Ps gaming

NBA 09: The Inside

2008-11-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

NBA 09 The Inside is a NBA basketball simulation developed by SCE Studios San Diego. The game is released on October 7, 2008 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. This year's game does not feature a single cover athlete but instead features a group of six NBA players that includes, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Paul Pierce, and Dwyane Wade.

The game on top of having the 30 NBA teams includes 14 of the 16 NBDL teams. The teams are:

Albuquerque Thunderbirds
Bakersfield Jam
Anaheim Arsenal
Austin Toros
Colorado 14ers
Dakota Wizards
Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Idaho Stampede
Iowa Energy
Los Angeles D-Fenders
Sioux Falls Skyforce
Rio Grande Valley Vipers
Tulsa 66ers
Utah Flash

Excluded from the game are the newest members of the NBDL, the Erie Bayhawks and the Reno Bighorns.

Modes

Quick Play-this mode allows you to choose a NBA or D-League team to play in a normal game aginst one another

Franchise-allows you to choose one NBA team and control it's transactions, and other things covered by real GM's

The Life-allows you to play 3 different stories of an NBA players accent from the D-League

NBA Replay-this mode allows you to replay a game played in real life

NBA 08

2008-11-06T00:44:00.000-08:00

NBA 08 is a NBA basketball simulation published by SCEA San Diego. It was released on October 2, 2007 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2. For the second time in the series, Phoenix Suns F/C Amare Stoudemire is featured on the cover- Stoudemire appeared on the cover of NBA 06 two years before.

Features

All New Progression System-NBA 08 introduces the progression system were players can use skill and experience rewards that they have gained to customize the playing style and the look of their custom players.

All-New Commentary-NBA 08 also includes the commentary of Kevin Calabro of the Seattle SuperSonics for play-by-play and Mark Jackson from the YES Network provides the color analysis.

NBA Replay-Relive the greatest moments of the 2006-2007 NBA Season in NBA Replay mode.

NBA Replay (Games of the week)-Relive moments from the past week with 5 downloadable scenarios every week.

Expanded Online Play

Greater Sixaxis Controls

Mini-Games-Own the Court, PlayStation Skills Challenge, and 3-Point Shootout return in NBA 08.

Nascar 09

2008-10-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

NASCAR 09 is the twelfth installment of the EA Sports NASCAR series. It is developed by EA Tiburon and released on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America on June 10, 2008. On 12 March 2008, EA announced Jeff Gordon as the cover athlete for NASCAR 09. Through the career mode, "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup", Gordon leads a mentoring program, a new feature offered in NASCAR 09.

In October 2007, Electronic Arts moved the PlayStation 2 game development to a new studio in North Carolina to be able to get better information with the NASCAR teams in an attempt to improve the game. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game were still made at the old studio.

Due to the development team using certain resources to work on key features in the game, no car manufacturers are present in this year's title.

Features

Jeff Gordon mentors the player in the new "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" career mode that has a completely revamped 3D menu interface. With Jeff's help, the player signs contracts, builds their reputation, and earns performance points by winning in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (PlayStation 2 only), NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. One new feature in NASCAR 09 is "Own The Track". This allows the player to compete against friends or other gamers and own all 22 tracks in the Sprint Cup Series. Also new is the new "Sprint Driver Challenge", in which the player complete challenges in all sorts of situations to earn rep and performance points. In the game there are two driving styles available for the player to choose from: Normal and Pro. The Pro driving style is more suited for experienced players, while the Normal mode is better suited for beginners.

Also new to NASCAR 09 is the Paint Booth Customization Feature, similar to Papyrus' NASCAR games. For the first time in the franchise's history, a car customization template is available online which creates endless possibilities for personalization. Players are not able to see their friends' custom designed car skins when racing against them online. The online connectivity of Paint Booth allows players to download a car template from EASports.com and import it into editing programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, giving users a multitude of design options. They can then upload those images into the game and show off their dream machine on the track.

The demo was released on May 29 on Xbox Live and June 5 on the Playstation Network.
Best Buy released the game with a special edition cover featuring Elliott Sadler, who receives sponsorship from Best Buy. Sadler previously appeared on the cover of NASCAR 07.

Downloadable content was added in July, 2008, among the content was the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course for the Nationwide Series and new car paint schemes for the Sprint Cup and Nationwide. This content is availiable for Xbox 360 and PS3 as of August 8.

Nascar 08

2008-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

NASCAR 08 is the eleventh installment of the EA Sports NASCAR series. It was developed by EA Tiburon and released for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the earliest that EA has released a NASCAR game. It also marks the first time the original Xbox has been excluded from the NASCAR lineup since NASCAR 2001.

Tony Stewart is on the cover marking his third appearance on the cover of an EA Sports NASCAR game. The cover in the PAL region features Juan Pablo Montoya. NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow as well as the current car are present in the game, although the Car of Tomorrow is generic (no separate manufacturers). ESPN's NASCAR coverage is also integrated into the game. Crew chief dialogue for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game was recorded by Chad Knaus. The Whelen Modified Tour is not included in PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, but is still present in the PlayStation 2 version.

Features

Next generation graphics

Gain new experiences during every race then modify your cars handling with over 40 tuning options

Share setups with the online community

Multiplayer with up to 11 competitors

The Chase Mode in which you complete various tasks including drafting and passing to earn licenses for cars or specific tracks

Vehicle Telemetry Visor (VTV) Monitor your car’s telemetry on track for real time feedback on your car’s handling

Day-to-night transition during appropriate races.* New Instant Replay feature with the ability to save race replays

SIXAXIS Steering Control

Download content including tracks and special paint schemes

"Concussion Camera" in which the screen shakes after a hard hit

MX vs. ATV: Untamed

2008-10-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

MX vs. ATV: Untamed is an offroad racing game developed by Rainbow Studios and THQ for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Wii systems. It is a part of their MX vs. ATV series.

Gameplay

The game encompasses several modes: Motocross, Opencross, Supercross, Supermoto, Endurocross, and Minibikes, among others. The player has a relatively wide choice of vehicles, from monster trucks, to trophy trucks, to ATVs to motorbikes. In some modes, gameplay takes place over two motos, or qualifying events. The player's finishing position in the first moto determines who gets gate choice in the second moto. The player's position in the second moto determines their final standing.

MX Riders

Billy Laninovich, Josh Hill, Chad Reed, Ricky Carmichael, Davi Millsaps, Ryan Villopoto, Ivan Tedesco, Nathan Ramsey, Josh Grant, and Grant Langston

ATV Riders

Keith Little, Kory Ellis, Harold Goodman, Mark Kendall, Dustin Wimmer, Jason Luburgh, John Natalie Jr., Jason Dunkelberger, Pat Brown, and Dana Creech

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift

2008-10-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is a racing video game in development by Evolution Studios and to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to MotorStorm and will use a modified engine. It was announced by Sony after their acquisition of Evolution Studios and is scheduled for release on 28 October 2008 in North America.

Development

The first target render teaser trailer of the game was released on 12 March 2008 and showed pre-rendered cut scene featuring destructible environments and realistic character modelling along with the song "Tarantula" by Pendulum who appeared in the first game also with "Slam". The monster truck ploughs through a biker and the running down a yellow buggy, whilst the black monster truck (a van, perhaps) crashing through an old building, causing it to collapse and then trapping a rally car. An ATV uses the wreckage as a ramp over and a biker ducks through a collapsed platform, while the other one crashes into it.

Demo

A demonstration version of the game was made available in Europe and North America on 11 September 2008. In Europe the demo was made available to randomly selected users. Access to the North American demo required users to purchase episode 4 of Qore. It was available to all users on the PlayStation Store on 16 October 2008.

The demo consists of a single-player race and a 2-player split-screen race on Rain God Spires. A total of 8 vehicles are available in the demo: a bike, a monster truck, two buggys, two racing trucks (one of which can be selected in both modes) and two rally cars

Gameplay

The game will move away from the desert environments of the original title and relocate itself in "a lush island environment, full of interactive vegetation"; also included will be monster trucks and four-player split-screen capability. Monster trucks will be able to ride over cars (except big rigs), break most vegetation, and destroy structures. Custom music tracks using a player's own music stored on their PS3 hard drive will be available, and camera angles will be improved for crashes; vehicle damage will also be improved. Confirmed race terrains are volcanic mountain sides, beaches, jungle, caves, and a run-down sugar factory.

Tracks

The 16 tracks (compared to eight tracks originally available in the first game) will contain "thick mud, tangled undergrowth, swift flowing rivers, choking volcanic clouds and searing lava pools".
Another new feature in Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is the presence of water in the form of rivers and pools. Water also cools down the car's engine, which presents a whole line of new tactics; vehicles will slow down as they go through deep water, with buoyancy featuring for vehicles that venture into water too deep for that vehicle type. Vegetation will fight back against the smaller vehicles and only the bigger vehicles will be able to go through it.

Vehicles

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift features all 7 vehicle classes from the original game (Bikes, ATVs, Buggies, Rally Cars, Racing trucks, Mud Pluggers and Big Rigs) as well as a new class, Monster Trucks. Monster trucks are relatively fast and capable of crushing opponents and vegetation, however because they are so big and high up, their centre of gravity isn't that low, making them very easy to overturn. They will not be able to run over Big Rigs because Big Rigs are the second toughest vehicle in its class (thanks to its very high strength, and its difficulties of being crushed to the side) and they are the only ones who can battle against the Monster Trucks.

All vehicles featured in the original MotorStorm will appear in the new game as well as a whole new array of vehicles. This includes vehicles downloaded as part of game packs such as Revenge Weekend and Devil's Weekend.

Multiplayer

The game will support 16-player online play and 4-player split-screen, offline play. Sony is also said to be "pushing" to make the game's web services integrated with the game in the same manner as SingStar.

Soundtrack

The game features 45 licenced music tracks, nine of which are exclusive to the game. This is in contrast to the original game which had 21 music tracks. Notable artists featured on the Motorstorm: Pacific Rift soundtrack include Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age, David Bowie, Death From Above 1979 and Fatboy Slim as well as up and coming unsigned bands like March and The Planets.

MotorStorm

2008-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

MotorStorm is a racing video game developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. First announced at E3 2005, the game was released in Japan in December 2006 and the rest of the World in March 2007. Motorstorm has achieved global sales of over 3 million copies. After their purchase of Evolution Studios, Sony stated that the studio was working on a sequel to MotorStorm.

Gameplay

The events of the game take place at the fictional MotorStorm Festival in Monument Valley. The objective of the game is to win a series of off-road races and to be the overall winner of the Festival. Motorstorm holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest variety of vehicles in a racing game - players are in control of seven different types of vehicles throughout the game: rally cars, big rigs, dirt bikes, ATVs, racing trucks, buggies and mudpluggers. Each race requires the player to choose a particular vehicle type and often race against many of the other vehicles. Every track has many different ways of getting through it, each catering to a specific class of vehicle thereby making the racing field more even. The events in the game occur in real-time, such as the mud effects, tire marks, and crashes (for example, if a car loses a wheel, it will remain where it lands for the duration of the race). Each track is filled with a variety of jumps, bumps, cliffs, ledges, mud pits, and other obstacles. Races are generally three-lap events with two to fifteen racers. There are eight playable tracks in the game:

The Grizzly
Sidewinder Gulch
Rockhopper
Rain God Mesa
The Tenderizer
Dust Devil
The Mudpool
Coyote Rage

A further four are available to purchase as downloadable content through the PlayStation Store:

Devil's Crossing
Coyote Revenge
Eagle's Nest
Diamondback Speedway

Tracks experience real-time deformation, which means each lap is different from the last. Larger vehicles can create large holes or leave ruts that can easily upset smaller, lighter vehicles, and every vehicle responds differently to different track environments. Vehicles like big rigs and mudpluggers get excellent traction in mud, whereas lighter vehicles like dirt bikes and ATVs will slip and slide.

Nitrous Boost plays a large part in MotorStorm and is used to either catch up to opponents or pull away from them. Players must keep an eye on their boost meter, which shows how hot the car's engine is. The longer the boost is held, the hotter the engine becomes. If the boost is held when the engine reaches its critical temperature, it will explode. Since explosions resulting from the boost typically rocket the player's vehicle forward, they can be used to edge out another racer across the finish line. This can be very useful when behind, although this does not work all of the time if the AI opponent gains the upper hand.

In online play, Catch-up mode can be enabled. This means the leader of a race has less boost than everyone else, allowing players further back in the field to "catch-up". If the leader changes, so does the racer with less boost. This makes using boost for the leader a technical task, in theory they should only use it when necessary, and relying on their individual driving skills to win them the race.

E3 Video Footage

Early details released by Sony and Evolution Studios show extremely high-quality rendered video sequences. Many gaming enthusiasts and members of the press became sceptical as to the source of the material shown, with most people suspecting the footage to be pre-rendered as opposed to real-time in-game footage.

In March 2006, shortly following the Game Developers Conference, leaked footage of a tech demo was spread across the internet on sites such as YouTube. The demo shows a yellow buggy (featured in the E3 video, and known as the Wombat Typhoon) and a motorbike both cutting through mud, as well as splashing the mud onto a white truck, and then shows violent crashes, such as a bike landing on a purple rally car, causing it to spin out, and a white Hummer-like mud plugger (called the Atlas Jackhammer) ramming through the yellow Wombat Typhoon, causing it to get crushed by rolling over and crossing through flames and crashing into the guardrail, seemingly wrecked (and the driver may be possibly killed from the crash). Being a technical demo, it didn't show any gameplay aspects (although realistic crashes, wrecks and mud deformations are shown) or whether the final game would reach the standard of the E3 ’05 video. However, Sony representative Phil Harrison mentioned it would make an appearance at E3 ’06.

The game appeared at E3 ’06, although it missed the first day of the expo due to the show version's being completed and uploaded to LA just that day. The build at the show was only 50% complete but still showed some effects such as motion blur and deformation of the tracks.

Demos

Two demo versions of the game have been made available to the public. The first is only available on PlayStation 3 retail kiosks, while the second is only available for download from the PlayStation Store. While both demos feature the same track, the kiosk demo allows the player to switch vehicles on the grid before the race starts, which means that the player is able to race in approximately twenty different vehicles, whilst the downloadable demo restricts players to two vehicles. However, the downloadable demo has a smoother frame rate and extra visual detail.
Both demos allow the player to steer using Sixaxis motion-sensing.

Updates

Five updates have been released for MotorStorm in North America and Europe:

Version 1.1: Update 1.1 was made available for download on March 23, 2007, in addition to the European and Australian release. It added one feature: a buddy list, to allow users to compete with online friends.

Version 1.2: Update 1.2 is an update that was scheduled for release on 11 June 2007. The update improves online play, is compatible with a time-trial mode add-on, removes a popular boost exploit, and fixes several bugs. The update was released in Europe on 15 June 2007 and on 21 June in North America.

Version 2.0: Update 2.0 enhanced vehicle selection and player colours in the lobby and also fixed bugs with headset and voice communications support.

Version 3.0: Update 3.0 added vibration support for the Dualshock 3 controller. Finishing positions in a player's last race now determine their starting grid position in the next race within the same online lobby. A Gloating Index to give guidance as to a racer’s online prowess. Plus fixes to various bugs and exploits. The update was released in Europe on 25 October 2007 and in North America on November 8, 2007.

Version 3.1: Update 3.1 adds a 2D vehicle selection screen, mirrored tracks for online multiplayer games, a new proximity meter for MotorStorm mode and two additional songs to the soundtrack - "Devil's Crossing" by Elite Force and "Beat The Devil" by Jiffster. The update was released in Europe on 13 December 2007 and in North America on 19 December 2007.

Downloadable Content

On 15 June 2007 in Europe and 21 June in North America, an add-on was made available on the PlayStation Network. This free download, when used in conjunction with the 1.2 update, unlocks a time-trial mode. In this mode, players are able to select a track and vehicle to race around and achieve the best time. When online, players can upload their best times to see where they rank in a global leaderboard. There is also the ability to download the "ghosts" of best laps of other players—including the creators—and race against them.

On 6 September 2007 in Europe, a second add-on was made available for purchase on the PlayStation Network, called the Coyote Revenge Weekend VIP Pass (named Revenge Weekend in North America). This download, when used in conjunction with the 2.0 update, unlocks the Coyote Weekend mode. This allows players to access an additional three tickets, combining nine races (four races each in the first and second tickets and one final race in the third ticket). The races unlock sequentially and are unlocked via player success in preceding races. The mode is called Coyote Weekend because the track Coyote Revenge features predominantly, and the races are presented as happening over a weekend festival over Saturday and Sunday. Out of the nine races, the Coyote Revenge track features five times, with various new routes and short-cuts. Four other tracks also feature in the Coyote Weekend festival. The download also includes two new vehicles, a bike, an ATV and a bonus vehicle that can be accessed on successful completion of the races. There is also a vehicle pack available on the PlayStation Network, that includes a rally car which looks very similar to a De Lorean DMC-12 and a Big Rig which is based on a prison bus, and new livery skins known as Numskull Helmets and Big Blue Bunny.

