Monday, June 30, 2008

A World Champion that is Straight Edge


Tonight's RAW is pretty awesome with CM Punk winning the World Heavyweight Title against Edge by cashing his Money in the Bank briefcase he won at Wrestlemania 24. Even though Batista did all the work destroying Edge, Punk took the opportunity to be World Champ in RAW which before didn't have a World Title before the night started (Triple H is still WWE Champ in Smackdown now). Hopefully WWE does the right thing of letting Punk have the title for a while, but who knows with Cena, JBL, Batista, Rey Mysterio, HBK, Jericho, and Randy Orton in the show. The funny thing that is former Ring of Honor (an awesome underground wrestling promotion) stars are now World Champions with Punk on WWE RAW and Samoa Joe in TNA, which is awesome (except I haven't watching TNA Impact lately with ABDC Season 2 on). Smackdown is going to be interesting now with Triple H still WWE Champ and Edge no longer World Champ as hopefully a feud starts with those two.

Quantum of Solace = The movie of Fall 08 so far


James Bond 007 : Quantum of Solace - Trailer
by flogoo

Here's the first trailer for the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, which will be in theatres November 7th. Since Casino Royale was pretty good, I'm looking forward to this one delivering the goods again. In addition, there is a game based on this movie published by Activision and developed by Treyarch (Call of Duty: World at War peeps) and IGN has a preview on that, but expect other sites to follow suit. Here'a pic of the game below.

Get Ready to Rock even Harder earlier than u think....


What a great way to start the day with Rock Band 2 now being official (we knew its coming, but when is the question). IGN has the details about this highly anticipated sequel in this interview and the answers may surprise you. The key information is that this game is coming out in September, which is way earlier than I thought it would be and it is also a 360 timed exclusive. This means PS3 version is still happening, but it will come out later this year (November-ish likely). Good thing I have the 360 version and the "platform" of DLC Harmonix has claimed they want Rock Band to be will continue. Rock Band 1 DLC will be compatible with Rock Band 2 and they will still release DLC on a weekly basis for both games. The new Stratocaster is revealed too and hopefully it won't break as fast as I broke mine (The same instruments from RB1 will work in RB2 - Hopefully my GH3 Les Paul still works in RB2 too). Harmonix is currently tight-lipped with songs in the game, but expect them for a more big reveal at E3 in mid-July. If their new instruments will be better, I don't know if I will buy the new bundle (if the GH3 Les Paul doesn't work, then I have to I guess). Also, if the new bundle is cheaper by 10 or 20 bucks, then I'll buy maybe. This leaves a decision of which game to buy a bundle full of instruments this year (RB2 or GH World Tour). I know RedOctane will have better instruments, but nearly everything Harmonix has done right with Rock Band so far is making me go on their side (Yeah, Activision and Neversoft have been whoring out the GH brand like me falling to buy GH Aerosmith). Expect more info about Rock Band 2 next month at E3, but around that time, The Who is the next album release for RB1 DLC with a collection of songs in honor of their VH1 special in July (Yes!!!).

Sunday, June 29, 2008

3 Hours is All I Need... Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Impressions so far

So I bought Guitar Hero: Aerosmith today and Expert is already done in 3 hours (hence the title). I only 3 starred 1 song while 5 starring the majority of the songs (there are 31 in the Career excluding the bonus songs). Even on Expert, it is perhaps the easiest GH game difficulty wise (Even "Train Kept A Rollin" was not a problem I thought it would be). Of course playing a GH or RB game for 3 hours straight does kick in the fatigue with my hands, but I might as well finish it fast and I did. Some songs seem fun and longer than I thought like the Aerosmith lineup. Even the non-Aerosmith songs seem okay (STP, Ted Nugent, etc). At least the achievements are easier (career achievements stack) this time around as if Neversoft learned their lesson about those crazy GH3 achievements. A little lame is buying everything from the shop requiring a playthrough of all difficulties getting every character, song, guitar, etc.). Keep in mind I haven't messed around with anything else other than career mode (Online and co-op mostly) so expect a review of this later this week here.

Off-topic - I guess no Summer Weekend List today.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

More Gears 2 MP Footage



This is new footage of the multiplayer in Gears 2 that is in the 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 (I should buy that game...). The Epic go more in detail about the new modes (Meatflag, Wingman (2 on 2 I think), and Guardian), new maps, weapons, and executions in this sequel. As mentioned earlier in the post regarding the 1up interview, I'm excited for the new changes for Gears 2 MP fixing what plagued Gears 1's MP so I can't wait till November. Hopefully I can get better with the long-range weapons like the Longshot, Torque Bow, and Hammer of Dawn because I didn't use them that much when I played Gears 1 MP. Then again, using grenades as wall mines is going to be pretty nuts as well as the portable cover. I'm ready to go for another all-day stretch of the campaign like I did with Gears 1 (Normal) to get it over with quickly, then play MP on November.

Another game becomes a reality... (Diablo III Official!!)



I woke up and the inevitable was anounnced after weeks of speculation of teased images on Blizzard's website. So Diablo III is finally announced at their Paris event and the PC folks are getting crazy. As if WOW (World of Warcraft) and Starcraft II are enough, Diablo III completes the trifecta of Blizzard games and it is about damn time (like that SC2 dude said). Of course, not being a PC player myself, I never got into the Diablo games, but I respected its greatness as another of the great PC franchises Blizzard has put out. With Starcraft II supposedly coming this December or early next year, expect Diablo III to have a late 2009 or even a 2010 release.

