Here at eGamer we pride ourselves on delivering good wholesome family entertainment for everyone. With cerebral thought provoking articles about games and gaming culture. We would never ever resort to posting a nice pair of digital jubblies (aka breasts) to impress you. Okay who are we kidding? 

It seems that most game developers have reached the uncanny valley with games becoming more and more photo realistic, where they pushing boundaries, graphical limits, and realism. But it seems the developers have reached one major hurdle in the quest for the uncanny valley and realism, and that would the breasts. Yes, the breast physics in games. More often than not, breasts take on a life of their own and forgo the natural law of physics. A good example of this would be Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 and Soulcalibur, both of which have breasts with minds of their own.

These games have reached cult status due to their legendary physic defying bounce, and not for their “cerebral” gameplay. Having said that, on very rare occasions are there games that get breast physics right. One game with good breast implementation is Devil May Cry 4. Devil May Cry 4 has just the right amount of cleavage, bounce and jiggle to make any gamer geek who hasn’t had the privilege of having a real pair in-front of them drool with geeky joy. While playing Ninja Gaiden 2 I also noticed that Team Ninja’s groundbreaking bouncy breasts™ technology has been successfully transferred from Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 to Ninja Gaiden 2. For those who haven’t played the game: lead female character, Sonja, also sports a pair of physic defying breasts.

Is breast physics a growing problem in the gaming industry? Also, did you see what I did there? 

Could it be that the study of breast physics in games have taken a back seat to the study of fluid dynamics and quantum mechanics instead? Or, is there a huge number of game designers who simply don’t get out of the office enough to interact with a real women, with real breasts? Probably the former, I might add.

In the dark void that is the unrealistic portrayal of the female anatomy, there lies a glimmer of hope in CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 2. In one of the most noticeable times in game development history, game designers have gotten the realistic portrayal of the female anatomy right. From this, it’s evident that CD Projekt RED’s developers have indeed spent some time with with real women, and not female heroines who are top heavy, dressed in as little armour as possible.

I believe that there is a thin line between realistic displays of nudity, and gratuitous gravity-defying jiggly bits bouncing everywhere. That being said, I think that boobs and cleavage will always be a part of video games. The industry is slowly growing up, and it’s now at the point where developers are listening to gamers and their concerns. But like the movie industry, some video games will continue to sell sex, where certain people will continue to buy into that.

Don’t get me wrong, as a hot blooded male I enjoy looking at a perfectly rendered pair of boobs. However, if we use the “video games is an art theory”, the presence of breasts in games could be seen as the developers trying to sell something specific, like sex or sexuality — and this is often seen as wrong. Although, it’s not always the case.

It’s no big secret that most people like breasts, but there is a fine line that needs to be walked here. You simply cannot dismiss the presence of boobs and cleavage if it is used correctly in games, opposed to being the main object of advertising. The female body is the most beautiful thing on this earth, and if done correctly, it can offer a lot more to games. Hopefully, not too far in the near future, game developers will eventually get it right. But, until then, we can only yearn for a perfect pair of digital jubblies.

In my many travels across the interwebs, I have found several really useful web-applications that will make your life easier if you are the owner of an Xbox 360, PS3 or even a PC. These applications are things which I use on a regular basis.

Playfire

“Playfire is the global community for gamers. Get a killer profile, track news & discussion for your favorite games, and follow your friends’ progress in games.”

Basically, Playfire is a nice way too keep all your different gaming profiles in one central area. Browsing speeds are nice and fast, where the only issues I have is the layout, which can be confusing at times, and your profile updates really slowly. Expect updates on your gaming score every 3-4 days, sometimes even longer. I primarily use Playfire to keep track of my gaming want list and my gaming library. It also has its own badge system, rewarding you when reaching a milestone on your gaming profile.

Website: Playfire

Raptr

“Raptr is the best place for gamers to share, interact, and discover personalized content from all over the web. Raptr is also the only platform that integrates all major gaming platforms and IM services. Today, Raptr’s full feature set has expanded to include a host of killer features that gamers love:”

• Personalized news feed
• Community-curated content
• Expanded topics to include all things related to gaming
• Suggestion engine to help you discover new games
• Automatic gameplay and achievements tracker on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
• Centralized buddy list and friend tracker
• In-game chat and web browsing for PC games

Raptr is the best of the bunch, for me. Raptr allows you to set up your account, where linking it to your Facebook and Twitter is super easy. Following that, Raptr is also an easy way for you to show-off your internet e-penis through bragging about your gaming and achievement scores. The interface is easy to browse as it has no clutter. There’s also user created content and news.

Website: Raptr

TrueAchievements

“TrueAchievements is an Xbox achievement-tracking website that uses a novel method of assessment, TrueAchievement score, rather than a simple Gamerscore. The site is a member of the Xbox Community Developer Program. As of September 30th, 2011, TrueAchievements has over 135,000 registered users.”

If you are an achievement-whore who enjoys competing with friends for gaming score, then you will like this site. I primarily use TrueAchievements for tracking and finding out how to get those hard to unlock achievements. All you need to do is a simple search for the game, where you will find user feedback giving you the low-down on how to get past the tricky sections. You’re also welcome to add your own information to help others.

Website: True Achievements

360voice

“360voice is an online community for the Xbox 360 with a twist. Using unique technology, the data from your Xbox Live gamercard is transformed from a snapshot into a rich history of your gaming, told in blog format from the perspective of your Xbox. This allows for conversations around specific daily achievements and events like gamer score increases and your most played games. In addition to the blog content, users can interact by leaving comments, compete in gamer score challenges, and gather badges for various site and cross-game accomplishments.”

Using this website is more about fun. Basically, it builds a blog your Xbox 360 which keeps record of your activity online. Thereafter, it will comment on it.

Here’s an example: Watch closely because here comes the recap… if you aren’t paying attention, you might miss it: It is a good one! larch ZA had seven days of gaming! In a row! I know! Crazy! It was productive… Gamerscore went up 225 points so I am happy. Yay for 12 achievements! w00t! Also, according to the records, larch ZA must have been craving RPGs because Skyrim was the weekly favorite. He played it on 7 of the days. And that’s it… short and sweet, just like my power cord.

Website: 360 Voice

Avatar Gadget For Windows 7

This is a nifty little Windows 7 gadget which you can add to your desktop. The gadget shows a full sized image of your Xbox 360 avatar, where if you click on it you are able to view your current gamercard and score. You will be able to use the gadget with more than one account, therefore your whole family can have their own showcase on the desktop. Setting it up is easy, and it works like a dream.