On 27 September 2007 in USA, a third add-on was made available which included a truck (known as the Castro Capitano, preceded by the Castro Robusto) with three styles. On 25 October 2007 in Europe, a new Halloween livery was made available for download, on the Castro Robusto racing truck. Downloading this livery will automatically unlock the truck. The Devil's Weekend pack was released in Europe and North America on 8 November 2007 it contains The Devil's Crossing track, nine new races, four new vehicles and new liveries such as Crazy Samurai and QuickFoot liveries. On 20 December 2007 in USA, it features a new downloadable holiday skin for Castro Varadero (a big rig). An additional two tracks were announced on 7 January 2008. Eagle's Nest & Diamondback Speedway were released in Europe on 11 January 2008 and in North America on 17 January 2008. On February 7, 2008 in North America and Europe, a Chinese New Year skin becomes available for download for the Wulff Revo rally car.

Release

MotorStorm was officially released in Japan on 14 December 2006, where it became the best-selling PlayStation 3 game; in North America on March 6, 2007; and in Europe as part of the European PlayStation 3 launch on March 23, 2007. Both the North American and European versions include online play, which was not included in the Japanese version at the time of its release. Online play for Japan was released in an update on June 20, 2007.

By the 9 July 2007, MotorStorm had sold more than one million copies in North America. As of 22 December 2007 MotorStorm has sold 3.31 million copies.

Monster Madness: Grave Danger

2008-10-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Monster Madness: Grave Danger is a video game for the PlayStation 3. Developers Psyonix Studios have taken the game Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia and ported it to the PlayStation 3, adding 25 new challenge modes, adding full 4 player online co-op for the adventure mode, reworking the control scheme, adding 100 character-specific purchasable accessories, new unlockable character costumes, and changing the camera system. While Battle for Suburbia was originally developed by Artificial Studios, publisher SouthPeak Interactive brought the title to Psyonix to rework the core gameplay and port the game to the Playstation 3.

Like Battle for Suburbia, players will be able to create many big and powerful weapons to destroy the monster menace that's attacking the town of Suburbia. The game was influenced by, and is often referenced with, the LucasArts' cult classic Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game, Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Story Mode

Players control one of four playable characters and attempt to escape the monster-infested locale, defeating various forms of zombies and other monsters and boss creatures in order to progress through the game. There are five chapters in Monster Madness: Suburban Nightmare, Shopping Maul, High School Hell, Cemetery Scary, and Evil Castle. Each chapter contains 3 to 5 stages.

Each character is armed with unique weapons and special moves. Zack is the nerd character and his special weapons are ax-type weapons. Andy is a skater who wields random objects such as a toilet plunger and rolling pin. Carrie is a goth girl who favors swords. Jennifer is a stuck-up cheerleader who wields dual batons.

While many items in the game can be picked up and used as melee weapons and throwable items, the main focus will be on the character's signature melee weapon and the various buildable and upgradeable guns. Each character has a class of melee weapons that they feel most comfortable with. By using their favored weapon, a meter will begin to fill up as they kill enemies. When the meter reaches full charge, the players can unleash a special power attack that is unique to each character. Zack's power attack is a powerful shot to the ground with his ax which produces a shockwave that kills enemies. Carrie's power attack is a dash attack where she leaps forward and dashes from enemy to enemy dealing powerful blows to each enemy she hits. Andy's power attack involves him jumping on the end of his current melee weapon and spinning in a circle, kicking enemies around him. Jennifer's power attack has Jennifer spinning on one foot creating a tornado that sucks in enemies as it kills them. In addition to the melee weapons, there are also 15 different guns that will be built using 18 different types of weapon parts featured in the game. The weapon parts are collected by locating and opening weapon part tool chests which are hidden strategically throughout the levels. This is another point where Grave Danger differs from Battle for Suburbia; where weapon parts were then randomly generated all around the levels, they're now contained in set locations inside the tool chests.

Each of the 15 guns has 3 different levels of upgrades which not only makes the gun more powerful, but can change the way it operates as well. For example, the level 1 nailgun weapon, featured early in the game, has players wielding two semi-automatic nailguns. The level 3 nailgun, however, has an extended clip and is fully automatic. The arsenal is made up of the following weapons: nailguns, cellphone tazers, bicycle grenade launcher, defibrillators, CD launcher, rocket launcher, pipe shotgun, bee mine launcher, flame thrower, mini-gun, rail gun, radioactive flashlight, sonic shield gun, glue cannon, and boomerangs.

There are also features such as online play competitive play with up to 16 players, and costumes for all players that can be unlocked during or after the game is complete. Monster Madness: Grave Danger also includes full online co-op capabilities, letting 4 players join together and play through the adventure mode with other players on the internet. This feature was much requested, but sadly omitted from Xbox version "Battle for Suburbia."

Challenge Modes

Introduced into this game by Psyonix Studios is the Challenge mode. This mode of gameplay features 25 new mini-games which the players must complete to unlock costumes for Zack, Carrie, Andy, and Jennifer. The mini-games include such games as "Zombie Cats", where players must see how many zombie cats they can wipe out in a given amount of time using only the flame thrower. Another one of the mini-games has players driving the game's UFO vehicle from a top-down perspective to destroy enemies while the terrain scrolls by. Other challenge modes include defeating a certain number of monsters in a given time limit - similar to adventure mode play - various vehicle races, and more.

Mobile Gundam Suite: Crossfire

2008-10-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, known in Japan and Europe as Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight (機動戦士ガンダム Target in Sight, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Target in Sight?), is a PlayStation 3 launch title, published and developed by Namco Bandai, based on Sunrise's Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. It was released in Japan on November 11, 2006, and in North America on November 17, 2006.

Plot

Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire Takes place during the One Year War, UC 0079, with all missions being based in the eastern half of the world from Africa to Australia after the Federations GM production increase in October.

MLB 08: The Show

2008-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

MLB 08: The Show is a baseball simulation video game produced by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable systems. It the longest-running officially licensed Major League Baseball game series on the PlayStation systems. MLB 08: The Show is the third edition of the MLB: The Show series of video games, which is the only officially Major League Baseball licensed video game series that is currently available. The game was announced for all three PlayStation consoles on December 11, 2007, and released on March 4, 2008 in North America. Ryan Howard, all-star first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, is featured as the game's cover athlete.

The game is a baseball simulation in which, depending on the gameplay mode, the player controls one or all of the players on a Major League Baseball team or some select Minor League Baseball teams. Depending on the gameplay mode, the player may control a team for a single game, season, or franchise, and can also create a player and control his career.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very similar to the other versions of MLB: The Show, as well as most baseball simulation video games. Some new features were introduced in various gameplay modes. The player may take control of one of 30 Major League Baseball teams in any game mode (excluding Road to the Show) and use that team in gameplay. The game has variable game modes in which a player takes control of a team for a single game, one season, or a franchise (multiple seasons). The player may control the team's batting, pitching, and fielding while playing the game. Many new general features have been introduced to the game as improvements to the previous edition, MLB 07: The Show. One of the major updates to the game is the "Batter/Pitcher Analysis" feature. This feature allows players to check the "match up" between the current batter and pitcher. Information such as strike/ball ratio, pitch types, pitch frequency, pitch location and the last 25 pitches thrown by the current pitcher. For pitchers, stats such as batters "hot zones", balls taken, strikeout pitch location, and stats when facing that particular pitcher.

Another main update to the game is the "Progressive Batting Performance". This feature tracks the batting stats of all players in season and franchise modes, and for your created player in Road to the Show mode. Progressive Batting Performance tracks trends in the player's batting statistics, and then gives a rating compared to the average performance of that player each month. If the player is doing better, the player will perform stats will increase, while if the player's stats are getting worse, they will fall into a "hitting slump", a prolonged period of time in which the player has trouble batting.

Fielding was also improved from previous versions, with better AI making less mistakes in the field, AI calculations on whether the runner will reach base before a throw gets there, and improved fielding mechanics. A "Rob Home Run Indicator" was also added. This feature indicated if a ball traveling over the wall was close enough to jump and catch to save a home run. A marker of where to jump, as well as timing, was also added.

Game Modes

MLB 08: The Show contains most game modes found in nearly every baseball simulation game, which include quick game (or exhibition), season, and franchise modes. In exhibition mode, players play a single game not related to a season or series of games, choosing from 30 major league teams, or one of 60 minor league teams, which include teams from the International League, Pacific Coast League, Texas League, Southern League, and Eastern League. This is a normal game where players can choose lineups, pitchers, game settings, and then either play against another player or the CPU. A variation of this mode is "quick game" mode, in which you choose teams, and default lineups, pitchers, and game settings are used.

One of the games main gameplay modes is "Road to the Show" mode. In Road to the Show, the player creates a player to be part of an organization. The player controls only that player through their career, and attempts to make them better by earning skill points from achieving goals such as getting hits, stealing bases, or turning double plays. The career player begins playing in the minor leagues at AA class, and progresses through AAA class until they are called up to the Major Leagues. The player must accomplish goals that are given to them by their team manager, which in turn give then skill points if they are completed, and deduct skill points if they are failed or not attempted. There are also "advancement goals" that the player must accomplish over a certain period of time that will help the player's career player advance to higher levels of play. Advancement goals include developing abilities, getting higher stats, and getting on base more often.

Also included in the game are season and franchise modes. Franchise mode allows the player to take control of a Major League Baseball team (as well as its minor league teams) as the general manager. The player plays games, makes roster moves, signs free agents, manages the budget, and attempts to accomplish the goals set by the owner by the end of the contract. Unlike Road to the Show, these are organizational goals, such as winning 2 World Series or hosting the MLB All-Star Game. Season mode is the same as franchise mode, but there are no goals and the player only takes control of the team for a single season.

"Manager mode" and "Rivalry mode" are the two final gameplay modes featured in MLB 08: The Show. In Manager mode, the player acts as the team's manager, calling plays, making in-game roster changes, or adjusting your team to certain batters and pitchers. Rivalry mode is where two teams continuously play each other for a set number of games, such as 16 or 24.

Development

MLB 08: The Show was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment America's SCEA San Diego Studios development team, and is part of the MLB The Show series of video games. The predecessor to this game was MLB 07: The Show. SCEA San Diego Studios wanted to improve on the realism of MLB 07: The Show, and added new animations, realistic animations for specific players, and better gameplay physics to improve on MLB 07: The Show. In an interview, Scott Rohde, a member SCEA San Diego Studios, said "Baseball fans know that the MLB franchise has been met with critical acclaim and has a long-standing winning tradition.MLB 08: The Show continues to display our commitment to delivering highly-innovative and improved features in order to provide an unrivaled simulation with a broadcast quality presentation"

The game was run on the same game engine as the last two games in the series, so no updating was made to the game's actual physics, and no overhaul was made on the game's graphics system. While creating the game, the developers added many minor features to the graphics, however. Over 3,000 player animations were added to the game, which include player's personal batting stances, pitcher's wind up motions, animations for specific players (such as Nomar Garciapara's ritual of adjusting his batting gloves), and normal game animations. Rex Hudler, Matt Vasgersian and Dave Campbell returned for the third straight season, acting as the in-game broadcasters.

MLB 07: The Show

2008-10-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

MLB 07: The Show, produced by Sony Studios, is a baseball video game for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP. It is the only first-party MLB-licensed video game for the 2007 season, and the only baseball game available for the PlayStation systems aside from Major League Baseball 2K7. For this reason, it is likely to draw attention to the brand and franchise, while the top selling baseball video game developers of previous seasons, notably EA Sports, are forced to devise creative alternatives. The PlayStation 2 and the PSP versions of this game were released on February 27, 2007 while the PlayStation 3 version was released on May 15, 2007.

New York Mets 2007 All-Star third baseman David Wright is featured on the cover. The three-man team of announcers once again include Rex Hudler, Matt Vasgersian and Dave Campbell.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

2008-10-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

Midnight Club: Los Angeles is the fourth video game in the Midnight Club racing series, not including Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix. It was officially announced for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on May 16, 2007 by Rockstar Games. The game was developed by Rockstar San Diego, the same studio behind Rockstar's first iteration into the seventh generation of video games, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. The game features 43 cars and 3 bikes, signifigantly less than its predecessor. The map of Los Angeles is confirmed to be the size of all three cities from the previous installment combined. It has also been confirmed in several sources that each car has a polygon count of roughly 100,000. After several delays Midnight Club: Los Angeles was released on October 21, 2008.

Released Media

Beginning in late August 2007, Rockstar began releasing screen shots and trailers that showcased the new 24-hour cycle, new makes including Ford and Mazda, and the city of Los Angeles itself. In all a total of seven trailers were released along with a large number of quick clips that showcased individual cars that appear in the game.

Along with various videos and screenshots, Rockstar began opening individual sections the video game's official website that featured new videos, screenshots, and characters. At the annual Leipzig Games Convention gamers in attendance were given a chance to experience Midnight Club: Los Angeles’ head-to-head multiplayer aspect for the first time. As the release date drew nearer Rockstar revealed several contests which included prizes from Pizza Hut and Footaction USA. Also, Rockstar has teamed up with Jordan Brand to make a pair of limited edition shoes to celebrate Midnight Club: Los Angeles. The pair of Air Jordan Classic '87 are said to cost $380, along with the game. Only 40 pairs were given away.

Soon after a sample of the Midnight Club: Los Angeles soundtrack was released which has a total of 97 songs. The music was selected to give energy and vibe to the game and includes genres from hip-hop, to rock, to electronic including Maino, Nas, The Cool Kids, Digitalism, DJ Felli Fel, Bishop Lamont, MURS, and No Age. The Live Launch Event introduced the remix of the Eagles of Death Metal soundtrack-featured song, "Wannabe in L.A." from their album Heart On, at the Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles.

Finally on October 20, 2008, Midnight Club: Los Angeles was released in the United States and the music section of the website was released and revealed all the tracks that were in the game. The full vehicle list was also revealed, showing surprising vehicles, such as the Ford Mustang GT Convertible.

Gameplay

The game will be set in the city of Los Angeles, again providing the option to completely free-roam (on roadways quite larger than all the cities combined from Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition). New additions are a day-to-night cycle and weather effects, adding a realistic aspect to the game. After races, if any damage is inflicted upon the vehicle, the player doesn't necessarily have to drive back to the garage for a full repair, but instead can choose the Quick Fix option through which old, junkyard-esque parts will be added to the car. To get the nice look back, the player must actually drive back to repair their vehicle at a garage so actually totaling the vehicle completely is not possible anymore. The Los Angeles map is considered one of the most detailed and accurate versions of L.A. yet. With the RAGE system being used for this game, as with Grand Theft Auto IV, traffic level will fluctuate throughout the day, with heavy traffic in the morning and afternoon, and little to no traffic at night. Motorcycles are once again a big part of the game, though only two models have been featured on the website and in video footage, the Kawasaki ZX-14 and the Ducati 999R. Convertibles, customizable interiors and customizable exotics are new additions.

Police return but are no longer scripted to a specific race, they will chase you no matter where you are and the longer you run from them, the higher your fine if you are pulled over. Developers placed great emphasis on the elimination of load screens, stating that the player can literally jump from career mode to an arcade race in under ten seconds. The new dynamic weather system has been reported to alter the gameplay experience, making the vehicle more prone to sliding in the rain.

Online Features

Online play will support 16 players at once and a number of new modes will be introduced including, Keep Away where the player must hold the flag as long as he can and Stockpile in which there are numerous flags to be captured. New online power-ups mentioned include Mirror (will reflect any power-up fired at the player back to the person who fired it), Agro (will act the same as the offline special ability, increasing the players vehicle weight and enabling them to crash through other vehicles without taking damage or slowing down), and Random (gives the player a random power-up). A new aspect entitled "Rate My Ride" is also to be introduced, where the players can go online to view vehicles that other players have created.
Playstation Network trophies have also be confirmed with a total of 46 trophies to be won.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

2008-10-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (メタルギア・ソリッド4・ガンズ・オブ・ザ・パトリオット, Metaru Gia Soriddo 4 Ganzu obu za Patoriotto?) (commonly abbreviated to MGS4) is a third person stealth action video game. Directed by Hideo Kojima, Shuyo Murata and Yoji Shinkawa, Guns of the Patriots was developed by Kojima Productions exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It is the seventh title in the Metal Gear series and the first in its fourth generation. The game was released worldwide on June 12, 2008, 10 years after the release of Metal Gear Solid and 20 years after the US release of the first Metal Gear.

Gameplay

In Metal Gear Solid 4, the player (Old Snake) must navigate the game world in order to progress, using cunning in addition to traditional combat. It uses third person view with full camera manipulation, but also allows the freedom to play in first-person mode, as well as an over the shoulder view which can be switched from right shoulder to left for corner maneuvering. The Close Quarters Combat system has been completely revamped.

