Starcraft 2 Might Have Pre-Paid Game Time...

I'm sure that many of you are aware that a new Starcraft 2 Beta patch came out earlier today. This new patch brought some new balance changes, a Battle.net revamp, and of course tons of bugs. While playing some 2v2 with a friend I was experiencing lots of lag, and so I decided to re-log, however, a funny thing happened. Upon entering my account info I was greeted with this message:

Now I know that Blizzard has said that Starcraft 2 is going to free to play as long as you have an internet connect, but pop-up is leading me to believe there's more to it.
This could mean a premium service that could launch right along a free to play version, something that Blizzard is currently trying with they're World of Warcraft Acution House App for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Indie Review: VVVVVV

I have recently finished up an indie title called "VVVVVV"(the letter V six times), and I can't think of enough fantastic things to say about it! To begin, I'd have to explain that I've always had a soft spot in my heart for "indie" games which has gone as far as me contemplating to buy an Xbox 360 for just the "Indie market place". However, even though I've played so many different "indie" games, its not often that I come across one as fun, addictive, and all around genius as "VVVVVV".

"VVVVVV", like most "indie" games, has one very neat game mechanic that is extremely well tuned in order to allow the player to manipulate it various ways. In "VVVVVV" that mechanic is the ability to flip your character upside down, I'd say its like flipping gravity but your character is the only one affected by it, so take that as you will. The main idea behind it all is that you're on a space ship which has gone through some crazy time portal, and all the ships crew members have been scattered across space waiting to saved by you, the ships captain.
Ultimately, "VVVVVV" plays out like a platformer, but there's some pretty distinct differences, the main one being that you can't jump. For every ledge or gap you come across you have to "flip gravity" and attempt to get across your obstacle that way. This starts to get extremely difficult when a majority of the surface starts to become covered with spikes, cleverly shaped as V's. Each level in "VVVVVV" is contained in a large open-world type of space, which allows for the player to play any particular level in any given order. The music in "VVVVVV" was also some of the best I've heard in an "indie" game in a long long time (I even ended up buying the soundtrack entitled "PPPPPP"). With all of this put together, the fantastic gameplay, the great music, and the game's clever jokes. "VVVVVV" is defiantly on my list of favorite "indie" games of all
time.

If you'd like to experience this epic adventure for yourself, you can play the free demo here, or if you want to be super awesome, you can buy the full game at http://thelettervsixtim.es/ and its only $15 (come on, all the cool kids are doing it). All of the proceeds go directly to the amazingly talented developer Terry Cavanagh. Lastly if you're like me and you cant get enough of the 8-bit musical goodness, you should buy the soundtrack here for only $4.

Dead Space 2 Trailer Revealed

Woohoo! As many of you know, Dead Space is one of my favorite 3rd person horror games, and I've been looking forward to Dead Space 2 ever since it was first announced. Today Visceral Games and EA released the first full trailer for Dead Space 2, and let me tell you, it looks pretty cool!

Although this trailer really doesn't show any gameplay, I can't help but get excited for more necromorph stomping. The one thing I'm not to certain about however, is if Isaac will keep his "Joe every-man" personality. The new suit is defiantly making him look more like a military trooper, rather than a space engineer.

Bungie Signs A 10-Year Partnership With Activision

Stop, breath, and read that headline again. Yup, it says 'Bungie Signs A 10-Year Partnership With Activision". Bungie has written an open letter to ensure their fans that Bungie is still...well you know...Bungie.

 "Today, we’re poised to open a new chapter in Bungie’s history—one that begins with a partnership between Bungie and Activision and ends where we always knew it would, with World Domination. Our Next Big Thing now has a concrete path, leading from our studio to the platforms of our choosing. The business formalities are behind us. Our Constitution remains unchanged. We are still Bungie, still independent, and now we are free to bring our stories to an ever bigger audience...Once the smoke clears, all the pieces will finally be in place for Step 7. Don’t worry, though. We won’t let World Domination go to our heads. We’re gonna keep making kick ass games on our own terms, and since you’ve been so supportive throughout the years, we’d love to bring you along for the ride."
It's crazy to think that this is the same studio who fought so hard to get out Microsoft's contract a couple years ago is now in a new, although totally different, contract with Activision. All irony aside, once you really take it all in, it's not all that crazy. A studio as big and successful and Bungie was going to end up somewhere, and hey, Activision sure is "somewhere".

