Still Alive is Up and Early!!!

This was announced earlier today for to be released tomorrow, but apparently someone pulled the trigger to put it early on both XBL Marketplace and the Rock Band store.  Still Alive, the end song from Portal, is up and it is what u expect from a free song which is easy and simple on guitar (Expert). Maybe drums are a different story from what I read, but Portal fans should download this in a heartbeat. Kind of cool that this is the first free song for Rock Band considering a handful of free songs in Guitar Hero III. Here's already a video of someone FCing it (the first video I found).

Clip of the Day (3/31/08) = Jabbawockeez!!!

If u became a Jabbawockeez fan like me after watching MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Here's a nice set of all their dances in one 10 minute YouTube clip. They were also on Regis & Kelly earlier today doing an alternate version of the 2nd to last dance on this Tube clip. Enjoy or not.... I feel like buying some Jabba merchandise now like a mask and a shirt. (Note - this clip does not include the mashing performances with the Final 4, the West Coast only performance, and the faceoff with Status Quo).

Time to Drill some Blocks.....

The next two weeks for Xbox Live Arcade are going to be good. First off on Wednesday is Mr. Driller Online (Screenshot above and trailer below). Honestly, I never played a Mr. Driller game before so this will be all new to me. This game is 800 MS Points with online play (hence the online on the title) for the first time in the series and classic Driller as the fans know and love. After some lackluster games in the month of March, XBLA is stepping back up with Ikaruga supposedly next week (for 800 MS Points as well), even though Microsoft claims they are limiting themselves on the "faithful arcade ports" and some backlash was the result (They actually rejected some of Cave's hardcore 2D shumps on the service like Don Donpachi, whatever it is called). Hopefully, a review of Mr. Driller Online will happen this weekend after playing the crap of it. Speaking of reviews, I haven't gotten around towards redoing my Smash Bros. Brawl review, oh well. Maybe I should waste 10 bucks on Cruisin' USA on the Wii Virtual Console (refer to that blog post for more).

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!!!!

I'm 21 today = Yay for me!!!

Okay, I'm going to sleep now.

Wrestlemania 24 Recap (From what I read)

Wrestlemania 24 already ended (Repeats are now on). I didn't watch it due to other plans I had, but I read the results and forum feedback from NeoGAF, Tekken Zaibatsu, and Shoryuken. Here's the rundown and my short thoughts about the matches (Spoilers ahead for some).

JBL defeated Finlay in Belfast Brawl.

- Didn't really care about this match that much and good thing it opened up the show.

CM Punk wins Money in the Bank against Chris Jericho, Ken Kennedy, MVP, Carlito, John Morrison, and the returning Matt Hardy.

- The screenshot I have above why WM 24 seems worth it maybe. I like CM Punk, and I hope he uses it on RAW or Smackdown instead of ECW. He needs to get out of that shell there. From what I read, probably not the greatest MitB match, but had enough spots to stay true to the match's purpose.

Batista defeated Umaga.

- This match had some botches, so expect some of that on the next Botchmania, one of my favorite series of YouTube videos. Looks like Umaga is heading to Smackdown in the coming weeks, so this feud might continue there.

Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to become the new ECW champion.

- This match lasted like 6 seconds with Kane from behind chokeslamming Chavo, but about damn time for Kane to have a world title reign even though it is the ECW title. I kind of agree about how the ECW title is like a waste for WWE which is probably this match didn't last that long.

Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair.

- Arguably the match of the night and a lot of emotions at its peak, since this is Ric's last match ever. The emotions between the two of them were great with Shawn saying sorry to Ric and loves him as he gives him a 3rd Sweet Chin Music. Flair cries after the match and the crowd chanting thank you Ric as he walks to the back. Truly the best moment of the whole night with all the emotion and passion of a good match.

Beth Phoenix & Melina defeated Maria & Ashley in Bunnymania.

- This match is a huge waste in my opinion, but WWE had to filled the void with Maria's cover for Playboy. Also kind of a disgrace of this match being after HBK and Flair's, but Snoop Dogg and Santino probably saved this segment from becoming much worse with Snoop knocking out Santino at the end.

Randy Orton defeated Triple H & John Cena to retain the WWE Championship.