The game is filled with cut scene "flashbacks" (although they're not actually cut scenes, but still photos of past events, locations, or characters) that reference what happened in previous Metal Gear Solid games and how the events or characters relate to the setting of MGS4. Players are able to choose whether to view these scenes by pressing the X button [O button in some countries] on their controller when prompted (though there are some instances where there will not be a prompt). Players also have the choice of watching the Mission Briefings through set camera angles or freely exploring them with the Metal Gear Mk. II/III.

Snake is also partnered with a robotic drone, the Metal Gear Mk. II/III, which allows him to communicate with other characters, in addition to the CODEC radio system from previous games. It is also capable of incapacitating enemies using a weak electric shock, as well as providing reconnaissance. This drone is reminiscent of Gillian Seed's robotic sidekick of the same name from another Hideo Kojima game, Snatcher.

Due to the lack of force feedback (an important part in previous titles) from the PlayStation 3 during much of the development, the game had been designed with a new feature: a white "Threat Ring," that shows "hills" that display nearby enemies. As a series known for extensive use of force feedback, when Sony announced the reintroduction of a new DualShock 3, MGS4 was announced as one of the first major games to make use of the restored capabilities.

Snake's health plays a small factor during gameplay. If injured on the battlefield, cuts and burns will remain on his skin. However, the developers wished to avoid putting the stress of maintaining Snake's health onto the players, so he wears a muscle suit, allowing players to move in a similar fashion to previous games.

Snake has a meter and an index that replaces the stamina bar from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The index, "Stress," is based on current fighting and climate conditions. This can cause Snake to go into a "combat high," that sharply increases his accuracy and reduces damage taken. However this effect will eventually wear off and could cause Snake to momentarily collapse. Smoking a cigarette calms him down. The meter, "Psyche," slowly drops over time reducing Snake's accuracy and his ability to recover his LIFE bar. Many items in the game -- such as the iPod -- will increase the meter, as will consuming ReGain Energy Drinks, noodles, and military rations, or using a compress on Snake's sore back muscles. Reading an issue of Playboy Magazine (in first person view) "curiously raises Snake's Psyche".

There is also a "Baseline Map" which is a radar map with a dynamic circle based on Snake's "presence" in regards to the environment. Accessible through the main menu, the Virtual Range is a test facility that allows the player to access the game's library of weapons as well as practice Snake's CQC moves.

Characters

The cast of the game comprises mainly characters from previous Metal Gear Solid games, although a few new characters are introduced as well. A prematurely aged Solid Snake returns as the game's sole playable character under the new codename Old Snake. Assisting him are Roy Campbell, his former commanding officer; Otacon, his sidekick since the original Metal Gear Solid; Naomi Hunter, the scientist who injected him with the FOXDIE virus; Meryl Silverburgh, heroine of Metal Gear Solid, now the leader of Rat Patrol Team 01, a military unit sent to investigate PMC activities; Mei Ling, Snake's former data analyst and now Captain of the recommissioned USS Missouri (BB-63); Raiden, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, now a Cyborg Ninja; Rosemary, Raiden's former girlfriend, who now works as a psychological counselor; and EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, now a resistance leader named Big Mama.

Also assisting Snake is Drebin, a gun launderer accompanied by his pet monkey, Little Gray; Sunny, Olga Gurlukovich's daughter, who was rescued from the Patriots; and the other members of Rat Patrol Team 01, which consist of Ed, the team's second-in-command, radio man, and sniper; Jonathan, a hulking soldier; and Johnny, nicknamed "Akiba", the team's electronics expert. Jonathan and Ed are named after the main characters of Hideo Kojima's 1994 adventure game Policenauts, from which Meryl debuted as a supporting character. Johnny was the guard that was stripped naked by Meryl in MGS1.

The antagonist of the game is Liquid Ocelot, formerly Revolver Ocelot, an agent of the Patriots until his mind was apparently possessed by Liquid Snake as a result of an arm transplant. On Liquid Ocelot's side are: Vamp, the sole surviving Dead Cell member from Metal Gear Solid 2; The Beauty and The Beast Corps; and his private army, the elite all-female Haven Troops (also known as the FROGS). The ghost of Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid also makes a special cameo in the game.

The Beauty and the Beast Corps serves as the central boss characters of Metal Gear Solid 4: Its members are Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf and Screaming Mantis. They are jokingly referred as the "Snakehound Unit" as their recent mission is to kill Snake on sight. Their animal names openly reference the members of FOXHOUND from MGS, their emotions relating to the Cobras from MGS3, and their weapons taken from Dead Cell members from MGS2. A close inspection of Screaming Mantis reveals two marionettes of previous MGS bosses: Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow, both of whom were psychics. All four of them are women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and, as a result of this, have become war machines. Their outer appearance is referred to as "Beast", while their inner appearance is referred to as "Beauty". Four models were chosen for their in-game appearances as their "Beauty" side: Lyndall Jarvis (Laughing Beauty), Scarlett Chorvat (Screaming Beauty), Mieko Rye (Crying Beauty), and Yumi Kikuchi (Raging Beauty). The voice acting for the characters is done by having the female voice actors perform the lines while a male voice (Shozo Iizuka in Japanese and Fred Tatasciore in English) overdubs on top of the female voices, creating a split-voice effect for the characters.

Story

Set in 2014, five years after the "Big Shell Incident" (the events of the Plant Chapter from Metal Gear Solid 2), Metal Gear Solid 4 portrays a world where private military companies (PMCs) have effectively replaced the world's standing armies, fighting proxy wars for business purposes. Nanotechnology has become prominent, both to enhance the capabilities and enforce the loyalty of mercenaries. The nanomachine system that PMCs use is called "Sons of the Patriots" or "SOP." The five largest of these PMCs are owned by a single mother company named Outer Haven, operated by Liquid Ocelot. Amassing an army whose manpower rivals that of the United States, Liquid prepares to launch an armed insurrection by taking control of SOP. A rapidly aging and disillusioned Solid Snake (now known as Old Snake) is deployed into the Middle East by Roy Campbell to terminate Liquid. Guns of the Patriots takes place in five locations: the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Shadow Moses Island, and Outer Haven.

Act 1 - Liquid Sun

Snake begins his mission by infiltrating a war-torn Middle Eastern city with a local militia convoy. After the convoy is decimated by troops from Praying Mantis, one of Liquid's PMCs, and Gekko (a mass-produced, bipedal Metal Gear variant) units, Snake meets up with the Metal Gear Mk. II, a robotic drone Otacon developed to assist him remotely. On the way to rendezvous with Campbell's informants, Snake encounters Drebin 893, a self-proclaimed ArmsTech employee who offers his gun laundering services. Snake accepts after much hesitation, and Drebin injects him with what he says are merely "suppressor nanomachines." Snake is shocked to discover that the informant is Meryl Silverburgh, the leader of Rat Patrol Team 01. After Snake and Meryl discuss their assignments, they are forced to escape the building when it is raided by Liquid's elite soldiers, the FROGs. As Snake reaches the Praying Mantis HQ, he witnesses the slaughter of some militia by four mysterious cyborgs. One is consumed with sorrow, one is hysterical, one is compelled by rage, and the last and most powerful one is screaming and seems to have telekinetic power. Snake makes his way into the camp unnoticed, where he prepares to assassinate Liquid. An unknown force suddenly causes all of the soldiers in the area to collapse in pain and begin violently attacking each other. As Liquid escapes in his helicopter, Snake also collapses, but as his vision fades, he is approached by Dr. Naomi Hunter, who gives him a syringe. Snake is carried to safety by Johnny, the lone unaffected member of Meryl's team.

Act 2 - Solid Sun

Otacon receives an encoded message from Naomi, which explains that she is being held captive in South America. Snake takes advantage of a rebel uprising in the area to sneak into the base of the Pieuvre Armement PMC, where Naomi is being held. Upon arrival, Snake sees Vamp and the hysterical cyborg from the Middle East. After the two leave, Snake infiltrates the area and again encounters Drebin, who reveals that the Patriots are actually a network of five AIs. Four AIs are named after US Presidents: GW, TJ, TR and AL. These are controlled and regulated by the core AI, named JD (John Doe). He also tells Snake about the cyborgs, who are known as the Beauty and Beast (BB) Unit: Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf and Screaming Mantis. They have orders to kill Snake.

Snake finds Naomi, who explains that Liquid is planning to use Big Boss's genetic information to access JD and take control of SOP (Sons of the Patriots), the system of nanomachines and ID-authentications which allow the Patriots to monitor and control soldiers. She also explains that Snake's aging (Senescence) is due to intentional gene manipulation of Big Boss's clones, and that he has less than six months left to live. However, the FOXDIE virus in Snake's body has also begun to mutate, and Naomi estimates that in three months the virus will have become mutated enough to attack anyone, turning Snake into a "walking biological weapon." A group of FROGS led by Laughing Octopus take Naomi away, leaving Snake to battle them and Laughing Octopus herself. Snake then rescues Naomi and both escape with Drebin. Raiden mysteriously resurfaces as a Cyborg Ninja after having disappeared for several years. He holds off numerous Gekkos and Vamp while Otacon rescues Snake and Naomi via helicopter, but is seriously wounded in the process. Raiden then leaps onto the helicopter; before he blacks out, he tells Snake to go meet "Big Mama", the leader of a resistance group based in Eastern Europe.

Act 3 - Third Sun

Naomi explains that Big Boss is in fact alive, although brain dead. His body is in the control of the resistance group Paradise Lost in Eastern Europe. While Snake locates the group, Naomi and Sunny, a little orphan girl taken in by Otacon, take Raiden to get dialysis. By stalking a Paradise Lost member Snake manages to find their leader, Big Mama, who reveals herself to be EVA, and the surrogate mother of both Liquid Snake and Solid Snake himself. She explains the origins of the Patriots, founded by Major Zero forty years ago. The Raven Sword PMC, led by Raging Raven, suddenly attacks the group's hideout. Snake and Big Mama escape on a motorcycle, but it crashes, and Big Mama is wounded. After defeating Raging Raven, Snake helps Big Mama escape down a sewer connecting to the Vltava River, where Liquid is waiting for them. Liquid displays his power over SOP by incapacitating an entire army of American troops using his ability to lock down the system controlling their nanomachines. He incinerates Big Boss' body, and Big Mama is severely burned attempting to rescue him. The left side of Snake's face is also badly burned as he rescues her from the flames. As Liquid escapes in a gunboat down the river, Big Mama dies in Snake's arms and the Mk. II sneaks onboard the ship.

Act 4 - Twin Suns

Using a video feed sent from the Mk.II, it's known that Liquid's final plan is to destroy JD, the Patriot's core AI, so that he may seize control of the Patriots' network with GW (which Liquid apparently repaired and took control of shortly after the Big Shell incident). To this end, Liquid plans to use the only WMDs still not controlled by the Patriots - the stealth warheads launched by Metal Gear REX's rail gun - to fire a nuclear warhead at JD, which is housed within a satellite. After this is revealed, Vamp finds and destroys the Mk.II. Snake returns to Shadow Moses Island, where the facility and REX have remained untouched in the nine years after the events of Metal Gear Solid. After defeating Crying Wolf and a squadron of FROGs, Snake discovers that REX's rail gun has already been removed. In the hangar, Snake is attacked by Vamp, accompanied by Naomi, who had defected back to Liquid's side.

With the timely arrival of Raiden, Snake suppresses the nanomachines in Vamp's body that cause his apparent immortality, and fights off a unit of Suicide Gekko while Raiden finally kills Vamp. Naomi, filled with guilt over all the sins she has committed during her lifetime, ends her own life by disabling the nanomachines that had been suppressing the effects of the cancer that would have normally killed her years ago. Using the Mk. III, Otacon reactivates REX, and Snake and Raiden escape the building just as the Suicide Gekko self-destruct. Raiden becomes trapped underneath a large pile of rubble while Snake uses REX to fight Metal Gear RAY, piloted by Liquid. Liquid then reveals his ultimate weapon: a battleship named "Outer Haven" with REX's rail gun mounted on it. Liquid attempts to crush the crippled Snake by ramming the ship into the dockside, but Raiden cuts off his own arm to escape the rubble and is able to restrain the ship temporarily, allowing Snake to escape with his life but crushing Raiden in the process.

Act 5 - Old Sun

Aboard the Missouri, Mei Ling plans to catch up with Outer Haven, which needs to be as physically close as possible to JD's satellite in order to get the most precise shot from the rail gun. Snake, Meryl and Johnny are sent to infiltrate GW's physical processor and upload a computer virus that will destroy the AI. Aboard Outer Haven, Snake defeats Screaming Mantis, who is revealed to have the implanted personality of Psycho Mantis. Snake plans to stay behind and fight the FROGs, but Meryl insists he continue and disable SOP. Snake apologizes to Meryl, who assures him they will meet again on the outside. As Snake approaches the final corridor to GW, he is ambushed by FROGs but saved once again by Raiden, who is still alive but missing both arms. Though Snake is severely weakened by heat exposure and overwhelmed by countless Dwarf Gekko, he reaches GW, where Otacon takes control of the Mk. III and uploads the virus. The virus unexpectedly uses GW as a conduit to infect the whole AI network, destroying all five Patriot AIs, and disables SOP and all military systems implementing it worldwide, including Liquid's. A video recording of Naomi set to play back after the destruction of the Patriots explains that the Patriots had intended to implement nanomachine personality control worldwide. She and Sunny designed the virus as the antithesis to FOXDIE; as the nanomachines used in SOP were technological derivatives of Naomi's FOXDIE, the new virus, named "FOXALIVE," would atone for Naomi's mistake by shutting down SOP. Sunny's programming also made sure that in destroying the Patriot AIs, SOP and the war economy, FOXALIVE would preserve the systems controlling vital and benign world infrastructures such as water, air, telecommunications and the internet.

The U.S. Marines easily take over the now-defenseless Outer Haven. In the confusion, Liquid Ocelot takes Snake to the sail of Outer Haven and thanks him for accomplishing Liquid's own goals. Ocelot had allowed the will of Liquid to live on within his body through the use of hypnosis and gene therapy, perpetuating both Liquid's own agenda against the Patriots, as well as the feud between the two sons of Big Boss. His plan to use REX's rail gun was just a diversion, knowing that JD would be allocating its resources into stopping Liquid and not into preventing the upload of FOXALIVE. After this revelation, Liquid's personality acts upon his final wish within Ocelot's body: for the sons of Big Boss to engage in one final fight on top of Outer Haven. As Snake and Liquid wage their brutal fist fight, Ocelot's personality gradually resurfaces, culminating in the use of his trademark hand gestures. His last words are "You're pretty good...", echoing his taunt from Metal Gear Solid and his response when Naked Snake said those same words during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Epilogue - Naked Sin

The epilogue begins with Meryl and Johnny's wedding, attended by the members of Rat Patrol, Otacon, Sunny, Drebin, Mei Ling and Campbell. Meryl reconciles with Campbell and finally accepts him as her father. Raiden's body is freed from the machinations of the Patriots and is back to its original form, and he reunites with his ex-fiancée Rosemary and their son, John, whom Rosemary had lied about miscarrying to protect him from the Patriots. Snake is at the cemetery standing at the grave of Big Boss and he kneels on the ground and points his gun into his mouth to commit suicide in order to prevent his mutated FOXDIE strain from spreading further, as the camera drifts into the sky a gunshot is heard. Meanwhile, Drebin reveals to Otacon that he was a child soldier who was adopted by the Patriots with the intention of raising him to become a gun launderer. He also explains that Rat Patrol 01 (which, in its shortened form "RAT PT 01," is an anagram of "PATR10T") had been manipulated by the Patriots as well. Sunny gives the Mk. III to a local boy (her first "outside friend"), and asks Otacon where Snake is, to which Otacon - knowing that Snake has gone to commit suicide - replies tearfully that Snake "needs some time to rest."

Debriefing - Naked Son

Back at the cemetery, it is revealed that Snake did not kill himself. Sweating and shaking from nearly dying, Snake is startled by a familiar voice saying, "That's right. Good. No need for you to go just yet." Snake turns only to see Big Boss, who disarms Snake and gives him a fatherly hug. Big Boss tells Snake that the body burned on the Volta was actually that of Big Boss's clone Solidus Snake, and that he was reconstructed with parts from both Solidus and Liquid's bodies, and kept alive with extensive nanotechnology. He brings Major Zero along with him, who is now a 105-year-old man and confined to a wheelchair in his vegetative state. Big Boss explains that he and Zero founded the Patriots as an interpretation of The Boss' will, along with EVA, Ocelot, Sigint and Para-Medic. As the Patriots became more influential in society, Zero became a megalomaniac, obsessed with uniformity and erasing individuality, leading Big Boss to leave the Patriots and form Outer Heaven as another interpretation of The Boss' will. EVA and Ocelot joined him in his struggle to end the Patriots. As Zero became elderly, control of the Patriots was increasingly left in the hands of the five AIs, who further misinterpreted Zero's will and completely alienated themselves from the original will of The Boss. JD sought to control the masses through manipulation of the economy, digital information, and eventually personalities. Ocelot willingly assimilated the personality of Liquid Snake in order to fool the system and propagate the feud between the sons of Big Boss. Big Boss then euthanizes Zero by turning off his life support.