Website 360 Gadget

Every gamer who is reading this has at least once had the experience of not having enough money to purchase a game they really wanted, and contemplated selling vital organs to fund their hobby. Gaming, especially console gaming, is not a cheap hobby these days. It really hits your pocket hard when you need to splash out R 500 a game never-mind the R 800 for those nice special editions. Back in the day (yes I am that old) when I was still single I would not have blinked when handing out that amount of money on games, partly because I could survive on fruit loops mixed with orange juice (because I ran out of milk) for weeks on end. But when you get older and you get married your priorities change and you cannot justify spending so much money on your hobby. But fear not fellow gamers we have a solution for you. Are you flat broke? Are you living off fruit loops and orange juice? Fear not, as experienced budget gamers we will show you the ropes and in and outs. First rule when buying games, if you cannot afford to buy new buy second hand. Simply put the second hand games market locally is absolutely massive, if you do not suffer from “must have syndrome” aka buying a game on release day you will find a massive library of pre-owned games out there at half the price of new games. So with a bit of effort you can save yourself a load of cash, you might ask were to begin? Well the easiest and best place is of course the internet, if you are either a PS3 owner or a Xbox 360 owner there are two places you need to visit first:

The local Xbox 360 and PS3 forums both have excellent second-hand sections where you can buy and sell your games for free, all you need to do is register an account and that is it. The sections get moderated often and users get rated via a itrader system where they get good scores if they are respectable sellers and bad scores if  they aren’t. That way it is easy to stay clear of people trying to rip you off, the third forum I can recommend is Carbonite, this is an offshoot of the Prophecy forum. It does not exclusively deal in games, but you often get someone selling their games and consoles at great prices on there. It operates on the same principles as the other two forums, so buying from there is really safe. Then we have Junkmail, Gumtree and Bid or Buy, now these three sites are a bit more tricky because they aren’t really policed all that well, so you need to be careful of people who would take your money. But like everything else using a bit of common sense goes a long way, and if you are looking for older console games such as PS2 and Gamecube games then those are the places were you will find them. The other place you can go looking for second-hand games is the good old brick and mortar stores, with online shops ruling the roost people tend to forget about them. The first on my list would be Animeworx, they have branches in Randburg, Fourways and Centurion.

Their second-hand trade-in system is the best of the bunch, you get good prices on games you trade in which can be used to either buy new games or credit for when you want to purchase something at a later date. They also have an online store for making those online purchases when you are either too lazy or too far away from the closest shop. Runner up on the list of brick and mortar stores would be ZAPS. Though they only have a single store located in Randburg, they also have a on-line store where you can make purchases. And just like Animeworx their pricing on second-hand games and the prices they give for your games is very competitive with them hence they came in a close second. Last on my list of brick and mortar stores is BTGames, they are last on my list partly due to the bad pricing on second-hand games, giving you as little as possible for your second-hand games and selling it at inflated prices, but they are still worth a look if you cannot find a game anywhere else. A special mention must go to Cash Converters and especially Cash Crusaders with their game trade initiative where if you return the game you purchased from them within 90 days you get 60% of your money back on that purchase. They might not have the biggest selection but are worth a visit if you regularly drive past one of their stores.

And our final stop on the budget gamers places to shop is on-line retail stores, yes they don’t really sell second-hand games but they always have some sort of special or promotion running. There is one exception to that rule of course and that is Kalahari which has a nice feature. Basically when you browse their gaming section and you click on a game you want, it will tell you if there is a pre-played copy available and at what price. I never used them before but it looks pretty legit and safe by the look of things. Other on-line retailers worth mentioning are TakeAlot (used to be Take2) and my current favourite place to shop on-line: The Hut. Yes it is a retail store located in England and yes you will need a credit card to shop with them, but the amount of specials they run on a weekly basis is amazing and the discounts are pretty massive. You don’t need to pay for shipping and it takes between 7-10 working days to receive your games, but considering the savings you get it is definitely worth the wait. I have used them before and I have had no issue receiving my game from them. Registering with them is quick and painless and the service is top notch, definitely the best place to shop on-line for games. Don’t shoot me if I missed anything, the above is from my own personal experience as a budget gamer. And there you have it folks, hope this helps those budget gamers out there like myself.

Director Adrian Picardi’s live-action fan trailer for a Left 4 Dead movie shows the four survivors gearing up for combat as the infected roam the streets, tear apart bodies, and generally do zombie things. This will be a full length fan movie, and though it’s not yet completed, Picardi offered this awesome teaser.

This is a nine minute long fan film by Airsoft GI and Northern Five Productions. It uses Left 4 Dead as source material, where it also futures characters from Gears of War. This is possibly one of the best fan films you will watch this year, I can feel it. 

Fan-made live-action trailers are made by your everyday guy on the street, and as time goes by, the videos just get better and better. Hollywood better sit up and take note, because if these guys were given a proper budget — there would be no telling what they could do.

This is the face of evil. This is a pathological killer who loathes Muslims; a conspirator, racist and ultra-extremist, whose hateful beliefs were the reason for his horrid attacks on the Utoya Island. This is the man who massacred 69 children, the youngest being 13, in cold blood. This man is Anders Behring Breivik.

Who taught Breivik to be hateful towards another group of people? How did he plan this terrible act without anyone taking notice? These are really tough questions to answer, as they involve the psyche of the individual. These questions won’t have easy and to-the-point answers, either. There’s no scapegoat, or easy target, when trying to explain what pushed Breivik to these acts.

However, the mainstream media has found the perfect scapegoat — yet again. The easy target to explain all of this seems to be the videogame entertainment industry. Breivik’s gaming habits has been mentioned in the press numerous times, where the Norwegian prosecutor also called attention to it during the trial procedures. I believe that one cannot dig their way through the immediate past of another, where if certain agenda is found, all current actions are explained. Instead, one would need to sift through memories, the childhood, the upbringing, and so on, to point where one can look into the mere direction of the effects and problem caused. One might never find the truth as to why someone acts the way they do, as all the aforementioned criteria will only help suggest a psychological problem. Simply because a certain stigma would be the easiest route, the very same route that is now taken by mainstream media, it’s questionable as to what the motive is. Would it be to actually solve the actual problem, or to rather blame something such as games for a serious psychological problem? In blaming games, or any other form of media, it can be seen as taking the ‘easy route’. Whenever the easy route has been chosen, no one continues to ask pertinent questions. There’s no “Why? How? When?”, to name a few, which could lead investigators to the deep, dark secret which caused the problem. One cannot simply blame videogames, and the mainstream media cannot sweep the truth under the rug. People need to take responsibility and realise that they screwed children up, during that child’s upbringing.

Breivik, himself, told the court that his World of Warcraft sessions were a somewhat akin to a “martyrdom gift” and a “sabbatical year,” and that he played it to unwind after a difficult day of planning his atrocities and writing his manifesto. Later, Breivik then mentioned using Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to prepare for his island massacre, where he even called it “a simple war simulator”. The mainstream media latched onto these statements and ran with it. The reporting of his comments are now widespread — all over newspapers, TV, and online news. The press seems to have already made up its mind about the role games have in such acts, as they claim that all the atrocities that Breivik perpetrated stemmed from games. The Telegraph explains in great detail how Call of Duty and World of Warcraft influenced Breivik . Forbes decided to run with the headline: “Norway Suspect Used Call Of Duty To Train For Massacre”. Both publications write in detail on how Breivik used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and World of Warcraft to plan his attack. These publications never stopped to ask real questions, such as: how Breivik got access to such extraordinary automatic weapons with ammunition. Or, how he accumulated the materials to build his bomb. Alongside that, how come no-one asked: where did you learn to make the bomb, and use the weapons? Call of Duty and World of Warcraft does not teach one how to do this. How the media can spew out blatant lies, I really don’t know.

With that in mind, I have found — from my following — that Breivik only ever mentioned that he used games as a way of relaxation. Not to mention, he also started planning the attacks before he even started playing the aforementioned games. It’s almost as if the media never read the court proceedings.

Trying to stay level-headed during the discussion is tough. I feel the need to say: screw the mainstream media; screw them for twisting the truth in an attempt to sell a few extra copies of their publication. It’s utterly unfair that media are exploiting the trauma people are dealing with, whereby they glorify the “supposed” effect of violent videogames on society. It simply boils down to media twisting the truth to make money out of horrible events. It’s actually questionable as to whether their actions are on equal footing to what’s happening? The simplistic reasoning used to explain the massacre will surely only traumatise the loved ones, leaving them with little to no closure, whereby they believe that videogames are evil, where instead Breivik had horrible experiences in his life, leaving him to be the demon he is today.