- No one saw this coming with Orton winning and this match not being last, but it happened. Such a great heel finish as well with HHH Pedigreeing Cena and Orton breaking the cover with his concussion kick and then pinning Cena to retain. Everyone expected HHH or Cena to win, but Orton keeping the title after Mania shocked many. I expect a rematch for the Backlash PPV with a possible title change there.

Floyd Mayweather defeated The Big Show

- The big match that the mainstream media paid attention wasn't that bad as people thought it would be. Good thing Mayweather took some bumps and Show destroying his posse, but a brass kunckle shot made Floyd win it.

Undertaker defeated Edge to become new World Champ (also 16-0 at Mania)

- A different finish this time around with Edge submitting to Taker's Triangle Choke hold after kicking out of Chokeslams, Last Ride, and even the Tombstone. Good thing Taker keeps the streak for another year and truly deserves another title run before he retires.

Overall, Wrestlemania 24 seems decent, some moments that the fans wanted to happen came true, Kane won a World Title, CM Punk winning MitB (Y2J was the favorite), HBK and Flair being match of the night, Orton shocking the wrestling world, and Taker's streak continuing. Now I'm hyped somewhat for TNA's Lockdown PPV next month (the steel-cage only PPV) with some good matches already announced.

Super Mario Fusion - A nice fan game with twists

Last year, I played an awesome fan game, which was Streets of Rage Remake, which was basically all 3 Streets of Rage games combined to one super SoR game, and it was actually pretty good and faithful to the legacy of that Genesis series. A Sonic fan game was in the works, Sonic XG, but I don't know what happened to it or whether it was finished or not. Fast forward to this year and I happened to touch upon a Mario fan game that is pretty cool and maybe something that could be amazing. It is called Super Mario Fusion, made by YouTube user JudgeSpear2, and it is a Mario style fan game, but Mario travels to various spots of gaming history other than the Mushroom Kingdom. You may freak out when a Halo level, Mega Man level, Doom level, and a Tetris level is in a fan-made Mario game, but it is pretty cool how it is faithful to both Mario games and the some of the other games I mentioned. New power-ups like the Megaman Mario and Spartan Mario make the game worthwhile along with weapons, bosses, and challenging levels. The game is currently in beta phases, but when it is done, it can be truly special. I tried to run the game at its current beta, but it seems slow to me. Here's a video showcasing the game at its current phase. Check the other videos on the channel for more craziness.

Cruise the USA in 2008?? - Maybe not....

So Cruisin' USA is coming out on the Wii Virtual Console Monday (the N64 version). I actually played this game to death as well as Cruisin' World on the arcade and N64 because I was young at the time didn't know better. The first two Cruisin' games weren't that bad at the time and they could be fun racing games with my age of the time. Cruisin' USA was a good old-fashioned arcade racing game of Point A to Point B against 7 other racers at various locations of the United States within a time limit with checkpoints to increase time. Now these days, it is likely not worth it pay 10 bucks for this game on Virtual Console, but if you're very nostalgic for 90's arcade racing games, then go for it especially this N64 port seems pretty bad compared to the arcade version (YouTube comparison videos ahead - Arcade is above, N64 is below, thanks to users eVoluci0n and Eric4372). Its okay if they're not the same track, you'll get the idea.

Clip of the Day (3/28/08) = Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Thanks again to Gamevideos for putting up this trailer even though it was up on GameSpot last night, today's clip of the day since all the other major gaming sites will get it later today likely is the first trailer for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I still think this should have been a download of sorts instead of a brand new retail disc (like 30 bucks pending on XBL Marketplace and PSN while Wii and PS2 owners get the disc). Then again, people are going to buy anything Guitar Hero these days like me especially that weird DS version, On Tour (I don't have a DS anymore). It will probably be worth it for some Aerosmith songs and some other tacked on songs from other artists, but like most songs that have been out as GHIII DLC, its way better on Rock Band.

Okay No Riot Tonight.... + Smackdown vs. RAW 09 announced

This looks like a new trend for Wrestlemania weekend announcing this year's entry for their games. Smackdown vs. RAW 2009 is official as expected and the focus this time is tag teams with momentum meters combined for a team, hot tags, and more double team moves. The story mode, aka Road to Wrestlemania, can be done also co-op along with single player, which is cool. Some other new features like Create-A-Finisher and upcoming DLC for updated rosters makes this year's Smackdown worthwhile. If u want to read more about this one, IGN has the exclusive preview with the first trailer and a long / good interview that is a good read if u liked the recent Smackdown games. Honestly, the last WWE game I bought was Here Comes the Pain back in 2003 and I always like maybe this is the time to buy them again, but I don't. I rather buy TNA's video game instead, TNA Impact!, since I'm getting to be more of a TNA fan than WWE now even though TNA has its own problems of being a good wrestling promotion. In addition, Impact is currently looking way better than this one graphically currently. Let's see if THQ and Yuke's can step it up with the graphics, but the amount of content in this year's game is good enough to please fans.

