Thank God, It's Here!

This morning was close losing nerves with having a day off and waiting for the new GTA. I was frustrated and near the worst case scenario of having it not here on launch day but in the end all went good with my favorite DHL man coming at 12:10 am. Here I have a few impressions for you.

The first pic shows gives you an image of my picknique in Liberty City today and tommorrow. The second shows the manual, three and four the map and the last is the 1 month free XBL subscription you get with the game.

Sacred Blind Guardian Trailer

How good does fantasy power metal work in fantasy Hack'n'slay games? Watch this trailer of 'Sacred 2' underlined with the sound of the Blind Guardian for your own opinion. We here in Germany call them 'blinde Gardine' which makes no sense but causes good laughs.

Another Sandbox. With Mutants.

A new trailer and a gameplay montage. There are lots of sandboxes these days. Makes me wonder how good this will be.

Star Wars Retroperspective Part 4

Part 4 of 10: May the Force be with gamers.
Star Wars related hint! Check out this cool page.

Spoil Yourself Even Further

Some fresh ingame material. No lame screener movies from Youtube. This time it's superior Gametrailers. I won't watch 'em. Not now. I want to see the amazement on my own TV.

GT Gives 9.8, 1UP Gives A+

The ratings for this game are incredibly high and everyone asks himself if this can possibly be true. So here's the long awaited GT review:



And the don't forget the 1Up review! It has a video as well, which is sadly difficulty to embed.
An interesting quote from 1Up concerning the multiplayer:

During our marathon multiplayer test session, the developers shared one of their favorite custom games (they call it "King Kong") in the make-your-own-rules Free Mode. Here, a few rocket-launcher-packing daredevils perch themselves on Rotterdam Tower (Liberty City's version of the Empire State Building) while the rest hop into choppers and try to blast them off the building. It's just one example of the limitless game types inventive players can whip up in Free Mode -- once they get over the initial, human-nature impulse to start blasting as soon as the game starts with all 16 players in a circle. But long before they resort to any DIY game design, players have plenty to keep them busy in the other modes. Even the expected deathmatch, Team DM, and race variants have that anything-can-happen GTA vibe. The objective-based Mafiya Work, Car Jack City, and Turf War modes demand teamwork and come across like an urban Battlefield 1942, with players in four-seat helicopters and cars adopting de-facto roles like navigator (continuously adjusting the GPS designator to follow objectives) or door gunner.

And if you still don't believe that this game is 'good' here is how other sources think of it:

Gamespy: 100%
eurogamer: 10/10
Empire: 5/5
Eurogamer: 10/10
GameInformer: 10/10
GameSpy: 5/5
GamesRadar (360): 10/10
GamesRadar (PS3): 10/10
IGN UK: 10/10
IGN US: 10/10
LEVEL: 10/10
OPM UK: 10/10
OPM US: 5/5
OXM UK: 10/10
PSM3 France: 20/20
PSW: 10/10
TeamXbox: 10/10
EGM: A+, A+, A
GameTrailers: 9.8/10
Xbox World 360: 98%
CVG: 9.5/10
OXM US: 9.5/10

Shit In The Sand - ROFL 2008

America has only one chance to win Vietnak - famous rapper 50 Cent. No one knows what he wants there but he certainly lets things explode. Perhaps he is able to find Osama?
Go for it, fitty!

WATCH THE UNBELIEVABLE COOL VIDEO ON IGN

World In Conflict: The Red Bear

Fear the Russian Army, they have flying tanks!
Real nice trailer that makes you want to own a game. I am not in to RTS but this one is promising.

Mario Kart Wii GT Review

Here's the GT review for the new Mario Kart. When I had my evening with Brawl I was also able to play this game. I found that it was nearly the same as the GC version and the Wiimote/Wiiwheel handling very annoying. Better play it with Nunchuck. To be honest, I'm not the great Wii gamer or Nintendo gamer in general, but my personal fav of the series is the SNES Mario Kart.

GT Reviews Wii Okami

So, here you go with Okami and what GT thinks it is. Like 1Up they give it a high rating and I really wonder why there is no 360 port. I mean Bully did it to Wii and 360 and I would've liked to see the same with Okami. Sooner or later I have to buy it for Wii.

In The End It's All About 2007

It was simply the best year in gaming with Mass Effect and Bioshock. And a few other games. GT thinks so as well:

IGN Gives GTA IV 10/10

Damn, the net is hot this evening and I have to show you these cause a true gamer blog needs to have these info. Speaking for myself I will ignore these now cause I don't want to be spoiled further. I give you one word to the wise: MY GTA IV IS ON THE WAY!

IGN Review: 10/10 (this is incredible for IGN)

GTA IV IGN VIDEO REVIEW

Introducing Niko Trailer:

Dead Space Animated Comic 1

Damn, this is a real nice way to find into the story. It really reminds me of the early Alien movies. The plot is interesting and creepy, I like it!
Sadly this one is only available in SD. Enjoy anyway!