I, as a gamer, am trying to defend my hobby from the wrath of the evil-mainstream-media. I will let my actions speak by supporting various charities and events which support the community. The events which media seem to overlook, because it portrays videogames in a positive light. The media only seems to portray gaming as the reason behind blood thirsty attacks, whereby gamers are a bunch of anti-social psychopaths ready to go postal at any moment.

For those of you who remember the Columbine shootings, I leave you with a wise message, from a very unlikely source: Marilyn Manson. Manson was interviewed in a documentary called Bowling For Columbine, where he had a few very interesting things to say on how the media reports on the entertainment industry.

In the video it was noted that America dropped more bombs in Kosovo on the day of the Columbine shooting than ever before in that entire war. However, it went unnoticed as Marilyn Manson was too busy being blamed, alongside other media. The clip ends off with Manson being asked what would he say to the kids at Columbine, if they were in front of him. His words were as follows, “I wouldn’t say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say, and that’s what no-one did.”

Even though the Breivik massacre and the Columbine shootings are two different incidents, which aren’t related, I feel that what Manson has to say is still important, and very relevant — as he can speak and reply to the issue, whereas videogames cannot.

While the rest of the world beats, the already dead horse that is, videogame entertainment, there will be a minority of people who will ask the correct questions. There will always be a few who try and find out what caused someone to take the lives of 69 innocent people. These people will be asking the: Why, How, and When. These people won’t blame the obvious. Until the majority of people start acting appropriately, and ask pertinent questions, the Columbine and Utoya Island shootings will, unfortunately, keep on occurring. However, to be honest, the human race is notorious for not learning from past mistakes. We are doomed to repeat our actions until someone uncovers the truth.

Ever since big titles such as Mass Effect, Skyrim, and Call of Duty became popular, and hit the mainstream gaming market, I started noticing that game reviews were changing. Is it just me, or are most reviews of multi-million-dollar game franchises no longer critical? Instead, it feels as if game reviews can be read more like a sales pitch, trying to sell you the game rather than reviewing the game with a critical outlook, pointing out their flaws — however small they might be.

This seems to be happening more and more with the big budget games, as the reviews come pouring in pages upon pages, throwing and heaping praise on the game — and its developers — for creating such a visceral, emotional and amazing title. It gets to the point where its actually borderline manipulative, based on all the hype. Popular reviewers have become less critical with high profile games and more critical with less anticipated games, which in the long run could stop developers from building new and creative games. However, that is a debate for a different day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the high scores for Skyrim and Mass Effect are invalid. However, if we use a game like Kingdoms of Amalur as an example, you’ll notice that it got some pretty harsh review scores due to it being an unknown entity, where on the flip side, a game like Skyrim received universal praise even though it had more than a dozen game breaking bugs.

This phenomenon is pretty obvious with smaller games, and also occurs with games released by eastern publishers. For example, Shadows of the Damned. Games like Shadows of Damned would have certain reviewers dig into them with vigour. They would analyse every single flaw of the game, no matter how big or small. All of their findings will be thrown under a microscope, where the smallest detail can turn into a crippling problem. I am disappointed in this, not only because the games I enjoy aren’t getting fair reviews, but also because a lukewarm review is keeping someone from playing a stellar title.

Don’t you wish reviewers would buy less into the hype of a game, and rather relearn the art of impartiality? After all, isn’t that what being a reviewer is all about?

Click the image to enlarge.

Or, read the entire thing in text form.

The above quote speaks chapters on how us as gamers feel about our hobby, and how frustrated we get when it’s stereotyped in mainstream media. Two years ago at PAX 2010, presented by Wil Wheaton (you know, the dude who played Westle Crusher in Star Trek), there was a great speech regarding gaming as a culture. I watched the whole thing, however only the first 10 minutes struck a cord in me as a gamer.

As a 31-year-old guy who still enjoys playing games, I often get asked the question: why would a grown man still enjoy playing games? This is a stigma that has clung to gamers, like myself, since the very dawn of gaming. It is also something I like to expand and debate about to other non-gamers whenever they bring up the topic. I cannot speak for all the gamers out there, but I think most of us will agree with what Wil had to say in his keynote.

With all that in mind, take your mandatory 30 minute smoke/coffee break and read this great interview with Penn Jillette, where after that, you should and watch the video below and throw your opinions into the mix.

You would think because I am such an avid gamer and geek that my whole childhood was also filled games and comics, but oddly enough it wasn’t. I was more content climbing trees, riding bike and fooling around. You know, doing kids stuff. It was only at age 12 that I discovered the joys of SEGA Genesis and the knock off Super Nintendo machines. Unfortunately, my parents did not share the same excitement as I did for gaming. It became a big issue in our house when I spent massive amounts of time playing Battle Toads and Sonic The Hedge Hog, which is a real pity because gaming is such a great medium of entertainment. It’s also a good way to get the whole family involved in a single activity.

When I started dating my current girlfriend (now my fiancé), she came with a hyper-active 9 year old. This made me an instant dad; no need to add water, or change those dirty diapers. This was fine by me. Of course it was difficult at first, getting to know each other and finding some common ground. Then came the day that he found out I owned an Xbox 360. At the time he had a PlayStation 2, and it was at that instance that we both found a common ground. We instantly connected.

Being a gamer dad allows me to relate to my kid when we play games together. It also gives me other venues for socialisation, and provides a great insight into how he is feeling and how his day was. As soon as you put him in front of the console, he just takes out his frustrations on the game. This is something I can relate to. Allowing your kids to play games is not just a babysitting alternative, but is also an immersive experience which you can enjoy together.

There is however a downside to all of this. My gaming time has been cut in half, and sometimes more, depending on how busy the family keeps me. There’s no more locking yourself away in the man cave, coming out to only eat, clean-up, and show the world that you haven’t died. The other negative is that most of my game tastes fall under the “no under 18 can play this” category, so I tend to play when everyone is sleeping. While I don’t consider that a draw back, it has limited my game time to evenings only. Fortunately though, with games which aren’t rated over-18, I can spend some quality time with my son talking about gaming.

Due to all of this, I can monitor the type of games he gets and plays. This allows me to be a responsible parent and let him play games which are suitable for him. However, that aside, I found something rather useful from having a child interested in gaming: they love to do the grinding tasks in games. You can use them to get the achievements which seem somewhat tedious and annoying.

It is also funny how we as gamers differ from one another. He does not really engage with any of the games that I have bought him, expect Ninja Turtles. In Ninja Turtles he managed to get all but two of the achievements. Unlike me, he never cares about the process or journey of the game. In the words of Duke Nukem, all he wants to do is: “Kick ass and chew bubblegum!” He is more concerned with getting to the last screen, where the credits roll telling him he has won the game. It seems winning is everything when you are 9 years old.

One aspect of how he plays games makes me miss my childhood days of gaming. Like a younger me, he really gets involved when he plays a game. He gets angry, he screams and he shouts. He tells his character to listen when he presses the button. When he dies, he blames the character for not doing what he wanted. He says that it is all their fault for not listening. This puts a smile on my face every time I see him playing. 

If there is one thing I want to pass onto him, it is the love for games and anything else geek related. I hope that he passes that on to his kids someday too.

