God of War Origins Review

Sony repurposes Kratos' PSP adventures. Praise Zeus.

Look up "dumb character" in the fictional dictionary, and you'll find a photo of Kratos. He screams everything he says, he disembowels everyone he meets, and he can't muster a smile to save his life. I find him about as deep as a puddle, and as an admitted "story whore," the fact that I enjoyed playing as the big idiot in God of War Origins surprised me.

Spoiler Alert: you don't need me to tell you God of War Origins rocks. A bundle of two PSP God of War games that each scored around the IGN 9.5 mark, Origins ports Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta into high definition, adds 3D, and slathers on PlayStation Network Trophies. Sony succeeded in making good games better.

In 2005, Kratos and PlayStation became synonymous. The original God of War introduced quicktime events, the Blades of Chaos, and insane finishing moves. Every iteration of the franchise pushed the limits a little bit further -- that includes these two titles. God of War: Chains of Olympus acts as a prequel to the original game,casting the protagonist as a servant to the Greek gods. Kratos deals with a Persian invasion and things go from bad to worse when the sun disappears. God of War: Ghost of Sparta fits in between God of War and God of War II. A vision invades Kratos' brain, and he sets off to find his brother

Spider-Man Edge of Time Video Game Preview

Spider-Man: Edge of Time follows the present-day Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 in their efforts to prevent a catastrophic event from taking place, the death of the Amazing Spider-Man. The story starts out in the future as Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2099) works at Alchemax. Walker Sloan, a rival scientist who works in the temporal physics lab, has decided to go back in time and remake Alchemax in his own image, decades before it was originally founded. He eliminates Stark Enterprises, Fujikawa and all other competitors. This creates a new, alternate timeline. In Miguel's attempt to stop Sloan, he becomes caught between the two timelines and the world changes around him. He's spit back out into the revised future as the only one outside of Walker Sloan with the knowledge that the timeline has been altered.

The game is written by Peter David. Walker Sloan is the first character he's created for the 2099 timeline in 15 years. According to Activision, there will be cameos of characters from both time lines, as well as other new characters created specifically for the game. Josh Keaton voices the Amazing Spider-Man and Christopher Daniel Barnes voices Spider-Man 2099 in Edge of Time.

The game starts in the "Amazing" timeline. O'Hara must contact Peter Parker, who us quite content and doesn't believe this isn't the life he should be living. The two form an adversarial relationship at the start when Miguel contacts Peter across time to tell him that everything he knows is wrong. According to Activision, as they work through the challenges of the game together, they eventually build a strong friendship.

Picture-in-picture is used to show the two Spider-Men communicating with each other. Instead of a classic level set up, the PiP is used to switch between the two time lines. Equal time is given to both Spider-Men in their time lines. Spider-Man 2099 will have to react to changes in environment. Pathways will open and enemies will appear and disappear as Amazing Spider-Man acts in his timeline.

The two Spider-Men share the same core combat system, with slight differentiation. Amazing Spider-Man is more acrobatic, with ranged web attacks. He has a new ability called, Hyper-Sense, which is a half offensive and half defensive move. It taps into Spider-Man's spider sense to auto-dodge and avoid obstacles. During the course of game play you can upgrade your Hyper-Sense and use it for longer periods of time.

Spider-Man 2099 has a slightly different combat style. Because he's faster and has talons, he engages in melee combat and uses swipe attacks. His signature move is called, "Accelerated Decoy". He has accelerated vision, which allows him to see the environment faster. You can use it to shoot decoy versions of yourself across the screen to either distract enemies or as a offensive move. The two characters have a shared move called, "Time Paradox" and it can be used to freeze enemies in time.

In continuing the level we discover Spider-Man's foe will be Anti-venom, who is being controlled by one of Walker Sloan's chips. If Parker does not fight him, the building will explode and kill people for blocks around. Miguel's attempts to convince Peter to avoid the upcoming fight fall on deaf ears. As you fight in the "Amazing" timeline, it can have an immediate effect on Miguel's time. An explosion coursing through present-day Alchemax destroys atomic regulators in the building. Those explosions cause radiation to leak in 2099 timeline, slowly killing Miguel. Spider-Man must race against time to stop Miguel's death from occurring.