Big Boss reveals that the injection given to Snake by Drebin in Act 1 included a new strain of FOXDIE, created by the proxy AIs to kill the surviving defectors of the Patriots, explaining the deaths of EVA and Ocelot. Big Boss also relays Naomi's message that the new FOXDIE strain has neutralized the older strain, meaning that Snake is no longer in danger of becoming a biological weapon. The newer FOXDIE is already affecting him, Big Boss, who is being attacked one last time by the Patriots through Snake. He finally makes peace with Snake, asking him not to waste the life he has left fighting. He also asks his son, Snake, to find a new lease on life. Snake, realizing that he and his father are at peace now, picks up the cigar that Big Boss dropped earlier, lights it, and enjoys it with Big Boss, sharing Big Boss' last moments together as father and son. The Metal Gear Saga ends here at this scene as Snake and Big Boss are looking at one another in a loving and peaceful manner, followed by Big Boss's last words of "This is good, isn't it?" just before he dies on The Boss's grave and next to his own.

In the post-credits dialogue, Snake explains to Otacon that he will spend his remaining days attempting to simply live his life. Otacon tells Snake he forgot his cigarettes, but Snake shockingly replies with "No thanks ... These things will kill you." illustrating a new found will to live, just as Big Boss requested Snake to find just before dying on The Boss's grave. Otacon requests to accompany him in order to chronicle the last days of Solid Snake. Snake initially refuses - but with some persuasion he accepts, allowing Otacon and Sunny to accompany him.

Development

The game was publicly announced first at Tokyo Game Show 2005. Hideo Kojima announced that he would be retiring as director of the Metal Gear series after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and would leave his position open to another person for Metal Gear Solid 4. As a joke, the new director was announced as "Alan Smithee", but in R, a 400-page book bundled with Metal Gear Solid 3's Japanese "Premium Package", the director was revealed to be Shuyo Murata, co-writer of MGS3 and director of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. He has also contributed humorous Easter eggs to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. However, it was announced that Kojima would be co-directing the game with Murata after substantial negative fan reaction, including death threats.

The title was described as "essentially finished" by January 2008, and went through extensive beta testing. At Destination PlayStation on February 26, 2008, Sony announced that MGS4 would be released worldwide on June 12, 2008, along with the special MGS4 PlayStation 3 bundle.

Guns of the Patriots is the first PS3 game that uses a full 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc through extensive efforts in data compression.

Originally, one of Kojima's endings for the game would have had Snake and Otacon turn themselves in for breaking the law, and subsequently they would be convicted and executed, but this idea was vetoed by his team.

Marketing

At a press conference on May 13, 2008, Hideo Kojima announced a marketing campaign and agreements with several companies to promote the game. Apple computers and monitors feature in the game and an Apple iPod is an in-game item that Snake can use to change the background music, listen to in-game podcasts and collect hidden songs scattered throughout the game. ReGain Energy Drinks are used in the game as a Psyche gauge booster, and Sony Ericsson mobile phones are used, specifically by Naomi.

Konami and Ubisoft put an unlockable costume in the game for Snake, Altaïr from the Ubisoft stealth game Assassin's Creed. Initially revealed on April Fool's Day 2008, Kojima later announced that it would actually be in the game, unlockable by doing "something special". To obtain the attire, the player must acquire the "Assassin Emblem", a nod to the game's title (or input a password in the Extras section).

Konami had originally planned to organize grand launch events in Tokyo, but some of them were canceled with the "safety of participants in mind" in light of the Akihabara massacre on 8 June, 2008.

Also, in Act 4, when Snake enters Shadow Moses, Snake receives a call from Otacon, instructing to insert a second disc into the PS3 system, but then says that there is no need as the disc inserted is a double layered [Blu-Ray Disc].

Soundtrack

The score to Metal Gear Solid 4 was led by Harry Gregson-Williams, his third Metal Gear Solid soundtrack, and Nobuko Toda, who provided music for Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2. Other contributors are Konami employees Shuichi Kobori, Kazuma Jinnouchi, Akihiro Honda, and Sota Fujimori. Directed by Norihiko Hibino, GEM Impact employees Yoshitaka Suzuki and Takahiro Izutani also made compositions late in the game's production. It was revealed in an interview with Norihiko Hibino that the team in fact wrote 90 minutes of music for the game's cutscenes, only 15 minutes of which made its way onto the official soundtrack.

There are two vocal themes for the game. The opening theme, "Love Theme", is sung by Jackie Presti and composed by Nobuko Toda. The ending theme, "Here's To You", is sung by Lisbeth Scott. Before the release of the game, "MGS4 - Theme of Love - Smash Bros. Brawl Version" was provided for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the Shadow Moses Island level.

The official soundtrack was released on May 28, 2008 by Konami Digital Entertainment under the catalog number GFCA-98/9. It consists of two discs of music and 47 tracks. A soundtrack album was also packaged with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition.

Limited Edition

The Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots limited edition was released simultaneously with the game's standard edition, as an enhanced counterpart. The limited edition contains Guns of the Patriots, a box with artwork by Yoji Shinkawa, a Blu-ray containing two "making of" documentaries, and the game soundtrack. The Limited Edition was available exclusively at GameStop in the United States and EB Games in Canada, while a similar bundle with an additional 6-inch 'Olive Drab' Old Snake Figurine was made available at Play.com in the United Kingdom.

Console bundles

In North America, a bundle containing an 80GB PlayStation 3, a DualShock 3 wireless controller, a downloadable game coupon from PSN (Pain) and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released for US$499 on June 12, 2008 to coincide with the release of the standalone edition. Japan will see the release of the Guns of the Patriots Welcome Box that contains the game itself, a DualShock 3 controller, and a 40GB PS3 in either black, white or silver.
Sony also announced a limited edition pre-order bundle containing Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition and a matte grey (officially titled Gunmetal Grey) 40GB PlayStation 3. First announced in Japan on March 18, 2008 at a cost of ¥51,800, the bundle sold out by March 25, 2008. An identical bundle was available in North America for pre-order on May 19, 2008 in "very limited" supply for US$600 at Konami's official website. David Reeves has announced a similar bundle for Europe which includes a 40GB PlayStation 3, the game itself and a Sixaxis controller.

Sequel

Even before the release of MGS4, Kojima stated in an issue of Famitsu that he was already thinking about MGS5 but to have less involvement with future games in the series. In an interview with 1up.com, Kojima reveals he has three ideas for MGS5 but added that should Kojima Productions pursue them, Kojima would have to be more involved than he would prefer to be.

Ryan Payton, the Assistant Producer for Metal Gear Solid 4 mentioned a sequel when he announced that he would be leaving Kojima Productions on the August 26 2008, saying, "It'll be hard not being involved in MGS5, but I've got the utmost confidence that Hideo Kojima, Ken Imaizumi, and our amazing team will put together another blockbuster game. I'll be cheering from the sidelines" Hideo Kojima has also hinted to a sequel several times in other interviews.

Following Konami's event in Tokyo, celebrating the completion of Metal Gear Solid 4, 1UP translated one final audio clip featuring Revolver Ocelot who has a conversation with an unknown character about a "sequel."

Metal Gear Online

2008-10-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

Metal Gear Online, abbreviated MGO, is a PlayStation 3 exclusive online multiplayer spin-off of the Metal Gear series produced by Konami. Originally bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the "startup pack" of MGO received a standalone release in Japan on July 17 2008, with other regions to follow. The name Metal Gear Online is common with previous online components for Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

Gameplay

MGO premises up to 16-player online tactical warfare. Each player creates a character by irrevocably selecting a name, sex, race and voice. Character's appearance can be edited at any point. Further characters need to be purchased separately.

MGO allows characters to equip skills, essentially ability enhancements. They range from the self explanatory, like Handgun+ and Assault Rifle+ that decrease reload time and recoil, to CQC+ Mastery's advanced CQC techniques and Mοnomania, which essentially turns bullets into tracking devices. Level 1 skills take up a single slot, out of a pool of 4. They level up through use while equipped, and either occupy a single slot uniformly through level progression or require one additional slot per level. This warrants balance between the level and number of chosen skills.

Characters are awarded "animal ranks", emblems denoting their gaming capacity, based on pertinent statistics. For instance, frequently injecting enemies with the Scanning Plug (colloquially known as 'stinging') will lead to the Bee rank, while using the ENVG for a specific share of overall play time grants the Owl rank. Each character can only be assigned one active rank, based on an inner rank hierarchy. Once a rank is achieved, it remains in the character's rank history.

MGO supports the formation of clans, mutually exclusive groups of characters, up to 64, united under the clan's name, emblem and reputation. The character who creates a clan is its leader and needs to be at least level 3, with over 20 hours online play. The clan leader chooses its emblem, can post notices and invite members to games.

An in-game camera can be used to take photographs within the battlefield. Up to 100 photos can be stored in memory, then color edited and stored as JPEG images on the PS3's hard disk or uploaded to the MGO Community support page.

Modes of Play

The gameplay modes featured in MGO are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture Mission, Rescue Mission, Base Mission, Team Sneaking Mission and Sneaking Mission.

Deathmatch pits players against each other. The winner is determined by most enemy kills, when the ever decreasing kill counter or time reach zero. The player with the highest score is visible to others through SOP. Team Deathmatch follows the same rules (bar the last one), grouping players into two teams that share their member's kill count.

Capture Mission has teams racing to capture and hold within their goal area assigned targets, KEROTAN and GA-KO, for a cumulative period of 30 seconds. With both items in one team's goal area, the timer runs twice as fast, whereas if they are divided among goal areas, the timer is reset for both teams.

Rescue Mission premises the attacking team acquire GA-KO and place it in their goal area, while the other team defends. As there is no respawing in this mode, a team also wins by killing all the enemy team's members.

Base Mission is structured around capturing and defending small areas scattered across the map. A team wins by seizing all the bases, or by having captured more bases than the enemy team when time runs out.

Team Sneaking demands from the sneaking team (equipped with stealth camo) to bring either KEROTAN or GA-KO to their goal area, while the other team defends the items. Whenever a stealth soldier is discovered, all stealth camo is temporarily rendered non operational. Another win condition for both teams is to kill all enemy team members, with the attacking team also claiming victory by stunning or holding up all enemy team members.

Sneaking Mission features two opposing teams, Snake, and with at least 12 participants, Metal Gear Mk II. Snake wins by collecting, through body searches, three dogtags, with each life lost resetting the count to zero. Teams claim victory by killing Snake a set amount of times, or by having scored more opposing team kills when time runs out.

Non standard rules, that influence the battle's dynamic, are optional in some gameplay modes. Under the eponymous rule, players gain "Drebin Points" for actions such as kills and headshots, and can redeem them for advanced weapons, attachments or ammunition at their team's base or at respawn. Biding by "Headshots only", kills that aren't achieved through headshots cost the player their life and a time penalty before respawn.

SOP

A feature unique to MGO, drawing a parallel connection to MGS4's PMCs, is the SOP system, a battle information network created by nanomachines embedded in the character's bodies. Under SOP link, team members see each other's position behind walls, and are informed of allies "entertained" by magazines, sleeping, speaking, stunned or dying. Teammates' traps are highlighted, and any information gathered by SOP augmenting skills, like Monomania, benefits teammates. In Sneaking Missions, Snake's position is broadcast to all linked members when he's been discovered. SOP can optionally enforce "lockdown", a temporary cease fire for any player that injures a team-mate. In some situations, SOP data can be leaked from the opposition (or to them) displaying enemy positions.

Stealth

One of MGO's subtle gameplay tactics is stealth, granting MGO's battles a unique flavor among online shooters. Walls, cars, crates and even cardboard boxes can serve as hiding spots from which one can ambush an unsuspecting enemy. Careless foes can be tricked by enemies "playing dead", with the downside of vulnerability to enemy fire. Quick movement and staying covered are essentials when moving between hiding spots.

Finding countermeasures to these tactics is equally important to victory. Wary combatants approach corners carefully, check suspicious bodies, and inspect unconvincing cardboard boxes.
Team Sneaking missions emphasize stealth even further, with the introduction of stealth camo. This renders a soldier's body transparent, but does not make one unnoticable. Equipped gear is still visible, and while a floating knife may be hard to spot from afar, a close-by sentry is likely to take notice and open fire. Other visual tell-tale signs of stealth soldier presence are upset dust from movement, footsteps, shadows and breath, in cold environments. An effective stealth soldier will stick to the shadows and use cover to close in on a target.

Defending against a stealth team, requires the inverse approach. Moving shadows and the sound of footsteps are the most common errors that mark out an opponent's location. Constant movement decreases the chances of being on the receiving end of a headshot, but a seasoned soldier also knows when it's time to wait for his prey to fall into his ambush.

Yet, the epitome of stealth gameplay is Sneaking missions as Snake. His task is to collect 3 dog-tags from enemy soldiers, satisfied either by incapacitating his foes and "tapping" them or by holding them up and performing a body search. Using OctoCamo, and the accompanying FaceCamo, Snake can render himself invisible, even to enemies using ENVG (Enhanced Night Vision Goggles). Octocamo provides full invisibility after it's customized to the surroundings and while standing still, as movement decreases the camo index. Because of this, the use of CQC is a favorable tactic for Snake, since a single throw-down leads to incapacitation. Besides the obvious benefit of acquiring a dog tag, the knocked out enemy can serve as an ambush for his team-mates, who are informed either by SOP or the kill history. Effective use of Snake requires thinking more than killing.

Vigilance is the deciding factor to winning when faced with Snake. Listening for footsteps, OctoCamo activation, gunfire as well as a keen eye for Snake's visual presence are valuable means to acquire his position. Teamwork is also effective, as one team member can provide assistance to another. Competent soldiers learn to resist the rising tension of a fire fight with an invisible Snake around.

CQC

Stealth is complemented to full potential by CQC. CQC (Close Quarters Combat) is a military technique that consists of throws and holds, and as such requires physical proximity to the target. It is used to incapacitate an enemy bare-handed, or to use weapons for a tactical, rather than lethal, advantage. Weapons that support CQC are marked as such in their item box. All characters in MGO can use basic forms of CQC, such as the three-hit combo, useful against foes laying on the ground or with depleted stamina, the take-down throw, or the CQC push, with a CQC supporting double handed gun equipped.

More complex techniques require the CQC+ Mastery skill be equipped. Of these, the choke hold is the most versatile and effective. It immobilizes the target, allowing the assailant to knock the enemy out (so long as his choke-hold strength is greater than the enemy's stamina), to use the foe as a human shield and fire at an impending threat (when a one handed weapon is equipped), to slice the enemy's throat (with Blades+ lvl 3 equipped), to force the enemy to the ground, or even release the enemy if it's time to flee. Soldiers equipped with the Scanner ability can also inject their prey with a Scanning Plug, effectively hacking into the enemy team member's SOP network.

Apart from the choke hold, higher levels of the CQC+ Mastery skill allow for increased stamina damage from bare hand fighting and take-downs, less time from choke hold to knock out,and at Lvl 3, a character is capable of disarming the opponent through either the choke-hold or CQC push. Even at this level, normal footsoldiers are at a disadvantage to Snake, the only character who can knock out enemies with a single throw-down.

As CQC is strictly a one vs one technique, a lone soldier is best to avoid it against large groups of enemies, unless one can use the throw to stab or disarm combo to incapacitate them while in a state of disarray. Moving targets are liable to escape a hold's reach altogether, casting the choice of using CQC suited to experienced soldiers.

Non-lethal Weapons

MGO pioneers another addition to online shooters through non lethal weapons. Their uses include stamina depletion, target immobilisation and information manipulation. Support items are the most diverse in realising these goals. Stun grenades, for instance, deplete the stamina of nearby opponents, but also cause temporary blindness and deafness to targets of up to medium distance. Other examples of non lethal support items include proximity or trigger activated sleeping mines whereas e-locators disclose the position of close-by targets, chaff grenades both limit visibility and obscure the SOP radar temporarily and magazines occupy a target, rendering him immobile. Non lethal fire-arms consist of the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, the Mark 22 tranquilizer hand gun and any shotgun equipped with V. Ring ammo. Stunning weapons are also useful in accruing Drebin points, as a stun - kill combo is very lucrative. Apart from that, stunned enemies can be body searched to acquire their main weapon and support items.