After reading an article by Denis Dyack, from Silicon Knights, saying that used games hurt developers, I was somewhat curious about this. Denis Dyack is from the very same Silicon Knights that hasn’t produced anything good since Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube.

Is it just me or has some of Bobby Kotick’s stupid commentary rubbed off on other developers? I am sure some developers cannot wait until everything’s digital distribution only, that way they will get the entire pie and not just a piece of it. Do I believe that used game sales hurt the industry? Most definitely not, in fact I think the used game industry actually helps promote the sale of new games.

Let’s take for example little Johnny. Little Johnny buys his first Gears of War game second hand; this would be his first entry into the Gears franchise.

After enjoying the first game, he goes out and buys the second and third game in the franchise. Not to mention any DLC that might have been released with those games. After all of this, the developers still get a steady stream of revenue. 

Between this and artistic integrity, the developers, like Silicon Knights, have lost the plot and their minds altogether. Instead, you know what does hurt the gaming industry and us the consumer? Releasing extremely crappy games at R600.

Gamers shouldn’t be blame if a developer made a bad game which doesn’t sell well. There is an easy solution to all of this: if you don’t like used game sales, then start pricing games according to how much entertainment and content they provide. R600 for a five to 10 hour experience, no thank you!

The problem, as I see it, is that developers and publishers would love to take gamers for all they are worth. The used games industry has been around since the very beginning, and even before some of these developers were born.

When I was younger I was the proud owner of a SEGA Mega Drive. I used to buy dozens of SEGA games with my pocket money, because I could not afford them new. That just shows how long the second hand industry has been around. 

Developers and publishers need to get over the whole “used games industry issue”, and start making good games with high replay value. They need not worry about people trading in games for the next big thing, as this sometimes finances how they will buy the next big thing.

This is a simple, yet effective, infographic showing the difference between DLC from couple of years back versus now. It’s pretty funny, and it points out the truth on how gamers receive DLC. DLC has changed, and it seems to have become a prerequisite for a full game.

In general, DLC is a great way to expand on a game’s existing universe and give you more value for money. As gamers we tend to spend a lot on games, and everyone who is a gamer knows that this hobby is definitely not cheap.

The problem I have with DLC is the stunt that EA and BioWare pulled with their Day 1 package for Mass Effect 3. In an interview with BioWare, the developers stated that they had extra time after completing Mass Effect 3, and with this they decided to work on the DLC called “From Ashes”. They then released the “From Ashes” DLC” on the very same day as the game.

This fact proceeded to piss people off, because in the game code for Mass Effect 3 it was found that content was removed so that it could be sold separately as DLC. According to BioWare, the missing code was for a character model only, and the rest of the DLC still had to be downloaded.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against Day 1 DLC, however I am against what the DLC was actually for.

Mass Effect 3′s Day 1 DLC contained an extra character, namely the Prothean. Alongside the Prothean came all the missions which were based around him. The DLC character is linked to the dominant civilization which Mass Effect’s story is basically built on. To me, it seems to be a pretty vital part of the Mass Effect universe.

The Protheans are so relevant to the story that it boggles the mind that you need to pay extra for something so important. Unless it was a way to get you to buy the Collector’s Edition, as it came with this pack.

If the DLC was some unimportant character, or new armour and guns, fans would have been fine with it. But it wasn’t, instead, a living breathing Prothean was missing. That is a definite slap in the face to all fans of the franchise.

To end off, here’s a pretty smart and awesome song written about the venture that is DLC.

Yes it has finally hit our shores, well not really since I had to import my copy of Madworld at least I got it almost 2 weeks before our local release date and at the fraction of the cost it is getting sold at here. Anyway after a quick Wii system update from the disk, you are first greeted with a black and white noir style menu. The game starts off 3 days before the current events of Madworld happened,  Varrigan City had become a target for a group of terrorists known as “The Organizers”, who severed the island city’s transportation and communication ties with the rest of the world, and then released a virus onto its population that would kill them in less than 24 hours.

However, the Organizers informed any person that killed another would receive the vaccine. The city was quickly transformed into the stage of a reoccurring game show called Death Watch, with announcers Howard “Buckshot” Holmes  and former DeathWatch fighter Kreese Kreeley The remaining citizens of Varrigan City as well as new hopefuls become the show’s contestants, hoping to become the top-ranked fighter in the game and win a large cash prize. Enter Jack Cayman a man with a retractable chainsaw built onto one arm, enters the games and manages to gain sponsorship from “Agent XIII” and so the MadWorld game show starts.

The first 30 minutes of the game you are put through training by your sponsor only known as  “Agent XIII” where you learn punches combos and how to avoid attacks from enemies. From there you get move on to a bigger training ground were you learn how to use the objects around you like dustbins, tires, street signs and spiked walls dubbed “rose bushes”. You also get tough the importance of combos, for instance you will get a higher score when first dumping a trash can on a bad guys head and then using a road sign to impale him through the head and then chucking him into a “rose bush” for a combo and a higher score. You can also perform various finishing moves using either the A or B buttons during a combo.

Jack is controlled by a combination of the Wiimote and the Nunchuck but the game does not utilize the Wiimotes infrared capabilities, motion sensing only comes into play when performing the finishing moves or certain attacks during the game. After learning the basics of maiming a person in the worst possible way (I kid you not) you move onto the first level of the game were your main objective is to kill the level boss “tiny” who really aint that tiny. You are tasked to clear the level and kill the level boss within the time limit of 30 minutes. You unlock certain parts of the stage by accumulating enough points unlocking them until you finally reach the level boss.

Also during the course of the level you can pickup “happy pills” that refill your health and  by searching crates and objects either gives you health bonuses or an extra life. The musical soundtrack ((Hip Hop) suits MadWorld  perfectly a bit loud at times so I recommend turning the music audio down a bit so you can hear the running commentary from the commentators.  The graphics of MadWorld is highly stylized in a black and white world very reminiscent of Frank Miller’s Sin City, the only color that comes to this black and white is blood and buckets and buckets of blood I kid you not. The controls are very responsive and camera work is excellent and at no point do you loose sight of your target or have any difficulty pulling off a combo.

Overall I am really impressed with MadWorld and it has most definitely lived up to its hype as a noir styled game with over the top violence that sometimes is so over the top that it is almost made of cheese, I also see the game supports a multiplayer blood bath challenge were you can compete against your friends and show off your MadWorld killing skills. I will give it a try with a couple of friends this weekend and see how they developed that aspect of the game, but when everything is said and done I take my hat off to Sega and Platinum Games for developing such a awesome third part title for the Wii, and sticking to there guns when groups were forcing them not to release this on the Wii.

Capcom yesterday announced its plans for a big comeback of its multi-million-selling franchise, Resident Evil  to the Nintendo Wii.  Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, is the sequel to the highly successful Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and is in development exclusively for the Wii and is set to hit stores this coming winter. Capcom also highlighted its plans for a new Resident Evil “Classics” line, which will bring the classic Resident Evil and Resident Evil  Zero exclusively to the Wii, allowing a whole new audience to experience the world of Resident Evil.

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles‘s story is based on Resident Evil 2 and includes the popular characters, Leon S Kenney and Claire Redfield. Its on-rails style gameplay and active camera will create a more immersive “Chronicles” survival experience. Filling in many of the missing pieces of storyline that were not covered in the original “Umbrella Chronicles”, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles will give the  hardcore fans the chance to re-live some of  classic moments of the Resident Evil franchise.

