When I finally hooked my PS3 up to the InterGoogle, the first thing I did was jump on the PSN Store. I had heard about some great games and I was really looking forward to seeing what they had to offer. Downloadable games are a cheap way to get quality games, not to mention old classics and new, experimental games that would never see a retail release. So here are the Top 10 games you can get on the PSN Store, XBox Live Arcade and the Virtual Console. I have included classics, exclusives and multi-console releases.
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Anthony has written a total of 170,227 words on this site.
GTA IV Sales About “50-50” Between 360 and PS3
Take-Two said in a press conference that sales of its mega-ultra-super-shiny juggernaut Grand Theft Auto IV (the one without the digital ding dong) were split about even between the 360 and PS3. They did not give any other specifics or release any actual numbers, but fanboys on both sides are freaking right out, while Wii fanboys wave a plastic remote in the air cause they just don’t care.
GTA IV sold 13 million copies worldwide so if they sold even down the middle on both systems, this means that more of the PS3’s installed base bought the game than the 360’s, which is odd and just a little surprising. The PS3 has sold 21.3 million worldwide and the Xbox 360 has sold 27.93 million worldwide. Maybe its due to the PS3’s demographic skewing older? Maybe people just preferred getting it on the PS3 because thats what the old GTAs were originally on? If this is accurate and Take-Two is not just having a laugh at us, it also means that Microsoft’s much vaunted exclusive DLC did not play much of a factor in people’s decision, which is even more odd. If I had a 360, I would have got it on that for the DLC. As a PS3 owner, I am still hoping it is simply a timed exclusive.
What did you buy the game on and if you have both systems, why? What do you make of this surprising news?
Source: SeekingAlpha.com
Myth of the “Killer” Game
Fanboys and the media just love to start trouble. Fanboys we can understand, they just want to see their console succeed and all others fail. Why, I have no idea, but thats their moronic role and I have to live with it. The gaming media, which I am beginning to think is pretty juvenile sometimes, should know better than to manufacture a story. But they do all the time, with their unrelenting hype.
Dark Cloud was widely called a “Zelda-killer”. First, I don’t know what that even means, since it won’t stop Zelda games from being made. Trust me, as good as Dark Cloud could be, Nintendo will still make more Zeldas. I loved Dark Cloud, but I bought a GameCube just to play The Wind Waker. So it didn’t really kill anything, did it? Second, the two games are really nothing alike, apart from the green hat the heroes both wear and that it is an action-rpg. Dark Cloud was a dungeon crawler with a focus on stamina and weapon maintence. You only explored one dungeon at a time and rebuilt a town using items found in the caves. Zelda is much more open and epic, with the focus on exploring and puzzles.
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Review: Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Before there was Final Fantasy, before there was Mass Effect, there was Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior previously). Dragon Quest was the RPG that focused on gameplay, grinding and consistency. It left the cinematics and mind-blowing graphics to other JRPGs, focusing on creating a fun world to explore with awesome monster designs and old-school notions. It’s actually more popular in Japan than Final Fantasy is. Shocking, no?
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen was previously released in the United States in 1992. On the NES. If you were wondering why you never played it, that would be the reason. Sad to say, its also my reason. But now we have the DS release from this past October. Bringing the game into the new century with a few tweaks here and there and updated visuals, this is a must have for any RPG gamer.
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Homophobia On Xbox Live (and PSN)
The Consumerist is reporting that a woman who identified herself as a lesbian on her gamertag profile was banned from Xbox Live. In order to prevent offensive actions or harassment, Microsoft bans certain words, regardless of how they are used. This policy makes a certain degree of sense, but wasn’t the case:
The woman, who only goes by “Teresa,” claims that she was harassed by other XBL users. “They followed me into the games and told all the players to turn me in because they didn’t want to see that crap or their kids to see that crap. As if xbox live is really appropriate for kids anyways!” She goes on to say that her account was suspended. When she brought the issue up to Microsoft, the response was that other users found it “offensive.”
Simply saying you are gay, which has no affect on anyone you are playing online with, causes this kind of hatred. I think its really sad and it makes me ashamed that gamers treat people like this. Microsoft told MTVÂ they are reconsidering their policy towards offensive words, which is good news.
Xbox Live and PSN are full of people who shout “faget” and other racist and homophobic terms. Gamers get so offended when someone portrays them as mouth-breathing neanderthals or violent-loving sickos, but this kind of portrayal doesn’t seem to bother most. I think its really wrong when people play a GAME and can’t even enjoy it without hatred and vitriol spewed at them.