The most formidable non lethal weapon is the SOP destabilizer, only available in Base missions. By momentarily suppressing the nanomachines regulating enemies' behaviour, the SOP destabilizer renders all enemy team members who are alive during it's activation immobile. Thus, the attacking team can overtake bases without competition and even stun helpless foes. The destabilizer's main drawbacks are that it leaves the barer without a main weapon, forces him to start from his team's base, and requires to be placed on the enemy team's base.

Maps

The "starter pack" of Metal Gear Online includes 5 maps. These are Ambush Alley, Blood Bath, Gronznyj Grad, Midtown Maelstrom, and Urban Ultimatum. Urban Ultimatum was featured in the original MGO under the name "City Under Siege". Additional maps have been released in the Gene Expansion, namely Virtuous Vista (the South American Power Station from MGS4), Tomb of Tubes and Coppertown Conflict (a remake of the original MGO map Brown Town). Kojima Productions is currently developing and testing new maps yet to be released. Some areas seen in screen shots depict an Eastern European locale.

Special Characters

MGO allows players to assume the role of plot-line characters from MGS4, in the form of Special Characters, all bearing fixed skill-sets beyond the numerical limitations of ordinary soldiers'. In Sneaking missions, players have control over Old Snake and Metal Gear Mk. II. Meryl Silverburgh and Johnny ("Akiba") are playable in any mode for players who have bought the "Gene" expansion pack.

Mk II's role is to back up Snake on the field. With stealth camo equipped, only it's shadow, upset dust and sound can give away it's position. It can incapacitate enemies with an electric shock, setting Snake out of peril and allowing him to effortlessly collect a dog tag.

The Meme Expansion is set to include Liquid Ocelot, as was hinted by his appearance in the initial training session for MGO, as well as Mei Ling. Series director Hideo Kojima's prospect to make Raiden playable in his cyborg form is expected to be realized after the Meme Expansion.

Expansions

MGO is injected with new features, such as characters and maps, through expansion packs. Konami plans to release expansion packs periodically.

Gene Expansion

The first expansion pack for Metal Gear Online, titled "Gene Expansion" , was released on July 17th 2008 at a cost of $11.99 (£7.99), or $14.99 (£9.99) for the "Plus" version with an additional character slot. The expansion adds the capability to create female soldiers and several new features. These are three new maps, two new special characters (Meryl and Johnny), the "Survival" game mode and a new reward system.

Meme Expansion

The second expansion, titled "Meme Expansion" was announced in Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu to be playable in TGS08 (9-12 October 2008). It is set to include 3 new maps, namely Silo Sunset, Forest Firefight, and Winter Warehouse. Liquid Ocelot and Mei Ling are also playable characters. Release date expected to be sometime in November 2008, with the price yet to be given.

Reward Points and Customization

Players who have bought the 'Gene' expansion pack can participate in Survival matches, online battles at specified times under specific rules. Combatants receive reward points depending on their win streak. Players can also earn 5 reward points for every round they complete in expansion specific automatching lobbies. Regardless of expansion pack, all characters gain 10 reward points for each day they log in. Reward points can be traded in the Reward shop for new clothing equipment and color customizations, amounting to a unique looking character.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

2008-10-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to 2005's Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and it was released in the United States on August 31, 2008 and in Europe on September 5, 2008. The game is a third-person shooter set in an open world environment of a war-torn modern-day Venezuela, following the story of a mercenary getting back at the man who did him wrong, while causing mayhem and destruction in the country. The reception of the game was fairly positive.

Plot

The game features three playable characters, all from the original game: Jennifer Mui, Mattias Nilsson and Chris Jacobs. All characters follow the same storyline that centers around the player's character of choice.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is set in August 2010 in Venezuela. The story begins as the player approaches businessman Ramon Solano's villa. The player is greeted by a man named Blanco, who apparently once worked with the player but left him when he stopped making money. In the meeting inside the villa, Solano hires the player to rescue a top Venezuelan Army General named Carmona, one of Solano's friends, who is being held prisoner by the Army after a failed coup attempt. A small faction in his army did not agree with the coup, captured him, and has taken him prisoner in an old colonial fortress on an island off the coast of Venezuela. The player uses weapons and air strikes supplied by Solano to infiltrate the fortress and rescue Carmona. Once Carmona is rescued, however, Solano attempts to murder the player to avoid paying him. The player is able to escape, despite being "shot in the ass", and begins to plan his/her revenge on Solano.

Following a second, successful coup by Carmona, he chooses Solano as the "civilian leader of a military government". Solano begins a forceful attempt to seize control of the country's oil supply, which is held by a company called Universal Petroleum, who tricked the former government into giving UP full control of Venezuela's oil. Fierce fighting ensues throughout Venezuela between Universal Petroleum's hired mercenaries and the Venezuelan Army (referred to as the VZ in the game) under Solano's control, resulting in a collapse of the country, driving people from their homes and causing widespread property damage. In response, a rebel group called the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela (PLAV) rises up against both VZ and UP forces. After taking control over Solano's villa, the player establishes his private military company (PMC) and helps the causes of the factions in exchange for money and information on Solano. This includes capturing VZ outposts, 'verifying' high value targets (or 'HVTs'), destroying structures, and doing other work that the faction's forces cannot accomplish.

Upon verifying Blanco and destroying the oil platform that he was on per request of the PLAV, the player learns where Solano is hiding. The player attempts to destroy Solano's hidden bunker at Angel Falls, but fails as it is hardened against normal bunker buster weapons. Shortly after, the player is forced to defend his own headquarters and recruits from Carmona and his VZ troops. After repelling the attack and verifying Carmona, it is revealed that sinking the oil platform triggered an international response to the crisis in Venezuela. A large force of American-led Allied Nations (the AN faction, a parody of the UN) and the People's Liberation Army of China move into the country. The AN is supposedly a peacekeeping and nation-rebuilding force for the war-torn country, but the player finds out that at the center of the operation is a CIA agent named Joyce, who was ordered to secure the oil supply when it became clear that their allies, Universal Petroleum, could not do so. The Chinese Army initially supported the PLAV, hoping that they would come into power and give China oil. When it became clear that the PLAV leader only wanted to stop Blanco and Carmona for personal reasons rather than overthrow the new government, the Chinese began a direct assault into the country. The Allies' and the Chinese' different plans for the oil results in a struggle for control of Caracas and the oil supply.

The player sides with one of the factions and completes contracts for them in exchange for the nuclear bunker buster needed to destroy Solano's hardened bunker. Consequently, the player succeeds in verifying the other factions leader (Agent Joyce or General Peng), but Solano destroys the HQ of the faction the player allied with with a nuclear bomb. The player returns to Solano's bunker in a second attempt to destroy it. After fighting through Solano's defenses, the player uses the nuclear bunker buster to destroy a large portion of the bunker. Solano almost escapes the ruins in a helicopter, before the player hijacks it and kills the pilot. The player confronts Solano and kills him. The game ends with Fiona declaring Solano "Verified" on her laptop and talking about moving to India for their next contract.

Gameplay

Mercenaries 2 expands upon the original's third-person shooter gameplay through contracts and side missions using a large variety of weapons, vehicles, air support, and airstrikes. These include Monster trucks, tanks, helicopters, M.O.A.B, nuclear bunker busters, carpet bombs, fuel air rpg (an rpg that releases a cloud of fuel and ignites it) various sniper rifles, and a series of assualt rifles.

Players have the ability to build a private military company and recruit mercenaries with it. There are three mercenary NPCs that may be recruited: Eva Navarro, a mechanic, who can supply custom vehicles and unlocks access to the grappling hook; Ewan Devlin, a helicopter pilot who has the ability to pick up valuable objects you may encounter and also provide transport and extraction to and from various locations; and Misha Milanich, a bomber pilot, who can be hired as your source for airstrikes. Support items also have to be purchased, or rewarded, or found in the field for Ewan to extract to the player prior to use. The player can no longer just request for the support item. The player now must purchase the support from a faction outpost, which will then be placed into the player's stockpile. Stockpiled items can then be called in from the field. It's very similar to the first Mercenaries system, but instead of paying for the support as the player needs it, items must be bought or obtained beforehand.

The total number of vehicle types has been increased to approximately 170. Vehicles can be transported anywhere in the game area. In the first Mercenaries, if the player did not clear an area of enemies before calling in a vehicle, the helicopter dropped the vehicle when fired upon, regardless of how close it was to the designated drop zone. In this edition, however, the vehicle is delivered regardless of damage to the helicopter. To complement the new swimming mechanic, new vehicles such as boats have been added. Hijacking still plays a large role in gameplay, but instead of being a fixed cinematic, now consists of a small minigame with difficulty relative to the value of the vehicle being hijacked. A grappling hook has been added to allow the player to hijack helicopters. Another new feature mentioned was the ability to switch from driver to gunner at will, although this feature is not present in the final version of the game.

The arsenal of weapons and airstrikes is larger and more diverse than the one in the previous game. New to the game is a variety of air support and airstrikes, such as the use of tactical nukes. The Nuclear Bunker Buster airstrike and the M.O.A.B were demonstrated at E3 2008.

Instead of a structured bounty system, such as the Deck of 52 from the last game, Pandemic has instead opted for a smaller roster of bounties in a simple high-value target system. Along with the high-value target system, another type of bounty is available. Destruction targets allow players to raze a building for rewards and to raise faction standings. All factions have both high-value targets and destruction targets available. Some of the high-value targets are members of another faction, so accosting them can possibly lower the player's standing with that faction.

The game includes numerous side missions that can be completed to increase the player's reputation with a faction and earn him or her extra cash. Similarly, some missions will harm the player's reputation with a faction. However, loss of reputation may be avoided by preventing the faction's soldiers from alerting the faction boss. This mechanic limits the pool of missions available to the player. In addition, each faction requests the help from the player to secure outposts for them. After capturing an outpost, the player can then revisit the outpost to purchase support items. Each outpost has a helipad so the player may fly directly to them once captured, so long as the players standing with the outpost's faction is neutral or higher.

The game also features a new co-op mode that allows two players to play through the game together online. Co-op implements a "drop-in, drop-out" system. When a player joins anothers player's game, the player is able to choose which mercenary to play as. The player will join the host no matter what they are doing in their game. Every mission and activity in the game can be completed in co-op. Consequently, there are no co-op or single player exclusive missions. A half kilometer tether has been added to keep the players from straying too far away from one another. However, the PS2 version lacks any multiplayer capabilities.

Characters

All three mercenaries from the first game have made a return. However, they have left their prior employer, ExOps, to pursue a freelance career. Though all three can be seen in a cutscene shortly after Solano's betrayal, only the player's mercenary factors into the story from that point forward.

Mattias Nilsson (Peter Stormare): Born in Arvidsjaur, Sweden. After participating in Sweden's Arctic rangers, Mattias was involved in criminal activity and was a member of a local biker gang. He takes pleasure in large explosions and is known to start a fight. After escaping from a Swedish prison, he became a mercenary to satisfy his thirst for destruction and money. Mattias is also featured on the game's cover.

Christopher Jacobs (Phil LaMarr): Born in San Jose, California. Raised in a military family, Chris also joined the Army when he was older, where he was accepted into the Delta Force. During his service, Chris' mind became more and more darkened as he saw his commanding officers show unethical behavior towards Chris' fellow troops. When his tour ended, Chris left the Army and became a mercenary.

Jennifer Mui (Jennifer Hale): Born in Hong Kong, China to a British cultural attaché and a Chinese diplomat. Her parents divorced when she was ten years old. She moved to Britain with her father when he got a promotion but still remained close to her mother who was in Hong Kong. She excelled at studies and athletics as a child. When she joined the British Army, her talent was noticed by an MI6 member. She was accepted into MI6, but was not satisfied by her pay. She left MI6 and became a mercenary.

Development

After the critically and publically well-received original was released in 2005, Pandemic Studios quickly began the development of the sequel to its popular game . The game was first announced in the summer of 2006, and an early demonstration was shown at E3 2006. The demo showcased a new setting of Venezuela, and introduced Mattias, returning with a new costume and a mohawk, and Eva, an all new playable mercenary. Many new gameplay mechanics were shown, including grappling, water vehicles, the hijacking mini-game, and co-op play. On the technical side, the game was initially developed for PlayStation 3 console, which at the time had not been released yet. For the next-gen console, a new game engine written in-house was planned to incorporate dynamic shadows, day and night cycles, and dynamic damage and destruction system involving real-time physics.

On February 1, 2007, it was announced Electronic Arts would publish Mercenaries 2 some time that year. Three weeks later on February 22, EA and Pandemic further announced a multi-platform release for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and PS2.

In E3 2007, a stage demo of a newer build featured a fire effects engine that allows the player to ignite material such as foliage and trees. Pandemic also recently upgraded to the Havok 5.5 physics engine for realistic movements of vehicles and debris during large-scale destruction. As for the playable characters, the three mercenaries from the original game were brought back. Producer Jonathan Zamkoff stated that writing was being improved to emphasize story and character development, aiming for a "Bruckheimer meets Tarantino action movie" feel. In September after the E3, however, Pandemic delayed Mercenaries 2 to early 2008, but stated that all the contents had already been put into the game and extra amount of polish would be added until release. In April 2008, the release date for all versions was again delayed but finalized to August 31, 2008 in the US and September 5 in Europe. The game was extensively featured in E3 2008 for the last time prior to release.

Downloadable content

On September 30, 2008, Pandemic Studios announced that they were working on a free patch, called "Total Payback", that would add six new playable characters, cross-region co-op support, and cheats. It was slated to be released on October 13th on Xbox Live, but was further delayed till October 23rd. It is set to be released for PlayStation Network on October 23rd as well. Pandemic plan to release further downloadable content for the game in November.

Medal of Honor: Airborne

2008-10-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Medal of Honor: Airborne is a World War II first-person shooter computer game and the 11th installment of the Medal of Honor series. It was developed by EA Los Angeles and was released worldwide on the PC and Xbox 360 in early September 2007. A PS2 and Wii version was set to be released but was cancelled in 2007. A PlayStation 3 version was released late November 2007. The game takes place in the European theater of World War II, and is the first in the series to focus on paratrooper activities.

In the single-player mode, the player takes on the role of PFC Boyd Travers, a paratrooper in the US 82nd Airborne Division. Missions include various insertions into Italy, northern France, the Netherlands and Germany, each one beginning with a jump behind enemy lines, and success requiring completion of given objectives. Airborne also features a multiplayer mode available for online play, where users have the choice of fighting for the Allies and parachuting down to the battlefield, or fighting for the Axis and starting on the ground, defending the position from enemy paratroopers.

The game uses a heavily-modified Unreal Engine 3. Airborne employs a nonlinear gameplay style whereby the player can start the game anywhere in the map by directing where they land, as opposed to previous linear FPS games where the start point and direction is already laid out, such as Allied Assault.

Story

In Airborne, the player assumes the role of Private First Class (later promoted to Corporal) Boyd Travers, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division and later the 17th Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. Travers's insertion is into major engagements in Italy, northern France, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The game begins with a training mission, where the player learns how to jump from the plane, among other basic controls. After the tutorial mission, the player is sent to Sicily in 1943, with a drop into a small walled village called Adanti as part of Operation Husky, the costly Allied invasion of Sicily. It is followed by Operation Avalanche, the invasion of mainland Italy, where Travers is inserted into an operation near the Greek ruins of Paestum. These ruins were used by the Axis as a staging area to counterattack the advancing Allies from the beaches of Salerno. The 82nd Airborne is then airdropped into France during the morning hours of June 6, 1944 as part of Operation Neptune. During this, Travers is part of the paratrooper force dropped inland the night to take and hold the 82nd Airborne's goal of Sainte-Mère-Église. Before the Normandy beach invasion to clear the infantry's path into Vichy France. The player is able to see the Utah Beach landings of Operation Overlord while in the air. Travers then drops into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden, General Montgomery's failed plan to secure routes through the Netherlands enabling a push into Germany. Largely featured is the partly destroyed city of Nijmegen and the attempt to secure the bridge over the Waal River for the Allies. The game's finale takes place during Operation Varsity, which sees Travers parachuting alongside 17,000 soldiers into Germany in the single largest Allied airdrop in history, as the final level depicts a combat jump over a Flak Tower in Essen, Germany.

Gameplay

The main gameplay element, which is introduced in Airborne, is the paratroop jump. At the start of each mission, the player begins in a C-47 along with fellow soldiers preparing to drop. The team then jumps out of the plane and parachutes down to the ground, marking the beginning of the mission. During the drop the player is able to freely control where in the field of battle they land; pre-determined drop zones are marked with a green flare, where the player will find their allies and supplies, however they can also choose to land elsewhere,within a small to medium sized map, which affects the way the game is played. For example, the player could land near the enemy stronghold and come up against heavy opposing firepower, or land on the rooftops with a sniper rifle and choose a stealthy approach to the mission. This free-roaming experience based on unlimited choice of landing spots offers infinite ways of gameplay, ensuring no two matches are alike. For Playstation 3, the SIXAXIS controller can be used to also determine which way the player leans, being accomplished by tilting the controller forward or backward. Additionally, unlike previous scripted first-person shooters, the missions in Airborne have no specific start or end point.