You can choose to take on their enemies with the help of an A.I.-controlled character or enlist the help of a friend to fight via two-player co-op. Adding new dimension and strategy to the arcade-style gameplay in the “Chronicles” experience, the new Evade system will utilize the Wii Remote for a more intense experience when fighting enemies. I really like how Darkside’s shaping up,  it looks like they’ve been doing their homework since Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. They also released some new screen shots and a trailer for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles today check it out below.

Synopsis:

Halo Wars takes place in the 26th century Halo universe. In 2525, humans were attacked by a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. The Covenant declared humanity an affront to their gods, the Forerunners, and have aggressively waged war against the humans, under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command. The game takes place in the year 2531, roughly 20 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo Wars opens on the colony world of Harvest, six years after the planet was invaded by the Covenant; UNSC forces are still engaged in bitter conflict with the Covenant on the ground, and the UNSC ship Spirit of Fire is sent to investigate why the Covenant are still interested in the planet.

Story: 9/10

When the game begins, you’re introduced to the new cast of characters set 20 years before the original original Halo meaning that  Master Chief  is no where to be found yet. Instead, we are introduced to a new cast of characters which includes Lieutenant Forge, Ellen Anders and Serina, a super-intelligent and highly sarcastic artificial intelligence with a dry and sardonic sense of humor, aboard the Spirit of Fire. Who are currently embroiled in an ongoing conflict with Covenant forces.

During the course of the game you’ll visit different planets, and eventually run into a few old “friends”, depending on how much of a fan of the Halo franchise you are so many of the locations and some of the characters will be well known too fans. Halo Wars does a really great job of delivering the story of the Halo universe, and my favorite franchise when it comes to making me care for the side characters in a story that is usually dominated by Cortana and Master Chief. The cutscene in between missions in Halo Wars work really well to drive the story forward, not to mention they are visually stunning to look at.

Gameplay: 8/10

The beauty of Halo Wars is its simplicity, and that it does not focus heavily on resource gathering and tech tree management, this all adds up to a gameplay formula that is light on the boring kind of micromanagement that we are used to in real time strategy games these days. Halo Wars is very reminiscent of StarCraft in that it just adds enough depth to be interesting, and lets the players strategy take care of the rest during the game. The tech trees in Halo Wars are highly streamlined but still very important in the game.

Upgrades like the marines’ rocket launcher and the scorpion tanks canister shell makes all the difference the damage units can deliver, and can easily turn around the tide of a battle. Bases are self-contained complexes with a central hub surrounded by “expansion pads”, these pads are for building structures such as a barracks and vehicle depots. And also limits you to the amount of buildings you can build per base adding another element of strategy to the game.

For the back end of Halo Wars all that you need to worry about is supply units for building units, upgrading and building, technology for upgrades and population which limits the amount of troops you can use on a single level. Supply points automatically come in when you build a supply pad and can also be gathered from crates that are located all over each map. The simple things in Halo Wars cost minimal recourse units to build like the Marine up to more evolved units like the ODST infantry and Spartans, which costs a lot more to produce.

The simplicity of Halo Wars does not end here. Most of the levels on hand are really short but loads of fun to play, and the replay value for each level is really high when you want that perfect scores collecting all the skulls and black boxes during the course of the game. Every mission I played had a pretty straight forward goal and objectives, and the way you can complete each is already set out for you. Halo Wars is a perfect example of a game that works well with less complications and more simplified gameplay.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics in Halo Wars is extremely faithful to the Halo universe when it comes to the presentation and overall look of the game. People will immediately feel at home when they first see the very Halo like menu. The game maps are varied and highly detailed with lots of added touches which only adds to the overall Halo like feel of the game. The units in Halo Wars aren’t as polished as some of the PC RTS games out there today, the game looks great and more importantly it runs great no matter how many units you throw into a single map.

Sound/Music: 9/10

I absolutely love the Halo Wars music, it is right up there as one of my all time favorite game soundtracks, and I must say that Stephen Rippy did a cracker of a job on this. The soundtrack for Halo Wars took almost 2 years to complete, he started composing it back in April of 2007. And it involved the FILMharmonic Orchestra and was composed and conducted solely in the city of Prague the capital of the Czech Republic. You can find a interview with Stephen Rippy here, some really insightful stuff in the article. And shows you what kind of effort goes into making a soundtracks for a game like Halo Wars.

Controls: 8/10

Halo Wars uses the console controller’s A-button primarily for selecting units and the X-button for moving to or attacking a target. Selecting a unit gives the player the option of commands and selecting certain buildings brings up a “circle menu”, the most important menu in the game, which is used for creating units and buildings and researching upgrades. My only complaint here is that it would have been nice to be able to select only some of your units instead all of them, this would have made commanding your units much easier in the game, but overall the controls work really well for a RTS console game.

Final thoughts:

How much you enjoy Halo Wars and how you perceive Halo Wars completely depends on what you are expecting from the game. If you are looking for a PC RTS experience from Halo Wars then I can guarantee you that you will leave disappointed. But if you understand and appreciate that this is a console RTS game then you are going to be in for one very enjoyable game. Which I can highly recommend, to friends or fans of the Halo franchise without any reservations.

Okay color me very impressed but this has to be the best Metroid Prime Varia Suit cosplays I have seen to date.Thaís Jussim, aka Yuki, is a fantastic, 26-year-old, Brazilian cosplayer who most recently started working on a Metroid Prime Varia Suit cosplay. This suit took over 6 months to make, contains 73 battery powered LEDs, 30 green LEDs in the shoulders, 26 green LEDs on the Body and 17 red and orange LEDs on Hand Blaster. The whole outfit weighs in at around 23 pounds and cost over $350 to create, I would say it was money well spent. And Thaís Jussim deserves all the credit she can get for making this awesome outfit. Be sure to visit her DeviantArt page or her website to see more of these awesome outfits! And yes boys she is working on a Zero Suit variant.

• Jack an enemy Wraith tank with a Spartan. This is the absolute best “money shot” in the entire game.

• Chew through an entire enemy army with the Arbiter’s Rage power. It’s visceral and evil all rolled up in something never seen in a strategy game before.

• Get a gold medal on Legendary difficulty on any scenario. This can be incredibly difficult, but it also showcases how many different/evolving strategies you have to employ against a tough opponent.

• Field a dual Scarab army as any Covenant leader in skirmish. Build some Engineers to heal them up and you might just be able to run the entire map.

• Play the Deathmatch skirmish mode. It’s a huge adrenaline rush where you focus on what to build since all of the techs are purchased for you.

• Go to halowars.com and browse the plethora of stats about all of your games. This can be an invaluable tool to figure out how to beat those pesky online foes.

• Play the campaign in co-op with another player over Xbox Live or system link. The campaign really plays differently with two people, plus some of those elusive achievements and medals are easier to get with two folks.

• Play a few skirmish games on Automatic difficulty. This difficulty level will change as your play gets better (or worse). It starts at 40, which is in the ballpark of Normal difficulty, and can go as high as 200. That’s twice the difficulty of Legendary. How good are you?

• Grab all the skulls in the campaign. Each campaign mission has an optional objective to kill a certain number of specific units. Complete that objective and the skull will pop in and flare itself on the minimap. Some skulls affect visual things like the “Wuv Woo” skull that makes Scarabs shoot beams of pure love and rainbows. Other skulls affect gameplay and can even increase your overall score.

