I F3AR You Will Not Be The Soul Survivor

Before in shooters people were just out for blood. Now it seems they want your souls too. Over the years developers have struggled to find new ways to keep shooters vibrant and interesting instead of having the same mundane shoot to kill elements. They can definitely be a bore from time to time especially if you're always losing. Now developers try to find ways to mix it up with gimmicks and feature modes to exend online gameplay introducing gamers to new online venues. Games like BulletStorm, Brink, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and F3AR III, seem to be on that trend of trying something different and new while keeping gamers excited about playing online.

The upcoming F3AR III game definitely has a unique multiplayer mode call Soul Survivor. Its an online mode that will definitely keep people playing for hours. Take a look at the trailer.

You Cannot Escape The Grasp of Death The Dark Rider

Death waits for no man. He's quick, swift, and oh ever so timely. His grasp on our souls is unrelenting just as he is in DarkSiders II. I remember playing the original DarkSiders game and really enjoying it. I never finished it though. I wish I had. This second game seems to have a unique story to it. So I guess in the first game War, the protagonist, find himself in a bit of a deadly predicament with no way out. It looks like big brother Death is coming in the sequel to get lil' bro War out of that jam with no intentions of failing.

Man, this guy is mean. He has a skull for a face. It makes me wonder who their mother was. I don't think I would want to stand in his way to stop him from doing what he wanted to do. You shall pass my friend. Please don't take my soul.(Quivering and Shaking) The game will take place in the same time setting as the original but will be played in a totally different area. Death's mission is to clear War's name at any costs. I guess you could say "Death" is not an option. Ha!

I'm starting to see a recurring theme here. I'm wondering when THQ will release the games for Famine and Pestilence. That would be an interesting Quadrilogy don't you think? I guess these days the dark fantasy of post apocalyptic world is starting to be really popular in the film and videogame world. Everybody has their own spin on it. I for one don't want to see what the end of the world would look like but its pretty fun to play on a videogame. DarkSiders is set for release sometime next year which means I have plenty of time to finish the first one to find out what kind of mess War got himself into. Check the trailer.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss Preview

I love the Uncharted series. Its been great taking over where the Tomb Raider series left off. I can't wait for the release of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and Uncharted: Golden Abyss which will be released for the upcoming NGP hand held console. The game looks amazing on a portable hand held. It looks good enough to be played on the PlayStation 3. Seeing this game makes me anticipate the NGP even more. This makes me wonder what will I do with my PSP once its released. I guess I'll find out when I purchase the NGP. Check out the preview.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

I wanted to play the Welcome Back Kotter theme song for this post because I felt so in the moment also because I think it would be kind of funny. I was trying to figure out how I could get people to scroll over this post and have the theme song start playing. Well just the welcome back part anyways. I figured it would be too much work just for one post and I decided just to get this post done. Ha!

Anyways... the PlayStation Store is finally back up and running and the Welcome Back promotion has begun. It officially started yesterday afternoon but whose counting the hours? So I'm home last night with my brother who came from out of town checking out this Welcome Back promo for the first time not really overly excited about it but only to do 2 things, download Dead Nation and inFamous and also get my free subscription for PlayStation Plus+ I was able to do both but there was some trouble with the PlayStation Store.

One of the issues I had was initially entering the store. It kept failing and not allowing me in. I thought my internet was out and I absentmindedly got up to reset my cable modem forgetting that I had originally seen that four of my online buddies were online. After feeling dumb I reset my PS3 tried to enter the store again. Once again it took a couple of tries but I made it. I'm thinking maybe their network was overloaded with customers trying to download all the free stuff. I kept getting errors everytime I clicked on something. I would have to exit one area of the store then enter back in again. It was sort of a pain.