Lastly, looks like no riot tonight with Jabbawockeez winning America's Best Dance Crew = Yay!!! I guess America voted right after all. Since it is spoiled already before the West Coast viewing, I'm still watching the finale tonight anyway. Hopefully Season 2 is bigger and better, but it will be hard to top this first season with Jabba and Kaba Modern blowing away the competition.

Everyone's A Rat..... (Last GTA IV Trailer)

After killing some time playing Tekken 6 again getting my ass whooped (still fun times), I got home and I watch this trailer below... (Thanks to GameVideos again)

The final GTA IV Trailer has arrived and this month wait couldn't get any longer. Rockstar is going out of a bang on this one being the best trailer out of the 4 official ones released. There is some serious stuff in there, and likely will be my game of the year. The game looks good for its graphical style and I'm willing to pony up for the limited edition, which is already pre-ordered. All the multiplayer details have been pretty awesome, which makes the package feel even more complete besides the single-player craziness. April 29 is going to be a good day indeed.

If Status Quo wins, We Riot!!!!

Hey, a blog about a TV show...

So the season finale of America's Best Dance Crew is tonight and hopefully the right crew wins, you know the JabbaWockeez. Last night, supposedly there was 30 million votes already before the big show and it could be all a lie if Status Quo, the crew that just do flips to me, wins meaning it is rigged and America doesn't know what true dancing skill is. Word from the streets seems it is true, but we can all wait till tonight to see if MTV did the right thing choosing the most deserving crew to win. Here's a reminder why they should and better win.

50 Cent says hello to games again.....

Let's get this out of the way first: The background surrounding naming myself G Unit Ver1 is not because of I'm a fan of 50 and his crew, rather than being called G so many times, I just added in the Unit since it kind of made sense at the time. Then the Ver1 kicked in because I liked WWE's Matt Hardy's heel (Mattitude) gimmick with Version 1 on the end and giving facts about himself as he enters the ring. He should bring that back someday, but enough with that.

Since 50 Cent Bulletproof sold enough copies to be a "greatest hit" for the PS2, I guess Vivendi decides to try again for another game titled 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. MTV News has the official exclusive story and details on this one, but already we know it is probably going to suck like Bulletproof did horribly even though it sold a lot of copies by likely the name itself. According to the story and the first screenshots, it has Gears of War and Army of Two all over it and probably it won't be that bad of a decision for the developers to copy even though it will suck in some way (the game is using Unreal Engine 3). 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is currently targeted for a Fall 2008 release and will probably sell again because it is 50 and his products actually sell, but so far it is better than Bulletproof and that's all I can say about it being good.

The Resident Evil 5 footage Famitsu promised this week

Thanks to Gamevideos.com for putting up the footy as this is new gameplay (not much) of Resident Evil 5. This is from the Famitsu DVD that came with the new issue in newsstands now (at least that Japanese market / mall at Newport Beach). I'm glad I played Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube in 2005 having never played a RE before that, and good thing since RE4 is still one of the best games of this decade so far. With rumors of more versions of RE4 (refer to this thread at NeoGAF) before RE5, I won't mind even though Capcom has milked that game to death already to me. Back to RE5, I can't wait to witness the evolution of the gameplay of RE4 in this one. I don't care if it comes out next year, let Capcom take their sweet time because it worked for RE4, and sure it will for RE5. Here's the video below.

Halo 3 just got more Black

The Legendary Map Pack DLC for Halo 3 has been set with all three maps revealed for the world to go crazy about. See anything similar in that screenshot above? Yeah, it is Lockout from Halo 2 in a different setting. Now called Blackout, this is a flat out remake of arguably the best map in Halo 2, which is now a oil rig in the middle of the ocean other than some random snow facility. While some Halo fanboys may miss the snow, just getting the map is good enough to me, but with equipment now. Bungie mentioned there is a bubble shield, regenerator, and a power drain around the place. They also mentioned changes in certain jumps to various spots of the map making some easier while others harder. I know I'm going to play Halo 3 for a bit again when April 15 comes around, but Blackout alone maybe makes the 800 point deal better than it intended to be along with Avalanche and Ghost Town.