• Visit the Halo Timeline in the main menu. For the true “Halo” fans, there is a lot of lore to uncover here. Much of it unlocks as you explore and play with various parts of the game.

Source: MTV Multiplayer Blog

To give you a better understanding of Halo Wars tech tree and unit structures, and all the upgrades available in the game, Xbox.com posted a downloadable Halo Wars tech tree chart in PDF format. The Halo Wars tech tree not to be confused with the type of tree you plant in your backyard is an easy reference guide that explains the technology progression of both Covenant and UNSC units in the game. It also showcases each of their Leaders’ unique powers and abilities that can be used, the chart comes in especially handy when creating the Grizzly and ODST combo nicknamed the “Drop Shock and Awe.”

Synopsis:

Set in 1991 before the events of House of the Dead, AMS Special Agent G is given his first assignment and sent to a small town in Louisiana to investigate a series of disappearances and hunt down a deranged crime lord, Papa Caesar. Due to the presence of mutants, G is forced to team up with Detective Isaac Washington who is out to get revenge on Caesar for apparently killing his father. The pair first storm a house out in the woods. Upon entering the basement, they find Caesar has fled, and the disabled scientist Jasper Guns, whom Caesar used, is horrifically mutated from injecting himself with an unknown substance. Upon defeating Jasper, G and Isaac meet Varla Guns, a stripper and Jasper’s sister who vows revenge on Caesar.

Story: 10/10

I can hear people say 10/10 un-impossible! House of The Dead: Overkill does not win any awards for the most original story. But were it shines above any other title I have played on any console is the over-the-top B movie grindhouse style it is presented in. The parade of F-bombs and one-liners fit perfectly into the story and you can see that the developers took their ideas strait from the early 70`s and late 80`s grindhouse movies.

Not to mention the fact that if you are a Quentin Tarantino fan you will feel right at home when it comes to the story and two main characters of House of The Dead: Overkill. And like I stated earlier it might not be the most ground breaking story for a rail shooter, but what it does do is totally reinvent the franchise for the better with over-the-top humor and violence. On a side note, due to the adult nature of the story I highly recommend keeping this away from the kids.

Gameplay:

Like previous games in the House of the Dead series, House of The Dead: Overkill is a rail shooter, with pre-determined characters and paths you can take during the game. You control your character by pointing the Wii Remote at the screen, moving the aiming reticle which can be disabled in the game options. You can also point the reticle near the edge of the screen to move the camera angle  in that direction, allowing you to view more of the surrounding area and this is known as the “Danger Cam”.  The story mode of House of The Dead: Overkill can be played either solo or with another player, with one weapon or dual-wielding if you are feeling brave.

You can also build up a combo meter by killing zombies to receive a score, with more points gained by performing head shots, shooting bonus pickups, saving civilians and getting multiple kills without missing a shot. If you die during the game, points from your overall score can be quickly spent to continue playing.  At the end of each level, you are awarded a grade that depends on their final score among other factors such as not dying, and accuracy of shots fired. Along with score bonuses, other pick ups that can be found throughout the levels include health packs, grenades and the “Slow Mo-Fo” pick up that puts everything into “bullet time”.

New guns and gun upgrades can be bought with cash earned from end of level score, between levels at the Gun Shop. After completing the story mode, Director’s Cut is unlocked providing the same game as story mode but with tougher enemies and a limited amount of continues. You also get a selection of one off mini games; “Stayin’ Alive” where you must survive a continuous wave of mutants, “Victim Support” where you must help a group of civilians escape and “Money Shot II”, a competitive mode where up to four players were you must achieve the highest kill score.

Graphics:

House of The Dead: Overkill is one of the most graphically impressive third party games on the Nintendo Wii with some great environmental affects like shadows, explosions, blood splatters and character animations. With almost everything around you being destructible. But having said that the game does suffer from frame rate hiccups every now. And especially when playing two players, but not so much when you are playing the single player or the mini games. But I do feel that Headstrong Games could have done a better job on optimizing the game engine for the Nintendo Wii given a bit more time. But House of The Dead: Overkill still manages to raise the bar for third party developers on the Nintendo Wii.

Sound/Music:

There is one way to describe House of The Dead: Overkill soundtrack, and that is a classic 70`s vintage soundtrack. The music is all straight from the 70`s era of films it depicts, and was preformed and written exclusively for the game, so  take careful note on some of the lyrics contained in some of the songs.  And just like the in game dialog, the music lyrics are filled with gross out predicaments and F-bombs. Some of the song titles even spoof infamous lines from the franchise such as “Suffer Like G Did”. And as expected from a game such as House of The Dead: Overkill the voice acting is dramatic, over the top and sometimes downright cheese, which in this case only adds to the atmosphere the game creates.

Controls:

Gameplay is pretty much a straight forward light gun affair. You aim with the Wii remote and shoot with the B trigger button. You can reload by pointing off screen or pressing the A button. To cycle your weapons you press the “1″ button and to use acquired grenades you press the minus button. The one and minus buttons seem a rather odd choice as it takes some time getting used to using those buttons, but luckily you won’t really need to use them often during the course of the game.

Final thoughts:

Overkill is the most offensive, outrageous game I have ever played and I loved it, fun to play from beginning to end and it will have you laughing throughout the whole game. Especially when Agent G and Isaac Washington drop the one liners and F-bombs. And I can highly recommend it to fans of the House of The Dead franchise or anyone looking for an awesome light gun title for the Nintendo Wii, which will keep you and your friends entertained for hours

George Struggs and Wade, voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper. Is looking for a location in the desert where they believe gold from the American Civil War has been buried. The story is told from the point of view of both the tarantula and the scorpion with both creatures often seeing the same thing but from a different perspective. So after spending roughly 60 minutes with the game I must say I am impressed!

The Scorpion and the Tarantula has two vastly different playing styles, with the scorpion’s levels featuring more action-oriented gameplay, while the tarantula is more stealth oriented, with less linear levels. You use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk for both movement and attacks, with motion controls used for special attacks and finishing moves, while the tarantula also utilizes the pointer function to shoot webs which immobilizes your enemies for a short period of time. You can also gain new abilities as you progress through the game, by collecting experience points for completing tasks and killing enemies.

Deadly Creatures has a really refreshing premise and has an uncommonly provocative storyline, with some really excellent voice acting by Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Hopper. Deadly Creatures has some of the tightest controls I have seen on the Wii and makes excellent use of the Wii motion sensing capabilities. And add to that a most  impressive soundtrack and graphics, it is not without it flaws as the camera angles can get in the way during combat but does not happen  too often though. Color me impressed!

So I picked up my Special Edition copy of Halo Wars for the Xbox 360 this morning and I must say this is the nicest Special Edition package I have seen in a very long time, not to mention sexy looking. So what exactly comes with the Special Edition package? Well the Special Edition comes in your standard plastic over inside that cover you will find a tin box containing the game and manual. Next to it you will find a military style sealed box with the Spirit of Fire seal on it, opening it up you will find the Spirit of Fire patch, 6 leader cards with biographies of each leader. And of course a graphic novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine, and Eric Nylund called Halo Wars: Genesis.

In the two hours that I played Halo Wars I managed to finish 3 campaign missions and I must say I am really enjoying Halo Wars more than I thought I would. And this is saying a lot as I am by no means a big RTS fan, as the last RTS game I ever played was Krush Kill and Destroy for the PC more than a couple of years back. The first thing that grabbed me was the cinematic sequence; to be blunt they are amazing. The next thing you will notice is the trade mark Halo themed OST, which will bring back some awesome memories for those who played the other games in the franchise. The menu and the controls are a breeze to navigate and use and it took me less than 30 minutes to get accustomed to them.

