This is a very interesting article about where the GPU is probably headed. "Probably" because there is always the possibility that something new will be invented (like a new way to stack cores or integrate memory) which will change everything. But for now... as of today, this makes sense.
Well I've been waiting for this game ever since I heard about it at the beginning of the year. I am a huge motorcycle and MotoGP fan and was very happy to hear the THQ was going to update the great MotoGP 06 game that they released last year.
The first thing you'll notice is that all the menu graphics have teen changed. And for the most part it looks much better. I love how there is an aerial view of the track as it is loading... but you'll also notice new accomplishments listed as well. THQ have added such things as "Clean Lap" "Clean Race" "Target Laptime" and "Target Speed". These do add to the game and make it more fun.
Now lets talk about the graphics in the game... they added cut scenes that now include grip positioning (with team members and umbrella girls present), team helping you out as you leave your garage, and podium scene as well. Nice touches... does nothing for gameplay.
In game graphics have improved (as difficult as that is to imagine) especially the track graphics... you can see MUCH more detail around now, from waiving flags to people, helicopters and other things. The track looks great. The riders do as well, though they looked really good in MotoGP 06, but it does look really really good.
Now the most important part... the gameplay. This is the area that was MOST changed... and most improved. Yes you heard me right... VERY improved. So what could they do? Well for one the bikes "feel" much lighter. They are much more flickable (I keep over steering the corners still) and, as in real life, they feel smaller and faster. The lean angles have also increased and overall the sense of speed is much better than the last game. The addition of the bike moving around is also wonderful. It really feels like you are pushing to the limit when the whole thing gets sideways. Though this is still an arcade experience (not simulator) you can increase the level of realism in the settings making it much more difficult to go into a corner hot, lean over and push hard on the breaks without crashing... good, very good. The wiggling of the bike great, it really feels like it's moving when you push it too hard. The only time it really wiggles is when you are at full lean and push hard on the gas... though the bikes obviously have steering control built in and that usually keeps you from high siding (unless you touch the grass... then you have a problem... again, GOOD).
It's fun to see how the game has progressed over the years and this is the best version yet. If you have MotoGP 06 you'll want this one... but be warned... once you start to play MotoGP 07 you won't go back to 06. Funny enough, after you get used to the new 07 physics... the 06 bikes feel like SUVs going around the track. Just not very flickable and not as fun.
The online play is as good as in the last game and overall I must say I love this new version and highly recommend it.
Now for some things that need to appear in next years (hopefully there will be a next year) version:
-Different Tyres (Bridgestone, Michelin, Dunlop)
-Tyre management (the tyres need to get used up during the race. SBK 07 does this VERY well)
- Bike Damage (if you crash the bike should feel more difficult to ride, and you should have the ability to set the damage so that if you crash hard enough, or often enough, you have to retire, again SBK 07 does this very well)
-Rider Health (again, if you crash too much or too hard, the rider should be able to get hurt and therefore retire)
-Gear manufactures (why can't you get the real gear into this game as well????)
-The ability to add new paint jobs, and riders during the season. This should be downloadable content as there is no way to forsee when a team decides to change riders or have a special colour for a race.
That's it for now...
4.5 out of 5 starts
I just found this on Gay Gamer's site (DON'T ASK) and thought it was great and had to share.
This is old school... and I can truly say.. the good old days of gaming. I love Japanese too and have always wished I was able to understand and speak it. Enjoy some real game history history...
Planet Puzzle League is a new puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. The best way I can explain it is... touchy Tetris. Now I know there is already a version of Tetris DS (which I own as well) but Planet Puzzle uses the touch pad much more. Overall its simular to Tetris (a couple of rules changed of course). It is very addicting, and has great options and even WiFi play. I can't say enough about how good this game is. I does nothing wrong really... even has a daily play so you can try to beat your score daily (not allowed to try again until the next day). It's really the little things that matter and this game has been thought through. Really a must have. :-)
5/5 STARS
I just got the two Brain Boost games for the DS. Brain Boost Beta Waves and Brain Boost Gamma Waves. Since I am a big Brain Train and Big Brain Academy fan (how many times have I said Brain already??!!??!) I decided I could not resist. So here's the deal with these two. First of all, they should be one game, I have no idea why the company made it into two... but I have a feeling that some marketing genius is behind this.
As for the games, they are very fun. NOT as good as Brain Train or Big Brain Academy but still fun. If you want to just pick up a game and have a quick play... this is good. It's not nearly as deep as Brain Train, or as fun as Big Brain, but I liked them. I figure if they cost about $5 each or $10 together it would be the perfect buy.