This is Anthony, getting off his soapbox, in a bad mood because Morrissey canceled his concert, which was Anthony’s birthday gift. We now return you to your regularly scheduled life.
GamerSushi Asks: What Remakes Do You Want?
Remakes and ports of older games is really starting to become a trend in gaming. Square Enix alone must have a whole team dedicated to retreads of their older games. With the PSN’s PS1 Classics, Xbox Live Arcade and the Virtual Console, retro gaming has never been stronger.
But there are ports and there are remakes and there is a difference between the two. A port is simply porting a game from an older system to an existing system with little or no changes to the actual game. A remake is updating the graphics, translation, adding new story or gameplay elements and things of that nature.
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God Exists and We Have Proof: Brett Ratner Drops Out of God of War Movie
Sometimes, Christmas comes early. Sometimes, your prayers are answered. And sometimes, the good guys win. Stop rubbing that rabbit’s foot as your luck finally turned. No, Uwe Boll didn’t lose his Director’s Guild membership, but Worstpreviews is reporting via Production Weekly that Brett Ratner, acclaimed (ahem) director behind the Rush Hour series and X-Men hater (judging from X-Men:The Last Stand, he clearly doesn’t like them) has left the upcoming God of War movie:
“Over at Universal it looks like Brett Ratner has shelved ‘God Of War,’ and is moving forward on ‘Trump Heist’ with Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker.“
I don’t think Kratos himself could have withstood that disaster. Now that Ratner has left to further drop Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker into the Realm of Irrelevance, who would you like to step in an take over? It’s a long shot, but Zack Snyder of 300 fame and the upcoming Watchmen would rock this world. Who’s your dream director?
Source: Worstpreviews.com
Why Are Gamers Such Crybabies?
I am a man of passions. I mostly love things more than life itself or hate them with a fury that borders on the wrong side of psychotic. But even I am taken aback by the wrath that seems to regularly appear from gamers on the Internet. Perhaps it just that the Internet has given these people a voice. Or perhaps gamers are the biggest bunch of babies this world has ever seen.
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GamerSushi Impressions: Killzone 2 Demo
So I imagine you guys are all aware of this little title called Killzone 2? Yeah, thought so. The 360 fanboys hate it already and the PS3 fanboys are ready to canonize it, so I thought I would take a look at it myself. Having read dozens of reviews of the game already, I had a good idea of what to expect and my main complaint was that the demo was really too short to make a firm judgment about anything. This preview will also answer some things I have seen pop up online regarding the demo and the game itself.
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How Does Hype Affect You?
In our chosen hobby of playing video games, it is fair to say that the Internet is a major component. And the internet is good at several things, but the thing it excels at more than any other is buzz. Nothing gets word moving faster than the InterGoogle and game companies and fanboys alike take advantage of this. But hype comes in more forms than that.
Let’s take a look at Halo 3. It had the kind of buzz reserved for a major box office movie. When I saw all the cross-promotional tie-ins, I started to wonder if Bungie was being run by George Lucas. I mean, seriously: Halo energy drinks?
I saw so many commercials and trailers and ads with Master Chief pleading with me to finish the fight that I honestly was ready to join the Covenant.
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Is The Drive For Realism Making Games Less Fun?
When I was a kid, realism is all anyone wanted out of video games. Virtual Reality was the buzzword of the times. If an enemy acted realistically, that was amazing. If a character’s portrait in a cut scene looked anything like the real thing, we were in awe. As graphics got better, the dream became closer to reality. Games like Flashback and Heart of Darkness wowed gamers with photorealistic graphics, crude by today’s standards, but jaw dropping back in the days when Kurt Cobain was still smashing guitars.
Even though graphics were getting more real, the gameplay was still crazy. Cloud and Sephiroth may look like real people in the cut scenes, but obviously no human could really wield that giant sword. This was a happy medium, but it never really set right with me. I preferred the awesome summons animations and the scenes with WEAPON and other unreal events. You know: stuff I have never seen.
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2009’s Hottest Portable Games
MTV, while not really having a damn thing to do with music anymore, has a surprisingly decent gaming news section on their website. They have compiled a top 5 list of portable games to watch for on MTV.com. I don’t know about you guys, but I love my DS just as much as my PS3 and I am always excited for new games coming out on it.