In Anti-Venom boss fight, Eddie Brock attempts to fight against the influence of the control chip embedded in his brain. Walker Sloan sends more power through the chip to set off his more bestial side. During the course of the fight, hits from Anti-Venom drain Parker of his powers and he has to dig deep into his arsenal to take his foe down.

Do Violent Games Desensitise Children to Violence?

 Over recent years there have been many arguments proposed by those who are not in favour of computer games or video games, or have concerns about either the amount of time spent playing such games, or the nature of the images and scenes watched by those playing them. One of the common arguments put forward is that computer and video games , through the nature of violence and graphic horror, are desensitizing children to violence and horror in the real world. There argument is that by watching vivid and repeated images on the screen of violence, aggression, killing and other physical attacking, the children or young people playing the games will start to accept this level of violence, or way of interacting with those around you, and in the real world, be more likely to be aggressive, or produce an aggressive or violent response to a given stimuli.

 This argument, however popular it may be, is deeply flawed, and in truth holds no water at all. There have been many studies that have demonstrated that there has never been, and is not today, any measurable correlation between the amount of video gaming a person plays and any violent characteristics in the real world.

Wheeljack Revealed?

An unofficial Transformers Dark of the Moon Facebook page has posted the below picture that could prove that the alt mode of Wheeljack is the blue Mercedes-Benz E550. The pic on the left is a panel from the comic book adaptation. From the comments, the image on the right is about 45 seconds into the trailer when Optimus enters warehouse talking about the "grave mistake" being made. There isn't enough detail to verify if the head matches "Einstein." Thanks to DJ.Bigtyme Beats for the link.

New vanity pets in Patch 4.2 PTR

As was pointed out within our patch 4.2 patch notes article earlier this week, this patch is brightness on patch notes but heavy on data. It's steering to preserve dataminers busy for pretty some time, thinking about there are over 800 new objects on this earliest construct alone.

I'm ready to bet that equally the Hyjal Bear Cub as well as the Fire Lasher will possible be added benefits away from your new daily quests through the Regrowth and Molten Front. the identical possible applies toward new Trampoline product that arrived out through the patch 4.2 data.

Dragonwrath will possible be the guild reward for completing the brand new caster legendary, so the origin of that puppy isn't a secret at all.

The Feline Familiar's origin is currently an unknown, but I'm ready to think about a guess and say that it will possible be considered a element in the revamped Hallow's carry out event. We started to decide pieces of the brand new Hallow's carry out in patch 4.1, so it's not just a shock that people may see even more of it in patch 4.2. Update: A broomstick using the Feline common may be also through the datafiles, so possibly that's what will founded this snake apart away from your others?

Shinoda Talks More About DOTM Soundtrack

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda participated in a LPU Chat yesterday and answered a questions about the band's contribution to Transformers: Dark of the Moon Soundtrack with Iridescent. From TFW2005, thanks to Sahara for the link.

- The band will perform the sond during the Russian premiere of the movie. (Nope do not know when that is).
- Chords from Iridescent were transposed and used as part of the score, similiar to what was done in the previous two films. TFW thinks it is the sound hear from 2:05 to 2:43 in MTV's Behind the Scenes video.
- Song chosen because fans like it and Bay thought the song fit the movie plot.

Why I'm Not Into Going

"Genuinely loving games isn't even enough. You have to love the idea of loving games. You have to listen to music about games and tell jokes about games and dress like characters from games. You must completely obsess over games until you forget how to relate to people in any other way. It's kind of like being an Evangelical or, worse, a Boston sports fan."

