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Do you think the new PS3 Slim rumors are true? And do you think it’ll be sold for $50-100 less than the current model?

I hope so. At this point people are expecting a new, slimmed down PS3 sku for a cheaper price. There’s no doubt in my mind that all of these price drop rumors are hurting their already low sales numbers. As a rule, I usually don’t care about sales numbers, but if these dirt low numbers keep up (or down rather) through the holiday season and into next year than I’m going to start getting a little worried. I don’t know how long Sony will be able to keep pushing this system if they can’t sell consoles. So, yes, I do believe the latest slim rumors and for the hope of PS3 gamers everywhere, they’d better be true, or our console of choice might disappear completely. Also, what I think Sony should do in my opinion, is launch the PS3 slim as soon as possible but only for $50 less, then at Tokyo Game Show drop the price of the old skus $100 and the slim a further $50. Sure, they’ll be losing money but lets look at it like this. They can sell a bunch of systems for $299 and lose some money, or they can not sell a bunch of systems for $399 and lose all the money. This isn’t a matter of making money anymore, it’s about moving systems, because $299 is greater than $0.

Do you think the PSP Go! will see a price cut before it’s even launched?

It’s possible. It’s my understanding that they could sell it for the price of the PSP 3000 and they’d still be making money on it. So while it’s possible, I don’t see it happening unless the Go! flops misserably at launch, which I don’t think it will. So I think it’ll be at least 6 months (read: E3 2010) until the PSP Go! sees a price drop. That said, I’d like it to have a price drop because I want one. I didn’t buy a PSP because of the UMD so the fact that it’s now UMD-less it makes me very happy, but that price point makes me want to cry.

How’d you enjoy Killzone 2?

Alright, so I got this question on twitter from someone who saw that I was playing Killzone 2. Yes, I just bought my own copy (but I did play it before) so it wasn’t until last week that I got to just sit down and play through it at my leisure. So what did I think of it? It was pretty damn good. I won’t say it’s the funnest game I’ve ever played, but it’s the best looking. Haven’t got a chance to check out the multiplayer yet, having just beat the single player yesterday morning, so I can’t comment on that, but I will be checking it out shortly. So, my thoughts on the game, very good, did it deserve the massive mountain of hype? I don’t know, I wasn’t the one hyping it.

What game are you most looking forward to in the second half of 2009?

I think it’s because it’s coming out next month (hopefully) but actually it’s Batman: Arkham Asylum. I am a HUGE Batman fan and I really want to play this game. I’m definitely going to pick it up Day 1. Just the thought of a GOOD Batman game makes me giddy. But, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, MAG: Massive Action Games and (looking to next week) Battlefield 1943 are all games I can’t wait to get a hold of and play.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. It’s summer time so until the GamesCon in Germany I’m not sure what I’m going to write about. I finally have some time to play actual games so I’ll be doing a lot of that. Anyway, I’ll be back with more next SATURDAY (unless I’m stuck in a tent somewhere) so if you have any questions leave them in the comments or send them to my twitter account (right her’).

Honorable Mentions:

There were a lot of games that came out this year that I didn’t think deserved to be on the list so this is for them. Games like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ghost Busters and Bionic Commando, they were good but just didn’t make the top ten. Also, I’m including in this BlazBlue, not because it doesn’t deserve to be on the list, but because it was just too late for me to play it.

10) MLB 09 The Show

If you’re a PlayStation owner and a baseball fan then you’re already very aware of this game. The MLB The Show series is one of the best baseball franchises in the history of video games, and it’s exclusive to PlayStation consoles. In my experience, the Show is the closest to replicating the real sport as any game has come, but with one very nice improvement over the real thing, it doesn’t take three hours to play a game.

9) Flower

When you look up artistic game in the dictionary you see a picture of Flower. That said, it’s the best, most relaxing artsy game I’ve ever played. While the gameplay may be simplistic the music and art style makes it a very worthy experience. It’s also one of the best PSN games of the year, if it were any other year it’d be a lot higher on the list.