Battlefield: Bad Company Beta (Impressions so far)

So the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta servers went up today and they are getting worked right now. It is hard to get in games currently and the DICE guys noticed it too which they are trying to fix this as quickly as possible. I was able to play 3 matches at least (1 in Ascension and 2 in Oasis). The only mode available is Gold Rush, which the attacking team has to destroy a set of gold crates to win the match while the defending team tries to defend it by lowering their reinforcements bar (just kill them a lot of times). These games can last long especially in Oasis where there is like 5 sets of 2 crates for the attackers to destroy. Ascension is more of a smaller map than Oasis, which seems more vehicle-focused, but the action does fell tense up close. As with previous Battlefield games if I can remember correctly, there are classes to choose from (I mostly sticked with Assault) with a demolition class, sniper class, etc. These will actually play out more on Oasis with the amount of tanks and helicopters going around. 

The graphics so far are good despite it is only 30 frames per second compared to 60 in CoD4. Those usual gray-ish filters (as seen in Burnout Paradise) are in when you are low on health, and it kind of distracts the overall flow of the action to me. The explosions also look great and this game is living up to the message with the whole destructible environments / buildings because they can be destroyed pretty quickly. Sound-wise, it is okay with the guns sounding like guns and explosions sounding like explosions. 

The spawn system goes by spawning at a home base or within the action along teammates. Spawning with your squad can be risky at times if spawned in the middle of a firefight, but at least u get to the action quicker if u prefer that route. There's the whole awards and medals thing for certain tasks as well such as new weapons and whatnot. EA's thing with microtransactions for new weapons is a little funky, since it is EA and they want money, people are willing to cough up the dough. Other than that, it feels like a Battlefield game with guns having secondary fires, vehicles that might ruin the balance of the game, and teamwork, which I didn't notice since no one was using their mics.

I'm going to play more of this when the servers are somewhat working (maybe later today). Maybe I'll just play the new Boston pack DLC on Rock Band instead and those songs kick ass (specifically More Than A Feeling as expected and Peace of Mind, better charts than GH versions). Sorry, no picture for this post.

4 Hours of Tekken 6!!! (My Impressions)

Oh man, what a good afternoon I had!! I played the arcade version of Tekken 6 for 4 hours in the Super Arcade at Walnut. Okay, not exactly 4 hours since there was a crowd of players waiting to fight, but I killed 9 bucks already on this game, which means I'm crazy. It turns out this cabinet is an official cabinet from Asia (with English) and it looks awesome. Tekken 6 is 50 cents to play (versus being best of 3) and 6 bucks to buy a card. The card system returns from the arcade version of Tekken 5 and DR with a card being a single character with a versus record and tons of character customization with dress up. While I did get my ass kicked all the I times I played (my character is Bryan), I won some rounds which made me happy at least since the competition is filled with good players that are way better than me (some or all of them are tournament-level). With my experience out of the way, all I can say is this game plays and looks hot.

The graphics for Tekken 6 are amazing even though it is arguably Tekken in HD and 720p. The backgrounds look beautiful and some of them are multi-leveled, which means u can break the ground if you use a slam-type move more often. The characters themselves look great as well on HD looking detailed and whatnot. Sound-wise, it is also excellent with another great soundtrack (Tekken 5 / DR had great music for a fighting game) and new sound effects. Overall, the presentation for Tekken 6 is what u expect from these games even if this one has new sounds for the hit effects and blocks, it is still the same game we know and love.

The core gameplay for Tekken 6 remains the same for a hardcore or tourney-level player, which is still combo-driven. The new bound system seems like a new and good addition to the Tekken games, which allows the normal juggle combos to be different compared to Tekken 5, but u can still use those combos that were in your arsenal in 6 as well, but the bound system makes the approach of combos to be something else than the same thing. The rage system happens when your character is low on health (like a shiver) and your character glows a little red allowing its moves to have more damage than normal. This increases the tension of the end of fights and give the character in rage a chance to comeback, which is cool and many times a raged character can comeback and win a round. Most of the characters' moves (like Paul's Hammer Punch) have different animations, but they are still the same moves in the end which gives Tekken 6 some kind of newness when u see a match. Both bound and rage systems feel like a love/hate relationship meaning at one time, you'll like it, but sometimes u won't. The overall mechanics for Tekken 6 are still in my mind both fun and still as flashy as ever compared to other 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter 5 and the DOA games. 