As the player can land anywhere in the map, beginning the mission where they choose, they can complete the given objectives in any order they wish. The rate at which players become ready for battle depends on their skill at hitting the ground; a poor landing results in notification of a "botched landing", with the player having to spare a few seconds to regain composure. In addition to this, players can instantly kill an enemy soldier if they land on top of them. The objectives in the missions usually have the player taking down 20 mm Flakveirlings, high-ranked officers, or placing Composition B charges on many different supplies (i.e. ammo caches, a railway gun, Tanks, pressure valves, and cannon cars) for mass destruction. The player also has to survive many ambush groups and heavy infantry like a Panzergrenadier and a Nazi Storm Elite, which is a very strong masked man that carries an MG42. These heavy infantrymen come in late in the game though.

Airborne uses a health regeneration system similar to one used in Pariah where the health status bar is split into four quarters. If a whole quarter of health is lost, a health pack is needed to replenish it, although if the quarter is not entirely lost it will slowly refill if the player finds cover and rests for a few seconds. The game also has an unlimited sprinting ability where the player can speed up, however they will not be able to shoot while sprinting. Like other more recent FPS games, Airborne makes use of iron sights, where the player can improve their accuracy by looking down the sights of the weapon. The game's crosshair is dynamic where it will grow larger while the player is running, indicating that firing is less accurate while on the move.

Weapons

A wide range of weapons is available in Airborne, such as the Thompson submachine gun and the M1 Garand rifle, which have defined previous Medal of Honor titles. However, like most of the previous Medal of Honor titles, the weapon authenticity falls far short of the mark. Grenades can be kicked away, and if one explodes too close, the player experiences blurred vision and shock effects. Players are able to carry two primary weapons(up to 780 rounds), a side-arm and 21 grenades (12 frag, 12 stick grenades, 12 Gammon when fully upgraded).

Airborne uses a weapon upgrade system, whereby the player is awarded with add-ons to their selected weapon as they become proficient with it. This feature is based on the idea that not every weapon in World War II was the same as every other one, soldiers had a wide variety of field modifications and upgrades that they could apply to them. Every weapon in the game can achieve three upgrades e.g. the Thompson SMG evolves to resemble the infamous 1920's gangster weapon of choice "The Tommy Gun" after the addition of a forward pistol grip (for stability), a "Cutts Compensator" to divert the muzzle gas upwards (eliminating muzzle rise during rapid fire) and a drum magazine, increasing ammo holding capacity from 30 to 50. Some upgrades can increase accuracy (by replacing the barrel), increase ammo (by using a Satchel (bag), or even increase the melee effect. When wielding an MP40, the player will pull a dagger for the melee, and for the M12 Shotgun, a bayonet is attached. Travers will be able to tape magazines together or install a special polished bolt (like on a Karabiner 98k or Springfield 1903) to increase rate of fire. Also less well known weapons are available as upgrades, such as the rifle grenade. A notification appears each time a headshot is performed, the player gains a number of kills in rapid succession, or performs a melee kill, all of which earns the player reward points. Even if the player drops their weapon, any others they pick up of the same type retain the upgrades.

Multiplayer

Airborne features a multiplayer mode for online play. Users can play as either the Allies or the Axis on six multiplayer maps, three of which have been adapted from the single player aspect of the game: Operation Husky, Operation Avalanche, and Operation Neptune. The remaining three maps are all adaptations of multiplayer maps from a previous Medal of Honor title, Allied Assault. While the basic design and layout of the maps are the same, they have been decreased in size, to further balance the two teams. These maps are Destroyed Village, Remagen and The Hunt.

Currently there are three gamemodes in Airborne. The first is "airborne deathmatch" where the Axis must defend against the Allies who are dropping in from the sky. The second is "team deathmatch", in which the Allies spawn on the ground instead of jumping from a C-47. In both teammatch modes, the side that gains the most kills after a specified time or frag limit wins. The third gametype is an objective-based mode where players must capture three neutral flags, similar to the main gamemode of Battlefield 2. The middle flag requires two soldiers to be near it, in order to capture it. The winning team is the one who manages to control the most flags the longest, after a set period of time. There has been some criticism in the MOH community for the lack of a classic non-respawning "objective" gametype, of which many clans and competitive ladders of Allied Assault are based around. While EA has not commented specifically on this gametype, it has been said that all concerns within the community are noticed and those issues will be addressed with future patches.

Registration of an EA account is required in order to play online. Server admins will have the ability to set their servers as ranked or unranked in the future, however only unranked is currently available. The maximum number of players per server is 12 for the Xbox 360 and for PC listen servers, for dedicated servers the number is expected to be much higher, however has not yet been determined. More maps and gametypes have been slated for addition via downloadable content, although a date is unknown.

In an attempt to curb cheating in the multiplayer mode of the game, EA has included Punkbuster with Airborne, and said that they were investigating providing hooks for DMW as well.

Development

Development of Airborne started in late 2004 when the game designers wanted a new game that would "really revolutionize the Medal of Honor scene". The idea of a paratrooper-based gameplay came up and as such a free-roaming environment was needed, which became the key focus of the game. Each mission starts with a jump and the developers wanted to make the experience as nonlinear as possible, with no starting points and as such the scenario unfolding in a different way each time, as opposed to previous World War II FPS games where there is a set starting and end point.

The development team even had an actual historical advisor, who is an enthusiast on the Airborne forces and weapons of World War II, attempting to ensure historical accuracy and authenticity. Each audio sound in the game was recorded from hundreds of real WWII-era artifacts, including real weapons, tanks, items, and one of the last remaining airworthy C-47s in the world. The audio element of Airborne is immensely detailed, even going as far as recording two sets of sounds of boots stepping across different surfaces, one for American boots and another for German boots.

Airborne was developed in close consultation with the Medal of Honor community, via forums and summits. Certain community leaders who run Airborne fan-sites were invited to a multiplayer preview summit in July 2007, and many problems were identified that would hamper the game's popularity within the MOH community, the most important ones being lack of a dedicated server and issues with mouse lag and low frame rate. As a result of the summit, the most critical issues were able to be fixed in time for the game's release, and the other issues in time for the first patch. A single-player demo was released on August 23, 2007, featuring the first half of Operation Husky.

Game engine

Airborne uses a heavily modified Unreal 3 engine. The game's core development was started with EA's acquired Renderware engine, but it made the switch to the Unreal 3 engine in early 2006 which delayed the game by over a year. The engine was specifically designed for DirectX 9 and 10 PCs, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and supports many rendering techniques utilized within the graphics capabilities of Airborne, including HDRR, per-pixel lighting and dynamic shadows.

AI awareness

Because of the non-linear gameplay style of Airborne, the developers had to build an entirely new artificial intelligence system to deal with the many ways the player can interact with or approach the computer-controlled allied and enemy soldiers (NPCs), and for them to react to the situation accordingly. With "Affordance A.I.", the characters have an awareness of enemy approach patterns, and also features of the terrain and urban infrastructure that provide a tactical advantage, such as cover, high ground and open doorways. This allows AI characters to take intelligent combat actions based on their surroundings, as opposed to the scripted movements of previous linear FPS games. However as players played through the levels, many said that the A.I began a scripted sequence of reaction, such as being in the same positions every time, and taking the same advantages even when the player takes the enemy on from a completely different angle, which left many gamers somewhat unimpressed by the supposed "Human A.I"

Airborne uses two systems to guide the physical and emotional reactions of the AI characters to what is happening around them. "E-cap" (emotion capture) is used to create more human-like emotions on the characters' faces by blending textures to give the appearance of facial expressions, wrinkles and tension. A "procedural awareness system" gives every character an emotional state such as defensive, nervous, hysterical, etc, and also an awareness of their surroundings and other NPCs, for example an AI soldier that started to move forward would jump back for cover if an ally next to them was shot.

Patches

A version 1.1 patch was released by EA on October 5, 2007. This patch enables players to join dedicated servers, as well as fixing various gameplay and multiplayer issues such as the damage dealt by anti-tank weapons such as the Panzerschreck. An update to this patch, version 1.1ds, was released on October 30, 2007, fixing several problems with dedicated server functionality.
A second patch was released on December 13, 2007. The patch adds support for 24 players, edits various maps and adds two new ones, and balances the multiplayer weapons, bringing the total size of the patch to 1.3GB.

A third patch was released on March 7, 2008. This one adds new features and two new maps to the game and also edits various existing features. The updates' size is 1.1GB because of the 2 new maps and because all maps were edited to include Objective mode. The dedicated server released on the same time as patch 1.3 was a new build because patching the existing server is as big as a new one. It is also stated that a Linux version of the dedicated is being worked on and will be released soon.

Third-party mods

EA had expressed a desire to make the game extremely mod-friendly. EA had said that an SDK/MDK would be released on their website soon after the game shipped, along with tools export/import models in various 3D editing programs. However, such support was not forthcoming after release and there is little appetite in the MoH modding community to work on the game. EA has stated that the mod tools will not be released.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

2008-10-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an action role-playing game released in 2006. It is set within the fictional Marvel Universe and features many of the superheroes, supervillains, and supporting characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics.

Plot

The heroes must work together to stop master villain Victor Von Doom aka Dr. Doom, and the group of super-villains known as the Masters of Evil who plan to conquer the world.
The missions cover a range of various locations from the Marvel universe: the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha; Stark Tower; S.H.I.E.L.D. Omega Base; Atlantis; Mandarin's palace; Arcade's amusement park Murderworld; Mephisto's realm; Valhalla; the Bifrost bridge; Asgard; Niffelheim; Attilan; a Shi'ar space vessel; a Skrull planet and Castle Doom in Latveria.

Features

Players can select teams of four from a range of more than twenty-two playable characters (although some characters are not initially available and need to be unlocked), allowing them to create their own superhero teams or recreate famous teams from the publications. Bonuses are also available if forming certain groups (e.g. the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Marvel Knights). The game also has alternative endings, dictated by the number of optional missions the player completes. Also included are trivia, artwork and "simulator discs", which unlock non-story related missions for characters. Each character also has a variety of costumes that offer different advantages.

Versions

The game is available through several gaming systems.

Game Boy Advance

"Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" has been altered for the Game Boy Advance port and has become a side-scrolling fighting game with minor RPG elements, such as the ability to alter your characters' stats. The graphics are simplified for this system and the selection of characters has also been reduced. Some additional gameplay modes were added into this version of the game including a S.H.I.E.L.D. Simulator, Time Challenges, Scavenger Hunts, and a Survival mode. Teams for this port consist of three characters and a striker, a non-playable fourth character who can be summoned to perform a powerful attack directed toward on-screen enemies.
Playable characters include Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iceman, Blade, Captain America, Deadpool, Elektra, Ms. Marvel, Thor, & The Thing. Special characters included in the game are Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Dark Phoenix, Namor the Sub-Mariner and Vision.

PC

The PC version is customizable, and many characters and their skins can be obtained from modding sites for play within the game. The PC version's graphics vary depending on the customization of a user's settings. The PC version also features "intuitive mouse controls" and works with a gamepad. A number of custom characters are also available.

Playstation Portable

The PSP version features simplified graphics, different characters, and extra features including the four exclusive playable Marvel characters Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye and Ronin. Other things unique to this version are 6 exclusive comic book missions including one which contained Swordsman, an exclusive prequel mission, and three exclusive single-player gameplay modes. Added features include online play, microphone support (voice chat) and online-recordable player statistics.

Wii

The Wii version has a few features unique to its version including specific motion-sensitive controls for normal moves, motion-sensitive controlled special attacks (which are unique for each character), and access to any special move at any time. In this version contains no online play but has a normal multiplayer mode in which up to four players may play at once. It also features the characters Moon Knight and Colossus.

Xbox 360 and PS3

The Xbox 360 version and the Playstation 3 version are virtually identical, with no major differences. Activision released 8 additional downloadable characters on the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 26, 2007 in a set of packs: a hero and villain pack, both costing 500 Microsoft points each. However, if desired, the user may download both in a bundle pack, slightly reducing the overall cost of both separate for 800 Microsoft points. Four heroes are included, being Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. There are also four villains - Magneto, Sabretooth, Venom, and Victor Von Doom.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance: Gold Edition was released for the Xbox 360 on May 22, 2007. It has all eight downloadable heroes and villains that were originally available only on the Xbox 360 through download on Xbox Live. It also includes 12 new Xbox LIVE achievements and exclusive character costumes.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance: Special Edition (Platinum Hits) was released for the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007. The feature set includes all of the Gold Edition extras and a bonus DVD.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was also released as a companion with Forza 2 in specially marked Xbox 360 consoles in 2007. This release contains a copy of the initially released version of the game.

PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits

On August 19, 2007, a Special Edition Greatest Hits version was released for the PlayStation 2, including the game in its original form and a "bonus" DVD containing a making-of featurette.

Xbox

The Xbox version of the game has no changes from the standard PS2 edition, however, a community-based modification has been released which adds Colossus, Moon Knight, Gambit and Angel to the game. The mod includes new team bonuses for the characters, as well as updates and fixes for existing characters.

Sequel

A sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance was announced by Activision on February 8, 2008. There is no launch date at present time.

Major League Baseball 2K8

2008-10-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

Major League Baseball 2K8 or in shorter terms, MLB 2K8, is a MLB licensed baseball simulation video game developed by Kush Games and published by 2K Sports for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox 360. It was released on March 4, 2008. A demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace the next day on March 5 for Canada, United States and Asian markets.

New Features

Ben Brinkman, in a January 18, 2008 KOXM podcast, revealed the following new features to debut in 2K8:

90 playable real-life minor league baseball teams and players (restricted to players who have had major league experience), including 20 authentic minor league stadiums.

2K Cards, unlockable trading cards

New pitching system in which the pitch type is determined by analog stick movement

Swing Stick 2.0, a revamped analog batting system which allows an increased variety of batted balls (Baltimore Chops, bloops, dribblers, etc.)

New ball-throwing system which is also determined by analog stick movement

More realistic fielding tweaks, and a revamp of double play animation and gameplay.

The official site also included these additional new and updated features:

Downloadable minor league stadiums

Revamped baserunning, with more intuitive controls and smarter baserunning AI

Additional Signature Style animations

Downloadable content (Xbox 360)

The new features are not available on the PS2 version of the game.

Cover athlete

New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was announced as the cover athlete on December 6, 2007, taking over for crosstown New York Yankees counterpart Derek Jeter.

Announcers

Announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan once again resume game announcing duties, while Steve Physioc and Jeanne Zelasko continue reporting duties.

Downloadable content

March 6, 2008: The first round of downloadable content was released on Xbox Live Marketplace for free, which included The Minor League Stadium Pack, which featured Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Hadlock Field and Legends Field (now called "George M. Steinbrenner Field"), a Majestic Cool Base Uniforms pack, which added one new uniform for each Major League team, and the Card Series 2 download which unlocked the next set of packs for use in the game's card battle mode.

Development and History

MLB 2K8 represents the third seventh generation console baseball game of the 2K Sports Major League Baseball series, and the second lead developed by Ben Brinkman for Kush. In Brinkman's 1UP.com log, he revealed that MLB 2K8 represents the middle act of a planned three year development cycle for 2K's baseball series for next gen systems, with MLB 2K7 being the first stage. According to Brinkman, "At the same time we set out a three year plan for the MLB franchise so that once 2K7 ended we could get right to work on 2K8 and have a set of goals and features to accomplish." From an interview in an IGN article, "MLB 2K7 was the first step in a long process of reinventing the 2K Sports baseball brand and the MLB franchise. 2K7 was year one of that, and a lot of that was just getting back onto stable ground -- getting back with the people who play our game and putting something out there that they're happy with, they have a blast playing and that they can play for an extended period of time. I think we delivered upon that, especially given the short timeline with which we had to create that game."

Major League Baseball 2K7

2008-10-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Major League Baseball 2K7 (or MLB 2K7) is a Major League Baseball licensed baseball simulation video game developed by Kush Games and published by 2K Sports. Released on February 27, 2007, it is the only 2007 MLB licensed game available for the Xbox 360 and Xbox. It is also available for the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation 2 and, for the first time, the PlayStation 3, though its competition came in the form of MLB 07: The Show from 989 Sports. Portable versions for the Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable, and Game Boy Advance were released. It is the first baseball game to be released for the Nintendo DS.

For the third year in a row, Derek Jeter is the cover athlete, and ESPN baseball broadcasters Jon Miller and Joe Morgan serve as announcers, despite the loss of the ESPN license to Electronic Arts. Steve Physioc and Jeanne Zelasko cover the pre-game.