The game industry has gone bonkers with Mega Man 9, a Castlevania fighting game, and this announced in the past week which is pretty crazy.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Jabbawockeez are Everywhere!!!

Jabbawockeez have been everywhere ever since their Season 1 win on ABDC. They have been performing shows left and right ranging from some Asian award show, a Laker game, and even Regis & Kelly. Here's their recent shows that I can remember.



They appear in the end of Ne-Yo's "Closer" performance during the BET Awards. Yes, this song is sick, but even though the Jabba cameo is short, short and sweet is good enough. Jabba also performed at 105.9 FM's Powerhouse 2008 recently too.



Here's the new Danny Yankee video for "Pose" which features the masked men doing their thing. This song is not that bad I guess.

Seriously, I need to buy a Jabba mask and shirt soon.

ABDC Season 2 Episode 2 Recap




Last night's episode of America's Best Dance Crew was pretty good. All crews did equally well as in the music video challenge and it was a narrow margin how my top 8 was picked. The right team did get eliminated, but let's recap the episode in the order of the crews' performances (Photos from MTV.com).


SuperCrew (My #1 pick) started it off and did Chris Brown's "Run It." I was a little worried that they won't do as well in this challenge, but they still put out a great performance and of course they had to include their b-boy stuff in the routine. Even though last week's was better for them, this one is not that bad.


Fanny Pak was next and delivered another great performance with Gwen Stefani's "Wind It Up." It is nice that their style is still implemented in this song while having fun trying to do the crazy moves (The flare and the knee thing in the video). They're still top 5 for me.




Supreme Soul are back in the hunt after their disappointing performance last week. They did Omarion's "Touch" and nailed it pretty well. It was one of the standout performances this week even though I mentioned earlier everyone did equally well.




Phresh Select was next and they did Chris Brown's "Gimme That." This performance wasn't that bad as the boys executed the video routine better than I thought. At least they are one of the consistent crews so far.




A.S.I.I.D. did Ciara's "Like A Boy" and nailed that routine too. Even though the ladies kind of stripped in the end (I don't know why), the moves in the video were executed well (The Ciara float and the crotch grab as examples). They are still a top contender for me.



So Real Crew's performance of Usher's "Love in This Club" was good and also sloppy a bit. It was very noticeable during their performance that they messed up considering they deliver clean performances most of the time. The dance number was great, but the execution was a little off like the judges said.


Xtreme Dance Force were saved by America's votes this week (Why????) as they did Mario's "Let Me Love You." This performance was okay and at least better than last week, but I expect them to be bottom 2 next week and hopefully eliminated as well (I hate these guys...).

Boogie Bots were in the bottom 2 this week (America saved XDF = I still don't know why) as they did B2K's "Bump Bump Bump." They were definitely better than last week and as the judges said, they had fun doing it including the lady parts from the video. Hopefully they're not bottom 2 next week, but I have a feeling they will be thanks to the voting.



Sass x7 are eliminated this week and good thing because their performance of Britney's "I'm A Slave for U" was bad, but better than last week at least. They did the video parts slower than the video itself as the judges noticed. At least they got the outfits right, but it wasn't enough and they were glad they made it this far.

Well, that was the episode for this week and let's do my rankings of the crews.

  1. SuperCrew
  2. Supreme Soul
  3. So Real Crew
  4. A.S.I.I.D.
  5. Fanny Pak
  6. Boogie Bots
  7. Phresh Select
  8. Xtreme Dance Force

I forgot what next week's challenge is (Something related to dance hits through the years), but hopefully XDF is gone next week (At least Sass x7 is out now).

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Mega Man 9 now a reality....


Mega Man 9 is official and surprisingly only confirmed for WiiWare for now (No PSN or XBLA versions??). If this stays WiiWare, this could be the service's biggest game in terms of hype and excitement (Nintendo finally doing something right??). Capcom has been the ambassador in terms of Japanese publishers for downloadable games and their first WiiWare game could be really big. Honestly, I'm not that a fan of the Mega Man games, but respect its legacy (not its downfall in recent years). This could be the official rebirth of the franchise that is good compared to how other developers ruin old school franchises (I'm looking at you Sega for Sonic even though Sonic Unleashed is okay so far). Thanks to fansite, Mega Man Network, (not the GBA series of games), they were able to reveal some scans of the game. Yes, this one is staying 8-bit and hopefully it will be awesome (For more, check the link above).

Juggling Dragon Punches!!! (Impressions of the SSFIIT HD Remix Online Beta)

I have been messing around with the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Online Beta ever since it came out yesterday and it is pretty good despite its issues and limited options available. Capcom's purpose for this beta is to test the netcode and so far it is way better than the netcode in Street Fighter II HF on XBLA. Most of my matches have minimal lag compared to the matches during the hot stretch of HF sessions back in Summer 2006 being laggy throughout. Of course, connection plays a factor to the whole thing and usually I would rather have no Internet browsers up and running when I play this online (Having FireFox 3 open does cause some lag on my part). At least this beta can also be played locally rather than just online as I use it for practice mode. The big problem with this beta so far is the game freezing when trying to join matches. Apparently, the selection of matches when searching via custom match or quick match are a little old, which is one reason the lock ups happen and u have to restart your 360. The solution for me is just creating matches and hopefully people join up. I have been playing ranked matches, but I'll eventually check out the quarter match and tournament options.