8 ) Red Faction: Guerrilla

This is definitely the most overlooked of the open world triplets that were released in May/June. It’s very unfortunate that it was released right in the middle of E3 because it was completely over shadowed by the spectacle, and the fanboy war over which is better, inFAMOUS or Prototype. The big feature of this game has to be the ability to destroy everything, and when I say everything I mean everything. Ever wondered what happens when you fire a missile into a wall? Well, this game will let you do that. Everything in Red Faction is physics based allowing you to destroy every building on the map. It’s definitely one of the most fun games of the year.

7) Fight Night Round 4

One of the best fighting games of this generation. It’s really unfortunate that it was released just a few weeks after the best fighting game of this generation. FNR4 is visually stunning and features very intuitive controls.

6) UFC 2009 Undisputed

I’m going to get a lot of flack for saying this but I actually liked UFC more than FNR4. Yes, I do think FNR4 does a lot right but I think that a UFC game features things that can’t be in a boxing game. Undisputed is the first game to really get the ground game of Mixed Martial Arts right, and because of it I think it’s the best fighting sim of the year.

5) Resident Evil 5

Racism be damned, this game is good and I’m gonna give it the recognition it deserves. It’s the second best looking game on the PS3 this year and it’s insanely fun to play. I don’t really know what to say about it other than that.

4) Prototype

Love it or hate it, Prototype is a very good game. If anything it suffers from developers who tried to do a little bit too much. The story is kind of lax and it’s environment is lacking but I’ll be damned if it isn’t fun as hell. Sometimes it’s great to just forget about story or morals and kill everyone and destroy everything. Plus, as Penny Arcade so aptly said, you can karate kick a chopper, what more do you want?

3) inFAMOUS

This is definitely my favorite game that’s hit this year (but why’s it not number 1? because there are better games out there). The reason why it’s listed above Prototype is because I liked inFAMOUS more (duh). While Prototype does have the reeking havoc part down the rest of the experience just doesn’t live up to expectations like what inFAMOUS has. As I said in my review the story is engaging, the gameplay is fun and Empire City is amazing.

2) Street Fighter IV

Remember how I said the best fighting game in history came out this year? Well this is it. The only flaw this game has is that it might be a little too hardcore for some. But other than that, Street Fighter IV is pretty much the prefect fighting game experience. This ain’t your daddies button masher.

1) Killzone 2

This should be no surprise to anyone but I do consider Killzone 2 to be the best game of this year. I actually just bought my own copy of this game a few days ago so I haven’t had the ability to just sit down and play it until now and damn, does it ever look good. But, while the game may look good it’s not just sparkles and explosions, the game play’s pretty damn good too. There is a reason why this game got so much hype and haters be damned, it deserved every bit of it.

Regardless of which games you liked more, you can’t deny that it has been a great year for PS3 owners. While the console may not be selling a ton if you already own a PS3 you should be very happy right now.

Alright, my impressions from this beta can be summed up thusly “I can’t wait for this game.” Most people are describing the game play as a “faster Gears of War” and, for the most part, I agree with that. However, there are a few things that set this apart from Gears of War. The first has to be the inclusion of the vertical element. The ability to climb up the sides of buildings and take cover on a higher floor is awesome. Me being more of a sniper type player I loved climbing up to a balcony, taking cover behind a wall and sniping enemies with the strangely named “FAIL” gun.

The unfortunate thing about the beta is that there were only a few maps and two game types (in competitive), which is to be expected. But the maps I did play were very fun. I’m afraid I don’t remember what they were called (because I identified them by picture, not name) but they were both very well designed. They both featured lots of sniping points and higher areas to climb up to. That said, I do have a beef with both of these levels. The play on them is very hectic. Because the levels are very wide, so most of your deaths will most likely come from behind (as mine did). Due to the design of the two levels there are lots of ways to sneak from one end to the other without being seen, through small side alleys that no one ever uses. Of course, the way to fix that would be to use tactics and actually have people watching those alleyways but come one, who’s going to due that?

