R3match Radio Podcast: Show 3 - 8/28/08

Surprised by our own persistence and dedication to keeping a podcast up and running on a weekly basis, we bring you Show 3 of “R3match Radio.”

The word from the site:

After ONE show co-hostin’ with Jason and Carlos last week, Juan took a quick vacation out…somewhere in the East Coast. But the show must go on and the super-duo brought it this week with some Mercenaries 2 talk, Xbox 360 motion-control rumor-mongering, as well as “Red Ring of Death” reminiscing.

Pictorial Discussion: Halo Wars Box Art

We threw in the following song, from our favorite ad at the moment, for some added affect:

‘Mercenaries 2′ Ad Lyrics

Oh, nooo…
Oh, nooo…
Oh, nooo…

Yo, yo, yo.

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Sucka try to play me,
But you never paid me,
Never,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Payback is a-comin’,
You will be runnin’ for-e-ver,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

Until I get my vengeance,
I will never end this may-hem,

Oh, no, you didn’t,

I’m a mercenary,
You ain’t got a prayer,
You owe meeee

Feel free to download the show here:

R3match Radio Podcast - Show #3

PlayStation Store Update, August 28th Edition

Too cheap to buy the full retail version of SoulCalibur IV?  Well, this week’s FREE demo is a nice appetizer to the main dish.  Also, The Last Guy looks pretty cool, but stay here for review.  Other than that the two Warkhawk Add-on’s are the other updates worth noting.  Enjoy your last update in August!

Downloadable Games

• The Last Guy ($9.99)

Add-on Content:

• Rock Band DLC
  • “She Does” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “Don’t Make Me Wait” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “Don’t Make Me Wait” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “All Over Again” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • Locksley Pack 1 ($2.99) - includes: “All Over Again,” “Don’t Make Me Wait,” and “She Does” by Locksley.
• Warhawk Fallen Star Pack ($7.99)
• Warhawk Booster Combo ($15.99)

Game Demos

• NHL 09
• Soulcalibur IV

Game Videos:

• SOCOM Confrontation Extraction trailer
• LittleBigPlanet Leipzig “Sackzilla” Trailer
• Motorstorm Pacific Rift Leipzig Trailer
• PAIN Trauma Mode Trailer
• GT5 Prologue Play the Pros with Tanner Foust!
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway Machine Gun & Bazooka Video
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway Squad Gameplay Video
• Facebreaker Audition Video #1
• Facebreaker Audition Video #2
• Facebreaker Audition Video #3
• Madden NFL 09 Gameplay Trailer
• Madden NFL 09 Madden Moments Trailer
• Madden NFL 09 Play Call Trailer
• Top Spin 3 Player Creator Trailer

Movie and Blu-ray Trailers:

• Quantum Of Solace
• Prom Night

PS3 Wallpaper:

• (2) The Last Guy
  

Via Blog.PlayStation

New PSN Card Retailers

Sony just sent out a press release letting us know that they will be making PlayStation Network cards widely available (kind of) in September. 7-Eleven, RiteAid, and Blockbuster will be stocking your PSN cards, funnily enough.

PSN cards — which start at $20 — have been spotted in the wild already at a few locations, but it’s a bit odd that Sony hasn’t shipped out any cards to the bigger retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, or even, GameStop.

7-Eleven, out of those mentioned, seems like the most convenient. We can now shop for our favorite $3.59 “Sushi - Ready to Eat!” and a $20 PSN card (avoiding credit fees) at 3 o’clock in the morning! Just like it was always meant to be…

Microsoft Sticks It To Sony, Wins $20 Million

Well, not directly, but it did so by suing Immersion, the company who provides rumble for all the console manufacturers’ controllers — including Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

If you guys haven’t heard about the tussle before, this is how it went down:

• Immersion sues Sony and Microsoft.
• Sony refuses to settle.
• Microsoft settles, adding that if Sony settled, they get $15 Million.
• Sony settles, releases DualShock 3.
• Microsoft sues Immersion.
• Gets money back, cha-ching!

For gamers, it shouldn’t matter what companies do to make their money as long as they keep feeding us more quality games but this legal battle served little good. Reason why we got our shiny, rumble-rific DualShock 3s late and why we can’t feel the power of Call of Duty 4’s shots…

Thanks to Kotaku for making sense of the situation for us.

Image Credit: Spokenhub

Lara Croft’s Evolutionary Spreads

The real-life models who’ve embodied Lara Croft over the years have never disappointed, giving video game fans plenty of beautiful eye candy — whether it be in video game form, advertising, and…Angelina Jolie.

Unfortunately, her video game form hasn’t always been as nicely, umm, shaped. Go Nintendo found an interesting collage of her evolutionary process from blocky, first iconic female game protagonist, to the much hotter, and looser (as in well animated), model in Tomb Raider: Underworld:

Talk about a purely cosmetic, but entirely necessary, upgrade!

Hot Deal: Assassin’s Creed $29.99 NEW

(click on the above image for larger view)

When Assassin’s Creed came out in 2007, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the game.  Looking back on it, I’d say the complaints about AC probably fell into the “Fable problem”.  Basically that means that sometimes a game is so hyped by the media and publisher that you feel cheated once you play the game.  Fable was one of those games I waited years for and felt upset when I finally got my hands on it, even though it was still a pretty good game.  The same thing went for Assassin’s Creed.  I guess I was expecting medieval Sam Fisher assassin on crack and just got a regular medieval assassin experience with a sci-fi twist. With that said, there were still plenty of sites that gave AC praise from the jump.  I simply expected more at the time.