Source: G4

Another Live Action Halo Trailer In The Bag

It's that time again folks, another live action commercial for the latest Halo game.

If you feel like this trailer is missing something, don't worry, the "full" commercial will be available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers tomorrow.

Split/Second Blows More Stuff Up

I really can't enough of these Split/Second trailers, so when Disney Interactive released a new one yesterday, I just had to make a post about it.
This trailer show's the game's standard mix of fast cars, explosions, and...a power plant...

Doesn't that look fun? Well if you have an Xbox 360 and want to give a try yourself, the demo is out now. Let me know what you think of the demo, and how it stands up to the game's awesome trailers.

Sims 3 Heading Over To Consoles This Fall

Last years best-selling PC franchise is heading over to consoles later this year. The game will becoming to the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and the Ds, all of which are scheduled for a fall release.
 Skimming through EA's press release tells us that The Sims 3 for consoles will include all-new features make it easier than ever to mess with life as players can unlock the ultimate “Karma Powers” for instant control and unleash them on their Sims. Players can help their Sim “get lucky,” bless them with “instant beauty” or be deviant and curse them with an “epic fail.”

Now this isn't the first Sims game to make it onto consoles, but it defiantly seems like this is going to be one of the most complete "Sim experiences". Keeping with The Sim's casual appeal, the Xbox 360 and PS3 version will come with a "single-use serial code" that will allow gamers to share achievements with friends through Facebook.

New Oddworld Game On Hold While Old Games Make A Comeback

The Oddworld series has been one of the most creative, adorable, and all around fun I've ever experienced. So when news broke a couple years back that there was a new Oddworld game in production I was extremely excited.
Sadly, it seems that I'll have to wait even longer for a new Oddworld game than expected. The creator of the Oddworld series, Lorne Lanning, recently came out and explained what's going on.
"There's a lot of things the shelf right now," Lanning explained. "We had a few on the fire, and they're still on the shelf...there's a lot of shakeup going [in the gaming industry] and in that turmoil, we didn't really want to put the Oddworld brand out there in the middle of it, so we're working on some other things that we'll be announcing shortly."

Although this means a new Oddworld game won't be coming anytime soon, it's still around, and hopefully it will see the light of day "somewhat" soon.
There is some fantastic new however, the "Oddbox", a newly announced collection which includes all the Oddworld games released so far. Is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2010 on Windows through Steam. Having Munch's Oddysee and Stanger's Wrath in one package...I'm already getting excited just thinking about it!

Source: G4

Contest Winners: Fat Princess: Fistful Of Cake

Here's what you've all been waiting for, the winners to the Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake contest!
Ian
Sean Mcloughlin
Sam

I numbered every entry that I received and then used this random number generator to find 3 winners.

I'm going the give the winners 1 day to leave a comment with the e-mail address they want me to contact you at. If they don't I'll give their prize to another random entry.

I have all of the winner's unique Blogger profile numbers, so please don't try to make fake Blogger profiles to claim a prize you didn't win.

If you didn't win this contest, don't worry, I'm going to hold more contests very soon. Keep checking this blog for all your daily gaming news, and thank you all for entering.

Note to the winners: To make sure your e-mail address doesn't get spammed by random people, I would recommend setting up a fake account to receive your prize. As long as the account you're posting the comment with, is the same as the account that won, everything should go over smoothly.

DJ Hero Sets Out To Dominate

If you can't wait for DJ Hero 2 to come out you might want to try your hands at a new DLC pack coming later this month on April 29.