The two modes that were available were the obligatory team death match and an original mode called “Plunder” (which isn’t actually that original, it’s sort of like capture the flag except there’s only one flag). The point of plunder is to capture a piece of treasure that’s stationed in the centre of the map. I’ve played the mode a few times and I’ll tell you, it’s really pretty fun. However, I do find that the maps aren’t long enough for this mode. It’s very easy to simply grab the piece of treasure and run, all by yourself, back to your drop point. Maybe I’m just that good, or maybe there’s a design flaw here, but I’ve done that several times and it makes me wonder why I’m able to do that so easily.

There’s one final thing I was a little negative about and that’s the characters you play as. The two teams are made up of the heroes and the villains. So you play as characters from the single player campaign, and that’s what I don’t like. I would rather see it rebels vs. mercenaries, with characters you create, instead of the characters from the story. Playing as Drake or Sully or Chloe can take away from the single player experience as well as the multiplayer experience. Playing on a team with four other Nathan Drakes really takes away from the experience. It would’ve been much nicer to have seen Naughty Dog include customizable characters.

There are also the always necessary perks. I’m not sure if these are all the perks that are going to be included in the final multiplayer but you don’t really notice a difference between the different ones. There’s also a reward system, so I’ll be interested in seeing how that’s used.

And that was just the competitive multiplayer, there was also a cooperative multiplayer. Unfortunately, there was only the one map, taken straight from the single player demo that was shown off. But it was enough to get a taste of what to expect. It’s three player coop with each player taking the role of either Drake, Chloe or Sully. The gameplay breaks down to this, you kill a wave of enemies, then there’s a small cooperative action where you all do something like push a book case against a wall so you can use it to climb over. Once you climb over then you’re faced with another small area and waves of enemies. It’s pretty basic coop really. But, it really encourages the team to work as, well, a team. You can not just play alone or you will get slaughtered because enemies come from everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They come from the front, behind, the sides, everywhere. If you don’t have one of your teammates watching your ass you’re not going to make it out of there.

I’ve sort of focused on the bad here but my impressions of the two multiplayer modes are very good. The gunplay mechanics have been hugely improved upon that which was present in Uncharted Drake’s Fortune and the cover mechanics are still the best in any game I’ve played. Of course, the thing that the Uncharted franchise is famous for is it’s amazing graphics, and this game definitely lives up to those lofty standards. It looks just as good, if not better, than Killzone 2. Of course, the main attraction of a game like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is it’s single player campaign so all of this is really a bonus. That said, from what I’ve played, this is one hell of a bonus. It’s incredibly fun to play and I can’t wait to see the full level selection.

VG247.com also detailed a few new features, the first of which is a “reputation” system. This reputation system will reportedly allow other players to rate how one plays online. There will also be a grief reporting system that will allow people to take screen shots of offensive players and send them to Sony.

A huge feature that is stepping away from the player to player interaction is the ability to download patches in the background. Meaning you won’t have to sit for five minutes while Socom Confrontation, for example, downloads one of it’s many game fixes.

And the final feature that was detailed is the ability to have simultaneous HDMI and digital optical outputting. Me not being a tech nut I have no idea what that means but yay to those of you who care.

While those were all the details VG247 reported about the Firmware update they did tease that there will be more coming. I’m not sure if there is any legitimacy to these claims, but lets hope so. [Source Article]

But that’s not all, since I really don’t like just copying another website’s content I’ve got some of my own opinions and questions to throw into the ring. The first and most obvious has to be, will the XMB be redone? While I have no problems with the Cross Media Bar (XMB) many people find it over crowded and intimidating, so that could use an overhaul. Also, if Sony doesn’t include cross game invites and voice chat this will be a huge missed opportunity. The community is crying for these features Sony! Don’t let them down, you know how mean PlayStation fanboys can be.

