Home // 2008 // July

Review: Haze (PS3)

Free Radical is an interesting developer for two reasons. The first point of interest is that the company was founded by several former employees of Rare. Back on the Nintendo 64, Rare redefined the first person shooter with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Free Radical went on to create their own first person shooter series called Time Splitters, which was praised for its fast paced multiplayer action. Free Radical also created Second Sight, a fantastic game which combined the stealth genre with psychic powers.

The other interesting thing about Free Radical is you could always tell their games apart by their signature art style with subtly caricatured characters. Free Radical has now made their foray into the next generation of consoles with Haze – another first person shooter. While Haze unfortunately lacks Free Radicals iconic art style, it still has ties to Second Sight for having a story filled with conspiracies, corruption and corporations.

Punisher: War Zone trailer

July 29, 2008 Liam Reply

The trailer for the brand new movie Punisher: War Zone is out and this time they go all out and won’t be settling for anything less then R18+. The film stars former Roman centurion Ray Stevenson as an older scarier looking Punisher who closer resembles the comic book character.

Source: IGN | Superhero Hype

Review: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (NDS)

July 27, 2008 Jordan Reply

Developer – Team Ninja

Publisher – Tecmo

Available On – Nintendo DS

The Ninja Gaiden games have some diverse roots. To date, our black clad Dragon Ninja Ryu Hayabusa originated on the arcade and has appeared on the NES, SNES, Master System, Game Gear and lots more and now Dragon Sword – our DS title. Read more [+]

Penny Arcade Adventuring on Playstation 3

July 27, 2008 Jordan Reply

Just a quick note, the first installment of the new Penny Arcade Adventures series has been announced as heading for Sony’s Playstation 3.

I reviewed this game recently and quite enjoyed it, while waiting for the next installment this is something PS3 owners may want to check out.

ABC Q & A – Violence, Video Games, and Joaby

July 27, 2008 Jordan 8 comments

Recently a personal friend Joab Gilroy from GameArena appeared on the ABC program “Q & A”, discussing the R rating issue in Australia.

Got an opinion? Let us know below!

Movie Poster Update 24/07/2008

July 24, 2008 Liam 1 comment

Review: Battle Of The Bands (Wii)

July 19, 2008 Jordan 1 comment

Developer - Planet Moon Studios
Publisher – THQ
Available On - Wii

It’s hard to discuss a game like Battle Of The Bands (BOTB) and not compare it to the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, the market dominators in music games both now also available on the Wii. Though after a brief session with BOTB one realises such comparisons are inappropriate, BOTB does not attempt to emulate any form of real life instrument and instead employs a very light hearted approach to some simplistic arcade command timing against re-mixed versions of popular licensed music. Read more [+]

E3 2008 – Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

July 16, 2008 Jordan 1 comment

Next of interest on the E3 2008 line up is Rockstar’s announcement for the Nintendo DS – Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars (GTA CW).

After the mild success of GTA Advance, and the obvious triumph of the latest Grand Theft Auto IV, GTA CW is another welcome addition to the handheld library of GTA games.

Rockstar Leeds is on development – the smaller development company owned by Rockstar Games who focus on portable titles and other outliers such as Table Tennis for Wii. The PSP GTA games have been very competent and impressive so far with minor frame rate issues the only significant hindrance in porting the intense GTA experience to a technically inferior console. Read more [+]

E3 2008 – Final Fantasy 360

July 15, 2008 Jordan Reply

With the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) underway yet again at the Los Angeles Convention Center the usual flurry of news and goss is coming at us left right and center.

I can’t begin to contain the buzz around the industries biggest (yet now significantly smaller) gaming convention, with key notes already held by the big three, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

One of the first and biggest announcements to surface from the event is Microsoft’s unveiling of Final Fantasy XII for XBOX 360. This is big news for those with the green glow, as past Final Fantasy titles are renown for Sony exclusivity (despite the odd port or spin-off) opening up a huge audience for the partnership between Square-Enix and Microsoft.

(Hit more for info and a trailer)

Mega Man 9

July 11, 2008 Jordan 3 comments

Recently an interesting title popped up in Australia’s OFLC listing, known as “Mega Man 9″. Many speculations arose to a new installment in the Mega Man (Rockman in Japan) series, a name well known for mass abuse and excessive exposure throughout the years buy the productive yet cash-hungry CAPCOM. It’s also been many years since a significant installment in the Mega Man series, the last few years hosting releases of many spin-off and alternate titles with as many random letters and numbers as you can chuck in a title.

Well, speculations have ceased and fan boys have perked, as CAPCOM have unleashed an amazing trailer for the new yet old-school Mega Man 9. While Mega Man 9 is indeed an entirely new 2008 adventure, it’s sure not going to look it. Returning to the original model of Mega Man, this 9th installment will look, sound, and feel entirely like an original NES title of old.

An ambitious and damn worthy move by CAPCOM in my opinion. What better way to stick it to the current generation of fancy-pants gamers with their high res textures than with an old school Mega Man?

I hope this pays off big time for CAPCOM, as I’d love to see more classic series like this remade in their faithful traditional style.

Scheduled for release later this year, Mega Man 9 will be coming to XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii all via their respective online distribution services. Shouldn’t cost too much either.

Space Meat