By playing 4 hours of Tekken 6, u can tell the high tier characters from the rest of the pack. Devil Jin still kicks all kinds of ass, but some of the new characters Leo, Miguel, and Bob are very impressive and high on the list. Bob specifically is just a beast even if he is that fat. My man Bryan can still hold on its own too, but my Paul is not that great and I didn't play as him that much. Based on my time there, players mostly played as Bob, Lei, Miguel, Xiaoyu, Leo, and Devil Jin. Some players played Jack-6, Christie, Raven, Kazuya, Paul, and Feng. If you have sticked with a character for most of Tekken 5, you'll be fine in 6 as long as u adjust to the bound system for combos, but the new characters are fun to play with and worth a shot.

In the end, I had a blast with Tekken 6 so far. Everything in that game is pretty hot from the graphics, gameplay, and the cabinet itself. I can't wait to play more of it as the weeks and months go by. I might hop by later this week for more craziness.

My Clip of the Day (3/24/08)

Found this video over at Kanye West's Blog (its actually a cool blog). Its not the official music video for the song, I Wonder, but a good video which is all Tron-like.

Enjoy.

GRADUATION ALBUM LISTENING EXPERIENCE PT. 3 - I WONDER from kwest on Vimeo.

Tekken 6 is at SoCal!!!

Since I'm on Spring Break, I should go to the Super Arcade sometime this week to play the arcade version of Tekken 6 (supposedly it is an used Asian arcade cabinet). Now I'm hella excited to play it especially this place is like 15 minutes from my home (its at Walnut by Mt. Sac and Cal Poly Pomona, the school I go to currently). I'll likely see some of my game room friends that are really good at Tekken and way better than me playing this rare cabinet that Namco is lazy to release a U.S. arcade version since we all know the scene is pretty much dead, but there are scattered places where the scene is still popping (Houston, Texas for example being the first NA place to have Tekken 6). Expect to see some major impressions of Tekken 6 if I go this week.

Here's the link of the story from the fine folks of SDTekken.

Wow, Spring Break is good times for gaming to me with SSBB, this, and the Battlefield Bad Company Beta I'm in (which starts Tuesday). Expect some impressions of that beta on Tuesday if I can say stuff about it since it is a beta.

Sonic Unleashed??

The hot thing in the gaming community so far is the appearance of screenshots for a new Sonic game called Sonic Unleashed. Looks like a leaked video has been YouTubed.

For a leaked video, will this break the streak for bad Sonic games, since most of the 3D ones suck and it looks like it is for the PS3 and the 360? So far, the gameplay looks like Secret Rings being 2.5D on rails while Sonic is running very fast. Sega has been trying too hard to get the quality of Sonic back to the Genesis days ever since Sonic first gone 3D. While I won't likely buy this if the game is official, but it seems promising for now.

I'm trying to link videos directly since I'm a noob of making this, but I'll stick to what I know of just linking videos to the webpage for now.

UPDATE - Here's the video from GameTrailers.com if u have not seen it yet.

Welcome to G Unit Ver1's World!!

Been in my mind for a while, but finally it is here. Welcome to G Unit Ver1's World!!

Originally slayerver1 from GameSpot, my new blog allows more freedom to talk about my various interests in life, ranging from video games, music, movies, television, and random collecting hobbies. This is now my new home for my long and detailed reviews of games, and other thoughts about my interests. With the "rebuilding" at GameSpot still going on, it is only a matter of time of me taking my leave from blogging there to launching my own blog. Hopefully I can learn more about putting this together as the weeks and months go by. I will still put up my reviews at GameSpot here and there as well.

Hope you enjoy reading it - Hopefully I'll be prepared to deal with bashing remarks as I allow comments since the gaming community can be notorious for bashing.

To end this intro post, I'll end with my current desktop wallpaper, which is a screenshot from Grand Theft Auto IV. I'm starting to like Safari as my browser now compared to Internet Explorer.