Gaming updates

Nintendo and Ubisoft have partnered to make a videogame about quitting to smoke, and if I read right it can actually help you quit. Move over Phillip Morris.

Next week release for Rock Band will be music by Jimmy Buffet and Disturbed. Nice pairing.
Jimmy Buffet-"Margaritaville", "Cheeseburger in Paradise", "Volcano",
Disturbed- "Indestructable", "Inside the Fire", "Perfect Insanity",
Very Nice!

Xbox Live users who have a netflix account could possibly be able to download directly fron xbox live according to sources

Walmart is offering a $100 giftcard when you buy a PS3 out of their stores, is this good or saying the system sucks to them?

For those annoyed at console gamers playing the new COD4 maps while they can't, you get them for free on June 5. Congratulations.

PS3 firmware update is arriving in June.

Teen Threatens Teacher by knife for San Andreas

Hey guys, sorry I don't post as much but im back and promising at least one every morning. I'm kind of in the middle of making a machinima (look it up) so I don't have a lot of free time lately. Anyway, I found this piece of news that damn near scares me.

Some of us love videos games, we're willing to do anything to go buy that game. So what did this one Massachusetts boy do? He held his teacher at knife point for twenty dollars for GTA III: San Andreas.

I cannot believe how some people act, some people are really crazy. I might be willing to sit in my house all day to play video games if i haven't played in a while. But violence and threatening a life for twenty dollars? for a possibly used game?

Sure, no one got hurt thank god. And the kid was apprehended after he (no joke) lowered his demands to one dollar and then had the teacher take the knife from him (11 inches too, what a nutjob).

The funny part is this is a further attack that games cause children to be violent, once again you negligent parents, the answer is No. Why would he want to buy the third GTA video game when he could have the fourth! it's because he probably was buying it on Ebay or something. He's 13 years old holding someone at knife point for a game rated Mature he's not even supposed to be allowed to get.

Look, you can be influenced by a violent video game, but you have to have some kind of heartless ability to be influenced. The fuze that a violent video game lights is the person who is a ticking timebomb, when you are young your not supposed to play these games because your imagination is reality to you. When your like 15 reality sets in and such games don't infleunce you unless you have that dangerous persona already from a bad UPBRINGING by parents.

The fact that this kid wants GTA III even though he's not supposed to be exposed to it that young is the parent's fault. Period. The fact that he wants it so bad he will put a knife to a teacher for money to buy it on ebay where no one knows he's 13 is his fault for being spoiled and craving such raunchy stuff (since i'm 20 and not a GTA fan). He probably was buying it from an older brother of a friend of his now that i think about it.

The kid is crazy, that's it. It's not the video game. A 13 year old who wants it that bad has a problem. He needs to be disciplined and given a mental scan for such ridiculous circumstances he knowingly put himself in. And who's responsible for the knife? parents or maybe the ridiculous friend who's older brother was crazy enought to give an M rated game to this kid.

This is a case of parental negligence who liked having a quiet kid playing video games, and didn't care what they had to get to keep him quiet. But they probably never taught him how not to be spoiled in the bad way and wanted this game that bad. Can you say juvie?

Rob's Weekly 5-Minute Video Update for The Week of 5/18/08

here's something new i'm going to do every week (or i'm at least going to try)

Gaming news updates

Motley Crue had made their first album track "Saints of Los Angeles" available for itunes and other providers as well as a Rock Band playable track. In its first week it sold 10,000 copies, on that same week it seperately sold 47,000 copies of it as a rock band song.

Atart founder has announced his knowledge of a new chip that will be standardized in new computer motherboards that will prevent piracy of PC games. a revolution that is made to get India and China finally give the money they have squandered.

If your a Zune owner/fan, Don't go to Gamestop anymore for stuff. They will not sell them anymore so accessories will probably go as well, or at least most won't. It's funny though because it lost them some of their gross profit margin and hurt their market share a bit, and it happened a while ago. Why do people notice it now? Because xbox users can put games they buy on arcade onto their Zune and use the touchpad. God i want one so bad.

The guitar hero rock bundle will be 10 dollars more than the rock band bundle, an already ridiculous attempt to cash in on the rock craze that its partial partner Harmonix is making pretty popular. Such a luck of undercutting Rock Band which has a steady growing number of content, and no promise of compatibility with Rock Band gear spells doom for this attempt by the guys behind Guitar Hero.