Ryu and Ken are the only two characters available for this beta with Ryu's stage being the only stage there. Sure, u can still browse through the character selections to check out the other art for them, but the shotos are the stars of this beta. For Ryu and Ken players, this beta will be played throughout its 2 month period trying to mess around with their remixed versions. Ryu's key addition is the Fake Hakouken (same motion but short kick instead of any punch) which can trick up an opponent if used correctly. Other than that, Ryu is pretty much the same with his arsenal of moves with the Shinkuu Hadouken as his super (Doing it online may cause it to lag). Ken, on the other hand, is significantly improved over his SSFIIT version and maybe a bit broken (hence the video below). Sirlin did mention that the Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) juggle will be toned down damage wise and maybe not be in the final game at all. Then again, doing SRK juggles is pretty cool when timed perfectly, but I can understand how cheap it its and getting it on the receiving end against opponents. His super is still the same and his special kicks have new movements (Hadouken motion, any kick, etc.), which sets up easy combos. Plus, Hurricane Kicks for both Ryu and Ken have increased in movement (Ryu's RH Hurricane Kick takes the whole screen while Ken's is faster than what it used to be). Just for the fun of DP juggles, I usually use Ken online (I'll go back to Ryu when I get tired of him).

With the full game hopefully coming out this fall, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is still one of my most anticipated games this year because its Street Fighter for crying out loud and the new graphics and art Udon has added is pretty good (screw the haters who complain every day about Chun Li's thighs or Guile not looking right). The new music I think is done by OC Remix folks, which is cool and I'm anticipating new remixes for the other stages. Other than the remixed mode, the original ST is still playable, old graphics and all, in the final game if the "HD Remix" is not your thing. I'll conclude with this video of Ken's SRK juggle courtesy of YouTube user CigarBob (check out his other HD Remix Beta videos especially matches with the mastermind of this remix, David Sirlin).

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A CliffyB Interview about Gears 2 Multiplayer




Here's a new interview with Gears of War 2's mastermind, CliffyB, courtesy of Gamevideos.com (1up with former Editorial Director Dan "Shoe" Hsu). Tons of details are now revealed about Gears 2's MP thanks to this video and the recent EGM cover story. I'm really excited about the new changes and fixes that plagued Gears 1's MP (Host advantage, temporary god mode during executions and chainsaw kills, etc.). Two or three maps were shown in this clip especially the Gridlock remake from Gears 1 (Cliff confirms Gridlock and Subway remakes for Gears 2). I'm also a fan of the new modes that he announced with Guardian (Two leaders in two teams and if the leaders are killed, the team loses the ability to respawn), and "Meat Flag" which takes advantage of the new body shield addition (Gears 2 so far nails the body shield pretty well especially for multiplayer). The new executions seen in this video are also pretty crazy with weapon specific ones (Chainsaws and curb stomps are still there). Anyway, check out the interview if you're a Gears fan. Looks like Gears 2 is truly being bigger, better, and more badass after all.

Off-topic: Expect impressions of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Online Beta tomorrow or Friday.

Monday, June 23, 2008

GH and RB Chart Comparison - "Sex Type Thing"



Here's the Expert chart for Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing" on Guitar Hero Aerosmith (which is out this Sunday, On Tour for the DS came out yesterday). The Rock Band chart for the same song is below this text. Which one is better? Is Neversoft's version really overcharted with the three finger chords?

Clip of the Day (6/23/08) - Botchmania 45



Another new Botchmania video came out last weekend and it is another good one. Heavily featured in this one is the WWE One Night Stand PPV and the infamous Cena vs. RVD match at One Night Stand 2006, which was awesome because of the crowd chants.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Summer Weekend List #2 - Rock Band / GH World Tour Wishlist (Part 2)

The Summer Weekend List continues with Part 2 of my wishlist of songs to be in Rock Band (2) and/or Guitar Hero World Tour (I got some ones right last time with Everlong and Offspring songs).

System of a Down Pack


311 Pack



Rock Covers of Pop Songs Pack



Marliyn Manson Pack

U2 Pack



Welcome to Paradise Pack

California Pack



Yellowcard Pack




Jimmy Eat World Pack


Friday, June 20, 2008

Some Trailers to End the Day courtesy of GameTrailers TV

The full episode is not yet up on the interwebs (I'll check it out in the morning), but the trailers are out from this weekend's episode of GameTrailers TV. One of them is the new clip for UFC 2009 Undisputed, which is in the previous blog post about the weekend for UFC.



First up is the debut trailer for the Lord of the Rings Conquest, developed by Pandemic (Star Wars Battlefront games) and published by EA. Being a Battlefront game with the LOTR skin, I'm curious about how this one turns out and hopefully be worth it. The last significant LOTR game is the MMORPG LOTR Online and its expansion packs, so at least whoever is handling the LOTR universe is doing a good job of spacing the games out. Hopefully it is another multiplayer game that is fun and interesting to separate themselves from the pack.



Next up is a short teaser for Call of Duty: World at War. The newest COD game is developed by Treyarch (COD3) instead of Infinity Ward (COD4: Modern Warfare) and everyone is already putting this one down because it is indeed a return to World War II except on the Pacific setting, a first for the franchise I think. With co-op for the first time and some more time with the project, maybe Treyarch can shut the haters up this fall.