The intriguing thing about this is how the PS3 continues to match the Xbox 360 in it’s progression. Through the first two years of each console’s existence the sales have been almost identical. Last year, the 360’s third year, sales dropped dramatically at the beginning of the year and through the summer with the PS3 outselling it for many weeks. But then in the fall the NXE was launched and along came the famous price cut, that launched the Xbox 360 into it’s hot streak. Now this year, in the PS3’s third year of existance, it’s sales have slowed down due to it’s price point. However, with a strong lineup, a rumored price cut to come this fall and an NXE style firmware update, we could see the PS3 sales make the same leap up as the Xbox 360’s sales did last holiday season. Of course, this is assuming that there is, in fact the rumored price cut and that these Firmware 3.0 details are real.

Update: Unsurprisingly Sony has denied this. A statement from Jennifer Clark, director of SCEA Product publicity said “These rumors are completely untrue, nothing has been announced or confirmed for upcoming PlayStation firmware, and this is just wild speculation.” While I was, and still am, skeptical about the firmware update rumors, I don’t believe what Sony tells us. This seems to be the standard way things go with Sony these days: things leak, Sony denies it, then they announce it.

I’ve taken my time in getting back on the writing train so I thought I’d do a quick review on the latest game I have been playing. GT5 Prologue is a game I finally got round to playing when I fancied a game I could pick up and play over the exam period. I have been putting off playing this mainly because I it sounded like poor value for money and in some ways at £17.99 it is, but for fans of the racing genre it is still a must have. GT is a relatively new experience for me and I was not disappointed, the tracks are limited but I like that in a game, because gives you more time to hone your skills. Although I Daytona gets old fairly quickly and London is poor, the rest provide a nice mixture, where the High Speed Ring breaks you in gently and tracks like Suzuka test your ability to hit the right lines to the limits. There are cars a plenty too, although I still haven’t been bored enough to do the billions of laps need to get the Ferrari F1 2007 car, I have managed to unlock enough along the way to keep me happy.

I decided to start with the Focus ST, in orange of course, which handles like a dream, but the Integra is required for some of the C-class races so maybe better investment to save some extra pennies for later on, although for those who haven’t had the pleasure of making their own journey through the game I will leave my suggestions there. Right, so I have never really driven a racing sim before and found it tough switching between cars because of how unique they are to drive. This was particularly true as I invested in more power, the Ford GT in particular took me a lot of getting used to. However, GT is very rewarding and the new in car view, for me is a game seller itself. I normally go for the behind the car view, but on GT, especially early on the sense of speed is non-existent and this would have been a major turn off for me if the new in car view hadn’t been there, (because I hate sitting on the bonnet because of the loss of control it provides). The new in car view sits you in the exact viewpoint you would have, behind the steering with your three mirrors and makes the experience much more absorbing and exhilarating. I at least, managed to imagine myself as a real racing driver more than I ever had in any game previously and when I realised this I feel in love with the game.

There are some gripes which I have to address. AI is like racing a robot, they only have a couple of different scenarios and otherwise only change if you are quick enough to interfere and for a modern game that for me is unforgivable. Also some of the speed lap times are impossible in my opinion, without some serious ‘cheating’ and by this I mean taking corners at high speed around the edge…which brings me onto the next point of lack of damage, which I know has always been the case and is to be sorted in the final game. However, unless they make the speed laps achievable without riding the walls then damage is basically going to ruin any chance of full completion for I guess the vast majority gamers. I still haven’t got gold for everything and although it is different I have managed Platinum on Wipeout therefore have some pedigree in perseverance and driving skill, but correct me if I am wrong here.

To sum up, this review has been fairly vague, but lets face it apart from me most of you readers have played this before and know what its all about. I have tried to provide a different perspective, by getting across how this differs from the competition and how it has made me feel. Therefore, even if you can’t pick a second hand copy up you should still consider investing in it, because who knows when the final game will be hitting the shelves. This title should definitely wet you whistle and has most certainly ensured I will be be buying the final version.