AVGN: Super Mario Bros 3

OMG, the nerd plays a good game? What the FUCK!? Find out for yourself what it is all about:

Interview With Sam Houser

One of my favorite videogame pages, 1Up, did an interview with Sam Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar Games and the man behind GTA IV. I have to say I like that he does his thing (which becomes our thing when playing the games) and has no fear in hurting non gamer's picture of the world and it's conventions:

1UP: When you think of what Rockstar has been through lately, it's like there are two ways you can go. You can play it supersafe, or you can push it. The American media can take one thing, like the drunk-driving minigame, and make it a bullet point for the news.

SH: Our games are consciously made for adults -- it's why we started the company.... [From 17 years old] and up, I think we have a right to play what we want to play. And that's that. And as long as it's not touching on themes that are socially inappropriate -- and some films do it, and I think games should be allowed to do it, but let's be respectful -- as long as you're not doing that, what's the f***ing problem? Adults should be able to play what they want. America, the country I'm now a citizen of and love, is built on that premise....

I think the problem that games have got is that they're called "games," and that makes people think of 8-year-olds and Mario.... I've been a fan of Mario games as long as I've been playing games. My hat goes off to [Nintendo] -- we learned so much from those people -- but it obviously skews younger.... We're doing our thing. But I think for politicians, for lawyers, and for parasites, you go "game" and you go "killing" and you go "children," and it's too easy. It's a nice way to get half a page in the paper.... When you look at how much work goes into making this stuff, and how much passion and creativity and ambition is behind it, to boil it all down to that is really, really depressing. One of the things that I've struggled with during Hot Coffee is [that] San Andreas is a game that I think is absolutely wicked, top to bottom -- a seminal piece of work -- that's now going to be remembered for Hot Coffee. I think actually we're getting past that now, just about two or three years later, but that stuff really upset me, because it boiled it all down to a bunch of salacious, cheesy muck. We're just not about that. We're not going out to court controversy from anybody. We're looking to make stuff that inspires us, turns us on as young people that are involved in this incredibly powerful, incredibly exciting, incredibly no-rules medium where we sit and go, "What should we make? Let's make this! Let's make that!" All this wonderful energy.

Click here to read the full interview and don't miss this interview about the game's engine as well!

Also I have here the German Trailer. Der deutsche Trailer, Leute:

Mortal Kombat Vs DC

Scorpion versus Batman or Sub Zero battling Superman. This new crossover beat'em up game makes the worlds of 'Mortal Kombat' and DC Comics collide. It's propably not a good thing because it won't have the same level of brutality that you would expect of a MK game. Let's be honest, the extreme brutality was the only cause that ever justified playing 'Mortal Kombat'. Well, for myself, I better play 'Street Fighter', 'Dead or Alive' or 'Soul Calibur'.

The New Tales Theme

It's the same theme song in the Asian and the US version. No big news, but every pic of this game makes me wanna play it more. Looks just too nice. Reminds me of 'Eternal Sonata' which I should play... Arrghh, just too many games out there!



Here the full song:

Mark Rein About UT3

Nothing you don't know. Just in case: 360 has splitscreen, PS3 mods.
More interesting are rumors about some 'Gears of War' related content for the 360 version of 'Unreal Tournament 3'. Rumor one says that there will be GoW character models and rumor two says that with UT3 comes an invitation to take part in the 'Gears of War 2' multiplayer beta. As Crackdown did with Halo 3. Another way to boost sales.

Team Fortress 2: The Scout

Anyone still playing 'The Orange Box'? Then you might know the scout, a character of 'Team Fortress 2'. Now he has his own trailer. To be honest, I would have liked to see some new maps way more.

Gamble, Race, Party, Fight

This seems to be more than a GTA clone. An open world game in Las Vegas. Quite nice, as these videos prove. It has something original.

An Evening With Brawl

A few days ago I met with some friends and we had a brawl. Of course I am talking about 'Super Smash Brothers Brawl' for Wii. I was not good in this game and found it very hectic and stressful. But it sure makes good fun when you had a few beers.

The setup on which we played was also very cool! A wii coupled with a beamer and a large screen. It gave you this cinematic feeling.

Fragdolls R6V2 Marathon

'Fragdolls ' is a all girls gamer clan (all Ubisoft as well) and here is how they do a 24h LAN with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. I have to say that I like their British accent. Cute!



This is also cool! A Fragdoll playing 'Still Alive' on 'Jam Sessions' for DS.

Dark Messiah 360 Review

I just saw the GT Review of 'Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements'. I played 'Dark Messiah' for PC and loved it for it's sword slashing fast paced action with RPG elements. When it came to 360 I downloaded the demo of the marketplace and was very disappointed. This piece of shit had nothing to do with the game I played months before. Everything that was awesome turned out to be shit in the port. And just this verifies the GT Review with 5.8 of 10.



Just for the joy of comparison the PC review which is a cut above. /irony

UT3 Splitscreen Gameplay

Here is some nice footage from the upcoming exclusive splitscreen mode of 'Unreal Tournament III' for 360. It's not clear if this will be online as well but in an interview IGN did at the New York Comic Convention 2008
with Dr. Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, he said that it splitscreen is aimed for online as well. The interview is interesting cause it's even about how he sees GTA IV, the Wii and has a few details about the upcoming 'Gears of War' comic.