Rock Band is coming to europe, with the bundle costing twice as much as it does here. Ouch.

Left 4 Dead has been delayed till November of this year. Releasing the same month as GOW2 which makes choosing a delightfully challenging experience for some. And for people like me very irritating.

OH MY DEAR LORD!!

A new gaming "interface" my readers!

This is perhaps the most innovative, disgusting, yet interesting type of gameplay and game I have ever heard. And it really exists. Two men, a software and electrical engineer designed an alien shooter/skiing game that requires you to urinate to play. Ok. Couple of things i'd like to say.

I would love to play a game like this, just the novelty alone is worth the effort. Right now i am preparing to strap a roll of bottled waters on my back and head over to Belgium to play this.

But hopefully these urinal controllers have an automatic washout after each game because it sounds a bit unsanitary to imagine playing this after several people have used it. I also hope it's in a private room because playing against someone side by side is distinctly uncomforting, gamers may like watching the intense concentration of the players on some TV shows but this is where such a thing would obviously not happen for privacy.

Hey! here's a fun thought. Make a program to check your urine for blood glucose level. you get bonus points for having a balanced BGL in your urine. It's kinda funny that you also have to conservatively use your urine in this game interface, yeah I can just imagine the enthusiasm of someone practicing the flow and control of said urine. XD

This is getting really funny. But i'll leave it at this, there have been plenty of piss jokes in movies and jokes in general. This can be really interesting in how the game interacts saying things like "prepare to piss (fire)". And when you run low what do you do? geez, if there is a version of this game available to go in your home I will seriously consider it. Now Jack Thompson will go after the private moments us teenagers get into, if he ever gets to show his face after the recent accusations and charges he has.

Call of Duty 5: Moderner Warfare

Take a look at this

yep, this fall Call of Duty 5 is upon us. I take this with a grain of salt considering I had the second one and COD4.

Activision surprised me when when they released the fourth game. It had a nice story and direction, it had new mission approaches that I can't remember ever seeing in a game. And (gasp!) it wasn't set in the time period of the Second World War, but it did pay some tribute in one mission. It had more maps that were nicer than some of the Halo maps and was a decent competitor against the Halo 3 hype although Halo 3 is still good (even though COD4 had many more maps period). But now with the release of a new one that will come just a year after the 4th, it's hard to imagine not playing COD4 anymore because of how much more impact it had. The word Moderner makes me wonder how far can they go as far as modern warfare, futuristic and more interesting weapons perhaps?

Is Moderner even a real word, the look of the title seems kind of an inside joke with the line through the number 4, it's literally telling me to pass on this game because it probably won't make much of a difference that COD4 made. Heck it was even announced just because GTA IV toppled its reign amongst gamers.

However, I did not look forward to COD4 until i saw the gameplay which was crisp, interesting and beautiful to look at. So hopefully Activision isn't proving to people it's just a money making company and that they will make the experience that much more sweeter. So they better show us some of the new atmospheric gameplay and not give away too many good parts. Otherwise it will be another Halo 3 story and provide no incentive for gamers to buy it, and continue playing COD4.

Gaming updates

Microsoft has recently announced they are raising the file size limit for the live arcade games to 350 MB. Nearly doubling the size. This move is to help make more involved games made by developers but still encouraging a sub 20 million dollar game budget environment. We will see what kind of games come out of this new maximum size.

Frank O' Conner formerly from Bungie has also announced his departure from Bungie to work with microsoft on the future Halo games (Halo Wars and undisclosed others). Frank was a key figure in Halo 2 and 3. But along with this news is news of Bungie still in talks with Peter Jackson to create a Halo Chronicles video game in association with Jackson's Wingnut studios.

The Wii fit has been delayed for release until tomorrow.

Rock Band has announced May 27th release for the Cars self-titled album. 1.99 a track and 15.00 for the whole album (9, saves you about 3 bucks).

Speculation on Banjo Kazooie is leading to negative reviews by players.

Unknown to me, apparently there is a terminology for the academic study of video games: ludology. who knew such a thing existed :)

Gaming for Money, Eh?