Lastly, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the CGI flick out on August 15) is coming to the Wii with the sole focus on lightsaber combat via the Wiimote and Nunchuk. This is the lightsaber game LucasArts has promised ever since they first announced their plans for the Wii as if Force Unleashed is enough. With likely a direct relation to the movie with every major fight, expect this one to be a straight-forward action game based on a license, but maybe the lightsaber stuff might be good enough to wow Star Wars fans and Wii fans as well.

Get Hyped for a weekend of UFC!!


THQ officially announced UFC 2009 as the new UFC game with Yukes developing it. For those who don't know, they do the WWE Smackdown games and with new graphics and gameplay engines, I have high hopes for this game. Actually I had high hopes with that trailer shown at E3 last year. Lots of fighters will be in this game (Rampage Jackson and Forest Griffin shown in these pics) along with online play and downloadable content that they promised when it comes out next year.

Speaking of Rampage and Forest, tomorrow is the Ultimate Fighter finale of their latest season on SpikeTV and even though I haven't really watched this season at all, the finales are always entertaining to watch with worthy fights and maybe Rampage and Forrest will get it on in this thing (I'm not sure if it is confirmed, but I'm looking forward to that if it happens). With that disappointing primetime EliteXC event on CBS earlier this month (blame the overhype of Kimbo Slice), tomorrow's UFC show better be good with better anounncers and production. Maybe I'll write up something about it on Sunday, so we'll see about that.

Halo 3 gets Chilly...


Another map pack for Halo 3 is coming soon and one of them are revealed which is Cold Storage, a remake of Chillout from Halo 1. Since Halo 1 maps are now a blur to me, I don't remember Chillout as much as previous remade maps (Sidewinder, Wizard, Blood Gulch, Battle Creek) into Halo 2 and 3. At least it is a reason to go back to Halo 3 again like the Legendary Map Pack back at April. NeoGAF peeps are predicting a free release of this map only on Bungie Day which is on July 7th, which I can see happening if Bungie is down to it.

ABDC Season 2 Episode 1 Recap


Season 2 of America's Best Dance Crew premiered last night on MTV and it started with a bang with some crews bringing the heat while others not showing at all, who don't deserve to be in the top 10. Let's go through the show in the order of performances... (Photos from MTV.com)

So Real Crew started it off and they delivered pretty well. Lil Mama does compare them to Season 1's Kaba Modern (Irvine!!!) while Shane Sparks is already claiming them to be top 2 if they keep being consistent like last night. I happen to agree with Shane with that statement because I have So Real on my top 3 now.


Supreme Soul (My #2 pick before this episode) were next and the performance was a bit disappointing considering how good they were on the live auditions. The judges slammed them for not using the whole stage and other parts needed to be cleaned up. They can do way better than this one, so I expect them to come back strong next week.


Xtreme Dance Force flat out sucked in their performance as Shane blasts them hard and they deserve it because it was truly wack. As Shoryuken calls them "Xtreme Douche Force," I expect them to be bottom 2 next week unless their looks are good enough to keep them around.


A.S.I.I.D. came out and delivered a great performance (the night's second one that was good). As with the judges, the walk the dog move was pretty crazy and they can be top 3 if they keep being consistent. They were in my top 5 last week, but they really impressed me this week.


Boogie Bots were next (in my top 5 last week) and delivered a solid performance. The judges did mention that they can be better with their potential as a top contender. I do like these boys to go far into the competition, but I don't know after this week. That was the top 5 according to America's voting and I don't know why Xtreme Dance Force was on that top 5 (I guess the girls love their boy band-ish looks) while SuperCrew being in the bottom 5 was a WTH on America's part.


Speaking of SuperCrew, they delivered the night's best performance being ninjas. This tower sequence was pretty sick while their b-boy moves are still awesome. They lit up the crowd pretty well and I expect them to not be in the bottom next week after that. They're still my #1 pick after this and I love Shane's quote "Y'all just S*** on everybody." (Its true!!!)


Phresh Select surprisingly impressed me the most in this episode delivering a solid routine. Maybe it was the old-school flavor that attracted the judges and that ending flip move was pretty good. Lil Mama started to notice that some of these bottom 5 teams should not be in the bottom.


Sass x7, who didn't deserve to be in the top 10, were up next and their performance is another reason why they shouldn't be there. They're trying to separate themselves from their cheerleader image, but they didn't. I guess the votes were enough this week because of their image, but I expect them to be bottom 2 next week and hopefully be out. That leaves Fanny Pak and Distorted X as the bottom 2, which sucked because both of them are pretty good.


Fanny Pak went first and showed why they should be top 5. I love their originality and style being unique, which I mentioned why they were picked over Team Millenia. The judges agreed with me with their unique style and I guess America's votes didn't like the 80s vibe they bring, but they're serious and they should stick around for a while (LA!!!)