 The DJ Hero Domination Pack is going to contain 3 brand new mixes:

• Danny Byrd's "Red Mist VIP" (Beat Juggle)
• Darude's "Sandstorm" mixed with Josh Wink's "Higher State of Consciousness"
• Wolfgang Gartner's "Wolfgang's Fifth Symphony" (Beat Juggle)

There's no word on how much this pack will cost, but most other 3 song DJ Hero DLC has cost 640 Microsoft Points, so I think $8 will be a safe bet.

The Live Action Alan Wake Prequel Has Arrived

Bright Falls is a prequel to Remedy's up-coming title, Alan Wake. These first two episodes give of a very Twin Peaks meets modern thriller vibe, which is great because that's exactly what Alan Wake is going for as well.
The first episode is about 5 minutes long, and if your at all interested in Alan Wake I'd highly suggest you check it out.

if you liked that episode, you can check out the second one here, at the offical New York Times website.

New Star Wars: The Old Republic Video Shows Us How To Beat A Jedi

 When most people think of Star Wars, the two things that pop into their head are light-sabers, and Jedi. This seems to be a problem that the new BioWare and LucasArts MMO is trying to address the best it can.
In the latest video, put out by the SWtoR creators, they show how the game's combat works and why being a Jedi isn't always the best choice.

Although it seems that SWtoR is trying very hard to difrenciate itself from other MMOs, I'm having a hard time seeing major differences. The combat itself seems like a good idea, but when put into action it looks very plain and dull. It could just be that I'm kind of burned out on MMOs at the moment, or that this game really isn't as great as some hope it will be.

Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map Pack Comes To The PC

The biggest selling and most drama inducing game of all time, Modern Warfare 2, is getting some more maps. Although the Stimulus Package has been out on the Xbox 360 for some time now, Steam confirmed earlier this week that PC gamers (along with PS3 gamers) will also get to pay for over priced content.

Although it seems that Steam is being a little nicer to folks who are pre-ordering the map pack, as they will save all of $1.50.
My advice however, is to stay clear from this extremely over-priced piece of DLC...but that's just me...

Alpha Protocol Shows Off Its Dialogue System

It seems Bioware games won't be the only ones on the block with a full fledged dialogue system. Sega and Obsidian's new game, Alpha Protocol, will also allow you to decide what your character does or doesn't say.

Alpha Protocol's Dialogue Stance System, or DSS, looks very familiar to that of Mass Effect but with an added "time bar". There hasn't been too much info released about Alpha Protocol, but comparisons to Mass Effect 1 and 2 are often made.
Once again, We'll have to wait until E3 for more info to come our way.

Smooth Talking Narrator Explains The Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer

I really can't enough of these Red Dead Redemption videos that Rockstar is putting out. This latest one goes over the game's multiplayer, which is starting to look pretty appealing.

Although the multiplayer isn't what I'm most excited about with Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar is sure making it look more than decent. I like the "Mexican Stand-off" at the beginning of matches, as it's something I don't think any other game has done before. What, if at all, are you most looking forward to with Rockstar's next title?

Side Scrolling Goodness In Super Mario Galaxy 2

Nintendo has just released a marketing video for Super Mario Galaxy 2, but there's a little twist with this one.
The video is entitled Transmission 2, which seems to be a part of multiple different transmission videos uploaded to YouTube by Nintendo.

You can click on the "Prev Feed" and "Next Feed" buttons, and you'll be directed to a another Super Mario Galaxy 2 clip. Although it seems that the next video in the "Transmission" series will be posted April 25.
Every time I see something new about Super Mario Galaxy 2 I get more excited for the game's release next month. I'm pretty sure that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will end up in my top 10 games of 2010 list, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet.
If you just as excited about Super Mario Galaxy 2 as me, I'd suggest you pre-order it here at Amazon.com. You'll not only get the game shipped to you on release date, but you'll also get $20 credit to any game you purchase from Amazon after Super Mario Galaxy 2!