So I clicked on the big Welcome Back link and I was in the free section for the Welcome Back promo. The way it was set up was kind of weird. You had to click one icon that was labeled Welcome Back Game 1 and download that then you had to go back to that section and select your game. Then you had to do that all over again for the second game. It was kind of cantankerous especially when I kept getting errors in the store. I just don't know why they didn't just tag those games as part as the welcome back promo and just have customers do a straight download. That would've been more efficient.

I was able to access the games I wanted but unfortunately I couldn't download them. When I tried to download inFamous I got a message saying that I was out of space which really sucked. I have too much stuff on my 60gb which meant that I had to upgrade. Luckily for me I have a spare 120gb laptop hard drive. The down side is that the back up process for this will take hours. I know this because I've done it before. I think the last time I did that it took almost the whole day to back up my content to another hard drive. So all I did was just add my new games to my download queue so I could download them later.

The kicker was the was the welcome back content for the movie selections which was sort of low ball to say the least. The selections where Ghostbusters, Final Fantasy: Enemies Within, and Bad Boyz. Now Ghostbusters came out 1984/85, Bad Boyz was released in 95', and Final Fantasy: Enemies Within debuted in the summer of 2000. I'm not really one to complain because I love those selections but they're a bit dated. You can't tell me that people in America have not seen those 3 titles over and over again. I've seen all 3 of those movies more times than I care to count. You can't tell me that other people don't feel the same way.

I just figured maybe they would release movies that were a little more recent. I wonder what the conversation was that led to those selections. I'm sure if I asked I would get some round about answer. Once again, I am not complaining. I'm just saying that it doesn't make any sense to me as to why those selections were made free versus new selections. That's like promising someone a car without them knowing what it was and you give them a rusty 72' Pinto. That would be something customers definitely wouldn't expect just like these movies. Is it wrong that they only made those movies the available free selections? Or are we wrong for assuming that we would get great content for free? Obviously they're being really frugal given recent events but is it right to low ball customers like that?

Well they never really told us what movies we were gonna get. Originally we were to receive free rentals which would only last through the weekend but I guess they scrapped that plan at the last minute. I guess we should just shut up and be happy for what they gave us. After all they really didn't have to do this at all. Welcome back folks! Ha!

For When You Don't Get The Best Value Out of Your Game

Ever take your used games to your local game shop and try to make a fairly decent profit only to gain pennies in return or store credit? The sad irony is that a lot of game shops take that same game that you've given them flip it and make a profit off of it. When ever I ask the store clerks they always tell me that the games lose value fast so by the time you decide to trade it in you don't get much value for it.

You can't just take any used game to your local game shop and expect to receive a decent return. A lot of stores like GameStop will have listings for what games will be of value at that present time. Oh yeah and they hate to pay you back in cash. What they do is that they take that value in games and turn it into store credit so you can buy more games from them. Its a total revolving door.

For me, I've decided that whatever I buy I keep and be happy with it. There are too many titles that come out at once for me to snatch all up. I just wait until the prices go down. Also I buy them used. All I care is that the game plays so buying a game new these days is almost always never an option. I'm a bit older than most of the gaming community which means I have other priorities to think about rather than buying the latest games. Buying the newest game every week is definitely not an option I can easily choose.

For those who want to benefit from the value of their used games there is a good alternative and I'm gonna let my man Sal of, Tech Loft and SalsTavern explain the scenario on how you can do that.



Goozex: http://www.goozex.com/trading/asp/welcome.asp

In The World Where I Once Existed Time's Path Is No Longer Certain

I can't believe another Final Fantasy game is in the works. I haven't even finished the last one. I've just started to play it. That's why I don't get into too many RPGs. They take too long for me to finish but they are ohhhhhhh soooooooo gooooood. Actually the only RPGs I can bring myself to play these days are only the ones from the  Final Fantasy series. I treat them Nike and the rest of the RPGs are like Reebok, Adidas, & Converse. I'll play those before I play any other RPG game.

This Final Fantasy game will feature the return of Lightning alongside a new character. The game is currently in production and will be released winter 2012.