Distorted X went up and delivered a solid performance. Like the judges, them and Fanny Pak should be not bottom 2 and America is crazy for the looks > skill style of voting for some crews. Instead, Distorted X got the boot while the judges kept Fanny Pak, which is a good choice out of the two and clearly Distorted X are disappointed they're out already (more like pissed). The judges are a little pissed as well with the voting this week, but it is still America voting and they better vote right next week. Here's my current standings below.
  1. SuperCrew
  2. So Real Crew
  3. A.S.I.I.D.
  4. Fanny Pak
  5. Phresh Select
  6. Supreme Soul
  7. Boogie Bots
  8. Sass x7
  9. Xtreme Dance Force
With Distorted X's elimination, Sass x7 and Xtreme Dance Force should be in the bottom two next week if America gets it right. Next week is the music video challenge (The first two weeks of Season 1 started the same way) and I'm a little worried of some crews not delivering on this challenge while others will shine next week. We'll see what happens. (Vote for SuperCrew!!!!)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Today in the World of Guitar Hero... (6/19/08)

Tons of Guitar Hero related business today...


We'll start with a preview of World Tour by IGN which is about the peripherals, music creator, the modes, and confirmed tracks so far (below).

Sublime - "Santeria"
Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell"
Foo Fighters - "Everlong" (Yes!!!!!)
Blink 182 - "Damnit"
Lenny Kravitz -  "Are You Gonna Go My Way"

At first, I was skeptical about buying another full band game with Rock Band, but the soundtrack for World Tour with an unannounced Linkin Park song along with Van Halen is making me consider spending at least 180 bucks again. Eventually, I'll have no room for all these damn plastic instruments in my own bedroom, which is nuts. With custom songs and a weekly DLC schedule, World Tour is looking to have some more legs than Rock Band being that Neversoft learning Harmonix's mistakes.



The Coldplay DLC came out today on Guitar Hero III and as expected, they're pretty easy songs on Expert (Easy FCs), but those pesky GRB and RYO chords might ruin a FC run if you're not good nailing those consistently like me. "Violet Hill" is the easiest of the three and "God Put A Smile On Your Face" is my best of them while "Yellow" (above) is still pretty good. As mentioned so many times, these songs are perfect for Rock Band and GH World Tour rather than now, but I guess they had to put this one out to coincide with the new album release.

Next week is the releases of On Tour for DS and Aerosmith and videos are starting to surface for Aerosmith charts with "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way" (below). I'm still on the fence on buying it, but I should probably do it and put up a review after some hours with it.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

More Offspring in Rock Band after all...


Looks my wishlist is getting right with more of The Offspring in Rock Band. (Confirmed at the band's website and other gaming sites like 1up and Kotaku).

"Come Out and Play"
"Self-Esteem"
"Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)"

No specific date is announced yet and I think it will be closer to their new album release next month or August. This is a pretty big pack of songs in terms of the band and amazing songs, so fans are pretty happy like me.

Off-topic but related to music: Even though I'm not a fan, but congrats to Lil Wayne for selling a million albums for The Carter III in its first week. It is pretty rare that someone had platinum sales of an album in these days of music filled with downloads and whatnot, but good for him.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Let's Meet The Sniper...


The newest Meet the... trailer is out for Team Fortress 2, which is the Sniper. Once again, Valve does it again with these trailers delivering humor and character at the same time. Plus, TF2 is still in heavy rotation among multiplayer first-person shooters on the PC, while not on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Pyro update is expected to be out next week and it is still a question whether or not these character updates will be in the console versions in the future. I actually liked TF2 for the time I played Orange Box for its class-based system and pure teamwork compared to something like Halo 3. Sure, Halo 3 is the more popular game, but I'm ready to claim that TF2 > Halo 3 MP. There's just something special about TF2, which is arguably the personality of the characters (the cartoony graphics style) and the pure team-based gameplay that separates itself from the rest of the pack. It remains to be seen if Battlefield Heroes will replicate that personality, but TF2 is truly an under-played gem in this generation of consoles from the time I played it.

Off-topic = Congrats to the Celtics for winning the NBA Finals against the Lakers. They truly deserved it and played way better than the Lake Show throughout this whole series. It is about damn time Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen win a ring along with Doc Rivers, who out-coached the Zen Master, Phil Jackson, in nearly every way. Boston showed up and play compared to the Lakers who really needed Andrew Bynum in this series because Gasol and Odom didn't do jack. Kobe tried to do everything, but it wasn't enough. I'm pretty sure these two teams will meet again in next year's NBA Finals to continue this rivalry.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Tiger roars again.....

When Tiger Woods made that crazy Birdie putt on the 18th hole yesterday to force the playoff today against Rocco Mediate, that was sick. Today after 19 holes, Tiger finally got his 14th major winning the U.S. Open on Sudden Death. This was pretty intense golf watching the whole thing unfold at Torrey Pines (La Jolla, CA) and something we will probably won't see for a while. I have to give a shout out to Rocco for playing on pace with the Tigger in this 18 hole playoff. Plus, I have never seen so many people watching something like this at Torrey Pines which is astounding. Even with a jacked up knee, Tiger still did it and hopefully he will deliver again at the British next month. Again, props to Rocco (the underdog and crowd favorite) and the crowd sure wants the man to win.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears... The Ninja Gaiden II Review

There are games that you feel you can get away from any situation unscathed. Then there are games that just wants to kick your ass at any instant. Ninja Gaiden II is that such game that where lots of skill and luck matters. The first one on the Xbox is one of my top five favorite games of all-time and I have high hopes that the sequel will push it further. Team Ninja has gone through two remakes, Black and Sigma, to finally put together a full fledged sequel fixing any problems that prevented the first game from perfection even though some problems are still present. The combat is still is the best in the action genre with its amazing depth and having that emotion of being a badass ninja. On the other hand, Ninja Gaiden II is a technical nightmare at times and it is not the monetary leap some have expected to be as a complete package.