-- Garrett Martin, 'Paste Goes To PAX East'

[Today's Good Song: Crystal Stilts, 'Shake The Shackles']

Transformers: Rising Storm #4 Preview

Another new comics Wednesday, another preview of a new Transformers comic, this time for Rising Storm #4 which servers as a prequel to Dark of the Moon. The covers and first seven pages of the issue can be found here.

TRANSFORMERS: Rising Storm #4 (of 4)
John Barber (w) • Carlos Magno (a) • Brian Rood (c)
Just as OPTIMUS PRIME stands ready to score a decisive victory against STARSCREAM's army of Decepticons, MEGATRON's plan becomes clear—and the Autobots are right where he wants them! This essential lead-in to TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON comes to a head, as new characters are introduced... and familiar faces meet their final fate!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Going Down

How to Play:

Move the penguin from platform to platform as he falls so that he doesn't get stuck on the spikes.
If the platform has arrows on it, it will make the penguin bigger or smaller. If it looks like a cloud, it will disappear.
If the penguin lands on top of an enemy, he will kill it. Otherwise, the enemy will kill him if it touches him.
Pick up gems for points and bags for power-ups.
Keep falling for as long as possible.





Warriors Orochi

Gameplay
New elements
The following are some new game play mechanics added exclusively to Warriors Orochi:
Players can take any three characters from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors lineup into battle, forming a party, as seen in Marvel vs Capcom. Players can switch between the characters in their party any time during battle. Those that are inactive are invisible, during which their health and Musou energy regenerate. If one character is defeated, the game ends in defeat, even if the player's other two characters are still intact.

All characters are grouped into one of the following character classes: Power, Technique and Speed. The first type hits hard and relatively (but not completely) slow; the second type demonstrates more "fancy" fighting moves with moderate strength and speed, and is able to perform a "counter-strike"; the third type usually attacks and moves faster than the previous two types, and is the only type that can double jump .

All characters have a new move called an Enhanced Strike. This move consumes Musou energy with all Power characters and sometimes with characters of other classes, and varies by character and their class.

All characters have specific personal items that can be acquired by completing character-specific objectives. This also unlocks special features. These replace the final weapons of previous games, which had similar requirements, but are only another more powerful weapon in the game.

Weapon improvements are performed with the new Weapon Fusion system. Players can combine attributes of multiple weapons of one character into one more powerful weapon.

Revised gameplay elements
The core game play combines elements from Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2. Many of these elements have been revised for Warriors Orochi.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warriors_Orochi

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The Bourne Conspiracy

Gameplay
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy mostly derives from the film version of The Bourne Identity. Although the game does not use the likeness of Matt Damon (who portrays Bourne in the films), due to creative differences with the actor; it does derive more closely from the film storyline than from the novels, and features musical themes from the films.

As in the movie, the player character begins as an amnesiac found off the coast of Marseille, but as the game progresses, the player is provided with more clues to Bourne's true identity.

Jason Bourne's senses are an important part of surviving the game, with noteworthy items or locations highlighted - when a switch to this sense is triggered, the visual style changes, with important elements much brighter. A third-person espionage action game, the player encounters armed and unarmed combat, the latter usually resolved through quick-time events, and driving sections, also often dependent on quick-time events.

There are three difficulty settings which the player can choose from when playing the single-player campaign: Trainee (easy mode), Agent (normal mode) and Assassin (hard mode).

The game also contains a boss battle feature, allowing the player to fight the boss without having to complete the entire level again, although some boss fights last entire levels. The game also contains a music player feature that allows the player to listen to music from the game. It includes an original score for the game written by Paul Oakenfold and performed by Cee-Lo Green.



















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bourne_Conspiracy

Transformers Trailer Comparison Images (Updated)

One of the interesting things about the release of the new trailer is a few scenes were "re-used" from the Super Bowl teaser TV spot. As a result, it provides a chance to compare how scenes have been tweaked over the last few months, often adding more elements into a scene and making some of the effects sharper. The four animated images below created by John illustrate that very well. In the first pictures a lot of tweaks but you will notice Transformers removed, moved and added. The second image adds and enhances building damage with spaceships, the third adds a missile and tweaks Prime's weapon discharge and the last shows the addition of an entire building, more craft and other tweaks.