History

According to lead developer Ben Brinkman, MLB 2K7 will be skipped as a Wii title; the first game for the Wii will be MLB 2K8. MLB 2K7 was officially announced as gold on February 23, 2007 and was shipped on February 26; its previous release date had been advertised as March 5. This was presumably to prevent early adoption of MLB 07: The Show on Sony platforms. However, the Nintendo DS and GBA versions were conspicuously absent from the announcement.The reported release date for those handhelds is March 19, 2007. It differs vastly from its 2006 release of MLB 2K6.

A demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 owners on February 26, 2007, allowing them to play Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series starting in the 7th inning.

The game and the demo of the game for the 360 and all other game formats were only available in North America and Japan with no plans to release the game in the Europe for PAL systems.

Gameplay

The new iteration features a stunningly lifelike batter/pitcher interface on seventh generation console systems, as well as more detailed models and AI tweaks. Last year's "Inside Edge" also returns, with a tweak in that playing to a player's strengths causes a boost in ability.

Other new features, as published by 2K Sports, include:

Signature Style: In a GameSpot interview, it was revealed the game would feature 150 major league players' tendencies and animations that mimic the real-life stars. According to former MVP Baseball and current 2K Sports Major League Baseball series developer Ben Brinkman, "nearly all of [the] player faces have been redone from the ground-up using scanned data."

True Fielding: Fielder positioning, relay and cutoff A.I. are redesigned to allow for better, more authentic Major League defensive play. Defensive alignments are now based on who is at the plate. Rundowns are revamped as well.

Dynamic Throwing System: A new implementation of responsive throwing mechanics coupled with unique animations for infield, outfield and situational throws.

Franchise Finance: A revised, beefier franchise mode including team news, attendance, ticket prices and fan "buzz".

2K Sports Online Play: Online leagues and tournaments are implemented. The Xbox 360 version will feature full 30 man leagues, while the PlayStation 3 version will support only 12, though the developers claimed they would try to increase the maximum number.

Online Franchise: Play with up to four of your friends in a franchise or season.

Other additions include a ramped up player and manager ejection system, including a minigame in which the player controlling the manager will tap a button to argue with the umpire; in multiplayer, the opponent will take control of the umpire and try to precision tap a button to eject the opponent's manager. A managerial ejection will cause the player's team to be controlled by the CPU. Umpires also have their own personalities and AI, meaning each umpire will have a unique style of calling a game. An important feature is the use of the joystick's force feedback during same-machine multiplayer - as the invisible icon reaches the edges of the strike zone, the rumble will increase. (PlayStation 3 owners are not able to enjoy this feature due to the lack of such a feature in the gamepad.) Other minor touches include ballboys retrieving baseballs, fans catching foul balls, and dynamic bullpen activity.

Downloadable Content

On June 28, 2007, the Xbox 360 version received an online update, and announced that a line of classic stadiums would be appearing on Xbox Live Marketplace, starting with Stade Olympique for free. MLB 2K7 owners have reported in dedicated forums that the update created a save game glitch on their system. This glitch has not been acknowledged nor addressed by the publishers or developers of the game, although players have independently confirmed downloading Stade Olympique will fix this glitch. Also it adds players who were not in the original roster such as Alex Gordon and Daisuke Matsuzaka who had signed with the Boston Red Sox after the game was made.

On July 9, 2007, four packages were made available:

Sportsman’s Park, Forbes Field, Griffith Stadium, Shibe Park, Polo Grounds, and Crosley Field for 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD).
The other three packages offered 2 of each of the above stadiums for 300 Microsoft Points each.

Madden NFL 09

2008-10-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Madden NFL 09 is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. The game was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 consoles.

The wii version of the game is titled Madden NFL 09 All-Play and was launched under EA Sports' new All-Play brand exclusive to the platform, taking a slightly different approach to the game and taking advantage of the motion controls.

The 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition of Madden NFL 09 includes NFL Head Coach 09, an alternative case, an exclusive version of John Madden Football '93 with updated teams and rosters and bonus video content and clips.

A demo of the game was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. The standard version and the anniversary package were released on August 12, 2008. A Spanish language version of the game was released on September 17, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

Features

Presentation

New Booth Commentators: The game featured the two man broadcast team of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, but the PS2, PSP, Xbox and Wii versions still retained the broadcast team of Al Michaels and John Madden due to memory limitations.

Broadcast Plus Presentation Styles/EA Sports Ticker: Starting line-up banners, New coin toss and pre-game introduction, brand new Banner System, Pre-game visuals such as Stadium fly-in and exterior. The game will be branded with EA Sports Broadcast look including new camera angles. Also a new ticker that drives home the new broadcast look.

Enhanced Play Calling System: Picture-in-Picture play calling system that streamlines important information to the user that includes Instant Replay, Stats and Accessibility hints. Also on demand access and the ability to make substitutions directly on play call gives more flexibility to the play call screen.

New Cameras: New playable cameras keep more of the action on the screen by making sure you can see all of your receivers. It also focuses on big moments such as break-aways and hard hits. Also a variety of new pre-play and post-play cameras

Improved sidelines: More people on the sideline, including a variety of security, coaches, and players. These characters have more activity and emotions than previous versions of the game.

Online

Video Highlights: capture moments and create a highlight clip that can be uploaded to EA Sports World to share with friends.

Improved online leagues: server-based leagues, supporting up to 75 players, with full schedules including the playoffs (up to seven rounds) and the Super Bowl as well as draft and trade support. Schedules can be played in a round-robin style as well.

Graphics

Improved Graphics: Improved stadium models, new weather effects such as snow, rain & "movie weather", new lighting models, new realistic player models, field goal nets, and clear visors.

Supporting features

Revamped franchise mode: Simulated stats have been improved (e.g. fewer running backs gaining 2,000+ yards in one season)

Return of Last-Gen Features: Grudge Match, Bluff Play Art, Set Audibles, Slide Protection, Formation Subs on play call.

Madden Moments: re-play through a number of real-life situations that you will recognize from the 2007 season.

Rivalries: rivalry games have special value, play-off games have more crowd and television intensity and different presentation elements.

Gameplay features

Total Control Animation System: this feature gives you the ability to break out of a tackle when a defender has you in his grasp. Use special moves such as Spin or Stiff Arm to break out of the tackle.

Playbook Renovation: including team specific defensive playbook & new offense playbooks.

User Celebrations: celebrate how you want with total control of your player (eg. Lambeau Leap, dunk ball over goal post, ram head-first into the wall like Gus Frerotte, etc.)

Gameplay Tuning: lots of tuning items and smaller features aimed at getting gameplay feeling better and more realistic.

Weather Specific Animations: weather will have visual effect on gameplay with slipping, sliding, and other animations specific to bad weather conditions.

Other features: return missed field goals, bobble catches, pass tuning, set audibles, slide protection, bluff play art, smart routes, post play continuation, post play help-ups, ball carrier combo moves, live pre-play defense, new wrap-up tackling system, improved foot pinning, new catch system, gameplay slider, realistic fatigue, improved gang tackles, true penalty based animations, new fumble system, new player weapon types, new tackling engine & animations

New Running/Ball-Carrier Engine: total control system, new transition system, character grounding with foot-plant, new procedural animation system, realistic momentum, new locomotion system, improved visuals and animations, left and right stick moves, directional diving....

Cover Athlete

On April 24, 2008, David Letterman revealed that then-retired former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre would be the cover athlete of Madden NFL 09 on the Late Show with David Letterman. Despite Favre's later unretirement and subsequent trade to the New York Jets about five days before Madden NFL 09 was officially released in North America, the game's cover still features Favre wearing a Packers uniform. Instead of reissuing the packaging, On August 11, 2008, EA made available a free alternate cover of Favre in a Jets uniform from their website that players are able to download and print. At first the new covers were available for all the consoles except the Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Wii, which use an alternate cover. On September 15, 2008, EA made available a cover shot specifically for the Wii that had Brett Favre as a Jet, but it was only a snap shot of the front cover and did not include the true layout for printing and replacing the insert that shipped with the game.

Favre is a playable character in every version of Madden NFL 09 except for the PS2 version on the "NFL Greats" roster. On the PSP edition, he is not on the Jets roster, but is available on a historic team, the 2007 Packers. Players can transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, and pick him up on any of the 32 NFL teams for the 2008 NFL season. A roster update on August 12, 2008 places Favre on the New York Jets roster as their starting quarterback.
Like all other games of EA Sports' 09 Season, the "All Play" version of Madden seen on the Wii features a different photograph of Favre with different artwork than all other versions of the game.

The Anniversary Collector's Edition does not feature a cover athlete - it has a larger version of the Roman numeral XX logo shown in the top-left corner of the game's standard cover. Roberto Garza, the starting guard for the Chicago Bears, will be the cover athlete for the Spanish language version, Madden NFL 09 en Español.

Presentation

Play-by-play and color commentary is provided by Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, respectively. Al Michaels and John Madden are still the play-by-play and color commentary for the Wii, PS2, PSP and Xbox versions. EA designers have confirmed that John Madden does play a part in Madden 09 as the person describing instructions to the Madden IQ. Madden guides the player on advice and other things to help raise his or her Madden IQ. Madden also appears in Mii form in the Wii version of the game, suggesting plays to run in the game's "Madden's Pick" feature, with a specific reason so new players can learn to call their own plays.
EA's relationship with ESPN also enables tie-ins with different ESPN shows.

Madden NFL 08

2008-10-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Madden NFL 08 is the 2008 edition of the American football video game series published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 19th installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise. It features Titans star quarterback Vince Young on the cover. The game was released on August 14, 2007 for several platforms, including Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC. EA and Apple, Inc. had announced in June 2007 that a version for Mac OS X would be released at the same time as the other versions. After the August 14 release date came and went without a Mac release, however, EA said it would be delayed until September or October 2007. A Spanish language version of the game was released on December 11, 2007 for the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 platforms. As of December 13, 2007, the Xbox 360 version has sold 1,069,576 copies in the United States. Madden NFL 08 has sold 4.5 million copies. Madden NFL 08 is the last game to ever be released for the GameCube in the United States.

Gameplay

Madden 08 runs at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, and 30 frames per second on the PlayStation 3. A new branching animation system allows dynamic gameplay for the first time in the franchise. Players are no longer locked into animations but are now controlled more by the player. Features of the new animation system include mid-air collisions, big-time, one-handed catches, hurdles, sideline catches and gang tackling. Madden 08 brings back some features for its online play; for example, there will be a return of Season Mode and tournaments held online. Another updated feature – dubbed Hit Stick 2.0 – will allow players to hit high or low by flicking the analog stick up or down. A new fatigue system has been implemented, disallowing users from taking a scrambling quarterback and repeatedly running around behind the line of scrimmage for very long gains. Fatigue also plays a factor when cold-weather teams play in hot weather during the early months of the season. Also returning to this year's incarnation is the much sought after "co-op" play, which had found itself sitting on the sidelines since making the jump to the next-generation consoles. This mode finds players teaming up with a friend and taking on the CPU or two human opponents.

Presentation

On the next-generation systems former NFL running back and Madden NFL 2003 cover athlete Marshall Faulk hosts a segment called Marshall's Minute in which he discusses key star players and predicts the score prior to the game. Weapons (see below) also get special introductions before games.

Advertising

Madden 08 users will notice advertising now within the game play. Most noticeably from Snickers, Under Armor, and Sprint.

Features

Weapons

Certain star players have "weapons" which can enhance their performances and create game-changing plays. Players with the Smart Quarterback weapon are able to read defensive schemes as the games continue. Smart linebackers, Smart corners and Smart safeties will be able to accomplish the same thing on defense, except corners only see receiver art and linebackers see everything but receiver art. Possession receivers will make tough catches over the middle, Shutdown corners will stay on even the toughest receivers, and Spectacular Catch receivers will be able to leap over defenders and make difficult grabs.

Superstar Mode additions

With the addition of the Campus Legend mode to the next-gen version of NCAA Football 08, players are now able to take their player from Campus Legend mode and import him into Madden's Superstar Mode. In addition, players are able to take over the careers of select rookies from the 2007 NFL Draft and use them in Superstar Mode. Camera angles have also been tweaked for the next gen of Madden 08 after complaints with its predecessor. Key attributes of superstars are assigned by players when creating them, rather than generated by random parents. A number of features have been left out in this year's Wii version, most notably, the ability to edit your superstars appearance as the Superstar Mirror is no longer selectable, and the Barber Shop in the City Map is also no longer selectable. Users are stuck with the random hair combination given to the user while registering their new superstar. Although certain new features have been added as well. For example, you can have more control over your character while firing agents, while the selection of rookies is more extensive.

Player attributes

For the first time, a player can receive an attribute of 100. Devin Hester (speed), Peyton Manning (awareness), Tom Brady (awareness), Champ Bailey (man coverage), Reggie Bush (acceleration), Lorenzo Neal (impact blocking), Larry Allen (strength), and LaDainian Tomlinson (juke move and elusiveness) are the only in the game with such skills.

Trophy room

The trophy room in Madden 08 is similar to the My Shrine feature in NCAA Football 08. Trophies can be earned by completing in-game tasks (such as rushing for over 200 yards) or in other game modes (such as winning a Super Bowl in franchise mode). Trophies can also be wagered in online head-to-head contests. As your skill and experience progresses, you can earn five EA Challenge rings, which have customizable team logos and colors. These features have been left out in the Wii version.

Returning features

A number of features missing from the first two next-generation versions of Madden return in Madden 08. These include Owner Mode, fantasy draft, roster-editing, and cooperative play-New, however, to the Xbox 360.

Other features

In addition to the other versions, the Wii version features online gameplay, a Madden first for a Nintendo console, as well as the integration of Mii avatars, and features a few exclusive game modes. The PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube versions of Madden 08 have a fantasy football-type game mode called Fantasy Challenge Mode. In this game mode, players draft the ultimate NFL dream team while advancing through four levels of gameplay.

Madden NFL 07

2008-10-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

Madden NFL 07 is the 2007 edition of the popular Madden NFL series. It is the first in the series to be released for the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles. Former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander is on the cover.

Release

To mark the debut of Madden NFL 07, EA Sports released Madden NFL 07 in Madden, Mississippi, the only community in the United States to have the same name as John Madden. Each resident received a free Xbox 360 gaming console and a free copy of Madden NFL 07. NFL stars in attendance were Jerry Rice, Warren Moon, and Marshall Faulk.

Madden NFL 07 was released for more formats in a single year than any previous version. In addition to its appearance on the PC platform and cell phones, versions of the game were produced for every game console of the previous generation, including the Xbox, the PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo GameCube. Hand-held versions appeared on the PSP, the Nintendo DS, and the Game Boy Advance. It is also the second iteration of the series to appear on the Xbox 360, and the first to appear on the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles.

After John Madden's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, EA Sports released a version of Madden NFL 07 called the "Hall of Fame Edition" with John Madden on the cover. It contained two discs, one with the normal game and the other a DVD with special features. Special features included an interview with John Madden, a behind the scenes look at the making of Madden NFL 07, and a sneak preview of the new PlayStation 3. To go along with Madden's inception into the Hall of Fame, there are special Hall of Fame teams that players can unlock with credits earned during the game. These teams are statistically superior to the default NFL team rosters.

Features

Just as in previous titles in the Madden NFL series, Madden NFL 07 makes a few additions to the general game play. The most notable features include:

Lead Blocker Control: After selecting a running play, the player will be able to cycle through the offensive players as they get into position at the line. The player can choose the athlete to control when the ball is snapped, and the game camera will zoom in on the fullback, tackle, guard, center, tight end, or wide receiver selected. With this feature, it is now possible for the player to open up a path for a running play, as the computer controls the halfback and tries to slip through the gap created. This feature also appeals to Madden players who do not wish to use computer assistance in any way, shape, or form. This feature allows the player to manually block with their fullback, tackle, guard, center, tight end, or wide receiver and quickly switch to their halfback to manually slip through the gap created, thus eliminating any computer assistance during the gameplay.

Highlight Stick: Players can now move the right analog stick in any direction to see an animation where the smaller running backs will duck, spin, or squirt out of a tackle. It is also possible to string such evasive moves together, piecing together a juke left with a hop step backwards (down on the right analog for stick on Ps2 and Xbox or for gamecube down on the C stick) to elude defenders. The Truck Stick animations still exist for the bigger backs, but also feature more variety of running moves with the addition of the Highlight Stick. For example, using the Highlight Stick with Tiki Barber, a smaller back not known for trucking, utilizes an array of moves to avoid and squirt out of tackles.

Juking and Spinning: Players can now choose two types of both Jukes and Spins to avoid would-be tacklers. For the PS2, players can either do a cut move to the left or right using the L1 or R1 buttons respectively, or a wider juke to the left or right by flicking the Right Analog stick left or right respectively. For a quick spin to allude a tackler the player simply taps the circle button. For a stronger spin which could possibly break a tackle, simply hold down the circle button.

