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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Twenty vintage video game adverts...

And when I say vintage, I really mean vintage. The new gaming generation would most certainly be too young to even know about most of the games that were around in the early 80’s. Hell I was just sucking my thumb in those years.

But to see some of the campaigns these guys came up with for the likes of Pole Position and Pitfall are pretty outstanding...

See the others in the original post here...

CSi New York the video game

CSi New York the video gameFor the first time ever, immerse yourself in the world of CSI - NY. Experience five original cases written by CSI writers and solve mysteries alongside your favorite characters from the hit TV crime show.

Watch the trailer on my YouTube channel here... (please subscribe)

CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game
CSi New York the video game

Key Features

Solve crimes in the big apple
Finally, CSI fans can experience the world, characters and mysteries of CSI: NY. Piece together clues and uncover hidden evidence in the biggest city in America. Explore five brand-new, bizarre crimes and bring suspects to justice.
Play as the stars
For the first time, you can take on the role of CSI stars as you play the characters of Detectives Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera.
More gameplay
A new, moody graphic-novel art style and more user-friendly interface will assure accessibility and hours of replay for all types of gamers. Improved gameplay includes new mechanics for conversations, blood work, computer use and much more.
Control interrogations
For the first time in CSI, control interrogations and use evidence to reveal a suspect’s lies. Take part in dramatic interrogations, and create atmospheric reenactments while exploring grisly crime scenes inspired by the show.
Dig deeper with new mini games
Includes an incredible variety of new mini-games, including code breaking, facial reconstruction, identify locations from photos, triangulate shooter locations, manipulate the X-Ray scanner, physics simulation reconstructions, identify poisons, compare samples for differences, Internet searching and more!


Shaun White Snowboarding soundtrack list and video

Ubisoft announced the soundtrack for Shaun White Snowboarding, a brand new video game franchise built around Olympic and X-Games gold medalist Shaun White.

Shaun’s love for classic rock played an important role in inspiring the final list of songs for his video game.

Featuring an eclectic mix of genres and artists, the soundtrack flawlessly aligns fresh alternative beats, hardcore rock and old school classics, forming every thrill-seeker’s ideal playlist. Some featured standout artists include Kasabian, Audioslave, MGMT, Heart, Blue Öyster Cult and Bob Dylan.
Below is the full list of tracks featured in Shaun White Snowboarding:
“The Press Corpse” - Anti-Flag
“Gasoline” - Audioslave
“Berlin” - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
“Weapon of Choice” - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” - Blue Öyster Cult
“Hurricane” - Bob Dylan
“Someday Baby” - Bob Dylan
“Acceptable in the 80s” - Calvin Harris
“Clean My Wounds” - Corrosion of Conformity
“Time to Fly” - Dunk
“We Come 1” - Faithless
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” - Gil Scott-Heron
“Counting the Days” - Goldfinger
“Jump into the Fire” - Harry Nilsson
“Barracuda” - Heart
“The Fashion (Do or Die)” - illScarlett
“Anna Molly” - Incubus
“White Rabbit” - Jefferson Airplane
“Reason Is Treason” - Kasabian
“Stuntman” - Kasabian
“Cult of Personality” - Living Colour
“Working for the Weekend” - Loverboy
“Control” - Metro Station
“Of Moons, Birds & Monsters” - MGMT
“Time to Pretend” - MGMT
“Dashboard” - Modest Mouse
“Stompbox” - Overseer
“Rock Box” - Run DMC
“Ill Placed Trust” - Sloan
“Ring of Fire” - Social Distortion
“Save Yourself” - Stabbing Westward
“The Ballroom Blitz” - Sweet
“Perfect Wave” - The Beautiful Unknown (Formerly Barlow)
“Keep Loving Me” - The Draytones
“Waiting for Go” - The Dykeenies
“Alive & Amplified” - The Mooney Suzuki
“Great DJ” - The Ting Tings
“Every Inambition” - The Trews
“Animal I Have Become” - Three Days Grace
“Play That Funky Music” - Wild Cherry
Shaun White is an Olympic gold medalist with 42 professional wins, including seven Winter X-Games gold medals. He was also the first athlete to win gold medals in Winter and Summer X-Games in unique disciplines. White collaborated with Ubisoft’s award-winning development team to create Shaun White Snowboarding. The game features open world mountains across the globe, where players are free to define their own experiences and express themselves through tricks, unique riding styles and highly customizable avatars. Players can also hang out with their friends and have fun off the board by throwing snowballs, hiking to access secret spots, and filming their friends doing tricks.

Shaun White Snowboarding will be available for retail beginning Nov. 14, 2008 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, the Nintendo Wii home video game system from Nintendo, the Nintendo DS system, the PSP (PlayStationPortable) system, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC.