Ryu Hayabusa is back again in Ninja Gaiden II and the storyline is as old-school as it gets while making no sense at all in certain moments. Basically, the Black Spider Ninja Clan and the Greater Fiends have joined forces to resurrect the Archfiend to cause chaos in the Earth while it is up to Ryu to prevent this from happening. A CIA agent named Sonia warns Ryu of their events and while she helps you in certain moments of the game, she still feels like a damsel of distress being the main female character of the game. The game takes place all over the world from the skyscrapers of Tokyo, a deserted New York City, and various spots at Europe. One chapter you be at Tokyo taking down enemy ninjas and pop up at New York for almost no reason at all other than a Greater Fiend lurks there. Genshin leads the Black Spider Ninja Clan in a rivalry against the Hayabusa clan while Elizabet leads the Greater Fiends in hopes of getting the Demon Statue to bring back the Archfiend. As with most action games from Japanese developers, the story is never really the main focus as it just gives the player a reason to slice and dice towards victory.

Ninja Gaiden II's combat is still as deep and satisfying as ever being compared to a fighting game in terms of a movelist for Ryu. You can get away from just using certain moves like Izuna Drops, Flying Swallows, and Guillotine Throws for certain weapons throughout the fourteen chapters, but using the whole movelist makes the game as deep and fun as the first one. Speaking of the weapons, they are truly the stars of Ninja Gaiden II than just Ryu. Team Ninja wanted to make the weapons as fun and satisfying that you can play the whole game using just one specific weapon and they delivered on that front. The Dragon Sword is still the go-to weapon especially in tough situations while returning weapons from the first game and its remakes such as the Lunar Staff, Vigoorian Flails, and the twin katanas, Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang, still being great weapons in Ryu's arsenal. The new weapons pushes the combat to a new level with Falcon's Talons, claws on Ryu's hands and feet doing his best Wolverine impression, the Kusari-gama, a sickle chain-like weapon that is perfect against crowds of enemies, the Tonfa, which is similar to the Vigoorian Fiail, and the Eclipse Scythe, a big scythe that can deal huge amounts of damage. All of the melee weapons in Ninja Gaiden II invokes different play-styles as some of them are perfect in one-on-one situations while others are perfect against crowds. Other than the melee weapons, the projectiles and Ninpo are more of a priority and more used in certain situations than the first game. The bow and arrow's usage has increased by a lot as there are more bosses and long-range enemies. The Ninpo is pretty useful to get out of jams with Ryu launching fireballs and wind blades against the opposition. Ryu's arsenal is truly something special as they offer different experiences for the player to witness.

Ninja Gaiden II is pretty linear compared to the backtracking seen in the first game. It is simply point A to point B of slicing through anything that gets in Ryu's way, which reminds me of the early 90s beat-em-ups structure. The Halo-like rechargeable health system gives even the casual players a chance to beat this game as Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox was one of the hardest games of that console generation. While Ninja Gaiden II is not as hard as the first game on the normal difficulty, it gets to be that hard and borderline cheap on harder difficulties (Mentor and Master Ninja), but still doable pending on lots of skill and luck. It retains the rewarding challenge like the first game in which it is an accomplishment of beating a game like this. At least there two difficulties to start with (Acolyte and Warrior) in this new one compared to the original. The normal enemies are just aggressive as they were previously as they want to kick your ass at any cost whether by throwing you around or even committing suicide to take you out. The bosses, on the other hand, are a little easier especially against the Greater Fiends, while other bosses can be a pain at times. The best relief in this game is getting to a save point with barely no health after a tough onslaught of enemies since they fill your health to full the first time you use them. It is also forgiving when you die against bosses, as the game will start you at that same boss battle.

Ninja Gaiden II pushes dismemberment of body parts to a whole new level as well. Body parts will be flying around as you slice and dice your foes to their death. The new Obliteration Technique is a finishing blow to an enemy of cutting someone's head off. There are loads of different finishing blows against normal enemies and some bosses with the amount of weapons in the game and increases the amount of blood to staggering heights. In this current generation of consoles, it is one of the bloodiest games and perhaps the bloodiest game ever. Ultimate Techniques make a return as well with a combo-like sequence of Ryu tearing someone apart. The variety of enemies and bosses in Ninja Gaiden II are not much with ninjas with swords, claws, guns, missile launchers, and those cheap grenade launchers along with various fiends, demons, and beasts. Even the infamous ghost fish are back, but they are not as cheap as they used to be. The overall gameplay is still as deep and fun as ever, but even Ninja Gaiden II's technical issues hamper that fact.

Ninja Gaiden II is a technical nightmare as if it felt rushed and incomplete at times. Graphically, it is a good looking game, but the Team Ninja engine is starting to show its age with the look of the environments and characters. Their signature boobage as seen in the Dead or Alive games is still here, specifically Sonia. The technical flaws at various points of the game can be even unplayable with huge framerate dips when things get too chaotic, some instances of tearing, mid-level loading (even during combat as well), and the bad camera. The game just goes fast all the time and the camera cannot keep up mostly which leads to pressing the R trigger to center it lots of times. The slowdown is pretty bad in some moments that the game is going ten frames per second, but when the game runs at 60 frames, it flows beautifully. All these technical issues could of have fixed easily, but it signifies the game feels rushed even with some game-ending bugs as well.