List after the jump:
Continue reading 2009’s Hottest Portable Games
Review: Fallout 3
Having been a great fan of Bethesda’s earlier RPG series, The Elder Scrolls, I was eagerly waiting for Fallout 3 and their decision to make it into a FPS/RPG hybrid. Not having played any of the previous Fallout games, I was not concerned with any drastic changes they might have made, so this review will come from the perspective of a Fallout noob.
Review: Prince of Persia
The Sands of Time, the Warrior Within and the Two Thrones were some of favorite games on my PS2, especially the Sands of Time. The fantastic controls, the platforming, the sweaty palms as I guided the Prince past buzzsaw traps and rolling logs with spikes…all of it made for a fantastic gaming experience.
So with great excitement, I started on this latest adventure. First thing to note is that this is not a sequel or a prequel or anything like that. It is a reboot, no characters return except the Prince (who isn’t even a prince now) and Farah (who is now a donkey). This kind of thing never really bothers me, so I can’t blame the developers for wanting to start fresh on a new console.
Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge Sales Lackluster
Looks like Gamecop was right: publishers need to start spreading the Triple A titles throughout the year instead of bombarding gamers with a barrage of bad ass games during the holiday season.
But it appears they need to do so for their own sake and not for us poor, cash-strapped gamers. According to NPD, courtesy of Gamasutra, sales for Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge are very weak, compared with those of Gears of War 2, Fallout 3 and others. These are strong games, with very positive reviews and it appears they simply got lost in the shuffle of the hectic holidays.
What say you? Did anyone buy these games? Why or why not? And don’t you think it would behoove publishers to sprinkle these games out all year long instead of hoping they can get past the big boys of winter?
Source: Gamasutra
Anthony Goes Home
Monday night was a weird night. After watching my beloved Tampa Bay Bucs get pounded by the Carolina Panthers, I noticed it was about midnight. I drove up the road to Blockbuster and purchased The Dark Knight and went home to watch it. I decided to check my email first, though, to see if there were any emails from Eddy telling me how great my posts are.
Alas, none from Eddy (probably busy playing Little Orphan Eddy by replaying Fallout 3’s opening tutorial) but I did receive an email from Sony, which brought a brief moment of panic. Had they finally noticed how awesome I am at all their games and sent me a Cease and Desist Pwning email? But no, wrongo. It was an invite to the Playstation Home Beta! I knew my awesomeness would be recognized eventually.
1Up.com’s Lessons Learned Online
We have all turned on our respective consoles for a nice relaxing game of Call of Duty, Halo or Madden and suddenly been bombarded by little redneck 12 year old wannabe gangsters telling us how gay we are for not being better at a video game. Never mind that these kids are still waiting for the testicles to finally drop and have never seen a boobie up close, not counting their mom. It can ruin a night of gaming because no amount of pwnage shuts them up.
1Up.com was nice enough to compile a list of things they learned through their 360 headset. I found this to be a pretty funny and insightful list, especially the part about babies crying in the background. I was very excited to get online but once I met the online community of racist, homophobic douchebags, I recoiled.
What do you guys think of this list and have you had similar experiences online?
Source: 1up.com
Good And Evil In Games
 SPOILERS AHEAD
Choices involving good, evil and morality seem to be the latest trend in games. In the old days, the only choice you had was whether to use the boomerang or bomb as a secondary weapon in The Legend of Zelda. But times have changed.
At first, the choices were opaque: in Grand Theft Auto III, when not in a mission, you could run around and kill innocent bystanders for no reason. Or you could abide by the law (except traffic laws) and just stick to the straight and narrow. I wreaked as much havoc as possible because that world is a virtual playground and I wanna play! It wasn’t a choice in the way we usually think of them, but it was there for you to decide.
Video Game Characters Secret Confessions!
We all have secrets. There are whole websites devoted to people just telling their secrets and Conan O’Brien has a segment where celebrities can reveal their darkest truths. In this post, Anthony has uncovered some of the most iconic video game character confessions you have never heard!
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GTA IV DLC: THE LOST AND THE DAMNED ON FEB. 17
USA Today scooped us all and has an article detailing GTA IV’s DLC, due out on Feb. 17th, 2009. It’s called “The Lost and the Damned” and will star Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.
Dan Houser of Rockstar is quoted saying:
Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can’t go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City
No pricing details have been released yet.
So I don’t have a 360, but I am sure this will make its way to PS3…anyone set for another visit to Liberty City?
Source: USA Today