Hey everyone, I just found out about a website and thought i'd share it. Not sure if anybody has heard about this but it's called http://www.tournamentfront.com/.
Basically, you go on there, set up tournaments, and you can either set them up just for fun or to win money. All you gotta do is buy credits with a paypal account. Then you enter various tourneys, and if you win, you fill up your bankroll. You can then cash out back into your paypal account.

What does everybody think of this idea? Will video gaming become a new vice? Will they start setting up Xbox360's in Casinos?

I doubt that last one, but it would be pretty funny. post some thoughts in the comments.

New Album Coming to Rock Band

For all you Rock Band fans, a new album has been announced, the 1978 "The Cars" consisting of nine songs.

Good Times Roll"
"My Best Friend's Girl"
"Just What I Needed"
"I'm in Touch with Your World"
"Don't Cha Stop"
"You're All I've Got Tonight"
"Bye Bye Love"
"Moving in Stereo"
"All Mixed Up"

That's all since it pretty much speaks for itself. No price or release date has been announced with the revealing of the next album.

The Wii Fit

At first glance many are aware of it, but surprisingly it's still not on sale in the United States until 3 days from now. It was popular in Europe, Australia, and Japan and came out from December to April in those areas. But the question is, will the Wii Fit be popular in the US?

Well if you mean by sales, the Wii Fit will probably be as hot as the Wii itself being that the Fit offers a new type of gaming that makes your body part of the experience and the challenges. Face it, being in shape while gaming does sound nice. Heck it's easy, Sarcasticgamer has really found a lot to comment on Wii Fit's type of gameplay where you lean side to side to balance your weight distribution is pretty dull. I don't think Xbox and Playstation owners will be quick to get a Wii just because of the Fit. It's not exactly like say Gears of War when you have a Berserker on your heels smelling where you are and putting you on edge. For Wii owners its great because Wii has always been engaging physically.

So yes, it will sell well since the Wii itself is selling nearly triple the amount of consoles Xbox and Sony has, but it will probably never be a gaming hit. Dance Dance Revolution was a hit because it was hot soundtracks and you becoming a master of the beat. Same with rock band except it made you feel cool as you actually played drums to the actual beats of the music. Sweet. But Wii Fit is a health accessory, even being referred to as a weight scale by Sarcasticgamer. But it is a nice touch by Nintendo and deserves respect for trying, however, during E3 I did have a problem. One of Nintendo's higher ups demonstrated at E3 last year and if i'm not mistaken mentioned how the Wii Fit will actually weigh you and help you keep track of your weight as a hint to encourage interest. That's cool, but several people have found it offensive to say American's are fat.

I don't agree with that, but if I see advertising on TV trying to sell the Wii Fit as a weight loss option, I am going to be a little annoyed. But finally America gets its turn to enjoy the Wii Fit, it's simple and as Sarcasticgamer says: you don't have to do anything. Wii Fit. :)

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2. We know it's coming. We know it's bigger, badder and more badass. However we don't know much else. Slowly more and more information is popping up on the net.


This is a list of confirmed changes to Gears 2 directly from Cliffy B:
1. There will be 5v5 multiplayer.
While this isn't a huge leap forward for shooters it still is a welcome addition. I feel that anymore than 5v5 would totally change the strategic elements of multiplayer. 5v5 is just enough.
2. There will be a party system.
This is a lil vague but Cliffy B has said, "I think that if we were not to have a feature like that, it would probably be a pretty big f**kup." So there will be some form of party system we just don't know specifics.
3. There will be weapon specific melees.
Once again not entirely sure of how they will function but they will be there. "...look at the Torque Bow and there's blades that come off of it, you could start guessing that there's some fun to be had there."
4. More multiplayer maps.
To quote Cliffy B again, "As far as the multiplayer goes, we're shipping with at least ... well, I don't know what the embargo is ... but we're shipping with a lot more f***ing multiplayer maps this time time around. A lot more multiplayer modes. So when you look at the matrix of maps to modes, it's literally hundreds of hours of gameplay." Vague yet again but it sounds good to me.
5. The meat shield.
The name says it all. This is by far one of the cooler new features for Gears 2.
6. Chainsaw dueling
It has been put in as basically a B button jamming event. Looks cool but I'm not sure how it's gonna work. Most of the skilled players stayed away from the chainsaw in favor of the shotgun.
7. A better campaign story.
Not that it requires much to have a better story than Gears 1 so I am definitely looking forward to learning more about the characters and the world of Gears.