Ninja Gaiden II's sound is pretty good following genre standards. The music is very moody at various locales and epic at certain moments as well as if the perfect track kicked in to cut some ninjas up. At least the voice acting is both English and Japanese with the Japanese track being the way to go as long as you have English subtitles on. The sound effects are accurate as well according to the weapons with swords clashing, cutting effects, guns and explosions, and the magic. The fiends and demons themselves have their terrifying screams as well. It can get out of hand when too many things are going on, but it is pretty rare to witness.

With a 10-12 hour campaign, four difficulties, leaderboards of comparing scores with the world, the Ninja Cinema which allows replays of your work, achievements that can be a while to get the full 1000, and downloadable content of alternate costumes in the future, there is a good amount of replay value in Ninja Gaiden II. The combat is as satisfying and gory compared to other action games along with no sense of backtracking. It definitely feels like an old-school beat-em-up of going to an area of defeating enemies, repeat, and then the boss battle to finish the level. Despite maintaining the amazing gameplay, it is a technical disaster filled with camera issues, slowdown, and other bugs. If you're expecting to play this game for a good story, you're not going to find it as if it is like a Saturday morning cartoon. The rewarding challenge is there too, which is rare to see in this generation of consoles filled with easy games. If you like deep combat, an old-school challenge, and that feeling of being a badass ninja, Ninja Gaiden II is worth a playthrough.

Score = 8.5/10

Pros:
  • The weapons are truly the stars of this game
  • Deep and satisfying combat
  • Rewarding challenge that is also old-school
  • You truly feel like a badass ninja
  • More forgiving to the casual players
Cons:
  • A technical nightmare (bad camera, slowdown, tearing, etc.)
  • A pointless story if you're expecting something epic
  • Team Ninja's graphics engine showing its age
  • The challenge might be too hard for some
  • Not the monetary leap from the first game some have expected

Guilty Gear X2 #Reload (Xbox Originals) Hands-On

Finally a Xbox Originals game I can support on the 360, which is perhaps the best 2D fighter on the Xbox, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload. It is the usual 1200 Microsoft Points price (15 bucks) which is like five bucks less than the original price it came out on Xbox, which was 20 bucks, and I'm pretty sure it is pretty cheap used at a GameStop. Having the game on a hard drive is more of a relief to me rather than trying to find the disc, which seems to be the case with these Xbox Originals. Anyway, the Guilty Gear games were pretty hardcore as 2D fighters (almost to SNK levels in terms of difficulty) and the pretty good looking with its anime-like style (King of Fighters XII is getting to that level). As an Xbox Original, it doesn't have widescreen, but it still looks pretty good with minimal problems with the graphics. The Hori EX2 Arcade Stick works with this game on 360, which is a relief considering the controller's crappy d-pad. Other than that, it is the same old Xbox game that came out in 2004 with lots of single player modes and great online play (lag will make a difference however pending on connection). I'm surprised I'm still on the leaderboards when I checked them on the 360 when I played it back in the Xbox days with my 100 wins. I just hope more 2D fighters can come to Xbox Originals soon (please fix Marvel vs. Capcom 2!!!!) like the SNK ones and maybe Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO (not in the backwards list). 

Speaking of 2D fighters, Samurai Showdown 1 is out on the Wii's Virtual Console. I'm pondering if I should buy that or wait for this exact game on Xbox Live Arcade and Samurai Showdown 2 with online play.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Summer Weekend List #1 - Rock Band / GH World Tour Wishlist

It is the Summer now and I'm starting a new feature called the Summer Weekend List. Every weekend (If I can) till September, there will be a wishlist of certain things I want to see. I'll start with the obligatory wishlist of songs I want to see in Rock Band (or 2) and Guitar Hero: World Tour that fans of the games always do - either in game or DLC (I'm been doing this in various posts about GH and RB). Videos will be up of my personal favorites (This post will be pretty long!!)

The Offspring Pack (previously mentioned yesterday)
  • "Come Out and Play"
  • "Self-Esteem"
  • "Pretty Fly for a White Guy"
White Zombie / Rob Zombie Pack


Linkin Park Pack (Good luck trying to sing or scream like Chester)


The Coldplay Pack 2.0 (aka need a Keyboard / Piano Pack)

Rage Against the Machine Pack


Note: Yeah "Killing in the Name" was in GH2 as one of the worst covers ever - hopefully it gets a second chance on RB2.

Korn Pack


Green Day Pack


Disturbed Pack 2 (The "Ohh Wah Wah" Pack)


Muse Pack 2 (aka "My Favorite Band Now" Pack)


The obvious, Nirvana's Nevermind album (Why has this not happened in Rock Band yet?)

Foo Fighters Pack (aka "Everlong!!!" and "My Hero!!")