So for a Brain game (I'm going for the record here with this word) I would say good game if you can find it cheap. Not very deep, but fun.
I really wish they added online play though (they are both only a 1 player games).
3/5 STARS
Well this review is a bit late as what more can be said about Gears of War? It IS the first true system seller for the Xbox 360 and rightfully so. Epic Games has done an amazing job bringing this top shooter to the Xbox 360 which no other system will get. The graphics are simply put, fabulous! I mean breathtaking... you will be blown away.
This is one of those games that once you start playing you say "wow" as your mouth stays open while you enjoy level after level of hellishly fun shooter action.
You are part of a commando team sometime in the future, after the Earth has been overrun but oversized cockroaches and other devilish looking beasts. All they want is one thing, to kill you... so your mission is simple, kill them. The thing that this game does so well is create an amazing atmosphere from beginning to end, submerging you in this hell hole of a future... and loving every minute of it. It actually gets your blood flowing and adrenaline going while you play, that's how much fun it is.
The game play is second to none, the game was obviously designed from the beginning with the Xbox 360 controller in mind. You run into a room and the first thing you do is find a hiding place from which you will peak out and shoot the enemy, and hiding again while the enemy tries to return the bulletfest you just unleased at it. Good thing too since you do have to reload at some point. The weapons are massive, a good selection, not complicated... the level design is first rate... the whole game is simply a master piece and EVERY Xbox 360 owner should have this game... no questions asked. It's THAT good!
5/5 Stars
Lost Planet is a Capcom game which was first shown at last years E3 (and was released as a demo on Xbox Live). It was released earlier this year and has sold very well. The reason for this is that it is a very good 3rd person shooter. The story takes place on a distant planet... yes an icy planet, where you must battle aliens, big ugly aliens, VERY big and VERY ugly aliens.
The atmosphere of the game is setup very well. The cold environment is well made. As you walk around in the snow (snow up to your knees) you leave a trail behind. As you kill enemies you pick up power cells (which help your life).
The story is a little weak, but typical anime kind of thing. You wake up, don't remember much, you have some new technology installed on your arm, your not sure what it does but it makes you stronger... blah blah blah.
The graphics are VERY VERY good in this game, the enemies are well drawn, some of the bigger enemies are HUGE and very impressive looking. Controls are well done, very responsive and the game overall feels like it's made for the controller. I loved the demo and the game didn not disappoint me. The multi-player is also great and is easy to use. Xbox Live is a class act multi-player network.
4/5 Stars
When I originally got Crackdown for the Xbox 360 I was really getting it for the Halo 3 beta (though I'm not sure why now as I'm not that big of a Halo fan to begin with). Needless to say the game sat on the shelf for months before I actually played it. Now that I have I can't put it down. This is a damn good game. To start off with it is not too difficult, but not too easy. It mixes many aspects of different games (such as running around shooting people, driving, looking for secrets, etc) almost like Grand Theft Auto but not as bloody (though I'm actually a gore fan [not he ex-vice president] and usually enjoy some blood in my games. Crackdown has some but MUCH less than GTA, also it's not quite as... insulting as a game. You get penalized in this game for running over pedestrians not like GTA where you get points).
The game uses its many tall buildings to hide a large amount of additional power ups which you end up spending time looking for. I mean who wouldn't want added agility allowing you to run faster and jump higher? The weapon's array is good and not too confusing. The amount of ammo in the game is good (so you don't run out easily) and the difficulty is fun, you'll get through the game but you won't breeze through it. Part of the reason is the massive area you can move around in, and you are free to go to any of the three main areas.
Oh yeah, it has very cool multi-player too where you can have friends join you and do co-op levels where you and your friends are against the bad guys. A cool idea I think, as you don't always want to blow away your friends.
Overall I have been very impressed with this game and recommend it highly.
4/5 Stars
Well I've always been a fan of Project Gotham Racing (even back from the days it was Metropolis Street Racing on the Sega Dreamcast), and when PGR 4 was announced I was very excited.
Graphics have been improved, physics have been improved... now they were going to add weather affects as well based on actual weather reports (PGR 4 is going to connect to the weather channel and download the latest weather effects from the area you are racing) VERY VERY cool... but... that wasn't enough. So they made the game EVEN better... how so? Easy, you can now select from Motorcycles or Cars in the game. And, as with the cars being real cars, the bikes are real bike... looks like Honda, Agusta and others will now be a part of the game. You will also be able to race motorcycles and cars at once... very cool. I hope they will also allow to modify the bikes allowing for new wheels, forks, springs, etc.
So as much as I love Forza 2 I have a feeling this might be my new favourite, especially if they can retain the 60 fps that Forza 2 has achieved (and MotoGP 07 looks to have problems with).