So there you go just a little something about Gears 2. I know I can't wait for November.

The race to the ripoffs begins!!!

Lets take a look at this little number from publisher Konami Rock Revolution and take a look at this from Activision Guitar Hero 4. Look Guitar Hero 4 will be a hit simply because of the following it has. Konomi on the other hand is going to be surprised when they don't see Rock Revolution flying of the shelves. 

For one people aren't going to spend 200 bucks for every music game that comes out. Rock Band has already gotten most of the market and is doing just about everything right. I know personally with all the DLC that i've already invested over 300 dollars into Rock Band and will continue to pour money into it as the albums get released. Me along with a few million others have already made this choice. 60 bucks is hard enough but to get someone to spend another 300 bucks is looking for money that isn't there.

We won't know how good or bad these titles will do for some time now but I don't think it is gonna be pretty. 

Ok, i can't believe i'm hearing this

Halo 4, yes as much I love the Halo series of games. The idea of another Halo game does not sound like a good idea and here is my reasoning.
Halo 3 was not as good as everyone expected to be, I admit I am a little disappointed. Bungie took away machinima tools. The story finally ended. But unfortunately they revealed an ominous arrival at a planet when you watch the ending of Halo 3 on Legendary. As a reader of the novels some will agree with me in pointing out that this could be the planet in Ghosts of Onyx. That does not merit a new game, it actually ties things up in a nice untold happy ending. But for some reason, people keep suggesting it is a cliffhanger. Bungie may be trying to pull another Halo game considering the much smaller budget it has after it split from Microsoft. But the idea of Halo 4 leads me to believe that Bungie is only going to do it for money. And that will kill it, the map packs show me that they are doing their best to pull every dime they can now that Microsoft hasn't been holding their hand.
People have to stop speculating about this game, other developers actually want to helm Halo 4 now and that's scary. The series fell short on the third game, and that is a sign to put the game to rest. But with all the capital that was made in this franchaise they won't give a damn, they will make another game if we hold out our hands. My advice, show no interest. Show none. We waited three years to see the second one, and they put a cliffhanger in that one. That was the first mistake, a lot more innovation was put into Halo 2 than Halo 3. There is no more cool things they can put into the game that really revolutionize. If we show them we're not interested, then they probably will make the game but in a slower production rate. I'm grateful they got as far as they did with halo 3 but the problems with the limited edition of the game (which i bought) tells me they aren't careful anymore. Look at GTA IV, it took too long to come out, but it is kicking ass in sales and breaking records. Rushing games always spells disaster. But Bungie should concentrate on developing a new game, they have a lot of innovations from the development of Halo games to make a new kickass title. Let the Master Chief rest, bring on something else.

*I realize i'm harping on gaming news, so i'm going to try and make this my last "political" post and promise to have more in-gaming posts.

April sales in the console wars

As the title suggests, the numbers for April are like this according to data collectors from IGN. Surprisingly Xbox 360 still outsold (but barely) the PS3 with numbers totaling 188,000 consoles versus Sony's 187,100 consoles. not a huge break but surprising considering how much longer Xbox has been on the shelves. Sony and Microsoft has attributed this primarily to the release of GTA IV, which is pretty obvious since it top's their list of the best selling names.
Of course, Nintendo Wii still trumps them with 714,200 consoles, but seriously are you surprised? GTA IV sold twice as many games on Xbox as it did on PS, 1.8 million vs. 1 million.
However the experts say that because it released so late in April it didn't impact as much as it should and the remaining figures will likely show during the sales of May. I don't really care about the console wars too much considering it hurts sales for the loser because the one's who don't treat themselves to what they like buy whatever's popular. But it surprises me that Xbox has stayed on top of Sony, wow, after being one year ahead of sony the well should have dried up in sales. Nope. and that's even worse for Sony since there is speculation of them still losing alot of money on their consoles, almost 250 dollars, and thats after the cheaper chip swap in them.
Here's a solution, make the George Foreman grill version like the pictures are showing a lot of. On a more serious note, how about Sony kills the PSP. I find it funny that the DS lite outsells it by twice as much and that it probably kills some of their PS3 sales. I know its a plan to eventually turn to handhelds instead of consoles in theory, but it doesn't seem to be working well. And the sad thing is Microsoft has announced their own "handheld" device, although they haven't confirmed if it's Xbox related which is most likely.