Beastie Boys Pack (aka make it vocals only pack)


Blink 182 Pack (cause "All The Small Things" wasn't enough)


The "Ladies Want to Sing" Pack



Evanescence - "Bring Me to Life"
Paramore - "Misery Business" (in honor of Hayley Fridays on the NeoGAF Rock Band thread)
Avril Lavigne - "Sk8er Boi" (A SingStar favorite)

No Doubt Pack 2 (aka do your best Gwen impression pack)


  • "Just A Girl"
  • "Don't Speak" (who cares if it is already in GH3, needs full band to make it better)
  • "Spiderwebs" (in GH On Tour, the DS one, but should be better as a full band)
Red Hot Chili Peppers Pack


Okay, this post is getting really long. Part 2 of this list next weekend.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Oh another shooter on XBLA... The WOTB: Commando 3 Review


Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 is actually the third game in Capcom's Commando series with Mercs as the last game. It definitely lives up to the Commando name of being an old-school style shooter with no story and an excuse to shoot at dudes for a hour. This time around, Commando 3 controls like a twin stick shooter compared to its old-school design to fit in to the modernized era of pick up and play shooters. While this new Xbox Live Arcade game by Capcom may fall into the whole "buy this game for a beta of a bigger game" category with the chance of playing the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix online beta, Commando 3 is a decent shooter that can be played with multiple people compared to playing it alone. Even though XBLA is filled with twin stick shooters, this one is worth a shot if you're a fan of the genre.

Commando 3 is as old-school as it gets, meaning if you get a game over, you have to start over from the beginning. There are only five levels, which seems short compared to other twin stick shooters on the 360, but it takes about a hour to blast through either alone of with two more players. Three characters are selectable as each of them have their advantages and weaknesses. Wolf is the balanced one of the bunch, Coyote has the highest health, but less speed while Fox carries the most grenades while having the lowest health of the group. Other than that, the three characters control the same and can obtain the same weapons. Among the five stages, it is just mindless shooting for the whole hour it takes to beat it since the story is not really why you want to play something like this. The variety of weapons is also impressive ranging from the normal machine gun, the spread gun, flamethrower, and missile launcher. Each of these weapons are their pros and cons are some are highly recommended in certain sections while some aren't. Secondary weapons are helpful in tense situations as well with grenades and the M-Crash, which is the clear out special attack. The variety of enemies, however, are not much and pretty repetitive with the occasional soldiers, guys with chainguns, turrets, or missiles. The same thing can be said for the bosses as well, which are only three and two of them are pretty much the same. Most of these enemies tend to respawn periodically as they come from both sides of the action meaning you're constantly watching your front and your back at all times. Occasional items like health, M-crash ammo, grenades, medals that increase your score, and an increase of power appear at a constant rate as you progress through these levels. Along with rescuing POWs, combo multipliers, secret areas for more items, and vehicles to drive around killing more dudes, Commando 3 definitely is a typical run and gun shooter that plays it safe.


While it can be played alone, it definitely feels boring and less chaotic compared to playing it with multiple people. Multiplayer is both local and online which is the recommended way to play Commando 3. Online play runs smoothly with minimal lag and usually a game like this requires some teamwork, but so far from my online sessions, voice does not really matter unless you encounter a teammate that is not cooperating. The lives count for online co-op especially are for the whole team rather than individually, so it is best that teamwork matters when trying to stay alive. The four difficulties that the game provides does give it some replay value, but not much especially when people are just going for the achievements. Black Ops and Suicide Mission can provide a decent challenge trying to stay alive (a few hits is all that it takes to lose a life if you're not paying attention), but it is still a relatively easy game to beat either alone or with other people.

Graphically, Commando 3 looks quite generic compared to the better looking twin stick shooters out on Xbox Live Arcade. It does suffer from some technical issues like slowdown when it gets hectic. The framerate will take a slight dip as previously mentioned, but still runs pretty constant. The comic strip style (similarly in Capcom's other twin stick shooter, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil) is okay with the characters fitting to their personas along with their in-game characteristics. The action does get too hectic with three players on the screen and it can be hard to tell at times where the small enemy bullets are coming from because some deaths can be frustrating because of that along with the old school scrolling system of not going back to somewhere in case you missed a health item or a secret area. The game's sound also has some issues especially with multiplayer games are some of the firing sounds might be cut off for other player gun sounds. The music is also minimal and moody pending on the game's environments. There is no voice acting in the comic strip-like cutscenes, which isn't much, and it is probably for the better anyway compared to Rocketmen. Despite some sound problems, the guns sound like guns and explosions sound like explosions, which is expected for a game like this.


Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 doesn't really raise the bar for twin stick shooters, but more of a safe approach for the genre with a generic storyline and characters, decent graphics and sound despite its problems, and pure mindless shooting. The shooting is fun and the length of the game may seem short being a hour to beat the five levels. This is clearly meant to be played with multiple people either locally or online compared to being a boring experience alone. It is also mostly on the easy side even though the harder difficulties can provide a little of a challenge when things get hectic. The three characters are distinctive enough to fit certain play styles. Plus, it comes with the online beta for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which is a good treat for Capcom fans. For 800 Microsoft Points, or ten bucks, Commando 3 is a below average twin stick shooter that is still worth a shot for fans of the genre and previous games even though there are better shooters out on Xbox Live Arcade that are longer and deeper than this one.

Score = 6.5/10

Pros:
  • Great co-op experience, both locally and online
  • Short and sweet
  • Distinctive characters for different play styles
Cons:
  • Boring game alone
  • Some slowdown and sound problems
  • Generic story and graphics
  • Perhaps too short compared to other shooters on XBLA
  • Falls into the "buy the game for a beta of a bigger game" category