Oct 13

For all of you smart shoppers out there, Kezins brought word of a special deal tied to this week’s release of Saints Row 2 earlier. The game was confident enough to play with reviewers pre-release this week; getting favorable reviews across the board. If you’re hoping for some scares just in time for Halloween, you should look forward to Dead Space, as well, which made its way into the coveted “Good” reviews area.

If, for some reason, your interests veer past triple-A games, you’ll be interested to know that Blitz II, My Japanese Coach (cool!), and SOCOM: Confrontation also make an appearance. Oh, yeah, and Rock Revolution. *barf*

Full list of games dropping this week after the break…

Continue reading »

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oct 09

Boomp3.com (Run time: 7:22)

In an effort to keep the ‘ish going on a semi-regular basis we invited (read: hassled) a Texas friend of the show, Jeremy Lowe, to talk some games with Carlos today. They dig into some LittleBigPlanet, Tekken 6, God of War “sacrifices” and bunch of other Tokyo Game Show related news. Also, notice how we disregard Jeremy’s daughter, Victoria, first podcast appearance in the background.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sep 29

We’d normally point you to looking after the break, but this week…we’re not too sure. There’s a lot of likely craptitude coming out on the PC. We counted fourty three in the “Unrated” pile. 43!

Don’t be too scared, though. There’s some fun to be had with Sonic Chronicles, Mega Man 9 (for those of you without a Wii or PS3), Battlefield Heroes (for free!), and ex-Bungie devs’ Age of Booty this week. What will you guys be playing?

The full list of games dropping this week after the break… Continue reading »

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , ,

Sep 22

Simul-not releases for Mega Man 9 start dropping this week, but wha-? Are those good, Wii games we see down there? Looks like gamers can’t go wrong if they decide to put down fifty bones for de Blob or Mario’s fart-attack nemesis’ game, Warioland: Shake It!. Should give you a reason to dust off that Wii, anyway.

Time-rewinding action can be found on XBLA with the re-release of Duke Nukem 3D on Wednesday, Disney proves that it can make a cool off-road racer with Pure, and further proof that gaming season is upon us — after the break. Continue reading »

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , ,

Sep 20

While everyone is looking to the future of gaming with fancy console boxes and downloadable titles, we haven’t forgotten an old favorite: the PS2. Sure, it’s on its last legs but continues to prove a worthy contender with Yakuza 2, a Japanese crime drama that guises its budget price with excellent gameplay. Continue reading »

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , ,

Sep 08

This week we see the release of Yakuza 2 (sans Michael Madsen and Luke Skywalker’s voice) sporting a subtitled translation with the original Japanese voices intact. We’ve speculated a bit that it might be the last great PS2 game and at $30, why not give it a chance? We certainly loved the first one. And the movie. Plug, plug, plug!

Spore and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise are the good titles this week and TNA iMPACT! looks like it’d be a good addition to your collection from what we’ve seen so far. As long as it plays like our favorite N64 wrasslin’ games of old, we’ll be happy.

(The following scores were “aggregated-tive-ized” as of September 8, 2008 via Metacritic)

The Good…

  • NHL 09 (360, PS3) - Metascore: 89
  • Lock’s Quest (DS) - Metascore: 86
  • Spore (PC, Mac) - Metascore: 85
  • Yakuza 2 (PS2) - Metascore: 83
  • Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise DS (DS) - Metascore: 82

The Bad…

  • Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (PC) - Metascore: 72
  • NHL 2K9 (360, PS3) - Metascore: 71
  • Spore Creatures DS (DS) - Metascore: 68
  • TNA iMPACT! (360, PS3) - Metascore: 64
  • Zoids Assault (360) - Metascore: 46

The Unrated…

Xbox 360

  • NHL 2009
  • NHL 2K9
  • TNA iMPACT!
  • Zoids Assault

PS3

  • TNA iMPACT!
  • NHL 2009
  • NHL 2K9

Wii

  • NHL 2K9
  • Active Life: Outdoor Challenge
  • Hell’s Kitchen
  • The Price is Right

PC

  • NHL 2009

DS

  • Spore Creatures DS
  • Lock’s Quest

PS2

  • TNA iMPACT!
  • NHL 2009
  • NHL 2K9
  • Yakuza 2
  • Dragonball Z: Trilogy

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , ,

Sep 06

LittleBigPlanet’s success on the PS3 will come to no surprise for those who have followed the customizable game. During E3, LittleBigPlanet showcased Sackboy unveil Sony’s presentation. People are calling SackBoy the new face of Sony’s PS3. I’m sure a million more spore based off Sackboy will be hitting the interwebs soon enough, but BulkyPaint is the first! Without further a due:

Continue reading »

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sep 05

The Last Guy’s top-down zombie arcade game is Google Earth meets Shaun of the Dead.  Zombie Conga Line Anyone?