Rob's Top 5 for 2008

Well, since Mr. Thomas Waters wrote his top 5 most anticipated games for 2008, I figured I would make a top 5 list as well...

#5 - Bionic Command: Rearmed (Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC) - May 28th, 2008
So, some of you may be thinking, "Why is he putting an XBLA title in his top 5?!" Well, I say there's nothing wrong with that at all, There have been many great Live Arcade titles, and I still play N+ regularly. Bionic Commando: Rearmed, i'm actually more excited about than the full-fledged Bionic Commando 3D game they're coming out with later this year. The original Bionic Commando, remade with new graphics, co-op, and a sweet looking challange mode?! Sign me up!!!

#4 - Alone in the Dark (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii) - June 24th, 2008
Ahh, the Survival Horror genre, since the days of the PS1, it's always been pretty much the same... Resident Evil 4 changed some things up, but other than that, mostly every survival horror game has had the same simple mechanics you'd expect. After a while though, I got sick of that, which is partly why I enjoied RE4 so much. Now, Alone in the Dark, a long forgotten series is revived, without a "5" in it's title. That's just nitpicking, but the real meat of this game is in the incredible physics system, and the amazing use of inventory. Never before have I seen such slick presentation of an inventory system, ever! Not only that, but you can light things on fire, you can combine things on the fly to make new items, the physics system doesn't only react to collision detection, it also reacts to heat and... well, that's awesome.

#3 - Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) - June 3rd, 2008
Ninjas are awesome. This game doesn't seem to live down that concept either. From the masters at Team Ninja, and the true master working closely with them, Tomonobu Itagaki, is truely a ninja master when it comes to video games. Seriously though, I know this one is coming out in just a few weeks, but I couldn't help but add it to this list. The game looks amazing, I loved the first Ninja Gaiden re-make on Xbox, and I didn't play NG: Black or NG: Sigma, but This looks to be one incredible title. It's bloodier, it's got more weapons, and looks like it plays about the same as the last game... which is a good thing as far as i'm concerned. Ninja Gaiden is a series where more of the same=awesome, and I can't wait for this title to come out.

#2 - Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) - October 2008
Oh. My. God. Fallout 3 looks like one of the best games I have seen in a long time. Now, I have never played Fallout 1 or 2, but I love this concept of a post-apocalyptic "50's city of the future" RPG. Also, Betheseda's Elder Scrolls series is incredible, but after playing Oblivion, i'm just getting sick of that world, so i'm glad they're exploring new territory. Not only that, but the entire storytelling expreience seems fantastic! You're born, and you press "A" to cry... you're a baby and you get to crawl around, and now when you press "A" you go "da-da". It's these small things that will bring you into the story, and give you a better connection with the characters, which we all know is key for great storytelling. Definitely looking foward to this one in October.

and... drumroll please!

Oh right, I can't have drumrolls in text based media... damn.

well anyways, my number one game is...

#1 - Spore (PC) - September 7th, 2008
I must say, this game looks incredible! The character customisation, being able to customise everything else in your world. The tools are INCREDIBLY innovative, and you can basically make anything your heart desires, very easily. I'm a very creative person, and seeing something like this makes me happy. Of course, I think in one run of my game, i'll just make everything shaped like penises. Now, if the character customisation wasn't enough, you have this incredible progression system. You start out as an ameoba and you work your way up, evolving and creating new technology, and eventually you can even visit other planets in a UFO. Now, another cool feature is that anytime you create something and are connected to the internet, all of the data will be sent to a giant server and that data will be dispersed to everybody's single player games... so let's say your friend creates a creature on a planet. you can essentially travel to his planet and see his creature from your computer. I would normally be skeptical if such crazy concepts would work in a game, but since it's coming from the Master of The Sims and Sim City, Will Wright, I feel as though it will definitely be amazing.