If you didn’t get a chance to play AC, it’s currently selling for $29.99 at GameStop which is truly a steal for what you are getting.  Forget what the critics said back in 2007 because it’s certainly worth 30 dollars now. The game (’Assassin’s Creed’ Director’s Cut) still looks and plays better on the PC, but if Xbox 360 or Sony PS3 is your platform of choice, this is the way to go. 

The great things about Assassin’s Creed:

• The graphics were awesome.  This was perhaps the most visually appealing game of 2007.
• Sound effects and music were spot on.
• Environments were huge and made you feel like you were in a real city.
• The controls were fairly fluid.
• Free running environment is great for the adventurous type.
• Missions can be completed through various methods.
• The main plot was interesting.

The Good, The Bad, and the Unrated…August 25

Wednesday marks the long-awaited launch of the cutesy, but deadly, Castle Crashers which adds some salt to the wound that is the Xbox 360 void caused by the “red ring of death.” Oh, how this writer wishes he could spend all those 1500 pennies ($15, 1200 Microsoft Points) on The Behemoth’s latest romp this week…might have to dip into some PS3-playable games, instead.

For those of you wondering…yes, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy Fox are real game characters in “real” $20-still-too-expensive games for the trash dump that is the Nintendo Wii. We mean publishers use it as a dumping ground, not that it’s an actual dump…or is it?

(The following scores were “aggregated-tive-ized” as of August 25, 2008 via Metacritic)

The Good…

• Sid Meier’s Pirates! (Mac) - Metascore: 88 (PC)
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3) - Metascore: 82
• FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (PC) - Metascore: 78

The Bad…

• Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS3, Wii, DS, PS2) - Metascore: 72 (PS3)
• Falling Stars (PS2) - Metascore: 40
• Vampire Rain: Altered Species (PS3) - Metascore: 38 (360)

The Unrated…

Xbox 360

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• Tales of Vesperia
• Castle Crashers

PS3

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

Wii

• Mario Super Sluggers
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
• Pajama Sam in Don’t Fear the Dark
• Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery
• Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
• Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk
• Ford Racing: Off Road

PC

• GTR Evolution
• Penumbra: Requiem
• Prison Tycoon 4: SuperMax
• The Sims 2 Apartment Life
• Hacker Evolution - Reinsertion
• Operation Mania

Mac

• MindHabits

DS

• Commando: Steel Disaster
• MLB Power Pros 2008
• Picto Image
• N+
• From the Abyss
• Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
• Digimon World Championship
• The Sims 2 Apartment Pets
• The Sims 2 Apartment Life

PSP

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• N+

PS2

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• DT Racer Refueled

Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty

Quest for Booty is Sony and Insomniac game’s first foray into episodic-type content for PSN, but at a premium price of $15, should you add it to your download queue?

In QfB, Ratchet & Clank Future’s forgiveable controls remain the same, the graphics still have that almost-Pixar quality to them, but it’s now shrunken down to a quick adventure that loosely follows the main story.

For those of you who haven’t followed the series, its charm and simple story wont be lost on you as Insomniac brought out the A-team for the team’s latest game and it shows. A healthy amount of hilarious moments are littered throughout the adventure — you’ll actually “lol” more than a few times.

Probably the main difference being that the length and overall progression of the game isn’t as deep as the full, retail game but the same fun you’ve come to expect from the series is retained. Effectively making it feel like the game proper.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that you don’t have your full range of weapons and skill set as your tiny robot pal is still lost. This, in turn, makes the game more of a puzzle-platformer affair; the trademark funky weapons take a backseat in this installment of the series.

The use of weapons, for the most part, is substituted by fun, new game play additions such as the “Kinetic Thether” that makes the environments interactive. The point being that you have to find ways to manipulate it and get through the game’s clever puzzles. The formula is tweaked enough to make it more conducive for a game like this.

If you really enjoyed the shooter aspect of past Ratchet’s, you might be disappointed, but otherwise it’s a great game. The progression goes smoothly and there are even a few pleasant surprises. And like the case with any great game (or movie, for that matter) it ends with a conclusion of epic proportions. Well, maybe not as dramatic, but close enough.

About the only drawbacks to the game is that it does lack some of the deep aspects of weapon customization and has some odd mechanical ommissions that made Future fun. Besides the “tornado launcher’s” motion controls, there is little else to take advantage of a the Sixaxis controller — something Future did well. Also, it would’ve been cool to support the aforementioned game’s save file and have it tie into Quest for Booty.

The Good Stuff:

More of a puzzle-platforming outing, but with enough shooting to keep newcomers happy and fans nicely teased.

The Bad Stuff:

It lacks some of the depth and replayability of its big brother, Ratchet & Clank: Future.

The Neutral:

The series’ forgiving controls, humor, and graphics remain intact for this piece of downloadable goodness.

In the End…

Quest for Booty’s short sampling will resonant the most with non-believers of the series and fans will walk away still salivating after a sweet, if brief, episode that runs along R&C:F’s storyline. Despite being a short little game (most will finish it in 3-4 hrs), it still has its share of memorable moments — more than justifying the $15 asking price.

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