Monday 3 August 2009

COD: WAW Map Pack 3 Release Date


The third map pack will release this Thursday August 6th on the Playstation store for $9.99 in the US and £7.99 in the UK. Click here for the map pack 3 trailer.

Source

Monday Star Buys PS3


Its Monday again, guess what that mean's..... thats right its Star buys Monday on Shopto.net, every Monday they change the games on offer. three games are on offer this week and they are Fuel, UFC 2009 Undisputed and Damnation click here for more info. And remember you can pay via PayPal at checkout, i use them all the time and i must say they are the around for price and keeping you up to date on your order including sending you a tracking number via email and text message which some places don't do because they don't send via recorded or signed for post.

My Top 5 Upcoming Games For 2009

Ok following on from Biznitch's top 10 upcoming games i thought i would share my top five upcoming games of 2009, the reason for five is that these are the games i'm most excited about so here goes.

Uncharted 2
I recently took part in the beta after buying InFamous from Shopto.net and receiving a beta code that i wasn't expecting since when i pre ordered from shopto they had no beta codes and were telling everyone it was exclusive to play.com. I did play the first uncharted and did really enjoy it but once i completed the story i didn't want to play thorough again, this is where online co-op and team based online modes would have extended the life of the original. So after trying the beta i was blown away by the sheer amount they had improved and added to the already amazing graphics and story the original had. I have also read that the single player is much longer then the original with much bigger and better levels that are set in towns, forests, trains, snow and icy mountains. Co-op mode will allow three friends to join together and fight thorough levels that have been made just for co-op mode. This is my number one must have game of the year, if you liked the first one you will love this sequel.


WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010
I'm a big wrestling fan and have been watching since the early 90's, so i tend to buy all wrestling games that come out, even the TNA game which was the worst wrestling game ever. There's not been a truly amazing wrestling game since Smackdown Here Comes The Pain where you could interact with other wrestlers back stage, this was great and people seemed to love it but for some strange reason THQ removed it from all WWE games since. Every year i keep an eye on sites like IGN to see what feature's are in and whats out of the latest game in hope its been added back to the features. This year could be the year since i have read that WWE wrestler John Morrison discussed that the main theme for the game would be based around customization and said that one of the many new features would have to do with creating ring attires for wrestlers in the game, also on the official site "its your world now" appears after entering the site, could this mean some kind of free control over you wrestler when backstage? i hope so anyway. Sorry no video for this game due to there being none out there, but more details will be announced at WWE Summerslam later this month.

Borderlands
This title appeals to me because of the FPS and RPG elements combined into one game which are two of my favorite genres. The art design as changed but still looks very nice and different from most games out there at the moment, also add in the fact you have over 3million different weapon combinations and it looks like a game that will take up alot of gaming hours.


Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Every time a call of duty game is released I'm one of the first in line to buy it at the store but within a week I've finished the single player and have died a million times online at this point I'm probably one of the first to trade it in. The thing i like about the call of duty games is the single player but they tend to be very short maybe due to people only really wanting to play for the online so the developers decide to concentrate on the online part of the game, i don't know why but i just can't get into the online part. I will no doubt be one of the first at the store on release day to pick up Modern warfare 2 even if I'm the only person in the world who buys it for the single player.


MAG/Gran Turismo 5
The reason i have put both is that I'm not sure if either of these will be released this year, but I'm hoping at least one of them will be released by the end of 2009.

MAG sets the bar for all future online shooters, no other shooter on any console can boost that their game can have 256 players online.The other feature that sets this game apart from any other shooter is the squad system with users divided into 8-player squads, with 4 squads forming a platoon, and 4 platoons forming a company.Each squad will be led by a player who has advanced through the game's ranking system. Character statistics and development will also increase with frequent gameplay. The players most advanced in rank will be able to either direct the battle or participate directly in combat.


Gran Turismo games have always been the best driving games for me and anyone who has ever played one on the PS1 and PS2 will already know what to expect from Gran Turismo 5. Anyone who as never played a Gran Turismo game before should pick up Gran Turismo Prologue which is a kind of demo of what to expect from Gran Turismo 5, also you could pick up Gran Turismo Prologue for under £20 brand new or even cheaper pre owned.



So there you go my top 5 games i will be buying for the rest of this year, let me know what games you are looking forward to for the rest of the year in the comments section below. Also vote on this months poll here.

Thanks for reading

Batman: Arkham Asylum Demo Coming August 7th

Eidos has announced that a demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum will release this week on Friday, August 7, yes thats a friday instead of the usual Thursday update for the PS3. The demo will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The demo will take place at the beginning of the game after you have taken the Joker back to Arkham Asylum.