You use the left analog stick to move the camera, while the A button is for selecting buildings and interacting with your units. The X button is used to move your units around the map and also doubles are your primary attack, all the units in Halo Wars come with a secondary attack which can be used multiple times by pressing Y instead of X on the controller. And by pressing the left bumper you can select multiple units at once. Each level you start off in you receive a “Hero” character in the case Sergeant Forg, he does a bit more damage and has multiple special attacks, but if he dies during a battle then it is pretty much game over.

The currency used in Halo Wars is “Supplies” and can be gained by building and upgrading your Supply Depo’s, you can also pickup supplies that you find on the battle field. Upgrading your buildings and units aren’t as in-depth as other strategy games, but it gives you more time to focus on the battles and the story. The combat in Halo Wars is well balanced by a “rock-paper-scissors” system. Ground vehicles are powerful against infantry, infantry is stronger against aircraft, and aircraft are exceptional at destroying vehicles, and vehicles are exceptional at destroying buildings. So far the story of Halo Wars has been rock solid and will keep Halo fans very happy. Halo Wars truly surprised me, especially if you consider I am not a RTS fan, and personally I can’t wait to play it online against some human opponents.

Story:

Set in an unspecified period of classical Japanese history, Ōkami combines several Japanese myths, legends and folklore to tell the story of how the land was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a white wolf. The game begins with a flashback to events 100 years prior to the game’s present, and describes how Shiranui, a pure white wolf, and Nagi, a swordsman, together fought the eight-headed demon Orochi to save Kamiki village and the maiden Nami, Nagi’s beloved.

Shiranui and Nagi are unable to defeat Orochi but manage to seal the demon away. In the game’s present, a stranger accidentally breaks Orochi’s seal, and the demon escapes and curses the lands, sapping the life from every living thing. Sakuya, the wood sprite and guardian of Kamiki village, calls forth Amaterasu, the sun goddess and reincarnation of the white wolf Shiranui, and pleads with her to remove the curse that covers the land. Accompanied by the inch-high artist Issun, Amaterasu sets out to restore the former beauty of Nippon.

Okami is an immersive story driven experience, it manages to take ancient Japanese mythology and mix it with historical facts and locations combining them into a well told story of epic proportions. The story is the heart of Okami. And it offers the same level of epic story telling as The Legend of Zelda series with a dash of eastern mythology thrown in for good measure. If you don’t like a deep involving drawn out story telling experience in your games, then Okami might not be for you. That being said, if you enjoy Japanese mythology, then you will most certainly relish the story telling experience offered by Okami.

Gameplay:

But what makes Okami stand out as something a bit different from the usual console game out there, is how you master the 15 Celestial brush techniques using the Wiimote and Nunchuck. As your success hinges on your mastery of those 15 Brushes. On a basic level it gives you the ability to kill off enemies and deal with environmental puzzles by drawing on the screen using the celestial brush. To begin with you will learn the basics like sunrise. Which allows you to turn night into day, by drawing a circle shape in the sky.

And then there is rejuvenation, which lets you mend broken things like bridges. But soon enough you gain more fundamental techniques like power slash, which helps you cleave rocks and trees in half. This also gives you a more powerful attack option during combat than just your normal attacks. Many reviewers have slated the Wii control system as being slow and unresponsive when compared to the PS2 version. But I found this to be very untrue why may you ask?, well you have to find the right speed at which to do a power slash.

To slow and you end up coating the enemy in ink, to fast and nothing happens. This adds a bit of realism to the game, even if occasionally your strokes won’t be good enough to create the desired object, practice makes perfect. Still this mechanism works much better than on the PS2. And personally I think the Wii control system has added so much more to Okami and enhances the gameplay experience. And it goes to show you that porting a old title to a new system can add a new gaming experience to a already old game.

Graphics:

Right from the start you’re going to notice the unique art direction that Okami takes. And although Okami is almost 4 years old and isn’t pushing any new boundaries in terms of photo realistic graphics the extreme amounts of color and cel shading used, offers a unique gaming experience for Nintendo Wii owners. A noticeable difference from the original PS2 version of the game, is the more intense colors which includes deeper blacks and richer greens. Check out this comparison video here.

Another difference you might only notice if you were the owner of the PS2 version is the filter which makes the world of Okami look as if it was being played on a really old piece of parchment paper. This cosmetic effect is missing from the Nintendo Wii version, some people have voiced there disappointment at this. But personal I feel that the more vibrant colours greatly enhance the Okami experience as a whole. The filter is now only really noticeable during certain cut-scenes in the game.

Nippon is a beautiful land, bought to life in rich vibrant colors but not all the locations are based off ancient Japan. There is touches from the western world which including Arctic caverns, lush green fields, a warm tropical beach and a bustling capital city. Normally the story is the main concern for me when playing a game, but the vibrant colors and rich environments almost overshadows the deep and involving story of Okami.

Sound/Music:

This is also part of what makes Okami such a brilliant game is its superb musical score filled with traditional Japanese music using classical Japanese musical instruments. It perfectly matches both the game’s art style and its theme, after playing for the first time I had to go out and find the 5 disk OST set by all means, because it is just that damn good.

The audio is similarly excellent, with good solid sound effects and environmental sounds. Though it would have been nice to have a full voice over cast for all the characters in the game, as the “moonspeak” voices can become a bit annoying at times. But that would be me just nitpicking on inconsequential stuff as it does not distract from the overall experience of the game itself.

Final thoughts:

It is beyond difficult for me to express in words just how much there is to do and experience in Okami. I am also having a hard time to try and describe the way it makes you feel when playing Okami. The closets thing I can get to explaining the gaming experience that is Okami is a Zen like experience.The story, music and graphics comes together perfectly which makes for a surreal gaming experience that really does manage to touch you at times.

If you are already the owner of the PS2 version but you are looking for a all new gaming experience with the Wiimote and Nunchuck, then I can highly recommend buying it and replaying it on the Wii. If you haven’t played the game before then I can recommend it even more, due to the improved visuals and unique gameplay experience offered by Okami and the Wii console. Okami is a unique gaming experience you wont find anywhere else, and a very memorable game you wont soon forget.

• Special Side Note:

There has been a lot of rumors and discussion surrounding the removal of the final credits movie from the Wii version of Okami. Some people even commented on the fact that it takes away from completing the game, but that just a load of bullshit to be honest. But having said that there was 3 factors that you have to consider when discussing the removal of the final credits from Okami:

• 1. Ready at Dawn reported that the original game assets given to them from Capcom Japan were incomplete, and even after requesting old hard drives and computers to recover more assets, Ready at Dawn were still required to recreate some from scratch which included some of the credits.

• 2. A Capcom representative noted that the credits, a pre-rendered movie, had the Clover Studios logo within it, and they had “no legal right to use the Clover logo in a game they were not involved with directly”. Since they also lacked the source to the credits, they opted to remove them entirely from the game

• 3. Ready at Dawn’s co-founder Didier Malenfant stated that the Wii version of ÅŒkami took up much more space on the game media than the PlayStation 2 version, and that the movie was cut in order to fit everything on a single game disk.