In addition, Jeff from PixelRally, provided three images that show what areas of Chicago look like and how they have been fixed up for the film. In the first image color correction plus signs were added. The second image shows how a 5 or so lane road shrunk down to two with green spaced and in the third, well Shockwave is really all you need. After that, we have a look at 35 East Wacker Drive buildings the craft passes and the one with electric arcs that indicate a space bridge forming. The last three images show the 160 East Illinois Street lot for the pure CGI building that gets destroyed by the Decepticon worm (currently fans calling The Dweller) along with the neighboring building it crashes on that Jeff's friend happens to live in. For Chicagoans, it should be really interesting to see how much their city is transformed (pun intended) by the post-roduction process when the film comes out. The set of Jeff's comparison images can be found here. Thanks to John and Jeff for the images. Pics after the break. Read More »

Fleeting visit to the Lardies

I've spent much of last week touring the south visiting family, but I did get the chance to spend an hour with the my old mates at the St Albans Wargames Club, now better known as the Two Fat Lardies. It was so familiar, even though I'd been away for over twenty years. I stayed to the end of the briefings, and wished I could stay longer. "A kick in the Balerics" was the theme and more details can be seen over on Lard Island News

LA Times Bay Interview at Playa Vista

The LA Times has posted a "new" interview with Michael Bay as he discusses Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The reason for the quotes around new is the interview took place at the Los Angeles Playa Vista soundstage when production was doing the moon sequences among others shots. That would place the estimated time frame of the interview sometime in June 2010. Over all nothing specific is revealed, just a general overview of the franchise and Bay's desire to make Moon better than Revenge. Choice segments are below, the full article can be found here. Thanks to AiC Hokie for the link.

"The cast this time is terrific, you can't even compare it really, and that was important to me. We needed to take everything up a few levels and that starts with story and with acting," Bay said...

"I think the guy is great, I loved working with him," says [Patrick] Dempsey, one of the new imports meant to bring some acting chops to a franchise that had become far too fixated on special effects and a barrage of gags. "The scale of the movies he makes and the way his crew works for him and the things that they can accomplish, it's pretty awesome to see in action. And I think he believes this movie is going to be a great one."

Read More »

Super Mario Bros. - A History

Super Mario Bros, designed and published 1985 by Nintendo for its Nintendo Entertainment System.

The video game featured gameplay that forever changed the way video games were designed. Super Mario Bros was truly a path breaking creation and was the first in its genre to feature different smooth scrolling levels, something which had never been done by other game developers. For the first time in video game, the story was given more importance and the gameplay was woven around it. Mario was loosely based on Popeye-Olive-Bluto love triangle. Bluto became a giant Gorilla and then Popeye became Mario, climbing stairs and leaping over barrels to rescue his "lady".

In its first edition, Mario the Italian plumber, must fight his arch enemy the the evil Bowser, who is the king of the Koopas and save the love of life Princess Toadstool. Luigi, Mario's fearless brother aids him in his quest in the two player mode. Mario and/or Luigi have to beat Bowser's minions and take control of the eight worlds (or levels) which comprise the Mushroom kingdom. If Mario is able to go through all the seven levels, he will be able to rescue Princess Mushroom in the eighth level.

Super Mario Bros is universally hailed as the largest selling video game to have ever been developed till date. It was in fact instrumental in making Nintendo Entertainment System such a huge success and also ended the slump in sales of video games in the United States.

Gaming Desktop

When you're thinking about gaming desktop, you're not just thinking about awesome gaming rigs capable of displaying the most realistic visuals out there, but a machine built with every specification to suit demanding applications. Gaming PCs are configured to run the best modern games today, but they can also be used to work in high-end applications which demand a lot of hardware power to run properly. You can use a gaming desktop for a whole array of tasks, ranging from video / audio editing, graphic design, 3D design or any other application which demands a lot from your system's hardware. With this in mind, think about all the benefits you can get from owning such a machine: not only can you game hard, with stunning visuals; you can also work a lot better since it will cut up loading times and improve your work-flow quite a bit.