Top 10 Games worth looking forward to!

So here I am, back again to write another article in which I substitute raw facts for opinionated ignorance. This time around I thought all you avid readers would like me to enlighten you all with information that I've ripped off other sites, re-written and claimed as my own.
This time I'm focusing on UP COMING RELEASES that I'm quite excited about. And to be honest, you should too.

(Heads up- make sure you all have pennies in the pocket for NOVEMBER)


MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 2 - - - September, 2009 (very nice website!)
To be honest I don't know much about this game, and for good reason- I don't want to. I remember back in the day when I would eagerly await the day when I would get to go to the game shop and buy a new Mega Drive or PSX game. Back then everything was a surprise, I knew nothing about new releases, nor did I read many reviews for that matter. Of course there were the occasional disappointment, but finding that gem was always a thrill.
As for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, well the first was an awesome game. Incredibly fun (especially 2 player) and really I don't need to say much more. There were some problems with unbalanced characters, but I'd assume ( / hope) it has been fixed for the new game. And needless to say, in this case I'm more than happy to jump in at the deep end and buy the game regardless.


TEKKEN 6 - - - Late October, 2009 (New character Bob has a TWITTER!)
I downloaded the video of this from the PSN and all I can say as this- it looks just like Tekken 5. Oh sure, the graphics are better, there's more characters and there's new features and game modes. But still, it looks like it plays just like Tekken 5. And, personally, I think that that makes it BRILLIANT! Honestly- did any fans of Tekken have any problems with Tekken 5? No. It was great. And Tekken 6 is simply an improvement on that.
What more could you possibly ask for? An improvement on that "Tekken Force" game thing? Well GOOD NEWS! There is a new, improved version of Tekken Force- and this time it's not just a throw in extra. A lot of time has been put into it to make it a really good stand-alone game. Honestly, this game just seems to get better and better...


GOD OF WAR 3 - - - March, 2010 (too far!!)
I never owned the previous titles, they slipped by me for some reason... But I ended up sitting in on my cousin playing the first game again, then watched (and played) my friends play the second a few months back. I don't need to tell you all how good they were, but the prospect of a new God of War game made me hold out for the next instalment.... And believe me, it definitely seems worth while...


BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM - - - Late August, 2009
I wasn't that fussed about this game at first. I don't really know why, perhaps due to the horrible track record of DC superhero games (if anyone wants to dispute this I'd like to point you all towards Superman 64, Mortal Kombat vs DC, Superman and Barbies Dreamhouse etc...)
But then I got far more interested when I downloaded a video on the PSN that shows that PlayStation 3 owners will get the chance to download a pack that lets you play as the Joker! Now this to me makes the game worth owning alone.
Shortly after this I decided to look into the rest of the game, you know, the "playing as Batman" bits. Clearly I've been brainwashed by previous games to think that this title would simply be a case of the brick-shithouse that is Batman waltzes into an insane asylum and kicks arse as an indestructible killing machine. How (partially) wrong I was. It turns out that the Dark Knight is finally being played the way he should- as a stealthy detective. You have to stalk your prey, using your high tech equipment to follow certain enemies smells and foot prints, using sonar to detect enemies through walls, hanging from the rafters before finally swooping down to silently take out your enemy... Perfect!
Australian Gamers Yug got the chance to play the game for the whole afternoon and strongly recommends it for when it comes out. Although he did mention the hand-to-hand combat is something to be desired. But I suppose only time will tell...


SCRIBBLENAUTS (It's for the DS, so shhh....) September, 2009
Really I shouldn't be talking about this here (what with it being a PlayStation blog and all) but what can I say, this game makes it worth it (and I thought that by putting it in the middle here no one would notice...) Out of all the games I'm looking forward to, this is the only one that Nintendo has managed to peak my interests with. It's exclusively for the DS and seems to have slipped under many peoples radars.... Until E3. It sat quietly at the back of the room under the unassuming Warner Bros tent, politely letting all the other titles take the lime light- God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Guitar Hero 5 etc... But after word spread, everybody wanted a look into the world of Scribblenauts. And let me tell you- it's a pretty impressive world!
The idea, like most brilliant ideas, is quite simple- it's a 2D cartoony puzzle game in which you solve each puzzle by writing down objects to use. One example given at E3 was a level in which a kite is stuck up a tree. The player types "Ladder" and a ladder appears and the character walks up it to reach the kite. But that's not all- you can type almost ANYTHING! You could type "beaver" and a beaver appears and chomps down the tree, or "lightning" to make lightning strike the tree, releasing the kite! The back catalogue of words and animations is phenomenally huge. Impressively so. Scarily so. I could talk all day about it (one guy couldn't defeat a horde of zombies so he typed "Time Machine", went back in time, got on a dinosaur, went back again and stomped them all!) so really, watch out for it!