Looking forward to this one... Here is a gallery of the latest pics of PGR 4 coming to Xbox 360 this fall.
This is a wonderful article I found on insomnia.ac about why the Xbox 360 and PS3 are just not powerful enough and how both Microsoft and Sony have gone down the wrong path... the Marketing path. I would easily compare this to the AMD/Intel/Apple (RISK CPU) days when everyone was in the pissing game of who has the fastest (Mhz rating) CPU because that somehow "automatically" gave them a lead. That is until Intel hit the 3Ghz barrier and then the game changed.
I think Alex Kierkegaard (who wrote the Xbox 360/ PS3 article) has made some excellent points. He IS in fact talking about what few know... and even fewer are able to discuss. It's such a political game now with the game companies that no one can really say what they think afraid of insulting them and hurting any sort of relationship they might have with them. More recently articles have popped up saying that the Xbox 360 is much easier to program for then the PS3... and if you read those its clear how much everyone is holding back, being so very very careful as to what they say. It's sad really...
So I'm very happy that people like Alex are out there, and I hope they continue to spread the truth. I don't mind that Microsoft and Sony have chosen this path (it is their decision to make after all) but notice how much better Nintendo is doing going down a completely different road... interesting isn't it... maybe resolution isn't the goal the big boys should be going after, even if Marketing tells them to. I do hope the next console generation will focus almost entirely on graphic detail since the resolutions will be the same (HD). I guess time will tell.
I'll be the first to admit, I'm MUCH more of a motorcycle nut than a car nut MUCH MUCH more. Though, as a guy... I do like my car games as well. I play Ridge Racer 6 and Project Gotham Racing 3 (two completely different types of games) and enjoy them both. I even have Test Drive Unlimited which I've own for 9 months but have played only once (I'll get to it someday).
When I heard about Forza 2 coming out I wasn't sure if they would do it right, if it would become the new king of racing games (well until MotoGP 07 but that's motorcycles and a different level). Well let me tell you... it's THAT good. Forza 2 has in fact become the standard for car racing games moving forward... perhaps you've heard of the last "standard"... you know, the default best racing game from a few years back. I'm talking about Gran Turismo of course, and Forza 2 has completely leap frogged GT in a way I don't think Sony will be able to get back. That's too bad too, though I wasn't a huge fan of GT (probably due to the fact that I'm not a car nut) I could understand how people loved it so much. Well Sony was very good a dropping the car-racing ball so bad that I doubt they will get it back. The continued delays on GT sequels (the PSP version STILL hasn't come out) and the obvious invenstment that Mircrosoft has done with Turn 10 Studios has paid off, and boy has it paid off.
This game has it all, graphics, framerate, control, options, and all the little details that make it legendary. In fact I spent at least 2 hours yesterday just painting my car and making it look the way I want it (2 HOURS!!!!). Oh course the wonderful Xbox Live features don't hurt either as nothing beats racing with real people.
So overall, I would recommend this game to car nuts, and motorcycle nuts, and ANYTHING nuts! Every Xbox360 owner should have this title in their library. The only bad thing about this game is now someone has to come up with some even better and I'm just not sure how they are going to do that. :-)
5/5 Stars
Here is a great review of the Xbox 360 that just came out on EuroGamer. It goes through some good comparisons and short comings. Essentially there are no big surprises here. I won't even consider upgrading my Xbox 360 until the the new 65nm revision of the PowerPC CPU is out (and even then, ONLY if it is MUCH quieter and has a MUCH smaller power supply, I wouldn't mind the HDDVD to be built in, and slot loading too).
So I've been reading and reading about the how each of the next gen systems are doing. And I have a few thoughts on this...
Actually what got me thinking was an article in 1up.com about what a Sega VP thinks of the Wii. This guy... well... I used to work for Sega (many years ago) and I have to say that once they lost their will to make their own systems (The Dreamcast being the last system Sega made) they really lost their fighting spirit. Now I'll the first to admit it, Sega has been through some shit over tha past 10 years. This is what happens when you are the under dog in the 80's, make an incredible comeback and defeat Goliath in the 90's (Nintendo)... then lose your edge. Unfortunetly Sega has given up so much, that the people they now employ have no idea what it means to fight, what it means to have a vision of the future, what it means to make a difference.
So this article from 1up.com really shows this well. The VP they talked to made it quite clear how he felt. The Nintendo Wii was going to dry up in a year or two, and PS3 will continue to expland. The thing this VP seems to be missing is... the Nintendo DS is not as powerful as the Sony PSP, yet the DS is dominating. The Wii is not as powerful as the PS3 or Xbox360 yet Nintendo can't make enough Wii's for the demand.