What we loved

- The in car view

- The depth of realism

- The number of cars

What we Hated

- AI

- Speed lap difficulty

- No in-car view on two player

- No damage

Overall Verdict – 4 Stars ( What does this mean? )

If you love driving games buy it, even if your an arcade racer fan. I stuck it straight on professional handling and manual gearbox and loved the challenge it provided, this not only made the game more enjoyable but added to the longevity.

Are Call of Duty and Rock Band considered Xbox franchises?

I already know where this question comes from. I remember hearing this on one of the podcasts I listen to and my answer is yes, in North America. Unfortunately, among core gamers in North America every game that is multi-console is an Xbox Franchise. Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Fallout 3, and just about every other multi-console game. The PS3 install base is so small in North America that nobody even knows it exists. The PS3 is seen as a second rate console (despite being every bit as powerful as the Xbox 360) and it doesn’t get any credit at all. This is really quite sad but there’s no reason to lie about it, it is the truth.

Will Valve ever develop another game for the PS3?

Another simple answer, no. For some reason, people still say that saying “it’s too hard” is a valid excuse for a developer to avoid a console, but it’s just because the PS3 is not huge in North America. If Peter Moore came out and said that he wasn’t going to develop games for the Xbox 360 anymore because it’s too hard there would be public uproar and boycotts and death threats. But since it’s the third place console nobody cares about it and those who dare soil Valve’s good name by complaining about it are seen as whiners.

Will the PSP Go! succeed in breaking the PSP into the iPhone/iTouch’s market share?

No, are you retarded? Nobody buys an iPhone because they want to play games. They buy an iPhone because they want a phone, the gaming functionality is just an added plus. It’s the samething with PC gaming, it’ll never die because people will never stop buying computers. The thought that the PSP Go! is going to take away from the iPhone’s market share is completely ridiculous, they are completely different products with completely different markets.

What do you think of Michael Pachter’s comments about the PSP Go!’s price? and do you think the Go’s too much?

Well, to be honest, I think “industry analyst” Michael Pachter is a joke. Whenever he actually predicts something he’s wrong and whenever he’s right it’s about something that’s already happened. I don’t know why companies continue to give him the time of day. He’s not really good for much else than making good flame bait comments.

Where was Final Fantasy XIII Versus at E3?

Ya, this is quite an interesting question actually. It’s really weird to me that an exclusive Final Fantasy game was completely absent from not only Sony’s press conference but E3 as a whole. Does this mean it won’t be getting a North American release? I have no idea, and I don’t know why it wasn’t at E3. It makes no sense to me that Sony just completely ignored the fact that they have an exclusive Final Fantasy game coming to their system, and that it’s a final fantasy game that might actually appeal to the western audience.

What do you think about the May NPD Numbers?

I think the NPD group should stop releasing these numbers to the public. It’s really fucking annoying. I don’t care about the NPD numbers and haven’t even looked at them. If you want to go right a head, but I’m not getting mixed in with the fanboyish bullshit that always follows these numbers.

What do you think about Kaz Hirai’s comments regarding that Sony was looking to serve the core gamer first?

I think it was clever, and opportunistic of them to try to gain some good P.R. out of bad sales numbers but I think it’s complete bullshit. If you don’t know, what they said basically amounts to Sony not wanting the PS3 to have main stream success yet because they want to serve the core gamer first. Of course, as we all know, that’s bullshit, but it’s a nice thing thought… too bad they’d trade us for the Wii’s audience in a second.

What do you think about the fact that the PS3 has sold more than the Xbox 360 did at the same point in it’s life cycle?

Listen, I don’t care about sales numbers, I really don’t. I think that it’s nice that the PS3 is selling more, but I think that it doesn’t make a difference. The only people who should care about Sales numbers are the people working at Sony and Microsoft, the rest of us shouldn’t care, and I don’t.