So, that's my Top 5, and unlike TJ, I don't have any honerable mentions because this list was very clear to me. I basically had it planned out in my head as soon as I started thinking about what my top 5 would be. I can't wait, 2008 is shaping up to be a great year for gaming.

So Gaming does Nothing in Real Life?

I found this article and was LMAO, but was enjoying how people at IBM and Harvard are embracing gaming. On GameTab they said regarding World of Warcraft:

....As with any resume addition, the trick is to highlight the qualities that employers seek. Sure, raiding in World of Warcraft gives you sweet loot, but it also shows long-term planning, dedication, and the ability to work well with others. And if you're just getting into the job market and don't have a lot of relevant experience, this could be a huge help:

Guild Member, World of Warcraft. Participated as a member of a raiding guild over a two-year period. Consistently demonstrated punctuality, patience, good communication skills, and a team-oriented attitude to overcome shared challenges in a group setting........

I absolutely love this, the idea of identifying qualities about the person in what they do in gaming is a fantastic idea. I should start logging in how many things I plan in advance and how many bullets I think I need while playing Halo 3. But the point is this helps unite the world and make gaming less of a hobby to waste your money and have people roll their eyes at it.

You can't hurt yourself putting anything in the extra margin provided, so start on your gaming hobby if you have one.

So does writing here make me ideal for the town newspaper?

Grid Demo Impressions

Release Date: June 3rd, 2008

platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, DS

I had a limited amount of time with the ps3 demo from Codemasters Grid, but what I saw I liked. I've never been a huge racing fan so take this from a casual fan not a hardcore racing fan. The first thing I tried was what is essentially the campaign of the game. The first part had me racing in a BMW against 19 other racers on an grand prix style track. What I enjoyed was the fluid controls. I was able to get in and only after one lap get the controls down. The biggest problem I see with the game is the A.I., it just isn't that impressive and the cars are clearly riding on lines and just don't look organic at all. The camera angles work just fine and the game has a fairly impressive replay system. For those of you that enjoy a ton of damage the Codemasters has done a terrific job on damage physics. The drifting took a while for me to get but I'm sure with more time I'll get used to it.

Now for the multiplayer, what was in the demo was 11 players online. At the beginning of a room you get to vote weather you want to play with tour cars or muscle pro cars. Our room picked the tour cars in which everyone gets a BMW. The game worked out fine doing one 3 lap race and two 5 lap races. The one problem can be the actual players, because in this game your car can be totaled pretty easily. So you need to drive cautiously and smart. Thing is not everyone wants to play it that way. I entered the last race and some one rammed me doing 75 mph in the first 10 seconds of the race leaving me to watch the hole race while he motored on. 

The game seems to be a quite capable title and I look forward to trying out the retail version when it ships in the next few weeks. If your a racing fan there is no reason not to give this game a chance. For just being a demo it totally delivers the chills and thrills you expect from a next-gen racing game.

XBOX 360 to have support till 2013

Well folks, I received some news today while searching Shacknews. It appears that my worst fear regarding gaming consoles has received some GOOD news in a way. Microsoft confirms that it will support the console until 2013; so the new console won't appear until 2012 at the latest. The thing is i'm not "thrilled" when I invest four-hundred dollars into a console when a new one suddenly comes five years later. But considering a 360 replacement won't appear until six years after the 360's release and the continued support for even longer is comforting, that's plenty of time to enjoy this system. And with the amazing barrage of games in the last year, i'm ready for more. But damn, six to nine more years! that's impressive backing. And i'm counting up to 2015 since the lead team of the game "Too Human" says they're supporting 360 for the remainder of its trilogy which is suppost to last till 2015.

I find this an interesting study because I have concluded that in the future we can just buy the games without the case or CD in the future, they've made it possible on the Xbox Live Store with Halo and some classic titles. So no drive and the continued increase in performance in a smaller size brings an interesting proposition. Why not make it an upgrade on the 360 where you send yours in and have it gutted of its mechanicals to fit the new hardware?

