Just a quick update as it’s been a while since I updated. I have a couple of new games, namely the UK version of GT5:Prologue and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 which are keeping me busy, Terrorist Hunt on Vegas2 is so addictive. Also have a handful of games ordered on their way, Monster Hunter 2, Williams Pinball Collection & Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice all on PSP. (Had some Paypal funds I needed to get rid of )

A while back Thesnipergecko asked me to help out on a site he runs called The-Reviewer, well unfortunately I’ve not had much time to help him out since he asked me due to work and family, however with work being a bit easier of late I’m now in a better position to help out more on the site, it’s a great site covering all things 360/PS3/Wii & PC.

I highly recommend you take a look at The-Reviewer and sign up to the forums.

I was also under the impression that Gamecovered was no longer being updated however it appears I was wrong, so go check out Gamecovered too!

Ok, so not the same kind of ‘Flash’ that NokkonWud likes to take part in - I’ve become addicted to a little site called Kongregate.

“Founded in 2006 and currently in a state of heavy development, Kongregate seeks to create the leading online hub for players and game developers to meet up, play games, and operate together as a community.

By wrapping user-submitted Flash games with various community features, Kongregate’s site serves as a unique way for users to play great web-based games alongside friends. Anyone can add their own games to Kongregate’s library in a process that’s fast and simple.”

At the time of typing this there are currently “6,542 online playing 3,624 free games!”, so that’s a fair few games to be getting stuck into. The thing I love about this site is the ‘Badges’ think of these as like Xbox360 achievements, I am a sucker for these things and it’s the main reason I don’t want Achievements to come to the PS3, as I know I would spend all my living hours whoring Achievement points!

Check the site out here - Kongregate (Also if you use that link I get some points if you sign up :D)

Kongregate has also got me interested in Flash Game Development, I’ve now got Flash CS3 installed on my Mac and an looking to start learning Flash and ActionScript as a little hobby, so check back to see how I’m doing with that, If I make anything playable I’ll link it up on the blog.

And the perfect soundtrack to develop Flash games to?

You can grab the downloadable version for $5 ! - Comes with a ton of cool artwork and wallpapers, and a 40-page pdf. Great album for a great great price.

http://ghosts.nin.com/

Just wanted to bring this to the attention of anyone who reads this blog, this game deserves it:

“Cave Story, or Doukutsu Monogatari, is a Japanese freeware PC side-scrolling platformer game developed by StudioPixel. It has been translated into English by Aeon Genesis Translations and will have an official translation script published sometime in the near future.

Cave Story is really one of those games that can be considered a masterpiece of game design. There are so many wonderful and classic gaming elements, that I cannot even begin to describe just one quality well enough to say “It is for this one reason alone that Cave Story is a great game.” There is just so much effort, originality and ingenuity behind this game and it really shows more and more as you play through it.

The developer, Pixel spent five years making this game as fun and as great as it is by adding solid controls, smooth gameplay, a great cast of characters and dialogue, an interesting plot, good music and beautiful old-school 2-D artwork. And on top of all this added multiple endings, several boss battles, tons of items to collect, all kinds of added secret bonuses and special challenges, various and considerably different methods of playing through the game depending on your actions, competition ranking features and an extremely high replay value. For a freeware game it is fairly lengthy too. Cave Story is by far the best freeware game I have ever had the honor of playing through and certainly one of the best games I’ve played.

The gameplay plays like a combination of various NES/Famicom games. Some that come to mind are Metroid, Castlevania, Megaman, Blaster Master and Monster Mash. Pixel’s art style and character design and boss battles are very reminiscent of Treasure games, like Gunstar Heroes, which happens to be one of my personal favorite games of all time. So if you are a fan of any of these titles, then you are in for a real treat. It was a wonderful and addicting experience playing through it and I hope anyone reading this who has not already played this game will give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed. It reminded me of why I enjoy playing videogames.”

Everyone should at least give this game a try, you can download the game and the English translation patch at MiraiGamer  (for both windows and mac)

Metal Gear Solid 4 finally has a confirmed release date of… 12-06-08!

In anticipation of the game I have added a Countdown Timer to the sidebar and am playing through all the previous games on PS1 and PS2, and may well pick up Portable Ops on PSP too.