So that’s all for this week, if you have questions for me you can always send them to me on my twitter account (here) or just leave them in a comment on this or any other article (but make sure to say what they’re for if they’re on another article).

The game’s strength is really it’s story. It’s a very story driven game. It puts it’s players in the situation of “alright, you’ve got superpowers, now what?” While the morality choice system has taken a lot of heat in the enthusiast press I’m actually quite fond of it. While it does split the game it can be very fun to play through a game twice, two different ways, to see if there are different outcomes. I can’t go into the story too much because I don’t want to spoil it but it’s a very good story. The character of Cole is very engaging and Sucker Punch did a very good job of developing him, depending on your choices you can really feel sorry for him. The other cast of characters are also pretty good. None of them are overly stereotypical or so eccentric that they subtract from the story, like characters do in some games.

The graphics in the game aren’t perfect. That said, inFamous still looks very good. While it can’t compare to games like Uncharted, MGS4 and Killzone 2, it stands up very well to most games, and looks better than other open world games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Saint’s Row. Unfortunately, there are some issues. The face animations aren’t very good and there can be some weird clipping issues when you’re traveling through some of the more unusual sections of Empire City (particularly on the final island). That said, the characters look pretty good, and the different enemies look different enough to remove the repetitiveness of it.

The gameplay is another standout in the inFamous experience. This is really the most important aspects of game design for me and Sucker Punch did a great job again. Cole handles great. The climbing mechanics are awesome. Instead of just hitting a button and running straight up a wall Cole actually has to grab handholds. For instance water pipes, ledges, window ledges, large cracks, etc are all things that Cole can grab onto while he climbs up the side of the building. Despite the, Assassin’s Creed like climbing mechanics the climbing in inFamous is a lot faster than in Assassin’s Creed thanks to the ability to double jump while climbing.

inFamous really makes up for not being able to use vehicles with some of the travel power you unlock as you play the game. In the beginning getting around can be a tad annoying. But once you unlock the ability to grind on train rails and pseudo-glide while you’re in the air getting around becomes a lot quicker.

Which leads me into another standout point of inFamous, the powers. These powers are badass. Particularly the powers at the end of the game. The final power you unlock is the ability to call down a lightning strike and that is (for lack of a better word) awesome. Being able to unleash that and have enemies just blown away is amazing. All of the powers work very well, the grenade and “shock hammer” (it’s basically a missile) are also quite impressive.

There is a lot in this game. In order to complete one play through it’s going to take you about 12 hours. The side quests are fun and original. This game even manages to make the manditory escort missions fun. There are lots of collectables around the city and there are always enemies to kill, even if you’ve “freed” the entire city.

What we loved

The powers are great

The missions are unique and original

The city is large and fun to explore

Cole’s story is engaging and compelling

The morality choices work well

What we Hated

Traveling around the enviroments is annoying early on

there are some graphical/animation issues

You don’t have access to all the powers at once

Overall Verdict –  5 Stars ( What does this mean? )

This may be the best open world super hero game to date. While it may have some technical problems the gameplay and story make up for it a thousand times over. If you own a PS3 you should definitely pick up this game. I really feel that some of Killzone 2’s hype early in the year should’ve been put towards inFamous instead.

Also, those who have bought the game early got access to the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves beta. I mention this not because it’s counting towards the review but because I will have an impressions article from the beta up later on.

It’s that time of year again, when Capcom try to get Monster Hunter a push in the west in an attempt to make it nearly as popular here as it is in Japan. This year Capcom have actually made a smart move in annoucing a PSP Bundle with upcoming game Monster Hunter: Freedom United included as well as a few extra’s.

The Bundle includes:

- A Monster Hunter Branded PSP Carry-pouch
- A Monster Hunter Branded Screen Wipe
- A Monster Hunter Branded Skin which fits over the PSP Console
- A Silver PSP-3000
- A Copy of Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite.

A Price for the system is yet to be announced however we will keep you up to date, a be sure to check out the Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite review in the near future.