Usually, such a desktop will incorporate a high-end CPU, with more than one built-in core. These are great for gaming, and are also great for multitasking when your job requires it. Since most applications rely heavily on the amount of information that can be processed, having a powerful processor by your side will improve the way you work by cutting the necessary time needed to get the job done by a decent percent.

You'll be able to run most applications with a quad-core without having to suffer from system halts or choppy operation.

Possible Trailer Description

It seems that working at a theatre just might havea few benefits as ElectricPrada09 provides a description of the first theatrical trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon . While there have been fake descriptions before, this one has the benefit of being proven true or false in trust a few days when the trailer premieres online at 7PM EST on Thursday. I altered the spacing some just cause.Read More »

Dungeon Fighter Online

Dungeon Fighter Online is an MMORPG arcade-style PC game developed by Neople in Korea. In South Korea, it is released as Dungeon & Fighter and in Japan, as Arad Senki. Dungeon Fighter Online is extremely popular in Asia because of the PvP aspect of the game. Dungeon Fighter Online PvP Leagues have been televised in Korea and is still being televised. It was also featured in World Cyber Games 2009. Although there are various versions of Dungeon Fighter Online, in this article, we'll be focusing on Dungeon Fighter Online published by Nexon in North America.

Dungeon Fighter Online has six different classes and each of those classes has 4 subclasses each (except for Priests, which has 3 subclasses). The six classes are: Slayer, Fighter, Male Gunner, Female Gunner, Mage, and Priest. Not gonna go into too much detail so I'll just give a brief introduction to each of the classes. Slayers are melee attackers that usually use swords. They are very balanced class overall since they have good attack damage, defense, and speed. They have a lot of intricate combos that they can perform very easily. Fighters are very close-range melee attackers. They use short-ranged weapons like tonfas, boxing gloves, gauntlets, etc. Although they lack range in their attacks, they compensate that with their extremely high attack damage.

The House Of Vidya

I would like to give a shout out to a great friend of mines video game stream

 House Of Vidya!

Its a great site, one I have spent more then my fair share of time watching instead of playing a game myself. Give it a look. Its worth it =]

German armour

Here are more acquisitions from the Crewe show, they were all assembled at £1 each, but there was an amount of rework needed to make them presentable, including removing excess adhesive.


From L to R;

• Fujimi Jagdtiger in ambush camouflage, not sure I'll do any more like this, but as a one off it's fine
• Eidai Sdkfz 7 with quad flak, something I'd been looking for for many years
• Matchbox Panther, done up to match my others marked up as part of the 2nd battalion HQ.

More DOTM Toy Galleries and Reviews

Another "linkfest" for Transformers: Dark of the Moon toys and related merchandise. This edition is heavy on toy images and bios which sadly reveal little about the movie but do have two new video reviews including one for leader class Ironhide. Most of the toys are expected to hit shevles on May 16th.

2000 Pound Bumblebee Cake
Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey created a massive cake for a General Motors display at the Javits Center. The cake will be featured on TLC's "Cake Boss" program on June 20th. The cake has the Bumblebee astride his Camaro alt mode. The 2000 pound creation is made of vanilla pound cake with butter-cream frosting and Rice Krispies treats to "bind the cake at critical flex points." (via AllSpark)

DOTM Mobile Game Coming (5x)
Electronic Arts is working on a mobile game around Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The leaked screenshots (at link) show a game that seems to be part side scroller with a bit of overhead "Spyhunter" type play style. On description says "“While Megatron is hiding after the disgraceful defeat, Decepticons Shockwave, the ruler of Cybertron, is preparing to visit the planet with absolutely no good intentions. The game takes place not only on Earth, but the dynamics Moon, a dark side which holds no less dark secrets." There is no indication on price or release date. Thanks to Sahara for the link.Read More »