Also have a look on the CTF trailer which is awesome.

Unreal Shit: 360 Gets Exclusive Content

The 360 will get Unreal Tournament 3 in summer, hey that's great. Besides that most people lost their faith already, it will also contain some exclusive thingies:

The Xbox 360 release will contain five new exclusive maps those other platforms didn't get, two new characters and will include two player splitscreen action.

Splitscreen is nice, but still i have to say that the user creation abilties won't make it to 360 is just fucked up. And this whole (excluding splitscreen) exclusive on 360 stuff is just a poor excuse for the delayment. I think I will stick to the PC with this one.

GTA IV Gone Gold Fuck You Delay

Boys, it's gone gold and now we have it black on white that Pachter just guessed wrong about the delay of GTA IV cause of EA's overtaking Take Two ambitions. Thank God!

Rest assured, GTA IV will be in stores on April 29, as Take-Two CEO Ben Feder revealed it's "in production and in trucks en route to retailers."

Source

Also I give you the hint that this nice Liberty City Radio Widget on the left side of my page has two new radio stations. 'Electro Chock' which is for techno and 'Liberty City Hardcore' which is for rock and metal. Hell yeah!

GTA IV Installations

Clear words are out on the installation procedure. The PS3 version of 'GTA IV' needs a 5 minute instal while the 360 version gives gamers an optional instal. This makes the game run a little bit better.
Also word is out that Microsoft advertises it's 'GTA IV' as much as it did with system seller 'Halo 3'. I witnessed the "GTA IV on 360 has exclusive episodes" ad on Gametrailers and 1Up.
And I found this UK commercial clip:

Yoda And Vader In Action

Today I found this short video of Yoda and Vader in 'Soul Calibur 4'. It's the first time we see real gameplay of both. Good thing is that there seems to be a Death Star stage.

1Up Reviews Wii Okami

1Up gave an A for the Wii Okami, saying that it is still awesome but the controls are sometimes too sensitive. Besides from the new WiiMote handling it's a simple port without any new content.
I personally have never played Okami, but always wanted to. This review doesn't makes the need weaker. Damn, so many good games, so less time.

Okami doesn't age -- it matures. Steeped in Japanese mythology, with a story bursting with themes of life, love, and companionship (gaming-industry rarities, if ever there were), it's one of the most remarkable journeys I've taken from my couch. As wolf-goddess Amaterasu and her tiny companion Issun protect villages from evil and strive to save ancient Japan from demons (and boy, does that description undersell a colossal, wonderfully told story), the clever and mature narrative constantly blows you away. Though children can definitely play it -- and should, as it provides far more cohesive, interesting storytelling than the typical Nintendo ridiculousness of Mario and Smash Bros. -- Okami's expansive tale is developed enough for adult appeal. The enormous 30-40 hour tale leaves plenty of time to introduce, explore, and develop a host of great characters; the way that Issun's role evolves from that of annoying sidekick to beloved partner is a great example of the writing quality and character design. It's regularly hilarious, crushingly sad at times...and uplifting when it needs to be.

Star Wars Retroperspective Part 3

The third part of GT's ten part Star Wars Retroperspective is out. This time it's all about the prequel trilogy from Episode 1 to 3.

GTA IV: OXM Review Part 1

Again Personal Gaming has the finest stuff gamers are looking for. The first Review of Rockstar's money machine 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is available. The Official Xbox Magazine, known as OXM did a 9 pages review and came to the conclusion that GTA IV deserves 10 out of 10. I found for you a HD scan of this article.
This is a double post. To find part 2 just look left in the archive or click on the label 'GTA' under this post. Enjoy!

GTA IV: OXM Review Part 2

GTA: Remember The Past

Time goes by fast, but a decade is a long time for videogames. This can be seen with the 'Grand Theft Auto' series especially. The series started in 1997 on PC/ DOS and Playstation 1. Now we have 2008 and technique has improved in a never imaginable way. Today is the era of Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 with GTA IV to be released in a few days. See the evolution of 'Grand Theft Auto'!

'Grand Theft Auto' Dos/Windows/Playstation 1 1997



'Grand Theft Auto London' Dos/Windows/Playstation 1 1999





'Grand Theft Auto 2' Windows/Playstation 1/Dreamcast 1999





'Grand Theft Auto 3' Playstation 2/Windows/ Xbox 2001






'Grand Theft Auto Vice City' Playstation 2/Windows/Xbox 2002





'Grand Theft Auto San Andreas' Playstation 2/Windows/Xbox 2004





'Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories' PSP/Playstation 2 2005





'Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories' PSP/Playstation 2 2006

Resident Evil 5 Dev Doc

According to this documentary Capcom is doing good progress with Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5.

Resistance 2 Debut Teaser

Wow, this really looks impressive. I have to play the first one when I have bought my PS3 + Metal Gear Solid 4 +Dual Shock Bundle for 399 €.

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People

This is really original. It seems to base on an animated series. Well, I don't know it, but this trailer is funny.

Liquors, Guns & Fun

There are two new mini videos released. One introduces the Liberty City Gun Club and the second is about Playboy X, who you know from several previous trailers.