FreeMotion Controls: The Wii version of Madden NFL 07, which was developed at EA Canada rather than Tiburon, features a unique control scheme that has been completely redone to compliment the motion sensing capabilities of the console's Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers.

Lost: Via Domus

2008-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Lost: Via Domus (Incorrectly translated "The Way Home" in Latin; also known as Lost: The Video Game in Europe) is a video game based on the ABC television series Lost that was released for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 27th 2008. The game was officially unveiled at Comic-Con 2007.

A Lost game was released for mobile phones on January 16, 2007 and fifth-generation iPods on May 23, 2007. It is not related to Via Domus, nor created by the same developer.

Development

On May 22, 2006, Ubisoft announced that they had licensed the rights from Touchstone Television to create a video game based on Lost planned for release at the end of February 2008.

Although it was speculated to be in development hell for some time, as there were no updates on the game since its initial May 2006 announcement, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse stated in the official Lost podcast of April 16, 2007 that the game was in production and that they had seen playable footage of the game.

Trailers

A trailer was released on the GameTrailers website on July 27, 2007, showing the island and some of the main characters. In the later released Xbox Live trailer for the game, at 1 minute 8 seconds (23 seconds from the end), just after the character gets slapped and before the ship blows up there is a hidden frame which says "Find us and we will show you the way" on the calculating computer. Also at 1:20 on the Xbox Live trailer the blast door map shows up in red.

Gameplay

The player is cast as a previously unseen survivor, Elliott Maslow, a photojournalist with amnesia. Gameplay involves Resident Evil-style fetch quests and puzzle solving. The use of flashbacks as a storytelling device, which are integral to the television show, is part of the game play. Also, owing to the main character's amnesia, they are often just as revealing to the character as they are to the player. The game's timeline coincides with the first 70 days portrayed in the television series. The player explores locations seen in the show, such as the beach camp, the dark territory, The Pearl Station, The Hydra Station, the Flame station, the Black Rock and the Swan Station. The player also interacts with some of the major characters of the television show; Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Mikhail, Ben, Juliet and Locke, among others. Elliott must also avoid the "Black Smoke" monster. Trading with other survivors and taking photos with a camera are also part of the gameplay.

The game is split up into seven "episodes". These episodes are "Force Maejure", "A New Day", "Forty-Two", "Hotel Persephone", "Whatever It Takes" and "Worth A Thousand Words". Each episode was plotted by the show's executive producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Characters

Elliott Maslow - Elliott, the main character, is a photojournalist who suffers from amnesia. He doesn't know his own past and must work to regain his memory and to find a way off the island.

Lisa Gellhorn - A reporter, before the crash Lisa had a brief affair with Elliot while she was working with him on a very big story. She died some time before the events of the game, after being shot in the head by Zoran Savo.

Zoran Savo - The president of the Chenchey Institute of Research. Because of his institute's humanitarian work, he has been named an International Union Goodwill Ambassador of Peace and Tolerance. He is on a diplomatic mission to Sydney to promote a human rights amendment to the IU Charter of Rights signed by over 50 nations.

Beady Eyes - One of Savo's loyal bodyguards, Beady Eyes has been with him since the early days. He was initially involved in the illegal arms trade before Savo approached him to act as a liaison with the criminal world. As their relationship developed, the henchman became Savo's right-hand man, making sure that his boss - and primary source of income - was protected from every threat.

Additionally, the main characters from the series are also present in the game. They include Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Claire Littleton, Hurley Reyes, James "Sawyer" Ford, John Locke, Desmond Hume, Ben Linus, Juliet Burke, Sayid Jarrah, Charlie Pace, Sun Kwon, Jin Kwon, Michael Dawson and Tom among others. The actors for Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), Sun (Yunjin Kim), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Claire (Emilie de Ravin), Tom (M. C. Gainey) and Mikhail Bakunin (Andrew Divoff)all provided voice work for the game, while the rest of the major characters are provided by stand-ins.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

2008-10-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a third-person shooter video game created by Capcom for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. A PS3 version was released on February 26, 2008. The game was produced by Keiji Inafune, the creator of the Mega Man and Onimusha series.

The game utilizes both vital suit (also known as VS, which is like a mecha or robotic armour) piloting and on-foot exploration and features Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun as the model for the main character, Wayne. Lost Planet was released on January 12, 2007, in North America and PAL regions. Lost Planet: Trag Zero, a prequel which focuses on the character of Gale, Wayne's father, has been released on cell phones.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was released on Windows in June in Europe and North America. The Windows version includes DirectX 10 support, when run in Windows Vista, and enhanced graphics. A demo for the Windows version was released on May 15, 2007, which was the first playable game to showcase DirectX 10.

On 17 October 2007, Capcom announced a PlayStation 3 version, including all 360 downloadable content and PC bonus characters,it was released on February 29, 2008. The game offers 16 player online play.

Background

Lost Planet takes place in a dystopian future (the year is given as T.C. -80) where planetary conditions on Earth have become too hostile to support human life. A scientific enterprise known as Neo-Venus Construction (NEVEC), led by Commander Dennis Isenberg, spearheads a colonization effort, ultimately choosing the planet of E.D.N III. E.D.N. III is perpetually cold and snowy, originally inhabited by a species of aliens known as the Akrid, who forced humanity to abandon E.D.N. III by strength of numbers and surprise. Initially, the Akrid deterred humans from colonization, but this changed when T-ENG was discovered. Thermal Energy, or T-ENG, is a powerful energy source, found only in Akrid bodies, which made humankind determined to fight the Akrid, for which purpose NEVEC created the Vital Suit, or VS, technology, essentially mechs powered by T-ENG, carrying mounted weapons.

Plot

The game's plot focuses on the amnesiac character Wayne Holden, his father, Gale Holden, and the past and future of E.D.N. III. After a particularly vicious battle against a large Akrid creature known only as "Green Eye", Gale is killed, and Wayne is lost on the icy plains of E.D.N. III. Wayne is found on the snow plains by a small band of snow pirates, colonists left behind after the evacuation. The band consists of the cool-headed leader, Yuri Solotov, the wiz-kid Rick and his sister Luka. References from Rick suggests that the gang may have been larger at one point, but because of an attack by a rival gang, Crimson Unity, they are all that's left. From the beginning, attention is put into a device implanted in Wayne's arm. Called the Harmonizer, this device feeds from Wayne's T-ENG reserve, and uses this energy to heal his wounds. The game starts off with the gang suiting up for the trek through the mountains leading to the dome where Wayne last saw Green Eye. Wayne soon discovers that Yuri is collaborating with NEVEC. Although Wayne initially agrees to keep this secret from Luka and Rick, Yuri ultimately leaves the party, pledging his loyalty to Isenberg and his mysterious "Frontier Project." As Wayne, Luka, and Rick continue on their journey, they meet a woman named Basil, who has VS piloting skills and an arm-mounted device similar to Wayne’s Harmonizer. She's looking for Yuri, who she blames for the death of her husband. She reveals to Wayne that 30 years have passed since Gale's death; the Harmonizer technology slows the aging process. Shortly afterwards they find Gale's VS, described by Rick as possibly the most advanced VS ever produced, and use it to defeat Green Eye. After the battle, they are surprised by a NEVEC patrol led by Isenberg's second-in-command, Shane Bandero, who also has a Harmonizer-like device though far more crude. His appearance triggers Wayne's memory, making him realize it was not Green Eye who killed Gale, but it was Bandero who made his soldiers kill him. After a short battle between Wayne and Bandero's VS's, Wayne is forced to retreat on Luka's scooter. They leave the dome to discover that their trailer has been destroyed and Rick captured by NEVEC troops. To compensate for their losses, and continue hitting NEVEC, they resort to guerilla-tactics, hitting NEVEC convoys and the like. After one of their raids, they discover Rick and Basil in a small shelter. Rick was actually attacked by NEVEC, but Basil rescued him and helped him though the year following his separation from Wayne and Luka. Now big events are afoot. By capturing a NEVEC soldier named Joe, and negotiating with him, they learn more about NEVEC's Frontier Project, a terraforming operation to make E.D.N. III habitable by humans without the aid of T-ENG. At first, it seems harmless enough, though the truth is far from benign.

The Frontier Project will not only wipe out the entire Akrid race, but will also kill any human beings left on the surface of the planet. The Frontier Project was to use a nearby volcano's T-ENG to warm up the entire planet, and NEVEC forces were supposed to go to the orbital elevator which would protect them from the energy of the system while they hibernated. Wayne battles Bandero a final time, and after killing him, he reclaims Gale's VS. The Rick and Luka find Yuri, who has been imprisoned and tortured by NEVEC for "sniffing around too much", and they call for Wayne who rushes to the scene. Before succumbing to his injuries, Yuri then hands Wayne an attachment to his Harmonizer, allowing him to realize the true power of Gale's VS. Their plan to take down the Orbital Elevator goes into action. Basil sacrifices herself to hold off NEVEC troops, while Joe plants high-powered charges to take out the Elevator itself. At this point, Wayne is seen installing his Harmonizer's attachment, which causes great transformations in his VS that, amongst other things, allow it to fly, and use dual energy swords. Wayne then flies up the elevator and battles Isenberg in the skies around the Elevator. Isenberg's VS is also top-of-the-line, second only to Gale's. After Isenberg is defeated by Wayne, Wayne's memories are erased again by the attachment.

A year later, Luka is seen driving through a snow field on her scooter. She drops a small device which attracts several specialized data posts from the trailer. The data posts were developed by Luka and Rick after analyzing the data Yuri researched. The devices start and the snow in the area melts, revealing dry, warm ground with grass on it. While Luka is thinking about Wayne, he suddenly appears, surprised by the grass and dirt. Wayne has lost his memories, but survived, and Luka introduces herself to him once again.

Combat System

Most of the game revolves around combat. Wayne can use a variety of weapons, like machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers, but can also pilot an assortment of robot suits (mechs), called Vital Suits (VSs). When on foot, Wayne also has the ability to remove heavy weaponry from these vital suits for upgraded firepower.

Wayne can carry a maximum of two weapons at once, allowing the player to prepare for the challenge ahead. Weaponry is used primarily to combat the planet's native species, the Akrid, but some levels require their use against rival snow pirates and mechs.

In both the single-player and multiplayer game modes, there is a "T-Eng" (Thermal Energy) meter below the character's health. This counter goes down continually in the cold, and can be refilled by collecting pools of glowing orange "heat" that drop from dead enemies, activating data posts, or from other heat sources found in the environment, such as explosive barrels. The T-Eng is used to refill Wayne's health in the single-player mode, and is also used to power energy weapons such as plasma rifles and energy weapons.

Network Support

The game has multiplayer support on Xbox Live and Playstation Network with up to 16 players online in a single game. Players can compete through four game types; Fugitive, Elimination, Team Elimination, and Post Grab. Killing enemies, destroying VS, and hacking data posts will add to the players score while getting killed and committing suicide will take away points. The point total at the end of the game will be added to the player's overall score across all of their games. This score will be used to determine the player's level. The highest level is 99. Players can unlock new character models and patterns. There are eight (nine in SE version) multiplayer maps: Crimson River, Dark Town, Diplidation, Training Facility, Canyon 810, Lost Coast, Pirate Fortress, and Frozen Wasteland. There are also several downloadable maps that you can get off of the Marketplace. These include Battlegrounds, Island 902, Ice Drop, and Radar Field. The downloadable maps from the Xbox version of the game already came included later in the Playstation 3 version.

The weapon variety in Lost Planet becomes obvious when playing in multiplayer matches; the game features 5 varieties of grenade, 15 distinct weapons (7 of which are dual-function in that they can be carried by infantry or attached to a mech), and 6 mechs ranging from transforming tanks to jump-jet walkers. Weapon placements are randomized for each match, as are a player's grenades upon spawning. The five grenades include a regular hand grenade, a disk grenade which flies in 1 direction, a gum grenade which you can attach to people, a plasma grenade which freezes your enemies, and a dummy grenade which is a balloon version of an infantry that moves forward in one direction and blows up on contact with a bullet or a player.

On March 2, 2007, Capcom released the first gameplay patch for Lost Planet's multiplayer modes. The patch includes fixes that allow players to easier discern the nationality of their fellow players, to tell who is speaking during matchmaking and gameplay with an added "speaking" icon, as well as a connection speed/strength indicator. This speaking symbol is also added in the results screen at the end of the match. It also contains a number of bugfixes geared to prevent major glitches and exploits during online play. However a few people have not been able to enter a match, due to the host quitting the match. This problem has been linked to the NAT settings on a player's router, and can be rectified by making sure the NAT setting is OPEN. This can be determined through the network setting's diagnostics test from the 360 dashboard.

Downloadable Content

Capcom has announced that they intend to release three sets of map packs for 400 Microsoft Points each. The first set included Radar Field and Island 902 and it was released on March 9, 2007. The second map pack was released on April 6, 2007 and includes Hive Complex and Trial Point.

It has been announced that Hive Complex, Trial Point, Radar Field and Island 902 will be available free on Xbox Live Marketplace on July 20th along with extra content for PC and a new patch addressing connectivity.

The third map pack featured three new maps on June 21, 2007 and included "Ice Drop", based on a glacier, "Ruins", based in a jungle, and "Lost Technology", described as "a throw-back to the good ol’ days of pixelated 8-bit gaming."

Additionally, Battleground, a map which was only available in the limited edition version of the game, was released for free download on June 7. On August 16, 2007 the third map pack became available free on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Feature Film

In July it was announced that Metal Gear Solid star David Hayter was in talks with Warner Bros. to write and direct a film based on Lost Planet. On July 15 2008 at the 2008 E3 Expo Capcom announced their partnership with Warner Brothers to make the film based on this game.

No actors or directors or stuntmen have been recruited to the project yet. The film remains in the very early stages of its development. Writer David Hayter (Watchmen, X2) and father and son producers Avi and Ari Arad (The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man) have been tapped for the film.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

2008-10-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a video game based on the Star Wars-themed toy line by the Lego Group. It is a combination of the game Lego Star Wars: The Video Game and its sequel Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. The game was announced by LucasArts on May 25, 2007 at Celebration IV and was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS on November 6, 2007 in the US.

Gameplay

The aim of the game is to collect the gold bricks scattered through out the game. In the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions there are 160 to collect; 120 of these are for the main levels. There are three for each of the levels. One is for completing the level in story mode, the second is for collecting a set amount of studs to achieve a "True Jedi" status and the third is by collecting the 10 LEGO canisters from around the level to make a LEGO model. There are 20 gold bricks for completing the Bounty Hunter missions which involve finding key members of the Republic and Rebellion from Jabba the Hutt who has kidnapped them. There are six gold bricks for completing the bonus missions and 14 to buy at the Cantina.

There are 36 story levels, 20 bounty hunter missions, and six bonus levels (two Lego Cities, two story levels, and the original pod race and gunship levels). Most of the story levels are the same as those found in the original games. A level involving the pursuit of bounty hunter Zam Wesell has been added (this was a deleted level from LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game), while another level that was cut from the first game (Anakin's starship battle from Episode I) is included as a bonus level. This level utilizes vehicle free-roam from the second game.

The game takes place from "the Trade Federation's negotiations" with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace to the space battle above Endor in Return of the Jedi. The "Gunship Cavalry" and "Mos Espa Podrace" levels have been redesigned although the original versions are still in the game as bonus levels. However, "Battle over Coruscant" remains the same except that players can change vehicles in free-play. A brand new 2-player Battle Arena mode has been added, called "arcade mode", new vehicle bonus missions, the red power bricks from Lego Star Wars II, and 10 additional bounty hunter missions add new challenges to the Prequel Trilogy portions originally seen in Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. The episode I-II-III levels have been updated so that characters can build and ride vehicles, wear helmets and gain access to bounty hunter areas, and those characters now have the ability to dodge blaster fire and have their own special melee attack (for example, Chewbacca rips off arms). New Jedi Force moves are included (force lightning and force choke). New characters have also been added, bringing the total up to 160. Indiana Jones is an unlockable playable character (to foreshadow Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures).

When the game is 100% complete, a 'secret' bonus is unlocked which allows your customizable characters to use the force, lightsaber attack damage is increased, and any character can use a grapple point among many other enhanced abilities.

Platform Differences

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions allow for co-op play online. The Wii version includes motion-sensitive inputs and the Nintendo DS version incorporates exclusive touch-screen action and challenges. The PlayStation 3 version also allows the use of Sixaxis' motion-sensing. Both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 versions run in an HD resolution of 1080p. The motion-sensitive controls allow the PS3 console to drive vehicles and allows the Wii to control lightsaber movement. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions do not have V Sync enabled, meaning that there is tearing in the image despite the fact that they are running in progressive scan mode. The DS version does not have any online play. There is also an option of watching the cutscenes at the bar (made available to you as you progress through the game on the Wii), but only available when game is 100% complete on others.