Starcraft 2 Won't Launch With Cross-Sever Support

If you're afraid that you'll get stomped by pro Starcraft players from South Korea when Starcraft 2 launches, don't worry.
It seems that Blizzard's next big game won't come with cross-server support right out of the box. The main reason for this decision was becuase of server stability. Blizzard doesn't want their players to be tossed into a match half-way across the world, and then experience intense amounts of lag.

Although Blizzard assures it's fans that after the new battle.net and match-making system has been up and running for a while, they will happily look into cross-server support.
Although this does lower the amount of players you're going to be playing with, I'm sure Sc2 will pull such huge numbers that you won't ever think of that being a problem.

About Last Night: Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake Event

You might be wondering what I did last night at Sony's Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake event, well, that's what I'm here to tell you!

The event was in the top floor of a bar/restaurant in San Fransisco called Orson. There were multiple PSP's set up each with their own game. Some games were older such as Echoshift, Patchwork Heroes, and Eye of Judgment Legends. However, there were also a few unreleased PSP games to check out, such as ModNation Racers PSP, Invizimals, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, and Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake. I was able to play almost every game there aside from Hot Shots Tennis, which had some technical difficulties throughout the night.

I'll start with ModNation Racers PSP becuase it was the first game I played last night. Right from the start ModNation PSP ModNation PSP experience is that it's an extremely well done "port" of the PS3 version. looks exactly like it's "older brother" on the PS3, which is defiantly a good thing. Actually, the best way I can describe the entire

I'm not fully aware if it is an actual 100% port, although I can imagine the track creator must be tweaked a bit differently for a single analog control scheme. One thing about the single analog controls is that I felt your racer would "over-turn" very easily, and so I used the D-pad for most of my racing, which worked out great. Overall I'd say its a very well put together game, but I'd have to play with the track editor first to really see how good or bad it's put together.

After playing with ModNation for a bit I played with Invizimals, which is already out in Europe, and it will be coming to North America later this year. Invizimals is a really interesting "augmented reality" game that uses the PSP's camera attachment so that you can see "invisible monsters" around your house. The gameplay is very similar to Pokemon in the sense that you take turns attacking each other, and after fights your monster can level-up/evolve. There's also various monsters you can catch during different times of day, and each monster has their own type of weakness.

The battle system is turn based, but disguised very cleverly with lots of action on the screen all the time. You'll have to keep an eye on stamina and health bars, while also trying to time defensive and offensives moves in order to max/min as much as possible. The premise of the game seems to work best when put into the hands of an 8-14 year old who doesn't  fully understand how augmented reality works. Once you try to look "behind the curtain" of how these monsters are generated, it takes a lot of the game's "magic" away.

I played several other games throughout the night, some of which I will write about later, but for now I think this leaves you with a pretty good idea...About last night.

P.S. I'm deciding whether or not I should write one of these "About last night" features every time I go an event or expo. If you hated or liked it, I'd love for you!

Tony Hawk: SHRED Is Now Official

What? Activision is putting out another Tony Hawk game? It's almost like they've annualized the series...oh wait...
Earlier this week Tony Hawk tweeted "'Tony Hawk: SHRED.' There, I said it. Actually, I named it. Somewhere a PR team is reeling." Later The Birdman removed this tweet, but game journalists all over wanted to find out more.

Joystiq, came out on top with a response from Activision saying that "We can confirm we've given a name to the next  Tony Hawk game - Tony Hawk: SHRED, and more details will be revealed in the coming months."
There's no word on wheather or not this is the new name for Robomodo's RIDE 2, or if this game will even use the RIDE skate deck.

Steam Leaked Onto The Mac

Although having condensed water vapor on your computer is usually a bad thing, this time, it's great news!
Valve is working on releasing a Mac version of their popular digital distribution client, Steam, which should be out very soon.
However, what kind of tech announcement would this be without a good old fashion video leak?

As you can see the client looks pretty much the exact same as it does on a PC, which is by no means a bad thing. Apart from having this awesome client to download tons of great games, Mac users who participate in the client beta will also get a free copy of Portal, one of my favorite games!