As you know, I recently got my grubby little hands on the special edition of House of the Dead Overkill. What you didn’t know is that Sega has launched a poster creator for the game, and to say to say that it is friggen awesome is an understatement. Using a flash based tool you can create your own stylized movie posters and desktop wallpapers using a variety of decals, overlays, text and graphics. This is such a silly idea yet I keep going back for more just goes to show you how something as silly as this can be turned into something really awesome. Go check out Overkill Poster Creator and go create your own wallpapers, below is one of my attempts at creating a wallpaper.

So my first game I purchased from the UK store Shopto arrived in the country today and I went to pick it up at the local post office. This is the special edition of House of The Dead: Overkill, the special edition includes a comic entitled “Prelude to A Overkill” which tells the back-story of one of the characters namely Isaac Washington presented in a noir style similar to that of the Sin City movie. Be warned that the comic does contain scenes of nudity and violence so don’t let the kids near it. And of course the package also includes the game which comes in a stylish collector’s case, check out the images below:

Here at Anime Life And Everything Else we pride ourselves on delivering good wholesome family entertainment for everyone. With cerebral thought provoking blog posts about anime and everything in-between, and we would never resort to posting a nice pair of digital jubblies to get more visitors to the my blog…..Okay who are we kidding here anyway. It seems that most game developers have reached the  uncanny valley with games becoming more and more realistic everyday, pushing the bounders of graphical limits and realism each time they release a new game. But it seems the developers have reached one major hurdle in the quest for the uncanny valley and realism, and that would the breasts. Yes that is right breast physics in games; more often than not these take on a life of their own and forgo the natural law of physics.

A good example of this would be Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 with breasts that ignore the law of natural physics and take on a life of their own, this game has reached cult status due to their legendary physic defying bounce. But having said that on very rare occasions there are games that do get it right like Devil May Cry 4, with just the right amount of cleavage, bounce and jiggle to make any gamer geek like myself drool with geeky joy. While playing Ninja Gaiden 2 yesterday, I also noticed that Team Ninja’s groundbreaking ‘bouncy breast’ technology has been successfully transferred from Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 to Ninja Gaiden 2. As the lead female character in Ninja Gaiden 2 “Sonja” also sports a pair of physic defying breasts. Hopefully not too far into the future game developers will eventually get it right, but until such time I can only yearn for a perfect pair of digital jubblies.

Story:

One year ago, during a rescue mission on Mt Aguilas, Raymond Bryce and his team were caught in a sudden volcanic eruption. In the mayhem that follows, Ray’s best friend Steve lost his life. Unable to save his friends and overcome with a strong feeling of remorse, Ray lost the will to save people. As a result, he left his job with the International Rescue Team behind. Now Ray learns that Steve’s sister Lisa has been abducted by a former Special Forces unit known as SURGE. Upon hearing this, Ray set off to rescue her, ignoring the warnings of people around him.

Meanwhile almost overnight, an unprecedented run of natural disasters cause tremendous damage across the United States. Taking advantage of the confusion that results from this wave of destruction, SURGE manages to seize a nuclear weapon. With one after another bearing down on him, Ray must survive hurricane, tsunamis and earthquakes, and find a way too rescue Lisa.

Now a lot of reviewers were over critical when it came to the actually story of Disaster: Day of Crisis. The story is over the top and so far fetched its not even funny, but I don’t see this as a negative but rather a positive. Think of the Die Hard movies, now add a dash of Volcano and mix in some Twister add one stereo typical hard boiled hero and you pretty much have Disaster: Day of Crisis story summed up. And this is what I look for in a game title, pure escapism when it comes to the story. The same type of escapism you found in the late 90`s action movies, over the top and totally far fetched.

Gameplay:

The first chapter of Disaster: Day of Crisis serves as the introduction to the game and as the training guide on how to control the various actions of Raymond Brice; from jumping over ledges to dashing and navigating the hazards the volcano presents you. This allows you to get used to the unique game controls that Disaster: Day of Crisis has, and they are nothing like what you have experienced on the Wii so far.

A lot of reviewers also made the statement that the game feels like one big mini game, but jokes aside that is what Disaster: Day of Crisis boils down to. The good news is that these “mini games” are interesting and captivating enough to keep your attention throughout the game. They are also nicely divided between exploring the levels and watching the highly entertaining cinematic action sequences.

The on-rails shooting section of the game is the most common of all the “mini games”.  At the start of the game the AI is pretty weak but as the game progresses it seems to improve. The on-rails shooting section is also one of the most enjoyable sections of the game, as it allows you to restart it and improve on your score if you managed to screw things up; thank god for check points! This adds a lot of replay value to the game as you try to achieve better score for each level you complete. It also makes for a nice incentive to replay a level or the entire game, on a new difficulty level.

Having said that the most enjoyable section of Disaster: Day of Crisis is clearly the driving section. You ‘drive’ through these with the Wii Remote held horizontally, just like you would when playing Mario Kart. There is a nice sense of speed and gravity in this section which adds a bit more realism to the game. The driving sections are also the most graphically polished section in the game, and really shows off what the Wii can do.

Driving and shooting aside, you’ll find yourself: rescuing victims; administering first aid; pulling people to safety; extinguishing fires with a fire engine; navigating your way past junk; and anything else that can go wrong when faced with more than a dozen types of natural disasters. Every part of Disaster: Day of Crisis could be called a big collection of mini-games, but these different styles of gameplay flow together surprisingly well and makes for a very entertaining game.

There is also a very light RPG element to Disaster: Day of Crisis, where Ray and his weapons can be upgraded between levels. Ray’s attributes like his skill with firearms, item-carrying capacity, focus, metabolism, and strength are enhanced using Survival Points. Survival Points you earn from rescuing people who are in distress. Battle Points are gained through defeating enemies, and can be used to improve your weapons by improving: the power, reload speed, magazine capacity, aiming, and accuracy of your chosen weapon.

Dispatching enemies with some flair which includes: head shots and “clever shots” award you with more battle points. Collecting these battle points and Survival points also adds more depth to the game as you can customize your character the way you want, not to mention the different titles you get when completing a mission. The titles range from not dying in a level, to collecting a certain amount of items, to killing all the enemies on a level. There are over 100 of these titles to earn and collect at the end of each level.

Graphics:

This is where Disaster: Day of Crisis flounders a bit.  The highly entertaining cinematic action sequences and driving sections of the game are some of the best graphics I have seen produced on the Wii; but then on the other had some of the NPC’s and environmental graphics are pretty pedestrian at times. Having said that, they are far and few in between and do not spoil the overall presentation of the game itself. The physics in the game itself is also pretty realistic with rag doll effects, and being able to manipulate the environment in one way or another by kicking, punching, climbing or shooting it.

Sound:

This is a big highlight of Disaster: Day of Crisis.  The action inspired music, which plays continuously in the background, gives you a sense of urgency and tension in the game. Not to mention the high quality sound affect that you encounter during the game especially during the gun fights and cinematic actions sequences of the game. The voice acting is also pretty good, but over the top as expected from a title like Disaster: Day of Crisis, almost to the point of being overly cheesy yet just stopping short.

Final thoughts:

Disaster: Day of Crisis sets a new precedent for 3rd party action titles on the Nintendo Wii. Overall, the game is a joy to play, and it proved to be a real time eater especially when you try and achieve S class scores for each level and unlock all the bonus content. It is arcadey and a bit silly at times, but there’s no getting away from the fact that it is really entertaining to play.  Even those watching it being played, will thoroughly enjoy it. I highly recommend this title to any Wii owner out there; you won’t be disappointed.