DJ HERO
(Why not!) RELEASE TBC
I like guitar hero, who doesn't, but not enough to buy it. What can I say, after about 2-3 songs I get bored. Then the drums came out- much harder but it meant I started playing for much longer. So my theory (tried and tested) states that DJ Hero will provide all of us with at least 1 MILLION hours of fun. Fact.


(AND NOW, FOR THE BIG ONES)


HEAVY RAIN - - - Early 2010
To be honest, I didn't know too much about this game before E3... And I feel ashamed for not knowing. This game feels like a revolution among gaming. It almost leaves me speechless. It... Well... Wow.
After hearing about it I went online to find in-game footage and, although I found some (and it was GREAT!) I also found this--



If that doesn't leave you speechless and begging for more, then you are in the wrong century my friend. This, I feel, is honestly the future. I am a huge fan of "Playable Movies"- games that have an intense storyline, for example, the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid sagas. And this feels just like it. It almost looks more like art than a game (much like The Path) and I for one just cannot wait for 2010.


LEFT 4 DEAD 2 - - - November, 2009
Now this one is strange for me. In one way I am thrilled about this game and cannot wait to get my hands on it. On the other hand, why so soon?! I've barely scraped the surface of L4D. It's only had 1 major update, opening up options and modes that should have been available on release anyway. I was hoping that L4D would go down the same route as Team Fortress 2- constant updates, more maps and a cult following. They were so close before throwing in the towel and making a new game.
On the other hand, perhaps this really is the new TF2. Team Fortress 1 was great, then improved on to made one of the greatest online FPS ever made. So perhaps that's what L4D2 will provide?
The new melee weapons sound great though, as well as the new enemies, new locations, improved AI Director, weather system and maps. But all of these things need to be flawless to justify a new game release so quickly after the first. And in the ideal world- compatibility with the original L4D. I for one just cannot simply forget about those brave, brave survivors...


CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 - - - November, 2009
Almost everybody you talk about this game with you will hear them saying "The story is amazing... So in depth.... Brilliant story telling... Game mechanics work so well... Written amazingly... Blah blah blah". I'm not calling them liars, all I'm saying is that I never actually played the single player campaign enough to notice.
Instead, I bought the game solely for the online multiplayer. I can honestly say it is one of the greatest online games I have ever played. And the prospect of a new game, even if it's only for a few extra maps, is well worth it.
The game-play barely needs more. In fact I'd go as far as to say it cannot be improved upon. The graphics are already top-notch and the game is easy to pick up and brilliantly hard to master. The prospect of new weapons, new maps, new specials and other bonus' hidden under it's skin honestly leaves me lying awake at night waiting to buy this game. And with special editions like THIS to taunt us, how am I ever expect to get to sleep until it is mine in NOVEMBER?!


ASSASSINS CREED 2 - - - November, 2009
I was a late-comer to Assassins Creed fad as it was a while until I could afford one. By the time I decided to buy my bargain basement copy for £10 I had been bombarded by people on forums spouting about how terrible the game was. Then after I bought it I had several people tell me how stupid I was to pay £10 for it. And I was perplexed. The game was really enjoyable. It was quite simply- Brilliant. The free-running aspect of the game was the most relaxing and smooth form of park-our I have ever played. And at the same time it was one of the most tense and exhilarating gameplay I had played when escaping the guards on full alert (Although after a while, that dulled down a bit [unlike the Metal Gear Solid games]).
I didn't understand what everyone hated about it... Until I completed it and I was presented with the most face-slappingly insulting ending I had ever come across. It ends at the most interesting point, nothing is explained, nothing is answered- it almost feels as if the game writers honestly didn't know how to end it, so just slapped credits on instead. At that moment I realised what everyone was on about all this time. I forgot about the good parts and focused on the ending.
But then I went back to it. I played for hours with a few friends, simply for the free-running. We spent hours finding new ways to kill people, new places to get to and new routes to take on missions. This was incredibly fun.
After this I downloaded the videos of the initial gameplay and cut-scene video from Assassins Creed 2 and was once again blown away. Much like the best titles out there they appear to have simply built on the already perfectly working game mechanics and still managed to improve upon them.
I can't really say much more on it really. It is most definitely one of the games I am most looking forward to getting my hands on- if not THE game I want to play most of all.



SO. This was my sum up of the up and coming games that deserve the most hype and attention. I hope you all keep a close eye on these titles- I know I will.


-- Biznitch --