Shaun White Snowboarding

Shaun White SnowboardingThe story of Shaun White Snowboarding is a tale of two fun, distinct games that, if joined together, probably would have formed something better than either attempt on its own.

Unsurprisingly, the feature nod goes to White's beautiful Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 incarnation, which boasts four (or five, if you get the Target-branded special edition) huge mountains, lets you tackle challenges in whatever order you please and features open-world online multiplayer (16 players). It also plays nicely, with easy controls and smooth animation leading the way.

Shaun White Snowboarding
Problem is, a major chunk of the game's single-player objectives center around platformer-style item collection, which isn't exactly the best use of a forward-moving snowboarding game. A clumsy interface makes locating these items trickier than it should be. While the ability to set a warp-to marker at will makes it easy to take multiple stabs at nabbing an item, the process feels intrusive when you'd rather be racing down a mountain and racking up trick points.
That's something the Wii version - a completely different game in every respect - does much better. Road Trip is less attractive, less ambitious and more linear than its Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 cousin, but the events fall more consistently in line with what one expects and wants from a snowboarding game.
Trip also benefits from excellent use of the balance board as a mock snowboard, although the game also works surprisingly well with just the Wiimote. The Wiimote scheme is considerably easier, but mastering the board is considerably more fun. In a nice touch, the game adjusts the target times and scores for every event to reflect your control method, and you're free to change back and forth between events without sacrificing your overall progress.
The downside to either method is a familiar song for Wii games: less flexibility in controls. With buttons at a premium, your range of acrobatics is sorely limited. While pulling tricks off isn't a mindless cakewalk, the sense of risk and danger is considerably less than what the other game allows. "Trip" would have benefited from some kind of nunchuck attachment support, but the disparity between that degree of control and that of the available methods probably was too large for Ubisoft to justify its inclusion.
In the end, neither game completely nails it. Fortunately, neither game blows it, either. Issues await you no matter which poison you pick, but if you're steeled for those issues, a good time awaits, as well.

SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING
Developer: Ubisoft.
Systems: Xbox 360, PS3 (also available for PC, DS, PSP, PS2).
Price: $60 ($30-$40).
Rating: Teen; lyrics, mild suggestive themes, mild violence.

SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING: ROAD TRIP
Developer: Ubisoft.
System: Wii.
Price: $50.
Rating: Everyone 10+; comic mischief, lyrics.

Source: Star Tribune

Enter a snowboarding world of total freedom. You can create your own experience in this game, and choose when, where, how and with whom you want to ride.

Developed in close collaboration with Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White – the most successful snowboarder in the history of the sport – Shaun White Snowboarding is the next-gen game that redefines the action sports genre.

Key Features :

• Open-World Mountains : Choose how you ride in open-world mountains across the world: Conquer the extreme peak conditions, create your own paths in the back country or compete with fellow riders in the terrain parks.

• Your Friends Are Always Around : Play in a world where your friends are always around. Do your own runs on mountains populated by real gamers, or join your friends for a quick session from anywhere in the mountains.

• More than Just Snowboarding : Have fun with your friends on and off the board: Throw snowballs, hike to access secret spots, film your friends doing crazy tricks. You can also upload your videos online to share with the world.

• Ride Your Way : Express yourself through tricks, riding styles and highly customizable avatars – both in single-player and in the online world. Use the intuitive dual analog control to pull off a huge variety of tricks that express your style.

• Next-Gen Technology : Built on the Assassin\'s Creed™ engine, this game creates a massive world with gorgeous visuals and realistic NPC interaction. This is also the first time a snowboarding game is completely driven by physics instead of animation.

• Authentic Snowboarding : Ubisoft has worked closely with Shaun White to infuse the gaming experience with authenticity, personality and humor. Shaun is a friend and mentor in the game, and will help you with your skills. And if you are deemed worthy, you may even be able to play as Shaun in the game…


Quantum of Solace video game review 2009

Quantum of SolaceQuantum of Solace
Playstation 3, Activision, T (Teen)
Uh, oh, another video game based upon a movie. Someone please ring the alarm and get a can of air freshener. It's no secret that video games based on movies, especially games that slip out on the market around the same time of a big movie premiere, can be a dicey product.
At best they are solid representations of the characters and scenarios included in the big screen adventure. At their worst, they are hackneyed advertisements that cost too much ($60) and run too long (6-10 hours).

Given that "Quantum of Solace" centers on an iconic character, James Bond, the need to be at least a passable game is crucial to the franchise.