That would save design costs and so many other things for Microsoft, but another reason for it is so we don't have old systems sitting around our house. If you have friends who are still playing Halo 2 and can't afford an Xbox 360 its probably saddened you. Well that might happen with some of your friends right now should they not buy Xbox 720. LOL, whatever it's named. For the upgrade to the new "version" for the new era, you'll save on materials, you'll still be able to chat with your friends on live unlike the small barriers between Xbox and the Xbox 360 live differences since your pretty much on the same system. And you'll probably pay less to upgrade it by at most fifty dollars. And with all the investments in the plug-in play technology accessories for the 360 now, they have to be supported with such a universal input, and keeping the current system would help that. Especially in many cases where people have bought the wireless networking adaptor that attaches to the back of the 360.

With the stupid mistakes of the past like the Atari 5200, the Sega CD and 32x, and the Sega Neptune. This would cause less headaches.

Haze Demo impressions

PS3 Exclusive: Release May 22nd, 2008

I've played through the entirety of the Haze demo twice. It is fairly short clocking in under 10 minutes. It's pretty standard fair, a squad team out in the jungle who needs to make it to a helicopter to get the hell out. Nothing special but the one new mechanic that the shooter does have is the use of NECTAR. By using the L2 button you inject yourself with the substance which is shown in a meter in the lower left of the screen. When the NECTAR is used the screen gets a bit blurry for a second and the colors get very vibrant. The enemies turn a bright orange glowing color looking much like they would using infrared but only the enemies change like this. The downside to this at least in the demo is that it makes the enemies incredibly easy to defeat. In one game I played co-op with two people online with the difficulty on hard. we simply mowed through the demo in under 5 minutes probably 3 without the cut-scenes.

On the positive side the game does look good. I am still a little worried about the sets being repetitive but from what I saw all the models look pretty impressive. The lighting leaves a bit to be desired but isn't bad by any means. The game runs pretty smoothly and overall is a pretty solid shooter. From what I get out of the demo unless you play on Extra hard which isn't unlocked in the demo you aren't going to get much of a challenge out of this game. Good thing it was delayed though because being released back in the Halo/COD4 frame would have been terrible for this title. By holding it off till May the game has a descent chance at gaining a following. Considering that the last decent shooter for the PS3 was Unreal Tournament 3, I'd say give Haze a shot if your looking for an average but competent shooter.

360 Spring Showcase Highlights

Here we'll just give you some video links and news about some of the 360's upcoming titles.

Gears of War 2 Interview: 

Cliffy B Interview

It's a great little interview with Cliff Bleszinkski on some of the new additions to Gears of War 2. Some we've been expecting and some new. What really stands out is the scale of this game, So go take a look.

Bango & Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts:

Banjo and Kazooie gameplay 1 - Bango and Kazooie gameplay 2

It's been a long time since we'd had any news on the third Bango & Kazooie title but at the Spring Showcase we finally got some footage. What I love about it is the rich color palette and simple yet effective style, making it easy on the eyes. There's been a shortage of family friendly titles for the 360 so here's hoping that drought ends.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise:

The sequel to the hit title Viva Pinata will build upon what made the original so lovable. The title will include some new features like controlling the weather, local cooperative play, and the use of the Vision Camera. The camera will be used to scan in barcodes found on cards which will place that pinata onto your land. I was very skeptical when the first game came out but it grew on me. Once again a rare family friendly 360 title so it should be a great addition to the collection.

Ninja Gaiden 2:

Not a lot o news came out except for showing us more screenshots of severed limbs and gameplay of beating the crap out of monsters. By now you know if your a fan of the series or not I'm sure. The game is to be released exclusively on the 360, June 3rd.

Too Human: 

Release date set to August 19th in the US and everywhere else shortly after. I have to say I have almost no interest in this title but hey we'll see if it works out come August.

Bioshock movie

Well guys it's official, Bioshock is to be the next video-game based movie to come out, no not Halo, that won't be out for years.

officially to be released in 2009, this is something to take with a grain of salt. video game movies have not been stellar in the box office, nor have they been very good. So everyone is hoping that will change sometime, maybe this one will do it. I'm not so sure about it.

For one thing, it's a damn good game, and I only played as far as the demo. But seeing the big daddys and the little sisters, and the atmosphere. It made me feel as if i was really there. The city of rapture is beautiful. So this is a game with A LOT of fans. i didn't buy it but I love it and jumped when I heard about a movie for it. I am optimistic for game-based movies and felt this one HAD a story to make it good.