Coming included with MGS4 if you pre-order will be a Metal Gear Solid Online “Starter Pack” which will guarantee you a access to the online multiplayer Beta, due to start late April.

I’m about half-way through Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, so quite a way to go yet before MGS4!

Better late than never, Part II of my GDC post, some other interesting announcements from GDC ‘08:

Portal 2 Accidentally Confirmed?

“I believe Doug Lombardi, who is our lead marketing director at Valve, has announced Portal 2.” were the words spoken by lead designer Kim Swift in answer to the question “what’s next for Portal?” during an interview with G4. Lombardi has not issued any kind of official word on the future of the franchise.

Warhawk DLC

“As long as the community exists and as long as there is an appetite for playing the game and new content, that’s good for us and we want to try to do split deliveries — you can always get free stuff and you always have to option to buy certain content,” Says Dylan Jobe, game director for Warhawk. Basically Incognito is willing to support the game as long as the players are willing to make it worth their while.

New Wipeout HD Trailer

Don’t need to say much about this one, so here is the trailer!

As we all know this week is GDC 2008, here is Part I of my 2-part post on some of the announcements from GDC that are of interest to me personally.

PixelJunk Eden
From Q-Games, the creators of PixelJunk Racers and PixelJunk Monsters comes PixelJunk Eden - Which I am really not sure how to describe, so best I just link up this video:

Quake Live
id Software & IGA Worldwide have announced a partnership to bring Quake Live to a web browser near you! - The game, along with stat-tracking, friends lists, sponsored tournaments and matchmaking, is all accessed through a web browser, ad-sponsored and free of charge.

You can sign up for the Beta now at - quakelive.com

I will post more GDC tidbits on Friday.

Non-GDC News
Toshiba Drops HD-DVD

At last the format-wars are over! - Toshiba finally announces the discontinuation of HD-DVD. Ceasing production and shipments of HD-DVD players and recorders by March of this year & will also be halting production of the format for disc drives in PCs.

Just wanted to ‘pimp’ this fantastic Podcast I stumbled upon, thanks to Brain Damage.

The Best Radio You Have Never Heard
- music for people serious about music.

The Best Radio You Have Never Heard Podcast, featuring a variety of artists in 80 minute-long free download music mixes producing the Best Music Radio Podcast You Have Ever Heard.

80 minute long free music compilations which feature intriguingly mixed rock and rock-based music from a variety of artists that in other contexts might be considered incompatible. Genres, rhythms, moods and artists are seamlessly blended together to produce listening experiences you can only dream about finding in traditional radio. BRYHNH includes favorites and new discoveries from both familiar artists and those you wish you’d heard before, downloaded twice monthly to your computer or iPod. Ranked #7 in The Digital Podcast Top 100 Podcasts for 2005 and # 3 Classic Rock Podcast for 2007 by about.com
Compiled and Mixed/Edited by Perry Bax/Chicago/USA. The Best Radio You Have Never Heard Podcast might just be your ticket to radio paradise!

Rock On!

Thought I’d stick this up as Friday is almost upon us!

 Taken from the latest 1UP Show

 Looks like it could be a contender to make me put FFXII down for a while.

What is it about RPG’s that suck you in? In-between Burnout Paradise sessions these last couple of weeks I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XII, having previously spent years playing Final Fantasy XI & World of Warcraft on the PC, I feel right at home with Final Fantasy XII it really does feel like your in a Single Player MMORPG if that makes sense. Being honest I’ve not been paying a great deal of attention to the storyline (I’ve heard its quite poor compared to the likes of VII and X) but the actual game is fantastic and the characters are great. I’ll hopefully get it finished before Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core arrives on the PSP, but I doubt it.

As mentioned above, this last couple of weeks I have also been playing Burnout Paradise which I’m finding to be a good game but not a great game, I don’t know what it is, but it feels like its lacking something, I need to play more of it though, online is really good fun, but I think I prefer Revenge. The surprise of the last couple of weeks though has to be PixelJunk Monsters - What a brilliant game this is, it is basically a Desktop Tower Defence clone, but it is done brilliantly, the graphics whilst simple are very eye catching, highly recommend anyone with a PS3 grabs it from the PSN Store.

This week sees the European release of Devil May Cry 4 - Lets see if that can drag me off Final Fantasy XII!