This guy... of course he forgot to mention the games that Sega is bringing out for the Wii. This guy was so bias towards Sony that it wasn't even funny. Thing is... as a VP... he should know better than to burn bridges. I mean who knows, maybe Sega will make its money selling Wii games, since the Wii user base is SO much bigger than the PS3? And maybe Nintendo will bring out a new Wii in a couple of years instead of waiting 10 years because their console is so expensive unless they pull 10 years out of it's life it will be a money pit? (oh wait that's the PS3). Nintendo has staged a come back, it was 3rd in the last generation and now, it's shooting for the No1 spot, and you know what... it's getting there pretty fast. Oh yeah, I have a Wii and an Xbox360, but I'll hold off with the PS3 for a while I think.
Gamespot just did their second Xbox 360 vs PS3 comparision. The first one was about 6 months ago so it wasn't fair to compare Xbox 360 2nd generation titles (ones that have come out a year after the launch) with actual launch titles from PS3 (titles that were obviously rushed to be on the shelves with the system).
So the new comparison is pretty good, it shows how close the systems are. I think what people don't seem to understand overall is that the new generation console wars are not going to be decided on who has better graphics (since both are running impressive HD graphics already) but more about which games will be on the systems and more importantly online play. So if the same game comes out on both systems (like Grand Theft Auto IV for example) and it's great online on Xbox 360 but very poor online play on the PS3... well you will have a clear winner.
Both systems can do great graphics, and because their video cards are so different from each other (Xbox 360 uses ATI while PS3 uses Nvidia) the games will NEVER look the same. I think Sony is really killing themselves by trying to extend the life of their system past the typical 5 year cycle (something that did happen with the PS2) and thinking the PS3 will still be graphically competitive in 10 years!!! No way, very poor plan (but who knows, I might be eating my words in 10 years).
First there was Major Nelson from Microsoft's Xbox team, now Sony has started their own blog. I hope to see Nintendo follow soon.
Blogging, and point of presence is the future, Major Nelson is already on Twitter on and it wouldn't surprise me if he joined Jaiku next.
Sony is behind the online ball again... and Nintendo... don't get me started how far they are!
This game is really something. I don't like Rally games but this one... wow. Yes the game moves as good as it looks!!!
DIRT is another great racing game for the Xbox 360.
I usually hate crossword puzzles (I'm a Sudoku kind of guy) but this one is very very cool. Enjoy!
It's not timed like Sudoku, but still lots fun.
It's about time if you ask me...
News of new PSP Slim are leaking fast. I say its about time, Nintendo has already shown what a huge difference a re-design can do. Hell, I got both the old DS and the new DS Lite!
I did hope the new PSP would have sliding out QUERTY keyboard though, for email and chatting.
A built in camera would be good too... not sure about bluetooth though.
Today was worth it... because no matter what happens I will now have a GREAT 3D Tron Cycle racing game to play with. Life is GOOD!!!
Not only can you get the client, but also the dedicated server. Did I mention it runs in Windows, Mac, and Linux????
Oh yeah, with network play too!!!
Who ever did this deserves a trophy!
There goes the rest of my week (an probably month!).
Every once in a while... in history... we see a set of events that, at first, appear to be one thing, but lead to something completely different. This is the case of how the Playstation was born. From signing a contract with Nintendo, to getting betrayed, to coming back with a new product that would become the biggest success in the video game industry. Well that is the history of Playstation in a nutshell. Now watch it here... it's a three part segment. Very entertaining, very informative, very fun to watch.
Let the history lesson begin!
I have lots of Xbox 360 game... well "lots" is a strong word, but I do have about a dozen games. I have some of the best games on the system including Oblivion, Lost Planet, Crackdown (ok I got that one for the Halo 3 beta), Dead Rising, Gears of War, Ghost Recon AW, Test Drive... well you get the picture.
The game I keep coming back to though... over and over again... is MotoGP '06. I guess that makes me a motorcycle nut, so what else is new? The thing is... even with its flaws (like dropping framerate in the middle of the race) this is a DAMN good racing game. I also love it when I talk to people and they tell me how they've tried to play it but it's too hard and they keep crashing. This makes me feel good inside. The reason for this is not that I don't want to play this game (on the contrary I want more people to play it) but because it proves how good the game is. A bit like riding a real bike... it requires feeling. This means that if you don't pay attention to the way the bike is responding to the way you are taking corners... well your going to end up on your arse. Thats just the way it is in motorcycle racing, one mistake and you crash. This is part of what makes it so exciting to watch.
Well time to get back to racing! 