But, Ikinda lost hope since Gore Verbinski is set to direct it, I loved pirates one, I loved The Ring even though it wasnt awesome. I even liked pirates 2 and Mouse Hunt. But I absolutely hated pirates 3. It had the budget of Transformers (150 million)and it sucked for 89 percent of the time. not cool. Even worse, he is making this movie WHILE making pirates 4, yes pirates 4 you heard it right. But the good news is keira knightly and orlando bloom will not appear in the 4th and it will be more at sea. Good.

However, the fact that he is doing pirates 4 at the same time as bioshock and being that pirates 3 made money, i'm not sure he's realized his faults to regain his expertise to make Bioshock work. Can he do it right? yes he could and he could make history with a GOOD game movie. But sometimes these directors have weird problems, especially in this decade. Steven Speilberg saddened me a little in War of the Worlds (Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull will hopefully fix this), M. Night Shamalayan has gone 2 movies straight that were bad (hopefully The Happening will fix this).

So let's hope he doesn't mess up, otherwise he will be strangled by the lead project people from the Bioshock team for killing the culture they have made. And with the budget in CGI wasted in pirates 3, it better be good in the CGI parts with the big daddys. If I don't feel like I did when I first saw them, I automatically will pan this movie.

My top 5 upcoming games of 2008

Since we're a new site I thought it would be great to give a bit of in-site into what type of games I enjoy and what I'm looking foward to the most.

1. Gears of War 2

What can I say it's Gears of War 2. I loved the campaign from the first game. Yes it was simple and had some technical issues but you can't deny the fun factor that GoW had. We have only started to get a glimpse at the campaign and it looks to be as good as ever. The one area that I believe needs the most improvement is the multiplayer, for me it just felt tacked on and didn't have the same fun factor that made the campaign such a joy to play.

2. Left 4 Dead

When  Dead Rising was released I was so excited, until I played it that is. I quickly realized it wasn't what I wanted, and now I realize Left 4 Dead is the game I've been waiting for. 4 player co-op missions and online multiplayer where you can play as a zombie. This game probably has the best shot at failing on my list but if it works out could be the best zombie game since Re4.

3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Other then the Lego Star Wars series it's been years since i've been wowed by anything with the iconic brand attached to it. With the Uphoria physics engine in place and some dazzling graphics here's hoping Star Wars can wow us again.

4. Metal Gear Solid 4

I hate to admit it but I've never actually played a metal gear game before (don't hurt me). But every detail that comes out about Kojima's Blockbuster title just makes me gasp with anticipation. I'm a little worried about the controls after participating in the Metal Gear Online beta but I'll wait to see how they are utilized in the main game before I judge them too hard.

5. Resistance 2

I'm not a huge fan but the first game was solid and the best launch title for the PS3. With the announcement of 8 player co-op and 60 player online multiplayer I can't help but get excited about the newest from Insomniac.

So there you have it my top 5 upcoming games of 2008 and below I just have a few Honorable Mentions.

Fable 2

Fallout 3

Ninja Gaiden 2

My First post not a happy one

Well I'd like to say hello to you all and say I'm pumped to write for you. Sadly though as you can tell my 360 is out of commission. I sent it into Microsoft earlier today. So with any luck I'll finally be able to review GTA IV in about 3 weeks, sad isn't it. So I'd just like to say hello to everyone, I'd like to share with you some of our ambitions and goals for the site as we continue on. 

I and some fellow contributors would love to get a podcast up and running sometime in the near future. I've been involved with podcast before and it can be a great experience and way to share your opinions with your listeners. Right now we are figuring out how we will layout our show so if you'd like to suggest some ideas feel free to leave us a comment. The more ideas the better, so we can create the best possible content for you. We have some other ideas as well but will keep those under wraps for now. So Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Welcome, my friends, to the blog that never sleeps

Hey everyone! Welcome to Midnight Multiplayer.  We play video games here, and we're usually up into the late hours of the night (hence the title).

Now, we'll bring you into our world. We'll be posting thoughts about modern games, classic games, gaming news, game reviews, game previews, and maybe we'll even get sidetracked and delve into 80's movies or upbeat jazz or something...

Anyway, be sure to add this page to your favorites and look out for new content, because this is your new favorite video game blog, and you don't even know it yet.