The Earth is infested with several forms of zombies.  The population is scarce and you are asked to rescue the last remaining civilians in 14 cities.  Here’s where you’re asked to step in, and get them the hell out of danger.  *The Last Guy is a top-down, aerial view arcade game, in which your character is portrayed by a man with a blue suit and red cape.  Incorporating a similar view to that of Google Earth you’ll see real cities which gives the game a realistic feel.  Of course with the top building view, the only way to determine who’s in a building is by turning ‘night vision’ on.  Japan Studios thought this one out because with ‘night vision’ on, you can’t see the nearby zombies.  So you’ll have to toggle your views to succeed.  In short, your mission is to rescue a certain number of civilians within the allotted time limit.

If the above image reminds you of Forret Gump, it should.  It’s an aerial view of Wash., D.C.

The first level starts you off in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  You’re given 4 minutes to roundup 1000 people and deliver them safely into the “Escape Zone”.  Each city you are dropped off in, has zombies, items, and of course people to rescue.  The more civilians you bring to the “Escape Zone” at a time, the higher the bonus.  Of course there’s a catch!  The more civilians you have with you creates a long line (like follow the leader) which makes you more susceptible to the Zombies.  Once the Zombies get too close to you, they can either scare the civilians away or break your ‘Snake” like line both sending them screaming back into nearby shelters.  Oh yeah, and if a Zombie captures you, Game Over.

Item List

E = Energy
hE = High Energy
St = Stops Zombie Activity for limited time
Re = Warps you to nearest “Escape Zone”
Iv = Invisible to Zombies for limited time

The games’ music, and sounds let you know when time is almost up and when a zombie is near.  Strategically timed birds fly overhead to throw your visuals off.  The Japanese voice over’s add a creepy feel to the game during the game’s menu screen.

Walk this way guys…

The Good Stuff:

- Highly addictive arcade game
- An aerial view of 14 detailed cities
- Ascending Challenged Cities
- Quick, pick up and play game
- Rumble

The Bad Stuff:

- No Multi-player
- Lack of PS3 Trophies

The Neutral:

- Caped Crusader as main character

In the End…

I know the description of the game sounds simple.  It first reminded me of the classic cell phone game ‘Snake’.  If it sounds easy, then that means I did a good job not confusing the objective of the game, but let me warn you.  *The Last Guy is part arcade-action, mixed in with some strategy.  Some cities allow you to gather up a horde of civilians and avoid zombies to get back to your “Escape Zone”, but other cities will require you to roundup smaller groups and use the “Re” to warp you back to the nearest “Escape Zone”.

Overall, it’s a fun quirky top-down game worth giving a shot.

For the price of $9.99, I’d say give *The Last Guy a home…

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sep 04

Want to get the same sense of euphoria from “breaking the bank” — via card counting and otherwise — in Vegas (as depicted in the “meh” movie “21“) without risking your mortgage payments and possible imprisonment?

Fable II - Pub Games is giving you the opportunity to do it now on Xbox 360 — from this writer’s perspective, anyway. The game’s “cheat” definitely gives you the constant feeling of a certain “high” from glitchin’ your way to the top!

Have you guys tried it? Trust us, the sauce is oh-so-sweet…here’s how to do it:

  • First, you’ll have to legitimately win about 200 coins in the first Fortune’s Tower minigame, but soonafter you can amass your huge treasure chest quickly.
  • Move on to the next tables where the maximum bets go from 30, 90, etc.
  • The goal is to get to the 150-1500 table (where the BIG bucks come in).
  • Set your bet at the minimum the table allows every time and right after you press A for “Deal,” at the beginning of each game, press LB (Left Bumper). Doesn’t have to be lighting fast, as long as you hit it before the cards are dealt out you’ll be fine.
  • The game will “glitch” and show that you’re betting the maximum bet, but you’re really only betting the minimum if you lose and winning at max bet.
  • Rinse and repeat.

The money you make in Pub Games will transfer over to your Fable II game when it releases. If you guys want to get your own high on, better hurry, as Lionhead is planning on updating the game to void the bug in the near future.

Wired first found the glitch a couple weeks ago.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sep 04

When it comes to video game characters, it’s hard not to love Mario.  The problem with Mario on the web is that just about everything that could possibly be done to him has already been done.  In the middle of an odd conversation about Ernst Ruska, the thought came to our heads that no one has ever posted (that we know of) an image of what Mario might look like under an electron microscope, so we decided to give it our best shot.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Original Image

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,