Quantum of Solace
"Quantum of Solace" is combines story cues and characters from both the recent movie release and the "Casino Royale" movie. If you never saw either movie then the story of the game will not connect neatly. The problem is that the dialogue is sparse throughout the game, with most of is coming between missions. And it sets up the next snippet of action, instead of establishing a stronger link between events. The action takes places across 14 stages in locales such as Madagascar and Miami, and settings ranging from caves to estates.
The individual stages are short. If you are familiar with video games you can breeze through most of them in 30 minutes, including multiple deaths. The game presents an interesting mix of foot chases, hand-to-hand combat and some decent gunfights. The "Call of Duty 4" game engine was used as a template but they forgot to give the game the same level of intensity. Only the timed missions have a sense of urgency. The enemies are not very aware. They are bright enough to chase and flank you, they also should be bright enough not to take cover behind explosive containers.
The game is played from first- and third-person perspectives. The controls get caught in the middle at times. The main example is when you have to remove yourself from cover then hop over an object. Bond will remove himself from cover but instead of immediately hopping over the barrier you might have to step back to try to clear it. The weapons targeting is decent, much better at mid-range and long distance when in first-person view. At up-close range you have some of those "how did I miss?" moments.
The environments are fully destructible. In some instances they are falling down around you as you are moving through them. Exploding melons in market gunfights, splintered fences and shattered windows are just a few of the effects. The explosions, which look nice, have a Hollywood soundstage feel. But it is cool how the ripple from a nearby grenade or large explosion can shake your aim.

"Quantum" is not a terrible effort. It just needs more intensity and more robust dialogue to remove the standard movie video-game release stigma that comes with its title.

Source: Cleveland.com

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Guitar Hero - On Tour Decades Nintendo DS game review

Guitar Hero - On Tour DecadesGuitar Hero - On Tour Decades
Nintendo DS, Activision, E 10+ (Everyone 10+)

Description: A pint-sized version of the music-rhythm game.

Features: The game features 28 tracks from the '70s, '80s and '90s. A palm-sized color-coded keyboard attaches to the DS through the GameBoy cartridge slot, allowing players to hit the notes as they strum the touchpad. 

Due to limitations of the DS speakers the game is best enjoyed with headphones. 

Guitar Hero - On Tour Decades
Players can challenge each other to a duel via a Wi-fi connection and sabotage their performances. The oddest feature is the use of the DS microphone (yelling, "Rock On") to activate the star power feature. For those who "just have" to play Guitar Hero in some incarnation every waking minute of the day it can be enjoyable. For casual fans it's more like spraying salad spritzer on a heaping bowl of lettuce. Grade: C

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 on PlayStation 3

pes 2009PES 2009: Pro Evolution Soccer
Playstation 3, Konami, E (Everyone)

Description: The latest installment of the soccer franchise that focuses on the international game.

Features: "PES 2009: Pro Evolution Soccer" is one of the more technical soccer games on the market. The immense move set is filled with player-specific tricks and skills.
The majority of the moves require button combinations to complete, which makes pulling off advanced moves in game situations difficult.

pes 2009The computer AI doesn't make many mistakes with the ball. The auto-switch system (player takes control of the nearest man to ball) feels sluggish. The "Master League" features remain a draw for fans of international soccer by allowing them to take day-to-day control of a club. The graphics are rich and detailed. Announcers keep up with the action fairly well and even comment on your coaching skills (or lack thereof).

Metal Slug 7 - Nintendo DS video game review

Metal Slug 7Metal Slug 7
Nintendo DS, SNK, T (Teen)

Description: Action-warfare game in a classic two-dimensional setting.

Features: Don't let "Metal Slug 7" fool you. This game is a nasty little bugger. The game requires acute timing. The screen is always full of missiles, bullets, lasers and anything else the developers could think of. And when you are not dodging projectiles over the game's seven levels, you have to navigate traps and pitfalls.

Metal Slug 7Each of seven mercenaries has a combat specialty. The trick is juggling your "continues" so you can have the right solider for each situation. The reward for making it to the end of the stage is a battle with a mechanical juggernaut of some sorts.

Need for Speed mobile delayed until March 2009

need for speed mobileEA statement...
EA Mobile is excited about the Need for Speed Undercover iPhone and iPod touch game we have in development. Currently, we are fine tuning and polishing the game so that when it launches it is the best, most engaging racing game iPhone users have yet to experience. We appreciate the anticipation around the arrival of this game.

As we approach a confirmed ship date, we will alert the community so stay tuned for more information in the coming months.”
Need for Speed was originally slated for a late 2008 release, but has now seen a couple of delays.

Hysteria Project iPhone video game teaser...

Hysteria Project

No more information on Hysteria Project other then what you see in this teaser.

The company making this game is headed up the producer of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart who also produced the Virtual Villagers game - Bulkypix. Expect Hysteria Project to launch this year on iPhone.

Watch video...

Watch the first trailer on my YouTube channel here... (please subscribe)

Hysteria Project