The Extraordinary Is In What We Do Not Who We Are

Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider is back and is once again on a mission of exploration. This new trailer is amazing. Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics look to be a good pairing in putting this game together. The trailer shows a grittier much youthful Lara as she's struggling to save herself from drowning. The story takes us back to her origins from when she started on her first journey.

The game will be a more grittier one than the previous titles. The aiming in shooting is free and is not guided by locked targeting. Linear paths are also gone and players are free to roam their environment. Base camps will be provided throughout the game for Lara to hone her skills and to gain additional items. She will also have to find food and water to survive. So this title has definitely become a true survivor's game. Lara will be living off the grid and making her own way. This definitely reminds me of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater where snake had to hunt for food and conserve his energy in order to survive in harsh environments.

I'm really looking forward to playing this title especially since Square Enix had a hand in creating the game. I don't think that there could've been a better pairing in making this title. The CGI is very polished, reminiscent  of Final Fantasy's CGI. Unfortunately we won't be able to play this game until next year. In the meanwhile I'll just spend my time playing my other Tomb Raider titles.They've really kicked it up notch with this one. I've always been a Tomb Raider fan and this one seems like it will be the best one to date.

No Excuse For "Non Gamers"

No matter who you are you can't tell me that you've never played a game in your entire life. Every single person in this world has a played a game or two once or twice in their lives, especially in this day and age. Whether it be a videogame console, smartphone, or PC, everyone has joined in on some fun.

There are some that may not engage in games as frequent as others do. Maybe they feel games are too complex or they're just a big waste of time, nonetheless you have to do something to engage your brain and pass the time. We're human so we're just wired to do so. Maybe I should stretch that to all mammals because dogs chase their tails, cats play with yarn and climb things, seals and dolphins like to goof off in the water, and monkeys make a game out of everything.

If you feel non-gamer like, uninterested, not good enough, or even, dare I say, too adult or grown to engage in games like the youthful gamers of today here are some suggestions from the lovely, Zadi of EpicFu, you can tide your brain over to give you some ideas of inspiration. You may have a different outlook on games all together.





If you don't like those here are some other alternatives you can try: http://appadvice.com/applists/show/games-for-non-gamers - Picture Source

Introducing The PlayStation Phone: Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play

This phone has received a lot of hype in the past few months. I know because I've blogged about it in 4 or 5 other posts. With all the hype its getting it must be hot. I was looking into getting one myself but it was just too high for me to swing the price from $400 to $700 without a contract. For new customers they'll get it for only $100 with a contract. Now I see why people hate contracts. Phone companies lure you in and bind your ass with it. For me I would say that would be the first indirect downside to the phone.

I guess if you really wanted that phone you could do it in a round about-slight of hand kind of way by maybe having a friend who doesn't have a phone sign up for a new contract then you could give him/her the money to buy the phone under his contract. I'm just saying if you really wanted to do that but good luck getting your friend to sign up for the contract though. lol I didn't say it was gonna be easy. That's like walking into the lion's den with no way out. The disgusting thing is when you try to leave you have to buy your soul back by paying a early termination fee.

I've checked everywhere for this phone to find a better price and its just not there at all. Looks like I'll have to wait awhile or make a trade with someone. Until then I'll just wait. Watch and see if the Xperia Play lives up to its hype as Kevin Pereira and Chris Hardwick give its review.

Game Trailers - E3 2011 - Gadget Pr0n

Who Let The Cat Out The Bag

Cat Woman is running the streets as a playable character in Arkham City. She really reminds me of Michelle Pfeiffer's Cat Woman from Batman Returns. Michelle definitely played the part as does this one in Arkham City. She just effortlessy puts these goons to sleep with her acrobatics in this trailer. Looks like there's nothing she can't handle.  Watch the trailer just to see all that she can do. Then watch the interview with Rocksteady Studios's Marketing Game Manager, Dax Ginn as he talks about the inclusion of Cat Woman.