know him better as Charlie Wiggins–one of the members of Tony! Toni! Tone’!. Okay, thats cool. So I checked out Illfonic’s website. There, I found a section tagged as “Upcoming Sh*t”, where I found this statement. Quote: “Ghetto Golf is an upcoming downloadable multi platform title.We would like to tell and show you more and will as soon as we get our legal sh*t straight.” Wow, that statement is so urban, and so cool–Dolemite himself must have said it….

Look, as a black man and gamer, I’m pleased to see African-American representation in the gaming industry. We need a lot more of it. But can’t we see a higher level of professionalism here? Is that asking too much? Do we think for a minute that Capcom, would use that kind of language on their own site to describe an upcoming project for the world to see? Will Infinity Ward’s CEO take the stage at E3, and say “This Modern Warfare 2 is gonna be the sh*t, yo!” I think not.

I wonder if the Resident Evil 5 protest brigade will complain about this one as Vonte lands Birdies by banking shots off the passed out crackhead…

Just an FYI, Sony’s open beta for Home launched today, so make your avatars and get to dancing… Shacknews has a rundown, plus some of the other goodies like LittleBigPlanet DLC.

Joystiq posted a story about some new DLC for Burnout Paradise. The “Jansen 88 Special” is modeled after none other than the DeLorean from Back to the Future! Complete with hovering and flame tracks.

The “Legendary Cars Pack” (wonder where they came up with that name, lol) should be available in 2009.

Capcom posted a combo video showing what is possible in StreetFighter II HD Remix. Highlights include Cammy, Fei Long, Sagat, and Ken (among others) performing a variety of cross-ups, corner traps, and dizzies. ShackNews has the link to the Capcom produced trailer. SF: HDR is due on XBox LIVE and PSN this month. I’m looking forward to it.

Xbox won’t be the only console getting an “experience” this fall. Playstation Store will feature publisher specific storefronts coming this November. The first company to take advantage of this digital real estate will be Capcom.

CVG quotes Capcom’s Product manager John Daiamonon as saying,”Out of all of the third-party companies making use of the digital space, [Sony] recognizes Capcom is one of the best partners for content. We’re supporting PlayStation Network like no other company.”

Based on the image posted on CVG, the stores look very pleasing to the eye. Obviously its an attempt to drain some of the wind from the Xbox Experience sails which is also due this November. This does not seem to be part of Sony’s oft mentioned Home retail space, but instead will be integrated into the PSN as it exists currently. No doubt other publishers will follow suit.

The political campaign has hit videogames. 1Up.com is reporting (via Kotaku) that Barack Obama has purchased advertising space in Burnout Paradise.

EA confirmed this with a public statement issued by their corporate communications spokesperson Holly Rockwood, who said, “I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout. Like most television, radio, and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this. I, like a lot of people use videogames as a temporary escape from the daily grind, and I don’t really need to see political ads in my gaming. I get enough of it when I turn on my television to watch the nightly news.

I wonder if you get trophies/achievements for busting through those billboards?

I’m still extremely skeptical about Sony’s Home interface. However, there are many publishers who don’t share my skepticism.

At TGS, Sony announced a who’s-who list of publishers that will be developing interactive media for Home, including Capcom, who will be putting Home functionality in Resident Evil 5 and StreetFighter IV. No specifics were given.

The list is too long for the purposes of this blog entry, but Capcom, SNK Playmore, Activision, Tecmo, and UbiSoft are just some of the 24 publishers who have pledged support for Sony’s 2nd Life-I mean Home. The entire list and details of the announcement can be found on Playstation Universe.

Criterion Games announced this week that Burnout Paradise will be available this week via download from the PlayStation Store for $29.99. More details after the jump. Criterion Games announced this week that Burnout Paradise will be available this week via download from the PlayStation Store for $29.99.

Buying the game gets you all the original Burnout Paradise disk content. If you missed it, that’s all 5 neighbourhoods in the Paradise City open world filled with hundreds of Road Rage, Stunt Run, Marked Man and Burning Route events. Every street in the city features a Road Rules record time and Showtime score to beat. Take it online, and you’ll witness the seamless arrival of up to 7 friends. Collaborate with them to beat 350 Freeburn Challenges – simple challenges taking you all over Paradise City.

Starting the game will then immediately trigger the download of all our updates, including the recent Cagney Pack and Burnout Bikes. A pack delivering PS3 Trophy Support will be released imminently and included for free. And there’s plenty more to come. They’re developing a new island location and much, much more.

If Sony starts offering current generation games on their PSN Store, will that give them another bullet point in the console war that Microsoft will have to answer to? I don’t even know that Microsoft would be able to offer this and expect it to be successful, due to the majority of console owners at this juncture having 20 GB hard drives.